[IsraelTimes] Palestinian gunman breaches military post near Tayasir, exchanges fire with troops for several minutes until he is killed; Palestinians later report drone strike nearby
A Paleostinian gunman infiltrated an army checkpoint in the northern West Bank on Tuesday morning, opening fire and wounding eight before being killed, the military and medics said.
The attack took place at the Taysir checkpoint, close to the Paleostinian village of the same name. The checkpoint is on a road leading from the Jordan Valley to the village and other Paleostinian towns.
According to an initial probe by the Israel Defense Forces, the gunman managed to sneak up to a military post at the checkpoint, where he opened fire on troops just before 6 a.m.
The compound next to the checkpoint includes a watchtower and several structures, and it is manned by a squad of 11 soldiers and a commander.
The assailant, who has not yet been identified, was armed with an M-16 assault rifle and two magazines, and wearing a tactical vest.
The IDF’s probe found that the gunman approached the army post on foot undetected overnight. At dawn, the assailant surprised two soldiers who were getting up to leave the post to open the adjacent Tayasir checkpoint for Paleostinian traffic.
The soldiers, who were in full military gear, exchanged fire with the gunman at close range at the entrance to the post.
From there, other soldiers stationed at the army post exchanged fire with the gunman for several minutes, during which he managed to enter the post itself and the entrance to the watchtower. The IDF said that the gunman did not go up to the top of the watchtower.
A backup team then arrived at the scene and opened fire on the gunman from outside the army post, causing him to flee.
During the gunman’s attempts to run away from the post, one soldier from the backup team hurled a grenade at him, and others opened fire. The assailant was killed just outside the army post.
At least eight were maimed in the attack, first responders said, including two listed at death's door. Four were moderately hurt and another two were listed in good condition. They were taken to hospitals in Israel.
Footage posted by Paleostinian media showed the moments of the attack.
In the video, gunfire can be seen at the top of the watchtower. According to the IDF’s probe, troops stationed in the watchtower opened fire from above at the gunman.
The IDF said it would provide further details on the attack later.
Shortly after the shooting attack, Paleostinian media reported an Israeli dronezap in the town of Tamun, close to Tayasir. No injuries were reported.
There was no immediate comment from the IDF on the strike.
Tuesday’s shooting came amid an ongoing counter-terrorism offensive in the northern West Bank, including in several Paleostinian towns near the site of the attack.
The IDF has been operating in Jenin, Tulkarem, and Tamun for two weeks.
Over 35 button men were killed by troops during the operation, and another 15 were killed in dronezaps, the military said Sunday.
The IDF has acknowledged mistakenly killing several civilians during the operation, including a toddler.
More than 100 wanted Paleostinians have been detained, and troops have seized some 40 weapons and neutralized over 80 bombs during the operation, according to the IDF.
The offensive, dubbed Operation Iron Wall, was launched on January 21, and the military expects it to last several more weeks.
The West Bank has seen a surge in violence since Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... ’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel from the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip ignited the war there.
Since then troops have arrested some 6,000 wanted Paleostinians across the West Bank, including more than 2,350 affiliated with Hamas. According to the Paleostinian Authority health ministry, more than 900 West Bank Paleostinians have been killed in that time. The IDF says the vast majority of them were button men killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops or holy warriors carrying out attacks.
There has also been a significant uptick in settler violence against Paleostinians since the start of the war.
During the same period, 46 people, including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another eight members of the security forces were killed in festivities with terror operatives in the West Bank.
[IsraelTimes] After reports that the Palestinian Authority is involved in running the Rafah Crossing from Egypt into Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman issues a denial while acknowledging a minor PA role at the key site.
“The Palestinian Authority does not operate the Rafah Crossing, despite the narrative it is trying to create,” writes Omer Dostri on X.
Netanyahu has consistently pledged that Israel would retain control over the site.
“Nothing has changed in the management of civilian affairs in Gaza since the beginning of the war, including at the Rafah Crossing,” Dostri continues.
“The only involvement of the PA is the PA stamp on passports, which according to the international arrangement only allows Gazans to leave for other countries or to be absorbed into them.”
Ynet reported that nine PA police officers are back at the crossing, managing the site alongside Egyptian and European officials.
A 2005 agreement between Israel and the PA stipulates that Rafah Crossing would be controlled by the PA under EU supervision.
After a January report in a Saudi outlet that Israel would allow the PA to manage the crossing under international supervision, the PMO issued a similar statement, noting that “non-Hamas Gazans” provide technical management of the crossing with international oversight, and the PA provides the stamp on passports allowing Gazans to exit the Strip.
[IsraelTimes] An eight-year-old boy wearing a yarmulke has been attacked in Rome, Italian media reports.
A 33-year-old Egyptian national has been arrested in connection with the incident.
According to reports, the boy and his mother were walking together on the central Via Nazionale on Thursday when the man appeared in front of them and started yelling at the boy.
After the boy tried to hide between his mother’s legs and covered his face with his hands, the man grabbed him and began kicking and punching him.
The boy’s mother and a shopkeeper tried to stop the man as he took a broken bottle out of his pocket. The man threatened them with the glass before running away.
Using surveillance videos from nearby shops and clubs in the area, Italian anti-terrorist police tracked down the suspect shortly after, still with the broken bottle in his pocket.
The suspect, a migrant living on the streets of Italy, had arrived recently after being rejected at the borders of France and Belgium, reports say.
He was charged with attempting to mutilate a child and two women. There were no charges relating to the motive.
[IsraelTimes] US President Donald Trump’s administration has asked congressional leaders to approve new transfers of roughly $1 billion worth of bombs and other military hardware to Israel, the Wall Street Journal reports
The planned weapons sales include 4,700 1,000-pound bombs, worth more than $700 million, and armored bulldozers, built by Caterpillar CAT.N, worth more than $300 million, the report adds, citing sources.
[IsraelTimes] The IDF says troops fired warning shots, after Palestinian suspects approached forces in several areas of the Gaza Strip today.
Israeli troops are still deployed inside some areas of Gaza during the ceasefire with Hamas.
The IDF says it is “determined to fully maintain the terms of the agreement in order to return the hostages,” and is “prepared for any scenario and will continue to take any necessary actions to thwart any immediate threat to IDF soldiers.”
“The IDF calls the residents of Gaza to follow its instructions and avoid approaching the troops deployed in the area,” the military adds.
[PJMedia] Donald Trump ...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons... ’s latest shock move against the Deep State was suddenly to shut down the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). And all those who oppose Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... should celebrate this move, considering the many millions of American taxpayer dollars the agency has funneled to genocidal jihadis.
Yes, that’s right, the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... subsidiary of USAID has sent literally billions of our hard-earned taxpayer dollars to Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... -run Gaza, where the overwhelming majority of Gazooks support jihad. The Biden-Harris administration has been especially generous with USAID Gaza funding, of course; thank goodness Trump is taking action to end the cash flow to corrupt foreign countries.
In the U.S. Office of Paleostinian Affairs’ announcement of $230 million in new funding for Gazooks late last year, the Office bragged, "Since 2021, USAID/West Bank and Gaza has invested over $600 million in economic support funding of the Paleostinian people, in addition to the over $1.2 billion in humanitarian assistance since October 7, 2023." USAID/West Bank and Gaza is of course a subsidiary of the larger agency.
Amy Tohill-Stull, the mission director for USAID/West Bank and Gaza, inaccurately referred to the Paleostinian people (the so-called Paleostinians are actually a conglomeration of Arabs who began using the term Paleostinian in the 1960s) in her nauseating statement at the time. "Our commitment to the Paleostinian people remains steadfast," she pontificated.
She added that the agency aimed to reduce Hamas's influence, even though the majority of Paleostinians are still stubbornly and enthusiastically in support of terrorism and show no signs of abandoning their violent mostly peaceful ideology: "This funding demonstrates our resolve to support sustainable development and provide essential services that enhance the quality of life for all Paleostinians and further reduce the influence of Hamas." I give that at least three Pinnochios.
Incidentally, soon after the above release, USAID again announced "seven new programs to foster peace between Paleostinians and Israelis." It is unclear from that November announcement exactly how much money was involved with this incredibly vaguely described initiative, but the Nita M. Lowey Middle East Partnership for Peace Act under which the programs came allocates $50 million a year for various programs. The programs include 29 awards altogether for Paleostinian-related initiatives.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee posted today, "USAID is a mess. For every dollar it spends, only 12 cents actually reach those in need—the rest gets wasted or pocketed in the Beltway. It’s time to fix our foreign aid system." Amen to that.
More from PJ Media about USAID money going to various jihadi groups, discussing the work of former CIA targeter and Defense Department operative Sarah Adams. She tells of millions per week handed to the Taliban, some of which flows to Al Qaeda training camps, which send graduates through the Darien Gap to the US. Yay. That nothing major has happened in the U.S since 9/11 arguably demonstrates God’s love for America.
#3
Saw protests on TV today. The crowd was protesting the the cut back in USAID funding. They had shut down a major highway around LA. You'd think they had better things to do considering the recent major fires which wiped out so many homes. I wondered how many of the protesters knew what USAID even was. Looked like a seedier version of earlier Soros protests rent-a-crowds.
[RedState] For an "apolitical" civil service, politics certainly seems to color many of its activities. Last week, President Trump placed 50-60 senior executives with the US Agency for International Development on administrative leave (see Trump Suspends As Many As 60 Senior Bureaucrats for Trying to Evade His Executive Orders – RedState) for attempting to sabotage his efforts to cut grants to such worthy project as transgender Nigerian dance troupes; see WATCH: Press Hounds Karoline Leavitt About USAID, and She Comes Off the Top Rope With the Receipts.
Across the federal government, we hear stories of resistance brewing. The stories are probably exaggerated but real nonetheless. And every once in a while, one of the goobers gets out over their skis and gets burned. This one, thanks to James O'Keefe and the poor girl who had to go on a date with him.
The target was a guy named Brandon Wright, who is a GS-14 IT manager at the Department of Homeland Security.
GS-14 is sorta the lieutenant colonel level in the Army, and he makes pretty good money.
“The truth is, we don't let them [secretaries] get in our way,” admits Brandon Wright, Platform Services Manager for the Department of Homeland Security (@DHSgov), on hidden camera, to an undercover @OKeefeMedia Journalist. Drawing an analogy to a septic tank, Wright described… pic.twitter.com/0N8U21PdW1
…Wright described the multi-layered bureaucracy within DHS: “There’s a lot of layers, like [in] government… By the time the actual marching orders get to me and below, we can filter it in a way that steadies the ship.”
“If we don’t agree with those priorities,” he said, noting executing orders often involves deceptively construing priorities set by political appointees to make them more practical and less disruptive, adding, “there’s a lot of room for interpretation.”
When discussing
@KristiNoem
’s role as the Trump-appointed DHS Secretary, Wright didn’t mince words on his opinions over Noem’s qualifications for the position. “Kristi Noem doesn’t know… She doesn’t know her ass,” he remarked, adding, “The Department of Homeland Security could fall on her f*cking head, and she wouldn’t recognize what it is.”
Wright also admitted his personal dislike of her leadership style, adding, “To say that I am not excited about this would be the most epic understatement.”
The Department of Homeland Security provided the following statement to O’Keefe Media Group:
“Secretary Noem has not seen the video in its entirety. This type of behavior will not be tolerated. This person has been placed on leave and is under investigation … The senior official says the termination of the official is imminent.”
#1
Time for the US DOJ step up and at least finish the job that Mr. O'Keefe has been doing of outing those harmful to and working for the Federal Government?
At the least terminating these reprobates from Federal employment would be a start.
"Note the broad swath of direct managerial authority over the daily operations of the federal workforce the High Court recognizes the Constitution intended for the President to exercise:
“The President must be able to remove not just officers who disobey his commands but also those he finds ‘negligent and inefficient,’ Myers , 272 U.S. at 135, 47 S.Ct. 21, those who exercise their discretion in a way that is not ‘intelligen[t] or wis[e],’ ibid. , those who have ‘different views of policy,’ id., at 131, 47 S.Ct. 21, those who come ‘from a competing political party who is dead set against [the President’s] agenda,’ Seila Law , supra , at ––––, 140 S.Ct., at 2204 (emphasis deleted), and those in whom he has simply lost confidence, Myers , supra , at 124, 47 S.Ct. 21.”
#5
Don't even give them time to clean out their desks. Escort them directly out.
Having time to clean desks (and computers) gets rid of evidence.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
02/04/2025 16:45
Comments ||
Top||
#6
What is the bureaucratic state, 90-95% Democrat? Most are infected with TDS. There needs to be reform in this area. A good cleaning out would be a good start.
Another one bites the dust. Hopefully the new conservative government will start to bring both spending and uncontrolled Moslem colonists under control.
[IsraelTimes] Dutch-speaking conservative has vowed to crack down on immigration; pulls together five parties to form majority coalition after seven months of negotiations
Conservative Bart De Wever was sworn in Monday as Belgium’s new prime minister, after striking a hard-fought coalition deal that moves the country to the right.
Struck late Friday after seven months of tortuous negotiations, the agreement makes De Wever the first nationalist from Dutch-speaking Flanders to be named Belgian premier.
I’m shocked. Historically the Dutch speakers are the petit bourgeois small business owners, the farmers, hewers of wood and drawers of water — the yeoman peasants who keep the country running — while the French-speaking aristocracy are the governors and managers. This has not actually worked well since the 1990s, but it’s the way things have always been done. Hearty congratulations to the voters for actually overthrowing the usual order.
A law-and-order candidate whose coalition has already promised to crack down on irregular migration, De Wever’s rise to power reinforces a marked right-wing shift in European politics.
The 54-year-old, who in recent years has backed off on calls for Flanders to become an independent country, took the oath of office before King Philippe, in a ceremony at the royal palace in Brussels.
From there, he is to head straight to a gathering of EU leaders a few blocks away, for talks on defense and transatlantic relations.
“And now to work,” the incoming leader posted on social media X, alongside a photo of the swearing-in.
De Wever’s N-VA is part of the hard-right ECR group in the European Parliament, which also includes lawmakers from the parties of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Czech leader Petr Fiala.
“Our ECR group now has three prime ministers at the European Council table and participates in the government of seven countries,” French hard-right lawmaker Marion Marechal rejoiced on X.
Hard-right parties, often riding anti-immigrant sentiment, performed strongly in European Parliament elections last year, and have topped recent national and regional votes in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands.
60-HOUR MARATHON
Split between French- and Dutch-speaking communities and with a highly complex political system, Belgium has an unenviable record of painfully protracted coalition discussions — reaching 541 days back in 2010-2011.
This time around, five groups sought to forge a coalition after June elections that failed to produce a clear majority — with talks led by De Wever’s N-VA which claimed the most seats.
The new government brings together three parties from Dutch-speaking Flanders: the N-VA, the centrist Christian-Democrats and the leftist Vooruit (Onward).
And it includes two from French-speaking Wallonia: the centrist Les Engages and the center-right Reformist Movement.
Together, they hold an 81-seat majority in Belgium’s 150-seat parliament.
Coalition talks hit a wall during the summer over the issue of plugging the country’s budget deficit — estimated at 4.6 percent of gross domestic product in 2024, one of the highest in the European Union.
Belgium is one of seven EU countries facing disciplinary action for running a deficit above three percent of GDP, in violation of the bloc’s fiscal rules.
De Wever, the mayor of Antwerp since 2013, has pushed for cuts in social benefits and pension reforms that have already sparked opposition from labor unions.
He had threatened to throw in the towel if no coalition deal was reached Friday.
An agreement was struck with just hours to go after a 60-hour marathon session to iron out differences over an 800-page program.
But the gender makeup of the new government has raised some eyebrows, with 11 men and just four women.
De Wever’s N-VA was already part of a right-leaning ruling coalition between 2014 and 2018. He takes over from outgoing prime minister Alexander De Croo, whose seven-party coalition took an arduous 493 days to emerge back in 2019-2020. De Croo had stayed on as caretaker leader after the June elections.
[IsraelTimes] As a British-Israeli of Iranian descent and outspoken critic of Tehran, I live in fear of reprisals by the IRGC and its proxies
Daniel Khalife has been sentenced to 14 years after being found guilty of spying for Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... in November 2024. Khalife was also convicted of committing an act prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state, while also eliciting information about members of the armed forces. The former British Army soldier had effectively recruited himself as an agent for Iran, proactively identifying and contacting a sanctioned Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-linked individual who then transferred him to what was described as an "English-speaking handler" in 2019.
Khalife’s defense hinged on his claim that he was simply motivated by a desire to serve the UK’s intelligence agencies and was acting as an unsanctioned double agent, only providing his handlers in Tehran with what he viewed as insignificant information. He forged documents and his fictional reports recklessly endangered Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian national imprisoned at the time in Iran on (dubious?) (bogus / trumped up?) spying charges. Khalife even contacted the Security Service twice to offer them his services before they reported him to the police, leading to his first arrest in January 2022. Khalife displayed such incompetence that even his own barrister likened his activities to those of "Scooby Doo" rather than 007.
Yet, these revelations are of secondary importance to what the Khalife trial shows about Iran, and unquestionably reinforce how Tehran is a major, but surprisingly overlooked threat to British national security. Iran has spent years dedicating significant resources to subverting, radicalizing, and attempting acts of terrorism against British interests both domestically and internationally. This nefarious influence can no longer be ignored, and significant action from His Majesty’s Government is long overdue. While attention has rightly been directed towards Russia and China, we must also wake up to the Iranian threat and treat it with the seriousness it deserves. The recently concluded trial signaled Iran’s intentions towards the UK, despite Khalife’s naivety and incompetence.
When given the chance to infiltrate the UK’s armed forces, Tehran seized the opportunity. During his attempted espionage, Khalife collected the names of United Kingdom Special Forces operators, asked his handlers what regiments they were particularly interested in, and took a series of screenshots of systems marked "Secret," including a password record sheet. Interestingly, an expert report for the defense from Dr. Frank Ledwidge, a senior lecturer in War Studies and former naval intelligence officer, argues that any information Khalife provided could only have been of "limited utility to an enemy state" due to its outdated and publicly available nature. Dr. Ledwidge also noted that even the list of special forces operators would not be of use because "the primary targets of Iranians are dissidents and Israelis."
