[IsraelTimes] Jets strike army fortifications in villages of Shinshar and Shamsin near Homs, security sources say; watchdog says ‘missile battalion’ targeted
Israeli jets targeted former Syrian army outposts in the central Homs province, two security sources told Reuters on Tuesday, in what appeared to be the latest in a string of attacks on military infrastructure belonging to the ousted Assad regime, which fell to Islamist insurgents in December.
The jets bombed army fortifications in the villages of Shinshar and Shamsin south of Homs city in central Syria, the sources said.
According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, whose funding is unclear, “Israeli air strikes targeted a missile battalion” near Homs city, reporting explosions in the area with no immediate word of casualties.
The Israel Defense Forces did not comment on the alleged strikes.
The military did, however, acknowledge several drone strikes earlier on Tuesday on military infrastructure that it said posed a threat to Israel near the southern Syrian town of Khan Arnabeh.
The previous evening, the IDF had confirmed that it was carrying out a series of strikes on military targets in the Daraa area, targeting headquarters and other facilities used to store weapons and equipment belonging to the former Syrian regime. It said that it had identified attempts by unspecified groups to use those weapons.
Israel has said it will continue to act against all threats in Syria 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.
The IDF describes its presence in the buffer zone, which was manned by UN peacekeepers until the Assad regime’s ouster in December, as a temporary and defensive measure, although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month that troops would remain there for “an unlimited period of time” to maintain Israel’s security.
[IsraelTimes] 4 receive light sentences for roles in last year’s Amsterdam riots after soccer match with Maccabi Tel Aviv; critics note prosecutors didn’t charge perpetrators with antisemitism
A criminal court in Amsterdam on Wednesday sentenced four perpetrators of a "Jew hunt" in November to prison terms ranging from 11 days to three months. The four defendants were part of a group of as many as several hundred rioters who attacked Israeli supporters of the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer club after its match against local club Ajax on November 7.
In response to the sentences, Gidi Markuszower, a Jewish parliamentarian for Geert Wilders’s right-wing, pro-Israel Freedom Party, said of the prosecutors and judges: "They made one thing very clear: ’Dutch Jews, you can run, but you can’t hide.’"
The "hit-and-run" style attacks lasted through the early hours of November 8, leaving 10 injured, according to Israel’s Foreign Ministry, while hundreds were unable to emerge from their hotels.
Organized through WhatsApp groups, local Arab and Moslem gangs attacked Israeli soccer fans and searched and demanded identification from passersby to check if they were Israelis or Dutch Jews. In their WhatsApp conversations, the rioters themselves spoke of a "Jew hunt." Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema labeled the attacks a "pogrom" before retracting the comment days later, after political blowback.
Cenk D., considered one of the central figures in the attacks, was sentenced to three months incarceration, one month more than the public prosecutor’s office had asked for — an atypical occurrence. (In Dutch court cases, only the first letter of a defendant’s surname is used in communication with the media.) Three other defendants received lower sentences.
In a WhatsApp group called "Buurthuis 2," or "Community Center 2," Cenk D. had shared the location of Jewish soccer fans with 1,000 other members, calling on them to go on the attack: "A dead Jew is better than a living Jew."
Cenk D. also sent pictures of Anne Frank, which the court considered downplaying the Holocaust, a criminal offense in the Netherlands.
Taxi driver Mounir M. was sentenced to six weeks, minus 26 days for time served during the investigation. Mounir M. used the same WhatsApp group to tell the rioters where they could find Jews and how to evade the police that night.
Kamal I., another taxi driver, received one month with the same deduction; prosecutors had asked for a year of jail time. However,
it was a brave man who first ate an oyster... even though Kamal I. had videos of some of the assaults on his phone, the court did not see enough proof to conclude that he had personally participated in the violence.
Mohammed B. was convicted of assault and received a sentence of 11 days. He will not have to go to prison, since the sentence is the same as the number of days he had already spent in jail. The mild sentence was given despite Mohammed B.’s previous record of violent mostly peaceful offenses, and Dutch newspaper Het Parool wrote that Mohammed B. had been seen at other anti-Israel rallies, including one at the Amsterdam Central Train Station on the night before his sentencing.
Victor Loonstein, a lawyer for 35 of the Israeli victims, said the sentences were in line with Dutch guidelines. He noted, however, that the court took several ostensibly mitigating circumstances into account, such as the part Maccabi fans allegedly played in the violence, and in the cases of Paleostinian suspects, their "trauma" since the start of the war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... in October 2023.
Loonstein blamed local politics for the changing narrative since last November.
"Where at first the riots were labeled a ’Jew hunt,’ this quickly changed under the influence of politicians and pro-Paleostinian organizations," he said. "Suddenly, the events had to be viewed in a different context, and we were supposed to understand the motives of the perpetrators. I call this the ’October 7 mechanism.’"
Loonstein pointed out the refusal of the public prosecutor’s office to charge the rioters with an antisemitic motive, which carries heavier penalties in the Netherlands, despite numerous references to "hunting Jews," not "Israelis," both in their communications on WhatsApp and in videos of the assaults that were put on the internet the same night.
"The penalties are low, but unfortunately that is a part of the Dutch legal system," said Naomi Mestrum, director of the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel. "Only last week, the Upper Chamber of Parliament in The Hague approved a new law that gives harsher punishment for crimes of a discriminatory nature like antisemitism. We hope and expect that in future cases these aggravating circumstances are weighed in the sentencing."
In total, the Amsterdam police are eyeing some 120 suspects for the violence, of whom allegedly 10 are Israeli. Last week, police showed unblurred footage of another 22 suspects of the November attacks who have not yet been identified.
"The prison terms of the sentences are so mild that the Dutch legal system actually incentivizes the ’Jew hunters’ for another round of hunting," said Markuszower. "It’s very clear that mainstream media and mainly politicians from the left are more comfortable providing cover for their fellow antisemites than protecting the Jews in our country."
Loonstein agreed to a certain point with Markuszower’s view on the role of the Dutch media.
"Dutch public television now calls it the Maccabi riots. It’s the world upside down," he said.
Tofik Dibi, a former politician and now a high-ranking civil servant of the city of Amsterdam, last week spoke on state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
of an "Arab hunt" by Maccabi fans — a conspiracy theory that has been debunked by many eyewitnesses — without being countered by anyone on the program.
Dibi has justified the November riots and has often toed the line between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, calling for an intifada, wishing disease upon politicians attending a pro-Israel rally, and seemingly comparing Israel supporters to cockroaches — though Halsema, a member of the same left-wing political party as Dibi, has not initiated any action as a result.
"Immediately after the Ajax-Maccabi match, many false narratives were started," said Mestrum. "It was claimed that Maccabi fans started the fighting. Later, it was proven that the attacks were planned days ahead."
Still, Dutch media is afraid to give an unbiased account of what happened that night, said Mestrum.
"It is now treated as ’normal’ violence around a football match, which tends to receive less media attention," she said. "This is sad since we know it was a premeditated and carefully organized attack. The football element is now used as an excuse."
[IsraelTimes] Source quoted by Axios describes letter proposing renewed talks to Khamenei as ‘tough,’ threatening consequences if no accord achieved
Trump’s version of dawa (outreach). “We’re offering you surrender. Please take the offer, otherwise we’ll have to insist with the hard jihad of the sword.”
The letter US President Donald Trump ...Oh, noze! Not him!... sent to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...> earlier this month included a two-month deadline for reaching a new nuclear deal, according to a Wednesday report by Axios.
The letter, delivered to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi via an Emirati diplomat, proposed renewed nuclear talks between the US and Iran, while threatening Tehran with consequences should it continue pursuing its nuclear program, the report said.
A source speaking to Axios described the letter as "tough," since it reportedly ruled out open-ended negotiations and set a time limit for the parties to reach a deal.
It is unclear whether the two-month countdown began on the day the letter was delivered, or with the start of negotiations.
According to a US official and another unnamed source who spoke to the outlet, the White House briefed several US allies, including Israel, Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... , and the UAE, about the letter’s contents before it was delivered to Iran.
Trump revealed the letter’s existence in an early March interview with Fox Business News.
"I’ve written them a letter saying, ’I hope you’re going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily, it’s going to be a terrible thing,’" Trump said. "You can’t let them have a nuclear weapon."
He added that there are "two ways Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal... I would prefer to make a deal, because I’m not looking to hurt Iran. They’re great people."
The next week, Khamenei appeared to reject holding negotiations with the US, calling the proposal "deception" from Washington, designed to make it seem as if Iran was refusing to negotiate.
He claimed that negotiating with the Trump administration, which he said had excessive demands, "will tighten the knot of sanctions and increase pressure on Iran."
An Iranian foreign ministry front man later told Rooters that Iran would respond to the letter "after full scrutiny."
In 2018, Trump withdrew the US from Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and reimposed sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy. Tehran reacted a year later by violating the deal’s nuclear curbs.
While leaving the door open for a nuclear pact with Tehran, Trump has reinstated the "maximum pressure" campaign he applied in his first term as president to isolate Iran from the global economy and drive its oil exports towards zero.
[IsraelTimes] At least 30 Wikipedia editors work together to inject the online encyclopedia with misinformation bias, watchdog claims
At least 30 Wikipedia editors are acting together in a coordinated campaign to fill the collaborative online encyclopedia with widespread antisemitic and anti-Israel bias, in likely violation of Wikipedia’s policies, according to a report Tuesday by the Anti-Defamation League.
It looks like the university anti-Israel protests were the ADL’s come to Jesus moment, reorienting them back to their original purpose instead of all the leftwing nonsense they’d drifted into in recent years.
The ADL report is the latest volley in a battle between the antisemitism watchdog and one of the most popular websites in the world. While the ADL has repeatedly complained that editors use the platform to spread antisemitic rhetoric and misinformation, Wikipedia has dubbed the group a "generally unreliable" source of information on the Israel-Paleostinian conflict, including it on a list of banned and partially banned sources.
The ADL said that at least 30 Wikipedia editors "coordinate to change pages related to the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict, downplaying Paleostinian antisemitism, violence, and calls to destroy Israel while promoting criticism of Israel."
These editors made twice as many edits over the past 10 years as comparable editors of other topics, and communicated with each other up to 18 times more actively, the ADL report said.
These edits have ramped up since the October 7, 2023, Hamas ..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,... attack and include the systematic removal of citations to reputable sources and tandem voting to retain content critical of Israel while removing coverage of Paleostinian violence and terrorism, it added.
In addition, Arabic-language pages of Wikipedia were found to glorify Hamas and perpetuate pro-Hamas propaganda, flouting Wikipedia’s rules on neutrality, the report said.
"Most readers assume Wikipedia is a reliable online encyclopedia, but in reality, it has become a biased platform manipulated by agenda-driven editors on many topics," said ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt. "Recent Wikipedia efforts toward neutrality are nothing but a Band-Aid on a problem that’s getting worse, with persistent antisemitic and anti-Israel bias still far too present."
In recent months, Wikipedia’s arbitration committee has banned several editors from the Israel-Paleostine topic area. In February, eight editors were barred from making changes to articles on the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict — six from the pro-Paleostinian side and two from the pro-Israel side — and new rules were introduced to help prevent further distortions.
"It’s clear that Wikipedia needs to do far more to address the very active antisemitic and anti-Israel bias and coordination," said Daniel Kelley, interim head of the ADL’s Center for Technology and Society, which conducted the research for the report. "And until then, other platforms that rely on Wikipedia as a source — from Google Search to large language models like ChatGPT — must deprioritize unvetted Wikipedia’s content on issues related to Jews, Israel and the Middle East conflict so that they do not perpetuate this bias."
Battles over narrative in the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict have raged for years on Wikipedia, where almost anyone can edit articles according to the site’s collaboration policies. The intensity has ramped up since October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched its war with Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 in a brutal attack.
Wikipedia editors regularly argue over whether terms like "genocide," "settler colonialism" and "apartheid regime" can be applied to Israeli actions.
However,
Switzerland makes more than cheese... according to the report, the group of editors repeatedly removed references to acts of sexual violence and terror committed by Hamas. They also rewrote pages about Hamas to reframe the terror organization as a political and social entity, while presenting Zionism as a land-grabbing movement that seeks to eliminate Arab ties to Israel.
Conservatives, including billionaire Elon Musk, have increasingly been complaining that Wikipedia’s claim to neutrality is being used to help promote progressive agendas. Many news outlets, including Bloomberg and Pirate Wires, have reported on the efforts of pro-Hamas editors to hijack the site’s Israel-Paleostine narrative.
The ADL offered several recommendations for Wikipedia, including the creation of a "reputable expert program" to review pages relating to the conflict, as well as a committee to vet "closure editors" who can make final decisions about contentious topics. (Currently, this is generally done by majority vote.) It also recommended that Wikipedia evaluate its existing tools for identifying bad-faith behavior to determine whether they are adequate.
The report also suggested that policymakers work with academics, Wikipedians, and others to identify and combat antisemitic bias on the site.
Last June, Wikipedia classified the ADL as "generally unreliable regarding the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict," despite the protests of more than 40 Jewish organizations that accused the online encyclopedia of "stripping the Jewish community of the right to defend itself from the hatred that targets our community."
That decision was based on a two-month discussion with more than 120 Wikipedia volunteers, Wikipedia said at the time. Editors argued that the ADL’s adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism allows it to silence criticism of Israel, and that the organization had undermined its credibility by categorizing pro-Paleostinian protests as antisemitic incidents.
The ADL is still considered a credible source for topics outside of the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict, it noted.
[Rudaw] A boat carrying 25 asylum seekers from Syria capsized off the coast of Cyprus on Tuesday morning. Only two people are confirmed to have survived so far, a Kurdish migrants colonists association told Rudaw.
"This morning, a boat carrying 25 asylum seekers capsized in Cyprus waters," said Peshraw Abdullah, representative of the Returning Refugees Association, adding that the boat set sail from Tartous province on Syria’s west coast and "all of the asylum seekers are Syrian."
Seven bodies were recovered and two of the passengers were rescued, but the rest remain missing, according to Abdullah. "Among the asylum seekers are six children. The Cyprus coastiess are relentlessly looking for the missing," he added.
Abdullah additionally explained that the recent turmoil in Syria has left Cypriot authorities on their tiptoes, worried about a potential increase in asylum seekers.
According to Nicosia officials, nearly 30,000 Syrian asylum seekers are currently in Cyprus, many hoping to move on to other European countries.
Loyalists of ousted Syrian dictator Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs... earlier this month launched an attack on security forces affiliated with the new Syrian leadership in Alawite-majority coastal regions west of Syria.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that around 1,500 people, mostly Alawite civilians, were killed in the violence, which the watchdog largely attributed to government or government-affiliated forces. The violence then sparked international condemnations.
Additionally, eight people were killed and 14 others injured in a bombing that destroyed a hardware store in a four-story building in Latakia on Saturday. The incident took place as Syrians were marking the 14th anniversary of the start of their uprising against the Assad rule.
While the new Syrian leadership has pledged to uphold the rights of all ethnic and religious groups, it has faced repeated criticism for its treatment of minority groups. This, combined with ongoing security concerns, is expected to continue pushing Syrians to seek asylum abroad.
[Economist] The signals were coming fast and furious by the first week of March. Ukrainian forces in the Kursk bridgehead, an area of Russia that Ukraine seized last August, were becoming trapped. Aided by North Korean forces, Russia had tightened a noose around the Ukrainians’ flanks and was within firing range of their last remaining supply route. The Russians had also massed at least 50,000 troops, four times the Ukrainians’ numbers. It remains unclear how they pulled it off, and what role Donald Trump’s decision (subsequently reversed) to limit intelligence sharing with Ukraine on March 5th had played. Some Ukrainian intelligence officers insist they were blindsided.
“The Americans are lying if they say we had everything we needed for defence,” one says.
The rest of the article is paywalled.
Posted by: mossomo ||
03/20/2025
13:04 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11155 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
The inevitable finally occurred and UKR are out of Kursk. I gave it a month - it was seven or eight. Huge waste, I saw very little strategic value in their occupation.
[Breitbart] Criminals hacking ATMs for illegal cash dispersals, a.k.a “Jackpotting,” have reportedly ripped off thousands of dollars in Texas and Wisconsin.
The U.S. Secret Service describes “jackpotting” as criminals manipulating ATMs into spitting out cash through “malicious software and/or computer hardware,” per KSAT. Unchecked, machines could potentially drain dry with a loss totaling in the thousands.
“The machine will just continue to dispense until it’s drained. It could be 97 dispenses, it could be 70,” said Laura Ward, chief risk officer for Firstmark Credit Union, told the outlet.
“These days we see all kinds of crimes, but this is a particularly different kind,” she added. “The ATMs are really being preyed upon. We call it an attack because it is an attack.”
In Houston, Texas, authorities say they linked one such “jackpotting” scheme to criminals with links to Russia. Per KSAT:
Earlier this week, two people were arrested in Houston, suspected of being part of a jackpotting group with potential ties to Russia.
While Ward did not disclose how much money was taken from Firstmark, she did say the crime can take a heavy financial toll on the banking institution.
The credit union has been working with local, state and federal authorities since it was attacked. She said she wants to raise awareness about it to help combat the problem.
The attacks happened over the course of several hours throughout the night, with the alleged criminals either manipulating the ATMs on site or remotely. As the machine dispenses cash, the perps come to collect, as surveillance video has shown.
“It’s very organized, and that’s one of the things I think is really critical to understand,” Ward said.
In Marshfield, Wisconsin, three men were recently charged for a December “jackpotting” scheme that ripped off over $100,000 from a credit union’s ATM machine. Per Marshfield News Herald:
Jhoenderson D. Rojas Eganez, 27, currently in the Kewaunee County Jail, has been charged with four felony counts of theft from a financial institution (value exceeds $100,000), interference with an automated teller machine, possession of burglarious tools and computer crimes-accessing data to defraud. Alejandro J. Sevilla Sanabria, 25, currently in the Kewaunee County Jail, and Worlly W. Garcia Albarracin, 35, of Berwyn, Illinois, have both been charged with four felony counts of being a party to the crimes of theft from a financial institution (value exceeds $100,000), interference with an automated teller machine, possession of burglarious tools and computer crimes-accessing data to defraud.
Arrest warrants were issued Wednesday and Thursday for the three men, according to online records. No court dates have been scheduled.
Over $114,000 in cash was reportedly stolen from the ATM.
The alleged ringleader is Vitalii Moravel a Ukrainian war refugee on a humanitarian visa from the federal government, according to KPRC2 TV station in Houston, Texas.
“Moravel is believed to receive instructions from a ‘big boss’ located in Russia, Det. Collins said, highlighting the international scope of this criminal operation,” the station reported.WSAW.com reported on the Wisconsin theft:
[Two of the men] men said they were from Venezuela and were living in Chicago …
According to Rojas Eganez Wood County’s criminal complaint, he said he was working for an organization that provided him with training, equipment, a cell phone and money to conduct thefts from ATMs. He said the group monitored police traffic radio and alerted him that police were dispatched to the bank.
[BREITBART] Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...> wants protesters to rise up across the U.S. and Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... and challenge the renewed Israeli military campaign 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... The Times of Israel reports Khamenei made his call for action in a speech designed to rally anti-Israel activists everywhere, ''to strongly oppose this treacherous, horrendous act.''
''Once again children are being killed, homes are being destroyed, and civilians are being displaced. The people must stop this tragedy,'' Khamenei says in a Nowruz address, according to an English transcript posted on his website.
His call echoes a long standing Iranian opposition to everything the U.S. is involved in with threats made on an almost monthly basis against both Washington's interests and Israel.
Khamenei adds that recent deadly U.S. strikes on the Tehran-backed Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... gunnies in 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... are a ''crime that must be stopped.''
The Iranian leader praises the country for sending aid to Leb ...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade.... , but makes only passing reference to Israeli actions that decapitated the Hezbollah terror group, an Iranian proxy.
''Various events took place in Tehran and later in Lebanon, resulting in the loss of valuable figures for both the land of the Medes and the Persians and the Islamic [world],'' he says. ''These were indeed bitter tragedies.''
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] France is set to issue a survival manual to households across the country, warning citizens how to respond to an invasion or any other 'imminent threat'.
The dramatic move comes as tensions rise in Europe and fears grow over Russia's aggressive tactics.
The new 20-page booklet, reportedly packed with 63 measures, will advise the French on how to protect themselves and their families in the event of armed conflict, natural disasters, industrial accidents or even a nuclear leak.
It will include tips on how to create a 'survival kit' with essentials including six litres of water, canned food, batteries, a torch and basic medical supplies such as paracetamol and bandages.
Crucially, it will offer advice on what to do if an attack is imminent, including how to join local defence efforts, such as signing up for reserve units or firefighting groups.
Citizens will also be told to 'lock their doors' in the event of a nuclear incident - advice that has already drawn ridicule from commentators.
Despite the alarming content, the French government insists the booklet is not a direct response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
President Emmanuel Macron has previously warned that Europe must be prepared to confront the 'Russian threat' and adapt to the possibility that America could scale back its military support.
Earlier this week, Macron revealed that French fighter jets equipped with new generation hypersonic nuclear missiles will be sent to the German border as part of his bid to renew France's airborne nuclear deterrent.
Officials from the General Secretariat for Defence and National Security (SGDSN), which oversaw the booklet's creation, claim the aim of the survival guide is simply to bolster France's resilience in the face of 'all types of crises'.
The decision to draft the booklet reportedly dates back to 2022, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, as part of a national strategy to improve public preparedness.
But the timing of its release - expected before summer if approved by Prime Minister François Bayrou - has raised eyebrows.
French newspaper Le Figaro noted that the kit's rollout 'could easily suggest that the state is reacting to the unstable international situation'.
Macron has recently called for Europe to rearm in the face of Russia's aggression in Ukraine and America's wavering commitment to upholding European security under Donald Trump.
He initiated a doubling of the French defence budget over the course of his two terms and recently set an even higher target, saying the country should increase defence spending to 3-3.5 per cent of economic output from the current 2 per cent.
France's public investment bank Bpifrance will launch a €450million (£377million) fund dedicated to financing defence projects as part of the country's efforts to ramp up military spending, finance minister Eric Lombard said on Thursday.
'French citizens will be able, by tranches of €500 (£419), to invest their money in the long term,' Lombard told TF1.
French companies in the defence sector will need more than five billion euros in additional equity capital over the next few years, according to both the finance and the defence ministries.
[ConservativeTreehouse] When you understand how Washington DC Judges view their role and responsibility, then you understand the scale of opposition that President Trump is facing. The false media framework of our "government" only makes the issues worse. So, here’s an explanation of Boasberg v Trump.
In 2016 the DOJ-NSD headed by Mary McCord filed a FISA application seeking a Title-1 search (full and unlimited) surveillance warrant against the leading presidential candidate, Donald Trump. The method to gain the surveillance authority was to use CIA informant Carter Page who had met with the Trump campaign and call Page an "agent of a foreign power."
