VATICAN - Pope Francis faces growing worldwide pushback against his ‘same-sex blessing’ doctrine. If you think that fierce opposition to the latest initiative by Globalist Pope Francis – namely, the blessing of same-sex unions – is limited to the Conservative American bishops led by Joseph Strickland, think again. All over the world, prelates and faithful alike have vigorously opposed the new directives from Francis, as a growing number of Catholic bishops in Africa and Europe are publicly voicing their rejection of the new document by the Vatican. The issue is yet another polarizing initiative in Francis’s quest to remake the Catholic Church according to his ‘very peculiar’ vision of the institution. The document entitled ‘Fiducia Supplicans’ states that blessings can be offered to people in same-sex relationships if they are not confused with the ritual of marriage. In a report from Associated Press, the extraordinary scope of the pushback against the pontiff becomes clear.

UK - A professional Santa stand in says he’s in demand in the midst of a Santa shortage in the UK. Mark Roberts, a garden manufacturer from Gelligaer in Caerphilly borough, steps in for the big man in the red coat with white trim at events across the UK every Christmas. Mark has a sleigh, reindeer, a Santa suit and a proper fake beard made from yak wool. He advertises his services on social media and has gathered thousands of followers. This Christmas he’s been to Birmingham, Hampshire and Glasgow among other places where children lap up his antics. In one Christmas season in 2023 he’s had more than one thousand bookings.

GERMANY - Pistorius has been sparking discussions for weeks already with this choice of words, especially in Berlin. How can civil society, industry, and politics contribute to making Germany capable of defence and, indeed, warfare? One way is through extensive collaboration. In 2010, the 1st German-Netherland Corps established the Common Effort Community — a platform for civil-military cooperation, fostering mutual trust and encouraging joint efforts towards a common goal: fortifying resilience and ensuring comprehensive security... It also means that civilian infrastructure can be used for military purposes without immediately causing societal uproar, as seen in Air Defender 2023: In June 2023, the largest deployment exercise of air forces since NATO's inception took place with 250 aircraft from 25 nations and over 10,000 soldiers, led by Germany.

IRAN - Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean Sea unless Israel stops bombing Gaza, as the US warned Tehran was “deeply involved” in attacks on shipping. “They shall soon await the closure of the Mediterranean Sea, [the Strait of] Gibraltar and other waterways,” Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, a senior member of the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said today. The general did not explain how Iran, which does not border the Mediterranean, intended to make good on its threat. Iran’s proxy militias in southern Lebanon and Syria do have access to the sea, through which about a fifth of global maritime trade passes. The Houthis in Yemen, which are backed by Iran, have already forced several major shipping companies to reroute their vessels to avoid the Red Sea by targeting merchant craft with drones and missiles.

MIDDLE EAST - Yemen’s ability to launch $2000 drones against ships that fire $2 million dollar missiles.

Yemen’s ability to launch a swarm attack of more than 30 drones/anti-ship missiles at one time is likely to overwhelm the Sea Sparrow capability to rapidly reload and take out inbound threats.
• The limited supply of the Sea Sparrow missiles on board the US destroyers can be quickly exhausted if Yemen launches more than 100 drones against each destroyer.
• Lack of adequate stockpiles of Sea Sparrow missiles in the US inventory.

MIDDLE EAST - In yet another case of blowback, reflecting the failure of Western military interventionism in West Asia, Yemen’s Ansarallah (Houthi) movement has inserted itself as an active participant in the ongoing war between Israel and Gaza. First launching batches of loitering munitions, ballistic and cruise missiles towards Israel, Ansarallah then moved on to prevent the passage of Israeli-owned or operated ships through the Red Sea, before announcing a complete closure of the shipping route for any vessels destined to dock at the port of Eilat.

UK - Millions of Britons and Americans are likely to celebrate a white Christmas regardless of the weather — as figures show the UK has the second highest rate of cocaine use in the world, with the US in fifth. One in 40 adults (2.7 percent) in the UK take the class A drug, which is more than any other country in Europe and behind only Australia globally. Meanwhile 2.4 percent of Americans over 18 consume the drug in powder form, behind Austria and Spain. Experts say high use of cocaine in the UK is fuelled by the UK's binge drinking culture, with many taking the stimulant to counteract the sedative effects of alcohol. Once the preserve of high society, it is now widely used across all social classes, as its price has fallen in real terms over the past decade and it can be delivered 'as quickly as a pizza'.

