Just because HTS is now a government and the Emir sounds like he went to Harvard or Oxford, does not mean they are not a jihadi organization. HTS is a spin-off of Al Qaeda in Iraq, for goodness sake. And now Western Europe is giving them potloads of money — how is this different than funding ISIS or the Taliban?
[Rudaw] The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... on Monday pledged nearly €2.5 billion (around $2.7 billion) in aid for Syria, as global powers and regional countries convened in Brussels to drive donations and address the country’s humanitarian crisis caused by years of war.
"The European Union is increasing its pledge for Syrians in the country and in the region to almost 2.5 billion euros for 2025 and 2026," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during the conference, stressing that Syrians "need greater support, whether they are still abroad, or decide to go home."
According to von der Leyen, the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... estimates that up to 1.5 million Syrian refugees may return to their country this year, along with an additional 2 million displaced persons inside Syria expected to go back to their hometowns. "Today we are working with the host countries and UN agencies to support them along the way," said the European Commission president.
Germany pledged around $327 million to UN agencies and select organizations to assist Syria, while the UK pledged $200 million to provide food, healthcare, and education. Of note, the British government had also lifted sanctions on two dozen Syrian entities, including the country’s central bank, earlier in March.
The donations come after the EU Council had in late February suspended measures targeting the energy and transport sectors in Syria and vowed to release funds and economic resources to the Syrian Central Bank. It also said it would introduce exemptions to the prohibition on banking relations between Syria’s financial institutions and those in EU member states.
While noting that the measures aim "to facilitate engagement with Syria" in key areas and financial and banking transactions essential for "humanitarian and reconstruction purposes," the EU Council said in late February that it would "closely monitor the situation" in Syria and "assess whether further economic sanctions could be suspended." It warned that sanctions would be reinstated if the situation does not progress in the "right direction."
Notably, Monday’s conference in Brussels marked the ninth of its kind but was the first to include a representative of the Syrian state, Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani.
Following a swift offensive, a coalition of opposition groups led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... - headed by Ahmed al-Sharaa - in December toppled the Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs... regime. In late January Sharaa was appointed as Syria’s interim president. and has since vowed to hold "free and fair elections" and form an inclusive government.
Since taking office, the new leadership in Damascus has been adamant about lifting international sanctions.
In recent weeks, violence erupted like lava from a volcano in Alawite-majority coastal areas west of Syria when Assad loyalists launched attacks on Damascus-affiliated security forces.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported around 1,500 deaths, mostly Alawite civilians, adding that the deaths were namely caused by government or government-affiliated forces.
The violence has sparked international condemnation, with calls by observers to link any relief to the new Syrian leadership to tangible commitments to an inclusive political process.
[WashingtonFreeBeacon] The cuts are a part of the administration’s continuing review of the totality of Columbia’s $5 billion in federal funding
The Trump administration on Friday slashed additional grants to Columbia University totaling approximately $30 million, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.
The administration is in the process of reviewing the totality of Columbia’s $5 billion in federal funding, and the fresh round of cuts comes on the heels of the administration’s decision to cancel $400 million in grants and contracts to the Ivy League school announced earlier this month.
At the time, the Trump administration’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism said the initial cuts constituted "the first round of action" and that additional cuts were expected to follow as the review continued.
The $30 million in grants came from the Department of Health and Human Services, which took action as a member of the task force, and the administration is reviewing further cuts across other agencies as well, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Columbia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Among the Columbia faculty members impacted by Friday’s cuts is Jeanine D’Armiento, the chairwoman of the University Senate Executive Committee, who has played a leading role pushing back against the school’s modest efforts to discipline students involved in disruptive and frequently anti-Semitic protests. Grants supporting D’Armiento’s work account for approximately $2 million of the $30 million cut Friday, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The Trump administration on Thursday sent Columbia interim president Katrina Armstrong a detailed letter addressing the cuts and outlining a series of steps that the university must take in order even to enter into discussions with the administration about the restoration of lost funds.
"This letter outlines immediate next steps that we regard as a precondition for formal negotiations regarding Columbia University’s continued financial relationship with the United States government," it read.
Those steps include the enforcement of existing disciplinary policies, the imposition of a mask ban that would allow the university to identify protesters, and the adoption of a plan to reform the school’s admissions process.
[Garowe] The operations against al-Shabaab ... al-Qaeda's tentacle in East Africa... in central and southern regions seem to be yielding fruits as more locals join the Somali National Army (SNA) in recovering strategic areas within the country as the call for stability becomes a reality.
For the last two months, the Somali National Army has sustained operations against the group, which has been significantly pushed to almost submission with the assistance of the US Africa Command and the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM).
At Sumadale in Middle Shabelle, close to 30 al-Shabaab fighters were killed following a well-executed operation by the national army and local fighters. The snuffies were plotting a potentially devastating attack against the government troops.
"National and local forces dealt a major blow to Kharijite snuffies in Sumadale, Middle Shabelle, today, killing over 30 fighters," state media reports. State media news hound Sadam Abdulle, embedded with the forces, confirmed the operation.
Earlier, at Awdheegle, the Somali National Army delivered a significant and unforgettable blow to the al-Shabaab snuffies attempting to attack their positions. The confrontation occurred in the Awdheegle District of Lower Shabelle and the Buursha Sheekh area of Middle Shabelle, where the snuffies suffered substantial losses.
In a separate operation on Friday evening, the National Forces executed a planned raid that successfully dismantled the bad boy’s gathering site in the Labada Garas area of Middle Shabelle, resulting in the elimination of all Death Eater present.
Further, in Bakool, the Somali National Army with assistance from the local troops, managed to pull yet another victory, killing over 40 al-Shabaab fighters. The determination reflects the commitment of the government to defeat the group that has existed for almost two decades.
The government has finalized deployment agreements for the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia, with Kenya, Djibouti, Æthiopia, Egypt, and Ugandan troops cleared to operate within the country. Burundi is yet to agree on the number with the federal government.
[Garowe] The Somali National Army (SNA) destroyed several bases occupied by the al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... holy warriors within Jilib town — the official headquarters of the group, and perhaps the only remaining stronghold within Middle Jubba.
State media reports that the SNA, with the help of international partners, launched strategic Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s within Middle Jubba, targeting the group’s fighters. The region is partially under the control of the al-Shabaab with minimal government control.
"The operation targeted critical sites, including the district headquarters, a guerrilla command center, training camps, an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) manufacturing facility, and the residences of big shots Hassan Yaqub and Amin," the statement read.
"All designated targets were successfully destroyed, with significant enemy casualties reported as the government continues to assess the full impact."
Amin and Hassan Yakub are believed to be senior coordinators of the al-Shabaab activities and have been on the run for several years. To counter their influence, the government had marked them as wanted but their whereabouts remain unknown.
Simultaneous operations were also conducted in Ceel Bacad, near the Middle Shabelle-Galgaduud border, and in Mubarak, Lower Shabelle, striking key terrorist positions, the state media further reports.
"The Somali government reaffirmed its determination to eliminate the Kharijites, urging civilians in Death Eater-controlled areas to avoid enemy locations as counterterrorism operations intensify," state media further stated.
The government reiterated its commitment to ensuring the safety of Somali citizens while neutralizing threats posed by murderous Moslem groups. In the last two months, the local forces with the help of the international partners, have targeted holy warriors in central and southern regions, killing dozens in the process.
[Rudaw] The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Monday that at least nine members of a family were killed in an Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... near the symbolic Kurdish city of Kobane in northern Syria.
"The martyrdom toll from a Ottoman Turkish airstrike between the villages of Qomji and Barkh Botan, south of Kobane, has risen to nine civilians from the same family, with two additional family members maimed," the SDF said in a statement.
The Ottoman Turkish airstrike on Sunday night "targeted a family engaged in agricultural work," according to the SDF.
The strike came after the SDF last week reported "intensified attacks" with The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... and Ottoman Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) Lions of Islam on Tishreen Dam and Qere Qozaq bridge in northern Syria.
Attacks on the strategic sites — controlled by the SDF — have been ongoing since a coalition of rebels led by the Islamist Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... (HTS) toppled Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... ’s regime in December.
The SNA is also threatening Kobane, where Kurdish fighters of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) with US backing famously repelled a brutal 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) offensive in January 2015.
But Ankara considers these Kurdish fighters as terrorists. It claims that the YPG is the Syrian front for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been engaged in a decades-long conflict with the Ottoman Turkish state.
[PJMedia] Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been slapped with a $54,000 penalty for blatantly violating Georgia’s open records laws in her politically motivated prosecution of President Donald Trump ...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party... "The county’s Superior Court Judge Rachel Krause formalized her ruling Friday and ordered Willis to pay $54,264 in attorneys' fees and litigation costs after ’intentionally’ failing to provide records requested by Ashleigh Merchant, the attorney who filed the motion to disqualify Willis from prosecuting Trump on charges of allegedly interfering with the 2020 presidential election," reports Fox News Digital.
Krause stated that Willis’ office failed to provide documents related to the employment of Nathan Wade, the former special assistant district attorney forced to resign from the Trump case due to his romantic relationship with Willis.
Merchant believed that Willis and Wade may have financially benefited from Wade’s appointment as the special prosecutor in the case.
"Defendants — through the Open Records custodian, Dexter Bond — were openly hostile to counsel for Plaintiff, Ms. Merchant, and testified that Ms. Merchant's requests were handled differently than other requests," the court order said.
Bond, who testified that his usual practice was to call a requestor to receive additional information to fulfill requests, indicated that he refused to communicate with Merchant by telephone, the court order stated.
"While there is no requirement under the ORA for Mr. Bond to call any requestor about a particular request, Mr. Bond's handling of Ms. Merchant's requests in this manner indicates a lack of good faith," the order said. "Defendants’ failures were intentional, not done in good faith, and were substantially groundless and vexatious."
#2
Fani’s office was fined the nominal amount of her boyfriend’s expense report for a month. Fani’s personal mattress vault remains intact.
In a manner of speaking.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/18/2025 11:58
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Top||
#3
How about FULL RESTITUTION OF ALL EXPENSES Incurred by Trump & the GA TAXPAYERS?
That should several $ MILLION.
Given, this was a clear and obvious Political Abuse of the Legal system and violation of her Oath Of Office (OCGA 16-10-1, 2, 3) Put her in jail.
Plus, since she violated Trumps and other individuals Civil Rights (a Felony under) worth 3 to 5 year system. Again, put her in jail for few more years.
Plus, using 42 U.S.C. It allows those that have their civil rights violated to sue state actors for constitutional violations. Get her a room at GitMo or a Voter Plantation.
Plus, in light of her abuses, the ABA should consider Disbarment.
BTW: The $54K, more than likely won't come out of her pocket, but some slush fund arranged by the actual persons behind the attempted Railroad and abuses.
[IsraelTimes] Prosecutors, FBI officials to take up symbolic case against Sinwar and other Hamas leaders for Oct. 7 atrocities, will investigate support for terror group on American soil
The US Justice Department on Monday announced the creation of a task force to investigate Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... for its October 7, 2023 attack, as well as potential civil rights violations and acts of antisemitism by supporters of the terror group.
Agents and prosecutors participating in "Joint Task Force October 7," or JTF 10-7, will investigate and seek to bring charges against Hamas faceless myrmidons directly responsible for the rampage in southern Israel, the department said.
"The barbaric Hamas faceless myrmidons will not win — and there will be consequences," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement, announcing the task force.
The Biden administration’s Justice Department unsealed charges last September against Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other senior Hamas figures who helped carry out the October 7 massacre.
The impact of the case is mostly symbolic, given that Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces weeks later and several other defendants are believed now to be dead. The new task force will nevertheless take over those pending charges, the department said.
The announcement of the task force came as 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... has issued what he has called a "last warning" to Hamas to release all remaining hostages held 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... His administration has taken universities to task over a perceived failure to stamp out antisemitism on their campuses, as well as foreigners who participated in anti-Israel demonstrations.
The Justice Department announced this month that it was investigating whether Columbia University concealed "illegal aliens" on its campus, and federal immigration agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia graduate student prominent in anti-Israel protests on the New York campus.
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... has said he revoked Khalil’s permission to be in the US because of his role in the demonstrations, saying they had riled up "anti-Jewish" sentiment and amounted to support for Hamas.
The White House has said Khalil was detained and faces deportation due to his protest group distributing pro-Hamas propaganda. Khalil’s lawyers have challenged his detention in court.
Monday’s announcement said the task force, made up of prosecutors and FBI officials, also will investigate civil rights violations and potential acts of terrorism by anyone providing support or financing to Hamas.
It did not define what sort of support would be illegal, though federal law makes it a crime to provide material support to designated foreign terrorist organizations such as Hamas, and also prohibits foreign nationals from espousing support for such groups.
The Justice Department said FBI agents will be embedded with Israel’s National Bureau of Counter Terror Finance.
[IsraelTimes] War monitor says 5 Syrian soldiers killed Monday, during clashes that began Saturday, when 3 Syrians were killed in Lebanon in alleged Hezbollah abduction
Leb ...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects.... ’s president on Monday ordered troops to retaliate for gunfire from the Syrian side of the border after deadly fighting erupted overnight along the tense frontier and as more was reported on Monday.
"What is happening along the eastern and northeastern border cannot continue and we will not accept that it continues," Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun said on X. "I have given my orders to the Lebanese army to retaliate against the source of fire."
Aoun added that he asked Lebanon’s foreign minister, who is currently in Brussels for a donors conference on Syria, to contact Syrian officials to resolve the problem "and prevent further escalation."
The fighting occurred after Syria’s interim government accused operatives from Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group of crossing into Syria on Saturday, abducting three soldiers and killing them on Lebanese soil.
It was the most serious cross-border fighting since the ouster of longtime Syrian president Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators... in December.
State-run Syrian News Channel, citing an unnamed Defense Ministry official, said the Syrian army shelled "Hezbollah gatherings that killed Syrian soldiers" along the border. Hezbollah denied involvement in a statement on Sunday.
Information Minister Paul Morkos said Lebanon’s defense minister told a cabinet meeting that the three killed were smugglers. He added that one child was killed and six people were maimed on the Lebanese side.
On Monday, a Syrian soldier was reported killed by Hezbollah rocket fire and at least three people were killed as the Syrian army shelled a Lebanese village, Arabic-language media reported.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britannia-based war monitor of unclear funding, said five Syrian soldiers were killed during Monday’s festivities.
Lebanon’s state news agency reported that fighting intensified Monday evening near the Lebanese town of Hermel.
Violence recently spiked in the area between the Syrian military and armed Lebanese Shiite clans closely allied with the former government of Assad, based in Lebanon’s al-Qasr border village.
Lebanese media and the observatory say clans were involved in the abductions that sparked the latest festivities.
The Lebanese and Syrian armies said they have opened channels of communication to ease tensions. Lebanon’s military also said it returned the bodies of the three killed Syrians. Large numbers of Lebanese troops have been deployed in the area.
Lebanese media reported low-level fighting at dawn after an attack on a Syrian military vehicle. The number of casualties was unclear.
SYRIAN JOURNALISTS EMBEDDED WITH ARMY LIGHTLY WOUNDED
Early Monday, four Syrian journalists embedded with the Syrian army were lightly maimed after an artillery shell fired from the Lebanese side of the border hit their position. They accused Hezbollah of the attack.
Meanwhile,
...back at the shattered spaceship, Fffflirgoll the Arcturan slithered stealthily toward the control room, where the humans had barricaded themselves... senior Hezbollah politician Hussein Haj Hassan, in an interview with Lebanon’s Al Jadeed television, accused fighters from the Syrian side of crossing into Lebanese territory and attacking border villages. His constituency is the northeastern Baalbek-Hermel province, which has borne the brunt of the festivities.
Hezbollah was a key backer of Assad before he was toppled in a lightning offensive by Islamist-led rebels in December.
Syria’s new authorities announced last month the launch of a security campaign in the border province of Homs, aimed at shutting down routes used for arms and goods smuggling. They accused Hezbollah of launching attacks, saying it was sponsoring cross-border smuggling gangs.
Lebanon, meanwhile, has been seeking international support to boost funding for its military as it gradually deploys troops along its porous northern and eastern borders with Syria as well as its southern border with Israel.
A journalist and a photographer were injured on Monday amid clashes between Syrian security forces and alleged Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, Syrian state media reported.
“A photographer and a journalist were injured on the Syrian-Lebanese border near the Zeita Dam after being directly targeted by a guided missile fired by Hezbollah militia,” Syria’s state-run SANA news agency said, citing a source in Homs province.
