US GOP Representative Matt Gaetz isn’t buying the pro-McCarthy arguments for Speaker of the House. Gaetz and Americans want a hard-working and honest Speaker placed in Congress this week, not Kevin McCarthy.

All private insurance plans in New York and California are now required to cover abortion if they offer maternity care coverage — without a copayment or a deductible.

The first Latin mass in over 50 years was held on the Delmarva Peninsula this past week.

2022 was truly a historic year for America.

Radical Israelis stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday, a provocation which took place just a few hours after the beginning of the New Year.

Dozens of extremists forced their way into the site, the third holiest in Islam, via the Mughrabi Gate, witnesses cited by official Palestinian news agency Wafa said.

Israeli police protected them as they worshipped at the compound in breach of the longstanding status-quo agreement governing Al-Aqsa, which says non-Muslims are allowed to visit but not pray there.

Many Israeli extremists wish to see the site turned into a Jewish temple, a position roundly rejected by Palestinians and Muslims.

In September 1948, the far-sighted American diplomat George Kennan noted that “there are considerable limitations on what we can do to affect the course of events in China”. Over the elapsing seven decades since, the scale of American influence in China’s domestic affairs has been restricted at best, but continues apace nonetheless. Washington has implemented a range of policies in the hope of destabilising and splintering China.

The Pentagon’s strategies towards China have somewhat mirrored those they directed against the USSR: Utilisation of proxy groups, extremists and ethnic minorities, along with client states.

The Turkistan Islamic Party (TIC), a terrorist organisation, was founded by Uyghur jihadists in 1988, just as separatist uprisings were breaking out in Xinjiang province, north-western China. The Turkistan Islamic Party, previously known as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, received CIA sponsorship from its early existence.

In contradictory fashion, the Turkistan Islamic Party, which is based largely in north-western Pakistan, is deemed a terrorist organisation by the United States, along with other major countries like Russia, and of course China and its neighbour Pakistan.

The curtain is coming down on the brutal 11-year-old Syrian conflict, which former US president and Nobel laureate Barack Obama initiated as the Arab Spring swept through West Asia two decades ago.

The United States suffered yet another big setback in West Asia as the year 2022 drew to a close. The unfolding Turkish-Syrian reconciliation process under Russian mediation is to be seen as a saga of betrayal and vengeance. 

Ankara came under immense pressure from the Obama administration in 2011 to spearhead the regime-change project in Syria. Obama blithely assumed that Turkey would gleefully serve as the charioteer of “moderate” Islamism for the transformation in West Asia.

But Ankara took its time to calibrate its foreign policies to adapt to the Arab Spring before responding to the shifting landscape in Syria.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan was caught unprepared by the uprising in Syria at a juncture when Ankara was pursuing a “zero-problems” policy with Turkey’s neighbors. Ankara was unsure how the Arab Spring would play out and remained silent when the revolt first appeared in Tunisia.

The law, which went into effect on New Year’s Day, was part of a set of clean air regulations the California Air Resources Board passed nearly 15 years ago.

Police in western Washington believe that vandals who attacked four power substations in western Washington on Christmas Day, leaving more than 14,000 without power, were trying to 'send a message.'

The incidents were the latest of a series of similar attacks that some believe is the work of right-wing terrorists.

The United States is considering testing airline poop and toilet waste on international flights to monitor the spread of the virus due to fear that a new pandemic will happen once China opens its gates to the rest of the world.

Many animal rights extremists want to end the practice of humans having pets at all, and bills like this help pave the way.

California will now “offer refuge” to minors and their families “if they’re being criminalized in their home states” over transgender treatments.

Dr. Jill and Joe delivered a New Year message during Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rocking Eve with host Ryan Seacrest.

It amazes me that so many people still cannot understand what is happening.  2022 was supposedly going to be a year when America entered a new golden age of prosperity, but that didn’t happen.  Instead, it was a complete and utter disaster.  Stock prices fell by the most that we have seen since 2008, the cryptocurrency industry came apart at the seams, inflation soared to absurd heights, and home sales just kept declining all throughout the year.  Without a doubt, 2022 represented a major turning point.  Americans have already collectively lost trillions of dollars, and many experts are telling us that 2023 will be even worse.

