Authored by Kamal Alam via Middle East Eye,

Amid the swift and stunning collapse of Aleppo following an assault led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is internationally sanctioned as a terrorist group, it is important to pause and recall that we have been here before. The advance by HTS and Turkish-backed rebels in Syria suggests that Turkey is playing its cards before US president-elect Donald Trump takes office, driven by its existential fear of a Kurdish enclave in northern Syria. 

Turkey had been frustrated with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s repeated refusal to come to the negotiating table and meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyib Erdogan, although both Syrian and Turkish defense and intelligence chiefs have met regularly in Russia. Al-Assad has been negotiating through his ministers while relying on the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Russia for the diplomatic push. Yet, while the finger of blame has been pointed at Turkey, the Israel factor cannot be discounted.

Just days before the fall of Aleppo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened Syria against facilitating aid to Hezbollah – and it is no coincidence that this crisis began shortly after the Lebanon ceasefire was finalized. 

It was almost timed perfectly to suggest that there has been some sort of nod to the armed groups in Idlib. Some Syrian opposition groups have acknowledged that Israel’s ceasefire helped them. Turkish-backed groups went so far as to thank Israel and further said they want good relations with Tel Aviv.

A key difference

But while many observers assert that Assad is on the ropes, his main backers, Russia and Iran, are already flexing their military and diplomatic muscle – and unlike the previous time Assad was in trouble in 2012, major players in the region, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan and Iraq, are publicly backing Syria’s sovereignty. Iraq said it shall help Syria militarily as well. 

With the exception of Qatar, all Arab ambassadors are back in Damascus – and since the fall of Aleppo, there has been a reaffirmation of support for Syria, marking a key difference from when the conflict was viewed as a civil war. 

Indeed, as Aleppo was falling, the UAE and US were on the verge of potentially removing sanctions on Syria. Assad must now finally take their advice on rapprochement with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before the situation spirals out of control. 

There has been much talk of increased tensions in the occupied Golan Heights, with Israel violating the 1973 buffer zone as it ordered some army units to move out of the demarcated UN line since 1973, almost as if they anticipated trouble to create a buffer zone like in Lebanon along the Litani river.

At the same time, there has been a quiet flurry of diplomatic activity in recent months, from the Italians to the Saudis, placing Assad center-stage for a potential new shakeup in the Levant. 

A number of EU countries, led by Italy, are calling for a major rethink of ties with Syria, spurred by the need to engage Assad for their own migration and security issues. Erdogan is almost begging Assad for a meeting, and with the UAE already increasing aid to Syria to help displaced Lebanese people, Damascus is set to regain a key role in the region after the dust settles in Beirut and Gaza.

Syria has carefully maintained a low profile during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Whilst being a key member of the axis of resistance for the last 40 years, Syria has not been averse to talking or doing deals with Israel. It has at numerous times almost solved the issue of Golan, so it knows the balance.

US President Donald Trump’s new Arab envoy, Massad Boulos, is a political ally of Assad’s best friend in Lebanon, Suleiman Frangieh, who is one of the key candidates for the presidency.

Those who know the history of Lebanon and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) will know just how critical Syria is to the delicate balance of the region’s unorthodox relationships, which are not quite as black and white as they seem. Everything is not simply what faraway DC analysts label as “Shia versus Sunni”. 

A recent report outlines how, in the lead-up to Iran’s 1979 revolution, Syria refused safe passage to Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to avoid further antagonizing Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Prominent Syrian journalist Ibrahim Hamidi goes further in explaining the nuances of what Syria was trying to achieve in Lebanon and Palestine, as Syrian troops and allies sometimes clashed with Hezbollah to protect their own interests. 

But the Israelis know that for any final peace with the Palestinian people, there must first be an understanding with Damascus. Similarly, Hamas’s recent U-turn on its relationship with Syria – alongside Israeli support for Syrian armed groups against Assad, and Tel Aviv’s now-famous contention that there would have been no Syrian uprising “if Assad made peace with us” – show how intricately linked the Palestinian file is to Syria’s endgame for Israel. 

