30% of San Francisco hit with power outage that left 130,000 in the dark

Comment: A taste of things to come...Welcome to SMART city, WI-FI ready!

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Nicholas McEntyre | New York Post

Self-driving cars stalled in middle of streets

San Francisco plunged into darkness when nearly 30 percent of the city was struck by a power outage, which brought vital transportation, such as self-driving cars, to a grinding halt on Saturday night.

Over 130,000 houses and businesses were left in the dark, largely in the northwest part of San Francisco, including the Richmond, Sunset, Presidio, and Golden Gate Park sections, officials said on Saturday.

As of early Sunday morning, more than 29,000 people were still without power, according to PowerOutageUS.

The "citywide" outages forced Waymo to halt its driverless car service, stranding the autonomous vehicles in the middle of the streets, SF Gate reported.

Read more

Israeli Cabinet approves 19 new apartheid colonies in occupied West Bank

Brett Wilkins | Common Dreams

"The ONLY reason Israel gets away with this naked thievery is US military and political support," said one observer.

Israel's Cabinet on Sunday finalized approval of 19 new Jewish-only settler colonies in the illegally occupied West Bank, a move the apartheid state's far-right finance minister said was aimed at thwarting Palestinian statehood.

Cabinet ministers approved the legalization of the previously unauthorized settler outposts throughout the occupied Palestinian territory, bringing the total number of new settlements in recent years to 69.

The move will bring the overall total number of exclusively or overwhelmingly Jewish settlements — which are illegal under international law — to more than 200, up from around 140 just three years ago.

Included in the new approval are two former settlements — Kadim and Ganim — that were evacuated in compliance with the now effectively repealed 2005 Disengagement Law, under which Israel dismantled all of its colonies in the Gaza Strip and four in the West Bank.

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Can the Dark Ages Return?

Victor Davis Hanson | American Greatness

Western civilization arose in the 8th century B.C. Greece. Some 1,500 city-states emerged from a murky, illiterate 400-year-old Dark Age. That chaos followed the utter collapse of the palatial culture of Mycenaean Greece.

But what reemerged were constitutional government, rationalism, liberty, freedom of expression, self-critique, and free markets — what we know now as the foundation of a unique Western civilization.

The Roman Republic inherited and enhanced the Greek model.

For a millennium, the Republic and subsequent Empire spread Western culture, eventually to be inseparable from Christianity.

From the Atlantic to the Persian Gulf and from the Rhine and Danube to the Sahara, there were a million square miles of safety, prosperity, progress, and science — until the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD.

What followed was a second European Dark Age, roughly from 500 to 1000 AD.

Populations declined. Cities eroded. Roman roads, aqueducts, and laws crumbled.

In place of the old Roman provinces arose tribal chieftains and fiefdoms.

Whereas once Roman law had protected even rural people in remote areas, during the Dark Ages, walls and stone were the only means of keeping safe.

Finally, at the end of the 11th century, the old values and know-how of the complex world of Graeco-Roman civilization gradually reemerged.

The slow rebirth was later energized by the humanists and scientists of the Renaissance, Reformation, and eventually the 200-year European Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Contemporary Americans do not believe that our current civilization could self-destruct a third time in the West, followed by an impoverished and brutal Dark Age.

But what caused these prior returns to tribalism and loss of science, technology, and the rule of law?

Historians cite several causes of societal collapse — and today they are hauntingly familiar.

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The Evidence is Clear: Masks Don’t Do Anything

Activist Post

We’re being hit with the “Super Flu” (allegedly), and that means everyone wants us to wear masks again.

We went over this (a lot) in 2020. Then we went over it again in 2023. Masks don’t work, they never worked, and – prior to 2020 – the academic literature was very clear on this.

In a 2016 literature review, infection control expert Dr John Hardie found [emphasis added]:

Between 2004 and 2016 at least a dozen research or review articles have been published on the inadequacies of face masks. All agree that the poor facial fit and limited filtration characteristics of face masks make them unable to prevent the wearer inhaling airborne particles. In their well-referenced 2011 article on respiratory protection for healthcare workers, Drs. Harriman and Brosseau conclude that, “facemasks will not protect against the inhalation of aerosols.”

[…]

Health care workers have long relied heavily on surgical masks to provide protection against influenza and other infections. Yet there are no convincing scientific data that support the effectiveness of masks for respiratory protection.

[…]

It should be concluded from these and similar studies that the filter material of face masks does not retain or filter out viruses

Why Face Masks Don’t Work: A Revealing Review

That study was removed from the website of the Journal of Oral Health in July 2020, because it was “no longer relevant in our current climate”. Which is perfectly normal, I’m sure.

