International
WHO IS RUNNING THE COUNTRY?

News release from Seymour Hersh
Biden’s decline has been known to friends and insiders for months
Readers of this column know that President Joe Biden’s drift into blankness has been ongoing for months, as he and his foreign policy aides have been urging a ceasefire that will not happen in Gaza while continuing to supply the weapons that make a ceasefire less likely. There’s a similar paradox in Ukraine, where Biden has been financing a war that cannot be won and refusing to participate in negotiations that could end the slaughter.
The reality behind all of this, as I’ve been told for months, is that the president is simply no longer there, in terms of understanding the contradictions of the policies he and his foreign policy advisers have been carrying out. America should not have a president who does not know what he has signed off on. People in power have to be responsible for what they do, and last night showed America and the world that we have a president who clearly is not in that position today.
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The real disgrace is not only Biden’s, but those of the men and women around him who have kept him more and more under wraps. He is a captive, and as he rapidly diminished over the past six months. I have been hearing for months about the increasing isolation of the president, from his one-time pals in the Senate, who find that he is unable to return their calls. Another old family friend, whose help has been sought by Biden on key issues since his days as vice president, told me of a plaintive call from the president many months ago. Biden said the White House was in chaos and he needed his friend’s help. The friend said he begged off and then told me, with a laugh: “I would rather have a root canal procedure every day than go to work there.” A long retired Senate colleague was invited by Biden to join him on a foreign trip, and the two played cards and shared a drink or two on the Air Force One flight going out. The senator was barred by Biden’s staff from joining the return flight home.
I have been told the increasing isolation of the president on foreign policy issues has been in part the doing of Tom Donilon, whose younger brother, Michael, a key pollster and adviser in Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign and in the current re-election effort, was part of the team that spent much of the week briefing Biden for last night’s debate. Tom Donilon, who is 69, was President Biden’s national security adviser from 2010 to 2013 and sought unsuccessfully to be named as Biden’s director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He remains very much an insider.
Given Biden’s obvious decline in recent months, it is impossible for an outsider to understand why the White House agreed to any debates with Donald Trump before the election, let alone committing to the earliest presidential debate, the first of two, in modern history. One thought, I was told, was that if Biden performed well, as he had in his State of the Union speech in March, the issue of his mental capacity would be tabled. A poor performance would give the Biden campaign time to do a better prep job for the scheduled second debate.
There also was pressure from the major Democratic fundraisers, many of them in New York City, for the campaign to do something to counter the perception of the president’s obvious growing impairment, as reported and filmed by major media. I have been told that at least one foreign leader, after a closed meeting with Biden, told others that the president’s decline was so visible that it was hard to understand how, as it was put to me, “he could go through the rigors” of a re-election campaign. Such warnings were ignored.
What now? One of Washington political savants told me today that the Democratic Party is now facing “a national security crisis.” The nation is backing two devastating wars with a president who clearly is not up to it, he said, and it might be time to start drafting a resignation speech that would match or outdo the one given in March of 1968 by President Lyndon Johnson after his narrow victory over Senator Eugene McCarthy in the New Hampshire primary.
“They’re trapped,” he said of the senior advisers in the White House who hoped that Biden would somehow do well enough in last night’s debates to carry on, with the much-needed support of the more skeptical financial supporters in New York City.
Not everyone I talked to today agreed that it is time to force a Biden resignation and hope for the best at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August—to dump the ticket and seek new candidates. “My humble opinion,” one longtime contributor to the Democratic Party told me, “is to let the dust settle. Must examine the realistic options before some quick reaction creates an internal Democratic Party split with far-reaching consequences beyond 2024. Accept reality . . . 2024 is likely beyond recovery at this point. Too steep a hill to climb. Plan and execute a long-term plan to counter Mr. Orange and build a moderate platform for the recovery . . . and let Biden wander off to the Jersey Pine Barrens.”
A differing view was expressed by another political guru. “This is the age of social media—TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and X—and a political campaign can go very far very fast.”
Whatever happens, we have a president—now fully unveiled—who just may not be responsible for what he does in the coming campaign, not to mention his actions in the Middle East and Ukraine.
Whatever happened to the 25th Amendment that authorizes the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to declare the president incompetent? What is going on in the Biden White House?
Seymour Hersh is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Business
Chinese firm unveils palm-based biometric ID payments, sparking fresh privacy concerns

