[IsraelTimes] Israeli soldiers, cops and Shin Bet agents continued the large-scale counterterrorism operation in the northern West Bank overnight, the IDF says in a statement.
The forces discovered and destroyed a bomb manufacturing lab along with several explosive devices.
They also arrested two terror suspects and took them for questioning, in addition to locating and seizing weapons and money used for terror activities, the statement says.
[IsraelTimes] Meeting with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar in Ashdod Port, Italy’s top diplomat Antonio Tajani says his country will not work with UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.
“We don’t want to work with UNRWA and we condemn the use of UNRWA offices as a prison for Israeli hostages,” says Tajani.
The mother of freed hostage Emily Damari said last week that her daughter had been held at UNRWA facilities in Gaza.
Sa’ar says at the joint press conference that the UN Human Rights Council “acted in the most outrageous way possible.”
“They were biased, they were obsessive, you can say they were antisemites because they used double standards with regards to our state.”
Sa’ar announced this week that Israel would no longer participate in the UNHRC, following the US’s withdrawal.
Sa’ar hints that US President Donald Trump’s proposal for the Gaza Strip should be taken seriously.
“Today, it is important to listen carefully to new ideas that have been proposed and to think outside the box,” he says.
“Gaza is a failed experiment. It failed under Egyptian sovereignty. It failed when handed to the Palestinian Authority under the Oslo Accords. Ever since we saw terrorism rise. It has certainly failed under Hamas,” he argues. “Gaza, in its current state, has no future.”
“We must try to find a different solution,” Sa’ar says. “We must take a new approach.”
[IsrelTimes] The Shin Bet says in a statement that it foiled a planned Palestinian terror bombing of a bus in Jerusalem late last year.
During November and December 2024, Shin Bet agents and IDF soldiers arrested five operatives of a Ramallah-based terrorist cell, composed of Fatah and Hamas members, who planned to carry out the attack against the backdrop of the Gaza war.
During the operation, the Shin Bet confiscated an explosive device manufactured by the cell members which they planned to detonate remotely within Israel, as well as a Carlo submachine gun.
The five arrested are Ahmad Jassar Ali, Mundhir Sheikh Qassem, Bashir Awad, Omar Subah and Ali Shweiki.
The security agency says some members of the terrorist cell carried out a number of failed shooting attacks against IDF forces during the past year, all of which ended without casualties.
Indictments have recently been filed, charging the five men with membership in an illegal organization, shooting at a person, preparatory actions to kill, weapons possession, and attempting to manufacture weapons.
Rejoice, O Houthis! You are not forgotten! Soon — soon— you will enjoy being the focus of President Trump’s attention. Perhaps it will even be as exciting for you as for USAID…
[IsraelTimes] US President Donald Trump will adopt a more aggressive strategy to tackle the Iran-backed Houthi rebels than his predecessor Joe Biden did, a source familiar with US military planning tells the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya news outlet.
While the Yemeni rebel group has halted its attacks on Israel and international shipping amid the ongoing ceasefire in Gaza, the source says that the Trump administration “will not sit back and wait for attacks” before targeting the group.
“Expect us to escalate and intensify in the coming weeks,” the source adds.
Upon his return to the White House last month, Trump re-labeled the Houthis as a “foreign terrorist organization,” after Biden dropped the designation in 2021 intending to address humanitarian concerns in Yemen.
[IsraelTimes] A Hezbollah field commander was killed in southern Lebanon this morning when an explosive device intended for a terror attack detonated, according to the Israeli military. "I preheated the oven for a potroast"
"You took out the bomb first, right? Aiiieeeee!"
The IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee says in a post on X that the explosion killed the Hezbollah commander, Abbas Haidar, along with his family, in the Tyre area.
“I remind the Lebanese people that Hezbollah weaponry is a double-edged sword and risks, first and foremost, the Lebanese population and even the Hezbollah environment itself. Stay away from Hezbollah weapons!”
Creep, EMS Artifact, creep,
Deep into the deepest of sleep...
[smoking ghost of Magritte
grinds his teeth in defeat,
growls, "Ce n'était pas une kaboume pipe!"]
[IsraelTimes] Troops have been deployed to several points in Gaza, under the terms of the hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas, to strengthen the layer of defense for Western Negev communities, the IDF says in a statement.
The IDF’s 99th, 143rd and 162nd Divisions also conducted several situational assessments in the field ahead of tomorrow’s hostage release, the military adds.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel is to gradually withdraw from Gaza and free many hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners in return for the release of some of the hostages.
[IsraelTimes] As massacre was unfolding, Palestine Solidarity Campaign asked police in London to approve demo the following week; Campaign Against Antisemitism: PSC ‘rushed to activism while Jews were being slaughtered’
Pro-Paleostinian, anti-Israel activists in the UK began organizing a large anti-Israel demonstration in central London even as the Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... onslaught in southern Israel was unfolding, UK news outlets have reported, citing information revealed by the Freedom of Information Act.
Soon after midday on October 7, 2023, the Paleostine Solidarity Campaign sought and obtained police approval for a mass protest to be held a week later, the reports said on Thursday.
A recent request for information from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) showed that the Paleostine Solidarity Campaign called the police shortly after noon on October 7 — some eight hours after Hamas breached the Israel-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... border in multiple places, invaded Israel and began its slaughter — to inform the police of its intention to hold a demonstration against Israel the following Saturday, on October 14, 2023.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign called the police shortly after noon on October 7 — some eight hours after Hamas breached the Israel-Gaza border in multiple places, invaded Israel and began its slaughter — to inform the police of its intention to hold a demonstration against Israel the following Saturday, on October 14, 2023.
At the time that the request was filed, the massacre was ongoing and the IDF was scrambling to regain control of the southern communities invaded by Hamas. Israel was still far from fully understanding the scale of the unfolding disaster. In total, some 1,200 people were killed that day, most of them civilians, and 251 were taken hostage and dragged back to the Gaza Strip.
The police approved the October 14 demonstration, and it went ahead, as did other anti-Israel marches and protests elsewhere in the UK. Numerous anti-Israel demonstrations have been held in the UK since.
"The Met was contacted on Saturday, Oct. 7 at approximately 12:50 p.m., via telephone call and informed of the intention to protest," a police spokesperson said in response to the request for information, as cited by the Telegraph. "The Met committed this to our systems on the same day and are satisfied being contacted by telephone was a sufficient means in which to notify the MPS as the event was taking place seven days after notification."
Responding to the report, the Campaign Against Antisemitism told the Daily Mail that "this revelation ends the charade that the Paleostine Solidarity Campaign is a peaceful advocacy group."
"For sixteen months, the Metropolitan Police has allowed regular anti-Israel marches by a group that rushed to activism while Jews were being slaughtered," the group added.
In a statement to the Telegraph, PSC defended its decision to begin organizing a protest on October 7, while the mass-murder of Israelis was in progress, claiming that "it was already clear" Israel would respond to the Hamas onslaught with "indiscriminate violence."
"It is entirely appropriate, therefore, that PSC would call for a protest that would seek an immediate ceasefire and call for the root causes of Israeli occupation and apartheid to be addressed," a front man for the group said.
He accused those opposed to the PSC’s actions on October 7 of attempting to "deflect attention from the crimes against humanity that Israel has committed."
Thousands of people rallied on October 14 in London and other UK cities, demanding "Freedom for Paleostine" and denouncing Israel. In London, demonstrators massed near BBC News’ headquarters before an afternoon rally near then-prime minister Rishi Sunak’s Downing Street office and residence. There were festivities in Trafalgar Square when activists threw bottles, placards and flares at the police, according to the Daily Mail, and at least 15 people were arrested.
[IsraelTimes] Somaliland and Puntland named as locations under discussion for Gazan relocation per Trump’s plans; Israeli official says any talk of destinations is ‘extremely premature’.
The Times of Israel is liveblogging today’s event, including the release of the hostages, here. No doubt our other usual Israelisources are doing the same.
[IsraelTimes] Hamas sends list after delay, says Israel to free 183 Palestinian security prisoners in exchange for abductees; 2 male hostages released last Saturday discharged from hospital
Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... on Friday evening named three hostages set to be released from captivity the next day, following an hours-long delay past the 4 p.m. deadline.
The Prime Minister’s Office and the Hostages Families Forum both confirmed that the hostages to be released were Ohad Ben Ami, 56, Eli Sharabi, 52, and Or Levy, 34.
The release was expected to begin on Saturday morning.
Sharabi was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri when Hamas murderous Moslems rampaged through southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
His wife and daughters were murdered in their home’s safe room and he and his brother Yossi were taken captive. Yossi has since been confirmed dead and Hamas is holding his body.
Levy, 34, was kidnapped from the Supernova rave near Kibbutz Re’im on October 7. His wife Einav was killed, and their now three-year-old son Almog has been staying with his grandparents since. He has been told for the past 16 months that his father is missing and is being searched for.
Ben Ami was kidnapped from Be’eri. His wife Raz Ben Ami was also kidnapped, and released as part of a week-long ceasefire in November 2023. Their daughters campaigned hard for their freedom.
The Hamas prisoners’ media office said Israel was expected to free 183 Paleostinians in exchange for the release of three hostages, including 18 who have been serving life sentences, 54 serving long sentences and 111 who were detained 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 during the war.
The terror group’s delay in providing the list of hostages to be freed Saturday underlined the obstacles hanging over the fragile deal that has halted the war in Gaza.
Earlier Hamas had accused Israel of breaching the ceasefire accord, claiming it had delayed the entry of hundreds of trucks carrying food and other humanitarian supplies agreed under the truce deal that took effect on January 19, and holding back all but a fraction of the tents and mobile homes needed to provide shelter to people returning to their bombed-out homes. Mobile Homes?? F that!
COGAT, the Israeli military agency that is overseeing the aid deliveries into Gaza, denied the accusation and warned that Israel would "not tolerate violations by Hamas."
The Prime Minister’s Office also put out a statement saying the Israeli leader viewed such violations "gravely."
Work on the potential second stage of the multi-phase agreement, aimed at securing the release of around 60 male hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, has begun and an Israeli negotiating team was expected to fly on Saturday to Doha, Hebrew media reported on Friday.
The Israeli military said on Friday that commanders were conducting situational assessments ahead of the next phase of the agreement currently being discussed, with troops deployed at various points around the Gaza Strip.
Hamas said only 8,500 trucks out of the 12,000 that should have arrived so far had entered the territory, most containing food and secondary goods including chips and chocolate instead of more urgent items. In addition, only 10% of the 200,000 tents and 60,000 caravans needed to provide shelter had arrived, Hamas said, leaving hundreds of thousands in harsh winter weather.
Finally, heavy machinery needed to clear millions of tons of rubble and recover the thousands of bodies thought to be buried had not arrived.
Almost three weeks after the start of the ceasefire, "the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to tank dangerously," the Hamas statement said.
Israel has rejected accusations that it is dragging its feet on enabling the entry to aid supplies as "a completely unfounded claim," saying it has allowed in thousands of trucks, including tents and shelters.
COGAT said more than 100,000 tents had entered Gaza since the agreement came into force last month and that caravans were also being allowed in, while tractors had entered from Egypt since Sunday. It said 12,600 trucks had entered Gaza so far.
Friday also saw freed hostages Keith Siegel, 65, and Ofer Calderon, 54, discharged from hospitals after spending several days under care following their release from Gaza.
The third hostage freed with Calderon and Siegel last Saturday was Yarden Bibas, whose wide and young children remain in Gaza, their fates unknown. According to Channel 12 news, Israel is pressuring mediators to secure the release of Shiri Bibas and her young sons, Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 2. Hamas was to release living women and kiddies first under the deal, and Israel has said it has "grave concern" for their lives.
A Hamas official cited by the network said the terror group would see how Trump’s plan to "take over" the Gaza Strip progresses before deciding on the fate of the deal. According to the network, the terror group is unlikely to thwart the rest of the first phase, including Saturday’s expected hostage release.
[IsraelTimes] Issa was killed by Israel in March 2024; one terror operative says: ‘Do not think the resistance has ended with the assassination of the great leader’
Hundreds of Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... operatives and onlookers gathered 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’s Bureij camp on Friday for the funeral of Marwan Issa, the slain deputy leader of the terror group’s armed wing.
Brandishing assault rifles, fighters from the group’s Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades packed the narrow streets of the central Gaza camp for the funerary procession. Their eyes were the only visible feature behind black masks.
The Israeli military said it killed Issa in a March 2024 Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... . Hamas only confirmed his death on January 30 amid an ongoing ceasefire with Israel in Gaza.
The group also announced the death of Hamas military chief Muhammad Deif, whom Israel said it had killed in a July 2024 airstrike, as well as several other fighters and commanders.
Issa’s coffin, draped in the green Hamas flags and adorned with pictures of the slain deputy, was carried aloft by operatives during the procession. Friday prayers before the burial were held in a sports stadium in the camp.
"Do not think that the resistance has ended with the liquidation of the great leader Marwan Issa," said an operative from the Paleostinian 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... terror group, whose members were also out in force at the funeral.
"We have many resistance fighters and heroes, and we are constantly preparing for you," he added.
Israel accused Issa of being one of the organizers of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack, which started the Gaza war. On that day, thousands of marauding turbans swept across the border and attacked numerous Israeli communities and bases, killing some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and abducting 251 to Gaza.
Israel also targeted the heads of Hamas during the war. Ismail Haniyeh ...became Prime Minister of Gaza after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continued as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintained a separate PM in the West Bank. Zapped during the 2023-24 war, to eveyone's satisfaction... was assassinated in Tehran in July 2024, with Jerusalem taking responsibility in December, while Yahya Sinwar was killed by troops in Gaza in October 2024.
[IsraelTimes] Sources tell Reuters that Karim Khan’s name has been added to nonpublic annex, exposing him to US asset freeze and travel ban
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan is the first person to be hit with economic and travel sanctions authorized by US President Donald Trump ...His ancestors didn't own any slaves... that target the war crimes tribunal over investigations of US citizens or US allies, two sources briefed on the matter told Rooters on Friday.
Khan, who is British, was named on Friday in an annex — not yet made public — to an executive order signed by Trump a day earlier, a senior ICC official and another source, both briefed by US government officials, told Rooters. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a confidential matter.
The sanctions include freezing of US assets of those designated and barring them and their families from visiting the United States.
The order directed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in consultation with Secretary of State Marco Rubio ...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration... , to submit a report within 60 days naming people who should be sanctioned.
The ICC on Friday condemned the sanctions, pledging to stand by its staff and "continue providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world, in all situations before it." Court officials met in The Hague on Friday to discuss the implications of the sanctions.
The International Criminal Court, which opened in 2002, has international jurisdiction to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in member states or if a situation is referred by the UN Security Council.
Dozens of countries warned on Friday that the US sanctions could "increase the risk of impunity for the most serious crimes and threaten to erode the international rule of law."
"Sanctions would severely undermine all situations currently under investigation as the court may have to close its field offices," the 79 countries — who make up about two-thirds of the court’s members — said in a statement.
UN DEAL WITH US
Under an agreement between the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... and Washington, Khan should be able to regularly travel to New York to brief the UN Security Council on cases it had referred to the court in The Hague. The Security Council has referred the situations in Libya and Sudan ...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans... ’s Darfur region to the ICC.
"We trust that any restrictions taken against individuals would be implemented consistently with the host country’s obligations under the UN Headquarters agreement," deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said on Friday.
Khan was most recently in New York last week to brief the Security Council on Sudan.
"International criminal law is an essential element to fighting impunity, which is unfortunately widespread," Haq said. "The International Criminal Court is its essential element, and it must be allowed to work in full independence."
It’s not just about the Jews. It was never just about the Jews,.
[PJMedia] Donald Trump ...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party... is forming a task force, headed by Attorney General Pam Bondi, to "immediately halt all forms of anti-Christian targeting and discrimination within the federal government, including at the DOJ, which was absolutely terrible, the IRS ...the Internal Revenue Service; that office of the United States government that collects taxes and persecutes the regime's political enemies... , the FBI — terrible — and other agencies."
