Nicholas Kabcenell

Alex Pretti: Analysing Footage of Minneapolis CBP Shooting - bellingcat Bellingcat has analysed video of the shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. The footage appears to contradict statements made by the Department of Homeland Security.

We just published our full analysis of the ICE killing of Alex Pretti on Bellingcat
www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/01...

Arsenal with a “disappointing “ effort & result yesterday, but still “win” the weekend. Very nice.

The Maga war on European democracy

Martin Wolf @financialtimes.com brings some fire along with a lot of good data (great charts) and arguments to demonstrate the rank hypocrisy and dishonesty in the US National Security strategy.

We are bleeding manufacturing and goods producing jobs, not *despite* the tariffs, but probably *because* of them given the ham-fisted approach to tariffs.

Jack writes--correctly--that the military abduction and extraction of Maduro "pretty clearly isn’t" legal. It plainly violates Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, which is the supreme law of the United States (per Art. VI of the Constitution) and, as I've explained elsewhere, ... [1]

You were saying?

🔥Citing “national security,” Viktor Orbán’s government denied my public information request for agreements signed with Maduro’s Venezuela (incl. oil & gas) two years ago. Mentions of FM Péter Szijjártó’s meeting with Maduro are nowhere to be found on the Hungarian government’s website. I wonder why.

".. when all the white collar jobs are going away pretty damn quick .."

Happy Hanukah.

GOOD. She has demonstrated great competence in the past.

Trump, the Village People and some football: Welcome to FIFA’s carnival of cringe A bizarre World Cup fever dream played out in Washington DC, memorable for all the wrong reasons

Today I feel cowboy. Today I feel construction worker. Today I feel leather-bound biker.

On Infantino, Trump, the Village people & FIFA’s carnival of cringe.

For @theathleticfc.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/athletic/686...

This, written by Teddy Roosevelt just prior to US intervention in WW1, seems apt to quote re. America:

“The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, and love of soft living and the get-rich-quick theory of life.”

How to lobby Trump with Swiss precision: gifts, gold and gab How the Swiss broke a diplomatic logjam on tariffs by arriving with tributes fit for a king.

To negotiate a trade deal with the President of the United States, the Swiss government arrived with a "special Rolex desktop clock" and "a 1-kilogram personalized gold bar"

www.axios.com/2025/11/14/t...

Fantastic short piece on Mosquera. There is added admiration for the route he’s taken and the success he has already achieved. Pretty inspirational in a time desperately short of it.

Viktor Orbán’s Hail Mary. I was editor in chief of Hungary’s most-read independent daily until a pro-government media network bought the newspaper. It’s the fifth time in thirty years that politics has cost me my job—and it’s ...

Viktor Orbán’s Hail Mary.! 🦋
www.cjr.org/opinion/vikt...

The battle for New York A fight is brewing between Donald Trump and Zohran Mamdani

Unfortunately for New York, in their different ways Zohran Mamdani and Donald Trump are likely to compound the city’s problems. This matters not just for New Yorkers, but for America itself

Trump Pardons Founder of the Crypto Exchange Binance

NEW: Trump has pardoned Binance founder CZ, wiping away one of the US’s most significant crackdowns on crypto crime.

The pardon is emblematic of Trump’s approach to clemency:

CZ hired lawyers & lobbyists with Trump ties, while Binance struck a business deal with the Trump family’s crypto company.

Shameful.

Nederlandse diensten delen minder informatie met de VS: ‘Soms vertellen we dingen niet meer’ Het aantal dreigingen dat op Nederland afkomt is groot, zien de hoofden van de AIVD en de MIVD elke dag: niet alleen Russische agressie, maar ook de opmars van China als digitale macht en binnenlands ...

Dutch intelligence suspends sharing arrangements with the US after concluding that high level intel was routinely being shared by the White House with their friends in the Kremlin. www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/n...

As a European, I'm regularly amazed at the trivial everyday things Americans describe as a breakthrough discovery.

Nineteen years ago, on October 7, 2006, Anna Politkovskaya was assassinated by Putin's hitmen.
She was the first to tell the truth about Russia's mass crimes in Chechnya, which foreshadowed those in Syria, Ukraine, Africa and elsewhere. They could have been prevented.
Almost no one listened to her.

Laszlo Krasznahorkai Is Awarded Nobel Prize in Literature The award comes with prize money of almost $1.2 million.

Breaking News: The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Laszlo Krasznahorkai, the Hungarian novelist, for his “visionary oeuvre.”

Quite the intro for CBS's The NFL Today, celebrating its 50th anniversary.

The American license-permit raj

I saw this “stolperstein” directly in front of the McDonalds in the center of Veszprém

Exclusive: Fed Governor Cook declared her Atlanta property as “vacation home,” documents show A loan estimate for an Atlanta home purchased by Lisa Cook, the Federal Reserve governor accused of mortgage fraud by the Trump administration, shows that Cook had declared the property as a “vacation home,” according to a document reviewed by Reuters.

The mortgage fraud claim against Lisa Cook is false, per documents obtained by Reuters.

Bill Pulte's accusation, the sole pretext Trump used to fire her from the Fed, was that she claimed two homes as primary residence.

These docs show she did not.
www.reuters.com/world/us/fed...

The authoritarian checklist It is time to admit that America is no longer a functioning democracy

New, from me:
America is no longer a functioning democracy. It is a competitive authoritarian system, hurtling rapidly toward authoritarianism.
This was a hard piece to write but we can't move forward if we don’t acknowledge where we are.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-author...

‼️💥Hungary’s government kept secret that two weeks ago, thieves broke into the Kecskemét military airfield and stole locator compartment parts from under the nose cones of retired Soviet-era MiG-29s (19 jets are parked there). The serious incident was revealed by tabloid Blikk.

Smotrich: Gaza will be ‘inseparable part of Israel,’ IDF chief favors ‘security annexation’ At Knesset conference on 'Gaza Riviera,' whose name and focus play off Trump announcement, far-right finance minister touts 'tremendous opportunity' to reestablish settlements in Strip

Nothing to see here, just messianic racist war criminals having a conference about messianic war criminal things and other "tremendous opportunities" for crimes against humanity in the Knesset

Inside Viktor Orbán’s Failure to Achieve His Demographic Goal - VSquare.org The Prime Minister has long said that he would like to grow the population of Hungary without bringing in immigrants. Recently, births have fallen, but the number of people leaving the country has als...

💥Viktor Orbán’s demographic strategy is a disaster. Over the past decade, 37.8% of Hungary’s population decline was due to emigration to other EU countries. Hungary is losing the competition to retain its own citizens while birth rates tank. Read Direkt36's in-depth article on @vsquare.bsky.social👇