The FISA Court knowingly and with specific intent approved the Title-1 surveillance warrant which was filed using false evidence (Clinesmith) and sketchy supporting documents (Steele Dossier), no Woods File was attached.
At the time of the application, Mary McCord was acting head of the DOJ National Security Division. McCord was responsible for filing the warrant application. The DOJ-NSD had no inspector general oversight. The targeting of candidate Donald Trump was entirely for political purposes and intents.
After President Trump won the 2016 election, he gave DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz authority to conduct oversight over the DOJ-NSD. IG Horowitz started investigating the FISA application. This is where things get interesting.
The FISA Court (FISC) was exposed by their willful blindness in allowing the Title-1 targeting of Donald Trump.
Justice John Roberts is in charge of the FISC.
The keystone point.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts then appointed Judge James Boasberg to the position of presiding judge over the FISA Court (FISC).
Judge Boasberg then selected Mary McCord to be an amicus or advisor to the court as Horowitz was investigating the fraudulent FISA application.
Boasberg put the person who was in charge of submitting the false FISA application in a position to filter the results of the Horowitz investigation of that same FISA application.
In essence, think of this as protecting the Judicial Branch. Justice Roberts appointed Boasberg to defend the FISC from scrutiny. Boasberg then moves Mary McCord into position to defend the FISC from scrutiny (McCord also protects herself).
At the time, Mary McCord’s husband Sheldon Snook was working within Justice Robert’s office.
That’s how John Roberts, James Boasberg and Mary McCord all connect. All the motives and intents go back to that original Title-1 FISA application.
Remember, this was a huge scandal all by itself. The FISA Court permitted a full-throated surveillance warrant against the leading presidential candidate, Donald Trump. The Judicial Branch was intentionally influencing the 2016 election. These are not stupid people; they were not duped, conned or fooled, they knew exactly what they were doing.
After appointing Mary McCord to take up a defensive position for herself and the FISA Court (cover), Judge Boasberg then becomes the presiding judge in the case against the FBI agent who falsified the FISA application, Kevin Clinesmith. Boasberg gives Clinesmith a slap on the wrist and a few months’ probation (more cover).
This is the same Judge Boasberg gave J6 FBI agent provocateur Ray Epps a sentence of probation. This is the same judge who, on his vacation, went to sit in the DC courtroom to observe defendant President Trump who was forced to appear in DC court. This is the same Boasberg who established a horrible precedent by forcing Vice-President Mike Pence to testify before a DC grand jury about his conversations with President Trump (breaking executive privilege).
♦ Now we go back to the John Durham investigation, because Bill Barr had to ask Presiding Judge Boasberg for guidance and direction as the Durham team looked at the FISA application (Title-1 surveillance warrant) against the backdrop of the Obama government targeting Donald Trump.
This is June of 2020, Bill Barr (who was running another cover-up angle) asked Judge Boasberg for guidance on five very specific issues centering around the Carter Page FISA application. Barr asked for legal guidance to assist John Durham in disclosing information in the FISA file & evidence attached to the FISA file.
The five issues all circle around the FBI/DOJ use of the Carter Page FISA application; and, more importantly, the underlying evidence that is attached to the FISA application. [source]
I. DOJ requests guidance for distribution of material due to FOIA demands. FISC gives legal opinion
II. DOJ requests guidance for distribution of material due to ongoing and anticipated civil litigation. The FISC gives legal opinion and expands to criminal litigation.
III. DOJ requests guidance for distribution of material to internal investigative units from the FBI inspectors division (INSD). FISC gives opinion and advice.
IV. DOJ requests guidance for distribution of non-minimized information, and/or, minimized information as part of the ongoing Office of Inspector General oversight. FISC gives opinion and guidance.
V. DOJ requests guidance for distribution of material to John Durham probe, both for criminal prosecution and possible evidence gathering attached to other ongoing investigative needs. FISC gives opinion and guidance.
Now, keep in mind, with hindsight we know the DOJ (Bill Barr) was essentially walking a fine line between uncovering information and trying to protect the DOJ as an institution. John Durham was never approved to investigate the government side of the Trump-Russia collusion nonsense.
At the same time, Judge Boasberg is trying to protect the FISC from their culpability and also protect the FISA Court as an institution. Everyone has an agenda here, and none of them are good.
That leads to Boasberg outlining a cautious approach toward distribution and/or sunlight on what took place. On this issue the court says allowing a target to escape prosecution is part of the penalty upon the DOJ for wrongful assembly; a nice way to cover the issue.
Judge Boasberg does not consider the DOJ is targeting the "assemblers" for their criminal conduct. Rather his response is general toward criminals who were targets of a FISA application assembled with corrupt intent. It seemed a little weird at the time, now notsomuch.
Pages #11 and #12 hit the topic of FOIA production. Boasberg says "some" FOIA requests might warrant document distribution, but not all. However, on the topic of Carter Page getting his FOIA fulfilled, the court supports expansive distribution to Mr. Page alone.
I find the arguments and issues in/around page #14 to be especially noteworthy. In this segment Judge Boasberg is responding to the underlying raw evidence that would normally be used to assemble a "woods file". The court notes the FBI Sentinel system would contain the minimized outcomes (redacted evidence) and this points to a bigger issue.
In response to this inquiry Judge Boasberg notes FBI investigators would have access to the minimized information within the Sentinel system; however, insofar as there was additional inquiry into the raw and non-minimized intelligence, a review and distribution would be permissible so long as there was a strong filter team in place to ensure statutes surrounding FISA securities (minimization requirements) were not violated.
Overall, Judge Boasberg gives permission and approval for all six aspects Bill Barr requested. However, he does so with several legal qualifiers and distinctions which the DOJ was told to observe. Those qualifiers were intended to protect the interests of both Main Justice and the FISA Court from sunlight upon their prior conduct in 2016.
SUMMARY — Judge Boasberg has been demonstrably political in all his determinations going all the way back to his position on the FISC when the FISA application was approved. Boasberg was then moved into position to protect the FISC from the outcome of their Title-1 search warrant approval.
Boasberg then used his position as Presiding FISC judge to protect the apparatus, while using his position as DC Circuit Court Judge to diminish, obfuscate and cloud the severe ramifications from all of the DC effort, including his rulings on the Kevin Clinesmith (FBI Agent) and Ray Epps (FBI Source) cases.
Judge Boasberg sits at the epicenter of a thoroughly corrupt and compromised DC court system.
I like this approach recommended by Hokkada:
..."It’s important to remind people that the inferior courts do not work for or report to the Supreme Court. CONGRESS creates the inferior courts and as such, Congress can eliminate courts, add courts, and control funding of the courts. Congress also can impeach. And a key element of impeachment is the hearings process.
A hearings process that subpoenas Federal district court judges to testify before Congress would cast a lot of sunlight on the corrupt Judicial-Lawfare-Complex. Could the end result be impeachment? Certainly.
But it could also lead to something better in the long run: descope of the Federal court system which has grown bloated, corrupt, and arrogant because it answers to nobody.
They’re the 3rd branch of government for a reason — they are not elected by anyone, and therefore hold the least amount of power when it comes to governance. SCOTUS doesn’t even control their own budget. They can’t levy taxes. They can’t declare war. They can’t decide what constitutes citizenship.
The answer to all of this is sunlight. Simply compel Biasberg to testify in open public hearings about his role in Lawfare and his interpretation of the Federal district court’s ability to direct the actions of the Commander in Chief, issue "nationwide injunctions" and so forth. Then let’s get into his direct role in Lawfare.
Roberts wants to pretend impeachment of Biasberg is about a "political disagreement". But it is not. This is a judicial coup d’etat we are witnessing. And the only way to stop it is to descope the judiciary and limit its ability to issue injunctions.
If crimes are discovered, such as aiding and abetting terrorist organizations, the judges should be removed. Judges can "obstruct justice" too. They are not Jesus in black robes. They are every bit as tempted by corruption — perhaps more so because they are deemed infallible by the Chief Justice — as any politician."...
[NewsMax] Why the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 Is Unconstitutional
The most effective way to end waste and rein in government spending is to have the U.S. Supreme Court declare the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (Public law 93-344) unconstitutional.
America’s public debt is currently $36.22 trillion. It was only $475 billion when the Congressional Budget Act became law in 1974.
The Congressional Budget Act created the current framework within which the Federal Budget is proposed, passed, and implemented. It placed Congress firmly in the driver’s seat and blocked future presidents from taking actions deemed constitutional and prudent for over 171 years.
When the Congressional Budget Act was enacted in 1974, real (inflation-adjusted) U.S. government debt per person was $3,240.
Today, U.S. government debt is $106,024 per person.
The struggle over government spending has been a fundamental point of contention since the earliest days of our federal government.
What happens if Congress creates programs that eventually become unnecessary or obsolete? What happens if Congress continues to authorize and appropriate funds for those programs?
What happens if Congress provides more funds than recommended by the executive branch or exceeds documented need?
President Thomas Jefferson was the first to test the boundaries of executive authority to second guess congressional spending. In the wake of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, Jefferson reported that "the sum of $50,000 appropriated by Congress for providing gunboats remains unexpended. The favorable and peaceful turn of affairs on the Mississippi rendered an immediate execution of that law unnecessary. "
Following Jefferson’s precedent, subsequent presidents selectively withheld appropriated funds on programs that were no longer needed. They also asserted they were effectuating congressional intent not circumventing it.
The Depression and World War II provided opportunities for President Franklin Roosevelt to stretch budgetary discretion beyond Jefferson’s “economy” precedent. He moved funds away from what he deemed less important programs to more pressing programs.
Post-war demobilization gave President Harry S. Truman additional opportunities to hold back congressional spending. Truman impounded $735 million in additional funds appropriated by Congress to increase to 58 from 48 the president's request for Air Force groups.
Congress initially supported the president’s role in managing public funds. The Anti-Deficiency Act of 1905 provided that appropriations may "be so apportioned by monthly or other allotments as to prevent expenditures in one portion of the year, which may necessitate deficiency or additional appropriations to complete the service of the fiscal year for which said appropriations are made."
The Revised Anti-deficiency Act of 1906 stated: "Whenever it is determined ... that any amount so reserved will not be required to carry out the purposes of the appropriation concerned, he [the president] shall recommend the rescission of such amount ..."
The Omnibus Appropriations Act of 1951, continued to expand presidential flexibility on managing and controlling spending: “In apportioning any appropriations, reserves may be established to provide for contingencies or to affect savings whenever savings are made possible through changes in requirements, greater efficiency of operations, or other developments subsequent to the date on which such appropriation was made.”
Recipients of federal funds began to challenge presidential control of spending. The Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, constricted presidential impoundment and other executive branch practices to control spending.
President Richard Nixon mounted a more aggressive and effective effort to rein in federal spending during his tenure. The Supreme Court pushed back, building legal precedents against presidential budget frugality.
Nixon continued to impound congressionally appropriated funds. Congressional Democrats, sensing the decline in presidential power in the wake of the mounting Watergate scandal, passed the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974. Nixon signed the law on July 12, 1974, one of his final major acts in office.
After extinguishing the president’s ability to control spending the federal budget more than tripled in just 10 years. From $269 billion in Fiscal 1974 to $851 in Fiscal 1984. Annual federal spending is now $6.5 trillion.
When the Republicans retook the House of Representatives after 40 years, Newt Gingrich tried to reassert the president’s role in budget management by proposing the line-item veto. This was a key part of his 1994 “Contract with America" It became a rallying cry for fiscal “hawks” from across the political spectrum.
The bill was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on April 9, 1996.
Budget “hawks” from both parties cheered, and President Clinton began using the line-item veto and budgets became balanced. The Supreme Court eventually declared the line-item veto unconstitutional. [Clinton v. City of New York, 524 U.S. 417 (1998)]
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) reveals daily evidence of how unbridled government spending wastes billions while lining the pockets of favored contractors and corrupt officials.
America is already barreling toward bankruptcy. Reestablishing the constitutionality of the president’s power to control spending is the only way to save us.
[FoxNews] Michael Tabman, former special agent in charge of the FBI's Minneapolis Field Office, fears 'more violence is on its way'.
A former high-level FBI special agent said he expects political violence in the United States to continue escalating amid the nationwide destruction of Tesla vehicles and dealerships aimed at intimidating Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk.
Michael Tabman is the former special agent in charge of the FBI's Minneapolis Field Office, and he said there is no doubt that recent violent attacks faced by Tesla owners and dealerships are clear cases of domestic terrorism.
"I do fear that more violence is on its way," Tabman told Fox News Digital. "Maybe not directly Teslas or DOGE, but just general political violence. I think it's already here. But I think there's more around the corner."
This week, a website called "DOGEQUEST" became active and purports to have compiled a list of Tesla owners, their addresses, phone numbers and email addresses in an apparent effort to dox ordinary Americans who drive Teslas. The site also contains a map of Tesla dealerships and charging stations.
"I think right now, given the tenor of society, given the rhetoric that we hear, the dogma that we hear and that a lot of what we hear is filled with violence or violent undertones, I say, yes, I think we are becoming a more reactionary country," Tabman said. "We're a more divided country, hatred for the other side is boiling over, and I'm putting this in on both sides."
“Yes, but…” It’s a good thing Mr. Tabman is no longer with the agency — he has the wrong attitude. All the FBI need do is trace the connections like they did for thr January 6-ers. Their computer experts could do it in minutes by starting with the IPs of those who accessed the DOGEQUEST site.
Asked about the prospects of de-escalating political violence, Tabman was pessimistic.
"It's not realistic. I just don't see it as realistic," he said. "And you know, there are some people who think in terms of, hey, this is working. Let's say they're anti-DOGE or anti-Trump, and they feel that, hey, [if] we keep doing this, eventually we'll sort of overthrow – not literally overthrow – but sort of dethrone the king."
Tabman did encourage people to tone down their rhetoric because inflammatory language can be interpreted by others as a justification to commit violent acts.
Golly. I’m really glad he chose to explore non-FBI endeavours. He sounds like a bad kindergarten teacher.
"Let's understand what we're angry at and what's the proper way of expressing your anger, and violence is not the proper way to do it," he said.
The latest act of anti-Musk violence was directed at a Tesla collision and sales center in Las Vegas early Tuesday morning, where at least five vehicles were damaged, and two were set ablaze.
Details of this and other attacks on Teslas at the link. There’s general access video, the text can only be read in the Reader format.
Another source for tracing the Black Blok terrorists offered to the FBI gratis, in the Rantburg tradition:
[X]
Robby Starbuck
@robbystarbuck
Over the next few days you’re going to see an organized progressional protest effort at Tesla stores put together by a group called Indivisible.
George Soros foundation has given Indivisible nearly $8 million dollars for their "activism".
They’re calling these "Tesla takedown" events and they’re doing it in the midst of a domestic terror spree targeting Tesla and Tesla owners. They have these planned across the entire country. These images are just six examples.
How can this not be seen as encouraging more violence and terrorism? I personally think that any violence occurring near locations they’ve chosen should result in Soros, his foundation, Indivisible and their founders being held criminally accountable as co-conspirators.
The indivisible founders are Ezra Levin and his wife Leah Greenberg. They became "resistance" figures during Trump’s first term and their work is celebrated by elected Democrats. So yeah, it’s clear to me that the Democrats and their typical thugs are organizing this insanity.
There’s reportedly even a form protest leaders can fill out to receive "reimbursement" payments for their protests.
Update at 1:15 p.m. ET, another unembeddable tweet, this one about the Soros-financed Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg, whose war chest stands at $11.7mil after the Soros donation:
@amuse
@amuse
The group was behind the fake outrage at GOP town halls. They got a lot of USAID money indirectly before the inauguration.
#5
Not sure if anyone knows this but my best guess is that Tesla owners skew toward leftists, environmentalists, and virtue signalers.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
03/20/2025 15:20
Comments ||
Top||
#6
not to be a ORGANIZED.
The organization is the announcement of the action — click on the headline for the Soros funding to see the posters at the bottom of the tweet. Those to whom the announcement applies know what to do, or if they don’t they know how to find out. No meetings or training blocks required, as that work was done long since. The occasional trans nut will organize themself and catch themself on fire, but for the most part the activists and cadres know their local fellows and will take care of it without supervision.
[FoxNews] FBI Director Kash Patel said the three arrests since Jan. 20 were no 'accident'
The FBI has had prompt success capturing fugitives since President Trump took office, according to Director Kash Patel.
Patel announced on Tuesday that the FBI has apprehended three fugitives from the agency’s 10 Most Wanted list since Jan. 20.
"This is the FBI that I was proud to work for, and I'm really excited to see that they have already arrested several of the FBI's Most Wanted fugitives," former FBI agent and Fox News contributor Nicole Parker told Fox News Digital. "When President Trump took over in 2017 in his first administration, I was a violent crime agent in Miami, and I specifically remember that he said that his top priority was to focus on violent criminals."
Parker believes that in his second term, Trump’s "focus" is what "Americans care about most: making America safe, focusing on violent crime and taking the most violent criminals off the street."
Patel on Tuesday said the FBI, Justice Department and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi "have captured our third fugitive on the Ten Most Wanted list since January 20, 2025."
"That’s not an accident," Patel wrote on X. "When you let good cops be good cops, this is what happens. This administration is giving the new FBI and AG Bondi the resources to get the job done — and we won’t stop."
The FBI told Fox News Digital that the three fugitives captured since January are as follows:
Francisco Javier Roman-Bardales – Captured 3/18/25
Roman-Bardales, 47, is an alleged MS-13 key senior leader accused of racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to provide and conceal material support and resources to terrorists, narco-terrorism conspiracy and alien smuggling conspiracy.
Authorities took Roman-Bardales into custody in Mexico on Monday, then extradited to the United States for legal proceedings.
Arnoldo Jimenez – Captured 1/30/25
A second Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitive was arrested in Mexico on Jan. 30.
Arnoldo Jimenez is accused of murdering his wife, who was found dead in the bathtub of their apartment, less than 48 hours after they were married in Burbank, Illinois, in 2012. He is also accused of fleeing to avoid prosecution.
Donald Eugene Fields II – Captured 1/25/25
The first FBI 10 Most Wanted fugitive arrest under the Trump administration took place in Florida in January, when Lady Lake Police Sgt. Michelle Bilbrey arrested 60-year-old Donald Eugene Fields II during a routine traffic stop on Jan. 25.
Fields is charged with child sex trafficking and child rape charges in federal and state court. He is accused of knowingly attempting to recruit, entice, provide, patronize and solicit a minor into engaging in a commercial sex act from about January 2013 until June 2017.
Earlier this month, Atlanta police identified and detained Justin Smith, who is not on the Top 10 list but is on the FBI's general Most Wanted list. Smith allegedly shot his pregnant girlfriend in the head multiple times in Philadelphia in 2021, killing her and her unborn child.
[American Liberty] The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is yet another example of an unaccountable, so-called independent agency created by Congress, a legislative Frankenstein that has evolved beyond its intended function. The very idea that there exist taxpayer-funded institutions dictating foreign policy outside the control of the elected president is nothing short of absurd. This latest confrontation between the Trump administration and the USIP reveals the deep structural flaws of the modern administrative state. If the president of the United States does not control an agency engaged in global regime-building, then who does? The answer to that question is as unsettling as it is opaque.
For decades, the USIP has operated under the veneer of bipartisan consensus, quietly steering foreign policy initiatives with little public scrutiny. It claims a mandate for peace, but in reality, it plays a pivotal role in deciding which foreign governments are deemed acceptable and which must be destabilized. Who sets these policies? Who ensures accountability? Congress may have formed this entity, but few legislators even know how it operates, let alone exercise any real oversight. This is an affront to the Constitution’s separation of powers. The idea that the legislative branch should have its own de facto foreign policy operation, separate from and untouchable by the executive, is beyond reason. Worse, this organization has a well-documented history of producing and distributing manuals designed to teach activists how to subvert and overthrow governments. Some of these same materials surfaced during the Occupy Wall Street movement, the BLM/Antifa riots and the recent pro-Palestinian campus takeovers. The American taxpayer is footing the bill for an organization that actively undermines both U.S. interests abroad and domestic stability at home.
Democrats, predictably, will argue that USIP was designed to function outside presidential control—that it was meant to be an independent entity promoting global peace. But let’s be clear: no part of the federal government should be operating as a rogue state-within-a-state.
There is no justification for a government-funded body engaging in foreign influence campaigns and tactical subversion without direct oversight from the duly elected head of the executive branch. This ongoing conflict between the Trump administration and the USIP presents a critical test case for the Supreme Court in addressing the unchecked proliferation of independent agencies. The Court must decide whether Congress has the authority to create organizations that function independently of presidential authority in matters of international relations.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Talks to try to bring about a ceasefire in Russia's war in Ukraine took a new turn Wednesday as Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky discussed U.S. 'ownership' of its nuclear plants.
The new element came in a joint statement issued by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz hours after Trump spoke by phone with the Ukrainian president.
The potential energy cooperation came up amid a stalled minerals deal that Trump says will provide security for Ukraine and allow it to reimburse the U.S. for billions spent arming and aiding the country.
'President Trump also discussed Ukraine’s electrical supply and nuclear power plants. He said that the United States could be very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise,' according to the statement.
'American ownership of those plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure,' it said.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt got asked whether the U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal was still on the table.
'And now we have moved beyond the economic minerals deal. We are at a place of peace. We're at a partial ceasefire, and we're moving towards a full ceasefire and a long standing peace in this conflict,' she said.
Trump first mentioned that deal as a way to extract valuable rare earth minerals from Ukraine.
Talks to try to bring about a ceasefire in Russia's war in Ukraine took a new turn Wednesday as Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky discussed U.S. 'ownership' of its nuclear plants.
The new element came in a joint statement issued by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz hours after Trump spoke by phone with the Ukrainian president.
The potential energy cooperation came up amid a stalled minerals deal that Trump says will provide security for Ukraine and allow it to reimburse the U.S. for billions spent arming and aiding the country.
'President Trump also discussed Ukraine’s electrical supply and nuclear power plants. He said that the United States could be very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise,' according to the statement.
'American ownership of those plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure,' it said.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt got asked whether the U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal was still on the table.
'And now we have moved beyond the economic minerals deal. We are at a place of peace. We're at a partial ceasefire, and we're moving towards a full ceasefire and a long standing peace in this conflict,' she said.
Trump first mentioned that deal as a way to extract valuable rare earth minerals from Ukraine.
The Ukrainian side has begun raising the importance of the Zaporizhzhia power plant, now offline and controlled by Russia, as important to being able to power the energy-intensive efforts to mine the minerals.
The statement also mentioned the partial ceasefire that was a result of a phone call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump said on Wednesday that he and Putin 'agreed to an immediate Ceasefire on all Energy and Infrastructure.'
