The wilderness we betray

image generated via Seedream

Trump signs order ‘encouraging’ states to let ranchers kill gray wolves, gleefully proclaiming ‘you can shoot them as of today’. {Mediaite 4 September}

https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/trump-gives-reluctant-ranchers-the-go-ahead-to-take-care-of-endangered-species-you-can-shoot-them-as-of-today/

Understanding full well that there may be justifiable circumstances in which — and only after every other reasonable recourse hath been exhausted — a rancher must protect himself, his family, or his livestock from a dangerous wild animal, I do not believe this to be the primary motivation for Trump taking this action. Greasing the palms of the agriculture industry is a reason, certainly, yet the cruelty itself seemeth, more often than not, to be precisely the point of his public conduct. And I do not think the majority of American ranchers relish the prospect of shooting endangered species, as the president himself doth appear to — but it is grievous news for wildlife, and for every soul who harbours genuine concern for creatures other than ourselves.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

The last watch before the storm

image generated via ChatGPT

The EU and NATO have exhausted nearly the whole of their available options in confronting the terrorist state Russia. {NYT 4 September}

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/04/world/europe/russia-europe-nato-sabotage.html?unlocked_article_code=1.-lA.bhtU.jLwng-1AzHWM&smid=url-share

All-out war appears an ever more serious prospect. —

FTA: Russia’s failed drone attack on a German airport was part of a dangerous pattern of escalation that, experts and officials said, risks sparking an open confrontation with NATO — whether the Kremlin wants it or not.

German officials declared this week that the Russian state was behind the attack, in which one explosive drone hit a parked Ukrainian cargo plane and another appeared to collide with a plane taking off. Both drones failed to detonate. If successful, the attack could have killed or maimed people and led to unpredictable consequences, officials said.

It was the most dramatic in a spate of such attacks that includes plots to place incendiary devices aboard DHL cargo planes, blow up railroad tracks in Poland, and burn down warehouses and shopping centers all over Europe.

Such attacks began occurring shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, part of an effort by President Vladimir V. Putin to bring the war to the West. But they have recently increased in frequency and intensity, Western security officials said. The attacks, along with recent reports citing Western intelligence services suggesting Russia could be planning some kind of military incursion or provocation along NATO’s eastern flank, have frazzled Europe and left officials there casting about for solutions.

And how shall the former United States and its people — now under the governance of those who are, inarguably, just a bit more friendly unto the Kremlin than were prior administrations, yet still a NATO member — react if and when a wider European war begins in earnest? —

FTA: Another challenge for NATO is keeping its 32 member countries aligned. After Germany’s announcement this week, a chorus of allies voiced support and solidarity, including the American ambassador to NATO, Matthew G. Whitaker. Notably, though, his statement did not mention Russia by name. By contrast, a statement by Prime Minister Andy Burnham of Britain named Russia three times.

The omission was an example of the failure by the Trump administration to hold the Kremlin accountable. Since taking office last year, Mr. Trump has occasionally dangled the possibility of imposing costs on Mr. Putin’s transgressions, but he has rarely followed through.

Last week at NATO headquarters, Elbridge Colby, a senior Pentagon official, also omitted any mention of Russia while pushing European countries to take the lead in supporting Ukraine, part of an effort to reduce U.S. military presence on the continent. And on Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent blamed Ukraine for high energy prices dragging down the global economy, citing its attacks on Russia’s oil industry. He did not mention that Russia started the war and has relentlessly targeted Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure.

It is the threat of a united response, Western officials believe, that keeps the Kremlin in check. And it is that unity that Mr. Putin seems to be testing with each new attack. 

For now, Western officials insist that NATO retains its deterrent effect, though the ambivalence of the Trump administration has created uncertainty about whether it will continue to.                                                       

Personally, I do not believe Trumpistan shall remain within NATO for very much longer. Trump shall abandon the alliance when push cometh to shove, and hath said or implied as much on many occasions through the years. He was making noise of this during his first reign of terror, when there were more guardrails keeping in his lane than there are now. Alas, I see but little to encourage me that the majority of the American people would be outraged at such a move — the grave betrayal of European allies. Most citizens would be baying about not wishing to shed blood for the ‘Europoors’ — look about oneself, and one shall not have to look too hard: Europhobia is presently all the rage among #MAGA and ‘conservative’ Americans. We heard the incessant whining, whilst Mr Biden yet held office, about the billions in necessary military aid sent for the defence of Ukraine. Some years back it would have been unthinkable, but it is no longer hard to imagine the American public writ large being content to see their country break faith with its international commitments and collectively spit upon the face of all it hath purported to stand for since the Second World War. The likely consequences for such, on the other hand, are unimaginable.

