Authored by Terrence Keeley via RealClearPolitics,

Does capitalism need to be fixed? Is it no longer fit for purpose in this modern era, given our environmental ecosystems are under self-evident strain and income gaps are widening to levels not seen since the “robber baron” era?

This was the question I was called to answer at David and Philippa Stroud’s inspiring and expanding Forum last weekend. I rephrased the question slightly: Can capitalism promote the common good? Joining me in the discussion were Rand Stagen, Doug Rauch, and Steve Hall – successful entrepreneurs who have coached CEOs to greatness, led iconic Trader Joe’s from near irrelevance to triumph and lifted a marginal automotive company to multi-billion dollar heights. All three of these remarkable entrepreneurs have since graduated to running Conscious Capitalism, an advocacy group that believes business can benefit everyone, most especially when purpose meets profit.

Over Q&A, the discussion turned as it inevitably does to Milton Friedman’s 1970 article “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits.” Friedman’s New York Times classic has been credited with spawning Gordon Gekko’s ignominious claim that “Greed is good,” as well as oligarchic tyranny theories which Bernie Sanders effectively promotes and derides. Capitalism’s undeniable negative externalities are why a majority of millennials and Gen-Zers today have concluded socialism would be a superior socio-economic framework.

And that’s when controversy ensued. Nobel Laureate Friedman never said businesses should promote profits without guardrails. What he actually wrote is that it is the responsibility of business “to make as much money as possible while conforming to the basic rules of society, both those embodied in law and those embodied in ethical custom.” These two addendums about rules and customs are crucial. And they allowed me to highlight something Adidas has recently done that millennials, Gen-Zers, and Gordon Gekko alike can all rightly applaud.

Working with Parley Ocean Plastic, Adidas has committed to replacing all the virgin polyester in their products with recycled polyester derived from oceanic plastic waste. This program has been remarkably successful, and it is not all Adidas is doing to rejuvenate the planet. Through their “Made to Be Remade” program, once you’ve had your full run with their shoes and apparel, instead of tossing them in the trash you can send them back to Adidas to be recycled, meaning much less garbage ends up in landfills. Proof of the success of this environmentally mindful strategy comes from the market, however. Since embarking upon their ambitious recycling journey in 2015, Adidas’ stock has risen nearly 400% – meaning they have tapped into new consumer demands, opened new markets, and dramatically benefitted their bottom line. Planet protections have handsomely fattened Adidas shareholders’ wallets.

So, is this an example of stakeholder capitalism – or merely capitalism as Milton Friedman defined it? I would argue it is the latter, perhaps inspired by the former. Like Milton Friedman, I would further argue it is the type of capitalism all public companies should strive for.

Consumer attitudes evolve. Farsighted companies like Adidas find ways to change with them. Adidas’ consumer strategy was met with commercial success. This means it can be sustained. Other nobly-minded public corporate officials evolved faster than consumers did – like Emmanuel Faber at Danone or Bud Light’s marketing team. They misunderstood the market and ultimately saw their sales and profits plummet. They are no longer making corporate decisions. Too many stakeholder capitalist instincts are like these: well-intended but unsustainable. If enduring impact is a public company’s goal, its bottom line must remain black. If growing impact is part of a public company’s calling, growing profits and rising stock prices are essential.

So what should we conclude about the future of capitalism and its role in promoting the common good? For stakeholder capitalism to succeed, it must remain capitalistic – and for a society to succeed, ubiquitous public virtue is needed. Business’s potential role in propagating such virtues is circumscribed. Greater public mindfulness spawned by the universal principles of human dignity, subsidiarity, and solidarity would undoubtedly promote broader social inclusivity and lasting environmental sustainability, aspirations largely enunciated by the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. Great companies may well find ways to reinforce these virtues and benefit from their broader acceptance – but they must also find ways to persevere when we humans fail to be all we can and should be, something we invariably seem to do.

