Trump Clarifies No Long-Range Missiles To Ukraine, Declares “I’m On Nobody’s Side”
Only this week are further contents of a July 4 phone call between Presidents Trump and Zelensky being revealed, but it comes amid accusations of fake news and taking statements out of context.
“Volodymyr, can you hit Moscow? … Can you hit St Petersburg too?” – that’s reportedly what Trump posed to the Ukrianian leader in their July 4th call, which came the day following the president had a disappointing call Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Zelensky responded: “Absolutely. We can if you give us the weapons.” All of this is according to a report in Financial Times, which the White House is now pushing back against. The FT presented the exchange as indicative of a new US approach of quietly encouraging Ukraine’s military to strike Moscow and other targets deeper inside Russia.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt has said the FT’s framing of the call was misleading and without proper context. “The Financial Times is notorious for taking words wildly out of context to get clicks because their paper is dying,” she has stated.
Trump sought to clarify in remarks to reporters on Tuesday that Zelensky “shouldn’t target Moscow” and proclaimed in interesting and ironic remarks that he’s “on nobody’s side” – but that simply he wants the killing to stop.
The major announcement which had been planned for Monday did not include any new package of offensive long-range missiles (that the public knowns about at least).
“President Trump was merely asking a question, not encouraging further killing. He’s working tirelessly to stop the killing and end this war,” Leavitt has added.
All of this helped paint a picture of Trump doing a complete 180 on Ukraine policy. To some extent he has – given he has continued sending Kiev arms packages, albeit ‘defensive’ in nature, supposedly. More anti-air defenses have been approved, despite that America’s own stockpiles are being depleted.
But clearly the White House is somewhat feeling the sting of pushback and angry criticism from among the Right and Trump’s base.
Trump has blasted the below FT reporting as fake news…
Breaking: Donald Trump has privately encouraged Ukraine to step up deep strikes on Russian territory, even asking Volodymyr Zelenskyy whether he could strike Moscow if the US provided long-range weapons, according to people briefed on the discussions. https://t.co/Z7jB4GaDzMpic.twitter.com/kyeaZJi0jV
Tucker Carlson has also been merciless in blasting Trump for keeping the proxy war going in Ukraine, due to US deep involvement.
The reality is that Washington could force Zelensky to the negotiating table, and to finally make serious compromises – including territorial concessions – by merely stopping the arms and ammo flow altogether.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday accused Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif) of engaging in a pattern of mortgage fraud, calling him a “scam artist” who “needs to be brought to justice.”
The president took to Truth Social Monday morning to share the conclusion of fraud allegedly reached by Fannie Mae’s financial crimes division.
“I have always suspected Shifty Adam Schiff was a scam artist. And now I learn that Fannie Mae’s Financial Crimes Division have concluded that Adam Schiff has engaged in a sustained pattern of possible Mortgage Fraud,” Trump stated.
“Adam Schiff said that his primary residence was in MARYLAND to get a cheaper mortgage and rip off America, when he must LIVE in CALIFORNIA because he was a Congressman from CALIFORNIA,” the president continued.
By listing his Maryland home as his primary residence, according to the accusation, Schiff may have been trying to take advantage of more favorable loan terms, such as lower interest rates.
“I always knew Adam Schiff was a Crook,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
“The FRAUD began with the refinance of his Maryland property on February 6, 2009, and continued through multiple transactions until the Maryland property was correctly designated as a second home on October 13, 2020.”
The president concluded: “Mortgage Fraud is very serious, and CROOKED Adam Schiff (now a Senator) needs to be brought to justice.”
Trump’s accusations follow a “bombshell ethics complaint” against Schiff detailed in a May 2025 USA Herald report.
The complaint was filed by Christine Bish and Darren Ellis in October 2024, accusing him of a “pattern of mortgage fraud, voter fraud, and unlawful campaign filings stretching back over two decades.”
According to the complaint, “In 2009, Adam Schiff’s residence and voting registration was called to question in a House Ethics Committee hearing. Adam Schiff, despite claiming to live and represent the people in the state of California, filed and reaffirmed through refinancing documents, his primary residence at [—- —— —- ——-], Potomac Maryland, 28054.”
The complaint further alleges, “Adam Schiff is on the record having acknowledged the mortgage document filings [of Maryland as his primary residence] during a House Ethics hearing in 2009… He made the claim of ‘mistake,’ thereby acknowledging the appearance of possible mortgage fraud.”
