[KhaamaPress] In response to the alleged threats, the president of a mosque in Sydney stated that the community "deserves to feel secure and protected," urging authorities to address the alleged online threat with "the utmost urgency."
Following the online threat made against the newest mosque in southwestern Sydney, where a user claimed they intended to carry out a "Christchurch 2" attack, a 16-year-old boy was arrested in Western Australia.
The state police released a statement on Tuesday afternoon confirming that the teenager was arrested in Eaton, located in the southwestern part of Western Australia, just before 5 p.m. local time. He is now assisting the police in their investigation.
The threat was made online by a user who explicitly referred to the tragic 2019 Christchurch attack, suggesting a similar act of violence at the newly opened mosque in Sydney.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has condemned a violent mostly peaceful threat made against a mosque in southwestern Sydney. He described the act as "disgusting" and emphasized that Australia will not tolerate "racism and Islamophobia ...the irrational fear that Moslems will act the way they usually do... On Tuesday, March 4, Albanese shared the news of the threat on social media, stating that those responsible must face the full force of the law. He reiterated that individuals behind such actions will not be tolerated in Australia.
Albanese wrote, "The authorities have my full support in their investigation of this matter. Racism and Islamophobia will not be tolerated." His strong statement came in response to an online threat directed at the newly opened al-Bayat al-Islami mosque in Sydney.
Australian media reported that the threat appeared in the comment section of the mosque’s Instagram page. The comment read, "I’m going to turn this place into Christchurch 2," referencing the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand that left 51 people dead.
The Premier of New South Wales, Chris Minns, announced that police are taking this threat "very seriously" and reiterated that Islamophobia will not be tolerated. He expressed particular concern given that Moslems across the state are attending prayers during Ramadan.
The incident has sparked widespread condemnation across Australia. The police have already initiated an investigation into the threat, but have stated that there is currently no risk to the community.
This threat highlights the ongoing challenges that minority communities face in Australia. It also serves as a reminder of the importance of unity and solidarity against racism and hate in all forms.
#2
0. The Prequel: A---- Looses (and loses) Mahound
"M------! Recite!"
"Er... the cow...
In the name of the merciful-- OWWW!
Why'd You hit me?"
"Because that is what a god does!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Wait! No! Bad P------!" [KERPOW!]
Every once in a while we get the full name of a miscreant in Germany. This is one of those times, so here it is, though there is nothing else new in the article.
[Rudaw] Alexander Scheuermann, 40, drove into a crowd in the western German city of Mannheim on Monday. He has no criminal records and is possibly suffering from mental illness, according to the general prosecutor of the city.
"According to the information we have obtained, the suspect is a 40-year-old German citizen who apparently lived alone without family in Ludwigshafen and has not previously appeared in criminal records to any significant extent," Romeo Schussler, a senior public prosecutor in Mannheim, told Rudaw.
Security remains a key concern in Germany following recent violent mostly peaceful attacks, including car ramming attacks in Magdeburg last December and Munich last month, and a stabbing in Mannheim in May 2024.
Chief of police in Mannheim said two people were killed. Several others were maimed.
"A car has hit several people in the pedestrian zone. Initially, it was thought to be a traffic accident, but witness statements very quickly strengthened our suspicion that it was a deliberate drive at high speed in the pedestrian zone, where there was a conscious acceptance of injuring people, or unfortunately also killing them. We have two people dead and at the moment we know of eleven people injured, some seriously," Ulrike Schafer said.
[IsraelTimes] The IDF says troops opened fire on a suspect in the southern Gaza Strip who was approaching the forces and “posed an imminent threat.”
“The troops fired toward the suspect in order to remove the threat and a hit was identified,” the military says.
The Hamas-linked Shehab news agency reports that Israeli naval forces fired toward Khan Younis from off Gaza’s coast.
Israeli forces are still deployed to a buffer zone along the Gaza border and the Egypt-Gaza border area amid the ongoing ceasefire, and the IDF has repeatedly warned Palestinians against approaching the area.
[IsraelTimes] Jerusalem police say they arrested two Palestinians in the Old City this week for social media posts lauding terror attacks.
One suspect, a young man in his 20s, uploaded content praising several terrorists including Diaa Hamarsheh, who fatally shot five civilians in Bnei Brak in 2022.
The suspect posted Hamarsheh’s photo with the caption: “May God have mercy on your soul,” police say.
The other suspect, an East Jerusalem resident in his 40s, posted an image of Al-Aqsa Mosque accompanied by audio from a speech by a Hamas military wing spokesman.
Both were detained in the Old City and brought before the court this week.
Since the start of Ramadan, Jerusalem law enforcement has ramped up its monitoring of social media through its Strategic Digital Operations Unit, a spokesman says.
[IsraelTimes] European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen is presenting a five-part plan to mobilize some 800 billion euros for Europe’s defense — and help provide “immediate” military support for Ukraine after after US President Donald Trump suspended military aid to Kyiv.
“This is a moment for Europe, and we are ready to step up,” von der Leyen announces in Brussels. “‘ReArm Europe’ could mobilize close to 800 billion euros of defense expenditures for a safe and resilient Europe.”
The EU will propose to give member states more fiscal space for defense investments, as well as 150 billion euros in loans for those investments, and will aim to mobilize private capital as well, von der Leyen says.
Meanwhile, the UK says Prime Minister Keir Starmer is homed in on securing peace in Ukraine, while engaging allies on the issue.
“We remain absolutely committed to securing a lasting peace in Ukraine and are engaging with key allies in support of this effort. It is the right thing to do, and is in our interest to do so,” a British government spokesperson said in a statement.
Deputy Premier Angela Rayner tells BBC Radio that Starmer is “laser focused on getting peace. He won’t be derailed by announcements.”
Really. Just a few days ago he was banging the drum to send everything and reserves to Ukraine.
I apologize for not remembering off the top of my head, but somebody here crunched some numbers which aligned with an article a couple days later that, yeah, that's about 5,000 soldiers and 30 tanks.
[IsraelTimes] The IDF this morning rearrested one of the prisoners freed under the current ceasefire deal, says the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club.
Israeli forces reportedly arrested Israa Ghuneimat, 41, during a raid on her home in Surif, north of Hebron in the West Bank. She was among the dozens of female prisoners released on January 19 as part of the first round of prisoner-hostage exchanges.
Ghuneimat has been arrested several times by the IDF. She was a candidate on Hamas’s slate in the anticipated 2021 Palestinian legislative elections, which were later canceled by the Palestinian Authority.
[IsraelTimes] The teenage son of a senior Hamas official who featured in a since-pulled BBC documentary on Gaza was also the focus of an award-winning documentary by another British news channel a year ago, though his connection to the Palestinian terror group largely went unnoticed until now, the Telegraph reports.
The British outlet reports: “For seven months, Channel 4 News broadcast footage of Abdullah al-Yazouri, who was then 13, without disclosing he was the son of Dr. Ayman Alyazouri, the deputy agriculture minister in Gaza’s Hamas-run government.”
…and related to at least one of the founders of Hamas. Practically Gazan royalty, in fact. No doubt photogenic, articulate, charismatic, and available for suitable donation to the cause.
The program, which focused on financial hardships in Gaza, won multiple awards, including being picked as news program of the year by Press Gazette and the Royal Television Society (RTS), as well as winning a Bafta and an International Emmy for news reporting, according to the new report.
[IsraelTimes] A Palestinian man who approached Israeli forces at a checkpoint near the West Bank settlement outpost of Homesh while brandishing a knife has been shot dead by troops, a military source says.
[IsraelTimes] The Shin Bet security agency has published a summary of its investigations into its failures during the lead-up to the Hamas terror group’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, concluding that there were failures within the organization but mostly pointing to external elements such as an unclear division of responsibilities with the IDF, an overly defensive government policy regarding Gaza over the years, and the Shin Bet being unsuited to counter an army-like foe such as Hamas.
The security service says a broader investigation is needed — a likely hint at the perceived need for a state commission of inquiry, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to establish.
The investigations were carried out internally by each of the Shin Bet’s units and by an external team of former senior agency employees and other experts, who provided a series of findings, conclusions and recommendations.
Many of the findings remain classified, as they would reveal the Shin Bet’s intelligence secret tools and methods, the agency says.
The investigation has found that the Shin Bet failed to provide an alert for Hamas’s October 7 large-scale onslaught. Warning signs received by the Shin Bet on the night of October 6 did not result in major actions being taken.
While a small team of elite officers from the Shin Bet and police that were deployed to the Gaza border before the onslaught managed to contribute to the fighting, they were unable to prevent the massive Hamas attack.
The investigation points to several reasons, both related to professionalism and management, which contributed to the failures. “The organizational failures were thoroughly examined and the lessons were learned and continue to be learned,” the Shin Bet says.
Additionally, the investigation found that the Shin Bet did not underestimate Hamas, but rather the opposite, that the agency had “a deep understanding of the threat, and had initiatives and a desire to thwart the threat and especially [eliminate] the leaders of Hamas.”
Several reasons are given as to why the Shin Bet provided no alert for Hamas’s mass onslaught:
Hamas’s ground invasion plans, which were obtained by the IDF in a document known as Jericho’s Walls, were not handled correctly over several years, and the plans were not turned into a scenario that the military and Shin Bet train for.
An unclear division of responsibility between the IDF and Shin Bet regarding which organization should provide a warning for war, amid a change of Hamas from a smaller terror group to a full military force.
The Shin Bet’s focus was on foiling terror attacks, and its methods were not applicable to an enemy that acted like an army.
During the night between October 6 and 7, there were gaps in the “handling of information and integration of intelligence,” as well as operations that did not follow the usual protocol, and a lack of “fusion” with the IDF’s intelligence.
There were gaps in the work of intelligence supervision mechanisms.
The assessment was that Hamas was trying to heat up the West Bank, and was not interested in doing so in the Gaza Strip.
The Shin Bet had an “incorrect understanding” of the strength of the Israeli border barrier with Gaza and the IDF’s ability to respond.
Hamas’s believed intentions were not challenged enough during assessments.
There was relatively little intelligence, including as a result of limited freedom of action in the Gaza Strip, especially independently by the Shin Bet.
The Shin Bet investigation also finds several reasons that enabled Hamas to build up its forces for the October 7 onslaught and decide to carry out the attack:
Israel’s policy vis-à-vis Gaza was to maintain periods of quiet, which enabled Hamas massive force build-up.
The flow of money from Qatar to Gaza and their delivery to Hamas’s military wing.
An ongoing erosion of Israel’s deterrence.
An attempt to deal with a terror organization based on intelligence and defensive measures, while avoiding offensive initiatives.
The catalysts to Hamas’s decision to carry out the onslaught included the cumulative weight of Israeli violations on the Temple Mount, the attitude toward Palestinian prisoners, and the perception that Israeli society was weakened.
In an accompanying statement, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar says the agency “did not prevent the October 7 massacre” and “as the head of the organization, I will bear this heavy burden on my shoulders for the rest of my life.”
He adds: “The investigation revealed that if the Shin Bet had acted differently, in the years leading up to the attack and during the night of the attack — both at the professional level and the managerial level — the massacre would have been avoided. This is not the standard we expected of ourselves, or that the public expected of us.
“The investigation shows that the Shin Bet didn’t underestimate our rival — on the contrary, it took the initiative, went on the offensive and tried to nip the threat in the bud — but despite all this, we failed.”
Bar adds that truly investigating the failures necessitates a broader probe that also encapsulates the contact and cooperation between security and political elements.
“The path to reparation, as is emphasized in the report, demands a broad process of clarity and truth,” he says. “So I asked the investigatory committee and the agency’s top command, to probe and to discuss not only the reasons why the service failed, but also to take a wide look at all the relevant work processes at the organization, as part of learning lessons and as an opportunity for a broad change. But it also demands readiness to change in the political-security interface, otherwise, the failures could come back in the future.”
“I believe this organization is strong, stable, humble and its values are even more professional than they were on the eve of the massacre,” he adds.
Report: The alert IDF sent PM’s office hours before Oct. 7 attack said Hamas activity wasn’t unusual
[IsraelTimes] The Kan public broadcaster publishes the content of an alert sent by the IDF to the intelligence officers of seven key Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant, hours before Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, which seemingly confirms the premier’s contention that it was framed as non-urgent.
The existence of the memo was revealed on Saturday by Channel 12 news, which reported that it set out “numerous” worrying signs of Hamas activity in Gaza that night and that Netanyahu’s intelligence officer did not pass the information up the chain.
In response to that report, the Prime Minister’s Office said the intelligence officer received the message along with a report that Hamas was operating as usual and that the IDF Southern Command would hold a discussion in the morning. He forwarded the message to Netanyahu’s military secretary Avi Gil but decided not to wake him up as the message did not indicate any urgency.
Kan’s report today appears to support Netanyahu’s version of events.
“Today and yesterday SIM cards were activated in certain ares of Gaza,” the memo sent at 2.45 a.m. that night reportedly said, referring to SIM cards Hamas fighters activated ahead of their invasion and onslaught. “This isn’t out of the ordinary, since last year as well such checks were carried out by Hamas.
“The understanding of the [Gaza] Division and the [Southern] Command, Hamas isn’t deviating from its routine [activities]. The information is initial and Hamas is showing characteristics of routine activity. A discussion of the matter will be held by the Southern Command’s intelligence officer at 8:30 a.m. and by the [Southern Command] commander at 10 a.m.”
Kan adds that only after that night’s SIM card activation was the Southern Command chief, Yaron Finkelman, updated about the fact that this had happened the previous night as well.
The report says that during that crucial night, Finkelman asked if the developments meant the alertness level should be raised, and received a negative answer.
"The investigation points to several reasons, both related to professionalism and management, which contributed to the failures. “The organizational failures were thoroughly examined and the lessons were learned and continue to be learned,” the Shin Bet says."
#2
While a small team of elite officers from the Shin Bet and police that were deployed to the Gaza border before the onslaught managed to contribute to the fighting, they were unable to prevent the massive Hamas attackof thousands of thugs.
The minimalist US efforts at border containment would not survive a surge of thousands. At the moment hunger and fatigue from traveling hundreds of miles has been an ally.
[IsraelTimes] Hostage Matan Angrest has been held for a long time in a dark cellar with little air, and is suffering from untreated severe burns and bruises as well as harm to his eyes as a result of injuries he sustained during his kidnapping from a burning IDF tank in Nahal Oz on October 7, 2023, Channel 12 reports.
The account isn’t attributed to anyone but comes after many captives were released recently, including five female soldiers who have said service people are being tortured by Hamas for intelligence. It also comes a day after Angrest’s family published the first photo of him from captivity, from a video received from Hamas.
The report says Angrest is forced to treat his injuries by himself, and that his Hamas captors are purposely starving him.
Angrest’s father told the Kan public broadcaster earlier today that if the family feels like it is necessary, it will also publish the full video of Matan, which he contended will “shock the country.”
“Matan’s face is completely broken, the boy is completely broken and this is just the face,” he said. “We know he treated his own body.”
[IsraelTimes] A second Australian nurse has been charged over alleged antisemitic threats made in an online video chat with an Israeli influencer, police say.
Footage posted to social media last month by Israeli content creator Max Veifer allegedly showed a male and a female nurse making antisemitic remarks as they spoke to him from their Sydney hospital.
… the story of Israeli Max Veifer randomly video-calling Ahmad Rashad Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh, both nurses at Bankstown Hospital in Sydney. Mr. Nadir is an Afghan refugee who only became an Australian citizen four years ago; Ms Abu Lebdeh is of Palestinian extraction. They were referred to the police for investigation by shocked hospital management, despite a whistleblower revealing after 10/7/2023 that staff were enthusiastic supporters of egregious anti-Israel slogans.
The 27-year-old male nurse, Ahmad Rashad Nadir, was arrested Tuesday and charged with using a carriage service to menace or harass, as well as one count of illegal drug possession, police say in a statement.
He was given bail until a Sydney court hearing scheduled for March 19.
Last week, police charged the other nurse at the southwest Sydney hospital — 26-year-old Sarah Abu Lebdeh — with three counts including using a carriage service to threaten to kill.
She is also due in court on March 19.
“Detectives have overcome many challenges — including huge public expectation — to put these individuals before the court,” says New South Wales police commissioner Karen Webb.
The two nurses were removed from their jobs in February over the video.
#2
The “illegal drug possession “ was a vial of morphine, most likely medication stolen from a patient in severe pain. These two charmers are being looked at very closely- the proctology department may well be assisting. Well done, Mr Viefer.
#3
IIRC the male nurse admitted to actually having killed at least one patient in the video, this is beyond threatening.
Also there's plenty of opportunity to harm or kill people without getting caught in healthcare, especially if there's no personal, classical motive but an abstract hatred for a group.
[IsraelTimes] In a fateful week for the Ukraine and Gaza wars, with summits in London and Cairo, the PM aims to ramp up pressure on Hamas, buoyed by the US president’s ‘do whatever you want’ approach
The course of the two conflicts that have dominated the global agenda in recent years could be set this week, as Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... tries to figure out its response to growing White House hostility toward Ukraine, and the ceasefire 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... moves beyond its surprisingly resilient first phase.
In both wars, the positions — and often mind-boggling statements — of US President Donald Trump ...Oh, noze! Not him!... loom large. But as Europe scrambles to come up with a response to the angry new American approach to Kyiv, Israel finds itself with no overt criticism from the Trump administration and wide freedom of action as it seeks to achieve its key war goals of destroying Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... and bringing home all remaining hostages.
Western leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met in London on Sunday after a disastrous visit by the wartime leader to the Oval Office. Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance had berated Zelensky on live TV, confirming the worst fears in Kyiv and European capitals about Trump’s vision for ending the war in Ukraine.
In response, 18 mostly European leaders hurried to London to embrace Zelensky, a stark contrast from the dressing down he received in Washington.
"We are at a crossroads in history today," said British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
They certainly are. It’s just unclear how the leaders in London will get history to move down their desired path.
DETERRENCE WITHOUT THE US
The Europeans are first of all trying to figure out a way to get Trump and Zelensky talking again, with the hopes that the two will finally sign a mineral deal that could lay the groundwork for a postwar economic and security arrangement with enough US involvement to keep the Russians from violating any armistice.
But with Trump emphatically choosing to pursue an end to the war over the defeat of Russia, a larger challenge remains. "The free world needs a new leader," said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas last week.
Rhetoric aside, Europe will struggle to fill that role in any practical sense, and certainly when it comes to Ukraine.
Zelensky believes that deterring Russia in postbellum Ukraine would take a minimum of 200,000 peacekeepers in his country. But Europe is unable to provide anything close to that number, and top US officials rule out sending American soldiers to Ukraine.
Britannia and La Belle France, two of NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... ’s most powerful non-US militaries, are calling for a European "reassurance" force of under 30,000 troops, which officials say would be focused mainly on air and maritime defense.
But even that would be largely impotent without significant US backing.
For example, when fighting against Muammar Qadaffy ...who single-handedly turned a moderately prosperous kingdom into a dictator's fantasyland and was then murdered by his indignant subjects 42 years later...> ’s dilapidated Libyan army in 2011 European NATO countries began running short of munitions before a month had passed.
Libya "has not been a very big war. If [the Europeans] would run out of these munitions this early in such a small operation, you have to wonder what kind of war they were planning on fighting," John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, told The Washington Post at the time. "Maybe they were just planning on using their air force for air shows."
Even as the Europeans were ostensibly taking the lead in Libya, the US still flew 80% of intelligence flights and did almost the same percentage of midair refueling. "In effect," wrote Chris Brown of the London School of Economics, "Europe flew the planes and attack helicopters, but most of the time they were firing US munitions at targets identified by the US in operations coordinated by US technology."
European defense spending has surged over the last decade, but so has Russia’s. EU member states spent an estimated €326 billion on defense in 2024, but would have to raise that number by €250 billion a year if they want to create a meaningful deterrent against Russia, according to European economic think tank Bruegel.
