Link: https://www.axios.com/2022/12/24/cold-weather-power-outages-travel-delays-blizzard

The extreme winter storm and Arctic outbreak hammering swaths of North America have left many parts of the U.S. facing frigid temperatures and travel nightmares. | The big picture: Much of the country woke up on Christmas Eve to cold temperatures, power outages, travel delays, and dangerous — even deadly — weather conditions. ● The winter storm that swept through the United States late this week is now mostly affecting the northern Midwest and Northeast as it rages into Canada.

● At least 15 people have died from the massive storm, CNN reports.
● The city of Buffalo, New York, is in the midst of a historic blizzard, which has brought record-breaking snowfall and zero visibility. Thousands are without power and many vehicles were stranded in the snow.
● "Enhancement from the ice-free Great Lakes will aid in producing 2-4 foot totals in favored snow belts," the National Weather Service said in a bulletin Saturday.
● "In some spots, the wind gusts could approach or exceed 60 MPH resulting in damage and power outages," the NWS added.

■ Hochul deploys National Guard to Buffalo region as ‘life threatening’ storm batters area
■ Multiple dead across U.S., Nat'l Guard called out in N.Y. amid winter storm
■ El Paso scrambles to help migrants in Christmas border crisis | Immigrant groups and volunteers in El Paso, Texas, are working overtime this Christmas season to help a massive wave of migrants and asylum-seekers endure the historic arctic freeze that's sweeping the United States.

Link: https://www.whio.com/news/local/deadly-50-car-pileup-shuts-down-ohio-turnpike/OKIBI5H2T5F37NNAWAKCB7ECXE/

4 dead after nearly 50-car pileup shuts down Ohio Turnpike near Sandusky | A nearly 50-car pileup that left four dead and multiple injured closed down the Ohio Turnpike Friday afternoon. Ohio State Highway Patrol crews respond to multiple crashes on I-80 eastbound between Route 53 and State Route 4 in Groton Township in Erie County. Troopers have confirmed that at least four people are dead and multiple injuries have been reported. Buses were used to take people from their vehicles to a local facility so they could stay warm.

Link: https://www.newarab.com/news/under-1-israel-army-probes-yield-prosecution-watchdog

Out of more than a thousand cases of alleged offences by Israeli soldiers against Palestinians, only 11 have yielded an indictment, according to the rights group Yesh Din. | Israeli soldiers accused of harming Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip over the last five years have been indicted in less than 1 percent of the hundreds of complaints against them, an Israeli rights group reported. The watchdog argued that Israel's military systematically fails to conduct a credible prosecution of itself. ● Between 2017 and 2021, the Israeli military received 1,260 cases of alleged offenses by Israeli soldiers against Palestinians, including 409 cases involving the killing of Palestinians, according to military data obtained by the group Yesh Din and released Wednesday after a freedom of information request. ● The Israeli military opened 248 criminal investigations into instances of possible misconduct in response to those complaints — just 21.4 percent of the total, Yesh Din said. Only 11 investigations during that five-year period have yielded indictments. In those cases, Israel’s military prosecutors acted with leniency toward convicted soldiers, the group added, with those sentenced for killing Palestinians serving only short-term military community service.
■ Norway to review Israel investments to ensure they do not fund illegal settlements: report

Link: https://ground.news/article/arizona-lawyers-kari-lake-election-loss-lawsuit-lacks-merit_352ae8

Republican Kari Lake didn’t offer evidence to back her claims of widespread, intentional misconduct on Election Day at her two-day trial challenging her loss to Democrat Katie Hobbs in Arizona governor’s race, lawyers for the state said Thursday. (Ground News // Articles)

Link: https://www.axios.com/2022/12/23/winter-storm-cold-temperatures-holidays-photos

A "tremendously impactful" winter storm has overtaken much of the U.S. and a "powerful Arctic front" was sweeping into the eastern third of the nation overnight just days before Christmas, per the National Weather Service. | Over 200 million people, or roughly 60% of the U.S. population, are under some form of winter weather warning or advisory due to the "historic" storm, the NWS said in a Friday morning update. 💬 "Winter weather hazards will stretch from border to border across the central and eastern U.S. and from coast to coast from the east coast to the Pacific Northwest," the NWS said.

