Jeffrey Epstein and Ehud Barak were specialists in war profiteering. At the end of his tenure as Israel's defense minister and after his supposed "retirement," Barak embraced a role as a salesman of Israeli security services to embattled governments, opening the door for Israeli intelligence leaders to shape the security apparatuses of several African nations, including the country of Côte d'Ivoire.

Quietly facilitating these efforts was Jeffrey Epstein, who died in jail in 2019. Epstein wrote at one point to Barak: "with civil unrest exploding [...] and the desperation of those in power, isn't this perfect for you." Barak replied:, "You're right [in] a way. But not simple to transform it into a cash flow." Transforming unrest into cash flow, in the case of Côte d'Ivoire, involved brokering deals between the Israeli state and the embattled West African nation.

New details about Epstein's role in Israeli intelligence operations in Africa have emerged from two sets of documents: an archive of leaked emails released by the Handala hacking group and hosted by non-profit whistleblower site Distributed Denial of Secrets and documents released by the U.S. House Oversight Committee last month. The latter set includes Epstein's personal emails and appointment calendars, which provide clear evidence of Epstein's involvement in Israel's West African security negotiations in 2012, while Barak was still Israel's Defense Minister.

The two men worked together as a conduit for Israel's intelligence sector in Côte d'Ivoire, where Barak was welcomed as a representative of the Israeli government even after leaving public office. Epstein helped Barak deliver a proposal for mass surveillance of Ivorian phone and internet communications, crafted by former Israeli intelligence officials.

As in Mongolia, Epstein and Barak's private deal-making evolved seamlessly into an official security agreement between Israel and Côte d'Ivoire in 2014. Since the agreement was signed, over a decade ago, President Alassane Ouattara has tightened his grip on power, banning public demonstrations and arresting peaceful protestors. In this October's election, the octogenarian won a fourth term, in defiance of constitutional term limits, while opposition candidates were barred from participation.

Today, Ouattara continues to enjoy the support of Israeli security firms to help him maintain power. His Israeli-backed police state has squashed civic organizations and silenced critics. In the wake of the recent election, exiled activist Boga Sako Gervais denounced Ouattara's authoritarian slide: "Under Ouattara, since 2011, freedoms of opinion, thought, and expression have been criminalized," he said. "It has become forbidden to criticize the head of state."

The story of Israel's security agreement with Côte d'Ivoire is only one chapter in the saga of Epstein and Barak's covert activities in Africa — it is reported here as the next entry in an ongoing series on Epstein's ties to Israel's intelligence.

Mired in scandal over his leadership, the FBI director is lashing out against MAGA influencers for mocking his girlfriend as a Mossad honeypot — and activating his legal network to slap them with frivolous multi-million dollar lawsuits.

The wind was at Kash Patel's back in the early months of 2023. It was during this period that the Trump-aligned legal operative met Alexis Wilkins, then a 24-year-old wannabe country music star who would become his girlfriend, and launched his foundation, "Fight With Kash," which pledged to unite "America First patriots" to "fight the Deep State."

With the telegenic Wilkins by his side, Patel seemed to be living out the quixotic storyline of the children's book he had co-authored a year earlier, The Plot Against The King, in which a fairytale hero named "Knight Kash" embarks on a spree of revenge against the enemies of "King Donald."

Geomagnetic storms brought the northern lights to much of the U.S. on Tuesday night, painting the sky in vibrant hues of green and pink.

The Aurora Borealis was spotted in a large swath of states, including Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Washington state. Northern lights were visible as far south as parts of Florida and Alabama, a relatively rare occurrence that highlights the severity of this week's storms.

"Well, we had activity tonight — a lot of geomagnetic storm activity," Shawn Dahl, service coordinator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center, said in a video on X.

A geomagnetic storm happens when charged particles from the sun's atmosphere interact with the Earth's magnetic field. In addition to creating dazzling displays of color, such storms can disrupt technology on Earth, from satellites and GPS to radio communications and the power grid.

Logocratic principles on display in Tucker Carlson's recent interview with George Santos

In our latest ponerology meetup for paid subscribers we discussed Lobaczewski's criticisms of modern democracy in his book Logocracy. There, he lists the main flaws as he sees them, and what they inevitably lead to in practice. This culminates in the following statement:

Every candidate for election in a democratic country must reckon with these defects of public opinion and must be able to satisfy them with appropriate promises. It is difficult for persons of high values of mind and character to do this, so they lose to candidates with an inferior sense of responsibility, or they withdraw discouraged by such demands. ... That is why democracy has a constant tendency to elevate to legislative and leadership positions persons who are not well qualified, but who are eloquent and relatable. This is the case in the state as a whole and similarly within individual parties, where their leaders are sometimes less qualified than some lower-level activists. This is contrary to natural law and proves to be the greatest weakness of democracy.

In other words, due to its flawed foundations — specifically, those assumptions that justify the practice of universal suffrage — modern democracy selects for Machiavellianism and incompetence, and thus produces a malformed social structure. The best candidates either do not want to play the game or get "selected out" at various stages in their political careers (if they decide to pursue them in the first place). This has an effect not just on political parties, but societies in general and all their institutions. You will often find employees who are smarter and more generally competent than their managers or bosses, for example, and these employees will be painfully aware of this. (This is one of the symptoms of poor socio-occupational adjustment and the resulting "sick" society.)

