This sounds absolutely nuts to me, but the U.K police have released on bail the five suspected terrorists caught outside RAF Fairford military base.  Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor delivered a statement outside Scotland Yard explaining the current status.  WATCH:

“We have, as you would expect, ensured that our protective security advice and posture remain commensurate to the threat. But be assured, we are considering this from every possible angle, including that this may be actively committed by proxies or individuals, either knowingly or unknowingly, working on behalf of a foreign state.“

According to the UK Daily Mirror, “The farmer who told police about the suspected RAF Fairford terror plot has claimed she saw up to 10 masked people by the base – as police said five men arrested will be bailed. The woman, in her 50s, from Whelford, alerted police after seeing three vans blocking a road near the base, which has been used by the US to bomb missile sites in Iran, while on her way back from a party. Five British nationals were then arrested in the early hours of Sunday morning on suspicion of explosives offences and later terrorism. The farmer who dialed 999 has now claimed there were “definitely more than five” and estimated she saw between eight and 10 people with their faces covered and wearing “slim-fitting clothes”. {source}

(more…)

Bumped, because I knew the media were going to use this NYT article today:

Bottom line, we are in an expanded information war. I’ll explain.

Several years ago, in explaining some of the site challenges CTH informed people of Google’s latest information control operation that was simply called “a spider crawl.”  The spider crawl was an automated instruction to search the internet and find information that was beyond the parameters of their “trust and safety” guidelines.  The automated search would crawl through the websites and comment sections, and report violations based on key words in the search parameter.

Spider crawling is essentially AI.  A technology tool to search databases and identify results based on parameters established by the individual who launched the search.  However, now in order to push a scare narrative around the hot topic of “AI” the spider crawling is much more in depth and advanced.

Now, instead of just searching the internet, advanced AI can find information and answer questions based on lengthy attributes described by the AI user.  AI can now go into proprietary databases and retrieve information to answer complex and complicated question (instructions).

If the AI launch, now called an “AI bot”, hits a gate, like a password access point, advanced AI can find workarounds to enter the database, extract the information and return the result to the AI user.  If you understand that process, then this headline has context.

[SOURCE]

The entire article is nothing more than taking something that is easily understood and adding jargon to make it sound complicated. The word “meddling” is used to describe the AI process of trying to get passed the gate.  When there were individual people doing this, we called it “hacking” now the process is automated via instructions to the software search.

(more…)

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appears on Sunday Morning Futures now hosted by Larry Kudlow who has replaced Maria Bartiromo.  The primary topic of the conversation is the current state of the economy.

Secretary Bessent notes we have entered the phase of prior policy implementation where the economy now accelerates growth based on former policy changes including, targeted tax reductions, capital investment prioritization and expensing, regulatory changes and direct investment.  GDP growth now looks to achieve 5% or more.  WATCH:

Oil prices are the underlying friction within the economy creating higher gasoline and diesel prices.  However, when you take the energy sector out of the inflation calculation, the current rate of wage growth is exceeding inflation.

Bessent also notes, currently the only oil not coming through the Strait of Hormuz is Iranian oil.  Other than those supplies, oil flows through the Strait are at normal levels.

(more…)

Royal Airforce base Fairford, is a U.K-owned base operated by the United States under an agreement that goes back to the 1950’s cold war era. However, recently Airbase Fairford has been used by American strategic bombers for strikes against Iranian missile sites under an agreement with former British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Overnight, at 12:45 a.m British police received a warning about three suspicious vans traveling toward RAF Fairford, with a tip that a coordinated terrorist attack was planned against the American base.

U.K police alerted the base, which immediately triggered threat alerts, then police intercepted the vans and arrested five males on suspicion of terrorism.

LONDON (AP) — U.K. police said Sunday that five men arrested in the middle of the night near an air base used by the United States during its war against Iran are being held on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act that appeared to involve three trucks.

London’s Metropolitan Police, which takes the lead on potential terrorist activities, said police received a call at 12:45 a.m. related to the three suspicious vehicles that appeared to be traveling toward RAF Fairford, a U.K.-owned base that is operated by the U.S. under an agreement dating back to the Cold War.

(more…)

The state visit by Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping in combination with USTR Jamieson Greer’s responsibilities within the U.S-China trade program, meant that Greer had to defer a visit to Mexico to work on the USMCA replacement.  However, bilateral trade agreement discussions at a technical level remained on track and progressing during Xi’s visit.

The U.S. and Mexico delegations have now expanded the bilateral topics from 54 sections to 90 sections.  This indicates significant agreement on the major components of the framework and now the smaller overlapping topics that enmesh with the bigger topics are brought in.

