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37-second phone signal, Mount Hermon route: Lebanese reports detail ex-officer ‘abduction’

Saudi and Lebanese media outlets reported Tuesday that Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency carried out a special operation on Lebanese soil, allegedly abducting a former senior Lebanese security official with possible ties to the long-unsolved disappearance of Israeli airman Ron Arad.

According to the reports, the target of the operation was Ahmad Shukr, described as a former senior officer in Lebanon’s General Security services and a relative of Fouad Shukr, Hezbollah’s chief of staff who was killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut’s southern Dahieh district last year. Israel has not commented on the reports, which also claimed that Swedish citizens were involved in the operation.

The Lebanese television channel Al Jadeed reported Thursday that Shukr went missing a day earlier in the Bekaa Valley in northeastern Lebanon, a predominantly Shiite region considered a Hezbollah stronghold. The channel said Shukr’s family issued an urgent appeal demanding clarification of his fate and called for intervention by Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and other officials.

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Trump State Department Bars EU-Linked Globalists from Entry for Pushing Anti-Free Speech Censorship

The US Department of State, under the direction of Marco Rubio, has taken a rare and decisive step against European political figures accused of acting against American interests, barring several prominent individuals who’ve sought to censor free and open dialogue on American platforms.

The bold move signals a sharp and definitive break from years of deference—and even subservience—to Brussels’ ever-increasing, draconian regulatory ambitions.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio rightly framed the action as a defense of American free speech against what he described as organized, ideological pressure from abroad. He made it crystal clear that the era of tolerating overseas attempts to silence U.S. voices and American positions is over.

In a post on X, Rubio Wrote: “For far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose. The Trump administration will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship.

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Federal Judge Upholds New York’s Driver’s Licenses for Illegal Immigrants

A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed the Trump administration’s challenge to New York’s Green Light Law, upholding the state’s issuance of driver’s licenses to individuals without requiring proof of legal U.S. residency.

U.S. District Judge Anne M. Nardacci in Albany determined that the Trump administration, which challenged the law under President Donald Trump’s enforcement of immigration laws, failed to back its claims that the state law usurps federal law or that it unlawfully regulates or unlawfully discriminates against the federal government.

The Justice Department filed the lawsuit against the state over the law in February, naming Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state’s attorney general, Letitia James, as defendants.

“As I said from the start, our laws protect the rights of all New Yorkers and keep our communities safe,” James said in a statement on Dec. 19. “I will always stand up for New Yorkers and the rule of law.”

Nardacci stated that her job was not to evaluate the desirability of the Green Light Law as a policy matter. Rather, she said in a 23-page opinion, it was to assess whether the Trump administration’s arguments established that the law violates the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which grants federal laws precedence over state laws.

The administration, she wrote, has “failed to state such a claim.”

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Biden Judge Blocks President Trump’s Attempt to Strip Security Clearance From Deep State Lawyer Mark Zaid

A federal judge on Tuesday evening blocked President Trump’s attempt to strip the security clearance of Deep State lawyer Mark Zaid.

US District Judge, Amir Ali, said Trump’s attempt to strip the security clearance from Mark Zaid may violate the US Constitution.

Recall that Mark Zaid represented Eric Ciaramella, the Trump-Ukraine impeachment ‘whistleblower.’

Zaid also represents intelligence officials and other Deep State actors.

Earlier this year, President Trump stripped the security clearances of at least eight corrupt ‘antagonists’ who worked for Biden or targeted him for ruin over the last several years:

  • Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken
  • Former NatSec Advisor Jake Sullivan
  • New York Attorney General Letitia James
  • Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg
  • Biden’s Deputy AG Lisa Monaco
  • Corrupt prosecutor Andrew Weissmann
  • Deep State lawyer Mark Zaid
  • Norm Eisen – the man behind all the lawfare against Trump

“Per @POTUS directive, I have revoked security clearances and barred access to classified information for Antony Blinken, Jake Sullivan, Lisa Monaco, Mark Zaid, Norman Eisen, Letitia James, Alvin Bragg, and Andrew Weissman, along with the 51 signers of the Hunter Biden “disinformation” letter. The President’s Daily Brief is no longer being provided to former President Biden,” Tulsi Gabbard announced on X in March.

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Psychic Credited with Finding Critical Clue in Unsolved Chicago Hit-And-Run Case

A Chicago man searching for the person responsible for a hit-and-run accident that killed his mother received some surprising help in his quest for justice when a psychic pointed him in the direction of a critical clue. According to a local media report, Damion Martin’s mother, Tanja Safforld, passed away last November after being struck by a car that promptly fled the scene. A police investigation into the incident ultimately ground to a halt in March, leaving her son to pursue the matter on his own.

