.....

The time has come to “clean up shop” in the Democratic Party, according to the radical progressive Justice Democrats movement, who are threatening to target entrenched Democrats in “deep blue” districts, citing failures of party leadership in 2024 and its alignment with billionaire donors, according to the left-wing magazine Salon.

The Justice Democrats, a progressive group known for backing insurgent primary challengers like radical “Squad” member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, are planning to reignite their campaign against establishment Democrats ahead of the 2026 midterms, according to an interview with Salon published Sunday.

The group, critical of the Democratic Party’s leadership after its crushing 2024 losses, aims to field primary challengers in safe blue districts who they claim have failed to represent working-class constituents.

“It’s time to clean up shop in the Democratic Party, frankly,” Usamah Andrabi, a spokesman for the group, told the magazine.

Andrabi criticized the party’s inability to deliver significant victories in 2024, citing a misalignment between its establishment’s strategies and the needs of its voter base.

...

Justice Democrats @justicedems

It doesn’t have to be this way.

A better world is possible, if we're willing to take on the billionaire class to build it.

Nominate working class candidates for Congress today at http://justicedemocrats.com/nominate

...

The group, which played a pivotal role in electing high-profile radical progressives like “Squad” Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), plans to scrutinize districts held by Democrats who they believe are not adequately serving their communities.

Andrabi emphasized the party’s failure to reconcile its “big tent” strategy, accusing leadership of catering to billionaires at the expense of everyday Americans.

“For so long the Democratic Party has tried to be a big tent that somehow includes the working class and the billionaire class and that says it fights for the interests of the working class,” he said. “We continue to allow our party to align ourselves with the wealthiest few and everyday people are beginning to take notice.”

The Justice Democrats’ renewed focus comes amid growing tensions between the Democratic establishment and its progressive wing, exacerbated by post-election infighting. While some blamed factors like inflation and cultural issues for the losses, progressives argue that the party’s embrace of billionaire-backed strategies alienated its working-class base.

There are members of this party that we are not going to be able to convince to actually stand up for working people,” Andrabi stated.

The matter comes as Republicans’ sweeping win in 2024 saw them regain control of the House, Senate, and presidency, leaving Democrats in disarray.

...

Justice Democrats @justicedems

This is a devastating outcome for our country. Millions are scared for what the future holds—we're ready to protect & defend them.

Democratic leadership must take responsibility for how this happened under their watch.

Time for a new era in the Party, led by new leaders.

...

In response to Trump’s victory, Justice Democrats warned that the “devastating” outcome threatens an “all-out assault on our democracy,” while calling on Democratic leadership to “take responsibility.”

The once influential group is now aiming to reclaim momentum after recent losses, setting up a fierce intra-party clash for 2026.

.....

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/11/17/far-left-group-threatens-primary-challenges-establishment-democrats/

.....

.....

Alex Soros, son of billionaire George Soros, has welcomed the news that US President Joe Biden has reportedly granted Ukraine permission to use American-made long-range weapons to strike deep into Russian territory.

Several news outlets, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal, reported on Sunday that Washington has authorized Ukrainian forces to use US-made ATACMS missiles to hit targets within Russia’s internationally recognized borders.

The move, if confirmed by the White House, would mark a major shift in Washington’s policy regarding the Ukraine conflict. Up until now, the use of Western long-range weapons against internationally recognized Russian territory has been banned by Kiev’s backers out of concerns it could lead to an escalation of the hostilities.

Alex Soros, however, has celebrated reports of the decision, writing on his official X account “this is great news.”

The 37-year-old, a ‘megadonor’ for Biden as well as Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party as a whole, is reportedly set to take over his 93-year-old father’s empire, including the Open Society Foundations.

He has also been a staunch supporter of Kiev throughout the conflict, and has visited Ukraine four times this year. During his last trip in August, Alex Soros pledged that Open Society Foundations would continue cooperation with Ukrainian authorities, “countering Russian aggression and protecting democratic values.”

Soros’ endorsement of the reported permission for Kiev to use US missiles for attacks on Russia was met with a backlash on X, with many users accusing the billionaire of trying to provoke World War III and being “an evil little dude.”

Moscow has also reacted to the reported move by the Biden administration, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov suggesting that the decision would mark a dramatic escalation of the conflict.

He recalled President Vladimir Putin’s warning earlier this year that Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory with the use of long-range Western weapons would mean that “NATO nations are at war with Russia.”

Neither Kiev nor Washington has yet confirmed the reports. However, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky stated in a video posted on Sunday that “strikes are not made with words” and that “such things are not announced. The missiles will speak for themselves.”

.....

https://www.rt.com/russia/607820-soros-son-ukraine-missiles/

.....

.....

The US owes Iran a trillion dollars for the decades of economic sanctions, a senior official in Tehran has said, while accusing Washington of supporting terrorism.

In a speech on Saturday, Ali Shamkhani, who serves as the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, accused the US-led West – which he called the “Arrogant Front” – of trying “to use different tricks in the form of their own hybrid war” to undermine the country.

The official claimed that “the Americans themselves openly admit that they formed [the terrorist groups] ISIS and Al-Qaeda” in a bid to create a rift between Iran and its neighbors, as well as to protect its ally and Tehran’s arch foe, Israel.

Shamkhani went on to denounce US sanctions against Iran, which were first introduced after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. “Americans should pay a trillion dollars in damages to Iran because they held back our country for 25 years,” he said.

Over the decades since the Islamic Revolution, the US has imposed several rounds of economic sanctions on Iran while designating it a “state sponsor of terrorism.” The only notable rapprochement between the countries took place in 2015, when Tehran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for partial sanctions relief. In 2018, however, the administration of Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the agreement, reimposing sanctions targeting Iran’s oil industry and finances.

In 2021, former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif claimed that US sanctions had inflicted $1 trillion worth of damage on Iran’s economy while demanding compensation from Washington as a prerequisite for a return to the nuclear deal.

Shamkhani’s comments come after an Iranian court ruled in December 2023 that the US government, including the US Department of Defense, President-elect Donald Trump, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the National Security Agency, and CIA, should pay nearly $50 billion in damages for the 2020 assassination of Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Quds Force, as well as issue a public apology to the more than 3,000 Iranian citizens who filed the lawsuit.

.....

https://www.rt.com/news/607775-iran-demand-trillion-dollars-us/

.....

.....

Brazilian First Lady Janja Lula da Silva publicly called out billionaire X owner Elon Musk during a G20 social event in Brazil. The country will host the group’s summit next week.

While speaking, the first lady was interrupted by a ship horn, prompting her to say, “It’s Elon Musk,” before adding, “I’m not afraid of you, f**k you, Elon Musk.”

Musk reacted on X with laughing emojis and commented: “They are going to lose the next election.”

The incident highlights the ongoing debate over misinformation on social media platforms. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has criticized Musk’s platform for its policies on the matter, saying, “We cannot allow any platform to undermine democracy and the rights of our citizens.”