But the Rubio-Waltz statement didn't contain the word 'infrastructure.'
'The two leaders also agreed on a partial ceasefire against energy. Technical teams will meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days to discuss broadening the ceasefire to the Black Sea on the way to a full ceasefire. They agreed this could be the first step toward the full end of the war and ensuring security,' it said.
According to the Rubio-Waltz statement, 'President Trump also asked President Zelensky about the children who had gone missing from Ukraine during the war, including the ones that had been abducted. President Trump promised to work closely with both parties to help make sure those children were returned home.'
That is a matter that Zelensky raised during his previous disastrous Oval Office meeting with Trump.
Leavitt got asked about the termination of a State Department contract that funded a program at Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab that tracked the abducted children.
She said she had 'no updates about that.'
Lawmakers raised concerns about the deletion of a database that tracked satelilite imagery and biometric data on as many as 35,000 Ukrainian children who were taken.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Chilling images captured the moment a disheveled suspected gunman was taken into custody outside the CIA headquarters on Wednesday morning after he was seen making threats with a weapon near the agency's base.
The armed man, seen wearing camouflage and sporting long hair and a beard, sent the agency's headquarters in Langley, Virginia into lockdown as cops raced to the scene.
Reports indicate the suspect, who has not been identified, experienced a 'mental health crisis', was seen sitting on a bench outside the property and pointed a handgun at the agency headquarters.
Police, SWAT teams and bomb squads rushed to the scene, and a passerby described the law enforcement response as 'massive', per the US Sun.
Early reports falsely indicated the man fired his weapon into the air outside the CIA headquarters, however a law enforcement source told WJLA that no shots were fired in the incident.
There are no reports of injuries or deaths as a result of the situation, which closed down the area around the agency.
A nearby school was also placed on lockdown as the incident unfolded.
The incident comes just hours after President Trump ordered the release of classified files related to the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy.
Conspiracy theories have swirled in the decades since the assassination that the CIA was involved in the shooting, however there is no indication from law enforcement that the gunman incident on Wednesday morning was related to the file release.
The CIA headquarters have faced several previous similar incidents, most recently in 2021 when an armed man was wounded in a shooting with an FBI agent.
In 1993, two CIA employees were killed and three others were wounded when a Pakistani man opened fire outside the Langley headquarters.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] A mother in Indiana stormed onto her 13-year-old son's school bus to confront a 'bully' before she was captured on video attacking the 14-year-old.
Latea Hentz, 36, has been hit with several charges, including battery and criminal trespassing, after she allegedly boarded the bus in Indianapolis with her son and 17-year-old daughter.
Hentz was allegedly filmed telling her kids to 'beat his a**, beat his a**' before herself punching the eighth-grader and pulling his hair on the morning of March 6, Fox 59 reported.
The 14-year-old was later taken to the hospital suffering from a fractured nose, as well as bruising and an injured eye, according to IndyStar.
All three family members were detained by police before being arrested and charged with misdemeanor battery and disorderly conduct, while Hentz was additionally charged with intimidation, criminal confinement and criminal trespassing.
Hentz initially got on the bus with her two kids and shouted, 'I'm going to tear this up.'
As the mom boarded, the driver informed her that parents were not allowed and called for police assistance.
Her daughter allegedly asked her brother 'which one is it' before telling him to 'take off his coat,' prompting him to begin fighting the other student, IndyStar reported.
The two boys fought before his sister joined in, according to court documents, while Hentz argued with the bus driver and yelled at the student: 'You're not going to touch my son again.'
As Hentz left the bus she, allegedly told the children on board: 'I'm tired of you b*** a** kids. Anybody want to get active?'
She then told police she had confronted the eighth-grader because of an 'ongoing bullying situation' between her son and the 14-year-old.
Her son told police in an interview that the eighth-grader had been bullying him for weeks, despite him informing school administrators, according to court documents.
Hentz told police that the 13-year-old had been slapped across the face by the older boy, according to Law & Crime.
The older boy claimed that he had gone to take a seat on the bus, and his hand had brushed against Hentz's sons face or hair, prompting the 13-year-old to grab him, IndyStar reported.
The eighth-grader admitted to teasing and joking with Hentz's son but denied causing any physical harm to him. His mother claimed during police interviews that it was Hentz's son who was the bully, and that he had made racist comments toward him about his Mexican heritage.
The 14-year-old said he took issue with Hentz's son's 'racist jokes' and him making 'comments about ICE.'
Hentz was not in custody as of Wednesday, according to public records.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/20/2025 12:15
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Well, mama Latea looks like you would guess, and the other kid is of Mexican heritage, and I'm guessing the video is blurred because it is a mostly black students school bus.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Donald Trump has decided to go 'nuclear' on the migrant crisis by allowing the military to take control of a 'buffer zone' near the Southern border with Mexico.
Trump's ambitious plan would turn the 60-foot deep buffer zone into a military installation at the border and allow US troops to temporarily hold migrants who cross over into the America.
A defense official told The Washington Post that the migrants would be held until legally detained by civilian law enforcement.
The president has made fixing the migrant issue the top of his second term agenda and has seen success early on with illegal crossings plummeting from the record highs under predecessor Joe Biden.
Now, Trump's homeland security team is reportedly set to announce plans to take greater control over the partition in a section in New Mexico.
If the initial plan is termed a success by the administration, officials believe the zone would eventually stretch west to California.
The stretch of land in New Mexico that would serve as a test is federal land Theodore Roosevelt set aside specifically for protecting the border in 1907.
The designation would allow the Pentagon to deploy resources from its massive $800billion budget on the border crackdown.
When reached by DailyMail.com, a Pentagon spokesperson said they 'have nothing to announce at this time.' DailyMail.com has reached out to the White House and the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
The military is largely prohibited by federal law from many law enforcement duties by the Posse Comitatus Act.
Trump has gotten around the law during his second term by using Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain migrants and then moving them.
The Pentagon is seeking counsel from the military on whether or not this could cause legal problems.
A legal theory for how this would work is comparing migrants entering the buffer zone to trespassing upon a military base.
'It's very, very careful on that wording. It's not 'detention' because once you go into detention it has the connotations of being detained for arrest. This is holding for civilian law enforcement,' a Defense official said.
Troops would then give the migrants over to the proper authorities.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has previously backed using the military at the border.
'We have defended other places and other spaces. We will defend this line,' he said in February.
The stretch of land in New Mexico that would serve as a test is federal land Theodore Roosevelt set aside specifically for protecting the border in 1907.
Over a century ago? Sounds like a precedent to me.
Prescient
The land is usually monitored by the Department of the Interior, though in the past, pieces have been given over to the Pentagon, as recently as Trump's first term.
Federal law allows government transfers of federal land from Interior to DOD of 5,000 acres at a time without having to go through Congress.
The Trump White House has been experimenting with ways to deploy the military to the border since returning to office.
A Navy destroyer ship has been sent to the southern border in an effort to bolster national security, amid President Trump's plan to 'reclaim the Panama Canal.'
The USS Gravely recently spent nine months in the thick of conflict in the Middle East, fighting off continuous assaults from Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.
But now the 509ft guided-missile destroyer is en route to the US southern border as President Trump ramps up security to fight what he describes as an 'invasion' of American territory and rampant drug cartels.
The ship, which carries dozens of Tomahawk cruise missiles, will be stationed in waters typically patrolled by the US Coast Guard. It will also operate in international waters.
According to US Northern Command General Gregory Guillot, the Gravely will help 'to protect the United States territorial integrity, sovereignty and security.'
The deployment will contribute to 'a coordinated and robust response to combating maritime related terrorism, weapons proliferation, transnational crime, piracy, environmental destruction, and illegal seaborne immigration,' Defense officials added.
Trump campaigned on a mass deportation policy and set to work cracking down on illegal immigration as soon as he returned to the White House.
He vowed to send an additional 10,000 troops to the border with Mexico to bolster security measures and reinstate his remain in Mexico policy, which requires migrants who are seeking asylum in the US to wait for their court date in the country from which they crossed.
While few details have been made about Gravely's next mission, authorities made it clear that it was in response to Trump's executive order to secure the borders.
Upon returning to the White House, Trump declared a national emergency at the border with Mexico.
The Gravely will house a squad of US Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment - elite operators who specialize in maritime missions like fighting piracy and intercepting drug trafficking rings.
#2
BTW: Given the DOD Generals running their mouths, that Trump had no business using the Military to protect and guard our southern border? Has Trump planned to "retire" a few?
#4
In 1972 I was a USMC Reservist member of a Counter-Intelligence Team participating in an exercise at Camp Pendleton. The exercise scenario was a limited US military incursion to rescue AmCits from a Caribbean country in the midst of a civil war. One exercise threat we were dealing with was "host nation" para-military guerrilla forces (portrayed by USMC Reservists from the Miami area) attempting to infiltrate the beachhead. As a part of the exercise, "captured" guerrilla prisoners were to be brought in for interrogation and assessment by USMC infantry units after detection on the perimeter. As planned, about 2am we were presented with three "prisoners" brought in by 6x6 trucks over rough terrain, hog-tied, hooded and gagged and much the worse-for-wear after the ride up from the beach in the back of the trucks. As soon as they were dumped in the interrogation tent and the hoods were removed and the gags removed, their long hair, fearful eyes and instant pleas to be returned to Mexico made it clear these were illegals sneaking up the I-5 corridor through Pendleton and not the USMC role-play Marines from Miami. The USBP agents who were called to pick them up for processing told us they had never seen more terrified illegals in their careers.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Donald Trump demanded the Federal Reserve 'do the right thing' and cut interest rates after Chair Jerome Powell said they were going to hold steady.
The president believes lower rates will help ease the transition to his tariffs against Canada and Mexico. Retaliatory tariffs are coming from the United States on April 2.
Trump criticized Powell and the Federal Reserve in a post to Truth Social on Wednesday night.
'The Fed would be MUCH better off CUTTING RATES as U.S. Tariffs start to transition (ease!) their way into the economy. Do the right thing. April 2nd is Liberation Day in America!!!'
On April 2, Trump will implement 'retaliatory tariffs' to offset the import taxes and non-tariff barriers of all trading partner countries.
Lower rates make it cheaper for businesses to borrow money but crucially it also cuts borrowing costs for ordinary Americans, who then have more to spend on goods and services.
Trump believes that this combined with his tariff plans will make the American economy soar to new heights.
Powell did say on Wednesday that they planned to cut rates twice later this year but not in time for Trump's proposed 'Liberation Day.'
Since taking office, Trump has moved to radically redraw global trade flows, already imposing a 20% increase in import duties on goods from China and 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico that do not comply with U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement trade rules.
He has also fully restored 25% tariffs on global steel and aluminum imports.
At the moment, the policy signal from Trump's tariff plans is unclear, but much would depend on how quickly any tariff-related inflation moved through the economy, and whether inflation expectations stay well-anchored.
He said recent strong inflation readings during the last two months were unexpected but may be due to people buying ahead of tariffs.
The Fed will try to trace those effects, but there is a lot of 'noise' surrounding announcements of tariffs being put on and delayed.
The Federal Reserve has held interest rates steady, but said it still plans to cut them twice later in 2025.
But officials said they inflation is still not under control, and they also revised down growth forecasts - in both cases blaming Trump's policies such as tariffs.
The central bank's decision keeps the benchmark rate between 4.25 percent and 4.5 percent, as analysts expected.
#1
Since the Fed Reserve seems to answer the DC Swamp Deep Pockets. Powell’s term as chair runs until May 2026.
So I don't expect any serious reductions in interest rates until 2026... after the mid terms
With that said, why should a US Citizen Fund the Fed (tax $$) to borrow $$$ thru a Bank that uses our Tax $$$ to jack up the Interest Rate to buy a family house.
If DC wants to reduce homeless #'s and build families, then how about Direct Home Loans, for approved housing?
Eliminate the Banks and their rule of 78 that drives up prices?
“You know that announcement might lower the 10-year rate on interest rates because people [would] say ‘Wow, these guys got it covered and they have a plan on how they’re going to be able to pay down this debt and they’re actually in really good shape.'”
#2
They did this once before; it functioned sorta meh, until a typhoon blew it to hell. You'da thought they'd have a plan for, you know, weather.
Kinda like the solar array down by Lake Jackson. Worked well enough until the hail storm and tornado. Then they're out with vaccuum cleaners trying to get all the pieces.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
03/20/2025 9:06
Comments ||
Top||
#3
When I was living in Hawai'i, there was talk about using wave action of the surf to generate electricity. Never heard of it actually being tried.
#4
This plant is inland and integrated with some reservoirs so it might be augmented with pumped storage (I can't tell).
The environmental impact is pretty significant and not discussed. It basically changes the ecology of the lake and makes it a different type of lake with much less oxidation, much less sunlight. Probably a non starter in the USA or EU.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
03/20/2025 11:53
Comments ||
Top||
#8
wave power looks great on paper and small scale tests and installations have gone ok
scaling up has been a major challenge as big projects mess up fishing recreation and navigation
also the ocean has all kinds of irregularities, large isolated waves, cross directional waves and of course salt water is pretty nasty to many materials
finally getting the energy gathered and moved to shore has been difficult and the O&M costs of these systems has been much more than hoped
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
03/20/2025 14:08
Comments ||
Top||
[MSN-FoxNews] The environmental group Greenpeace has been ordered by a North Dakota jury to pay more than $660 million in connection with protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline's construction.
.... of defamation, trespass, nuisance, civil conspiracy and other acts.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
03/20/2025
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11163 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
This $665M fine just broke GreenPeace.
They have declare Bankrupcy and start using a new name.
Remember the GreenPeace start out in 1960's as a NON-Violent Eco group. Then with Ape $hit FAR Left using destructive and violent protests over the years.
Given, GP "claims" to only accept Private Donations from about 3+ Million supporters. It will need to cough up about 3x what its annual operational budget is for this conspired Political stunt, which oddly they just happen to do during the Trump #1 tenure.
#4
^1
they won't declare bankruptcy until all appeals are exhausted or until they have dispersed all their assets - both will take months or years
by the way Greanpeace is actually many orgs. There is Greanpeace USA, Greenpeace International and Greenpeace Fund, Inc. To some extent they can shuffle around the assets.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
03/20/2025 11:37
Comments ||
Top||
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] On March 19, the Israeli military launched a ground operation in the central and southern parts of the Gaza Strip to increase the buffer zone and create a barrier between the north and south of the enclave. This was reported by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) press service on Wednesday.
“During the operation, the forces again expanded control to the central part of the Netzarim corridor,” the statement said.
In addition, the army decided to deploy Golani Brigade fighters to the southern Gaza Strip for possible military action.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on March 19, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the evacuation of civilians from combat zones would soon begin. He emphasized that the Israeli Air Force strikes on Hamas members were only the beginning, and threatened the complete destruction of the enclave.
On the night of March 18, the Israeli military resumed military operations against the Palestinian Hamas movement in Gaza. The IDF launched massive strikes against Hamas targets in the enclave. According to the Gaza Strip Health Ministry, 412 people were killed in the Israeli strikes. Among the dead was Hamas Prime Minister Issam al-Dalis.
Later that day, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the worsening situation in the Gaza Strip was causing concern for Russia. At the same time, the Russian Foreign Ministry called on the Israeli and Palestinian sides to return to negotiations, noting that Russia regrets Israel's resumption of the military operation in Gaza. The ministry stressed that it is impossible to resolve the issue of the hostages' release by force.
In mid-January, Tel Aviv and Hamas, with the mediation of Qatar, Egypt and the United States, agreed to a temporary truce in Gaza. After that, in early March, the Israeli authorities agreed to a US proposal for a temporary ceasefire during the religious holidays of Ramadan and Passover.
But Hamas was playing negotiating games and preparing for another cross-border invasion. A second 10/7 was not acceptable to the Netanyahu government, for some reason.
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... Resistance® Movement issued on Tuesday a statement to mourn a number of governmental officers claimed by the overnight Israeli aggression on Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... The statement indicated that the group of senior deaders—symbols of national action in Gaza—ascended to Allah at dawn today following a treacherous Zionist strike that deliberately and directly targeted them and their families, including:
— Martyr Commander Issam al-Da'alis, Head of the Government Action Follow-up Committee.
— Martyr Commander Yasser Harb, Member of Hamas' Political Bureau.
— Martyr Commander Ahmad al-Hattah, Deputy Minister of Justice.
— Martyr Commander Major General Mahmoud Abu Wafah, Deputy Minister of Interior.
— Martyr Commander Major General Bahjat Abu Sultan, Director General of Internal Security.
''As we mourn these great leaders and icons of our steadfast Paleostinian people in Gaza—who stood firm alongside their families and people for over fifteen months, dedicating themselves to service, security, unity, and resilience—we reaffirm that the Zionist liquidation crimes targeting Hamas leadership and national figures will not achieve their goals. These crimes will not break the will of our people or their strong bond with their leadership and resistance. Instead, they will further strengthen our people's determination in confronting the occupation and its aggressive plans.''
Hundreds of Paleostinians have been so far martyred and many others have been injured as the Israeli occupation renewed its aggression on Gaza early on Tuesday.
ULULULULULULULULULULU!!!!
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2025
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11190 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
All credit for the unexpected stay to the Biden-Harris administration, which refused to let Elon Musk’s SpaceX get points for bringing them home when Boeing’s Starliner couldn’t finish the job.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] After nine gruelling months in space, NASA's stranded astronauts have finally returned to Earth.
However, experts warn that Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams' unplanned stay on the International Space Station (ISS) could have serious health impacts.
Shocking before-and-after images show the terrifying damage that months spent in the harsh conditions in space will do to you.
From 'chicken legs' and 'baby feet' to an increased risk of cancer, experts warn that the stranded astronauts could face years of health complications.
As Williams, 59, and Wilmore, 62, emerged from their SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule yesterday, medical teams rushed to help them onto stretchers.
This is a normal procedure for astronauts returning from space since their weakened muscles make it difficult to walk under the force of Earth's gravity.
The pair will now undergo several days of intensive medical checks at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston but health experts have already noticed signs of physical decline in the stranded astronauts.
And even while they were on the ISS, experts expressed concern over the pair's gaunt appearance and apparent weight loss.
Vision loss and cognitive decline
Muscle and bone loss
Weight loss
Fluid shift
Radiation damage
Heart health
Skin problems
Most astronauts return to their re-mission fitness level after the 45 days, according to NASA.
But it can take months or even years for some to recover, and research has shown that many astronauts never fully restore their bone density.
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] American fighter jets launched on Wednesday evening a series of Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s on the capital, Sana'a, and Bayda, Hodeidah, and Saada provinces.
According to local sources in Sana’a, an American raid targeted a hall under construction in a residential neighborhood of the al-Thawra district, which led to the damage of several homes adjacent to the hall.
In Bayda, local sources confirmed that the American warplanes bombed areas in the al-Sawadiya district.
According to the sources, Hodeidah was subjected to a similar aggression targeting the east of the city, in conjunction with American bombing of Saada province in the north of the country.
[IsraelTimes] Tehran must ‘immediately’ stop sending Yemeni rebels weapons supplies, US president says, shortly after American airstrikes hit Houthi targets in Sanaa
US President Donald Trump ...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down... on Wednesday said Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... ’s Iran-backed Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... rebels "will be completely annihilated," warning Tehran against continuing to provide aid for the group during an ongoing US military campaign against them.
"Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... must stop the sending of these Supplies IMMEDIATELY. Let the Houthis fight it out themselves. Either way they lose, but this way they lose quickly," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
The American leader referred to reports that Iran "has lessened its intensity on Military Equipment and General Support" for the Houthis, though he added that "they are still sending large levels of Supplies."
"Tremendous damage has been inflicted upon the Houthi barbarians, and watch how it will get progressively worse — It’s not even a fair fight, and never will be. They will be completely annihilated!" his post continued.
Shortly before Trump posted his threat to Iran and the Houthis on social media, the US military carried out a series of Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s on a Houthi stronghold in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, three residents told Rooters.
According to the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV, "an American attack targeted the capital Sanaa... and the area of the town of Saada" in the north. It later added that strikes had also hit the district of al-Sawadiya, southeast of Sanaa.
The United States began launching heavy strikes against the Houthis on Saturday, as Washington pledged overwhelming force until the rebels stop firing on key shipping routes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
On Saturday, the Houthi-run health ministry said US strikes killed 53 people and maimed nearly 100 others. The United States has said the attacks killed several brass hats.
On Tuesday, the rebels took responsibility for a missile fired at Israel and intercepted, and vowed to escalate attacks, in the wake of the resumption of massive military operations in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip.
The missile, which the Houthis said targeted an airbase, was the first reported attack on Israel from Yemen since a January 19 ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... war.
Part of Iran’s "axis of resistance" against the United States and Israel, the Houthis have been attacking ships in the trade lane since the start of Israel’s war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza, claiming solidarity with Paleostinians.
Attacks by Houthis — whose slogans call for "Death to America," "Death to Israel," and a "curse on Jews" — have forced many vessels to take a much longer, more expensive route around Africa.
Washington has pledged overwhelming force until the rebels stop firing on key shipping routes.
The US launched airstrikes on multiple targets across Yemen overnight, including Saada province, which Yemeni sources say is a long-time hideout for Houthi leaders, and the Red Sea port city of Hodeida, Houthi media reported on Wednesday.
The US Central Command confirmed its “continuous operations against Iran-back Houthi terrorists.”
Meanwhile, the Houthis’ military spokesperson said cruise missiles and drones targeted the USS Harry S. Truman carrier group in an attack that was “the fourth within 72 hours.”
Houthi-run Al Masirah TV reported more than 10 US strikes on various locations, including the Al-Safra district in Saada. The district, which houses weapons storage and training sites, is considered one of the terror group’s most important and heavily fortified military strongholds, according to Yemeni sources.
[Garowe] At least 100 heavily armed al-Shabaab ... the personification of Somali state failure... forces of Evil sneaked into Kenya, seizing a tiny village where they reportedly preached radicalism for half an hour, before vanishing into the dense Boni Forest within Lamu County.
The incident happened in Mangai village just within Boni Forest where the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) are undertaking Operation Amani Boni. During the tense 30 minutes, the forces of Evil donated date fruits to locals.
The incident happened on Saturday evening around 6 pm when residents, most of whom are Moslems, were preparing for the evening prayers and breaking the fast. An area administrator informed the Mangai Security camp about the incident.
"Around 6 pm, and as the locals were preparing for evening prayers, al-Shaabab operatives numbering about 150 raided Mangai village, approximately 80 kilometres South West of the station, where they probed the Border Patrol Unit (BPU) Mangai camp before splitting into two groups.
"One of the groups was left manning the BPU camp as the other one entered the village where they looked for the area chiefs and National Police Reservists (NPR) officers from the said locality. They later lectured the locals before distributing date fruits to them and later left for an unknown destination. No casualties were reported during the incident. The area remains tense. Any further progress report to be communicated," the report stated.