On Sunday, Syria's defense ministry accused Hezbollah of kidnapping three Syrian army soldiers, abducting them into Lebanese territory, and executing them. Hezbollah denied involvement. Maybe it was UNRWA?
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, reported on Monday that four Syrian army soldiers were killed “in clashes with tribal gunmen on the Syria-Lebanon border, putting the Syrian death toll at eight since clashes erupted.”
This is not the first time skirmishes have occurred along the Lebanon-Syria border since the new Syrian leadership assumed power in Damascus.
In early February, the state-run Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) said that the Lebanese Army began responding with "appropriate weapons" to sources of fire that targeted Lebanese territory from within Syria. The army issued orders to military units deployed on the northern and eastern borders to "respond to the sources of fire launched from Syrian territory targeting Lebanese land."
The Lebanese-Syrian border is geographically complex, characterized by mountains, valleys, and plains, with no clear demarcations separating the two countries. The two sides share six land border crossings, extending over a distance of about 375 kilometers.
The new Syrian leadership has expressed keenness to strengthen its security presence along the border with neighboring countries, including Lebanon, as part of broader efforts to stabilize domestic conditions and combat drug smuggling and remnants of the previous regime.
Foreigner who supports a listed terror group is here on a temporary visa? Send her home — there are plenty of foreigners with her skills who don’t feel the need to carry Nasrallah videos on their phone so they’re always available.
A doctor from Leb ...The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else?... who arrived at the Boston airport was deported over the weekend without explanation, despite having a US visa and a job teaching at Brown University.
Dr. Rasha Alawieh had been granted a visa on March 11 and flew into Boston on Thursday, according to a complaint filed on her behalf by a cousin, Yara Chehab, in federal court.
Upon landing, Customs and Border Protection officers detained her at the airport for at least 36 hours, through Friday, and planned to send her back to Lebanon.
Three days later, Justice Department lawyers claimed that officers deported Alawieh after finding "sympathetic photos and videos" of prominent Hezbollah figures in the deleted items folder of her cellphone, Politico reported Monday.
"CBP questioned Dr. Alawieh and determined that her true intentions in the United States could not be determined," Assistant US Attorney Michael Sady wrote in the court filing.
US District Judge Leo Sorokin issued an earlier order on Friday that an in-person hearing was scheduled for 10 a.m. on Monday, with Alawieh brought to court. The order barred Alawieh’s removal from Massachusetts without 48 hours’ notice to the judges.
But on Saturday, the cousin filed a motion claiming customs officials "willfully" disobeyed the judge by putting Alawieh on a plane headed for Gay Paree, where she was then set to board a flight for Lebanon.
Sorokin seemed to concur with the cousin’s claim, writing that there was reason to believe customs officials had knowingly flouted his previous order, the New York Times
...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... reported.
However he apparently walked this back just as the hearing was set to begin Monday morning, according to CNN ...formerly the Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for... , after reportedly receiving testimony that customs officials had only been made aware of his order following Alawieh’s departure from the US.
Lawyers for the government explained in a court filing Monday that officers at the airport did not receive notice of the order until she "had already departed the United States," the judge noted. They asked that the petition be dismissed.
The judge put a hearing on her case on hold, to give Sorokin’s lawyers time to prepare.
Alawieh, a 34-year-old kidney transplant specialist who previously worked and lived in Rhode Island, was to start work at Brown University as an assistant professor of medicine.
She had worked at Brown prior to the issuance of her H-1B visa, which is granted to skilled foreign nationals to work in the US, the complaint said.
She had held a visa to be in the United States since 2018, when she first came to complete a two-year fellowship at Ohio State University. Before that, she had completed a fellowship at the University of Washington and then moved to the Yale-Waterbury Internal Medicine Program, which she finished in June.
A spokesperson for Brown said Alawieh is an employee of Brown Medicine, with a clinical appointment to Brown.
Her expulsion is the latest move against a foreign-born person with a US visa in the past week, after an anti-Israel student activist at Columbia University was arrested and another student’s visa was revoked.
The Trump administration also transferred hundreds of immigrants colonists to El Salvador even as a federal judge issued an order temporarily barring the deportations.
"My colleagues and I are outraged over Dr Alawieh’s deportation. She is a valued colleague and we hope for justice and her return to Rhode Island," said George Bayliss, an associate professor of medicine at Brown University.
US Representative Gabe Amo of Rhode Island, a Democrat, said in a statement over the weekend that is "committed to getting answers from the Department of Homeland Security to provide Dr. Alawieh, her family, her colleagues, and our community the clarity we all deserve."
In a campuswide email sent Sunday and viewed by The Wall Street Journal, Brown said that "out of an abundance of caution" it was asking those from outside the U.S.—including those with visas or green cards—to postpone or delay personal travel abroad.
Brown, whose campus is in Providence, R.I., said potential changes in travel bans and re-entry requirements "may affect travelers’ ability to return to the U.S. as planned." The Ivy League school said it was making the recommendations ahead of spring break, which is next week.
The email follows the detention and deportation of Dr. Rasha Alawieh, an assistant professor at Brown University and kidney-transplant specialist. Immigration officials held Alawieh, a holder of a Brown-sponsored H1B visa, at Logan International Airport when she was trying to re-enter the U.S. from a trip to Lebanon, her home country.
The H1B visa program, created by Congress in 1990, allows high-skilled foreign workers to come to the U.S. Visa holders can eventually apply for green cards and stay in the country indefinitely.
Homeland Security said Alawieh returned to Lebanon "to attend the funeral of His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah ...The late, lamented satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...> —a brutal terrorist who led Hezbollah, responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade terror spree."
Federal prosecutors said Alawieh had pictures on her phone of Nasrallah and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...> , the leader of Iran, and that she deleted the photos shortly before returning to the U.S.
A little more than just innocent photos. She showed awareness and intention.
Alawieh told immigration agents that she doesn’t support Hezbollah.
Then why did she go halfway around the world to attend that funeral?
She said she is a member of WhatsApp groups with families and friends who share such photos, according to a transcript of her interview with Customs and Border Protection, filed to the U.S. District Court in Boston.
Alawieh said that Nasrallah, a Shia Moslem, was highly regarded in the Shia community as "a religious figure," prosecutors wrote. Alawieh follows him for his religious and spiritual teachings but not his politics, prosecutors said.
In Islam the two are linked.
Earlier this month, other schools warned about travel ahead of spring break. Dartmouth College told international staff and students to be aware of possible travel bans.
Columbia University, meanwhile, told international students to "exercise caution" when traveling abroad. It also asked those from countries that were part of previous travel bans, including Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea ...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche... , Pakistain, Somalia, Sudan ...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans... , Syria, Venezuela
...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south... 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... , to "avoid non-essential travel outside of the U.S."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2025
2025-03-18 02:27 ||
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#1
I'm sure there are a dozen applicants for that position who are better than her professionally (but happen to be white, heterosexual males - maybe even Jews or Asians.)
Iran says it has not violated the UN arms embargo on Yemen, asserts that Houthis and Yemeni authorities “operate independently in their decision-making and actions,” and denies involvement in any destabilizing activities in the region.
Business as usual, giving no sign Hell was about to rain down on Gaza Monday night.
[IsraelTimes] Palestinian suspects trying to plant bomb near troops in Strip
On Monday, the IDF carried out several strikes in the southern and central 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.
Two separate dronezaps were conducted in the Bureij area of central Gaza, with the IDF saying it had targeted two groups of terror operatives trying to plant bombs in the ground, near troops.
According to Paleostinian media reports, five were killed in the strikes.
Separately, the IDF said it carried out another strike against a group of terror operatives who were trying to plant a bomb in the ground near troops in southern Gaza’s Rafah, which local media said left several maimed.
Dramatic night as Saudi sources now claims Iranian intel ship Zagros (SIGINT) was sunk by U.S. forces at the same time the IDF conducts wide-ranging strikes in Gaza after Israel discovers Hamas was plotting another major Oct 7 style attack. Gaza ceasefire officially over,… pic.twitter.com/VdV8UtXeol
[IsraelTimes] Military says it hit Hezbollah surveillance operatives, terror group’s sites in Lebanon; weapons in Syria
The Israeli military conducted Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s in Syria and Leb ...The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else?... on Monday, which it said targeted several terror operatives and military sites that "posed a threat to the State of Israel."
According to local media and medics, the strikes killed at least nine people and maimed several others.
In Lebanon, a strike in the afternoon targeted two Hezbollah operatives, whom the Israel Defense Forces said were carrying out surveillance operations on Israel and were directing "terror activity" in the area of the southern town of Yohmor.
The state-run National News Agency said that the dronezap in Yohmor had targeted a cycle of violence with two riders, but a passing van was also hit by shrapnel, and "fires erupted in it" and a nearby shop.
Lebanon’s health ministry said both men were killed in the strike, and at least two passersby were maimed.
Following the strike, Defense Minister Israel Katz said: "Our policy is clear: Zero tolerance toward any violation [of the ceasefire]. We will not allow any violation of the agreement and we will not allow the Hezbollah terror organization to restore its capabilities. Any terrorist who tries to harm Israeli civilians is a dead man."
Later in the day, the IDF carried out a wave of airstrikes in Lebanon’s northeastern Beqaa Valley region — a Hezbollah stronghold — as well as in the country’s south. There were no immediate reports of casualties in the evening strikes in Lebanon.
The IDF said it targeted sites where it had identified Hezbollah operatives and weapons, adding that "the terror activity at these sites poses a threat to the State of Israel and is a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon."
Later on Monday, the IDF said it was carrying out airstrikes on military targets in southern Syria, targeting including headquarters and other facilities used to store weapons and equipment belonging to the former Syrian regime. The military said it identified attempts by unspecified groups to use those weapons.
Israel sees the Syrian branches of Paleostinian terror groups Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... and Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... as a major threat, in particular following the fall of the Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Scourge of Qusayr... regime late last year.
"The presence of these [weapons] in southern Syria is a threat to the State of Israel. The IDF will not allow the existence of a military threat in southern Syria and will act against it," the IDF said.
Syrian state news agency SANA reported that "two civilians died and 19 others were maimed in Israeli airstrikes on the outskirts of Daraa city."
In Syria, the IDF has said it will continue to act against all threats as the country’s new regime grapples with consolidating power in the wake of the collapse of the decades-long rule of the Assad family.
In a statement, Syria’s health ministry reported “3 martyrs and 19 civilian injuries, including 4 children and a woman,” in the strikes, which targeted positions near the city of Daraa.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said on Tuesday that four were killed in the strikes – three civilians and one security forces member – which targeted military bases near Daraa.
Abu Ubaidah Mohammed al-Jamaji, a member of the Hamas political bureau, was killed in an Israeli raid in the Gaza Strip, according to local reports. pic.twitter.com/qjlFvx7nYP
Israeli attack ‘death sentence’ for captives, says Hamas official
[GEO.TV] Izzat al-Risheq, a member of Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... 's political bureau, says Israel is sacrificing the lives of its remaining captives in Paleostine, reported Al Jazeera.
''Netanyahu's decision to return to war is a decision to sacrifice the prisoners of the occupation and a death sentence ...the barbaric practice of sentencing a murderer to be punished for as long as his/her/its victim is dead... against them,'' al-Risheq said in a statement shared by CNN ...formerly the Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for...
NEW: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is working to secure a meeting with Donald Trump at the White House, possibly toward the end of April, according to Turkish officials familiar with the matter.
#3
Since the death of Qaradawi, Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader and resident of Qatar, Turkey has become the spiritual home of the Brotherhood and should be recognized as such.
[IsraelTimes] Sources tell CBS that new government in Damascus has been approached as part of Trump’s Gaza plan, alongside Sudan and Somalia; Netanyahu’s office declines to comment.
It would be brutally Darwinistic as the newcomers learn to accept being subjects instead of rulers, but they’re all at the same end of the Moslem spectrum (Sunni jihadi), and the Gazans could easily be trained in roles that support the HTS government as secular Palestinians learnt to make themselves useful to the Assad Arab national socialist government HTS replaced...
[Jpost] The Houthi movement later announced that it targeted the "USS Harry S. Truman aircraft" carrier in the Red Sea for the third time without providing proof.
The US is currently conducting targeted strikes against the Houthis in Yemen's capital, Sana'a, Houthi-owned Al-Masirah reported on Monday night.
The strikes have targeted the Al-Habashi Iron Factory, as well as additional areas south of the presidential compound, Al-Masirah added.
On Tuesday, the terror organization claimed that it had attacked the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier as well as several American warships in the Red Sea. Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi claimed that this forced US warship to flee to the northern region of the Red Sea.
The Houthis did not provide proof of the attacks from any time they claimed to strike.
The Houthi's military spokesperson Yahya Saree said that they would not hesitate to continue to strike US assets in the region and that its naval blockade on Israel would continue.
"If they continue their aggression, we will continue the escalation," al-Houthi added in a televised speech.
MARCO RUBIO SPOKE ABOUT YEMEN AND IRAN
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated President Donald Trump's recent stance that Iran should be held responsible "and face dire consequences" for Houthi attacks.
"The Houthis don’t have the ability to do this without Iran helping them, okay?" Rubio said in an interview with Fox News Radio.
"So, Iran owns this problem. I mean, they created this Frankenstein monster, and now they got to own it. And I think we should hold them responsible. And as the president has said, if these guys keep doing this, we owe Iran responsible for having created it."
[IsraelTimes] New study, based on classified documents, reveals terror group’s shift from defense to a multifront assault plan, culminating in October 7 invasion; warns Hamas will try again if it recovers
In the years leading up to its invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023, Hamas developed a concrete plan to destroy the Jewish state, in full coordination with Hezbollah and Iran, according to classified documents published by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center.
The Hamas documents reveal that in the lead-up to October 7, Iran was a critical player in funding Hamas’s plan to destroy Israel, that the Gaza-based terror group pushed for a coordinated attack from multiple fronts, and that its leader Yahya Sinwar believed that his military force could push Israel toward collapse.
Hamas’s devastating large-scale attack, which caught the nation off guard, involved coordinated land, sea, and air assaults, marking a significant escalation in its long-standing goal to destroy Israel. Despite years of military buildup in Gaza and strategic shifts, Israeli intelligence had not anticipated the scale or suddenness of the attack, leaving security forces badly unprepared.
Before 2019, Hamas’s military operations were primarily framed in defensive terms, focusing on strengthening its infrastructure in Gaza to withstand future conflicts, as outlined in a Hamas document titled “The Movement’s Strategy 2013-2017.”
The document also discussed a “realistic plan” of “implementing popular resistance in Palestine,” by initiating an intifada in the West Bank or “mobilizing… forces… to carry out jihad,” as well as “pursuing Jews and military personnel in international forums.”
However, a significant shift in dialogue emerged in 2019, with a revolution in Hamas’s thinking taking place in 2021, the internal documents recovered from Gaza show.
In 2019, the terror group began to emphasize coordination with Iran’s Quds Force and Hezbollah under a “joint defense agreement,” according to a document authored by the office of then-Hamas political bureau chief Sinwar. It laid out plans for a multifront war against Israel, with the ultimate goal of “liberating al-Quds [Jerusalem].”
THREE ATTACKS SCENARIOS
Operation Guardian of the Walls in 2021 was the pivotal moment in Hamas’s strategic evolution, according to former IDF Intelligence Research Division chief Itai Brun.
The operation was an Israeli military campaign aimed at dismantling Hamas’s military infrastructure in Gaza, following escalating violence and rocket attacks from the Strip.
The month after the operation, Sinwar, then-Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif, and Deif’s deputy, Marwan Issa, sent a letter to Esmail Qaani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Guard Corps, requesting $500 million over two years to fund its war effort: “We are confident that by the end of these two years or during them, if Allah wills, we will uproot [Israel], and together we will change the face of the region.”
Deif and Issa were killed in Gaza in separate IDF airstrikes last year. Sinwar was killed by an IDF tank shell in Rafah last October.
The documents reveal that Hamas was fully committed to this proposal by 2022, with Sinwar presenting a concrete plan for a multifront confrontation with Israel in a letter to then-political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran last July, describing three possible scenarios.
The first, described by Hamas as the “preferred scenario,” detailed a large-scale military campaign against Israel involving all “Axis of Resistance” actors, excluding Iran.
This scenario was described as a “sudden confrontation from all fronts” with the timing “linked to one of the Jewish holidays,” specifically referring to Passover. It also mentioned “reasonable participation from Yemen, Iraq, and Syria” and “guerrilla operations beyond the Jordanian borders,” alongside Hezbollah’s full force.