■ The Arctic air, strong winds and an associated bomb cyclone could be deadly to anyone caught outside, per Axios' climate reporter Andrew Freedman.
■ The developing extreme weather event was already causing widespread disruption to holiday travel and bringing with it the threat of potential power outages from projected high winds, heavy snow, significant icing and overall increased power consumption.
■ Outages were of particular concern in Texas, where the state's power grid faced its biggest test since new winterization standards took effect after the deadly 2021 freeze.

What to expect: "Widespread record low maximum temperature values are possible Friday from the Lower Mississippi Valley, northeastward into the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys and stretching across large sections of the east from the Southeast, through the Southern to Central Appalachians and into the Mid-Atlantic on Friday," the NWS said in a Friday morning update.
■ Here's how many flights have been delayed, canceled by the bomb cyclone

Link: https://www.axios.com/2022/12/23/january-6-committee-final-report

The House Jan. 6 select committee on Thursday released its long-awaited final report, which includes detailed evidence compiled by the panel relating to the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol. | The report provides the clearest look yet at what transpired before, during and after one of the most consequential events in American history. ●  The panel estimates that between the November election and the Jan.6 insurrection, former President Donald Trump or his inner circle "engaged in at least 200 apparent acts of public or private outreach, pressure, or condemnation, targeting either State legislators or State or local election administrators, to overturn State election results," per the report.
■ Jan. 6 committee releases final report (Ground News // Articles)

Link: https://www.rt.com/business/568779-ftx-bankman-crypto-fraud-bail/

Sam Bankman-Fried has been allowed to await trial at his parents’ home after posting a record-high bond | Sam Bankman-Fried, the man accused of defrauding cryptocurrency investors out of nearly $2 billion, will be awaiting trial at his parents’ house in California, rather than in a New York jail cell, after a Manhattan judge agreed to release the FTX founder on a $250 million bond. ● The shaggy-haired Bankman-Fried, who ranked as the second-largest donor to Democratic Party political campaigns in 2022, walked out of the US District Courthouse in Manhattan on Thursday afternoon, flanked by US marshals, lawyers and his parents. The bond, which matched the highest in federal court history, was reportedly secured by the 30-year-old entrepreneur’s parents, who pledged the equity in their home, and two wealthy individuals.
■ FTX founder Bankman-Fried allowed $250M bond, house arrest (Ground News // Articles)

Link: https://sputniknews.com/20221223/sweden-confirms-baltic-titanic-was-used-for-secret-military-transports-1105717878.html

The Estonia’s sinking in 1994 killed 852 people and is seen as the second-worst peacetime maritime disaster, ranking only behind the Titanic. With decades having gone by, questions about the tragedy abound, despite survivors’ numerous calls for justice. | In a sensational confession, the Swedish Armed Forces have admitted that the Estonia passenger ferry, whose demise in 1994 is seen as one of the worst maritime disasters of the 20th century, was used for secret military transports. ● Ever since the Estonia sank on September 28, 1994, there have been rumors that the ferry had military cargo on board on the night of the accident. The accident commission appointed shortly afterwards dismissed the rumors as unsubstantiated fantasies. However, in 2004 Swedish media revealed that at least on two occasions, two weeks and one week before the accident, cars loaded with military gear were transported to Sweden. ● In a new document, “a handful” of military transports from the Baltic countries with the Swedish Armed Forces as recipients were finally confirmed, yet without exact dates. However, the document features “electronic equipment without any connection to weapons systems” transported in civilian vehicles.