"If defense spending is to be permanently higher," wrote Financial Times chief economic commentator Martin Wolf on Tuesday, "taxes must rise, unless the government can find sufficient spending cuts, which is doubtful."
Russia isn’t likely to take European will especially seriously either.
If they aren’t willing to accept Ukraine into NATO over fears that they could be drawn into a conventional war with nuclear-armed Russia, why would European states be willing to fight if their peacekeepers are attacked in Ukraine? And if their limited tanks didn’t come rumbling across the continent during the three years of war in Ukraine to date, why would they be more serious about committing them to the fight if Russia violates a ceasefire?
There are no easy answers for Europe. But while its leaders may be mostly infuriated by Trump’s positions and his treatment of Zelensky, they are being extremely careful about how they talk about the situation. A phrase taken the wrong way by the thin-skinned American president could send careful efforts to produce effective US-European dialogue on Ukraine skidding off the tracks.
NO PHASE TWO
While politicians sweat in Europe, Israel’s government — which endured from these same European leaders months of condemnation, quiet arms embargoes, and pressure to end the Gaza war with Hamas still in power — is acting with fresh confidence because of the US president.
In these first weeks of his second term, Trump has been everything Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could have wanted, and more. The president restored the maximum pressure policy against Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... and its nuclear program. He and his team have promised repeatedly to work with Israel "to ensure Hamas is eliminated" — not just pushed out of ruling Gaza. He wants to broker the Saudi-Israeli normalization deal. And he is going after the International Criminal Court for targeting Israel’s leaders, with obsessive Israel critics like South Africa and Ireland in the crosshairs.
[RodMartin] Though Russia cannot be fully dislodged from Ukraine, it has lost the war. It did not conquer Ukraine. It also showed its military to be a Potemkin village. Putin will now face the music at home.
NOTE: Americans tend to think in terms of absolute victory and unconditional surrender. That rarely happens in the real world, even in American history, and it won’t happen in Ukraine, where Russia will surely hold onto some territory it did not before 2014. But its war aims have been completely defeated.
Russia wanted to conquer Ukraine whole (and within a week!). Three years later, that will clearly never happen. It also sought to prove it was still a great power, but its performance has proved the exact opposite: without nuclear weapons, no one would now take its military seriously at all.
All of this will have stark post-war consequences inside Russia. George Friedman explains. — RDM
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/05/2025
2025-03-05 01:41 ||
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[11159 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
In a couple of years, we'll all be posting "I stand with Russia" after Xi invades.
#2
I think Russia's primary goal was to keep NATO out of Ukraine and NATO is still not in Ukraine. But, of course Russia lost. Both sides have suffered untold casualties and that is a loss that people on both sides will feel for the rest of their lives. Both sides have lost. And yet, the war is not over. A lot more suffering could still be coming if Zelensky doesn't get his head out of his butt.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/05/2025 11:43
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#3
if Zelensky doesn't get his head out of his butt
#6
NATO could be considered the winner in this war if they achieved their goal of expansion into Ukraine. But, as it stands now, the only winners are the arms dealers and the undertakers.
As for the draft or the press gangs or whatever, I think it would be extremely foolish to think that Putin has used all the resources that he could have brought to bear. NATO might FAFO about that if the likes of Starmer, Macron and Merz follow through on their stated intentions. Who knows? I don't. They might succeed. They might be correct in their estimates of Russia's will and ability to fight. But they wouldn't be the first to find out just how wrong they are.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/05/2025 13:46
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#7
Russia does have conscription.
Conscripts are never sent to fight. They serve in other military capacities.
#9
NATO could be considered the winner in this war if they achieved their goal of expansion
So much for Putin's bright idea for preventing NATO from expanding... cough, cough, Finland...cough cough Sweden. Bosnia and Georgia say they want in too.
Gee if you act like a Hun, people just don't trust you anymore.
seems to me that Russia has lost more troops and equipment and prestige but Ukraine has lost some fairly valuable territory and given it has lower population than Russia, its loss of troops will be felt for decades as will Russia's
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/05/2025 18:52
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#11
Mercutio FTW!
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/05/2025 20:19
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#12
Based on their goals, I'd say both sides are winning. By "sides", I mean NATO/EU vs Russia. Ukraine is just consumables for the West.
NATO has achieved their goal of maneuvering Russia into a war that will wear them down militarily and economically. The side quest of deposing Putin by making the average Russian dissatisfied has been less successful.
Russia's goals at the start of the Special Military Operation were:
Reconnect Crimea - check
End the civil war in the Donbass - check
Demilitarize Ukraine - on going
Secure a defensible position vs NATO - a work in progress
The notion that Russia intended to conquer all Ukraine within a week seems to come from General Mark "Thoroughly Modern" Milley. Threatening Kiev made for a good feint, but given the paltry resources devoted to the attack, it is obvious that for the Russians the center of gravity was in the south.
[IsraelTimes] US president says foreign ‘agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently’ deported and American students ‘will be permanently expelled,’ drawing rebuke from free speech group
US 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... said he wanted to cut the federal funding of colleges that allow what he called "illegal protests" in a social media post that civil rights groups called an attack on the freedoms of speech and assembly.
The post on Tuesday appeared to repeat some of the ideas of executive orders he issued during his first term, in 2019, and on January 29, which described the pro-Paleostinian, anti-Israel student protest movement that swept college campuses last year as antisemitic.
"All federal funding will STOP for any College, School or University that allows illegal protests," Trump wrote on social media. "Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS!"
A spokesperson for Trump did not respond to questions about how the White House would define an illegal protest or how the government would imprison protesters. The US Constitution’s First Amendment protects the freedom of speech and assembly.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a non-profit group, said on Tuesday that Trump’s threat was "deeply chilling" and would make students "fear punishment for wholly protected political speech."
"The president can’t force institutions to expel students," the statement said.
The US government does not control either privately or publicly funded schools or colleges, although a president has a limited ability to encourage policy goals via federal funding disbursed through the US Department of Education.
Trump’s executive order in January restored a similar order he signed in 2019, instructing the Department of Education to investigate colleges that receive federal funding if they failed to protect Jewish students and staff from antisemitism.
Trump has also told Secretary of State Marco Rubio ...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration... that he wants non-citizen protesters admitted to the US on student visas to be deported.
Protesters set up tent encampments on college campuses across the US and around the world last year to protest against Israel amid the 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... sparked by Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... ’s October 7, 2023, terror onslaught . Many of the protests centered on their school’s investments in companies that they said supported Israel’s military control of Paleostinian territories.
#1
👍 for TRUMP
Since the 1st Amendment protects Peaceful Assembly to verbally protest and not Violent, Riots, & Property damages, and Physical assaults.
As an already overtaxed, US Citizen.
I support cutting all Taxpayer $$$$ to such Universities that become breeding & training grounds for future Liberals, Terrorists and general malcontents.
I also support charging the Facility, College Board members & Donors, that supported these violent campus protests, as co-defendants / co-conspirators.
#2
Why is the government supporting ANY college or university with taxpayers money? These are businesses, without regard to how they see themselves, and should be self-supporting.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
03/05/2025 7:18
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#3
...legacy of the post-WW2 GI Bill.
BTW, everyone talks about Eisenhower's admonition about the MIC, but ignore the very next comment about the Academic Technological Complex.
#5
Cut it all, every single semi-pro sports league entertainment brand indoctrination camp one of them.
They wanna be Ghana State University, fine. Let them all live on what they promote as secondary education, I don't need to pay for it and every single college my kids will never attend.
[IsraelTimes] Amman says over 30 Palestinian children ‘suffering various illnesses’ have arrived in kingdom to be treated as part of ‘initiative that the king spoke about in Washington’
Jordan on Tuesday evacuated the first group of Paleostinian children in need of medical treatment from the war-battered Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip under a plan the king presented to US President Donald Trump ...The cad! Twice caught beating wimmin!... last month.
Images aired by state TV channel al-Mamlaka showed Jordanian military helicopters arriving at a military airport in Amman carrying four injured children and their families.
The children, two of them amputees, were taken to hospital upon arrival.
Government front man Mohammad Momani told a news conference that the first group "of the Gazook children suffering various illnesses began arriving."
Momani said it was the start of the "implementation of the initiative that the king spoke about in Washington."
In his White House visit last month, King Abdullah II told Trump: "One of the things that we can do right away is take 2,000 children, cancer children who are in a very ill state. That is possible."
Later on Tuesday, another 29 children accompanied by 44 adults were brought into Jordan by land, a military front man said.
Ambulances carrying them entered via the King Hussein Bridge crossing, also known as Allenby Bridge crossing, between the Israeli-controlled West Bank and Jordan.
Ahmad Shehada, 13, told AFP he was eager to "get my life back" after a serious injury.
The boy, whose father and other relatives died in the war sparked by the Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... -led terror onslaught on October 7, 2023,, said he had gone to get water when "a helicopter dropped a strange object, and it went kaboom! on us."
Shehada lost an arm and "traveled to Jordan to have a (prosthetic) limb fitted," he said.
The war has killed over 48,000 people in Gaza and left more than 100,000 maimed, according to unverified figures from the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry, which do not differentiate between fighters and non-combatants.
Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,600 holy warriors inside Israel on October 7, during which some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — were killed and 251 kidnapped to Gaza.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 410. The toll includes a police officer killed in a hostage rescue mission and two Defense Ministry civilian contractors.
[IsraelTimes] Governor of terror hotbed reports ‘massive destruction’ in wake of IDF gunfight with terror commander Issar Saadi; soldiers shoot knife-wielding Palestinian near Homesh outpost
The head of a Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... terror network in the West Bank city of Jenin was killed by undercover Border Police officers on Tuesday, authorities said.
The incident came as the Israel Defense Forces expanded its ongoing counterterrorism raid, dubbed "Operation Iron Wall," in the northern West Bank to additional neighborhoods of Jenin.
In a first, troops were using "Eitan" armored personnel carriers in Jenin amid the operation, which are more heavy duty than the APCs normally deployed in the West Bank.
On Tuesday morning, as part of the expanded operation, Border Police officers along with IDF troops attempted to arrest the commander of Hamas’s terror network in Jenin, Issar Saadi, following information on his whereabouts provided by the Shin Bet.
Following an exchange of fire, Saadi and another gunman were killed, and three wanted Paleostinians were detained, according to the IDF, police, and Shin Bet.
The troops found an assault rifle, handgun, and several other weapons during scans of the building where Saadi was holed up.
Another gunman was killed in a separate exchange of fire in the same area, the IDF added.
Also Tuesday, a Paleostinian man who approached Israeli forces at a checkpoint near the West Bank settlement outpost of Homesh while brandishing a knife was rubbed out by troops, according to a military source.
No soldiers were maimed in the incident.
JENIN GOVERNOR REPORTS ’MASSIVE DESTRUCTION’
Jenin governor Kamal Abu al-Rub said that two Paleostinians were killed, "and many young men were arrested," while the Paleostinian health ministry identified one of the dead as Issar Saadi, saying the 21-year-old’s body was taken away by troops after he was shot.
The head of the Jenin government hospital, Wisam Baker, told AFP that a man identified as Jihad Alawneh was declared dead on arrival at the facility early on Tuesday.
Baker said that Alawneh, 25, had bled out after being shot in the thigh.
Governor Abu al-Rub said the raid had caused "devastation and massive destruction" in Jenin’s eastern neighborhood, "which has not experienced an Israeli assault like this before."
He said that the main electricity line was cut off, dozens of families were forced to leave, and army bulldozers had left behind a trail of damage.
On Tuesday afternoon, an AFP journalist said Israeli troops and armored personnel carriers were still in Jenin’s eastern neighborhood.
Firefighters worked to extinguish a fire in an apartment hit during the raid, its facade charred and some of its walls destroyed. Pools of blood had accumulated in several rooms of the apartment, the journalist said.
Abu al-Rub said that "more than 50 families were forced to flee and evacuate their homes because the Israelis took over their houses and buildings, turning them into military barracks."
"All the streets in the eastern neighborhood were bulldozed," said the governor, including areas that before Tuesday did not see army bulldozers ripping through roads in what the military says aims to clear explosives.
Bassem Hardan, a resident of the neighborhood, told AFP that after initially ignoring army calls for his family to leave, "they called our neighbors and told them to get out within two minutes before they demolish the building."
More than 40,100 Paleostinians have left their homes since the launch of Operation Iron Wall, according to the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) figures from mid-February.
The IDF has said troops have killed more than 75 Paleostinian terror operatives and detained some 450 amid the major ongoing counter-terrorism operation. The military has also acknowledged mistakenly killing several civilians during the operation, including a toddler and a pregnant woman. Troops have also seized nearly 200 weapons.
BREAKING: As President Trump just announced, I can report that tonight the FBI, DOJ, and CIA have extradited one of the terrorists responsible for the murder of the 13 American soldiers at Abbey Gate during the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal.
One step closer to justice for…
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) March 5, 2025
…to justice for these American heroes and their families.
Trump said that ISIS-operative Mohammad Sharifullah were tossed into the calaboose and would soon face the "swift sword of American justice." Sharifullah is suspected to have planned the bombing that killed 13 American soldiers and 170 Afghan nationals as the Biden administration withdrew from Afghanistan.
"Three-and-a-half years ago, ISIS Lions of Islam killed 13 American service members and countless others in the Abbey Gate bombing during the disastrous and incompetent withdrawal from Afghanistan. Not that they were withdrawing, it was the way they withdrew," Trump said. "Perhaps the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country. Tonight I’m pleased to announce that we have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity and he is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice."
Trump thanked Pakistain for its assistance in capturing Sharifullah.
The soldiers killed were Marines Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, Cpl. Hunter Lopez, Cpl. Daegan W. Page, Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, Navy Petty Officer Third Class Maxton W. Soviak, and Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss.
According to Trump, the terrorist responsible for the suicide attack is currently being transferred to the United States. This development comes after extensive intelligence gathering and coordination between the U.S. and Pakistani authorities. The bomber is expected to face trial in the U.S. for his involvement in the deadly attack at Kabul Airport.
Axios news website identified the suicide bomber as Mohammad Sharif, also known as “Jafar.” Sharif is reportedly a leader of the ISIS-Khorasan faction operating in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. His capture marks a significant victory in the ongoing efforts to dismantle terrorist organizations in the region.
According to two credible sources from U.S. officials, Trump had ordered CIA Director John Ratcliffe on his second day in office to prioritize the capture of the terrorist responsible for the Kabul bombing. This order reflected the U.S.’s strong commitment to addressing the threat posed by ISIS-Khorasan and other terrorist groups in the region.
The sources further noted that CIA Director Ratcliffe had discussed the matter with General Asif Malik, his Pakistani counterpart. Based on intelligence shared by the CIA, General Malik’s team was able to capture the mastermind of the attack at the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
The bombing at Abbey Gate during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 killed around 170 Afghan citizens and 13 U.S. soldiers. This tragic event highlighted the complex security challenges faced by the U.S. and its allies during the withdrawal. The arrest of the terrorist responsible sends a clear message that such attacks will not go unpunished.
[PJMedia] In a surprise move, Disney announced Wednesday that it's shutting down FiveThirtyEight as part of sweeping layoffs affecting approximately 200 positions — about 6% of its workforce — across ABC News Group and Disney Entertainment Networks.
Stats guru Nate Silver founded FiveThirtyEight, once the darling of the left-wing polling establishment, in 2008 before licensing it to The New York Times. ESPN later acquired it and finally transferred it to ABC News.
Silver, who departed the site amid previous Disney/ABC layoffs in 2023, feigned shock at the news. "Oh geez, I just saw the news about 538," he said in a post on X. "My heart goes out to the people there. They were tremendously hard-working and produced a lot of extremely valuable data and insight for everyone who wants to understand politics better. They deserved much better."
Did they, though?
What Silver conveniently fails to mention is that FiveThirtyEight's credibility took a massive hit when it made the politically motivated decision to drop Rasmussen Reports polling from its analysis a year ago, citing bogus claims of conservative bias. Rasmussen went on to be one of the most accurate pollsters of the 2024 election, while FiveThirtyEight continued its tradition of getting major election calls wrong.
“It’s a good thing they are no longer relevant, because no matter how they started, or what the purpose is, they turned into a propaganda outlet that fails at its ONE job, by inserting additional bias, not removing it,” Mark Mitchell, the chief pollster of Rasmussen Reports, told PJ Media. “It’s clear their only current purpose is as a regime information gatekeeper.”
The closure will eliminate approximately 15 jobs across the news site. G. Elliott Morris, editorial director of data analytics who currently leads FiveThirtyEight, confirmed the layoffs.
[FoxNews] The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act failed to clear a procedural hurdle.
No Senate Democrat on Monday voted in favor of the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which would keep biological males from competing in women’s and girls’ sports.
A procedural vote took place on the Senate floor and Republicans needed at least 60 votes to break the filibuster. They received 51. Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., voted with Democrats.
Four senators were absent – Democrats Elissa Slotkin, of Michigan, and Peter Welch, of Vermont, and Republicans Shelley Capito, of West Virginia, and Cynthia Lummis, of Wyoming.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., gave a statement to Fox News Digital on Tuesday.
"Simply put: it’s not the federal government’s place to tell state and local sports leagues across the country how to do their jobs," she said. "I for one trust our state and local leagues to craft thoughtful policy where parents and players can be involved in the discussion about what is best for our children without interference from the President or Congress."
#2
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., gave a statement to Fox News Digital on Tuesday.
"Simply put: it’s not the federal government’s place to tell state and local sports leagues across the country how to do their jobs," she said. "I for one trust our state and local leagues to craft thoughtful policy where parents and players can be involved in the discussion about what is best for our children without interference from the President or Congress."
Then riddle me this, how can the SCOTUS say a same-sex union is a marriage?
Washington, D.C., Feb. 26, 2025—U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins today announced a $1 billion-dollar comprehensive strategy to curb highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), protect the U.S. poultry industry, and lower egg prices. This is in addition to funding already being provided to indemnify growers for depopulated flocks.
As the Secretary detailed in the Wall Street Journal, the five-pronged strategy includes an additional $500 million for biosecurity measures, $400 million in financial relief for affected farmers, and $100 million for vaccine research, action to reduce regulatory burdens, and exploring temporary import options.
--------------
The additional spending will, I think, eventually save money because the Dept of Ag is now paying hundreds of millions each quarter to poultry operators to offset the culling of their chickens.
[FreePress] The Department of Justice is investigating the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a $27 billion program that was part of Joe Biden’s $740 billion Inflation Reduction Act. Created in the spring of 2023, and managed by the Environmental Protection Agency, the fund was supposed to be a "first-of-its-kind" program to address the climate crisis while revitalizing communities that it considered "historically left behind."
But it appears little of the $27 billion revitalized anything—except the coffers of a range of environmental nonprofits associated with former Obama and Biden administration officials.
"The Biden administration used so-called ’climate equity’ to justify handouts of billions of dollars to their far-left friends," Lee Zeldin, the Trump administration’s new EPA administrator, told The Free Press. "It is my utmost priority to get a handle on every dollar that went out the door in this scheme and once again restore oversight and accountability over these funds. This rush job operation is riddled with conflicts of interest and corruption."
A Free Press investigation reveals that of the $27 billion, $20 billion was rushed out the door to eight nonprofit groups after Kamala Harris lost the election—but before President Donald Trump took office. As one former EPA official put it on a secretly recorded video, it was akin to "tossing gold bars off the Titanic."
The eight groups were allocated sums ranging from $400 million to $6.9 billion. Several of them were formed in August of 2023, just one month after the grant applications went live in July of 2023, when it became clear that large nine- and 10-figure grants would be up for grabs. The boards and staff of these eight groups include Democratic donors, people with connections to the Obama and Biden administrations, and prominent Democrats like Stacey Abrams. (She was senior counsel for Rewiring America, which was set to receive $489 million from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.)
"These are some of the biggest grants to individual organizations in American history," said Judge Glock, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute who wrote a book about federal bailouts.
