Leftwing agitators in Minneapolis on Thursday set up a short-lived “autonomous zone” that spanned several blocks in the southeastern part of the city, and reportedly declared it a “no-go zone” for law enforcement.
The city however removed the barricades surrounding it overnight to allow residents and first responders access to the area.
On Wednesday, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Macklin Good, was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, after she had accelerated her Honda Pilot toward the officer, hitting and injuring him.
Leftwing operatives immediately seized on the incident to incite disorder and riots in the Twin Cities and elsewhere.
Thursday night, activists were seen setting up barricades in the street with stolen trash bins, Christmas trees and other materials, blocking residents and police from driving in the neighborhood.
According to independent journalist Nick Sortor, the makeshift barricades were set up at all intersections, with “guards” posted at each one.
The anti-ICE agitators brought in food, drinks and medical supplies, placing the items on tables under pop-up canopies in the street. At least one of the canopies contained a portable fire pit. Activists also set fires in the street to stay warm.
“This looks almost IDENTICAL to CHAZ, or the ‘Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone’ in Seattle in 2020, where the city SURRENDERED a neighborhood to anarchists who made their own ‘laws.’
It didn’t take long for that cop-free social experiment to devolve into chaos, with shootings, drug and alcohol abuse, theft, vandalism, and street brawls a regular occurrence. Seattle Police easily cleared out the Seattle autonomous zone on July 1, 2020, after several weeks of violent anarchy.
City officials cleared the blockade in Minneapolis early Friday to ensure fire and medical access, leaving a memorial of candles and flowers intact.
Authorities noted that residents who live in the area had also raised concerns about neighborhood access.
“Safety has to come first—every second matters when lives are on the line,” said Interim Chief Melanie Rucker, Minneapolis Fire Department. “Just up the street from this location, our crews were actively fighting a three-alarm fire on Monday night. When streets are blocked, it slows our response, limits access to critical resources and puts both residents and emergency responders at risk.”
Watch: New Footage Shows Three Minutes Before Minneapolis ICE-Involved Shooting
Update (1410ET):
Additional footage has surfaced, apparently from a nearby resident, showing at least three minutes leading up to the ICE-involved shooting in Minneapolis of a left-wing activist who was blocking traffic in an attempt to impede federal agents during a deportation operation.
The internet has been a battleground of competing narratives, fighting over which will be the consensus, in which left-leaning corporate media outlets and Democrats say the woman shot and killed did nothing wrong, while the White House and right-leaning outlets have said she was part of “ICE Watch” and part a pressure campaign against ICE.
The Trump administration has sprung into action over the last few days in an attempt to control the narrative and ensure Democrats don’t win this narrative fight. Maybe that’s because if Democrats succeed, it is clear the party wants a repeat of ‘George Floyd 2.0’ riots.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on X,
Remember when the media called Abrego Garcia an innocent “Maryland Man,” when he was actually an illegal alien, human trafficker, wife beater, and gang member? Minnesota is a different case, but the legacy media is running the same playbook. This woman was not “an innocent mother dropping off her child at school.” She was a leftist insurrectionist who was purposefully and illegally obstructing law enforcement operations. More evidence here:
Remember when the media called Abrego Garcia an innocent “Maryland Man,” when he was actually an illegal alien, human trafficker, wife beater, and gang member?
Minnesota is a different case, but the legacy media is running the same playbook.
“The media suppresses this footage because the truth destroys their narrative. They require your ignorance to maintain control. This is psychological warfare disguised as journalism,” one X user stated.
* * *
There are competing narratives about Wednesday’s ICE-involved shooting in Minneapolis. Some left-leaning corporate outlets focused on the fact that a woman was shot and killed by an ICE agent during a federal enforcement deportation operation, while other media, like the New York Post, highlighted that the woman, identified as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, was part of a left-wing group “Ice Watch” that mounted pressure campaigns on ICE agents on the ground.
