Homebodies,
I feel a tension like a bent dry stick about to snap in this beginning of 2026. A lot of other people seem to feel the same thing, and express it in various ways. Political elites seem to be building up their police forces, surveillance and financial controls over the people of their countries and regions at an urgent pace. A lot of indicators portend a financial break, and we know how leveraged and over hypothecated assets are in the vast derivative bubble, so that whenever it snaps, it will snap at the speed of algorithms, not human decision makers. "Smart money" has largely gotten into hard assets like farmland, housing, mines and commodities, including gold and silver, physical gold and silver this time. The current surfeit of oil in the world is from weak real-economies, not excessive production.
Existential war is the traditional response to large financial and economic systemic fractures. Terrified people follow orders, or get hungry, furious and rebel.
The Honest Sorcerer, 2026: The Year Of The Coyote
Although this year will be called the year of the fire horse, at least according to the Chinese calendar, calling 2026 the year of Wile E. Coyote would be a much more appropriate choice. The world economy and oil markets have found themselves in a precarious situation: while output is still increasing, all economic and geophysical support underneath has silently vanished. Suspended in mid-air everyone waits for the fall to begin, but few dare to look down into the abyss. Instead, we see a rapid intensification of the geopolitical chess-game, which could, in the future, bring us dangerously close to a major clash… https://thehonestsorcerer.
Surplus Energy Economics, The triumph of the material, part one - FACT, SCARCITY & THE DE-THRONING OF MONEY
A distinctly acquisitive gleam is evident these days in the eye of American power. Other people’s presidents seem to be fair game for appropriation, as are other people’s ships, other people’s resources and – even – other people’s countries.
We can call this thievery, or we can call it realpolitik.The label hardly matters.
What lies behind this apparent outbreak of kleptomania, however, is a shocked awakening to a reality probably long understood in Moscow and Beijing.
This reality is that, in the very different economic future now unfolding, the material will be all-important, and the monetary, by contrast, will matter very little. https://
Gold & Geopolitics, So long, farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, goodbye - When shorts run out of continents
Something broke in the global monetary system over the past twelve months... 
The dollar’s share of global reserves collapsed to roughly 40%. Gold jumped to ~30%. That means gold is now bigger in central bank reserves than the euro, yen, and pound combined. This isn’t diversification. This is a flight into a neutral - non devaluing - asset. Accelerating since around ‘23.
The US is adding $1 trillion in debt every 100 days. Interest payments exceed $1 trillion annually. That was more than the defense budget a few days ago. Now that budget is 50% more. Guess how it’ll be paid for?
Foreign Treasury holdings dropped from $3.14 trillion to $2.78 trillion. That’s a trillion-dollar exit while the Fed restarted QE at $40 billion per month. https://no01.substack.com/p/ Chris Hedges, The Machinery of Terror
The Trump administration is consolidating the familiar machinery of terror of all authoritarian states. We must resist now. If we wait, it will be too late. I know these goons. I have been a prisoner in their jails and spent hours in their interrogation rooms. I have been beaten by them. I have been deported, and in several cases banned, from their countries. I know what is coming.
Terror is the engine that empowers dictatorships. It eliminates dissidents. It silences critics. It dismantles the law. It creates a society of timid and frightened collaborators, those who look away when people are snatched off streets or gunned down, those who inform to save themselves, those who retreat into their tiny rabbit holes, pulling down the blinds, desperately praying to be left in peace.
Terror works.
The iron doors have not yet shut. There are still protests. The media is still able to document state atrocities, including the Jan. 7 murder of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Jonathan Ross. But the doors are closing fast. ICE has deported over 300,000 people and detained nearly 69,000 others — as well as been involved in 16 shootings, including four killings — since Trump began his campaign against immigrants...
Terror is the engine that empowers dictatorships. It eliminates dissidents. It silences critics. It dismantles the law. It creates a society of timid and frightened collaborators, those who look away when people are snatched off streets or gunned down, those who inform to save themselves, those who retreat into their tiny rabbit holes, pulling down the blinds, desperately praying to be left in peace.
Terror works.
The iron doors have not yet shut. There are still protests. The media is still able to document state atrocities, including the Jan. 7 murder of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Jonathan Ross. But the doors are closing fast. ICE has deported over 300,000 people and detained nearly 69,000 others — as well as been involved in 16 shootings, including four killings — since Trump began his campaign against immigrants...
..ICE has more than doubled the size of its force since early 2025 — to 22,000 agents — hiring 12,000 new officers in four months from a pool of 220,000 applicants. It plans to spend $100 million over a one-year period to hire even more recruits, part of the $170 billion for border and interior enforcement, including $75 billion for ICE, to be spent over four years. Salaries for these new recruits, poorly trained and often haphazardly vetted, will range from $49,739 to $89,528 a year, along with a $50,000 signing bonus — split over three years — and up to $60,000 in student loan repayments.
ICE is building new detention centers nationwide in 23 towns and cities. It promises that once it is fully operational, it will go door-to-door as part of the largest deportation effort in American history.ICE agents, intoxicated by the license to kick down doors while wearing body armor and firing automatic weapons at terrified women and children, are not warriors as they imagine, but thugs. They have few skills, other than weapons training, cruelty and brutality. They intend to remain employed by the state. The state intends to keep them employed.
None of this should surprise us. The repressive techniques used by ICE and our militarized police were perfected overseas in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya and Occupied Palestine, and earlier in Vietnam. The ICE agent who murdered Good was a machinegunner in Iraq. A night raid in Chicago, with agents rappelling from a helicopter to storm an apartment complex filled with terrified families, does not look any different from a night raid in Fallujah.
