#7
"Still sporting your little black ears
Though the tables have turned, eh, my dears?"
"Yesirree, Mr. Jack!"
"Well, I'd better get back
To the game." *cottontail disappears*
[IsraelTimes] Leb ...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration.... ’s new government will negotiate with the International Monetary Fund for a new program and will work to deal with the country’s financial default and public debt, according to a policy statement approved by the cabinet.
The statement, a copy of which was reviewed by Rooters, says the government would work for an economical revival that could only be achieved through restructuring the banking sector.
Lebanon has been in deep economic crisis since 2019, when its financial system collapsed under the weight of massive state debts, prompting a sovereign default in 2020 and freezing ordinary depositors out of their savings in the banking system.
Beirut reached a draft funding deal with IMF in 2022 — contingent on reforms that authorities failed to deliver.
Finance Minister Yassine Jaber, who took office as part of a new government agreed earlier this month, told Rooters an IMF mission is expected to visit Lebanon in March.
Jaber said he had met the IMF’s resident representative in Lebanon, Frederico Lima, and confirmed that the government plans to move ahead with reforms.
Lebanon’s political landscape has been turned on its head since the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, long a dominant player in Lebanese politics, was badly pummeled in last year’s war with Israel.
Reflecting the shift in the power balance, the government policy statement did not include language used in previous years that was seen to legitimize a role for Hezbollah in defending Lebanon, saying instead "we want a state that has the decision of war and peace."
The statement says it is required to adopt a national security strategy and a foreign policy that works to "neutralize" Lebanon from conflicts.
[IsraelTimes] Tens of thousands of Paleostinians living in refugee camps in the West Bank have left their homes as a weeks-long Israeli counter-terror offensive has demolished houses and torn up vital infrastructure in the heavily built up townships, Paleostinian authorities say.
Israeli forces began their operation in the refugee camp in the northern West Bank city of Jenin on January 21, deploying hundreds of troops and bulldozers that demolished houses and dug up roads, driving almost all of the camp’s residents out. dug up roads looking for IEDs
The IDF says it carries out these demolitions because many of the roads and homes in these northern West Bank refugee camps are laced with IEDs set up by terror groups in order to deter Israeli operations.
"We don’t know what’s going on in the camp but there is continuous demolition and roads being dug up," says Mohammed al-Sabbagh, head of the Jenin camp services committee.
The operation, which Israel says is aimed at thwarting Iranian-backed terror groups in the West Bank, has since been extended to other camps, notably the Tulkarem refugee camp and the nearby Nur Shams camp, both of which have also been devastated.
The camps, built for descendants of Paleostinian refugees who fled or were driven from their homes in Israel’s 1948 War of Independence, have long been major centers for armed terror groups.
They have been raided repeatedly by the Israeli military but the current operation, which began as a ceasefire was agreed 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... , has been on an unusually large scale.
According to figures from the Paleostinian Authority, around 17,000 people have now left Jenin refugee camp, leaving the site almost completely deserted, while in Nur Shams 6,000 people, or about two-thirds of the total, have left, with another 10,000 leaving from Tulkarem camp.
"The ones who are left are trapped," says Nihad al-Shawish, head of the Nur Shams camp services committee. "The Civil Defense, the Red Islamic Thingy and the Paleostinian security forces brought them some food yesterday but the army is still bulldozing and destroying the camp."
The Israeli raids have demolished dozens of houses and torn up large stretches of roadway as well as cutting off water and power, but the military has denied forcing residents to leave their homes.
"People obviously have the possibility to move or go where they want, if they will. But if they don’t, they’re allowed to stay," IDF Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani tells news hounds.
[IsraelTimes] The recently freed female surveillance soldiers were moved from a tunnel in Gaza days before it was bombed by the IDF amid the intensive aerial campaign that followed the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror onslaught, according to Channel 12 news.
The network says around a month later, Hamas repaired the tunnel and moved the captives back there. The report doesn’t say why Hamas initially decided to move the women out of the tunnel to a site aboveground.
[IsraelTimes] Released hostage Iair Horn is struggling with walking and with vision problems after being kept in tunnels for 498 days, but all he cares about right now is getting his younger brother Eitan Horn home, says Dalia Cusnir, the sister-in-law of the Horn brothers, in a meeting with journalists.
As Horn was meeting with doctors about his care, says Cusnir, "he stood up and stopped everyone. ’You asked what I need,’ said Iair Horn. ’The only thing I need is for you to bring me my brother.'"
Cusnir says Horn was initially held with his brother Eitan and then separated but they don’t know how long ago they were separated. Eitan Horn was visiting Iair on Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 when they were taken hostage by Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... terrorists.
"Being with Eitan was very significant," says Cusnir of Iair’s captivity. "It gave him a reason, a purpose to fight and struggle and to wake up and stand up every morning. He had to keep going because of Eitan."
Eitan Cusnir has a severe skin disease that requires medication and has led to infections in the past, and the lack of hygiene in the tunnels is highly problematic with his disease and frightening to his family.
As the eldest son in the family of three brothers, who used to sleep in the same bedroom growing up in Argentina ...a country located on the other side of the Deep South. It is covered with Pampers and inhabited by Grouchos, who dance the Tangle. They used to have some islands called the Malvinas located where the Falklands are now. They're not supposed to cry for Evita... and followed one another to Israel as teens, Iair Horn feels tremendous responsibility for his brothers, who Cusnir says are like triplets.
Eitan Horn is not on the list of 33 hostages to be freed in the first stage of the current hostage deal.
Iair Horn hasn’t shared many details about his captivity, says his sister-in-law. He has mentioned a little bit about physical and psychological torture and that the worst day was October 7, when they were kidnapped with severe violence.
"They are counting the minutes and the seconds," says Cusnir, "knowing that if they arrive at the end of the day and are still alive, that’s a miracle, and who knows what’s next."
Iair Horn was unaware of what was happening with the other hostages, and thought that all the women and kiddies were released in November 2023. He also didn’t know what happened to Nir Oz, where one in four people were killed or taken hostage, nor of the vast destruction in the community that day.
"He asked to see a list of all the hostages from the other kibbutz and the Nova festival," says Cusnir. "He said that’s his task, and he wanted to go to the [hostage] rally yesterday [marking 500 days of captivity.] He said, ’I’m going to be on the stage to talk to everyone,’ and we had to tell him the doctors wouldn’t allow it yet."
Cusnir adds, "He said that as long as there are hostages 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... , he is still a hostage."
[IsraelTimes] Beirut airport to be closed Sunday afternoon for burial of slain terror leader and his would-be successor; Lebanon says it considers any remaining Israeli presence an occupation
Beirut airport will close for four hours on Sunday during the funeral of slain Hezbollah leader His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah ...The late, lamented satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...> , 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 civil aviation authority announced Tuesday, after Israeli troops withdrew from nearly all areas in southern Lebanon, with the exception of several key positions.
"The airport will be closed, and takeoffs and landings... will halt on February 23, 2025, from 12 p.m. until 4 p.m.," the authority said in a statement carried by official media on Tuesday.
Nasrallah was killed in a huge Israeli Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... on Beirut’s southern suburbs on September 27, 2024, as Israel scaled up its campaign against the Iran-backed terror group following almost a year of cross-border attacks.
After decades at the helm of the group once seen as a formidable foe to Israel, the killing of the charismatic leader sent shockwaves across Lebanon and the wider region.
Sunday’s funeral will also be for Hashem Safieddine, a senior Hezbollah figure who had been chosen to succeed Nasrallah before he too was killed in an Israeli strike in October.
The funeral is to begin at 1 p.m. at a sports stadium in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.
It will include a speech by current Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem ... the Grand Vizier of the Hezbullies... and is to be followed by a procession to Nasrallah’s burial site on the outskirts of Beirut.
Saffiedine will be buried in his hometown of Deir Qanun.
Iranian foreign ministry front man Esmaeil Baqaei said on Monday that Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... "will participate in this ceremony at a high level," without specifying who would attend.
Qassem over the weekend called for broad participation as a demonstration of the group’s strength.
"We want to transform this funeral into a show of support and an affirmation of (Hezbollah’s) plan and approach, and hold our heads high," Qassem said.
Hezbollah has said 79 countries would be involved in the commemoration, whether at an official or "popular" level.
Earlier this month, in a security alert about the funeral, the US embassy urged its nationals to avoid the area "which includes the airport."
Nasrallah had been temporarily buried elsewhere because of security concerns, Qassem said, and the group had also put off the public funeral for security reasons. Shiite Moslem rites provide for such a temporary burial when circumstances prevent a proper funeral or the dear departed cannot be buried where they wished.
[IsraelTimes] The BBC has been accused of airing a documentary ostensibly about the plight of “ordinary” Palestinians in Gaza without disclosing that the film focuses on the teen son of a senior Hamas minister, The Telegraph reports.
“Gaza: How To Survive a War Zone” is narrated by a 14-year-old boy named Abdullah Al-Yazouri, but the newspaper reports that the teen’s father is Ayman Alyazouri, deputy minister of agriculture in the Strip’s Hamas-run government.
The newspaper says the boy’s connection to Hamas is not revealed in the documentary and it is unclear if the production team knew.
The Telegraph reports that while the BBC has said it had full editorial control, it do not provide comment to the newspaper.
The UK public broadcaster has been criticized for its refusal to describe Hamas as terrorists, even though the group’s military wing is proscribed by the United Kingdom as such, and even after the widespread documentation of its systematic targeting of civilians on October 7, 2023.
The former director of the BBC, Danny Cohen, has accused the network of “egregious” anti-Israel bias.
A bit Underwear Gnomes for my taste, but this falls under the President’s area of expertise, so he will no doubt derive immense amusement over whatever they’re coming up with.
[IsraelTimes] Financial support from Arab and Gulf states toward reconstruction of the torn enclave could bring Trump around to their alternative plan
Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is expected to travel to Riyadh on Thursday, two cuss an Arab plan for oppression and disproportionate response... that may include up to $20 billion from the region for reconstruction.
A $20 billion contribution from Arab and Gulf states toward the fund, cited by two sources as being a likely figure, may be a good incentive for Trump to accept the plan, Emirati academic Abdulkhaleq Abdullah said. “Trump is transactional so $20 billion would resonate well with him,” Abdullah said.
Arab states are expected to discuss a post-war plan for Gaza to counter US President Donald Trump ...The cad! Twice caught beating wimmin!... ’s recent proposal to redevelop the strip under US control and permanently displace Paleostinians, a prospect that has angered regional leaders while being welcomed by Israel, although it has insisted that any relocation of Paleostinians would be voluntary.
Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... , Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... are set to review and discuss the Arab plan before it is presented at a scheduled Arab summit that is slated to take place in Cairo on March 4, four sources with knowledge of the matter said.
On Friday, a gathering of Arab state leaders, including Jordan, Egypt, the UAE and Qatar, was expected in Saudi Arabia, which is spearheading Arab efforts against Trump’s plan, although some sources said the date had not been confirmed yet.
Arab states were dismayed by Trump’s plan to “clean out” Palestinians from Gaza and resettle most of them in Jordan and Egypt to create a “Riviera of the Middle East.” The idea was immediately rejected by Cairo and Amman and seen in most of the region as deeply destabilizing, with rights groups saying that it would amount to forced expulsion, a potential war crime.
The Arab proposal, mostly based on an Egyptian plan, involves forming a national Palestinian committee to govern Gaza without Hamas involvement and international participation in reconstruction without displacing Palestinians abroad. The committee would also not be aligned with the Palestinian Authority, according to Egyptian officials involved in the efforts. A $20 billion contribution from Arab and Gulf states toward the fund, cited by two sources as being a likely figure, may be a good incentive for Trump to accept the plan, Emirati academic Abdulkhaleq Abdullah said.
“Trump is transactional so $20 billion would resonate well with him,” Abdullah said. “This would benefit a lot of US and Israeli companies.”
The PA’s cabinet said in a statement on Tuesday that the first phase of the plan under discussion would cost approximately $20 billion over three years.
Around a quarter million housing units have been destroyed or damaged, according to UN estimates. More than 90 percent of the roads and more than 80% of health facilities have been damaged or destroyed.
The Palestinian Authority’s estimate was matched by an assessment released by the United Nations, European Union and World Bank on Tuesday, which estimated that more than $50 billion would be required to rebuild Gaza and areas of the West Bank. The Interim Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment said that $53.2 billion is needed for recovery and reconstruction over the next ten years, with $20 billion needed in the first three.
Egyptian sources told Rooters that discussions are still underway as to the size of the financial The plan sees reconstruction taking place over a three-year timeframe, sources said.
Compare to President Trump’s estimate of 10-15 years. I know who I believe, though that may be the difference between Firet World construction and Third World…
“My conversations with Arab leaders, most recently King Abdullah [of Jordan], have convinced me they have a really realistic appraisal of what their role should be,” US Senator Richard Blumenthal told reporters in Tel Aviv during a visit to Israel on Monday.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Israel was waiting to evaluate the plan as it comes together but warned that any plan in which Hamas continued to have a presence in Gaza was not acceptable.
“When we hear it, we will know how to address it,” he said.
The 16 months of war in the Gaza Strip, sparked by the Hamas-led invasion and massacre in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, has devastated the Paleostinian enclave.
Around a quarter million housing units have been destroyed or damaged, according to UN estimates. More than 90 percent of the roads and more than 80% of health facilities have been damaged or destroyed. Damage to infrastructure has been estimated at some $30 billion, along with an estimated $16 billion in damage to housing.
[IsraelTimes] Craig and Lindsey Foreman accused of ‘posing as tourists’ to gather information while working with institutions linked to spy agencies in enemy countries.
None of the details matter beyond the names, since the Mad Mullahs are merely restocking inventory against future need.
[NYPost] An anti-Israel protest erupted into violence and mayhem as a swarm of demonstrators flooded a primarily Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn Tuesday night.
One person was arrested after dozens of agitators chanting "Zionists go to hell" and waving Paleostinian flags descended to Borough Park to protest a real estate event, according to police and reports.
"How many kids did you kill today?" anti-Israel protesters chanted to the beat of a snare drum, as some flashed Jewish residents the middle finger, The Times of Israel reported.
The demonstration, organized by anti-Israel activist group Pal-Awda, gathered to protest what they claimed was Paleostinian land being sold off to the Jewish state, the group shared in a post on X Monday afternoon.
Amidst the chaos, the protest organizer yelled "There is only one solution, intifada revolution" through a megaphone as others shouted, "settlers settlers go back home, Paleostine is ours alone," the outlet reported.
Pro-Israel demonstrators, along with a crowd of locals, carrying Israel’s flag, also gathered in the area, with barricades separating the opposing groups.
At one point, the dueling groups converged, and a brawl ignited with the sounds of screams blaring in the background as police forcefully separated the sparring crowd, according to videos shared on X.
Local leaders condemned the protest Monday night when plans for the controversial event spread on social media, with many calling on the city and police to put a stop to demonstrators gathering in the Jewish neighborhood.
Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres blasted protesters for targeting Borough Park "simply because it is Jewish."
"It should come as a shock to no one that the pro-Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... mob targeting Jews and promising to ’flood’ Boro Park has descended into violence," posted to X Tuesday night.
"Violence is not a bug but a feature of the so-called ’Free Paleostine’ movement, which has no desire to free Paleostinians from Hamas."
Activist group End Jew Hatred called out other city leaders for failing to "stand up" against the anti-Israel protesters.
"Hamas apologists and supporters, cloaked in the tired and well-worn pretense of supporting "Paleostine," showed their true nature as violent mostly peaceful thugs looking for any reason to attack Jews," the group said in a statement.
Charges are pending against the one protestor taken into custody, police said.
Countless demonstrations organized by anti-Israel activists have erupted in the Big Apple since the Paleostinian terror group Hamas attacked the Jewish state on Oct. 7, 2023. The latest protest flared just hours after Hamas made a ghoulish announcement confirming its youngest hostages, Kfir and Ariel Bibas, 2 and 5, and their mother, Shiri Bibas, are dead and their bodies will be returned to Israel this week. Bibas and her boys quickly became symbols of the horrors of the terrorist attack.
Around 200 anti-Israel protesters gathered on a street in the neighborhood within a barricaded area set up by police. A crowd of Jewish neighborhood residents and other pro-Israel counterprotesters demonstrated on the sidewalk across the street. Dozens of police officers separated the two sides. The protest began just after sundown and the temperature was below freezing.
On the Jewish side, dozens of adults and children from the neighborhood and other counterprotesters lined a police barricade across the street. Some were actively protesting, while others were curious passersby who stopped to take photos on their phones. Several held Israeli flags and shouted at the anti-Israel crowd. One woman held up the yellow flag of the far-right Jewish Defense League.
Several fights broke out. A couple of anti-Israel activists who walked into the Jewish side were shouted at and pushed out. Some participants traded blows on the sidelines of the rally. As the protest wound down, the two opposing groups walked down opposite sides of the street, with some crossing back and forth, leading to further scuffles. The police struggled to keep participants separated, and on the sidewalks, away from traffic.
As the anti-Israel group headed toward a subway station, NYPD Deputy Chief Richie Taylor, the highest-ranking Orthodox Jewish police officer in the city, urged neighborhood residents to not follow them any longer.
“There’s no reason for it. They’re leaving,” he told a crowd of young men.
The NYPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment on arrests.
Anti-Israel activists have held hundreds of protests in New York since the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion of Israel, but Tuesday’s rally stood out because protests in Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods are rare.
The protest was widely condemned by New York political leaders before it took place.
“This ‘protest’ is in fact targeted harassment aimed at a neighborhood with one of the highest populations of Orthodox Jews in the US,” said Representative Daniel Goldman, a New York Democrat. “To harass and intimidate Jews because of the actions of Israel is textbook antisemitism. True progressives must speak out against this hate.”
Anti-Israel street protests in New York have spiked since the Hamas attack on Israel, starting with a celebration the following day, and have continued since the current ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The activists’ targets have included cancer patients, museums, memorials to the dead, libraries, transportation hubs and holiday events.
10/7 showed Israeli weakness which brought shame on Israel, the Jews, and the West and honor to the Islamic world. 10/7 empowered the Islamic world.
In turn, from a Western perspective, Israeli military supremacy and any suffering it causes, deserved or not, causes guilt in the West which weakens the West and empowers its adversaries. Ditto for NATO/Afghanistan etc.
Who are we?
Do we deserve to exist?
Do we have a right to preserve our existence?
These are the questions the West needs to answer asap.
#2
QUESTION:
What has happened to all the Liberal Democrats, Race Pimps & the MSM in the USA? They used to be the 1st ones demanding & screaming Hate Speech Laws must be enforced for far, far less?
But! The current lack of action or commentary by the usual the Liberal Elite and MSM yapping heads, on such clearly racist actions, does kinda speak volumes.
Raising the other questions. Are the Liberal/ Democrat Elite and their controlled MSM arm actually Anti-Semitic? Or just playing it for $$$$ donations and votes?
#5
In turn, from a Western perspective, Israeli military supremacy and any suffering it causes, deserved or not, causes guilt in the West which weakens the West
Anyone applying a Western perspective to feel guilt over the Israeli response to the Hamas invasion and its sequalae is at best a vicious fool and at worst deliberately evil. The proper Western perspective to the Israeli response should be pride and eagerness to assist them in indelibly punishing Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, their master Iran, and anyone at home and abroad who supports them.
#6
The proper Western perspective to the Israeli response should be pride and eagerness to assist them in indelibly punishing Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, their master Iran, and anyone at home and abroad who supports them.
Well said!
Where is the pressure on New York politicians for allowing this to happen?
[IsraelTimes] The US Senate confirms wealthy financier Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary, putting in place a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump ...Oh, noze! Not him!... ’s hardline trade polices.
At the Commerce Department, Lutnick, who was CEO at the investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald, will oversee 50,000 employees who do everything from collecting economic statistics to running the census to issuing weather reports. But he’s likely to spend a lot of time — along with Jamieson Greer, Trump’s nominee to be the top US trade negotiator — managing the president’s aggressive plans to impose import taxes on US trading partners, including allies and adversaries alike.