Greer shifted focus toward the Chinese trade aspects due to the timing of the Xi-Trump summit.  USTR Jamieson Greer is expected to be returning to the Mexico trade talks in about a week.

For the interests of the Mexican side, the main focus is seeking favorable reductions in the section 232 tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles.  However, the digital platform section and intellectual property is also a priority being negotiated by team USA.

MEXICO CITY, Sept 23 (Reuters) – The fourth round of trade talks between Mexico and the United States will not take place next week and could instead be held in October, a senior Mexican official said on Wednesday, as the two countries juggle a shifting diplomatic calendar.

Luis Rosendo Gutierrez, Mexico’s deputy economy minister for foreign trade, said the delay was due to scheduling conflicts, including Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the United States and the upcoming G20 summit. Despite the pause in formal rounds, Gutierrez said technical coordination with the US Trade Representative’s Office (USTR) remains a “daily” occurrence.

(more…)

Promethean Action’s Susan Kokinda gives a good recap of Chinese Chairman Xi’s state visit, including the nuanced respect and policy alignment visible between President Trump and Chairman Xi.

In essence, the comments by Marco Rubio about putting USA sovereign policy ahead of prior USA multilateral global policy, are a baseline for Chairman Xi to pivot his own interpretations of Trump’s policy objective.  With U.S policy focused on America’s interests and Beijing policy focused on China’s interests, there is no room for conflict, only terms.

This episode argues that media outrage over a White House “autopen” joke and criticism of Trump’s summit with Xi Jinping obscures a deeper shift: Trump is dismantling a 50-year geopolitical framework associated with Henry Kissinger. It contrasts Chatham House’s “China Rising, America in Decline?” panel and its Thucydides Trap framing—linked to Graham Allison—with Xi’s evolution from posing the trap as an open question to asserting it “can be overcome” after Trump’s UN speech and claimed actions in Iran, Venezuela, the Shield of America, and the Greenland Treaty, alongside a push for reindustrialization.

The script also highlights a UN Board of Peace session on Gaza focused on reconstruction led by Gazans and a new security structure involving Muslim-country troops, presenting it as ending “outside forces” control. It notes Rubio’s permanent dual role as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor and frames his stance as reversing Kissinger’s legacy.  WATCH:

.

Terms of Greenland Deal Here

(more…)

Again yesterday, western media were running articles with soundbites and interpretations from a press conference in St Petersburg, Russia, given by Vladimir Putin.

When there are significant consequences within words, it is always the best option to review the source of the words spoken and not the interpretation of them by western media.  Below you will find the direct transcription of Putin’s remarks without filtered opinion.

[TRANSCRIPT] – Question: Mr President, you said earlier that the trilateral format negotiations of Russia, the United States and Ukraine could resume after the State Duma elections. The elections have concluded. Where and when could a new round of negotiations take place?

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: As is well known, the Ukrainian side broke off the negotiations that were held in Istanbul. But now – or rather, even before the elections, about 10 days or a couple of weeks ago – it declared its readiness to resume these negotiations. Indeed, we said that negotiations are unlikely to be held before the State Duma elections, and that we will be ready to resume these contacts following them.

However, the recent developments are also well known to everyone. On the night of September 20, that is, on the main voting day, a massive strike was launched against Moscow. More than 1,600 drones entered the area near Moscow. This is the first point.

Second. Strikes were carried out on polling stations. In one location, the polling station was located in a school; the school was virtually destroyed by the strike. Attacks began on the residential homes of the chairpersons of territorial election commissions. In one case, the chairperson of a territorial commission, her husband and her child were injured. In another case, it unfortunately resulted in tragedy, and, as you know, the chair of the territorial election commission was killed as her home was the target of the strike.

In addition, as we are currently in St Petersburg, I think everyone remembers the St Petersburg International Economic Forum being held, when the Ukrainian authorities targeted St Petersburg, hitting the so-called coal harbor in the port and setting it on fire. Who did they want to scare, us or our guests? Those who work with Russia are unlikely to be scared of anything or run away. And no one did. We held that forum to the end.

Then, starting in June, they began targeting our oil refineries. As is also well known, in June they announced the start of a forty‑day operation. Well, this led to certain losses on our part.

(more…)

In 1986, the federal government built a computer database called SAVE, Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements. The purpose was simple – when a noncitizen applies for public benefits the state govt can check whether the applicant was legally in the country. The SAVE system worked. Nobody talked about it for 39 years.

In March 2025, President Trump signed an executive order expanding SAVE’s use. The order told DHS to use the SAVE system to verify citizenship of registered voters and people registering to vote. The order instructed the Social Security Administration to share its records with DHS for that purpose.