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What are Israel Bonds, and why have they become a target for the BDS movement?

Michael Arria | Mondoweiss

In recent weeks, activists have achieved major victories in getting states to divest from Israel Bonds. But what exactly are Israel Bonds, what role do they play in the Israeli occupation, and how are activists successfully mobilizing against them?

Last month, Florida Atlantic University (FAU) announced that it will invest an additional $5 million in Israel Bonds, making the school the largest Israeli bondholder among universities worldwide.

“This is a sound financial decision — but equally important, it is a statement of solidarity that reflects our vision for the future,” declared FAU president Adam Hasner in a press release. “As a leading university and a member of the South Florida community, we cannot ignore what is happening to Jewish students across the country, and we are proud of the steps we are taking to become the safest and most welcoming university for Jewish life in America.”

The announcement comes amid growing protests over the issue, as multiple states have divested from the bonds in recent weeks after pressure campaigns from activists.

What are Israel Bonds, what role do they play in the Israeli occupation, and how are activists successively fighting against them?

What are Israel Bonds?

Israel Bonds are loans to the Israeli treasury that help sustain the country’s economy. In this economic arrangement, the U.S.-based Development Corporation for Israel (DCI) underwrites debt securities issued by the Israeli government.

The idea was devised by Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, when the country faced vast economic challenges.

Israel has consistently appealed to the U.S. Jewish population to invest in the bonds, particularly during times of turmoil in the region and Zionist military campaigns. Between October 7, 2023, and March 2024, Israel received more than $8 billion through Israel bonds.

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'A lie and propaganda': DNI Gabbard fact-checks Reuters' Russia scaremongering in real time

Zero Hedge 

On Saturday afternoon, Reuters posted an anonymously-sourced story pushing the idea that Russia is bent on reconstituting the Soviet Union. Before the metaphorical ink had dried, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi  Gabbard pounced, condemning the story as "a lie and propaganda" on behalf of "warmongers" seeking to derail President Trump's drive to end the long and bloody Ukraine war.  

From selling the Iraq invasion to achieving a news and social media lockdown on Hunter Biden's laptop, the Deep State has long used major media outlets like Reuters, the New York Times and Washington Post to inject their agenda-advancing narratives into America's town square. Displaying the typical modus operandi with its Saturday night story, Reuters vaguely attributed the purported US intelligence conclusions about Russia to "six sources familiar with US intelligence." 

According to those sources, "US intelligence reports" are warning that, despite Putin's outwardly earnest claims that he wants to end the Ukraine war -- claims credited by Trump -- Russia not only wants to conquer all of Ukraine but also other European territories that were part of the Soviet Union. "The reports present a starkly different picture from that painted by...Trump and his Ukraine peace negotiators," wrote Reuters journalists Jonathan Landay, Erin Banco and John Irish. Shortly after Banco promoted the story on X, Gabbard lashed out: 

"No, this is a lie and propaganda Reuters is willingly pushing on behalf of warmongers who want to undermine President Trump’s tireless efforts to end this bloody war that has resulted in more than a million casualties on both sides.

Dangerously, you are promoting this false narrative to block President Trump’s peace effort, and fomenting hysteria and fear among the people to get them to support the escalation of war, which is what NATO and the EU really want in order to pull the United States military directly into war with Russia.

The truth is the US intelligence community has briefed policymakers, including the Democrat HPSCI member quoted by Reuters, that US Intelligence assesses that Russia seeks to avoid a larger war with NATO. It also assesses that, as the last few years have shown, Russia’s battlefield performance indicates it does not currently have the capability to conquer and occupy all of Ukraine, let alone Europe."

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EU blocks protesting farmers in Brussels using barbed wire, tear gas and water cannons, while Orbán says farmers are ‘100% right’

Remix

As the EU moves to crush protesting farmers demonstrating in Brussels, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán offered full backing to the farmers and their efforts to stop the EU’s Mercosur free trade deal, which threatens to destroy food security in Europe. [That's the idea...]

“Farmers are 100 percent right,” said Orbán, who is currently in Brussels attending the EU Summit.

He added that the farmers have obvious issues with the Mercosur package, a free trade agreement with Latin American countries, because it “kills the farmers.”

“Hungary is one of the countries that does not support the Mercosur agreement. There were serious professional debates about this in Hungary, and the Hungarian position was that we do not support this,” said the prime minister.

Viktor Orbán reminded that the agreement would require a qualified majority, and according to his expectations, there is not enough support.

