Day 2: Ukrainian Su27 jet shot down over Kyiv as capital comes under attack from 'cruise missiles', Putin's tanks move within 20 MILES of city: Zelensky rages at Biden for leaving his country 'alone', says Kremlin marked him 'target No.1' UPDATED
[Post Millennial] Scare quotes are mine
Congressional investigators looking into the business dealings of Hunter Biden are reportedly facing obstacles from the Secret Service. This as three years of records requested from the organization are simply missing, according to their director.
According to the Washington Examiner, Republican Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson made the request to the agency last month. Their request spanned the length of the Obama administration. But out of the January 2009 to 2017 records: 2010, 2011, and 2013 are missing.
The pair of Republican Senators noted that the agency made "inappropriate reactions" on Freedom of Information Act grounds that shouldn’t be applied to members of Congress.
Fast forward to a mid-February response letter. The Secret Service says they can’t find the records.
"In consultation with the Department of Homeland Security, on June 11, 2021, the Secret Service provided documents responsive to your request in accordance with law, longstanding Executive Branch practice, and Department-wide standards," James Murray, Director of the Secret Service, said in part.
"In October 2020, the Secret Service worked extensively with your committees, and agreed to search parameters provided by your offices to identify communications regarding Mr. Biden’s travel. These search parameters did not yield communications for the years 2010, 2011, or 2013."
In terms of ongoing official investigations, authorities are probing the tax reporting of the current US President’s son. Most recently this past Tuesday alone, this entailed one of Hunter’s former girlfriends testifying before a grand jury in Delaware about Biden’s spending habits.
The report by Grassley and Johnson laid much of the background groundwork for Hunter Biden’s business deals conducted while his father was the Vice President. Hunter conducted business with his Rosemont Seneca company internationally on upwards of five continents. He used his father’s political clout as leverage to set up deals between different groups.
A particular focus of which was his involvement with the Burisma company in Ukraine. Hunter’s associations also extended outward to the likes of China. This as the younger Biden was familiar with Ye Jianming, the former chairman of the CEFC energy company
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/25/2022
13:17 ||
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#2
Records destroyed at the end of the Obama era? How sad to see even the Secret Service corrupted. They still have the files of daily duty my father performed with Roosevelt 39-45, I know because I asked to see them. They keep everything, this is BS!
#5
Fire James M. Murray ass. Then charge him with felony obstruction.
In 2007, Murray became the Secret Service's liaison to the United States Congress and all entities on Capitol Hill. He served as the operational site supervisor for multiple National Special Security Events, including the inauguration of President Barack Obama on January 20, 2009.
#6
This is complete bull shit. They have logs for everything. Get a list of the agents on the detail and pull all their travel vouchers for the time period. Better yet - subpoena the agents and force em to testify under oath. I can account for EVERY minute of my work time for the last 24 years.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
02/25/2022 17:26
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#7
/\ Does this mean you also have questions and concerns regarding Government mandated inoculations ?
[Breitbart] The mass migration lobby, with financial ties to billionaire George Soros, is using Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to demand the United States open its borders to refugees from across Eastern Europe.
Even as President Joe Biden’s administration has resettled nearly 75,000 Afghans across American communities in the last six months — many of whom were not properly vetted and cannot be located — mass migration groups who have a financial stake in refugee resettlement say the U.S. ought to immediately begin refugee flows from Ukraine.
Those who reared up on their hind legs on the subject:
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) President Krish O’Mara Vignarajah
Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies
The Council on National Security and Immigration and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC) are pleading with Biden to provide Ukrainians in the U.S. with Temporary Protection Status (TPS) to ensure they cannot be deported. CLINIC has taken millions from Soros in the last two decades.
The latest Associated Press-NORC poll reveals that just 26 percent of Americans want the U.S. to have a “major role” in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Meanwhile, 72 percent said the U.S. should have a “minor role” or “no role” at all.
[PJMedia] In a tweet on Friday, Joe Biden announced that Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will be his nominee to the Supreme Court.
Jackson is a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia — the court where the Constitution goes to die.
The president will officially name Brown Jackson as an associate justice in a press conference later today.
Ketanji Brown Jackson would be the first black female Supreme Court justice in history and her nomination fulfills a campaign promise made by Joe Biden to name a woman of color to the high court.
The kill squad was pictured in a Ukrainian forest as they took part in prayer rituals ahead of potential fighting Note the traditional Moslem prayer stance
It came after Ramzan Kadyrov, 45, the republic's leader and a close Putin ally, visited his forces in Ukraine
[FoxNews] American-based energy policies would solve soaring fuel prices, Abbott said.
Hannity" host Sean Hannity asked Texas Gov. Greg Abbott if President Trump was right in warning Americans of Biden's energy plan being an ‘economic death sentence’ during the 2020 campaign trail.
GREG ABBOTT: Listen, Sean, I'm coming to you tonight from San Patricio County. San Patricio County is on the Gulf Coast right next to Corpus Christi, through this county runs a lot of natural gas pipelines that connect to a Cheniere LNG facility. President Trump worked to open up these LNG facilities to make sure that we would be able to provide natural gas to countries like Germany or to the EU. But also in addition to that, we have the ability to move oil around, because of what you were talking about Biden's closure of pipelines because of shutting down leases and things like that, the ability to drill, that's one thing that's caused the price of gasoline to go up so much because the price of oil is going up so much. Biden knew when he was getting into this situation with regard to Russia and the Ukraine, he knew that the price of oil would be going up even more. And so everybody watching this show, the price they're going to be a paying at the pump will be going up even more in the coming days. If Biden would rely on American-based energy, we could solve that problem.
President Trump demanded NATO treaty compliance in 2017, but Germany’s politicians delighted in defying him. Congratulations, guys, y’all get to experience the iron law of natural consequences.
[FoxNews] Germany’s highest-ranking military officer cast doubt on the Germany army's combat readiness, claiming that years of neglect have left it in a questionable state amid the ongoing Ukrainian-Russian war.
Inspector of the Army Lt. Gen. Alfons Mais described the army as "standing bare" and said it would be limited in its capabilities should it be asked to assist in a NATO mission in a post he shared on his LinkedIn profile, Stripes.com reported.
After Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this week, the international community has been put on notice and German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht placed the country’s defense forces on national alert, Stripes.com reported.
But Mais claimed in the post that the army would be limited in its capabilities to assist in a NATO mission: "The options we can offer policymakers to support the Alliance are extremely limited."
According to the report, Mais appealed to his government to do more to boost its combat readiness in 2014, following the Russian invasion of Crimea, but his arguments failed to influence policy changes.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine prompts Syria to cut spending
[AlAhram] The government of economically-battered Syria decided Thursday to cut spending in an effort to reduce the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, concerned that oil and wheat prices could sharply increase, the state-owned news agency said.
Russia-Ukraine crisis: Collateral damage on wheat
[AlAhram] As tensions continue to rise between Russia and Ukraine, observers are anticipating the economic fallout from a possible war in the region since Russia, Ukraine, and Romania combined produce one third of the world’s wheat.
This is particularly important for Egypt, the world’s largest wheat importer.
The expected economic fallout from the tensions in Ukraine will likely lead to an increase in the price of wheat around the world, said Nader Noureddin, a professor of water and land resources in Cairo.
Noureddin said that Egypt imports 90 per cent of its wheat from Russia and Ukraine. In 2021, it imported ten million tons from the two countries out of the 13 million tons of wheat it imported that year.
While there are alternative sources such as France, Australia, the US, Canada and Argentina, the cost of wheat from them is much higher.
Egypt’s reliance on Russian and Ukrainian wheat is due to two main factors, according to Noureddin. First, wheat from the two countries costs ten per cent less than global prices, and second, they are closer to Egypt with shipments taking only ten days to reach Egyptian shores.
In comparison, shipments coming from the US take 24 days, and they take 28 days from Argentina.
So, here is the list of items which will get costlier in India in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war:
FUEL PRICES:
The first and biggest casualty is fuel prices. Being the third-largest consumer of crude oil in the world, petroleum products are likely to get expensive as crude oil prices near $104 per barrel after Russian forces attacked Ukraine.
The government, which brought down the prices during Diwali last year, is likely to hike the fuel prices after the completion of assembly elections.
EDIBLE OIL:
Ukraine is the biggest producer of sunflower oil and it accounts for almost 80% of India's sunflower oil imports. The impact on its supply will automatically increase the price of the edible oil.
WHEAT:
More than a quarter of the world's wheat exports come from Russia and Ukraine. In the wake of the war, the flow of wheat and grain could be disrupted.
Ukraine and Russia account for almost 70% of the world's sunflower oil shipments.
