Month: November 2024

The notorious Venezuelan gang Tren De Aragua (TDA) has taken root in Tennessee’s major cities, bringing its brutal brand of crime and violence to the Volunteer State, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) Director David Rausch warned this week during a budget hearing with Governor Bill Lee.

According to Rausch, the violent gang known for its brazen disregard for law enforcement, has returned to Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga – Tennessee’s four largest cities – after first being detected two years ago during a human trafficking bust.

“We uncovered a group here in a human trafficking operation, and in that operation we recognized a number of the members here trafficking females that they had abducted from Venezuela and brought here,” Rausch said.

While initial arrests scattered some members of the gang, Rausch said they are now back and expanding their operations.

“Now what we are seeing is they are back,” Rausch continued. “They are running human trafficking operations. That’s where they start.”

Human Trafficking to Drug Wars: A Deadly Evolution

According to Rausch, TDA has a pattern of establishing themselves through human trafficking, then moving into organized retail theft and eventually drug trafficking, which often leads to bloody turf wars with other criminal organizations, including drug cartels.

“They have a pathway of violence, and we want people to be aware of that,” Rausch cautioned. “They will battle for the drug trafficking in communities.”

The gang’s reputation for extreme violence sets it apart, with members showing little fear of taking on law enforcement.

“They are very violent toward policing – they have no respect for law enforcement” Rausch said. “They will fight, and they will attack police.”

A Border Crisis with Local Consequences

Governor Lee responded to Rausch’s warning by emphasizing the broader implications of gang activity linked to border security.

“The border crisis is exactly why Americans voted for change. It’s not political—it’s about safety and security,” Lee said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Nov. 15. “Tennessee will support [President-Elect Donald Trump] as he secures our border while delivering key resources for [the TBI] to stop illegal criminals from operating in our state.”

Rausch later released a video statement urging Tennesseans to stay vigilant, though he reassured residents that they need not fear imminent danger in their neighborhoods.

“We want the public to be diligent as always in paying attention in their communities for signs of things like human trafficking,” Rausch said, pointing citizens to resources for identifying and reporting suspicious activity.

A National Threat

Rausch also noted that TDA’s presence isn’t limited to Tennessee. During meetings with the Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies, other states reported similar encounters with the gang, further underscoring the nationwide nature of the threat.

“They are all over the place, governor, it’s not just Tennessee,” Rausch said. “This is not a unique situation.”

The TBI has ramped up efforts to monitor the gang, sharing intelligence with local law enforcement agencies and educating police on how to identify and approach gang members. However, Rausch acknowledged that some local departments might not yet realize TDA is operating in their jurisdictions.

“There are times where they may be unaware of actors that may be moving in and out of their area that we are tracking,” Rausch said.

Stopping the Violence Before It Spreads

Rausch’s priority is clear: halt TDA’s operations before they escalate into full-scale violence.

“What we don’t want to happen is to see them move into those next phases,” Rausch stated. “We want to stop them where they are right now, and that’s why we’re raising the issue.”

With the TBI on high alert and the governor promising resources, Tennessee is bracing itself for the fight against Tren De Aragua, a gang that thrives on chaos but may have underestimated the resolve of its new battleground.

The Epoch Times contributed to this report

Authored by Debra Heine via American Greatness,

“The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg is under fire after accusing the owner of an iconic Staten Island bakery of refusing to serve her cupcakes because of her far-left views.

Goldberg complained during the daytime liberal women’s talk show Wednesday that Holtermann’s Bakery wouldn’t sell her the popular Charlotte Russe desserts she wanted for her 69th birthday because of her “politics.”

She told the audience that the push-pop style confections were a favorite of her mother’s when she was growing up.

“Now, I should tell you, Charlotte Russe has no political leanings, and the place that made these refused to make them for me,” Goldberg said, prompting horrified gasps from the audience and co-hosts.

“They said that their ovens had gone down, all kinds of stuff, but folks went and got them anyway,” Whoopie continued, adding without evidence, “they did not like my politics.”

While Whoopie did not name the shop, it was later identified by Entertainment Weekly as Holtermann’s Bakery on Staten Island, a longstanding family-owned establishment loved by locals.

