▶️ VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: MIDTERM PALPITATIONS
⭐️ HelloKitty’sGotAHairTrigger
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: MIDTERM PALPITATIONS
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ecent regional special elections have seen Democrat candidates win a number of special election races. Democrats, lacking a positive agenda, have bet on chaos, Trump hysteria, and media allies to spark a midterm backlash as Trump’s economic rebound gains steam.
Now energized left-wing politicos remind the nation daily that every incumbent president, except three over the last century, has suffered substantial midterm losses in Congress.
Polls show Trump suffering an average 11-point negative unfavorability rating. So Democrats promise to soon stop all new legislation and end Trump and his counterrevolution itself. However, the Left will never offer any alternative agenda on the economy, the border, crime, or foreign policy.
Instead, the new Democrat-Socialist Party views the Biden disaster of 2021-2024 not as a result of his puppeteers’ toxic policies of open borders, 21 percent aggregate inflation, dead-end green energy subsidies, DEI mandates, trans fixations, and an appeasing foreign policy that led to wars abroad and emboldened China.
Instead, they now blame those catastrophic years on Biden’s own enfeebled state; as if he were merely a hapless, debilitated messenger for their otherwise superb radical message.
So absent a positive agenda, Democrats will simply run all their state and federal campaigns as if Trump, their Satanic monster, is on every ballot. Their Trump obsessions result in three now well-worn strategies.
The first, of course, is still more chaos. The Left believes that the unending 2020 riots cost Trump the election.
Ever since, they have sought to concoct a nihilist replay; whether the Tesla hysterias, the perpetual threats of government shutdowns, tough-guy talk of open insurrection against the Federal Government, or the current, performative-art, anti-ICE violence in Minneapolis.
They concede most Americans still support Trump’s closed borders and legal-only immigration, but hope they want a return to “normalcy” even more.
The more violence, Nazi-invective, and sheer craziness the left can instill; storming church services, ramming ICE vehicles, taking over the streets, or boasting of armed resistance—the more they believe that voters will blame not them, the instigators, but Trump, the target of their insurrectionary madness.
In Democrats’ blinkered reckoning, voters supposedly would prefer 10,000 illegal aliens methodically and daily swarming the border instead of seeing Minneapolis in utter neo-Confederate revolt.
Second, Democrats seize on every Trump art-of-the-deal excess or coarse putdown. They scream that narcissistic Trump’s new ballroom has wrecked the White House. Or madman Trump was on the verge of fighting our NATO brethren in Greenland. Or cruel Trump wrecked our relationship with the lovable and blameless Canadians.
Democrats grant that voters sincerely like Trump’s secure border, the new trade agreements that correct past asymmetries, a rearming NATO, a defanged Iran, and the end to Maduro’s communist thugocracy—but not Trump’s messy art-of-the-deal means to achieve those desirable ends.
They scream that Trump talked crazily of making Canada a 51st state, not that it was finally shocked into promising to pay what it owed back in NATO contributions, securing its side of the border, and addressing its massive trade surpluses with the US.
So, Trump needs to avoid the very melodramas the left wants to exploit, which detract from his own undeniable accomplishments and the Democrats’ previous disastrous record.
Third, Democrats still rely on their ossified partnerships with the media, academia, and popular culture to mouth the old talking points. So we are told ad nauseam that Trump caused the “affordability” crisis. Or Trump is still Putin’s puppet. Or Trump was an Epstein groupie. Or Trump’s trade war crashed the economy.
Behind this stale Democrat boilerplate lies a deep fear that the Nietzschean Trump, just as he beat all their lawfare ambushes, will also do the impossible and avoid losing the Congress in November. And they should fear.
Trump’s catalysts for a booming 2026 economy are already in place. No one can now stop massive deregulation, new tax cuts and incentives, recalibrated tariffs, unprecedented foreign investment, record energy development, and the new emerging technologies.
All that is needed before the midterms is not controversial new initiatives, but more focus on the current boom in GDP, lower inflation, and increased purchasing power; all in contrast to Biden’s inflation disaster.
Voters still support closed borders and deportations of criminals and the millions who swarmed in under Biden. But the best way to remind them of a secure border is to concentrate on partnering with red and purple state and local law enforcement for the next few months.
Each week, the thousands of systematically deported criminals in these jurisdictions will contrast with the thousands of violent offenders who are sanctuaried and protected in failed blue states.
