Franka Lu

Columnist for @zeitonline. All opinions are my own. Buckled up for the future. China, Europe, destructing authoritarianism/totalitarianism/patriarchy

[Not A Number @myhiddenvalue]

Jeffery Epstein’s butler was caught in an FBI sting in 2009 trying to sell the client & victim list.

He told them the entire operation, 17 years ago.

And the FBI did NOTHING.

[Brian Allen @allenanalysis]

BREAKING: This Is One Of The Most Disturbing Details To Emerge From The Epstein Investigation.

After Jeffrey Epstein's 2008 child sex conviction, you might expect the pipeline of introductions to stop.

According to CNN, it continued.

The network reviewed records showing model scouts and agents allegedly sending Epstein photos of young women, discussing meetings, and helping facilitate introductions years after his conviction.

Then came the message that chills the blood.

A scout sends a photo.

Epstein replies:

"Too old."

This suggests the issue wasn't just Epstein.

It was the network of people who continued opening doors for him after everyone already knew what he had done.

[Franka Lu @FrankaLu]

Again, who elected this guy?

[Julian Reichelt @jreichelt]

Friedrich Merz schafft es schlichtweg nicht, mal auf einer Bühne zu sitzen, ohne vollkommen unprovoziert riesige gesellschaftliche Gruppen runterzuputzen. Nun macht er ausgerechnet das Ehrenamt nieder, bezeichnet zum Beispiel Engagement im Sport als "punktuell". Merz: "So ehrenwert das alles ist, Musik, Sport, Umweltschutz, alles gut, alles richtig..." Laut Merz ist das aber alles nicht so viel wert wie Engagement in einer politischen Partei. Merz versteht das Land nicht. Er weiß offenbar nicht, dass solches Ehrenamt nicht punktuell ist, sondern Menschen oft Jahrzehnte lang im Regen auf Sportplätzen stehen, um Kinder zu trainieren und der Gesellschaft etwas zu geben. Vollkommen unbegreiflich, wie man so herablassend darüber reden kann.

[Rebecca Tan @rebtanhs]

Thailand is one of the first ag countries to enter a planting season since the Iran war. We went to document the impact of supply shocks to fuel/fertilizer — It was worse than I anticipated.

Farmers are leaving huge tracts of land barren bc they can’t afford to plant.

[Franka Lu @FrankaLu]

Wow. Who elected this guy? Must be a lot of “lazy employees”.

[Michael Mayr @Nightmare_Snake]

Gestern beim Unternehmertag in NRW sprach Friedrich Merz schon wieder davon, dass die Arbeitnehmer grob gesagt zu Faul seien und nichts leisten würden.

Keine Ahnung, was diese immer gleichen Beschimpfungen gegen Arbeitnehmer bringen sollen vom Multimillionär Friedrich Merz?

[Documenting Saylor @saylordocs]

Murray: Is it true that people making under $184,000 pay a 12.4% Social Security tax rate?

Dahl: Yes

Murray: And the rate for someone making $1,000,000?
Dahl: 2.2%

Murray: So, a 12.4% tax for people making less than $184,000, but 2.2% for a millionaire or .0002% for billionaires.

[Aelia Capitolina @Areskapitalon]

https://t.co/oY4NvHS3rn

[BladeoftheSun @BladeoftheS]

Trump is now trying to pass the FISA spying act, using his 'assassination attempt' as 'evidence' it is needed.

The act will allow the US (and Palantir) to collect unlimited information on any non-US national, anywhere in the world without a warrant OR any reason to do so.

[moonbee @BMoon_bee]

La journaliste libanaise Amal Khalil a reçu des menaces de mort d’un numéro WhatsApp 🇮🇱 lui intimant d’arrêter ses reportages et quitter le Liban « si elle voulait garder la tête sur les épaules », avant d’être assassinée aujourd’hui par 🇮🇱.

