Posted by: Fred ||
05/13/2025 11:25 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[116 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I've been thinking lately about the movie Ex Machina . Spoiler alert - in the movie a programmer is asked to evaluate an AI, but the whole time the AI was actually manipulating/hacking him.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] An American oil magnate and his family have been arrested for allegedly working with Mexican cartels to smuggle over $300 million worth of crude oil into the United States.
James Laen Jensen, 68, and his wife, Kelly Anne Jensen, were taken into custody from their $9.1 million mansion in Utah last month in a multi-state raid that also saw their two sons, Maxwell and Zachary, arrested in Texas, according to My San Antonio.
Federal prosecutors claim they violated the US Tariff Act by smuggling in 2,881 shipments of oil from Mexico - worth at least $300 million - that they falsely claimed were 'waste of lube oils' and petroleum distillates' beginning in May 2022, ABC 4 reports.
The family was allegedly able to smuggle the crude oil into the country via barges docked outside their Texas facility, Arroyo Terminals, near the Mexican border.
All of the crude oil was reportedly stolen by drug cartels from PEMEX - Mexico's nationalized oil company.
'The payments for this crude oil were directed to businesses in Mexico that operate only through the permission of [a] Mexican criminal organization,' federal prosecutors allege in court documents obtained by KSL.
'James Jensen was aware that the payments he made were going to these Mexican criminal organizations,' they continued.
A warrant for James' arrest even claims he paid over $47 million to these dangerous criminal entities.
James and Kelly were ultimately arrested on April 23, following an investigation by he US Drug Enforcement Agency, FBI, the Criminal Investigations division of the IRS and Homeland Security Investigations.
When US Marshals arrived at his 26,893 mansion in Sandy, Utah, prosecutors say the couple was unwilling to follow law enforcements' demands to come out - forcing Marshals to use a battering ram to break down the door, Valley Central reports.
Meanwhile, other agents raided Arroyo Terminal in Texas, where they reportedly placed employees in handcuffs and questioned them about the business.
One unidentified employee told Valley Central that the FBI agents then asked them whether the crude oil had been stolen.
'We don't know anything about that,' the employee said. 'We're just in charge of unloading the trucks and loading the barges.'
Another employee added that, 'When it comes to the aspect of knowing where the oil's coming from or what company or what part of Mexico or anything like that, we were always out of the loop.'
In the end, the agents reportedly took documents from the building and requested passwords for the computers.
'When I went into the office to use the restroom, I did hear the FBI high-five and say: "We got 'em,"' a third employee claimed.
James is now facing charges of money laundering conspiracy, aiding and abetting smuggling of goods into the United States, aiding and abetting the entry of goods by means of false statements, money laundering spending conspiracy and money laundering spending.
The other members of his family are each facing one to three of the counts.
They have each pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.
In court, Assistant US Attorney Laura Garcia asked US Magistrate Judge Ignacio Torteya III to hold Maxwell - who co-owns Arroyo Terminals with his father - without bond, saying he worked closely with 'cartel-affiliated businesses' and frequently travels to the Bahamas, where the family has a property.
Torteya ultimately agreed, holding Maxwell without bond, as he set bond for his brother - who handled the company's marketing and business development - at $100,000 with a $10,000 cash deposit.
He now must remain at home and submit to GPS monitoring.
Similarly in Utah, Dustin B Pead, the chief magistrate judge for the United States District of Utah, decided to allow James and Kelly to remain at home and submit to GPS monitoring after their lawyers successfully argued they were upstanding citizens.
'They're active in their church, they're active in their community, they come from a stalwart Utah family,' attorney John Huber argued, noting that Kelly's parents 'have served in public service for decades.
'And they don't want to throw all that all out of the window,' he pleaded in court.
Kelly's father, Gordon Walker, served in the Department of Housing and Urban Development under former President Ronald Reagan and her mother, Carlene Walker, served in the Utah State Senate.
Pead then released the couple without setting bond.
'I'm counting on what your attorneys have said here today - that you are the upstanding people that your attorneys state you are,' he warned the couple, as he ordered them to turn over their passports and regularly report to their pretrial officer.
They were also forced to forfeit any money gained from the smuggled oil - including their company, an additional home listed for the family in Draper, Utah as well as bank accounts and new cars totaling $300 million.
Yet this is not the first time James of buying stolen petroleum products.
In 2011, PEMEX Exploration and Production filed a suit against him, claiming he and two businesses he owned - Big Star Gathering and St. James Oil - had purchased stolen natural gas condensate.