And without the smokescreen of the ICE psychodramas, there are a lot of Democrat fears; like the vast Somali fraud in Minnesota, the even greater welfare scandals emerging in California, and the antics and verbiage of the hard left, like Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and the herky-jerky Gavin Newsom, who turned California’s natural paradise into a manmade purgatory. ✪
▶️ JB SHURK: HOW CAN THE ‘AUTHORITIES’ MAINTAIN LEGITIMACY?
⭐️ HelloKitty’sGotAHairTrigger
JB SHURK: HOW CAN THE ‘AUTHORITIES’ MAINTAIN LEGITIMACY?
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overnments habitually lie. They lie so often that it is peculiar for governments to claim “authority” on anything other than falsehood. Before the Gutenberg press and general literacy, “authorities” announced their self-serving lies in the public square. With the arrival of newsprint, “authorities” disseminated State propaganda as daily news. Radio and television revolutionized the mass manipulation of minds. The adoption of the personal computer, the rise of the Internet, the commercialization of pocket computers posing as handheld phones, and the sticky web of an ever-growing social media complex have made it possible for government “authorities” to reach inside every human brain and squish it into compliance. AI-powered machines now manufacture and disseminate lies faster than human-powered governments ever could.
Most people are only now realizing even in so-called “free” countries; government-sanctioned propaganda, censorship, and misdirection are pervasive and routine. To the surprise of citizens taught to “trust the authorities,” the unvarnished truth is a bitter pill to swallow: Governments regularly employ psychologically manipulative, and even exploitative, forms of information warfare against their own citizens. Politicians and generals tell lies to mobilize the American public for war. Economists and central bankers tell lies to justify money-printing that robs from the Middle Class and rewards wealthy elites. Government regulatory bodies tell lies about the safety of food and medicine before taking lucrative jobs inside the global food and pharmaceutical industries. The Chamber of Commerce calls the offshoring of blue-collar jobs and the importation of slave-produced crap “free trade.”
How can the word “authority” maintain any positive meaning when “authorities” are always wrong? At least since the First World War, scientific “authorities” have been promising human industry and mass commercialization would kill the planet in the “next few years.” After Trump thumped Hillary like a drum, Intelligence Community “authorities” concocted an elaborate scheme to frame the MAGA outsider as a Russian agent who threatened national security unless removed from office. When Bill Gates, Anthony Fauci, and the World Economic Forum sank the globe into mass COVID hysteria, health “authorities” promised children would die unless they sat behind plexiglass-enclosed desks, their parents got experimental injections every few months, and every stranger wore at least three masks!
Since the Second World War, the public trust in “authority” has evaporated. Why? Perhaps because “authorities” routinely lie, keep secrets, and cover up their crimes. Roughly three-quarters of Americans think the CIA killed President Kennedy. A top FBI official transformed a rather mundane Watergate scandal into a successful operation for taking down President Nixon after his landslide re-election victory. President Bush I pushed the “new world order.” President Clinton “did not have sexual relations with that woman.” President Bush II gave us endless war with few long-term successes. President Obama told us we could “keep” our doctors before doubling the cost of healthcare instead. Secretary of State Clinton was never prosecuted for keeping classified documents on an unsecured private server in her home, but President Biden made sure to send an FBI SWAT team to bust down President Trump’s doors.
Politicians, prosecutors, judges, and news media mouthpieces told us that 2020’s mass riots, arson, robbery, and murder were justified civil rights “protests” against racism. Those same “authorities” told us that J6 protesters seeking free and fair elections were “insurrectionists” and “terrorists.” Now those “authorities” tell us that anti-ICE insurrectionists terrorizing citizens and attacking federal agents are “protesting” for civil rights once again. When “authorities” describe riots as “protests” and protests as “insurrections,” words mean nothing.
Meanwhile, the average member of Congress enters office as a salaried “public servant” and exits office a millionaire! Inside every institution of “authority,” corruption is king!
A writer named Lucas Leiroz argues that revelations within the Epstein documents prove that “nothing legitimate remains in the Western world.” Predicting the “moral collapse of the elites,” he thinks the “systematic, organized, and ritualized” nature of their perversions and crimes constitutes nothing less than a civilizational “rupture.” Why? “When evidence emerges of extreme violence against children, of practices that go beyond any conventional criminal category, the discussion ceases to be legal and becomes civilizational.” The reason why people are fascinated with this scandal is that it undermines the legitimacy of so many powerful people in positions of “authority.” The very elites who have been exposed as monsters “continue to decide elections, wars, economic policies, and the fate of entire societies.”