The second scenario — or the “intermediate scenario”— designated Hamas as the central actor in the attack. Hezbollah would only use “a quarter or a third of its power, keeping the remaining forces for deterrence and the strategic campaign,” while other “axis forces engage from the other fronts.”
The third and final scenario, described as a “scenario of necessity,” placed the preponderance of the fight on Hamas’s shoulders, with Hezbollah merely playing an indirect role by allowing the “activation of [Hamas] forces with increasing efficiency from Lebanon.”
The 2022 letter also discussed the possible establishment of a Hamas combat unit in Lebanon, with a minimum of 250 fighters, that could use Hezbollah’s operational networks to conduct raids into Israeli territory.
In Haniyeh’s response to Sinwar, he revealed that Iran and Hezbollah ultimately endorsed the first scenario, envisioning a coordinated, multifront assault on Israel: “[The first scenario] was approved in the discussion we held with our allies; we are awaiting its final review in additional meetings, particularly with the Iranians, and we will follow up on the necessary preparations for it as outlined above.”
In the months before October 7, Hamas leaders continued to discuss an attack. In April 2023, Sinwar told Hamas political bureau member Muhammad Nasser that Operation Guardian of the Walls had been a “walk in the park” for Israel in comparison to potential campaigns in the future, and that the next attack would be “so powerful that it will shatter the enemy into fragments.”
OPENLY DISCUSSING THE ‘LIBERATION’
The documents align with public statements made by Hamas and its allies in the years leading up to the October 7 onslaught.
In a September 2021 conference held in Gaza titled “Promise of the Hereafter – Post-Liberation Palestine,” Palestinian factions openly discussed governing the entirety of Israel’s territory, “from the river to the sea.”
The concluding statement from the conference outlined the steps needed to launch the new Palestinian state, including how to deal with the Jews and the weeding out of informants to “purge Palestine and the Arab and Islamic homeland of the hypocrite scum that spread corruption in the land.”
Similarly, in a May 2023 speech marking the anniversary of the IDF’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon, then-Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah declared, “Today, hope is greater than ever for the liberation of Palestine from the sea to the river, for prayer in Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
He further claimed that “[Israel’s] home front is weak, fragile, anxious, always ready to pack up and leave.”
Nasrallah was eliminated in an IDF airstrike on Hezbollah’s headquarters in Beirut last September.
IF HAMAS RECOVERS, WILL LIKELY TRY AGAIN
The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center suggested that Israeli intelligence may have dismissed such statements as mere bravado rather than credible threats.
The study concluded that while Hamas and its allies suffered severe setbacks in the current war that began on October 7, their ambition to destroy Israel has not disappeared.
“In the long run, if Hamas recovers, it is not improbable that the movement could once again regard destroying Israel as a practical plan,” the study warned.
Hamas gunmen stand in formation ahead of a hostage release in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Feb. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
The assessment came at the tail end of a ceasefire that paused fighting in Gaza for some two months.
The ceasefire ended early Tuesday morning, as the IDF launched a wave of airstrikes across Gaza under the orders of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who accused Hamas of repeatedly refusing to release Israeli hostages and vowed a forceful response.
The fighting resumed amid reports of the rehabilitation of Hamas in Gaza, with National Unity Party MK Gadi Eisenkot, alongside fellow opposition members who sit on the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, saying they had been informed that “Hamas has over 25,000 and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) has over 5,000 armed terrorists.”
#1
This was talked about in the islamic press after Oct 7. There was a larger plan at play. Iran and Hezbollah both took shots at Hamas Leadership and their bloodlust - effectively ruining a decade of planning and infrastructure building (terror tunnels).
Be Palestinian, ruin everything, even battle plans to invade and genocide the jews. Losers.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] French riot police clashed with migrants and their supporters today as they cleared a Paris theatre occupied by hundreds of homeless Africans.
Violence broke out outside the Gaîté Lyrique – one of the French capital’s most historic arts venues – soon after dawn on Tuesday morning.
Mainly young men have moved in since last December when the management gave them free tickets to a ‘Refugees Welcome in France’ conference.
Performances were soon cancelled – losing the theatre thousands in revenue – as makeshift beds were placed around the stage and auditorium.
Until today there were 446 people living inside illegally, most of them claiming they are minors under the age of 18 who deserve permanent housing.
CRS (Republican Security Companies) officers armed with tear gas and batons gathered outside the theatre at 5am on Tuesday, and then moved in at 6am.
‘There were immediate clashes with protesters who were shouting at them, and trying to stop them getting into the theatre,’ said a local resident who was at the scene.
‘Police responded with tear gas and baton charges, and there were some injuries.’ What's French for "Hickory Shampoo"?
A handful of migrants stood outside the theatre as the police arrived with suitcases in hand.
Some 200 other agitators surrounded the theatre chanting ‘shame on this government that wages war on vulnerable people’.
Many of the migrants refused to board the bus laid on to take them there claiming they were settled in the capital.
One young man, Adama, from the Ivory Coast told the AFP news agency: ‘I am 15 years old. I need to go to class at 10am today.
‘I don’t know what to tell my teacher. I need to leave a message saying that I won’t make it.’
He added: ‘We haven’t killed anybody, we don’t steal. We came here to become integrated.’
Danièle Simonnet, a Left-wing Paris MP, attacked the ‘violent police intervention’ in a tweet published on X.
Law and order officials pledged action after those who run the theatre complained of ‘untenable promiscuity’ inside the theatre leading to increasing violence.
Management have already abandoned the building, because of fears about ‘fire safety, security, hygiene and cleanliness, maintenance, and waste collection.’
In a statement, they warned of an ‘explosive and undignified situation’ that was ‘increasing in severity’.
Beyond fights breaking out because of sexual tensions, migrants have been seen dealing and using drugs.
Staff have been acting as ‘on-site security guards, even though this is neither their skill set nor their job,’ says the statement.
Despite this, the statement said staff have also been ‘welcoming and sheltering the occupants’.
The theatre is owned by the City of Paris, which is dominated by Socialists and Greens.
A judge at the Paris Administrative Court ordered the evacuation of the building on February 13, but the council initially refused to involved the police.
The migrants were being supported by political activists even more Left-wing than the theatre’s management.
Calling themselves the Collectif des Jeunes du Parc de Belleville – after a Parisian park – they view the occupation as being part of the ‘anti-racist and anti-colonial struggle’.
But local businesses complained of losses due to the occupation.
The owner of the Bistrot de la Gaite restaurant, Elia Cordier, told MailOnline she is close to going bust and dared not speak out against the issue as she has received death threats from the anarchist agitators.
She told MailOnline: 'This political stunt is ruining me. I am losing thousands of euros every day.
'On a normal Saturday I would clear €2,500. Today I'll be lucky if I make €200. If this carries on, I will be bankrupt within one or two months.’
Previously she told The Times how the anti-social behaviour of the migrants had ruined the area.
Ms Cordier said: 'They hang around outside my terrace, smoking joints and fighting among themselves.
'Not only do we no longer get theatregoers because the theatre is shut but we don't get passers-by either. They're being frightened away by all these young men.'
Other local businesses claim the usually tranquil park in front of the theatre has become a venue for drug dealing and other anti-social behaviour.
And local residents claim the occupation threatened the very essence of French culture.
'What is happening here is putting French culture at risk,' businessman David Bayard told MailOnline.
'Paris is the centre of French culture. This theatre is important to French culture. We used to go to this theatre often. Now this occupation has taken that away from us.
'There are hundreds of hotel rooms that are empty across Paris. Surely it is not too difficult to put these young people in them.'
His wife Tiffany, 39, added: 'Why can't the state find a safe place for these people to sleep. Closing down this theatre is an act of cultural sabotage.'
The bistrot next to the 19th-century venue, a popular spot for theatregoers to eat and drink before and after shows, has reported €30,000 in lost revenue so far.
The 1800-seat building that houses the current Gaîté Lyrique was built in 1862 and became celebrated for staging operettas by Jacques Offenbach, the German-born French composer, in the 19th Century.
On November 1, France reinforced its borders with six of its neighbouring Schengen members - Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain and Switzerland - with increased checks.
The controls were applied to travellers entering France via land, sea and air routes from all six nations and will last until April 1, 2025 - but authorities have said they could be extended further.
A French government statement declared the checks were introduced due to 'serious threats to public policy, public order, and internal security posed by high-level terrorist activities... criminal networks facilitating irregular migration and smuggling, and migration flows that risk infiltration by radicalised individuals'.
[PJM] Welp, they've restarted the pandemic?
Via Nature, March 6, 2025 (emphasis added):
Highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza viruses (HPAIV) belonging to lineage 2.3.4.4b emerged in Chile in December 2022, leading to mass mortality events in wild birds, poultry, and marine mammals and one human case. We detected HPAIV in 7,33% (714/9745) of cases between December 2022–April 2023 and sequenced 177 H5N1 virus genomes from poultry, marine mammals, a human, and wild birds spanning >3800 km of Chilean coastline. Chilean viruses were closely related to Peru’s H5N1 outbreak, consistent with north-to-south spread down the Pacific coastline. One human virus and nine marine mammal viruses in Chile had the rare PB2 D701N mammalian-adaptation mutation and clustered phylogenetically despite being sampled 5 weeks and hundreds of kilometers apart. These viruses shared additional genetic signatures, including another mammalian PB2 adaptation (Q591K, n = 6), synonymous mutations, and minor variants. Several mutations were detected months later in sealions in the Atlantic coast, indicating that the pinniped outbreaks on the west and east coasts of South America are genetically linked. These data support sustained mammal-to-mammal transmission of HPAIV in marine mammals over thousands of kilometers of Chile’s Pacific coastline, which subsequently continued through the Atlantic coastline.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/18/2025
07:28 ||
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Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
Who did the research? The article doesn't say. Sounds like false news to me. It's also about viruses in South America.
#3
If you go to the article link, Hupoluth Dribble3876, there’s a hot link to the publication in Nature. At the bottom of that is the following author list:
Author information
Author notes
These authors contributed equally: Catalina Pardo-Roa, Martha I. Nelson, and Naomi Ariyama.
Authors and Affiliations
Department of Child and Adolescent Health, School of Nursing, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Catalina Pardo-Roa
Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunology, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Catalina Pardo-Roa, Pablo N. Castillo-Torres & Rafael A. Medina
Emory Center of Excellence of Influenza Research and Response (Emory-CEIRR), Atlanta, GA, USA
Catalina Pardo-Roa, Naomi Ariyama, Pablo N. Castillo-Torres, Víctor Neira & Rafael A. Medina
National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
Martha I. Nelson
Center for Research, on Influenza Pathogenesis and Transmission (CRIPT) Center of Excellence of Influenza Research and Response (CEIRR), New York, NY, USA
Martha I. Nelson, Ana S. Gonzalez-Reiche, Harm van Bakel, Víctor Neira & Rafael A. Medina
Departamento de Medicina Preventiva Animal, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias y Pecuarias, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Naomi Ariyama, Gabriela Muñoz & Víctor Neira
Servicio Agrícola y Ganadero (SAG), Santiago, Chile
Carolina Aguayo, Claudia Ávila, Christian Mathieu, Ricardo Vergara, Álvaro González, Carmen Gloria González, Hugo Araya, Juan Carlos Torres & Magdalena Johow
Molecular Bioinformatics Laboratory, Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Leonardo I. Almonacid
Institute for Biological and Medical Engineering, Schools of Engineering, Medicine and Biological Sciences, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Leonardo I. Almonacid
Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
Ana S. Gonzalez-Reiche & Harm van Bakel
Servicio Nacional de Pesca y Acuicultura (SERNAPESCA), Santiago, Chile
Mauricio Ulloa, Carlos Navarro & Rodolfo Reyes
Veterinary Histology and Pathology, Institute of Animal Health and Food Safety, Veterinary School, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
Mauricio Ulloa
Molecular Genetic Subdepartment, Public Health Institute of Chile, Santiago, Chile
Andrés Castillo, Paulo Covarrubias & Jorge Fernández
Section of Respiratory and Exanthematic Viruses, Public Health Institute of Chile, Santiago, Chile
Patricia Bustos & Rodrigo A. Fasce
Icahn Genomics Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
Harm van Bakel
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine, Emory Vaccine Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
Rafael A. Medina
[TOWNHALL] The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday ruled against a Trump administration request to halt a court order forcing the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to reinstate federal workers who had been fired.
This development comes amid efforts to shrink the size and scope of the government — especially in the executive branch.
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) filed a lawsuit against the administration after six federal agencies terminated probationary employees in February. The district court ruled against the administration, claiming the firings were wrongful. It issued a preliminary injunction and ordered the agencies to ''immediately offer reinstatement to any and all probationary employees'' who lost their jobs.
The White House sought an emergency stay, arguing that reinstating the employees would create a significant administrative burden. However,
the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... the appeals court denied the request, saying that issuing a stay on the order would ''disrupt the status quo and turn it on its head.''
The government sought an emergency stay, arguing that reinstating employees would impose a significant administrative burden, but the court rejected this, emphasizing that a stay would ''disrupt the status quo and turn it on its head.''
The majority decision, authored by Judges Barry Silverman and Ana de Alba, argued that keeping the district court's order in place was necessary to maintain stability in the proceedings. They cited National Urban League v. Ross and asserted that district court's decision was correct.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2025
03:06 ||
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[11154 views]
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#1
Lets see what the supreme court thinks of this. The war to control this nation between the unelected and the elected is getting to the punch line.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/18/2025 5:32
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#2
Ninth Circus is Western US. Judge shopping much?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/18/2025 6:51
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#3
Probationary workers. Of course, those who get a 'lifetime' employment may not grasp the concept. How does one dare call it a republic when the unelected willfully overturn the elected. Oh, that's right, as in Peoples Democratic Republic of....
[TOWNHALL] Secretary of State Marco Rubio ...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration... on Sunday confirmed the removal of hundreds of Tren de Aragua gunnies from the United States and thanked El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, for his assistance.
''Under the President's direction, his administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act to initiate the removal of hundreds of dangerous members of Tren de Aragua (TdA), a vicious and violent mostly peaceful Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), which has been threatening our nation, conducting irregular warfare, and terrorizing Americans,'' Rubio said in a statement.
''Hundreds of violent mostly peaceful criminals were sent out of our country. This crucial step would have never happened under any other U.S. president. President Trump is following through on the promises he made to the American people,'' he added.
Rubio's statement came as a judge tried to stop the Trump administration from deporting the gunnies while the flights—one to El Salvador and one to Honduras—were underway.
Bukele also issued a statement after their arrival and had the perfect response to the judge.
Today, the first 238 members of the Venezuela
...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south... n criminal organization, Tren de Aragua, arrived in our country," he said, They were immediately transferred to CECOT, the Terrorism Confinement Center, for a period of one year (renewable).
The United States will pay a very low fee for them, but a high one for us.
Over time, these actions, combined with the production already being generated by more than 40,000 inmates engaged in various workshops and labor under the Zero Idleness program, will help make our prison system self-sustainable. As of today, it costs $200 million per year.
On this occasion, the U.S. has also sent us 23 MS-13 members wanted by Salvadoran justice, including two ringleaders. One of them is a member of the criminal organization's highest structure.
This will help us finalize intelligence gathering and go after the last remnants of MS-13, including its former and new members, money, weapons, drugs, hideouts, collaborators, and sponsors.
As always, we continue advancing in the fight against organized crime. But this time, we are also helping our allies, making our prison system self-sustainable, and obtaining vital intelligence to make our country an even safer place. All in a single action.
May God bless El Salvador, and may God bless the United States.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2025
03:04 ||
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[11173 views]
Top|| File under: Migrants/Illegal Immigrants
#1
“Less than 12 hours after I exposed Judge James Boasberg’s conflict of interest with his daughter Katharine Boasberg, who works for a 501c3 called “Partners For Justice” @PFJ_USA that gives criminal illegal aliens and gang members legal advice, Katharine Boasberg has DELETED her @LinkedIn page and her Instagram account”
[PUNCHNG] THE spate of killings in Ondo, Benue, Edo and Nasarawa States by bandidos and Fulani ... a peculiarly brutal tribe of Moslem herdsmen infesting Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and probably other places that are light on law and order and heavy on tribal identity... herdsmen last week should nudge the Federal Government to find the courage to ban open grazing urgently and adopt ranching.
Incidentally, Nigeria is searching for peace and food security, yet, it is playing politics with open grazing, the deadly instrument that has been brewing banditry and providing an arsenal for senseless killings country-wide for decades.
Bandits attacked four communities in the dead of the night in the Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State last Monday, killing 20 people. Nine surveyors were also kidnapped at a building site in the LGA that week.
