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Authored by Dorothy Li via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Japan has refuted a report indicating that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi received advice from U.S. President Donald Trump to refrain from provoking the Chinese regime over Taiwan.

Trump and Takaichi spoke by phone on the evening of Nov. 24, their first conversation since the Chinese communist regime ramped up its pressure campaign against Japan following Takaichi’s remarks suggesting that a crisis in Taiwan could pose a threat to Japan.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing anonymous sources, reported on Nov. 27 that Trump had advised the Japanese prime minister “not to provoke Beijing on the question of Taiwan’s sovereignty” during the call. The report described Trump’s advice as subtle, saying that he did not pressure Takaichi to withdraw her comment.

When asked about the WSJ report at a briefing on the morning of Nov. 27, Minoru Kihara, the Japanese government’s top spokesperson, declined to comment on the meeting between Takaichi and Trump, saying it’s a matter of diplomatic exchanges. 

However, at a regular press conference hours later, Kihara said he found it necessary to clarify this matter.

“In the article you mentioned, there is a description that President Trump advised not to provoke the Chinese government on the issue of Taiwan’s sovereignty, but I would like to make it clear that there is no such fact,” Kihara told reporters when asked about the WSJ report.

He confirmed that Tokyo had reached out to the U.S. media outlet regarding this article.

Kihara at the briefings on Nov. 27 was not asked about other reports containing similar claims. Those include a Reuters report saying that Trump asked Takaichi not to further escalate the dispute with Beijing, citing two unnamed Japanese government sources. The report added that Trump did not present any specific demands to Takaichi.

Japanese media outlet Kyodo News also reported that during the phone call with Takaichi, Trump advised her to refrain from escalating the row with Beijing while emphasizing the importance of managing the relationship between the two Asian neighbors, citing an unnamed government source.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the three reports by publication time.

Takaichi, speaking to reporters shortly after the call with the U.S. president, said they exchanged views on a wide range of topics, including strengthening the Japan–U.S. alliance and addressing challenges facing the Indo-Pacific region.

“During the conversation, President Trump provided me with an update on the latest situation in U.S.–China relations, including the U.S.–China summit meeting held yesterday evening,” she told reporters in Tokyo. “I also responded to his question about the recent G20 summit that I attended.”

Takaichi said they affirmed the importance of continued cooperation between Tokyo and Washington under the current international situation.

“President Trump said that he would be willing to receive calls from me at any time as a close friend of his.”

Trump also said that the talk with Takaichi was “great.”

“She’s very smart, she’s very strong, and she’s going to be a great leader,” he said of the Japanese leader aboard Air Force One on Nov. 25, without disclosing the details of the exchange.

The fast-escalating spat between Tokyo and Beijing began on Nov. 7 after Takaichi, in response to a parliamentary committee question, said that a naval blockade against Taiwan may constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan. She used a legal term that could enable Japan to mobilize its military.

The comments on a theoretical possibility drew furious responses and violent threats from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which views self-ruled Taiwan as a breakaway province to be taken by force if necessary.

China, Japan’s largest trading partner, has turned to economic measures to pressure Japan to retract the prime minister’s comments.

The regime’s foreign ministry has advised tourists against traveling to Japan, and its education ministry has asked students to plan their studies in Japan with caution. Along with postponing the release of Japanese movies in China, Beijing has stated that there is “no market” for Japanese seafood in China.

Amid a deteriorating relationship with China, Takaichi said on Nov. 26 that the government remains open to dialogue with the Chinese side.

As for a Taiwan contingency, she said the government’s stance is that it would evaluate the situation comprehensively, based on the specific circumstances that actually occurred. This position, she said, had been repeatedly stated.

She explained that her initial comments were simply to respond to a question that was limited to a Taiwan contingency and that also mentioned the blockade of sea lanes.

“Since it was asked with specific examples, I answered sincerely within that scope,” she said.

Tuesday’s weak Consumer Confidence report was a good reminder of why some economists are calling our economy the K shaped economy.

As RealInvestmentAdvice.com reports, The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index fell 6.8 points to 88.7 in November, below expectations of 93.

Moreover, it sits at levels similar to those of early 2020, when the pandemic shuttered the economy. Similarly, the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment survey is slightly above 70-year lows.

Both surveys indicate that a large majority of consumers are struggling.

Within the surveys, the outlook on current jobs and job availability is low.