'At times, Jensen would travel to Mexico to arrange purchases from the cartels who had stolen the condensate,' the lawsuit alleged, according to Valley Central.
James denied any wrongdoing, but admitted Big Star had business dealings with an oil company executive who had stolen natural gas condensate.
All of the transactions happened before that executive pleaded guilty, he said in an affidavit at the time.
Meanwhile, attorney's for his other business, St. James Oil, urged a judge to dismiss the case.
'St. James's business reputation and creditworthiness suffer every day that it continues to be named in a lawsuit alleging participation in a drug cartel-related conspiracy,' it argued in a motion.
PEMEX ultimately dropped the suit in 2013, after two years of litigation.
But if any of the family members are now found guilty of the charges against them, they could face a maximum of 20 years in federal lockup and fines of up to $500,000.
[ShabelleMedia] U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), in coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, launched an Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... targeting ISIS Death Eaters in Somalia on Monday, as part of efforts to disrupt the terrorist group’s operations.
The strike occurred about 70 kilometers southeast of Bosaso, in the Bari region of Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... State. The operation is ongoing, with assessments underway to determine the extent of the damage to the Death Eaters and finalize mission objectives.
The primary goal of the airstrike is to support the Puntland Security Forces in their campaign to eliminate ISIS Death Eaters from the region.
The Federal Government of Somalia reiterated its strong partnership with international allies, particularly the United States, in the fight against terrorism and efforts to bring peace and stability to Somalia and the surrounding area.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/13/2025 2025-05-13 04:29 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[111 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
State. The operation is ongoing, with assessments underway to determine the extent of the damage to the Death Eaters and finalize mission objectives.
Had to get the news out before BDA was complete.
SOF presscorp is working overtime to craft the narrative.
#3
Good points, gentlemen. Inasmuch as I understand things military — in other words, not at all — it seems to me this means we trust ourselves to spend funds meaningfully and effectively for kinetic effect, but are pretty sure funds given African Union Stabilization Support Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) are disappearing preferentially into private pockets without forwarding war fighting.
A big difference from giving anything to Israel, where it goes directly where intended and will do the most good.
[ShabelleMedia] Security forces from Somalia’s South West State on Sunday launched a major military operation against al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... Death Eaters in several villages under Walanweyn district in the Lower Shabelle region, officials said.
The offensive targeted the areas of Yaaqbariwayne, Leego, and Carmoole, following intelligence reports that al-Shabaab fighters were mobilizing in the region.
"Our forces responded swiftly and conducted a planned assault on bad boy positions," said a military officer involved in the operation. "We killed several fighters, destroyed key installations, and regained control of the affected areas."
Following the operation, South West State forces began sweeping the area to secure it from potential counterattacks and to stabilize local security.
Meanwhile,
...back at the secret hideout, Scarface Al sneeringly put his proposition to little Nell... the main highway linking the capital, Mogadishu, with Baydhabo remains under al-Shabaab control. Due to the persistent threat of roadside kaboomings and ambushes, top government and South West State officials have been forced to travel between the two cities by air.
Security sources say the bad boy group regularly stages attacks along the route, targeting military convoys and civilian vehicles.
Oddly enough, nothing about this embarrassment is reported on the Hodhod Yemen News site.
[IsraelTimes] A ballistic missile launched from Yemen a short while ago, apparently aimed at Israel, fell short in Saudi Arabia or off its coast, according to an Israeli defense source.
Were I Saudi, I would be very motivated to quietly help Israel fix the problem…
The military identified the launch, but no sirens sounded in Israel because the missile did not pose a threat.
Since March 18, when the IDF resumed its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis in Yemen have launched some 30 ballistic missiles and at least 10 drones at Israel.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] The surviving participant in the attack on police officers that took place on May 5 in Makhachkala has been remanded in custody until July 5 at the request of the investigation, but remains in hospital in serious condition. He has been charged with four criminal offenses.
As "Kavkazsky Uzel" wrote, on May 5, there was an attack on a traffic police unit in Makhachkala, the police were shot at with machine guns. In the shootout, two police officers were killed, two more security officers and three civilians were wounded. The Investigative Committee announced that one of the attackers survived and is in the hospital, and also admitted guilt. The attackers chose the moment when the police were registering the accident for the attack.
The attack on security forces on May 5 does not appear to have been carefully planned, civilians were clearly random victims, and the police officers on duty were chosen as the most accessible target. This attack is only indirectly connected to recent armed incidents in Dagestan, although all of these incidents stem from common premises that the authorities have not eliminated over the years of fighting the underground, analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" pointed out.
The surviving participant in the attack on the police officers has been remanded in custody for one month and 24 days, until July 5, according to a message today on the Telegram channel of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for Dagestan.
