This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

The inspector general for the Department of Justice has confirmed that there were at least 26 undercover federal agents on duty at the Jan. 6, 2021, protest-turned-riot at the U.S. Capitol.

There long has been speculation about such agents, and accusations back and forth about who they were and what they did.

Such "confidential human sources" are used by the DOJ to obtain information that can be used in criminal charges against others, and those CHS individuals sometimes are given permission by the government to violate certain laws in order to maintain their undercover identity, and more. IG Michael Horowitz suggested that was not the case in this situation.

The Washington Examiner said it was Horowitz who confirmed the undercover agents were in use during the riot, and explained it was a "revelation that lends clarity to an aspect of the event that has long been a source of speculation."

The report said Horowitz said in an 84-page report that the sources, mostly unpaid, were in the riot.

"Some of them were embedded among rioters in restricted areas, and four FBI sources also entered the Capitol with them," the report confirmed.

Horowitz did claim the FBI did not authorize any of those undercover agents to enter the Capitol or otherwise break the law.

But he said those who did enter restricted areas have not faced any charges.

The report pointed out that the DOJ, through the activist agenda of Matthew Graves in Washington, has charged some 1,500 people with violations in connection to the riot.

Most faced offenses like trespassing, for which prosecutors sought jail time. There were some other more serious cases that included vandalism or assaulting police officers.

The only person killed that day was an unarmed protester, Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed without warning by a Capitol Police officer who then was protected by the government.

Because of the years it took for that confirmation to be revealed, speculation suggested that law enforcement agents were part of the riot, or even organized and abetted it.

"While the FBI undertook significant efforts to identify domestic terrorism subjects who planned to travel to the Capital region on January 6 and to prepare to support its law enforcement partners on January 6 if needed, we also determined that the FBI did not take a step that could have helped the FBI and its law enforcement partners with their preparations in advance of January 6," he found.

In fact, President Donald Trump repeatedly had offered to authorize National Guard troops to be at the Capitol that day to make sure there wasn't any significant violence, but his offer was rejected by Democrats in Washington, including both at the city and federal levels.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A lawsuit over anti-Semitism by officials in the New York village of Atlantic Beach is being revived because they refused to abide by a settlement reached earlier that would have allowed a Jewish organization to operate a center in town, according to a report from First Liberty Institute.

The fight is over scheming by officials there to exclude Chabad of the Beaches, a Hasidic Jewish group, from opening a religious center.

In private messages Mayor George Pappas said, "Very true," when a fellow town official said, "Most people don't want the Chabad and just don't want to say it. Any secular Jew doesn't want them."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

JERUSALEM – Middle East/Israel Morning Brief

Pope Francis unveils Nativity scene, with Jesus swaddled in an Arab keffiyeh

On Saturday, Pope Francis attended a nativity scene titled "Nativity of Bethlehem 2024," crafted in the Judean city of the same name, by Johny Andonia and Faten Nastas Mitwasi and presented by Palestinian officials in Pope Paul VI Hall in Vatican City. The display depicting the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem featured baby Jesus swaddled in a keffiyeh.

Speaking at the event, a wheelchair-bound Francis called on Catholics to "remember the brothers and sisters, who, right there [in Bethlehem] and in other parts of the world, are suffering from the tragedy of war," adding, "enough war, enough violence!" and lamenting the existence of the commercial arms trade.

Benjamin Netanyahu gives court testimony at his corruption trial

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared at the Tel Aviv District Court Tuesday to defend himself against a number of charges relating to bribery, accepting illegal gifts, and corruption.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

After a surprising insurgent offensive by rebels last week, Syria's northern city of Aleppo was captured. The offensive marked the first attack on the city by opposition forces since 2016.

Having overtaken the central city of Hama Dec. 5, rebel forces are approximately 115 miles from Damascus, which is a serious concern to President Bashar al-Assad. Reversing an earlier claim denying that rebels had entered the city, the Syrian army says it is redeploying its forces "to preserve civilian lives and prevent urban combat." Assad may soon be forced to confront a serious threat to Syria's capitol of Damascus.

