There’s a warning here somewhere for lawyers, officials, perhaps doctors and certainly students: anyone who as the part of his or her day submits written documents.

 A judge locked up a TikTok prankster who developed a reputation for posting rude, harassing and even dangerous videos to the social media platform and then refusing to take any responsibility or criticism from the blowback the videos created.

After the landslide victory for Geert Wilders’ Dutch patriotic Freedom Party PVV Wednesday, the defeated RINO ruling People’s Party VVD has said they will not negotiate with the winners. Wilders warned, “Don’t play games with the will of the people – it will only make us much, much bigger.”

 Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who pled guilty to federal charges in the 2020 death while in custody of 46-year-old George Floyd, was stabbed and seriously injured in prison on Friday by a fellow inmate, according to a report by the Associated Press. Chauvin, 47, was also convicted on state charges in Minnesota and is serving concurrent sentences of over 20 years on the federal and state charges.

For over a year before Hamas’ massive attack on Israel last month, Military Intelligence had detailed information on the group's plan to breach the Gaza border at dozens of points and attack dozens of communities and army posts, defense officials say.

Most of this information was shared with the Shin Bet security service, the officials said in the weeks since the war erupted, adding that the political leadership, which changed at the end of last year, was familiar with at least some of the intelligence. But Israel didn’t properly prepare for the threat and didn’t seem to believe that the Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, intended to implement the plan.

The intelligence failure, combined with insufficient defense along the border fence and an errant policy on the Palestinians in general, triggered a total surprise – and massive civilian and military casualties.

Webmaster addition: Intelligence failure my astrolabe!

The New York Times published an op-ed over the weekend entitled ”The Startling Evidence of Learning Loss Is In.” Here’s the second paragraph:

The evidence is now in, and it is startling. The school closures that took 50 million children out of classrooms at the start of the pandemic may prove to be the most damaging disruption in the history of American education. It also set student progress in math and reading back by two decades and widened the achievement gap that separates poor and wealthy children.

For anyone who has been paying even a modest amount of attention for the past 3 ½ years, the evidence is anything but startling.

People often ask me, and even more so since this “startling” piece hit the digital airwaves: “Don’t you feel redeemed?” 

When Israel’s National Security Minister Itamir Ben-Gvir started handing out assault rifles to civilians last month, there was a swift reaction from Washington.

Reportedly outraged, US officials were said to have threatened to halt arms shipments, including 24,000 new rifles that Ben-Gvir’s ministry had ordered from American companies.

The guns pictured at well-documented public events weren’t American or reportedly American-supplied. 

State Department officials and US lawmakers, however, were concerned that the new rifles could be given to settlers and used against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank where settler violence has jumped since 7 October from what were already record highs.

Ever notice that religious people and so-called ‘progressive’ types tend to be the most self-righteous, sanctimonious, and holier-than-thou? This may seem rather odd, even counter-intuitive, considering that the two groups are usually billed as polar opposites. Religious people are said to favor faith and spirituality. ‘Progressive’ people are said to embody the secular principles of reason in search of real-world solutions.

Then, why are they so alike in their emotions? Why are they so prone to moral one-upmanship, moral narcissism, me-huggery, and pious snobbery? Why do their modes of identity derive from feeling superior to most people, i.e. being part of an elect community of special people?

True, both Christians and Progressives claim universality, a welcoming embrace of the whole world. But then, their terms of entry have been devised to be as exclusive as inclusive. After all, if everyone joined and became part of the club, those in the club would no longer feel special. Likewise, an elite university, despite its claims of ‘inclusivity’, is no longer an elite institution if anyone is admitted.

Although corporate news media have made it clear they don’t buy the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claim that al-Shifa Hospital has been a cover for a Hamas command and control center and weapons armory, Western media have failed to report a much bigger story.

The IDF and the Israeli government already knew when they launched their propaganda campaign about al-Shifa that Hamas had no military command and control facility hidden there because it had already found the complex kilometers away.

As Consortium News reported last week, for 15 years the Israelis claimed  Hamas was operating its primary command and control base from a tunnel underneath al-Shifa. After the Israeli bombing campaign against Gaza began in October, the Israeli military amplified that message to press its contention that by hiding the Hamas high command, al-Shifa Hospital had lost its immunity from military operations under the law of war, and could now legitimately be taken over by force.

Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch called for an arms embargo on Israel and armed groups in Palestine, “given the real risk that they will be used to commit grave abuses,” an organizational statement said. “Providing weapons that knowingly and significantly would contribute to unlawful attacks can make those providing them complicit in war crimes.”