Trump also said that Bondi will "fully prosecute anti-Christian violence and vandalism in our society and to move heaven and earth to defend the rights of Christians and religious believers nationwide."
This is welcome news for the 224 million Christians in the United States. Prosecuting anti-Christian violence is a necessary good.
In the current context, Trump appears to be referring to the prosecution of people who protest in front of child sacrifice abortion clinics. Trump pardoned 23 protesters within a few hours of his inauguration, but the president will set up another commission on religious liberty, criticizing the Biden administration for prosecuting anti-child sacrifice abortion advocates.
The laws governing demonstrations in front of child sacrifice abortion clinics are bad laws, and the addition of making anti-child sacrifice abortion protesters eligible to be charged under racketeering statutes is absurd. But they are the law of the land until the Supreme Court says otherwise or they are repealed.
The Biden administration could have used the powers of discretionary prosecution, especially in cases where there was no violence at the clinics. Instead, federal prosecutors went after protesters with everything they had, with judges sentencing protesters to up to three years for blocking the entrance to an child sacrifice abortion clinic.
Grandmothers and other peaceful activists ran afoul of the FACE Act (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances). Efforts are underway to repeal this 1994 law, and given the GOP majority and what happened with peaceful protesters during the Biden administration, it has a chance of passing.
The usual suspects objected to the formation of a commission.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State President and CEO Rachel Laser said, "Rather than protecting religious beliefs, this task force will misuse religious freedom to justify bigotry, discrimination, and the subversion of our civil rights laws."
If she's that good at predicting stuff, maybe she could throw a few stock tips my way.
Lest we forget, Trump had a real "Road to Damascus" moment during the campaign.
News Agency that Dare Not be Named:
Trump, at both venues, reflected on having a bullet coming within a hair’s breadth of killing him at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year, telling politicians and attendees, "It changed something in me, I feel."
"I feel even stronger," he continued. "I believed in God, but I feel, I feel much more strongly about it. Something happened." Speaking later at a separate prayer breakfast sponsored by a private group at a hotel, he remarked, "it was God that saved me.’
He drew laughs at the Capitol event when he expressed gratitude that the episode "didn’t affect my hair."
The Republican president, who’s a nondenominational Christian, called religious liberty "part of the bedrock of American life" and called for protecting it with "absolute devotion."
"While I’m in the White House, we will protect Christians in our schools, in our military, in our government, in our workplaces, hospitals, and in our public squares," he said. "And we will bring our country back together as one nation under God."
The president also said he would create a White House Faith Office led by the Rev. Paula White, Trump's religious advisor for several years.
For people of faith, the commission and the task force signify that the times have definitely changed.
Noora Shalash, who previously worked as the director of government affairs for CAIR’s Kentucky branch, was confronted by an individual in an office building after allegedly harassing a "visibly Jewish man." After being grilled for her alleged conduct, Shalash then went on an antisemitic diatribe.
"F—k the Jew. F—k the Zionist," Shalash said.
Shalash then said that she "loves Jesus" and claimed Jews "dishonor the Virgin Mary and call her a ’whore.'" She also called the man recording the video a "b—ch" and swiped her hand at his cellphone. A security guard intervened and physically pulled Shalash away while she appeared to continue attempting to assault the man.
"This is what Jews have to deal with in New York City," the man said.
The video, which was obtained and posted on X/Twitter by the watchdog group StopAntisemitism, quickly went viral on social media, gaining nearly 600,000 views within 16 hours.
CAIR National responded to the viral incident, claiming that Shalash had not been employed by the organization for five years and currently has "no other role at our civil rights group."
"We condemn and reject the antisemitic comments in the video, just as we condemn and reject the anti-Paleostinian racism and anti-Moslem hate," the organization added. *Wink Wink*
A picture circulated on social media showing CAIR identifying Shalash as a bigwig as of October 2020.
CAIR has long been a controversial organization. In the 2000s, the organization was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing case. Politico noted in 2010 that "US District Court Judge Jorge Solis found that the government presented ’ample evidence to establish the association'" of CAIR with the Paleostinian terrorist group Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), "some of CAIR’s current leadership had early connections with organizations that are or were affiliated with Hamas." CAIR has disputed the accuracy of the ADL’s claim and asserted that it "unequivocally condemn[s] all acts of terrorism, whether carried out by al-Qa’ida, the Real IRA, FARC, Hamas, ETA, or any other group designated by the US Department of State as a ’Foreign Terrorist Organization.'"
CAIR leaders have also found themselves embroiled in further controversy since Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The head of CAIR, for example, said he was "happy" to witness Hamas’s rampage of rape, murder, and kidnapping of Israelis in what was the largest single-day slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust.
"The people of 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... only decided to break the siege — the walls of the concentration camp — on Oct. 7," CAIR co-founder and executive director Nihad Awad said in a speech during the American Moslems for Paleostine convention in reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown ...home of Al Capone, the Chicago Black Sox, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel... last November. "And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land, and walk free into their land, which they were not allowed to walk in.
Two commenters on the Instapundit post on the subject claimed to know/know about the Shalash family of Lexington, Kentucky. Bottom line, they are an immigrant clan of violent criminals, the kind who'll pull an AK-47 on a schoolboy who annoyed one of the youngsters of the family. Wanting evidence (of course!), I did a search, and discovered two articles about men with the same name and antecedents, so presumably relatives. The first, a report from the sixth federal appeals court, informs us that the FBI agrees with the Instapunditeers — one of the family appealed his federal conviction for stealing and trafficking in stolen baby formula on the basis that “…eight weeks prior to his trial, CBSNews reported that the FBI had traced money from baby formula traffickers to terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah…” and “…FBI Director Robert Mueller [told a reporter] that sales of black market baby formula have been used to fund terrorist organizations.”
A local newspaper informs us that a man with the same name, so presumably also a relative, a former imam for the Islamic Center of Lexington, went to jail for conspiring to a murder-for-hire of a third man who owed him money.
#1
Any bets CAIR tires to hold a press event and the following overused responses will be used: "an unfortunate incident", "not representative of", and "has take steps" and "no longer with us"?
At least it's out there in full view.
Now, any Politian, Hollywood type or local public face associating with, supporting or has supported CAIR in the past will be quickly associated with the GENOCIDAL / RACISM activities demonstrated by this group over the years.
Bell said building security called the cops, who responded and cuffed the woman.
She was taken to Bellevue Hospital for evaluation, law-enforcement sources said.
The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the incident and conferring with Manhattan prosecutors on possible charges, including assault, sources said.
There’s a photo of her being taken away by an NYPD officer with her hands cuffed behind her back.
Washington — A federal judge on Friday prevented the Trump administration from placing 2,200 employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, on administrative leave, siding with unions representing the employees for now.
#7
The lawfare as hive defense; look for a PR push emphasizing high morality, due process as the ideal, and Christian values defined, and pearls oh so clutched.
I'd go this far: KC will win the super bowl because of an obvious, on purpose, bad call, to attempt to rally the normies around a pure interpretation of the rules, of law if you will. Agent Swift and Agent Kelce walk away in red carpet coverage disgust that KC doesn't concede the trophy to Philly in penitent shame.
[NYPost] Trump rules out deporting Prince Harry: ‘He’s got enough problems with his wife’
Prince Harry can breathe freely in Montecito, because President Donald Trump has ruled out deporting the self-exiled British royal.
Harry’s immigration status is the subject of litigation in Washington DC, with the Heritage Foundation alleging that he may have concealed past illegal drug use that should have disqualified him from obtaining a US visa.
But the president told The New York Post Friday that he isn’t interested in throwing Harry out of the country.
“I don’t want to do that,” he said. “I’ll leave him alone. He’s got enough problems with his wife. She’s terrible.” Well, he's not wrong
[Breitbart] Iranian Lawmaker Publicly Threatens He ‘Will Not Hesitate’ to Assassinate President Trump
A senior Iranian lawmaker and member of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee has openly declared his intent to assassinate President Donald Trump, stating he would “not hesitate” to kill the U.S. Commander in Chief after Trump warned he would “obliterate” the Islamic theocracy if it did so.
Iranian MP Mojtaba Zarei’s remarks, which he posted on the Iranian social media messaging platform Eitaa on Wednesday in response to President Trump’s warning the Islamic republic of drastic repercussions in the event of any attempt on his life, have fueled concerns over Iran’s escalating rhetoric against the U.S.
As a mere MP of a rubber stamp parliament he can’t actually do anything about it, so paragraphs of his threats snipped.
Zarei’s statement follows a recent declaration by Kayhan newspaper — widely regarded as a mouthpiece of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei — that the Islamic Republic remains committed to avenging the death of Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian commander and terrorist mastermind responsible for the murder of hundreds of Americans, in a U.S. airstrike in 2020.
The publication suggested that carrying out an assassination against Trump is a duty of Iran’s leadership.
On Tuesday, while signing an executive order restoring his policy of “maximum pressure” on Tehran, President Trump was asked about the possible consequences for Iran if it attempted to take his life.
“If they did that, they would be obliterated,” Trump said. “That would be the end. I’ve left instructions. If they do it, they get obliterated; there won’t be anything left.”
The President acknowledged feeling “torn” over the sanctions directive, indicating a preference to “work out a deal” and suggesting he is open to negotiating with the Islamic Republic’s president.
Trump also said that Iran was “too close” to developing a nuclear weapon, and that it would not have been so close if he had continued in the presidency after 2020.
Tensions between Iran and the U.S. have remained high since the death of the former IRGC Quds Force commander, with Iranian officials repeatedly vowing retaliation.
The latest threat comes as Iranian assassination plots have been uncovered in various parts of the world, including attempted hits on U.S. officials and dissidents on American soil.
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[Townhall] Lindy Li, a Democrat-turned-MAGA supporter, continues her media tour, spilling her former party’s behind-the-scenes drama, which kicked off reports that top donors are furious that they collectively shelled out $2 billion and got the brakes beaten off them by Donald Trump and the Republicans. She also offered insight into the delusional world Democrats wallowed in before Election Day, where some thought Iowa was within their reach.
Now, she revealed that Hunter Biden ‘commandeered’ the White House after Joe Biden got pummeled by Donald Trump in the June debate on CNN, which eventually became an election-killing event for Democrats. It gets even more insane: Hunter Biden took over the White House. That’s what Li alleges—it wasn’t Lady McBiden, aka Jill, it was Hunter. The former Democrat donor shared these details with Shawn Ryan.
“After the [CNN] debate, Hunter basically commandeered the White House. He sat in on all of the White House top level meetings. We had a former cocaine addict sitting in on the most sensitive meetings of the most consequential and most important government in world history. Does that sit right with you?" said Li to Ryan.
“Without security clearance mind you, Li added. “That's who was basically running the show. So, Hunter basically batten down the hatches after the debate to make sure his father would only receive intel he pre-approved,” she added.
Li goes more into the Democratic Party drama surrounding the 2024 election, some of which you already know or could guess. Still, Hunter running the White House—no wonder why things went to absolute crap.
President Trump stripped Joe Biden of his security clearance yesterday.
Lindy Li: "Despite her repeated denials, Beyonce was paid."
Shawn Ryan: "Who was she paid by?"
Lindy Li: "And Kamala Harris thought all these people came out to Texas to hear her speak. Yeah, right. Kamala Harris got booed. She got drowned in boos."
60 Minutes Bill Whitaker pressed Harris on how the number of border crossings had "quadrupled" in the first three years of the Biden administration. Harris provided another "word salad answer," Trump's attorneys argued.
"There are a variety of factors that relate to what we have seen globally, and what we are not immune from at our own border in terms of what we have seen in terms of the surge of immigration and irregular migration," Harris told Whitaker. "And there are solutions at hand, but we’ve got to have leaders who are solution-oriented, which we've been and are, and I am going forward, instead of leaders who want to make it a problem they can run on."
#3
He's been pardoned, so haul him before a Congressional committee to tell us if it was him or who that put the papers in front of the puppet to sign. If he lies, its 2025 and not covered by the pardon. If he identifies himself or others who put the papers before the puppet, we can start nullification of those papers.
#10
Hunter got the Pardon. Donilon's not so much. Deflection
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/08/2025 16:02
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#11
Hunter is family. Nobody fks with the Bidens. There was a big group of former Obama and Biden advisors who would have been running the show. It makes me laugh to think it was Hunter except for superficially after Biden was tossed aside.
#2
Wiki AI Cite: "Haggis is a savory Scottish dish made from minced sheep's offal, oatmeal, suet, and spices, and traditionally cooked in a sheep's stomach. It's a key part of Burns Night supper on January 25th. "
#5
"Welcome to MacPopeye's. May I take your order?"
"Yeah, baby, gimme a three piece dark with a side of dirty oatmeal and a extra scone. Ooh, wait, is that a picture of fried lungs up on that menu?"
"Sure is, baby. They good, too."
"Okay, just gimme two orders of them instead. And a jalapeño."
[FoxNews] Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the $50 million special legislative "Trump-proofing" package which he proposed for Democrats to pass following President Donald Trump's election.
Newsom said the bill will "bolster funding for legal services programs that are vital to safeguarding the civil rights of California's most vulnerable residents, including people with disabilities, youth who are homeless, victims of human trafficking and wage theft, people facing unlawful evictions, immigrants and more.
"None of the funding in this bill is intended to be used for immigration-related legal services for noncitizens convicted of serious or violent felonies," he added in a signing statement.
The package, which was passed by the state Senate and Assembly, allocates $25 million to the California Department of Justice to support legal battles against Trump's federal policies, including environmental regulations and illegal immigration. An additional $25 million is designated for legal aid groups to assist illegal immigrants facing potential deportation.
Newsom lobbed hundreds of lawsuits against the Trump administration during Trump's first term.
While Newsom is gearing up for potential showdowns with the Trump administration, he has also been working with Trump to secure federal disaster relief for the Los Angeles wildfires. Trump visited California in late January to meet with Newsom, and Newsom traveled to Washington, D.C., in early February for another round of discussions with the president.
"We’re working across the aisle, as we always have, to ensure survivors have the resources and support they need," Newsom said in a statement on Wednesday. "Thank you President Trump for coming to our communities to see this first hand, and meeting with me today to continue our joint efforts to support people impacted."
Trump hit back at Newsom after he announced the special legislative session in November, saying on his Truth Social account, "He is using the term 'Trump-Proof' as a way of stopping all of the GREAT things that can be done to 'Make California Great Again,' but I just overwhelmingly won the Election."
#2
[Checks lucky 8 ball] I don't see a California bailout package coming in the near future.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/08/2025 9:22
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#3
Guy who is going to be tugging at the federal teat to get his state rebuilt and he puts up a "FU Donald" sign in the front yard? Not what one would call politically astute.
Speculation: Gavin's presidential hopes have gone up in flames, so the Dems have decided to offer him up as a human sacrifice in their War on Trump. It might work. It does clear the field for Big Gretch with no nasty party infighting. The downside is Trump might accomplish what he sets out to do and the People like it.
#4
Newsom can do with his state and state fund whatever he wants. They are sovereign just like all states. However, count out future federal funds that all states are absolutely dependent on California. Thought your highways were shit now? Just wait 4 years.
#9
A huge percentage of CA electricity comes from outside the state. Conventional power generation has been extinguished there.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/08/2025 14:51
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#10
^ It's only dirty FF Energy if it's generated here in CA. If it happens elsewhere on the grid, it's all good.
/Virtue Signalling Hypocrites
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/08/2025 14:58
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#11
When we left the NorCal foothills outside of Sacramento in 2019, our sane liberal friends and a number of fellow conservatives asked why were taking such an aggressive act in our later years. Both of us said we just knew it was going to get worse in every metric of the quality of life and safety. We got the sideways looks and a fair bit of tsk, tsk-ing.