Aimé Césaire, the Martinician playwright and politician, in “Discourse on Colonialism” writes that the savage tools of imperialism and colonialism eventually migrate back to the home country. It is known as imperial boomerang...
ICE is building new detention centers nationwide in 23 towns and cities. It promises that once it is fully operational, it will go door-to-door as part of the largest deportation effort in American history.ICE agents, intoxicated by the license to kick down doors while wearing body armor and firing automatic weapons at terrified women and children, are not warriors as they imagine, but thugs. They have few skills, other than weapons training, cruelty and brutality. They intend to remain employed by the state. The state intends to keep them employed.
None of this should surprise us. The repressive techniques used by ICE and our militarized police were perfected overseas in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya and Occupied Palestine, and earlier in Vietnam. The ICE agent who murdered Good was a machinegunner in Iraq. A night raid in Chicago, with agents rappelling from a helicopter to storm an apartment complex filled with terrified families, does not look any different from a night raid in Fallujah.
Aimé Césaire, the Martinician playwright and politician, in “Discourse on Colonialism” writes that the savage tools of imperialism and colonialism eventually migrate back to the home country. It is known as imperial boomerang...
..Resistance must be collective. We must assert not only our individual rights, but economic, social and political rights — without them we are powerless. Resistance means organizing to disrupt the machinery of commerce and government. It means preventing arrests by patrolling neighborhoods to warn of impending ICE raids. It means protesting outside detention facilities. It means strikes. It means blocking streets and highways and occupying buildings. It means providing photographic evidence. It means sustained pressure on local politicians and police to refuse to cooperate with ICE. It means providing legal representation, food and financial assistance to families with members detained. It means a willingness to be arrested. It means a nationwide campaign to defy the state’s inhumanity.
If we fail, the dimming flames of our open society will be snuffed out. https://chrishedges.substack.
ICE brings the hybrid warfare and terror we brought to Gaza back home. It's time to learn where it comes from, how it works, who enables it, and how to fight back.
..My disappointment soon turned to alarm in the weeks that followed, as I witnessed how Americans became increasingly subjected to the watchful eye of AI surveillance and drones in cities across the country — including Denver, LA, and Chicago — with minimal understanding of how these systems work, often in secret and without democratic consent...
..These connections have to do with the big business of mass-surveillance and hybrid warfare, as well as the way our media and data ecosystems dictate which narratives last, and which are forgotten; who gets celebrated and who gets cancelled; and eventually, who gets to live, and who gets to die...
..I was once a storyteller in the AI industry. This role, uncommon when I started, is now considered one of the hottest in the AI jobs market, and involves using writing, design, and multimedia to explain and sell emerging technology. In this capacity at Palantir, my job introduced me to something I will never forget: the crude “art” of diagramming ISTAR systems, known as AI “kill chains.” These technical drawings, made with OV-1 diagrams in the Pentagon, convey how ISTAR tools — such as drones, satellites, ground stations, and command centers — come together to make decisions, including determining who to kill, and how to kill, using artificial intelligence. 
What I figured out while making these diagrams, however, was that drones and physical weapons only tell part of the story. When armies rely so much on data and automation, establishing maximum surveillance dragnets soon becomes the utmost priority. The effort to map the world through satellites, drones, and information — in order to find targets and predict outcomes — eventually leads to the surveillance and mapping of what the military calls the “cognitive domain.” This entails charting public opinion, social media, influence, and reputation as a battlefield in itself. As digital warfare experts P. W. Singer and Emerson Brooking put it in their book, LikeWar:
“Power” on this battlefield is thus measured not by physical strength or high-tech hardware, but by the command of attention. The result is a contest of psychological and algorithmic manipulation… Your online attention and actions are thus both targets and ammunition in an unending series of skirmishes.
As a result, the internet has become a place where real wars with deadly consequences are carried out. Today, a tweet can determine a drone strike target, and kill civilians, halfway around the world. It can also empty an entire city, as Trump did in June when he cast Tehran into evacuation chaos after threatening airstrikes that never came. Now that the internet is a war zone, success largely depends on one’s ability to wield the power of information to mislead, misinform, or scare one’s enemies...
“Power” on this battlefield is thus measured not by physical strength or high-tech hardware, but by the command of attention. The result is a contest of psychological and algorithmic manipulation… Your online attention and actions are thus both targets and ammunition in an unending series of skirmishes.
As a result, the internet has become a place where real wars with deadly consequences are carried out. Today, a tweet can determine a drone strike target, and kill civilians, halfway around the world. It can also empty an entire city, as Trump did in June when he cast Tehran into evacuation chaos after threatening airstrikes that never came. Now that the internet is a war zone, success largely depends on one’s ability to wield the power of information to mislead, misinform, or scare one’s enemies...
..As a big-data platform with connections to the CIA and foreign intelligence operations, Palantir has likely been central to the waging of this kind of warfare: where nation-states try to win not only using conventional weapons, but by weaponizing data and influence for covert “hybrid” operations. Palantir’s executives understand this more than anyone. “The primary way to create peace in this world is to scare our adversaries when they wake up, when they go to bed, while they’re seeing their mistress,” Alex Karp has said. “The most effective way for social change is: humiliate your enemy and make them poor.”
What Karp refers to here are ways of “dealing” with someone without necessarily putting a bullet in their head; types of hybrid operations which are opened up by the possibility of exploiting personal data for combined intelligence and war operations...
What Karp refers to here are ways of “dealing” with someone without necessarily putting a bullet in their head; types of hybrid operations which are opened up by the possibility of exploiting personal data for combined intelligence and war operations...
