Japan Denies Trump Asked PM Not To Provoke Beijing

Authored by Dorothy Li via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Japan has refuted a report indicating that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi received advice from U.S. President Donald Trump to refrain from provoking the Chinese regime over Taiwan.

Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi answers questions from reporters about her telephone talks with U.S. President Donald Trump at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Nov. 25, 2025. JIJI Press / AFP via Getty Images

Trump and Takaichi spoke by phone on the evening of Nov. 24, their first conversation since the Chinese communist regime ramped up its pressure campaign against Japan following Takaichi’s remarks suggesting that a crisis in Taiwan could pose a threat to Japan.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing anonymous sources, reported on Nov. 27 that Trump had advised the Japanese prime minister “not to provoke Beijing on the question of Taiwan’s sovereignty” during the call. The report described Trump’s advice as subtle, saying that he did not pressure Takaichi to withdraw her comment.

When asked about the WSJ report at a briefing on the morning of Nov. 27, Minoru Kihara, the Japanese government’s top spokesperson, declined to comment on the meeting between Takaichi and Trump, saying it’s a matter of diplomatic exchanges. 

However, at a regular press conference hours later, Kihara said he found it necessary to clarify this matter.

“In the article you mentioned, there is a description that President Trump advised not to provoke the Chinese government on the issue of Taiwan’s sovereignty, but I would like to make it clear that there is no such fact,” Kihara told reporters when asked about the WSJ report.

He confirmed that Tokyo had reached out to the U.S. media outlet regarding this article.

Kihara at the briefings on Nov. 27 was not asked about other reports containing similar claims. Those include a Reuters report saying that Trump asked Takaichi not to further escalate the dispute with Beijing, citing two unnamed Japanese government sources. The report added that Trump did not present any specific demands to Takaichi.

Japanese media outlet Kyodo News also reported that during the phone call with Takaichi, Trump advised her to refrain from escalating the row with Beijing while emphasizing the importance of managing the relationship between the two Asian neighbors, citing an unnamed government source.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the three reports by publication time.

President Donald Trump speaks to the media aboard Air Force One in flight en route to Florida on Nov. 25, 2025. Pete Marovich/Getty Images

Takaichi, speaking to reporters shortly after the call with the U.S. president, said they exchanged views on a wide range of topics, including strengthening the Japan–U.S. alliance and addressing challenges facing the Indo-Pacific region.

“During the conversation, President Trump provided me with an update on the latest situation in U.S.–China relations, including the U.S.–China summit meeting held yesterday evening,” she told reporters in Tokyo. “I also responded to his question about the recent G20 summit that I attended.”

Takaichi said they affirmed the importance of continued cooperation between Tokyo and Washington under the current international situation.

“President Trump said that he would be willing to receive calls from me at any time as a close friend of his.”

Trump also said that the talk with Takaichi was “great.”

“She’s very smart, she’s very strong, and she’s going to be a great leader,” he said of the Japanese leader aboard Air Force One on Nov. 25, without disclosing the details of the exchange.

The fast-escalating spat between Tokyo and Beijing began on Nov. 7 after Takaichi, in response to a parliamentary committee question, said that a naval blockade against Taiwan may constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan. She used a legal term that could enable Japan to mobilize its military.

The comments on a theoretical possibility drew furious responses and violent threats from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which views self-ruled Taiwan as a breakaway province to be taken by force if necessary.

China, Japan’s largest trading partner, has turned to economic measures to pressure Japan to retract the prime minister’s comments.

The regime’s foreign ministry has advised tourists against traveling to Japan, and its education ministry has asked students to plan their studies in Japan with caution. Along with postponing the release of Japanese movies in China, Beijing has stated that there is “no market” for Japanese seafood in China.

Amid a deteriorating relationship with China, Takaichi said on Nov. 26 that the government remains open to dialogue with the Chinese side.

As for a Taiwan contingency, she said the government’s stance is that it would evaluate the situation comprehensively, based on the specific circumstances that actually occurred. This position, she said, had been repeatedly stated.

She explained that her initial comments were simply to respond to a question that was limited to a Taiwan contingency and that also mentioned the blockade of sea lanes.

“Since it was asked with specific examples, I answered sincerely within that scope,” she said.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/29/2025 - 16:20

The 'K-Shaped' Economy In One Graph

Tuesday’s weak Consumer Confidence report was a good reminder of why some economists are calling our economy the K shaped economy.

As RealInvestmentAdvice.com reports, The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index fell 6.8 points to 88.7 in November, below expectations of 93.

Moreover, it sits at levels similar to those of early 2020, when the pandemic shuttered the economy. Similarly, the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment survey is slightly above 70-year lows.

Both surveys indicate that a large majority of consumers are struggling.

Within the surveys, the outlook on current jobs and job availability is low.

Inflation, tariffs, politics, and the government shutdown are also weighing on the consumer and limiting big-ticket spending plans.

A K shaped economy describes a post-crisis recovery where different parts of the economy and society are performing at sharply diverging rates, forming the two arms of the letter “K.”:

• The upper arm (going up): Sectors, companies, assets, and people that benefit from the recovery and, in many cases, are wealthier than before the pandemic. This includes investors in technology stocks, big tech companies, the luxury sectors, high-income professionals, and asset owners.

• The lower arm (going down): Sectors, small businesses, and people that continue to decline or stagnate even as the overall economy appears to improve. Examples include: the hospitality and travel industries, many lower-priced retail outlets, low-wage service workers, small businesses, and many middle-class and lower-income households.

The graph below showing the stark divergence between the S&P 500 and the University of Michigan consumer survey best depicts the K shaped economy.

You can make similar K shaped plots comparing stock markets, GDP, and megacap corporate profits versus small business closures, wage growth for low-income workers, and economic activity in the manufacturing sector.

The question is - how do the jaws of that widening alligator's mouth snap shut? Sentiment surge or equity purge?

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/29/2025 - 15:45

Documents Stuffed Into Burn-Bags At FBI HQ To Be Made Public: Kash Patel

Authored by Zachary Stieber and Jan Jekielek via The Epoch Times,

Sensitive documents found in burn bags at FBI headquarters will all be made public, FBI Director Kash Patel said in a new interview with The Epoch Times.

“You’re going to see everything we found in that room in one way or another, be it through investigation, public trial, or disclosure to the Congress,” Patel told The Epoch Times’ Jan Jekielek in an exclusive interview, which is set to air on EpochTV at 5 p.m. ET on Nov. 29.

Before becoming FBI director, one of Patel’s past roles was working as a congressional investigator. He was on the House Intelligence Committee team that uncovered previously unknown information about the FBI’s probe of possible links between the 2016 campaign of President Donald Trump and Russia.

The probe and fallout over the information that emerged, including the reliance on a dossier compiled on behalf of the Hillary Clinton campaign, has come to be known as “Russia Gate.”

Patel said on X in August that “we just uncovered burn bags/room filled with hidden Russia Gate files, including the Durham annex, and declassified them.”

The declassified annex to a report from former special counsel John Durham, whose team investigated the FBI’s actions and found that the full probe was based on unverified intelligence, was released in July by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). It showed that the FBI did not adequately review reports showing the Clinton campaign may have been promoting a false narrative connecting Trump to Russia, Grassley said at the time.

Clinton’s office has not commented on the annex. Robby Mook, Clinton’s 2016 campaign manager, has said he believed that work done by the international law firm Perkins Coie, which paid the dossier author, “was done for the purpose of providing legal services and legal advice” to the campaign.

During a hearing in September, Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Wis.) asked Patel why somebody would place documents related to the investigation into the FBI’s probe of Donald Trump and Russia in burn bags.