His wife’s remarks sparked backlash from Brazilian opposition figures, including former President Jair Bolsonaro, who cautioned that her comments could lead to diplomatic issues for the current administration.

In October, Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes authorized the reinstatement of social media platform X in the country, more than a month after its shutdown. The service was blocked on August 30 due to a dispute over free speech, far-right accounts, and misinformation.

Musk called de Moraes an authoritarian and a censor. Ultimately, X complied with de Moraes’ demands, which included blocking specific accounts, paying fines, and appointing a legal representative in Brazil – a requirement that had led to the suspension.

.....

https://www.rt.com/news/607772-brazil-first-lady-insult-musk/

.....

.....

Americans are “not allowed” to talk freely about healthcare problems on US media and must go to Russian TV “to tell the truth,” Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told RT DE in Berlin in August 2020. He singled out RT America as the “only station” where he was free to express his opinion on the US healthcare system and its inadequacies.

Kennedy was an outspoken critic of the US Covid-19 response during the pandemic. Often accused of being an ‘anti-vaxxer’, he has brushed off the claims, stressing that the only thing he opposed was administering drugs that have not been safety-tested.

Kennedy claimed that the entire US vaccine industry was “an artifact” of the old “quasi-military” public health system introduced during the Cold War as a “national security defense against biological attacks” by Russia. According to him, the laws regulating vaccines were written with a “loophole” that allowed pharmaceutical companies to forgo time-consuming safety tests if they did not call a drug a medicine. This was done in order to deploy vaccines quickly and with no regulatory impediments, but resulted in a “gold rush to put more vaccines on the table” as pharmaceutical companies “took advantage of that old military loophole” to boost profits.

“You know why people don’t know it? Because there’s censorship. I’m not allowed to talk about that on American TV… I do talk about it on RT America – it’s the only station that lets me talk about it,” he stated.

Very paradoxical but it’s true: RT America is the only place where we can talk about many of these subjects.

Kennedy said it was “ironic” that a Russian TV station looked to be the most free in the US, but not surprising.

“Unfortunately, US TV is owned by the pharmaceutical companies,” he stated, noting that ever since the US passed a law that made it legal to advertise prescription drugs on TV back in 1997, the influence of big pharma on media content has become all-encompassing.

“If you look at the evening news in the US, out of twenty two advertisements on a typical news show seventeen are pharmaceutical. So they’re dictating content,” he claimed, adding that this was the reason behind Americans “consuming more drugs than any country in the world” while still having “the worst health outcomes.”

“Pharmaceutical drugs are now the number three killer in the US after heart attacks and cancer, but nobody talks about it…. If people knew the truth, people would have a lot of questions about what we’re giving to our children… Unfortunately we have to go to Russian TV to tell the truth,” he stated.

Kennedy was nominated by US President-elect Donald Trump for the position of secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) earlier this week. If approved, he will oversee America’s major healthcare agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH). A longtime critic of these agencies, he has promised major reforms in order to “make America healthy again.”

.....

https://www.rt.com/news/607766-rfk-rt-us-media-censorship/

.....

.....

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has failed its seventh consecutive financial audit.

Despite commanding an $824 billion 2024 budget — funded entirely by hardworking American taxpayers — the Pentagon remains unable to account for vast sums of money.

The Pentagon began its first-ever agency-wide financial audit in 2017. This marked the beginning of a process that had been sought, promised, and delayed for years.

Since undertaking this initial audit, the Pentagon has consistently failed to pass its subsequent audits, the first of which failed in 2018.

Out of the 28 entities audited this year, only 9 received clean opinions, while 15 received disclaimers — meaning they were so disorganized that auditors couldn’t even determine the accuracy of their records.

One received a qualified opinion, meaning the financial statements were mostly accurate but contained certain issues or exceptions that were not fully compliant with standards.

According to the DoD:

“Teams of independent public accountants and the DoD Office of Inspector General closely examined the financial statements of the Department and its reporting entities. Of the 28 reporting entities undergoing standalone financial statement audits, 9 received an unmodified audit opinion, 1 received a qualified opinion, 15 received disclaimers, and 3 opinions remain pending.

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) achieved an unmodified audit opinion in only its second year under standalone audit. The fiscal year (FY) 2023 U.S. Marine Corps’ unmodified opinion and the FY 2024 DTRA unmodified opinion are the first new financial statement opinions since FY 2020.

The Department is firmly committed and is taking actions to achieve an unmodified audit opinion on its financial statements by December 31, 2028, as mandated by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024.”

Pentagon Comptroller Michael McCord downplayed the audit failure, claiming progress and rejecting the term “failure” altogether.

“Despite the disclaimer of opinion, which was expected, the Department has turned a corner in its understanding of the depth and breadth of its challenges,” said Michael McCord, Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and Chief Financial Officer.

“Momentum is on our side, and throughout the Department there is strong commitment—and belief in our ability—to achieve an unmodified audit opinion,” he added.

Comptroller Michael McCord emphasized the department’s commitment to achieving a clean audit within the next four years, The Hill reported.

“I do not say we failed, as I said, we have about half clean opinions. We have half that are not clean opinions,” he said at a press briefing Friday.

“So if someone had a report card that is half good and half not good, I don’t know that you call the student or the report card a failure. We have a lot of work to do, but I think we’re making progress.”

“Is 2028 achievable? I believe so,” he said. “But we do have to keep getting faster and keep getting better.”

.....

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/11/pentagon-fails-seventh-straight-financial-audit-billions-defense/

.....

.....

Corruption will be the “primary impediment” to Ukraine’s post-conflict recovery, the Pentagon’s inspector general has warned in a new report, which identified the country’s defense ministry as “a key player in many corruption scandals.”

In a quarterly report to Congress published this week, Inspector General Robert Storch noted that “corruption continues to complicate Ukraine’s efforts to achieve its EU and NATO aspirations.”

“Judges, politicians, and officials have been charged with corruption and the Ministry of Defense has been a key player in many corruption scandals,” the report stated, citing information from the US State Department and media outlets.

Earlier this year, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced the discovery of a major embezzlement ring at the country’s defense ministry. According to the SBU, five suspects attempted to steal 1.5 billion hryvnia (around $39.6 million) in state funds intended for the purchase of mortar shells.

Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov was dismissed from his post over graft allegations several months earlier. His successor, Rustem Umerov, announced in January that an audit had revealed $262 million in theft-related costs in weapons procurement.

However, Umerov is considered “even more corrupt” than his predecessor, a US intelligence official told journalist Seymour Hersh last year.

Back in May, Ukrainian media exposed a scheme in which military and civilian authorities in Kharkov Region paid millions of dollars to fake companies for the supply of non-existent building materials to construct defensive fortifications, leaving the region undefended when Russian troops rolled in.

