[IsraelTimes] Bishara Bahbah passed messages between Witkoff and senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad, and succeeded in convincing terror group to free the American-Israeli hostage unconditionally
Paleostinian-American political activist Bishara Bahbah was the third-party mediator between US President Donald Trump ...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons... ’s administration and Hamas ..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,... who succeeded in convincing the terror group to release American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander on Monday, four officials familiar with the matter confirmed to The Times of Israel
The Times of Israel revealed the existence of the backchannel on Sunday, but did not disclose Bahbah’s identity, as he was not ready to go public at the time.
Bahbah headed an organization called Arab Americans for Trump, which helped the president make major inroads with Arab Americans in last year’s election, particularly by highlighting his pledge to end the war in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip. But Bahbah broke with the president over the latter’s February call for the US to take over Gaza and clear the Strip of its Paleostinians. Bahbah changed his organization’s name to Arab Americans for Peace, but continued engaging with Trump officials and officials from governments in the region.
Earlier this year, the late Paleostinian Authority president Yasser Arafat’s wife Suha gave Bahbah the phone number of Hamas’s Ghazi Hamad, initiating contact with the bigwig based outside of Gaza, a source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel.
Last month, Hamad reached out to Bahbah, seeking his assistance in connecting with US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff in order to discuss efforts to bring about a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
"I was called by someone from Hamas who said that they are interested in releasing all the Israeli hostages in return for a ceasefire in Gaza. They asked me to communicate that message to American officials, which I did," Bahbah told Channel 12 in a Tuesday interview about how the backchannel came about.
"Obviously, if I were in Steve Witkoff’s position, I would have said to myself, ’Who the hell is he to be talking to me?’ And I can understand that," he said.
"Steve suggested that they should release [Alexander] as a gesture of goodwill... toward the president of the United States, knowing that [Trump] would then be using his influence for a ceasefire and to allow the aid to come into Gaza, that is desperately needed by people," Bahbah said.
Israel has blocked aid from entering Gaza since March 1, arguing that sufficient humanitarian assistance entered the Strip during a six-week ceasefire and that Hamas has diverted much of that aid. IDF officials, however, have acknowledged in recent weeks that humanitarian assistance is drying up and that Gazooks are on the brink of starvation.
While Bahbah told Hamad that an end to the war would start with Hamas releasing the last living American hostage, Alexander, the terror organization for weeks sought to extract concessions from Israel in exchange for the 21-year-old IDF soldier.
Hamad subsequently spoke with one of his superiors, Khalil al-Hayya, to further convey the urgency of the issue, according to a source familiar with the matter and another Paleostinian official.
Last week, Bahbah passed along a message from Witkoff to Hamad, warning that time was not on Hamas’s side and calling for Alexander’s release before Trump departed for the Mideast on Monday.
Over the weekend, Hamas informed Bahbah that it agreed to release Alexander unconditionally but wanted Witkoff to know that the step should not be viewed as a one-off, the sources said. Hamad stressed to Bahbah that Hamas was ready to work with the Trump administration to secure a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, with security arrangements to ensure a years-long calm until a final settlement of the conflict is reached, the sources said.
On Sunday, Hamad told Bahbah that Hamas was prepared to move ahead with Alexander’s release, saying it had located him after claiming to have lost contact with his captors.
More taqqiya.
Bahbah, in turn, told Hamas to inform Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... i Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani of the decision. The Qatari premier then called Witkoff to confirm that Alexander’s release would be moving ahead.
Alexander was released on Monday evening. On Tuesday, Israel dispatched a negotiating team to Doha for another round of hostage talks, at the request of the Trump administration.
But the sides face an uphill battle, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu still insisting that he will only agree to a temporary ceasefire, whereas Hamas is demanding a permanent end to the war sparked by its attack against Israel on October 7, 2023.
US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff told the families of hostages held in Gaza earlier today that Hamas is “afraid of Donald Trump” and “should be.”
In brief footage from the lengthy meeting he and US hostage envoy Adam Boehler held with the families in Tel Aviv, broadcast on Kan TV, Witkoff relates that newly released hostage Edan Alexander is “doing better than I would have thought. They actually treated him better. So for those who have relatives who are alive, I think that’s an important data point.”
Witkoff elaborates: “Edan told me that when the president was elected, he began to get treated well. And that’s a really interesting data point — that people evidently are being treated better there, because Hamas is afraid of Donald Trump. And the truth is, they should be.”
Piercing insights, none of which occurred to me, though I’d posted some of the pieces. See also here.
[HotAir] In December, as weepy Winken Antony Blinken was busy sucking up to the newest, cleanest Jihadi in a suit to roll into a Middle Eastern Third World s**thole, I was asking if the Biden administration had bothered to 'meet the new boss' in light of their effusive greetings to Abu Mohamed al-Jolani and his victorious, Turkish-backed Islamic marauders.
Naturally averse to believing any smooth-talking, gussied-up fanatic with an army of like-minded savages and a track record of unsocial behavior behind him, I wasn't ready to jump on the 'Oh, this guy is really different' bandwagon simply because Jolani knew where Saville Row was and could mouth, 'diversity is our strength' (Yes, he really said that.)
By the beginning of March, it was pretty clear a jihadi leader now using his given name - Ahmed Al Sharaa - in a $4000 suit was still a jihadi at heart. Al-Sharaa's boys were having themselves the rampaging adventures of a lifetime, systematically exterminating Druze and Alawite communities all over northern Syria with impunity. Oh - and trying to find the five or six Jews left in the country.
We haven't heard much out of the area since, except for reports that detail American and Israeli strikes on targets in the area. Most associated with the ongoing cat and mouse game the Houthis had been playing and the assorted Iranian militias supporting them, who operate freely all through the southern portion of Iraq, Yemen, and Syria, as President Trump noted during his speech in Saudi Arabia today.
. @POTUS "Since January 20th, the U.S. Military has terminated 83 terrorist leaders operating across Iraq, Syria, and Somalia" pic.twitter.com/Ntq0Z3uKrT
Perhaps these few months have given Al-Sharaa some food for thought about which side of the bread he wanted buttered and by whom.
Obviously, Syria was a hole, and watching hell rain out of the skies from a newly reinvigorated American defense department posture had to have them recalculating what their odds were should they join the opposition.
Al-Sharaa's bunch has been technically neutral so far.
So Trump was rambling along in his speech - I heard some of it in the car, talking about the transformation of the Saudi capital in just eight years - when he dropped a bombshell no one saw coming.
He was lifting all - ALL - of the sanctions on Syria that had been in place for so many years.
The Assads are gone, and Trump wants the Syrians, as he said, to have their 'chance for greatness.'
The crowd went wild.
The Syrians...
Celebrations across #Syria tonight, after @realDonaldTrump’s announcement that he intends to end #Syria sanctions.
There’s no understating what this means to ~25 million Syrians — 90% of whom live under the poverty line after 50+yrs of #Assad rule & 14yrs of war. pic.twitter.com/SLOG77RllK
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is going to meet with the Syrian Foreign Minister on Thursday in Turkey.
President Trump will greet Ahmed Al-Sharaa in Riyadh tomorrow.
From the Guardian:
But this makes it no less significant. Per Politico:
It’s nonetheless a striking encounter with a man who’s still on the US terrorist list — and the first meeting between US and Syrian leaders since 2000. The US sanctions have weighed heavily on the Syrian economy, threatening al-Sharaa’s ability to rebuild the country since the rebel leader ousted the Assad regime five months ago.
Trump said during his speech at the US-Saudi investment forum that he had decided to lift sanctions on Syria following conversations with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as well as with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. “Oh, what I do for the crown prince,” Trump said in reference to MBS before making the announcement.
The “brutal and crippling” sanctions had served their purpose at the time but were no longer needed, said Trump, adding:
Now it is their time to shine. We are taking them all off. Good luck Syria. Show us something very special.
This is a gobsmacking move.
An 'Only Trump could do this' move.
As always, ever so interesting how it all came together, with Al-Sharaa seeking out the US, not vice versa. And the Syrian representative spun a dream of a Trump Tower in Damascus one day.
...Speaking at an investment forum on Tuesday, Trump said that he planned to lift sanctions on Syria after holding talks with Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan “to give them a chance at greatness”.
...Sharaa, who is keen to normalise relations with the US, has reportedly offered Trump a number of sweeteners including the Trump tower in Damascus, a demilitarised zone by the Golan Heights that would strengthen Israel’s claim to the territory it has occupied since 1967, diplomatic recognition of Israel, and a profit-sharing deal on resources similar to the Ukraine minerals deal.
The idea to offer Trump a piece of real estate with his name on it in the heart of Damascus was thought up by a US Republican senator, who passed on the idea to Sharaa’s team.
Trump will talk to anyone who sincerely wants to talk to him. It's like his magic power.
If it works - and it's all on the Syrians - it's going to plug several gaping holes using available assets.
I’m no Jolani fan, but I can see the 4d chess
-Syria has been an Iranian/Russian proxy for decades; this reverses that -Cuts off resupply for Hezbollah -I’m guessing Syria and KSA join Abraham Accords
This also helps keep Turkey on the spot because, should Al-Sharaa start to see the fruits of cooperation with the US pay off and Syria begins to rise from the dead, he becomes a hero, and there's nothing more these egotists love than being loved. He won't let Erdogan interfere with that, whatever he owes him.
The other is the pressure from Saudi Arabia on Syria now. They facilitated this come to Trump moment. The crown prince would take it ill if the jihadi reappeared after making a public spectacle of the Saudis' belief that he was worth cultivating and his country worth saving.
[IsraelTimes] Meeting between leaders set for Wednesday; sources say Damascus may offer talks on normalizing relations with Israel under Abraham Accords
US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and whatever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th and 47th President of the United States... said Tuesday he will move to normalize relations and lift sanctions on Syria’s new government to give the country "a chance at peace."
Trump is set to meet Wednesday in Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom takingup 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... with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, the onetime Death Eater who last year led the overthrow of former leader Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Scourge of Qusayr... . He said the effort at rapprochement came at the urging of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
...Crown Prince and modernizer of Saudi Arabia as of 2016. The Turks hate him, so he must be all right, despite the occasional brutal murder of Qatar-owned journalists... , the Saudi de facto ruler, and Ottoman Turkish President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important... "There is a new government that will hopefully succeed," Trump said of Syria, adding, "I say good luck, Syria. Show us something special."
Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said Tuesday that Trump’s decision to lift sanctions was a "pivotal turning point for the Syrian people, as we move toward a future of stability, self-sufficiency and genuine reconstruction after years of destructive war."
Sharaa will be the first Syrian leader to meet an American president since the late Hafez al-Assad met Bill Clinton ...former Democratic president of the U.S. Bill was the second U.S. president to be impeached, the first to deny that oral sex was sex, the first to have difficulty with the definition of the word is... in Geneva in 2000.
It was a major boost for the Syrian president, who at one point was imprisoned in Iraq for his role in the insurgency following the 2003 US-led invasion of the Arab country. Sharaa was named president of Syria in January, a month after a stunning offensive by Death Eater groups led by Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... , or HTS, stormed Damascus, ending the 54-year rule of the Assad family.
According to the London Times, citing unnamed security sources, Sharaa may use the meeting to offer talks on normalizing relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords.
A US security source confirmed the possibility of Damascus joining the accords, with the United Arab Emirates as a mediator. Sharaa confirmed last week that Abu Dhabi is already acting as an intermediary between Israel and Syria, with talks focusing on security and intelligence matters and confidence-building between the two countries, which have no official relations.
The source added that Washington and Gulf countries are seeking to pull Syria away from Iranian influence. Tehran, sworn to Israel’s destruction, propped up the former Assad regime throughout the bloody Syrian civil war.
The US has been weighing how to handle Sharaa since he took power in December. Gulf leaders have rallied behind the new government in Damascus and will want Trump to follow, believing it is a bulwark against Iran’s return to influence in Syria.
Then-president Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. Joe's wife and daughter weren't killed by a drunk driver. He didn't graduate with three or even two degrees, wasn't in the top half of his law class, and his daddy didn't come home from a hard day's work in the mines and play football with the guys. The NAACP hasn't endorsed him every time he's run.... left the decision to Trump, whose administration has yet to formally recognize the new Syrian government.
"The president agreed to say hello to the Syrian President while in Saudi Arabia tomorrow," the White House said before Trump’s remarks.
The comments marked a striking change in tone from Trump and put him at odds with Israel, which has been deeply skeptical of Sharaa’s turban past and cautioned against swift recognition of the new government.
Formerly known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, Sharaa joined the ranks of al-Qaeda gunnies battling US forces in Iraq after the US-led invasion in 2003. He still faces a warrant for his arrest on terrorism charges in Iraq, and the US once offered $10 million for information about his whereabouts because of his links to al-Qaeda.
In 2011, Sharaa came back to his home country, where he led the branch of al-Qaeda that was known as the Nusra Front. He later changed the name of his group to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and cut links with al-Qaeda.
Syria has had fraught relations with Washington since the days of the Cold War, when Damascus maintained close links with the Soviet Union and later became Iran’s closest ally in the Arab world.
London-based Syrian analyst Ibrahim Hamidi said Trump’s meeting with Sharaa marks a "strategic shift" in the country, with 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... forced to leave and Russia, which also backed Assad and now gives him sanctuary, weakened.
"The Syrian-American meetings in Riyadh open the gate for the two sides to start discussing disagreements and issues between them with an atmosphere of dialogue," said Hamidi, editor-in-chief of the Arabic magazine Al Majalla. "This is important."
[IsraelTimes] Complaint argues US gov’t cannot identify ‘any rational connection between antisemitism concerns and the medical, scientific, technological and other research’ grants it froze or canceled
Harvard University expanded its lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s moves to cut off billions of dollars in federal funding to the Ivy League school on Tuesday after officials said they are terminating an additional $450 million in grants.
Harvard filed the amended complaint in federal court in Boston hours after a federal antisemitism task force announced that eight government agencies were canceling additional grants on top of the $2.2 billion in funding US President Donald Trump ...Oh, noze! Not him!... ’s administration had already terminated.
The task force, which includes representatives from agencies including the US departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Justice, did so after accusing the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based school of failing to confront "pervasive race discrimination and antisemitic harassment plaguing its campus."
In response, Harvard expanded a lawsuit it first filed on April 22 after the administration froze the initial $2.2 billion to cover those latest research-grant terminations, which came from agencies including the US departments of Defense and Energy as well as the National Science Foundation.
The revised complaint also now challenges a decision by the administration announced in a letter from Education Secretary Linda McMahon ...business executive, and former professional wrestling performer. She was the 25th administrator of the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2019. McMahon has been nominated to lead the Department of Education under the second Trump administration. McMahon, along with her husband, Vince McMahon, founded sports entertainment company Titan Sports, Inc. (later World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.) where she worked as the president and later CEO from 1980 to 2009. During this time, the company grew from a regional business in the northeast to a large multinational corporation. She made occasional on-screen performances, most notably in a feud with her husband that culminated at WrestleMania X-Seven. In 2009, she left World Wrestling Entertainment to run for a seat in the United States Senate from Connecticut as a Republican, but lost to Richard Blumenthal in the 2010 general election. She was the Republican nominee for Connecticut's other Senate seat in the 2012 race, but lost to Chris Murphy because that's the kind of guy people in Connecticutt like best. ... last week to freeze billions of dollars in future research grants and other aid until the nation’s oldest and wealthiest college concedes to the administration’s demands.
Harvard argues the administration’s sweeping demands violate the free speech guarantees of the US Constitution’s First Amendment. It says the massive funding freeze is overly broad and was instituted without following proper procedures.
They do have the right to speak hatefully. There are two caveats, though:
1. It is illegal for Harvard as an institution to not only allow, but to foster an environment where students, instructors, and support staff of the Jewish faith and the intersecting but not fully overlapping set of all those students, instructors, and support staff who support Israel (Zionists)are physically and verbally harassed and discriminated against, and
2. The federal government is forbidden to give federal funds to an institution that breaks such laws.
The ball’s in your court, O Harvard.
"The government has not identified — and cannot identify — any rational connection between antisemitism concerns and the medical, scientific, technological, and other research it has frozen or terminated," the lawsuit said.
See above. They don’t have to identify a connection, merely the lawbreaking. And Harvard never stopped breaking the laws against discrimination — Jews/Zionists being only the most violent of its manifestations — though the justification has changed over the years.
Harvard is asking US District Judge Allison Burroughs to declare the administration’s actions unlawful and block the grant terminations. She previously scheduled arguments in the case for July 21.
Trump has targeted Harvard,
…only one of the first of many, not the only — Harvard does pride itself on setting precedents, after all…
citing allegations of antisemitism on campus during pro-Paleostinian protests against Israel over 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... with Hamas ..always the voice of sweet reason... , which sparked the fighting with its October 7, 2023, terror onslaught.
Trump has alleged pro-Paleostinian protesters are antisemitic and sympathetic to Hamas. Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the government wrongly conflates their criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza with antisemitism and their advocacy for Paleostinian rights with support for extremism.
The protesters are lying. Blatantly. Have the small numbers of actual Jews among them not heard of self-hating Jews ?
The Trump administration has moved to cancel funding after announcing in late March it was launching a review of about $9 billion in grants and contracts with Harvard. Trump has also threatened to strip Harvard of its tax-exempt status.
Harvard in its complaint said it is committed to combating antisemitism and has taken steps to ensure its campus is safe and welcoming to Jewish and Israeli students. It said the administration’s actions are a threat to academic freedom.
Harvard has a $53 billion endowment, the largest of any US university, but the funds are often restricted and used for things like financial aid and scholarships.