The allegations against Schiff mirror those leveled against New York Attorney General Letitia James earlier this year involving her properties in Norfolk, Virginia and Brooklyn, New York. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) launched a formal criminal investigation into James in May which could potentially lead to charges of wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, and making false statements to financial institutions.
The junior senator from California, who earned the nickname “Shifty Schiff” as a member of the House of Representatives from January 2001 to December 2024, has been a major player in numerous political operations against President Trump, including the Russia hoax, the Ukraine hoax, and the “Hunter Biden’s laptop is Russian disinformation” hoax.
In 2019, then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy signed a Republican resolution to censure then-House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff for fabricating the presidential phone call between Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that spurred the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.
In January 2023, then the House Speaker, McCarthy took the extraordinary step of kicking Schiff and fellow Russia-hoaxer Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) off the Intelligence Committee. In June of that same year, the House of Representatives censured Schiff “for misleading the American public and for conduct unbecoming of an elected Member of the House of Representatives.”
After Trump’s election in November, Schiff and many other Democrats repeatedly voiced concerns that Trump’s Department of Justice could potentially investigate Democrats in retaliation for their past weaponization of the Justice system to prosecute and harass their political enemies.
“Since I led his first impeachment, Trump has repeatedly called for me to be arrested for treason,” Schiff wrote on X in response to Trump’s post. “So in a way, I guess this is a bit of a letdown.”
He added: “And this baseless attempt at political retribution won’t stop me from holding him accountable. Not by a long shot.”
Joe Rogan just AMBUSHED Gavin Newsom with a single text that forced him to answer for California’s draconian COVID policies.
This conversation was a real test.
Newsom tried to recycle old COVID talking points.
But Shawn Ryan pushed back hard, telling Newsom to his face that he REGRETTED taking the vaccine.
Then Rogan’s question landed like a bomb: Who will be held accountable for mandating “unnecessary and ineffective” COVID vaccines for young children?
Watch Newsom squirm as he tries to defend lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and the damage those policies caused.
Governor Gavin Newsom didn’t get the friendly interview he might have expected when he joined The Shawn Ryan Show.
Instead, he found himself pressed on the very issues that have defined…and haunted…his political career.
Even before Covid came up, the conversation turned to one of the country’s most divisive topics: guns.
Ryan opened the exchange with a direct question:
“Do you think that everyday citizens carrying a gun reduces crime or increases crime?”
Newsom didn’t hesitate, delivering the argument he’s repeated for years.
“I think the evidence, the evidence suggests the opposite. It increases the likelihood of a gun death,” he said, insisting that states with stricter gun laws see fewer gun deaths.
“And you look at all the states with the most comprehensive gun safety reforms, they have lower gun death rates than states with weaker gun laws. And there’s a correlation there.”
“California is one of the lowest gun death rates in America. The highest murder rates in the county tend to be red states.”
Ryan wasn’t convinced. He brought up Chicago—a city with strict gun laws but among the nation’s leaders in shootings and homicides.
“Well, I thought Chicago was the number one?”
Newsom faltered.
“No…..well…..as cities you’ll have different experiences, but at state levels, gun safety from our perspective, saves lives,” he tried.
He insisted the data proved his point.
“We have the data to bear that out.”
But there’s a reason that argument often feels hollow.
California’s overall gun death rate might look better than the national average on paper, but its largest cities have become with violent crime rates that defy easy talking points.
For anyone paying attention to the crime waves in Los Angeles, Oakland, and San Francisco, it was hard not to see the disconnect.
Governor Gavin Newsom didn’t get the friendly interview he might have expected when he joined The Shawn Ryan Show.
Instead, he found himself pressed on the very issues that have defined…and haunted…his political career.
But things really unraveled when the topic turned to Covid.
Newsom fell back on the lines he’d used for years, praising the vaccine rollout and claiming it kept hospitals from being overrun.
“I think it prevented the acuity of the symptoms and disease, and kept people out of the emergency rooms,” he said.
“And I think that’s universally accepted by 90% of objective, of….uh….experts.”
But Ryan wasn’t some media anchor nodding along. He fired back with his own experience—blunt and undeniable.
“Man, I don’t know—I wound up getting the vaccine. It’s one of the only f*cking things I regret,” he said.
“And then I got f*cking Covid like a couple weeks later.”
The exchange was devastating for Newsom.
He had no comeback, just the same stale claim that “experts agree.”
The governor looked and sounded exactly like the politician who forced mandates on millions while ignoring anyone who pushed back….even when their own experience told them the promises didn’t hold up.
