One of the most infamous WWE villains of yore has suddenly passed away in his home country of Japan.
According to an English translation of Hochi Sports, Masashi Ozawa — better known stateside by his ring moniker of “Killer Khan” — lost consciousness at a restaurant in Tokyo before being rushed to a hospital on Friday.
Ozawa died of a ruptured artery. He was 76 years old.
When Ozawa came out West to ply his trade after a successful early career in Japan, he took on the identity of a Mongolian “assassin.”
In 1980, he made his debut in the WWE (then known as the World Wrestling Federation) as “Killer Khan” and was swiftly thrust into a high-profile feud with one of the company’s biggest — literally — stars, Andre the Giant.
Pro wrestling fans, who largely still believed the sport was real and not scripted, witnessed Khan “break” Andre’s ankle.
As explained by pro wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer, that was a much-needed ruse to write Andre off for a bit because he had legitimately broken his ankle — in a freak accident, not in the ring.
Very sorry to hear about the death of Killer Khan due to a ruptured artery. Will have a major story on him this week. Best known for breaking Andre’s ankle (which was a storyline cover for a real injury) leading to one of the biggest feuds of Andre’s career. Had some of the…
I neglected to cover at the time. My bad. The report exposes a genuine conspiracy — i.e., the Censorship Industrial Complex aka CIC. It is not a theory. It is a fact. This blog posting carries the title of their piece. Here is the introductory paragraph:
A whistleblower has come forward with an explosive new trove of documents, rivaling or exceeding the Twiter Files and Facebook Files in scale and importance. They describe the actvities of an “anti-disinformation” group called the Cyber Threat Intelligence League, or CTIL, that officially began as the volunteer project of data scientists and defense and intelligence veterans but whose tactics over time appear to have been absorbed into multiple official projects, including those of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The CTI League documents offer the missing link answers to key questions not addressed in the Twiter Files and Facebook Files. Combined, they offer a comprehensive picture of the birth of the “anti-disinformation” sector, or what we have called the Censorship Industrial Complex.
There is an active partnership between the U.S. Government’s security and intelligence agencies and the private sector that is engaged in information warfare against the American people. Michael Shellenberger provided a succinct explanation of this conspiracy in his written testimony to the U.S. Congress (you can read it at his new substack site, PUBLIC).
A highly-organized network of U.S. government agencies and government contractors has been creating blacklists and pressuring social media companies to censor Americans, often without them knowing it.
We and others have already reported on some of the actions of this complex, including its disinformation campaigns. But the extent of its censorship was unknown to us until very recently. And, as importantly, we now understand the ways in which this complex simultaneously spreads disinformation and demands censorship.
The CIC is the mechanism that this combination of private and public entities are using to fabricate lies about a whole host of issues, such as the war in Ukraine, Donald Trump inciting an insurrection and Israel fighting terrorists who behead babies.
As you celebrate the New Year please take some time to read the article (click here).
The sanctuary city of Chicago is buckling under the catastrophe brought on by Joe Biden’s broken border policies.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson recently signaled that the city is at a breaking point due to the influx of illegal aliens in the city.
In an appearance on CNN, Johnson was reduced to begging Biden for help, “We have reached a critical point in this mission that absent real, significant intervention immediately, our local economies are not designed and built to respond to this type of crisis.”
Democrat Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson says “it’s the entire country that is now at stake” if Congress doesn’t pass a “pathway to citizenship” for the millions of illegal immigrants pouring across the open southern border pic.twitter.com/v12GGsFkl3
Now, Johnson’s top aides have announced the city will shift $95 million in COVID-19 relief funds to cover some of the costs of sheltering thousands of illegals coming to the city.
“This doesn’t change that outlook,” Johnson’s senior adviser, Jason Lee, told the Sun-Times. “We’re going to continue to lobby the federal government for more support as the situation becomes, frankly, more unstable.”
The city had budgeted about $152 million for 2023 city operations to be covered in American Rescue Plan Act funds, the dollars allotted by the federal government in 2021 to help local governments make ends meet amid COVID-19 shutdowns.
Better-than-expected city revenue means some of those operational costs can be covered by the city’s corporate fund, freeing up $95 million in federal dollars for the migrant crisis, said city Budget Director Annette Guzman.
The city so far has spent more than $138 million to care for the new arrivals, mostly Venezuelan migrants from the southern U.S. border who have been bused and flown to Chicago by Republican leaders aiming to shift costs to Democratic-led cities.
Johnson said in a statement, “[W]e are allocating federal funds to deal with a federal problem. By allocating ARPA funding for this mission, we are meeting the City’s financial obligations without cutting the critical services that Chicagoans rely on every day.”
CBS Chicago investigators uncovered records showing Chicago has paid out $138 million from October 2022 to the present to address the needs of illegals in the city.
The largest recipient of the money was Favorite Healthcare Staffing – a healthcare staffing firm. The firm received $93 million – 68 percent of the total sum.
Equitable Social Solutions, a company that works in homelessness prevention and housing support, got $19 million.