WorldNetDaily spoke to Ryan Mauro, a national security analyst at the Capital Research Center who has focused on Syria and the Middle East for over 20 years. Describing the Middle Eastern country as "a mosh pit of jihadi groups," he says distinguishing between the ruling regime and the rebels is a near-impossibility.

"There are so many different factions on each side that are fighting an external enemy, while at the same time, they are fighting with each other," he explained.

For this reason, Mauro considers it hard to speak in generalizations, but does say flatly that "the rebels that are taking territory in Syria are jihadists." At the same time, he pointed out that the Assad regime is essentially part of an Islamist Iranian regime. Considering this, he said, "you're basically trading one jihadi for the next."

From the perspective of the West and Israel, Mauro questions whether it is better to have "a stable and arguably less fanatical enemy" to the north – that is, if Assad were to prevail and reclaim land – or rebels and other terrorist organizations who will be consumed with fighting each other.

"There are pluses and minuses to each scenario," he concedes.

"If Assad wins, it would be like having Iran on your border. But if the rebels win, it would be like having Somalia on your border," he offered. With that in mind, Mauro speculates that it may actually be better for Assad to fall.

Interestingly, he speculated as to how the powers-that-be in the region could have prepared.

For stability in the region, Mauro said, "What should have been happening for a very, very long time is [their] backing the Kurdish elements to the hilt, while also backing the more secular oriented Syrian rebel elements that have been somewhat allied with the Kurds," he said. Most importantly, the process would have involved working with as many secular, democratic political forces as possible, avoiding those that are theocratic or genocidal.

The battle for control of Syria is a situation the United States has largely avoided, Mauro pointed out. "At critical junctures, the U.S. has chosen [to support] Turkey at the expense of the Syrian Democratic Forces – the Kurds, Arabs and Christian coalition – that has been our most important partner on the ground and is the only non-Islamist option in Syria right now."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Local governments can call themselves sanctuaries and say they won't allow a federal program to deport illegal aliens within their boundaries.

But it's likely nothing more than talk.

Denver's mayor recently claimed not only his police but 50,000 residents would line up to prevent the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump from deporting illegal aliens found in the city.

He rashly said he'd go to jail over the issue, and Trump's new border czar, Tom Homan, said that's where the mayor would be sent if he persisted.

Now there's another precedent that affirms the incoming administration's authority to run such a program.

A report at the Center Square describes how a three-judge panel at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down an attempt in Seattle by local officials to rein in deportation programs.

There, officials had ordered companies not to service airplanes being used for deportation during Trump's first administration.

The result is a ruling that the federal government can deport foreign nationals inside the U.S. illegally even over the objection of local authorities.

The report cited the ruling from Judge Daniel Bress, with judges Michael Hawkins and Richard Clinton concurring.

It was a 2019 executive order from King County Executive Dow Constantine that told county officials to ban fixed base operators on a county airfield near Seattle from servicing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement charter flights used to deport illegal foreign nationals, the report said.

The Trump administration at that time sued, citing the Constitution's Supremacy Clause and other law.

The district judge ruled against Seattle, as has the appeals court now.

The ruling said the federal government had Article III standing to bring the action, and the injuries from the ban were traceable to the local officials' political agenda.

The local order, in fact, violated the intergovernmental immunity doctrine because it "improperly regulated the way in which the federal government transported noncitizen detainees by preventing ICE from using private FBO contractors at Boeing Field, and on its face discriminated against the United States by singling out the federal government and its contractors for unfavorable treatment," the report said the court found.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

JERUSALEM – In the pre-dawn hours of Oct. 7, 2023, Yahya Sinwar and his family moved among the tunnels underneath Gaza, which the terrorist organization he led – Hamas – had dug over the preceding 16 years or so.

The ideologue and religious fanatic was doing so in advance of Hamas commandos cross-border raid into Israel, which he anticipated would redraw the Middle Eastern map and tilt the balance of power in the region. He was right … just not in the way he envisaged.

