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French High School Students Lead Mass Protests over School Funding, Inequality; Thousands Arrested

2026-10-06T15:34:38Z

Time: 19:47

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Nearly 2,000 French high schools are blockaded or closed today amid massive student-led protests over school funding and inequality. The demonstrations began in September at a single school in the economically deprived suburbs of Paris, where students protested teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms and dilapidated school buildings beset by rats, falling debris and more. But the scope of the protests has widened amid a violent crackdown by French police. French authorities have arrested more than 5,000 people, largely underage students, since the movement began. Violent police tactics have led to serious injuries. One protester lost an eye after being hit by a rubber bullet, while another lost a hand when he picked up a police stun grenade.

We hear from an anonymous protester who describes the violence meted out on students, who "aren't even adults yet," and from Claire Vigneau, general secretary of Fédération Syndicale Étudiante, the French student union, who reports from a protest in Rennes, Brittany, "where we are trying to escape from the policemen that are chasing us with tear gas and with water cannon[s]."

"The amount of spending that France has done on education has stagnated, if not declined," explains French American journalist Cole Stangler. "The critiques that high school students are making are actually very similar to what teachers' unions have been saying for quite some time."

"Everyone is deeply, deeply angry. We are completely fed up [with] the living conditions, the school conditions, the work conditions that we have," says Alys Rowlands, a university student in Lille and also a member of Fédération Syndicale Étudiante. "The true violence is the violence of the state that we are being faced with all day, every day, all year. That's the true violence: having no money, having difficulty finishing the month, having less and less help from the state, having to choose between eating and putting your heating on during the winter."

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Israel’s flailing chatbot army

2026-10-06T15:12:07Z

No longer able to rely on traditional lobbying, Israel is pouring huge funds into ‘cognitive warfare’ aimed at manipulating the responses of AI platforms.

The post Israel’s flailing chatbot army appeared first on +972 Magazine.

"Incredible Moment for the Borderlands": Judge Blocks Border Wall Expansion in Big Bend & West Texas

2026-10-06T14:47:23Z

Time: 6:15

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In a victory for environmentalists and immigration rights' advocates, a federal judge in El Paso, Texas, has blocked further border wall construction inside Big Bend National Park. "We slammed the brakes on $7 billion worth of corrupt construction contracts," says Laiken Jordahl, a national public lands advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, which sued to block the expansion. "We have effectively stopped construction across West Texas, and it's incredible."

Jordahl also responds to the Trump administration's excavation of a 200-year-old cottonwood tree on the Arizona-Mexico border that had been protected by activists for months. "Watching those videos of them toppling this ancient tree that was very likely older than the border itself is symbolic of how DHS has treated the border region. They see our communities, our wildlife, our nature as a sacrifice zone," says Jordahl.

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Ebola Death Toll in DRC Tops 4,000; Trump USAID Cuts Fuel Outbreak

2026-10-06T14:43:29Z

Time: 17:25

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We go to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the site of the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history. Health authorities believe the outbreak first began in January but was not detected until May, in part due to cuts in global health investments, like the dismantling of USAID. Since then, over 8,000 cases have been recorded, with more than 4,000 fatalities so far. From Bunia, Ituri province, the epicenter of the outbreak, we speak to Congolese journalist Akilimali Chomachoma. Chomachoma describes the strain on the underfunded Congolese healthcare system as the disease spreads. Many frontline workers have not been paid for months.

"We are seeing this outbreak emerge, and really unfurl, in a setting of decreased global health support," says Craig Spencer, a doctor and public health expert based in the United States who contracted Ebola while on a medical mission to Guinea in 2014. "The U.S. has not shown up in the same way that it has in previous Ebola outbreaks." Spencer also comments on the "unprecedented" measles outbreak in the United States, which he warns is likely to continue and lead to additional deaths.

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French High School Students Lead Mass Protests over School Funding, Inequality; Thousands Arrested

2026-10-06T14:36:02Z

Time: 19:02

Top U.S. & World Headlines — October 6, 2026

2026-10-06T14:26:22Z

Time: 13:06

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Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.

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Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan activate Mecca defense pact; Democrats predict House majority; 17 killed in Ethiopia fighting

2026-10-06T13:52:54Z

Members of the Ethiopian pro-government Tigray Peace Force (TPF) inspect an empty Tigray police station abandoned by officers as Ethiopian federal and allied forces enter the Tigray capital, Mekelle, on October 4, 2026. Photo by AFP via Getty Images.

Tuesday, October 6, 2026 –

Yemen: Turkey, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia activate Mecca defense pact, will deploy forces to Gulf kingdom against Houthis. Ansarallah strikes Saudi airport, Aramco refinery. Saudi-backed Yemeni forces claim capture of Mocha as coalition expands attacks on Ansarallah.

Iran: U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent celebrates collective economic punishment of Iranians. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian calls U.S. negotiations “futile.” U.S. President Donald Trump defends removal of U.S. bombers from UK base as seventh suspect arrested. Trump calls higher gas prices a “small price to pay” for war with Iran. Twelve sailors injured in attack on commercial vessel in Strait of Hormuz.

Palestine: Israeli attacks kill three, wound several across Gaza. Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir joins demolition of Jerusalem apartment building as settlers torch Palestinian home, vehicles across the occupied West Bank. UK threatens to expel up to 27 Israeli diplomats over planned closure of East Jerusalem consulate. 111 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza in September.

Lebanon: Israeli airstrikes, artillery and gunfire target southern Lebanon amid “ceasefire.”

U.S.: Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee adds six deep-red districts to “Red to Blue” list, predicts House majority of up to 240 seats. Former President Barack Obama to campaign in Detroit with Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. Soldiers wounded in March Iranian drone strike describe medical failures, red tape, AP reports. Supreme Court opens new term with Boulder climate case against Exxon, Suncor. Trump signs order allowing the use of untaxed off-road diesel on highways. Trump approves firing squad execution for Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan. DOJ seeks to revoke citizenship of 40 naturalized Americans. Border agents raid Arizona protest camp, fell centuries-old cottonwood for Trump’s border wall. Chicago woman shot five times by Border Patrol agent sues federal government. Trump says New York Times, other outlets should be “arrested” over coverage of Ohio rally. Texas pediatricians face investigations from Attorney General and GOP Senate candidate Ken Paxton over childhood vaccinations.

International: Airstrikes, artillery hit northern Ethiopia as fighting continues. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, sworn in for a new term, insists Ethiopia must have Red Sea access. ISIS attack kills Iraqi federal policeman near Kirkuk, first since U.S. withdrawal. Russian bombs kill seven, injure over 60 in Kharkiv, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia. Russia says Ukrainian drones struck Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, killing one. Ukraine blames Russian drones for sinking of grain ship in Romanian waters; two dead. Kuwait revokes citizenship of 415 more people, including billionaire Mahmoud Haider. Former German intelligence chief arrested on suspicion of buying classified documents for foreign spy agency. Police clash with Kosovo protesters over bid to curb Hague war crimes court. Hundreds flee RSF assaults in Sudan’s Blue Nile region. Cuba says it has “channels of communication” with the U.S. but no negotiations, and is preparing to defend itself. Mexico asks the U.S. for evidence of alleged cross-border gunfire at Coast Guard personnel. Parti Québécois wins Quebec election. French teen loses hand in grenade blast as school protest clashes enter third week. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez calls snap election for Nov. 29.