METAL PRICE:
Russia is the world's top producer of Palladium and the world's second-largest producer of Platinum. It is used in a critical component in catalytic converters - a part of a car's exhaust system that controls emissions.
Palladium is also used in electronics, dentistry, medicine, hydrogen purification, chemical applications, groundwater treatment, and jewellery. Palladium is a key component of fuel cells, which react hydrogen with oxygen to produce electricity, heat, and water.
Four members of Iraq's federal police were reportedly injured in a bomb attack in the vicinity of the district of Daquq, southern Kirkuk, earlier today, Thursday.
The source told Shafaq News Agency that a roadside bomb hit a patrol of the federal police near the village of al-Zajji, south of Daquq.
Four members of the 20th brigade of the federal police's fifth division were injured in the attack, the source said.
"A security force rushed to the site and transferred the injured officers to the hospital. A combing campaign was launched to track the perpetrators," the source added.
The Iraqi security forces on Thursday launched a series of large-scale military operations to pursue ISIS remnants in the northern villages of al-Miqdadiyah district, 40 kilometers to the northeast of Baqubah, Diyala's capital city.
A source told Shafaq News Agency that a joint force from the police departments of al-Miqdadiyah and al-Mansouriyah, accompanied by explosive ordinance disposal and communication unit, carried a search campaign in the villages of Khams Josour, Hamandaliyah, Tawakol, Sharqraq, Wuloush, and Shamamleh, and Jazira, in the north of al-Miqdadiyah and the territories adjacent to the Diyala basin near al-Mansouriyah.
The operations aimed, according to the source, "to track the terrorist groups, destroy their hideouts, execute arrest warrants, and hinder ISIS forces of Evil from sheltering in the villages and orchards located at the outskirts of al-Miqdadiyah."
[Royal Society of Chemistry] In the year that sees the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War, a previously untold story has emerged of how, through a "miracle" chemical breakthrough, Spitfire and Hurricane fighters gained the edge over German fighters to win the Battle of Britain.
An American scientist and author has claimed that the famed pair of war-winning aeroplanes gained superior altitude, manoeuvrability and rate of climb by a revolutionary high-octane fuel supplied to Britain by the USA just in time for the battle.
Books, documentaries, and movies have chronicled the brilliant contribution of UK designers and engineers behind the legendary fighter planes that won the Battle of Britain, preventing invasion of the British Isles.
The courage and sacrifice of RAF pilots who flew the aeroplanes is rightly celebrated and their bravery has become an inspirational chapter of the British national story.
What has not been known until now, however, is the story of the revolutionary aviation fuel supplied to the RAF by an American company, using a process invented by a Frenchman, without which Spitfires and Hurricanes might not have achieved crucial dominance over the Luftwaffe.
The Royal Society of Chemistry read the claims about Eugene Houdry, and his process at the Sun Oil Company, in a paper written originally for the journal Invention and Technology by American science writer Tim Palucka.
The introduction to the paper by Palucka says of Houdry: "His miraculous catalyst turned nearly worthless sludge into precious high-octane gasoline and helped the Allies to win World War II."
He continued: "That process would make a crucial difference in mid-1940 when the Royal Air Force started filling its Spitfires and Hurricanes with the 100-octane gasoline imported from the United States instead of the 87-octane gasoline it had formerly used."
The RSC is inviting experts and the public to challenge the new claim and if it remains intact then the society will send the report to aviation and military historians to mark the newly-discovered contribution of chemists to victory in one of the key battles.
Eugene Houdry, born in France, developed, after settling in the USA, one of the earliest catalysts to convert useless crude oil into high octane fuel. He revealed the "cracking" process at a Chicago chemicals conference in 1938
The 100-octane fuel that resulted from the Houdry Process increased the Spitfire's speed by 25 mph at sea level by 34 mph at 10,000 feet.
This extra speed gave the British fighters in the summer of 1940 the edge over the Luftwaffe above the English Channel and in the skies of London and south-east England.
With the balance tipped towards the British, the German invasion was abandoned and Hitler turned eastwards, allowing the UK armed forces time to regroup and to revive.
"Luftwaffe pilots couldn't believe they were facing the same planes they had fought successfully over France a few months before. The planes were the same but the fuel wasn't," said Palucka.
Tim Palucka says that in the 1943 book The Amazing Petroleum Industry, V A Kalichevsky of the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company explained what high-octane gasoline meant to Britain. Kalichevsky wrote:
"It is an established fact that a difference of only 13 points in octane number made possible the defeat of the Luftwaffe by the RAF in the fall of 1940. This difference, slight as its seems, is sufficient to give a plane the vital edge in altitude, rate of climb and manoeuvrability that spells the difference between defeat and victory.
#2
The planes were the same but the fuel wasn't
Wouldn't they have had to change the timing or increase the compression to get an advantage from the higher octane?
#5
Know your machine. Burning overpriced fuel in it just wastes your money. In the old days, you could do a certain amount with timing. Now that it's all "black box," a lot more is possible but you won't be doing it for yourself at home.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/25/2022 10:01
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#6
I get most of what you can get out of my old Jeep Liberty by always filling at half a tank and alternating between regular and mid-grade. Past that, I'm into custom eproms or a fancy touch screen engine management system. Neither of which makes any sense ay all for that vehicle.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/25/2022 10:04
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#7
The "Clean Green Fuel" for the 21st Century and Beyond
Posted by: Jack Hatfield3918 ||
02/25/2022 10:56
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#8
Burning overpriced fuel in it just wastes your money
During the first Gulf war the Saudis supplied gasoline. It was 100 octane. Our vehicles run on Mogas, which means they can use diesel or gas or combination depending on available supply. The mechanics said that those who were burning the Saudi stuff had the cleanest engines they'd ever encountered in maintenance. Check your mpg between blends yourself, not what someone tells your. Then do the math.
[EpochTimes] Nine Chinese aircraft entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in the hours following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Taiwanese air assets were scrambled in response, according to Taiwan’s defense ministry.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has sent such incursions into Taiwan’s airspace continuously over the past two years in an apparent attempt to intimidate and exhaust Taiwan’s military.
The Feb. 24 sortie marked the 13th incursion this month, but was well off the last large-scale incursion in late January when the Chinese military sent 39 aircraft into Taiwan’s ADIZ.
The ADIZ isn’t airspace directly over the island nation, but in the immediately surrounding area where identification, location information, and government control of aircraft is required for security purposes. Taiwanese military aircraft are scrambled to respond to each such incursion.
The CCP claims that Taiwan, which has been self-governed since 1949, is a breakaway province. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has vowed to "reunify" the island with the mainland, and hasn’t ruled out the use of force in doing so.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said the latest incursion included eight fighter jets and one reconnaissance aircraft.
The incident comes as Taiwan’s leadership watches the ongoing crisis in Ukraine with concern. Defense and security experts believe that the international response to that crisis could inform the CCP’s strategy for a future invasion of Taiwan.
Taiwan’s leaders have been keen to point out that Russia’s actions in Ukraine are emblematic of a greater struggle between authoritarianism and a democratic way of life.
"The people and government of Taiwan stand with Ukraine," Taiwan Vice President Lai Ching-te wrote in a tweet. "The principle of self-determination cannot be erased by brute force."
Taiwanese fighter jets and air defense missiles were deployed to monitor the Feb. 24 incursion, a standard response.
While Taipei hasn’t reported any unusual troop movement from the CCP, the island’s government has increased its alert level and called for increased combat readiness.
The prospect of invasion from the mainland has raised concern over the U.S. policy of so-called "strategic ambiguity," under which it will neither openly confirm nor deny its willingness to engage in a military defense of the island. Under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, however, the United States is obligated to provide the island with the means to sustain its self-defense capabilities.
Meanwhile, ...back at the alley, Bugs Moroni was holding Slats from behind while his brother Greasy Thumb was pounding his face into paste ... a poll conducted by the Trafalgar Group in January found that a majority of Americans of all political affiliations support a potential U.S. military defense of Taiwan in the event of an invasion by Beijing.
In October 2021, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen promised that the self-governed island would defend itself and its "free and democratic way of life" from CCP aggression at all costs.
[Rudaw] The United States on Thursday gave security equipment, worth half a million dollars, to the internal security forces’ (Asayish) Explosive Ordnance Disposal team in Erbil.
"Consul General [Robert] Palladino presented the #Erbil Asayish Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit with $500,000 worth of security equipment today in a ceremony at the Erbil Asayish Headquarters," US consulate in Erbil said in a statement.
"Following a pause in anti-terrorism assistance operations due to #COVID19, the #United_States has resumed security assistance operations with programs valued at over $10 million planned over the next two years. The United States is committed to continue supporting the people of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region and to the enduring defeat of ISIS," it added, referring 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.... The US-led global coalition against ISIS has supported Kurdish Peshmerga forces through funding them and providing military equipment and training since 2014 when the group held swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq and advanced to near Erbil.