Put aside all those viral videos on X; now Alpha News has obtained cellphone footage from what appears to be one of the ICE agents, and it provides a completely new perspective on what happened and why the ICE agent felt threatened enough to fire several shots at Good, killing the activist.
BREAKING: Alpha News has obtained cellphone footage showing perspective of federal agent at center of ICE-involved shooting in Minneapolis pic.twitter.com/p2wks0zew0
The NYPost reported late Thursday night that Good was an anti-ICE “warrior” and part of a network of left-wing activists who worked to “document and resist” ICE operations in Minnesota.
The video from an ICE agent appears to confirm that Good and another individual were obstructing federal agents in the middle of the street.
Vice President JD Vance commented on Alpha News’ report, saying, “What the press has done in lying about this innocent law enforcement officer is disgusting. You should all be ashamed of yourselves.”
*This is a developing story…. Check back for more updates.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) suspended payments for all federal food programs in Minnesota and Minneapolis Friday over alleged fraud and abuse of federal funds statewide.
“Enough is enough!” USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins posted on X, announcing the suspension. “The Trump administration has uncovered massive fraud in Minnesota and Minneapolis—billions siphoned off by fraudsters. And those in charge have zero plan to fix it.”
The agency plans to suspend all payments of federal financial awards to the state and city—totalling about $130 million—until state and local officials provide documentation detailing expenditures and transactions for the past year, Rollins said.
More than 440,000 people—about one in 13 residents—receive monthly assistance from the federally funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), according to the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families.
SNAP uses around three-fourths of the federal funding for food-related programs and about 7 percent of all federal funding for the state, the agency reported.
In all, Minnesota received an estimated $2.05 billion in federal funds for 52 food-related programs in 2025, according to the state. The top five programs were SNAP; Women, Infants, and Children Supplemental Nutrition Program (WIC); school lunches; school breakfasts; and the child and adult care food program.
According to Rollins, Gov. Tim Walz’s administration did not provide the USDA information about SNAP participants that would prevent continuing fraud. The state also sued the USDA in December 2025 to block the agency’s directive to recertify the state’s SNAP recipients.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued the Trump administration after the USDA demanded it recertify 100,000 households that receive SNAP benefits with in-person interviews by Jan. 15 to verify if they were eligible for the program.
Ellison argued in the lawsuit that the USDA’s demand violated several aspects of federal law.
As part of Friday’s notice, Rollins notified state and city officials they would have to provide the USDA with payment justifications for all federal dollar expenditures from Jan. 20, 2025, to the present.
All transactions on funding awards to the state and city would require the same payment justifications, according to Rollins.
Federal investigators from multiple branches of the Trump administration have focused on Minnesota amid allegations of fraud in the state’s federal child care, day care, Small Business Administration, housing, food, and other social services programs.
The USDA’s funding pause is the latest measure taken by the administration in the past two weeks as officials widen the scope of investigations.
“While the full extent of fraud in Minnesota is not yet known, it is clear that, under your leadership—or lack thereof—fraudsters can take advantage of federal funds and the American taxpayer with impunity,” Rollins said in her notice. “This necessitates federal action to protect taxpayer dollars until adequate safeguards can be established.”
Walz’s office, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s office, and the Minneapolis Department of Children, Youth, and Families did not immediately return requests for comment about the announcement.
Widow Who Urged Wife To ‘Drive’ In Deadly ICE Incident Rakes In $1.5M In Donations
Becca Good, who urged her wife to defy orders from ICE agents and “drive” in dangerous proximity to one of them before he fatally shot her in the head, is now the beneficiary of a $1.5 million windfall, thanks to a GoFundMe campaign to benefit the complicit widow and three children.
In cellphone video released Friday — video taken by Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who did the shooting — Becca is seen escalating an already-tense situation, aggressively taunting agents who were attempting to get Renee Good to get out of her Honda Pilot. Renee Good was part of the left-wing group “Ice Watch,” which mounts campaigns to thwart ICE agents engaged in enforcement operations.