This is Drop Site Daily, our free news recap We send it Monday – Friday

Yemen

Turkey, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia activate Mecca defense pact, will deploy forces to Gulf kingdom against Houthis: Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia agreed Monday to activate “collective deterrence measures: under the Mecca Alliance for Defence after an emergency meeting of their defense and foreign ministers in Riyadh, the first time the pact, agreed to on August 7, has been invoked.
- Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman said the alliance was responding to “the heinous attacks against the Kingdom and holy sites.”
- A separate joint statement published by the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said the three would “provide the agreed military forces and capabilities and ensure their rapid deployment” to Saudi Arabia under approved arrangements.
Ansarallah strikes Saudi airport, Aramco refinery: Ansarallah said it struck King Khalid Airport in Riyadh, disrupting air traffic, and an Aramco refinery in Rabigh, claiming to have set it on fire. It says it also hit Abha Airport, the Khamis Mushait airbase and other sites in Asir, Najran, and Jizan.
- The group warned all airlines to stop flying through Saudi airspace, calling it “a theater for our operations,” with the exception of the airspace over the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
- It said the attacks were retaliation for 60 Saudi airstrikes and a missile on Sanaa, Al-Jawf, Taiz, Hodeidah, Saada, and Marib over 24 hours, which it said killed civilians. It says 1,576 Saudi strikes have hit Yemen since the escalation began.
- Three people were lightly injured and infrastructure damaged in attacks on King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Jazan and Najran International Airport on Monday evening, Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority said.
- Ansarallah military spokesperson Yahya Saree claimed Tuesday the group struck Abha International Airport in Saudi Arabia’s Asir province with a ballistic missile, disrupting air traffic, though Saudi authorities have not confirmed the attack.
Saudi-backed Yemeni forces claim capture of Mocha as coalition expands attacks on Ansarallah: Yemen’s Saudi-backed government forces said Tuesday they had retaken the strategic Red Sea port city of Mocha from Ansarallah following fighting south of the Bab al-Mandab strait, while the Saudi-led coalition announced a naval operation against Ansarallah in Hodeidah.
- The coalition separately said it destroyed a ballistic missile launch platform in Sanaa and a storage facility containing 20 ballistic missiles in Saada.
- Control of Mocha could provide government forces with a staging point for further operations along Yemen’s Red Sea coast, though the situation on the ground remains fluid and competing territorial claims have emerged during recent fighting.
- Saudi-backed forces also claim to control Bab al-Mandab, an airport in Dhubab district and much of southwestern Taiz’s Red Sea coastline, while Ansarallah officials say they repelled some advances and recaptured territory.

Iran

Bessent celebrates collective economic punishment of Iranians: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent celebrated the collapse of Iran’s economy, boasting that “Operation Economic Outcast is delivering results”: the rial at record lows, and zero Iranian crude loaded onto tankers last month.
- “The Iranian regime allows its own people to suffer,” Bessent claimed, as U.S. policies punish ordinary Iranian civilians.
- Nurses and teachers are quitting in large numbers because their salaries no longer cover the cost of living, the New York Times reported Monday.
- And the U.S. blockade and sanctions have cut imports of medicine and pharmaceutical raw materials, pushing prices up and leaving pharmacies short of drugs for serious illnesses, the FT reported. Some medicines have tripled in price.
Pezeshkian calls U.S. negotiations “futile”: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Monday that negotiations with the U.S. had become “futile,” accusing Washington of repeatedly attacking Iran following talks and seeking to bring down the Islamic Republic.
- “Every time we come to the negotiating table, war is immediately imposed upon us,” Pezeshkian said, according to IRNA, adding that the U.S. had attacked Iran three times following negotiations. “This demonstrates that they do not seek dialogue. On the contrary, their goal is to bring down the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Trump defends removal of U.S. bombers from UK base as seventh suspect arrested: President Donald Trump on Monday defended the Pentagon’s decision to remove B-1 bombers from RAF Fairford in the UK following what he described as “some threats,” after previously linking Iran to a security incident near the base.
- “Rather than tempting the enemy … why should we leave them there? So, we moved them around a little bit. Not very far,” Trump said, adding that Washington knows who made the threat and that “they’ve gotten themselves into big problems,” without elaborating.
- UK counterterrorism police separately arrested a 22-year-old British national in Westminster on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts in connection with activity near Fairford, bringing the number of arrests linked to the investigation over the past two weeks to seven.
Trump calls higher gas prices a “small price to pay” for war with Iran: Trump said higher gasoline prices for U.S. consumers were a “small price to pay” for what he described as keeping the U.S. and the world safe, as the war with Iran continues to disrupt energy markets.
- Speaking at a Republican midterm campaign rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, Trump said the price increase caused by the war was “just artificial” and “essentially almost over with,” while repeating that the U.S. would not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.
- “They can take out a city. Let them take out Los Angeles or San Diego. This is a very small price to pay,” Trump said.
- He claimed gasoline prices would fall below $1.85 a gallon in “a very short period of time,” potentially before or shortly after the November 3 midterm elections.
Twelve sailors injured in attack on commercial vessel in Strait of Hormuz: Twelve sailors, including 11 Indian nationals, were injured in an attack on the Panama-flagged commercial vessel MT On Peace off Oman in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, India’s Foreign Ministry said.
- The vessel was carrying 19 crew members, including 17 Indians. The injured sailors were evacuated with assistance from Omani authorities and are receiving treatment in Khasab.

Palestine

Killed and wounded in Gaza: Over the past 24 hours, two Palestinians were killed—one in a new Israeli attack and one due to wounds sustained in an earlier attack—and 35 injured across Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
- The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 is now 74,245 killed, with 175,267 injured. Since October 11, 2025, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 1,462 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 5,151, while 836 bodies have been recovered.
Israeli attacks kill three, wound several across Gaza: An Israeli drone strike near the municipal park in central Gaza City killed one Palestinian and wounded another on Tuesday, while several Palestinians were injured in a strike on Al-Wehda Street in the west of the city, WAFA reported. In Khan Younis, an Israeli attack killed two Palestinians, according to Al Jazeera
- Israeli forces also shot and wounded one person in the Karama neighborhood of northwest Gaza City and another near Bir 19, south of the Mawasi area of Khan Younis.
Ben-Gvir joins demolition of Jerusalem apartment building as settlers torch Palestinian home, vehicles across the occupied West Bank:
- East Jerusalem: Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir joined Israeli forces during the demolition of a five-story residential building in Al-Tur containing 10 apartments and housing about 70 Palestinians, mostly women and children, on Tuesday, according to WAFA.
- Nablus: Israeli bulldozers razed agricultural land and uprooted olive trees in Iraq Burin, while blocking several village roads with earth mounds. In Aqraba, settlers torched four Palestinian vehicles and spray-painted racist slogans.
- Ramallah: Settlers set fire to a home housing a family of five in Burqa, causing extensive damage. The same homeowner, a U.S. citizen, had his vehicle damaged and dozens of his olive trees cut down by settlers about a month earlier.
- Salfit: Settlers attempted to set fire to a poultry structure and spray-painted racist slogans on a livestock farm in Farkha. Israeli forces separately raided Salfit city and detained Nihad Al-Naoura, secretary of Fatah’s Salfit branch.
- Hebron: Israeli forces raided Bani Naim, declared the town a closed military zone, searched several homes and converted three into military posts.
UK threatens to expel up to 27 Israeli diplomats over planned closure of East Jerusalem consulate: The UK threatened to expel one Israeli diplomat for every British diplomat forced out of Israel over Israel’s plan to close the UK consulate in occupied East Jerusalem on Thursday, which could mean as many as 27 expulsions, Ynet reported. The Foreign Office declined to comment on “speculation” rather than denying the report.
- Israel threatened to close the consulate this week, as part of its response to the UK’s ban on trade in goods from illegal West Bank settlements and sanctions on British firms aiding settlement construction.
- The British Foreign Office was reportedly advised by former UK attorney general Dominic Grieve that such an action would be illegal, given that the United Nations and most of its members recognize East Jerusalem as Palestinian territory.
111 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza in September: Israeli forces killed 111 Palestinians in Gaza in September, including 23 children, ten women and four elderly people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry’s monthly report. Israel has killed Palestinians in Gaza every month since the ceasefire began. The deadliest month was July, with 152 killed.