Unconfirmed footage of Al Qaeda cutout HTS terrorists celebrating capturing a Syrian🇸🇾 Army base in Hama

Israel, the US, and Turkey have reignited the dirty war on Syria through their terrorist proxies, as Bashar Al-Assad’s forces and allies scramble to put together a… pic.twitter.com/TIoR8YnjeJ

— Going Underground (@GUnderground_TV) December 5, 2024

To be clear, Syria is under no illusions: half the country has been reduced to rubble. But its strength has never been an all-out powerful military or strategic arms advantage. It is what author David Lesch has called Syria’s ability to punch above its weight.

It is Syria’s ability to outlast its opponents and ride out the storm, rather than beating its opponents into submission. Assad, despite Israel’s frequent strikes on Iranian targets in Damascus, has not taken any retaliatory actions that could further raise Israel’s ire.

Pivot from Iran to Gulf

Similarly, according to Hamidi, who is one of the well-informed Syrian journalists, Syria has clamped down on the activities of Hezbollah and Iran-affiliated militias in the country, with Russian help – leading some analysts to question the viability of Iran-Syria ties. 

While Iran is not quitting Syria, Damascus has other options, as the UAE and Saudi Arabia are helping Syria with the influx of Lebanese refugees, and the EU views strengthened ties with Damascus as a potential way to mitigate its own migration problems.

Perhaps the most important element of Assad’s pivotal role in the current mess is Erdogan’s eagerness to meet him. Assad has so far rejected these overtures, saying it would not be an easy path to reconciliation with Turkey. Erdogan, however, has been pleading with Russia to bring Syria to the table. This rejection appears to have prompted Turkish-backed groups to reshuffle the cards in northern Aleppo. 

The big “so what” from all of this is that even in Syria’s diminished capacity, after more than a decade of war, almost every month we are seeing more ambassadors and global leaders return to Damascus. 

They see Assad as the best option not just for Syria, but also to help both the Syrian and Lebanese refugees -who fled Lebanon during the recent war – and to resolve the deadlock of the Lebanese presidency. More than a year ago, France acquiesced to a plan to push Assad’s best friend, Frangieh, as the best candidate for president in Lebanon, against the wishes of other European allies. 

Amid the reordering of Lebanon, one thing that has stood the test of time is Syria’s ability to remain relevant, despite all the damage it has incurred. While Syria depends on Russia and Iran militarily, its global diplomatic support has increased, from Italy, to Saudi Arabia, to China – and this will eventually decide the future of Syria, and the region. 

Ukraine has firmly rejected calls from Washington and NATO leadership to lower its age of conscription from 25 to 18, amid widespread acknowledgement that it doesn’t have enough able-bodied fighting men to defend the front lines or slow the Russian military advance.

President Zelensky’s office responded to White House urgings to get “younger people” into the fight by saying there are not enough weapons to begin with, so forcing more young men into the military will make little difference.

Zelensky’s communications adviser, Dmytro Lytvyn, issued a statement Wednesday night, directly addressing the controversy which is currently in international headlines, also after NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte piled on the pressure from Brussels. 

He started by explaining that the real problem Ukraine’s military faces is delayed weapons transfers from Western partners. He asserted that Kyiv “lacks weapons to equip already mobilized soldiers.”

“It doesn’t make sense to see calls for Ukraine to lower the mobilization age, presumably in order to draft more people, when we can see that previously announced equipment is not arriving on time. Because of these delays, Ukraine lacks weapons to equip already mobilized soldiers,” Lytvyn said on X.

He claimed further that the Western allies “have complete access to the data and can compare promises to actual deliveries” – again putting the blame on Ukraine’s foreign supporters.

“Ukraine cannot be expected to compensate for delays in logistics or hesitation in support with the youth of our men on the frontline,” he added.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged the Zelensky government to make “hard decisions” about expanding mobilization efforts to fight the Russians. 

“Getting younger people into the fight, we think, many of us think, is necessary” Blinken stated in a NATO press conference on Wednesday. “Right now, 18- to 25-year-olds are not in the fight,” he explained.