The Senate vote to confirm Lutnick was 51-45.
Lutnick was CEO at Cantor Fitzgerald when its offices were hit in the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center. The firm lost two-thirds of its employees — 658 people — that day, including Lutnick’s brother. Howard Lutnick led the firm’s recovery and is a member of the Board of Directors of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
Lutnick, who is Jewish, has promised to sell off his business holdings. They’re complicated. His financial disclosure statement shows that he had positions in more than 800 businesses and other private organizations.
[IsraelTimes] Mobile homes also expected to be delivered to enclave as demanded by Hamas; FM Sa’ar says talks for second stage of ceasefire to start this week
Heavy construction equipment was said to begin entering 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 on Tuesday, in a step toward bolstering the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... Egypt’s al-Ghad TV reported that the equipment crossed from Egypt into Gaza through the Rafah crossing.
The entry of mobile homes and construction equipment into Gaza has been a sticking point, with the terror group last week threatening to halt the release of hostages under the ceasefire deal unless the items were allowed in.
The report came as Tuesday statements from Israeli and Hamas officials said six living Israeli hostages will be released on Saturday from Hamas captivity in Gaza. The six are all the remaining living captives set to go free in the ongoing first phase of the deal with the terror group.
Israel will allow mobile homes and heavy construction equipment into Gaza in a controlled manner as it seeks to expedite the release of the six living hostages, a senior Israeli official said earlier.
"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making immense efforts to secure the release of the six living hostages that remain as part of phase one [of the hostage-ceasefire deal], and also four hostages who are not alive," the official said.
"Under the agreement, Israel agreed to allow mobile homes and construction equipment into Gaza after stringent inspections. In accordance with the negotiations and on condition Hamas upholds the agreement, Israel will begin allowing this in a controlled and phased way."
Hamas is set to release four bodies on Thursday.
According to reports, the ceasefire and hostage release agreement explicitly states that supplies and equipment can be brought into Gaza to establish at least 60,000 temporary living facilities. The details of the deal have not been published in full. Hamas has also said it wants hundreds of heavy construction machines while alleging that only a handful have arrived so far.
Earlier this week Netanyahu reportedly refused to approve the entry of mobile homes and heavy equipment into the Gaza Strip.
A political official told the Kan public broadcaster that during a security consultation chaired by the prime minister "it was decided that the issue of caravans will be discussed in the coming days. Israel is fully coordinating with the United States."
Fun, useful, and informative. A taste — go read the whole thing.
[MonsterHunterInternational] Watching everybody I know on the left pontificating about the proper way to conduct audits, after getting their accounting degrees from the University of Internet this week, is absolute cringe for me.
Guys, listen, I say this with love… You don’t know dick about shit and it’s fucking embarrassing. Just stop. You sound like idiots.
So now, as a guy who used to be an auditor, who has defended companies from dozens of audits from different government agencies, I’ll try to correct some of your incredibly stupid NPC talking points you keep endlessly barfing up.
First off, you need to know there’s a difference between an outside audit and an internal audit. An outside audit is when somebody who isn’t part of your company comes in and checks your stuff. This could be one of the fifty something government agencies that audit people/businesses, or this could be an outside CPA firm making sure you are in compliance for some reason (like the company is publicly traded). I’ll talk more about what CPAs are in a minute.
Then there are internal audits, where the person in charge has his own people audit his company, looking for problems, hoping to have everything in order before those 3rd party outsiders show up to check, or searching for fraud, waste, and abuse… You know, those annoying things that tend to screw you over and put you out of business. That’s the kind of auditing I mostly did.
An internal audit is what Donald Trump (the man in charge) is doing now, by having his people (DOGE) audit the executive branch he runs. CEOs and owners do this all the time.
You do not need to be a Certified PUBLIC Accountant to be part of an internal audit team.
In fact, even most CPA firms, auditing the biggest corporations in the world, the majority of the auditors doing the grunt work are NOT CPAs. Most government auditors are not CPAs.
CPA is a particular certification required for a few particular types of accounting, and that isn’t even close to what DOGE is doing.
Also most of the auditors for those big firms are YOUNG. They are usually around 24, because those are the dudes that the big firms can work 80 hours a week and they won’t just keel over and die. They do this kind of work BEFORE taking the CPA exam if they want to go that route, and most of them don’t, because they end up going from auditing into some other form of specialty.
These young auditors make up a team which is usually supervised by an NCO type who has got 5-7 years of experience (and may or may not be a CPA depending on the industry) and they all answer to somebody higher up, who has got the 10-20 years of experience. This will of course vary on the size of the company.
You do NOT need to be an accountant to be an auditor. Anybody who says this is a total dumb ass with zero grasp of how any of this shit works in real life. The people who make up your audit team are recruited from whatever skill sets are necessary to audit that particular system. I (the accountant) have been on audit teams with IT guys, programmers, lawyers, and even machinists. (why machinists, because I was auditing a factory, and I could count the parts, but I couldn’t tell you if the parts were bullshit or not)
So if you are auditing a computer system, then your auditors would obviously require computer people. Fucking duh, morons. Holy shit. The reason most auditors come from an accounting background is because most fraud, waste, and abuse comes from fuckery on the books. But if the fuckery is taking place in the particular systems before they get to the financials, that’s where we bring in systems experts.
#1
I love Larry Correia. A real no bullshit guy. He is 100% on target regarding needing to be an accountant. I was an E-6 11B4P; by definition 'not an accountant'. I was on an IG team auditing some prestigious colleges' ROTC units. We found that one such college had hundreds of ROTC students that had never signed their contracts. So the result was most ROTC students got the Army to pay for their tuition and they then blew off the Army upon graduation. Worse, the officers tried their utmost to pressure the IG team to NOT report this. Waste, fraud and abuse much? I was a straight arrow on this shit. Mutchly hated. As if anyone cares I suppose. I did my little bit.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
02/19/2025 3:41
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#2
Sorry about the typo(s). Three AM here.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
02/19/2025 3:42
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#3
For all that you have done, dear Whiskey Mike, and do now, we are thoroughly thankful.
There are plenty here who will know what that particular combination of letters and numbers means, but I shall have to be impressed on general principle. ;-)
#6
I wish Larry would do something similar for the profoundly and malevolently stupid on how personal financial information is (or is not) confidential/secret. I've known for decades that the feds know almost to the penny how much I'm worth, where my savings are, and how to destroy all that in a few keystrokes. I'm pretty sure none knows how my change I have in my pockets at the moment...
#7
I was a quality manager (and auditor) for transit and highway projects - internal audits of my employer (contractor) and external audits of suppliers. The Transit owner insisted I pass a 40 hour auditors course. There was no financial component.
Always tedious, hard work, but often fun. I think...
I asked, in writing, did you do what you said you would do? (compared to your approved quality plan.) Show me. Write a report.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/19/2025 11:18
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#8
Thinking back to my training (20 years ago), I recall hearing if you were going to do a really deep dive, on a big outfit (like GM), relevant experience is useful. But the auditor could bring (one of more) subject-matter experts. Such audits might be weeks long. Mine were all 4-6 hours.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/19/2025 11:45
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[IsraelTimes] Family of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas ‘in turmoil’ over Hamas announcement, has not received Israeli confirmation; only 3 living hostages were to go free this week, but Hamas will instead release all 6 of phase 1’s remaining living hostages
All six remaining living hostages slated to be released in the first phase of 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... ceasefire deal will be freed Saturday, Israeli and Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... officials said Tuesday, in a surprise move apparently linked to growing worries that the ceasefire and captive release deal in the Gaza Strip could collapse.
Encouragement over the expedited release, which will include two Israelis held in the Strip for over a decade, was tempered, however, with an announcement from the terror group that it would also transfer the bodies of mother Shiri Silberman Bibas and her two young children Ariel and Kfir back to Israel, dampening hopes that the three might still be found alive.
The Bibas family said it was "in turmoil" over the announcement and had not received confirmation from Israel.
Hamas leader in Gaza Khalil al Hayya said that among the six living hostages will be Israelis Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who have been held by Hamas since entering the Strip on their own in 2014 and 2015, respectively. The other four — Tal Shoham, Omer Shem-Tov, Omer Wenkert, and Eliya Cohen — were kidnapped during the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel.
Al Hayya said that the releases would be conditioned on Israel living up to its side of the first phase of the deal, which includes the release of hundreds of Paleostinian inmates, including many serving life sentences for murder, a cessation of fighting in the Strip and the entry of aid and other equipment into the beleaguered enclave.
Under the original agreement with Hamas, only three living hostages were scheduled to go free on Saturday, and the remaining three a week later. Israel had been pushing hard to get all six out as early as possible, spurred by US President Donald Trump ...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party... ’s call last week for all Israeli hostages to go free in a single group.
An Israeli official said the updated terms had been reached during talks in Egypt last week.
"If the agreement in Cairo is carried out, it will be an important achievement for Israel," the official said.
The Prime Minister’s Office also confirmed that four dead hostages would be released on Thursday, but did not name them. The only name on the phase one list whose death Israel has confirmed is Shlomo Mantzur.
Israel has said it has "grave concerns" for the fate of Silberman Bibas and her young sons. Hamas’s al Hayya said earlier Tuesday that members of the Bibas family would be among the four bodies to be handed over on Thursday.
Responding to the announcement, the family stressed: "Until we receive definitive confirmation, our journey is not over."
Silberman Bibas, 32 at the time, was kidnapped from her Nir Oz home on October 7, with her young boys Ariel, 4 at the time, and Kfir, who was only nine months old. Husband and father Yarden Bibas, who was kidnapped separately from their home after he left the safe room hoping to distract the button men and save his family., was freed from Gaza on February 1.
Footage from October 7 showed Silberman Bibas clutching the boys as they were led away by Hamas button men, and the IDF later released video it found showing them being moved between buildings in Khan Younis, but their fate has remained unknown. Hamas claimed in November 2023 that Silberman Bibas and the kids were killed in an IDF strike. Israel called the claim cruel propaganda and did not confirm it.
The annex of the ceasefire agreement that deals with the release of the bodies was revealed on Monday evening and has not been officially published.
Hamas is also required by the agreement to release four more bodies of hostages next week, according to the PMO, completing the release of the 33 Israeli hostages in phase one.
Hamas will, in turn, be securing the early release of 47 Hamas members who were released in the 2011 exchange for former IDF soldier Gilad Shalit but later rearrested by Israel. The original deal had stipulated that those 47 prisoners be released by the final day of phase one in early March.
It was the terror group first raised the idea of expediting the release of the remaining living hostages listed under phase one, two Israeli officials told Axios.
"Hamas feared that the agreement will not last until day 42 when these 47 prisoners were supposed to be released because Israel will blow it up," an Israeli official told Axios.
The decision to expedite the releases indicates that both sides think that the hostage deal might collapse before the 42nd day of phase one, Axios suggested.
IDENTIFYING THE BODIES
Israel on Tuesday was preparing to receive and identify the four bodies on Thursday. The bodies will be transported to Israel’s National Center of Forensic Medicine (Abu Kabir) in Jaffa by Israel Defense Forces ambulances for identification.
Families will be updated when the bodies have been properly identified, according to Hebrew media, and only after that will the details be released to the public. Some news outlets have said they will not broadcast photos or footage of the bodies or coffins distributed by Hamas out of respect for the bereaved.
The Health Ministry reminded the public that these are "sensitive times" for the loved ones of the slain hostages and urged everyone to respect their privacy.
The Kan public broadcaster reported that the bodies would be identified within 48 hours at Abu Kabir, which has been renovated to provide areas for the families to gather if necessary according to the circumstances in which the remains are received.
The head of the Israel Police’s forensics division, Lt. Col. Aliza Raziel, told Channel 12 on Tuesday that together with Abu Kabir and the IDF, the authorities were "ready to receive the bodies and activate all existing scientific identification methods."
She said that authorities began collecting biometric data from hostages, including dental records, fingerprints, and DNA, soon after the hostages were taken "so that when the time comes, we could compare and identify them accurately."
Volunteer dentists have been trained to identify the bodies, Raziel told Channel 12, adding that fingerprints could also be used, depending on the condition of the remains.
"And in cases where these options cannot be used, the DNA test remains, for which we have prepared all the data in advance," she explained, noting that the identification system used in Israel is considered one of the most advanced in the world.
PHASE TWO TALKS THIS WEEK
Israel, meanwhile, will in the coming days begin negotiations on the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal, including an exchange of the remaining hostages for more Paleostinian security prisoners, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said, adding that Israel is demanding a complete demilitarization of the enclave.
Fifty-nine Israelis will remain in captivity after the completion of phase one of the deal, 24 of whom are believed to be alive. The other 35 have been confirmed dead by Israeli authorities.
Sa’ar told foreign journalists in Jerusalem Tuesday that the talks will begin "this week."
"We had a security cabinet meeting last night. We decided to open negotiations on the second phase. It will happen this week," he said of the talks, which were originally supposed to start on February 3.
Hayya, the senior Hamas official, said in a statement that Hamas is prepared to immediately begin negotiations regarding phase two of the deal.
Sa’ar said Israel will not accept any scenario in which Gaza terror groups retain weapons. A "Hezbollah model" in Gaza would not be acceptable to Israel "and therefore we need a total demilitarization of Gaza and no presence of the Paleostinian Authority," he said in a presser.
He added that Israel was aware of an alternative plan by Arab states for Gaza made to counter US President Donald Trump’s proposal to redevelop the Strip under US control, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said is worthy of exploration.
Israel will not support a plan that would see civilian control of Gaza transferred from Hamas to the Paleostinian Authority, Sa’ar said.
The ceasefire stipulates that the parties must begin negotiations regarding phase two of the deal no later than the 16th day of the first phase, which was on February 3, but talks have yet to begin. The second phase provides for the end of the war and the withdrawal of all IDF troops from Gaza.
Hamas has so far released 24 hostages — 19 Israeli civilians and female soldiers, and five Thai nationals — during the current ceasefire, which began on January 19. The terror group also freed 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before that.
[IsraelTimes] Roster includes two men who wandered into Gaza a decade ago, a father kidnapped while visiting his in-laws on Kibbutz Be’eri, and three young men abducted from the Nova rave
Israel confirmed Tuesday that the final six living hostages slated for release under phase one of a ceasefire deal would all be freed on Saturday, after the Hamas terror group announced that it would expedite the handovers.
The six include Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who have been held by Hamas since entering the Strip on their own in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
The other four, all of whom were taken on October 7, 2023, include father Tal Shoham and three young men kidnapped from the Nova music festival: Omer Shem-Tov, Omer Wenkert and Eliya Cohen.
Hamas is also slated to release the bodies of eight slain hostages over the next two weeks.
Families of all six living hostages confirmed that they were on the list of captives slated for release.
“I see Omer’s name on TV and I don’t believe it,” Shem-Tov’s mother Shelly said after receiving word, according to Channel 12 news. “Now I can say that we can breathe, and I’m just waiting to hug my Omer.”
AVERA MENGISTU, 37
Mengistu will have spent 3,821 days in captivity by the time he is released on Saturday, according to the Hostage Families Forum.
According to his family and Israeli officials, Mengistu crossed into northern Gaza from the beach at Zikim in September 2014. The then-28-year-old was spotted by IDF security cameras, but made it through the fence before troops could reach the scene. He was picked up by a Hamas patrol and was not heard from until the terror group released a video purporting to show him alive in early 2023.
Mengistu hails from Ashkelon’s working-class Ethiopian-Israeli community. According to his family, he suffered from mental illness, and was given an exemption from military service. Mengistu’s family has struggled over the years to rally public support or pressure the government to negotiate his release, with some relatives alleging racism and contrasting his plight with that of soldier Gilad Shalit, a cause celebre who was freed in 2011 in exchange for over 1,000 Palestinian inmates.
“We know that he is alive and in a bad mental and physical condition,” a relative told a Tel Aviv rally in August. “He’s been there not for a month or a year but for 10 years.”
Reports following the October 7, 2023, massacre indicated that Hamas lulled Israel into complacency by feigning serious interest in a deal for Mengistu and al-Sayed.
HISHAM AL-SAYED, 37
Al-Sayed, a 28-year-old Bedouin Israeli from the village of Hura in the Negev desert, entered the Strip near the Erez Crossing in April 2015. According to his father, this was not his first time going into Gaza, but in this case he was stopped by Hamas and taken into its custody. By the time he is released on Saturday, he will have spent nearly 3,600 days in the hands of the terror group.
Like Mengistu, al-Sayed suffered from mental illness, though he briefly served in the military before being discharged. According to Human Rights Watch, in the years prior to his entering Gaza, al-Sayed was “diagnosed with schizophrenia and a personality disorder, among other conditions” and was repeatedly institutionalized. In one instance, he escaped a hospital and nearly made it inside Gaza before being stopped, according to the group, which examined his medical records.
Al-Sayed was not heard from until 2022, when Hamas released a video showing him looking sick and depleted in a bed and hooked up to an oxygen tank. In a statement Tuesday, al-Sayed’s family said they had been waiting for him for a decade, and added that their happiness would not be complete until all hostages returned home.
“It cannot be that the fate of other hostages will be a decade in captivity,” they said.
TAL SHOHAM, 39
Tal Shoham, a dual Israeli-Austrian citizen from the northern town of Maale Tzviya, was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on October 7 while visiting his wife’s family on Kibbutz Be’eri for the Simchat Torah holiday.
His wife, Adi Shoham, his daughter, Yahel, 3, and son, Naveh, 8, as well as his mother-in-law Shoshan Haran, his wife’s aunt Sharon Avigdori and her daughter Noam, 12, were also taken hostage, but released on November 25, 2023.
His father-in-law Avshalom Haran was killed during the attack, as were his wife’s aunt and uncle Eviatar and Lilach Kipnis, who lived next door in Be’eri.
According to Shoham’s father, Gilad Korngold, the extended family had been hiding in the Haran family home but were forced to flee after Hamas terrorists set it on fire.
According to Korngold, a person on Kibbutz Be’eri saw Shoham in restraints but walking on his own feet before being shoved into the trunk of a stolen car by his captors. Little is known about his condition.
Adi Shoham said last year that she had been collecting questions asked by their two kids in his absence, including “When is dad coming home?” and “Mom, are we going to die?”
ELIYA COHEN, 27
Eliya Cohen was with his fiancé, Ziv, at the Nova desert rave when Hamas gunmen attacked, said his mother, Sigi Cohen. The two tried to escape but were chased by terrorists and both shot.
They attempted to hide among a pile of dead bodies in a bomb shelter, but Aboud, who escaped, told Cohen’s mother that she felt him being pulled up and then placed on a pickup truck and driven away. It was later discovered that Cohen was in the same vehicle with hostages Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Or Levy and Alon Ohel, who were also abducted from the shelter.
The family eventually found a photo showing Cohen in Gaza.
Earlier this month, the family said they heard from recently released captives that Cohen has been chained throughout his time in captivity and gets very little food or daylight. A bullet wound in his leg has yet to be properly treated, according to the accounts, which were relayed by Sigi Cohen to Hebrew language media.
OMER WENKERT, 23
Omer Wenkert was also taken captive by Hamas terrorists at the Nova festival on October 7. He was in touch with his parents that morning, telling them he was “scared to death.” Their last communication with him was at 7:50 a.m.
They were later sent a Hamas video of Omer, tied up on the flatbed of a white pickup truck, in his underwear, confirming that he had been taken hostage in Gaza.
Wenkert suffers from colitis and can have very dramatic attacks, said his parents in a video posted on the website that was put together about him.
In October, Wenkert’s mother Niva told Hebrew language media that they had not received any sign of life from him since the release of hostage Liam Or, who had been held with him, in November 2023. At the time, Wenkert was described as dangerously underweight, with almost no attention paid to his medical needs.
“His diet was three dates a day. Dates may be quite healthy, but for Omer they can be fatal,” she said. “Dates have dietary fiber and colitis sufferers cannot consume dietary fiber.”
The Gedera resident was described as vibrant and social with a wide circle of friends. He works as a restaurant manager and plans to become a restaurant critic.
