[ZeroHedge] The question is, how many other blue cities are involved in the same kind of crime stat suppression and is this the real cause of the drop in criminal activity. Or, did Trump play a substantial role in cutting down homicides? Perhaps the mass deportations along with National Guard deployments in place like DC and LA have had a meaningful effect on urban violence.
I vote for all of the above — things are usually more complex as a matter of principle.
Despite a flurry of politically charged violence and a number of Islamic and left-wing motivated terror attacks, 2025 also experienced the largest single-year decline in homicides in US history. The plunge brings official US homicide rates to near-record lows.
Based on a sampling of preliminary crime statistics from 550 U.S. law enforcement agencies, the year is expected to end with a roughly 20% decrease in homicides nationwide, Jeff Asher, a national crime analyst, told ABC News.
"So, even taking a conservative view, let's say its 17% or 16%, you're still looking at the largest one-year drop ever recorded in 2025," said Asher, co-founder of AH Datalytics and a former crime analyst for the CIA and the New Orleans Police Department.
The drop comes after what many law enforcement analysts call the "Pandemic Surge", the Biden era explosion in homicides and overall crime was considered endemic to Democrat controlled cities across the US. Though, Democrat leaders claimed throughout Biden's term that no such surge was taking place.
[ConservativeWoman] FOR A long time, and certainly fully exposed since 2016, there has been a clash of two totally opposing understandings of the world. These two forces are globalism and populism, and they are more important and more divided than left and right. Each is more dominant on one of the traditional sides of politics than the other, but each also crosses those old left-right lines and in some ways make them obsolete.
In the US the catalyst for understanding this new reality, the person who was both agent and symptom of this realisation, was Donald Trump. His win in 2016 gave the US its most unashamedly patriotic President since Theodore Roosevelt. People who hate him today try to make all of us forget how much Trump was seen as an embodiment of a positive American self-image before he left the acceptable elite circles of rich people who vote Democrat. Trump was the American Dream, or at least the story of his family was.
Political reality across the Western world has been frozen in the positions made clear in 2016, which are that major corporations, many billionaires, the mainstream media, privileged classes such as celebrities and actors or some sections of the professional middle class, are all determined on a set of policies that the majority of ordinary people don’t want while claiming that those who do have majority backing are ’threats to Our Democracy’.
These policies include mass migration, open borders, factories situated abroad or foreign workers moved to the West (whichever means the most short-term profit) and a whole host of radical leftist social ideas on race, gender, identity, liberty and sovereignty. They also want to extend State control, censor dissent, and move to things like central bank digital currencies.
More at the link
Posted by: Grom the Affective ||
01/04/2026 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1767 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Each is more dominant on one of the traditional sides of politics than the other, but each also crosses those old left-right lines and in some ways make them obsolete.
🚨#Thread Al-Qaida New Plan in Horn of Africa and Red Sea Revealed. Over the past 2 years, my HUMINT and open-source assessments identified leadership-level coordination between Al-Shabaab and Al-Qaeda, including convening linked to Yemen, and a clear shift from insurgency toward… pic.twitter.com/BybuHxnroY
🚨#Thread Al-Qaida New Plan in Horn of Africa and Red Sea Revealed.
Over the past 2 years, my HUMINT and open-source assessments identified leadership-level coordination between Al-Shabaab and Al-Qaeda,
…Al Shabaab is an Al Qaeda franchise. Organizationally speaking, they should be consulting with the home office from time to time….
including convening linked to Yemen, and a clear shift from insurgency toward emirate-style governance. These warnings were repeatedly dismissed by self-described security and regional experts who mistook the absence of publicly disclosed dates or locations for the absence of coordination itself.
Al-Qaeda and Al-Shabaab’s own media have now openly confirmed this strategic direction: cross-border convening, Yemen–Horn of Africa integration, and plans for allied Islamic emirates with governing capacity. This development aligns with the broader rise of a Red Sea–Indian Ocean axis of armed actors—overseen or enabled by Iran and Al-Qaida aligned jihadist networks. The failure to recognize and take seriously these signals is not a minor analytical laps
... With tough decisions coming and many obstacles ahead, it's fair to look forward. Yet it's also fair to celebrate. For years, Maduro was a symbol of the false warmth of Latin American collectivism. Now he should spend the rest of his life in a humane American prison. His downfall is good news.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
01/04/2026 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1771 views]
Top|| File under: Commies
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rohin
[ColonelCassad] Trump declared that the United States would decide "the political future of Venezuela, will be deeply involved in Venezuelan oil production, and will not allow anyone to become president of Venezuela without their consent."