A rare and powerful tornado tore through Rio Bonito do Iguacu, killing at least six and injuring more than 600 as residents and officials confront widespread destruction and ongoing search efforts.

On the evening of November 7, 2025, the quiet town of Rio Bonito do Iguacu in Brazil's southern Parana state was transformed in a matter of minutes. What began as a routine Friday quickly spiraled into chaos as a tornado—one of the most powerful in recent memory—tore through the municipality, leaving death and destruction in its wake. By the time the winds finally subsided, the town, home to about 14,000 people, was left reeling from devastation that local officials and residents alike described as nothing short of a "war zone."

According to Parana's civil defense and multiple news outlets, at least six people were killed and more than 600 injured in the disaster. As rescue teams scoured the ruins for survivors and the missing, the number of casualties remained fluid. Two people were still unaccounted for the following day, and authorities warned that the toll could rise as the search continued. Local fire chief Jonas Emmanuel Benghi Pinto cautioned, "The number of victims could increase overnight as the search operation continues."

"Meanwhile, the soldiers seen sexually assaulting and abusing Palestinian detainees are still free," said one Palestinian observer.

Israel's former top military lawyer, who admitted to leaking a video apparently showing Israeli reserve soldiers gang-raping a Palestinian prisoner at the Sde Teiman torture prison, was arrested late on Sunday following her disappearance most of the day.

After being reported missing Sunday morning, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Advocate General Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, 51, was found "safe and in good health" that evening following a massive search in the coastal area of Herzliya, Israeli police said. She was subsequently arrested and on Monday faced charges of fraud and breach of trust, abuse of office, obstruction of justice, and disclosure of information as a public servant.

Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned Friday and admitted that she "authorized the release" of video footage showing IDF reservists at Sde Teiman from a unit called Force 100 brutally attacking a Palestinian prisoner, who was allegedly sodomized with a metal baton while other soldiers held up shields to conceal the assault.

An inquiry by Joe Kent, who leads the National Counterterrorism Center, is said to have alarmed Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director.
The head of the National Counterterrorism Center examined F.B.I. files in the last several weeks to investigate whether the man charged with assassinating Charlie Kirk had support from someone else, a foreign power or another entity, according to multiple people with knowledge of the matter.

The inquiry by Joe Kent, the director of the counterterrorism center, alarmed Kash Patel, the director of the F.B.I. Mr. Patel and other senior officials believed Mr. Kent was overstepping, treading on F.B.I. responsibilities and potentially interfering with the investigation and the prosecution of the suspect, Tyler Robinson.

But supporters of Mr. Kent say he was doing his job, running down leads and making sure no foreign or domestic groups were linked to Mr. Kirk's death.

Zohran Mamdani, a once unheralded state lawmaker from Queens whose affordability platform and charisma fueled a meteoric political rise, was elected on Tuesday as the 111th mayor of New York, according to The Associated Press.

The victory by Mr. Mamdani, 34, a democratic socialist, placed a final stamp on the astonishing ascent of an assemblyman who rose from anonymity to defeat better-known rivals like former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, first in the Democratic primary and now again in the general election.

His win represents a major triumph for progressives, empowering a new coalition of younger voters and immigrants who volunteered for his campaign, filled its coffers with thousands of small donations and flocked to the polls to elect the city's first Muslim mayor.

Italy's Nova news agency confirmed it let reporter Gabriele Nunziati go for asking a European official about Israel at a press conference.

An Italian journalist who asked a European Commission official why Israel shouldn't pay for the reconstruction of Gaza was let go by his news agency.

Gabriele Nunziati, a Brussels-based reporter who covered the EU for Rome's Nova news agency, told The Intercept he received a notice that he would lose his job barely a month after he became a correspondent.

The move, which was first reported by the Italian news website Fanpage, came after he asked Paula Pinho, the European Commission's chief spokesperson, about Gaza's reconstruction on October 13.

Dick Cheney is back in the news this week, and for once, he kept his warmongering to a minimum. Cheney is, like most politicians, trying to cash in on his lifetime of destroying the country and enriching his friends by publishing a book. His version of the truth, titled In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir, is published by Simon & Schuster. I guess the original title, "How I Escaped From the Death Star" was rejected for copyright reasons. You can buy it at Amazon at 45% off (already?) or wait a few more weeks and pick it up at your average dollar store.

The book itself is a stunning display of psychological twisting, as Cheney tries in vain to defend the indefensible: The Bush Administration in general, and specifically, the War in Iraq. Cheney defends Guantanamo Bay, the massive military buildup, the torture of innocent Muslims, the loss of American freedom at home (in the name of security, of course), and the general fear-baiting, terror-hyping security state he built on the backs of an attack that I believe he knew was coming.

That's right. I think Dick Cheney knew an event LIKE 9/11 was going to happen on American soil, and he was fully prepared to enact his fascist agenda as soon as the crisis emerged. How do I know that? It's in his own words, if you read with a little insight.

Cheney was chatting with The American Enterprise Institute about 9/11, and moderator Stephen Hayes delved into what Cheney's immediate, emotional reaction to the events was. Hayes said that President Bush nearly cried in public, and that Condoleeza Rice wept at home. Cheney's reaction as the events unfolded? Not a single human emotion.

Nope. Cheney's first thoughts were all about war and who we got to kill, and which brown people we'd get to bomb, now that they were dumb enough to attack us. Cheney focused on "what the targets might be and how we might go after him."