Blog

Panic over US probe into Kiev’s links to Mexican cartels

Ukrainian officials are reportedly panicking after US investigators uncovered links between Mexican drug cartels and Kiev, including paid drone training for cartel members. The probe threatens to further strain the already fragile relations between Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky and US President Donald Trump.

In a statement on Tuesday, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said American law enforcement investigating the cartels had identified at least 80 members who learned to assemble and operate combat drones while serving with Ukrainian forces.

The payment for this “education” was transferred to officials close to Zelensky using proceeds from drug sales in the US, according to the SVR report obtained by RT.

The agency also noted that Zelensky’s office is aware that the presence of trained first-person-view (FPV) drone operators among drug cartels could ultimately threaten American officers combating drug trafficking along the Mexican border and damage relations with Washington.

Keep reading

Mysterious Triangular Object with Advanced Flying Capability Revealed in Latest Tranche of UAP Files

The Department of War released its seventh tranche of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) files on Friday, including a memo detailing a recently sighted triangular object in the western United States that disappeared at a fighter jet-like speed of an estimated 1,800 miles per hour.

The memo states the incident happened in 2026, with two observers, described as “federal law enforcement agents,” documenting their accounts.

From an observation post on a ridgeline on an evening with clear skies, the agents witnessed the craft, estimated to have a 13 to 15-foot wingspan, a 6 to 9-foot fuselage, and a maximum thickness of 1 to 2 feet vertically.

The aircraft is described as making “a slow, controlled, perfectly vertical ascent directly over the ridge line” for “approximately 10 seconds,” climbing a few hundred feet “without tilting, swaying, or wobbling.”

It did so silently, without the agents observing any “propulsive apertures, rotating elements, rivets, panels, windows, canopy,” or cabin structures. From there, it “entered a stable hover” for approximately 20 seconds, without drift or oscillation.

During that time, the agents used infrared to gauge the aircraft’s thermal signature, and “the entire airframe presented a spatially uniform thermal signature with no localized hot spots, engine heat signature, or exhaust plumes.”

“No heat shimmer, vapor trail, or particulate discharge was detected,” the memo adds.

The craft then transitioned rapidly into a “high-speed horizontal flight” from the hover and maneuvered with speed like a “military fighter jet” for two to three seconds in silence before disappearing, per the memo. No instrumented speed measurement was obtained.

The transition from stable hover to high-speed horizontal flight occurred without observable acceleration ramp, gradual pitching, or momentum, and immediately following the hover, the unidentified craft appeared to transition from a stationary position to rapid horizontal flight.

The unidentified craft executed a fluid banking turn and steep, terrain-conforming descent into the canyon and did not wobble, oscillate, or drift in the wind during any part of its transit, and as it banked to follow the canyon’s path its physical profile shifted relative to the observers. The entire horizontal transition, bank, and descent lasted approximately two to three seconds before the craft disappeared behind intervening terrain.

No wreckage, vegetation damage, or ground scarring was observed the next morning during a ground survey of the canyon.

This is one of many documents released in the seventh tranche of UAP files. The tranche also includes a report on an investigation into Sherman Ranch, nicknamed “Skinwalker Ranch,” in Utah. The tranche of files is available for public viewing here.

Keep reading

Trump Treasury Lining Up Private Debt Collectors To Seize Wages From Nearly 10 Million Student Loan Defaulters: Report

Trump administration officials are preparing to penalize millions of Americans in default on their federal student loans next year, The Washington Sun reported, citing five people familiar with the matter. The Treasury Department is moving forward with plans to hire private debt collectors, possibly as soon as November, three of the sources said, and those plans are unlikely to be announced before the midterm elections.

According to the Treasury’s Sept. 30 release – there are more than 5 million borrowers who have been in default for over six years and another 5 million who entered default in less than a year.

The plan would revive collections the administration shelved this year. As we noted in January, the Education Department said it would begin garnishing wages in January, with up to 15% of a borrower’s after-tax income at stake and about 1,000 notices expected the first week. That same month, however, ABC News reported that the department paused both wage garnishment and Treasury Offset Program collections – tax refund seizures included. Under Secretary Nicholas Kent said the tools “will function more efficiently and fairly” after reforms, and the department said it had collected roughly $500 million from defaulted borrowers before the pause.

According to the Sun, last year the White House Office of Management and Budget began helping the Education Department prepare to seize federal benefits and wages from defaulted borrowers, and Treasury officials blocked the effort, citing the economic cost of punitive measures against workers. Staff said they warned senior Treasury officials that scores of Trump supporters would be seriously hurt by going after the wages and benefits of people struggling to keep their jobs. “This is not who you think it is. The demographics are not good for us,” one source said.

