1500 posts! - Thank you!

  Today, on this 1st of August 2025, we have reached 1,500 posts on this blog. Thank you! 

  What I originally envisioned as a technical blog to provide data and background to current events has slowly moved towards a more nuanced and balanced effort to present different sides of the news which are seldom covered by the medias. 

  Covid-19 was the prototype. It was obvious from the very beginning that the narrative was not making any sense: A bat on the wet market in Wuhan? Having been to China regularly, I knew that the Chinese do not eat bats, but conversely that there was really a "bat woman", a researcher studying virus on bats at the Wuhan Institute of virology. Likewise, that the Corona virus had been selected a long time ago as a highly weaponizable virus due to its amazing capabilities to mutate fast. Then we learned that the virus strains were coming from Canada with a technology from North Carolina to erase the insertions. Still, an Indian team had been obliged to withdraw its statement that part of HIV had been inserted in the virus because the insertions were not visible. Clearly, everything was being orchestrated by someone and the rabbit hole was deeper that it appeared. We now know how toxic the mRNA vaccines were and that this too was part of the plan. No evaluation, no testing, no nothing. Just "normal reaction to an emergency" we were told although clearly all this had been in the works for years. 

  If Corona, then, what else? Of course the elephant in the room is 9/11. When I was a young student, I visited the twin towers just after their completion and remember being told that they would withstand the shock of a Boeing 707 "without problem". Better, the core steel beams were getting thicker as you went down the towers to support their weight. They simply could not fall. But they did and to this day, more than 3,000 architects have demanded a thorough analysis of the destruction which has never been done. Likewise, pilots have demanded how could inexperienced terrorists, who could hardly fly a Cessna, succeed in flying to perfection the planes with a maneuver that more competent pilots were adamant they would find very difficult to perform. Let's not talk about the destruction of building 7. I remember seeing a video a few years ago of New York firemen weeping, when they realized that they had been lied to. There people had heard the explosions, they had seen the molten steel flowing bellow the rubles. And that unfortunately will remain the main obstacle to the truth. The dissonance between what people want to believe and the reality of governments having no hesitation whatsoever to lie through their teeth.      

  But to explore usefully such controversial subjects, it is essential to retain a solid scientific framework which is often lacking from journalistic reports. One example comes to mind: "Redacted" by  Clayton Morris.  I enjoy their incisive style and consequently often follow their news reports. They do not shy away from controversial subjects like UFO or more objectionable conspiracy theories. Fine. But then a few days ago, I was listening to a podcast concerning a secret base on the dark side of the Moon. How could anybody believe such nonsense? We can hardly put a man or a women on the Moon these days and there would be regular flights to the other side of the Moon? This is both preposterous and technically impossible. When I was in the US, I worked both with NASA and the JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) in Passadena where I could see how complex space missions were. The military do have their mini automatic shuttle, the OMV which is flying from time to time. But we are nowhere close to flying regularly to the Moon. This would require a gigantic program like Apollo in the 1960s which would not stay secret very long.  .  

  So as Carl Sagan once said; "It is essential to keep an open mind but not so wide that the brain falls off!" And this is what we will keep doing on this blog. Explore the darker side of the human adventure while being careful not to be engulfed in the darkness by keeping the light of science and sanity shining firmly over our heads. 

 Conspiracies do exist and they should be exposed. But not everything is a conspiracy. We do not control the weather although we can mess with it. We do not control earthquakes at all. Strange occurrences do happen, coincidences too. Powerful people are not a monolithic power directing human affairs. But when statistical laws are broken and the odds seem to favor a party more than expected, we not only should shine a light on the issue but it is in fact a duty. We owe it to ourselves for the progress of science and humanity. As much as possible, this blog will continue contributing to uncovering the truth, especially when it is clearly interfered with. 

 

Mainstream Naysayers Gather As Hopes Rise For 4th Year Of Record Coral On The Great Barrier Reef

   I already wrote about The Great Barrier Reef 3 or 4 years ago. Not only is it not dying but it is actually doing very well. As do all the other reefs I have seen all over Asia. Temperature doesn't kill coral but conversely accelerates its growth. 