In Benue, armed herders ambushed and killed three personnel of the state security force, Civil Protection Guards in Naka, the headquarters of Gwer West LGA. This ignited protests that resulted in the burning down of parts of the LG secretariat and the palace of a traditional ruler by angry youths.
On Sunday, two residents were kidnapped while four others sustained gun and machete wounds from a herders' attack at the Dantata Life Camp in Aviele, Etsako West LGA, Edo State.
Fulani herdsmen and bandit attacks festered because of government mismanagement of herders and farmers' relationships.
In the First Republic, grazing routes were created to ensure a peaceful coexistence between herders and crop farmers. That did not work for long because it was not sustainable herding cattle on others' farmland.
It amounts to trespassing. Eventually, it degenerated into open conflict between the herders and settled farmers.
The Obafemi Awolowo administration established ranches to stem the conflict and promote modern livestock operations in the Western Region. Therefore, the federal, state, and local governments must return to the ranching regime that birthed mutual coexistence between the herders and the farmers.
The International Crisis Group says, ''Rising conflict between herders and farmers in Nigeria is already six times deadlier in 2018 than Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... 's Insurgency'' and ''has become Nigeria's gravest security challenge.''
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2025
02:46 ||
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Top|| File under: Fulani Herdsmen (Boko Haram)
[PERSECUTION.ORG] The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa has approved measures urging President Donald Trump ...Oh, noze! Not him!... to impose sanctions on Nigeria due to the widespread persecution of Christians, following a congressional hearing on March 12.
Lawmakers condemned the Nigerian government for its failure to protect Christian communities from escalating violence, citing alarming data from multiple human rights ...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you... organizations. A 2024 report by the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa revealed that Nigeria accounted for 90% of all Christians killed globally each year. The report documented that between October 2019 and September 2023, at least 55,910 people were killed, and 21,000 others were kidnapped by terrorist groups operating in the country.
During the hearing, Committee Chairman Chris Smith (R-NJ) emphasized the severity of the crisis, referencing firsthand testimony from Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of the Diocese of Makurdi, Nigeria.
''Militant Fulani ... a peculiarly brutal tribe of Moslem herdsmen infesting Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and probably other places that are light on law and order and heavy on tribal identity... herdsmen are terrorists. They steal and vandalize, they kill and boast about it, they kidnap and rape, and they enjoy total impunity from elected officials,'' Smith stated. ''None of them have been arrested or brought to justice.''
Nigeria has consistently ranked among the deadliest countries for Christians, according to various organizations tracking global religious persecution.
International Christian Concern (ICC) reported that in 2023 alone, thousands of Christians were killed in Nigeria, with entire villages burned down by turban groups.
''Terrorism, violent mostly peaceful militancy, and local unrest continue to rock Nigeria's many fragile Christian communities,'' an ICC staffer said in ICC's 2025 Global Persecution Index.
Islamic terror groups Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... and 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.... West Africa Province (ISWAP) are killing Christians in the northeast, while Islamic Fulani Lions of Islam regularly kill Christians throughout the north. Fulani Lions of Islam have killed more Christians than Boko Haram in Plateau, Benue, Niger, Nasarawa, and Southern Kaduna states.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2025
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#1
But no sanctions for Syria? Though maybe sending Gazans to Syria would count as a saction.
[DAILYPOST.NG] Troops of Operation Hadin Kai have successfully repelled an attempted attack by 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.... West Africa Province (ISWAP) gunnies on the Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Mayanti, Banki, within Bama Local Government Area of Borno State.
This is contained in a post Zagazola Makama, a security analyst.
According to him, the attack occurred around 1:15 a.m. on Sunday.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2025
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[GEO.TV] Security forces killed three Death Eaters in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's Khyber district during an intelligence-based operation, the military's media wing said on Monday.
In a statement, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said security forces conducted the IBO in general area Tor Darra of Khyber district on reported presence of terrorists.
''During the conduct of operation, own troops effectively engaged the khwarij [terrorists] location, as a result of which, three khwarij were sent to hell,'' it added.
Weapons and ammunition were also recovered from killed terrorists, who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities in the area, the ISPR added.
Sanitisation operation was launched to eliminate any other Death Eaters found in the area as the ''security forces of Pakistain are determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country''.
Last week, the Pakistain Army thwarted a terrorist attack on checkpost and killed 10 snuffies following a suicide kaboom in the Jandola area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's South Wazoo district.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2025
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[GEO.TV] Pakistain and Afghanistan reached an agreement on Monday for a ceasefire and the reopening of the Torkham trade route for all types of movement.
The breakthrough came during a Pak-Afghan jirga held to address border tensions at the Khyber-Torkham crossing.
Pak jirga member Jawad Hussain told Geo News that both sides agreed to halt hostilities and restore trade and travel at the crucial border crossing.
As part of the agreement, the joint jirga decided to temporarily suspend disputed construction by Afghan forces. The Afghan delegation has requested time until this evening to consult their authorities on the matter.
Hussain said that the Afghan jirga would brief their officials on halting the construction and that the issue would be deferred until the next meeting of the Joint Chamber of Commerce.
The final decision on the disputed construction will be taken during that session, while trade activities at the crossing will resume in the meantime. The date for the next meeting will be decided through mutual consultation.
Additionally, officials from Pakistain's Frontier Corps ...a provincial paramilitary force. Total manpower is about 80,000. They are tasked to help local law enforcement in the maintenance of law and order, and to carry out border patrol and a..the Antwerp-based Salafist organization that had campaigned to introduce Sharia law to Belgium before single-handedly making Belgium the highest per capita supplier of jihadis to Syria in Europe. There was a big trial in Antwerp in 2015, but most of those convicted were in absentia...nti-smuggling operations.... (FC) and Afghan authorities are set to meet today. The reopening of the Torkham trade route is expected following their discussions.
The border crossing was shut on February 21 after tensions escalated when Afghan forces began construction inside Pak territory.
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03/18/2025
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Earlier this year, Trump signed an executive order directing the federal government to present a plan to release records related to the assassinations of Kennedy, his brother Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation said in early February it had found thousands of new documents related to the assassination of Kennedy.
Trump signed an order during his first week in office related to the release and promised to release also documents concerning the assassinations of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert Kennedy, both of whom were killed in 1968.
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#1
Given the Federal Gov and the DC Swamp Elite has hidden these files from the public for 60 years, should tell us there are bigger political & guilt issues at play here.
Because now we have 80,000 pages that only a few on this earth know what is actually real, lost, removed, or rewritten over the last 60+ years.
As support of this comment.
We have seen DC Swamp Elite arrested in the recent past for stealing, hiding, inserting, destroying, or illegally cleaning up their historical official documents.
We have even seen Presidential candidates openly erase data, close staff die to hide abuses, and cabinet level meet with plane crashes in foreign lands.
Meanwhile, the step after step series of delays between each release allows who knows what to take place with the Epstein, RFK, & MLK files?
[GEO.TV] The US Justice Department on Monday sought to remove a judge who ordered the Trump administration to explain whether it defied a court order by deporting hundreds of Venezuela
...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south... ns the White House says are violent mostly peaceful criminals, Rooters reported.
The Trump administration deported more than 200 Venezuelans it says were members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang that has been linked to kidnapping, extortion and contract killings, to El Salvador over the weekend, even as a judge temporarily blocked it from using a wartime law to carry out the deportations.
Several legal experts interviewed by Rooters said the flights represented a direct challenge to the judicial branch's independence, although the White House denied that.
President Donald Trump ...Oh, noze! Not him!... has sought to push the boundaries of executive power since taking office in January, cutting spending authorized by Congress, dismantling agencies and firing thousands of federal workers.
On Monday, his Justice Department sought to remove the judge from the case.
The request to remove Judge James Boasberg came just before a hearing in his Washington courtroom began on the matter at 5 pm on Monday. Boasberg had instructed the government to provide details on the timing of the flights that transported the Venezuelans to El Salvador, including whether they took off after his order was issued.
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🚨EXCLUSIVE🚨Chief Judge Boasberg Blocked the deportation of Tren de Aragua gang member’s without disclosing the fact that his daughter works for a 501c3 called “Partners For Justice” that gives criminal illegal aliens and gang members legal advice.
[RedState] Israel's ceasefire with Hamas ended early Tuesday after repeated negotiations over Hamas releasing the remaining Israeli hostages failed once again.
Fighter jets began targeting terrorist strongholds in the Gaza Strip, according to the Israel Defense Forces—and they also indicated they will increase their use of force if necessary:
The attacks mark the end of a nearly two-month-long ceasefire during which the terror group released hostages in drib drab fashion, often tormenting them and humiliating them in front of crazed mobs as they handed them over to the Red Cross. Released prisoners described the horrific conditions they lived under, from torture to starvation. Meanwhile, some like the Bibas family weren’t even alive at all—they’d been killed by the sadistic fanatics.
This is a rapidly developing situation, and RedState will you updated with the latest developments.
[Jpost] The White House confirmed it was consulted by Israel prior to the strikes.
The IDF and the Shin Bet are currently conducting extensive strikes on Hamas terror targets in Gaza, the military confirmed early Tuesday morning, aiming to achieve the war goals "as determined by the political echelon, including the release of all our hostages — living and dead."
The IDF has been instructed to act "forcefully" against Hamas in the Gaza Strip by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, the Prime Minister's Office announced.
"Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength," the PMO said.
“Tonight we returned to fighting in Gaza in light of Hamas’ refusal to release the kidnapped and threats to harm IDF soldiers and Israeli communities," Katz said in a statement.
"If Hamas does not release all the kidnapped, the gates of hell will open in Gaza, and Hamas’ murderers and rapists will meet the IDF with forces they have never known before. We will not stop fighting until all the kidnapped return home and all the war’s goals are achieved."
An Israeli official said the strikes targeted mid-level Hamas commanders, senior officials in Hamas’ political wing and Hamas’ infrastructure, according to Axios.
The White House confirmed it was consulted by Israel prior to the strikes.
“Hamas, the Houthis, all those who seek to terrorize not just Israel but also the United States of America, will see a price to pay. All hell will break loose,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News.
As a result of the strikes, the Home Front Command has updated its security guidelines, and school has been canceled in the Gaza envelope.
This marks the first significant wave of attacks since the January ceasefire began and comes amid additional reports of attacks by the US and Israel across the Middle East.
ISRAELI ATTACKS WITH US BACKING
US President Donald Trump has previously stated that Israel would have the full support of the US in all attacks against Hamas.
Trump also stated that “Hell will rain down” on both Hamas and the Houthis and that Iran should be held responsible "and face dire consequences" for Houthi attacks.
More from Skidmark: The Jerusalem Post liveblog for the events of March 18th in Israel and around the world can be seen here.
Tweets courtesy of 3dc, click on each link to see the original over on Twitter, since I can’t get the embed thingy to copy:
The Hamas-controlled Gaza Information Ministry claimed that at least 250 were killed in the Israeli strikes, which reportedly hit dozens of targets.
Sources in the Gaza Strip told Kan 11 News that Mahmoud Abu Watfa, head of Hamas's internal security apparatus in Gaza, was eliminated in the Israeli strikes. It was also reported that Mohammed Abu Ubaida al-Jammasi, a member of Hamas's political bureau in the Gaza Strip, was eliminated as well.
Palestinian Arab sources reported that Issam al-Da'alis, a member of Hamas's political bureau, was also eliminated in the strikes.
At least 232 Palestinians were killed, including children, according to unverified figures from the Hamas-run health ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Netanyahu’s office said the decision to resume strikes shortly after midnight on Tuesday “followed Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received from US special envoy to the Mideast Envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators.”
Hostage families have long argued that those aims contradict each other and that a return to fighting will endanger their loved ones. Polling over the past month has indicated that a majority of the Israeli public agrees with the hostage families and backs ending the war in exchange for the release of the hostages. But those polls have also shown that a plurality of coalition voters back resuming the war. Netanyahu’s hardline coalition partners have also threatened to collapse the government if he ends the war before Hamas has been dismantled.
Israel wasn’t able to do this during the first 15-plus months of war but is emboldened by the new administration in Washington, which is less likely to criticize Jerusalem over potential civilian deaths or the lack of humanitarian aid in Gaza, which the IDF has blocked entirely since the end of the first phase.
The IDF also has a new chief of staff in Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir who entered the post earlier this month pledging an unrelenting effort to dismantle Hamas.
Netanyahu also announced on Monday that he plans to fire Shin Bet director Ronen Bar, one of several security chiefs who regularly sparred with the premier over his handling of the war. The security establishment has argued that Israel should agree to the original terms of the ceasefire in order to secure the release of the remaining hostages before it is too late, insisting that Hamas can be dealt with at a later date.
The cabinet was initially slated to hold a vote on Bar’s dismissal on Tuesday, but that meeting had not been finalized as of Monday night and the resumption of fighting could well delay that process further.
Bar’s agency joined the IDF in conducting an extensive wave of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, which the army said targeted mid-level Hamas commanders, members of the terror group’s politburo, and its infrastructure.
An Israeli military official briefing reporters said that the IDF conducted dozens of strikes using dozens of aircraft after Netanyahu signed off on the operation earlier Monday.
The strikes came after the IDF identified Hamas preparations to launch attacks on Israel along with its efforts to regroup and rearm, the Israeli military official said.
The military official said it intends to continue the airstrikes “as long as necessary,” and widen the surprise assault beyond an aerial campaign if it is ordered to.
The IDF is deployed and prepared on all fronts, including with heightened alert with its air defenses, the official added.
The plans for Tuesday’s operation had been kept secret until now for the IDF to have the element of surprise, the military official said.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] An iconic 354-year-old Canadian retailer is going out of business and shutting down all of its stores.
And it's pointing the finger at America and the ongoing tariff war. Any port in the storm.
Hudson’s Bay, a retailer and an anchor to dozens of malls across Canada, is preparing for an 'immediate' liquidation after failing to secure enough money to stay afloat.
Clearance sales will begin as early as next week at all 80 Hudson’s Bay locations, as well as three Saks Fifth Avenue and 12 Saks Off 5th stores it operates in Canada.
Hudson’s Bay blames its collapse on sluggish consumer spending, post-pandemic declines in foot traffic, and even trade tensions between Canada and the U.S.
So the problem predates the current spat with President Trump. So rude to blame it on America when the problem is the poor Canadian economy under the Trudeau government and changing shopping habits as people increasingly shop online.
The two countries have been engaged in a brutal back-and-forth after President Donald Trump launched tariffs on Canadian imports.
Canada hit back with duties on $20 billion worth of American goods.
The tariffs, a cornerstone of President Trump's economic vision, are expected to raise prices for everyday Americans and Canadians who have already been hurt by inflation and high borrowing costs.
Covid & economic policies of the Turdo Regime including declining Canadian dollar and increase percentage taxes on take-home income to support the lethargic migrants pushes an out of style business model past the cusp.
Those that didn't are the crazy ones.
[Jpost] The Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute sampled 2,558 adults between June and December 2024, investigating satisfaction with HMO's and the Israeli healthcare system as a whole.
A third of Israelis experienced mental distress over the past year, a 9% increase from 2021, according to the recently published results of a survey by the Jerusalem-based Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute.
Further, 80% of respondents attributed their mental distress in 2024 to the Israel-Hamas War, the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas terrorists.
When evaluating the medical assistance provided by their health maintenance organization (HMO), 19% reported that they received professional help.
Being in a vicious, existential war is tough. Fighting it while the Biden-Harris administration knifes you in the back repeatedly while passive-aggressively whipping up Jew-hate at home and around the world makes it harder. That a portion of the nation is functionally siding with the enemy while posturing self-righteously as Israeli patriots on one side, while many of the Haredi will only support the government if it gives them lavish welfare support because they consider themselves too holy to either work or fight for the country, is yet another stressor.
Suck it up, win the wars, spank the far left protesters and the Haredi leeches, and get on with things. Biden is out, Trump is in, the money flow to the protesters is at least reduced — this is your dreamed of window of opportunity, guys.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] The Ukrainian Armed Forces are holding back Russian attacks in the east and south of Ukraine.
The largest number of battles are taking place in the Pokrovsky direction. There, the Russians are attacking in the areas of nine populated areas.
Since the beginning of the current day, 98 combat clashes have occurred on the front. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in an operational report as of 16:00 on Monday, March 17.
Thus, in the Kharkov direction, the enemy attacked three times in the direction of Kamyanka and Zapadnoye. Two combat clashes are still ongoing.
In the Kupyansk direction, the Russians carried out five attacks near Petropavlovka, Kruglyakovka and Boguslavka. Three clashes are still ongoing.
