Which intelligence services did Jeffrey Epstein work for?
Grayzone editor @MaxBlumenthal breaks down disgraced sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s network of pro-Israel politicians, billionaire financiers, and various intelligence services in the latest DOJ file dump.
Trump had kicked off the week by warning Iran that “bad things” would probably happen if a deal could not be reached. “We have ships heading to Iran right now, big ones – the biggest and the best – and we have talks going on with Iran and we’ll see how it all works out,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “If we can work something out, that would be great and if we can’t, probably bad things would happen.”
“I’d like to see a deal negotiated. I don’t know that that’s going to happen,” he added. So far, Iran seems a willing participant, though at this point the reality is it has little to lose by risking such direct engagement.
Casualty counts: At least 22 Palestinians were killed and 38 were injured in Israeli attacks on Wednesday, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 is now 71,824 killed, with 171,608 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 556 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 1,500, while 717 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble, according to the Ministry of Health.
Former U.K. Cabinet minister Peter Mandelson – who was fired last September from his new role as ambassador to the United States due to his ties to Jeffrey Epstein – is facing mounting political and legal pressure following disclosures that he may have shared market-sensitive government information with Epstein during the global financial crisis.
Western officials seized on a dubious death toll of 30,000 protesters to escalate against Iran. The number originates with a single, clearly compromised source. But a zealously pro-war Guardian reporter is doing her best to legitimize it.
Topline: Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander claims one of the city’s health insurance funds has “no path to solvency” after labor unions used it to cover pay raises, Weight Watchers and more.
Key facts: New York’s taxpayer-funded Health Insurance Stabilization Fund owes $3.1 billion to outside vendors and the city that it’s unable to pay. The actual amount is likely much higher because expenses from 2024 and 2025 have not been totaled yet, according to Lander’s Dec. 30 audit. Continue reading “Waste Of The Day: NYC Healthcare Fund Is Out Of Cash”
Less than three years after being named the NBA’s 2023 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion, the league’s all-time three-point leader has begun quietly pouring tens of millions into tech ventures owned and operated by Israeli spies.
Shortly after President Donald Trump said Thursday afternoon that Russia had agreed to pause strikes on Kiev and other Ukrainian cities for a week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said overnight that Ukraine is prepared to halt drone and missile attacks on Russia’s critical energy infrastructure, provided Putin honors a weeklong truce and refrains from launching missiles or drones at Kiev.
President Donald Trump renewed his threats to attack Iran if the Islamic Republic does not comply with his demands. The President claimed that Iran must agree to a new nuclear deal or would be attacked by the “armada” Trump has assembled in the Middle East. Continue reading “Trump to Iran: Agree to Nuclear Deal Or the US Will Attack”