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Douglas Macgregor: Russia, China & Iran Seek to Contain U.S. Military

Glenn Diesen | February 4, 2026

Douglas Macgregor is a retired Colonel, combat veteran and former senior advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Defense. Col. Macgregor explains how the military adventures of the U.S. are incentivising greater military cooperation between Russia, China and Iran.

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February 4, 2026 Posted by | Militarism, Video, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Judge Strikes Down Hawaii Deepfake Law as Unconstitutional

By voiding Hawaii’s law, the court signaled that the fear of deepfakes cannot outweigh the freedom to mock those in power.

By Cindy Harper | Reclaim The Net | February 4, 2026

A federal judge has struck down Hawaii’s election “deepfake” law, calling it a violation of free political expression. In The Babylon Bee v. Lopez, U.S. District Judge Shanlyn Park ruled that Act 191, which criminalized or penalized the use of certain AI-generated media during elections, infringed on both the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

The ruling permanently blocks enforcement of the statute, which had been set to take effect on February 1. The satirical website The Babylon Bee and Hawaii-based content creator Dawn O’Brien brought the case, arguing that the law threatened parody and political commentary protected by the Constitution.

We obtained a copy of the order for you here.

Act 191 would have made it a crime to share or repost “materially deceptive media” without a disclaimer during election periods if that material could be seen as damaging a candidate’s reputation or influencing voters. It covered any AI-altered image, video, or audio that showed a person “engaging in speech or conduct in which the depicted individual did not in fact engage” and that a “reasonable viewer or listener” might believe was authentic.

Although broadcasters and most online intermediaries were exempt unless they helped create or knowingly distributed such content, the law still applied broadly to individual users and content creators.

Judge Park’s opinion dismantled the measure, describing it as a direct restriction on political speech and creative expression. “Political speech, of course, is at the core of what the First Amendment is designed to protect,” she wrote. The court found that compelled disclaimers would distort the meaning and effect of satirical speech.

“As plaintiffs point out, Act 191’s compelled disclaimer would impermissibly alter the content, intended effect, and message of their speech,” Park wrote. “Put simply, a mandatory disclaimer for parody or satire would kill the joke.”

Supporters of Act 191, including Governor Josh Green, had described it as a necessary defense against misinformation in the era of artificial intelligence. Lawmakers said AI-generated videos or fake audio could mislead voters or inflame tensions during elections. The measure passed with near-unanimous legislative approval in 2024, but the court found that the government’s aims did not justify limiting protected expression.

Judge Park said Hawaii failed to show that its goals could not be achieved through less restrictive means. She pointed to digital literacy education, voluntary counter-speech campaigns, and enforcement of existing laws on defamation and fraud as viable alternatives.

“[State defendants] have failed to demonstrate that existing laws are insufficient to deal with the purported risk of political deepfakes and generative AI technologies on the integrity of Hawaii elections,” she wrote.

The opinion also criticized the statute for vague and subjective language that left unclear what conduct was prohibited. The law’s focus on “risk” rather than concrete harm, Park explained, gave enforcement agencies too much discretion and created a danger of selective prosecution based on viewpoint.

“Rather than require actual harm, Act 191 imposes a risk assessment based solely on the value judgments and biases of the enforcement agency, which could conceivably lead to discretionary and targeted enforcement that discriminates based on viewpoint,” she wrote.

“This decision marks yet another victory for the First Amendment and for anyone who values the right to speak freely on political matters without government interference,” said The Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon. “We are grateful to Alliance Defending Freedom for representing us as we continue to challenge laws that treat comedy like a crime.”

By striking down Act 191, the court reaffirmed that satire and parody remain protected forms of political participation even when created with new technology. The decision prevents Hawaii from regulating humor, commentary, or artistic expression under the guise of protecting election integrity.

The ruling leaves Hawaii without a dedicated deepfake election statute as the 2026 campaign season approaches and may influence similar efforts in other states that are considering restrictions on AI-generated political media.

SIMILAR: Judge Strikes Down California Deepfake Censorship Law

February 4, 2026 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , | Leave a comment

Sen. Schumer: I Will Continue to Fight to Give Israel All the Aid It Needs

Photo by : Haim Zach / GPO
By Kyle Anzalone | The Libertarian Institute | February 4, 2026

Senator Chuck Schumer said that he would fight to get Israel “all the aid that it needs.”

“I will fight for aid to Israel. All the aid that Israel needs. I will continue to fight for it,” the Senate minority leader said on Saturday. He went on to refer to Israel aid as his “baby.”

