[IsraelTimes] The US State Department has told Congress that it plans to sell nearly $3 billion in weapons to Israel, including thousands of bombs and $295 million worth of armored bulldozers.
According to the State Department, three separate sales were sent to Congress for approval.
One is for $2.04 billion for 35,529 MK 84 or BLU-117 heavy bombs and 4,000 I-2000 Penetrator warheads. Deliveries are expected next year.
The second is $675.7 million for 201 MK 83 1,000-pound bombs, 4,799 BLU-110A/B 1,000-pound bombs, and 5,000 JDAM guidance kits. Deliveries are expected in 2028.
The third sale, estimated at $295 million, includes D9 Caterpillar bulldozers and related equipment. The deliveries of the bulldozers, which the Israeli military uses, are expected to begin in 2027.
In November it was reported that the former US administration was holding up the sale of the D9 bulldozers over the use of the machinery to destroy homes in the Gaza Strip, which the IDF says are used by Hamas.
The proposed sales “will improve Israel’s capability to meet current and future threats, strengthen its homeland defense, and serve as a deterrent to regional threats,” the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency says in a statement.
[IsraelTimes] US President Donald Trump says boxes of classified documents that the FBI seized from his Mar-a-Lago home during an investigation into possible misconduct have been returned to him, and that he will one day display them in his presidential library.
Trump says that the boxes, which contained top secret documents that he had faced charges of improperly taking with him when he left the White House after his first term, have been returned by the Justice Department, now led by his own appointees.
The department “just returned the boxes that Deranged Jack Smith made such a big deal about,” Trump posts on his Truth Social platform, referring to the special counsel who had led the case over the documents.
“They are being brought down to Florida and will someday be part of the Trump Presidential Library,” he writes, without clarifying if all the documents that had originally been kept in the boxes had also been returned.
Trump repeats his position that he “did absolutely nothing wrong” and his claim that the case against him was a political witchhunt.
The FBI raided Mar-a-Lago in 2022 in a bid to retrieve the classified documents, which Smith had accused Trump of stashing at the Florida golf club after leaving the White House the year before.
Photographs had shown the top secret documents — which included records from the Pentagon and the CIA — piled haphazardly and unsecured in a gleaming bathroom at the busy club.
Trump had allegedly thwarted multiple efforts by the previous administration of Joe Biden to retrieve them.
The prosecution was still moving through the legal system when Trump returned to power on January 20. Nine days later, Smith dropped the case, citing a Justice Department policy of not indicting or prosecuting a sitting president. He also resigned from the department.
#3
The cover sheets ought to be a display in the Trump library. I would say Smithsonian but they would mess it up. If there is an underwear drawer display, this will be the most popular library ever. The gift shop is also going to be FIRE.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/01/2025 9:02
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#4
Could panty raid the Obamas, but might be surprised which bedroom they are found in.
Or not.
Photographs had shown the top secret documents — which included records from the Pentagon and the CIA — piled haphazardly and unsecured in a gleaming bathroom at the busy club.
This that photograph which shows a hotel room's vertical blinds and careful arrangements?
[Garowe] The Somali National Army (SNA) repulsed a major al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... attack at Balad town, sources said, reflecting the commitment by the local forces to restore peace and stability in the Horn of Africa.
Residents reported heavy gunfire, explosions, and intense firefight in and around the agricultural town. This is the first major attack in the country in as many weeks, but the bully boyz have significantly lost ground.
For the last two weeks, the al-Shabaab have been launching pre-dawn attacks following operations by the Somali National Army and the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) in Middle Shabelle and Hiran regions.
When President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud took over, these areas were where the federal government had successes against the Lions of Islam during the 2022-2023 military offensive, which led to a major defeat against the group.
According to officials, the local troops got a major boost from the Burundian troops, who were stationed around the scene of the battlefield. Multiple casualties have been reported but the exact figures are yet to be disclosed.
This comes amid major differences between Mogadishu and Bujumbura over the exact number of soldiers who would serve in the AUSSOM. The Burundian government has threatened to withdraw the soldiers if a solution is not reached.
According to officials, the Burundian government wants the allocation of soldiers to be doubled to 2,000 from the current suggestion of 1050, but Somalia has not approved the number. A total of 11,500 people shall serve in AUSSOM as peacekeepers, including the civilian team.
Security analysts believe the capabilities of terrorist organizations are increasing and evolving relatively fast. In Somalia, the al-Shabāab al-Mujāhideen Terror group could own the largest cache of Kamikaze and small surveillance drones in the entire East and Central Africa.
[ShabelleMedia] Two U.S. politicians are accusing the U.S. Agency for International Development of providing financial support to al-Shabaab ... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia attempting to metastasize into Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and similar places, all ofwhich have enough problems without them... , Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... , and the Taliban ...the once and current oppressors of Afghanistan... , alleging that taxpayer money is being funneled to terrorist organizations in Somalia, Paleostine, and Afghanistan.
Reps. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., and Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., claimed during a press briefing that USAID sends funds to Afghanistan weekly, with the money ultimately reaching the Taliban. The politicians further alleged that the agency collaborates with chartered flights to deliver cash to the Taliban and al-Qaeda, asserting that these actions undermine U.S. national security.
The accusations come amid ongoing scrutiny of U.S. humanitarian aid following the military withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. The Biden administration has defended its assistance as critical for supporting Afghan civilians. Still, oversight agencies and some members of Congress have warned that the Taliban, now in control of the country, maybe diverting these funds.
Burchett and Greene also pointed to $2.1 billion in USAID aid directed to regions controlled by al-Shabaab and Hamas, labeling it a "betrayal" of American taxpayers. "This is our money funding activities that threaten us," Burchett said.
No direct evidence has surfaced linking USAID to support for al-Shabaab, the Taliban, al-Qaeda, or Hamas. The agency, with an annual budget exceeding $40 billion, remains a cornerstone of U.S. efforts to combat poverty and promote democracy worldwide, including in Somalia, a major recipient of its humanitarian aid focused on health, education, and economic development.
USAID has faced criticism before. Former President Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... shuttered parts of the agency’s operations during his tenure, aligning foreign aid with his "America First" agenda.
Democratic politicians have pushed back against the latest accusations, calling them "illegal and unconstitutional." Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., argued that scaling back aid would harm vulnerable populations and weaken U.S. global leadership.
[IsraelTimes] Eli Sharabi, whose wife and daughters were slain on Oct. 7, says he’s ‘not angry’; he ‘adopted’ Alon Ohel, who was inconsolable ahead of Sharabi’s release; Hamas worsened abuse based on Israeli leaders’ remarks
Recently freed hostage Eli Sharabi has described being chained, beaten and starved by Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... murderous Moslems throughout his 16 months of captivity, with the abuse getting worse when his captors perceived Israel to be worsening the conditions of captured Hamas operatives, in a lengthy TV interview broadcast Thursday.
Sharabi said he was "not angry" while talking about losing his wife and two daughters, whom he only learned upon his release were murdered in the October 7, 2023, terror onslaught.
The 53-year-old, who lost 40 percent of his body weight, also recounted close relationships he formed in captivity with now-released Or Levy and Eliya Cohen, with whom he was held for more than a year, and particularly with Alon Ohel, who remains in captivity — as well as a few days he spent with Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino and Almog Sarusi, who were later murdered by their captors.
"You could tell what was happening in the news just by [the captors’] behavior," Sharabi told the network’s "Uvda" program. And so, he cautioned, the responsibility that lies with leaders, in terms of how they express themselves in the media, is very powerful.
"Every irresponsible statement — we’re the first ones to suffer [the consequences]," he continued. "They come to us and tell us, ’They aren’t giving our prisoners food — you won’t eat. They’re beating our prisoners — we’ll beat you. They aren’t letting them shower — you won’t get to shower.'"
Sharabi’s comments echoed ones made earlier this week by another recently released hostage — Eliya Cohen — who said public remarks made by then-national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir boasting of efforts to significantly deteriorate the conditions of Paleostinian prisoners in Israeli jails led Hamas to worsen the treatment of Israeli 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... Over the course of the hour-long interview, which aired Thursday night, Sharabi recounted being held for 52 days in a private home, alongside a Thai hostage. Then, he was taken to a tunnel, he said, where he developed a close relationship with 24-year-old Alon Ohel, with whom he was held alongside two other Israelis in cramped, painful conditions.
"I adopted him from the first minute," Sharabi said of Ohel. "24/7 together. I know everything about him and his family."
Sharabi said the men were able to draw strength from one another. But Ohel took it very hard when he learned that Sharabi and the two others, Or Levy and Eliya Cohen, were being released, the returnee said.
When Sharabi was released with Levy on February 8, Ohel grabbed him and refused to let go until their guard tore him away, he recalled, adding there were "moments of hysteria" and that it took about 15 minutes to calm him down.
"It was a very difficult moment," he said. "He said he was happy for me. I promised him I wouldn’t leave him there. I will fight for him." Cohen was released two weeks later, leaving Ohel alone.
"I can’t imagine that moment," said Sharabi of Cohen’s departure. "I can’t imagine it."
Sharabi said he was giving the in-depth interview for the sake of those still captive, to ensure they come home — particularly Ohel. "We cannot leave anyone behind," he said.
SHARABI LOST 40% OF HIS BODY WEIGHT
Sharabi recalled one day, when a particularly cruel guard whom the hostages called "the garbage" — they’d invented nicknames for their different captors in order to speak about them without being understood — learned that his home had been destroyed by an Israeli Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... "As it happened, I slept closest to the threshold, so I was the first one to get it. Kicks, punches, to the ribs," he said, recalling that Ohel managed to shield Sharabi from some of the blows with his body.
Sharabi, who lost over 30 kilograms (66 pounds) in captivity — some 40% of his body weight — and weighed just 44 kg (97 lbs) upon his release, said murderous Moslems held the four hostages in iron chains and sometimes beat or humiliated them, and that they subsisted for months on a single plate of pasta each day.
"We talk about everything. About the loss, about the captivity — about anything we want"
He is the first among the released hostages in the current deal to sit down in front of a camera for an interview.
"If it happens for a day or two, it’s not terrible. But for six months, that’s what we ate, every day."
He said the hunger pains were unbearable and that getting his captors to give them a dried-out date or a quarter of a piece of bread felt like a victory.
"People should really think when they open a fridge at home, it’s everything. It’s everything to open a fridge," he said.
"That’s what you dream of every day. You don’t care about the beatings you get, and they beat you, they’re breaking my ribs and I don’t care, give me another half-pita."
Sharabi described what it was like to receive a pita, saying the four would break it into equal parts, keeping it until 10 p.m. and then eating it bite-by-bite over 10-15 minutes, "so you can get through the night."
RESCUE OPS IN TUNNELS ’IMPOSSIBLE’
Asked if he ever had fantasies of a rescue operation to save him, Sharabi responded that "in the first period, for the first 52 days, when I was in a house, I could have done it myself," explaining that he could have taken his captor’s gun at night and shot him — but determined the odds of making it to safety after doing so as near-zero.
He said he constantly imagined some rescue operation during this period, but that "once you’re in a tunnel, you just pray it won’t happen," explaining: "You know that before they even get to the threshold of the tunnel, you’ll get a bullet in your head. So anyone with thoughts of heroic rescues inside the tunnels — the chance to bring people out of there alive is zero. That’s why people are bound by the legs."
On November 27, 2023, he was first taken into the tunnel network, from which he did not emerge until his release, he said.
MEMORIES OF MURDERED YOUNG HOSTAGES
When he was first taken to the tunnels, he spent three days alongside Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino and Almog Sarusi, who were murdered by their captors in August 2024, while the IDF operated nearby.
"Hersh told us a sentence that stayed with us, and gave us strength, and didn’t allow us to lose hope — I knew him for two days and he gave me a sentence that stayed with me — he said: ’When there’s a why, you can always find the how’."
When the three young hostages were taken elsewhere, Sharabi said, he and his fellow captives were certain they were set for release. "I told them, you’re on your way home. I remember Ori Danino told me: See you in Israel. We had no idea they were moving them to another tunnel."
Sharabi was kidnapped on October 7, 2023, from his home in Kibbutz Be’eri. He said he had no access to the news and only learned after his release that his wife and two daughters were killed in the Hamas-led onslaught.
His brother, Yossi Sharabi, was kidnapped alive and was killed in captivity, likely inadvertently as the result of an airstrike.
Despite the pain, Eli said that he feels lucky to be alive and fortunate for the time he spent with his wife Lianne, and daughters, Noiya and Yahel, who were Israeli-British nationals.
"I’m not angry," he said. "I was lucky I had Lianne for 30 years, I was lucky I had those amazing daughters for years."
KEITH SIEGEL WAS HELD IN TWO TUNNELS, TWO SCHOOLS
Also speaking out has been Israeli-American Keith Siegel, 65, who was released on February 1 after 484 days of captivity.
He attended meetings this week with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Housing Minister Yitzchak Goldknopf, telling each about his time in captivity and urging the release of those still held in Gaza.
"As far as I’m concerned, the story is not over," Siegel told Netanyahu, according to the Prime Minister’s Office, recalling the meeting the freed hostage and his wife and daughter had with the prime minister and his wife.
"Although I returned, it is my and your responsibility to return everyone. Our friends are there and it is difficult for me to return, knowing that they are still there. I know that you are doing a lot and continue to show courage and leadership," Siegel said.
"I am constantly working for the release of the remaining hostages," responded Netanyahu. "I do not intend to give up on anyone."
Speaking to Goldknopf, Siegel recalled being moved from place to place no fewer than 33 times over the course of his almost 15 months in captivity, including between two tunnels and two schools.
On October 7, 2023 — when thousands of Hamas-led murderous Moslems invaded southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, starting the war — Siegel said he was taken from his home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza in his own car, then was transferred to a local vehicle upon crossing the border, and moved to another car again after some time. During this time, his eyes were covered, he said.
"We arrived at a house, and from inside [the house] we went down into a tunnel. They held us in that tunnel for three days. After that, we went out for a period of some two or three weeks, and then they took us down to a tunnel again," he recalled, of his first weeks in captivity.
The second tunnel "was especially deep — they told us 40 meters (44 yards) beneath the ground," he said. "We had to walk 15 steps to arrive at the bathrooms, without any air. It was living with shortness of breath, with pain and with pressure in the chest.
"They left us there alone from about 5 p.m. until the next day at 8 a.m. If something were to happen to us there, there was no one to speak to," recalled Siegel. "The captors "told us: ’If there’s a problem, come to the stairs, call on us to come.'"
"One night, when they were holding me with my wife" — Aviva Siegel, released in November 2023 during a previous hostage-ceasefire deal — "other hostages who were with us didn’t feel well, they needed medicine," he said.
"We went over, we called out to them, but no one came, and we gave up. We went back and only the next morning the murderous Moslems came. Leaving that tunnel was a whole other story. Part of the way we went up makeshift stairs, and for another part we climbed to the exit.
"We got out of the tunnel by a miracle, after the three of us were exhausted and dehydrated. We received very little water and food," he said.
The three-phase ceasefire’s first stage is set to end on Saturday, with 59 hostages — including at least 35 confirmed dead by the military — still in the Strip. The future of the deal is uncertain, and Israeli officials have repeatedly said they are willing to resume fighting, if necessary to remove Hamas from power.
GADI MOZES TO PM: ’EVERY DAY IS CRITICAL’
Gadi Mozes, 80, who was freed on January 30 after 482 days of captivity, also urged action to secure the release of those still in Gaza, in a video statement posted by the Haim Forum of hostage families.
"I returned alive; but everyone who is left there, each additional day, we’re raising the chance that they won’t return or that they’ll die," he said. "I suffered there. I suffered hardships of all kinds, mental and physical abuses."
"I turn to you, Mr. Prime Minister, every day is critical here," Mozes said. He went on to thank Israeli soldiers, both the fallen — whose families he acknowledged and said he wanted to "share in the pain" with — and the maimed, "who also risked their lives to save me and my friends and our entire nation."
Mozes said he was committed to the campaign to secure the release of all those still captive, and also to the rebuilding of Kibbutz Nir Oz.
[Townhall] An apparent "transgender"-identifying homeless man allegedly plotted to carry out a "mass casualty" attack on police in Texas, targeting white officers specifically, similar to the 2016 shooting that a black murderous Moslem perpetrated against Dallas police.
According to a Corpus Christi Police Department (CCPD) blurb, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)'s local field office was tipped off about 21-year-old Seth Gregori a.k.a. "Andrea" Lozano making terroristic threats against CCPD personnel, white officers in particular.
Authorities have heard that Gregori identifies as "transgender," Townhall can confirm. "Transgender is what we're hearing," Townhall was told.
A local law enforcement source told The Daily Caller that Gregori is "transitioning" between genders. Based on information that the CCPD received from the FBI, "it's our understanding that [Gregori is] transitioning," a CCPD officer said.
At a Tuesday presser, CCPD assistant chief Todd Green told news hounds:
"The name we have on the arrest warrant is Andrea Lozano Gregori, but he also goes by Seth, that was his, I guess, given name, birth name. I can't tell you for sure whether he has transitioned, but he is in the process—he identifies as a woman. How's that? At this point in his life, he apparently identifies as a woman but is biologically male."
Gregori was arrested Monday on an active warrant—issued February 10—for making a terrorist threat toward a public servant.
According to an affidavit in support of Gregori's arrest, which refers to him as "Andrea/Seth," a CCPD detective embedded on a federal Joint Terrorism Task Force initiated an investigation on February 6 when a source called the Corpus Christi FBI office to report that the suspect had texted him about being in possession of an "AR-15 platform pistol" and wanting to kill CCPD officers.
The source said that Gregori's cell phone contained six months of messages showing a lengthy history of him expressing a desire to recreate a "Dallas-style" ambush on police, in reference to the 2016 mass shooting.
On July 7, 2016, Micah Xavier Johnson, a black nationalist, ambushed and shot several Dallas Police Department (DPD) officers, killing five and injuring nine, marking the deadliest incident for U.S. law enforcement since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Johnson, who ranted about racism online and followed the Facebook pages of black separatist groups, such as the New Black Panther Party, the Nation of Islam, and the Black Riders Liberation Party, shouted "Black supremacy! Black liberation!" during his shooting rampage.
Of the "thousands" of texts exchanged with Gregori, the tipster flagged "the worst" and most recent. The source sent CCPD screenshots of their texts, one in which Gregori said he planned on doing the "same thing Micah did," fantasizing as far back as before 2021, and that he thought about it "as much as I could like Micah planned for years," according to the arrest affidavit. Gregori then allegedly sent a picture of an AR receiver.
Spanning 71 pages of evidence, the correspondence showed "clear planning, intent, and steps taken to ambush and kill coppers in Corpus Christi, Texas," the probable cause statements said. The trove of texts included 19 images of the Dallas scene of the crime and of Johnson. Gregori had also allegedly sent a series of photographs he had taken while "surreptitiously" stalking local coppers, along with messages narrating him reenacting the 2016 shooting, unbeknownst to the officers in the images.
That day, Gregori was found at Mother Teresa's homeless shelter possessing a backpack carrying a fully loaded AR-15 pistol, purchased three days prior, and a box of ammunition, per police. Gregori allegedly bragged about being friendly with CCPD officers who work security at the homeless facility and "fooling" them to gain their trust so they didn't see him as a threat.