Washington still pays the salaries of thousands of Peshmerga fighters.
Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams in the Kurdistan Region, especially in the capital city of Erbil, have supported Peshmerga forces during military operations aimed to retake areas from ISIS.
Kurdistan Region’s borders with Iraq have been littered with landmines due to ISIS war, and its areas which border Iran ...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... are also contaminated due to Iraq-Iran war in the 1980s.
Dozens of people are maimed or killed across the Kurdistan Region by explosives each year.
There is lots of BS floating around the net that there was never such a people or country as the Ukraine. It's a flat area that constantly changes and over time. This is a visualization worth watching.
#2
There was the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth. Asked those who seek territory what date do they choose to start in making their claims upon land and no time prior.
#3
Yes, there were two very brief times when "Ukraine" existed, 1918 and 1944.
The first was imposed on Russia by the Kaiser when Russia was torn apart and weakened by civil war. The second was imposed on Russia by Hitler when Russia was torn apart and weakened by World War Two.
The only time "Ukraine" existed for more than the wink of a mosquito was when the USA imposed it when Russia was torn apart and weakened after 1991.
An independent "Ukraine" means the tearing apart of Russia for the advantage of hostile invading powers. First the Kaiser then Hitler then the USA. Maybe now you understand why Putin and Russia are determined to prevent such a thing in 2022.
#4
...seems to forget Kaliningrad Oblast. That's East Prussia a priori the end of WW2. It was never Russian, but after 1945 was ethnically cleansed and made part of the Soviet Union. Like I said, give me the date of 'land claim' you start to calculate from. See - Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth.
#10
A pact between Putin and Mutti:
"Du, Untermensch, du, do your duty!"
He gets seven cuties beauties,
She more Muslim cooties,
And Uncle Sam...
"Mmm, tutti-frutti!"
Village heads in Bashar District in the Wase Local Government Area of Plateau State have fled as a result of attacks by bandidos.
Bashar is the hometown of the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Idris Ahmed Wase.
According to Abdullah Usman, a resident of Sabon Gari village, the village heads and other residents had fled, Daily Trust reports.
He said, "The kidnappers attack and kidnap villagers and ask for ransom. If you don’t have money, they kill you. In some cases, they tie you up with ropes.
"On Sunday, they attacked Sabon Gari village and killed three persons. Yesterday (Tuesday), they kidnapped two persons in Yalun village. We are in serious trouble. We are now at the mercy of kidnappers. Village heads of Bangalala, Kinashe, Aduwa and Achale have already fled their areas. The villages are under the total control of kidnappers."
Abdulhamid Cikaaiki, a resident of Bunyum village, also said they were planning to flee the village as kidnappers had dominated villages surrounding Bunyum and had been attacking them on a daily basis.
The front man for Operation Safe Haven, Major Ishaku Takwa, when contacted on the development, said the troops responded to a distress call in the early hours of Tuesday about the bandit attacks and kidnapping in Wase.
government forces stormed tents of IDPs in #Syria’s #Daraa, arrested 6 young men and stole the contents of the tents, local sources said.https://t.co/2Hvonl0Jdc
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced, yesterday, the arrest of an Iraqi ISIS member in Raqqa, northern Syria.
The SDF said its special units arrested an ISIS member while trying to head towards Ottoman Turkish territory at one of its checkpoints in Raqqa.
The SDF published the confessions of the ISIS member Abdullah Abdulkarim Abdullah, who was injured and was on his way to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... to receive treatment in Urfa or Gaziantep hospitals.
The Malaysian government has maintained an open-door policy to repatriate its own nationals with links 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 northeast Syria, but this process involves several challenges.
The Malaysian government estimates that 122 Malaysians traveled to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS while others estimate the real figure to be 200-250, according to The Diplomat, an Asian magazine.
After the defeat of ISIS in Syria’s eastern town of Baghouz, Malaysian ISIS members and families were held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and were sent to camps or to detention centers in northeast Syria.
Many Malaysian ISIS fighters were killed in the battlefields and only a small number were repatriated. However, nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits... 56 Malaysians, including 19 men, 12 women, 17 boys and eight girls are still in Syria.
Recent reports have suggested that 10 Malaysian women, 12 boys, and five girls are present at the Hawl Camp while nine Malaysian men are still being held in a prison in Hasakah city, where thousands of ISIS male members are detained, according to The Diplomat.
One Malaysian man is detained at a prison in Idlib in northwestern Syria, The Diplomat added.
On January 20, some ISIS sleeper cells attacked the prison in Syria’s Hasakah to break their fellow members out from the prison and the nine Malaysian ISIS members were believed to be in the prison at the time of the attack. However, nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits... there has been no news about the Malaysian ISIS members following the prison incident.
Since 2019, the Malaysian government has attempted to bring back some 40 Malaysians from Syria but only 16 have now been successfully repatriated due to several challenges in the repatriation process.
The first challenge is that some Malaysian citizens are unwilling to return to their home country for fear of having to undergo detention and rehabilitation in Malaysia.
Secondly, the Malaysian government faces a number of diplomatic challenges. Since the Hawl Camp is controlled by the SDF, and the Malaysian government does not recognize the SDF diplomatically. Repatriation is not a straightforward, one-way process, rather it relies on the efforts and cooperation of numerous parties, the political status of the SDF has posed a diplomatic hurdle in a few instances.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/25/2022
00:49 ||
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A patrol of #SDF was attacked by unknown gunmen, and two members lost their lives and another was wounded in #Syria’s Deir_ez_zor. https://t.co/gb1pSTXhft
[IsraelTimes] Ambassador Erdan criticizes those launching ‘a jihad war against the only vibrant democracy in the Middle East’; Palestinian ambassador wears mask saying ‘End Apartheid’.
[IsraelTimes] The EU is Ramallah’s single largest donor, but has sent almost no aid since 2020; Brussels has repeatedly raised concerns of incitement in Paleostinian education.
Millions of euros in European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... aid to the Paleostinian Authority are stuck in Brussels as officials in the European Commission discuss whether to condition parts of the foreign assistance on reforms to Paleostinian textbooks, The Times of Israel has learned.
Continued on Page 49
[IsraelTimes] Sammi al-Obara visited kingdom, with which Israel has no diplomatic ties, to make pilgrimage to Mecca; family members say he was detained for diabetes-fueled rant in pharmacy.
An Israeli citizen is being held under arrest in Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Fifteen of the nineteen WTC hijackers were Saudis, and most major jihadi commanders were Saudis, to include Osama bin Laden. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman quietly folded that tent in 2016, doing terrible things to the guys running it, and has since been dragging the kingdom into the current century... for an angry rant in a pharmacy during which he praised Israel as the best country in the world.
Sammi al-Obara, 40, a resident of the Bedouin city of Rahat in the southern Negev region, suffers from diabetes, which was likely the cause of his behavior, his family said.
He was arrested on Tuesday during a pilgrimage to the kingdom, according to Hebrew media reports.
Israel has no diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia, which could complicate any efforts to secure his release.
Mussa Obara, a relative, told Channel 12 that the arrested man suffers from diabetes and "sometimes, because of the disease, he can’t control the way he behaves."
Mussa said that Obara was in such a state of mind when he entered the pharmacy and became agitated at the service he was given. Workers summoned police, who arrested Obara.
The family has appealed to Saudi officials, explaining that Obara is unwell and was not in control of himself. They have also asked MK Mansour Abbas, leader of the Islamist Ra’am party, which is part of Israel’s ruling coalition, and others for help, Mussa said.
The Foreign Ministry said it was looking into the matter.
A video shared on social media and apparently filmed by Obara himself on Tuesday showed him raging in the pharmacy at the service he was given.
The clip shows a hand holding a form with Arabic writing on it. In the video, Obara can be heard fuming that he had wanted to see a doctor but was instead sent to the pharmacy.
He is then heard saying: "I swear to it, my brother, we live a good country. Israel is the best country in the world." He then repeats the last sentence.
"The workers there didn’t like it and they called the police, who arrested him," Mussa said and noted that Obara’s remand has been extended until Sunday.
Obara, who is single, arrived in Saudi Arabia last Friday with a large group of family and friends to make a pilgrimage to Mecca. The Umrah pilgrimage can be made at any time in the year, unlike the more famous annual Hajj, which has specific dates.
He arrived via Jordan, according to Channel 12.
Although in 2020 Israel said it would allow its citizens to visit Saudi Arabia for business or religious purposes, the kingdom at the time said Israelis would not be allowed in.
Israeli Moslem pilgrims usually travel for the Hajj or Umrah on temporary Jordanian papers.