ISRAEL - More Jews are visiting the Temple Mount now than in previous years, despite growing tensions due to the war against Hamas, according to Beyadenu. This Jewish year saw 15,600 Jews make the trip, while the Jewish year 5783 saw 15,170 and the previous year only 13,170. Beyandenu is an Israeli non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness about the Temple Mount and its heritage in Jewish Communities worldwide. The organization helps facilitate access to the Temple Mount. Beyandenu said that they “anticipated fewer people to bravely answer the call to ascend to the site, due to fear of increased attacks against Jews, reservists called up to fight in the war, and the decrease in tourism.

USA - People who “do their own research” are likely to reject the mainstream narrative and are far more likely to believe so-called “conspiracy theories,” according to a new research published in the science journal Nature this week. According to the new research, people should be discouraged from doing their own research and must be encouraged to accept the official narrative presented by the mainstream media. “The four most dangerous words are ‘do your own research’,” said Chirag Shah, a professor of information science at the University of Washington. “It seems counterintuitive because I’m an educator and we encourage students to do this. The problem is people don’t know how to do this.” In other words, the elites want us to trust the mainstream media implicitly, and stop asking questions or researching anything on our own because we “don’t know how to do this.”

USA - An economist who focuses on consumer spending has issued a dire warning about the US economy in the coming year. "Since 2009, this has been 100 percent artificial, unprecedented money printing and deficits: $27 trillion over 15 years, to be exact," economist Harry Dent told Fox Business on December 19. "This is off the charts, 100 percent artificial, which means we're in a dangerous state. I think 2024 is going to be the biggest single crash year we'll see in our lifetime.

YEMEN - Abdel-Malek al-Houthi, leader of the Iran-backed Houthi insurgents of Yemen, said on Wednesday his forces would attack US warships in the Red Sea if Operation Prosperity Guardian uses military force against the Houthis. “We will not stand idly by if the Americans are tempted to escalate further and commit foolishness by targeting our country or waging war against it,” the terrorist leader railed in a speech televised by Houthi media. “Any American targeting of our country will be targeted by us, and we will make American battleships, interests, and navigation a target for our missiles, drones, and military operations,” he said. “As long as the Americans want to enter into a direct war with us, they should know that we are not those who fear them and that they are facing an entire people,” he warned. Even the most capable allied ships and crews are struggling to provide security for the massive amount of shipping that passes through the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and the Houthis are much better at attacking ships that cannot fight back.

USA - Christian leaders are speaking out after Pope Francis granted the green light Monday for Roman Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples. The Rev Franklin Graham, president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse, posted a no-holds-barred criticism of the pope, warning that “blessings” on homosexual couples won’t “save you from the judgment of God.” “Pope Francis has now approved Catholic priests’ blessing’ same-sex couples,” Graham wrote. “But none of us, including the pope, has the right to ‘bless’ what God calls sin. ‘Woe to those who call evil good and good evil…’ (Isaiah 5:20).”

USA - America’s second-largest Protestant denomination is in the final stages of a slow-motion rupture that has so far seen the departure of a quarter of the nation’s roughly 30,000 United Methodist churches, according to the denomination’s news agency. At issue for Methodists is the question of ordaining and marrying LGBTQ people, a topic that has splintered many other Protestant denominations and which Methodists have been debating for years. In 2019, Methodist leaders opened a window for any congregations to leave over “reasons of conscience,” in most cases allowing them to take their property and assets with them in a clean break if they received approval to depart by December 31, 2023. Many conservative congregations have done just that. “It’s the biggest denominational schism ever,” said Ryan Burge, a political scientist at Eastern Illinois University.

SWITZERLAND - Leading advisor to the WEF, Yuval Noah Harari, "predicts" that rapid advances in computing technology will "make humans redundant", creating a "massive class of useless people" who will need to be kept "happy" with "drugs and computer games". "Now, we see the creation of a new massive class of useless people. As computers become better and better in more and more fields, there is a distinct possibility that computers will outperform us in most tasks, and will make humans redundant. And then the big political and economic question of the 21st century will be, what do we need humans for? Or at least, what do we need so MANY humans for?"

CANADA - "Children between six months and four years of age should receive two doses if they have not previously been vaccinated with a Covid-19 vaccine." Health Canada's chief medical advisor, Dr Supriya Sharma, announces Health Canada's recent approval of an updated Moderna mRNA "vaccine" for Canadians six months of age and older.