He emphasized that that manpower is critical “because even with the money, even with the munitions, there have to be people on the front lines.” The Biden White House has been rushing as much arms to Ukraine forces as it can with little time left in the Democratic administration. Blinken also stressed that NATO is seeking to ensure every soldier Ukraine mobilizes has “the training and the equipment they need to effectively defend the country.”

Zelensky’s rejection of lowering conscription age is probably a strong indicator that negotiations are just around the corner. Also, if he moved to suddenly change the current policy, he could face rebellion among Ukrainians who don’t want to prolong the war, and who worry about their family members dying in the Donbas.

By Russell Clark, of The Capital Flows and Asset Markets substack

I am generally of the view that risk can not be destroyed, but it can be transferred. Or in other words, you can protect one asset, but normally at the cost of another. There are lots of versions of this type of thinking in economics – beggar-thy-neighbor devaluation currency policies, helps businesses but reduce domestic wages. Central banks and governments can control either the exchange rate or the interest rate, but not both. Fiscal deficit spending, should be accompanied by higher interest rates, and a weaker currency. Emerging market investors are very familiar with the trade off – what the government gives you in spending, the currency markets take away with currency weakness.

For example, Brazil is running a 10% of GDP fiscal deficit – much larger than in the 2000s.

And like the US, the equity market Brazil has done well. The equity market is not far off highs.

But Brazil has suffered a weak currency due to this spending, so the USD returns to Brazilian assets have been poor. Below is EWZ, a USD ETF that track Brazilian stocks. Currency weakness has overwhelmed equity performance.

The US, particularly since Trump has come to be a political force, has had similar fiscal balance to Brazil – and with Trump’s re-election is likely to go wider.

As you should be aware, the US dollar has been strong, and US asset markets have been very good. S&P 500 looks nothing like EWZ

Theory and practice would have suggested that the Trump Trade should have seen good equity markets, but weak US dollar and much higher interest rates, and yet currency markets and interest rates have been very supportive. Certainly, this is what happened back in the 1970s when government spending was also growing rapidly. Dollar weakened dramatically, and interest rates spiked.

Why is it not happening this time? One big difference is that the US consumer is not as important to commodities as it used to be. In 1970s, the US was 30% of total oil consumption, but now is only 20%.

Even more importantly, the US is not the main player in the tradable oil market. China is by far the major importer of oil

And this probably hints at the secret to the “Trump Trade”. The combination of fiscal spending, and aggressive policies to contain Chinese economic growth means that there is much less transmission of expansive fiscal policy to commodity markets.

Collapsing bond yields in China point to the Trump trade likely continuing to work.

Another way to think about it, is that the market has definitely noticed that the US government now treats fiscal deficits as a free lunch, and hence we have seen gold outperform treasuries (my GLD/TLT trade). Here is a long term graph of that trade.

Generally speaking, gold prices and oil prices moving in different directions is unusual. This year gold is up strongly, while oil prices are down.

For lovers of ratios, oil has rarely been this cheap compared to oil, and even more so when not in the midst of a recession, which is what typically drives oil cheaper than gold.

This analysis would seemingly imply that the only constraint to US fiscal policy is the price of oil. There is some evidence to support this view. When the Soviet Union started to go into decline in the 1980s, falling demand and prices coincided with the 1980s and 1990s boom in the US. You could think that US asset prices and economy expand until they meet a physical constraint. Deflation and stagnation in the rest of the world is therefore “good” for the US.

China has not collapsed like the Soviet Union (yet), but its bond market is pointing to economic stagnation. Economically the Trump Trade could keep going, but there are two unknowable risks, related to China and Trump. First, in 2017, China began a stimulus program that pushed commodity prices higher. There is a risk that they repeat this policy. The second risk is that China sees the likely success of Russia in Ukraine, and decides to move to a war footing on the issue of Taiwan, which would be a very stimulatory policy change. The Trump re-election makes both more likely – but as long as Chinese bond yields are falling, the Trump Trade looks like a winner.

Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus, is positioning Anduril Industries—his Southern California startup defense firm—as a challenger to military-industrial giants like Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, and General Dynamics.

Anduril announced on Wednesday a strategic partnership with Sam Altman’s OpenAI to develop and deploy advanced artificial intelligence for national security missions. 

“By bringing together OpenAI’s advanced models with Anduril’s high-performance defense systems and Lattice software platform, the partnership aims to improve the nation’s defense systems that protect U.S. and allied military personnel from attacks by unmanned drones and other aerial devices,” the startup wrote in a statement. 

Introducing:

Roadrunner, a compact VTOL drone powered by twin thrust-vectored turbojet engines with extraordinary speed, range, and payload capacity.

&

Roadrunner-M, a radical new low-cost weapon that allows for unprecedented tactics against powerful threats. pic.twitter.com/2C7Ga0h1Hf

— Palmer Luckey (@PalmerLuckey) December 1, 2023

The war in Ukraine and the broadening conflicts across the Middle East have shocked military advisors in recent years due to the proliferation of aerial threats from both unmanned systems and manned platforms, which have had devastating impacts. We’ve all seen the shocking kamikaze drone footage posted on X, showing drones neutralizing commercial vessels in the southern Red Sea or the Gulf of Aden, as well as suicide drones hunting soldiers in Ukraine. 

Anduril and OpenAI’s strategic partnership will focus on upgrading America’s counter-unmanned aircraft systems “to detect, assess and respond potentially lethal aerial threats in real-time,” according to the startup, adding, “As part of the new initiative, Anduril and OpenAI will explore how leading edge AI models can be leveraged to rapidly synthesize time-sensitive data, reduce the burden on human operators, and improve situational awareness.” 

Anduril continued:

The accelerating race between the United States and China to lead the world in advancing AI makes this a pivotal moment. If the United States cedes ground, we risk losing the technological edge that has underpinned our national security for decades.

The decisions made now will determine whether the United States remains a leader in the 21st century or risks being outpaced by adversaries who don’t share our commitment to freedom and democracy and would use AI to threaten other countries.

Brian Schimpf, co-founder & CEO of Anduril, released this statement:

“Anduril builds defense solutions that meet urgent operational needs for the US and allied militaries. Our partnership with OpenAI will allow us to utilize their world-class expertise in artificial intelligence to address urgent Air Defense capability gaps across the world. Together, we are committed to developing responsible solutions that enable military and intelligence operators to make faster, more accurate decisions in high-pressure situations.”

OpenAI’s Altman said:

“OpenAI builds AI to benefit as many people as possible, and supports US-led efforts to ensure the technology upholds democratic values. Our partnership with Anduril will help ensure OpenAI technology protects US military personnel, and will help the national security community understand and responsibly use this technology to keep our citizens safe and free.” 

Luckey is leveraging his Silicon Valley background to disrupt the defense sector. And apparently, Altman is on board, too. 

Recall what President-elect Trump said in July….

Trump: “I will build an Iron Dome over our country.” pic.twitter.com/jrhLmL1bdC

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) January 23, 2024

ChatGPT missiles next?

Authored by Tom Mitchelhill via CoinTelegraph.com,

The launch of viral influencer Haliey Welch’s Hawk Tuah memecoin sparked outrage across social media as the newly launched token briefly pumped and then dumped rapidly following a controversial deployment involving allegations of snipers and insider wallets.

Welch has denied any insider sales or activity on behalf of her team or any affiliated entities. 

The Hawk Tuak (HAWK) memecoin was launched at 10:00 pm UTC on Dec. 4 and quickly rose to a peak market cap of $490 million.

The price of the token then plummeted and was trading at a valuation of $41.7 million at the time of publication, marking a 91% downturn in less than three hours, according to DexScreener data. 

Haliey Welch’s Hawk Tuah memecoin cratered 91% in less than three hours. Source: DexScreener

According to aggregated data from Bubblemaps and Dexscreener, a mix of insider wallets and snipers — entities that rapidly buy up huge amounts of a token’s supply at launch — controlled between 80%-90% of HAWK’s supply at launch.