Jill Holtermann, who owns the bakery, told Entertainment Weekly that “it was not because of political” reasons, but because “we were having trouble with our boilers.”

“I said to Whoopi, ‘I can’t do it right now,’” she told the outlet.

“‘We have so many things going on with my boiler,’ because the building is from 1930, so, when she called me, I had no idea [if we could] be baking everything.”

Holtermann acknowledged that she ultimately was able to make 50 of the treats, and that they were picked up early Wednesday morning for “The View’s” taping. Whoopie had planned to give them out to the audience as part of her birthday celebration.

She reiterated that her reluctance to confirm the order had nothing to do with Goldberg’s political beliefs, saying: “I didn’t want to make a commitment that I can’t carry through,” given the technical issues.

On Thursday, loyal customers in the community reportedly flooded the bakery to show support.

“A steady stream of shoppers came and went from Holtermann’s on Thursday, toting bags full of cupcakes, pies, cakes and pastries from the bakery, which customers said has never shown or expressed a preference for any political candidate,” the New York Post reported.

The brouhaha had still had not died down by Friday, with Holtermann holding a press conference flanked by local elected officials to refute Goldberg’s claims.

Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella defended the business and explained what happened.

“It’s been here 145 years. They had a boiler that was 60 or 70 years old. And the first week in November, guess what? It went on the fritz,” Fossella said.

“They had it replaced. And the reputation of Holtermann’s is impeccable, so rather than commit to something they couldn’t guarantee, they said, ‘we can’t do it.’ And the person who besmirched, defamed them, took that as an insult to her. Well, get over it. This family will be here for, God willing, another 145 years.”

“We’re here to have Holtermann’s Bakery’s back,” said Councilman David Carr.

“Because the Holtermann family generationally has had the backs of this community.”

Carr said he was happy to see so many supporters there “to send a message to the person who decided that she was too important for a boiler breakdown.”

Holtermann thanked the community for its support and tearfully described how she had been bombarded with calls since Whoopie had made the comments.

“I’m so overwhelmed by the support. Between finding out yesterday, this even happened, getting phone calls and then people coming in and people from all over just supporting us in every way,” she said. “The support has been so overwhelming and I know how hard my family has worked to keep this business alive.”

Some have said that the fact that Goldberg did not name Holtermann’s Bakery means she cannot be sued; but Jonathan Turley says, that is wrong.

There are two reasons cited for why Goldberg cannot be sued.

Her refusal to name the bakery (which she portrayed as a way of denying them favorable publicity since they eventually got the cakes) and that she used the word “perhaps” in her accusation.

The Name Game

The failure to name a party in an otherwise defamatory context is not a defense to defamation.

The strongest and easiest cases to make on defamation are those fitting into a per se category of defamation like calling someone falsely a criminal or the carrier of an infectious disease. Damages in such cases are often presumed.

Other cases are called per quod cases where the harm and damages are not immediately evident or presumed. Rather than be libelous on their face, per quod cases must often be proven through use of extrinsic facts or evidence. In such cases, you need to prove special damages.

It is worth noting that the implied accusation against the bakery could fit into a per se category of impugning business or professional integrity. Goldberg’s statement was clearly meant to impugn the reputation and professional standing of the bakery. It can be argued as defamatory per se by implication.

The fact that Goldberg identified the bakery only as a local bakery associated with these cakes is not a defense. The identity of the bakery was quickly deduced and published widely.

“Perhaps” Defamation

Goldberg could also claim that using the word “perhaps” reduced the statement to a mere opinion. This is a common misunderstanding. Often people will say “in my opinion” and then follow with a defamatory statement. It is not treated as an opinion if it is stated as a fact.

Clearly, a statement of opinion alone is not actionable when “the facts on which they are based are fully and accurately set forth and  it is clear . . . that the accusation is merely a personal surmise built upon those facts.” Gross v. New York Times Co., 623 N.E.2d 1163, 1169 (N.Y. 1993).

