Malcontent News

US consumers are already feeling pain at the pump as the United States and Israel continue their “Strategic Military Operation” against Iran, causing the average price for a gallon of gasoline to jump 34 cents in a week. According to AAA, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is $3.32, 34 cents higher than a week ago and 21 cents higher than a year ago. In 2024, President Donald Trump campaigned on bringing the price of gasoline down to $2 a gallon.

A boat smuggling cocaine was intercepted by the Navy between Venezuela and Barbados in the southern Caribbean, and the crew was taken into custody. The French Navy boarded the Barbados-flagged fishing vessel in the Antilles Maritime Zone, northeast of Venezuela. The crew offered no resistance, and a search of the boat found 676.6 kilograms of cocaine in 28 compressed bricks.

It’s been one year since President Donald Trump was inaugurated after campaigning on controlling inflation and lowering grocery and fuel prices. Three hundred and sixty-six days later, has the situation improved? On January 21, 2025, our team benchmarked grocery, fuel, and fast-food prices in Western Washington to track over the next 4 years. This is our eleventh update.

Human rights watchdogs and multiple government intelligence agencies believe the Iranian government has killed 2,000 to 6,000 protesters as anti-regime protests continue across Iran. The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) verified the death of 538 people through Saturday, and 10,600 arrests. Medical staff at Iranian hospitals reported they have taken in 3,500 bodies and 10,000 injured protesters, straining the medical system.

In the week following the Tomahawk missile strikes that the United States carried out on training camps of the ISIS-aligned Islamic State-Sahel Province (ISSP) Lakurawa terror group, local residents have found four unexploded warheads. U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) did not report the total number of Tomahawks used, but based on the ships involved, estimates range from 12 to 16.

Just hours after Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez was sworn in as Venezuela’s interim President, heavy gunfire erupted in the area of the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas. There are unconfirmed reports that the palace has been surrounded as part of a coup attempt. Other sources claimed the incident began after a civilian drone flew in the area, causing nervous military and security forces to believe they were under attack.

On Saturday, President Donald Trump said that U.S. oil companies were prepared to invest billions to tap into Venezuela’s proven oil reserves, after a special military operation exfiltrated dictator Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Fores.

Exhausted rescue teams continued technical rescues in Western Washington’s Snoqualmie River Basin as record flooding left thousands stranded in their homes. A Pacific Coast phenomenon known as an “atmospheric river” was intensified by unseasonably warm weather, resulting in heavy rainfall across Puget Sound and the western Cascade Mountains. Historic and near-historic flooding from Skagit to Pierce County has forced up to 100,000 people to leave their homes.

The Vancouver, Washington Police Department has opened an investigation into a December 4 incident involving an ICE detainment of a man run over by a car while being compliant and restrained. Jose Paniagua Calderon was taken into custody at around 12:45 p.m. at the intersection of 4th Plain and Z Street. ICE agents boxed his vehicle in as part of a targeted stop, shattered the window to his car, and dragged him out.

Most of us envision a romantic portrayal of Thanksgiving. Pilgrims, seeking freedom, come to the new land and, in peaceful cooperation with the Native Americans, carve out a hardscrabble life. After a good harvest in their first year, the Pilgrims invite the local Native Americans for a feast, everyone ate turkey, and all were happy — the end. There is also a revisionist story about Thanksgiving: that the holiday’s creation is a blood-soaked nightmare.