Bubblemaps’ data shows that roughly 80% of the supply was owned by a cluster of related wallets at launch. Source: Bubblemaps

In a Dec. 5 post to X, Welch’s official account said that the team hadn’t sold any tokens and no key opinion leaders were given free coins. It added that they had launched the token on decentralized liquidity protocol Meteora to reduce sniping risk. 

Source: Haliey Welch

“Team hasn’t sold one token and not 1 KOL was given 1 free token,” she said. “We tried to stop snipers as best we could through high fee’s in the start of launch on Meteora.”

Still, according to data from Solana block explorer Solscanner, one wallet managed to snipe HAWK seconds after launch, purchasing 17.5% of the supply of the memecoin for 4,195 Wrapped Solana (WSOL) — worth $993,000 at the time. 

Over the next one-and-a-half hours, the wallet sold 135.8 million HAWK tokens for a profit of $1.3 million. 

One wallet sniped 17.5% of the supply at launch and netted over $1.3 million in profit. Source: Solscan

“I really lost $43k apeing in ‘hawk tuah’ coin,” wrote one user on X.

According to onchain data cited by several users on X, one investor swapped about $1.4 million worth of another memecoin called MOODENG into the HAWK token, losing just over $1.3 million in the process.

HAWK memecoin risks legal backlash, say observers

Aside from the outrage around the token’s deployment, some observers suggested the launch could land Welch and her team in hot water with regulators. 

Several users on X claimed to have filed complaints with the SEC over the memecoin and law firms have begun advertising their services to those who lost money on the token. 

In a Dec. 5 post to X, Burwick Law requested that anyone who lost money on the memecoin contact their firm and learn about their legal rights. 

“If you lost money on $HAWK, contact our firm to learn about your legal rights.”

Source: Burwick Law

Live Steam: Local outlet ABC 10 Covering Quake 

*   *   *

Update (1447 ET):

Great news. 

*TSUNAMI THREAT FROM CALIFORNIA EARTHQUAKE NOW PASSED: PTWC

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) December 5, 2024

Still…

Tsunamis can travel as fast as a jet airplane. The entire West Coast will see any impacts within the next 2 hours if a #tsunami occurs. pic.twitter.com/r7twGZ4f50

— Matthew Cappucci (@MatthewCappucci) December 5, 2024

*   *   *

The United States Geological Survey has reported a 7.0 magnitude earthquake off the Northern California coast.

*7.0 MAG. EARTHQUAKE 99 KM WSW OF FERNDALE CALIFORNIA :USGS

*HAZARDOUS TSUNAMI WAVES POSSIBLE AFTER CALIFORNIA QUAKE: PTWC

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) December 5, 2024

The epicenter of the quake is about 40 miles northwest of Ferndale.

“Most of the slip was lateral, reducing the risk of a severe #tsunami, but some was thrust (up/down), which makes waves,” meteorologist Matthew Cappucci wrote on X. 

BREAKING: The magnitude 7.0 #earthquake 45 miles offshore of Eureka, California occurred where the Pacific Plate and the Gorda Plate slide past each other.

Most of the slip was lateral, reducing the risk of a severe #tsunami, but some was thrust (up/down), which makes waves. pic.twitter.com/yT19jbtLV9

— Matthew Cappucci (@MatthewCappucci) December 5, 2024

Tsunami warnings in effect

Tsunami risk map across the Bay Area.

Tsunami risk map for the bay area pic.twitter.com/kP9dmwfFGz

— George Deglin (@gdeglin) December 5, 2024

Here are more details about the tsunami warning, spanning from California to Oregon. 

Shaking has been reported in the region.

I did not feel the earthquakes and I got the alerts after the earthquakes happened. But the office lights sure rocked here in Sonoma. #earthquake @USGS_Quakes #california pic.twitter.com/qYH32V3wcy

— Sarah Stierch 🔥💁🏻‍♀️ 🍷🌮 (@Sarah_Stierch) December 5, 2024

🚨🇺🇸 BREAKING: EARTHQUAKE SHAKING FELT NEAR SACRAMENTO

Shaking from the 7.0 earthquake was reported at Nugget Markets in Davis, California, located about 15 miles west of Sacramento.