Dast Forwar 6 years. Almost every one of the conservatives has left or is leaving, and asked advice, the bay area friends say the housing market is softer than any can remember, and even several libs have seen the light. Newsome has little chance of scoring significant funding beyond mandated expenditures. And the illegals infesting the SouthState are no longer getting the NGO/government funds that kept them from being restless and demanding. Ugly things are on the cusp I fear for the Golden State...
[BBC] More than three decades after leaving the Soviet Union, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have begun to unplug from Russia's electricity grid and join the EU's network.
The two-day process began on Saturday morning, with residents told to charge their devices, stock up on food and water, and prepare as if severe weather is forecast.
Many have been told not to use lifts - while in some areas traffic lights will be turned off.
A giant, specially-made clock, will count down the final seconds before the transition at a landmark ceremony in Lithuania's capital on Sunday, attended by EU chief Ursula von der Leyen.
The three nations will then officially transition away from the grid that has connected them to Russia since the years after World War Two.
'ON HIGH ALERT'
The so-called Brell power grid - which stands for Belarus, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania - is controlled almost entirely by Moscow and has long been seen as a vulnerability for the former Soviet republics, which are now Nato members.
Though none of them have purchased electricity from Russia since 2022, their connection to the Brell grid left them dependent on Moscow for energy flow.
After disconnecting on Saturday morning, the three countries will carry out frequency tests before integrating into the European grid via Poland on Sunday.
"We are now removing Russia's ability to use the electricity system as a tool of geopolitical blackmail," Lithuania's Energy Minister Zygimantas Vaiciunas told AFP news agency.
"It's the culmination of efforts over more than 10 years or 20 years, to reduce that energy dependence," Prof David Smith of the Baltic Research Unit at the University of Glasgow told the BBC.
"When the Baltic States joined the EU and Nato, everybody talked about them being an energy island that was still dependent on that joint electricity network with Belarus and Russia," said Smith. "That's been completely broken now."
Tensions between the Baltic States and Russia, which share a combined 543 mile-long (874km) border, have soared since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Since then, a spate of suspected sabotage incidents involving electricity cables and pipelines in the Baltic Sea have prompted fears that Moscow could retaliate against the shift towards EU energy.
In the past 18 months, at least 11 cables running under the Baltic Sea have been damaged. In a recent case, a ship from Russia's "shadow fleet" of oil tankers was accused of damaging Estonia's main power link in the Gulf of Finland. The Kremlin declined to comment.
Nato has not accused Russia, but has responded by launching a new patrol mission of the region named Baltic Sentry.
"We cannot rule out some kind of provocation. That is why Latvian and foreign security authorities are on high alert," Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs said on Wednesday.
"Clearly there are risks, we understand that very well," Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina echoed. "But the risks are identified and there is a contingency plan."
'CYBER-ATTACKS'
A spokesperson from the Nato Energy Security Centre of Excellence told the BBC that in recent months, frequent emergency operation tests have been carried out to help prepare for potential targeted attacks on the energy system.
The head of Estonia's Cybersecurity Centre, Gert Auvaart, told the BBC in a statement that Russia "may attempt to exploit this period to create uncertainty", but said that due to international co-operation, Estonia was "well-prepared even for worst-case scenarios".
He added that cyber-attacks against the country had surged following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and ranged from "hacktivist-driven DDoS attacks [Distributed Denial-Of-Service] to more sophisticated, targeted operations against government agencies and businesses".
The Baltic states will also be on watch for disinformation campaigns related to the transition.
Shortly after they notified Russia of their decision to withdraw from Brell in August 2024, campaigns emerged on social media falsely warning of supply failures and soaring prices if the countries were to leave the joint power grid.
"We are now removing Russia's ability to use the electricity system as a tool of geopolitical blackmail," Lithuania's Energy Minister Zygimantas Vaiciunas told AFP news agency.
[HotAir] And you thought that USAID was all about distributing rice, beans, and medicine, didn't you?
Well, not quite. There's also fomenting "color revolutions," funding Hamas, al Qaeda, ISIS, and the censorship complex.
Oh, and destabilizing Romania, and...how about a coup in Bangladesh? Nothing like a good coup to brighten your day. I'm still waiting for anti-Bibi protests (and some Israeli parties) finances to be traced to USAID.
In 2015 the US State Department was open about funding and training the Arab List…
Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) has been leading the charge to defend USAID. Here he is listed as the main “Hill Outreach” point of contact for a USAID-funded NED program to “destabilize Bangladesh’s politics” by funding transgender dance festivals and Bangladeshi rap groups. pic.twitter.com/yElFZUrstX
Leaked docs reveal that prior to the toppling of Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina, the US govt-funded International Republican Institute trained an army of activists including rappers and “LGBTQI people,” even hosting “transgender dance performances,” to achieve a national “power shift.” Institute staff said the activists “would cooperate with IRI to destabilize Bangladesh’s politics.”
On August 5, months of violent street protests finally toppled Bangladesh’s elected Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. When the military seized power and announced the imposition of a so-called “interim administration,” video footage showed Hasina fleeing to India aboard a helicopter. As vast swarms of student protesters overran the presidential palace, Western media outlets and many of their progressive-leaning consumers cheered the rebellion, framing it as a decisive defeat of fascism and the restoration of democratic rule.
Hasina’s replacement, Muhammad Yunus, is a longtime Clinton Global Initiative fellow granted a Nobel Prize for pioneering the dubious practice of micro-lending. While Yunus has hailed the “meticulously-designed” protest movement that thrust him into power, Hasina personally accused Washington of working to remove her from power over her alleged refusal to allow a US military base on Bangladeshi territory. The State Department has dismissed allegations of US meddling as “laughable,” with spokesman Vedant Patel telling reporters that “any implication that the United States was involved in Sheikh Hasina’s resignation is absolutely false.”
But now, leaked documents reviewed by The Grayzone confirm the State Department was informed of efforts by the International Republican Institute (IRI) to advance an explicitly stated mission to “destabilize Bangladesh’s politics.” The documents are marked as “confidential and/or privileged.”
IRI is a Republican Party-run subsidiary of the National Endowment for Democracy, which has fueled an array of regime change operations across the globe since it was conceived in the office of CIA Director William Casey over forty years ago.
The newly-uncovered files reveal how IRI spent millions in the lead-up to Hasina’s overthrow covertly coaching opposition parties and establishing a regime change network concentrated among the country’s urban youth. Among the GOP-run Institute’s front line foot soldiers were rappers, ethnic minority leaders, LGBT activists hosting “transgender dance performances” in the presence of US embassy officials – all groomed to facilitate what the US intelligence cutout called a “power shift” in Bangladesh.
#5
There really needs to be deeper analysis on these USAID payments. They still spout examples like 20 million went to Iraq for Sesame Street production. I want to know the actual $ that went to Iraq (how much and to whom money was diverted). And I want DOGE to claw back the money misappropriated.
[FoxNews] A federal judge on Friday said he would not immediately block the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, from accessing systems at the Labor Department.
U.S. District Judge John Bates said he had concerns about DOGE but that the labor unions who sued to block their access to the systems have not yet provided evidence of any legal injury.
"Although the court harbors concerns about defendants’ alleged conduct, it must deny plaintiffs’ motion at this time," Bates wrote.
The ruling comes after the Trump administration agreed earlier this week that DOGE would not receive access to the Labor Department until this court decision.
The Justice Department said there are three DOGE staffers assigned to the Labor Department and reporting to its acting secretary, although they have been made special government employees and are required to follow the law with any sensitive information about corporations or workers as they conduct a review.
Musk’s DOGE team had gained access to sensitive Treasury Department payment systems, although a judge has since blocked that access to Treasury records containing sensitive personal data such as Social Security and bank account numbers for millions of Americans. DOGE has also largely dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development and offered financial incentives to millions of federal workers to resign.
"At every step, DOGE is violating multiple laws, from constitutional limits on executive power, to laws protecting civil servants from arbitrary threats and adverse action, to crucial protections for government data collected and stored on hundreds of millions of Americans," labor union lawyers represented by the Democrat advocacy group Democracy Forward wrote.
#1
The judge said he had concerns about DOGE but that the plaintiffs were whiny little bitches who should stop bothering the court with AI-generated motions.
#2
The question that needs to be answered once and for all is who runs the Executive Branch: the President (by the Constitution), labor unions (by lawsuit when possible), or the Judiciary? The future of our nation depends on the answer.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/08/2025 11:40
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[FoxNews] For example, in one of the exchanges highlighted from the unedited transcript, "60 Minutes" correspondent Bill Whitaker pressed Kamala Harris on how the number of border crossings had "quadrupled" in the first three years of the Biden administration. Harris provided another "word salad answer," Trump's attorneys argued.
"There are a variety of factors that relate to what we have seen globally, and what we are not immune from at our own border in terms of what we have seen in terms of the surge of immigration and irregular migration," Harris told Whitaker. "And there are solutions at hand, but we’ve got to have leaders who are solution-oriented, which we've been and are, and I am going forward, instead of leaders who want to make it a problem they can run on."
[TrueShot] FAMAE CHILEAN MILITARY SURPLUS 5.56 62 GR
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WHO IS FAMAE?
FAMAE is a Chilean manufacturer of arms and ammunition. Founded in 1811, the company is owned by the state and is Chile’s most prominent producer of military goods. As a defense industry entity, FAMAE produces various goods for the Chilean armed forces and the Carabineros police force. Notably, the company produces small arms ammunition, military vehicles, and small arms such as the FAMAE SAF submachine gun.
[Breitbart] Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview Friday that he believes upwards of $40 million per week in American taxpayer dollars is still going to the Taliban every week, despite a current freeze on foreign aid.
“We’ve been told that it is, somehow they’re getting it,” he said. “That’s on the surface that we know about.”
After the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Biden administration continued to send billions of U.S. taxpayer funds to the country, arguing that it wanted to continue to provide humanitarian assistance to Afghans, despite the Taliban taking over the country and controlling where the money is spent.
It is not clear how much money the Biden administration has sent to Afghanistan.
The weekly inflow of $40 million weekly cash infusions to Afghanistan refers to a United Nations humanitarian aid effort that the U.S. is the largest donor to, according to a January 2024 Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) report.
In April 2023, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko testified to Congress that the U.S. had made available $8 billion to Afghanistan after the August 2021 withdrawal. It is not clear whether the $40 million weekly cash infusions for humanitarian aid are being drawn from the $8 billion and over what time period the $8 billion is meant to last for.
According to a Center of Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) report, SIGAR also found that the Taliban have “siphoned or benefited from a considerable amount of humanitarian aid,” by infiltrating United Nations-partnered Non-Governmental Organizations to access their aid budgets; imposing taxes and “security” fees on humanitarian workers; directing aid agencies to serve Taliban officials and family members; and taxing Afghan aid recipients at high rates, in some cases amounting to 60 to 100 percent of the aid received.
Burchett in December 2023 first introduced a bill to stop the flow of money to the Taliban, which was first brought to his attention by podcaster and former Navy SEAL Shawn Ryan and an Afghan-American Army veteran whose pseudonym is “Legend.” The bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously, but did not gain support in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Burchett reintroduced his bill, dubbed the No Tax Dollars for Terrorists Act, on January 10 of this year.
“There’s been a lot of work done on this bill and I couldn’t have raised the issue without the help of Shawn Ryan and Legend. This legislation has been sat on long enough. I look forward to working it through both chambers and getting it to President Trump’s desk as quickly possible,” Burchett said in a statement at the time.
The bill would force the State Department to develop and implement a policy to oppose any foreign aid from going to the Taliban; require a report on any cash assistance programs in Afghanistan and how the U.S. keeps the Taliban from accessing that; and require a report on the Afghan Fund and the Afghanistan Central Bank.
Burchett said the bill has gained the support of Sens. Tim Sheehy (R-MT) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL).
[Breitbart] A coalition of Republican attorneys general are seeking to bypass President Joe Biden’s last-minute preemptive pardon of Dr. Anthony Fauci to investigate him on a state level for his role in the COVID-19 pandemic response.
The attorneys general, led by South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) on Wednesday asking to be kept in the loop about “any further findings or direct evidence that suggests there may have been any violation of state laws” so that “we may evaluate state-level courses of action.”
“Certainly, one potential tool at our disposal is the referral of any pertinent findings to state officials. As you are aware, a pardon by former President Biden does not extend to preclude state-level investigations or legal proceedings,” they wrote. “As state Attorneys General, we possess the authority to address violations of state law or breaches of public trust. We are fully committed to investigating any malfeasance that may have occurred to the fullest extent of our authority and are prepared to collaborate with you in further efforts.”
The attorneys general specifically referenced a report released by the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic in December 2024, which details widespread failures and potential misconduct by high-ranking government officials, including Fauci. Some of the report’s findings include:
Evidence suggesting Fauci worked to discredit the “lab leak” theory, despite evidence supporting it.
Accusations that Fauci allegedly provided false testimony to Congress about the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Evidence NIH allegedly mismanaged taxpayer funds by failing to properly oversee grants to EcoHealth Alliance, which funneled funding to the Wuhan lab.
Evidence that prominent scientists who raised concerns about vaccine risks were allegedly silenced, ultimately limiting debate and public awareness.
Despite the report’s findings, Biden preemptively pardoned Fauci with just hours left in his administration, effective from January 2014 to the day of the pardon, and lauded Fauci for “sav[ing] countless lives by managing the government’s response to pressing health crises, including HIV/AIDS, as well as the Ebola and Zika viruses.”
“During his tenure as my Chief Medical Advisor, he helped the country tackle a once-in-a-century pandemic. The United States is safer and healthier because of him,” Biden said.
The attorneys general noted that pardon “purports to apply to any offenses arising from his service as Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force or the White House COVID-19 Response Team, or as Chief Medical Advisor to the President.”
“To say we are troubled by the scope and timing of the pardon—on the heels of the Subcommittee’s Final Report—would be a gross understatement. To ensure that former President Biden’s shameful pardon does not frustrate accountability, we urge Congress to consider using all available tools at its disposal,” they wrote.
#2
It will depend on what DOGE finds. All the evidence will be public. I didn’t like getting COVID. Can’t imagine a sympathetic jury outside of DC folks or Epstein Island tourists.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/08/2025 9:13
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We’ve had reports about this prison before, but it’s good to be reminded, if we’re going to send illegal alien criminals to them.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Sunk deep into shaven and elaborately tattooed skulls, a hundred pairs of eyes – hollow and dark –are boring directly into mine. The men they belong to have committed crimes evil almost beyond comprehension.
Members of two of the most savage rival gangs the world has seen, El Salvador’s Ms-13 and Barrio 18, they raped and tortured, murdered and mutilated, cut bodies to pieces and strewed them around the streets to strike terror in the neighbourhoods they controlled.
On my journey to the world-renowned prison that holds them, the Latin American country’s new Terrorism Confinement Centre (CECOT), my government escorts had shown me photographic evidence of their grisly handiwork.
Everyone has their own vision of hell. For George Orwell, in his dystopian classic 1984, it was a boot forever stamping on a human face. However, I can imagine no greater torment than being consigned to CECOT, with no hope of ever being released, like the inmates here whose sentences range from 60 to more than 1,000 years.
Death would be infinitely more merciful. A thought that might concentrate the minds of the violent US criminals and lawless migrants Donald Trump aims to banish here, under the terms of an unprecedented deal agreed with El Salvador’s president this week. I will come back to that.
One of the world’s biggest prisons, with a 40,000 capacity (equivalent to almost half the UK’s current prison population), CECOT was built two years ago amid a huge crackdown on the gangs destroying the fabric of Salvadoran society.
Its director Belarmino Garcia declined to tell me how many prisoners are currently held there, but there are many thousands of the worst of the worst gangsters.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The Murmansk Region Prosecutor's Office filed a lawsuit to establish the fact of genocide of the peoples of the USSR by the Nazi invaders during the Great Patriotic War. This was reported on February 7 by the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office.