In the Liman direction, the invaders carried out six attacks on Ukrainian positions in the directions of Novomykhaylovka, Novoye, Olgiyevka, Zarechny and Yampolovka. Three clashes are ongoing.
In the Kramatorsk direction, the enemy is trying to advance in the areas of Chasovy Yar, Orekhovo-Vasilovka, Stupochki and Kurdyumovka. Two of the five attacks have been repelled, the fighting continues.
In the Toretsk direction, the enemy is trying to penetrate the Ukrainian Armed Forces' defense in the areas of Toretsk, Dachnoye, Druzhba, Ozaryanovka, Dilievka and Leonidovka. Four attacks are ongoing, our defenders have already repelled 13 assaults by the invaders.
In the Pokrovsky direction, Russian invaders organized 31 attacks in the areas of the settlements of Vodyanoye Vtoroye, Sviridonovka, Promin, Novopavlovka, Kotlino, Udachnoye, Novoaleksandrovka, Bogdanovka and Andreyevka. The defense forces repelled 25 assaults, six clashes are still ongoing.
In the Novopavlovsk direction, our defenders repelled eight assaults. Another clash is currently ongoing. The enemy is trying to advance in the areas of Privolnoye, Vesyoloye and Konstantinopol.
In the Gulyai-Polye direction, eight enemy attacks were repelled in the areas of the settlements of Novosyolka and Novopol.
In the Orekhov direction, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are repelling five enemy attacks in the directions of the settlements of Stepovoye and Lobkovoe.
In the Kursk region, our soldiers repelled four enemy attacks, and five more clashes are still ongoing.
We remind you that in the course of 24 hours on March 16, Russia lost more than 1,200 fighters killed and wounded. The total number of Russian losses is approaching 900 thousand people.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Iran is involved in organizing the attacks of the Houthi movement Ansar Allah on the American aircraft carrier. This was stated by US President Donald Trump on March 17.
"Let no one be mistaken! The hundreds of attacks carried out by the Houthis, the evil bandits and thugs from Yemen hated by the Yemeni people themselves, all originate from Iran and are organized by Iran," he wrote on the Truth Social social network.
According to the American leader, Tehran plays the "innocent victim of terrorists", while in fact it organizes their activities. Trump also warned that new strikes by Ansar Allah will face a powerful response from the United States.
"Every shot fired by the Houthis will now be considered as a shot fired with a weapon and at the direction of the Iranian leadership, and Iran will be held accountable and will suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be horrific," he warned.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on March 15, the United States launched a large-scale operation against the Houthis, striking the western part of Yemen. Trump emphasized that the operation is aimed at protecting American shipping, air and naval assets. As a result of American airstrikes on the city of Saada in the north of the country, four children and a woman were killed, and dozens more were injured.
The following day, Ansar Allah attacked the US aircraft carrier Harry Truman in the Red Sea with drones and missiles. The Houthis said it was in response to US military strikes in Yemen and the halt in humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. Reuters then reported that the attack on the US carrier had failed to achieve its target. It was reported that F-16 and F-18 fighters repelled the attack and shot down 11 drones.
On March 17, the aircraft carrier Harry Truman was hit by Houthi shelling for a second time. The shelling, using drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, reportedly lasted for several hours.
Posted by: badanov ||
03/18/2025
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Alexander Shchegolev
[REGNUM] On March 13, the European Court of Human Rights completed its consideration of the lawsuit filed by a group of individuals against the Ukrainian state regarding the tragic events of May 2, 2014, in Odessa. The court found the Ukrainian state guilty. And this is undoubtedly a sensation. But what is the guilt recorded by the court?
The May 2, 2014 Massacre in Odessa. Whom the ECHR Really Found Guilty
More precisely, we are talking about a number of claims filed with the ECHR in 2016–2018 by relatives of the deceased, as well as surviving victims, which were then combined into a single proceeding.
According to the court's decision, Ukraine is guilty of violating the citizens' right to life: in that the Ukrainian authorities failed to prevent mass riots, did not take sufficient measures to ensure the safety of citizens when these riots had already begun, and then did not conduct a proper investigation into the tragedy that occurred.
The court paid special attention to the inaction of the authorities during the events on Kulikovo Field: the fact that the police did not take any action to ensure the safety of the people who had taken refuge in the building and did not try to evacuate them from there after the fire started, and also the fact that the firefighters arrived at the scene only 40 minutes after the fire itself started, which led to such a significant number of victims.
According to the court decision, Ukraine is obliged to pay the plaintiffs from 12 to 17 thousand euros.
Let us recall that in the spring of 2014, in Odessa, as in many other cities of historical Novorossiya, there was a large-scale confrontation between supporters of the Euromaidan and their opponents, who are commonly referred to by the collective term "anti-Maidan". In Odessa, the "anti-Maidanists" gathered on the square known as Kulikovo Field, from which the name of the movement as a whole came.
On May 2, 2014, large-scale clashes occurred in the center of Odessa between Kulikovo Field activists and Euromaidan supporters, both local and those who arrived from other cities, during which six people were killed (two Euromaidan activists and four Kulikovo supporters). After them, the Euromaidan supporters went to Kulikovo Field, where they destroyed the camp of their opponents and also tried to storm the Trade Union House, where some of the Kulikovo Field activists had taken refuge. The attackers set the building on fire, which resulted in the deaths of 42 people.
It should be emphasized that the court did not ask, and should not have asked, any question about the perpetrators of the tragedy.
The ECHR has, in principle, a different competence: it analyzes the actions of the authorities in certain situations, as well as the extent to which these actions comply with the European Convention on Human Rights.
And so, having analyzed the actions of the Ukrainian authorities, the court came to the conclusion that the norms of the convention were not observed.
More precisely, it is not so: in fact, the court talks quite a lot about the perpetrators of the tragedy, but does so in the descriptive, not the operative part of its decision.
As you might guess, the main culprit of what happened was, of course, Russia.
Allegedly, it was Russian propaganda that inflamed the confrontation in Odessa in the spring of 2014 and it was precisely this propaganda that “reinforced” the actions of the Kulikovo Field activists.
It is repeatedly emphasized that the police's insufficient actions consisted mainly of weak counteraction to the "Kulikovites", and it is also clearly not without ulterior motive that many of the people responsible for making decisions fled to Russia after May 2.
The latter is far from the truth.
In fact, only two people were in Russia: the head of the Odessa department of the State Emergency Service, Vladimir Bodelan, and the deputy head of the regional department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Dmitry Fuchedzhi. These two names are constantly mentioned in the court decision as examples of people who performed their duties improperly.
At the same time, the names of officials who remained in Ukraine are not mentioned in the report; for example, nothing is said about Fuchedzhi’s immediate superior, Petro Lutsyuk, who was, in fact, the chief law enforcement officer of the Odessa region at the time of the tragedy.
This shift in emphasis in the ECHR decision correlates well with the position of the Ukrainian authorities on this matter: Fuchedzhi, for example, was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison in 2023, while Lutsyuk, by definition more responsible for ensuring public order in Odessa, not only did not bear any responsibility, but after May 2 continued to work in various positions in the central office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The court decision does not mention the then governor of Odessa region, Vladimir Nemirovsky, the head of the SBU department, and so on, not to mention the investigators of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the prosecutor's office, who conducted (and in fact, as confirmed by the court decision, destroyed) the investigation of the events.
Of course, the court was not obliged to mention them, because, as has already been said, the investigation of the events as such and the establishment of the role of specific individuals in them is not the task of the ECHR. But, despite this, the court mentioned individual officials in its decision. Those who are convenient for the Ukrainian authorities.
It is difficult to talk about objectivity when the text of the decision condemns the actions of the deputy head of the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs, Fuchedzhi, but his immediate superior, Lutsyuk, is not mentioned even once.
There is no need to be surprised by such selectivity. The ECHR is a structure of the European Union, whose attitude towards Russia is generally well known, and one should not expect objectivity from it, at least for this reason.
Fire near the building of the regional council of trade unions in Odessa
It is worth mentioning separately that in the “descriptive” part of its decision, the ECHR (and this is directly stated in the decision!) relied to a large extent on the data of the so-called “May 2 Group”, created on the initiative of Igor Palytsia, who headed the Odessa region after May 2, 2014. Palytsia’s appointment was a direct consequence of the tragedy, so he is one of the main beneficiaries of what happened, and he is reasonably suspected of involvement in its organization.
Be that as it may, the “May 2 Group”, created on the initiative of Palytsia and working under the wing of his deputy, OSCE media expert Zoya Kazanzhi, consisting of supporters of the Euromaidan, interprets the events in a very specific way.
In their materials, especially the latest ones, the actions of the "Euromaidan" activists are whitewashed as much as possible, and all the blame for the mass deaths is shifted as much as possible to the "Kulikovites" and Fuchedzhi and Bodelan, who "fled to Russia." And it was from them that the corresponding considerations apparently found their way into the court's decision.
However, it is difficult to say what is the cause and what is the effect: either the court simply carelessly trusted the falsifiers, or, on the contrary, having initially set itself the task of giving the case the right political emphasis, it attracted the right people as a source of information.
Well, that's probably not that important.
What is valuable is that, despite the obvious bias, the court, with its decision, nevertheless confirmed and legalized many important points concerning both the events themselves and their investigation.
In particular, Ukraine is accused of the fact that, even knowing about the unrest that was being prepared, the leaders of the Ministry of Internal Affairs did nothing to prevent it, did not prepare sufficient forces to counter it, and even after the fighting began in the center of Odessa, did practically nothing to transfer additional law enforcement forces to the conflict zone.
Based on this conclusion of the court, we can pose the following question: was the inaction of the security forces negligence or did they deliberately inaction, as part of the implementation of an agreed scenario, the purpose of which was to create a dramatic picture of violent riots.
The court's decision devotes considerable attention to how law enforcement officers acted and failed to act during the investigation of the events.
In particular, the rather dramatic story of Professor Elena Radzikhovskaya and her struggle to bring to justice the suspect in the murder of her only son, Andrei Brazhevsky, is described in dry, formal language.
According to the official findings of the investigation, Brazhevsky died when he jumped from one of the upper floors of the burning Trade Union House.
However, Radzikhovskaya herself is convinced that her son was killed by Euromaidan activist Vsevolod Goncharevsky. In one of the videos filmed on May 2, he is shown finishing off people who were jumping out of the windows of a building engulfed in flames with a stick.
Extinguishing a fire in the building of the regional council of trade unions
Goncharevsky was arrested in August 2014, but was later released, and in February 2015 the case against him was closed due to lack of evidence of his involvement.
Radzikhovskaya tried for several years to get the investigation reopened, and in 2017 she even managed to get an expert examination of the video recordings to determine whether they really did depict Goncharevsky. Unfortunately, nothing is known about the results of these examinations, and the case against Goncharevsky has never been reopened.
Now this whole story is immortalized by the decision of the ECHR.
Another story is described in slightly less detail: the death in the center of Odessa of Kulikovo men Nikolai Yavorsky, Alexander Zhulkov and Gennady Petrov.
They died, having received fatal wounds from buckshot, and almost certainly fell victim to the same shooter - Euromaidan activist Sergei Khodiak. However, Khodiak was only a suspect in the murder of one person - Kulikov's Evgeniy Losinsky, and all attempts by relatives of the other victims to recognize them as victims in this case were brushed aside by law enforcement officers for many years.
By the way, Khodiyak was not even held accountable for Losinsky's death; he lived freely in Odessa and was active in "social activities" in the spirit of the recently murdered Demyan Ganul. The case of premeditated murder opened against him was closed four times (!) by the investigator's order and reopened the same number of times by the court's decision after the victims filed corresponding appeals.
The ECHR decision even states that all four times the decision to terminate the criminal proceedings were completely identical and did not contain any indication of the real reasons for such a decision! The last time the investigation against Khodiyak was extended in January 2022 until July of the same year.
Probably, after the start of the SVO, Ukrainian law enforcement officers finally managed to bury this “cold case” that had been bothering them.
All this did not prevent the court from concluding that there was no selectivity in the actions of Ukrainian law enforcement officers and that they “did not pay more attention to the investigation of the murders of Euromaidan protesters than to the investigation of the murders of anti-Maidan protesters.”
In part, this is true, in the sense that law enforcement officers, in principle, did as little as possible for the investigation, probably fearing, not without reason, that in the course of a real investigation they might establish facts that should not have been established.
Nevertheless, the fact remains: the actions of the Ukrainian authorities not only during the events of May 2, but also after these events were recognized as violating that very European Convention on Human Rights.
That is, the ECHR confirmed the repeatedly expressed opinion that the investigation of the May 2 case was essentially sabotaged, and left wide scope for searching for an answer to the question of who specifically sabotaged it and for what purpose.
Well, and the last thing.
The list of plaintiffs and victims included in the court decision itself is of considerable value in situations where fakes are still persistently spreading on the Internet that the people who died on May 2 were mostly people from Russia and Transnistria.
Well, here it is: in the list attached to the court decision, which indicates both the citizenship and place of residence of the victims and survivors, it is directly stated that all of them are citizens of Ukraine, and most of them are residents of Odessa.
So the fact that the ECHR made at least such a decision is good news for everyone who still hopes to one day learn the whole truth about what happened on May 2, 2014 in Odessa.
#1
I started to become biased after reading the social media posts of the surviving ethnic russian spouses who were losing their homes and facing other economic hardships because Ukraine refused to pay pensions and or life insurance for their dead husbands.
They were saying because the men jumped out of a burning building (Trade Union) to escape the misery of slowing burning to death - that the deaths were suicide and negated their policies.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] The United States and the Yemeni Ansar Allah (Houthis) movement have dug up the "hatchet" again after a brief respite.
A cute play on the American idiom bury the hatchet. Do go on…
Donald Trump has not ignored recent statements by Houthi leaders about resuming privateering actions against Israeli ships and has authorized "preemptive military measures."
CENTCOM releasing more Hornets nest footage from the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) as they continue operations against Iran-backed Houthi terrorists. 🫡
Taken: 03.16.2025 Posted: 03.17.2025 08:49 video: Seaman Antoine Monroe, Joshua Dennis, Petty Officer 2nd Class Casey Iwuagwu pic.twitter.com/t7P4Uc1psV
The operation in Yemen was the first since the Republicans came to the White House. And although it largely continued the Democrats' course of weakening the Houthis' military potential, the Trump administration changed its focus.
Now the strikes on Yemen are needed not to weaken Ansar Allah, but to reason with its “big brother” – Iran.
Ever interested in efficiency and cost savings, President Trump is going for two for the price of one.
FROM "REBELS" TO "TERRORISTS"
Republicans joined the fight against the Houthis under the same slogan as Democrats did earlier – in the name of protecting international shipping in the Red Sea. However, the current operation was presented as a fight against a terrorist threat – as reported by the US Central Command (CENTCOM).
In fact sheets distributed by CENTCOM, Ansar Allah is lumped in with terrorist organizations such as ISIS* and al-Qaeda*.
And Hezbollah and Hamas, along with the Houthis all clients of Russian client Iran.
This positioning quite clearly demonstrates the negative attitude of Trump supporters towards pro-Iranian formations in Yemen.
The Biden administration didn't get nearly so exercised about the situation, to be sure. But CENTCOM handouts aren’t the work of specifically Trump supporters, but of the American professional military, surely.
Especially in light of the fact that even during the acute phase of the confrontation in the Red Sea, the Democrats used more streamlined formulations and called the Houthis “pro-Iranian rebels.”
See?
Washington also managed to involve at least three Arabian monarchies in the operations: Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Although pilots from these countries did not take part in the raid, the monarchies gave the go-ahead for the use of their airspace and military facilities, something they stubbornly avoided under Joe Biden.
Interesting. Joe Biden had run in 2020 on getting the world to like and respect America again...
The geography of the attacks did not change significantly. American aviation concentrated on the provinces of Sanaa and Al-Bayda, where, according to Pentagon operational reports, most of the Ansar Allah command posts were located, as well as weapons arsenals and launchers.
A.k.a. “targets”.
The US Air Force also carried out two strikes on the captain's cabin of the Israeli vessel Galaxy Leader, which was captured by the Houthis back in 2023 and, according to some reports, was used as a floating command post.
I wondered about that. Good to know.
In terms of enemy casualties, the American operation against the Houthis was perhaps the most effective: as a result of the raid, at least thirty people were killed, more than a hundred were injured; some still remain under the rubble.
True, most of the victims were civilians.
So it is claimed. But we know that so often the difference between jihdi soldiers and jihadi civilians is whether they have yet dropped the gun that was in their hands and kicked it away.