Upon being located, he allegedly fled on foot. In police custody, Gregori reportedly revealed he had plotted to commit the shooting spree downtown; however, Gregori said he would have spared innocent bystanders because he's "a sharpshooter" and only intended to take out CCPD cops. Gregori allegedly admitted he had wished to target "white" officers only, leaving the "black and Mexican cops alone."
This week, police picked Gregori up Monday on the arrest warrant executed at 600 Elizabeth Street, the address of CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital.
Gregori was booked into Nueces County Jail on state-level charges of resisting arrest, search, or transport; evading arrest or detention; and making terrorist threats with the intent to impair public services, place the public in fear of serious bodily harm, and influence government activities (a third-degree felony).
He is currently being held on $70,000 bond. An affidavit of indigency was filed Wednesday.
Federal charges may be filed down the line, CCPD said.
Gregori has a criminal record involving multiple misdemeanors, according to court records reviewed by Townhall.
In December 2024, Gregori was arrested for criminal trespass, but the case was disposed of.
#3
It seems mentally ill people are prone to do mentally ill kinda things. Whodathunkit?
Posted by: ed in texas ||
03/01/2025 7:12
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#4
Hmm? Imagine that!
I lived in CC for two years back in the 70's, all I remember is having chorizo breakfast tacos and in the summer, exactly (almost) at 3pm a 20 minute rain storm.
#5
Gee. given what we know about the testing before releasing the Covid 'vaccine', should we to checking into all the drugs they're pumping in to these creatures?
How fortunate her opinion doesn’t matter outside the EU.
[IsraelTimes] The European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas vows to stand by Kyiv and questions America’s leadership of the West after theextraordinary clash between President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Today, it became clear that the free world needs a new leader. It’s up to us, Europeans, to take this challenge,” Kallas writes on social media following the Oval Office confrontation. “Ukraine is Europe! We stand by Ukraine.”
#1
IMO: EUropeans (and Brits) need to focus on tending their own garden - it's overgrown by weeds and overrun by pests - and stop pretending that Europe is center of the universe.
#3
Trump is the new leader that we put in place out of disgust for their globalist baloney. For them, the Biden lesson ought to be that American presidents are not easily removed. Calling for Trump’s removal is dumb. He likely cracking the knuckles if his pump hand in preps for his response.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/01/2025 8:56
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#4
Given the Euros position on 'free speech' they hardly are ones looking for a new leader for the free world.
#5
They all seem busy trying to make it The Mediterranean Union.
MU: we are the free and sophisticated world!
UK: if you shared the story of the government using an 11 year old girl to attract African settlers, we can arrest you during your transfer at Heathrow.
#6
IMHO the 'Free World' was dealt a fatal blow on 9/11 2001 and Bush's declaration that 'Islam is Peace' in the aftermath of an Islamic massacre on American soil was its death rattle.
Submission to Islam and opposition to free speech has been the consensus of the 'Free' World ever since. (e.g. here and here). This consensus was shared even by Trump in 2015.
#10
Earlier this past week we saw that the UK had only 25 deployable tanks. So they need about 10 years of massive defense purchases to achieve any "leadership".
#12
Just don’t attack the British army with a pointed stick.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/01/2025 19:00
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#13
By gad, sir, our gunsels were gaudy
The day we encountered a body
Of spearchucking wogs,
All so awed by our togs
That they ran, to the last man and Mahdi!
Good. That kind of thing is not ok, no matter how distressing world events..
[IsraelTimes] A jury finds an Illinois landlord guilty of murder and hate crime charges for a brutal 2023 attack on a Palestinian American family in which he killed a 6-year-old.
Joseph Czuba, 73, was charged in the fatal stabbing of Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of his mother, Hanan Shaheen, on Oct. 14, 2023, in Plainfield, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) from Chicago.
Authorities alleged the family — who were renting rooms in Czuba’s house — was targeted because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas that was sparked by the terror group’s devastating assault on Oct. 7, 2023.
Jurors deliberated less than 90 minutes over the crime that renewed fears of anti-Muslim discrimination in the Chicago area’s large and established Palestinian community.
The trial featured detailed testimony from police officers, medical workers, Czuba’s ex-wife, and Shaheen, who described how Czuba attacked her with a knife before going after her son in a different room.
Prosecutors say that the child had been stabbed 26 times. He was found naked with a knife still in his side.
When will Illinois start arresting the Pro-Hamas Terrorist protesters that have been assaulting those of the Jewish Faith? That's a violation of the Illinois Felony Hate Crime.
#4
Was it a hate crime or, simply, a crazy old man?
It happened on October 14, 2023, Grom, and he was reportedly really upset by what he saw on the news. As I recall, he’d been kind to the boy and the boy’s divorced mother previously.
#7
It’s a useful story as a hate crime. Why is the 6 year old kid found naked? Did the old man want to reduce the impact of his attack on their laundry? Another dysfunction is present that isn’t useful for the narrative.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/01/2025 12:22
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[IsraelTimes] The Israeli negotiating team is returning from Gaza as a result of Hamas opposing Israel’s proposal to extend the ongoing first phase of the hostage-ceasefire by an additional 42 days, Channel 12 reports.
The Channel 12 report comes soon after it is said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold consultations this evening with senior ministers and defense officials on the subject of the hostage-ceasefire deal. It is rare for the premier to hold such discussions on a Friday evening, the Jewish Sabbath.
An Israeli delegation dispatched to Cairo yesterday for “intensive” talks on the future of the Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas was said to have proposed the first phase extension.
Hamas reportedly opposes the extension and insists on proceeding to the second phase of the deal as originally agreed. The second phase is meant to include steps leading to a permanent end to the war, including a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Strip.
A diplomatic source said the Israeli delegation was to return from Cairo Friday night.
[IsraelTimes] An IDF drone strike yesterday in northern Lebanon’s Hermel District killed a Hezbollah operative involved in procuring weapons for the terror group amid the ongoing ceasefire, the military says.
According to the IDF, Mohammed Mahdi Ali Shaheen was “coordinating terrorist transactions for the purchase of weapons on the Syria-Lebanon border, since the understandings between Israel and Lebanon came into effect.”
Shaheen is described by the IDF as a prominent member of Hezbollah’s regional division in the Beqaa Valley area, involved in smuggling weapons from Syria to Lebanon. As part of his role, Shaheen was responsible for making procurement deals with smugglers and suppliers, mediating the arrival of shipments, and distributing them to various Hezbollah units, the military says.
The IDF says his actions “posed a threat to Israel and its citizens, and constitutes a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”
On Wednesday, a separate IDF drone strike in northeastern Lebanon killed Mahran Ali Nasser al-Din, a prominent member of Hezbollah’s Unit 4400, which is responsible for smuggling weapons into Lebanon.
[IsraelTimes] Lebanon’s Beirut airport authorities seize $2.5 million in cash destined for terror group Hezbollah, concealed with a man arriving from Turkey, three sources say.
One of the sources says it is the first time such a seizure has been made. There is no immediate comment from Hezbollah.
[IsraelTimes] Palestinian peace activist Samer Sinjilawi pays condolence visits to the families of slain hostages Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, and Oded Lifshitz.
“As I gave [former hostage] Yarden [Bibas] and [Lifshitz’s daughter] Sharon my condolences, I struggled to hold back my tears, but when they hugged me I couldn’t stop the tears,” Sinjilawi writes on X.
“Yarden told me how much it meant to him that a Palestinian had come to visit.”
Sinjilawi adds: “I feel it is our duty as Palestinians to share the pain and grief of these families, to say loud and clear that we condemn these murders, and to apologize and ask for forgiveness.”
“I think both Yarden and Sharon needed to hear these words from me. I can only hope I have done something, however small and fleeting, to ease their pain,” he continues.
After spending several years in Israeli prison for violence committed as a teen during the Second Intifada, Sinjilawi has worked to advance reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. Over the past year, he has worked to advance a joint plan from former prime minister Ehud Olmert and former Palestinian Authority foreign minister Nasser al-Kidwa for a two-state solution.
[IsraelTimes] US aid cuts have forced the UN children’s agency UNICEF to suspend or scale back many programs in Lebanon, with more than half of children under the age of two experiencing severe food poverty in the country’s east, an official says.
“We have been forced to suspend or cut back or drastically reduce many of our programs and that includes nutrition programs,” UNICEF’s deputy representative in Lebanon, Ettie Higgins, tells reporters in Geneva via video link from Beirut.
#6
I would call for Soros to step in to make up for the lack of Deep State funding but that’s like discovering that the Circle K pump is empty and rolling up 10 feet to try the next pumping station. USAID appears to be the tank for every sketchy NGO out there.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/01/2025 10:31
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Top||
#7
It's a lot more fun when you start thinking in code words, like "Nutritional Programs" = "Combat First Aid Kits".
[IsraelTimes] Eight people were arrested last night on suspicion of spitting on a church in the Old City of Jerusalem, police say.
According to the police, the suspects include both adults and minors, and two of them were also arrested in connection with a similar incident that occurred two months earlier.
“We will not tolerate expressions of hatred toward anyone, Christians, Jews or Muslims, in the Old City or anywhere else in Jerusalem,” says Commander Dvir Tamim, chief of the David area of the police’s Jerusalem District. “We condemn this ugly phenomenon that harms the unique fabric of life that has existed in this area for many years, which includes visitors, worshippers and travelers of all religions, side by side.”
Tamim says tensions will be particularly heightened in the Old City in the coming period, with the start of Ramadan, and he calls for calm in the area. He also says that police will continue to use technological means, including high-tech cameras, to identify and catch suspects in such incidents since most go unreported.
[NY Post] A Washington-based Muslim nonprofit, which is one of the largest operating across the US, agreed this week to settle a case brought by a former board member and employee rather than open its books to reveal sources of foreign funding, The Post has learned.
Evidence in past court proceedings has shown links between The Council on American-Islamic Relations Foundation Inc. and both Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Links??? CAIR is the original branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in America, while Hamas is the Muslim Brotherhood in the Palestinian Territories.
CAIR Inc. settled with Lori Saroya Thursday, months after US Magistrate Judge David Schultz ruled any assets owned by the group are all within the "scope of permissible discovery" as part of the former Minnesota chapter leader’s lawsuit against the controversial Muslim rights group.
Saroya filed her federal defamation complaint against CAIR last year after the group dropped a lawsuit against her, which accused her of embarking on a "defamation campaign" against the organization.
CALL FOR FEDERAL PROBE
Lawmakers are demanding a federal investigation into the nonprofit,
Yes, please. Guys, the Rantburg archives date back to 9/11/2001 and have references to articles and events even older. Y’all are welcome to search using all related key words, if that will get you up and running more quickly. Lots, for instance, on the Holy Land Foundation, among a great many others…
which took in more than $5.3 million in contributions and grants in 2022, the last year for which public filings are available.
Grants? Any connections to USAID?
"CAIR’s leadership has a long history of spewing vile antisemitism and anti-Zionist rhetoric, including openly praising the Hamas terrorists that brutally attacked Israel, murdering, raping, and kidnapping more than 1,200 people on October. 7 [2023]," said Josh Gottheimer, a Democratic Congressman from New Jersey.
Referring to court proceedings which showed the links, he added: “The allegations that CAIR receives funding from Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, if true, are deeply concerning and require an immediate investigation.”
From? Maybe. To, however, most definitely.
CAIR, which was founded in 1993, was linked to Hamas in 2008 when US authorities successfully prosecuted five leaders at the Holy Land Foundation For Relief and Development, a now-defunct Texas-based nonprofit, for giving more than $12 million from the US to the terror group.
Once the HLF was compromised, a new group with no obvious ties to Hamas had to become the funnel for cash; US Authorities concluded that was CAIR during its prosecution of the earlier group, as cited in a report by The Program on Extremism at George Washington University.
Evidence in the trial against HLF showed that Ghassan Elashi, the treasurer of the charity, became the founding board member of CAIR’s Texas chapter and that HLF transferred funds to CAIR for “consulting services.”
The prosecution also presented evidence that Hamas provided “seed money” for CAIR, according to a congressional hearing.
UNDISCLOSED AMOUNT
“The history is very clear,” said Lorenzo Vidino, director of the Program on Extremism at GWU.
“CAIR was created by this core group of Hamas leaders in the US in the early 1990s. There are FBI wiretaps of a workshop given by the group’s leaders on how to deal with the media and create a veneer of respectability and use the language of civil rights.”
CAIR is the now the largest Muslim civil rights group in the country, and includes 33 chapters, including two in California.
23:57 Official summary of the Office for Documentation of War Crimes of Ukraine from 00:00 02/28/2025 to 00:00 03/01/2025.
A total of 20 facts of armed attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Information was received about the injuries of two civilians, including a teenager born in 2010.
DAMAGED:
In total, 13 residential buildings,
Fiuve cars,
Four civil infrastructure facilities.
A total of 20 armed attacks in the Gorlovka direction.
A total of 53 units of various ammunition were fired.
19:38 Tankers of the 18th Combined Arms Army of the Dnepr group support assault units with fire –destroy enemy positions, watercraft, UAV control points, heavy artillery and MLRS.
This time, the crew of the T-72B3M tank destroyed a temporary deployment point and personnel of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kherson region with a precise hit.
18:43 Sniper couple knocked down two Ukrainian hexacopters "Baba Yaga" at night in the Krasnoarmeysk direction. The masters of precision shooting serve in the 77th Separate Motorized Rifle Regiment of the "Southern" group of troops.
18:16 Armed Forces of Ukraine fired artillery n Kremennaya in the LPR, causing damage to the power transmission line support, with about 11,000 subscribers in the region left without electricity.
17:23 Servicemen of the reconnaissance unit of the North group of forces with the help of UAVs revealed an enemy pickup truck hidden by Ukrainian Armed Forces militants behind a building.
The detected target was quickly destroyed by the FPV drone crew in the area of one of the populated areas in the border region of the Kursk region.
16:19 Around 15:15 Moscow time by air defense systems on duty destroyed Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle over the territory of Kursk region.
16:02 Crews of strike unmanned aerial vehicles of the Atlant battalion of the Center group of forces destroyed manpower and equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Krasnoarmeysk direction.
15:45 Kursk Region. Assault groups of the Russian Armed Forces entered Malaya Loknya –MAP
14:55 Dnepropetrovsk direction
In the area of Novosergeevka, Novoaleksandrovka and Uspenovka there are fierce counter battles.
Units of the Russian Armed Forces continue their offensive in the direction of Kotlyarovka and Preobrazhenka in the plantings west and southwest of Nadezhdinka.
In the area of Preobrazhenka there are fierce counter battles. A little further south our assaults have advanced in the direction of Troitskoye and Bogdanovka.
Between Novoandreevka and Andreevka there are fierce battles for the landings in the area of the Stavkovaya and Solenkaya gullies.
14:52 Novopavlovskoe direction
Units of the 57th Motorized Rifle Brigade took up positions of the second line of defense of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to the west, reaching the Voronaya gully. They are attacking positions in the direction of Volnoye Pole to the north in cooperation with units south of Privolnoye.
Behind the Voronaya gully there is a rather powerful enemy fortified area in the area of Zelenoe Pole and Temirovka.
North of Privolnoye and west of Burlatskoye, our units are advancing towards Shevchenko.
From the Volnoye Pole area, the enemy is launching counterattacks in the direction of Privolnoye, trying to slow down the pace of the offensive of the East Group of Forces.
14:48 Kursk region
After the liberation of Novaya Sorochina and Nikolskoye yesterday, our units are fighting for Staraya Sorochina.
The enemy began to retreat to Malaya Loknya. Our assaults, pursuing the enemy, began fighting for Malaya Loknya. The situation here for the enemy is getting worse with each passing hour.
To the south, battles are underway for Lebedevka and Novenkoye.
14:20 In the Khar'kov region, servicemen of the reconnaissance units of the North group of troops discovered an accumulation of Ukrainian Armed Forces manpower in shelters.
The crew of the TOS-1A Solntsepek heavy flamethrower system of the group destroyed the positions of Ukrainian militants.
13:54 Around 13:10 Moscow time by air defense systems on duty destroyed Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle over the territory of the Belgorod region.
13:34 In the area of the settlement Kazachya Lopan, the FPV operator GV "Sever" discovered, caught up with and destroyed Poseidon reconnaissance drone of the Ukrainian military.
13:15 Crews of 152mm 2S19 self-propelled howitzers "Msta-S" of the 1st Guards Tank Army of the "West" group of forces destroyed UAV control point, camouflaged weapons, dugouts and Ukrainian Armed Forces manpower in the area of the special operation.
12:32 During the offensive actions of the units of the North group of forces released the settlement of Novaya Sorochina.
12:31 Russian Armed Forces units liberated Skudnoe –MAP
12:09 Russian Armed Forces units liberated Privolnoye –MAP
11:53 122mm BM-21 Grad MLRS crews of the Vostok group, supporting the attack aircraft, striking the enemy in the South Donetsk direction.
This time, the artillerymen struck at strong points, firing points and concentrations of Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel in the area of the settlement of Razliv.
11:47 Our control on Zabich Island (Kherson direction) has been confirmed –MAP
11:32 Burlatskoe liberated –MAP
11:06 In the area of the settlement of Shostka in the Sumy region, the operator of the reconnaissance UAV GV "Sever" wasopeneda launch preparation point for the Ukrainian military's long-range kamikaze UAVs. It was decided to strike the target with an Iskander.
As a result of the fire strike, several enemy vehicles with equipment, about 14 units of the long-range kamikaze UAVs of the Cobra aircraft type and more than 20 UAV crew specialists were destroyed.
11:05 The support and forest plantations between Burlatsky and Privolny have been cleared –MAP
10:46 Around 8.15 Moscow time by air defense systems on duty destroyed Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle over the territory of Kursk region.
09:54 UAV operators 44 AK GV “Sever” opened firing points of mortar and machine gun crews of the Ukrainian military in the Khar'kov direction. After the precise hit on the targets by Severian's FPV drones, both the mortar and the machine gun were destroyed.
09:43 FPV drone calculations at Rubicon Center continue to destroy armored and automotive equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the border area of the Kursk region.
09:09 Units of the Russian Armed Forces entered Burlatskoye and Privolnoye –MAP
08:41 Novopavlovskoe direction
By morning, the units of the Vostok Group of Forces had driven the enemy out of Burlatskoye.
During the night attack, the enemy suffered losses and retreated in the direction of Shevchenko. The village is being cleared. The enemy is trying to stop our advance with strike drones and artillery.
In addition, our assaults drove the enemy out of the stronghold, advancing along the heights between Privolnoye and Burlatskoye, reaching the approaches to Volnoye Pole.
07:09 During the past night, air defense systems on duty intercepted and destroyed22 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles:
Eight UAVs over the territory of the Oryol region,
Seven UAVs over the territory of the Kursk region,
Four UAVs over the territory of the Bryansk region,
Two UAVs over the territory of the Krasnodar region and
Linked article is available only through a VPN
[EngMilRu] From 22 to 28 February, nine group strikes were carried out by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation with the use of high-precision air-based weapons and attack drones to hit energy facilities that supported the Ukrainian defence industry, as well as military airfield infrastructure, and military fuel storage facilities.