We warned over and over again that the party on Wall Street would eventually come to a very bitter end, but most people didn’t want to listen.

Well, the party has now ended, and the stock market losses that we have witnessed over the past 12 months have been absolutely staggering…

A mother has filed a lawsuit against an Ohio school district after the school nurse’s aide allegedly strip-searched her 8th-grade daughter.

London’s far-left Mayor Sadiq Khan once again used the occasion of the fireworks for New Year’s Eve to pander to the woke agenda, with the colours of the rainbow and Ukrainian flags featuring prominently in the display above the River Thames.

Rather than opting to put on a non-partisan show for the whole country, the leftist Mayor of London chose instead to promote left-wing ideology once again. Directly before a tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II, the New Years fireworks display in London celebrated “50 years of pride”, marking the anniversary of the first gay pride parade in the city in 1972.

Following a rendition of “I’m Coming Out” by American singer Diana Ross, the fireworks turned rainbow coloured and a recorded voice said: “We are here, we are queer, get used to it.”

The fireworks performance is run and conducted by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who has been a frequent attendee of LGBTQ pride marches in the British capital city during his time in office.

In 2021 Joe Biden and the US Military surrendered to the Taliban terrorists and armed them with over $80 billion in US weapons, supplies, and military bases.

A Ukrainian drone attacked a power installation in the Klimovsky District, Governor of the Bryansk Region Alexander Bogomaz wrote in his Telegram account.

"A Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle attacked the Klimovsky District this morning," the Governor wrote. "Nobody was injured. <...> A power installation was damaged as a result of the delivered strike; there is no electricity in a settlement," the official said.

Rescue services are working at the incident scene.

It seems that we missed a crucial exchange from yesterday's Sore Loser Summit in Moscow

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to Moscow on Thursday to complain to Putin about big, bad Iran and how tragic it is that Tehran destroyed legions of "moderate" rebels and ISIS fanatics in Syria.

No one cares about your stories about Moses.

Here's Netanyahu, tissue in hand, telling Putin some Bible stories:

Thank you for your congratulations on the upcoming Purim holiday. In ancient Persia, an attempt was made to destroy the Jewish people 2,500 years ago, and it failed. This is what this holiday celebrates. Today, ancient Persia’s successor, Iran, continues attempts to destroy the Jewish state.

 

Putin's  reply:

 

Putin noted that those events had taken place “in the fifth century BC,” added that “we now live in a different world” and suggested discussing the actual up-to-date problems in the region.

Webmaster addition: Good for you, Vlad!

By "they" I, of course, mean a bunch of lowlifes who are "elites". Here is a set of factors to consider as Larry's friend Thomas Lipscomb nicely summarized in his piece for Larry's blog. 

 

There is no doubt now that Russia will defeat Ukraine and impose its terms. As Putin said a few weeks ago, it was his mistake to think he could trust the West to come to a reasonable agreement and he had no real choice but military defeat of its Ukrainian puppet. His shrewd foreign minister Lavrov pointed out that there was no point in discussions with the current American government. They have no understanding of war and even less of diplomacy.But how will the United States respond to its dawning understanding that the years of US/NATO planning the Ukrainian Proxy War Angela Merkel recently revealed have not led to the collapse of Russian power and the overthrow of Putin, but the destruction and partition of Ukraine and the exposure of the American and NATO military challenge as vastly inferior to its reputation? This was a fear Biden actually exposed in his White House meeting during the Zelensky visit before Christmas. By its total control of media the US/NATO could keep its populations learning of this catastrophe to Western power and pretensions for a considerable time.  But the international effects will take place immediately.