Leiroz sees the Epstein scandal as the final straw for broad swaths of the public. “How can one continue to accept the authority of institutions that shielded this level of horror?” he asks. “How can respect be maintained for laws applied selectively by people who live above them?” Those are good questions.
As “authorities” have been exposed as liars, the public has lost trust in them. Now that “authorities” have been exposed as “pedophiles, satanists, and cannibals,” the public is disgusted with them. When members of society “still retain some sense of limits” and members of the “ruling class” behave as if they were “outside the common human species,” the structures of power forfeit moral legitimacy.
Leiroz says, “After Epstein, nothing can continue as before.” In the months ahead, we will see whether he is correct. This much is certainly true: For three-quarters of a century, trust in “authorities” has steadily declined. Over the last couple decades, those “authorities” have proven to be frauds, grifters, and liars. Now many of these same “authorities” have been exposed as sick and depraved perverts whose actions are, as Leiroz describes, “vile and essentially evil.” How are ordinary citizens supposed to ignore “absolute evil,” while so many devils maintain positions of “authority?”
The Devil is the father of all lies. We should not be surprised when the same “authorities” who regularly tell us lies end up behaving just as wickedly as the devil, too.
Why should liars, frauds, pedophiles, and evil perverts rule over us?✪
▶️ DON SURBER: TRANSLATING MARXISM INTO ENGLISH
⭐️ Jorline
DON SURBER: TRANSLATING MARXISM INTO ENGLISH
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oday I will humbly try to translate Marxist language into English:
Affordable care—Taxpayers spent $1.5 trillion on Obamacare in the past 15 years. At least half of that money went to insurance companies. The average health insurance premium doubled in that time.
Affordable housing—Taxpayers spent $1.2 trillion on housing in the past decade. At least half of that went to landlords. The average rose 66% in that time.
An unauthorized assisted suicide—Murder. Also known as the Canadian health care system.
Arrested a 5-year-old—ICE babysat a child left behind by his father, an illegal alien, who ran away from ICE agents in sub-freezing temperatures.
Assigned at birth—God assigns your sex at conception, not a doctor. The lefty phrase manages to deny the Lord, deny science and deny reality. I admire their execution of a rare triple play.
Basket of deplorables—Three words that killed Hillary’s political career.
Baseless—A legitimate claim by conservatives that does not appeal to liberals.
Body positive—Fat.
Check your privilege—Don’t play that funky music, white boy.
Cisgendered—The people who said born that way to justify homosexual activity now deny that people are born male or female.
Common sense gun control—Gun control that makes no sense at all.
Concentration camp—A phrase used to describe where ICE houses illegal aliens. It is inaccurate and anti-Semitic because it reduces the horrors Jews suffered in the Holocaust to being merely detained. This applies to lefty cries of genocide, Hitler and Nazis. If you apply a word incorrectly often enough it becomes meaningless.
Cultural appropriation—When white people try to enjoy the multiculturalism that the Left pushes.
Debunked—When you fall out of your bunk bed. I used to tell my top bunking son that there was a monster under his bed: his older brother. Liberals took over this word and turned it into a word to deny reality. They have many such words because they hate reality.
Diversity—United we stand, divided we fall. Diversity divides us.
Epstein Files—The latest quest to pin a scandal on Trump, only to turn up more dirt on Horndog Clinton.
Fact-check—Something newspaper editors forgot to do on their own stories. It’s the log in their eyes.
Fascist—Marxists use this word to describe the patriots in politics.
First Amendment—Does not apply to religion unless it is Islamic or Satanism.
Food deserts—An excuse for people to explain why food stamps are used to buy soda and candy at Kwik-E-Mart.
Free—Taxpayer paid.
Gender-affirming care—Chopping off body parts and sterilizing confused people in a manner that would make Mengele blush.
Global warming—The attempt to end Western capitalism and civilization through pseudoscience.
Hate speech—Any speech liberals hate.
Healthcare is a right—Marxists use the phrase to substitute actual God-given rights with manmade fakes.