..Another example of hybrid operations featuring Palantir’s tools includes Operation Grim Reaper in 2024, where pagers were used to remotely bomb alleged Hezbollah operatives in Syria and Lebanon. The operation involved exploding phones that killed 32 people and injured over 3,000 others across Lebanon and Syria — including in their family homes. Two children would die and over 500 people would be left with severe eye injuries. “Such attacks could constitute war crimes of murder, attacking civilians, and launching indiscriminate attacks, in addition to violating the right to life,” UN experts said at the time. “It is also a war crime to commit violence intended to spread terror among civilians… A climate of fear now pervades everyday life in Lebanon.”
The weaponization of data through ISTAR — whether it is used to conduct direct “kinetic” drone strikes or compound “hybrid” attacks — is often indistinguishable from terrorism...
The weaponization of data through ISTAR — whether it is used to conduct direct “kinetic” drone strikes or compound “hybrid” attacks — is often indistinguishable from terrorism...
..The recent and mysterious death of OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji could have been enough to spook someone in a situation like mine: where they were questioning one of the largest AI companies in the world. But unlike OpenAI, Palantir’s CEO publicly talks about killing people, and has fantasized about poisoning critics using covert methods such as fentanyl-laced drone strikes. Palantir’s executives are also vocal about wanting to flex the definition of terrorism to include their enemies, as Palantir’s Defense chief Mike Gallagher did on Fox News when he called for the feminist group Code Pink to be classified as domestic terrorists...
..American companies like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Palantir have contributed to this oppression by hosting and exploiting surveillance data for the IDF, leading to the development of gruesome applications like Where’s Daddy — a tool which allegedly follows Hamas targets to their family homes in order to deal maximum damage through drone strikes...
..The surveillance regime that Silicon Valley has cast upon Gaza now extends far beyond the Middle East, as ISTAR tools become commonplace in our country. Yet the origin of this world we live in is not to be found either in Palo Alto or Tel Aviv — but the island of Little St. James.
As Reason, The San Francisco Standard and DropSite News report, Jeffrey Epstein was a key power-player standing between Silicon Valley and Israel a decade ago, and connected Peter Thiel to former Israeli prime minister-turned-businessman Ehud Barak... These investments would help spur a surveillance industry that, years later, has pushed AI targeting technology beyond warfare uses and towards civilian and corporate contexts. “I’ve been surprised how many corporations are looking for a new military-like perspective on management,” Epstein wrote to Barak. “A corporation is not dissimilar from defense forces.”
“No tech company surfaces more often — or draws more interest from Israeli figures — than Palantir,” the SF Standard reports...
As Reason, The San Francisco Standard and DropSite News report, Jeffrey Epstein was a key power-player standing between Silicon Valley and Israel a decade ago, and connected Peter Thiel to former Israeli prime minister-turned-businessman Ehud Barak... These investments would help spur a surveillance industry that, years later, has pushed AI targeting technology beyond warfare uses and towards civilian and corporate contexts. “I’ve been surprised how many corporations are looking for a new military-like perspective on management,” Epstein wrote to Barak. “A corporation is not dissimilar from defense forces.”
“No tech company surfaces more often — or draws more interest from Israeli figures — than Palantir,” the SF Standard reports...
..Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered the FBI to create a list of domestic terrorists that includes people standing up against fascism and immigration enforcement. That means that opposing the main force that is bringing unconstitutional surveillance technology in our country, ICE, can now land your name in an FBI watchlist — effectively criminalizing the fight against surveillance in America. The memo also aims to establish a “cash reward system” for information, meaning the FBI could soon pay off my own neighbors to put me and other organizers on a watchlist, allowing the government to start using their surveillance tools — potentially including Flock and Palantir — against us... The same ISTAR surveillance weapons that led to the arrest of student protestors, the deportation of immigrants to foreign concentration camps, and to a ruthless regime of slaughter and surveillance in Gaza, now threaten untold millions of Americans...
..The invasion of Venezuela is a perfect example of this kind of warfare, which has also been termed Fifth Generation Warfare (5GW) by military experts. According to Professor Armin Krishnan in his book Fifth Generation Warfare: Dominating the Human Domain, 5GW is the latest, most secretive, and difficult to understand form of war. Daniel Abbot’s Handbook of 5GW defines it as “an emerging theory of warfare premised upon manipulation of multiple economic, political, social and military forces in multiple domains.” This manipulation involves the oversight of all fighting domains — land, air, maritime, space, cyber, and cognitive...
..We can see in the invasion of Venezuela some hallmarks of 5GW, as offered by Krishnan:
Fifth generation warfare bypasses the battlefield and targets society as a whole, rather than its military forces.
Violence in 5GW is very dispersed or hidden, which makes it difficult to perceive as war.
Fifth generation warfare relies on covert or ambiguous means that hide nefarious activities or disguise them as benign or harmless.
The objective of 5GW is to overthrow an existing political order or change the culture in a society in accordance with the goals of the aggressor.
Fifth generation warfare bypasses the battlefield and targets society as a whole, rather than its military forces.
Violence in 5GW is very dispersed or hidden, which makes it difficult to perceive as war.
Fifth generation warfare relies on covert or ambiguous means that hide nefarious activities or disguise them as benign or harmless.
The objective of 5GW is to overthrow an existing political order or change the culture in a society in accordance with the goals of the aggressor.
