Afghanistan: Regime thugs abduct four for dressing up as “Peaky Blinders” characters

Source: CBS News

“Four young men were detained by Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities and put into a rehabilitation program for walking around in public dressed up as their favorite characters from the hit British drama ‘Peaky Blinders.’ The Taliban government’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice said the four friends — who had become popular in their local Jibrail township, in the southern province of Herat, for strutting through the streets in trench coats and flat caps — were detained for ‘promoting foreign culture.'” (12/09/25)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/taliban-detains-men-peaky-blinders-style-for-rehabilitation-sharia-law/

Thomas L. Knapp

The Hegseth Killings Must Stop

Source: Antiwar.com
by Ron Paul

“Last week the Pentagon, under ‘War Secretary’ Pete Hegseth, carried out yet another military attack on a boat in the high seas that the Administration claims is smuggling drugs. That makes 23 boats blown up by the US military in the waters off Latin America – most near Venezuela – and nearly 100 persons killed. To date the US government has provided no evidence to back up its claim that these boats are smuggling fentanyl and other dangerous drugs into the United States. The US Drug Enforcement Administration has reported that Venezuela neither manufactures nor transports fentanyl to the US. In fact, the DEA still concludes that Venezuela is barely a minor player in the drug game. Is this really about drugs? Or is it about ‘regime change’ for Venezuela?” (12/09/25)

https://original.antiwar.com/paul/2025/12/08/the-hegseth-killings-must-stop

Thomas L. Knapp

France: Brigitte Macron criticised after using sexist slur against feminist protesters

Source: The Guardian [UK]

“French celebrities and politicians on the left have expressed outrage after Brigitte Macron was filmed using a derogatory and sexist slur to describe feminist protesters at a theatre show in Paris. A video filmed on Sunday showed France’s first lady in discussion backstage at the Folies Bergère theatre in Paris with Ary Abittan, a French actor and comedian previously accused of rape, before a performance he was about to give. The previous night, feminist campaigners had disrupted his show with shouts of: ‘Abittan, rapist!’ Before Sunday’s performance, Macron asked him how he was feeling. When he said he was feeling scared, she referred to the protesters as ‘sales connes’ (dirty or stupid bitches) and adding that if they reappeared, ‘we’ll toss them out.’ … Politicians on the left criticised the use of a sexist slur and some said Brigitte Macron should apologise.” (12/09/25)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/09/brigitte-macron-filmed-slur-feminist-protesters-paris

Thomas L. Knapp

How To Heal When The World Is On Fire

Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone

“I think first we need to be clear that healing and feeling secure are two different things. Healing isn’t about getting away from uncomfortable feelings, it’s about moving right into them and feeling them fully. After we have done our work and healing has occurred we tend to notice that we feel better, but the actual work of healing begins in discomfort. That’s where the rubber meets the road on this path. Healing is when you find a part of yourself that has been acting out unconsciously over and over again throughout your life, by getting annoyed or upset or collapsing into helplessness, or by freezing up, freezing out, or freaking out. You start paying attention to how these unconscious behaviors play in yourself (either in your outward behavior or privately in your internal suffering), and you get real curious about how that is happening.” (12/09/25)

https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/12/09/how-to-heal-when-the-world-is-on-fire/

Steve Trinward

TX: Two abducted for doing business; $50 million in merchandise stolen

Source: Engadget

“The Southern District of Texas announced the seizure of more than $50 million in NVIDIA GPUs bound for China in violation of US export laws. Authorities arrested two businessmen, one of them the owner of a Houston company, accused of smuggling the chips used to train and run AI models. … The smuggling operation used a combination of falsified paperwork, purposefully misclassified goods, straw purchasers and even removing the NVIDIA labels on GPUs to ship them to both mainland China and Hong Kong. The conspirators face between 10 and 20 years in prison if convicted.” (12/09/25)

https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/texas-authorities-have-made-multiple-arrests-in-an-nvidia-gpu-smuggling-operation-144749526.html?src=rss

Thomas L. Knapp