#1
Just keep in mind that four of the Supreme Court justices are Harvard alumni including Roberts. I doubt they will recuse themselves from ruling when this case eventually appears before them
#3
Hahvahd assumes that the research it claims will be affected can only be performed at Hahvahd. Give $450 million to any SEC school and see what they can do with it.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/14/2025 10:36
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#4
Hahvahd also assumes that all its research is valuable and important. Based on USAID, about 80% of funded work is not. Sturgeon’s Law says 90% of everything is crap. A decade ago, a report in the journal, Nature reported that only between 10% and 40% of studies are reproducible in the particular fields they looked at, which means billions of dollars wasted
[IsraelTimes] A source 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... for the Shin Bet was arrested during the ongoing war and brought to Israel for questioning, during which he admitted to being a double agent, Channel 12 news reports.
The source reportedly told Israeli interrogators that on the night of October 6-7, 2023, he received a phone call from his Shin Bet handler and falsely assured them: "There is no offensive deployment by Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... . I know. I’m up to date."
According to the Ynet news site, which does not report that he admitted to being a double agent, the Shin Bet asset is a mid-ranking Hamas official.
He reportedly had been expected to provide crucial intelligence at a time when many Hamas operatives were already aware of the planned assault.
The agent’s statements were interpreted as a sign that an attack was less likely, contributing to the broader Israeli intelligence failure by reinforcing the false belief that Hamas was not preparing for an attack.
Channel 12 reports that few such calls were made to field agents that night, underscoring what Israeli officials now describe as a significant intelligence blind spot, and the affair is being treated as highly consequential in ongoing internal reviews.
#1
Betcha this guy has ties to the State Department or has handlers has ties with State and or IC. There was coordinated messaging about Hamas War Footing (it was ignored and instead the jew civilian govt was told by Experts that the Palestinians only needed to be given work visas, employment, and jobs for world peace to occur). Lot of double agents, lot of tells were ignored.
[IsraelTimes] Sirens sound in central Israel and Jerusalem area ahead of attack; Wizz Air to renew flights to Tel Aviv on May 15 after canceling service due to Ben Gurion Airport strike
A ballistic missile launched at Israel by the 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... s 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... was successfully intercepted by air defenses on Tuesday evening, the military said.
A 40-year-old woman in Holon was taken by paramedics to Wolfson Medical Center with lower body injuries sustained when she tripped on her way to a bomb shelter, and a 65-year-old woman in Ramat Gan who was lightly injured in the head on the way to a shelter was taken to Ichilov Medical Center, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said.
Sirens had sounded across central Israel and the Jerusalem area. Preceding the sirens by around a minute, an early warning was issued to residents, alerting civilians of the long-range missile attack via a push notification to their phones.
Hours later, another ballistic missile launched from Yemen, apparently aimed at Israel, fell short far from the country, according to an Israeli defense source.
The military identified the launch, but no sirens sounded in Israel because the missile did not pose a threat.
A missile fired from Yemen also fell short of the country on Monday, a defense source said.
The attacks came a week after Israel carried out two days of heavy sorties targeting infrastructure controlled by the Houthis in response to a missile that struck Ben Gurion Airport. After Ben Gurion was hit, most foreign airlines suspended flights to Israel.
Hungary-based low-cost airline Wizz Air said Tuesday it expects to resume flight services to and from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport on May 15, after suspending services following the attack.
The fiery ...a single two-syllable word carrying connotations of both incoherence and viciousness. A fiery delivery implies an audience of rubes and yokels, preferably forming up into a mob... Israeli reprisals destroyed the international airport in the capital, Sanaa, and caused heavy damage to a port in Hodeida and several power stations and a cement factory, officials said.
The Sanaa airport will resume operations starting Wednesday, the facility’s general said Tuesday.
On Sunday, the IDF issued an "urgent" evacuation warning to the three Houthi-controlled ports in western Yemen, though no strikes were reported to follow.
[IsraelTimes] A ballistic missile launched at Israel by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen was successfully intercepted by air defenses a short while ago, the military says.
There are no immediate reports of injuries or damage in the attack.
Sirens had sounded in Jerusalem and numerous surrounding towns. Preceding the sirens by some four minutes, an early warning was issued to residents, alerting civilians of the long-range missile attack via a push notification on their phones.
Since March 18, when the IDF resumed its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis in Yemen have launched 33 ballistic missiles and at least 10 drones at Israel. Several of the missiles have fallen short.
#1
Should be a 100 to 1 Scud retaliatory strike for every missile the Houthi's launch. IDK why there's not more parity, if you bomb me, I bomb you 1000 fold - that should be the way. Burn my house down, I burn your neighborhood down - that's how you win and create dis-incentives.
[PJMedia] In 1974, President Richard Nixon gifted Egyptian President Anwar Sadat a Sikorsky VH-3A Sea King helicopter similar to Marine One. After chain-smoking first lady Pat Nixon asked Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai for a cigarette and commented on how cute the pandas were in his special pack, Zhou gifted them two giant pandas. The Nixons also received a set of crown jewels. Azerbaijan gifted Hillary and Bill Clinton ...former Democratic president of the U.S. Bill was the second U.S. president to be impeached, the first to deny that oral sex was sex, the first to have difficulty with the definition of the word is... a priceless handmade rug with their images on it. President Reagan received a white horse from Mexico. And on and on it goes.
Now, everyone is having a conniption fit over President Trump possibly receiving a 747 jetliner that Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... currently uses as a charter jet.
Calm down, everyone.
Unless you're Crooked Hillary Clinton ...former first lady, former secretary of state, former presidential candidate, Conqueror of Benghazi, Heroine of Tuzla, formerly described by her supporters as the smartest woman in the world, usually described by the rest of us as The Thing That Wouldn't Go Away. Politix is not one of her talents, but it's something she keeps trying to do... and order staff to pack up all the good stuff out of the White House and send it to your new home, presidents can't keep gifts like that. In fact, they can't keep anything worth more than about $500. Even Hillary couldn't. She had to return $190,000 worth of furniture, dishes, rugs, TVs, and other items. They were given a chance to purchase other items and paid out $28,000 to keep them.
Aside from concerns I have about the Qatari plane being a security fiasco because Qatar is not our friend and hasn't met a jihadi they don't love and want to fund, all of those spendy gifts go to the woke National Archives or other government entity and are doled out for loaning to museums and presidential libraries after the administration has used them.
The two presidential Air Force One jets now in use have been flying since 1990 and have been used by every president since George H.W. Bush. The old ones were mothballed. This is the reason why former President Reagan was able to park one of those out-of-commission bad boys at the Reagan Library.
But the discussion about the Boeing jetliner being gifted to the Trump administration has lit a fire under Boeing's CEO to speed up the delivery of the Air Force Ones.
The Boeing jets have been on order since 2015, when Trump 45 complained that the time and materials contract was a disaster and demanded a renegotiation for an all-inclusive deal for one price and not a penny more in 2018. Trump saved the Air Force $1.4 billion over the previous deal.
Initially, Boeing said it would get them out the door in 2024, but Trump said he wanted the craft delivered by 2021. But Trump left office, and nobody seemed to ride herd on Boeing. Recently, delivery dates were pushed back to some time in 2029.
Trump 47 has been complaining about the slow production since his first days in office.
But labor problems at Boeing and the defense contracting giant's difficulty in finding parts and components, along with other supply chain issues, have made it difficult to finish the two jetliners.
Ortburg now says he hopes to have them done by 2027, before Trump leaves his second term of office.
Qatar made the offer of the plane in February, and President Trump toured the craft when it was parked in Palm Beach, Fla., near the Summer White House at Mar-a-Lago.
Let's recap: Boeing's late and probably over budget. Qatar offered a plane a couple of months ago. Trump toured said plane, noting that it will cost millions to retrofit it to minimum Air Force One standards. And Boeing is left sputtering about speeding up production.
The mediacrats are shilling the fake news that Trump only wants the Qatari 747 for himself because they can't expand their minds to consider that what Trump really wants is for Boeing to get off their backsides and get these done. That's applying pressure on Boeing.
Trump just did Boeing a solid in the recent deal with the UK.
The company is a defense and national security asset, and now the man in the Oval Office wants them to get their production lines moving.
Trump to Boeing: Help me help you, or I may buy a new plane and ask another company to kit it out. It's up to you, Boeing.
#2
Did somebody say "labor problems at Boeing"? Kinda like General Motors, huh? The unions are their own worst enemy. Or, should I say, the union bosses are the workers' worst enemy? Otherwise, we wouldn't be so dependent on China.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/14/2025 11:59
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#3
People seems to forget that the plane in question is a used plane. It most likely already paid for itself for Qatar.
What iust the plane really worth in the used market?
According to a quick search, a used Boeing 747-8 range from $20 millions to $150 millions.
Since this is a custom plane, I imaged the plane would be closer toward the higher range of the used price, but nowhere near the 'brand new' $400 price tag.
the 777 and 787 are good models and, although not quite as wide, would seem easier to outfit than the older 747
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05/14/2025 17:25
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#6
I don't see why not... well...
The 787 has well documented manufacturing issues so it might be a non-starter.
The 777 does seems like a better choice. But I think the limitation of both versions is that they are twin engines planes, thus there's no real redundancy in case of an 'engine out' scenario. It would be much cheaper to operate for sure!
The 747 with its quad engines can fly on two engines if needed.
Plus the 747 has room for electronics (upper deck) and room to haul around a bunch of officials, security and reporters. The president does not fly alone.
Note that there are two presidential 747, one to carry the prescient and assorted personals and the other to carry the security transports and additional ground prepare personals. (And be an emergency backup if needed.)
Its almost never just one plane
Still, Its an idea worth considering, especially if one can equip the twins with four engines, very much like on the B-52, but with better and more fuel efferent engines.
[NY Post] Nearly two dozen Tren de Aragua gangbangers in an ICE detention center in Texas have barricaded themselves and threatened to take hostages in a major uprising — days after migrants spelled out “SOS” in the prison yard.
Members of the Venezuelan gang threatened to hold ICE officers captive and injure them on April 26 as they barricaded the doors of their unit with their cots, covered surveillance cameras, blocked windows, and flooded the unit by clogging the toilets, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The takeover attempt lasted “several hours,” with the detainees ignoring the orders of ICE agents.
Alleged Tren de Aragua gangbangers were seen begging to be sent home by flashing a banner reading “Help, we want to be deported. We are not terrorists. SOS” to a drone overhead this week at the same facility.
And just weeks before, another group of migrants were seen by a Reuters drone forming the letters “SOS” at the Texas detention center.
That photo is something else. Someone is thinking — and organizing — out of the box.
In response to the uprising, DHS is asking the Supreme Court to allow deportations to resume under the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act, which was blocked after the Trump administration deported dozens of alleged gangbangers to El Salvador without giving them a hearing.
“Keeping these foreign terrorists in ICE facilities poses a serious threat to ICE officers, staff, and other detainees,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement.
“The media repeated these TdA gang members’ false sob stories, but the truth is these are members of a foreign terrorist organization that rape, maim, and murder for sport,” she added.
The group was set to be deported to El Salvador’s hellhole CECOT prison, but the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s effort to use the Alien Enemies Act to kick them out of the country.
In the earlier drone footage, alleged Tren de Aragua members Diover Millan, 24, and Jeferson Daniel Escalona Hernandez, 19, were seen in the detention facility yard.
Escalona Hernandez was nabbed in January after he was arrested in Texas for evading arrest in a vehicle and ended up at Guantanamo Bay, where the Trump administration opened a migrant detention center, before being moved to the facility in the Lone Star State.
Escalona Hernandez had “self admitted” to being a Tren de Aragua member, according to DHS.
He denied having any gang affiliation and said he volunteered to get deported home, but was denied permission to do so, in a phone interview with Reuters from the detention center.
The alleged gangbanger said he believed the feds linked him to the gang after viewing photos on his phone of him making hand signals that are popular in Venezuela.
“They’re making false accusations about me,” he said. “I don’t belong to any gang.”
“I fear for my life here,” he said. “I want to go to Venezuela.”
The feds also tagged Millan as a member of Tren de Aragua after he was let go by the Biden administration at the border and later collared by ICE, according to DHS.
Why would they do any of that if they didn't know who was on the other side of the drone, and it looked like they were getting feedback on how to arrange themselves for letters.
And they are uniforms; get a tear drop tat without earning it and see what happens. Getting a gang tat without being in the gang is a death sentence for the owner and the tattooist.
There seems to be some wonderment about why the dems are doing this, why make your platform the release of foreign paramilitary grapist and murderers into the public?
It pairs with their theory of absolute insanity. If you can make a dull, ugly, overweight dude in a dress Director of Health, then anything goes. Same as this, if they can then everyone can stay.
I present as evidence the meme going around, with a Tren de Aragua soldier on one side and the other side has 'Lia' Thompson with the caption Trans de Agua, and everyone is like yup.
So we get this, instead of seeing a drone and expected contraband as usual, they cheese is up for the camera, do some little 1st grade choreography dance, and even remember to use a soccer ball without somebody's scalped face sewn onto it.
#11
^Don't forget the competition among individuals - accusing competitors of deviationism from party line, is a good way to compete.
Oh, poor poor Hogg Mild, really thought his party was one of diversity and change and not what it is a strict orthodoxy, that his ouster was a conspiracy of action waiting for a covering reason.
#13
If you understood Wokeism, you wouldn’t have to ask why the loony Left supports these criminals. I’ll explain. The Woke Left has reduced everything to two categories. The oppressed and the oppressor. If you are white you’re automatically placed in the oppressor category. That includes white males, Christians, Jews and so on. Everyone else falls into the oppressed category and there is a definite hierarchy. I hope this helps.
[Independent] Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary claimed that Donald Trump granting refugee status to white South Africans "has nothing to do with race," even though the president claimed that Afrikaner farmers were facing "genocide" because they "happen to be white."
The MAGA-boosting Canadian businessman also told Fox News on Tuesday that he had no idea "why this particular group gets all this focus." O’Leary added that "every administration has its own policy" on immigration and that he doesn’t "understand this debate at all" over white South Africans getting fast-tracked to citizenship while Trump shuts out most other refugee admissions.
Following his vow in February to cut off all funding to South Africa and "resettle" white Afrikaners in America over a new land expropriation law, Trump announced on Monday that 59 white South African "refugees" were en route to the United States. The president also made it clear he was echoing the debunked "white genocide" conspiracy theory that alleges white farmers in South Africa are being targeted and killed en masse.
"It's a genocide that's taking place that you people don't want to write about," Trump declared in the Oval Office. "It's a terrible thing that's taking place. And farmers are being killed. They happen to be white, but whether they're white or Black makes no difference to me, but white farmers are being brutally killed, and their land is being confiscated in South Africa."
Despite the president’s claims, which have been amplified in recent years by South African-born "first buddy" Elon Musk and right-wing media figures such as Tucker Carlson, there’s no evidence that white farmers are facing a spike in violence and murders. Despite the prevalence of online misinformation that tends to center around a few high-profile cases, it’s estimated that roughly 50 farmers, from different racial backgrounds, were killed last year in a country that recorded over 19,000 murders.
#4
Oh I was trying to confirm who sourced the phrase, "The US needs to adopt a constitution like South Africa's."
Have to share a result:
"Ruth Bader Ginsburg admired the South African Constitution, particularly its emphasis on human rights and an independent judiciary. She viewed it as a "great piece of work" that was more recent and more comprehensive than the U.S. Constitution, praising its deliberate attempt to establish a fundamental instrument of government."
#5
When we toured South Africa in 2016, killing the Boer was happening then. Our guide’s family (Boer) owned a farm in the north. Africans from countries in North Africa “immigrated” to South Africa because they were starving. The best leader was Mandella as he respected all the races in Africa.
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05/14/2025 20:18
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^^And Mandela didnt pull a Mugabe and turn the bread basket of Africa into starvation zone, unfortunately I fear this fate will befall the RSA
It’s so sad ton of Saffers and Rhodesians here in Atlanta, I’ve played, coached and have been coached in rugby by so many…
[KRQE] The Bataan Death March is one of the darkest stories of World War Two when Japanese soldiers forced marched more than 70,000 American and Filipino prisoners more than 60 miles. Thousands died or were killed along the way.
New Mexico veteran Valdemar DeHerrera may be the last living survivor of that march. He survived the death march, the horror that followed, and came home to build a life of love and family. When the Japanese invaded the Philippines and rounded up American soldiers, DeHerrera and his fellow soldiers avoided capture. “And the people that were left there were left to fight. They would not give up. They wanted to fight because they didn’t want to give up. The Philippines. And so they stayed there. They fought until they had no water, no food, no ammo. It became hand-to-hand. Camp combat,” said Valdemar’s daughter, Juanita DeHerrera Clements.
DeHerrera was eventually captured and was part of a second, punishing death march, which was just as lethal as the first. At one point, weak from a lack of food and water, he collapsed on the side of the road. At any point, a Japanese captor would have shot or bayonetted him. But a guardian angel stepped in. “And then he falls. He falls. And this gentleman, Mr. Zacarias, picked him up and carried him, and that’s why he survived,” said Clements.
In the prison camp, food was scarce. But DeHerrera’s time as a boy on a farm in northern New Mexico had given him valuable knowledge. “And so, there were a lot of herbs there. So, dad, to get the herbs back into the camp, would act crazy. And they thought that he was crazy anyway, so he would carry the herbs in his little hat or, you know, do things to where he was able to leave him alone. He’d get the herbs, and he saved a lot of the lives of a lot of the soldiers because they had beriberi, malaria, dysentery,” said Clements.
Even as he suffered, DeHerrera worried about his parents, who were back in Costilla, New Mexico. “Well, of course it’s going to go through your mind. What is my family thinking? What are they going through with what I’m going through, not knowing where I’m at or what’s happening with me?” Clements said.
