[IsraelTimes] Palestinian media reports that three Palestinian security prisoners who were freed as part of the recent hostage deal were rearrested by Israel last night.
The three are named as Mahdi Akas, Saeed Diab and Ibrahim Atiya. Atiya had served a life sentence for his involvement in a shooting terror attack in which a 7-year-old girl was murdered in 2003, as part of his membership in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.
The Palestinian Prisoners Club, a Palestinian organization representing those who are in jail in Israel, announced yesterday, prior to the arrests last night, that a total of 13 Palestinians released in the deal had been rearrested, 6 of whom remained in detention as of yesterday.
[IsraelTimes] During operations overnight in the West Bank village of Baqat al-Hatab, the IDF says it demolished the home of a Palestinian terrorist who killed an Israeli last year.
In the attack on August 18, 2024, Sultan al-Jani attacked Gidon Peri, 38, with a hammer in an industrial park near the settlement of Kedumim. Peri, a civilian security guard, was fatally wounded.
As a matter of policy, Israel demolishes the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out deadly attacks.
[IsraelTimes] Hamas spokesman Jihad Taha told the Qatari Al Jazeera channel last night, in response to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech in which he presented a list of preconditions for ending the war, that the terror group will not give up the “weapons of the resistance,” referring to the weapons of Hamas and other terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip.
He further states that the group refuses to exile its leadership from the Strip, as they are part of the Palestinian people.
#2
Report: Hamas facing worst financial crisis ever amid Gaza governance crisis Hamas fighters reportedly unpaid for nearly 3 months, face military gear shortages; sources describe leadership vacuum in Gaza’s Hamas-run government terror group struggles to fill after series of Israeli assassinations
I wonder about offering Hamas "fighters" $$$ for their leaders heads ...
A legal organization accused Microsoft of violating federal anti-discrimination laws and contributing to "widespread anti-Semitism" in its workplace, warning it will sue unless the tech giant fixes the problem.
The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under the Law wrote in a Monday letter to Microsoft that its refusal to allow employees of all races and ethnicities—including Jews—to establish resource groups is illegal.
Microsoft currently funds nine Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), which host educational events and provide a channel through which employees can communicate concerns about workplace discrimination to corporate leadership. Existing ERGs include "Asians at Microsoft," "Blacks at Microsoft," "Hispanic and Latinx Organization of Leaders in Action," and "Indigenous at Microsoft."
Brandeis Center director of corporate initiatives and senior counsel Rory Lancman wrote in the letter that the climate at Microsoft demonstrates why the lack of a Jewish ERG—which would help resolve issues of anti-Semitism—is an issue.
An "Interfaith ERG" at Microsoft included non-Jewish employees who told their Jewish coworkers that they "should expect people to blame Jews for what Israel was doing" and that they should stop complaining about anti-Semitism because "Christians and Arabs face more and worse in the world" and "there were so many countries where Jews were the majority," Lancman noted.
Immediately after Hamas’s October 7 attack against Israel, Microsoft employees used the company’s internal messaging platform to write slogans like "from the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free," accuse Israel of being an apartheid state, and deny a Jewish right to self-determination, according to Lancman.
The Brandeis Center pointed to other incidents in the letter, including graffiti on campus, inappropriate speakers at employee events, and anti-Israel protests and disruptions, arguing that company policy has left Jewish employees at a disadvantage and "allowed anti-Semitism to fester at Microsoft."
The Brandeis Center asserted that Microsoft is discriminating against employees who do not fall under any of the nine ERG categories.
"Jewish and non-Jewish employees must be provided ERGs on the same terms and conditions as other employees at Microsoft regardless of their ethnicity or shared ancestry," the letter reads. "It’s the right thing to do, and it’s the law."
Lancman told the Washington Free Beacon that Jewish employees desire their own ERGs because "they don’t feel they have the tools to effectively address" workplace anti-Semitism, noting that diversity, equity, and inclusion offices are often responsible for "encouraging or fomenting that anti-Semitism."
Microsoft, the Brandeis Center wrote in its letter, objects to a Jewish ERG because it characterizes Jews as a religious group, not an ethnic one. Lancman, describing an "unwillingness of corporate America to accept Jewish identity on the terms that their Jewish employees understand Jewish identity," told the Free Beacon that the law is clear.
"Jews are an ethnicity under the law, and ethnicities are protected by federal, state, and local anti discrimination laws," he added. "So our message to Microsoft is, insofar as you're going to have ethnicity-based employee resource groups, then you need to allow your Jewish employees to have them."
US tech giant Microsoft denied claims that artificial intelligence and cloud-based computing technologies it supplies to the Israeli military have been used to target people in Gaza amid the ongoing war with the Hamas terror group
In a blog post last week, Microsoft acknowledged that it provides Israel’s Defense Ministry with “software, professional services, Azure cloud services and Azure AI services, including language translation,” and has helped in efforts to locate and rescue Israeli hostages.
Countering growing criticism, the tech giant disclosed that following internal and external reviews, including interviews with dozens of employees, it “found no evidence that Microsoft’s Azure and AI technologies, or any of our other software, have been used to harm people or that IMOD [Israel’s Ministry of Defense] has failed to comply with our terms of service or our AI Code of Conduct.”
However, Microsoft acknowledged that it was not privy to exactly how its programs were used.
“It is important to acknowledge that Microsoft does not have visibility into how customers use our software on their own servers or other devices,” Microsoft said. “Nor do we have visibility to the IMOD’s government cloud operations, which are supported through contracts with cloud providers other than Microsoft.”
The formal acknowledgement came in response to a group of its employees continuing to publicly protest Microsoft’s contracts that provide AI and cloud computing services to the Israeli military.
In April, Microsoft fired two protesting employees who interrupted AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman’s remarks at the company’s 50th-anniversary celebration, accusing the tech giant of selling “AI weapons to the Israeli military.”
A group of workers has been raising concerns within the company for months, calling Israel’s fighting against Hamas a “genocide” and accusing Microsoft of complicity in it. Israel has strenuously denied all accusations of genocide.
“We’ve heard concerns from our employees and the public about media reports regarding Microsoft’s Azure and AI technologies being used by the Israeli military to target civilians or cause harm in the conflict in Gaza,” Microsoft said. “We take these concerns seriously.”
The worker protests followed an investigation by The Associated Press, which claimed earlier this year that AI models from Microsoft and OpenAI had been used as part of an Israeli military program to select bombing targets during the multi-front war against terror groups in Gaza and Lebanon.
The AP’s investigation cited exclusive details drawn from internal company data and documents, including that the alleged usage of AI models by the Israeli military through Azure increased nearly 200 times after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 onslaught — in which thousands of terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages — triggering the war. The report claimed that the IDF uses Azure to transcribe, translate and process intelligence gathered through mass surveillance.
“It is worth noting that militaries typically use their own proprietary software or applications from defense-related providers for the types of surveillance and operations that have been the subject of our employees’ questions,” the tech giant stated. “Microsoft has not created or provided such software or solutions to the IMOD.”
Microsoft pointed out that beyond “the commercial relationship with the IMOD, [it] provided limited emergency support to the Israeli government in the weeks following October 7, 2023, to help rescue hostages.”
“We believe the company followed its principles on a considered and careful basis, to help save the lives of hostages while also honoring the privacy and other rights of civilians in Gaza,” the tech firm said.
Microsoft currently operates development centers in Haifa, Tel Aviv and Nazareth with most of its 3,000 employees working on projects including cybersecurity, AI technologies, big data and healthcare, as well as sales and marketing.
The company opened a local branch in Israel in 1989, and established its first R&D center in Israel, its first outside the US, in 1991.
“Microsoft has long defended the cybersecurity of the State of Israel and the people who live there,” the tech firm said. “We share the profound concern over the loss of civilian life in both Israel and Gaza and have supported humanitarian assistance in both places.”
Software engineer Joe Lopez could be heard shouting at Nadella in the opening minutes Monday of the tech giant’s annual Build developer conference in Seattle before getting escorted out of the room. Lopez later sent a mass email to colleagues disputing the company’s claims about how its Azure cloud computing platform is used in Gaza.
Lopez’s outburst was the first of several pro-Palestinian disruptions at the event that drew thousands of software developers to the Seattle Convention Center. At least three talks by executives were disrupted, the company even briefly cut the audio of one livestreamed event. Protesters also gathered outside the venue.
Microsoft has previously fired employees who protested company events over its work in Israel, including at its 50th anniversary party in April.
The company has quietly implemented a filter on its internal Exchange email system that blocks messages containing the politically charged words without notifying the sender or recipient, according to a report by Dropsite News.
“Sending unsolicited email to large numbers of employees at work is not appropriate,” a Microsoft spokesperson told The Post.
“We have an established forum for employees who have opted into a variety of issues for this reason.”
The spokesperson said that “over the past couple of days, a number of emails have been sent to tens of thousands of employees across the company and we have taken measures to try and reduce those emails to those that have not opted in.”
Microsoft has been roiled in recent months by demonstrations staged by a group of employees sympathetic to the Palestinians.
The activist group known as “No Azure for Apartheid” has been demanding that management sever ties with the Israeli government and military.
Microsoft Azure is Microsoft’s cloud computing platform and infrastructure, offering a wide range of services including computing power, storage, databases, networking, artificial intelligence, and analytics.
An investigation by several news outlets revealed that Azure platform was utilized by various branches of the Israeli military — not only for administrative purposes but also for combat and intelligence activities.
Leaked documents indicated that Microsoft entered into deals worth approximately $10 million to provide thousands of hours of technical support during the Gaza conflict.
Microsoft employees who count themselves as members of “No Azure for Apartheid” told Dropsite News that they first noticed the filters on Wednesday — just days after they staged a protest which disrupted the company’s annual Build developer conference.
According to the group, terms such as “Israel” or altered spellings like “P4lestine” are not flagged, raising concerns that the company is selectively silencing one side of the debate.
[IsraelTimes] A neo-Nazi known as “Commander Butcher” is extradited from Moldova to the US for planning mass casualty attacks against Jewish New Yorkers.
Michail Chkhikvishvili, a 21-year-old Georgian national, was arrested in July 2024 and charged with soliciting hate crimes and acts of mass violence. Chkhikvishvili is a leader of the Maniac Murder Cult, an international, violent extremist group, the US Department of Justice says.
Chkhikvishvili promotes neo-Nazi white supremacist ideology and instructed others to commit violence for ethnic cleansing, including an undercover FBI agent, leading to his arrest.
Chkhikvishvili instructed the agent to use arson, explosives, poison and beatings against “low race targets,” including Jews. One of his schemes involved having an assailant dress up as Santa Claus and hand out poisoned candy to racial minorities.
Michail Chkhikvishvili, a 21-year-old from the Republic of Georgia, was arraigned Friday before a federal judge in Brooklyn on multiple felonies, including soliciting hate crimes and acts of mass violence.
He pleaded not guilty through an attorney, Samuel Gregory, who requested that his client receive a psychiatric evaluation and be placed on suicide watch while in custody. Gregory did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
Prosecutors described Chkhikvishvili, who also goes by “Commander Butcher,” as the leader of the Maniac Murder Cult, an international extremist group that adheres to a “neo-Nazi accelerationist ideology and promotes violence and violent acts against racial minorities, the Jewish community and other groups it deems ‘undesirables.’”
They said the group’s violent solicitations — promoted through Telegram channels and outlined in a manifesto called the “Hater’s Handbook” — appear to have inspired multiple real-life killings, including a school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, earlier this year that left a 16-year-old student dead.
Since 2022, Chkhikvishvili has traveled on multiple occasions to Brooklyn, where he bragged about beating up an elderly Jewish man and instructed others, primarily through text messages, to commit violent acts on behalf of the Maniac Murder Cult, according to court papers.
When he was approached by an undercover FBI agent in 2023, Chkhikvishvili recruited the official to a scheme that “involved an individual dressing up as Santa Claus and handing out candy laced with poison to racial minorities and children at Jewish schools in Brooklyn,” according to the Justice Department.
He later suggested narrowing the focus to “dead Jewish kids,” prosecutors said, after noting that “Jews are literally everywhere” in Brooklyn.
Describing his desire to carry out a mass casualty attack, Chkhikvishvili said he saw the United States as “big potential because of accessibility to firearms,” adding that the undercover should consider targeting homeless people because the government wouldn’t care “even if they die,” according to court papers.
Following up on a story we shared with you on April 25, more states are looking for their own “DOGE,” or Department of Government Efficiency.
In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis launched a “DOGE task force” to audit spending, cut bureaucracy, and eliminate DEI programs. Earlier this year, the Georgia Senate passed a bill aimed at reducing costs and increasing accountability for state agencies by having them review and update rules and regulations every four years. Iowa’s Gov. Kim Reynolds announced the creation of an official state DOGE task force. Similar efforts in Kansas, Missouri, New Hampshire, North and South Carolina, and Oklahoma are looking to find those places within the bureaucracy that have become overgrown.
While most DOGEs won’t be led by someone as enigmatic as Elon Musk, they will all need direction. Virginia’s version of DOGE is the Office of Regulatory Management and has been around since 2022, when Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued Executive Order 19 creating it.
Most magicians don’t want to give away the secrets to their act, but Reeve Bull, the director of Virginia’s Office of Regulatory Management, sits down with The Daily Signal to explain how he and the Virginia government agencies that he’s been working with have made nearly 25% of Virginia’s regulations and fees “disappear”:
[TheDesk] Many independent contractors laid off by the broadcaster last week hold work visas that require continued employment to stay in the United States.
Dozens of independent contractors who were laid off at the Voice of America (VOA) last week are likely to be deported within the next month as a result of their job losses, The Desk has learned.
The contractors — around 60 in total — participate in the Exchange Visitor Program, which entitles them to J-1 visas to live and work in the United States as long as they are engaged in certain roles, including the production and distribution of journalism.
The workers were among more than 500 whose contracts were terminated last week by the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the parent organization of VOA. The layoffs come about two months after President Donald Trump ...Oh, noze! Not him!... signed an Executive Order that required USAGM and six other agencies to significantly reduce their operations and fire employees accordingly.
More than 1,000 VOA workers were laid off and hundreds of contracts were temporarily suspended, triggering legal challenges across the board. Those challenges have resulted in favorable decision by lower courts, some of which have been partially reversed by appellate judges.
Earlier this month, USAGM special advisor Kari Lake said the agency intends to partner with right-of-center news broadcaster One America News (OAN), which will license news packages that VOA can use on its radio and TV networks and digital platforms. So far, VOA has yet to broadcast or publish any OAN material, but the partnership served as a partial catalyst toward the independent contractor layoffs last week.
The 60 visa holders are required to maintain employment as part of their ongoing participation in the J-1 program. Their status remains in limbo after VOA ended their contract employment last week. Without new employment, many face the likelihood of having their work permits revoked, which would lead to deportations.
In a note circulated to employees last Thursday, VOA Director Michael Abramowitz said he was "heartbroken to learn about today’s mass terminations of personal service contractors [PSCs] working for Voice of America."
"PSCs have been a critical part of VOA’s mission, and they have made enormous contributions to VOA’s important work," Abramowitz wrote. "Some of VOA’s most talented journalists have been PSCs — many of whom have escaped tyranny in their home countries to tell America’s story of freedom and democracy. Many have served VOA’s viewers and listeners for years and are deeply versed in the markets in which VOA broadcasts."
Abramowitz called the firings "inexplicable, and, to my knowledge, no rationale has been provided by USAGM for this decision."
"We will continue to make efforts to help individual PSCs, especially those who face possible return to hostile countries, in any and every way we can during this difficult time. This remains among my most important priorities, and I hope it will be a priority for USAGM as well," he affirmed.
[IsraelTimes] Military says 98th Division has returned to the enclave, operating in Khan Younis; Hamas-run Gaza civil defense says 52 killed in aerial bombardment in past day
An IDF tank commander was seriously maimed during fighting in the northern 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 on Thursday as the military pushed ahead with its widened offensive in the enclave.
Gaza’s health authorities said the ongoing campaign had killed more than 50 people over the past day.
The military said that the injured tank commander, who serves in the 401st Armored Brigade’s 52nd Battalion, was evacuated from the Strip to a hospital, and his family was notified.
In a separate incident on Thursday, a soldier was lightly maimed when a grenade went kaboom! during operations in southern Gaza.
Late last week, the military launched its new offensive dubbed Operation Gideon’s Chariots, which Israel says seeks to destroy remaining Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... capabilities and seize and retain Gaza territory while relocating Paleostinians across the enclave.
The military announced on Thursday that the IDF’s elite 98th Division had returned to operating in the Gaza Strip, bringing the number of divisions acting in the enclave to five. The elite formation of paratrooper and commando units — made up of thousands of soldiers — is operating in Khan Younis, the military said, and is working to establish "operational control" and destroy Hamas’s infrastructure in the southern Gaza city, both above and below ground.
The army said that troops of the division had already killed dozens of terror operatives, including in close-quarters combat and through directing Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s. Some 200 sites used by terror groups had been demolished, including tunnels, the army added.
At the same time as the IDF operated across large parts of southern Gaza, it issued an evacuation warning for Paleostinians in 14 different locations in the enclave’s north.
Among the areas included in the evacuation zone were Sheikh Zayed, Salatin, Beit Lahiya, and Jabaliya.
In a post on X, the IDF’s Arabic-language front man, Col. Avichay Adraee, warned that the military was operating "with great force" in these areas and that they were considered "dangerous combat zones."
A map posted alongside the warning showed a swath of territory marked in red.
The army had issued a similar evacuation call for northern Gaza late Wednesday following rocket fire on southern Israel.
The vast majority of Gaza’s 2.4 million have been displaced at least once during the war.
Hundreds of people have been reported dead across the Strip since the start of the new Israeli offensive, and on Thursday evening, the Hamas-run civil defense agency said that 52 people had been killed in the past day, and dozens more had been injured. The figures, which do not differentiate between civilians and button men, could not be verified.
Israel says it only targets terror groups and makes efforts to minimize harm to civilians.
AFP footage of northern Gaza showed numerous plumes of smoke rising from the area over the course of the afternoon.
Earlier on Thursday, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said a tank shell hit a medicine warehouse inside al-Awda Hospital in Beit Lahiya, on the northern edge of the enclave, and set it ablaze.
Videos taken by a health official at al-Awda showed walls blown away and thick black smoke billowing over wreckage.
While rescue workers were trying to extinguish the fire, medics said tanks had been stationed outside the hospital, effectively blocking access to it.
Hospital director Mohammed Salha said that the civil defense agency had spent three hours trying to contain the fires and failed.
“Al-Cairo” had changed its name from “Dubai” in 2022, after the company was declared by the defense minister to be “aiding terror organizations due to its involvement in transferring funds to such groups,” the military says.
The IDF says the offices targeted last night were used in recent years to funnel millions of dollars to Hamas and Islamic Jihad for the terror groups’ military activity.
“Throughout the war, the workers of the currency exchange office continued to aid and fund the activity of Hamas terrorists and transferred millions of dollars to operatives of Hamas’s military wing for military activity purposes, thereby enabling the continuation of Hamas’s terror activity,” the IDF says.
