This is a very long and well researched article. Here a few excerpts...
[City Journal] It’s 5 a.m. in Napa Valley and the field workers have been picking grapes for an hour. Floodlights illuminate the pitch darkness, bringing to life the vines running up and down the sloping hillside. Off in the distance, a tractor rumbles, pulling a small trailer filled with plastic buckets that will soon be filled with grapes. Spanish chatter fills the air as the workers’ hands move in quick, practiced motions. They work at night to escape the heat. It’s cold enough now that their breath is visible, hanging like smoke before dissipating in the predawn darkness.
During harvest season in the Napa Valley, similar scenes play out at vineyard after vineyard, night after night. Entire fields picked clean, one vine at a time, bringing $11 billion to the local economy every year. The grapes picked at this particular field, on this particular morning, are sweet to the taste, and will soon be crushed to make Cabernet Sauvignon, the full-bodied red wine for which the region is known.
Nearby, in Pope Valley, sits the Oso Vineyard, a sprawling, 129-acre site featuring Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Petite Sirah, and Petit Verdot grapes. In 2022, the PlumpJack Collection of Wineries—part of the wine and hospitality business founded by California Governor Gavin Newsom—purchased Oso for $14.5 million.
Newsom did not divest his financial stake in PlumpJack when he was elected governor. Between 2019 and 2024, tax returns for him and his wife show at least $11 million in income, most of it coming from wineries, restaurants, and other investments.
For years, Newsom’s business has contracted the services of a vineyard management company with a long history of employing illegal labor. And as governor, Newsom has leveraged tax dollars to facilitate the presence of illegal immigrants in California, which, in turn, helps prop up the struggling Napa wine industry from which he profits.
In the early 1960s, as the Napa wine boom was taking off, Salvador Renteria arrived in the valley on a Greyhound bus. An illegal immigrant from the Mexican state of Jalisco, Renteria began working as a vineyard laborer in 1964, before a series of promotions led him to the ranks of management. In 1987, he struck out on his own and founded Renteria Vineyard Management (RVM), now one of the largest vineyard management companies in Napa Valley.
In 1995, Salvador’s son, Oscar, took over the family business. Oscar had begun working the fields at age 11. Now, under his stewardship, RVM manages more than "2,200 acres and employ[s] 80 full-time and up to 400 seasonal workers." The Napa Valley Grapegrowers recently named Oscar Renteria its Grower of the Year.
PlumpJack contracts RVM to manage its field operations at the property. A PlumpJack website identifies Oscar Renteria as Oso’s "long-time vineyard manager." RVM’s website lists CADE Estate Winery as one of its active clients, which has sourced a significant percentage of its grapes from the Oso property. We contacted PlumpJack and RVM, neither of whom disputed the existence of such a contract.
During multiple reporting trips to Napa, we spoke with industry sources. They told us that the region’s field workers are primarily composed of two categories: those who live in the region (many of whom are illegal immigrants), and those brought to the country under the federal H-2A visa program. The H-2A program allows employers to recruit "nonimmigrant foreign workers to the U.S. to perform agricultural labor or services of a temporary or seasonal nature."
We downloaded a trove of Department of Labor data. Given the files’ size—one of the spreadsheets had more than 400,000 entries—we fed them into two different large language models. We asked the systems to search for H-2A applications associated with RVM and Newsom’s wineries, either directly or through third-party contractors.
At first, Newsom’s Oso vineyard seems to have had a paper trail. PlumpJack bought the Oso Vineyard from Michael Mondavi Family Estate in August 2022. Three H-2A cases appear to have listed Oso as a worksite in 2022, and two more did so in 2023. A company named "Mendoza Bros. Harvesting" appears to have filed both 2023 applications under a worksite named "New Piña Vineyard Management." How this relates to Renteria’s status as the site’s "long-time" manager is unclear.
Later, however, the trail seems to disappear. After 2023, the systems found no further H-2A worksite listings for Oso. We found no application naming RVM or PlumpJack as the employer and no worksite listings matching the names or known addresses of PlumpJack’s other Napa estates.