Two months later, DHS launched the modified version. Two changes: (1) it now checks Social Security numbers against SSA databases. (2) it allows state and local authorities to run bulk searches; the entire voter roll at once.

Blue states sued. Slowly the cases went through the lower courts, then the appellate courts, until finally the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 the SAVE system can be used in the midterm election [RULING HERE]. “While the ruling gives the Department of Homeland Security authority to use the database ahead of the midterms, the court’s conservative majority noted that the impact of the ruling was blunted by another federal law — the National Voter Registration Act — which prohibits states from purging voters within 90 days of the election.” {ABC link}

If the states use the SAVE system, but do not purge their voter rolls for 2026 based on the results, the system still can be of value. “the justices’ action came so close to the upcoming election that the records can only legally be used on a case-by-case basis — and not for the type of bulk voter-roll matching that some states want to conduct.” {Politico link}

(more…)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave an extensive press conference following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the conclusion of U.S. participation in the 2026 UNGA.  The full video and transcript are below.

There’s little argument that Secretary Rubio is one of the most remarkable Secretary of States’ in our modern history.

[Transcript] – SECRETARY RUBIO:  Okay, go ahead.

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, what were the U.S. demands with the Iranians yesterday, and was there any discussion of return to the MOU, or have the terms changed for the United States in terms —

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, yesterday’s conversation was with some of the mediators involved in that process, and I don’t want to characterize it as one direction or another.  I think it’s a pretty clear understanding of what this – remember everything here, at its core, the number one issue – the President highlighted this yesterday in his speech before the world – Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.  Everything emanates from that.

We understand the straits is an issue.  The southern lane of the straits is open.  Every day more and more barrels of oil are flowing through there.  And they’re open, thanks to the efforts of the United States military that’s both defending shipping and has removed mines.  And that trend will continue.  Meanwhile, the only blockade in the Hormuz Straits is the one we’ve imposed on Iran because they keep firing on ships and they continue to do so as early as this morning.  There was another launch, so – on shipping.  So, we’ll continue to defend.  We’ll continue to hold the straits open.  So that’s an issue.

But the core issue here is that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.  We make that point in every interaction with them.  Beyond that, I would say that – I don’t want to characterize these meetings because these – if there’s going to be a deal with Iran, it’s not going to happen at a press conference.  It’s going to involve a lot of hard work over a period of time, and it will engage and involve mediators as well.

So as the President said, he’s open to a deal.  The President’s open, still to this moment, to making a deal with Iran that allows Iran to be what it should be, which is a great and prosperous country.  But if they continue to insist on the desire for a nuclear weapon, their support for proxies in the region that – their support of terrorism – they’re the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism – then we’re going to have big problems with them.  And the President has a number of options available to him, including the ones he’s already taken, which is to impose severe and growing economic costs.  But he also has some military options, upon which I won’t speculate.

(more…)

Politico (EU) puts the spin on the actual ask by saying, “NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe U.S. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich wants more information on escalating hybrid threats.” However, if you pull back the NATO wording and current position, what it really looks like is U.S NATO leaders telling Europe to prove all of these “hybrid attacks” they keep speaking about.

NATO is a collective of EU nations.  The official position of NATO is “it sees no imminent threat of a Russian attack.” However, several of the EU-NATO countries are independently reporting “hybrid attacks” under opaque descriptions and then using political soundbites to designate Russia as the cause.

Just like the “drone attack on Zelenskyy’s airplane,” most of these ‘reports’ end up being debunked once they are investigated, or scrutinized.  There have been dozens of so-called ‘hybrid attacks’ that were debunked or claimed in such an ambigous fashion they cannot be proven as accurate.

Ex. Russia flying a helicopter in Kaliningrad, is not a hybrid attack against Poland.  A Russian drone crashing 160km away from Chișinău, is not a hybrid attack against Moldova.  A can of tuna fish attached to a short-range quadcopter at the Leipzig/Halle Airport is not a hybrid attack against Germany.

None of the heads of the nations described above (Poland, Moldova, Germany) have ever asserted those “hybrid attack” examples as an official position of the government.  It’s always some arms-length politician or internal bureaucrat that makes the claim, then the media amplifies it.

Well, it would appear that NATO Commander Grynkewich is trying to figure out how/why these quasi-official “hybrid attack” claims are getting promoted by media; because ultimately, it’s his responsibility to formulate a response.  One can only imagine Secretary Hegseth calling General Grynkewich on behalf of President Trump and asking for some clarity amid the European claims/noise.

(more…)