What y’all voted for, #Murica.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

The myth after the man: a cult shall outlive its king

image generated via ChatGPT

Trump, on the raising of monuments unto himself: ‘Nobody will do it once I’m gone’. {CNN 4 September}

https://www.kten.com/news/politics/trump-doesn-t-dispute-he-s-building-monuments-to-himself-nobody-will-do-it-once/article_c5df451c-87aa-5e20-94a4-af52c1035877.html

I would say the president doth exhibit a measure of genuine perceptiveness, for once, as most of us are not going to lament his eventual departure from the stage of life — though decrepit as he is now, it is going to be many years still as I am convinced God is employing this man as an instrument of chastisement against the United States of America for its manifold transgressions, and shall preserve him unto an absurd age purely to prolong our torment. Yet in truth, Trump may be mistaken (imagine that), for millions of #Muricans remain so far gone into this cult of personality that even after he be dead, they shall endeavour to deify him regardless — a diminished number, seeing as many others shall themselves have departed this earth within some twenty to twenty-five years, and supposing the planet hath not by then been reduced to ruin (looking like a big ‘if’).

Even should this constitute but a modest fraction of the population, they shall nonetheless venerate Donald Trump in death. Decades after his denunciation by Khrushchev, and long past even the collapse of the Soviet Union itself, no small number of souls within his native country of Georgia, and throughout Russia and other lands once Soviet, did continue to lionise Joseph Stalin. Maoist guerrilla movements remain active in parts of South Asia. And, naturally, there have always existed those neo-Nazis harbouring an affection for Hitler, together with a full disregard for the reasons that rendered Nazism so catastrophic a failure on every conceivable level — and their numbers, indeed, are expanding, as neo-fascist doctrine continueth to poison the minds of millions, whilst living memory of the Third Reich’s horrors fades away with the passage of time.

Whether Trump doth genuinely belong in the same company as brutal tyrants and suchlike, I shall not here address — nor do I believe, even now, that most of us wish in earnest to entertain whether any elected American president might be justly likened unto some of history’s worst monsters, howsoever we may hold a given president in contempt. At the very least, however, he is as reviled across the globe as almost any political leader within living memory. Perchance Vladimir Putin is held in worse regard, and that would be deserved. No matter: the world at large shall not mourn Donald Trump upon his day of reckoning, yet his hold upon the most fervent of his acolytes shall, if anything, only grow stronger. It mattereth not how corrupt and inept the man doth prove to be in our own time, for in fifty to seventy-five years hence, there shall doubtless remain those who account Trump a folk hero and cultural icon — assuming, once again, that the planet itself remains standing to bear witness. Nothing is guaranteed... save for more misery, so long as this whoreson knave and his cult maintain their stranglehold upon the rest of us.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

Minting a monarchy

image generated via ChatGPT

Gold-plated Trump $1 coins enter circulation, contravening long-standing U.S. Code barring living figures appearing on currency. {WP 2 September}

https://wapo.st/4xKQCnq

As we have been discovering over the past decade, in a banana republic laws and traditions mean very little and do not apply to the political elite. —

FTA: The U.S. Mint said Wednesday that new golden $1 coins featuring President Donald Trump’s image are now in circulation, marking only the second time in U.S. history that a living president has appeared on U.S. coinage.

The Trump coins, intended to mark the United States’ 250th birthday, were first proposed last year and drew controversy and questions about their legality.

One side of the coin features an image of Trump’s face and is inscribed with “Liberty,” “In God We Trust” and “1776-2026.” The other side of the coin depicts an eagle holding an olive branch and arrows in its talons, along with a banner that reads “E Pluribus Unum.”

The U.S. Mint will begin selling the Trump coins on its website at noon Wednesday at a markup of more than 50 percent above their face value. Rolls of 25 coins will cost $61 and bags of 100 coins will cost $154.50, according to its website.

When the coins were first proposed last year, draft images showed Trump’s image on both sides of the coin. At the time, a bipartisan committee that reviews U.S. coin designs balked at taking up the proposal, with members saying that putting a sitting president on currency would break with democratic norms.

GOP and Democratic members of that committee — the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee — also warned the U.S. Mint not to move forward with any plan to put Trump’s face on coins.

“The CCAC has not been presented with a Trump gold coin for review. If they make it without our review, it will be illegal,” Donald Scarinci, a Democrat whom Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) named to the committee, told The Washington Post in June.

Mint officials argued that because the committee declined to consider the coin, the administration was not bound by its review, and pressed forward with the coin’s production.

Under a law passed in 2020, the Treasury Department can mint $1 coins during 2026 to mark the 250th anniversary “with designs emblematic of the United States semiquincentennial.”