New York courts look to whether a reasonable person would consider the statement to be conveying a fact. Davis v. Boeheim, 22 N.E.3d 999, 1005 (N.Y. 2014) Moreover,  “[r]ather than sifting through a communication for the purpose of isolating and identifying assertions of fact, the court should look to the over-all context in which the assertions were made,” including the forum, to determine how a reasonable reader would view them.” Brian v. Richardson, 660 N.E.2d 1126, 1130 (N.Y. 1995).

Moreover, “an opinion that implies that it is based upon facts which justify the opinion but are unknown to those reading or hearing it… is a mixed opinion” and is actionable. Bacon v Nygard, 189 A.D.3d 530, 530 (1st Dept 2020).

Goldberg was clearly trying to convey that the bakery imposes a political litmus test or engages in political discriminatory practices against Democrats, Trump critics, or liberals. That can have an obviously harmful impact on business for the family-owned bakery.

Even if the bakery had to show malice (of a knowing falsehood or reckless disregard of the truth), it would have a cognizable basis for such a claim against Goldberg and ABC.

It would not be the first time that they had to make such a correction and the audience of the The View does not appear to care about such false or unsupported claims.

In one such incident, Turning Point USA issued a cease and desist letter to ABC after the hosts suggested that it allowed neo-Nazis to join an event. In discussing Turning Point USA’s summit in Florida, host Joy Behar said “Neo-Nazis were out there in the front of the conference with antisemitic slurs and … the Nazi swastika and a picture of a so-called Jewish person with exaggerated features, just like Goebbels did during the Third Reich. It’s the same thing, right out of the same playbook.”

Whoopi Goldberg, then added, in reference to Turning Point USA, “you let them in and you knew what they were, so you are complicit.”

ABC then had the hosts issue an on-air apology. However, they had host Sara Haines do it: “We want to make clear that these demonstrators were outside the event and that they were not invited or endorsed by Turning Point USA.” She added “the hosts apologize for “anything we said that may have been unclear on these points.”

Obviously, it would be up to a jury to balance the earlier standards and the evidence in this case. However, a case could be made for defamation and a court could find that the matter should be left to the fact finder at trial. Goldberg and ABC would be wise to apologize on the air to the bakery on Monday.

In most OECD countries that collect self-reported weight data, more than half of adults are overweight or obese (2023 or latest available data).

However, as Statista’s Anna Fleck reports, obesity prevalence was particularly high in the United States, with just over a third of respondents saying that they are obese in 2023.

You will find more infographics at Statista

In Chile and the United Kingdom rates were just above one in four, while Korea had the lowest share of people with obesity of the countries studied at just 4.9 percent.

According to the World Health Organization, a body mass index (BMI) of over 25 is considered overweight, and over 30 obese.

Obesity is linked to a range of health issues such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and several common cancers. Although awareness is increasing around the topic, obesity is still often misunderstood due to misconceptions of it being solely due to poor lifestyle choices, whereas factors such as genetic predisposition and environmental influences are also important.

By Peter Tchir of Academy Securities

3D Chess or 52-Card Pickup?

3D Chess always makes me think of Star Trek and wonder who the heck thinks that we need a game more complex than chess? 52-Card Pickup is a game most frequently played by siblings, and even then, only once or twice. Typically, the older sibling asks the younger one if they want to play 52-card pickup. Without knowing the game, but excited that their older sibling wants to do anything with them, the younger one instantly agrees. At which point the older sibling throws a deck of cards across the room and yells – there you go, 52-card pickup!

Depending on who you listen to, talk to, or follow, in its first full week, the Trump team is either playing an incredible game of 3D Chess, or is playing the equivalent of 52-Card Pickup with the nation.

It is far too early to say which side is right, and the final answer will likely fall somewhere in the middle. Having said that, there are a few things that have come up consistently in meetings, calls, and interactions with clients.

• There are various processes in place to effectively protect the system. Could they be bypassed by using Recess Appointments? I have to admit that Congress getting recess, like schoolchildren, has always amused me, but recess appointments would be a very aggressive tactic. They allow Trump to bypass the confirmation process (for up to a year) for some positions, presumably the most difficult/contentious ones. For some reason, this is also “part of the system and process,” so someone must have thought that there was a need for this. To me, this, like many things (including the 2+ month timeframe between the election and the inauguration) is likely a function of how difficult it was to travel across the country back in the day. It will be interesting to see how the appointments go, to say the least.

