President Trump announced this week that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an “Energy Ceasefire,” where both sides would refrain from targeting any energy-related infrastructure, but it wasn’t what you think. It ended up being a one-sided deal meant to protect Russia’s oil refineries from Ukraine’s long-range drone attacks. Ukraine has no similar facilities that need protection, only electrical generation plants, which had already been targeted relentlessly by Putin. Putin didn’t have to try very hard to bribe Trump into pushing this ceasefire on Ukraine. He promised to ship 300,000 TONS (not barrels) of diesel fuel to the US and European markets, plus another 500,000 tons next month. As I’ll explain this week, this was all a fraud because Putin doesn’t have any diesel to spare. The one-sided ceasefire ended yesterday when Putin continued attacking Ukraine’s power grid, and Ukraine attacked Russian refineries again. Zelensky has complained that during the recent attacks they have not received the normal US intelligence including advanced warning of incoming ballistic missile and drone attacks, and that their military’s Starlink connection had been slowed down so much that they could not use it to direct their drones effectively. To receive a free, one-time sample of the Brief, along with options on how to subscribe, click on Request a sample on the left.
Three children and one adult are dead following an active shooter situation at Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Oregon on Thursday afternoon. The suspected active shooter is also dead after an armed civilian chased the shooter into the school and killed him.
Prosecutors asked the court to order California to sequester suspicious ballots.
Among a cadre of Wall Street executives brought into the Pentagon during President Donald Trump’s second term, George K. Kollitides II has emerged as a powerbroker with a broad mandate to improve procurement of weapons and critical minerals. The longtime partner at the private equity firm Alvarez & Marsal Capital has framed his tour of duty in government as a service to the country. But the work he’s leading has also been a boon to his old friends in the private sector, government procurement records show.
The library’s director also explained that the original entry had not been supported by documentation. Omar has said she became a U.S. citizen in 2000 through her father, Nur Omar Mohamed, after her family arrived in the United States from Somalia in 1995. “I became a citizen actually before I turned 18,” Omar told the Intercept in September 2018. “My father became a citizen and so I got my citizenship through that process.” The one-year difference matters to that account. Someone born October 4, 1981, would have turned 18 in October 1999. Someone born October 4, 1982, would have remained 17 until October 2000.
In January, the New York Times reported that the Biden administration had begun an investigation into Omar’s finances after reports suggested she amassed a multimillion-dollar net worth since being elected to Congress.
That question takes us to one of America’s strangest gatherings: Burning Man. What began in 1986 as a small gathering around a wooden effigy on San Francisco’s Baker Beach has developed into a temporary city in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert attracting tens of thousands of people. Burning Man officially presents itself around principles such as radical inclusion, radical self-expression, communal effort, participation, and immediacy. Yet accounts from inside the event describe something far more spiritually significant than an unusual art festival. The environment includes psychedelic drugs, sexual experimentation, altered states of consciousness, New Age ideas, occult imagery, ritualistic activity, and the rejection of traditional moral boundaries. The worldview celebrated there should concern Christians because much of it represents the opposite of the biblical understanding of God, humanity, morality, sexuality, and truth.
Germany’s far-right party may drop one of its founding tenets to broaden its electoral appeal.
Senate Democrats announced the same day that they had recruited more than 100 staff observers to send to nine states.
The local outlet noted, "Ukraine relies on Starlink for several military applications including operating its mid-strike campaign in Russian-occupied Ukraine, as well as interceptor drones that defend against Russia's new jet-powered attack drones." "The consequences are already being felt in the field. Since the start of the day alone, a drone unit operating within the 7th Corps' area of responsibility in the Huliaipole sector has had to cancel a number of missions due to these connectivity issues," Ukraine's 7th Air Assault Corps told the outlet. Western media, such as the Financial Times, said Ukraine was "blindsided by Starlink restrictions and intelligence gaps during Russian attack."
Omar has said she derived citizenship through her father, Nur Omar Mohamed, when he naturalized in 2000, and the law then required the child to be under 18 when the parent naturalized. Born in 1981, she'd have been an adult all of 2000 - the year she says she became a citizen at 17, the NY Post reports. For her two years in the Minnesota House and more than four months into her congressional term, the state's Legislative Reference Library listed her birthday as Oct. 4, 1981, the same date carried by Wikipedia, the BBC and Congress's own Biographical Directory.