[Javier Blas @JavierBlas]

CHART OF THE DAY: The size of the 🇨🇳 Chinese strategic petroleum reserve is mind blowing: larger than 🇺🇸 US + 🇯🇵 Japan + the whole of 🇪🇺 Western Europe combined.

Via @EIAgov — more: https://t.co/bZVjzOHL7Z

[Douglas Macgregor @DougAMacgregor]

BREAKING: US Nuclear Chief Andrew Hugg ESCORTED out of the Pentagon.

[Franka Lu @FrankaLu]

The world we live in today.

[matrixbot @thematrixb0t]

TODD BLANCHE: “We’re not going to prosecute the predators in the Epstein files and we’re not going to release their names to the public.”

[Mark Fiddes @fiddesmark]

@ProfSunnySingh While the Iranian Ambassador quotes Jane Austen, the US Minister of War quotes Pulp Fiction believing it to be The Bible.

[Сarm1ne @carm1nee]

This CNBC debate stopped trading on the NYSE floor for 23 minutes

Brad Katsuyama looked at the president of BATS exchange and said "I believe the markets are rigged, and I also think you're part of the rigging"

Bookmark & watch it. It will change your understanding of trading forever

[Luke Gromen @LukeGromen]

UAE to Trump Administration: "You started this war; if we run short of USDs as a result of it, either you will give us USD swap lines, or we will be forced to start transacting oil and gas in CNY and other currencies."

-WSJ, just now

Via @ces921

[Franka Lu @FrankaLu]

He seems to be more keen in making Russia great again.

[Sarah Longwell @SarahLongwell25]

We are committing superpower suicide in real time. Trump is making China Great Again.

[Rep. Marcy Kaptur @RepMarcyKaptur]

There is no good explanation for this Administration to quietly lift sanctions on Russia late on a Friday night.

Congress and the American people need immediate answers. We must not help Russia fund its illegal war in Ukraine and aid Iranian attacks on American troops.

[Bruno Maçães @MacaesBruno]

Washington Post calls for assassinating foreign officials, I remember a time when you would be out on a terrorism watch list for publishing this kind of stuff

[Mike Young @micyoung75]

Applebaum's piece from March 2025 is worth reading today because it answers the question implicit in Vance's trip: what exactly are MAGA conservatives flying to Budapest to celebrate?

It is not prosperity. Hungary is at or near the bottom of the EU on economic freedom, government integrity, and GDP growth. It is not the birth rate - the population is shrinking despite Orbán's family values rhetoric. It is not the health system - departments are closing as doctors emigrate. It is not the universities - one was shut down entirely.

What the American right finds inspiring is the mechanism of control: the civil service replaced by loyalists, the press captured through economic pressure, the courts politicized, the constitution rewritten to entrench electoral advantages. Steve Bannon called it an inspiration. Heritage's Kevin Roberts called it the model.

The Heritage Foundation's own Index of Economic Freedom ranks Hungary at the bottom of the EU for government integrity. Its president goes to Budapest to celebrate anyway.

Applebaum's closing observation is precise: as inspectors general are fired, as the FBI and DOJ are captured by partisans, as civil service protections are stripped - America is moving toward the Hungarian model. That model produces Hungarian outcomes. Hungarian stagnation. Hungarian corruption. Hungarian poverty.

Vance landed today. The election is Sunday. Magyar is 20 points ahead in a rigged system. The Vice President is not there for the Hungarian people.

[Franka Lu @FrankaLu]

I wonder whether Pakistan PM deliberately posted the unedited message from the White House as a revenge for being instrumentalized in a farce.

[Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) @adamscochran]

FT has confirmed what we all speculated from the “Draft for Pakistan PM” post.

The White House pushed Pakistan into brokering this “ceasefire” as Trump was desperate for an out.

Iran had to be dragged to the table, which is why their demands have not changed and why this peace will breakdown as neither want to budge on terms.

Trump is trying to negotiate as if he has leverage, and he doesn’t.

But his inability to cede points, means we’re not any closer to a resolve.