Joseph Gedeon

Israel flagged Hezbollah threat before launching air attacks, leaked memo shows

US embassy cable said Israeli officials did not trust Lebanon or Syria to contain the group’s fighters

Israel flagged Hezbollah threat before launching air attacks, leaked memo shows US embassy cable said Israeli officials did not trust Lebanon or Syria to contain the group’s fighters * Middle East crisis – live updates An internal US assessment indicates that Israeli officials had doubts that the Lebanese state could disarm Hezbollah even before Israel launched an aerial campaign against the group on Monday. The leaked embassy cable shows that on the eve of the joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran, Israeli officials had told Washington that Hezbollah was reconstituting its military capabilities faster than the Lebanese armed forces could degrade them. It said neither Beirut nor Damascus could be trusted to contain the threat on Israel’s northern borders. Continue reading...

Israel flagged Hezbollah threat before launching air attacks, leaked memo shows

Epstein files contain explicit but unsubstantiated claim that Trump abused minor Department of Justice did not release FBI memos when it uploaded millions of pages of files beginning in December

The Guardian has obtained the missing 302s from the Epstein files, describing accusations against Donald Trump. Story from @jsweetli.bsky.social and @jgedeon.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

In a sit-down with the @us.theguardian.com at the @defiance.org counter-SOTU event in DC last night, Robert De Niro reflects on the political similarities from the Vietnam war era and today, calls Trump a "lunatic", and says "we have to push back". Take a listen:

Interview with Robert DeNiro, who calls Trump "a lunatic" at the State of the Swamp counter SOTU event, coming soon!

A glimpse of the mood at the counter "state of the swamp" SOTU panel

Mahmoud Khalil is still fighting for others as he fights his own deportation: ‘It’s about raising the alarm’

The case of the Palestinian activist, the face of 2024’s US campus protests, could have repercussions for thousands

Four men in unredacted files named by Ro Khanna have no ties to Epstein The men appeared in a photo lineup assembled by the southern district of New York and had no apparent connection to the late sex offender

NEW: Reps Khanna and Massie pushed the DOJ to unredact a file in the Epstein files. Then Khanna read four men's names from it in a House floor speech, calling them "wealthy and powerful men that the DOJ hid for no apparent reason." /

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

US paid $32m to five countries to accept about 300 deportees, report shows

Some of the world’s most corrupt countries have received huge payments in controversial third-country deportation scheme

Mahmoud Khalil is still fighting for others as he fights his own deportation: ‘It’s about raising the alarm’

The case of the Palestinian activist, the face of 2024’s US campus protests, could have repercussions for thousands

Trump administration halts immigrant visa processing from 75 countries The state department cites welfare use as it pauses visa processing for Brazil, Iran, Russia, Somalia and others The Donald Trump administration has indefinitely suspended immigrant visa processing for people from 75 countries, marking one of its most expansive efforts yet to restrict legal pathways to the United States. The freeze, which takes effect on 21 January, targets applicants officials deem likely to become a “public charge” – who they describe as people who may rely on government benefits for basic needs. Continue reading...

Trump administration halts immigrant visa processing from 75 countries

Trump administration suspends immigrant visas for applicants from 75 countries

The state department cites welfare use as it pauses visa processing for Brazil, Iran, Russia, Somalia and others

Top Democrats call for investigation into share-buying spree by Trump allies Fossil fuel execs Robert Pender and Michael Sabel deny wrongdoing after report on potential conflict of interest

By me and @jgedeon.bsky.social
More top Democrats call for investigation into share-buying spree by fossil fuel billionaire Trump donors
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

US senator calls for insider trading inquiry over Trump donors buying $12m worth of shares Co-chairs of LNG firm, who bought stock worth almost $12m each after meeting with Trump officials, deny wrongdoing

By me and @jgedeon.bsky.social
US senator calls for insider trading inquiry over Trump donors buying $12m worth of shares
www.the-guardian.com/business/202...

US senator calls for insider trading inquiry over Trump donors buying $12m worth of shares Co-chairs of LNG firm, who bought stock worth almost $12m each after meeting with Trump officials, deny wrongdoing

Latest by @ninalakhani.bsky.social and @jgedeon.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Palestinian-American teenager held in Israeli prison freed after nine months Israeli soldiers had taken Mohammed Ibrahim from his home in a night raid when he was only 15 years old

ICYMI: This is such important reporting by @jgedeon.bsky.social at the Guardian on the American teenager who was held in an Israeli prison until last week www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

We first uncovered Mohammed's imprisonment and his poor condition while reporting on the killing of his cousin Saif, in mid-July.