According to Krishnan, 5GW “shifts the emphasis from the control of physical terrain to the control of the human terrain and the human mind as a target of attack.” https://zigguratmag.substack.com/p/my-final-message-before-im-on-an
Free Political speech by citizen "monsters": DHS Blasts Anti-ICE Protesters Sharing List Of Hotels Allegedly Hosting Agents
“Revealing their locations puts them at enormous risk of retaliation from these monsters,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin wrote in a statement to The Epoch Times.
Sunrise Twin Cities, a youth-led group against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations, is publishing a weekly list of hotels where they suspect that immigration agents are staying. https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/dhs-blasts-anti-ice-protesters-sharing-list-hotels-allegedly-hosting-agents
As the NYT first reported, the US attorney’s office in the District of Columbia has opened a criminal investigation into Powell over the central bank’s renovation of its Washington headquarters and whether the Fed Chair lied to Congress about the scope of the project...
..Trump said that the DOJ's Fed subpoenas "nothing to do with interest rates" and denied any involvement in the legal matter...
..The investigation escalates Trump’s long-running feud with Powell, whom the president has continually attacked for resisting his demands to slash interest rates significantly... The president has threatened to fire the Fed chair - whom he nominated for the position in 2017 - and raised the prospect of a lawsuit against him related to the $2.5 billion renovation, citing “incompetence.”
In a striking public response to the NYT report, Powell - who has historically ignored public commentary on Trump's public assaults - issued a forceful written and video statement released Sunday evening using the Federal Reserve's official account on X, in which he said the action was related to his June congressional testimony on ongoing renovations of the Fed’s headquarters. But he said "this unprecedented action should be seen in the broader context of the administration’s threats and ongoing pressure." The Fed Chair then continued:
"This new threat is not about my testimony last June or about the renovation of the Federal Reserve buildings. It is not about Congress’s oversight role; the Fed through testimony and other public disclosures made every effort to keep Congress informed about the renovation project. Those are pretexts."
Surge in premature births, congenital defects, cancer deaths in Gaza – Not a ceasefire Day 92 https://israelpalestinenews.org/surge-in-premature-births-congenital-defects-cancer-deaths-in-gaza-not-a-ceasefire-day-92/
Sunrise Twin Cities, a youth-led group against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations, is publishing a weekly list of hotels where they suspect that immigration agents are staying. https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/dhs-blasts-anti-ice-protesters-sharing-list-hotels-allegedly-hosting-agents
All radar and electronics blacked-out, sonic-energy beams causing internal bleeding, and extremely rapid and accurate gunfire are reported by a Venezuelan defender. White House Amplifies Shocking Claims Of US Super Soldiers Deployed In Maduro Raid https://www.zerohedge.com/
..Trump said that the DOJ's Fed subpoenas "nothing to do with interest rates" and denied any involvement in the legal matter...
..The investigation escalates Trump’s long-running feud with Powell, whom the president has continually attacked for resisting his demands to slash interest rates significantly... The president has threatened to fire the Fed chair - whom he nominated for the position in 2017 - and raised the prospect of a lawsuit against him related to the $2.5 billion renovation, citing “incompetence.”
In a striking public response to the NYT report, Powell - who has historically ignored public commentary on Trump's public assaults - issued a forceful written and video statement released Sunday evening using the Federal Reserve's official account on X, in which he said the action was related to his June congressional testimony on ongoing renovations of the Fed’s headquarters. But he said "this unprecedented action should be seen in the broader context of the administration’s threats and ongoing pressure." The Fed Chair then continued:
"This new threat is not about my testimony last June or about the renovation of the Federal Reserve buildings. It is not about Congress’s oversight role; the Fed through testimony and other public disclosures made every effort to keep Congress informed about the renovation project. Those are pretexts."
“The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the president. This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions — or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation.” https://www.zerohedge.com/
Moon of Alabama 1/9/26, Winter Strikes Kiev - Last night Ukraine was finally confronted with the consequences of attacking Russian infrastructure.
But the real hurt came with a medium-sized drone and missile strike on Kiev. At least three combined-thermal-electric facilities were taken out. These used to provide water, heating and electricity to the blocks of Soviet era high rises that cover much of Kiev. These strikes, as the Russian Ministry of Defense empathizes in its reports, are in retaliation for strikes on Russian infrastructure facilities. Russia at a time, offered a ceasefire on infrastructure strikes. Ukraine did not keep to it.
Now nearly half of Kiev’s high-rise apartments have lost water, heating and electricity supplies. This while the temperature has gone down to minus 20° Celsius at night. Municipal workers have started to drain all water from intra-house systems. Otherwise the risers and pipes would freeze and break open. But it also means that water and heat supplies will not come back to those high-rises until the temperatures are back in a positive Celsius range.
The buildings have thus become unlivable. Hundreds of thousands if not millions will have to live elsewhere. https://www.moonofalabama.org/2026/01/winter-strikes-kiev.html
Gaza Hospitals Report Infant Deaths as Winter Storm Devastates Displacement Camps https://www.palestinechronicle.com/gaza-hospitals-report-infant-deaths-as-winter-storm-devastates-displacement-camps/Now nearly half of Kiev’s high-rise apartments have lost water, heating and electricity supplies. This while the temperature has gone down to minus 20° Celsius at night. Municipal workers have started to drain all water from intra-house systems. Otherwise the risers and pipes would freeze and break open. But it also means that water and heat supplies will not come back to those high-rises until the temperatures are back in a positive Celsius range.
