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Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Monday said the U.S. will continue to support Ukraine “for as long as it takes,” underscoring the Biden administration’s commitment to keep funding the nation in its war against Ukraine despite concerns a new Republican majority in the House may plug up spending. Austin, speaking at a press conference in Jakarta, Indonesia, said the U.S. has provided more than $20 billion to Ukraine and the country has used it effectively.

Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), chair of Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, credited former President Trump for Democratic turnout in the midterms and said Trump could continue to be a problem for Republicans. “There’s no question that Donald Trump is a motivating factor for turnout when it comes to Democratic voters,” Peters said in an interview with NBC’s Sahil Kapur. Democrats secured a razor-thin majority in the Senate in the midterm elections by flipping Pennsylvania’s seat and defending vulnerable incumbents in Nevada and Arizona. In Georgia, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) will face Republican Herschel Walker again in a Dec. 6 runoff that...

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) on Monday ordered the New York State Police to increase surveillance and protection for at-risk communities in the wake of the deadly shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colo. “I have directed the New York State Police to ramp up monitoring and increase support for communities that are potential targets of hate crimes. Here in New York, we will not tolerate violence or bigotry toward any community,” Hochul said in a statement. A gunman on Sunday killed five people and wounded 25 others at Colorado’s Club Q nightclub, on the eve of...

Russia's leading war hawks rallied behind the humiliating decision for Moscow's forces to retreat from the Ukrainian city of Kherson this month, but the commander who argued in favour of the move is now under growing pressure to prove it was worth it. Sergei Surovikin, nicknamed "General Armageddon" by the Russian media for his reputed ruthlessness, on Nov. 9 recommended Moscow's forces quit Kherson and the west bank of the River Dnipro where they were dangerously exposed. Surovikin, a 56-year-old veteran of wars in Chechnya and Syria who has been decorated by President Vladimir Putin, argued the withdrawal, completed two...

FBI Director Christopher Wray has a curious set of priorities. He bailed out of a Senate hearing in August to use a private jet to take him to a very important personal vacation in the Adirondacks. Wray doesn't like answering questions- especially the critical ones. And so it was once again last Tuesday that Wray refused to answer rather important questions. FBI Director Christopher Wray refused to answer multiple questions Tuesday from a Republican congressman concerning whether FBI sources were embedded among Jan. 6 protesters during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on Worldwide Threats to the Homeland. Republican Louisiana...

A huge hug from the people of Israel to a girl from the Negev: "The holy mothers are reaching out to you" The singer and composer Tova Gadot came to the home of the girl's family who was affected by a Bedouin attacker in the Negev and gave her a unique Bat Mitzvah gift. Ido ben Porat, 27 in Cheshvan, 11/21/22 Tova Gadot with the child - photo courtesy of the photographer Tova Gadot, a singer and creator, collected from the public an amount of 26,000 NIS for the girl from the Negev, who was injured two years ago by...

President Donald Trump announced his third bid for the presidency last week, opening the 2024 election campaign barely a week after the 2022 elections ended. Trump may have been attempting to ward off potential challengers and send a message to other Republicans who may consider battling him in the GOP primary — such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis who has been besting Trump by large margins in several recent polls.

Twitter Chief Elon Musk had some fun with CBS’s decision to resume its Twitter use on Sunday, less than 48 hours after announcing it would pause its activity on the platform. "After pausing for much of the weekend to assess the security concerns, CBS News and Stations is resuming its activity on Twitter as we continue to monitor the situation," the CBS News Public Relations team wrote. That announcement came after CBS News national correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti announced Friday evening during a report on the social media giant, “In light of the uncertainty around Twitter and out of an abundance...

Amir Farsoud is going to be murdered. The 54-year-old Canadian, whose story went viral online this week, is in the last stages of approval for “medical assistance in dying” (MAID), the neat bureaucratic euphemism for our northern neighbor’s rapidly advancing euthanasia program. In 2016, the country authorized physicians to kill their patients in cases of terminal illness or “reasonably foreseeable” death; Farsoud is being euthanized for back pain. At least, that is the medical justification being given. In reality, he is struggling financially and about to lose his home. As Farsoud sees it, he has run out of options. He...

During an interview with Fox News, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) warned China could soon move to follow through with its threat to take Taiwan. According to the Arkansas Republican, the move on Taiwan from Chinese President Xi Jinping may come in 2023. “I’m concerned that as early as next year, Xi Jinping could decide to go for the jugular,” he said. “This has been a very important year for him in China. He just secured an unprecedented third five-year term. He’s made it clear that by the end of that five-year term in 2027, he wants to invade and annex...