Taking to social media, Martin detailed the circumstances of his mother’s death and revisited the location of the hit-and-run in the hopes of finding someone who might provide new insight into the case. As luck would have it, he was soon contacted by a person who witnessed the accident and indicated that the vehicle in question was a gray sedan. This was particularly important because, during their investigation, police were under the impression that the car was black, which is undoubtedly why their search for the hit-and-run driver came up short. Martin managed to confirm the witness’s account after he received a rather wondrous message from an unexpected source.

“A psychic wrote me out of nowhere and said, ‘go check a blue and yellow sign,'” he recalled, explaining that he returned to the scene and quickly spotted a nearby car dealership that matched the description provided by the mysterious mystic. When shown the business’s security footage from the time of the accident, the witness was able to identify the specific car that struck Martin’s mother. While police have since issued a new community bulletin with a photo of the vehicle, her son expressed dismay that a year has passed since the incident, leaving the culprit plenty of time to cover their tracks.

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Epstein Claimed Cellmate Tried TO MURDER HIM Weeks Before Suspicious Death

Newly released documents from the Epstein files are shedding light on the paedophile financier’s final weeks, where he accused his cellmate of attempting to murder him, fueling long-held suspicions of foul play.

The revelations come amid the Trump DOJ’s transparency push, exposing details that challenge the official suicide narrative and point to potential cover-ups in the deep state’s handling of the case.

The Telegraph notes, “Jeffrey Epstein claimed his cellmate tried to murder him in the weeks before his death, newly released documents say,” adding “The notes from prison officers also record an apparent attempt by the paedophile financier to take his own life around the same time.”

These prison records detail Epstein’s claims of waking up with marks around his neck that he couldn’t explain, raising questions about whether the incident was a botched suicide or something more sinister.

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Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor asked Ghislaine Maxwell if she had found him ‘new inappropriate friends,’ Epstein files email shows

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor apparently complained to Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell about spending time at the royal family’s “Balmoral Summer Camp” before asking the future convicted sex trafficker, “Have you found me some new inappropriate friends?,” according to a jaw-dropping August 2001 email released overnight by the Justice Department.

The message, from an account labeled “The Invisible Man” and signed “A,” would have been sent just five months after the then-Duke of York allegedly had sex with 17-year-old Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre at Maxwell’s London home.

“I am up here at Balmoral Summer Camp for the Royal Family,” the Aug. 16, 2001, email to Maxwell reads, referring to the British monarch’s summer castle in Scotland. “Activities take place all day and I am totally exhausted at the end of each day. The Girls are completely shattered and I will have to give them an early night today as it is getting tiring splitting them up all the time!”

“How’s LA?” the message then goes on. “Have you found me some new inappropriate friends? Let me know when you are coming over as I am free from 25th August until 2nd Sept and want to go somewhere hot and sunny with some fun people before having to put my nose firmly to the grindstone for the Fall. Any ideas gratefully received!”

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Israeli Defense Minister Vows Permanent Israeli Occupation of Gaza, Establishment of Settlements

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed on Tuesday that the Israeli military will “never leave all of Gaza” and will eventually establish settlements in the northern part of the Strip.

“We are deep inside Gaza and will never leave all of Gaza – that will not happen. We are here to defend and to prevent what happened,” Katz said during an event in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

“With God’s help, when the time comes, also in northern Gaza, we will establish Nahal pioneer groups in place of the settlements that were evacuated,” Katz added, referring to an IDF program that establishes communities for Israeli soldiers. “We’ll do it in the right way, at the appropriate time.”

Katz also vowed that Israel would not withdraw “one millimeter” from Syria, referring to the territory it has captured in southwest Syria since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

After his remarks sparked backlash, Katz appeared to walk back the comments on settlements. “The government has no intention of establishing settlements in the Gaza Strip,” his office said in a statement, though it added that he made the comments in a “security context,” suggesting it wasn’t a complete walk back about what he said about establishing military communities.

An unnamed US official criticized Katz’s comments, saying that he was “provoking” the Arab world. “The more Israel provokes, the less the Arab countries want to work with them,” the US official said in a statement to journalists.

“The United States remains fully committed to President Trump’s 20-Point Peace Plan, which was agreed to by all parties and endorsed by the international community. The plan envisions a phased approach to security, governance, and reconstruction in Gaza. We expect all parties to adhere to the commitments they made under the 20-Point Plan,” the official added.

Katz did not walk back his comments about a permanent Israeli occupation of Gaza, and other Israeli officials have made similar vows. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said earlier this month that the so-called “yellow line,” the vague boundary separating the Israeli-occupied side of Gaza from the rest of the Strip, is a “new border.”

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Chicago’s Guaranteed Income Guarantees Less Opportunity

There have been more than 150 guaranteed income pilot programs implemented across the country, but only one has made its program permanent – Cook County, Illinois.