Wesley Koech, the Lamu County Commissioner, confirmed the incident while informing the public that security had been beefed up in the area.
Koech called on locals to share information with the police, the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and other security agencies so as to help conquer the enemy. He also called on the public not to be deterred as the situation is being monitored and managed.
"First, there is no death or injury reported in the Saturday evening raid by suspected al-Shabaab bully boyz in Mangai Village. They only ambushed locals, preached to them and distributed dates to them and left. We’re monitoring the situation and everything is under control. There is no cause for worry," said the county commissioner by phone.
There has been relative stability along the Lamu stretch due to the active KDF operations but previously, the group has launched devastating attacks — including the Mpeketoni raid of 2014 which left over 90 people dead.
There have been recent in the villages of Juhudi, Widho, Salama, Mashogoni, Marafa, Pandanguo, Witu and surrounding areas between 2023 and early 2024 where 30 residents were killed. The national government has been keen on fighting the incoppersace caused by the Somalia-based al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab Death Eaters.
In September 2015, the state launched a multi-agency security operation dubbed Linda Boni, with the key aim of flushing out al-Shabaab forces of Evil believed to be hiding inside the vast Boni Forest. The operation has been termed as a 'success' by military officials.
[ShabelleMedia] In the latest of a series of pirate hijackings off Somalia this year EUNAVFOR ATALANTA reported a suspected hijacking of Yemini dhow, or fishing vessel, on 16 March in the vicinity of Eyl, Northern coast of Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... EUNAVFOR ATALANTA said the incident had been classified as a hijacking with seven hijackers remaining on board. The dhow has a crew of eight Somali nationals on board.
"EUNAVFOR ATALANTA is monitoring the event and coordinating closely with the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) and with the 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... i Coast Guard," the naval force said.
It is the latest in a series of such incidents this year. The Yemini Saytuun-2 was hijacked by pirates on 17 February who left the vessel five days later. On 8 February the dhow Al Najma was hijacked off Eyl and liberated by EUNAVFOR ATALANTA forces on 13 February.
The rise in hijacking of fishing vessels has prompted concerns of a possible resurgence of attacks on larger fat merchantmen transiting off the coast of Somalia. Previously dhows were used as motherships by the pirates to launch attacks on vessels transiting hundreds of miles out from the Somali coastline.
[YouTube] the source is a 12 minute discussion of the case post-verdict
the discussion is by the office of the US District Attorney for MN
including the two convicted today, those convicted earlier and those pleading guilty, about 40 people have been found guilty, another 2 dozen await trial
the fraud was over $250M of which, I think, about $65M has since been recouped
Gov Tim Walz and Att General Keith Ellison are guilty of allowing this and ignoring Minnesota state employees who reported the problem. Walz and Ellison have, to date, paid no penalty partly because of the dissimulation of the Star Tribune.
United States vs. Amy Bach and Salim Saeed. Feeding Our Future was a Somali immigrant effort. During the COVID shutdown they billed for meals, etc for poor Minnesota children that were not served.
[FOXNEWS] As aspects of President Donald Trump ...The Hero of Butler, Pennsylvania... 's agenda are stymied by judges amid legal challenges, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has suggested that Congress could strip federal courts of jurisdiction.
"Congress has the authority to strip jurisdiction of the federal courts to decide these cases in the first place. The sabotaging of President Trump's agenda by 'resistance' judges was predictable — why no jurisdiction-stripping bills tee'd up at the onset of this Congress?" DeSantis wrote in a Wednesday post on X.
When someone responded by asking how such a move could pass when 60 votes would be needed to push it through the Senate, DeSantis replied, "Attach it to a 'must pass' bill—"
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2025
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11149 views]
Top|| File under:
With simple majorities you could, as I’ve previously suggested, bring back the requirement for three-judge district courts when the legality of federal statutes is challenged, and expand that requirement to include challenges to executive orders.
Another thing you could do with simple majorities ... is to strip federal courts of jurisdiction to issue Temporary Restraining Orders and Preliminary Injunctions in the class of cases that we’ve been seeing. Or, indeed, to strip them of jurisdiction to hear any complaints regarding the internal administration of the Executive. Or stripping courts of jurisdiction to issue any order in such cases until an appeals bond has actually been posted by the moving party.
Also:
These are all things that could be done with the existing legislative majorities, and that would do more to address existing problems than impeachments, with less of a downside.
Unfortunately my understanding of Senate rules about filibusters means 60 votes are necessary to stop debate and vote on a bill, for which (at that point) a simply majority would then be necessary to pass the bill.
In addition, getting Congress to do anything substantial along these lines seems an immense task.
Only 593 days until the next Election Day when the entire House and 1/3 of the US Senate is up for reelection or replacement. If enough would-be voters make Congressional action an imperative during the nomination and primaries, it could happen. Otherwise the dictatorship of the federal judiciary will drag on and on and on.
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] Lebanese Hezbollah strongly condemned on Tuesday the resumption of the Israeli attack on the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip and the targeting of children, women, and defenseless civilians as they slept.
Condemning is about all they’re able to do, after Israel wiped out their manpower, matériel, and money.
In a statement, Hezbollah noted that this aggression comes at a time when the people of Gaza are suffering under a stifling siege and severe starvation and considered it a flagrant violation of humanitarian and international laws and conventions. *SNORT*
Hezbollah indicated that the decision of the ''terrorist'' Netanyahu government to backtrack on the ceasefire and resume the war in full partnership with the US administration, amid shameful international silence, clearly demonstrates the Zionist entity's and the US administration's lack of respect for agreements and commitments.
It also explained that this partnership reveals the United States' ongoing goals to destabilize the region by supporting aggression against Paleostine, 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?... , Syria, 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... .
The statement stated that ''the Zionist entity, which has failed over 15 months of brutal war to break the will of the resistance, will not achieve its goals through this renewed aggression, whether by eliminating the just Paleostinian cause or displacing the Paleostinian people from their land.'' It affirmed that Paleostine will remain the central issue of the nation.
Hezbollah also emphasized that the Paleostinian people, despite the brutal wars waged against them, will not submit to the occupation's policies. It called on Arab and Islamic peoples and the free people of the world to expose this American-Zionist partnership, which aims to exterminate the Paleostinian people.
The statement also called on the international community, especially the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... and human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. organizations, to take immediate action to halt Israeli crimes, noting that the continuation of this aggression will only lead to more suffering and unjustified destruction.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2025
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11142 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
[IsraelTimes] Activist hospitalized after incident, waiting for diagnosis; Democrats party chief Golan labels incident ‘a terrorist attack,’ blames government incitement
A taxi driver rammed into an anti-government protester in Jerusalem during the raucous demonstrations near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence in the capital on Wednesday evening.
The incident, which appeared to have likely been an intentional attack, left the protester, Oded Rotem, momentarily unconscious with a minor injury to his leg.
According to eyewitnesses, the car dragged Rotem for some 50 meters (160 feet) on Herzog Street.
The driver expeditiously departed at a goodly pace and was later apprehended by police.
"I am still in the hospital. They still haven’t diagnosed me," Rotem, a member of the Standing Together coexistence group, told the Walla news site. "Dr. says you're an asshole. See? Diagnosed"
Tens of thousands of protesters were drawn to Jerusalem on Wednesday, in an outburst of rage over renewed fighting in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... that has left the fate of hostages held by Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... uncertain, efforts to remove Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, and the government’s revival of highly controversial legislation to increase political power over the judiciary.
The Democrats ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... party chairman Yair Golan accused Netanyahu’s government of inciting violence, calling the incident "a terrorist attack," in a post on X.
I believe Israel’s “Democrats” are just the renamed Labour Socialists, in honour of their American patrons and paymasters. They have to riot because they cannot otherwise get votes, s far as I can tell.
He asserted that the "violence against patriotic protesters is a direct result of the hatred, lies, and incitement emanating directly from the Israeli government."
Or the bone-deep frustration of the normies, who are exceedingly tired of their anti-Democratic nonsense.
In a similar vein, Alon-Lee Green, co-director of Standing Together, labeled the incident "no less than a car-ramming terror attack," in a post on X, referring to Paleostinian terror rammings.
Protest leaders Shikma Bressler and Yaya Fink told Walla that they were "horrified" by the incident and that such violence was "eroding the foundations of democracy."
"We don’t expect the government of ’Hamas is an asset’ to condemn or denounce it," they said, referencing a quote by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in 2015, which has often been referenced by anti-government activists since the October 7, 2023, attacks to highlight the alleged attitude toward Hamas under successive Netanyahu governments.
"When democratic foundations are dismantled, violence seeps onto the streets. The struggle will continue in order to protect the gatekeepers, to save the hostages and to keep our country," they added.
Wednesday’s protests saw several incidents of violence, including a clash between police and demonstrators who broke through barriers outside the Prime Minister’s Residence.
Jerusalem police said in the afternoon that they had arrested four people during the protests, including one armed counter-protester who threatened to harm demonstrators.
At least 12 protesters were arrested during Wednesday’s rally and at protests that continued into the night, with policing clashed with demonstrators and employing watercannons to break up the crowds.
In the morning, police blocked the main highway leading into the capital to traffic as protesters waving Israeli flags and yellow banners set out from Motza, on Jerusalem’s western outskirts.
The protesters gathered outside the Knesset around noon, then proceeded to Netanyahu’s home, on Azza Street in Jerusalem’s Rehavia neighborhood.
Activists leading the march held a large banner that read: “Enough of the government of destruction,” as the large crowds proceeded down Ben Zvi Boulevard, which police also closed to traffic.
Hundreds of others further up the road sat on the pavement while chanting for a deal to free the remaining hostages in Gaza, and in support of the top officials the government plans to oust.
Many protesters held signs with slogans calling for an end to the war, while a handful carried signs calling on reservists to refuse to serve in the military, as an act of defiance against Netanyahu’s government.
During a speech outside Netanyahu’s private home, protest leader Moshe Radman seemed to compare the government to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and other bitter enemies of the Jewish people.
“We got through Haman, we got through Pharaoh, we got through the British Mandate, we got through Hitler… we’ll get through them too,” he said through a megaphone to the applause of other demonstrators.
According to the Ynet news site, Radman later attempted to soften his remarks, saying: “We don’t want a strand of hair to fall from Netanyahu’s head, we only wish for him to get booted from the government and sit in jail until his very last day.”
At the top of the street, near Netanyahu’s official residence, a group of silent protesters sat in the middle of Paris Square, blocking the intersection to traffic.
Jerusalem police said in the afternoon that they had arrested four people, including one armed counter-protester who threatened to harm demonstrators. “Over the course of the protest, dozens of participants began to disrupt the public order,” a law enforcement spokesman said, adding that many attempted to break through crowd control barriers.
Some protesters also used their cars to block main streets in the capital without police authorization, in what the spokesman called “a blatant violation of the protest conditions agreed upon in advance between protesters and Israel Police in recent days.” He noted that police were planning to tow the vehicles.
The protests continued into the late evening, with demonstrators lighting bonfires on Azza Street and clashing with police. Footage from the street showed The Democrats MK Gilad Kariv being forcibly shoved away by cops, which the left-wing opposition party decried as “crossing a red line.”
After nightfall, a taxi driver rammed into a protester in what looked to be an intentional attack.
Radman later attempted to soften his remarks, saying: “We don’t want a strand of hair to fall from Netanyahu’s head, we only wish for him to get booted from the government and sit in jail until his very last day.”
[DailyWire] Employees of DOGE's latest target spent taxpayer money on exotic vacations, portraits, and more.
One of the seven small federal agencies that President Donald Trump ordered downsized or eliminated on Friday was rife with corruption, with its employees hiring friends and relatives, commissioning paintings of themselves, and using government credit cards to indulge in constant luxuries.
The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) occupied a nine-story office tower on D.C.’s K Street for only 60 employees, many of whom actually worked from home, prior to the pandemic. Its managers had luxury suites with full bathrooms; one manager would often be “in the shower” when she was needed, while another used her bathroom as a cigarette lounge. FMCS recorded its director as being on a years-long business trip to D.C. so he could have all of his meals and living expenses covered by taxpayers, simply for showing up to the office.
FMCS is a 230-employee agency that exists to serve as a voluntary mediator between unions and businesses. As an “independent agency,” its director nominally reports to the president, but the agency is so small that in effect, there is no oversight at all — and it showed, becoming a real-life caricature of all the excesses that the Department of Government Efficiency has alleged take place in government.
This reporter spent a year investigating the agency a decade ago, and I found egregious and self-serving violations of hiring, pay, contracting, and purchase card rules. One thing I could not discover is why the agency actually existed, other than to provide luxurious lifestyles for its employees. Endless junkets to resort destinations, which employees openly used to facilitate personal vacations, were justified as building awareness of the agency in the hopes that someone would actually want to use its voluntary services.
FMCS seemed, quite clearly, to exist for the benefit of those on its payroll, and not much else. One employee told me: “Let me give you the honest truth: A lot of FMCS employees don’t do a hell of a lot, including myself. Personally, the reason that I’ve stayed is that I just don’t feel like working that hard, plus the location on K Street is great, plus we all have these oversized offices with windows, plus management doesn’t seem to care if we stay out at lunch a long time. Can you blame me?”
Posted by: NoMoreBS ||
03/20/2025
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11157 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
Sounds like a living example of a sinecure. Leeches, ticks, and parasites. Begone.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
03/20/2025 3:27
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Under which administration was this boondoggle authorized or allowed?
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/20/2025 8:22
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Couldn't they have found a judge who would block the closure? Surely there must be a district Court Judge who would find that the closure was unconstitutional.
[FoxNews] President Donald Trump ...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down... is moving forward with plans to abolish the Department of Education.
Trump is expected to sign an executive order following through on a campaign promise to disband the department, claiming on the campaign trail that the department was full of "radicals, zealots and Marxists."
A White House fact sheet states that the move will "turn over education to families instead of bureaucracies. Trump and proponents of eliminating the department have long said the agency has failed American students.
"NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) scores reveal a national crisis — our children are falling behind," Harrison Fields, the White House principal deputy press secretary, told Fox News. "Over the past four years, Democrats ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... have allowed millions of illegal minors into the country, straining school resources and diverting focus from American students."
#6
Some years back, when STEM turned into STEAM, the Kansas education system thought the proper way to introduce 'Arts' into the program was to pay for several thousand tickets to Koch Arena for an entertaining exhibition of technical trade areas, featuring the OKC Thunder Farm Team.
Turns out, it was an exhibition basketball game between two pro farm teams with goofy entertainment, 'Arts', between quarters, as a way to promote interest in a semi-pro basketball team located in Wichita.
Where did that money come from? What exactly is the mission goal?
These are the approximate positions of the U.S. Navy’s deployed carrier strike groups and amphibious ready groups throughout the world as of March 17, 2025, based on Navy and public data. In cases in which a CSG or ARG is conducting disaggregated operations, the chart reflects the location of the capital ship.
SHIPS UNDERWAY
Total Battle Force
295
(USS 234, USNS 61)
[KP] Komsomolskaya Pravda war correspondent Aleksandr Kots on the streets of Sudzha.
“Exactly here,” the head of the non-profit organization “Patriot” Alexey Spiridonov gloomily states, having climbed up to the second floor of the Goncharovka hospital, near Sudzha.
Once you smell this smell, you will never confuse it with anything else. For the fifth day, the organization's activists have been literally under fire taking civilians from the liberated city and its outskirts to the rear. And along the way, they are checking the information that the relatives of the missing are transmitting. At one of the points, there should be the body of a young pregnant woman who was shot in August last year by Ukrainian soldiers.
They had to climb in through a window — the entrance was blocked up. On the first floor of the civilian hospital, judging by the boxes of grenades and anti-tank systems, the occupiers had set up an ammunition depot. There were signs of life here, too. But they most likely lived in the basement. The second floor looked like it had been hit by a hurricane — overturned medical cabinets and beds in the treatment rooms and wards.
The smell of decomposition was coming from the gynecology department. Nina Kuznetsova was brought here with bullet wounds on August 7 last year. And here she was last seen by her husband, who had taken the family from Kurilovka to the rear, but the car was shot at point-blank range by a man with a blue ribbon on his helmet. With his wounded son and mother-in-law, Artem finally escaped to the rear to return for his wife later. But there was no turning back…
DISMISSED DISTRICT HEAD LEFT TO FIGHT
The only way to get to Goncharovka today is on foot. Early in the morning we meet Alexey Spiridonov. His organization was created in 2022 - youth education, military-patriotic work, training in tactical medicine... As if they already knew back then what would come in handy. Last August, Patriot activists, while it was possible, evacuated civilians from the invasion zone, literally from under the noses of the "defenders". Today they have returned to the liberated territories to help their fellow countrymen get to the "mainland".
Alexey's companion is Alexander Bogachev, who was fired from his post as head of the Sudzhansky district last year. Until August 10, 2024, he was also involved in the evacuation of people. And in November, he was accused of not working closely enough with the population, which demanded housing certificates. Then everything sparked, everyone was very nervous, and Alexander wrote a statement.
And then he signed a military contract, and today he serves in the Veterans brigade. By the way, as a local resident, he participated in the planning of Operation Potok (when hundreds of fighters reached the rear of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Sudzha via a gas pipeline), since he knows the area where it was taking place in detail. In addition to the addresses that need to be visited, Bogachev also wants to take a look at his own house in Goncharovka, which he has not been to since that black August.
The central part of Sudzha can only be reached via a river, the bridges over which were blown up during our offensive. Now the crossing is a few boulders in a stream of water, with boards and railings thrown over them. You cross over like an equilibrist, and immediately fly into the nearest yard - a drone buzzes hysterically from above, as if diving.
- Yes, you should stand under the visor, - the woman who came out advises from experience. - It will fly by - he won't notice.
RED HAT
The neighbors come out to the noise. Alexey and Alexander call them to the evacuation point. They doubt it. The men tell them about temporary accommodation points, electricity, hot meals, and compensation payments. I can see from their eyes that for people who lived through the occupation, this sounds like science fiction.
- Of course we waited for our own, we waited. Seven months of struggling for existence. Getting water, coal, food... They broke into all the stores and allowed us to take from there. Like homeless people, - there is resentment in their voices.
And then the nature of their mistrust dawns on me. The woman, dressed for the occasion of the guests' visit in her brown fur coat and red hat (which seem like an alien wardrobe here), shoots me a question with a piercing look:
- Why didn't you give us a "green corridor" to get to Kursk? And the hohols were taken to Sumy.
She, of course, does not know that all these months our diplomats, humanitarian workers, ombudsmen tried to negotiate with Kiev about the withdrawal of all our people to the Motherland. But Ukraine refused. Only twice did they manage to take several dozen people through Belarus to Russia. The rest were needed by the Armed Forces of Ukraine as hostages and human shields.
The residents of Sudzha were made into a propaganda tool for the Western media. And, of course, they tried to brainwash them with lies about the country that abandoned them to their fate. And does not think of returning them. Although this is not true. Many good soldiers laid down their lives in order to return our citizens. And those liberated in the Kursk region have yet to realize this. And to understand what fate befell their fellow countrymen in places where overseas reporters did not get to. For example, in Russkoye Porechny.
BROKEN CITY
- This is the central part of Sudzha. On the left is the so-called House of Pioneers, they started a major overhaul here, but unfortunately, they didn’t have time. Further on is a school located in four buildings. Here is one, here we see the second one, it is damaged. Next to it is also the pearl of our region - the first sports complex. Unfortunately, it is destroyed, - Alexander Bogachev leads the tour and seems to record the lost things for himself. - We only had three of them, plus an ice arena and a swimming pool. Unfortunately, all three are already damaged. Two of them are almost destroyed.
We walk along a block of disfigured buildings. Along the street are iron roof sheets and corrugated sheets twisted into tubes, and underfoot are broken glass and bricks. Stacks of new tiles are illogically laid out along the alley.
- This is one of the central streets, Pervomayaya Street. Last year, reconstruction was planned here under the national project "Small Cities of Russia", - explains Bogachev. - They planned to decorate the city here. This is the police building. There is a private sector, a library, shops. Everything, as we can see, is in a deplorable state. But let's hope that we will rebuild everything.
An elderly man with a bicycle walks by. He is also called to evacuate, but like many others, he refuses. He is afraid to leave his home. I ask him how life was with uninvited guests.
- They took away my carbine, my double-barreled shotgun, my Niva. I said, "Why are you taking it? What are your arguments?" And he pointed to the 5.45 automatic rifle - that's my argument. They took the car and drove off. And it's like that for many people, - says Vasily Sergeyevich Tarasov.
HOUSES TURNED INSIDE OUT
And we move on, studying the rock paintings of the fleeing "defenders". On the gates and houses, the Ukrainians left messages: "Ukraine above all", "Don't lick", "SBU. Occupied", "Counterintelligence", "Occupied. The whole street". The VSSU officers settled under the houses of the residents of Sudzha and the surrounding settlements. And when leaving, they turned them inside out, taking out all valuables. I did not find a TV or microwave in a single hut or apartment.
- Why don’t people want to leave even from such conditions? - I ask Alexey Spiridonov.
- Farm. Cats, dogs, chickens, pigs. They don't want to leave. And you can't persuade them, - he sighs. - Yesterday a woman was wounded in the chest, her arm was rotten. There was another woman, wounded in both legs, something flew into the house, she lay there for three months, her sister bandaged her. We had to persuade her to leave to save her life, because there was already suppuration there. We took out about 300 people in four days. And those who remain order medicine, bread. Every day we walk 20 kilometers to all the houses.
TROPHY COLUMN ON PEACE STREET
We continue walking towards Goncharovka, informing the Sudzhans we meet (the rules allow both Sudzhans and Sudzhans, but the locals use the latter) about the evacuation point and time. Oleg Skripnik does not want to go, saying that there are people weaker than him. He sends greetings to Kristina Kirillova, his son Slava, and Alena Andreevna. Grandfather, who clearly has Parkinson's syndrome, also wants to stay.
Alexander Bogachev knows him. He used to live in Makhnovka, but his house was destroyed during the Ukrainian shelling in 2023. Then, through the governor, they bought him a new one, in the Podol area. Now he holds on to it, overcoming the tremors of his hands, afraid to throw it away.
Goncharovka is located right above the road that connects it with Sudzha across the field. It is on a hill, and storming it was quite a task. At the top, the Ukrainians dug trenches and firing positions that could be reached directly from the houses, in the basements of which they lived. They also set up an ammunition depot here. In one of the garages, we find a workshop for the Ukrainian Armed Forces' drones. Apparently, they stored bombs for "Baba Yaga" here - heavy drones, the boxes of which are lying around in the street.
In another yard, there is a warehouse of American 120-mm mortar shells. In a third with the inscription "SBU" on the fence, some Ukrainian "chekist" defeated a photo of a young guy in a marine uniform by piercing his eye and drawing on his genitals. As they say, each has his own pain.