The ultimate purpose of a corporation is to mindfully generate the material abundance society needs to make our way, as John 12:35-36 and Isaiah 42:16 suggest, through the darkness to the light. If business can further amplify light along the way, all the better. We humans will likely to get the future we work towards. My hope is that greater mindfulness will lead to greater inclusivity, sustainability, and economic growth. Within profit’s constraints, business can and should make all three of these goals more attainable – and within prevailing rules and social customs, should not actively thwart them.

Terrence Keeley is CEO of the Impact Evaluation Lab and author of Sustainable by Columbia University Press.

Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of Russia’s Direct Investment Fund and special Putin envoy who was sent this week to meet with top US officials in Washington, has said his two-days of meetings went well and that positive steps were made.

“I would say that today and yesterday, we made three steps forward on a large number of issues,” Dmitriev said after meeting with Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s Middle East envoy, who has also been deeply involved in Ukraine negotiations.

It was Witkoff who met last month with President Putin in Moscow. As for Dmitriev’s visit, it marked the first official trip of a top Russian official to the United States to meet with US officials since the Ukraine war began.

Dmitriev told CNN in a fresh interview that he conveyed to the Trump administration that Moscow is ready to do business again with American companies.

“At this point, we are not asking for any sanction relief. We are just discussing that if America wants to have more business with Russia… then of course US can do so,” he said.

He warned that both sides must overcome the lack of communication which marked the opening three years of war in Ukraine. “Therefore, the process of dialogue, the process of resolution will take some time, but it is definitely positive and constructive,” he described.

Dmitriev was in the US during the ‘Liberation day’ tariff rollout, praising a policy that reflects “a growing shift toward economic sovereignty and national interest.”

President Trump’s tariff strategy reflects a growing shift toward economic sovereignty and national interest. By prioritizing domestic industry and correcting structural trade imbalances, the U.S. sets a precedent for self-reliant growth and sustainable job creation. https://t.co/sXp7mVMCUU

— Kirill A. Dmitriev (@kadmitriev) April 3, 2025

“I think there is an understanding for how we can move to finalize the agreement. And there have been lots of discussion in that realm, lots of differences still remain, but I think there are several passes to try to address all those issues and only diplomatic solution can be possible,” Dmitriev said further to CNN.

He additionally stated in a separate interview while in D.C., “If President Putin commits to something, it gets done. Putin is a historic leader. Trump is a historic leader. They can work together to make history happen. If they cannot achieve major progress, few leaders can.”

Despite these positive diplomatic engagements, the question of where overall negotiations to end the war in Ukraine stand remains the same: slow-moving and even perhaps stalled. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said Tuesday that current US proposals on ending the war can’t be accepted in their current form. He complained they don’t address the “root causes” and that Kiev doesn’t appear ready to get serious about pursuing peace.

Good weather in Washington D.C. pic.twitter.com/gZ8OrELDhV

— Kirill A. Dmitriev (@kadmitriev) April 3, 2025

“What we have today is an effort to find a framework that would make it possible to ensure America’s vision for a ceasefire. The idea is to then move on to some other models and frameworks, which, as far as we can see, leave no room for Russia’s core demand, that is, the need to resolve the issues stemming from the root causes of this conflict,” he said, as quoted in TASS.

* * *

Below are some Friday geopolitical developments via Newsquawk….

Geopolitics: Middle East

• Israeli military say they have “eliminated” Hassan Farhat, a Hamas commander in Lebanon
• Israeli media reported that the Israeli army launched raids on large areas in the Gaza Strip, according to Al Jazeera
• Houthi-affiliated media reports US aggression on the Kahlan area, east of Saada city, northern Yemen, according to Al Jazeera.
• Iran reportedly abandons Houthis under relentless US bombardment and ordered its military personnel to leave Yemen, according to The Telegraph.
• US President Trump said he spoke with Israeli PM Netanyahu on Thursday who may visit the US next week, although it was separately reported that Israeli PM Netanyahu’s visit to the White House will likely take place in a few weeks.
• Turkey said Israel’s attacks on regional countries have made Israel the biggest threat to regional security, while it added that Israel is a regional destabiliser and is feeding chaos and terror.
• Saudi Crown Prince received a phone call from Iran’s President during which they discussed developments in the region and issues of common interest.

