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Short story on Russia. My parents went there in 1988.
Stayed at brand new tourist hotel. Mom left shower cap home. Asks dad if he packed one.
Nope
Next day, cleaning lady brings one to the room and hands it to my mom. No words. Cleans.
Of course they have Kompromat on Trump
I don’t believe that
Kimberly Guilfoyle is threatening to bring the Trump family down with her following her shock firing this week, insiders say. thedailybeast.com/trump-insi…
Great, cripple an ally
Replying to @KofmanMichael
Yes - normal Starlink has been speed-restricted since 2025, so the issue is with Starshield - indicating that this is a DoD action (not directly SpaceX).
Ukrainian OWA drones (plus some interceptor drones, helicopters, and planes) have apparently been using Starshield.
Brilliant stuff here
I spent 15+ years investigating Russian secret services and organized crime. I know people who served with Putin in the KGB and sat in on his deals with St. Petersburg crime bosses. So let me explain the "diesel deal" the way they would — in gangster slang. Because that's the language Putin actually thinks in.
First, the facts.
Putin just raised Russia's 2027 military budget by 27% to a record 17.1 trillion rubles — about $203 billion. Who budgets that kind of money for a war they're about to end?
The FT reported yesterday that Western intelligence has warned the heads of European defense companies that Russia is plotting to assassinate them.
Since September, Tusk, Macron and the intelligence services of Poland, Czechia, Latvia, Belgium, France and Denmark have all warned that Russian hybrid attacks — including drone and missile strikes — will intensify in the coming months.
None of this looks like a country preparing for peace.
Who actually benefits?
🇺🇸 What the US gets: Every serious analysis I've read says the announced volumes won't move American diesel prices. This is a PR move for Trump before the midterms — a story about prices that will "very, very soon" come down once his friend Vladimir's tankers reach US shores, plus the chance to claim he ended another war (I've lost count). The only US "benefit" is Trump's rating.
🇷🇺 What Russia gets: billions of dollars to keep funding its genocidal war against Ukrainians. Sanctions relief. A demonstration of power to the rest of the world. A deeper rift between the US and its European allies. And a real chance to disrupt US weapons and intelligence flowing to Ukraine.
So what is Putin's actual goal?
Trump's disapproval is at record highs and polls show his party will most likely loose midterm elections. In less than a month his power will be badly weakened. Why would Putin sign a long-term peace deal with a lame duck whose signature will soon be scrutinized at best and annulled at worst?
He wouldn't. And here's where the slang comes in.
In the eyes of Putin and his siloviki, Trump is a baryga — a greedy, unscrupulous businessman who puts profit above law and principle. Gangsters despise barygas, but they love using them. The goal is always to turn a baryga into a lokh — a mark, an outsider who doesn't understand the rules of the underworld and gets played to serve the gang's interests.
By signing the diesel deal, Putin plays two scenarios at once:
A) The deal miraculously helps his lokh keep power — great.
B) The deal changes nothing, the baryga loses the midterms — but by then it has already done its job: inflamed US political tensions and acted as arson inside the American system.
Putin knows that the majority of Americans support Ukraine. He knows that by signing, Trump draws unprecedented criticism, including from his own party. And he knows a baryga won't give up power easily, because he will have to answer for everything he did in office — this deal included. That's classic gangster/secret-service method: tie a man to your organization, make him a partner in your crimes, so he can't walk away.
Pouring more oil — diesel, in this case — onto the most explosive fault lines of American politics, raising the stakes for Trump and pushing him past the point of no return serves Putin far better than a peace deal that could be voided within months.
Remember: Putin's goal in the West is chaos, not peace.
Wow
A must-watch exchange between Brian @kilmeade and Rachel Campos-Duffy on FOX & Friends about Ukraine and Trump’s Russian diesel deal. Here’s the full transcript:
CAMPOS-DUFFY: I know you're a big fan of Zelensky, but yesterday President Trump said maybe it's time for an election and a new leader in Ukraine because Zelensky keeps blowing up these refineries after the president said, "Please don't do that," especially before the midterms. He keeps doing it, and it's hurting President Trump and the administration, who's been very generous toward him and his war effort.
