A Christmas Gift To The War Machine

by Ron Paul

Late last week, Congress passed and President Trump signed the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The bill marks the first time the US military budget officially passed the one trillion dollar mark. Of course, when you add in other military-related spending such as interest on the debt, veterans’ affairs, and military components of other government agencies, the true number is at least one and a half times that amount.

To paraphrase the famous 1953 President Eisenhower speech, "The Chance for Peace," each of these dollars spent on military offense and the maintenance of the US global empire rather than on defense of our own nation is taken from the mouths of the hungry and off the backs of hardworking American families.

Congress is so addicted to military spending that they appropriated even more money than President Trump requested, including an unconscionable $800 million for thoroughly corrupt Ukraine. Will Washington ever be called to answer for why Americans, who are seeing their standard of living eaten away by inflation and a declining economy, should continue to subsidize a criminal regime overseas whose ruling class enjoys the comfort of golden toilets?

The Ukraine money also undermines President Trump’s claim to be a neutral mediator in the conflict. How can you be a peacemaker when you are sending nearly a billion dollars in weapons to one side to help kill the other side? It makes no sense.

Congress even included measures in the bill that would prevent President Trump from bringing any US troops home from real “forever wars” in Korea and Europe. For how many more decades must the American worker continue to subsidize a US military presence in countries completely unrelated to our own security? World War II ended 80 years ago and the Korean war some ten years later. Yet the American military empire remains, at an incalculable cost to Americans.

Some fellow critics will say this is all about welfare for rich countries overseas, and that’s partly right. But more than that, it is welfare for the politically-connected US military-industrial complex at home. Imagine how many retired US military officers and former US officials-turned-lobbyists might be financially inconvenienced if we finally "just marched home"?

This week Western Christians will celebrate the coming of the Prince of Peace, with the Orthodox celebrating a few days later. It is disheartening that so many Americans who call themselves Christians also hold fast to a view that we must bankrupt our country and impoverish our people by playing policeman to the world and arbiter of whose regime must be changed by Washington.

Christians are among the biggest victims in these overseas operations, including in Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza. Yet many American Christians turn a blind eye to the suffering and misery produced by neocon-led militarism overseas. They don't care that unquestioning support for Israel, for example, has nearly erased Christianity from where it was born.

Imagine if Jesus were born in the Holy Land today.

"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." That is the message of the Savior whose birth we Christians celebrate this week. Continuing to bankrupt our country and export misery overseas in the futile pursuit of a global military empire places us in opposition to this worthwhile advice. Let us all join together and work for a real peace in the New Year!

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/christmas-gift-war-machine

“Do You Know Who I Am?…You’re a Dk…I’m Going to Get You Motherfker” – Entitled Democrat Goes on Nasty Tirade After Getting Busted for Drunk Driving

51-year-old Maria A. Bucci, the chairwoman of Cranston’s Democratic Committee

https://youtu.be/Pe_56m1dwLw

Election Rigging!

If you don't arrest criminals in Government they double down on their corruption!

Rep. Jamie Raskin

@RepRaskin

I believe our Ranked Choice Voting Act will not only guarantee majority winners across America but dramatically reduce negative politics and promote positivity in our elections. Here's why.

https://twitter.com/i/status/2003201283612901625

They are using asset price manipulation to cover up a Great Depression for working families.

https://twitter.com/i/status/2002879754219958645

“This Has Redefined Israel's Global Identity”: Israeli Weapons Industry Bullish After Genocide

Drop Site News obtained audio of this months weapons conference in Tel Aviv

At a recent military technology conference in Tel Aviv, Israeli weapons companies made some of their most explicit remarks yet connecting the value of their products to the real-world testing of that firepower on Palestinians in Gaza. A recording of the conference remarks was obtained by Drop Site News and includes comments from the president and CEO of the Israel Aerospace Industries as well as executives at Elbit Systems, RAFAEL Advanced Defense Systems, and others. The conference was called DefenseTech Week and was held in early December. Drop Site shared the audio with independent news outlets in Brazil, Ireland, Australia, and elsewhere; those outlets will be producing their own investigations.