It was the moment Newsom’s polished veneer cracked.
Watching him try to explain why people should trust the same messaging that had failed so many times was downright painful.
But things really unraveled when the topic turned to Covid.
Newsom fell back on the lines he’d used for years, praising the vaccine rollout and claiming it kept hospitals from being overrun.
“I think it prevented the acuity of the symptoms and disease, and kept people out of… pic.twitter.com/SnkMs0iWxQ
Then came the biggest blow of all…and it didn’t even come from Shawn Ryan.
Joe Rogan sent in a question by text, and Ryan read it out in full, leaving Newsom nowhere to run.
It was a reckoning for the Covid mafia and Newsom himself.
“Who will be held accountable for mandating COVID-19 vaccines for children, which were unnecessary and ineffective, and who will take responsibility for the unprecedented increases in myocarditis and cancer cases among them?”
Rogan added another direct shot:
“Second to that, do you feel any remorse for that draconian decision that was obviously heavily influenced by the pharmaceutical companies’ desire for maximum profit?”
Newsom visibly struggled.
He didn’t deny the mandates or defend the decision directly.
Instead, he started pointing fingers at Trump and Republican governors who also rolled out vaccines…without addressing his own responsibility at all.
It was humiliating.
For once, there was no crowd of supportive journalists to clean it up for him, no carefully crafted press release to smooth it over.
Just an unfiltered moment of accountability, and he had nothing to say other than trying to defend failed policies and Covid talking points.
Then came the biggest blow of all…and it didn’t even come from Shawn Ryan.
Joe Rogan sent in a question by text, and Ryan read it out in full, leaving Newsom nowhere to run.
It was a reckoning for the Covid mafia and Newsom himself.
The embarrassment didn’t ease when the conversation switched to talking about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his vaccine stance during Covid.
Newsom tried to paint himself as the adult in the room.
“And so I respect Bobby, but he really turned on me early and he flat out lied about some things,” he said.
Ryan immediately pressed him: “What did he lie about?”
Newsom didn’t have a clean answer:
“He lied about…..said, oh because Newsom got some, I got sick for two or three days and he said because of a vaccine and then he lied about what I had….”
“He weaponized it. He misled.”
It sounded shaky, and Ryan let the awkwardness hang there.
He was stuttering and squirming slightly.
Then, almost unbelievably, Newsom tried to claim credit for RFK Jr.’s entire MAHA platform.
It was absurd.
“And I’m by the way, Make America Healthy, that’s California,” he said.
“I’ve been leading that cause for decades.”
“There’s no governor……again….I’m…forgive me….that movement started in California.”
“I did the Skittles ban a couple years ago.”
It was the kind of moment that would be funny if it weren’t so revealing…..a politician trying to claim a candy ban as proof he’d pioneered the entire idea of one of the greatest movements in political history.
The embarrassment didn’t ease when the conversation switched to talking about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his vaccine stance during Covid.
Newsom tried to paint himself as the adult in the room.
“And so I respect Bobby, but he really turned on me early and he flat out lied about… pic.twitter.com/MULtGlVkc9
ASML Shares Plunge As Uncertainty Casts Shadow Over 2026 Outlook
Shares of ASML Holding NV plunged in Europe on Wednesday after CEO Christophe Fouquet warned he could no longer guarantee the company’s 2026 sales forecast due to an increasingly complex macroeconomic backdrop.
What’s critical to understand is that ASML’s largest customers—Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Samsung Electronics—are widely seen as bellwethers for both the semiconductor sector and the broader global tech cycle. Signs of caution from ASML about next year may be an early warning light flashing for the AI-driven tech bubble…
“Looking at 2026, we see that our AI customers’ fundamentals remain strong. At the same time, we continue to see increasing uncertainty driven by macro-economic and geopolitical developments. Therefore, while we still prepare for growth in 2026, we cannot confirm it at this stage,” Fouquet stated in an earnings release.
ASML shares in Amsterdam tumbled 8% to 649 euros on Wednesday— the largest daily decline since October 15, 2024.
The stock is down approximately 4% year-to-date, having failed to sustain a breakout above 700 euros. Shares remain well below the 1,000 euro peak reached in mid-2024.
ASML guided 3Q net sales between 7.4 billion euros and 7.9 billion euros—below the 8.2 billion euros consensus estimate tracked by Bloomberg. The company still expects full-year revenue to grow 15%. CFO Roger Dassen said customers of its ultraviolet lithography machines, which produce the advanced chips that power artificial intelligence data centers, smartphones, EVs, robots, and drones, are holding off on orders amid rising macroeconomic headwinds and export controls.