The quake originated in Humboldt County, with a tsunami warning issued by NWS.

Source:… https://t.co/ioV1uiVIVz pic.twitter.com/11CAymRo8Q

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) December 5, 2024

Ominous…

Watching the tsunami from the Berkeley Hills. Can see the tideline going out. pic.twitter.com/D6I5K6Exy1

— Lomez (@L0m3z) December 5, 2024

*This is a developing story…

Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via American Greatness,

Deflated by the resounding November defeat, the left now believes it can magically rebound by destroying Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees.

Many of Trump’s picks are well outside the usual Washington, DC/New York political, media, and corporate nexus.

But that is precisely the point – to insert reformers into a bloated, incompetent, and weaponized government who are not part of it.

Trump’s nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, is already drawing severe criticism.

His furious enemies cannot go after his resume, since he has spent a lifetime in private, congressional, and executive billets, both in investigations and intelligence.

Instead, they claim he is too vindictive and does not reflect the ethos of the FBI.

But what will Patel not do as the new director?

He will not serially lie under oath to federal investigators as did interim FBI Director Andrew McCabe, a current Patel critic.

He will not forge an FBI court affidavit, as did convicted felon and agency lawyer Kevin Clinesmith.

He will not claim amnesia 245 times under congressional oath to evade embarrassing admissions as did former Director James Comey.

He will not partner with a foreign national to collect dirt and subvert a presidential campaign as the FBI did with Christopher Steele in 2016.

He will not use the FBI to draft social media to suppress news unfavorable to a presidential candidate on the eve of an election.

He would not have suppressed FBI knowledge that Hunter Biden’s laptop was genuine—to allow the lie to spread that it was “Russian disinformation” on the eve of the 2020 election.

He will not raid the home of an ex-president with SWAT teams, surveil Catholics, monitor parents at school board meetings, or go after pro-life peaceful protestors.

Decorated combat veteran Pete Hegseth is another controversial nominee for secretary of defense.

What will Hegseth likely not do?

Go AWOL without notifying the president of a serious medical procedure as did current Secretary Lloyd Austin?

Install race and gender criteria for promotion and mandate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion training?

Insinuate falsely that cabals of white supremacists had infiltrated the military—only to alienate that entire demographic and thus ensure the Pentagon came up 40,000 recruits short?

Oversee the scramble from Kabul that saw $50 billion in U.S. military equipment abandoned to Taliban terrorists?

Watch passively as a Chinese spy balloon traversed the continental United States for a week?

Allow the chairman of the Joint Chiefs to promise his Chinese communist counterpart that the People’s Liberation Army would first be informed if the President of the United States was felt to issue a dangerous order?

Rotate into the Pentagon from a defense contractor boardship and then leave office to rotate back there to leverage procurement decisions?

Oversee the Pentagon’s serial flunking of fiscal audits?

Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is certainly a maverick. He may earn the most Democratic hits, given his former liberal credentials.

But what will RFK also not do as HHS secretary?

Oversee his agencies circumventing U.S. law by transferring money to communist China to help it produce lethal gain-of-function viruses of the COVID-19 sort—in the manner of Dr. Fauci?

Organize scientists to go after critics of mandatory masking and defame them?

Give pharmaceutical companies near-lifetime exemptions from legal jeopardy for rushing into production mRNA vaccines not traditionally vetted and tested?

Leave office to monetize his HHS expertise and thus make millions from the pharmaceutical companies?

Trump’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence, former congressional representative and military veteran Tulsi Gabbard, will soon be defamed in congressional hearings.

But what has Gabbard not done?

Joined “51 former intelligence authorities” to lie on the eve of the 2020 election that the Hunter Biden laptop “had all the hallmarks” of a Russian information/disinformation operation”—in an effort to swing the election to incumbent Joe Biden?

Lied under congressional oath like former DNI James Clapper, who claimed he only gave the “least untruthful answer” in congressional testimony?