Riyadh has taken a number of steps in recent years toward normalizing relations with Jerusalem. The Saudis were said to have given a behind-the-scenes green light to the United Arab Emirates forging ties with Israel in 2020, and have since allowed Israeli aircraft to use their airspace for direct flights to Dubai and Abu Dhabi. However, women are made to be loved, not understood... Israel-Saudi ties have remained almost entirely unofficial, and the Gulf kingdom insists that won’t change unless Israel makes peace with the Paleostinians.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/25/2022
00:30 ||
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[11138 views]
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#1
And it sounds like he's Muslim, not Jewish; I wonder if that makes it better or worse for him in HSA.
#1
Good idea. Scratch the paedos but the pork thing's not bad. Denigrate and humiliate the eye-slam as much as possible. Be outright evil in targeting it. Play the role they write for you and watch them shrink.
[Stars & Stripes] HARARE, Zimbabwe — A retired U.S. Army soldier was fined $400 and given a suspended jail sentence Thursday for attempting to carry a gun and ammunition onto a plane in Zimbabwe.
Retired Sgt. Maj. Ronald Leon Johnson had been held in the renowned Chikurubi Prison for more than a week after he was arrested Feb. 15 at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe Airport in the capital, Harare.
He was checking in to a flight to the tourist town of Victoria Falls when airport security officials found a Glock 9 mm pistol and three magazines each with 15 rounds of ammunition in his suitcase, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors had asked for a 10-year prison term for Johnson, who pleaded guilty to charges of being in possession of an unlicensed gun and attempting to carry a gun and ammunition onto a plane without authorization.
The judge instead imposed the fine and a suspended 36-month jail term, and criticized prosecutors for "overemphasizing" Johnson's military history to try and portray him as a potential terrorist.
The judge also said Johnson should be allowed to return home. His home address was listed as being in Woodbridge, Virginia, in court documents. The gun and ammunition would be confiscated, the judge ruled.
Johnson retired from the Army in 2005 after 20 years of service, according to prosecutors.
He had been on a 30-day vacation visa in the southern African nation since Feb. 5 and had visited tourist sites and the rural home of his Zimbabwean fiancée.
#1
shold have worn a gourd pink flip flops and had paper work for a white windowless van! and a facebook account promoting jihad the us would have flown him anywhere!
[FP] Biden Administration Debates Legality of Arming Ukrainian Resistance.
Russia could make the case that the United States is a co-combatant.
The #US has decided to expel #Russia’s no. 2 diplomat at the embassy in Washington, the State Department says, as tensions with Moscow continue to escalate over its invasion of #Ukraine.https://t.co/Em5HzBNXkE
[NY Post] Peppermint Patty Jen Psaki can’t resign fast enough.
Not that the mainstream media ever really holds her to account for her arrogance, condescension, sarcasm, or out-of-touch responses to the average American’s pain.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/25/2022
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[11138 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#9
Not new: back in '59, A Canticle for Leibowitz noted that concealing the truth was one of a press secretary's jobs.
Never mind what brought the book to mind...
Posted by: james ||
02/25/2022 10:24
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#10
Check out her actual trans intern who works at the White House every day apparently. Unbelievable!
[Vice] Craig Shubert, the now-former mayor of Hudson, Ohio, resigned on Monday after saying that ice fishing could lead to increased prostitution.
Officials in a Feb. 8 City Council meeting were discussing requests to ice fish on Hudson Springs Lake, and whether opening up the lake to fishing could result in injuries on the ice that would overburden paramedics, firefighters and police, according to Cleveland.com.
This, apparently, led Shubert’s train of thought down a different track. “If you open this up to ice fishing, while on the surface it sounds good, then what happens next year?” Shubert wondered aloud. “Does someone come back and say, ‘I want an ice shanty on Hudson Springs Park for X amount of time?’ And then if you then allow ice fishing with shanties, then that leads to another problem: prostitution. And now you’ve got the police chief and the police department involved.”
Other people in the meeting laughed nervously; the guy sitting next to him looked stunned. Following the meeting, news outlets around the country covered this absurd comment with incredulity.
"My comments at Tuesday’s workshop were made out of concern for our community; what could become of unintended consequences of new legislation, based on my prior television news reporting experience," Shubert wrote in a statement announcing his resignation. "My attempt to inject a bit of dry humor to make a point about this, in the midst of a cold, snowy February, was grossly misunderstood.”
If you didn’t know anything about Shubert before hearing this, it would be easy to give him the benefit of the doubt: It does seem like this was a metaphor about slippery slopes that got away from him while the words were leaving his mouth. But the former mayor’s statements made headlines previously in 2021, when he demanded that every school board member resign, accusing them of disseminating child pornography in a classroom. Shubert had claimed that he’d gotten complaints from the community about schools assigning a book of writing prompts, 642 Things to Write About, for high schoolers earning college credit through the class.
He went to a school board meeting for the first time ever following those alleged complaints, accusing teachers of grooming and declaring, “It has come to my attention that your educators are distributing essentially what is child pornography in the classroom.”
An investigation by Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh found this not only to be false, but the reason school officials were severely harassed and threatened. “The reckless conduct by Hudson’s mayor resulted in threats, fear, and hate-filled words from around the country,” Walsh said.
In the last few months, school board meetings have become The Place to spout your most unhinged opinions at officials, about everything from Covid-19 restrictions to books that parents personally find too historically accurate for their kids to handle. Most recently, there’s been a push to ban (and even literally burn) books because they’re “pornographic,” using the word pornography to mean anything subjectively obscene or indecent.
At least people laughed at Shubert’s ice-fishing non sequitur; with a different audience, they might just as easily have nodded in agreement.
#1
A defense of 642 Thing to Write About: "Yes, some of the prompts are thorny and probably not appropriate for seniors,"
It reads like somebody trying hard to put a good spin on the book. With that kind of defense, I wonder how far wrong Shubert was.
Not about the ice fishing sideline--I gather the overall crime rate in Hudson is quite low.
Posted by: james ||
02/25/2022 10:47
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#2
Prostitution? Apparently, I have been doing ice fishing all wrong.
[BusinessInsider] Russia down about 40%
UK, France and Germany down about 4%
China down about 3%
USA up about 2% (it was down about that amount yesterday)
Japan down about 3%
Ukraine down about 40%
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
02/25/2022
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#1
um... no. There's hundreds of billions of dollars in Russian offshore accounts that will come onshore to Russia soon and boost demand for Russian equities on the Moscow Exchange in coming weeks:
[JPost] 1. Support Ukraine militarily, 2. Bankrupt Putin's war machine, 3. Freeze & seize Russia's finances, 4. Kick Russia out of every financial institution yes, there's more in depth
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/25/2022
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#1
speaking of sanctions... is the Eiger Sanction still on the table?
#2
Kasparov said on Wednesday that "Putin's invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea in 2014 ended any reasonable doubts as to his nature and threat. Any attempts to negotiate with Putin since then were corruption, cowardice, and cynicism. He should have been isolated instantly. Instead, here we are."
Nothing learned about the Russian in the last eight years. Nothing learned bout the Russian in the previous 110.
#3
Queen to queen's level 3. F-22s sweeping Ukraine of Russki aircraft is better.
As for 1: Biden had all but invited Russia to invade by telegraphing the US response and clearing obstacles and uncertainties for Putin. When Biden is bought, he stays bought.
2: Biden has already said that he would not halt Russian oil imports into the US.
3: That's for the Euro to do since that's where the Russian is located.
4: Germany and Biden admin already nixed kicking Russia out of SWIFT (international bank settlement exchange)
So between Biden's puppeteers and the Germans, it seems they are rooting for a Russian annexation of Ukraine.
#6
Kasparov should go back to losing chess matches with computers. "Bankrupt" Russia, hahaha. Wrong century. Russia and China have now stockpiled nearly $4 trillion in total.
Plus wrong country. Maybe he's thinking of the USA. Russia's debt to GDP is 15%. USA debt to GDP is 128%. USA is $30 trillion in debt.
#9
If war comes, Russia and China won't be able to spend those dollars. Those bits in a computer can't be exchanged for anything w/o US government approval. The US gov will blank out those bits and leave a big fat zero. See SWIFT
Russian gas supplies through Ukraine jumped almost 38% on Thursday and are expected to increase further by about 24% on Friday, according to data from Ukraine’s grid operator. Shipments into Germany via the key Yamal-Europe could also restart after being halted for more than two months, according to the results of pipeline auctions to deliver the fuel on Friday.
Gazprom said its supplies meet requests from European customers. Uniper SE, Eni Spa and Engie SA declined to comment on Russian gas orders. RWE AG said it wouldn’t speculate on future developments in the market.
#12
Here's how to checkmate Biden: Today Putin tells his new ally Xi that he's open to talks. So now it's Xi and Putin who are determining Europe's future.