The family-owned food service company Open Kitchens got $15 million.
The Gateway Pundit reported on the sweet deal Favorite Healthcare Staffing has with the city, where some employees were being paid rates ranging from nearly $50 to $156 an hour for regular pay and from $75 to $234 an hour for overtime.
California will become the first state in the nation to give illegal aliens taxpayer-funded health insurance.
Beginning on January 1, over 700,000 illegal aliens between the ages of 26 and 49 will be eligible for benefits, according to a report from ABC News — but all ages will be accepted.
Medi-Cal, the state version of the low-income federal Medicaid program, will cover the healthcare costs for foreign nationals.
ABC News reports:
Previously, undocumented immigrants were not qualified to receive comprehensive health insurance but were allowed to receive emergency and pregnancy-related services under Medi-Cal as long as they met eligibility requirements, including income limits and California residency in 2014.
In 2015, undocumented children were able to join Medi-Cal under a bill signed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown. In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law an expansion of full-scope Medi-Cal access for young adults ages 19 through 25, regardless of citizenship or immigration status. Access was then further expanded to allow older adults aged 50 and older to receive full benefits, also regardless of immigration status.
California State Sen. María Elena Durazo said in a statement in May, “This historic investment speaks to California’s commitment to health care as a human right.”
Governor Gavin Newsom told the outlet, “In California, we believe everyone deserves access to quality, affordable health care coverage – regardless of income or immigration status.”
“Through this expansion, we’re making sure families and communities across California are healthier, stronger, and able to get the care they need when they need it.”
The California Senate Republican Caucus has opposed the spending, writing:
“The Governor proposes to spend an additional $2.2 billion General Fund annually to expand Medi-Cal eligibility to roughly 764,000 undocumented individuals ages 26 through 49, starting in 2024. This would be the final expansion of Medi-Cal to the undocumented population after recent expansions to roughly 203,000 undocumented children and young adults (age 25 and under) and 235,000 undocumented older adults (age 50 and above). Medi- Cal is already strained by serving 14.6 million Californians—more than a third of the state’s population. Adding 764,000 more individuals to the system will certainly exacerbate current provider access problems.”
Then-President Donald Trump also panned the previous expansion that provided coverage to young adults in 2019.
“If you look at what they’re doing in California, how they’re treating people, they don’t treat their people as well as they treat illegal immigrants,” Trump said at the time. “So, at what point does it stop? It’s crazy what they’re doing. It’s crazy. And it’s mean, and it’s very unfair to our citizens.”
Although Washington, D.C. is empty at the moment, with key policymakers on holiday, the work of shaping a new narrative goes on. Two new articles this week, one in the New York Times and one in Politico, provide a road map to the Biden Administration’s desperate attempt to prevent the collapse of its Ukraine policy. The New York Times piece is an op-ed from a geriatric former editor, Serge Schmemann — Ukraine Doesn’t Need All Its Territory to Defeat Putin. Serge, despite a long career as a journalist specializing in foreign affairs, has forgotten the meaning of “defeat.” Michael Hirsh, writing in The Politco, echoes Schmemann’s message — The Biden Administration Is Quietly Shifting Its Strategy in Ukraine.
Let’s start with Schmemann. He was born in France but his heritage is Russian, Russian Orthodox Christian to be precise. Although Schmemann speaks Russian and lived in Moscow while working for the New York Times, he is completely out of touch with the reality of modern Russia. He accepts as true many provably false Western memes about Putin, the Russian military and the Russian economy. Here are the most egregious:
A painful reality check shows the 600-mile-long Ukrainian-Russian front in a figurative and literal freeze, draining Ukrainian resources and lives without much prospect for change in the foreseeable future.
No. The war is not frozen. Russia is advancing all along the front and Ukrainian forces are falling back after suffering heavy casualties. Although Schmemann acknowledges the war is “draining Ukrainian resources and lives”, he is wrong in believing this situation can continue for the “foreseeable future.” Ukraine is losing troops it has no realistic means of replacing. Russia, by contrast, is surging the size of its army and is not a victim of a war of attrition. Russia is the causing the attrition.
If Mr. Putin is seriously looking for a cease-fire, he is doing so on the presumption that the alternative is a continued slaughter of his soldiers, and that there is nothing more he can achieve through destruction, violence or bluster.
Poor Mr. Schmemann reveals in this sentence his complete ignorance of Russia’s military strategy and its control of the battlefield. Ukraine is not “slaughtering” Russian soldiers. Yes, there are increased Russian casualties because Russia is on the offensive, but the lack of artillery ammunition on the part of Ukraine and the inability of the West to supply amounts that match what Russia is firing on a daily basis means that Ukraine, not Russia, is the one being battered.
Russia’s army has been mauled and humiliated and the country’s economy has been severed from the West.
How a man like Schmemann can write such nonsense is puzzling. I can understand how someone who lives in Missouri who has zero experience in foreign affairs and knows nothing of Russia can be bamboozled by the propaganda of Western media that Russia’s army is whipped. But that’s not Schmemann. He is a cosmopolitan man. To continue to push this lie to the American public is dangerous because it promotes a false understanding of the real strength of Russia’s military. Russia is on a war footing and is building up a massive force and arsenal of weapons.