His time in the camp was its own hell. “One meal a day, rice and rotten, and water. And that was it. But they would work to death too, not only in the, in the cotton fields, but the cotton gins, forced labor. There was a lot of forced labor. Or the Japanese just felt like, I’m just going to go ahead and kill that one over there, why not, you know?” said Clements.
It was a hell that went on, day after day, for three years and seven months. “If they didn’t do their job or they didn’t like the way they did their job, they were beaten severely. They would take their weapons and basically hit them in the back. But anything in the back, from the head down to the, to the tailbone,” said Clements.
When DeHerrera returned to the United States, he weighed just 80 pounds. After spending months in Santa Fe recovering, he ran into an old family friend, 15-year-old Consuelo DeVargas. They would later marry and went on to have six children, five daughters and a son. The two would stay married until her death in 2019. They have 19 grandchildren, 29 great-grandchildren, and four great-great-grandchildren.
To this day, his children carry his service with them. “What does it feel like to have a father who’s had that experience?” “It’s an honor. It’s an honor. The fact that he talked me into going into the army”, said Clements.
DeHerrera retired from the New Mexico Department of Transportation and later worked as a foreman at the nearby mine. The 105-year-old, a long time ago, came to terms with his time in captivity and even the Japanese soldiers who mistreated him.
a surprisingly credible conception of what that terrible experience must have been for some of the men who endured it—the grim attrition of body and mind—is inexorably presented by Metro in a harrowing picture tersely titled "Bataan".
#2
Just note what he went through and today's utes who misplace their 'smart phone' then panic and become totally spastic. The old phrase, "Tough times make tough men. Tough men make good times...."
[UPI] May 13 (UPI) -- Oil and gas producers can accelerate their efforts to make the United States energy independent thanks to streamlined federal oil and gas leasing rules on public lands.
An updated Bureau of Land Management policy expedites the leasing process on public lands to increase the amount available for onshore oil and gas leases, decrease the leasing timeframes and ensure oil and gas lease sales follow federal laws.
"Under President [Donald] Trump's leadership, we are ending the unnecessary delays and bureaucratic roadblocks that have held back American energy production for too long," Adam Suess, acting assistant secretary for land and minerals management, said Tuesday in a news release.
"This policy puts us on a fast track to energy dominance" and sends a "clear message that the United States is serious about job creation, low energy costs and putting American energy first," Suess added.
[Just The News] National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya said poor safety culture, and a feud between employees that risked the leak of an unknown pathogen, prompted him to temporarily shutter the high-level biosafety laboratory at Fort Detrick, Maryland.
Bhattacharya, who was confirmed by the Senate in late March, had only just taken the helm at the agency which was at the center of much COVID-19-era controversy when he received a report about the high-security laboratory that caused his “blood to chill,” he told the Just the News, No Noise TV show on Monday.
He said the lab reported that one researcher slashed a hole in a containment suit of another researcher, potentially exposing them to a pathogen. Seems as though the details eventually emerge.
[Breitbart] A Colorado clinic infamous for late-term abortions has shuttered after 50 years of being open, Associated Press reported.
“It became impossible to continue, but closing is one of the most painful decisions of my life,” 87-year-old clinic founder and late-term abortionist Dr. Warren Hern said of closing the Boulder Abortion Clinic last month.
[Twitchy] House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is issuing threats of retaliation should any Democrats who recently stormed an ICE detention facility in New Jersey be held accountable for their actions. He’s blathering on about ’red lines’ and that there are ’clear lines that they dare not cross.’ Guess line crossing doesn't apply to Democrats. Urges dems to continue to stomp tiny little feets.
[Breitbart] “In addition to purchases of $142 billion of American-made military equipment by our great Saudi partners, the largest ever, this week, there are multibillion dollar commercial deals with Amazon, Oracle, AMD…Uber, Qualcomm, Johnson & Johnson, and many, many more,” the president said.
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[The Hill] A federal judge ruled Tuesday that President Trump can invoke the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) to remove Tren de Aragua members but determined the administration has provided insufficient notice before carrying out the deportations.
U.S. District Judge Stephanie Haines’s ruling contrasts with several other federal judges who have ruled Trump illegally invoked the wartime statute. She says Trump is within his rights to deport members of a foreign terrorist organization — a designation he has made for Tren de Aragua.
Haines, a Trump appointee, emphasized her "unflagging obligation is to apply the law as written."
Will it be challenged, like so much else go all the way to the US Supreme Court?
[RedState] We're still not tired of winning. In the latest, a Turkish company, Mega Metal, is planning to open a 91,000 square foot facility in South Carolina to manufacture a specific, specialized copper wire used in electronics and semiconductors.
The plant is expected to employ more than a hundred local workers.
A Turkey-based copper wire manufacturer announced on Tuesday it is investing $34 million in South Carolina to establish a 91,000-square-foot facility that will manufacture superfine electrolytic oxygen-free (EOF) copper wire in Fairfield County.
Mega Metal, which has more than 700 employees and distributes products to more than 30 countries, said the project will create 135 new jobs.
Once fully operational, the facility is expected to produce 55 million pounds of wire annually.
That's not an enormous amount of wire when compared to the copper industry as a whole, but this is a highly specialized product that's only used in a relatively few applications. Even so, it's a significant development for Fairfield County, South Carolina:
A small amount of chlorine added to the gene pool.
[Breitbart] La Unión de Tepito is the dominant criminal organization in Mexico City and has had various alliances with drug cartels in the past. La Union has been tied to the Sinaloa Cartel and, most recently, to Cartel Jalisco New Generation.
[Bloomberg] Elon Musk said Saudi Arabia will authorize the use of his company SpaceX’s Starlink service for aviation and maritime shipping as the kingdom strikes about $600 billion in investment commitments during President Donald Trump’s visit.
The billionaire announced the news at a summit held in Riyadh and attended by dozens of US executives, including other Big Tech leaders including OpenAI Inc. Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman and Amazon.com Inc. chief Andy Jassy.
Musk also said he displayed his Tesla Inc. Optimus robots doing "the Trump dance," to the president and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman during meetings on Tuesday.
Musk pitched services from across his empire, including robotaxis and The Boring Company tunnels as part of his vision to improve life in Saudi Arabia.
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[Daily Caller] Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Victor Davis Hanson said Tuesday on his show that President Donald Trump’s negotiations with China and other policies could bring a "real economic boom" to the U.S.
The Trump administration began its first negotiations with China on Saturday, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announcing Sunday that "substantial progress" had been made since the tariff war broke out in April. While discussing the issue on "The Victor Davis Hanson Show," Hanson questioned the "outrage" from outlets like the Wall Street Journal and said Trump is trying to save American jobs through his tariff negotiations.
"What Donald Trump is trying to do is to lower the amount of foreign capital and exchange they have at their disposal and save American jobs," Hanson said. "So if he gets this $1.2 dollar surplus down to $500 hundred million — that sounds to me like he might be able to do that. Cut it in half without destroying them. Then wean us off slowly of Chinese dependence. It’s a fantastic boom."
"What’s so weird about it is that every economist that I know of has been warning us ... that it was not sustainable to be running these huge trade deficits," Hanson added. "No other president has really addressed it. No other president has talked about the trade deficit. Nobody’s talked about the budget deficit, not since Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich balanced the budget deficit. Nobody’s talking about the national debt. I never heard Biden — did you ever hear him say one word that we’re paying $3 billion dollars a day in interest? I didn’t."
After Trump announced tariffs against a handful of countries, China responded with retaliatory measures. While the president later placed a 90-day pause on tariffs for all nations except China, the country was hit with a 145% tariff from the U.S.
[Breitbart] A Utah oil magnate and his family are free on bond as they await trial on federal money laundering charges tied to a complex cartel oil smuggling scheme. The family members are charged with smuggling more than $300 million in cartel oil into Texas and then selling it.
In recent days, James Leal Jensen, his wife Kelly Jensen, and their sons Maxwell and Zachary Jensen made various appearances at a federal courthouse in Brownsville, Texas, where they were able to bond out of jail as they await trial.
A U.S. magistrate judge set a bond for James at $200,000, Kelly at $100,000, and Zachary at $100,000. A judge denied a bond for Maxwell during initial hearings, but after several other hearings, he set his bond at $750,000. Court documents show that a 10 percent bond payment has been paid for each of the Jensen family members who have been released awaiting trial.
The four family members are named in a five-count indictment out of the Southern District of Texas, accusing them of helping them smuggle and move thousands of barrels of illegal oil from Mexico.
The oil was illegally smuggled using false documents claiming that it was waste products as a way to hide the origin of the product. Breitbart Texas reported that the oil is tied to Cartel Jalisco New Generation and the Gulf Cartel and was moved into the Jensen’s company, Arroyo Terminals, in South Texas. In a series of raids last month, authorities raided Arroyo Terminals, seizing thousands of barrels of oil, trucks, and other items. Similarly, late last month, authorities raided the Jensens’ mansion in Utah, where they initially arrested the couple.
As Breitbart Texas reported, soon after Jensen’s arrest and raids, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced a series of actions targeting stolen cartel oil operations. In these operations, stolen crude oil is smuggled into the United States disguised as waste to avoid scrutiny and evade taxes and regulations. That oil is then delivered to U.S. companies that sell it at a steep discount on the U.S. and global markets, with the proceeds going back to Mexico.
[FOX] Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday called out members of Congress for allegedly assaulting law enforcement officers during a heated altercation outside a Newark immigration detention center last week.
Noem criticized the lawmakers for defending their actions as a supposed "oversight." Appearing on ‘Jesse Watters Prime,’ Noem accused the lawmakers of committing criminal behavior.
"This wasn't oversight. This was committing felonies. This was going out and attacking people who stand up for the rule of law. And it was absolutely horrible," Noem said.
[FoxNews] US envoy traveling to Qatar for talks on a possible ceasefire in Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday pledged to move against Hamas with "full force" in the coming days to "complete" the fight against the Iran-backed terror group.
Netanyahu made the remarks about the war in Gaza while visiting with Israel Defense Forces reservists.
"In the coming days, we are going in with full force to complete the operation," Netanyahu said. "Completing the operation means defeating Hamas. It means destroying Hamas."
Netanyahu said that eliminating Hamas and freeing the remaining hostages that the group took during its deadly attack on Oct. 7, 2023, "go hand in hand."
"It’s possible that Hamas will say, ‘Time out — we want to release ten more [hostages].’ Fine, bring them. We’ll take them, and then we’ll go in," the prime minister said. "But there will not be a situation in which we stop the war. There may be a temporary cease-fire, but we’re going all the way."
With Hamas' release of Israeli American hostage Edan Alexander on Monday, there are 58 hostages now being held in Gaza. Netanyahu's remarks came just before Alexander was released.
[FoxNews] Pete Buttigieg, under attack from Trump over his job as Biden's transportation secretary, says now is not the time to 'point fingers or blame other people'. "Especially me"
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Daniil Pelymov
[REGNUM] One hundred years ago, on May 13, 1925, the III All-Union Congress of Soviets unanimously decided to include two new republics into the Soviet Union - the Uzbek SSR and the Turkmen SSR. But this was not an expansion of borders.
Later, in 1939-1940, the number of union republics and the size of two of them expanded along with the state's borders (the annexation of Western Ukraine, Western Belarus, the Baltics and Bessarabia). But that was still a long way off.
And in 1925, there was talk of “redevelopment with the transfer of walls” within the recently established USSR. The Soviet government, on the orders of the ruling All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), redrew the borders in the sands and oases of Turkestan.
This was done in fulfillment of Lenin’s principles of national policy, which were based on the right of nations to self-determination, including secession, as well as “indigenization,” that is, the implantation of the languages of the titular peoples, and the creation (sometimes from scratch) of national elites.
Those who, against the backdrop of the war with the Basmachi, drew the administrative borders of the Central Asian republics, of course, did not predict that 65 years later the country would disintegrate along these borders. That the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century would be marked by new civil wars, uprisings (similar to the Andijan rebellion of 2005), the death and exodus of the “alien population” – the Russians.
And that “low-intensity conflicts” will regularly flare up on the borders of the former fraternal republics.
TO THE BORDERS OF THE 17TH CENTURY
At first glance, to understand the scale of national-territorial demarcation, it is enough to look at two maps of Soviet Central Asia.
Until 1925, the territory of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (as the abbreviation RSFSR was then deciphered) extended to the borders with Persia and Afghanistan. Within the RSFSR were the Kirghiz (Kazakh) ASSR with its center in Orenburg and the Turkestan ASSR with its center in Tashkent.
Two people's Soviet republics were included in the territory of the Russian Federation: the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic, created on the site of the Khiva Khanate occupied by the Bolsheviks, and the Bukhara People's Soviet Republic, organized, accordingly, on the territory of the former Bukhara Emirate.
After the territorial demarcation, Orenburg was "withdrawn" from the Kazakh ASSR, whose capital moved to the city of Perovsk (renamed then to Kzyl-Orda, or - translated from Kazakh - Krasnoarmeysk). To the south of the Kazakh Autonomous Republic, two autonomous regions were allocated - Karakalpak and Kara-Kyrgyz. For now, part of the RSFSR.
Eleven years later, in 1936, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan went from being autonomous regions to full-fledged union republics, and the Russian border acquired its current form, roughly corresponding to the borders of the Russian kingdom in the first half of the 17th century.
But in order to appreciate the significance of this shift in the administrative boundaries of the union republics, it is necessary to briefly recall how Russia moved to the southeast from the end of the 16th to the beginning of the 20th century.
SEMEY AND PETROPAVL
In the last year of Ivan the Terrible's life, in 1584, several hundred Don and Lower Volga Cossacks marched east and occupied the lands of the Nogai Khans along the Yaik River. The history of the Yaik Cossack Host began from that moment. After the suppression of the Pugachev rebellion in 1775, the Yaik Host was renamed the Ural Host, and the military capital, Yaitsky Gorodok, founded in the same 1584, was named Uralsk. This city, which retained its historical name, is the oldest in the European part of independent Kazakhstan.
During the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, in 1640, the merchant Guriy Nazaryev built a fort at the mouth of the Yaik River into the Caspian Sea - the city of Guryev that arose here bore this name until 1991. Now it is the regional center of Atyrau.
Under Peter the Great, in 1718, a detachment of the voivode Vasily Cheredov built the Semipalatnaya fortress in the southern Siberian steppe near the Irtysh, around which the city of Semipalatinsk (now Semey in Kazakhstan) arose. In those same years, in the same place, in the Irtysh region, the Cossacks built the Koryakovsky outpost, where a village of the same name would later arise, which in the 19th century became a city named Pavlodar.
In 1720, by decree of Peter I, the "capital" of Rudny Altai, the fortress of Ust-Kamenogorsk, was founded to strengthen the borders of the Russian state and explore gold veins in the upper reaches of the Irtysh. It is still known as the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk (now the center of the East Kazakhstan region).
Simultaneously with the advancement of the Russian Tsardom, and then the Russian Empire, into the steppe, there was also a counter movement.
In 1731, the Chingizid Abulkhair, khan of the Younger Zhuz (a Kazakh tribal union that roamed from the Southern Urals to the Syr Darya), asked for Russian citizenship, counting on help in the fight against the Dzungar Khanate. Abulkhair and the heads of 27 clans swore allegiance to Empress Anna Ioannovna on the Koran.
But even after this, the southeastern steppes remained permeable to raids on the Russian frontier by slave traders from three Central Asian states, fragments of Tamerlane’s empire – from Bukhara, Khiva and the Kokand Khanate.
Under Elizabeth Petrovna and Catherine the Great, fortified lines were built to protect against the nomadic Dzungars and Kyrgyz-Kaisaks of the Middle Zhuz: the Tobolsk-Ishim and Irtysh lines, from Tomsk and Omsk through Ust-Kamenogorsk to Semipalatinsk. A logical continuation were the defensive lines in the steppes near Orenburg, founded in 1730.
Note that in the first half of the 18th century, with a difference of 12 years, the empire founded two outposts with the same name - Petropavlovsk: on Kamchatka and on the bank of the Irtysh tributary, the Ishim River. In modern Kazakhstani documentation, this city is called Petropavl.
At the beginning of the 19th century, on the frontier from the lower reaches of the Yaik-Ural to Altai, on the lands of the Orenburg and Siberian Cossack troops, there were 46 fortresses and 96 redoubts. But the logic of history prompted the empire to move further south.
OUTRUN THE LION
In the early 1820s, the Kokand Khan carried out a devastating raid on the Kazakh nomad camps. At the same time, the ruler of the Middle Zhuz, Vali Khan, transferred his subjects under the protection of Russia. According to the "Charter on the Siberian Kirghiz" developed under Alexander I, the Kazakhs were introduced to Russian-style governance and legal proceedings. A little later, in 1830, the Cossack outpost of Akmolinsk appeared on the Ishim River, which, after changing many names, became the capital of Kazakhstan - Astana.
In 1839–1840, Russia organized its first campaign against Khiva, the center of the slave trade in Central Asia. Vasily Perovsky’s expedition was unsuccessful, but it was only the beginning of counterattacks in response to the raids.
It was no longer just a matter of protecting villages, peasant settlers and "peaceful foreigners" who had sworn allegiance to Russia, but also of the great game that had begun between two empires, the Russian and the British. The Chinese Qing Empire also laid claim to Central Asia, but its forces were incomparable with the might of the "bear" and the "lion".
The empire was forced to move further, relying on new southern outposts such as Lepsinsk (founded in 1846), the Perovsk fort (Kzyl-Orda) built in 1853, the Vernoye fortification built a year later (also known as the Cossack village of Vernaya, the city of Verny), and, finally, the southern capital of Kazakhstan, Alma-Ata.