  It is almost intuitive in a sense. Think about these giant ecosystems which are often close to 300 million years old. There have gone through glaciations and extreme warming periods. Oceans rising and falling, asteroids and huge volcanic eruption and somehow found a way to flourish again on the other side.  

  Species can change and adapt. The coral crown will rise and fall to stay just bellow water, but they can also plunge deeper when needed. Tsunami break them but do very little harm. Larva are everywhere, floating in the ocean, ready to colonize any propitious location. In other words, these are highly evolved and flexible super-organisms.    

  What will annihilate them, are human activities which are either polluting, like mineral harbors in Australia or physically damaging such as dredging or using explosives for fishing in the Philippines. 

  Warm waters? No effect whatsoever. The warmer it is, I have seen over 33C in Papua New Guinea, the better and the larger they grow!  

Authored by Chris Morrison via DailySceptic.org,

In the next few days, the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) will issue its annual report on the state of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). For alarmists promoting the Net Zero fantasy the news has been dire over the last three years, with record coral reported across the largest reef in the world.

Such is the obvious despair even daft excuses suggesting it is the wrong type of coral have been heard.

Faced with inconvenient facts, the usual groomed game plan in mainstream media has been to issue dire warnings of possible imminent collapse and then keep schtum when the sensational figures surface.

Recently the BBC gave us its “’underwater bushfire’ cooking Australia’s reefs”. Alas, the Australian Government’s Reef Authority is less cataclysmic in its reporting, noting indications in June this year that there were “no current heat stresses across the Reef”. Between April 14th and May 31st, 342 impact inspections were carried out which found coral bleaching on just three of the 34 reefs surveyed.

We must wait for a fuller picture from the upcoming 2024/25 AIMS survey but available details suggest another healthy year for the GBR. The BBC agitprop reported on dire conditions at the Ningaloo Reef off the Australian north-west coast, but it linked the GBR by noting a “worrying superlative”. Reefs on both sides of the continent have been bleached for what is claimed to be the first time. “It’s like a raging bushfire that has persisted for months now, wreaking harm right across the coast”, said Paul Gamblin, who heads up the Australian Marine Conservation Society. “It’s an absolutely devastating event and people are reeling from it. It is enormous. It’s unprecedented. It’s absolutely not normal”.

Quite how the BBC can witness a current underwater “bush fire” raging across the GBR is not immediately clear. Nor is it clear how the BBC can report first time bleaching across all of Australia’s main reefs when the process is a natural event that has certainly occurred over hundreds of millions of years of coral development. The BBC reports that the “heatwaves” in Australia are all part of something called the “fourth global bleaching event” which “experts say” has swept across large areas of the globe affecting more than 80% of the world’s coral reefs.

Meanwhile, back in the world of observational science, the Reef Authority reports that in June 2025 most of the observed GBR coral bleaching was at low levels of 1–10% and only in the northern region. No bleaching was observed in the central and southern regions. The biggest current threat appears to be the ever-lurking crown-of-thorns starfish, with outbreaks impacting a number of regions. Work continues on culling operations. Drops in ocean temperatures have been reported across the Reef, although they are still said to be above average – an average, of course, based on just a few decades of measurement. Short-term rises in temperature can induce coral bleaching but they appear to quickly recover. Tropical coral grows in waters between 24°C and 32°C, and growth is generally quicker in warmer seas. Short-term natural spikes come and go, leaving a politicised trail of shrieking headlines in their wake.

The AIMS annual survey usually runs up to June so it is of interest to observe what the Reef Authority has been reporting during the year. In February, summer sea temperatures were falling across most of the Reef with impact surveys showing low levels of bleaching across almost the entire area. Back in September 2024, the surveys revealed that most of the 31 individual reefs observed “showed no signs of coral bleaching, with very few cases of minor bleaching reported in each region”. In October, it was noted that temperatures across the marine park were around 0.6°C higher than average but they were “not at levels that typically cause impacts such as coral bleaching”.