OMER SHEM-TOV, 22
Omer Shem-Tov last spoke to his parents around 10 a.m. on October 7, as he sounded increasingly panicked about what was happening around him while Hamas terrorists shot hundreds and abducted dozens at the Nova rave.
After getting into a friend’s car, he sent his family his live location, but they eventually noticed that it was headed toward Gaza, and contact with him was lost. They later saw a Hamas video that had been posted on Telegram showing Shem-Tov and his friend lying on a floor in Gaza. They were able to identify Omer from his tattoos, said his mother.
Little is known about the condition of the computer programmer.
A downpayment on the billions America has given the Taliban in the last five years alone. You’re welcome.
[ToloNews] The Center for Global Development, in a newly published report, has stated that the suspension of US aid will have catastrophic consequences for poor countries, including Afghanistan.
The report mentions that Afghanistan is one of eight countries most dependent on US aid.
The Center for Global Development also stated that 35% of all foreign aid to Afghanistan was provided by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and the suspension of this aid will result in a 7% reduction in Afghanistan's economic growth.
Meanwhile,
...back at the mall, Clarissa spent the day shopping for new underwear. Tonight was going to be a special occasion... some Kabul residents have expressed concerns over economic challenges and unemployment, calling on authorities to assist those in need.
"My request to the officials is to come and survey our home and help those who are in need, especially as the holy month of Ramadan is approaching," Mujahid, a Kabul resident, told TOLOnews.
The Ministry of Economy acknowledged the short-term negative impact of the suspension of US humanitarian aid on those in need but said that it will have no effect on the overall economy of Afghanistan.
"In the short term, it will have negative effects on our people as some benefited from this aid, but overall, it cannot negatively impact the country's economy because all economic programs rely on domestic revenue," Abdul Rahman Habib, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Economy, told TOLOnews.
"Aid organizations operating in Afghanistan did not have significant efficiency, faced distribution challenges, and were not effective and beneficial," said Abdul Ghaffar Nazami, an economic analyst.
According to the report by the Center for Global Development, the United States has provided over $3 billion in financial aid to Afghanistan in the past three years and has been the country’s largest financial supporter.
However,
Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried... the restriction of this aid has placed Afghanistan among the most economically vulnerable countries in the world.
These are the very basic questions that any entity that strives to orient itself in space and time and act rationally has to ponder.
These are the very basic questions that the West has avoided contemplating since the 1990s and especially since 9/11.
Instead opting for a sleepwalking irrational reflex driven incoherent approach that was a mix of inaction in the face of threats and frantic and expensive action that exacerbated threats.
Who are we? That's the question JD Vance asked in Munich.
Europe's answer was cognitively dissonant gibberish. The US hasn't given a definitive answer yet.
WRT Afghanistan these fundamental questions should be answered by Western decision makers.
Who and what are the Afghans to us?
What do we want with the Afghans?
Where is Afghanistan going? Where should it be go?
Who are we serving wrt Afghanistan?
Who do we trust wrt Afghanistan?
As long as these fundamental questions haven't even been contemplated any action taken is irrational.
#3
Washington spent the USA into a $35+ Trillion, Dollar debt. DC has funded & supported some of the most vicious dictators and governments on this Earth.
All while they screwed over the US Taxpayers, and too many DC Swamper's have gotten Super $$$$$$$ Filthy Rich doing it.
BTW: What are we on now for "Saving Africa" #5 or #6, plus feeding 14 Million ILLEGALS?
All while we have Homeless Vets, and Sr. Citizens doing w/o basics, that are being given freely overseas.
But you miss mine: these $$$ - whether they're spent inside, or outside, USA - are spent on causes hostile to the people of USA. That is, if you block them, you save more than a 100% of the money.
If the US and the West cancels any aid to Afghanistan then any cent spent on food aid by Qatar et al will be not be spent on Hamas, Hezbollah, MB operatives in the West and world wide.
Zero aid to Afghanistan conserves much more than the aid itself.
The Afghans hate us anyway. Aid is seen a form of global Jizyia and adds contempt to their hate.
If the Trump administration had b*lls they would propose Congress repurpose these funds to 9/11 related expenses publicly and explicitly.
Money is fungible, but it would be a powerful political message.
[KhaamaPress] Pak media has reported that the police, in response to the growing insecurity in the country, have warned Maulana Fazlur Rehman ...Deobandi holy man, known as Mullah Diesel during the war against the Soviets, his sympathies for the Taliban have never been tempered by honesty. Fazl seldom misses a meal and is now so large he has his own gravitational pull... , the leader of the Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam ...the political wing of the Pak Taliban... party, that the Pak Taliban ...Arabic for students... (TTP) intends to assassinate him.
The Express Tribune newspaper reported on Monday, February 17 that the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police issued a security advisory to Maulana Fazlur Rehman, urging him to enhance his security measures and limit his movements.
According to the report, "Sources informed the police that the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) intend to target Maulana Fazlur Rehman due to his involvement in religious and political activities."
Pak media, citing security sources, reported that the Taliban has assigned the task of assassinating this political and religious figure to "armed hitmen," who are planning to carry out the attack covertly.
In the police security advisory to Maulana Fazlur Rehman, it is stated that "In light of the recent terrorist incidents targeting politicians in the Bajaur tribal region, and the threats directed towards you, it is advised that you increase your security at your residence and limit your movements."
Ismail Ghori, the front man for Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam, also responded to this warning, stating that the party’s security guard is capable of protecting Maulana Fazlur Rehman and urging the police to ensure security instead of creating fear.
It is noteworthy that this religious leader was also targeted in an liquidation attempt last year, from which he narrowly escaped.
[KhaamaPress] Armed Death Eaters attacked humanitarian aid trucks carrying food, medicine, and other essential supplies in Kurram, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, on Monday. The attack resulted in the deaths of two people and left at least 15 others injured, raising concerns about the security of aid convoys in the region.
This was the third attack on supply convoys in Kurram since the beginning of January. The region has been one of the most unstable parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, making it increasingly difficult to deliver aid to those in need.
According to reports, the attack took place while the aid trucks were traveling toward Parachinar. Police confirmed that one of the truck drivers and a security officer escorting the convoy were killed. The injured were taken to medical facilities for treatment.
Authorities have launched an operation to arrest those responsible for the attack. Officials also reported that several aid trucks were looted and set on fire by the attackers, further worsening the humanitarian situation in the area.
In recent months, at least 130 people have died in sectarian festivities between Shia and Sunni groups in Kurram. Militant groups have increased their attacks on security forces in North and South Wazoo, near the Afghanistan border. These regions have seen a surge in turban activity, making it difficult for law enforcement to maintain stability.
In a separate attack on Saturday, four soldiers and 15 armed Death Eaters were killed. The military identified the Death Eaters as members of Tehrik-e-Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... Pakistain (TTP).
[Rudaw] Iraq’s ministry of immigration and displacement confirmed on Monday the repatriation of over 12,500 Iraqi nationals linked to the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) from the notorious al-Hol camp in northeast Syria’s (Rojava) Hasaka province.
The ministry spokesperson Ali Jahangir told Rudaw that 21 convoys of ISIS fighters’ relatives "have been returned from al-Hol, where 3,062 Iraqi families currently reside, totaling more than 12,500 members."
Most of the repatriated individuals are being temporarily housed in al-Jada camp in Iraq’s northern Nineveh province for rehabilitation and reintegration into their communities, according to Jahangir.
The ministry spokesperson also mentioned that around 15,000 Iraqi nationals linked to ISIS remain in al-Hol camp, awaiting repatriation. The process is being conducted with coordination between the Kurdish-led administration in Rojava and the Iraqi government.
In late January, Baghdad announced plans to repatriate all its nationals residing in camps for people with links to ISIS in northeast Syria, based on an agreement with the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... Iraqis and Syrians make up the majority of the 40,000 ISIS-linked individuals at the al-Hol, which has been described as a breeding ground for extremism and terrorism.
The repatriation of ISIS-linked citizens has sparked division in Iraq. Some communities and tribes are opposed to accepting ISIS-linked individuals and their families, citing the group’s brutal human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... violations during its rise in 2014 and subsequent fall in 2017.
Others argue that reintegration should be considered for families of ISIS members, especially those who were not directly involved in severe crimes.
This now belongs under business as usual rather than WoT, I think, as this kind of bickering with violence is the Iraqi/Arab base state.
[Rudaw] Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-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... i on Tuesday ordered an investigation into the Iraqi army’s festivities with Kurdish farmers northwest of the disputed province of Kirkuk where tensions have been simmering.
The escalation began on Monday when Iraqi security forces forcibly barred Kurdish farmers from Kirkuk’s Sargaran subdistrict from accessing their confiscated lands.
Footage captured by Rudaw showed Iraqi army and anti-riot units clashing with civilians as they attempted to enter their farmland. In one instance, an Iraqi security officer is seen as trying to forcefully remove a local from his tractor.
In response, Sudani ordered the Joint Operations Command to "form a high-level committee" to "investigate all aspects of the incident," read a statement from Iraq’s Security Media Cell. He also dispatched the justice ministry’s undersecretary, Burhan al-Qaisi, to the province to address the issue of "common lands of interest between the federal regions and the Kurdistan Region."
Sudani called on Iraqi and Kurdish security forces to "adhere to the laws...exercise a high level of self-restraint," and "act patriotically and wisely" to prevent further tensions.
The head of the Farmers Defense Committee, Mohammed Amin, told Rudaw on Tuesday that "a delegation from Iraq’s Council of Ministers" would meet with the farmers in Kirkuk, ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time... adding, "we will announce the results [of these talks] later."
The recent festivities come despite recent advancements in Iraq’s legislature, including the passage of the Property Restitution Law last month.
The law aims to return lands seized, in Kirkuk and other disputed areas, during the Baath era to their original Kurdish and Turkmen owners. These lands were previously given to Arab settlers, a tactic believed to have been part of the Baathist regime’s efforts to alter the demographic makeup in disputed regions.
The escalation in Kirkuk sparked wide-scale reactions from the Kurdistan Region.
The Kurdistan Region’s Presidency slammed the Monday incident as "rejected and unacceptable," while the Kurdistan Regional Government described the Iraqi army’s use of force as "unconstitutional" and "contradicting the principles of the new Iraq." Erbil urged an immediate halt to military intervention and called for perpetrators to be brought to justice.
This is not the first such incident. In November, Iraqi armed forces also blocked farmers from preparing their fields for the winter season. Kurdish farmers at the time also blamed Arab settlers for preventing them from accessing their lands.
[IsraelTimes] Israel reportedly readying for potential resumption of war if ceasefire collapses, amassing troops and equipment along Gaza border; delegation yet to depart for latest Doha talks
Unlike the first phase of the deal which required Hamas to release several hostages each week over the course of six weeks, the terror group submitted an offer to Israel via mediators to release all the hostages in phase two at once, to prevent Israel from resuming the war.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told cabinet ministers during a recent meeting that Israel’s conditions in upcoming negotiations on the terms of the second phase of the ceasefire and hostage release deal are for the Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... terror group to disarm and have no presence 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... , and for the Paleostinian Authority to be barred from the post-war management of the enclave, Israeli television reported Tuesday.
The Channel 12 news report came after the security cabinet met Monday night to discuss negotiations for the second stage of the ceasefire agreement, which have yet to begin despite originally being expected to start on February 3. Kan news said Netanyahu is also demanding the demilitarization of the Strip.
Following the meeting, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Tuesday that the talks on the second phase — which is expected to provide for the release of all remaining hostages, the withdrawal of all IDF troops from Gazoo and the end of the war — would begin "this week."
Hinting at the stance Israel is expected to adopt in the upcoming negotiations, Sa’ar warned that Jerusalem "will not accept the continued presence of Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... or any other terrorist organization in Gaza."
But, he added, if the negotiations are constructive, Israel will remain engaged and may prolong the ceasefire.
"If we will see there is a constructive dialogue with a possible horizon of getting to an agreement (then) we will make this timeframe work longer," he said.
It is unclear how Netanyahu’s reported demands regarding the ousting of Hamas, which reflect his public insistence that the terror group must be completely destroyed, can be reconciled with his pledge to secure the release of all remaining Israeli captives. Many analysts have assessed that the only way to enable the release of all the hostages would be for Israel to agree to end the war with the terror group functional in Gaza in some form, a scenario Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected.
Although Sa’ar said that the security cabinet had agreed to begin phase two talks later this week, an Israeli official told the Times of Israel that the negotiating team was still awaiting approval to head to Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... for the talks.
To that end, Netanyahu told cabinet ministers that there would be a separate meeting held regarding the phase two negotiations before the Israeli delegation departs for Doha.
He also asked ministers not to leak what was discussed during Monday night’s meeting, Channel 12 said, and explained that doing so would risk the lives of the hostages.
Citing unnamed Israeli sources, the Kan public broadcaster reported that Israel’s delegation will not depart for Doha before US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff returns to Israel later this week.
DERMER AT THE HELM
When it does depart, the delegation will be headed by Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Netanyahu’s longtime confidant, after the premier pushed aside the heads of the Shin Bet, Mosssd ...... and IDF hostage point man Nitzan Alon, with whom he sparred throughout the negotiations.
The security chiefs have long felt that a deal could and should have been reached earlier but that political considerations in Israel hampered those efforts.
Some families of the hostages are concerned about Dermer’s appointment to head the negotiating team, Channel 12 reported, due to his ostensible hardline views.
The families pointed to cited Dermer made in recent meetings with them, in which they cited him saying that he would not support any hostage deal that brings about an end to the war before Hamas has been fully dismantled.
Since the first phase of the ceasefire and hostage release deal came into effect on January 19, Hamas has released 19 Israeli civilians and female soldiers, along with five Thai nationals.
All six remaining living hostages slated to be released in the first phase of the deal are to be freed this Saturday, in a surprise move reportedly linked to growing worries that the deal could collapse. Hamas will also return the bodies of four hostages on Thursday, and another four the following Thursday.
Fifty-nine Israelis will remain in captivity after the completion of phase one of the deal, 24 of whom are believed to be alive. The other 35 have been confirmed dead by Israeli authorities.
ALL AT ONCE?
Unlike the first phase of the deal which required Hamas to release several hostages each week over the course of six weeks, Kan reported on Tuesday that the terror group submitted an offer to Israel via mediators to release all the hostages in phase two at once, instead of a gradual process.
The offer stems from the terrorist organization’s desire to prevent Israel from resuming the war, the report said, and as a way for it to prioritize its own survival, even over the issue of the Paleostinian security prisoners who are also slated to be released in phase two.
Even as Israel readies for negotiations regarding phase two, it is also preparing for the potential resumption of fighting in the event that the deal collapses, with large amounts of troops and equipment being amassed along the Gaza border, Channel 12 reported.
The report added that the return to fighting, should it occur, will be substantial but complex, given that roughly two dozen living hostages are still being held throughout Gaza.
Amid the ongoing ceasefire in Gaza, the IDF has continued to take action against Paleostinians it deems to be posing a threat to troops or violating the terms of the truce agreement.
On Tuesday, it said it fired warning shots at Paleostinian suspects who approached troops and "posed a threat" in several areas of the Strip.
In one incident in southern Gaza, the IDF said forces opened fire directly on a suspect who did not withdraw after warning shots.
Additionally, the military said that a dronezap was carried out as a warning in central Gaza to prevent a vehicle from driving to the Strip’s north via an unapproved route.
Vehicular traffic is only permitted on the Salah a-Din road, where a private company is inspecting Paleostinian cars heading north.
"The IDF calls the residents of Gaza to follow its instructions and avoid approaching the troops deployed in the area," the military warned.
[Garowe] U.S. Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s killed 16 Lions of Islam affiliated with the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... terrorist group in northern Somalia, officials there said Monday.
A spokesperson for security operations in the Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... region, Brigadier General Mohamud Mohammed Ahmed, disclosed the corpse count in an interview with VOA’s Somali Service.
"The strike carried out by our international security partners killed at least 16 Lions of Islam including two senior members identified as the group’s bomb-makers, and a bomb factory was destroyed," Ahmed said.
He said local officials are working to verify the names and nationalities of the bomb-makers.
Ahmed said that the United Arab Emirates played a role in Sunday’s attack.
"The United States government and the United Arab Emirates, both our partners supporting us in the fight against terrorists, were involved [in] the strikes on Sunday night," he added.
Ahmed said the strikes targeted Godka Kunle and Xankookin, two villages in the Cal Miskaad mountain range in Puntland’s Bari region.
Ahmed said during the airstrikes, the Lions of Islam launched drone attacks on the bases of the Puntland security forces in the area.
"Trying to hit back the bases of our security forces, the Lions of Islam used seven drones. Puntland forces shot down five of them and two others, apparently with explosives, went off," Ahmed claimed.
Somali and U.S. authorities have been working to root out Islamic State groups that established hideouts in mountainous parts of Puntland, a semi-autonomous region in northern Somalia.
The U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) said in a statement Monday that it conducted an airstrike against ISIS-Somalia in the country’s northeast Sunday, killing two terrorists, according to an initial assessment.
AFRICOM said no civilians were harmed in the operation and said it would continue to evaluate the results and provide updates as necessary.
Speaking in Mogadishu, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud commended the U.S. airstrikes.
"The latest U.S. precision strikes against terrorist elements in Puntland reaffirms the strong partnership between Somalia and the United States in the fight against terrorism," Mohamud said in a statement posted by the Somali National News Agency (SONNA).
Sunday’s airstrike is the second the U.S. military carried out in Somalia this month.
A similar operation on Feb. 1, which targeted senior ISIS-Somalia leadership in a network of cave complexes in Puntland’s Golis Mountains, killed approximately 14 ISIS operatives, including Ahmed Maeleninine, who the U.S. identified as a key recruiter and financier responsible for coordinating jihadi movements into the U.S. and Europe.
Puntland authorities recently launched a military offensive against krazed killer groups in the region following months of preparations.
Puntland claims to have since killed more than 200 Islamic State fighters, dozens of them imported muscle and captured villages and bases in the mountainous area controlled by IS.
[IsraelTimes] UN refugee body says police, Jerusalem officials storm Qalandiya vocational training facility with tear gas and sound grenades; two schools said to defy order to shutter
Israeli forces raided a vocational center and shuttered three East Jerusalem schools, the UN agency for Paleostinian refugees said Tuesday.
The actions, which the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... Relief and Works Agency said affected some 600 students, were the latest move by Israeli authorities to banish the body from operating in its territory.
According to UNRWA, police and Jerusalem municipality staff entered the Kalandia Training Centre by force Tuesday morning, firing tear gas and sound grenades and ordering its evacuation. It said 350 students and 30 staff were present during the raid on the job-training facility, which is located just outside the Qalandiya refugee camp bordering East Jerusalem.
Police and city officials also ordered the closure of three other schools in East Jerusalem attended by around 250 children, UNRWA said. Two of the schools, which were not named by UNRWA, reportedly continued operating despite the order.
A spokesperson for the Israel Police said officers were carrying out an order from Jerusalem City Hall. A spokesperson for the municipality could not be reached.
In a statement, UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini called the moves "a violation of the basic right to education as well as of United Nations privileges and immunities."
What the children are getting in those schools is brainwashing, with a side order of education skills. They’re taught to dream of dying while killing Jews. The wonder is that relatively so few act on their training.
"Children’s access to education must be preserved and United Nations facilities must be protected and respected at all times wherever they are," he said.
If the UN were worth respecting, they would not need to demand it.
Roland Friedrich,
…is he double dipping on the Hamas payroll, too, or on the PLO one?
UNRWA director for the West Bank and East Jerusalem, said the raids were "unacceptable" and a "denial of the right to education for children and trainees."
It’s time for Israel to step up and provide a proper Israeli education for these kids; it’s become clear that leaving the responsibility to the PA and UNWRA was a bad idea for all involved.
Israel last month severed all ties between its officials and UNRWA and barred the agency from operating in Israeli territory.