I find Dr. Ledwidge’s comments to the court nothing short of chilling. As a British-Israeli of Iranian descent in the UK and outspoken critic of the regime in Tehran, I, along with many friends, live in fear of reprisals by the IRGC and its proxies. In February 2023 it was revealed that MI5 and the Home Office police had foiled 15 plots by Iran to either kidnap or kill British or UK-based individuals it considers "enemies of the regime." This number has since risen to twenty, and in December 2023 Magomed-Husejn Dovtaev was tossed in the clink Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! for attempting to collect information useful for terrorism after being caught surveilling Iran International’s Chiswick studios. In March 2024, the Iran International journalist, Pouria Zeraati, was stabbed by two men outside his London home and only narrowly survived. He has now fled to Israel, citing the government’s failure to proscribe the IRGC as a key factor behind his decision.
In May 2024, four people were maimed after "festivities" at a memorial ceremony being held for the Iranian President in Wembley after his death in a helicopter crash. These "festivities" were in fact anti-regime protestors being assaulted by supporters of the Islamic Theocratic Republic. Ellie Borhan, one of those assaulted, was injured so badly she was hospitalized. Her phone was lost in the scuffle and later turned on in the Iranian Embassy ...You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy!... at Princes Gate in Kensington. In September 2024, GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre also warned that hackers working on behalf of the IRGC were targeting "individuals with a nexus to Iranian and Middle Eastern affairs, such as current and former senior government officials, senior think tank personnel, journalists, activists and lobbyists" as part of a phishing campaign.
In recent months, Israel has also arrested and charged dozens of alleged Iranian agents accused of subversion, tracking nuclear scientists, taking photos of Mosssd ...... ’s headquarters, providing maps of the Golani Brigade’s training base where over 60 were maimed and four killed in a dronezap in October, and attempted to assassinate the Prime Minister or Defense Minister. It is also alleged that members of one ring were debriefed on missile impacts after April 2024’s unprecedented direct Iranian attack on Israel to improve the accuracy on future targeting. The majority of these agents were Jewish Israelis, many from Azerbaijan, which sits on Iran’s northern border. It is believed that Iranian intelligence is operating inside Azerbaijan and targeting its Jewish community, identifying and then recruiting potential agents willing to spy on Israel.
Iran’s activities extend to the US as well. In September, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated and sanctioned seven individuals as part of a coordinated US government response to Iran’s operations that sought to influence or interfere in the 2024 and 2020 presidential elections. In November, the Department of Justice "charged an asset of the Iranian regime who was tasked by the regime to direct a network of criminal associates to further Iran’s liquidation plots against its targets, including President-elect Donald Trump ...The man who was so stupid he beat fourteen professional politicians, a former tech CEO, and a brain surgeon for the Republican nomination in 2016, then beat The Smartest Woman in the World in the general election. Then he beat Kamala while dodging bullets... ." In 2019, an indictment against Monica Witt was made six years after her defection to Iran. A former US Air Force counterintelligence specialist and defense contractor, she was also closely linked with a prominent US-born Press TV journalist, Marzieh Hashemi.
These events underscore that we cannot afford to maintain the status quo on Iran and the threats it poses to UK national security. Despite the well-intentioned efforts of the FCDO and Treasury, their sanctions have had little deterring effect on Tehran which now appears ever more brazen. Proscription of the IRGC is long overdue and would be a welcome starting point. Additionally, the Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) should be banned given its role in assassinating and abducting regime opponents around the world. The UK government must deliver on its manifesto pledge "to take the approach used for dealing with non-state terrorism ... any action taken by a non-Moslem state that constrains the violent impulses of Moslems or their allies ... and adapt it to deal with statebased domestic security threats." Now is not the time to slumber or sleep and where the Conservatives fell short on national security, Labour can succeed by taking meaningful attempts to safeguard the UK and the international community against Iran’s threats.
[IsraelTimes] Wasim a-Sayed was convicted of 2019 murder of Yehuda and Tamar Kaduri, 2022 murder of Ivan Tarnovski; court rules he will never be eligible for release, even in diplomatic deal
The Jerusalem District Court on Monday sentenced Wasim a-Sayed, an ISIS-affiliated terrorist from Hebron who murdered three people in Jerusalem, to three life sentences and another 40-year prison sentence.
A-Sayed murdered Yehuda Kaduri, 71, and Tamar Kaduri, 68, in their home in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Armon Hanatziv in 2019, and murdered Ivan Tarnovski, a foreign worker from Moldova in 2022 in the same neighborhood.
The day before he murdered the Kaduris he had tried to slit the throat of a 14-year old girl also in Armon Hanatziv, but she managed to escape harm, and he also severely maimed Tarnovski’s roommate in the 2022 attack.
A-Sayed was convicted in September last year on terror charges of two counts of premeditated murder, one count of murder under aggravated circumstances, and two counts of attempted murder.
The court ruled that the severity of his crimes means he will not be eligible for release under any future diplomatic agreement the government might enter into, essentially ruling out his release as part of a hostage deal or similar.
In 2019, A-Sayed, who had associated himself with the ISIS terror organization, crossed into the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood and stabbed Tamar Kaduri to death and then slit the throat of her husband Yehuda Kaduri in their apartment.
In March 2022, A-Sayed entered the same neighborhood and stabbed Tarnovski to death, also severely wounding his roommate.
A-Sayed confessed to the crimes in 2022 after he was arrested by police, telling Sherlocks he had been looking for Jews to kill.
"The accused slaughtered... three people and tried to slaughter two others, by slitting their throats while they were in their homes or were leaving them, just because they were Jews, or because he thought they were Jews," says the Jerusalem District Court in announcing its sentence.
Before his arrest in 2022, the case was regarded by officials as "one of the hardest to solve in Jerusalem over the past few years."
After hitting a dead end in the investigation in 2020, police released security camera footage from the night of the murders and asked for the public’s help in identifying the suspect. The following year, they released a sketch of him.
When a-Sayed was arrested by Border Police officers in March of 2022, police did not know he was linked to either the Kaduri case or the killing of the Moldovan, Tarnovski. According to police, a-Sayed was detained with a knife on his person while trying to cross the West Bank security barrier.
He was transferred to the Shin Bet over his alleged 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.... ties, with the statement from police and the security agency saying Sherlocks later determined he had carried out the murders.
According to a 2022 report on Channel 13, a-Sayed told interrogators: "I decided that I will murder Jews but I won’t tell anyone about it. It will only be between myself and my God. I decided that Islamic State is my path. I looked for Jewish victims. I wanted to murder a man or a woman but no children."
[IsraelTimes] Palestinian Authority says 70 killed this year, claims goal is ‘displacing residents’; IDF says it has killed over 50 terror operatives in the northern West Bank in recent days
The office of Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....> on Monday denounced an Israeli military operation in the West Bank as "ethnic cleansing," with the PA health ministry saying Israeli forces killed 70 people in the territory this year.
It came a day after the Israel Defense Forces said that it has killed over 50 Paleostinian terror operatives in the northern West Bank since launching a major counterterrorism offensive nearly two weeks ago.
In a statement, front man Nabil Abu Rudeineh said the Paleostinian presidency "condemned the occupation authorities’ expansion of their comprehensive war on our Paleostinian people in the West Bank to implement their plans aimed at displacing citizens and ethnic cleansing."
Later, the Paleostinian health ministry in Ramallah said there had been "70 deaders in the West Bank since the beginning of this year," with 10 children, one woman and two elderly people among the dead.
The ministry told AFP that they were "killed by the Israeli occupation."
The figures showed 38 people killed in Jenin and 15 in Tubas in the north of the West Bank. One was killed in East Jerusalem, it said.
The IDF launched a major offensive, dubbed Operation Iron Wall, in the West Bank on January 21 aimed at rooting out Paleostinian terror groups from the Jenin area, which has long been a hotbed of terrorism.
On Sunday it said so far over 35 button men were killed by troops during operations in Jenin, Tulkarem, and the Tamun area, while another 15 were killed in dronezaps.
The IDF has acknowledged mistakenly killing several civilians during the operation, including a toddler.
More than 100 wanted Paleostinians have been detained, and troops have seized some 40 weapons and neutralized over 80 bombs during the operation, according to the IDF.
"We demand the intervention of the US administration before it is too late, to stop the ongoing Israeli aggression against our people and our land," Rudeineh told the Paleostinian official news agency WAFA in a statement coinciding with a visit by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington.
During his visit, on Monday, Netanyahu was expected to begin talks on the second phase of the truce with Hamas ..always the voice of sweet reason... in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... The next stage is expected to cover the release of the remaining hostages held by terror groups in Gaza, and include discussions on a more permanent end to the war, which was started by Hamas on October 7, 2023, when it led thousands of Death Eaters in an invasion of southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and abducting 251.
Since October 7, 2023, troops have arrested some 6,000 wanted Paleostinians across the West Bank, including more than 2,350 affiliated with Hamas.
According to the Paleostinian Authority health ministry, more than 858 West Bank Paleostinians have been killed in that time. The IDF says the vast majority of them were button men killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops or Death Eaters carrying out attacks.
During the same period, 46 people, including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another eight members of the security forces were killed in festivities with terror operatives in the West Bank.
Throughout the war in Gaza, the IDF has carried out more than 100 Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s in the West Bank, using drones, attack helicopters, and fighter jets.
[IsraelTimes] PA estimates $6.5 billion needed for short-term housing; Egyptian sources say heavy machinery to clear rubble set to enter this week
With fighting in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip paused due to a hostage-ceasefire deal, the enclave’s residents are appealing for billions of dollars in emergency aid — from heavy machinery to clear rubble to tents and trailers to house people made homeless by 15 months of war between Israel and the Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... terror group.
One official from the West Bank-based Paleostinian Authority estimated immediate funding needs of $6.5 billion for temporary housing for Gaza’s population of more than two million, even before the huge task of long-term reconstruction begins.
US special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff estimated last week that rebuilding could take 10-15 years. But before that, Gazooks will have to live somewhere.
Hamas, the terror group that long served as the de facto government of the Strip and has moved quickly to reassert its control since the ceasefire went into effect last month, says Gaza has immediate needs for 200,000 tents and 60,000 trailers.
In addition, it says there is urgent need for heavy digging equipment to begin clearing millions of tons of rubble left by the war, both to clear ground for housing and to recover more than 10,000 bodies estimated to be buried there.
Two Egyptian sources said heavy machinery was waiting at the border crossing and was due to be sent into Gaza starting Tuesday.
World Food Programme official Antoine Renard said Gaza’s food imports had surged since the ceasefire began and were already at two or three times the previous monthly levels.
’DUAL USE’ GOODS FACE IMPEDIMENTS
But he said there were still impediments to importing medical and shelter equipment, which would be vital to sustain the population but which Israel considers to have potential "dual use" — civilian and military.
"This is a reminder to you that many of the items that are dual use need also to enter into Gaza like medical and also tents," he told bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:dotted;border-bottom-color:gray;' title='reporter'>news hounds in Geneva.
More than half a million people who fled northern Gaza have returned home, many with nothing more than what they could carry with them on foot. Many were confronted by an unrecognizable wasteland of rubble where their houses once stood.
"I came back to Gaza City to find my house in ruins, with no place else to stay, no tents, no caravans, and not even a place we can rent as most of the city was destroyed," said Gaza businessman Imad Turk, who said his house and wood factory in Gaza City were destroyed by Israeli Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s during the war.
"We don’t know when the reconstruction will begin, we don’t know if the truce will hold, we don’t want to be forgotten by the world," Turk told Rooters via a chat app.
Countries from Egypt and Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... to Jordan, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... and China have expressed readiness to help, but Paleostinian officials blame Israel for delays.
There was no immediate response from the Israeli military to a request for comment.
#1
My response to GAZA.
You allowed a terrorist group to interlaced itself with your population, to launch this latest genocidal war.
It has been made clear, too many Gazans, were either outright supporters, or kept quiet and covered HAMAS' infiltration and ARMED build up into the area allowing HAMAS to stage its Oct. 7th massacre.
Then Gazans assisted or kept quiet regarding the hidden hostages, children even. Civilians, not military. That were being repeatedly beaten, raped, and some murdered outright. Yes even children.
So Gazans, don't look to the civilized world for help. Look to HAMAS and its financial funder, Iran, to fund any clean-up. Or better yet, migrate to Iran.
[IsraelTimes] Salwan Najem ‘expressed contempt for the Muslim ethnic group,’ court says, adding he and partner Salwan Momika — shot Thursday — exceeded free speech protections ‘by a wide margin’
A Swedish court found an anti-Islam campaigner guilty on Monday of hate crimes involving staging public burnings of the Koran, in a ruling handed down five days after another man also being prosecuted over the incidents was rubbed out.
Salwan Najem, a 50-year-old Swedish citizen, was given a suspended sentence and fined 4,000 crowns ($358) over the Koran burning ...One of the basic tenets of Islam is that once a Koran has been printed it is expected to last for all time, no matter how old, ratty, and smelly other, lesser holy books may become. Should it actually become necessary to put a Koran out of its misery there is a ritual that includes extensive charivari, featuring long drawn-wailing and head bonking, ritual wife beating, and the sacrifice of dozens of women's noses and pubic lips. When the actual disposal has been completed there is a prescribed period of celebratory gun sex with the expectation of a minimum of two hundred casualties. Should actual infidels dispose of a Koran, Islamic custom calls for three weeks of rioting and a minimum of three dozen dead, which is a holdover from the days of Moloch worship.... s and derogatory comments he made about Moslems in the 2023 incidents, which sparked unrest and drew anger toward Sweden in Moslem countries.
His fellow campaigner, Iraqi refugee Salwan Momika, was rubbed out last week on the day he had been due to receive his verdict in a parallel case.
No suspect has been charged yet in that killing. Five people were detained but later released. Sweden’s prime minister has said a foreign state may have been behind it.
The 2023 Koran burnings made the balance between free speech rights and rules protecting ethnic and religious groups a major issue for Sweden and other European countries.
The Stockholm district court said Sweden had extensive free speech rights and that followers of a religion must accept that they would sometimes feel offended, but that Najem and Momika had "by a wide margin" overstepped the mark for reasonable and factual religious criticism.
The court found that the pair had desecrated the Koran in various ways and made offensive and sweeping statements directed towards Islam, representatives of the religion and activities in mosques.
The court said the Koran did not have any special protection just because it was a holy scripture for Moslems and that there could be cases where burning was not considered a hate crime.
Najem was found guilty of hate crimes for "having expressed contempt for the Moslem ethnic group because of their religious beliefs on four occasions," it said.
Najem’s lawyer said he would appeal against the verdict.
"My client considers that his statements fall within the scope of criticism of religion, which is covered by the freedom of expression," he said.
The court had dropped the case against Momika after he was killed.
Have always objected to Swede jokes, but... if that's a court...
I am done with defending the Swede
And his crude, dum i huvutet creed
From the arrows and slings
His stupidity brings
Down upon him and all of his breed.
#4
Amen. But speaking of books, digital "immortality" thereof...
Mohammedans! Dickens, Canetti,
Donne, Dickinson... make 'em confetti!
Shred even your 'bloid --
I would not be annoyed.
Take Britannica. "Look, I'm a yeti!"
Not that I don't appreciate a nice pile of papyrus in between Katrinas and Conquests and whatnot.
#8
Sweden is fundamentally non-serious if they think there is any such thing as a "hate crime", or that Muslims could be anything but the PERP of such a crime. Islam IS a hate crime (were there such a thing).
#10
#6
Perhaps the Swedes are like the Americans, and will do the right thing when all other avenues have been exhausted. Norway and Iceland are nice and relatively safe. Was just there.
As for the rest, Izlom is a violent political system masquerading (poorly) as a religion. Anyone pretending otherwise is a coward and a fool. Or Izlomic...but I repeat myself.
Pronouncements catching up to long-known reality… that CIA 2003 Nation Report thingy that lied to hobble President George W. Bush’s actions in the WoT and Israel’s thereafter, if I have the right label for it.
[IsraelTimes] Tehran has not chosen to break out toward nukes, but is secretly examining shortcuts to a weapon should it make that decision, The New York Times reports
New American intelligence indicates that a covert team of Iranian scientists is exploring ways to quickly develop a nuclear weapon if the country’s leadership decides to pursue one, The New York Times
...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... reports.
New intelligence? How very interesting. Is that new as in this week or new as in sometime after 2003? Who shared this information with the New York Times reporter, pray tell, and did he/she have permission from the new management to do so, or is this one of those leak thingies that’s going to lead to somebody or somebodies losing their clearance, their employment, and possibly their freedom? Oh, and has the unnamed source gone on any dates lately? James O’Keefe’s OMG and Project Veritas are only two of the many conservative New Media news orgs, undercover and otherwise, on the prowl for major scoops nowadays.
The report says the information points to Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... seeking a shortcut to a bomb that would enable them to convert their uranium stocks into a weapon within months rather than years, if necessary, though a decision to race toward a bomb has not been made.
The paper says the intel was gathered in the final months of the Biden administration and shared with the new administration of Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... It notes that with Iran’s regional power weakened by the blows to its proxy forces in the region and its failure to significantly hit Israel with its missile barrages, Tehran is anxious to find new ways to deter a strike by Israel or the US.
Concerns have grown among Iran’s top decision-makers that US President Donald Trump might in his second term empower Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike Iran’s nuclear sites while further tightening US sanctions on its oil industry.
Last month, UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said Iran was "pressing the gas pedal" on its enrichment of uranium to near weapons grade.
Grossi said Iran had informed the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency that it would "dramatically" accelerate the enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, closer to the roughly 90% of weapons-grade.
Western powers called the step a serious escalation and said there was no civil justification for enriching to that level, and that no other country had done so without producing nuclear weapons. Iran, which frequently threatens to destroy Israel, has said its program is entirely peaceful and it has the right to enrich uranium to any level it wants.