In 1865, General Mikhail Chernyaev took Tashkent by storm, which became the main stronghold in the region. Cossacks of the new Semirechye army (with its center in Verny) and settlers from Central Russia rushed here. Thus, in 1868, peasants from the Penza, Samara, Voronezh and Tambov provinces founded the settlement of Pishpek (now the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek) near the Verny tract. Only later did the Sarts join the Great Russians - sedentary Turks from Tashkent and the centers of the Fergana Valley: Namangan, Kokand and others.
The imperial government abolished the remainder of the Kokand Khanate in 1876. In response to a series of uprisings, troops under the command of the "white general", the future hero of the Russo-Turkish War Mikhail Skobelev, entered the Khan's headquarters. The Russians began to develop the former Kokand lands much earlier. So much so that already in 1869 Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin could satirically describe the " Tashkent gentlemen " - officials in the newly annexed territories.
"WHO BUILDS SCHOOLS, BUILDS THE FUTURE"
Events in the Khanate of Khiva and the Emirate of Bukhara developed somewhat differently. In 1866, in the battles of Irdjai and Chapan-Ata, the troops of Adjutant General Konstantin Kaufman routed the army of the Emir of Bukhara, Muzaffar. Two years later, Samarkand was captured. In all cases, Russian soldiers released slaves. In 1868, the Emir of Bukhara concluded an agreement with Russia: the ruler of the faithful retained the throne, but Russia received the right to station garrisons and determine foreign policy. The territories from the Pamirs to the middle reaches of the Amu Darya were no longer in danger of becoming another pearl of the British crown.
A similar fate awaited the Khiva Khanate. After a quick campaign in 1873, Kaufman signed a treaty with Khan Seid Muhammad Rahim II : Khiva freed the slaves and transferred most of its possessions to Russian Turkestan.
In the late 1870s and early 1880s, it was time to "pacify" the warlike Turkmens (some of whom were vassals of Khiva). The port of Krasnovodsk on the Caspian Sea, now called Turkmenbashi, was founded in 1869 by the expedition of General and scientist-geographer Nikolai Stoletov. And since the 1880s, the border village of Askhabad has turned into a fast-growing city, the center of the Trans-Caspian region.
At the same time, "soft power" was taking root in the vassal states. "Whoever builds schools in Bukhara, builds the future" - so said the participant of the Central Asian campaigns, artist Vasily Vereshchagin.
Always.
At the end of the 19th century, with the demarcation of the borders in the Pamirs, the "Great Game" in Central Asia seemed to be won by Russia. According to the 1897 census, of the 7 million 746 thousand inhabitants of Turkestan (present-day Central and Southern Kazakhstan and Central Asia), 770 thousand were Russian-speaking - Great Russians, Little Russians, Belarusians, Poles and Germans.
By 1913, the settlers were cultivating the fields of Semirechye and Fergana, working in the mines of Rudny Altai and in the oil fields of the Ural-Embinsky region, and working on the Trans-Caspian, Semirechye, and Altai railways (the last two lines would serve as the basis for the Soviet Turksib). One of the elements of Pyotr Stolypin's agrarian reform was the project to resettle 100,000 peasants from the central provinces to Turkestan.
ANOTHER "BALKANS"
As for the indigenous population, the situation was almost as confusing as the infamous ethnic patchwork in the Balkans.
Under the rule of the rulers of Bukhara and Khiva and in Russian Turkestan lived the Turkic-speaking Uzbeks and "Kipchaks" (as the ruling class called themselves), Turkmens and Karakalpaks close to the Kazakhs. But in the same Bukhara and Samarkand lived many who spoke Persian and called themselves Tajiks. Often people who spoke different languages settled in different quarters of the same city. This was the case, for example, in the settlement of Dushanbe-Kurgan, the current capital of Tajikistan.
The ethnonyms were not established either - the Kazakh zhuzes were called Kyrgyz and Kyrgyz-Kaisaks for a long time, and the modern Kyrgyz ethnic group was called Kara-Kirghiz. It was quite complicated with the above-mentioned Sarts, who simply spoke "Turkic", but often had Persian roots.
And this ethnic diversity, after the upheavals of the civil war and the “march of Soviet power,” had to be territorially demarcated.
According to a number of authors, the civil strife in Central Asia lasted not from 1918 to 1922, but from 1916 (a series of uprisings of the local population against mobilization for rear work, the Russian administration and settlers) until the suppression of organized Basmachi by the end of the 1930s.
The history of the civil war in Turkestan requires a detailed description. Let us just note that, for example, the Fergana Peasant Army under the command of Konstantin Monstrov, a migrant from Syzran, managed to fight for both the Reds and Kolchak's forces. Both times against the Basmachi, who were slaughtering settlers.
And the former leader of the Young Turks, Enver Pasha, who had moved to Turkestan, first acted on the side of the Red Army as an emissary of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs of the RSFSR to combat the Basmachi, and soon as a kurbashi (general) of the Basmachi with the blessing of the Emir of Bukhara. But in all cases, this nationalist pan-Turkist acted against the settlers. "Things are going the way I wanted... Many Russians were killed," Enver reported in 1921.
"THERE WAS A FIERCE STRUGGLE"
Despite all the confusion “on the ground,” the Soviet government steadfastly followed the general line formulated in Vladimir Lenin’s letter to the communists of Turkestan in November 1919: “Make every effort to prove… the sincerity of our desire to eradicate all traces of Great Russian imperialism.”
As in other outskirts of the former empire, the party in the 1920s relied on the nationally minded intelligentsia. In the case of Bukhara and Khiva, this was the left wing of the Jadids (“enlighteners,” nationalists, and Islamic modernists), who, in particular, proposed using the original Turkic ethnonym “Uzbek” instead of the word of unclear origin “Sart.”
In 1920, under the supervision of Mikhail Frunze and his troops, "revolutions" took place in the multi-ethnic Bukhara and Khiva. But the overthrow of the emir and khan and the creation of republics under flags with a crescent, star, sickle and hammer were only an interim solution. Then it was time for "national building".
As Vyacheslav Molotov recalled at the end of his life, the implementation of Lenin’s national policy in Central Asia was entirely the merit of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Joseph Stalin, as a great specialist in nationality affairs (and the People’s Commissar for the field in 1917–1923).
"The creation of the Central Asian republics and the border was entirely Stalin's work. There was a fierce struggle. The Kazakhs, for example, their top brass, fought for Tashkent, wanted it to be their capital... Stalin gathered them... looked at the borders and said: Tashkent to the Uzbeks, and Verny, Alma-Ata to the Kazakhs," Molotov said. An equally difficult task was how to divide the Khorezm oasis between the new national states, the Uzbek and Turkmen SSRs. Or how to divide the Fergana Valley between Uzbekistan and the Kara-Kyrgyz Autonomous Region, still part of the Russian Federal Republic.
However, as recent history has shown, the “filigree” of national borders with enclaves and semi-enclaves did not protect against ethnic cleansing (for example, the massacre in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, in 1990) or border conflicts in the 2020s.
The fact that the city of Skobelev (Fergana) should go to Uzbekistan, Krasnovodsk to Turkmenistan, and Przhevalsk (modern name Karakol) to Kyrgyzstan, did not raise any questions in 1925. It is also not surprising that, in fulfillment of the “desire to eradicate traces of Great Russian chauvinism,” the Kazakh ASSR with its capital in Orenburg included cities of the former Ural, Omsk and Semipalatinsk regions of the Russian Empire.
As is known, in the discussions of 1922 on the principles of creating the Soviet state, "People's Commissariat of Nationalities" Stalin defended the plan of autonomization. National formations were to become a garland of autonomies around the Russian SFSR without the right to secede.
But - again, as is well known - in Moscow in 1922, the Leninist approach of creating equal Soviet states (as the core of the communist " United States of the World ") with the right of each national republic to secession prevailed. Stalin accepted this principle and continued to adhere to it in the 1930s and 1940s, when creating new SSRs - Kazakh, Kirghiz, Tajik and others.
The Central Asian countries that emerged in 1991 within the administrative borders drawn in 1925 have emerged as national states with which modern Russia maintains friendly and, in some cases, allied relations. But for the fact that in the 1990s Russians and other “non-titular peoples” who had lived here for generations found themselves in the position of unwanted migrants, one cannot help but say “thank you” to the creators of Lenin’s national policy.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 20:46 The Anvar unit destroys Ukrainian Armed Forces militants in Sumy and Chernihiv regions —video. 20:23 Destruction of a French wheeled tank AMX 10 by drone operators of the Siberian association. Pokrovsk direction —video.
19:27 Night footage of TOS-1A "Solntsepyok" strikes on enemy positions in the village of Chasov Yar —video.
18:53 Destruction of a group of Ukrainian Armed Forces that fled to their positions after an unsuccessful assault. Pokrovskoe direction —video.
18:21 Destruction of the enemy's rear infrastructure in the Kherson region —video.
17:25 Russian Ministry of Defense:
From 13:30 to 15:30 Moscow time by air defense systems on duty destroyed two Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles of the airplane type:
One over the territory of the Belgorod region and
One over the territory of the Kursk region.
16:53 Sappers of the assault detachment of the 44th army Corps of the North group of forces demined evacuation routes in the Khar'kov direction.
At night, the enemy carried out remote mining using UAVs. Using a sapper cat, the servicemen carried out trawling.
After checking the mine for the presence of tilt and vibration sensors, the attack aircraft destroyed the drop with an overhead charge.
16:27 Governor of Belgorod Region Vyacheslav Gladkov:
The village of Novaya Tavolzhanka in the Shebekinsky District fell under shelling by Armed Forces of Ukraine. A civilian was wounded.
Self-defense fighters took a woman with a shrapnel wound to her leg to the Shebekinskaya Central Regional Hospital. For further treatment, the victim will be transferred to Belgorod City Hospital No. 2. A private home was damaged, information about other consequences is being clarified.
15:56 FPV drone crew destroyed Ukrainian armored personnel carrier BTR-3DA in Krasnolimansk direction —video.
15:05 Around 13:30 Moscow time by air defense systems on duty destroyed one Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle of the airplane type over the territory of the Belgorod region.
14:45 122mm Grad MLRS crews of the 36th Army of the Vostok group hit at the temporary deployment points of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the area of the settlements of Fedorovka and Komar in the South Donetsk direction.
The fire strike inflicted significant damage on the enemy, destroying its camouflaged shelters, ammunition depots and transport infrastructure.
14:22 Calculations of FPV drones of the Rubicon Center struck manpower, armored vehicles, UAVs and firing positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the zone of a special military operation.
13:25 From 11:00 to 12:15 Moscow time by air defense systems on duty destroyed three Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles of the airplane type:
Two over the territory of the Belgorod region and
One over the territory of the Kursk region.
13:15 Summary of the Russian Defense Ministry on the progress of the Special Operation in Ukraine as of May 13, 2025
Units of the North group of forces inflicted defeat of concentrations of manpower and equipment of a mechanized brigade, an assault regiment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and a territorial defense brigade in the areas of the populated areas of Atynskoye, Ryzhevka, Pavlovka and Bessalovka in Sumy Oblast.
Units of the "West" group of forces improved their tactical position. They defeated formations of three mechanized, two assault brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and a territorial defense brigade in the areas of the settlements of Monachinovka, Nechvolodovka, Kupyansk in the Khar'kov region, Kirovsk, Redkodub and Yampol in the Donetsk People's Republic.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces' losses over the past day amounted to 1,375 servicemen, 65 vehicles, four tanks, 14 field artillery guns, 17 armored combat vehicles, three artillery guns, five ammunition depots and six electronic warfare stations.
The units of the "Southern" group of troops occupied more advantageous lines and positions. They defeated the manpower and equipment of three mechanized and airmobile brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the areas of the settlements of Seversk, Serebryanka, Konstantinovka, Pleshcheyevka, Ilyinovka, Ivanopolye, Zarya and Chasov Yar of the Donetsk People's Republic.
The decisive actions of the units of the "Center" group of forces liberated the settlement of Mirolyubovka in the Donetsk People's Republic.
Formations of four mechanized, a Jaeger, two assault brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, a naval infantry brigade and three National Guard brigades were defeated in the areas of the settlements of Aleksandropol, Novoaleksandrivka, Ulyanovka, Novoolenovka, Novaya Poltavka, Petrovskoye, Dimitrov, Krasnoarmeysk and Novosergeevka of the Donetsk People's Republic.
Units of the "East" group of forces continued to advance into the depths of the enemy's defense. They defeated the manpower and equipment of three mechanized and airmobile brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, a naval infantry brigade, two territorial defense brigades and a national guard brigade in the areas of the settlements of Voskresenka, Alekseyevka, Bogatyr, Komar and Volnoye Pole of the Donetsk People's Republic.
Units of the Dnepr group of forces defeated formations of a mechanized, mountain assault brigade, two coastal defense brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and a territorial defense brigade in the areas of the settlements of Stepovoe, Lukyanivske in the Zaporizhia region, Ponyatovka, Tokarevka and Sadovoe in the Kherson region.
Operational-tactical aviation, strike unmanned aerial vehicles, missile forces and artillery of the Russian Armed Forces groups hit the assembly shop for the Bogdan self-propelled artillery units, as well as temporary deployment points for Ukrainian Armed Forces units and foreign mercenaries in 132 districts.
Air defense systems shot down eight JDAM guided aerial bombs and a US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system, as well as 74 aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles.
12:34 Russian Ministry of Defense:
From 08:20 to 11:30 Moscow time by air defense systems on duty destroyed three Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles of the airplane type:
Two over the territory of the Belgorod region and
One over the territory of the Republic of Crimea.
12:08 Crews of 152mm 2S19 Msta-S self-propelled howitzers of the 1st Guards Tank Army of the West group of forces destroyed mortar crews, armored vehicles, drone takeoff points and Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel —video.
11:28 Snipers of the 18th Combined Arms Army of the Dnepr group of forces pass intensive combat training at a training ground in the Kherson region.
During training, fighters improve their skills in shooting, camouflage, observation and working in various conditions.
"The guys need to determine the distance to the target, coordinate their position. Always choose the right position for themselves. They always work in pairs, coordinate each other. There is a shooter and an observer. In case of a mistake by the shooter, the observer can always eliminate the target," said the sniper platoon commander with the call sign "Persian".
10:53 The failure of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region - analysis of the Telegram channel "Fisherman» about the enemy's attempt to advance into the border area
On the eve of Victory Day celebrations, Ukrainian formations made another attempt to break through the state border in Kursk Oblast, this time in Glushkovsky District. Having concentrated personnel in the border area of Sumy District, the Ukrainian Armed Forces tried to break through in the area of the villages of Tetkino and Novy Put, but failed, losing several dozen armored vehicles.
More details about the chronology of battles in the area:
– On May 5, Ukrainian formations advanced from Ryzhevka to Tetkino, simultaneously attacking Russian positions from Iskriskovshchina. In the area of the latter, the engineering equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and assault groups were stopped by counter artillery fire and drone strikes.
– At the same time, the enemy concentrated forces to the north, occupying positions in the village of Otruba and the Gryadki tract, located on the right bank of the Seim River, but did not attempt to force the water barrier.
- The next day, the Ukrainian Armed Forces units began making breaches in the "dragon's teeth" on the approaches to the village of Novy Put, but here, too, they had no significant success. Thanks to the Russian Armed Forces' aerial reconnaissance, the Ukrainian equipment that had moved out of its positions was identified and destroyed in advance.
– At the moment, despite the declared three-day truce, fighting is underway in Tetkino in the area of Chapaeva and Pogranichnaya streets. In addition, according to some reports, members of Ukrainian formations are trying to attack further east, from the direction of Sumy's Bessalovka.
As we have already said earlier, the enemy command does not plan to retreat and will repeatedly issue orders demanding that they consolidate at least a small area of the Kursk region in order to neutralize the negative media effect from the loss of positions in the Sudzhansky district.
10:21 Criminal Kyiv regime continues to shell the civilian infrastructure of populated areas on the left bank of the Kherson region.
Yesterday, during the day, the Ukrainian Armed Forces released:
– Six rounds in the village of Novaya Kakhovka;
– Three rounds to the settlement of Novaya Mayachka;
– Two rounds in the village of Golaya Pristan;
– Four rounds to the settlement of Velikiye Kopani;
– Five rounds to the village of Aleshki;
– According to n.p. Gornostaevka three rounds;
- Two rounds in the village of Zavodovka.
As a result of the attack by Ukrainian drones on Chelburda, four civilians were killed and one was injured, in Golaya Prystan one person was injured, in Novaya Kakhovka two apartment buildings and one private house were damaged.During the night, the Kiev regime continued to shell civilian infrastructure in the villages of Novaya Kakhovka, Kazachi Lagerya, Korsunka, Velyka Lepetikha, and Dnepryany, firing a total of 20 rounds from cannon artillery.
Civilian casualties and infrastructure destruction are being clarified.
9:55 Russian operators destroyed Ukrainian T-72 tank deployed to support combat groups of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Liptsov direction.
9:31 Bomber aviation of the 11th Guards Army of the Air Force and Air Defense Group "Vostok" struck Ukrainian positions in the areas of Novoukrainka and Shevchenko.
9:00 In the South Donetsk direction, servicemen of the 29th Army of the Vostok group are smashing the enemy and taking control of his strongholds in the area of the settlement of Bogatyr.
8:35 AM Summary for May 13, 2025
There is an enemy in the Bryansk region continues shelling of the border area. The enemy is also remotely mining roads. Yesterday, the regional governor reported that a remote explosive device detonated while a civilian vehicle was moving on the Suzemka-Strachovo highway, and two civilians were injured by shrapnel.
– A difficult situation is developing in the Kursk border area in the Tetkino area. The enemy is trying to isolate the combat zone, has disrupted supplies by striking bridges and crossings, and is cutting off our forward units with drones.
The enemy does not abandon attempts to break through to the territory of the Kursk region, despite losses, reports the GrT Sever. Our forces are inflicting complex fire damage on the approaching enemy reserves, preventing them from engaging in combat.
