Important Takeaways:
- A serious earthquake struck the Pacific Northwest on Wednesday evening, striking fears of a possible tsunami.
- A 6.0 earthquake hit Oregon on Wednesday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The earthquake reportedly hit off the southern coast of the U.S. state, according to reports. While the earthquake struck in a region that could produce a tsunami, thankfully, none is expected.
- Still, it’s a worrying situation
- The AP had more:
- Washington state emergency management officials posted on social media that while it can be scary to see a 6.0 magnitude quake happening near the Cascadia Subduction Zone, the one Wednesday was in the Blanco Fracture Zone, where quakes are quite common.
- The Cascadia Subduction Zone is a 600-mile-long (965-kilometer) fault just off the coast that runs from Northern California to British Columbia. Tectonic stresses have been accumulating in the zone for more than 300 years, and seismologists say it could rupture at any time, causing a megaquake and tsunami.
- Our thoughts are with everyone in the area during the scary time. Thankfully, it doesn’t sound like there was any serious damage reported.
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Important Takeaways:
- The Justice Department, FBI, and IRS all knew the infamous Hunter Biden laptop “was real” immediately after it came to light and prosecutors told investigators not to ask questions about Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 election, according to two whistleblowers.
- IRS employees Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, both who previously testified before Congress, spoke to investigative reporter Catherine Herridge in their first interview since Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to federal tax charges to avoid facing another criminal trial months after being convicted in a separate gun case.
- The infamous “laptop from hell” was originally abandoned by first son Hunter Biden at a Delaware computer repair shop before being retrieved and authenticated by the FBI.
- In October 2020, the New York Post first reported the abandoned laptop included of influence-peddling, drug use, and other lurid activity.
- Government officials, social media companies, and the mainstream media refused to acknowledge the authenticity of the laptop, instead saying it was part of a Russian disinformation effort.
- In July 2023, the FBI’s section chief of the Foreign Influence Task Force testified before a House panel that the bureau knew the laptop belonged to Hunter Biden in the run-up to the 2020 election.
- Shapley and Ziegler told Herridge federal investigators faced “a lot of overt investigative steps that we were not allowed to take because we had an upcoming election.”
- They also told the reporter:
- “The prosecutors … told us that they didn’t want to ask about ‘The Big Guy.'”
- “We corroborated that ‘The Big Guy’ was Joe Biden. Yes.”
- “There was no question ever that ‘The Big Guy’ was referring to Joe Biden.”
- “It was for the purpose of affecting that [2020] election.”
- The two whistleblowers alleged there is disparate treatment of taxpayers by the IRS and a double standard at the Justice Department for the handling of presidential campaigns.
- Herridge also reported that an internal IRS email shows the whistleblowers’ supervisor celebrated the Hunter Biden guilty plea, calling it a “great conviction” even though the whistleblower say they have been punished for coming forward by superiors.
- “Those are words that are not supported by the actions of the agency,” Herridge was told.
- “This to me was someone who knows that [an] IRS watchdog right now is looking into the way that they’ve handled this and they see the writing on the wall, and this really is an example of just covering their backside like a true bureaucracy.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Iran’s missile production has not been disrupted following Israeli airstrikes on the Islamic Republic on Oct. 26, Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh was quoted as saying Wednesday by state media.
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Important Takeaways:
- Weaponization of the government’s power against its opponents and even its own citizens has been steadily growing worse and for a reason.
- FBI whistleblower Steve Friend is well aware as to why that is.
- “To set the foundation for it, you have to go back to Barack Obama assuming office in 2009. So, a Kamala Harris presidency would mean 20 years. That’s an entire government career, a full generation of hiring that has gone across every single agency,” Friend tells Steve Deace of “The Steve Deace Show.”
- “Now you have 20 years of ideologies,” he continues, adding, “and that’s how you’re getting things like McDonald’s the other day, who had one franchise allow him to do one photo opportunity and then we had an E. coli breakout, CDC all over that one, and then the United States senators accusing them of price gouging and driving the stock share price down.”
- Not only did the government jump at the chance to punish McDonald’s for allowing a photo op with a political opponent, but citizens across the country have fallen victim to the FACE Act.
- “In the Biden administration, it’s been applied more than any other presidential administration in history,” Friend explains. “92% application towards pro-lifers, not people who were subject to fire bombings at their crisis pregnancy centers.”