However, according to U.S. Code, “[o]nly the portrait of a deceased individual may appear on United States currency and securities” — a law that sprung from a Colonial-era tradition against putting current presidents on American coins, to distance them from the British monarchy.

Treasury officials have defended the Trump coin’s design, noting that the image of President Calvin Coolidge appeared on a coin for the United States’ 150th anniversary.

In 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Presidential $1 Coin Act, directing the U.S. Mint to issue a line of dollar coins honoring past U.S. presidents in the order they served — but only those who had been deceased for at least two years. The U.S. Mint suspended issuing those presidential coins in 2011.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

The reckoning in the Pentagon

image generated via Grok

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis urges Trump to fire Pete Hegseth, says ‘I have never witnessed more inept management’ at the Pentagon. {Mediate 2 September}

https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/republican-senator-urges-trump-to-fire-hegseth-i-have-never-witnessed-more-inept-management/

FTA: Republican Senator Thom Tillis is pushing President Donald Trump to show Pete Hegseth the door.

In a long-winded X post on Wednesday, Tillis thanked outgoing Army Secretary Dan Driscoll for his leadership, calling him “the right man at the right moment to lead our Soldiers and Army civilians.”

The Wall Street Journal reported late last week that Driscoll would step down before the end of the year amid “months of tension” with Hegseth.

Tillis then turned his attention — and some venom — to Hegseth.

“If we had a [Defense secretary] who maintained the same priorities and forward-thinking, he would be fighting to retain talented leaders like Dan and the many flag officers he has forced into retirement,” Tillis wrote. “Instead, he is creating a leadership void at the top of our military ranks.”

He added:

I served on Senate Armed Services for 8 years and as chair or ranking member of the Personnel and Readiness subcommittee. I have never witnessed more inept management of the brave men and women who serve our country. He is intimidated by competence and retreats to ginning up culture wars instead of soberly attending to the vital work of our national defense and the health and well-being of our fighting force.

Concluding, Tillis delivered a final knockout blow, saying, “I urge the President to find a new leader at the Pentagon who will retain and empower our military talent rather than diminish it.”

With his demand, Tillis has joined numerous other lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who have called for Hegseth’s firing.

Earlier Wednesday, The Atlantic reported that Trump “expressed concern” when Driscoll went to the commander in chief directly to tell him how many generals and other top officers had been fired, pushed out, or passed over for promotion under Hegseth.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

A fresh coat of whitewash

image generated via Grok

Penn State University to honour the late, disgraced Joe Paterno — he who overlooked what his defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, was doing to children for years — with a museum exhibit. {ESPN 2 September}

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/49804479/penn-state-open-paterno-family-football-experience

Should we be surprised in a country that allows a likely paedophile to be president? No matter, in any event. Whitewashing the tarnished legacy of their beloved ‘Joe Pa’, and that of the football programme itself, hath always appeared to matter far more to these people than confronting the full moral weight of the scandal. Those whose lives were forever ruined by Sandusky’s actions — and by the inaction of Paterno and numerous other culpable parties in State College — can just suck it up, I suppose. 

FTA: Penn State has announced it is opening the Paterno Family Football Experience Room in the All-Sports Museum inside Beaver Stadium on Thursday, a "permanent museum experience" the school says will celebrate Penn State's football history.

The museum will now include a Joe Paterno exhibit, featuring the former Penn State coach's original office desk and workspace, personal artifacts and a curated timeline documenting significant moments from his more than six decades with the Nittany Lions. The museum will also hold Penn State trophies, commemorating past achievements by individual teams and players.

"Penn State Football's history belongs to generations of student-athletes, coaches, staff and supporters who helped build this program," athletic director Pat Kraft said in a statement. "This room gives us an opportunity to preserve that history, present it thoughtfully and create an experience that connects the proud tradition of Penn State Football with its future."

The museum exhibit will open a little over 14 years since the school removed Paterno's statue outside the stadium, in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky's crimes. Sandusky, a former Penn State assistant under Paterno, was convicted in 2012 of sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period and sentenced to at least 30 years in prison. Paterno was fired in November 2011.

An internal report headed by former FBI director Louis Freeh later concluded that Paterno and other university leaders "failed to protect against a child sexual predator harming children for over a decade." The university and the Paterno family came to a settlement over the Freeh report in 2020. In that settlement release, the Penn State Trustees said the Freeh report contained "opinions about individuals and matters that are not shared by the university."

Paterno, who won 409 games from 1966 to 2011 at Penn State, died in 2012, just months after his firing. The Nittany Lions, under new coach Matt Campbell, open the season Saturday at home against Marshall.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

The market above the abyss

image generated via ChatGPT

Historical precedent and Trump-related chaos suggest a US stock market crash is a legitimate possibility. {The Motley Fool 1 September}

https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/stock-market-crash-imminent-under-082601339.html

FTA: The stock market has soared under President Trump. 