Meloni’s government will soon force NGO ships flying flags from countries like France, Germany and Norway to accept the migrants they pick up in the Mediterranean Sea

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni smile as she attends her year-end press conference in Rome, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

As Olivier Bault reports at Remix News, the threshold of 100,000 illegal migrants who arrived by sea in Italy this year was crossed on Dec. 21, and the number is not only a symbolic milestone but also serving as a call to action for Italy’s conservative government.

The figure of 100,000 can be compared with the 64,055 on the same date a year ago and the 33,867 arrivals by sea in 2020. This year’s number is the highest since 2017, the year when the left-wing government of Matteo Renzi finally decided to clamp down on the NGOs’ business of transferring illegal immigrants to Europe through passive and sometimes active cooperation with people smugglers, introducing stricter rules on how NGO ships were allowed to operate in the Mediterranean Sea.

An air alert was announced in a half of Ukrainian regions, according to the official warning Internet resource.

The air alert was announced in Dnepropetrovsk, Cherkassy, Nikolayev and Kirovograd regions and on parts of Zaporozhye and Kherson regions controlled by Ukraine. The air alert was also announced on Monday night in Kiev and the Kiev Region.

Explosions were heard in Kiev on Monday, the Strana news outlet said. According to its data, explosions were in the Goloseevsky District and in the left-bank part of the city. Two more explosions were in the north of the Kiev Region, the news outlet added.

Explosions also took place in Dnepr, Strana informed.

The US Army has sought information on M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) fire control systems for partner nations Ukraine, Taiwan, and Latvia.

The US Army Contracting Command issued a “source sought” notification last month for International Field Artillery Tactical Data System (IFATDS).

***

The AFATDS is an automated fire-support command, control, and communications system. It uses multiple-source information, such as situational awareness data, intelligence information data, and targeting data, to provide effective targeting decisions.

Roughly 20,000 troops mobilized in Europe in support of NATO since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are on track to stay in place going into the new year, training not only with local partners, but with Ukrainian troops outside of their country.

The Pentagon announced Dec. 15 that monthly rotations of 500 Ukrainian troops would travel to U.S. Army ranges in Germany for combined arms maneuver training, an effort to reinforce their formations….

In Lithuania, the U.S. will upgrade its periodic deployments…the U.S. embassy announced Dec. 7. Units will include a field artillery battery and an armored element with several hundred soldiers.

“As President Biden has said, we are committed to defending every inch of NATO territory,” U.S. Ambassador Robert Gilchrist said in a release….

Pentagon officials have said there are no current plans to draw down U.S. military presence in Europe, which numbers roughly 100,000 troops since spring 2022.

Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti is calling for a bolstered presence of NATO peacekeeping forces in his country.

“A massive bolstering of NATO troops and military equipment in our country would improve security and peace in Kosovo and the entire West-Balkan region,” Kurti said in an interview with German newspaper WELT.

Following recent tensions between Kosovo and neighboring Serbia, the Western Balkan nation wants to increase the number of NATO troops on the ground from the current deployment of almost 3,800 troops. The Kosovo Force (KFOR) has been present in Kosovo since 1999.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov has said that this year, Ukraine de facto became part of NATO, and this cooperation will continue.

***

According to him, the spirit of the Ukrainian people and their invincibility demonstrated that Ukraine is the real shield of Europe in the east, and the entire civilized world is proud and inspired by Ukrainians and their heroism.

“This year, we de facto became part of NATO. This cooperation will continue. We appreciate the contribution of each partner,” Reznikov said.

Russia gave Iran the Mach 12 Kinzhal missile and the SU-35. Why? Maybe Russia wants Iran to stop a possible US coup in Saudi Arabia?

The Kinzhal missile digs a 30 meter (98 foot ) deep hole where its target used to be.

Let me explain Ron Paul’s insight into the US Balance of Payments. The US went off the gold standard and went on the “we will bomb your country if you do not give us your oil for worthless American paper.” We bombed both Iraq and Libya. The Iraqis tried to sell oil for euros and Libya wanted a gold and oil backed African dollar.

Now the Saudis want to join BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) and sell their oil for Chinese yuan instead of accumulating US Treasury bonds which might have a zero value in 24 or fewer months.