The ban was passed by the Knesset in November with a wide majority, with the support of opposition parties, amid a series of revelations about employees of the agency who were actively involved in terror groups 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, participation of some of its staff in the October 7, 2023, Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... invasion and slaughter, and repeated use of UNRWA infrastructure for terror activities.
…including imprisoning some of the hostages taken on 10/7.
Israel has also provided evidence that the agency’s schools incited hatred of Israel and glorification of attacks against Israelis.
UNRWA has for decades run schools and clinics in East Jerusalem for tens of thousands of registered refugees there.
That’s “refugees”, who need not have been. Their cousins who stayed behind not only kept their homes, but have had the benefits of full Israeli citizenship all this time, and vociferously reject the possibility of being traded to the benevolent rule of the PA. On the other hand, Israeli citizenship has long been available to just about any East Jerusalem Palestinian resident who wants it, requiring little more than stepping forward to fill out the paperwork.
The agency was established in 1949 following Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. It provides aid, health and education to millions of Paleostinians in Gaza, the West Bank and neighboring Arab countries — Syria, Leb ...The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else?... and Jordan.
Some 5.9 million people are registered as Paleostinian refugees by UNRWA because they are descended from Arabs displaced in the 1948 war.
Israel has long argued that UNRWA perpetuates the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict by using this definition of refugee, the only case in which the status is passed down generationally.
The hostility between Israel and the UN body intensified in the wake of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, which saw some 3,000 forces of Evil burst across the border, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages.
Israel has provided evidence that a dozen UNRWA employees were involved in the deadly 2023 attack and insists that other agencies can pick up the slack to provide essential services, aid and reconstruction — something the UN and many donor governments dispute.
A series of investigations, including one led by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna, found some "neutrality-related issues" at UNRWA, but claimed Israel had not provided evidence for its headline allegation.
You want evidence? Buddy, we gotcher evidence right here:
[IsraelTimes] UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office confirms to Channel 12 that it has formally decided to again reconsider its over $16 million in annual funding to the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA.
The decision comes after Starmer’s phone call with recently released British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari who told the premier that she was held during parts of her captivity in UNRWA facilities and that she did not receive necessary medical treatment.
[PJMedia] A federal judge appointed by former President Barack Obama ruled that 14 Democratic state attorneys general had failed to prove that granting Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) access to federal data or firing federal employees had caused "imminent harm."
On February 12, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan refused to impose an immediate temporary restraining order that would have imposed wide-ranging restrictions on DOGE's investigations into government corruption.
Chutkan, who is not a known ally of President Donald Trump, was the same judge who previously oversaw the now-dismissed Jan. 6 criminal proceedings against him.
"Plaintiffs legitimately call into question what appears to be the unchecked authority of an unelected individual and an entity that was not created by Congress and over which it has no oversight," wrote Chutkan in her ruling.
"In these circumstances, it must be indisputable that this court acts within the bounds of its authority. Accordingly, it cannot issue a TRO, especially one as wide-ranging as Plaintiffs request, without clear evidence of imminent, irreparable harm to these Plaintiffs. The current record does not meet that standard," she continued.
However, Chutkan suggested in a footnote that the Justice Department may have stretched the truth a bit regarding DOGE’s authority over federal personnel issues.
“Defense counsel is reminded of their duty to make truthful representations to the court,” she wrote.
A coalition of 14 Democrat states, led by New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez, filed a lawsuit last week, accusing Musk's appointment to run DOGE unconstitutional, as he was not confirmed by the Senate. State attorneys general from Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington joined Torrez.
"There is no greater threat to democracy than the accumulation of state power in the hands of a single, unelected individual," complained Torrez.
The Democrat plaintiffs argued that Musk's appointment by President Trump to oversee DOGE as a private citizen represented an "unlawful delegation of executive power." They claimed that his presence in DOGE caused "widespread disruption" for government employees working for various federal departments and government contractors.
Despite her initial sympathy towards the plaintiffs, Chulkan noted that their initial arguments failed to adequately meet the high legal standard of "imminent harm" required for a temporary restraining order.
"The things I’m hearing are troubling indeed, but I have to have a record and findings of fact before I issue something," Chutkan said the day before her ruling.
Trump gave Musk a mandate to lead DOGE as a temporary agency that would reorganize the federal government by streamlining operations, terminating employees who have no useful roles, and slashing trillions in wasteful spending, but this quickly drew legal challenges from the Washington establishment.
DOGE has targeted critical data at the Office of Personnel Management, the Department of Education, the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Energy, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Commerce.
The Justice Department has made the argument that DOGE staffers were "detailed" U.S. government employees who were entitled to access to government data under provisions of the Economy Act.
A lawyer with the DOJ, Harry Graver, explained to Chutkan during arguments that there are “very clear paper trails” for all the actions DOGE has taken and that there’s “not a single instance” of Musk misusing his presidential appointment as a non-federal employee to interfere with government operations.
“Nowhere have my friends offered a shroud to show that Elon Musk has any formal or actual authority to make any government decision,” Graver said.
“I think you stretch too far,” Chutkan responded, adding, “I disagree with you there.”
After the hearing, the DOJ released an official declaration clarifying that Musk was not a DOGE employee but was instead a senior adviser to President Trump.
Chutkan's decision is the latest blow to Democrat attempts to temporarily restrict DOGE's access to data on government employees in seven federal agencies. The lawsuit is one out of a dozen Democrat-led legal challenges filed across the country, in an attempt to block or restrict DOGE's operations.
Last Friday, U.S. District Judge John Bates, a George W. Bush appointee, also rejected a separate request to prevent Musk's team from accessing records of three government agencies, ruling that the plaintiffs "have not shown a substantial likelihood that [DOGE] is not an agency."
Another Obama appointee, U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss, ruled on Monday that he would not block DOGE from reviewing student borrowing data at the Department of Education.
[Townhall] We told you about this story last week, in which two Islamist nurses in Australia stated their demented and murderous desires on camera.
That was the story of Israeli Max Veifer speaking to Ahmad Rashad Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh, both nurses at Bankstown Hospital in Sydney. Mr. Nadir is an Afghan refugee who only became an Australian citizen four years ago; Ms Abu Lebdeh is of Palestinian extraction. They were referred to the police for investigation by shocked hospital management, despite a whistleblower revealing after 10/7/2023 that staff were enthusiastic supporters of egregious anti-Israel slogans.
They were promptly fired, which was the only acceptable result for medical professionals who vow to kill categories of people against whom they're bigoted, should such patients suffer the misfortune of falling under their care. The female bigot was the more aggressively rude and spiteful of the two, but the male bigot -- who lied about being a doctor in the video exchange -- claimed to have already sent Israelis (feel to replace this with "Zionists" or "Jews") to hell.
A vile vial of morphine was allegedly discovered in his hospital locker after he was relieved of his duties, raising additional questions. His attorney attempted the remorseful contrition approach, which didn't save his client's job. The woman's family has been framing her as the victim, claiming the poor, homicidal, Jew-hating dear is now having panic attacks, as they allegedly shove reporters on public property. Fantastic people, obviously.
Any word on the progress of the criminal investigation? Usually such things end up with a small fine and a slap on the wrist in that part of the world, but the hospital has been embarrassed internationally, so one would expect commensurate punishment beyond merely firing them. Also, this:
[X]
BREAKING: Sydney Hospital, which employed the two Islamists, is now scrubbing their social media accounts of any posts with "Free Palestine" nurses and doctors.
Make sure to screenshot everything. We will no longer tolerate extremism and violence in Australia. pic.twitter.com/4H0iHSgvcB
A statement signed by dozens of Australian Muslim organizations and leaders says the uproar over the video interview that spanned the country’s political echelons was “calculated and politically motivated outrage.” It charges that the labeling of the incident as antisemitism “weaponized” the term to silence dissent.
The two were suspended after the video was shared and banned from ever working in Australia’s medical profession. Authorities continue to investigate the incident.
However, the statement by Australia’s Muslim community argues that the response was a “deliberate engineering of public morality.”
“This is more than hypocrisy. It is calculated, politically motivated outrage,” it says.
#3
The nurses have been defrocked, so that’s ok as far as that goes. But Australian Moslem organizations are outraged that those two hardworking kids are being picked on.
#6
If it is to be believe they have been saying things like this for over a year, the support has been there already, this is just reinforcements and cover.
[ZERO] During an appearance on a podcast, comedian Trevor Noah
…the mixed race, South African comedian who integrates the room just by standing next to anyone else, no matter their race. His jokes would be funnier if he didn’t hate America…
suggested that the "integration" of black and white people in America was a mistake.
Noah said he had found himself "wondering" whether or not "integration was the right move," particularly in the context of schooling, referring to the 1960’s civil rights era and the end of segregation.
The comedian made it clear that he thought the "racism" brought about by segregation was a bad thing and that people shouldn’t have been punished for their skin color in terms of being discriminated against in society.
However, he then pointed out that Finland was a stable, prosperous and high trust society largely because it is overwhelmingly homogenous.
[Yahoo] China’s new nuclear-battery attack submarine – a unique hybrid boat running on batteries like a conventional sub but which recharges them using a tiny nuclear reactor – could be the ultimate near-shore defence sub, and a big problem for US and allied forces in the western Pacific.
The submarine first appeared in commercial satellite imagery of the Wuchang shipyard in Wuhan, China back in April. Five months later, the Type 041 boat reportedly suffered an accident at its moorings – and apparently sank.
While observers wait for signs Wuchang is repairing that first Type 041 or building new examples of the class, analysts are scrutinising its potential capabilities. Most notably the type seems to have a unique propulsion system – one that sidesteps longstanding engineering challenges in order to deliver a quiet attack submarine for near-shore operations, one that can stay submerged for long periods of time in order to preserve its stealth. The Type 041 is reportedly the first submarine with a tiny nuclear reactor that, while too small to power the entire boat, is big enough to charge the batteries for submerged operations.
This is a novel approach to the problem of powering a mostly or entirely non-nuclear submarine while it’s underwater. Conventional diesel-electric submarines recharge their batteries using old-fashioned diesel engines. For that, they have to surface or at the least put up a “snort” air intake mast at periscope depth – potentially exposing them to detection and attack. The main alternative is to use nuclear power for propulsion, which produces a very capable boat but is very expensive.
#1
Like a Kilo class with a nuc instead of a diesel, with the problem that the reactor can't completely power the boat for extended periods.
What do you do when the batteries are flat but you need to keep moving?
Posted by: ed in texas ||
02/19/2025 12:25
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#2
What do you do when the batteries are flat but you need to keep moving?
You sink or surface. Submarines maintain a slight negative buoyancy, that requires making headway to maintain a stable depth. No headway and you start to sink.
[TWZ] U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is now in port in Greece for repairs following a collision with the cargo ship M/V Besiktas-M this past week. The service is continuing to assess the full extent of damage to the flattop, which is in the middle of a deployment that has already included combat operations in and around the Red Sea.
The Navy announced yesterday that Truman had arrived at Naval Support Activity (NSA) Souda Bay in Greece for what it has described as an Emergent Repair Availability (ERAV). The carrier had made a port stop in Souda Bay just days before the collision, which occurred on Feb. 12 in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Egypt as it was about to enter the Suez Canal. The incident remains under investigation.
“An assessment team will conduct a full survey of damaged areas and develop a repair plan to be executed immediately following completion of the assessment,” according to an official press release. “The assessment team includes structural engineers, naval architects, and other personnel from FDRMC [the Forward Deployed Regional Maintenance Center] and Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY). They will be supported by ship’s force personnel and local industry partners for the repair effort.”
On Friday, the Navy released a picture showing damage to a sponson on the starboard side of the stern end of the ship’s number three aircraft elevator. The service subsequently released additional images, seen at the top of this story and below, showing further damage to the aft end of the starboard side of the hull.
“Damage [already] assessed includes the exterior wall of two storage rooms and a maintenance space. External to the ship, damage assessed includes a line handling space, the fantail, and the platform above one of the storage spaces,” according to the new Navy release. “Aircraft elevator number three sustained no damage and is fully operational. Forward Deployed Regional Maintenance Center (FDRMC) will lead the pier side ERAV, including an assessment and follow-on repairs to damages sustained.”
The Navy has previously said Truman did not experience any flooding and that its nuclear reactors were safe and sound as a result of the collision. None of the aircraft onboard were damaged and none of the crew were injured.
Details about the full extent of the damage to Besiktas-M remain unclear. There have been no reported injuries among its crew. The Panamanian-flagged cargo ship appears to be continuing on its planned voyage to the port of Constanta in Romania on the Black Sea, according to online ship tracking site Vessel Tracker.
“Deployed U.S. Navy ships routinely undergo planned and emergent maintenance periods such as mid-deployment voyage repairs and ERAVs, allowing forward-deployed ships to sustain maximal operational readiness,” the service has stressed in its latest release about Truman. “The United States’ relationships with Allies and partners provides access to ports around the world, granting the U.S. Navy strategic pier availability and resources critical for operational flexibility.”
“While the ship is fully mission capable and the ship conducted flight operations following the collision, pulling into port for emergent repairs will enable the ship to continue deployment as scheduled,” Navy Capt. Dave Snowden, the carrier’s commanding officer, also said in a statement.
#4
The use of Reapers, which are capable of being armed, comes amid talk of unprecedented direct action by American forces against Mexico’s cartels, operations that could include drone strikes as TWZ previously highlighted in an in-depth feature.
Drone strikes? Cut out messing around. Hit 'em with an arclight.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/19/2025 11:21
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#5
Somebody has seen the movie! But this time, Harrison won't need to rescue anybody, because Lindo Coffee will be a vacant building.
[HotAir] The fight over DOGE is both entertaining and instructive.
Entertaining because we get to see Democrats go crazy doing backflips to explain why USAID funding underwater basket weaving in Algeria is vital to the projection of American power and saving the lives of starving children, and instructive because we get to see what really motivates politicians who have hidden behind platitudes for decades.
This video put together by Newsbusters captures the reality of what Democrats are doing perfectly.
When you use AI to replace every mention of "our democracy" with "our bureaucracy," everything starts making a lot more sense. pic.twitter.com/XZ65HXfN9H
Democrats have been "weaponizing" the term "democracy" against Republicans for a long time now. It is a word that sounds good to most Americans because they (not quite rightly) think that is our proper form of government. Defending "democracy" definitely sounds good, so Democrats say it.
But of course they don't like Democracy; they like money and power, and the money and power they mostly control is through the government bureaucracy. The video works because with one simple trick you can decode the Democrat spin.
[YouTube] After years on the run after faking his death, the leader of the trans terror cult linked to six violent deaths was finally arrested on Feb. 16, 2025. How did the arrests happen and will a judge lower Jack "Ziz" LaSota's bail again? Watch my video to learn about how they were caught and what happened in court.
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] Israeli occupation warplanes launched on Monday night Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s targeting the course of the Litani River in southern Leb ...The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else?... , in a new violation of ceasefire agreement.
Sources in southern Lebanon reported that the occupation aircraft launched two airstrikes targeting the course of the Litani River between the Lahed Bridge and Mahmoudiyeh in Aaichiyehin, Jezzine.
Earlier in the day, the occupation aircraft also targeted the Ain ez Zarqa area on the outskirts of Tayr Harfa in the southern district of Tyre.
The sources added that Israeli forces set off two blasts in Odaisseh in southern Lebanon's Marjayoun district.
These airstrikes come just before the Tuesday deadline for Israel to withdraw from towns it occupied in southern Lebanon during its recent military operation, while insisting on maintaining its forces at five border points, most of which are strategic hills overlooking Israeli settlements.
[IsraelTimes] The IDF says it carried out airstrikes against several weapon sites belonging to the former Syrian regime in southern Syria a short while ago.
The military releases footage of the strikes, which took place some 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) from Israel’s border.
The strikes had targeted Syrian tanks used to store weapons, according to military sources. In the footage, armored vehicles can be seen targeted in the strikes.
Israel has vowed to destroy weapons belonging to the former Assad regime to prevent them from falling into the hands of hostile forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2025
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[11179 views]
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#1
Correct me if I'm am wrong, but I am of the opinion that anything published by HODHODYEMENNEWS is just pure propaganda at best. Anything they publish as fact, I presume that the opposite is true.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
02/19/2025 3:15
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#2
They are our source for events in their part of Yemen. For the rest, they inform us of the Iran Mullahs party line.
#3
Also, it’s useful and interesting — to me, at least — to compare the Hodhod Yemen News version of events and one of our Israeli sources — I just added that to the article post. Enjoy!
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] Prominent southern leader Ali al-Dhalei bin Harara, known as the ''Sultan of the South,'' has called for the arrest of the leaders of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) and their imprisonment on charges of treason and corruption.
This came in an audio recording circulating on social media platforms on Monday, in which he accused the head of the council, Aidarous al-Zubaidi, and the council members of involvement in corruption that led to the deterioration of the situation in Aden and the rest of the southern provinces.
Bin Harara described the current situation as ''catastrophic,'' indicating that the STC leaders are carrying out intelligence roles with Emirati support and in cooperation with figures he called ''Al-Afafish'' loyal to former President former President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it. He was eventually tossed from office and the Hadi goverment installed. When the Houthis rebeled he and his multiple son thought he could claw back to power. Then he saw the way the land actually lay and struck out on his own, briefly, until the Houthis caught him at a checkpoint and murdered him. It was all very sad.... , in a move aimed at controlling Aden and the southern regions.
He also described the STC leaders as ''mercenaries'' and considered them ''a poisoned dagger in the back of the south,'' stressing that they are exploiting the suffering of citizens, who suffer from a severe shortage of basic services such as electricity and food, to achieve personal gains and amass wealth.
Bin Harara called on the military and security leaders in the south, including leader Salah al-Shanfara, to take responsibility and take immediate steps to arrest those leaders and put them in prison. He affirmed that the future of the southern provinces will not be achieved by relying on external parties such as Washington, Dubai, Riyadh, or The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... .
Bin Harara's statements come amid escalating popular protests in Aden and other southern provinces, where living and service conditions are witnessing a sharp deterioration, with an exchange of accusations between the STC and other components of the government supported by the Saudi-led coalition forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2025
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[11165 views]
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[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied, on Monday, a media report that an arms shipment confiscated en route to Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... was from Iran.
''The report is baseless and is aligned with efforts to wage propaganda against the Islamic Theocratic Republic at a time when US officials are visiting the region,'' Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baqaei said in a statement.
He added, '' Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... has no military presence in Yemen and that the weapons that are being used in the country have nothing to do with the Islamic Theocratic Republic.''
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2025
01:25 ||
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[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] The Islamic Resistance® Movement ''Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... '' said on Tuesday that escalating resistance and confrontation against the Israeli occupation and exhausting it is the only option to curb its crimes and put an end to its violations against the Paleostinian people, their land, and their holy sites.
The movement stressed in its statement issued today that the Israeli occupation's crimes of demolition, destruction, and displacement in Tulkarm and its camp, Nour Shams camp, and all parts of the West Bank will not deter the Paleostinian people from continuing the path of resistance and confronting the criminal plans.
Hamas indicated that what Tulkarm and its camps are witnessing in terms of demolition and forced displacement reflects the fascist ...anybody you disagree with, damn them... nature of the occupation and shows its insistence on adopting a policy of genocide, displacement, and ethnic cleansing against Paleostinians wherever they are.
The movement stressed that the stage that the West Bank is going through is a pivotal one, which calls for unifying efforts, strengthening resistance work, and intensifying efforts to thwart the occupation's plans.
It also called on the Paleostinian people, wherever they are, to support the people of Tulkarm, Jenin and the rest of the West Bank governorates, and to confront the ongoing aggression, in addition to intensifying popular efforts to provide relief to the displaced and shelter families who lost their homes.
[IsraelTimes] The IDF says it fired warning shots at Palestinian suspects who approached troops and “posed a threat” in several areas in the Gaza Strip today.
In one incident in southern Gaza, the IDF says forces opened fire directly on a suspect who did not withdraw after warning shots.
Additionally, a drone strike was carried out as a warning in central Gaza today to prevent a vehicle from driving to the Strip’s north via an unapproved route, the military says.
Vehicular traffic is only permitted on the Salah a-Din road, where a private company is inspecting Palestinian cars heading north.