In addition, the strikes engaged the production and storage facilities of attack drones, training facilities for drone operators and temporary deployment areas of Ukrainian armed groups and foreign mercenaries.
During the week, the Sever Group of Forces continued to rout AFU units in Kursk region.
In the course of the offensive operations, Pogrebki, Orlovka, Nikolsky, and Novaya Sorochina have been liberated.
The Group hit manpower and military hardware of one tank brigade, one heavy mechanised brigade, seven mechanised brigades, one motorised infantry brigade, one assault brigade, five air assault brigades, three assault regiments of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, one naval infantry brigade, and four territorial defence brigades.
In Kharkov direction, Russian troops inflicted losses on units of one mechanised brigade, one motorised infantry brigade of the AFU, and two territorial defence brigades.
Over the past week, more than 1,960 troops, 11 tanks, 156 armoured fighting vehicles, and 157 motor vehicles of the enemy have been neutralised in the area of responsibility of the Sever Group of Forces.
The enemy losses also included two MLRS combat vehicles, 40 field artillery guns, one Paladin self-propelled artillery system and one U.S.-made M-777 howitzer, three anti-aircraft missile launchers, eight electronic warfare stations, and 12 ammunition depots.
As a result of active operations of the Zapad Group of Forces, the settlements of Novolyubovka (Lugansk People's Republic) and Topoli (Kharkov region) have been liberated.
The Zapad Group of Forces also inflicted damage on five mechanised brigades, one assault brigade, one airborne brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, two territorial defence brigades, and one National Guard brigade.
The enemy has lost more than 1,340 troops, one tank, 13 armoured fighting vehicles, including four U.S.-made M-113 armoured personnel carriers, 33 motor vehicles, 34 field artillery guns, 16 of them manufactured by NATO countries, 13 electronic warfare stations, and 13 ammunition depots.
The Yug Group's units continued to advance to the depths of the enemy's defence and liberated Ulakly (Donetsk People's Republic).
The Group inflicted fire damage on six mechanised brigades, one airmobile brigade, one mountain assault brigade, two assault brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, units of the International Legion, and the Azov special forces brigade.
Over the past week, the AFU have lost more than 1,210 troops, two tanks, nine armoured fighting vehicles, 24 motor vehicles, 21 field artillery guns, seven ammunition depots, five electronic warfare and counter-battery stations.
The Tsentr Group's units improved the tactical situation by decisive actions and completed liberation of Novoandreyevka (Donetsk People's Republic).
The Group hit ten mechanised brigades, one jaeger brigade, one airmobile brigade, two assault brigades, one UAV brigade, one assault regiment of the AFU, one naval infantry brigade, and two National Guard brigades.
The AFU losses amounted to more than 2,340 troops, five tanks, three German-made Leopard tanks, and 32 armoured fighting vehicles, including five Western-made vehicles, 22 motor vehicles, and 25 field artillery guns.
The Vostok Group's units have taken more favourable lines and positions. They inflicted damage on formations of one tank brigade, two mechanised brigades, one air assault brigade of the AFU, one naval infantry brigade, and three territorial defence brigades.
The enemy has lost more than 1,180 troops, two tanks, including one German-made Leopard tank, 10 armoured fighting vehicles, and 21 motor vehicles. Twenty-two field artillery guns, including three 155mm self-propelled artillery systems of NATO-made countries, as well as three ammunition depots, were neutralised.
The Dnepr Group's units improved the situation along the front line. They hit manpower and military hardware of four mechanised brigades, one mountain assault brigade, five coastal defence brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and one territorial defence brigade.
The AFU losses amounted to more than 650 troops, two armoured fighting vehicles, 44 motor vehicles, seven field artillery guns, seven ammunition depots, 11 electronic warfare and counter-battery stations.
Over the past week, Russian air defence systems have shot down one MiG-29 aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force, 13 French-made Hammer guided aerial bombs, 20 JDAM guided aerial bombs, nine HIMARS MLRS projectiles manufactured by the United States, and 42 Czech-made Vampire MLRS projectiles, as well as 702 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles.
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 656 aircraft, 283 helicopters, 44,834 unmanned aerial vehicles, 600 anti-aircraft missile systems, 21,932 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,523 MLRS combat vehicles, 22,149 field artillery guns and mortars, and 32,305 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.
In the course of the offensive actions, units of the Sever Group of Forces liberated Novaya Sorochina.
The Group inflicted fire damage on one heavy mechanised brigade, five mechanised brigades, one motorised infantry brigade, one assault brigade, two air assault brigades, two territorial defence brigades, and two assault regiments of the Armed Forces of Ukraine close to Bondarevka, Gogolevka, Goncharovka, Guyevo, Kurilovka, Lebedevka, Makhnovka, Mirny, Pervy Knyazhy, Rubanshchina, Sudzha, and Cherkasskoye. Four enemy counter-attacks were repelled.
Operational-tactical, Army Aviation, and artillery fire hit enemy manpower and hardware close to Viktorovka, Gornal, Dmitryukov, Zamostye, Zaoleshenka, Kazachya Loknya, Kositsa, Loknya, Malaya Loknya, Martynovka, Melovoy, Nikolayevka, Oleshnya, Staraya Sorochina, Cherkasskoye Konopelka, Yuzhny, as well as Alekseyevka, Basovka, Belovody, Zhuravka, Novenkoye, Sumy, Khoten, and Yunakovka (Sumy region).
The AFU losses amounted to more than 240 troops over the past day. One armoured personnel carrier, 12 armoured fighting vehicles, 22 motor vehicles, four artillery guns, including one Bogdana self-propelled artillery system, as well as six mortars, two electronic warfare stations, one electronic reconnaissance radar station, seven UAV command posts, and three ammunition depots were neutralised. One AFU serviceman surrendered.
Since the beginning of hostilities in Kursk direction, the AFU losses amounted to more than 64,075 troops, 382 tanks, 290 infantry fighting vehicles, 248 armoured personnel carriers, 2,084 armoured fighting vehicles, 2,251 motor vehicles, 495 artillery guns, 52 MLRS launchers, including 13 of HIMARS and seven of MLRS made by the USA, 25 anti-aircraft missile launchers, one self-propelled anti-aircraft system, ten transport-loading vehicles, 118 EW stations, 15 counter-battery warfare radars, nine air defence radars, 51 units of engineering and other materiel, including 19 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] NPR's chief diversity officer is stepping down as the network stares down a federal investigation that aims to pull its funding, according to a report.
On Wednesday, Keith Woods, 66, said he was retiring after 15 years at the public broadcaster — even as President Trump targets diversity programs and urges companies to reverse the controversial policies.
Woods presented the decision as his own, according to NPR. He said he started preparing for his retirement in 2023, but pushed it back after Hurricane Helene last year destroyed his Tampa, Fla. home.
''After more than four decades in journalism, I'm happy to finally be able to say the words, 'I'm retiring,''' he said in a statement released by the network. ''Though the attacks on the work of diversity, equity and inclusion have taken some of the joy out of this moment.''
Woods took pains at a staff meeting on Wednesday to assure colleagues that his departure was not connected to the swirling anti-DEI environment, NPR said.
''I might be doing virtual cartwheels right now,'' Woods said, citing ''a withering assault on the values of diversity, equity, inclusion; corporate capitulation all around us; and the treatment of diversity, equity and inclusion as a virus whose carriers must be eradicated. It makes this look like something it is not.''
#2
Having a diversity officer at NpR was always useless. It sort of like making Liberace a contestant on Queer Eye For The Straight Guy. They were already there since the 70s. Maybe the guy added some more gay folks to Antiques Roadshow, but how would we know unless they broadcast an After Dark spinoff.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/01/2025 8:31
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Top||
[THEPOSTMILLENNIAL] Law enforcement officers executed a series of search warrants in Huntington Park, Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,, on Wednesday, raiding the homes of current and former city council members as well as the mayor's home as part of a $14 million corruption probe. Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman
…one of the wave of law-and-order candidates who last year replaced Soros DAs, in this case the execrable George Gascon …
said his Office is heading an investigation, titled "Operation Dirty Pond," over the potential misuse of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds pertaining to the construction of the city's aquatic center.
The Huntington Park City Hall building was also raided, Fox News reported.
The matter pertains to the city's Regional Aquatic Center, which was intended to be a two-story structure that would include an Olympic-sized pool, gym, football field, conference rooms, and other amenities. However,
today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... the city's vice mayor, Arturo Flores, has stated that there have been no results thus far, despite the fact that millions of dollars were taken from taxpayers to construct the facility.
Huntington Park Mayor Karina Macias, a Democrat, and Democrat city councilor Eduardo "Eddie" Martinez were among those who had their homes raided, per Fox 11 LA.
Former Huntington Park city council member Linda Caraballo filed a 282-page report with the LA DA's Office in 2022 to alert them to the alleged corruption. Caraballo told the outlet: "Heads are going to roll and a lot of people are going to be really put into some serious problems. They all should find lawyers right away."
Additionally, Vice Mayor Arturo Flores told the local network, "This is a project that has yielded nothing for the residents. It's my understanding that there's an estimated $14 million, give or take, that has been expended by the city, and that from those funds, the residents of the city have only received an empty lot with dead grass and nothing to show for those millions of dollars."
According to the District Attorney's Office, numerous items were confiscated during the searches, such as electronic devices, financial documents, and public records.
"My office is committed to ensuring that public officials uphold the highest standards of honesty, integrity, and transparency," Hochman said. "When concerns arise about the use of public funds or the actions of those in office, it is our duty to investigate thoroughly and protect the public's trust."
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] The pogroms in Sumgait became the starting point for Azerbaijan's actions against the residents of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, but the Armenian authorities are not taking measures to draw the attention of the world community to the topic of genocide, refugees from Sumgait indicated.
As the Caucasian Knot" wrote, the commemoration of the victims of the pogroms in Sumgait serves to understand that it is necessary to overcome hostility and prevent the repetition of such events in the future, the Armenian Foreign Ministry indicated.
The Sumgait pogrom was an ethnic riot in the city of Sumgait in the Azerbaijan SSR that lasted from the evening of February 26 to 29, 1988.
According to the USSR Prosecutor General's Office, 26 Armenians and six Azerbaijanis were killed in the riots, more than 100 people were injured, more than 200 apartments were looted, and dozens of cars were burned or smashed. Many workshops, stores, kiosks, and other public facilities were also destroyed. According to various later sources based on eyewitness accounts and death certificate analysis, the death toll was in the hundreds, according to the Caucasian Knot article "Sumgait Pogroms" published in the "Reference" section.
Refugees from the Azerbaijan SSR and Nagorno-Karabakh, NGO representatives and members of the Armenian parliament gathered at the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex in Yerevan near the monument to the victims of the Sumgait tragedy.
The action was held at the initiative of the public organizations "Congress of Armenians - refugees from the Azerbaijan SSR" and "Against legal arbitrariness". Those gathered laid flowers and wreaths. About 200 people gathered for the action, representatives of about 10 local media outlets were present, a correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot" reported.
"What is happening to the Armenian people today is a direct continuation of what happened to the Armenians in Sumgait, Baku, Ganja and other populated areas," Nagorno-Karabakh Ombudsman Gegham Stepanyan said at the rally.
The head of the NGO “Against Legal Arbitrariness” Larisa Alaverdyan recalled that “hundreds of thousands of Armenians were expelled from Azerbaijan as a result of mass killings and pogroms, and Azerbaijan’s policy of genocide continues to this day.”
"But so far Armenia has not made a single decision at the level of the National Assembly and the government to recognize Azerbaijan's actions as genocide, although this is a crime not only against Armenians, but also a crime against humanity," the human rights activist noted.
Those who think that the genocide was committed only at the beginning of the 20th century are mistaken, political scientist Edgar Elbakyan pointed out the actions. "At the end of the 20th century, there were Sumgait, Baku, Shahumyan, Maragha and many other Armenian settlements, and it continued in Artsakh ( the self-name of Nagorno-Karabakh, - note of the "Caucasian Knot" ) in 2020-2023. Instead of despairing, we must learn and take action," he said.
Secretary of the opposition faction of the National Assembly of Armenia Tigran Abrahamyan noted that Armenia has been conducting the process of internationalization of the recognition of genocides for several decades, but the current Armenian government ignores this. "They limit themselves to purely symbolic statements that mean nothing, and as such, the topic of its internationalization is not put forward," Abrahamyan emphasized at a briefing with journalists in Tsitsernakaberd, pointing out that Azerbaijan's impunity has led to actions against the Armenian population in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Now a pensioner, Engels Grigoryan lived and worked in Sumgait until February 1988. His family fell victim to the pogroms – his mother was tortured and killed before his eyes. The man was a witness at the trial of the pogrom participants. "I was only at the first hearing, because they were not trying the real criminals, and it was clear at the hearing that the true events were being hidden," he told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
As the legal successor of the USSR, Russia bears responsibility for the crimes against Armenians in the Azerbaijan SSR, he is sure.
Karina Melzhumyan's family from Sumgait survived the pogroms and moved to Armenia in 1988. "The Sumgait pogroms lasted not two days, but four, and the Kremlin knows best how many were actually killed," she noted.
Meljumyan stated that “if the world had fairly condemned the Armenian genocide of 1915, the pogroms of Armenians since 1988,” then perhaps the events in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023 would not have occurred.
Alvina Avanesyan said that her family was saved miraculously, simply because the crowd was distracted by the Armenian driver, who was beaten for a long time and then burned with his car.
"We managed to leave Sumgait because we accidentally learned from our neighbors about pogroms in other neighborhoods, and that they had seen our name and address on the list of Armenians. The crowd of pogromists had lists with the addresses of apartments where Armenians lived. I told this in court. But those I had noticed during the pogroms were not in the dock - they had recruited some teenagers. We, the victims, understood that there would be no punishment, that the facts would be hidden, and that the fact that the Armenian genocide continued in Sumgait would not be recorded. But the exact number of victims was not announced, but we know that there were more than was officially stated," the refugee from Sumgait noted.
She added that all the families from Sumgait who came to Armenia in 1988 were immediately provided with housing. But after the Spitak earthquake, the blockade, the war, the social problems of refugees from Azerbaijan were no longer a priority.
According to Avanesyan, it will be difficult for refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh to survive without state support. "Many refugees from Sumgait and Baku, because they were unable to buy housing or find work here, left for other countries. As a result, the issue of our rights is not discussed, and our rights are not respected. The same awaits refugees from Artsakh if they do not more actively demand protection of their rights, legal and social," says a refugee from Sumgait.
Official Baku adheres to the version that the pogroms in Sumgait were provoked and organized by terrorist cells controlled by KGB agents. In publications on the anniversary of the tragedy, the Azerbaijani media write that hundreds of Azerbaijani families saved their Armenian neighbors from angry crowds. "The statement of the Armenian Foreign Ministry is an attempt to hide acts of violence, the mass expulsion of the Azerbaijani population living in Armenia, terror against the Azerbaijani people, provocations on ethnic grounds, the use of military force by Armenia since the late 1980s," said Ayhan Hajizade, press secretary of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, on February 27 in connection with the statement of the Armenian Foreign Ministry regarding the events in Sumgait.
In the end, I think the total casualties for both sides will wind up being about a tenth of what has been officially -- and loudly reported -- by both sides.
Only a tenth? Thank goodness — I was mourning the imminent disappearance of both nations.
Still prodigious numbers by American standards, to be sure...
[LB] On the 1,100th day of the great war, the Russians lost, according to some estimates, 471,367 killed, missing, prisoners and deserters, and another 1,042,398 wounded and sick.
The number of appeals from Russia to the Ukrainian project "I Want to Find" has increased, which helps search for missing Russians. Since the beginning of the year, there have been 8,548 of them, and since the beginning of the Great War, about 60,000. On the Ukrainian side, the number of missing people has also increased, which has a logical explanation: we retreated, leaving the bodies of our fallen comrades in the territory occupied by the enemy, and it is useless to demand that savages adhere to the norms of international humanitarian law, so this will continue until identification.
A total of 692,000 Russians met the year 2024 on Ukrainian soil, but only 540,000 spent it. The Defense Forces of Ukraine spent all the rest in hell. But the best ballet in the world cannot perform with a reduced troupe.
The General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces reported that 370,000 “volunteers” were called up for the year. We saw them, now many are lying in the fields, landings, and ruins on the front line. Then, to the 370,000, 53,100 amnestied convicts and 3,900 mercenaries were added (such an amazing category is graduates of the “special purpose university in Gudermes, Chechnya”). It turned out 427,000.
Smart people have discovered discrepancies in the Russian budget between the allocated funding and the number of contract workers who should have received it. Interesting facts : convicts who signed contracts do not receive payments from the Ministry of Defense for this, although they are promised money.
The “volunteers” of the BARS units are bypassing payments, because as of 2022 they did not have contracts, but employment contracts with the Ministry of Defense, so they are not entitled to any funeral, signature, or injury payments. Why break a good tradition and start paying something?! They did not live well, so there is nothing to start.
The question remains, "how, having received 427,000 reinforcements, did the Russian group decrease by 152,000 in a year?" Since June, the enemy's losses have exceeded the number of reinforcements. At the beginning of autumn, the balance leveled off a bit, but subsided in December.
In January 2025, 16,000 autumn conscripts were transferred to contracts and Putin was shown beautiful New Year's statistics. But we are observing assault groups, if not on crutches, then heavily bandaged. The Russians have already developed a new term for regiments staffed with unfit personnel, who are being driven from hospitals to the front line - a cripple regiment. Symptomatic, you must agree.
Let's summarize: as of 01.01.2024, 692,000 fought against Ukraine on its territory and nearby. During the year, another 427,000 arrived, that is, it became 1,119,000. At the end of the year, 540,000 remained. The difference is the losses of all categories, including prisoners (there are not many of them, much less than the wounded, sick, missing, deserters). That is, we see that the enemy lost most of its group in 2024.
How did all this affect the front line? We see on Deep State maps that the "strategic offensive operation in the Southwestern Theater of Operations" has turned into several operations being carried out simultaneously in separate directions according to a single idea and plan.
Advancing from Avdeevka to Pokrovsk, for example, the enemy lost 35,000 soldiers along the way, the "Center" group of troops decreased from 110,000 to 75,000. Today, the enemy command is deciding whether to continue near Pokrovsk or open a new, Konstantinovka direction. The regrouping of the 8th Army, which was transferred from near Kurakhovo to the Torets direction, speaks in favor of the second decision.
LOSSES OF THE OCCUPYING ARMY IN THE KHARKIV DIRECTION
It is also clear that the enemy has squandered strategic reserves — if not all, then most of them — and will not be able to conduct two offensive operations at the level of an army or several armies at the same time (near Pokrovskoye — the 41st and 2nd armies, near Toretskoye — the 51st and 8th). To this should be added the intention to seize as much Ukrainian land as possible BEFORE hypothetical negotiations, which encourages the enemy to attack even where there is neither opportunity nor sense.
THE SITUATION AT THE FRONT. A GLIMMER OF HOPE
And here lies our chance: a sudden powerful strike on a place where the enemy is exhausted (you can attack all the time, but without reserves you cannot compensate for the results of the attacks, such areas will be weakened) can destroy the front.
The only condition is that we must have reserves for this.
Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title.