BREAKING: Alpha News has obtained cellphone footage showing perspective of federal agent at center of ICE-involved shooting in Minneapolis pic.twitter.com/p2wks0zew0
With Renee Good parked perpendicular to the direction of traffic on a Minneapolis street, ICE agents approached her vehicle and ordered her to get out of the SUV. In the video released Friday, Becca is seen standing in the street, trash-talking the ICE agents. “You want to come at us? You want to come at us? I say go get yourself some lunch, big boy. Go ahead,” says Becca.
Then, as Renee puts the SUV in reverse and briefly moves backward, Becca attempts to open the passenger door, only to find it locked. She then yells “Drive, baby, drive!” and her wife does just that. ICE officer Ross, positioned close to the front of the vehicle, is heard firing his weapon, killing Renee. Soon after the Honda pilot barrels into a parked car, another video captures Becca sobbing as she sits on an icy sidewalk. “I made her come down here. It’s my fault,” she confesses to a man chronicling the post-shooting phase in an 8-minute video shot from a porch. This excerpt captures that expression of guilt:
After witnessing her wife’s death, Rebecca is heard screaming, blaming the cops for carrying live ammo: “Why did you have real bullets?!”
Then Rebecca blames herself.
“It’s my fault. I made her come down here. It’s my fault.”
One day later, Becca Good and three surviving children are beneficiaries of $1,505,533 raised in a GoFundMe campaign organized by Mattie Weiss and Becka Tilsen, who have been described by The Advocate as “family friends.” Shortly after clearing $1.5 million at around noon on Friday, they closed the fundraiser. “Thank you for your generosity. We’ve closed this GoFundMe and will place the funds in a trust for the family,” Weiss posted.
Weiss also posted a lengthy message from Becca Good thanking more than 38,000 donors and lauding her lost wife. Her sole reference to the circumstances of her wife’s death was a brief one: “On Wednesday, January 7th, we stopped to support our neighbors. We had whistles. They had guns.” She also that they were raising a son, but also that Renee had a total of “three extraordinary children,” and that the youngest — a six-year-old — “already lost his father.”
Speaking of those children, some people are taking to social media to question the Goods’ judgement in choosing to engage in extraordinarily risky behavior with ICE agents — on behalf of strangers in the country illegally — when they had youngsters depending on them:
This guy gets it 🚨
Y’all don’t care about your kids like I do mine, I’m not putting my life on the line for no stranger…. my families depending on me, if ICE is coming, I’m staying out the way, if ICE is coming to take care of the Somali fraud.. Thank you
This is how every normal American is feeling about the ICE shooting incident..
‘Why wasn’t the mother at work providing for her kids.. instead she was out obstructing ICE agents trying to do their jobs..’ 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/juQopE9ohN
The United States and Venezuela announced Friday they are pursuing the possibility of reestablishing diplomatic relations, coming a week after a U.S. military operation that captured former leader Nicolás Maduro in Caracas and extradited him to face drug-trafficking charges in New York.
A U.S. delegation, including diplomats and security personnel, visited Venezuela to evaluate the potential reopening of the American Embassy in Caracas, the State Department said in a statement sent to media outlets. The department did not immediately return a request for comment.
The embassy has been shuttered since 2019, when ties were severed during U.S. President Donald Trump’s first term after the United States, along with multiple other countries, recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate president amid allegations of election fraud. U.S. officials have also been accusing Maduro and his regime of backing cartels trafficking illicit drugs into the United States.
Venezuela’s interim government, led by acting President Delcy Rodríguez, responded by stating it intends to send a delegation to the United States. No timeline was provided yet.
“The government of Venezuela has decided to initiate an exploratory diplomatic process with the U.S. government, with a view to reestablishing the diplomatic missions in both countries,” the Venezuelan government said in a statement.
Such a visit would likely necessitate waivers from U.S. Treasury sanctions imposed on Venezuelan officials.