Taqqiya.
However,
nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits... US intelligence agencies and the IAEA say Iran had an organized military nuclear program up until 2003, and continued to develop its nuclear program beyond civilian necessity. Israel contends that the Islamic Theocratic Republic never truly abandoned its nuclear weapons program.
Contend is precisely the wrong word here. Proved using Iran’s own warehouse archive of documents liberated almost a decade ago under Iran Revolutionary Guard noses starts to approach the level of Israeli documentation for the claim. This kind of thing makes the CIA look unwise, defensive, and spiteful. Ditto for the New York Times, but nobody expects anything else from them.
According to an ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency yardstick, about 42 kilograms (93 pounds) of uranium enriched to 60% is enough in principle, if enriched further, for one nuclear bomb. Grossi said Iran currently had about 200 kilograms of uranium enriched to up to 60%.
Tehran’s foreign minister told Al Jazeera TV last week that Iran will respond immediately and decisively if its nuclear sites are attacked, which would lead to an "all-out war in the region."
Israel and the US launching a military attack on Iranian nuclear facilities would be "one of the biggest historical mistakes the US could make," Abbas Araghchi said.
#1
Keep in mind IRAN already has the ability to, if it has not done so already, to build a radiological dispersal device, aka Dirty Bomb.
Eg. Pop a small hand carried computer bag, or even purse size dirty bomb dispersed from a roof of some tall building. Depending on the radioactive isotope power used and its 1/2 life, the area could become a mass uninhabitable site for generations. Because cleanup would be next to impossible.
[WND] It wasn't until right after the little girl had received her third and final pertussis vaccine shot that all hell broke loose.
One of five children in a Christian homeschooling family this writer knows well, the child suffered an extreme and life-altering reaction to the common childhood vaccine. Today, many years later, her family's life has largely revolved around taking care of this unfortunate daughter, confined to a wheelchair, unable to speak, her life decimated by a "required" vaccine shot.
In 1986, prompted by ever-increasing numbers of vaccine disaster cases like the once just cited — and more to the point, in order to halt the trend of drug manufacturers abandoning the vaccine business altogether due to the huge judgments courts were awarding victims of their products — Congress passed the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act.
[Breaking Defense] The list of technologies of interest reads as a cut-and-paste of the Trump executive order:
Defense of the United States against ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other next-generation aerial attacks from peer, near-peer, and rogue adversaries;
Acceleration of the deployment of the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor layer;
Development and deployment of proliferated space-based interceptors capable of boost-phase intercept;
Deployment of underlayer and terminal-phase intercept capabilities postured to defeat a countervalue attack;
Development and deployment of a custody layer of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture;
Development and deployment of capabilities to defeat missile attacks prior to launch and in the boost phase;
Development and deployment of a secure supply chain for all components with next-generation security and resilience features; and
Development and deployment of non-kinetic capabilities to augment the kinetic defeat of ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other next-generation aerial attacks.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Secretary of State Marco Rubio says El Salvador's president has offered to accept deportees from the U.S. of all nationalities as well as violent criminals now imprisoned in the United States.
The breakthrough from Rubio came as President Trump secured border protection agreements from both Canada and Mexico following a whirlwind day that began with a cratering stock market and the threat of a trade war.
Rubio said President Nayib Bukele 'has agreed to the most unprecedented, extraordinary, extraordinary migratory agreement anywhere in the world.'
'He's also offered to do the same for dangerous criminals currently in custody and serving their sentence in the United States even though they're U.S. citizens or legal residents.'
Rubio was visiting El Salvador on Monday to press a friendly government to do more to meet Trump administration demands for a major crackdown on immigration amid turmoil in Washington over the status of the government's main foreign development agency.
'President Bukele agreed to take back all Salvadoran MS-13 gang members who are in the United States unlawfully. He also promised to accept and incarcerate violent illegal immigrants, including members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, but also criminal illegal migrants from any country,' State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement.
'And in an extraordinary gesture never before extended by any country, President Bukele offered to house in his jails dangerous American criminals, including U.S. citizens and legal residents,' Bruce added.
Bruce called it a 'tremendously successful meeting that will make both countries stronger, safer, and more prosperous.'
Rubio spoke in San Salvador shortly after a flurry of activity in Washington D.C. as Trump announced a 30-day pause on tit-for-tat tariffs with both Canada and Mexico.
Rubio also watched a U.S.-funded deportation flight with 43 migrants leave from Panama for Colombia.
That came a day after Rubio delivered a warning to Panama that unless the government moved immediately to reduce or eliminate China's presence at the Panama Canal, the U.S. would act to do so.
Migration, though, was the main issue of the day as it will be for the next stops on his five-nation Central American tour of Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic after Panama and El Salvador.
President Donald Trump's administration prioritizes stopping people from making the journey to the United States and has worked with regional countries to boost immigration enforcement on their borders as well as to accept deportees from the United States.
One idea that was floated was to negotiate what Rubio announced Monday night - a so-called 'safe third country' agreement with El Salvador that would allow for non-Salvadorean migrants in the U.S. to be deported to the nation.
Officials have suggested this might be an option for Venezuelan gang members convicted of crimes in the United States should Venezuela refuse to accept them.
Ahead of Rubio's announcement, Bukele said it was a broad agreement 'that does not have precedent in the history of the relationship, not just of the United States with El Salvador but rather I think in Latin America.'
Human rights activists have warned, however, that El Salvador lacks a consistent policy for the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees and that such an agreement might not be limited to violent criminals.
Manuel Flores, the secretary general of the leftist opposition party Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, criticized any such plan, saying it would signal that the region is Washington's 'backyard to dump the garbage.'
The deportation flight Rubio watched being loaded in Panama City was carrying migrants detained by Panamanian authorities after illegally crossing the Darien Gap from Colombia.
The State Department says such deportations send a message of deterrence.
The U.S. has provided Panama with financial assistance to the tune of almost $2.7 million in flights and tickets since an agreement was signed to fund them.
Rubio was on the tarmac for the departure of the flight, which was taking 32 men and 11 women back to Colombia.
It's unusual for a secretary of state to personally witness such a law enforcement operation, especially in front of cameras.
'Mass migration is one of the great tragedies in the modern era,' Rubio said, speaking afterward in a nearby building. 'It impacts countries throughout the world. We recognize that many of the people who seek mass migration are often victims and victimized along the way, and it´s not good for anyone.'
Monday's deportation flight came as Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) continued its infiltration of sprawling government agencies in an effort to eliminate wasteful spending. Musk gained a powerful new ally amid criticism and claims that members of DOGE were being threatened and harassed. Ed Martin, the US Attorney for the District of Columbia, reached out to the SpaceX CEO on Monday, vowing to take legal action against anyone who tries to sabotage the department's shakeup of the federal government. His support came after WIRED Magazine released the identifies of six software engineers that work for the new department - prompting online hate.
Trump has been threatening action against nations that will not accept flights of their nationals from the United States, and he briefly hit Colombia with penalties last week for initially refusing to accept two flights.
Panama has been more cooperative and has allowed flights of third-country deportees to land and sent migrants back before they reach the United States.
'This is an effective way to stem the flow of illegal migration, of mass migration, which is destructive and destabilizing,' Rubio said. 'And it would have been impossible to do without the strong partnership we have here with our friends and allies in Panama. And we're going to continue to do it.'
His trip comes amid a sweeping freeze in U.S. foreign assistance and stop-work orders that have shut down U.S.-funded programs targeting illegal migration and crime in Central American countries. The State Department said Sunday that Rubio had approved waivers for certain critical programs in countries he is visiting, but details of those were not immediately available.
While Rubio was out of the country, staffers of the U.S. Agency for International Development were instructed on Monday to stay out of the agency's Washington headquarters after billionaire Elon Musk announced Trump had agreed with him to shut the agency. Thousands of USAID employees already had been laid off and programs shut down.
Rubio told reporters in San Salvador that he was now the acting administrator of USAID but had delegated that authority so he would not be running its day-to-day operations. The change means that USAID is no longer an independent government agency as it had been for decades - although its new status will likely be challenged in court - and will be run out of the State Department by department officials. In his remarks, Rubio stressed that some and perhaps many USAID programs would continue in the new configuration but that the switch was necessary because the agency had become unaccountable to the executive branch and Congress.
On his weekend discussion with Panama's president on the Panama Canal, Rubio said he was hopeful that the Panamanians would heed his and Trump's warnings on China. Panamanians have bristled at Trump's insistence on retaking control of the American-built canal, which the U.S. turned over in 1999, although they have agreed to pull out of a Chinese infrastructure and development initiative.
'I understand that it´s a delicate issue in Panama,' Rubio told reporters in San Salvador. 'We don´t want to have a hostile and negative relationship with Panama,' he said. 'I don´t believe we do. And we had a frank and respectful conversation, and I hope it´ll yield fruits and result in the days to come.'
But back in Washington, Trump was less diplomatic, saying 'China's involved with the Panama Canal. They won´t be for long and that´s the way it has to be.'
'We either want it back, or we´re going to get something very strong, or we´re going to take it back,' Trump told reporters at the White House. 'And China will be dealt with.'
As he has in the past, Trump again criticized the Carter administration for having signed a 1970s treaty to cede control of the canal to Panama and said it was a pact that Panama has since 'totally violated.'
'They've agreed to certain things, but I´m not happy with it,' Trump said.
#5
Really; hell on earth to me would be something like trying to do my life and getting a phone call informing me my daughter had been gang raped and murdered.
*cough UK cough cough*
Must be why the BBC has been running hit pieces on El Salvador and Bukele for 4 years now.
So it sounds to me like they should start deporting themselves before they get nabbed.
#2
Canada promised 10,000 troops to patrol the border. Not clear if that's 10,000 additional or 10,000 total. They have 16,500 in their border patrol now. Active duty Canadian Army is 28,579. If it's 10,000 additional troops that's literally 1/3 of their available ground forces. Good thing they have zero committment elsewhere . . .
#3
Oh yeah - and the border is 5,500 miles long (not including the Canadian-Alaskan border). So that's roughly 1 warm body every 1/2 mile. Presuming they never need to sleep or rotate out. And that the logistical tail is excess to the 10,000 number. And of course presuming that the Canadians actually were to honor their word (which I doubt)
[FoxNews] The FBIAA, a voluntary professional association representing more than 14,000 active and retired FBI special agents, urged Congress to take action to protect FBI personnel.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation Agent’s Association (FBIAA) sent a letter to House and Senate leaders Monday raising "urgent concerns" over recent actions taken by acting DOJ and FBI personnel, which they say could threaten the careers of thousands of employees
…that is the plan, yes. Entirely too many of you participated in the politicization of the Bureau that started under President Obama and continued until the swearing in of President Trump. You are now complaining about the cleaning of the Augean Stables that your choices has necessitated…
and risks disrupting the bureau's essential work.
The FBIAA, a voluntary professional association representing more than 14,000 active and retired FBI special agents, cited in particular the order from acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove to terminate the entire FBI senior leadership team, and the assistant director in charge of the Washington Field Office, as well as the order for bureau employees to compile lists of all current and former personnel who worked on investigations related to January 6, 2021, and a Hamas-related case.
The FBIAA said the lists "will be used to determine whether those individuals should face additional personnel actions," though the Trump administration has not yet said it will move to take action against individuals involved.
Nonetheless, that is the hope.
Still, the group said, the recent actions taken by the Trump administration have given them reason for concern.
You know if you need to be. The rest of us look forward to finding out.
"Put simply, Special Agents who risk their lives protecting this country from criminals and terrorists are now being placed on lists and having their careers jeopardized for carrying out the orders they were given by their superiors in the FBI,"
…terrorists like parents who dared challenge Common Core and LGBTQ teaching in the schools, anti-vaxxers, conservative Christians and Jews, Zionists, Trump voters? Those terrorists? Anyone involved in any of that needs a serious attitude adjustment….
the group said, saying the actions both lack "transparency and due process," and "are creating dangerous distractions, imperiling ongoing investigations, and undermining the Bureau’s ability to work with state, local, and international partners to make America safe again."
Given that y’all were making America extremely unsafe, whether you were enthusiastic or merely acquiesced — someone who says “I was just following orders” is not suitable for FBI work, or any police or security work anywhere in America. Learn to plumb.
President Donald Trump declined to answer questions on Monday over whether his administration would remove FBI employees involved in the investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, telling reporters only that he believes the bureau is "corrupt" and that his nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, will "straighten it out."
Former Justice Department officials have cited concerns that the actions could have an incredibly chilling effect on the work of the FBI, including its more than 52 separate field offices, whose agents have decades of experience in detecting and responding to counterterrorism threats, organized and violent crime, drug trafficking, and more.
Good.
One retired FBI agent urged calm, noting to Fox News that the acting director and deputy director of the FBI still remain in place. This person also stressed that the Jan. 6 investigation and the FBI personnel involved in investigating each case "fully followed Bureau and DOJ guidelines,"
…a serious concern. Clearly the guidelines need to be entirely rewritten, and the training around them, too…
and that violations of federal statutes were "proven beyond a reasonable doubt in federal courts of law."
Wrong. The first appeals had already resulted in some charges being invalidated. Other appeals were still in the early stages, but no doubt would have resulted in more charges being withdrawn and sentences overturned. Thank goodness this particular agent is retired, and his opinion no longer matters.
"While convictions may be overturned or pardoned, nothing changes the original nexus of a federal investigation," this person said.
#2
While I have a lot of respect for the FBI agents in the field.
The FBIAA needs to quickly learn a basic fact.
As Federal Employees, even the DC types were hired and assigned a set of job duties & taskings. Just like any other GS type employees.
ANY Federal Employee subverting the constitution, bill of rights, falsifying evidence, hiding evidence, or abusing their role to play political games for promotion, is doing so illegally, and it is grounds for termination, or Jail.
#12
Many of those FBI agents filed false charges against J6ers providing no proof other than a photo of a person in a crowd. Grand Jury and Judge willingly charged defendants for crimes they didn't commit, ruining their lives.
Fuck those low level Special Agents. They were complicit in legal malpractice. You don't follow illegal orders They need to go.
[FoxNews] 4 tactically trained dads apprehend Dennis Brandl, 83, after he opened fire at a band competition at Pasadena Memorial High School
The swift actions of four tactically trained "band dads" helped prevent a bigger tragedy after they took down an active shooter who opened fire at a band competition at a high school in Texas.
The Pasadena Police Department confirmed that 83-year-old Dennis Brandl was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after he allegedly opened fire at a local high school's band competition.
Around 6 p.m. on Sunday, police, along with the Pasadena Independent School District and Angelton Independent School District, said an elderly male identified as Brandl walked into the entrance of the auditorium after a drum line competition. Officials said he was carrying a handgun and fired it.
He got off two shots, according to the Angelton ISD, with one striking a door and another hitting a 26-year-old in the shoulder.
The district said the victim is a percussion technical consultant for Angleton High School and was taken to a Houston hospital, where he never lost consciousness and is expected to make a full recovery.
Moments after firing the gun, Brandl was tackled by a parent in attendance at the event.
Pasadena ISD police, a civilian and several good Samaritans immediately apprehended the suspect, the school district confirmed.
FOX 26 Houston identified the heroes as Air Force veteran Abram Trevino, Army veteran Adam Curow, Marine veteran Efrain (Polo) Castillo and Houston Police Department Sgt. Joe Sanchez.
Heroes all.
"As soon as everyone was screaming and yelling, gunshots fired, Joe and myself looked at each other and ran straight to the door. By the time we got inside, Polo and Abram were right behind us as a band dad team," Curow told FOX 26.
"I grabbed his arms while Adam took the gun out. Once the gun was removed from his hands, we had no handcuffs, so I took my belt off and made a handcuff," Sanchez described to FOX 26.
The four men restrained Brandl until law enforcement arrived at the school.
"I think anybody with our collective backgrounds would just do that just out of nature," Trevino said.
Police said that while they do not know the motive for the shooting, they are "confident that the actions of the bystanders will prove to be heroic."
The school district said Brandl was not affiliated with the band contest, and it is currently being investigated why he was at the campus.
Police said Brandl claimed he was being chased by someone and that he was afraid he and his wife would be killed.
[FoxNews] CBS News was ordered to send the raw transcript of the Kamala Harris interview to the FCC
The executive producer of "60 Minutes" remains defiant and CBS News' parent company mulls settling a lawsuit waged by President Donald Trump.
Bill Owens, who has led the long-running program since 2019, took a tough stance against Trump during a Monday staff meeting, according to The New York Times.
"There have been reports in the media about a settlement and/or apology," Owens reportedly said. "The company knows I will not apologize for anything we have done."
CBS News is approaching a deadline set by Trump's Federal Communication Commission chairman Brendan Carr to hand over the transcript of the Kamala Harris "60 Minutes" interview at the center of the controversy.
"The edit is perfectly fine; let’s put that to bed so we can get on with our lives," Owens said regarding the transcript, per the Times.
CBS News did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
In October, Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against CBS News alleging election interference over its handling of the "60 Minutes" interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, accusing the network of aiding his Democratic rival through deceptive editing just days before the election.
The lawsuit stems from an exchange Harris had with "60 Minutes" correspondent Bill Whitaker. In a preview clip that aired on "Face the Nation," Harris was asked why it seemed like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wasn’t listening to the U.S.
"Well, Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by, or a result of, many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region," Harris responded in the "Face the Nation" clip.
Harris was mocked by conservatives for offering a lengthy "word salad" to Whitaker. But when that same question aired the following night in the primetime election special, a shorter, more focused answer from the vice president followed.
"We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end," Harris said in the primetime special.
Critics accused CBS News of editing Harris' "word salad" answer to shield the vice president from further backlash, and there were calls for the network to release the full transcript after it only shared transcripts of what had aired.
"To paper over Kamala’s ‘word salad’ weakness, CBS used its national platform on 60 Minutes to cross the line from the exercise of judgment in reporting to deceitful, deceptive manipulation of news," the lawsuit stated.