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Buildings collapse on Gaza families as rain floods tents

Nora Barrows-Friedman | Electronic Intifada

Israel continues to kill and injure Palestinians across the Gaza Strip while shelling areas east of the so-called yellow line.

It is also still preventing the entry of shelters and basic supplies during relentless storms which have been collapsing tents and partially-destroyed buildings on top of people.

Israel has killed 394 Palestinians and injured nearly 1,100 since the 10 October alleged ceasefire, according to the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza.

On Wednesday, the ministry reported that at least one Palestinian was killed and another was injured in Israeli attacks. [...]

Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the civil defense, gathered pieces of shrapnel in the aftermath of an Israeli attack on the center of Gaza City on Wednesday. Eleven people were injured in the explosion.

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Tattoo ink accumulates in lymph nodes - study

Zero Hedge

A new study shows tattoo ink drains into the lymphatic system and accumulates in lymph nodes, diminishing the effects of immune cells. This accumulation of ink pigment triggers both local and systemic inflammation that persists for months.

A third of American adults, roughly 32% - or about 80 million people - have tattoos, and they should read this new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).

"Despite safety concerns regarding the toxicity of tattoo ink, no studies have reported the consequences of tattooing on the immune response. In this work, we have characterized the transport and accumulation of different tattoo inks in the lymphatic system using a murine model," researcher Arianna Capucetti wrote in the study.

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FDA probes deaths likely related to COVID vaccines across age groups

Reuters 

The U.S. health regulator is investigating deaths potentially related to COVID-19 vaccines across multiple age groups as part of a safety review, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services said on Tuesday.The HHS did not immediately clarify what age groups will be included in the FDA probe. 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary had previously said they were looking at such deaths in young people. 

Last month, the agency's chief medical and scientific officer Vinay Prasad had told staffers in a memo that COVID shots probably contributed to the deaths of at least 10 children who died of heart inflammation and announced plans to tighten vaccine oversight. 

The memo did not disclose the health conditions of the children, or the vaccine manufacturers involved. The findings, which have not been published in a peer-reviewed medical journal, were based on an initial analysis of 96 deaths between 2021 and 2024. 

Moderna reiterated its previous statement that there were no new or undisclosed safety concerns in children or in pregnant women related to its mRNA-based COVID shot Spikevax. 

Pfizer, which markets another mRNA-based COVID shot with partner BioNTech, also reaffirmed its safety and efficacy. 

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has sharply changed government policy on COVID vaccines, limiting access to people 65 and older as well as those with underlying conditions. 

Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, has made far-reaching changes to the U.S. vaccine policy, which include dropping a long-standing recommendation for the hepatitis B birth dose, cutting funding for mRNA vaccines and, contrary to established science, linking vaccines to autism.

UK plotting to undermine Trump's Ukraine peace efforts - Russian intelligence

Comment: MI6 playbook for years...

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RT

London is pushing for the EU to seize frozen Russian assets hoping to drag the conflict out "to the last Ukrainian," the SVR claims.

The UK is reportedly trying to convince the European Union to take control of frozen Russian assets, aiming to undermine US President Donald Trump's efforts to advance peace initiatives that could end the Ukraine conflict, according to Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).

After the launch of Russia's Special Military Operation in February of 2022, Kiev's Western backers froze approximately $300 billion in Russian sovereign assets, of which $246 billion has been immobilized by EU member states. Discussions concerning the frozen Russian assets intensified within the bloc in recent weeks after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed using the funds to back a "reparations loan" to Ukraine.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the SVR claimed that the UK's leadership was "desperately pushing for Brussels' decision to seize Russian assets." Aside from the clear goal of providing financial support to Kiev, London is also seeking to diminish US interest in facilitating any peace mediation between Ukraine and Russia, according to Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service.

The SVR concluded:

"The UK's endgame is to use Kiev against Russia without any obstacles, 'down to the last Ukrainian'. Although the former grandeur of Great Britain has long sunk to oblivion, appropriation and deceit are still the creed for so-called 'London gentlemen'."

Last week, EU member states voted to keep the Russian sovereign funds temporarily frozen. To push through the controversial agenda, the bloc's leadership had to invoke emergency powers to bypass the unanimity requirement.

Several member states, including Hungary, Slovakia, and Belgium, have raised objections. The latter is the seat of the Euroclear depositary, which holds the bulk of the frozen Russian assets. Brussels has expressed concern that it would be left in the lurch by the bloc in the face of Russian lawsuits.