"On the instructions of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, the Prosecutor of the Murmansk Region has submitted to the court a statement on recognizing as war crimes and crimes against humanity, genocide of the Soviet people the established and newly identified crimes committed by the Nazi invaders and their accomplices on the territory of the Murmansk Region during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945," the department reported.
During the Great Patriotic War, the territory of the Murmansk region was partially occupied by Wehrmacht troops. As a result of massive bombings, more than 1,500 houses were destroyed in the region.
Red Army soldiers captured by the Nazis were kept in camps in inhumane conditions and forced to do grueling work. The Red Army soldiers died from exhaustion and cold. The total number of Nazi victims in the Murmansk region exceeds 15,000 people. The amount of damage caused to the region is 1.3 trillion rubles, converted to the current ruble exchange rate.
The prosecutor's office sent a statement on establishing the fact of genocide in the region to the Murmansk Regional Court in order to protect Russia's national interests, the legal rights and interests of the relatives of the dead, and to subsequently disseminate information about the victims of the punitive forces during the Great Patriotic War to the world community. This is necessary to restore historical justice, the department emphasized.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, at the end of January the Federal Security Service published declassified archived interrogation reports of the Pole Jozef Pechka, who worked as a guard at the Auschwitz concentration camp. He said that he regularly beat concentration camp prisoners with a stick. His group sent 100 to 500 bodies of prisoners to cremation every night. The Pole said that the SS men and guards brutally abused the prisoners, exhausted them with backbreaking work, and beat them to death.
"Kids over 13 have the right to make their own decisions about their mental health care. Parents don't have the right to have notice, they don't have the right to have consent about that" - Washington State Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen (D) pic.twitter.com/TzW6KH3BHG
#3
If they are letting 13 boys make decisions about their environment, the school lunch folks will end up dressed like it’s a Hooters and that’s not going to be any good for anybody.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/08/2025 8:47
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#4
Well maybe for those 13yo guys, Mr Hose.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
02/08/2025 9:37
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#5
What if you are 19 and you think the government response to covid was harmful, and should be dismantled?
#7
I can hear the heads exploding already: Trump has decided to make the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms into a retail store and lower the age of majority to 13 nationwide.
Q: Is it just me or does Video Guy give off a creepy subsonic vibe?
[FoxNews] Members of OCEARCH recently tagged a massive 13.8-foot white shark off the Georgia-Florida coast. The white shark weighs 1,652.8 pounds and was last reported to be swimming in the Gulf Stream, east of Florida.
Largest of its species generally means oldest for sharks, if I understand correctly. Those conservation efforts are paying off.
Researchers are tracking what is believed to be the largest shark ever tagged by OCEARCH in the southwest Atlantic, with its last pings off Florida’s east coast.
The white shark, named Contender, was originally tagged on Jan. 17, 2025, approximately 45 miles off the coast of the Florida-Georgia border and has generally traveled southward along the Gulf Stream.
According to biologists, the shark is nearly 14-feet long and weighed an impressive 1,652.8 pounds when it was found by researchers.
The shark’s tag will transmit real-time data to researchers, providing insights into his movements and behavior over the next several years.
"Contender’s name is in honor of Contender Boats, a longtime OCEARCH partner, whose industry-leading sport fishing and pleasure boats enable our research missions. Their commitment to performance and innovation is essential to our ability to explore and protect our oceans," the group stated.
There is no need for beachgoers to cancel their vacations to the Sunshine State as the white shark has generally stayed more than 40 miles off the coast.
According to biologists, sharks often migrate to the waters off of Florida and the Southeast during the fall and winter in search of prey.
During the spring and summer, the marine animals tend to travel further offshore and head northward towards the Northeast U.S. and Canada to feed on seals.
According to the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the population of white sharks around the world is thought to exceed 3,000 and is presently not considered to be endangered; however, climate change and entanglements have impacted the population.
OCEARCH said the tag on Contender needs to be exposed to the air for around 90 seconds, to triangulate the shark’s location accurately.
The battery is said to last around five years, but its lifespan is entirely dependent on how many times the shark surfaces.
As of late 2024, marine biologists had tagged nearly 400 sharks with most being either great white or tiger sharks.
[SUDANTRIBUNE] Sudan ...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans... 's army said on Friday it had regained control of Abu Quta, a town in the far northwest of Al Jazirah state, which borders Khartoum and White Nile states.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had held Abu Quta since December 2023. The town is about 65 kilometres (40 miles) from RSF positions in Jebel Aulia, southwest of Khartoum, and about 40 kilometres from al-Qutaina in White Nile state, also under RSF control.
''Our forces have completed today the clearing of the Abu Quta area and areas east of the Nile and Kafouri from the remnants of the terrorist militia of the Daglo family,'' army front man Brigadier General Nabil Abdallah said in a brief press statement.
Earlier on Friday, local resistance committees in Abu Quta reported fighting near the town's entrance, saying the army had advanced to within three kilometres before festivities moved to the south-eastern entrance.
The army's recapture of Abu Quta is part of a broader military operation to pressure the RSF in the capital, Khartoum. Fierce battles are being fought on the outskirts and within the city itself.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2025
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Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan
[SUDANTRIBUNE] The Sudanese army said it shot down seven drones on Friday that were targeting the Debba area in the Northern state.
In recent months, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have carried out a series of drone attacks targeting power stations in several states, including the Merowe Dam and Merowe power plants in the Northern State, the al-Shouk power plant in the state of Gadaref, the Um Dabakir power plant in the White Nile State, and a power plant in northern Omdurman.
The executive director of the Debba locality in the Northern State said in a press statement that ''the army's anti-aircraft systems and jamming equipment in the locality were able to shoot down seven drones launched by the RSF without any casualties.''
He strongly condemned the RSF's targeting of the area and declared the readiness and vigilance of the armed forces and other security services to confront any emergency.
Eyewitnesses reported that since about 2:00 AM on Friday, the RSF launched a swarm of drones towards the town of Debba, about 350 kilometres (217 miles) north of Khartoum, all of which were shot down by the army.
The witnesses said that the falling drones caused loud explosions, which caused panic and fear among the citizens.
The target of the attack on Debba remains unclear. While the power plant is a possibility, Debba's strategic location on the route to El Fasher, the North Darfur capital, suggests other potential objectives.
[SUDANTRIBUNE] The Al Jazeera Conference said on Thursday that 8,000 people were killed and tens of thousands injured in Sudan's Al Jazeera state during the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) control of the area.
The RSF launched attacks on towns and villages in Al Jazirah after entering Wad Madani in December 2023, and the violence continued until January 2025, the conference said. It reported widespread abuses against civilians, particularly women and children, including killings, forced displacement, arrests, rapes and kidnappings.
''The conference has documented an increase in the death toll to 8,000, while injuries have reached tens of thousands since the RSF invaded Al Jazirah state in December 2023,'' Al-Mabr Mahmoud, secretary-general of the Al Jazirah Conference, told Sudan Tribune.
The conference, a local civil group formed after the RSF takeover, said some 2,500 villages were affected by forced displacement, and an estimated 5 million of the state's 7 million people were displaced over the past year.
It also documented 213 cases of rape and said 10,000 people were arrested or kidnapped between December 2023 and January 2025, with many still missing.
The conference said initial estimates put losses to industry, commerce, health, and agriculture at more than $30 billion, adding that assessments were ongoing.
The RSF has been accused of widespread abuses in Al Jazirah since it took control of much of the state. Sudan's army and allied forces have since regained control of some key areas, including Um Al-Qura, Tambool, Wad Madani, Rufa'a and al-Hasahisa, in January and February.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2025
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Hamas, published the names of 183 Palestinian detainees who are slated to be released Saturday in exchange for three Israeli captives in the Gaza Strip https://t.co/nWdjSlw4hSpic.twitter.com/ZMPDRTs61s
[Breitbart] Katherine Long, a Wall Street Journal reporter who apparently took down a 25-year-old member of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with an article on his offensive past comments, previously worked for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) — which the Trump administration has slashed considerably, angering elites in Washington, D.C.
"The USAID got hit hard and fast, and now their proxies are striking back at the Trump White House," a source familiar with DOGE told Breitbart News. "It’s time to cut the head off the snake. We need separation of media and state." That's not a forehead. That's a fivehead. Peyton Manning said: OMG!
Vice President JD Vance weighed in on the controversy Friday morning, suggesting "stupid social media activity" should not "ruin a kid’s life."
"The WSJ Editorial Board gets everything wrong about Trump," a person close to the Trump transition, who asked to remain anonymous due to fear of retribution, told Breitbart News. "Now, the WSJ is employing FEDS who worked for USAID to report on USAID. Conflict much?"
"We shouldn’t reward journalists who try to destroy people. Ever. So I say bring him back," Vance wrote on X. "If he’s a bad dude or a terrible member of the team, fire him for that."
President Donald Trump agreed with Vance’s assessment when asked several hours later. "I’m with the Vice President," he told Fox’s Peter Doocy.
DOGE is currently purging USAID for waste, fraud, and abuse —freezing foreign aid and reportedly slashing its staff from over 10,000 employees to under 300. Its financial audit found the agency spent millions of taxpayer funds on frivolous and fringe projects, including $1.5 million to "advance diversity equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities,"$2.5 million for electric vehicles for Vietnam, $2 million for sex changes and "LGBT activism" in Guatemala, and $6 million to fund tourism in Egypt.
Long, who displays "she/her" pronouns on a LinkedIn profile, targeted DOGE after it began the audit of USAID. According to that LinkedIn profile, she previously worked for USAID as an intern in 2016 after a similar stint at the State Department. In a recent interview with the PR firm Fearey, Long said her job at USAID was "managing USAID projects in Central Asia."
"I came to the Seattle Times straight out of Columbia Journalism School’s investigative reporting master’s program," she said. "Before matriculating at Columbia, I’d been working for the federal government, managing USAID projects in Central Asia."
In Afghanistan, USAID spent hundreds of millions of dollars to fund "irrigation canals, farming equipment, and even fertilizer used to support the unprecedented poppy cultivation and heroin production in Afghanistan," benefiting the Taliban, Breitbart News previously reported.
[X]
The old lib media tactic to search/destroy an individual must no longer work. We don’t give care what they think. And we shouldn’t, ever again. Cry more, libs. https://t.co/PjBfcT4MM1
#2
Modern Western Societies have a huge "educated" class that's purely parasitic. Moreover, these are destructive parasites who severely harm the host.
#7
It is very satisfying to me to watch liberal news anchors have to say Big Balls repeatedly. I guess, emotionally speaking, I remain 10 years old.
They think its some own, but its just hilarious. And when video games even from yesterday have tea bagging built into the celebration, it makes them look like old marvel women.
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin.
[ColonelCassad] After the talks in Damascus, some progress has been made on the bases in Syria.
The militants are generally not against keeping the Russian bases in Syria, and have even officially stated that the fact that the Russian Aerospace Forces have been ironing them out for years, including before they seized power, is nothing. Let bygones be bygones... They say we are looking to the future and blah-blah-blah.
In fact, on a fundamental level, they are not against Russia improving its offer on the bases. In fact, bargaining continues on these issues. If the parties agree on a price, the bases will remain in a somewhat reduced form.
Of course, they will ignore the militants' demands to hand over Assad. But the inclusion of grain, oil and weapons in the payment for the bases is already under discussion. The key issue is weapons and ammunition. Russia would not be against limiting itself to oil and food supplies, as is done in the case of the Taliban. But the militants want more.
This is what will be discussed in the coming weeks. If they agree on the price, there will be bases. If they don't agree, we'll have to look for an option in another country (there are options). Of course, it would be desirable to keep Khmeimim and the logistics point in Tartus, but not at any price.
I hope our negotiators will be able to get better conditions.
P.S. A new African Corps base has recently appeared in Africa near the capital of Mali, a military base is being developed at an airfield in the capital of Niger + preparations are underway to occupy the former American base in Agadez, and a military airfield is being expanded in southwestern Libya near the border with Sudan
Syria will agree to keep Russian military bases if it is beneficial to Damascus. This was stated on February 7 by the head of the republic's Ministry of Defense, Marhaf Abu Kasra, in an interview with The Washington Post.
He said that the Syrian authorities are “weighing Moscow’s demands” and are ready to agree to the preservation of the Russian Aerospace Forces base in Khmeimim and the Russian Navy logistics center in Tartus, as long as it “serves the interests of Damascus.”
"If we get benefits from this for Syria, then yes," Abu Kasra said.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, in early December, the armed opposition of Syria began an offensive against the government troops of the republic. On December 8, the Syrian army left the center of Damascus. Militants captured the headquarters of state television and announced the seizure of power in Syria. The president of the republic, Bashar al-Assad, resigned and left the country, receiving political asylum in the Russian Federation. Ahmed al-Sharaa was declared the head of the administration of the interim government of Syria.
Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Mikhail Bogdanov said in December that Russia expects to maintain military bases in Syria. At the end of January, an interdepartmental delegation of Russia held talks with al-Sharaa. As Bogdanov noted, they were constructive.
On February 3, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow was continuing dialogue with Damascus on the further use of Russian military bases.
[AFRICANEWS] UN human rights chief Volker T rk on Friday (07 Feb) expressed profound concerns at the ongoing violent escalation in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) caused by the ongoing Rwanda-backed M23 offensive.
''If nothing is done, the worst may be yet to come, for the people of the eastern DRC, but also beyond the country's borders,'' he told a Special Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Since 26 January, nearly 3,000 people have been killed and 2,880 injured in attacks by the M23 and their allies ''with heavy weapons used in populated areas, and intense fighting against the armed forces of the DRC and their allies'', the High Commissioner said, as UN Member States weighed setting up a fact-finding mission to investigate extreme rights violations still being committed in the DRC provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu.
Hostilities continue to occur in this mineral-rich region that has been unstable for decades amid a proliferation of armed groups, which has forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes for many years and seek safety in displacement camps. Fighting escalated in late January when Tutsi majority M23 fighters seized control of parts of North Kivu, including areas near Goma, and advanced towards South Kivu and the eastern DRC's second city of Bukavu.
A draft resolution circulated before the Special Session — the 37th since the Council was created in 2006 - also condemned Rwanda's military support of the M23 armed group and called for both Rwanda and M23 to halt their advance and to allow lifesaving humanitarian access immediately.
#4
Well, how about the Belgians go back in and start chopping off hands and arms and maybe killing a few along the way. Belgian chocolate just doesn't taste the same as it did.
[AFRICANEWS] Hundreds of Somalis gathered in the Peace Garden in Mogadishu to show their support for Paleostinians.
Many participants waved Paleostinian flags and displayed banners stating ''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... is not for sale'' and ''Somalis stand with Paleostine.''
How wonderful that the Somalis have no vote whatsoever.
They criticized Trump's suggestion that residents of Gaza should relocate to countries like Egypt and Jordan.
Ahmed Abdullahi Mohammed, a protester, stated, "Our brothers in Paleostine have faced ongoing suffering, and for President Trump to suggest that Gazooks should move elsewhere is a complete trap. Trump aims to entrap Moslems in Gaza, and that is why we are here; we will not accept this."
The demonstration in Mogadishu highlights the growing regional opposition to Trump's stance on Gaza, alongside widespread calls for global support for Paleostinians.
Sheikh Abdi Hayyi, one of the protest organizers, remarked, "Trump's decision is ironic and undermines justice. It aligns with aggressors and infringes on the rights of those who have fought for independence for many years. Instead of backing their struggle for freedom, he opposes them and supports their enemy, telling them to abandon their land. This is something we cannot accept, and as Somalis, we see this as a grave injustice." You're welcome.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2025
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[GEO.TV] 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... stated on Saturday that its nuclear weapons are not for negotiation purposes but are designed for combat use against enemies posing a threat to its people and global peace, according to a report by its state media.
The statement comes after US President Donald Trump ...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party... hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House on Friday. The two leaders expressed their commitment to ensuring North Korea ends its nuclear weapons programme.