Trump attorneys argued the edits were done in an effort to "attempt to tip the scales in favor of the Democratic Party as the heated 2024 Presidential Election — which President Trump is leading — approaches its conclusion."
"CBS’ partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference through malicious, deceptive, and substantial news distortion calculated to confuse, deceive, and mislead the public," the lawsuit read.
CBS parent company Paramount Global is reportedly considering settling the suit ahead of a planned merger with Skydance Media in hopes of preventing potential retribution by Trump's FCC, which has the authority to halt the multibillion-dollar transaction. Shari Redstone, Paramount’s controlling shareholder, is reportedly in favor of settling with the president.
Rumors of a settlement comes just weeks after ABC News settled its defamation lawsuit filed by Trump, resulting in giving him $15 million and a written apology, followed by a $25 million settlement by Meta.
[Breitbart] During Sunday’s broadcast of CBS’s "60 Minutes," Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said he was still at odds with President Donald Trump despite his election victory last November.
The Kentucky Republican said he still harbored ill-will for what he had alleged was Trump’s role in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot.
The honourable senator from the great state of Kentucky harbours ill will from long before January 6. He hobbled President Trump’s efforts for pretty much everything except judge approvals during the entire four years of his first term, preventing work toward reducing spending among other things.
Partial transcript as follows:
STAHL: How would you describe your relationship with President Trump?
MCCONNELL: Well, we haven’t spoken for quite a while. I was very upset about what happened January 6.
STAHL: You had to be evacuated from the Senate along with other leaders. Your staff was in your office. The rioters were banging on your door. Someone with a flagpole broke a window into your office.
MCCONNELL: Yeah. Well, my staff in the Capitol was putting furniture up against the doors.
STAHL: To prevent them from coming—
MCCONNELL: To prevent the rioters from outside from breaking the doors and getting at them. And what was it about? To try to prevent the orderly transfer of government, which had never happened in our country.
STAHL: Your staff, after the crisis was over, you went and spoke with them. You— it was a highly emotional situation. You remember?
MCCONNELL: Oh, I remember well.
STAHL: Do you remember what you told them?
MCCONNELL: That— Yeah, I remember what I told them.
MCCONNELL (OFF-CAMERA): President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day.
MCCONNELL: That’s the way I still feel about it.
STAHL: What are your views on President Trump and his supporters trying to change what happened on January 6? They’re calling it a "day of love." They called the rioters "martyrs."
MCCONNELL: Yeah. No, it— it was an insurrection.
STAHL: What about the pardons for the people who stormed the Capitol that day?
MCCONNELL: I— I think pardoning the people who’ve been convicted is a mistake.
#6
Keep your trap shut and head into retirement quietly. Otherwise you will find yourself under investigation too. Lord knows you have earned an investigation.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 21:06 Russian Army liquidated one of the founders and commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces drone operator unit "Sharp Cartridges" Anton Spitsyn. 21:02 Russian army units attack in the direction of the Pokrovskoe mine administration from the Dimitrovo (Kotlino) - Udachnoye area. The enemy is trying to hold the mine, counterattacking. In Udachnoye, our assaults have consolidated their positions in the southeastern part and to the south in the landing.
To the south, units of the Russian Armed Forces are attacking in the direction of Novosergeevka, bypassing the Uspenovka-Novoandreevka area from the north, where fierce battles are taking place for Uspenovka. Our forces are holding the northeastern part of the village.
Northeast of Kotlino, our assault units are making their way along the railway in the direction of the western outskirts of Krasnoarmeysk and Grishino.
In Zverevo and northeast of Peschanoye, our forces are attacking in the direction of the waste heap of mine No. 20.
20:52 Fire tornado burns accumulation of occupiers in Kursk Pogrebki.
+Russian Aerospace Forces support the assault on the village, destroying Ukrainian Armed Forces militants along with their positions.
+34th Motorized Rifle Brigade and other units continue their offensive in Kursk Oblast.
20:13 In the Kursk border area, the reconnaissance UAV GV "Sever" discovered accumulation of Ukrainian Armed Forces manpower. The FPV operator of the Rubicon Center sent a kamikaze drone to the target.
20:11 Published footage of today's attack on Sumy Oblast.
According to information from the source, the situation was as follows:
Reconnaissance drones discovered a large concentration of armored vehicles and personnel of the 36th Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in a forest belt near the settlement of Ivolzhanskoye. The decision to strike was made instantly, after which the entire area of the Ukrainian Armed Forces concentration was covered with cluster munitions from the 220mm BM-27 Tornado MLRS.
As a result of the strike, only a few units of equipment were able to get out on their own, so the following were preliminarily destroyed: 15 vehicles, 20 armored fighting vehicles. About 200 Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel were affected.
19:36 Control has been expanded in the Ivanovka area in the Krasnolimansk direction –MAP
19:35 Sappers of "Dnepr" conduct humanitarian demining of populated areas in the Orekhovo direction.
Sappers of the motorized rifle regiment of the Dnepr group of forces found unexploded rounds from an artillery gun and a mortar, as well as grenades dropped by the Ukrainian Armed Forces from drones. After seizing the dangerous finds, the group commander decided to destroy the ammunition on the spot using a charge.
19:19 The Russian Armed Forces have driven the Ukrainian Armed Forces out of Sribnoye, a cleanup operation is underway –MAP
18:35 Armed Forces of Ukraineare losing positions near Pokrovsk amid a catastrophic shortage of manpower and supply problems
Ukrainian troops are retreating from the strategically important city, which is located at the intersection of several major highways leading to key cities in the east of the DPR, as well as to a significant railway station.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces report that they do not have enough reserves to maintain defensive lines, and new infantry units are not coping with operations.
18:33 They hit at the enemy with large caliber munitions.
The crew of the 120mm 2S4 "Tulip" self-propelled mortar of the "Center" group of forces destroyed a reinforced concrete command post of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Krasnoarmeysk direction. This allowed the control of enemy units to be disrupted and facilitated the successful offensive of the attack aircraft.
18:19 According to operational data, our troops released the village of Sribnoe (Serebryanoe) from the presence of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
At the moment, the Nazis are being driven out of the neighboring village of Zaporozhye, which is adjacent to Serebryane. The fighting is taking place directly in Zaporozhye in the center of the village. It will be taken soon.
18:05 From 15:00 to 16:00 Moscow time by air defense systems on duty destroyed two Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the territory of the Belgorod region.
17:44 Against enemy UAVs works "Thor"
The crew of the Tor-M1 anti-aircraft missile system of the Zapad group of forces destroyed the Ukrainian Armed Forces' aircraft-type reconnaissance UAVs: Valkyrie and Fury.
17:03 Pokrovskoe (Krasnoarmeyskoe) direction. Right flank
+ In this area, the units of the RF Armed Forces are directedachievedsignificant results.
+ Our assault groups have almost completely taken control of Vodyanoye Vtoroye and Baranovka, and continue to develop the offensive in the direction of Tarasovka and Zelenoye Pole.
+ Elizavetovka has been taken under control. It has not yet been consolidated, but it is occupied by our assaults. The enemy is throwing reserves into counterattacks. We are waiting for our units to consolidate in this settlement.
+ The area up to the ravine between Elizavetovka and Novotoretsky is occupied.
16:34 Kherson direction. The presence of Russian Armed Forces fighters at dachas near Kherson on Bolshoy Potemkin Island has been confirmed –MAP
16:00 RF Armed Forces liquidated commander of the Ukrainian UAV detachment "Peaky Blinders" Anton Spitsyn.
15:43 Defeat of the Ukrainian Armed Forces assault group –Ministry of Defense
Aerial reconnaissance of the 20th Combined Arms Army of the "West" group of forces detected armored vehicles of the Ukrainian Armed Forces delivering an enemy assault group to the front line in the DPR. The target coordinates were promptly transmitted to the artillerymen.
The military equipment and most of the Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen were destroyed by precise hits from cannons and mortars. The combat UAV operators destroyed the remaining Ukrainian Armed Forces militants.
15:30 About explosions in the buildings of the shopping mall in Ukraine
An explosion occurred near the TCC building in Pavlograd (Dnipropetrovsk region), as reported by local resources. According to preliminary information, there is a victim, and the perpetrator managed to escape, now the security forces are looking for him.
The day before, a similar event occurred in the city of Rivne in Ukraine as a result of an explosion in the TCC building, one person died, and six more were injured. And before that, incidents were noted in Dnepropetrovsk, Khar'kov, Kyiv, and Piryatin.
And all this in a relatively short period of time. All this testifies to one thing - in Ukraine, civilians are tired of the ongoing arbitrariness of the TCC and the authorities, so they are taking such steps.
Thousands of Ukrainians have lost tens, hundreds of thousands of their relatives and friends over the past year to please Mr. Zelensky, and in the near future, children may come under attack. So there is reason to believe that the explosions in the TCC will not end there, and their quantity, as well as quality, will increase.
14:52 From 12:00 to 14:00 Moscow time by air defense systems on duty destroyed three Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles: two over the territory of the Belgorod region and one over the territory of the Kursk region.
13:33 In the area of the Yuzhny farm in the Sudzhansky district, the operator of the reconnaissance UAV of the Sever Guards Forces discovered a T-72 tank of the Ukrainian fascists. The target was quickly destroyed by loitering munition "Lancet".
13:31 From 11:00 to 12:00 Moscow time by air defense systems on duty destroyed two Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the territories of Belgorod and Kursk regions.
13:30 Bogatyrskoe direction
Our assault units are in Andreevka to control about half. The fighting is in the center. Our assaults reach the road to Constantinople.
+ Attacks in the direction of Constantinople from the southeast have not yet yielded results.
+ Our units are advancing in the direction of Bogatyr and Razliv.
+ The battles for Zelenovka continue.
+ In Dachnoye, assault groups continue to gnaw through the defense. Fierce fighting is underway. Most of the village is behind us.
+ Units of the Russian Armed Forces continue to advance through the plantings, picking out the enemy north of the ravine in the direction of Ulakly.
+ The Ukrainians in Dachnoye are starting to get nervous, fearing that they will be cut off in the area of the H15 highway.
Dnepropetrovsk direction
+ In Serebryanoye, the Ukrainians are retreating to Zaporozhye (DPR).
+ Zaporozhye and Serebryanoye are territorially one village.
+ Our units in this direction are concentrating their main efforts in the area of Serebryanoye (Sribnoye) - Zaporozhye (DPR). At the moment, battles are already underway for Zaporozhye.
+ To the south, our units continue to attack in the areas of the Sarannaya and Stavkovaya ravines.
+ To the north, fierce battles continue for Uspenovka, in the areas of Novoaleksandrovka and Nadezhdinka, where our assaults have advanced south and west in the direction of Kotlyarovka and the farms.
13:22 Ukrainian channels report on the advance of the Russian Armed Forces towards Krasny Liman
11:59 Attack drone under the control of specialists from the Rubicon Center struck a group of Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen in the Kursk direction.
11:37 Lightning strike
Crew of the Molniya-2 UAV aircraft type of the Tula paratroopers destroyed an enemy infantry fighting vehicle in one of the border areas of the Kursk region.
The aircraft-like design of the UAV allows it to reach greater speeds than a typical FPV drone.
11:26 From about 09:00 to 10:30 Moscow time, air defense systems on duty destroyed three Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles: one over the territory of the Kursk region and two over the territory of the Belgorod region.
11:06 In the area of the Yuzhny farmstead in the Sudzhansky district, Russian intelligence detected movement of the Stryker armored personnel carrier of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The operator of the Lancet loitering munition hit the target, destroying both the enemy equipment and personnel.
10:38 Specialists from the Southern Group of Forces’ communications battalion maintain uninterrupted communication channels between the brigade’s support units and advancing forces around the clock, and also ensure the coordination of their actions –Ministry of Defense
09:51 Around 07.50 Moscow time by air defense systems on duty destroyed Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle over the Caspian Sea.
09:51 The Iskander OTRK hit at the underground command post of the Kursk OTG of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of the settlement of Barvinkove in the Sumy region.
According to the source, losses amounted to 40 Ukrainian servicemen.
09:18 Dnepropetrovsk direction
In Serebryanoye, the Ukrainians are retreating to Zaporozhye (DPR). Zaporozhye and Serebryanoye are territorially one village.
09:06 Destruction of the Ukrainian T-72 FPV tank by a fiber-optic drone –VIDEO
08:42 In the Khar'kov direction, kamikaze drone operators of the 6th Guards Army of the "North" group of forces inflicted fire damage on an armored repair and recovery vehicle of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and destroyed the target.
07:14 Russian Ministry of Defense:
During the past night, air defense systems on duty intercepted anddestroyed70 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles:
27 UAVs over the territory of the Rostov region;
25 UAVs over the territory of the Volgograd region;
seven over the territory of the Astrakhan region,
five over the territory of the Voronezh region,
four over the territory of the Belgorod region
and two over the territory of the Kursk region.
06:05 The Strela-10 air defense missile system of the 200th Motorized Rifle Brigade shoots down an enemy UAV –MAP.
05:11 120mm BM-21 Grad covered the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The Grad MLRS crew of the 20th Guards Combined Arms Army of the West Forces Group operates around the clock are destroying military facilities, positions, fortifications and concentrations of manpower of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
05:03 220mm BM-27 "Tornado" of the "East" group of forces destroyed the temporary deployment point of the mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine -MAP.
04:00 TOS-1A "Solntsepek" operation against Ukrainian Armed Forces positions Heavy flamethrower systems TOS-1A "Solntsepek" of the 51st Guards Army are working on enemy positions, supporting the advance of our units.
03:23 The crew of the Garmoshka radar of the Sever group are actively working on identification of enemy targets in the Volchansk direction. As part of the counterbattery fight, they determine the exact location of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' gun, after which it is attacked with fire.
[FoxNews] Trump's new DOJ aims to shield Americans from government overreach in new executive orders
President Donald Trump has vowed to end what he has called the "weaponization" of the United States’ government – starting with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's prosecution of Marine veteran Daniel Penny.
Shortly after returning to the White House, Trump signed a pair of executive orders pledging to protect citizens from unjust prosecution and end federal censorship, while directing his administration to investigate previous actions by federal agencies under the Biden presidency.
"These actions appear oriented more toward inflicting political pain than toward pursuing actual justice or legitimate governmental objectives," Trump wrote in the order titled "Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government."
The orders aim to shield Americans from government officials looking to potentially flex prosecutorial authority and could employ the same legal principle used by the Biden administration to investigate political adversaries.
"The prior administration and allies throughout the country engaged in an unprecedented, third-world weaponization of prosecutorial power to upend the democratic process," the order states.
Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo wrote in an opinion piece, published in the New York Post, that Trump's executive orders will protect individuals from costly and publicly humiliating court cases brought on by prosecutors to shoehorn a specific narrative.
"Much of the effort to end lawfare will focus, as it should, on the Democrats’ use of federal and state prosecution to cripple candidate Trump," Yoo wrote. "But the Trump Justice Department must also counter the misuse of prosecutorial authority against people with far less resources and fame."
Penny’s indictment and subsequent acquittal by a New York City grand jury is a prime example of government overreach, Yoo noted.
Bragg brought charges against Penny for the 2023 chokehold death of Jordan Neely on the city’s subway system. Penny – who stepped in as Neely was threatening passengers – was found not guilty last year of criminally negligent homicide. Prosecutors previously dropped the top charge, second-degree manslaughter, after jurors could not agree on that count.
Yoo said Penny's indictment was unnecessary and set a dangerous precedent of government officials targeting citizens to make a political statement.
[IsraelTimes] Almog Meir Jan filed suit against People Media Project, employer of Abdallah Aljamal, a Hamas operative and journalist who held hostages in his home; judge says suit can be refiled
Rescued hostage Almog Meir Jan’s lawsuit against a US-based nonprofit that allegedly employed his captor was dismissed Friday by a federal judge in Seattle, Washington, who ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prove that the company was aware that its employee was a Hamas ..always the voice of sweet reason... operative.
US District Judge Tiffany Cartwright
…appointed by the Biden administration at the end of 2023, she is said to be one of the youngest judges on the federal bench…
did, however, allow Meir Jan to refile the suit, giving him the chance to amend his claim to provide evidence to prove the allegations against the defendant.
Meir Jan filed the suit in July 2024 against People Media Project,
..a name that DOGE, or perhaps Secretary of State Marco Rubio, should be interested in…
a United States-based nonprofit that has ties to the journalist who held him captive.
Meir Jan, 22, was held by Abdallah Aljamal, a front man for the Hamas-run labor ministry in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... who has contributed to several news outlets in the past, and who was a correspondent for the Paleostine Chronicle, which is run by the nonprofit.
Meir Jan, along with hostages Shlomi Ziv, 40, and Andrey Kozlov, 27, was rescued from Aljamal’s home in central Gaza’s Nuseirat on June 8 of last year. Hostage Noa Argamani, 26, who was held some 180 meters (200 yards) away, was also rescued. Despite their buoyant appearance upon their return, the four were said to have faced harsh conditions in captivity.
The four were kidnapped from the Nova music festival in the forest outside Kibbutz Re’im near the Gaza border on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led bandidossnuffies stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages. Three-hundred and sixty people were killed in the Nova massacre.
Aljamal, his wife Fatma and father Ahmad Aljamal were all killed during the hostage rescue mission. The family’s children survived.
The family was said to be known to have ties to Hamas, but residents told The Wall Street Journal at the time they were unaware that hostages were being held at the Aljamals’ family home.
Meir Jan’s lawsuit alleged: "Under the leadership of Defendants [editor-in-chief] Ramzy Baroud and [People Media Project governor] John Harvey, Defendant Paleostine Chronicle employed Hamas Operative Aljamal and offered him its US platform to write and disseminate Hamas propaganda, ultimately subsidized, through its status as a tax-exempt charitable organization, by US taxpayers."
The lawsuit was submitted to Washington state’s Western District court.
After review of the suit, Judge Cartwright determined that since Meir Jan’s "complaint does not allege actual knowledge, his compensation allegations must be dismissed."