"The United States and NATO have long ignored Russia's reasonable security concerns, repeatedly reneged on their commitments, and continued to advance military deployment eastward, challenging Russia's strategic bottom line," Putin told Xi, according to CCTV.
"Russia is willing to conduct high-level negotiations with Ukraine."
Xi said, "We should abandon the Cold War mentality and respect the legitimate security concerns of all countries," according to the ministry's statement.
Xi also called for a more balanced, effective and sustainable security mechanism to be negotiated for Europe. Xi expressed his support to both Russia and Ukraine in solving the crisis through dialogue.
#19
Biden has already said that he would not halt Russian oil imports into the US.
So, as Putin's tanks roll into Kiev, Biden will continue to buy Russian oil at over $100 per barrel but curtails American oil production. Sorry, Zelensky. Nothing personal. It's just business.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/25/2022 12:24
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#20
in 1945 patton wanted to take on russia. in 1950 mcarthur wanted to take on china. both stopped by dem presidents.
#1
I heard a report of a gas station along the route that was refusing to do business with the convoy. I hope the truckers remember that sort of thing when this is all over.
In Soviet Russia, Putin makes you a mother
[PageSix] Gal Gadot has been dethroned as the queen of cringe.
AnnaLynne McCord posted a bizarre video Thursday pleading for peace between Russia and Ukraine that the internet lambasted as tone-deaf and likened to Gadot’s infamous 2020 “Imagine” video.
“Dear President Vladimir Putin, I’m so sorry that I was not your mother,” the “90210” alum began a spoken-word poem she tweeted.
McCord, 34, addressed the video to the Russian president after he ordered his troops to invade neighboring Ukraine early Thursday.
“If I was a mother, you would have been so loved, held in the arms of joyous light,” she continued.
“Never would this story’s plight, the world unfurled before our eyes, a pure demise of nation sitting peaceful under the night sky. If I was your mother, the world would have been warm.” Read the rest at the link
[FoxNews] Florida is set to pass a piece of controversial legislation that its sponsor says has been unfairly maligned and misrepresented by the news media and the Biden administration.
The bill, labeled by critics and media outlets as the "Don’t Say Gay Bill", is expected to pass through the Florida legislature on Thursday and is being slammed by various LGBTQ groups and Democratic politicians as a bill that would prohibit the word gay from being discussed in school while also targeting LGBTQ students.
The sponsor of House Bill 1557, Republican Florida State Rep. Joe Harding, says the text of the actual bill does nothing of the sort.
According to Harding, the bill does two things in an effort to give parents more of a say in what their young children are being told about sexuality in school.
"One, it defines that there are certain instructions related to gender and sexual orientation that are just not appropriate at certain ages and we define that as kindergarten through third grade," Harding, a father of four, told Fox News. "A school having curriculum that teaches gender and sexual orientation and what that means and getting into the weeds on that is just not age appropriate."
Harding continued, "The second thing is that it creates a course of action for the parent who is dealing with a school district that has decided they are going to become the parent. They’re going to take your student that has anxiety and stress and mental concerns maybe even talking about self harm and they’re going to put them in mental health and take steps to change the services at the school and protect that student from themselves but never engage with the parent. That’s just wrong so our bill seeks to remedy that."
Harding says that 13 school districts in the state of Florida currently promote curriculum that encourages teachers not to talk to the parents of students about sexual orientation questions and changing gender identifications but to instead have the school district handle it.
"That’s just wrong," Harding said. "It’s dangerous and wrong and so the bill does those two things it empowers parents by giving them a legal remedy to resolve if a school district is making these decisions without them."
The bill, which is set for a final vote on Thursday in the Florida House, has been labeled as the "Don’t Say Gay" bill by many media outlets implying that conversations about being gay will be banned in schools. A headline on MSNBC this week implied the bill would "erase" LGBT families in schools and that it represents an "attack" on gay people.
The non-profit group Equality Florida has also accused Harding of trying to "erase LGTBQ people from classrooms" with the bill.
The bill has also been criticized by President Joe Biden and his White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki. Biden amplified the idea in a tweet earlier this month that the bill was an "attack" on LGBT children.
Harding says the attacks against the bill are part of a misinformation campaign.
"They said that we were banning the word, that we were banning people, all things that aren’t true," Harding said. "I think that’s backfiring because the American people have woken up over the past five or six years and realized not to believe what you’re hearing. Do your own research."
Harding also says that several of his Democrat colleagues have told him that they see no issue with the bill’s text when discussing it with him in private but have slammed the bill when asked about it in a public setting.
Harding issued a direct response to Biden and Psaki on Twitter that has been viewed over 50,000 times.
"Kids can and they will talk about whatever they want at school," Harding says in the video. "We just want to make sure that teachers promote that discussion at the right age level, and we want to make sure parents are kept in the loop."
Harding told Fox News that parents who believe that the "best environment for a student to have an education in a school system that engages the parents on critical decisions" have no reason to be concerned about the bill.
Harding added that parents concerned by inflammatory headlines should "read the bill and block out the noise" while acknowledging he knows that’s "hard to do" in this heavily divided political climate.
"The biggest danger and the biggest lie is that what the opposition to the bill is saying that you can't be pro-parent and compassionate and tolerant to the LGBTQ community," Harding said.
The bill is expected to pass through the Florida House on Thursday along with its companion bill in the Senate before heading to Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s desk.
DeSantis has not definitively said whether he will sign the bill but told Fox News through his press secretary, Christina Pushaw, earlier this month that he would make his decision when the full bill is at this desk.
#4
Internal FDA testing continues. Gustatory rejection remains an issue. The test population may be expanded to include members of Congress and volunteers at the CDC.
See also Day 2, Part II. Also scattered articles around Rantburg. Lots of Day 1 articles can be seen here — just keep scrolling down. Also a few articles on Page 4: Opinion and Page 6: Seedy Politics.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
Kyiv came under intense bombardment at around 4am local time on Friday, with the sky ablaze
Ukraine's government said that one missile was intercepted by the city's defense systems, but another hit a residential building
A Ukrainian SU-27 jet was shot down over the capital by a surface-to-air missile, a source told CNN
US security officials fear Kyiv will fall in 96 hours and the government will be toppled within a week
Russian forces have sized control of Chernobyl, with video revealing tanks parked in front of the reactor
Came after 'fierce' battle with condition of nuclear waste storage facilities 'unknown', Ukraine said
Meanwhile NATO-member Turkey said one of its ships was hit by a 'bomb' near Odessa - underlining fears that the alliance could easily get sucked into the conflict and spark all-out war in Europe
Citizens in Kyiv have been rushed to shelters, after the government warned Russia will soon bomb the city
Contingent of soldiers, allegedly 13 in number, were posted on Snake Island
It sits in off the coast of Ukraine and Romania and was controlled by Ukraine
Recording relayed the ultimatum sent by Russian sailors on nearby warship
They warned the guards to surrender 'otherwise you will be shelled'
The men defiantly refused and all were subsequently killed
Courtesy of Besoeker:
Ukrainian ambassador says Russian platoon surrendered to Ukrainian forces
[The Hill] Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova said Thursday that a platoon of Russian soldiers surrendered to the Ukrainian military, saying they "didn't know that they were brought to Ukraine to kill Ukrainians."
At a press briefing, Markarova said, "Just before I came here, we got information from our chief commander that one of the platoons of the 74th motorized brigade from Kemerovo Oblast surrendered."
"They didn't know that they were brought to Ukraine to kill Ukrainians. They thought they were doing something else there," she added.
Markarova was unable to say how many troops were in the platoon and did not say whether they were being detained by Ukraine.
Markarova said that the "combat spirit" of the Ukrainian military is "high."
The ambassador called on leaders of the free world to form an "anti-Putin coalition" to stop Russia's attack against Ukraine.
"Ukraine is defending our home. We will defend our home and it's time for all free and democratic nations who value the principles and the territorial integrity and the right of any country for peace to stand together with us, but not only stand together with us, act together with us to stop the war in Europe," said Markarova.
Zelensky said that 137 "heroes," including 10 military officers, had been killed and 316 people maimed. The dead included all border guards on the Zmiinyi Island in the Odesa region, which was taken over by Russians.
Zelensky also said that Russian "sabotage groups" had entered the capital Kyiv, and urged the city’s citizens to remain vigilant and observe a curfew.
The invasion began early Thursday with a series of missile strikes, many on key government and military installations, quickly followed by a three-pronged ground assault. Ukrainian and US officials said Russian forces were attacking from the east toward Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city; from the southern region of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014; and from Belarus to the north.
Both sides claimed to have destroyed some of the other’s aircraft and military hardware, though little of that could be confirmed.