The first take on ASML’s earnings and growth outlook comes from a team of Goldman analysts led by Alexander Duval:
ASML’s 2Q25 revenue was above Visible Alpha Consensus Data and EBIT of €2.7bn was 12% ahead of consensus, driven by higher gross margins which benefited from a higher share of upgrades as part of the IBM business, lower-than-expected tariff effect and some one-off cost benefits. The company’s bookings figure in 2Q was €5.5bn, (up qoq from a weak 1Q25 order intake of €3.9bn and above Visible Alpha Consensus Data of c.€4.4bn), including €2.3bn of EUV orders (above consensus estimate of €2.0bn). As such, we note that the 2Q25 order intake of €5.5bn is above the top-end of the order run-rate needed (c.€4-5bn) to hit the 2026 consensus estimate. Importantly, the company shipped its first 5200B High NA system this quarter which will be used for high volume manufacturing and could be taken positively by investors. The company highlighted that AI related demand will continue to be strong in 2026 and the company is still preparing for growth, but cannot confirm it at this stage as the uncertainty around macro has increased. The company introduced its 3Q25 net sales guidance of around €7.4-7.9bn and expects 3Q25 gross margins to be around 50-52% implying revenue/gross profit/EBIT that is 6%/7%/11% below consensus. Further, ASML stated that it expects 2025 sales to grow 15% yoy (vs €30-35bn prior), with gross margins of 52% (vs 51-53% prior). As such, we note that the new guide for FY25 implies revenue/gross profit/EBIT in line with Visble Alpha Consensus Data. Additionally, the company highlighted it expects 2H to be bigger than 1H and revenues in 2H will be more 4Q concentrated. Finally, we note that ASML sees its lower GMs in 2H driven by a decline in upgrade activity for the 3800E (a high-margin segment within the Installed Base business), some one-off cost effects and dilution from the ramp of High NA tools.
In terms of end market trends, ASML expects continued strength in advanced Logic, with customers adding capacity in most advanced nodes, strong Memory as customers invest in their latest HBM and DDR5 products, and Installed Base growth supported by an expanding fleet of EUV systems transitioning from warranty to full-service contracts. The company sees increased EUV adoption among DRAM customers, while across the broader customer base, total capacity expansion plans suggest around 30% additional capacity. Finally, the company reiterated its LT 2030 revenue and GM guidance and remains positive on the trajectory of Lithography intensity. More broadly, we expect investors to seek more colour on the tariffs related dynamics, latest expectations for order intake from Foundry/leading-edge customers in coming quarters, demand in the trailing-edge end markets. Reiterate Buy.
Analysis
We expect an initial positive reaction in the shares, in light of a beat on the current quarter KPIs versus consensus, quarterly order intake above consensus and the 5Y median and positive view on Litho intensity, partly offset by a below cons 3Q guide and slightly more cautious view on 2026 growth opportunities due to an uncertain macro. We note that ASML has performed in-line vs EU Tech in the last 3 months, and is up 4% abs YTD.
. . .
Despite ASML’s downgraded outlook and growing macroeconomic uncertainty, SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman both stated earlier, via a teleconference at SoftBank World, that there is no end in sight to AI demand and scaling.
“As we drive the cost of AI down, more people want to use it,” Altman told Son after a question about diminishing returns from further scaling of data centers. “So if we make the cost of AI 10 times cheaper, people wanna use it 30 times as much or whatever. And the demand for intelligence in the world just seems to be huge.”
As we noted on X earlier…
ASML crashes 9% after lowering Q3 revenue and margin outlook, does not confirm 2026 growth target.
But… but… but… AI AI AI
US President Donald Trump says he has convinced most of the Republican lawmakers who pulled support from three crypto bills to vote in favor of them when the House meets again on Wednesday.
Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday that he met with 11 of the 12 representatives in the Oval Office and convinced them to vote in favor of the legislation.
“I am in the Oval Office with 11 of the 12 Congressmen/women necessary to pass the GENIUS Act and, after a short discussion, they have all agreed to vote tomorrow morning in favor of the Rule,” Trump said.
A re-vote on the three crypto bills was canned on Tuesday, as 13 Republican lawmakers pulled support, wanting to add a ban on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
Some Republicans wanted the stablecoin-regulating GENIUS Act amended or bundled in with two other crypto bills up for a vote this week — the CBDC-banning Anti-CBDC Surveillance Act and a sweeping crypto market structure bill dubbed the CLARITY Act.