- “People do not know exactly the powers that are at their fingertips,” Friend continues. “They have the ability to have an assessment from the Patriot Act, which means that they can open up an investigation on any American for an articulable purpose. Don’t need probable cause of a crime.”
- “In other words, you’re describing investigations in search of crimes. Not criminal investigations, but investigations in search of crimes. That’s what you’re describing,” Deace says.
- “Find me a man, and I’ll show you the crime,” Friend agrees.
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Important Takeaways:
- The flooding began at lunchtime on Tuesday, wreaking havoc from the provinces of Malaga in the south to Valencia in the east.
- Tragically, a baby was listed as one of the casualties by officials on Wednesday, with a reported national death toll now sitting at 64.
- It is the worst flood-related natural disaster to hit Spain in almost 30 years – after flooding in 1996 killed 87.
- Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez gave an emergency briefing this morning saying: “Our thoughts go out to those whose homes and possessions have been devastated and whose lives have been covered in mud.
- President of the Valencia region Carlos Mazon said in a chilling statement: “There are bodies and bodies continuing to appear in places we hadn’t been able to access before.”
- Officials have said it is “Impossible” to put a definite number on the amount of people killed.
- A severe weather warning has been issued in Catalonia, northern Spain, marking a move away from the hard-hit southern and eastern regions.
- Meteocat, the Catalan weather service, has warned of hail that could be as big as two centimeters and possible tornadoes or waterspouts.
- Their warning sits at a level six – the highest possible.
- In one small area on the outskirts of Valencia city, 40 people are either dead or missing, police sources said.
- Chiva, a town near Valencia, was pummeled by more than a year’s worth of rain in just eight hours.
- There are also fears the Cirat-Vallat dam – in Castellon, north of Valencia, could burst with officials putting out a warning after they couldn’t open the gates.
- Why was Spain hit by flooding?
- In layman’s terms, more warm and moist Mediterranean air than usual was sucked high into the atmosphere after a cold system hit the country from the south.
- The easterly wind then pushed all those clouds and rain into eastern Spain.
- Three to four months of rain fell in some places over the space of 24 hours.
- The DANA system hit southern Spain as it arrived from Morocco yesterday and is now expected to head west over southern Portugal.
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Important Takeaways:
- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday launched a massive exercise of the country’s nuclear forces featuring missile launches in a simulation of a retaliatory strike, as he continued to flex the country’s nuclear muscle amid spiraling tensions with the West over Ukraine.
- Speaking in a video call with military leaders, Putin said that the drills would simulate top officials’ action in using nuclear weapons and include launches of nuclear-capable ballistic and cruise missiles.
- Defense Minister Andrei Belousov reported that the exercise is intended to practice “strategic offensive forces launching a massive nuclear strike in response to a nuclear strike by the enemy.”
- Putin, who has repeatedly brandished the nuclear sword as he seeks to deter the West from ramping up support for Ukraine, emphasized on Tuesday that Russia’s nuclear arsenal remains a “reliable guarantor of the country’s sovereignty and security.”
- Putin noted that Moscow will continue to modernize its nuclear forces, deploying new missiles that have a higher precision, quicker launch times and increased capabilities to overcome missile defenses.
- As part of Tuesday’s drills, the military test-fired a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk launch pad at the Kura testing range on the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Defense Ministry said. The Novomoskovsk and Knyaz Oleg nuclear submarines test-fired ICBMs from the Barents Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk, while nuclear-capable Tu-95 strategic bombers carried out practice launches of long-range cruise missiles.
- The ministry said that all the missiles reached their designated targets.
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Important Takeaways:
- As fighting continues in Lebanon and Hezbollah continues to launch rockets and UAVs at Israel, the Defense Ministry claims it has substantially reduced Hezbollah’s arsenal. This as the Knesset is under criticism for voting to ban UNRWA from operating in Israel.
- Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant claims the Iranian-backed Hezbollah’s rocket supply has been reduced to just 20 percent of what it was before the October 7th, 2023, Hamas attack.
- That’s an especially important number because Hezbollah’s chief threat has been its ability to rain down tens of thousands of missiles on Israelis.