• If you are going to try to radically change D.C., often described as “draining the swamp,” it does make sense that non-traditional candidates would be selected. Yes, there are people with more experience than some of the nominees, but are they too close to the system to try and change it?

• D.O.G.E (the Department of Government Efficiency) has generated a lot of buzz. It seems to be the one thing that everyone is curious about and wants to see how it all plays out (even with a tinge of optimism that some spending can be cut without reducing or hurting services). It is also quite clear that Musk, one of the richest people on the planet, will play a major role in this administration, as a key advisor to President-Elect Trump.

Thinking about this dovetails well with last weekend’s Learning to Speak Trump Again. For better or worse, we should expect D.C. headlines to continue to create volatility for the markets.

Having said that:

• The 10-year Treasury is back to 4.44%, basically where it closed on November 7th. We’ve had some pretty big swings on a daily and even intraday basis, but wound up unchanged. I remain firmly in the camp that the deficit fears (and concerns about inflation from tariffs) are more than priced in right now.

• The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 are both below where they closed on November 7th (for all the “growth” hype, that certainly grabs your attention). Maybe even more surprising, given the attention, is that the Russell 2000 is back to below its November 7th close, having dropped over 5% since it hit a high on Monday (maybe a good reminder that equity markets should shut down along with the bond market on Veterans Day).

• Gold was strong into the election, but has faded hard since then. Copper, which should benefit from growth if the “Dr. Copper” people are correct, is down over 12% since the start of the month. Oil has struggled, but energy stocks have done well, with XLE holding onto its gains. This makes some sense (see “Drill Baby Drill” from Fox Business this summer) as energy production should increase, helping to keep energy prices at bay, but creating some potentially strong profit growth.

• Bitcoin. Bitcoin has been incredibly strong. Yes, some volatility, but it has clung to the idea that a Trump administration will be very positive for crypto in general and Bitcoin (and Dogecoin) in particular. Given how many of the people in Trump’s inner circle are very positive on Bitcoin, it makes sense. On the other hand, Trump doesn’t control Bitcoin at all, and he does seem to like to control things, which may tarnish his current love affair over time. Also, for all the chatter about the U.S. government building up a “Bitcoin reserve” (it is hard to miss it, if you spend any time at all on X), I have not heard from anyone that this is really feasible. Most, which includes me, think that there will be an immense amount of resistance to government adoption (yes on clearer and helpful rules and regulations, but no on adoption by the government). You cannot fight this rally right now and maybe it is 3D Chess being played out, but it has the smell of 52-Card Pickup to me.

• Many of the Commercial Real Estate ETFs have done poorly. In some cases, they are much closer to their annual lows than highs, even as stocks in general perform well. I think that this is actually a very interesting opportunity as yield fears are overdone, and Work From Home is really going to struggle next year. More and more companies are limiting work from home as they push for a return to the office. That momentum feeds on itself. Many who were afraid to push for work from office will be emboldened. I cannot see a world where the Department of Government Efficiency (I’m not sure it is an actual department, but that doesn’t really matter given the attention that it’s getting) won’t be looking at getting more government workers back into the office. Everyone has focused on the potential for layoffs dragging down D.C.-focused real estate valuations, but I think that net/net over time, it will turn out to be good for D.C. commercial real estate. I see CRE as where I have the biggest difference of opinion with consensus views right now.

One Chart That I Cannot Stop Thinking About

We included this chart in our NFP reaction, but I feel a sense of urgency to highlight it again. Maybe this is our attempt to play 3D Chess, or maybe we are getting ourselves overly wound up about a non-event. Since we often discuss how dubious the Jobs Available calculation is for the JOLTS report, it may seem weird that the QUIT rate, from that same report, has grabbed our attention. My take on the QUIT rate is that it is “crowd sourced” data. Every individual has a pretty good idea about their own job prospects and that gets reflected in the QUIT rate.

During the financial crisis, the QUIT rate didn’t get this low until May 2008. If I remember correctly, we technically were not in a recession at the time, and only later did the powers that be declare that we actually were in a recession. That fits with my view that this rate is important and may have a predictive element to it.