Geopolitics: Ukraine

• US President Trump’s inner circle advises against a call with Russian President Putin until he commits to a full ceasefire.
• Russian envoy Dmitriev said lots of differences remain, but a diplomatic solution is possible and there is already some progress on trust-building measures, while he sees a positive dynamic in US-Russian relations and said Several meetings are needed to sort out differences. Dmitriev also stated that a long-term solution that takes into account Russian security concerns is what is needed, as well as commented that they are not asking for a lifting of sanctions and that they can do a deal with the US on rare earths.
• Moscow’s mayor said Russian air defences repelled drones approaching Moscow and specialists are examining fallen fragments.

Authored by Matt Margolis via PJMedia.com,

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made it clear in an interview with CNN that the era of trade imbalances is over, and under President Trump, the U.S. will no longer tolerate unfair treatment. 

During a discussion with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Bessent confidently explained the administration’s position on tariffs and trade policy, signaling that Trump’s economic strategy is deliberate and well thought out.

When pressed on how the administration’s policies could impact the auto industry, particularly regarding vehicles made with foreign parts, Bessent was blunt. 

“If half the cars coming into the United States are foreign-made, that’s hard to turn around overnight, as you know,” Collins said. 

“So what would you say to people in the auto industry who are worried about that timeline and how quickly that could shift?”

“Buy American,” Bessent said bluntly. He also clarified that the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) exempts certain vehicles and parts from the new tariffs.

Collins attempted to raise concerns from U.S. allies, questioning what the administration would say to countries like South Korea and Japan, which are now facing increased tariffs. Bessent’s response was direct:

“Well, I would say they’ve been doing it to us for a long time. And, if they don’t like tariffs, then why do they have them?”

His answer underscored the administration’s stance that America has been on the losing end of trade deals for too long.

As for whether the tariffs should be considered permanent, Bessent took a wait-and-see approach.

“I think we’re gonna wait and see how this plays out,” he explained, suggesting that adjustments could be made based on how the policy unfolds.

Collins also asked about the possibility of retaliation from other countries. Some foreign leaders have hinted at potential countermeasures, while others have opted to observe before making a move. Bessent urged patience. 

“One of the messages that I’d like to get out tonight is everybody sit back, take a deep breath, don’t immediately retaliate, let’s see where this goes. Because if you retaliate, that’s how we get escalation.”

When Collins pressed him on whether such escalation could turn into a full-fledged trade war, Bessent dismissed the idea. 

“Not a trade war. Depends on the country,” he said, before explaining that history favors the United States in such disputes.

“Remember that the history of trade is, we are the deficit country. The deficit country has an advantage,” he explained.

“[The others] are the surplus countries. The surplus countries traditionally always lose any kind of a trade escalation.”

His message to foreign governments was clear: Acting hastily would be a mistake. 

“As a student of economic history or a professor of economic history, I’d advise against it,” he said. When Collins sought further clarification, he reinforced the point: “I would say that doing anything rash would be unwise.”

“I think we’re going to wait and see how this plays out.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent talks to @kaitlancollins about what will happen next in Trump’s trade war after the President announced new tariffs tonight. Watch: pic.twitter.com/VrAA8ADW1p

— TheSourceCNN (@TheSourceCNN) April 3, 2025

Bessent’s remarks leave no doubt that Trump’s trade policies are rooted in historical precedent and strategic calculation. 

While globalists may panic, the Trump administration remains confident that America is in a stronger position than its trade partners. And history is on our side.

Bessent’s message is clear: Trump knows exactly what he’s doing.

The Democratic Party’s favorability among Americans has plunged to a record low. In an attempt to reverse this decline, the rudderless party of leftist lunatics has openly launched a domestic color revolution—facilitated by a shadowy network of billionaire-funded NGOs.

Initially, the operation targeted Elon Musk and DOGE; now, the leftist NGO machine is gaining momentum and redirecting total mobilization efforts at President Trump on Saturday in nationwide protests called “Hands Off!”… 

Protest Map 

Hands Off 2025’s website shows that 186 NGOs, unions, and other leftist groups support the mass mobilization effort of crazed leftists.