Trump declared that the Mexican president is not governing the country and that something must be done about Mexico. A fairly transparent threat. In short, it's standard imperialist aggression aimed at seizing a country and its resources. Post-factum condemnations of the aggressor are of little concern. The last time this was done was at Nuremberg. This is imperialism without a veneer.
So complains the Russian patriot.
* * *
When Putin rhetorically questioned in the 2000s about opening Pandora's box with the "Kosovo precedent," it was a warning of what the destruction of the world order and international law would ultimately lead to. And now, more than 15 years after those warnings, we live in a world of the destroyed late-Washington world order and long-defunct international law. Cries that "international law is dead" are a bit naive, as international law hasn't worked for a very long time. Some countries have simply realized this and are acting in accordance with the jungle that surrounds them, while others still linger in rosy illusions that international law and the UN decide everything.
The price of these illusions is usually bloody. Regarding Ukraine, no one will give Russia anything there—everything we take militarily and diplomatically is ours. Only military, diplomatic, and economic power determines state borders and spheres of influence in the modern world. For those who don't understand this, ruthless reality will force this understanding down their throats.
* * *
Regarding the stability of Chavista power:
1. The US's long-standing practice of attempting to dismantle the Chavista regime clearly demonstrates that Chavistas as a structure tend to be underestimated.
2. After the death of Hugo Chavez, the US and many Russian "experts" proclaimed that this would be the end of the Chavistas. Just as they proclaimed in 2020, "This time, the Chavistas are definitely finished."
3. In the first years after Big Hugo, Maduro was perceived as a gray mouse compared to the flamboyant Commandante Hugo. Nevertheless, Maduro managed to win the elections against the opposition (let me remind you that during the "Venezuelan dictatorship," there were competitive elections), and he won by a narrow margin.
For a given value of winning that involves a defined margin of cheating.
4. Subsequently, Maduro was able to consolidate his power, and the opposition's numerous attempts to overthrow him through protests ended in regular failure.
5. Attempts at Maidans and military coups, as well as PMC operations, also ended in regular failure. It is important to remember that Maduro's capture was preceded by years of setbacks and failures, including those of the vaunted American intelligence.
Learning curves must be climbed.
6. Of key importance is the ability of the Chavista leadership, relying on popular support, to select a new leader (for example, Padrino Lopez) and continue the previous course, followed by the purge of the legal opposition.
7. Concessions to the US and the acceptance of Washington-appointed puppets will naturally lead to the political defeat of the Chavistas. Only struggle will ensure their political survival as a movement.
Overall, if the Chavistas were able to survive the loss of Hugo Chávez while maintaining internal cohesion (if any), there is no reason to believe they will not be able to survive the loss of Maduro.
Whether the Venezuelan leadership is capable of this remains to be seen in the coming weeks.
#2
“There are those who want to hand this country over to the devils – you know who, right? The far Right Zionists want to hand this country over to the devils,” Maduro said at a November 15 Bolivarian Integral Base Committee event.
Commentary by RUssian military journalist Boris Rohin: [ColonelCassad] 1. Trump claimed that the US was able to capture Maduro and his wife and take them out of Venezuela. Vice President Rodriguez essentially confirmed this.
2. The operation was carried out by Delta Force special forces. Details were promised later in the evening.
3. Despite the rumors, Venezuelan Defense Minister Padrino Lopez is alive and organizing resistance.
4. The country is now effectively led by Vice President Delcy Rodriguez.
5. The Venezuelan army has taken control of major cities. Arrests are underway.
6. The US will attempt to organize mass rallies in Venezuela in the coming days to overthrow the Chavistas.
7. New strikes on Venezuelan military facilities are likely, as well as attempts to assassinate Padrino Lopez. Regarding the plan to kidnap Maduro, it is frankly not new.
In 2020, Operation Gideon was carried out, using Silvercorp mercenaries and Colombian mercenaries. Their plan, backed by CIA agents and Venezuelan fifth columnists, was to infiltrate Caracas, kidnap Maduro, and spirit him out of the country. The operation cost $227 million, which was to be paid out of Venezuelan funds after the seizure of power.
The plan failed (most of the mercenaries were captured, including two Americans). And now, five years later... What's happening is a blow to the Global South. A blow to China's interests. A blow to Russia's interests. And a blow to Cuba. It's worth noting that just yesterday, Maduro was still holding talks with Xi Jinping's representative.