But these gains under President Trump have also occurred amid historic bouts of volatility. During the unforeseen COVID-19 crash, the broad-based S&P 500 shed 34% of its value in 33 calendar days. Likewise, the "tariff tantrum" in early April 2025 witnessed the S&P 500 lose more than 10% of its value over just two trading sessions.

It begs the question: Is a stock market crash imminent under President Donald Trump?

While short-term directional moves in Wall Street's major stock indexes can't be guaranteed, 85 years of historical precedent offers an answer -- and investors might not be thrilled with it.

Trump's second term has been packed with geopolitical/major events

Since Donald Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, he's been somewhat of a magnet for major geopolitical and historical events.

There was the aforementioned tariff tantrum, involving the April 2025 unveiling of sweeping global tariffs and higher reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries deemed to have unfavorable trade imbalances with America. The U.S. also bombed nuclear facilities in Iran in June 2025, removed Venezuela's President, Nicolas Maduro, in early January 2026, and began military operations against Iran at the end of February 2026.

Shortly after the Trump-led Iran war began, Carson Group's Chief Market Strategist, Ryan Detrick, published a data set to X (formerly Twitter) examining the performance of the benchmark S&P 500 at various intervals following more than three dozen stock market shock events since the start of 1940.

Using data from S&P Dow Jones Indices, CFRA, and Carson Group's own research, Detrick and his team determined that, on average, the S&P 500 gained 3% one year after a market shock event officially began. Furthermore, the S&P 500 was higher following 65% of qualifying shock events.

Although a 3% gain is well below the long-term annualized return of the broad-based S&P 500, it's nevertheless a positive outcome amid heightened periods of uncertainty.

Based solely on the headline figure from Detrick's data set, a stock market crash doesn't appear likely under President Trump. However, there's a bit more nuance to Carson Group's data set than meets the eye.

One scenario makes stock market crashes likelier, and Trump is overseeing it right now

Though nearly two-thirds of geopolitical and major market shock events spanning more than 85 years were followed by S&P 500 gains after 12 months, several of the losing events shared a common theme: energy supply disruption.

In October 1956, Britain, France, and Israel invaded Egypt to regain control of the Suez Canal, which Egypt had nationalized in July 1956. The closure of the Suez Canal disrupted oil shipments from the Middle East to Western Europe. The S&P 500 was lower by nearly 12% one year later.

The Oil Embargo of 1973 was an even bigger shock to Wall Street. Arab members of OPEC stopped selling oil to the U.S. and other allies of Israel, leading to a petroleum shortage and substantially higher fuel costs. The benchmark S&P 500 lost 35% of its value over the next year.

The ongoing Iran war features the largest energy supply disruption in modern history. Shortly after Trump approved military attacks against Iran, the latter closed the Strait of Hormuz to virtually all maritime traffic. This effectively halted the daily movement of a fifth of the world's petroleum liquids (about 20 million barrels/day).

Energy supply shocks are the one geopolitical/major historical event that history shows Wall Street struggles to put in the back seat. While this doesn't mean a stock market crash is in any way imminent or guaranteed under President Trump, the likelihood of an elevator-down move amid the largest energy disruption in modern history is certainly heightened.

Making matters worse, evidence is mounting that Iran-war-driven Trumpflation has spilled beyond the energy sector. The price stickiness of Core Personal Consumption Expenditures, which excludes volatile food and energy costs and provides economists with a clearer view of long-term price trends, has been stuck at roughly 3.3%-3.4% for months. This suggests that businesses are incurring higher production and transportation costs as a result of the Strait of Hormuz's closure, which are being passed on to consumers.

If Trump-driven inflation (i.e., Trumpflation) entrenches itself in the broader economy, persistently elevated inflation would make outsize stock market returns unlikely.

While there's no imminent threat of a stock market crash under Donald Trump, the historical puzzle pieces do suggest a heightened likelihood of an elevator-down move and/or a substantial pullback in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

Blue hour in the neighbourhood

image generated via ChatGPT

Florida: an eleven-year-old boy menaces other children on the playground with a semi-automatic handgun. {WCJB/Gray News 31 August}

https://www.wafb.com/2026/08/31/11-year-old-threatens-children-with-gun-playground-deputies-say/

FTA: ALACHUA COUNTY, Fla. (WCJB/Gray News) - Florida deputies arrested an 11-year-old boy accused of threatening other children with a gun at a neighborhood playground.

Alachua County Sheriff’s deputies say they were called to reports of an armed disturbance in a neighborhood near Eastside High School on Saturday morning. The incident, they said, did not happen on campus.