Link: https://www.axios.com/2022/12/21/bomb-cyclone-blizzard-arctic-cold-front

An extraordinary stretch of extreme winter weather began Wednesday as a powerful Arctic cold front swept south out of Canada, unleashing howling winds and sending temperatures plunging by 46°F in an hour near Denver. | The Arctic air, strong winds and an associated bomb cyclone could be deadly to anyone caught outside — and it's already causing travel chaos on the roads and in the air during the holiday rush. As of Wednesday evening, about 215 million Americans were under winter weather warnings and advisories, stretching from the Pacific Northwest across the Plains and all the way South to the Gulf Coast. As the cold front pushes south, temperatures just behind it are plummeting and winds are dramatically increasing, potentially causing damage. The National Weather Service warned: "This is not your ordinary cold front."

Link: https://www.theepochtimes.com/in-rare-bipartisan-push-lawmakers-look-to-speed-up-approval-of-crucial-drugs_4936815.html

Passage could be lifesaver for people suffering mental illness, military veteran | A bill intended to speed up federal approval of drugs and therapies that show promise in treating diseases and conditions resistant to available treatments has received a rare show of lawmaker unity. ● The Breakthrough Therapies Act is being backed by Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), and Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.). ● A chief component of the bill is allowing the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to reclassify substances from Schedule I to Schedule II. Schedule I substances, as defined by the DEA, are “drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” Schedule II drugs are used medically, and also have a “high potential for abuse, with use potentially leading to severe psychological or physical dependence.” In particular, a group of Schedule I substances called psychedelics, or hallucinogens, have been demonstrated to help people suffering from mental illness—their conditions include major depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). ● Psychedelics could benefit military combat veterans whose emotional experiences and physical wounds contribute to serious and debilitating mental health conditions that are resistant to, and not relieved by, available treatments.

Link: https://www.theepochtimes.com/ice-lost-track-of-150000-illegal-immigrants-florida-ag_4938467.html

ICE Lost Track of 150,000 Illegal Immigrants - Florida AG | Florida's Attorney General Ashley Moody has revealed new video evidence that shows officials from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lost track of 150,000 illegal immigrants who had entered the United States. In March 2021, border officials began releasing immigrant illegals, asking them to report to the ICE office closest to their intended residence. However, the officials did not issue formal charging documents for these migrants. Charging documents require illegal aliens to appear before a federal immigration judge. ICE officials use these documents to locate and remove them. In November 2021, the Biden administration implemented "Operation Horizon" to locate over 150,000 migrants released by the officials so that they can send official charging documents by mail. However, ICE training videos released by Moody, which were recorded between November 2021 and February 2022, show that officials were quite restricted in their ability to locate and remove illegal immigrants as they lacked the identifying information of such aliens. 💬 “Operation Horizon, the background on this … you know over the summer, we had well over 150,000 folks come in. They were issued a piece of paper that said, ‘find somebody in ICE,’ and that was pretty much it,” an official says in one of the training videos, according to a Dec. 20 news release by Moody. “There was no processing. I know this isn’t something that you guys asked for, and I can assure you that no one in the criminal alien program asked for it either.”

Link: http://robert-gorter.info/a-message-from-clintel-there-is-no-climate-emergency/

The President of Climate Intelligence (“CLIENTELE”), Guus Berkhout, has published a message to all the people of the world. His message is simple: There is no climate emergency. | For decades, the public has been flooded with fear-mongering stories from climate alarmists who claim “catastrophic doom” due to increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) levels from human activities. The climate alarmists deliberately cause panic, “time is running out,” they claim. The solution, climate alarmists say, is the “net zero” policy. ● Thousands of independent scientists disagree. As of 1 October 2022, more than 1,400 scientists from around the world have signed the ‘World Climate Declaration’ which begins: 💬 “Climate science should be less political, while climate policies should be (much) more scientific.” ● CLIENTELE has called for an open scientific debate, but the World Economic Forum (WEF), for example, chooses to ignore climate science and follow climate politics with its catastrophically damaging “net zero” ideology.