Lebanon

Israeli airstrikes, artillery and gunfire target southern Lebanon amid “ceasefire”: Israeli warplanes carried out strikes on Wadi Al-Salouqi and an area between Bra’shit and Aitaroun in the Bint Jbeil district overnight, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.
- Israeli artillery shelled the outskirts of Hadatha and Bra’shit, while Israeli forces opened machine-gun fire toward Bayt Al-Sayyad and the outskirts of Mansouri.

U.S. News

DCCC adds six deep-red districts to “Red to Blue” list, predicts House majority of up to 240 seats: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added six candidates to its “Red to Blue” list Monday, in districts Trump won by an average of 16 points or more in 2024, signalling that the Democratic Party will allocate extra resources, and perhaps fundraising dollars, to these races.
- The six include:
  - Arkansas’s 2nd, where Democrat Chris Jones faces incumbent Rep. French Hill;
  - Colorado’s 3rd, where Democrat Dwayne Romero faces incumbent Rep. Jeff Hurd;
  - Florida’s 27th, where Eliott Rodriguez faces incumbent Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar;
  - New York’s 21st, where Democrat Blake Gendebien faces Republican Anthony Constantino;
  - Nevada’s 2nd, where Democrat Teresa Benitez-Thompson faces Republican David Flippo;
  - and Tennessee’s 9th, where Democrat Justin J. Pearson faces Republican Brent Taylor.
- DCCC political director Brooke Butler told Politico that “anywhere between 218 and 240 feels very viable” for Democrats’ potential House majority and that more seats could be added, “if gas keeps going and diesel kicks back up.”
Obama to campaign in Detroit with El-Sayed, Benson on Oct. 24: Former President Barack Obama will campaign in Detroit on Saturday, Oct. 24, with Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, gubernatorial nominee Jocelyn Benson and other candidates, the Michigan Democratic Party announced Monday.
- El-Sayed faces Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers in the race to succeed retiring Sen. Gary Peters, while Benson, the secretary of state, faces Republican Rep. John James in the open governor’s race.
- Obama has made few public stops on the trail this year but previously campaigned in Texas with Senate nominee James Talarico and gubernatorial nominee Gina Hinojosa and appeared in a campaign ad with Iowa Senate nominee Josh Turek. He is also set to headline a Washington-area fundraiser Wednesday for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Soldiers wounded in March Iranian drone strike describe medical failures, red tape, AP reports: Nine U.S. service members wounded in the March 1 Iranian drone strike at Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, which killed six troops on the second day of the Iran war, spoke on the record to the Associated Press about what they describe as a medical system that left them fighting for treatment on their own.
- Lt. Col. Arturo Lincón, who suffered shrapnel wounds to his jaw, neck, and spine, including a severed vertebral artery, was sent to barracks and told to seek outpatient appointments after Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany did not admit him. Chief Warrant Officer 4 Rodney Bearman said he and others injured in the attacks were not properly registered as “wounded in combat” due to a coding error. Maj. Stephen Ramsbottom said he waited over four months for MRI results and has “had to build my own case for everything.”
- Lincón, who still has shrapnel near his spinal cord and struggles with dizziness, told the AP that, following the attacks, in which his passport was destroyed, he was issued a temporary substitute and asked to prove his citizenship in the process (he was born in Texas to Mexican parents and graduated from West Point). He was also denied a Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance injury claim.
Supreme Court opens new term with Boulder climate case against Exxon, Suncor: The Supreme Court’s new term began Monday with arguments in Boulder’s lawsuit accusing Exxon Mobil and Suncor Energy of deceiving the public about the harms of fossil fuels. Boulder says it is seeking to recover past and future costs of repairs, emergency services and property damage, not to regulate emissions.
- The companies argue that only the federal government has the power to address something as large as climate change. The Trump administration has sided with them in the case.
- Justice Samuel Alito stepped aside a week before argument, after calls for recusal over his stock in Phillips 66 and ConocoPhillips. A 4-4 tie would leave the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling allowing the suit to proceed in place.
Trump signs order allowing the use of untaxed off-road diesel on highways: President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday temporarily allowing red-dyed diesel, normally reserved for farm and industrial vehicles, to be used on highways while deferring the 24.4-cent-per-gallon federal excise tax for the rest of the year, according to a fact sheet released by the White House.
- Diesel prices have surged from $3.76 a gallon before the war in Iran to a record $6.53 on September 22, according to AAA.
- The change could potentially save truckers roughly $150 per fill-up, according to CNN, though experts noted it does nothing to improve the principal cause of rising fuel prices, a global shortage of working refineries.
Trump approves firing squad execution for Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan: Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell announced Monday on X that War Secretary Pete Hegseth “recommended” and President Trump “approved” death by firing squad for Nidal Malik Hasan, the convicted terrorist who killed 13 people and wounded 32 in the 2009 Fort Hood attack.
- Parnell said the Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution.
- At least 144 civilian prisoners have been executed by shooting since 1608, according to the AP, the most recent being South Carolina’s Brad Sigmon last year, who chose the method over the electric chair and lethal injection.
DOJ seeks to revoke citizenship of 40 naturalized Americans in largest denaturalization push in recent history: The Justice Department is moving to revoke the citizenship of 40 foreign-born Americans it accuses of lying about or omitting criminal histories on their naturalization applications, Attorney General Todd Blanche announced in a press release Monday.
- The government accuses the applicants of having committed crimes including espionage, transporting child pornography, sexual misconduct against a minor, and voluntary manslaughter.
- The cases far exceed the average of 15 a year under previous administrations. DOJ announced that it would target as many as 300 people for possible denaturalization in April.
Border agents raid Arizona protest camp, fell centuries-old cottonwood for Trump’s border wall: More than 50 Customs and Border Protection agents raided an activist camp in Lochiel, Arizona, on Monday, ending a 70-day protest of a potential tree demolition. Following the raid, an excavator knocked down the tree, a 150-to-250-year-old cottonwood, known as the “grandmother tree,” that stood in the path of President Donald Trump’s $46.5 billion border wall expansion.
- Activists told the Washington Post that agents dragged, kicked, and knelt on protesters during a sunrise prayer ceremony, with about 10 arrested and another 10 cited.
Chicago woman shot five times by Border Patrol agent sues federal government: Marimar Martinez, a Chicago woman shot five times by Border Patrol agent Charles Exum, sued the federal government Monday for false arrest and imprisonment, malicious prosecution, emotional distress, and negligence, with her attorneys saying an independent crime scene analysis shows the agent shot her as she turned her car away from him.
- Shortly after the shooting, DHS called Martinez a “domestic terrorist” and charged her, but the charges were later dropped. Exum was later placed on “administrative leave,” the department noted, “consistent with policy.”
- Martinez said she was prepared to let the matter go after charges against her were dropped, until federal agents killed two people in Minneapolis. “What’s happening is not normal,” she added.
Trump says New York Times, other outlets should be “arrested” over coverage of Ohio rally: President Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday that the New York Times and “many other Artificial Media Outlets, should be arrested for their dishonesty and disservice to our Country,” after Times correspondent Katie Rogers reported that “several areas of an upper deck were empty” by the end of his Saturday rally at Butler High School in Vandalia, Ohio. Trump disputed the paper’s claims about attendance, saying that the arena was “totally MAXED OUT” and claiming thousands were turned away at the doors.
Texas pediatricians face Paxton investigations over childhood vaccinations: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican U.S. Senate nominee, launched a statewide investigation accusing doctors, drug companies and insurers of conspiring to push parents into vaccinating children, with a New York Times report on Monday highlighting the case of “Dr. Rachel,” a central Texas pediatrician of 20 years who says responding to that investigation has cost her nearly $15,000 in legal fees and prompted her to reconsider her career.
- A December letter from the AG’s office demanded 10 years of vaccine purchase records and her practice’s vaccine policy, and said citing the CDC schedule would not suffice. In August, Paxton opened a separate probe of the American Academy of Pediatrics for “deceptively promoting childhood vaccines for financial gain.” Pediatricians reject the profit motive as ludicrous, noting they pay for vaccines upfront and that nearly half of children’s vaccines are covered by the federal Vaccines for Children program.
- Texas kindergarten measles and polio vaccine coverage has fallen to about 93 percent from nearly 97 percent in 2019.