[Korrespondent] 18:39 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Washington and met with US President Donald Trump at the White House. This is evidenced by the broadcast that is being conducted by American media from the scene.
17:21 Ukrainian aviation struck positions of the Russian FSB in the Bryansk region. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. As a result of the pinpoint strike, important military infrastructure in the settlement of Belaya Berezka was destroyed.
16:37 Since the beginning of the current day, 60 combat clashes with Russian invaders have occurred on the front. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported the details in an operational report.
16.05 The Framework Agreement on U.S. Minerals will contain annexes on economic cooperation and security guarantees for Ukraine. This was stated by the Advisor to the Head of the Presidential Office Mykhailo Podolyak on the air of the telethon.
14.58 A court in the Russian city of Krasnodar has found the Kama Shipping company guilty of violating navigation deadlines, which could have caused the accident of the Volgoneft-212 tanker in the Kerch Strait on December 15 last year. This was reported by the Radio Liberty project Crimea. Realities.
14.55 Russian troops crossed the state border of Ukraine near the village of Novenkoye in the Sumy region, but were thrown back to the territory of the Russian Federation. This was stated by the spokesman of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Dmitry Likhovoy in a commentary for Interfax-Ukraine.
14.49 An attempt to set fire to a military aid shipment for Ukraine, which took place last year in the northern city of Šiauliai, has been prevented in Lithuania. This was reported by LRT on Friday, February 28.
According to a report by Lithuanian Police Commissioner General Arunas Pauluskas, the group attempted to set fire to the cargo, which included military equipment and radar stations for Ukraine.
14.40 Russian invaders shelled three communities in Donetsk Oblast. Three people were killed and two were wounded, the Donetsk Oblast prosecutor's office reported.
14.22 Members of the Mariupol Resistance blew up a car with a representative of the Russian FSB. The victim is currently in intensive care, the chances of survival are small. This was reported by the Mariupol Resistance on its Telegram channel.
13:12 On Friday night, Ukrainian military destroyed a warehouse of thermobaric munitions belonging to Russian invaders in the temporarily occupied territory of Donetsk Oblast, in the Selydove area. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
12:49 Russian invaders have become active in the area of the village of Novenkoye in the Sumy region. Fighting is underway there. Details were reported by the head of the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council, Andriy Kovalenko, on Telegram.
11:46 The elimination of the consequences of the drone strike on the shelter of the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the exclusion zone continues. The IAEA team at the site is closely monitoring the situation. This is stated in a statement by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
11:40 Ukraine received equipment worth 7.5 million euros from the IT coalition. The delivery was financed by the Netherlands and Luxembourg, the Ministry of Defense reported.
11:28 An assassination attempt was made on the leader of the pro-government musical group Russian Flag Yevgeny Dolganov. He is currently in hospital in serious condition. This was reported by the propaganda Telegram channel Operation Z: Servicemen of the Russian Spring.
10:17 The Security Service has detained two henchmen of the Russian special services who were spying on the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the central and western regions of Ukraine.
In the Cherkasy region, a 20-year-old resident of the city of Radyvyliv was detained, who was spying on the Ukrainian Armed Forces units that were moving towards the front through the territory of the western region. In Poltava, a 58-year-old local resident was detained, who was adjusting the Russian missile and drone attacks on the regional center.
09:30 Air defense forces shot down 107 Russian drones out of 208 that attacked Ukrainian territory at night, 97 drone imitators were lost. Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhia suffered as a result of the Russian attack.
09:17 Three apartments were destroyed in Zaporizhia as a result of a drone attack at night. Drones damaged five private houses and three multi-story buildings.
A fire destroyed three apartments in a multi-story building, gas and electricity supplies were cut off in the entrance.
08:53 A forward command post of the Russian military was hit in the Kherson region. Scouts from the Active Operations Department of the Main Intelligence Directorate carried out the strike using an explosive drop from a drone. The command post belonged to the 14th Army Corps of the Russian Armed Forces.
08:20 Over the past 24 hours, 128 combat clashes were recorded on the front, most of them in the Pokrovsky direction, where the Ukrainian military stopped 49 assault actions by the Russians.
07:25 As of February 28, 2025, the total combat losses of Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine amounted to approximately 874,560 people (+1,060 per day).
03:36 A Russian drone hit a multi-story building in Zaporizhia, causing a fire. The blast wave and debris also damaged neighboring houses. An 82-year-old woman was injured.
01:22 Great Britain is ready to send its ground troops and aircraft as peacekeepers to Ukraine. Ireland has also announced its readiness to join the peacekeeping mission if it is created.
0:30 Five enemy drones hit one of the city's districts in Sumy. Several people were injured, and windows were damaged in a number of houses.
[Townhall] Since Israel’s ill-considered retreat from Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... , the enclave has represented a source of billions of dollars for the right concessions in the Jewish state.
When Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... won the last legislative elections in 2006 and took control of Gaza, one of the first things it did was to close the border crossings with Israel. Hamas to this day refuses to have any direct contact with Jews or Israel and does all of its negotiating with intermediaries like Egypt and Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... . On the day of the surprise crossing closing, I heard the hourly news broadcast. There was an interview with a very frantic head of some kibbutz organization. "I have dozens of trucks with fresh produce that will rot sitting on the Israeli side of the crossings. This is a disaster!" I thought that his concern seemed a little out of place. It reminded me of a cartoon in the Chicago Tribune during a period in the 1980s when there were several near-misses between airplanes. While all of the passengers on one plane in the comic look terrified at seeing the second plane so close, one guy asks, "Why did they get meat and we only have chicken?" It would appear that most people would be worried about a terrorist group taking over Gaza more than the fate of some turnips.
After Hamas took control of Gaza and removed the Paleostinian Authority (PA), certain Israeli companies started to make a lot of money. Whereas the PA was allowed to go a billion shekels in the hole (just now repaid through the actions of the aggressive Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich) for electricity, everything in Hamas’ Gaza had to be paid up front—oftentimes by the Europeans or NGOs. There was no good will or IOUs in Gaza. Rather it was cash on the barrelhead. I remember during one period, the local company that provided heating oil simply stopped providing the same: no payments, no deliveries. I wanted to write a book on the spectacular financial windfall for the providers of food, electricity, heating oil, gasoline, and other goods to the Jew-hating residents of Gaza. Israel would even periodically send a Brinks truck to exchange worn out Israeli currency for fresh bills. Did anyone explain to Knesset members that Hamas was Israel’s enemy? My lawyers sued to have the practice of exchanging bills stopped; the high court threw out the complaint with no hearing.
I was reminded of Gaza the Cash Cow when one of our boys asked me a question: "Why did Israel agree to release prisoners for the dead bodies of hostages?" And his question was a good one. Israel and Hamas came up with some complex formula for prisoner release based on a hostage being a man or woman, soldier or civilian, live or dead. Live male soldiers generate the most prisoners released, and so on. But his question is fair: why agree to release anybody for a dead hostage? I know that the families want closure. They want to bury their kin and begin the process of mourning and healing. I don’t want to deny them this need. But every terrorist released is potentially a ticking time bomb for the future. Why would Israel release possible killers for bodies? The families of spy Eli Cohen and airman Ron Arad have suffered decades without having received the bodies of their loved ones who were murdered in enemy territory.
After the lopsided 1,000-1 Schalit deal, there was an interesting law proposal: simply limit the number of gunnies that can be released for any one hostage. The law would have been brilliant, because it would not only have limited Israel’s options, it would have entered the minds of Hamas that there is a limit. Just as a terrorist stops at a red light, he too can be told, "We’d love to give you 500 murderers, but what can we do? The law limits us to 5, so you had better pick carefully." Even Hamas would have accepted the law and many fewer gunnies like Yahya Sinwar would be released every time there is a hostage situation. The law was dropped by the Netanyahu government of that day and never pursued again. Why? My guess is money.
During the current war, Israel took possession of thousands of Paleostinian gunnies and civilians. Many were "Nukhba" fighters who had participated in the pogrom of October 7th. Others were military-aged men scooped up by IDF forces as they made their way north to south in Gaza. There were reports in the media that there was not enough room at the inn—Israeli prisons—for the massive influx of new bad guys. As in every Western country, housing criminals—or terrorists—is expensive. Guards, food, medical, facilities—it runs in the tens or hundreds of millions of shekels per year. What’s a great way to empty out Israel’s high-security prisons? Agree with Hamas to let out thousands of prisoners for hostages, dead or alive. Israel sees the deal as an opportunity to get rid of thousands of expensive prisoners and save a lot of money. Sure, there are risks, but hey we’ll catch them before they blow up the buses...oops, three of them blew up last week, but thank God there was nobody aboard.
While the needs of families of hostages who were murdered on October 7th or during Gaza captivity are understood, the requirement to release the fewest number of prisoners should be the concern of the prime minister and his government. There are 10 million Israelis, and many of them ride buses and trains and frequent cafes and restaurants. If the government was serious about protecting these citizens, it would have told Hamas that it won’t release a single prisoner for a dead hostage. Hadar Goldin’s family has waited over a decade without receiving their son’s remains. But one thing Israelis never miss is a bargain, and rather than tell Hamas to keep the bodies, which would have zero value for them, it agreed to release potentially dangerous prisoners for the dear departed captives. The hostage issue, pushed by the media and NGOs, has taken over Israeli discussions. If you so much as want the government to think twice about the terms of the hostage release, then you hate the hostages, you want them to die in Gaza and you are a terrible person. If Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu got out every living hostage but left the dead ones in Gaza, the country would come to a standstill until he agreed to whatever Hamas demanded to get the bodies home.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Thorium reserves in deposits in China are enough to provide China with fuel for 60,000 years, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) newspaper reported on February 28.
According to the publication, the Bayan-Obo region of Inner Mongolia alone contains up to 1 million tons of the metal. This deposit alone contains enough thorium to cover household energy needs for tens of thousands of years, the authors noted.
The key is whether or not the ore can easily be extracted.
The PRC has already begun building the world's first nuclear power plant based on a thorium molten salt reactor; it will be located in the Gobi Desert. The nuclear power plant, generating 10 megawatts of electricity, is planned to be commissioned by 2029.
As reported by Regnum News Agency, observers from The Strategist earlier noted that China's dominance in the rare earth metals (REM) industry was the result of a 40-year campaign by the Chinese state. Now, China accounts for 80% to 90% of the extraction and processing of rare earth metals, as well as the use of REM in the production of finished products, the authors noted.
China has been mining REEs since the 1950s, initially as a by-product of mining operations in the Bayan Obo mining area. REE production at the Bayan Obo mine increased from 1,000 tonnes in the late 1970s to 11,860 tonnes in 1986, surpassing US production levels.
#5
^#3 Why? Because there are technical reasons that make Uranium-233 (what a Thorium-232 breeder reactor breeds) less suitable for making nuclear weapons. You have the option of chemically isolating Plutonium-239 with the Uranium-235/238 cycle if you plan on *cough* peaceful recycling.
[THEPOSTMILLENNIAL] The Fed's preferred method to measure inflation, or the core personal consumption expenditures, has dropped to a 7-month low of 2.6 percent, however, it is still above the 2 percent inflation rate that is widely considered to be the target inflation rate in the US economy.
According to Forbes, the Commerce Department reported that the core inflation rate used by the Federal Reserve, which excludes food and energy, was at 2.6 percent year-over-year as compared to January 2024. There was also an increase of 0.3 percent core inflation from December 2024 to January 2025. This met forecasts that predicted a 2.6 percent inflation rate and is the lowest since June.
Overall inflation was 3 percent year-over-year as compared to 2024. The numbers were in line with what was expected with numbers from the Dow Jones estimate, according to CNBC. Since the inflation rate has still not settled around the 2 percent mark, the Fed is likely to hold steady on the interest rates between the 4.5-4.6 percent range.
[PJMedia] "The 10-year interest rate has fallen by half a percentage point in the past month—from approximately 4.8 percent to 4.3 percent," reports Reason's Jared Dillion.
The U.S. federal budget deficit has driven interest rates ever higher over the last five years.
2024: $1.83 trillion, the fifth year in a row with a deficit over $1 trillion
2023: $1.7 trillion
2022: $1.375 trillion
2021: $2.78 trillion
2020: $3.13 trillion, the largest in U.S. history.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2025
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#1
Federal bonds and interest rates move in an "inverse" relationship. IF we can cut billions of "demand" for those Federal bonds, then the smaller "supply" for those bonds will raise prices. That, in turn, will drive interest rates down.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/01/2025 8:41
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#3
Fixed Income, and a 2.3% COLA in this economy.
Retirees are screwed over.
Screwed over by the Democrats and what they did with their Stolen election and how they wasted $2+ Trillion overspending.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The Federal Security Service (FSB) prevented a terrorist attack against Metropolitan Tikhon ( Shevkunov ) of Simferopol and Crimea. Security forces detained two citizens recruited by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (GUR). Details — in the Regnum News Agency article.
RECRUITMENT IN TELEGRAM
On the morning of February 28, the FSB reported the arrest of a Ukrainian citizen and a Russian, whom the GUR recruited via Telegram in mid-2024. The assassination attempt on Tikhon was made by his assistant, Ukrainian citizen Denis Popovich. During interrogation, he admitted that the Ukrainian special services had instructed him to monitor the metropolitan, and in case of refusal, they threatened to kill his relatives.
"The task was to find an ally and eliminate Metropolitan Tikhon. The explosives themselves were handed over to us in the form of a stash," the detainee admitted.
BOMB IN THE TEMPLE
The Metropolitan was to be killed using an explosive device that was handed over to the suspects through a hiding place in December 2024. They were to plant the explosives in the Metropolitan’s living quarters in Moscow’s Sretensky Monastery.
The terrorist attack was supposed to be carried out while Tikhon was in Moscow. Popovich's accomplice was Nikita Ivankovich, a cleric from the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Sokolniki. Popovich was supposed to bring the bomb to the church.
Ivankovic said that the first assassination attempt failed due to Popovic's arrest.
“The first assassination attempt was planned for the beginning of 2025, but due to the fact that Denis was detained, it was not carried out, so the assassination attempt was planned for the end of February 2025,” Ivankovic said.
In January, police detained Popovich near the Turgenevskaya metro station for provocative behavior and foul language. The Meshchansky Court of Moscow found him guilty of petty hooliganism and disobedience to government officials and sentenced him to 15 days of administrative arrest, TASS reported.
After committing the crime, the suspects planned to leave Russia using fake passports provided by Ukrainian special services, the FSB said.
The service published footage of the suspects being detained. Both detainees confessed. A criminal case was opened against them under articles on preparation for a terrorist act and illegal trafficking of explosive devices.
In the phones of Popovich and Ivankovich, law enforcement officers found more than 70 Ukrainian contacts, including the press secretary of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Margarita Rivchachenko. In addition, in the apartment of one of the perpetrators, security forces found a shovel stained with soil, and then discovered a cache in a forest belt, which contained a homemade explosive device in a plastic box. Also, during the search of the suspects, two fake passports with photographs of the detainees were found.
KREMLIN: NOTHING IS SACRED FOR THE KYIV REGIME
Tikhon has been the head of the Crimean Metropolitanate since October 2023. From 1995 to 2018, he was the abbot of the Moscow Sretensky Monastery, and from 2018 to 2023, he was the abbot of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery (where he was a novice in the 1980s) and Metropolitan of Pskov and Pechersky.
Since 2016, Tikhon has headed the Patriarchal Council for Culture. He is the author of a number of theological, historical and other books, the most famous of which is “Unholy Saints and Other Stories.” The number of copies of this work sold by 2019 exceeded 3 million.
The presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov noted that the assassination attempt on Tikhon showed that the Kiev regime does not disdain anything in its actions against Russia. For the Kiev special services, nothing is sacred, he emphasized.
On February 27, President Vladimir Putin noted at the FSB board meeting that the number of terrorist crimes in Russia is growing, and most of them are organized by Ukrainian special services. Putin called on the FSB to use its available forces and means as effectively as possible and to pay special attention to preventive measures.
The Federal Security Service (FSB) has published new footage in the case of the assassination attempt on Metropolitan Tikhon ( Shevkunov ) of Simferopol and Crimea.
The video shows the moment of the arrest of one of the suspects in the preparation of the terrorist attack. In the attacker's apartment, security forces found a shovel covered in soil. Then there are shots from the place where the cache was found in the forest belt, which contained a homemade explosive device in a plastic box.
Two fake passports with photographs of the detainees were also found.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, the detention of a Russian and a Ukrainian citizen, who were recruited by Ukrainian special services on Telegram, became known on February 28. Security forces seized a homemade explosive device from the men, as well as two fake Ukrainian passports. A criminal case was opened against the Ukrainian agents under articles on preparation for a terrorist attack and illegal trafficking of explosive devices.
The FSB Public Relations Center previously published footage of the detention of GUR agents. The recording shows security officers approaching one of the suspects, putting his hands behind his back and handcuffing him. The law enforcement officers then take the man to a car.
Metropolitan assistant Denis Popovich and cleric of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Sokolniki Nikita Ivankovich admitted during interrogation that they were preparing an assassination attempt on the clergyman. According to them, they were recruited by Ukrainian intelligence and, on its instructions, they planned to detonate a bomb in the Sretensky Monastery.
Popovich said he was supposed to follow Metropolitan Tikhon. He claims he was threatened with reprisals against his relatives if he refused to carry out the task. He was then tasked with finding an ally and eliminating the cleric. The suspects were supposed to plant a bomb in Metropolitan Tikhon's living quarters at the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow, and after completing the task, leave Russia using forged documents.
#1
Ukrainian Nazis ["Ptooey!"]
Ape Rooskie consumers of hooey:
"Explosives from cache
Well-concealed in moustache,
I shall kick Tikhon's ash, and... kablooey!"
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The deal between Ukraine and the United States on rare earth metals did not take place. The agreement was not signed, the White House said on February 28.
"The US and Ukraine were unable to sign an agreement on mineral resources," the White House press pool clarified.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump and the head of the Kiev regime Volodymyr Zelensky had a heated conversation. During a conversation with the press, the leaders of the two countries had a spat over the Ukrainian settlement. Following the meeting, Trump said that Zelensky was not yet ready for a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Ukraine.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on February 28, a Ukrainian delegation headed by Zelensky arrived in Washington to sign an agreement on rare earth metals. The upcoming visit was announced by Donald Trump, who had previously expressed interest in the extraction of rare earth metals in Ukraine. The head of the White House noted that Washington should not lose money due to assistance to Kiev. According to Trump, the deal on rare earth metals will correct this and at the same time help Ukraine develop after the end of the conflict.
During the meeting in the Oval Office, the American president demanded that the head of the Kiev regime agree to peace talks, saying that otherwise the US would "wash its hands of it." Zelensky spoke out against a ceasefire and truce. As a result, a squabble began, during which Donald Trump reminded Volodymyr Zelensky about the $350 billion in military aid from the "stupid president." He also emphasized that Zelensky, by arguing with the head of state that provides Ukraine with resources without which the military conflict would end "in three days," thereby showed disrespect for the US. As a result, the joint press conference of Zelensky and Trump was cancelled.
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev called the squabble between Zelensky and Trump a brutal dressing down. The ungrateful Zelensky received a strong slap in the face, this is useful, but it is necessary to stop military aid to the Nazi machine, Medvedev emphasized.