Some officials want to garnish benefits and wages for the current tax year, meaning the April 15, 2027 deadline, but the sources cautioned that it could slip again while Treasury makes sure its new Defaulted Loans Support Center is working. That online portal for rehabilitating or consolidating a defaulted loan launched Sept. 30. The administration’s stated preference remains getting borrowers into voluntary payment plans. “It would be politically insane to do this before the midterms,” one source said, “but 2027 probably makes a little more sense.”

The government has two main tools; one seizes payments that follow taxes, such as expected tax refunds, Social Security payments, and the earned income tax credit and child tax credit. The other garnishes wages by requiring employers to send the money to the government. Newsweek noted that wages can be garnished up to 15% without a court order, citing the National Consumer Law Center, and that borrowers generally get at least 30 days’ notice first.

OMB and Treasury declined to comment. The Education Department said: “We don’t respond to fishing expeditions.” IBTimes noted that no agency has responded on the record to the plans themselves, and no restart date has been announced.

Treasury’s push last year to postpone collections has cost taxpayers about $5 billion so far, according to Marc Goldwein of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, and the figure grows the longer the administration waits. “They’ve done the same thing they criticized Biden for,” Goldwein said. Treasury’s September release itself blamed the prior administration for the default pile-up, including its termination of contracts with private collection vendors, the same kind of contractors Treasury is now reportedly preparing to hire.

Keep reading

Britain’s Defense Secretary Sets A 1,000-Day Countdown To War

Britain’s Defense Secretary is telling the country to get ready for war, and he has put a date on it.

Defense Secretary Wes Streeting wrote in the Telegraph on October 24 that his “defining priority” is to make sure that Britain is ‘ready to fight and win a war’. “That is the only metric that counts,” he says. He sets out the danger that he sees, which is not of new hostility towards Britain but of new capability. “Our adversaries’ willingness to harm us is not new. What has changed is their capacity,” he writes. “By 2030 their force strength and war economy could put them in a position to attack. That gives us a little over 1,000 days to complete our mission: to be ready with our allies to fight and win. This Government will make sure it is mission accomplished.”

He writes that the “gravest dangers of the 20th Century are returning, armed with the technologies of the 21st.” Deterrence must come first, he says. “To prevent the worst, we have to prepare for it.” In the first place that means ramping up our capabilities to deter our adversaries from attacking us. And if that fails, then we must make sure that Britain is ready to fight a war. It is a “chilling” message, the Daily Mail says, as Russia increases threats against NATO members.

The warning is not being made in isolation. The “Be Ready” campaign, launched by the government this week, is urging households to store three days’ worth of food and up to nine litres of water, as well as other essentials like blankets, cash, a first-aid kit and a wind-up radio, The Independent reported. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has insisted that the measures are “sensible” and “not about panicking.” GB News reported that Labour has also outlined harsh criminal punishments for anyone who tampers with undersea cables or energy pipelines, and plans to grant telecommunications powers to remove or disable services during a national emergency.

Then there is the issue of money. Streeting says he is “100 per cent confident” that Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Chancellor John Healey will hit NATO’s target of 3.5% of GDP spent on defense by 2035. Healey resigned as Defense Secretary earlier this year over the lack of cash on offer. But on Wednesday, Healey is due to deliver his first Budget as Chancellor and it is expected that the National Wealth Fund will receive billions, with a chunk of cash set aside for the British Business Bank. Some of that money could be invested in UK defense companies, such as those that produce drones and military technology. The move is intended as a downpayment on his 3% ambition by 2030. However, Healey will not set out a fully funded plan of how he intends to reach the higher target until next year’s spending review. And the Shadow Defense Secretary, James Cartlidge, says that while the Conservatives welcome the extra cash, it must be part of a wider funded plan, with money for training and for stockpiling ammunition.

Keep reading

Disarming The Pencil Pushers? Administrative Agencies Begin To Cut Spending On Guns, Ammo

One would expect federal law enforcement agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Secret Service, Customs and Border Protection and Drug Enforcement Administration to have guns to carry out their daily responsibilities.

But what about the administrative agencies like the Internal Revenue Service, Social Security Administration and Small Business Administration?

These and dozens more pencil-pushing federal agencies have spent millions on guns, ammunition and other military-style equipment. Open the Books has documented those staggering figures spent on weapons arsenals over the years, most recently updating them in 2023.