Color revolutions have generally been used in overseas operations by US intelligence agencies for regime change purposes. The American people have seen domestic color revolutions before, such as the BLM riots, which were aimed at manipulating public sentiment, shaping perception, and controlling the emotional atmosphere during Trump’s first term. 

Now, the unhinged Democratic Party is at it again, trying to build on Tesla protests and firebombings of showrooms and vehicles by using mass protests and civil disobedience to shape sentiment around Trump in his second term. 

The only problem Democrats face this time is that a taxpayer-funded color revolution—channeled through USAID into their NGO network—will be much harder to pull off now that grant awards have been frozen and USAID has been rolled into the State Department, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio providing oversight.

Summer of Love begins… 

Authored by Ian Schwartz via RealClearPolitics,

At Tuesday’s House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing, Matt Taibbi explained how an Obama executive order led to the Censorship Industrial Complex.

MATT TAIBBI: Mr. Chairman, Madam Ranking Member, thank you. My name is Matt Taibbi, I’m the editor of the Independent Site Racket, and I’ve been covering digital censorship issues since 2018, the fictional ones. On March 14th, 2016, Barack Obama signed Executive Order 13721, Developing a New Integrated Global Engagement Center to Support Government-Wide Counterterrorism Communications Activities Directed Abroad.

It directed the Secretary of State to create a new body, the GEC or GEC, to quote, counter the messaging and diminish the influence of international terrorist organizations, including ISIL, Al-Qaeda, and other violent extremists abroad. Seven years later, while working on a story involving internal communications at Twitter, I found myself reading emails between GEC officials and Twitter executives about subjects ranging from COVID-19 to the 2020 election to Donald Trump. Once, Mr. Chairman, you were right to point out that they were once focused abroad, but by this time, GEC officials were largely concerned with domestic English language accounts, people with no ties to terror groups or relationships with adversary nations like Iran, China, or Russia. When I went back this weekend through those documents to find examples of GEC pressuring Twitter to remove or deamplify Americans accused of misinformation, I found an exchange that we Twitter Files reporters missed in 2023. A lawyer at the company asked several other executives if they had any, quote, appetite for writing GEC a letter to ask them to stop going to the media with sensationalist claims about epidemics of foreign bots. One of the company’s senior communications executives gave a remarkably candid answer.

From my chair, it would be very helpful, he wrote. Referencing a well-known Washington reporter, he went on. The pre-briefed Ellen Nakashima article in the Post on Bernie and this coronavirus story, no heads up, are making me worry a little about how good faith these players will be through the press into 2020.

So it wasn’t just conservatives, it was also Bernie Sanders. The date on that email was February 24th, 2020. Three days after the Washington Post ran a devastating feature titled Bernie Sanders briefed by US officials that Russia is trying to help his presidential campaign.

This was an extremely impactful story that opened the floodgates on a conspiracy theory that Sanders was the recipient of Russian help. It claimed bots helping Bernie online were part of, quote, Russia’s broader interest in sowing division in the United States and uncertainty about the validity of American elections. In response to this odd sequel of claims about Russian bots aiding Donald Trump, the company’s head of trust and safety, Yul Roth, gave an unflattering description of GEC’s methods.

Quote, they use Brandwatch to monitor a handful of openly Russian accounts, for instance RT, and an unspecified number of accounts that they baselessly assert are inauthentic. This is the exact formula we previously found behind another often used online tool called Hamilton 68, whose founders were also quoted in the Post piece. Hamilton 68 mixed a smattering of real Russian accounts with a crowd of mostly American, mostly anti-establishment accounts to create a dashboard that synthesized falsely the appearance of Russian social media backing for everything from the Devin Nunes memo to the Parkland shooting.

Although many of the most controversial stories about GEC involved their funding of commercial media scoring operations that downranked conservative news outlets, the GEC also pressured Twitter about left-leaning figures like Sanders, anti-war accounts, libertarians, and independents, as well as conservatives. They managed this by using a trick that gave domestic propaganda the appearance of a counter-terrorist operation. GEC sent out reports that would first identify a few social media accounts with real ties to Russia or China or Iran.

