Shutdown Looms As Senate Dems Formally Blocks Govt Funding Bill

Update (1220ET): As expected, Senate Democrats have just formally blocked a package of government funding bills from advancing.

Democrats voted in unison against a procedural motion to advance the funding package. The motion, which required 60 votes to prevail, failed 45-55.

Eight Republicans joined all Democrats in voting against it, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.).

Thune was a late “no” vote and immediately entered a motion to reconsider the package to give him flexibility to bring it back to the floor soon.

Democrats blocked the funding package, which includes six bills, because it includes funding for the Department of Homeland Security.

But with the government running out of money at the end of the day Friday, there is urgency to get a deal done to avert a partial shutdown.

The Hill reports that a source familiar with the discussions, said that while no agreement had been reached yet, the discussions were ongoing and moving in Democrats’ direction.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/shutdown-approaches-schumer-white-house-attempt-11th-hour-deal

Children’s Health Defense Hits AAP With RICO Suit Over Fraudulent Vaccine Safety Claims

The following was forwarded from Mary Holland, CEO of the Children’s Health Defense, and is written by Michael Nevradakis,Ph.D., and Brenda Baletti, Ph.D. –

In a lawsuit filed today in federal court, Children’s Health Defense (CHD) and five other plaintiffs accused the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) of running a decades-long racketeering scheme to defraud American families about the safety of the childhood vaccine schedule.

The suit alleges that the AAP violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) by making “false and fraudulent” claims about the safety of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) childhood immunization schedule — while receiving funding from vaccine manufacturers and providing financial incentives to pediatricians who achieve high vaccination rates.

“For too long, the AAP has been held up on a pedestal, as if it were a font of science and integrity,” said CHD CEO Mary Holland. “Sadly, that’s not the case.”

Instead, Holland said, the AAP “is a front operation in a racketeering scheme involving Big Pharma, Big Medicine and Big Media, ready at every turn to put profits above children’s health. It’s time to face facts and see what the AAP is really about,” Holland said.

According to the complaint, the AAP has worked to conceal the findings of studies that the Institute of Medicine (IOM) — now known as the National Academy of Medicine — published in 2002 and 2013.

The IOM called for more research after concluding that no studies had ever been conducted to compare the health outcomes of vaccinated and unvaccinated children.

The AAP’s conduct constitutes a pattern of fraud under RICO, a statute often used to prosecute organized crime, said Rick Jaffe, attorney for the plaintiffs.

Jaffe told The Defender that while previous lawsuits “challenged individual vaccines or sought compensation for individual injuries,” this “is a fraud case following the playbook that took down Big Tobacco.”

“The AAP’s actions parallel those of Big Tobacco, which misled the public regarding the safety of its products,” Jaffe said. “Tobacco created false uncertainty to manufacture doubt. The AAP did the inverse — it created false certainty to foreclose questions. Both used the trappings of science to prevent actual science.”

CHD General Counsel Kim Mack Rosenberg said the lawsuit shows “the close ties between entities and individuals who work toward the same purpose — propping up the vaccine industry and those who profit from it.”

The AAP is the largest pediatric trade group in the U.S., with 67,000 members.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks financial damages for the individual plaintiffs. It also asks the court to require the AAP to disclose the “lack of comprehensive safety testing” of vaccines, and bar the AAP from making “further unqualified safety claims” about vaccines.

Drs. Paul Thomas and Kenneth Stoller — physicians whose professional reputations were harmed for opposing AAP’s guidelines, and the parents of four children who died or were injured after receiving routine childhood vaccinations, are among the plaintiffs.

Lawsuit: AAP’s childhood vaccine safety claims based on ‘foundational fraud’

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/wp-content/uploads/aap-lawsuit-complaint-redacted.pdf

Trump Officials Held Secret Meetings With Prominent Canadian Group Seeking To Secede

A new bombshell report in Financial Times says that US officials have held recent talks with Canadian separatists seeking to break Alberta, Canada's oil-rich western province, away from Ottawa.

"Officials in the [US President] Donald Trump administration discussed loaning Alberta $500 million to break up Canada and make it the 51st state," one source told the FT.

This follows on the heels of Trump earlier this month posting a fictitious map showing Canada as part of the United States. The report also comes days after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's speech in Davos before the World Economic Forum (WEF). He called out President Trump for creating a "rupture" in the existing world order.