Patel said he could not comment on the case because it was ongoing.

“In general terms ... a burn bag is what you use to put classified documents into, generally, because that is literally how you destroy them,” he said.

Patel told The Epoch Times that “when the United States government and agency heads want things to disappear and want things to be buried and hidden, they know how to do it.”

“But what they didn’t count on was President Trump winning, him electing leadership across the United States government to say, ‘Go, find out how they corrupted and weaponized law enforcement,’ and that’s what we did—that’s what we’re doing; that’s how we found it, and we’re going to continue to expose it.”

Patel said the FBI is working with partners in Congress to release documents, including those relating to the Department of Justice investigation into Trump for alleged unlawful interference with the transfer of power after the 2020 election, which involved obtaining records from senators’ phones.

While investigations are ongoing, “we are going to have full accountability and we are going to have full transparency for the American public,” he said.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/29/2025 - 15:10

"Intense Solar Radiation" Corrupted A320 Flight Systems, Airbus Rushes Emergency Update

Airbus warned Friday that "intense solar radiation" may have corrupted critical flight data in an incident involving an A320 narrow-body aircraft. While the company did not disclose which flight was affected, it was likely last month's JetBlue Flight 1230, which suddenly dropped in altitude while en route from Newark to Cancun.

Airbus issued an Alert Operators Transmission to all airlines operating A320 Family aircraft, warning that an urgent fix is required.

The company believes this is the first time this specific problem has emerged in its fleet and says it has "proactively worked with aviation authorities… keeping safety as our number one and overriding priority," according to CNN.

"Airbus acknowledges these recommendations will lead to operational disruptions to passengers and customers," Airbus wrote in a statement. 

Airbus told CNN on Saturday that most of the narrow-body aircraft can be repaired in a matter of hours by simply reverting to the previous software. It said about 900 older aircraft would need more complicated fixes. 

Here's more from the report:

American Airlines has about 209 of the aircraft which need to be updated, less than the 340 it had earlier predicted, according to a statement from the airline.

. . .

Delta Air Lines said fewer than 50 of its A321neo aircraft will be impacted and the work should be complete by Saturday morning.

. . .

JetBlue, which operates a fleet mostly made up of A320 and A321 aircraft, did not say how many of their planes needed to be fixed, but told CNN in a statement it has already started repairs.

. . .

Southwest Airlines does not have any of the impacted aircraft. Meanwhile, in the Asia-Pacific, Jetstar Airways Australia, Air New Zealand, IndiGo and Air India Express have also taken precautionary measures. 

At cruising altitude, commercial jets are exposed to 100 to 300 times more solar radiation than at ground level, and a major solar storm can push that even higher.

High-energy particles can disrupt modern avionics processors, including corrupting memory or causing a logic error. While Airbus hasn't specified which exact flight systems were affected, here are the likely candidates:

• Flight Control Primary Computers (FCPCs)

• ADIRUs (Air Data & Inertial Reference Units)

• FADEC engine control

• Autopilot & flight director

• Fly-by-wire actuator command modules

Latest space weather events:

• Blue Origin Rocket Launch Halted After Earth Slammed By "Cannibal" CME

Airbus' warning is an unusual confirmation of space weather risk to the modern economy...

•  Solar Storms Can Devastate Entire Civilizations.

• The Next Big Geomagnetic Storm Poses An Astronomical Risk To Modern Man

... something we've warned about for years. 

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/29/2025 - 14:35

Trump Did It: Wasserman Schultz Accuses The President Of Causing The Shooting Of National Guard Members

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) has long performed a key role for many on the left. When there is an argument barred by decency or decorum, Wasserman Schultz is happy to make it, from attacking journalists in her defense of censorship to attempting to rig an election and bar Republicans from ballots as part of her defense of democracy. However, on Friday, the Florida representative set a new low in American politics: attempting to assign some of the blame for the shooting of two National Guardsmen on President Donald Trump.

On CNN’s “News Central,” Rep. Wasserman Schultz declared that

“This is a deeply concerning situation, but, you know, it’s one that I think we have to — it begs the question, would an individual have flown across the country to target law enforcement officers in Washington, D.C.? And, I mean, the answer is likely no. So why wasn‘t the president‘s first thought, ‘Wow, you know, maybe I should reconsider deploying military troops in the nation‘s capital or in any city?’ Particularly not when they haven‘t coordinated closely with the leadership of these cities and when we have law enforcement that are quite capable of handling the criminal justice issues that are — that we need law enforcement to focus on, and not our military.”

There is a good-faith debate over the deployment of National Guard personnel in cities. However, the mayor of Washington, D.C., has worked with the Administration on that deployment, and crime has fallen in the Capitol. They have been coordinating with the city.

Nevertheless, Wasserman Schultz pressed on:

“I just think, you know, the president looks everywhere except inward to blame his own policies. We need to make sure that we don‘t have our military deployed in our cities, doing — handling law enforcement responsibilities. And we need to make sure that we address gun violence. We certainly need to make sure we always have the proper and appropriate and tight, tight vetting processes, and those should be reviewed. But it‘s never the president‘s fault or his policies when it comes to his reaction, and it’s pretty disgusting.”

D.C. has some of the strongest gun control measures in the nation. Moreover, this is a crime committed with a handgun brought from another area with strong gun control, Washington State.

Wasserman Schultz is also assuming that it was the deployment that motivated the shooter, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national. Lakanwal entered the U.S. on September 8, 2021, under Operation Allies Welcome, a program established by former Democratic President Joe Biden after the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.

The father of slain Guardsman Staff Sgt. Darin “Taylor” Hoover blamed the “feckless Biden Administration” for the death of his daughter the day of Wasserman Schultz’s statement.

Wasserman Schultz, however, does not blame former President Biden for Lakanwal’s presence in the United States. (Lakanwal, a former member of a CIA unit in Afghanistan, was reportedly granted asylum under the Trump Administration in April).

Investigators are still working to discover the motive of Lakanwal for murdering one soldier and critically wounding another. However, Wasserman Schultz feels entirely comfortable in suggesting that it was the deployment of the Guard in cities over Democratic objections. Of course, a few other possibilities come to mind. First, it could be an act of religious-based terrorism. Second, it could be an act of mental illness. Third, it could be a personal grievance with the U.S. government.

Killing soldiers in the nation’s Capitol can be appealing for any of these motivations or a combination of motivations. It is not obvious that someone travels across the country because this is where you can find personnel on the streets. After all, there are also troops deployed in other states closer to Washington state. There are also large bases in Washington state where military personnel are present in large numbers in public areas.

A shooter with any of these motivations could view the location as amplifying his grievances against the government. Wasserman Schultz seems to suggest that Trump is responsible for making troops targets due to the controversial use of the Guard and supplying targets for a terrorist.

The most important point for Wasserman Schultz is a familiar one: Trump did it.

Yet, blaming the deployment is like blaming the Republican members for the mass shooting at the 2017 softball field. After all, if they had not made themselves targets, James T. Hodgkinson would not have gone there. Hodgkinson, a former Bernie Sanders supporter, hated Republicans and would have found another gathering to carry out his murderous plan. In the same way, Lakanwal may have been on the hunt for any soldiers as a symbol of the United States in the Capitol.

The point is that we do not know. The effort to use this tragedy for political purposes is to dishonor the victims and capitalize on their deaths. Few would feel comfortable getting into the head of a homicidal madman without any evidence or support. However, that appears to be a unique skill set for Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

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Tyler Durden Sat, 11/29/2025 - 12:50

Trump Declares Airspace Above Venezuela "To Be Closed In Its Entirety"

President Trump said on Saturday on X that the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela will "be closed in its entirety." 

