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What We Know About the CIA Backed ‘Zero Units’ the Afghan National Guard Shooter Served In

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, CIA Director John Ratcliffe has confirmed, the suspected National Guard shooter, Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, previous worked for a special force unit in Afghanistan that worked under the CIA.

Now new information is coming to light about the Kandahar Strike Force or “Zero Units”, Lakanwal previously served in.

The Kandahar Strike Force also known as “Zero Units” was composed of Afghan nationals under the command of the Afghanistan National Directorate of Security which was an intelligence agency established by the CIA.

The New York Times reported the zero units were trained and equipped directly under the CIA and were trained to conduct clandestine missions across Afghanistan.

Per CBS:

An image of an ID badge circulating widely online Thursday that purportedly shows the suspect in the shooting of the National Guard members says he was assigned to the “Kandahar Strike Force” or “03” unit, one of a number of so-called “Zero Units” that worked closely with U.S. and other foreign forces during the war in Afghanistan.

The badge also carries the words “Firebase Gecko,” which was the name of a base used by the CIA and special forces in Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan, inside what was previously the compound of the Taliban’s founding leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar. CBS News has not independently verified the authenticity of the ID badge shown in the photos, but CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the suspect had previously worked “with the U.S. Government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar.”

The “Zero Units” were exclusively composed of Afghan nationals and operated under the umbrella of the National Directorate of Security, or NDS, the intelligence agency established with CIA backing for Afghanistan’s previous, U.S.-backed government.

A former senior Afghan general under that previous government told CBS News on Thursday that “03 unit, also known as The Kandahar Strike Force (KSF), was under special forces directorate of NDS. They were the most active and professional forces, trained and equipped by the CIA. All their operations were conducted under the CIA command.”

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France Follows Germany with New (Voluntary) Military Conscription Plan

If you want peace, prepare for war. French President Emmanuel Macron appears to be the latest European leader embracing that ancient maxim, launching a new national military service plan Thursday as France seeks to address shortfalls in its armed forces amidst growing concerns over Russia’s geographical ambitions beyond the war in Ukraine.

Macron announced volunteers – not forced conscripts – aged 18 and 19 will start serving next year in a 10-month new military service programme alongside 6.5 billion euros ($7.6 billion) in extra military spending in the next two years, AP reports.

Germany has already announced it hopes to use the same method to boost its enlistments, as Breitbart News reported. Berlin’s plan remains to be approved by parliament.

“A new national service is set to be gradually established, starting from next summer,” Macron said in a speech at the Varces military base, in the French Alps.

Young volunteers will serve in France’s mainland and oversea territories only, not in France’s military operations abroad, Macron said.

The AP report notes France’s military currently comprises around 200,000 active personnel and over 40,000 reservists, making it the second largest in the European Union, just behind Poland. France wants to increase the number of reservists to 100,000 by 2030.

Macron’s announcement follows the French Chief of Defence Staff warning earlier this month that to present a credible deterrence against Russian aggression in Europe, France’s civilians must stand behind the military, be “prepared to accept losing its children” and “prepared to suffer economically.”

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California man who went by ‘Billy Badass’ busted for synagogue bomb threats, feds say

A California man who went by “Billy Badass” on social media allegedly threatened to bomb every synagogue within a 20-mile radius — then doubled down with more antisemitic rants even after cops threw him in a psychiatric hold.

Elijah Alexander King, 36, of San Luis Obispo, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to federal charges stemming from his August rampage of hate that has him staring down a decade behind bars.

King used his “Billy Badass” X account to spew the hate messages on Aug. 28. “I’m gonna blow up every synagogue in a 20-mile radius,” King threatened according to federal prosecutors.

“This is a real threat send the police and report me for terrorism,” said a second messaged ten minutes later. King then searched for synagogues nearby on his cellphone, prosecutors said.

Police found King and had him check into a psychiatric hospital for monitoring where he continued to spew hate from the “Billy Badass” handle, states. 

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FDA Chief: Fauci ‘100% Involved” In “Massive” COVID-19 Origins Cover-Up

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary accused former top health official Dr. Anthony Fauci of orchestrating a “massive cover-up” of the origins of Covid-19. In an interview with “Pod Force One” podcast, Makary said that Fauci, who served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease during the pandemic, worked to suppress the Wuhan lab-leak theory.

“One thing that’s extremely obvious that very few people realize, and certainly hardly anyone in the medical establishment where I come from realized, is that [Fauci] was involved in a massive cover-up of the origins of COVID, a massive cover-up,” Makary, who previously served as a professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, told host Miranda Devine.

“Whether or not he was involved in the experiments or funding the experiments that led to the origins of COVID, he was clearly 100% involved in the cover-up,” the FDA head added.

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Putin scientists unveil ‘spy pigeons fitted with brain implants and cameras that can be controlled like drones’

A state-linked Moscow neurotechnology firm boasts its operators can steer flocks of the flying pests across the sky at will. 