Moreover, the eight groups, the biggest of which are the Climate United fund and Coalition for Green Capital, which received grants of $6.9 billion and $5 billion, respectively, have been empowered by the EPA to choose the hundreds of smaller nonprofit organizations across the country that will do the climate change work. They will get loans, not grants, which they are supposed to repay. There is nothing in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund that calls for oversight of those loans.
"This clearly was intended from its beginning to be a slush fund," Glock told The Free Press. "The goal was to give them money with minimal strings and allow them to lend it to people they favored. It is an absolutely wild program. I haven’t seen the likes of in previous government-lending history."
In addition to asking the Justice Department to investigate the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, Zeldin is also attempting to claw back the $20 billion, most of which resides in about 129 accounts at Citibank—accounts the Trump administration froze in February to try and prevent the groups from drawing on it. An EPA source told The Free Press that $3.1 billion was drawn down before the freeze took place, leaving $16.9 billion still residing at Citibank. The recipient accounts were set up between November and December 2024, after Election Day. (A Citibank spokesman declined to comment.)
This could prove difficult, however. According to a source familiar with the situation, the contracts with the eight groups contain a trigger clause that will cause the money to be immediately released if the Trump administration attempts to recoup it.
In the mainstream media, the events surrounding the investigation into the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund have been characterized as another example of the Trump administration halting worthy climate change efforts—while running roughshod over the rule of law. When Denise Cheung, a veteran prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s office in Washington, D.C., was told to freeze the Citibank account and begin an investigation, she refused, saying there was not "sufficient evidence" to undertake such actions. In her resignation letter, she said that prosecutors were looking into the possibility of "conspiracy to defraud the United States," and "wire fraud."
[Eugyppis] Last Friday, U.S. President Donald J. Trump and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky held the most amazing press conference of all time. For 30 minutes, Trump insisted on the importance of a peace deal in Ukraine and Zelensky refused to concede any concrete points that would make a peace deal possible. Tempers flared, and Trump ended the meeting by telling Zelensky that "the problem is I’ve empowered you to be a tough guy," and that "I don’t think you’d be a tough guy without the United States." He told Zelensky that "You don’t have the cards" and that "you’re either going to make a deal or we’re out," in which case the Ukrainians would have to "fight it out" without U.S. support, which "I don’t think is going to be pretty." Thereafter administration officials sent the Ukrainian delegation packing, their minerals deal unsigned, their lunch uneaten.
The exchange cast the entire European establishment into a psychiatric crisis. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said it "took [his] breath away," adding, absurdly, that he "would never have believed that we would ever have to defend Ukraine from the United States." German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, meanwhile, deplored this "new era of lawlessness," emphasising that "For us, it is clear that we stand firmly by the side of sovereign and free Ukraine." The "enemy," she said, "sits alone in the Kremlin, not in Kyiv or Brussels. We can never accept a reversal of the roles of perpetrator and victim." You will note that German political leaders have ceased regarding the United States — the foremost guarantor of their security — as their most central ally. Their primary loyalties have shifted to the Ukraine. More on that below.
On Sunday, Germany’s most tiresome state media talkshow host, Caren Miosga, convened an emergency meeting of very stupid people to have a sad about the breakdown in Ukraine-U.S. relations.
Our Mickey Mouse Club foreign minister Baerbock was there, and she spoke in grave tones about the immorality of it all, insisting that "we Europeans" must show "resolve" in this dark time. Claudia Major, a lunatic political scientist suffering from a surfeit of estrogen and a deficit of neural matter, deplored Trump’s "preference for Russia" and his "preference for autocracy." She said it was outrageous that great powers like the United States and Russia could just sit at a table and "clarify the important questions" while all others have no role to play at all and are reduced to the status of mere "bargaining chips." Perhaps if Germany had more than 150 operational main battle tanks and munitions stores to last us beyond a few days of fighting, we would not be mere bargaining chips. Instead, we have one of the world’s most expensive social welfare systems and a tumorous bureaucracy the likes of which human civilisation has never seen before. Priorities!
Major also said many other crazy things. For example, she said we have to be very clear on the importance of fighting for the Ukraine and against Russia. That means, I guess, that we will fight Russia all by ourselves if we have to. With what, is unclear. Then a vacant Baerbock said we need to find partners across the world, including the Gulf states, to ensure that Russia, China and the United States don’t just divide up the world among themselves. Apparently Baerbock has no idea that these nations, being great powers, have long since done precisely that. She furthermore explained that the United States aren’t our partner anymore, and then she also said that we have to do everything to ensure the United States continues to be our partner, among other things by explaining to the Americans that there will be "consequences" if they cease being our partner.
Such is the state of political discourse in the insane asylum known as the Federal Republic of Germany, in case you were wondering.
Also on Sunday, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer convened his farcical Ukraine Summit in London. The event had been scheduled well before Zelensky’s Oval Office beatdown, but it was an opportunity to stand strong with the black jumper man, who was apparently so traumatised by his international humiliation on Friday that he had yet to change his clothes.
At the end of it all the Eurotards and Zelensky, together with a politically disgraced Justin Trudeau and the Turkish Foreign Minister, stood impotently on a staircase for a group photo, flanked by profoundly lame "SECURING OUR FUTURE" signs. It is all about making a statement, saying the right words, and sending the right media message, here in newly independent Europe.
#5
Then a vacant Baerbock said we need to find partners across the world, including the Gulf states
Was going to make a quip about Ukrainian troops going to Germany to clear out the African invaders, but no, have to make that joke about the EU turning into the Mediterranean Union no believable.
So with that in mind: I think Starmertrooper wants to round up all the native UK whites males with ticky tack hate crime charges as conscripts and send them to die in Ukraine.
And that makes me curious: when an African gets picked up and applies are there qualification levels? Like that one the other day who, after watching his wife drown, graped to death a girl in front of her mom, is that like, "Wow, pretty wild, you qualify for UK!"
Am I on the no visit list yet? Do I get like a certificate of achievement or something?
#5
Re #2: In those days, before flash photography, it took a long time to get a good picture. Try holding your eyes open for a minute or so without blinking.
#6
Back then, women washed their hair once a month with a mix of borax and egg whites. The smell by halfway through week four must have been breathtaking.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
03/05/2025 21:18
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#7
Were I not gentle Poetess --
But pious Monster green --
I still would dress -- I must confess --
As Me for Halloween --
[RodMartinReport] Starship makes possible a world where the U.S. can deploy an entire armored division anywhere on Earth in under an hour, and supply it entirely from home. "Hegemony" doesn't begin to cover it.
[JustTheNews] Congressman Rudy Yakym from Indiana discusses with John Solomon on this podcast episode how the pandemic exposed significant fraud in the unemployment system, costing taxpayers a staggering $135 billion. Congressman Yakym discusses efforts to extend the statute of limitations for prosecuting fraudsters and highlights the need for accountability within the IRS, especially after a major leak of taxpayer information.
#2
The pandemic unemployment assistance program was a part of the CARES Act. It was passed by Congress and signed by Trump in 2020. It had minimal federal requirements for financial control but relied on States and locals to do that. Unfortunately, some States and local govt were lax or even clueless.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
03/05/2025 16:46
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[IsraelTimes] Tapped to head welfare fund replacing ‘pay-to-slay,’ Ahmad Majdalani says it’ll be strictly need-based, and should suffice for US and Israel to scrap ‘unjust’ sanctions on Ramallah
Last month, Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....> signed a decree ending Ramallah’s controversial prisoner payment system, which had been a lightning rod for criticism from Israel and the international community. "No cash, but four times the usual Green Stamps"
The decree ended a decades-long policy of providing welfare payments to Paleostinians in Israeli prisoners — in addition to the families of slain and maimed attackers — based on the length of their sentence.
All welfare stipends — for prisoners and others — have been moved out of the PA to a nongovernmental body called the Paleostinian National Economic Empowerment Fund, which will be headed by former PA welfare minister Ahmad Majdalani, a longtime Abbas confidant.
In a rare interview with a foreign media outlet — particularly an Israeli one — Majdalani cautiously explained what he acknowledged was a domestically unpopular reform, urging the international community to support it in both word and deed.
"It is not enough to welcome this reform. You also need to support it financially," Majdalani told The Times of Israel in his Ramallah office last week, recalling the message he imparted to international diplomats during a private briefing he held days earlier to explain the reform.
He argued that countries can do this by writing a check or by leaning on the US and Israel to roll back their "unjust" sanctions against the PA over what proponents of those penalties brand as Ramallah’s "pay-to-slay" policy.
Without financial support, the PA will find itself in an even more precarious position, given how unpopular the reform is among Paleostinians.
"Frankly, it is not easy to take this decision, because the issue of prisoners and deaders is a very sensitive one for the Paleostinian public," Majdalani acknowledged.
The political timing isn’t exactly ideal for Ramallah, given that the reform came in the midst of the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... ceasefire deal, through which Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... secured the release of thousands of Paleostinian prisoners. The terror group has sought to capitalize on the opportunity, issuing statements juxtaposing its efforts on behalf of the prisoners with the PA’s "abandonment" of them.
IS IT REAL?
For years, the PA pushed back on calls to end the prisoner payments, arguing that the policy was necessary in light of what it views as Israel’s callous military rule, under which thousands of Paleostinians are detained without due process.
Notably, public resistance to the prisoner payment reform has not translated into major street protests as some analysts had predicted. Those might come, however, once the newly calculated stipends are divvied out. All recipients must reapply first and the review process by Majdalani’s office is expected to take several months, he said.
Regardless, Majdalani — who also serves as a faction leader in the high-level Paleostine Liberation Organization executive committee — made a point of clarifying that the PA was not "blackmailing the international community."
"We are not imposing conditions where we’re only doing this if they pay. We’re doing this because it’s our duty," he said.
The sensitivity of the issue — and Abbas’s attempt to balance domestic blowback with international support — was on full display late last month when the PA leader addressed a session of the Fatah’s Revolutionary Council.
"I once said... that if we have one penny left, it’ll be for the prisoners and deaders," Abbas said in a clip from a lengthy speech that was quickly picked up by critics, who argued it proved the PA wasn’t serious about the reform.
The prisoners "should receive [exactly] what they got in the past... I won’t allow [anyone] to take a penny away from them," the PA leader added.
Majdalani said Abbas was only referring to the previous payment scheme and that later in the speech he referred to the new system, which only offers payments based on financial need. He said this was left out of the clips shared by skeptics of the PA reform.
Nearly the same argument was made in a separate interview that The Times of Israel conducted hours earlier with another top Abbas aide, Mahmoud Habbash.
But the full video of Abbas’s speech was taken down from the PA’s website, indicating that perhaps the PA president wasn’t as clear-cut as his advisers made him out to be.
Still, the reform was lambasted by the since-ousted head of the PA’s prisoner support club, indicating that those potentially most impacted by the reform are taking it seriously, as is Ramallah.
MOVING FORWARD, DESPITE TRUMP PLAN
Successive American administrations had worked to coax the PA to reverse the prisoner payments program, and former US president Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. Too old and senile to be prosecuted, not too old and senile to set national policy... ’s envoy to the Paleostinians Hady Amr quietly made significant progress in that endeavor.
Ultimately, however, Ramallah refrained from announcing the reform during the tenure of Biden, who failed to deliver on a number of campaign promises made to the Paleostinians.
Instead, Abbas waited to sign the decree until after US President Donald Trump ...So far he's been unkillable, and they've tried.... returned to office, as a demonstration of goodwill.
The PA didn’t even hold off on the step after Trump announced his proposal for the US to take over Gaza and permanently "clean it out" of Paleostinians.
Less than a week later, Abbas signed the decree, catching many in the international community off guard, while others barely noticed the announcement amid the grueling Israeli-Paleostinian conflict news cycle of the last year.
It took two days for the Trump administration to respond, but the State Department issued a statement welcoming the reform as "a positive step and a big win" for the US president, while adding that it would be monitoring its implementation.
GETTING THE US AND ISRAEL ON BOARD
That monitoring is required under US legislation that the PA reform is trying to reverse — a 2018 law called the Taylor Force Act, which bars almost all aid that directly benefits the PA so long as the payment policy based on prison sentences remains in place.
With the decree now signed by Abbas to end the policy, the State Department will take the next several months to determine how it is being implemented.
The PA designed much of the reform specifically in order to come into compliance with the Taylor Force Act and is under the impression that the US will recognize it as such, a diplomatic source in Ramallah told The Times of Israel.
Majdalani said that the reform was built in coordination with US officials and politicians, including Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham ...soft-spoken senator from South Carolina, former best buddy of John Maverick McCain. Since McCain's demise, Graham has become more outspoken, more Republican and more of a supporter of President Trump. The speech he gave in support of Brett Kavanaugh was downright manly and really cheesed off the Dems... and Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who both expressed their backing for the PA plan.
A congressional aide to Van Hollen said the progressive politician had pressed the PA to conduct the reform on multiple occasions in order for Ramallah to come into compliance with US law.
A spokesperson for Graham did not respond to a request for comment, but a former US official said the Republican senator expressed his support for the reform when he was briefed on it last year.
Ramallah is also hoping that the reform will lead to the reversal of Knesset legislation passed shortly after Taylor Force, which deducts the sum of the payments the PA makes to the families of prisoners and slain and maimed Paleostinians from the tax revenues that Jerusalem transfers each month to Ramallah.
Majdalani indicated that there has been less contact with Israel regarding this issue, though, as ties are particularly poor with the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who regularly likens the PA to Hamas.
Israel has been withholding hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues that Jerusalem collects on Ramallah’s behalf, in what Majdalani branded as "theft."
The withheld cash has further exacerbated an already dire situation for the Paleostinian economy, which has long suffered amid the PA’s power imbalance with and reliance on Israel. The PA has been under particular duress since Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, after which Israel rescinded permits for the vast majority of the 150,000 Paleostinians who were working in Israel and its settlements, citing security concerns.
DO YOU OWN A WASHING MACHINE?
Offering some details regarding the reform, Majdalani said all welfare payments will be distributed under one system moving forward. The amounts will be calculated based on very specific financial criteria that will be adjudicated by social workers, who will go house to house to probe the exact conditions of each applicant.
Anyone can apply, but only households earning particularly low wages will be eligible. Those making the minimum wage ($518) will be eligible for higher payments, and those making below the national poverty line ($770) will receive slightly less.
Majdalani declined to give specific amounts for how much a beneficiary household might typically receive, insisting that each case will differ based on the various criteria, which gets into granular details, such as whether or not a family owns a washing machine.
He avoided saying specifically that the families of prisoners and slain attackers will also be able to apply, but he did stress that the program will be open to every Paleostinian household. Accordingly, many prisoners are likely to remain eligible to receive funds from the PA, given the high Paleostinian poverty rate.
But now, how much those prisoners receive will depend on how poor they are and whether the PA secures the funds to sustain the program.
[IsraelTimes] US State Department restores proscription — revoked by Joe Biden — of Iran-backed Yemen group that launched attacks on Israel, hundreds of ships after outbreak of Israel-Hamas war
The US State Department on Tuesday reinstated the "foreign terrorist organization" designation for Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... ’s Iran-backed Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... group, fulfilling an order announced by US President Donald Trump ...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down... shortly after he took office.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio ...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration... announced the department had restored the designation, which carries with it sanctions and penalties for anyone providing "material support" for the group.
"Since 2023, the Houthis have launched hundreds of attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, as well as US service members defending freedom of navigation and our regional partners," Rubio said in a statement. "Most recently, the Houthis spared Chinese-flagged ships while targeting American and allied vessels."
The Houthis — whose slogan calls for "Death to America," "Death to Israel," and a "curse on Jews" — have carried out more than 100 attacks on ships off Yemen since November 2023 in support of Paleostinian Lions of Islam fighting Israel, disrupting global shipping.
In January, the group signaled that it will limit its attacks in the Red Sea corridor to only Israeli-affiliated ships after a ceasefire began in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip but warned wider assaults could resume if needed.
During the war in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis also repeatedly fired ballistic missiles and drones at Israel, in what eventually became nearly daily assaults. While most were intercepted, the attacks sent millions scrambling to bomb shelters, often in the middle of the night.
Some drones and rockets hit the country, killing a man in Tel Aviv on one occasion and causing extensive damage to a school on another, as well as other damage including in the southern resort city of Eilat.
Trump’s first Republican administration similarly designated the Houthis in its waning days, but the designation had been revoked by President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. The man who made Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter look competent, if only by comparison.... ’s Democratic administration over concerns it would badly affect the delivery of aid to Yemen, which was considered to be facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Rubio suggested in his statement that such a concern was not an issue anymore, saying that the US would no longer "tolerate any country engaging with terrorist organizations like the Houthis in the name of practicing legitimate international business."
US STATE DEPT. OFFERING $15M FOR INFO ON HOUTHI FINANCING
Besides the "foreign terrorist organization" announcement, the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program announced that it would pay up to $15 million for information that leads to the disruption of Houthi financing.
The United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... said last month that it suspended its humanitarian operations in the stronghold of Yemen’s Houthi rebels after they detained eight more UN staffers.
The rebels in recent months have detained dozens of UN staffers, as well as people associated with aid groups, civil society and the once-open US Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital. None of the UN staffers has been released.
The Houthis have been fighting Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which is backed by a Saudi-led coalition, since 2014, when they descended from their stronghold in Saada and took control of Sanaa and most of the north.
The Saudi-led coalition entered the war in March 2015, backed at the time by the US, in an effort to restore the internationally recognized government to power.
The war has killed more than 150,000 people, including civilians and combatants, and in recent years it has tanked largely into a stalemate.
The UN has projected that more than 19 million people across Yemen will need humanitarian assistance this year as many deal with climate shocks, malnutrition, cholera and the economic effects of war.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The counter-terrorist operation (CTO) regime has been declared in the village of Semender in Makhachkala, and operational search activities are being carried out. This was reported on March 5 by the press service of the city mayor's office.
"The counter-terrorist operation regime has been declared since 00:25 in the village of Semender in the Kirovsky district of the city of Makhachkala. Operational search activities are being conducted in this area. During the counter-terrorist operation, until further notice, special measures and temporary restrictions will be in effect," the statement specifies.
The operational headquarters in Dagestan has appealed to the residents of the republic with a request to increase vigilance and provide comprehensive support to law enforcement agencies in the fight against extremism and terrorism.
Earlier, Regnum news agency reported that in Dagestan, a 31-year-old man suspected of robbing a store offered armed resistance to the police and was wounded by return fire. After the attack, the man fled, but his identity was established and the suspect was put on the wanted list. The man was later detained and taken to hospital for medical assistance.
At the end of February, police officers brought 27 people to the station for resisting the arrest of their acquaintance in the urban settlement of Yermoolino.
kavkaz-uzel.eu adds
According to the operational headquarters of Dagestan, during the investigation of information about the possible preparation of a terrorist act, unknown persons put up armed resistance to security forces.
On the outskirts of Semender, security forces blocked a group of four people who were planning to attack a law enforcement facility, NAC reports.
The Committee reports that in the Kirovsky District of Makhachkala, security forces found a group of people in a car; when they tried to detain them, they opened fire from automatic weapons at traffic police officers. They are blocked in one of the houses; residents of nearby houses have been evacuated.
[Rudaw] Iraqi security forces have largely eradicated the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) from the country, with only a few hundred faceless myrmidons remaining in remote areas, the head of Iraq’s Security Media Cell told Rudaw.
Major General Saad Maan stated in late February that some 400 to 600 ISIS faceless myrmidons are still dispersed across uninhabitable areas in the country, emphasizing that "[local] communities are rejecting their presence, and no one is harboring them."
He further explained that "for over a year, we have not faced direct attacks from ISIS, and the number of explosions caused by improvised bombs (IEDs)" has been minimal, occurring only "a few times in non-urban areas." He underscored that Iraqi forces "are taking the initiative [to strike first]," adding that they have "recently" carried out nine precision-guided Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s against ISIS cells.