Immigration reform—Something Reagan signed into law when we had 3 million illegals. We have 30 million today.
Inclusive—Everyone except straight white people.
Journalists—People mainstream news organizations hire who have no work ethic, no talent and no concern for the truth. But they work cheap.
Karen—Because if you call them Letitia you get cited for racism.
Lumps of cells—Surprisingly, this does not refer to the brain of your average Democrat politician. Sadly, Marxists mean babies in their mother’s womb.
MAP (minor attracted people)—Perverts who should be fed to woodchippers.
Maryland Man—A citizen of El Salvador that judges have declared is above the law of being returned to sender.
Microaggressions—Getting butt hurt by small things that were never intended to be racist, sexist, homophobic or anything else. Ignorance no longer is bliss.
Migrants—Invaders protected by states that want to fluff their population to get seats in Congress and federal money.
My body, my choice—Except when it comes to vaccines.
No one is above the law—Except illegals, journalists and Democrats.
Openly gay—Calling Buttigieg the first openly gay transportation secretary implies that Alan S. Boyd or one of the other 17 DOT secretaries before Butt Boy were gay. I am pretty sure Elizabeth Dole was straight.
Perceived enemies—People who did Trump wrong. Everyone on Nixon’s enemies list was an actual enemy of Nixon.
Pronouns—The modern equivalent of shining four lights and asking a prisoner how many lights he sees, and then shocking him when he doesn’t say five. It’s a torture that doesn’t involve water or bamboo.
Protesters—Rioters, which is the opposite of calling January 6 protesters “insurrectionists.”
Reproductive rights—A euphemism for not having babies. The right to celibacy never enters the picture.
Settled science—Richard Feynman said, “It is imperative in science to doubt; it is absolutely necessary, for progress in science, to have uncertainty as a fundamental part of your inner nature. To make progress in understanding, we must remain modest and allow that we do not know. Nothing is certain or proved beyond all doubt.” What would the greatest physicist ever born in the USA know about science?
Silence is violence—Words are violence. Violins are violence. Everything is violence except throwing frozen bottles of ice at police officers. That’s a protest.
Stolen land—Every inch of the Earth that is not covered by water.
The Resistance—Communists trying to destroy democracy in the name of preventing its demise.
Top surgery—Cosmetic surgery for T-girls who want big boobs.
Toxic culture—Christianity.
Toxic masculinity—The stuff that found a new world, cleared the land, fought a war to end slavery and landed a man on the moon. Also used to discover electricity, land on the moon, invent trains and planes and automobiles, invent light bulbs and movies, and invent the UFC. All of this was made possible by the phrase “hold my beer.”
Transgendered—An individual confused about his sex. T-girls have many rights but their right to remain silent is seldom used.
Unhoused—A word that replaced homeless, which replaced the word vagrant, which replaced the word bum.
Wrong side of history—A statement from people who tear down statues and replace white people in historic films with black actors. ✪
▶️ TO SAVE A NATION, OR NOT
TO SAVE A NATION, OR NOT
xxx
ations, like people, typically face a handful of inflection points in their lives. Pivot points. Turning points. A time when it is realized, perhaps even belatedly, what transpires now will echo through time and possibly change things forever. That which we choose to do now is of great, perhaps existential, importance.
The Boston Tea Party. The Declaration of Independence. The Civil War. World Wars. To drop “the bomb” or not to drop the bomb. The 1960s. The 1980 presidential election.
We are currently at another inflection point. Today. One we can’t deny; and one we ignore only at our great peril. And this inflection point is perhaps more multifaceted than any which has come before.
I say that because we, as a nation, have to simultaneously decide several overarching issues.
One: do we still believe in our founding principles of a limited government of, by, and for We the People, equal justice under the law, and unalienable rights granted by our Creator? I’m not so certain we still do, especially in regards limited government. Seems most of us want a handout, bennies, “free” stuff.
Two: do most of us really want to protect illegal alien thugs, thieves, rapists, and murderers at the expense of our fellow citizens? Do we wish to continue to ignore staggering, systemic fraud? Are we eternally comfortable with mutilating our children’s genitals and rendering them sterile and pleasureless for life? Do we really want to label abortion “women’s health care?” Are we just fine with denying the existence of objective truth? In other words, will we choose evil over good? Make no mistake, that is what we are now deciding.