KCNA did not mention the meeting between the US and Japanese leaders but instead cited reported comments by officials of NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... and the EU that reiterated demands for a complete denuclearisation of North Korea.
"We say this clearly again: our nuclear weapons are not an advertisement to get anyone's recognition and even less a bargaining chip to be exchanged for some money," KCNA said in a statement.
"Our nuclear forces are for unwavering combat use to swiftly eliminate any attempts by enemy forces that infringe on our country's illusory sovereignty and the safety of our people and threaten world peace," it said.
North Korea has not responded directly to overtures from Trump to resume contact with its leader Kim Pudge Jong-un ...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished... and instead stressed its intention to "bolster" its nuclear forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2025
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#1
He means not "some money"--lots of money instead. Fuck him, he's irrelevant.
[NEWARAB] The US has warned that Hezbollah's involvement in the Lebanese government is a "red line", as envoy Morgan Ortagus visited Beirut on Friday, delivering a strong message to the country's leaders while praising Israel's war on the country.
Ortagus' visit came amid ongoing political negotiations, with Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam working to form a government.
The US is reportedly pressuring him to exclude Hezbollah, reinforcing Washington's longstanding stance against the Iran-backed group's role in Lebanese politics.
Following talks with Leb ...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade.... 's President Joseph Aoun at the presidential palace, Ortagus made a pointed statement underscoring US support for Israel's operations against Hezbollah.
"We are grateful to our ally Israel for defeating Hezbollah," she said during a presser.
"It is thanks to President Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam and everyone in this government who is committed to an end to corruption— and making sure that Hezbollah is not a part of this government and remains disarmed and militarily defeated," she added.
Hezbollah was severely weakened in the war, with Israel assassinating its leadership, destroying much of its weapons stockpiles, and forcing the group out of southern Lebanon under a ceasefire agreement brokered by Ortagus' predecessor, Amos Hochstein.
In response to a question about Hezbollah's potential insistence on being in the government, Ortagus dismissed any concerns.
"I am certainly not afraid of Hezbollah," she said.
"We have set clear red lines in the United States that [Hezbollah] won't be able to terrorise the Lebanese people, and that includes by being a part of the government."
Hezbollah responded by accusing her of "blatant interference in Lebanese illusory sovereignty". The head of its parliamentary bloc, Mohammed Raad, denounced her comments as being "full of malice and irresponsibility".
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2025
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It’s one way to earn a little pocket money and help the Kenyan motherland at the same time. Haiti will continue to suffer, but somehow that can’t be helped.
[AFRICANEWS] A fourth group of Kenyan police arrived in Haiti on Thursday to help combat violent mostly peaceful gangs, despite a partial U.S. funding freeze for the U.N.-backed mission.
The 200 officers join over 600 Kenyans already working alongside Haitian police, as part of a multinational effort including Jamaica, Guatemala, and El Salvador.
This comes after the U.S. froze $13.3 million in aid, part of a broader foreign assistance freeze by President Donald Trump ...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party... . However,
some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... mission commander Godfrey Otunge downplayed concerns, saying the cut represents less than 3% of total funding, with ongoing support from the U.S. and other partners.
The U.S. State Department confirmed that $40.7 million in aid was approved, including armored vehicles and logistical support. During a visit to the Dominican Republic, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio ...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration... reaffirmed Washington's commitment, urging an expansion of the mission to tackle Haiti's worsening security crisis.
Gangs control 85% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and the mission faces funding and personnel shortages as violence escalates.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2025
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Top|| File under: Mob Rule
#1
"Kenyan"..."Police"..."Haiti". How cute. Why do we keep spending money on efforts that are fundamentally non-serious?
#2
Maxine Waters is the prototype of a "fundamentally non-serious" choice.
The moment a candidate for ANY office (whether public or private) checks TWO boxes on the current preferences chart, they are no longer held accountable and thus will be absolutely *terrible* at whatever they were allegedly hired to do.
After previously announcing their withdrawal from ECOWAS, accusing the bloc of straying from its founding ideals—Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso officially exited the organization following more than a year of intense diplomatic tensions.https://t.co/5BqbeEPG7Fpic.twitter.com/69CtQdH5FR
[X] Given the consensus that our honourable ex-president has been suffering from increasingly severe dementia, that’s due diligence — nothing to do with personal animus.
Trump said that he was revoking former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s security clearances, and made clear that he was doing so because Biden had rescinded his privileges four years ago pic.twitter.com/RzYcmq8o98
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2025
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#1
I hope he's gone way further: there's not a reason in the world that ANY member of the Clinton, Bush, or Obama regimes have security clearances. Every single one of them should be facing tough questions right about now concerning how they clearly didn't give a damn about the people they governed.
#7
I think that’s safest. He could get trapped in a SCIF and be in there for days.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/08/2025 8:38
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#8
Maybe this will keep Hunter from selling even more secrets than he already has.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/08/2025 12:55
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#9
The proof exists inside the video files of the US Secret Service. The question is what can be seen,, by whom and what can be acted upon without damage to the essential privacy promise the USSS needs to do it's job. The issue of a "President" who was literally a clueless, non-compos-mentis puppet signing whatever his son or wife put in front of him, that is beyond any precedent.
#11
^Former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Biden’s Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, and attorneys Andrew Weissmann, Mark Zaid and Norm Eisen, also had their clearances revoked.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/08/2025 19:50
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[FoxNews] Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chief Elon Musk’s efforts to clean up waste and fraud in the federal government will soon shift its focus to the Social Security Administration (SSA) in a move likely to create a firestorm with Democrats.
Why? It has long been reported that the SSA is terrible about fraudulent payments, fraudulent identities for illegal aliens, and otherwise poor controls.
The SSA, created by the Social Security Act under President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935 and tasked with establishing a federal benefits system for older Americans, will soon become a focus of DOGE, according to a report from Semafor that was not denied by the White House when contacted by Fox News Digital.
While several Democrats — including Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., in a post on X — have been quick to accuse this move as being aimed at slashing Social Security benefits for the elderly, several areas with potential waste exist in the agency that don’t involve cutting current benefits.
Just Facts, a nonprofit research institute, previously reported that the agency disbursed roughly $2 billion in fraudulent or improper payments in 2022, which it calculated was enough "to pay 89,947 retired workers the average annual old-age benefit of $21,924 for 2023."
#1
I would have prioritized the IRS. Seems like there ought to be a limit to what that small team can do. Eventually, they will have to take a break and play some WOW or they will crack.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/08/2025 8:51
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#2
You think this isn't the funnest game ever, Supe? You wouldn't be able to pry these guys away from their computers with all the Ubisoft cheat codes.
#5
Do the GSA (general services administration) next! I must have been in their San Francisco a hundred times when I was a bike messenger. It's filled with fat people doing nothing while sitting under Che Guevara posters. Cut it by 90% and spend the savings buying them all standing desks!
#6
While several Democrats — including Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., in a post on X — have been quick to accuse this move as being aimed at slashing Social Security benefits for the elderly....
I'm not sure I understand why society decided we should "evolve" to point where shitbirds like Goldman are allowed to just OUTRIGHT LIE to the faces of their constituents with ZERO fear that there may be consequences for such bullshit.
#3
Given, he is wearing flack vests to public appearances now. I'd say it is a good indicator that the Iranian people are fed-up with this Middle Ages style rule, culture & lifestyle. And are seeking to re-enter the 21st century.
[FoxNews] A man convicted of raping and murdering an Alabama woman seemed to criticize Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in his final words before being put to death by nitrogen gas, reports say.
Demetrius Frazier, 52, was pronounced dead at 6:36 p.m. Thursday at a south Alabama prison following the 1991 attack on 41-year-old Pauline Brown. Frazier previously was serving a life sentence in Michigan for the 1992 murder of 14-year-old Crystal Kendrick, but in 2011, the then-governors of the two states agreed to move him to Alabama’s death row.
"If you cannot stand up for the constitution of Michigan, how are you going to stand up for the U.S. Constitution when you run for president?" Frazier said Thursday in an apparent address to Whitmer, according to the Montgomery Advertiser.
"Detroit strong. I love everyone on death row. Let's go," he reportedly added.
#1
30 plus years on death rows,before this POS was eliminated.
Serious!!
Something needs to be done to speed up the application of these death sentences. So the victims family can see justice done before they die of old age.
5 years should be more than enough time to go thru all the legal system appeals steps, needed to ensure any death sentence conviction is valid and is justice done.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Ivan Lizan
[REGNUM] Effective February 7, all U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employees, except those responsible for critical programs, have been placed on administrative leave.
The agency itself has already been subordinated to the State Department, turning it into a structural division, and the new functionality of the main American instrument of soft power remains unclear.
The suspension of USAID's activities could not help but cause jubilation in Russia: it is pleasant to observe the turmoil in the enemy camp and the suffering of compatriots who have signed up as foreign agents.
But there are a few hefty flies in the ointment.
DON'T CONFUSE REASON AND CAUSE
The media coverage surrounding the suspension of USAID activities fits into several narratives promoted by Republican LOMs.
First, USAID is an organization that spent American taxpayer money on things that Trump and his allies believe did not make America great.
Examples include:
support for the LGBT movement in different countries of the world (transgender opera in Colombia, transgender comics in Peru, LGBT activism in Guatemala);
purchasing contraceptives for residents of the Gaza Strip and food rations for Al-Qaeda (a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation);
buying the loyalty of the American media ($8 million to Politico for positive articles about Democrats);
unreasonable spending ($6 million on tourism in Egypt, $2.5 million on electric cars for Vietnam).
From the Republicans' point of view, these expenses are indeed harmful, since they do not strengthen the Republicans' positions. Democrats would argue with them. In their view, LGBT* are a privileged minority until recently, supporting Democrats, contraceptives curb the already rapid birth rate in Gaza, reducing the number of Israel's enemies, and buying media loyalty is a normal story for all countries in the world.
Secondly, USAID is positioned as an ineffective structure with low efficiency. In this case, Trump's opponents would also have something to say in their defense. The key question is what is considered efficiency. If we take as a criterion the growth of approval of non-traditional sexual values in a separate Latin American country or the increase in the rejection of the construction of large industrial enterprises due to the threat to the environment, then there will indeed be questions about efficiency. But in this case, it is important not to confuse declared and actual activities.
USAID clerks don't care whether Guatemala has become more gay-friendly*. The gay community is purely a tool for achieving certain goals, just like peaceful environmentalists who, on command, turn into militants and screamers to disrupt an unwanted construction project.
Useless at first glance, NGOs are an incubator for selecting and growing LOMs, some of whom will later become politicians. And the so-called "Committee of Voters of Ukraine" receives funding in vain during the inter-election period, but during the election period, parallel vote counting becomes a powerful instrument of delegitimization and control of power.
Thirdly, the agency was an obvious "feeding trough" for the Democrats. It was the Democrats who most actively financed USAID: Trump allocated a little more than $25 billion to the agency during his first term, while Obama and Biden each allocated about $50 billion. Therefore, the fight against USAID, as well as against the federal Department of Education, fits into the logic of dismantling the legacy of predecessors who, as expected, were incompetent and thieving.
And such a struggle also allows one to actively promote oneself and raise ratings among one’s own voters.
Therefore, if we abstract from the ideological coloring of USAID’s activities and consider it as a government structure, then the agency was disbanded because the Republicans do not need it in its current form and it is run by people who are disloyal to Trump – representatives of that very “deep state.”
Financial efficiency is secondary: over 10 years, the US spent $335 billion on USAID, which is comparable to its annual trade deficit with China.
Simply put, in the USAID topic it is important not to confuse the reason for the closure with the real reason.
CONSEQUENCES FOR RUSSIA
Of course, it is nice when the newly elected US president suspends the main instrument of soft power, whose activities have caused serious damage to Russia in the post-Soviet space. But these are emotions. It is important not to indulge in complacency.
The fact that Trump and Musk have dispersed USAID speaks volumes. Republicans operate in the logic of taking extraordinary actions and are ready to destroy entire institutions of power to achieve their goals. Consequently, they are even more dangerous than Democrats and Biden-Harris, who used these very institutions.
An unpredictable enemy is more dangerous than a predictable one.
Trumpists are not afraid to bring painful questions about the effectiveness of state institutions to the public arena; this does not require a real state of emergency. Therefore, the USAID case is an alarm bell for Russia: the enemy is ready to change and is trying to become more effective.
A separate issue is the actual efficiency of the work of the “soft power” institutions in the USA and Russia. You can reproach USAID for senseless funding of LGBT* productions or rejoice at how much money the clerks in Washington saw off. The end result is important.
In the case of Ukraine, it is obvious: the very need to conduct SVO testifies to the effectiveness of American "soft power". As it became known, USAID financed 90% of Ukrainian media of various calibers, from regional online publications to projects of national significance. Many of them specialized in anti-corruption investigations and worked exclusively as an element of foreign influence on local elites.
Thanks to this, publications like Hromadske and Espresso appeared in Ukraine on the eve of Euromaidan, and then the anti-corruption projects Skhemi and Groshi (Schemes and Money). The employees of the latter allowed themselves to criticize the activities of local elites and publish investigations into the ways they earn money. Thanks to these investigations, Russia had a better understanding of who and what they were in Ukraine.
Now these projects are on hold. Some of their employees, who did not manage to annoy the authorities, will be taken on by the Zelensky regime, but they will not engage in any anti-corruption activities with his money. Consequently, a large layer of information will disappear from the public sphere, and our understanding of Ukrainian politics risks being reduced to the understanding that it resembles a swamp with devils, but without details and bright colors.
USAID WILL RETURN
The main thing to understand about the suspension of USAID activities is that it is temporary.
No one will close such a structure forever: it employs a fair number of technocrats who will serve Trump well, provided that the staff is renewed, the leadership and ideological orientation are changed. Therefore, USAID will most likely be reformed: the agency will lose its autonomy for better management and will change its ideological framework from liberal globalism to right-wing conservatism.
And, what is most dangerous for Russia, USAID may be digitalized, increasing the efficiency of budget spending. It is possible that the activities of the updated agency will be limited to the regions that are of the highest priority for the United States, sacrificing, for example, the Gaza Strip.
In general, there is a high probability that USAID will return.
It's one thing when American taxpayers' money is used to finance agenda-driven performances and LGBT* festivals, and an openly gay/transgender* person talks about American values. It's a completely different matter when the State Department's money is used to make conservative films with stern rednecks and beautiful blondes with third-size breasts, who will once again become the embodiment of the American dream. By the way, there are people who can make such films: it's enough to study the serial legacy of Taylor Sheridan, which is breaking records for views on streaming services. Such America is much more dangerous for Russia.
And it is not a fact that even if the Democrats return to power in the US in two years in the midterm elections, Trump’s USAID reform will be cancelled: if it turns out to be effective, such an agency could harm us for decades.
Therefore, the USAID case should be a lesson for us: it is important to improve the efficiency of public administration and master the technologies of non-military influence, then no enemy reforms will be scary.
Protests erupt in Damascus as residents demand the trial of Fadi Saqr, a former National Defense Forces commander. Demonstrators in al-Tadamon neighborhood reject his return and call for accountability. #Damascus#Justice#Syriahttps://t.co/vMAVWlxirr
Israeli warplanes launch airstrikes on Hezbollah-linked sites along the Lebanon-Syria border. The IDF says the strikes were intelligence-based and aimed at preventing rearmament. #Lebanon#Syria#Israel#Hezbollahhttps://t.co/KvLU8nmzhH
Israeli fighter jets conducted a series of Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s early Friday targeting military sites along the Leb ...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel... -Syria border, marking the second such attack since the recent ceasefire agreement.
According to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA), Israeli warplanes struck positions in the eastern mountain range of Lebanon near the Syrian border. The attack was preceded by intense aerial surveillance, with Israeli jets flying at low altitude over Rashaya and Western Bekaa, and at higher altitude over Hermel and Northern Bekaa.