I certainly think that when anyone and everyone felt like they could quit and get a better job, it was extremely difficult for management to take away work from home. I suspect that plans to offer severance packages to reduce the workforce voluntarily (one idea floated around by DOGE) won’t be that effective when workers don’t see outside opportunities readily available (that is my interpretation of the QUIT rate).

If we see a lot of progress made on the “Make America Great” front, this could change abruptly. There might be plenty of new jobs created. There might be jobs that were being done by undocumented workers becoming available. A lot could happen, but so far, I think the outlook on jobs is following the same path as stocks – initial jubilation has turned into a wariness about what might actually be achievable, let alone accomplished.

Bottom Line

Expect more volatility. We are going to get headlines and announcements that are difficult to interpret. What do they really mean? How likely is it to get accomplished? We know this administration is looking for CHANGE, but exactly what type of change they want is still a bit unclear in many areas. What they can achieve is even more unclear.

There is a clear sense of “urgency” as I cannot recollect any other election winner coming out so quickly with so many announcements!

I think we want to “fade” growth. We can buy dips in Treasuries and sell rips in stocks.

Maybe we will get a clearer picture, but I suspect in the coming days and weeks, the market will have more questions than answers. The fact that the original reaction to the election was so strong (with so many shorts being taken out, and so many newly minted bulls emerging) leaves us with potentially treacherous positioning. While legend has it that Wall Street likes to Climb a Wall of Worry, I don’t think it likes the current level of uncertainty. Maybe it is all 3D Chess, and we are just too naïve to see the master plan, or maybe we are all seeing enough things to question how effective this master plan will be?

While I like being overweight duration and underweight equities, I would not be a very aggressive overweight or underweight. It is more of an attempt to trade the volatility that is likely to continue.

On Bitcoin, if I hear one more $1 million price target, my head might explode, but for now, I can’t think of what will slow this down given the team around Trump, but then again, Trump himself might say something showing that he has had a change of heart (which is what I suspect will happen, but it seems too early for that to occur).

I did not focus on inflation, jobs, or other economic data (except to highlight the QUIT rate). I think that the data of the past few months will likely be irrelevant early next year as policies become clear and we can focus on what those policies will do to the economic data, and not worry about economic data that probably reflects a set of policies that will no longer be relevant.

We do get the most important earnings report for the AI story this week. Everything seems rosy in the space, but it is increasingly difficult to guess what has already been priced in.

Good luck and don’t stray too far from the desk, because you never know what headline might come out next! If you missed our Around the World Podcast from earlier in the week, it is a good listen.

Economic history has shown that, as an economy develops, so does its service sector. This is certainly true for the United States, one of the most highly developed countries in the world and certainly a service economy.

As Statista’s Felix Richter details below, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, service-providing jobs account for more than 70 percent of nonfarm payrolls in the country, while goods-producing jobs account for less than 15 percent of jobs. In the 1940s, both sectors were tied at little above 40 percent, with government jobs accounting for the remainder of jobs.

There are two main reasons for this shift: productivity gains and globalization. As capital and goods began flowing freely across borders, it became cheaper to produce goods in parts of the world with lower labor costs and import them. This is how the United States gradually moved away from producing goods and how China became the world’s manufacturing hub, making anything from smartphones to television sets.

Last year, the United States imported around $3.1 trillion worth of goods, with Mexico, China and Canada accounting for more than 40 percent of that total. Among the top imported goods are cars, pharmaceuticals and all kinds of technology, be it smartphones, computers or semiconductors.

You will find more infographics at Statista

Experts have warned that all of these products would likely become significantly more expensive if president-elect Donald Trump went through with his proposed tariff plans.

By Ryan Morgan and Emel Akan of The Epoch Times

President Joe Biden met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Saturday for their final in-person meeting of Biden’s presidency. During their discussion, which lasted one hour and 40 minutes, Xi expressed China’s readiness to work with the incoming U.S. administration.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Lima, Peru, at the hotel where Xi was staying.

During his opening remarks, Xi told Biden, “The United States has recently concluded its elections. China’s goal of a stable, healthy, and sustainable China–U.S. relationship remains unchanged.”