Sinwar made a number of assumptions – about his implacable foe, Israel, (despite its doctors saving his life with expert medical care), the strength of his own forces, the hoped-for international abandonment of Israel (which did happen, although not quite to the extent he anticipated), and the level of support he could call upon from his ideological fellow-travelers, particularly Iran. As it turns out, he was wrong about pretty much all of them; and his hubristic miscalculation has generated the kind of energy in the region, which could topple long-standing regimes – particularly in Syria and potentially even in Iran.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A lawsuit has been filed against Kay Jewelers after a Christian employee was fired for talking about her faith with a co-worker.

Commentator Todd Starnes explained the situation had the markings of a "setup."

"The conversation happened in a back work area at a Kay Jewelers in Fairlawn, Ohio. The coworker continuously pressed (Mika) Cohen for her personal opinions about Pride Month. Finally, she explained that she is a Christian and shared her sincerely held beliefs on God's definition of marriage and sexuality," he explained. "A few weeks later Kay Jewelers launched a HR investigation into the conversation alleging her remarks were inappropriate."

Shortly later, she was fired.

"It certainly appears as though Cohen is the victim of a setup by a pro-LGBT staffer. To make matters even worse, it appears as though Kay Jewelers is anti-Christian. Diamonds may be a girl's best friend, but Kay Jewelers is certainly no friend to Christians," he said.

It is the American Center for Law and Justice that took on the case.

It said it is defending "an employee's right to express her religious beliefs," this time in Ohio.

Cohen was dismissed by Kay from her position as assistant manager in Fairlawn, Ohio, for sharing her Christian beliefs with a co-worker after repeatedly being asked to do so, the legal team said.

The law firm explained how the situation developed:

While working at Kay Jewelers in June 2023, Ms. Cohen's co-worker asked for her thoughts and opinions on a religious topic. Importantly, while Ms. Cohen's co-worker prodded Ms. Cohen's position on the topic out of the earshot of customers or other employees, Ms. Cohen politely attempted to avoid speaking on the subject completely by saying everyone is entitled to their own opinions.

Nonetheless, the co-worker gave her opinion on God's creation of humanity and kept prodding Ms. Cohen to share her religious beliefs. After being pressured repeatedly to share her beliefs, Ms. Cohen finally shared her beliefs on the Bible's teachings.

The ACLJ confirmed there was "no quarrel or hostility," and the conversation ended shortly.

Then Cohen was informed by Kay that an investigator was looking into her "inappropriate discussions of religion at work.:

Then came her firing.

"No further explanation was given and no termination letter was provided – Ms. Cohen was simply told to pack up her things and leave," the ACLJ said. "This uncalled-for and unjust termination left Ms. Cohen and her family without insurance to cover medical necessities and much of the income upon which they relied."

Kay's parent company does, in fact, promote the leftist beliefs about "diversity, equity, and inclusivity" on its website.

"Clearly, this 'commitment' only applies to non-Christian beliefs that do not align with the Bible's teachings. Kay Jewelers' conduct in this case demonstrates no valid basis to fire Ms. Cohen, and its lack of transparency or accountability for violating Ms. Cohen's rights constitutes a blatant disregard for religious freedom and a demonstrative act of religious intolerance," the charges by ACLJ include.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A scheduled stopover visit to the U.S. state of Hawaii for Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te has prompted an angry response from China, whose officials are now urging the Biden administration to not allow Lai to land on U.S. soil.

According to TaiwanPlus News, Lai begins his first official trip as president on November 30th, and will be travelling around the Pacific, transiting in Hawaii and possibly the U.S. territory of Guam. Lai, who has been labelled a "separatist" by China, will be visiting the island nations of Tuvalu, Palau, and the Marshall Islands – three of Taiwan's remaining diplomatic allies.

China is accusing Lai of seeking independence for Taiwan by bolstering its diplomatic ties with the U.S. and other allies, something China says violates its one-China principle. China urged the White House to reconsider allowing Lai to land on U.S. soil, and to "stop enabling" Taiwan's "separatist" forces.

Taiwan, officially called the Republic of China, is a self-ruling democratic island settled by Nationalist forces in 1949 after they fled the mainland after they were defeated by the Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zedong.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Warning bells are going off over the increasing threat China poses to the world's data, and the vast network of undersea fiber optic cables that connects almost the entire globe to the internet.