As recently as mid-February, Iraq’s Security Media Cell announced the killing of at least two ISIS bully boyz in airstrikes near Kirkuk. The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed the operation, describing it as "part of the ongoing Defeat-ISIS campaign" aimed at "disrupting and degrading" the group’s capabilities, and "ensuring its enduring defeat."
Maan also highlighted key improvements in the Iraqi security forces’ capabilities, particularly in the areas of "arms, intelligence, and training." He argued that Baghdad has been successfully "preventing ISIS bully boyz from regrouping and launching attacks."
In a different vein, the Iraqi security official stated that drug trafficking is "the most widespread crime" in Iraq. Maan highlighted that Erbil and Baghdad are working jointly and with regional neighbours to address the issue. Iraqi security apparatus rely on "highly-advanced cameras and drones" to tighten their grip on the borders, he explained.
The head of Iraq’s Security Media Cell also said that "drugs are almost exclusively imported" into Iraq and that there have been "failed attempt ...Curses! Foiled again!... s" to manufacture Crystal and Captagon - the most commonly used types of psychotropic substances - within the country.
Of note, Crystal is often referent to Crystal meth, however, it could also refer to other crystalline forms of drugs including MDMA and uncut Cocaine.
A research study published in July by the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Regional Office reported that Iraq - including the Kurdistan Region - has recorded "a sharp increase in the trafficking and use of Captagon over the past five years." The study revealed that Iraq saw a staggering 3,380 percent increase in Captagon seizures from 2019 to 2023, with over 4.1 tons of Captagon tablets seized in 2023 alone.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/05/2025
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[ShabelleMedia] Somali government forces, backed by local clan militias known as Macwiisley, repelled an attack by al-Shabaab ... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord... murderous Moslems in the Boos-Hareeri area of the Aadan-Yabaal district, Middle Shabelle region, security officials said.
The intense fighting erupted after al-Shabaab launched an assault on the government-controlled area, which it has held for several years.
The clash is part of a broader military campaign by Somali forces in the central regions of Middle Shabelle and Hiiraan, where operations have intensified to reclaim territory from al-Shabaab.
In a related development, an Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... targeted al-Shabaab positions in Baara-Yabaal village near Buulo-Burde in the Hiiraan region. Details about the strike, including the responsible forces and casualty figures, were not immediately available.
Separately, the U.S. Africa Command confirmed it conducted an airstrike on March 1 near Ceel-Baraf in Middle Shabelle at the Somali government’s request.
The strike followed an attack on Somali forces, though further details were not released.
Since Ramadan began, al-Shabaab has stepped up attacks on government-held military bases, causing numerous casualties among Somali troops amid a surge in hard boy activity.
[REDSTATE] As RedState reported, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu stooped to a new low during a press briefing in the aftermath of a Saturday incident at a Chick-fil-A restaurant where an off-duty police officer took down a knife-wielding man who allegedly tried to stab two people.
According to local news outlets, "the armed suspect, later identified as 32-year-old Lmark Jaramillo of Roslindale, allegedly chased two people into the busy fast food restaurant and was trying to stab them" when the off-duty policeman shot and killed him after first trying to reason with him.
"My condolences and all of our thoughts are with the family of the individual whose life has been lost, and I'm also thinking of all the people who were impacted here today in one of the busier parts of the city with this tragedy," a clearly distraught Wu told reporters on the scene without praising the heroic actions of the off-duty officer.
Other so-called Boston leaders including their police commissioner took a similar approach:
''This is a pretty tragic incident,'' Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox added. ''We don't look for loss of life so our condolences go to the individual who was killed tonight.''
Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden also offered his ''thoughts and prayers'' to the family of the attacker.
When DOJ Attorney General Pam Bondi caught wind of their remarks, she took to the Twitter/X machine on Monday and wrote this:
This DOJ will NEVER apologize for taking down dangerous criminals and getting them off our streets.
Thank you to the brave law enforcement officer in Boston who stepped up to protect those in need.
Politicians who want to apologize to criminals should not be in office!
However, things got worse for Wu when she responded to all the criticism of what she said by doubling down while belatedly offering praise for law enforcement.
"It's unfortunate to politicize being at the scene of a tragic incident," Wu declared according to NBC Boston. "I expressed condolences because every loss of life is a horrible tragedy. I am also grateful every hour of every day for the work of our Boston police officers."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2025
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Top|| File under: Migrants/Illegal Immigrants
#1
I'd ask her.
If a Knife welding Looney Tune got into your Mayor office, and started stabbing your staff, what would you expect your armed security to do?
If she says's anything other than shoot and kill the idiot.
Want bet she'll need new staff inside a week?
BTW: was "Lemark Jaramillo" a US Citizen or Biden/Democrat invited guest?
[IsraelTimes] With schools now open, the communities of Arab al-Aramshe and neighboring Kibbutz Adamit in the Western Galilee rethink their ‘naivete’ about dangers beyond the border.
[IsraelTimes] Though no skiing possible due to damage to lifts from rocket fire during war with Hezbollah, and low levels of snow, operators welcome revival of iconic resort site.
[IsraelTimes] IDF says Haidar Hashem, responsible for naval forces in the terror group’s elite Radwan Force, was planning attacks against Israelis
The Israel Defense Force confirmed carrying out a dronezap in the Tyre area of Leb ...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects.... on Tuesday, saying it killed a Hezbollah commander involved in advancing attacks against Israel amid the ceasefire.
The commander, Haidar Hashem, was responsible for the naval forces in the terror group’s elite Radwan Force, according to the military.
The IDF said that as part of his role, he was involved in efforts to smuggle arms to Hezbollah via the sea, as well as planning naval attacks on Israel and Israeli civilians, including during the ongoing ceasefire.
"Hashem’s activities were a threat to the State of Israel and its citizens, and blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon," the military added.
Lebanese media earlier said an Israeli strike on a vehicle in southern Lebanon killed one person.
"An enemy drone launched a strike" targeting a vehicle in the Tyre district, killing one person, Lebanese state media said, publishing an image of a burning, mangled car.
מוקדם יותר היום, כלי טיס של חיל האוויר תקף, בהכוונת פיקוד הצפון ואגף המודיעין, במרחב קנא וחיסל את המחבל חצ׳ר שעיד האשם, אשר שימש כמפקד הכוחות הימיים בכוח רדואן של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה ועסק בפעילות טרור נגד מדינת ישראל ואזרחיה >> pic.twitter.com/DLEDZh3YzZ
Earlier today, an Air Force aircraft attacked, under the direction of the Northern Command and the Intelligence Branch, in the Qana area and killed the terrorist Hatcher Shaid Hashem, who served as the commander of the naval forces in the Radwan force of the Hezbollah terrorist organization and engaged in terrorist activity against the State of Israel and its citizens >>
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] The Iranian government continues to be rocked by high-profile resignations. Even before the Minister of Economy and Finance Abdolnasser Hemmati had left office after being ousted by impeachment, another political heavyweight, Iran's Vice President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif, was about to retire.
Zarif's resignation was initially perceived as a political demarche - especially since the vice president had previously demonstratively left his post (in August 2024). However, the current turn of events indicates serious changes in Iranian domestic politics.
The rift between the president's and the supreme leader's supporters is rapidly deepening, and in an attempt to maintain balance, reformists are choosing to get rid of overly toxic figures.
TOXIC MINISTERS
Although Hemmati and Zarif's career trajectories may not seem particularly similar at first glance, there are some overlaps.
In particular, both politicians were at one time introduced into the government as a “faction of hope” – to solve the most ambitious tasks set by President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Thus, Hemmati, the former head of the Iranian Central Bank, was supposed to “comprehensively rethink” the country’s economic strategy and bring Iran out of stagnation; find ways to lift (or, at first, at least to weaken) Western sanctions. Zarif, as the architect of the 2015 “nuclear deal,” was called upon to help the country “reset” the negotiations on “peaceful atom.”
Both points were cornerstones of the Iranian reformists' political program, and the failure to implement them has had a negative impact on the government's approval ratings.
Moreover, both officials became convenient targets for criticism from conservative forces.
Hemmati was branded a “saboteur” for the rapid (almost 50%) devaluation of the national currency, as well as attempts to artificially destabilize the country's economic system by forcibly introducing new types of cryptocurrency.
Zarif is even called a "conduit of interests" of the United States - for his excessive desire to find a compromise with Washington and his readiness to "sacrifice national interests" to achieve the set goal. They also do not forget to recall that in 2017, it was precisely because of the "excessive naivety" of the vice president (and then head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) that Tehran was unable to benefit from the unilateral withdrawal of the United States from the "nuclear deal"; he wasted time on empty negotiations instead of a mirror reduction in obligations.
Zarif, like Hemmati, should probably have resigned as a result of impeachment, especially since the Majlis (parliament – editor’s note) National Security Committee called for his removal from office back in early February after his scandalous speech at the forum in Davos.
Then Zarif criticized the Iranian authorities from the podium for “excesses” in their policy towards women, which was perceived by the conservative public as “a deliberate split in Iranian society.”
The vice president was saved from "public disgrace" only by the intercession of his old comrades. In particular, the head of the judiciary, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, who recommended that Zarif resign before the impeachment procedure was launched.
TRUMP'S TIME
Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election played no small role in the resignations of Hemmati and Zarif.
The reformists who came to power during the Biden administration built their foreign policy strategy with an eye on the strategic interests of the Democrats. And for a time, this approach even paid dividends.
Tehran, among other things, managed to negotiate a full prisoner exchange with Washington, as well as fully restore the “Oman track” of negotiations on peaceful nuclear energy, which was perceived as a step towards gradual detente and a “prologue” to negotiations on a new deal.
Trump's return to the White House has thrown previous agreements into question.
Even though the Republicans abandoned anti-Iranian rhetoric during the election campaign, in February 2025 Trump gave the order to resume the “maximum pressure policy” on Iran, and also de facto supported Israel in its asymmetric confrontation with Tehran throughout the Middle East.
A significant part of Iranian society was not ready to conduct direct negotiations with the US under such conditions, much less make concessions in sensitive areas. Especially since on the other side of the scale were threats of strikes (by the Israelis) against Iran's nuclear infrastructure.
Not surprisingly, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has made it clear that the country will not negotiate with the US on nuclear issues - even if the presidential team is willing to continue making concessions.
THE FUTURE OF THE DEAL
The situation is further aggravated by the fact that the “European troika” (France, Germany, Great Britain), which for most of the time took a pointedly neutral and benevolent position in the negotiations, is moving to “nudge” tactics.
Tehran is being asked to restore the “nuclear deal” in one form or another by the end of June.
Otherwise, the EU3 threatens to reinstate – and perhaps even strengthen – the UN Security Council sanctions on Iran’s nuclear developments. Such a move would further isolate Iran’s economic system and provoke additional tensions. And the country’s adversaries, both external and internal, will not fail to take advantage of them.
For this reason, the presidential entourage prefers not to enter into direct confrontation with the conservative forces (led by the Supreme Leader) and to carefully get rid of individual figures who “have not lived up to the expectations” of Iranian society.
However, while Hemmati was let go relatively easily, Iran’s leadership is reluctant to let Zarif go.
The bargaining over his candidacy continues. Pezeshkian hopes to resume the dialogue on the "peaceful atom" sooner or later. And he still sees Zarif as one of the main players - especially since the vice president will spend his "political retirement" at one of the country's universities, from where he can quickly be called back to service.
The Conservatives, apparently, do not object to such an outcome either - although they would prefer that the “officials of unfulfilled hopes” do not return to the fold for as long as possible.
[NYPOST] The Palm Beach Post fired its editorial page editor after the Florida paper ran a cartoon on the war in Gaza that local Jewish groups slammed as antisemitic.
Tony Doris, 67, who worked at the Gannett-owned broadsheet for more than 20 years, was let go last month following the backlash.
The syndicated cartoon ran in January and showed two Israeli soldiers rescuing a hostage held captive by Hamas with the caption: ''Some Israeli Hostages Are Home After Over a Year of Merciless War.''
The soldiers tell the hostage ''watch your step'' as the three figures walk over a pile of bodies with the label ''over 40 thousand Palestinians killed.''
Doris, who is Jewish, claimed the illustration was simply anti-war.
''I fully support Israel's right to exist,'' Doris told Stet News, a nonprofit news group in Palm Beach that earlier reported his firing.
''I think you can feel that way and still be open to discussion of the issue of violence that has taken place there.''
Gannett declined to comment on Doris' ouster.
''The cartoon did not meet our standards,'' Lark-Marie Anton, a Palm Beach Post spokesperson, told The Post in a statement. ''We sincerely regret the error and have taken appropriate action to prevent this from happening again.''
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2025
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#1
Doris, who is Jewish, claimed the illustration was simply anti-war.
[NYPOST] As Canada and Mexico braced for 25% tariffs on Tuesday, and China for another 10%, Honda became one of the first companies to cave — scrapping plans to produce its new Civic in Mexico in favor of Indiana, according to a report.
The Japanese auto giant had initially planned to manufacture the next-generation Civic in Guanajuato, Mexico, starting in November 2027, sources familiar with the matter told Rooters.
Now, Honda plans to manufacture the new Civic in Indiana, starting in May 2028 — churning out around 210,000 vehicles each year, a source told the outlet.
2025 Honda Civic hybrid model. 4
Honda's capitulation reflects the immediate impact of Trump's pledge to return manufacturing to the US by imposing tariffs on rival nations, experts told The Post.
''I think Trump has been effective at using tariffs, and the threat of tariffs, to get more made-in-America jobs here,'' Stephen Moore, economist and senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation, told The Post. ''This was a victory for Trump.''
#4
Imagine a fairly standardized part failing or a broken implement and having to wait for it to be shipped from Mexico because you bought the McDonald's Ice Cream Machine of tractor and implements.
#5
Add McDonald latte machine to that list. Apparently McDonalds Latte machines has a small problem with steam bursting unexpectedly and so all (most of) the latte machines been shut down until the manufacturer can come up with a fix or something.
On my part it means I'm not ordering breakfast from McDonald until I can get latte again.
One link on the subject.
#6
Not sure about McD's latte machine, but IIUC both the McD's Ice Cream Machines and Juan Deere is that if you want it serviced, even flat tires or oil change, it has to be done by the manufacturer or else the warranty go poof, and can only use certified parts.
Top down, I get it, people do dumb things and warranty costs can escalate. In the real bottom up world there can be only a couple days good weather for work and the farmer is waiting, waiting, and waiting for what is a quick fix.
Frigidaire has the same problem. Say, your new dryer just needs the belt tightened or has a faulty heating element. Can't do that unless you have a certified (which of course has a membership fee) service center do it.
#7
Frigidaire products have long been dreadful in terms of rate of repairs, swksvolFF, as tested by the Consumer Reports people and as reported in surveys of their subscribers. Startlingly, Maytag is almost as bad.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] Ukrainian Armed Forces Contain Russian Attacks in Eastern and Southern Ukraine.
In the Pokrovsky direction, Russian troops carried out 12 attacks in the areas of five populated areas.
Since the beginning of the day, 59 combat clashes have occurred on the front. Ukrainian troops have repelled all Russian attacks in the Pokrovsk area, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported in an operational report as of 16:00 on Tuesday, March 4.
Thus, in the Kharkov direction, the enemy twice attempted to advance in the Volchansk region and was rebuffed.
In the Kupyansk direction, the invaders attacked three times near Petropavlovka, Peschanoye and Boguslavka. Two clashes are still ongoing.
In the Liman direction, the enemy advanced nine times in the areas of the settlements of Novomikhaylovka, Grekovka, Novoye, Yampolevka and Dibrova. Fighting is still ongoing in two locations.
In the Toretsk direction, the enemy carried out seven assaults in the areas of Toretsk and Dachny. Three combat clashes are currently ongoing.
In the Pokrovsky direction, since the beginning of the day, the occupiers have carried out 12 attacks in the areas of the settlements of Promin, Lisovka, Sergeyevka, Andreyevka, Alekseyevka. The defense forces have repelled all assaults.
In the Novopavlovsk direction, enemy units attacked four times near Constantinople. One battle continues.
In the Gulyai-Polye direction, the Russians attacked once in the Privolnoye area.
Six clashes have occurred in the Orekhovo direction. The enemy is trying to advance towards Nesteryanka and Kamenskoye. Three clashes are still ongoing.
In the Dnieper direction the enemy carried out one unsuccessful attack.
In the Kursk region, Ukrainian troops repelled 14 attacks. Currently, fighting continues in nine locations.
Let us recall that Russia's losses in the war are approaching 880 thousand fighters. In just one day on March 3, the aggressor country lost more than 1,300 soldiers killed and wounded.
[BREITBART] Border Patrol agents and their law enforcement partners have managed to seize and prevent more than $25 million in cocaine from reaching the interior of the United States during the past seven days. The latest seizure, which occurred on Thursday near San Clemente, California, was nabbed after a Border Patrol K-9 unit sniffed out the illicit substance hidden in trash bags located in the trunk of a vehicle.
According to Chief Michael W. Banks of the Border Patrol, Thursday's seizure brought the seven-day total of cocaine to more than $25 million. As reported by Breitbart Texas, in just three separate events on the morning of February 23, the Rio Grande Valley Sector agents seized nearly 560 pounds of cocaine with an estimated street value of $18 million. Two of the three seizures occurred at a fixed highway checkpoint after routine immigration inspections. The third seizure resulted from a roving patrol stop initiated by Border Patrol agents on a nearby highway.
The significant seizures come after several actions taken by the Trump administration to fight the Mexican drug cartels. On February 19, the Trump administration declared several major Mexican drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO). As reported by Breitbart Texas, the U.S. Department of State designated six Mexican drug cartels, the infamous Mara Salvatrucha gang of El Salvador and the violent Venezuelan Tren De Aragua gang, as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
[BREITBART] Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin detailed on The Alex Marlow Show how the Biden administration protected $20 billion in ''gold bars'' meant for leftist NGOs, many of them with connections to the Biden administration.
Zeldin sent shockwaves in mid-February after he had pledged to recover $20 billion in taxpayer funds that had been sent by the Biden administration to climate change projects and other pet projects of Democrat staffers.
The EPA Administrator at the time likened it to ''throwing gold bars off the Titanic,'' saying that it was a ''rush job with reduced oversight.''
However,
facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable... Zeldin explained to Alex Marlow, the Editor-in-Chief of Breitbart News and host of The Alex Marlow Show, that the Biden administration tied up the money to make it harder for him and the Trump administration to conduct oversight of the $20 billion in ''gold bars'' to leftist NGOs.
Zeldin said that ''the director of the greenhouse reduction fund left an NGO to come to the Biden administration, becomes the director of the greenhouse reduction fund, and gave their former employer $5 billion.''
He noted that one CEO who applied for a $20 million grant sat on the Biden White House environmental justice council, which had only received $3 million over the prior three years.
The EPA had uncovered that $2 billion was set aside for a climate change group, Power Forward Communities, which is associated with Democrat Stacey Abrams ...sour grapes lo-o-o-o-o-ser (Loser! Loser! Loser!) of the 2018 Georgia governor's race. Then she wanted to be Joe Biden's vice president, so now she can sour grape about that too... , even though the organization had only reported $100 in revenue.
He said that these eight entities which received these grants need to have proper oversight.
When asked by Marlow how he would help unwind this leftist scheme, Zeldin said he had formally referred this financial mismanagement to the EPA Acting Inspector General (EPA IG) for further investigation.
Fortunately, Zeldin said that both the Justice Department and the FBI have been ''as motivated as I have.''
''We want to reestablish more oversight controls. We want to have accountability over every penny. I want to have the ability to sit before Congress and you can ask me 20 of your top questions, and I want to have answers for every single one of them on top of my head,'' he explained, sharing his desire to have maximum transparency over agency spending.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Artemy Sharapov
[REGNUM] The unprecedented spat between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky, which has finally destroyed the White House's trust in the still-in-force Kiev regime, will long excite the world community. The 40-minute "show flogging" was by no means a simple exchange of unpleasantries, but gave reason to pay attention to many details in Washington's relations with its Ukrainian "partners".