The US has provided hundreds of billions in security assistance to Israel and fought several wars in the Middle East for Tel Aviv. Following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, the US sent Israel $14 billion in arms that were used to conduct a genocide in Gaza.

Schumer touted his role in passing that aid package to Israel. “We delivered more security assistance to Israel, our ally, under my leadership than ever, ever before. We will keep doing that,” he told the conference of Jewish-Americans. “As long as I’m in the Senate. This program will continue to grow from strength to strength, and we won’t let anyone attack it or undo it.”

The Democratic leader of the Upper Chamber also said that he hopes the ceasefire in Gaza turns into a lasting peace. However, Israel is undermining the truce with daily strikes on Gaza. Since Saturday, Israel has killed over 60 Palestinians.

While the US holds significant leverage over Israel via military assistance, statements like Schumer’s make it clear to Tel Aviv that Washington is unprepared to threaten Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that if he does not comply with the ceasefire, Washington will end the flow of aid.

February 4, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , | Leave a comment

Epstein Files- Steve Bannon Admits Trump Administration Would ‘Not Cross Sheldon Adelson’ During First Term

The Dissident | February 4, 2026

In text messages between Steve Bannon and Jeffrey Epstein in 2018, now released as part of the DOJ’s Epstein releases , Bannon admitted that the Trump administration was captured by the Zionist lobby and the Zionist mega donor Sheldon Adelson.

While discussing U.S. policy towards Qatar with Epstein, Bannon admitted “Bolton [John Bolton, then National Security Advisor to Trump] only doing what Sheldon Adelson tells him to do– I got John the job but he will not cross Sheldon” to which Epstein replied, “I’m aware”.

This is further conformation that much of Trump’s foreign policy agenda during his first term was set by Sheldon Adelson, and since his passing, his wife Miriam Adelson.

During a speech to the Israeli Knesset last year, Trump boasted , “I am proud to be the best friend that Israel has ever had” then went on to list every policy he enacted at the behest of Israel, saying,

But as president, I terminated the disastrous Iran nuclear deal. And ultimately, I terminated Iran’s nuclear program with things called B-2 bombers. It was swift and it was accurate, and it was a military beauty.

I authorized the spending of billions of dollars which went to Israel’s defense, as you know. And after years of broken promises from many other American presidents, you know that they kept promising… I never understood it until I got there. There was a lot of pressure put on these presidents. It was put on me too, but I didn’t yield to the pressure. But every president for decades said, “We’re gonna do it.” The difference is I kept my promise and officially recognized the capital of Israel and moved the American Embassy to Jerusalem.

He then credited the Adelsons with these Zionist policies, pointing to Miriam in the crowd after listing them and saying, “Isn’t that right, Miriam?”

He added, “Miriam and Sheldon would come into the office. They’d call me, he’d call me. I think they had more trips to the White House than anybody else I can think of … And she loves Israel. But she loves it. And they would come in, and her husband was a very aggressive man, but I loved him. He was very aggressive, very supportive of me. And, he’d call up, ‘Can I come over and see you?’ I’d say, ‘Sheldon, I’m the President of the United States, it doesn’t work that way.’ He’d come in… But they were very responsible for so much, including getting me thinking about Golan Heights, which is probably one of the greatest things to ever happen to Israel.”

He even admitted that Miriam Adelson- who Trump admitted was “responsible for so much” cared more about Israel than America, saying, “I actually asked her, I’m gonna get her in trouble with this, but I actually asked her once, I said, ‘So, Miriam, I know you love Israel. What do you love more, the United States or Israel?’ She refused to answer. That means, that might mean, Israel”.

While introducing Miriam Adelson at an event, Trump again boasted “Miriam (Adelson) gave my campaign $250 million” adding, “her husband Sheldon was an amazing guy, he’d come up to the office, and there was nobody more aggressive than Sheldon … he would always say ten minutes it turned out to be an hour and a half and what he did was he fought for Israel, it’s all he really fought for”.

Bannon’s comments in 2018 are just further conformation that Trump’s agenda was shaped by money from Miriam and Sheldon Adelson during his first term, and since Sheldon Adelson’s passing in 2021, Miriam Adelson, during his current term.

February 4, 2026 Posted by | Corruption, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , | Leave a comment

Israel-Palestine head of HRW resigns over blocked report on Palestinians right of return

Press TV – February 4, 2026

The Israel-Palestine director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) has resigned in protest, saying the organization’s new Executive Director prevented the publication of a report exposing Israel for committing “crimes against humanity” by denying Palestinian refugees their right of return.