After months of additional reporting, he's now been released to be with his family

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Palestinian-American teenager held in Israeli prison freed after nine months Israeli soldiers had taken Mohammed Ibrahim from his home in a night raid when he was only 15 years old

16-year-old Palestinian-American citizen Mohammed Ibrahim was freed on Thursday after spending nine months in an Israeli prison
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

Trump envoy reportedly told Kremlin official that Ukraine must cede land for peace deal Steve Witkoff told Yuri Ushakov in October phone call that peace would require Russia gaining control of Donetsk Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff told a senior Kremlin official last month that achieving peace in Ukraine would require Russia gaining control of Donetsk and potentially a separate territorial exchange, according to a recording of their conversation obtained by Bloomberg. In the 14 October phone call with Yuri Ushakov, the top foreign policy aide to Russian president Vladimir Putin, Witkoff said he believed the land concessions were necessary all while advising Ushakov to congratulate Trump and frame discussions more optimistically. Continue reading...

Trump envoy reportedly told Kremlin official that Ukraine must cede land for peace deal

The full list of 75 schools affected by the DEI funding proposal is now available www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Trump and Mamdani form an unlikely alliance at White House meeting ‘We agreed a lot more than I would have thought,’ the US president said of his first face-to-face meeting with the New York mayor-elect

“We agreed a lot more than I would have thought,” Trump said alongside Zohran Mamdani, sometimes jumping in to shield Mamdani from aggressive press questioning

The unlikely alliance agreed to work together on housing, food prices and cost-of-living concerns
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Some of the schools marked for suspension: Stanford, Yale, Johns Hopkins, Duke, USC, American, GW, Syracuse

Some to remain: Columbia, MIT, UPenn, UVirginia, UMich. (Columbia agreed to pay $200m+ to the federal gov in July over DEI hiring and UV prez resigned earlier after DOJ demands also over DEI)

State department to cut 38 universities from research program over DEI policies Trump administration proposal would exclude elite schools that use diversity, equity and inclusion hiring practices

NEW: The state department is proposing to suspend 38 universities including Harvard and Yale from the "Diplomacy Lab" fed research program because they engage in DEI hiring practices, according to an internal memo and spreadsheet obtained by the Guardian

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Tech giants vow to defend users in US as spyware companies make inroads with Trump administration Apple and WhatsApp say they’ll keep warning users if their phones are targeted by governments using hacking software against them

Apple & WhatsApp have vowed to keep warning users if their mobile phones are targeted by governments using hacking software against them, including in the US, as two spyware makers seek to make inroads with the Trump administration. With @skirchy.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Zohran Mamdani announces all-female transition team as he prepares for New York mayoralty Team includes Lina Khan, the FTC commissioner under Biden, and other Democratic former city officials * US politics live – latest updates Zohran Mamdani’s incoming administration began taking shape on Wednesday as the New York City mayor-elect announced a transition team to help enact what he called the city’s most ambitious policy platform in a generation, vowing to get right to work when he takes office on 1 January. Speaking at a morning press conference in Queens, the 34-year-old democratic socialist revealed an all-female transition team led by Elana Leopold as executive director. It also includes co-chairs Maria Torres-Springer, the former first deputy mayor; Lina Khan, the former federal trade commission chair; the United Way’s president and CEO, Grace Bonilla; and the former deputy mayor for health and human services Melanie Hartzog. Continue reading...

Zohran Mamdani announces all-female transition team as he prepares for New York mayoralty

Democratic senators back from Middle East trip say US complicit in Israel’s ethnic cleansing Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Jeff Merkley of Oregon say Israel is systematically destroying Palestinians Two Democratic senators claim they’ve reached the “inescapable conclusion” that Israel is acting on a systematic plan to destroy and ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza to force locals to leave, and they say the US is complicit. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Jeff Merkley of Oregon, both members of the Senate foreign relations committee, released their findings in a report on Thursday after returning from a congressional delegation to the Middle East where, they note, the destruction goes beyond bombs and bullets. They say they also found a systematic campaign to strangle humanitarian aid, which they call “using food as a weapon of war”. Continue reading...

Democratic senators back from Middle East trip say US complicit in Israel’s ethnic cleansing

Trump administration to expand review of Smithsonian museums to ‘get Woke out’ White House identifies institutions including those for Latino, African and Asian art for review, document shows

A document compiled by the Trump White House based off public submissions flags 7 Smithsonian museums for review, arguing that some exhibits like Benjamin Franklin’s link to slavery or a film on George Floyd’s murder present US history in an overly negative way www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Trump calls for new US census that excludes undocumented immigrants Census has historically counted all residents regardless of citizenship status, as required by the 14th amendment Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he has ordered the commerce department to conduct a new census that would exclude undocumented immigrants from the official count. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the census would be “based on modern day facts and figures” and use “results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024”. He added that “people who are in our country illegally will not be counted”. Continue reading...

Trump calls for new US census that excludes undocumented immigrants

Israeli settlers kill American-Palestinian visiting relatives in West Bank, says family Ambulances were reportedly stopped from reaching Sayfollah Musallet after attack in which another Palestinian man was shot dead

A state department spokesperson said it was aware of reports of the death of a US citizen in the West Bank and that it was “ready to provide consular services"

In a statement, the family demanded an investigation by the state department into the killing: www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Heard you loud and clear Jack Q