The movement's resources did not officially report on the presence of "martyrs" among the Ansar Allah fighters.
REVENGE FOR THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER
Washington clearly has no intention of stopping there. Trump has openly stated that he is prepared to “unleash hell” on the Houthis and their allies if they continue to obstruct shipping in the Red Sea. The American military has effectively been given carte blanche.
And the American "hawks" are rushing to take advantage of the opportunities that have opened up. In particular, CENTCOM is proposing to the White House to expand the geography of the strike not only to the land part of Yemen, but also to the waters of the Red Sea controlled by the Houthis.
Seems reasonable…
This approach would allow strikes against Iranian targets near Yemen, including Iranian intelligence ships at anchor.
A happy thought, indeed.
The Pentagon agrees with the proposal and is pushing for Iranian Navy intelligence vessels to transmit information to Ansar Allah, thereby greatly increasing the effectiveness of their operations.
The desire of the American military to “probe” the waters is not only practical, but also a desire to protect the “honor of the uniform.”
Since the start of the air operation, the Houthis have managed to figure out the location of the American aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman and attack it at least twice with anti-ship missiles and UAVs.
Shooting in the general direction, anyway. They didn’t manage to hit their targets — clearly Allah did not will it.
The Pentagon is convinced that this could not have happened without outside help.
THERE ARE NO GREAT SUCCESSES
If we put aside the public rhetoric of Trump and his entourage, it is clear that the effectiveness of the new US strikes on Yemen is not much higher than the previous ones.
You go with that — we’ll go with reality. Not to mention the ability to keep shooting until Regnum is forced to concede exactly how much more effective the Trump Navy is than the Biden one.
Objective monitoring of the bombings still gives contradictory information about the number of Ansar Allah facilities destroyed.
Munitions secondaries still going off?
According to external observers, every third target hit was either a decoy or a civilian building. The Houthis' military potential was almost unscathed. The Pentagon cites a more favorable ratio, but does not boast of great successes either.
In addition, the US air force has largely ignored the mountainous province of Saada, where the movement's "bunker number 1" is rumored to be located. The US is unlikely to be able to reach the Houthi leaders without a ground operation.
Or ground-penetrating radar and ditto bombs. Oddly enough, Israel now has those, too…
However, in this case, it will be necessary to rely on the Saudi and Emirati creatures, who are currently weakened by inter-factional squabbles and are not eager to escalate the confrontation with Ansar Allah.
American officials unanimously insist that the beating of Yemeni proxy forces is a “clear signal” to Iran, a key ally and donor to the movement. But how effective such actions are is an open question.
We’ll only know once we’ve done it, I quite agree.
Of course, Tehran is forced to more closely monitor the Yemeni direction, allocating additional forces and resources to support the Houthis, and taking into account the risk of the possible elimination of the movement’s top leaders.
In addition, Washington's overly focused attention on Yemen complicates Ansar Allah's inclusion in the anti-Israel Operation True Promise 3, which the Iranian establishment regularly threatens.
A happy thought.
At the same time, it is too optimistic to expect that pressure on the Houthis will be able to knock Iran off its current course. Official Tehran is using aggression against its Yemeni assets as an excuse to invigorate the bored "Axis of Resistance" by turning the Houthis into an example to follow.
FAFO, guys.
In this reading, the increase in US military activity in the Red Sea is only a plus for the Iranians and their allies.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 21:37 The incinerating power of the Iskander
The Iskander OTRK complex crew struck the area of the concentration of manpower and equipment of the 144th brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Losevka area, Sumy region —video.
20:46 FPV drone destroyed Ukrainian infantry fighting vehicle with ammunition detonation in the vicinity of Chasy Yar —video.
20:25 Military personnel of the "East" group of forces are actively destroying heavy drones of the "Baba Yaga" type and reconnaissance drones of the Ukrainian Armed Forces —video.
19:40 Russian Ministry of Defense:
At about 16:50 Moscow time, air defense systems on duty destroyed Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle over the territory of Belgorod region
18:52 UAV operators hit enemy artillery
Drone operators of the 20th Guards Combined Arms Army of the West Forces Group destroyed an artillery gun, mortar and antenna of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Khar'kov region –video.
18:15 Telegram channel «Fisherman»:
Zaporizhzhya direction: liberation of Stepovoye and battles on the Shcherbaki-Malye Shcherbaki line
– The offensive of the Russian Armed Forces, which began in early March, is developing in the Zaporizhzhya direction: today the Russian Ministry of Defense officially announced the liberation of Stepovoye.
More details about the situation in the Zaporizhia direction:
– After several days of artillery work, by March 10, the Russian Armed Forces fighters advanced towards Stepovoye under cover of fog and were able to take the settlement without losses. This was achieved, among other things, thanks to the radio game.
– The enemy remained confident until the very end that Stepovoye remained under its complete control, although footage refuting this appeared on March 11. During this time, Russian servicemen were able to set up several ambushes on nearby roads for members of the Ukrainian formations who were unaware of this.
– At the same time, the Russian Armed Forces managed to advance to Shcherbaki and Malye Shcherbaki, where fighting is currently underway. Russian troops launched attacks in that area back in January, but then these were more of a diversionary measure.
– In case of further successes in this area, the heights to the west of Orekhovo may come under the control of the Russian Armed Forces. And this, in turn, will open up new opportunities for action in the Novoandreyevka area, as well as Malaya Tokmachka or even Gulyaipole.
17:48 Drone operators of the 200th Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Leningrad Military District smoke out Ukrainian soldiers from shelters —video.
17:24 A 122mm BM-21 Grad MLRS crew from the 58th Guards Combined Arms Army of the Dnepr Forces Group destroyed a stronghold of a Ukrainian Armed Forces company —video.
16:59 Accurate hit on self-propelled gun of the Armed Forces of Ukraine The crew of the Lancet loitering munition of the Sever group destroyed the Bogdana self-propelled gun of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kha'rkov region —video.
16:29 Russian Ministry of Defense:
From 13:30 to 14:30 Moscow time by air defense systems on duty destroyed three Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles:
Two UAVs over the territory of the Kursk region and
One UAV over the territory of the Belgorod region.
15:56 Sumy direction:
At night the enemy attempted to approach our positions, but as always was eliminated -video.
15:25 Strike FPV drone crews of the Center group of forces continue to destroy enemy manpower concentrations, mortar and artillery crews of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Drone operators support the advance of the group's assault units in the Krasnoarmeysk direction —video.
14:50 Strike "LeMUR" at the shelter of Ukrainian militants in the Kherson region -video.
14:23 A tank crew of the 1st Separate Guards Motorized Rifle "Slavic" Order of the Republic Brigade destroyed a stronghold of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Krasnoarmeysk direction with fire from a closed firing position —video.
13:18 A crew of the Molniya UAV from the 11th Engineering Brigade hit a group of enemy FPV drone operators in the Chasov Yar area —video.
12:19 Russian Ministry of Defense:
Around 09:30 Moscow time, air defense systems on duty destroyed Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle over the territory of the Belgorod region.
11:44 A shooter with the call sign "Luna" showed the results of his unit's combat work during the liberation of the settlements of Kositsa and Cherkasskoye Porechnoye —video.
11:27 Everything has been worked out to the point of automatism – the crews of the 152mm 2S19 Msta-S self-propelled howitzers of the 1st Guards Tank Army of the West Forces Group carry out combat missions to destroy equipment and manpower of the Ukrainian Armed Forces every day –video.
10:45 FPV drone crews from the Rubicon Center catch up with the retreating enemy —video.
10:27 Telegram channel «Fisherman»:
Heavy street fighting continues in Dzerzhinsk in various parts of the town, where the Russian Armed Forces have managed to stabilize the situation. The positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Russian Armed Forces are a "layered pie", where only a few houses can separate the sides, which sometimes leads to confusion on the ground due to the complex front line.
– More details on the chronology of the battles in the area: The most difficult situation remains in the eastern part of the Zabalka microdistrict, where Ukrainian formations are trying to gain a foothold every day.
– At the same time, while fierce clashes are taking place in the city, to the southwest the Ukrainian Armed Forces are trying to advance in the Panteleimonivka area.
– Russian troops, in turn, attack on the western flank along the line of Vodyanoye Vtoroye – Zelenoye Pole, gaining a foothold on the southern outskirts of Tarasovka.
- At the same time, in the area of the Staronikolaevsk wedge, the front has been static for the last year. The enemy has prepared an echeloned line of defense over several years, which is not advisable to take head-on.
Success in the Tarasovka area from the west and in the direction of Romanovka in the east will allow "to close the pincers" around the Ukrainian Armed Forces' fortified area, avoiding unnecessary losses.
The collapse of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' defense to the west of Dzerzhinsk will be a support for the Russian Armed Forces' advance to Konstantinovka from the south and its subsequent semi-envelopment from the west.
09:40 A total of 22 Ukrainian aircraft-type UAVs knocked down overnight over Russian territory.
Of these, more than half – 13 units – were destroyed over the Astrakhan region.
In addition, three drones were intercepted over Kalmykia, two over Bryansk Oblast and Krasnodar Krai, and one over Volgograd and Rostov Oblasts.
08:15 Frontline report for the morning of 17.03.2025
- Zaporizhzhya Front.They continue fighting in the area of Stepovoye, Shcherbaki and Malye Shcherbaki. Russian troops are putting pressure on the defense of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the Ukrainian army is pulling reserves to this area to stop the advance of the Russian Armed Forces.
- Donetsk Front. There is a significant strengthening of the Ukrainian Armed Forces defense due to fresh reserves, some of which are Spanish-speaking mercenaries. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are trying to build an active defense and often counterattack. Russian troops continue to put pressure on Ukrainian positions, but the additional forces transferred here and the huge number of enemy drones, including heavy fencing ones, are seriously slowing down our advances.
- Chasov Yar direction. No significant changes in LBS. Fighting continues in Chasov Yar and on the flanks.
Kursk Region. Russian troops are advancing in Gogolevka. The enemy is being pushed further and further toward the state border, but there it occupies pre-prepared positions and tries to defend itself, deploying artillery crews and UAV crews, which are now flying further and further into our liberated territories.
Nevertheless, the Russian Armed Forces will continue to hold the initiative and the Ukrainian Armed Forces are not yet able to stop the advance of our troops. The question of where our troops will go remains open.
07:20 Tonight the Ukrainian Armed Forces again undertook an attempt at a massive drone attack on facilities located in the Astrakhan region, including the fuel and energy complex.
Work shifts were evacuated in advance. Electronic warfare and air defense systems operated as normal.
When the UAV fell, a fire broke out on the territory of the facility. The situation is under control, emergency services specialists immediately began to eliminate the consequences on site, the fire has been localized.
One person was injured in the attack. The victim has now been taken to hospital.
06:30 Crews of T-80BV tanks of the "Southern" group of forcesdestroyedan enemy stronghold with manpower in the Pokrovsky direction.
[IsTheServiceDown] Map showing many large Metros with Postal Issues.
A quick D2D search shows a many reports of a USPS problem dating back to June of 2024 and getting worse.
#3
Yep ... there'e my neighborhood too! What a shock. Out of every 6 delivery days we have 3-4 different carriers
Posted by: Chicago Lurker ||
03/18/2025 8:41
Comments ||
Top||
#4
32 days after mailing a Certified Letter from Augusta Ga to Duluth Ga. Which is routed thru Atlanta. The USPS tracking # only shows the Augusta post office accepted it. No record or traceability after that. The mgr, it was sent to, said their mail is running months behind and USPS can't explain why? Then she told me she just got a Xmas card from her mom posted back in Dec 2024.
#8
Sent a letter to an office in Minneapolis. After tracking hung in the Mpls PO for several days, I contacted the company. They said they now go pick up their mail at the PO because "there are delivery issues".
#9
Maybe the Post Office plugged in all their new electric vans at once and blew a fuse.
Mail delivery here has been retarded lately, in the sense of being slow. We used to get over-night delivery for regional mail. An item dropped off at the village post office was sent 15 miles to the nearest town for sorting and then off to the destination post office for delivery the next day.
Now it goes from village to city to Grand Rapids, 150 miles away, for sorting and then back the way it came. Delivery time is now about a week. Perhaps there are economies of scale from sorting in one place. Seems the extra 5 hours drive time and additional handling would negate that. Or maybe mail delivery is just retarded.
Hey, what if we build one giant mail sorting center in the geographic center of the United States and route *all* the mail through it. That way, we get the benefits of centralized processing and we only need one sorting machine. Allow me to introduce the Department Of Postal Efficiency - DOPE!
[Guardian] Nordic countries were early adopters of digital payments. Now, electronic banking is seen as a potential threat to national security
In 2018 a former deputy governor of Sweden’s central bank predicted that by 2025 the country would probably be cashless.
Seven years on, that prediction has turned out to be pretty much true. Just one in 10 purchases are made with cash, and card is the most common form of payment, followed by the Swedish mobile payment system Swish, launched by six banks in 2012 and now ubiquitous. Other mobile phone payment services are also growing quickly.
In fact, according to the central bank’s annual payments report, published this month, Sweden and Norway have the lowest amount of cash in circulation, as a percentage of GDP, in the world.
But in the context of today, with war in Europe, unpredictability in the US and the fear of Russian hybrid attacks almost a part of daily life in Sweden, life without cash is not proving the utopia that perhaps it once promised to be.
Such is the perceived severity of the situation that the authorities are trying to encourage citizens to keep and use cash in the name of civil defence. In November, the defence ministry sent every home a brochure entitled If Crisis or War Comes, advising people to use cash regularly and keep a minimum of a week’s supply in various denominations to “strengthen preparedness”.
In its report, the central bank says: “Measures need to be taken to strengthen preparedness and reduce exclusion so that everyone can pay, even in the event of crisis or war.” For years, it says, efficiency has been the priority for payments, but now safety and accessibility “are at least as important”.
In December the government published the findings of an inquiry that proposed that some public and private agents should be required to accept cash – a recommendation that the central bank says the authorities should implement.
In recent years the central bank has been working on its own digital currency, the “e-krona”, as cash declines. But the project ended a couple of years ago, and the bank is now focused on monitoring the global development of digital currencies.
Sweden is not the only Nordic country backpedalling on plans for a cashless society. Last year Norway, which has a popular equivalent to Swish called Vipps MobilePay, brought in legislation that means retailers can be fined or sanctioned if they will not accept cash. The government has also recommended that citizens “keep some cash on hand due to the vulnerabilities of digital payment solutions to cyber-attacks”.
Norway’s former justice and emergencies minister Emilie Mehl put it in clear terms: “If no one pays with cash and no one accepts cash, cash will no longer be a real emergency solution once the crisis is upon us.”
Ultimately, when it comes to emergency planning, the world’s two most cashless societies are still banking on cash.
#3
In November, the defence ministry sent every home a brochure entitled If Crisis or War Comes, advising people to use cash regularly and keep a minimum of a week’s supply in various denominations to strengthen preparedness.
Magic Money Computers' that create cash out of thin air - it's how foreign aid is born.
[EngMilRu] The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation.
Kharkov direction, units of the Sever Group of Forces have inflicted fire damage on two AFU mechanised brigades near Volchansk and Kazachya Lopan (Kharkov region).
The AFU lost up to 90 troops and 18 motor vehicles. One ammunition depot was destroyed.
The Zapad Group of Forces improved the tactical situation. Strikes were delivered at manpower and hardware of one motorised infantry brigade, one mechanised brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and one territorial defence brigade near Kopanki, Novoyegorovka (Kharkov region) and Redkodub (Donetsk People's Republic).
The enemy losses were more than 225 servicemen, eight motor vehicles, one field artillery gun, and three electronic warfare stations.
The Yug Group of Forces took more favourable lines and positions. Strikes were delivered at two mechanised brigades, one infantry brigade, and one assault brigade of the AFU near Krymskoye, Aleksandropol, and Verolyubovka (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses amounted to more than 190 troops, two motor vehicles, and one field artillery gun. One field ammunition depot was destroyed.
The Tsentr Group of Forces continued advancing to the depth of enemy defences. Strikes were delivered at formations of two mechanised brigades, one assault brigade of the AFU, one naval infantry brigade, and one national guard brigade near Sribnoye, Udachnoye, Dimitrov, Shevchenko, and Uspenovka (Donetsk People's Republic).
The enemy lost more than 495 troops, four armoured fighting vehicles, including one U.S.-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, 10 motor vehicles, three artillery guns, and two electronic warfare stations.
The Vostok Group's units inflicted fire damage on formations of two motorised infantry brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and one territorial defence brigade close to Bogatyr, Federovka, and Otradnoye in Donetsk People's Republic.