Carney has also told his parliament, "The world has changed. Washington has changed. There is almost nothing normal in the US now - that's the truth."

Trump famously fired back: "Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements" while adding that Carney "wasn't so grateful" and that Canada "gets a lot of freebies from us."

Recall too the words of US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at Davos: "Alberta is a natural partner for the US. People are talking. People want sovereignty. They want what the US has got."

And now the FT article, along with other media, claim Trump is destabilizing Canada by these secret meetings between the Canadian separatists and "very, very senior" officials in the US administration.

Jeff Rath, legal adviser to the movement in question - the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP) - has gone so far as to proclaim that Washington is pushing for an "independent" Alberta.

APP leaders are now seeking follow-up meetings with the US State and Treasury Departments next month to request a $500 million credit facility to bankroll secession, while also pressing for US recognition and new pipeline routes that would bypass Canadian federal approval, according to the reports. They are said to be 'taking advantage' of the ongoing friction between the US and its northern neighbor.

Sources briefed on the discussions told the Financial Times that representatives from the province, where it turns out Carney himself was raised, have met with US State Department officials in Washington on no less than three separate occasions over the past nine months.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-officials-held-secret-meetings-prominent-canadian-group-seeking-secede

EU Formally Designates IRGC A Terrorist Group, Granting Trump Political Cover

Update(1034ET): As expected, it happened in a meeting of top EU leaders on Thursday:

EU foreign ministers agreed Thursday to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a "terrorist" group, the bloc's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said.

"Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise," she said.

One byproduct, (or perhaps the intent?) is that this will give President Trump more political cover if he decides to strike Iran. A 'narrative' is taking shape, despite the internal protests having long dissipated.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/eu-poised-label-irgc-terror-org-boosting-potential-trump-strikes-iran

Convicted Islamist terrorist running for office in UK

Shahid Butt has urged his young supporters to knock their enemies’ “teeth out”

A convicted Islamist terrorist is running for local office in the British city of Birmingham. Shahid Butt has urged voters to overlook his past “mistakes,” which include conspiring to bomb the British consulate in Yemen.

In an interview with Birmingham Live this week, Butt described himself as the “ideal candidate” to “unite” his district of Sparkhill in city council elections this May. Two-thirds of Sparkhill’s residents are of Pakistani origin, while a third of Birmingham’s 1.1 million population is Muslim.

Butt was jailed for five years in Yemen in 1999, after being found guilty of planning attacks with a gang of Jihadists on the British consulate in Aden, an Anglican church, and a Swiss-owned hotel.

He maintains that he did nothing wrong, and that his confession was extracted under torture. “It was all just made up,” he told the Birmingham Mail. “Nobody actually died, nothing happened at all.”

He has admitted to “mistakes” in his past, however. Butt was a member of a Pakistani street gang in his youth, which fought with white skinhead gangs in 1980s Birmingham. He also admits to traveling to fight in Afghanistan and Bosnia in the 1990s alongside the son of convicted terrorist Abu Hamza.

Butt, who describes himself as an “Islamist,” is a member of the Independent Candidates Alliance (ICA), a group of Muslim candidates set up by lawyer and accused money launderer Akhmed Yakoob. The ICA is running 20 candidates across Birmingham in the upcoming elections.

“I am not a pacifist,” Butt told Birmingham Live. “If someone attacks me…I am not just going to turn the other cheek, I am going to defend myself. I will be pre-emptive, as the law advises me, if I feel like my life is threatened, or my family, I will do a pre-emptive strike.”

He has advised his fellow Muslims to follow his approach. “Muslims are not pacifists,” he told protesters before local team Aston Villa’s match against Maccabi Tel Aviv last November. “If somebody comes into your face, you knock his teeth out. That’s my message to the youth.”

https://www.rt.com/news/631716-terrorist-local-election-birmingham/

Journalist Exposes Secret Watch Lists That Trump Official Says Don’t Exist

“If we don’t explore more why all of these secret lists exist,” one US intelligence officer said, there could be “even more of an environment of paranoia on the ground and more tragic killings.”

Despite denials from a senior Trump administration official, secret watchlists of Americans are being used by federal agencies to track and categorize US citizens—especially protesters, activists, and critics of law enforcement—as “domestic terrorists,” investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein reported Wednesday.