Despite a litany of similar reports surfacing for the last three years, the report found “no credible evidence” that US-provided weapons, money, or humanitarian assistance was being illegally diverted. Reports to the contrary, it stated, are Russian “disinformation.”

According to the report, the US has appropriated $182 billion to support Ukraine’s government and military, $86.7 billion of which has been spent.

Some of this amount was lost before it reached Ukraine, a Pentagon audit revealed last month. The audit found that $1.1 billion worth of military aid money was improperly documented and unaccounted for, with much of it spent by US forces in Europe on projects “unrelated to Ukraine,” a Stars and Stripes report explained.

US President Joe Biden’s administration plans to commit another $6 billion in aid to Ukraine before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January, the Pentagon announced last week. “President Biden has committed to making sure that every dollar we have at our disposal will be pushed out the door between now and January 20,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters on Wednesday.

Trump has vowed to bring the conflict to a swift end by forcing Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky into talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has not revealed any further details about his plans, but it is widely believed that he will use the threat of cutting off US military aid as leverage over Zelensky.

.....

https://www.rt.com/russia/607747-ukraine-corruption-pentagon-report/

.....

.....

Rental car giant Hertz is dramatically expanding its electric vehicle selloff program, with used Tesla Model 3s now available for under $20,000 as the company grapples with mounting EV depreciation costs. Hertz’s heavy investment in Tesla EVs has been a disaster causing massive losses and the loss of its CEO.

Inside EVs reports that Hertz’s ambitious electric vehicle program has hit another significant roadblock, with the company reporting an 89 percent increase in EV depreciation costs, amounting to $537 per vehicle per month. The rental car company has committed to selling 30,000 electric vehicles from its fleet by the end of 2024, marking a stark reversal from its earlier EV adoption strategy.

The company’s current predicament stems from its bold 2021 initiative to “go green,” which included plans to purchase 100,000 Tesla Model 3s. While this initial vision appeared promising, with benefits including reduced maintenance costs and strong customer interest, the strategy has since encountered numerous challenges that have forced a significant course correction.

A primary factor in Hertz’s EV difficulties has been Tesla’s multiple price reductions, which have severely impacted the residual value of the rental fleet. These price cuts have created a ripple effect throughout the used EV market, leading to accelerated depreciation of Hertz’s electric vehicle assets. The company is now offering used Tesla Model 3s at prices below $20,000, with additional savings possible through the $4,000 federal tax credit available for used EVs.

The financial impact has been substantial. Beyond the depreciation costs, Hertz has discovered that its Tesla fleet hasn’t delivered the anticipated cost savings. Repair expenses have exceeded expectations, and the company has experienced higher-than-anticipated collision rates with its Tesla vehicles, resulting in significant restoration costs and extended repair times.

These compounding factors have contributed to multiple quarters of losses, resulting in the resignation of CEO Stephen Scherr earlier this year.

The financial nightmare has Hertz’s new leadership to initiate a widespread divestment of its EV fleet. The company plans to maintain only enough electric vehicles to meet actual customer demand for EV rentals, marking a significant scaling back of its original electric mobility ambitions.

The selloff program will continue through 2025, with the company attempting to minimize losses as used EV values continue to decline. Current market prices for these vehicles appear to be stabilizing between $20,000 and $25,000, providing some predictability to the company’s loss mitigation efforts.

.....

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2024/11/16/hertz-accelerates-tesla-selloff-as-ev-fleet-depreciation-slams-rental-giant/

.....

.....

Marking 1,000 days since Russia invaded neighbouring Ukraine, the leaders of the G7 nations committed to supporting Kyiv for “as long as it takes”.

At the urging of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose country currently controls the rotating presidency of the G7, leaders of the Group of Seven nations Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States adopted a statement committing to “enduring support for Ukraine”.

In a statement, the G7 said: “We, the Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7), reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes. We stand in solidarity contributing to its fight for sovereignty, freedom, independence, territorial integrity and its reconstruction. We recognize, too, the impact of Russia’s aggression on vulnerable people across the world.

“After 1,000 days of war, we recognize the immense suffering endured by the people of Ukraine. Despite these hardships, Ukrainians have demonstrated unmatched resilience and determination in defending their land, culture, and people.

“Russia remains the sole obstacle to just and lasting peace. The G7 confirms its commitment to imposing severe costs on Russia through sanctions, export controls and other effective measures. We stand united with Ukraine.”

The commitment comes amid efforts by U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump to broker a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine. According to media reports, Trump will seek a compromise that would include continued Western arming of Ukraine and third-party patrolling of a demilitarized zone in exchange for Kyiv agreeing to cede territory to Moscow and forgo seeking NATO membership for a set period.

Despite failing to regain territory currently controlled by the Russians, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has consistently demanded that Moscow withdraw its forces entirely, including from the Crimean peninsula, as a pre-condition of peace negotiations, a likely non-starter for Vladimir Putin.

On Saturday, Zelensksy said that he would seek to “do everything we can to end this war next year” and that the conflict needs to be ended through “diplomatic means”.

However, in an apparent shot at German Chancellor Olaf Scholz—who spoke with Putin for the first time in years on Friday—the Ukrainian leader urged that Western powers involve Ukraine in any talks and stand behind Kyiv to maximize leverage.

“Negotiations between Ukraine and Russia are possible under the conditions that Ukraine is not alone standing against the Russian Federation, under the conditions that Ukraine is strong. What kind of negotiations are those where you simply talk with the killer?” he said per state media Ukrinform.

Referencing the election of Donald Trump, Zelensky said that “the attitude of America toward Ukraine is very important.”

“They are on the side of Ukraine today. This is important… America should maintain the position of supporting Ukraine in seeing Russia as an aggressor. This status should remain in place. This is one of the points at the input, which is very important in any negotiation platform. There must still be elements of our victory plan.”

According to Italian broadcaster RAI, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski backed this position, saying there can be “no decision on Ukraine without Ukraine.” Sikorski also said that “the most important talks on this crisis will be held in Warsaw” next week at a meeting of the ‘Weimar Triangle’ alliance of France, Germany, and Poland.

The Polish minister also said representatives from the EU, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine will also attend the meeting, which could potentially see European powers commit to continued funding of the war even if President-Elect Trump seeks to withdraw funding to force Kyiv to the negotiating table.

.....

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/11/16/forever-war-g7-nations-commit-support-for-ukraine-for-as-long-as-it-takes/

.....

.....

Hundreds of enraged farmers took to their tractors and descended upon the Labour Party conference in Wales to protest the leftist government’s planned tax raid on farmers.

Following in the footsteps of farmers’ protest movements across Europe, tractors gathered outside the Labour Party conference in Llandudno, Wales, on Saturday to demonstrate their anger over Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s government’s plans to impose inheritance tax hikes on farms, North Wales Live reports.