“The IDF calls the residents of Gaza to follow its instructions and avoid approaching the troops deployed in the area,” the military adds.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2025
01:24 ||
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[NYPOST] Pope Francis
...Argentine liberation theologist, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio. He was elected pope in 2013. Rather than setting up shop in Avignon, where he belongs, the first Jesuit Pope chose to reside in the Domus Sanctae Marthae guesthouse instead of the papal apartments. That was to show how humble he is. He is big on climate change, against consumerism, and in favor of throwing a blanket over homosexual activity within the clergy. He's not real sure about the Resurrection, about Christ's divinity, and a few other things that would have gotten him burned at the stake a few hundred years ago, but he's hot for a certain South American Earth Mother Goddess... has developed pneumonia in both his lungs and will remain in the hospital as he battles the infection, according to reports.
The pontiff's condition is complicated by his advanced age; he turned 88 in December.
''Laboratory tests, chest X-ray, and the Holy Father's clinical condition continue to present a complex picture,'' the Vatican said in a statement.
He remains in good spirits, with a Vatican spokesperson saying he has been grateful for the world's prayers since he was first admitted to the hospital on Friday.
Francis spent last week battling a bout of bronchitis and went to the hospital after it worsened.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2025
01:19 ||
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#1
Praying for the devil.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
02/19/2025 3:21
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The Pope is a gravely ill 88 year old man.
None of the Charlie Hebdo victims he thuggishly mocked 10 years ago, will ever be a gravely ill 88 year old man or woman.
[NYPOST] We're looking in vain for any sign at all of New York Democrats ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... ' supposed newfound moderation as the establishment rushes to defenestrate Mayor Eric Adams ...Hizonner da Mare of Noo Yawk. As a Manchurian candidate, Hizonner was all in favor of law and order and that kind of stuff. Once in office, a bunch of his friends found cushy jobs with the city, the windows kept getting broken, and Soros-funded DA Alvin Bragg remained right where he was. Most people comfort themselves with the thought that he's not Bill di Blasio but that's pretty small comfort with kids who actually go to school getting bumped off while standing in front of them. But he's a Dem, so the rubes will vote for him next election too, so he's what they deserve... He's the democratically elected, Democratic mayor whose only evident sin is wanting to . . . work lawfully with the feds to expel violent mostly peaceful illegal-migrant criminals.
That course has 80-20 support with the general public, but infuriates the progressive elite.
And so a pack of politicians descended Tuesday on Gov. Kathy Hochul's office to tell her to neuter him — remove him from office, or impose some other dirty deal that would, say, force him to drop his re-election run.
With not a ''moderate'' voice raised in protest.
Hochul is at least playing along with the lynch mob, droning that four aides quitting somehow ''raises serious questions about the long-term future of this mayoral administration.''
Hizzoner recently mentioned that he could become interested in switching parties, which would be a very interesting development for deep blue NYC…
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2025
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[NYPOST] A self-professed criminal mastermind serial killer who called himself the ''Michael Meyers'' of Tennessee was just given 159 years for three slayings — on top of his 102-year sentence for killing his pregnant girlfriend and her unborn child, authorities said.
Joshua Dotson, 24, pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon after the new killings, according to Shelby County Prosecutors.
Joshua Dotson, 24, confessed to shooting and killing three people in Shelby Court, after already being convicted in the gun-slay death of his
Dotson shot and killed Reginald Anderson and Renita Bennett near a Memphis park in May 2020, WREG reported.
He also fatally shot Divieon Parker, 18, in a store parking lot in November 2019, according to the Memphis Police Department.
The new convictions come less than a year after Dotson was convicted of the June 2020 killing of his then-girlfriend Jamesha Covson, 19, and her unborn child — for which he was given two 51-year sentences.
Dotson shot through Covson's door and then gunned her down while she was several months pregnant, according to Sherlocks.
He allegedly killed his young lover because she knew about his previous murders, prosecutors said during the murder trial, according to Action News 5.
During the trial, Dotson represented himself and delivered a shocking defense in court.
In testimony, Dotson referred to himself as a ''serial killer'' and likened himself to Michael Meyers, the fictional slayer from the ''Halloween'' films, Action News 5 reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2025
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#1
I wonder what "depression" drugs he may have been on? I wonder what "depression" drugs most of the current crop of serial killers may have been on?
#5
Has the makings of a good Poll Questions:
So as a Taxpayer, how does it feel to work and pay taxes, to care of Murderers, Child Rapists, Pedophiles, and terrorists for the rest of their lives?
Would you support reinstating a Mandatory Death Plenty for 1st degree deliberately planned murder(s), Drug Cartel, and certain vicious crimes like Terrorist acts?
[IsraelTimes] Israeli troops remain in 5 strategic outposts inside southern Lebanon; Katz warns Israel will ‘forcefully’ enforce terms of truce; Lebanon to seek UN’s help on ‘Israeli violations’
The Israel Defense Forces pulled out of southern Lebanese villages but remained in five key positions Tuesday morning, around an hour before the deadline for the withdrawal expired under the ceasefire deal with Hezbollah.
The IDF did not officially confirm completing the pullout, but the matter was confirmed by observers on both sides. Defense Minister Israel Katz said the IDF was remaining in "a buffer zone," with "five strategic outposts," and would enforce the ceasefire "against any violation by Hezbollah."
"The Israeli army has withdrawn from all border villages except for five points, while the Lebanese army is gradually deploying due to the presence of explosives in some areas and damage to the roads," a Lebanese security source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.
The Lebanese Armed Forces said Tuesday morning that it had deployed overnight to several villages and towns in southern Leb ...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects.... after the IDF withdrawal.
LAF troops entered Aabbasiyyeh, Majidieh, Kafr Kila, Marjaayoun, Odaisseh, Markaba, Houla, Mays al-Jabal, Blida, Mahbib, Maroun al-Ras, Yaron, Bint Jbeil, and several other locations near the Israeli border, the Lebanese military said in a statement.
The deployment was being carried out in coordination with a US-led committee supervising the November 27 ceasefire with Israel and the UN observer force UNIFIL, the LAF added.
The LAF said engineering units were surveying the areas, opening roads, and safely removing unwent kaboom! ordnance left behind from the fighting.
Several local authorities, including Mays al-Jabal’s municipality, have called on displaced residents to wait for the LAF to deploy there before coming back, so as to guarantee their "safe" return.
Israel said it would meet the February 18 deadline to withdraw under a ceasefire but remain deployed in five strategic positions in southern Lebanon.
A spokesperson for the Lebanese presidency said late Tuesday morning that Beirut would consider any remaining Israeli presence on its lands an occupation and has the right to use all means to ensure an Israeli withdrawal, without mentioning the five posts.
After a meeting between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and parliament speaker Nabih Knobby Berri
...perennial Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians... , the three leaders said the Lebanese army was ready "to assume all its duties along the... borders," according to presidency spokeswoman Najat Charafeddine.
She added that Lebanon would also seek the UN Security Council’s help to "address Israeli violations and compel Israel to immediately withdraw."
In a statement earlier on Tuesday, Katz said the IDF would "forcefully" enforce the terms of the ceasefire deal in Lebanon and act against any Hezbollah threat.
"Starting today, the IDF will remain in a buffer zone in Lebanon in five strategic outposts and will continue to enforce [the deal] forcefully and without compromise against any violation by Hezbollah," he said.
"Hezbollah must withdraw fully beyond the Litani River line and the Lebanese army must enforce and disarm it under the supervision of the mechanism established under the leadership of the US," Katz added. "We are determined to provide full security to all northern communities."
Under a ceasefire deal brokered by the United States in November, Israeli troops were granted 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon, where they had waged a ground offensive against fighters from Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group since early October.
Hezbollah operatives were to leave the zone and Lebanese troops were to deploy in the area within the same period. The original deadline was January 26, but was extended until February 18 as Israel argued Lebanese army deployment was not happening quickly enough.
Last week, the US authorized the IDF to remain in the five points, though it was not clear how long troops would stay there.
The military said on Monday that it was prepared to stay at the posts for a lengthy period, until Hezbollah fully withdraws beyond the Litani River and the Israeli politicianship instructs it to leave.
At the five positions, the IDF constructed military posts that will be manned by troops.
The IDF also ramped up its defenses on the Israeli side of the border, with several new posts, one in front of every Israeli border community; better surveillance capabilities, including more cameras, radars, and sensors; and triple the number of troops compared to before the war.
The ceasefire deal ended two months of full-scale war that followed months of lower-intensity exchanges.
Should the ceasefire continue to hold after the IDF withdrawal, tens of thousands of displaced residents of northern Israel will begin to return to their homes on March 2.
“Specialized teams today… managed to remove 14 bodies from Mais al-Jabal, three from Markaba and three from Kfar Kila, in addition to three from Odaisseh,” says the civil defense statement published by the state-run National News Agency.
Lebanese search for dead in devastated villages as Israel withdraws
[IsraelTimes] Residents of south Lebanon have returned to devastated villages, searching for the bodies of relatives killed in last year’s war between Israel and Hezbollah, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of the territory.
In the frontline village of Kfar Kila, barely a building was left standing. “I reached my neighborhood and I couldn’t tell where my house had been,” says one resident, Noha Hammoud.
“The entire neighborhood is destroyed.”
Rescue workers had pulled several bodies from the rubble, and had even found two people still alive, she says. Local sources say those found dead and alive were fighters from Hezbollah, thousands of whom were killed in the war.
Senior Lebanese politician Ali Hassan Khalil, who hails from the south, says hundreds of residents have gone to inspect more than a half dozen villages that became accessible, adding that the Lebanese army was still working to clear roads.
However, Israel’s continued presence in five south Lebanon posts left “an open wound,” he adds.
The conflict, which began when Hezbollah opened fire on October 8, 2023 in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas, displaced tens of thousands of Israelis from northern Israel and more than a million people in Lebanon.
At the Israeli Kibbutz Misgav Am, next to the border with Lebanon, some residents visited and planted trees.
“Although we had to evacuate, our hearts stayed here,” says one of the kibbutz members, Daniel Malik. “We really want to come back but there is big uncertainty because we don’t know when it will be safe.”
In Yaroun, another frontline village in Lebanon, a woman holds a bouquet of spring flowers in one hand and Hezbollah’s yellow flag in another as she surveyed the destruction.
Rescue workers pulled at least one body from the rubble.
“Our feeling is a mix of joy and sadness because there are still martyrs we have yet to find,” says returning resident Suhaila Daher. “All the destruction can be replaced, thank God, but the martyrs will not return.”
Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah, speaking to Reuters in Yaroun, says: “The Israeli enemy is still occupying Lebanese land and this Lebanese land must be liberated and now the primary responsibility falls on the Lebanese state.”
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 19:20 Recorded NATO AWACS active operations Leningrad Region
Swedish Air Force SF4 (SVF680),
US Air Force Bombardier Challenger 650
Kaliningrad Region
US Air Force Rivet Joint RC135 (JAKE17)
NATO Black Sea Region
Boeing Sentry E3TF (NATO04),
US Navy Boeing Poseidon 8E,
US Air Force Bombardier Challenger 650
18:20 During an air patrol, the FPV operator GV "Sever" located a camouflaged car of Ukrainian fascists. The target was immediately hit by fire.
17:15 Drone drivers continue to clear the Kursk borderland
Destruction of equipment and weapons of the Ukrainian Armed Forces by FPV drone crews of the Rubicon Center.
16:40 In the territory of Zaporizhia region announced missile and bomb hazard
Special attention – Tokmak and Pologovsky MO, Energodar, Melitopol, Berdyansk.
15:15 Russian Ministry of Defense:
At 12:25 Moscow time, air defense systems on duty destroyed Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle over the territory of the Belgorod region.
14:25 Russian Ministry of Defense officially confirmed yesterday's information about the liberation of Yampolovka in the Krasnolimansk direction.
The settlement was liberated by units of the West military group.
13:35 Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the defeat of the Ukrainian Armed Forces formations in the Kursk region.
Units of the North group of forces defeated formations of two tank, heavy mechanized, five mechanized, assault, three airborne assault brigades, a naval infantry brigade, a territorial defense brigade and three assault regiments of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the areas of the populated areas of Guevo, Goncharovka, Zamostye, Zaoleshenka, Kazachya Loknya, Lebedevka, Loknya, Malaya Loknya, Makhnovka, Nikolsky, Rubanshchina, Sudzha and Yuzhny. Two enemy counterattacks were repelled.
Strikes by operational-tactical and army aviation and artillery fire hit enemy manpower and equipment in the areas of the settlements of Bondarevka, Viktorovka, Gogolevka, Kolmakov, Kositsa, Kurilovka, Martynovka, Melovaya, Oleshnya, Cherkasskoye Porechnoye, as well as Basovka, Belovody, Veselovka, Zhuravka, Obody and Yunakovka in the Sumy region.
Over the course of 24 hours, the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost more than 220 servicemen, a German-made Leopard tank, two armored personnel carriers, 14 combat armored vehicles, 14 cars, three self-propelled artillery units, including two Bogdana self-propelled guns, two artillery pieces, eight mortars, as well as a UAV control center and two ammunition depots were destroyed.
11:40 On the night of February 17-18, 2025, Russian troops struck a number of key military, industrial and energy infrastructure facilities in Ukraine.
Zamost, Khar'kov region (23:30 17.02 – 00:40 18.02.2025)
As a result of the strike, the armored vehicle repair point of the Ukrainian 3rd Separate Tank Brigade, which specialized in the repair and restoration of Western armored vehicles, was damaged.
Kyiv, Svyatoshinsky district (00:45 18.02.2025)
The production area of the Antonov enterprise, where Western-made attack unmanned aerial vehicles were developed and tested, was damaged.
Shostakovka, Kirovograd region (03:50 18.02.2025)
The 330 kV Ukrainka substation, which supplied power to military-industrial complex enterprises, was damaged.
Ogultsy, Khar'kov region (02:00 18.02.2025)
The railway infrastructure used for military transport of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was damaged.
Kyiv, Svyatoshinsky district (23:00 17.02.2025)
As a result of the strike, the production base of the Praktika enterprise, which repairs and modernizes armored vehicles for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, was damaged.
10:55 Units of the Russian Armed Forces continue fighting in the southern part of Constantinople, advancing towards the center of the village and the highway to the southwest, leading to Konstantinopol from Bogatyr. The enemy is trying to counterattack along this highway, and all supplies for the "pocket" were coming along it.
To the north and west of Andreyevka, battles are taking place for enemy strongholds.
West of Novy Komar, on the left bank of the Sukhie Yaly River, our assault forces have taken the Ukrainian position in the direction of Burlatskoye and are advancing towards Novoocheretovaty from the south.
Fighting continues for the defensive line in the area of Burlatskoye and Novosilka, as well as in the area of Rivnepol.
Our units are attacking in the direction of Volnoye Pole, Privolnoye, trying to reach the flank and rear of the Ukrainian Armed Forces positions south of Privolnoye.
10:40 Operators of the Yuzhny UAV discovered Ukrainian Armed Forces pickup truck in the town of Novodmitrovka. The vehicle was destroyed by an FPV drone strike.
10:00 The 35th Army of the Vostok group destroys enemy manpower and fortified areas using UAVs and rocket artillery, Pologskoye direction, –video.
8:45 In the Kursk border area, the FPV operator of the GV Sever discovered a canopy of camouflage nets under which a Ukrainian armored fighting vehicle was parked. Thanks to a kamikaze drone on fiber optics, he managed to carry out a targeted strike on the target without the enemy's electronic warfare, -video.
8:10 Frontline report for the morning of 18.02.2025
Zaporizhzhya Front. No significant changes in LBS. Positional battles with the use of long-range weapons continue, –MAP.
Donetsk Front. Russian troops have advanced in the Novosyolka area, which is west of the liberated Velikaya Novosyolka. The offensive on Constantinople continues to develop. There are tactical successes of the Russian Armed Forces in the area of the settlement of Ulakly. Heavy fighting continues in several areas in the Pokrovsk direction. The enemy's long-range weapons are actively working, which greatly complicates the advance of our troops.
Chasov Yar direction. Fighting continues in Chasov Yar. Russian troops are reported to be advancing on the flank in the Stupochki area, where Russian troops are breaking through to the approaches to the designated point.
Kursk Region. Russian troops continue to put pressure on the Ukrainian Armed Forces' defense in several areas. The Ukrainians continue to bring up reserves and conduct counterattacks. The mop up in Sverdlikovo continues. Long-range weapons are actively working.
8:00 During the flight, the operator of the reconnaissance drone noticed boats with ten Kyiv militants who were trying to cross to the left bank of the Dnieper, video.
The Merlin-VR crew recorded their coordinates, and a few minutes later the enemy was destroyed by a direct artillery hit.
7:15 During the past night, air defense systems on duty intercepted and destroyed five Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles:
four UAVs over the territory of the Voronezh region and
one UAV over the territory of the Belgorod region.
Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title
[Korrespondent] 20:58 The situation in Kupyansk, Kharkiv Oblast, is critical. Russian occupiers are very close to the city along the entire front line. This was reported by the head of the Kupyansk city military administration, Andrey Besedin, on the Espresso TV channel.
20.31 The European Union is considering a new military aid package for Ukraine worth at least six billion euros to strengthen the country's strategic position ahead of negotiations with Russia, Politico reports, citing three diplomatic sources.
19.48 Sending Chinese peacekeepers to Ukraine is a hypothetical question, so China refuses to comment on such rumors. This was stated by the spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Guo Jiakong during a briefing when he was asked to comment on rumors that the United States is offering China to send its soldiers to peacekeeping forces in Ukraine after the end of the war.
19:05 Mobilization activities have begun in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk Oblast. This was reported by the National Resistance Center. The occupiers plan to begin the so-called conscription in March-April 2025. This will allow them to disguise the mobilization as an annual conscription campaign in Russia.
18:58 The 28th separate mechanized brigade named after the Knights of the Winter Campaign already has about 400 applications in three days since the start of the Contract 18-24 project. This was reported by the head of the recruiting group of the 28th separate mechanized brigade Denis Bystry on the air of the telethon.
18.41 Another array of data on foreign components in Russian weapons, including in attack drones, which the enemy is using in the war against Ukraine, has been published on the War&Sanctions portal. This was reported by the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense.
18:35 Neither side will win the war between Ukraine and Russia by force of arms. A transition to diplomacy is needed, but it must "lead to a fair peace." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this in Ankara during a joint briefing with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
17:41 The war between Ukraine and Russia must end on terms that suit both sides. Only then will peace be long-lasting. This was stated by US Secretary of State Mark Rubio at a briefing following negotiations with the Russian delegation in Saudi Arabia.
17.09 President Volodymyr Zelensky has cancelled his visit to Saudi Arabia, which was scheduled to take place on Wednesday. He said this in Ankara at a joint briefing with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Ukrainian leader "does not want coincidences" and to be in Saudi Arabia when Russian representatives are there.
16.45 Since the beginning of the current day, 109 combat clashes have occurred on the front in 10 directions. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported the details in the operational summary as of 16:00.
16.19 The American side now wants to please Vladimir Putin in order to quickly achieve success, but a ceasefire in Ukraine is not a success. This was stated by President Volodymyr Zelensky in an interview with the German TV channel ARD.
15.57 Russian aggressors carried out an airstrike on the village of Zolochiv in the Bogodukhov community on Tuesday, February 18. An administrative building was destroyed, residential buildings and commercial facilities were damaged. This was reported by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.
14.15 At the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, extinguishing of two cells of smoldering roof insulation continues and work is underway to partially open the shelter structures.
According to the State Emergency Service, the radiation level at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant industrial site does not exceed the norm, there is no threat to the population, and the situation is under control.
13:40 The Security Service detained an FSB agent in Khmelnitsky. The 37-year-old, mobilized to a local military unit on orders from the Russians, adjusted missile strikes on the city.
As an unmanned systems operator, the "mole" used the regular UAVs to track potential targets. The agent also installed a hidden mini-camera with remote access for the FSB opposite the region's railway junction.