The move to pass the bills is the Republican-led effort dubbed “Crypto Week” to have crypto laws in action before Congress goes on a month-long break in August. Democrats have meanwhile declared an “anti-crypto corruption week” to oppose the bills.
“I’m thankful for President Trump getting involved tonight to ensure that we can pass the GENIUS Act tomorrow, and agreeing again to help us advance additional crypto legislation in the coming days,” House Speaker Mike Johnson posted on X.
CBDC concerns stall legislation
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise joined 12 other Republican lawmakers in voting no on considering the bills on Tuesday. The other dissenters were Andrew Clyde, Tim Burchett, Andy Biggs, Eli Crane, Michael Cloud, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Andy Harris, Anna Paulina Luna, Scott Perry, Victoria Spartz, Chip Roy and Keith Self.
Another vote to move the bills forward was expected, but the House adjourned before any further action was taken.
Representatives Biggs, Burchett, Green, Luna and Spartz took to X after the vote and said they were not against the crypto bills but didn’t want to pass the GENIUS Act unless it had a specific ban on a CBDC.
“I just voted NO on the Rule for the GENIUS Act because it does not include a ban on central bank digital currency and because Speaker Johnson did not allow us to submit amendments to the GENIUS Act,” Green said.
I just voted NO on the Rule for the GENIUS Act because it does not include a ban on Central Bank Digital Currency and because Speaker Johnson did not allow us to submit amendments to the GENIUS Act.
Americans do not want a government-controlled Central Bank Digital Currency.… pic.twitter.com/NnkeIOH0dE
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) July 15, 2025
Biggs said he was concerned the GENIUS Act had a framework for a layered CBDC and doesn’t guarantee self-custody. He is calling for amendments.
“House Leadership must allow an open amendment process so Members can freely debate and improve the bill,” Biggs added.
Trump included a ban on the Federal Reserve creating a CBDC in a January executive order.
Number of bills was also a sticking point
Politico reported that Johnson had earlier said he hopes to try to pass a procedural vote for the bills on Wednesday, adding it’s “a priority of the White House, the Senate and the House to do all of these crypto bills.”
However, he added that “we have to do them in succession,” suggesting that the Senate wouldn’t pass the bills if they were all tied together.
Johnson was also talking to the Republican holdouts to advance the legislation, which was complicated by the Republican “no” voters demanding that the three crypto bills be combined into one.
“I think everybody is insistent that we’re going to do all three, but some of these guys insist that it needs to be all in one package.”
House meets again Wednesday
The House is scheduled to meet again on Wednesday for a morning hour debate and other “legislative business.”
Caitlin Long, founder and CEO of Custodia Bank, said in an X post on Tuesday that the legislation failing to pass on the first go is nothing to be concerned about because the GENIUS Act failed to pass the Senate initially as well.
“BEFORE Y’ALL FREAK OUT, don’t forget that the first procedural vote in the Senate on the GENIUS Act failed as well…the second one passed 11 days later,” she said.
“The section below says the bill shall not be construed as expanding the Fed’s authority to offer services directly to the public — meaning it cannot authorize things like digital wallets, personal accounts, or anything that veers into CBDC territory,” she said.
US Industrial production rose significantly more than expected in June (+0.3% MoM vs +0.1% MoM exp) with May’s 0.2% MoM decline revised up to unchanged. This left Industrial production up 0.73% YoY…
Source: Bloomberg
Drilling down, we see Manufacturing output also jump in June (+0.1% vs 0.0% exp), lifting the YoY growth to +0.8%…
Source: Bloomberg
Additionally, Capacity Utilization ticked up very modestly but remains in a downtrend…
Source: Bloomberg
…so much for the post-tariff-front-running hangover?
Watch: Rent-A-Protester CEO Rejects $20 Million Contract To Stage Anti-Trump Protests
Free speech in the U.S. was never intended to serve as a perpetual vehicle for permanent protest. However, over the past decade, it has morphed into a billion-dollar industry fueled by dark-money-funded, far-left-aligned NGOs—many backed by opaque funding sources, including leftist billionaires and entities based in countries classified as foreign adversaries.
Yet here we are. Far-left NGO networks, some aligned with Marxist ideology, attempted coordinated acts of civil unrest in Los Angeles last month, including arson and insurrectionist behavior.