The agreement on Ukraine's natural resources, which US President Donald Trump intends to sign with the head of the Kiev regime Volodymyr Zelensky, could become a trap for Trump, Christopher McCalion, a columnist for the British portal UnHerd, noted in his publication on February 28.
If the deal is concluded, the US involvement in the events in Ukraine will become irreversible, while Washington will not be able to shift part of its “burden” to Europe and will not receive significant income, the author noted.
“Washington is unlikely to gain significant revenue, let alone strategic value, from [the deal], given the evidence that Ukraine’s supposed natural wealth and rare earth reserves have been grossly exaggerated by Kiev for Trump’s ‘benefit’,” McCalion wrote.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, Trump previously announced that he intends to sign an agreement on the use of Ukraine's natural resources together with Zelensky on February 28.
On February 3, the US President first announced Washington's interest in mining rare earth metals in Ukraine. On February 19, Zelensky revealed the details of the agreement: according to him, the US is demanding compensation from Ukraine in the amount of $500 billion in minerals for the assistance already provided. Zelensky noted that the document lacks security guarantees and that he refused to sign such a version of the agreement.
On February 24, Trump announced an upcoming meeting with Zelensky to sign the deal. The head of the White House noted that Washington should not lose money because of aid to Kiev. He said that the deal on rare earth metals will help correct this and at the same time help Ukraine develop after the end of the conflict.
On February 25, the British newspaper Financial Times reported that Kiev and Washington had agreed on the terms of an agreement on rare earth metals after the US dropped its demand for $500 billion in compensation. The final version of the document envisages the creation of a fund to which Ukraine will contribute 50% of its revenues from the sale of minerals and related logistics, the report noted.
#1
The Hot Takes I was seeing yesterday was basically, "Dumb Trump now the EU will get the minerals!11"
Interesting take from people who were like, "GW starts wars for oil!" but whatever. 2 weeks ago they were not even considering compensation of any kind, so it's a whole Get'em! campaign damn the contradictions. They really are boring.
Seriously boring, the people who think the EU is superior to the USA especially 'in these times' are upset the EU would get claim to the REMs? Shouldn't that be a win and Thank You Trump? What about the possibility that doesn't happen and Russia lays claim?
#3
The other one I've seen floating around, and I'm sure you've seen the meme of the cracking damn with the water being the bad thing and the village being in trouble and the damn being the only thing preventing it?
Russia the water, Europe the town, and Ukraine the damn.
#6
Russia the water, Europe the town, and Ukraine the damn.
"Europa's an impotent trickletorrent
Of globalist eunuchs, abhorrent
In every respect!"
Thus poor Russia is fecked... Unless...
[busts Ukraine on an ICC warrant]
[THEPOSTMILLENNIAL] A multi-agency law enforcement operation targeting a notorious the Socialist paradise of San Francisco ...where God struck dead Anton LaVey, home of the Sydney Ducks, ruled by Vigilance Committee from 1859 through 1867, reliably and volubly Democrat since 1964... drug den resulted in more than 80 arrests overnight Wednesday. San Francisco police said the large-scale raid at Jefferson Square Park comes as a part of the city's new effort to combat open-air drug markets.
Roughly three dozen suspects who were wanted by law enforcement were among the 86 people taken into custody, according to San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott, who said the raids would continue.
On February 26 around 10:30 pm, authorities surrounded Jefferson Square Park to disrupt the illicit drug trade. After nearly three hours of arrests, officers, sheriff's deputies, and DEA agents called it a morning. Of the 86 people shackled, roughly 60 of them were cited and released. The rest were boarded onto transport vans and booked into county jail, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
"It was a massive undertaking," said Chief Scott, per KTVU. "So, it's not going to be something you see every single day. But, you will see this more often, and we're going to use this as a strategy to deal with this displacement that's haunted us."
The individuals who were lodged behind bars either had outstanding warrants for previous felonies or were in possession of a large quantity of narcotics, according to SF Supervisor Stephen Sherill, whose district borders the park.
Jefferson Square Park, which is located in the Western Addition neighborhood, became a hotbed zone for drug trafficking after previous enforcement operations in the Tenderloin and SoMa pushed the illicit drug trade to a new location. Over the past several years, residents and business owners have complained about the city's open-air drug markets, which brought an increase in crime to the Bay Area and resulted in a mass exodus of businesses.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2025
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#1
Golly, I can't imagine what may be behind this move.
[THEPOSTMILLENNIAL] Microsoft will be shutting down Skype for good this year on May 5 after the video call service has been around for 21 years. The shutdown comes after the service had to deal with competition from other video call platforms such as Zoom and others.
According to CNBC, the company announced on Friday that it would be shutting down Skype's operations and Jeff Teper, President of Microsoft 365 told the outlet in an interview, "We've learned a lot from Skype over the years that we've put into Teams as we've evolved teams over the last seven to eight years."
"But we felt like now is the time because we can be simpler for the market, for our customer base, and we can deliver more innovation faster just by being focused on Teams," Teper added.
The tech giant is encouraging Skype users to use Microsoft Teams as opposed to Skype as the video service comes to a close. Over the next few days, Microsoft will be allowing for those using the video call service to log onto Teams using their information stored on Skype. All credits that customers have bought or subscriptions will move over to Teams.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2025
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Now if I could still keep my Windows 10 past October...
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2025 0:53
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#2
We use Zoom and Google meets. For a brief moment, I had to remember what Skype even is/was.
[GEO.TV] Authorities have confirmed two new polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set. Currently the disease is only found in Pakistain and Afghanistain... cases in Pakistain, one each from Qambar district in Sindh and Mandi Bahauddin district in Punjab ...1. Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2. A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3. A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots
.... , bringing the total number of cases in 2025 to five.
According to the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH), this marks the third polio case in Sindh and the first in Punjab this year.
Last year, Pakistain reported a total of 74 polio cases. Of these, 27 were from Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... , 23 from Sindh, 22 from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2025
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[GEO.TV] A security personnel among 10 others sustained injuries when a cycle of violence strapped with kabooms blew up near Jan Muhammad Road in Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... 's Quetta on Friday, the police said.
Following the blast, police and rescue teams rushed to the scene and launched relief efforts, shifting the injured persons to a nearby hospital for medical treatment.
Meanwhile,
...back at the shootout, Butch clutched at his shoulder. Ow! he exclaimed, with feeling...... the authorities have cordoned off the area and are working to determine the nature and cause of the earth-shattering kaboom.
In a statement, the police said the kabooms were strapped with a cycle of violence. However,
a clean conscience makes a soft pillow... the investigation was underway, they added.
Earlier in the day, a top official of Darul Uloom Haqqania ...an Islamic seminary located in Akora Khattak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The seminary propagates the Deobandi trend of Sunni Islam and is headed by Maulana Samiul Haq, known as the Godfather of the Taliban. It has been dubbed The University of Jihad due to the methods and content of instruction along with the future occupations of its alumni.... among six people killed in a suicide kaboom that targeted the historic seminary's mosque in Nowshera.
The bomb went kaboom! in the front row soon after the Friday prayer as worshippers were leaving the weekly congregation at the Darul Uloom Haqqania mosque in Akora Khattak, located about 60 kilometres (35 miles) east of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistain's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire... Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General Police (IGP) Zulfiqar Hameed told Geo News that Maulana Hamid-ul-Haq Haqqani, the son of Maulana Samiul Haq ...the Godfather of the Taliban, late leader of his own faction of the JUI in Pakistain. Known as Mullah Sandwich for his habit of having two young boys at a time. Now beyond all cares and woe, done in by his secretary in a lovers' quarrel... Haqqani, was the target of the attack.
A top official of Darul Uloom Haqqania was among eight people killed, while at least 18 others sustained injuries in a suicide kaboom that targeted the historic seminary's mosque in Nowshera, officials confirmed on Friday.
The bomb went kaboom! in the front row soon after Friday prayers as worshippers were leaving the congregation at the Darul Uloom Haqqania mosque in Akora Khattak, located about 60 kilometres (35 miles) east of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar.
Maulana Hamid, the vice administrator of Darul Uloom Haqqania and emir of Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam ...a Pak religious party. It is usually part of the govt, never part of the solution... -Sami (JUI-S), departed this vale of tears as he was undergoing emergency medical treatment, the top cop said.
Hameed added that police teams were present at the site of the earth-shattering kaboom, and a search operation was also underway in the surroundings. Forensics and investigation teams had been dispatched to the incident site, and the district police officer was also present there, the IGP said.
This was the last Friday congregation before Ramadan, drawing a large crowd of worshippers. The mosque is located inside the compound of the madrassa, whose students were set to go on leave, as it marked the final day of their academic year.
The sprawling campus is home to roughly 4,000 students who are fed, clothed and educated for free.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2025
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#1
Happy Ramadan!
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2025 0:04
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#2
Has anyone heard a better description of Islam than Winston Churchill's in the River War?
[IsraelTimes] Culture secretary says she wants ‘assurances no stone will be left unturned’ in review of decision to air film that featured son of Hamas minister
The government is embarrassed — that kind of thing rolls downhill.
The British government called an urgent meeting with the BBC on Friday over the making of a documentary about children’s lives 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... that was narrated by the 13-year-old son of a deputy minister in the Paleostinian enclave’s Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... government.
The BBC said on Thursday there had been "serious flaws" in "Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone," made by an independent production company, and removed it from its online platform, days after it was first broadcast on television.
Which they only noticed a week after the thing aired and the appalled protests spread.
Hamas is deemed a terrorist organization by Britannia, the United States and the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... The BBC’s decision followed criticism by online commentators who said the narrator was the son of Ayman al-Yazouri, deputy minister of agriculture in Gaza.
Independent producer Jamie Roberts produced something too good to check, so the BBC didn’t demand answers, even though Mr. Roberts is known in certain circles for, among others, the 2016 release of The Jihadis Next Door
(also in our archives as The Jihadist Next Door) for Channel 4, about a group of London followers of Anjem Choudary’s dawa (outreach) group al-Muhajiroun, some of whom ended up killing and dying — in this case for ISIS, though since the 1990s al Muhajiroun has fed killers to various branches of both ISIS and Al Qaeda — following the path laid down by half the British jihadis at home and abroad.Britannia’s publicly funded BBC has faced criticism over its coverage of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza by external commentators and some staff members. Some critics accuse it of bias toward the Paleostinians, others of bias toward Israel.
Did the producer get USAID money to help make the thing? Did the BBC for its production?
BBC Director General Tim Davie, when quizzed by politicians, said last year the BBC was overall "doing a good job in terms of delivering impartial coverage amidst enormous pressure."
No doubt that’s what it looks like from his perspective, given their coverage ranges from far left to slightly less far left despite the criticism from the actual right.
The BBC said in a statement that an internal review had found that the corporation had asked Hoyo Films — the production company it commissioned — several times in writing whether the family in the documentary had any connection to Hamas.
Several times? Why would they ask such a thing, and why would they need reassurance about the answer?
The BBC said Hoyo Films acknowledged the connection only after the documentary was broadcast.
Possibly a mistake.
The production company also revealed that they paid the boy’s mother "a limited sum of money" for the narration.
The BBC is seeking additional assurance that no money was paid directly or indirectly to Hamas.
The lad’s mother is married to a Hamas big turban. What odds she said nothing to her husband?
Announcing Friday’s meeting with BBC Chair Samir Shah, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: "I want assurances that no stone will be left unturned." She was referring to a BBC pledge to undertake a full fact-finding review and refer the issue to its editorial complaints unit.
The broadcaster apologized for the documentary late on Thursday, saying the processes and execution around its production fell short of its expectations.
It said the production company and the BBC had made unacceptable errors and that the BBC took full responsibility for the mistakes and their impact on the corporation’s reputation.
The production company could not immediately be reached for comment. Hamas did not immediately comment.
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel said it was "utterly disgraceful" that the BBC had decided to air a "Hamas propaganda film" in the week that the bodies of hostage Shiri Bibas and her two sons were returned from Gaza. She called for a thorough investigation.
The revelations sparked an angry response and led to protests outside the BBC’s London headquarters.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) said: "The BBC’s bias and lack of accountability have led it to a new low, where it is a mouthpiece for murderous Moslems and their supporters."
The Telegraph also reported Tuesday that the Arabic words for "Jew" and "Jews" were translated to "Israelis" or "Israeli forces," and all mentions of "Jihad" were translated to "battle" or "resistance."
The work of the producer or of the BBC? It matters who dunnit….
The broadcaster is now working to determine whether any disciplinary action is warranted "in relation to shortcomings in the making of this program."
"This will include issues around the use of language, translation and continuity that have also been raised with the BBC," it said.
The BBC’s decision to remove the documentary from its catch-up service also led to criticism, with more than 500 TV and film workers — including former England soccer player Gary Lineker — sending an open letter calling the move "politically-motivated censorship."
"This film is an essential piece of journalism, offering an all-too-rare perspective on the lived experiences of Paleostinian children living in unimaginable circumstances, which amplifies voices so often silenced," said the letter.
The documentary was initially broadcast on February 17.
[NYPost] President Trump on Tuesday revoked any security clearances held by Covington & Burling law firm employees who provided pro bono services to former special counsel Jack Smith, who prosecuted Trump in a pair of since-ended criminal cases.
"This is a good one. Is everybody listening? Deranged Jack Smith — we’re going to call it the deranged Jack Smith signing or bill," Trump said in the Oval Office.
"The weaponization of our system by law firms, even pro bono work they’re doing just in order to clog up government, stop government, and nobody knows about it more than me, and hopefully that’ll never happen again."
Covington & Burling spokespeople did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Smith received $140,000 in free legal services from the firm, according to a Jan. 10 disclosure by his office.
Politico reported that at least two attorneys at the firm, Peter Koski and Lanny Breuer, have represented Smith.
The memorandum signed by Trump yanks the clearances of "Koski and all members, partners, and employees of Covington & Burling LLP who assisted former Special Counsel Jack Smith during his time as Special Counsel, pending a review and determination of their roles and responsibilities."
Smith won a pair of federal criminal indictments against Trump in 2023 as he sought a second term in the White House, but the cases didn’t make it to trial before the Republican retook power, curtailing the prosecutions.
A case accusing Trump of mishandling national security records carried up to 400 years in prison. The second set of charges, related to Trump challenging the 2020 election results, could have sent the president to prison for 55 years.
Trump argued that the cases amounted to political targeting and his Justice Department appointees last month fired more than a dozen attorneys who participated in the investigations.
"We recently agreed to represent Jack Smith when it became apparent that he would become a subject of a government investigation," a firm rep told The Post. "Covington serves as defense counsel to Jack Smith in his personal, individual capacity. We look forward to defending Mr. Smith’s interests and appreciate the trust he has placed in us to do so."
According to Trump, the action was in line with his Executive Order 14147 of January 20, 2025, titled “Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government.”
The revocation follows a similar action targeting 51 intel chiefs who signed a letter downplaying Hunter Biden’s laptop story as possibly a Russian disinformation campaign. Trump also withdrew the security clearances for the former head of Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, who briefed China during the January 6 Capitol protests.
Trump directed all relevant heads of executive departments and agencies to suspend the security clearances for all individuals involved with the firm, pending the determination of their role, if any, in the weaponization of the Department of Justice. All heads of federal agencies should terminate all engagements with Covington & Burling LLP to the maximum extent permitted by the law and review existing contracts the agencies have with the law firm.
Covington has deep ties with Washington D.C. and the two attorneys representing Smith, Covinton’s Vice Chair and former head of the Justice Department’s criminal division Lanny Breuer and Peter Koski, have more than a decade-long working relationship. In 2010 under Obama, Breuer hired Smith to lead the public integrity section, in which Koski has also worked as a prosecutor.
Meanwhile, the suspension of Covington’s security clearances follows a recent announcement of the “weaponization working group” by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Smith and his team. Although Smith enjoys a preemptive pardon as part of the House Jan. 6 Committee, other prosecutors were not extended the same privilege.
#1
I get the feeling that Pro Bono might mean “paid by USAID funds” in many cases,
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/01/2025 8:05
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#2
^ I would be incredibly unsurprised to learn this.
"But don't worry. It has all been laundered thru multiple layers. As long as Elon's database nerds don't start following the trail, we should be good."
USAID could not have been the only group used to disburse federal funds to preferred clients. Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, the intelligence community, and DOD probably also supported all sorts of odd little projects.
#4
For many agencies, there was plenty disbursed that looked like support for gender studies in Ecuador that supported clandestine ops or other purposes. None of it should have ended up funding hits in domestic politics. Our track record for destabilizing foriegn countries is dubious at best, but the US government has no legitimate role in meddling in domestic politics. Track all the funds. Jail all the perps. Hold special elections to replace the jailed elected officials.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/01/2025 12:05
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We are now in the sixth week of the Trump 47 presidency. Yesterday we learnt that it was 20,000 at the one-month mark. After the first two weeks it was 6,000. That sounds like an exponential curve to me.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] When immigration agents were first ordered to deport Ivan Oramas and Santos Maradiaga-Villalta, President George W. Bush was in the White House and the iPhone was a distant dream.
That was over two decades ago—yet both men were arrested this week, according to federal data reviewed by DailyMail.com.
They were among over 50,000 illegal immigrants colonists removed so far, a Department of Homeland Security official revealed to DailyMail.com.
News of their arrest was circulated Thursday in an internal immigration memo noting recent enforcement actions made by President Donald Trump ...Oh, noze! Not him!... 's administration.
Oramas, 61, is a citizen of Cuba with a rap sheet including convictions for sexual battery and aggravated assault.
His sexual battery case caused serious injury, according to his charges in the file.
ICE Houston ...a city in Texas, named after Sam Houston, who would drop deader than he is now if he could see how it turned out... nabbed Oramas this week, enforcing a deportation order first handed down in October 2003—21 years overdue.
Maradiaga-Villalta, a 40-year-old alien from Honduras, has convictions for smuggling aliens into the U.S. He was arrested recently by ICE in Phoenix. His first deportation order dates back to January 2006, a 19-year lapse in action.
Now, as Trump's administration continues ramping up its crackdown on illegal immigration, these long-evading, on the lamrunaways are getting taken in after decades of delays.
Department of Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem announced that in conjunction with Border Czar Tom Homan, immigration officials have already apprehended over 20,000 on the lam illegal aliens since Trump was sworn in.
'That's a 627% increase in monthly arrests compared to just 33,000 on the lam arrests under Biden for ALL of last year,' she wrote in a post on X.
In another post on the platform she bragged that DHS has slashed border encounters from 15,000 a day under Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. Former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body.... to just 200 under Trump.
It's a '15-year low,' she wrote.
Among the other criminals that surfaced in this week's federal data were Guatemalan national Alexis Aquirre-Velasquez, 37, who was ordered out of the U.S. 12 years ago in February 2013.
He was charged with four counts of indecent liberty with a child and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The president has pledged to purge the U.S. of its 'most dangerous' unlawful immigrants colonists through a sweeping deportation strategy that would result in the 'largest deportation effort' ever carried out.
Recently, White House officials revealed to DailyMail.com that north of 6,000 migrants colonists were deported in Trump's first two weeks.
Migrants have been airlifted to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as well—a location that the president intends to detain approximately 30,000 aliens, including terrorists, as ICE facilities reach their limits.