Three: will we continue to allow our elected representatives to deny our will and refuse to pass and enact voting integrity laws? We all need a valid I.D. to do almost everything else in life; even mundane things like writing a check, buying beer, renting a car, or boarding a plane. How come those demands aren’t considered “racist” by Democrats, but mandating I.D. to vote for the leader of the free world is beyond the pale? (Even though a large majority of Americans are in favor of voting integrity laws.) Because the 25 million or so illegals they ushered into the country in just the last four years will; sooner or later, probably sooner, be allowed, and obligated, to vote for them. There is no other possible reason. None.
Yet Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) says Democrats are primed and ready to defeat a Republican bill intended to fortify election security and limit fraudulent voting. The bill, called the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE Act, passed the House of Representatives in July and is awaiting approval from the Senate before potentially heading to the Trump’s desk. However, Democrats vow to fight tooth and nail to abort the bill and kill any chance that Americans will have confidence that their vote matters and that elections will be transparent and trustworthy … a must for a free democratic republic.
Schumer recently proclaimed the SAVE Act to be “dead on arrival” in the Senate. He added, “It is a poison pill that will kill any legislation that it is attached to. If House Republicans add the SAVE Act to the bipartisan appropriations package it will lead to another prolonged Trump government shutdown.” No, asshat, you just said if the SAVE Act was added to the appropriations package or any other piece of legislation, you and your party would shut the government down. For a prolonged period of time, if necessary. The shutdown will be on you. Again. Though you and your media friends would spin it differently … and Republicans would probably do what they do best and let you have your way with them. Schumer concluded his remarks by saying Democrats would “go all out” to defeat the bill. They are all in on going all out to prevent election integrity and to defy the will of the American people! Really. Amazing. Evil.
So, this leads us to the fourth and final issue. How we answered the questions pertaining to the three previous issues will likely determine our answer to this final one.
Four: given the apparently unbridgeable gulfs between the beliefs of Marxists and Sharia Law-loving Muslims on the one hand, and those of traditional Conservatives in flyover country and elsewhere, can — or should — the union be preserved going forward?
The SAVE Act requiring voters to present identification to ascertain their right to vote, must be passed in Congress.
Our Father, who art in Heaven…✪
▶️ THOUSANDS IN NYC WITHOUT HEAT SLAM MAYOR MAMDANI
THOUSANDS IN NYC WITHOUT HEAT SLAM MAYOR MAMDANI
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ens of thousands of New York City residents made calls reporting lack of heat and hot water in January, with several private and public housing tenants telling the New York Post they are stuck in unlivable conditions and are blaming Muslim socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani for failing to respond to the crisis.
Approximately 80,000 New Yorkers called 311 last month — the highest monthly total on record — reporting a lack of heat and hot water during frigid temperatures below ten degrees, according to the report. Tenants throughout the city reported days without heat, freezing-cold showers, and overnight shutoffs.
“We’ve had over 40 days of no hot water over the last 11 months. And we’re now on day eight or nine straight of no hot water,” Williamsburg tenant Alex Hughes told the publication. “I had to walk 15 minutes in the snow and ice to a friend’s house so I could shower.”
In Astoria, Queens, 31-year-old Nicole Pavez, a city planner, said the heat in her building has been going out almost every night, forcing her to bundle up inside and dress her dog in sweaters to wait out the cold weather.
Public housing tenant Malik Williams, 27, told the outlet his apartment at the Lehman Houses were without heat for most of January, and he had to boil water on the stove “just to keep the house warm.”
The Post obtained data showing that the city logged more than 215,000 heat complaints to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development since October 1, which surpasses the more than 187,000 complaints during the same time period the previous year. According to the report:
“The surge comes as Mamdani has touted the appointment of housing activist Cea Weaver as the city’s new tenant protection czar, positioning her as a champion for renters and a key figure in the administration’s push to crack down on negligent landlords and improve living conditions citywide. Weaver has previously argued for stronger tenant protections and less reliance on private ownership models, an approach that has drawn renewed scrutiny as heating failures mount across both private buildings and public housing.”
Mamdani has been called before the City Council to answer for the city’s emergency response to the burst of extremely cold weather, per the report. Lawmakers are asking if the socialist mayor has done enough to protect tenants as heat complaints reach record highs.