The mainstream grooming over coral on the Great Barrier Reef, once a poster event for inducing mass climate psychosis, is plain for all to see. Ahead of 2024’s third record-breaking growth year, a convenient non-story appeared in Nature that claimed “climate change” posed an “existential threat” to the GBR. “The science tells us that the GBR is in danger – and we should be guided by the science”, Professor Helen McGregor from the University of Wollongong told Victoria Gill of BBC News. The existential threat is “now realised” reported the gibbering Guardian. In fact the Nature paper used proxy temperatures and climate models to suggest temperatures around the vast reef area were the highest recorded in 400 years.

Your correspondent might have missed subsequent reports in both the Guardian and BBC about the three record-breaking years of coral growth. I asked Grok for help and the reply came back: “I couldn’t find reports from the Guardian and the BBC specifically stating that the Great Barrier Reef has shown ‘three record-breaking years of growth’.” Grok further noted that there was no coverage of last year’s performance but rather it focused on challenges due to “global heating”. Just four months before last year’s announcement, the Guardian noted that the GBR faced its worst summer on record with widespread bleaching.

Will this be a record fourth year of a news blackout on the amazing resilience of one of the great wonders of the natural world?

Is This The End Of The California Bullet Train? - and the US?

   America was built on its rather successful private and often public investment, Radio and TV networks, electrification, freeway system, huge rail system, and many others. 50 years ago, it was by far the most modern country in the world. The BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) metro in San Francisco was futuristic. The Space Needle and monorail of Seattle likewise, the Arch in Saint Louis was majestic. Not all was pristine under the sun but overall the country was rising. 

  Now? Almost all the largest cities are a dump which you'd better avoid as a tourist. (The locals know where not to go!) New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia are worst. Although let's not talk about fallen metropolis such as Detroit or Cleveland. There are of course nicer places but mostly, you can't afford it thanks to extreme polarization of wealth.

  So what better symbol of such a downturn than the new California rapid train system under construction? If you have ever been to the place, you know that the coast, think Santa Barbara or Newport Beach are for the rich and the Central Valley is where Mexicans grow food for the rest of the country and more importantly, that the two are separated by the impassable Sierra Nevada. What the pioneers found most difficult to cross during the gold rush was not Death Valley which they were avoiding North and South but the Sierras with their foreboding passes which were impossible to circumvent. 

  So from the beginning, with a project supposed to go from Merced to bakerfield, it was obvious that there was a problem. What about the huge tunnels needed across high mountains and the San Andreas Fault to reach the high density centers? Mistake of planning? Inability to consider the technical challenges?        

  To make a long story short, if the line was in China, the trains would already be running. In the US, 90% of the line is not built and it is of course the most complex part, by far. So in the end, what would have ended up as a useless train line anyway will never be complete, and that in a nutshell is the state of America today. 

Authored by William Anderson via The Mises Institute,

It has been The Project That Will Not Die.

What began as a California statewide voter referendum in 2008 to approve initial funding for a high-speed rail system between San Francisco and Los Angeles has become a financial black hole with no railroad to show for it.

Despite statements from Gov. Gavin Newsom that the system is fine, the Trump administration has announced it was pulling $4 billion from the project. In typical Donald Trump fashion, the president, on Truth Social, called it a “train to nowhere,” adding: “The Railroad we were promised still does not exist, and never will. This project was Severely Overpriced, Overregulated, and NEVER DELIVERED.”

Not to be outdone, California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered the state to sue for the money, claiming that the Trump administration was breaking a legal contract. No doubt, a friendly federal judge will order the money reinstated, but one doubts that after appeals, the California High Speed Rail Authority will win.

Despite rhetoric to the contrary, The Donald is right on this one. From the project’s 2008 start to the present time, the idea of the state building a train that could go from San Francisco to LA in 2 hours and 40 minutes has never been a possibility, thanks to California’s unforgiving geography. Furthermore, even if California authorities were able to find even $100 billion more for this project, it could not be built as planned, and certainly not as promised.