Since RVM does not appear to source its large seasonal workforce from the H-2A program, it likely hires workers living in the region. Research papers from the Migration Policy Institute, a left-wing think tank, estimate that between one-quarter and one-third of Napa’s overall immigrant population is "unauthorized," including 27 percent of the workers in the agricultural sector. But according to multiple industry sources in Napa, the real percentage of illegals working in the vineyards is considerably higher.
"I think it’s 80 percent," said the owner of a vineyard management company, who spoke to us on the condition of anonymity. "If you’re legal, you have your Green Card, you have your driver’s license and all these things, you don’t want to be working in the vineyards."
Napa County is now home to three taxpayer-funded farmworker housing complexes—in Napa, in St. Helena, and in Calistoga. There, farmworkers receive subsidized living quarters, on-site health care, English classes, and legal services. The complexes, operated as public-private partnerships, average an occupancy rate of 96 percent, according to county statistics. The state began funding the facilities to the tune of $250,000 annually during Newsom’s first full year in office. In September 2026, Newsom signed A.B. 1890, increasing the state’s annual contribution to up to $500,000.
We confirmed that illegal immigrants are welcome at the housing complexes. At the complex in Calistoga, we spoke to a man who told us a fellow resident had gone to watch the World Cup in Los Angeles, where he was captured by ICE and deported. When we returned the next day to interview more residents, the manager told us to leave, saying the men were worried we were "La Migra," a Spanish term for immigration authorities. At another facility, the manager confirmed illegals were allowed to reside there, saying many residents were afraid of immigration authorities.
The use of public funds to house illegal immigrants, who then work in Napa’s wine industry, allows vineyard owners partially to offset costs onto taxpayers. It also represents just one way—among many—that government policy has been leveraged during the Newsom administration to facilitate illegal labor in California.
As governor, Newsom and his wife have earned millions from his business ventures and investment holdings, with his wineries accounting for much of that income. The couple has "earned at least $11 million since he took office," according to a 2026 report from the Los Angeles Times.
Under Newsom, California runs America’s largest welfare system, spending more than $180 billion annually on food, health care, and other social programs. To pay for it all, California imposes the nation’s highest tax rates.
As recently reported by City Journal, California now oversees a "shadow welfare system" that provides illegal immigrants with health care, rental assistance, college grants, tax credits, and more. At least one program, California’s Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants, specifically bars American citizens from participation. California taxpayers spent at least $11 billion subsidizing illegal immigrants in the past fiscal year. Newsom has even bragged about his "controversial" decision to extend Medi-Cal coverage to illegal immigrants. Meantime, his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, encourages people to sign up for the California Earned Income Tax Credit, a program that assures applicants that "no Social Security number" is "no problem."
Under Newsom, the California Department of Food and Agriculture awarded more than $6 million to the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, a nonprofit that runs the California Farmer Relief Fund, which prioritizes "BIPOC, immigrant, and undocumented farmers." The Newsom administration has also heavily funded immigration legal services and removal-defense organizations, and sued the Trump administration over federal immigration policy.
We sent multiple requests for comment on this story. Izzy Gardon, a Newsom spokesman, told us that the governor "placed his business interests in a blind trust when he took office in 2019" and "has no involvement in PlumpJack’s operations or management." A PlumpJack spokesperson said the company expects "all vendors working with [it] to comply with the law." Renteria Vineyard Management did not respond to our request. It's fun to visit California wineries. Many of the smaller wineries offer not only tastings at very nominal prices but educational tours of the wineries featuring the wine making process. You get to see how the grapes are processed and crushed, how the juice is fermented and aged. Sometimes you even get to see them bottling the wine and packaging the bottles. I have personally opened the tap of a huge stainless steel vat to fill my own glass with gewurzstraminer. The lady who guided us smiled as I sipped. It was a hot day, the wine was cool, sweet, refreshing and excellent.
I would hazard a guess that many of the winery owners are small to medium sized business owners and farmers who would tend to be conservatives at heart. But it's troubling to learn about certain aspects of the harvest, especially at Plumpjack.