It took Russian forces, led by mercenaries, more than a year and massive casualties to capture one city, Bakhmut; another key town, Avdiivka, is still in Ukrainian hands despite wave after wave of soldiers, many of them ill-prepared reservists and conscripted convicts, thrown against it.
Untold thousands of Russian soldiers have been sent to their slaughter and untold thousands more of Russia’s best and brightest have fled the country, whether to avoid the war or imprisonment for opposing it.
“Ill-prepared reservists and conscripted convicts?” Unlike Ukraine, which has been snatching men of all ages from the streets of Ukrainian cities and forcing them to the front with minimal training, Russia has enlisted almost 500,000 new soldiers in 2023. These new recruits are not being rushed into combat. They are going through the full regimen of training.
Then we get this whopper:
Crushing sanctions have put an end to nearly all business with the West and have fueled spiraling inflation, although Mr. Putin has found ways for his cronies to profit nonetheless. And while the Russian economy got a short-term boost from feeding the military machine and filling the gaps left by sanctions, long-term prospects are bleak.
This merits the expletive, BULLSHIT! Too bad Mr. Schmemann was not with me trying to walk through the crushing crowd of happy Christmas shoppers at the GUM department store. That might have awakened him from his delusional claim that the Russian economy is faltering. Schmemann ignores Russia’s burgeoning new trade with China and India. Russians now realize they do not need the West. Just the opposite. The West needs Russia’s oil, natural gas, rare earth minerals, fertilizer, aluminum and nickel, just to mention a few items. Russia is now producing its own commercial jet liners and its defense industry is firing on all cylinders.
Schmemann’s vision of Ukraine’s victory is based on a Ukraine that no longer exists:
True victory for Ukraine is to rise from the hell of the war as a strong, independent, prosperous and secure state, firmly planted in the West.
Ukraine has lost 50% of its population to emigration and war casualties. It has lost the Donbas, which is a rich region in terms of natural resources and industrial capacity. Ukraine has no path forward as a viable, strong country. Yet, Schmemann’s bottomline is that Ukraine should negotiate with Russia, accept a freeze in place and then allow the West some time to figure out how to subvert and destroy Russia. Yeah, that’s a sweet deal that will certainly appeal to Vladimir Putin.
Michael Hirsh’s piece in The Politico is more firmly grounded in reality than Schmemann’s. Here are the salient points:
The administration official told POLITICO Magazine this week that much of this strategic shift to defense is aimed at shoring up Ukraine’s position in any future negotiation. “That’s been our theory of the case throughout — the only way this war ends ultimately is through negotiation,” said the official, a White House spokesperson who was given anonymity because they are not authorized to speak on the record. “We want Ukraine to have the strongest hand possible when that comes.” The spokesperson emphasized, however, that no talks are planned yet, and that Ukrainian forces are still on the offensive in places and continue to kill and wound thousands of Russian troops. “We want them to be in a stronger position to hold their territory. It’s not that we’re discouraging them from launching any new offensive,” the spokesperson added. . . .
Over the past year — with U.S. military support flagging fast on Capitol Hill and Zelenskyy’s once-vaunted counteroffensive failing since it was launched in June — Biden has shifted from promising the U.S. would back Ukraine for “as long as it takes,” to saying the U.S. will provide support “as long as we can” and contending that Ukraine has won “an enormous victory already. Putin has failed.”
Some analysts believe that is code for: Get ready to declare a partial victory and find a way to at least a truce or ceasefire with Moscow, one that would leave Ukraine partially divided.
“Biden’s victory comment has the virtue of being true,” said George Beebe, a former chief of Russia analysis for the CIA who is now head of strategy for the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. But “time has become a stark disadvantage when it comes to Ukraine’s manpower and industrial capacity, and that’s true even if the West continues its support. The longer this goes on the more we’re going to have to concede up front just to get the Russians to the negotiating table.”
The last sentence is the key — what does the West have to concede to get the Russians to negotiate? Simple answer. Nothing. Russia no longer trusts the United States or any of the NATO states to negotiate in good faith. These two articles, along with the previous NY Times article claiming that Putin is secretly negotiating, have one purpose — create a false narrative that will allow Biden to cut Ukraine loose before next year’s Presidential election. At some point I think we will see a story saying that the U.S. had Russia all lined up to negotiate a true but that Zelensky sabotaged any chance for an agreement.
There are a couple of astonishing oversights in this attempt to “flip” the narrative. Under current Ukrainian law President Zelensky is proscribed from negotiating with Russia. The Rada will have to pass a law granting Zelensky permission to re-enter negotiations with Moscow. Then there is the crazy assumption that Russia can be enticed to negotiate. It appears that the Biden national security folks really believe the myth that Russia is suffering because of this war and is looking for an escape hatch. They are not paying attention to what the Russian leadership is saying. Putin and Lavrov in particular have made it very clear that they no longer trust the United States or NATO to be honest brokers. This war will grind on until Ukraine is broken and the West is forced to accept that reality.