Two children told deputies that they were inside a home when they saw the 11-year-old suspect through their window on the playground.

An argument broke out, and they said the suspect grabbed a semi-automatic handgun. He then allegedly walked up to the victim’s window and knocked on it with the gun, threatening to shoot them.

An adult in the house called 911, and the suspect left the area. Deputies found the boy at his home and arrested him.

The 11-year-old was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without the intention to kill.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

In the shadow of the Himalaya

image generated via ChatGPT

Rescue efforts continue in Nepal and Tibet following deadly glacial flooding. {The Guardian 31 August}

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/31/nepal-tibet-floods-rescuers-hundreds-trapped-hydropower

FTA: Rescue teams are working to reach more than 900 missing hydropower workers, hundreds of whom are feared trapped in the tunnels and underground areas of 12 hydropower projects in Nepal after the devastating flash floods, ​the ⁠country’s disaster ​management authority has said.

The death toll from the ⁠unprecedented deluge of ice, rock, mud ​and debris on Wednesday last week has risen to 939 people, with 16 more dead reported in Tibet. More than 4,400 are missing on the two sides of the border.

About 500 of the missing hydropower workers at projects damaged by the flooding in Nepal’s Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts are thought to be trapped in tunnels built to control the flow of water.

As rescue efforts drag on, experts fear the chances of finding survivors in tunnels are diminishing as oxygen levels fall.

Some workers called for help when flooding started on Wednesday and those who had managed to escape tunnels said many of their colleagues were still trapped, said Mohan Kumar Dangi, the president of the Nepal Independent Power Producers’ Association.

Rescue efforts have been complicated by difficult terrain, persistently high flood waters and difficult weather. With more than 40 bridges destroyed, rescuers are relying on helicopters, while India and China are sending prefabricated truss bridges to help restore access.

The swollen Trishuli River has also continued to change course unpredictably, making planning a challenge. Areas that were dry one day are flooded the next, and further floods are a constant concern.

Hundreds of bodies, many unidentified, that were swept down the mountains by the torrent, have been buried in shallow graves after DNA testing on the plains ⁠of the Himalayan region.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

The narrative factory

image generated via ChatGPT

Ministers of propaganda: Pentagon found to be secretly installing right-wing military veteran ‘influencers’ in government roles. {WP 30 August}

https://wapo.st/4iExvH4

Hegseth must go. America doth not need this half-baked culture warrior directing the affairs of its armed forces; rather, it requires an individual genuinely competent in the duties and responsibilities attendant upon overseeing the world’s largest fighting force. The incompetence on display is sickening in and of itself, but that they should endeavour to dictate public opinion — at taxpayer expense — on top of it is stunning for its sheer arrogance and effrontery. We are not in World War II, nor in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, and the Christian Nationalist agenda now being advanced remains nefarious and thoroughly un-American in every conceivable respect. — 

FTA: The Pentagon has secretly installed several conservative military veterans with large online followings in government roles, declining to disclose their assignments as they amplify Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s viewpoints and attack those who scrutinize the Trump administration, according to people familiar with the matter and corroborating material.

At least some of the influencers have been assigned to civilian roles that could lead to changes in policy, the people familiar with the matter said. Like others, they spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Neither the Pentagon nor those involved have disclosed the government roles despite the Trump administration’s claims that they are running the most transparent Defense Department ever.

Those involved include Rob Maness, a retired Air Force colonel, and Kurt Schlichter, a retired Army colonel, people familiar with the matter said. Pentagon records reviewed by The Washington Post show that both have active official government email addresses as of this past week and are assigned to the office of Anthony Tata, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. The email addresses include a “.civ” suffix, meaning they are labeled as civilian employees, rather than as military personnel or contractors.

Both served for decades in uniform and, since retiring, have turned from the military to conservative commentary. Maness has more than 135,000 followers on X, while Schlichter has nearly 620,000.

Another retired Army colonel and influencer, Thomas Anderson, was listed in Pentagon records earlier this year with a “.civ” email address and assigned to Tata’s office, according to people familiar with the matter and records reviewed by The Post. An attorney, he writes online under the pen name Cynical Publius and has more than 323,000 followers on X. He was no longer listed in Pentagon records late this past week, the people familiar with the issue said.

The assignments for all three have not previously been reported. Questions have been raised online about influencers’ connections with the Pentagon, including in an article last week by the Bulwark.