Simultaneously, operatives tied to far-left color revolution operations, including the Indivisible movement, have targeted Elon Musk and President Trump. In fact, Indivisible has maintained a continuous, nationwide protest pressure campaign against Trump.
Just yesterday, Indivisible foot soldiers were spotted outside Carnegie Mellon’s facilities in Pittsburgh, where the President Trump attended an Energy and Innovation Summit.
NOW — @CarnegieMellon students and community activists are marching from Schenley Plaza to Carnegie Mellon’s campus while Sen. McCormick & President Trump meet with leaders, CEOs inside the PA Energy & Innovation Summit. @WTAEpic.twitter.com/BwZ0wJV9q8
— Kalea Gunderson – WTAE (@KaleaGunderson) July 15, 2025
Most of these protests are highly organized, and emerging evidence suggests they are largely artificial. In other words, NGOs are hiring “rent-a-protesters” to amplify their message and create the illusion of popular support—when in reality, that mass support does not exist.
The latest evidence comes from an interview between NewsNation’s Brian Entin and Adam Swart, CEO of an activist group called “Crowds on Demand.”
Swart told Entin that an unnamed organization offered his company $20 million to recruit demonstrators for the anti-Trump protests on Thursday.
He told the journalist, “We had to reject an offer worth around $20 million for nationwide, large-scale demonstrations across the country. Personally, I don’t think it’s effective. I’m rejecting the contract not because I don’t want the business, but because, frankly, this is going to be ineffective and make us all look bad.”
The CEO of “Crowds on Demand” tells me he was offered $20,000,000 to recruit demonstrators for the anti-Trump protests on Thursday. pic.twitter.com/2A6ezwo0cc
Thursday’s upcoming color revolution operation, titled “Good Trouble Lives On,” is a front group supported by dozens of leftist nonprofits, some of which have participated in previous protests (e.g., “No Kings”). The new development is that the CEO of a protest-for-hire company publicly admitted that a group offered $20 million to recruit fake protesters and amplify an artificial narrative.
Good Trouble Lives On’s partners…
Attempting another nationwide color revolution operation….
Thursday’s Good Trouble Lives On’s mobilization focuses on civil rights, not issues like Tesla or DOGE or Trump—topics addressed by earlier calls to action.
Most people who defend the right to protest are really defending the right to free speech, which is important. The thing they don’t understand is that it’s become a permanent protest industry, and there’s a lot of components about it that should alarm all Americans, but most do not understand what is going on.
Someone creating a national ‘crowds on demand’ business and someone from the NGO world offering them $20M shows that omni-cause advocacy is a national business, and it actually pays quite well. Something that the American people have failed to grasp, even as protests become permanent, is that the tax-deductible 501c3 nonprofit world is the unregulated wild west of this behavior. It’s the only sector where someone can get paid to sow chaos and protest every day, not have any tangible deliverables or metrics that prove they are in-fact working for the public good, and that there’s a multi-billion dollar network of NGOs behind these entities to support them.
Another really alarming component is the co-mingling of foreign interests. Just a few weeks ago, it was revealed that CHIRLA, a California-based nonprofit that receives large federal and state funding, had members that were part of Neville Roy Singham’s network.
It’s bad enough that we can’t even address the organizations that are doing the bidding of foreign governments, but mix this in with people who want to throw millions of dollars into paid agitators and the general public no longer has the ability to tell what is real.
Total exports of rare minerals for the cumulative first half of 2025 amounted to 32,569 tonnes, up from 29,095 tonnes in H1 2024 (+11.9 percent).
In April, Beijing implemented export restrictions on seven rare earth elements and magnets in a move widely considered a response to increased tariffs from the United States.
These restrictions raised concerns in countries such as the U.S., Japan and European nations over supply chain disruptions, particularly in the defense, energy and automotive sectors.
The following is the introduction to Cancel THIS, a new book by Mike Fairclough.
Britain’s cancel culture is a purposely designed social credit system.
Say the wrong thing, and you’re done for. One ‘offensive’ tweet? Straight to prison.
Say a silent prayer? You’re nicked.
Point out that men don’t have wombs, or that climate change hysteria is exaggerated? You’re sacked and shunned.
Post a meme that contradicts a government orthodoxy or expresses concerns about illegal immigration? Congrats, you’re now persona non grata and at risk of being given a holiday at His Majesty’s pleasure.