The Biden administration is doing exactly that. A recently leaked internal document from the Pentagon reveals the weapons the Biden administration is fast-tracking to Israel in support of its military offensive in Gaza. Based on my review of forensic investigations published by human rights and news organizations, these same types of weapons have been used repeatedly by the Israeli military to attack and kill civilians during the last fifteen years alone.

Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets at northern Israel on Thursday in one of the largest barrages fired from Lebanon since October 7, sending thousands of people in northern towns and communities rushing to bomb shelters.

In one salvo after midday, the IDF said some 35 rockets launched from Lebanon crossed the border into Israel. Hezbollah claimed responsibility, and said it had launched 48 rockets at an army base near Safed.

Hezbollah also took responsibility for several anti-tank guided missile and mortar attacks at different targets in northern Israel, including a strike against Kibbutz Menara in the Upper Galilee that caused damage to some buildings, Army Radio reported.

The UK’s terrorism legislation watchdog has told the government that there is no need for new terrorism laws despite calls by ministers for a crackdown on pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

In a report to the Home Office published on Thursday, Jonathan Hall KC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said there was “good reason for caution” over extending the scope of terrorism laws.

Hall said existing laws were sufficient to ensure that any “terrorist mischief” around protests could be addressed by arrest and prosecution, and noted that the “edges” of these were currently being tested by cases before the courts.

China's massive Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) — backing and often building some 21,000 infrastructure projects around the world — is widely considered to be the centerpiece of President Xi Jinping's foreign policy.

Often compared to the US Marshall Plan for Europe after World War II, Beijing has made more than $1.3 trillion (€1.2 trillion) in loans over the past decade or so to fund the construction of bridges, ports and highways in low and middle-income countries, according to a new report.

BRI has helped to restore ancient trading routes between China and the rest of the world, hence the nickname the New Silk Road. It's also boosted Beijing's global influence, much to the chagrin of Washington and Brussels. 

Rose Rostom, Nahida Mashouz and Ammar Hajeh have had their lives uprooted many times - by Palestinian militants, Syrian warplanes, Islamic State, Western-backed forces or the Israeli army.

Between them, they have fled their homes 20 times, most recently following border clashes between Israeli forces and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group sparked by Israel's war with Hamas militants in Gaza.

Rostom is Lebanese, Mashouz is a refugee from Syria and Hajeh is a Palestinian refugee.

Israeli bombardment forced Rostom from her home in south Lebanon and drove Mashouz from her temporary accommodation nearby. Hajeh has fled his crowded refugee camp four times this year during fighting between militant groups.

Myanmar ’s military-controlled government said Thursday that almost half of more than 250 cargo trucks stranded by fighting against ethnic minority armed groups near the northeastern border with China have been destroyed in a fire caused by bombs dropped by drones.

Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, spokesperson of the ruling military council, said in a statement phoned to state television MRTV that trucks parked in a compound near a trade zone in Muse township caught fire after drones belonging to ethnic armed organizations launched an attack at about 9:45 a.m. on Thursday.

The action was one of the most dramatic, and in terms of property damage, most extensive since the self-styled Three Brotherhood Alliance of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army and the Arakan Army launched a coordinated offensive in northern Shan state on Oct. 27. The trucks are used to carry goods to and from China.

GDP is forecast to expand 1.5% in 2024 against the euro area’s 0.5% © Getty Images / Andrea Nicolini

Western sanctions have so far failed to halt Russia’s economic growth, which is now projected to outpace that of the Eurozone, the Guardian reported on Thursday, citing investment firm Amundi.

According to the company’s forecast, Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP) will grow by 1.5% in 2024. In contrast, the Eurozone economy is set to expand by mere 0.5% next year, according to Amundi, Europe’s largest fund manager in terms of assets.

Webmaster addition: Europe, like the US, is spending vast sums of money on illegal immigrants, which means that money is not available for investing in new businesses.

Hundreds of police officers searched the properties of Hamas members and followers in Germany on Thursday morning following a formal ban on any activity by or in support of the militant group.

The German government implemented the ban on Nov. 2 and dissolved Samidoun, a group that was behind a celebration in Berlin of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Germany’s domestic intelligence service estimates that Hamas has around 450 members in the country. Their activities range from expressions of sympathy and propaganda activities to financing and fundraising activities to strengthen the organization abroad.

Hungary is set to receive 900 million euros ($981 million) in European Union money, the EU’s executive arm said Thursday, despite the Hungarian prime minister’s attempts to scupper the bloc’s support for Ukraine.

