Twisted Build-A-Bear Employee Refuses Teen’s Charlie Kirk-Inspired Wish

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A woke Build-A-Bear Workshop employee in Washington state allegedly refused a teen customer’s wish to name her new teddy after slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

What started as a lighthearted trip with friends to the Southcenter Mall outside Seattle soon soured for 16-year-old Evi McCormick when the store manager shot down her request to put Kirk’s name on her newly-created stuffed animal’s birth certificate, the teen told King 5 News.

“She just didn’t agree with it. She didn’t support it and she told me, ‘We’re not doing this,’” McCormick told the outlet.

The toy tyrant then cruelly crumpled up the birth certificate, which customers are given with every Build-A-Bear purchase, and threw it away in front of the flabbergasted teen.

McCormick was so upset she handed her debit card to a friend to pay for the bear – usually priced between $16 and $48 – and walked away from the register. (Read more from “Twisted Build-A-Bear Employee Refuses Teen’s Charlie Kirk-Inspired Wish” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Reports: Hamas Responds to Trump; Agrees to Release All Hostages

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Al Jazeera reported Friday that Hamas delivered its response to President Donald Trump’s peace plan, hours after the president gave the terror group a deadline of 6:00 p.m. ET on Sunday or else face total destruction.

Al Jazeera reported:

The Palestinian group says that, in order to end Israel’s war on Gaza and a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the enclave, it is ready to release all Israeli captives – both those who are living and dead – according to the exchange plan outlined in Trump’s proposal.

“In this context, the movement affirms its readiness to immediately enter into negotiations through the mediators to discuss the details of this agreement,” Hamas said in a statement shared on Telegram.

It also said it agrees to hand over the administration of Gaza to an independent body of Palestinian technocrats, “based on Palestinian national consensus and Arab and Islamic support”.

The response did not, apparently, include an agreement to disarm — a core Israeli and American demand. (Read more from “Reports: Hamas Responds to Trump; Agrees to Release All Hostages” HERE)

White House Press Secretary Explodes at Reporter Over Kushner’s Middle East Ties

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At a heated White House briefing this week, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt lashed out at a New York Times reporter who questioned the role of Jared Kushner in President Donald Trump’s proposed Gaza peace plan — even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled that Israel would not abide by key terms of the agreement.

The exchange highlighted the growing political tensions surrounding the Trump administration’s high-stakes, 20-point roadmap to end the war in Gaza — a plan that includes phased Israeli withdrawal, a governing council for Gaza, and Gulf-backed reconstruction — and the controversial involvement of Trump’s son-in-law in its negotiation.

The confrontation occurred after The Times’ Shawn McCreesh asked whether it was appropriate for Kushner — who has received over $2.5 billion in investments from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar — to be so deeply involved in diplomacy involving those very same countries.

“How did the White House decide that it is appropriate for Jared Kushner to be working on matters that involve Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, three countries that combined have given him more than $2.5 billion for his investment firm?” McCreesh asked.

Leavitt, 28, erupted in response:

“I think it’s frankly despicable that you’re trying to suggest that it’s inappropriate for Jared Kushner, who is widely respected around the world and has great trust and relationships with these critical partners in these countries, to strike a twenty-point comprehensive detailed peace plan that no other administration would ever be able to achieve,” she said.

“Jared is donating his energy and his time to our government, to the President of the United States, to secure world peace, and that is a very noble thing.”

Her impassioned defense sought to frame Kushner not as a conflict of interest, but as an asset — someone whose personal relationships and business history with the Gulf states were being leveraged for diplomatic gain.

Still, the optics are hard to ignore. Kushner’s firm, Affinity Partners, received $2 billion from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund in 2021, soon after he left the White House. Since then, the firm has secured at least $1.5 billion more from the UAE and Qatar.

The scrutiny over Kushner comes amid growing signals from Israel that it will not fully honor the peace plan brokered by the Trump administration — despite its public support.