KILMEADE: The president got ticked off because Zelensky came out and said, "Do not buy 5 million tons of diesel," which is in violation, I thought, of the bill they just signed, Lindsey Graham's bill, that says if you buy any energy from Russia, you're going to get sanctioned with tariffs. Are we going to tariff ourselves? So I have no idea. Zelensky's frustrated because now all this money is going to flow into Russia, which started this whole war unprovoked. They are the bad guys, and there is no way Zelensky turned down any plausible deal. In fact, since that time, when they told him he was going to lose the Donbas, he has gained back portions of the Donbas.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: Are you saying that there were no peace efforts?
KILMEADE: There was no plausible, practical peace effort that Vladimir Putin would participate in effectively that would end this war. There's one person who is responsible: Vladimir Putin. That is it. And he gets his ass kicked.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: There was a peace deal that—I think Turkey was trying to broker it, and Boris Johnson advised Zelensky not to take that deal.
KILMEADE: It doesn't matter. I don't know what Boris Johnson's doing now. Is he in a retirement home?
CAMPOS-DUFFY: I think there's a reason why the president is buying diesel from Russia, and that's because Zelensky keeps blowing up the refineries.
KILMEADE: Can you blame him? That's the war machine that's killing his people, that bombs apartment buildings.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: But he's dependent on us, and the president said, "Don't do this." Are you for America or for Ukraine?
KILMEADE: The diesel fuel got stopped because Iran was blowing up the Gulf states' oil and their refineries, and now all of a sudden there's a new emphasis on Russia. But for me, the way Ukraine innovated drone technology in order to take out what's fueling the Russian war machine is phenomenal. They'll be writing about this in war journals forever. The Ukrainians have modernized modern war before our very eyes.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: I'm not so sure that's a positive, Brian. I mean, there are 30,000 young men on each side who are dying every single month.
KILMEADE: Vladimir Putin.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: Every single month. We should not be practicing drone technology and using these kids as guinea pigs.
KILMEADE: What kids?
CAMPOS-DUFFY: The soldiers. These are young men…
KILMEADE: Rachel, these are in response to attacks. They're getting rocketed, so they found a way…
CAMPOS-DUFFY: The president said he wanted peace in Ukraine, and he said he was going to do that.
KILMEADE: Tell Vladimir Putin.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: Well, now, because of what Zelensky is doing, we're probably going to get peace there because President Trump is now working with Russia, because Zelensky is so arrogant.
KILMEADE: It would be the biggest mistake of his administration to work with Russia. That is the modern Hitler of our generation. He is the cause of all the problems in the region, and now he's helping Iran kill our guys and blow up our bases. And now, yeah, the story you pointed out to me today in The Wall Street Journal—you see that they and China are providing drones to the Houthis. China and Russia are the problem.
Lololololol. Foghorn Leghorn thinks he can run.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that he is considering a run for president in 2028.
The Louisiana Republican said he has not yet made a decision and that right now he’s planning on running for re-election in 2028.
nbcnews.com/politics/2028-el…
That’s how you do it
Bryan Boughton, who runs the Fox News Washington bureau and is the current TV pool chair, says in an email; ”This is to advise that, effective today, the TV pool will not be covering events designated as pool coverage of the President.”
“This follows the White House’s position preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties. There will be no replacement pool put in place.” Via @brianstelter
I said a year ago that AI needs to drive 10x revenue to spend or it stumbles.
It clearly isn’t. The technology is front running the use cases.
Whoops
michaelnorth retweeted
This historic deal is a huge win for the United States and the American people. Thanks to President Trump’s vision and leadership, this historic agreement permanently guarantees U.S. security interests in the Arctic at zero cost to the U.S. taxpayer.
Greenland will forever be part of the strategic defense area of North America and exclude any adversary from it and the surrounding area.
This deal permanently and completely addresses our national security concerns in Greenland.