[Jpost] Die Linke came first in the elections to the capital's parliament, which is also a federal state, winning 25.7% of the vote and 45 of the 153 seats, marking a political upheaval in Berlin.
Germany's left-wing Die Linke party, which won Berlin's parliamentary elections on September 20, is struggling to form a coalition with the Social Democrats ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... and Greens amid a series of controversies involving extreme anti-Israel statements, links between party activists and Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... supporters and criminal clans, and a newly elected politician who refuses to retract remarks questioning Israel's right to exist.
Die Linke came first in the elections to the parliament of the German capital, which is also a federal state, winning 25.7% of the vote and 45 of the 153 seats, marking a political upheaval in Berlin.
The shift is particularly striking given the position of the outgoing government. Berlin's governing mayor, Kai Wegner, of the Christian Democratic Union, stood firmly alongside Israel following the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
In February 2024, he visited Israel, met with the families of hostages, and declared: "Berlin stands firmly by Israel's side, on this day and every day."
In May 2025, Wegner also signed a sister-city agreement with Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai. At the time, Wegner recalled that Berlin was the city where the Holocaust was planned and emphasized its historical responsibility to protect Jews and combat antisemitism.
The political upheaval comes against the backdrop of Germany's declared commitment to Israel's security.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz also made clear on the third anniversary of the Hamas attack, in October, that "Germany stands firmly alongside Israel," describing the protection of Israel's existence as a lesson of the Holocaust and part of German identity.
However,
today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... official support for Israel does not necessarily reflect the views of the entire German public, sections of which are sharply critical of Israel's policies in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... ANTI-ISRAEL STATEMENTS SPARK CONTROVERSY WITHIN DIE LINKE
One of the most prominent incidents occurred in August at an official Die Linke election event in Berlin's Neukölln district.
Rapper Dahabflex performed before party supporters, delivering a song that included the chants "Death to the IDF" and "Yalla, yalla, intifada."
Members of the audience danced and waved Paleostinian flags.
The party leadership distanced itself from the statements, but the incident sparked a public outcry.
Equally serious were remarks made by Hannah Bruns, an activist in the party's Paleostine solidarity group.
"The liberation of Paleostine will not end when the West Bank is liberated. The liberation of Paleostine will end when Tel Aviv is returned to Paleostine," she declared at a demonstration.
Asked in an interview with German public broadcaster ARD whether she would distance herself from the October 7 massacre, she replied: "I will not distance myself from anything."
An application to expel Bruns from the party has been submitted. She rejects the allegations against her and presents her position as support for a single state in which Israelis and Paleostinians would live together.
In June, Bavarian public broadcaster BR revealed internal correspondence within Die Linke's youth movement.
One message featured the slogan "May Israel die!" alongside an image of a burning Israeli flag.
Other activists questioned the characterization of Hamas as an Islamist organization and compared Israel to Nazi Germany.
The party leadership condemned the statements.
DIE LINKE LAWMAKER REFUSES TO RETRACT REMARKS ON ISRAEL'S RIGHT TO EXIST
The controversy deepened with the case of Vanessa Emde, a newly elected Die Linke member of Berlin's parliament representing Neukölln.
Emde challenged the demand to recognize Israel's right to exist, declaring: "States do not have a right to exist. Human beings have a right to exist."
Although she subsequently signed a party declaration recognizing Israel's right to exist, she published a video in which she clarified: "I stand by what I said and do not retract a single statement."
The party leadership demanded that she give up her parliamentary seat, but she refused.
Her expulsion from the parliamentary faction is now under consideration, a move requiring a two-thirds majority.
According to reports in Germany, the Social Democrats and Greens have made her removal from the faction a condition for forming the coalition.
Another controversy involves Die Linke's candidate for Berlin's governing mayor, Elif Eralp.
Internal comments revealed following an interview with Der Spiegel showed that she feared activists associated with Ibrahim Ibrahim, who has been linked to anti-Israel protests and supporters of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine.
"I cannot put myself and my family in danger," she wrote.
Ibrahim, whose past statements praising Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had been publicized, attended the party's election victory celebration.