In separate resignations published on Tuesday, Omar Shakir, who led HRW’s Israel-Palestine team for nearly a decade, and assistant researcher Milena Ansari condemned the leadership’s decision as a break from standard approval procedures.

“I have lost my faith in the integrity of how we do our work and our commitment to principled reporting on the facts and application of the law … As such, I am no longer able to represent or work for Human Rights Watch,” Shakir wrote in his resignation letter.

The resignations have shaken one of the world’s most prominent human rights organizations.

The 33-page report, never published, documented the experiences of Palestinians displaced from Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and refugee communities in Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria.

It linked decades of denied return to clear violations of international law, including crimes that could be prosecuted.

HRW leadership claimed the report involved “complex and consequential issues” requiring further analysis before release.

In response, Shakir countered on the social media platform X, saying “the report was finalized after 7 months in review & signed off on by the MENA division, five different specialists, the Program Office & the Law & Policy Office.”

Shakir said the refusal to publish showed a disturbing unwillingness to confront Israel’s ongoing crimes.

While terms like “apartheid, genocide and ethnic cleansing” are increasingly recognized internationally, the right of return remains off-limits even within Human Rights Watch, he warned.

“The one topic … even at Human Rights Watch, for which there remains an unwillingness to apply the law and the facts in a principled way, is the plight of refugees and their right to return to the homes that they were forced to flee,” he said.

Shakir and Ansari said attempts to narrow the report’s scope to recent displacements in Gaza and the occupied West Bank weakened its legal case and silenced the voices of generations of refugees.

Over 200 HRW staff protested the report’s suppression, warning that the decision could seriously damage the organization’s credibility.

At least 7 million Palestinians live as refugees across Gaza, the occupied territories, and neighboring countries, driven from their homes during the Nakba.

The Nakba, or “catastrophe,” refers to the forced expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians by Zionist militias and the newly established Israeli regime in 1948. Thousands were killed during this genocidal campaign.

Since Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza on October 7, 2023, the number of displaced Palestinians has risen by at least 1.5 million, intensifying a decades-long injustice.

February 4, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Progressive Hypocrite, War Crimes | , | Leave a comment

Israel to shut water, electricity at UNRWA facilities in occupied territories

Press TV – February 4, 2026

Israel will begin cutting off water and electricity to United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) facilities in the occupied Palestinian territories, a top Israeli minister announced on Wednesday.

Israel’s Energy and Infrastructure Minister Eli Cohen told The Jerusalem Post that he will “personally” oversee the shutdown of utilities to UNRWA offices in occupied al-Quds starting today.

Cohen accused the agency of operating “in a systematic way to incite against Israel.” He said utility companies had been formally instructed to carry out the cutoff, which is expected to be completed within two weeks.”

“In principle, the law was passed about two weeks ago. Warning letters have already been sent to properties that we identified as belonging to UNRWA,” he added.

“We are now working to locate all UNRWA assets, evacuate them where necessary, and in some cases, seize the properties,” Cohen said. “Where they continue operating, we will disconnect electricity and shut down the buildings.”

Israel’s parliament, known as the Knesset, passed legislation in late December stripping UNRWA of diplomatic immunity. The law exposes the agency to legal action in Israeli courts, bars the regime’s companies from supplying it with water, electricity, or financial services, and allows authorities to seize its offices in occupied East al-Quds.

UN agencies are normally protected by diplomatic immunity under international conventions ratified by Israel. Tel Aviv’s move to revoke these protections comes amid a broader crackdown that began after it launched its genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023.

Israel also began demolishing UNRWA’s headquarters in al-Quds on Tuesday.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini condemned the demolition, calling it “an unprecedented attack” and “a new level of deliberate defiance of international law.”

Francesca Albanese has called for Israel’s suspension from the United Nations following the regime’s destruction of UNRWA headquarters in occupied East al-Quds.
Established in 1949 by a UN General Assembly resolution, UNRWA provides assistance and protection to Palestinian refugees across Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the occupied West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.

The shutdown of its facilities has drawn sharp international criticism since Israel first moved to curtail the agency’s operations in areas under its control.

The ban severed contact between UNRWA and Israeli authorities, severely restricting its ability to operate in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Israel has also stopped issuing visas to UNRWA staff.

The agency, which provides essential education, healthcare and humanitarian aid to millions of Palestinians, played a central role in delivering food, medicine and shelter during Israel’s war on Gaza, with many of its schools used as shelters for displaced civilians.