Moscow has characterized any use of its immobilized funds as "theft." On Friday, the Bank of Russia announced that it was filing a lawsuit seeking compensation from Euroclear for damages stemming from its "inability to manage" the assets.

Late last month, the SVR similarly claimed that Britain was concocting a smear campaign aimed at damaging US President Trump's standing, with the aim of derailing his efforts to end the Ukraine conflict.

Leaked Video: Woke Elite College Held "Disgusting" Sexual Orientation Performance

Zero Hedge

Amherst College, proudly one of America’s wokest institutions, has once again outdone itself in the name of “sexual respect.”

A group of traumatized students claim they were effectively coerced into a mandatory orientation spectacle where student performers humped under blankets, moaned theatrically, and pelted the audience with condoms “like confetti,” footage leaked to the Washington Free Beacon shows.

Read more

See also: "Children Are NOT Experiments": House-Passes Bill Criminalizing Transgender Treatments For Minors

CDC formally stops recommending hepatitis B vaccines for all newborns

NBC News

The acting CDC director adopted controversial guidance from the agency's advisory panel, upending a decades-long policy. The CDC now advises consulting one's doctor about vaccinating a newborn.

Comment: At last! 

Instead of recommending the hepatitis B vaccine for all newborns, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now officially advises women who test negative for the virus to consult health care providers about whether their babies should get their first doses within 24 hours of birth.

The agency’s vaccine advisory committee — whose members Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appointed this year after he fired the previous ones — voted for the recommendation this month, upending more than three decades of agency guidance. Acting CDC Director Jim O’Neill accepted the change Tuesday — the final step for it to become the agency’s policy.

“We are restoring the balance of informed consent to parents whose newborns face little risk of contracting hepatitis B,” O'Neill said in a statement.

The CDC had recommended the birth dose of the vaccine since 1991. Many public health experts criticized the advisory committee’s decision: After the meeting, a chorus of doctors, political leaders and health officials called on O’Neill to ignore the suggested change and maintain the CDC’s recommendation, to no avail.

The CDC now suggests waiting until at least 2 months of age for babies’ first hepatitis B shots if they do not receive the birth dose. However, it still recommends that babies born to mothers who test positive for hepatitis B or whose infection statuses are unknown get hepatitis B vaccines within the first day of life.

The agency is still reviewing a secondary recommendation from the panel: that parents consult with health care providers about the possibility of testing children for antibodies to hepatitis B before they decide whether to get second doses of the vaccine. The hepatitis B vaccine is typically given to babies as a three-dose series.

The new policy is one of the most notable examples of the way CDC guidance is diverging from widespread medical consensus. The advisory committee's discussion of hepatitis B vaccines was rife with misinformation and cherry-picked data, and it ignored decades of evidence that hepatitis B vaccines are safe and effective when they are given shortly after birth.

Comment: That's rich coming from NBC which has long been part of the Big Pharma Cartel and routinely covering up vaccine damage and decades of death and ill health inflicted on infants and teens. Finally, the CDC is being transformed into an institution that is not an arm of Pharmaceutical profits and corrupt science. And oh boy, they can't stand that. See: Vax-Unvax Study of Mice Implicates Hepatitis B Vaccine—Media Silent

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Privacy for the Powerful, Surveillance for the Rest: EU’s Proposed Tech Regulation Goes Too Far

Elen Irazabal Arana and Nikolai G. Wenzel | The Daily Economy

Protecting kids is a weak pretext for total digital surveillance. What's worse, the EU's monitoring exempted its own politicians from scrutiny. Their privacy matters, but not yours.

Last month, we lamented California's Frontier AI Act of 2025. The Act favors compliance over risk management, while shielding bureaucrats and lawmakers from responsibility. Mostly, it imposes top-down regulatory norms, instead of letting civil society and industry experts experiment and develop ethical standards from the bottom up.

Perhaps we could dismiss the Act as just another example of California's interventionist penchant. But some American politicians and regulators are already calling for the Act to be a "template for harmonizing federal and state oversight." The other source for that template would be the European Union (EU), so it's worth keeping an eye on the regulations spewed out of Brussels.

The EU is already way ahead of California in imposing troubling, top-down regulation. Indeed, the EU Artificial Intelligence Act of 2024 follows the EU's overall precautionary principle. As the EU Parliament's internal think tank explains,

"the precautionary principle enables decision-makers to adopt precautionary measures when scientific evidence about an environmental or human health hazard is uncertain and the stakes are high."