Sloboda has become a real cemetery for NATO equipment. The concentration of burnt MaxxPros, Strikers, Kirpis, Humvees and other auto junk here is simply phenomenal. On Mira Street, our drone crews burned an entire column of foreign iron at once. Here and there are broken pickups. Some have Polish license plates.
A TERRIBLE FIND
Alexey and Alexander go around the courtyards. But they can't find any civilians yet. We approach the hospital, near which stands a burnt-out Ukrainian armored personnel carrier.
Remember the tragic story of Nina Kuznetsova? On August 7, 30-year-old Artem Kuznetsov and 27-year-old Nina Kuznetsova with her child and grandmother were driving in two cars from Kurilovka to Kursk. Artem was in the first car, Nina (two months pregnant) with her son and mother was in the second.
The first car passed, and machine gun fire started at the second. Artem saw a shooter with a blue ribbon on his helmet. The second car crashes into the first. The father of the family runs out to help everyone into his car. The child is injured, the wife is unconscious…
On three whole wheels they reach the hospital in Goncharovka. Artem left his wife with the doctors and took the family further. He could not return.
On March 16, together with the head of the ANO Patriot, Aleksey Spiridonov, and the former head of the Sudzhansky District, Aleksandr Bogachev, we discover the body of a woman on the second floor of the hospital. She is lying on a stretcher on the floor of the gynecology department with her arms outstretched. There is a tattoo on her shoulder. Exactly like Nina Kuznetsova's. There is her ring on her ring finger. Her relatives will finally be able to bury their beloved...
Nina Kuznetsova was quickly identified by her tattoo.
EVEN CHILDREN'S PIGGY BANKS WERE EMPTIED
All the tasks for the day are done and Aleksandr Bogachev goes to his house. There are three of them identical - they were built with their own hands with relatives according to the same project. It is already clear from afar that the houses have been badly damaged.
Aleksandr's load-bearing wall has been destroyed. He walks through his rooms, which have been turned upside down. There is a bedroom, there is a nursery, there are gutted toy piggy banks and boxes from women's jewelry lying around. A 5-liter bottle of whiskey was dragged from somewhere. It stands empty. Apparently, they were whiling away the time before robbing. Bogachev carefully picks up his wife's portrait from the floor, pierced by shrapnel, shakes off the dust, and leans it against the wall.
It is difficult to imagine what range of emotions he is experiencing now. I do not know what claims the Sudzhans have against him now. Or whether they had any. But he honestly evacuated people in August, he is doing it now, his father spent seven months under occupation and he himself lost his home, like many of his fellow countrymen. In Hamburg terms, he differs little from them today, except perhaps in his status as a military man.
On the way back we hear screams. On one of the streets, an old man with a bloody neck stands over his elderly neighbor who is lying down with a lacerated wound on his hand. He can't get up, he says there's something wrong with his leg. Alexey Spiridonov bandages his hand, pulls down the wounded man's pants a little to inject him with painkiller, and there are shrapnel. And in his leg, it seems. They don't understand what hit him. Most likely, a drop from a copter.
“Gather your documents, we’re going to Kursk,” he sternly commands the walking old man and helps the bedridden one.
Naturally, he doesn't want to go anywhere. The recumbent one doesn't want to go anywhere either. Threats and some swearing are used. The walking one reluctantly goes into the hut and returns with a bag of medicine: "I won't go without them." We pull out a garden cart with inflatable wheels from the neighboring yard, put blankets in it, and put the old man with a white face on it.
Alexey takes the handles and pushes it forward: "And so it is every day," the head of "Patriot" smiles. We walk at the rear, urging the old man with a piece of shrapnel stuck in his throat - he tries to lag behind and "run away" home. Spiridonov no longer pays attention to the constantly buzzing air, puffs and pushes the cart to the crossing. Machine gunners are trying to shoot down another flying drone. From the other side, fighters run up with a stretcher, onto which we transfer the old man. Knee-deep in turbulent water, he is carried to the other shore.
The volunteers immediately cut the trouser leg. There are about ten pieces of shrapnel in his left leg, he will hardly pull it out without professional help. They put a bandage on his friend's throat. Meanwhile, Spiridonov rushes in his SUV to the jump base, from where he returns with an armored minibus. In it, the elderly friends are taken to the rear, where, fifty kilometers from here, doctors and the Ministry of Emergency Situations are on duty, intercepting people taken out of Sudzha and its environs by volunteers.
Tomorrow, together with Bogachev and others, they will return here to continue. Until the last inch of land is liberated. And the last fellow countryman is safe.
P.S. Nina Kuznetsova's body was taken away the next day. Grandpa, with a leg wound, was left in Kursk. His comrade, who resisted the evacuation the most and walked out on foot, was taken to Moscow, to Vishnevsky Hospital. The wound turned out to be more serious than it looked. A life can be saved with a strong word and such-and-such a mother.
[ShabelleMedia] Somali National Army (SNA) forces, alongside local militias, launched an operation against al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... gunnies in the Laba-garas area of the Middle Shabelle region on Tuesday.
The military operation, which began in the early hours of the morning, successfully targeted the krazed killer group, killing several fighters.
SNA officials confirmed that the operation is still ongoing as forces continue to engage with the krazed killers, who had gathered in the area. The military assault is part of an intensified effort to weaken al-Shabaab’s hold in central and southern Somalia.
In a separate development, al-Shabaab fighters attempted to launch an attack on a government military base near Ceelbarwaaqo, located on the outskirts of the Middle Shabelle region.
A fierce clash ensued between the two sides, resulting in casualties on both ends, including confirmed deaths and injuries.
The government has not released specific details regarding the number of casualties or the extent of the damage, but military sources confirmed that they are reinforcing their positions and continuing efforts to secure the region.
[FoxNews] A federal judge ruled in favor of the Trump administration on Wednesday, after a government-funded nonprofit organization filed a lawsuit protecting itself from "ongoing destruction" from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The U.S. Institute for Peace (USIP) filed a request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) on Tuesday, claiming that DOGE had committed "literal trespass and takeover by force...of the Institute’s headquarters building on Constitution Avenue."
The organization also accused the anti-waste initiative of "ongoing destruction of the Institute’s physical and electronic property."
"Defendants have been and are at this minute engaged in conduct that will cause the Institute irreparable harm that will prevent the Institute from performing any of its lawful functions and is likely to utterly destroy it," the lawsuit stated.
In a decision on Wednesday, Judge Beryl Howell motioned to deny the USIP's request for a TRO.
"I think there is confusion in the complaint that make me uncomfortable," Howell said.
"I would say I am very offended by how DOGE has operated in the Institute in treating American citizens.... but that concern about how this has gone down is not one that can sway me in the consideration of factors for TRO, which is emergency relief, which is exceptional," she continued.
Howell, who was appointed as a senior judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 2024, also said she was "particularly concerned about plaintiffs’ likelihood of success."
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Mark Leshkevich
[REGNUM] After the defeat of Nazi Germany, but before the end of 1945, a valuable trophy was brought to the United States: a group of 88 German scientists who had previously worked for Adolf Hitler. This was the first stage of Operation Overcast, a joint action by the Army counterintelligence and the civilian Special Operations Directorate, the predecessor of the CIA.
A year later, in the interests of secrecy, the operation to “import” Nazi scientific and technical personnel received a new, completely “harmless” name, under which it will go down in history: Operation Paperclip. As a result, the Americans assigned more than 1,600 scientists and technicians to the cause. The first to come to mind, of course, was SS Sturmbannführer, holder of an NSDAP party card since 1937 and a pioneer of American rocket and space technology, Wernher von Braun.
But often left behind the scenes are specialists in a field that – unlike aviation and rocket technology – is directly associated with one of the main crimes of Nazism: mass murder in death camps. We are talking about chemists, including those who worked for the IG Farben concern – on whose conscience was, among other things, the production of the gas "Zyklon-B".
"TRASH CAN"
Initially, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SNAEF), under the command of future US President Dwight Eisenhower, officially pursued a policy of closing all German research centers and arresting their personnel, who were released after numerous interrogations. However, it soon became clear that releasing the scientists was reckless: contact with them could be lost forever.
Moreover, the Allied forces encountered such results of the Nazi war machine's work that shocked the US top leadership. They were shocked not by the danger that Nazi developments posed, but by how far the US lagged behind the Third Reich in terms of chemical and bacteriological developments. And yet, a confrontation with a new enemy - our country - was on the threshold.
Confirmation can be found in a report by Major General Hugh Nerra to his boss, the commander of the US Air Forces in Europe, Carl Spaatz (who would later “oversee” the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki):
"The occupation of German scientific and industrial institutions has revealed the fact that we are lagging behind in many areas of research. If we do not take advantage of the opportunity to seize the apparatus and the brains that developed it... we will be left behind for several years."
Washington had “no idea that they had created an entire arsenal of nerve agents for Hitler,” that Germany was working on using bubonic plague bacteria for military purposes. “That’s where Operation Paperclip really began — when the Pentagon suddenly realized, ‘Wait a minute, we need these weapons ourselves,’” notes Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Annie Jacobsen in her book Paperclip : The Secret Intelligence Program That Brought Nazi Scientists to America.
Back in 1940–1942, the US Army's chemical rearmament costs grew from $2 million to $1 billion per year. So the trophy of Nazi "specialists" was very welcome.
In Paris, Bad Kissingen and in Kransberg Castle near Frankfurt, special camps were created for war criminals, especially dangerous Nazis and Hitlerite scientists (Ashcan, Backporch and Dustbin), where the latter were held for recruitment to American, British and French laboratories.
The main acquisition was Gerhard Schrader (1903–1990), an employee of the IG Farben conglomerate, the creator of a certain “substance 9/91” – a colorless gas with a pleasant fruity aroma, capable of instantly destroying the entire population of Paris, London, and Washington combined.
"DRIVES THE POPULATION CRAZY"
In the 1930s, Gerhard Schrader worked for the still well-known today company Bayer AG, a subsidiary of IG Farben. The promising chemist specialized in the development of insecticides: poisons that killed insect pests by affecting their nervous system. In 1936, the aforementioned “substance 9/91” was synthesized in Dr. Schrader’s laboratory.
It turned out that the drug, invented to kill lice, was capable of killing a healthy monkey in a few minutes upon contact with air, which made a strong impression on Schrader's superiors.
From 1935 onwards, all new discoveries with potential military applications had to be reported "to the proper authorities". So Dr. Schrader was put on the radar of the Reich War Ministry. In May 1937, he was invited to Berlin to demonstrate how he had synthesized the drug.
"Everyone was amazed. It was the most promising chemical killer since the Germans invented mustard gas," the scientist later said.
Dr. Schrader's drug was kept secret and given the code name "Tabun." It comes from the word "taboo," which means something forbidden or prohibitive.
IG Farben management saw Tabun as a new business opportunity. Chairman Karl Krauch began working with Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering on a long-term plan to arm Germany with chemical weapons that could eventually be dropped on enemies from airplanes.
Krauch, in his report to Goering, called the Herd "a weapon of superior intellect and scientific-technical thinking." The Reichsmarschall gave the go-ahead, adding that Schrader's invention could mainly cause "psychological damage to the civilian population, driving them mad with fear."
Dr. Schrader was ordered to produce one kilogram for the German army, which planned to mass-produce Tabun. The inventor received a bonus of 50,000 Reichsmarks (the average German worker at the time received 3,100 a year), and returned to work.
Schrader, who once dreamed of creating a universal parasite exterminator, “gave the world” other, later even more famous substances capable of mass poisoning of people: sarin (developed in 1938) and soman (1944).
The Farben scientist was known as the "father of nerve agents." But the scale of production of tabun, sarin, etc. during World War II, as well as the formulas for these substances, were deeply classified.
It is still not entirely clear when Dr. Schrader began to fruitfully collaborate with his new employers, the Americans. According to one version, he was brought to the States in the spring of 1945, before the start of Operation Cloudiness (Paperclip). According to another, the chemist was not "cracked" immediately, but only after several months of interrogation at Kransberg Castle.
Be that as it may, by the beginning of the Cold War between the US and the USSR, the developer of tabun and sarin had already shared the required amount of information with the Pentagon.
CONVICTED AND PARDONED
Schrader could not have been unaware of the purpose for which the Nazi leadership intended to use the drug. However, during interrogation he insisted that he had not participated in full-scale production. He referred to his colleague Dr. Otto Ambros, chairman of the top-secret chemical weapons committee and manager of the IG Farben plant for the production of synthetic rubber and fuel in Auschwitz.
After Germany's capitulation, Ambros was discovered in a region of Bavaria. By this time, the US allies knew about the specifics of the work of the German scientist, whose "product" killed millions of people in the gas chambers of concentration camps.
One of the first to reach Ambros was American Lieutenant Colonel Paul Tarr, head of intelligence for the Chemical Warfare Service.
Colonel Tarr cared little for Dr. Ambros' crimes.
According to Dr. Karl Krauch, another captured scientist from Kransberg Castle, the Pentagon was primarily interested in sarin, tabun, and the plants for their production: "They asked me to provide construction plans and manufacturing details. As far as I understood, they intended to build similar plants in the United States. I advised them to contact Dr. Ambros and his staff in Gendorf."
The US Army was hungry for the knowledge of Hitler's most valuable chemist. Ambros was convicted of mass murder and the use of slave labor, and sentenced to eight years in the IG Farben Trial. This trial took place in 1948 in Nuremberg, but unlike the famous tribunal that convicted Nazi leaders, it was not international but local: it was organized by the American occupation administration that controlled the city of Nuremberg. Ambros was later pardoned by the High Commissioner in the American occupation zone, John J. McCloy.
SHELTER FOR NAZIS
McCloy became a particularly important player in Operation Paperclip.
He was tasked with coordinating policy regarding Nazi scientists coming to the United States to work, as well as helping develop a program to combat war crimes.
McCloy's position on the exploitation of Nazi science and scientists was black and white.
He believed that this program would help to strengthen American military superiority and ensure economic prosperity. At the same time, he was a strong supporter of the International Military Tribunal and the idea of trying war criminals. But he saw the two categories as completely different. For him, scientists and the war criminals who applied their inventions existed separately from each other.
From the point of view of American politics, Ambrose was not a war criminal.
The US Department of Energy signed him to a long-term contract. The Hitlerite scientist worked as a "consultant for the development and operation of a 4 million ton per year coal hydrogenation plant at the former IG Farben plant, as well as an adviser to the US Army Chemical Corps and to Dow Chemical and WR Grace.
The general public learned about this after the Frankfurt Trials of 1963–1968.
By this time, Ambros was an extremely wealthy and successful businessman. In West Germany, he moved among industrial magnates and professional elites. He was a board member of many large German corporations, including AEG, Germany's General Electric, the mining company Hibernia, and the chemical company SKW.
Ambros worked as an economic consultant to German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and industrial magnate Friedrich Flick, the richest man in Germany during the Cold War. In the late 1950s, Ambros was also elected chairman of the advisory committee of the German company Chemie Grünenthal and served on the board of directors. In the late 1950s, very few people knew that Grünenthal was a refuge for many Nazis, including Dr. Ernst-Günther Schenk, an SS food inspector.
"VICTIMS OF THE REICH"
When the post-war generation in Germany was outraged that a Hitler collaborator was being paid from the taxes of West German citizens, Ambros responded: "I and my colleagues are victims of the Third Reich. The former government exploited the success of synthetic rubber, which they used for profit. If there had been anything against me, the American military would never have released me."
High Commissioner McCloy pardoned Ambros under intense political pressure from his superiors, a fact that was used by Ambros to suggest that he had been unfairly convicted at Nuremberg.
Like the other 1,600 scientists, technicians and engineers of the Third Reich “imported” by the United States as part of Operation Paperclip, Ambros received a lifelong indulgence from the American authorities.
And so it will be with every murderer whose brains America deems useful and necessary for the creation of advanced weapons and enrichment.
This is just the way this country is - as if it was created to make other people's bastards its own and convert other people's evil into its own benefit.
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] 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... condemned recent deadly Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s carried out by the US and British warplanes on 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... ''Washington 'indiscriminately' targeted civilians and property in Yemen by mobilizing air and naval forces, including an aircraft carrier,'' the KCNA state news agency quoted Ma Dong Hui, North Korea's ambassador to Yemen as saying.
''The military attack by the United States is a violent mostly peaceful violation of the U.N. Charter and international law, and is a blatant infringement on the territorial illusory sovereignty of another country that cannot be justified by any means,'' Ma said.
While condemning the US-led attacks on Yemen, the North Korean envoy said that Washington was ''obsessed with realizing geopolitical ambitions'' through ''illegal and reckless military actions.''
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2025
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11148 views]
Top|| File under: Commies
#1
One has to wonder if all the Houthi's toys are coming from Iran.
#2
I recall the US nuke strategy expert answering a Japanese reporters question about what would happen if NKor would launch 1 nuke toward the USA.
The answer was the USA would launch 82 pre-assigned nukes at NKor. The reporter was kind of horrified and then ask what would happen if NKor launched 100 nukes at the USA. The answer was still 82.
So she asked why 82.
The answer: "The 82 nukes we have set aside for NKor are enough to cover ever sq inch of NKor with a nuclear blast!"
The reporter was shocked. The expert said to her. We are the USA. You should expect that level of response.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Victor Lavrinenko
[REGNUM] On March 20, 1943 (82 years ago), the first servicemen of the Latvian Volunteer Legion “Waffen SS” took the solemn oath – General Rudolf Bangersky and Colonel Arturs Silgailis.
And the other day in Riga there was another, already traditional, procession of fans of the legionnaires (they themselves are practically no longer alive).
In modern Latvia, the members of the legion are honored as "freedom fighters" and it is claimed that they were "just honest soldiers whose conscience is not burdened by war crimes." However, the facts indicate otherwise.
GOT OFF EASY
Berlin made the decision to form national Latvian units to replenish the Wehrmacht when the situation on the Eastern Front began to become threatening for Nazi Germany.
In total, two Waffen SS grenadier divisions were formed on the territory of Latvia: the 15th and 19th. Initially, their ranks included over 29 thousand people. In total, 110,550 people passed through the legion during the war: 87,550 in combat, 23,000 in auxiliary units.
On March 16, 1944, both divisions participated together for the first time in combat operations against the advancing Soviet troops at the Velikaya River. The legionnaires fought the Soviet army in the Pskov, Novgorod and Leningrad regions.
Later, together with the rest of the German troops, they retreated to the west and found themselves in the so-called Courland pocket, where they held out until the end of the fighting. Some, however, managed to evacuate to Germany and take part in the battles for Berlin.
In total, over 40 thousand legionnaires died in the battles, and another 50 thousand were captured by the Soviets.
The fates of those who ended up in the USSR were different. Some got off very lightly, others went into exile. However, the ex-legionnaires were returned from exile very quickly - already in 1946-47. They were treated very gently - the same "Vlasovites" who served in the ROA were treated much more harshly.
However, Moscow sought to appease the population of the Baltic republics, and therefore considered it possible to satisfy the wishes of the leadership of the Latvian SSR, which had asked for amnesty for its lost compatriots.
In modern Latvia, they like to tell stories about how in the USSR, former legionnaires faced a loss of rights and were deprived of many opportunities in education and employment.
In this regard, it is useful to familiarize yourself with the biography of the most famous of the former legionnaires, Visvaldis Lacis (died in 2020). He served in the 44th regiment of the 19th Waffen SS Division, received the rank of lieutenant, and after the end of the war ended up in captivity and in filtration camps.
In the post-war years, Lācis, in his own words, was expelled from two universities of the Latvian SSR "for his views". This, however, did not prevent him from graduating from the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages in 1965, already at the age of 41.
In 1988, Lacis joined the Popular Front of Latvia, and after the republic left the USSR, he made a good political career - he was repeatedly elected to the Saeima from the party of radical nationalists.
Now the main subject of debate among historians regarding the Latvian Legion is the question of whether they participated in Nazi crimes. The position of official Latvian historians is unambiguous: no.
As for politicians, they went even further. At one time, the Latvian leadership treated the legionnaires with great restraint. When the tradition of holding annual marches of legionnaires and their fans on March 16 emerged in the post-Soviet republic, the authorities had a long-standing negative attitude towards the participation of government officials in these events.
In March 2014, the then Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma even fired her Minister of Regional Development Einars Cilinskis because he disregarded her ban and joined the legionnaire march.
But in the following years, the authorities’ position changed, and from, to put it mildly, controversial characters, the legionnaires turned into national heroes.
The process was finally concluded in 2019 by then-Minister of Defense Artis Pabriks, who called the legionnaires "the pride of the Latvian people." Pabriks called for "honoring the memory" of the legionnaires and "not allowing anyone to defame their memory."
HORRIFIC CRUELTY
However, even Latvian historians admit that the legion’s ranks included people who, in 1941 and later, displayed indescribable cruelty towards Jews and other civilians.
For example, members of the infamous “team” of Viktors Arajs, who were engaged in the “dirtiest” work during Hitler’s ethnic cleansing in Latvia, joined the legion.
In total, about 90,000 Jews were killed in Latvia between 1941 and 1944: 70,000 locals and 20,000 brought in from other countries.
Local collaborators who had gone into Hitler's service took an active part in these murders; Latvian police battalions were formed from them. The members of these battalions were engaged in extrajudicial murders of innocent people, herded them into ghettos, and guarded concentration camps.
At its peak, the number of Latvian police battalions reached 15,000 people. Moreover, they began to be tasked not only with protecting the rear in Latvia itself, but also with fighting partisans beyond its borders.
The most famous operation involving them was " Winter Magic ", which was carried out from mid-February to early April 1943 in the Sebezh-Osveya-Polotsk triangle in northern Belarus and in the Sebezh district of the Pskov region.
Here, eight Latvian, one Lithuanian and one Ukrainian police battalions carried out a "cleansing operation". 439 settlements were burned, 10-12 thousand civilians were killed, and over 7,000 were driven into slavery, including to the infamous Salaspils concentration camp.
The executioners immediately shot most of the adult men, and subjected the rest, including children, to inhuman torture.
“The fascist executioners stabbed seven-year-old Vera to death with a knife, threw one-and-a-half-year-old Zhenya into the fire with a broken head and torn-off fingers, and cut out their mother’s breasts, cut her up all over, and then burned her too.
"An eight-year-old boy from the village of Belyany had five-pointed stars cut out on his chest and back and thrown into the fire. In the village of Borisovo, the arms and heads of the Yukhnevich family, while still alive, were twisted and thrown into the Svolna River," reports Belarusian historian Svyatoslav Kulinok, who studied archival documents.
Later, in April–May 1944, Latvian police battalions were involved in the punitive operation “ Spring Festival ” to defeat popular resistance in the Polotsk-Lepel partisan zone of Belarus.