📥 Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email DC Correspondent Julian Andreone at Julian@dropsitenews.com

Other International News

Airstrikes, artillery hit northern Ethiopia as fighting continues after fall of Mekelle: Airstrikes killed at least 17 people overnight into Monday in Tigray, nine in Adwa, and eight in Sheraro, according to a humanitarian bulletin cited by Reuters, which could not confirm the reports or who launched the strikes. Government forces and fighters loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front also exchanged heavy artillery fire near the Tekeze River close to Mai Tsebri on Monday.
- In Mekelle, which Tigrayan forces left without a fight, residents said that shops were reopening and that phone and internet access was returning after a week-long disruption.
Abiy, sworn in for a new term, insists Ethiopia must have Red Sea access: Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed told Parliament Monday, as he was sworn in for another five-year term, that Ethiopia will work to secure a Red Sea port, saying “based on the principle of give and take, we will work diligently to ensure that Ethiopia has an outlet to the sea” and calling access critical to the country’s “civilization.”
- His remarks came a day after Egypt, Eritrea, Sudan, and Somalia met in New Alamein and declared that governance of the Red Sea is the “exclusive responsibility” of the region’s coastal states. Eritrea has accused Ethiopia of seeking to reassert control over its coast, which it lost when Eritrea gained its independence from Ethiopia in 1993.
ISIS attack kills Iraqi federal policeman near Kirkuk, first since U.S. withdrawal: At least one Iraqi federal policeman was killed and four wounded Monday when Islamic State militants attacked a federal police regiment near Hawija, about 70 km southwest of Kirkuk, using semi-automatic machine guns and sniper fire, two security sources told Reuters. No group has claimed responsibility, but security and army sources said ISIS militants, who retain sleeper cells in the area, were involved.
- It is the first reported ISIS assault on Iraqi security forces since the U.S. completed its military withdrawal from Iraq on Sept. 30.
Russian bombs kill seven, injure over 60 in Kharkiv, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia: Three Russian bombs struck different areas of the northeastern Ukrainian city Kharkiv on Monday, killing six people and injuring 59, according to regional governor Oleh Syniehubov. Three of those injured in Monday’s attacks on Kharkiv were children.
- Elsewhere on Monday, a Russian drone hit an apartment building in Zaporizhzhia, injuring three people who were trapped on the ninth floor, according to that region’s governor.
- Russian airstrikes also killed one person in Sloviansk in the Donetsk region.
Russia says Ukrainian drones struck Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, killing one: Ukrainian drones struck a laboratory building and a radioactive waste processing facility at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant overnight on Monday, killing a driver delivering food to plant workers, according to Alexei Likhachev, head of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom, who said there was no threat to nuclear safety.
Ukraine blames Russian drones for sinking of grain ship in Romanian waters; two dead: Romania’s Interior Ministry said two people were killed and 11 rescued after a grain ship caught fire and sank Monday in Romania’s exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea; the ministry did not identify the cause of the fire. Azerbaijani and Indian nationals were reportedly aboard.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blamed Russia for the fire, condemning in a Monday post on X the “horrific strike by two Russian drones on a civilian vessel in neutral waters carrying corn and owned by Turkiye.”
Kuwait revokes citizenship of 415 more people, including billionaire Mahmoud Haider: Kuwait issued six decrees published in its official gazette stripping 415 people of citizenship, including billionaire businessman Mahmoud Haider, along with dependents who obtained nationality through those whose citizenship was revoked.
- The Gulf state announced a citizenship review campaign in 2024, targeting fraudulent claims, including those involving individuals reporting dual nationality or those who acquired it through marriage. It has expanded this year to politicians, footballers, and musicians, including 1982 World Cup goalkeeper Ahmed al-Tarabulsi and singer Abdulmohsen Al Muhanna. Rights groups estimate at least 50,000 people have lost citizenship since 2024.
Former German intelligence chief arrested on suspicion of buying classified documents for foreign spy agency: Former Federal Intelligence Service chief August Hanning was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of paying a former office manager at the agency for roughly 2,000 documents, including classified material and senior intelligence briefings prepared for the chancellery, and using them to draft an analysis for an officer of an unnamed foreign intelligence service, according to German federal prosecutors.
- Prosecutors allege the arrangement began in 2010, five years after Hanning left the agency, and that he also shared political information with a representative of a second foreign intelligence service. The office manager, identified only as Manfred D., was also arrested.
- The case does not involve Russia, according to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Police clash with Kosovo protesters over bid to curb Hague war crimes court: Police used tear gas and water cannons Monday evening against several hundred protesters, including veterans and supporters of the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army, outside Parliament in Pristina after lawmakers adjourned without passing amendments limiting the powers of the controversial Kosovo Specialist Chambers court. Twelve people were injured, including 11 civilians, according to a Pristina hospital emergency director.
- The amendments, which passed a first reading earlier Monday, would cap the court’s sentences at 15 years, allow these to be served in Kosovo and permit appeals to Kosovo’s Supreme Court. They were forwarded by the opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) and halted by Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s governing Vetevendosje party.
- The court remains controversial in Kosovo, where the KLA, which the court was created to prosecute, is held in high esteem by many in the country’s Albanian population after its fight against the Serbian-dominated Yugoslav government during Kosovo’s 1998-1999 war.
Hundreds flee RSF assaults in Sudan’s Blue Nile region: Hundreds of residents have fled the localities of Jabal Al-Nimr and Minza in Sudan’s southeastern Blue Nile region after recent Rapid Support Forces attacks, the region’s Humanitarian Aid Commission said on Monday. Most are heading toward the town of Al-Azaza and a settlement known as Village 6, raising concerns over civilian protection and shortages of essential supplies.
Cuba says it has “channels of communication” with the U.S. but no negotiations, and is preparing to defend itself: Cuba’s chargé d’affaires in Washington, Lianys Torres Rivera, told Reuters on Monday that Havana and Washington maintain “channels of communication”—including meetings, phone calls, and WhatsApp messages—but are not in formal negotiations and have made no progress toward restarting official talks.
- Rivera’s remarks contradict President Donald Trump’s claim last month at the UN that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was “deep into negotiations” with Havana.
- Torres Rivera said Cuba remains open to “respectful” dialogue with the U.S. but is “not naive” about Trump’s threats and is expanding its defense preparations, saying “we are increasing our capabilities now more than ever before.”
- She also noted that Cuba’s “red line” remains changes to its political system.
Mexico asks U.S. for evidence of alleged cross-border gunfire at Coast Guard personnel: Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday her government has requested evidence from U.S. authorities about allegations that shots were fired from the Mexican side of the border at U.S. personnel, saying “we asked for all the evidence because we have no evidence” and that no National Guard, Army, or Navy personnel detected shots fired from Mexican territory toward the U.S.
- The comments came a day after U.S. Ambassador Ronald Johnson said on X that “shots were fired at U.S. Coast Guard personnel” in an area where Tamaulipas meets Texas.
- The incident follows Mexico’s announcement of “Operation Mirror” on Sunday evening, a joint border security effort deploying 500 troops, helicopters, drones and anti-drone equipment along the frontier. Despite deepening security collaboration, Sheinbaum has repeatedly denied that her government would allow a U.S. military intervention on Mexican soil.
Parti Québécois wins Quebec election, complicating Carney’s unity push against Trump: The separatist party Parti Québécois, led by Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, won Quebec’s election Monday, according to early projections from public broadcaster Radio-Canada, though it remains too early to say whether the party secured a majority in the province’s legislature.
- The result, widely expected before the vote, will jettison the center-right Coalition Avenir Québec government, which has been in office since 2018.
- St-Pierre Plamondon has promised a referendum on leaving Canada, but only once Trump is out of the White House. Previous independence referendums failed in 1980 and 1995, and current polling puts support for a separation at around 30 percent.
- St-Pierre Plamondon pledged to work with Carney when it suits the province’s interests; his party notably diverges from Ottawa in its calls to reduce immigration, cut Quebec’s ties to the British monarchy, and efforts to block a proposed Quebec-Ontario high-speed rail line.
French teen loses hand in grenade blast as school protest clashes enter third week: A 15-year-old boy lost a hand Monday near a high school in Lens after an explosion that unverified police reports said involved a stun grenade. He is hospitalized in Lille, and his life is not in danger, according to Pas-de-Calais’s regional prefect.
- Police internal affairs is now handling six investigations into serious injuries during the protests; the country’s Education Minister, Edouard Geffray, said Monday that 190 students have been injured since the unrest began. His ministry also noted that 589 schools were disrupted Monday, down from 735 Friday, and about 5,000 people, mostly teenagers, have been arrested since Sept. 28.
- Amnesty International France criticized the government’s use of “disproportionate force” against minors during the weeks-long protests.
Spain’s Sánchez calls snap election for Nov. 29 after Parliament rejects housing relief measures: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced in a televised address on Monday that Spain will hold a general election on Nov. 29, after Parliament rejected housing relief measures proposed by his minority government.
- The announcement follows weeks of nationwide housing protests, including a Saturday demonstration in Madrid that the government said drew more than 70,000 people, motivated in part by the televised eviction of an 87-year-old woman in Madrid. Average rents in Spain have nearly doubled over the past decade, according to data from the Spanish real estate firm Idealista.
- The conservative People’s Party, led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo and backed by the far-right Vox party, appears poised to win in November, according to early polling. If it does, it would become the first far-right party to control the country’s central government since the death of fascist dictator Francisco Franco in 1975. Sánchez has never won an outright majority but has held power for eight years across three terms.