The precautionary principle gives immense power to the EU when it comes to regulating in the face of uncertainty — rather than allowing for experimentation with the guardrails of fines and tort law (as in the US). It stifles ethical learning and innovation. Because of the precautionary principle and associated regulation, the EU economy suffers from greater market concentration, higher regulatory compliance costs, and diminished innovation — compared to an environment that allows for experimentation and sensible risk management. It is small wonder that only four of the world's top 50 tech companies are European.

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Palestinians in Gaza are dying as the Israeli siege turns harsh winter weather deadly

Tareq S. Hajjaj | Mondoweiss

Severe weather conditions in Gaza have claimed the lives of 13 people, including babies who froze to death, as Israel continues to block the entry of aid that could provide shelter to 1.5 million Palestinians living in worn-out tents.

The parents of 8-month-old Rahaf Abu Jazar woke up on Thursday morning to find their baby blue in the lips and with cold and stiff limbs. She had frozen to death after heavy rainfall seeped through the tent while everyone was asleep, soaking through Rahaf’s clothes.

Hajar Abu Jazar, 32, says her daughter was a healthy baby and did not suffer from any illness or preexisting condition. Hajar lives with her husband and seven of their children in a tent encampment in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Hajar says that she is afraid that Rahaf won’t be the only one of her children who freezes to death or suffers harm from the severe weather conditions. 

“Yesterday, she was playing with her siblings and had no complaints,” she told Mondoweiss. “We went to bed and woke up the next day and found that her clothes were soaked through. She froze to death in her sleep.”

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Here’s How You Know Australian Mass Shooting Was A FALSE FLAG

Jimmy Dore

While the mainstream news media will continue portraying the recent mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Australia as an antisemitic terror attack, a much more likely conclusion is that this was a “false flag” act of terrorism conducted by supporters of Zionism to rally support for their cause and mute criticism of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Jimmy and Americans’ Comedian Kurt Metzger note that media narratives quickly blamed Muslims, ISIS, and Iran while dismissing alternative explanations. Jimmy cites past incidents in Australia and the United States involving hoax threats allegedly traced to Israeli individuals, and highlights reporting that Australian police previously investigated paid actors carrying out antisemitic crimes. The segment concludes that Israel and allied media outlets are using the Bondi Beach attack to pressure Australia, justify censorship, and escalate tensions with Iran while discouraging Palestinian solidarity activism. Kurt Metzger on Twitter: / kurtmetzger Kurt’s website: http://www.KurtMetzgerComedy.com Go to http://armra.com/JIMMY or enter JIMMY to get 30% off your first subscription order. Become a Premium Member: https://www.jimmydore.com/premium-mem... Go to a Live Show: https://www.jimmydore.com/tour Subscribe to Our Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/jimmydorecomedy/yt... LIVESTREAM & LIVE SHOW ANNOUNCEMENTS: Email: https://mailchi.mp/jimmydorecomedy/yt... Twitter: / jimmy_dore Facebook: / jimmydoreshow Instagram: / thejimmydoreshow WATCH / LISTEN FREE: Videos: https://www.jimmydore.com Podcasts: https://www.jimmydore.com (Also available on iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or your favorite podcast player.) ACCESS TO FULL REPLAYABLE LIVESTREAMS: Become a Premium Member: https://www.jimmydore.com/premium-mem... SUPPORT THE JIMMY DORE SHOW: Make a Donation: https://www.jimmydore.com/ Buy Official Merch (Tees, Sweatshirts, Hats, Bags): https://thejimmydoreshow.dashery.com/ https://dobynsfamilycreations.com/col... DOWNLOAD OUR MOBILE APP: App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/jimmy-d... Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/de... Jimmy Dore on Twitter: / jimmy_dore Stef Zamorano on Twitter: / miserablelib About The Jimmy Dore Show: #TheJimmyDoreShow is a hilarious and irreverent take on news, politics and culture featuring Jimmy Dore, a professional stand up comedian, author and podcaster. The show is also broadcast on Pacifica Radio Network stations throughout the country.

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See also: Bondi Beach Shooting: 16 Dead, 38 Injured After Father & Son Terrorists Attack During Hanukkah Celebration

New memos show how corruption probe into Clinton Foundation was killed: ‘We were told NO by FBI HQ’

Jerry Dunleavy and John Solomon | Just the News

Drip, drip, drip: A newly-declassified timeline exposes how the FBI's investigation of the Clinton Foundation was hamstrung by DOJ leaders while the inquiry into Trump-Russia collusion hoax marched forward. This isn't the first tranche of evidence pointing to political interference.

A top Republican senator has provided Just the News a timeline written by FBI investigators laying out the repeated political obstruction those agents faced from their own bosses and the Justice Department during the 2016 election and beyond as they probed whether Hillary Clinton engaged in a pay-to-play corruption scheme involving her family foundation.