"To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY. Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP," Trump wrote on X. 

To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY. Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2025

Earlier this month, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned pilots to "exercise caution" near Venezuela's airspace due to the "worsening security situation and heightened military activity.

The Pentagon has been deploying warships and other military assets in the Caribbean this year. The deployment centers around bolstering Hemispheric Defense, and the Trump administration has formally characterized Nicolás Maduro as the head of a terrorist organization and considers his government illegitimate. 

Joint Special Operations Command has ordered numerous airstrikes on speed boats carrying narcoterrorists. The intent is to stop drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narcoterrorists that are part of a sophisticated network pumping drugs into America, resulting in the drug death overdose crisis that kills 100,000 Americans per year - one that the Biden-Harris regime ignored by opening borders to the third world. 

On Friday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth dismissed fake news from corporate media about recent lethal kinetic strikes. 

Hegseth explained:

As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland.

As we've said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be "lethal, kinetic strikes." The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narcoterrorists who are poisoning the American people. Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.

The Biden administration preferred the kid gloves approach, allowing millions of people — including dangerous cartels and unvetted Afghans — to flood our communities with drugs and violence. The Trump administration has sealed the border and gone on offense against narcoterrorists. Biden coddled terrorists, we kill them.

Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict—and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command.

Our warriors in SOUTHCOM put their lives on the line every day to protect the Homeland from narcoterrorists — and I will ALWAYS have their back.

As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland.

As we’ve said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically…

— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) November 28, 2025

Hegseth followed the post with, "We have only just begun to kill narcoterrorists."

We have only just begun to kill narco-terrorists.

— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) November 28, 2025

What the U.S. airspace shutdown over Venezuela signals:

• Pressure Maduro into stepping down

• Or intent to collapse the Maduro regime

• Expectation of Russian/Iranian pushback

• Readiness to escalate militarily

Maduro and his circle would treat this as both an existential threat, and it remains to be seen how he would respond. We guess Trump's airspace announcement only suggests talks aren't going well.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/29/2025 - 12:15

What Is Unaffordable?

Authored by Richard Lyons via American Greatness,

The new Democrat Party’s appeal to the public these days is that the failure of a free enterprise system has made America unaffordable and that all Americans need government help! This sort of emergency plea to the public has been made before.

In order to make housing more affordable in the early 2000s, Fannie and Freddie Mac, US government mortgage guarantor companies, began pressuring mortgage lenders to widen their rules for mortgage lending, even to include NINJA loans—No Income, No Job, No Problem—for purchasing real estate properties; then Fannie and Freddie married that expansion with marketing Adjustable Rate Mortgages, which would float according to Federal Reserve rates.

The outcome was the real estate and stock market crash of 2008. Since then, between 2009 and 2016, the fed rate was kept arbitrarily low at .75%, which inflated real estate prices; from 2020 to 2022, the fed rate was pushed down again to .25%, with the result of further increasing the average home price from $220,900 in 2010 to $420,000 in 2024. At the same time, the Federal Reserve has pushed up interest rates to 5.5%, so the average American has to pay more and borrow at higher rates for real estate, thanks to the government’s interventions to make housing more affordable.

During the Obama presidency, there was a grand push to make a university education more affordable; that is when the whole student loan industry was taken over by the federal government. In 2010, the total US student loan debt was $772 billion; today, the total debt is $1.750 trillion.

The average student graduating today carries $30,000.00 in debt. The average price of a university education has risen from $20,000 in 2010 to $31,000 per year today, or 59% higher since the Democrat Party took over the US university financing system. The average college education costs $120,000 these days; that does not sound affordable. It sounds like every single student needs a loan…

In the mid-1960s, the Democrat Party dominated Washington, D.C., and as part of the Great Society, decided to make healthcare (you got it!) more affordable.

With that, Medicare was created at an initial cost of $3 billion in 1967. Since 1967, the cost of Medicare has increased 370X, to an annual cost to the taxpayers of $1.12 trillion per year. Medicaid began as a $1 billion program and has since increased to $909 billion per year today. Even with this government control and expenditure, the average cost per capita is $13,432 per year, compared to the average cost per capita of other developed nations of $7,393. Aren’t costs supposed to go down or remain stable when the government creates affordability?

Even with the government’s control and expenditure, by 2010, healthcare in America was still deemed “unaffordable” to the Democrat Party. In answer to the problem, the Obama administration created the Affordable Care Act, which went into effect in 2014. In 2013, the average consumer paid $232 for their monthly premium, with an average deductible of $2,425. Today, that same consumer must pay $621/month or $7,452/year while having $6,000 in deductibles. Premiums and deductibles are expected to increase by 25% again in 2026. The Affordable Care Act is becoming more unaffordable by the day.

In 2020, the Biden administration decided the Earth could not afford the use of fossil fuels any longer, so it began an all-out effort to strangle the fossil fuel industry through regulations and executive orders that made land leases and drilling unaffordable, giving rise to a 38% inflation spike in the costs of energy products.

Inflating the costs of energy affects literally everything in an economy that is produced, warehoused, or delivered: think of the factories and machines that do the manufacturing, the warehouse heating or cooling needed to store product, and the ships, trains, and trucks needed to get product to the stores, then what about the light, heat, and refrigeration… Strangling the energy sector of an economy creates a gusher of inflation affecting every single product from fruits and vegetables to meats and dairy. During Biden’s administration, inflation rose 20%.

An inflation rate of 20% also means that every person who had put away savings of $100,000 by 2020 was worth $80,000 by 2024.

Midway through Biden’s term, the administration passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which pushed trillions of dollars into green energy “investments” and expansions of healthcare payouts, none of which helped to reduce inflation.

It turned out to be just another Democrat act that neither the taxpayer nor the consumer could afford.

Now we have the new mayor of New York, claiming that socialist policies will make life more “affordable” by taking over rental properties, grocery stores, transportation lines, and utility companies.

The fact is, the Democrats create our nation’s unaffordability problems by advancing (quasi-socialist) government control of energy, healthcare, education, finance, and housing sectors. And then Democrats propose to solve the problems their policies create with the solution of the government taking the same sectors over entirely through socialism.

What has proven to be unaffordable for over half a century in this country is pseudo-socialism. Apparently, the Democrat Party believes in the aspiration of advancement through failure. We, as voters, need to let the Democrats know we understand and reject their policy failures.

What is no longer affordable are Democrat policies that pervert the virtuous American free enterprise system, which has been the cornerstone of this nation’s prosperity since its founding.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/29/2025 - 11:40

Bessent Set To Pull The Plug On Federal Benefits For Illegal Aliens

Under President Trump's direction, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is "working to cut off federal benefits to illegal aliens and preserve them for U.S. citizens." 

"Treasury announced that it will issue proposed regulations clarifying that the refunded portions of certain individual income tax benefits are no longer available to illegal and other non-qualified aliens, covering the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Additional Child Tax Credit, the American Opportunity Tax Credit, and the Saver’s Match Credit," Bessent wrote late afternoon on Friday. 

At @POTUS @realDonaldTrump's direction, we are working to cut off federal benefits to illegal aliens and preserve them for U.S. citizens.@USTreasury announced that it will issue proposed regulations clarifying that the refunded portions of certain individual income tax benefits… https://t.co/pn2MXoxDHC

— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) November 28, 2025

Bessent's move to cut federal benefits to illegal aliens comes hours after President Trump's lengthy X post that describes a national crisis driven by nation-killing open borders. Trump claims there are 53 million foreign-born residents, many of whom supposedly rely heavily on welfare and contribute to rising social dysfunction such as crime, school failures, hospital strain, housing shortages, and deficits. 