It comes after Caleb Vitello, the former acting director of ICE was reassigned earlier this month.
It came as deportations of migrants colonists have lagged expectations, a senior Trump official said.
A front man told the Wall Street Journal he was 'actually being elevated so he is no longer in an administrative role.'
Instead, he would be 'overseeing all field and enforcement operations: finding, arresting, and deporting illegal aliens.'
He was the third senior ICE official to be removed this month.
#1
When immigration agents were first ordered to deport Ivan Oramas and Santos Maradiaga-Villalta, President George W. Bush was in the White House and the iPhone was a distant dream.
That was over two decades ago—yet both men were arrested this week, according to federal data reviewed by DailyMail.com.
There we go--that's how little BOTH parties gave a damn about us.
#2
The Trump Gov. focusing on the trash 1st, has already netted 50K in just 30 days. That is a Great accomplishment. That's 50,000 that were a clear threat to the USA and the US Citizens.
Let us never forget that's 50,000 violent persons, that the Liberals, Socialists & Democrats (LSD's) welcomed in with Open Borders as guests, and never bothered to arrest and deport.
But with that said, the LSD's averaged about 208,333+ a month for 48+ months
At this rate, 4 years from now, President Vance will still be at it.
[CNN, from a Red State Link] Foreign adversaries including Russia and China have recently directed their intelligence services to ramp up recruiting of US federal employees working in national security, targeting those who have been fired or feel they could be soon, according to four people familiar with recent US intelligence on the issue and a document reviewed by CNN.
The intelligence indicates that foreign adversaries are eager to exploit the Trump administration’s efforts to conduct mass layoffs across the federal workforce.
Russia and China are focusing their efforts on recently fired employees with security clearances and probationary employees at risk of being terminated, who may have valuable information about US critical infrastructure and vital government bureaucracy, two of the sources said. At least two countries have already set up recruitment websites and begun aggressively targeting federal employees on LinkedIn, two of the sources said.
A document produced by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service said the intelligence community assessed with "high confidence" that foreign adversaries were trying to recruit federal employees and "capitalize" on the Trump administration’s plans for mass layoffs, according to a partly redacted copy reviewed by CNN.
It added that foreign intelligence officers were being directed to look for potential sources on LinkedIn, TikTok, RedNote and Reddit.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/01/2025
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Top|| File under: Commies
#1
Seems like a good time for CounterIntel if they are that susceptible to offers from the other side? Perhaps unemployment isn't enuf? How about imprisonment and ruin?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2025 0:51
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#2
GITMO
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/01/2025 9:05
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#5
Russia and China can have 'em. I'm betting they'll wish they hadn't.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/01/2025 13:37
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#6
We are a month and change into a historic demonstration of the Administrative State taking repeated groin shots. If now is the time that a previously upstanding CIA agent is deciding that it’s a good time to become a double agent, I think we have left reality. All the sketchy folks already did their treason and are trying to hide their tracks. It won’t work.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/01/2025 14:00
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[IsraelTimes] Security personnel and Palestinian worshipers in Jerusalem prepare for the holy month amid Israel’s tenuous ceasefire with Hamas and ongoing operations in the West Bank
Every year during Ramadan, 32-year-old Paleostinian journalist Rahma Ali joins thousands of worshipers at the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem during the month-long Moslem holiday. But last year, a few months after the October 7, 2023, Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... invasion and amid Israel’s subsequent war 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... , Ali was denied entry for the first time.
"They saw that I was from Shuafat and said no. That’s never happened before," she recalls.
A resident of the Shuafat refugee camp on the outskirts of Jerusalem, Ali says that Ramadan last year was a somber affair: "It was very sad because of the war, especially seeing what was happening in Gaza; nobody was celebrating."
On the eve of Ramadan this year, about a month into Israel’s fragile ceasefire with Hamas, Ali says that the holiday will be better.
"Things are quieter now in Jerusalem since the ceasefire started," she says. It’s not like it was even a few months ago. It feels like more businesses have reopened and just a lot more normal."
In recent years, Ramadan has often served as a flashpoint for existing tensions between Israelis and Paleostinians, sometimes leading to violent mostly peaceful escalations, most notably in 2021 during the previous Israel-Hamas war, Operation Guardian of the Walls. With Ramadan likely to begin at sundown on Friday, there is great worry regarding the potential for violence.
Nivine, a Paleostinian peace activist from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat (not to be confused with the Shuafat camp), is very concerned about the rising tensions.
"Last year there were still feelings of hope, but not this year. The economic situation is so bad, the war in the West Bank is still going on, and we have fatigue from all of the deaths we’ve seen in Gaza. There’s anger mixed with a sense of helplessness," says Nivine, who requested that her last name be withheld for her security.
With Israel’s ongoing operation in the West Bank, rising settler violence, the economic crisis, and lack of faith in domestic and international leadership for a long-term solution, there is ample tinder to ignite a wider escalation.
If that weren’t enough, US President Donald Trump ...So far he's been unkillable, and they've tried.... is expected to soon announce his support for full or partial annexation of the West Bank — an event that Dr. Michael Milshtein, a senior analyst at Tel Aviv University’s Moshe Dayan Center and former head of the Department of Paleostinian Affairs for the Israeli Military Intelligence (AMAN), warns will "add more fuel to the broader crisis."
"I’m really afraid that we are reaching a point of implosion. If something dramatic takes place at the Temple Mount, it could trigger it," Milshtein says.
Sensitivities regarding the Temple Mount, known as the Haram al-Sharif to Moslems, and specifically the al-Aqsa Mosque, have historically served as a trigger for violence. Amid concerns over terror threats, Channel 12 reported that Israeli security services including the Shin Bet, Israel Police and the Defense Ministry have recommended limiting access to the Temple Mount during Ramadan to men over the age of 55, women over 50, and children under 12, and that a maximum of 10,000 people be admitted for Friday prayers. The government has yet to approve these measures.
In response, Hamas issued a Telegram statement urging Paleostinian Moslems in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as Arab Israelis, to flock to the Temple Mount and resist Israeli attempts to "desecrate and control" the site "by any means."
The Israel Police said via their spokesperson’s unit that they are expecting thousands of worshipers and visitors to Jerusalem to visit the Old City, the Temple Mount and other holy sites. They would not comment on planned restrictions on worshipers or concerns about violence but said that "additional reinforcements" would be deployed across the Old City, the Temple Mount, surrounding neighborhoods and routes leading to worship sites, with "special attention... to areas connecting East and West Jerusalem and paths taken by worshippers." Police deployments will be further bolstered on Fridays, particularly during the midday prayer.
Nivine says that the reportedly planned restrictions on worshipers and the added police presence at al-Aqsa are akin to "pouring oil over a fire."
"Every single time there is violence across the city, it usually goes back to the al-Aqsa Mosque. You’re asking for trouble by limiting the numbers," she says. "People are very angry, so any small trigger could have a larger effect."
Prof. Mustafa Abu Sway, a member of the Islamic Waqf council that oversees the administration of Islamic holy sites including the al-Aqsa Mosque, says that planned restrictions on worshipers constitute "a direct violation of the freedom of worship" as well as of the unwritten status quo agreement on the administration of shared religious sites.
The Jordanian-administered Waqf is responsible for managing Islamic holy sites in the city, most notably the Haram al-Sharif, where the al-Aqsa Mosque sits. When Israel captured East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War, the government decided to maintain the Jordanian Waqf’s control over Moslem holy sites.
"The Waqf is responsible for administering inside of the [Al-Aqsa] mosque and Israel is responsible for outside of it," says Abu Sway, who also serves as the Dean of the College of Islamic Studies at al-Quds University and Chair for the Study of Imam Ghazali’s Work at the al-Aqsa Mosque.
But Abu Sway claims that Israel has violated this agreement over the years, including by restricting the number of worshipers, especially — but not exclusively — during Ramadan.
"Youngsters are prevented from accessing al-Aqsa regularly, even though there hasn’t been an incident [of violence] for 16 months," says Abu Sway.
Despite the proposed restrictions, Abu Sway says that the Waqf’s preparations will continue as usual. These include providing medical teams for worshipers, prepping facilities, and study sessions that Abu Sway will help lead for the "thousands" of worshipers he expects to make their way to al-Aqsa over Ramadan.
DUELING NARRATIVES OF SAFETY AND SECURITY
Ramadan is a stark reminder of the vast gulf in perceptions between Israelis and Paleostinians. For Paleostinian Moslems, it is an extremely sacred month. "All we want is to be left to pray and fast," says Nivine. For many Israelis, however, Ramadan is often synonymous with violence and heightened security threats. For both peoples, it has become a time of extreme tension and fear, exacerbated by war and unrest.
"Ramadan is always a sensitive period of time," says Brig. General (Res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, head of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, and former director-general of the Strategic Affairs Ministry.
"Especially now, with the ceasefire, which many Paleostinians see as a Hamas victory due to the release of so many prisoners, we have to be prepared for an escalation," Kuperwasser says.
Milshtein echoes this concern: "This will be one of the tensest Ramadans in years. I’m extremely concerned about the situation in Jerusalem and the West Bank."
But for Abu Sway, it is the added police presence and potential restrictions on worshipers that are the impetus for, rather than a safeguard against, violence.
"I don’t accept the narrative that al-Aqsa is inherently a hostile place or that Ramadan is a period of violence," he says. "We used to host 400,000-500,000 people on Fridays during Ramadan and there were practically no restrictions or a single incident."
For Paleostinians, Jerusalem itself is central to fueling wider conflict. "Jerusalem triggers conflict in the West Bank," says Nivine, "not the other way around."
But for Israeli security analysts, violence in the West Bank is just as likely to trigger violence in Jerusalem, especially this year amid Israel’s ongoing offensive in the West Bank, known as Operation Iron Wall.
The operation was launched amid a wave of Paleostinian terror attacks inside Israel and the West Bank in which 48 people have been killed. Another eight members of security forces have been killed in festivities with terror operatives in the West Bank.
Launched on January 21, the operation has included the recent deployment of tanks to the area for the first time in over 20 years. The army says it has killed more than 60 Paleostinian terror operatives and arrested over 210 suspects. Meanwhile,
...back at the argument, Livia grabbed for Jane's hair to make her point. Jane elbowed her in the face in rebuttal... Defense Minister Israel Katz said that 40,000 Paleostinians had been "evacuated" from West Bank refugee camps since the start of the operation. The military has also admitted to unintended civilian casualties during the operation, at least two of which are under investigation.
Since October 7, 2023, Israeli forces have arrested around 6,000 Paleostinians in the West Bank, including more than 2,350 linked to Hamas. The Paleostinian Authority Health Ministry reports that over 900 Paleostinians in the West Bank have been killed during this period. The military says that the vast majority of these casualties were combatants killed in firefights, rioters clashing with troops, or snuffies carrying out attacks.
Kuperwasser notes that while the operation has seen a high number of arrests made and weapons confiscated, it hasn’t succeeded in halting terror attacks coming from the West Bank.
"The attack on the buses took place just last week, so in that sense [the operation] hasn’t been effective," he says, referencing the blowing up of three buses in Bat Yam and Holon and the attempted bombings of at least one more. Nobody was injured. "The attack was carried out by snuffies from Tulkarem, where the army has been very active."
Beyond these heightened security concerns, both Paleostinians and Israelis are quick to point out that the Paleostinian economic crisis is just as significant in triggering unrest. Unemployment in the West Bank has soared from 12 percent before the war to over 30%, with around 300,000 people losing jobs — more than half of whom worked in Israel. Today, approximately 20,000-25,000 Paleostinians work in Israel, mostly in the settlements, according to Milshtein.
"It is a long-held belief among the security establishment that higher employment, including through granting more permits to Paleostinians to work in Israel, lowers the potential for violence," says Milshtein, adding that security officials have urged Israel to grant more permits ahead of Ramadan. "But right now the government is in no mood to make gestures towards the Paleostinians."
Nivine says that much of this discourse reflects the widespread absence, and great need, for introspection.
"Sometimes it’s good to hold up a mirror to ourselves and think about what we are doing to trigger the other side," she says.
However,
facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable... this is a challenge due to the massive alienation felt between Paleostinians and Israelis in the wake of October 7.
"Before, I felt like things were moving in a positive direction in Jerusalem, that we were normalizing having a shared city. People understood that with a lack of political horizons, we needed to find a way to share," Nivine says. "That’s all been broken in the last 16 months."
#4
Two moonlit Mohammedan bruisers
Muse:
"Truly, our tomes are all snoozers."
"And although, by Allah,
We head-shot Malala,
It sometimes feels hollow
To slavishly follow That fellow."
"So, are we... the losers, even?"
"Exit stage left!"
[IsraelTimes] FM Sa’ar says opening of dialogue with Sweden Democrats, France’s National Rally, Spain’s Vox is based on their present actions, not antisemitic roots: ‘I didn’t see reason not to’
#1
"Far right" should be added to "Godwin's Law". It had no actual meaning any longer. The headline for stupid people might as well be "Israel establishes ties with Hitler", which would be just as confusing as that stupid headline.
[HotAir] BREAKING NEWS: US Attorney General @PamBondi says we can expect brand new Jeffrey Epstein details TOMORROW. Expect flight logs and names… pic.twitter.com/dMn4nkKefV
— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) February 27, 2025
Well, it's now mid-afternoon on Thursday, and after all the hype, there's no list. And here's where the story gets really interesting. Attorney General Pam Bondi is pissed, and she wants answers.
Bondi learned yesterday that the New York City field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigations was in possession of thousands of pages of records pertaining to the Jeffrey Epstein case, and is just refusing to turn it over to both FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C, and to the Department of Justice.
Bondi discussed this with Director Kash Patel, who was literally sworn in to run the Bureau two days ago. He had no idea the New York City office had gone rogue. Regardless, Bondi is not messing around here. She has given a hard redline. Compile the files and turn them over to DOJ by 8AM tomorrow, the 28th. She does not spell out the "or else", nor should she have to. She is also going to take possession of an after-action report in two weeks as to who in the New York office did not comply and why it was not done, and what heads have been rolled as a result. It's not a request.
A couple of things to note here. Number one, for all the talk on the left about how the government has become a dictatorship, Toure' being just the most recent example on CNN last night...
...what is happening within the Bureau is police state stuff, not a democratic republic. The FBI field offices answer directly to the D.C. office and its director. Period. The entire Bureau answers to the Attorney General. She is the boss. Bondi reports to and is held accountable to the president of the United States. The New York office does not have the ability to decide what gets turned out and what doesn't.
What is not known at this time is whether Patel has flooded the zone in New York. Are documents being destroyed right now? Are they finally cooperating? We don't know. All we do know is the rot at the Bureau is not just the 7th floor of the Hoover Building. It apparently is spread far and wide.
Watch this space, because events unfolding now are very fluid. If we're told in the morning that all of the documents are destroyed, and all that remains are a couple hundred pages of redacted material protecting the guilty, you're going to see the first crisis of confidence for Trump's new team.
Bondi and Patel seem to be on the same page. But right now, the seem to be the only two people in the Justice Department who are on that page, and that's not healthy for the republic.
John Podhoretz of Commentary recalls a period in time that is eerily similar to what's going on now - Troopergate.
This saga, of course, goes back to Former President William Jefferson Blythe Clinton, when he was governor of Arkansas, using state troopers to procure many of the women who would become notches in Clinton's belt of sexual conquests. It wasn't a good look on Arkansas state law enforcement then, and it's not a good look for the Bureau now.
#1
When a person is rich, famous and screwing little kids.
Dumping $$$$$ in to certain persons laps to eliminate threats to that Rich and Famous, perverted status flows quickly and quietly.
What If? Say the person is given a quick and Tax-free hidden income, equal to 10 years of their working income.
Example given: Thomas Crooks and his still unexplained offshore funds.
#5
It amazes me that Comey’s daughter continues to draw a DIJ salary.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/01/2025 8:58
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#6
He had no idea the New York City office had gone rogue.
He's pretty damn naive if that's the case.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/01/2025 12:28
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#7
Open a second front with P Diddy, use it to correlate the corruption.
As far as the someone you like may be on it, I say so what?
The entertainment industry died in 2020 when every single entertainer got on board with covid, no curiosity or questions asked. They are now either paid shills of interest groups, or auditioning to be. And if on the guest list, awful people anyways.
Ask yourself why Clooney's organization rushed to the defense of man-boy love after Indonesia criminalized it.
Tom Hanks on the list would make Forrest Gump a bit awkward, but then so is him and Obama spending the Greek nights away on Hanks' yacht.
[DailyWire] House Republicans have now unveiled articles of impeachment against three federal judges who have issued rulings against the President Donald Trump ...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons... ’s second-term administration in what has been dubbed an "impeachathon" of "judicial activists."
In a post to X on Thursday, Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) revealed an impeachment resolution accusing United States District Judge Amir Ali, a Biden appointee, of "high crimes and misdemeanors" for blocking the Trump administration’s foreign aid pause.
The measure faults Ali for an order that "without merit marginalized the President’s Article II authority, which vests power to conduct foreign policy ... and has further compromised the President’s fiduciary obligation to review federal agencies and programs."
Ogles introduced his resolution after Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts granted the Trump administration’s request to put on hold Ali’s order commanding the Executive Branch to pay an estimated $2 billion in foreign assistance funds, per CBS News.
Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) previously introduced articles of impeachment against U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer, an Obama appointee, for restricting Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team from accessing a Treasury payment system.
Ogles then unveiled impeachment articles against U.S. District Judge John Bates, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, who ordered health agencies to restore data after Trump acted to stop the government from promoting "gender ideology," The Hill reported.
Judges have been subject to impeachment proceedings over the course of United States history. Some cases have resulted in a guilty verdict and removal from office. It remains to be seen whether this new push will be taken up by the Republican leadership in the House.
Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) has also said he was drafting articles of impeachment for U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr., another Obama appointee, who ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze payments for grants and other programs, according to NPR.
Ogles posted a video to X on Thursday in which he provides an update on the "Impeachathon" using a chart of "Known Get-Trump Judicial Activists" that showed the four judges under "Articles Drafted/In Process" and seven others in a "Wanted" section.
"James Madison, Founding Father, warned us about an overactive — a too powerful, quite frankly — a woke judiciary, and we see it coming to pass," Ogles said, adding later he was placing the sign so people would know, "We’re going to hold these judges accountable."
🚀IMPEACHATHON UPDATE: More rogue judges are targeting President Trump.
#4
Run a real impeachment process so they have to defend themselves. Include their worst previous rulings and any times they were overturned by SCOTUS. Make the process the punishment.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/01/2025 8:44
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#5
Speaking of Soros, I'm surprised there hasn't been a run at him for his various fifth column activities.
[NYPOST] A narco mob kingpin, known as the US Drug Enforcement Administration's top target for his role in the killing of a DEA agent, was moved from Mexico to New York City on Thursday and is expected to face a judge on Friday, according to officials and sources.
Rafael Caro Quintero was among 29 cartel members the Mexican government released into US custody as President Trump has threatened to slap imports from Mexico with a 25% tariff on March 4 if the country doesn't do more to crackdown on illegal immigration drug smuggling.
''Obviously, this is one of the biggest days in decades for DEA agents,'' Ray Donovan, the former head of New York's DEA office, told The Post. ''This is very near and dear to every DEA agent.''