“Field agents were frustrated. But HQ would not let it go forward,” the newly-released and lengthy investigative timeline reveals. “We were trying to explore the [Clinton] Foundation, and we were told ‘NO’ by FBI HQ.”

Not the first timeline showing interference

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley made the records produced to him by FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi available to Just the News this weekend. Grassley’s office said the senator’s request for these records was prompted by whistleblowers who first brought the issue to his attention.

This follows Patel unearthing a shorter timeline, written in 2017, which also chronicled the extensive stonewalling that bureau investigators in three cities faced from the Obama-era DOJ and FBI during the 2016 election.

FBI agents tried to get the help of federal prosecutors to determine whether or what crimes occurred while Hillary Clinton served as Secretary of State, most notably, because at that time, her family foundation solicited hundreds of millions of dollars from foreign and U.S. interests with business before her department.

"Shut it down!" then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates is quoted as demanding in the shorter timeline of the politicized barriers that agents in New York City, Little Rock, Ark., and Washington D.C. reported. 

The shorter timeline — written by a DOJ lawyer assigned to the FBI under former bureau Director James Comey — was secured by top aides to Patel and was obtained by Just the News earlier this year. The newly-released and longer timeline was handed over to Grassley’s office by the FBI along with a host of corroborating internal emails and was recently provided to Just the News.

The final entry in the shorter timeline came in August 2017. The longer timeline continued to lay out the slow-walking and interference by the FBI up through early 2020.

You can read the new and lengthier timeline and newly-public internal records here:

Clinton Foundation - Investigative Timeline

Altogether, the evidence makes clear that the DOJ, former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, and other officials within the FBI placed hurdles in front of agents who believed they had evidence to justify a public integrity criminal case.

Grassley: DOJ can't pick "winners and losers"

“The mainstream media smeared any investigation into Hillary Clinton as unfounded nonsense, but in reality, line agents and federal prosecutors seeking to follow up on legitimate leads were sidelined by partisan leadership looking to save Clinton’s reputation. That’s a night-and-day departure from how the Biden Justice Department handled the Arctic Frost investigation against President Trump,” Grassley told Just the News. “For too long, our Justice Department has chosen winners and losers instead of enforcing the law without regard to power, party or privilege. That must never happen again. I thank Attorney General Bondi and Director Patel for turning over these records, so the American people finally know how their Justice Department failed in the Clinton investigations.”

The Clinton Foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Agents struggled for years to investigate Clinton Foundation

The longer timeline indicated that questions about the Clinton Foundation’s potential criminality were raised as early as April 2010, when there was a “consensually-monitored call between [Redacted] Sant Singh Chatwal” during which there was a “description of conversations with foreign donors (Amar Singh, Lakshmi Mittal, Deepak Chopra, Praful Patel, Subhash Chandra) about giving to HRC.”

The lengthier timeline noted that there was an investigation by the FBI’s New York Field Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York “regarding campaign finance violations” which “included use of CHS [confidential human sources], consensual recordings, and Title Ill intercepts.” The timeline’s notes pointed out that Chatwal was a “Democratic fundraiser. Long-time friend of the Clintons. [Clinton] Foundation donor and Board Member.”

Chatwal, an Indian-American businessman and wealthy hotelier, was a close Clinton ally. The Justice Department announced in April 2014 that Chatwal had “pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the Federal Election Campaign Act by making more than $180,000 in federal campaign donations to three candidates through straw donors who were reimbursed, and to witness tampering.” He received only probation.

Chatwal did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent through his hotel.

The longer timeline states that, according to Martin Coffey, the now-former assistant U.S. attorney for EDNY, “case agents sought to expand investigation to include CF [Clinton Foundation], but FBI-HQ would not allow.”

The longer timeline also stated that, in July 2015, a redacted person or entity “files Suspicious Activity Report regarding Clinton Foundation and related entities, specifically foreign transactions from 6/10/11 to 5/10/15” in response to “negative news reports."

The lengthier timeline also stated that, in July or August 2015, then-Washington Field Office special supervisory agent Timothy Thibault “has brief discussion with USAO-DC Criminal Chief John Malis regarding allegations raised in Clinton Cash” and that Thibault was allegedly “attempting to predicate an investigation based on the allegations.” The timeline said “Malis reportedly expressed interest in the matter and requested they meet to review supporting information sometime in the future” but “no meeting took place.”