“China is ready to work with the new U.S. administration to maintain communication, expand cooperation, and manage differences, so as to strive for a steady transition of the China–U.S. relationship for the benefit of the two peoples.”

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters after the meeting that Biden and Xi covered a wide range of issues, describing their discussion as “candid” and “constructive.”

Biden told Xi that “he has worked hard to responsibly manage the competition” with China for the past four years to prevent it from spiraling into conflict, Sullivan said.

Both leaders are committed to responsibly managing this relationship during the critical transition period, he added.

WATCH: Biden takes a back seat to other world leaders during an international trip, relegated to a corner spot in the traditional family photo of the world’s most powerful figures, while China’s president takes the prominent front-and-center position. pic.twitter.com/dyOkaPwqNW

— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 17, 2024

The two leaders also spoke about “areas of friction,” Sullivan said, citing China’s support for Russia’s defense industrial base, military activity around Taiwan, unfair trade policies, and increasing aggression in the South China Sea.

Biden and Xi also touched on China’s relationship with North Korea, particularly as U.S. and Western intelligence assessments indicate North Korea has deployed troops to assist Russian forces in their ongoing war with Ukraine.

During the meeting, Biden expressed “grave concern” about North Korea’s involvement, Sullivan said.

The White House earlier indicated that the United States and its allies—South Korea and Japan—believed “China has a role to play” in dissuading the growing Russia-North Korea partnership.

Trump’s Return

President-elect Donald Trump’s impending return to the White House also loomed large over the Biden–Xi meeting.

Trump has repeatedly signaled he will employ tariffs of up to 60 percent on made-in-China products arriving in the United States.

Trump is also set to staff his incoming administration with several China hawks. He has already named Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.)—two staunch China critics—as his picks for secretary of state and national security adviser, respectively.

Beijing sanctioned Rubio twice in 2020 and banned him from entering China.

Sullivan declined to comment about Beijing’s reaction to Trump’s tariff plan.

“Look, I’m not going to comment on a future administration’s policies that have neither been formulated nor articulated,” he told reporters. “What I will say is that we have laid out in clear terms our concerns about non-market economic practices that the PRC has undertaken.”

Sullivan defended U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, stating that many countries have taken measures to address China’s overcapacity problem in critical sectors.

Continue reading at Epoch Times

Florida-based cruise line Villa Vie Residences unveiled a new four-year cruise package called “Skip Forward,” offered to anyone suffering from Trump derangement syndrome. 

The Skip Forward package is part of the Tour La Vie program, starting at $40,000 per year, and is a “continuous global adventure for up to 4 years,” the company stated in a press release. In other words, the multi-year excursion spans Trump’s upcoming second term. 

In an interview, Villa Vie Residences CEO Mikael Petterson told AP News the cruise liner is offering voters who were not pleased with the election results four exclusive deals:

• 1-Year Escape from Reality

• 2-Year Mid-Term Selection

• 3-Year Everywhere but Home

• 4-Year Skip Forward

Petterson said the excursion to 425 ports across 140 countries allows voters to escape chaotic American politics.

He noted, “It just happened that Trump won. And more Democrats are unhappy with their current living situations in the US than Republicans.” 

A Florida cruise company is offering a 4-year escape to Americans upset by the results of the Nov. 5 presidential election pic.twitter.com/FUy5OTqDhA

— The Associated Press (@AP) November 17, 2024

Petterson is right about the TDS explosion after the election. 

I fixed it for you pic.twitter.com/Dmoxdj02DI

— stephen hilton (@stephenhilton23) November 7, 2024

I still think about this video every now and then.

Can’t wait what TikTok brings starting Jan. 20th. pic.twitter.com/qNO2a5eBXx

— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) November 17, 2024

Google searches for “Move to Canada” surged immediately after Trump won. Far-left liberals melted down across all social media.

We can only imagine a Villa Vie Residences cruise ship packed with a thousand yelling liberal women and Harry Sisson.  At least their screams on the high seas won’t be heard.

Meanwhile, Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt plotted his migration to the US following the Trump victory. 

What happens when Republicans win again in 2028? Extend the cruise trip? 