The move comes amid Rodríguez’s efforts to manage domestic pressures, including demands from Venezuela’s military hard-liners furious over Maduro’s capture. In phone discussions with the presidents of Brazil, Colombia, and Spain, she described the U.S. operation as “grave, criminal, illegal, and illegitimate aggression” against Venezuela.
Later, during a televised event at the opening of a women’s health clinic in Caracas, Rodríguez highlighted diplomacy as key to safeguarding the nation and facilitating “the return of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores.”
“We will meet face-to-face in diplomacy … to defend the peace of Venezuela, the stability of Venezuela, the future, to defend our independence and to defend our sacred and inalienable sovereignty,” Rodríguez said, without directly addressing the embassy’s potential reactivation.
Rodríguez on Jan. 5 extended an invitation for U.S. collaboration, writing on social media: “We invite the U.S. government to collaborate with us on an agenda of cooperation oriented towards shared development within the framework of international law to strengthen lasting community coexistence.”
She further emphasized moving toward “balanced and respectful international relations.”
Maduro appeared in federal court in New York on Jan. 5 and pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges, according to U.S. officials.
Following Maduro’s removal, Rodriguez, who served as Maduro’s deputy, assumed interim leadership. U.S. authorities said Washington would exercise oversight of the transitional government.
The U.S. president has urged Rodríguez and remaining Maduro allies to align with U.S. interests, particularly enforcement against drug trafficking and control over Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.
Venezuela’s oil sector holds the world’s largest proven reserves but has been mismanaged and financially neglected for years. Oil output has fallen from more than 3 million barrels per day in the early 2000s to less than 1 million barrels per day in recent years, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
On Jan. 10, Trump invited executives of large oil companies to the White House on Friday to discuss investment opportunities that will restore Venezuela’s oil infrastructure following the ousting of Maduro. Trump said that American oil companies will invest at least $100 billion in Venezuela to boost its oil production.
“We’re going to discuss how these great American companies can help rapidly rebuild Venezuela’s dilapidated oil industry and bring millions of barrels of oil production to benefit the United States, the people of Venezuela, and the entire world,” Trump said as he welcomed the executives.
The president also announced on Jan. 6 that Venezuela will send 30 million barrels of oil, valued at approximately $4 billion, to the United States.
U.S. visits to Caracas have been infrequent since the embassy closure, with the most recent in February 2025 involving special envoy Richard Grenell, who secured the release of six detained Americans after meeting Maduro.
Minneapolis ICE Shooting Shows Left Wing’s Protest Industrial Complex Wants Another ‘George Floyd’-Type Riot
The latest iteration of the Democratic Party’s color-revolution-style operation was on full display in recent days as tensions erupted following the fatal shooting of a left-wing activist by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent during a federal enforcement sweep in Minnesota. This incident demonstrates that the protest industrial complex, funded by left-wing billionaires, has been on standby, waiting for a catalyzing event to ignite mass mobilization.
MSM, the Democratic Party, and left-wing nonprofits are working hard to manufacture another ‘George Floyd’-type protest or riot by omitting key context about the woman shot and killed by an ICE agent. They conveniently left out her social justice “warrior” role in Minneapolis, including her reported involvement with “ICE Watch” and other operations to disrupt ICE raids in the sanctuary city. These details matter because MSM attempted to manufacture an outrage news cycle, while nonprofits create artificial multi-city protests aimed at shifting public opinion on ICE operations nationwide.
But Alpha News published cellphone camera footage from one of the ICE agents that confirmed the activist was indeed involved in a confrontation leading up to the deadly shooting.
BREAKING: Alpha News has obtained cellphone footage showing perspective of federal agent at center of ICE-involved shooting in Minneapolis pic.twitter.com/p2wks0zew0
Hours after the shooting on Wednesday night, we pointed out how left-wing nonprofits from Minneapolis to New York deployed rapid response teams to ignite multi-city protests – this only shows how there is a vast network of radicals that operate on-demand protests.