The buildings have thus become unlivable. Hundreds of thousands if not millions will have to live elsewhere. https://www.moonofalabama.org/2026/01/winter-strikes-kiev.html
Israel Plans to Resume Gaza Onslaught in March
Israel has killed 400 Palestinians since the ceasefire went into effect, but is planning to return to larger-scale military operations later this year https://news.antiwar.com/2026/01/11/israel-plans-to-resume-gaza-onslaught-in-march/
'The real war is Washington's': Senior Ansarallah official exposes US control over Saudi–UAE feud
In an interview with The Cradle, Ansarallah official Ali al-Imad reveals how Tel Aviv and Washington are directing the Riyadh–Abu Dhabi conflict from the shadows, and warns that any escalation will face decisive, region-wide resistance. https://thecradle.co/articles/the-real-war-is-washingtons-senior-ansarallah-official-exposes-us-control-over-saudi-uae-feud#google_vignette
January 6: Deep Data: Will Pezeshkian's 'economic surgery' save struggling Iranians? https://amwaj.media/en/article/the-1405-budget-and-social-welfare
Israel has killed 400 Palestinians since the ceasefire went into effect, but is planning to return to larger-scale military operations later this year https://news.antiwar.com/2026/01/11/israel-plans-to-resume-gaza-onslaught-in-march/
In an interview with The Cradle, Ansarallah official Ali al-Imad reveals how Tel Aviv and Washington are directing the Riyadh–Abu Dhabi conflict from the shadows, and warns that any escalation will face decisive, region-wide resistance. https://thecradle.co/articles/the-real-war-is-washingtons-senior-ansarallah-official-exposes-us-control-over-saudi-uae-feud#google_vignette
Receivers for satellite service face connectivity challenges, with an expert reporting that the Islamic Republic seems to be ‘doing something beyond GPS jamming’ https://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-appears-to-jam-starlink-after-shutting-down-comms-networks/
Larijani told Tasnim news agency on Sunday that the violent riots of recent days must be clearly separated from legitimate protests over economic hardship.
He acknowledged that public frustration over inflation and currency instability was “completely understandable.” The government, he said, was obligated to address those concerns, including stabilizing the foreign‑exchange market, a demand he described as “rightful” for both merchants and ordinary citizens.
However, the security chief warned that a separate group had taken advantage of the demonstrations to commit “extremely violent and criminal acts,” including killings and burnings that he compared to tactics used by terrorist organizations such as Daesh. “Someone protesting economic problems would never commit such acts,” he said.
The security chief expressed regret over the casualties among police forces, saying a significant number had been injured and some killed. Several civilians were also killed or wounded. He said authorities must determine which groups supported those responsible for the violence. https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2026/01/11/762204/Organized-network-infiltrated-riots-Daesh-like-attacks-Security-chief
He acknowledged that public frustration over inflation and currency instability was “completely understandable.” The government, he said, was obligated to address those concerns, including stabilizing the foreign‑exchange market, a demand he described as “rightful” for both merchants and ordinary citizens.
However, the security chief warned that a separate group had taken advantage of the demonstrations to commit “extremely violent and criminal acts,” including killings and burnings that he compared to tactics used by terrorist organizations such as Daesh. “Someone protesting economic problems would never commit such acts,” he said.
The security chief expressed regret over the casualties among police forces, saying a significant number had been injured and some killed. Several civilians were also killed or wounded. He said authorities must determine which groups supported those responsible for the violence. https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2026/01/11/762204/Organized-network-infiltrated-riots-Daesh-like-attacks-Security-chief
Reports are emerging that Iranian security forces and IRGC special forces have begun to disperse the protests, which have become increasingly widespread. The main driving force behind the protests are ethnic minorities, who initially claimed to be protesting rising prices but then began tearing down and burning flags, toppling monuments, and calling on foreign countries to "intervene and help with democracy." The son of the deposed Shah of Iran, Pahlavi, is advocating for the overthrow of the government and the radicalization of the protests.
For quite a long time, Iranian law enforcement took no special measures against the protesters, but they carried out increasingly harsh and violent actions, including attacks on retail outlets and police cars. Many protesters began carrying firearms. weapon. https://en.topwar.ru/276200-na-ulicy-gorodov-irana-vyvedeny-sily-basidzh.html
For quite a long time, Iranian law enforcement took no special measures against the protesters, but they carried out increasingly harsh and violent actions, including attacks on retail outlets and police cars. Many protesters began carrying firearms. weapon. https://en.topwar.ru/276200-na-ulicy-gorodov-irana-vyvedeny-sily-basidzh.html
Iran's security forces are using lethal force against protesters nationwide, informed sources told Iran International, with preliminary estimates pointing to mass casualties as a sweeping crackdown unfolds amid a near-total internet shutdown.
Footage sent to Iran International from Kahrizak, south of Tehran, shows several dead bodies in body bags. According to eyewitness accounts accompanying the videos, dozens of bodies are visible at the site, with additional bodies reportedly located in another nearby industrial shed. https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/component/content/article/iran-protests-2-000-dead-in-48-hours?catid=17&Itemid=101
Footage sent to Iran International from Kahrizak, south of Tehran, shows several dead bodies in body bags. According to eyewitness accounts accompanying the videos, dozens of bodies are visible at the site, with additional bodies reportedly located in another nearby industrial shed. https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/component/content/article/iran-protests-2-000-dead-in-48-hours?catid=17&Itemid=101
US president says Iranians 'looking at freedom' while Tehran accuses Washington, Tel Aviv of fomenting protests https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/trump-says-us-ready-to-help-as-iran-unrest-grows/3796015
We’ve featured fresh reports of the US moving planes to the Middle East, such as: Probably F15s, F16s, F22s And F35s : Dozens Of US Jets Now Converging On The Middle East...
..It has been less widely noticed that Iran has changed its military doctrine from authorizing purely defensive action to now permit pre-emptive strikes...