Then it would separately list accounts they called highly connective to that country’s propaganda ecosystem. These would be American or European citizens with inconvenient views. For instance, GEC identified the Twitter accounts of former Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and former Italian Democratic Party Secretary Nicola Zingaretti, who was often compared to Bernie, as being highly connective to Russia.

All he had to do to get on the list was retweet what they called anti-US propaganda, or GEC’s subjective definition of pro-Russian propaganda. No actual connection was required. Through this means, the GEC exactly rehabilitated the fellow-traveler concept used by infamous smear artists and witch hunters from history, from Leon Trotsky to the House Un-American Affairs Committee.

It was a way to accuse someone who hasn’t done anything wrong of guilt by ideological association. And I’ll just wrap up, I’ve gone over my time, but they weren’t looking for misinformation and disinformation, they were looking for orthodoxy and unorthodoxy, obedience and disobedience. The idea behind GEC in particular was finding a way to propagandize American citizens and encourage acceptance of official policy the way we’ve always done to foreign populations.

It’s a flagrant violation of First Amendment ideals and should be eradicated from the government completely. No one should have this tool, not Democrats, not the Trump administration, nobody. Gentleman’s time has expired.

Thank you.

The Supreme Court on Friday overruled an activist judge in Boston, allowing the Trump administration to slash $250 million for more than 100 teacher training grants for DEI and other woke programs.

In a 5-4 decision nine days after the request, the Supremes sided with the Trump administration’s emergency request to stay the court order by judge Myong J. Joun of the federal District of Massachusetts – who had ordered the Trump administration to “immediately restore” the “pre-existing status quo prior to the termination.”

According to the ruling – which is likely to narrow the ability of district courts to halt agency actions involving grant function, Joun lacked authority to order the Trump admin to restore the funding.

BREAKING: A 5-4 Supreme Court *grants* the Trump administration’s emergency request to stay a Massachusetts court order requiring it to reinstate $250 million in Department of Education teacher training grants to eight states.
Roberts & liberals dissenthttps://t.co/TXun2QPChc pic.twitter.com/9BUP5Lou59

— Katie Buehler (@bykatiebuehler) April 4, 2025

In his ruling, Myong sided with California and eight other blue states that argued that the cuts were likely driven by efforts by the Trump administration to gut DEI programs (duh).

Meet the federal Judge who just blocked President Trump’s cuts to DEI teacher training.

His resume is full of DEI activism, he served on the board of groups currently suing President Trump, and trained far-left activists how to avoid arrests during protests.

🧵🧵🧵 pic.twitter.com/KSp77nbT2X

— Natalie Winters (@nataliegwinters) March 12, 2025

The cuts were announced on Feb. 17, following findings by DOGE that taxpayer funds were being used to “train teachers and education agencies on divisive ideologies” that were “inappropriate and unnecessary,” including “critical race theory,; diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); social justice activism; ‘anti-racism’; and instruction on white privilege and white supremacy.”

And of course, dissenting in the Supreme Court decision were Justices Jackson, Sotomayor, Kagan, and Chief Justice Roberts.

In the hours before President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff blitz on Wednesday afternoon, several corporate media outlets reported that a TikTok deal was nearly finalized ahead of the weekend deadline. One report even claimed the new U.S. entity set to acquire TikTok’s algorithm from Chinese parent company ByteDance would be named “TikTok America.”

Fast-forward to early Friday morning: China launched a counter-offensive tariff strike—a volley of levies between the superpowers—in response to Trump’s 54% effective tariff rate on Chinese imports. Beijing’s effective tariff rate on U.S. imports now stands at the same level. 

Great chart from Goldman.

Trump’s tariff war with China is like a giant game of chess. The board? Well, the global economy—specifically, trade relations between the world’s two largest economies. That’s why, last week, Beijing delayed the strategic deal involving the Panama Canal. Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings had been preparing to sell BlackRock a portfolio of global ports, including two critical ports near the Panama Canal—ports that would have strengthened Trump’s effort to bolster Western Hemispheric defense. 