There was even a report showing that an NGO network tied to CCP-linked communist billionaire Neville Roy Singham was allegedly activated as a command-and-control support node to organize nationwide anti-ICE protests.
EXPOSED 🚨 The protest tonight in New York City against ICE is being paid for and organized by ‘PSL New York City – Party for Socialism and Liberation’
They are funded by Neville Roy Singham who lives in China and works with the CCP
By late in the week, left-wing groups and even Antifa or Antifa-aligned groups attempted to carry the protest and riot momentum into the weekend.
Here is the protest and riot activity across Minneapolis and other sanctuary cities on Friday night:
🚨 BREAKING: Radical anti-ICE protesters are now STORMING a building connected to a hotel they claim is housing our brave Federal Agents in Minneapolis!
BREAKING: Minneapolis Police, including Chief Brian O’Hara, were just chased down and attacked by anti-ICE rioters while escorting a squad car out of the protest area. pic.twitter.com/kanvVOHh56
A short time ago near Washington Ave. S. & Park Ave. in downtown Minneapolis, our drone captured protesters appearing to chase out MPD officers, including Chief Brian O’Hara. The crowd has since converged outside the Canopy Hilton, where they believe ICE agents are staying. Some… pic.twitter.com/BKKV0DHsgV
The takeaway here is that the Democratic Party is desperately seeking another George Floyd-style protest or riot to shift public opinion about Trump’s expanded ICE deportation operations nationwide, which are deporting criminal illegal aliens out of the country. If we understand that mass migration has been used by the party in an attempt to build a one-party-rule (California-style) nation, then we can see why these on-the-ground pressure campaigns against ICE even exist in the first place.
US Trade Deficit Collapses In October: Structural Shifts In Global Trade Revealed
Submitted by Thomas Kolbe
The US economy managed to drastically reduce its trade deficit in October of last year. Data delayed due to the government shutdown highlight structural shifts in the global trade landscape.
Reducing the massive trade deficit has been a primary goal of the US government’s economic agenda under President Donald Trump. This deficit is almost a mirror of the industrial weakness of the US economy in international comparison. It is also a consequence of the US dollar’s role as the global reserve currency. High demand for dollars facilitated imports and encouraged decades of outsourcing American industrial production to other locations.
In the year prior to his 2024 inauguration, the deficit reached a staggering $918 billion – roughly equivalent to China’s trade surplus.
The months-delayed surveys by the US Chamber of Commerce – a result of the prolonged government shutdown last year – now provide an insightful snapshot for October. During that period, the US trade deficit fell from $48.1 billion to just $29.4 billion, while markets had priced in a deficit of nearly $60 billion.
With the data lag now accounted for, several factors become clear.
Restrictive Trade Policy and Reindustrialization
One key driver is the US government’s restrictive trade policy. Tariffs make imports more expensive and have pushed down trade volumes with China, a topic heavily debated politically between Washington and Beijing. In this context, Trump’s trip to the Arab Gulf states is notable, culminating in investment pledges of hundreds of billions of dollars for American industrial production.
Trump is tackling the trade deficit on two fronts. US industry, which recently accounted for only about 10 percent of GDP, is being systematically rebuilt. This is particularly evident in massive investments in artificial intelligence and energy sectors.
At the same time, China, with its heavily subsidized export machine, is forced to pivot to other markets – increasingly putting pressure on the European Union.
The so-called inventory cycle effect is likely reflected in the Chamber of Commerce numbers. Due to US tariff policies, companies pulled imports forward along supply chains to hedge against potential price increases and supply risks. This effect is now reversing, showing up as declining import demand.
LNG Exports and Economic Warning Signals
Another obviously relevant factor is the export of liquefied natural gas (LNG), which the US government strategically uses as a geopolitical lever. LNG exports rose 25 percent last year to 116 million tons. Germany, in particular, has been involved in this trade since the halt of cheap Russian gas imports, facing a significantly higher price for US LNG.
Depending on market prices – estimated between $8.5 and $9.5 per MMBtu – the value of US LNG exports is likely well over $50 billion.