Via The Cradle

The head of Hezbollah’s Media Relations Department, Mohammad Afif, was assassinated in a violent Israeli airstrike on a building in the heart of Beirut on Sunday. 

“Fate willed that Hajj Muhammad Afif was inside the building at the time of the attack [in the Ras al-Nabaa neighborhood],” said the Secretary-General of the Arab Socialist Baath Party, Ali Hijazi. He said Afif was holding a meeting in the Baath party headquarters at the time of the Israeli strike. “Afif did not fight with weapons and did not lead a military unit in Hezbollah. Rather, he led a media unit,” Hijazi added. 

A Lebanese security source also confirmed to Al Jazeera that Afif was assassinated in the Israeli attack on central Beirut’s Ras al-Nabaa. At least five were killed and seven injured. There was massive destruction at the site, and the toll is expected to rise.

Hezbollah MP Hussein al-Jishi said to Al Mayadeen that “the enemy’s targeting of a media spokesman who always carries his phone in his hand is further evidence of its inability, and this is neither courage nor heroism.”

Hezbollah itself has yet to release a statement. Israel also heavily targeted Beirut’s southern suburb and other areas of the country on Sunday.

Israel had tried to assassinate Afif on October 3, when it targeted the building of Hezbollah’s Media Relations office in the southern suburb of Beirut. On October 22, it targeted the site where Afif was giving a speech in the Ghobeiry area of the suburb.

Afif gave a speech for Martyrs Day last week, during which he affirmed to Israel that Hezbollah is prepared for a long war. 

In his speech on 22 October, Afif publicly announced Hezbollah’s responsibility for the drone attack which exploded in the bedroom window of Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea.

“To the Israeli enemy, we say: you have only seen a little, and what happened in Haifa, Acre, and Safad is just the start … To the leaders of the occupation: Iron for iron, blood for blood, and fire for fire,” Afif said last month. 

On Saturday a synagogue in Haifa was destroyed when Hezbollah rockets rained down on the area…

Hezbollah rocket attack damages synagogue in Haifa, injures civilians pic.twitter.com/VBpE8o2dOp

— RT (@RT_com) November 17, 2024

Israeli media reports major damage to a synagogue in Haifa following missile launches from Hezbollah. pic.twitter.com/FHvvNPmIuf

— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) November 16, 2024

Hezbollah continues to fiercely confront Israeli ground troops in southern Lebanon, while stepping up its rocket, drone, and missile attacks against Israel. 

Several Hezbollah rocket impacts resulted in heavy damage in the Haifa Bay area on November 16th. 

Donald Trump’s transition team is making a list of senior military officers who oversaw the disastrous 2021 withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, and considering the possibility of court-martialing them for their failings, according to two sources cited by NBC News.  

“They’re taking it very seriously,” said a source who claims to have knowledge of the initiative. The most notorious incident of the chaotic withdrawal was the Aug. 26, 2021 suicide bombing at Abbey Gate, just outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in the Afghan capital, Kabul. Thirteen US service members and more than 170 Afghan civilians were killed. In the following days, a US airstrike intended to kill the leader of the Islamic State instead killed 10 innocents. The rapid collapse of the US-sponsored Afghanistan government allowed enormous quantities of US weapons to fall into the hands of the Taliban. 

Trump repeatedly pointed to the Afghanistan withdrawal debacle during his 2024 presidential campaign, calling the day of the suicide bombing “the most embarrassing day in the history of our country.” Now, his transition team is exploring the creation of a commission to probe the decision-making that accompanied the withdrawal and to assess whether leaders could be charged and court-martialed. The team is even said to be considering whether officers who’ve left the military might be recalled to active duty to face military justice.

Potential charges include treason, a notion that seems far more rooted in casual use of the term than any reasoned legal analysis. Perhaps one might try to make the case that the forfeiture of a vast arsenal to the Taliban gave “aid and comfort” to enemies of the United States, but it seems highly doubtful such an argument would prevail in a court-martial. Alternatively, charges could theoretically be brought under provisions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice covering dereliction of duty, conduct unbecoming an officer, or negligent homicide.  