Encourage the FBI to monitor a presidential campaign in efforts to discredit it—in the manner of former CIA Director John Brennan, who lied not once but twice under oath?

Fail to foresee the American meltdown in Kabul, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel, or the Houthis takeover of the Red Sea?

*  *  *

We are going to hear some outrageous things in the upcoming congressional confirmation hearings.

But one thing we will not hear about are the crimes, deceptions, and utter incompetence of prior and current government grandees.

The current crew, not their proposed Trump replacements, prompted the sick and tired American people to demand different people.

Voters want novel approaches to reform a government that they not only no longer trust but also now deeply fear.

The plot thickens in the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, as New York Police Department investigators have discovered shell casings at the shooting area engraved with the words “deny,” “defend,” and “depose.” 

The shooter, still at large, appeared to have targeted Thompson, waiting for him early Wednesday morning outside the New York Hilton Midtown hotel, firing multiple shots from a suppressed 9mm handgun, killing the high-level insurance executive.

Officials familiar with the investigation told the New York Times that the words “deny,” “defend,” and “depose” were found on 9mm bullet casings at the scene. They also noted that ballistic tests are currently underway.

🚨UPDATE: Below are photos of a person of interest wanted for questioning regarding the Midtown Manhattan homicide on Dec. 4. This does not appear to be a random act of violence; all indications are that it was a premediated, targeted attack.

The full investigative efforts of… pic.twitter.com/K3kzC4IbtS

— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) December 5, 2024

The words etched into the metal casings may have multiple meanings, with many on X indicating the words point back to the 2010 book “Delay Deny Defend: Why insurance companies don’t pay claims and what you can do about it,” in which author Jay Feinman “exposes insurance injustice and a plan for consumers and lawmakers to fight back.”

Here’s a summary of the book featured on Amazon (an extended summary can be found here): 

“The denial of valid insurance claims is not occasional or accidental or the fault of a few bad employees. It’s the result of an increasing and systematic focus on maximizing profits by major companies such as Allstate and State Farm. Citing dozens of stories of victims who were unfairly denied payment, the book explains how people can be more careful when shopping for policies and what to do when pursuing a disputed claim. It also lays out a plan for the legal reforms needed to prevent future abuses.”

The internet search term “Delay Deny Defend” exploded nationwide on Wednseday night after the bombshell bullet casing report dropped.

Recent data from Lending Tree shows that UnitedHealthcare had some of the highest claim denial rates by any insurance company in the US.

The assassination of the high-level healthcare executive is unfolding like a real-time Netflix murder mystery show. 

I’m completely obsessed with this now. The words on the shell casings are similar to the title of a book “Delay, Deny, Defend” which is critical of the insurance industry. Police also don’t think the shooter was a professional assassin. https://t.co/Alvr8NgErG

— Decoding Fox News (@DecodingFoxNews) December 5, 2024

This is a play on “delay, deny, defend”, a three tiered tactic used by insurance companies to avoid paying out claims.

This is evidence that the motive is in fact what many suspected it to be. https://t.co/F1Xm7jv3va

— Avi Bitterman, MD (@AviBittMD) December 5, 2024

Citizens journalists on X are trying to piece together the puzzle of who the professional assassin might be.  

Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Modernity.news,

Exemplifying demographic changes taking place due to mass migration, the most popular name for boys in England and Wales last year was Muhammad.

The Arabic name, which is shared with the Prophet Muhammad, overtook Noah to become the most popular name for boys in 2023.

Although it is being reported that this is the first time Muhammad has topped the charts, it would have actually come in at number one in multiple previous years had all the different spellings of the name been combined.

Today we’ve released the most popular baby names for England and Wales in 2023👶

🥇 what’s no. 1
🥳 newcomers and movers in the top 10
⏫ names making it into the top 100
👋 names out of the top 100

Swipe and find out ⬇️

— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) December 5, 2024

“In 2023 there were 4,661 Muhammads born across England and Wales, up from 4,177 in 2022,” reports the Telegraph.

“In contrast, only 4,382 Noahs were born in 2023, down from 4,586 the previous year.”