In August 2024, the IDF says it killed one of the employees of the company, Tahseen Al-Nadiyya, over his involvement in funding Hamas.
[ShabelleMedia] Heavy Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s struck rural areas near Adan Yabal district in Somalia’s Middle Shabelle region late Wednesday, targeting suspected al-Shabaab ... the personification of Somali state failure... turbans, according to local sources.
The aerial bombardment, believed to have been conducted by aircraft from countries allied with the Somali government, focused on the Howd area — a known hideout for al-Shabaab fighters. Residents reported hearing loud explosions, but due to the remoteness of the location, the full extent of the damage and casualties remains unknown.
"There were multiple strikes in the area, which is often used by al-Shabaab as a base," one local official, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered... , told Radio Shabelle. "We are still gathering information about the aftermath."
The Somali government has yet to issue a formal statement regarding the operation, which appears to be part of an ongoing offensive against the al-Qaeda-linked group.
In a related development, community militias known as Macawiisley — based in the neighboring Hiiraan region — have unexpectedly pulled back from frontline positions near Adan Yabal. These militias have played a key role in supporting Somali forces in recent festivities against al-Shabaab.
The reason for their sudden withdrawal remains unclear. No official comment has been made by Macawiisley leadership or government authorities, raising questions about coordination and morale among local anti-Al-Shabaab forces.
[ShabelleMedia] Somali elite forces from the Danab commando unit have seized a large cache of weapons from the militant group Al-Shabaab during a military operation in the Barjaale area of Lower Juba region, officials said Thursday.
The offensive, carried out in recent hours near the Afmadow district, resulted in the deaths of more than 40 Al-Shabaab fighters, including senior commanders, according to military sources. Several others were captured alive.
“The operation was successful. We killed over 40 Al-Shabaab militants and captured key operatives alive. Their weapons and defensive positions were destroyed,” a senior military official told state media.
Images released by the Somali National Army show the bodies of slain fighters and the underground bunkers that were dismantled during the raid.
Military sources confirmed that the operation is ongoing, with Danab units actively pursuing fleeing Al-Shabaab elements in the region. Several strategic villages have reportedly been recaptured and are now under government control.
The assault in Lower Juba is part of a broader military campaign aimed at eliminating Al-Shabaab from its remaining strongholds.
Over the past 24 hours, Somali forces say they have killed more than 120 Al-Shabaab members in simultaneous operations across the Hiiraan, Lower Shabelle, and Lower Juba regions.
Somali elite forces from the Danab commando unit have seized a large cache of weapons from the militant group Al-Shabaab during a military operation in the Barjaale area of Lower Juba region, officials said Thursday.
The offensive, carried out in recent hours near the Afmadow district, resulted in the deaths of more than 40 Al-Shabaab fighters, including senior commanders, according to military sources. Several others were captured alive.
“The operation was successful. We killed over 40 Al-Shabaab militants and captured key operatives alive. Their weapons and defensive positions were destroyed,” a senior military official told state media.
Images released by the Somali National Army show the bodies of slain fighters and the underground bunkers that were dismantled during the raid.
Military sources confirmed that the operation is ongoing, with Danab units actively pursuing fleeing Al-Shabaab elements in the region. Several strategic villages have reportedly been recaptured and are now under government control.
The assault in Lower Juba is part of a broader military campaign aimed at eliminating Al-Shabaab from its remaining strongholds.
Over the past 24 hours, Somali forces say they have killed more than 120 Al-Shabaab members in simultaneous operations across the Hiiraan, Lower Shabelle, and Lower Juba regions.
[Garowe] A court in Kenya has found two men guilty of aiding an al-Shabaab ... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia attempting to metastasize into Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and similar places, all ofwhich have enough problems without them... attack in Kenya that left 21 people dead in 2019, with the Kahawa Law Courts linking them directly with the prime perpetrators following evidence tabled before the judge.
The two, Hussein Mohammed Abdille Ali and Mohammed Abdi Ali, who were earlier found to have a case to answer, appeared before Lady Justice Diana Kavedza, who found them guilty on all charges except one, of conspiring to commit a terrorist act contrary to the law.
According to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP), Hussein was found guilty of facilitating the gunnies through the payment of $6500 to one of the killers who died instantly after the attack.
"The court found that he had facilitated the attack by transferring a total of Ksh.. 836,900 (6500) via M-Pesa to Ali Salim Gichunge, also known as Farouk or Erick Kinyanjui Munyi — the dear departed attacker and a member of the Al-Shabaab terrorist group," stated the ODPP.
"These transactions occurred between October 14, 2018, and January 12, 2019, in the Soko Mbuzi area of Mandera County."
A total of 46 witnesses were presented by the prosecution, which played an integral role in securing convictions. The team wants sentences for each count to run consecutively rather than concurrently.
The court ordered the preparation of a probation report within 21 days, to be submitted by June 17, 2025. The matter was scheduled for a sentencing hearing on June 19, 2025. This is a major breakthrough in the fight against al-Shabaab.
In the recent hearing of the case, the first accused, Mire Abdulahi, previously entered a plea bargain with the prosecution and was duly convicted and sentenced. The court on January 21st found that the two suspects had a case to answer.
During the trial in January, Lady Justice Kavedza in her ruling said, "Having considered the evidence of 55 witnesses, including expert testimonies, and the material presented before me, I am satisfied that the prosecution has established a prima facie case against the two accused persons. I hereby place the second accused, Hussein Mohammed Abdile, and the third accused, Mohammed Abdi Ali, on their defence."
Two Kenyan men charged with facilitating the 2019 attack on a luxury hotel complex that left 21 people dead were found guilty on Thursday and will be sentenced next month.
Judge Diana Kavedza, while sitting in a court in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, ruled that the prosecution had proved that Hussein Mohamed Abdille Ali and Mohamed Abdi Ali sent money and helped acquire fake identification documents for the militants who died during the DusitD2 hotel complex attack.
[IsraelTimes] Palestinians, whose homes were destroyed in counter-terror operation, speak of hardships after months of displacement; some say they only found out after the fact
With hundreds of structures demolished and thousands of residents displaced as the Israel Defense Forces escalates its most extensive counter-terror campaign in years across the northern West Bank, Paleostinian residents have spoken out about the difficulties of displacement and their determination to return ot their homes.
On January 21, the IDF launched Operation Iron Wall in the Jenin refugee camp, adjacent to the city of Jenin. In February, the operation expanded to include refugee camps near the city of Tulkarem in the western West Bank — Tulkarem and Nur Shams camps. In the first days of the operation, the IDF ordered all residents of those camps to evacuate their homes, and today they remain completely empty.
According to the UN agency for Paleostinian refugees, UNRWA, approximately 40,000 people have been displaced from the camps and are currently staying in nearby villages or the adjacent cities of Jenin or Tulkarem.
Early in the campaign, footage emerged showing the IDF demolishing some homes as part of its incursions and to achieve tactical control on the ground, as was seen in previous operations. However,
death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate... as the fighting progressed, destruction exceeded that of earlier IDF operations in the camps.
For example, in the Jenin refugee camp alone, the IDF demolished 25 homes in February — something not seen in recent years. According to an IDF statement, these were buildings that "served as terrorist infrastructure."
In early May, the IDF announced the demolition of 100 structures in the Jenin camp due to "urgent security needs," followed by a similar announcement regarding 90 structures in the Nur Shams and Tulkarem camps.
Mohammad Sabar, head of the Jenin camp’s Civil Services Committee, told The Times of Israel that around 200 homes have been destroyed there, previously housing approximately 600 families. In Tulkarem, according to Paleostinian reports, demolitions are still ongoing.
In early May, the IDF stated that "to prevent terrorism from reestablishing itself in northern Samaria, the IDF is making changes in the camps — including the opening of routes and roads — in order to allow freedom of movement and operational capability for IDF forces in the area."
In response to a query from The Times of Israel regarding the number of homes demolished so far in the refugee camps, the IDF replied: "In recent years, the refugee camps in northern Samaria have become terrorist strongholds, with button men operating from within civilian neighborhoods. To prevent the return and entrenchment of button men in the northern Samaria area, the IDF is reshaping and stabilizing the region, in part by demolishing homes, based on the operational needs of forces operating in the field."
It said that in the refugee camps mentioned, over 250 structures have been demolished. The demolitions were carried out following extensive discussions and careful review, and limited to the smallest number possible.
STRATEGY BEHIND DEMOLITIONS
Hebrew media have published several reports in recent weeks providing further details from security sources regarding the scope and purpose of the widespread demolitions.
In a report by Ynet, military officials were quoted explaining that the goal of the demolitions is "to preserve the IDF’s freedom of operation. The method — preventing the reconstruction of homes and roads that were destroyed — will turn the camps from fortified strongholds into urban neighborhoods. The psychological impact: Reducing the phenomenon of refugee camps as terror hubs."
In an interview with Channel 12, a military lieutenant colonel speaking anonymously stated: "We are building a network of routes throughout the entire [Jenin] camp. The idea is to turn it into a regular neighborhood. You’ll be able to drive here, walk here, and it will allow us freedom of operation."
The speakers in both interviews said the narrow alleys in the refugee camps were used by terror operatives against IDF soldiers. Aerial footage published by Haaretz in recent months has shown homes demolished to widen roads.
There are 20 historical refugee camps in the West Bank, all of which were established shortly after 1948, housing Paleostinians who fled or were expelled during the War of Independence from homes located in what is now the State of Israel. Over the years, these camps have evolved into densely populated and enclosed neighborhoods where both the Paleostinian Authority and Israeli security forces face operational challenges.
’A TERRORIST HUB? AN ISRAELI NARRATIVE’
Taqqiya.
One of the residents who learned of Israel’s plans through Israeli media is a resident of the Jenin camp who asked not to be named for safety reasons. His home was demolished during the operation.
Speaking to The Times of Israel by phone, he said: "The Israeli narrative is that every house destroyed to open a road won’t be rebuilt. Israeli media says the goal is to reduce the camp’s population by half, so that 8,000 people won’t return."
He said Israel talks of creating "a new Netzarim Corridor," a reference to a route the IDF carved out 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... to better control the territory during the war, as well as "new streets, and that the army won’t withdraw from the camp until next year."
The IDF has stated that the operation was launched to combat armed gangs that had grown stronger within the camps and were using them as launching points for shooting attacks against Israelis.
On May 7, the IDF reported that 100 button men had been killed in the northern West Bank during the operation, including 36 senior operatives from various terror organizations. According to the military, around 320 wanted individuals have been arrested, approximately 450 weapons have been confiscated, hundreds of bombs destroyed, and dozens of homes used as weapons caches or explosives labs demolished.
The resident rejected this.
"This claim that it’s a hub for terrorists, it’s a narrative," he said. "The army itself says it didn’t find anyone in the camp." (This is incorrect.)
"The young men who were there were arrested by the Paleostinian Authority," the resident went on. "The army found nothing. It found civilians and attacked civilians. It’s my right to peacefully resist and hold onto my home. Is it a crime if I try to hold on to my home? Why do you come to my house, uproot me, and destroy it?"
Some camp residents who spoke to The Times of Israel denied that any significant activity by gangs had taken place in their neighborhoods. Others argued that such activity was legitimate in response to foreign forces entering Paleostinian areas.
Montaser Abu al-Hijaa, from Jenin camp, whose home was burned down during the operation in March, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir "know that there are only 20—30 gunnies in the entire refugee camp, but they want to satisfy a certain segment of Israeli society. The Israeli army has been in the refugee camp for 120 days. There are no festivities, no gunfire. The wanted individuals were arrested by the PA or by Israel, or they were killed."
Nihal al-Jundi from Nur Shams camp said, "Since 1948, there has been popular resistance. That’s the nature of resistance. [Israel] opposes any form of resistance. Every occupied people has the right to resist."
FINDING OUT ON SOCIAL MEDIA
A resident of the Jenin refugee camp, who spoke with The Times of Israel on condition of anonymity, said he was not informed by any official source that his home had been demolished. He only found out after seeing videos on social media.
The 36-year-old father of two recounted: "We left in January, as soon as the order was given for everyone to evacuate. Fourteen of us lived in that house — myself, my parents, my siblings, their kids, and my own children. My daughter cried and screamed at night from the sound of gunfire and explosions. The drone circled overhead and broadcast a message telling us to leave. We left against our will. They didn’t let us take anything — not even clothes. We left with what we were wearing."
He described his displacement journey after leaving the camp: "At first, I stayed with relatives in the city for a bit. Then at my sister’s, then at my uncle’s. But it’s not easy living like that, especially as the operation dragged on. So I rented a house in Jenin for NIS 2,500 ($700) a month. Now I live in a smaller, cheaper place — I can’t afford more. I currently pay NIS 1,700 ($470) a month. The place I’m renting doesn’t have a fridge or basic appliances. It’s two rooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom, and 14 people live there."
According to Nihad Shuweish, head of the Civil Services Committee in Nur Shams, neither the IDF nor Israeli authorities officially informed Paleostinian residents of a plan to alter the structure of the refugee camps.
He told The Times of Israel in a phone call that the only official notification came from the District Coordination and Liaison Office (DCO), and it included a list of homes scheduled for demolition, so families could be notified. Those families were given about two hours, coordinated with the Civil Administration, to go in and retrieve belongings. Those notifications happened in Jenin and Tulkarem, according to the military.
However,
death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate... some resident said they weren’t notified and were not allowed to collect items from their house before the demolition. In response to The Times of Israel’s inquiry, the IDF stated: "The Coordination and Liaison Administration has conducted itself transparently throughout the operation and has coordinated with residents of the camps to arrange a proper schedule for evacuation and collection of belongings."
FINANCIAL HARDSHIP
One of the main challenges reported by displaced residents whose homes were demolished is the financial burden of living outside the camps. Many of meager means had previously lived in homes they owned, but are now forced to pay rent.
In addition, since the establishment of the Paleostinian Authority, residents of refugee camps have not paid for water, electricity, or municipal taxes.
I understand that Israel made sure the utility companies were paid, just like they did for Gaza.
This policy reflects the PA’s view of camp residents as "temporary" until a resolution to the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict is reached — one that, under the Paleostinians’ demanded right of return, would allow descendants of refugees to go back to their ancestral homes in pre-1948 Israel. Such an eventuality is highly unlikely.
Alaa Abu Zina, a resident of the Jenin refugee camp whose home was destroyed about a month ago, told The Times of Israel by phone: "I’m 50 years old. We left with the entire extended family — my brothers and their children. Ten of us lived in that house. We left on the first day of the military operation, in January, the moment the army entered and began shooting. My family and I left under fire. They shot at people who left before us. It was terrifying. We didn’t take anything.
"We went to live with relatives in a nearby village and then returned to the city. Now I live in an apartment with my sisters, and my brother and his kids live in another apartment in a different neighborhood. I pay NIS 2,000 ($550) in rent every month."
Jamal Abu al-Shalabi, whose home was demolished in a previous IDF operation in the Jenin camp in July 2024, has been living outside it ever since. "I’m 46 and have eight children. We were 10 people living in the house: me, my wife, and the kids. Now we live in a rented apartment. We want to return to the refugee camp," he said.
"We can’t afford life in the city: rent, transportation, water, electricity. In the camp, we didn’t pay for water or electricity, and there was no need to pay for transportation. Everything was nearby, even education. There are no UNRWA schools outside the camp, only private ones."
Nihaya al-Jundi, a resident of Nur Shams refugee camp, left with her family when the military operation began there in February. Her home was demolished a day after she left, likely due to its location on the edge of the camp, where the military sought to gain access.
"Soldiers came into the house on February 8, told me to leave, and then demolished it with a bulldozer. I left Nur Shams on February 9 and haven’t returned since. We were three living in the house. I’m 35, married, and have a 14-year-old daughter. I now live in a rented apartment in Tulkarem, paying NIS 3,000 ($830) a month for a two-room unit with a kitchen and bathroom. I left without a fridge or washing machine. All the residents of Nur Shams are in the same situation, searching for furniture and renting homes."
’WE’LL RETURN THE MOMENT IT’S ALLOWED’
Many of the displaced residents from the Jenin and Tulkarem camps, whose homes were demolished, said they intended to return as soon as the army allows it, despite the destruction of their homes.
Mohammad Amer, a resident of Jenin camp whose home was demolished by the IDF in January, said: "Historically, we’re not from the refugee camp. I’m from Haifa. My grandfather was a refugee from Haifa. For me, returning to Haifa would be better, but our aspirations are smaller. We want to return to the refugee camp."
Abu al-Hijaa, from Jenin camp, said his house was burned during the operation in March, though the circumstances remain unclear. He told The Times of Israel: "I heard from journalists who entered the camp and took photos. I saw that my house had completely burned. I saw the photos in March and saw that it was scorched. I don’t have more details, and I don’t know if it was demolished afterward."
He added, "Everyone sees their home as a palace, it’s their life. You don’t give that up. We grew up there. The moment they say we can go back to the refugee camp — at 2 a.m., 3 a.m. — we’ll go back, put down a mattress, and live in the burned house."
However,
death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate... entire residential areas have been razed, and many Paleostinians fear that the number of returning residents will be reduced. These concerns stem from statements by Israeli military officials indicating that homes demolished for road-widening purposes will not be allowed to be rebuilt.
There is currently no clear timeline for when the military operation in the camps will end. In February, Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that he had instructed the IDF to remain in the camps throughout the coming year.
#1
Those were NEVER your homes. Nobody cares how long you were squatting on rightfully Jewish land. Get out and stay out. Forever.
If nobody lives there, no new terrorists can come from there.
See how this works?
And once the whole area is graded flat new modern settlements can spring up like saplings after a forest fire and the land will bloom with new life.
[NY Post] Democratic Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock — who has praised Marxism and cheered the redistribution of wealth — has made a killing since he took office, The Post has learned.
The Peach State pastor — whose campaign was heavily backed by far-left billionaire George Soros — doubled his net worth from just over $1 million in 2020 to as much as $2.2 million in 2024, financial disclosure records show.
Warnock, 55, made history in 2021 when he became Georgia’s first black senator by defeating incumbent Kelly Loeffler in a special election.
Alex Soros called Warnock “the epitome of the American dream.” AlexanderSoros/X
He accused his predecessor during the race of using her seat to get rich.
But records show he almost tripled his annual earnings, going from $242,101 when he was a reverend in 2020 to bringing in on average $659,977 each year since becoming a politician — between salaries for his various gigs, book deals and investments, records show.
He raked in a total of $357,058 in 2024, but that wasn’t even his best year since joining the Senate.
Warnock pulled in $666,767 in 2023, a whopping $985,118 in 2022 and $541,965 in 2021, records show.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/24/2025
10:50 ||
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#1
So he believed you had to be crooked to make any money and he set out to prove it.
[Babylon Bee] WASHINGTON, D.C. — In yet another stage in the escalating trade conflict with China, President Donald Trump issued a statement insisting that the next Chinese pandemic be made in America.