The arrested person is accused of committing crimes under Article 317 (attempt on the life of law enforcement officers), Article 166 (hijacking without intent to steal), Article 222 (illegal arms trafficking) and Article 226 (theft of arms) of the Criminal Code of Russia.
The measure of restraint for the detainee was chosen by the Sovietsky District Court of Makhachkala at the request of the investigation. According to the materials received by the court, on May 5, 2025, the accused, together with another accomplice to the crime, attacked traffic police officers in Makhachkala with knives and, having seized their service firearms and stolen a patrol car, fled in it.
Continuing to implement their criminal intent, the criminals fired aimed shots at the police officers. As a result of the actions of the accused and his accomplice, who was killed during the capture, both law enforcement officers died. Having reviewed the materials, the court ruled to choose a measure of restraint for the accused in the form of detention for a period of 1 month and 24 days, that is, until July 5, 2025, the United Press Service of the Courts of General Jurisdiction of Dagestan reported today on its Telegram channel.
The accused in the attack on police officers in Makhachkala, who was wounded by law enforcement officers, remains in hospital in serious condition. "The accused is still in the medical facility, his condition is serious," RIA Novosti quotes a representative of the press service of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for Dagestan as saying.
One of the two security officers killed on May 5, police officer Gazibeg Shakhbanov, was buried in the Tlyaratinsky district, where he was from. Shakhbanov was married but had no children, the father of the murdered man told the Mash Gor Telegram channel.
[FoxNews] More than a ton of cocaine worth nearly $400 million was seized off the coast of Australia during a drug bust that ended with the arrests of five men on Friday, local authorities said.
New South Wales (NSW) Police Force Sherlocks obtained intelligence about a suspicious purchase of a boat with a large sum of cash in late April and began following the movements of the vessel and people involved, the NSW and Australian Federal Police (AFP) said in a joint news release.
Both the NSW and AFP monitored their activities as they traveled north via Nelson Bay and Port Macquarie, according to the agencies.
When the vessel came back to shore on Friday, marine authorities launched an interception.
[FoxNews] ICE says more than half of the arrested illegal aliens in Houston had criminal convictions
Immigration and Customs Enforcement and removal officers in Houston arrested 422 suspected illegal immigrants during a weeklong operation.
During the operation, ICE officers targeted some of the most dangerous criminals, including an illegal migrant wanted in Colombia on murder charges.
Fox News exclusively embedded with officers for 10 hours as ICE officers arrested an illegal alien they say is wanted for murder in Colombia, at his apartment complex.
"He has a homicide conviction in Colombia and was sentenced to 21 years there," ICE Houston Director Bret Bradford said. "He entered the United States illegally in February of 2024 was given a court date for an immigration hearing and released. He did not show up for that court date, so in March of this year, he was ordered removed by an immigration judge here in the United States.
ICE made 422 arrests recently in a weeklong operation in Houston. (Fox News)
"The biggest thing for me is public safety," Bradford said.
Of the 422 arrests, 262 have criminal convictions, 34 have pending convictions, 126 have other immigration violations, and 229 had final orders of removal, according to ICE.
Another illegal alien removed during the operation was a 72-year-old migrant from Mexico who was ordered removed from the U.S. in 2018, and has been convicted of homicide, robbery, shoplifting and assault.
During the operation, a 40-year-old twice-deported criminal alien from Mexico was seen trying flee in his vehicle and then on foot before he eventually was captured. According to ICE, Hector Castillo-Garcia was convicted of several charges while in the U.S. illegally, including arson, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and driving while intoxicated.
The Houston ICE Field Office has an operation center with analysts dedicated to developing these targets.
"They are doing the database research to get the worst of the worst, the ones who have the most significant threat to public safety," Bradford said. "And then we want to look at the information we have on that individual, make sure it's a viable target, make sure we have good addresses, go out and do surveillance so we can see if we can a pattern of the subjects’ movements and behavior. So, we want to kind of combine the worst of the worst plus the ones we have the most likelihood of encountering and arresting, trying to merge those two things together to come up with the top targets."
ICE is also ramping up its efforts to remove illegal migrants by swiftly transferring those with final removal orders to designated hubs, where they are deported immediately to their home countries.
This "hub and spoke" system, which speeds up the removal process, has just started recently, according to the ICE field director.
"We can arrest the individual this morning, process him this afternoon, and have him on a removal flight this evening, same day, saving taxpayer cost and just making it more efficient and expedited process to get these folks out of the country," said Bradford.