So, to the quite reasonable remark of Vice President J.D. Vance: “You should thank the president (Trump) for trying to end this conflict,” Zelensky brazenly snapped: “Have you ever been to Ukraine to see what problems we have?”
After which Vance pointed out to the Kyiv guest that he was showing disrespect and allowing himself to attack the US administration. After all, Zelensky openly stated that the top leadership of the United States does not have information about what is happening in Ukraine (and therefore is incompetent in this matter).
From this, Trump and Vance could conclude that their counterpart was either extremely impolite, inadequate, or “out of the loop.”
In fact, the intelligence services, the diplomatic corps, and therefore the top political leadership of the United States have full information about the situation in Ukraine. Which Zelensky's office could not help but know, given how many American advisers of the highest level are "on the ground" and daily collect information about the situation.
THEIR PEOPLE ARE IN KYIV
It is no coincidence that the media and officials call cooperation between American and Ukrainian intelligence agencies “unprecedented.” In 2015, the CIA helped Ukraine “recreate” the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense, which is responsible for planning sabotage operations and political assassinations. According to open data (cited, for example, by ABC News ), the CIA has sent millions of dollars to finance the training and equipment of Ukrainian intelligence officers and the construction of facilities on the border with Russia.
The two services also began conducting joint operations “around the world,” journalists note. The former head of the GUR (in 2015-16), General Valeriy Kondratyuk, stated in a commentary to the ABC television channel that the CIA trained Ukrainian officers in combat tactics and espionage. The training took place at a base in one of the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance in Europe. In other words, the CIA is not only closely connected with Ukrainian military intelligence, but is essentially its “parent organization,” since it independently selects both personnel and technical means for the GUR.
According to unconfirmed information, the CIA, as well as the US National Security Agency (NSA), also have the closest ties with the Security Service of Ukraine. The authoritative publication The New York Times adds that even after the start of military actions in Ukraine, there remained a group of CIA employees who constantly exchanged information with the Ukrainian special services.
These specialists allegedly advised Kyiv on planning strikes with long-range weapons, using, among other things, data transmitted by Ukrainian special services. How, under such circumstances, the US “does not know” about something that Kyiv knows is a big question. Especially since cooperation between Kiev and Washington was established not only through the special services, but also at the level of the highest military command.
"COOPERATION" ON A SHORT LEASH
In fact, the United States has never hidden the presence of its military advisers directly on Ukrainian territory. In April 2024, US Defense Department spokesman Pat Ryder directly stated that a group of Pentagon officers was permanently stationed at the American embassy in Kiev.
The officers operate under the Office of Defense Cooperation, or ODC. “During this conflict, the Department of Defense has reviewed and adjusted our presence in the country as the security environment has changed,” Ryder told Politico.
Officially, ODC staff "perform various advisory and support tasks." The mission is staffed exclusively by U.S. Department of Defense personnel, but formally operates under the direction of the ambassador in Kyiv and the State Department. The mission's mandate includes overseeing the supply of American weapons and servicing high-tech equipment.
As Politico notes, as of spring 2024, there were at least 60 Pentagon specialists in Ukraine as part of the ODC alone. And these are only those who were officially reported. According to unconfirmed reports, high-ranking Pentagon officers also participate in planning all Ukrainian Armed Forces operations, transmit intelligence to Kyiv obtained through technological means and agents, in a word, they are not just “in the know,” but, in fact, they themselves determine the course of events.
A group of American specialists is also located at the Polish Air Force base in Rzeszow, which has been transformed into the largest hub for the supply of military aid to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
It is worth remembering that the US (logically) has not only all the information about the supply of its weapons, but also about the military cooperation between Kiev, the EU and NATO countries. The lion's share of weapons supplied by European countries to Ukraine, such as F-16 fighters, were produced in the US. Consequently, any transfer of military equipment, as well as the necessary documentation and technical equipment, is sanctioned by the US Congressional Defense Committee.
But even if we assume that the US President and Vice President, for some unknown reason, do not have access to the documentation of the intelligence agencies, the Pentagon, the State Department and Congress, they can look into open sources to learn about the situation in Ukraine.
DELIVERIES AND LOSSES ARE EVIDENT
Statistics can tell us much more eloquently about the state of the Ukrainian Armed Forces than rumors and fragmentary “insider” information from Western media. As both Trump and Vance rightly reminded Zelensky, the United States is the largest supplier of military aid to Ukraine. The Pentagon has transferred thousands of units of military equipment to Kyiv, and some of it will not be returned.
During a series of unsuccessful offensive operations, Ukrainian troops lost a lot of weapons, and the losses had to be replenished not with “fresh” products, but with equipment taken from warehouses, that is, from the arsenals of the US Army, which affected its combat capability.
The exact data on the losses of the warring parties is kept secret, but some information can be gleaned from open sources, as users of the Lostarmour portal do. According to researchers, the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost at least 120 American-made M1 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles. The average cost of one BMP is estimated at 4-4.5 million dollars, meaning that the US financial losses from the supply of armored vehicles can be estimated at approximately 500 million.
Officially, the US delivered about a hundred vehicles of this model to Ukraine, but later the deliveries most likely continued, but without public coverage. In the case of Stryker armored personnel carriers, everything is a little "better" - only about 50 vehicles were destroyed. With an average price of $5 million per unit, we are talking about "only" $250 million.
Let's not include in these statistics such "trifles" as dozens of destroyed Abrams tanks, as well as those armored vehicles whose destruction was not caught on camera. Let's just note that even Internet users can receive objective information these days and draw appropriate conclusions based on it.
There are also Ukrainian resources that monitor changes in the situation on the front in real time and publish open access data on settlements lost by the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the advancement of Russian troops.
So Vice President Vance didn't have to go to Kyiv for this information, he could just, like us, look at open sources.
And this is all without even mentioning the most obvious: Vance has all the Pentagon documents on hand, which clearly reflect the real scale of deliveries and losses of armored vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The vice president also has information about the number of artillery and tank shells and other types of ammunition, logistics equipment, banal bulletproof vests and helmets delivered to Ukraine.
Therefore, a politician could really draw some conclusions about the combat capability and losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as well as the costs required to maintain their combat capability, without going anywhere or even requesting reports from analysts.
SO WHO DOESN'T KNOW?
Given the fact that, according to official data alone, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of American diplomats, military personnel, and intelligence officers on Ukrainian soil, it seems highly unlikely that the US government does not have sufficient information about the situation in the country.
So Zelensky's accusations are more like responses to critics in the spirit of "you do it yourself first, and then criticize" than a claim on the merits. After all, it's the 21st century, and given their capabilities, Trump, Vance, and other people in the US administration have more complete information than even the Ukrainian leadership. Perhaps Kyiv is making the wrong decisions because it itself does not fully understand the essence of what is happening.
And based on this data, it makes appropriate decisions.
[SSAblog] Last week, the SSAdmin announced they would be expediting retroactive Social Security payments as authorized by the Social Security Fairness Act (see link).
Today, I've received word from a number of people who had multi thousand dollar deposits made into their bank accounts.
It will have an immediate effect on the money supply M1 (I think up about $100B) and subsequently on the rates for treasury instruments, the CPI and so forth.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
03/05/2025
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"Musk also posted a picture of a spreadsheet he said was from the Social Security database showing the numbers of people in each age bucket with the death field set to false. It showed more than 17 million such records for people over the age of 100."
[Epoch Times] Emigration rates have been soaring in Canada driven by the ongoing housing shortage and the cost-of-living crisis, a new report suggests. Ontario is the most densely populated province in the nation, but its 48 percent share of departures is notably greater than its 39 percent share of the total population of Canada.
Last year marked the highest level of emigration both Canada and Ontario have seen in several years. Emigration from Canada overall last reached that level in 2017, and in Ontario, the current levels haven’t been seen since 2011, according to the report, which is based on data from Statistics Canada.
Manitoba, Quebec, and Saskatchewan were the only provinces to experience an increase in incoming migrants at 14 percent, 2 percent, and 0.2 percent respectively.
Alberta remained the most sought-after destination for individuals moving within Canada, despite a slight decrease in its in-migration figures compared to 2023.
The slowdown in immigration and interprovincial migration, rising emigration, and a growing number of permanent residents leaving the country came at a benefit to renters, the report said.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/05/2025
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#1
OH! Great, another bunch of Northerners telling us "That's not the way we did it back in _____".
We would do wisely to be demanding they be retrained in the USA methods of operation.
Posted by: Regular joe ||
03/05/2025 13:40
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#6
Trump says Canada should be the 51st state. Perhaps Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba could be numbers 51, 52, and 53. It sure would make the map(s) look funny.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/05/2025 20:03
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#9
In a twist of fate, I read a deal about how there are certain locales in Central/South America who are upset Norte Gringos are moving into their community, don't know the language, and upset the local economics.
Passive confirmation would include USA daytime shows like House Hunters International.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 19:51 The defeat of the 106th Guards Airborne Division by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region, –video. 19:46 The Russian Armed Forces have driven the enemy out of Novyenkiy and advanced in the counter-terrorist operation zone, –map.
19:44 The Russian Armed Forces have improved their positions west of Ivanovka in the Krasnolimansk direction, –map.
18:58 114th Motorized Rifle Brigade of the 51st Army liberated Andreevka, –map.
18:18 In the Khar'kov region, the fighters of the Guards Forces "North" are constantly identifying and destroying Ukrainian soldiers who have set up positions in the destroyed buildings of Vovchansk with VOG drops and kamikaze drones, -video. VOG is a 40mm launchable grenade. 16:36 Servicemen of the reconnaissance unit of the North group of forcesrevealedA French wheeled tank AMX-10 of the Ukrainian Armed Forces camouflaged in a forest belt.
The detected target was quickly destroyed by the crew of the FPV drone on fiber optics.
16:00 T-72B3 tank crews leveled with the ground a strong point with the infantry of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Orekhov direction in the Zaporizhia region.
15:02 "Lancets" struck armored vehicles of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the South Donetsk direction.
Having received the exact coordinates of the targets, the operators of the attack drones of the Vostok group of forces destroyed all detected enemy equipment, as well as dugouts with personnel.
13:14 Around 12:00 Moscow time by air defense systems on duty destroyed Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle over the territory of the Belgorod region.
12:25 Destruction of 82mm mortar of the Ukrainian Armed Forces dropped ammunition from a strike UAV in the area of the settlement of Novosergeevka in the Khar'kov region, – video.
11:29 The crews of the 2S19 152mm Msta-S self-propelled guns of the army corps of the Southern group of forces continue to destroy armored vehicles, artillery and mortar batteries, air defense systems, command posts and long-term firing points of the enemy. Artemovsk direction, –video.
10:27 Calculations of the Rubicon Center continue to destroy enemy equipment and manpower in the Kursk border area.
08:37 Crews of 2S5 152mm self-propelled guns "Giatsint-S" of the 25th Aombined Arms Army of the "West" group of forces destroyed a camouflaged M-777 howitzer, an armored combat vehicle, a radar, a UAV control center, and a strong point with Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel.
07:16 During the past night, air defense systems on duty intercepted and destroyed 18 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles:
10 UAVs over the territory of the Rostov region,
Three UAVs over the territory of the Voronezh region,
Two UAVs over the territory of the Samara region, and
One UAV each over the territories of the Kursk, Belgorod, and Astrakhan regions.
01:21 The Dozor and Rassvet crews of the strike force disrupt the rotation and evacuation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel in the area of the settlement of Malaya Loknya in the Kursk region. A Ukrainian BMP-1, an Ukrainian BBM and up to ten units of personnel are destroyed, –video.
[EngMilRu] The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation.
In Kharkov direction, the Sever Group of Forces' units defeated formations of one motorised infantry brigade and one territorial defence brigade of the AFU near Volchansk and Liptsy (Kharkov region).
The AFU losses were up to 45 troops, two armoured fighting vehicles, and two motor vehicles.
Units of the Zapad Group of Forces improved the tactical situation. Russian troops delivered strikes at manpower and hardware of three mechanised brigades of the AFU and two territorial defence brigades close to Karpovka, Katerinovka, Kirovsk (Donetsk People's Republic), Shiykovka, and Kamenka (Kharkov region).
The AFU losses were up to 255 troops, four motor vehicles, and one Western-made field artillery gun. Three electronic warfare stations were destroyed.
Units of the Yug Group of Forces took more advantageous lines and positions. Russian troops inflicted fire damage on four mechanised brigades, one airmobile brigade, and one motorised infantry brigade near Shevchenko, Verkhnekamenskoye, Pleshcheyevka, Seversk, Konstantinovka, Serebryanka, and Kramatorsk (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses were up to 265 troops, four armoured fighting vehicles, four motor vehicles, and three field artillery guns.
The Tsentr Group of Forces' units improved the situation along the front line. Russian troops hit formations of four mechanised brigades, one jaeger brigade, one assault brigade, and one airborne brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, one naval infantry brigade, and two National Guard brigades near Dimitrov, Novopavlovka, Andreyevka, Udachnoye, Yelizavetovka, Krasnoarmeysk, and Uspenovka (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses were up to 595 troops, two armoured fighting vehicles, and five pickup trucks. Two artillery guns were neutralised.
Units of the Vostok Group of Forces continued advancing into the depth of enemy defences. Russian troops launched an attack on formations of two mechanised brigades of the AFU and two territorial defence brigades close to Otradnoye, Komar, Privolnoye (Donetsk People's Republic), and Gulyaipole (Zaporozhye region).
The AFU losses were up to 185 troops, one tank, two armoured fighting vehicles, ten motor vehicles, and three field artillery guns.
Units of the Dnepr Group of Forces engaged manpower and hardware of one mechanised brigade, one mountain assault brigade, and two territorial defence brigades close to Sadovoye, Mikhailovka (Kherson region), and Malye Shcherbaki (Zaporozhye region).
The AFU losses were up to 60 troops, two motor vehicles, and one electronic warfare station.
Operational-Tactical Aviation, attack unmanned aerial vehicles, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Groups of Forces engaged the infrastructure of military airfields, ammunition depots as well as manpower and hardware clusters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 142 areas.
Air defence systems shot down one U.S.-made JDAM aerial guided bomb and 93 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles.
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 656 aircraft, 283 helicopters, 45,267 unmanned aerial vehicles, 600 anti-aircraft missile systems, 21,977 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,523 MLRS combat vehicles, 22,224 field artillery guns and mortars, and 32,432 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 offensive actions, units of the Sever Group of Forces inflicted fire damage on formations of 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 near Goncharovka, Guyevo, Kazachya Loknya, Kurilovka, Lebedevka, Malaya Loknya, Makhnovka, Staraya Sorochina, Sudzha, and Cherkasskoye Porechnoye.
Five enemy counter-attacks were repelled.
Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, and artillery engaged AFU manpower and hardware close to Agronom, Bondarevka, Viktorovka, Gornal, Guyevo, Zamostye, Zaoleshenka, Kazachya Loknya, Pervy Knyazhy, Kolmakov, Kositsa, Kurilovka, Lebedevka, Loknya, Malaya Loknya, Makhnovka, Melovoy, Mirny, Nikolayevka, Oleshnya, Sudzha, Cherkasskaya Konopelka, Cherkasskoye Porechnoye, Yuzhny as well as Basovka, Belovody, Zhuravka, Miropolye, Novenkoye, and Yunakovka (Sumy region).
During the day, the AFU losses were more than 150 troops, one tank, two infantry fighting vehicles, two armoured personnel carriers, eight armoured fighting vehicles, 15 motor vehicles, one mortar as well as one UAV command post and one ammunition depot. Two AFU servicemen surrendered.
Since the beginning of hostilities in Kursk direction, the AFU losses amounted to more than 64,845 troops, 383 tanks, 293 infantry fighting vehicles, 255 armoured personnel carriers, 2,127 armoured fighting vehicles, 2,295 motor vehicles, 508 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.
[TOWNHALL] President Donald Trump ...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down... is expected to announce a new and major investment in American manufacturing from the White House Monday afternoon, marking yet another economic victory less than two months into his second term.
"Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. intends to invest $100 billion in chip-manufacturing plants in the U.S. over the next four years under a plan expected to be announced later Monday by President Trump, according to people familiar with the matter," the Wall Street Journal reports. "The investment would be used to build out cutting-edge chip-making facilities. Such an expansion would advance a long-pursued U.S. goal to regrow the domestic semiconductor industry after manufacturing fled largely to Asian countries in recent decades."
The news has been confirmed by the White House and Trump will host an event at 1:30 pm et to detail the investment and take questions from the media.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2025
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[Bloomberg] CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd., the Hong Kong-based conglomerate, agreed to sell control of a unit that operates ports near the Panama Canal after pressure from US President Donald Trump to limit Chinese interests in the region.
A consortium including BlackRock Inc., Global Infrastructure Partners, and Terminal Investment Ltd. reached a deal in principle to acquire units that hold 80% of the Hutchison Ports group, which operates 43 ports in 23 countries. The consortium will also acquire 90% of Panama Ports Co., which operates the two ports in Balboa and Cristobal. The transactions will deliver cash proceeds of $19 billion to CK Hutchison, the company said Tuesday in a statement.
Trump has said he wants the US to regain control of the Panama Canal, which was handed over to the local government in 1999, arguing without evidence that China has taken over the waterway. Panama’s government had been weighing whether to cancel its contract with CK Hutchison to operate the ports, Bloomberg reported last month.
Hutchison has run the ports in Panama’s Balboa and Cristobal under a concession that was first signed in 1997 and, in 2021, extended until 2047.
“Our review has shown that, as a direct result of decisions made by MSCI, these Americans are now unwittingly funding PRC companies that develop and build weapons for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA)—the PRC’s military—and advance the CCP’s stated mission of technological supremacy,” wrote the Select Committee’s Chairman, Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, and its ranking member, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat from Illinois. The committee sent an identical letter to BlackRock.
By sending massive amounts of American money to companies linked to the Chinese military and human right abuses, the letter said, BlackRock and MSCI are “exacerbating an already significant national security threat and undermining American values.”
#2
hanghai, January 15, 2024 – BlackRock today announced the appointments of Hua Fan as Head of China, and Jim Zhang as General Manager of BlackRock CCB Wealth Management Limited (“BlackRock CCB Wealth”), subject to regulatory approval.
BlackRock’s business in China has made great strides – from launching a fund management business and a wealth management joint venture, developing various investment capabilities across equities, fixed income and multi-asset strategies, to building a robust local team and growing leaders from within our business.
[THEHILL] The Office of Personnel Management on Tuesday updated its guidance to department heads that demanded the firing of federal workers, adding that it's up to the agency on whether to boot their hires.
The slight shift in the memo updates a Day 1 order from the OPM directing all government agencies to pull together a list of all employees still in their probationary period, those who were either hired or promoted within the last year or two — a period that varies by agency.
''Please note that, by this memorandum, OPM is not directing agencies to take any specific performance-based actions regarding probationary employees. Agencies have ultimate decision-making authority over, and responsibility for, such personnel actions,'' the OPM wrote in the Tuesday update.
The tweak comes after unions scored a court victory Thursday after suing over the Trump administration plans to fire probationary workers
''OPM's revision of its Jan. 20 memo is a clear admission that it unlawfully directed federal agencies to carry out mass terminations of probationary employees — which aligns with Judge Alsup's recent decision in our lawsuit challenging these illegal firings,'' the American Federation of Government Employees said in a statement Tuesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Remember, during the Covid Scamdemic, when only Key essential personnel needed to come into work and things still ran pretty smooth during the crazy pandemic rules?
A list featuring CIA employees’ first names and last initials was sent by the intelligence agency to the OPM. The employees on the list were still on probation, which makes the process of dismissing them easier.