Since 1984, family farms were largely exempt from paying inheritance tax on farmland or on farm buildings such as barns, cottages, or houses. However, under the fledgling Labour government’s tax-grabbing reforms, farms valued at over £1 million (£2m for married couples) will face an inheritance tax of 20 per cent.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has claimed that the tax raid would only impact “a very small number of agricultural properties.” However, farmers groups, such as the National Farmers’ Union, have warned that many farmers would be forced to sell some of their land to pay the tax.

Others have argued that while many farmers work for very little money, the value of their land has been artificially inflated by the housing crisis in Britain and the wealthy buying up farmland to escape inheritance taxes, and therefore, the tax would unfairly punish hard-working families.

The tractor protest on Saturday saw tractors clad with placards reading “Labour war on countryside”, “No farmers, no food”, and “Labour taxes = food shortages”.

A protesting farmer from the Conwy Valley, Aled Jones said outside the conference: “Farmers are working 70-hour weeks for less than the minimum wage. Their only benefit is that they can pass on a farm to their families.

“One per cent of the population is producing food for the rest of the country and it seems that this policy that’s been brought in is a left-wing, vindictive policy just to try and punish people who have any asset behind them. People have come (to the protest) from all over the country.”

“This is not about wanting money, we don’t want money. You’re taxing us on money we’ve never had. They are going to tax people on the value of something.

“They (the UK Treasury) are talking about the number of farms being impacted being very, very low, but the NFU (National Farmers’ Union of England and Wales) is saying it’s expecting that over 70 per cent of farms will be affected by this, in Wales. Land will never have a value unless it’s sold, and yet you (the UK Government) are going to tax us on it.”

Nevertheless, Prime Minsiter Starmer told his party’s conference in Wales that he would “defend our decisions in the Budget all day long.”

“I will defend the tough decisions that would necessary to stabilise our economy and I will defend protecting the pay slips of working people, fixing the foundations of our economy and investing in the future of Britain and the future of Wales, finally turning the page on austerity once and for all,” Starmer added.

The farmers have garnered support from Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, whose populist party seeks to woo disaffected working-class people in Wales away from the increasingly urban-elite Labour Party. Mr Farage has claimed that Starmer is seeking to force farmers to shut down and grab their land to build new housing projects for migrants.

.....

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/11/16/no-farmers-no-food-uk-farmer-tractor-protest-descends-on-labour-part-conference/

.....

.....

America’s national debt has surpassed $36 trillion for the first time in its history, the US Debt Clock – a website monitoring the nation’s finances in real time – reported on Friday.

In total, the US national debt grew by nearly 6% between January and November, increasing by $1 trillion in less than four months. In late July, the US Treasury announced that it had surpassed $35 trillion.

The debt accumulation speed appears to be growing as it amounted to $34 trillion in early January and then grew by $1 trillion in less than six months. The US Treasury has not officially confirmed the new data yet.

In August, the Congressional Budget Office said in its report that it expected the debt to reach a record of over 106% of GDP by 2027 and eventually rise to 122% by 2034.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) painted an even grimmer picture in its US economic outlook report in July. “Under current policies, the general government debt is expected to rise steadily and exceed 140% of GDP by 2032,” it said at that time.

The International Monetary Fund warned in July that “high fiscal deficits and the ongoing increase in the US public debt to GDP ratio pose risks not only for the US but also the global economy” and stressed “the pressing need for a frontloaded fiscal adjustment.”

Tech billionaire Elon Musk, whom President-elect Donald Trump recently tasked with finding ways to boost the government’s efficiency, has warned that the US was at risk of defaulting on its debt.

“The interest on the debt is trending to rapidly to absorb all tax revenue, leaving nothing for critical needs,” he wrote on X last month. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has said that the US could find itself in a situation where “the only thing we’ll be able to pay is interest,” if debt keeps growing at a similar pace.

.....

https://www.rt.com/business/607720-us-national-debt-record/

.....

.....

Governments’ response to the Covid-19 pandemic was more about power grabs than genuine public health concerns, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told RT DE in Berlin in August 2020. He was nominated by US President-elect Donald Trump for the position of secretary of health and human services (HHS) on Thursday.

Back in 2020, authorities around the world responded to the coronavirus outbreak with strict lockdowns followed by the introduction of rapidly developed vaccines, with jabs being mandatory for certain categories of people in some countries.

The measures sparked massive protests in Germany and elsewhere. Kennedy, who emerged as a critic of the Covid-19 response by governments around the world, took part in one rally in the German capital. An RT DE crew approached him for a comment at that time.

“Governments love pandemics for the same reason they love wars. It gives them a capacity to impose authoritarian controls on the population. We’ve seen many, many controls that do not make sense to people,” he told RT, commenting on the situation as of August 2020.

According to Kennedy, the authorities rushed to introduce policies designed to save people from Covid-19 infection without proper “risk assessment.” Saving people from the disease only to let them suffer from “unemployment, isolation, food shortages, from obliteration of the middle class” was not a good strategy, he said.

“We need government policies that reflect the best for our democracy, that respect our democracy and respect our humanity and we’re not getting that,” Kennedy added. He also stated that he was “not against vaccines” in general but wanted “safe vaccines.”

“I want regulators that are free from financial entanglements with the vaccine industry. We need this because many vaccine programs around the world are very corrupted,” he claimed, adding that many vaccines were not undergoing sufficient safety tests.

Kennedy also criticized what he called an obsession with linking healthcare to technology, which he said was exemplified by billionaire Bill Gates, among others. “Bill Gates has a belief that human health comes from technology, that the only way to stay healthy is in a syringe,” he said, adding that many other more traditional aspects of healthcare like “nutrition, sanitation, hygiene, development” get neglected as a result.

Kennedy also sharply criticized what he called “preoccupation with [genetically modified] crops and chemical fertilizers.”

“People are eating oil, essentially,” he told RT at the time.

A long-time vaccine skeptic and proponent of organic agriculture, Kennedy will oversee the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other sub-agencies if his nomination is confirmed.

He has been a vocal critic of all those agencies and has promised sweeping reforms if placed in charge of them.

.....

https://www.rt.com/news/607708-covid-measures-harm-good-rfk/

.....

.....

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck has pressed charges against a 64-year-old man from Bavaria for sharing a meme calling him an idiot.

Sometime in June, Stefan Niehoff shared a meme featuring a photo of Habeck with an altered logo of a popular shampoo brand, changing it from Schwarzkopf (black head) to Schwachkopf (weak head). Police raided his home in Lower Franconia at dawn on Tuesday and seized his tablet.

Habeck’s lawyers have filed a criminal complaint against Niehoff, prosecutors in the town of Bamberg told the German news agency dpa on Friday. They added that Niehoff also faced charges of uploading an image to X that “referenced the Nazi era.”

The court warrant had authorized a search and seizure of all of Niehoff’s mobile phones, internet-enabled devices and digital storage media, according to documents obtained by the outlet Nius.

“I am 64 years old. I never imagined that it would come to this. This definitely has a GDR flavor,” Niehoff told Nius, referring to the former East Germany.