Officials with New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), which manages one of the nation’s largest public housing systems, told the outlet they run a 24-hour heat desk and emergency response system and noted that they have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on upgrades to heating infrastructure in recent years.
“NYCHA faces an estimated $78 billion repair backlog, underscoring the scale of the challenge confronting City Hall as it pledges to prioritize tenants while temperatures remain unforgiving,” the report detailed.
City Hall Deputy Press Secretary of Housing Matt Rauschenbach told the outlet the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants is “taking a long, hard look at the Housing Maintenance Code and how it’s enforced.” ✪
▶️ CHINA EXITING BUSINESS IN PANAMA AFTER CANAL COURT LOSS
CHINA EXITING BUSINESS IN PANAMA AFTER CANAL COURT LOSS
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loomberg reported on Thursday that its anonymous sources affirmed the Chinese Communist Party has ordered an end to “projects” in Panama following that nation’s top court ruling that a deal granting outsized power to a Hong Kong corporation over the Panama Canal was unconstitutional.
The Hong Kong-based Panama Ports Company (PPC) signed two contracts with the Panamanian state that granted it control of large territories on both sides of the Canal to develop new ports for incoming ships. Some estimates suggest that the ports PPC was contracted to develop handle as much as 40 percent of Canal traffic.
The PCC is a subsidiary of the massive Hong Kong corporation C.K. Hutchison Holdings Ltd., controlled by 97-year-old communist sympathizer Li Ka-shing. Both the conservative government of President José Raúl Mulino, who has been in office since 2024, and the government of the United States, which built the Panama Canal, have for years expressed concerns about the Chinese Communist Party gaining so much control over the pivotal waterway.
After years of legal action, the Panamanian Supreme Court ruled late last week that two contracts awarded to PCC in 1997 and 2021 were unconstitutional, as they significantly hurt the interests of Panama to the benefit of the Chinese regime-linked company. The United States celebrated the ruling, while CK Hutchison announced it would turn to arbitration against the government of Panama, seeking financial damages for the ruling.
According to Bloomberg, the actions against Panama would not stop there:
▶️ 20 Seconds
“China is asking state firms to halt talks over new projects in Panama,” the outlet reported on Thursday, “as part of Beijing’s broader retaliation after the Central American country voided CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd.’s contract to operate two ports along its strategic canal, according to people familiar with the matter.”
The report claimed that, for now, the Chinese Communist Party was only ordering its corporate apparatus not to sign any new deals in Panama, but that “projects already underway may also be affected,” threatening billions in investments in the country. As China is a communist country, private corporations do not in practice exist, and all corporations must fervently obey the Party or face their destruction and the potential arrest of their officers.
Bloomberg asked the Chinese Foreign Ministry about the report during its regular briefing on Thursday. Spokesman Lin Jian did not deny that the Communist Party had issued the order, offering only, “China’s position on issues concerning relevant Panamanian ports is clear.”
Lin recalled that the Chinese government’s Hong Kong office had issued a statement declaring that the “Panamanian Supreme Court’s ruling is an act of bad faith that disregards facts and severely undermines the lawful rights and interests of the company of China’s Hong Kong.”
“The Chinese government is committed to protecting the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies,” the statement threatened.
Mulino, the president of Panama, issued his own statement “energetically rejecting” the Hong Kong office’s threats.
“Panama is a state of laws and respects the decisions of the judiciary branch, which is independent from the central government,” Mulino wrote in a post published to the website Twitter. “The Foreign Ministry will pronounce itself on this matter and adopt appropriate decisions.”
The Mulino Administration has been devastating for Chinese business interests in Panama. Following a visit to the country by Secretary of State Marco Rubio a year ago, the conservative president announced that Panama would exit the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China’s global debt-trap scheme in which it offers predatory loans to poor countries as a means of eroding their sovereignty.
Mulino has been vocal in calling for improved relations between his country and the United States and prosecutors in the country began taking action against PPC after they received support from Washington. Also adding to the tensions between China and Panama during his tenure was an incident in the town of Arraiján in December in which the mayor chose to demolish a monument to “Chinese-Panamanian friendship” – which Beijing railed “trampled” on the feelings of the Chinese people.