According to a report from Regtechtimes, the internet often takes multiple paths before it reaches its destination, travellng along undersea internet cables that criss-cross along vast areas of sea and ocean through a process called routing protocols. Software-Defined Networking is an advanced technology that can change data routes and allow data to travel more efficiently.

While this system is valuable, it also brings risk as data can be spied on, manipulated, slowed down or blocked. China is a leading investor in SDN technology, and a number of Chinese companies with ties to the Chinese Communist Party are some of the largest investors.

"Through these tools, China can secretly redirect internet traffic through its own networks, even when the data wasn't supposed to pass through its territory," the report states, adding one cable which connects Europe and Africa called PEACE can be redirected through Chinese systems despite it physically avoiding China.

The report further notes China has been mapping the ocean floor in great detail using underwater robots and research vessels, collecting data in the South China Sea, the Arctic, and the Indian Ocean. The mapping helps China plan submarine routes, locations of sensors, the deployment of underwater weapons – and exposes the location of undersea internet cables.

DW News reported last week there were suspicions China intentionally severed two fiber optic cables in the Baltic Sea, one connecting Finland to Germany, and the other between Sweden and Lithuania.

The Danish Navy reportedly said it had shadowed a Chinese cargo ship leaving the Baltic Sea after the cables had been cut. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius called the incident an act of sabotage.

"Nobody believes that these cables were cut by mistake. I don't believe the theory that it was anchors that accidentally caused damage to these cables. So we have to conclude without knowing exactly who did it, that it was a hybrid action… We must also assume, without knowing it of course, that it is sabotage," Pistorius said.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

"If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." – 2 Chronicles 7:14

Americans recently found out what can happen when tens of millions of normal, decent, patriotic, God-fearing citizens fervently pray to Almighty God to have mercy on their beloved but wayward nation – and to save them from falling under the excruciating rule of deranged sociopaths obviously in the grip of very dark forces.

Indeed, most Americans understood they were close to losing, perhaps forever, the greatest and most abundantly blessed nation in history.

Here's how Christian broadcaster and bestselling author Eric Metaxas put it one day after a would-be assassin in Butler, Pennsylvania, shot Donald Trump, hitting him in the ear while missing his skull by literally half an inch – and only because Trump suddenly turned his head 90 degrees at the exact right moment:

"I have said repeatedly for months that those who hate Trump would stop at nothing to make sure he doesn't get back in to the White House, including trying to assassinate him. I have also said God's hand is on him, and would protect him, if God forbid someone did try to do that. Last night we saw that happen. His survival was nothing less than a miracle. So be assured that God is not finished with this nation.

"But we need to pray," Metaxas urged. "We are in an existential crisis, and without God, this experiment in self-government will not continue. But it is God's will that it continue. So please pray."

Today, overwhelming relief and thanksgiving for God's mercy are breathing new life and hope –even joy – into the long-suffering American middle class that delivered Donald Trump's landslide victory on Nov. 5, while rejecting the Democrats' manifestly insane agenda.

Indeed, the hard truth is that the modern Democratic Party's agenda has devolved to the point of being not merely insane – say, like its insistence that men can menstruate, get pregnant, give birth and "chest-feed" their baby. It is, in fact, increasingly criminally insane. If that sounds even slightly hyperbolic, consider that the programs pushed full-throttle by the Biden-Harris administration have included (as confirmed by recent official U.S. government statistics) intentionally allowing tens of thousands of convicted murderers and rapists to be released from foreign prisons so they can illegally enter the United States of America and wreak untold havoc on the good people of this nation. Sounds pretty criminal, doesn't it?

So it is not, as Kamala Harris liked to say, that "we have a broken immigration system." It's that the Biden-Harris regime has intentionally broken it – inviting and facilitating murder, sexual assault, terrorism, gang violence, sex-trafficking of women and children, and rampant fentanyl distribution, the No. 1 cause of death of young Americans aged 18-45.

That's not just insane. It's criminal.