Klippenstein said that two senior national security officials speaking on condition of anonymity told him that there are over a dozen “secret and obscure” watchlists that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the FBI are using to track anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and pro-Palestine protesters, antifa-affiliated individuals, and “others who are promiscuously labeled ‘domestic terrorists.’”

“I can reveal for the first time,” he wrote, “that some of the secret lists and applications go by codenames like Bluekey, Grapevine, Hummingbird, Reaper, Sandcastle, Sienna, Slipstream, and Sparta (including the ominous sounding HEL-A and HEL-C reports generated by Sparta).”

“Some of these, like Hummingbird, were created to vet and track immigrants, in this case Afghans seeking to settle in the United States,” Klippenstein explained. “Slipstream is a classified social media repository. Others are tools used to link people on the streets together, including collecting on friends and families who have nothing to do with any purported lawbreaking.”

“There’s practically nothing available that further describes what these watchlists do, how large they are, or what they entail,” he added.

Klippenstein’s revelation seemingly flies in the face of DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin’s recent denial that the administration has a database containing the names of people accused of domestic terrorism.

“There’s just one problem: She’s lying,” wrote Klippenstein.

Many observers already thought as much, especially after a masked federal enforcer taunted an anti-ICE protester in Maine by telling her that “we have a nice little database, and now you’re considered a domestic terrorist.”

White House “border czar” Tom Homan—who was recently sent to Minnesota to oversee the anti-immigrant blitz following the departure of Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino amid outrage over the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti—also said this month that “we’re going to create a database where those people that are arrested for interference, impeding, and assault, we’re going to make them famous.”

Reporting Tuesday that Pretti—the nurse who was disarmed and then shot dead by federal enforcers in Minneapolis last week—was known to Trump officials after a previous encounter in which agents broke his rib raised further questions about government watchlists.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/secret-watchlists-of-americans

Trump Nominates Colin McDonald for Assistant Attorney General on Fraud

“I am pleased to nominate Colin McDonald to serve as the first ever Assistant Attorney General for National FRAUD Enforcement, a new Division at the Department of Justice, which I created to catch and stop FRAUDSTERS that have been STEALING from the American People,” Trump wrote.

“My Administration has uncovered Fraud schemes in States like Minnesota and California, where these thieves have stolen Hundreds of Billions of Taxpayer Dollars,” he added.

Trump touted McDonald’s record as a “Highly Respected AMERICA FIRST Federal Prosecutor.”

“Colin McDonald is a very Smart, Tough, and Highly Respected AMERICA FIRST Federal Prosecutor who has successfully delivered Justice in some of the most difficult and high stakes cases our Country has ever seen,” Trump said.

“Together, we will END THE FRAUD, and RESTORE INTEGRITY to our Federal Programs. Congratulations Colin — STOP THE SCAMS!” the president concluded.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/01/29/trump-nominates-colin-mcdonald-for-assistant-attorney-general-on-fraud/

Tech Lords Show Their True Colors: OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Apple’s Tim Cook Criticize ICE Enforcement Actions

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Apple CEO Tim Cook have joined a growing number of corporate executives expressing concern over immigration enforcement activities. Altman stated in an internal email that ICE is “going too far” while Cook expressed that he is “heartbroken” by the death of Alex Pretti, the man who violently clashed with federal agents on multiple occasions leading to his death.

Reuters reports that Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, told his employees in an internal communication that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is “going too far” with its immigration crackdown, making him the latest major technology leader to voice concerns about aggressive enforcement actions in Minnesota.

Breitbart News recently reported that the man shot and killed by ICE agents, Alex Pretti, was caught on video in a previous violent clash with immigration agents. More than 60 CEOs have signed a statement calling for de-escalation after weeks of silence on the matter.

“What’s happening with ICE is going too far,” Altman wrote in a Slack message to employees of the ChatGPT maker, according to a source familiar with the matter. “There is a big difference between deporting violent criminals and what’s happening now, and we need to get the distinction right.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook also commented on the incident, stating that he was “heartbroken” by the events in Minneapolis and called for “de-escalation,” according to a Bloomberg report citing an internal memo to employees. Cook reportedly said he had discussed the matter with U.S. President Donald Trump. Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside regular business hours.

In his message to employees, Altman expressed his commitment to American values while emphasizing the importance of speaking out against what he views as government overreach. “I love the U.S. and its values of democracy and freedom and will be supportive of the country however I can; OpenAI will too,” Altman said in his message, which was first reported by the New York Times’ DealBook. “But part of loving the country is the American duty to push back against overreach.”