The Israeli weapons industry has previously come in for criticism for its willingness to boast that its products are “lab tested” on human beings under occupation, most prominently by Australian journalist Anthony Lowenstein. His book, The Palestine Laboratory, was adapted into a Drop Site podcast last year.

The newly uncovered remarks suggest that, rather than having been chastened by global condemnation for the genocide in Gaza, the nation’s weapons industry is emboldened by it. “The war that we faced in the last two years enables most of our products to become valid for the rest of the world,” boasted Boaz Levy, head of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), on day one of the conference. “Starting with Gaza and moving on to Iran and to Yemen, I would say that many, many products of IAI were there.”

The military itself was well represented at the gathering. Major General (Res.) Amir Baram is director general of the Israel Ministry of Defense and also gave remarks on the first day. “These are not lab projects or powerpoint concepts,” he said. “They are combat proven systems. This is what defense tech means in Israel and this has redefined Israel’s global identity. For years, Israel was known worldwide as a cyber nation. Today, we have evolved into a true defense tech nation.”

Gili Drob-Heistein, executive director of the Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center, said that the two years of unleashing Israeli weapons technology on Palestinians had helped transition Israel from a “startup nation” to a global player in the defense industry. “Israel is known for being the startup nation and we all believe that defense tech has the potential to become the next big economic engine for Israel and beyond,” he said. “Israel’s technological leadership combined with smartness, boldness, and out of the box thinking continues to yield astonishing results, as we’ve seen recently on the battlefield during a war that was forced upon us on multiple different fronts simultaneously. Many of the technologies have both military and civilian applications.”

Data on global arms sales suggests the boasting at the conference reflects genuine upward trends for Israel’s weapons industry, with three Israeli arms companies increasing their combined weapons revenues by 16 per cent to $16.2 billion, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). “The growing backlash over Israel’s actions in Gaza seems to have had little impact on interest in Israeli weapons,” said Zubaida Karim, researcher with the SIPRI Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme.

https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/this-has-redefined-israels-global

>>24021277

Rodgers works for Unit 8200 - Team 8

37-second phone signal, Mount Hermon route: Lebanese reports detail ex-officer 'abduction'

Lebanese reports say Ahmad Shukr, a former senior security officer missing for about a week, may have been drugged and abducted by the Mossad in a covert operation tied to Hezbollah figures and the decades-old disappearance of Ron Arad

Saudi and Lebanese media outlets reported Tuesday that Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency carried out a special operation on Lebanese soil, allegedly abducting a former senior Lebanese security official with possible ties to the long-unsolved disappearance of Israeli airman Ron Arad.

According to the reports, the target of the operation was Ahmad Shukr, described as a former senior officer in Lebanon’s General Security services and a relative of Fouad Shukr, Hezbollah’s chief of staff who was killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut’s southern Dahieh district last year. Israel has not commented on the reports, which also claimed that Swedish citizens were involved in the operation.

The Lebanese television channel Al Jadeed reported Thursday that Shukr went missing a day earlier in the Bekaa Valley in northeastern Lebanon, a predominantly Shiite region considered a Hezbollah stronghold. The channel said Shukr’s family issued an urgent appeal demanding clarification of his fate and called for intervention by Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and other officials.

The report said Shukr had been accompanied by a young man from the Kassab family. Lebanon’s Ad-Diyar newspaper reported Tuesday that the younger man is also missing, raising two possibilities: that he was abducted along with Shukr or that he cooperated with those who carried out the disappearance. The report mentions that investigators found Shukr’s mobile phone signal was detected for 37 seconds near the town of Souri in the Bekaa Valley and suggested he may have been transferred to Israel via the Mount Hermon area.

Saudi-owned Al Arabiya cited a Lebanese security source as saying authorities suspect the Mossad abducted the former military official in the Bekaa Valley and believe the operation is linked to the Ron Arad case.