Economy minister seeking German chancellorshipRead more Economy minister seeking German chancellorship He said that officers of the Schweinfurt Criminal Investigation Department showed up at his house shortly after 6am, dragged him from bed for questioning and confiscated his tablet, traumatizing his daughter – who has Down syndrome – in the process.

Prosecutors in Bamberg have recorded Niehoff’s alleged offense as a “politically motivated right-wing crime.” Charges against the man claim he “published an image” of the minister “in order to generally defame Robert Habeck and to make it more difficult for him to carry out his work as a member of the federal government.”

The raid of Niehoff’s home was part of a countrywide “day of action against hate postings,” in which the German police searched 50 homes and carried out 90 investigations, according to Nius.

“When police are at the door, every perpetrator realizes that hate crimes have consequences,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser posted on X, bragging about the raids.

The opposition Alternative for Germany (AfD) party responded by reposting the meme on X and accusing Habeck of being a tyrant in disguise.

“This is what would happen to Germany under a Chancellor Habeck: the complete restriction of freedom of expression by a children’s book author who displayed maximum incompetence for three and a half years, but still feels called to greater things,” wrote the AfD.

Another German posted a mash-up of the Green’s campaign message (“Only Democracy Creates Freedom”) and a photo of police breaking down a door.

Habeck’s Greens are part of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s collapsing “traffic light coalition,” having received 15% of the vote in the last election. Their other most notable cabinet official is Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

Last week, in a video floating his candidacy for chancellor in the upcoming election, Habeck denounced the “fungus of populism” that he claimed was around Germany fueled by “authoritarian regimes with troll armies and bots.”

.....

https://www.rt.com/news/607704-germany-habeck-meme-charges/

.....

.....

Oprah Winfrey is getting chewed out by her hometown newspaper, The Chicago Tribune, whose editorial board has chastised the former talkshow queen over the $1 million her production company reportedly received from the Kamala Harris campaign to produce the candidate’s celebrity-packed, livestreamed conversation in September.

In an op-ed published Thursday, the Chicago Tribune‘s editorial board took Oprah Winfrey to task not just for allowing her company to accept the $1 million payment, but for agreeing to host the event in the first place, arguing that Kamala Harris would have been better served had she sat down with a journalist, not a celebrity.

The newspaper also called out Oprah Winfrey for publicly denying that she personally received the $1 million, when it was her Harpo Productions that did. The newspaper appeared to be suggesting that Oprah was trying to skate on a technicality.

“It’s true that production workers need to be paid and that’s fair enough; they’re not donors,” the editorial board wrote. “And, frankly, $1 million is not all that much to Winfrey and so we very much doubt that she was seeking any kind of personal payday from her chosen candidate. But she does own Harpo and serves as its chairwoman and CEO. The production fees should have been a campaign donation.”

The Tribune called the September conversation between Oprah Winfrey and Kamala Harris a “starry infomercial.”

“Rather than do such events, the Harris campaign would have been better advised to let its candidate answer questions from independent journalists and give her more of a chance to explain herself and lay out her plans for America’s future,” the op-ed said.

“Celebrity osmosis did not work; voters wanted to hear more about what Harris would do for them.”

The Tribune editorial board didn’t endorse any presidential candidates this year. The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times also abstained in a symbolic blow to Kamala Harris.

Kamala Harris’ failed bid for the White House has come under intense scrutiny in recent days after it was revealed that her campaign splurged big time on celebrities in an attempt to juice voter enthusiasm and turnout. As Breitbart News reported, the campaign ended $20 million in debt even after raising a whopping $1 billion from donors.

Among the big expenditures was a series of election-eve concerts featuring Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and other pop stars. The production cost associated with those concerts was reportedly as much as $20 million.

The $1 million payout to Oprah’s production company has added fuel to the criticism that Kamala Harris was more focused on cultivating an elite Hollywood aura than addressing the concerns of ordinary Americans.

.....

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/11/14/chicago-tribune-editorial-board-scolds-oprah-winfrey-over-1-million-kamala-harris-payment-to-harpo-productions/

.....

.....

Advance Auto Parts will close more than 700 locations and four distribution centers by mid-2025 after sales decreased from 2023, company officials said Thursday.

The North Carolina-based auto parts company, which had 4,781 across North America as of October 5, announced in its third quarter report that 523 corporate stores and 204 independent locations are to be shut down.

The stores scheduled to be shuttered account for more than 15 percent of all Advance Auto Parts locations across the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The company’s press release also highlighted “distribution network optimization,” as executives plan to close four distribution centers as well.

Net sales from continuing operations totaled $2.1 billion in the third quarter of FY 2024 — a $100 million decrease from the same quarter in FY 2023.

On November 1, the company sold its automotive parts wholesaler and distributor company Worldpac to global investment firm Carlyle for $1.5 billion.

“We are pleased to have made progress on our strategic actions, including the completion of the sale of Worldpac and a comprehensive operational productivity review of our business,” said Advance Auto Parts president and CEO Shane O’Kelly said in a statement Thursday. “We are charting a clear path forward and introducing a new three-year financial plan, with a focus on executing core retail fundamentals to improve the productivity of all our assets and to create shareholder value.”

.....

https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2024/11/14/advance-auto-parts-close-over-700-stores-mid-2025/

.....

.....

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) is declining to join a so-called “resistance” organization put together by Democratic Party governors from other states to fight President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration.

The Boston Globe reported Thursday:

The Massachusetts governor, whose political rise was fueled in part by her repeated battles with now President-elect Donald Trump, is not a member of the newly formed initiative known as Governors Safeguarding Democracy, according to Healey’s office.

The coalition is billing itself as a nonpartisan effort to combine the power of several governor’s offices to “protect the state-level institutions of democracy.” Democratic governors JB Pritzker of Illinois and Jared Polis of Colorado launched the effort this week.

It’s also working with another organization, Governors Action Alliance, that has a decidedly Massachusetts influence; former governors Deval Patrick, a Democrat, and William Weld, a Republican, both sit on that group’s advisory board.

The group is expected to receive donations that Pritzker, a billionaire heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune, describes as “philanthropic.” It is not clear whether California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), who has been described as the “leader of the resistance,” will be joining.

But Healey is clear that existing institutions, such as the offices of state attorneys general, exist to defend the rights and authority of the states. She has also said that she intends to represent all of the residents of her state — including the 37 percent who voted for Trump.

.....

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/11/15/massachusetts-gov-healey-declines-to-join-democrats-resistance-group/

.....

.....

Tech billionaire Elon Musk, a close ally of US President-elect Donald Trump, met with the Iranian ambassador to the UN earlier this week, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing two unnamed Iranian officials.

According to the NYT, Musk’s meeting with Amir Saeid Iravani took place in New York on Monday and was described by the paper’s Iranian sources as an attempt to “defuse tensions” between the US and Iran. The conversation was “positive” and “good news,” Iranian sources said.