Latvian battalions were also "spotted" in other regions of the USSR, in particular, in the Novgorod region. Quite recently, we had to remember this again.
In the spring of 2019, members of the organization "Search Expedition "Dolina" in Memory of N. I. Orlov" in the vicinity of the village of Zhestyanaya Gorka extracted from the ground forty-two skeletons with bullet holes in the back of their heads, including three children. Spent cartridges from German weapons were found at the burial site. However, not all the victims were shot, some were stabbed.
From old documents, researchers found out that people from several regions were brought to their deaths in the vicinity of Zhestyanaya Gorka: Novgorod, Oredezh, Batetsky, Luzhsky, Gatchinsky, that is, from the territories of modern Leningrad, Novgorod and Pskov regions.
The graves of the victims began to be found back in the 1940s. As early as 1947, the state commission investigating these crimes came to the conclusion that at least 3,700 bodies of Soviet citizens were buried in the pit graves near the villages of Zhestyanaya Gorka and Chernaya.
The punitive forces tortured and shot people almost daily: men, women, communists and Orthodox priests, adults and children, Russians, Jews and Gypsies, prisoners of war and detained partisans.
Historian Alexander Dyukov, who in our time studied the evidence of the tragedy in Zhestyanaya Gorka, notes that the executions were supervised by the Germans.
"As for the perpetrators, they were natives of Latvia. Mostly Latvians by nationality. A couple of Estonians got in there. All the perpetrators were citizens of the USSR, against whom it would be reasonable to initiate criminal cases.
It turned out that out of about 40 people who were known by name, 15 were found. Most of them successfully fled to the West. There were several people who were caught and tried. Then, unfortunately, they were released. Because in 1946, the Soviet government showed an incredible act of humanism and decided to release the arrested Baltic collaborators," Dyukov says.
THE NUTS ARE TIGHTENED
When the Nazis began to form the Latvian Waffen SS divisions, they made the core of them precisely members of the police battalions - that is, people whose hands were covered in blood up to the elbows.
Thus, six battalions (16th, 18th, 19th, 21st, 24th, 26th) were united into the 19th SS Grenadier Division. Also, although the legion was declared "volunteer", a mass conscription of Latvian youths was announced.
Many of them can truly be considered victims of the war, since they did not participate in the executions and could not refuse the draft.
However, there is considerable evidence that many conscripts chose to flee rather than swear allegiance to Adolf Hitler. This long-known fact was recently confirmed once again when the Russian FSB published digital copies of archival documents reflecting the activities of the SMERSH counterintelligence department of the 3rd Baltic Front of the Red Army.
As Smersh reported, many Latvians had no desire to die for Hitler's Germany. There were numerous cases of desertion and voluntary surrender.
It is also worth emphasizing that facts have been established indicating that atrocities were committed not only by members of police battalions, but also by people in legionnaire uniforms.
Thus, a special message from the head of the SMERSH counterintelligence department of the 2nd Baltic Front on August 18, 1944, tells of the torture to which 43 wounded Soviet prisoners of war captured in the area of the village of Bobryni (Latvian SSR) were subjected. They were stabbed, their eyes were gouged out, stars were carved on their foreheads, and their teeth were knocked out with boots.
"None of the wounded captured by the Germans and the fascists from among the Latvians escaped torture and excruciating abuse. According to available information, the brutal reprisal against the wounded Soviet soldiers and officers was carried out by soldiers and officers of one of the battalions of the 43rd Rifle Regiment of the 19th Latvian SS division," the report says.
In addition, the fact of the massacre that Latvian legionnaires committed against 32 prisoners of war from the Polish Army on January 31, 1945, was documented. The Polish prisoners near the settlement of Podgaje were first tortured and then burned alive.
Since the 1990s, every year on March 16 (the day when the Waffen SS divisions first entered into battle with the Soviet army) a procession of former legionnaires takes place in the center of Riga. Almost all of them have already died, but their places have been taken by young supporters from national-radical organizations.
According to state historical mythology, the legionnaires, “even though in someone else’s uniform, fought for the independence of Latvia.”
Indeed, as things at the front got worse and worse, Berlin promised the Latvians more and more definitely that the General Commissariat “Latvia” could count on “full autonomy” – if only they would go to the recruiting stations more willingly.
Himmler personally made such promises to SS Gruppenführer Rudolf Bangersky, an ethnic Latvian who was involved in mobilizing his fellow tribesmen.
Nowadays, the perception of legionnaires as “heroes of the nation” and “freedom fighters” has almost replaced the previous idea of them as “innocent victims of the Hitler regime”, which was implanted in the 90s and early 2000s.
In 1998, March 16 was officially made a memorial day, but in 2000, when Latvia was preparing to join NATO and the EU, this day was removed from the official holiday calendar.
Later, modern Latvian nationalists repeatedly proposed to “eliminate historical injustice” and stated that “one should not be ashamed to honor the fighters for the country’s freedom.” However, characteristically, “Legionary Day” has not yet received official status in Latvia – apparently, Riga fears that Western partners “will not understand.”
Previously, nationalist marches on March 16 were accompanied by scandals and fights year after year. Anti-fascists, members of Russian public organizations came time after time to disrupt these actions.
But this year, as in the two previous ones, the procession passed quietly. The authorities have tightened the screws to the limit, and now for attempting to oppose the procession of legionnaires' fans, you can get away with not a day in the "monkey house", as before, but a real prison term of several years.
But, as you might guess, the love for the Waffen SS fans in the Russian community has not increased at all in recent times.
[BREITBART] Several longtime sponsors, including the company that makes Bud Light, have pulled their funding from the annual the Socialist paradise of San Francisco ...where God struck dead Anton LaVey, home of the Sydney Ducks, ruled by Vigilance Committee from 1859 through 1867, reliably and volubly Democrat since 1964... Gay Pride Weekend.
For some reason, San Francisco Pride requires $3.2 million to cover its June weekend of events. Corporate sponsors were expected to pay $2.3 million of that. But after four declined, the organization will have to scramble to make up the $300,000 shortfall elsewhere.
San Francisco Pride's executive director, Suzanne Ford, told SFGATE that they expect to lose a few sponsors every year, but it was ''very abnormal'' for four sponsors who have been with them for years to suddenly bail out.
''I just interpreted that companies are making decisions that at this time it's not good to be sponsoring Pride,'' she said. ''I think in this political environment that they thought that was a risky decision. But that's just me reading the tea leaves. I think for a long-term sponsor not to sponsor us, they are responding to what we are.''
According to Ford, ''Comcast; Anheuser-Busch, the company behind Budweiser and Beck's beer; wine company La Crema; and Diageo, the beverage company that produces Guinness, Smirnoff,'' all declined to be a sponsor this year.
Anheuser-Busch, it should be noted, is the company behind Bud Light, the beer hit with a major backlash and damaging boycott after the company chose transvestite Dylan Stench of Death Mulvaney ...the transexual influencer who single-handedly trashed a major American beer brand owned by a Belgian company, tainted Maybelline and Condé Nast, and then demanded that anybody who called him/her/it a man be arrested... as a spokesperson.
From where I sit two things have changed—
The first is that much of the public's opinion of the so-called LGBTQ community has soured. A public that had come to sympathize with the bigotry and treatment of homosexuals no longer feels that same goodwill. After all, we were told that gay people just wanted to be left alone, to be allowed to live and let live. That turned out to be a big, fat lie. In about six seconds we went from, How does my same-sex marriage affect you, to openly targeting little kids with grooming, gay porn in elementary schools, drag queens reading to kids, boys playing in girls' sports, men barging into women's bathrooms and locker rooms, and this monstrous push to permanently mutilate children as sacrifices to the trans gods.
The second thing that happened is that with the reelection of President Trump, Normal People stood up and said, Enough of this fascist ...anybody you disagree with, damn them... , anti-science perversion! Emboldened with the knowledge we are on the 80 percent side after years of the corporate media making us feel alone, Normal People are finally pushing back against the Pronoun Nazis. Normal People are also letting corporations know that if they subsidize this grooming and child-queering, a price will be paid.
Normal People don't care what consenting adults do. That's not the issue. It's just a fact that too much of the so-called LGBTQ movement is targeting our children now, and that changes everything. And any corporation that aids and abets child predators should be shamed out of business.
#2
I remember Miller used to sponsor the Up your Alley or Folsom Street Fair. They dropped it I think due to Zombietime photos of the event..some nasty, nasty going on's
#3
Evidently Anheuser-Busch has finally responded to pain.
Actually, I have no problem with companies advertising to and supporting these groups, if they've got customers there.
It's when you throw those ads at me that I get upset.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
03/20/2025 9:15
Comments ||
Top||
#4
If they sold a good product it would sell on it's reputation and not have to cuddle up to perversion.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Russian air defense forces shot down an F-16 fighter jet of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) over Sumy Oblast. This was reported on March 19 by the SHOT Telegram channel.
"The Ukrainian F-16 fighter was shot down by the Belgorod Region air defense forces. The Ukrainian pilot died in the plane crash," the statement said. Other sources say that a Russian SU-35 painted the target for the S-400 missile crew.
It is specified that the plane was destroyed by a missile from the S-400 anti-aircraft missile system.
As reported by Regnum News Agency, on January 7, the head of the communications department of the Ukrainian Air Force Command, Yuriy Ignat, stated that the F-16 cannot compete with Russian combat aircraft, since the latter are superior to Western models in terms of technology. According to him, in order to counter, for example, the Su-35 one-on-one in an air battle, a comprehensive approach is needed, including the use of ground-based air defense systems and electronic warfare systems.
Major General, Russian military pilot, member of the expert council of the organization "Officers of Russia" Vladimir Popov in an interview with the Regnum news agency on December 8 said that the batch of F-16s transferred to the Kiev regime will most likely be lost in proportion to how it happened before, that is, even without a direct clash with the Russian Aerospace Forces. According to him, this trend is due to the low level of training of Ukrainian pilots.
On February 15, Verkhovna Rada deputy Maryana Bezugla stated that in August 2024, the Ukrainian Air Force command tried to hide information about the downing of the F-16 as a result of its own mistake. She specified that the air defense system hit the fighter during a massive strike by the Russian Armed Forces. According to her, this is at least the third time that Ukrainian air defense systems have shot down their own aircraft by mistake. Foreign sources also tried to hide what happened, she added.
The Washington Post wrote that the crash of the F-16 and the loss of its pilot, Alexei Mes, was a serious blow to Kiev. The article said that the deceased was one of six Ukrainian pilots who were trained to fly fighters of this model.
Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title.
[Korrespondent] 20:17 Volunteer Oleksandr Ivakhnenko was killed during the Russian strike on Kherson on March 19. This was reported by volunteer Anastasia Ukolova. It is noted that Oleksandr was hit by Russian troops when he was helping to close windows after previous flights. According to volunteer Andrey Vatazhko, Ivakhnenko was delivering hot meals to people, helping to evacuate residents from the red zone and eliminate the consequences of Russian attacks, Obshchestvennoye reports.
18.27 Russia has struck again at the railway infrastructure of the Dnipropetrovsk region. According to preliminary information, Russian war criminals have struck with a ballistic missile. Four railway workers were wounded.
18:11 US President Donald Trump has completed telephone talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and said he is pleased with the results achieved. He wrote about this on his own social network Truth Social .
18.01 In Ivano-Frankivsk, a teenager who committed a terrorist attack on March 11 was declared a suspect. This was reported by the press service of the SBU Directorate in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast.
According to their information, the minor is in hospital.
17:52 Ukrainian military received a new means to intercept Russian Shahed-type attack drones. This was reported by the Ukrainian Armed Forces' Unmanned Systems Forces.
17.38 Russian war criminals launched a missile strike on the Kamensky district of Dnipropetrovsk region. This was reported by the head of the Dnipropetrovsk OVA Serhiy Lysak on his Telegram channel.
17.29 As part of the Bring Kids Back UA initiative, a girl who lived under occupation for more than ten years has returned to Ukraine. This was reported by the Communications Advisor to the Head of the Presidential Office, Daria Zarivna.
17:02 Since the beginning of the current day, 64 combat clashes have occurred on the front, almost half of them in the Pokrovsk direction. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in an operational report as of 16:00.
16:58 A complete ceasefire in Ukraine can be achieved within a few weeks. This was stated by US Presidential Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in an interview with Bloomberg.
16:37 Russian occupiers are trying to group and consolidate in the area of the villages of Novenkoye and Zhuravka in Sumy region in order to encircle the Ukrainian Defense Forces, which are carrying out an operation in Kursk region, or to cut off their logistics routes. This was stated by the spokesman of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Andriy Demchenko on television. According to him, the length of the border within the Sumy region on the border with Russia is almost 530 km. Demchenko noted that the Russian Federation is using small assault groups that are trying to enter Ukrainian territory.
16.25 197 Ukrainian servicemen have returned from Russian captivity. This was announced by President Volodymyr Zelensky. He thanked everyone involved in this exchange, and especially the United Arab Emirates.
16.06 The soon-to-be-resigned German government has agreed to provide an additional 3 billion euros in military aid to Ukraine in 2025, Reuters reports , citing a document from the German Finance Ministry.
15.59 A priest of the UOC MP in the Khmelnytsky region was exposed in illegal activity in April last year. The Slavuta City District Court found the man guilty under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and sentenced him to four years in prison.
15.45 The area of the fire at the oil depot in Krasnodar Krai has almost doubled. This was reported by the regional operational headquarters, as reported by Russian telegram channels. It is noted that the fire has engulfed a tank from which an oil leak was previously detected. Firefighters are extinguishing three objects on the territory: one of the tanks, shut-off valves, as well as burning oil products within the embankment around the tank.
15.26 The Russian authorities, as part of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, have committed crimes against humanity in the form of enforced disappearances, widespread and systematic. This is stated in the latest report of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine.
13:59 If Russia does not strike Ukrainian targets, then Ukraine definitely will not do so. The United States should be the subject of control over the ceasefire regime. This was stated by President Volodymyr Zelensky at a press conference with Finnish President Alexander Stubb in Helsinki.
13:44 Finnish President Alexander Stubb spoke out categorically against depriving Ukraine of territorial integrity, as once happened to his country. He stated this during a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Helsinki on Wednesday, March 19.
13:32 Territorial issues will be on the table of the upcoming peace talks on ending the war in Ukraine. This was stated by President Volodymyr Zelensky at a press conference with Finnish President Alexander Stubb in Helsinki. Ukraine will not recognize the temporarily occupied territories as Russian. This is a "red line," the president assured.
13:29 On March 19, Russian troops once again fired artillery at Kherson. As a result of the enemy strikes, one person was killed and one was wounded. This was reported by the press service of the Kherson OVA on Wednesday, March 19.
13:28 The Security Service of Ukraine has collected evidence on another Russian propagandist justifying Russia's military aggression. We are talking about former actor Boris Korchevnikov, who once became famous thanks to the series Cadets, and now heads the pro-government TV channel First Public Orthodox TV Channel SPAS. The SBU reported this on its Telegram channel.
13:14 Ukraine is establishing a civil defense coalition, which will be led by Finland. It will help with the construction of shelters and the involvement of partners. This was announced by Volodymyr Zelensky at a press conference with Finnish President Alexander Stubb on Wednesday, March 19.
12:59 The Ministry of Defense reported on the new Raybird UAS (ACS-3), which overcomes electronic warfare and air defense systems and conducts reconnaissance from a height of 5.5 km. It can stay in the sky for up to 28 hours, covering up to 2,500 km. This was reported by the press service of the Defense Ministry on Wednesday, March 19.
The reconnaissance aircraft, which can stay in the sky for up to 28 hours and cover a distance of up to 2,500 km, has the ability to bypass enemy air defense systems and areas of active electronic warfare in order to conduct high-quality visual reconnaissance from a height of up to 5.5 km.
As noted, the "highlight" of one of the latest versions of the complex was the integration of a laser guidance system for corrected ammunition, operating with an accuracy of up to a meter. This is the only drone in its class that has such a system. And its effectiveness has already been proven in real combat. Laser target designation operates at a sufficiently large distance from the target to accurately destroy it and save the carrier aircraft of the system.
12:48 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will hold talks with his American counterpart Donald Trump on Wednesday, March 19. The Ukrainian leader said this at a press conference with Finnish President Alexander Stubb in Helsinki.
12:27 Russian military forces allegedly "shot down" seven of their own attack drones after receiving orders from Vladimir Putin to stop attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities, the Russian Defense Ministry reported .
11:58 Russian occupiers have recently tightened checks at checkpoints near Armyansk, on the administrative border with temporarily occupied Crimea. This was reported by the Yellow Ribbon resistance movement on its Telegram channel.
11:13 In the city of Kremenchuk, a man wounded a serviceman of the TCC with a traumatic weapon. This was reported by the National Police Department in Poltava Oblast. Patrol officers detained the man. Doctors provided assistance to the wounded serviceman.
10:56 Russians carried out five strikes on a rescue operation on the territory of a hospital in the Krasnopolskaya community of the Sumy region, which was attacked by drones.
In addition, the shelter in which 22 patients were trapped, including seven with limited mobility, was partially destroyed. Rescuers managed to quickly free everyone and move them to a safe place. There were no civilian casualties; a total of 60 people were evacuated.
10:20 The Security Service counterintelligence thwarted an attempt by Russian special services to commit a terrorist attack against law enforcement officers in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
A Russian agent who tried to blow up a police squad that was supposed to arrive in response to a fake call has been detained. The man was detained red-handed when he planted explosives in an abandoned building and called 102 to report that he had allegedly found a person there with no signs of life.
09:55 In Crimea, GUR reconnaissance soldiers hit expensive air defense systems of the Russian invaders, a sea tug, and a Mi-8 helicopter.
In particular, the following radars were hit: 48Ya6-K1 Podlet (2 units), 1L125 Niobium-SV (2 units), 39N6 Kasta 2E2 (3 units), 9S19 Imbir, Nebo-SV, S-300VM, Nebo-M, 59N6-S Protivnik-S.
The S-300SV launcher, ST-68 radar and 39N6 Kasta 2E2 radar command posts, and three Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile and gun systems were hit.
The reconnaissance aircraft also struck the Project S4236 transport and tugboat Fyodor Uryupin and the Mi-8 helicopter.
09:38 In the early morning of March 19, Russians used drones to strike the railway power system in Dnipropetrovsk region. This was reported by the press service of Ukrzaliznytsia.
There are de-energized sections, but train traffic continues on schedule. During the aftermath, the enemy struck again. There were no casualties. An order was given to send a fire train to extinguish the fire at the facility.
09:20 On the night of March 19, Russian troops attacked the Kiev region with drones. As a result of falling debris in the Bucha district, 20 two-story houses, 15 private houses and 19 cars were damaged, two people were injured.
In the Boryspil district, a house was damaged. Several grass fires were recorded - in the Obukhiv, Boryspil, Fastiv and Bucha districts. All fires were extinguished by rescuers.
08:50 On the night of March 19, the Russians attacked Ukraine with two Iskander-M ballistic missiles, four S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles and 145 Shahed-type attack UAVs and drone imitators of various types.
Air defense forces shot down 72 UAVs, and another 56 enemy drone imitators were lost without negative consequences.
The Russian attack affected the Sumy, Odessa, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv and Chernihiv regions.
08:32 At night, Russian troops attacked Kyiv with 45 drones. Of these, 19 were destroyed by air defense crews, the rest were lost or left the airspace. The alarm in the capital lasted for about six hours.
08:10 Over the past 24 hours, aviation, missile troops and artillery of the Defense Forces hit 16 areas of personnel concentration, two guns and a warehouse of weapons and military equipment of the Russian invaders. 140 combat clashes were recorded on the front.
07:45 Negotiations on a ceasefire in Ukraine will continue in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on March 23. This was announced by US President Donald Trump's special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.
07:20 As of March 19, 2025, the total combat losses of Russian troops on Ukrainian territory were approximately 898,070 people (+1,060 per day).
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] The Ukrainian Armed Forces are holding back Russian attacks in the east and south of Ukraine.
Enemy troops have organized 29 assaults in the areas of 11 settlements. Most of the attacks have already been repelled.
Since the beginning of the current day, 64 combat clashes have occurred on the front, almost half of them in the Pokrovsk direction. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in an operational report as of 16:00 on Wednesday, March 19.
Thus, in the Kharkov direction, the Russians attacked once near Dvurechnaya. The fighting continues to this day.
In the Kupyansk direction, Russian occupiers carried out one attack near Zagryzovo.
In the Liman direction, the enemy carried out six attacks near Yampolevka and in the direction of the settlement of Novoye. One combat clash continues.
In the Kramatorsk direction, the enemy tried to advance forward in the direction of Aleksandro-Shultino, but the attack was repelled.
In the Toretsk direction, the enemy is trying to penetrate the Ukrainian Armed Forces' defense in the area of Toretsk, Krymskoye and Dilievka. Six assaults have been repelled, three more attacks are ongoing.
In the Pokrovsky direction, the Russians organized 29 assaults in the areas of the settlements of Tarasovka, Elizavetovka, Promin, Lysovka, Novoukrainka, Zverevo, Udachnoye, Uspenovka, Preobrazhenka, Alekseyevka, Andreyevka. The defense forces repelled 24 attacks, five combat clashes are still ongoing.
In the Novopavlovsk direction, our defenders repelled five assaults. The enemy tried to advance in the Constantinople area.
In the Gulyai-Polye direction, the enemy is attacking in the direction of Novopol, and one combat clash continues.
In the Orekhov direction, the occupiers carried out two attacks in the direction of Stepovoye. The fighting continues to this day.
The operation in Kursk region is also continuing . Our soldiers have repelled nine enemy attacks, four battles are still ongoing.
We remind you that in one day on March 18, Russia lost more than 1,000 fighters killed and wounded. The total number of Russian losses will exceed 900 thousand by the end of this week.
[EngMilRu] The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation.
In Belgorod direction, units of the Sever Group of Forces inflicted losses on formations of one heavy mechanised brigade, two air assault brigades, and two assault regiments of the AFU near Maryino, Petrushevka, and Ugroyedy (Sumy region).
The AFU losses amounted to more than 70 troops, three tanks, two infantry fighting vehicles, 11 armoured fighting vehicles, three counterobstacle vehicles, seven motor vehicles, and four field artillery guns.
Units of the Zapad Group of Forces improved the tactical situation. Losses were inflicted on manpower and hardware of one mechanised brigade and one assault brigade of the AFU near Zeleny Gai, Druzhelyubovka (Kharkov region), and Novoye (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses amounted to more than 250 troops, three armoured personnel carriers, including two U.S.-made M-113 armoured personnel carriers, one armoured fighting vehicle, nine motor vehicles, three field artillery guns, and three ammunition depots.