Bloomberg suggested while billions in Chinese investment could be jeopardized by the Communist Party withdrawing its money, Panama has withdrawn enough recently from China that there is no guarantee of substantial damage to its economy from the alleged measure. Bloomberg observed:
“The US continues to hold sizable economic sway as Panama’s top trade partner and investor, even though Beijing has been encroaching on US dominance in the broader Latin American region over the years. Panama’s crops account for just a fraction of its total exports to China, while steering away from the Panama canal in most cases is bound to incur more costs and delays.”
The Administration of President Donald Trump has been supportive of Mulino’s measures to distance his country from China. U.S. Ambassador to Panama Kevin Cabrera celebrated the Supreme Court ruling this weekend, asserting that it “strengthens Panama’s national security and investment climate by boosting predictability, fairness, and legal confidence.”
“Investors gain assurance that valid contracts are protected and improper ones corrected, making Panama more attractive for quality, long-term investment,” he added, suggesting an influx of new American investment even as China withdraws. ✪
▶️ BITCOIN DROPS 15% TO BELOW $61K AS CRYPTO DOUBTS GROW
BITCOIN DROPS 15% TO BELOW $61K AS CRYPTO DOUBTS GROW
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okens of Bitcoin briefly sank below $61,000 on Thursday evening as investor confidence continued to falter in the asset once hailed as “digital gold” and a unique store of value.
At one point, the token slid to $60,062.00, as the crypto sell-off intensified in overnight trading. Bitcoin was last down about 15% at 7:37 p.m. ET, trading at $62,448.00.
Digital assets, including Bitcoin, have fallen deeper into the red as investors re-assess the practical utility of a token that has been championed not only as a hedge against inflation and macroeconomic uncertainties but also as an alternative to fiat currencies and traditional safe-havens such as gold.
That hasn’t panned out lately, since Bitcoin peaked just north of $126,000 in early October.
The cryptocurrency broke below the key level of $70,000 earlier in the session Thursday and then the selling increased, bringing the asset closer in line with its pre-election level. The cryptocurrency is down almost 30% this week alone.
“This steady selling in our view signals that traditional investors are losing interest, and overall pessimism about crypto is growing,” Deutsche Bank analyst Marion Laboure said Wednesday in a note to clients.
Growing investor caution comes as many of the sensationalized claims about Bitcoin have failed to materialize. The token has largely traded in the same direction as other risk-on assets, such as stocks, particularly during recent geopolitical and macroeconomic flare ups in Venezuela, the Middle East and Europe, and its adoption as a form of payment for goods and services has been minimal.
✪ Bitcoin Underperforming Gold
Bitcoin is down nearly 40% over the past year, while gold futures have gained 61% during the same period.
Other cryptocurrencies are cratering, too. Ether has pulled back 33% this week. Solana hit $88.42 on Thursday, about a two-year low. That cryptocurrency is off nearly 40% on the week.
Some traders have suggested $70,000 is a key level to watch for Bitcoin, and a break below that could trigger further declines.
James Butterfill, head of research at Coinshares, said $70,000 is shaping up as a “key psychological level,” adding that “if we fail to hold it, a move toward” the $60,000 to $65,000 range “becomes quite likely.”
The latest move in bitcoin comes amid a worsening sell-off in U.S. tech stocks. The State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) dropped 1.8% on Thursday, marking its third straight losing day.
Meanwhile, precious metals continue to be volatile too, with silver plunging again on Thursday and gold under pressure.
Forced liquidations; when traders’ positions are automatically sold as Bitcoin hits a set price, continue to weigh on markets. As of Thursday, more than $2 billion in long and short positions in cryptocurrencies have been liquidated this week, according to data from Coinglass.
Bitcoin has been on a steady decline for more than three months, and is now more than 50% below its October high. Other cryptocurrencies, including Ether and XRP, have fallen even more.
”The straight line bull run that a lot of people expected hasn’t really materialized yet. Bitcoin isn’t trading on hype anymore, the story has lost a bit of that plot, it is trading on pure liquidity and capital flows,” Maja Vujinovic, CEO of digital assets at FG Nexus, told CNBC’s “Worldwide Exchange.”
✪ Institutional Demand Reverses
While many in the crypto market have previously credited large institutional investors with supporting the price of bitcoin, now it is those same participants who appear to be selling.
“Institutional demand has reversed materially,” CryptoQuant said in a report on Wednesday.
U.S. exchange-traded funds, which purchased 46,000 bitcoin this time last year, are net sellers in 2026, CryptoQuant said.