According to President Trump, Americans deserve more than "cheap, knock-off kung flu." As such, the president also vowed to bring virus-manufacturing jobs back from Wuhan to the United States.
"Why import these viruses when we can make them right here at home?" Trump said in brief remarks to reporters. "Everybody complains to me about these sad, cheaply made Chinese global pandemics. They say, 'Don, when are you going to bring virus manufacturing back from China?' We're going to stop this virus deficit with China and prioritize American jobs by making sure that the next Chinese pandemic is made right here, by Americans. It'll be much better when it's made right here at home."
Insiders said Trump intends to raise tariffs on Chinese pandemics by at least 47%. Trump also expressed confidence that the U.S. can produce a much better pandemic. "What are we doing outsourcing the creation of our pandemics to Chinese labs, anyway?" Trump continued. "The mortality rate for their virus was, what, two-point-something percent? We can do a lot better than that, believe me."
Sources close to the trade negotiations said China had already pushed back on Trump's demand, vowing to increase pandemic production over the next year.
At publishing time, Trump had reportedly told White House staff that the production of any upcoming pandemic would be subject to government efficiency standards put in place by DOGE.
[MAIL] A liberal arts women's college has come under fire for awarding former President Biden's transgender health secretary with an honorary degree.
Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, announced it would be giving Admiral Rachel Levine an honorary degree.
On Sunday, Levine was formally given the award - causing a protest on campus over the fact she is transgender.
She was one of four honorees selected by the college to speak at their commencement ceremony.
Feminist group the Women's Declaration International had protested the decision last weekend prior to the ceremony.
In a post to its X account they said: 'Tomorrow, Smith College - a historically women's college - will award Richard "Rachel" Levine an honorary degree.
'Levine, who pretends to be a woman, will then speak at commencement. We’re on the ground in Northampton, MA to show our support for women.'
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) - A judge denied bond for the two people charged in a chase turned shooting in Myrtle Beach after an emotional hearing.
The Myrtle Beach Police Department arrested 20-year-old Omarion Glass and 17-year-old Riley Pegram on multiple charges, including three counts of attempted murder each.
#2
...I used to love the Redneck Riviera - tacky and cheesy it was, but it was delightful fun. Sadly, the 'Vid pretty much killed off that MB. It's bad and getting worse; I wouldn't go there now on a bet.
#3
I am not aware of another case when a car thief brought an AR on the caper. There is something wrong with how those young men are wired. There is a public need for them to be put away until they both need walkers. They are trying to live a GTA session with everyone else’s daily life.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
05/24/2025 9:29
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[American Thinker] Once again, we see that there aren’t too many degrees of separation between deranged political (accused) killers and congressional Democrats. I wonder if that says anything about the modern party? Nah, they’re all just coincidences! Again...and again...and again....
Recall that Luigi Mangione’s grandfather was reportedly "a friend of the Pelosi family" and now, we learn that Elias Rodriguez’s dad is a close acquaintance of Chuy García, a very socialist "activist" lawmaker from the suburbs of Chicago with an affection for Saul Alinsky—in 2015, the Chicago Reader detailed García’s very close friendship with Lola Navarro, a "disciple" of Alinsky, and revealed that he had also been friends with Rudy Lozano, another Machiavellian left-wing "activist" of the day. Politico also ran an article praising García, noting that he belongs to the "reform-minded activist wing" of the Democrat party.
Anyway, here’s the story, from an article at the New York Post today:
[EuropeanConservative] In a wide-ranging video address on Thursday evening, Benjamin Netanyahu suggested it was no coincidence that the killing of a young couple outside Washington D.C.’s Jewish museum by a pro-Palestine (apparently Marxist) activist has followed on from European leaders’ demands for Israel to end its war against Hamas terrorists, as well as their buying into "Hamas’ propaganda" on aid entering the Strip.
The Israeli prime minister pointed in particular to the false claim that 14,000 Palestinian babies would die in 48 hours because of aid blockades, saying:
The press repeats it. The mob believed it. And a young couple is then brutally gunned down in Washington. While they started with Jews (inventing "Palestinians" out of nothing) - it never ends with the Jews. Nowadays, European elites conduct a war of extermination against their own people.
Posted by: Grom the Affective ||
05/24/2025
06:29 ||
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[ZH] The head of the City Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) in St. Louis has been suspended pending an investigation into into why tornado sirens did not sound before an EF-3 tornado hit parts of Central West End and North City last week. A physical button must be pushed by officials at the CEMA office in order to activate warning sirens; this was never done. Five people died when the storm struck.
Sarah Russell, (a biological woman) who identifies as transgender and goes by they/them pronouns, was promoted to the CEMA leadership position in 2022 in the midst of the widespread DEI hiring blitz within Democrat run cities across the US. CEMA is a local partner organization to FEMA.
CEMA staff, including Russell, were at a workshop on Market Street and not at the CEMA office located on Olive, where the siren activation button is located. The Mayor's office said Russell contacted the fire department, apparently at the time the tornado was approaching the city. City officials say there was then a breakdown in communication, with the directive to activate the sirens being vague.
Why didn't Russel go to the office to set off the alarm herself? This is not known but the two locations are approximately four blocks away - A very short distance.
In April of 2024, Russell's office received a $3.9 million grant to improve the siren system in St. Louis which she said needed to be updated. This included adding multiple languages to alarm PSAs, such as Spanish, Vietnamese, Hindi, Swahili, Bosnian and Dari/Patscho. However, no amount of siren improvements will matter if no one is there to push the button.
St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer has placed Sarah Russell on leave, stating at a press conference:
“Let me be clear: CEMA exists to alert the community when severe weather is coming. This office failed to do that in the most horrific and deadly storm that our city has experienced in my lifetime..."
[FoxNews] Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the department is 'working toward the total elimination of cartels to make America safe again'
The Trump Treasury Department's new sanctions are a "full-frontal assault" on one of the deadliest southern border cartels, a local border official told Fox News Digital.
The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned two high-ranking Cartel del Noreste (CDN) members, Mexican nationals Miguel Angel de Anda Ledezma and Ricardo Gonzalez Sauceda, Wednesday.
CDN was one of eight cartels and transnational criminal groups labeled "foreign terrorist organizations" by the Department of State Feb. 20.
Under new sanctions announced this week, all property and interest in properties belonging to De Anda and Gonzalez that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked.
While announcing the sanctions, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the department is "working toward the total elimination of cartels to make America safe again" and that the Trump administration "will hold these terrorists accountable for their criminal activities and abhorrent acts of violence."
"CDN and its leaders have carried out a violent campaign of intimidation, kidnapping and terrorism, threatening communities on both sides of our southern border," said Bessent. "We will continue to cut off the cartels’ ability to obtain the drugs, money and guns that enable their violent activities."
Paul Perez, who leads the National Border Patrol Council chapter in the South Texas Rio Grande Valley, told Fox News Digital even though the Trump administration’s border crackdown has dramatically reduced illegal crossings, the cartels, including CDN, continue to present a threat to the lives and safety of American citizens living on the border.
"The threat of cartels is still there," Perez said in an interview with Fox News Digital. He noted that "the thing about the cartels is that they're very sophisticated," explaining they have begun using advanced technology like drones to carry out their operations.
"They're not the street gang-level managers," he said. "They've got a lot of people on their side that have been in this industry for a long time. They know how to get their products moving. They know how to get their product across."
In Mexico, Perez said, the cartels control the border and "act with impunity all along the border," while the Mexican police and military are unable to stop them.
He said cartel gunfights along the border often lead to cartel members fleeing north into the U.S., where "they're going to do everything they can to get away and get back. And if that means harming American citizens, then they're going to do that."
When it comes to CDN, Perez said "they engage in grotesque conduct," such as beheadings and kidnappings and "will harm anybody that gets in their way" regardless of whether they are American or otherwise.
"What I can tell you about the Noreste cartel, they're no different than any other cartels out there, the Sinaloa cartel. They're all deadly cartels. They all traffic in fentanyl. They all traffic in drugs. They are trafficking people," he explained.
By targeting CDN’s leadership, Perez said the Trump administration is effectively weakening the cartel by creating a power vacuum that will cause infighting that will further sap the organization’s strength.
"The cartels are definitely going to feel it," he said. "So, it's a full-frontal assault from the United States.
"That's the protection that we're bringing to the border that we weren't able to bring under President Biden," he added.
"President Trump, on the campaign trail, and since he's been in office, has repeatedly said he's going to do everything he can to protect the United States, to protect its citizens and make sure that there's nobody around that can do harm to our country. And he's doing that. He's taking on the cartels. He's not afraid of them.
"We want to decimate the cartel activity that's going on in the United States. So, he's done what he said he was going to. We support that 100%."
FoxNews Anchors Continue to Dance Around the Big "O"
[The Ingraham Angle 5/23/25 — Segment starts at 46 minutes in - verbatim]
Lisa Boothe anchors. A clip is shown of The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart [YouTube Podcast — Thursday 5/22/25 Entitled OBAMA BRO: I WANTED BIDEN TO WIN]
Lisa: A former Obama aide was admitting why he wasn’t honest about Joe Biden’s mental decline.
Aide: It was April and he was rambling and was hard to follow and repeated a story, but we were assured that he was just exhausted by the people around him.
I remember feeling I want to talk about this as a hugh liability, I want to talk something that Joe Biden can overcome. But I think that Joe Biden must drop out — he’s too old to be President, but I don’t know exactly what was going on behind the scenes.
If Joe biden is the candidate, I want him to f__ g win! Because I care about the country.
Lisa then interviews Jason Rantz, the Auto Radio(?) host and Terry Schilling, the President of some organization.
Jason: They lie about Donald Trump so he loses. They will say and do anything if it satisfies some sort of political agena of theirs.
I think you’ve got the point here. I wonder who writes this guy’s speeches.
[Related: Rantburg 2025-05-21, see comment #5]
https://rantburg.com/poparticle.php?D=05/21/2025&SO=&HC=4&ID=760913
Hostile takeover stuff. Deep State intelligence folks played politics for years — now the swamp is being drained, as promised.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Donald Trump is ordering a major overhaul of the National Security Council that will shrink its size by over 100 staffers in the wake of the 'SignalGate' scandal.
The move will see the ouster of some political appointees and return many career government employees back to their home agencies.
The number of staff at the NSC is expected to be significantly reduced, according to the officials, who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive personnel matter.
CNN reported over 100 employees are going to be given a pink slip in the mass reshuffle.
The shakeup is just the latest shoe to drop at the NSC, which is being made over after the ouster early this month of Mike Waltz over the SignalGate scandal.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been serving as national security adviser since the ouster of Waltz, who was nominated to serve as Trump's UN ambassador.
The move is expected to elevate the importance of the State Department and Pentagon in advising Trump on important foreign policy decisions.
The NSC, created during the Truman administration, is an arm of the White House tasked with advising and assisting the president on national security and foreign policy and coordinating among various government agencies.
Trump was frustrated in his first term by political appointees and advisers who he felt gummed up his 'America First' agenda.
There were roughly 395 people working at the NSC, including about 180 support staff, according to one official.
About 90 to 95 of those being ousted are policy or subject matter experts seconded from other government agencies. They will be given an opportunity to return to their home agencies.
Not much of a punishment, unless they’re no longer wanted in their old place under its new management.
Many of the political appointees will also be given positions elsewhere in the administration.
Biden political appointees???
The NSC has been in a continual state of tumult during the early going of Trump´s second go-around in the White House.
Waltz was ousted weeks after Trump fired several NSC officials, just a day after the influential far-right activist Laura Loomer raised concerns directly to him about staff loyalty.
Loomer told journalist Tara Palmeri earlier this month that she had sounded the alarm about Waltz's anti-Trump past and claimed he hadn't vetted his staff to weed out liberals.
Waltz has been a lightning rod for controversy in the still-nascent second Trump administration. He has been to blame for accidentally leaking military plans to the press via an unfortunate Signal group chat.
And the White House, days into the administration, sidelined about 160 NSC aides, sending them home while the administration reviewed staffing and tried to align it with Trump´s agenda.
The aides were career government employees, commonly referred to as detailees.
This latest shakeup amounts to a 'liquidation' of NSC staffing with both career government detailees on assignment to the NSC being sent back to their home agencies and several political appointees being pushed out of their positions, according to the person familiar with the decision.
It wasn´t just Loomer who viewed Waltz suspiciously. He was viewed with a measure of skepticism by some in the MAGA world who saw the former Army Green Beret and three-term congressman as too tied to Washington's foreign policy establishment.
On Russia, Waltz shared Trump´s concerns about the high price tag of extensive U.S. military aid to Ukraine.
But Waltz also advocated for further diplomatically isolating President Vladimir Putin - a position that was out of step with Trump, who has viewed the Russian leader, at moments, with admiration for his cunning in dealings with Trump´s predecessors.
His more hawkish rhetoric on Iran and China, including U.S. policy toward Taiwan, seemed increasingly out of step with Trump.
Before getting rid of Waltz, the president fired several members of his National Security Council team. The individuals fired were Brian Walsh, Thomas Boodry and David Feith.
The president - setting aside belligerent rhetoric about taking over Greenland from Denmark - has tilted more toward military restraint and diplomacy in facing some of the United States' most challenging issues with adversaries.
[AA.COM.TR] The Nigerian army on Friday said that it killed 16 Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... murderous Moslems in northeastern Borno state.
In a statement, army spokesperson Onyechi Anele said the soldiers engaged the murderous Moslems with sustained indirect fire around 1:00 a.m. (2:00 WAT) in the Damboa local government on Friday and the shootout led to the death of no fewer than 16 terrorists.
Boko Haram, a deadly terror group based in northeastern Nigeria and also active in Chad, Niger, northern Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... , and Mali, has carried out a series of deadly attacks and displacements of innocent people for over a decade.
Borno State has, in the last few months, witnessed an increase in the activities of the terrorists, using bombs to wreak havoc.
''The main thrust of the attack targeted the Brigade, prompting the swift deployment of air support to reinforce ground troops,'' Anele said in a statement on Friday.
She also confirmed that an ammunition storage area was hit during the exchange but was swiftly brought under control, with no further escalation recorded.
Similarly, Nigeria's National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu said 15,543 Lions of Islam were killed across the country in the first two years of President Bola Tinubu's administration.
Ribadu disclosed this in a presentation he made at the national summit of the All Progressives Congress to mark the two years of President Bola Tinubu's administration on Thursday.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/24/2025
00:27 ||
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Trump's executive only bans federal funds from being used in 'countries of concern' like China and Iran. In the US and other allied countries, it allows federal funding of the work to continue
[IsraelTimes] Oman’s FM says ‘some but not conclusive progress’ made in negotiations
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Friday that Tehran’s discussions with the United States over its nuclear program were "complicated," as the fifth round of talks concluded in Rome.
"The negotiations are too complicated to be resolved in two or three meetings," said Araghchi, who leads the Iranian negotiating team in the talks mediated by Oman.
Araghchi said there was potential for progress in nuclear negotiations after Oman made several proposals.
Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi said "some but not conclusive progress" was made. "We hope to clarify the remaining issues in the coming days to allow us to proceed toward the common goal of reaching a sustainable and honorable agreement."
The talks, which began in April, are the highest-level contact between the foes since the United States quit a landmark 2015 nuclear accord during President Donald Trump ...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party... ’s first term.
Since returning to office, Trump has revived his "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran, backing talks but warning of military action if diplomacy fails.
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... wants a new deal that would ease the sanctions, which have battered its economy.
The fourth round of talks, in the Omani capital Muscat, ended with a public spat over enrichment. Witkoff said Washington "could not authorize even one percent" enrichment — a position Tehran called a red line, citing its rights under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Ahead of Friday’s talks, Araghchi said "fundamental differences" remained with the United States, while adding that Tehran was open to its nuclear sites undergoing more inspections.
"We will not have an agreement at all" if the United States wants to prevent Iran from enriching uranium, he said.
The talks came ahead of a June meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog, the Vienna-based ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the October expiry of the 2015 accord.
The deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, aimed to allay Western suspicions that Iran was seeking a nuclear weapons capability, an ambition that Tehran has denied, while enriching uranium to levels that have no civilian application.
In return for curbs on its nuclear program, Iran had received relief from international sanctions. But the accord was torpedoed in 2018 when Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States and reimposed sanctions. Iran responded by ramping up its nuclear activities.
It is now enriching uranium to 60 percent — far above the deal’s 3.67 percent cap but below, though close to, the 90 percent level needed for a nuclear warhead.
Analysts in Tehran said Iran was unlikely to back down.
"It’s quite simple; if the US expects Iran to halt nuclear enrichment, then there can’t be a deal," said Mohammad Marandi, a political scientist who was once an adviser on the nuclear issue.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran says the country’s nuclear industry employs 17,000 people, similar to other countries where uranium is enriched for civilian use.
"The Netherlands, Belgium, South Korea, Brazil and Japan enrich without possessing nuclear weapons," its front man Behrouz Kamalvandi said.
Iran’s enmity with Israel, whose main backer is the United States, has been a constant backdrop to the talks.
In a letter to the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... , Araghchi wrote: "We believe that in the event of any attack on the nuclear facilities of the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran by the Zionist regime, the US government will also be involved and bear legal responsibility."
The warning came after CNN ...formerly the Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for... , citing unnamed US officials, reported Israel was making preparations to carry out such a strike.
The White House said Trump had a "productive discussion" with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday about Iran and the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staff in Washington.
Friday’s talks took place before an IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna in June, during which Iran’s nuclear activities will be reviewed.
The 2015 deal provides for the possibility of UN sanctions being reimposed through a mechanism called "snapback" if Iran fails to fulfil its commitments.
The agreement’s three European parties — Britannia, La Belle France and Germany — have warned they will trigger the mechanism if the continent’s security is threatened.
Araghchi said such a move would have "consequences — not only the end of Europe’s role in the agreement, but also an escalation of tensions that could become irreversible."
Mosssd ...sees all, knows all, gets 'em all in the end... chief David Barnea and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer met US negotiator Steve Witkoff in Rome on Friday on the talks’ sidelines.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s targeting Iran’s program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn they could pursue a nuclear weapon if the nation is threatened.
"Iran almost certainly is not producing nuclear weapons, but Iran has undertaken activities in recent years that better position it to produce them, if it chooses to do so," a new report from the US Defense Intelligence Agency said.
"These actions reduce the time required to produce sufficient weapons-grade uranium for a first nuclear device to probably less than one week."
However,
corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds... it likely still would take Iran months to make a working bomb, experts say.
Asked about the negotiations, US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said "we believe that we are going to succeed" in the talks and in Washington’s push for no enrichment.
"The Iranians are at that table, so they also understand what our position is, and they continue to go," Bruce said Thursday.
One idea floated so far that might allow Iran to stop enrichment within the country but maintain a supply of uranium could be a consortium in the Mideast backed by regional countries and the US.
There are also multiple countries offering low-enriched uranium that can be used for peaceful purposes by countries.
However,
corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds... Iran’s Foreign Ministry has maintained that enrichment must continue within the country’s borders, and a similar fuel-swap proposal failed to gain traction in negotiations in 2010.