A very Happy Thanksgiving salutation to all of our Great American Citizens and Patriots who have been so nice in allowing our Country to be divided, disrupted, carved up, murdered, beaten, mugged, and laughed at, along with certain other foolish countries throughout the World,…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 28, 2025

"A migrant earning $30,000 with a green card will get roughly $50,000 in yearly benefits for their family. The real migrant population is much higher. This refugee burden is the leading cause of social dysfunction in America, something that did not exist after World War II (Failed schools, high crime, urban decay, overcrowded hospitals, housing shortages, and large deficits, etc.)," the president said. 

The failures of the Democratic Party are piling up, and the consequences are growing, spanning fraud, terrorism, and rising public outrage:

• Trump Ends TPS For Somalis In Minnesota After Explosive Report Reveals Welfare Fraud Network Funding Overseas Terror

• Trump Pushes 'Reverse Migration' As National Guard Member Dies Following Potential DC 'Terrorist' Attack

Don’t stop at cutting off funding to illegal aliens. It’s time for Bessent’s team to go after the dark-money billionaire-funded NGOs and leftist activist groups that helped facilitate the nation-killing migrant invasion. 

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Tyler Durden Sat, 11/29/2025 - 11:05

Europe's New Thought-Policing 'Chat Control' Legislation Nudges Forward

Authored by Christina Comben via CoinTelegraph.com,

Representatives of European Union member states reached an agreement on Wednesday in the Council of the EU to move forward with the controversial “Chat Control” child sexual abuse regulation, which paves the way for new rules targeting abusive child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on messaging apps and other online services.

“Every year, millions of files are shared that depict the sexual abuse of children… This is completely unacceptable. Therefore, I’m glad that the member states have finally agreed on a way forward that includes a number of obligations for providers of communication services,” said Danish Minister for Justice, Peter Hummelgaard.

The deal, which follows years of division and deadlock among member states and privacy groups, allows the legislative file to move into final talks with the European Parliament on when and how platforms can be required to scan user content for suspected child sexual abuse and grooming.

The existing CSAM framework is set to expire on April 3, 2026, and is on track to be replaced by the new legislation, pending detailed negotiations with European Parliament lawmakers.

EU Chat Control laws: What’s in and what’s out

The EU’s efforts to make scanning of private messages compulsory suffered a setback earlier this month, when mandated client-side scanning was removed from the latest proposal draft. Wording was also added to ensure that providers were not unduly burdened with detection obligations:

“Nothing in this Regulation should be understood as imposing any detection obligations on providers.”

In its latest draft, the EU Council keeps the core CSAM framework intact, but service providers would also have to cooperate with a newly established EU Centre on Child Sexual Abuse to support the implementation of the regulation.

While the latest EU Council text removes the explicit obligation of mandatory scanning of all private messages, the legal basis for “voluntary” CSAM detection is extended indefinitely.

A compromise that satisfies neither side

To end the Chat Control stalemate, a team of Danish negotiators in the Council had worked to remove the most contentious element: the blanket mandatory scanning requirement. Under previous provisions, end-to-end encrypted services like Signal and WhatsApp would have been required to systematically search users’ messages for illegal material.

Still, it’s a compromise that leaves both sides feeling shortchanged. Law enforcement officials warn that abusive content will still lurk in the corners of fully encrypted services, while digital rights groups argue that the deal still clears the way for broader monitoring of private communications and for mass surveillance, according to a Thursday Politico report.

Lead negotiator and chair of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs in the European Parliament, Javier Zarzalejos, urged both the Council and the Parliament to enter negotiations immediately. He stressed the importance of establishing a legislative framework to prevent and combat child sexual abuse online, while respecting encryption.

Source: Javier Zarzalejosj

“I am committed to work with all political groups, the Commission, and member states in the Council in the coming months in order to agree on a legally sound and balanced legislative text that contributes to effectively prevent and combating child sexual abuse online,” he said.

The Council celebrated the latest efforts to protect children from sexual abuse online; however, former Dutch Member of Parliament Rob Roos lambasted the Council for acting similarly to the “East German era, stripping 450 million EU citizens of their right to privacy.” He warned that Brussels was acting “behind closed doors,” and that “Europe risks sliding into digital authoritarianism.”

Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov pointed out that EU officials were exempt from having their messages monitored. He commented in a post on X, “The EU weaponizes people’s strong emotions about child protection to push mass surveillance and censorship. Their surveillance law proposals conveniently exempted EU officials from having their own messages scanned.”

Privacy on trial in broader global crackdown

The latest movement on Chat Control lands in the middle of a broader global crackdown on privacy tools. European regulators and law‑enforcement agencies have pushed high‑profile cases against crypto privacy projects like Tornado Cash, while US authorities have targeted developers linked to Samurai Wallet over alleged money‑laundering and sanctions violations, putting privacy‑preserving software into the crosshairs.

In response, Ethereum co‑founder Vitalik Buterin doubled down on the right to privacy as a core value. He donated 128 ETH each (about $760,000) to decentralized messaging projects Session and SimpleX Chat, arguing their importance in “preserving our digital privacy.”

Session president Alexander Linton told Cointelegraph that regulatory and technical developments are “threatening the future of private messaging,” while co-founder Chris McCabe said the challenge was now about raising global awareness.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/29/2025 - 10:30

Ukraine Releases Footage Of Kamikaze Drone Boats Striking Russian Shadow-Fleet Tankers

Two Russia-linked "shadow fleet" tankers suffered sequential strikes on Friday in Turkey's Black Sea waters.

Preliminary reporting from Turkish authorities indicates both incidents resulted from external interference, consistent with a mine, drone, missile, or unmanned surface vessel.

By Saturday morning, Visegrád 24 circulated new footage from Ukraine showing explosive-laden kamikaze drone boats striking both tankers at the stern, rendering the vessels inoperable.

"Ukraine released videos of its naval drones striking two Russian shadow-fleet oil tankers off the Turkish Black Sea coast yesterday. The tankers were supposed to pick up oil in the Russian port of Novorossiysk," Visegrád 24 wrote on X, posting accompanying footage showing both attacks.

BREAKING:

Ukraine releases videos of their naval drones striking 2 Russian shadow fleet oil tankers off the Turkish Black Sea coast yesterday.

The tankers were supposed to pick up oil in the Russian port of Novorossiysk. pic.twitter.com/z6JqiyUwRd

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) November 29, 2025

X account OSINTtechnical posted footage of tankers Kairos and Virat engulfed in fire.

Two Russian shadow fleet tankers were struck, and likely destroyed, north of the Bosporus while traveling to the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk today. pic.twitter.com/kSHjayydQq

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) November 28, 2025

According to the OpenSanctions database, both Kairos and Virat are part of the Russian shadow fleet of tankers that were slapped with hefty Western sanctions following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine and its Western allies have spent the past several years targeting Russia's oil and gas infrastructure with kamikaze aircraft and naval drones in an effort to pressure Moscow's finances. This campaign, accompanied by sanctions, has yet to financially collapse Russia.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Trump moved closer to outlining a fledgling peace plan to end the nearly four-year war, which has been little more than a meat grinder on both sides.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/29/2025 - 09:55

Brussels Bends The Knee: EU Signs Off On Deep Tariff Cuts For American Goods

Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

European Union (EU) countries have endorsed sweeping tariff cuts for American farm and manufactured products, adopting negotiating mandates that move the bloc closer to eliminating all remaining duties on U.S. industrial goods and opening new preferential access for a broad range of American agricultural exports.

