America

While it will hardly come as a surprise to anyone following the ongoing additions to Trump's cabinet, one can now effectively cross off "draining the swamp" from the list of Trump's stated intentions.

Speaking in an NPR interview on Wednesday, former Speaker Newt Gingrich said that Trump has taken a different tone as president-elect and may be leaving behind his campaign promise to “drain the swamp.” Gingrich told "Morning Edition" that he was told Trump “now says [the phrase] was cute, but he doesn’t want to use it anymore.”

A leaked communication between the Trump transition team's Undersecretary of Defense for policy Brian McKeon, and the Pentagon, has revealed the four biggest defense priorities for the president-elect. Among the top four items listed in the memo from are: 1) developing a strategy to defeat/destroy ISIS; 2) build a strong defense by eliminating budget caps/the sequester, 3) develop a comprehensive cyber strategy, and 4) eliminate wasteful spending by finding greater efficiencies.

Submitted by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

Solutions abound, but not within our centralized state-cartel neofeudal system.

Not to rain on the new administration's parade, but one question needs to be asked of any new administration: will tax cuts and more federal borrowing/ spending fix what's broken in the U.S./global economy?

The attack on a Berlin Christmas market may be a state-sponsored “false-flag” operation to push Germany to play a more active role in the so-called war on terror in the Middle East, according to Chicago author and journalist Stephen Lendman At least 12 people were killed and dozens injured when a truck crashed into a crowded market in Berlin on Monday. Police detained a 23-year-old suspect, Navid B., a Pakistani asylum seeker but have since admitted they may have arrested the wrong man.