On Thursday night, State Representative John Andrews (R-Paris) filed a request with the Maine Revisor’s Office for a Joint Order to impeach Secretary of State Shenna Bellows.
This move comes after Bellows issued a ruling regarding former President Donald J. Trump’s eligibility for Maine’s ballot in the 2024 Presidential Primary, which is an outrageous abuse of power and an unconstitutional power grab.
Representative Andrews invoked his “constitutional right under Article IV: Part 1st: Section 8 ‘Power of impeachment. The House of Representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment,'” as stated in his official letter.
Representative Andrews is a member of the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee, which oversees elections and the Office of the Secretary of State.
Source: Rep. John Andrews/Facebook
“I wish to file a Joint Order, or whichever is the proper parliamentary mechanism under Mason’s Rules, to impeach Secretary of State Shenna Bellows,” Andrews said in a statement.
“I wish to impeach Secretary Bellows on the grounds that she is barring an American citizen and 45th President of the United States, who is convicted of no crime or impeachment, their right to appear on a Maine Republican Primary ballot.”
Andrews continued, “Donald J. Trump has met all qualifications for the March 2024 Republican Presidential Primary. He should be allowed on the ballot. This is raw partisanship and has no place in the offices of our state’s Constitutional Officers.”
Additionally, Representative Andrews took to his social media account, emphasizing his view of the situation: “This is hyper-partisanship on full display. A Secretary of State APPOINTED by legislative Democrats bans President Trump from the 2024 ballot so that she can jockey for position in the 2026 Democrat Primary for Governor. Banana Republic isn’t just a store at the mall.”
Steven Cheung, Trump’s campaign spokesman, issued a fiery statement condemning the action as a partisan effort to sway the upcoming election.
“The Maine Secretary of State is a former ACLU attorney, a virulent leftist and a hyper-partisan Biden-supporting Democrat who has decided to interfere in the presidential election on behalf of Crooked Joe Biden.
“We are witnessing, in real-time, the attempted theft of an election and the disenfranchisement of the American voter. Democrats in blue states are recklessly and unconstitutionally suspending the civil rights of the American voters by attempting to summarily remove President Trump’s name from the ballot. Make no mistake, these partisan election interference efforts are a hostile assault on American democracy.”
In 2014, Shenna Bellows made a bid for a Senate seat but lost big time against Susan Collins. This is the same person who made the decision to remove Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot.
This is also the same woman who tweeted, “The fundamental right of any American citizen to vote freely, fairly and to have their vote counted is the premise of our democracy. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are not values to be compromised away. #FreedomToVoteAct”
The fundamental right of any American citizen to vote freely, fairly and to have their vote counted is the premise of our democracy. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are not values to be compromised away. #FreedomToVoteAct
Speaking at a town hall in Berlin, New Hampshire, Wednesday night, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, the former governor of first to secede slave state South Carolina, was asked what the cause of the Civil War was. Haley gave a discourse about protecting people’s freedoms from government (which would have been an excellent answer to a different question). The answer stunned her questioner because Haley failed to mention slavery. When called out, Haley responded, “Well, what do you want me to say about slavery?”, and then moved on to another question.
Nikki Haley speaks at a town hall in Berlin New Hampshire, December 27, 2023, pool video screen image via WMUR-TV/YouTube.
Q: “Thank you, Ambassador. Please, um, what was the cause of the United States Civil War?”
Haley: (Pauses) “Well, don’t come with an easy question or anything. I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run. The freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do. What do you think the cause of the Civil War was?”
Q: “I’m not running for president. I, I, I wanted to hear your view on the cause of the Civil War.
Haley: “I mean, I think it always comes down to the role of government, and what the rights of the people are. And we, I will always stand by the fact that I think government was intended to secure the rights and freedoms of the people. It was never meant to be all things to all people. Government doesn’t need to tell you how to live your life. They don’t need to tell you what you can and can’t do. They don’t need to be a part of your life. They need to make sure that you have freedom. We need to have capitalism. We need to have economic freedom. We need to make sure that we do all things so that individuals have the liberties so that they can have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to do or be anything they want to be without government getting in the way.”
Q: “Thank you. In the, in the year 2023, it’s astonishing to me that you answer that question without mentioning the word slavery.”
Haley: “What do you want me to say about slavery?”
Q: “No problem. You’ve answered my question, thank you.”
The people of the State of South Carolina, in Convention assembled, on the 26th day of April, A.D., 1852, declared that the frequent violations of the Constitution of the United States, by the Federal Government, and its encroachments upon the reserved rights of the States, fully justified this State in then withdrawing from the Federal Union; but in deference to the opinions and wishes of the other slaveholding States, she forbore at that time to exercise this right. Since that time, these encroachments have continued to increase, and further forbearance ceases to be a virtue.