European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on July 16, 2025. Yves Herman /Reuters

The decision by the European Council, announced on Nov. 28, clears the way for talks with the European Parliament on two regulations that implement the tariff elements of the Aug. 21 EU–U.S. Joint Statement—an accord that aims to stabilize transatlantic trade ties, reduce tensions, and rebalance two-way commerce amid lingering disputes over metals, tariffs, and digital-sector rules.

The first regulation would zero out the EU’s remaining customs duties on U.S. industrial goods and establish new tariff-rate quotas and reduced tariffs for U.S. seafood and non-sensitive agricultural products, including a host of items identified in the joint statement—tree nuts, dairy, fruits and vegetables, processed foods, soybean oil, pork, bison meat, and planting seeds.

The second regulation would extend the bloc’s five-year duty suspension on live and frozen lobster past the July 2025 expiration date—and widen the scope to include processed lobster.

EU officials described the package as a major step toward restoring “stability and predictability” to the EU–U.S. trade relationship that accounts for 30 percent of global trade and roughly $2 trillion in goods and services annually, with mutual investment totaling $5.4 trillion in 2023.

The European Council’s Friday decision to endorse the two regulations comes in response to a late-August proposal by the European Commission to slash tariffs on U.S. industrial goods and extend preferential access for American seafood and non-sensitive agricultural products as required under the Aug. 21 trade deal.

Stronger Safeguards for Sensitive EU Sectors

While largely backing the European Commission’s proposal, EU governments added new protections for vulnerable domestic producers. The Council inserted a strengthened bilateral safeguard mechanism allowing the EU to respond quickly to import surges or evidence of injury caused by the expanded market access granted to U.S. exporters.

It also clarified rules-of-origin provisions to ease implementation and called on the commission to monitor the economic effects of the trade liberalization measures, with a report due by the end of 2028.

The lobster regulation passed without changes.

With the mandates now adopted, the EU will enter trilogue negotiations with the European Parliament, aiming for a final deal possibly early next year, reflecting Washington’s push for swift implementation of the August pact after months of friction over digital rules, metals tariffs, and a series of threatened U.S. duties on trucks, critical minerals, planes, and wind turbines.

The tariff moves are part of a broader realignment mapped out in the August agreement, a document officials on both sides have described as the most ambitious reset in EU–U.S. trade ties in two decades. Under the deal, the EU committed to eliminating all tariffs on U.S. industrial goods, expanding agricultural and seafood access, and extending the 2020 lobster agreement—while the United States set a 15 percent ceiling on most tariffs applied to EU goods.

Washington also agreed to roll back “Section 232” duties on EU autos and parts once the EU introduced its legislative proposals; reduce tariff exposure for items such as aircraft, cork, and generic pharmaceuticals; and limit Section 232 tariffs on sectors including pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and lumber.

The U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum—set at 50 percent—remain unchanged, though both sides have pledged to explore joint solutions to global steel overcapacity, including possible tariff-rate quotas.

The framework also extends beyond tariffs, covering digital trade, non-tariff barriers, energy supply, critical minerals, defense procurement, and standards cooperation. The EU has committed to purchase $750 billion in U.S. natural gas, oil, and nuclear products through 2028, plus at least $40 billion in U.S.-made AI chips for European computing centers. EU companies also plan to invest another $600 billion in the United States through 2028.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/29/2025 - 09:20

Ukrainian Prosecutors Handling More Than 300,000 Desertion Cases

Authored by Andrew Corbley via AntiWar.com,

A Ukrainian MP recently made an unsubstantiated claim that there were 400,000 open and ongoing cases of desertion from the Ukrainian military since the invasion by the Russian Federation in 2022. It may have been hyperbole, or they may have had a source in the judiciary.

However, the General Prosecutor’s office wrote to the New Voice of Ukraine in early November that 310,000 criminal cases related to unauthorized absence from a military unit or place of service (AWOL) and desertion are currently registered, 162,000 of which came just this year. There have been over 21,000 desertions in October 2025 alone, claims journalist and former lawmaker Ihor Lutsenko – now commander of a Ukrainian drone unit.

"This is a record. A very bad record. Every two minutes, someone runs away from our army. By the time you finish reading this post, another soldier will have put on skis. Ukraine will be weaker by one defender, and the enemy will become stronger by one," he wrote, according to the New Voice. He stressed that these are just official figures, and that the real number is only likely to be higher.

File image, via War on the Rocks

Suddenly, the widely dismissed total of 400,000 doesn’t seem impossible, and if a Ukrainian soldier downs his tools every 2 minutes, it leaves quite a lot of time for 400,000 to be reached by the end of the year.

The news comes as a 28-point plan for a lasting peace (later condensed to 19 points) in Ukraine was recently proposed by the Trump Administration in an effort to capitalize on talks with Vladimir Putin held during a summit in Alaska, and to bring the Ukrainians back to the table. Both Putin and his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have admitted that within the proposed plan points lies the framework discussed between the leaders in Anchorage without actually endorsing it. Both also acknowledged the "long pause" between the summit and the completion of this new document.

On the other hand, Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev told Axios, that published a full version of the agreement last Thursday, that he was "optimistic" and that "we feel the Russian position is really being heard".

Military analysts skeptical of the Ukrainian army’s ability to withstand Russia for much longer have said that Russia will never agree to the US plan; they apparently include existing deal-breakers, and new demands including that Russia and Ukraine must implement tolerance and anti-racism education programs towards other nations and ethnic groups. The plan would give Ukraine a security guarantee akin to NATO membership, while also barring through constitutional amendment an attempt by Ukraine to join NATO.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could visit Trump at the White House in the next few days "to complete final steps and make a deal," according to Ukraine’s national security chief. Meanwhile, US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll was recently in talks with Russian officials in Abu Dhabi.

One of the initial 28 points states that the Ukrainian armed forces must be limited to 600,000 soldiers, and Axios claimed the current strength to be 800,000, citing official sources. Ukrainian war correspondent Yuri Butusov put the number of Ukrainian war dead at 70,000 at the end of 2024 based on public notifications to next of kin. Conflicts of a similar nature to this have produced a 1-3 wounded-killed ratio, so it’s reasonable to assume some 300,000 killed and wounded since the start of the war.

If a number greater than 310,000 and lower than 400,000 have already fled, and 300,000 have become casualties, the idea that Ukraine maintains an 800,000-man army beggar's belief.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/29/2025 - 08:10

France Launches New Military Service Plan To Counter Supposed Russian Menace

Amid persistent confrontationalist rhetoric and determination to prolong the West's proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday announced a new avenue of voluntary military service for 18- and 19-year olds with the goal of gradually bolstering both active duty and reserve strength. In a critical sweetener for would-be recruits who are wary of dying in Ukraine, those who enlist under the new program will only serve in the French mainland and French territories abroad.   

Macron announced the new voluntary service plan for 18- and 19-year-olds at the the Varces military base in the French Alps (Thomas Padilla, Pool Photo)

“A new national service is set to be gradually established, starting from next summer,” said Macron in a speech delivered at the Varces military base in the French Alps. Under the program, the 18- and 19-year-old volunteers will receive a month of training, followed by nine months of service in a unit. After that, they'll be assigned to a reserve unit with the idea that they'd start a civilian career or take the next step in their education. The scheme will go live next summer with an initial round of 3,000 young volunteers, ramping up to 10,000 by 2030 and 50,000 a year by 2035.  France hasn't drafted soldiers since 1996, and Macron says there's no intention to restart conscription. 