Musk, who owns SpaceX, Tesla, and the social media platform X, has not commented on the matter. Trump spokesman Steven Cheung told the NYT that the president-elect would not comment on “reports of private meetings that did or did not occur.” The Iranian mission to the UN also declined to comment, according to the Washington Post.

The South African-born businessman is increasingly seen as one of the most important people in Trump’s inner circle. The incoming president recently announced that Musk would lead a newly created extra-governmental department tasked with increasing government efficiency.

Trump has picked several Iran hardliners and staunch supporters of Israel for top government positions as part of his ‘peace through strength’ doctrine, including Senator Marco Rubio for secretary of state and Congressman Mike Waltz for national security adviser.

During his first term in office, Trump tore up the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and unleashed a ‘maximum pressure’ campaign of economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic. In January 2020, he ordered a drone strike in Iraq that killed Iran’s top commander, Qassem Soleimani, who the US accused of orchestrating attacks on American personnel in the Middle East. Tehran denied the allegations and called the assassination “an act of terrorism.”

In September, the Trump campaign said that he was briefed by US intelligence officials about “specific threats from Iran to assassinate him.” No details about these claims have been released, however.

Both Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said recently that Tehran would be open to negotiations if the US demonstrates “in practice” that it is not hostile to Iran.

Any future negotiations will likely be complicated by the ongoing war in Gaza and Washington’s military and diplomatic support of Israel. Trump enacted multiple pro-Israel policies during his first term, moving the US embassy to Jerusalem and facilitating the normalization of relations between Israel and Arab states.

.....

https://www.rt.com/news/607663-musk-talks-with-iran-envoy/

.....

.....

The Anti-Defamation League has accused US President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Matt Gaetz, of “trafficking in anti-Semitism” and called for him to be barred from office.

Trump announced Gaetz’s nomination on Wednesday, declaring that the Florida Republican would end the “partisan weaponization of our justice system.” Gaetz is a hardline conservative and staunch ally of Trump, but his nomination rankled some establishment Republicans and angered the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a Jewish advocacy group that typically supports the Democratic Party.

”Rep. Matt Gaetz has a long history of trafficking in anti-Semitism – from explaining his vote against the bipartisan Anti-Semitism Awareness Act by invoking the centuries-old trope that Jews killed Jesus to defending the Great Replacement Theory and inviting a Holocaust denier as his 2018 State of the Union guest,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt wrote on X on Wednesday.

”He should not be appointed to any high office, much less one overseeing the impartial execution of our nation’s laws.”

Greenblatt did not fully explain the examples of Gaetz’s conduct that he cited. The Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, which passed the House of Representatives earlier this year but never became law, would have criminalized “contemporary examples of anti-Semitism,” including “claims of Jews killing Jesus.” As these claims are repeatedly made in the New Testament of the Bible, Gaetz argued that the bill would have essentially outlawed much of Christianity’s core text.

The so-called ‘Great Replacement Theory’ refers to the idea that white people are slowly being replaced in their own lands by non-white immigrants. While this is often written off by liberals as a racist conspiracy theory, the ratio of whites to other races in the US has steadily been shrinking since the mid-20th century.

In 2021, the ADL condemned former Fox News host Tucker Carlson for claiming that Democrats plan to replace America’s Republican-voting whites with Democrat-voting immigrants. Greenblatt called Carlson’s claims “toxic, anti-Semitic and xenophobic.”

Gaetz weighed in on the controversy, calling the ADL a “racist organization.”

In 2018, Gaetz invited right-wing pundit Charles Johnson to then-President Trump’s State of the Union address on Capitol Hill, prompting another showdown with the ADL. Johnson had previously claimed that 250,000, and not six million, Jews were killed by Nazi Germany during World War II. Gaetz refused to call Johnson a “Holocaust denier,” but said afterwards that he “should’ve vetted him better before inviting him.”

It is unclear how Greenblatt’s complaint will affect Gaetz’s chances of being confirmed by the Senate. While the GOP holds a majority in the upper chamber, four ‘no’ votes from Republicans plus unified opposition from Democrats would sink the Florida lawmaker’s chances of leading the Department of Justice.

.....

https://www.rt.com/news/607698-adl-matt-gaetz-antisemitism/

.....

.....

Democratic Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, commonly referred to as AOC, has raised eyebrows after she appeared to remove her pronouns from her X account description.

The 35-year-old is widely regarded as being among the leaders of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. She had previously even apologized to her followers for not including her pronouns on her social media accounts. Two years ago, she claimed that the descriptors “fell off” without her realizing it.

However, following Donald Trump’s election victory last week, many have noticed that Ocasio-Cortez no longer had her ‘she/her’ pronouns listed in her X bio description. Others have also noted that she appears to have changed her moniker from the genderless ‘Representative’ to ‘Congresswoman’.

According to journalist Benjamin Ryan, Ocasio-Cortez appears to have changed her descriptions on social media sometime between August 3, 2023, and late May of this year.

Conservative pundits have now accused the progressive Democrat of hypocrisy and only pretending to embrace woke gender trends.

Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, an avid critic of Ocasio-Cortez, has demanded that she explain her decision after “shoving gender lies and insane ideology down people’s throats for years.”

Former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines has also blasted the Democrat, writing on social media that politicians such as Ocasio-Cortez will “pretend they never embraced (or even celebrated) the insanity.” Gaines has been an outspoken critic of trans athletes being included in women’s sports and has repeatedly singled out Ocasio-Cortez for her positions on such issues.

“We’re winning and it’s glorious,” Gaines wrote, as many Trump supporters have hailed the Republican candidate’s election victory as a sign of the end for the era of ‘woke’ pandering.

Conservative commentator Paul Szypula has also suggested that Ocasio-Cortez’s removal of her pronouns from her description was tied to the “massive exodus from the Democrat Party by Hispanic voters,” many of whom have “conservative values and aren’t thrilled with gender ideology.”

Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez, who has yet to respond to the backlash, was re-elected last week to serve a fourth term in Congress.

.....

https://www.rt.com/news/607700-aoc-drops-pronouns-x/

.....

.....

Argentine President Javier Milei intends to announce a new pact with the US while visiting President-elect Donald Trump at his Florida residence, according to the media in Buenos Aires.

The Libertarian politician has made major cuts to Argentina’s government apparatus in less than a year since he’s been president. He arrived at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday for an investor event scheduled to run till Saturday.

In his speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) investor summit, Milei is expected to call for the formation of a “league of conservative nations,” according to Argentine media reports. He reportedly wants a pact with the US committing to “freedom of trade and military cooperation.”

Milei hopes that Trump’s victory in the US presidential election last week will make it easier for Argentina to negotiate with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over $44 billion worth of debt, reports said. Economy Minister Luis Caputo has said he would like a $10 million disbursement to strengthen Central Bank reserves and remove capital controls.