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The Gaza genocide permanently diminished the power of pro-Israel propaganda

2026-10-06T13:30:00Z

Since October 7 and the Gaza genocide, U.S. opinions on Israel and Palestine have drastically shifted. The power of Zionist propaganda has been permanently weakened, and the U.S.-Israel relationship is in a more precarious position than ever before.

After three years of genocide, Gaza’s olive harvest is going extinct

2026-10-06T13:00:00Z

The Israeli army has bulldozed over 1.6 million olive trees in Gaza since the beginning of the genocide in 2023, threatening the livelihood and heritage of olive farming communities, and the survival of a centuries-old Palestinian cultural tradition.

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan activate Mecca Pact amid war with Houthis

2026-10-06T12:54:58Z

Time: 0:37

Turkey and Pakistan said they will undertake a "rapid deployment" of troops to Saudi Arabia as part of their new mutual defence alliance, the Mecca Pact.

The move comes after representatives of the three countries held an emergency meeting in Riyadh, amid continued Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and increased fighting between the Houthis and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces along Yemen’s Red Sea coast.

94-year-old human rights lawyer recounts arrest by UK police

2026-10-06T12:26:58Z

Time: 2:32

In an interview with Middle East Eye, Margaret Owen, a 94-year-old human rights lawyer, recounts how police arrested her outside the Labour Party conference in Liverpool for holding a sign expressing support for proscribed group Palestine Action.

“We were all sitting there very quietly, writing our labels … And the police were running or going around with cameras at random, photographing us all. And then they began to take people … And then they came to me,” she says.

Owen also saluted foreign secretary Ed Miliband’s “huge courage” for imposing a ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements and recognising the illegal occupation of Palestine, but reproached him for not “saying it was a genocide” nor banning the sale of all arms to Israel.

Trump says Iran taking LA or San Diego a ‘small price to pay’ for global safety

2026-10-06T11:56:01Z

Time: 0:35

Speaking at a rally in Grand Island, Nebraska on Monday evening, US President Donald Trump said high gas prices were a “small price to pay for keeping the world safe”, suggesting that he would let Iran “take” US cities like Los Angeles and San Diego.

“Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego. That’s a very small price to pay, and it’s going to be over with very soon,” he said.

It Doesn’t Matter How Much Oil Gets Through The Strait

2026-10-06T11:51:06Z

The White Empire is squeezing oil out of dire straits, but at what cost? As Matt Burnell says, "You could be getting 100% of the pre-war flow out of the Persian Gulf and it could not possibly matter less for the price of crude because as long as ships are consistently getting hit, the baked in cost to move that oil is going to be astronomical."

So forget the bullshitting, the cost of shipping is ≈ 40% more on freight and insurance alone. That's before accounting for troll tolls and 'unplanned capital depreciation' via explosion. That 40% is just table stakes, the other part is you need a new table. Shippers are paying at least $40 on top of a $100 barrel to still get their shit blown up, when they could just pay $1 to Iran and... not. What do you think is sustainable? How do you think this plays out?