That money comes from the bloc’s REPowerEU program aimed at helping the 27 EU nations recover from the energy crisis that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, and reduce their dependance to Russian fossil fuels.

The proposal to unlock the money in pre-financing came as Orban - a frequent critic of the EU and often at odds with European leaders over his government’s record on the rule of law - threatens to derail Ukraine’s ambition to join the bloc, and to block the disbursement of a planned 50 billion euros ($54.5 billion) in aid to Kyiv.

The Israeli state and Hamas appear to have reached a tentative hostage exchange deal.

Via NBC News:

“Israel and Hamas have agreed to a breakthrough deal to release 50 women and children who were kidnapped and held in Gaza, a potential landmark deal that will also involve a four-day pause in fighting, the delivery of hundreds of aid trucks, and the release of 150 Palestinian women and children* held in Israeli jails.”

*Note that when Israeli civilians are held in Gaza, they were “kidnapped” and are termed “hostages,” but when Israeli jails Palestinian women and children with no charges or judicial process of any kind, they do not receive the benefit of the same designation in Western corporate state media. That’s how subtle propaganda can get, and it’s easy to miss it if you’re not attuned to the pettiness with which these organizations play semantical games.

Curiously, though, Israel is not making any effort to get non-Israeli hostages released — only Israeli.

On November 16, two Palestinian human rights organizations, three Palestinians and five Palestinian Americans brought an emergency motion in United States federal court to immediately force President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to stop providing additional weapons, money, and military and diplomatic support to Israel, which is committing genocide in Gaza.

“Our Palestinian clients are asking the court to urgently order Biden, Blinken and Austin to stop supporting Israel’s genocide,” said Maria LaHood, Deputy Legal Director of Center for Constitutional Rights which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Palestinians, in an interview with Truthout. “Israeli officials stated their intent to eliminate everything in Gaza, and then proceeded to carpet-bomb it, killing more than 11,000 people, including nearly 5,000 children thus far — many more are missing, buried under rubble, crushed and suffocating before they die.”

LaHood also pointed to Israel’s ongoing siege in which Palestinians in Gaza remain cut off from food, water and electricity.

“Those still alive are starving and drinking contaminated water, fearing being bombed. Yet the U.S. continues to expedite weapons and other support, in defiance of its international law obligation to prevent genocide, not fuel it,” LaHood told Truthout. “Our clients, who have already collectively lost more than 116 of their family members, are asking the court to provide preliminary relief so they do not suffer even more irreparable harm.”

In this battle that began on 7 October, resistance groups have produced a steady stream of videos documenting the fight.

In this segment from our latest livestream, we talked about the multiple fronts of resistance beyond the battle for Gaza and the role that the media arms of these groups have played in documenting a crucial element of the fight.

Anti-Israel protesters accused the New York Times of genocide as they gathered outside its offices on Thursday, just hours after pro-Palestine demonstrators crashed the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Furious demonstrators targeted the newspaper as part of a rally organizers called the 'Thankstaking for Gaza and Indigenous Resistance Everywhere.'

The protesters targeted the New York Times as they passed by its headquarters, chanting: 'Every time media lies, a neighborhood in Gaza dies' and 'New York Times, you can’t hide. We charge you with genocide.'

As they passed through Times Square, they yelled at tourists: 'While you’re shopping, bombs are dropping.'

Europe pushes aside the principle of indivisible security and NATO’s expansion cannot but prompt Russia’s retaliatory measures, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

"Europe does not wish to heed our concerns and Europe pushes aside the invariable principle of indivisible security, which means that they talk about their security to the detriment of ours," the Russian presidential spokesman said, commenting on a statement by Chief of NATO’s Joint Support and Enabling Command (JSEC) Lieutenant-General Alexander Sollfrank on the need of creating "a military Schengen," a free military passage area similar to the political Schengen zone.

"In this case, I want to stress again that it is NATO that is constantly moving its infrastructure close to our border. We are not moving towards NATO’s infrastructure. It is NATO that is moving towards us. This cannot but cause our concern and this cannot but prompt countermeasures to ensure our security," the Kremlin press secretary stressed.

 The Biden administration’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is instructing Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents to ask immigrants they encounter for their “preferred pronouns” and to use gender-neutral language while on the job.

 President Joe Biden claimed during a press conference on Friday that the reason Hamas terrorists murdered 1,200 Israelis on October 7 was because he was getting ready to bring peace to the Middle East.

 U.S. officials began expressing concern this week about a new outbreak in respiratory illnesses in China that have sent a surge of children to the hospital.