News Briefs, 7/8/25

Is the Epstein/CIA/MI6/Mossad coverup the proverbial straw breaking the camel’s back of credulity?

JD Vance @JDVance

Sep 4, 2021

Replying to @JDVance

Remember when we learned that our wealthiest and most powerful people were connected to a guy who ran a literal child sex trafficking ring? And then that guy died mysteriously in a jail? And now we just don't talk about it.

It’s very difficult to believe that the insiders didn’t know the real story and simply used this narrative for the purposes of electoral politics—with no intention of actually revealing the truth. The word I’ve seen is that DoJ basically let Epstein off the prosecutorial hook in 2008 because he provided information on money laundering by wealthy hedge fund operators. But should we take this at face value? No doubt criminal activity was part of the mix of information that Epstein’s blackmail activity was able to facilitate for provision to … whom, exactly? The FBI? DoJ? Or the Deep State intel agencies? Money laundering is integral to the operations most major intel agencies, but the question remains, what would such information be used for? Without further knowledge of the details—who was involved, who benefited, who wanted to know and why—we can only guess. OTOH, this makes sense in light of the report that the US Attorney in Florida involved with the case was told by DoJ to back off Epstein “because he’s intelligence.” Which means to me that the decision was made at a higher level than the AG.

Don’t hold your breath on this one. We were played.

Breaking news—1 + 1=2:

Margarita Simonyan @M_Simonyan

I am not going to be more outraged about US removing Syrian jihadists from the terrorist list today, than about the previous 14 years they spent pumping them with money and weapons.

Let's classify this as refreshing honesty.

10:13 AM · Jul 7, 2025

Lindsey Snell @LindseySnell

4h

Trump finally publicly admitted that Netanyahu asked him to lift sanctions on Syria, in case anyone is still denying Jolani's utility for Israel.

Trump was very impressed by Jolani and said his tough background (ISIS/AQ) makes sense, since "he's from a tough part of the world."

https://x.com/i/status/1942554572255527401

Trump Caves Again Over Tariffs - Uncertainty Increases

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Here is the current FRED overview graph of economic uncertainty. The index has reached a new record high:

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When Trump had pulled back and announced his 90 days pause on tariffs, he and his advisors were hopeful that other countries would come to negotiate:

PETER NAVARRO:
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So that's what we set, knowing full well, knowing full well that a lot of countries would come right to us and want a bargain. We've got 90 deals in 90 days possibly pending here.

Up to today, two days before the 90 day pause on tariffs expires, no trade deal was done. There are three new 'framework agreements' - with the UK, Vietnam, and China - which are more or less just letter's of intent but not agreements.

With the tariff pause ending, and no trade deals done, the Trump administration is forced to extend its tariff pause:

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that the U.S. will revert to steep country-by-country tariff rates at the beginning of August, weeks after the tariff rate pause is set to expire.
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There is little reason for other countries to react in any other way to the U.S. than by imposing symmetrical tariff measures. For many of them U.S. markets are no longer important enough. That is why most countries have simply ignored the matter:

Bessent also said Sunday that “many of these countries never even contacted us.”

The whole Trump strategy of imposing tariffs to regain industrial activity and to impose its political aims on other countries have failed. China and the EU, the U.S. biggest trade partners, have not flinched. Others have followed their example.

Meanwhile the damage imposed by heightened trade uncertainty continues to accumulate. People are already paying higher prices.

This morning Will Schryver reposted an analytic substack from FEB 23, 2023. He identifies the core strategy of the Anglo-Zionists in Ukraine—build massive fortifications in Donbas and laugh while destroying the stupid Russians who would hurl themselves mindlessly against the fortifications. Just a year after the war started, Schryver was able to explain how that strategy had failed. Perhaps more importantly, he identified the geopolitical trajectory of the entire conflict, which we discussed yesterday in the context of Doug Macgregor’s interview with Danny Davis:

Even more significantly, in a development I and many others have predicted for several years now – in the face of almost universal ridicule, I might add – the empire’s seemingly endless string of hubris-driven blunders has rapidly accelerated the formation of what is quite arguably the single most potent military / economic / geostrategic alliance seen in modern times: the tripartite axis of Russia, China, and Iran.

In its misguided and short-sighted gambit to thwart the long-dreaded Russo-German rapprochement — incomprehensibly punctuated by the late September 2022 sabotage of the Nordstream gas pipelines — the empire has astoundingly managed to jump from the frying pan of a regional proxy war against Russia into the fire of a global conflict all three of its steadily strengthening adversaries now view as existential.

In my considered opinion, this is almost certainly the single most inexplicable and portentous series of geopolitical blunders in recorded history.

For the time being, the fighting will remain confined to Ukraine. But the entire complexion of this war has been irreversibly altered.

Last but definitely not least we have another 16 minute video that analyzes the Israel - Iran war, this time focusing on the Iranian strategic response: The details of Iran's Operation True Promise III & its hidden effects. Highly recommended, especially as it provides some ideas of what could happen in a Round Two: