The Biden administration has asked Israel not to respond to recent attacks by Yemen’s Houthis, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

The Houthis, formally known as Ansar Allah, have fired missiles and drones at Israel in response to the Israeli onslaught in Gaza and have targeted Israeli-linked commercial ships in the Red Sea. US warships have responded to the Houthi attacks and have downed several Houthi missiles and drones in recent weeks.

According to the Journal, the US is concerned an Israeli response could spark a major regional war. US officials told Israel that the US would handle any potential response, although POLITICO reported that the administration is not planning on directly targeting the Houthis, at least for now.

Webmaster addition: As if Israel listens to anything the US says!

-Former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is set to secure six more years as Egypt's president in an election held in the shadow of the nearby war in the Gaza Strip, despite growing unease about the country's economic performance.

Over nearly a decade in power, Sisi has presented himself as a guarantor of stability in a volatile region, a message that has added traction in a year when two conflicts, in Sudan and Gaza, have erupted on Egypt's borders.

Critics see the Dec. 10-12 election as a non-event after a decade-long crackdown on dissent. And while the result has not been in doubt, economic pressures including soaring prices have driven public debate and stirred criticism of Sisi's record.

A 13-year-old Waconia girl says she is disappointed and upset after a bank closed her savings account and sent the hundreds of dollars in it to the state of Minnesota.

In a stark reality check, Bloomberg reports that the economic optimism touted by some is falling flat for many American households. The sentiment of being worse off isn’t just a feeling; it’s a harsh truth. According to the Daily Rampart from @ftschuyler, Credit Card Delinquency levels have doubled since the COVID lows, painting a concerning picture of financial strain.

Lawmakers are set to block the Air Force’s request to retire older F-22 Raptors, despite pleas from the service that it would cost too much money to get them battle-ready.

This is the second straight year Congress has denied the entreaty. Service officials have argued that Block 20 F-22s lack crucial modern weapons and would require billions of dollars to get them up to speed. Officials wanted to put the money toward the Next Generation Air Dominance program, its new, secretive fighter jet.

Congress released its $886 billion compromise defense policy bill late Wednesday night after weeks of negotiations between House and Senate lawmakers.  

The F-22 retirements were part of a larger Air Force proposal to shed more than 300 of its aircraft in fiscal 2024 and use the money for higher-end technology. The bill greenlights at least some of the other retirements, including of A-10 Warthogs and F-15C and -D fighters.

Israel has expanded its total ban on humanitarian supplies entering large areas of the Gaza Strip as part of its ongoing genocide, waged since 7 October, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said on Monday in a statement emphasising Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon against civilians.

The Israeli army had planned to largely cut off the Gaza Strip’s central governorate from the Strip’s southern areas during the past 48 hours by imposing restrictions on movement and limiting the supply of humanitarian aid, such as food and drinkable water.Although allowed into the Gaza Strip in small amounts, humanitarian supplies over the past two days have beenconfined almost entirely to the Rafah Governorate in the extreme south of the Strip. These supplies have included sparse distributions of aid, mostly water and flour. The humanitarian aid to the neighbouring Khan Yunis Governorate, however, was halted due to Israel’s severe attacks.

Since Israel resumed its attacks on the Gaza Strip last Friday following a one-week temporary humanitarian truce, humanitarian supplies have been completely prevented from entering Gaza and its northern areas, which have been isolated by the Israeli army for more than a month now as part of its ground incursions.

According to Euro-Med Monitor, Israel has extended its restrictions on humanitarian aid to encompass over 65% of the Gaza Strip’s total area.

Myth: The US was forced to declare war on Japan after a totally unexpected Japanese attack on the American naval base in Hawaii on December 7, 1941. On account of Japan’s alliance with Nazi Germany, this aggression automatically brought the US into the war against Germany.

Reality: The Roosevelt administration had been eager for some time to wage war against Japan and sought to unleash such a war by means of the institution of an oil embargo and other provocations. Having deciphered Japanese codes, Washington knew a Japanese fleet was on its way to Pearl Harbor, but welcomed the attack since a Japanese aggression would make it possible to “sell” the war to the overwhelmingly anti-war American public.

An attack by Japan, as opposed to an American attack on Japan, was also supposed to avoid a declaration of war by Japan’s ally, Germany, which was treaty-bound to help only if Japan was attacked. However, for reasons which have nothing to do with Japan or the US but everything with the failure of Germany’s “lightning war” against the Soviet Union, Hitler himself declared war on the US a few days after Pearl Harbor, on December 11, 1941.

During the early morning hours of December 2, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) relaunched with full force their siege upon the Gaza Strip.

In press releases issued by the IDF, the entity claims that it is surrounding the city of Khan Younis where it is bombing and shelling residential areas causing more deaths and injuries among the Palestinians.

IDF fighter jets dropped ordnance on the towns of Aabsan, Bani Suhaila, and al-Qarara in the district of Khan Younis which is located in the southern Gaza Strip. In the northern region of Gaza, artillery units shelled neighborhoods in al-Shujaiya, al-Zeitoun, and al-Daraj in Gaza City. Correspondents from the Palestinian media reported that large numbers of people were killed by airstrikes on residential neighborhoods in Jabalia also in the northern Gaza Strip. See this.

All civilization has disintegrated, not just Western civilization. 

This fact is obvious from the entire world sitting watching, perhaps as entertainment as Romans watched death in the Colosseum, the Genocide of Gaza.  The “moral democratic” US government rushes more bombs and money to enable Israel’s genocide of Palestine.  European governments call the genocide “Israel’s right of self-defense.” Christian Zionists justify genocide in Christ’s name. In Europe those whose moral conscience drives them to protest are arrested. In “free and democratic” UK waving a Palestinian flag is cause for arrest. The Muslim world does nothing, displaying its total impotence and lack of self-respect. And the Russians and Chinese sit there and allow the US and Israel to remake the Middle East in their interest, a development that will increase the power of evil.

For those of us mindful of the achievements of Western Civilization, as well as its blemishes and crimes, to experience the complete evaporation of moral consciousness in the Western world is devastating. The West is not merely permitting this to happen, the West is openly participating in the evil. For evil is what it is.  

The Israeli Jews portray themselves as victims as they destroy the lives of others. The Israeli Jews who complain of suffering a Holocaust are now conducting one. Things have been turned upside down. Evil is Good, and Good is Evil. Moral conscience has departed the world.

He exudes the charisma of a vacuum cleaner salesman who uses cocaine and alcohol to get the most out of himself. The presidential candidate is waving around wildly with a chainsaw. The man wants to use this to saw apart the political caste on the Rio de la Plata. Fake dollar bills with the face of this very presidential candidate, Javier Milei, rain down on his cheering fans.

Milei wants to abolish the Argentine national currency and introduce the US dollar instead and at the same time “blow up” the Argentine central bank. Milei performs a wild dervish dance on stage when it is clear that he has won the election by a landslide, ten percent ahead of his rival from the Peronist party. “The Wig” (La Peluca), as Milei is called by his fans because of his wild rocker hair, never minces his words and uses sub-proletarian jargon to rant against anyone whom he doesn’t like. The Argentinian Pope Francis is also disqualified as an “emissary of evil” by Milei. The “wig” enjoys an almost inexplicable immunity and jester’s licence in the country.

The last presidential election in Argentina was at least not boring at any stage because of this Latin American version of a buffoon. In Argentina, too, you score points by attacking the ruling caste of politicians with hateful tirades.

But while we in the northern hemisphere are still complaining at a very high level, the Argentinians have had nothing to laugh about or bite about for a long time.

The annual inflation rate is an incredible 145 percent.

In a key procedural vote on Wednesday, Senate Republicans blocked passage of a bill providing more military aid for Ukraine after Democrats at the last minute scuttled talks to include border security measures in the package – knowing full well that their refusal to compromise would doom the legislation. In doing so, congressional Democrats unintentionally revealed that maintaining an open U.S.-Mexico border is even more important to them than defending Ukraine against Russia.

In late October, President Joe Biden sent a supplemental funding request to Congress asking for $105 billion to help Ukraine and Israel in their respective conflicts with Russia and Hamas, as well as some defense funding for Taiwan. Although House Republicans had already passed a standalone bill sending assistance to Israel, Biden threatened to veto it unless Ukraine funding was attached.

While Congress has already allocated about $113 billion to Ukraine, the White House has said that money will run out by the end of December. But many Republicans, particularly in the House, are wary of signing off on additional funding without more robust oversight mechanisms to ensure that the money isn’t being lost to waste and fraud.

New data from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) indicates a significant increase in heart issues among pilots, with heart failure spiking nearly 1,000% in 2022. Lieutenant Ted Macie, an active-duty officer with the U.S. Navy Medical Service Corps, raised concerns about the health risks associated with the COVID-19 shots, including heart-related ailments. The data, obtained from the Pentagon’s Defense Medical Epidemiology Database, shows drastic spikes in various diagnoses for serious medical issues, prompting questions about the potential impact of the COVID-19 vaccine on the health of service members.

In addition to serious cardiovascular issues, the Pentagon saw significant spikes in numerous ailments well beyond their five-year averages including hypertension (2,181%), neurological disorders (1,048%), multiple sclerosis (680%), Guillain-Barre syndrome (551%), breast cancer, (487%), female infertility (472%), pulmonary embolism (468%), migraines (452%), ovarian dysfunction (437%), testicular cancer (369%), and tachycardia (302%). Heart-related ailments have soared over the past 5 years as well including hypertension (36%), ischemic heart disease (69%), pulmonary heart disease (62%), heart failure (973%), cardiomyopathy (152%), and other non-specified heart diseases (63%).

Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said on Thursday that 66 US military personnel have been injured in a spree of attacks on bases in Iraq and Syria.

The vicinity of the US Embassy in the specially protected Green Zone in the center of Baghdad has come under rocket fire, a source in the Iraqi security forces told local media.

The source said explosions were heard near the embassy.

"Explosions were heard near the US embassy in Baghdad and alarm sirens were activated inside the building. According to preliminary information, several rockets were fired in the vicinity of the embassy," the source said.

Planes of the Israeli Air Force delivered an air strike on the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central part of the Gaza Strip early on Friday, Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen television said.

According to the report, IDF fighter jets delivered a massed air strike on the healthcare facility, located in the city of Deir al Balah.

The Ukrainian government on Thursday requested emergency assistance from Poland, Romania, and Slovakia as freezing temperatures caused a shortage of power in the electrical grid, the state utility Ukrenergo has said.

Demand for electricity grew higher than what the Ukrenergo grid could support as snow fell in Kiev and the thermometers dropped to -4 Celsius (25 Fahrenheit). The company said it would import power from Ukraine’s neighbors.

“From 11:00 to 19:00, emergency imports of electricity from Slovakia, Romania, and Poland will be used to balance the energy system,” said a message Ukrenergo sent to customers across the country.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin threatened to send Americans to "fight Russia" if lawmakers do not approve more aid for Ukraine, media personality Tucker Carlson said via X (formerly Twitter).

"We’ll send your uncles, cousins and sons to fight Russia," Carlson quoted Austin as saying during a classified briefing to the House of Representatives earlier this week.

Questioned by billionaire businessman Elon Musk on the veracity of Austin’s threat, the former Fox News host emphasized that the report was true. "[Austin] really did. Confirmed," Carlson underscored.

The Biden administration held classified briefings with members of Congress to inform them about the situation in Ukraine, in an effort to rally support behind the supplemental funding request with aid for Ukraine.

The Defense Department has warned that the United States risks running out of resources to support Ukraine and backfill its own defense stocks without further congressional action.

Webmaster addition: This amounts to blackmail. Let us spend your money buying weapons, or we'll drop your family into the combat zone!

The Zionist occupation forces continued on Wednesday their attacks against the Palestinians and demolished a number of homes and facilities in the city of Quds and the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank.

According to the Palestinian News Agency “Wafa”, the Zionist enemy forces demolished, Wednesday afternoon, part of the house of a citizen in the town of Silwan, south of the Holy Al-Aqsa Mosque, and facilities in the town of Hizma in occupied Quds.

Local sources said that demolition crews in the occupation municipality in Quds demolished the walls of the house of Al-Maqdisi Haitham Jalajel in the Al-Bustan neighborhood in the town of Silwan manually, with cradle holders and a small bulldozer.

But Jones says his most accurate prediction was around a decade ago when he read the "Rockefeller Foundation Operation Lockstep report," which he says:

"described using a virus to bring in world government, a world medical ID, which they would then build a social credit score off of...

...that they would make people wear masks for fear, shut down sporting events and things like that... and basically phase in this new tyranny."

These warnings, among other things, were the reason, Carlson argues, why Jones was so widely deplatformed.

"Fundamentally, Alex Jones is right about a lot of things. And in fact, that's why they don't like him."

Biden is hoping for one more term as President. And declining oil prices might help him get re-elected.

The bonds of European countries are among the most overbought following the global rally in fixed income, and are therefore most susceptible to a correction.

Yields have fallen almost everywhere since October. Oversold conditions led to a reversal in the bond selloff, further galvanized by central bankers from the Federal Reserve to the ECB tempering their hawkishness based on their view that inflation is probably back under control.

The biggest drops in yields, after Brazil, have been in Italy, Ireland and Austria. Germany and France have also seen large declines, greater than in the US or the UK.

Burdensome permitting processes and the need for extra grid connections and power capacity are slowing down the installation of EV charging stations across Europe, threatening the EU’s ambition to rely on transport electrification as a pillar of its net-zero target.  

The EU adopted early this year legislation to make all new cars and vans registered in Europe zero-emission from 2035. The European Commission has also just proposed an action plan for grid investments across the bloc, aiming to upgrade grids, strengthen energy infrastructure, and allow faster access for renewables to the grids. 

Despite the EU ambitions and the EU-wide legislation, local-level regulations and requirements to have a charging point hooked up to the grid sometimes takes years, and the delays have become longer in recent years, energy companies and industry associations tell Reuters. 

“Although the work of installing a fast and ultra-fast charging point requires only two to three weeks of work, due to different administrative requirements in Spain, the complete process ... can last from one to two years,” Spanish energy firm Repsol told Reuters.  

The red tape in Germany, Europe’s largest car market, is similarly burdensome, industry sources say. 

Deep in a Cambodian old-growth forest, Buddhist "ecology monks" wrap trees in saffron clerical robes before ordaining the trees into the Buddhist faith.

The practice is an example of "forest activism" that spread to Cambodia after Thai monks in the 1990s began ordaining trees as they would a new monk.

Ordained trees become sacred and protected from illegal logging because harming an ordained monk is taboo in the Buddhist religion.

The recognition that religion can be a powerful tool when applied to selling the global warming narrative has been gaining traction at the United Nations and the World Economic Forum (WEF), where faith has traditionally been kept at arm's length.

The release of more video and cell phone tapes from January 6 by new House Speaker Mike Johnson shows further evidence of a setup by the Feds that their so-called insurrection was staged.

All sides will acknowledge the fact that then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to have extra security on January 6.

However, there is a bigger question that no one, Left, Right or Center, seems to be asking:

Why?

Why wouldn’t Pelosi want to be sure that “Democracy was secure” so that Vice President Mike Pence could certify the Electoral College vote? Making sure that the Capitol was safe and sound would mean that Joe Biden’s presidency would be assured. After all, the election of 2020 was “the most secure in American history,” so why wouldn’t you want that obvious fact certified and rubber-stamped by Congress?

The only obvious answer to why Pelosi wanted to guarantee a riotous breach of the Capitol was what she knew would be the actual results of the Electoral College vote if the process were allowed to run its course. Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, among others, had previously made noise about challenging election results in several swing states. And despite what many have debated, there was tangible potential for Pence to delay the certification for a couple of weeks to look into the evidence of significant vote-tampering and fraud.

The rise of generative AI applications like ChatGPT, Midjourney or Bard already leads to increased demand in the world's data center network due to its sometimes hefty requirements for the underlying large language models.

This computing demand will only increase in the upcoming years, necessitating the building of new data centers and expanding the capacities of existing ones.

As Statista's Florian Zandt shows in the following chart, based on 2022 data collected by commercial real estate company Cushman & Wakefield, the race between the global superpowers China and the United States also extends to data centers.

Immigrants who illegally cross the border into Arizona are being handed $5,000 in good-as-cash gift cards, along with cell phones and costly plane tickets, all of which are being paid for by the American taxpayer, according to Arizona Sheriff Mark Lamb.

“I was absolutely in shock when these agents came forward,” said Mr. Lamb. “I had known we handed out free cell phones and plane tickets, but to give out $5,000 Visa gift cards to people who break our laws and come into our country illegally when the average American is struggling to pay their bills is just tough to swallow.”

“People need to know the truth and let their representative lawmakers hear about it. This needs to end,” added Mr. Lamb.

The House of Representatives on Dec. 6 voted to pass a bill that will block a proposed rule by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to effectively mandate that most cars produced in the United States be fully electric by 2032.

The bill, H.R. 4468, dubbed the Choice in Automobile Retail Sales Act of 2023, passed the House by a 221–197 vote. That included total GOP support; Democrats, meanwhile, sought to have the bill sent back to committee.

The bill would block an EPA rule that would require roughly 68 percent of cars manufactured in the United States be fully electric by 2032. The rule has won the support of President Joe Biden's administration.

Republicans have rallied against the proposed standards, which they say are unrealistic and threaten to undermine consumer freedom—as well as to increase U.S. dependence on China.

Around 90 percent of the rare earth minerals used to create electric vehicles (EVs) are sourced from the top U.S. adversary.

In a landmark ruling, a Japanese court has convicted a non-profit executive of facilitating illegal overseas organ transplants for Japanese citizens.

On Nov. 28, the Tokyo District Court sentenced 63-year-old Hiromichi Kikuchi, chairman of the Association for Patients of Intractable Diseases, a non-profit organization. Kikuchi received an eight-month prison term and a fine of 1 million yen (around $6,800) for arranging organ transplants abroad for two Japanese citizens without government approval. His organization, which has been working with transplant patients for over fifteen years, is now under scrutiny.

The case, the first of its kind in Japan, has prompted widespread media coverage and heightened concerns over illegal organ transplants.

Mr. Kikuchi's conviction shows Japan's efforts to crack down on organ trafficking and forced organ harvesting. The transplants that led to his arrest took place in Belarus in 2022. However, the case has drawn attention to the grim reality of forced organ harvesting in China, as Mr. Kikuchi admitted that the vast majority of the transplants he has orchestrated since 2007 involved organs from China.