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President Donald Trump used an early morning post on Tuesday to urge Republican governors nationwide to shift their states toward paper-only voting, praising Texas counties that have already moved in that direction. “Great news! Dallas County, Texas, just went to all PAPER BALLOTS,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Many others are following suit! More accurate, totally secure with watermark paper, FASTER, and only 9% of the cost. All Republican Governors should mandatorily do this. Save Money and Freedom. Lead the Democrats out of their corrupt ways! President DJT.”

His comments come as Texas Republicans mount a broader effort to overhaul how primary elections are conducted. Because state law gives political parties control over their own primaries, GOP officials in several counties are attempting to move away from machine tabulation and instead count ballots by hand during next March’s elections.

The push has already taken hold in multiple parts of Texas. GOP leaders in Dallas, Hays, Eastland, and Gillespie counties have already adopted paper-only, hand-counting plans for the upcoming primary. Orange County Republicans approved a similar shift this past summer, signaling that the movement has been gaining momentum among local party activists.

While primary elections are generally managed by county election departments on behalf of both parties, some Republican officials are now opting to run their own precinct-level voting operations and discard scanning equipment on Election Day.

The Texas Tribune reports that election officials in Collin, Williamson, and Bastrop counties have begun modifying their systems and procedures as part of their compliance with a Trump executive order issued in March. That order sought to sharply curtail the use of voting machines that rely on barcodes or QR codes to expedite tabulation of paper ballots.

Across the country, many states already use paper ballots as the foundation of their election systems, whether hand-marked or produced through ballot-marking devices. But those ballots are typically fed into optical scanners, a method the National Conference of State Legislatures notes is still considered paper-based—though not strictly “paper-only”—because the actual counting is automated rather than manual.

{Matzav.com}

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday cited the “fog of war” in defending a follow-up strike on an alleged drug-carrying boat in the Caribbean Sea in early September. During a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Hegseth said he did not see any survivors in the water when the second strike was ordered and launched, […]

During a Cabinet session on Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem delivered a blistering assessment of what she said was rampant visa and benefits fraud tied to Minnesota, asserting that the administration is preparing aggressive steps to recover federal funds and expel individuals she claims are in the country unlawfully. “You told me to look into Minnesota and their fraud on visas and their programs. Fifty percent of them are fraudulent,” Noem told President Donald Trump in remarks broadcast live on Newsmax.

Noem went even further in her criticism of Gov. Tim Walz, directing sharp words toward the state’s top executive. “That wacko Governor Walz either is an idiot or he did it on purpose. And I think he’s both, sir,” she said, arguing that policies under his watch had paved the way for what she characterized as systemic abuse.

According to Noem, federal investigators uncovered cases involving immigrants in Minnesota “were married to somebody who was their brother or somebody else,” which she cited as part of what she described as “fraudulent visa applications” used to secure various government benefits. She alleged that Walz’s approach to immigration oversight “brought people in there illegally that never should have been in this country,” leading to a landscape where fraudulent claims “took hundreds of billions of dollars from the taxpayers.”

She declared that the administration intends to “remove them” and “get our money back,” adding that the coming year would see the appointment of officials who “love this country and have its back.”

Her statements align with recent enforcement priorities laid out by federal immigration authorities, who have singled out Minnesota as a focal point of ongoing investigations into alleged immigration and benefits fraud.

On Nov. 24, the Department of Justice announced that 78 individuals had been charged in connection with misuse of the federal Child Nutrition Program under the now-defunct Feeding Our Future initiative. Prosecutors have described the case as the nation’s largest instance of COVID-19-era fraud.

Separately, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reported this fall that a Minnesota-based initiative known as “Operation Twin Shield” identified 275 suspected fraud cases in the Minneapolis–St. Paul region. Local accounts have described allegations of both visa-related misconduct and sham marriages as part of the broader investigation.

{Matzav.com}

Someone dies by suicide every eleven minutes in the United States and it is reported to be the second leading cause of death for individuals aged 10 to 34. Men are four times as likely to die by suicide as women, and the most vulnerable age group is those 75+. This is in contrast to […]

UN Passes Two Resolutions Targeting Israel * Golan Heights Resolution – The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling on Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights. The measure passed with 123 in favor, 7 against, and 41 abstentions. * Palestinian Resolution – A separate resolution supporting a “peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine” […]

BREAKING: President Trump has formally voided all Biden autopen documents, pardons, and commutations.