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2026/01/29/tech-lords-show-their-true-colors-openais-sam-altman-and-apples-tim-cook-criticize-ice-enforcement-actions/

https://www.antiwar.com/

Police move to indict ring smuggling goods to Gaza that includes Shin Bet chief’s relative

Cops advance prosecution of group of suspects who allegedly smuggled goods from Israel to Gaza in exchange for cash; Shin Bet not probing case due to director’s ties to one of the suspects

Law enforcement on Thursday moved to prosecute a number of suspects, including a relative of Shin Bet chief David Zini, who allegedly helped smuggle goods from Israel into Gaza in exchange for cash.

Police filed a prosecutor’s declaration to the Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court, a procedural step before indictments are submitted, likely next week.

The court later issued a statement revealing that one of the suspects is Zini’s relative, while stressing that the Shin Bet chief has no connection to the alleged smuggling.

However, in light of the relative’s ties to the agency, the case is being investigated by the Israel Police, instead of the Shin Bet, the court said.

Hebrew media outlets reported varying numbers of suspects. Channel 12 news reported that 11 were accused, while the Ynet news site reported 13.

Zini’s father, Rabbi Yosef Zini, posted in a closed social media group on Sunday that “there is no doubt that it is all a filthy lie,” in an apparent reference to the smuggling affair.

“Even if they bring video, pictures as supposed evidence, there is no doubt that it is all fabricated in order to harm the ‘suspect’ and his family,” he said, according to Channel 12 news. “Everyone who believes this story is on the verge of helping to spill the blood of righteous people!”

Several Hebrew media outlets have petitioned the Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court to lift what remains of the gag order and allow for the publication of the case’s details in full.

Judge Yaniv Harush is set to issue a ruling on the petitions later on Thursday.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/suspects-accused-of-smuggling-goods-from-israel-to-gaza-said-set-to-be-charged/

IDF intel, Mossad chiefs recently visit US in one-two punch for advice on handling Iran

IDF intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Shlomi Binder met with top US military officials on Tuesday as the US aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, arrived in the region.

IDF Intelligence Chief Maj.-Gen. Shlomi Binder and Mossad Director David Barnea have both recently visited the US to present a one-two punch for advice about how to handle Iran.

Barnea landed in the US on January 16, meeting with US Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff and a variety of other critical national security meetings, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The Mossad chief's visit came almost immediately after the critical call between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump on January 14, in which, according to foreign sources, Netanyahu urged Trump to delay attacking the Islamic Republic until more American forces were deployed in the region, both for offensive operations and for defending Israel.

Binder met with top US military officials on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, just as the US aircraft carrier, USS Abraham Lincoln, arrived in the region, completing much of the American mobilization of new forces into the Middle East over recent weeks.

According to foreign sources, Israeli officials came to share intelligence about potential targets across Iran, while the Saudis are trying to offer a diplomatic solution.

While the IDF's focus tends to be from the perspective of what American aerial power can achieve against a wide array of Iranian military targets and a variety of macro issues related to the regime's sources of power, the Mossad's expertise tends to be related to the nuclear issue, and providing support and analysis relating to the Iranian street and the balance of power between the regime and opposition forces.

After June 2025, Barnea even issued a rare public warning to the Iranian regime that "we will [continue to] be there, like we have been there."

In June 2025, Israel killed around 30 top Iranian military and intelligence officials and 11 nuclear scientists.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-884988

Netanyahu: Israel Will Have Control from ‘River to the Sea’ Including Gaza

The Israeli Prime Minister said he will not allow Palestinians to have control of their territory

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will maintain security control over the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. He added that he will not allow the creation of a Palestinian State.

“Israel will maintain security control over the entire area from the Jordan River to the sea, and that applies to the Gaza Strip as well,” Netanyahu said on Tuesday. The statement from the Israeli leader is the latest indication that he has no intentions of allowing President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace deal to progress.

The agreement signed by Hamas and Israel in October requires Tel Aviv to withdraw its forces from Gaza and creates a pathway for a Palestinian state. During his remarks, Netanyahu made clear that he will not allow the two-state solution to materialize.

Notably, Netanyahu used the phrase “from the Jordan River to the sea.” When pro-Palestinian protesters in the US used that chant, Israeli supporters claimed that they were calling for the genocide of Jewish people.