DEA Acting Administrator Derek Maltz said there is ''one name'' in the group of 29 cartel members ''that stands above the rest for the men and women'' of his agency — Quintero.
Quintero, 72, arrived in the Big Apple Thursday night and will likely be moved to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, Donovan said. "Welcome to America. Bitch"
The cartel kingpin is expected to arraigned on Friday in Brooklyn Federal Court on drug-trafficking charges, sources said.
Quintero was convicted in Mexico for being the criminal mastermind of the 1985 killing of US DEA agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena and for the last two years has been sitting in a Guadalajara prison, sources said.
He was sent to New York while some of the other cartel members were flown to other US cities.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2025
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#1
He was sent to New York while some of the other cartel members were flown to other US cities.
[NYPOST] Jeff Bezos has the temerity to believe that he runs The Washington Post.
He can be forgiven this understanding of his role since he does, as a technical matter... own the newspaper.
The entrepreneur, who bought the financially struggling paper in 2013, sent a memo to Post staff saying that the paper's opinion pages will soon ''be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets. We'll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.''
What's irking WaPo staffers?
The Post's opinion editor, David Shipley, resigned, and a firestorm ensued among current and former WaPo employees and progressive opinion-makers.
Doesn't Bezos know that it's his role to fund journalism that he disagrees with, and may even find harmful to America?
The paper's economics news hound called the decision a ''massive encroachment by Jeff Bezos into The Washington Post's opinion section.''
Next thing you know Bezos is going to have a view on how Amazon and Blue Origin should be run.
It's not unusual — in fact, it's the norm — for an owner to determine the editorial line of a newspaper.
The Washington Post has been synonymous with crusading liberalism since its work during Watergate, so it's easy to forget that its position on the political spectrum hasn't been fixed throughout its history.
In the 1930s, the Republican banker Eugene Meyer bought the financially distressed newspaper — sound familiar? — and made it anti-New Deal.
The New York Times
...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... used to be a Republican paper, and even your beloved New York Post hasn't always been the beacon of sound thinking that it is today.
Then, there are criticisms of Bezos for the substantive direction he has set out.
According to left-wing commentator Keith Olbermann, Bezos has declared ''the paper utterly fascist ...anybody you disagree with, damn them... '' — as if free markets and personal liberties are the hallmarks of authoritarian rule.
Bezos is also accused of kowtowing to Trump, although if the president's enemies are worried that he's a threat to freedom, they should be delighted that the Post will be putting such an emphasis on liberty.
There is unquestionably a Trump angle to what Bezos is doing. Like many business leaders, the Amazon founder has warmed up to Trump.
Perhaps more important, the president's election — together with Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter — sent a cultural signal that it's OK to defy woke employees and other forms of progressive social pressure.
We've seen it in Meta's turn toward a more free speech-oriented policy and Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong's efforts to shake up that paper. This is all to the good.
A more telling critique of the Bezos directive is that the opinion pages at the Post, which have long been relatively diverse, aren't the real problem at the paper.
The deeper issue is the abysmally biased news coverage that is part of a decades-long ingrained culture.
Fixing that may be beyond the power of even one of our era's most transformative agents of change.
#2
Bezos can try to restore the WP to decency, but he won’t do it from internal hiring. It will just be like a present that is wrapped in infinite layers of leftist wrapping paper. Importing other leftists from the industry at large will be a more expensive and equally ineffective strategy. Also the print media is largely irrelevant. The task is both impossible and useless.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/01/2025 8:40
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#3
Maybe he just doesn't like losing money.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/01/2025 12:20
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[THEPOSTMILLENNIAL] President Donald Trump is slated to sign an executive order that will make English the official language of the United States. For its nearly 250-year history, the United States has not had an official language, although English has been the language spoken most often by US citizens.
According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Trump will sign the order, which would make the English the national language as well as rescind a mandate put into place by former President Bill Clinton that required any entity of the federal government or getting federal funding to provide assistance to those in need of translation.
More than 350 languages are spoken in the United States with some of the most popular after English being Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Arabic. There are also Native American languages spoken in the US, such as Navajo, Yupik, Dakota, Apache, Keres, and Cherokee.
The outlet reported that although this mandate will be rescinded, federal agencies will still be able to provide us languages aside from English for those in need of their services. A summary of the order says that the change will promote unity in the United States as well as establish uniform practices across the government for better efficiency.
Vice President JD Vance has taken similar actions prior to becoming Trump's running mate in the 2024 election. When he served as a US senator of Ohio, Vanc introduced the English Language Unity Act.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2025
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#1
This should have been done during either Bush administration.
[NYPOST] Former Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley has started the appeal process following Mayor Karen Bass' decision to fire her a week ago.
Her decision to appeal comes after Bass' decision has spun up criticism from City Councilmembers and the public for what they say is ''misrepresenting the facts.''
Crowley announced the appeal to City Council members on Thursday.
''I choose to proceed with the Council appeal provided for in Los Angeles Charter, Article V, Section 5.08(e), due to Mayor Bass's removal of me, on February 21, 2025, from the position of Fire Chief of the Los Angeles City Fire Department,'' read Crowley's note. ''I look forward to hearing from you about next steps, if any.''
Bass announced that she was firing Crowley after last month's devastating Palisades Fire and appointing former Chief Deputy Ronnie Villanueva, a 41-year LAFD veteran, as interim fire chief. She said it was in the best interest of Los Angeles.
''Acting in the best interests of Los Angeles' public safety, and for the operations of the Los Angeles Fire Department, I have removed Kristin Crowley as Fire Chief. We know that 1,000 firefighters that could have been on duty on the morning the fires broke out were instead sent home on Chief Crowley's watch. Furthermore, a necessary step to an investigation was the President of the Fire Commission telling Chief Crowley to do an after-action report on the fires. The Chief refused. These require her removal. The heroism of our firefighters — during the Palisades fire and every single day — is without question. Bringing new leadership to the fire department is what our city needs.''
#2
If she wins, pay her salary and make her mow lawns in the hot sun. There is no way she should be working in leadership or on anything important. Same thing for any personnel in the Trump executive branch that any judge reinstates. Make them do manual labor. No free money.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/01/2025 8:16
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#3
This is red on red. I'm gonna sit back with my popcorn and enjoy the show.
Can't feel too bad for Crowley. If she had any integrity she would have resigned a long time ago instead of working for Bass. The suspense comes from waiting for Bass to get hers.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/01/2025 12:13
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[NYPOST] A senior aide for former President Joe Biden has admitted the administration was ''gaslighting'' Americans when it repeatedly dismissed growing concerns about the oldest-ever president's age and ability.
Michael LaRosa, a former White House aide and longtime press secretary for first lady Jill Biden, admitted that the campaign was aware from ''day one'' that the 81-year-old's age was an issue — and aides were ''scared to death'' of letting him do off-the-cuff interviews ahead of the election, Puck reported.
''Cover-up to me is a little hard, a little harsh. Every politician, everybody, every human being tries to cover up age. We were always, from day one, cognizant that age was an issue,'' LaRosa said Wednesday at a Science Institute at American University seminar.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2025
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If I can sit on my couch and know this, why did nobody act? We spend 4 years with the "Weekend at Bernie's presidency, and yet nobody on "our" side did a damn thing about it.
#3
Everyone involved in the Biden Mental Health cover-up should lose their Security Clearances, immediately, and ban for life, from future Government employment.
Because they place political agenda and power ahead of the safety of the USA, its citizens and the US Constitution.
ALSO
Those that ran the Biden Regime puppet government should be brought to trial for treason.
Then the questions.
Why was Congress and the MSM so quiet on this obvious mental health issue? Why was no effort made to use the 25th amendment to remove Biden never started?
Was it because of the actual people running the White House.
Or was it because everyone knew Ms. Harris taking over the WH Oval Office duties was a bigger joke than Biden was already?
#5
The 25th Amendment and the Impeachment does not account for a totally corrupt cabinet and legislature. Pull the cleanses of both the staff, cabinet and Gang of Eight for starters.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/01/2025 8:13
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#6
Gaslighting is attempting to slowly convince a person that an unacceptable situation is actually acceptable.
This was a fucking cover up.
Kid Rock getting on the radio the other day and apologizing for Clooney "having the guts to speak up about Biden's mental health" (it was weeks after the Clooney Obama Variety Show starring Brandon) was the most disingenuous thing I've heard in a long time.
The real gaslighting is going on right now trying to convince you this was all an oopsie doopsie guess I fudged up y'all huck huck huck.
Where was the GOP?
Covering for McConnell and prepping for a "Harris" administration.
[NYPOST] Tough-talker Gov. Kathy Hochul dissed the Garden State Thursday over its war against her hated congestion pricing toll, sniping: ''What do we care what New Jersey thinks?''
The governor admitted to insulting 9.5 million of her neighbors when she was trying to convince President Trump last week to reverse his decision to scrap federal approval for the scheme to hit drivers with a $9 fee to enter Manhattan below 60th Street.
Hochul said her main gripe with the Trump administration's move was US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy using New Jersey, at least in part, to justify abruptly nixing the toll. Duffy lives in New Jersey with his family.
''First of all, the most offensive thing I found in the letter from Sean Duffy was citing New Jersey, saying they don't like this program,'' Hochul said on MSNBC's ''Morning Joe'' as she recalled details of her private meeting with Trump.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Malek Dudakov
[REGNUM] The tail can try to wag the dog for a long time. But sooner or later it ends. This is roughly how one can evaluate the surreal spectacle that took place in the White House during the visit of Vladimir Zelensky.
It is unlikely that we can recall any precedents in modern US history when an official meeting between an American president and the leader of another country turned into a public squabble and showdown.
Donald Trump has long avoided meeting with Zelensky.
During his first term, he did not invite him to the White House. The summer scandal of 2019 with Trump's call to Zelensky, the details of which the Ukrainian side leaked to the American press, had an effect. During the conversation, Trump demanded that Zelensky investigate the Biden family's corruption in Ukraine. Democrats in the US Congress later used the opportunity to try to impeach Trump for this.
Later, with the beginning of Joe Biden’s term, Zelensky was invited to the White House four times.
These meetings were quite routine - the positions of the Democrats who came to power and Ukrainian lobbyists generally converged. Although even then Zelensky often tried to behave very boldly and constantly demanded the provision of new categories of weapons. From Javelins to artillery, missile systems, Abrams tanks and, ultimately, long-range ATACMS missiles.
In September 2024, Zelensky also came to the United States to campaign for the Democrats and Kamala Harris’ campaign ; he was then taken to a shell factory in the swing state of Pennsylvania.
But there was no miracle for the Ukrainian lobbyists, and the Democrats lost the elections by a landslide. Trump did not forget all the complaints about Zelensky, so he was in no hurry to meet with him. Although after the elections, at the instigation of Emmanuel Macron, he had a short conversation with Zelensky in Paris.
Ultimately, it was the Europeans – the leaders of France and Britain – who persuaded Trump to hold a summit meeting with Zelensky at the White House.
Trump's team timed this to coincide with the signing of a long-planned deal to develop rare earth metals in Ukraine. It was supposed to grant American companies the right to 50% of all deposits in Ukraine. The revenues from production were then supposed to go to a special fund aimed at reconstructing the country.
From the very beginning, many questions arose about whether these deposits actually exist in Ukraine or not.
The Europeans also conducted their parallel negotiations with Kiev and did not want to lose the opportunity to extract something in Ukraine themselves. And the estimates of profits from the development of mineral reserves were constantly changing - from trillions to hundreds, and then tens of billions of dollars.
But for Trump's team, a deal with Kiev would in any case mean an opportunity to "recoup" at least some of the investment in the Ukrainian project. This could be called a victory for American taxpayers and used to deflect criticism from hawks demanding continued military action.
Ukrainian lobbyists demanded that Trump provide some kind of security guarantees from the United States in exchange for providing their deposits.
However, it was clear from the very beginning that Trump’s team had no intention of giving its guarantees.
Now a new budget is being adopted in Washington, within the framework of which a strict reduction in government spending is planned. And external tranches are among those that were first to go under the knife. The White House has no desire to allocate new tranches to Kyiv. The European hawks, who begged the US for logistical assistance in sending their peacekeeping mission, were also left high and dry.
There are plenty of contradictions between Trump's team and the current government in Kyiv.
But even under these conditions, it was hard to imagine that the White House talks would immediately turn into an "exchange of pleasantries." Zelensky, in his usual aggressive manner, began to demand additional arms supplies from the United States. He also called on Trump's team not to negotiate with Russia, but to leave it all to the Ukrainians themselves.
Zelensky's attitude literally drove the Republicans crazy.
Trump and his Vice President J.D. Vance gave Zelensky a real dressing down, whose rudeness played a very cruel joke on him.
The negotiations broke down, the deal was not signed, and the Ukrainian delegation was required to leave the US territory as soon as possible. They were even forced to pay for their accommodation in Washington, although visits by leaders of other countries are usually paid for by the American side.
Zelensky is used to using his favorite style of aggressive and boorish diplomacy in dealing with European politicians. He probably also tried to do business with Democrats in the US. Moreover, many of them had corrupt ties to Ukraine.
So there really were opportunities for the tail to wag the big American dog. But now there are other people in power, and the situation has changed.
By the way, this is far from the first case in American history when one or another country dependent on the United States sought to obtain support from its “metropolis” in an ultimatum form.
The authorities of South Vietnam in the last years of its existence also tried to openly blackmail politicians in the USA. But at least it was done privately. In the end, the American dog got rid of that "tail".
It is quite possible that we will see a somewhat similar scenario in Ukraine.
Trump's team has already placed its loyalists in senior positions in the American intelligence agencies. For example, the FBI is now headed by Cash Patel and Don Bongino - both of whom have long advocated for opening an investigation into corruption with the allocation of Ukrainian tranches. After Zelensky's humiliating flight from the White House, the likelihood that these processes will be given the green light has increased.
In the future, Zelensky’s inner circle may well fall under personal US sanctions for fraud and corruption.
This will also be used as a lever of pressure on Kyiv - with the demand to hold presidential and parliamentary elections. Washington will become even more active in seeking a change of power in Ukraine in order to replace Zelensky with someone more manageable.
In the political and military spheres, we should expect a deepening split between the US and European hawks over the issue of Ukraine.
Trump's team will certainly speed up the negotiating track with Russia, which is already bearing fruit with the restoration of diplomatic services.
What is coming may well be a softening of US sanctions in certain areas and an intensification of dialogue on the resumption of joint economic projects.
Relations with Kiev, while Zelensky is in power there, are now completely ruined by the Trump administration. Therefore, Ukrainian lobbyists and circles associated with them in Europe will not be allowed to negotiate with Russia.
The turmoil in the White House will sharply worsen the attitude towards Zelensky inside the US. Most Republicans already perceive him in a very negative light. At the same time, almost 80% of Americans support the earliest possible peace talks with Russia and de-escalation in Ukraine.
A public confrontation with Zelensky will allow Trump to show himself as a champion of US interests and someone who is ready to put pro-Ukrainian hawks in their place. For Zelensky, a conflict with Trump is unlikely to end well.
#5
Zelensky, clearly misread the room and screwed the pooch and bit the only hand feeding his war.
But then there are some DC bkgrd comments posing the What If idea. That a DC group that wanted this profitable war, for their own pockets, to continue. Expressing threats, that if Zelensky wanted a future Safe Harbor to escape/exile too, that he should follow their directions and give the attitude and performance he did.
Plus, it tossed in an opportunity for the Liberals & Democrats to try and bring Trump down a notch or 2. While using a 3rd party and not themselves directly.
#7
Z shouldn't have called Vance a "suka" under his breath while on camera in a room full of people who can lip read Russian. Since Trump's wife is Ukrainian he undoubtedly knows all the common curse words too.
#9
Zelenski ...is just a sock puppet for Ukrainian Nazis and their West European masters.
Z has been a loyal soldier and done what they asked to enable and promote the war. It is understandable that he would be a bit miffed at being cast aside at this late date.
His best move at this point is to stage a false-flag attack and nuke Kiev. Everyone will know the Russians did it because that's just how they are, and it allows Zelensky to fake his own death. Let's see Trump make a peace deal out of that!
#10
Seems like he was told not to sign the deal by his masters. Maybe Victoria Nuland will have an opinion. Let’s watch MSMBC for some people that should lose their security clearance.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/01/2025 9:18
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#11
For the Rantburg readers, is there a specific date/event that changed your narrative from backing Ukraine/Zelensky to what it is now.
#12
I had some sympathy until Lindsey came out and said that the Ukrainian funding was the best money we ever spent. The kabuki between Rubio and Nuland was another waypoint on my journey to WTF.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/01/2025 10:26
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#13
The KS department of education sent a speaker to our school to pump up support for war, getting an hour of assembly time and (attempting to) bully shame the kids into wearing buttons.
Ultimately though, the election of Elynskyyy itself and the rabid and vigorous shut down of anyone questioning it, including one of the first things Trump 45 did with that infamous phone call.
This is pretty much the official announcement of its death.
I'm not mourning NATO, an alliance that 'defends the Muslim faith' and betrays Western civilization does more harm than good. Interesting times are ahead and those allies that are only a 'scredriver's turn' away should turn that screwdriver now.
#16
^^^ Russia wants Europe??? How? With what??? Their non nuclear force is a joke. They’re exhausted. Europe may be weaker than in the past, but they aren’t as weak as Russia right now. The Bear needs the war to end so it can lick it’s wounds and rebuild.
#21
Contrarian view- a made for tv ‘Dear Leader’ event; legit questions were asked, DJT objected, lap dog Vance treated Zelensky like a child at the Christmas kid’s table.
And why was the Russian TASS news agency there, but not listed in attendees?
Trump set our international relations back.
#22
And why was the Russian TASS news agency there, but not listed in attendees?
I saw a bit somewhere that said the TASS guy snuck in uninvited and was tossed on discovery. No idea of the report's veracity. Seems like rather lax security.
#23
For the Rantburg readers, is there a specific date/event that changed your narrative from backing Ukraine/Zelensky to what it is now.
That'd be the date of the Maidan Coup back in, what was it, 2014? I just knew that Obama was somehow involved in that and it was dirty, dirty, dirty. Then there was Joe Biden and Hunter Biden laundering money and peddling influence with crooked Ukrainian oligarchs. There was the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax in 2016 and then there was Alexander Vindman screaming about Trump's phone call to Zelensky (in which Trump did absolutely nothing wrong). The final straw was in the summer of 2022 when Tony Blinken insisted that NATO would expand into Ukraine. The end game became clear: Western globalists want regime change in Moscow so they can spread their corruption all the way to Vladivostok.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/01/2025 12:45
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#24
If Zelensky doesn't have his bug out bag all ready to go and a secure hidey hole in another part of the world with his ill gotten gains in a Swiss bank, he is dumber than I thought and that's dumber than dirt. It's time for him to bail.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/01/2025 12:51
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#25
Meghan McCain saying we need to war with Russia because Ukraine has a street named after my daddy was pretty wild.
#26
One of my favorites was 40 kill The Ghost of Kyyyv, who was transgender, and after xer was shot down, xer's pristine recovered helmet going up for auction in London.
#29
Huh? Draft treaties are not the ones that get signed and ratified. Do you have a link to them? Why not post them here instead of making vague accusations?