The name Muhammad has been in the top 10 since 2016, the fact that it has now risen to number one in the space of 7 years underscores how rapidly the UK is being changed demographically by mass migration

The results of the 2021 census revealed that the UK has gone from being over 99 per cent ethnically white British in 1951 to just 76.8 per cent white British in 2021.

🚨Leicester – the multiculturalism poster boy:

➡️White population collapse:

1961: 97.8% vs 2021: 33.2%

➡️2021 – English not even the largest group:

White 33.2% vs Indian 34.3%

➡️Ethnic segregation – no such thing as assimilation en masse:

Maps:
🔴White
🟠Indian
⚫️Pakistani pic.twitter.com/WakHj2KFV4

— Wolf 🐺 (@WorldByWolf) November 10, 2024

England went from being 94 per cent white to just 81% white within the space of three decades.

Almost 6 per cent of the population are now Muslim, a figure that has more than doubled since 2001.

Last week it was revealed that net migration to the UK hit record high of 906,000 in year to June 2023.

This prompted left-wing Labour leader Prime Minister Keir Starmer to deliver an emergency speech asserting that the previous Tory government had been running an “open borders experiment” which “happened by design, not accident.”

The changes are most noticeably felt in major cities like Liverpool, where in a clip posted to X, a man takes a walk around the city center and notes how he can’t even find a fellow scouser.

Liverpool —my home city— is changing beyond all recognition.

It now houses hundreds of African and Middle-Eastern men, plus countless women in burqas. Few speak english.

What the hell is going on, @lpoolcouncil? @LCRMayor @LivEchonews @LpoolCityRegion @bbcmerseyside pic.twitter.com/6tYFnpxLa3

— Peter Lloyd (@Suffragent_) December 5, 2024

The news is part of the wider phenomenon taking place across the continent with Muhammad and its spelling variants already taking the top spot in major cities of other European countries.

The name became the most popular for baby boys in the Irish city of Galway in 2022, marking the first time an Islamic forename had topped the list for either gender in an Irish city.

Similarly, the name was the most popular for boys in the German capital of Berlin that same year.

In Brussels — the de facto capital of the European Union — two variations of the name made up the top three boys’ names in 2021. Mohamed was the most popular with 13,595 registrations. The second most common name was Jean, trailing in its wake at 6,089, while Mohammed took third being given to 4,835 newborns.

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By Elad Vaida of Campus Reform

Several colleges and universities have expressed concerns over President-elect Donald Trump’s desire to crack down on illegal immigration, among other immigration measures that Trump hopes to enforce. 

Institutions of higher education are worried that future congressional legislation and executive action by Trump could impact the presence of illegal alien students in the U.S., as well as the status of international students, Politico noted.

Politico cited announcements from several schools.

Cornell University, for example, warned its community that “[t]he immigration landscape is likely to change under the new presidential administration.”

It told readers:

“A travel ban is likely to go into effect soon after inauguration,” and added that “[i]t is a good idea for international students, faculty, and staff from the above countries to be back in the U.S. in advance of the semester, which begins January 21, 2025.”

The University of Massachusetts Amherst also issued a “Holiday Break Travel Advisory” recommending that the school’s “international community” would “strongly consider returning to the United States prior to the presidential inauguration day of January 20, 2025 if they are planning on traveling internationally during the winter holiday break.”

The university noted that this announcement was made out of “an abundance of caution to hopefully prevent any possible travel disruption to members of our international community.”

“There’s a lot of interest, concern, anxiety and a desire to be truly prepared for how best to act when policies come,” said Miriam Feldblum, the co-founder and executive director of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, according to Politico. 

Politico also reported that Congress is considering legislation titled the “Crucial Communism Teaching Act,” which aims to teach high schoolers about the horrors and massacres committed by communist regimes.

The bill would make the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation nonprofit provide resources to teach high schoolers about communism, in order to help students “learn that communism has led to the deaths of over 100,000,000 victims worldwide,” “understand the dangers of communism and similar political ideologies,” and “understand that 1,500,000,000 people 20 still suffer under communism.”