[YouTube] Special episode of "Tales of Regime Change" I recorded with Jack Posobiec this week, focusing on the seminal event of the Maidan Square revolution in Ukraine in 2014, supported by USAID, the US State Department & the CIA.
#2
Our government allowed Victoria Nuland to work her personal project for a generation through multiple administrations similar to what happened with Fauci.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/04/2026 14:09 Comments ||
Top||
Because they can, one imagines, just like all now tech. And it will continue until they’re stopped, at which point the next new scam will emerge.
[ZeroHedge] Deepfakes are taking over YouTube to the point where real news by real people is drowning in an ocean of illusion.
In a recent post I mentioned we are living in times of unprecedented change where everything that is not true is being exposed. While the post was about the divergence of paper and physical silver prices, the key message I wanted to get across is that this is taking place everywhere and in every aspect of life from international affairs to the daily shopping.
Yanis Varoufakis, former Greek finance minister, is one of the most AI impersonated people. A recent interview reported that only one in five videos are actually Yanis himself.
Why is this happening?
Maintaining the Illusion serves the vested interests of elites. Many do not wish men and women to experience an awakening as the lies fade. Deepfake represents one strategy being employed to mask this transformation in human consciousness. As people are increasingly distrustful of traditional authority, drowning genuine content with garbage keeps the real world hidden from view.
Yanis has complained to YouTube and Meta, but within seconds of a video being taken down another appears with the same content. The companies appear to have no interest in stemming the flood.
Interestingly the strategy may backfire. With so many AI generated deep fakes YouTube is becoming unusable. It may be the platform is actually self-destructing. Men and women may simply stop using it.
This is ironic given Google’s founding vision is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. By deliberately flooding its content with deepfake the company may not only be committing suicide but taking a leading role in waking us from our stupor.
A free app enables you to actively participate in ending the Illusion and fostering global peace.
#2
YouTube is out of Silicon Valley with lots of San Fran influence and is run by both totally woke and H1B's with no understanding of honesty in a US Cultural sense.
[The Daily Signal] In this episode of "Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words," Victor Davis Hanson answers additional questions from listeners, including one on the undue influence of our intelligence agencies on U.S. policy.
This content was recorded prior to Hanson’s major surgery on Dec. 30.
Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of a segment from today’s edition of "Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words" from Daily Signal Senior Contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to VDH’s own YouTube channel to watch past episodes.
JACK FOWLER: I guess the second part of the question maybe can be boiled down to an assessment of our intelligence agencies in the last decade. Secretive intelligence agencies, per Scott’s question, having undue influence, and is Donald Trump grabbing the bull by the horns here?
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Yeah, the way to answer that is by commission and omission. If we start the omission, let’s ask ourselves, what did the CIA or the Defense Intelligence Agency [do]? Did they predict 9-11? No. They had no idea it was coming.
Did they know about the Yom Kippur War? No. Did they know Pakistan was going to let off a bomb? No. They had no idea.
Did they have any timetable that was accurate about the Iranian nuclear development? Not really. Did they realize the Shah [of Iran] was going to collapse when he did suddenly? No.
Did they know that the Afghan Kabul thing when [Joe] Biden said in July he wanted to pull out gradually and [former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen.] Mark Milley said it would be very orderly and the Afghan army was tip-top, did the CIA say, "No, no, it's going to collapse"? No.
So, they haven't had a good record.
Then the act of commission, are they interfering? Yes.
John Brennan, head of the CIA and James Clapper, director of national intelligence, along with [James] Comey sat in the office of Barack Obama when he said to them, I know Donald Trump is colluding [with Russia]. And they said to him, our intelligence says that he's not. And then Obama said, well, go find it. Go find stuff that he is. And so, they did.
And then Clapper lied under oath when he said that the National Security Agency doesn't spy on Americans. They do. He apologized for that and said, I said the least untruthful thing.
#1
Far too many pleas of ignorance for an organization whose near sole purpose is 'situational awareness." Ignorance of the facts is a pretty effective defense.
~ The phrase "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity"
“I talked to my radiologist yesterday and it’s all bad news — the odds of me recovering are essentially zero,” he said during his podcast “Real Coffee with Scott Adams” on Thursday. “I’ll give you any updates if that changes, but it won’t.”