The White Equation

Screenshot of a webpage I can't access from Poten Tanker Opinion

When we talk about cost, it is important to account for it correctly, that is, twice. Double-entry book-keeping is the double helix of corporations, it is their DNA, it's how they work. So when you read the news, remember that every debit has a credit, and every cost is someone else's profit center. Looking at it this way, it's not like 'boohoo, costs went up 1,000%', it's 'woo-hoo, revenue went up 1,000%'. You have to look at things this way (seeing double), because that's how corporations do (the voodoo, they do do, so well).

When you see the news meant for human rubes, you have to read it backwards, remember this. If the news says 'costs went up' read it as 'revenue went up' and you'll get the jist. Thus, while human populations are being reduced to wearing a barrel, corporations sold us the barrel and take everything else, to rent back to us with interest. They're making money six-fingered hand-over-fist. War is a racket, as some dude said, and the White Empire are racketeers par excellence.

Someone is making at least 40% more on each bloody barrel sold, more on the blood spilt to lubricate it. Someone (something, really) gets to recapitalize the destroyed capital, and speculators can make 4,000% just vibing with the President. American oil companies profit from higher prices, Greek shipping companies profit from higher freight, and London insurers profit from higher rates. And stock-jobbing swindlers make money on the volatility. The nationalities of these corporations are irrelevant, it's all one White Empire ruled by Corporate AI and has been since 1602 at least.

An Important Digression You Can Skip

For background, we have been ruled be an evil White Empire for over 500 years and it hides in the background, like the white of this page. Since at least the first IPO in 1602, the White Empire has ruled by bloodless Corporate AI given continents to devour (there is little point debating the intelligence of a tiger when you're in its mouth). This Corporate AI has divided (and conquered) humans into White and non-White to multiply their profit margins across a planetary energy gradient (Whites are naturally solar poor, hence the pastiness).

Viewed this way – bloodlessly, with only double-entry as DNA – what are all the loses we bemoan in the news? Nothing. All that matters is the profit rate, which is going great. Given the racism inherent in White Empire (nothing personal, strictly business), they give negative shits about Slavs killing Slavs or Semites killing Semites. Slavs and Arabs are beneath human to them, so nothing lost and much gained. It's not blood for oil as much as blood AND oil, ie two cakes. And they don't care about 'White' citizens either, as they periodically blow the whole world up in what they call World Wars™ when it affects White people. I argue that we've been in World War III since 2001 if you're not racist about it.

When feeding on colonial possessions cannot satisify the profit, ie metabolic rate of Corporate AI, it starts the most capital intensive and expensive racket there is. Industrial warfare. Which is what's happening. Remember that every second and third order cost (petrol/diesel, food/everything) is a profit for some corporation. In the face of the declining rate of profit, there's always war, to make it incline quite vertically. Which is happening in so many graphs we've seen.

It's all there in the double-entry accounting. They're not complaining in the press about costs going up. They're bragging. Just follow the money, which is the only ideology these cruel algorithms have. As Frank Zappa said, politics is just the marketing department of the military-industrial complex.

Once you see things this way, not like a state but like a corporate, you can see the play. The White Empire does not care about press-ganging and killing Ukrainian men or blowing up West Asian infrastructure to get there. The ruling class is not human at all, they just have human spokespeople replaced like so many wheels and spokes. Human 'losses' do not even register on their books, they live and die by the market, and the market's on coke. If the slaves or energy slaves (oil) die or fall overboard, who cares? They're not inhuman, they just not human at all.

Dutch Shell doesn't care about dead people any more than the Dutch VoC did. They follow no prophet but profit and that's going gang-busters. Yes it's killing the host, but who cares? From Amsterdam to London to Washington, the corporations have always found a new host. They won't this time (inshallah), but how would they know that? They're just algorithms. If it ain't broke, go for broke.

OK, Let's Jump Back In There

Understood this way, with crazy AI already running the place, things start to make a bit more sense, don't they? I'll repeat it because few say it, the White Empire is causing this crisis, not trying to solve it in any way. The Empire blew up the Nordstream pipeline and is attacking Russian oil infrastructure, they're taking that supply offline on purpose. That's not Ukraine, Ukraine is not a real country. Then they attacked Iran and double-blockaded the Strait of Hormuz themselves, without even bothering to go through 'Israel' (also a fake country). The point of a system is what it does, and what the White Empire is doing is a classic white mafia (PE) play, known as a bust-out in the less-white mafia.

In a bust-out (or leveraged buyout), you take over a restaurant or shop, run up bills on the joint's credit, and then light a match and collect the insurance money. Which is precisely what they're doing with the petrodollar. They are not losing money, no no, flip the accounts and see. Don't make the mistake of identifying the USA as a human government (never has been, literally enslaved people) and not just the latest host of Corporate AI devouring continents since the 1500s at least. They are making money hand over six-fingered fist and simply do not give a shit. All the news about this being bad is one more grift. They're loving it.

Now That You're Insane, Maybe Things Make Sense

Viewed this way, let's look at the oil prices above, which people are wringing human hands over fruitlessly. Oil was $60 a barrel before the Iran War (sorry, but American War hardly narrows it down). This is stupid but these prices are stupid, let's napking it out. If we add 40% in direct costs, that'd give us an expected price of $84. And indeed, that's the roughly the price of WTI ($89). But wait, WTI stands for West Texas, which is in pre-genocided America and which should be immune to this. Wrong, wrong. Oil is a literally liquid commodity, so it rises to match.

Take price plus 40% as the base rate, without the other costs of actually moving a barrel of Oman. For example, rumors and indeed reports abound that shippers are paying a troll toll to Iran under the table. Kpler is a bit of an op, but their head of policy Michelle Brohard said as much. She estimated that shippers were tipping Iran 10-20% so they wouldn't tip shit over. It's funny because this is more than they'd pay if America just left everything alone.

Some lady from Kpler, which is a bit of an op, nonetheless saying that Iran is getting paid for transits anyways

This is backed up by a US Treasury press release (via Brett Erickson) saying they're sanctioning some bank because, "Since June of this year, OFAC-designated Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority has used BitBank to transfer payments it received to the Iranian regime." But sanction one bank another one will just appear, either pay the troll toll or pay more to play whack-a-mole, that's the game. Factoring these added costs in, as much as these dumb markets can process information, DME Oman is trading at $112.

This is still low because, as the hero of Batman, Bain, says while capping a CIA agent, the fire rises. Because for the ships that don't pay the troll toll, there's the troll.

The Empire keeps trying to push its vassals through the strait, and Iran keeps sending them back or otherwise waylays them. The Empire gets some squeakers through, sure, but who knows if those paid Iran anyways? Meanwhile, other ships get blown up on the daily, which is not a sustainable. These ships cost millions if not jabillions of dollars and take years to fix or replace. And on the ground, where it's just hanging around, oil infrastructure is hit on the weekly. When they fix it it just gets hit again (shout-out Yemen).