Pentagon spokesman Joel Valdez declined to comment to The Post about whether any of the three are drawing a taxpayer-funded salary, what roles they have or how long those jobs are expected to last. Tata did not respond to a request for comment.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

The web tightens

image generated via ChatGPT

‘Penetrate the elite’: documents reveal international criminal Andrew Tate urged the lowlifes taking his online courses to engage in espionage against the rich and powerful; also instructed them on ‘building a bottom b**ch’. {Straight Arrow News 28 August}

https://san.com/cc/manosphere-influencer-andrew-tate-faces-sexual-misconduct-charges-a-data-leak-is-exposing-his-secrets/

FTA: A leak of sensitive information from “manosphere” influencer Andrew Tate’s online empire reveals that his “War Room” program teaches men to accumulate wealth, attract and control women and “penetrate” the elite, including by exploiting the sexual misbehavior of wealthy acquaintances.

The data provide new insight into the business operations of Andrew Tate, a British-American citizen who has reportedly cultivated relationships with Donald Trump Jr., Barron Trump and other figures on the American right even as he and his brother, Tristan, have defended themselves against accusations of sexual assault in two countries.

Material included in the leak shows that the “Penetrating the Elite” class in Tate’s War Room program — little known outside the organization — offers “espionage” training for subscribers aimed at digging up secrets on wealthy individuals for leverage in business deals. Another class teaches participants to categorize women into “exploitable types” who can be manipulated — and, if they don’t follow rules, disciplined.

A security researcher provided the data to Straight Arrow and to the leak-archiving organization DDoSecrets. The researcher detected the leak as the Tate brothers — Andrew is 39; Tristan, 38 — are being held in a federal detention center in Miami while they fight extradition to the United Kingdom to face charges involving at least four alleged victims. In a hearing this week, a federal prosecutor said Andrew Tate is accused in the U.K. of choking and holding victims and raping them, and his brother is accused of human trafficking, money laundering and violence against minors.

“They promote incredible violence against women consistent with the allegations against them,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Abbie Waxman told the judge.

Material included in the leak shows that the “Penetrating the Elite” class in Tate’s War Room program — little known outside the organization — offers “espionage” training for subscribers aimed at digging up secrets on wealthy individuals for leverage in business deals. Another class teaches participants to categorize women into “exploitable types” who can be manipulated — and, if they don’t follow rules, disciplined.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

The papers still fly

image generated via ChatGPT

Federal judge rules the Trump regime cannot deport foreign-born students for being critical of Israel. {AP 29 August}

https://apnews.com/article/israel-protests-deportations-ideological-d3694ba08ab714eb9441ca51a83fa57f

FTA: Judge Noël Wise, in a ruling Friday, delivered a victory for The Stanford Daily, the student newspaper at Stanford University, which has said some international students were afraid to speak out because of the deportation threat.

“Freedom of speech is illusory if we are only ‘free’ to express complementary views about the government and its leaders,” the judge wrote.

The decision largely piggybacks on findings from nearly a year ago by a U.S. district judge in Boston, who ruled that the Trump administration violated the Constitution when it targeted people who are not citizens for deportation solely for supporting Palestinians and criticizing Israel.

Wise wrote that the freedoms of speech and the press are “foundational to America’s enduring democracy.” The judge cited free-speech and vagueness flaws that violate the First Amendment and Fifth Amendment as she struck down portions of the provisions that the federal government follows regarding deportations.

Wise cited retaliation in March 2025 by U.S. immigration authorities against people who engaged in speech supporting the Palestinians and against Israel’s actions — which a growing number of experts, including those commissioned by a U.N. body, have said amount to genocide. The judge also cited retaliation against people who were critical of Charlie Kirk after the Turning Point USA co-founder was assassinated last September.

“Tomorrow, or perhaps even today, targets may include anyone in the United States who exercises their freedom of speech to simply express opinions the government does not like,” the judge in San Jose said.

“This downward spiral is antithetical to our Constitution that recognizes our right to speak freely,” she added. “Here you can simultaneously hate the content of a person’s speech and love the country that cherishes the freedom to allow it. Zealous protection of our Constitutional right to free speech is a provocative demonstration of our country’s powerful lack of fear.”

The Justice Department did not respond Saturday to a message seeking comment on the decision.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

Development at the edge of Eden

image generated via ChatGPT

“The political pressure being brought to bear is very unusual.” Trump eager to sell off land around Yosemite to developers. {The Telegraph 28 August}

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/d13546c1f3d93ab2

FTA: Donald Trump is reportedly considering selling off land in Yosemite National Park to a developer.

National Park Service staff were under pressure to transfer a quarter-mile strip of land inside the park to Kingsbarn Realty Capital, a real estate private equity firm, sources told Notus.

The plan has provoked alarm that Yosemite, the 1,200-square-mile park renowned for its granite cliffs and waters, which has been protected under legislation first signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1864, could be sold off for development.

“The political pressure being brought to bear is very unusual,” a person familiar with discussions within the administration told Notus.