Units of the Yug Group of Forces took more advantageous lines and positions. Losses were inflicted on formations of five mechanised brigades, one motorised infantry brigade, one guard brigade of the AFU General Staff, one AFU UAV brigade, and one national guard brigade near Seversk, Verkhnekamenskoye, Poltavka, Zelenoye Pole, Dzerzhinsk, Novomarkovo, Kramatorsk, Chasov Yar, and Ivanopolye (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 270 troops, one tank, ten motor vehicles, and one field artillery gun.
Units of the Tsentr Group of Forces improved the situation along the front line. Losses were inflicted on formations of five mechanised brigades, two jaeger brigades, one assault brigade, one assault regiment of the AFU, and one naval infantry brigade near Shevchenko, Zverevo, Sribnoye, Yelizavetovka, Krasnoarmeysk, Zaporozhye, Udachnoye, and Uspenovka (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 465 troops, four Kozak armoured fighting vehicles, five motor vehicles, and five artillery guns.
Units of the Vostok Group of Forces continued advancing into the depth of enemy defences. Losses were inflicted on formations of one mechanised brigade, one airmobile brigade, and one assault regiment of the AFU near Bogatyr, Fedorovka, and Vesyoloye (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 145 troops, one armoured fighting vehicle, four motor vehicles, and four field artillery guns.
Units of the Dnepr Group of Forces inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of two coastal defence brigades of the AFU and one territorial defence brigade near Pridneprovskoye, Ponyatovka, Sadovoye, and Antonovka (Kherson region).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 45 troops, one tank, three motor vehicles, and one electronic warfare station.
Operational-Tactical Aviation, attack drones, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Groups of Forces delivered strikes at infrastructure objects of military airfields, UAV depots, ammunition and material depots, as well as engaged manpower and hardware clusters of AFU formations and foreign mercenaries in 146 areas.
Air defence and electronic warfare units shot down and suppressed 142 fixed-wing UAV, with 61 of them outside the special military operation zone.
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, the AFU losses amounted to 658 aircraft, 283 helicopters, 47,353 unmanned aerial vehicles, 601 anti-aircraft missile systems, 22,344 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,529 MLRS combat vehicles, 22,700 field artillery guns and mortars, 33,050 units of support military vehicles have been neutralised.
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the operation to neutralise AFU formations on the territory of Kursk region.
In the course of offensive actions, units of the Sever Group of Forces inflicted losses on formations of one mechanised brigade, two air assault brigades, one naval infantry brigade, and two territorial defence brigades of the AFU near Gogolevka, Gornal, Guyevo, and Oleshnya.
Operational-Tactical and Army aviation and artillery strikes inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of the enemy near Gogolevka, Gornal, Guyevo, Oleshnya as well as Basovka, Belovody, Vodolagi, Zhuravka, Loknya, Miropolye, Novenkoye, Stepok, Ugroyedy, and Yunakovka (Sumy region).
Over the past 24 hours, the AFU losses amounted to more than 230 troops, three armoured fighting vehicles, seven motor vehicles, one artillery gun, one mortar, and six UAV command posts.
In total, since the beginning of hostilities in Kursk direction, the AFU losses amounted to more than 68,630 troops, 398 tanks, 320 infantry fighting vehicles, 289 armoured personnel carriers, 2,204 armoured fighting vehicles, 2,473 motor vehicles,567 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, 18 counter-battery warfare 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.
[NewsFront] 23:57 Official summary of the Office for Documentation of War Crimes of Ukraine from 00:00 03/19/2025 to 00:00 03/20/2025.
A total of 11 facts of armed attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Twelve civilians were reported injured.
DAMAGED:
One passenger car,
Four residential buildings,
One city bus,
Three civil infrastructure facilities.
A total of 11 armed attacks in the Gorlovka direction.
A total of 33 units of various ammunition were fired.
19:33 Dzerzhinsk. Fighters of the 150th Motorized Rifle Division have cleared the territory of the Toretskaya mine. At the same time, the enemy remains in the city, supplied by means of raids on armored fighting vehicles and cargo-lifting UAVs –MAP
19:20 Krasnoarmeyskoye direction. The Ukrainian Armed Forces, using reserves from the 12th NGU Brigade, recaptured the junction on the Krasnoarmeysk-Konstantinovka highway –MAP
18:52 Drone operators of the reconnaissance unit of the "West" group of troops destroyed M-113 armored personnel carrier and 122mm 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled artillery unit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Khar'kov region.
18:50 Dzerzhinsky direction
Units of the Russian Armed Forces broke through to the area of Dyleevskie Ponds, where the enemy was concentrating assault groups in the stronghold of the Berezka pioneer camp to break through to Dzerzhinsk.
Taking this stronghold will block the penetration route of the Ukrainian Armed Forces groups and will put the enemy units that have broken through into the city into operational encirclement.
18:33 From 16:10 to 17:20 Moscow time, air defense systems on duty destroyed three Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles:
Two UAVs over the territory of the Belgorod region and
One UAV over the territory of the Kursk region.
18:46 Dnepropetrovsk direction
In the area north of Andreyevka, our assault units were able to advance to the Solyonenkaya gully.
The enemy, taking advantage of the fact that our units concentrated their main efforts in the northern direction, launched a counterattack from the strongholds north of Alekseyevka and drove our units out of the stronghold northwest of Andreyevka.
Our assault groups advanced west of Slavyanka along the Stavkova gully west of the road.
In the Nadezhdinka-Zaporozhye area, our units are conducting counter battles in the eastern part of Preobrazhenka and attacking in the direction of Troitskoye and Bogdanovka.
Fierce fighting continues in Uspenovka and in the direction of Novoalexandrovka.
17:04 Minor adjustment of the LBS in the Zaporizhia direction. Airborne troops have taken up new positions in abandoned gardens north of the village of Zherebyanki –MAP
16:23 Russian Armed Forces expand control in Chasovoy Yar, driving the enemy out of the Zapadnaya Derevnya microdistrict –MAP
16:13 Storm troopers destroyed command post of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
During the active offensive, servicemen of the 39th Motorized Rifle Brigade identified and destroyed the company command post of Ukrainian nationalists, which was located in an abandoned two-story building.
16:02 The Russian Armed Forces continue to restore control over Shevchenko in the Pokrovsky direction –MAP
15:55 Russian Armed Forces took up new positions north of Krymskoye –MAP
15:06 Footage released destruction of 122mm howitzer D-30 and an ammunition depot of the Armed Forces of Ukraine using the Forpost UAV in the area of the village. Yunakovka in the Kursk direction.
14:45 Artillerymen of the Ussuri Airborne Forces unit destroyed transport of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with infantry in the border area of the Kursk region. The first shot from the 122mm D-30 howitzer was a sighting shot, the second hit the target.
12:18 Footage released showed repelled attacks of Ukrainian military in the Belgorod border area
The footage shows the destruction of a universal multi-purpose tractor "BTS-5B" and several infantry fighting vehicles of the Ukrainian military.
11:18 Published footage of the repulse of the morning attack by Ukrainian troops in the Belgorod border area
Early in the morning, Ukrainian militants tried to break through to Russian soil with the support of tanks and MLRS. The footage shows a burning enemy tank after an encounter with our loitering munition.
11:12 Footage of objective control published showed destruction by the "South" mortar group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the area of the settlement of Nikolaevka.
10:56 Aleksandro-Kalinovskoe direction
Units of the Russian Armed Forces are attacking northeast of the settlement of Druzhba in the direction of positions taken by our assaults behind the canal near Ozeryanovka.
This breakthrough creates a threat of encirclement of enemy positions to the east of the canal.
10:38 Belgorod borderland
At night the enemy attempted to attack with infantry on foot and on quad bikes. The attack was repelled, the equipment was destroyed.
In the morning, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched an offensive with a unit of armored vehicles. The enemy was unable to even reach Demidovka, as it was destroyed by remote weapons.
09:52 Published footage of another failed assault attempt by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The action took place last night, the Ukrainian Armed Forces were moving from the village of Maryino.
09:06 Belgorod region, attempts by the Ukrainian Armed Forces break through to Krasnaya Yaruga.
The enemy continues its offensive in the Belgorod region. The situation remains difficult, at night the enemy attempted to break through to Demidovka in six armored fighting vehicles, it was subjected to fire damage.
The enemy uses the Maryino-Demidovka route, using engineering and armored vehicles. Our troops inflict fire damage with barrel artillery on enemy personnel and use "Lancets" to destroy armored vehicles.
07:36 During the past night, air defense systems on duty intercepted and destroyed 57 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles:
35 UAVs over the territory of the Kursk region,
13 UAVs over the territory of the Oryol region,
Seven UAVs over the waters of the Sea of Azov,
One UAV over the territory of the Tula region,
One UAV over the territory of the Bryansk region.
07:32 Changes tomapover the past 24 hours:
Advance in Basovka;
The control zone in the Nevsky area has been expanded;
Advance in the Malye Shcherbaki area;
Adjustment of the control zone in Dzerzhinsk;
The enemy counterattacked in the Andreevka area.
07:19 122mm BM-21 Grad MLRS crews of the 25th Combined Arms Army of the West Forces Group during combat missions destroyed accumulation of military equipment, strong points, dugouts and manpower of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in one of the directions of the Northern Military District.
06:01 TOS-1A "Solntsepek" crew of the "Yug" group destroyed a stronghold of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the area of Chasov Yar.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Natalia Eroshkina
[REGNUM] A 14-year-old teenager committed suicide in Kalmykia because of bullying. According to the investigation and his relatives, the schoolboy could not stand the bullying from his peers. A criminal case has been opened.
It turned out that the gang of minors who abused the boy had been terrorizing the entire village for a long time. Local residents told IA Regnum about this.
14-year-old Artem is a student at one of the schools in the village of Sadovoye, located in the Sarpinsky District of the Republic of Kalmykia. The teenager's mother, Svetlana, works as a nurse at a local hospital. She was the only one raising Artem and his sister.
The boy was quiet and calm, participated in Olympiads and won prizes. Everyone who knew him speaks well of him. It became known only after his death that the teenager had been a victim of bullying by his peers for a long time.
A few hours before his suicide on March 10, Artem mentioned to his friend Sergey (name changed) that he was thinking about death. When his friend came to visit Artem, it was already too late, the guy committed suicide.
According to the investigation and his relatives, the teenager was driven to such an act by humiliation from his peers. The last straw was a situation that happened the night before, on the night of March 8-9.
"PUT IT ON THE GROUND"
That night, Artem's mother was on duty, his friend Sergei came to visit the boy, and the boy also invited a girl, Sveta (name changed), to visit. The guest did not notify her relatives where she had gone.
Her cousin didn't like this. He gathered six more guys - Boris, Hasan, Ivan, Alexander, Rustam and Arsen (names have been changed) - and went to Artyom's house to sort things out.
The teenager was called in for a talk and was humiliated, insulted and beaten at the gate of his own home. Then they threw him to the ground, spat on him, urinated on him and wiped their feet on Artem. Sergey stood up for the boy, but was hit in the face. The attackers recorded everything that happened on video.
The footage shows Artyom alone, surrounded by larger guys; the teenager is scared and tries not to get involved in the conflict.
One of the participants, Galdan (name changed), tries to provoke him: "Who do you think you are? Did you take responsibility for taking the girl there and back for a walk, to your home for the night? Her mom, dad, sister are looking for her, why didn't you tell her? What did you say to me when you were walking? What did you suffer, f*****g? Why are you silent?"
Then the offender suggests that his friends choose who will beat Artyom. Hasan takes up the matter, he delivers several blows. Then Galdan stops him and orders: "Throw him down on the ground and spit."
The next day, a video of the bullying was uploaded online and distributed throughout the school.
"At school, he again met one of these guys, Boris, who was also present during the humiliation and video recording. He and another eighth-grader began to bully him again, they say that they shoved Artem's head into the toilet, forced him to kiss their shoes.
After that, the boy came home and didn't know how to live with this shame, he said that now everyone would humiliate him. After all, this video was spread all over the school. He told his friend that he wanted to commit suicide.
Now the boy blames himself for not having time to save Artyom, because he didn’t think that everything would go so far,” said the mother of one of the school’s students.
Only after the teenager's death did the village begin to talk about the bullying that Artyom had been subjected to for a long time.
"My relative works as a social worker. After what happened, when talking about what happened, she said that Artyomka was in her group. He was very cheerful, open. Then she went on maternity leave for 3 years, returned in 2023 and did not recognize the boy: Artyom was completely different, his gaze became dull.
Now there are rumors that he has been bullied for a long time. Why didn't his mother, the school, anyone see this? I feel very sorry for the boy," said a former colleague of Artem's mother.
"THE INVESTIGATION IS MARKING TIME"
The mother and sister of the deceased boy recorded an appeal demanding that all those involved in his death be held accountable.
"I am the deceased's older cousin. His mother, Svetlana Nikolaevna, is next to me.
Please help me make this public. My cousin was driven to suicide by humiliation, bullying, beatings, and insults. All of this was filmed, but after the incident, all the videos were deleted from the Internet. There is a fragment of an incomplete video that was sent to me by a concerned person. We doubt the actions of law enforcement agencies, since the death certificate was issued without the time of death.
"They refused to give us a certificate of the beatings, citing the fact that an investigation was underway. The incident is not being publicized on the Internet in the Republic of Kalmykia," says Artem's sister.
I, the mother of a dead son who was driven to suicide, ask that those who disgraced him in front of the entire country not escape punishment. This video, which we are attaching to the video message, is real. It happened from March 8 to 9.
The children came to Artem specifically to mock him, film him and send him online to humiliate the child. The reason for this bullying is the deceased's girlfriend. Everyone who took part was questioned and released. The investigation is marking time. We don't know what will happen next," says the teenager's mother.
The relatives' appeal caused a wide public resonance not only in the village itself, but also beyond its borders. Residents of Sadovoye demanded that the gang of teenagers be held accountable for bullying and other crimes, from which many had suffered for a long time, but were afraid to seek help.
"THEY ATTACK ADULTS TOO"
IA Regnum talked to the villagers and found out details from the lives of the gang members who bullied Artem. One of them is 14-year-old Boris, who studies at the same school.
"He is the middle son, his mother has two more, she raises them alone, without a father. Well, how does she raise them, she is constantly drunk. So they do whatever they want. Boris walks around the school like a boss, no one tells him what to do, he has repeatedly come to class drunk this school year, he curses, calls names, pushes everyone.
The children complain, saying that they called the local police officer, but he simply said that Boris was not drunk, they didn’t even take him for an examination,” says Veronica (name changed), the mother of one of the students, indignantly.
The woman said that Boris and other gang members tried to attack her son, but the boy was saved in time by neighbors and his father.
"They almost beat him up with Galdan and took his bike. It's good that the neighbors noticed in time and were able to protect my child, otherwise it's unknown how all this could have ended. They attack adults too," Veronica said.
According to Veronika, at 14, Boris is in the 6th grade because he was held back twice: "He should be in the 8th grade, but he's in the 6th and terrorizes everyone there. He and his older brother Anton (name changed) always went together, he's 18 now. They go in a crowd of 5 or more people, steal cars, break into stores. The village suffers greatly from this gang, I don't understand why no one can do anything. They're probably afraid that things will only get worse, they're minors."
After the news of Artem's death, Boris was not afraid to show up at his relatives' home. And it was not remorse that brought him there.
"When Artem's body was brought home from the morgue, Boris came to his relatives' house. I was standing there, I couldn't stand it and started telling him, why did he come, he had enough conscience. He then threatened to burn everyone. And on the day of the funeral, he came again and threatened, demanded that the police statement be withdrawn, can you imagine? There are many witnesses to this. And then he disappeared. Now they are looking for him," the woman said.
Six days after Artem's death, Boris left home and never returned. His current whereabouts are unknown. Law enforcement officials have sent out wanted notices, and the missing man's mother hopes that her son was simply scared of threats from online commentators and is hiding somewhere.
Boris's older brother Anton had already been prosecuted for car theft. According to law enforcement officials, three local motorists contacted the Sarpinsky District police in early January. Two of them did not find their cars in the yard on January 1, 2025, and the third noticed signs of a break-in on his.
The perpetrator was identified thanks to cameras and shoe prints. Anton used a screwdriver to open a VAZ-2114, drove it around and returned it to its place. Then he stole a Niva from the yard of another house, but lost control on the way and flew into a ditch. He left the wrecked car there. Then he tried to open two more cars - a Gazelle and a Lada Priora.
The police established that the guy was intoxicated during the thefts. A criminal case was opened under Part 1 of Article 166 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Illegal seizure of a car or other vehicle without the purpose of theft." "He has a criminal record, it seems he now has to pay damages to the car owners, one of them is a former policeman, and he was not afraid to steal even his car," the neighbor explained.
But Anton and Boris Alexander's mother defends her sons and puts forward alternative hypotheses about the causes of Artyom's death. She suggests that his suicide was due to a coincidence - his inability to fight and financial difficulties.
"I feel incredibly sorry for this boy. Considering that he has always been such a poor guy. Artyom had a difficult life, I think that everything just piled on top of each other. Why did no one care how this boy lived, if they say that he was bullied for two years at that school?
"If my boy had been jumped by a crowd there, they would have picked out their offenders one by one and snitched on them! We have sections: boxing, wrestling, martial arts. Why not send the child there so that he can learn to stand up for himself?" - said Alexandra.
Earlier, IA Regnum published a detailed conversation with Boris’s mother.
Another gang member and the main ringleader in the video is Galdan, also from a large family. He has two sisters and a brother.
"Mom doesn't drink, she works in a store, but she can't find a way to control her children. Their father is Georgian, but he doesn't live with them. There's only one mother for everyone. When people tell her about her children, that they've done something again, she shrugs her shoulders: what can I do? How many times have they approached her, each time the same answer," Veronica complained.
The third gang member, Hasan, who beat Artem in the video, turned out to be a dark horse. The neighbors could not say anything bad about him.
"I'm surprised that he took part in this, I've never seen him with them, and I can't say anything bad about his family either. His father is from Chechnya, his mother is Russian. They say he studies in Volgograd. Apparently, that's where he went when the fuss started," the neighbor explains. But local residents managed to notice comments from Khasan on social networks, in which he claims that he is not afraid of anything and is confident in his impunity. Later, the young man deleted everything, and now his page is blocked.
The fourth participant in the events, Ivan, is from a very respectable family. His father is a major in the Ministry of Emergency Situations, he heads one of the local fire and rescue units. And the guy himself was awarded a certificate and a medal for successful participation in a military-patriotic tournament. When the village learned of Artem's death, Ivan went to the police with a confession.
"He immediately came to the duty station and said that he was there that evening when they all came to Artyom. But he didn't touch him, he only filmed the video. This doesn't justify him either, it's just awful. I don't understand why he should participate in this, why he should film it," our agency's interlocutor is indignant.
Little is known about the rest of the gang members.
"I know that Alexander's dad is fighting in the SVO. I don't know who the others were, I didn't see them. I heard that the police were checking seven teenagers. Now we are waiting for news from law enforcement agencies," the woman says.
After Artem's death, social and preventive work began in the region. The administration reported on holding a meeting of parents of students in grades 8–11 of educational institutions in the village of Sadovoye. The republic's prosecutor appointed a reception for residents of the Sarpinsky District on issues of observing the rights of minors. The Commissioner for Children's Rights in the Republic of Kalmykia also opened a personal reception for citizens on issues of protecting children and ensuring their rights.
The investigation of the criminal case is under the control of the head of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Alexander Bastrykin.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] A high-quality upgrade of the Russian submarine fleet will allow it to repel any military-political pressure from outside. This was stated by Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov on March 19.
“I am confident that the high-quality renewal of the submarine fleet and the skills of the personnel will allow us to continue to effectively respond to modern challenges and threats, and to repel any military-political pressure from outside,” he noted in a video greeting on Submariner’s Day.
Belousov noted that the power and technological advancement of the Russian submarine fleet are the result of the achievements of domestic scientific and engineering thought, the dedicated work of scientists, shipbuilders and workers.
Belousov added that at present, during a special military operation, Kalibr cruise missiles are being effectively used from diesel-electric submarines, and the basing system is also being improved.
The Minister noted the systematic development of Russian submarine forces. He emphasized that new strategic missile submarines of the Borei-A project, multi-purpose nuclear submarines of the Yasen-M project with hypersonic missile systems Zircon are entering service.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on February 6, the diesel-electric submarine Magadan performed a deep-sea dive to a depth of 240 m in Avacha Bay off the coast of Kamchatka. The crew, having successfully completed the underwater part of the exercise, surfaced the submarine and continued to operate within the framework of the fleet's combat training plan.
The newest Project 636.3 submarine Magadan was laid down in November 2019. It was launched in March 2021, and in October it joined the Russian Navy. The submarine is equipped with Kalibr cruise missiles, among other things, and is capable of hitting targets at a distance of 1,000 km.
Russia and the United States of America are working on a moratorium on strikes against military ships and civilian vessels in the Black Sea. This was announced on March 19 by US President Donald Trump's special envoy Stephen Witkoff.
“We are working on a moratorium on attacks on military and civilian ships in the Black Sea, cargo ships carrying grain and such things,” he said in an interview on the TV channelBloomberg TV.
Whitkoff added that for now the parties have agreed to stop attacks on energy facilities.
On March 16, Trump's special envoy already said that as part of the dialogue on Ukraine, the parties are discussing "a potential agreement on the Black Sea." He added that other issues under discussion include territorial concessions by Ukraine and the Zaporizhzhya NPP.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on the evening of March 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump discussed the situation in Ukraine in detail. During a telephone conversation, the Russian leader confirmed Moscow's fundamental commitment to a peaceful settlement. The head of state supported the US President's proposal to mutually cease attacks on energy infrastructure facilities for 30 days. Putin gave the Russian military the corresponding order.
At the same time, the Ukrainian side continued its attacks. On March 19, the Kiev regime used three drones to attack a Russian energy infrastructure facility in the Krasnodar region, several hours after the leaders of Russia and the United States reached an agreement to stop such strikes. At the same time, the Defense Ministry specified that Russian air defense forces, following Putin’s order, neutralized seven Russian drones heading toward Ukraine.
In addition to the Ukrainian issue, the heads of the two countries discussed the normalization of bilateral relations. Following these talks, the American leader admitted that the United States could establish economic cooperation with Russia after a ceasefire in Ukraine.
On March 19, Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov noted that, in his opinion, relations of trust and mutual understanding have developed between Putin and Trump. The leaders of the two countries intend to gradually move towards normalizing bilateral relations, the Kremlin representative believes.
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] At least 100 African holy warriors have reportedly arrived on Abd al-Kuri Island in the Socotra Archipelago, coinciding with the visit of Aidarous al-Zubaidi, head of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) to Socotra Island, Almahriah Net reported, citing sources.
According to the sources, the holy warriors are stationed in a camp prepared by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in secret cooperation with ''Israel''.
The sources revealed that the fighters were transported from various Somali regions as the first batch to the island, sparking security concerns among the local residents.