Earlier this week, Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel would accept only an agreement “on its terms,” suggesting that the Israeli government may revise or reject critical components of the proposed deal.

The original plan includes:

The release of all hostages;
A phased Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza;
The establishment of a transitional, internationally backed governing council for Gaza;
A demilitarized Gaza Strip, with armed groups disarmed;
And billions in reconstruction funds from Gulf states, primarily Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar.

But Netanyahu’s statements — including that “Israel alone will determine the security future of Gaza” — appear to directly contradict the disarmament and governance provisions. According to Israeli media, Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition is especially resistant to any plan that would reduce Israeli control or allow significant Palestinian self-governance.

Netanyahu’s “own terms” include retaining Israeli military oversight of Gaza indefinitely, rejecting both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority as future rulers of the enclave, and demanding absolute disarmament before any reconstruction or diplomatic normalization moves forward. These changes would substantially alter the agreement Trump’s team — with Kushner at the helm — has been promoting.

The question McCreesh posed — about whether private financial entanglements are influencing public diplomacy — underscores the growing unease about the backchannel nature of these negotiations.

Democratic lawmakers, including Senator Ron Wyden, have launched inquiries into Affinity Partners’ foreign funding, warning that the overlap of Kushner’s financial and diplomatic roles represents a “serious constitutional and ethical problem.”

Photo credit: Flickr

Docs Knew Gender Science Was ‘Shoddy,’ But Pushed Chemical Sex Changes On Kids Anyway

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Private emails from leaders of an influential transgender medical organization expose how ideology and consensus, rather than science, has undergirded the explosive growth of the child sex-change industry. The emails were revealed under Freedom of Information laws.

As their gender clinic boomed with patients, University of California San Francisco (UCSF) medical directors Maddie Deutsch and Stephen Rosenthal acknowledged behind the scenes that research supporting child sex-changes was “shoddy” and fueling “predatory practices,” emails show.

Deutsch and Rosenthal are leaders in the field of gender medicine and co-authors of the World Professional Association of Transgender Health’s (WPATH) highly influential medical guidance, the Standards of Care version 8 (SOC 8), which is used to inform clinical practice in healthcare systems worldwide. Rosenthal co-founded the UCSF Child and Adolescent Gender Center (CAGC) which had a “major backlog” of 230 new patients on waiting list in the fall of 2022, records show. Rosenthal said the staff’s capacity was “maxed out” and a colleague noted “the need far outpaces the access to care for gender diverse youth,” emails show.

When the Daily Caller News Foundation’s public record requests for Deutsch and Rosenthal’s emails were denied by the University of California in the fall of 2023, Judicial Watch, a government watchdog organization, filed a lawsuit challenging the denial and gained access to the records.

As a result of Judicial Watch’s lawsuit, UCSF released 2,491 pages of emails. Among the revelations is that UCSF gave puberty blockers to children as young as nine. Puberty blockers are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of gender dysphoria. (Read more from “Docs Knew Gender Science Was ‘Shoddy,’ But Pushed Chemical Sex Changes On Kids Anyway” HERE)

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Treasure Hunters Find $1 Million in Coins From 1715 Shipwreck

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A shipwreck salvage company has struck gold.

The 1715 Fleet Queens Jewels, LLC—which specializes in salvaging the remains of a 1715 shipwreck off the Florida coastline—said its divers discovered over 1,000 gold and silver coins. And the, well, treasure trove of 18th century items are valued at $1 million.

“This discovery is not only about the treasure itself, but the stories it tells,” the company’s director of operations Sal Guttuso said in a statement. “Each coin is a piece of history, a tangible link to the people who lived, worked, and sailed during the Golden Age of the Spanish Empire.”

He continued, “Finding 1,000 of them in a single recovery is both rare and extraordinary.”