The Promise

In the annals of boondoggery, it is doubtful that any politician—even those that are especially venal and corrupt—ever sets out to create a boondoggle. While “boondoggle” is a word that probably is used too often (or maybe not often enough, if one really takes a hard look at government projects), it would seem that the word should have been created for the California bullet train project. The potential for financial losses is staggering, even by the high standards of financial chicanery that governments at all levels have been executing in the 21st century.

Joel Kotkin and Wendell Cox of The Spectator have written what should be the definitive article on this monstrosity, and their analysis is devastating. (You know, they state the facts of the case and the facts don’t need to be embellished in this situation.) In the beginning was the referendum:

When voters approved $9 billion for the plan in 2008, the California High-Speed Rail Authority estimated that it would cost $33 billion and start running by 2020 – and that was just for the San Joaquin Valley portion. The cost has since ballooned to $130 billion, and no stretch is operational.

That should sink in. Seventeen years ago, voters approved a plan to build something that would supposedly be done 12 years later. Today, the earliest projection of finishing a truncated line in the Central Valley—a 171 mile stretch between Bakersfield and Merced—is 2030 to 2033, and this project has not met a single deadline.

The Reality

As I noted in a previous article last spring, construction of the line has been occurring on that Central Valley stretch, but even if this part of the project is ever finished, there are still another 300-plus miles to go, and much of that will have to go through a number of California’s many mountain ranges. In the northern portion, a 1.6-mile and another 13-mile tunnel through Pacheco Pass would be required, and neither tunnel is in even preliminary planning stages.

In the southern portion, once the train goes south of Bakersfield, it hits the Tehachapi Mountains, where the current freight line goes over a pass at 4,000 feet after passing through the famous Tehachapi Loop. While a slow-moving diesel-electric train can make the climb, going over this uplift is not conducive to electrified high-speed passenger rail, which would require extensive tunneling through this mountain range that has peaks almost 8,000 feet high. Like the planned Pacheco Pass tunnels, the proposed dig through the Tehachapi exists only in the abstract.

The last leg goes through the San Gabriel Mountains, which will require extensive tunneling and grading before finally coming into Los Angeles proper. At this point, one understands the enormous task that would be ahead should the Central Valley portion ever be finished, as this portion is the easiest part of the entire project. Write Kotkin and Cox:

Worse yet, the biggest financial obstacles loom ahead. Much of what has been built has been easier-to-build flat valley land. Far more expensive tasks lie ahead, such as building 30 miles of tunnels through the San Gabriel Mountains and nearly 15 miles of rails traversing Pacheco Pass. One stretch must climb from approximately 400 feet above sea level in Bakersfield to about 4,100 feet. If the costs of the Los Angeles and San Francisco extensions replicate the experience of the much-easier Bakersfield-to-Merced segment, our analysis suggests a final cost that could be nearly double present projection: about $250 billion.

Most likely, even $250 billion might be an underestimation, and there is no way that the state can fund such a gargantuan project by itself, given that this coming year’s California state budget itself is $321 billion. Kotkin and Cox, again:

With no prospect of private investment, it’s hard to see where the money will come from. This puts Governor (and aspiring presidential candidate) Newsom in a tight spot, forcing him to choose between funding the money-mad train and balancing his budget, or addressing critical progressive priorities such as public-employee pensions and free healthcare for the state’s estimated 2.5 million undocumented immigrants.

Future Prospects for the Bullet Train

Despite the “finish it at all costs” rhetoric coming from Sacramento and the Democrats in California’s Congressional delegation, the bullet train project will never be finished in its entirety, but California’s Democrats will do everything they can to finish the present 171-mile project. If not, every Republican running for office in the state will show photos of unfinished bridges and viaducts and point out that California taxpayers will be paying for money borrowed through the bond issues into perpetuity.