Another less-discussed factor potentially affecting the trade balance lies beneath the surface, in the middle- and lower-income brackets in the US. Private households may have curtailed demand due to persistently high prices, which could also influence the trade figures.
However, this effect is expected to moderate given the continued high growth momentum of the US economy. In the last two quarters of the previous year, GDP grew at an annualized rate of roughly 4.5 percent, while domestic energy prices continued to decline. Additionally, as part of the government’s deportation measures, property prices in some regions have reportedly started to ease. The US government recently reported the repatriation of roughly 2.6 million previously illegally residing immigrants. This could dampen rent and housing costs, easing the financial burden on households.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects global economic growth of around 3 percent this year – well below the historical trend of 3.5–4 percent. Yet dynamic indicators, such as shipping indices, suggest a tentative recovery in global trade. The reference “Drewry World Container Index (WCI)” has shown early signs of improvement along main routes connecting China, the US, and European ports.
Apparently, companies along global supply chains have adapted to US tariffs and are gradually returning to normal operations.
German Exports Sluggish
Germany’s export sector performed modestly last year. Nominal exports rose 0.6 percent to roughly €1.6 trillion, while volume-adjusted exports lost about 2 percent.
The reasons are well known: the energy crisis and declining competitiveness weigh heavily on industrial core sectors. Structural pressure is most visible in the automotive and machinery industries. Consequently, Germany’s trade surplus with the US shrank by 7.3 percent.
Even sharper declines occurred in China, where German exporters lost around 10 percent of business volume. Meanwhile, Germany’s imports rose 4.4 percent year-on-year, notably driven by Chinese capital goods. This suggests a reversal in knowledge transfer: China is increasingly a technology exporter rather than merely the global “low-cost factory.”
For the full year 2025, pending final monthly data, Germany’s trade surplus is expected at roughly €195 billion – the lowest since 2012, excluding the exceptional Corona lockdown year.
* * *
About the author: Thomas Kolbe, born in 1978 in Neuss/ Germany, is a graduate economist. For over 25 years, he has worked as a journalist and media producer for clients from various industries and business associations. As a publicist, he focuses on economic processes and observes geopolitical events from the perspective of the capital markets. His publications follow a philosophy that focuses on the individual and their right to self-determination.
Trump To Meet Venezuelan Opposition Leader María Corina Machado Next Week
President Trump plans to meet with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado next week during her planned visit to the United States.
This development comes despite his earlier reluctance to back her for the country’s top leadership role. Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity in a taped interview that aired Thursday night that he understands Machado is “coming in next week sometime” and looks forward to saying hello to her.
During the interview, Hannity inquired about Machado. He mentioned that she had appeared on his show earlier in the week and reminded viewers that she had won the Nobel Peace Prize, which she publicly dedicated to Trump.
The president has openly pursued the Nobel Peace Prize in the past and has campaigned for it in connection with his foreign policy victories. He told Hannity that it was “a major embarrassment to Norway” that he has not yet received one. Hannity added that Machado had said on both television and radio that she wanted to give Trump her Nobel Peace Prize “for liberating her country.”
Trump responded warmly, calling Machado “a very nice person,” and confirmed that he was aware of the offer. He said he understood that she would be visiting soon and that he was open to meeting her. “I understand she’s coming in next week sometime, and I look forward to saying hello to her,” Trump said. “I’ve heard that she wants to do that. That’d be a great honor.”
🚨OMG: Trump says he wants the Nobel Prize belonging to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado and expects her to give it to him when she comes to DC next week.
He can’t be insane enough to take out Maduro just because he wanted her award, can he? pic.twitter.com/6Z9Cpozmy5
NBC News reported Thursday night that a representative for Machado did not immediately confirm the meeting, and the White House offered no details.
The potential meeting follows last week’s successful operation to capture Venezuela’s socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro, after which Delcy Rodríguez assumed the interim presidency.