According to Al Arabiya and the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, Shukr was allegedly lured from his hometown of Nabi Sheet in northeastern Lebanon to the nearby city of Zahle, where he was abducted. Nabi Sheet is also the birthplace of Abbas Musawi, Hezbollah’s secretary-general until his assassination in 1992, an event that led to the rise of Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed last year.

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/skumqsdqwg

“Make Iran like Gaza”: Chilling insider view from Israel weapons expo

Inside a conference hall at Tel Aviv University, executives, generals and venture capitalists took turns boasting about “combat-proven” Israeli weapons and surveillance systems.

At Defense Tech Week 2025, senior figures from Israel’s defence establishment openly described how the genocide in Gaza has accelerated weapons development, unlocked new export markets and reshaped Israel’s global identity as a defence powerhouse.

Less than 70 kilometres from where the conference was held, Gaza has been reduced to rubble. More than two years of genocide, indiscriminate bombardment and mass displacement have left at least 70,000 Palestinians dead and 90% of the Strip destroyed.

Gaza weapons lab

Defense Tech Week advertises itself as a forum connecting startups, investors, defence primes and policymakers. According to its organisers, the event showcases “practical lessons from Israel’s cutting-edge solutions that are addressing global security challenges”.

The speakers resembled a roll call of Israel’s military-industrial complex with senior Israeli military leadership, officials from the Ministry of Defense, and executives from Israel’s largest arms manufacturers, including Israel Aerospace Industries, Elbit Systems and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.

Speaker after speaker framed the war as a lucrative opportunity for weapons development and sales.

“These are not lab projects or PowerPoint concepts,” said Amir Baram, Director General of Israel’s Ministry of Defense. “They are combat-proven systems.”

https://youtu.be/VZdsjOWS7H0

https://michaelwest.com.au/make-iran-like-gaza-chilling-insider-view-from-israel-weapons-expo/

>>24021331

>>24021331

https://youtu.be/CE1frNjmjuA

Chickens coming home to roost!

Deadly Clashes Erupt Between US-Backed SDF & US-Backed Syrian Army In Aleppo

A new bout of deadly fighting has erupted between the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Syrian military this week, coinciding with a top Turkish official's visit to Syria and continued tension over a deal to integrate the Kurdish group into Damascus’s forces.

The clashes have calmed down, yet the situation remains volatile. Damascus claims it took steps to de-escalate the fighting. "The General Staff of the Syrian Arab Army issued an order to halt targeting of SDF fire sources in Aleppo after neutralizing several of them, narrowing the scope of clashes away from civilians," the Syrian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

It said the army "stood up to its responsibilities in protecting and defending the people, without making any moves to alter control lines, limiting its actions to responding to sources of fire."

Several people have been killed since early Monday morning. "The SDF carried out systematic attacks today in Aleppo, directly targeting densely populated residential neighborhoods and Al-Razi Hospital. The assaults resulted in the death of two civilians and injuries to others, including several civil defense volunteers," the Syrian Interior Ministry announced late on Monday.

He described the escalation as "part of repeated attempts to undermine the 10 March agreement signed with the Syrian state." The SDF has blamed the violence on the Syrian army.

"A checkpoint jointly manned by our forces and the [Damascus-affiliated] General Security Forces at the Al-Shihan roundabout in [northern] Aleppo came under an armed attack by factions affiliated with the interim defense ministry, leaving two of our personnel injured with varying degrees of wounds," the SDF-affiliated Asayish security force said in a statement.

The SDF said in its own statement that the "attack carried out by factions affiliated with the defense ministry" is "a clear continuation of uncontrolled escalation that threatens the city’s security and civilian lives, and exposes the Damascus government’s inability to control its factions."

The Kurdish group announced in a later update that the fighting had spread to the Kurdish-majority Aleppo neighborhoods of Ashrafieh and Sheikh Maqsoud. "Residents of the neighborhoods, along with the [Kurdish-led] Internal Security Forces [Asayish], continue to confront this aggression, taking all possible measures to protect themselves and civilian lives," it said.

https://twitter.com/i/status/2003116187069386864

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/deadly-clashes-erupt-between-us-backed-sdf-us-backed-syrian-army-aleppo