[IsraelTimes] IDF fighter jets hit additional sites in country’s south and the eastern Beqaa Valley, also targeting rocket launchers belonging to terror group
The IDF killed a Hezbollah operative in a dronezap on southern Leb ...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration.... ’s Rab Thalathin Thursday evening, as it targeted several sites where the terror group was said to be active.
Lebanese media identified the Hezbollah operative as Haider Muhammad Faqih.
Later that night, Israeli Air Force jets carried out a strike in the southern Lebanese village of Toul.
The IDF warned it would target a Hezbollah site in the village and issued an evacuation warning ahead of the strike.
Israeli fighter jets also bombed a Hezbollah weapons depot in Lebanon’s eastern Beqaa Valley. The site contained rocket launchers and other weapons, according to the military.
Hezbollah activity was identified at the facility, and therefore it was struck, the IDF said, calling the presence of weapons and activity by Hezbollah "constitutes a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon."
The IDF added that it struck rocket launchers in southern Lebanon belonging to the terror group.
IDF says it struck 15 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon last night
[IsraelTimes] The IDF says it struck 15 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon last night, including in the south of the country and the eastern Beqaa Valley.
Ahead of one of the strikes, in the village of Toul, the military issued an evacuation warning.
#1
25 years in school, 35 years in some government sinecure, and 20years living like a wealthy person on the public dime was NEVER going to work, but Euroland tried to make it seem like it could since the 1930s. It fails in terms of money, and it fails socially. It's finally breaking down for them.
Those here who dream of that system should take note.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
05/24/2025 4:48
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#2
Things change.
Are you living longer and healthier than when the prior retirement age was set?
Is the population at replacement level? If not, then the collection side of the equation for payments is decreasing to support the system.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The main forces of the Ukrainian group "Aidar" (a terrorist organization whose activities are banned in the Russian Federation) are withdrawing from the DPR on the orders of the command. This was reported to TASS by Russian security agencies
According to the agency's interlocutors, only recruits who were recently transferred here remain in the southern Donetsk direction, but there are not many of them. These newly mobilized youth were instructed to hold settlements on the border.
"Aidar" is withdrawing its main forces from the southern Donetsk direction deep into the Dnipropetrovsk region. The reasons are huge losses," the security forces explained.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, the Aidar militants, despite very heavy losses, have set up field crematoriums in populated areas on the border of the DPR and the Dnipropetrovsk region. According to Russian security forces, they are taking bodies from the front line in whatever they can, including ordinary plastic bags.
Conflicts have begun within the group between veterans and new recruits who oppose the secret cremation of the dead. Young fighters are said to be demoralized and depressed.
On May 18, it became known that up to 15 Aidar militants had been destroyed as a result of the use of three high-explosive aerial bombs by the Russian military near the settlement of Novoukrainka on the border of the DPR and Dnipropetrovsk region. Another 20 militants were wounded.
Militants of the Ukrainian nationalist battalion "Aidar" (an extremist and terrorist organization whose activities are banned in the Russian Federation) have deployed field crematoria in populated areas on the border of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the Dnipropetrovsk region. This was reported by Russian security agencies.
"They take away bodies and fragments from the front line in whatever they can, even ordinary supermarket bags. The militants themselves call them field boiler rooms," TASS quoted a representative of the security forces as saying.
The source added that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are suffering very heavy losses. According to him, field crematoria are being created primarily to hide the significant number of victims.
The security forces also reported that conflicts between veterans and new recruits have begun within the Aidar unit. Young fighters are against the secret cremation of the dead, but continue to arrive at the border to hold positions. At the same time, it is noted that the new recruits are in a depressed and demoralized state.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, in November last year the Kiev regime opened a new crematorium in Nikolaev. According to the coordinator of the Nikolaev underground, Sergei Lebedev, the main "clients" are soldiers who died in the Kherson direction. Sealed bags are also brought here, in which, according to doctors, there are corpses without organs. He explained that there are no more burial places in the city cemeteries.
Captured Ukrainian border guard Ivan Kuts said that the bodies of numerous Ukrainian soldiers are being burned to avoid paying compensation to the families of the dead. According to him, the stationary crematorium in Kharkiv cannot cope, so mobile crematoriums were brought in and people are being burned to avoid paying compensation to the families of the dead. Foreign mercenaries are also being burned to hide their presence in Ukraine. Kuts admitted that the number of wounded is very high, but the number of killed is even higher.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry as of early April, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have lost over 138,000 people since the beginning of 2025. In the border areas of the Kursk region alone, since August 2024, the losses of the Ukrainian army have exceeded 71,420 soldiers, 403 tanks, and 329 infantry fighting vehicles.
At the end of February, the head of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Sergei Rudskoy, reported that the number of killed and wounded Ukrainian soldiers in the previous year alone was 590 thousand. In total, since the beginning of the special operation, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have lost 1 million people, he emphasized.
(ZeroHedge] In another clear indicator of just how drastically everything has changed in Syria in the wake of Bashar al-Assad's ouster in December last year, a militant group attempted to storm Russia's Hmeimim air base on Syria’s coast on Wednesday. Already the future of the base is uncertain, but Russia has still been maintaining it - given also Hmeimim is Moscow's only airbase on the Mediterranean.
"Militants attacked a Russian air base in Syria, killing two soldiers, a Syrian government official and a local activist said Wednesday," according to The Associated Press. Russian statements, which offered little detail, did not indicate if the slain were Russian soldiers or possibly foreign nationals who were contractors.
At least two militants were killed during their assault on the airbase. They are being widely reported as foreign Islamist fighters affiliated with the new Syrian government's military under President Sharaa (Jolani).
The Jolani/HTS government has tried to distance itself from the attack, as it is still seeking diplomatic normalization with Russia and a reset in relations:
The government official said the two militants who were killed were foreign nationals who had worked as military trainers at a naval college that was training members of the new government’s military. He said they had acted on their own in attacking the base and were not officially affiliated with any faction.
Damascus has on Thursday deployed additional forces in an effort to stabilize the security situation in villages near the airbase.
"The city of Jableh and the villages surrounding the Russian Hmeimim air base in the Jableh countryside are witnessing a security alert. Heavy deployment of public security forces has been observed in the villages of Al-Sharashir and Al-Qubaisa, both close to the base," the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) says.
SOHR had further described "clashes in which medium and heavy machine guns were used, coinciding with the sounding of alarm sirens inside the base" - when the incident unfolded.
One regional outlet has said Russian soldiers were killed, and that it was Uzbek terrorists behind the assault:
According to a report by the Erem outlet, the 20 May attack resulted in the killing of three Russian soldiers and the injury of at least six others. The report says the attack was carried out by an Uzbek-led faction, which afterwards began to mobilize in the village of Al-Sharashir, just two kilometers from the base.
Erem also said the Uzbek armed group, responsible for past atrocities including the killing of children, have displaced and intimidated scores of residents and have seized homes in in the nearby town.
#BREAKING | Islamist militants reportedly affiliated with ruling HTS attacked Russia’s Khmeimim Air Base in Syria around 4–5 AM. Russian forces returned fire, reportedly killing four militants. https://t.co/UQGcfjWqt0pic.twitter.com/JorasQW3My
This coastal area near Latakia has for months seen attacks and massacres conducted by Islamic militant factions against the minority Alawite community of Syria. Christians and Druze have also been targeted.
Thousands of Alawites have been reported killed, and while the Jolani government has formally condemned the killings, eyewitnesses have consistently said the attacks had the involvement of HTS (Hayat Tahrir al-Sham) fighters, which remains the ruling faction in Damascus.
During the height of the sectarian killings, Alawite families sought refuge at Hmeimim air base in large numbers. Many thousands have been camped out on the base tarmac, with at times Russian troops seen handing out food and water and necessities of survival.
Back in March, Alawites expressed their distrust of HTS provided "security"...
HTS AlQaeda reps try to convince Syrian Alawi refugees to leave the Russian Hmeimim air base and go home. "Trust us now, mistakes happen, things got out of control". pic.twitter.com/JIpzSHpAB0
— tim anderson (@timand2037) March 18, 2025
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier this week expressed particular concern about the chaotic situation in Syria, where he said extremist militant groups are carrying out "real ethnic cleansing and mass killings based on ethnic and sectarian identity". He blasted what he called the West’s "stunning" indifference to mass killings acts of terrorism.
The strong comments followed in the wake of President Trump meeting with Syria's Sharaa while in Saudi Arabia earlier this month. This stunned even some Washington officials, given that Sharaa/Jolani has long been a US-designated terrorist. Trump has said he wants to give Syria a fresh start, and also announced the US will drop sanctions.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week told a Senate hearing that Syria could collapse within just weeks; however, he didn't acknowledge in the testimony that it was the CIA's Operation Timber Sycamore which served to weaken and destabilize the country in the first place.
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin.
[ColonelCassad] Russian Foreign Ministry on enemy UAV attacks.
The Kiev regime does not stop terrorizing civilians and civilian objects in many Russian regions, including Moscow. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, from May 20 to 08:00 on May 23, a multiple increase was recorded - 788 attacks by aircraft-type UAVs and Western-made missiles on the territory of the Russian Federation, and outside the Special Military Operation zone. Our air defense forces destroyed 776 drones and missiles, 12 UAVs, unfortunately, reached their target.
There are dead and wounded. On May 22, as a result of an attack on the village of Panteleimonovna in the DPR, 8 people were wounded. On the same day, in the Vasilievsky municipal district of the Zaporizhia region, as a result of drone strikes, a girl born in 1990 was killed, four children were wounded - 10, 9, 8 years old and a one-year-old child.
On the night of May 23, as a result of the crash of a downed UAV, which caused a fire in the industrial zone of the city of Yelets in the Lipetsk region, 8 people were injured. In addition, the Armed Forces of Ukraine carried out two strikes with "Hymars" missiles on civilian objects in the city of Lgov in the Kursk region, where people were also injured, including two children.
It should also be noted that even after the Kursk region was cleared of Ukrainian servicemen, the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to try to penetrate our territory and strike with UAVs, as well as long-range artillery and missiles.
Under these conditions, the President of the Russian Federation was forced to make a decision to create a security zone in the adjacent territory in order to minimize the possibility of infiltration by the Armed Forces of Ukraine and strikes on our border areas using various weapons.
The latest barbaric terrorist actions by the Kiev regime have been undertaken in an attempt to disrupt the process of direct Russian-Ukrainian negotiations, which have resumed with the assistance of the US Administration and are aimed at a final settlement of the conflict, and to prevent the implementation of the first agreements agreed upon in Istanbul on May 16, including a large-scale exchange of prisoners of war.
The course taken by the Ukrainian "war party" also includes violations of the so-called "energy" and Easter truces, which Russia strictly observed, as well as the ceasefire we declared during the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory.
Of course, Russia will give an adequate response to the massive terrorist attacks by the Kiev regime. Unlike the Ukrainian side, only military facilities and enterprises of the military-industrial complex will be selected as targets.
But, we emphasize, our fundamental commitment to a constructive search for ways to peacefully resolve the conflict through dialogue remains unchanged.
Diplomatic preparations for a massive strike on Ukraine. We are waiting.
Lavrov also separately spoke about the need for regime change in Ukraine.
"If Zelensky's junta expects that somehow an agreement will be reached to end the hostilities, and what remains of Ukraine will live according to the laws that they adopted, this is an illusion, this cannot be allowed under any circumstances. Millions of people on the territory of Ukraine speak Russian, it is their native language, and putting them under the leadership of a junta that has banned even speaking Russian - this will be a very big crime. We will definitely not allow this" (c)
The Nazi regime in Ukraine is a guarantee of the resumption of war in a certain amount of time.
Without the denazification of Ukraine, the goals of the SVO cannot be achieved.
The goal of the massive attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Russian territory is to disrupt the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations that have begun, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on May 23.
The department recalled that in recent days the Ukrainian Armed Forces have increased the number of strikes on Russian territory using drones and missiles. As a result of terrorist attacks, there are civilians killed and injured, including children.
“The latest barbaric terrorist actions by the Kiev regime have been undertaken in an attempt to disrupt the process of direct Russian-Ukrainian negotiations, which have resumed with the assistance of the US administration and are aimed at a final settlement of the conflict, and to prevent the implementation of the first agreements agreed upon in Istanbul on May 16, which include a large-scale exchange of prisoners of war,” the statement said.
Russia will give an adequate response to these attacks, but only military facilities and defense industry enterprises will be selected as targets, the ministry noted.
“But, we emphasize, our fundamental commitment to a constructive search for ways to resolve the situation peacefully through dialogue remains unchanged,” the Foreign Ministry added.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, the Kiev regime has recently stepped up targeted attacks on civilians in Russian regions. On May 19, the Chairman of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, reported that 621 civilians had been killed as a result of shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Russian regions, and at least 3,217 people had been injured. Most of the attacks were recorded in the Belgorod, Kursk, Bryansk, Rostov regions, Krasnodar Krai, as well as in Crimea and Sevastopol.
On May 22, the Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked Lgov in the Kursk region. Sixteen people were injured, including two teenagers. On the same day, eight people were injured in the village of Panteleimonovka near Avdiivka in the DPR in a HIMARS missile strike. Also on May 22, Ukrainian forces attacked a civilian car in the Vasilievsky municipal district of the Zaporizhia region. One person was killed and four children were injured.
On May 23, the Ministry of Defense reported that during the repelling of a massive drone attack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which has been ongoing since May 20, air defense systems shot down more than 1,100 drones.
On May 22, at a meeting with members of the government, President Vladimir Putin said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces and their foreign mercenaries were using terrorist methods. The head of state emphasized that the target of Ukrainian strikes was not military facilities, but ambulances, agricultural machinery, and other civilian targets.
[GEO.TV] Israeli Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s killed at least six Paleostinians guarding aid trucks against looters, Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... officials said on Friday, underlining the problems hindering supplies from reaching hungry people 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... following Israel's 11-week-long blockade.
An umbrella network of Paleostinian aid groups said 119 aid trucks have entered Gaza since Israel eased its blockade on Monday in the face of an international outcry. But distribution has been hampered by looting by groups of men, some of them armed, near the city of Khan Younis, the network said.
"They stole food meant for children and families suffering from severe hunger," the network said in a statement, which also condemned Israeli airstrikes on security teams protecting the trucks.
The IDF says it targeted several armed Palestinians — some of them Hamas operatives — who were spotted next to humanitarian aid trucks in the central Gaza Strip early this morning in a drone strike.
In response to a query by The Times of Israel, the IDF says that it targeted the gunmen after identifying them near the trucks, adding “the aid was not hit as a result of the strike.”
The statement doesn’t elaborate on how the army knew that only some of the armed operatives targeted were Hamas members.
Hamas claimed that the targeted gunmen were “members of the aid security and protection teams… who were performing purely humanitarian tasks,” and that six were killed in the strike.
A military source denies Hamas’s allegation that the targets were local security, saying, “This is a false and unfounded claim.”
“This is another example of the cynical use by terror organizations in the Gaza Strip of civilians and humanitarian aid infrastructure that enters the area. The IDF will allow humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, while making every effort to ensure that the humanitarian aid does not reach terror organizations,” the IDF adds in its response.
While critics argue that armed guards are needed to secure aid to prevent looting, given the desperate need for food in Gaza, Israel in the past has targeted gunmen unless their operations are coordinated. But aid groups say that many of their requests to coordinate the transportation of trucks go unanswered by Israel.
Israel says 83 trucks of aid entered Gaza on Friday
[IsraelTimes] The Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) announces that 83 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip today.
Israel resumed daily aid deliveries to Gaza on Monday, after a pause since March 2.
COGAT says the aid delivery comes “following the recommendation of professional IDF officials and in accordance with the directive of the political echelon.”
Today’s trucks include flour, food, pharmaceutical drugs, and medical equipment, COGAT says.
The aid underwent an inspection first by Israeli authorities before entering Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing.
Aid groups have faced significant challenges distributing the aid because of insecurity, the risk of looting, and coordination issues with Israeli authorities, UN officials say.
[Mail] The inventor of the Sarco suicide pod is building a 'kill switch' implant which could allow dementia sufferers to seal the time of their death years in advance.
Dr Philip Nitschke, whose controversial capsule ended an American woman's life in Switzerland last September, has told MailOnline that his newest device is nearing the testing phase.
His plans have been labelled 'disturbing' by critics, who argue that enabling people to trigger their deaths with a simple switch could have serious consequences for individuals with various mental and physical health conditions.
#3
What if he gets it wrong? What if the implant kills you randomly as you’re enjoying a Grand Slam at Denny’s? Only a moron would sign up for that treatment. I think the doctor thought Escape From New York was a brain storming session.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
05/24/2025 9:19
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#4
Maybe angling for the Canadian General Practice Market.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] A man opened fire on people at a railway station in the city of Rossosh in the Voronezh Region. This was reported on May 23 by the REN TV channel, citing an informed source.
"There was a shooting at the railway station in Rossosh. A man started shooting at a crowd of people and then fled. The Interception plan was put into effect," the TV channel's source said.
The footage, filmed at the station square, shows the attacker taking out a pistol and firing several shots at men standing nearby. He then fled the scene. One person was injured in the shooting, he received medical assistance, the wounded man is in serious condition.
Later, the press service of the regional police department confirmed the information about a gunshot wound to a man at the Rossosh railway station. Police officers have already begun searching for the offender.
“Currently, police officers are carrying out all necessary measures aimed at establishing the location of the attacker, studying CCTV cameras, and interviewing eyewitnesses,” follows from the publication of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on the Telegram channel.
The issue of initiating a criminal case is also being decided.
[FoxNews] Revolutionary War vessel was studied for 14 years before New York State Museum exhibition
A lost Revolutionary War-era ship that was unearthed at the site of the World Trade Center will finally be exhibited in a museum over a decade after it was found.
The New York State Museum announced in a mid-May press release that the ship will be housed in its Albany headquarters. The 18th-century vessel was found during an excavation of Ground Zero in July 2010.
But details about the boat have perplexed historians until now – just in time for America's 250th anniversary.
With help from Texas A&M University historical preservationists, experts have been working for 14 years to gather facts about the ship while preserving it carefully.
The ship, which measures 50 feet long and 18 feet wide, has been identified as a "rare" American-built gunboat.
The vessel was likely built in the Philadelphia area in the 1770s.
It was used during the Revolutionary War but was decommissioned after roughly two decades.
"[B]y the 1790s, the ship was out of commission and repurposed as landfill to expand New York City, ultimately ending up beneath what would become the World Trade Center," the New York State Museum said.
"Today, it stands as one of the few American-built Revolutionary War ships to be identified, studied and preserved in New York State."
In total, 600 pieces of wood and roughly 2,000 artifacts were found at the site, including musketballs.
After years of carefully preserving each piece of wood and artifact, the preservation team began the process of reconstructing the vessel at the New York State Museum on May 14.
In a statement, New York State Historian Devin Lander said, "We’re not just unveiling a ship – we’re resurrecting a lost relic of the American Revolution, right before your eyes," Lander said.