Several Republicans in Congress have pushed for Machado to take charge of the country following Maduro’s ouster. However, Trump is not backing her yet.
“I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader,” Trump said last weekend, after Maduro was in U.S. custody. “She doesn’t have the support within, or the respect within, the country. She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect.”
Trump instead settled on Rodríguez.
“For Ms. Machado, Mr. Trump’s comments landed like a gut punch, and it represented a public break for the United States with a leader who had spent more than a year trying to ingratiate herself to Mr. Trump — so much so that when Ms. Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which he covets, she dedicated it to him,” the New York Times reported earlier this week.
“The president had been persuaded by arguments from senior officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said that if the United States tried to back the opposition, it could further destabilize the country and require a more robust military presence inside the country. A classified C.I.A. intelligence analysis reflected that view, as well, according to a person familiar with the document.”
Rubio described the plans for Venezuela as a “threefold process.”
“We don’t want it descending into chaos,” Rubio explained in remarks to the press this week.
“Part of that stabilization, and the reason why we understand and believe that we have the strongest leverage possible, is our quarantine. As you’ve seen today, two more ships were seized. We are in the midst right now, and in fact about to execute, on a deal to take all the oil – they have oil that is stuck in Venezuela; they can’t move it because of our quarantine and because it’s sanctioned. We are going to take between 30 and 50 million barrels of oil. We’re going to sell it in the marketplace – at market rates, not at the discounts Venezuela was getting. That money will then be handled in such a way that we will control how it is disbursed in a way that benefits the Venezuelan people, not corruption, not the regime. So, we have a lot of leverage to move on the stabilization front.”
The potential meeting next week between Trump and Machado could signal a shift in Trump’s approach or serve as a diplomatic courtesy to a key opposition figure.
The UK’s Labour government under Prime Minister Keir Starmer has escalated its war on online expression, now openly threatening to ban Elon Musk’s X platform entirely. Using the pretext of Grok AI’s image generation capabilities, Starmer’s regime is pushing for total control over what Brits can see and say online, exposing the thin veil over their authoritarian impulses.
This move comes amid a surge in Grok-generated sexualized images, but the crackdown reeks of selective outrage aimed at silencing dissent rather than protecting anyone.
Starmer issued the threat, declaring “This is disgraceful. It’s disgusting, and it’s not to be tolerated,” adding that “all options are on the table” to address what he called unlawful content on X. He emphasized, “X has got to get a grip of this, and Ofcom (The UK’s regulatory authority for the internet) has our full support to take action in relation to this. This is wrong. It’s unlawful. We’re not going to tolerate it.”
?BREAKING: KEIR STARMER THREATENS X ON CAMERA
“IT’S DISGRACEFUL. IT’S DISGUSTING”
“It’s wrong, it’s unlawful, I’ve asked for all options to be on the table”
Note Keir Starmer doesn’t care about Chat GPT or any other AI where you can do exactly the same things
Labour MP Lola McEvoy doubled down, stating platforms like X “have no right to be accessed in this country” if they fail to comply with the UK’s draconian Online Safety Act.
?LABOUR MINISTER LOLA MCEVOY SAYS BANNING X IS REAL POSSIBILITY
“It’s about saying if these big platforms that have huge users don’t comply with the online safety act then they have NO RIGHT to be accessed in this country”
Leaked WhatsApp messages have also revealed Labour MPs urging the government to abandon X altogether, labeling Elon Musk a “fascist” and arguing it should “show direction to others in the UK.”
Leaked WhatsApp messages show Labour MPs urging the government to leave X, arguing that it should “show direction to others in the UK”
In messages seen by @zoenora6, Labour MPs were asked by government to post on X about the two-child cap being abolished, but some replied asking…
Journalist Alison Pearson nailed the double standard: Starmer rants about “safety” on X while flooding the country with undocumented fighting-age males daily. What about the real threats to British women and girls from unchecked migration? He doesn’t give a damn about anyone’s safety.
WELL SAID ALISON PEARSON ?
