Trump is a Somali pirate, AI data centers, war on Venezuela and much more.
The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/12/ai-regulation-moratorium-threat/685216/
Fed Scoop https://fedscoop.com/pause-ai-data-centers-letter-to-congress/
Direct Support
from the NYT
María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this week, vowed on Thursday to bring democracy to her country and end the government of President Nicolás Maduro as she re-emerged on the global stage after more than a year in hiding.
Ms. Machado held a news conference in Oslo alongside Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store of Norway as the Trump administration dramatically increased its pressure on Mr. Maduro. On Wednesday, the United States seized a Venezuelan oil tanker off the coast of the South American country.
Ms. Machado has been a steadfast supporter of President Trump’s pressure campaign against Mr. Maduro, whom the Trump administration has accused of flooding the United States with drugs and criminals.
On Thursday, Ms. Machado dodged a reporter’s question about her views on the threat of U.S. military action in Venezuela. But she repeated the Trump administration’s talking points on Mr. Maduro’s government, comparing him to a criminal mastermind engaged in a vast array of illegal activities in partnership with America’s adversaries.
“Venezuela has already been invaded,” she said. “We have the Russian agents, we have the Iranian agents, we have terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, operating freely in accordance with the regime. We have the Colombian guerrilla, the drug cartels.”...
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from Ken Klippenstein
Attorney General Pam Bondi is ordering the FBI to “compile a list of groups or entities engaging in acts that may constitute domestic terrorism,” according to a Justice Department memo published here exclusively.
The target is those expressing “opposition to law and immigration enforcement; extreme views in favor of mass migration and open borders; adherence to radical gender ideology,” as well as “anti-Americanism,” “anti-capitalism,” and “anti-Christianity.”
That language echoes the so-called indicators of terrorism identified by President Trump’s directive National Security Presidential Memorandum-7, or NSPM-7, which the memo says it’s intended to implement. Where NSPM-7 was a declaration of war on just about anyone who isn’t MAGA, this is the war plan for how the government will wage it on a tactical level.
In addition to compiling a list of undesirables, Bondi directs the FBI to enhance the capabilities (and publicity) of its tipline in order to more aggressively solicit tips from the American public on, well, other Americans. To that end, Bondi also directs the FBI to establish “a cash reward system” for information leading to identification and arrest of leadership figures within these purported domestic terrorist organizations. (The memo later instructs the FBI to “establish cooperators to provide information and eventually testify against other members” of the groups.)
The payouts don’t end there. Justice Department grants are now to prioritize funding to programs for state and local law enforcement to go after domestic terrorism.
In a section titled “Defining the domestic terrorism threat,” the memo cites “extreme viewpoints on immigration, radical gender ideology, and anti-American sentiment” — indicators that federal law enforcement are instructed to refer to FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs). Those JTTFs are then instructed to “use all available investigative tools” in order to “map the full network of culpable actors involved” in both “inside and outside the United States.”...
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from AntiWar
Israeli forces in northern Gaza shot and killed a 16-year-old boy on Wednesday before crushing his body with a tank, the Palestinian news agency WAFA has reported, as the IDF continues to violate the US-backed ceasefire deal.
“A WAFA correspondent reported that the army shot 16-year-old Zaher Nasser Shamiya from Jabalia refugee camp and then ran over him with a tank, splitting his body in half,” the news agency said.
The Quds News Network said in a post on X that Shamiya had “returned with his family to live in Block 2 of Jabalia refugee camp, along the so-called ‘yellow line,'” referring to the vague boundary that separates the Israeli-occupied side of Gaza from the rest of the Strip.
Turkey’s Anadolu Agency reported that an “Israeli force made up of several military vehicles and bulldozers, backed by infantry units, advanced several hundred meters beyond the ‘yellow line'” into the al-Ternes area of the Jabalia refugee camp, which has been completely destroyed by the IDF.
The IDF claimed that two “terrorists” crossed the yellow line and said that its forces “eliminated” one of them.
The Anadolu report said that two other Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire in Jabalia on Wednesday...