Hours after the invasion began, Russian forces seized control of the now-unused Chernobyl plant and its surrounding exclusion zone after a fierce battle, presidential adviser Myhailo Podolyak told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named.
The US sanctions will target Russian banks, oligarchs, state-controlled companies and high-tech sectors, Biden said, but they were designed not to disrupt global energy markets. Russian oil and natural gas exports are vital energy sources for Europe.
[IsraelTimes] Private Israeli intelligence firm ImageSat International (ISI) publishes satellite images of Russian forces deployed in the city of Belgorod, close to the border with Ukraine.
ISI says this is one of Russia’s main routes of invasion of Ukraine, going through the city of Kharkiv.
The photos show helicopters and delivery trucks, as well as a field hospital. ISI says the trucks are resupplying the helicopters before they take off.
Update at 8:40 a.m. ET courtesy of Angaiper Ulavins1210:
Ukrainian troops are reported to have killed a number of disguised soldiers as the capital prepares for a long bloody siege.
It comes as citizens were urged to take up arms, make up Molotov cocktail fire bombs, and to use commercial drones to defend their homes.
Some 18,000 assault rifles have been handed out to residents and general mobilisation has been ordered in a bid to protect their homes.
And meanwhile, Russia claims it has retaken the key airfield of Gostomel close to the city after a back-and-forth battle.
Putin's forces boasted they had swooped in with 200 helicopters and paratroopers to seize the location.
Gunfire has reportedly been heard around Kyiv amid a flurry of skirmishes in the Oblonon district and the city centre.
Pictures also showed a Ukrainian military truck and dead men wearing Ukrainian military uniforms who were allegedly actually disguised Russians.
It is feared that Russian special forces could be attempting to sow chaos and take out key officials - potentially Zelenskyy himself - to pave the way for the invasion.
Other attackers may have been Russian "saboteurs" or "sleeper cells" who are loyal to Putin and who have been lying in wait in Ukraine for the assault.
And video showed a tank rampaging around the district of Obolon, crushing a civilian car, though the circumstances remain unclear.
Kyiv's deputy defence minister Anna Maliar said Russian forces had seized Ukrainian army trucks and uniforms earlier on Friday.
She said they were acting as an advanced guard for a larger convoy of Putin's forces heading "at speed" for Kyiv.
Strategy Page: Interesting Ukraine invasion bits Go to the link to read it in full.
As expected, not a lot of the nearly 200,000 Russian troops now near the Ukraine borders actually entered Ukraine. All, or most appeared to be volunteers, rather than the one-year conscripts that comprise half the strength of the armed forces. Few of the conscripts and even fewer of their parents are eager for the conscripts to be fighting neighbors.
Russian airborne forces managed to take an airport ten kilometers outside Kyiv. Efforts to use that airport to bring in additional troops were disrupted by the Ukrainian use of Stinger portable anti-aircraft missiles as well as rifle and machine-gun fire at low flying aircraft. The airport was quickly attacked by a Ukrainian army rapid reaction force organized and trained for retaking key locations seized by Russian airborne forces. While the area around the airport was soon surrounded by regular reservists and armed volunteers, the Rapid Reaction unit retook the airport before the Russians could use larger transport aircraft to bring in more troops. Russia appears to have underestimated the preparations Ukraine have made since 2014 to deal with this kind of invasion.
An amphibious assault on the major Black Sea port of Odessa failed and most ground advances appear to have stalled as well. One Russian column that did not encounter any resistance was the one into the Chernobyl radioactive zone.
Antonov Airport, 20 miles north of Kyiv in the town of Hostomel, was being patrolled by Russian airborne troops on Thursday
The airport is seen as a vital asset for Moscow to bring more troops and military equipment into the capital
While a CNN team was at the airport, they saw Ukrainian servicemen trying to push the Russians back from the site
On Thursday evening, the Ukrainian government said that they had retaken the airport and repelled the elite Russian troops
Ukraine's National Guard posted a photo to social media of three soldiers holding a bullet-riddled Ukrainian flag, and said they were heroes of the battle
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, on Thursday night barred all men aged 18-60 from leaving the country, and a full mobilization of troops
He said that at least 137 Ukrainians are dead, and 300 injured
But despite elite Russian airborne forces capturing the airport, by Friday, Ukraine's government declared they had seized it back.
Deputy Minister Anton Herashchenko made the announcement, according to The Kyiv Independent.
Ukraine's National Guard tweeted a photo of three young soldiers holding up a Ukrainian flag filled with bullet holes.
"Guardsmen with their flag, torn to pieces after today's battle," it wrote. "Congratulations to all of you and say that we will win!"
But despite the recapture of the airport, Russia has made gains elsewhere, reportedly encircling the city of Konotop in eastern Ukraine as they head towards Kyiv.
Ukrainian forces have clashed with Russian tanks in Ivankiv, not far from Kyiv, as they make their way from the border with Belarus via the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
At around 4.20am local time (2.20am GMT), reports came through of blasts in the city.
Vladimir Putin's tanks are less than 20 miles from Ukraine's capital, as thousands try desperately to escape to the west and flee the onrushing army.
You're not standing with the Ukrainians. You're sitting on your cowardly woke ass in your condo off Dupont Circle, tweeting and bloviating your bullshit
Posted by: Modus Ponens6729 ||
02/25/2022 1:03
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#2
Translation: Zelensky has been calling Hunter non-stop but he is not picking up.
#3
Of course Hunter is picking up. It was Putie Poot's Puppets paying off Hunter and the Big Guy. Photos and piss videos available at 2 Bolshaya Lubyanka Street.
#8
OK, Russia has invaded Ukraine.
I see Biden protected that border as well as he did the USA Southern Border.☻
SERIOUS NOW.
The US vs. USSR Saber rattling is pretty taken the next step and Biden's Admin handlers have Screwed the Pooch again, as usual, or possibly as as planned?
However, I don't see a USA-NATO vs. USSR ground war scenario.
What envision, is "civilian" raiders conducting hit and run operations on high profile and key targets. Much like the VC did in Nam against the USA. Then, the USSR will likely use the raids as justification for more territorial expansions plans to secure people.
Remember the USSR & CCP are allied.
If we take on the USSR, the CCP can cut off roughly 30+% of our important life or death medications or the key ingredients and can cause all types of shortages and price increases on consumer goods here in the USA and the EU.
WHY?
The CCP knows USSR has its back when the CCP decides it wants Taiwan back. Given we are already hearing rumbles to that effect.
Where I see this going
I am leaning towards a USSR/CCP vs the USA/EU Cyber-War.
Having noted the numerous, the increased number of CCP spies outed in key industries and national security areas. Plus a major ramp-up of Cyber probes and Lessons Learned practice attacks on key US & EU industries and infrastructures over the last 2+ years.
Whether Russia goes for a total win (all of Ukraine) or calls a halt after establishing itself a Demilitarized buffer zone for its 2 new acquisitions. The Global Military Complex & certain elitists will make a wad of $$$$$ off this.
Either way,
I still think Biden was and is in it for the deflection that it allows him and the LSD's from the problems he and tey caused here at home.
#10
/\ I still think Biden was and is in it for the deflection that it allows him and the LSD's from the problems he and they caused here at home.
Russian bogeyman and tyrant seizes the news. Bad economy and high gasoline prices are now "the cost of freedom we must pay." Hunter is forgotten. Infrastructure is forgotten. Green New Deal is forgotten. US continues to buy high priced crude oil from Russia. Trump is pushed off the stage. Brandon gets a series of 3-5 minute presser Ukraine updates. John Durham investigation is forgotten. Afghan withdrawal swirls around memory hole.
What's not to like for Brandon ?
Future: Putin discloses US weapons cache. Demands UN financial assistance for clean-up of Chernobyl and other research sites. Levies cost of Ukrainian military operations on Euro and US oil sales. Demands US military augmentation leave the region. Begins importation of new, Russian speaking people.
#11
^ If US gummint can't do anything about Ukraine, which is totally an "affairs of men" scenario, where do they come off claiming they can do anything about the climate or COVID?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/25/2022 7:46
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#12
Reparations....where have I heard that before?
#14
The truly valuable part of this crisis, for America, is that opinionators on the right as well as the left who have no business opining when we should spray for bugs, let alone when we should go to war, are all out in the open now.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/25/2022 9:32
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#15
CNN has just hired me to assure All Ukrainians worldwide, that Russia has not invaded your country, what you are seeing are Russian Tourists, very bad and impolite Russian Tourists on Hunting Safaris. They have no manners and will shoot at anything that moves. Please stay in your homes, or if you can head West as fast as you can, the speed limits in the Ukraine have been lifted - Please stay tuned to CNN, for further, honest reporting, by CNN & me Kiev Bob.