..Reader Historiality claimed on January 8 that Russia was evacuating embassy staff from Israel. A colleague who has contacts among diplomats across the Global South just wrote us: China has also pulled its diplomats out of Israel. Russia has urged its citizens to flee via Egypt. Neither country has pulled out of Iran to the best of my knowledge...
..This posture may be a signal of readiness as opposed to positioning for action to follow immediately. But given the clear signs that the US is moving military assets to the Iran theater, it is hard to believe that it makes sense for Iran to stand pat.
One has to think that if the intent is to launch a pre-emptive strike, as opposed to engage in threat display, that Iran will not sit around in a state of high preparedness but will hit as soon as they are ready. So if the reading above is accurate and Iran plans to move first, the strike would seem likely to come tonight or at the latest, the night after. https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2026/01/is-an-attack-by-iran-imminent.html
..It has been less widely noticed that Iran has changed its military doctrine from authorizing purely defensive action to now permit pre-emptive strikes...
..Reader Historiality claimed on January 8 that Russia was evacuating embassy staff from Israel. A colleague who has contacts among diplomats across the Global South just wrote us: China has also pulled its diplomats out of Israel. Russia has urged its citizens to flee via Egypt. Neither country has pulled out of Iran to the best of my knowledge...
..This posture may be a signal of readiness as opposed to positioning for action to follow immediately. But given the clear signs that the US is moving military assets to the Iran theater, it is hard to believe that it makes sense for Iran to stand pat.
One has to think that if the intent is to launch a pre-emptive strike, as opposed to engage in threat display, that Iran will not sit around in a state of high preparedness but will hit as soon as they are ready. So if the reading above is accurate and Iran plans to move first, the strike would seem likely to come tonight or at the latest, the night after. https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2026/01/is-an-attack-by-iran-imminent.html
US officials say additional preparation time would be needed before any potential attack on Iran, according to media reports https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/iran-warns-israel-us-that-if-washington-attacks-military-and-shipping-centers-would-be-legitimate-targets-/3796222
Military commanders in the Middle East want more time to prepare for Iranian counterattacks https://news.antiwar.com/2026/01/11/report-military-tells-trump-it-needs-more-time-to-prepare-for-war-with-iran/
Larry Johnson, The CIA/Mossad Operation to Spark a Color Revolution in Iran has Failed
It's a bad investment unless the government is paying for it. "Uninvestable": Trump's $100 Billion Venezuela Gamble Meets Oil Industry Reality https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/uninvestable-trumps-100-billion-venezuela-gamble-meets-oil-industry-reality
Satellite monitoring shows huge plumes of methane rising from abandoned rigs, corroded pipelines and aging facilities across the country. Those emissions signal both lost revenue and deep operational problems — conditions that tend to deter major oil companies...
..Each year Venezuela wastes about 13 billion cubic meters of natural gas through flaring, venting and leaks, roughly $1.4 billion in potential revenue. About a quarter of its total gas output escapes into the atmosphere — the highest rate globally and nearly ten times the world average. The scale of those leaks reflects decades of neglect, theft and underinvestment, leaving what remains of the system fragile and costly to repair. https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/venezuelas-methane-problem-looms-over-trumps-oil-revival-plan
..Each year Venezuela wastes about 13 billion cubic meters of natural gas through flaring, venting and leaks, roughly $1.4 billion in potential revenue. About a quarter of its total gas output escapes into the atmosphere — the highest rate globally and nearly ten times the world average. The scale of those leaks reflects decades of neglect, theft and underinvestment, leaving what remains of the system fragile and costly to repair. https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/venezuelas-methane-problem-looms-over-trumps-oil-revival-plan
“We knocked out 97 percent of the drugs coming in by water, and we are going to start now hitting land with regard with the cartels,” Trump told Sean Hannity from Fox News. “The cartels are running Mexico. It’s very sad to watch and see what’s happened to that country. They’re killing 250,000, 300,000 in our country every single year.” https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/trump-says-us-will-begin-strikes-cartels-mexico
Alex Krainer explains that global financial organizations represent the enemy of all nations: Trump withdraws U.S. from 66 international organizations
Trump and Putin may have the same enemy in their crosshairs: it could be the very "monolithic and ruthless conspiracy" that JFK warned us about back in 1961. https://alexkrainer.substack.com/p/yuuge-trump-withdraws-us-from-66 I really want to know what was on that "empty" tanker from Iran to Venezuela. Andrew Korybko, Three Takeaways From The US’ Seizure Of A Russian-Flagged Tanker In The Atlantic https://korybko.substack.com/p/three-takeaways-from-the-us-seizure
The United States will "do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not," President Donald Trump said on Friday, doubling down on threats to seize the semi-autonomous region of Denmark.
"Because if we don't do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland. And we're not going to have Russia or China as a neighbour," he added.
Trump made the comments during a meeting accompanied by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and oil executives at the White House, claiming that he's a "big fan" of Denmark and would like to make a deal the "easy way".
"I would like to make a deal, you know the easy way but if we don't do it the easy way we're going to do it the hard way". https://www.euronews.com/2026/01/10/trump-says-us-will-act-on-greenland-whether-they-like-it-or-not
"Because if we don't do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland. And we're not going to have Russia or China as a neighbour," he added.
Trump made the comments during a meeting accompanied by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and oil executives at the White House, claiming that he's a "big fan" of Denmark and would like to make a deal the "easy way".