Our troops are also disrupting the logistics of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Sumy region along the route: Sumy-Putivl-Glukhov, movement is carried out through the city of Konotop. The Ukrainian authorities have announced the evacuation of civilians from the settlements of Novaya Sloboda and Maryanovka.
In another direction, Pavlovka-Novy Put, an attempt to advance an assault group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to the state border has been uncovered. Most of the enemy infantry has been destroyed, four Ukrainian servicemen have been taken prisoner.
– In the Sumy direction, the Russian Armed Forces are conducting offensive operations in strongholds in the villages of Belovody and Loknya, as well as in nearby forest plantations.
- In the Krasnolimansk direction, they report battles near the villages of Kolodezi, Lipovoye, Novomikhaylovka and in the direction of Grekovka. The enemy records the arrival of our reserves.
– In the Konstantinovsky direction, the ongoing offensive of the Russian Armed Forces is known. There are battles at the Mirolyubovskoye Reservoir, the villages of Vodyanoye Vtoroye, Malinovka and Novaya Poltavka.
– In the Dnepropetrovsk direction, the Group of Forces “Center” has planted a flag in Kotlyarovka, and assault operations are continuing in the northern and southwestern directions.
- In the South Donetsk direction, there are battles for the settlement of Bogatyr, our units of the GrV "Vostok" are advancing from the southern part of the development. To the southeast, the Russian Armed Forces have formed a salient of the front in the direction of the settlement of Komar, wedging themselves between the settlements of Vesyoloye and Otradnoye.
In Kherson, they reported that the Ukrainian Armed Forces' strike on the settlement of Chelburda in the Oleshky district resulted in the death of four people and one was injured. In Hola Prystan, a local resident was also injured. The enemy also shelled Novaya Kakhovka, Oleshky, Kakhovka, Kairy, Kazachi Lagerya, Kamenka, Korsunka, Knyaze-Grigoryevka, Malokakhovka, Novaya Zburyevka, Novaya Mayachka, Novofedorovka, Rybalche.
8:00 Units of the Russian Armed Forces broke through enemy defenses in Verkhnekamenskoye and entered the industrial zone in the southern part, as well as at the school.
Further north, up to Grigorovka, our units continue to conduct active offensive operations and attack in the direction of Belaya Gora, south of Grigorovka.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] There are many unclear points in the story of the demolition of the mosque in Leninaul, but the decision to demolish it was hasty and provoked interethnic tensions, commentators pointed out, drawing attention to the lack of reaction to the statement of the Chechen Accidents by the Chechen authorities.
As reported by the "Caucasian Knot", in Leninaul, Kazbekovsky District, Dagestan, despite agreements with the authorities, a Chechen mosque built in the 19th century was demolished, village residents stated in a video message. The plot of land in Leninaul, where, according to representatives of the Chechen community, the 19th century mosque was located, was sold at auction to a representative of the Avar community, who transferred it for the construction of a mosque. The authorities did not find any documents in the archives indicating that this plot belonged to the Chechens, the administration of the Kazbekovsky District stated.
The position of the Kazbekovsky District authorities regarding the mosque was commented on by a reader of the "Caucasian Knot" with the nickname williams.
"Pointing out that no evidence has been found in the archives that this land belonged to the Chechens, as well as the fact that "15 years ago there was a store there" and so on, is simply an attempt to present the Chechens in a negative light. Both the Chechens and the Dagestanis and the Ingush and all the other peoples of the Caucasus know very well who owned, owns and should own what land. After the deportation of the Chechens in 1944, all the Chechen lands were populated by neighbors and people brought from the Russian hinterland. Moreover, after the return of the Chechens in 1957 and subsequent years from Kazakhstan, many refused to return their homes to them," he wrote.
It seems that this decision was purely political.
"If this mosque was built in the 19th century, then it is at least a historical site. Moreover, according to Islam, demolition of mosques is prohibited. It turns out that from both a moral-ethical and religious point of view, this decision was wrong. We should know how the local authorities explain their decision? Why was it not restored, but demolished? It seems that this decision was purely political," added a reader with the nickname nicole.johnson.
The indifference of the Chechen authorities regarding this situation is also surprising.
Another reader wondered whether the local authorities had deliberately misled the villagers.
"The indifference of the Chechen authorities regarding this situation is also surprising. Kadyrov allocated funds for the reconstruction of ancient mosques in Syria or the construction of new ones in various regions of Russia and beyond (even in Israel), but for some reason he did not find the time or the funds to resolve the issue with the ancient mosque in neighboring Dagestan. The Kremlin ordered not to interfere?" asked dennis_toy.
"The demolition of the mosque in Aktash-Aukh, built by the ancestors of the Chechens who lived there, looks more like a provocation," said mason.franecki.
"Chechens lived on these lands, but this is all the territory of Dagestan," a user with the nickname Telegram emphasized in the Telegram channel of the "Caucasian Knot."
A video was also published online in which a man who introduced himself as the former imam of the village of Leninaul (from 2012 to 2016) ( he gave his name illegibly, - note from the "Caucasian Knot" ) said that at the request of the Akkinskaya community, the head of the village transferred to them a mosque located next to school No. 2 for use in accordance with the purposes of the activities of religious bodies.
Another mosque, on Gubakhanova Street, was transferred to the Avar community. "The decree clearly describes the purpose of transferring the mosque. But, unfortunately, these two mosques remain closed to visitors. Whereas next to Leninaulskaya Secondary School No. 2 there is an urgent need for a neighborhood mosque," he said in the video, which was published by the Telegram channel "Shtab Dagestan".
Until recently, no one even hinted that the building demolished on 05/07/2025 was a mosque.
According to him, "until recently, no one even hinted that the building demolished on May 7, 2025 was a mosque."
"This building was a store. Around 2020, a village resident bought the plot along with the building, and the store was converted into a prayer room. A mihrab and a small room for ablution were added. Due to the fact that the prayer room was not enough for the parishioners, after agreeing with the legal owner of the site, a decision was made to build a mosque and madrasah on this site and demolish the old building. It was decided to demolish the building on May 7, since asphalt was planned to be laid in front of the administrative center and in front of the new mosque on May 8. The new mosque is not Avar or Chechen, it is the house of Allah," he said in the video.
He also called on the Accident brothers "not to mislead people by distributing videos with false information, thereby raising provocative issues."
In the Telegram channel of Tumso Abdurakhmanov*, the message about the demolition of the mosque had garnered 613 comments by 21:21 Moscow time.
"It is first and foremost Muslim, and only then Chechen. Who would dare to demolish it? We need to find out the truth, maybe it was already dilapidated?" - wrote Jamal.
"Divide and rule. The elite divides the lands so that the inhabitants are in eternal feud," Bratishka wrote.
Most of the comments left by users concern the relationship between the village residents, as well as Dagestan and Chechnya, and contain harsh assessments of the situation in Leninaul.
"I appeal to the Dagestanis. Make a video message to the authorities and say that you do not want enmity between brothers," Freedom suggested.
The Aukhovsky district, where the Chechens-Akkintsy lived compactly, was liquidated in 1944 after Stalin's deportation of the Chechens and Ingush. In the northwestern part of the district's territory, the Novolaksky District was formed, this part was populated by Laks from the mountainous part of Dagestan, and the southeastern part of the district was transferred to the neighboring Kazbekovsky District together with the villages of Yurt-Aukh and Aktash-Aukh and populated by Avars from the neighboring village. Thirteen years later, in 1957, the Akkin Chechens, like the rest of the deported Vainakh peoples, were allowed to return to their historical homeland.
Let us recall that the restoration of the Aukhovsky district, which was planned to be completed by 2025, has actually been stopped for many years, the resettlement of the Laks and the construction of new houses have been disrupted, Dagestani activists state.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] The battle for Pokrovsk continues.
On the night of May 13, Russian occupation forces advanced within the city of Toretsk, as well as near several populated areas in the Pokrovsk direction in the Donetsk region.
Russia may be preparing for a new, larger offensive, the Financial Times reports, citing sources in Ukrainian intelligence. According to the Ukrainian monitoring project DeepState, Russian troops this week captured territory in the eastern part of the Donetsk region, around the cities of Pokrovsk and Toretsk. TENSE DIRECTION
The Ukrainian project DeepState has updated the map of the advance of Russian troops and reported that they have advanced in Toretsk and in the area of populated areas in the Pokrovsk direction.
“The enemy has advanced in Toretsk, near Romanovka and Novoolenevka,” analysts write.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine previously reported that since the beginning of Monday, 133 combat clashes have occurred on the front, while in the Pokrovsk direction, the Ukrainian military stopped 50 enemy assault actions.
In the Toretsk direction, Russian troops stormed Ukrainian positions six times, and two of the clashes have not yet ended, the General Staff reported on Monday evening.
THE WEST THREATENS SANCTIONS
French President Emmanuel Macron said live on the French TV channel TF1 that if Russia does not agree to a 30-day ceasefire, European leaders intend to return to the issue of sanctions. Macron noted that several dozen packages of sanctions have already been introduced against Russia, but if Russia does not want to cease fire, then in the coming days they will discuss new sanctions - "in close contact with the United States of America," the French president emphasized.
Macron also spoke out against the seizure of frozen Russian assets, noting that there is no legal framework for this.
At the same time, European leaders are ready to wait until a possible meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin in Turkey before pushing the US to announce new sanctions against Moscow, Bloomberg writes, citing informed sources.
After conversations between American and European officials on Monday, it became clear that the American side wanted to provide an opportunity for talks between Russia and Ukraine on Thursday before increasing pressure on Putin, the publication said.
If Putin refuses to meet with Zelensky or Russia does not agree to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire on Thursday, European leaders will call on U.S. President Donald Trump to follow through on his threat to impose sanctions on Moscow, the sources said.
The Trump administration has prepared options for the US president to put more economic pressure on Russia if he decides to do so, Bloomberg reported earlier. Trump himself said on May 8 that the US and its partners would impose additional sanctions if there is no ceasefire.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said that at meetings with the heads of the Foreign Ministries of Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland and the European Union, as well as the French Minister for European Affairs, they discussed possible future sanctions against Russia. They could affect the banking sector, energy and the Central Bank.
The package being prepared may also include, in particular, sanctions against the Russian shadow fleet.
“Putin must understand the consequences of abandoning efforts for a peaceful settlement and continuing the war,” Sibiga emphasized.
[NYPOST] The leader of Hamas has been targeted in fresh Israeli missile strikes on Gaza on Tuesday, the IDF has announced.
It is not clear whether he is dead or alive. Schrödinger: "Why not both?" Muhammad Sinwar, the brother of Oct. 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar, was reportedly the target of an Israeli airstrike on the European Hospital in the city of Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli media.
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
🚨 Breaking: Head of H×mas Muhammad Sinwar, who replaced his brother Yahya Sinwar after his elimination, was eliminated pic.twitter.com/R8333JcRND
Before it was confirmed that dear Muhammad was sliding down the water slide to Hell, Hot Air pointed out that if so: Israel Just [Got] the Last Hamas Leader from October 7 — The IDF…made a clean sweep of "Al-Aqsa Flood" senior commanders in Gaza.
“We will not allow the Hamas terrorist organization to use hospitals and humanitarian facilities in Gaza as shelters and terrorist headquarters,” Katz says, referencing the fact that the IDF massive airstrike which targeted Sinwar was on an underground command center below the European Hospital in Khan Younis.
The Hamas-run health ministry reported 16 dead and over 70 wounded in the strike, though there was no confirmation that Sinwar was among the casualties. Those numbers cannot be independently verified and do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
“We will pursue Hamas and its leaders and strike it with force everywhere,” adds Katz.
“We will continue to act with force until all the goals of the war are achieved: the release of all the hostages and the surrender of Hamas,” he says.
Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... ’s leader 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... , Muhammad Sinwar, was targeted in a massive Israeli Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... at a hospital in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday afternoon, security sources said.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that it had targeted Hamas operatives at an underground command center belonging to the terror group, below the European Hospital in Khan Younis. The military also released footage from the aftermath of the strike. The video purported to show that the IDF strike had uncovered the tunnel under the hospital, though the footage showed an adjacent school and not the medical center.
Footage posted online showed several large plumes of smoke rising from the ground around the hospital, as Israeli Air Force fighter jets dropped dozens of heavy bombs. Other clips showed that the ground had collapsed in the area of the strike.
Hours after the strike, three rockets were launched from northern Gaza to the area of Ashkelon and Sderot in southern Israel, the military said, adding that it had intercepted two rockets and the third fell in an open area. There were no injuries in the attack, which was claimed by the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... terror group.
Following the attack, the IDF issued an evacuation warning for Paleostinians in northern Gaza’s Jabalia. Writing on X, the IDF’s Arabic-language front man, Col. Avichay Adraee, published a map of the area to be evacuated, saying it was a "final warning" before the IDF carries out strikes there.
Security sources said that there was a small window of opportunity for the strike.
The IDF said it took steps to mitigate civilian harm in the strike, including by using precision munitions, aerial surveillance, and other intelligence.
"The Hamas terror organization continues to use hospitals in the Gaza Strip for terror purposes, cynically and cruelly exploiting the civilian population in and around the hospital," the military said.
Several hours after the initial attack, Paleostinian media reported additional strikes in the area of the hospital, in what appeared to be an attempt by the IDF to prevent anyone from approaching the tunnel where Sinwar was targeted.
Sinwar, a senior Hamas military commander, is the younger brother of the former Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by the IDF in southern Gaza last October.
Following the killing of Hamas’s top military commander, Muhammad Deif, last July, Muhammad Sinwar took charge of the terror group’s military wing. Later, after Sinwar’s older brother was killed by IDF troops, he became the de facto leader of the terror group in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli officials have described Muhammad Sinwar as obstinate with regard to negotiations with Hamas for the release of hostages, and an obstacle to reaching a ceasefire deal.
The younger Sinwar is also wanted for terrorist actions against Israel and has been active in Hamas for decades.
He was tossed in the slammer You have the right to remain silent... by Israel in the 1990s for nine months and spent an additional three years in a Paleostinian Authority prison in Ramallah, from which he escaped in 2000. In 2006, Sinwar was part of a Hamas cell that kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. He also previously commanded Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade.
Most of Hamas’s leadership has been eliminated by Israel during the ongoing war, which was sparked when the terror group stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.
On Tuesday, the IDF and Shin Bet confirmed that an overnight strike killed Hassan Eslaiah, who had joined and recorded the shock assault. The security forces said he was a Hamas operative "operating under the guise of a journalist." The statement followed Paleostinian reports that Eslaiah had been killed in the strike on Khan Younis’s Nasser Hospital, a month after he had survived a previous Israeli targeting.
Eslaiah, whose freelance photography was distributed around the world for the News Agency that Dare Not be Named, had photographed Gazooks, some of them armed, as they stormed Kibbutz Nir Oz, where a quarter of the population was slaughtered or kidnapped, including the elderly and children as young as nine months old. He also took a picture of Gazooks atop a burning tank next to the destroyed Gaza border fence. A video from the scene posted to social media and since deleted showed him next to the tank; no press credentials could be seen on him.
The IDF said last month that he was a member of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade.
Last month, the IDF announced that it had targeted Eslaiah in an airstrike, but he managed to survive. Paleostinian media reported that he was receiving medical care at Nasser Hospital from injuries sustained in the previous strike when he was killed.
Both the AP and CNN ...formerly the Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for... said in November 2023 that they had severed their relationship with Eslaiah after a pro-Israel watchdog raised questions about their work with the photographer and other journalists who entered Israel during the massacre.
Israel has repeatedly alleged that journalists killed in strikes were actually terror operatives who posed as news hounds; it maintains that Hamas uses hospitals, schools, shelters, and aid infrastructure as cover for terror activities.
Islamic Jihad claims rocket attack from Gaza, says it’s a response to ‘Zionist massacres’
[IsraelTimes] The Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group claims responsibility for the rockets fired from Gaza toward Ashkelon and Sderot. A statement from the organization says it launched rockets in response to “Zionist massacres.” The attack came shortly after a series of IDF airstrikes that sources say targeted Hamas leader Muhammad Sinwar.
Link goes to a news report on the CPI
The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in April, after falling 0.1 percent in March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 2.3 percent before seasonal adjustment.
The index for shelter rose 0.3 percent in April, accounting for more than half of the all items monthly increase. The energy index also increased over the month, rising 0.7 percent as increases in the natural gas index and the electricity index more than offset a decline in the gasoline index. The index for food, in contrast, fell 0.1 percent in April as the food at home index decreased 0.4 percent and the food away from home index rose 0.4 percent over the month.
----------------------------------------------- No real big movement toward lower T-bond prices however. Need a few more months of good news for that to happen apparently.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
05/14/2025
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Kirill Semenov
[REGNUM] The escalation of the Indian-Pakistani standoff, caused by a series of border clashes, was temporarily halted by a ceasefire agreement on May 10. This provides an opportunity to sum up the preliminary results of the standoff.
Despite mutual accusations of violations, the parties have refrained from previous large-scale actions, which allows us to talk about the preservation of a truce, albeit fragile for now.
REASONS FOR ESCALATION
The standoff between India and Pakistan, which began after the partition of British India in 1947, has resulted in four major wars (1947–48, 1965, 1971, 1999) and hundreds of border incidents.
Kashmir remains the main bone of contention: both countries control parts of the region, considering it their own. According to various sources, since 1989 alone, the low-intensity conflict has claimed between 47,000 and 70,000 lives.
The latest wave of tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad began after an April 22 attack on the mountain resort of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir. The attack, for which a previously unknown group called the Kashmir Resistance Front claimed responsibility, killed 26 people, mostly Hindu pilgrims.