BREAKING NEWS: I am pleased to announce that the United States of America has entered into an Agreement with The Kingdom of Denmark, and Greenland, that gives the United States permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland, completely addressing ALL of our many U.S. concerns. There will be NO COST to the United States! At my direction, we worked with representatives of Denmark and Greenland to guarantee that the United States will FOREVER have the complete ability to do what is necessary in Greenland in order to secure and defend the security of Greenland, and the United States of America. Additionally, from now on, no U.S. adversary can EVER have a base in Greenland, have a military presence in Greenland, or make sensitive investments in Greenland, without our express written approval. For over 100 years, Presidents have known the strategic importance of Greenland, but NONE of them were able to do anything about it. I am proud to be the President that permanently and conclusively addressed this very important situation. This is an “Infinite Life” Agreement, there is no end! We are very honored and proud of what has just taken place, and everything agreed to today will be cherished by the American People. We will immediately begin the process of developing a large Military presence in the appropriate part of Greenland, of which there are many. We will work with the people of Greenland in its development and construction. This solution is a great one for the United States of America, Denmark, Greenland, and all of our Allies. We look forward to working with the wonderful people of Denmark and Greenland toward a magnificent future with respect to this large, and highly strategic, parcel of land. We will be very protective of it! This is a dream come true for the United States of America, one that is very important, historic, and special. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP
In case you thought Iran was playing tee ball and not hardball
You can say what you want about Iran but they're definitely pretty unique in their communication: never seen a country threaten another with a math equation before 😅
For those who didn't get it: there is a famous monetary policy formula used by the Fed called the "Taylor rule" that says a central bank's policy rate (i) should equal the neutral real rate (r*) plus target inflation (π*), plus 1.5 times the inflation gap and 0.5 times the output gap (the "i = r* + π* + 1.5(π−π*) + 0.5(y−y*)" part of Ghalibaf's formula).
Ghalibaf adds α(SOH−SOH*) and β(BEM−BEM*): SOH referring to the Strait Of Hormuz and BEM to Bab El-Mandeb. Both have positive coefficient, meaning the more those chokepoints are choked, the higher the rate the Fed would have to set to fight the resulting inflation.
In a nutshell this is Ghalibaf trolling the Fed, telling them that Iran is - in a very real way - setting American monetary policy.
In case you thought Venezuelan oil was helping Venezuela
Scott Bessent sat in front of Congress on Tuesday and either lied or is clueless about how to do his real job. There is no third option. But based on Bessent's testimony and what I found, it looks like we could be stealing ~$11 billion from Venezuela.
Bessent told the committee Venezuela's oil money is "one of the largest assets ever to go on the US balance sheet."
The executive order the president signed on January 9 states that the money is "property of the Government of Venezuela," held by the United States "solely in a custodial and governmental capacity." You cannot hold another country's money in custody and call it your asset, because that is the difference between a bank and a thief.
Bessent said he "won't give out" the total. I found it in 15 minutes on Treasury's own daily cash statement, the one he wants to call a balance sheet when it flatters him. It is public record. So it is hard for me to believe he can't tell Congress how much.
So let me help him and Congress out. Attached is the Daily Treasury Statement for February 5, 2026, the month the Venezuelan money left Qatar. The State Department, which runs the fund, deposited $514 million in a single day. The prior two-year high for that line was $54 million. Since January it has taken in $14.5 billion against a normal year of $3.4 billion, roughly $11 billion more than it should have. About $3.5 billion has been documented going back to Venezuela. That leaves about $7.5 billion nobody has accounted for.
SO, we took a country's primary revenue stream at gunpoint, routed it through a bank in Qatar, then a Citibank account, handed the sales to two Swiss traders with federal bribery cases, put the Pentagon in business with a man the Justice Department once named in a $1.2 billion PDVSA laundering case, and declared the whole thing immune from American courts by decree. Okay....
A little more on the people we handed this to.
(1) Trafigura is the Swiss trading house that sells the oil and now carries Venezuela's gold to US refineries too. In March 2024 it pleaded guilty in a Miami federal court to bribing Brazilian officials and paid $126 million. That is a felony conviction less than two years old, and it was handed a no-bid contract to market another country's oil "at the request of the U.S. government."
(2) Vitol, the other trader, paid $135 million in 2020 under a deferred prosecution agreement for bribery in three countries. One of Vitol's senior traders gave $5 million to the president's super PAC, then stood in the White House on January 9 and told Trump that the "influence you have over the Venezuelans" would make sure he got what he wanted. Vitol had the first contract five days later.