Kingsbarn, according to government documents seen by the outlet, plans to develop two 40-acre parcels of land outside the park, located around five miles from one of its ancient sequoia groves, and build a road connecting the property to one of Yosemite’s main thoroughfares.

The road would give the company private access to the park that is otherwise almost entirely surrounded by national forests.

Kingsbarn would in return buy land of equivalent value, either near Yosemite or elsewhere in California, and hand it to the Park Service.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

A Kingdom on watch

image generated via Gemini

Russia’s former deputy foreign minister warns that Russia is poised to attack ‘legal targets’ in Great Britain. {Daily Mail 29 August}

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16090129/Russia-attack-British-drone-factory-missile-Kremlin-warns-described-UK-evil.html

FTA: Russia is poised to attack Britain – and has singled out a drone factory and a missile company as 'legal targets', it was claimed last night.

A senior adviser to Vladimir Putin warned that the 'highest levels of the Russian government' were considering a 'hybrid attack', such as sabotage or arson, rather than an 'outright military strike' that would unleash a response from Nato.

In an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, Andrei Fedorov, a former deputy foreign minister of Russia, described the UK as 'evil number one'. 

Among the Kremlin's targets is a drone factory owned by a British-Ukrainian firm, Ukrspecsystems.

Details of the company's premises next to RAF Mildenhall, in West Suffolk, were made public in April alongside five other European firms that make weapons and drones for Ukraine in its war against Russia.

On Saturday night, Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said: 'The reckless rhetoric and attempts at intimidation we have seen from the Kremlin in recent weeks reflects the weakness of Putin's position and we will not be intimidated.

'This has been a bad year for Putin. The front line has barely moved. Russian casualties continue to mount. The Russian people are paying a heavy price for Putin's war.

'It is also in our national interest that Putin's aggression must not be rewarded. The Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary and I are working together to mobilise support for Ukraine ahead of winter.'

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

No peace on the horizon

image generated via ChatGPT

Ukrainian intelligence: desperate Putin may be preparing ground assault on Kyiv, possibly involving Belarussian troops. {The Kyiv Independent 29 August}

https://kyivindependent.com/russia-planning-operation-in-northern-ukraine-including-kyiv-military-says/

FTA: Russia's military leadership had been tasked with preparing several operational scenarios for an offensive in northern Ukraine, with Kyiv and Chernihiv identified as key areas, Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Pavlo Palisa said on Aug. 28 during a closed-door briefing with journalists, Suspilne reported.

Palisa said the information had been verified and that the Presidential Office had received it from several intelligence sources, without specifying whether they were Ukrainian or foreign.

"Indeed, several options were considered (in Russia)," Palisa said at the briefing.

"The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has developed possible response scenarios, including measures to defend, protect, and counter these actions."

Palisa said no new offensive groupings are currently being detected in the Kyiv and Chernihiv directions. Kyiv Oblast borders Belarus to the north, while Chernihiv Oblast borders both Belarus and Russia.

"Our top priority is to prevent the conditions from emerging that would allow Russia to launch any offensive operations at all," Palisa added.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

Hoisted by his own petard

image generated via ChatGPT

A walking contradiction if there ever was one, ICE supporter Milo Yiannopoulos is deported from the US for overstaying visa. {CBS News 29 August}

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/milo-yiannopoulos-deported-us-immigration-arrest-dhs/

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

The machinery of compliance

image generated via ChatGPT

Sci-fi dystopia comes to life: ICE to deploy robot dogs, ostensibly only for operations deemed unsafe for human agents. {WCVB 29 August}

https://www.wcvb.com/article/ice-boston-dynamics-robot-dogs/73559827

Perhaps such once-futuristic technology is reasonable enough on the surface: if we are speaking of apprehending genuinely violent criminals, or deploying these robotic canines within search-and-rescue operations. But can we trust anything this regime puts forth? Should present trends prove any reliable indication, these shall, in due course, be weaponised against non-violent offenders, innocent civilians, and the wider public alike.

FTA: BOSTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is set to deploy a new tool in its mass deportation campaign: a fleet of "robot dogs" that were made in Massachusetts.

The Spot robots were created by Boston Dynamics and will be used in operations deemed unsafe for human agents, like hazardous gas detection, search and rescue, as well as suspicious package investigations.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Boston Dynamics said in part:

"Boston Dynamics sells to many government agencies and public safety organizations and the robots are used to keep people out of harm's way and aid first responders in assessing dangerous situations... any attempted weaponization of Boston Dynamics' robots is strictly prohibited."

ICE put in a $2 million order for the robots, but it's unclear when the agency plans to deploy them.