Up to 140 troops, two armoured fighting vehicles, and six motor vehicles of the enemy have been neutralised.
As a result of active and decisive actions, units of the Dnepr Group of Forces liberated Stepovoye (Zaporozhye region).
Strikes were delivered at manpower and hardware of one coastal defence brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and one territorial defence brigade close to Tyaginka (Kherson region) and Pavlovka (Zaporozhye region).
Up to 65 troops, five motor vehicles, and one electric warfare station of the enemy have been neutralised.
Operational-tactical aircraft, attack unmanned aerial vehicles, missile troops, and artillery of the Russian Groups of Forces inflicted fire damage on military facilities of airfields, training centre of UAV pilots, as well as clusters of manpower and military equipment of the AFU and foreign mercenaries in 159 areas.
Air defence systems shot down two U.S.-made JDAM guided aerial bombs and 177 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles.
Since the beginning of the special military operation, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have neutralised: 658 aircraft,283 helicopters, 47,094 unmanned aerial vehicles, 601 anti-aircraft missile systems, 22,303 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,529 MLRS combat vehicles, 22,625 field artillery guns and mortars, 32,989 units of special military vehicles.
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the operation to neutralise AFU formations on the territory of Kursk region.
In the course of the offensive actions, units of the Sever Group of Forces inflicted fire damage on units of one mechanised brigade, two air assault brigades, one naval infantry brigade, and two territorial defence brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine close to Gogolevka, Gornal, Guyevo, and Oleshnya.
Operational-Tactical, Army Aviation, and artillery fire hit enemy manpower and hardware close to Gogolevka, Gornal, Guyevo, Zapselye, Loknya and Oleshnya, as well as Basovka, Belovody, Varachino, Velikaya Rybitsa, Veselovka, Vodolagi, Zhuravka, Ivolzhanskoye, Novenkoye, Sadki, Yunakovka, and Yablonovka (Sumy region).
During the day, the AFU losses amounted to more than 280 troops, two tanks, two infantry fighting vehicles, two armoured personnel carriers, 12 motor vehicles, two artillery guns, two mortars, one counter-battery warfare station, as well as three UAV command posts and two ammunition depots.
Since the beginning of hostilities in Kursk direction, the AFU losses amounted to more than 68,130 troops, 396 tanks, 319 infantry fighting vehicles, 287 armoured personnel carriers, 2,200 armoured fighting vehicles, 2,454 motor vehicles, 560 artillery guns, 52 MLRS launchers, including 13 of HIMARS and seven of MLRS made by the USA, 26 anti-aircraft missile launchers, one self-propelled anti-aircraft system, ten transport-loading vehicles, 120 EW stations, 17 counter-battery radars, ten air defence radars, 56 units of engineering and other materiel, including 23 counterobstacle vehicles, one UR-77 mine clearing vehicle, five bridge launchers, one engineering reconnaissance vehicle as well as 15 armoured recovery vehicles, and one command post vehicle.
The operation to neutralise the AFU units is in progress.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] A Syrian national studying in Volgograd recorded a video apologizing for his reaction to the mufti’s words about events in the Middle East.
Mufti of the Volgograd Region Mohamad Bata Kivakh published a video today on his Telegram channel in which a Volgograd dental student, originally from Syria, apologizes for criticizing the mufti, V1.ru reports today.
The mufti faced criticism from some of his fellow believers after he published an appeal in connection with the events in Syria. Later, these comments criticizing and justifying violence and cruelty were deleted, the publication writes.
"The address of the Mufti of the Volgograd Region on the genocide in Syria" was published on the Mufti's Telegram channel on March 13. It says that in the Syrian provinces of Latakia, Jabla and Tartus, "civilians, including Christians, became victims of a brutal genocide" organized by groups associated with terrorist organizations. "Men, women, the elderly and children were mercilessly exterminated.
According to sources, about 10,000 people died as a result of these terrible events. All these crimes were committed under the banner of Islam, but those responsible for them have nothing to do with the true faith. They are real monsters and criminals," the Mufti wrote and called for "spreading calls for peace, as well as praying for the people of Syria."
In the video published today, the young man says that his name is Imad Jagnum Muhammad Aid and that he is a second-year dentist. "I offer my deepest apologies to the muftiate for my words, which are wrong both religiously and humanely. I ask the muftiate to forgive me, I offer my sincere apologies to the Mufti of Bata," the student says in the video.
He emphasizes his remorse several times. "I'm not making excuses, I'm not pretending to apologize... I really sincerely apologize and ask for forgiveness for myself and for my words. And I ask all participants [of the discussion] to calm down, since the month of Ramadan is underway, I ask all participants to stop insulting me, my family. They have nothing to do with it, I wrote it personally, I am responsible for my words as a true Muslim. I am an ordinary Muslim, like you," said the author of the video message.
The mufti who published the video explained in the annotation to it that after the publication of his address dedicated to the genocide in Syria, he received many insults from Muslims.
"One of them officially apologized to me. The others continue to insult me. [...] We all need to learn to have civilized discussions. If your opponent is wrong, do not resort to insults. Let everyone stick to their opinion, and time will judge who was right. I have forgiven everyone for the sake of Allah and do not hold a grudge against anyone. This is the month of forgiveness, and I want to remind you that we should all be lenient with each other," wrote Mohamad Bata Kiwah.
Let us recall that the practice of public apologies, adopted in Chechnya at the instigation of Ramzan Kadyrov, has spread to other regions of Russia. Thus, in the summer of 2023, Volgograd blogger Pavel Prokudin apologized for insulting Muslims and residents of the Caucasus. He explained that his statements were provoked by insults against Russians and himself.
#2
The Fifth Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy. Its area of responsibility encompasses approximately 2.5 million square miles, and includes the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and parts of the Indian Ocean. It shares a commander and headquarters with U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) in Bahrain. Fifth Fleet/NAVCENT is a component command of, and reports to, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM).
#3
I assumed the 5th fleet is taking part in the attacks on the Houthis in Yemen, which is why I put this article under Arabia. Are they going toward Iran instead, or somewhere else altogether? Guidance urgently needed, please —assuming it’s not a secret.
[BabylonBee] U.S. — A district judge has issued a ruling saying Trump lacked the Constitutional authority to pick up two astronauts who have been stranded at the International Space Station for several months.
SpaceX has been ordered to return the astronauts immediately.
"I will not stand by while Donald Trump abuses his power like a dictator," said Judge Earl Flanders in his ruling. "Trump has no authority to pick up these astronauts, and I can say that because I'm a federal judge, and no one is allowed to argue with me, and everyone has to do what I say."
Eyewitnesses say the judge then donned a Keffiyeh and spray painted a Cybertruck while screaming "Black Lives Matter."
Sources in Washington say Trump plans to brazenly ignore the lawful order and bring the astronauts home anyway. "This is just the kind of wanton lawlessness we should expect from a dictator who is literally Hitler," said one legal analyst.
The SpaceX craft docked at the ISS on Sunday and was preparing for the return journey to Earth when the orders stopped the process short. "Please bring us home, I just want a cheeseburger and a nap in a horizontal bed," said one of the crew.
At publishing time, Trump was polling at 100% approval among the stranded astronaut demographic.
Many a truth, was said in jest.
Has the BB planted an idea that will open future can's of worms?
As it seems the Left, and its appointed puppet judges, will grasp at anything to disrupt or stop MAGA moving forward. Even crashing the US Economy, starting a civil or international conflict to do it.
Maybe it is time to setup a streamline Judaical Review board.
A board that quickly reviews, warns and/or removes Judges and DA's clearly playing politics, instead following their Oath of Office.
Commentary by Russia military journalist Boris Rozhin is in italics.
[ColonelCassad] Russia's Zala Z16 reconnaissance drones have received a new FPV drone evasion system, which is a serious response to the threat from Ukrainian drones
In the latest modifications, the device is equipped with cameras that constantly monitor the airspace and record the approach of enemy FPV drones. In the event of an attack, Zala automatically begins to maneuver, forcing the enemy to waste its charge until it runs out of charge or disappears from sight. This technological improvement is designed to neutralize one of the key threats that the Russian army has faced in recent months - the active knocking out of reconnaissance drones of the Russian Armed Forces by strikes with FPV munitions.
Now Russian intelligence officers have received a tool that allows them to maintain their presence in the sky and continue to carry out tasks even in conditions of increased counteraction
A useful invention. But it is quite clear that small-sized drones will also be actively developed as tactical air defense systems in the coming years.
Text taken from a post on the X news portal @usaperiodical
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin is in italics.
[ColonelCassad] The Woodrow Wilson Center is closing.
Over the weekend, Donald Trump signed an executive order to cut seven federal agencies, including the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees media outlets like Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
A total of seven federal agencies were cut, including:
▪️The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, which prevents and resolves labor disputes.
▪️The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, which supports scholars in conducting policy research.
▪️The Institute of Museum and Library Services, which funds and supports museums, libraries, and archives.
▪️The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, which works to prevent and end homelessness.
▪️The Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, which provides financial assistance to struggling communities.
▪️The Minority Business Development Agency, which supports businesses owned by minority representatives.
According to the order, the heads of these agencies must submit reports to the White House Budget Office within seven days on their compliance with the reduction requirements.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has already whined that the reduction of USAGM supports the "narratives of authoritarian regimes around the world."
The screams and hysterics of grant-eaters around the world continue. The main budget tit has disappeared. We need to look for new sources of American dollars.
Every year, the United States spent tens of billions of dollars on a whole bunch of such organizations. Musk, in fact, only scratched the surface, touching on a number of the most iconic and branded bug-infested places.
P.S. The United States also withdrew from the groups "investigating Russian war crimes in Ukraine." The United States itself created and financed these groups at one time.
[FoxNews] President Donald Trump on Monday announced that former President Joe Biden's adult children will no longer receive U.S. Secret Service protection.
In a Truth Social post, Trump remarked that Hunter Biden has received Secret Service protection for an "extended period of time."
"There are as many as 18 people on this Detail, which is ridiculous!" Trump wrote. "Please be advised that, effective immediately, Hunter Biden will no longer receive Secret Service protection." "See ya!"
"Wait. Where are you going?"
Ashley Biden, Hunter's sister, will have her Secret Service protection revoked as well. Trump noted that 13 agents were assigned to her security detail.
"We are aware of the President’s decision to terminate protection for Hunter and Ashley Biden," the Secret Service told Fox News Digital. "The Secret Service will comply and is actively working with the protective details and the White House to ensure compliance as soon as possible."
Fox News Digital has reached out to Hunter Biden's lawyers.
Former presidents and their spouses receive life-long Secret Service protection under federal law, but the protection afforded to their immediate families over the age of 16 ends when they leave office, though both Trump and Biden extended the details for their children for six months before leaving office, the Associated Press reported.
Former President Biden allowed Baron Trump to keep his Secret Service protection after his 16th birthday.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Andrey Khrustalev
[REGNUM] The Kursk operation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces became one of the most controversial events of the last three years for the Ukrainians themselves. From the very beginning, the actions on the adjacent Russian territory took place under a veil of information fog.
There were different and often contradictory assessments of the goals of this offensive. The topic was hotly discussed by Ukrainian military and political scientists, but society never received a clear and precise answer to the question "why?" from them.
Although the invasion of the Kursk region really came as a big surprise to everyone. Unlike the failed summer counteroffensive of 2023, which was widely announced and everyone knew where and when to expect it.
As the Ukrainian TV channel Espreso noted at the time, “in reality, we learn most of the information about the course and reasons for the cross-border attack indirectly, thanks to Russian military personnel, videos and photographs from Ukrainian military personnel and foreign media, which either seek anonymous sources in government agencies or present expert opinions for their conclusions.”
The fighting began on the morning of August 6, 2024, when units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border near the city of Sudzha.
Ukrainian troops began advancing deep into the territory and within a few days controlled several hundred square kilometers. However, the authorities were in no hurry to report the results, given the sad experience of the previous "counteroffensive." The first official information appeared only a week later.
On August 12, Volodymyr Zelensky said that the goal of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is to liberate the border area from the Russian army. Two weeks later, he said that Ukraine is not occupying Russia's Kursk region, and the operation in the region is only preventing the Russians from creating a buffer zone on Ukrainian territory.
And at a lower level, the goals were described quite differently. A series of publications appeared in the media hinting at historical claims to these lands and possible annexation of the territories.
"The Kursk region is historically connected with Ukraine and in the future it may become either a separate territory like the Kursk People's Republic or even part of Ukraine," the experts wrote in all seriousness. And social networks were massively disseminating various kinds of evidence that "a hundred years ago, after the collapse of the Russian Empire, Ukrainians living in the territory of today's Kursk and Belgorod regions actively supported the creation of the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR)."
In general, according to such statements, it was the Ukrainian ethnic territory of Slobozhanshchina, and the population had ancient Ukrainian roots, since the settlements were formed during the era of the Zaporozhian Cossacks. And the fact that the city of Sudzha and Belgorod were even the capitals of Soviet Ukraine for a short period only further emphasized the "Ukrainianness of these lands" in the eyes of the authors of theories calling for "re-evaluation of both the past and possible future of the borders between Ukraine and the Russian Federation."
The idea that Ukraine had turned from a victim into an aggressor, entering the territory of another country with weapons and violating international law (which it had constantly insisted on) was in plain sight. Nevertheless, a military commandant's office was created in the captured part of Kursk Oblast - its head was Major General Eduard Moskalov.
There was even an idea of opening Ukrainian classes in local schools from September 1. Deputy Minister of Education of Ukraine Mykhailo Vinnitsky said then that his department would probably have to draw up a plan to provide education for Kursk children, but this was later abandoned - in light of the same international law.
Meanwhile, the list of benefits Ukraine had put on display from the operation grew.
Here there was a rise in the morale of the population, and a demonstration to them and their "partners" of the strength of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, capable not only of defense, but also of attack. The concept of creating an "exchange fund" was tested on the air. That is, if Ukraine could consolidate its positions, they could be exchanged for lands near Kharkov, Kherson or Donetsk.
There were also economic goals.
One of them was to exert influence on Russia by seizing Sudzha with its gas measuring station. This allowed control over the transportation of gas through the pipeline that supplies Russian natural gas to Europe via Ukraine.
The gas contract expired at the end of 2024, but gaining control of the plant brought the situation to an equation with many unknowns. Experts also spread the concept of seizing the Kurchatov NPP and potentially exchanging it for the Zaporizhzhya NPP.
The operation was supposed to force Russia to abandon its offensive in the Donetsk and Kharkov regions and switch to liberating its own territories.
But in the end, none of the plans worked.
The Ukrainian army got stuck, having captured only part of the planned territory. And gradually it became clear that it would not be possible to achieve even half of what was desired.
With the end of the offensive and the transition to positional battles, the operation in the Kursk region turned into a "suitcase without a handle" for Kyiv. Ukrainian forces were under constant fire, the army's advance stopped, and it became clear that there was simply no plan "B".
It was impossible to leave and withdraw the troops, and staying was extremely costly.
Accordingly, the question of why all this is necessary has loomed again on the airwaves - only in a different plane. As Roman Kostenko, Secretary of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, noted in August 2024, "this is a success in many aspects - both internationally and in our own, that we have seized the initiative; and in the moral and psychological sense, and a victory that we have not had for a long time. And the next goal is probably known only to our commander-in-chief and a few people involved in the Headquarters or the direct planning of this operation."
That is, the main victory is the proof of the genius of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. At the same time, the obvious failure increased the number of those who believed that the loss of territory in the Donetsk direction would hardly be compensated by the frozen resources in Sudzha.
As autumn approached, the tone of statements describing the operation's objectives began to change.
On August 18, 2024, Zelensky stated in an evening address that the main objective of the operation in the Kursk region was to destroy as much Russian potential as possible and create a “buffer zone.”
On August 24, at a press conference in Kyiv, he noted that "everything is going according to plan," and the Ukrainian military prevented the occupation of the city of Sumy with a preemptive strike. And on October 21, citizens suddenly learned from the same source that "instead of a buffer zone on Ukrainian territory, which the Russians had planned, we created a buffer zone near our border on Russian territory."
The situation remained relatively stable throughout the autumn. But when in January 2025 the Russian army's offensive in Donbass and simultaneously in the Sudzha area had an obvious success, Kyiv could not counter it with anything. But Zelensky did not want to give up the "achieved success" either - this would refute everything said earlier, and he does not do this on principle.
