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Foreign 'experts' plotting coup - Slovakia's Fico

Robert Fico
© Zuzana GogovaSlovakian PM Robert Fico at a press conference โ€ข Bratislava, Slovakia โ€ข January 21, 2025
Operatives who participated in the Ukrainian Maidan and in Georgia's unrest are now active in central Europe, the Slovak prime minister has claimed.

A group of foreign coup "experts" has been discovered in Slovakia, the country's prime minister, Robert Fico, has claimed. He added that Bratislava will take unspecified precautionary measures against any Ukraine-style political unrest allegedly being fomented in the country.

Citing a confidential report compiled by the Slovak Information Service (SIS) intelligence agency, Fico made the remarks in the capital on Tuesday during a joint press conference with Hungarian Prime minister Viktor Orban.

USA

Symbols matter: Trump State Department tells embassies and outposts to fly US flags only โ€” no more pride or BLM flags

us flag stars and stripes black live matter blm flags
© U.S. State Department
Under Biden, government buildings flew pride and BLM flags alongside Old Glory

The Trump State Department implemented a landmark "One Flag Policy" policy on Monday, barring U.S. outposts at home and abroad from flying any other flag but the Stars and Stripes. The newly issued order, a copy of which was obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, effectively bans American facilities from displaying flags affiliated with left-wing movements, including the pride and Black Lives Matter flags that flew over U.S. government buildings under Biden.

"Starting immediately, only the United States of America flag is authorized to be flown or displayed at U.S. facilities, both domestic and abroad, and featured in U.S. government content," the order states. "The flag of the United States of America united all Americans under the universal principles of justice, liberty, and democracy. These values, which are the bedrock of our great country, are shared by all American citizens, past and present."

MAGA

Trump administration withdraws FDA plan to ban menthol cigarettes

smoking
© REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
The Trump administration has withdrawn a plan to ban menthol cigarettes in the U.S., in a setback to health regulators and activists.

The Food and Drug Administration had in April 2022 proposed to ban the sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, but its implementation was delayed several times by the Biden administration.

A Jan.21 filing by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, a White House agency, showed the proposal has been "withdrawn". A ban would have likely cost billions of dollars in annual revenue for cigarette companies such as Altria and British American Tobacco.

BATS declined to comment, while Altria did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Menthol cigarettes have drawn the ire of several health advocacy groups on grounds that they are highly addictive, and for their appeal to young smokers.

They have also faced scrutiny for their disproportionate impact on the health of Black communities, where they are marketed heavily.

Stormtrooper

Best of the Web: Now the truth comes out: Reporters admit Politico snuffed out Hunter Biden laptop story to protect Joe in 2020

biden
© AP
Lest anyone still have doubts, two ex-Politico reporters just confirmed how far the media went to protect Joe Biden prior to the 2020 presidential election.

It's solid proof that these outlets can't be trusted.

On a podcast this week, Axios' Mark Caputo and Puck's Tara Palmeri revealed that Politico intentionally killed or resisted negative stories about Biden and his son โ€” citing, for instance, its limited coverage of The Post's election-eve scoop on Hunter Biden's laptop.

Media outlets dismissed the Hunter laptop story because:

"Politico did that terrible, ill-fated headline: 51 intelligence agents, or former intelligence agents, say that the Hunter Biden laptop was disinformation," recalled Caputo.

"Turns out that story was closer to disinformation, because the Hunter Biden laptop appeared to be true."

MAGA

Tulsi Gabbard Is An American Hero Being Tarred As A Terrorist

tulsi gabbard
© Gage Skidmore / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
Senators are looking for excuses over reasons to refuse President Donald Trump's pick for director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard โ€” a combat veteran who previously served as a Democrat congresswoman from Hawaii and now faces character assassination.

Gabbard, who is meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill Thursday afternoon, committed two crimes that now threaten to derail her confirmation: leaving the Democrat party and campaigning against the interventionist impulses of the deep state war machine.

After Democrats fought to delay her way forward, Semafor reported Wednesday that Gabbard's nomination was "on shaky ground" within the GOP. According to the outlet, Republicans are "particularly hesitant" about previous statements from Gabbard "that some have read as too warm toward Vladimir Putin and former Syrian regime leader Bashar al-Assad." The piece goes on to note that Gabbard met with Assad in 2017 and highlights her criticism of "some intelligence-gathering tools" โ€” such as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) used to execute the Russia hoax.

Evil Rays

China's DeepSeek bombshell rocks Trump's $500B AI boondoggle

AI quote Musk


The future of humanity is being decided as we speak. And it is not being decided on a battlefield in Eastern Europe, or the Middle East or the Taiwan Strait, but in the data centers and research facilities where technology experts create "the physical and virtual infrastructure to power the next generation of Artificial Intelligence."
This is a full-blown, scorched-earth free-for-all that has already racked up a number of casualties though you wouldn't know it from reading the headlines which typically ignore recent 'cataclysmic' developments. But when President Trump announced the launching of a $500 billion AI infrastructure project (Stargate) on Tuesday just hours after China had released its DeepSeek R1 โ€” which "outperforms its rivals in advanced coding, math, and general knowledge capabilities" โ€” it became painfully obvious that the battle for the future 'is on' in a big way. And this is not a battle that either side can afford to lose. Here's how technology expert Adam Button summed it up:

Comment: Listen to Ian Carroll discuss several of the problems with OpenAI and the US's deeply flawed efforts to create a national AI infrastructure with pathological personalities at the helm:




Attention

A pathetic clown-world alliance is signed by two moribund partners

Britain and the UK
© Strategic Culture Foundation
The recent news item that imploding Great Britain and rump Ukraine have concluded a hundred-year alliance has injected some much-needed humour into the otherwise unbearably sombre political situation in the world.