The coins—known as pieces of eight—were minted in Spanish colonies in Mexico, Peru and Bolivia, according to the company. The salvager said visible dates and mint marks are still visible on many of the coins, were being transported to back Spain when it got caught up in a hurricane. (Read more from “Treasure Hunters Find $1 Million in Coins From 1715 Shipwreck” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

IDF Attack Kills 14th Doctors Without Borders Staffer

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An early‑morning strike on October 2, 2025, claimed the life of Omar Hayek, an occupational therapist working with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF / Doctors Without Borders), and injured at least four others, in the Gaza Strip. The incident marks the 14th MSF colleague killed in Gaza since the outbreak of the current conflict on October 7, 2023.

According to MSF, the attack occurred on a street in Deir al-Balah, where staff were waiting for a bus to take them to a field hospital. All those present were wearing MSF vests, clearly identifying them as medical humanitarian workers.

MSF stated that colleagues hit in the attack included a physiotherapist, an orthopedic surgeon, a supply officer, and a finance assistant; one staffer was reported to be in critical condition with shrapnel wounds.

Less than two weeks earlier, MSF had mourned the death of Hussein Alnajjar, the 13th staffer killed in Gaza, also in Deir al-Balah by Israeli strikes.
Doctors Without Borders. The organization has expressed profound sorrow and outrage, emphasizing that the killings indicate that “nowhere in Gaza is safe” for health professionals.

Omar Hayek was 42 years old. He joined MSF in June 2018 and had served as an occupational therapist at MSF’s clinic in Gaza City.

Due to the intensifying hostilities and mass displacement, Omar left Gaza City on September 13, heading south under assurances of relative safety — assurances that tragically failed. He was the sole provider for his family following the deaths of his father and his younger brother.

Omar’s death is part of a wider and deeply concerning pattern of attacks on health workers and humanitarian staff in Gaza. The United Nations estimates that at least 562 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, including 376 UN personnel.

MSF has long warned that this war is degrading what remains of Gaza’s health infrastructure. Medical teams operate under extreme danger, frequently under bombardment, with limited access to supplies, and with uncertainty about safe passage.

In past statements, MSF has also condemned militarized food distribution schemes in Gaza—labeling certain operations “orchestrated killings”—arguing that the very lines along which aid is provided are being weaponized.

Under international humanitarian law, medical personnel are protected persons. Deliberate targeting of health staff or failure to distinguish between combatants and medical workers may constitute violations of the laws of war.

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Only 4 Years in Prison After Salacious Trial Exposed Mogul’s Reign of Terror

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Sean “Diddy” Combs was sentenced to only about four years in prison Friday — a paltry term compared to the more than a decade prosecutors sought after a blockbuster, stomach-churning trial exposed the mogul’s depraved secrets.

The disgraced hip-hop icon, 55, could be a free man in just three years as he has already spent 14 months behind bars while the sex-crimes case wound through Manhattan federal court.

Judge Arun Subramanian, at the end of an emotional, nearly six-hour hearing, admonished Combs for using his vast power to abuse women — but ultimately opted to give the Bad Boy Records founder a chance to reclaim his life.

“You abused the power and control that you had over the lives of women you professed to love dearly,” Subramanian told Combs before heading down the sentence of 50 months, with five years supervised release and a $500,000 fine.

“You abused them physically, emotionally, and psychologically,” he said. “Why did it happen so long? Because you had the power and the resources to keep it going, and because you weren’t caught.

“A meaningful sentence is needed to protect the public from further crimes.” (Read more from “Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Only 4 Years in Prison After Salacious Trial Exposed Mogul’s Reign of Terror” HERE)

Researchers Are Closer Than Ever to Solving Earhart Mystery — And Aerial Photos May Hold the Key

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Newly discovered aerial photos taken in 1938 of a mysterious anomaly on a remote island in the South Pacific provide “very strong” evidence that it may be Amelia Earhart’s missing plane, researchers claim.