USDA secretary threatens to cut funding to blue states over alleged SNAP data noncompliance • U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins threatened to cut off federal funding to Democratic-leaning states over what she alleged is their refusal to share SNAP program data with the Trump administration. • The administration “will begin to stop moving federal funds […]

ChatGPT outage: OpenAI’s chatbot is down for some users • OpenAI’s AI chatbot ChatGPT was down for some users Tuesday. • The company said it was “currently experiencing issues” but has applied a mitigation, according to its status page. • Roughly 3,000 people reported issues with the chatbot on Tuesday, according to Downdetector.

TRUMP: We had a very productive call with President Lula of Brazil. Among the things discussed were trade, how our countries could work together to stop organized crime, sanctions imposed on various Brazilian, dignitaries, tariffs, and various other items.

Newly filed court records reveal that the man accused of ambushing two National Guard soldiers in downtown Washington, D.C., cried out “Allahu Akbar” as he unleashed gunfire, and appeared to be midway through reloading when officers and troops brought him down and placed him under arrest.

Authorities say the shooter, identified as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, arrived in the United States in 2021 after the American withdrawal from Afghanistan. He had previously been connected to one of the CIA’s “Zero Units.” Investigators allege that he opened fire on Specialist Sarah Beckstrom and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe of the West Virginia National Guard in a brazen midday assault.

Beckstrom, just 20 years old, succumbed to her wounds on Thanksgiving Day. Wolfe was rushed to the hospital, where he continues to fight for his life in critical condition.

Surveillance footage included in the affidavit paints a disturbing prelude: Lakanwal lingering outside the Farragut West Metro Station, only a short walk from the White House, staring toward the west as if waiting for a cue. Prosecutors say he remained there for “about a minute” before sprinting toward the corner of 17th Street and I Street Northwest.

Another camera captured the moment he rounded the corner with his arms raised “in a firing stance,” according to the court filing. The video shows him directing bullets at Beckstrom and Wolfe, both of whom drop to the pavement after being struck in the head, the documents state.

A nearby National Guard member, identified in the affidavit as Complainant Reynolds, recognized the sounds of gunfire and immediately responded. He drew his service weapon and exchanged shots with Lakanwal, ultimately hitting the suspect and knocking him to the ground.

Reynolds later told investigators he believed the attacker’s weapon had run dry and that the suspect appeared to be reloading when help arrived. At that moment, another Guard officer, referred to in the filings only as “W-1,” lunged onto the gunman and restrained him until authorities could secure the scene.

{Matzav.com}

A striking before-and-after satellite image shows severe flooding in Sri Lanka, where heavy rains from a cluster of tropical cyclones have left homes and neighborhoods submerged.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the capture of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, hailing it as a major win for Moscow’s forces while Ukrainian officials rejected the claim and insisted fighting was ongoing

President Donald Trump’s administration said Tuesday that it will move to withhold SNAP food aid from recipients in most Democratic-controlled states starting next week unless they provide information about those receiving the assistance. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday that the action is in the works because those states are refusing […]

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth used Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting to deliver an unapologetic defense of commanders overseeing U.S. strikes on suspected drug-smuggling vessels, insisting that his department “will always have the back” of those “making decisions in difficult situations.”

His remarks came as the White House and Pentagon continued dealing with fallout from reports that a second strike in the Caribbean may have hit individuals who survived the initial attack on a narco-trafficking boat. Hegseth rejected the idea that the operation represented anything other than direct, justified action. “We’re taking the fight to these designated terror organizations. And that’s exactly what we’re doing,” he said during the meeting, which aired live on Newsmax.

Hegseth said the administration’s approach marks a dramatic break from what he described as years of failed policy, accusing past leaders of relying on a “rinse-and-repeat approach.” He argued that traffickers have embedded themselves in American communities and caused devastating harm, adding that the campaign is aimed at stopping that damage before it reaches U.S. shores. According to him, the drug networks have left “hundreds of thousands of Americans poisoned.”

He made clear that President Donald Trump shifted course entirely. “President Trump said, ‘No, we’re taking the gloves off,’” Hegseth told reporters. “‘We’re taking the fight to these designated terror organizations.’” He also praised Trump’s comments on the significant drop in maritime drug flow into the country. As Trump put it, drugs arriving “by sea are down 91% … I don’t know who the 9% is.”

With fewer targets remaining, Hegseth said the slowdown in maritime strikes is a sign that deterrence is working. “We’ve had a bit of a pause because it’s hard to find boats to strike right now, which is the entire point, right?” he said, emphasizing that the goal is to stop the trafficking, not repeatedly capture and release smugglers. “Deterrence has to matter, not arrest and hand over and then do it again.”