Eralp subsequently made clear that she would not give in to threats and would fight terrorism.
CRIMINAL CLAN CONNECTIONS RAISE FURTHER QUESTIONS
Also present at the victory celebration was Issa Remmo, regarded as the head of a clan whose members have been convicted of serious robberies, including the theft of a giant gold coin from a Berlin museum.
Die Linke Bundestag member Ferat Kocak became embroiled in controversy after friendly correspondence between him and Remmo's son was exposed.
Kocak apologized for his conduct and resigned from his position on the Bundestag's Interior Committee.
The party denies having organizational ties to organized crime.
The disputes have already directly affected efforts to form a government.
In October, exploratory talks between Die Linke, the Greens, and the Social Democrats were suspended. They resumed only after the parties agreed on a document committing them to combat antisemitism and recognize Israel's right to exist.
In September, 44 former senior Social Democratic officials also signed a statement opposing cooperation with Die Linke, warning against crossing red lines concerning antisemitism and terrorism.
Despite the crisis, formal coalition negotiations began on November 2.
Together, the three parties hold 91 seats and intend to finalize an agreement in early January.
Alongside the disputes over Israel, the negotiations must also address housing, the budget, and internal security.
'THE MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT HAS LONG SINCE REACHED THE HEART OF BERLIN'
"The conflict in the Middle East has long since reached the heart of Berlin," Alon David, a journalist who divides his time between Israel and Germany, told Walla in an interview from Berlin.
"In Neukölln, you can see just how deeply hatred of Israel and antisemitism have taken root in parts of society. What is particularly worrying is that parts of the political Left not only allow this phenomenon to continue, but even legitimize it through one-sided identification with the Paleostinians. Anyone who disguises hatred of Israel as anti-colonialism and ignores the fears of Jews has, in effect, long since abandoned the fight against antisemitism."
Die Linke itself emphasizes that it condemns antisemitism and Hamas and recognizes Israel's right to exist, even as it accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
The party's electoral success is largely attributed to Berlin's housing crisis and high rental costs, rather than necessarily to its positions on the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict.
The party now faces a critical test: whether it can rein in the radical elements within its ranks and win the trust of its prospective coalition partners, or whether the controversy surrounding Israel will become the obstacle that prevents it from taking power in Germany's capital.
[Jpost] A new Islamic Labour Party in Ireland promotes Sharia principles and claims to have formed a shadow government, but the Electoral Commission confirmed it is not officially registered.
Additionally, the Post found that the website domain islamicparty.ie has been registered since 2 October 2025, more than a year before the apparent launch.
It has nevertheless been circulating on social media since its launch on Tuesday, with many social media users commenting with concerned messages and hypothesizing about a sharia law takeover in Ireland.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Oleg Khavich
[Regnum] On the eve of the informal EU summit to be held on November 13 in Dublin, three of the four countries of the Visegrad Group – Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic – are out of step with Brussels and Berlin on the issue of funding Kyiv.
The Visegrád Group is a cooperation format between four Central European countries: Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. It is often referred to as the "Visegrád Four" (V4), but internal conflicts regularly arise within the group, leading to changes in format.
For example, when Slovakia joined the eurozone in 2009, it provoked a negative reaction from Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic, which were firmly committed to maintaining their national currencies. However, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic do not recognize Poland's leading role in shaping the EU's Eastern policy.
From 2015 to 2022, Hungary and Poland held a special position in the V4 (on refugee and identity issues), and after Robert Fico returned to power in Bratislava in 2023, Hungary and Slovakia held a special position (on the conflict in Ukraine).
After the end of the Viktor Orbán era in Hungary, it seemed as if the V4 had returned to life: in September of this year, for the first time since 2024, summits of the group's foreign ministers and prime ministers were held, and in early November, the traditional meeting of the presidents of the four countries took place, attended for the first time by the President of the European Commission.
However, soon the “four” turned back into a “three”, this time again due to the Ukrainian problem.