Inflation, tariffs, politics, and the government shutdown are also weighing on the consumer and limiting big-ticket spending plans.

A K shaped economy describes a post-crisis recovery where different parts of the economy and society are performing at sharply diverging rates, forming the two arms of the letter “K.”:

• The upper arm (going up): Sectors, companies, assets, and people that benefit from the recovery and, in many cases, are wealthier than before the pandemic. This includes investors in technology stocks, big tech companies, the luxury sectors, high-income professionals, and asset owners.

• The lower arm (going down): Sectors, small businesses, and people that continue to decline or stagnate even as the overall economy appears to improve. Examples include: the hospitality and travel industries, many lower-priced retail outlets, low-wage service workers, small businesses, and many middle-class and lower-income households.

The graph below showing the stark divergence between the S&P 500 and the University of Michigan consumer survey best depicts the K shaped economy.

You can make similar K shaped plots comparing stock markets, GDP, and megacap corporate profits versus small business closures, wage growth for low-income workers, and economic activity in the manufacturing sector.

The question is - how do the jaws of that widening alligator's mouth snap shut? Sentiment surge or equity purge?

Authored by Zachary Stieber and Jan Jekielek via The Epoch Times,

Sensitive documents found in burn bags at FBI headquarters will all be made public, FBI Director Kash Patel said in a new interview with The Epoch Times.

“You’re going to see everything we found in that room in one way or another, be it through investigation, public trial, or disclosure to the Congress,” Patel told The Epoch Times’ Jan Jekielek in an exclusive interview, which is set to air on EpochTV at 5 p.m. ET on Nov. 29.

Before becoming FBI director, one of Patel’s past roles was working as a congressional investigator. He was on the House Intelligence Committee team that uncovered previously unknown information about the FBI’s probe of possible links between the 2016 campaign of President Donald Trump and Russia.

The probe and fallout over the information that emerged, including the reliance on a dossier compiled on behalf of the Hillary Clinton campaign, has come to be known as “Russia Gate.”

Patel said on X in August that “we just uncovered burn bags/room filled with hidden Russia Gate files, including the Durham annex, and declassified them.”

The declassified annex to a report from former special counsel John Durham, whose team investigated the FBI’s actions and found that the full probe was based on unverified intelligence, was released in July by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). It showed that the FBI did not adequately review reports showing the Clinton campaign may have been promoting a false narrative connecting Trump to Russia, Grassley said at the time.

Clinton’s office has not commented on the annex. Robby Mook, Clinton’s 2016 campaign manager, has said he believed that work done by the international law firm Perkins Coie, which paid the dossier author, “was done for the purpose of providing legal services and legal advice” to the campaign.

During a hearing in September, Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Wis.) asked Patel why somebody would place documents related to the investigation into the FBI’s probe of Donald Trump and Russia in burn bags.

Patel said he could not comment on the case because it was ongoing.

“In general terms ... a burn bag is what you use to put classified documents into, generally, because that is literally how you destroy them,” he said.

Patel told The Epoch Times that “when the United States government and agency heads want things to disappear and want things to be buried and hidden, they know how to do it.”

“But what they didn’t count on was President Trump winning, him electing leadership across the United States government to say, ‘Go, find out how they corrupted and weaponized law enforcement,’ and that’s what we did—that’s what we’re doing; that’s how we found it, and we’re going to continue to expose it.”

Patel said the FBI is working with partners in Congress to release documents, including those relating to the Department of Justice investigation into Trump for alleged unlawful interference with the transfer of power after the 2020 election, which involved obtaining records from senators’ phones.

While investigations are ongoing, “we are going to have full accountability and we are going to have full transparency for the American public,” he said.

Andriy Yermak, the man who until just over 24 hours ago was Zelensky's right hand man and the president's top most powerful aid as chief of staff, and Ukraine's appointed chief negotiator with the US on the peace process, is going to the front lines, apparently to "fight".

After his home and offices were raided by Ukraine's anti-corruption investigators Friday related to the ongoing massive energy sector kickback scandal, Yermak announced by text message to The New York Post, "I’m going to the front and am prepared for any reprisals." He followed with, "I am an honest and decent person."

The Post added further, "He then apologized if he no longer answers calls. He did not say when or how he intended to go to the frontlines of the war against Russia."