There isn't much to say for the idiot Gulf Apostates. They're like the ruler that asked the sage Vishvamitra to get to heaven early, but Indra kicked him out immediately. Then the king fell back to earth, except upside down, and Vish asked what are you doing here? and sent him back up again. Vish kept pinging the hapless king back and forth, upside down, until the dude cried out for what he had before, just a normal life on earth, right side up. But he never got it. By some accounts he's in his own upside down heaven now, but for our purposes on earth, he's just gone. This is what the Whites are doing to the hapless Arab rulers, anon.

As the CEO of the Arab American Oil Company (Aramco) recently said, "with precious little else the world can turn to, the supply resilience cushion is scarily thin." Amin Nasser said his master's Brent (UK North Sea crude) could have reached $200 per barrel without the Saudi East-West pipeline. But that was blown up once and is getting blown up again. I don't know why people whose job it is to analyze things professional go along with this charade but I suppose, like Upton Sinclair said, that's it's difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on him not understanding it.

The Aramcomprador did acknowledge that, "until Hormuz fully reopens and confidence returns, the crude reality is that pressure at both ends of the barrel will intensify. While the squeeze on crude is serious, refined fuel prices have risen even more sharply." But when and how does that reopen, and what does that mean?

Resolution

The resolution to this problem is very simple. America just leaves. Everybody pays Iran $1 a barrel, which is nothing, and the region proceeds. Iran has said either everyone can sell oil or no one can sell oil, which is reasonable, and that neighbors should work things out with each other, which is just neighborly. This is the position of Yemen, of Iran, of Russia, and of China. Nothing unites them ideologically except sovereignity, which is of course the one thing an empire cannot tolerate, especially a White supremacist one. So it pits neighbor against neighbor, to rule over a ruin. That's what's happening across West Asia (up to the Ukraine) and what they'd like to do to East Asia, with the islands they hold in chains. At this point you have to conclude that the White Empire is the problem because if you remove them the problem disappears.

So that is what we're waiting for. Not for peace talks with warmongers or negotiations with the nedogovorosposobnost. There is no negotiating with these people, they're not even people. Americans are just genocidal oil-thieves from the other side of the world and that's all they're trying to do in West Asia, just a century late and a petrodollar short. The Empire tried to rip Iran and Russia's oil trade off, with the result, as Bain predicted, being "extremely painful... for you." The pressure is building, and Asians are used to suffering. The rest of the world, led by West Asia, are simply waiting for the pressure to build until the wheels fall of the imperial war machine, the Yankees go home, and their final horcrux 'Israel' falls. And the pressure is building.

If you want another graph of things going up and to the right, these are Suezmax (big-ass ship) transit rates not through Hormuz but going anywhere at all. Lloyd's List, not typically known for being hyperbolic, says "Suezmax rates have gone parabolic over the past three days, mirroring the near-vertical trajectory of VLCC rates in mid-September."

Numerous shipping agents are waxing elegiac, with Sparta Commodities saying, "Atlantic freight is repricing violently on real tightness," and Fearnley Securities saying, "Available tonnage is seemingly vacuumed off position lists the second it is marketed." Lloyd's ties it up saying, "Tanker shipping’s “Overton window” — the window of thinkable possibilities — now has an extra zero, at $1m per day." Shipping guys don't usually talk like this, as Jorgen Lian, shipping analyst at DNB Carnegie said, "Our imagination is obviously not imaginative enough, because we’ve been lagging the reality by far." Shipping is, for the global economy, everything, and while the corporations are making record profits, the human world is in deep ship.

But again and again, this is all intentional, insomuch as algorithms incarnated as corporations have intentions. They are driving up the profit rate and destroying capital stocks like they have done in every World War before. And the only way this ends is not negotiation, we already passed our Versailles moment, where Trump signed the dead-letter MOU. This ends with the collapse of the simulation they reverently call 'the economy' which is coming, as the GZA said, immediately if not soon.

OK, actually how though

Smotrich says Israel’s ‘thorough cleansing’ in southern Lebanon ‘unprecedented’

2026-10-06T07:39:45Z

Time: 0:23

"The thorough cleansing—above and below ground—that we are doing now in Southern Lebanon, deep inside, is unprecedented."

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said that the "thorough cleansing" Israel is doing in southern Lebanon is "unprecedented".

Smotrich emphasised that "there's no going back" and that the world is not stopping Israel.

Father of man killed by Israeli fire during 7 October confronts Netanyahu at state memorial ceremony

2026-10-06T05:35:47Z

Time: 0:26

Yaakov Godo, the father of Tom Godo, interrupted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling him a “disgrace” as he delivered a speech marking the third anniversary of 7 October.

Tom Godo was killed by Israeli military gunfire after the Hannibal Directive was invoked while sheltering in his home at Kibbutz Kissufim with his wife and three daughters.

What the NY Times isn’t saying about the Cornell rape scandal

2026-10-06T04:21:56Z

Below is a screenshot from The New York Times a few days ago with blanket coverage of the 2024 Cornell gang rape. The Times has devoted an enormous amount of resources to cover the story from every angle: How seven Cornell fraternity brothers allegedly participated in the gang rape of “Jane Doe” while she was drugged on ketamine, the failure of the local prosecutor to bring charges against the men, the fallout for New York state politicians, Cornell University’s response that resulted in slap-on-the-wrist punishments for some of the accused, and even the impact on student nightlife.

Amid the wall-to-wall coverage, there is one story the NY Times doesn’t see fit to print. In 2024 Cornell students peacefully protesting the genocide of Gaza were punished far more harshly than the seven fraternity brothers who committed violent sexual assault.

It seems worth noting that two frat boys were punished with writing exercises even though they were on a Snapchat thread stating “Free pussy” as the rape was happening while among those supporting the “Free Palestine” movement at Cornell were two international students who subsequently fled overseas rather than be imprisoned in an ICE gulag but then were told by Cornell University they must return to the U.S. and face ICE imprisonment or their graduate-student funding would be cut off.

But the Times has yet to note it.

This is to be expected, of course. The New York Times took the lead in amplifying Israel’s October 7 rape hoax with its notorious “Screams Without Words” report in December 2023. The Oct. 7 rape hoax was a primary justification for the genocide of Gaza, serving the same purpose as rape hoaxes that led to the pogroms in Tulsa, Rosewood, and the murder of Emmett Till.

I explained how “top US and Israeli officials spread fake rape claims to provide cover for genocide, demonise all Palestinians, convince Israeli society that the brutal war is justified, and … weaponized the #MeToo movement, anti-Semitism and rape denialism to shut down criticism and demands for evidence.”

Remember this when you read the Times selective outrage about Cornell. All the corporate media spread the Oct. 7 rape hoax — as did left media like The Nation. The Times and corporate media outlets also buried credible evidence that Israel was committing systematic sexual violence against Palestinian women and children long before it became undeniable with the horrific Sde Teiman rapes in the “living hell” that is Israel’s “network of torture camps.”

Israel’s use of sexual violence against Palestinian women, girls, men, and boys is baked into its founding. In 1948 Zionist terrorists carried out a campaign of rape, and founding Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion “openly discussed the rape and sexual torture of Palestinian women in his diary entries during 1948.”

The Times can publish 1,000 articles about the Cornell gang rape but they will never explain how sexual violence and rape is central to Western power. When it comes to ruling-class responsibility, it’s not just men. Political figures like Jeanne Kirkpatrick, Condoleezza Rice, Madeleine Albright, Hillary Clinton, Samantha Power, and Linda-Thomas Greenfield all enthusiastically supported U.S.-backed conflicts where sexual violence was rampant.