Likewise, what about cutting off the breasts of 13- and 14-year-old girls and amputating the genitals of boys who have been seduced by demonically possessed social media "influencers"? Today's Democrat elite love this! Last year, would-be vice president Tim Walz signed a bill, as governor, making Minnesota a sanctuary state for transgender madness targeting children, essentially allowing the state to wrest custody of a child from his or her own parents if they didn't agree with allowing their precious child to be permanently mutilated and chemically sterilized by mad scientists.

The Harris-Walz agenda also featured abortion with no limits – literally up to the very moment of natural birth, which is de facto infanticide. And true to form, in January 2023 Walz signed into law the Protect Reproductive Options Act which stipulated no restrictions whatsoever on abortion at any stage of pregnancy – and enshrining that into the Minnesota Constitution.

Is it any wonder that the American people, who are overwhelmingly NOT interested in brainwashing their children with toxic Marxist ideologies, seeing their nation flooded with tens of thousands of murderers and rapists, killing precious human babies, cutting healthy body parts off their kids, and allowing deranged men to completely destroy women's athletics, said "HELL NO" to the Democrats' agenda and candidates in the recent presidential election?

No wonder Americans are overwhelmingly happy at the prospect of Trump and his team rapidly reversing the destructive and perverse agendas of the Biden-Harris regime.

'Morning in America'

Some much-relieved Americans are now enthusiastically calling Donald Trump the greatest American president since Ronald Reagan, evoking the famous "Morning in America" theme of Reagan's 1984 re-election campaign. And indeed, there are many striking similarities between what Reagan accomplished after the chaotic and financially ruinous Carter presidency, and what Trump accomplished after Barack Obama's toxic and divisive eight years as president.

But of all the things common to both Reagan and Trump, and there are many – their obvious love for America, their insistence on "peace through strength" via a robust military, their enlightened economic policies, their buoyant sense of humor, and the respect they both inspired in foreign leaders – one other similarity is seldom mentioned:

Democrats compared both presidents to Hitler.

That's right. As Steven F. Hayward, author of the 2001 book "The Age Of Reagan" revealed: "Liberals hated Reagan in the 1980s. Pure and simple." For example, he wrote, "Democratic Rep. William Clay of Missouri charged that Reagan was 'trying to replace the Bill of Rights with fascist precepts lifted verbatim from Mein Kampf.'"

In truth, Democrats have long been addicted to accusing Republicans of being Nazis and their leaders of being Hitler clones, but no one has been targeted nearly as much as Donald J. Trump.

Unfortunately, accusing an American president of being like Hitler is not merely dishonest and insane, it is a de facto call for his assassination, since the most moral response to the real Adolf Hitler during the Third Reich was to attempt to kill him, and the participants in all of the many plots to assassinate "Der Fuhrer" are today considered heroes.

Yet all of this present madness is understandable in light of the biblical admonition: "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" – Isaiah 5:20

Americans of every political persuasion need to come to terms with the inescapable reality that the current Democratic Party – whose leaders have descended to defaming tens of millions of thoroughly decent, moral Americans as "fascists," "racists" and "garbage" – has become the party not just of insanity, but of evil, where good is literally called evil, and evil is called good.

Fortunately, as Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson has astutely pointed out, Trump has actually ushered in a radical realignment of the two main U.S. political parties: "The Democrats are the party of the elite now. But Donald Trump has made the Republican Party the party of the working men and women … of this nation – the people that made this country great."

That bears repeating: Whereas the Democratic Party has long been touted as the party of the working man, and the Republican Party as the political home of the rich and the elite (though not really true, that was how the GOP was long characterized), today Republicans are unquestionably the party of the common working man and woman, while the Democratic Party is widely recognized now as the political home of the elite, the wealthy, the super-rich donor class and globalists.

Winning the war

So, what must good Americans do to hold on to their victory – this precious reprieve God has so graciously granted them – and which may represent their last chance to restore America?

Yes, Nov. 5 represents a great battle decisively won. The sane and normal people are in charge again. But the larger war will continue.

After all, most of America's key institutions, from the "mainstream media" to Big Tech to academia are still almost entirely in the hands of the Left. "Drag queen story hour" brainwashing sessions targeting the nation's toddlers will still take place. Ivy League colleges will still be full of unhinged Marxist professors. And of course, the more out-of-view realms of power and influence – of big money, of the Deep State, of foreign plots, of would-be assassins and every other kind of opposition – are still out there. Media personalities will continue to snipe, defame and try to tear down the Trump administration whenever possible, and to turn Americans against it.