Researchers have launched field tests of so-called ‘bird-biodrones’ known as PJN-1, ordinary pigeons surgically implanted with neural chips that allow technicians to direct their flight routes.

The birds can be steered remotely in real time, with operators able to upload flight commands by stimulating targeted regions of the brain.

The pigeon then ‘believes it wants to fly’ in the instructed direction, claim sources at Neiry, which has deep ties to the Kremlin’s hi-tech innovation machine.

Surgery is carried out in which electrodes are inserted into the brain with millimetre precision.

The birds wear tiny solar-powered backpacks containing onboard electronics, GPS tracking, and the receiver that transmits signals into the neural implant.

Chillingly, Neiry insists that ‘no training is required’, declaring that any animal becomes ‘remotely controllable after the operation’ – with pigeons capable of covering 310 miles a day, or more than 1,850 miles in a week.

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We Must Resist The Rise Of A Global Censorship Regime

The ordeal of Finnish Parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen, who just stood trial a third time – after being acquitted twice – for a 2019 tweet in which she simply shared a Scripture verse and her faith-based views on marriage and sexuality, is a warning to all who value the right to speak freely across the world.

When governments claim the power to police opinions, even peaceful expressions of faith can be dragged through the courts.

And now this promises to be a much more pervasive reality in Europe as a result of the 2022 Digital Services Act (DSA). Ahead of the European Union’s review of the DSA, 113 international experts committed to free speech wrote to the European Commission highlighting the law’s incompatibility with free expression, citing the possibility of worldwide takedown orders. Räsänen was a signatory to the letter, alongside a former vice president of Yahoo Europe, a former U.S. senator, and politicians, academics, lawyers, and journalists from around the globe.

The DSA gives the E.U. authority to enforce moderation of “illegal content” on platforms and search engines with over 45 million monthly users. It enables bureaucrats to control online speech at scale under the guise of “safety” and “protecting democracy.”

However, E.U. member states may have different definitions of illegal content. Thus, under the law, anything deemed illegal under the speech laws of any one E.U. member state could potentially be removed across all of Europe. That means the harshest censorship laws in Europe could soon govern the entire continent, and possibly the internet worldwide. And if platforms fail to comply, they face billions in fines, thus providing clear incentive to censor and none to promote free speech.

Late last month, the E.U. announced that Meta and TikTok will face fines of up to 6 percent of their global sales for accusations of violating the DSA on matters related to transparency. But the well-founded fear is that this law—which grants sweeping authority to European regulators to control online speech across such platforms—including X, YouTube, and Facebook—will enable the kind of censorship endured by Räsänen on a global scale.

Further, citizens in countries outside of the E.U., like the United States, are at risk of facing new levels of censorship, because the DSA applies to large online digital platforms and search engines accessed within the E.U. but that have a global presence. It explicitly states its extraterritorial applicability as it covers platforms used by people “that have their place of establishment or are located in the Union, irrespective of where the providers of those intermediary services [the platforms] have their place of establishment.”

Platforms are incentivized to adapt their international content moderation policies to E.U. censorship. If those platforms deem something “illegal” under E.U. rules, that content may be banned everywhere, even in countries with strong free speech protections.

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‘Green Wednesday’ surges as Americans swap alcohol for cannabis ahead of Thanksgiving

The biggest shopping day of the year may be Black Friday, but the cannabis equivalent happens the day before Thanksgiving.

Despite potential health risks, “Green Wednesday” has been named the second-highest day of the year for pot sales, according to various reports, second only to April 20 (4/20) as the leading day for sales.

This is in part due to dispensaries offering large discounts on products like pre-rolls, edibles, gummies, vapes and flowers.

According to Dutchie, an Oregon-based e-commerce platform used by thousands of dispensaries across the U.S., average sales increased 91% on Nov. 27, 2024 — the day before Thanksgiving last year — compared to a typical Wednesday. The average basket per shopper increased by 9% to more than $70.

New York dispensaries reported even higher numbers, according to the analysis, with medical baskets reaching more than $106.

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‘Seditious Six’ Scripted Video Appears To Be Part Of Left’s Broader Color Revolution Against Trump

America could use a breather from the Democratic Party’s billionaire-backed dark-money NGO machine, which has spent years running a rolling color-revolution-style campaign against President Trump and anything aligned with America First (one that we’ve coined “invisible insurrection“). 

The pressure campaign is constant: activist fronts sparking orchestrated unrest in places like Los Angeles through the protest-industrial complex, followed by scripted influence operations like the so-called “Seditious Six,” whose latest messaging pressures military and intelligence personnel to “refuse illegal orders” – without saying what illegal orders. 

The bigger picture is very alarming: It’s all part of a coordinated effort to delegitimize the Trump administration and America First movement and to keep the country in a state of manufactured chaos with aims for regime change. 

Remember weeks ago when Jennica Pounds, also known as “DataRepublican,” peeled back the layers of what appears to be the interworkings of at least one color-revolution-style operation orchestrated by Democrats, nonprofit groups, ex-USAID employees, and leftist billionaires to undermine and destabilize President Trump’s MAGA from within.