Footage of the strange metallic object located underwater in a lagoon on the island of Nikumaroro — captured a year after the pioneer aviator disappeared 88 years ago — bolsters scientists’ belief that the “Taraia Object” is Earhart’s legendary Lockheed 10-E Electra, Purdue University announced.

A 15-person crew — made up of researchers from Purdue and the Archeological Legacy Institute (ALI) — will set off on Nov. 4 for the island, located between Hawaii and Fiji near the center of the Pacific Ocean, to investigate the enigmatic find, believed to be the main body and tail of the missing aircraft.

“Finding Amelia Earhart’s aircraft would be the discovery of a lifetime,” said ALI executive director Dr. Richard Pettigrew, who has long believed that Nikumaroro hides the secret to Earhart’s disappearance.

“Other evidence already collected by the International Group of Historic Aircraft Recovery establishes an extremely persuasive, multifaceted case that the final destination for Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, was on Nikumaroro. Confirming the plane wreckage there would be the smoking-gun proof.” (Read more from “Researchers Are Closer Than Ever to Solving Earhart Mystery — And Aerial Photos May Hold the Key” HERE)

Judge Rules Against Sanctuary Cities, Will Not Stop Trump from Cutting Off Federal Funds

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A federal judge ruled against two sanctuary cities this week, ensuring President Donald Trump can move forward with blocking certain Department of Justice (DOJ) grants to such jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Earlier this year, Trump signed two executive orders, both designed to get sanctuary cities to cooperate with ICE as they enforce federal immigration law — or risk losing certain federal funds.

Soon after Trump signed the executive orders, the sanctuary cities of Chelsea and Somerville, Massachusetts, filed a lawsuit claiming they would suffer irreparable harm if the orders took effect.

On Thursday, Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton sided with the Trump administration and against the sanctuary cities. (Read more from “Judge Rules Against Sanctuary Cities, Will Not Stop Trump from Cutting Off Federal Funds” HERE)

Trump to Give Ukraine Intel for Attacks on Critical Energy Targets Deep Into Russia

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By The War Zone. Reports indicate that the United States has agreed to provide Ukraine with targeting intelligence for its long-range strikes against Russian energy infrastructure. For many months now, Ukraine has been waging a campaign to degrade Russia’s oil and natural gas infrastructure, depriving it of critical resources for its offensive in Ukraine as well as revenue from energy exports.

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, which cites unnamed U.S. administration officials, and another report from Reuters, the new policy is being adopted ahead of a possible transfer of longer-range and harder-hitting weapons that can be used against the same kinds of targets, and potentially others deep in Russia.

The officials who spoke to the WSJ reportedly said that President Donald Trump had recently signed off on the sharing of intelligence for the Ukrainian strikes, although the caveat that only attacks on energy infrastructure are covered is significant. Targeting data will be provided to Kyiv by U.S. intelligence agencies as well as the Pentagon. Meanwhile, U.S. officials are said to be pushing NATO allies to do the same.

This would be the first time, officially at least, that the Trump administration provides Ukraine with this kind of intelligence for its long-range strikes.

In the meantime, Ukraine has been repeatedly using long-range one-way attack drones, and to a lesser degree, cruise missiles of its own design, to hit Russian refineries, pipelines, power stations, and related infrastructure far beyond the front lines. (Read more from “Trump to Give Ukraine Intel for Attacks on Critical Energy Targets Deep Into Russia” HERE)

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‘Impossible to believe’ Russia would attack NATO countries, says Putin

By The Sky News. Next up, Putin is attacking European countries that are “whipping up hysteria”, trying to “recreate the well-known enemy they invented hundreds of years ago: Russia”.

While Putin says that Europe’s “ruling elites” claim that war with Russia is near, he calls this “nonsense” that is “impossible to believe”. It would run counter to Russia’s security interests, he argues.

And European people are sceptical as well, as they “don’t know what is so bad about Russia and why they should tighten their belts to counter Russia”, the president says. (Read more from “‘Impossible to believe’ Russia would attack NATO countries, says Putin” HERE)