With the looming end of the U.S. government shutdown amid a deal in the Senate, the House will soon be swearing in Adelita Grijalva to her rightful seat from Arizona, after a historic delay at the hands of Speaker Mike Johnson, taking direction from President Donald Trump, all aimed at blocking her from becoming the final signature needed to force a vote on releasing the Epstein files.

In mid-October, the House Oversight Committee released an interview with former U.S. prosecutor Alex Acosta, who told the panel that — contrary to widespread public reporting — he had never told Steve Bannon that Epstein "belonged to intelligence." Acosta denied ever discussing Epstein with Bannon, and claimed to have "no knowledge as to whether he was or was not a member of the intelligence community."

Yet, along with Acosta's interview, the House panel also released a new cache of documents from Epstein's estate containing direct evidence of Epstein's links to Israeli intelligence: Epstein's personal calendars reveal that a senior Israeli intelligence officer, with personal ties to former CIA Director Leon Panetta, lived at Epstein's Manhattan apartment for multiple stretches between 2013 and 2016. When cross-referenced with emails leaked from the inbox of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, a portrait emerges of Epstein at the nexus of high-ranking intelligence officials in both the U.S. and Israel.

This is the fourth piece in Drop Site's ongoing series on Jeffrey Epstein's role in brokering intelligence deals for Israel.

In the first, we exposed Epstein's role in brokering a security agreement between Israel and Mongolia. In the second, we identified Epstein's effort to set up a backchannel between Israel and Russia during the Syria civil war. In the third, we showed Epstein's role as a key facilitator of a security agreement between Israel and the West African nation of Côte d'Ivoire.

Meanwhile, we're left wondering why the rest of the media, which has demonstrated no lack of excitement when it comes to the saga of Jeffrey Epstein, has all of a sudden lost its reporting capacity, in the face of reams of publicly available newsworthy documents. A question for editors reading this newsletter: What are you doing?

From a place of competition, we're glad the media are sitting on their collective hands and we're proud to have broken this series of stories, which give us a glimpse of a world that is often hidden from public view. But it's also a topic that would benefit from the collective attention of our national media. Here's hoping some will join in.

Either way, we'll continue the work, and are grateful for the support of readers who make it possible. If you haven't yet upgraded your subscription, please consider doing so.

Last week, we let you know that an investigation we published on the BBC is now the subject of a lawsuit we intend to fully contest — the article can be read here — and that we needed help raising money to cover legal costs that had already approached $40,000. In just a few days, readers donated nearly $200,000. An enormous thank you from all of us at Drop Site. Having the resources to fight back in court is a game changer.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved the idea of completely banning vape sales in Russia.

"Look, Dmitry Nikolaevich [Chernyshenko, Russian Deputy Prime Minister] nods his head. Our government supports it," Putin said when visiting the adaptive sports promotion center in Samara.

Head of the Zdorovoe Otechestvo [Healthy Fatherland] Russian public movement Ekaterina Leshchinskaya approached the head of state with a relevant request. She noted positive experience of banning vapes is in adjacent CIS states and other countries of the globe.

The Russian leader nodded approvingly to her request "for giving instructions to set a complete ban of vapes in the Russian territory."

"Not only such decision is important but carrying appropriate work" among the youth also, the president stressed at the same time.

Washington's strikes on alleged smuggler boats are unlawful, the Russian foreign minister has said.

The US would be better off targeting Belgium, recently described as an emerging "narco-state" by one of its own judges, rather than bombing small vessels off the coast of Venezuela, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a press conference, Lavrov denounced the maritime airstrikes authorized by the administration of US President Donald Trump, which Washington claims are aimed at drug smugglers operating in the Caribbean. The foreign minister called the attacks:

"Acts taken without due process that demonstrate how the US 'places itself above the law'. Rather than targeting Nigeria and Venezuela with anti-drug operations and [potential] seizures of oil fields, the US should probably focus on eradicating this social ill in Belgium. The US already has troops there and will not have to chase after small boats with crews of three people each."

Lavrov was referring to a recent statement by a Belgian judge who wrote to the parliament that "mafia-like structures have taken root" in the country and that it is not an exaggeration to say "are we evolving into a narco-state."

Just as the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group entered Caribbean waters on Tuesday, it's been revealed that the United Kingdom has made the unprecedented and provocative move of cutting off intelligence-sharing with the United States related to suspected drug trafficking vessels off Venezuela.

CNN reports Tuesday that Britain cited that it does not want to be complicit in ongoing US military strikes against alleged drug-trafficking boats, as it believes the action is illegal, amounting to extrajudicial killings, also after recent criticisms from United Nations officials. However, it is said to be a cut-off in only "some" intel-sharing.