The technology is also used by the Secret Service.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

Ink on water

image generated via ChatGPT

Unholy toddler Trump renames Lake Ontario 'Lake America' in trade war tantrum, as Canada models response to possible US invasion. {The Independent 27 August}

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-rename-lake-ontario-america-canada-b3040577.html

Are we tired of living in the Twilight Zone yet? 

FTA: Trump had teased the troll-ish renaming order in a video posted to TikTok earlier this week.

In the video, he displayed a map of the Great Lakes and suggested he would do exactly what he did on Thursday.

“We’re gonna make a little change; we’re gonna call it something different than Lake Ontario,” the 80-year-old president said. “We’re gonna call it Lake America. And all it takes is a good pen and some intelligence.”

Trump, a former real estate mogul with a penchant for branding, then used a Sharpie to cross out the lake’s name and write “LAKE AMERICA” above it.

His geographic broadside at America’s northern neighbor is the latest episode in a series of events that have brought the close relationship between the two countries to a nadir.

According to The Globe and Mail, Canadian defense forces have begun modeling a response to a hypothetical U.S. invasion for the first time in more than a century.

Since taking office last January, Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to acquire Canada, which he described on multiple occasions as “the 51st state.” And in recent weeks, he’s reportedly turned his attention back to Canada, fixating on the country’s “vulnerability” to foreign adversaries in its Arctic reaches.

At the same time, the 79-year-old president has made clear his desire to take control of Greenland, a territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, another NATO ally. The White House, which says it needs Greenland for purposes of national security, sees several options to achieve this goal, including the use of military force.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

When the mountains broke

image generated via ChatGPT

Prayers for all affected by the horrific Himalayan glacial collapse and flooding. {AP 27 August}

https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-nepal-tibet-glacier-collapse-floods-61b592d428e4631add31ce052d0daf1f

FTA: DEVIGHAT, Nepal (AP) — Rescue teams searched Thursday for hundreds of missing people along the Nepal-China border, where a deadly torrent of water and mud several stories high swept through communities a day earlier following a glacier collapse.

Videos of the disaster showed people running before the floodwaters swallowed them up and washed out buildings and bridges. More than 350 people were killed, police said, and more than 1,300 were missing, including scores of foreigners and pilgrims. Hundreds of others have been displaced across the Himalayan region.

The steep slopes and lush valleys below the Himalayan mountain range — home to many of the world’s highest peaks and remaining glaciers — are especially vulnerable to flooding and landslides. Melting glaciers have become more common because of human-caused climate change.

Images showed what appeared to be the second floors of buildings in Nepal’s hard-hit Nuwakot district slathered in mud after the torrent rushed by. Debris hung from tree branches and wires, vehicles were buried and some stunned survivors were caked in mud.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

The manufacturing of collapse in Trumpistan

image generated via ChatGPT

Columnist James Downie: Trump must be deliberately destroying the US economy. {Raw Story 26 August}

https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-economy-2677779664/

FTA: Rather than resulting from external shocks, the 80-year-old president's economic struggles stem largely from his own administration's decisions, MS NOW's James Downie argued Wednesday.

The column opens with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's exasperated response Monday, while announcing new sanctions on Iran, to the suggestion he might have deliberately damaged the economy: "Why would I want to blow up the global financial system?"

Downie argues he might have unwittingly made a reasonable point.

"Bessent may think that’s still a self-evidently ridiculous question," Downie wrote. "George W. Bush didn’t want a Great Financial Crisis, nor did Herbert Hoover seek to start a Great Depression. Surely no White House would deliberately hurt the global economy."

"Yet for the first time ever, that’s not the case," he added. "At home and abroad, the past few days have laid bare the extent to which President Trump’s troubles on the economy are self-inflicted."

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

The new household tax in Trumpistan

image generated via ChatGPT

Study finds Trump tariffs will cost the average American household over $1,000 in 2027; gas currently at $4.07 a gallon. {ABC News 25 August}

https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/tariffs-cost-us-households-over-193829042.html

FTA: United States tariffs will cost the typical American household more than $1,000 per year, the non-partisan Yale Budget Lab found in an estimate released on Tuesday.

The forecast arrives amid a flurry of fresh levies imposed on Canadian products after a collapse in trade negotiations over the weekend.

A round of 50% U.S. tariffs on dozens of Canadian goods worth $20 billion took effect on Saturday, followed by a measure unveiled on Monday that will double levies on Canadian cars and auto parts in January.

The US-Canada trade war could push up these prices, analysts say

The new tariffs on Canadian goods accounted for about $30 extra per household per year, the Yale Budget Lab said.

Canada on Tuesday announced levies of its own, to take effect on Sept. 8, that would match the value of goods targeted by U.S. tariffs.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.