[FoxNews] Serbian opposition lawmakers let off smoke grenades and tear gas in parliament on Tuesday to protest against the government and support demonstrating students.
A Serbian friend tells me this:
don't look at this crap - opposition is compromised. search for student protests social media content
[BREITBART] A Connecticut honor student is suing her school district, alleging that she was never taught to read and write.
Aleysha Ortiz, 19, graduated from Hartford Public High School in June with honors and was awarded a scholarship to the University of Connecticut — but despite those achievements, she alleges she is still illiterate, the New York Post reported.
Ortiz, who spent 12 years in the Hartford public school district and is a native of Puerto Rico, testified about her experience at a May city council meeting and explained how the educational system failed her.
“I decided, they [the school] had 12 years,” Ortiz told CNN. “Now it’s my time.”
Ortiz filed a lawsuit against the Hartford Board of Education, the City of Hartford, and her special education case manager, Tilda Santiago, for negligence.
The lawsuit details that Ortiz had learning disabilities as early as first grade and struggled with “letter, sound, and number recognition.” She alleges her issues were not addressed and she began acting out in school.
“I was the bad child,” she told CNN.
By sixth grade, Ortiz alleges she was only reading at the kindergarten or first-grade level.
As a sophomore at Hartford Public High School, Santiago was assigned as Ortiz’s special education teacher and case manager. Ortiz alleges in the lawsuit that Santiago bullied, harassed, and stalked her, and that Santiago was later removed from the role.
Ortiz’s mother, Carmen Cruz, barely speaks English but said she tried her best to advocate for her daughter, including speaking with school officials and the principal.
“I didn’t know English very well, I didn’t know the rules of the schools,” she told the CNN. “There were a lot of things that they would tell me, and I let myself go by what the teachers would tell me because I didn’t understand anything.”
By the time Ortiz was a junior in high school, she began to advocate for herself, which led to her teachers recommending she test for dyslexia, according to the report.
The lawsuit alleges that she was finally tested for dyslexia one month before she graduated, but the test was not finished until her last day of high school.
The test concluded that Ortiz is, in fact, dyslexic, and “required explicitly taught phonics, fluency and reading comprehension.”
Ortiz alleges that school district officials said she could defer accepting her high school diploma to receive intensive services, which she rejected.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2025
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Ortiz filed a lawsuit against the Hartford Board of Education, the City of Hartford, and her special education case manager, Tilda Santiago, for negligence.
[THEHILL] The Social Security Administration (SSA) said in a release that it has identified more than $800 million in savings or ''cost avoidance'' for fiscal 2025 among information technology, grants, property and payroll.
The SSA stated that it froze hiring and ''drastically'' cut back on overtime, saving about $550 million.
The government agency that administers the Social Security program said it cut back $150 million from the information technology systems (ITS) budget by canceling ''non-essential contracts and identifying reductions in other ITS contracts.''
Acting SSA Commissioner Lee Dudek said Monday evening the agency has ''operated on autopilot'' for far too long.
''We have spent billions annually doing the same things the same way, leading to bureaucratic stagnation, inefficiency, and a lack of meaningful service improvements,'' Dudek said in a statement. ''It is time to change just that.''
The SSA said it made a 70 percent reduction in travel, saving to the tune of $10 million. The agency said it also terminated $15 million in contracts and another $15 million in grants.
Other aspects that have seen reductions within the SSA are postage, printing, protective security officers and property.
The SSA began notifying workers last week that ''significant workforce reductions'' are about to take place as part of an ''agency-wide organizational restructuring.'' Up to 7,000 employees are expected to be let go, The News Agency that Dare Not be Named reported.
#6
How about giving it back to those from whom it was taken?
Consider a "thank you note" law that tracks every (taxpayer, tax dollar) pair when it is collected, matches it up with appropriated funds as they are spent, aggregates said information so that a periodic "thank you note" could be delivered to each taxpayer so he would know where his taxes were spent. If we had a surplus, a taxpayer might get a note stating, "your taxes went into the treasury and stayed there." Imagine that!
One could do the reverse, that is, let tax-takers know those who paid for the benefit received, but not everyone would get such a note, as we spend more than we take in, but perhaps the note could say "future taxpayers are on the hook for this, so spend it well!"
[GreyDynamics] Redut PMC: The Kremlin’s Private Army
Redut is a Russian Private Military Company (PMC) also known as Centre R, PMC Redut, and Redut Security. The organisation is part of the “anti-terror family,” a grouping of PMCs that protects Russian commercial interests and also advances Russian geopolitical goals. Nominally controlled by the foreign military intelligence agency of the Russian Federation, the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (GRU), it acts as a proxy umbrella organisation that manages several different PMCs. Established in 2008, it has operated in a variety of fields and theatres, including Syria and, during the Russo-Georgia War of 2008, in Georgia. It is currently active in both Ukraine and Africa through its sub-units.
1.6 REDUT RE-ORGANISATION AND GROWTH (2024-)
As of December 2024, Redut reportedly has an estimated 25,000 mercenaries and other contractors. It has emerged as the main Russian PMC organisation, is very active in Africa and Syria, and has operated alongside other Russian PMCs on the continent, such as the BEAR Brigade.
The reported leader of Redut, Konstantin Mirzayants, is allegedly tied to the Russian MOD, its operations in Africa, and the creation of “Africa Corps,” which is also reportedly assuming Wagner’s operations on the continent.
2 ORGANISATION OF REDUT
As Redut is not a sole military group, much like Wagner, it operates as an umbrella organisation. This means that it encompasses and also delegates tasks to several different units that operate underneath it.
Additionally, an investigation by the Ukraine-based Skhemy project and the Russian media Sistema confirmed that Redut is less of a private military company than it is a GRU front. This involved the recruiting of fighters for Redut by the GRU, operating through a network of ‘shadow companies,’ non-existent military units and additionally, fictitious legal entities to legally distance Moscow from ‘special operations.’
A useful table of organization can be seen at the link, even showing which units are partially and fully staffed. Following that comes brief descriptions of key units, weaponry, and so forth.
5 CONCLUSION
Redut, also known as PMC Redut, is a Russian Private Military Company (PMC). Part of the “anti-terror family,” a grouping of PMCs that protect Russian commercial interests, it is currently active in Ukraine and also Africa and stands accused of war crimes against Ukrainian forces. Its sub-units have been seen in active combat all across the Eastern front of the Ukrainian War. Using a variety of equipment–such as small arms, artillery and drones–it is a highly lethal collection of privatised fighters used by both the Russian Government and the GRU to advance their aims in areas, and in ways, deemed unsuitable for regular forces.
[NYPOST] One of the illegal migrants colonists accused of trying to ''breach'' Marine Corps Base Quantico last year has been scooped up by ICE for a second time — after President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. Too old and senile to be prosecuted, not too old and senile to set national policy... 's ICE let them go, The Post can exclusively reveal.
Hasan Yusef Hamdan, 32, along with student visa overstay Mohammad Khair Dabous, 28, were arrested on May 3 for allegedly trespassing onto the base and swiftly handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
By June, however, ICE cut them both loose after they each posted bond on their immigration cases — with Hamdan's set at $15,000 and Dabous' set at $10,000.
The illegal migrant pair were charged with misdemeanor trespassing on military property and were ordered released on July 22 so long as they agreed to appear in court for their immigration hearings and stay away from Quantico or other military bases, according to the court documents, which were first reported by Todd Bensman of the Center for Immigration Studies.
Now, Hamdan is back in an ICE detention center in Bowling Green, Virginia, according to federal law enforcement sources.
It was not immediately clear why he was re-arrested.
An ICE spokesperson didn't immediately respond to The Post's request for comment on the circumstances of Hamdan's latest detainment.
Hamdan entered the US in April by crossing the southern border illegally into San Diego, federal law enforcement sources previously told The Post.
He was apprehended by border agents, who quickly released him into the US due to a lack of detention space.
Cops have since confirmed that Dabous, who was driving the vehicle onto the base with Hamdan in the passenger's seat, ''had a valid reason'' to be at Quantico, according to court documents filed by Hamdan's attorney.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2025
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[Rudaw] A boat carrying around 20 Kurds from Sulaimani province is leaking in the English Channel, a relative of some of the passengers told Rudaw on Sunday. Hours later an activist said the French police rescued the asylum seekers.
"My brother, along with his wife and child, is on the boat and is asking for help," said Bestoon Abdullah, adding, "Until around 10:30 am today, the migrants colonists had an internet connection and were sending messages, but now their connection is gone."
Abdullah said that there are more than 20 Kurds stranded on the boat, and most of them are from Sulaimani's Raparin administration.
"Our ship is close; our boat has been punctured. We have been pumping air into it since last night as it is losing air and leaking," one of the asylum seekers on the boat was heard saying in an audio message Abdullah shared with Rudaw.
Ranj Pishdari, a migration activist in Europe, told Rudaw that the people on board still do not have internet.
"I have spoken with the French police, who asked for the location of the incident to help them because it is a broad area. However,
if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well... they [migrants colonists] do not have internet access; therefore, they have not sent their location until now," stated the activist.
Hours later, Pishdari said that the French police had rescued the migrants colonists, adding that the total number of people on board was 69.
Every year, tens of thousands of people from the Middle East seek to escape endless crises of lack of employment, political instability, and corruption by joining thousands of others from scores of countries taking perilous routes to Europe.
[Rudaw] Nearly 3,000 Yazidis kidnapped during the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... ’s (ISIS) brutal rule in Iraq remain missing with an unknown fate over a decade after jihadists invaded their heartland, an official affiliated with the Kurdistan Region Presidency said on Sunday.
Statistics from the Office of Rescuing Abducted Yazidis, affiliated with the Kurdistan Region Presidency, showed that the fate of 2,832 members of the ethnoreligious community remains unknown.
Nearly 5,000 have also died, leaving behind 2,745 orphaned children.
"We have worked on various cases, including those related to Iraq, Syria, Rojava [northeast Syria], and foreign countries," Hussein Qaidi, head of the office, told Rudaw. "In the coming days, we will rescue another person and announce their return."
In February, a Yazidi woman from Shingal (Sinjar) kidnapped by ISIS was rescued by the office and returned to her family after over ten years in captivity.
The office has also documented 93 mass graves of Yazidi Kurds who were killed by ISIS holy warriors between 2014 and 2017.
The remains of 274 abductees killed by ISIS have been recovered and returned to their families, including 37 women and 237 men, the office added.
In its assault on Shingal in 2014, ISIS holy warriors kidnapped 6,417 Yazidi women and kiddies, many of whom were subjected to sexual slavery and forced labor. Although the group was territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019, it continues to pose a security risk.
Many Yazidi women and kiddies have been rescued from al-Hol, the notorious camp in northeast Syria that houses tens of thousands of ISIS families and supporters. Others have been found in areas of Syria controlled by rebels or Ottoman Turkish-backed gangs, and some have been located in third countries.
[Garowe] A base believed to be the main headquarters of the ISIS turbans in Somalia was seized by the Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... security forces, the counterterrorism centre said in a statement, marking yet another significant step towards the liberation of the state from the Death Eaters.
For the last three months, the Puntland forces, without support from the federal authorities, have managed to topple the turbans from strategic areas — they have however, occasionally relied on Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s from the US Africa Command and the United Arab Emirates.
The operations even led to the death of a senior ISIS operative Ahmed Maeleninine, a key ISIS recruiter, financier, and external operations leader responsible for the deployment of jihadists into the United States and across Europe.
According to Puntland forces, concrete houses built by the turbans in the Cal-Miskaad mountains were discovered on Saturday, reflecting the commitment by the forces to overwhelm the group, which is behind attacks in the coastal town of Bosaso.
"Our forces today found concrete-built houses in Buqa-Caleed, Calmiskaad mountains, with offices and meeting rooms," the counterterrorism centre reports, just days after a similar cave with an underground tunnel was also discovered.
"These served as a major headquarters for the defeated ISIS terrorists. Two burnt vehicles and other equipment were also discovered," the centre further said, while acknowledging that the airstrikes may have displaced the Death Eaters.
Several turbans have died since Operation Lightning started, with a significant number surrendering to local authorities as well. The group has lost dozens of foreign nationals who have been training and fighting within Puntland state.
The last phase now aims at toppling the group from the final areas believed to be under their territory, with Puntland insisting that 'with or without Mogadishu's support, we shall win this war'. The military teams are approaching the mountains from different directions.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/05/2025
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[Rudaw] Some members of an all-Yazidi brigade of Peshmerga forces announced on Saturday that they had "resigned" from their brigade and announced their plan to join the Iraqi army. However,
women are made to be loved, not understood... a Kurdish military judge warned on Sunday that the move is illegal, adding that it could harm Erbil-Baghdad relations.
A representative of the deserted Peshmerga fighters, who were part of the Shingal (Sinjar) brigade - an affiliate of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) - on Saturday told journalists in Baghdad that they "resigned" from their military duties "within the borders of the Kurdistan Region" and from "all military and partisan ties binding us" to Erbil. They claimed the move was in rejection of the Kurdistan Region’s policies against the Yazidis and the "exploitation of their suffering for political gains."
Kurdawan Naqshbandi, a Kurdish military court judge, told Rudaw on Sunday that if these Peshmerga fighters answer to Iraq, it would be considered "defection," adding that it will also be a "violation of military discipline."
"If the Iraqi army accepts their defection, it will create a new point of contention with the Kurdistan Region," Naqshbandi warned, urging relevant authorities in Baghdad to handle the situation responsibly.
The Kurdish and Iraqi governments have yet to comment on the matter.
Naqshbandi further clarified that Peshmerga forces joining the Iraqi army without the official approval of Erbil is illegal and that such a move is illegal.
According to the military laws in the Kurdistan Region, those who defect will face trial in the military court under Article 48 of the Military Penal Code.
The brigade claimed that they consist of over a thousand fighters, including high-ranking officers, but their commander told Rudaw that their number is less than 200 fighters and do not include senior officers.
"The number they announced, claiming it to be 1,200 people, has no basis and they are not even 200," Qasim Shasho said. He noted that the brigade consists of around 8,000 members and will continue to fulfill their duty.
Shasho said a number of the deserted fighters have returned to the brigade.
Shasho’s brigade was formed after the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) attacked the Yazidi heartland of Shingal (Sinjar) in 2014, killing and kidnapping a large number of its residents.
The presence of a variety of gangs in Shingal has hindered the return of its people who fled the town during the ISIS attack.
[IsraelTimes] Senior Russian officers have visited Iranian missile sites throughout the past year as military ties developed; unclear if they have specific expertise in nuclear weapons
Several senior Russian missile specialists have visited Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... over the past year as the Islamic Theocratic Republic has deepened its defense cooperation with Moscow, a Rooters review of travel records and employment data indicates.
The seven weapons experts were booked to travel from Moscow to Tehran aboard two flights on April 24 and September 17 last year, according to documents detailing the two group bookings as well as the passenger manifest for the second flight. The flights came 10 days after Iran’s first-ever direct attack on Israel, and two weeks before the second and most recent attack, respectively.
The booking records include the men’s passport numbers, with six of the seven having the prefix "20." That denotes a passport used for official state business, issued to government officials on foreign work trips and military personnel stationed abroad, according to an edict published by the Russian government and a document on the Russian foreign ministry’s website.
Rooters was unable to determine what the seven were doing in Iran.
A senior Iranian defense ministry official said Russian missile experts had made multiple visits to Iranian missile production sites last year, including two underground facilities, with some of the visits taking place in September. The official, who requested anonymity to discuss security matters, didn’t identify the sites.
A Western defense official, who monitors Iran’s defense cooperation with Russia and also requested anonymity, said an unspecified number of Russian missile experts visited an Iranian missile base about 15 kilometers (9 miles) west of the port of Amirabad on Iran’s Caspian Sea coast in September.
Rooters couldn’t establish if the visitors referred to by the officials included the Russians on the two flights.
The seven Russians identified by Rooters all have senior military backgrounds, with two ranked colonel and two lieutenant colonel, according to a review of Russian databases containing information about citizens’ jobs or places of work, including tax, phone, and vehicle records.
Two are experts in air-defense missile systems, three specialize in artillery and rocketry, while one has a background in advanced weapons development and another has worked at a missile-testing range, the records showed. Rooters was unable to establish whether all are still working in those roles as the employment data ranged from 2021 to 2024.
It was unclear if any had specific expertise on nuclear weapons. Iran, whose leaders are sworn to destroy Israel, has said it opposes nuclear weapons, but has since December increased by about a half its already sizable stockpile of 60%-enriched uranium, according to a report by the UN nuclear watchdog last week. The enrichment rate is far beyond what is necessary for a civilian nuclear program and a short step away from developing nuclear warheads.
The Russian experts’ flights to Tehran came at a precarious time for Iran, whose proxies — including 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... ’s Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... , Leb ...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration.... ’s Hezbollah and Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... ’s Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... s — have launched attacks on Israel since October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led Lions of Islam stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.
Iran launched its first-ever direct attack on Israel in April 2024, firing some 300 attack drones and missiles in response to the killing of several Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members in an Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... near Tehran’s consulate in Damascus.
Months later, in October, Iran launched some 200 ballistic missiles at Israel in retaliation for the killings of His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah ...The late, lamented satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...> and Ismail Haniyeh ...became Prime Minister of Gaza after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continued as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintained a separate PM in the West Bank. Zapped during the 2023-24 war, to eveyone's satisfaction... , the leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas, respectively.
In both instances, the Iranian assaults were largely thwarted by Israel’s air defenses in cooperation with the US and its regional allies. Israel twice bombed Iran in response, the second time destroying much of its air defense systems as well as some rocket and drone manufacturing sites.
Rooters contacted all the experts by phone. Five of them denied they had been to Iran, denied they worked for the military, or both, while one declined to comment and one hung up.
Iran’s defense and foreign ministries declined to comment, as did the public relations office of the IRGC, an elite force that oversees Iran’s ballistic missile program.
The Russian defense ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Cooperation between the two countries, whose leaders signed a 20-year military pact in Moscow in January, has already influenced Russia’s war on Ukraine, with large numbers of Iranian-designed Shahed drones deployed on the battlefield.
ROCKETS AND ARTILLERY
The flight booking information for the seven travelers was shown to Rooters by Hooshyaran-e Vatan, a group of activist hackers opposed to the Iranian government. The hackers said the seven were traveling with VIP status.
Rooters corroborated the information with the Russian passenger manifest for the September flight, which was provided by a source with access to Russian state databases. The news agency was unable to access a manifest for the earlier flight, so it couldn’t verify that the five Russian specialists booked on it actually made the trip.
Denis Kalko, 48, and Vadim Malov, 46, were among the five Russian weapons experts whose seats were booked as a group on the April flight, the records showed.
Kalko worked at the defense ministry’s Academy for Military Anti-Aircraft Defence, tax records for 2021 show. Malov worked for a military unit that trains anti-aircraft missile forces, according to car ownership records for 2024.
Andrei Gusev, 45, Alexander Antonov, 43, and Marat Khusainov, 54, were also booked on the April flight. Gusev is a lieutenant colonel who works as deputy head of the faculty of General Purpose Rockets and Artillery Munitions at the Russian defense ministry’s Penza Artillery Engineering Institute, according to a 2021 news item on the institute’s website. Antonov has worked at the Main Rocket and Artillery Directorate of the defense ministry, according to car registration records from 2024, while bank data shows Khusainov, a colonel, has worked at the Kapustin Yar missile-testing range.
One of the two passengers onboard the second flight to Tehran in September was Sergei Yurchenko, 46, who has also worked at the Rocket and Artillery Directorate, according to undated mobile phone records. His passport number had the prefix "22"; Rooters was unable to determine what that signified, though, according to the government edict on passports, it isn’t used for private citizens or diplomats.
The other passenger on the September flight was 46-year-old Oleg Fedosov. Residence records give his address as the office of the Directorate of Advanced Inter-Service Research and Special Projects. That is a branch of the defense ministry tasked with developing weapons systems of the future.