Welcome to the land of the free… until you express an opinion…
Great Britain, 2025, where the air is thick with sanctimonious twaddle, and our inalienable rights are under attack from the self-proclaimed elite. Those pompous, hypocritical overlords of ‘correct’ thinking have decided our words, thoughts, and even our chickens need their approval. Free speech? In the U.K., members of the public are in prison for sending a single tweet. And just wait until they roll out digital ID (the so called BritCard) and the Stasi levels of censorship which will follow.
The Establishment has closed its grip harder than Keir Starmer on free Arsenal tickets. Wielding censorship like a sledgehammer and telling us what constitutes ‘approved truth’ as though we’re living in Orwell’s 1984.
But fear not, because there’s a growing rebellion. Increasing numbers of Brits simply aren’t having it anymore. They see through this dystopian farce, preferring instead to give it the middle finger. Our great nation isn’t China or North Korea (though they’d like it to be). Britain is the crucible of free speech and has long championed open expression across literature, the arts and politics.
Amidst the madness, we salute a titan of liberty: John Milton, whose Areopagitica in 1644 stands as a blazing beacon for free speech. With a poet’s fire and a rebel’s heart, Milton faced down Parliament’s suffocating book licensing laws, daring to proclaim that truth thrives only when it wrestles openly with falsehood. “Let her and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter?” he thundered, crafting a vision of Britain as a place for ideas, where no censor’s pen could silence the quest for truth. His words, a clarion call against tyranny, sowed the seeds for our nation’s proud claim as a bastion of free expression.
Let’s kick off with a story so absurd it could only happen on this sceptred isle.
On October 5th, 2024, the Daily Mail ran the headline: “Defra left with egg on its face in online revolt over chicken database crashes website, as pranksters list rubber chickens and chicken nuggets as ‘pets’.” Our Government, in a fit of bureaucratic delirium, had decreed that every chicken in the land must be registered on a digital database. Why? To ‘safeguard’ us, naturally.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs insisted on compliance, or face the wrath of a clipboard wielding official.
Enter the Great British public, who, with a collective cry of “Not today, mate” unleashed chaos so beautiful it deserves a statue in Trafalgar Square. The website didn’t just crash; it imploded. Defra described a “High volume of applications” likely hundreds of thousands, as the site was flooded with fake and ludicrous entries. It was a digital uprising, a masterclass in taking the absolute piss, proving we’re not a nation of drones who’ll nod along to every whimsical edict. We’re the land of John Locke, who told the Crown to shove its gag orders, demanding our right to speak freely without a king’s boot on our throats. His fierce call for liberty in 1689 still fuels our fight against the elite’s assault on freedom, from bird databases to jail time for social media posts.
This is why the establishment is ‘decolonising’ the English school curriculum and stamping trigger warnings on everything from Shakespeare to Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. In British universities, even The Odyssey has been festooned with trigger warnings due to its potentially ‘distressing’ content. The ruling class don’t want us to be inspired by stories of heroism, resistance, battling against the odds, and vanquishing evil. They prefer us to be fearful and obedient.
This, my friends, is the beating heart of Cancel THIS, my new book. Sometimes, you’ve just got to refuse to play the game. Mocking the authorities and saying, “No! I’m not doing it!” It’s signing up your nan’s ceramic cockerel to a government database just to watch the system choke. It’s laughing at the po-faced Establishment which lectures us on what to think and say. These hypocrites, with their private jets and public scoldings, want to police your speech, social media posts and your thoughts. They’ll cancel you faster than a reality show reject if you dare step out of line. And for what? To protect their grip on the ‘truth’.
Silence and doing nothing are no longer viable options. Not if we want our children and grandchildren to inherit the country our forebears sacrificed their lives for. Every time you bite your tongue or self-censor to avoid the mob, you’re handing them the keys to your mind. Our silence is their power. Compliance is the last thing we should agree to. If you let them, they’ll have you bowing to their every whim and agreeing to unimaginable horrors.
That’s why Cancel THIS is part survival guide, part rebellious handbook, and a salute to the dissidents, oddballs, and anyone who’s ever been told to shut up and behave. We don’t just resist; we do it with flair, with bollocks and with our signature British humour. We’re the nation of the stiff upper lip, the victors of two world wars, and we laid the foundation for free speech with Magna Carta in 1215. We have a long history of curbing tyrants and fighting for freedom.
This book also shines a light on the agenda behind the bullshit. It’s no accident that almost every government in the world has turned on its citizens at the same time. Pushing harmful and illogical ideologies, punishing dissidents and seeding fear about everything from the weather through to the common cold. It’s all part of a vision which is laid out by the likes of the United Nations and which our Government has signed up to.