ISRAELI MILITARY JUSTIFICATION
The Israeli military spokesperson for Arabic media, Avichay Adraee, confirmed on X (formerly Twitter) that the airstrikes were intelligence-based operations against two Hezbollah-linked military sites inside Lebanese territory.
"The Israeli Air Force targeted Hezbollah weapons storage facilities to prevent rearmament and repositioning. We will continue to eliminate any threats against Israel," Adraee stated.
TARGETED AREAS
Lebanese sources, including Sputnik Arabic, reported that the strikes hit multiple locations, including:
Houmine
Sreej
Nabi Sheet
Jaroud Brital
A security source told Sputnik that the attack specifically targeted Hezbollah arms depots and infrastructure.
CEASEFIRE VIOLATIONS?
This marks the second Israeli attack on Bekaa Valley targets since the ceasefire agreement. While Israel claims the strikes are defensive, Hezbollah and Lebanese officials have yet to issue a formal response.
With tensions rising in the region, it remains to be seen whether these strikes will trigger further escalation between Israel and Hezbollah.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2025
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[LB] After spending a year and three months, the enemy reached the outskirts of Pokrovsk and Myrnograd, controls more than 80% of Toretsk, is close to capturing Chasovy Yar, but has not managed to achieve a turning point in the war.
The front, contrary to the statements of both useful and harmful idiots, has not fallen in any area, the Defense Forces retain the ability to organize resistance.
by Viktor Kevlyuk
For almost three years of the great war, the aggressor has already forgotten about its strategic goals and feeds exclusively on tactical achievements, although from time to time it comes close to creating operational crises. For this, the Russians are paying a huge price, their army is deprived of the opportunity to accumulate reserves, and the command and staff are unable to bring their strategic offensive operation out of the deadlock. In other words: the group has concentrated all resources to achieve instant results that do not give either a decisive advantage or a decisive victory. Kursk direction
On January 5, the Seversk Special Operations Group suddenly struck in the direction of Velikiy Soldatsky, from where the enemy was preparing to launch an attack on Sudzha along the P200 highway. The enemy military command had to prematurely (a day earlier) launch attacks along the entire line of contact, and the offensive from Velikiy Soldatsky failed, as the Russians lost the positions from which they were supposed to advance.
During January, the enemy managed to push back "Siversk" on the western flank to the Malaya Lochnia River, but did not break through further. Nothing burned out near Dar'ynoye and Novy Klin. On the eastern flank, the enemy advanced in the area of Makhnivka and Rus'ke Porechie, but in mid-January lost its positions. Makhnivka is ours, Rus'ke Porechie is a gray zone. OTUV "Siversk" is defending itself along water obstacles, imposing its will on the Russians - attack us across the rivers.
Near Dar'yinoye, Kurylivka, and Rus'ke Porechye, the enemy is forced to storm a defensive line built by itself. Built qualitatively, but abandoned in August 2024. The role of this direction is to tie up most of the aggressor's highly mobile forces: in January, regiments of three airborne divisions, two brigades, and a naval infantry regiment of the Black Sea, Pacific, and Caspian flotillas conducted combat operations here. This group suffered significant losses, which already at the end of January began to affect its combat capability, and at the beginning of February, they turned a large offensive into attacks in separate directions.
Example: the village of Kurylivka, which is being stormed by the 177th Naval Infantry Regiment of the Caspian Flotilla, which was transferred here from the Zaporizhia direction. It has to attack across the Psel River. For the most part, the Russians cannot cross the river, and those who manage to do so cannot reach the Ukrainian positions.
The regiment was considered one of the most combat-ready in the Kursk region, so its command cheerfully reported the capture of Kurylivka - and they believed it. But Kurylivka was not captured. The rest of the week the regiment went on attacks several times a day without any support and with minimal BC. The result was a full house in the regiment's medical post, piles of wounded on the battlefield, who were left without evacuation and medical care, a large number of dead, approximately 15 prisoners. The regiment lost almost a quarter of its personnel and is close to complete loss of combat capability.
If a miracle happens, the capture of Kurylivka will not lead to a breakthrough of the Ukrainian defense, because there are no reserves to develop the success. It is also worth mentioning the Koreans: the contingent of 3,500 people who participated in the fighting lost 65% in killed and wounded. On January 10, it was withdrawn from the fighting area. Cases of desertion of Koreans have been recorded, including the use of weapons against Russian soldiers. Conclusion from the assessment of the situation: the enemy will regroup by February 7–15 and only then will it continue the offensive.
The aggressor significantly expanded its bridgehead on the western bank of the Oskil River, captured the villages of Zapadne and Dvorichne, and reoccupied Novomlynsk. In December, units of two motorized rifle regiments were involved in the bridgehead, today up to half of the 6th combined arms army and the entire 69th division are here. Our Khortytsia Special Operations Command was defended here by two incomplete brigades of the Trotsky Brigade. This is the main reason why the enemy expanded the bridgehead, transferring additional forces and launching an offensive both to the west and to the south, towards Kupyansk.
Now the 6th Army headquarters has two options:
1) to force the Oskil, create a bridgehead on the west bank south of Kupyansk (in the Senkovo area) for a further offensive on Kupyansk simultaneously from the south and north and try to cut off part of the troops of the Khortitsa Special Operations Command, which are defending on the east bank of the Oskil;
2) to develop an offensive from the Dvorichnaya side in the direction of Velikiy Burluk (this is the task of the Sever Special Operations Command as of May 2024, which it successfully failed).
Now everything indicates that the enemy has chosen the first option: the 45th Engineer and Camouflage Brigade is being transferred to the Senkovo area. At the same time, the Russian infantry is trying to expand the advance to Oskol near Kolisnykovka. The Khortytsia Special Forces Division has a well-prepared defense area in Senkovo, there are enough troops, so it will not be an easy walk for the enemy. But he will try.
If we recall how the Russians crossed the river near Liman six times in 2022, then by the end of February they will have one less engineering brigade. The situation is quite threatening for the Defense Forces. But it is not excluded that the Khortytsia Special Operations Command will wait for the enemy forces to concentrate (the 69th Division in full force, with reinforcements as possible), and then carry out a counterattack. General Drapaty was not appointed to command Khortytsia for no reason.
Let's take a separate look at the southern part of the Kupyansk direction - the village of Borova and the surrounding area. In these areas, the Defense Forces conducted several successful counterattacks and improved their positions near the village of Zagryzove.
The enemy is persistently attacking from the direction of Lozova in order to break through the Ukrainian defenses near Kopanky and Novoyehorivka. Events here are developing in a traditional Russian vein: the command of the 20th Army has loudly reported the capture of Novoyehorivka. The headquarters of the group on the theater of operations was delighted and gave the commander of the 20th Army the task of capturing Kopanky from the east and southeast. The general was saddened, because his army had been stuck in Kopanky since December, unsuccessfully advancing from Pershotravneve from the north, and since then the bypass of the Ukrainian defenses has been stalling at least from one side.
Now the occupiers are groping in the direction southeast of Novoyehorivka, which they do not really control. After the commander of the 3rd Army, the commanders of the 7th, 85th and 123rd motorized rifle brigades of the 3rd Army were removed from their posts for similar reports (about the capture of Bilogorivka and three other villages), the commander of the 20th is storming that Novoyehorivka at any cost, laying out the corpses of his soldiers without number on the agricultural lands of the village. The conclusion from the assessment of the situation: the enemy will break through to Borovaya and try to capture the village by the end of March.
KRAMATORSK AND TORETSK DIRECTIONS
It is advisable to look at these two directions together, because the enemy's goal is to occupy the entire Donetsk region, and here the road to Kostyantynivka and Kramatorsk opens. The loss of positions at the refractory plant in Chasovye Yar meant the irreversible: the Defense Forces will leave the city, but when is an open question.
It should be recognized that the fighting for Chasiv Yar is in its final stages: the Russians are advancing slowly in the south and southwest, having suffered heavy losses in the battles for the plant. If our troops leave the city by the end of February, it will be a good tactical achievement. If not sooner.
The enemy grouping in the Kramatorsk direction is the 98th Airborne Division without the 217th Regiment (in Kursk), the 200th Brigade from the Murmansk Region, and a bunch of volunteer reconnaissance and assault brigades. The most famous is the 88th “Espanyola”, recruited from CSKA football fans. But all of them will not be enough, not only to advance quickly, but also to develop success when “Khortytsia” retreats from Chasovoye Yar.
Note that the situation may change dramatically if the Kramatorsk direction becomes a priority for the enemy command in the theater of operations. Even the actions in the Pokrovsky direction will be stopped, because there are much larger tasks here: we need to break through to Kostyantynivka, through it to Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, the belt of fortresses, the main hub of Ukrainian defense in the east of the country, and then storm it as well.
The withdrawal of the "Khortytsia" units from Klishchiivka and Andriivka to the western bank of the Seversky Donets - Donbas canal, the occupation of almost all of Toretsk allow the Russian command to seriously consider plans for an offensive on Kramatorsk and Sloviansk through Kostyantynivka from two directions at once - from Chasovy Yar and Toretsk.
Battles at Chasiv Yar and Toretsk. The enemy's next target is Kostyantynivka
The advance of the enemy's Central Front east of Myrnograd and Pokrovsk added a third direction to these two: by expanding the salient near Vozdvizhenka, the Central Front will be able to cut off the Ukrainian defenses in the Alexandropol area and attack Kramatorsk through Kostyantynivka from the Pokrovsk-Myrnograd direction. The enemy's plans are hindered by harsh front-line reality.
The Russians in the Torets and Kramatorsk directions simply lack the strength for such an operation. They also lack reserves. The only way to increase the group is to transfer troops from other directions. And there are not many there either. The commander of the Central Front, General Mordvichev, is currently preparing the Central Front and the East Front to begin the assault on Pokrovsk, but if the assault does not yield results in the first two weeks, the Pokrovsk direction will temporarily become secondary, and the Kramatorsk direction will be the main one, and the city will be assaulted from three directions. There will be no certainty on this issue until February 15–20. So far, the Tolstoyevsky forces are focused on expanding their advance eastward near Vozdvizhenka. Attacks on Alexandropol from the south, west, and east should be expected.
POKROVSKY DIRECTION
The Center military unit is on the southern outskirts of Pokrovsk and Myrnograd. It bypasses the agglomeration from the east and west, from Vozdvizhenka and Kotlyne. It is more successful from the west, from the east - like the dead are breathing, but oh well. Russian propaganda and Ukrainian useful idiots present the Pokrovsk operation as the future encirclement of the Defense Forces, although the enemy's real goal is more primitive - to consolidate and expand the zone of control to the west and east of Pokrovsk - Myrnograd in order to create a wide bridgehead for the further assault on the agglomeration. The assault will be head-on, because there is no time to maneuver forces and means for two-sided coverage, as well as other tactical innovations.
The defense forces have equipped a solid defense line here, saturated with troops. Those who have seen it say that it is quite good. There are no gaps for their favorite Russian tactics of infiltration by assault microgroups, so there will be long bloody battles for each position. The enemy is already making efforts to soften our defenses: bombing the outskirts of the city from the air, attacking quite massively with drones. For the assault, they are concentrating troops from three armies at once — the 41st, 2nd, and 51st, which previously attacked in the Pokrovsky, Novopavlovsk, and Hulyaipol directions. Since the fighting in the last two is ongoing, it will not be possible to form a strike group quickly. If the enemy command changes the priorities that we mentioned in the paragraph above, then the front here will hibernate for several months.
NOVOPAVLIVSKYI DIRECTION
The Khortytsia Special Forces Division is only defensively between the Vovcha and Sukhyi Yaly rivers, holding the village of Dachne on its eastern flank. The invaders have forced Sukhyi Yaly, but a quick offensive on the northern bank of the river is not possible. From the north, from the Vovcha side, the enemy has advanced to the village of Andriivka, the capture of which will open the door for an offensive on Konstantinopol. This will give the Russians a chance to cut off the Ukrainian units in the salient from Ulakli to Dachne.
The gloomy military genius (although, perhaps, not gloomy, but simply drunk) of the Russians transfers his units from there to Pokrovsk. The part that remains here is only relatively combat-ready due to losses and constant participation in battles for a month or more. The conclusion from the assessment of the situation: it is clear that the Ukrainian advance between Vovcha and Sukhye Yala will be eliminated sooner or later, somewhere between mid-February and mid-March. There is no point in expecting the enemy to advance further west here, because there will be no one to advance stupidly, everyone - to Pokrovsk or generally Kramatorsk. At the end of March, we should expect the Russians to reach the Mokry Yala River, after which there will be an operational pause somewhere until the beginning of summer.
HULYAIPIL DIRECTION
The enemy occupied Velika Novosilka and immediately slowed down the pace of advance to the west and northwest of the village. Russian propaganda tried to pass this village off as Stalingrad, but then limited itself to the definition of "an important logistics center of the Armed Forces of Ukraine."
While the “black Cossacks” held Vugledar, Velyka Novosilka supplied them. But after the loss of the Vugledar bridgehead for the Defense Forces, it is only the last large settlement in the south of the Donetsk region. Due to its loss, “Khortytsia” will move 9–15 km to the north-northwest, to the defense line of Komyshuvakha - Shevchenko (lower) - Dniproenergia, which is already happening.
The enemy will not be able to pursue the Ukrainian units, there are not enough ATVs for everyone, those of the personnel who survived are exhausted, and the rotation to the Pokrovsky direction has not been canceled. The conclusion from the assessment of the situation: no breakthroughs into Zaporizhia or Dnipropetrovsk regions, because there is nothing to do. The health of the enemy groups also does not allow the front of the Tavria Special Operations Command to be reduced and reach Zaporizhia.
Anyone who follows the course of the fighting should see that the troops of as many as three groups are operating in the direction: "Center", "East", and "South". The units are very mixed, their controllability and interaction were not the best before, and now they have only worsened.
So we can conclude that the capture of Velyka Novoselka is not part of some wise plan or subtle strategic design: the capture of this village means only the capture of another village.
Can the situation here worsen for the Defense Forces? Yes, it can. But the enemy must improve controllability, restore the combat capability of its troops and at least double their number, then the threat of the Tavria front in the Zaporizhia region will appear. But Putin has not yet agreed to mobilization, and without it there is nowhere to get the required amount of meat.
So, in February, we should expect the renewal of the enemy's offensive in the Kursk region, the expansion of the bridgehead near Dvorichnaya and fierce battles at Borova in the Kharkiv region, the withdrawal of the Defense Forces from Chasovy Yar and the beginning of battles on the approaches to Kramatorsk, the completion of the strike group near Pokrovskoe-Mirnograd and the assault on this agglomeration, the elimination of the Defense Forces' bridgehead between Vovcha and Sukhye Yala, the stabilization of the front line in the Novopavlivske direction, and positional battles on the Komyshuvakha-Shevchenko (lower)-Dneproenergiya line.
Far from the worst schedule for the Defense Forces, especially considering the Commander-in-Chief's promises to resume the practice of rotations and accumulation of reserves for the Defense Forces.
Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title.
[Korrespondent] 22.52 President Volodymyr Zelensky heard a report on arms supplies during a meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Headquarters on February 7. He reported this in a video address.
22.21 President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine is preparing an initiative to recruit military personnel aged 18 to 24 into the army. A special contract will be in effect for this category. He said this in an interview with Reuters.
21.20 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia has again brought North Korean soldiers into the Kursk region. He reported this in an evening video address .
19.25 Ukrainian military destroyed the enemy TOS Solntsepek multiple launch rocket system . The video was published on the TG channel 412 OPBPS NEMESIS. This system fires incendiary or thermobaric ammunition and can lead to terrible consequences for personnel and our positions. A very rare and important target. This installation will no longer fight - it is going to the scrap yard.
19.00 The Unmanned Systems Forces have carried out more than 220 deep strike operations on Russian territory in the six months since their creation. In total, more than 3,500 long-range strike UAVs were launched, which struck critical military facilities in the Russian Federation.