13:10 Moscow believes that it is the sovereign right of any state to join the European Union, including Ukraine, and has a different approach to military alliances. This was stated by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov at a briefing.
12:48 The European Union is preparing the largest defense package for Ukraine, Western media report. We are talking about a sum of up to 700 billion euros. This is such a large package that it has never been seen before in such a dimension, noted German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
12:20 The participation of the DPRK army in the war against Ukraine will have long-term consequences for the security system in the Asia-Pacific region. This was stated by the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kirill Budanov.
He emphasized that the Russian Federation and the DPRK are deepening military cooperation in the field of technology. Thus, at first the accuracy of the North Korean KN-23 missile was very low, with an error of 500 to 1,500 meters, but Russian specialists made technical modifications. Now the missile has become much more accurate and threatens the security of South Korea and Japan.
11:50 The Ministry of Defense has codified and approved for use in the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine the unmanned aerial systems U13 and U15 of Ukrainian production.
FPV drones U13 and U15 are designed to destroy protected firing positions, armored vehicles and enemy manpower. The copters are equipped with powerful electric motors. The "birds" of these systems are less vulnerable to enemy electronic countermeasures and can be used in various meteorological conditions.
11:39 As a result of repatriation measures, the bodies of 7,017 fallen defenders have been returned to Ukraine since the start of the full-scale war with Russia. A total of 75 repatriations were carried out, Ukrayinska Pravda reported, citing a comment from the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
11:18 Russian invaders attacked Konstantinovka twice with FPV drones. Five people were injured, including the head of the city military administration (GVA) Sergey Gorbunov. This was reported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
10:51 Direct talks between the US and Russia on Ukraine have begun in the city of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, but without the participation of Kiev itself and representatives of European countries. The main goal of the meeting is "real normalization of relations" between Russia and the US, the Kremlin noted.
And the State Department said that the US wants to find out the Kremlin's intentions during the talks with Russian representatives, and the details of the peace agreement will not be discussed.
10:30 The Security Service detained a Russian agent in the Kyiv region - the head of the department of social, educational and psychological work of one of the correctional colonies of the capital region, recruited by the FSB. The man "leaked" information to the Russians about former prisoners who were fighting in the ranks of the assault units of the Defense Forces on the front lines.
09:35 Russian military attacked Ukraine with 176 Shahed attack UAVs and drone imitators of various types.
The downing of 103 Shahed attack UAVs and other types of drones was confirmed in the Kharkiv, Poltava, Sumy, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions. 67 enemy drone imitators were lost.
The Kirovograd, Kharkiv, Kyiv and Cherkasy regions suffered from the enemy attack.
09:22 On the morning of February 18, rescuers are still continuing to eliminate the consequences of the Russian drone hitting the sarcophagus at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The radiation status is under constant control. Fluctuations in current values are within the usual limits for each point.
09:05 As a result of Russian strikes on the city of Orekhov in the Zaporizhia region, one person was killed. The body of an 80-year-old man was pulled out from under the rubble of a house.
08:37 In Cherkasy Oblast, the night alarm lasted for almost six hours. Air defense forces shot down 26 Russian drones within the region. In Cherkasy District, four houses and a garage were damaged by debris. Windows were knocked out, and roofs were damaged in some places. A car was also damaged.
08:25 Over the past 24 hours, 139 combat clashes have been recorded at the front. The largest number of attacks by Russian troops were recorded in the Pokrovsky and Novopavlovsky directions. The defense forces hit eight areas where Russian personnel, weapons, and military equipment were concentrated.
07:48 As of February 18, 2025, the total combat losses of Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine were approximately 861,090 people (+1,170 per day).
07:20 At night, in the city of Dolinskaya in the Kirovograd region, a Russian drone hit a multi-story building during an air attack. Three people were injured - a mother and two children. They were immediately provided with medical assistance. Residents were evacuated from the building, a total of 38 apartments.
05:15 UK lawmakers from the main parties want to put Prime Minister Keir Starmer's proposal to send troops to Ukraine as part of the post-war process to a vote. The MPs say they believe lawmakers should be involved in any decision to deploy troops to Ukraine.
05:00 US Special Representative for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg will arrive in Ukraine on Wednesday, February 19, by morning train from Poland. The program of the visit, which will last three days, is still being coordinated. According to Kellogg, on Tuesday, February 18, he will go to Warsaw and from there take the night train to Kiev, where he will arrive on the morning of Wednesday, February 19.
04:42 Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that no decisions were made on the situation in Ukraine at the summit of European Union leaders held in Paris on February 17. Such meetings are aimed at consultations, but do not provide for the adoption of binding decisions. However, according to him, the summit in Paris noted the need to strengthen cooperation in strengthening European security and finding a common strategy to end the war in Ukraine.
04:20 Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that Europe's security directly depends on the establishment of a fair and lasting peace in Ukraine after Russia's full-scale invasion. These are "two sides of the same coin."
03:09 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a telephone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron after the meeting of European leaders in Paris. According to Zelenskyy, they discussed the global situation, the situation in Europe and, in particular, a security guarantee for Ukraine. This is actually what was discussed at the meeting of EU leaders in Paris.
02:30 NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte spoke about the results of the emergency summit of European leaders in Paris. In the evening, he wrote in the X microblog that European countries are ready not only to strengthen their own security, but also to lead security guarantees for Ukraine. He did not disclose specific decisions, adding that the details require cultivation.
[Townhall] Republican Senator Mike Lee is raising a key question about how the swamp became so swampy and why the Grand Old Party went along with it for years.
"The next time you hear House or Senate Republicans complaining about federal funds being used to fund studies on how cocaine-using, gender-non-conforming crayfish perform on a treadmill, ask them how many times they’ve joined nearly all Democrats to pass spending bills that (1) they never had the chance to read, much less debate or amend, and (2) were opposed by most Republicans," Lee posted on X.
"The easy, routine passage of such bills—without any meaningful opportunity for debate or modification, and supported by just enough Republican votes to ensure passage—all but ensures the perpetuation of excessive, wasteful spending," Lee continued. "This is a habit that must come to an end if we’re ever going to get federal spending under control. It’s a habit that can’t be blamed entirely on Democrats."
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/19/2025
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#1
He makes great points..."The easy, routine passage of such bills—without any meaningful opportunity for debate or modification, and supported by just enough Republican votes to ensure passage—all but ensures the perpetuation of excessive, wasteful spending," Lee continued. "This is a habit that must come to an end if we’re ever going to get federal spending under control. It’s a habit that can’t be blamed entirely on Democrats."
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] Ukrainian Armed Forces are holding back Russian offensive in eastern and southern Ukraine.
The fiercest battles continue in the Pokrovsky direction. There the enemy is attacking in the areas of 14 settlements.
Since the beginning of the current day, 109 combat clashes have occurred on the front in 10 directions. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in an operational report as of 16:00 on Tuesday, February 18.
Thus, in the Kupyansk direction, Russian invaders carried out 13 attacks near Petrovpavlovka, Peschanoye, Zagryzovo and Lozovaya. Five clashes are still ongoing.
In the Liman direction, the enemy carried out six attacks near the settlements of Kopanki, Makeyevka, Novolyubovka and Yampolevka. Three combat clashes are still ongoing.
In the Seversky direction, two armed clashes occurred near Belogorovka.
In the Kramatorsk direction, the enemy is trying to advance in the Vasyukovka area and in the direction of Aleksandro-Shultino. One of the three attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces has already been repelled.
In the Toretsk direction, the enemy is trying to wedge in the areas of Krymskoe, Dilievka, Toretsk and Shcherbinovka. Nine attacks are ongoing, our defenders have already repelled six more assaults.
In the Pokrovsky direction, the Russians have already organized 33 assaults in the areas of the settlements of Tarasovka, Vodyanoye Vtoroy, Malinovka, Promin, Peschanoye, Kotlino, Nadezhdinka, Kotlyarovka, Novoaleksandrovka, Zaporozhye, Alekseyevka, Dachnoye, Shevchenko and Ulakli. Eight clashes are still ongoing.
In the Novopavlovsk direction, 13 assaults have been repelled, two more clashes are ongoing. The enemy is trying to advance in the areas of Razdolnoye, Konstantinopol and Burlatskoye.
In the Gulyai-Polye direction, the enemy attempted to advance 11 times in the Novosyolka and Novopol areas. Six enemy attacks have already been repelled by our defenders, and five more are ongoing.
In the Orekhov direction, a battle is underway in the area of Malye Shcherbaki.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces operation in the Kursk region continues. Our soldiers repelled six enemy attacks, four combat clashes are still ongoing.
Let us recall that since the beginning of the full-scale war, Russian losses have exceeded 860 thousand people. In one day on February 17, the enemy lost about 1,200 fighters killed and wounded.
Linked article is available only through a VPN
[EngMilRu] The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation.
In Kharkov direction, units of the Sever Group of Forces inflicted fire damage on manpower and hardware of two territorial defence brigades close to Volchansk (Kharkov region).
The AFU losses were more than 25 troops and two motor vehicles.
As a result of decisive actions, units of the Zapad Group of Forces liberated Yampolovka (Donetsk People's Republic).
Russian troops delivered strikes at units of three mechanised brigades, one jaeger brigade, one airborne brigade, and one territorial defence brigade close to Lozovaya, Zagoruykovka (Kharkov region), Sverdlovka, Novolyubovka (Lugansk People's Republic), and Kolodezi (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses were more than 205 troops, two U.S.-made M-113 armoured personnel carriers, eight motor vehicles, and five field artillery guns, including four NATO-manufactured ones. In addition, one 122mm BM-21 Grad MLRS combat vehicle, one electronic warfare station, and one ammunition depot were neutralised.
Units of the Yug Group of Forces took more advantageous lines and positions. Russian troops inflicted fire damage on manpower and hardware of three mechanised brigades, one airmobile brigade, one mountain assault brigade, one territorial defence brigade close to Seversk, Konstantinovka, Chasov Yar, Ivanopolye, and Ulakly (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses were up to 210 troops, one U.S.-made HMMWV armoured fighting vehicle, two motor vehicles, and two artillery guns.
The Tsentr Group of Forces' units improved the situation along the front line. Russian troops launched an attack on formations of five mechanised brigades, one jaeger brigade, three motorised infantry brigades, one airmobile brigade, one assault brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, one territorial defence brigade, and one National Guard brigade close to Dimitrov, Mirolyubovka, Zverevo, Yelizavetovka, Andreyevka, Udachnoye, Uspenovka, Nadezhdinka, and Novoandreyevka (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses were more than 295 troops, one tank, six armoured fighting vehicles, including U.S.-made M-113 armoured personnel carriers, eight pickup trucks, and ten field artillery guns, including one U.S.-made 155mm Paladin self-propelled artillery system.
Units of the Vostok Group of Forces continued advancing into the depth of enemy defences. Russian troops inlflicted fire damage on manpower and hardware of one tank brigade, three mechanised brigades, one air assault brigade of the AFU, and two territorial defence brigades near Konstantinopol, Razliv, Burlatskoye, Novosyolka, Novopol (Donetsk People's Republic), and Gulyaipole (Zaporozhye region).
The AFU losses were up to 175 troops, four armoured fighting vehicles, two motor vehicles, and four field artillery guns.
Units of the Dnepr Group of Forces engaged formations of two mechanised brigades and three coastal defence brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine close to Novoandreyevka, Novodanilovka (Zaporozhye region), Tokarevka, Nikolskoye, and Pridneprovskoye (Kherson region).
The AFU losses were up to 70 troops, three motor vehicles, and one self-propelled artillery system.
Operational-Tactical Aviation, attack unmanned aerial vehicles, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Groups of Forces engaged the military airfield and power infrastructure of Ukraine, storage and launch sites for unmanned aerial vehicles as well as clusters of enemy manpower and hardware in 144 areas.
Air defence systems shot down 14 U.S.-made HIMARS MLRS projectiles and 73 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles.
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 653 aircraft, 283 helicopters, 43,772 unmanned aerial vehicles, 594 anti-aircraft missile systems, 21,502 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,518 MLRS combat vehicles, 21,815 field artillery guns and mortars, and 31,775 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 inflicted fire damage on formations of two tank brigades, one heavy mechanised brigade, five mechanised brigades, one assault brigade, three air assault brigades, one naval infantry brigade, one territorial defence brigade, and three assault regiments of the Armed Forces of Ukraine close to Guyevo, Goncharovka, Zamostye, Zaoleshenka, Kazachya Loknya, Lebedevka, Loknya, Malaya Loknya, Makhnovka, Nikolsky, Rubanshchina, Sudzha, and Yuzhny. Two counter-attacks launched by enemy units were repelled.
Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, and artillery strikes engaged AFU manpower and hardware close to Bondarevka, Viktorovka, Gogolevka, Kolmakov, Kositsa, Kurilovka, Martynovka, Melovoy, Oleshnya, Cherkasskoye Porechnoye as well as Basovka, Belovody, Vesyolovka, Zhuravka, Obody, and Yunakovka in Sumy region.
The AFU losses were more than 220 troops, one German-made Leopard tank, two armoured personnel carriers, 14 armoured fighting vehicles, 14 motor vehicles, three self-propelled artillery systems, including two Bogdana self-propelled artillery systems, two artillery guns, eight mortars as well as one UAV command post and two ammunition depots.
Since the beginning of hostilities in Kursk direction, the AFU losses amounted to more than 61,530 troops, 370 tanks, 276 infantry fighting vehicles, 224 armoured personnel carriers, 1,915 armoured fighting vehicles, 2,031 motor vehicles, 450 artillery guns, 48 MLRS launchers, including 13 of HIMARS and six of MLRS made by the USA, 22 anti-aircraft missile launchers, eight transport-loading vehicles, 109 EW stations, 15 counter-battery warfare radars, seven air defence radars, 48 units of engineering and other materiel, including 18 counterobstacle vehicles, one UR-77 mine clearing vehicle, five bridge launchers, one engineering reconnaissance vehicle as well as 14 armoured recovery vehicles, and one command post vehicle.
The operation to neutralise the AFU units is in progress.
[NYPOST] Democratic strategist James Carville suggested the tide is turning in the country and advised Democrats ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... to ''play possum'' while it does. Good advice, that.
Carville appeared on MSNBC's ''The Beat with Ari Melber'' where the two discussed protests taking place throughout the nation against President Trump and his mass firings of federal employees.
Heartened by these demonstrations, Carville said the best thing for Democrats to do in response is ''nothing.''
''So the question is, how should Democratic politicians respond to this? And what I think they should do is what we call in rural America play possum. Just let it go,'' Carville said.
He continued, ''Don't get in the way of it. Or as we like to say, don't just stand there, do nothing. Let this germinate. We don't need to get in front of it. This freight train is moving. Let's just get out of the way. And then we're going to have time. In the immortal words of Dalton in 'Roadhouse,' 'Be nice until it's time not to be nice.' And that time is coming shortly.''
Being not nice would be unwise, given how many former Democrats voted for The Donald and their local Republican candidates last November. Unless the Democratic Party masochistically wants to lose even more than they did in the last round.
#6
Two protests are not nationwide you idiots. I think that is best for you to sit down and shut the fuck up. Every time the left opens its mouth the public remembers what a bunch of radical morons you all are.
#8
So I went to Bobby's link and saw a bunch of Democrat apparatchiks carrying signs with some of the most inane slogans anybody can imagine.
Hands off my right
Or
When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace again.
Or
Defend Democracy
Or
Beware the Hair
OK, those are very nice sentiments. But, specifically, what are they protesting? Do they think Trump loves power more than Obama? How can they quantify such a thing? I don't get it.
And don't get me started again on foreign flags. Nothing triggers me more than foreigners coming into this country and trying to tell us what to do.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/19/2025 12:06
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#9
Lots of nice protest photos at The Atlantic.
Most of the photos are narrowly shot to hide how small the crowds are — a few hundred to a few thousand at best, it seems to me. And most of the crowds appear to be entirely white — not exactly a broad slice of America.
Preciesly the opposite of the crowds they used to whip up, back when USAID was handing out money freely and racism was a word to cow the normies with.
Good. Another Biden-[Harris] administration item put to bed.
[NYPOST] A federal appeals court delivered a crushing blow Tuesday to a more than $475 billion student debt cancellation program begun by former President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. Joe's wife and daughter weren't killed by a drunk driver. He didn't graduate with three or even two degrees, wasn't in the top half of his law class, and his daddy didn't come home from a hard day's work in the mines and play football with the guys. The NAACP hasn't endorsed him every time he's run.... , ordering the underlying regulation be blocked in its entirety.
The Eighth US Circuit Court of Appeals had partially blocked the loan forgiveness effort last year — but a three-judge panel at the St. Louis-based court issued a final judgment to a lower court prohibiting any part of the initiative from taking effect.
Judge L. Steven Grasz in a 25-page opinion ruled that Biden's Education Secretary, Miguel Cardona, had ''gone well beyond'' his constitutional authority in creating the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan.
''Rather than implying by omission or other ambiguities, Congress has spoken clearly when creating a repayment plan with loan forgiveness or otherwise authorizing it — explicitly stating the Secretary should cancel, discharge, repay, or assume the remaining unpaid balance,'' Grasz wrote, finding ''no comparable language'' in the SAVE Plan.
In 2023, the Penn Wharton Budget Model estimated the so-called ''repayment plan,'' which Grasz said allowed for student debt to be ''largely forgiven rather than repaid, would cost taxpayers $475 billion over the next decade.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey noted in a statement that the ruling has no active impact beyond blocking future presidents from attempting Biden's maneuver.
"Though Joe Biden is out of office, this precedent is imperative to ensuring a President cannot force working Americans to foot the bill for someone else's Ivy League debt," Bailey said in a statement.
The Supreme Court of the United States denied the Biden administration’s request to lift a block on the SAVE plan last year. A federal appeals court in Missouri had earlier blocked the entire SAVE program from being enforced while litigation over the merits continues in the lower courts. The Department of Justice, which is part of the Biden administration, most recently asked the high court for emergency relief.
The Biden administration argued the court went too far when it issued a nationwide injunction, which effectively put a temporary freeze on the SAVE plan.
"Our Administration will continue to aggressively defend the SAVE Plan – which has helped over 8 million borrowers access lower monthly payments, including 4.5 million borrowers who have had a zero dollar payment each month," a White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital at the time. "And, we won’t stop fighting against Republican elected officials’ efforts to raise costs on millions of their own constituents’ student loan payments."
Biden introduced SAVE after the Supreme Court struck down his initial student loan forgiveness plan. The White House said that the SAVE plan could lower borrowers' monthly payments to zero dollars, reduce monthly costs in half and save those who make payments at least $1,000 yearly. Additionally, borrowers with an original balance of $12,000 or less will receive forgiveness of any remaining balance after making 10 years of payments.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2025
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[11160 views]
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#1
A moron with a college degree is a lot more dangerous than an ordinary moron.
[NYPOST] The CIA has sent drones on secret missions over Mexico to spy on narco mobs — and may use them for armed strikes, according to former and current officials.
Some secret — unless they want the cartels to know they’re being hunted.
The covert missions, carried out with MQ-9 Reaper drones, are sizing up the narco gangs and their laboratories over the southern US border as a possible precursor to trying to eliminate them by air, sources told CNN ...formerly the Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for... The drone flights, which were begun under the Biden administration but previously unreported, go ''well into sovereign Mexico,'' a US official told the New York Times
...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... ’'Countering narco mobs in Mexico and regionally is a priority for the CIA as a part of the Trump administration's broader efforts to end the grave threat from narco-trafficking,'' a CIA rep said, according to CNN. ''Director [John] Ratcliffe is determined to put the CIA's unique expertise to work against this multi-faceted challenge.''
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been conducting surveillance flights with drones over Mexico in partnership with the U.S. neighbor to the south, to gather intelligence on cartels and fentanyl laboratories, according to a senior U.S. official.
The Biden administration authorized the use of MQ9 Reaper drones, which the official said are not armed and "not lethal," over Mexico to focus on locating fentanyl labs and cartels.