The judge added that nowhere in Meir Jan’s lawsuit does he allege that the "defendants gave Aljamal money for the purpose of committing terrorism or aiding Hamas."
"Instead, he seeks to hold them liable for compensating Aljamal for writing articles, because Aljamal used that money to enable Jan’s imprisonment." she added.
However,
alcohol has never solved anybody's problems. But then, neither has milk... under court precedent, the judge granted Meir Jan an opportunity to amend his complaint if he can find additional evidence to prove the allegations against the defendant.
Meir Jan’s lawsuit followed others filed by victims of October 7 in US courts. On July 1, 2024, October 7 victims sued Iran, North Korea ...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche... and Syria, seeking at least $4 billion in damages from the countries for aiding and abetting Hamas’s terror onslaught. A week before, victims sued for $1 billion in damages from UNRWA, the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... aid agency for Paleostinian refugees, accusing it of funneling money into Hamas’s coffers and letting the terror group use the agency’s facilities.
Israel has said that numerous Hamas operatives were posing as journalists in Gaza.
2025.01.27
[RadioFreeAsia] Beijing says it opposes ’illegal migration’ as asylum is banned under Trump.
Anyone desperate to leave China as part of an ongoing exodus known as the "run" movement may need to find alternate destinations, as the repatriation of Chinese migrants colonists from the United States looks increasingly likely.
China on Monday pledged to accept the return of Chinese migrants colonists in the United States after President Donald Trump ...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down... threatened to hit Colombia with tariffs of up to 50% for refusing to take back its migrants colonists amid an ongoing crackdown on immigration.
"China will receive people who are confirmed as Chinese nationals from the mainland after verification," foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular news briefing in Beijing.
"The Chinese government firmly opposes any form of illegal migration," she said.
The number of people fleeing China to seek asylum in the United States has spiked sharply since the country eased its zero-COVID travel bans in 2022.
In 2024, the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol reporting encounters with more than 32,000 Chinese nationals at the southwest land border with Mexico compared with about 21,000 the previous year. The agency reported 2,395 so far this year.
Chinese nationals have had a fairly high likelihood of being accepted as political refugees in the United States in recent years, with acceptance rates of around 55%, according to statistics from the Department of Justice.
DANGEROUS TREK
In a phenomenon known as the "run" movement, they have been fleeing the country in large numbers to make the arduous and sometimes dangerous overland journey through South and Central America to cross the border from Mexico and apply for political asylum in the United States.
A buzzword that uses the Chinese character 润 (rùn) as a wordplay on the English word "run," it describes how large numbers of people are leaving, or researching the best way to get out of China, with the aim of settling in a more developed country with greater freedoms.
The idea of leaving really took off during the grueling lockdowns, mass incarceration in quarantine camps and compulsory testing of President Xi Jinping’s zero-COVID policy, which the government ended abruptly following nationwide protests in December 2022.
Many political dissidents, religious believers and rights activists are among the new wave of migrants colonists, and could face official retaliation if they’re handed over to the Chinese authorities.
Trump has declared illegal immigration a national emergency, dispatching the U.S. military to help with border security and issuing a broad ban on asylum, as well as taking steps to restrict citizenship for children born on U.S. soil.
DESTINATION JAPAN
That means Chinese asylum-seekers are now at risk of being sent back to China, and people may start looking at alternate destinations -- and Japan is becoming a popular option.
Language student Li Bing, who hails from northwestern China, is now working in the industrial waste industry in Japan on a five-year work permit after initially traveling to the country as a language student.
"This was the only company that was pretty straightforward and gave me a job offer," Li told RFA Mandarin. "So I figured I’d make the best of it."
"The industry has nothing to do with my previous career in China, and it doesn’t pay well, but the most important things for Chinese overseas are role, language and money," he said. "This company has solved the most important of those problems for me."
Li said he plans to apply for Japanese citizenship after working out his five-year visa.
"There’s a huge drop in income and lifestyle, but ... I think everyone experiences this when they move to a new environment," he said. "My understanding of the world and of life have changed ... I don’t need to turn myself into the hero guy of my own success story."
"I have no regrets," he said.
Chinese are the most numerous newcomers to Japan, the News Agency that Dare Not be Named reported last September, with 822,000 Chinese passport-holders among more than 3 million foreigners living in the country, up from 762,000 in 2024.
A Reddit comment as early as 2021 extolled the country as a good option for young Chinese people, saying "Japanese is relatively easy to learn ... it’s easy to find a job (the birth rate is seriously declining and young people can find jobs if they want them."
"There is almost no situation in which people are sent back home because they can’t find a job."
Meanwhile,
...back at the barn, Bossy had come up with a new idea, one that didn't involve kerosene... Taiwan’s Central News Agency quoted an immigration consultancy insider as saying that while Japan is now a likely alternate destination, Thailand and Malaysia are also popular.
For some, yes. Possibly all, for embarrassing the regime. But there is an application process that can be done at any American embassy or consulate anywhere in the world. They could have done that in Mexico or Canada instead of paying large sums of money to the coyotes to get them to the border and sneak them across. It’s for us to say who is given asylum, not them.
When my grandparents fled the Nazis and snuck across the border into the Netherlands, the first thing they did the next morning was present themselves to the authorities and apply for asylum. They were given asylum contingent upon not becoming a burden on the state, and got permission to bring in their single minor child but not any other dependent relatives. My elderly great-grandmother, who had lived with them in Germany, found no other refuge and perished at the hands of the Nazis.
February 1, 2025
[FreeBeacon] Donations from Soros and Hoffman accounted for 70% of Wikler's funds in DNC chair race
It didn’t do him any good to sell his soul, though — Ken Martin won the top spot by 100 votes.
Ben Wikler’s campaign to lead the Democratic National Committee has been largely funded by Democratic megadonors Reid Hoffman and George Soros ...either Ernst Stavro Blofeld or Auric Goldfinger come true. Maybe both.... , according to campaign finance filings Wikler filed hours before Democrats ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... will cast their votes for the next DNC (If you're white you ain't right!) ...Democrat National Committee, where all those off-the-wall talking points originate... chairman.
I thought Soros son Alex Soros took over managing his father’s “charity”, Open Society Foundations, as well as the Soros Fund Management on the investment side. Does Dad still dabble a bit, just to keep his mind active? Or is this, perhaps, a sign that Alex is no longer the golden boy after his money did not prevent the Democrats from losing the last election?
Hoffman, a former associate of pedophile Jeffrey Want Some Candy, Little Girl? Epstein ...A high class pimp financier who was alleged to maintain a stable of underage whoressex slaves who were paid big bucks to entertain the rich and/or famous. He was really surprised when he commited suiciede in jail... , contributed $250,000 to Wikler’s political action committee, Forward PAC, on Dec. 4, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. Soros’s Democracy PAC gave $250,000 to Wikler’s committee on Dec. 2, records show.
Those contributions account for nearly 70 percent of the campaign funds to Wikler, the chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party.
The disclosure comes just hours before 448 Democratic National Committee members cast their votes at a meeting in National Harbor, Maryland, to elect the next party leader. Wikler, 43, is considered a frontrunner in the race alongside Ken Martin, the head of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.
Wikler’s ties to Democratic Party megadonors have already proved a liability, though it was not clear until now just how heavily he relied on them for his campaign. Jeff Weaver, the former campaign manager for democratic socialist Bernie Sanders
...The only first openly Socialist member of the U.S. Senate. Sanders was Representative-for-Life from Vermont until moving to the Senate for the rest of his life in 2006, assuming the seat vacated by Jim Jeffords. He ran for the 2016 nomination for president, to be cheated out of it by Hillary Clinton, then went back to being an Independent socialist, waiting for 2020 to roll around... , has publicly opposed Wikler because of his affiliation with Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn. Martin, the Minnesota Democratic Party leader, has called out Wikler during several DNC events over his relationship with Hoffman.
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, another DNC candidate, called on Wikler and others to disclose their campaign donors last week, though all declined to do so, Politico reported.
Liberal Democrats’ beef with Hoffman has little to do with the billionaire’s well-established ties to Jeffrey Epstein or his funding for deceptive campaign tactics in the 2017 Alabama senate race. Instead, they object to Hoffman’s efforts last year to pressure Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris launched her campaign on the “RuPaul’s Drag Race” to fire Lina Khan, the former head of the Federal Trade Commission. Hoffman asserted last July that Khan was "waging a war on American business" through anti-merger actions and said he hoped that Harris would "replace her."
Wikler and Martin have both landed notable endorsements in the DNC race. Sen. Chuck Schumer ...Senator-for-life from New York, renowned for his love of standing in front of cameras and microphones. Schumer has been a professional politician since 1975, when disco was in flower, which is 49.16621 years. Senate minority leader as of 2017... (N.Y.) and Rep. Nancy San Fran Nan Pelosi Congresswoman-for-Life from the San Francisco Bay Area, born into a family of professional politicians. On-again-off-again Speaker of the House. It's not her fault when they lose, but it's her accomplishment when they win. Noted for her heavily botoxed grimace and occasional senior... uhhh... moments... (Calif.) have endorsed Wikler. But Martin boasts more public endorsements from DNC members and is considered the progressive wing’s preferred choice.
Both have embraced controversial positions that could prove liabilities should they take over the DNC. As head of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, he oversaw a vote in which party members voted against a resolution to condemn Hamas ..always the voice of sweet reason... for its terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. As chairman, the Wisconsin Democrats approved a platform that called itself the "party of DEI."
Martin has called for President Donald Trump ...Oh, noze! Not him!... to be put on trial for treason, a charge that calls for the death penalty , based on a debunked news report that Trump ignored intelligence briefings that Russia paid bounties to the Taliban ...Arabic for students... to attack American troops in Afghanistan.
Given everything we have seen, read and the political receivers and the donor himself has admitted to. Hasn't George Soros broken US Campaign Finance laws?
Campaigns are prohibited from accepting contributions from certain types of organizations and individuals. These prohibited sources are:
Corporations, including nonprofit corporations
Labor organizations
Federal government contractors
Contributions in the name of another Foreign nationals
Understanding it might be difficult to find a DA not already on the take.
#2
George Soros became an American citizen in 1961, NN2N1. While I can’t speak to the rest of that list, I suspect that his donation pattern is immoral rather than strictly illegal, just like his investments.
[GatewayPundit] Joe Biden has been out of office for just over two weeks and he is already looking to cash in.
The former president has signed a deal with the Creative Arts Agency (CAA), a Hollywood agency that represents hundreds of celebrities and Hollywood stars.
"President Biden is one of America’s most respected and influential voices in national and global affairs," Richard Lovett, co-chair of CAA, said in a statement.
"His lifelong commitment to public service is one of unity, optimism, dignity, and possibility," he continued.
I'm guessing a book deal would have appeared too far-fetched.
#2
The former president has signed a deal with the Creative Arts Agency (CAA), a Hollywood agency that represents hundreds of celebrities and Hollywood stars.
#3
"His contract is modeled after the Disney animatronic Presidents. Same language"
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/04/2025 9:34
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#4
"President Biden is one of America’s most respected and influential voices in national and global affairs," Richard Lovett, co-chair of CAA, said in a statement.
"His lifelong commitment to public service is one of unity, optimism, dignity, and possibility," he continued.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/04/2025 14:17
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#15
Seems Jill and Hunter plan to use what is left of the vegetable for whatever will bring in pocket money! Further proof of moral vapidity by the poster family of American trailer-trash!
#17
Damn now I get it. There is money to be made. Weekend at Bernie's III.
I for one would pay for a Amazon 9.99 DVD to see them drag his carcass around for 90 minutes.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Mikhail Kucherov
[REGNUM] 80 years ago, one of the most successful breakthroughs of the Red Army in the Great Patriotic War ended: from January 12 to February 3, troops under the command of Marshals Georgy Zhukov and Ivan Konev liberated almost the entire territory of Poland and part of Czechoslovakia, stopping at a distance of 60-70 kilometers from Berlin.
Although it was supposed to happen a little later: the original plan called for the operation to begin on January 20, 1945. However, at the beginning of the month, the Anglo-American forces were in a desperate situation in the Ardennes. Then British Prime Minister Winston Churchill asked Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to urgently begin an offensive "on the Vistula front or somewhere else" - and the Soviet side agreed to help the Allies.
At 5 a.m. on January 12, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front attacked the Germans from the Sandomierz bridgehead, and two days later the Warsaw-Poznan operation began, carried out as part of the larger Vistula-Oder operation. On the front line from the Baltics to Hungary, 2.2 million Soviet and Polish soldiers went on the offensive. 800 thousand Germans tried to hold them back; they prepared seven defensive lines with trenches, minefields and barbed wire between the Vistula and the Oder, stretching for 300-500 kilometers.
The Soviet command expected to cut through the German group “A”, responsible for this area, with two strikes, and one of the main objectives of the operation was the liberation of Warsaw.
Over three days, the Red Army units made several dashes to the routes that deprived the German group of the opportunity to retreat. The Wehrmacht leadership allowed the evacuation of troops to begin: they avoided encirclement. The assault on Warsaw took place on January 16. The main attack was carried out by the forces of the 1st Belorussian Front, which resulted in a breach: the right to enter the city through it was granted to the 1st Army of the Polish Army, commanded by General Stanislav Poplavsky.
On January 17 at 8 am, the 4th Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Polish Division of Jan Rotkiewicz broke through to the center of Warsaw : soon it reached the large central street Marszałkowska. By 3 pm, Soviet troops had arrived, and the city was liberated.
In the Polish capital, the liberators saw a horrific picture. In liquidating the Warsaw Uprising, the Germans had destroyed 84% of the buildings to their foundations, and the ruins had been methodically turned into defense nodes. "The city is dead," Marshal Zhukov briefly described the situation on the spot. In a report submitted to the State Defense Committee, he said:
"The fascist barbarians destroyed the capital of Poland, Warsaw, with the cruelty of sophisticated sadists, the Nazis destroyed block after block. The uprising in Warsaw, provoked by the London Polish government in exile and the leadership of the Home Army in August-September 1944, completed the destruction of the city."
The failed uprising that the marshal writes about lasted from August 1 to October 2, 1944, and was not coordinated with the Soviet command. The Home Army, supported by the Polish government in Britain, sought to proclaim its power and prevent the establishment of communist rule before the Red Army and pro-Soviet Poles entered the city.
However, the plan was unsuccessful, and there was no way to help the rebels - since the autumn of 1944, the Soviet troops were recuperating. Before that, they had made such a rapid 600-kilometer dash that the convoys with ammunition, fuel and food lagged behind them. This was confirmed by the US Ambassador to the USSR William Averell, who noted that the Red Army did not even have pontoons to build bridges.
According to various estimates, after suppressing the uprising, the Germans killed up to 130,000 civilians. And turning Warsaw into a "fortress", the Nazi garrison left thousands of mines in the city. Soviet units had to carry out a large-scale mine-clearing operation. The chief of staff of the 1st Belorussian Front, Colonel General Mikhail Malinin, wrote about it :
“During the demining, 5,412 anti-tank mines, 17,227 anti-personnel mines, 46 land mines, 232 ‘surprises’, over 14 tons of explosives, about 14,000 shells, aerial bombs, mines and grenades were removed, collected and detonated.”
Nevertheless, the liberation of the Polish capital became a significant event for raising the fighting spirit of the attackers. In Moscow, a 24-volley salute of 324 guns was held on this occasion. On June 9, 1945, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR established the medal "For the Liberation of Warsaw". It was awarded to 701,700 people. Stalin personally expressed gratitude to all who took part in those battles. The honorary title of Warsaw was received by 70 units of the Red Army and 12 of the 1st Army of the Polish Army.
The offensive continued relentlessly: on January 19, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front entered Krakow. It is generally accepted that they encountered almost no resistance. But in fact, the Germans had been preparing the city for defense since the summer of 1944, and the testimonies of those who took part in those events demonstrate the opposite.
"They say that Krakow, which our division liberated, was captured without a fight. Nothing of the sort, it was simply not heavily destroyed. True, no one bombed it like Leningrad. But the fighting was quite serious," recalls frontline medic Evgeniya Tabachnikova.
At the same time, in Upper Silesia, Soviet units crossed the German border.
On January 23, Bydgoszcz was occupied, and the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front surrounded the Poznan group of Germans. Poznan had to be fought for seriously - there was an old fortress in the city with numerous underground passages: the Germans fortified it with artillery. They installed guns that rolled out of shelters, fired at the Red Army soldiers and drove back.
Veteran Anatoly Beloklokov talks about the unconventional solution that was found to finally occupy this building :
"They would have been messing around with them for a long time until some local Pole suggested: "We need to dig a canal from the river and let them have water there!" Then all forces were immediately raised - troops, Poles. In about a day they dug a trench about 300-400 meters. They let water in there, and the Germans crawled out themselves."
The liberators entered the Poznan fortress after the operation was completed, on February 23: at that time the city was already deep in the rear. The first Soviet units to advance towards the city did not take it and went further. They occupied other industrial centers and Wehrmacht strongholds in Poland – Lodz, Radom, Kielce, Radomsko, Czestochowa, the spiritual capital of Poland.
On February 3, the Red Army reached the Oder and broke through the enemy's defensive lines in the area of Küstrin, the closest of the liberated settlements to Berlin at that time. In 23 days, the Soviet troops covered 500 kilometers, for this reason the operation is also called the "Run to the Oder". The irreparable losses of the attacking side amounted to 43,300 people. It is unknown how many the Wehrmacht lost, but 35 divisions were completely routed, and another 25 lost 50-70% of their personnel.
An interesting detail: Soviet military leaders actively resorted to disorienting the enemy and distracting his attention. Before the start of the operation, mock-ups of tanks and self-propelled guns were placed in the Krakow direction. The day before the offensive, German artillery fired at these dummies at least 200 times, expecting that the offensive would begin there.
Music was also used in preparation for the attack - the sound of compositions from loudspeakers drowned out the engines of tanks and trucks. At the moment the operation began, the USSR anthem began to reach the German trenches.