If this stretch of the railroad is finished, it will probably be the least ridden high-speed line in the world and will be the subject of jokes. However, one can imagine that whoever is in the governor’s seat will declare victory, not just because the line is finished, but also because they will have spent billions of dollars in the process, enriching contractors, unions, and anyone else standing under the money spigot.

At the end of the classic 1935 movie “Little Caesar,” Rico the gangster (played by the incomparable Edward G. Robinson) is gunned down by Police Sergeant Flaherty, his last words being, “Mother O’ Mercy, is this the end of Rico?” One can only hope that Trump has played the role of Flaherty in putting the California Bullet Train out of its misery.

California politicians have shown themselves capable of mind-bending foolishness, but nothing in the history of foolishness in this state comes close to this railroad. If nothing else, however, perhaps the steel and concrete that makes up the “bullet train” can stand as a warning to future governors and presidents that economic laws exist for a reason, and that those that bend or break them will have to deal with the consequences.

U.S. Troops to Ukraine? No One Is Telling the Truth… by COL. Douglas Macgregor (Video - 25mn)

   Another no-nonsense video from COL. Douglas Macgregor. The good thing nowadays is that these videos are not cancelled by YouTube anymore. Some progress then? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qsdEL1kmXc

 

Is Trump doing his very best to boost BRICS?

  You would be forgiven to believe that by shooting at everything that moves left and right, Trump is actually boosting BRICS towards a post dollar monetary system. 

  The 3 articles below concern, Brazil, Iran and India. But Trump is also busy punishing Russia and China of course. Without mentioning the "Huuge" deals which have recently been signed with Europe, Japan and Korea which sooner or later these countries will find the term indigestible. 

  From a purely financial aspect, I perfectly understand the stance of the USA: The current desequilibriums are unsustainable. In fact, everybody understands, which is why most countries are open to discuss the issue. But taking this opportunity to enforce a neo-colonial policy is simply no way to look for a solution.  

  So in the end, what will happen? Well, the writing is on the wall. Diversify as fast and as soon as possible. This in silence is what is taking place right now. Countries will of course be "punished" down the road for doing just that. But by then, there will be very little left for Trump to leverage short of actual military confrontation. 

  And confronting the world will quickly sound very familiar to those who have read Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire". Just too many "barbarians" everywhere!

Western Pressure On India Over Russia Already Backfired Even If It Partially Complies

 It’s reshaping Indian policymakers’ views of the West and breeding resentment of their governments among its society...

Iran Plans To Abandon GPS & Replace With China's BeiDou System

 "The era of blind, naive dependence on US-controlled infrastructure is rapidly coming to an end."

Trump Punishes Brazil With Sweeping Tariffs, Sanctions - Which Bolsonaro Hails As 'Not Revenge, But Justice'

 Goes after Bolsonaro nemesis, Supreme Federal Court justice Alexandre de Moraes...

 

Scotland and the West are being DESTROYED by Neil Oliver (Redacted Video - 1h18mn)

   A powerful voice for freedom in a continent where there is so little left. 

   Neil Oliver is probably one of the best speakers denouncing the censorship and restrictions on free speech we now see in Western Europe. 

   The worst is that this is what we said would happen a few years ago and now we are there, seeing it happening in real time. Almost no difference for most people but a world of difference for an almost, but not completely fallen, society. 

   A later day William Wallace screaming "freedom" at the foot of the Stirling Castle in Edinburgh. Well worth listening to:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp4L6Nt7APQWatch Now on Redacted

 

Cynical, Aloof And Insatiable: The Rise Of The Postmodern State Aristocracy

  The reason why the system cannot change and will repeat former waves of aristocratic blindness and keep sliding towards a period of upheaval. This has happened many times in the past and the outcome of turmoil and revolution cannot be avoided at this late stage of the cycle. 

  This again is the example of Germany as the country is most certainly a prototype of what has gone wrong with the system, but with some adjustments, the example could easily be applied to almost any other developed countries.  

Cynical, Aloof And Insatiable: The Rise Of The Postmodern State Aristocracy

While the political class freely taps into outsized debt programs, it urges citizens to embrace austerity. The increasingly brazen plundering of taxpayers' dwindling resources signals the emergence of a detached state aristocracy in Berlin.