This became clear on November 10. The day before, the British publication The Financial Times published the contents of a letter from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to European Council President António Costa, in which the German leader warned that he would block the EU budget for 2028–2034 unless all member states committed to providing financial support to Kyiv in 2027 and beyond.
"A collective commitment by all of us, without exception, to make a fair contribution to covering Ukraine's financial deficit is a prerequisite for resolving this issue and discussing any other issues, especially those with financial implications," Merz wrote in his de facto ultimatum, insisting that the issue of Ukraine's financing deficit must be resolved during the summit in Ireland.
Slovak Prime Minister Fico was the first to respond to the letter, directly calling Merz's actions blackmail. On November 10, at the opening of a joint meeting of the Slovak and Czech cabinets in Bratislava, the Slovak leader noted that the pressure was being exerted because of his reluctance to support financial aid to Ukraine.
"What the German Chancellor is doing is typical blackmail, and I reject it. We are a sovereign country," he stated. Fico also confirmed that Slovakia will not support another €70 billion loan to Ukraine, calling the funds a gift that will never be repaid.
At a joint press conference with his Czech counterpart, Andrej Babiš, the Slovak prime minister made even harsher statements. Fico reported that Merz had yelled at him during their first phone call in June 2025 over Bratislava's blocking of anti-Russian sanctions. According to the Slovak prime minister, Merz then threatened to cut off European funding for programs in his country.
At the same time, Fico urged Europeans not to be afraid of the German leadership's statements. "Let's finally come to our senses in Europe. I sense this in your rhetoric: as if every time the 'great' Germans say something, we should all shit our pants. But we won't," he declared.
He emphasized that Slovakia, despite its smaller size, is an equal member of the EU and enjoys the same veto power as Germany. If necessary, it can block the EU budget.
"He claims he'll block the budget? But I can do that too. There are 27 of us, each with a veto, and I can say tomorrow that I, too, don't agree with the budget," the Slovak prime minister concluded.
Babiš supported his colleague. "We are a sovereign Czech Republic. And my vote in the European Council is exactly the same as Chancellor Merz's. Therefore, we must discuss the situation behind closed doors. I have already refused to guarantee a loan for Ukraine," he said, recalling that the EU budget proposal for 2028-2034 already includes €100 billion in aid to Kyiv.
"The question is whether this money should be in the budget at all," added the Czech prime minister, who believes the EU will need these funds to rebuild Ukraine after the conflict ends.
Immediately after the press conference, the Czech newspaper Deník N reported that Babiš, in a letter to Košta, rejected any link between funding for Ukraine and the approval of the EU budget. He emphasized that Ukraine's needs are enormous, and the EU is expected to shoulder a significant portion of these costs.
"At the same time, an agreement on future financing for Ukraine cannot become a precondition for the adoption of the next multiannual financial framework. The Union must retain the ability to define and finance its own long-term policies and priorities, regardless of how the situation develops," the Czech Prime Minister wrote.
At the same time, negotiations were taking place in Berlin between Merz and the new Hungarian Prime Minister, Péter Magyar. Late in the evening of November 10, the politicians held a joint press conference, while Fico and Babiš's statements were already being widely discussed in European and German media.
Merz was forced to react. The German Chancellor showed no willingness to compromise and bluntly stated that he would not accept individual EU countries' deviation from "party politics."
"Financial support for Ukraine is a shared European objective, not the responsibility of individual member states, but a shared objective of the European Union. This is how we have always understood it, and how we have shaped our policy towards Ukraine over the past few years," he said.
"Therefore, the question of how we will support Ukraine in the coming years, including financially if necessary, must of course be considered in the context of these budget negotiations," the Chancellor added.
He acknowledged that at least four EU member states view this issue differently, but did not list them. He also recalled that Germany is the largest contributor to the EU budget, which entitles it to special rights.
"We need to discuss this issue. Both Péter Magyar and I spoke quite frankly about the fact that this also touches on Hungary's domestic politics, which we, of course, respect. But I, in turn, asked you to understand that the largest contributor to the European Union budget, and at the same time the country that undoubtedly makes the largest contribution, including in support of Ukraine, considers it important that we resolve this fundamental issue together," Merz said.