It was later revealed that Thibault, whom Republicans argue showed extreme anti-Trump bias, demonstrated a willingness to target Trump early in his first term, attempted to slow walk or block the FBI’s investigation into Hunter Biden, and in April 2022 helped spark the investigation dubbed "Arctic Frost" — later carried on by special counsel Jack Smith — which led to criminal charges against Trump related to the Capitol riot.

McCabe stops the Clinton Foundation investigation from moving forward in 2016

The shorter timeline revealed that as early as February 2016, the Justice Department “indicated they would not be supportive of an FBI investigation.” The shorter timeline also shows that, in mid-February 2016, McCabe ordered that “no overt investigative steps” were allowed to be taken in the Clinton Foundation investigation “without his approval” — a command he allegedly repeated numerous times over the coming months.

The roadblocks just kept coming, both timelines show, to the great frustration of the agents and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Little Rock, which had gathered enough information to move on a fully predicated criminal investigation.

The shorter timeline detailed how Yates ordered one of the federal prosecutors to “shut it down” likely in the March 2016 timeframe. Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) and Eastern District of New York (EDNY) purportedly said in August 2016 that they “would not support the investigation” into the Clinton Foundation, according to the timeline, and that “no explanation was given.”

Yates did not immediately respond to a request sent to her via her law firm email, and McCabe did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent to him through George Mason University.

Once the investigation had essentially been delayed for a year and dragged past the November 2016 election, the shorter timeline shows that DOJ officials under Trump then began to raise their “concerns regarding the statute of limitations” around the investigation, with one still unnamed official saying that they “wanted to close this chapter and move forward.”

Read more

Fire still raining down on Gaza

Lorenzo Maria Pacini | Strategic Culture Foundation

Trump's elusive peace deal was an excellent ploy to quietly continue with the final occupation plan.

Bomb after bomb

There is no peace for Gaza. Trump's elusive peace plan - or should we say his gigantic real estate plan to make money off the suffering of the people? - was an excellent ploy to quietly continue with the final occupation plan.

The occupation has convinced international public opinion that the violence in Gaza has ceased, when in reality entire families continue to be wiped out in total silence. The world remains silent, perhaps only because something called a "truce" has been proclaimed, an excellent move of infowarfare.

What cannot be seen from the outside is that, day after day, the Israeli army is expanding its grip on the territory of Gaza. It advances slowly, taking over a street, then a neighborhood, then entire areas — silently redrawing the map while the international community celebrates a fictitious calm. The war is not over; it has simply taken on another form: from bombing to silent expansion, from air strikes to creeping occupation.

At the same time, the world fails to notice that a false appearance of normality is being constructed in Gaza: sweets, chocolate, and electronic goods enter freely, as if people wanted the superfluous, while basic goods such as meat, eggs, and medicines are systematically blocked.

The most basic necessities have become rare and precious commodities, and when they do appear, they are sold at unsustainable prices. Traders raise the prices of essentials — medicines, meat — because availability is minimal. Israel continues to deceive the world, and the world continues to be easily deceived. Meanwhile, bombs continue to fall, leaving Gazans in a state of endless war, not only conventional but also psychological, because anything can happen at any time. And this has been "normal" for them for decades.

Israel uses a well-known strategy, tried and tested over the years: it violates the ceasefire, bombs as it pleases, then announces the return of the truce. A unilateral, violent and unpunished act. This now recognizable pattern has a devastating effect on Palestinian communities and constitutes a clear abuse of international humanitarian law.

According to the rules of war, a truce should represent an effective and verifiable suspension of hostilities, aimed at protecting civilians, allowing humanitarian aid to enter, and preventing further loss of life. However, Israel's interpretation of the term seems to be purely instrumental. Every time the army conducts "targeted operations" during the truce — striking densely populated neighborhoods, advancing with armored vehicles, or shifting the boundaries of controlled areas — the truce is effectively violated. Yet, at the end of the attacks, it is announced that the ceasefire has 'returned' or "remains in force," as if nothing had happened.

This dynamic renders the very notion of a truce meaningless and undermines the foundations of international humanitarian law, which requires good faith, transparency, and respect for agreed conditions. Declaring the return of the truce after repeatedly breaking it is not only a formal violation, but a strategy that allows the occupation to operate with total impunity, while the international community remains paralyzed by ambiguous and contradictory narratives.

And it is precisely in the realm of narrative that infowarfare comes into play. Presenting bombings and advances as "limited incidents," claiming that the truce is still in force despite the explosions, and spreading the idea that the situation is under control serves to construct a distorted image of reality. The goal is twofold: on the one hand, to avoid international pressure and formal accusations of violating the truce; on the other, to shape global perception, pushing the media and governments to see stability where destruction reigns.