#16
US troops are there to secure the border and prevent partisan actions basing from a NATO member, namely Poland. judging by the markets and lead up behaviour, Ukraine was negotiated away a while ago. US and other NATO members don't want anything testing the fragile NATO resolve and unity. The publicized loss of Germany would be catastrophic, even though they are already gone. The dow seems to like the war and Russian control of all gas lines into Europe.
A cyber war would be very complex, we no longer have "American" tech comapnies, it would be hard to identify origin and how/who would you retaliate against?
#18
From Ukrainian journalist Yuri Butusov:
My remarks are italicized
7:07 a.m., the Armed Forces are fighting in the Dymer and Ivankiv districts. Defense forces hold Gostomel airfield. The Air Force is protecting the sky over Kyiv.
08:00 - The overwhelming forces of the Russian army were stopped on the border of the river Teteriv in Kyiv region. The bridge was destroyed to block the way for Russian tanks.
08:40 , enemy DRGs that were trying to enter the rear in the area of Shchastya, Stanytsia Luhanska, Lobachevo and Belovodsk were destroyed. DRGs are special task forces, not elites but group of men select to perform a job typical of special forces
9:57 a.m. - Antonivsky Bridge near Kherson remains under Ukrainian control.
10:29 a.m. - Russian IL-76s with paratroopers landed in Gomel. Konotop has been lost, the battle for Melitopol is underway, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported. Russian airborne commanders got tired of waiting for the main Kiev airport to fall.
12:55 - The most dangerous situation is in the north-west of Kyiv. The enemy's offensive was stopped in Chernihiv, Sumy, and Kharkiv
2:54 p.m. , Russian troops have lost more than a thousand servicemen in Ukraine. I'd wager a fair number of them died trying to take the airport at Gostomel, and in the breakaway republics.
14:58 - Our soldiers gave battle to the Russian occupiers in the area of Belovodsk in the Luhansk region. The enemy is fleeing in the direction of Russia.
16:12 - Losses of the occupiers: 2800 people, up to 80 tanks, 516 armored vehicles, 10 aircraft, 7 helicopters. They're gonna keep coming anyway
7:15 p.m. The landing party of the aggressor tried to land in Nikolaev, there was a fight.
Russian authorities restrict access to Facebook. Truth hurts, I guess.
Then noting it was not.
I began to wonder how I missed the news of Kerry's family announcing he was recently diagnosed to have Stage 6: Senility, like Biden.
#7
I cannot believe as a society that we ever allowed these stooges to have a platform. The GOPe and their "be polite" platform will be the death of this nation.
#10
They think they have everyone put into nice tidy boxes and they think this is how to rally the Globalist Greenies Box.
The different Box Heelers nod in understanding. The True Believers in the Globalist Greenies Box may even lick their lips at the idea of military force to implement their agenda.
Problem is, they already have the support of those people. To the people they are trying to court, it is incredibly arrogant, even to those are considered inside that box who are like, "Yeah, I'm just here for the recycling and solar power."
[JustTheNews] A "peace dividend" agreement that in 1994 removed nuclear weapons from Ukraine seemed sensible at the time, but now has left that country weakened against a belligerent Russia, a former top ranking U.S. security official said Thursday.
"The end of the Cold War meant there was no threat that we needed to worry about" and prompted the move to denuclearize Ukraine, said John Bolton, a former U.N. ambassador and national security adviser. "It was one of those agreements the Clinton administration reached in that period. Remember, it was the end of history."
The repercussions of that agreement are being felt today, he said.
"This is a wake-up call for us," Bolton said in an interview on the John Solomon Reports podcast. "And it's certainly a tragedy for the Ukrainian people. I think we're gonna see that over the next several days, a real tragedy."
The 1994 agreement, known as the Budapest Memorandum, was reached between the United States, Russia, and Britain, following the breakup of the Soviet Union. At the time, Ukraine possessed some 1,900 strategic nuclear warheads, comprising the world's third largest nuclear arsenal.
In an effort to reduce the number of countries that maintained nuclear arsenals, three nations — the U.S., Britain, and Russia — asked Ukraine to give up its nukes. In exchange, the three nations would "respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine" and "refrain from the threat or use of force" against it.
Ukraine relinquished the nukes. One country, Russia, did not sign the agreement.
Early Thursday morning, Russia launched a surprise invasion of Ukraine.
"It teaches us the lesson, that the way you achieve peace is through strength," Bolton said. "That's important. As Donald Rumsfeld used to say, strength is not provocative. Weakness is provocative."
#2
A good rule to follow P2K. All the way down to small arms and the 2A. Look at what happens when the citizenry give up their weapons. Australia and Canada are just the latest examples.
#3
I have always been amused by people who don't lock their car or house. Lots of people aren't up to having to actively protect their stuff.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/25/2022 8:45
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#4
If poor old drunken Yeltsin agreed to "respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine" and "refrain from the threat or use of force", he did so under duress and so the agreement is null and void. Bolton is the kind of war monger who, like McCain and Graham, can never refrain from meddling in the business of other people and countries. If they had left Ukraine and Russia to settle it for themselves they might not be in this mess today. Maybe it's a good thing that Brandon is so weak because a stronger president in the mold of Bolton or McCain would have US troops on the firing line today.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/25/2022 10:42
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[PJ] The Southern border of the United States is in unimaginable crisis. Border agents set a new record for arrests of people trying to enter the country illegally from Mexico: 1.9 million in 2021. And 402,000 of those were released within the United States, with asylum hearings scheduled, for which some will never show up. Biden has vilified and lied about border officials; they’re clearly just obstacles in the way of his project to bring as many migrants into the country as possible, make sure they vote for the party that keeps their benefits flowing, and thereby secure the Democratic Party’s hegemony for decades to come. Now Biden’s handlers have come up with a new idea for how border agents can keep occupied: they want to send them to Eastern Europe for "Operation Ukraine Support."
The memo asking for volunteers for Operation Ukraine Support was sent Thursday morning from the Customs and Border Patrol’s office of field operations.
JusttheNews.com reported Thursday that "for the second time in a year, the Biden administration is seeking to divert Customs and Border Protection officers from the southern border crisis to an overseas conflict, this time to help process people fleeing the Russian assault on Ukraine."
Priorities, priorities. What should be the primary focus of a president of the United States: protecting his own nation by securing its borders and maintaining a strict vetting process for immigrants, who will be expected to adopt American values? Or sending border patrol agents half a world away to help keep track of the refugees created by Vladimir Putin’s actions against Ukraine, a conflict in which there is no genuine national interest for the United States?
Old Joe Biden and his handlers know the answer. His Ukraine-First, Europe First, Anybody-But-Us-First administration rejected Donald Trump’s America-First perspective as soon as it took office. So why shouldn’t Biden’s handlers send border agents to Poland? It isn’t as if they want those agents to be doing anything here.
The memo asking for volunteers for Operation Ukraine Support was sent Thursday morning from the Customs and Border Patrol’s office of field operations. JusttheNews.com pointed out that "the request comes six months after a similar effort to process Afghan refugees after the bungled U.S. exit from that country. That operation was sharply criticized Friday by the Pentagon inspector general for poor Defense Department vetting that allowed 50 Afghans posing serious security risks to enter the United States."
#1
And I thought they were sent there to help defend NATO. Instead, they're cheap labor for the Poles. What, Poland doesn't know how to set up cots? What a waste.
Mexican border competition ?
Thousands of U.S. soldiers that have been sent to the Polish-Ukrainian border are preparing for an influx of Ukrainian refugees into the country by helping set up processing centers. (Photo by Maciej Luczniewski/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
#2
Let's see real compassion from the ruling class. Give us, say, 2 million Ukrainian refugees too. Or the high probability they will never vote Socialist preclude them like Cubans and Venezuelans refugees?
Here's a blast from the past that some might find interesting in light of recent developments. Graham start talking at 1:10 and McCain follows him. Looks like Amy Klobuchar standing next to McCain. I don't recognize who is standing next to Klobuchar.
From 2017.
[NewsPunch] A video has surfaced online in which warmongers John McCain and Lindsey Graham are caught meeting with the Ukraine military, encouraging them to launch an offensive against Russia and restart hostilities, all the while describing Russia as the “aggressor” that must “pay a heavier price.”
Lindsey Graham delivers an incendiary speech in the video, egging on the Ukranian troops to re-start hostilities with Russia.
“Your fight is our fight, 2017 will be the year of offense. All of us will go back to Washington and we will push the case against Russia. Enough of a Russian aggression. It is time for them to pay a heavier price.”
John McCain was no less provocative:
“I believe you will win. I am convinced you will win and we will do everything we can to provide you with what you need to win.”