He appears to still be rejecting allegations he was involved in the graft probe, centered on at least $100 million being siphoned off by corrupt Ukrainian officials amid a series of payoffs and kickbacks.

The narrative in his defense is being spun by the same NY Post report, which suggests this is all merely 'political' due largely to jealously and growing rivalries related to the enormous decision-making influence Yermak was coming to wield:

Despite his towering frame, you might not always have spotted him. Yet, wherever President Volodymyr Zelensky was, Yermak was often not far away.

As his chief of staff, Yermak wielded enormous power at the top of government and was even trusted to negotiate on Ukraine's behalf at peace talks with the US.

But as his influence grew, so did public resentment of the power this unelected official held. His political career came to an abrupt end on Friday, hours after anti-corruption investigators raided his home in Kyiv.

But clearly his dramatic declaration of "going to the front lines" is meant to signal a sense of self-sacrificial patriotism and induce feelings of sympathy. 

Oleksandr Dubinskyi, a rare and controversial oppositional lawmaker in Ukraine's parliament who has long called for Zelensky's impeachment, has a very different take based on his sources. He detailed in an X post a series of specific claims, the chief of which is that Yermak is 'hiding' from anti-corruption investigators:

I have learned where exactly he is going to “serve.”

Fact: Yermak, with his security detail, was brought to the location of commander nicknamed Madjar - one of the most media-prominent Ukrainian fighters, known for harsh Telegram rhetoric and the “Drone Wall” project. Unit commanders refuse to assign Yermak to their ranks.

He is physically present but has no tasks, no role, and no assigned position. Yermak is hiding from NABU anti-corruption investigations in a zone where detectives cannot serve him a notice of suspicion or court summons.

Separate detail: Madjar accepted Yermak only after a personal request from Zelensky. For Yermak, the front is not service. The front is a hideout. And it is interesting how people will meet Yermak - the man who organized the forced rounding-up of people in the streets of Ukraine.

Interestingly, when the teams of NABU and SAP agents searched his office on Friday, this was just meters away from President Zelensky's own office.

As a reminder, Andrew Korybko recently opined that Yermak's removal could prompt some progress in peace talks:

He’s Zelensky’s powerbroker so his downfall could undo the already shaky alliance between the armed forces, the oligarchs, the secret police, and parliament that keeps Zelensky in power, thus pressuring him into peace, especially if his warmongering grey cardinal is no longer pushing him to keep fighting.

One geopolitical source, known on X as The Islander, agrees: this is largely the result of the Trump administration finally bringing real pressure to bear on the Zelensky regime at a moment a clear, workable peace plan is on the table - which much to Kiev's chagrin features territorial concessions in the Donbass and Crimea.

I coined the phrase "Ukroscam"

Soros and Yermak obliged with the perfect picture. pic.twitter.com/aFyXOBWbEi

— Chay Bowes (@BowesChay) November 28, 2025

According to the lengthy analysis [emphasis ZH]:

The fall of Andriy Yermak – Zelensky’s fixer, enforcer, gatekeeper, and indispensable ally, isn’t a “corruption scandal.” It’s Washington slapping the table. NABU, the U.S.-trained attack dog of Ukrainian politics, didn’t raid the Presidential Office by accident.

It raided to remind Zelensky that the war isn’t his to command, the peace process isn’t his to veto, and the leash around Bankova Street is held in Washington, not Kiev and certainly not European chihuahuas. Because the real story isn’t Yermak’s resignation. The real story is the West turning on itself over how to end a war Russia has already won.

The fall of Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s most loyal ally and the de facto power manager of Ukraine, is not a scandal. It is a strike from above. NABU, the U.S.-funded, U.S.-trained anti-corruption bureau, didn’t raid the home and office of Ukraine’s most powerful unelected official by coincidence. And in any other country, his resignation after a corruption raid would be a political scandal. In Ukraine, it’s a geopolitical detonation.

Yermak wasn’t just a chief of staff, he was the shadow architect of the regime, the man through whom every appointment, every oligarchic negotiation, every Western request, and every wartime decision had to pass. And the speed of his resignation makes clear this was less about corruption, and more about pressure — engineered, timed, and executed by the one actor that can pull such a lever, Washington.

For months, the U.S. has been split between the neocons clinging to fantasies of a battlefield reversal, and the rising bloc of realists (JD Vance et. al) who have finally accepted what the frontlines have shown for over a year, Russia has already won. Ukraine’s army is shattered, NATO’s ammunition reserves are exhausted, and American voters are done with a war that offers no victory and no strategy.