Strikes come as U.S. military is successfully shepherding more oil through the strait
The Kremlin on Wednesday indicated that work on the Trump-proposed energy truce with Ukraine is continuing, but in contradiction with recent Trump proclamations did not treat it as any kind of done deal currently in effect.
Almost 100% of the cases involved foreigners, especially from Syria
Gun Owners of America and members of Congress want gun transaction records destroyed to eliminate even the possibility of a registry.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Oct. 12 that he might meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his planned visit to Asia next month. Asked by a reporter whether he expects to meet Kim during the trip, Trump said: “I may. That will be exciting, won’t it? But I get along with him.”
Zelensky has taken to X to announce a second night of heavy Russian airstrikes, but without the early warning from Western allies that his government had previously been afforded. Ballistic missiles are rocking the capital overnight. At around or shortly before midnight Zelensky announced a new "Russian ballistic missile attack on Kyiv" as "Once again, no early warning from our partners. The main target was energy infrastructure, specifically CHPP-4. Unfortunately, it was hit." ...However, it's not yet definitively confirmed that Washington has cut off intelligence.
Singham, the Shanghai-based tech tycoon who has poured tens of millions into U.S. far-left groups, funds the pro-communist outlet BreakThrough News. That outlet has amplified the French unrest with “BREAKING” alerts and collages of global youth riots, framing local education grievances as part of a worldwide uprising against austerity, policing, and the West. On the ground in Paris, hammer-and-sickle flags have flown alongside Palestinian flags. Young Communists of France have marched under “Class War” banners demanding an end to “Imperialist Wars.”
the New-Keynesian economic establishment congratulating itself on a job well done. Winning the prize signals that the establishment ideas are the best ideas, but there are problems with this. Firstly, there are legitimate criticisms to be made about the performance of central banks in ensuring macroeconomic stability
A new report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) suggests Beijing has developed an extensive system for monitoring battlefield innovations and incorporating them into its own military planning. Chinese defense researchers generally identify and assess new developments within several months, although implementing those findings across the People's Liberation Army (PLA) often takes considerably longer.
‘Nobody’s history should be destroyed,’ said an Italian American seeking to preserve Christopher Columbus’s legacy.
An attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh killed one person and injured 11 others, according to the country’s General Authority of Civil Aviation, one day after a Houthi attack killed another 13 at the airport—including an American.
The announcement was made after Trump reached a deal with Putin on Oct. 9 to supply diesel to the U.S. and global markets. [Which seems impossible for the Russians to fulfill.]
Surrounding countries are under a tsunami watch.
Congress ordered the attorney general to publish all unclassified Epstein-related records held by the Justice Department, the FBI and U.S. attorneys’ offices within 30 days of enactment. The law bars withholding on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm or political sensitivity. The statute permits only five narrow categories of withholding or redaction. It also requires a written justification for every redaction, published in the Federal Register and submitted to Congress.
A Biden-appointed judge ruled that Congress cannot ban noncitizens from voting, striking down federal charges against an illegal alien alleged to have voted in multiple federal elections in Florida. U.S. District Judge David Leibowitz of the Southern District of Florida ruled that the Constitution only gives power to the states to regulate elections. Thus, he said, the federal government could not ban noncitizens from voting, but he said states could impose such a ban, the Washington Times reported.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two Muslim holidays into law this week, making California the second state to officially recognize them. On Sunday, Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2017 into law, which will make Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha state holidays. That means public schools will be closed on those days and state employees will have the days off.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier on Thursday sued Pfizer and its CEO, Albert Bourla, alleging that the drugmaker misled the public by marketing its COVID-19 vaccine as safe and effective while not disclosing the vaccine’s potential risks to pregnant women, children and teenagers.
Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical Monday of Boulder County’s claims that the energy company Suncor caused the county concrete harm by contributing to global climate change in a case that could open the floodgates of climate lawfare across the country.
‘America never joined the court. We don’t need it. And we don’t want it,’ Rubio said.
Late night 'heavy explosions' reported in southern Strait of Hormuz, Fars says result of vessels hitting mines. Oil plunged after Trump said on Truth Social the US will not attack Iran before the November midterms. Late Wednesday reports said Pentagon was ordered to prepare Iran attack options for before midterms. Iran expanded tanker attacks beyond the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. In Saudi Arabia, Riyadh airport suffers direct missile attack from Iran-aligned Houthis.