"I would like to make a deal, you know the easy way but if we don't do it the easy way we're going to do it the hard way". https://www.euronews.com/2026/01/10/trump-says-us-will-act-on-greenland-whether-they-like-it-or-not
Kyle Young, on what may be cover-up murders: Are we witnessing a rising death toll in a coverup of Charlie Kirk's murder? https://secularheretic.substack.com/p/are-we-witnessing-a-rising-death
ICE just launched a “wartime recruitment” campaign and seeks agents who want to “defend” their “culture.” There will be more Renee Goods. https://newrepublic.com/post/205122/ice-recruitment-wartime-america-renee-good
A social media and phone surveillance system ICE bought access to is designed to monitor a city neighborhood or block for mobile phones, track the movements of those devices and their owners over time, and follow them from their places of work to home or other locations, according to material that describes how the system works obtained by 404 Media.
Commercial location data, in this case acquired from hundreds of millions of phones via a company called Penlink, can be queried without a warrant, according to an internal ICE legal analysis shared with 404 Media. The purchase comes squarely during ICE’s mass deportation effort and continued crackdown on protected speech, alarming civil liberties experts and raising questions on what exactly ICE will use the surveillance system for. https://www.404media.co/inside-ices-tool-to-monitor-phones-in-entire-neighborhoods/
Commercial location data, in this case acquired from hundreds of millions of phones via a company called Penlink, can be queried without a warrant, according to an internal ICE legal analysis shared with 404 Media. The purchase comes squarely during ICE’s mass deportation effort and continued crackdown on protected speech, alarming civil liberties experts and raising questions on what exactly ICE will use the surveillance system for. https://www.404media.co/inside-ices-tool-to-monitor-phones-in-entire-neighborhoods/
A succinct and even-handed analysis: How a 40-second encounter led an ICE agent to shoot and kill a Twin Cities resident
What eyewitness evidence, video recordings and message logs tell us about the shooting death of Renee Nicole Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross. As Good sat in the driver’s seat of her car, her wife was standing nearby. Their dog was in the backseat. Toys for their 6-year-old child were strewn about the car – stuffed animals hanging above the glove box, a dinosaur book and drawing pad on the passenger seat floor.
Ross, who lives in Minnesota and is assigned to the St. Paul field office, was back in action just six months after he was dragged 300 feet by a car as he tried to arrest a Mexican citizen in Bloomington. Images of the encounter show blood covering Ross’ body and clothes. There are dozens of stitches curling down his arm.
As Ross circled Good’s car on Portland Ave., he held his own phone to record what was happening. Good smiled at him. “That’s fine dude,” Good said to Ross, looking up into his face, which was partially obscured by a balaclava. “I’m not mad at you.” https://archive.md/bmfRE#selection-291.0-315.248
Portland police says the two people shot by Customs and Border Protection called the police themselves after being shot by federal agents — and the police provided medical assistance. https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2026/01/portland-mayor-decries-mounting-bloodshed-tells-ice-to-get-out-after-federal-agents-shoot-two.html
Officials within the administration of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz actively enabled at least some of the state’s estimated $9 billion in social services fraud by suppressing fraud reports, retaliating against whistleblowers and changing protocols to mask criminal behavior according to Republican lawmakers who testified before Congress this week. https://www.zerohedge.com/political/mn-lawmakers-say-fraud-whistleblowers-were-threatened-retaliation
The Quality Learning Center: Minnesota's Most Notorious Somali Daycare At Center Of Fraud Scandal Abruptly Shuts Down https://www.zerohedge.com/political/minnesotas-most-notorious-somali-daycare-center-fraud-scandal-abruptly-shuts-down
Gold & Geopolitics, on all those cameras and sensors, They know what you did last summer And spring, and winter, and ...
It’s brilliant. And terrifying.
The insurance telematics market hit $5 billion in 2024, projected to reach $19 billion by 2032. Progressive’s Snapshot program. State Farm’s Drive Safe. Allstate’s Drivewise. They’re all data collection schemes wrapped in discount offers.
You install the little OBD-II dongle or download the app, they monitor your every move, and maybe - maybe - you save 5% on premiums. Meanwhile they’re building comprehensive behavioral profiles worth far more than whatever discount they’re dangling.
The 2021 Infrastructure Bill even made it mandatory. Section 24220 requires all new vehicles to include “advanced impaired driving prevention technology” that “passively monitors” driver performance. The official line is it’s about drunk driving. The actual text mandates constant surveillance with a backdoor for “authorized” third parties.
Your car is required by federal law to spy on you. And the data gets monetized by corporations who are legally obligated to maximize shareholder value, not protect your privacy. https://no01.substack.com/p/they-know-what-you-did-last-summer
The insurance telematics market hit $5 billion in 2024, projected to reach $19 billion by 2032. Progressive’s Snapshot program. State Farm’s Drive Safe. Allstate’s Drivewise. They’re all data collection schemes wrapped in discount offers.
You install the little OBD-II dongle or download the app, they monitor your every move, and maybe - maybe - you save 5% on premiums. Meanwhile they’re building comprehensive behavioral profiles worth far more than whatever discount they’re dangling.
The 2021 Infrastructure Bill even made it mandatory. Section 24220 requires all new vehicles to include “advanced impaired driving prevention technology” that “passively monitors” driver performance. The official line is it’s about drunk driving. The actual text mandates constant surveillance with a backdoor for “authorized” third parties.
Your car is required by federal law to spy on you. And the data gets monetized by corporations who are legally obligated to maximize shareholder value, not protect your privacy. https://no01.substack.com/p/they-know-what-you-did-last-summer
Don't look at the indecent AI image of Sir Kier, please: UK Government Threatens Total Ban On X Over Grok Bikini Flap https://www.zerohedge.com/political/uk-government-threatens-total-ban-x-over-grok-bikini-flap
Meryl Nass MD, The Supreme Court has not yet announced whether they will take Monsanto's case. It's a huge deal.