(Skip)
…These ends it endeavored to accomplish by a Federal Government, in which each State was recognized as an equal, and had separate control over its own institutions. The right of property in slaves was recognized by giving to free persons distinct political rights, by giving them the right to represent, and burthening them with direct taxes for three-fifths of their slaves; by authorizing the importation of slaves for twenty years; and by stipulating for the rendition of fugitives from labor.
We affirm that these ends for which this Government was instituted have been defeated, and the Government itself has been made destructive of them by the action of the non-slaveholding States. Those States have assume the right of deciding upon the propriety of our domestic institutions; and have denied the rights of property established in fifteen of the States and recognized by the Constitution; they have denounced as sinful the institution of slavery; they have permitted open establishment among them of societies, whose avowed object is to disturb the peace and to eloign the property of the citizens of other States. They have encouraged and assisted thousands of our slaves to leave their homes; and those who remain, have been incited by emissaries, books and pictures to servile insurrection.
For twenty-five years this agitation has been steadily increasing, until it has now secured to its aid the power of the common Government. Observing the forms of the Constitution, a sectional party has found within that Article establishing the Executive Department, the means of subverting the Constitution itself. A geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and all the States north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States, whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery. He is to be entrusted with the administration of the common Government, because he has declared that that “Government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free,” and that the public mind must rest in the belief that slavery is in the course of ultimate extinction.
This sectional combination for the submersion of the Constitution, has been aided in some of the States by elevating to citizenship, persons who, by the supreme law of the land, are incapable of becoming citizens; and their votes have been used to inaugurate a new policy, hostile to the South, and destructive of its beliefs and safety.
On the 4th day of March next, this party will take possession of the Government. It has announced that the South shall be excluded from the common territory, that the judicial tribunals shall be made sectional, and that a war must be waged against slavery until it shall cease throughout the United States.
The guaranties of the Constitution will then no longer exist; the equal rights of the States will be lost. The slaveholding States will no longer have the power of self-government, or self-protection, and the Federal Government will have become their enemy.
Sectional interest and animosity will deepen the irritation, and all hope of remedy is rendered vain, by the fact that public opinion at the North has invested a great political error with the sanction of more erroneous religious belief.
We, therefore, the People of South Carolina, by our delegates in Convention assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, have solemnly declared that the Union heretofore existing between this State and the other States of North America, is dissolved, and that the State of South Carolina has resumed her position among the nations of the world, as a separate and independent State; with full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do.
In a post after the town hall, Haley did not address the brewing controversy, saying, “A little bad weather isn’t going to stop us! Berlin, thank you for a great night on stop one of five in New Hampshire!”
A little bad weather isn't going to stop us! Berlin, thank you for a great night on stop one of five in New Hampshire! pic.twitter.com/qZKRceNFmh
Caution. Yes, this is a genuine “click bait” headline. I am sorry. I couldn’t resist the temptation to have some fun.
In the following video there are Russian actors who insist that Moscow has been pulling the strings on their puppet, Joe Biden. It is very clever satire. I think the Russians finally realized that a lot of Americans are convinced that Russia is intervening in our Presidential elections and decided to tweak the American political crazies about this delusion.
Here is the dastardly Rooskie plot.
Shakespeare is rightly acknowledged as a literary genius. But perhaps he also was a prophet. The following piece from Julius Caesar seems relevant to America’s obsession with Russian interference:
Let me make it clear up front — I believe the New York Times is reporting accurately what its sources told the three reporters in today’s stunning article, Putin Quietly Signals He Is Open to a Cease-Fire in Ukraine. The piece, reported by Anton Troianovski, Adam Entous and Julian E. Barnes, claims that the public bravado of Putin is a sham and that he is using back channels to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine. This is nonsense. I will explain why.
This paragraph from the piece is a big red flag that the “sources” spinning this tale are engaged in an information warfare campaign:
Mr. Putin has been signaling through intermediaries since at least September that he is open to a cease-fire that freezes the fighting along the current lines, far short of his ambitions to dominate Ukraine, two former senior Russian officials close to the Kremlin and American and international officials who have received the message from Mr. Putin’s envoys say.
Let’s start with the first falsehood — that Putin is willing to sacrifice his “ambitions to dominate Ukraine.” From the outset of the Special Military Operation President Putin has been concise and consistent — demilitarize and de-nazify Ukraine. Pro-Ukrainian analysts in the West continue to insist, falsely, that Putin wanted to capture Kiev but failed in March 2022 and is, or was, intent on conquering all of Ukraine. This is sheer Western propaganda.
The sources for this drivel are “two former Russian officials close to the Kremlin” and unnamed American and “international officials”. I am willing to bet a Christmas pudding that those officials are Brits. The info provided by the former Russian officials is totally suspect. How do I know? I had a conversation two weeks ago while in Moscow with a very senior Russian official who attends meetings in the Kremlin. He presented a very different message. Specifically, this official expressed alarm over the lack of substantive diplomatic contacts with Washington and emphasized that U.S. policy seems dedicated to sabotaging any reasonable path for negotiations. Let me put it this way — the person who conveyed these concerns would be right in the middle of any diplomatic contacts with the United States.