Survivors reported that the attackers deliberately questioned the victims about their religious affiliation before the shooting, which, although it points to an obvious “jihadist” trace, does not rule out a deliberate provocation. However, India, without waiting for the investigation to be completed, accused Pakistan of supporting the militants, which Islamabad categorically denied.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has escalated tensions with Pakistan to shore up his domestic political position, which was undermined by the 2024 elections, when his Hindu nationalist party posted its worst result since 2009.
New Delhi launched Operation Sindoor, a series of strikes on targets in Pakistani territory that it described as “terrorist infrastructure.” Islamabad responded with its own Operation Buniyas al-Marsoos, which hit a number of Indian military bases.
More than 60 people, including civilians, have been killed on both sides in five days of clashes, marking the worst flare-up since 2019, when India's abrogation of Kashmir's special status nearly led to a full-scale war.
Experts say that the current escalation is characterized by the unprecedentedly large-scale use of artillery and drones, as well as the largest air battles since 1971, which increased the risk of mistakes and further escalation of the crisis, including an exchange of nuclear strikes.
But the parties had enough willpower not to slide into the funnel of uncontrolled escalation and stopped at the red line.
REASONS FOR PAKISTAN'S SUCCESS
However, it is Pakistan that has emerged from the current stage of the conflict with a number of tactical and strategic advantages.
Did Pakistan really? What say you, dear Reader?
Successful military operations, a skillful information campaign and diplomatic flexibility allowed Islamabad not only to give an effective military response to India’s steps, but also to strengthen its image on the world stage.
New Delhi's military actions, launched without any evidence of Islamabad's involvement in the terrorist attack, were perceived by Pakistanis as an act of blatant aggression and caused a wave of patriotism.
At the same time, India, having a multiple military advantage, was unable to use it within the framework of limited tactical operations, while Islamabad was prepared for a balanced and effective response.
Balanced enough not to lead to a full-scale war, but effective enough to force New Delhi to recognize the futility of continuing actions that only bring reputational losses, demonstrating the tactical weakness and vulnerability of the Indian armed forces.
Clearly, Pakistan was able to learn from past mistakes, while India was confident of its advantage, which New Delhi was unable to exploit in a limited conflict.
And the Indian leadership considered the transition to a full-scale war too risky due to the threat of the confrontation escalating into a nuclear one.
PAKISTAN'S PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKE DOCTRINE
At the same time, India understood that Pakistan would not hesitate to use nuclear weapons. It could even be preventive, since Islamabad is ready to use them first, considering tactical nuclear weapons, among other things, as a key tool for disrupting a potential Indian invasion.
And especially as a response to the “cold start” doctrine, in which a rapid offensive is carried out before the enemy is mobilized.
Pakistan's short-range nuclear-tipped Nasr missiles, with a range of 60km, are designed to destroy armoured convoys in border areas to prevent a breakthrough.
The strategy, Islamabad says, is aimed at “escalation to de-escalate” – stopping aggression with a local strike to avoid a full-scale war.
There are several other scenarios that would activate the “inevitable nuclear retaliation” algorithm from Islamabad.
For example, nuclear weapons could be used to prevent the Indian Armed Forces from invading vital areas of the country, which would threaten the very existence of Pakistan. Such areas include, for example, the Indus Valley.
Nuclear weapons could be used to destroy a significant part of Pakistan's military potential, such as the Air Force, and even in the event of a naval and economic blockade that threatens to leave the Pakistani army without fuel.
It is clear that such a blurring of the “nuclear threshold” and the placement of tactical charges close to the front line increases the risk of accidental escalation due to errors in threat assessment or loss of control over the arsenal.
That is why such close attention is focused on any Indo-Pakistani escalation, which could quickly escalate into a nuclear conflict at any moment.
WORLD PREMIERE OF CHINESE WEAPONS
At the same time, it is now also obvious that another deterrent factor, in addition to nuclear weapons, for New Delhi has become Islamabad’s skillful use of modern Chinese conventional weapons.
It had finally made its presence felt on the battlefield, and it promised the Indian army serious losses if the conflict continued. And even if it ended with a hypothetical overall success, India would be too vulnerable to China after the confrontation, given the losses it had suffered.
Pakistan, traditionally the main operator of Chinese military equipment in the world, has demonstrated that even in conditions of intense combat, equipment from China is not inferior, and in some respects superior to systems developed in the United States and Europe.
It should be noted that the key advantage of Chinese weapons remains their availability. For example, the JF-17 Thunder multirole fighters, jointly developed by China and Pakistan, are several times cheaper than the American F-16. At the same time, they demonstrate comparable characteristics in maneuverability, radar equipment and weapons.
In addition to the JF-17, the Pakistani Air Force also used the heavier Chinese J-10C fighters, using them successfully in combat for the first time. Developed by the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group, these aircraft are equipped with an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar and are capable of carrying PL-15 missiles with a range of up to 200-300 km.
During a major air battle on May 7 involving up to 125 fighters from both sides, the J-10Cs demonstrated superiority over India's French-made Rafale jets armed with Meteor missiles.
The J-10C's key advantage is its combination of maneuverability, electronics, and weapons. Experts compare it to later F-16 variants, noting that the Chinese fighter is capable of operating effectively in close combat as well as at long ranges thanks to its PL-15 missiles.
Unlike the Rafale, which was positioned as a multi-role fighter with unique Meteor missiles (range up to 200 km), the J-10C was able to implement the “first strike” tactic, remaining outside the enemy’s engagement zone.
India, which had relied on French fighters, ran into unexpected problems. According to Pakistani sources, three of them were shot down during the battle. US intelligence indirectly confirmed these losses, which was the first documented case of a Rafale being destroyed in high-intensity combat. Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said the Rafale was “overrated” and the Indian Air Force demonstrated “incompetence.” This dealt a blow to the image of not only France but also other Western manufacturers.
A similar situation is observed in the UAV sphere: Chinese Wing Loong II drones, actively used by Pakistan for reconnaissance and precision strikes, are close in efficiency to the American MQ-9 Reaper, but their cost is 30–40% lower.
The conflict also saw the use of Chinese HQ-9 anti-aircraft missile systems, which successfully intercepted modern aircraft.
China's electronic warfare and cyber defense systems have been effective in suppressing enemy attempts to destabilize communications, according to analysts, putting them on par with developments by companies like Raytheon or Lockheed Martin.
Thus, the Indo-Pakistani standoff has become further evidence that the Chinese military-industrial complex has not only caught up with the West in key areas, but has also created a new reality where price is no longer synonymous with quality.
This opens the door for Beijing to leadership in the 21st century, forcing even traditional US allies to reconsider their approaches to security. The success of Chinese technology has already been reflected in financial markets: shares of Chengdu Aircraft Company rose by 30% after the fighting.
AMERICA TAKES THE LAURELS
The conflict between Pakistan and India has clearly not gone according to the scenario expected by the forces interested in a moderate escalation.
This is especially true for the Donald Trump administration, which probably saw it as an opportunity to inflict a reputational defeat on Beijing through the political “humiliation” of its main ally, Islamabad. In this context, it can be said that Washington was interested in New Delhi’s military success. However, it later became clear that it would not be possible to give Beijing a pat on the back, and Washington abandoned non-intervention.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that the United States, along with other countries, had begun pressuring New Delhi and Islamabad, and that talks involving Vice President J.D. Vance had reportedly led to an agreement on an immediate ceasefire.
However, many experts familiar with the situation believe that the role of American diplomacy in resolving the current escalation is greatly exaggerated.
Washington has decided to take credit for the peacekeeping role, while the contribution of the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which are strategic partners for both Pakistan and India, has been much greater.
But China and Russia also had a major impact on the dynamics of the conflict, speeding its resolution. Beijing, an ally of Islamabad, not only called for restraint but also put pressure on both sides, as did Russia, which offered to act as a neutral mediator.
RUSSIA BETWEEN INDIA AND PAKISTAN
It is significant that Moscow, once a consistent partner of New Delhi, is now pursuing a multi-vector policy in the region and hedging risks.
The United States and India, together with Australia and Japan, conduct annual Malabar naval exercises and form the QUAD coalition with a clearly anti-Chinese focus, while also developing other areas of military-political and military-technical cooperation.
Against this backdrop, Russia is strengthening its ties with Pakistan. In 2020 and 2021, Moscow and Islamabad held joint anti-terrorism exercises called “Friendship.” In 2021, the first-ever Russian-Pakistani naval exercises, “Maritime Interaction,” took place in the Arabian Sea. And last March, the navies of the two countries organized the PASSEX maneuvers, which included practicing anti-submarine operations.
An important area remains cooperation within the SCO: in 2023, joint exercises “Peace Mission” in Kazakhstan brought together the military of Russia, Pakistan and China.
At the same time, Russia continues to develop a strategic partnership with India.
Trade turnover with Delhi reached $70 billion in 2024, while with Pakistan it was only $1 billion. India also remains the largest importer of Russian weapons: recently, it received batches of Su-30MKI fighters, S-300/400 anti-aircraft systems and T-90 tanks.
Therefore, it is probably most important for the Russian Federation to achieve long-term peace between New Delhi and Islamabad.
Since their contradictions, superimposed on the conflicts of interests of India and China, are also an obstacle to the formation of closer interaction in the Russia-India-China triangle and the alliances based on these countries: BRICS and the SCO.
CONSEQUENCES AND PROSPECTS
While the current ceasefire has reduced the immediate threat of war, fundamental differences remain unresolved.
A peaceful settlement requires not only international mediation, but also the willingness of the parties to compromise, which seems unlikely in the current political realities.
In particular, the policy of the Indian authorities, who advocate Hindu religious nationalism, does not contribute to de-escalation.
This has led to constant pressure on India's 200 million-strong Muslim minority, which has increasingly been subjected to discriminatory measures and practices, including mass Muslim pogroms, such as in Delhi in 2020, when dozens of Muslims were killed.
This provokes the growth of radicalism and the acceleration of the formation of a resistance movement in the Indian Islamic environment. But the Indian authorities are inclined to see in all manifestations of radicalism not their own mistakes, but the hand of Pakistan.
On the other hand, Islamabad indeed often turns a blind eye to the presence on its territory of bases of various rebel factions, including jihadist ones, acting under the banner of the struggle for the liberation of Kashmir or, in general, Indian Muslims from Indian rule.
It is obvious that maintaining tension in the Indian part of Kashmir is in the interests of Pakistani special services. In case of conflict, this will allow them to ignite a mass uprising in the rear of Indian troops. Therefore, New Delhi's claims cannot be called unfounded.
The key to a long-term settlement probably lies in re-establishing channels of communication between India and Pakistan. But it is precisely terrorist attacks that rupture such channels, as was the case after the Mumbai attack in 2008 or the Puluam attack in 2019.
Overall, the tangle of Indo-Pakistani contradictions seems insoluble in the foreseeable future and will constantly make itself felt. And peace initiatives, such as the 1999 Delhi-Lahore Declaration, regularly fail due to lack of trust.
However, the current pause offers a chance to tone down the rhetoric and begin targeted humanitarian exchanges. This may be the only way to avoid a new war in the Himalayan valleys.
At least there are positive examples: the ceasefire agreement concluded in 2003 lasted almost five years. Therefore, the main task now is to make the pauses between escalations as long as possible, and the escalations themselves quickly relieved.
#2
Here's part 2 of Tom Cooper's analysis (part 1 is easy to find if interested). In a nutshell - Paki sponsored terrorists struck - India waited 2 weeks to respond - Pakistan used that time to prepare - after the Indian attack they flailed one more time - everyone went to time out. Key takeaway - India does NOT have a quick response and it's "easy" to get inside their OODA loop. The Chinese equipment seemed to outperform the European equipment due to the Indian military's upgrade philosophy.
#3
I read similar stuff. Read India was frustrated - some sources say that they striked a Pakistani Nuclear facility; other source refute the claim. But some speculate that's why the West deescalated. Fog of war.
[HALTURNERRADIOSHOW] As this story is published, troops, tanks, artillery, armored personnel carriers of the Hungarian Army are mobilizing toward the Hungary Border with Ukraine.
Intel Analysts suspect that Hungary is about to make a military move to re-acquire "Transcarpathia" (highlighted in Red on the map above) which was formerly the country of Hungary, but was given over to Ukraine during the time of the Soviet Union.
Despite it being technically "Ukraine" since Soviet times, the people there mostly speak Hungarian!
Tanks Have been taken off their Transportation units & Driving through several towns on UKRAINE border on main road routes! Video below, taken TODAY, shows vast military mobilization:
Is ORBAN preparing to take over the Hungarian Region inside UKRAINE when peace talks fail & Russia goes full BAGRATION to KIEV ?
Hungarian towns located on or near main roads leading to the Ukraine border, where Hungarian ARMOUR has been seen massing:
1. **Záhony** - Situated on the M3 motorway and near the Chop-Záhony border crossing, a major entry point for both road and rail traffic into Ukraine.
2. **Beregsurány** - Located near the Luzhanka-Beregsurány border crossing, accessible via Route 41 and connected to the M3 motorway. This crossing is open 24/7 and handles cars, buses, and trucks.
3. **Tiszabecs** - Close to the Vylok-Tiszabecs border crossing, reachable via Route 49.
4. **Barabás** - Near the Kosyno-Barabás border crossing, accessible via local roads connecting to Route 41.
5. **Nagyhódos** - Located at the Velyka Palad-Nagyhódos border crossing, a newer checkpoint opened in 2025 for passenger vehicles up to 3.5 tons.
These towns are strategically positioned along key routes, including Hungary’s Main Road 4 (connected to Ukraine’s M06) and Route 491 (connected to Ukraine’s M26), part of the international E-road network (E573 and E58).
HAL TURNER ANALYSIS
If this is what Hungary is actually doing, re-taking Transcarpathia, the European Union will likely go berserk. They are already fed-up with Hungary voting to deny additional aid to Ukraine. A vote coming later this week, is specifically being designed to neutralize Hungary's ability to bloc further EU aid to Ukraine; they will adopt legislation in a manner that prevents a single nation from blocking more aid.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who leads Hungary, has already seen the writing on the wall of Europe when, last month, discussions took place to strip Hungary of EU voting rights.
Apparently, in the European Union, you can only vote when you agree with the EU. A totally fraudulent "Democracy."
No time line is known as to when (or if) Hungary will actually proceed into Ukraine to take back Transcarpathia, but very clearly, something gigantic is about to take place. It will likely tear Europe apart.
#2
Ukrainians thought Crimea was theirs just because that's how Khrushchev drew the map back in 1954 when it didn't matter because Moscow controlled it all anyway. Some of these borders might need adjustment now that the USSR is kaput.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/14/2025 13:00
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#3
The majority of the White Papers I've read - post UKR war is craved up and left as a rump state. Hungary get's their land back, Poland get's their land back. They seem to mostly agree with this.
Points of disagreement: some maps show Kiev reunited with Russia. Other maps show Odessa. Other maps both. Other white papers neither, just the current status quo.
No one ever shows UKR regaining any lost territory.
#Swedish politician exposed himself to CHILD on train Gustav Hemming, a former Centre Party member, faces trial for masturbating in front of a 13yo on a commuter train — with CCTV footage as evidence Hemming claims he thought the boy was older and alleges 'mutual attraction… pic.twitter.com/oSwtAhV14d
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2025
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"I thought he was 12!" Honest!
Gay men really ruin everything. The Boy Scouts, the church, public schools, they are a destructive force we never should have let escape the closet. This is crystal clear now.
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin:
[ColonelCassad] May 13th arrived and all the threats of the cocaine coalition remained just threats. And so yesterday they were amusingly kicking their legs, counting down, threatening.
As a result, the fighting is still ongoing. And the talks in Istanbul scheduled by Putin for May 15 are in the process of preparation. Russia, the United States, China, Brazil and Turkey support these talks.
Accordingly, the Russian Federation has quite skillfully defused the ultimatum about a 30-day truce.
The cocaine coalition now has to restructure itself and threaten sanctions if Putin does not meet with Zelensky or if Russia does not agree to a truce in Istanbul.
Putin has no reason to meet with Zelensky now. Judging by publications in domestic media, the delegation will include Lavrov, Ushakov and possibly Medinsky (aha-ha). Zelensky said that he will not meet with anyone in Istanbul except Putin. But he may not meet. The issue of negotiations between delegations has been raised, Zelensky is not needed there.
As for the truce, Russia is not against discussing it, but subject to the fulfillment of specific conditions related to the cessation of arms supplies and verification of violations of the truce. Which is unlikely for now.
So for now the war is going on as usual, and on the 15th and a little later we will find out how much the Russian Federation and the US were able to bring their positions closer together and how much the US was able/wanted to bend the cocaine coalition.
More from regnum.ru US State Department considered the meeting between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul a favorable opportunity
The US State Department considers the likely meeting of Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul a critically favorable opportunity for direct negotiations on the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. This statement was made by Deputy Head of the State Department Press Service Tommy Pigott, broadcast by C-SPAN.
"The President [of the United States Donald Trump ] has spoken out on this issue. He has made it clear that the meeting in Istanbul is a critical opportunity for direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine," he said.
According to Pigott, the head of the White House has already expressed his desire for Russian-Ukrainian talks in Turkey to take place. At the same time, Trump would like a ceasefire to be achieved first.
The diplomat did not disclose any details about the role of the American side at the upcoming meeting in Istanbul. Pigott also did not answer whether the direct participation of Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the negotiations is planned.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on May 13, Trump announced that Rubio would be traveling to Istanbul from the United States, but did not disclose the details of his trip. Also, the media, citing American sources, wrote that the US President's special envoys for the Middle East and Ukraine, Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg, were preparing for a visit to Istanbul. This has not been officially confirmed.
On May 11, Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking to journalists in the Kremlin following the work on the sidelines of the Victory anniversary, suggested that Ukraine return to the negotiation process, which was interrupted in the summer of 2022. The Russian leader noted that he does not put forward any additional conditions to Kiev for starting negotiations.