“So there’s no chance that I’ll get my feeling back in my legs and I’ve got some ongoing heart failure, which is making it difficult to breathe sometimes during the day,” the artist continued. “However, you should prepare yourself that January will probably be a month of transition, one way or another.”
[PJ] Have you ever wondered why Democrats are so aggressively defending rampant fraud in Minnesota? Why Gov. Tim Walz so desperately wants to handle the investigation on his own? There’s a simple explanation: it has nothing to do with protecting vulnerable communities or fighting discrimination. Democrats are shielding these schemes because they profit directly from them.
Somali-run childcare centers, adult care facilities, and social service operations across the country are getting funded through programs riddled with fraud, and then the Democrats who enabled the fraud and looked the other way get a kickback.
The arrangement works beautifully for everyone except the taxpayers funding it.
For example, we know that many of the now-convicted felons behind the Somali-run Feeding Our Future scheme were also generous political donors to Democrats. The same organization that stole $250 million from Minnesota’s welfare system donated roughly $50,000 to Democratic campaigns in the state.
Tim Walz was no exception. How does a governor fail to notice $9 billion in Medicaid fraud happens on his watch? It's no accident. He received nearly $10,000 from donors affiliated with Somali-operated daycare centers. The money came in over multiple cycles, in a series of $500-$4,000 checks, from a handful of business figures operating in the childcare, senior care, and Medicaid/Medicare‑funded services space.
One gift was $20,000 from the Minnesota Vikings for personal protective equipment (PPE). The other gift was $1.5 million from the Center for Election Innovation & Research (CEIR).
The CEIR is a nonprofit that combats “election denialism” and “antidemocratic sentiment.” In addition to being run by an attorney who has been described as a “hard-core leftist,” CEIR received $69.5 million from Mark Zuckerburg in 2020.
#13
It is a Dem scam. The same blond lady is organizing each individual scam. The Somalis were just available. The Minnesota Dems would have used Palestinians, but Michigan scarfed them all up.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/04/2026 14:17 Comments ||
Top||
#14
Tim Walz was no exception. How does a governor fail to notice $9 billion in Medicaid fraud happens on his watch? It's no accident. He received nearly $10,000 from donors affiliated with Somali-operated daycare centers.
So Walz scored only $10,000 out of $9 billion? It really doesn't take much to buy these people does it? Two-bit whores.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/04/2026 18:13 Comments ||
Top||
#15
^ Have you seen/heard Gwen Walz?
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/04/2026 18:34 Comments ||
Top||
[FoxNews] Experts say Venezuela served as operational hub for Iranian terrorism, drug trafficking and power projection in Latin America
The Trump administration’s military operation that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is a devastating setback to the South American nation’s long-term ally, the Islamic Republic of Iran, experts contend.
As Iran experiences yet another day of anti-regime protests across the country, Jason Brodsky, the policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), who has written about Maduro’s nefarious activities, told Fox News Digital that, "Maduro’s capture will be a blow to Iran’s interests in the Western Hemisphere as he was a longtime ally of Tehran under the banner of anti-imperialism and Americanism in the region."
He said, "How much of a blow it will be will depend on who comes to power after Maduro. Iran and Hezbollah have used Venezuela as an operational hub for terrorism, drug trafficking, and power projection in Latin and South America."
He continued, "Iran had a military partnership with Caracas as well, especially with drones. So Tehran is likely eyeing these developments very warily. Its interests in the region were already weakened after Bolivia’s presidential election, which brought to power a center-right leader who reestablished relations with Israel."
In November, Fox News Digital reported that the Islamic Republic was backing Maduro just as the Trump administration stepped up military pressure in the Caribbean and expanded its crackdown on criminal networks tied to the regime in Caracas.
Brodsky said, "This will be a strike heard around the world. Iran’s regime will be watching it very closely as President Trump threatened the supreme leader during the 12-Day War. This historic strike adds to the perception of President Trump being unpredictable and risk-ready, which inspires fear in U.S. adversaries and bolsters the credibility of the threat of American military force. This strengthens U.S. deterrence."
The Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it "strongly condemns the American military attack on Venezuela and the flagrant violation of the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country."
Potkin Azarmehr, a British-Iranian expert on Iran, told Fox News Digital that "Every fall of a dictator who is allied with the Ayatollahs is both a boost to the morale of the people in Iran and a setback for the ruling mullahs."
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.
[ColonelCassad] 1. Trump claimed that the US was able to capture Maduro and his wife and take them out of Venezuela. Vice President Rodriguez essentially confirmed this. 