While removing the Monsanto rider from the Appropriations bill on Monday was certainly good, it will be of no value if any one of the following happens:
a similar rider in the Farm Bill gets passed, or the Supreme Court takes up and rules in favor of Monsanto-Bayer’s preemption case, or the states rule in favor of federal preemption (as GA and ND already have) “Preemption” in this case means that states will lose the right to challenge EPA assessments and label requirements. Right now, states have the right (unless they vote it away, as GA and ND did) to require stricter safety standards than the federal standards for products, and citizens can sue in state courts using the “failure to warn” legal doctrine. This gives citizens the opportunity to present scientific data, and to obtain discovery—which in the past has shown that Monsanto knew of glyphosate’s dangers and chose not to notify EPA or request a change in the warning label. If preemption wins, their cases will become unwinnable. https://merylnass.substack.com/p/the-supreme-court-has-not-yet-announced
I signed this petition and made a phone call to Senator Cruz: Children’s Health Defense Urges FCC to Drop Plan That Would Strip Communities of Local Control Over Cell Towers
A proposed rule change by the FCC that would allow for the uncontrolled proliferation of new cell towers and other wireless infrastructures exceeds the agency’s legal authority, according to comments filed Dec. 31, 2025, with the FCC by Children’s Health Defense (CHD). CHD said the FCC should abandon the effort and instead comply with a 2021 court mandate to revisit its safety limits, which haven’t been updated since 1996. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/chd-urges-fcc-drop-plan-strip-communities-local-control-cell-towers/A child’s eye lens is clearer than an adult’s. This allows more potentially harmful blue-wavelength light to reach the retina, said Mark Baker, founder and president of the Soft Lights Foundation. The nonprofit last month petitioned the FDA to study the health effects of LED lights, which emit blue light, and report its findings to Congress. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/led-blue-light-emr-vision-cognitive-function-kids-risk-petition-fda/
Meryl Nass MD, The fake horrible flu season.
First, the worst flu season in 20 years was in 2017-18, (though the 2009-10 swine flu season lasted all year, so I am leaving that one out) when there were 3 times as many deaths recorded as caused primarily by flu on death certificates (about 6,500) as in a usual year (when there are usually a bit over 2,000 deaths directly attributed to flu as the main cause of death). This is considered highly reliable data. After that year, 2024-25 was said to be the worst year. When they tell you this year looks like the worst flu season in 20 years (or more) that is simply an outright lie. https://merylnass.substack.com/p/erronious-perfidious-influenza-information
Pediatricians balance their office budgets with "rewards" for high "perfect-vaccination" rates: Federal Judge Clears Path for AAP to Sue RFK Jr. Over Vaccine Policy Changes
A federal judge today ruled that a coalition of major medical organizations, including the AAP, can proceed with a lawsuit against U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Children’s Health Defense General Counsel Kim Mack Rosenberg said the ruling fails to account for the medical groups’ conflicts of interest. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/federal-judge-clears-path-aap-lawsuit-rfk-jr-vaccine-policy-changes/ Maryanne Demassi Ph.D. Australian senate forces answers on why Covid vaccine deaths were not investigated
After US regulators linked child deaths to Covid-19 mRNA vaccines, an Australian senator has demanded to know why reported child deaths in Australia were not escalated for expert causality assessment. https://blog.maryannedemasi.com/p/australian-senate-forces-answersThe report, by a dozen leading scientists and thought leaders in aluminum toxicology and vaccine injuries, concluded that the Danish study failed to establish the safety of aluminum in vaccines. The authors of the new report called for “independent, rigorous and honest” science on the health impacts of aluminum in vaccines. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/new-report-flaws-danish-study-claiming-aluminum-vaccine-safety/
Peter McCullough MD shows that green tea is good for you. Try the green tea bags from Costco. Beyond Tea: The Cellular Science of Matcha’s Healing Chemistry https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/beyond-tea-the-cellular-science-of
You have to really want to know the truth to discern it these days: A Midwestern Doctor, Seeing Truth in the Age of Information Overload - How the health of your perceptual filters shapes the health of your reality
•Information Overload Crisis: Today’s endless data flood overwhelms the mind, triggering instability and reliance on simplistic narratives—ancient meditation practices build the inner stability needed to navigate this chaos clearly.
•Filters Create Reality: The mind adopts filters to simplify reality into something the conscious mind can process, inevitably removing many critical details while creating a biased and inaccurate perception of reality.
•Rigid Divisions: In politics, this filtering causes people on both sides to be rigidly convinced their truth is correct. Likewise, it makes doctors worship vaccines and be unable to recognize the harms of pharmaceuticals, even when their own patients are repeatedly injured.
•Patient-Focused Healing: In medicine, many diagnoses can only be made if a physician works to move beyond the filters they were trained in and instead directly see the complexity that each patient brings to the encounter.
•Path to Clear Perception: Cultivate intuition for key data points, recognize source biases, drill to core truths, and expand awareness through nervous system health—all of which are essential for discerning reality in our hyper-connected, impactful era.
A recurring theme in human society is how often groups hold diametrically opposed viewpoints, yet both are absolutely certain they are entirely correct, and the other is completely wrong. In each instance, this means that at least half of the people involved are wrong and incapable of seeing evidence repeatedly presented to them. https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/seeing-truth-in-the-age-of-information-38b
Truthful & Green (pictured with some kale)