- Some in the Israel Defense Forces want to wrap up the invasion of Lebanon soon. Still, other Israelis want to see it continue until Hezbollah has been eliminated as a threat to Israel’s northern border communities. They’ve been largely evacuated for more than a year.
- After the killing of Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah and his successor, Hezbollah announced it has a new leader, Sheikh Naim Kassem, who has been with the terror group since its start in 1982.
- He’s hiding out in Iran, hoping to avoid the fate of the two previous leaders who were killed by Israeli airstrikes in Beirut.
- As for the Iranian regime controlling the proxy wars from Tehran, it is threatening to respond to Israel’s retaliatory strike on some of the country’s military sites this past weekend, making clear the timing will be made by the Iranians.
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Important Takeaways:
- An Iowa resident has died after contracting a frightening viral disease, similar to Ebola, that leaves victims bleeding from their eyeballs.
- The patient had returned to the U.S. from West Africa earlier this month bringing the disease known as Lassa Fever, rarely seen in the U.S., back with them, health officials said.
- The person was not sick while traveling meaning the risk to fellow airline passengers is ‘extremely low,’ officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
- Patients are not believed to be infectious before symptoms occur and the virus is not spread by casual contact.
- The patient, who has not been identified publicly, was placed in isolation in hospital at the University of Iowa Health Care Medical Center in Iowa City.
- On Monday, testing by the Nebraska Laboratory Response Network revealed the patient had died from Lassa Fever.
- If the results are confirmed, the Iowa case would be the ninth known case of Lassa Fever since 1969 in travelers returning to the U.S. from areas where the disease is found.
- The CDC is now assisting Iowa health officials to identify people who had been in contact with the patient after symptoms began. Those identified as being in close contact will be monitored for three weeks.
- Lassa Fever, which is caused by the Lassa virus, is a relatively common disease in West Africa, with between 100,000 and 300,000 cases diagnosed every year with around 5,000 deaths.
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Important Takeaways:
- The CEO of Blackrock, which oversees over $10 trillion in assets, sees one rate reduction before the end of this year, compared to the two trims that other market participants have forecast.
- “I think it’s fair to say we’re going to have at least a 25 (basis-point cut), but that being said, I do believe we have greater embedded inflation in the world than we’ve ever seen,” Fink said.
- The Fed cut its benchmark rate by 50 basis points in September.
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Important Takeaways:
- Russia has been on a roll: the 2008 invasion of Georgia, the seizure of Crimea in 2014 and the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine surprised an overconfident Vladimir Putin, yet the war continues, with Russian casualties exceeding 500,000.
- From the time Russia invaded Ukraine, Mr. Putin has threatened to use tactical nuclear weapons. He recently announced a new nuclear doctrine: Aggression against Russia by any non-nuclear state, but with the participation or support of a nuclear one, should be considered a joint attack.
- [meanwhile] China is building more missile silos: 120 in Gansu province and about 110 in Xinjiang province. China’s Rocket Force, established by President Xi Jinping, receives significant resources for the nuclear modernization program. China is not a member of New START and continues to refuse to discuss its nuclear program with the U.S.
- China continues to encircle and threaten Taiwan and claim sovereignty over the South China Sea despite a 2016 U.N. Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling in favor of the Philippines that said China’s actions were unlawful. China continues to ignore the ruling.
- North Korea has about 50 nuclear weapons and enough fissile material to produce seven nuclear weapons per year. It also has a chemical and biological program, and in 2002, it was the only country that withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
- Since the failure of the February 2019 Hanoi Summit, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been in a race to build more nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles to launch them as far as the U.S. with the Hwasong-17, a road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple reentry vehicles, with a range of 15,000 kilometers (over 9,320 miles), capable of reaching the entire U.S.
- Iran is in a category by itself.
- Iran enriches uranium to 60%, enabling it to produce weapons-grade uranium in a few weeks. The International Atomic Energy Agency monitors Iran’s nuclear-related activities and has expressed concern about not getting the access its monitors require to certify that Iran is in compliance with IAEA safeguards.
- Moreover, Iran’s ballistic missile program is impressive — 12 types of medium-range and short-range ballistic missiles. It is only a matter of time before Iran has ICBMs capable of targeting Europe and the U.S. This is in addition to its support of its proxies Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. Iran’s goal: to annihilate Israel.
- This is the axis of authoritarian states. The nations’ goal is to change the world order.
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