The realists now want a controlled, face-saving diplomatic exit, that locks in territorial losses quietly while Washington claims it “secured peace.” Zelensky has resisted every inch of this pivot because peace ends his power. And Yermak was the immovable pillar of that resistance, insulating Zelensky from any pressure to negotiate, the filter preventing unwanted messages from reaching the president. By purging him through a NABU raid, the U.S. has isolated Zelensky.

Meanwhile, the EU is panicking. European leaders fear peace more than war because peace forces accountability... why did they destroy their own industries, torch their energy security, plunge their economies into recession, and funnel hundreds of billions into corruption for a war Washington itself is now preparing to fold?

Brussels supported Zelensky unconditionally not out of conviction but out of sheer self-preservation. If the war ends, they must answer for the ruin they inflicted on their own populations. Europe needs perpetual conflict to postpone the political reckoning. Washington, by contrast, wants a face saving offramp. This is the real EU–US divide: Brussels wants to delay the inevitable, Washington wants to manage it, and Kiev wants to deny it. Only one of them has the power to dictate the timeline, and it isn’t Europe.

Moscow sees the Western fracture, senses the desperation, and understands its advantage. Putin’s message has been cold and consistent: either negotiations occur on terms that reflect the battlefield reality and addreses the root cause of the conflict, or Russia will continue grinding down NATO’s proxy forces until nothing remains to negotiate with.

For Russia, both paths lead to victory. Russia has no reason to rush, it is the West running out of time, weapons, unity, and credibility. And when European publics finally realize their leaders sacrificed prosperity, stability, industry, and geopolitical autonomy for a war that ended exactly where Moscow predicted it would, the political reckoning will be seismic. Yermak’s fall is not the end of an era, it marks the beginning of the collapse for the EU.

Already, President Zelensky has on Saturday announced a delegation headed by security council secretary Rustem Umerov was on its way to Washington continue talks on the Trump-proposed deal to end the war.

And how is Mr. McFaul supposed to keep working now without his co-chair Yermak in the International Working Group on Russian Sanctions? ??

Their ‘teamwork’ has brought Ukraine so much benefit, after all. pic.twitter.com/ltFLu54qCt

— Marta Havryshko (@HavryshkoMarta) November 28, 2025

Umerov has been put in charge of the Ukrainian delegation at a moment Yermak is on the run toward the front lines. This is all happening very fast, and the White House can now more easily impose its will on an increasingly disunified and somewhat panicked Zelensky government.

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) has long performed a key role for many on the left. When there is an argument barred by decency or decorum, Wasserman Schultz is happy to make it, from attacking journalists in her defense of censorship to attempting to rig an election and bar Republicans from ballots as part of her defense of democracy. However, on Friday, the Florida representative set a new low in American politics: attempting to assign some of the blame for the shooting of two National Guardsmen on President Donald Trump.

On CNN’s “News Central,” Rep. Wasserman Schultz declared that

“This is a deeply concerning situation, but, you know, it’s one that I think we have to — it begs the question, would an individual have flown across the country to target law enforcement officers in Washington, D.C.? And, I mean, the answer is likely no. So why wasn‘t the president‘s first thought, ‘Wow, you know, maybe I should reconsider deploying military troops in the nation‘s capital or in any city?’ Particularly not when they haven‘t coordinated closely with the leadership of these cities and when we have law enforcement that are quite capable of handling the criminal justice issues that are — that we need law enforcement to focus on, and not our military.”

There is a good-faith debate over the deployment of National Guard personnel in cities. However, the mayor of Washington, D.C., has worked with the Administration on that deployment, and crime has fallen in the Capitol. They have been coordinating with the city.

Nevertheless, Wasserman Schultz pressed on:

“I just think, you know, the president looks everywhere except inward to blame his own policies. We need to make sure that we don‘t have our military deployed in our cities, doing — handling law enforcement responsibilities. And we need to make sure that we address gun violence. We certainly need to make sure we always have the proper and appropriate and tight, tight vetting processes, and those should be reviewed. But it‘s never the president‘s fault or his policies when it comes to his reaction, and it’s pretty disgusting.”

D.C. has some of the strongest gun control measures in the nation. Moreover, this is a crime committed with a handgun brought from another area with strong gun control, Washington State.