By the end of February, units of the Russian Armed Forces approached the Sudzha-Sumy highway, through which supplies were supplied to the Ukrainian Armed Forces group in the Kursk region. As of March 9, according to The New York Times, the Ukrainians had lost 2/3 of the territory they had previously controlled. At the same time, all reports of a "cauldron" were actively denied.
Now the Ukrainian Armed Forces command (obviously, following instructions from Bankova) was trying to delay the retreat process, not giving the order to withdraw and exchanging the worsening situation for media bonuses.
After all, against the backdrop of the greatly deteriorated quality of communication with the US, Ukraine simply had to hold on to the territories until the start of the ceasefire talks. Otherwise, Kyiv would have lost one of its few trump cards. So, in the end, real information about the situation in the Kursk region was given, as usual, by foreign media.
On March 10, an article on Radio Liberty* devoted to the situation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region was published with the headline "The beginning of the end? The Russian army is advancing in the Kursk region." It quoted Ukrainian Armed Forces serviceman Artem Karyakin as saying that "two months ago we already understood where this was all heading."
It was against this backdrop that Zelensky announced on March 14 that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had completed their operation in the Kursk region. He now called the withdrawal of Russian forces from Pokrovsk and Kharkov its main results. None of the country's military authorities dared to publicly admit the failure.
"The defense forces have redeployed to more advantageous defense lines in the Kursk region, " said Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. And only the unbending MP Maryana Bezugla, who works as a lightning rod for the President's Office, clearly pointed out the "true culprits" of the failure.
"The retreat from Kursk region is not planned - this is another miscalculation, " she wrote on her Telegram channel. " People are not receiving any orders to leave, each unit leaves as best it can. This is barbarity on the part of Syrsky !"
And then the Russians' entry into Sumy Oblast looms - which, as we remember, was "prevented". Now the BBC* is publishing a report full of quotes from Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers: "horror film", "catastrophe", "collapse", "failure of the front". "The roads are littered with hundreds of destroyed cars, armored vehicles and ATVs. There are many wounded and dead."
However, there is another goal of this operation, which was also voiced by foreigners. According to The Washington Post, its task was to disrupt secret peace talks in August 2024. At that time, Ukraine and Russia intended to discuss efforts to partially cease fire and strikes on energy infrastructure, the publication reports, citing diplomats and officials.
A possible agreement would offer a reprieve for both countries, which had already ostensibly agreed to hold a summit in Doha, with only minor details remaining to be ironed out. Beyond that, some negotiators hoped they could reach a more comprehensive agreement to end the war.
The offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region disrupted all plans, making peace negotiations impossible.
The breakdown of peace talks has delayed the peace process — which Zelensky now insists on after his talks with Trump — by more than six months. And the question of how many lives the occupation of Russian lands has cost remains unanswered.
Even if the Russian army forces were pulled back from other directions and some populated areas remained under Ukrainian control, this was achieved at an incomparable cost of enormous efforts and lost lives of soldiers. Other goals of the operation turned out to be short-term.
Even morale was raised only for a short time, because the Ukrainian Armed Forces were unable to repeat such a breakthrough anywhere else, although they tried. And the definition of "adventure" for the ultimately failed invasion is more appropriate than any other.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Human colonization of Mars may begin in five to seven years. This was stated on March 17 by the founder of the American company SpaceX and the head of the US Department of Government Effectiveness, Elon Musk.
“This will happen either during the second or third launch window of the Earth-Mars mission (the period suitable for launching a space rocket. — Ed.), that is, in about five to seven years,” he wrote on the social network X.
Musk also stressed that the main question in this area is whether it will be possible to achieve autonomous living on Mars. If this does not happen, the colony will die out when supplies from Earth stop.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, Musk announced on March 15 plans to launch the Starship spacecraft with the humanoid robot Optimus to Mars at the end of 2026. In his opinion, if the mission is successful, landing people on this planet will be possible in 2029 or 2031.
The head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Kirill Dmitriev, commenting on this publication, suggested that Musk send a joint mission of Russia and the United States to Mars. He called for the unification of scientists and technologies of the two countries to serve the good of humanity.
Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title.
[Korrespondent] 22:50 Ukraine has successfully tested its own long-range drone, which can cover 3,000 km. This was announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in his evening address.
22:27 In the Dnipro district of the Dnipropetrovsk region, as a result of an attack by enemy drones, an infrastructure facility was damaged and a fire broke out. This was reported by the head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration, Serhiy Lysak, on the evening of March 17.
20:50 The Security Service has banned entry into Ukraine for three years to the head of the pro-Russian Romanian party SOS Romania, Diana Jovanovic Sosoache, who supports the Russian war against Ukraine. This was reported by the press service of the department.
18:05 Germany's 3 billion euro military aid package for Ukraine, which may soon be unblocked, provides for weapons supplies in both the short and long term. Federal Government spokesman Steffen Gebestreit gave details at a briefing, Ukrinform reports.
17.09 South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul called for cooperation on issues related to North Korean prisoners of war during a telephone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Sybiha on Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea reported.
16:55 Since the beginning of the current day, 98 combat clashes have occurred on the front. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported details on the progress of the battles in an operational report as of 16:00.
16:29 The European Union is discussing providing military aid to Ukraine worth 40 billion euros. This initiative has broad support. This statement was made by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas at a briefing in Brussels.
15.51 Up to 1.6 million Ukrainian children remain under the control of the aggressor country Russia – they are either deported or forced to live under occupation. This was reported by the head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak.
15:06 President Volodymyr Zelensky held a meeting with Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and the new Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Andriy Gnatov. They discussed the situation at the front and in interaction with partners on security guarantees for Ukraine.
14:30 Germany has transferred another package of military aid to Ukraine, which includes armored vehicles, drones and numerous ammunition. The full list was published by the German government.
13.56 Information that the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine "Kirill Ignatenko" allegedly "accused Elon Musk and the SpaceX company" of the so-called "failure of the Kursk operation" is a fake of Russian propaganda. This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council.
13.56 The Security Service detained a 21-year-old FSB agent in the Donetsk region, who was collecting intelligence data to prepare new attacks by the Russian Federation in the hottest direction of the front - Pokrovsky.
The man was recruited by the FSB through Telegram channels. After receiving enemy tasks, he began spying on the headquarters and strongholds of the Ukrainian troops.
Also, on assignment from the Russians, he tried to reconnoiter the coordinates of the combat positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces artillery, which is keeping under fire control the assault groups of the occupiers trying to break through to Pokrovsk.
13:49 Three children were wounded as a result of Russian shelling in the city of Pokrovsk. This was reported by the head of the Donetsk OVA Vadim Filashkin. According to him, these children had previously been evacuated to a safer region, but their parents decided to return to Pokrovsk.
13:25 A reconnaissance company of the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade Magura, using Fly Eye 3.0 drones, discovered an enemy garage where Russian marines of the 155th Brigade were welding additional armor for their armored vehicles.
Over time, a HIMARS multiple launch rocket system was fired at the enemy target. As a result of the shelling, not only the workshop but also the personnel were destroyed.
13:24 A telephone conversation between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin may indeed take place on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said . However, he declined to comment on Trump's words about plans to discuss with Putin issues regarding territories and control over nuclear power plants.
13:19 On the evening of March 14, Russian troops launched a ballistic strike on the city of Kryvyi Rih, which damaged a judicial institution. This was reported by the press service of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine on Monday, March 17.
As noted, as a result of the shock waves, the windows and the facade of the justice system building were damaged.
13:09 In Zaporizhia, law enforcement officers detained a man who fired a pistol and threw a grenade at a patrol of police officers and TCC workers. This was reported by the regional department of the National Police. The offender was a 44-year-old resident of Zaporizhia.
12:55 Since the start of the work of the recruitment centers of the Ukrainian army, 45,657 citizens have contacted them, of which 9,379 candidates have begun the process of registration for military service. The most active are residents of Kiev and the Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Lviv and Zaporizhia regions.
12:49 Russian troops have become more active in the Kupyansk and Limansk directions, in particular, they are trying to transfer equipment across the Oskol River. This was reported on the air of the telethon by Viktor Tregubov, a representative of the operational-strategic group of troops Khortytsia.
11:22 As a result of the attack by Russian drones, energy facilities in several regions were damaged. This was reported by Ukrenergo. There are consumers without power. Repair crews of the regional power company are already working to eliminate the consequences of the shelling.
11.03 Ukraine will be the determining party in monitoring the observance of the ceasefire regime, since everything is happening on its territory. But international forces may also be involved. This was stated by Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga in an interview for RBC-Ukraine .
10:15 The Security Service detained a 21-year-old agent of the Russian special services who was preparing coordinates for a new series of Russian air strikes on Odessa. Among the enemy's potential targets were reserve command posts and administrative buildings of the Defense Forces. In order to penetrate the Ukrainian air defense during the attack, the agent tried to identify and transmit to the occupiers the coordinates of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' radar stations.
09:30 The United States is withdrawing from a multinational group investigating Russia's crimes during its invasion of Ukraine, including the actions of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, The New York Times reports.
The case in point is the International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA), created to hold Russia's leadership, as well as its allies in Belarus, North Korea, and Iran, accountable for aggression that violates the sovereignty of another country and is not undertaken in self-defense.
09:10 At night, Russia attacked Ukraine with 174 Shahed-type attack UAVs and drone imitators of various types. Air defense forces destroyed 90 drones. Another 70 Russian drone imitators were lost without negative consequences.
As a result of the Russian attack, Odessa, Kharkiv, Dnepropetrovsk, Kirovograd, Sumy, Chernihiv and Kiev regions suffered.
08:56 At night, 37 Russian drones were recorded on the approaches to Kiev, 25 of them were destroyed by air defense systems, the rest were lost or left the airspace. There is no information about damage and casualties as a result of falling debris.
08:44 In the Kremenchuk district of the Poltava region, emergency power outages were introduced after the Russian drone attack. 1,035 households and 41 legal consumers were left without power.
08:20 Over the past 24 hours, 112 combat clashes took place on the front. Missile troops and artillery of the Defense Forces hit six areas of concentration of personnel, weapons and military equipment, as well as an artillery weapon of the Russian invaders.
07:55 In the temporarily captured areas of the Luhansk region, the occupation administration is distributing land to the Russian military. This was reported by the Center for National Resistance.
"The occupiers continue to plunder Ukrainian land - in the Luhansk region there is a new wave of "distribution" of seized land to the "SVO" terrorists and the families of the deceased occupiers," the report says.
07:20 As of March 17, 2025, the total combat losses of Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine were approximately 895,450 people (+1,210 in the last 24 hours).
04:01 A civilian was killed and two more people were wounded by Russian shelling in the Sumy region. In total, on Sunday, March 16, Russian troops carried out 114 shellings of border territories and settlements in the region.
01:20 A potential peace agreement could provide for an exchange of territories for security guarantees for Ukraine and a determination of its future status, said US National Security Advisor Michael Walz. According to him, the agreement could consider access to Ukraine's rare earth resources, maintaining an American presence, possible participation of European troops, as well as Kiev's refusal to join NATO. At the same time, he suggested that regions with a large share of ethnic Russians, in particular Donbass, could come under Russian control.
The Wall Street Journal has consistently criticized Trump’s economic policies, particularly his ongoing “trade war” with Canada, over the past several weeks. And certainly, the tensions are regrettable. Trump’s trolling of the insufferable Justin Trudeau, with talk of Canada becoming the “51st state,” perhaps only galvanized the Canadian left. It unfortunately may ensure that the only real hope for a Canadian return to normality, the election of Pierre Poilievre, may be lost.
That said, does the WSJ truly believe that the current $1.7 trillion budget deficit stacked on top of $36 trillion in national debt and an annual $1 trillion trade deficit are sustainable in any fashion? Do they believe any Republican president would have survived the midterms if he cut or “reformed” Social Security? If so, consult the fate of the recommendations of left-wing Barack Obama’s 2010 Simpson-Bowles commission (“The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform”).
DOGE, the effort to demand either symmetrical or no tariffs, closing the border, the rare minerals agreement, etc., are all controversial, even desperate efforts to stave off insolvency.
NAFTA was sold on the promise of trade equilibriums, eventually leading to no tariffs and rough parity. Yet Canada currently runs a $60 billion surplus largely because of its energy sales and selective tariffs on U.S. agriculture and some manufactured goods. That sum might be tolerable from a friend and not worth the acrimony, even with the present massive trade and budget deficits—if it had occurred in isolation.
But it did not. The Canadian surplus is force multiplied by its chronic refusal to spend a measly 2 percent of its GDP on defense. Canada could have easily offered a partnership with the U.S. to explore joint missile defense or shared Arctic Ocean naval patrols with a new fleet of Canadian and American icebreakers.
But it did nothing of the sort.
Worse still, no Canadian leader can offer any defense of their policies, such as: “We believe a $60 billion surplus with our free-trade American partner is justified, and we also believe we are further correct in not spending our promised 2 percent of GDP on defense.” Their veritable retort of “Trump is a monster” is no defense at all.
And there is wider context still. Mexico currently siphons off $63 billion in remittances from the U.S. economy, most of it from illegal aliens. Most of them enjoy some sort of subsidy from the American local, state, and federal governments.
Its trade surplus has ballooned to over $170 billion, largely because of opportunistic partnering with the Chinese to avoid US duties on imported Chinese-produced goods.
No one truly knows the full cost of an open border paid in American blood and treasure to Mexican cartels—70,000 lives and $20 billion annually?
Add up our northern and southern neighbors’ various surpluses and one could argue that $300 billion flows out of the U.S. to our so-called best friends and supposed partners in a so-called free-trade agreement supposedly designed to promote “free,” if not truly “fair,” trade.
Did any of the appeasements from the prior somnolent Biden administration—printing money, open borders, kindred socialist and green programs, USAID reckless generosity, and no concern over massive trade deficits—have any effect on either Canada or Mexico?
Or was Biden’s appeasement interpreted as weakness to be exploited rather than magnanimity to be reciprocated?
The summation, after looking at the situation in Ukraine:
On matters of trade, immigration, and foreign policy, we are witnessing a counter-revolutionary effort to erase the madness of the Biden revolutionary years. Then unnamed and largely unknown radicals, under the veneer of a waxen effigy president, hijacked the country and imposed upon it the most radical and nihilist agenda in the past century.
The current correctives are not easy or pretty. But the alternative to the prior status quo was not the status quo at all, but a Jacobin nihilism that had led only to insolvency, civil strife, the destruction of the southern border, at least two theater-wide wars abroad, and the end of the U.S. as we once knew it.
Ariel Oseran أريئل أوسيران
@ariel_oseran
Four Iranian missile ships reportedly crossed the Strait of Hormuz under the protection of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's naval forces, Al-Jazeera cites Iranian media.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] One of the scientists attacked his colleagues at the South African research base Sanae IV in Antarctica. This was reported by the British newspaper The Times, citing South African Environment Minister Dion George.
According to him, a conflict arose between the head of the research group and one of the scientists, during which the latter attacked his opponent.
"You can imagine what it's like to be in a cramped space and people really start to get nervous. It can be very disorienting," George said.
The South African minister specified that scientists at the base undergo psychological examination before the expedition due to the harsh working conditions. He added that the researchers who arrived to study the climate of Antarctica will spend at least another nine months at the base due to extreme weather conditions.
It is specified that the message from Sanae IV with a request for rescue was received last week and it says that the attacker is a threat to the entire team. At the same time, the man's behavior is "deeply disturbing" since he threatened to kill one of his colleagues and was accused of sexually assaulting another researcher.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on March 3, five people were injured in an armed attack at a bus station in Haifa, Israel. It was specified that a bus station security guard was able to neutralize the attacker with a shot from a firearm.
That was Jethro Shahin, a German-born Druze-Israeli with German citizenship in his twenties who shouted “Allahu akhbar!” while knifing all within reach; he successfully murdered an elderly Arab-Israeli, while two of the wounded were from the same Arab-Israeli town where the knifeman was staying. Mr. Shahin’s family claimed he wasn’t actually a jihadi because he was mentally ill, and had arrived in Israel from Germany only a week previously. I have no idea how the Regnum reporter connects this to scientists running amok in Antarctica…
According to journalist Amit Sehgal, a thief attacked visitors with a knife at the bus terminal. Citizens were advised to avoid the area near the bus station at the time.
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.
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
like lava from a volcano
... al-Qaeda's tentacle in East Africa...
...
...
...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party...
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects....
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
... a peculiarly brutal tribe of Moslem herdsmen infesting Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and probably other places that are light on law and order and heavy on tribal identity...
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
...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 
Wazoo
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] An iconic 354-year-old Canadian retailer is going out of business and shutting down all of its stores.