U.S.-Russia relations have touched rock-bottom; it is worse even than imagined. In discourse with senior Russian officials, it is evident that the U.S. treats the former as clear enemies. To gain a flavour, it is as if a senior Russian official were to ask: “What is it you want from me?”. The answer might come: “I wish you’d die”.
The inherent tension and lack of genuine exchange is worse than during the Cold War when channels of communication did stay open. This lacuna is compounded by the absence of political nous amongst European political leaders, with whom grounded discussion has not proved possible.
Russian officials recognise the risks to this situation. They are at a loss however on how to correct it. The tenor of discourse too, has slid from outright hostility toward pettiness: The U.S., for example, might block workers from entering the Russian mission at the UN to repair broken windows. Moscow then — reluctantly — finds itself with little alternative but to respond in a similarly petty vein — and so the relationship spirals down.
So what is the purpose of this NY Times article? I believe we can find the explanation in a recent column by Gideon Rachman of the Financial Times. He wrote:
One alternative to a formal agreement between Russia and Ukraine might be a de facto freezing of the conflict. In this scenario, Ukraine would move into a mainly defensive posture and hold off further Russian advances. The fighting would never stop completely — but it would dwindle.
An intermediate situation — somewhere between a frozen conflict and a formal peace treaty — would be an armistice. The two sides would agree only on a cessation of hostilities, without settling any of the underlying political issues. The model here would be the end of the Korean war and the division of the peninsula into North and South Korea. . . .
Even some of Ukraine’s most ardent western supporters are now talking about the need for Kyiv to accept a frozen conflict and declare victory. “We have to flip the narrative and say that Putin has failed,” says one former US official.
Stated simply — the NY Times piece is intended to flip the narrative and provide the West with an excuse to exit from Ukraine. Putin and his government have no incentive to make concessions to Ukraine or the United States or NATO. Russia is winning the war and attriting the Ukrainian military machine and troop strength. Even many key Ukrainian officials are admitting that the odds of them defeating Russia are zero.
Another purpose of this article is to sow mistrust and doubt among Russian officials and the Russian people about Vladimir Putin. With the failure of the Ukrainian counter offensive the Russians are more committed than ever to finishing off the Ukrainian military and its NATO allies. If Putin agreed to negotiate an end to the Special Military Operation before demilitarizing Ukraine, his political standing would crash. Russians are fully awake to the reality that the West is a malevolent force keen on destroying Russia and fully support defeating Ukraine and, by proxy, NATO. The last thing that Vladimir Putin and his government want to do is give the West the gift of halting the military operation before the task of eviscerating the Ukrainian military capability.
Earlier this month, San Francisco essentially defunded its own African American Reparations Advisory Committee, which had proposed paying $5 million — a figure they called “minuscule” — plus other benefits to every eligible black resident of the city.
But while the payouts would have cost the city $175 billion, more than ten times the annual budget of the city, the Reparations Committee could not even get the city to fund the $2 million they wanted to keep their office staffed and funded.
You’d think New York would have learned from this unrealistic debacle before Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill on Tuesday creating a reparations commission.
First California, now New York.
Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) signs legislation creating a commission to study potential reparations for residents of African descent. Listen to the applaud. Clown world. pic.twitter.com/icxGqomEOL
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill to form a commission to study what slavery reparations would look like in the state. pic.twitter.com/yFujCHzSfJ
But apparently, it’s easy to make big promises when it’s not your money — especially in an election year.
Like the one in California, New York’s commission will spend taxpayer dollars investigating compensation for descendants of slaves.
According to The New York Times, the Reverend Al Sharpton said the reparations commission will “heal … the wounds,” but the empty promises make it more likely that they will just rub salt in them.
According to Hochul, New York being “on the right side” of slavery is not enough. “What is hard to embrace is the fact that our state also flourished from that slavery. It’s not a beautiful story, but indeed it is the truth,” she said, according to The Associated Press.
“I know the word ‘reparations’ brings up a lot of conflicting ideas for people,” Hochul said in what could be rightly described as a massive understatement. “A lot of people instinctively dig in when they hear it, without really thinking about what it means or why we need to talk about it.
“Today, I challenge all New Yorkers to be the patriots and rebuke — and not excuse — our role in benefiting from the institution of slavery,” she added.
The nine-member commission is charged with delivering a report of recommendations –that could include monetary compensation — within one year. Never mind that New York abolished slavery in 1827, according to the AP.
Of course, the committee will most likely suggest astronomical payouts that could cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars. This is as New York already faces a $4.3 billion deficit for 2024, according to the New York Times.
New York State Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt pointed out that the U.S. has already paid reparations “with the blood and lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans who fought to end slavery during the Civil War” and added that the reparations would come at an “astronomical cost” to the city’s residents, the AP reported.
According to the New York Post, New York City has taken in almost 100,000 illegal immigrants this year alone, leading mayor Eric Adams to “implore” President Joe Biden for financial help.
Other states, such as Massachusetts and New Jersey, are also considering similar reparation studies, the AP reported.