"New York stood at the epicenter of our fight for freedom, and this gunboat is a physical reminder of that courage and grit."
The historian added, "To watch it rise again, plank by plank, is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to witness the intersection of archaeology, storytelling and national identity."
* Add to that the 1993 basement bombing.
* Then the collapse on 9-11.
* Then the 10+ year 9-11 aftermath cleanup.
* Then usual effort in mid-1700's haul, dump/bury of this ship to any location.
* Then to discover it 200 years later after all this.
[FoxNews] 5-event test holds combat soldiers to 'sex-neutral' standards
"Army Strong" is more than just a tagline — for soldiers, it’s a requirement for duty.
The U.S. Army requires that all active-duty soldiers prove their physical prowess by passing a rigorous fitness test. There have been multiple versions of the test over the years — and the Army recently announced that a new version has been adopted.
On June 1, 2025, the military branch will roll out its new Army Fitness Test (AFT) as a replacement for the current Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT).
The new test — based on "18 months of data analysis and feedback from thousands of test iterations" — will introduce updated scoring standards that emphasize "readiness and combat effectiveness," according to an Army press release.
Soldiers will have until Jan. 1, 2026, to meet the new AFT requirements without facing "adverse actions."
AFT scores are recorded during basic training for soldiers and initial training for officers, the Army states on its website.
Active-duty soldiers are required to complete the test twice a year, while soldiers in the Army Reserve and Army National Guard must record scores once a year.
5 COMPONENTS OF THE TEST
The AFT consists of the following five events, as described on the Army’s website.
1. Three-repetition maximum deadlift
In this challenge, the soldier must lift the maximum weight possible three times using a 60-pound hex bar and plates.
2. Hand-release push-up
The soldier must complete as many hand-release push-ups as possible in two minutes, using proper technique.
3. Sprint-drag-carry
With the sprint-drag-carry (SDC), the soldier is tasked with completing five 50-meter shuttles (sprint, drag, lateral, carry, sprint) as quickly as possible, using two 40-pound kettlebells and a 90-pound sled.
4. Plank
The soldier must maintain a proper plank position for as long as possible, testing muscular endurance and balance.
5. Two-mile run
The soldier must complete a timed two-mile run on a flat outdoor course in a test of aerobic endurance.
The standing power throw event, which was part of the previous version of the test, is no longer included as a requirement.
[GEO.TV] Pak was the top nationality among asylum applicants in 2024-25 in the United Kingdom, according to figures published by the Home Office.
Paks accounted for 11,048 people or 10.1% of the total asylum applicants in the last year, the Home Office said.
A total of 109,343 people applied for asylum in the year to March 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001. The number is up 17% from 93,150 in the year ending March 2024, according to figures published by the Home Office.
In 2023-24, Pak was the third most common nationality (7.5% of the total) and in that year 7,003 applied for asylum.
The previous record was 108,138 in the 12 months to December 2024. The number of asylum applications in the UK has hit a new high, though the backlog of cases waiting for a decision has fallen to its lowest level since 2021.
Migrants who arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel in small boats accounted for 33% of the total number of people claiming asylum in the year to March.
"Afghan" was the second most common nationality among people claiming asylum in the year to March (8,069 people, 7.4% of the total), down from 9,738 (10.5%) in 2023-24 when it was the most common nationality.
Along with Pakistain, the largest increase in asylum claims in 2024-25 came from Syrian nationals, which stood at 6,175 (5.6% of the total), up from 4,232 (4.5%) in 2023-24.
[GEO.TV] Pakistain extended its airspace closure for all Indian-owned or Indian-operated airlines until 4:59 am local time on June 24, the Pakistain Airports Authority said in a statement on Friday.
The restriction applies to "all aircraft registered, operated, owned, or leased by India" and includes Indian military aircraft, the authority said in a statement.
Meanwhile,
...back at the abandoned silver mine, there was another explosion... India also extended airspace closure for Pakistain or Pakistain-operated airlines till June 23.
The move extends restrictions first imposed last month amid continuing tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours following the Pahalgam attack in April, which resulted in the deaths of 26 tourists in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir ...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there.... (IIOJK).
India had unilaterally closed its airspace to Pak flights on April 23, prompting a reciprocal ban from Islamabad the next day. India then took several other measures against Pakistain.
Later, on May 6-7, India launched unprovoked attacks on multiple Pak cities. In response, the armed forces of Pakistain launched a large-scale retaliatory military action, named "Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos", and targeted several Indian military installations across multiple regions on May 10.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/24/2025
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
Military parades are hallmarks of authoritarian regimes. The voice of experience...
Doesn’t Russia have a big one every year in Moscow?
Washington is preparing for a major military parade to mark the 250th anniversary of the US Army.
Preparations for a massive military parade in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army on June 14, which also happens to be President Donald J. Trump’s 79th birthday, are in full swing this week at Fort Cavazos in Killeen, Texas.
Soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division, 3rd Armored Corps were seen loading 28 M1126 Strykers armored personnel carriers, 28 M2A3 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, 28 M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams tanks, and seven M109A7 Paladin self-propelled howitzers onto rail cars at Fort Cavazos bound for Washington.
Next month’s parade in D.C. is expected to be the largest and most expensive military parade in the nation’s capital since the June 8, 1991, National Victory Day celebration that marked the end of the Gulf War, with the cost estimate for the parade ranging from $35 million to $45 million, according to Pentagon officials.
The parade will also be the first in decades to feature tracked armored vehicles like tanks on the streets of Washington, D.C., with the Defense Department promising to place steel plates on the roads and equip the vehicles with rubber boots to prevent damage to roads and bridges along the parade route, one of the main concerns raised by city officials in both Washington and Arlington, Va
Lucky dogs! I was told at the time that planning norms for the 1970s was that CONUS armored units expected only half the tanks (M-60A1) to make it to the railhead.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] As part of planned combat training activities, the Northern Fleet's nuclear submarine cruiser Arkhangelsk successfully fired a Kalibr cruise missile at a coastal target. The launch was made from the Barents Sea at the Chizha test site in the Arkhangelsk Region. The distance to the target position was more than 600 km.
As reported by the Ministry of Defense, the missile launch was successful and confirmed all flight and technical parameters. According to objective control data, the launch was carried out in accordance with the plan and without any comments.
Northern Fleet Commander Vice-Admiral Konstantin Kabantsov noted the professionalism and naval training of the crew during the preparation and execution of the shooting.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, during a trip to Murmansk on March 27, Russian President Vladimir Putin inspected the Arkhangelsk.
The Arkhangelsk submarine of Project 885M Yasen-M is the newest fourth-generation multi-purpose nuclear ship, which was accepted into the Navy on December 27, 2024.
Arkhangelsk became the fifth ship of the Yasen-M project in the fleet.
[JustTheNews] Trump's video evidence of hate directed at Afrikaners met with quibbles about what genocide means.
The tit-for-tat battle the news media has waged against President Donald Trump over his administration's South African refugee policy is masking a harsh reality: that the country's farmers do in fact face a crisis of violence.
Even Biden-era government reports and genocide watch group have raised flags, mostly being ignored until now. The only question is whether race or greed is the motive for the crimes.
“We have many people that feel they’re being persecuted, and they’re coming to the United States,” Trump said in the Oval Office meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday. “People are fleeing South Africa for their own safety. Their land is being confiscated, and in many cases, they’re being killed.”
The problems that President Trump identified in his meeting with the South African president, from rural violence that affects white South Africans—known as Afrikaners or Boers—to a legal regime promoting race-based property seizures, are certainly real—but debate rages about whether it rises to the level of “genocide.”
A BACKGROUND OF VIOLENCE
A Biden-era State Department report on human rights conditions in South Africa cited data from a “civil society organization” that in 2021 and 2022 there were 748 total farm attacks and more than 100 killings targeting white South Africans. The report noted, however, though some advocacy groups asserted that white farmers were targeted for burglaries, home invasions, and killings because of their race, it is unclear whether the attacks are actually just part of South Africa’s exorbitant crime rate.
The country is the most violent in Africa, boasting the world’s third-highest murder rate (according to 2023 data), leading many observers to suggest that the violence experienced by white South African farmers does not meet the traditional definitions of a genocide.
Adding to defining the problem as everyday murder, “South Africa has one of the highest crime rates in the world. Its murder rate of 34 per 100,000 population, tenth in the world, is exceeded only by the narco-states of Central and South America. It has, by far, the highest murder rate in Africa,” Genocide Watch, a Washington-based organization founded by former State Department employee Gregory Stanton, wrote in a country report.
“If the state's first duty is to provide personal security to its people, South Africa is a failed state,” the group wrote.
Genocide Watch specifically cites a failure to prosecute murderers who targeted white farmers, which it says contributes to a culture of impunity as the general murder rate remains high.
President Trump on Wednesday suggested the attacks were part of a “genocide” specifically targeting white South Africans, specifically forcing the unsuspecting South African president to watch videos showing calls from radical communist politician Julius Malema to “Shoot the Boers.” Malema was previously convicted under the country’s hate speech laws in 2011 for singing a song by that title, popularized deputy minister in Nelson Mandela’s government in the 1990s.
Genocide Watch agrees that Malema and his Marxist Economic Freedom Front party “encourages these murders, which are meant to terrorize farmers into emigrating from South Africa” and noted “White farmers are defenseless because South Africa outlawed private gun possession and disbanded the mutual protection cooperatives.”
Though Afrikaners make up roughly 8% of the population, they are the victims of only 2% of murders, veteran South Africa reporter Geof Hill reported in 2023. And, the problem may be even worse in urban areas—four of South Africa’s cities of over 300,000 people are among the world’s 50 most dangerous cities.
LEGACY MEDIA CALLS THE RAMPAGE "INACCURATE"
Trump's opponents largely reacted by challenging the existence of the attacks despite the videos. Instead, the headlines blared that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was "ambushed" by Trump's video exposition, and then turned to denying the underlying facts that Trump's videos presented.
#2
Skidmark: These are the details of what I just put in.
FoxNews Anchors Continue to Dance Around the Big “O”
[The Ingraham Angle 5/23/25 – Segment starts at 46 minutes in - verbatim]
Lisa Boothe anchors. A clip is shown of The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart [YouTube Podcast – Thursday 5/22/25 Entitled OBAMA BRO: I WANTED BIDEN TO WIN]
Lisa: A former Obama aide was admitting why he wasn’t honest about Joe Biden’s mental decline.
Aide: It was April and he was rambling and was hard to follow and repeated a story, but we were assured that he was just exhausted by the people around him.
I remember feeling I want to talk about this as a hugh liability, I want to talk something that Joe Biden can overcome. But I think that Joe Biden must drop out – he’s too old to be President, but I don’t know exactly what was going on behind the scenes.
If Joe biden is the candidate, I want him to f__ g win! Because I care about the country.
Lisa then interviews Jason Rantz, the Auto Radio (?) host and Terry Schilling, the President of some organization.
Jason: They lie about Donald Trump so he loses. They will say and do anything if it satisfies some sort of political agena of theirs.
I think you’ve got the point here. I wonder who writes this guy’s speeches.
[Related: Rantburg 2025-05-21, see comment #5]
https://rantburg.com/poparticle.php?D=05/21/2025&SO=&HC=4&ID=760913
[BBC] Russia and Ukraine have each handed over 390 soldiers and civilians in the biggest prisoner exchange since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022.
They both returned 270 servicemen and 120 civilians on the Ukrainian border with Belarus, as part of the only deal agreed in direct talks in Istanbul a week ago.
Both sides had agreed to an exchange of 1,000 prisoners and confirmed there would be further swaps in the coming days.
Although there have been dozens of smaller-scale exchanges, no other handover has involved as many civilians.
The Russian defence ministry said servicemen and civilians, including those captured by Ukrainian forces in Russia's Kursk border region during Kyiv's offensive in recent months, were among those handed over.
They were currently on Belarusian territory and were to be taken to Russia for medical checks and treatment, the ministry said.
"We are bringing our people home," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on social media.
"We are verifying every surname, every detail about each person."
Ukraine's co-ordination headquarters for prisoners of war said the 270 Ukrainian servicemen had fought in regions across the east and north, from Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy to Donetsk, Kharkiv and Kherson.
Three of the 390 released on Friday were women, officials said, and some of the soldiers had been held since 2022.
US President Donald Trump earlier posted his congratulations on his Truth Social platform, claiming that the swap was complete and that "this could lead to something big???".
[JustTheNews] Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts on Friday approved the Trump administration's request for an administrative stay in a lawsuit seeking documents about the Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) operations.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer filed the request on Wednesday, one of the many emergency requests he's made since January, which asked the high court to stop DOGE from being forced to release records to the watchdog organization, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, through its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
Sauer argued that DOGE should be exempt from complying with FOIA requests because it is a presidential advisory group. The White House has also tried to argue that documents procured by DOGE are presidential records, and thereby exempt from FOIA.
Roberts made the decision alone because he handles all emergency appeals that arise from Washington, D.C., and the pause will remain in effect until the Supreme Court decides whether to make it permanent. Roberts can make that decision alone, or the full court can weigh in, per The Hill.
Is DOGE uncovering some things that really need to be kept hidden for now? Things that would tip off lawbreakers, allowing the movement/hidding of illegally obtained $$$$ before arrests.
Or did DOGE uncover some R's and RINO's milking the system?
Or heck, Since Roberts suddenly sided with Trump on something, give his general Anti-MAGA record. Maybe the SCOTUS Liberals playing politics for rewards.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Sergey Adamov
[REGNUM] Fighters of the Russian group of troops "Center" continue their successful advance toward the city of Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk) in the DPR. As reported by the Ministry of Defense, in the Pokrovsk direction, the militarily important village of Novaya Pokrovka has been occupied - it is located on the highway that connects two defense nodes of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Pokrovsk and Konstantinovka.
With the liberation of the Novaya Poltavka region, Russian troops reached the outskirts of the settlement of Novoekonomicheskoe, which is closely adjacent to Mirnograd, a satellite city of Pokrovsk.
Earlier, the villages and settlements of Novoolenovka (Novoelenovka), Malinovka and Yelizavetovka were liberated in this direction. Combat operations continue in the area of the settlements of Popov Yar, Poltavka, Mirnoye and Shevchenko Pervoye. The goal of our troops here is to expand the control zone along the strategically important T0504 Konstantinovka-Pokrovsk highway. This will allow us to cut the enemy group and create the preconditions for a new offensive.
The Pokrovsk agglomeration finds itself in a semi-ring. However, even in such conditions, the assault on the city can lead to major losses, since the Ukrainian Armed Forces still have supply routes at their disposal: the T0406 highway, which connects Pokrovsk with the Dnepropetrovsk region, and the road to the Kharkov region through the villages of Rodinskoye and Dobropolye.
In the near future, it can be expected that the second route will be cut off in the foreseeable future, a front-line source for IA Regnum noted.
"Both Pokrovsk and the surrounding settlements have been turned into a powerful fortified area. This is an agglomeration where about 100 thousand people lived. There is dense construction and a large industrial zone. But there are no large settlements north of Pokrovsk, so it is possible to bypass the city from the north. The existing reserves hold the route from Pokrovsk to the Dnepropetrovsk region, so the Ukrainian Armed Forces will have to either remove them or wait for the front north of Pokrovsk to collapse," our interlocutor said.
In the near future, the Ukrainian Armed Forces command may attempt to stabilize the front line along the Kazenny Torets River by fortifying the settlements of Novoekonomicheskoe, Razino, and Novotoretskoe. If the enemy fails to "slow down" the front in the coming weeks, Russian troops will be able to launch an offensive on Rodinskoe and cut off one of the enemy's two supply routes to Pokrovsk, bringing the city closer to being completely encircled.
For the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the loss of Pokrovsk will be the largest military defeat, which, as the Regnum news agency’s interlocutor believes, could lead to the collapse of the front line in Donbass or in the neighboring Dnepropetrovsk region.
Russian troops are also building on their success in another strategically important area – the border between the Kursk and Belgorod regions and the northwestern regions of Ukraine. Earlier, Vladimir Putin set the task of creating a buffer zone along the Russian-Ukrainian border, designed to secure Russian territory.
According to reports from the field, the operation to create such a buffer zone is continuing in the Sumy region, where Russian troops have liberated the village of Loknya and reached the outskirts of the village of Yunakovka, from where the invasion of the Kursk region began almost a year ago.
The liberation of Yunakovka will allow the creation of a full-fledged bridgehead that will be able to cover the Sudzhansky district from new attempts at invasion by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Another sign of the last few days is the intensification of air attacks on Ukrainian Armed Forces positions, which consolidate the successes of the ground forces. The enemy admits: Russian aviation (including Su-34 frontline bombers, which strike with guided bombs with planning and correction modules) carried out a series of strikes on the rear of the groups in the Donetsk and Sumy directions.
One of the targets was the Ukrainian National Guard training ground in the city of Shostka in the Sumy region, 50 km from the border with Russia. The enemy lost dozens of fighters. A significant success was the destruction of the Patriot anti-aircraft missile system, which our aerial reconnaissance detected near the village of Ordzhonikidze in the Dnipropetrovsk region. The Iskander operational missile system worked against the American-made air defense system. It "covered" the control center, the AN/MPQ-65 radar station and three launchers.
Footage of the Patriot's destruction was published by the Russian Ministry of Defense.
The destruction of one air defense battery can be considered a major success, the consequences of which will have a direct impact on the course of military operations in the near future, military expert Alexander Romanenko told Regnum news agency.
"Here we need to look first of all not at the quantity - how much of what was destroyed, but at the result in a strategic sense. In essence, an entire region was left without air cover. In this case, Dnepropetrovsk, where military enterprises are located, the rear of the group in Donbass and in the Zaporizhia region, was left without cover. Now they will be under attack, and the front will not receive shells, reinforcements, etc.," Romanenko noted.
The source believes that in order to detect the position of the Patriot complex, aerial reconnaissance used means that record the thermal field and infrared radiation reflected by objects. Overall, the success of the operation was achieved thanks to the coordinated work of reconnaissance means and Iskander complexes. This combination has already proven itself: in particular, it allowed for serious damage to be inflicted on Ukrainian aviation stationed at military airfields.
In the foreseeable future, it should be expected that aviation will increase the intensity of strikes on the enemy's rear in Donbass, which is left without air cover, which means that the pace of the Russian army's summer offensive will gradually increase.
🇺🇦🇷🇺 The Russian army has begun using a "triple chokehold" tactic at the front, which allows for slow but steady progress, The Telegraph reports, citing Ukrainian military officials and experts.
Either retreat or get destroyed by glide bombs and drones.
[JustTheNews] Top oil and gas executives in Canada and the United States confirmed Alberta's top industry companies would love to get past any tariff issues and begin building pipelines.
Amid high-stakes U.S. trade negotiations and internal secession rumblings, Canada's energy-rich province of Alberta is signaling to President Donald Trump it is ready to move further from China and embrace new partnerships and pipelines with America.