Wasserman Schultz is also assuming that it was the deployment that motivated the shooter, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national. Lakanwal entered the U.S. on September 8, 2021, under Operation Allies Welcome, a program established by former Democratic President Joe Biden after the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.

The father of slain Guardsman Staff Sgt. Darin “Taylor” Hoover blamed the “feckless Biden Administration” for the death of his daughter the day of Wasserman Schultz’s statement.

Wasserman Schultz, however, does not blame former President Biden for Lakanwal’s presence in the United States. (Lakanwal, a former member of a CIA unit in Afghanistan, was reportedly granted asylum under the Trump Administration in April).

Investigators are still working to discover the motive of Lakanwal for murdering one soldier and critically wounding another. However, Wasserman Schultz feels entirely comfortable in suggesting that it was the deployment of the Guard in cities over Democratic objections. Of course, a few other possibilities come to mind. First, it could be an act of religious-based terrorism. Second, it could be an act of mental illness. Third, it could be a personal grievance with the U.S. government.

Killing soldiers in the nation’s Capitol can be appealing for any of these motivations or a combination of motivations. It is not obvious that someone travels across the country because this is where you can find personnel on the streets. After all, there are also troops deployed in other states closer to Washington state. There are also large bases in Washington state where military personnel are present in large numbers in public areas.

A shooter with any of these motivations could view the location as amplifying his grievances against the government. Wasserman Schultz seems to suggest that Trump is responsible for making troops targets due to the controversial use of the Guard and supplying targets for a terrorist.

The most important point for Wasserman Schultz is a familiar one: Trump did it.

Yet, blaming the deployment is like blaming the Republican members for the mass shooting at the 2017 softball field. After all, if they had not made themselves targets, James T. Hodgkinson would not have gone there. Hodgkinson, a former Bernie Sanders supporter, hated Republicans and would have found another gathering to carry out his murderous plan. In the same way, Lakanwal may have been on the hunt for any soldiers as a symbol of the United States in the Capitol.

The point is that we do not know. The effort to use this tragedy for political purposes is to dishonor the victims and capitalize on their deaths. Few would feel comfortable getting into the head of a homicidal madman without any evidence or support. However, that appears to be a unique skill set for Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

*  *  * BLACK FRIDAY SALE AT ZeroHedge Store!

President Trump said on Saturday on X that the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela will "be closed in its entirety." 

"To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY. Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP," Trump wrote on X. 

To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY. Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2025

Earlier this month, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned pilots to "exercise caution" near Venezuela's airspace due to the "worsening security situation and heightened military activity.

The Pentagon has been deploying warships and other military assets in the Caribbean this year. The deployment centers around bolstering Hemispheric Defense, and the Trump administration has formally characterized Nicolás Maduro as the head of a terrorist organization and considers his government illegitimate. 

Joint Special Operations Command has ordered numerous airstrikes on speed boats carrying narcoterrorists. The intent is to stop drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narcoterrorists that are part of a sophisticated network pumping drugs into America, resulting in the drug death overdose crisis that kills 100,000 Americans per year - one that the Biden-Harris regime ignored by opening borders to the third world. 

On Friday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth dismissed fake news from corporate media about recent lethal kinetic strikes. 

Hegseth explained:

As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland.

As we've said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be "lethal, kinetic strikes." The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narcoterrorists who are poisoning the American people. Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.

The Biden administration preferred the kid gloves approach, allowing millions of people — including dangerous cartels and unvetted Afghans — to flood our communities with drugs and violence. The Trump administration has sealed the border and gone on offense against narcoterrorists. Biden coddled terrorists, we kill them.

Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict—and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command.

Our warriors in SOUTHCOM put their lives on the line every day to protect the Homeland from narcoterrorists — and I will ALWAYS have their back.

As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland.

As we’ve said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically…

— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) November 28, 2025

Hegseth followed the post with, "We have only just begun to kill narcoterrorists."

We have only just begun to kill narco-terrorists.

— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) November 28, 2025

What the U.S. airspace shutdown over Venezuela signals:

• Pressure Maduro into stepping down

• Or intent to collapse the Maduro regime

• Expectation of Russian/Iranian pushback

• Readiness to escalate militarily

Maduro and his circle would treat this as both an existential threat, and it remains to be seen how he would respond. We guess Trump's airspace announcement only suggests talks aren't going well.