In May, California’s reparations commission also proposed a sweeping payout program, including formal apologies and over $1.2 million per black resident, according to the New York Times. This astronomical price tag comes as California grapples with fiscal turmoil, staring down a $68 billion budget gap.
Between lavishing benefits on illegal immigrants, looming budget deficits and sky-high reparation demands, one wonders what could possibly be left for residents in Democrat states not entitled to the government gravy train or holding historical grievances.
If you’re looking for something to listen to while wrapping (or unwrapping) presents, here is my chat with Nima, a Professor of Engineering in Brazil, about the situation in Ukraine. I comment on the recent statement by retired General Ben Hodges, who said Ukraine could still win because the Nazis, in 1944, were at their zenith in building planes for the Luftwaffe. A truly bizarre claim because 1944 was the year the Soviets broke the back of Hitler’s Army.
Following a commanding win over division rivals Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph didn’t just land in the headlines for his near-perfect on-field performance.
In a heartfelt postgame interview, Rudolph extended his thanks to a higher power for his journey back to the spotlight as the Steelers’ starting QB.
Leading his team to a decisive 34-11 victory at home in Week 16, Rudolph’s showing was one for the history books.
Completing 17 of 27 attempts for a stunning 290 yards and two touchdowns, Rudolph demonstrated poise and precision that drove the Steelers toward reclaiming their season and playoff hopes.
Pittsburgh dominated in all three facets. It started, though, with Rudolph, who on Saturday night became the first Steelers quarterback since Ben Roethlisberger to throw for at least 250 yards and two touchdowns in a game. Rudolph took chances early and often, which was one of the reasons for his and the offense’s success. An example occurred late in the first half. Instead of sitting on a 21-0 lead, Rudolph hit Pickens deep for 44 yards that set up a field goal, increasing Pittsburgh’s lead at intermission.
It was also a great night for Pickens, who went over 1,000 yards for the season after catching four passes for 195 yards. Pickens feasted off of one-on-one coverage all night.
Pittsburgh’s offense parlayed its defense’s three turnovers into 17 points. Speaking of the Steelers’ defense, the unit confused Browning by playing zone coverage instead of their usual man. The Steelers’ defense received solid efforts from linebackers (Rowe and inside linebacker Myles Jack) and from their stars in Peterson and outside linebackers T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith. Watt picked up his league-leading 17th sack, while Highsmith had a sack and a pick that set up the game’s final points on a Chris Boswell field goal.
In a moment of personal reflection amid the team’s win, Rudolph shared a heartfelt acknowledgment that went beyond the realm of football.
“I want to say I’m so thankful to my creator, Jesus Christ, for giving me the opportunity to play this game, carrying me through the dark times, and getting me back here for this special moment,” said Rudolph.
WATCH:
Nice interview after game with Mason Rudolph as they’re playing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer for him and Great LB Alex Highsmith! #Steelerspic.twitter.com/RNdpwcvUW2
At the post-game presser, Rudolph expressed his gratitude towards God, attributing the orchestration of events and the team’s impressive performance to divine blessing.
I’m just grateful to be back on the team this year and to have an opportunity to play a game. That’s all you can ever ask for. I’m thankful to God for orchestrating it the way He did, and for blessing me and us with a great performance. It’s just special,” he said.
“…Just so thankful to God for throwing me a bone and giving me an opportunity to play. And I got my family here and celebrating Christmas, so it’ll be a fun time,” he added.
His acknowledgment of faith isn’t new. Rudolph has consistently credited his Christian faith as a cornerstone of his personal and professional life, saying in the past, “I passionately pursue Christ because I want to be a witness for Him and use this platform to impact our community.”
Simon Kuper. He is a “columnist” for the Financial Times. I think a more accurate title is, “fabulist.” For those whose native tongue is other than English the word, “fabulist”, is a polite synonym for LIAR. And boy did he lie in his latest column, “What If Russia Wins — A Counterfactual View of the Conflict in Ukraine.” His subtitle should have been, “A Fabricated Account of the Conflict in Ukraine.” I am not surprised that the Financial Times would embrace hysterical propaganda like this, but I did expect something classy and smart. This is crude and stupid. Just the kind of stuff that Joseph Goebbels put out for his boy, Adolf.
Here are the most bizarre straw-men from his dystopian vision of a Russian victory:
1. Russia exacts terrible victor’s justice on Ukrainians. This isn’t speculation. It’s precisely what the Russians have already done in Ukraine: mass executions, castrations, rapes, torture and abductions of children. Remember Russia’s pre-invasion lists of Ukrainian public figures to be “removed”. . . .
4. Putin’s success would encourage countries interested in invading a neighbour: China, Venezuela, Azerbaijan and, indeed, Russia. Dara Massicot of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: “Every time the Russians think that they have ‘won’ in a conflict under Putin — Georgia 2008, Ukraine 2014, Syria 2015 — they learn something about us . . . become overconfident in their abilities and in a few years they try bigger and bolder operations.” The likely creation of a Ukrainian army in exile running sorties from European countries would further incentivise Russian attacks on those places.