The county, which includes Chicago, became the first place in America to commit to a taxpayer-funded program indefinitely, serving as the nucleus for expanding the scope of these programs nationally. Taxpayers and recipients beware.

A guaranteed income program is simple: Give low-income people a monthly amount of money to use as they see fit. These payments are in addition to other welfare benefits they receive, and don’t come with any requirements to work, to learn better money management, or to get job training.

The idea is to promote equity and help the poor and disadvantaged, a noble goal, but in practice it can harm families by reducing work, income, and opportunity.

They’re extremely expensive, too, and threaten to wreck the finances of any city or state that implements them with ever-higher taxes.

Cook County used $42 million in funds from the American Rescue Plan to run a two-year pilot program that provided 3,250 low- to moderate-income participants with $500 per month.

The results? One firm committed to “equitable economic development” found four apparent benefits.

Their modeling estimated that households directly spent 55.8% of the money received. The $42 million investment generated only $8.3 million annually for local businesses and a $5.4 million increase in annual economic output in Cook County. Generating $286,000 in tax revenue, $44,000 of which stayed in Cook County.

One concern with these findings is that no results from a control group were reported. There’s no way of knowing if the increases were a result of these 3,250 recipients or if it was simply a post-pandemic boon.

The county is continuing the program in 2026 at a cost of $7.5 million to local taxpayers.

Another study of a more rigorous Chicago-area pilot program with a control group found that the program discouraged participants from working and reduced their earned income.

Taking part in the pilot actually lowered participants’ earned income by $1800, excluding program payments. Recipients’ workforce participation dropped by 3.9 percentage points. 

Participants and, surprisingly, others in the recipient’s household, ended up reducing their hours worked per week. Children who grow up around full-time working adults are more likely to climb the economic ladder, so this reduction in work threatens the future of participants’ children.

Still, the appetite for guaranteed income programs is rapidly expanding in Illinois and nationally. Illinois allocated $827,272 in its 2026 budget to fund a pilot.

In October, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) reintroduced the Guaranteed Income Pilot Act, with the stated goal of lifting people out of poverty. The federal program would select 20,000 participants.

Of them, 10,000 would receive “a cash payment each month equal to the fair market rent for a 2-bedroom home in the ZIP Code in which the eligible individual resides, or a substantially similar amount.” In Chicago, the payment would increase to $2,670 per month. In New York, it’d be $2910. A control group would contain 10,000 people.

A final report on the program would explicitly be required to study the feasibility of expanding the program. The goal of these programs – sometimes explicitly stated – is to cover more people.  

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A Christmas Gift to the War Machine

Late last week, Congress passed and President Trump signed the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The bill marks the first time the US military budget officially passed the one trillion dollar mark. Of course, when you add in other military-related spending such as interest on the debt, veterans’ affairs, and military components of other government agencies, the true number is at least one and a half times that amount.

To paraphrase the famous 1953 President Eisenhower speech, “The Chance for Peace,” each of these dollars spent on military offense and the maintenance of the US global empire rather than on defense of our own nation is taken from the mouths of the hungry and off the backs of hardworking American families.

Congress is so addicted to military spending that they appropriated even more money than President Trump requested, including an unconscionable $800 million for thoroughly corrupt Ukraine. Will Washington ever be called to answer for why Americans, who are seeing their standard of living eaten away by inflation and a declining economy, should continue to subsidize a criminal regime overseas whose ruling class enjoys the comfort of golden toilets?

The Ukraine money also undermines President Trump’s claim to be a neutral mediator in the conflict. How can you be a peacemaker when you are sending nearly a billion dollars in weapons to one side to help kill the other side? It makes no sense.

Congress even included measures in the bill that would prevent President Trump from bringing any US troops home from real “forever wars” in Korea and Europe. For how many more decades must the American worker continue to subsidize a US military presence in countries completely unrelated to our own security? World War II ended 80 years ago and the Korean war some ten years later. Yet the American military empire remains, at an incalculable cost to Americans.

Some fellow critics will say this is all about welfare for rich countries overseas, and that’s partly right. But more than that, it is welfare for the politically-connected US military-industrial complex at home. Imagine how many retired US military officers and former US officials-turned-lobbyists might be financially inconvenienced if we finally “just marched home”?

This week Western Christians will celebrate the coming of the Prince of Peace, with the Orthodox celebrating a few days later. It is disheartening that so many Americans who call themselves Christians also hold fast to a view that we must bankrupt our country and impoverish our people by playing policeman to the world and arbiter of whose regime must be changed by Washington.

Christians are among the biggest victims in these overseas operations, including in Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza. Yet many American Christians turn a blind eye to the suffering and misery produced by neocon-led militarism overseas. They don’t care that unquestioning support for Israel, for example, has nearly erased Christianity from where it was born.

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