18:23 Ukrainian Defense Forces are holding back superior Russian forces in Toretsk, where fierce fighting continues in the urban area. The enemy is suffering significant losses, said Nazar Voloshin, spokesman for the Khortytsia Joint Forces Group, in a commentary to Interfax-Ukraine on Friday, February 7.
The speaker denied the information disseminated by the Russian Ministry of Defense about the alleged occupation of the city.
17.31 Russian troops in the Dniprovsky district dropped explosives from a drone on a 37-year-old gas service worker who went to repair damaged networks. This was reported on February 7 by the head of the Kherson OVA Oleksandr Prokudin. The man received injuries incompatible with life.
17:09 The Security Service and the National Police have eliminated new schemes for evading mobilization. As a result of complex measures, 17 organizers of the deals have been detained in different regions of Ukraine. This was reported by the SBU press service on Friday, February 7.
17.05 Lithuania has transferred spare parts for armored personnel carriers and trucks to Ukraine. This was reported on February 7 by the Lithuanian Defense Ministry, LRT reports. The cargo, intended for the Ukrainian military, arrived in Ukraine in the middle of the week.
16.39 The Army+ military application now supports reporting on enemy targets. Damage or destruction is confirmed in the DELTA combat system. The first 100 units have begun reporting. This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Defense on Friday, February 7.
16.19 Investigators of the National Police of Ukraine have announced suspicion to another Russian major general involved in the robbery of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant during its occupation by Russian troops. This was reported by the press service of the National Police on Friday, February 7.
15.29. During the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, more than 1,300 new types of weapons and military equipment have been manufactured and coded, the largest part of which are UAVs and ammunition for them. This was stated in an interview with Ukrinform by the First Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Ivan Gavrilyuk.
14:34 In the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, Russians have banned the sale of insulin and other vital drugs to Ukrainians without a Russian passport. From February 2025, medical care will be available only to persons who have agreed to acquire the citizenship of the aggressor. This was reported by the press service of the Main Intelligence Directorate on Friday, February 7.
12:49 Ukrainian military managed to shoot down a Russian guided aerial bomb (UAB) during an attack on Zaporizhia. This was reported by the Porogi i Pagorbi Telegram channel , citing sources. The enemy target was hit, but the debris fell on a truck in the vicinity of Zaporizhia, causing damage to it.
12:12 Law enforcement officers are investigating the circumstances of the death of a man in Chernivtsi during a military medical commission. This was reported by the National Police Department in Chernivtsi Oblast.
11:23 The Russian army command has begun withdrawing individual anti-aircraft missile units from occupied Crimea to Russia. This was reported by the Atesh partisan movement.
It is noted that some of the systems, including the installations of the 31st Air Defense Division, are already being redeployed from the peninsula to new positions. As a result, airfields, military warehouses and the Kerch Bridge remain vulnerable.
"Attacks by Ukrainian long-range drones demonstrate that the Putin regime is incapable of protecting military facilities in the Belgorod, Kursk, Voronezh regions and other regions of Russia," Atesh noted.
10:30 During a new series of assaults in the Kursk region of Russia, the Ukrainian Armed Forces advanced up to five kilometers southeast of Sudzha. This is stated in a report by the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Geolocation footage shows that Ukrainian troops advanced southwest of Makhnovka and northeast of Cherkasskaya Konopelka Sudzha-Oboyan and captured Kolmakov and Fanaseyevka.
9:30 At night, Russia used 112 Shahed-type attack UAVs and various types of drone imitators against Ukraine. Air defense forces shot down 81 drones. 31 enemy drone imitators were lost (without negative consequences).
As a result of the enemy attack, there is damage in the Sumy, Kyiv and Khmelnytsky regions.
8:22 Over the past 24 hours, 101 combat clashes have been recorded at the front. In particular, in the Pokrovsky direction, the defenders stopped 36 assault actions by the Russian invaders.
The missile forces and artillery of the Armed Forces of Ukraine hit 14 areas of concentration of enemy personnel and equipment and weapons.
7:25 As of February 7, 2025, the total combat losses of Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine amounted to approximately 846,650 people (+1,340 per day).
[IsraelTimes] Keith Siegel was made to lie down at all times for the last two months of captivity; Romi Gonen, so deprived of food, no longer recognized feeling of hunger upon her release
For the final two months of his captivity 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... , American-Israeli Keith Siegel was forced to lie down at all times in a cramped room. For most of his ordeal, there was little electricity or running water, which made hygiene impossible, he said.
When he returned to Israel last week, gaunt and pale, the first words to his family, according to his brother, Lee Siegel, were: "I’m back, I’m home."
Then, he asked, "What can I do to help bring the other hostages home?"
Hostages are returning after 15 months in captivity as part of a deal between Israel and the Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... terror group, and with their freedom, the first details of their ordeals are emerging.
Their accounts, told mostly through relatives, are shining a light on what the roughly 75 captives who remain in Gaza are facing and are driving families of the released captives to keep up their public campaign until everyone is free.
"My family and I traveled the globe, knocking on every door, sharing our story with anyone who would listen," Siegel’s wife, Aviva, a former hostage, told news hounds after the release of her husband.
"We must not rest. We must not turn away," she said, adding that the "hostages remaining in Gaza deserve better."
After 15 months of devastating war sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack — when some 3,000 forces of Evil invaded southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages — Hamas and Israel agreed to a three-stage deal last month for the release of the hostages, the freeing of thousands of Paleostinian security prisoners, and a stop to fighting in the Gaza Strip.
The families of the hostages and their supporters have waged a tireless campaign in Israel and abroad to keep public attention on their loved ones and secure their release.
Their commitment to securing the release of all the remaining hostages is made all the more difficult because extension of the ceasefire is not guaranteed and relies on renewed negotiations between Israel and Hamas to carry the deal into its second stage, when more hostages are expected to be freed, along with more Paleostinian security prisoners.
Siegel, 65, originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was taken captive along with Aviva from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, one of the communities hardest hit in Hamas’s attack. She was released during a previous hostage-ceasefire deal in November 2023.
Lee Siegel, 73, said his brother told the family he was moved frequently and that for about six months, he was kept alone, separate from other hostages. Beyond what his captors told him, he had very little exposure to the outside world, other than hearing rare snippets of radio or TV reports.
For long periods, he was required to stay silent, he told his family.
Siegel drew on his meditation practice to help him stay grounded, his brother said. He would keep track of time by saying the date and the day of the week every day.
Siegel would have imagined conversations with each family member, according to his brother. If his captors allowed him to speak aloud, he would whisper these; otherwise, he would have the conversations silently in his head. He would say, "Aviva, I love you," or to his daughter, "Gal, I dreamed of you, I saw you."
Even as he has started sharing some of his experiences with the family, Lee Siegel said they can’t begin to comprehend his ordeal. His brother is also grappling with the challenges of catching up on everything he missed, the seismic changes in Israel, as well as personal family news: the death of their mother, the birth of great nieces and nephews.
"It’s a human being who was taken for 484 days, suffering the worst things we can appreciate," Lee Siegel said.
Romi Gonen, 24, who was released on the first day of the recent ceasefire, will need a complex surgery and lengthy physical therapy for an untreated hand wound she suffered during the Hamas attack, according to her mother, Meirav Leshem Gonen.
While doctors said Gonen’s condition was stable when she returned, her mother said her skin was gray after being kept out of sunlight for nearly her entire captivity.
Leshem Gonen said her daughter lost 10 kilograms (22 pounds), a fifth of her body weight, and was often deprived of food by her captors, even when they had food to share.
When she was freed, Gonen had lost the ability to recognize hunger and didn’t want to eat at all, her mother said, adding that it was more than two weeks before she finally asked for something specific to eat.
Gonen has spoken very little to her family about what she went through, except to share humorous stories, trying to inject a bit of levity into a horrific situation because that’s the kind of person she is, her mother said.
"I ask everybody to take action to make sure the ceasefire will continue for the hostages to get out," said Leshem Gonen, who has been a prominent voice for the hostages’ freedom and has continued the campaign for those still in captivity.
Lee Siegel said his family is taking some time to themselves before returning to the demonstrations, overseas travel and media interviews for the remaining hostages’ release.
For now, the family is concentrating on the small things: just being able to embrace Siegel.
"It will take time for him to regroup physically and emotionally, but he’s strong, and he’s resilient," Lee Siegel said.
"Actually, I think he provides us with more strength than we can provide for him."
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] A detachment of Pacific Fleet ships, consisting of the corvettes Rezkiy and Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov, conducted exercises in the East China Sea. This was reported on February 7 by the Russian Defense Ministry.
“In the East China Sea, the crews conducted an air defense exercise, during which combat crews detected simulated air targets and destroyed them with anti-aircraft artillery fire at a safe distance from the detachment,” the defense department said in a statement.
The Russian corvettes were accompanied by ships and aircraft of foreign countries during their passage through the East China Sea. Upon arrival in the South China Sea, the ships' crews replenished their food and fuel supplies.
It is noted that the exercises are being conducted within the framework of the approved plan for a long-range voyage in the Asia-Pacific region. According to the plan, the corvettes will conduct exercises to search for and destroy submarines of a simulated enemy, the Defense Ministry specified.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on February 6, the Pacific Fleet press service reported that the diesel-electric submarine Magadan completed a deep-sea dive (DSD) to a depth of 240 m in Avacha Bay off the coast of Kamchatka.
The submarine crew, having successfully completed the underwater part of the exercise, surfaced and continued to operate within the framework of the fleet's combat training plan. The corvette Gremyashchy and the rescue ship Georgy Kozmin also provided support for the tasks.
On December 3, Regnum reported that the Russian Navy and Aerospace Forces conducted joint launches of high-precision sea- and air-based missiles in the Eastern Mediterranean during exercises. The frigates Admiral Gorshkov and Admiral Golovko fired hypersonic Zircon missiles.
Trump administration approved the sale of over $7.4 billion in weapons to Israel, including 3,000 Hellfire missiles and $6.75 billion in bombs and guidance kits of the BLU-109, a hardened bunker buster penetration bomb.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 21:09 Drone operators have made a series of precise drops –Ministry of Defense
UAV operators of the assault unit of the "Southern" group of troops hit the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kurakhovsky direction.
20:54 Destruction of the Ukrainian Armed Forces machine gun and detonation of boxes with ammunition
In the Khar'kov direction, the FPV operator of the 44th Air Defense Forces "Sever" was inflicted strike on the machine gun crew of the Ukrainian fascists. After the precise hit and destruction of the gun, a powerful detonation of the ammunition occurred.
20:49 Our troops are in the Krasnolimansk direction came into the village of Yampolovka from the north.
20:19 Enemy offensive in Kursk region: how the 11th Airborne Brigade met the occupiers' armored vehicle columns attacking Ulanok.
The 11th Airborne Brigade of the "North" group of troops took the brunt of the enemy's attack in the Sudzhansky direction in the Kursk region in the area of the settlements of Ulanok, Fanaseyevka and Makhnovka.
Using attack drones and artillery fire, airborne troops destroyed up to 30 armored vehicles and assault groups of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
19:42 Russian "Timurovtsy" UAV units destroys a Ukrainian octocopter .
In the Khar'kov direction, the 98th Baba Yaga drone of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was shot down by the Timurovtsy strike UAV detachment of the North Guard Forces.
19:32 On the territory of Russia, enemy saboteurs committed attempt mass terrorist act.
19:12 In the city of Konstantinovka (DPR) occupied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, an FPV drone struck the substation putting it out of order.
Substation "Mayskaya" 330/110/35/10 kV is a nodal point for electricity distribution.
During the strike by FPV drones of the Russian Armed Forces with a cumulative charge, one of the ATDTsTN-200000 autotransformers was disabled, which led to the depressurization of the oil tank and a leak of transformer oil with a volume of more than 10 tons.
The switchgear (330 kV switchgear) is damaged.
18:39 UAV operators of the Bars-31 detachment as part of the Volunteer Corps, destroyed Ukrainian T-72 in the area of the settlement of Tikhonovka, RIA Novosti was told by the press service of the corps operating as part of the "South" group.
18:14 Russian Armed Forces drone operators beaten off tank attack of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Zaporizhzhya direction
During the repulse of the attack, three Ukrainian tanks were destroyed.
18:07 The Armed Forces of Ukraine in five months of fighting for Dzerzhinsk (Toretsk)lost 26,000 military personnel.
Russian troops destroyed more than 240 tanks and other armored vehicles there, as well as over 340 field artillery pieces and mortars.
Control over the settlement opens the way for the Russian Armed Forces to liberate Konstantinovka and reach the flank of the Kramatorsk group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
18:01 As a result of active offensive actions by units and military units of the Center group of forces in the Aleksandro-Kalinovsky directionreleased city of Dzerzhinsk, Donetsk People's Republic.
During the liberation of the city of Dzerzhinsk, servicemen of the 1st, 9th and 132nd Guards Motorized Rifle Brigades of the 51st Army and the volunteer formation "Veterans" particularly distinguished themselves by displaying courage and heroism. Dzerzhinsk is the largest settlement of the Toretsk agglomeration (urban community). At the beginning of 2022, the total number of residents of the Toretsk agglomeration was more than 73,500 residents, directly in Dzerzhinsk - about 35,000 residents.
Like many other major cities in Donbass, the Kiev regime turned it into a powerful fortified area with a developed network of underground communications. Almost every building was a well-equipped engineering and protected long-term firing point. The waste heaps and mines located in the northern and western parts of the city were also used for defense.
Establishing control over this important defense node opens the way for the liberation of Konstantinovka and an exit to the flank of the enemy's Kramatorsk group.
Our troops inflicted significant losses on the enemy during five months of fighting for Dzerzhinsk. The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost over 70% of their group's personnel - more than 26,000 servicemen. At the same time, the daily losses of Ukrainian troops averaged about 200 servicemen killed and wounded. They destroyed over 240 tanks and other armored vehicles, as well as over 340 field artillery pieces and mortars.
The area of the liberated dense urban development of Dzerzhinsk was more than 50 square kilometers. In addition, during the operation to liberate the city of Dzerzhinsk, 11 settlements of the Toretsk agglomeration (urban community) and 139 square kilometers of territory were liberated. The total advance of Russian troops into the depth of the enemy's defense was more than 13 kilometers.
Currently, units of the Center group of forces continue to liberate the remaining settlements that are part of the Toretsk agglomeration.
17:44 UAV operators of the 200th Motorized Rifle Brigade destroyed German PzH 2000 in Chasovy Yar, RIA Novosti was told by the Volunteer Corps, which is part of the South group of troops.
17:38 Accurate fire from naval infantry incinerates enemy equipment
Artillerymen of the 40th Naval Infantry Brigade of the North Forces Group destroyed armored vehicles of the Ukrainian Armed Forces assault groups in the border area of the Kursk Region.
17:18 Calculations of the 122mm BM-21 MLRS "Grad" of the Ivanovo paratroopers inflicted fire damage on enemy strongholds in the area of the settlement of Chasov Yar, DPR.
17:08 In Moscow captured a neo-Nazi traitor from Azov who persuaded Russian soldiers to defect to the Ukrainian Armed Forces
After the start of the SVO, the man, on instructions from his curators, met Russian military personnel on social networks and persuaded them to go over to the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He also collected data on the deployment of Russian troops in the combat zone, their weapons, the number of personnel, and losses.
16:38 The most powerful fire happened in the city of Chuguev (Khar'kov region).
According to local residents, the Sebek plant (Chuguev mineral water plant) is on fire.
Previously, Ukrainian military personnel were stationed on the plant’s territory, and equipment was hidden among the buildings.