The head of the Kiev regime, Volodymyr Zelensky, did not immediately agree to Putin's proposal, arguing that a 30-day ceasefire must first be concluded. The result was Trump's words addressed to the Ukrainian authorities, who said that Kiev should "immediately" agree to negotiations on May 15.
The United States wants to achieve a comprehensive ceasefire in Ukraine and only then move on to territorial issues, Trump's special envoy said.
Possible direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul could be a "wonderful meeting."
In the context of the conflict in Ukraine, it is necessary to achieve recognition of the realities “on the ground,” including the incorporation of new territories into Russia, said Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov.
Kyiv's inability to negotiate remains one of the key obstacles to the start of negotiations, he noted.
[SportsIllustrated] Rose will be eligible for Hall consideration in 2027 after commissioner Rob Manfred removed the Reds legend, and all-time hits king, from the ineligible list.
The culture changed, but Charlie Hustle was still so busy hustling that he didn’t notice, even while everyone around him was making money off his work.
Eight months after the death of Pete Rose, the path for Rose to enter the Hall of Fame will open for the first time since it was blocked 34 years ago. Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred, acting on a petition by Rose’s family, removed Rose from the ineligible list Tuesday. The decision by the commissioner is separate from Hall of Fame voting procedures, but it does make Rose eligible for Hall of Fame consideration as soon as December 2027. The news was first reported by ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr.
Rose, the all-time hits leader with 4,256 hits, in 1989 accepted an agreement with commissioner Bart Giamatti to be placed on the ineligible list after the commissioner’s office spent months investigating his betting on baseball while playing and managing the Cincinnati Reds. Two years later, just before Rose was first eligible on Hall of Fame ballots sent to baseball writers, the Hall changed its eligibility rules. It barred any player on MLB’s ineligible list from appearing on a ballot.
Rose denied betting on baseball at the time, only to admit 15 years later in writing a book to such actions in violation of baseball’s Rule 21.
Manfred’s decision now permits Rose to gain the same chance at the Hall once afforded Joe Jackson, the outfielder barred for his part in the 1919 Black Sox scandal. While on the ineligible list, Jackson was considered on Hall ballots in 1936 and 1946 but received minimal support.
Manfred decided that Rule 21 was meant to keep people away from baseball who were considered a threat to the integrity of the game and to be a deterrent. He decided the "threat" portion no longer applied once a person is deceased. There are 17 deceased people on the list.
Rose died Sept. 30, 2024, in Las Vegas at age 83. Manfred met with Rose’s daughter Fawn and his lawyer, Jeffrey Lenkov, in December. A formal petition for being removed from the ineligible list was submitted on Jan. 8. The Rose family preferred a decision be made by Wednesday night, when the Reds host a Pete Rose Night at Great American Ballpark to celebrate the life and career of the franchise icon. The Reds play the Chicago White Sox that night at a special start time of 7:14 to honor No. 14.
Manfred also met with President Trump at the White House on April 16. One of the topics of their conversation was the MLB status of Rose. Trump told Manfred he would posthumously pardon Rose. In 1990, Rose pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns and served a five-month sentence.
Rose is no longer eligible for consideration by the writers, which consider players for a 10-year period that begins five years after their last game. His candidacy would pass to the Classic Baseball committee that next meets in December 2027. If elected, he would be inducted in July 2028. The committee consists of 16 members of the Hall, executives and veteran media members. A candidate needs 12 of 16 votes for election.
Rose previously filed for reinstatement to Manfred in 2015 not long after Manfred became commissioner. He also applied to former commissioner Bud Selig in 1997 and 2002 without success.
[NYPOST] A mayoral candidate in Mexico has been shot dead by suspected cartel gunmen live on air — becoming the second politician to be killed in the state ahead of elections on June 1.
Yesenia Lara Gutierrez of the governing Morena party was gunned down while she was greeting supporters in the small town of Texistepec in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz on Sunday, where she was running for election.
A chilling Facebook live stream shows Gutierrez greeting residents of the town of 20,000, surrounded by supporters.
As she walks through the smiling and chanting crowd, gunfire suddenly rings out off camera.
Some 20 gunshots can be heard in the video, which was still up on Gutiérrez’s Facebook page until the following day.
Gutiérrez’s daughter was also killed in the shooting along with two others, while three more were wounded, Veracruz Governor Rocío Nahle García, also from the Morena party of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, said on Monday.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] At least eight more prominent international politicians being scrutinized by US authorities face potential visa bans and bank account freezes, according to a former high ranking official in the Mexican government.
The bombshell claim comes after the Governor for Baja California Marina del Pilar and her husband had their tourism visas to the US revoked this week over reports of money laundering and ties to drug cartels, which she has denied.
Simón Levy, a past Minister of Tourism during the administration of former Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, claimed the US was actively investigating current and former officials including four governors, one senator and one congresswoman.
He added that two unnamed former acting secretaries of state were being investigated for 'links' to the Gulf Cartel.
'As I told you before anyone else, today banks like Wells Fargo and Bank of America canceled the accounts of Mexican public servants with deposited money, confirming that it comes from illegal activities, such as money laundering,' Levy wrote on X Monday afternoon.
Levy identified the officials on Tuesday as Senator Adan Agusto López and former Congresswoman Clara Luz Flores, who is the director of the Interior Ministry's Religious Affairs and Social Prevention Unit.
He also named governors Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla [Michoacán]; Miguel Angel Navarro [Nayarit]; Ruben Rocha Moya [Sinaloa]; and Américo Villareal [Tamaulipas].
It comes a day after renowned Mexican journalist Luis Chaparro accused Baja California governor del Pilar, and her husband Carolos Torres, of having their American bank accounts frozen as part of a Justice Department probe.
Chaparro reported that del Pilar met with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Department of Homeland Security officials at a tourism event in the resort town of Rosarito on April 28, 2024, when she was first notified of the investigation.
'Both are being investigated by the United States for money laundering in an investigation involving other Baja California businessmen and officials...' Chaparro said during his YouTube show 'Pie de Nota'.
He added that the U.S. agents told her the investigation was looking into the 'Rusos Cartel' in Mexicali, as well as a network of individuals and businessmen from Baja California allegedly linked to members of organized crime in that region.
'She pleaded with CBP and DHS supervisors to please not make public the actions against her and her husband and to not inform the Mexican consulate to prevent them from being leaked to the media,' Chaparro said.
'The governor requested, as a personal favor, that her actions not be communicated to the Mexican consulate or any other Mexican authority so that the information would not spread.'
Del Pilar addressed the visa ban again in a press conference without making any comments over the alleged money laundering investigation or bank account closures, while also not make any reference to her husband or his visa ban.
'I have been included in a consular measure, and therefore today I do not have a visa to enter the United States,' del Pilar said.
'But that does not define me. Because I am not defined by what I have or by the permits granted or withheld. I am defined by my values, my convictions, and the purpose I have embraced since I decided to dedicate my life to public service.'
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum addressed the allegations during her press briefing at the National Palace in Mexico City on Tuesday and said that del Pilar informed her that they did not have accounts in banking institutions outside of Mexico.
#5
Mexico needs to declare an emergency and adopt a Bukele solution.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
05/14/2025 9:57
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#6
If one could wave a magic wand and instantly eliminate the cartels from Mexico, it would be akin to scraping the icing off the cake. Corruption is deeply, deeply rooted into all levels of the nation, and the cartels are merely the most obvious players.
Text taken from the V Kontakte page of Great Patriotic War
[VK] ... In the summer of 1943, strange cases of aircraft destruction were noted in enemy aviation operating on the Eastern Front. In loss reports, the cause of the destruction of German aircraft and crews was often indicated by one short phrase "Explosion in der Luft" ("Explosion in the air"). However, it was unclear why the planes exploded. Most of these cases occurred with aircraft flying out on combat missions from the Seshchinsky airfield...
To find small Seshcha on the map, it is more convenient to first find the large city of Bryansk, estimate 90 kilometers northwest, and that's where Seshcha will be. Before the war, Seshcha was a small village with less than 500 residents. But there was a convenient airfield here, built in the late 20s, early 30s.
The airfield was quite large: it could simultaneously accommodate up to 70-80 aircraft. At least before the war, more than 60 high-speed SB-2 bombers of one of the Soviet Air Force regiments were based at this airfield. With the outbreak of the war, the airfield was actively used by Soviet aviation, but not for long: after a month and a half, the front approached Seshcha. Soon the last Soviet aircraft flew away from Seshcha, and the airfield became empty. Many residents of the village, having left their homes, also went east.
On August 9, 1941, the Germans entered Seshcha. Work began on restoring and expanding the airfield, preparing it for basing Luftwaffe air units. It is still difficult to say which of the German units was the first to be based at the Seshcha airfield. But it is known that already on August 23, Messerschmitt-110 fighter-attack aircraft of the SKG.210 headquarters, led by the squadron commander, Knight's Cross holder Major Walter Storp, flew here.
Then on August 26, the I./SKG.210 aircraft of Captain Karl-Heinz Stricker landed in Seshcha, and on September 4, II./SKG.210 arrived under the command of Captain Rolf Kaldrak. In addition to the "hundred-tenths", the airfield housed Henschel-126 reconnaissance aircraft from 5(H)/Aufkl.Gr.12 and other aircraft. Of course, the composition of the units was constantly changing, and many other Luftwaffe units and subdivisions were subsequently based at the Seshcha airfield. Even exotic allies of Germany visited Seshcha - the temperamental Spaniards from the fighter squadron 15.(Span.)/JG.51 and the handsome Croatians from the bomber squadron 15(Kroat.)/KG.53.
Of course, the basing of enemy aircraft at the Seshcha airfield did not go unnoticed by the Soviet command and soon Soviet air raids began on the airfield. Already on September 1, four Germans from the ground personnel of the fighter group II./JG.51 were killed during an air raid. Apparently, these were the first victims of the Nazi aviation in Seshcha. Not far from the airfield, a cemetery of the occupiers appeared, on which more and more new birch crosses appeared over time...
However, it must be admitted that, despite all the efforts of the Soviet aviation, it was not possible to inflict serious losses on the enemy for a long time. For its part, our aviation lost a considerable number of aircraft. Who knows how long the failures of the "Stalin's Falcons" in raids on the invulnerable airfield would have continued if partisans and underground fighters from Seshcha itself had not come to their aid in the late spring of 1942.
The leader of the Seshcha underground at that time was Anna Morozova. And before her, the commander of the underground group was first Konstantin Povarov, a 22-year-old lieutenant of the Red Army, left behind enemy lines for sabotage work. He himself was a local - from the village of Belskaya in the Dubrovsky district and knew all the surrounding areas well. On assignment from the NKVD, he went to serve the Germans and got a job as a policeman.
At the same time, Povarov began to create an underground group. Gradually, he found reliable assistants not only in Seshcha, but also in the villages of Belskaya, Radichi, and Yabloni. It was Povarov who attracted Anya Morozova to the underground work, and she, in turn, attracted other female acquaintances. It was Povarov who maintained contact with the partisans and passed on to them the information he had collected about the Seshcha airfield. But, unfortunately, on September 23, 1942, Konstantin Povarov died after stepping on a mine. After that, 21-year-old Komsomol member Anya Morozova had to lead the underground.
Before the war, she worked in Seshcha, in the accounting department of the Soviet 130th Bomber Aviation Regiment, which was then based at the airfield. As the Germans approached, Morozova first evacuated with the retreating units of the Red Army, but then returned and, on Povarov’s instructions, got a job as a laundress for the Germans. The underground group members Lida Korneva, Vera Molochnikova, Lyusya Senchilina and others also became laundresses and dishwashers. Of course, working for the occupiers was humiliating, but they had to live on something.
In addition, those who worked received passes to the German military town. There, for six months, the girls studied the situation and selected candidates for underground work. Finally, in April 1942, on the advice of Anya Morozova, the girls met young Poles Jan Mankowski, Jan Tyma, Vaclav "Wacek" Messiasz and Stefan Gorkiewicz - servicemen of the German military unit L50485A, which carried out military construction work at the airfield and in the area of the village. Over time, Morozova managed to establish contact with the Czech anti-fascist Wendelin Roblicka, who served as an accountant at the Seshchin airbase headquarters with the rank of corporal. Roblicka's friend, the German soldier Alfred Beisler, also provided the underground with some assistance. Thus, real opportunities for collecting secret information that interested the Soviet command were gradually created.
Thanks to the active work of Morozova and other members of the underground group, it was possible to collect valuable information about the locations of important objects at the airfield, and on the night of May 29-30, 1942, Soviet aviation, for the first time after a long break, carried out a raid on Seshcha. According to the underground fighters, about 80 aircraft and many German pilots were destroyed at the Seshcha airfield. However, this data is highly questionable, since at that time only one 4th reconnaissance squadron from Aufkl.Gr.11 (which did not suffer any losses!) and a couple of dozen courier, transport and other aircraft were based in Seshcha.
However, despite some discrepancies in the data of Soviet partisans and German documents, it must still be recognized that the results of the actions of our underground fighters were quite tangible. The members of the international underground drew up and passed on to the partisans plans of the airfield, constantly supplied them with valuable information about changes at the German air base, about the enemy's plans, about the movement of its equipment and manpower.
Using this data, the Soviet aviation periodically carried out bombing strikes on Seshcha throughout 1942. And in January - May 1943, only the long-range bomber aviation of the Soviet Air Force carried out ten powerful strikes on the Seshcha air base, in addition, Seshcha was often bombed and strafed by front-line aviation. More and more German aircraft were out of order...
In the meantime, special mines for sabotage purposes began to enter service with the Soviet partisans. What kind of mines these were and how they came into service with us - we will tell you, based on documentary data.
The fact is that with the beginning of the Second World War, in September 1939, the technical departments of the special services of the Ministry of Defense of England developed and launched into production a large number of sabotage mines of various types. Among them were, for example, explosive devices hidden in a piece of coal, a stuffed rat, magnetic mines, mine-lighters, etc.
In accordance with the secret agreement between England and Russia of September 30, 1941, for the development of partisan warfare, it was envisaged to supply the USSR with English magnetic mines and mine-lighters. According to English historians, mainly magnetic sabotage mines CLAM Mk 2 were supplied to Russia.
The name of the mine "CLAM" is translated as "mollusk", apparently because it, like a sea mollusk, easily and firmly sticks to any metal surface. This mine is a timer type and is designed to destroy or disable stationary or moving objects that have fairly large parts made of ferrous metals on their surface, i.e. metals with magnetic properties. Such objects can be aircraft, tracked or wheeled combat and transport vehicles, fuel tanks or metal seals for weapons and ammunition, rolling stock, rails, power transmission and communication line supports, pipelines, etc.
The mine's charge is very small - only 227 grams of tetrytol 45/55 (a mixture of tetryl and TNT), however, it is enough to break a railway rail, pierce fuel tanks with a wall thickness of up to 5-6 mm. The mine's effect can be enhanced by placing two or more mines together.
Mines were successfully used by commando units of the British Army, as well as combat units of the Resistance forces in the occupied countries of Europe. A certain number of these mines were supplied to the USSR under Lend-Lease and our partisans actively used them, especially against railway facilities.
A considerable number of aircraft were also destroyed by the "mollusks" and, apparently, the underground fighters of Anna Morozova's group were the first to use them against aircraft. And the underground fighters received mines from the 1st Kletnyanskaya Partisan Brigade, commanded by 29-year-old Fyodor Danchenkov. In total, Danchenkov's brigade received exactly 312 British special magnetic mines from the Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement. Of course, most of them were used to mine railway rolling stock and, according to some sources, the brigade's partisans crashed more than thirty German trains using magnetic mines.
By that time, the Seshchinsky international underground movement numbered several dozen people. In addition to those mentioned above, active underground members included Matryona Erokhina, Varvara Kirshina, Praskovya Bakutina and others. A very difficult and dangerous task was to deliver magnetic mines to the underground members in Seshcha from the partisans located deep in the Bryansk forests.
Usually, they were carried by Zinaida Antipenkova, Alexandra Garbuzova, Maria Korosteleva, Tatyana Vasenkova and other brave girls, placing them on the bottom of a bag filled with berries, fruits, vegetables and other products. Already in Seshcha, the underground members handed the mines to 17-year-old Vanya Aldyukhov, and he carried the mines to the airfield in a barrel of water on a harnessed cart.
It is difficult to say now when exactly the Seshcha underground fighters began to place magnetic mines on aircraft, but, apparently, it happened just before the start or already during the German offensive operation "Citadel". At least, in the combat log of the 1st Kletnyansk partisan brigade on July 7, 1943, it was noted that the underground fighters mined and destroyed two Heinkel-111 and two Focke-Wulf-190.
A few days later, on July 12, at the Seshcha airfield, according to the partisans, one Junkers-88 was blown up.
And as recorded in the documents of the German 121st long-range reconnaissance group, one Junkers-88 from the 4th squadron was lost on July 15 as a result of an act of sabotage, that is, it was destroyed by a mine explosion. Lieutenant Herbert Meiss, Sergeant Adolf Reinecke, Unteroffizier Wilhelm Küppers and Sergeant Johannes Trukk went missing in the Seshcha area.
It is safe to say that the mine was planted on this plane by the "water carrier" Ivan Aldyukhov, since there is an entry in the combat log of the 1st Kletnyansky Brigade that hints at this: "July 15-21, 1943, Seshcha airfield. With the help of three mines, the following were destroyed: a Heinkel-3 aircraft (the aircraft type was indicated incorrectly) right at the airfield, a locomotive on a narrow-gauge railway and a refuelling vehicle. Carried out by BS-33." And it was Ivan Aldyukhov who was listed under the pseudonym BS-33 in the detachment's intelligence reports.