Hungary receives more money from the EU budget than it contributes (the situation is similar in Slovakia and the Czech Republic). But even after Merz publicly pointed this out to his counterpart, Magyar supported Fico and Babiš's position.
"Let me state diplomatically, politely, but at the same time firmly that I do not think it is the right approach to link the European budget, which ultimately concerns the European Union, in any way to another issue," the Hungarian prime minister said, adding that, in his view, Merz's approach does not send the right signal to the outside world.
The Hungarian prime minister also emphasized that since the onset of the migration crisis in 2015, his country has devoted enormous resources to protecting the EU's external borders. According to him, Budapest has not received due compensation for this, but has instead been subjected to sanctions that have already cost it a billion euros.
Hungary plays an important role in ensuring the presence of NATO forces in the Western Balkans and in the defense of the Baltic countries, Magyar added.
On November 11, European media published a summary of Costa's response to Merz's ultimatum. The President of the European Council confirmed his intention to hold a broad discussion on Ukraine during the EU leaders' meeting on November 13.
At the same time, Costa announced that the issue of Ukraine's financial needs for 2027 will be examined at a special summit in Brussels at the end of November.
"We will consider this issue at a special meeting of the European Council on November 26-27, which has two agenda items: the next EU multiannual financial framework and Ukraine's financial needs for 2027. By then, we will have received the European Commission's proposal on the latter issue," Costa noted.
The European Commission has yet to fully determine not only the amount of long-term EU support for Ukraine and its sources, but even where and how to obtain the additional €70 billion that Kyiv is demanding for 2027.
Various extravagant ideas have previously been floated on this matter, such as involving the UK, Canada, Australia, and even Japan in securing this loan, as well as using the frozen assets of the Russian Central Bank, amounting to €210 billion, located in the EU.
Currently, the most realistic option is to issue EU debt for this amount, but not only Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, as with the previous €90 billion loan to Kyiv, but also Bulgaria, are refusing to participate in its financing. Apparently, it was these four holdouts that Merz had in mind.
Poland, however, does not support its colleagues in the Visegrad Four on the Ukrainian issue and considers European funding for Kyiv beneficial for itself.
"Ukraine's bankruptcy would mean a sharp increase in the security threat to Poland. Therefore, Europe's participation in financing Ukraine is necessary and in Poland's interests," Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Ignacy Niemczycki stated on November 12, adding, however, that "this issue must be resolved independently of negotiations on the new EU budget."
He noted that Merz's harsh statements were not directed at Poland, but at countries that oppose funding for Ukraine, such as Slovakia and the Czech Republic: "The principle is 'there will be no multi-annual budget if you don't agree to any funding for Ukraine.' We support funding for Ukraine."
For now, the Slovak Prime Minister remains the harshest critic of the funding allocated to Kyiv. At his last press conference in Bratislava, Fico declared that he would not provide "a single cent" for a new loan or financial aid to Ukraine.
"I declare publicly from here once again: Slovakia will never support a loan for Ukraine, meaning another 70 billion euros. If someone else wants to do so, go ahead. I can't stop Germany, if they have plenty of money, or France, or other countries from providing funds to Ukraine—let them do so... I hope I've made my point clearly and unambiguously. We're done," Fico said.
He also mentioned that several days ago the governments of Ukraine and Slovakia held joint consultations, which “shocked” him.
"I'm not at liberty to divulge behind-the-scenes details and I never do, but I had a private conversation with the Ukrainian Prime Minister, and I was shocked by it. Literally shocked in terms of the war and future developments. I won't say anything more, and I can't say anything else," Fico said.
It's difficult to predict how long the Slovak Prime Minister will be able to maintain his intransigent position on the Ukrainian issue. In early November, Fico's government lost its guaranteed majority in parliament.
Following this, the session was postponed several times, and during the November 10–11 sessions, several government bills failed to pass. The Brussels opposition demanded Fico's resignation and early parliamentary elections.