The absurd length of the pact signed by Starmer and Zelensky illustrates the complete lack of realism that for some time has governed the conduct of both delusional chancelleries, in London as well as in Kiev. Neither of the contracting parties has any reasonable prospects of remaining in existence a century hence, by the time the term of the just concluded centennial alliance expires.

Nor are there grounds to believe that their successor states, if there are any, will have an interest in maintaining this stillborn and utterly preposterous alliance once both contracting parties have departed from the world stage.

Though at first blush it may appear harsh, this prognosis is fully consistent with observable facts. The dysfunctionality on many levels of Great Britain, or United Kingdom, it hardly matters what one chooses to call it, is rapidly dawning on everyone with eyes to see. From the top down it is a country that is falling apart at the seams. At the very top, the Royal Family has lost its lustre in the time frame of a generation. Because of the irresponsible and unseemly conduct of its members it is no longer capable of performing its traditional symbolic and mediating duties. Precisely as William Butler Yeats anticipated, "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."

Nor are Britain's political and social institutions in much better shape. In contemporary Britain, the meritocracy that but one or two generations ago still used to characterise the government elite and civil service is a figment of the past. The highest offices in the land are now occupied by buffoons and incompetents, ably personified by Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, as well as a slew of other pathetic officials seemingly drawn from the cast of the political satire series "Yes Minister." The Established Church, once a moral pillar of society, is now mired in doctrinal confusion, degeneracy, and irrelevance. The population replacement project that at great personal risk Enoch Powell, reviled by nincompoops but vindicated by subsequent developments, warned his compatriots against, is now a full-blown reality which critically undermines Great Britain's viability and the coherence of British society. Once a global industrial powerhouse, Britain now scarcely produces anything that anyone desires or is of superior quality (with the exception of Rolls Royce engines, as Andrey Martyanov tirelessly points out), whilst its military is in tatters and its entire army would be too small to fill even an average sized soccer stadium.

Ice Cube

Trump yanks security protection for former top diplomat Pompeo

Mike Pompeo
© REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/File PhotoFormer U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attends a campaign rally by Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S., November 4, 2024.
President Donald Trump has revoked U.S. security protection for Mike Pompeo, who served as Secretary of State in his first administration and had been a loyal Trump ally before considering a challenge to his presidential campaign.

A source familiar with the situation confirmed earlier reports that Pompeo's security detail had been withdrawn.

The New York Times first reported that security for Pompeo, as well as former Iran envoy Brian Hook, was pulled on Tuesday, citing four sources familiar with the situation.

Trump, who took office on Monday, said this week that he had withdrawn protection for his former national security adviser, John Bolton, telling reporters: "We are not going to have security on people for the rest of their lives."

All three men served in Trump's first administration and led policy on Iran in particular.

U.S. authorities have alleged Iran has plotted to murder Bolton and Trump, charges Iran denies.

Comment: A move that could be described as, ice cold.


Star of David

Israel holds multiple Palestinian doctors captive. Some are already dead

Gaza, Palestine
© Khalil Ramzi Alkahlut/Anadolu via Getty Images
Dr.Hussam Abu Safiya is one of many unlawfully imprisoned medical professionals, reportedly tortured and abused in detention

As you read this, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a Palestinian doctor from Gaza, is likely still in Israeli detention - and, according to mounting evidence, being tortured.

Despite the recent hostage swap with Hamas, multiple health professionals are still being held captive, with abundant reports of mistreatment, neglect and torture. One of these is Dr. Abu Safiya, arrested on December 27 and transferred to the notorious Sde Teyman prison camp (dubbed Israel's version of Guantanamo Bay).

As each day passes, and with reports from released prisoners who attest Dr. Abu Safiya was being tortured while they were in the same prison, fears of his death grow. At least three Palestinian doctors abducted from Gaza have died in Israeli prisons since October 2023.

Gold Coins

President Trump signs executive order to ban Central Bank Digital Currencies

Strengthening American Leadership In Digital Financial Technology, CBDC ban
Today, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order (EO) related to Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, titled "Strengthening American Leadership In Digital Financial Technology". This EO officially banned the creation and issuance of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the United States, defining a CBDC as "a form of digital money or monetary value, denominated in the national unit of account, that is a direct liability of the central bank."

"Except to the extent required by law, agencies are hereby prohibited from undertaking any action to establish, issue, or promote CBDCs within the jurisdiction of the United States or abroad," the order announced. "Except to the extent required by law, any ongoing plans or initiatives at any agency related to the creation of a CBDC within the jurisdiction of the United States shall be immediately terminated, and no further actions may be taken to develop or implement such plans or initiatives."

The new EO will also establish a presidential working group to create a federal regulatory framework governing digital assets (including stablecoins), and evaluate the creation of a strategic national digital assets stockpile.

"The Working Group's report shall consider provisions for market structure, oversight, consumer protection, and risk management," stated the order. "The Working Group shall evaluate the potential creation and maintenance of a national digital asset stockpile and propose criteria for establishing such a stockpile, potentially derived from cryptocurrencies lawfully seized by the Federal Government through its law enforcement efforts."

Comment: Is it mere coincidence that Trump signed this order several hours after his virtual attendance of the WEF meeting in Davos?