The Israeli leader went on to say the next phase of Gaza operations is demilitarizing Hamas. “Now we are focusing on completing the two remaining missions: dismantling Hamas’s weapons and demilitarizing Gaza of arms and tunnels,” Netanyahu explained.

“As I agreed with President Trump, there are only two possibilities: either this will be done the easy way, or it will be done the hard way.” He continued, “But in any case, it will happen. I am already hearing the statements that we will allow Gaza’s reconstruction before demilitarization. That will not happen.”

Under the October agreement, Hamas did not agree to give up its arms. The group has maintained that it will only demilitarize if it is in the process of creating a Palestinian state.

Additionally, Netanyahu explained that Israel will reopen the Rafah border crossing. Rafah is Gaza’s sole crossing with Egypt. The Israeli leader explained that Tel Aviv will only allow a limited number of Palestinians to enter Gaza, but will not hinder any Palestinians from leaving Gaza.

Israel is in the process of creating a new camp for Palestinians in Gaza. Israeli forces have flattened half a square mile in southern Gaza. Tel Aviv plans to force Palestinians into the new camp, which will likely be surrounded by Israeli military positions.

“What they are building is, in reality, a human-sorting mechanism reminiscent of Nazi-era selection points,” Wissam Afifa, a Gaza-based political analyst, told Al Jazeera. “It is a tool for racial filtering and a continuation of the genocide by other means.”

https://news.antiwar.com/2026/01/28/netanyahu-israel-will-have-control-from-river-to-the-sea-including-gaza/

Netanyahu turned down 11 plans to kill Hamas's Yahya Sinwar before October 7, N12 reports

According to N12, after seeing escalation from Gaza during the months before the attack, the Shin Bet notified Netanyahu 11 times that an effective assassination of Sinwar could be conducted.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu passed up 11 opportunities to assassinate Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in the months leading up to October 7, 2023, a security forces official claimed to N12 on Wednesday.

According to N12's source, after seeing escalation from Gaza during the months before the attack, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) notified Netanyahu 11 times that an effective assassination of Sinwar could be conducted, yet each time, Netanyahu refused to even lead a discussion about it.

N12 had previously reported that Netanyahu had received an intelligence briefing from then-Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar on October 1, six days before the massacre, in which he presented the possibility of killing Sinwar. Netanyahu reportedly ignored the suggestion.

Prime Minister's Office denies allegations

The Prime Minister's Office, responding to this allegation, stated that it was completely false. "Exactly the opposite! Prime Minister Netanyahu repeatedly demanded that the Hamas leadership be thwarted, and security officials blocked this, which is well documented in the minutes."

Sinwar took responsibility as the architect of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre, which led to over 1,200 deaths and terrorists taking approximately 250 hostages into the strip. He was killed by the IDF in Tel Sultan in Rafah in an unplanned operation in October 2024.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-884913

Large migrant smuggling operation in Bulgaria leads to 16 arrests

The criminal network smuggled migrants from Türkiye via Bulgaria towards Western European countries

A Bulgarian-led investigation, carried out in close cooperation with the Hellenic Police and supported by Europol, has led to the dismantlement of an organised criminal network involved in smuggling of migrants from Türkiye via Bulgaria and onward through Serbia or Romania towards Western European countries. The investigation was conducted within the framework of a regional Operational Taskforce established to target migrant smuggling networks using Bulgaria as a transit country.

16 arrests;

6 locations searches;

Seizures of mobile devices, administrative documents, vehicle registration documents, accountancy notebooks and other records.

A pyramid-structured criminal network with cross-border links

The migrant smuggling network operated with a pyramid-style structure, with members playing different roles. The core group, based in Sofia, consisted primarily of Bulgarian and Syrian nationals who acted in a highly coordinated manner. Their main role was to arrange transit across Bulgaria, while maintaining close cooperation with other criminal networks based in neighbouring countries. For example, the payment for the smuggling services was already arranged prior to departure. Migrants were required to place a deposit through hawala offices in Türkiye, from where the migrants departed.

After recruiting migrants in Türkiye, members of the criminal network smuggled them across the Southern Bulgarian green border, guiding them to predefined locations. From there, drivers transported them to Sofia using a variety of vehicles, including cars and buses. Migrants were temporarily accommodated in safe houses in and around Sofia before being moved towards the Bulgarian–Serbian or Bulgarian–Romanian borders. In some cases, migrants were transported directly to the border areas without interim accommodation.