The report notes other worrying signs. “Bitcoin has broken below its 365-day moving average for the first time since March 2022 and has declined 23% in the 83 days since the breakdown — worse than the early 2022 bear phase,” CryptoQuant analysts said.
A moving average tracks the price of an asset over a set number of periods, smoothing out short-term price fluctuations to identify trends.
The latest leg lower in bitcoin suggests “potential downside toward the $70K–$60K range,” CryptoQuant said. ✪
▶️ THE UNBEARABLE PETTINESS OF CELEBRITY AWARD SHOWS
THE UNBEARABLE PETTINESS OF CELEBRITY AWARD SHOWS
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f Americans choose to subject themselves to the inanity of all the awards shows, one has to wonder why they do not have better things to do with their time. The Golden Globes, Grammys, Oscars, People’s Choice, etc., etc. Of course, all of them are rigged & political.
Megyn Kelly, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for her podcast, discovered that in order to remain a nominee, one must pay! A lot! There are a host of other conditions & requirements as well. She chose not to comply, even though her podcast is among the highest-rated.
The one which won was Amy Poehler’s “Good Hang.” It has no ratings at all. Is it the same for all the other award shows? Seems likely. How else do they mount these endless tributes of celebrities to themselves?
The hosts, aside from Ricky Gervais, are always far-left leaning ideologically. Every presenter and every winner’s schtick is to rant and rave against all things conservative, all things Trump. Then they bask in the glorious applause as if it were a meaningful commentary on their very existence. It most certainly is not.
Last week’s Grammys were no exception, but they were even worse. Most celebrities early on believe their fame renders them brilliant and all knowing authorities on all things; when in fact most of them are quite ignorant of things outside of the rarefied world they inhabit. There are many fine exceptions of course, but the majority of the musical stars, actors, directors, etc., revel in their anti-Americanism, the vicious anti-Trumpism which they are certain burnishes their brand. And that’s what each of them really are; a brand to be polished up and trained to spout off the correct politics.
Watching clips of the Grammys was like watching any slickly produced exhibition of trained seals. They all spewed the expected anti-ICE rhetoric; it is doubtful many of them even know what the acronym ICE means. Of course, the mind-numbed audience cheered wildly when someone announced that Nicki Minaj was not in attendance, since she has bravely come out as a Trump supporter.
Is there any other assemblage of narcissists which behaves so egregiously in lockstep? Not even the UN or the WEF is as reliably of one mind, a hive mind without a sliver of critical thinking. Does anyone find it depressing that not even one person – not one nominee, presenter, winner, or host dared to speak out in favor of the agents of ICE doing their jobs, doing what a majority of Americans voted for, deporting the millions of criminal migrants Biden ushered into the country to inflate Democrat voter rolls, which is illegal on its face?
Not one of them spoke out against the thousands of innocent citizens who have been raped, murdered, molested, robbed, killed by illegal migrant drunk drivers, or otherwise abused. Not one.
Like the Democrats in Congress who refused to even stand for all those victims of illegal alien criminals when President Trump named them in his speech to that joint session, these people do not care about those victims. They do not give them a single thought, not one bit of concern or compassion for the victims of these horrific crimes, and not for their families.
The Hollywood set is not what it once was, when many of the biggest stars fought in WWII and were patriots willing to give their lives for their nation. For the last two generations, they are all fully indoctrinated, radicalized Leftists who will not dare buck the rules of their game: be left or never work in this town again.
Be anti-Trump or be cancelled, permanently. It is impossible to have an iota of respect for any of the people who took to the stage at the Grammys or the Golden Globes. Every award show yet to come is likely to be the same.
Meanwhile, the millions of people who love their country, who voted for Trump because he vowed to deport the millions of unvetted migrants from something like 70 countries that have probably forever altered the demographics of our country, are no longer interested or invested in the people who line up to give themselves awards for producing mediocre music, films, and television.
Again, like the trained seals they are, regurgitating the prescribed anti-American gibberish that is expected of each of them, they remain comfortable with their perceived moral superiority when their submission to the anti-American Left is not at all virtuous but grounded in pure vanity. As for the Grammys or the Golden Globes, there has not been a single person of courage and love of this country among them. A pox upon all their houses. These people are petty beyond belief. ✪
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