As a result, the Slovak parliamentary sessions of November 12 and 13 were cancelled under the pretext of a meeting of representatives of the parliaments of the Visegrád Group countries. The next time Slovak parliamentarians will meet is next week, after the EU summit in Dublin.
It remains unclear whether the informal "Visegrad Three" will be able to maintain unity on the issue of financing Ukraine.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Ilya Maximov
[Regnum] Spain experienced its first general strike in 14 years, which ended in clashes with police. Pedro Sánchez's government hoped to use the strike, which took place 18 days before snap parliamentary elections, to its advantage, but it ultimately backfired.
Good. It’s exactly what they deserve.
Despite the bad weather, the UGT and CCOO trade unions, as well as the Tenants' Union, managed to bring approximately 4 million people out onto the streets—roughly a fifth of the country's workforce. However, participation by workers across various sectors of the economy was very uneven.
Up to 90% of port and auto industry workers, over 80% of garbage collectors, and approximately 75% of energy workers went on strike. Participation in the public sector, healthcare, education, and retail was minimal.
The protest was not limited to workers, but also included other groups such as students and pensioners. Trade unions called the protest a "great success," while Madrid government spokesman Miguel Ángel García of the conservative People's Party (PP) described it as a "complete and utter failure."
However, the discrepancy in assessments does not negate the real consequences. Strikers blocked key highways entering Madrid and Barcelona, and all major modes of transportation were disrupted: many flights were cancelled, long-distance trains and commuter trains were canceled, and the metro and other public transportation in the cities were disrupted.
The strike also forced the closure of many shops and establishments. Following previous protests, as well as events in France and other EU countries, business owners feared further unrest and pogroms would follow.
Fears were realized: that evening, groups of masked men began burning trash containers, smashing shop windows, and setting off fireworks toward the police. This resulted in clashes with law enforcement.
In Barcelona, protesters stormed the studio of RTVE Catalonia, disrupting the live broadcast. Around 40 masked and hooded protesters lined up in front of the camera and unfurled banners reading, "Life should not cost us our lives."
As a result of clashes across the country, police detained at least 100 people. Trade unions announced their intention to sue for disproportionate use of force: in Madrid alone, according to their data, at least 20 demonstrators were injured.
The strike was held under the slogan "Wages. Housing. Prices." Its main topic was the housing crisis, not labor disputes.
With a housing shortage estimated at approximately 750,000 homes, rents represent 98.7% of the average young person's monthly salary, forcing many to stay with their parents and unable to start their own families.
"I'm 36 years old, and I still can't live on my own. Rents are going up, housing prices are going up—it's simply impossible," one participant complained to Reuters.
Another participant told the BBC that she was protesting because "the housing situation is outrageous." "The current cost-of-living-to-wages ratio is completely unacceptable," she said.
"It's absolute madness... with food, electricity, water, gas. We need to raise an insane amount of money to buy a house. With these wages, it's impossible," noted another striker in Barcelona.
Initially, Pedro Sánchez, who initiated early elections in an attempt to stay in power, hoped to exploit all this anger to his advantage. The plan was simple: to shift the campaign to the housing crisis, presenting himself as a defender of ordinary people against "rentiers" and "vulture funds" (i.e., the legitimate owners), as well as against a parliament that defended private property rights, where the left had failed to push through its initiative.
The government not only publicly sympathized with the protests and the subsequent strike; it encouraged them, calling their demands just and calling on Spaniards to take to the streets and fight. However, since the initial demonstrations, the mood on the streets has changed, and the resulting wave of discontent has hit Sánchez and his allies hard.
From the very first hours, the Tenants' Union declared that the new protest was "directed against governments of all political persuasions—at the central, regional, and local levels." At rallies across the country, slogans like "Where is the progressive government?" and even "The progressive government is a lackey of the rentiers!" were heard.
The strikers openly stated that they no longer trust the left-wing cabinet, which had brought the situation to the point of a housing crisis.
"Our future is a complete nightmare, and we must protest until we are heard. The left is failing, and we want them to come to their senses," one of the striking Madrid residents told El Mundo.
Another participant noted that the Socialists at the helm, led by Sanchez, “are socialists when it suits them.”