That’s why, despite all the reports that Trump was preparing to approve a deal with U.S. investors behind TikTok America and ByteDance, the president found no reason for the deal to go through this week as he signed an executive order to keep the deal open-ended for 75 days. In a game of chess, why give up leverage – or rather positional or strategic advantages that a player can use to pressure or outmaneuver their opponent… 

“My Administration has been working very hard on a Deal to SAVE TIKTOK, and we have made tremendous progress. The deal requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed, which is why I am signing an Executive Order to keep TikTok up and running for an additional 75 days,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in the late afternoon. 

The president continued: “We hope to continue working in Good Faith with China, who I understand are not very happy about our Reciprocal Tariffs (Necessary for Fair and Balanced Trade between China and the U.S.A.!). This proves that Tariffs are the most powerful Economic tool, and very important to our National Security! We do not want TikTok to “go dark.” We look forward to working with TikTok and China to close the deal. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Trump’s decision to extend the timeline for the TikTok deal by another 75 days is part of his broader tariff war strategy.

Authored by James Howard Kunstler,

You Wouldn’t Want to Be Him on That Dreadful Day

“Perhaps history is teaching us that today’s popular leaders like Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen are not the people’s last chance. They are the globalist’s last chance.” 

– Kurt Schlichter

Do you see the pattern? 

Populist party leaders all over Western Civ getting undone by the law courts — Călin Georgescu in Romania, election cancelled; Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, de-railed by President Lula’s stooge judges (with CIA help); Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia shot-up with five bullets in May last year (survived miraculously); the Alternative-for-Deutschland Party de-platformed by the Scholz-Merz ruling junta; then, this week, Marine Le Pen, leading candidate (by far) for President of France, defenestrated on Mickey Mouse charges in the Paris court. And, of course, since 2015, Mr. Trump, hounded relentlessly, but not yet overthrown, due to sheer pluck and testosterone (the official hated hormone of the Left).

International lawfare is about the last remaining tool in the “Globalist” kit-bag for “color revolution,” which means regime change by underhanded means, election interference being the favorite device. The poster child, of course, was the US CIA / DOD State Department regime change operation in Ukraine, 2014, that ousted Russian-leaning elected President Viktor Yanukovych, eventually leading to the installation of coke-head Volodymyr Zelensky, and ultimately to the Ukraine War that has killed over a million people. These days, astroturf (i.e., fake) street revolution (e.g., Maidan in Kiev 2014) is out; lawfare is in.

By Globalist, let’s just say the broad alliance of the EU, the European Central Bank & friends, the WEF-and-cronies in the global corporatocracy, the US Democratic Party, billionaires such as George Soros and Reid Hoffman, and sundry residual mass-formation world-savors of the crypto-communist-green-bullshit persuasion.

The situation in our own country has grown particularly acute with the DC and other regional federal court judges lately arrogating the Article II executive powers of the president. You can see what the furthest strategic end-point is: the Democratic Party wants to induce President Trump to invoke a national emergency against this legal insurrection in order to force him to play the role of “fascist dictator.” Mr. Trump has been very careful to stay as much within-the-guardrails of the law as possible throughout this long campaign to destroy him and his MAGA movement to purge corruption from the government.

The hinge on the conflict now is the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS), which is led by Chief Justice John Roberts. A whole lot of troubling info about CJ Roberts has blown up in recent days, much of it not exactly new, but buried and ignored by the likes of The New York Times, and its kindred blob mouthpieces. You’ve read in this blog recently how CJ Roberts’s chief factotum at SCOTUS, Sheldon Snook, is married to Mary McCord, involved officially in every lawfare prank against Mr. Trump since RussiaGate, when she was U.S. Assistant Attorney-General for National Security — and who then went on as counsel for Jerrold Nadler’s House Committee Trump Impeachment No. 1, and the J-6 House Committee, both actions of stupendous bad faith.