Three years ago today, American service members enduring some of the most unimaginable conditions of the entire GWOT during our chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, were attacked at Kabul Airport’s Abbey Gate. pic.twitter.com/BSeB8YG1Dh

— Black Rifle Coffee (@blckriflecoffee) August 26, 2024

Pete Segseth, the Fox news host whom Trump wants to appoint as Secretary of Defense, has leveled his own withering criticism at senior miltary officers. In his book “The War on Warriors,” he wrote: 

“These generals lied. They mismanaged. They violated their oath. They failed. They disgraced our troops, and our nation. They got people killed, unnecessarily…And, to this moment, they keep their jobs. Worse, they continue to actively erode our military and its values — by capitulating to civilians with radical agendas. They are an embarrassment, with stars still on their shoulders.” 

According to NBC’s sources, the transition team’s Afghanistan accountability initiative is being led by Matt Flynn, who’d previously served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for counternarcotics and global threats. A North Carolina Army National Guard member, he has also held roles at the Department of the Interior, the White House, Department of State and Congress.

News of the potential prosecution of senior officers comes after earlier reports that the Trump transition team would establish a “warrior board” of retired senior military personnel which would be granted the power to review three- and four-star officers and recommend any removals of those deemed unfit for leadership. Such a board would likely target generals and admirals who’ve embraced woke ideology and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.  

In a move straight out of Louis “After me, the flood” XV, the outgoing BIden admin, in a seemingly desperate move to destabilize the global geopolitical picture, has authorized the lifting of some restrictions on Ukraine’s use of western-made weapons to strike military targets inside Russia, according to reports from Bloomberg and the AP. The decision was reportedly shaped by North Korea ramping up support for President Vladimir Putin’s army and an increase in Russian missile and drone attacks on its neighbor. 

The approval represents a major U.S. policy shift and comes as the deep state-supported, dementia-ridden puppet Joe Biden is about to leave office and incoming President-elect Donald Trump has said he would bring about a swift end to the war and has expressed skepticism over continued support by the United States.

If approved, the capability would likely be used first in the Kursk region of Russia, where Ukraine is fighting against North Korean troops as well as Moscow’s forces, the people said. Still, any permission, if granted, is unlikely to go as far as Ukraine has requested, one of the people said.

As the war in Ukraine heads into its third full winter, the US and its allies “have grown extremely concerned” about Pyongyang’s decision to deploy its forces in combat and assessments by some Group of 20 nations suggest North Korea could eventually send as many as 100,000 troops to Russia. The allies believe the deepening cooperation between Putin and Kim Jong Un could have consequences for the security balance in the Indo-Pacific region, Bloomberg has reported previously.

Discussions between the allies over missile strikes have intensified since Donald Trump won US elections earlier this month, another Bloomberg source said. Trump has said he will seek a quick deal between Ukraine and Russia to end the war, without specifying how.

In other words, Biden’s puppet masters are urgently seeking to escalate the war in Ukraine to make the quick ceasefire sought by Trump impossible (after all, war is how the Deep State earns its income).

Until now, Biden had remained opposed, determined to hold the line against any escalation that he felt could draw the U.S. and other NATO members into direct conflict with Russia. But what supposedly triggered the shift is not Trump’s desire to end the war, at least not according to Bloomberg’s deep state sources, but North Korea’s decision to deploy deployed thousands of troops to Russia to help Moscow reclaim land in the Kursk border region that Ukraine seized this year, and which Russia has already mostly regained even as Ukraine continues to cede territory in the Donetsk region. The introduction of North Korean troops to the conflict comes as Moscow has seen a favorable shift in momentum.

As many as 12,000 North Korean troops have been sent to Russia, according to U.S., South Korean and Ukrainian assessments. U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials say North Korea also has provided Russia with significant amounts of munitions to replenish its weapons stockpiles.

Trump, who takes office in January, spoke for months as a candidate about wanting Russia’s war in Ukraine to be over. He also repeatedly slammed the Biden administration for giving Kyiv tens of billions of dollars in aid. His resounding election victory has Ukraine’s international backers worrying that any rushed settlement would mostly benefit Putin.

Which is where the deep state’s World War 3 Hail Mary comes in, especially since the outgoing Biden administration has said it will send as much aid as possible to Kyiv before Trump takes office in January.