16:24 Dzerzhinsk liberated by Russian army –MAP
16:13 In Cherkasskaya Konopelka, LBS was invaded. A group of Ukrainian Armed Forces fighters managed to break into houses on the westernmost street of Novosyolka. At the moment, there are counterfights, it was decided to transfer this area to the gray zone –MAP
16:03 As a result of active offensive actions by units of the 1st, 9th and 132nd Guards Separate Motorized Rifle brigades of the 51st Army and the volunteer formation "Veterans" of the "Center" group of forces released city of Dzerzhinsk, Donetsk People's Republic.
15:35 Drone drivers are on fire
Crews of strike UAVs of the motorized rifle unit of the "Center" group of forces destroyed Leopard tank of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Krasnoarmeysk direction. Drone crews also hit armored vehicles, fortified positions and enemy manpower.
14:41 Result of counter-offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the sky
Numerous units of burning enemy equipment and artillery strikes by the Northern Front against groups of militants.
14:34 "VDV Ixovody" reset another howitzer of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which interfered with the assault operations.
14:21 RF Armed Forcesare moving forward on the western bank of the Oskol River
All key heights in the area of the village of Dvurechnaya came under the control of Russian attack aircraft.
14:06 In the Krasnolimansk direction of the Russian Armed Forces occupied the northern part of the settlement of Yampolovka and repelled a counterattack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
13:37 Russian Army missiles struck targets in Khar'kov region
Preliminary, targets in Lozovaya were hit.
13:36 Units of the "Center" group of forces continued to advance into the depths of the enemy's defense and liberated the Druzhba settlements of the Donetsk People's Republic.
13:30 Tankers are smashing enemy fortifications
Crews of T-72B3M tanks of the Vostok group discovered and destroyed a stronghold of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the South Donetsk direction.
The servicemen of the "Vostok" group are advancing deep into the enemy's defenses, getting ever closer to the border with the Dnepropetrovsk region.
13:22 Kursk direction
District Cherkasskaya Konopelka - Ulanok.
All the enemy's combat equipment that took part in yesterday's "counteroffensive" was burned and destroyed. Some of the personnel were destroyed, some scattered around the forests and plantings. They are now being searched for and destroyed.
– Fanaseyevka and Ulanok are completely under the control of the Russian Armed Forces.
– Cherkasskaya Konopelka is also mostly under our control.
The sodomites have taken hold in the west of the village in a separate part near the forest. Several detachments have dug in there, and our troops are destroying them.
13:12 Pokrovskoe (Krasnoarmeyskoe) direction. Left flank –MAP
The situation here has not changed significantly. Fierce fighting is underway in Udachny. Our units are fighting for the station and residential areas in the eastern part.
Northwest of Kotlino, units of the Russian Armed Forces are trying to break through in the railway area.
In Zverevo and northeast of Peschanoye, our units are attempting to advance towards the waste heap and are repelling counterattacks.
Artillery and drones are working intensively in the area from both sides.
13:10 Dnepropetrovsk direction –MAP
Fierce fighting continues. The enemy is launching counterattacks using armored vehicles, trying to prevent our units from breaking through to the Dnepropetrovsk region.
– In Uspenovka (DPR), however, our assault units advanced and occupied the center.
- In Nadezhdinka, the Ukrainian Armed Forces' attack on vehicles was repelled. The enemy was destroyed. To the south and southwest, fighting is underway in the plantings.
– In Serebryanoye, our assault forces are clearing the northern part and fighting in the eastern part of Zaporozhye (DPR).
- In the area of the T-0515 road, south of Yasenevoye, the enemy has also brought in reserves and is trying to stop any of our attempts to advance beyond the road. The enemy's artillery and drones are actively working.
12:32 Punches are applied on enemy targets in occupied Zaporozhye.
12:06 Mortar of the Armed Forces of Ukraine took off into the air together with the BK
In the Kursk region, Ukrainian fascists set up a closed firing position for a 120mm mortar. The operator of the UAV GV "Sever" sent two VOGs right on target. VOG is a 40mm grenade typically launched by an under-the-barrel launcher.
As a result of the fire damage, the gun was destroyed and the ammunition detonated.
11:52 Rubicon is working
Details of repelling the attack of the Ukrainian Armed Forces by drone operators of the Rubicon Center in the Kursk region –Ministry of Defense
UAV operator at the Rubicon Center struck a pickup truck of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kupyansk direction. As a result of a precise hit, the vehicle and the Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel inside were destroyed.
10:44 Destruction of a BMP M-80A of the Armed Forces of Ukraine using an attack FPV drone in the area of the settlement of Yampolovka, Donetsk region.
10:14 Guided bomb strikes are applied by Russian Aerospace Forces in Sumy Oblast.
10:25 The reconnaissance group "North" has opened the enemy's defense system and firing points in the area of one of the settlements on the Kursk border.
With the support of artillery and aviation, units of the motorized rifle regiment drove the militants out of their fortified positions.
09:54 Destruction of columns of NATO armored vehicles The day before, fighters from the 30th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment of the "North" actively used kamikaze drones against heavy armored vehicles of the Ukrainian fascists in the Sudzhan border area, repelling the enemy's offensive in the direction of the village of Ulanok.
09:33 During an attempt to land troops, the crew of the UAV 106th Airborne Division inflicted fire strikes from the sky.
08:59 RF Armed Forcesare struck targets in the Chernigov region.
08:42 FPV operator 1427th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment from the "North" sent a kamikaze drone directly into a company of Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers in a forest plantation in the Kursk border region.
07:46 Work is in full swing in the field workshops of the 20th Guards Army.
Servicemen of the repair unit of the West group of forces continuously are being restored, repair and upgrade military equipment in the rear area of the special operation zone.
05:11 Artillerymen destroyed the enemy's stronghold.
The 52mm Giatsint-B crew of the Center group of forces destroyed a fortified enemy stronghold in the Krasnoarmeysk direction.
Linked article is available only through a VPN
[EngMilRu] From 1 to 7 February 2025, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out eight group strikes by high-precision weapons and attack unmanned aerial vehicles, which hit gas and power infrastructure facilities that support the work of the Ukrainian defence industry.
In addition, Russian troops hit the infrastructure of military airfields, assembly, storage, and preparation facilities of strike unmanned aerial vehicles, training facilities of drone operators and electronic warfare specialists, ammunition and POL depots of the AFU as well as temporary deployment areas of AFU formations.
Yesterday, units of the Sever Group of Forces thwarted an attempt by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to carry out counteroffensive actions in direction of Cherkasskaya Konopelka and Ulanok (Kursk region). In total, eight waves of attacks were repelled.
Over the past week, AFU units have been eliminated in Kursk region. Aviation, unmanned aerial vehicles, and artillery hit manpower and hardware of one heavy mechanised brigade, six mechanised brigades, three air assault brigades, one naval infantry brigade, and four territorial defence brigades.
In Kharkov direction, Russian troops inflicted fire damage on AFU units of one motorised infantry brigade, one air assault brigade, one National Guard brigade, and two territorial defence brigades.
During the week, in the area of responsibility of the Sever Group of Forces, the enemy losses were over 2,020 troops, 21 tanks, and 161 armoured fighting vehicles. In addition, 132 motor vehicles, 35 field artillery guns, and five field ammunition depots were neutralised.
As a result of active offensive actions, the Zapad Group of Forces' units liberated Novomlynsk (Kharkov region).
Russian troops launched an attack on AFU military personnel and hardware of five mechanised brigades, one tank brigade, one airborne brigade, one mountain assault brigade, one assault brigade, one territorial defence brigade, and one National Guard brigade.
The AFU losses were more than 1,835 troops, two tanks, and 19 armoured fighting vehicles, including eight U.S.-made M-113 armoured personnel carriers. In addition, 71 motor vehicles, 32 field artillery guns, 12 of which were manufactured by NATO countries, 11 electronic warfare stations, and 20 ammunition depots were neutralised.
The Yug Group of Forces' units improved the tactical situation. Russian troops hit four mechanised brigades, one motorised infantry brigade, one assault brigade, and one airmobile brigade of the AFU, one naval infantry brigade, and two territorial defence brigades.
Over the past week, the Armed Forces of Ukraine losses were up to 1,510 troops, one tank, five armoured fighting vehicles, 26 motor vehicles, and 14 field artillery guns, including seven Western-made ones. In addition, 16 field ammunition depots and four electronic warfare stations were eliminated.
The Tsentr Group of Forces' units continued advancing into the depths of enemy defence and liberated Krymskoye, Baranovka, and Druzhba (Donetsk People's Republic).
Russian troops delivered strikes at two heavy mechanised brigades, seven mechanised brigades, two jaeger brigades, one airmobile brigade, one motorised infantry brigade of the AFU, one naval infantry brigade, two National Guard brigades, and the Lyut Brigade of the National Police of Ukraine.
The AFU losses were more than 3,720 troops, four tanks, including one German-made Leopard tank, 29 armoured fighting vehicles, including two Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and one U.S.-made M-113 armoured personnel carrier as well as one Swedish-made Viking armoured personnel carrier.
In addition, 44 motor vehicles and 34 field artillery guns were eliminated, including three Western-made guns.
Units of the Vostok Group of Forces continued advancing into the depth of enemy defences. Russian troops inflicted fire damage on one tank brigade, five mechanised brigades, one air assault brigade, three naval infantry brigades, and three territorial defence brigades.
The AFU losses were more than 955 troops, three tanks, including one German-made Leopard tank, 19 armoured fighting vehicles, 14 motor vehicles, and 31 field artillery guns, seven of which were manufactured by NATO countries. Two electronic warfare stations were destroyed.
Units of the Dnepr Group of Forces engaged manpower and hardware of one mechanised brigade, one infantry brigade, three coastal defence brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and one National Guard brigade.
The AFU losses were more than 395 troops, one tank, two armoured fighting vehicles, 37 motor vehicles, and eight field artillery guns. Six electronic warfare stations and two ammunition depots were destroyed.
Fighter Aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces shot down one Su-27 aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force in the air battle.
Over the past week, air defence facilities shot down one Neptune guided long-range missile, six French-made Hammer guided bombs, 41 U.S.-made HIMARS MLRS projectiles, and 630 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles.
Over the past week, 19 Ukrainian servicemen surrendered on the line of contact.
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 653 aircraft, 283 helicopters, 42,617 unmanned aerial vehicles, 592 anti-aircraft missile systems, 21,242 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,514 MLRS combat vehicles, 21,326 field artillery guns and mortars, and 31,384 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.
Units of the Sever Group of Forces thwarted an attempt by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to carry out counter-offensive actions in direction of Cherkasskaya Konopelka and Ulanok (Kursk region). All enemy attacks were repelled.
In the course of offensive actions, Russian troops inflicted fire damage on formations of one tank brigade, one heavy mechanised brigade, four mechanised brigades, two air assault brigades, one naval infantry brigade, and three territorial defence brigades of the AFU near Gogolevka, Goncharovka, Lebedevka, Malaya Loknya, Mirny, Nikolayevka, Nikolsky, Novaya Sorochina, and Sverdlikovo. Two counter-attacks launched by enemy units were repelled.
Operational-Tactical and Army aviation and artillery inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of the AFU close to Viktorovka, Guyevo, Zaoleshenka, Kazachya Loknya, Pervy Knyazhy, Kositsa, Kurilovka, Loknya, Martynovka, Makhnovka, Melovoy, Novaya Sorochina, Sverdlikovo, Sudzha, Cherkasskaya Konopelka, Cherkasskoye Porechnoye, and Basovka, Belovody, Vodolagi, Veselovka, Mirlogi, Zhuravka, and Yunakovka in Sumy region.
During the day, the AFU losses were more than 370 troops, 11 tanks, seven infantry fighting vehicles, three armoured personnel carriers, 38 armoured fighting vehicles, nine motor vehicles, three artillery guns, three mortars, one MLRS launcher, one Tunguska anti-aircraft missile system, three counterobstacle vehicles, one bridge launcher as well as three UAV command posts and one ammunition depot.
In addition, during the repelling of AFU counter-offensive actions in direction of Cherkasskaya Konopelka and Ulanok, the enemy lost more than 200 troops. What is more, the enemy lost eight tanks, five infantry fighting vehicles, one armoured personnel carrier, and 30 armoured fighting vehicles as well as three counterobstacle vehicles, one bridge launcher, and other vehicles.
Since the beginning of hostilities in Kursk direction, the AFU losses amounted to more than 58,230 troops, 348 tanks, 251 infantry fighting vehicles, 197 armoured personnel carriers, 1,797 armoured fighting vehicles, 1,853 motor vehicles, 412 artillery guns, 46 MLRS launchers, including 13 of HIMARS and six of MLRS made by the USA, 18 anti-aircraft missile launchers, eight transport-loading vehicles, 106 EW stations, 15 counter-battery warfare radars, five air defence radars, 37 units of engineering and other materiel, including 17 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.
Trump has signed sanctions against South Africa for their recent land seizure bill.
He is ordering all aid to South Africa be halted and he is also ordering federal agencies to prioritize humanitarian relief and admission to the United States for Afrikaner refugees. pic.twitter.com/14Yv8vREfE
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2025
00:00 ||
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[11143 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
He is ordering all aid to South Africa be halted and he is also ordering federal agencies to prioritize humanitarian relief and admission to the United States for Afrikaner refugees.
[FoxNews] President Donald Trump announced on Friday he decided to immediately fire multiple Kennedy Center board members, including the chairman, and fill that role himself.
Trump claimed he and current chair David Rubenstein "do not share [the same] Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture," according to the announcement on Truth Social.
He said a new board would be announced soon, adding the new chairman, naming himself, is "amazing."
"Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP," Trump wrote in the post.
The Kennedy Center in October hosted a Dancing Queens Drag Brunch at its Roof Terrace Restaurant in October, featuring Washington, D.C.'s "most fabulous drag performers," according to its website. The October event featured 2024 Capital Pride Honoree, Tula, and other drag performers "representing the diversity of D.C.’s queer community," according to the site. Tickets were sold for nearly $100 each, with reservations required, and included bottomless mimosas.
Following Trump's announcement, the Kennedy Center's website limited users, citing "high traffic." Hundreds of visitors had to queue in an online Grindr waiting room to view the site.
#2
He should just let Melania run that. She has class. He can’t do everything. Maybe he will give oversight to Hulk Hogan. His role has yet to defined. The Hulkster remains a wild card like Gen Flynn.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/08/2025 9:09
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin has ordered a criminal case to be opened due to threats received by Regnum News Agency Editor-in-Chief Marina Akhmedova.
"The Chairman of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, instructed the head of the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the city of Moscow, Andrei Strizhov, to initiate a criminal case on this fact and report on the established circumstances," Marina Akhmedova reported on her Telegram channel.
Earlier, the editor-in-chief of the Regnum news agency began to receive threats of physical violence with demands to retract a number of publications. Marina Akhmedova herself suggested in her Telegram that Ukrainian structures could have joined the intimidation.
The progress of the investigation has been placed under control at the central office of the Investigative Committee. In the meantime, don't go near windows above the first floor
[X] This seems an ineffective tactic. But if posturing for the rubes keeps her from doing something more effective, I’m all for it.
BREAKING🚨: NY Attorney General Letitia James Sues Over Trump’s Alleged Role in Elon Musk, DOGE Accessing Americans’ Private Data pic.twitter.com/kZSAP0kuti
#3
and this fat racist attention whore has Standing?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/08/2025 6:12
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#4
A sensible person would have shut up. There is plenty of evidence in the news that the game fundamentally changed on Jan 20. I think Harmeet will lock in on James with the 55 radar at some point soon.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/08/2025 8:44
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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.
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans...
...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party...
[FoxNews] Members of OCEARCH recently tagged a massive 13.8-foot white shark off the Georgia-Florida coast. The white shark weighs 1,652.8 pounds and was last reported to be swimming in the Gulf Stream, east of Florida.
[Breitbart] Katherine Long, a Wall Street Journal reporter who apparently took down a 25-year-old member of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with an article on his offensive past comments, previously worked for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) — which the Trump administration has slashed considerably, angering elites in Washington, D.C.
...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade....
...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration...
...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel...
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