Two legendary quips—likely apocryphal—best capture the decadent twilight of the French monarchy. One is Madame de Pompadour’s fatalistic remark after the crushing French defeat at Roßbach in 1757: “Après moi, le déluge”—“After me, the flood.” Let others deal with the aftermath.

The second is Marie Antoinette’s infamous line, allegedly uttered when informed the starving masses lacked bread: “Let them eat brioche.” Though doubtful in historicity, both lines remain enduring symbols of elite arrogance and detachment.

Postmodern Neo-Feudalism

One needn’t search the archives of Versailles to observe such disdain today. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has repeatedly scolded citizens for complacency. At a CDU economic summit in May, he warned that “a four-day workweek and work-life balance alone won’t preserve prosperity” and called for labor reforms and stronger German leadership in the EU.

Perhaps he’s right. But in Germany’s welfare paradise, such pronouncements—especially from those who have benefited most—feel gallingly tone-deaf. Merz critiques the very citizens who, through their toil, sustain the fantasy of a universal welfare state.

This from the man responsible for the most lavish debt spree in modern German history—a figure emblematic of a political elite either unwilling or incapable of addressing Germany’s structural failings. While everyday Germans endure inflation, mass migration, and overregulation, their rulers refuse even minimal reform despite access to princely tax revenues.

Joining Merz in the choir of moralizers is President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who has called for a “more modest” lifestyle.

Yet this same Steinmeier billed taxpayers €205 million for a temporary office during renovations to Bellevue Palace—without so much as considering renting existing office space. Such extravagance seems to elevate him to a special tier within Berlin’s elite.

A Pay Bump for the Nobility

Money appears to be of little concern in these circles. While citizens juggle inflation and taxes, lawmakers wonder aloud: “What exactly is the people’s problem?” Perhaps they should start with their own salaries. Since 2013, Bundestag salaries have climbed 43%—automatically, annually on July 1st. Today, a German MP earns over €11,800 per month—more than double the national average gross salary. After 20 years, they enjoy pensions exceeding 70% of salary—on top of their state pension, if applicable.

Ordinary citizens, by contrast, have seen real wage growth of under 10% since 2013.

In the private sector, income and pensions are hard-won through skill and sustained effort—an ethic worthy of respect.

In politics and public administration, however, taxpayer-funded budgets support careerists who have escaped the market’s performance principle. This, more than anything, defines today’s state aristocracy: an elite living in a risk-free economic parallel universe, cushioned by government agencies and NGOs that transform employment into a full-coverage entitlement.

Media Hegemony and Thought Control

Controlling the budget is only part of this power. The state aristocracy also commands the media ecosystem. Beyond the publicly funded broadcasters lies a phalanx of affirmatively aligned media, many propped up with public subsidies, ensuring state narratives dominate the discourse.

This trend reaches its most aggressive form in Brussels, where free speech on decentralized platforms like X or Telegram is targeted through the Digital Services Act (DSA). The zeal with which the EU seeks to crush dissenting media reveals that the battle for civil liberties may ultimately be fought in the realm of speech.

The Bureaucracy Beneath the Crown

This elite also has its administrative backbone. Roughly 5.4 million work in Germany’s public sector—two million of them as lifetime civil servants. Just ten years ago, the number was 4.7 million, marking a 15% increase. Despite technological efficiencies, bureaucracy has swelled beyond control, driven by political will rather than administrative need.

This metastasizing bureaucracy is more than a power base; it is the engine of a new socialism—one that asserts a level of authority not seen since reunification. The government’s budget reflects this shift, as credit-funded stimulus is deployed to mask a deep structural crisis. These debt-financed outlays supercharge state interventionism and will likely lead to fiscal catastrophe.

Such funding is a boon to regulators and agencies who use it to justify their growing influence—public-sector entities increasingly behave like self-perpetuating corporations, competing for budget increases and morphing into states within the state.