Argentina is interested in forging closer ties between the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and its State Intelligence Secretariat (SIDE).

Earlier this week, Milei praised Trump for “copying our model” for slashing government bureaucracy, revealing that his Deregulation and State Transformation Minister Federico Sturzenegger had been in touch with tech billionaire Elon Musk “to see how to deregulate the US economy.”

Trump recently named Musk to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an extra-governmental agency tasked with cutbacks and reforms in Washington, with a mandate through July 4, 2026. Milei and Musk are reportedly supposed to meet in Florida.

Milei’s trade pact with the US would be a body blow for Mercosur, the Southern Common Market organization that includes Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. The bloc is currently attempting to negotiate a trade deal with the EU.

Following his trip to Mar-a-Lago, Milei is scheduled to host French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday in Buenos Aires, attend the G20 Leaders Summit in Brazil on Monday, and fly back to Argentina to host Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni next Wednesday.

On Thursday, after speaking with Trump, Milei recalled his delegation from the UN climate conference (COP29) in Azerbaijan.

.....

https://www.rt.com/news/607661-milei-argentina-trade-pact/

.....

.....

Thousands of retired border patrol agents, retired ICE agents, and police officers have reached out and want to help restore order, Tom Homan, former acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director whom former President and President-elect Donald Trump tapped as “border czar,” said during a Tuesday appearance on SiriusXM’s The David Webb Show.

When asked by host David Webb how he plans to “realign” resources that have been neglected during the Biden-Harris administration and how cooperation with local and state law enforcement — and possibly the National Guard — to assist with deportation would factor in, Homan said additional resources can “always” be used, because staffing has been down.

“A lot of guys retired early or left because they weren’t able to do the job they took an oath to do. So we need more manpower. So for instance, DOD. DOD has helped several administrations on the border. They could be a force multiplier. I don’t mean – I saw an article today, ‘Tom Homan says US Army is going to be going into cities arresting people,'” he said, categorically denying that assertion.

“Never said that, never will. But the military, the DOD, could be used to help relieve law enforcement officers from administrative duties so they can get on the street and do what they’re supposed to be doing. For instance, DOD could help with transportation. They could help ground transportation, they could help with air flights out. They can help with infrastructure building. They could help with intelligence. Things that don’t require immigration authority. So if DOD can help me, great. Other agencies, we’d love their help,” he said, noting that “law enforcement should be working with law enforcement.”

“We all want to work together. This should be a – national security should be a nonpartisan issue. I don’t care if Republican, Democrat, Independent, we all should be looking to protect this country, protect our communities. So we’re looking for more resources,” he said, revealing that he has received “thousands” of text messages from retired personnel looking to help with the effort.

“You know, in the last two days I’ve gotten thousands of texts and emails from retired border patrol agents, retired ICE agents, retired police officers, guys that just got outta the military that want to come help. And so we gotta see what we can do about bringing some more people on board,” Homan said.

“And that’s all gonna depend on what kind of money we get when we get in there. But, you know, we’re gonna do the job. Despite the hate, we’re going do the job. Despite the resistance, we’re gonna do the job. Despite the roadblocks, we’re gonna do the job. You’re not gonna stop us,” he said. “So either join us or get out of our way.”

Homan’s messaging has been consistent, stating during a Monday appearance on Fox & Friends, “[I]f you’re not going to help us, get the hell out of the way.”

Speaking to Breitbart News Daily prior to Election Day and Trump’s historic comeback victory, Homan laid out just how bad the problem is in the U.S., noting that the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) has arrested members of 262 gangs in the last two and a half years alone.

“Two hundred and sixty two gangs — I didn’t realize there that many gangs in the world, but gang members are coming across,” Homan explained.

“Think about the 3.2 million got-aways. Now they’re most likely bad guys because they paid more to get away,” he said, describing this as the “biggest national security issue in my lifetime.”

“And I stress that … put all this other stuff aside. This is the biggest national security vulnerability this country has seen since 9/11. It is not ok. I don’t care what it costs. We need to secure that border,” Homan added.

.....

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/11/13/trump-border-czar-tom-homan-thousands-of-retired-ice-agents-police-efforts-want-to-help-restore-order/

.....

.....

During an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday, White House National Climate Adviser Ali Zaidi stated that “we really ran early this year to finalize” many climate regulations “before May, which, really, I think, ensures durability relative to this arcane statute, the Congressional Review Act. So, I think, because of that foresight, we have, actually, quite a durable regulatory regime going into the next few years.”

Host Joumanna Bercetche asked, [relevant exchange begins around 2:10] “Well, there are still a couple of months left, as well, of the administration. I do wonder if there’s anything that can be done on the regulation front, because regulation can swing quite quickly and it’s set at the federal level. Is there anything that your administration is focusing on to make sure that the climate regulation stays intact as well?”

Zaidi responded, “Yeah. One of the things we’re making sure that we do on the spending front is to get as many of those resources in the hands of communities, nine out of every ten dollars in the investment agenda, already into the bloodstream. On the regulatory front, we really ran early this year to finalize a lot of the key regulations before May, which, really, I think, ensures durability relative to this arcane statute, the Congressional Review Act. So, I think, because of that foresight, we have, actually, quite a durable regulatory regime going into the next few years.”

.....

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2024/11/13/white-house-we-rushed-to-get-climate-regulations-in-so-theyd-be-harder-to-repeal/

.....

.....

The Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs has issued a damning report revealing the U.S. State Department’s promotion of atheism abroad in the name of “religious freedom.”

At the culmination of a two-year congressional investigation into the State Department’s funding of “ideologically charged foreign aid projects overseas,” Chairman Michael T. McCaul wrote in a summary report Wednesday that the current administration has failed to be an effective steward of the cause of religious freedom abroad, preferring instead to support atheism.

McCaul and his team obtained “information the Department of State tried to keep hidden,” he notes, showing that funding for religious freedom initiatives has been “diverted from religious minorities around the globe to support agnostics’ and atheists’ right to disbelieve.”

This choice has involved snubbing “the truly imperiled faithful” to promote the worldview of nonbelievers.

In his report, McCaul cites the example of a 2021 “notice of funding opportunity” for $500,000 issued by the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. The notice specifically solicited proposals for programs that would “promote and defend religious freedom inclusive of atheist, humanist, non-practicing and non-affiliated individuals.”

It also indicated to participating NGOs that the proposed (taxpayer-funded) programs should increase the capacity of atheists and humanists to “form” and “strengthen” their “networks” in South Asia.

According to McCaul and his team, such a notice translates as: “We want you all to come up with ideas for expanding the presence and influence of atheists overseas.”

The report is quick to note that the State Department’s promotion of atheism abroad does not arise in response to a situation where nonreligious people were being persecuted, but seems to be simply an ideological choice to promote non-belief.