Field reports and analyses indicate that the camp established on Abd al-Kuri Island is a joint Israeli-UAE military base, designed to conduct military operations against Sana'a forces.
Given its unique geographical location and proximity to international maritime routes, Socotra Island serves as a strategic hub capable of supporting military or intelligence operations against regional actors.
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin.
[ColonelCassad] 1. US-Russia talks will resume in Saudi Arabia in the coming days.
2. Today, Witkoff and Ushakov held talks. Witkoff believes that the war could end in 2 weeks.
3. Trump and Putin could hold face-to-face talks in Saudi Arabia, which will act as a neutral venue.
4. Trump instructed the Pentagon, CIA, and State Department to actively contact Russian structures to move toward peace.
5. Trump notified Zelensky of the results of talks on Ukraine without Ukraine. He said that he would synchronize positions, read, push through the cocaine Fuhrer.
6. Today, a planned prisoner of war exchange took place - 175 for 175. Plus, as Putin promised, ours handed over another 23 seriously wounded Ukrainian soldiers who were in captivity to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
7. If Saudi Arabia acts as the main political mediator (here MBS has outdone Erdogan), then negotiations on prisoners are still going on through the Emirates.
8. Negotiations on ending active hostilities in the Black Sea are expected in the near future, read ending attacks by enemy BEKs and attacks by the Russian Armed Forces on dry cargo ships in Odessa.
9. As expected, the enemy is dodging attacks on the energy sector. However, if the story drags on, it is not too difficult to resume strikes on thermal power plants and substations - for now, extra drones are flying at other targets.
10. The enemy states that the Russian Armed Forces are waiting for the weather to improve in order to launch a new major offensive in a number of areas, using the operational pause to prepare for future actions. The Americans know about this and are in a hurry, because Kiev's "negotiating position" will only worsen from now on. So far, we are talking about Crimea and four regions. There may be six more regions. It was not by chance that Odessa came up in the negotiations.
11. Of course, no one will give up Zaporizhzhya NPP to Ukraine. The IAEA will now only be allowed there through Russian territory. Zelensky's threats to prevent Zaporizhzhya NPP from operating are ordinary nuclear blackmail - in the end, everything will come down to post-war agreements on the supply of surplus from Zaporizhzhya NPP to Ukraine (or rather, what is left of it).
12. The United States reported that work on lifting sanctions against Russia is already underway, some of them will be lifted as soon as the fire on the front ceases and a truce begins. We can expect active actions by Ukrainian Nazis and Britain to prevent the collapse of the sanctions regime.
US President Donald Trump wants to achieve a transition from a partial ceasefire in Ukraine to a full one. This was announced on March 19 by White House spokesperson Caroline Levitt during a briefing.
"We have a partial ceasefire now, but the president is sending his highly trained team to Saudi Arabia this week to fight for peace," Levitt explained.
As a White House spokeswoman clarified, technical groups will meet in Saudi Arabia to discuss expanding the ceasefire to the Black Sea.
Earlier, Regnum News Agency reported that, as White House Press Secretary Levitt stated, Trump instructed his team to work out steps to resolve the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible in order to prepare for negotiations with Russia.
White House National Security Adviser Mike Waltz confirmed that Russian and US technical teams will meet in Riyadh in the coming days for emergency talks.
On March 18, Trump discussed the peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, other foreign policy issues, and bilateral cooperation between the states by telephone with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Russian leader supported the proposal to mutually cease attacks on energy infrastructure facilities, immediately issuing the corresponding order.
Following the talks, US Presidential Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said that Russia and the US will hold a new meeting on March 23 in Saudi Arabia. According to him, the parties agreed on a draft agreement on a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine not only on energy facilities, but also on other infrastructure. Now the details will be discussed, the special envoy added.
[IsraelTimes] Defense minister issues ‘final warning’ to Gazans to eject Hamas, says combat zone evacuations will soon begin; military names 2 more senior Hamas officials killed in strikes
The IDF said Wednesday it had launched “pinpoint” ground operations in the central and southern Gaza Strip, as Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that Hamas’s continued rule in the enclave would lead to its “total destruction and ruin.”
The army said its operations were aimed at expanding the security zone near the border and creating a partial buffer between northern and southern Gaza. Troops of the 252nd Division entered the Netzarim Corridor area, a route that splits Gaza into north and south, capturing around half of it, up to the Salah a-Din road.
At the same time, the IDF said it deployed the Golani Brigade to the southern part of the Gaza border, readying it for action in the Strip.
Katz said Israel would soon issue evacuation orders for combat zones in the Strip.
“Gaza residents, this is a final warning. The first Sinwar ruined Gaza and the second Sinwar will completely obliterate it,” the defense minister said, referring to the slain leader of the terror group, Yahya Sinwar, and to his brother, Mohammed Sinwar, a senior Hamas military commander who is thought to have succeeded him.
“The Air Force strikes against Hamas terrorists were just the first step. Things will become much more difficult, and you will pay the full price,” he said.
Katz said that if the hostages are not released and Hamas is not removed from Gaza, “Israel will operate with strength you have not yet seen.”
“Take the US president’s advice. Return the hostages and remove Hamas, and other options will open up for you, including leaving for other places in the world for those who desire,” he said.
“The alternative is total destruction and ruin,” Katz added.
The Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet security agency said Tuesday that Israel’s strikes have targeted cells of terror leaders and operatives, rocket-launching positions, weapons, and other Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror infrastructure.
The Hamas-run health ministry has said over 400 people have been killed since Israel renewed its offensive, including women and children. Its unverified figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Israel renewed its offensive overnight Monday-Tuesday, citing Hamas’s “repeated refusal” to free Israeli hostages.
The sides have been unable to agree on the continuation of the ceasefire, with Israel insisting on extending the first phase — with more hostage releases in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners and further calm — while the terror group has insisted on moving to the second phase, which envisioned Israel fully withdrawing from Gaza and agreeing to permanently end the war in exchange for the release of the remaining living hostages.
According to the terms of the January 19 deal, the sides were to launch negotiations over the second phase a few weeks into the first, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to do so, insisting that the war will not end until Hamas’s governing and military capabilities have been demolished.
Netanyahu said Tuesday night that from now on, negotiations on a continued ceasefire would only be conducted “under fire.”
Israel has previously made various offers including monetary rewards to Gazans who provide information that will lead to the release of hostages, to no avail.
Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are still holding 59 hostages, including 58 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Overnight, two United Nations employees were killed in an explosion at a UN facility in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. Israel denied accusations it was responsible for the blast at the building. A UN source told AFP the two dead were employees of the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the UN mine-mitigation service UNMAS.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said earlier that a foreigner was among those killed and five others were seriously wounded in the explosion in Deir al-Balah, which it blamed on Israel.
In a statement, the IDF said, “Contrary to reports, the IDF did not attack a UN compound in Deir al-Balah. The IDF calls on media outlets to exercise caution with unverified reports.”
Additionally, the IDF and Shin Bet announced that two more top Hamas officials were killed in airstrikes in the Gaza Strip over the past day.
One of the dead was Yasser Mohammed Harb Musa, a member of Hamas’s politburo who headed the defense portfolio and ministry of development.
“As part of his role, Musa handled the advancement and guidance of terror attacks against the State of Israel,” the IDF and Shin Bet said, adding that he was considered close to slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
The second Hamas official the IDF said it killed was Mohammed Jamasi, the chief of the terror group’s so-called emergency committee.
“Over the years, Jamasi held key positions in the political bureau and the leadership of the movement and as part of his role in the war, he coordinated a significant portion of the Hamas regime’s government activity in the Gaza Strip, including the guidance of terror attacks against the State of Israel,” the statement added.
The two join a list of several senior Hamas leaders killed since the renewed offensive, including Hamas’s de facto prime minister of the Strip.
Separately, the IDF said Wednesday that it targeted the main command center of Hamas’s Daraj-Tuffah Battalion, located in Gaza City, in one of its overnight airstrikes.
The command center targeted overnight had been used by Hamas to plan numerous attacks against Israel and troops, the IDF said.
Europe decries fresh fighting.
They see no option to Israel sitting still while Hamas runs amok, which is what they want Israel too do under any and all circumstances. For details of their decrials — which ought to be a word — go to the link.
More from The Times of Israel at 2:00 a.m. ET:
Over 70 Gazans reported killed in overnight strikes
[IsraelTimes] Gaza’s pro-Hamas Quds News outlet reports that 71 people were killed in Israeli strikes across the Strip overnight, which would raise the death toll to over 540 since Israel resumed its military campaign in Gaza on Tuesday morning.
The news outlet reports that airstrikes took place around Khan Younis, Rafah and other parts of Gaza overnight.
The death toll cannot be verified, and figures from Hamas-controlled health authorities in the Strip have been questioned.
Israel says it is only targeting terrorists and terror infrastructure and blames Hamas and allied groups for collateral damage, saying they use civilians as human shields.
The circumstances of the episode are being examined, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein says in a statement.
The military earlier also denied involvement in the death, which allegedly occurred after ordnance hit a UN guesthouse, in the city of Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, according to the UN.
The Houthis took advantage of a doddering old fool and his depleted, demoralized military. The Houthis should have stopped the attacks.
Now they get to experience what a professional naval force can do. And if they want it to stop, all they have to do is stop attacking commercial shipping.
Enjoy the show.
[ColonelCassad] Statement by the leader of Ansarullah in Yemen, Abdul-Malik Badr ad-Din al-Houthi:
- The Zionist enemy has violated the agreement to end aggression, lift the blockade and end the famine. More than two weeks earlier, it had already violated its promise not to hinder the delivery of humanitarian aid.
- Since the resumption of the genocide, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, most of them children and women.
- The enemy has resumed the genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza on the advice of the United States, as the Americans themselves have stated.
- The situation in Gaza is extremely grave, the suffering is enormous, and the tragedy is unprecedented in the entire world. People are suffering not only from hunger, but also from thirst, and it is difficult for them even to get drinking water.
- In committing its monstrous crimes - genocide, famine and blockade - the enemy relies on American support.
- The United States is protecting the Zionist enemy, and Arab passivity only pushes it to even more brutal crimes and aggression.
- There are no red lines left. The enemy does not take into account any restrictions, continuing genocide, total destruction and brutal murder.
- He is confident that the Arab countries will not take even minimal serious action.
- Some Arab regimes incite continued aggression against the Gaza Strip. This is a serious issue that only encourages the Zionists.
- Arab passivity affects the positions of Islamic countries. If the Arab countries acted as the situation requires, many Islamic countries would join them.
- When Islamic countries begin to support Palestine more actively, the Arab regimes immediately take a negative position towards them.
- The Americans and the Zionists are two sides of the same coin. They have countless crimes behind them that have no analogues in the world.
- Some Arab leaders seek to involve the entire region in the so-called "normalization" of relations with Israel. This is a disgrace and a crime!
- If Israel succeeds in eliminating the Palestinian issue, it will direct its aggression to the rest of the countries in the region, without regard for anyone.
- Anyone who relies on agreements with Israel must understand that this enemy does not respect any obligations.
- They want to force Hamas to agree to a prisoner exchange without implementing the second phase of the agreement. Israel wants to deprive Hamas of its last lever of pressure.
- Israel is not just evading the agreements, it wants to leave Hamas without arguments and then continue its aggression against Gaza.
- Zionist crimes cannot be justified under any circumstances. They have reached the limit of insolence, aggression and impunity.
- The Zionists are confident that no one will hold them accountable - neither Islamic countries nor world organizations.
- Muslims should have formed a powerful global movement against the Zionist entity. However, unfortunately, most Islamic governments are inactive, and some even collaborate with the enemy.
- Support for Palestine is not just a political issue, but a religious duty for every Muslim. Failure to do so will result in a response from Allah.
- The fight against Israel is a sacred duty. Those who do not fight with weapons must fight economically, politically and informationally.
- Continued inaction and the lack of real action at any level encourage the enemy to continue their actions.
- It is very important to use social media to influence the world community in order to awaken public opinion and evoke its support for the Palestinians.
- Free people in different countries must resume their activities in support of the Palestinians, holding various events.
- Demonstrations and university activities must be resumed in countries around the world, and everyone must feel their responsibility, both from a humanitarian and a moral and religious point of view.
- Watching the genocide in Gaza is truly a disgrace and a shame for all of humanity.
- No one will be able to escape the shame of inaction in the face of the genocide in Gaza and its terrible consequences, both in this life and the next.
[ZeroHedge] I’m old enough to remember when filling people’s minds with certain narratives that just happen further one’s particular interests was known as “brainwashing.”
In the clinical speak of The Science™, though, brainwashing is now rebranded as “memory-focused interventions.”
Via Neuroscience News (emphasis added):
“New research reveals that short, memory-focused interventions can help individuals resist misinformation more effectively and retain these skills over extended periods, acting as “psychological booster shots.” The study evaluated text-based messages, videos, and interactive games that teach people how to spot and resist misleading information.
Memory-focused interventions showed the greatest long-term effectiveness, suggesting regular psychological “boosters” could enhance misinformation resistance. Researchers emphasize these memory-enhancing methods could significantly benefit public education and digital literacy programs, addressing misinformation challenges in health, politics, and beyond.”
The gist is that the researchers re-educated participants on any number of topics either through text, video, or a role-playing game, and then exposed them to what they categorize as “misinformation.” If, even after their re-education, the peasants asked any pesky questions instead of obediently swallowing and internalizing the furnished “inoculating” material, the “intervention” would have been a failure. If they complied with the regime — repeating that Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia, for instance — the intervention would have succeeded.
(It would be way more honest and less contemptible, in a way, if they just cut straight to the torture and skipped all the overtures to humanitarianism. Do they really have to mollycoddle us while they hammer the crucifixion nails in with the other hand?)
[THECENTERSQUARE] The House Subcommittee for the Department of Government Efficiency is calling the leadership of National Public Radio, a news operations that receives taxpayer funding, to testify before Congress, it said Wednesday. Go ahead, refuse to testify
The House subcommittee was created to operate similarly to DOGE, the Trump Administration's federal effort to cut waste, fraud and abuse in the government. NPR is under scrutiny for its left-leaning political coverage while receiving taxpayer funding.
The hearing is expected March 26, and the leadership of the Public Broadcasting System has also been asked to testify.
''I want to hear why NPR and PBS think they should ever again receive a single cent from the American taxpayer,'' U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who leads the DOGE Subcommittee, said.
Defenders of the groups point out that most of their funding is not from the government and that they offer a public service. PBS said it receives about $500 million a year from Congress.
Katherine Maher, CEO and president of NPR, and Paula Kerger, CEO of PBS, were personally asked to testify at the hearing, which has been called ''Anti-American Airwaves: Holding the Heads of NPR and PBS Accountable.''
The hearing comes as Trump seeks to make cuts to government agencies and contracts across the federal government, leaving no institution safe from possible defunding.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2025
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11156 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I have heard that NPR is only funded 10% by the feds. I bet the number is higher if you count the money going from the Feds through leftist NGOs to NPR. I would be satisfied to just turn the money spigot off to both of them including the pass throughs. No need to shut them down directly.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/20/2025 4:15
Comments ||
Top||
#2
SIMPLE LOGIC APPLIES
When any MEDIA - NEWS or Social Media accepts the DC Swamp
$$$$M's.
It loses impartiality.
Why?
Because DC given that $$$$ to buy allegiance.
Knowing the takers always be wanting to get more $$$$ and the various DC protections that come with it.
eg. Facebook censoring real technical data at the direct request of the Biden Controllers.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/20/2025 14:00
Comments ||
Top||
#7
1 suggested Welfare Fraud fix. - Require every single mother ID provide a list of possible dad's for any child covered.
Then ID and make the DAD pay his child support fair share. As a Taxpayer, why am I having to cover the costs for his multiple Sperm Donations.
Also require the voter plantations and Section 8 users adhere to strict tenant control policies.
In other words, the Baby Daddy should pay his part of the RENT and not stay free.
[JustTheNews] "Congress should reassert its constitutional authority and rescind its vast, unconstitutional delegation of power to independent agencies" like NLRB and SEC, watchdog says.
As the Trump administration battles the courts over the president's far-reaching orders and animus toward individual judges, earning a rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts, the Biden administration's four years of alleged censorship via Big Tech collusion and coercion — sporadically blocked in court — continues to unravel.
Ninety federal agencies and components were involved in 57 "distinct" Biden-era censorship initiatives through direct actions, policies or rulemakings, partnerships and grants, according to a report by the Media Research Center, whose prior documentation of news-rating service NewsGuard's alleged bias played a role in subsequent congressional and agency investigations.
While the initiatives happened "behind closed doors," readers should view them "in the context" of President Biden's bully pulpit, MRC said, which promoted censorship of political opponents, called platforms un-American for "declining to contract with censorship outfits" and famously accused Facebook owner Meta of "killing people" for insufficient censorship.
The conservative watchdog emphasized that Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland "refused to prosecute any of the perpetrators" for illegal censorship and his Department of Justice "refused to even launch a single investigation" after a federal judge compared the whole-of-government effort to an "Orwellian 'Ministry of Truth.'"
Building on Trump's executive orders on free speech and artificial intelligence means "learning the extent of the harm the last four years have inflicted – and understanding how easily and swiftly censorship could come roaring back if the American public does not remain more vigilant," MRC said.
The conservative watchdog, whose report systematically organizes and diagrams initiatives but does not appear to have surfaced any previously unknown, is unofficially tag-teaming probes with the House Judiciary Committee.
Last month's subpoena by committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, prompted FBI Director Kash Patel to turn over documents related to the Biden Justice Department's alleged weaponization scandals that targeted parents, Catholics and pro-life activists.
The report showed that DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security appeared in a whopping 15 and 13 initiatives respectively, such as DHS's "collusion" with the U.K.'s Counter Disinformation Unit to "target speech in each other’s countries" and DOJ's "imaginary, alternative version of antitrust law" that requires artificial intelligence developers to collude on "anticompetitive censorship."
One of MRC's more notable reminders is how the prior administration used the cover of fighting antisemitism to coordinate censorship of "hate" through AI.
AI shows up in five initiatives, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken's Partnership for Global Inclusivity with Big Tech firms that dedicated $3 million in taxpayer money to "train AI to favor certain ideologies (and thus censor disfavored ideologies)" and censor purported misinformation, disinformation and hate.
Going the other direction, the Federal Communications Commission sought to regulate political speech that uses AI, a proposal MRC called vague enough to punish "automatic color grading or voice amplification."
The FCC was also involved in five initiatives, including what MRC called "perversion" of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act by imposing antidiscrimination rules on Title II-regulated common carriers "and then making the bizarre and incongruous choice to exempt firms like Amazon, Apple and Google … de facto blessing Big Tech censorship."
Elon Musk joined the five-timers club as a target, with special prosecutor Jack Smith gagging his social media company X from telling users – including then-GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump – that Smith was reading their private messages and the State Department was funding a Ukrainian group that sought Musk's censorship for his antiwar views.
The National Labor Relations Board repeatedly harassed Musk before and after he purchased Twitter, including an order to delete a post criticizing the United Auto Workers and warning Tesla employees what unionizing could mean for their stock, the report says.
NLRB blocked companies from "even verbally discouraging" misconduct by employees who support the Biden administration's COVID-19 policies, in MRC's view, when it punished Trader Joe's for firing an employee who "scream[ed] at her managers in front of customers" for removing its mask mandate, skipped shifts and kept agitating for mask mandates.
Much as the second Trump administration's enforcement actions in the name of antisemitism have drawn criticism as attacks on free speech, MRC's report notes the Biden administration used antisemitism to justify sweeping control over online speech.
State's Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor & Combat Anti-Semitism hosted an online symposium – attended by White House official Neera Tanden and U.K. Labour Party-tied Center for Countering Digital Hate – in which "domestic and foreign government officials colluded directly with Big Tech" to censor purposed harms.
The Biden White House promoted "AI algorithms to censor speech and debate" through its National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, which also called on Congress to punish platforms that insufficiently censor undefined hate, "creating a nebulous standard that would make it easy for government officials to coerce platforms into silencing their critics," the report says.
Secretary Blinken makes the first of several appearances in what MRC calls "The Framework for Censorship" – the Global Engagement Center's Framework to Counter Foreign State Information Manipulation, which roped in countries including Canada, the U.K. and even tiny Montenegro to fund "censorship organizations" and direct platforms to censor.
He's mentioned in the funding of NewsGuard by agencies and components including State and its Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor, Defense and its Air Force and Army, and the U.S.-funded National Endowment for Democracy.
The prior administration "covertly defied" the non-reauthorization of GEC by Congress in December, MRC said, by seeking "to hide career bureaucrats doing censorship work in various sub-cabinet agencies," including a new Counter Foreign Information Manipulation & Interference Hub and State's DHRL, where some GEC staff were tasked with "information integrity."
MRC's recommendations for Trump include removing officials involved in censorship, such as National Science Foundation Director Sethuraman Panchanathan for overseeing the "Track F" grants that target misinformation or disinformation, and defunding "censorship outfits" such as the Poynter Institute, whose fact-checker deemed the COVID-19 lab-leak theory a lie.
It called on Congress to "provide justice for victims of censorship" such as through a bill by Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyoming, that resembles last session's Censorship Accountability Act, which created a private right of action to sue federal officials for First Amendment violations.
"Congress should reassert its constitutional authority and rescind its vast, unconstitutional delegation of power to independent agencies like the National Labor Relations Board and Securities & Exchange Commission," MRC said.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[IsraelTimes] 4 receive light sentences for roles in last year’s Amsterdam riots after soccer match with Maccabi Tel Aviv; critics note prosecutors didn’t charge perpetrators with antisemitism
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,...
Trampler of Homs...
[BREITBART] Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah 
...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade....
[FoxNews] FBI Director Kash Patel said the three arrests since Jan. 20 were no 'accident'
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Chilling images captured the moment a disheveled suspected gunman was taken into custody outside the CIA headquarters on Wednesday morning after he was seen making threats with a weapon near the agency's base. 
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] A mother in Indiana stormed onto her 13-year-old son's school bus to confront a 'bully' before she was captured on video attacking the 14-year-old.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Donald Trump has decided to go 'nuclear' on the migrant crisis by allowing the military to take control of a 'buffer zone' near the Southern border with Mexico. 
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
...
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
... the personification of Somali state failure...
...The Hero of Butler, Pennsylvania...
...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?...
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
...every time you hear the phrase 
These are the approximate positions of the U.S. Navy’s deployed carrier strike groups and amphibious ready groups throughout the world as of March 17, 2025, based on Navy and public data. In cases in which a CSG or ARG is conducting disaggregated operations, the chart reflects the location of the capital ship.
... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
...
...where God struck dead Anton LaVey, home of the Sydney Ducks, ruled by Vigilance Committee from 1859 through 1867, reliably and volubly Democrat since 1964...