Former SPD leader and labor minister Andrea Nahles, now head of the bloated Federal Employment Agency—with its 100,000 staff—epitomizes the cushy second careers awaiting loyal party functionaries.

The Climate Economy and War Profiteering

This is just one example from Germany’s hypertrophied bureaucracy. An even more grotesque iteration exists in the “climate economy.” In a desperate bid to keep this artificial sector afloat, thousands of EU officials oversee its massive subsidy machine. Alongside the arms industry, it forms a second economic pillar for the state aristocracy.

Bigger green budgets mean more corporate leaders become addicted to subsidies. The result? A tacit pact: the state buys business silence in exchange for handouts. Criticism of the failed green transition is taboo. With no real oversight and media immunity, the state aristocracy slips further into feudalism.

The European Commission’s next seven-year budget (2028–2034) plans for €750 billion in transfers—fuel for expanding bureaucracy, new appointments, and ample corruption opportunities.

The Silence of the Subsidy Barons

This is the structural flaw of populist democracies: political elites are selected exclusively through internal party channels and rarely earn credentials in the private sector. Term limits, pension caps, and salary ties to previous private income might check this perverse dynamic—but such reforms are fantasy.

This state aristocracy operates with near-total immunity. And so, as Germany’s crisis deepens, we’ll continue receiving sermons from the likes of Merz and Steinmeier—elites who know full well that their fragile authority ultimately rests on the very economic class they so brazenly disparage.

US Goods Trade Deficit Shrinks More Than All Expectations In June

  "ONLY 85 billion dollars of deficit in goods in a the US in June!" 

  "A win for Trump!"

  This is what is called "economic news" these days. Amazing indeed! 

  So we are supposed to believe that after front running tariffs with 150 billion + for 3 months, back to "normal" deficit is great news? Only at the top of a market bubble will whatever is not abyssal be considered "good news". Oh and whatever conversely is abyssal is also good news because it will oblige the FED to react and lower interest rates.   

  As we have explained many times, as "responsible" for the world currency, the US cannot not have a huge deficit if only because it needs to provide liquidity for the rest of the world. It is both a blessing (free money) and a curse (deindustrialization) which is why no one in his right mind will want to replace the dollar short of a cataclysm, especially China which would very quickly see a huge spike in the value of the Yuan and of unemployment as jobs and investments move to Vietnam and other countries. 

  Imagine we get a deficit of "only" 75 billion dollars next month. This would be announced as another "great" news. "The Trump strategy is working!" Except that the world would now be starved of dollars and short of a recession (likely) the price of the currency would rise which would allow the FED to lower interest rates at last but would also make US goods less attractive around the world.  

 So expect every micro move to be welcomed as great news from now on although fundamentally, nothing much will change because nothing much can change... and the deficits will keep rising inexorably, ever closer to monetary abyss.   

US Goods Trade Deficit Shrinks More Than All Expectations In June

The US merchandise-trade deficit shrank in June by more than expected, reflecting a broad decline in imports as the pre-tariff rush to secure goods unwinds.

The shortfall in goods trade narrowed 10.8% from the prior month to $86 billion...

Source: Bloomberg

This deficit was smaller than all economists' forecasts...

Source: Bloomberg

Imports fell 4.2% to $264.2 billion, including the smallest value of inbound shipments of consumer goods since September 2020.

Imports of industrial supplies and motor vehicles also fell. US exports of merchandise decreased 0.6%.

Source: Bloomberg

In addition to the merchandise-trade data, the latest advance economic indicators report showed retail inventories rose 0.3% last month, the most since September and reflecting a surge at car dealers. Stockpiles at wholesalers climbed 0.2%.

More complete June trade figures that include the balance on the services account are due Aug. 5, but for now, this seems like a win for President Trump.

Preprint: Synthetic mRNA Vaccines and Transcriptomic Dysregulation: Evidence from New-Onset Adverse Events and Cancers Post-Vaccination

  Although we had some serious hints from the beginning, we are starting to see, scientifically, how extremely toxic the mRNA vaccines truly are!