Norm Eisen said his good friend Supreme Court Justice John Roberts was not corrupt and that John went to the Czech Republic for a week so that they could spend time working on American rule of law issues together.

John should resign or recuse himself from all of the lawsuit… pic.twitter.com/hemdNeT5Hg

— The Researcher (@listen_2learn) March 31, 2025

Turns out that CJ Roberts has been “besties” with Lawfare field marshal Norm Eisen, and for quite a long time, as far back as 2005. Eisen was special counsel on Impeachment No. 1, and chief strategist behind the janky cases staged last year against Mr. Trump by New York AG Letitia James, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, and Fulton County (GA) DA Fani Willis. You can bet that Eisen was at least an unofficial strategic advisor in the Special Counsel Jack Smith prosecutions, too, along with Mary McCord and Andrew Weissmann of Mueller Commission infamy — Eisen, McCord, and Weissmann, the three Nosferatus of Lawfare. Eisen is coordinating most of the current lawsuit action against Mr. Trump in the federal courts.

Several alt-news outlets are reporting that CJ Roberts made two trips to visit Norm Eisen in Prague between 2011 and 2014 when Eisen was Barack Obama’s ambassador to the Czech Republic. The longest visit, a week, entailed a global conference on “American and European rule-of-law issues.” Hmmmm. . . what could that possibly mean? Revolver News, Mike Benz on “X”, and a character styled as “The Researcher” on “X” have all reported on the Roberts-Eisen close friendship.

Chief Justice John Roberts spent a week living at Norm Eisen’s 150-room palace in the Czech Republic where they “worked on American and European Rule of Law issues together.” Eisen was Ambassador 2011-2014. Roberts became Chief Justice in 2005. This was while Roberts ran SCOTUS. pic.twitter.com/u7YZazt7Re

— Mike Benz (@MikeBenzCyber) April 3, 2025

Also turns out that CJ Roberts is a club member at an elite, invite-only club for legal poohbahs called the Edward Bennett Williams Inn of Court, which is indirectly associated with an international Inns of Court network centered in London. (“Rule-of-law,” anyone?) Other members of the EBW Inn of Court in DC. include Judges James (“Jeb”) Boasberg, Beryl Howell, Amit Mehta, all of the DC District — all involved in current lawfare suits — and SCOTUS Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Do you suppose they have discussed any of these matters at their meet-ups, especially after the pass-around of legal beverages? Perhaps even strategized about them?

Doesn’t that make you a little queasy about CJ Roberts’s role presiding over cases coming any day before SCOTUS that have been designed and propelled by his good pal, Norm Eisen? Should CJ Roberts consider recusing himself from any of these pending cases on the SCOTUS docket?

For Real ? ? ?

Oh, yes, one other interesting sidelight: John Roberts has been found listed on the Jeffrey Epstein flight logs of the “Lolita Express” bound for Little St. James Island in the US Virgin Islands, Epstein’s supposed party shack for the celebrity elite. The allegation that the “John Roberts” listed in the flight log is the same as the Chief Justice is officially unsubstantiated. But here it is FWIW.

Of course, no flight log would be required for a jaunt to Epstein’s New York City townhouse, in case CJ Roberts ever ventured up there from our nation’s capital, an easy car trip. It is established fact that Epstein was busy recording the various doings in the many bedrooms of these establishments, arguably not merely for his private entertainment. Is CJ Roberts perhaps under blackmail for any such activity recorded? Lord only knows, just now.

But it’s possible that FBI Director Kash Patel and his Deputy Director Dan Bongino know the answer to this abiding mystery, since weeks ago they assigned a thousand agents in the New York City FBI office to sort out the thousands of pages and other articles of evidence that the office had been suppressing for years until US AG Pam Bondi fired the top agent there, James Dennehy, for withholding it so long. It’s been awfully quiet over at the FBI and DOJ home office in DC since then. Of course, if any referrals are being considered, or any grand jury bound cases being prepared, you wouldn’t want that to leak out, would you?