Kuper is engaged in good, old-fashioned projection. For example, Russian soldiers have not carried out “mass executions” unless your definition of mass execution is based on the Russian victories in Mariupol or Bakhmut. Ditto for castration. The video evidence of that war crime shows Ukrainian soldiers doing the dirty deed. And it is Ukraine that has earned the sordid reputation for trafficking in children to service pedophiles and harvesting organs from wounded soldiers.
Kuper’s reinvention of history may be a function of his relative youth, i.e. he’s uneducated and failed to read his history lessons. How many foreign military adventures has Kuper’s home country, the United Kingdom, carried out in the last 30 plus years? Iraq twice, Libya, the Balkans/Serbia, and Syria. Russia’s history is not littered with repeated instances of foreign conquest and colonial exploitation (and, oh yes, enslavement of local populations). That would be the United Kingdom. Kuper would be well advised to heed the words of Jesus, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” Gives me an idea for a proper nickname for Kuper — Glass House. If you live in a glass house you should not be heaving rocks.
With respect to Russia’s role in Syria, Kuper conveniently ignores the fact that the United Kingdom, along with the United States, were heavily involved in launching the insurgency to oust Syrian President Assad. It was only after Assad asked for help that Russia sent its military to Syria to beat back the Western subversion, which included funding radical Islamists. Putin learned the lesson of the Maidan (where the U.S. and the U.K also played a key role in overthrowing a democratically elected leader in 2014) and succeeded in derailing the Western coup attempt in Syria in 2015. Both Washington and London are still pissed at Putin over that.
Kuper seals his reputation as a man dumber than Ben Hodges with this beauty:
Russia has a low-tech economy about the size of Canada’s. The Europeans could help Ukraine withstand Putin even if Trump pulled out. We’d have to build up our arms industries fast, but the effort required of us would be tiny compared with Russia’s.
Low tech, huh? You mean like the hypersonic missiles that neither the United States or the United Kingdom can build and deploy? You mean like the drones Russia is manufacturing on an industrial scale while Ukraine relies on Mom & Pop workshops to crank out a few hundred? You mean like the millions of artillery shells Russia is producing while the West, having stripped itself of its industrial base, is begging South Korea to provide what Washington can’t? Last I checked the only positive thing one could say about the British Challenger tank is that it burns nicely when hit by a Russian ATGM.
Simon Kuper should resign from the Financial Times and get a job with a satirical magazine. He could continue to write this kind of nonsense and it would appropriately be labeled as dark humor and fantasy.
Although Mr. Kuper has zero experience as an intelligence analyst, I think he would fit right in with the current crop of sycophants that inhabit the headquarters of the CIA and MI6. Ray Mcgovern and I discussed the cause of intelligence failures with Judge Napolitano today.
Credit to Scott Ritter for this salient observation. We made a joint appearance on Danny Haiphong’s podcast tonight and were discussing the remarkable accomplishment of the Houthis in Yemen in shutting down commercial maritime traffic in the Red Sea. Yemen has never been known as a naval power, but it has succeeded in hurting Israel by preventing cargo container ships and oil tankers from sailing to Israel’s ports.
Although the United States has assembled a motley international armada to deal with the Yemeni threat (e.g., Canada sent three naval officers, no ship, and the Seychelles fields a small fleet of coast guard vessels that are one-fourth the size of a U.S. destroyer), there are several obstacles that will hinder the effectiveness of this hodgepodge collection of ships. I discussed these in my previous article (THE U.S. NAVY IS UNPREPARED FOR A PROLONGED WAR WITH YEMEN). These include:
Yemen’s ability to launch $2000 drones against ships that fire $2 million dollar missiles.
Yemen’s ability to launch a swarm attack of more than 30 drones/anti-ship missiles at one time is likely to overwhelm the Aegis capability to rapidly reload and take out inbound threats.
The limited supply of the Aegis missiles on board the U.S. destroyers that can be quickly exhausted if Yemen launches more than 100 drones against each destroyer.
Lack of adequate stockpiles of Aegis missiles in the U.S. inventory.
Each U.S. destroyer must sail to a U.S. or coalition base to refit (this assumes that the U.S. has been able to forward deploy an adequate supply of replacement air defense missiles).
Deploying adequate ISR assets to locate mobile missile sites in Yemen without having those assets shot down by Houthi air defense systems.
If tiny Yemen, with its limited military capability, can do this, why would any sane analyst assume that Iran could not do the same thing? Iran has a navy and a bounteous supply of anti-ship missiles and a large contingent of more lethal drones.
Take a moment to consider the composition of a carrier strike group in light of the limitations outlined above:
If each destroyer carries a compliment of 100 Aegis missiles, that means the CSG would be out of its principal air defense capability if Yemen (or Iran or China) fired 200 drones or anti-ship missiles over three or four days. Once those screening ships have shot their load the CSG would have to withdraw to a nearby friendly port to obtain more missiles. This fact may explain why the Pentagon is moving so slowly to carry out strikes inside Yemen.