Via: Preprints:

Synthetic mRNA vaccines have raised concerns regarding prolonged spike protein expression, immune activation, and potential off-target effects. This study investigates
transcriptomic alterations in individuals with new-onset adverse events or cancer following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination.

Methods: Bulk RNA sequencing was performed on peripheral blood from two patient groups: individuals with new-onset nonmalignant adverse events and individuals newly diagnosed with cancer post-vaccination. A control group of healthy individuals was used for comparison. Differential gene expression was analyzed using DESeq2, and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was conducted using the MSigDB database and custom gene sets. Results: Both vaccine patient groups displayed widespread transcriptional dysregulation. In the nonmalignant adverse event group, hallmark enrichments included mitochondrial dysfunction, proteasome-mediated stress, transcriptomic instability, and systemic inflammation. The cancer group exhibited additional hallmarks of genomic instability, and epigenetic reprogramming. Nonsense-mediated decay (NMD), ribosomal stress, and MYC activation were prominent in both groups, while immune signaling via TLRs and type I interferons was particularly elevated in cancer patients.

Conclusions: The observed transcriptomic profiles indicate persistent cellular stress responses, mitochondrial dysfunction, and immune dysregulation following exposure to mRNA vaccines, potentially in susceptible individuals. Shared and distinct molecular signatures in both cohorts demonstrate underlying mechanisms contributing to post-vaccine symptomatology and complications including oncogenesis and or progression of malignant disease. These findings underscore the need for a deeper investigation into the long-term safety of mRNA vaccines and host response variability.

The Rape Of Europa by Portfolio Armor

   What is going on in Europe is a disgrace but a well deserved disgrace. 

   Second rate politicians jetting around the world to be humiliated day after day and in the end bankrupting their countries. What could be more fitting to the decline of Europe? 

   Unlike Austin Powers, it must not be very good to be them! After being treated like second rate ambassadors coming to Kowtow in China and being kicked out early after only a day of discussions for being disrespectful. It was the turn of Trump to enjoy his role of Uber predator:

 "If you do what I say, you'll get 15%"

 "Can we get any better?"

 "No, 15%!"

 "15%.... "  

  No strength, no intelligence, total dejection. Almost painful to watch.

  I would call this a turning point for Europe but I am afraid, worse, much worse is yet to come!  

   Don Quixote would both recognize the decaying Spanish empire and the windmills! 

The Rape Of Europa by Portfolio Armor

A riff on Titian's "The Rape of Europa", with Ursula von der Leyen as Europa and Trump as Zeus disguised as a bull.

The Double Humiliation Of Europe

That's a pretty clever image, isn't it? Starting with Titian's "The Rape Of Europa" and putting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's face on Europa and President Trump's face on Zeus disguised as the bull. If I were a certain one of my fellow contributing editors, that image would be the whole post, but instead, I'm going to give you some of the best reactions to Ursula's brace of humiliations at the hands of Xi and Trump. 

Humiliated In China 

For some perspective, here's how China treats a visiting foreign leader it respects, in this case, Russian President Vladimir Putin last year. 

Compare to the welcome Ursula von der Leyen and her entourage got in China last week. Imagine President Trump being herded onto an airport bus like a budget airline passenger. That’s how China just welcomed the EU. Like she was about to pick up her rental from Hertz.

Humiliated In Scotland 

The worst was yet to come in Scotland, however, as she met President Trump at his golf club there over the weekend. The words cut off after "Trump's" below are "humiliation rituals". European reactions ranged from anger to embarrassment. 

"

I’m embarrassed to be European today. I can’t believe we agree to a deal like this. No deal would have been way better long term.!" Niklas Oestberg

"

 

Complete and utter rip-off. Total humiliation. What is the purpose of the EU if it just caves when faced with the slightest challenge? Clown show." Europe Defender

 

 As Armchair Warlord summed it up, the Europeans have paid the price for their Russophobia by cementing their subordinate status to the U.S.