Link: https://ground.news/article/nasa-mars-lander-insight-falls-silent-after-4-years_4188f4

It could be the end of the red dusty line for NASA’s InSight lander, which has fallen silent after four years on Mars. (Ground News // Articles)

Link: http://robert-gorter.info/shocking-document-how-the-united-states-planned-the-war-and-energy-crisis-in-europe-and-choose-as-its-battlefield-the-ukraine/

The Swedish newspaper Nya Dagbladet has published an article about the secret US plans to destroy the European economy through a war in Ukraine and an energy crisis. | The newspaper has managed to get hold of a remarkable document from the RAND Corporation, an American think tank, about weakening Germany and strengthening the United States. The think tank notes that Germany has become a lot more independent after Brexit and that it has become increasingly difficult for the US to influence European governments. ● The ‘bright minds’ came up with the following strategy: make sure that Germany and France no longer cooperate with Russia. Germany is seen as the biggest economic and political threat to the US.The think tank’s plan is mainly aimed at destroying the German economy. Shutting down Russian supplies “could create a crisis with devastating consequences for the German economy and indirectly for the European Union as a whole.”

■ U.S. In Damning Admission of Long-planning War Against Russia (SCF Editorial)
■ Extending Russia: Competing from Advantageous Ground (RAND Corporation Report)

Link: https://www.theepochtimes.com/gop-attorney-general-candidates-election-challenge-can-go-to-trial-arizona-judge_4936918.html

GOP Attorney General Candidate's Election Challenge Can Go to Trial - Arizona Judge | An Arizona judge on Tuesday ruled that a lawsuit filed by Republican Abraham Hamadeh challenging the results of the election for attorney general can proceed. Hamadeh lost to Democrat Kris Mayes by 511 votes out of 2.5 million ballots. Along with the Republican National Committee, Hamadeh filed a lawsuit in Maricopa County court on Nov. 22 against his opponent alleging "errors and inaccuracies" at voting locations during the election process and requesting "judicial intervention" to ensure the candidate who “received the highest number of lawful votes is declared the next Arizona Attorney General.” Mohave County Superior Court Judge Lee Jantzen said in a filing on Tuesday that Hamadeh can attempt to prove his case during a trial scheduled for Friday and can inspect ballots in Maricopa, Pima, and Navajo counties. 💬 “This case is different … because the Plaintiff is not alleging political motives or fraud or personal agendas being pushed. It is simply alleging misconduct by mistake, or omission by election officials, led to erroneous count of votes and which if true could have led to an uncertain result,” Judge Jantzen said in the filing (pdf).

Link: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2022/12/22/Benjamin-Netanyahu-announces-the-formation-of-a-new-Israeli-govt/7861671683808/

Benjamin Netanyahu late Wednesday announced he had succeeded in forming a coalition government that will return him to his former post as prime minister but atop an administration made of far right and religious parties. | Netanyahu informed Israeli President Isaac Herzog of the development in a phone call, a video of which was posted to the Twitter account of Israel's longest-serving leader with the caption: 💬 "Thanks to the enormous public support we received in the last elections, I was able to establish a government that will work for the benefit of all Israeli citizens." ● Netanyahu made the call shortly before the midnight Wednesday deadline on forming a coalition government, and nearly two months after he won a majority in the 120-seat Israeli parliament known as the Knesset with a bloc of religious and right-wing parties. 💬 "I've done it," Netanyahu tweeted Wednesday.  ● Though a majority of the agreements with his partners have not yet been finalized, judicial reform, expansion of Israeli settlements in the Occupied West Bank and the introduction and strengthening of far right and religious influence over state and social institutions, including secular education, are expected to be included, The Times of Israel reported. Some coalition leaders late Wednesday seemingly confirmed Netanyahu's announcement.