Part 2:
According to partisan reports, on July 19, a Junkers-52 was destroyed by a mine. Actually, the Junkers-52 is a transport aircraft, but no information has been found about the losses of aircraft of this type. It is quite possible that one of the underground fighters again incorrectly indicated the type of aircraft on which the magnetic mine was installed. Apparently, it was not a transport aircraft, but a bomber.
Indeed, there is information that one Heinkel-111 from II./KG.4 "General Wever" took off from the Seshcha airfield late in the evening of July 19 to bomb one of the targets in the rear of the Soviet troops, but did not return. Later, the wreckage of the aircraft was found in territory captured by the Germans, that is, the aircraft did not reach the front line. For unknown reasons, it crashed and burned 13 kilometers northwest of Zhizdra. The entire crew, consisting of Lieutenant Hermann Hüsemann, Unteroffizier Reinhold Metzger, Ober-Provich Rudolf Schmidt, Unteroffizier Egon Lenz and Ober-Provich Walter Volkhardt, perished. There is every reason to believe that this crew fell victim to the Seshcha underground fighters.
According to the partisans, July 21 was a particularly successful day for the Seshcha underground fighters: they reported the destruction of three Heinkels-111 and one Messerschmitt-109.
The next day, July 22, a Junkers-88 was blown up by a mine in the sky above the airfield, and, as the underground fighters reported, the entire crew was killed. Indeed, on this day, the 5th Squadron of II./KG.51 "Edelweiss" lost one Junkers-88. However, this did not happen over Seshchinsky airfield, but somewhere in the Arkhangelskoye area, east of Orel, where the aircraft had flown on a combat mission. The crew, consisting of Oberfeldwebel Gerhard Schubert, NCOs Friedrich Kovollik, Herbert Langwasser and Helmut Schreiber, was listed as missing in action in this area.
The reason for their disappearance is unknown, since the radio operator of the crew did not have time to send a distress signal. It is quite possible that the crew died as a result of a sudden explosion of a mine planted at Seshchinsky airfield.
Two more Junkers-88s were destroyed, according to partisans, on July 23.
And in German documents there is information about one Junkers-88 from the 7th squadron of III/KG.1 "Hindenburg", which exploded in the air on July 24 in the Orel area. The crew of the plane, consisting of non-commissioned officers Friedrich Hoffman, Willy Eickhoff, Gunther Kenzl and Feldwebel Karl-Friedrich Konyevsky, is also considered missing. It can be assumed that the plane was mined by underground fighters, since it took off on a mission from Seshchinsky airfield.
On July 28 - again according to German documents - the crew of Oberfeldwebel Helmut Goetzel from the 4th squadron of II./KG.51 "Edelweiss" was killed in an explosion in the air northeast of Karachev. Along with Getzel, non-commissioned officers Groff and Handvarsh, as well as sergeant major Kleinschmidt, were killed. And here, most likely, the plane was also mined by underground fighters, since it took off on a mission from the ill-fated Seshcha.
Of course, operating in incredibly dangerous conditions, the underground fighters did not always manage to plant mines on airplanes. Apparently, that is why they had to plant mines on other objects of military significance. Thus, Ivan Aldyukhov and his 13-year-old younger brother Sasha blew up one carriage with aircraft engines, one steam locomotive on a narrow-gauge railway, two gas trucks, one snow-clearing tractor and other equipment with mines...
In early August 1943, clouds gathered over the underground organization in Seshcha. An alarming radiogram was received by the Western headquarters of the partisan movement from the commander of the 1st Kletnyanskaya partisan brigade, F. S. Danchenkov:
“August 2, 1943. To Comrade Popov.
The Germans have begun to guess why the explosions are happening. They have arrested a lot of the Russian population. The entrances and exits in Seshcha are controlled, but I have Poles and Czechs working for me. They have remained in place for now. They are valuable people.”
In confirmation of these words, on the same day, during a combat sortie in the area southeast of Orel, another Junkers-88 from II./KG. 51 "Edelweiss" exploded. The entire crew of non-commissioned officer Josef Frommhertz perished: "the Poles and Czechs" continued to "work" successfully...
Perhaps the pilots of the Edelweiss squadron suffered more than others from the actions of Russian saboteurs: again, one Junkers-88 from the 9th squadron of III./KG.51 exploded in the air on August 8. The crew of Lieutenant Robert Ilg also perished.
The next day, August 9, another Junkers-88 from the 5th squadron of II./KG.51 "Edelweiss" was lost, presumably from a mine explosion. The plane took off from Seshcha to Poltava, but went missing en route. Where and how it perished is unknown. The pilots - Lieutenant Heinrich Gerke, Corporal Otto Theiss, NCOs Fritz Bachmann and Gerhard Hörtner - are still listed as missing.
Around mid-August (unfortunately, it is not known exactly when), three planes on which Jan Tim had planted mines exploded over the Seshchin airfield. They were supposed to explode an hour after takeoff, but the takeoff was delayed and they exploded in front of everyone, barely having time to take off...
A wave of arrests swept through Seshcha. The Polish brigade was also arrested. In order to remove suspicion from the Poles, the command ordered Ivan Aldyukhov to plant mines on the planes and equipment himself. Despite the obvious reason for the plane explosions and the total surveillance throughout the airfield, carrying out this task was tantamount to calling for fire on himself. We must give credit to this incredibly brave young man: constantly risking his life, he continued to plant mines on German planes. Here, for example, is another entry from the combat log of the 1st Kletnyanskaya Brigade: "August 13-15. Seshchinsky airfield. Two planes were blown up by placing magnetic mines. Performed by BS-33."
These were probably Aldyukhov's last successful acts of sabotage: soon after, on the denunciation of a traitor, Ivan was arrested while attempting to plant a mine on an airplane. Unbroken by the torture and abuse of the Gestapo, and not having betrayed the remaining members of the underground, he was shot by the Germans in Smolensk prison.
Around the same time, the Germans also arrested the underground fighter Matryona Erokhina, who was delivering mines to the airfield. Unfortunately, almost nothing is known about Erokhina herself and her arrest. However, in the book by the famous German military historian Wolfgang Dierich about the history of the KG.51 "Edelweiss" bomber squadron, there are lines that are certainly related to Erokhina's arrest. Here is how Dierich writes about those dramatic events: "Here in Seshcha, the squadron lost many crews due to the actions of the partisans.
At night, partisans, posing as support personnel, would install barometric explosive devices on the 900-liter fuel tanks of Junkers-88s that were fully filled with gasoline and loaded with bombs. When the altitude suddenly changed, for example during a dive attack, the explosive devices would detonate and tear the vehicles to pieces. At first, these explosions were a mystery to everyone, until one day, during a thorough search, explosive magnetic devices were found in a basket of eggs belonging to a seemingly harmless and innocent Russian peasant woman. Apparently, the "harmless and innocent Russian peasant woman" was Motya Erokhina. Just like Vanya Aldyukhov, the brave girl was tortured, but did not give anyone away and was tortured to death by the fascists.
Unfortunately, Polish comrades also suffered a loss: Jan Mankovsky was inadvertently arrested for possession of weapons. Without betraying any of his friends, he also died in a Gestapo dungeon shortly before the liberation of Seshcha on September 18, 1943...
After these dramatic events, as the former commander of the 7th squadron of III/KG.1 "Hindenburg" retired Colonel Gerhard Becker recalls, the planes began to be heavily guarded day and night, and carefully checked before each flight. Further mining of German planes became impossible.
Nevertheless, the stay of German planes at the Seshcha airfield was coming to an end: Soviet troops were advancing unstoppably, and on September 20, 1943, Seshcha was liberated from the Nazi invaders...
How many enemy planes did Anya Morozova's underground group manage to destroy? According to some sources, during the Battle of Kursk alone, the underground fighters blew up sixteen planes. And according to other sources, they destroyed twenty planes in total. But the most likely figure is 22 aircraft: this is exactly how many were indicated in the report on the results of the combat operations of the 1st Kletnyansk Partisan Brigade (which included Morozova’s underground group), presented by F. S. Danchenkov on March 26, 1944 to the Smolensk headquarters of the partisan movement.
Unfortunately, the feat of Morozova's underground group, which for the first time in the practice of Soviet partisans used massive mining of enemy aircraft right at the airfield, was not noted in time. And only twenty years after the Victory, after the first Soviet multi-part television film "We Call Fire on Ourselves", dedicated to Morozova and her group, was shown on television with great success in February 1965, on May 8 of the same year Anna Afanasyevna Morozova was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Posthumously, - since Morozova died on December 31, 1944, while carrying out a combat mission in Poland.
Also posthumously, on May 10, 1965, Konstantin Yakovlevich Povarov and Ivan Filippovich Aldyukhov were awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree, and Polish citizen Jan Mankovsky was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree...
P.S.
On December 31, 1944, Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously) Anna Afanasyevna Morozova / "Swan", "Reseda" /, the second radio operator of the legendary sabotage and reconnaissance group "JACK", accepted her last battle with the "jagdkommando" of the SS and the Vlasovites.
Wounded in the arm by an explosive bullet during a raid, she was hidden until dark in a dugout in a swamp, but the raid was with German shepherds... Before that moment, as part of the legendary reconnaissance group "Jack", she worked for six months in the rear of the East Prussian group of Germans, going through dozens of raids and transmitting almost 60 information radiograms.
[NYPOST] A Rhode Island federal judge who blocked President Trump's sweeping freeze on federal assistance earlier this year has been slapped with a complaint from a conservative legal group alleging that he could benefit from his decision.
Providence US District Judge John McConnell sat on the board of Crossroads Rhode Island, a homeless services provider that has benefited from federal assistance, from 2006 to at least 2023, the nonprofit's tax records show. Between 2011 and 2021, the judge served as the board's chairman.
America First Legal, which began digging into McConnell's past after he issued a preliminary injunction halting Trump's freeze earlier this year, argued in a complaint filed to the Boston-based 1st Circuit Court of Appeals that the judge's ties to Crossroads pose a conflict of interest.
#6
Crossroads Rhode Island, a homeless services provider that has benefited from federal assistance
It's a scam. It has never been anything but a scam. They dropped $24 billion on this nonsense in California and now they can't, or won't, tell where all the money went. Pretty sure it went into the pockets of people like Judge McConnell. Think about it. Twenty-four billion dollars that is lost and we still have hobos all over the place.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/14/2025 13:09
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#7
You could divide all that money up and just give it to the hobos and they'd be living in luxury. They could sit in mansions, snort cocaine all day and they would still have money to burn.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/14/2025 13:14
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[YouTube - Hyperspeed] While most of the world goes about daily life unaware, the United States Navy is fighting a war no one talks about. Drug submarines packed with cocaine try to sneak past Navy ships and helicopters armed with machine guns. These missions rarely make headlines and receive little public attention, despite involving billions of dollars linked to drug cartels. Why is no one talking about this? And what happens when the cartels get cornered at sea?
#1
Thus proving they can defend our border if they want. They just didn't want.
Meanwhile, we spend billions of defending the borders of other countries.
Ukraine needs money? Right here!
Israel needs money? Right here!
Afghanistan needs money for a tranny play? Right here!
HOWEVER, Debs was in a Federal Penitentiary serving a 10-year sentence for violating the US Espionage Act of 1917 and not due to be released until 1926.
REPORTER: "You said in June of last year that, 'In my dealings with President Biden I found him to be in command & impressive.'..Were you being straight with the American public?"
#2
So, when you cannot answer truthfully without incriminating yourself and an outright lie would be too obvious, just say something that means nothing. Now, that's a politician.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/14/2025 13:22
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[FoxNews] Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has fired the top officials leading the National Intelligence Council – whom whistleblowers describe as "radically opposed to Trump" — and has moved the agency to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, or ODNI, to ensure she can block any "politicization of intelligence," Fox News Digital has learned.
Gabbard fired Mike Collins, who was serving as the acting chair of the National Intelligence Council, and his deputy, Maria Langan-Riekhof, Tuesday, senior intelligence officials told Fox News Digital.
Fox News Digital reached out Langan-Riekhof for comment and did not immediately hear back, and couldn't immediately find contact information for Collins.
Collins also has whistleblower complaints against him for political bias and "deliberately undermining the incoming Trump administration," officials said.
They added that Collins was closely associated with Michael Morrell, the former deputy director of the CIA who worked to write a public letter in 2020 claiming that Hunter Biden's laptop had "all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation," and to get signatures from top ex-intelligence officials.
#2
"Gabbard fires 'deep state' heads of National Intelligence Council to root out 'politicization of intel'- Senior intelligence officials told Fox News Digital DNI Gabbard is moving the National Intelligence Council to ODNI"
..."The moves come as Gabbard has taken steps to root out leakers and alleged "deep state holdovers" who officials say are politicizing intelligence analysis and "trying to sabotage President Trump’s agenda."
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] The Ukrainian Armed Forces are fighting in the east and south of Ukraine.
The enemy is most active in the Pokrovsk direction. There, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have already repelled 22 attacks in the areas of 17 settlements.
Since the beginning of the day, 84 battles with Russian invaders have taken place on the front. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in an operational report as of 16:00 on Tuesday, May 13.
Thus, in the Kharkov direction, the enemy once tried to advance in the Vovchansk area.
In the Kupyansk direction, the enemy attacked once in the Kupyansk direction.
In the Liman direction, 11 attacks have been repelled in the areas of Novomikhaylovka, Kolodyazev, Grigorovka and in the direction of Ridkodub, Lipovoye, Zelenaya Dolina, Olgovka. Three more attacks are ongoing.
In the Seversky direction, our soldiers stopped one enemy attack in the direction of Grigorovka.
In the Kramatorsk direction, there were six enemy assaults in the areas of Chasovy Yar and in the direction of Belaya Gora. Three combat clashes are still ongoing.
In the Toretsk direction, Russian occupiers carried out four assaults in the Toretsk area and in the direction of Dilievka.
In the Pokrovsk direction, 25 Russian attacks were recorded in the areas of the settlements of Malinovka, Elizavetovka, Zvirove, Kotlin, Novosergeevka, Udachnoye, Novoalekseevka, Novoaleksendrovka, Zaporozhye, Andreevka and in the direction of the settlements of Muravka, Alekseevka, Novaya Poltavka, Yablunovka, Mirolyubovka, Zarya, Promen. 22 assaults were repelled, three clashes are still ongoing.
In the Novopavlovsk direction, the invaders have gone on the offensive 15 times near Constantinople, Skudnoye, Privolnoye, Volnoye Pole, Shevchenko, Bogatyr, Novopol, Otradnoye. Our soldiers have already repelled nine attacks.
In the Orekhov direction, the occupiers attacked in the directions of Novodanilovka and Malaya Tokmachka. Both attacks were repelled.
In the Dnieper direction, the enemy attacked four times in the direction of Sadovoe, but had no success.
In Kursk region, our defenders repelled four attacks by Russian troops.
Let us recall that on May 12, Russia lost almost 1,100 soldiers killed and wounded at the front. The total number of Russian losses since the beginning of the great war is approaching 1 million people.
And none, sadly, a available any longer to father children. Perhaps both Russia and the Ukraine should freeze sperm samples from their recruits (and non-recruits as well) before sending them off to fight.
#3
Biologically speaking, yes of course. BUT, given that Russia’s population was already falling significantly, every male not available to contribute to the gene pool significantly hastens the run to extinction. With frozen samples, the DNA is not lost, and a connection to the lost man for those who loved him.
The other piece of that is that the very act of making that donation leads each man to think about having a posterity, and is a nudge toward finding a way to create that without dying first.
Something to continue on this side of the ocean, too.
#4
TW. There are many reasons for birth rate decline (except among welfare recipients), but lack of sperm is not one of them. And single mothers, regardless of socioeconomic status, are not a solution.
#5
Grom, that’s all true. But Mr. Wife almost died in India once. And even as his parents and I were waiting to find out whether he was going to survive both amoebic dysentery and the hospital in Bhopal — his local colleagues called me long distance every day for several weeks and lied about his condition to keep me from getting on an airplane and flying over there— I was profoundly grateful that in the worst case we would have his baby daughter to remember him by.
It’s not the same as being a military spouse or parent, but I do have some idea what those left behind feel. And however difficult single parenthood most definitely is, Russia really needs her people to find reasons to have children.
🤦♂️Democrat Rep. Jasmine Crockett calls Trump voters stupid and uneducated: “Anybody that did they research voted the right way. The more educated voters voted the right way.”
Posted by: Fred ||
05/14/2025
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#1
ai didn't expect intellectual elitism from a fat black woman, but here we are.
IQ is a bell curve, and for whites the curve is centered at 100 while for blacks it's cantered at 85.
I guess she's angry so many black men voted for Trump.
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.
..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,...
...a kingdom takingup 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...
...business executive, and former professional wrestling performer. She was the 25th administrator of the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2019. McMahon has been nominated to lead the Department of Education under the second Trump administration. McMahon, along with her husband, Vince McMahon, founded sports entertainment company Titan Sports, Inc. (later World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.) where she worked as the president and later CEO from 1980 to 2009. During this time, the company grew from a regional business in the northeast to a large multinational corporation. She made occasional on-screen performances, most notably in a feud with her husband that culminated at WrestleMania X-Seven. In 2009, she left World Wrestling Entertainment to run for a seat in the United States Senate from Connecticut as a Republican, but lost to Richard Blumenthal in the 2010 general election. She was the Republican nominee for Connecticut's other Senate seat in the 2012 race, but lost to Chris Murphy because that's the kind of guy people in Connecticutt like best. ...
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the 
...former first lady, former secretary of state, former presidential candidate, Conqueror of Benghazi, Heroine of Tuzla, formerly described by her supporters as 
[Breitbart] A Colorado clinic infamous for late-term abortions has shuttered after 50 years of being open, Associated Press reported. 
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
[NYPOST] A 
Director of National Intelligence 