By Ken Macon
Alipay’s biometric PL1 scanner uses vein and palm-print data for processing payments, raising security concerns over the storage and use of permanent biometric data.
Alipay, the financial arm of Alibaba, has introduced a new palm-based biometric terminal, dubbed the PL1, which enables individuals to make purchases simply by presenting their hand – no phone, card, or PIN required. Positioned as a faster, touch-free alternative for payment, this system reflects a growing industry shift toward frictionless biometric transactions.
At the core of the PL1 is a dual-mode recognition system that combines surface palm print detection with internal vein mapping. This multi-layered authentication relies on deeply unique biological signatures that are significantly harder to replicate than more common methods like fingerprints or facial scans. Alipay reports that the device maintains a false acceptance rate of less than one in a million, suggesting a substantial improvement in resisting identity spoofing.
Enrollment is designed to be quick: users hover their palm over the sensor and link their account through a QR code. Once registered, purchases are completed in around two seconds without physical interaction. During early trials in Hangzhou, this system reportedly accelerated checkout lines and contributed to more hygienic point-of-sale environments.
The PL1 arrives at a time of rapid expansion in the biometric payments sector. Forecasts estimate that more than 3 billion people will use biometrics for transactions by 2026, with total payments surpassing $5 trillion. Major players are already onboard: Amazon has integrated palm authentication across U.S. retail and healthcare facilities, while JP Morgan is gearing up for a national deployment in the same year.
Alipay envisions the PL1’s use extending well beyond checkout counters. It is exploring applications in public transit, controlled access facilities, and healthcare check-ins, reflecting a broader trend toward embedding biometric systems in daily infrastructure. However, while domestic deployment benefits from favorable policy conditions, international expansion may be constrained by differing legal standards, particularly in jurisdictions that enforce stringent rules on biometric data usage and consent.
Despite the technological advancements and convenience the PL1 offers, privacy remains a major point of contention. Unlike passwords or cards that can be reset or replaced, biometric data is immutable. If compromised, individuals cannot simply “change” their palm patterns or vein structures. This permanence heightens the stakes of any potential data breach and raises long-term concerns about identity theft and surveillance.
Alipay’s approach, storing encrypted biometric templates locally on devices and restricting data flow within national border, does address certain regulatory demands, especially within China, but the broader implications of biometrics are likely to be a growing privacy and surveillance concern in the coming years.
conflict
Marco Rubio says US could soon ‘move on’ from Ukraine conflict: ‘This is not our war’

From LifeSiteNews
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is calling the EU/UK bluff here because he knows without the U.S. the EU/UK will not commit to fight Russia.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to reporters in Paris on April 18 about the prolonged peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. However, a frustrated Rubio warned that the U.S. could “move on” from its involvement in negotiations to end the war if no progress is made “within a matter of days and weeks.” That’s the mainstream media narrative.
The non-pretending summary is that Ukraine, France, Great Britain, the EU, NATO, et al are all trying to retain their interests in the conflict. Russia has simple terms, but the war machinery controlled by the intel apparatus (CIA and EU) and the financial stakeholders in the EU region are unhappy. A frustrated Secretary Rubio says, make up your mind, if no deal – we’re done.
Having followed this very closely, here’s what “we’re done” likely means.
President Trump ends the U.S. side of the proxy war. President Trump pulls back all support for Ukraine, stops sending money, weapons, and, to the extent he can, intelligence to Ukraine. This opens the door for Russia to go full combat as the ground thaws, without concern for U.S. to engage.
The EU will have to step up with funding, intelligence, and war material to continue supporting Ukraine. Rubio is calling the EU/UK bluff here because he knows without the U.S. the EU/UK will not commit to fight Russia.
Remember that if no one does anything, Russia has already gained the ground they want and will just continue grinding western Ukraine to ever-expanding rubble. Factually, doing nothing is a big win for Russia, especially if Trump withdraws.
Reprinted with permission from Conservative Treehouse.
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