The German command, which often looked for reasons for the enemy's success in external factors - for example, the onset of severe frosts - admitted defeat. General Friedrich Wilhelm von Mellenthin wrote: "It is impossible to describe everything that happened between the Vistula and the Oder in the first months of 1945. Europe has not known anything like this since the fall of the Roman Empire."
After the capture of Warsaw, Hitler was furious and no longer trusted the generals. He removed all the leaders of Group A from their positions and appointed Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler as the new commander.
Well, for the Soviet side, the strategic significance of the operation also lay in the fact that the rapid advance to Berlin strengthened its position at the Yalta Conference. First of all, on the Polish issue: the formation of the new Polish government arose from the situation “on the ground,” and not from the hysterical position of the “exiles” in London. They were proposed to be considered non-existent, and in general about a quarter of the entire time was devoted to the problem.
At the same time, the scheme for the post-war division of Germany was being decided, and the fact that the leaders of the USSR, Great Britain and the USA had agreed in advance on the capture of the German capital by the Red Army also came from military realities. The Wehrmacht's losses in the Vistula-Oder direction were incomparably greater than those of the Soviet units. And having lost Silesia, Germany lost its industry, which seriously affected even the theoretical faith of the Germans in the possibility of turning the tide of events.
#1
Side note: Hitler moved all his critical reserve units to strike in Belgium, aka the Battle of Bulge, just the month before who were thus unavailable to bolster the Eastern Front.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] Having established himself in power, the head of the transitional government of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, made his first foreign visit. Saudi Arabia was chosen as the destination of the “debut trip”, which was supposed to emphasize the interest of the new authorities in maintaining close ties with the leading powers of the Arab world.
However, in practice, Damascus remains strongly oriented towards Turkey, and attempts to balance between the interests of Ankara and the leading Arab powers could cost the country's new authorities dearly in the long term.
"SANCTION" CONCESSIONS
The Syrian delegation was personally received in Riyadh by the Crown Prince (and de facto leader) of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman. He introduced the members of the Saudi cabinet to al-Sharaa and also met with the appointees that the Syrian leader had brought with him.
Official Riyadh does not talk much about the details of government meetings, limiting itself to catchy phrases about well-being, prosperity and good neighborliness. However, even from the photo reports accompanying the notes, it is noticeable that the new Syrian leader was treated with the attention of all key figures in the kingdom.
The Saudis are determined in their attitude towards Damascus: after the sharp rapprochement between Syria and Qatar (one of the kingdom’s political and economic opponents), Riyadh is looking for ways to strengthen its influence on the new Syrian authorities.
And one of the instruments, according to the Saudi authorities, should be mediation in the "peaceful reintegration" of Syria into the world economy. The Syrian authorities managed (not without the help of the Saudis) to obtain some concessions from the European Union.
Now the new Damascus expects that a similar approach will work in relation to the US. Although Washington allowed for the easing of restrictions in early 2025, it has not yet made a final decision. The mediation and intercession of Saudi Arabia should move the matter forward.
On the other hand, Riyadh is unlikely to push too hard on this issue when interacting with the Donald Trump administration. There is a high probability that the White House will consider it appropriate to put forward as a counter-condition the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. The kingdom is not ready for such a trade-off at the moment.
Just as it is not prepared to support the military ambitions of the new Syrian authorities with weapons in hand – at least until Damascus finds itself in the Saudis’ orbit of influence.
TURKISH INTEREST
The more active communication between the Syrian authorities and Arab countries and the decrease in the frequency of diplomatic contacts between Ankara and Damascus at first glance look like a spat. Especially in the context of the fact that the dates of al-Sharaa's major visit to Turkey have already been postponed several times. Representatives of the Arab intelligentsia, who are following the first steps of the new Syrian regime, are vying with each other to claim that it has made a very clear choice between the Arab and Turkic worlds.
However, in practice, Turkey is hardly worried about the postponed high-level visit: the Syrian transitional government is almost entirely made up of Turkish protégés or is not hostile towards official Ankara. It is not worth expecting that al-Sharaa will try to change the balance of power and thereby weaken his own position in the hierarchy.
Especially considering that one of the public promises of the new Syrian president was to ensure the territorial integrity of the country and fight against “dubious paramilitary forces,” and not everyone shares his sentiments.
For example, the Syrian Kurds (the self-proclaimed Rojava Autonomy) do not recognize the authority of the new government and demand significant concessions from it; they refuse to disarm and integrate into the renewed armed forces until they receive ironclad guarantees from Damascus that their previous rights and freedoms will be respected.
Considering that a significant portion of the politicians in al-Sharaa’s entourage are extremely militant towards the Kurds, the new authorities will clearly need proven allies in the fight against the “Kurdish freebooters.”
And Türkiye is quite capable of taking advantage of the situation by strengthening its military presence under the plausible pretext of helping Syrian government forces. Discussions on a deal (so far behind the scenes) between Ankara and Damascus are already underway.
IN THE ROLE OF A CATCH-UP
Turkish authorities ignored al-Sharaa's trip to Riyadh, dodging provocative questions from the press.
And there is nothing unexpected in this. Turkey's overly active tug-of-war of the "diplomatic blanket" is fraught with the assertion of Syria's foreign policy image as a Turkish satellite, rather than as an independent Middle Eastern player.
Ankara is not interested in this - it is much more profitable for them to get an independent and strong Arab ally that has weight in the Arab world and is capable of equally promoting both the pan-Arab and Turkic agendas.
The Turkish-Qatari military-political alliance was formed according to a similar scheme. After 2017, Doha was weakened by the economic and political blockade from its neighbors, and Ankara's support largely allowed Qatar not to lose influence in the Middle East.
"New Damascus" is trying to repeat this path and even conducts business with the Arab world relatively successfully. However, unlike Qatar, which remained an influential player even during the blockade, Syria is still more of a "catch-up" player and is forced to adapt to the Saudi and Turkish "general lines", constantly monitoring the balance of interests.
An excessive tilt to either side will automatically mean a decline in relations with the other partner, which, given the difficult situation in Syria itself, risks becoming a major problem in the long term.
[FoxNews] Nearly two-thirds of all H-1B visas are for computer-related jobs that rely on math skills
When entrepreneur Elon Musk made headlines with his vociferous comments supporting the H-1B visa program, the ensuing debate focused on the implications of his position on immigration.
But this debate obscured the reason America even has such a program in the first place: its homegrown students are being poorly educated in math.
According to federal law, the H-1B program gives visas to foreigners coming to perform services "in a specialty occupation." A specialty occupation is defined as requiring "theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge," plus higher education requirements.
The program is annually capped at 65,000 regular H-1B visas, with another 20,000 for those foreigners who have earned advanced degrees from U.S. universities.
Given Musk’s vehement support of the program, it is no surprise that a federal report states that in 2023, "computer-related occupations were the largest major occupational area, accounting for 65% of all beneficiaries [of the program]." In comparison, less than 1% of H-1B visas were given to foreigners in the social sciences.
While much of the coverage of the H-1B debate focuses on the foreign-versus-American-worker angle, the real issue regarding H-1Bs is that the U.S. is failing to produce domestic workers with the requisite math skills required by Musk’s SpaceX and other high-tech companies.
In 2024, a shocking 72% of eighth-grade students taking the National Assessment of Educational Progress math exam failed to score at the proficient level -- a full 6% increase over the 66% of eighth graders failing to achieve proficiency in 2019.
Why are American students doing so badly in math? The answer lies in the ineffective math instruction they are receiving.
In the early 2010s, most states adopted the Common Core national education standards, which were touted as a cure for America’s math woes. Unfortunately, Common Core turned out to be bad medicine.
Common Core confused many students by emphasizing indirect ways to arrive at the right answer instead of just learning straightforward mathematical operations. For example, in multiplying numbers, children are often asked to draw pictures instead of simply memorizing the multiplication tables.
Michael Malione, a professional math tutor in California, said that his students were instructed by their public schools to draw and shade different areas of rectangles when multiplying fractions, rather than simply multiplying the numerators and multiplying the denominators to get the correct answer. Requiring students to learn math this way is both inefficient and ineffective.
"We’re going to draw a picture every time we’re given 10 problems with fractional multiplication, when you could do them in your head?" Malione asks. "That’s insane."
Malione sees students "who are completely lost and they’re not getting the step-by-step guidance early on."
Given Malione’s experience, it is unsurprising that a federally funded study found that Common Core had significant negative effects on the math achievement of eighth graders.
College math professors are shocked at students’ poor math skills. One college math instructor in the Silicon Valley lamented that the lack of algebra knowledge is "the number one deficiency and its chronic." He said, "we’re not producing the kinds of students and graduates that Silicon Valley needs."
Sugi Sorensen, a top engineer at famed Jet Propulsion Laboratory who also tutors students in math, urged a return to proven traditional math practices, which includes mastering the basic skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division through "the memorization of math facts and procedures" so that students "can perform computations quickly, accurately, and effortlessly."
Further, math topics should be sequential, "where new concepts are built upon previously learned ones in a structured, hierarchical manner," Sorensen said.
Finally, Sorensen recommends that math operations such as long division "should be explicitly taught and practiced until mastery," with an emphasis on accuracy.
America has nearly 50 million K-12 students. If schools use proven math instructional methods instead of failed progressive techniques, there would be less need for H-1B visas because there would be more than enough young Americans with the skills companies need. The tech titans at Trump's inauguration should lean on schools to do just that. It is time to make math great again.
#7
I expect Elon will address this issue eventually.
Mathematical maturity takes time. Students have to keep revisiting earlier topics in deeper ways, while learning new things. They were trying to teach abstractions too early, and to the wrong people.
#8
Try raising pay scales to make it worth peoples time.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
02/04/2025 20:06
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#9
They were trying to teach abstractions too early, and to the wrong people.
*Warning - Anecdotal*
When eldest was in 3rd grad, instead of teaching add/subtract tables, the emphasis was on conceptual math, basically Algebra concepts. To 3r graders. I went through College Calculus II, and really enjoyed math, so my kids had a good at-home tutor. Everyone else in the class checked out, so thank you for helping, was the reply to my asking how the classmates were doing.
Common Core, then the Covid Protocols, have absolutely destroyed a generation's math education.
There was even a gag in the movie Incredibles 2 where Dad was trying to help his son with math, "There is no new math, only math!?" I asked mine, "Do you want to learn math, or do you want to learn how to navigate the curriculum?" They chose learn math, and are now head of their class in Math now that they are in conceptual Math such as College Algebra.
In short, they taught math backwards to the point the Elementary School Teachers couldn't teach, only show videos, so when students inevitably had question, the teacher couldn't answer the questions, and IMHO created a disconnect with the students and teachers, turning what were natural Elementary School Teachers into babysitters.
Thanks, Department of Education!
Hey Kansas, just your story, if real. OK, fair in the Age of Internet, let me do proofs: mine can make change and count it back.
[IsraelTimes] Senior terror group official Moussa Abu Marzouk also says Alexander Trufanov will be released ‘in the near future’ during first phase
Senior Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... official Moussa Abu Marzouk said on Monday that Maxim Herkin, kidnapped by Gazook bully boyz from the Nova festival on October 7, 2023, will be released as a priority in the second stage of the deal.
Abu Marzouk was in Moscow along with a senior Hamas delegation for negotiations at the Russian foreign ministry.
He also told Russian outlet Sputnik that hostage Alexander "Sasha" Trufanov, a dual Russian-Israeli national, will be released imminently.
"One of them, Trufanov, will definitely be released in the near future. He will be released despite the fact that he is a serviceperson, but it was decided to release him at the first stage of the deal," Abu Marzouk said.
Trufanov is a civilian and was kidnapped from his home, but Hamas classifies all male hostages under 50 as members of the military.
"This is our response to Russia’s position on the Paleostinian issue," Abu Marzouk said, referencing Moscow’s warm relations with Hamas and recognition of a Paleostinian state.
Russia has ties to all key players in the Middle East, including Israel, Iran, and Leb ...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects.... , as well as the Paleostinian Authority and Hamas.
Trufanov, 28, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz, alongside his mother, grandmother and girlfriend. His father was murdered. The rest of his family was released under a previous ceasefire deal in November 2023. He is on the list of the first 33 so-called "humanitarian hostages" to be released in the ongoing 42-day first stage of the current hostage-ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
Herkin, 35 when he was taken hostage, has a 3-year-old daughter and is the primary provider for his mother and 11-year-old brother.
He went to the Nova festival almost by chance, invited by friends at the last minute. It was the first time he had gone to a rave.
The second phase of the deal is expected to include the return of all the remaining living hostages — including men under the age of 50 and male soldiers — held by bully boyz in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip, in exchange for a yet-to-be-determined number of Paleostinian security prisoners and a full Israeli withdrawal from the Strip.
Reports have increasingly indicated, however, that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seriously entertaining the possibility of resuming the war after the first phase of the deal, as the far-right members of his governing coalition have demanded, rather than continuing on to the second phase.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[ColonelCassad] The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service reports:
1. NATO headquarters is increasingly thinking about a change of power in Ukraine;
2. The Alliance plans to make public information about Zelensky's appropriation of $1.5 billion allocated for weapons to Kiev;
3. NATO leadership wants to expose the scheme by Zelensky and his entourage to withdraw abroad the salaries of 130,000 dead Ukrainian soldiers who are still listed as alive;
4. The Alliance would like to get rid of him with the help of pseudo-democratic elections, which may take place in the fall;
5. NATO headquarters wants to publicize the fact of Kiev's involvement in the sale of weapons to various groups in Africa;
6. The Alliance considers it necessary to preserve the remnants of Ukraine as an anti-Russian springboard, it is supposed to freeze the conflict.
At the current stage, Zelensky's gang is an obvious obstacle to freezing the war, so the scenarios of physically eliminating Zelensky and replacing him through elections (with Zaluzhny) have been considered for quite some time. The US and NATO have enough leverage to completely destroy Zelensky publicly, simply by confirming the already known accusations of theft and corruption.
There is a problem with the legitimacy of power in Ukraine. And now this is a problem for the US and NATO.
NATO is increasingly thinking about the need for a change of power in Ukraine and is preparing a campaign to discredit the head of the Kiev regime, Volodymyr Zelensky. This was stated in a statement by the press bureau of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) of the Russian Federation on February 3.
"According to information received by the SVR, NATO headquarters is increasingly thinking about a change of power in Ukraine. Brussels is proceeding from the fact that the Ukrainian Armed Forces will very soon be unable to contain the growing onslaught of the Russian army," the report says.
It is noted that with the coming to power of Donald Trump in the United States, uncertainty is increasing regarding the continuation of military assistance that the West will be able to provide to Ukraine.
The department added that in the run-up to the election campaign, NATO headquarters is preparing a large-scale operation to discredit Zelensky. In particular, it is planned to publish information about the embezzlement of more than $1.5 billion by the head of the regime personally and members of his team only from funds intended for the purchase of ammunition.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, earlier the head of the GUR of Ukraine Kirill Budanov (an individual included in the list of terrorists and extremists in the Russian Federation) stated that if peace talks do not begin before the summer, the "very existence" of Ukraine could be under threat. Later, representatives of the GUR denied the authenticity of these words, and some deputies of the Verkhovna Rada confirmed them, indicating that the words were taken out of context.
On January 27, State Duma deputy Alexey Chepa, commenting on Budanov's words, said that the failures of the Ukrainian Armed Forces at the front could lead to confrontation within Ukraine, including attempts at a coup d'etat. Many of Ukraine's Western partners consider Zelensky "unnecessary" and could take it out on him if peace talks do not begin, he noted.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Sergey Adamov
[REGNUM] While Kyiv is putting forward conditions for potential peace talks, the Russian Armed Forces continue their successful offensive along the entire front. By the end of January, assault units had liberated 325 square kilometers of territory in the DPR and Kharkiv Oblast.
In Donbass, Russian troops continue their offensive with the aim of completely encircling Pokrovsk, a strategic hub for enemy defense. Fighting is taking place simultaneously to the east and west of the city.
According to reports from the field, the assault units have achieved another success, liberating the settlement of Vodyanoye Vtoroye. The settlement is located in close proximity to the road junction where the Pokrovsk-Konstantinovka highway and the Druzhkovka-Novosyolovka highway intersect.
The success achieved allows us to consolidate control over the key supply route for the Ukrainian Armed Forces by disrupting communications between two enemy defensive nodes – Pokrovsk and Konstantinovka.
Previously, the defense in this area was held by units of the 47th Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which tried to hold the front even at the cost of heavy losses. But later the brigade was transferred to the Kursk region, and the strategic direction was left without cover.
The Russian Armed Forces also advanced west of Pokrovsk, expanding the bridgehead in the area of the village of Kotlino. Our units advanced along the T-0406 highway, approaching the western outskirts of the city to a distance of five kilometers.
There are also reports of military actions in the area of the village of Udachnoye. Ukrainian sources believe that in the near future the captured bridgehead will be used to break through to the M-30 Pokrovsk-Pavlograd highway, a key supply route for the enemy group in the western part of Donbass.
At the same time, the units of the Russian Armed Forces located to the south and west of Pokrovsk will not begin the assault on the city until it is completely surrounded. In turn, the Ukrainian Armed Forces command is aware of the threat hanging over the city, but does not plan to give the order to retreat, says a source of the Regnum news agency in the Pokrovsk direction.
"There is no point in waiting for them to leave. The city will be defended, even against common sense. Many have already written in Telegram channels that the assault has either begun or is about to begin. In fact, the real assault will happen when aviation and artillery (artillery. - Ed.) begin to knock out their observation posts, strongholds. It will be noisy, so everyone will hear. The decisive battle is coming soon," the source predicts.
Simultaneously with the operation to encircle Pokrovsk, Russian troops continue to conduct additional reconnaissance of targets in the city itself and the enemy's operational rear in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Ukrainian sources report the activity of reconnaissance drones identifying targets for airstrikes.