It is positive that this one atrocity at Cornell has come to light. But do not expect the intellectual supporters of genocide at The New York Times to explain the systematic nature of rape by oligarchs nor their impunity.

Never forget that the Times excels at selective memory and outrage in service of colonial plunder, violence, and rape.

Fidan says Mecca alliance discussed what support to provide Saudi with against Houthis

2026-10-06T00:49:34Z

Time: 0:29

Turkey's foreign minister Hakan Fidan, stated that following high level talks with his Saudi and Pakistani counterparts in Riyadh, the three countries discussed "what could be done to resolve the [Houthi] problem through peaceful means and dialogue."

Fidan specified that they also convened on how to provide specifically defence support to Saudi Arabia, which has been re-engaged in the conflict with Yemen's Houthis for over two months.

How To Fight in the Face of Tragedy (w/ Chris Hedges)

2026-10-05T22:38:01Z

Time: 9:06

Full livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT-7shUM-LM&t=2409s

Support my independent journalism at Substack: https://chrishedges.substack.com/

Follow The Chris Hedges Report on social media: https://linktr.ee/chrishedges

Rees-Mogg says he supports the mass-murder of children – and liberals fawn over him

2026-10-05T21:38:12Z

It has been salutary listening to liberals fawn over Britain’s ultimate rightwing nationalist toff, Jacob Rees-Mogg, claiming that in an interview at the weekend he “schooled” Tucker Carlson, the United States’ ultimate rightwing nationalist WASP.

LBC’s James O’Brien, a diehard Remainer, was giddy with excitement over the confrontation. Apparently the Eton-educated, Brexit-cheerleading peer made a fool of Carlson during their hour-long conversation.

But what exactly was Carlson schooled on?

Actually of the two, Rees-Mogg sounded by far the more extreme. Which, I admit, is saying something.

His reasoning was also riddled with contradictions and inconsistencies.

All of this is being intentionally obscured by the establishment media, in both its rightwing and liberal flavours. They want to focus instead on a brief section in which Carlson, a strict isolationist, expresses doubts about whether the UK had a national interest in fighting Nazi Germany.

If that sounds unhinged, wait till you hear what Rees-Mogg has to say in response.

1. Throughout the interview, Rees-Mogg struggles to articulate what meaningful threat he believes Russia poses to the UK. Nonetheless, he is certain that Britain needs to spend far more taxpayers’ money on arming the UK against that threat. He calls for even deeper austerity cuts, stripping out the last vestiges of social spending.

He, of course, wants that money redirected to western weapons industries that have a vested interest in continuing to provoke Russia, China and Iran into forever wars that enrich shareholders. Is it possible Lord Rees-Mogg may be just such a shareholder?

2. Astonishingly, Rees-Mogg maintains that it was “unquestionably” justified for the US to use an atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, murdering hundreds of thousands of civilians.

He rationalises his position, as many people do, by claiming that this horrifying act of mass murder helped to hasten the end of the Second World War and thereby, overall, saved lives – a view that a diminishing number of scholars still support.

It seems far more likely the explosion of two atomic bombs was intended as a decisive demonstration of US military might, at the moment it was formally taking on the mantle of empire from Britain, against an emerging rival in the shape of the Soviet Union.

Notice too that Rees-Mogg thinks it was legitimate for the US to mass-murder Japanese civilians in 1945 in its geopolitical interests: as a method to speed up the end of the Second World War. But he absolutely rejects Moscow’s right to use a nuclear bomb against Ukraine in its geopolitical interests. Instead he urges Nato to continue provoking Russia into greater militarism by helping Ukraine to bleed its neighbour on the battlefield.

Might Russia not reasonably think, employing Rees-Mogg’s logic, that the use of a nuclear missile would similarly hasten the end of the West’s proxy war in Ukraine and thereby, overall, save lives?

3. Rees-Mogg and Carlson clash over the issue of murdering children and using nuclear bombs against civilians. Rees-Mogg is in favour of massacring civilians in any situation he deems to be “total war”, a concept he appears unable to define, while Carlson is strictly against killing innocents.

But, it seems, Carlson is the extremist.

Notice here that Rees-Mogg’s argument implicitly launders recent rationalisations by western establishments for supporting Israel as it has carried out the genocidal slaughter of Palestinian children in Gaza.

4. Rees-Mogg is deeply opposed to placing restraints on the behaviour of the nation state. This is why, he says, he supports Nato – because it is what he calls a “voluntary” supra-national body. He contrasts Nato with other international institutions like the European Union and the International Criminal Court (ICC), both of which he seems to oppose. The ICC is the main international body for determining and upholding international law.

If you side with Rees-Mogg on this point, you effectively favour a return to the law of the jungle, where big states can beat up on small states. Which is strange because Rees-Mogg spends most of the interview being indignant that a nuclear-armed big state, Russia, has got away with invading a weaker neighbour, Ukraine.

5. Carlson points to an obvious contradiction in Rees-Mogg’s position. The British peer declares sovereignty to be the supreme moral purpose of the nation state, but is then satisfied for the UK to serve as a US vassal state, obediently taking orders from Washington.

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Carlson presents the UK as an occupied territory under the thumb of the US and its military since 1945. Anyone not in thrall to our establishment political and media class might suspect he has a point.

6. Carlson makes the reasonable observation that – despite Rees-Mogg endlessly justifying the killing fields in Ukraine on the basis that Ukrainian national sovereignty must be protected at all costs, even if it results in nuclear confrontation – the US is, in fact, no more interested in protecting Ukrainian national sovereignty than Russia is.

Both want it to see Ukraine turned into a vassal state: the US expressly to repurpose it as an offensive forward base for Nato on Russia’s doorstep; and Moscow to prevent just such a development and secure what it regards as its back yard (in the same way that Washington regards Central and Latin America as its back yard).

7. Carlson points out that the UK and Rees-Mogg’s support for intensifying the proxy war in Ukraine – supposedly as a deterrence against any supposed expansionist ambitions from Russia – makes little sense. Endlessly upping the military stakes for Russia in Ukraine, and helping Kyiv to take the war directly into Russian territory, is simply driving Moscow into using more force.

Russia has both hypersonic and nuclear weapons that can quickly defeat Kyiv if it chooses to use them. The West would have no meaningful response – apart from using its own nuclear weapons.

If Nato keeps pushing Moscow into a corner – and continues blocking any kind of negotiation that might lead towards a deal, as it has done from the outset of the invasion – Russia is likely to take the war to “another level”, as Rees-Mogg calls it.

The logic of the West’s position is ultimately towards nuclear confrontation. And there is something profoundly dishonest, as Carlson keeps pointing out in their interview, in refusing to acknowledge that fact. Nato is lighting a box of matches right next to a fuse connected to a nuclear bomb.

Carlson keeps pointing to this elephant in the room, while Rees-Mogg (and western liberals behind him) keep desperately trying to ignore it.

What went wrong in the Cornell rape case?

2026-10-05T21:02:50Z

Time: 2:00

The Cornell rape case is part of a broader pattern of "investigators, police officers and even prosecutors deciding at the outset that the allegations are not worth pursuing, and dismissing the case before any kind of investigation gets off the ground," says law professor Deborah Tuerkheimer.