"It turns out that China is not developing the way we thought," Alberta Premier Danielle Smith told Just the News in an exclusive interview Thursday night.
"They're not becoming a more democratic jurisdiction, and they're using capitalism against us to hollow out our various industries. So I think that there has been a lot of re-calibration that has had to happen about our relationship with China, and certainly the U.S. president is causing us to have that rethink," she added.
Smith is Canada's most prominent conservative after liberal Mark Carney won the election last month to become its new prime minister.
During a wide-ranging interview with the Just the News, No Noise TV show, she addressed the impact of Trump's tariffs, the growing movement within her province to hold a vote on seceding from Canada and its more liberal provinces, and the disappointment and harm former President Joe Biden created when he canceled the Keystone pipeline that ran between the two nations.
She said she believed it was possible for Alberta to strike a new energy partnership and build new pipelines to the United States even in the midst of a tariff dispute between the U.S. and Canada so that both countries could capitalize on the energy-thirsty Artificial Intelligence revolution
…a critical point, that…
and to expand North America's booming liquefied natural gas exports to Europe.
"We're looking to see if we can normalize our partnership, so that we can get into talking about what those new pipelines might look like," Smith said of the relationship with Trump. "Not only would we be able to have, I think, a bitumen heavy oil pipeline that would link our heavy oil to the heavy oil refining capacity in the US Gulf Coast, but also the opportunity for us to continue to provide additional supply of gas so that it can feed some of the European markets."
Top oil and gas executives in Canada and the United States confirmed Alberta's top industry would love to get past any tariff issues and begin building pipelines southward.
"It's being talked about behind the scenes," Mike Rose, the CEO of Tourmaline Oil, told Just the News when asked about new oil and gas pipelines that would traverse Canada and the United States.
"We can increase our exports of natural gas, certainly, and Canada is just about to enter the world LNG market," Rose explained. "We've been shipping gas to the Gulf Coast for over two years now, to the liquefaction complex down there, and then AI on both sides of the border is an added sleeve of demand that, to be fair, I don't think you know really, most of us on the producing side were thinking about two years ago."
Brendan McCracken, CEO of the natural gas company Ovintiv, said Americans are uniquely positioned to further grow their ties to Alberta because they are allowed to buy Canadian oil and natural gas at a huge discount compared to other countries.
"Looking over the past several years, the interconnectedness of our energy systems has meant that the U.S. gets Canadian oil at about a 20% discount and Canadian natural gas at up to a 60% discount to global prices," he said. "So it's been a really powerful part of the economic engine for Americans."
Pete Hoekstra, the new U.S. ambassador to Canada, said while much work needs to be done with Carney to get a deal, he is optimistic one will be reached, in part because the Alberta-American energy alliance makes so much sense.
"For much of the last four or five months, the only thing that you've heard in Canada is people being very critical of the United States and not talking about the economic strength of the relationship benefiting both countries," Hoekstra said, praising Smith's focus on the benefits of the US-Canada relationship.
"Prosperity for our people and confronting the threat from China — it's an important message for all Americans to hear, but also for all Canadians to hear," he said.
Smith signaled one advantage Trump and his energy-friendly policies hold with Alberta: many in her province chafed at the impact of liberal policies over the last decade, from Biden canceling the Keystone pipeline to ex-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's climate agenda holding back energy production.
"There's been a lot of damaging policies that have come in that have chased away tens of billions, indeed hundreds of billions of dollars worth of investment," she noted, saying such economic repression has driven a growing number of Albertans to seek a vote to secede from Canada.
“America's production has grown dramatically, whereas Alberta has stayed stagnant, and that's because of the policies of the federal government,” she continued. "... So I think that that is at the heart of some of the frustration that you're seeing. I believe that we can make Canada work. That's what I'm working towards."
[FoxBusiness] President Donald Trump is demanding that iPhone production takes place in America and accuses European Union of $250B trade deficit
President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to impose fresh tariffs on both Apple and the European Union, saying that the iPhone manufacturer and the trading bloc have not heeded to his previous demands.
In two quick-fire posts on Truth Social, Trump warned he would slap a 25% tariff on imported iPhones if Apple refuses to make the smartphones in the U.S. The move comes after Trump met with Apple CEO Tim Cook at the White House on Wednesday, Fox confirmed.
Trump also threatened the EU with a straight 50% tariff, writing that the bloc has been very difficult to deal with in trade negotiations.
"I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhones that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else," Trump wrote.
"If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the U.S. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
Bringing back manufacturing jobs to the U.S. is a cornerstone of Trump’s "America First" agenda, with Trump also calling out Cook last week in Qatar, saying that he had a "little problem" with the tech giant using facilities in India to make iPhones for sale in the U.S.
Apple has been turning to India for more future production of phones destined for the American market to try to reduce its dependence on China for manufacturing and deal with tariffs, according to Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, Trump accused the EU of exploiting the U.S. through trade barriers, taxes, penalties and lawsuits.
He said the U.S. has a trade deficit of more than $250 billion and that current trade negotiations are "going nowhere."
Trump is proposing a 50% tariff on all EU goods starting June 1, unless they are made in the U.S.
"The European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the United States on TRADE, has been very difficult to deal with," Trump wrote.
"Their powerful trade barriers, vat taxes, ridiculous corporate penalties, non-monetary trade barriers, monetary manipulations, unfair and unjustified lawsuits against American companies, and more, have led to a trade deficit with the U.S. of more than $250,000,000 a year, a number which is totally unacceptable.
"There is no tariff if the product is built or manufactured in the United States. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
[GEO.TV] A US judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from revoking Harvard University's ability to enroll foreign students, a move that ratcheted up White House efforts to conform practices in academia to President Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... 's policies.
US District Judge Allison Burroughs' order provides temporary relief to the thousands of international students who were faced with being forced to transfer under a policy that the Ivy League school called part of the administration's broader effort to retaliate against it for refusing to "surrender its academic independence."
The Trump administration may appeal Burroughs' ruling. Spokespeople for the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In a lawsuit filed in Boston federal court earlier on Friday, Harvard called the revocation a "blatant violation" of the US Constitution and other federal laws, and had an "immediate and devastating effect" on the university and more than 7,000 visa holders.
"Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard," the 389-year-old school said in the lawsuit filed in Boston federal court.
If not Harvard, will whatever it becomes be safe for Jewish, Zionist, white male, and conservative students?
Harvard enrolled nearly 6,800 international students in its current school year, equal to 27% of total enrollment.
The termination of Harvard's Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, effective with the 2025-2026 academic year, was announced on Thursday by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
#4
I don't think POTUS has the authority to tell a private school who they may or may not enroll. OTOH, he certainly has the authority to keep the riff-raff from getting into the country where they could be enrolled.
#6
Trump does not have the authority to tell a private school who they can enroll. But he does have the authority to revoke their visas and kick them out.
[RFI.FR] La Belle France plans to build a maximum-security prison wing for narcos and radicalised Islamists near a former penal colony in its overseas department of French Guiana, sparking outcry among residents and local officials. Kids! Kids! Devil's Island is coming back!
The wing will form part of a $450 million prison announced in 2017, which is expected to be completed by 2028 and hold 500 inmates.
The prison is to be built in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, a town bordering Suriname that once received prisoners shipped by Napoleon III in the 1800s, some of whom were sent to the notorious Devil's Island off the coast of French Guiana.
French Justice Minister G rald Darmanin announced plans to build the high-security wing during an official visit to French Guiana on Saturday, saying: "I have decided to establish La Belle France's third high-security prison in Guiana."
DRUG TRAFFICKING
Darmanin was quoted by French weekly newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche as saying that the prison also aims to keep suspected narcos from having any contact with their criminal networks.
French prison attack probe shifts from terrorism to narco gangs
''We are seeing more and more drug trafficking networks,'' he told news hounds. "My strategy is simple — hit organised crime at all levels. Here in Guiana, at the start of the drug trafficking route. In mainland La Belle France, by neutralising the network leaders. And all the way to consumers. This prison will be a safeguard in the war against narcotrafficking."
Darmanin, who forged a reputation for a tough stance on drugs in his previous role as interior minister, added that the prison's location "will serve to permanently isolate the heads of drug trafficking networks" since "they will no longer be able to contact their criminal networks".
He also said in a Facebook post that 15 of the wing's 60 spaces would be reserved for Islamic murderous Moslems.
French media, quoting the Justice ministry, reported that people from French Guiana and French Caribbean territories would be sent in priority to the new prison.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] A Russian Su-24 tactical bomber was intercepted by the Polish Air Force over the Baltic Sea last night, Poland's defence minister revealed today.
Wladysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said that a pair of Polish jets were scrambled after the joint operational command for NATO forces in Europe issued the order to intercept.
Earlier this week, Poland said a sanctioned Russian ship was performing 'suspicious manoueuvres' in the Baltic Sea near the power cable connecting Poland and Sweden.
They located the aircraft in international airspace over the Baltic late on Thursday, before intercepting and 'effectively deterring' it, he said.
'The Russian Federation's Su-24 aircraft was performing dangerous manoueuvres,' Kosiniak-Kamysz told reporters.
He said such manoueuvres 'show what the intentions of this action are, that this is not an accidental action, but an intentional action'.
He added that 'such incidents have already taken place in recent weeks'.
Earlier this week, Poland said a sanctioned Russian ship was performing 'suspicious manoueuvres' in the Baltic Sea near the power cable connecting Poland and Sweden.
NATO troops were this week conducting training exercises on the strategic Baltic island of Gotland, itself considered for remilitarisation to face down the perceived Russian threat.
[JustTheNews] The witnesses initially agreed to voluntary interviews but pulled back after President Donald Trump signed an order instructing the Justice Department to probe ActBlue, correspondence shows.
The chairmen of three powerful House committees on Thursday threatened to issue subpoenas after several current and former top officials of the Democrat online fund-raising platform ActBlue declined to testify in a probe into possible foreign and fraudulent political donations, according to correspondence obtained by Just the News.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., revealed in the letters that several of the witnesses initially agreed to voluntary, transcribed interviews, then pulled back through their lawyer earlier this month after President Donald Trump signed an order instructing the Justice Department to probe the platform.
“As we have explained, the Committees are examining allegations that ActBlue, a leading political fundraising organization, allowed bad actors, including foreign actors, to exploit the company’s online platform to make fraudulent political donations,” the chairmen wrote in letters to the witnesses, which were sent to a lawyer representing them, Danny Onorato.
"Fraudulent political donations corrupt American elections could amount to interstate criminal conduct," the letters also state.
The letters laid out the testimony flip-flops for each of the witnesses, including ActBlue’s former chief revenue officer, Peter Slutsky.
“On April 21, Mr. Onorato indicated that you had agreed to appear for a voluntary transcribed interview and began the process of scheduling your appearance. However, on May 7, Mr. Onorato notified the Committee that you had changed course and now would not appear for a voluntary transcribed interview,” the chairmen stated.
“He cited a reported Executive Branch investigation into ‘the unlawful use of online fundraising platforms to make ‘straw’ or ‘dummy’ contributions or foreign contributions to political candidates and committees’ as the basis for your refusal to cooperate voluntarily with the Committees,” the letter to Slutsky and Onorato also states.
You can read that letter here:
Similar language was used for nearly all the witnesses who got the letters, which told the witnesses that an ongoing DOJ probe wasn’t a valid excuse for refusing to testify to Congress.
“The relevant precedent is clear that the mere existence of state or federal law enforcement investigations has no bearing on Congress’s oversight power,” the lawmakers wrote. “As such, an Executive Branch investigation into matters related to versight by the Committees is not a legitimate basis on which you may decline our request.”
The letters demanded each witness schedule their interview by no later than May 29 or risk facing a subpoena.
“The Committees are prepared to resort to compulsory process, if necessary, to obtain compliance with our requests,” the lawmakers warned.
The committees have been probing ActBlue over lax security measures and whether those vulnerabilities allowed foreign entities to donate to U.S. political campaigns, which is illegal.
In October, Steil and Sen. Ron Johnson, a fellow Wisconsin Republican, wrote to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines about concerns that four U.S. adversaries may have donated through the platform.
“We write to you to raise an urgent concern regarding potential illicit election funding by foreign actors,” the lawmakers wrote Yellen in a letter dated Thursday. “CHA has been investigating claims that foreign actors, primarily from Iran, Russia, Venezuela, and China, may be using ActBlue to launder illicit money into U.S. political campaigns.”
They also said: “Our investigation has indicated that these actors may be exploiting existing U.S. donors by making straw donations without their knowledge.”
The lawmakers specifically demanded access to any Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) related to money passing through the fundraising platform generated by any U.S. financial institution as part of their anti-money-laundering activities. Congress has been pouring through those SARs in recent days after gaining access to them under the Trump administration.
ActBlue has acknowledged to Congress that it has updated its donor verification policy to automatically reject donations that “use foreign prepaid/gift cards, domestic gift cards, are from high-risk/sanctioned countries, and have the highest level of risk as determined,” by its solution provider, Sift.
The change occurred just three days after Steil introduced the Secure Handling of Internet Electronic Donations (SHIELD) Act, on Sept. 6, 2024, to ensure foreign money stayed out of online political fundraising. Before the change, Steil said, donations made with foreign gift cards were not automatically rejected by ActBlue before the change, Just the News reported.
ActBlue has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and says that it is fully cooperating with ongoing investigations.
"Democratic and progressive campaigns have trusted ActBlue’s two-decade-long track record of innovation and dependability to deliver during big fundraising moments," the firm said in a statement in June 2024 celebrating its 20th anniversary in business.
According to internal company documents reviewed by the committees, during the 2024 campaign cycle, ActBlue issued new standards encouraging staff to “look for reasons to accept contributions.” Before the policy change, the platform already failed to require CVV numbers for credit card transactions, increasing fraud risks.
An internal assessment by the company determined the policy change led to “between 14 and 28 additional fraudulent contributions each month,” the committees said.
The documents also show the platform began monitoring potential fraudulent donations from several foreign sources, including hundreds of donations from Brazil, Colombia, India, Iraq, the Philippines and Saudi Arabia, and other countries.
The lawmakers and Trump have both asked DOJ to probe ActBlue for possible criminal conduct.
[GEO.TV] A knife attack at the main station in the German city of Hamburg left at least 12 people injured with some of them in a life-threatening condition, local emergency services said.
"According to initial information, a person injured several people with a knife at the main train station," Hamburg police said in a post on X.
"The suspect was apprehended by the responding forces."
A front man for the Hamburg fire department told AFP that 12 people had been injured in the attack.
Among them were "six people with life-threatening injuries", the front man said.
Some of the victims were being treated in trains, according to the German daily Bild.
Germany has been rocked by a series of violent mostly peaceful attacks in recent months.
On Sunday, four people were maimed in a stabbing at a bar in the city of Bielefeld.
The investigation into the attack had been handed over to federal prosecutors after the suspect in the attack told the coppers who arrested him that he had murderous Moslem beliefs.
German police on Friday said they had arrested a woman after at least 17 people were maimed in a knife attack at the main station in the northern city of Hamburg.
Some of the victims sustained life-threatening injuries in the stabbing, which took place in the middle of the city’s evening rush hour, emergency services said.
The suspect, a 39-year-old German woman,
…which does not tell us whether she was Moslem, nuts, or both…
was arrested at the scene by law enforcement, a Hamburg police front man said said.
Officers "approached her, and the woman allowed herself to be arrested without resistance," Florian Abbenseth told journalists in comments carried by public broadcaster ARD.
"We have no evidence so far that the woman may had a political motive," Abbenseth said.
"Rather, we have information based on which we now want to investigate whether she may have been experiencing a psychological emergency."
The suspect was thought to have "acted alone," Hamburg police said in a post on X.
Four of them had suffered life-threatening injuries, the front man said, revising down an initial figure.
A previous statement by the fire department said six people were in a life-threatening condition.
Among the 17 victims were six severely injured people and seven people with light injuries, the front man for the fire department said.
The attack was reported by German media to have taken place just after 6:00 p.m. local time on one of the platforms in front of a standing train.
The suspect was thought to have turned "against passengers" at the station, a spokeswoman for the Hanover federal police directorate, which also covers Hamburg, told AFP.
Twelve people are injured and three of them are in “mortal danger” after a mass stabbing at Germany’s Hamburg Central railway station.
Update 2100 — Four are in critical condition
A clearer picture of today’s mass stabbing in Germany is developing, with Die Welt reporting the number of known injured has risen to four in critical condition. A further six are seriously injured and seven more suffering light wounds. 17 in all were injured.
The attack is the second mass stabbing in Germany in a matter of days. As previously reported, a stabbing in the early hours of Sunday morning in Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, allegedly by a Syrian migrant was days later classified as a possible terror attack after Islamist literature was found on the attacker and at his home. As well as using a knife, the man is alleged to have wielded a spear and a bottle of petrol.
A Syrian migrant, identified 35-year-old as Mahmoud Mhemed, was arrested on Monday by police on attempted murder charges in relation to a mass stabbing in Bielefeld in North Rhine-Westphalia. Five people were injured, and four of them seriously: the German Justice minister revealed they “barely escaped with their lives”.
The bar where the attack took place said in a social media post that one of those “critically injured” men had been a member of the public who had bravely fought the knifeman to end the attack. They said: “Had it not been for him, things would probably have been even worse”.
Now the investigation into that attack has been taken over by the Federal Prosecutor on suspicion of a religious terrorism motive. Per a report by Germany’s Die Welt, they believe they have found evidence for Islamism, that the suspect had an interest in the Islamic State, and had been in contact with a known Islamist fundamentalist.
It is stated the attack, which took place at a bar in the city, saw football fans attacked by a man wielding a knife and a home made spear, being a knife tied to a pole. A group of patrons fought back, causing the suspect to flee. As previously reported, the man dropped a bag containing “multiple knives, a liquid that smelled of gasoline, and personal documents indicating Syrian nationality”.
Zeit states a spokesman for the Federal Prosecutor, which has specialist counter-terror investigators and takes suspected terror cases over from local non-specialised prosecutors, who said the mass stabbing is being treated as an attack on Germany’s liberal democratic order and that at the time of the suspect’s arrest “a document was found on him that suggests the crime may have been religiously motivated.”
Further, images concerning Hezbollah and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) are said to have been found at the suspect’s apartment.
Suspect Mhemed entered Europe through the territory of Turkey and was granted temporary refugee status by the German Migration Office in 2023. Earlier reports that he had no police record have been superseded, Focus reports, noting he had previously been investigated for “politically motivated crime” .
He was arrested on Monday after leading police on a 100 mile chase through Germany, taking several trains and other public transport from Bielefeld to Essen and to other towns beyond, finally being found in an apartment of a relative in Heiligenhaus.
#3
A few dance around answers, and the media again, avoiding asking the questions that need to be bluntly asked.
Were all the victims White and of German historical bloodline?
Were there any middle eastern victims, or was it "Get German Whitey Day"?
"We have no evidence so far that the woman may had a political motive,"
A dance around, but was it religious or racist based?
1st there was no motive and then use the motive of mental illness?
"Rather, we have information based on which we now want to investigate whether she may have been experiencing a psychological emergency."