President Donald Trump’s administration continued the program, which is being done in coordination with the Mexican government.
The intelligence is shared with the Mexican government, which in turn has the authority to act on shutting down any illegal activities associated with the cartels and labs.
"This is not the Pakistan model," a senior U.S. official told Fox News. "It is being done in partnership with the Mexican government."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2025
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[11190 views]
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#1
As long as Americans want drugs,
Americans will have drug problems;
and American cities/towns will have drug problems;
and American families will have drug problems;
and American employers will have drug problems.
Posted by: Franklin T. Throckmorton ||
02/19/2025 2:22
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#2
RFKJr apparently no longer abuses opiates.
Not because his supply was cut off.
Not because opiates are no longer available to him.
Posted by: Franklin T. Throckmorton ||
02/19/2025 2:27
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#3
The US will continue to have drug addiction problems as long as the US has drug addicts -- who, by definition, continue to use drugs despite negative consequences.
Mexico could disappear tomorrow ---> The US would still have the exact same drug addiction problems.
China could disappear tomorrow ---> The US would still have the exact same drug addiction problems.
Afghanistan could disappear this afternoon ---> The addicts in the US would just find an alternative supply.
Posted by: Franklin T. Throckmorton ||
02/19/2025 2:37
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#4
And,, of course , as long as there is DEMAND for a thing,
there will be a SUPPLY for that thing, supplied by somebody -- either legally, or illegally, or quasi-legally, whatever.
Posted by: Franklin T. Throckmorton ||
02/19/2025 2:46
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#5
All true. But at least lot of vicious suppliers won’t get to enjoy the outcome. Which includes China.
#6
The intelligence is shared with the Mexican government, which in turn has the authority to act on shutting down any illegal activities associated with the cartels and labs.
#8
#6 one way to know the players is to feed info to 'Mexican officials' and see if they intended target takes any actions, thus identifying the specific leak. Keeping the campaign chaotic, so the Mexican side doesn't know for sure what is good info and what is bait.
#9
That's the spirit, Franklin. Sit back and do nothing because nothing can be done, right? Let the Chinese and Mexicans flood our streets with fentanyl and wring our hands while Americans drop dead right and left. Let the death merchants get rich. We're helpless and hopeless. We might as well all shoot ourselves and get it over with. Do I need a /sarc tag?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/19/2025 14:59
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#10
The most powerful country in the world can't defend its own borders, can't stop a handful of Third World narco-terrorists, right? Is Franklin Throckmorton with the CCP? Or is he getting a piece of the action?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/19/2025 15:02
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#11
See it in the headlines
You hear it every day
They say they're gonna stop it
But it doesn't go away
They move it through Miami
Sell it in L.A
They hide it up in Telluride
I mean it's here to stay
It's propping up the governments
Of Columbia and Peru
You ask any DEA man
He'll say there's nothing we can do
From the office of the President
Right down
To me and you
Me and you
It's a losing proposition
But one you can't refuse
It's the politics of contraband
It's the smuggler's blues
I still like Smuggler's Blues by Glenn Frey, 1985
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/19/2025 18:44
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#12
Come on Franklin, its a non-serious position to pretend that convenience doesn't feed into addiction.
[NYPOST] A Black Lives Matter leader called out Democrats ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... ' anti-DOGE protests, calling the far-left demonstrators ''sore losers'' as they erupted into the streets to protest the Trump administration on President's Day.
BLM Inc. executive director Mark Fisher, who voted for Donald Trump ...The cad! Twice caught beating wimmin!... in 2024,
…when even BLM leaders are Trumpsters, what is left for the Democrats? Though to be fair, Mr. Fisher was stumping for Trump back in 2023…
joined ''FOX & Friends'' to discuss the movement and why he considers it a play from ''George Soros ...either Ernst Stavro Blofeld or Auric Goldfinger come true. Maybe both.... ' playbook.''
''These protests, they're all performative,'' Fisher told Lawrence Jones on Tuesday. ''In my state, in Rhode Island, it was maybe a dozen, a couple dozen people out— with some signs and stuff— it smells of the George Soros playbook.''
Don’t know what your former side calls it, Mr. Fisher, but we call astroturf.
''It's interesting to me, the day of the protest that was scheduled by online demonstrators for the fifth and the 17th, I think a couple of days before that, they had scheduled a protest for illegal immigration in several strategic cities across the country. So this is just them— being sore losers and sour grapes.''
The 5051 Movement
…short for "50 protests, 50 states, one day". A couple thousand people altogether turned out nationwide for the first protest, as far as I can tell. And the single photo at the link suggests they didn’t even get as many this time…
organized protests nationwide on Monday, calling out Elon Musk, his efforts through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and President Trump as they continue to cut down on government waste.
Ken Martin
Chuck Schumer
Hakeem Jeffries
Kris Mayes
Ro Khanna
Maxine Waters
Richard Blumenthal
Chris Murphy
Maxwell Frost
Brian Schatz
Jan Schakowsky
Angela Alsobrooks
Chris Van Hollen
Steny Hoyer
Jamie Raskin
Ayanna Pressley
Veronica Escobar
Melanie Stansbury
Jeff Merkley
Brendan Boyle
Greg Casar
Jasmine Crockett
Al Green
Bernie Sanders
Don Beyer
Mark Pocan
[NYPOST] NASA just increased the odds that ''city-killer'' asteroid YR4 2024 will strike our planet in 2032.
The space agency claimed that the dangerous space rock now has a 1-in-38, or 2.6%, chance of hitting home — the highest probability of a collision yet, New Scientist has reported.
When the asteroid was initially discovered in December 2024, the odds of a strike clocked in at 1-in-83, before increasing to 1-in-67, to 1-in-53, to 1-in-43 and now, the current frightening figure. Meanwhile, the European Space Agency's odds are slightly lower at around 2.4%.
Since late January, NASA has designated YR4 a level three on the Torino Scale — a standard rubric for the danger of NEOs (Near Earth Objects) that measure over 65 feet in diameter and have a 1% or greater chance of deep impact.
According to the scale, this asteroid is a ''close encounter, meriting attention by astronomers'' and boasts a ''1% or greater chance of collision capable of localized destruction.''
If Earth were to get rocked by YR4 — which measures between 131 and 295 feet in diameter — the resultant energy blast would be equivalent to 8 megatons of TNT, roughly 500 times the power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, the Independent reported.
Text is taken from a TASS interview with Kalashnikov CEO Alan Valerievich Lushnikov.
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin is in italics.
[ColonelCassad] - Alan Valerievich, at this exhibition, as we see, the concern is presenting many new products, especially in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles and guided loitering munitions. What would you highlight in particular?
- If you are asking about fundamentally new products, then these are, first of all, the latest systems with guided loitering munitions (UBB) "Kub-2E" of small and medium classes. These UBBs are maneuverable and equipped with optical-electronic systems, thanks to which operators can guide ammunition to targets even when the latter change their location. They perform very well in the SVO zone.
However, I would like to draw your attention not to specific products. It seems to me much more important that Kalashnikov has developed and launched into production a fairly wide range of UAVs and UBBs in a short time, which offers customers not just individual, albeit very effective products, but comprehensive solutions.
Actually, I, as a developer and manufacturer, believe that offering such a solution is much more important than simply delivering different products: the customer should not have to figure it out, he should receive a ready-made effective and precisely comprehensive solution!
- Which one exactly?
- For example, we have a very effective, I emphasize - civilian - multifunctional complex with an unmanned aerial vehicle "Skat-350M". It is designed for reconnaissance of the area and support of ground search and rescue operations. That is, in essence, it is a reconnaissance aircraft. And this civilian product has been effectively used by our units in the SVO zone for quite a long time.
"Skat" identifies a target and determines its coordinates. The operator enters the specified coordinates and directs one of our guided loitering munitions to hit the target. If the target is stationary, then "Kub-E" or "Kub-10E" can be used. If the target is moving or quasi-stationary, then the operator launches "Kub-2E" of small or medium class. "Skat-350M" not only performs target designation, but also carries out objective control of target destruction. Here is an example of a very good integrated solution.
- This is a solution with the "Skat" UAV. And the others?
— The same UBBs of the "Cube" family can work in tandem with our unmanned reconnaissance aircraft "Granat-4E": it, like the "Skat-350M", is capable of directing "Cubes" precisely to the target. However, if the "Skat-350M" is an electric UAV and can stay in the air for up to four hours, then the "Granat-4E" with an internal combustion engine can stay in the air for a longer period.
— And the "Goliath" and "Karakurt" copters?
— These are copter-type UAVs, but we also offer them in combination with the "Quasi-Mast" unmanned equipment lifting system. In our opinion, such a solution is ideal for reliable protection of stationary objects.
The "Quasi-Mast" rises to a height of 140 m at one point and can monitor the perimeter at a distance of up to 5 km around the clock, since it is powered by cable. Upon detection of an intrusion into the protected area, the Kvazimast records the violation, after which the operator transmits a command and the task force is sent to search for and neutralize the intruder.
The group moves out to search for the intruder with individual reconnaissance equipment — Goliath or Karakurt copters.
— The concern is presenting another product at the exhibition — the Kub-SM complex. How does it fit into this line?
— The Kub-SM is a fundamentally new product for us, a reconnaissance and strike complex with guided loitering munitions. In essence, the customer receives an all-inclusive service: reconnaissance, destruction, objective control, and adjustment. The complex has several features. It includes both guided munitions (UB) in transport and launch containers (TPC, 14 pieces in total), and a reconnaissance repeater based on an unmanned aerial vehicle in a TPC (2 pieces in total). Both types of aircraft are launched alternately from a launcher located in a combat armored vehicle. The takeoff of the drones is gas-dynamic from the TPK.
In fact, we are talking about a swarm use of UB. Therefore, this solution will be in demand by customers for use in large-scale operations, when we are talking not about single targets, but, for example, about a column of armored vehicles.
By the end of 2025, it is planned to manufacture prototypes of the product and conduct tests.
Actually, for several years now I have been writing that in the future, swarm-type UAVs launched in a package and capable of exchanging flight information with each other with subsequent automatic targeting will play a key role.
Text taken from the Telegram channel of @neinsider
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin is in italics.
[ColonelCassad] Shares in European defense companies are rising amid NATO's announcements of increased military spending.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the alliance's spending target would be well above 3% of GDP.
NATO officials said significant increases in defense budgets were needed to continue supporting Ukraine and deter Russia from any potential attacks on NATO territory. Shares in Germany's Renk Group rose 12% to €28.08 in early trading on Monday, while Rheinmetall gained 8.4% to €885.8 and Hensoldt gained 6.5% to €43.33.
In the UK, BAE Systems rose 5.25% to £12.93 and QinetiQ gained 3.4% to £3.81. In France, Thales rose 3.75% to €171.55 and Dassault Aviation gained 4.75% to €227.20. Italy’s Leonardo rose 4.3% to 33.05 euros, while Sweden’s Saab rose 6.5% to 260.5 Swedish crowns.
Mark Rutte said the alliance’s spending target would be significantly higher than 3% of GDP, up from the current 2% target set in 2014, and that its members would have to comply with a strict timetable to be agreed at a summit in The Hague in June. NATO’s new spending target signals an expansion of Europe’s defence industry, as leaders seek to buy and develop European weapons, resisting calls to order more US systems.
Defence stocks have been rising steadily since February 2022, as investors bet the conflict would persuade governments to invest in the defence sector. But a 5% jump on average is a significant indicator, suggesting investors are likely to be informed of specific decisions by EU leaders, including increased defence production and future support for Ukraine.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, meanwhile, said the 27-member EU currently spends 2% of its GDP on defense, but that it needs to increase that by "hundreds of billions of euros" in annual investment. In addition, the EU's executive body will exempt defense from spending caps imposed by EU governments.
European arms manufacturers also received support at a meeting of key European leaders in Paris on Monday, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron. The meeting focused on defense capabilities in Europe and what the EU could offer Ukraine as security guarantees in the event of a ceasefire.
In general, if we are being objective, European leaders heard the US message, feigned surprise, someone even shed a tear, and began to arm themselves in earnest.
On the issue of the fact that the war in Ukraine is not the only issue. The conflict will drag on for years one way or another, at least as long as the globalists retain control of Brussels.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The regional prosecutor's office demanded in court that the crimes of the Nazis in North Ossetia be recognized as genocide of the peoples of the USSR. This was reported on Tuesday, February 18, on the official website of the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia.
"On the instructions of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Igor Krasnov, the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania 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 North Ossetian ASSR during the Great Patriotic War," the statement says.
It is noted that the prosecutor's office prepared the statement together with law enforcement agencies, archival and educational organizations of the region.
It is emphasized that during the occupation of Ossetia, which lasted from October to December 1942, the Nazi invaders tortured and killed civilians, simultaneously destroying the republic’s infrastructure.
The Prosecutor General's Office stated that more than 2,300 people fell victim to Nazi crimes in Ossetia, shot by the occupiers and killed by enemy air raids and artillery fire. It added that over 1,600 people were forcibly deported to Germany. The total material damage to the republic is equivalent to 2 billion rubles.
The agency also noted that evidence, including archival documents, was presented to confirm the stated facts.
“The application was filed with the Supreme Court of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania in order to protect the national interests of the Russian Federation, the rights of the relatives of the deceased, as well as the subsequent dissemination to the world community of information about the victims of the invaders during the Great Patriotic War, the restoration of historical justice,” the Prosecutor General’s Office stated.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on February 7, the Murmansk Region prosecutor's office filed a claim with the court to establish the fact of genocide of the peoples of the USSR by the Nazi invaders during the Great Patriotic War. The agency demanded that the Nazi atrocities be recognized as war crimes and crimes against humanity.
During the war of 1941-1945, the territory of the Murmansk region was partially occupied by Wehrmacht troops. As a result of massive bombings, over 1.5 thousand houses were destroyed in the region.
Red Army soldiers captured by the Nazis were kept in camps in inhumane conditions and forced to do backbreaking work. The Red Army soldiers died from exhaustion and cold. The total number of Nazi victims in the Murmansk region exceeds 15 thousand people. The amount of damage caused to the region is 1.3 trillion rubles, converted to the current ruble exchange rate.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi recently met with representatives of Yemen’s loyalist “Salvation Government” in Oman. The meeting went largely unnoticed amid other major international events, such as the Russian-American talks in Saudi Arabia and the Munich Security Conference. However, it marks an important shift in securing areas of influence in Yemen.
In addition, we are talking about Iran’s attempt to take advantage of the pause in the confrontation with Israel and conduct a careful audit of the “Axis of Resistance” and its adjacent “superstructures.”
YEMENI RESCUERS
Yemen's "Salvation Government," formed in 2016, was essentially a tactical alliance between the pro-Iranian Ansar Allah (Houthis) movement and other opponents of the Saudi-loyal regime of Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
Despite the fact that the Houthis played the leading role in this alliance, at various times forces loyal to the UAE, Turkey and even Saudi Arabia joined in. Although Abu Dhabi and Riyadh consistently supported Hadi's supporters in their attempts to defeat the rebel government.
In September 2023, shortly before the crisis in the Gaza Strip, the "Salvation Government" was officially dissolved by the Houthis - although all of its ministers retained their portfolios and influence in the territories controlled by Ansar Allah. The balance of interests between representatives of different ideological currents was also maintained, despite protests from individual Houthi functionaries.
This “goodwill gesture” was aimed at activating the inter-Yemeni settlement that had begun a year earlier. There was hope that some representatives of the “rebellious provinces” (at least those not directly associated with the Houthis) would join the expanded Presidential Leadership Council (PLC).
But due to internal disagreements, the process of agreeing on candidates was delayed, and with the onset of the crisis in Gaza in October 2023, it came to naught altogether.
TRUSTED BRAND
Despite its dissolution in late 2023, the Salvation Government continued to periodically make its presence felt by meeting with Iranian officials. Its delegates even took part (along with the Houthis and Hezbollah) in the inauguration ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
There were also attempts to conduct shuttle negotiations with Saudi and Turkish partners in an attempt to spur the stalled inter-Yemeni settlement.
It should be noted that official Tehran almost never brought contacts with the "Salvation Government" to the public plane, preferring to put the Houthis, the "punishing sword" of the pro-Iranian "Resistance Axis", in the foreground. The government played the role of "diplomatic extras", following in the wake of the policy of "Ansar Allah".
However, the situation gradually began to change in the opposite direction - and at the instigation of Iran.
Tehran fears that Israel will soon try to escalate the situation in the Gaza Strip again, citing the "inflexibility of Hamas." Especially since the Republican administration of the United States, unlike the Democrats, does not object to preemptive forceful actions in the enclave. And in some places, it even pushes official Tel Aviv to quickly resolve the crisis.
In such conditions, the Yemeni Houthis remain the only combat-ready unit capable of really drawing some of Tel Aviv’s attention. The other proxies – be it the Lebanese Hezbollah or the Palestinian Hamas – still need time to recover and regroup.
But Iran does not want to throw Ansar Allah into the attack at the first opportunity - the risk of US intervention in the conflict is too great. Washington has all the necessary resources to carry out a quick operation, and Iranian strategists are not ready to put a large proxy asset in the region at stake.
Moreover, such an action will most likely be met with understanding by the UN, especially after the incident with the capture and murder of an employee of the UN mission in Yemen by the Houthis.
At the same time, it is important for Tehran to demonstrate its commitment to the spirit of the inter-Yemeni settlement and thereby neutralize the temptation of the Arabian monarchies to support the military ambitions of individual hawks from the PRS by forcing the Houthis to fight on the ground.
Iran’s current attempts to publicly “separate” the Houthis and the “Salvation Government” on the political arena are aimed precisely at, on the one hand, preserving the “Axis of Resistance” in its current form, and on the other, providing conditions for negotiations with other Yemeni factions and their external partners.
ASSEMBLY POINT
The choice of location for the official meeting of Iranian officials and representatives of the "Salvation Government" is not accidental. Oman not only remains a key mediator in the negotiations between Yemeni factions, but also serves as a "relay" of the position of other Arabian monarchies that were previously involved in the conflict.
All agreements reached in Muscat are the collective brainchild of the participants in the settlement, even if only some of them are visibly present at the negotiations.
In addition, Oman also acts as a link in the behind-the-scenes dialogue between the US and Iran. And the meeting between Araghchi and Yemen's "Salvation Government" would hardly have taken place without the consent of the White House.
Moreover, with the arrival of Donald Trump, the “Omani negotiating line” between Washington and Tehran has once again become fully operational, and American diplomats are monitoring every diplomatic gesture by Tehran.
One gets the impression that Tehran sees the ultimate goal of its work as turning the “Salvation Government” into a Yemeni analogue of “Hezbollah” – with the full inclusion of pro-Iranian forces in the governance of a single country, but with the preservation of its own combat and mobilization potential.
Even if this means distancing ourselves from the Ansar Allah brand and sacrificing some of our political capital.
And the “Salvation Government” in this sense can be considered an “intermediate stage” in the reform of Yemeni assets.
While other external players, including the US, apparently do not object to such a transformation. Including against the background of the fact that the previously formed PRS has driven itself into a dead end and plunged into inter-factional squabbles.
And the timing for reforms has been well chosen: the public’s attention is entirely occupied by the “Ukrainian meetings” in Riyadh, and almost no one cares about the reshuffle in Yemen.
If all goes well, Iran will be able to integrate a broad group of loyalists (not just Ansar Allah functionaries) into Yemeni state institutions, while Saudi Arabia and the UAE will be able to avoid the disintegration of a single country into a warring North and South. And the United States will receive a signal of Tehran’s willingness to work toward regional détente.
The only question is whether Iran itself will not consider such a peculiar strategic move by the Pezeshkian government as a “sale” of the last independent asset of the “Axis of Resistance” to the country’s enemies.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Evgeniya Kondakova
[REGNUM] Stunned by the way the Munich Conference went, and especially by the speech of US Vice President J.D. Vance, the leaders of Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark and Great Britain, as well as the head of the European Council António Costa, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte moved to Paris the day after the event in Germany.