In countries such as Nepal and Sri Lanka, the text observes, certain Christians and Muslims have recently faced persecution, whereas atheists or humanists have been left in peace. Yet the State Department “deliberately chose to spurn the religious groups most in need of assistance in the relevant countries and devote funds instead to a pet project, one that appears to have been tailored for the grantee.”

Moreover, there were no countervailing religious freedom grants to support persecuted Christians and Muslims in Nepal and Sri Lanka. These groups were simply ignored.

Official grant documents, some of which were obtained by subpoena, proposed “translating and disseminating various humanist content (declarations, textbooks, guides, etc.) into the relevant national and local languages.”

Other documents made clear that the grant targeted atheists and humanists as the preferred recipients, noting: “Applicants will be required to provide information on their humanist activism [and] their past and current affiliation with non-religious groups.”

Turning the concept of religious freedom on its head, the training program implemented in Nepal promoted freedom of nonbelief but suggested that a so-called “freedom of religious belief” does not entail manifestations of faith such as Christian priests’ distribution of the Eucharist.

It also asserted that when a Christian adoption agency, acting on sincerely held religious convictions, denies services to same-sex couples, it violates human rights, a stance that contradicts U.S. policy.

Related training programs focused on recruiting for antireligious organizations and converting people into active “humanists,” McCaul notes.

In the Nepal case, the State Department grant from U.S. taxpayer money was awarded to Humanists International, an anti-Christian group whose CEO has stated that people should be ashamed to be associated with the Catholic Church and that his job is “to combat the Vatican policies and to push against them.”

We observe “an elite, professional class that has no qualms about using taxpayer money to export its own secular agenda overseas, attempting to keep the details from being known outside the Department,” McCaul writes, while calling on Congress to put an immediate halt to this new model of atheistic proselytism.

.....

https://www.breitbart.com/faith/2024/11/13/congressional-report-slams-state-department-for-funding-atheism-abroad/

.....

.....

The leftist Labour Party government’s plans to impose inheritance tax on British farmers is nothing more than a class warfare ploy to free up land to build houses for immigrants, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage claimed.

Plans from Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s government to impose a 20 per cent tax on inherited farming assets above £1 million — as a great many family farms are — have sparked widespread concern among family farms about the future of their ability to maintain legacies.

As a result of the soaring cost of land, significant numbers of small farming operations, many of whom are only scraping by financially, could be forced to close up shop rather than being able to pass down their tradecraft to the next generation.

While many have characterized the move as a mere money grab by the recently-installed left-wing government, Clacton MP Nigel Farage suggested that the government may actually be more interested in the land in order to clear British countryside to pave the way for housing projects for the ever-growing migrant population.

“I now have no doubt about it, mass immigration means we have to build one new home every two minutes in this country. Where better to get it than farm and farming families who will have to sell up when someone dies if they haven’t gifted it seven years before,” Mr Farage remarked.

“The whole thing is the most disgusting attack. Remember this: our landscape is one of the most beautiful in the world, and the reason is the farming practices we’ve used over centuries. All of that is directly under threat,” he warned.

The Reform UK argued that while the price of farmland in Britain may have been artificially inflated by wealthy individuals seeking to avoid inheritance tax by taking advantage of agricultural tax breaks, the net effect of Labour’s tax plan would see struggling farmers suffer the most.

“The farm with 200 Acres, whatever it may be, now has a land value of millions, and yet they’ll be lucky to make 30 or 50 grand a year working damned hard out of it. Labour’s plans mean that farmland will have to be sold, that family farms will get broken up.”

Mr Farage said that in addition to making room for migrants, the leftist policy was a “class war” intended as retribution for Former Tory PM Margaret Thatcher’s move to bust coal mining unions. While the British Union demonstrations during the 1980s were broadly a feature of the left, farming protests across Europe over the past several years have leaned towards the right, often opposing globalist trade deals and burdensome green regulations.

Farage cited comments from former advisor to ex-Labour PM Tony Blair, who openly suggested this week that Starmer take the same hardline approach to farmers as Thatcher had towards the miners, which often saw violent clashes between unions and police.

“I’m personally in favour of doing to farmers who want to go on the streets; we can do to them what Margaret Thatcher did to the miners… there’s an industry we could do without,” former Labour advisor John McTernan told GB News on Monday.

In a statement provided to Breitbart London, Reform MP Rupert Lowe responded: “The farming sector employs nearly half a million people. Doing anything other than supporting it is wrong. It is an industry we absolutely cannot do without.

“To say John McTernan’s comments are disgusting would be an understatement. He is advocating for shutting down family farms, leaving hundreds of thousands unemployed, and bringing further poverty to our country. People like this should be nowhere near power.”

Lowe said Reform UK is “committed” to the prosperity and preservation of British farming communities, declaring: “An attack on farming is an attack on Great Britain. Our farmers are the backbone of this nation, yet Labour’s disregard for their livelihoods is nothing short of disgraceful.”

.....

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/11/13/farage-accuses-labour-govt-of-attacking-farmers-to-get-land-for-migrant-housing/

.....

.....

.Tests have shown that social media star Peanut the Squirrel, who was euthanized by authorities in New York State, did not have rabies, authorities in Chemung County have announced.

The animal, which had a following of over 900,000 on Instagram, and a raccoon named Fred, were seized from the home of their owner, Mark Longo, by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) in late October. The agency said it acted after receiving complaints that wild animals were being kept illegally and were potentially unsafe at Longo’s farm in Pine City.

Peanut and Fred were euthanized two days later, after the squirrel allegedly bit a DEC employee. According to the agency the animals had to be put down so they could be tested for rabies.

Chemung County Executive Chris Moss said during a press conference on Tuesday that the tests of both animals came back negative, meaning they did not have the infectious disease.

“Wild animals should not be in the home,” he insisted, justifying the authorities’ actions in the case.

“Raccoons, squirrels, they do not belong there. They are not domesticated animals. Our hands were tied when it came to whether or not these animals needed to be euthanized. Once the bite took place there was really no choice,” Moss insisted.

Longo responded that he was confident his animals were not sick.

“It is no real big shocker to me, considering I lived with Peanut for seven and a half years and Fred for five months. I am not foaming at the mouth. I knew the test results were going to be negative,” the owner said, as cited by CBS News.

Longo did not have papers authorising him to keep the wild animals at his home when at least six DEC officers came to take them away. However, he claimed that he was in the process of certifying Peanut as an educational animal.

The death of two creatures has caused outrage in the US and abroad, leading to more than a dozen DEC employees receiving bomb threats. However, police found all of them to be non-credible.

Just days before the US presidential election, Donald Trump’s campaign account on TikTok slammed the decision to euthanize Peanut, calling it a “needless” killing by the “Democrat bureaucrats.”

Elon Musk also said that the DEC’s intervention represented “overreach” by the authorities. The owner of X and the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX insisted that “the government should not be allowed to barge into your house and kill your pet! That’s messed up.”

.....

https://www.rt.com/news/607580-peanut-squirrel-us-rabies/

.....