Since then, combined spending at all non-DOD federal agencies did increase again. But hidden behind an understandable growth in spending at the Department of Homeland Security are signs of a drawdown at many non-military agencies.

Topline Figures

Open the Books looked at almost 70 federal offices that bought such equipment between FY 2024 and FY 2026, and found $1.4 billion spent.

Trump’s first fiscal year, FY 2026, saw $531 million in spending on guns, ammunition and other military-style equipment.

NOTE: While a fiscal year is Oct. 1 – Sept. 30, reported spending for FY 2026 is currently only available through August 2026. End of year use-it-or-lose-it spending in September, the final month of the fiscal year, makes up a large portion of some agencies’ spending. To compare dollars-to-dollars in the previous fiscal years of 2024 and 2025, we used a comparable time period of Oct. 1 through Aug. 31.

In the comparable time period in FY 2024, Biden’s final full year, agencies spent $228 million on guns, ammunition and other military-style equipment.

In the comparable time period in FY 2025, which includes the end of Biden’s term and beginning of Trump’s second term, agencies spent $278 million.

Homeland Security Drives Spending Increase

While the totals show increased spending under the Trump administration, much of it was at the Department of Homeland Security – home to increased enforcement at Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

At DHS, spending on guns and ammo increased almost 236% between FY25 and FY26 – from $60.8 million to $204.4 million.

Keep reading

Netanyahu’s Crypto Plan to Bypass Sanctions Sparks Political Firestorm in Israel

Israel’s prime minister has proposed developing an alternative economic system using cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to circumvent potential international banking sanctions. The announcement has triggered fierce opposition from the Bank of Israel, economists, high-tech executives and political rivals, raising questions about Israel’s economic future and its relationship with Western financial institutions.

Netanyahu’s Proposal: Preparing for an Economy Under Sanctions

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ignited a major political and economic controversy after announcing that his government is exploring the use of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to circumvent potential international banking sanctions.

In an interview broadcast a couple of days ago, Netanyahu warned that Israel could face increasingly restrictive financial measures and said he had already instructed officials to prepare a plan for an alternative economic system.

“You need to prepare an economy that can circumvent them,” Netanyahu said, referring to possible banking sanctions. When asked whether blockchain technology could provide a solution, he responded that it was one of the options being considered and confirmed that he had requested a plan.

Keep reading

Ottawa’s Counter-Tariffs On US Costing Canadians $100 Million Weekly, Economist Says

Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports are costing consumers an estimated $100 million a week and raising prices by about 0.25 percent, an economist told MPs.

University of Calgary economics professor Trevor Tombe testified before the House of Commons foreign affairs committee on Oct. 21 about the counter-tariffs that Ottawa imposed on $28 billion of American imports on Sept. 8, in a tit-for-tat response to American tariffs that took effect Aug. 22.

The retaliatory tariffs ranged from 15 percent on U.S. farm equipment and appliances to 25 percent on construction supplies and 50 percent on smartphones, furniture, aluminum, and steel.

Tombe told MPs that Ottawa’s retaliatory tariffs cut half a percentage point from the disposable income of Canadians making under $30,000 a year and increased consumer prices “across the board” by roughly 0.25 percent, as first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter.

“Just for consumers, not even for businesses, it’s about $100 million per week of additional costs,” he said.

“Those costs might be worth paying if one is making an argument that there are non-economic objectives that these tariffs achieve,” he added. “I don’t know what those might be. … So, I’d say the economic case for retaliation is thin.”

The federal government has said it is applying counter-tariffs on the United States to shield domestic producers amid U.S. tariffs, and to also apply pressure on the White House to remove its tariffs.

“We’re also targeting products that will target states in the U.S.,” Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said in August.

“We’re being wise and strategic to put political pressure, and that’s why we think it’s the right thing to do right now.”

Tombe said a better way to understand the U.S. tariffs is that they are really an “American domestic policy rather than a bilateral dispute with Canada.” Furthermore, he said Ottawa’s retaliation only adds costs for Canadian consumers, while its effect on American policy “appears to be quite limited.”

He called the U.S. tariff increases “the largest trade policy change” in the country’s 250-year history.

He said the average U.S. tariff globally was 2 percent in 2024, then it jumped to 30 percent in 2025 before falling to an average of 11 percent. He put the average U.S. tariff on Canadian goods at 8 percent, lower than rates faced by 93 other countries.

“So this may be less of a trade war with Canada than a fundamental change in how the United States runs its economy,” Tombe said. He said a tariff essentially equals a domestic consumption tax plus a production subsidy of the same rate.