February 4, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Germany eyes military space spending splurge to counter ‘threats’ from Russia, China: Report

By Deng Xiaoci | Global Times | February 4, 2026

The head of German Space Command Michael Traut reportedly claimed that Germany is considering a 35 billion euro ($41 billion) military space push, including spy satellites, space planes and offensive lasers, citing so-called “threats” from Russia and China in orbit. Chinese analysts on Wednesday slammed the move as classic double standards and Cold War mentality, as it cites baseless China “threat” claims, while ignoring the fact that the US is the top driver of space militarization.

Speaking with Reuters on the sideline of a space event ahead of the Singapore Airshow, Traut claimed that the spending plan is “aimed at countering growing threats from Russia and China in orbit,” Reuters reported on Tuesday local time.

It is reported that Traut revealed that Germany will build an encrypted military constellation of more than 100 satellites, known as SATCOM Stage 4, over the next few years. He also claimed network would mirror the model used by the US Space Development Agency, which is described by the Reuters as “a Pentagon unit that deploys low-Earth-orbit satellites for communications and missile tracking.”

Chinese analysts pointed out that while turning a blind eye to the US, the main driver behind the militarization of outer space, Germany choses to hype a groundless space threat theory against China and Russia. This is a typical manifestation of deep-seated double standards and camp confrontation with Cold War mentality, analysts said.

This kind of double standard is blatantly obvious, military affairs expert Zhang Junshe told the Global Times on Wednesday. “The US is currently the country that has deployed the most military offensive assets in space. Yet now, while Germany wants to imitate the US and do the same thing, it turns around and make baseless accusations against China and Russia. This is textbook double standards, Zhang criticized.

Notably, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has just expressively harped on the importance of “American space dominance,” and claimed that the US needs to “dominate the ultimate highground,” at Blue Origin rocket factory in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on US local time Monday, News Nation reported Tuesday.

Germany will channel funding into intelligence gathering satellites, sensors and systems designed to disrupt adversary spacecraft, including lasers and equipment capable of targeting ground-based infrastructure, Traut claimed in his interview with Reuters. He also pointed to so-called inspector satellites – small spacecraft capable of maneuvering close to other satellites – which he claimed Russia and China had already deployed.

Hype about the “China-Russia space threat” has become a form of political correctness among European countries. Regardless of the facts, they feel compelled to point the finger at China and Russia. As an established old-school Western power, Germany is no exception to this cliché, Song Zhongping, a military affairs expert, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

It must be emphasized that should this plan come to fruition, it would markedly heighten the intensity of the space arms race, Song noted.

Germany’s indigenous launch capabilities are woefully inadequate. If it turns to SpaceX’s Falcon 9 for these deployments, it would confirm Germany’s status as an immature and dependent space actor. Should it instead rely on foreign rocket systems, that reliance would primarily fall on the US – leaving Germany unable to shake off its profound strategic dependence on the US, Song warned.

February 4, 2026 Posted by | Militarism | , , , | Leave a comment

Power outages in Russian region after Ukrainian attack – governor

RT | February 4, 2026

Ukrainian strikes have severely damaged energy infrastructure in Russia’s Belgorod Region, causing widespread power outages and disrupting heating and water supplies, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported on Wednesday morning.

Emergency crews worked through the night to repair the damage following what he described as a massive attack.

According to the governor, the city of Belgorod was struck by 12 munitions and three drones, with energy facilities among the damaged targets. Drone and artillery attacks were reported across nearly a dozen other districts. In the village of Dunayka, a drone attack on a truck wounded a man, requiring hospitalization. Another civilian was injured by an FPV drone in the village of Glotovo. A volunteer fighter was also wounded in Borisovsky District.

Due to the extensive damage to the power grid, Gladkov ordered schools and vocational colleges in ten districts to switch to remote learning, with kindergartens operating in a limited capacity.

He warned residents that emergency power outages would be unavoidable during the restoration work.

On Wednesday, the governor of neighboring Bryansk Region, Aleksandr Bogomaz, reported that Ukrainian forces had also used US-made HIMARS rockets to strike residential buildings, seriously injuring a woman.

The cross-border attacks come ahead of more US-backed talks between Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi. Last week, at the request of US President Donald Trump, Moscow agreed to unilaterally temporarily suspend strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure as an act of good will before the negotiations, which were scheduled for Sunday but have been postponed.

Trump stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin had “kept his word” and that the pause had indeed lasted for a week from Sunday to Sunday. Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky, however, claimed Russia had broken its promise by resuming attacks on Tuesday, saying the count should have started from a different day.

February 4, 2026 Posted by | Militarism | , , | Leave a comment