This is of immense importance from one of America's closest allies - and part of the 'Five Eyes' intelligence sharing nations - which has time and again enthusiastically joined in Washington's military adventurism abroad, from Afghanistan to Iraq to Libya and Syria.

Media narratives, a superiority complex, and psychological battles are shaping Europe's future. Europe's self-image as a "garden" blinds it to global realities, while irrational narratives about war risk accelerating its own decline.

Jowett and O'Donnell (2012), scholars in the field of political communication and propaganda studies, define propaganda as "the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behaviour to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist."

Propaganda has always been a weapon of war, but in today's Europe, and especially Germany, it has reached new levels of sophistication. What once targeted foreign adversaries is now increasingly directed at domestic populations. Supported by mainstream media, NATO strategies, and elite consensus, propaganda in Europe has become less about informing citizens and more about shaping their cognitive environment.

The German scholar Dr. Jonas Tögel calls this phenomenon "cognitive warfare," a deliberate attempt to mold the thoughts, emotions, and even instincts of entire populations. Propaganda built through one-sided news and debates in Germany and Europe today is unprecedented in scale, sophistication, and self-destructive potential.

In this article, I intend to examine the current status of propaganda in Germany and Europe, its aims and self-destructive trajectory, NATO's role in weaponizing cognition, and the cultural mindset that enables Europeans to view themselves as a "garden" surrounded by the "jungle." Drawing on the voices of Dr. Tögel, interviewer and scholar Pascal Lottaz from the Institute for Neutrality Studies at Kyoto University, and the German philosopher Hans-Georg Moeller, I explore where this propaganda is leading Europe and whether there is room for optimism.

Georgia wants fairness from Brussels, not interference disguised as support.

European Union officials who publicly call themselves friends of Georgia are in fact working to destabilize the country, Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze told local media on Monday.

Kaladze, who also serves as secretary general of the ruling Georgian Dream party, said that some EU officials are pursuing hostile and deceitful policies toward the country while pretending to promote democracy:

"They have repeatedly tried to organize revolutions, coups d'état, and overthrow the government. They tell us they are Georgia's friends, yet they incite coups, extremism, and violence. That is not friendship or partnership. Tbilisi only wants a fair attitude toward Georgia, respect for our people, our constitution, and our independence from the bloc."

Last month, the former soccer star won a new term in municipal elections that opposition forces claimed were rigged. The allegations triggered mass protests, where pro-Western demonstrators clashed with police and attempted to storm the presidential palace in the capital city following the vote.

'The timing of this activity and JPMC's termination of its business relationships with TMTG raise obvious, troubling questions...'

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier launched a state investigation Monday into JP Morgan after the bank abruptly closed the accounts of President Donald Trump's media company in 2024.

Uthmeier announced the probe in a video statement on X and in a letter to JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon, affirming the financial institution may have violated multiple criminal and civil anti-fraud laws as well as prohibitions against de-banking.

"Rest assured, this office will be investigating to ascertain the nature of these secret and suspicious circumstances," Uthmeier wrote in the letter, confirming that the Office of Statewide Prosecution and Enforcement Division would handle the matter "immediately."

Funding package heads to House after 8 Senate Dems abandon demand for Obamacare subsidies deal

The shutdown stalemate that has dragged on in the Senate officially ended late Monday night, and it places Congress on a path to reopen the government later this week.

Senators advanced a bipartisan funding package to end the government shutdown after a group of Senate Democrats broke from their colleagues and joined Republicans in their bid to reopen the government.

Those same eight Senate Democratic caucus members stuck with Republicans and provided the crucial votes needed to send the package to the House.

The votes went deep into Monday night on the shutdown's 41st day and resulted in an updated continuing resolution (CR) being combined with a trio of spending bills in a minibus package that is now headed to the House.

Donald Trump's threat to sue the BBC for one billion dollars is yet another fake division intended to prop up the make-believe "sides" in the political debate.

That's the short version. Here's the backstory.

Last month, the BBC's flagship anthology documentary series Panorama aired an episode on the January 6th "insurrection" which "accidentally" edited together two speeches by Donald Trump, making it seem he explicitly ordered people to attack the Capitol (he did no such thing, but that's old news).

Under public pressure from the Trump administration, the BBC have now admitted the "error" and both the Director General Tim Davie and news CEO Deborah Turness have resigned.

Now, President Donald Trump is threatening to sue the BBC for $1billion unless there is a full retraction and apology by Friday, the 14th of November.

This has spurred British pundits and politicians alike to jump to the defence of the BBC, repeating age-old nonsense about being perceived as "biased against both sides":

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."