Authored by Jacob Burg via The Epoch Times,

A group of 19 Democratic state attorneys general filed a lawsuit on April 3 disputing President Donald Trump’s executive order that requires voters to verify they are U.S. citizens and prevents states from counting mail-in ballots they receive after Election Day.

Filed in Boston federal court, the lawsuit follows two others that challenge the order. The plaintiffs say the order “usurps the States’ constitutional power and seeks to amend election law by fiat.”

“The president’s attempt to control our elections, intimidate voters, and limit Americans’ right to vote is unconstitutional, undemocratic, and frankly, un-American,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat.

On March 25, Trump signed an executive order, titled “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” mandating voters to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections. The order also aims to stop states from counting mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day for presidential and congressional elections.

Last year, the states joining in the lawsuit had allowed late ballots that were postmarked ahead of Election Day to be counted if they arrived within a specific window established by state law.

In his order, Trump cited Denmark and Sweden’s policies of not accepting late-arriving mail-in ballots regardless of when they are postmarked and said the United States should follow the same policy.

California and Nevada led the group of 19 states in arguing that Trump lacks the sole power to amend states’ election procedures. Congress, they said, has the power under the Constitution to preempt state laws for federal elections.

“Neither the Constitution nor Congress authorize the president’s attempted voting restrictions,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, said in a statement.

The Democratic National Committee and Democratic congressional leaders, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), are already challenging Trump’s order in court.

In their lawsuit, the 19 states argued that the rule violates the Constitution and the National Voting Rights Act, which allows voting as long as a person attests to their citizenship under the threat of perjury.

While Democrats have said it’s already illegal for non-citizens to vote, Republicans have raised concerns about how the lack of verification may allow some noncitizens to lie in order to register.

The attorneys general also accused Trump’s order of violating states’ constitutional authority over elections by using the loss of federal funding and potential Justice Department investigations as threats in order to compel them to comply.

In his order, Trump argued that states “fail adequately to vet voters’ citizenship, and, in recent years, the Department of Justice has failed to prioritize and devote sufficient resources for enforcement of these provisions” and alleged the Biden administration allowed illegal immigrants on state voter rolls.

When he announced the order, the president said it was required to “straighten out our elections.”

In the Biden Administration’s dying breath, they managed to help overthrow one last country in the Middle East: Syria, another notch in the neocon “7 country” wet dream General Wesley Clark revealed long ago. On December 8th of 2024, Assad was ousted.

The new leader is Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, head of the Al Nusra Front which, as Horton pointed out during the debate, was deemed simply an alias for Al Qaeda by none other than Victoria Nuland:

Last night, ZeroHedge hosted antiwar.com’s Scott Horton and Pulitzer winner Roy Gutman to debate whether ousting Assad was wise and how to deal with the new regime. Hosted by Viva Frei, the debate got a bit fiery (as is common with Horton) but covered a lot of ground and is worth listening to.

Here are some highlights for those short on time:

Is Syria run by Al Qaeda?

Gutman attempted to downplay Al Qaeda’s role in the Syrian civil war, saying it was “mostly peaceful” protestors and rooted in the Syrian people’s urge to rid themselves of a dictator.

To which Scott replied bluntly: “Who’s in charge of Syria right now, Roy?”

pic.twitter.com/0n7pgw6pH7

— ZeroHedge Debates (@zerohedgeDebate) April 4, 2025

Jolani: Terrorist or Reformed?

Gutman said that the new Syrian regime is a “work in progress” and can possibly be dealt with diplomatically, emphasizing that “[Jolani is] from the middle class in Damascus.”

If that’s the case then why couldn’t we have worked with Assad, Horton asked.

“Oh, [Jolani] was a middle-class guy, huh? Yeah, so was Mohammed Atta… This is the enemy. This is treason.”

pic.twitter.com/qalqAbTcET

— ZeroHedge Debates (@zerohedgeDebate) April 4, 2025

Gutman has decades of on-the-ground experience in the Middle East while Horton has an encyclopedic mind and photographic memory. We highly recommend watching to the entire discussion below or listening via Spotify:

https://t.co/80NM9CNIXE

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 3, 2025