Fedosov had previously flown from Tehran to Moscow in October 2023, according to Russian border crossing records viewed by Rooters. On that occasion, as he did for the September 2024 flight, Fedosov used his passport reserved for official state business, the records showed.
What could they be hiding?
[FoxNews] Conservatives tell GOP leaders, 'We will not support a government funding package that would be weaponized against President Trump'
A group of conservative lawmakers in the House and Senate is warning Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., against agreeing to restrict the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in a spending bill as the government shutdown deadline of March 14 inches closer.
The sometimes-resistant batch of Republicans is also committing to backing a clean stopgap bill for the rest of the fiscal year to avoid a shutdown, which they've opposed in the past.
"[W]e are deeply concerned about recent reports of Democrats’ demands for a government funding agreement that would perpetuate the unsustainable status quo of wasteful spending," Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., joined by several others, wrote to the congressional leaders.
The group of signers included several fiscal hawks in the House and Senate, many of whom have opposed stopgap spending bills on principle, preferring full-year appropriations bills.
"Any attempt to use government funding legislation to dilute the President’s constitutional authority to save taxpayer dollars must be rejected outright," the lawmakers wrote.
In this circumstance, the group of Congressional conservatives said they're willing to back a "clean" continuing resolution, or short-term spending bill, that lasts the rest of the year, for the sake of avoiding a government shutdown.
But they also made it very clear to Johnson and Thune: Don't let Democrats restrict DOGE in the spending bill.
The correspondence was co-signed by 19 other Republicans: Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., Ted Budd, R-N.C., and Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, and Reps. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., Ralph Norman, R-S.C., Barry Moore, R-Ala., Clay Higgins, R-La., Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., Brandon Gill, R-Texas, Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., Sheri Biggs, R-S.C., and Mark Harris, R-N.C.
Scott is the new chairman of the Republican Senate Steering Committee, a group of conservatives in the upper chamber that works to influence policy and priorities in their conference.
According to the sometimes rebellious group of Republicans, they "stand ready" to work with both House and Senate leadership to keep the government open. But, they said, "we will not support a government funding package that would be weaponized against President Trump at the very moment he is seeking to make good on the promises he made to the American people."
Johnson's office referred Fox News Digital to a recent appearance by the speaker on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures," where he said, "Heading up to the March 14 deadline, we'll have to probably pass a clean CR instead of separate [appropriations] bills. Why? Because the Democrats in Congress were trying to demand that as a condition of appropriations, that we would somehow tie the hands of the president, limit his authority, you know, put Elon Musk in a corner and take him off of his mission."
"We're not doing that. That's a nonstarter, and Democrats know that, so I hope they'll be reasonable," he said.
Thune's office declined to comment to Fox News Digital.
Last month, President Donald Trump sounded off on the shutdown deadline on Truth Social. "As usual, Sleepy Joe Biden left us a total MESS. The Budget from last YEAR is still not done. We are working very hard with the House and Senate to pass a clean, temporary government funding Bill ('CR') to the end of September. Let’s get it done!" he wrote.
The House Freedom Caucus has at times weaponized the House’s razor-thin majority to push for more conservative positions in negotiations and legislative matters. In the Senate, members of the more covert Steering Committee have also banded together in the past against actions by GOP leadership that they didn't agree with.
The deadline for a partial government shutdown is March 14, and Republicans and Democrats have yet to come to an agreement on a spending measure to avoid such a fate.
As Trump and billionaire Elon Musk's DOGE has aggressively tackled perceived waste and bloat in the federal government, Democrats have expressed outrage at widespread spending cuts and federal worker layoffs.
And now, with some leverage in the shutdown discussions, Democrats in Congress are demanding assurance that Trump spends the money as Congress has appropriated it, shielding it from DOGE.
Sources familiar with previously told Fox News this could take form in a specific bill provision hamstringing DOGE.
In order to pass a spending bill to avoid a partial shutdown, Republicans will need some level of Democratic support. Sixty votes are needed in the Senate, meaning at least seven Democrats will need to cross the aisle, provided that all Republicans also support it. Only a majority is needed in the House, but full Republican support of any bill is not guaranteed.
Do we object to the government shutting down for a bit? Historically, critical jobs continue to be done, just not the rest of them…
In a revelation that could shake the foundations of what we know about urban development and international sports, a source close to the matter has uncovered a sinister plot linking the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles to the upcoming 2028 Olympics and an obscure initiative known as SmartLA2028.
THE PLOT THICKENS WITH SMARTLA2028
The SmartLA2028 initiative, ostensibly aimed at transforming Los Angeles into a "smart and sustainable metropolis" by the time of the Olympics, is at the heart of this conspiracy. "It's all planned," claims our source, suggesting that the areas ravaged by fires are not coincidentally those designated for redevelopment under this initiative. "The burn sites match exactly with their maps for Smart Cities," they add, pointing to a meticulously planned operation to clear land for high-density, multi-family housing zones (R2 and R3).
FOLLOWING THE MONEY TRAIL
Digging deeper, the financial connections become disturbingly clear. Our insider has traced significant funding to this initiative, highlighting a web of interests that benefits from the transformation of the city's landscape. "When you follow the money, it leads to what I found," says the source, accusing a coordinated effort to manipulate urban zoning and development for the 2028 Olympics.
INSURANCE AND FIRE PROTECTION: A CONVENIENT COINCIDENCE?
Adding to the conspiracy, Governor Gavin Newsom's administration reportedly did not renew a crucial fire protection contract with Coleson Aviation for 2025, just before the fires escalated. Moreover, insurance companies like State Farm had canceled numerous homeowners' policies in the affected areas, leaving residents without coverage to rebuild. They are all in it together suggesting a calculated move to ensure that the rebuilding aligns with the SmartLA2028 vision.
A GLOBALIST OPERATION?
This suggest an international global agenda to reshape cities under the guise of environmental sustainability and smart city initiatives. The narrative suggests that these fires are not just natural disasters but are strategically set to pave the way for a new, controlled urban environment, perfectly timed with the global spotlight of the Olympics.
Posted by: 3dc ||
03/05/2025
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Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
I'm fairly sure the LA '28 Olympics will be a object lesson in how not to do things. Not that they will learn anything.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
03/05/2025 12:21
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Top||
#3
For the oly's, hah...more likely for an adversaries residents to occupy resi space en masse, quickly giving political control to swaths of land in like-minded "watchful communities".
1) The WH uses plastic eggs for the Easter egg roll. No one is putting thousands of real hard boiled eggs outside in the sun for hours. 2) No grocery stores are rationing eggs.
[NYPOST] Voice of America placed one of its highest-profile journalists on an ''excused absence'' pending a human resources probe over alleged critical comments about President Trump, according to a report.
Steve Herman, VOA's chief national correspondent, was informed of the investigation in a letter last week from the news agency's governing body, the US Agency for Global Media, the New York Times reported.
The government-funded news outlet, which broadcasts to hundreds of millions of people worldwide, told Herman he was being scrutinized due to ''social media activity [that] has undermined VOA's audiences' perceptions of the objectivity and/or credibility of VOA and its news operations,'' according to the letter reviewed by the Times.
Herman drew the ire of the Trump administration when he posted a link to a news story on his X account that included a quote from an analyst who was critical of the decision to defund the United States Agency for International Development.
Richard Grenell, the former US ambassador to Germany who currently serves as a special envoy, angrily wrote in response: ''Aren't you a taxpayer funded 'reporter' for @voa? Why are you working against President Trump's reform plans for the US budget?''
[THEHILL] A group of Democrats ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... is skipping President Trump's congressional speech Tuesday night and planning an alternate event, according to a blurb.
The blurb from Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) states that the Vermont House member, Sens. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Vt.), Chris Murphy (D., Conn) ...Junior senator for life from Connecticutt, foreign policy mastermind, a fast friend and a sympathetic ear to mullahs, ayatollahs, and similar riff-raff. The indigestable boilerplate on his website sez he has has dedicated his career to public service as an advocate for Connecticut families, which means approximately nothing except that he's never held an honest job. He's been a strong voice in the Senate fighting for job creation, affordable health care, education, sensible gun laws, and a forward-looking foreign policy. You can guess what that mess actually means, though the voters of Connecticutt seemingly can't... (D-Conn.), Ed Markey ...U.S. Representative-for-Life from Massachusetts, serving since 1976. He is a member of the Democratic Party, naturally.... (D-Mass.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and others are going to be a part of ''programming that will provide real time fact-checking, a Democratic pre-buttal and live reactions'' on YouTube with an 8:15 p.m. start time.
''I watched as the President swore an oath to uphold and protect the Constitution. I won't sit and watch him lie to the American people again,'' Balint said in the blurb.
''I attended the inauguration because I believe in the peaceful transfer of power, but Trump spewed lies, stoked division and fear and made no effort to unify our country,'' she added. ''There is no doubt tonight's presidential address will be more of the same. My conversation tonight will be the best way I can use my voice for Vermonters. They are sick of the lies and Trump's complete and utter disregard for our Constitution.''
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2025
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Top|| File under:
#1
and the collective IQ went up several points
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/05/2025 1:02
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Top||
#2
They should change name to American Globalist Party?
#7
The Dems showed their true colors last night. All they have is hate.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
03/05/2025 9:14
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#8
It seems the shrinking number of Liberals, Socialists and Democrats have issues with MAGA.
Now, if we could vote out those in Congress that follow a pattern and process, that always seeks to place blame for its own acts and failures on others.
The problem boils down to, too many will always get elected/reelected based on the cared for Voter Plantations and Metros populations on the Take and Hand-Out.
So I found out how much taxes I will pay to the fed on Monday, so when last night the dems had much eye rolling and mockery over $250,000 I was able to tabulate how many hard working barely making it self-employment tax (yes I pay an additional tax to work for myself) paying people like me it takes to pay just that amount, never mind the administrative costs, and it is over 100 chop busters like myself, and that is a relatively nothing amount except I can calculate how many trips to the grocery store I can take if I could keep that amount. It comes out to roughly every third day I could buy 7 days worth of food.
It is incredible.
And these people are like, "$8million to a Peruvian Trans Gender Comic Artist Support Program is not only Great! but such a trivial amount as to not even yawn at."
I'm sure I'm not the only one here who pays in; wouldn't you rather have that money instead of you and 99 others like you getting trimmed to pay some tart in Afghanistan $1.5million a year to teach Modern Western Art - which is both shit and insulting to those students - a plum job she got because her husband has connections to be paid for?
#17
I thought at first the Spaceballs were doing the thing that happens at home games for KU Basketball where the students pretend to read newspapers during the visiting team's introduction, but with their PEDs.
Towards the end they were missing cues to hold up their ping pong paddles, so with the whole world watching with baited breath, they were just being screentards. Embarrassing.
#18
I have a hot take on that cringe video bloc that 20 some people made.
You know that insufferable hollywood trope where they get like 6 different actors, one would say a line, then another would say the next line, yadda yadda yadd, and ends with like 5 saying the same line, "I hope - I hope -I hope" then the headline finishes "we can change the world."
I think maybe this was the raw footage to make that trope and for whatever reason - probably because they are talentless hacks who would hire a talentless hack because they didn't know better - it didn't get done but felt they needed to at least do that.
Of course, and more likely, they did the same script and choreography to show they were of a bloc. Bloc Heads, if you will.
[DAILYMAIL.CO.UK] Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ...hereditary prime minister of the Great White North... launched a blistering response to President Donald Trump ...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down... 's decision to level punishing tariffs on his country.
Looking directly into a TV camera and addressing 'Donald,' he said: 'Even though you are a very smart guy, this is a very dumb thing to do.'
Trudeau, at times close to tears during an emotional presser in Ottawa, was quoting a previous verdict on Trump's tariff policy delivered by the Wall Street Journal.
U.S. Imports from Canada will now be taxed at 25 percent as Trump's tariffs went into effect on Tuesday.
Trudeau said: 'Today the United States launched a trade war against Canada, their closest partner and ally, and their closest friend. At the same time they're talking about working positively with Russia, appeasing Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... a lying murderous dictator. Make that make sense.'
The United States imported $412 billion worth of goods from Canada in 2024, according to the US Census Bureau. Canada is America's third largest trading partner.
Trudeau veered between anger, frustration, defiance and sadness during his extended presser.
'We're insulted, we're angry, but we're Canadian, which means we're gonna stand up for each other, we're gonna fight...and we're gonna win,' he declared.
Trump has repeatedly proposed that if Canada wants to avoid the tariffs they should consider joining the United States as its '51st state'.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
"Havana will never capitulate! Oops"
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/05/2025 0:29
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#2
He's right though. Trade wars are usually dumb, trade wars between closest friends even more so.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/05/2025 7:58
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#3
Donald: Justin, clean up your room or you are grounded.
Justin: You're not the boss of me. I'll ground you. So there!
I get it. Nobody likes it when Dad tells you to clean your room. And Trump did tweak Canada's national pride with his cracks about Canada becoming the 57th state and referring to young Justin as "governor".
But Trump's end goal here was not a trade war, it was stopping the flow of fentanyl and illegals. Initially, I was quite surprised that when offered the choice between stopping the fentanyl trade and tariffs, the Canadians immediately chose tariffs. Given the widespread and continuing commotion on the Canadian side, I am thinking this is less about wounded national pride and more about government officials protecting their rice bowls.
Side Note: Canada does have a governor, the Governor General, who is appointed by the British monarch to administer the government of Canada in the monarch's name. A historical artifact from the time of the French and Indian War or something.
#4
Lumber for home building is sourced from Canada.
Alternatives to wooden studs, steel, is sourced from China.
Structural castings use cement from Mexico.
#7
You know what I noticed during The Elynskyy Event?
Nobody had on silly socks.
*furthermore:
"I will put on costume when Ukraine war is over"\
/shorter Elynskyyy
Here's the thing my Dude.
Trump is a business man. The President of the United States is expected to wear a suit during such events. This is called a Uniform. The Marine had on his suit.
Elynskyyy The Entertainer was dressed in LL Bean Tacticool. That is a costume. Probably why Trump made that quip when he got out of the vehicle.
"They say you're a pitcher not you're not much of a dresser. We wear caps and sleeves at this level, son."
/Coach Gammon, Major League (1989)
[NYPOST] Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told President Trump on Tuesday that the time had come to ''make things right'' after the US paused all military aid to Ukraine, but stopped short of apologizing for his role in a dramatic Oval Office dispute the previous Friday.
''Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be. It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right. We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive,'' Zelensky, 47, wrote on X.
The Ukrainian president had come to Washington on Friday expecting to sign a framework minerals deal with the US, but was booted from the White House after his meeting with Trump and Vice President JD Vance descended into a shouting match over perceived ''disrespect.''
Trump, 78, said at the time that he would next speak to Zelensky ''when he is ready for Peace.'' The White House announced the pause in aid to Ukraine Monday night.
''I would like to reiterate Ukraine's commitment to peace,'' Zelensky duly wrote in his X message Tuesday. ''None of us wants an endless war. Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians. My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump's strong leadership to get a peace that lasts.''
Vance, speaking to reporters on Tuesday at the Capitol, said the Trump team wants the Ukrainians coming to the table ''privately'' and offering what they would be willing to do to stop the three-year-old war.
The VP, 40, added to reporters he thinks Trump is ''still committed to the mineral deal'' and wants to see it go through — and that military aid could be turned back on if the Ukrainian side comes to the negotiating table with the president.
Zelensky publicly proposed a halt to all combat operations in the air and at sea ''if Russia will do the same'' — terms similar to what was proposed by European leaders over the weekend.
A partial truce, the Ukrainian president wrote, would amount to a ban on the use of ''missiles, long-ranged drones, bombs on energy and other civilian infrastructure,'' as well as a possible prisoner exchange with Russia.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2025
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[BREITBART] A migrant who escaped an ICE detention facility in Virginia has been recaptured, but three more who escaped with him remain on the loose, law enforcement officials said Monday.
Federal officials booked Jose Lovo-Bautista, 27, back into custody on Monday morning after he fled an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) holding center on Sunday afternoon, according to the Farmville Police Department.
Three other migrants colonists who broke out of the ICE facility alongside Lovo-Bautista are still on the lam at the time of writing: 22-year-old Wilmer Isaola-Medina, 25-year-old Jose Rodriguez-Rosales, and 22-year-old Byron Toledo-Henriquez.
The Farmville Police Department said it was not immediately informed of the mass escape by Immigration Centers of America (ICA), which manages the Farmville ICE detention center in question. Instead, ICA Farmville took several hours to relay the event to local law enforcement.
''While these individuals are deemed non-violent mostly peaceful and there is no perceived threat to our community, we do ask our citizens to use caution if they encounter these individuals as a matter of personal safety and contact Immigration and Customs Enforcement as soon as possible to bring these individuals back into custody,'' Farmville Police Chief Andy Ellington said in a statement.
Ellington added that he ordered increased patrols and surveillance of the local area to help find the three remaining runaways.
Israeli FM Gideon Sa’ar says Israel’s conditions for proceeding to stage two of the ceasefire are Gaza’s full demilitarisation and the return of captives.
[IsraelTimes] Foreign Minister Sa’ar tells media Israel ready to move on to second stage of complex truce, but terror group must give up more captives; defends halting humanitarian aid
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said on Tuesday that Israel was ready to proceed to the second phase of the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... ceasefire deal, as long as Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... was ready to release more of the 59 hostages it is still holding.
Speaking to international press in Jerusalem, the foreign minister also said the Hamas terror group’s main source of funding is now humanitarian aid flowing into the Strip, defending Israel’s decision to halt the delivery of goods into the enclave.
"We are ready to continue to phase two, we will come with our positions which are probably different from the positions of Hamas," Sa’ar said. "But in order to extend the time of the framework, we need an agreement to release more hostages. ’No free meals’ is a very known principle."
The three-stage ceasefire agreement, reached last month, halted some 15 months of fighting triggered by the group’s October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel, when Hamas-led bandidosturbans killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.
The US, Egyptian 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... i-mediated deal requires Hamas to release all its hostages, Israel to release thousands of Paleostinian security prisoners — including hundreds serving life sentences — and a halt to fighting in the Strip, followed by negotiations for a "sustainable calm" and IDF withdrawal from the enclave.
Dozens of hostages — alive and dead — were released in batches during the first phase, but the initial 42-day stage has expired and Hamas and Israel remain far apart on broader issues including the postwar governance of Gaza and the future of Hamas itself.
All remaining living hostages were due to be freed in a second phase of the ceasefire, but Hamas and Israel are deadlocked over how to extend the truce.
Israel announced on Sunday that it would halt the entry of aid into Gaza after negotiations over next steps in the fragile January 19 ceasefire hit an impasse.
Hamas says it wants to move ahead to the second phase negotiations that could open the way to a permanent end to the war with the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the devastated Paleostinian enclave and a return of the remaining living hostages.
But Israel says hostages must be handed over for the truce to be extended, and backs a plan to extend the first stage of the ceasefire during the Moslem fasting month of Ramadan, which began on Saturday, until after the Jewish Passover holiday in April.
US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and whatever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th and 47th President of the United States... ’s special Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff is due to visit the region in the next few days to discuss extending the ceasefire or moving ahead of phase two, the State Department said on Monday.
Sa’ar denied that Israel had breached the agreement by not moving ahead to stage two negotiations. He said there was "no automaticity" between the stages and he said Hamas had itself violated the agreement to allow aid into Gaza by seizing most of the supplies itself.
"Humanitarian aid became the number one source of income of Hamas in Gaza," Sa’ar said. "With that money they use for terror to restore their abilities and to get more young bandidosturbans into their organization."
Aid groups have said that looting and wrongful seizure of aid trucks into Gaza has been a major problem.
Sa’ar said Israel had allowed the aid into Gaza as a part of its responsibilities under the first phase of the ceasefire "as long as there was a commitment...to free our hostages."
After the first phase ended on Saturday, "we don’t have any commitment now to finance terror against ourselves," he said.