This manipulation of information is not an accessory element, but an integral part of military strategy. Infowarfare allows operations on the ground to continue while maintaining an acceptable diplomatic appearance. In this way, the use of the truce becomes a narrative tool rather than a mechanism for protecting civilians. This is where the most serious abuse occurs: the transformation of the language of humanitarian law into a rhetorical weapon that masks violence rather than limiting it.

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How the world can resist the UN Security Council’s rogue colonial mandate in Gaza

Craig Mokhiber | Mondoweiss.net

The UN Security Council resolution backing the Trump plan for Gaza is clearly illegitimate, but there are several ways that states and individuals worldwide can challenge its illegality.

n a now infamous moment in television history, former US President Richard Nixon, three years after leaving office in scandal, was asked by interviewer David Frost if the US President could commit illegal acts. Nixon replied: “If the President does it, that means that it is not illegal.” 

With those twelve words, Nixon dismissed the core idea of republican government and the very essence of the rule of law. For Nixon (and far too many today), some people and some institutions are simply above the law. And not only are they not bound by the law that binds the rest of us, but we must follow their orders. Afterall, this is the divine right of kings. 

Almost a half century later, Nixonian ideology is alive and well. 

In the wake of the Security Council adoption of resolution 2803 last month (a resolution that shocked legal analysts and human rights defenders around the globe for its blatantly colonial content, and about which I have written previously) even critics of the resolution have thrown up their hands to declare “oh well, the Security Council adopted it, so now its law.” In other words, to paraphrase Nixon, “if the Security Council does it, that means it is not illegal.” 

Nonsense. 

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The Terrifying Case of Natalie Strecker

Comment: Full blown tyranny, Orwellian style is here. It was bad before, but it's a whole new slice of totalitarianism now descending... We resist this now or the there will be no freedom left to do so. The window is closing...

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Craig Murray

I am confident that over 2 million people in the UK have shared thoughts on the Genocide in Gaza that are stronger than anything Natalie Strecker has expressed

I am quite certain that I am one of those 2 million.

Yet Natalie Strecker, an avowed pacifist, today faces up to ten years in prison under the Terrorism Act when the verdict in her case comes in.

Strecker is charged with eliciting support for Hamas and Hezbollah, based on 8 tweets, cherry-picked by police and prosecutors from an astounding 51,000 tweets she sent, mainly from the Jersey Palestine Solidarity Committee account.

The tweets were rather rattled off in court and referred to occasionally again in whole and in part. There may be minor inaccuracies not affecting sense, but this is the best reconstruction of those tweets that I can make (they were not displayed to the public):

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Past as Prologue: Safari Club Illuminates Candace Owens’ Allegations

Freddie Ponton | 21st Century Wire

When high-profile American podcaster Candace Owens publicly alleged that a state-sanctioned French assassination plot (with at least one Israeli operative involved) was being planned, most would have written it off as a publicity stunt or paranoid rantings. Yet, for anyone who knows the shadowy history of multinational intelligence alliances, her claim shouldn't be dismissed so easily. In 1976, the Safari Club, run from secret rooms in Cairo, staffed by French Foreign Legion veterans, Egyptian Sa'ka commandos, Israeli operatives, CIA operatives and other criminal actors, showed the world that states could collaborate beyond borders, laws, and scrutiny. Unproven as Owens' allegation may seem, the historical record of such clandestine activities makes this story not merely imaginable, but very possible. And that is why Owens' accusation, as wild as it may seem, lands squarely on covert terrain shaped by decades of clandestine activities conducted by a consortium capable of operating across borders and beyond oversight. To understand why her recent claim didn't dissipate on impact, one has to understand the secret architecture of parallel intelligence constructs such as the Safari Club and the long shadow it still casts.

When Candace Owens claimed on X that a "high‑ranking French government insider" warned her of an imminent plot to have her assassinated, alleging that President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte had "authorized and financed" the operation, assigning it to a small National Gendarmerie Intervention Group (GIGN) team that included an Israeli operative. She also suggested that "Charlie Kirk's assassin trained with the French Legion 13th brigade with multi-state involvement". The claim sounded like it belonged to the realm of conspiracy thrillers, and yet, as the allegation ricocheted across social media, something unusual happened: people did not instinctively laugh it off. Some dismissed it, yes. But many hesitated, paused, or quietly admitted that, given the right circumstances, given the right network of covert actors, such a plot didn't feel entirely impossible.

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