Mental illness w/o motive? Heck, even a crazy person has an imaginary reason/motive.
The knife don't suddenly appeared in her hand and started swinging itself around at specific type of people.
Summary:
To avoid the EU/German Liberals OPEN BORDERS stupid policy that allowed in literally MILLIONS of Muslim Radicals. A group of people with a 2000+ year history of wanting to kill Whitey and all Infidels. They now hide the disastrous results in carefully worded open-ended statements.
Basically what I see here is the German & EU Government again avoiding the actual facts to anything that clearly points out their Liberal minded Globalist agenda stupidity.
#9
The Islam comments are "right" but they leap past the more basic fact that ONE citizen with a *gun* could have stopped this. This is what your country is set up for once the citizens are disarmed.
#11
that ONE citizen with a *gun* could have stopped this.
It was at the train station. A couple of people stooping down to pick up stones to throw at the knifewoman would have flustered her enough for someone to put hands on her and take the knife away. Ditto for someone grabbing a plastic chair from a nearby café (it’s Germany — there’s always a nearby café with outside seating) and playing lion tamer until someone could grab her.
It’s the wielder makes the weapon, not the other way round.
#13
"Our shrinks have examined and passed her
As just a domestic disaster.
No German must judge
This Mohammedan drudge
Or engage in debate with her master!"
#14
Die Deutschen lay dead on the ground
Around tables. Our Polizei found
Oil and vinegar, wine,
Intact settings -- all fine! --
And one blood-lapping diner, Mahound.
[HotAir] You'll remember one of the biggest drop-mic revelations was the $20B slush fund new Environmental Protection Agency head Lee Zeldin, along with Musk's DOGE waste-huntin' hounds found stashed in a sketchy secret Citibank account.
That money was allocated to just eight climate-related NGOs in last-minute 'awards' from the Biden administration as they shoveled bucks out the door like a steam-driven locomotive's fireman flings coal. The most egregious of which was an earmarked $2B award to a Stacey Abrams-connected NGO called 'Power Forward Communities,' which was only a little over a year old and had less than $100 in the bank.
The Washington Free Beacon reports that the Biden EPA awarded a group linked to Stacey Abrams with no real track record a 2 billion dollar environmental grant in 2024.
Everyone has been dying to know more as Zeldin turned to clawing back the money.
In the meantime, other folks started digging into the Power Forward Communities (PFC) NGO, and one of them uncovered the web of deep money progressive tentacles that run all through these seemingly humanitarian organizations. Sadly, they are, in fact, usually only money laundering schemes for progressive elites and their foot soldiers.
Integral to the PFC story is a fellow named Shaun Donovan, who cut his political progressive teeth as the Commissioner of the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development. He left the city to become, first, Obama's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and then his director of the Office of Budget Management.
When Obama left, Donovan knew he needed a new gig, so he slid on over to the Ford Foundation, which lobbies the federal government using Henry Ford's fortune. Eventually, through all his connections, he became the new CEO of Enterprise Community Partners (ECP).
The previous CEO of this non-profit NGO - one wealthy enough to boast about investing $72B for a million energy efficient homes - earned $900K a year, which is quite a chunk for a charity, you'd think. But, according to Mr Chavous' research, the co-CEO pulled down a cool $800K, and the NGO spent over 27% of all its considerable income on salaries.
What does this have to do with Power Forward Communities (PFC)?
For one thing, the well-compensated and connected CEO of ECP, Mr Donovan, is the one who then formed that NGO and bragged about scoring the $2B award for his umbrella organization.
Small, incestuous, lucrative world, these NGOs, aren't they?
It also explains what went down in Lee Zeldin's testimony to Congress yesterday about the specifics that they have been finding about the proposal that came with PFC's grant paperwork.
What was in the documents required to meet the 'eligibility requirements' for the federal handouts was so outrageous, it blew even the Biden administration EPA staff's mind. To the point where, when they were screening the paperwork, as internal documents have subsequently revealed, they wrote notes and memorandums about it to cover their own asterisks. One staff member reviewing the proposed salary structure thought they were so out of whack that they worried it might look bad should the public catch a glimpse.
But, if you look at the mothership, ECP, that's where they all are as far as numbers go.
On 12 May, PFC filed a status report with the D.C. district court claiming 'irreparable harm,' as they still could not access their Citbank funds because of mean old Lee Zeldin.
Bad as it was, “Joe Biden,” the figment president was merely one manifestation of a nation made mad by power-seeking demons, real-live, ill-intentioned human beings driving a runaway political machine, the party of hoaxes, hustles, and hatred. The country is just now struggling to exit a convulsion of mass mental illness. The demons are still there, though, and still hard at work trying to drag you all back into mass formation.
A central mystery is how the news media made itself the enemy of the people, and this conundrum is not at all explained by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson in their book Original Sin. It’s actually just another hustle with overtones of hoax, like everything else in the evil cavalcade of narratives spun out in the news media’s war on reality. Tapper and Marshall want you to believe that a faceless collective they call “the White House” managed to conceal “Joe Biden’s” well-advanced disintegration from the voting public, and that was... that. The media wuz fooled! Goll-lee!
Of course, that fails to explain a whole lot — such as: how come anybody watching daily video clips of “Joe Biden” in action, could not fail to see the broken old puppet he is. Alex Thompson, receiving his “award for excellence” from the White House Correspondents’ Association weeks ago said, “We just missed it.” Yeah, sure... They also apparently missed the programmatic devastation to American society that was carried out in the old stumblebum’s name.
Posted by: NoMoreBS ||
05/24/2025
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#1
Take your time and read it all.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/24/2025 9:52
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[RFI.FR] On Thursday, 88 senators voted in favour of lifting Joseph Kabila's immunity; five opposed and three abstained.
Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi alleges Kabila conspired with the Rwanda-backed M23, whose recent offensive has intensified the more than three-decade-long conflict in the east of the country.
Kabila, who has been outside the country since 2023, was not present in the chamber at the time of the vote.
By the vote, "the Senate authorises the prosecution and lifting of Joseph Kabila's immunity," declared the upper house's speaker Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde.
Kabila now faces the prospect of being tried in military courts for "treason, war crimes, crimes against humanity and participation in an insurrectionary movement".
[NBC via MSN] A recusal by conservative Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett has ensured that Oklahoma taxpayers will not have to pay for a religious public charter school.
No doubt this issue will come up in another case in the near-ish future.
Coney Barrett would have broken the 4-4 deadlock reached by the Court Thursday. Although she did not give a reason for her recusal, The New York Times speculated that the justice's "close friendship with Nicole Stelle Garnett, a professor at Notre Dame Law School who was an early adviser for St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, the school involved in the dispute," may have contributed.
"The decision by the evenly divided court means that a ruling by the Oklahoma Supreme Court that said the proposal to launch St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School violates both the federal Constitution and state law remains in place," NBC News reported.
Coney Barrett is an extremely conservative and religious justice who analysts expected would have supported the school's case.
The lack of a majority vote means the court did not issue a written decision.
#2
Why is it only those center or right of center recuse themselves but those of the left never do? /rhetorical question based upon numerous posting here of family members affiliated or working with NGOs,
#3
If you're paying school taxes and your kid is attending school.
Shouldn't you be allowed to pick the nature of the school/educational agenda your tax $$$ is being for?
Like the right to demand Tax $$$ be used to only teach school educational norms and not a liberal social agenda, alt sexual ideas, and UN-Constitutional political agendas & content?
Basically, So that your kid isn't being brainwashed by the Liberal NEA agenda?
At one GA allowed $,$$$ to be applied to alternative / Private schools and the local BOE's quickly toned down Liberal BS.
#7
Every California Hippy made up ‘religion’ will want funding as well as every other 300+ religious sects. You get the Amish treatment in my book: build your own school, on your own land and mind your own business
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Unknown persons fired at the Russian research vessel Atlantis off the coast of Mozambique, the Russian embassy reported on May 23.
The incident occurred on May 10. There were no casualties among the crew members.
"Unknown persons fired at the Russian research vessel Atlantis off the Mozambican coast of the Indian Ocean. No Russians were hurt, and minor damage was caused to the equipment. After that, the vessel called at the port of Maputo, and then headed for Durban, South Africa," Polina Zhukova, press attaché of the Russian Embassy in Mozambique, told TASS.
[Carnegie Politika] The sanctions deployed against Russia have failed to break Vladimir Putin’s war machine, and now the West is looking for ways to make them more potent. In doing so, Western policymakers should remain clear-eyed about potential risks and side effects.
by Sergey Vakulenko
Published on July 5, 2024
Two and a half years ago, in the run-up to Russia’s full-fledged war against Ukraine, Moscow was promised "sanctions from hell." It was widely expected that these sanctions would crush the Russian economy. That did not happen, and one of the reasons was that Russia managed to maintain its oil exports’ prewar volume and revenues. It was clear from the outset that it would be next to impossible to completely eliminate Russian oil from the global markets, but there were strong hopes that the price cap mechanism would at least put pressure on the price and put the cash flows under control of the Western coalition, which might eventually drastically reduce the resources available for the Russian military effort.
Russia, for its part, was determined to keep its oil trade outside of the Western-controlled system—and has succeeded. Initially, Russian crude prices fell significantly, and Moscow had to spend money building up a shadow fleet of tankers, since Western-owned ones were no longer available to it, but the discounts are much smaller now, and oil revenues are higher than pre-COVID and prewar levels. So far, the price cap mechanism has been ineffective.
The price cap mechanism was built on a belief that the West has a monopoly on the services needed to move oil from Russian ports to Asian refineries: that Russia would not be able to manage without Western-owned tankers, insurance underwritten by Western-led P&I clubs, or bank transactions in Western currencies passing through Western banks. That belief turned out to be incorrect. Russia managed to organize a parallel system to handle its oil trade by amassing a shadow fleet and finding alternative insurance providers.
This is a deeply unsatisfying state of affairs for Western policymakers, from both a reputational and practical point of view. First, it undermines the authority of the Western coalition and the effectiveness of future sanctions, since they are dependent on the willingness of potential sanctions violators and violation abettors to take risks, having weighed up the likely losses and rewards. Second, the failure of the price cap keeps Russian coffers full and the war machine running. Accordingly, Western governments are looking for more radical solutions and fixes.
Danish and Finnish officials have announced that they are looking for legal ways to deny passage to ships carrying Russian crude and diesel through marine chokepoints such as the Danish straits, the entrance to the Gulf of Finland, and the English Channel if they are not operating in accordance with the price cap mechanism. In all these cases, the ships would have to pass within 12 nautical miles of Danish, Finnish or Estonian, or English or French shores.
The ships in question often belong to non-Russian owners, sail under non-Russian flags, and carry cargo owned by non-Russian traders. They might have insurance certificates issued by Russian insurers that don’t belong to international insurance clubs, but those insurers had a substantial share of the oil cargo business before the war.
The 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which governs international marine traffic, cites the right of peaceful passage as a fundamental legal principle. In some cases, free passage is governed by much older treaties, such as the 1857 Copenhagen Convention for the Danish straits. Naval blockades have been tools of war and casus belli many times in history. UNCLOS was drafted and signed with the idea of eliminating this source of tensions and lowering the chances of war. As a result, it left very little room for littoral states to hinder the free passage of commercial vessels.
The challenge European policymakers are facing now, therefore, is how to make a blockade—an act often used during hostilities—look like a justified peacetime measure within the framework of conventions written to avoid hostilities. In other words, how to conduct an act of war while technically not conducting an act of war.
Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen has said: "It’s just not very easy because international maritime law is basically geared towards opening navigation and making it very difficult for any country to intervene with free traffic. The law was built for a completely different world than what we are now looking at."
It is understandable that the West prefers to take a measured approach in its conflict with Russia, sticking to commercial issues and avoiding any show of physical force. As tempting as it is to use technicalities to pursue strategic goals and justify a forceful course of action in the confrontation between Russia and the West, stopping tankers carrying Russian crude in the Danish straits could prompt an escalation on Russia’s part, such as an armed naval escort.
This approach also erodes trust and respect for the rules-based international order. Rules are commitment devices: their true value is demonstrated when they are applied against the current interests of their authors and proponents. If the conventions signed in the Cold War era are of no use today, then what is? Russia has long accused the West of hypocrisy and has justified its actions by citing double standards and manipulation of the rules to the advantage of the United States and EU. The use of UNCLOS to exercise a naval blockade against Russia will only provide Moscow with another story to tell the Global South.
The West still has the means to enforce the price cap more strictly and more broadly by going after profit-seekers who are willing to help move Russian oil for a fee and turn a blind eye to phony price cap compliance attestation. The West could also threaten secondary sanctions against Chinese and Indian buyers—if it has the will to expend political capital on the issue. But attempts to stop the physical flow of Russian oil through international straits would amount to a blockade, and will be seen as such.
That’s not to say that it’s not the right thing to do—but it should be done with a full and clear understanding of the significance of the act and possible consequences, rather than naively sleepwalking into the next level of conflict.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/24/2025
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#1
“We Must Save Poland”: Right-Wing Candidates Unite Ahead of Final Vote Karol Nawrocki, the conservative presidential candidate backed by Poland’s main opposition party, has signed an eight-point declaration put forward by former rival, the right-wing Sławomir Mentzen, in a move to consolidate the conservative vote before the country’s final round of presidential elections.
The declaration—presented during a live-streamed event on Mentzen’s YouTube channel—includes commitments to oppose tax increases, prevent Polish troops being sent to Ukraine, and block Ukraine’s membership of NATO.
Nobody used the B-word in this Daily Mail article about the "naval showdown" earlier this month in the Baltic Sea in which Polish and Estonian forces attempted to block an oil tanker headed for Russia. But there are some things that will bite you in the ass no matter what you call them.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/24/2025 10:00
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#3
I'm in agreement that was a very dumb thing to do.
And trying to make hay out of the Mig airspace violation was embarrassingly klutzy; my dudes, they were reacting to your violation. Looked like bank robbers complaining about responding police speeding.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] Spy scandals in Israel have reached a new level: Israel Katz, the head of the Israeli Defense Ministry and one of the close associates of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is in the crosshairs of Iranian intelligence.
The Israelis have uncovered an assassination attempt on Katz and are certain that its goal was to disrupt the operation to destroy the Iranian nuclear arsenal.
However, the desire to emphasize the “Iranian trace” in the spy story rather suggests the opposite: Tel Aviv is desperately looking for a reason to disrupt negotiations between Tehran and Washington, and at the same time justify its own operations against Iran.
CONSPIRATORIAL FRIENDS
The main defendant in the case is considered to be Roy Mizrahi, a 24-year-old computer science student at the Technion, one of the oldest and leading engineering schools in the country.
Mizrahi is known to have fallen into a honey trap and was recruited by Iranian operatives through the Haifa swingers' community he belonged to.
Moreover, by the time of the meeting with the Iranians, the suspect had accumulated a lot of debt due to his passion for card games, which gave Tehran's special services another lever of influence. The young programmer found himself firmly entangled in a spy network.
At first, he was entrusted with simple tasks: distributing propaganda materials and collecting information about the mood of Israeli youth. However, a little later they decided to use his computer engineer skills to his advantage.
On the orders of the Iranians, Mizrahi installed a live camera near the Haifa port and gave access to it to his handlers. According to some reports, he also participated in organizing small DDoS attacks on city institutions several times.
A few weeks later, when the new agent's loyalty was no longer in doubt, Mizrahi helped the Iranians expand their spy network by recruiting his friend Almog Atias.
He worked as a driver-forwarder and was known as a gambling addict, and therefore needed money. To "deepen the acquaintance" the Iranians gave him a "starting allowance" of $300.
At that time, Iranian intelligence apparently decided to entrust a promising agent with a truly big task.
OPERATION HAWK
The plotters were ordered to eliminate Israeli cabinet member Israel Katz. Since becoming defense minister in the fall of 2024, he has become one of the most ardent "hawks" in the coalition government and a lobbyist for a preemptive strike on Iran's nuclear infrastructure. His elimination was entirely in Tehran's national security interests.
A few days after learning about the plan, the newly formed team was transferred to the south of the country, to the community of Kfar Ahim, where Katz lived permanently. There they were supposed to install a surveillance camera, ensuring constant monitoring of the minister's home. However, the appearance of a police patrol ruined their plans.
Fearing surveillance, the conspirators destroyed the camera and switched to a backup plan: an attack on the ministerial motorcade. For this purpose, a rifle and a pistol with silencers were purchased on the black market, as well as several homemade bombs.
Also, according to testimony, the accused tried to bribe the driver and security guard of the Minister of Defense in order to take his car away from crowded streets and eliminate strong resistance during the assassination attempt.
The plan was to eliminate Katz on the eve of the country's Independence Day (from April 30 to May 1), turning the assassination attempt into a political manifesto and "revenge for the bloody operation" in the Gaza Strip.
However, as further investigation showed, neither Mizrahi nor Atias shared the idea of Palestinian independence and voiced this version during interrogations only in the hope of creating international publicity.
Be that as it may, they failed to carry out their plan: a few days before the alleged assassination attempt, both were arrested.
The Israeli intelligence services did not make a fuss and preferred to first look for other leads in the Iranian network. Especially since the agents who were arrested began to give each other up, telling about caches of money, ammunition and special equipment.
Subsequently, in the wake of the “Mizrahi-Atias affair,” several more investigations with a “Persian flair” were initiated, but Israeli operatives were never able to generalize them and discover a single spy network.
OCTOPUS HEAD
The Minister of Defense, by all appearances, took the news of the assassination attempt philosophically. His statements, made after the arrest of the conspirators (who were not yet officially known at the time), not only did not become more restrained, but, on the contrary, acquired a more militant tone.
Among other things, Katz declared a vendetta against the leaders of the Yemeni Houthis and promised to destroy the leadership of Hamas and Hezbollah. He used the news of the foiled plot, announced by counterintelligence, as a basis for attacks on Iran.
In particular, he called Tehran “the head of a terrorist octopus” and reaffirmed his commitment to “preventing at any cost” the Iranians from acquiring nuclear weapons.
It is noteworthy that the Israeli minister announced his readiness to fight on the eve of a new round of Iranian-American negotiations on peaceful nuclear energy.
Katz and his entourage have been pressing the White House for months to give the green light to an air operation against the opponent's nuclear facilities before the window of opportunity due to Iran's weakened air defenses closes completely.
Washington is slow and trying to keep interaction with Tehran on a diplomatic track. As a gesture of goodwill, the United States even withdrew some of the strategic bombers from the Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean that were transferred there in March 2025, and also agreed to a ceasefire with the Yemeni Houthis.
The easing of tensions between Washington and Tehran is weakening Tel Aviv's pressure. That is why Israeli military hawks led by Katz are desperately trying to use the "Mizrahi-Atias affair" as an argument to justify further confrontation.
EASTERN HINTS
The wave of criticism provoked by this spy story, at first glance, passed by the Iranians. Tehran had not reacted too violently to scandals with agents attributed to it before, and after the number of those arrested in spy cases exceeded fifteen, it began to essentially ignore the accusations of Tel Aviv.