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/25/2022
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#3
While Ukraine provides air cover, CDC moves "Young Men Getting the Shot Causes Myocardiitis" from "You are a Flat Earther who will be deplatformed" to "Yeah, there's enough evidence to suggest that you should wait 8 weeks between shots."
So it is out there. And it sounds like the cork is about to rot out.
Note that kremlin.ru has been DDOSed off the internet, thankfully an archive copy grabbed it while it still existed.
[KremlinRU] President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Citizens of Russia, friends,
I consider it necessary today to speak again about the tragic events in Donbass and the key aspects of ensuring the security of Russia.
I will begin with what I said in my address on February 21, 2022. I spoke about our biggest concerns and worries, and about the fundamental threats which irresponsible Western politicians created for Russia consistently, rudely and unceremoniously from year to year. I am referring to the eastward expansion of NATO, which is moving its military infrastructure ever closer to the Russian border.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Omomolet Phutch9064 ||
02/25/2022
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#1
I would think that Putin has information that would provide considerable leverage against Biden.
#3
I'm reminded of a story concerning the Panama Canal. The area was part of Colombia and while the US wanted to build it there, the Colombian government refused. Then there was a provincial uprising in the area. Teddy Roosevelt quickly recognized the local rebel government and signed a deal for the Canal. When he explained his actions to his cabinet, Taft (the man to follow Teddy in the presidency and cabinet member) replied something along the lines of 'you have tried to explain simple theft but have described rape'.
#4
Not approving of this whole mess in anyway but my 2 cents.
The USSR fell and split into pieces too neatly. I always thought that the KGB/GRU was just taking it through a process like a Chapter 11 re-org of a company. The current little sets of wars and insurrections suggest that the dice&slice part of a re-org is complete and reassembly is not far away.
USSR 2.0?
The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation blew $12.7M of its 2020 donations on 'professional fees', documents obtained by DailyMail.com reveal
According to IRS filings nearly a quarter of the $60M BLMGNF raised by August 2020 was spent on accountants, legal services, contractors, and consultants
The foundation also reported it expected to spend the same amount on such costs in 2021
The figures were included in its IRS Form 1023 filing, which is required to apply for nonprofit status. BLMGNF was recognized as a nonprofit in December 2020
However, earlier this month it was revealed BLMGNF has not provided its latest tax return, and the 2019 filing has a non-existent address
BLMGNF released a snapshot of its finances last February revealing it raked in $90M in 2020 and ended the year with a balance of more than $60M
The charity, which is now in delinquent status, hasn't had anyone in charge of its finances since co-founder Patrisse Cullors resigned last May
Black Lives (only) Matter leaders and co-conspirators indited by the US DOJ? Charged with embezzling millions in donations for personal use and funding Liberal Democrat campaigns to look the other way. All in violation of US 501-c3 rules and regulations.
Therefore, Mega-Donors will be required to file amended tax returns to reflect the loss on the charitable donation status donations.
[Washington Times] The White House’s international climate envoy, John Kerry, warned Russia to not lose sight of the bigger need to combat climate change as it targets Ukraine.
Mr. Kerry, a former secretary of state, told BBC News earlier this week that it was important for Russian President Vladimir Putin and other global leaders to remain committed to lowering greenhouse gas emissions.
"I hope diplomacy will win ... but equally importantly, you’re going to lose people’s focus, you’re going to lose, certainly big country attention," Mr. Kerry said. "I think hopefully, President Putin would realize that in the northern part of his country, they used to live on 66% of ... frozen land. Now it’s thawing and his infrastructure is at risk, and the people of Russia are at risk."
"I hope President Putin will help us to stay on track with respect to what we need to do for the climate," Mr. Kerry added
The comments were made on the same day that Russia recognized two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent states. As part of the maneuver, Mr. Putin sent in Russian troops on a "peacekeeping" mission, despite warnings from the U.S. and its NATO allies.
Military analysts say the decision to recognize the breakaway areas of Donetsk and Luhansk, which have been controlled by Russia-backed separatists since 2014, was little more than a bureaucratic pretext to invade Ukraine.
#2
Would it be ok if Putin attacked in all electric vehicles? Climate change is truly amazing as it not only stops oceans from rising but now potentially can prevent world wars.
#5
No matter how horrible Kerry is, would the world be better if he'd been elected President in 2004? Would he have reversed the Iraq/Afghan wars while the left was still against them? Would Obama have had a chance in 2008 against a Democrat incumbent? If Kerry got two terms the world would have been ready for a GOP President in 2012 so Obama would have missed his chance until at least 2016.
#9
Perhaps he could make a personal visit to Ukraine to encourage Russians to stop igniting so much explosive and releasing all that carbon into Gaia's lungs.
I doubt they're interesting in buying carbon credits from him just now, though.
Posted by: james ||
02/25/2022 23:04
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Sergeant Major Terrance Whitcomb was relieved of his duties as a senior enlisted leader of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton
The military cited his sudden departure 'due to loss of trust and confidence in his abilities to fulfill his assigned duties'
It is unknown what his duties entail, but as a leader of 1st Expeditionary Force, he was in charge of nearly a fourth of the Marine's active-duty force
It is unknown who will take over his role in the force at Camp Pendleton
Whitcomb has been a Marine since 1993 and became a Sergeant Major in 2011, but stepped into his last role in 2021
He won several prestigious medals through his 29-year career, including the Meritorious Service Medal
#7
...one of the 'completed tours' award. There are a couple of awards used to show that you may have actually did something or just were a warm body for the assignment with the specific award titles determined by the rank of the individual.
#9
His top award was the MSM with 5 Oak Leaf Clusters, lots or campaign medals but no Combat Action Ribbon. The article seems to say his career was as an 0151 admin poge and chair-borne for much of it suggesting his career rise might have had a melanin component, and for combat Marines he might had not engendered a lot of affection. The dead body story seems totally unconnected, and yet was several lines in length hinting at a link. Is there a connection yet to come out and he clearly being dumped before it does?
#5
Hell, I have the meal picked out. Brats, smoked beans, sauerkraut, that good spicy deli mustard, beer according to weather, Balvenie, music list with stuff like Fortunate Son, All Along the Watchtower, that kind of thing. Put the projector on the side of the house, get some yards games going like Kubb, Lawn Darts, make an afternoon of it, take the next morning off. What the hell is the Super Bowl?
[NYPost] Sally Kellerman, the Oscar nominated actress who played U.S. Army Maj. Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan in the film “M*A*S*H,” has died.
Kellerman passed away Thursday morning at 84 in California after a battle with dementia, her son, Jack Krane, told the Hollywood Reporter.
The whisky-voiced beauty famously appeared in Robert Altman’s “M*A*S*H” as well as the 1986 comedy “Back to School,” opposite Rodney Dangerfield. She appeared in TV shows including “The Outer Limits,” “12 O’Clock High,” “Ben Casey,” “That Girl” and “Mannix.” More recently, she played comedian Marc Maron’s mom on the IFC show “Maron.”
Of her award-winning “M*A*S*H” role, she said she eventually welcomed always being remembered for it.
“There were times in my life when I felt I had to go out and prove that I’m not just Hot Lips,” she told The Post in the 2010 interview. “But at this point, just call me anything you want!”
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.
[PJMedia] In a tweet on Friday, Joe Biden announced that Judge 
[Royal Society of Chemistry] In the year that sees the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War, a previously untold story has emerged of how, through a "miracle" chemical breakthrough, Spitfire and Hurricane fighters gained the edge over German fighters to win the Battle of Britain.
...The word 
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
...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 
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Fifteen of the nineteen WTC hijackers were Saudis, and most major jihadi commanders were Saudis, to include Osama bin Laden. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman quietly folded that tent in 2016, doing terrible things to the guys running it, and has since been dragging the kingdom into the current century...
[Stars & Stripes] HARARE, Zimbabwe — A retired U.S. Army soldier was fined $400 and given a suspended jail sentence Thursday for attempting to carry a gun and ammunition onto a plane in Zimbabwe.
Biden Administration Debates Legality of Arming Ukrainian Resistance.
[NY Post] 
[PJ] The Southern border of the United States is in unimaginable crisis. Border agents set a new record for arrests of people trying to enter the country illegally from Mexico: 1.9 million in 2021. And 402,000 of those were released within the United States, with asylum hearings scheduled, for which some will never show up. Biden has vilified and lied about border officials; they’re clearly just obstacles in the way of his project to bring as many migrants into the country as possible, make sure they vote for the party that keeps their benefits flowing, and thereby secure the Democratic Party’s hegemony for decades to come. Now Biden’s handlers have come up with a new idea for how border agents can keep occupied: they want to send them to Eastern Europe for "Operation Ukraine Support."
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Citizens of Russia, friends,