Something big and bad?
Huh?
Can you be a little more specific?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/01/2025 13:27
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#30
A lot different dealing with a man who puts America first rather than a senile sociopath war pig looking for kick backs
Posted by: Regular joe ||
03/01/2025 13:58
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#32
The sh*tty little Taliban ruling sh*tty little Afghanistan inflicted a shameful defeat on NATO and the US.
No, in a repeat of Vietnam, the Democrats inflicted a defeat upon America, assisted this time by a military establishment more interested in managing than winning.
#33
@32 There was and is a broad consensus in the Western political class, far beyond US Democrats, that especially after being attacked we should appease Islam.
The enemy, who couldn't be called the enemy because that would have hurt his feelings couldn't even be scolded, because that would have hurt his feelings too.
#34
Mollie Hemmingway nail's it: "Yesterday, Susan Rice said of the Trump-Zelensky meeting, "There is no question this was a set up." She revealed full knowledge of the mineral agreement, complained that it didn't include "concrete" security agrees (meaning, apparently, commitment of US troops on the ground if conditions merit), and then mischaracterized Trump's behavior, counting on most Americans to not have watched what transpired over the entire hour in the Oval Office.
You can look at this and dismiss it as typical Democrat talking points, but you could also view it as almost a confession, one that includes details about the current "Get Trump" effort.
Yes, Trump won the popular vote against unbelievable odds, but if you think Team Obama is being any less involved in quiet insurrections than they were during the first Trump administration (Russia collusion, Ukraine impeachment, etc.), you're clueless. I'll remind you that Susan Rice was in the small Jan. 5, 2017 meeting in the WH with other key Russia collusion hoax perpetrators."
"...Zelensky repeatedly declined opportunities to sign the deal in Kyiv and Munich, and requested the meeting at the White House. It later came out that Rice and Tony Blinken, Victoria Nuland, and Alexander Vindman may have been personally advising Zelensky to do this meeting in the way he did -- that they recommended him to be hostile and to try to goad Trump into blowing up. Even though he didn't, and even though Zelensky's actions horrified many normal Americans, the Obama team went on the airwaves to falsely characterize what happened."
"Instead, Zelensky had one of the worst stage performances of his acting career, and Trump was statesmanlike (against all odds) throughout. Zelensky followed Team Obama's advice to be hostile to a tee, but it didn't land how they thought it would. Surprisingly, one of the most important aspects of it not working out might have been Lindsay Graham's reaction. Had he and other neocons thought Zelensky was being reasonable, Trump would be having to fight (even moreso) the neocon portion of the GOP in addition to Team Obama's dirty tricks. Even the "conservative" neocon pundits on TV last night were admitting Zelensky had royally messed up."
#35
The Parties shall exercise restraint in military planning and conducting exercises to reduce risks of eventual dangerous situations in accordance with their obligations under international law, including those set out in intergovernmental agreements on the prevention of incidents at sea outside territorial waters and in the airspace above, as well as in intergovernmental agreements on the prevention of dangerous military activities.
Elmerert, is this what you're on about? How do you get from "restraint" to an end to free navigation in international waters? Aren't you exaggerating just a little bit?
It sounds like Putin doesn't want NATO naval exercises in the Black Sea. Why would NATO need naval exercises in the Black Sea?
I just scanned the document at your link and saw absolutely nothing about the dissolution of NATO. Yes, it seems the Russians don't want NATO to include any more nations than it already has.
Do you really believe NATO needs Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kahzakstan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijian, Afghanistan, Mongolia, Pakistan or any more than it already has? What do those countries have to do with defending Western Europe from the USSR?
Do you really believe that Putin invaded Ukraine completely out of the blue without any provocation? You don't think that maybe he was paranoid about NATO troops, tanks, drones, missiles and war planes on his border?
Besides all that, my understanding of a "draft" treaty is that it's a starting point for negotiations. Biden wouldn't even negotiate which tells me that what he really wanted was war and conquest. I'd rather have negotiations and I don't give a rat's ass what Zelensky thinks about it.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/01/2025 17:30
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#38
^#21 lap dog Vance treated Zelensky like a child at the Christmas kid’s table.
And why was the Russian TASS news agency there, but not listed in attendees?
Trump set our international relations back.
Posted by USN, Ret
And Musk is an egomaniac, right. The TDS is strong with you USN
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2025 20:14
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#40
Woodrow-i voted for trump, at least he could string a sentence together. But to backstab in a what looks to me like a planned for tv hit stinks of pettiness.
Couple this with the crap musk is doing, completely off the rails ( nobody elected him to take out dog crap, much less anything else) and if that is your definition of tds, so be it.
Not reported elsewhere but it is reported that Norway told the US Navy to find someplace else to refuel.
So they must have TDS as well.
[NYPOST] An accused serial killer allegedly bumped off six random strangers in reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown ...home of Al Capone, the Chicago Black Sox, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel... when he was just 17 — with cops admitting there may have been more.
Antonio Reyes was already in jug for a 2020 killing when prosecutors on Thursday announced five additional murder charges — as well as four attempted murders, including three kids ages 3 to 9.
''None of these people had ever met Antonio Reyes before, and there's no reason to suspect Antonio Reyes had any reason to target them,'' Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke told news hounds at a presser, according to USA Today.
''One victim was killed when he went to the gas station to buy a pop. — Another victim was sitting in a parked car with a friend on Palm Sunday afternoon. — Another victim's only crime was taking his family to buy a new puppy one afternoon,'' she said.
The accusations against Reyes, now 21, are for a killing spree over nine months in 2020 on the Windy City's Southwest Side. The murder victims were all between the ages of 16 and 31.
“These were six lives that were brutally taken,” Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said.
“It’s difficult to comprehend how anyone could easily take someone’s life and especially so many in one year. … Who knows how many he may have been responsible for?”
Reyes has been in police custody since 2021 for the murder of Luis Davalos, who was shot in the head in June 2020, according to the Chicago Sun Times.
The attempted murder charges include the three children of one of the victims who was shot dead withe the kids in his car.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2025
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#3
Our society has become a Petri dish to propagate sociopaths.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/01/2025 9:14
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#4
Bill Maher asks Rahm Emanuel why Chicago's mayor has such a low approval rating, and the panel agrees that Democrat policies have ruined large American cities: Bill Maher: "I read that the current mayor of Chicago has an approval rating of 6.6%. What's going on in Chicago?" Rahm… pic.twitter.com/Wn3rj5kQ9v
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Yaroslav Karpikov
[REGNUM] Over the past six months, Russian migration authorities have received almost 600 applications from potential migrants from a rather unusual category. We are talking about educated and often very successful Americans, Canadians and residents of the European Union who do not agree with the liberal "agenda", share traditional spiritual and moral values - and therefore are ready to come and live in our country.
Fascinating. That’s going to be a bit of culture shock for all involved. But it’s going to be interesting to see if the Americans stick once the shape and extent of the Trump changes are clear, though perhaps they’ll wait to see what the next American president does.
Data on Western “healthy person relocants” was made public on February 27 by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI) during a meeting between the agency’s head Svetlana Chupsheva and Nizhny Novgorod Governor Gleb Nikitin with people from Germany, the USA and France who decided to settle in the Volga region.
The basis for impatriation, that is, moving to a new homeland, was the decree of Vladimir Putin adopted in August 2024. According to this document, foreigners who share the values adopted by us will be able to receive a temporary residence permit (TRP) outside the quota. The decision on each valuable - without any irony - foreign specialist is made by the headquarters operating under the federal Ministry of Internal Affairs.
It was a brilliant move. Last year there were lots of reasons for productive native Westerners to be deeply unhappy with societal trends.
So, at the current turn of its history, Russia has returned to a practice that existed under the first tsars of the Romanov dynasty. Our country accepts foreign dissidents (again, in a good sense).
If now these are people who left, among other things, because of the excessive European "tolerance", then at that time victims of religious intolerance fled to Russia. In fact, our western neighbors of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth called all non-Catholics, including Orthodox, by the word dysydent (from the Latin dissidens, "dissenting").
The departure of the Orthodox “in the name of the sovereign” was especially valued in the first half of the 17th century, since in the minds of all Orthodox Christians of the world at that time, Russia was the only country of “pious faith” among an ocean of perished people: “Luthers and Calvins,” that is, Protestants, “Papalians,” that is, Catholics, and “Mohammedans.”
An example of such an “exit” is the family of the Kiev Metropolitan Job Boretsky (1620–1631).
In the archives we find many extracts and petitions from the Discharge Prikaz, which tell about the relatives and service to the Tsar of this amazing man.
Thus, in the extract, compiled on the basis of a certificate from the Ambassadorial Office, a description of the royal favor to the son and nephew of the Kyiv Metropolitan, who left for the Russian state to serve in the year 7138 from the creation of the world (that is, in 1630), has been preserved.
"FORTY SABLES AND 50 RUBLES OF MONEY"
Andrei Boretsky, the son of Metropolitan Job, and Pavel Knyazhitsky, the Metropolitan's nephew, were honored with a reception by Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich on January 13, 1631, and were "at hand" and received refreshments from the Tsar's table. Andrei himself was granted the rank of stolnik to Patriarch Filaret Nikitich (the Tsar's father), and Pavel Knyazhitsky was granted the rank of Moscow nobleman.
They also received separate gifts from Patriarch Filaret. Thus, Andrei Boretsky will receive from Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich: "A silver-gilt cup worth 3 hryvnias, velvet worth 15 rubles... forty sables worth 30 rubles, 50 rubles in money from the Great Parish."
From Patriarch Filaret Nikitich he received: “An icon, a silver ladle worth 2 hryvnias… 40 sables worth 20 rubles, 20 rubles in money.”
Pavel Knyazhitsky also received such rich gifts. Along with the gifts to Boretsky and Knyazhitsky, they added food, drink, and feed for their horses.
15, 20, and especially 50 "rubles" were very good lifting. To understand, for a ruble in silver in the 17th century you could buy almost 220 kg of rye flour or about 30 kilograms of butter, a four-year-old bull or five or six sheep.
ROYAL GIFTS FOR THE NOBLEMAN BOYARSKY
In the summer of 1631, from the Russian border town of Putivl (now in the Sumy region of Ukraine), the governors Prince Andrei Mosalsky and Ignatius Uvarov sent a “rider” with the Putivl boyar’s son Grigory Gladky.
It turned out to be another nephew of the Kiev Metropolitan Job - Stepan Boyarsky. Arriving in Moscow, the Metropolitan's nephew told about himself:
“His father, Fyodor Boyarsky, served the king in the zhelnyr (that is, military - from the Polish żołnierz, soldier) service on five horses, and his mother, Stepanova, was the sister of the Kiev Metropolitan Job Boretsky.”
Three years earlier, Stepan was sent by his father to Vilno (modern Vilnius) to learn to read and write, after which, with his father's consent, he moved to Lvov, where he studied at the local school for two years. In Lvov, the young nobleman learned "Polish and Russian literacy," after which he went to Kyiv.
That same year, before Maslenitsa, his father died in Kiev, and his elder brother Ivan Boyarsky went to the Russian state. Stepan lived with his mother in Kiev for 20 weeks, after which he decided to go to Moscow to serve the Tsar.
His mother remained in Kiev at the Mikhailovsky Monastery. Having finally reached Moscow via Putivl, the younger nephew of the Kiev Metropolitan Job Boretsky was received by Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich in the Dining Chamber and allowed to kiss his hand. Stepan also received large gifts for his departure to Russia: “a cup worth 2 hryvnias, velvet… damask, cloth… forty sables worth 20 rubles, 30 rubles in money…”
SCOUT NOVIKOV AND HIS MISSION
The same Kiev Metropolitan Job Boretsky was an active assistant in the matter of Orthodoxy and the emigration of Little Russians and Belarusians to Russia.
Some of his hidden contacts were through Russian spies sent by Putivl governors to Little Russia in the 1620s and 1630s. One of these spies was the boyar's son from Putivl, Vasily Novikov.
Returning to Putivl from Kiev in the autumn of 1630, Novikov told how he visited the metropolitan, who informed him of everything that was happening in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and at parting said to him: “As he… hears about all sorts of news, he will send his son Andrey Boretsky to the Tsar in Moscow.”
Which, as we see, was done later. His son would later become a city governor in Yelets in Russia.
In the person of Job Boretsky we see a man devoted to the cause of Orthodoxy, who perceived the Russian Tsar as the only savior not only of the body of Orthodox Christians from the “pope-mongers” of the Poles, but also the savior of the souls of those who came to serve him.
Not only Orthodox Christians from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth left for Russia, as a rule, the same Russians (Little Russians and Belarusians) who remained “outside their native harbor” after the Lithuanian conquests of the 12th–13th centuries, but also Orthodox Christians from the Balkans and the East.
One such case was the departure in the sovereign’s name of the prince’s son from Serbia, a representative of the Miloradovich family, whose descendants would later glorify Russia.
On November 20, 1640, from Putivl, the steward and governor Grigory Pushkin (a representative of the senior branch of the ancient family that gave Russia its greatest poet) sent a foreigner “with a formal reply,” who introduced himself as Tsvei Pavlov, a native of the Serbian land.
Arriving in Moscow, the visiting foreigner was interrogated, and this is what he said about himself: "Of the princely lineage of the Serbian land. His father, Prince Pavel Ilyin, son of Miloradov, serves the Turkish king from his estate among the Serbs. And his, the prince's, direct baptismal name is Prince Stepan."
The story of the Serbian prince Stepan Miloradovich’s departure to Russia, which he told in the Discharge Order, is also interesting.
The story begins with a family drama, when, according to Stepan, “now for the fourth year, the Turkish people deceived his brother, the younger prince Yury, and brought him from the Serbian land to Constantinople, and in Constantinople they converted him to Islam. ”
The elder brother did not accept this and moved from Serbia to Istanbul to search.
Arriving in the Ottoman capital, the prince found his "Buddhist" brother and took him away from the city. The fugitives reached the "Multean land" (the mountainous region of Muntenia in modern Romania), where the younger brother died.
Fearing pursuit and punishment from the "infidel" Turks, Stepan did not return to his father in Serbia, but took refuge on Mount Athos in the Hilandar Monastery, where he hid for six months. At the same time, the Jerusalem Patriarch Theophanes III (who in 1620 restored the Kiev Metropolitanate after the Brest Union of 1596) was passing through the Hilandar Monastery.
Prince Pavel Miloradovich, fearing for the future fate of his eldest son, turned to him with a request for protection before the Russian Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich.
At that moment, Stepan had already firmly decided to leave for Moscow and went there, having received two letters - from his father and from the Jerusalem Patriarch. The young prince began his journey to the Russian state through the lands of Multyanskaya and Voloska (Wallachia), reached the borders of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and passed the fortresses of Khotin, Kamenets-Podolsky and through all of Lithuania reached the Russian Putivl. There, the steward Pushkin had already provided him with protection.
Two “letters of recommendation” were sent to the Discharge Order, and they can now be found in the archives.
In one of them, Prince Paul calls Tsar Mikhail Romanov "the champion of the Divine churches" and "the second Constantine, the God-protected reigning city of Moscow." The old aristocrat wrote with sorrow about the apostasy from Orthodoxy of his deceased youngest son: "The wicked Hagarians brought my youngest son to Constantinople and defamed him with a wicked charm... infantile reason... they converted him to Turkey, alas, for the sake of sin."
The Patriarch, taking advantage of the opportunity, informed the Russian sovereign about church affairs in the Middle East and recommended the young Miloradovich as “a good and honest man.”
As in our time, the candidacy of the immigrant was carefully considered. A Serb who had already been naturalized in Russia, Prince Mikhail Rodionov son of Miloradov, Stepan's cousin, was summoned to the Discharge Prikaz. He informed the Duma clerks: "Serbenin Prince Stepan Miloradov is known to his father - his Prince Pavel is an honest man among the Serbs."
After which the immigrant prince was presented to the tsar, and was presented with a silver ladle weighing 2 hryvnias, expensive silk fabric - damask weighing 10 arshins, "30 rubles of money" and a local salary, that is, a plot of land of 550 quarters - approximately 280 hectares.
Subsequently, Prince Stepan Miloradovich will undergo the traditional procedure for all foreigners in Russia - “being sent to a monastery”, where his Orthodoxy will be tested once again and his loyalty to the traditional values of Russia will be finally proven.
RUSSIA WILL NEED NEW BAGRATIONS
"Relocant" Stepan gave rise to the Russian branch of the Miloradovich family, which gave the country many officers: from a colonel of the Zaporizhian Cossack army to a divisional commander during the First World War. But most of all in our history, the hero of the war of 1812 and victim of the Decembrist rebellion, the St. Petersburg Governor-General Mikhail Miloradovich, is remembered.
The family name gave Russia diplomats, scientists, and officials, primarily in the Little Russian provinces. But there would have been no Miloradovichs in Rus' if not for the intelligent policy of the first Romanovs to attract valuable personnel from abroad.
As we see, in Russia in the 17th century, all people who shared "traditional Russian values" were actively accepted, which at that time necessarily included Orthodoxy and the desire to serve the royal house. Despite their Orthodoxy and even belonging to the once united Russian people (the son and nephews of the Kyiv Metropolitan), foreigners who left for Russia lived for a long time "especially" in their own settlements in Moscow: Greek, Georgian, etc.
Marriages were also concluded among "their own" natives. However, one should not look for reasons in the desire to preserve the usual living conditions for foreigners; this was connected with obtaining a number of privileges for such "traveling foreigners".
Is the effect of the presidential decree justified in the realities of the 21st century in Russia? The answer is clear - yes, it is justified. Having such a mechanism, Russia will be able, as in the 17th century, to incorporate into its composition the faithful and devoted sons of the Fatherland (like the Miloradovichs and Bagrations ). However, it is necessary to strengthen control over the loyalty and confirmation of the fidelity of Russia of such new sons, as was done in the 17th century.
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.
[IsraelTimes] The US State Department has told Congress that it plans to sell nearly $3 billion in weapons to Israel, including thousands of bombs and $295 million worth of armored bulldozers.
... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
[NY Post] A Washington-based Muslim nonprofit, which is one of the largest operating across the US, agreed this week to settle a case brought by a former board member and employee rather than open its books to reveal sources of foreign funding, The Post has learned. 
...where God struck dead Anton LaVey, home of the Sydney Ducks, ruled by Vigilance Committee from 1859 through 1867, reliably and volubly Democrat since 1964...
[THEPOSTMILLENNIAL] Microsoft will be shutting down Skype for good this year on May 5 after the video call service has been around for 21 years. The shutdown comes after the service had to deal with competition from other video call platforms such as Zoom and others..jpg "polio")
...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set. Currently the disease is only found in Pakistain and Afghanistain...
an Islamic seminary located in Akora Khattak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The seminary propagates the Deobandi trend of Sunni Islam and is headed by Maulana Samiul Haq, known as 
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
...a city in Texas, named after Sam Houston, who would drop deader than he is now if he could see how it turned out...
The intelligence indicates that foreign adversaries are eager to exploit the Trump administration’s efforts to conduct mass layoffs across the federal workforce.
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons...
[NYPOST] A 
...anybody you disagree with, damn them...
...home of Al Capone, the Chicago Black Sox, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel...