At the emergency summit, they discussed how they should now act in the context of the change in US rhetoric on the Ukrainian issue and the upcoming summit with Russia.
The format of the event itself has left EU member states that were not invited to the consultations perplexed. For example, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico does not understand what the high-ranking EU representatives were doing at the meeting, since the EU does not have the authority to decide on the deployment of foreign troops on the territory of another state.
In turn, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto focused on the composition of the participants: these are precisely the countries that have been constantly causing the danger of escalation of the war for the past three years. As the diplomat put it, these are pro-war, frustrated anti-Trump European leaders who want to prevent the conclusion of a peace agreement in Ukraine.
And the analyst of the Hungarian Center for Fundamental Rights, Zoltan Koskovics, ironically asked the question: “Are they going to talk about Ukraine without Ukraine?” It is Vladimir Zelensky who, in any unclear situation, likes to hide behind the thesis “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine”, reassuring himself with the conviction that his Western allies will not deceive him.
The key topic at the meeting in the French capital was the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine - one of the options for security guarantees that Europe could provide to Kyiv. However, there is no clear understanding of what this might look like.
“The latest version of European planning calls for a ‘deterrent’ force of several brigades, perhaps 25,000 to 30,000 troops, that would not be deployed along the line of contact but would be ready to show force if Russian forces resumed the war,” The Washington Post reported.
If necessary, reinforcements will arrive from outside Ukraine to help them. For example, France, whose president put forward the initiative to introduce troops in 2024, proposed deploying European military brigades in Ukraine beyond the line of contact, rather than on it, and is itself ready to send about 10,000 of its troops. However, this issue is so sensitive and serious that it is extremely unlikely to be resolved in one evening.
In Paris, as a correspondent for the French television channel BFMTV reported, the participants in the meeting were divided into two camps: the British and Swedes were for sending troops to Ukraine, while the Poles and Germans were against it.
This scenario seems quite realistic, judging by the statements of the leaders of these countries.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced his readiness to send troops and will discuss the issue with Zelensky in the coming days. And during his visit to Washington, he will be able to personally express to Trump his opinion on the need to back up the deployment of European troops with American guarantees. Moreover, he believes that cutting aid to Kiev against the backdrop of the emerging process of conflict resolution would be a big mistake.
Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergaard did not rule out sending troops to Ukraine, but only after the conflict is resolved to guarantee sustainable peace, and with a clear mandate for these forces. And this is said by a country that has rich traditions of armed, but still neutrality - before joining NATO, Sweden should not have participated in wars, although it had an army for self-defense.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz generally considers all these discussions premature: as long as the armed conflict continues, there can be no talk of European troops in Ukraine. And perhaps the main reason for this opinion is completely different - the reluctance to take any action on the Ukrainian track before the United States. As in the case of sending heavy equipment, Scholz expected that American President Biden would do it first.
A German government source summed up Berlin's position this way: "We will not participate in scenarios where European and American security diverge, for example if European soldiers are deployed without the full participation of the US."
And there will be no Polish military on Ukrainian territory, the issue is closed, emphasized Prime Minister of the Republic Donald Tusk. He is convinced that real security guarantees for Ukraine should be developed within the framework of NATO with the cooperation of the USA and Europe. According to the Minister of Defense of Poland Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, a better guarantee of security than sending thousands of soldiers is large investments of American, Polish and European companies in Ukraine, since this is more reliable in itself.
The meeting in Paris lasted about three hours and ended without a common communiqué or a final press conference. Probably, the whole thing was due to disagreements between the participants, who were unable to come to a common position.
What can we say if even within one country it is not possible to reach a consensus.
For example, British MPs insist on holding a vote on Starmer's initiative in the House of Commons. Ursula von der Leyen left the event with the standard phrase: "Ukraine deserves peace with reliable guarantees." Scholz was irritated by this entire discussion and noted in a conversation with journalists that further support for Ukraine without damaging the development of Europe itself is possible only in the case of the allocation of separate funding, and not by cutting expenditure items in the social sphere.
And only Tusk told the truth about the results of the urgently convened summit - there are none. "Such meetings do not end with decisions, since this is not a body that can make any binding and final decisions," said the Polish Prime Minister, noting that "it is necessary to realize that these negotiations must be conducted between Russia and Ukraine for them to bring real results. It is known that in connection with the involvement of President Trump, the US position will be leading."
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni missed almost a third of the three-hour discussion. When she arrived, her colleagues were already in the Elysee Palace, but this did not irritate the evening's host, Emmanuel Macron.
Moreover, "Italy's sister" was the only one to be honored by a walk with the French president to the car. Perhaps the leader of the Fifth Republic behaved this way because Meloni is one of the few European politicians who has a good relationship with Trump (she was even invited to the inauguration) in the hope that she would put in a good word in Washington if necessary?
Or maybe he was just trying to smooth things over, because the Italian Prime Minister was unhappy with the meeting. She thinks Macron's summit formula is wrong. In her opinion, it would have been better to gather in Brussels rather than Paris, and not invite representatives from all EU countries, and in general, European summits should not turn into anti-Trump get-togethers.
Meloni agrees with the US vice president's call for Europe to be more self-reliant and insists that subsequent forums should be aimed at working with Trump to end the Ukraine conflict.
“Trump, according to the prime minister, should not be taken head-on with individual initiatives and provocative poses,” notes the Italian newspaper La Stampa.
After seeing his colleagues off, Macron called Trump and then called Zelensky.
The conclusion from this unplanned dinner at the Eiffel Tower is this: there is no consensus on the advisability of sending troops to Ukraine even among the eight members of the European Union, and that's without taking into account Hungary and Slovakia, who are the most in favor of ending the conflict and restoring relations with the Russian Federation. They haven't even gotten to the details yet, where, as we know, the devil is.
Having been refused participation in negotiations on the fate of Ukraine, European politicians are deeply offended and want to act in defiance of Trump. But at the same time, they realize that they cannot pull Ukraine on their own, and they do not want to take on the risks entirely, preferring to secure guarantees from the United States. But the United States does not want to get involved in this story any more.
[NYPOST] Liberal HBO host John Oliver lamented the state of America on ''The Late Show,'' but insisted he would be ''going down with the Titanic'' rather than fleeing back to the U.K.
The host of HBO political commentary and comedy show ''Last Week Tonight'' told CBS's Stephen Colbert Monday night that he recently became a U.S. citizen and would stay in America despite suggesting it's a sinking ship under the Trump administration.
''Oh, no, I'm sticking it out. I'm going down with the Titanic,'' Oliver said to Colbert.
The two comedians reminisced about Oliver's previous appearances on the show, including his last one, which was the night before Election Day 2024. Both mentioned the horror they felt anticipating Trump's victory.
''Cards on the table, by the way,'' Colbert said, ''I don't remember anything we talked about because I don't think I was listening to a word you said.''
Oliver chimed in, stating, ''Yes, you definitely did have a haunted expression, like you've seen the ghost that would be visiting us in twenty-four hours' time.''
[FoxNews] Martin O'Malley mocked Elon Musk claiming millions of people in the Social Security database are listed as over 100 years old
Former Social Security commissioner Martin O’Malley considered the suggestion that the agency is "rife with fraud" laughable on "CNN News Central" Tuesday.
O’Malley, who served as the Social Security Administration (SSA) commissioner under President Biden from 2023 to 2024, discussed the report that the acting SSA head Michelle King had quit her job after clashing with Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) over access to data.
"Elon Musk has claimed that SSA is rife with fraud, suggesting that benefits are being paid to dead people, that millions and millions of dollars are going to waste," CNN host Boris Sanchez said.
O’Malley began laughing at the accusation.
That kind of arrogant assitude is exactly why Donald Trump was elected, and why Elon Musk and the rest signed up to help him.
"You‘re laughing, but that is a concern that a lot of Americans have, is it not?" Sanchez asked as O’Malley continued laughing. "Is it a laughing matter?"
"Yeah," O’Malley answered, still laughing. "He has no idea what he's talking about. There is not like a zombie apocalypse of people, you know, cadavers running around with Social Security checks coming out of their pockets."
He then admitted that "it’s a big agency," so there are "outliers."
"It‘s 72.5 million people. Sometimes really desperate people will try to hide the fact that grandma died, so they get a couple more checks," O’Malley said.
He added, "More often, because of the checks we have in place where we interrupt payments of people over a certain age, especially if they stop receiving Medicare benefits… more usual is that we have to restore benefits when we erroneously cut them off, when somebody moves out of the country or something."
O’Malley criticized Musk for putting out claims that he "can never back up."
"Ask Elon Musk, show me the 12 people that are 150 years old. He can’t. Show me the 200 million that are still receiving checks. He can’t. These 19-year-old nitwits from DOGE that are violating the law and plucking people’s personal identifying information, they don’t know what they’re looking at," O’Malley said.
Musk has claimed that more than 20 million names listed in the Social Security database were over 100 years old, including more than 3.9 million in the 130-139 age range, more than 3.5 million in the 140-149 range and more than 1.3 million in the 150-159 range. He did not say how many were still receiving benefits.
#2
This guy needs to be pre-emptively jailed.
Its attitudes like his that are the root of corruption. Stunning arrogance, but I suspect this attitude IS the swamp.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
02/19/2025 3:54
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#3
Damn the typos, full speed ahead. I need coffee.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
02/19/2025 3:55
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#4
plucking people’s personal identifying information
As if the feds don't already have all that on virtually everyone in the USA.
#9
Laughing all the way to the overseas crypto account, methinks.
Posted by: Regular joe ||
02/19/2025 14:51
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#10
a 2023 report from the IG of the SSAdmin estimated about $71B in improper payments over, I think, a ten year period
of course this was an estimate
SSA began a claw back but only expects to recoup about $200M by 2026
There is probably far more fraud in the Medicaid program, especially since the Obamacare legislation. That will be a struggle to investigate as a lot of it involves a combination of upcoding, overdiagnosis and other measures.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
02/19/2025 16:55
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#11
Even CNN anchors understand the line item deduction from their paycheck for 'Social Security'.
I've heard the DOGE Team called many nasty things, but "nit-wits" isn't one of them. Bold move.
[USNI] These are the approximate positions of the U.S. Navy’s deployed carrier strike groups and amphibious ready groups throughout the world as of Feb. 18, 2025, based on Navy and public data. In cases in which a CSG or ARG is conducting disaggregated operations, the chart reflects the location of the capital ship.
SHIPS UNDERWAY
Total Battle Force
295
(USS 234, USNS 61)
[ZeroHedge] The Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on Monday revealed its finding that $4.7 trillion in disbursements by the US Treasury are "almost impossible" to trace, thanks to a rampant disregard for the basic accounting practice of using of tracking codes when dishing out money.
Mind you, it's not as if such a federal tracking system wasn't already in place -- it simply went casually unused for all sorts of payouts adding up to an almost unfathomable $4.7 trillion. Without Treasury Access Symbol (TAS) identification codes associated with those payouts, there's little hope in figuring out where all that money went.
"In the Federal Government, the TAS field was optional for ~$4.7 Trillion in payments and was often left blank, making traceability almost impossible," DOGE announced via its X account. Thanks to DOGE, those "optional" days are over. "As of Saturday, this is now a required field, increasing insight into where money is actually going," DOGE added.
Musk celebrated the move. "Major improvement in Treasury payment integrity going live!" he tweeted. "This was a combined effort of DOGE, USTreasury and FederalReserve. Nice work by all."
DOGE's scrutiny of various government agencies is eliciting high-pitched shrieks from nearly every leftist in America, from establishment politicians who don't want the curtain that hides their hijinks and grifting torn down, to your liberal sister-in-law who thinks the government has an endless supply of money and that it spends it all virtuously.
#6
"As of Saturday, (the TAS code) is now a required field"
This is a basic part of setting up an accounting system database. So basic it is almost certainly a deliberate omission, as if the system was set up for fraud from the get-go.
Blair's Law refers to the on-going process by which the world's multiple idiocies combine to become one giant, useless force. Right now, we are hearing howls and screeches around the world as well as here at home. I gotta ask: Are there any idiocies we were *not* funding? Beak-wetting on a global scale.
[NYPOST] President Trump on Tuesday announced that he instructed the Justice Department to terminate all US attorneys appointed under the Biden administration — claiming the federal agency has been ''politicized like never before.''
Trump, 78, who has repeatedly argued former President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. You're a lyin' dog-faced pony soldier... ''weaponized'' the DOJ to bring federal charges against him, said his latest slew of firings will restore confidence in the justice system.
''Over the past four years, the Department of Justice has been politicized like never before,'' the commander in chief wrote in a Truth Social post.
''Therefore, I have instructed the termination of ALL remaining ''Biden Era'' U.S. Attorneys. We must ''clean house'' IMMEDIATELY, and restore confidence. America's Golden Age must have a fair Justice System — THAT BEGINS TODAY!''
The announcement comes one week after the White House issued termination notices to multiple federal prosecutors appointed by the Biden Administration.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2025
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#1
Standard Operating Procedure. When Obama took office he terminated the Bush DA who was investigating Gov. Bill Richardson in a pay-to-play scheme in New Mexico.
Posted by: Bob Dribble8742 ||
02/19/2025 4:37
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] Journalists reported on the 33rd Separate Mechanized Brigade, the 46th Separate Airmobile Brigade and the 35th Naval Infantry Brigade.
The brigade commanders of three brigades fighting in the Kurakhiv direction of Donetsk Oblast were replaced in January. This was reported on Tuesday, February 18, by the Suspilne and Ukrayinska Pravda publications, citing their sources.
We are talking about the 33rd Separate Mechanized Brigade, the 46th Separate Airmobile Brigade and the 35th Naval Infantry Brigade.
Colonel Dmytro Palisa became the commander of the 33rd Separate Mechanized Brigade. He replaced Colonel Yuriy Gupalyuk, who led the 33rd Separate Mechanized Brigade in 2024.
Previously, Palisa served as deputy battalion commander of the 30th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after Prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky. He was one of the youngest battalion commanders in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He participated in the battles for Liman in the Donetsk region, as well as in the counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region as part of the fourth special forces detachment of the 71st Separate Ranger Brigade of the Air Assault Forces.
He is the brother of the deputy head of the presidential office, Pavlo Palisa. In 2023-2024, he headed the 93rd Kholodny Yar Brigade. Palisa has participated in military operations in the Donetsk region since 2014.
Lieutenant Colonel Dmytro Kapitula became the brigade commander of the 46th Separate Airmobile Brigade of the Airborne Assault Troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He was the commander of one of the battalions of the 95th Separate Airborne Assault Brigade of the Airborne Assault Troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Kapitula replaced Colonel Vitaly Zolotarev, who was dismissed at the end of January 2024.
Colonel Alexey Bulakhov headed the 35th Naval Infantry Brigade named after Rear Admiral Mikhail Ostrogradsky.
In early January, the brigade commander Sergei Oleynik, who arrived in the middle of the operation in Krynki, was removed from the brigade. Kirill Orlyuk was appointed in his place; he lasted three weeks, after which he was replaced by Bulakhov, one of the defenders of Mariupol. He was released from captivity in September 2022.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The first five days of March promise Muscovites a noticeable excess of the temperature norm. This was stated on February 18 by the leading specialist of the Phobos weather center Mikhail Leus.
“The first five days of March will also be markedly above the climatic norm, with positive daytime temperatures,” he wrote on the Telegram channel.
Variation around the mean.
Leus also noted that temperatures in the capital will reach thaw levels by the beginning of the new week.
"On Monday, the air temperature in the region will closely approach the thaw marks. At the same time, the thaw accompanied by precipitation in the mixed phase will last until the end of the calendar winter. Thus, February will return to the weather with which it began," the specialist added.
Earlier, Regnum News Agency reported that on January 26, the chief specialist of the Moscow meteorological bureau, Tatyana Pozdnyakova, predicted several onsets of meteorological spring in the region, but the final arrival of warmth is expected in mid-March. The specialist added that, according to preliminary data, March in the capital promises to be marked by a positive temperature anomaly, and this will once again confirm the early onset of spring.
[NYPOST] Elon Musk's xAI claims the newest version of its flagship ''Grok'' chatbot outperforms rival products offered by the likes of Sam Altman-led OpenAI and China-based DeepSeek — potentially giving the billionaire an edge in the AI arms race.
Dubbed ''Grok 3,'' Musk's new AI model scored higher on tests in math, science and coding than OpenAI's GPT-4o, Google's Gemini, Anthropic's Claude and DeepSeek's V3 models, according to a chart released by the startup during a live-streamed launch event late Monday.
Musk said Grok 3 would be ''an order of magnitude more capable'' than its previous version ''in a very short period of time.'' Grok 3 used 10 times of the computing power than Grok 2 during its development.
''Grok-3 across the board is in a league of its own,'' Musk added.
The chatbot, which was previously described by Musk as ''scary smart,'' is available to premium subscribers on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Musk's startup also revealed a new tool called ''Deep Search,'' an AI search engine powered by Grok that explains the reasoning behind its responses to user queries.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2025
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[NYPOST] Andrew Sonny Cuomo lost his bid to unravel the state's ethics commission Tuesday — in a huge blow to the former governor that allows the watchdog to reopen its probe into his $5 million pandemic book deal.
New York's highest court ruled for the state in a split 4-3 decision, finding that the Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government is ''not unconstitutional in every conceivable application,'' as Cuomo had argued.
The three-term Democrat — who is widely believed to be mounting a run for New York City mayor — had been fighting for nearly two years to unravel COELIG, which ordered Cuomo to fork over proceeds of his COVID-era memoir.
Two lower courts sided with Cuomo.
But the Court of Appeals upheld COELIG — clearing the way for it to resume its investigation into the former governor.
''Neither the Legislature nor the Executive Branch has undue influence over the Commission, a structural characteristic lawfully chosen to ensure the integrity of the Commissioners and to instill public faith in government,'' Judge Jenny Rivera wrote in the majority opinion joined by the rest of the court's more liberal-leaning judges.
[NYPOST] The Federal Reserve's shift to a more ''inclusive'' employment policy in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement may have kept it from curbing inflation, several top economists suggested.
Central bankers had long been wary of both high jobless rates and particularly low ones — raising rates when unemployment was unusually low to curb the risk of inflation.
But in 2020, after Saint George Floyd ...The patron saint of Minneapolis... 's death, the Fed employed a sharp policy pivot to focus on a ''broad-based and inclusive'' employment goal, effectively ending those precautionary measures around low unemployment.
''It was no longer good enough to hit employment targets in the aggregate. Rather, targets had to be hit on an 'inclusive' basis that included all groups,'' Kenin Spivak, chief executive and chairman at SMI Group, told The Post.
''The Fed failed to raise interest rates when it should have done so, leading to the sustained inflation experienced during the Biden administration, and from which we are still slowly recovering,'' he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/19/2025
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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.
...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration....
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
...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....
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
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..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
...Oh, noze! Not him!...
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
...Deobandi holy man, known as 
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
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......
...
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
...The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else?...
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
[NYPOST] 
...Hizonner da Mare of Noo Yawk. As a Manchurian candidate, Hizonner was all in favor of law and order and that kind of stuff. Once in office, a bunch of his friends found cushy jobs with the city, the windows kept getting broken, and Soros-funded DA Alvin Bragg remained right where he was. Most people comfort themselves with the thought that he's not Bill di Blasio but that's pretty small comfort with kids who actually go to school getting bumped off while standing in front of them. But he's a Dem, so the rubes will vote for him next election too, so he's what they deserve...
...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects....
[Townhall] Republican Senator 
...every time you hear the phrase 
...46th president of the U.S. Joe's wife and daughter weren't killed by a drunk driver. He didn't graduate with three or even two degrees, wasn't in the top half of his law class, and his daddy didn't come home from a hard day's work in the mines and play football with the guys. The NAACP hasn't endorsed him every time he's run....
[NYPOST] NASA just increased the odds that ''city-killer'' asteroid YR4 2024 will strike our planet in 2032.
[NYPOST] Liberal HBO host 
...46th president of the U.S. 
...The patron saint of Minneapolis...