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Taiwan Announces $40 Billion Defense Spending Boost to Protect from China

Taiwanese President William Lai ChinCap Video – No Adsg-te on Wednesday announced a $40 billion boost to defense spending to counter “intensifying” threats from China, which he said is “speeding up military preparations to take Taiwan by force.”

“Taiwan must not become a weak point in regional security. Among all the possible scenarios for China’s annexation of Taiwan, the biggest threat is not force – it is our own surrender,” Lai declared.

Lai said his government was prepared to counter any efforts at “repression” by China, and pledged to achieve a “high level of combat preparedness” within two years, including major upgrades to missile, drone, and artificial intelligence capabilities.

“China’s threats to Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region are escalating. Recently, various types of military intrusions, maritime gray zones and disinformation campaigns have been occurring in Japan, the Philippines and around the Taiwan Strait,” he warned, “causing deep unease and distress to all parties in the region.” 

“Taiwan, as the most important and most critical part of the first island chain, must demonstrate our determination and take on a greater responsibility in self-defense,” he said.

Lai’s language was bound to raise China’s blood pressure, because “first island chain” means the string of islands and reefs from Taiwan to Japan that China is attempting to seize through force and intimidation, even though Beijing’s claims have been rejected by international tribunals.

China is currently embroiled in a highly public feud with Japan because Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae told her parliament that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be a “survival-threatening situation” – in other words, a situation that would justify the use of military force under Japan’s pacifist constitution.

Japanese leaders have never before used those exact words to describe their alliance with Taiwan. China’s seemingly hysterical reaction was triggered in part because Beijing fears the increasingly strong alliance between other Pacific powers aligned with the United States. Lai’s announcement on Wednesday reinforced the importance of that alliance, and supported Takaichi’s contention that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would be a threat to every nation in the island chain.

“We hope China can understand that each country in the Indo-Pacific region has a responsibility to its peace and stability, and that we especially hope China, as a major power in the region, would also demonstrate the responsibilities of a major power,” Lai said, directly referencing the dispute between Beijing and Tokyo.

“Instead, it has continued to raise threats and attacks toward neighboring countries. This is not the way a responsible major power acts,” he lamented.

The extra spending announced by President Lai, which would be spread out over eight years, brings Taiwan’s defense budget up to 3.3 percent of GDP. Lai has said he plans to bring spending up to five percent of GDP, while President Donald Trump has asked the imperiled island nation to shoot for ten percent.

Lai wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post on Tuesday in which he expressed gratitude to President Trump for pursuing “peace through strength,” and said Taiwan is fully on board with that principle, as demonstrated by his $40 billion supplemental defense spending plan.

“This landmark package will not only fund significant new arms acquisitions from the United States, but also vastly enhance Taiwan’s asymmetrical capabilities,” he wrote. “In doing so, we aim to bolster deterrence by inserting greater costs and uncertainties into Beijing’s decision-making on the use of force.”

“My message here is clear: Taiwan’s dedication to peace and stability is unwavering. No country will be more determined in safeguarding Taiwan’s future than our own,” he declared.

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Connecting The Dots… Reveals A Dire Picture

“Reflect on what happens when a terrible winter blizzard strikes. You hear the weather warning but probably fail to act on it. The sky darkens. Then the storm hits with full fury, and the air is a howling whiteness. One by one, your links to the machine age break down. Electricity flickers out, cutting off the TV. Batteries fade, cutting off the radio. Phones go dead. Roads become impossible, and cars get stuck. Food supplies dwindle.

Day to day vestiges of modern civilization – bank machines, mutual funds, mass retailers, computers, satellites, airplanes, governments – all recede into irrelevance. Picture yourself and your loved ones in the midst of a howling blizzard that lasts several years. Think about what you would need, who could help you, and why your fate might matter to anybody other than yourself. That is how to plan for a saecular winter. Don’t think you can escape the Fourth Turning. History warns that a Crisis will reshape the basic social and economic environment that you now take for granted.” – Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning

Knowing who to trust and who to distrust at this point in history is the most important quality for anyone who expects to maneuver their lives and those of their loved ones through the final years of this Fourth Turning. I trust people who base their opinions on facts, not some government approved narrative regurgitated by legacy media bubble headed bimbos and “expert” talking heads. Michael Burry, Ed Dowd and Edward Snowden are men whose opinion I value.

They have all put their careers on the line telling the truth, when virtually everyone else was toeing the Deep State/Wall Street/Big Pharma line regarding the surveillance apparatus monitoring everything we say on our phones or type on our computers; the Federal Reserve/Wall Street manufactured housing bubble to replace the Dot.com bubble; the Covid plandemic created as an excuse to manufacture trillions of new debt because our empire of debt began seizing up in September 2019; and the current Everything Bubble (commercial real estate, residential housing, stocks, bonds, bitcoin, AI).

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