Fox News got exclusive footage of 80 detainees in Houston boarding one of the flights bound for the El Paso, Texas, hub.
[Rudaw] Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi army launched a joint operation in the Qarachogh mountain area of Makhmour district in Nineveh province on Monday, following signs of Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) movement detected by thermal cameras, but found no turbans during the search.
Makhmour is among areas disputed by Erbil and Baghdad, and ISIS has previously exploited the security vacuum in the town’s rugged terrain.
"The army and security forces in the area noticed suspicious nighttime movements through thermal cameras. Therefore, a joint operation was conducted today to follow up and search the area, but no ISIS turbans were found, and the operation ended," Mohammed Jassim Kakai, head of the security and defense committee in the Nineveh Provincial Council, told Rudaw.
To bolster security and stability in the region, the Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi army carried out a joint operation in the foothills of Mount Qarachogh, according to a statement from the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs on Facebook. The search covered the plains and valleys to the south and north of the mountain.
"The aim of these operations is to search for and clear ISIS terrorist hideouts, so that the region’s security and calm can be better maintained," the ministry added.
[GEO.TV] Israeli airstrikes resumed in Gaza shortly after the handover of a US-Israeli captive, with warplanes and drones reported overhead, Al Jazeera reported.
The renewed attacks have deepened uncertainty among Palestinians, many of whom are already facing severe humanitarian conditions. Families are struggling to access food, with reports of children going to bed hungry as supplies dwindle.
Despite the escalation, Hamas called the captive's release a ''positive step'' toward advancing ceasefire talks.
The group said it remains committed to negotiating an end to the conflict, ensuring the flow of humanitarian aid, and beginning reconstruction efforts in Gaza.
Israeli forces have not been instructed to halt military activities in the Gaza Strip ahead of the expected release of US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander on Monday, but will make “adjustments” to allow safe passage of the captive out of the Strip, Channel 12 reported.
“Adjustments have been made for the release, but the army continues with normal operations,” a security source tells the network amid conflicting reports of a truce ahead of the release that was negotiated without Israel’s involvement.
The Kan public broadcaster also said that there was no ceasefire in Gaza but that military activity across the Strip had been limited to avoid harming the release process of Alexander.
However, a short while ago, there was an exchange of fire between IDF troops and terror operatives in the Gaza City neighborhood of Shejaiya, the military said. An IDF reservist was lightly injured in the clash and taken to a hospital for treatment, the IDF said.
The Hamas-linked Shehab outlet reported artillery shelling near Gaza City, and small arms fire north of Rafah in the southern Strip. Shelling was also reported by other outlets.
AFP reported earlier Monday that a Hamas source said the terror group was informed by mediators that Israel would pause military operations in Gaza for the handover of Alexander.
“Hamas was informed that at exactly 9:30 a.m., Israel began halting its reconnaissance, drone, and warplane flights, as well as combat operations, to create a safe corridor for the transfer and handover of Edan,” the source said.
In a statement, Hamas announced on Sunday its decision to release Alexander after recent talks with US officials and “intensified efforts to achieve a ceasefire, open border crossings, and allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the US informed it of Hamas’s intent to release Alexander “without compensation or conditions” and that the step is expected to lead to negotiations on a truce.
Netanyahu’s government was angered by US direct talks with Hamas earlier this year that led to a Hamas offer to release Alexander and the bodies of four other hostages if Israel recommitted to a stalled ceasefire deal. Days later, however, Israel resumed the war.
US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff told AP that Hamas’s goal in releasing Alexander was to restart talks on a ceasefire, the release of additional hostages and a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza before Israel carries out a threatened total takeover of the territory.
Indirect talks between Hamas and the US began five days ago, an Egyptian official and a senior Hamas official told AP, with both describing the release of Alexander as a goodwill gesture.
Courtesy of Grom in comments below, Israel National News adds:
The IDF early Tuesday morning precisely struck significant Hamas terrorists who were operating from within a command and control center located in the “Nasser” hospital in Khan Yunis. The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said that the compound was used by the terrorists to plan and execute terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops.
The successor of the head of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip and head of Hamas' finances and institutions, Ismail Barhoum, who was eliminated in a precise strike this past March, operated from within the Nasser hospital, the IDF said.
“Senior Hamas officials continue to use the hospital for terrorist activity, through cynical and brutal use of the civilian population in the hospital and its surroundings,” the IDF statement said.
Palestinian Arab media reported that Gazan "journalist" Hassan Aslih was eliminated in the Khan Yunis strike. Aslih, who operated on October 7 under the guise of a media worker, broadcast live images of a burning tank near the border fence.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...
... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