Keir Starmer wants to ban X for ‘safety reasons’
What about the COUNTLESS UNDOCUMENTED FIGHTING AGE MALES he lets into the country every single day
Starmer, now the most unpopular UK Prime Minister in history with just a 15% approval rating, is also the most community-noted public figure on X, constantly called out for lies. He’s the fifth most ratio’d person on the platform—everyone exposes his deceptions. He can’t control X, and there’s no doubt that this is playing into the move.
Broadcaster Alex Phillips tore into him: “You don’t like X because you don’t like free speech. That’s why you want to close it down. You’re a thin-skinned megalomaniacal monster. We see you, Keir Starmer!”
?ALEX PHILLIPS ERUPTS AT KEIR STARMER ?
“YOU DON’T LIKE X BECAUSE YOU DON’T LIKE FREE SPEECH”
Starmer’s threats have drawn international backlash. US Republicans, including Trump ally Anna Paulina Luna, warn of sanctions against the UK if the ban proceeds, labeling it a direct assault on free speech.
If Starmer is successful in banning @X in Britain, I will move forward with legislation that is currently being drafted to sanction not only Starmer, but Britain as a whole. This would mirror actions previously taken by the United States in response to foreign governments… https://t.co/yUQp8sQGy5
“…restricting the platform, including the dispute with Brazil in 2024–2025, which resulted in tariffs, visa revocations, and sanctions and consequences tied to free speech concerns against Brazilian officials over concerns related to censorship and free-speech violations.
Starmer should reconsider this course of action, or there will be consequences.
There are always technical bugs during the early phases of new technology, especially AI, and those issues are typically addressed quickly. X treats these matters seriously and acts promptly. Let’s be clear: this is not about technical compliance. This is a political war against @elonmusk and free speech—nothing more.”
?? Britain has been threatened with sanctions if Sir Keir Starmer attempts to block Elon Musk’s X over its AI tool undressing women and children.
Trump himself has signaled readiness to hit back, tying into his administration’s visa bans on Europeans pushing tech censorship.
Trump also recently suspended a $40 billion tech deal with the UK over its free speech crackdown, a move that underscores America’s commitment to First Amendment principles, and a clear sign that the President will not stay silent on Britain’s freedom crushing policies.
Trump has long been attuned to Britain’s erosion of rights, dispatching a “free speech squad” from the State Department in May to investigate cases of activists arrested for silent protests and online dissent.
He’s even offered political asylum to UK “thought criminals,” including those prosecuted for gender-critical views or immigration criticism, positioning America as a haven for those fleeing authoritarian overreach.
The UK’s erosion of free speech has been accelerating, from jailing citizens over tweets, to branding criticising illegal immigration as hate speech, to criminalising ‘wrong’ opinions on sports commentators.
Even the likes of Google, which has previously demonetized, shadow-banned, and outright censored content that doesn’t align with leftist narratives, has expressed concern over the tyrannical potential of the Online Safety act.
Starmer’s focus on Grok also completely ignores that other AIs, like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, enable the exact same image manipulations—putting people in bikinis or worse. All AI can do this, it’s clearly selective outrage.
The government has also not expressed any concern about the fact that Google’s AI gets basic historical facts wrong and skews everything toward woke/DEI, as well as giving bad health tips, encouraging suicide, and falsely accusing people of being rapists and racists.
Why single out X? Because it’s the one platform where truth slips through the cracks of mainstream control and free speech is fully embraced.
Starmer’s regime can’t hide behind “safety” forever. Banning X won’t erase the truth— it’ll only fuel the resistance. Brits deserve platforms where facts flow freely, not dictated by thin-skinned tyrants.
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At 43 percent, this marks an increase of four percentage points from one year before.
A perception gap persists between age groups, with younger generations (18 to 29 year olds and 30 to 49 year olds) more likely to be content with their financial situation than those aged 50-64 years old.
Just 33 percent of the older age group said they felt positively, compared to 47 percent of the two younger age brackets.