Hegseth linked the entire strategy to Trump’s agenda, stressing that the War Department will support the officers carrying out these operations. “I will just end by saying, as President Trump always has our back, we always have the back of our commanders who are making decisions in difficult situations,” he said. “And we do in this case, and all these strikes, they’re making judgment calls and ensuring that they defend the American people. They’ve done the right things. We’ll keep doing that. And we have their backs.”

That same morning, the War Department publicly accused The Washington Post of fabricating comments attributed to Hegseth in its reporting on the Caribbean operation. Press secretary Kingsley Wilson said the newspaper’s account distorted the facts and was contradicted even by other media outlets. She said, “a completely fake story in The Washington Post, now discredited by the New York Times, tried to mischaracterize these successful strikes in bad faith. It was an attempt to damage the secretary and the president, and the people saw through it.”

The incident at the center of the dispute occurred on Sept. 2, when U.S. forces executed a secondary strike after the first attack crippled the suspected narco-smuggling vessel. Lawmakers and legal analysts have questioned whether the survivors still posed an imminent threat at the moment of the follow-up strike.

Wilson insisted the mission was fully lawful. “Our operations in the SOUTHCOM region are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict,” she said, adding that “These actions have also been approved by the best military and civilian lawyers up and down the chain of command.” She emphasized that Hegseth supports the officer who made the decision, Vice Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, noting he stands behind him “100%.”

The White House confirmed that Bradley acted under standing authority, backing the decision despite the scrutiny surrounding the operation.

{Matzav.com}

A Jerusalem court on Tuesday sentenced two East-Jerusalem residents to prison after convicting them of plotting a truck-bomb attack near the Israeli Knesset. Mustafa Abd Al-Nabi was given a 12-year prison sentence, while Ahmad Natasha received five years plus a suspended sentence. Prosecutors said the pair had planned to detonate a bomb-laden vehicle close to […]

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey says as many as 100 federal agents are headed to the Twin Cities following reports of massive taxpayer fraud committed by Somali immigrants.

The Trump administration has moved to tighten security around National Guard personnel, with War Department press secretary Kingsley Wilson announcing that Guard members stationed in Washington, D.C., have now been fully armed. Wilson explained that the step aligns with the administration’s broader insistence on ensuring troops can protect themselves while assisting civil authorities. “I can confirm that everybody in D.C. is now armed,” she told reporters, making clear that Guard units in the capital are now working closely with local police in combined patrols.

She stressed that safeguarding the soldiers remains a priority for officials overseeing the deployments. “Their safety, of course, is top of mind, and we will continue to make sure they’re able to do their jobs in keeping all of our great Americans safe across our country,” Wilson said. She also noted that ongoing Guard missions in Chicago and Los Angeles will not be halted, even in the wake of recent violence.

The heightened security posture comes on the heels of a tragic assault in Washington, D.C., where U.S. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom was killed and U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe was gravely injured. Both were serving with the West Virginia National Guard when they were attacked. A 29-year-old Afghan national has been charged in the case, prompting fresh debate about how best to protect Guard personnel deployed in support roles in major cities.

President Donald Trump has personally expressed support for the families affected by the attack, sharing that he welcomed Beckstrom’s relatives to the White House and intends to honor both service members. “When you’re ready, because that’s a tough thing, come to the White House,” Trump said. “We’re going to honor Sarah — and likewise with Andrew, recover or not.”

Back in West Virginia, communities have been gathering for vigils, mourning Beckstrom and davening for Wolfe’s recovery. Gov. Patrick Morrisey delivered an encouraging update during a Newsmax-broadcast press conference, explaining that Wolfe has shown hopeful signs despite being in serious condition. “We did have some positive news,” Morrisey said, recounting reports that Wolfe responded to a nurse with a thumbs-up and “wiggled his toes.” The governor said Wolfe’s mother has asked people to continue davening, noting, “Those prayers are working.”

Morrisey added that about 170 West Virginia Guard members currently serving in Washington volunteered for the assignment because of their commitment to both state and country. “They’re volunteering because they believe in the mission. They want to support the state of West Virginia. They want to support the country,” he said.

For officials in Washington, Wilson’s remarks underscore a broader administration approach: reinforcing the security of deployed troops while maintaining a visible law-and-order presence in cities facing instability. Supporters of the move argue that if service members are placed in unpredictable situations on American streets, arming them is simply a responsible and necessary precaution.

{Matzav.com}

SEE IT! California man finds massive bear living in narrow crawl space underneath home

President Trump to media member holding microphone boom: “How strong are you? You’ve been holding that thing for 2 hours….I’m very proud of you. I have no idea who you are, but you’re strong.”

PUTIN: “If Europe suddenly wants to wage war with us, and starts it, we are ready right away.”