Tombe said Canada’s 2025 retaliatory tariffs generated $4 billion in federal revenue over six months.

He added that it’s difficult for a small country’s tariffs to meaningfully affect the target country’s economic costs, especially one as big as the United States.

“There’s no evidence that the retaliation we’ve enacted has changed U.S. behavior,” he told MPs.

Tombe said that “Canada faces something of a trilemma,” since it wants to retaliate by targeting goods from politically important states, goods where Canadian companies are major buyers, and goods where Canada can easily substitute for other things.

“And doing all three is quite difficult,” he said, noting that a tariff package meeting all those objectives would be roughly one-tenth the size of a full dollar-for-dollar retaliation.

Tombe also said Ottawa’s counter-tariff package didn’t actually follow through on dollar-for-dollar retaliation; instead, it was about 60 cents for every dollar.

Keep reading

Suspect Arrested in ICE Office Firebombing Attempt Case: ‘Despicable, Terroristic Crime’

A 31-year-old man was arrested Friday and accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in Atlanta, Georgia, on Tuesday.

The suspect was identified as Inique Hinton of Douglasville who was arrested in Cobb County and is now facing federal charges in the case, WSB-TV reported Friday.

Hinton was allegedly caught on camera walking near the ICE building at 180 Ted Turner Drive when he allegedly ignited an object and threw it toward the building. The object hit the fence and burst into flames. Investigators found burned cloth, lighter fluid, a glass bottle, and a lighter when they arrived at the scene.

Hinton reportedly walked away from the area before authorities arrived.

Keep reading

Nearly 100 Election Ballots Discovered Among Discarded Mail in Seattle Dumpster

Nearly 100 voters in Washington state have been issued replacement ballots after election workers recovered a large collection of undelivered mail from a dumpster at a Seattle park, just days before the midterm elections, according to KOMO News.

The incident came to light when a resident alerted King County Elections to suspicious mail disposal at Golden Gardens Park. County employees investigated and discovered two containers of discarded correspondence, including 92 election ballots that had never reached their intended recipients.

The KOMO report says that all 92 ballots have since been replaced, while federal postal authorities have been notified and are examining the circumstances surrounding the discovery.

King County Elections Chief of Staff Kendall Hodson said stolen mail occasionally turns up in public places during election season. According to Hodson, investigators generally find that criminals are searching for valuables or sensitive personal information rather than attempting to interfere with voting. Ballots are often simply thrown away with the rest of the stolen correspondence.

The U.S. Postal Service confirmed it was aware of the Seattle incident and indicated that its Office of Inspector General was handling the matter.

Election administrators also sought to reassure residents that the discovery does not mean the missing ballots could be used to cast fraudulent votes. Washington’s election system uses individual tracking identifiers for voters and ballots, along with a review process intended to prevent duplicate submissions.

Officials examine the signature accompanying every returned ballot against the voter’s registration records. Employees conducting those reviews receive instruction from the Washington State Patrol, and any questionable signatures trigger an additional verification process.

Rather than immediately rejecting a ballot with an uncertain signature, election workers contact the voter and provide an opportunity to establish that the ballot was legitimately submitted. Those discrepancies can be addressed until the day preceding the election’s official certification.

KCE spokesperson Halei Watkins explained that these overlapping controls are intended to prevent anyone from successfully submitting a ballot on another person’s behalf, even if election mail falls into the wrong hands.

Keep reading

Somali-Born Superintendent Sparks Uproar as He Reveals the Disgusting Reason Why He Wants to Change School Policy on Dogs

A Somali-born public school official who invaded the State of Maine years ago now wants to impose his culture on the state’s natives.

As The Maine Wire reported on Wednesday, the Portland Public Schools Policy Committee held a meeting on October 14 that focused on the school district’s newly proposed policy on animals in schools.

As currently drafted, the policy states as follows: school administration must sign off on the animals, service animals must be certified, and domestic animals must be restrained.

But Abdullahi Ahmed, the Somali-born Muslim assistant superintendent for student, family, and community partnerships at Portland Public Schools, claimed that the policy toward dogs must change because of Islamic ‘ritual purity.’

He specifically cited dog saliva as an example.

“In Islamic tradition, there is always love for animals and living things and compassion for animals,” Ahmed said. “With that being said, there are some ritual purity that Islamic traditions state and Muslims exercise, so, for example, dog saliva is considered impure.

Ahmed said he did not want the district “to have a dog as a class pet” and that students and staff “should not be required to interact” with the animals at school.

Keep reading