When discussing the new service scheme, Macron has also stressed that he isn't creating a conveyor belt that will carry French troops into Russia's Ukraine meat grinder. “We must, in any case, immediately dispel any confusion that we are going to send our young people to Ukraine,” Macron said earlier this week. “That’s not at all what this is about.”

Recruits into the new program will be assured they'll serve only in mainland France and overseas territories, unlike these French troops in Afghanistan in 2008 

The move comes as French and other European leaders are claiming Russia may be on course to attack NATO countries in the not-too-distant future. “Unfortunately, Russia today, based on the information I have access to, is preparing for a confrontation with our countries by 2030," said French army Chief of Staff Fabien Mandon last week. "It is organizing itself for this, it is preparing for this, and it is convinced that its existential enemy is NATO.” Similarly, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Tuesday wrote, "Putin eyes the EU and NATO. Our intelligence services are issuing urgent warnings: at the very least, Russia is creating the option for itself to wage war against NATO by 2029." 

“It’s good, it’s a difficult path,” Retired Gen. Jean-Paul Paloméros, a former head of the French Air Force, told AP, referring to the fact that training and equipping the new troops would require higher spending and create new demands on existing resources. “But nevertheless I think it was needed somewhere to make sure that the young generations understand that freedom and peace are not taken for granted and it doesn’t come as a free lunch.”

President Macron, pictured here in a 2018 visit to the French Caribbean island of Saint-Martin, says the new troops won't be sent to Ukraine (Reuters via BBC)

The French move is part of rising militarism across NATO's European member states. Poland has started its own voluntary service program, with a goal of training 100,000 service members a year starting in 2027. Earlier this month, we covered Germany's moves toward potentially reinstating military conscription, which the country abandoned in 2011. The initial steps center on mandatory questionnaires and medical exams that will feed a database detailing each young man's fitness, aptitude and willingness to serve. 

Promoting the new French avenue of military service, Macron stoked fears that Russia is keen on marching into Paris. “The day that you send a signal of weakness to Russia — which for 10 years has made a strategic choice to become an imperial power again, that’s to say advance wherever we are weak — well, it will continue to advance,” Macron told RTL last week. As is the standard for leaders of NATO countries, Macron's rhetoric is pure gaslighting, as NATO's own empire-building set the stage for the ongoing war in Ukraine.  

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/29/2025 - 07:50

Katy Perry Gets $2 Million After Suing Dying 85-Year-Old Veteran Over Real Estate Dispute

Pop superstar Katy Perry has won $2 million in a protracted property battle by filing a lawsuit against 85-year-old Army veteran Carl Westcott, who is now bedridden with Huntington's disease and receiving hospice care.

Perry's legal action, detailed in court filings reviewed by the New York Post, sought more than $8 million in damages from Westcott, including $3.25 million for lost rental income during the litigation, $2.2 million for property renovations and $3 million in attorney fees. The dispute centers on an eight-bedroom estate in the celebrity enclave of Montecito, where Perry and her then-boyfriend, actor Orlando Bloom, acquired the property in July 2020 for $15 million.

Perry and Bloom penned a personal note to Westcott imploring him to accept their bid.

"We're expecting a baby next month and think this home is the perfect place to welcome her," the couple wrote, according to court documents. Days after signing, Westcott, then 81 and recovering from back surgery on pain medication, attempted to rescind the deal, claiming diminished mental capacity. Westcott's condition has deteriorated sharply since, with the neurodegenerative Huntington's disease eroding his cognitive functions and confining him to bed.

His son, Court Westcott, blamed the stress of the litigation for accelerating his father's decline, saying the case has "devastated his health and spirit.” However, a Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge rejected that argument in 2023, ruling that Westcott failed to substantiate his incapacity.

Perry's legal team further alleged that Westcott had entertained a competing offer from Maria Shriver, the former wife of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Ruling in her favor, LA County Superior Court Judge Joseph Lipner awarded Perry $2.8 million for lost rental value and $260,000 for repair of water damage and fallen trees - but deducted $1 million from the total award because he said Perry could have invested her money elsewhere, while Westcott lost interest on the same amount. 

“The optics of a millionaire pop star demanding hefty damages from a very ill man are terrible,” PR strategist Abesi Manyando told The Telegraph. “This isn’t just a lawsuit, it’s now a David and Goliath narrative – a global superstar with wealth, legal resources and leverage versus an elderly, declining veteran who already lost his home. And that dynamic carries emotional weight.”

It is not the first time Perry has been embroiled in a high-profile legal fight involving real estate. In 2018, Sister Catherine Rose Holzman, an 89-year-old nun, collapsed and died in a Los Angeles courtroom during a hearing tied to Perry’s attempted purchase of a former convent from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The nuns had opposed the sale to the singer, arguing the property belonged to their order; Holzman’s last public words before her fatal collapse were directed at Perry were, “To Katy Perry, please stop.”

Perry, a prominent Democrat supporter who performed at President Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration and campaigned for Vice President and failed presidential candidate Kamala Harris in 2024, has recently been linked romantically to former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Tyler Durden Fri, 11/28/2025 - 21:30

Israeli Forces Accused Of Executing Unarmed Palestinians After They Surrendered

Members of the Israeli border police have been accused of executing two unarmed Palestinian men after they surrendered in the West Bank town of Jenin.

In the incident from Thursday caught on camera, two men can be seen emerging from a doorway of what appears to be a warehouse, lifting their shirts, before they were shot dead by the Israelis. 

Two Palestinians were executed in Jenin after surrendering. None of the other soldiers flinched. Business as usual. The IDF rushed to announce an investigation, of course, it was caught on camera. pic.twitter.com/TrvaOfJQqV

— Breaking the Silence (@BtSIsrael) November 27, 2025

The IDF says that the incident is under "review" - but claims that the two men were terrorists who had attacked them earlier. After gathering their bodies, the IDF says that the men were identified as Mahmoud Qassem Abdallah, 26, and Youssef Asasa, 37, and were "wanted individuals who had carried out terror activities, including hurling explosives and firing at security forces." 

Mohamad Torokman/Reuters

"The forces entered the area, enclosed the structure in which the suspects were located and initiated a surrender procedure that lasted several hours," an IDF spokesman told the Telegraph. "Following the use of engineering tools on the structure, the two suspects exited.

"Following their exit, fire was directed toward the suspects. The incident is under review by the commanders on the ground and will be transferred to the relevant professional bodies."

Mohamad Torokman/Reuters

IDF chief of staff Gen Eyal Zamier has ordered an investigation into the incident, while a joint IDF and police statement claims that the pair were holed up in the building in an hours-long "surrender procedure." 

Meanwhile, IDF-operated Israeli Army Radio reported that the men were shot dead after disobeying instructions.

"When the terrorists came out, we began to carry out security checks on them," the officers allegedly said. "We did not know if they were carrying weapons or explosives.

"We began instructing them what to do for their own safety but the terrorists acted contrary to the instructions they received. At a certain point, one of the terrorists decided to enter the building contrary to the instructions, and the second terrorist followed him, so both were shot."

The Palestinian Authority has described the killings as a "deliberate Israeli war crime."

"Israeli occupation forces executed two young Palestinians in Jenin in cold blood, even after they had turned themselves in," a spokesman said. "An outright extrajudicial killing in blatant violation of international humanitarian law."

Israel soldiers at the scene after the shooting. Credit...Mohamad Torokman/Reuters

Members of Israel's own media have criticized the incident - with Haaretz correspondent Nir Hasson saying "There is no universe in which this is not murder."

Haaretz itself cited an insider who said the officers opened fire after one of the Palestinians made an unexpected movement, which is clearly bullshit.