So, buckle up, tell the woke police to sod off, and let’s rip into this global circus of pompous ‘elites’ who think they can nanny us into submission.
My book is your guide to living freely in a world gone mad. It’s about laughing in the face of censorship, ignoring the establishment’s nonsensical rules, and embracing the global fight for free speech with true grit and resilience.
Let’s keep the rebellion rolling, one glorious piss take at a time.
Mike Fairclough was the only serving headteacher or school principal (out of 43,500 in the U.K.) to publicly question the rollout of the Covid vaccine to children.You can purchase his book, Cancel THIS, here.
What NATO Countries Spend On Military, Health, & Education
NATO countries officially agreed to raise their defense expenditures to 5% of their GDP by 2035.
But how do their military expenditures compare to what they spend on health and education?
This visualization, via Visual Capitalist’s Pallavi Rao, shows a side-by-side comparison of government spending priorities as a percentage of GDP for all NATO members.
Data for this visualization comes from NATO’s public releases, and two World Banks sources: education and health spending.
Figures from the most recent year for each metric is used, listed in the above graphic and in the table in the next section.
Compared: NATO’s Spending on Military Vs. Education and Health
Currently, every NATO country currently spends less on its military than on health or education.
However, the new 5% of GDP target for defense spending is currently higher than what every NATO country currently spends on their military.
Country
Military Spend
(% of GDP, 2024)
Health Spend
(% of GDP 2022/23)
Education Spend
(% of GDP 2021/22)
🇵🇱 Poland
4.1
7.0
4.7
🇪🇪 Estonia
3.4
7.0
5.3
🇺🇸 U.S.
3.4
16.5
5.4
🇱🇻 Latvia
3.2
7.6
4.6
🇬🇷 Greece
3.1
8.5
4.1
🇱🇹 Lithuania
2.9
7.3
4.3
🇫🇮 Finland
2.4
9.7
6.5
🇩🇰 Denmark
2.4
9.4
5.3
🇬🇧 UK
2.3
10.9
5.0
🇷🇴 Romania
2.3
5.8
3.3
🇲🇰 North Macedonia
2.2
7.6
3.3
🇳🇴 Norway
2.2
8.0
4.0
🇧🇬 Bulgaria
2.2
7.7
4.7
🇸🇪 Sweden
2.1
10.9
7.6
🇩🇪 Germany
2.1
11.8
4.5
🇭🇺 Hungary
2.1
6.4
4.7
🇨🇿 Czech Republic
2.1
8.5
4.8
🇹🇷 Türkiye
2.1
3.7
2.6
🇫🇷 France
2.1
11.9
5.4
🇳🇱 Netherlands
2.1
10.1
5.1
🇦🇱 Albania
2.0
6.2
2.7
🇲🇪 Montenegro
2.0
10.9
4.4
🇸🇰 Slovakia
2.0
7.7
4.8
🇭🇷 Croatia
1.8
7.2
4.1
🇵🇹 Portugal
1.6
10.0
4.8
🇮🇹 Italy
1.5
8.5
4.2
🇨🇦 Canada
1.4
11.2
4.1
🇧🇪 Belgium
1.3
10.8
6.4
🇱🇺 Luxembourg
1.3
5.8
4.7
🇸🇮 Slovenia
1.3
9.4
5.4
🇪🇸 Spain
1.3
9.7
4.3
🇮🇸 Iceland
0.0
9.0
7.1
For example, Poland leads NATO in military spending at 4.1% of GDP, driven by concerns over the war in Ukraine.
The U.S. defense budget, despite being close to $1 trillion, is still about 3% of its GDP. This is only a fraction of what it spends on health: 16.5% of its GDP.
For reference, this chart breaks down the U.S. consumer economy, where health care accounted for $3 trillion in American spending in 2023.
While the U.S. is an outlier for its comparative health expenditure, health remains the largest expenditure category for all NATO countries.
However, a 5% defense spending target would push 21 countries into spending more on their militaries than schools.
Has Europe’s Free Defense Ride Ended?
The new 5% target is a dramatic reversal in priorities for many European nations, particularly in Western Europe, where defense has long taken a back seat to public services.
However President Trump’s threats of pulling back U.S. support is now forcing a continent-wide re-militarization, especially in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
To meet the new threshold, governments will need to either raise revenues dramatically or pull funding from other areas.