Grayscale, the asset manager running the world’s largest bitcoin fund, said in a statement Friday that it won’t be sharing its proof of reserves with customers. “Due to security concerns, we do not make such on-chain wallet information and confirmation data publicly available through a cryptographic Proof-of-Reserve, or other advanced cryptographic accounting procedure,” Grayscale wrote in a statement. Representation of cryptocurrency and Gayscale logo displayed on a phone screen are seen in this illustration photo taken in Poland on November 6, 2021. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images) The SEC on Wednesday rejected Grayscale’s application for a spot bitcoin...

Senate Republicans, who overwhelmingly re-elected Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to leadership, appear ready to pass immigration reform that will not come with added border security during the lame-duck session. In preparation for the lame-duck session, immigrant advocacy groups flocked to Washington DC to convince moderate Democrats and Republicans to grant amnesty to DACA recipients. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX), Mike Lee (R-UT), Mike Rounds (R-SD), and Pat Toomey (R-PA) were the Republicans who met with immigration advocates to discuss amnesty for DACA recipients, according to Politico. During an unprecedented crisis at the border, where the Biden administration has shattered records...

A Polish politician has blamed Ukraine for causing a “provocation” by falsely claiming its own missile that struck Przewodow had been fired by Russia.Immediately after news broke of the incident, President Zelensky called on NATO to take action against Russia, accusing Moscow of firing the rocket.However, within hours it became clear that the accident, which killed two people, was actually caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile.That didn’t stop British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, NATO and other prominent officials blaming Russia for the incident anyway, despite it clearly being Kiev’s fault.Now the former chairman of the city council of Lublin,...

The man arrested in the Colorado Springs gay nightclub shooting appears to have links to the Mormon church through his mother. One post in July last year came weeks after Aldrich was arrested for allegedly threatening to harm his mother with a bomb and weapons. "Hello Sisters. Does anyone know of a fantastic defense attorney? I ask this with a heavy heart but my family really needs some help at this time. We have cash to retain good counsel. Thank you," she wrote. In February, Voepel asked if anyone could recommend "a great trauma/ptsd therapist?" In a comment, she said...

Gisele Barreto Fetterman, the wife of Pennsylvania’s Sen.-elect John Fetterman (D), hit back at conservative criticism over her role helping her husband’s political bid, especially after he suffered a stroke mid-campaign. “The right-wing hates women. They especially hate strong women, and I think that’s what you’re seeing,” Barreto Fetterman told The New Republic’s “The Soapbox.”

The Biden administration, desperate to mute headlines about record illegal immigrant crossings, has secretly started a new system to let in potential lawbreakers that also puts them on a fast track to legal status. The program amounts to an amnesty ticket and preselects some of those caught up in Mexico’s immigration controls. Word of the program has spread like wildfire, swamping border camps involved in the program, according to a report by immigration expert Todd Bensman with the Center for Immigration Studies. In his report, shared with Secrets Monday, Bensman said, “Thousands are hearing about this new legal way in...

The fountain of youth may be made of air, not water. Scientists say they’ve successfully reversed the aging process of elderly people through “oxygen therapy” in a first-of-its-kind study. Researchers from Tel Aviv University used hyperbaric oxygen chambers to target specific cells and DNA linked to shorter lifespans — and found the “Holy Grail” of staying young, according to a press release about the discovery. During the study, researchers investigated whether the therapy — which involves breathing pure oxygen in a pressurized environment — could reverse the effects of aging in 35 people over age 64, according to the study,...

MOSCOW, November 21. /TASS/. The Russian State Duma (the lower house of parliament) Committee on State Building and Legislation on Monday recommended the chamber passes the second reading of a bill imposing major fines for the propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations and pedophilia, suggesting that the document be expanded to include the propaganda of gender change. The fines haven’t changed since the first reading of the bill. The document introduces fines of up to four mln rubles ($65,800) for LGBT propaganda among adults and fines of up to five mln rubles ($82,200) for such cases of propaganda among children. Fines...

On Sunday, the day after five people were shot and killed at Colorado Springs’ Club Q, Newsmax pointed to misleading data and claimed there have been over 600 “mass shootings” in 2022. The title of Newsmax’s November 20 article is “2022 on Record Pace With 601 Mass Shootings to Date.” Newsmax arrived at this elevated number of mass shootings by relying on the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), which counts incidents in which there are “a minimum of four victims shot, either injured or killed, not including any shooter who may also have been killed or injured in the incident,” as...

[Catholic Caucus] Archbishop Viganò Blasts “Total Self-Referentiality of the ‘Conciliar Church'” in Response to Papal HomilyEditor’s Note: In his latest written intervention (full text below), Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò responds to Pope Francis’ homily in honor of the 60th anniversary of the opening of Vatican II, during which the Pope stated: “Let us return to the Council and move beyond ourselves, resisting the temptation to self-absorption [Italian, autoreferenzialità; Spanish, autorreferencialidad], which is a way of being worldly.”In response, Archbishop Viganò identifies and denounces “the total self-referentiality of the ‘conciliar Church,’ that is, of that subversive organization born almost imperceptibly from...