"A revolution of fatigue and discontent is approaching," one Granada resident who supported the protests and the strike warned El Pais.
Meanwhile, less than three weeks before the parliamentary elections, according to the latest polls, the conservative People's Party is in the lead, while the Socialists remain in second place, followed by another right-wing party, Voice. If the right-wingers form a coalition, they have a good chance of winning a majority, which requires 176 of the 350 seats.
Then Sánchez's entire shakeup of the unpopular parliament will be in vain. And the current prime minister himself will be stripped of power, since in Spain, the head of government is chosen by legislators after consultations with the king.
According to polls, the ruling alliance can expect to secure approximately 40% of the seats, which is insufficient to retain power without a complex alliance with regional parties. However, the left is currently struggling to reach agreement even among itself, so there's little hope for a new coalition.
Sánchez dug the hole he was preparing for the opposition. He supported the strike, hoping to ride the wave of popular anger, but instead became a target for the protesters.
If the right does indeed win a majority on November 29, it will not be so much a victory for them as a defeat for the left-wing government, which for too long has confused populist rhetoric and political struggle with the real work of power.
Oh no, it will definitely be a win for the right. That’s what victory means.
[Breitbart] New York City’s democratic socialist mayor is reportedly going to reveal his plan to disband a counterterrorism group within the New York City Police Department (NYPD).
New York City’s democratic socialist mayor is reportedly going to reveal his plan to disband a counterterrorism group within the New York City Police Department (NYPD).
Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) is expected to share the plan to dissolve the Strategic Response Group (SRG) in the next few days, Politico reported Thursday, citing three individuals with knowledge of the issue.
The NYPD’s website described the SRG as a "critical asset" during large events in the city:
Strategic Response Group responds to citywide mobilizations, civil disorders, and major events with highly trained personnel and specialized equipment. They are also deployed to areas requiring an increased police presence due to increased crime or other conditions. With multiple missions that include disorder response, crime suppression, and crowd control, SRG has proven to be a critical asset during events like parades, protests, and the papal visit. SRG also mobilizes for shootings, bank robberies, missing persons, demonstrations, or other significant incidents.
The mayor’s plan could involve cutting the SRG and replacing it with a civilian unit that would lead responses to protests, one of the individuals who spoke with Politico said.
"Under the plan — which had not been finalized as of Thursday morning — the new civilian unit would be supported by NYPD officers, who would assemble nearby and could step in to conduct arrests if needed, said the person, noting that the civilian entity’s main goal would be de-escalation," the outlet stated. "The person said City Hall has been considering placing the civilian protest unit under the umbrella of Mamdani’s signature Office of Community Safety, which he launched earlier this year."
[FOX] Democrats are projected to win 255 House seats, with 12 races yet to be called, and Jeffries is running to be Speaker of the House following the sweeping victories last week that saw the party make gains even in traditional Republican strongholds like Texas, Mississippi, Kansas and South Carolina.
But some have questioned whether the recent snafus signal that Jeffries and other leaders may not be ready to be in command of the House majority.
"I may have to rethink my support of Hakeem Jeffries after the Hegseth impeachment vote," Fred Trump III, a Democrat, author and nephew of President Donald Trump, posted on X. "Eleven Democrats do not show up? All Republicans vote it down."
"Pete Hegseth is laughing at you and is stronger today. Shame," he continued. "A slap in the face of the military and veterans on this important day."
House GOP leaders successfully blocked Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., from leading the charge to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth earlier this week.
Part of the reason for the failure was the absence of 11 House Democrats during a procedural vote on Tuesday evening.
Had just seven of them been present, the vote to kill Massie's impeachment resolution would have failed, triggering debate and a vote on impeaching the Cabinet secretary likely the next day.
"Everyone knew that attendance was key tonight but somehow Democratic leaders failed to deliver and handed Republicans a win," Demand Progress Executive Director Sean Vitka said in a statement.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
[Breitbart] New York City’s democratic socialist mayor is reportedly going to reveal his plan to disband a counterterrorism group within the New York City Police Department (NYPD).