"One of them, while on the ground, tried to get up and made a suspicious movement and therefore the fighters decided to fire at him," the source said. 

Israeli security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir supported the police, saying "Lending full backing to the border police and IDF troops who shot at wanted terrorists who were coming out of a building in Jenin," adding "The troops acted precisely as is expected of them – terrorists have to die."

Tyler Durden Fri, 11/28/2025 - 20:20

Starbucks Workers' Strike Expands To 83 Cities On Black Friday

Authored by Mary Prenon via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Black Friday shoppers looking forward to a pumpkin spice latte or caramel frappuccino break may be out of luck depending on where they live. A Nov. 28 Starbucks Workers United statement revealed that 2,500 Starbucks union baristas at 120 Starbucks in 85 U.S. cities joined the picket lines against the coffee superstar.

Starbucks workers walk a picket line as they go on strike outside a Starbucks store in the Brooklyn borough in New York City on Nov. 13, 2025. According to the Starbucks Workers United (SWU), the union representing the workers, more than 1,000 Starbucks workers have gone on strike at about 65 stores across the country. Union members state that Starbucks failed to make new proposals on issues like staffing and pay since the labor group rejected a company offer in April. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Known as the Red Cup Rebellion, the strike began on Nov. 13 and expanded on Nov. 20 to 65 cities.

Baristas are protesting more than 700 unresolved “unfair labor practice” (ULP) charges and are demanding a “fair first union contract.” This includes more than 200 ULP charges protesting the retaliatory firing of union baristas. In addition, the group claims Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol is involved in “pervasive union busting.”

“It’s time for Brian Niccol and Starbucks executives to stop stalling and cut the excuses,” Michelle Eisen, Starbucks Workers United spokesperson and barista of 15 years, said in the statement. “We need real solutions that address our basic demands and the hundreds of labor law violations that remain outstanding. The ball is in their court.”

Cities where union stores have joined the ongoing and open-ended ULP strike include Los Angeles; New York City; Seattle; Memphis, Tennessee; Ann Arbor, Michigan; St. Louis; South Salt Lake, Utah; Richmond, Virginia; Dallas; Madison, Wisconsin; and many others.

The union’s three top demands are higher take-home pay, better hours, and a resolution of hundreds of outstanding ULP charges for alleged union busting, as stated in the union’s interested parties memo earlier this month.

The memo reports that the starting wage for an average barista is $15.25 in 33 states and that many are not receiving the full hours they request.

“The average barista doesn’t make a livable wage,” the memo states. “Between low wages and insufficient hours, too many baristas are barely getting by.”

The memo also notes that many Starbucks employees are forced to rely on the federal government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid to make ends meet.

In addition, the memo claims that the average barista works less than 20 hours per week, which is below the cut-off for health benefits. As a result, the union contends, stores are often understaffed, leading to longer customer wait times.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Starbucks for comment.

Meanwhile, Eisen shared that the 11,000 Starbucks Workers United baristas across the country are prepared to continue to push for a contract and that they are backed by thousands of allies and supporters.

As of Nov. 28, the union reported that more than 125,000 people have signed the “No Contract, No Coffee” pledge to avoid buying Starbucks while baristas strike.

Tyler Durden Fri, 11/28/2025 - 19:45

"We Are Everywhere" - Fort Bragg Psychological Warfare Group Posts Chilling Video

Authored by Mark Price via Military.com,

A secretive Fort Bragg operation that specializes in influencing people’s thoughts has released a hypnotic recruitment video that is laced with hidden meanings and strange images.

Known as the 4th Psychological Operations-Airborne, or 4th PSYOP, the group specializes in “using the power of the mind to persuade opinion and discourse” among the nation’s enemies.

The 1:17-second clip, posted Nov. 19 on social media, is a string of baffling clips, including old cartoons, masked figures hiding in plain sight and a group of people staring blankly at the viewer over the phrase: “We are everywhere.”

“There is another force applied in combat that we generally don’t think of as a weapon of war. That weapon is words,” the video says.

“Words are weapons... This is psychological warfare.”

The video then beckons: “Join PSYOP.”

As of Nov. 26, the video has racked up more than 15,000 views on Facebook and hundreds of comments and reactions, many noting it “goes hard” with subliminal messages.

Among the surprises found, references to conspiracy theories, the “Ghost Army” that deceived the Nazi generals in WWII and the popular Pepe the Frog GIF shows up in a clown suit. At one point, the phrase “anything we touch is a weapon” flashes and fades.

“Watch it over and over again. Great little nuggets of information for us,” Nidia Law posted on Facebook.

“A lot of crumb drops in this one,” TheJason wrote on Instagram.

“I think y’all have so much fun at work! Would love to be on the other side of this ‘fog show’,” Leigh Eschew said on Instagram.

The U.S. Army noted in a 2024 article that the ideal candidate for psychological operations is “very cerebral and analytical,” which means different types of recruitment methods are required. The group’s recruitment videos are infrequent and tend to cause a stir due to the unusual content.

“The art of PSYOP relies on persuasion rather than physical force. The tools of the trade are logic, fear, desire and other mental factors used to evoke specific emotions, attitudes and behaviors,” according to a U.S. Army report. “The ultimate objective is to persuade enemy, neutral and friendly nations and forces to take favorable actions toward the U.S. and its allies.”

The 4th PSYOP is often referred to as “the ghost in the machine,” because its operations are seldom publicized.

It is based out of Fort Bragg – one of the largest military complexes in the world – and home of the 82nd Airborne and U.S. Army Special Operations Command. The fort covers about 251-square miles is about a 65-mile drive south from downtown Raleigh.

“PSYOP soldiers help ensure decision-makers, partners, and populations receive the right message at the right time. Quiet professionals. Global impact,” the 1st Special Forces Command-Airborne wrote in a post that shared the recruitment video.

*  *  * BLACK FRIDAY SALE AT ZeroHedge Store!

Tyler Durden Fri, 11/28/2025 - 18:35

Trump Moves To "Terminate" All Of Biden's Autopen'd Orders

Discussions about the topic of former President Biden's increasing use of autopen during his demantia-ridden term have grown louder in recent months amid whistleblowers, reports, and legal challenges.

May - Biden Autopen Use Increased As Cognitive Decline Deepened, Analysis Finds

Sep - Top Biden Aide Releases Kraken On Autopen, Hunter's Role In Pardongate, And Joe's Malfunctioning Brain

Oct - House Oversight Committee Says Biden Autopen Pardons Are Null And Void

and most recently:

Nov - Timeline: The Autopen Debate

And it appears that all of this has finally triggered President Trump into action, writing on TruthSocial that:

"Any document signed by Sleepy Joe Biden with the Autopen, which was approximately 92% of them, is hereby terminated, and of no further force or effect."

Trump went on to explain his reasoning:

"The Autopen is not allowed to be used if approval is not specifically given by the President of the United States.

The Radical Left Lunatics circling Biden around the beautiful Resolute Desk in the Oval Office took the Presidency away from him.

I am hereby cancelling all Executive Orders, and anything else that was not directly signed by Crooked Joe Biden, because the people who operated the Autopen did so illegally.

Trump had one more threat:

"Joe Biden was not involved in the Autopen process and, if he says he was, he will be brought up on charges of perjury.

Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

Finally, of course, we have absolutely no idea how any of what President Trump just wrote is legal (or constitutional), or will we just be stuck circling seven levels of appeal court hell in the American 'so-called' justice system? ...until it's all moot anyway (and Fauci is long gone).