KYIV THROWS RESERVES INTO BATTLE
The Ukrainian Armed Forces Command in Donbass has almost no combat-ready reserves left, since the most experienced units have been scattered in other directions. Therefore, units from among the mobilized troops who have not undergone the necessary training and do not have heavy weapons are increasingly being sent to the Pokrovsk area, Ukrainian Armed Forces officer Anton Cherny said in a comment to the media.
"The Pokrovsk direction is hot right now. And they're sending unprepared people there. Without ammunition, without knowing how to disassemble machine guns, without weapons, without equipment," Cherny states.
It was previously reported that Kyiv is patching holes in its defense with 150th series brigades formed in 2023–2024. The fighters of the “fresh” units, caught during mobilization, are not distinguished by high fighting spirit and often abandon their positions. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are also faced with incompetence among the command staff at the company-battalion level, with officers fleeing their positions even earlier than ordinary fighters.
The 155th and 157th brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces faced similar problems, suffering heavy losses in the vicinity of Pokrovsk. And the enemy's combat-ready 59th brigade repeatedly attempted to counterattack in the Novoelizavetovka area, but suffered losses and retreated to its original positions.
BRIDGEHEAD IN KHARKIV REGION
As Russian troops advance in Donbass, the media increasingly talk about the Russian Armed Forces preparing for a new large-scale offensive on Slavyansk and Kramatorsk. In recent months, this region has been actively preparing for defense, especially against the backdrop of the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Pokrovsk region.
In the context of the upcoming battles for Slavyansk, control over a section of territory located at the junction of the territories of the DPR, LPR and the Kharkov region, as well as in the Kupyansk area, is of strategic importance.
The Russian Armed Forces are expanding their control zone near the village of Dvurechye on the right bank of the Oskol River and north of Kupyansk. As a result of a series of successful offensive operations, the bridgehead has been expanded to 65 square kilometers.
In the long term, success in the Kharkov direction could allow a breakthrough into the rear of the enemy group in Slavyansk, cutting off the enemy’s supply routes, IA Regnum sources note.
"The assault on Slavyansk may begin after we reach Izyum and Balakleya again in order to break through to Donbass from the north. There is no need to rush things, but the assault on Kupyansk and the crossing of the Oskol River are very promising, so to speak, events that may allow us to break through to the rear of the enemy group in Donbass," the source added.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces Command in the Kupyansk region is trying to secure the front line in the area of the villages of Doroshovka and Kutkovka in order to prevent a breakthrough to the city from the north.
As in Donbass, the Ukrainian army in this area is facing a shortage of reserves and logistical problems.
BET ON THE WEATHER
The abnormal winter complicates logistics at the front. Too warm weather has turned the black soil into a real swamp, in which heavy wheeled and even tracked armored vehicles get stuck. Ukrainian sources are placing special hopes on the coming cold snap. It is expected that in the middle of the week the temperature in the Kupyansk region will drop to minus 10 degrees, and in Pokrovsk - to minus 5.
In muddy conditions, control over highways becomes key. After Russian troops intercept the enemy's logistics routes, the Ukrainian Armed Forces lose the ability to supply the garrisons of the "fortress cities" by roundabout routes.
Ukrainian troops are counting on the cold weather, hoping to create reserve supply routes for troops in Pokrovsk, Kupyansk and other areas. But, forecasters predict, the winter cold will not last long in Donbass. By the end of February, full-fledged spring will come to the region, so control over the roads will again become critically important.
At the same time, the very fact that Kyiv is betting on the weather indicates that the Ukrainian Armed Forces simply have no other hopes left. In the long term, the Ukrainian command can only try to prolong the battles in the "fortress cities" that are fighting in complete encirclement. But Kyiv has no real trump cards that could change the situation on the front.
A purge of the blob is pretty clearly underway. USAID was shot dead like a rabid dog over the weekend. The agency had gone completely rogue, serving (Mike Benz explains) as the pivot between every nefarious operation coming out of the CIA, the DOD, and the State Department’s many black box units.
The billions of dollars laundered out of USAID went to support hundreds of NGOs, many of them dedicated to harming the life of this nation, such as the orgs that handed out money to illegal aliens and advice on evading detection in-country.
And these many NGOs represented an employment racket for the "elite overproduction" of grads coming out of universities with useless degrees and Maoist political training. There was, of course, a giant revolving door between these NGOs and the activist ranks of the Democratic Party.
#11
Aesthetica Profile picture
Aesthetica
@Anc_Aesthetics
21h • 7 tweets • 2 min read • Read on X
"Talked to a friend who has connections within the Democratic Party and he said the level of panic over Trump and Elon shutting down USAID is unlike anything he’s ever seen.
By following the money DOGE has struck a killing blow to the heart of the Democrat deep state machine.
Direct quote: “This is worse than 9/11 for Democrats. USAID is the primary vessel they use to achieve their political agenda. USAID is and always has been the primary source of funding for their influence peddling schemes and for their indirect sources of income”
Another text “Based on the reactions from within the party it seems to me that dismantling USAID is Trump’s biggest political victory to date, it was his enemy’s golden goose”
Same source who told me during the campaign (well before it was made public) that Kamala’s internal polling had her behind Trump so his information is good.
Another important addition. He said initial plans by the Democrats is to have their people at USAID hide the partisan funding under “unimpeachable initiatives”. “They will push back really hard on certain line items that on their face look like reasonable USAID expenditures and hide their political spending under these programs”
@elonmusk Looks like the whole thing needs to be thrown out to avoid this from happening.
More: “Another likely solution for Democrats which they already use to reward VIPs is to use NGOs as an intermediary to direct funds where they want them to go”
So basically USAID allocates funds for a certain initiative that looks reasonable. Democrat friendly NGO is contracted to carry out initiative. NGO #1 subcontracts “VIP” which is another NGO owned/operated by a political ally or Democrat politician. Eventually the funds reach the secret intended target and the original problem is not solved. This means they can continue to rinse and repeat this grift.
“If Trump/Elon want this to stick they need to completely shut down USAID or fire the entire staff, the party has instructed their allies to not make waves and blend in. USAID is 99% Democrats they will not be able to save it without risking internal sabotage.”
#12
Yes, it's a deeply networked ecosystem that needs to be disinfected all the way down. As with killing weeds, first you kill the part above ground. Then you go after the roots.
#13
Another text “Based on the reactions from within the party it seems to me that dismantling USAID is Trump’s biggest political victory to date, it was his enemy’s golden goose”
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Last week, disturbing messages saying 'HELP' spelled out on the ground in Los Angeles sparked fears among Google Earth users.
But it's far from the first alarming and intriguing mystery unearthed by Google's satellites and camera-toting cars.
Google's camera-toting cars have taken more than 220 billion images while driving 100 million miles since 'Street View' launched in 2007, while Google Maps and Google Earth have evolved over 21 years to offer hi-res imagery of areas, including images shot from aircraft.
Images on Google Maps and Google Street View have helped to solve missing persons cases and even murders - and a growing number of fans use the apps to find strange and disturbing cases around the world.
Visuals captured by Google's big brother system have also sparked investigations into alien markings.
#2
I was watching a youtuber swoop into that LA area with the "Help" spelled out, and he was interviewing the vagrants that were living on the street. And the homeless was saying it was one of their filthy bum friends who was spelling 'help' out. Nuthingburger.
[IsraelTimes] Fourteen women and one man were killed and fifteen other women were injured in a car bomb explosion on a main road on the outskirts of the northern Syrian city of Manbij, Syria’s civil defense says.
All of them were agricultural workers, it adds in a statement.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] Ukrainian Armed Forces repel Russian attacks in eastern and southern Ukraine.
The enemy is most active in the Pokrovsky direction. There are currently 11 combat clashes going on there.
Since the beginning of the day, 53 combat clashes have occurred on the front. The Russian army continues to concentrate its main efforts on the Pokrovsky direction, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported in an operational report as of 16:00 on Monday, February 3.
Thus, in the Kupyansk direction, the enemy carried out seven assaults in the areas of Petropavlovka, Peschanoye and Zagryzovo. Six attacks were repelled, and another clash continues.
In the Liman direction, the invading army attacked twice near Terny. One clash continues.
In the Kramatorsk direction, our defenders repelled one attempt by the occupiers to advance forward in the area of Chasovy Yar.
In the Toretsk direction, the enemy attacked nine times near the settlements of Krymskoye, Toretsk and Shcherbinovka.
In the Pokrovsk direction, the occupiers made 25 attempts to attack in the areas of the settlements of Malinovka, Novopoltavka, Zelenoe Pole, Tarasovka, Mirolyubovka, Yelizavetovka, Promin, Lisovka, Udachnoye, Nadeyevka, Uspenovka, Novoaleksandrovka and Dachnoye. The defense forces repelled 14 attacks, 11 clashes are still ongoing.
In the Novopavlovsk direction, the enemy attacked four times near Constantinople, Razdolnoye and Novy Komar.
In the Gulyai-Polye direction, the occupiers attacked twice without result near Novoselka.
In the Orekhov direction, the enemy twice attempted to advance in the direction of Novodanilovka and Shcherbaki. They were unsuccessful.
In the Dnieper direction, the Russian invaders attacked four times without success near Antonovka and Dnieper.
In Kursk Oblast, the Ukrainian Armed Forces repelled five attacks. The enemy also carried out 26 airstrikes, dropping 37 UABs.
Let us recall that in January the Russian army lost 48,240 servicemen, which is roughly equivalent to more than three motorized rifle divisions. In just one day on February 2, Russian losses amounted to 1,300 people.
[DefenceBlog] The U.S. Center for Countermeasures (CCM) has released new details on the testing of the High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical Dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) system, a directed energy (DE) weapon installed on the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Preble (DDG 88).
The annual report, published in January 2025, outlines the Navy’s demonstration of HELIOS aboard USS Preble, verifying its functionality, performance, and capability in engaging an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) target.
According to the report: “CCM supported the Navy’s demonstration on USS Preble (DDG 88) to verify and validate the functionality, performance, and capability of the HEL with Integrated Optical Dazzler and Surveillance system against an unmanned aerial vehicle target. CCM collected imagery of the engagements to support the evaluation of system performance.”
The USS Preble is the first U.S. Navy vessel equipped with HELIOS, a 60-kilowatt-class directed energy laser weapon developed by Lockheed Martin. It is also the first laser weapon integrated with the Aegis combat system, a key feature that enhances the ship’s ability to track, engage, and neutralize threats.
HELIOS represents a major step forward in naval warfare, providing a cost-effective countermeasure against drones, small boats, and other asymmetric threats. The U.S. Navy has been expanding its directed energy arsenal, and the HELIOS-equipped USS Preble joins a growing number of Navy ships fielding high-energy laser weapons.
The successful testing of HELIOS underscores the U.S. Navy’s commitment to integrating laser weapons into its fleet to counter evolving threats. Unlike conventional missile-based defense systems, directed energy weapons like HELIOS offer a virtually unlimited magazine, rapid engagement capabilities, and lower per-engagement costs.
As the Navy continues to refine directed energy technology, the deployment of HELIOS on USS Preble marks a significant milestone in the advancement of laser-based ship defense systems. Future iterations of HELIOS and similar systems are expected to play an increasingly important role in protecting U.S. naval assets in contested environments.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The resort town of Izmir in Turkey is in the risk zone for a strong earthquake, which could be even stronger than the earthquake in Istanbul predicted by seismologists, said Sinancan Ozicher, head of the Chamber of Geophysical Engineers. Allah displaying his displeasure with the Turks.
One of the branches of the North Anatolian fault runs in the Sea of Marmara, not far from Istanbul. According to scientists, a powerful earthquake with a magnitude of over seven could occur in Istanbul and the Marmara region. The economic consequences of such an event would be felt by all of Turkey. This was stated to RIA Novosti by Haluk Eyidogan, a professor of seismology and a member of the Istanbul Municipality Council of Scientists on Earthquake Issues.
According to Istanbul City Hall, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake would cause at least 90,000 buildings to collapse in the city, leaving around 4.5 million residents homeless. Insurance companies estimate the possible damage from the quake at over $325 billion.
Ozicher believes that Izmir is more vulnerable to earthquakes than Istanbul.
"Due to the special soil, earthquake waves can be two to three times stronger than usual. Buildings on this soil are high-rise buildings of eight or more floors," said the scientist, as quoted by the newspaper Duvar.
Oziçer also noted that some buildings in Izmir are outdated and illegally built. He predicted that the region could be hit by a 6.9 magnitude earthquake that would last 20-22 seconds.
The scientist did not name the date when the natural cataclysm might occur.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, there were no reports of damage or casualties due to the earthquake on January 19 in the Yalta region.
On January 12, an earthquake with a magnitude of 4.2 was recorded off the coast of Crimea in the Black Sea. It occurred at a distance of 75 km southeast of Kerch and 60 km south of Taman. The source was at a depth of 45 km.
On the night of January 11, an earthquake with a magnitude of 3.5 occurred in Sochi. The source of the tremors was located at a depth of 5 km. As a result of the seismic event, no one was killed or injured, and no calls were received from the population.
[DailyCaller] In case you missed it, U.S. Defense Department employees connected their work computers to Chinese servers to access DeepSeek’s new AI chatbot, sparking concerns over national security risks regarding China.
These Pentagon employees spent two days on the new Chinese chatbot before the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) shut off access late Tuesday, according to Bloomberg. DISA is essentially the U.S. Department of Defense’s IT department. It maintains and secures communications capabilities "from the battlefield to the White House."
DeepSeek became a global phenomenon over the weekend when the chatbot went live in U.S. app stores, quickly becoming the top free app in the Apple App Store. Because of this, Americans watched as tech stocks lost billions on Monday due to its arrival, creating even greater fears that China has already leapfrogged U.S. dominance in AI development.
However,
some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... there is an even more sinister issue here. DeepSeek’s privacy policy admits that the AI chatbot not only stores user data on servers in China but also controls that information under Chinese law. It doesn’t take a Silicon Valley elite to understand the national security risks at play when Defense Department employees connect their government computers to China’s new tech.
If the federal government, which bloviates about security issues regarding TikTok, truly believed that there is a grave national security issue regarding China. Why wasn’t protection already in place to prevent this from happening? To make matters worse, Bloomberg reported that this wasn’t a one-time occurrence lasting two days. Federal employees have been accessing DeepSeek for months.
"US military personnel started downloading an earlier release of DeepSeek code on their workstations in the fall of 2024, according to the person familiar with the matter. At the time, the downloads didn’t raise concern with Defense Department security teams as the connection to China wasn’t clear to them, the person added," the outlet reported.
Doesn’t allowing federal employees access to Chinese technology fly in the face of protecting our national security and winning the race to technological supremacy? There should be an inherent warning signal that explodes in the minds of anyone who works in government that using Chinese apps (no matter the offered service) is a terrible idea.
What do they mean by "the connection to China wasn’t clear to" Biden officials? It has never been hidden that DeepSeek was created in China. All it took was a quick search of its origins to discover that one of our national enemies controlled the app.
Americans have no idea which U.S. Military or Pentagon personnel accessed DeepSeek or their security levels.
The best-case scenario is that they were low-level employees with little to no clearance. At worst, high-ranking officials just gave China months to snoop around in our systems.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/04/2025 9:08
Comments ||
Top||
#5
My last two companies locked down all personal computers. The pj's were not able to download apps or connect to external drives without an administrator password.
Amazed that pentagon staffers could.
Posted by: Ed ||
02/04/2025 10:10
Comments ||
Top||
#6
The best-case scenario is that they were low-level employees with little to no clearance.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[ColonelCassad] Scary, very scary. The Trump administration has reached USAID.
1. Funding for the organization has been suspended. Purges have begun within the structure itself.
2. Some of the online resources are down. Grant eaters around the world who received money through USAID are worried.
3. The organization is accused of misappropriating funds, financing extremism and terrorism, and supporting regime change.
4. Plans are being announced to reduce funding, change the format of its activities, and restructure after direct subordination to the State Department.
5. For a long time, USAID was one of the tools of the CIA and the State Department to overthrow inconvenient regimes and promote the influence of globalists.
In terms of significance, this is the same as the closure of the Comintern in the USSR.
Elon Musk said that in the previous video, the USAID agency will not be restored and it will cease to exist. What will be subordinate to the State Department will be some other organization. Annual expenses for USAID activities reached several tens of billions per year. In terms of significance, this is the same as the closure of the Comintern in the USSR.
The entire USAID leadership was dismissed. They tried to prevent the decision to close the agency. Democrats are going to appeal the closure of USAID in court, pointing to Trump and Musk exceeding their authority, since USAID was closed without approval from Congress, where this decision would certainly not have passed. In fact, Trump and Musk are accused of voluntarism.
This is how one of the important tools for organizing color revolutions in different regions of the world was routinely liquidated. This organization was also involved in the coups in Ukraine in 2004 and 2014. In Russia, it has long been listed as an undesirable organization.
Of course, this does not mean that the US will stop overthrowing regimes in other countries, it will simply now be carried out in slightly different organizational forms, behind which the CIA and the State Department will hide as usual.
More from regnum.ru Zakharova said that USAID forced the media to hush up the crimes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) forced the media to ignore the crimes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), including the attack on the boarding school in Sudzha, Kursk region. This was stated on February 3 by the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova.
She reported manipulation of public opinion by USAID, citing a leaked document from February 2021 called the “Disinformation Primer,” which spoke of “strategic silence” when such situations arise.
"By this, USAID understands the coordinated, on the order of the sponsor of such "pocket" media outlets, ignoring those inconvenient stories, facts and opinions that do not fit into the version of events approved in Washington. A strike on Sudzha? What is Sudzha? Russian Porechnoye? There was no Porechnoye," Zakharova said in a statement on her Telegram channel.
She noted that the media also did the same in the case of the staged mass murders in Bucha in March 2022, the bombing of the Nord Stream pipeline in September of the same year, and statements about illegitimate elections, including in Belarus.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on February 1, Ukrainian forces attacked a nursing home in the city of Sudzha in the Kursk region. The Ukrainian Armed Forces launched missiles from the territory of the Sumy region. The Russian Defense Ministry noted that the attack on a civilian facility once again demonstrated the terrorist and inhuman nature of the Kiev regime.