(3) Alejandro Betancourt is the Venezuelan businessman the Pentagon just took a 35 percent stake alongside. His earlier company, Derwick Associates, won billions in no-bid power-plant contracts under Chávez. Federal prosecutors in Miami named him as an unindicted co-conspirator in a $1.2 billion scheme to launder PDVSA money. He hired Rudy Giuliani in 2019 to lobby the Justice Department about it. The AP reports that investigation was "paused earlier this year." Spain reopened its own case against him in June. He has never been charged and denies wrongdoing, and he now has the United States military as a business partner under a contract nobody outside the government has read.
(4) And David Rivera, a former congressman and Marco Rubio's old housemate, was convicted on May 1 of acting as an unregistered foreign agent after taking a $50 million contract from Citgo's parent company to lobby for normalizing relations with the Maduro government. Rubio testified at his trial. Rubio's State Department now signs off on every dollar that leaves the Venezuela account.
The president says we "paid for that war many times over" and that "to the victor belong the spoils." The executive order says it isn't our money. Bessent says it's our asset and won't say how big. Meanwhile Venezuela's acting president spent July writing to King Charles begging for gold in a London vault while we sat on eleven billion dollars of her country's oil revenue.
The written agreement Bessent promised Congress in February still has not been produced. When asked Tuesday when they'd get it: "I'll check with my staff."
Sure as heck looks like we are stealing from Venezuela and Congress doesn't have a clue, doesn't care, or both.
“Anything could happen with me”
Truer words never spoken
NEW: Trump tells Axios he's approaching major crossroads in Iran war
"It's a big decision. Anything could happen with me."
axios.com/2026/09/17/trump-a…
BINGOOOOO
Allow me to interpret what’s happening.
Anthropic is being audited.
Anthropic desires to file an S-1, as they would like to go public. Therefore they need an audit. And by “they”, I mean the VC’s who invested in them. So “they” can exit their position and pass the bag to firemen, nurses, teachers and policemen.
How does this go from the VC’s to the working man and woman? Because the size of the IPO will automatically qualify Anthropic for the Fortune 500 and the Dow Jones 100. Therefore, every working person with a 401k or pension will end up owning a little bit of Anthropic in their mutual funds. Teachers hold the bag, VC’s take the cash. Thank you, come again.
Now back to the audit. The audit required is a PCAOB audit, Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. This audit is what all public companies must comply with be on the stock market. Revenue recognition, expense classification, depreciation, related party transactions, etc. It’s there for consumer protection.
This audit is TOUGH. It is INVASIVE. There is no way to lie your way through it. Any company that passes a PCAOB audit automatically earns my trust on finances.
How do I know? Because I’ve been through it before. @ChangRobotics is 2 year PCAOB audited and currently underway for a 3 year audit. It’s brutal. The same as showing up as the valedictorian to your high school graduation, except you’re naked, and you have to walk on stage and deliver the speech. It’s rough. And I know many incredible founders that can’t pass one.
Now, why would Anthropic be leaking all kind of weird statements lately about “self pacing” a slow down on AI (e.g. they are WAY behind on revenue), and profitable if they didn’t have expenses (e.g. we just learned for the first time what our expenses are, because we’re being audited).
Because they were claiming NVIDIA discounts and Microsoft cloud credits as revenue. Because they had no clue what their expenses were, or why it even mattered. Because they had unlimited investor capital and their job was to burn it to make an LLM. Well, they did a great job with that!
That’s the same as my wife coming home with Bed Bath and Beyond coupons and telling me it’s her paycheck. Ummm, not the same, sweetheart.
So by now hopefully you can see that Anthropic is in a PCAOB audit right now, in order to file an S-1 and go public, and pass the bag to teachers so the VC’s get profits. And hopefully that explains their “crazy” behavior.
In reality you can be grateful to KPMG, PWC, or whoever is auditing Anthropic, because it’s the first time Dario learned that:
1) we are not profitable
2) expenses matter
3) coupons are not revenue
4) we have no clue how to be “profitable”
5) growth is hard when revenue numbers are in an audit and not a power point
-your neighborhood engineer
Ummmm wowww
This is a pretty stunning admission by the Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao, whose nomination is hung up in Congress, about how Iranian forces “blew the hell out of (US Navy’s 5th Fleet base in) Bahrain.” Haven’t heard a senior US official admit this on the record until now. See Epoch Times interview with Cao below.

