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from AntiWar
The House on Wednesday passed the $901 billion 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the sweeping annual military spending bill that will be combined with a supplemental bill passed earlier in the year to bring the total US military budget to over $1 trillion.
The bill passed in a vote of 312-112 and received significant support from Democrats, with 115 voting in favor. A total of 18 Republicans and 94 Democrats voted against the legislation. The NDAA now heads to the Senate, where it’s expected to pass and then be sent to President Trump’s desk.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) voted against the legislation, citing the foreign military aid packed into the bill as the reason for her opposition. The bill includes $1 billion in military aid for Taiwan, $800 million for Ukraine to be disbursed over the next two years, $650 million for Israel, on top of the $3.3 billion it receives through the State Department, and other provisions.
The NDAA includes a new provision to ensure Israel is not impacted by global arms restrictions that have been imposed in response to its genocidal war in Gaza. The amendment requires a review of the arms restrictions and says the US will take steps to “mitigate” and “gaps” it may find...
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from al Mayadeen English
The Government Media Office in Gaza has firmly rejected recent claims by US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz regarding the volume of humanitarian aid entering Gaza. In a statement released Thursday, the office described Waltz’s remarks as "misleading and detached from reality."
"The ambassador’s comments represent a transparent attempt to absolve the Israeli occupation of responsibility for the blockade and the deliberate starvation of civilians," the office said.
According to recent data by Gaza authorities, the daily average of incoming aid trucks since the start of the ceasefire stands at just 234. This is far below the 600 trucks claimed by Waltz and represents only 39% of the pledged daily aid delivery.
Two days ago, the Gaza Media Office reported that over a 60-day period, only 13,511 trucks had entered Gaza out of the 36,000 expected, averaging 226 trucks per day...
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from PressTV
The US has ignited outrage after seizing a Venezuelan oil tanker in what Caracas compared to Israel’s pattern of unlawful military aggression and resource appropriation, denouncing the move as a blatant “act of international piracy.”
President Donald Trump boasted on Wednesday that US forces had taken control of the massive tanker Skipper—carrying roughly 2 million barrels of heavy crude—off Venezuela’s coast, declaring, “I assume we’re going to keep the oil.”
The aggression, executed using helicopters launched from the USS Gerald Ford, marks one of the most dramatic escalations in Washington’s four-month pressure campaign against President Nicolás Maduro.
Caracas blasted the seizure as “a grave international crime” that “constitutes a blatant theft and an act of international piracy.”
“The true motives have always been our oil, our energy, the resources that belong exclusively to the Venezuelan people,” the government said...
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from Daily Sabah
Israeli authorities have signed off on plans for 764 new illegal settlement units across the central West Bank, local media reported Wednesday, expanding construction in multiple settlements, in violation of international law.
According to Channel 7, the government's Higher Planning Council agreed to build 478 settler homes in the settlement of Hashmonaim, west of Ramallah in the central West Bank, 230 homes in Beitar Illit and 56 units in Giv’at Ze’ev.
There was no official Israeli statement on the building.
Israeli settlement construction has surged across the occupied West Bank since Benjamin Netanyahu’s current government took power at the end of 2022.
Local media said that 51,370 settler homes have been approved across the occupied territory since the beginning of the current government’s term...
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from the Guardian
The “yellow line” that divides Gaza under Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan is a “new border” for Israel, the country’s military chief told soldiers deployed in the territory.
The chief of the general staff, Eyal Zamir, said Israel would hold on to its current military positions. These give Israel control of more than half of Gaza, including most agricultural land and the border crossing with Egypt.
“The ‘yellow line’ is a new border line, serving as a forward defensive line for our communities and a line of operational activity,” Zamir said during a visit to meet Israeli reservists in northern Gaza, where he also visited the ruins of the Palestinian towns of Beit Hanoun and Jabaliya...
... The Israeli government declined to comment on whether Zamir’s statement reflected official policy...
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from Dr. John Campbell
A calibration of nucleic acid (PCR) by antibody (IgG) tests in Germany: the course of SARS-CoV-2 infections estimated
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/epidemiology/articles/10.3389/fepid.2025.1592629/full