In addition, the Human Rights Commissioner of the Russian Federation Tatyana Moskalkova demanded that the UN, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council of Europe condemn the missile strike on the boarding school in the city of Sudzha. She emphasized that the attack on a civilian facility where civilians are located is a crime that cannot be forgotten and forgiven.
According to the Telegram channel "Dnevnik Mrakobortsev", there could have been 94 civilians under the rubble that formed after the attack, who did not have time to evacuate from Sudzha. Also, according to some reports, the Ukrainian Armed Forces held civilian prisoners inside, including elderly people. The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under the article on a terrorist attack.
Even more from regnum.ru The US has announced Trump's plans to merge USAID with the State Department
The administration of US President Donald Trump plans to reduce the staff of the Agency for International Development (USAID) and merge it with the State Department. This was reported on February 3 by the CBS television channel,citing sources.
According to the channel, USAID will continue to act as the structure responsible for humanitarian aid.
It is noted that discussions on a possible reduction in funding for the agency are ongoing.
As reported by Regnum News Agency, on February 3, CNN reported that employees of USAID headquarters received emails about the closure of the office in Washington.
On February 2, Trump said that USAID was run by “radical lunatics” who needed to be removed. A decision would then be made on USAID’s future work, he added.
American businessman Elon Musk called USAID a criminal organization for which it was time to die. He also accused the agency of funding biological weapons development at the expense of American taxpayers. Musk later announced the beginning of the liquidation of USAID. As of today, it is no longer subject to restoration, he noted.
[FoxNews] Abrams left NGP in 2017 but said she is disappointed by the news
A nonprofit voter engagement group founded by high-profile Georgia perennial candidate Stacey Abrams reportedly suffered dozens of layoffs two weeks after facing a six-figure state ethics fine for campaign finance violations.
Scores of workers at the New Georgia Project (NGP) have been laid off since Dec. 27, with a dozen more being pink-slipped at the end of January, according to FOX 5 Atlanta.
The group describes itself as a "nonpartisan effort to register, civically engage, and build power with the New Georgia Majority… the growing population of Black, brown, young and other historically marginalized voters."
Except many of those have become Trump voters, a double whammy to Ms Abrams and her fans.
It received attention for helping Democrats flip Georgia in 2020 – when Republicans lost both the presidency and its two Senate seats within three months’ time.
NGP could not be reached by phone and did not respond to a comment request through its contact form.
However, a GoFundMe for affected employees set up by NGP policy director Stephanie Ali described the layoffs and said those subject to the latest round had only three days' notice.
The GoFundMe description said the NGP "has stated these reductions in force (RIFs) are due to economic downturns, reductions in fundraising in an ‘off’ election year, and other contributing factors."
Last month, the state ethics commission found both the organization and its political action fund unlawfully performed work for Abrams’ 2018 gubernatorial bid while failing to report donations and expenditures.
The Georgia Ethics Commission probed the groups and discovered more than $7 million combined was raised for Abrams – a former state House minority leader from Atlanta – and others that cycle.
It administered a Peach State record $300,000 fine via a settlement that involved admission of 16 examples of illegal activity, according to Atlanta News First.
The panel also found that the groups stepped out of legal bounds in connection to a 2019 voter referendum aimed at expanding transit services in Gwinnett County, Georgia's second-most populous county after Fulton, which includes Atlanta.
Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title
[Korrespondent] 22.01 Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky stated that Russian troops have significantly limited the use of heavy equipment during the assault operations. He published a video of the combat work of the Defense Forces.
20.51 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky approved a plan for the transition to a new organizational structure of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the creation of corps. He spoke about this in his address on February 3.
20.27 A civilian was injured as a result of a Russian airstrike on Kupyansk. This was reported by the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office on Monday, February 3.
19.15 Anton Spitsyn, commander and co-founder of the combat group Sharp Cartridges-2 of the Separate Detachment of the Special Forces Center Omega of the National Guard, died of wounds in the war in Ukraine. This was reported on February 3 by the Special Forces Center of the NGU Omega. It is noted that Anton Spitsyn fought from the first days of the full-scale invasion. During the performance of a combat mission, the special forces soldier was wounded. Doctors fought for his life, but were unable to save him.
18.33 Law enforcement officers detained two terrorists in Rivne. This was stated by the representative of the regional department of the SBU Anna Svintsitskaya-Savchuk, the local publication Rivne Vecherne reports. According to preliminary information, unknown persons tried to bring explosives to the police.
17.10 Ukrainian military has laser technologies that can already hit certain targets. This was stated by the commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces Vadim Sukharevsky in an interview with Radio Liberty.
16.47 Since the beginning of the day, 53 combat clashes have occurred on the front. The Russian army continues to concentrate its main efforts on the Pokrovsky direction, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported in an operational report as of 16:00.
16.11 Russians killed six civilians in Donetsk region. Five residents of the city of Chasov Yar and a resident of Pokrovsk were recently killed as a result of shelling by the Russian army. This was reported by the head of the Donetsk OVA Vadim Filashkin.
15.39 The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has recorded 79 cases of Russians executing captured Ukrainian soldiers in 24 incidents since the end of August last year. Their number has increased sharply, the mission reported.
15.01 In January, the Russian army's irretrievable and sanitary losses amounted to 48,240 soldiers, which is roughly equivalent to more than three motorized rifle divisions. This was reported by the Ministry of Defense.
14:55 Russian troops in Kupyansk attacked an ambulance with a drone while it was transporting a patient. The strike damaged the vehicle. There were no casualties.
In addition, an enemy drone hit a police service car outside the village of Kantsedalovka in the Kupyansky district. No one was hurt.
14:49 Thanks to the measures taken, it was possible to preliminarily establish the identity of the Ukrainian serviceman with a severed head, depicted in photographs distributed on the Internet. This was reported by the Commissioner for Persons Missing in Action under Special Circumstances, Artur Dobroserdov, on Monday, February 3.
14.40 During a combat mission, 24-year-old fighter pilot Ivan Bolotov died. This was reported by the 831st tactical aviation brigade.
"We are sad to report an irreparable loss... Our brother, a great patriot of his country, Air Force fighter pilot Captain Ivan Bolotov, did not return from a combat mission," the statement reads.
13:56 Ukrainian serviceman Igor Kostik died in hospital after he was poisoned by an unknown substance while on a combat mission, the Brody City Council reported.
12:59 The Kherson Regional Prosecutor's Office has submitted to court an indictment against 11 employees of the Russian Interior Ministry, accused of violating the laws of war, torturing civilians and organizing forced voting in a pseudo-referendum. This was reported by the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office on Monday, February 3.
12:49 In January, 5,381 people applied to Recruitment Centers, which is almost 80% more than the average monthly figure last year. This was reported by the press service of the MOU on Monday, February 3.
12:32 Nine oil facilities were hit on Russian territory in January 2025 alone. This was reported by StratCom of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
12:10 Estonia will support Ukraine's maritime industry with a 600 million euro package. This concerns the implementation of the Ukrainian Maritime Industry Restoration Plan, which includes means to protect infrastructure during a war with Russia. This was stated by Estonian Infrastructure Minister Vladimir Svet in an interview with Ukrinform.
11:50 As a result of a drone strike on the Astrakhan Gas Processing Plant, a combined gas condensate processing plant was damaged. The plant has suspended operations.
10:48 Counterintelligence of the Security Service of Ukraine detained an FSB agent who tried to blow up the tracks in front of a freight train in the Rivne region. The Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) reported that, according to the investigation, in the fall of 2024, a resident of Stryi established contact with representatives of the Russian special services. To carry out their tasks, the man conducted reconnaissance of air defense positions, a military airfield and other facilities of the Defense Forces of Ukraine in the Lviv region.
9:31 At night, Russian troops attacked Ukraine with 71 Shahed attack drones and drone imitators of various types.
Air defense managed to shoot down 38 Shahed attack drones and drones of other types in the Kharkiv, Poltava, Sumy, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnytsia and Khmelnytsky regions. Another 25 enemy drone imitators were lost.
9:27 The Russian medical system appears to be working at the limit of its capabilities, because soldiers on crutches are increasingly being spotted on the front lines. This was reported by the publication Business Insider, citing British intelligence.
8:57 The hottest areas over the past 24 hours were the Pokrovsky, Kupyansky and Toretsky directions. In total, there were 97 combat clashes on the front. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
8:46 The Russian army attempted to storm the positions of the Ukrainian military near Velyka Novosilka, but the occupiers' equipment was damaged by fire. This was reported by the OSGV Khortytsya.
7:59 Drones attacked several regions of Russia on the night of February 3. A gas processing plant near Astrakhan was attacked. This was stated by the head of the Center for Countering Disinformation Andrey Kovalenko.
7:47 Russian losses in the war over the past 24 hours in killed and wounded amounted to 1,300 soldiers. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
7:28 Drones attacked fuel and energy facilities in the Astrakhan and Volgograd regions of Russia on the night of February 3. This was stated by the Governor of the Astrakhan Region, Igor Babushkin.
Trump has doubled the number of troops now stationed at the southern border
500 Marines also landed in Guantanamo Bay over the weekend
President Donald Trump's Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth went to the southern border on Monday for his first official trip in his new role.
The former Fox News host traveled with border czar Tom Homan to meet with troops deployed there to prevent illegal crossings.
The number of troops stationed at the southern border has doubled since Trump directed the Pentagon to take 'full operational control' of the ongoing crisis.
Plans are to send a total of 10,000 troops to the border, but so far approximately 2,600 Marines and Army soldiers have deployed since Hegseth began implementing Trump's directive last week.
Additionally, 500 Marines arrived at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba on Sunday.
It will be used to house and hold illegal immigrants being deported from the U.S. until repatriation operations can take place.
'It was an honor to meet the troops engaged in securing our southern border,' Hegseth wrote in a post to X along with a video of him shaking hands with forces in Texas.
Hegseth and Homan spoke with those at Army Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas on Monday as more troops prepare to deploy.
U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) briefed the two men on their operations at the border during their meeting in Texas on Monday.
'Our service members are mission-ready and hard at work,' Hegseth said after the meeting.
Members of the Marines and Army are tasked with helping in detection and evasion efforts at the border.
They are also carrying out deportation flights of migrants being repatriated with their countries of origin.
#2
Fuming military women need to understand where they are working, and why. Anyone in uniform who is spending $50+ for fancy hands on the job is in the wrong business.
Some Gray Hats, are doing some poking around activities. They are seeing discussions on where a large illegal group of women, teens and kids may be force or conned into storming the southern border point. With a goal to cause a major incident.
Which is likely being done to disrupt the Trump MAGA agenda, by causing a wave of racial unrest here in the USA.
#5
The border guards need then to think in terms of breaking up or channeling a charge, right? Shotguns with rock salt, paint guns, firehoses — particularly effective in winter — Israeli skunk water, caltrops…I’m sure our people can be very creative.
In the meantime, Texas has been floating those thingies in the river and adding more sections to the border fence.
Also, let Mexico know the government will be held responsible for allowing a charge to happen, with all the Trumpian horrors that would entail.
#8
The border guards need then to think in terms of breaking up or channeling a charge, right?
Swarms of robotic stinging insects carrying fentanyl tipped darts. Or grab a commercial agricultural spray drone loaded with the crowd control agent of your choice.
#11
The cartels have been very successful in fighting and / or subverting the Mexican authorities. They expect that to work here and under Biden et al it did. Now might be a different story, but we'll see how much overt and covert help they get from Dems in Congress and NGOs.
The LRAD’s siren is one of its main deterrents. It is specially designed to be weighted to transmit sound loaded in the frequency range where human hearing is most sensitive, roughly 2,000–4,000 Hertz. This design simultaneously ensures maximum discomfort for the target subject and maximum efficiency of the device itself.
Linked article is available only through a VPN.
[EngMilRu] The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation.
In Kharkov direction, units of the Sever Group of Forces inflicted fire damage on formations of two territorial defence brigades close to Udy and Okhrimovka (Kharkov region).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 35 troops and three field artillery guns.
Units of the Zapad Group of Forces improved the tactical situation. Manpower and hardware of one tank brigade, three mechanised brigades, one jaeger brigade, one assault brigade, one airborne brigade of the AFU, and one territorial defence brigade were hit close to Borovaya, Kupyansk, Zagoruykovka, Zeleny Gai (Kharkov region), Novoyegorovka (Lugansk People's Republic), and Yampol (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 300 troops, one U.S.-made M113 armoured personnel carrier, seven pickup trucks, and five field artillery guns, to include two of Western-made. One Anklav electronic warfare station was eliminated.
Units of the Yug Group of Forces took more advantageous lines and positions. Formations of four mechanised brigades, one airmobile brigade of the AFU, one naval infantry brigade, and two territorial defence brigades suffered losses near Dronovka, Verkhnekamenskoye, Orekhovo-Vasilevka, Predtechino, Chasov Yar, Dachnoye, and Ulakly (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 220 troops, one armoured fighting vehicle, and four motor vehicles. Two ammunition depots were destroyed.
Units of the Tsentr Group of Forces continued to engage in active offensive operations. Manpower and hardware of six mechanised brigades, one motorised infantry brigade, one jaeger brigade of the AFU, one naval infantry brigade, two national guard brigades, and the Lyut Assault Brigade of the National Police of Ukraine were hit near Dzerzhinsk, Lysovka, Kotlino, Dimitrov, Uspenovka, Yasenovoye, and Andreyevka (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 520 troops, five armoured fighting vehicles, to include one Swedish-made Viking armoured personnel carrier, three motor vehicles, and two artillery guns.
Units of the Vostok Group of Forces continued advancing into the depth of the enemy's defences. Formations of one tank brigade, two mechanised brigades of the AFU, and three territorial defence brigades suffered losses near Razdolnoye, Burlatskoye, Novoselka, Vesyoloye, Novopol, and Dneproenergiya (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses amounted to more than 150 troops, three armoured fighting vehicles, and four field artillery guns, to include one French-made 155mm Caesar self-propelled artillery system. One electronic warfare station was eliminated.
The Dnepr Group of Forces have engaged personnel and hardware of one mechanised brigade, one infantry brigade, and three coastal defence brigades of the AFU near Malye Shcherbaki (Zaporozhye region), Dneprovskoye, and Otradokamenka (Kherson region).
The AFU losses were up to 70 troops, eight motor vehicles, and two field artillery guns. One ammunition depot was wiped out.
Operational-Tactical Aviation, strike drones, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Groups of Forces have engaged the power facility that support the actions of the AFU, the infrastructure of military airfields, UAV workshops, depots, and launch sites as well as clusters of enemy manpower and hardware in 146 areas.
Fighter Aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces shot down one Su-27 aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force.
Air defence systems shot down four French-made Hammer guided aerial bombs, seven U.S.-made HIMARS MLRS projectiles, and 199 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles, with 124 of them out of the special military operation area.
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 653 aircraft, 283 helicopters, 42,338 unmanned aerial vehicles, 590 anti-aircraft missile systems, 21,007 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,513 MLRS combat vehicles, 21,190 field artillery guns and mortars, and 31,149 units of support military vehicles have been neutralised.
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the operation to neutralise AFU formations on the territory of Kursk region.
During the offensive, units of the Sever Group of Forces inflicted fire damage on formations of seven mechanised brigades, four air assault brigades, and one territorial defence brigade of the AFU close to Viktorovka, Gogolevka, Goncharovka, Guyevo, Daryino, Zazulevka, Zaoleshenka, Kazachya Loknya, Kolmakov, Kositsa, Kubatkin, Kurilovka, Lebedevka, Loknya, Malaya Loknya, Martynovka, Maryevka, Makhnovka, Melovoy, Mirny, Nikolsky, Novaya Sorochina, Pogrebki, Rubanshchina, Sverdlikovo, Staraya Sorochina, Sudzha, Cherkasskoye Porechnoye, and Yuzhny.
Operational-Tactical and Army aviation and artillery hit manpower and hardware of the AFU close to Barvinkovo, Basovka, Belovody, Veselovka, Zhuravka as well as Miropolye in Sumy region.
During the day, the enemy lost up to 210 troops, two infantry fighting vehicles, two armoured personnel carriers, nine armoured fighting vehicles, nine motor vehicles, four field artillery guns, four mortars, and one ammunition depot.
Since the beginning of hostilities in Kursk region, the AFU losses amounted to more than 56,980 troops, 329 tanks, 243 infantry fighting vehicles, 191 armoured personnel carriers, 1,681 armoured fighting vehicles, 1,774 motor vehicles, 402 artillery guns, 45 MLRS launchers, including 13 of HIMARS and six of MLRS made by the USA, 16 anti-aircraft missile launchers, eight transport-loading vehicles, 106 EW stations, 15 counter-battery warfare radars, five air defence radars, 33 units of engineering and other materiel, including 14 counterobstacle vehicles, one UR-77 mine clearing vehicle, nine armoured recovery vehicles, and one command post vehicle.
The operation to neutralise the AFU units is in progress.
#1
More justice tracking down these murderous Russians and executing them in Moscow. Pathetic that Putin cannot protect them in Moscow and I suspect Putin might eventually meet God this way as well. Be an awesome day if so:
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.
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
......
...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 
...One of the basic tenets of Islam is that once a Koran has been printed it is expected to last for all time, no matter how old, ratty, and smelly other, lesser holy books may become. Should it actually become necessary to put a Koran out of its misery there is a ritual that includes extensive charivari, featuring long drawn-wailing and head bonking, ritual wife beating, and the sacrifice of dozens of women's noses and pubic lips. When the actual disposal has been completed there is a prescribed period of celebratory gun sex with the expectation of a minimum of two hundred casualties. Should actual infidels dispose of a Koran, Islamic custom calls for three weeks of rioting and a minimum of three dozen dead, which is a holdover from the days of Moloch worship....
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down...
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
[DefenceBlog] The U.S. Center for Countermeasures (CCM) has released new details on the testing of the High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical Dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) system, a directed energy (DE) weapon installed on the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Preble (DDG 88).