And yet, it won't work.

Why? Because the credibility of the "enemy within" has been destroyed; tens of millions of Americans simply do not believe them anymore. Reports of CNN preparing to fire "hundreds" of staffers and MSNBC's ratings falling more than 50% since the election testify to the reality that Americans have finally awakened to – and firmly rejected – the lies being directed at them daily by the Left.

In light of all this, it's reasonable to take a leap of faith and simply dare to affirm that America is back.

The dream of America as a land of unmatched freedom and opportunity goes back to the settlers who celebrated that first Thanksgiving just over four centuries ago in 1621, when it really sank in to all involved that this land – America – was truly their home, a blessed land of unfathomably great potential for freedom and brotherhood.

Many Americans today thought this wonderful dream might have been lost forever, that their once-great nation had just sunk too deep into the muck of corruption and delusion and evil. But thanks be to God, America is back.

Yes, the Almighty picked someone to lead the current charge – Donald Trump. But this blessing goes beyond Trump. America itself is back – as long as true Americans hold fast to it, and honor and protect it.

Highlights of "MORNING IN AMERICA" include:

* "How God blessed the USA" by David Kupelian

* "Franklin Graham compiles eye-opening list of winners in the 2024 election: 'This win is historic in many ways. Millions and millions of people were praying, and I believe God heard their prayers'" by Bob Unruh

* "'How Great Thou Art': At 3 a.m. on election night, Trump supporters celebrate 'in awesome wonder' with memorable tribute to God"

* "Trump's win: The normal people strike back. It turns out the American dream is still alive in the hearts of Americans" by Ben Shapiro

* "Our election's utter losers and winners: 'Democrats will blame everyone and everything – except themselves, who sought to drive down the American people's throat the most radical and absurd agenda of the last two centuries'" by Victor Davis Hanson

* "Who did the billionaires back for president: Trump or Harris?" by Robert Schmad

* "The Democrats' 2020 victory: A blessing in disguise. 'Most Americans now know that the Left is morally and psychologically sick'" by Dennis Prager

* "Is the Left preparing for war after Trump's victory? 'Forecasts read like paranoid fantasy, but they're carefully scripted inversions of reality'" by Lee Smith

* "The 'Garbage Saint' president: All in for the people. 'With Trumpism triumphant, many now hope for a more just world and a better future' by Hanne Nabintu Herland

* "What's behind Trump's huge gains with black men? His populist realignment of America's political parties has caused a radical shift in the electorate" by Jarrett Stepman

* "The death of Obamaism – and the historic MAGA opportunity: 'America's cultural and civilizational divide, which was reflected in this election, is … between normalcy and sanity on the one hand, and decadence and freakishness on the other hand' by Josh Hammer

* "Vivek Ramaswamy explains Trump's sweeping victory… and what it means for America's future: 'I think the revival of our national self-confidence is the most important thing Donald Trump has delivered'

* "President Trump's plan to protect children from 'left-wing gender insanity' – in his own words: 'No serious country should be telling its children that they were born with the wrong gender – a concept that was never heard of in all of human history'"

* "The Trump Doctrine: 'The most successful foreign policy of any president since Ronald Reagan'" by Ben Shapiro

* "Trump's stunning plan to dismantle the 'Deep State': Described as the 'most important 3 minutes of video on the internet'" by Bob Unruh

* "Global warming was the big election loser: 'Every poll in recent years has shown climate change ranks near the bottom of voter concerns'" by Stephen Moore

* "Here's what would happen if Democrats had their way and eliminated fossil fuels"

* "1 more post-election victory: Americans no longer believe the 'mainstream media': 'The establishment press are less trusted than virtually any major institution in American life'" by David Harsanyi

* "Trump's win 'isn't the finish line – it's the starting point': 'If the sea of red from the election is any indication, Americans are energized as never before to put this country back on the right track'" by Suzanne Bowdey.