Tyler Durden Fri, 11/28/2025 - 15:30

Wall Street Warns Of A Deepening Oil Glut In 2026

Authored by Charles Kennedy via OilPrice.com,

• Reuters’ monthly poll shows analysts expect WTI to average $59 in 2026 and Brent $62.23 amid persistent oversupply.

• Executives warn U.S. shale will stagnate or decline if WTI stays in the $50–$60 range.

• Goldman Sachs forecasts even lower prices and says the oil market won’t rebalance until 2027 after a final major supply wave.

Oversupplied markets will keep oil prices under pressure next year, and the U.S. benchmark will average below $60 per barrel, the monthly Reuters poll of analysts and economists showed on Friday.

The U.S. benchmark, WTI Crude, is expected to average $59 per barrel in 2026, according to the poll of 35 analysts and economists. That’s lower compared to the $60.23 per barrel forecast in last month’s survey.

The analysts expect Brent Crude, the international benchmark, to average $62.23 per barrel next year, down from $63.15 forecast in the Reuters poll in October.

Most experts cited rising supply from both OPEC+ and non-OPEC+ as the key bearish factor for oil prices next year. But lingering geopolitical risks could put a floor under prices, the analysts reckon. 

At the current price of WTI oil, shale will stagnate or start to decline, industry executives say, while shale producers look to do more with less by raising efficiency in production and capital allocation.

Ryan Lance, chairman and CEO of ConocoPhillips, said that “At $60-$65 a barrel WTI oil prices, the US is probably plateau-ish.”

“But if prices stay at $60 or go into the $50s, you probably are plateauing or slightly declining,” the executive added.  

Earlier this month, Goldman Sachs said that oil prices are set to further drop into next year from current levels amid a large surplus on the market, with WTI Crude expected to average $53 per barrel in 2026.  

The oil market is set to rebalance in 2027 as 2026 will see “the last big oil supply wave the market has to work through,” Daan Struyven, co-head of global commodities research at Goldman Sachs, told CNBC last week. 

In the long term, supply growth will mostly come from OPEC, which has spare capacity and is investing in capacity expansion, according to Struyven.

Some modest growth could come from the U.S. shale patch, but this would require Brent at around $80 per barrel or so toward the end of the decade, according to Goldman Sachs.

Tyler Durden Fri, 11/28/2025 - 14:30

Coup-Coup Birds: The DC Blob Is Cornered

Authored by James Howard Kunstler,

“Literally everything the left did, every line they crossed and rule they broke, all came back to slap them in the face.”

- Insurrection Barbie on “X”

Indeed, you have a lot to be thankful for this week of humble national gratitude — for instance, the explosive new revelations as to just exactly how US elections have been rigged, and how, it now appears, Mr. Trump and his people, are prepared to go mad-dog on the sinister forces behind it.

It all unspooled this Thanksgiving week, which is always a kind of a time-out from the urgent realities of the moment. And yet, while you basted your turkey (not a good practice by the way, but that’s another matter), rumors of a mysterious coup (as in coup d’é·tat) were flying all over alt media and social media.

Something or someone (a bunch of someones) have got a very dark op underway, the rumor goes. . . fault lines are opening in the US government. . . we’re in a danger zone.

This supposedly was behind last week’s “Seditionist Six” prank, the slickly produced video arranged by Senator (former CIA official) Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and sidekick Sen. Mark (“the Astronaut”) Kelly (D-AZ) advising US military personnel about the option to disobey “illegal orders” from the command structure (that is, from President Trump on down). What illegal orders? They did not specify. . . suggesting, perhaps, orders that had not yet been issued, for an emergency as yet also unspecified.

Accept, for now, the uncomfortable fact that our country has entered a miasma of uncertainty.

That is, you don’t know what’s going on. . . but something surely is going on, and it seems sort of, I dunno, momentous. . . something with the odor and flavor of a. . .“color revolution.”

By the way, everybody’s attention got focused instantly the night before Thanksgiving when one Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan brought to to the US with the 2021 Afghanistan evacuation under Operation Allies Welcome, ambushed two National Guard troops a few blocks from the White House. Specialist Sarah M. Beckstrom, age 24, died from a head wound and Staff Sgt. Andrew J. Wolfe, age 31, remains hospitalized. There was nothing else on the TV news that night except the shooting.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, turns out, had worked for nine years as a GPS tracker specialist in Unit 03 of the Kandahar Strike Force (aka “Scorpion Forces”), initially under CIA oversight via its Special Activities Division, with some JSOC training, before transitioning to Afghan intelligence. In other words, he was not just some mook with a donkey. He had lately been taken in by a sympathetic American family in Bellingham, WA — a roughly three-thousand-mile journey to Washington DC — where he did his deed. If he flew on an airplane to get there, just how did he manage to smuggle a handgun through airport security? Or did someone, maybe, give him one on arrival in DC? Was he still, one way or another, in the employ of the CIA? I guess we’ll find out.

Now, with the nation’s attention split this week between the DC ambush story and the culinary difficulties of Thanksgiving, the election fraud story unspooled in alt media.

Surprise, surprise! Turns out to be our auld acquaintance, the Kraken? Remember that monster? Eminent DC attorney Sidney Powell, had conniptions over the Kraken in the months after the 2020 election that ushered senile (let’s just say it) “Joe Biden” into the Oval Office for four disastrous years. (After which, Sidney Powell was methodically defamed and prosecuted by mysterious forces.)

Ms. Powell threatened to “release the Kraken,” meaning: a malign combine out of Venezuela had managed to foist Dominion vote tabulation machines all over the USA, but especially in swing vote states, along with Smartmatic software. And all this janky machinery was connected by the Internet through Serbia to the CCP, or something like that. And that this machinery, plus massive voter fraud operations run by Lawfare ninjas Norm Eisen, Marc Elias, and Mary McCord, with help from Mark Zuckerberg’s $400-million Center for Tech and Civic Life org, prestidigitated millions of extra votes needed to push “Joe Biden” into the winner’s circle.

Those of you who stayed up late the November night in 2020 also probably witnessed some impressive magic tricks in the election returns — for instance, the mom-and-daughter team of Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss pulling a switcheroo in the Fulton County (Atlanta) election HQ, captured on closed-circuit TV, while vote-counting was shut down for several hours due to a “broken toilet”...

Fulton County, GA, Election HQ, Nov 3, 2020 — the Night of the Broken Toilet.

...and the wondrous vote flipperooski in Michigan...

Michigan Vote Flipperooski, Election Night, 2020

...and the panel trucks delivering bales of extra ballots in the wee hours of morning to the main Philadelphia election HQ...

...and presto-change-o, you got a senile president.

This voter fraud business is evidently a global operation, involving elections in many other countries over several election cycles, carried out by a broad network of NGOs and government agencies, such as the now dismantled USAID, which acted as a money-laundering service for all these ops. A good place to start your own research is independent reporter Emerald Robinson’s “X” account.

Mr. Trump, for one, has always been adamant that the 2020 election was a fraud, but it has taken all year, apparently, to convince White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles that this is so, and now, we’re told, Mr. Trump is about to go after the perps. The hard evidence is there, rumor has it, the receipts, and that is why the Democratic Party is freaking out...

...including that “Seditionist Six” message about refusing orders from the Commander-in-Chief.

The kernel of all this (maybe paranoid, maybe not) is that the DC blob is cornered and that its only hope to escape prosecution, punishment, loss of power and perqs, and possible extinction, is to pull off a coup to bum-rush Mr. Trump out of office by main force.

Meaning, our country might be at war with itself right now. Are perp walks in the offing?

*  *  * BLACK FRIDAY IS HERE

Tyler Durden Fri, 11/28/2025 - 13:30