Link: https://ground.news/article/associates-of-ftx-founder-plead-guilty-to-criminal-charges_d1e5e7

U.S. authorities on Wednesday said they have charged Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, and Gary Wang, the former chief technology officer of FTX Trading Ltd, for their roles in the alleged fraud that contributed to FTX's collapse. (Ground News // Articles)

■ Two major FTX figures plead guilty to federal charges

Link: https://www.thesmatteringnews.com/p/breaking-elon-musk-to-appoint-donald

Twitter CEO Elon Musk has announced his successor as the head of the social media company after a poll revealed that more users would like him to step down from managing the day-to-day operations of the company. | After cautioning users to “be careful what you wish for,” Musk has decided to hand the reins to Donald Trump Jr. after he vacates his position. “So y’all don’t want me running Twitter anymore? Fine! Let’s see how you deal with THIS!” he said during a Twitter Spaces session. ● Twitter has not yet set a date for Trump’s takeover, but the son of former President Donald Trump seems ready and willing to run the company. 💬 “Oh, it’s gonna be LIT,” he told The Smattering. “Leftists had their collective panties in a bunch just because Elon wanted to create a level playing field for all political views. But now, I’m gonna go buck wild on this bird app.” He added: 💬 “Think of Fox News, Newsmax, and One America News Network as a social media site. That’s what you will be getting with the new Twitter.”

Link: https://americanbuddhist.net/2022/12/21/remember-our-government-is-doing-this-not-a-person-or-party-what-should-be-done-about-such-a-terrible-thing-donald-j-trump-the-rightful-president-of-the-united-states-of-america/

Filing this one under ‘usurpation’ because that is what has happened to this country. Many decades of clandestine asymmetric war have brought about the end of our political system as conceived and practiced for most of our history. - American Buddhist Net

Why Did the FBI Want Joe Biden to Become President? | Just imagine for a moment that Donald Trump, Jr. (or Eric) sat on the board of directors for a foreign company and “earned” millions of dollars for literally doing nothing. He didn’t know the industry and didn’t speak the language. The only thing Junior brought to the table was his last name. He made deals with foreign agents and foreign corporations to acquire rare materials like cobalt (used in electric cars) that was sold to Chinese interests for profit. While on an extended drug binge, he took a computer with lots of incriminating evidence to a repair shop and forgot or didn't care what he’d done with it. Then he ignored all the calls from the shop telling him to come pick up his computer. That would be huge news, wouldn’t it? ● Of course, Donald Trump, Sr. would be crucified. The media coverage would be nonstop. After years of witch hunts, they would finally have legitimate criminal behavior to investigate. The thousands of hours of airtime devoted to fake scandals would finally have paid off. ● But change the name from Donald Trump, Jr. to Hunter Biden and the political party that stands to suffer from the revelations from Republican to Democrat, and the media becomes curiously uninterested in doing their job, which is to report the truth: That Hunter Biden is the bagman for the Biden family crime syndicate. The latest Twitter Files information drop proves it. Not only has Hunter’s corrupt and criminal business deals been exposed, the extraordinary lengths to which the FBI acted to suppress a true story have been exposed, too.

Link: https://www.rt.com/russia/568633-ukraine-zelensky-washington-visit/

The Ukrainian president may visit the White House as Congress votes on a $45 billion aid package | Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky may be going to Washington, multiple US outlets reported on Tuesday, citing anonymous sources. While the administration of President Joe Biden would neither confirm nor deny the rumor, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a letter asking all members to attend in person on Wednesday for “a very special focus on Democracy.” ● Officially, Zelensky has not left the country since Russia began its military operation on February 24. He has addressed anyone who would listen via video-link, including the UN Security Council, in breach of standing rules. ● CNN cited “two sources familiar with the planning underway” to say the former actor is supposed to meet with Biden at the White House and address Congress on Wednesday evening, but that it all depends on security concerns. Axios added, citing “multiple senior leadership sources,” that the Capitol Police were already preparing security arrangements for the potential visit.

■ Washington Is Prolonging Ukraine's Suffering (Col. Douglas Macgregor)
■ Biden to announce U.S. sending Ukraine Patriot missiles during Zelensky visit
■ Zelensky to visit US, meet with Biden on December 21 — US administration
■ 'Another Beggar Asking For a Handout': Americans Mock Zelensky's Visit to Washington