Sa’ar declined to comment on an Israeli media report that Israel had set a 10-day deadline to reach an agreement or resume fighting, but said: "If we want to do it, we will do it."
Posted by: Fred ||
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Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title.
[Korrespondent] 21:39 Soldiers of the 429th separate regiment of unmanned systems Achilles attacked the armored vehicles of the Russian occupiers in the Kupyansk direction. This was reported by the regiment commander Yuriy Fedorenko on his channel in Telegram.
21.25 US Vice President J.D. Vance, in a commentary to Voice of America, commented on the possibility of pressure on Russia by the Donald Trump administration in order to force the Kremlin to negotiate a settlement to the war it unleashed against Ukraine.
To the comment that the White House's actions resemble a lot of pressure on Ukraine but not a lot of pressure on Russia, he said: "I don't actually think that's true."
19:55 Ukraine's stockpiles of critical artillery shells could run out by May or June after the US aid was suspended. Missiles for the US Patriot air defense systems could run out even earlier, within a few weeks. This was reported by the US television channel CNN, citing an anonymous Ukrainian official.
19.12 The pause in US military aid to Ukraine is temporary. This was stated by Speaker of the US House of Representatives Mike Johnson at a briefing. According to him, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky must "fix what happened last week."
18:58 On Monday, March 3, the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine carried out a successful strike on a military facility of the 28th rifle battalion of the 60th separate motorized rifle brigade of the Russian Armed Forces in the area of the settlement of Troitskoye in the Kursk region. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on its Telegram channel.
18:42 Russian troops are attempting to cross the Dnieper River in four places in the Kherson region in order to open a bridgehead and secure their claims to part of the territory, the head of the Kherson regional military administration, Oleksandr Prokudin, said in an interview with The Guardian.
18:21 Ukraine is seeking to sit down at the negotiating table as soon as possible to achieve a lasting peace. This was announced by President Volodymyr Zelensky on the social network X. He named the first stages of a possible truce and took a step toward resuming dialogue with US President Donald Trump.
18:06 On Monday, the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine carried out a high-precision strike on the command post of the 98th Guards Airborne Division of the Russian Armed Forces in the settlement of Kalinina in the Donetsk region. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
17:42 US President Donald Trump will deliver a speech at a joint session of Congress, during which he will announce plans to end the war in Ukraine, Fox News reported.
16:31 Since the beginning of the day, 59 combat clashes have occurred on the front. Ukrainian troops have repelled all Russian attacks in the Pokrovsk area, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported in an operational summary as of 16:00.
15:44 About 90% of the U.S. weapons provided to Ukraine under previous aid packages under President Joe Biden have already been delivered to the country, ABC News reported, citing two officials. The distributed weapons will continue to flow from the U.S. to Ukraine for at least the next few years through contracts with private companies, the sources said.
15:20 Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate Kirill Budanov presented the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, 3rd degree, to the LASKA group cyber activists. This is the first time in the history of the Main Intelligence Directorate that cyber specialists from the civilian sector have received state awards of this level for their contribution to strengthening national security.
Their masterful actions in enemy cyberspace significantly reduced the capabilities of the Russian military-industrial complex, and also ensured the acquisition of critical information.
14:21 Information from the Polish border and the US aid hub in Jasionka confirms the report on the suspension of US military aid to Ukraine. This was stated by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk at a government meeting.
13:55 On Tuesday night, Ukrainian troops struck a number of important objects on Russian territory. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported the details.
13:47 The SBU has announced in absentia a suspicion notice to Russian actor-propagandist Ivan Okhlobystin, who agitates for war and murder of Ukrainians. A linguistic examination has confirmed the facts of the perpetrator's subversive activities in favor of the Russian Federation.
13:40 The FSB reported the detention and arrest in Voronezh of a Russian citizen born in 1991, who allegedly passed on information to the Security Service of Ukraine about the work of a restricted military enterprise, Russian media reports.
13:31 Russian troops continue to massively shell Donbass. Over the past 24 hours, the enemy attacked populated areas of the region at least 13 times, striking residential areas and infrastructure. This was reported by the press service of the State Emergency Service and the head of the OVA Vadim Filashkin on Tuesday, March 4.
In Pokrovsk, one person died. One house was destroyed, three were damaged. In the Kramatorsk district, Liman, Slavyansk, Konstantinovka and other settlements were hit.
In particular, in Konstantinovka a private house was destroyed, 25 residential buildings, an administrative building, a garage, power lines and a gas pipeline were damaged.
In the Bakhmut district, shelling affected Seversk - eight houses were damaged there. In the Ilyinovskaya community, one person was wounded.
13:21 Ukraine is grateful to the United States for significant military support, which helped it to withstand Russia. For now, such support continues. This was stated by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at a briefing in Kyiv.
13:20 In Saki (occupied Crimea) on the Yevpatoriya highway around midday a radar station from the S-300/S-400 air defense system was on fire. This was reported by the TG channel Krymsky Veter.
13:05 Ukraine needs to assess the possibilities of purchasing or receiving analogues of weapons from European partners, as well as conduct an audit of what can be developed within the framework of partnership cooperation. This was written by the adviser to the head of the President's Office Mykhailo Podolyak in Telegram, responding to reports of a possible halt in arms supplies from the United States.
12:44 Russia positively evaluates the decision of US President Donald Trump to suspend American military aid to Ukraine. This was stated by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov at a briefing. Now Moscow hopes that Donald Trump will lift sanctions against Russia.
12:33 Russian troops shelled the Kherson and Berislav districts with artillery, tanks, aircraft and drones. A police officer was killed, another law enforcement officer and five civilians were injured. This was reported by the press service of the National Police on Tuesday, March 4.
11:31 European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has unveiled the Rearmament Europe plan, which will mobilize 800 billion euros for Europe's defense and will help strengthen support for Ukraine, the EC reports.
10:55 A closed meeting of the Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence was held in the Verkhovna Rada. A negative scenario regarding the possible termination of military aid from the United States was considered. This was stated by MP, member of the Defense Committee Fedir Venislavsky.
10:20 Russian propaganda is spreading disinformation about alleged killings of civilians in the village of Russkoye Porechnoye in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation. This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council.
"As evidence, ru-propaganda is distributing a video showing the bodies of several dead people. The distributed video does not contain any real evidence. It is impossible to establish from it either the number of bodies, or the location of the events, or the identities of the dead, or the causes and circumstances of their deaths," the report says.
9:15 The Defense Forces shot down 65 Russian drones, which the Russians had been using to attack Ukraine since the evening of March 3, and another 32 UAVs were lost. This was reported by the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
8:49 Over the past 24 hours, 101 combat clashes took place on the front, with the Russians most often attacking the Pokrovskoe, Limanskoe, Kursk and Toretskoe directions. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
7:46 Over the past 24 hours, the Defense Forces destroyed 1,340 Russian occupiers. The total combat losses of the Russians from 24.02.22 to 04.03.25 were approximately 879,410 people. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
03:08 The Verkhovna Rada expressed gratitude to US President Donald Trump for supporting Ukraine's independence and welcomed his initiatives to begin a negotiation process aimed at ensuring peace. They noted that Ukraine deeply respects the desire of the American people for a comprehensive renewal of US global leadership. The parliament emphasized that Ukraine's security and stable development are ensured by Washington's unwavering support and "reflect the values that have been the foundation of America's historical success, inspiring millions of Ukrainians." The Rada also emphasized that the Ukrainian people strive for peace "like no one else in the world."
02:00 Donald Trump suspends military aid to Ukraine after a quarrel with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky. This includes weapons that are already being transported by planes and ships or waiting in transit zones in Poland. The White House said that the United States needs partners, like the head of the White House, to focus on peace. Therefore, the decision will remain in effect until the new US leader decides that Kyiv "demonstrates a good faith commitment to peace."
[IsraelTimes] Egypt’s Sissi presents proposal that would see Gazans remain in Strip during 5-year reconstruction, but avoids difficult questions on Hamas, which US says cannot remain in power
They’re completely missing the point: even if not in power, if allowed to stay in situ the community will do it all again. But then, Egypt has persuaded itself that they won the Yom Kippur War in 1973.
Arab leaders adopted an Egyptian reconstruction plan for 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... on Tuesday that would cost $53 billion and avoid displacing Paleostinians from the enclave, in contrast to US 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 "Middle East Riviera" vision.
Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi said the proposal, welcomed in subsequent statements by Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... and criticized by Israel, had been accepted at the closing of a summit he hosted in Cairo.
Only Israel’s opinion matters… And President Trump’s.
Sissi said at the summit that he was certain Trump would be able to achieve peace in the conflict that has devastated the Gaza Strip.
However,
there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... the agreement did not address the major questions that need to be answered about Gaza’s future regarding the role of Hamas
…none…
and which countries will provide the billions of dollars needed for reconstruction.
Sissi stressed that his country’s reconstruction plan would allow Paleostinians to remain in the war-torn territory.
No running water, no electricity, no sewer system, very few livable buildings — but lots of rubble, asbestos dust, unstable tunnel remnants, leaking poo ponds, and Hamas warehouses stuffed to the rafters with necessities hoarded away from the population. Why does President al-Sisi want the Gazans to suffer in the midst of squalor instead of letting them escape into the world where they can find jobs and healthy, comfortable places to live?
He said that independent Paleostinian technocrats unaffiliated with Hamas would run the Strip after an end to the war.
Israel also refuses to allow anyone related to the Palestinian Authority — which is just the old PLO with a pretty figleaf covering — to run Gaza. How many Gazan unicorns exist who are aligned with neither the PLO nor Hamas?
The committee would be responsible for the oversight of humanitarian aid and managing the Strip’s affairs for a temporary period, in preparation for the return of the Paleostinian Authority, he said.
In a statement, Hamas said it welcomed the plan as well as the formation of the Paleostinian committee.
Uh huh.
FUTURE OF HAMAS
There appeared to be divisions among participants over the future of Hamas, which sparked the war with the October 7, 2023 onslaught on southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people and took another 251 hostages.
The UAE, which sees Hamas and other Islamists as an existential threat, wants an immediate and complete disarmament of the terror group, while other Arab countries advocate a gradual approach, a source close to the matter told Rooters.
No gradualism. No Hamsniks. Let them move to Qatar or Turkey, somewhere far from Gaza.
A source close to Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... ’s royal court said the continued armed presence of Hamas in Gaza was a stumbling block because of strong objections from the United States and Israel, which would need to sign off on any plan.
Such perspicacity.
"President Trump has been clear that Hamas cannot continue to govern Gaza," White House National Security Council front man Brian Hughes said Tuesday in response to Arab leaders’ endorsement of the Egyptian plan. "While the president stands by his bold vision for a post-war Gaza, he welcomes input from our Arab partners in the region. It’s clear his proposals have driven the region to come to the table rather than allow this issue to devolve into further crisis."
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the Egyptian plan "fails to address the realities of the situation."
"It is noteworthy that Hamas’s vicious terror assault isn’t mentioned, and there isn’t even a condemnation of this murderous terrorist entity, despite the documented atrocities," the statement said.
Precisely.
It reiterated Israel’s support for Trump’s plan to resettle Gaza’s population elsewhere, describing it as "an opportunity for the Gazooks to have free choice based on their free will," a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again gave his full-throated backing to the proposal, calling it "visionary and innovative."
The Foreign Ministry statement also urged responsible regional states to "break free from past constraints and collaborate to create a future of stability and security in the region."
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty blasted Israel’s rejection as "unacceptable," describing its position as "stubborn and bad boy."
Too damned bad. This is what losing the war you started looks like.
"There will be no peace neither to Israel or to the region" without establishing an independent Paleostinian state in accordance with United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... resolutions, he said.
War it is, then. Egypt must be looking forward to being Lebanon in the next round.
He said "Israel violates all international law rules ... the international law must be imposed."
Some key elements were missing in the Egyptian education, if the Egyptian foreign minister is so deluded,
"No single state should be allowed to impose its will on the international community," Abdelatty said.
Go back and try again, dude your excellency. Joe Biden no longer lives in the White House. And if you don’t live up to your treaty obligations, America will summarily cut you off.
Paleostinians, along with the Arab world and many allies of Israel and the US, have condemned Trump’s proposal, rejecting any efforts to expel Gazooks.
That’s nice.
’PRESERVING THE HORIZON OF A TWO-STATE SOLUTION’
There’s the other fundamental error.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Sissi also reissued a call for a two-state solution.
No.
"There will be no true peace without the establishment of the Paleostinian state," Sissi said during Tuesday’s meeting. "It’s time to adopt the launching of a serious and effective political path that leads to a permanent and lasting solution to the Paleostinian cause according to the resolutions of international legitimacy."
So sorry, but the Palestinians in general have missed the boat, and then the Gazans holed it and burnt the sunken hulk.
The Egyptian plan, called "Early Recovery, Reconstruction, Development of Gaza," is based on "preserving the rights, dignity and humanity of the Paleostinian people, and on the horizon of a two-state solution."
The Palestinian state at this point is far beyond the event horizon by dint of their own efforts, both in Gaza, where they are still holding captives in inhumane conditions, and in the West Bank, where they are busily doing Hamas’s (and Iran’s bidding.
The Egyptian proposal says it is "illogical" to ignore Paleostinians’ desire to remain on their land.
Oh well. Anyway…
It also calls for the continuation of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and the release of Israeli hostages and Paleostinian prisoners.
The Egyptian document, reviewed by The Times of Israel, envisions a Gaza Administration Committee, made up of independent technocrats, to manage an initial six-month transitional phase. It also urges elections in all Paleostinian areas within a year, if conditions support such a move.
And now the Handwavium:
Using colorful AI images, it envisages a series of modern living spaces, agricultural zones, commercial centers and government complexes throughout the Strip. An airport and seaport would also be constructed, according to Egypt’s plan, which would continue until 2030.
The emir of 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... , Bahrain’s king, the vice president of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister attended the Cairo confab, as did UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
Any reconstruction funding would require heavy buy-in from oil-rich Gulf Arab states such as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, which have the billions of dollars needed. Egypt estimated the plan would cost US$ 53 billion.
PA Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa said the reconstruction fund would seek international financing as well as oversight and likely be located in the World Bank.
In a speech at the summit, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said international guarantees were needed that the current temporary ceasefire would remain in place, and supported the PA’s role in governing the strip.
Israel will not accept the PA. Try again with something else.
Leaders of the UAE and Qatar did not speak during open sessions of the summit.
Guterres said he fully supported the Egyptian plan.
"I welcome and strongly endorse the Arab-led initiative to mobilize support for Gaza’s reconstruction, clearly expressed in this summit," he said. "The UN stands ready to fully cooperate in this endeavor."
Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....> , also in attendance, said he too welcomed the plan. The 89-year-old — who has been ruling since winning the last Paleostinian national elections in 2005 — said he is ready to hold presidential and parliamentary elections if circumstances allow, asserting that the PA is the only legitimate governing and military force in the West Bank and Gaza.
Wrong. The PA is not a legitimate governing force in either the West Bank or Gaza.
Abbas has repeatedly promised to hold elections and then backtracked over the years.
And that’s why. If the long-overdue elections were ever actually held, Hamas would win in the West Bank, no matter what happened in Gaza.
Trump triggered surprise and indignation when he first floated his idea last month for the United States to "take over" the Gaza Strip and turn it into the "Riviera of the Middle East" while forcing its Paleostinian residents to relocate to Egypt, Jordan and elsewhere.
Trump has since appeared to soften his stance, saying he was "not forcing" the plan, which experts have said could violate international law.
Netanyahu has embraced the Trump plan, however, saying that Israel is "committed" to it. Working groups have begun fleshing out the plan, Israeli officials told The Times of Israel.
HAMAS WON’T LET ’EXTERNAL FORCES’ DETERMINE GAZA’S FUTURE
Hamas front man Hazem Qassem said Tuesday that the terror group will only accept an Arab-led plan for postwar reconstruction of Gaza that wins the support of Paleostinians in the enclave, rejecting "external forces" determining the future of the Strip.
"Our position is clear, any plans for Gaza’s future... must be reached through national consensus, and we will facilitate the process," Qassem told Ottoman Turkish news outlet Anadolu.
Earlier, leading Hamas figure Sami Abu Zuhri ...a senior spokesman for Hamas. Zuhri gained notoriety in 2006 when he dropped his money belt containing somewhere between 640,000 and 900,000 euros, which was confiscated by Paleostinian security and customs officials at a routine border crossing from Egypt to Gaza. The news brought competing Hamas and Fatah forces to the crossing checkpoint for an epic face-making and hollering contest... said the terror group would not disarm, and nor would other armed Paleostinian organizations. "Any talk about the resistance’s weapons is nonsense. The resistance’s weapons are a red line for Hamas and all resistance factions," Abu Zuhri said, speaking in the context of potential negotiations to end the current ceasefire.
And there it is.
AMBITIOUS FRAMEWORK, MISSING KEY SPECIFICS
The Egyptian plan doesn’t explain what Hamas’s fate would be, or how to prevent the terror group from intimidating officials or firing rockets at Israel.
Back to the drawing board.
It does call for Egypt and Jordan to train Paleostinian police, and a draft version encouraged the examination of an international force in the West Bank and Gaza.
That’s a detail, not the framework.
In the medium term, Israel and the Paleostinian Authority would negotiate final status issues.
No.
The early recovery phase would last six months and cost $3 billion, followed by a five-year reconstruction phase at a cost of $53 billion.
The plan takes its inspiration from the reconstruction of Hiroshima and Berlin, cities devastated by Allied attacks in World War II. They are now thriving, modern cities.
Before they were rebuilt, the countries had to surrender completely, disarm, and be de-Nazified for the Germans and the emperor lost his sacred status for Japan. Where is that in this plan?
Despite lacking solutions to fundamental challenges like Hamas’s role, the ambitious plan is concerned with issues like walkability, green buildings and smart cities.
It also doesn’t leave the Mediterranean resorts only to Trump’s plan. The Egyptian program also calls for resorts and tourist villages on the beach.
It plans for 120 hospitals and clinics to be constructed across the Strip.
The Cairo summit is taking place as Israel and Hamas find themselves at an impasse over the future of a fragile hostage-ceasefire deal that began on January 19.
The ceasefire’s first phase saw 33 Israeli hostages released, eight of them dead, in exchange for nearly 2,000 Paleostinian prisoners, including many convicted bully boyz serving hefty jail sentences. Five Thai nationals held hostage in the Gaza Strip were freed separately during that period.
While Israel said it backed an extension of the first phase until mid-April — including the release of the remaining 59 hostages in two batches toward the beginning and end of the Ramadan and Passover holidays that run through March and until April 19 — Hamas has accused Israel of violating the original deal and has insisted on continuing to the second stage.
Netanyahu on Monday warned Hamas that "there will be consequences that you cannot imagine" if the hostages still held by bully boyz were not released.
A senior Hamas official, Osama Hamdan, accused Israel of actively sabotaging the ceasefire, calling its push for an extension "a blatant attempt to... avoid entering into negotiations for the second phase."
Update at 11:30 a.m.ET: the full text of the proposal can be read here.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...the irrational fear that Moslems will act the way they usually do...
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
...46th president of the U.S. The man who made Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter look competent, if only by comparison....
...
...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects....
[BREITBART] 
...sour grapes lo-o-o-o-o-ser (Loser! Loser! Loser!) of the 2018 Georgia governor's race. Then she wanted to be Joe Biden's vice president, so now she can sour grape about that too...
Last year marked the highest level of emigration both Canada and Ontario have seen in several years. Emigration from Canada overall last reached that level in 2017, and in Ontario, the current levels haven’t been seen since 2011, according to the report, which is based on data from Statistics Canada.
...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down...
[BREITBART] A Connecticut honor student is suing her school district, alleging that she was never taught to read and write.
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
...
...every time you hear the phrase 
...hereditary prime minister of the Great White North...
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