At the same time, Katz’s speech with promises to respond to Tehran’s actions at any cost received a comprehensive response.
Official releases appeared (within a few hours of each other) on the websites of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, parliament and government; comments were given by high-ranking officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and intelligence officials.
True, none of the agencies focused on the “Mizrahi-Atias affair,” limiting criticism to the inadmissibility of threats to Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.
The Iranian position was summed up by the country's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. In one of his appeals to believers, he dressed up criticism of Israel in a religious story, emphasizing that "the one who constantly deceives will eventually become a victim of deception."
Thus, he pointed out that in the event of aggression against Iran, it would be too naive for Tel Aviv to count on unconditional military support from the United States. Especially in light of Donald Trump’s desire to “castle” in the Middle East and focus on supporting Arabian allies rather than Israel.
In general, the Iranian side made it clear to its opponents that Tel Aviv's speculations around spy stories do not frighten them and that Tehran is prepared to take a hit. In contrast, the Iranians put forward their own question: is Israel ready to face them one-on-one if something happens?
And, apparently, official Tel Aviv does not yet have a clear answer to it.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 20:44 FPV drones of the "Southern" group of troops destroyed UAV control point and ammunition depot of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kramatorsk-Druzhkivske direction.
Drone operators of the "East" group of forces hit command and communication facilities of Ukrainian formations in the area of the settlement of Otradnoye in the South Donetsk direction.
20:35 Around 19:30 Moscow time by air defense systems on duty destroyed two Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles of the airplane type over the territory of the Belgorod region.
19:48 The Russian Armed Forces have expanded control in the Otradny area, –MAP.
18:01 Novopavlovskoye direction
Units of the 36th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Group of Forces "Vostok" drove the enemy out of the village of Otradnoye and continue their offensive in the direction of the village of Komar.
17:44 Published frames of combat work of fighters of the "Center" group of forces on May 22 to destroy military equipment, weapons, infantry and positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces during active combat operations in the Pokrovsky direction.
16:56 The 36th Separate Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade of the 29th Army liberated the settlement of Otradnoye in the South Donetsk direction –MAP
16:31 UAV crews of the GuardsTula paratroopers of the "North" group continue to carry out the task of creating a security strip in the Sumy region.
On video: Archival footage of the destruction of a Ukrainian vehicle on the Yunakovka-Sudzha "death highway", which is already filled with burned-out enemy equipment on Ukrainian territory.
14:37 Some of the combat groups of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are camouflaging their equipment in forest belts in order to move into position at night. The enemy transport that was detected was destroyed by FPV drone operators of the 6th Combined Arms Army.
13:46 Three Ukrainian aircraft were destroyed by a missile strike.
Three light aircraft of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, used to combat Russian drones, were parked in a cluster at the airfield,video.
13:24 Summary of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on the progress of the special military operation from May 17 to 23, 2025
From May 17 to 23, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out 12 group strikes with high-precision weapons and attack unmanned aerial vehicles, which resulted in the destruction of enterprises of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine, the infrastructure of military airfields, weapons and ammunition depots, production and storage sites for attack unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as temporary deployment points of Ukrainian armed formations and foreign mercenaries.
Over the course of a week, units of the North military group liberated the settlement of Maryino in Sumy Oblast during active offensive operations.
Air strikes, unmanned aerial vehicles and artillery fire damaged the manpower and equipment of a tank, five mechanized, two airborne assault brigades, two assault regiments of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and four territorial defense brigades.
Over the course of a week, in the area of responsibility of the North group of forces, the enemy's losses amounted to over 1,180 servicemen, five tanks, 14 combat armored vehicles and 67 automobiles. 34 field artillery guns were destroyed, including three 155mm M-777 guns made in the USA, three electronic warfare stations and three ammunition depots.
As a result of decisive actions by units of the "West" military group, the settlement of Radkovka in the Khar'kov region was liberated.
The manpower and equipment of three mechanized, mountain assault, airmobile, assault brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, a territorial defense brigade and two national guard brigades were damaged.
The enemy lost over 1,585 servicemen, three tanks, 13 armored combat vehicles, including two US-made M113 armored personnel carriers, 65 vehicles, 11 field artillery pieces, including six made by NATO countries, seven electronic warfare stations, and 15 ammunition depots.
Units of the "Southern" group of troops occupied more advantageous lines and positions, and defeated the formations of six mechanized, assault, motorized infantry, airmobile brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and a territorial defense brigade.
Over the past week, the Ukrainian armed forces have lost more than 1,665 servicemen, two tanks, 24 combat armored vehicles, including two HMMWV armored vehicles and three US-made M113 armored personnel carriers. 29 vehicles, 16 field artillery pieces, including five Western-made ones, 13 electronic warfare stations, and 15 ammunition depots have been destroyed.
As a result of decisive actions by units of the Center group of forces, the settlements of Alexandropol, Novoolenovka and Novaya Poltavka of the Donetsk People's Republic were liberated.
The manpower and equipment of six mechanized, assault, airmobile, and ranger brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, a naval infantry brigade, a territorial defense brigade, and three national guard brigades were damaged.
The enemy's losses amounted to over 2,875 servicemen, a tank, 42 armored combat vehicles, 39 cars and 11 field artillery pieces.
Over the past week, units of the "East" military grouping have liberated the settlement of Bogatyr in the Donetsk People's Republic as a result of active operations.
Defeat was inflicted on the formations of three mechanized brigades, an airborne assault brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a naval infantry brigade, a territorial defense brigade and a national guard brigade.
The enemy lost more than 1,185 servicemen, two tanks and 21 combat armored vehicles. 36 vehicles, 12 field artillery guns, including four produced by NATO countries, as well as five electronic warfare stations were destroyed.
Units of the Dnepr group of forces inflicted losses on the manpower and equipment of the mechanized, mountain assault brigades, two coastal defense brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and four territorial defense brigades.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost over 415 servicemen, a tank, five combat armored vehicles and 30 cars. Four field artillery guns, six electronic warfare stations and 10 ammunition depots were destroyed. Between May 17 and 23, 46 Ukrainian servicemen surrendered.
Over the course of a week, air defense systems shot down 30 JDAM guided aerial bombs and 12 HIMARS multiple launch rockets made in the United States, as well as 1,548 aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles.
During the repelling of a massive attack by enemy drones (from 8 p.m. on May 20 to 8 a.m. on May 23), 1,177 aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed, including 788 UAVs shot down by air defense systems outside the special military operation zone.
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 662 aircraft have been destroyed,
283 helicopters,
58,984 unmanned aerial vehicles,
607 anti-aircraft missile systems,
23,487 tanks and other armored combat vehicles,
1,563 multiple launch rocket systems, 25,195 field artillery pieces and mortars,
35,831 units of special military vehicles.
13:22 During the repelling of a massive attack by enemy drones (from 20:00 on May 20 to 08:00 on May 23) destroyed 1,177 aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles, including 788 UAVs shot down by air defense systems outside the special military operation zone.
13:14 From May 17 to 23, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation inflicted 12 group strikes with high-precision weapons and attack drones, which resulted in the destruction of enterprises of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine, the infrastructure of military airfields, weapons and ammunition depots, production and storage sites of attack drones, as well as temporary deployment points of Ukrainian armed formations and foreign mercenaries.
12:25 From the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the interests of the Russian Ministry of Defense implemented launch of the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle with a spacecraft on board.
12:11 Servicemen of the motorized rifle regiment of the North group of forces during the assault captured four Ukrainian Armed Forces militants.
The Ukrainian servicemen tried to put up fierce resistance, but realizing the hopelessness of their situation, they decided to surrender.
The fighters of the "North" military group disarmed the enemy and delivered him to the rear area, providing the necessary medical assistance.
10:46 FPV drone calculations at Rubicon Center struck manpower, armored vehicles, communication systems, UAVs and firing positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
09:54 Footage released of destruction of enemy heavy copters in the Khar'kov region.
09:22 Russian Armed Forces advance near Dvurechnaya and Kamenka –MAP.
08:55 Russian Armed Forces advance near Yunakovka –MAP.
07:35 From 20:00 on May 22 of this year, air defense systems on duty intercepted and destroyed and 112 Ukrainian aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles:
24 UAVs – over the territory of the Moscow region,
22 UAVs – over the territory of the Republic of Crimea,
18 UAVs – over the territory of the Tula region,
11 UAVs – over the territory of the Kursk region,
Eight UAVs – over the territory of the Oryol region,
Eight UAVs – over the territory of the Bryansk region,
Six UAVs – over the territory of the Ryazan region,
Five UAVs – over the territory of the Kaluga region,
Three UAVs - over the territory of the Belgorod region,
Three UAVs - over the territory of the Ivanovo region,
Two UAVs – over the territory of the Vladimir region,
One UAV – over the territory of the Voronezh region,
One UAV – over the territory of the Lipetsk region.
07:31 Changes to map over the past 24 hours:
Advance in Volchansk
Russian Armed Forces consolidated their position in Otradnoye
Advance in Otradnoye➡️
Correction of the control zone in the Novaya Poltavka area in favor of our troops.
06:38 Crews of T-90M "Proryv" tanks of Ivanovo and Kostroma paratroopers destroyed strongholds with Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel in the Chasov Yar area in the DPR.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] The Chechen mosque in Leninaul was demolished in violation of the order of the Mufti of Dagestan, the issue will be resolved with the participation of theologians from the republics of the North Caucasus Federal District, stated the Mufti of Chechnya Salakh Mezhiyev, announcing a discussion of the restoration of the Aukhovsky District.
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 about the ownership of this plot of land by the Chechens, the administration of the Kazbekovsky District stated. The Muftiate and the Council of Chechens of Dagestan agreed to resolve the issue of demolishing the mosque in Leninaul according to Sharia law. Islamic scholars called the demand to build a mosque on the site of the demolished one not a norm of Islam, but simply a local tradition.
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.
The Mufti of Chechnya, head of the Coordination Center of Muslims of the North Caucasus (CCMC) Salakh Mezhiev, stated that those who demolished the mosque in Leninaul disobeyed the Mufti of Dagestan.
"Before this happened, on May 6, we sent our delegation, our representatives to the Mufti of Dagestan. They reported that such a question was at issue, to which the Mufti of Dagestan quite rightly, clearly and distinctly said that this was unacceptable," he said in a video published on the KCMSC Telegram channel.
But the mosque was demolished. "The people who did this disobeyed, first of all, the Mufti of Dagestan. After that, we sent our delegation again, and the Mufti of Dagestan, of course, expressed his dissatisfaction with what happened. We agreed that after the Hajj we would sit down and discuss this at the level of theologians," the publication from May 23 says.
He noted that the Dagestani side had called for this investigation. Therefore, this incident will be resolved according to Islamic norms with the participation of theologians from other republics of the North Caucasus.
This has been a sore point for many years. Upon returning from exile after Stalin's repressions, Chechens are unable to move into their homes
"There will be two questions. Firstly, to what extent does the demolition of the mosque comply with the norms of Islam, what happened, and what should we do next. The second question is a sore point for many years. Upon returning from exile after Stalin's repressions, Chechens cannot move into their homes. As the chairman of the Coordination Center of Muslims of the North Caucasus Federal District, I would like to note that this trial will not only be between theologians of Dagestan and Chechnya. Other theologians from all spiritual administrations of the North Caucasus will also be present there," the mufti emphasized.
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.
[IsraelTimes] Force working to identify suspect caught on CCTV footage approaching home in Golders Green and prying religious item from doorpost; community security says several houses targeted
No act too petty for the h8ters.
We have received multiple reports of incidents that appear to be deliberate acts of #antisemitism, involving the removal of mezuzah’s in #GoldersGreen.
We are liaising with police. If you’ve been a victim, contact #Shomrim NW London on 03009991234 quoting ref NW683-20/05/25 pic.twitter.com/FKAZHQh9cu
— Shomrim North West London (@shomrimlondon) May 20, 2025
[IsraelTimes] Though the terror group was badly weakened by the war with Israel, popular support among Lebanese Shi’ites remains strong
Amid the rubble left by Israeli bombardment of south Leb ...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects.... , campaign posters urge support for Hezbollah in elections on Saturday as the group aims to show it retains political clout despite the pounding it took in last year’s war.
For Hezbollah, the local vote is more important than ever, coinciding with mounting calls for its disarmament and continued Israeli Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s, and as many of its Shi’ite Moslem constituents still suffer the repercussions of the conflict.
Three rounds of voting already held this month have gone well for the Iran-backed terror group. In the south, many races won’t be contested, handing Hezbollah and its allies early wins.
"We will vote with blood," said Ali Tabaja, 21, indicating loyalty to Hezbollah. He’ll be voting in the city of Nabatieh rather than his village of Adaisseh because it has been destroyed.
"It’s a desert," he said.
The south’s rubble-strewn landscape reflects the devastating impact of the war, which began when Hezbollah began launching regular attacks on Israel in October 2023 in support of Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... following the latter terror group’s devastating attack on southern Israel.
After nearly a year of war, Israel launched a major offensive against the organization. Hezbollah emerged as a shadow of its former self, with its leaders and thousands of its fighters killed, its influence over the Lebanese state greatly diminished, and its Lebanese opponents gaining sway.
In a measure of how far the tables have turned, the new government has declared it aims to establish a state monopoly on arms, meaning Hezbollah should disarm.
Against this backdrop, the election results so far indicate "the war didn’t achieve the objective of downgrading Hezbollah’s popularity in the community," said Mohanad Hage Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center, a think tank. "On the contrary, many Shia now feel their fate is tied to Hezbollah’s fate.
Hezbollah’s election performance "really matters," Hage Ali added. "It shows they still represent the great majority of Shi’ites and underlines the reality that any attempt by other Lebanese to disarm them by force would risk being seen as a move against the community and jeopardize civil peace."
Hezbollah’s arms have long been a source of division in Lebanon, sparking a brief civil conflict in 2008. Critics say Hezbollah has unilaterally involved Lebanon in wider Middle East conflicts.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has called for dialogue with Hezbollah over a national defense strategy, implying discussion of its weaponry, but talks have yet to begin.
Wednesday saw the Lebanese and Paleostinian Authority presidents agree that Paleostinian factions won’t use Lebanon as a launchpad for any attacks against Israel, and to remove weapons that aren’t under the authority of the Lebanese state.
Foreign Minister Youssef Raji, a Hezbollah opponent, has said that Lebanon has been told there will be no reconstruction aid from foreign donors until the state establishes a monopoly on arms.
Hezbollah, in turn, has put the onus on the government over reconstruction and accuses it of failing to take steps on that front, despite promises that the government is committed to it.
A US State Department spokesperson said that while Washington was engaged in supporting sustainable reconstruction in Lebanon, "this cannot happen without Hezbollah laying down their arms."
"We have also made clear that transparency and economic reform are the only path to greater investment and economic recovery for the country," the spokesperson said in response to a Rooters query.
Hezbollah claims its weapons are now gone from the south, but links any discussion of its remaining arsenal to Israel’s withdrawal from five positions it still holds, and an end to Israeli strikes.
Israel says Hezbollah still has combat infrastructure, including rocket launchers in the south, calling this "blatant violations of understandings between Israel and Lebanon." It says the five positions are necessary to defend northern Israel from the threat of Hezbollah, which had planned an October 7-style attack on northern communities.
A French diplomatic source said reconstruction would not materialize if Israel continues striking and the Lebanese government does not act fast enough on disarmament.
Donors also want Beirut to enact economic reforms.
Hashem Haidar, head of the government’s Council for the South, said the state lacks the funds to rebuild, but cited progress in rubble removal. Lebanon needs $11 billion for reconstruction and recovery, the World Bank estimates.
In Nabatieh, a pile of rubble marks the spot where 71-year-old Khalil Tarhini’s store once stood. It was one of dozens destroyed by Israeli bombardment in Nabatieh’s central market.
He has received no compensation and sees little point in voting. Expressing a sense of abandonment, he said: "The state did not stand by us."
The situation was very different in 2006, after a previous Hezbollah-Israel war. Aid flowed from Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... and Gulf Arab states.
Hezbollah says it has aided 400,000 people, paying for rent, furniture, and renovations. But the funds at its disposal appear well short of 2006, recipients say.
Hezbollah says state authorities have obstructed funds arriving from Iran, though Tehran is also more financially strapped than two decades ago due to tougher US sanctions and the reimposition of a "maximum pressure" policy by Washington.
As for Gulf states, their spending on Lebanon dried up as Hezbollah became embroiled in regional conflicts and, echoing the US, they declared it a terrorist group in 2016. Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... has echoed the Lebanese government’s position of calling for a state monopoly of arms.
Hezbollah politician Hassan Fadlallah said it was up to the government to secure reconstruction funding and that it was failing to take "serious steps" to get the process on track.
He warned that the issue risked deepening divisions in Lebanon if unaddressed. "How can one part of the nation be stable while another is in pain?" he said, referring to Shi’ites in the south and other areas, including Beirut’s Hezbollah-dominated southern suburbs, hard hit by Israel.
[IsraelTimes] TV report says Hamas chief made mistake of meeting with top commanders without his usual protective ‘hostage belt’; when Israel was sure no captives were present, it bombed
The strike that targeted and possibly eliminated Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... leader Muhammad Sinwar 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... earlier this month was made possible when the terror chief made the rare mistake of moving without a defensive "hostage belt" protecting him, according to a Friday report.
Channel 12 aired new details on the massive strike on Sinwar and other top Hamas officials in a Khan Younis tunnel on May 13 that is currently believed to have killed Sinwar, the de facto commander of Hamas in Gaza, following Israel’s killing of his brother Yahya last October.
The network said Muhammad Sinwar was almost always surrounded by hostages throughout the war, as Hamas leaders realized this was a strong deterrent against Israeli liquidation attempts. And indeed, Channel 12 said Israeli intelligence had long tracked Sinwar but repeatedly ruled out potential strikes on him when presented with the opportunity due to fears there were hostages in his vicinity.
"No risks are taken if there’s even a one percent chance that hostages are in the area," a security source told the network.
The report said Sinwar became even more careful following the death of his brother in a firefight with Israeli forces, and that only a very small number of people knew his location at any time, echoing a report Thursday in the Wall Street Journal.
However,
a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... for unknown reasons, Sinwar decided on May 13 to meet with the commander of the Rafah Brigade in Hamas’s military wing, Mohammad Shabana, as well as other senior commanders, without his usual escort of hostages.
The Wall Street Journal quoted Hamas and Arab officials who said the meeting of tap-ranking Hamas figures was convened to discuss their approach to talks on a ceasefire and hostage release deal, among other matters.
Presented with this opportunity, the Israeli Air Force immediately began preparing for a strike, the report said, though top officers expected it would likely be called off due to fears of harming hostages.
However,
a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... when ironclad intelligence arrived that no hostages were present, the IAF was given the green light, jets were scrambled, and the bombing went ahead.
The strikes targeted an underground command compound below the European Hospital. The Hamas-run health ministry reported 16 dead and over 70 maimed in the strike, though there was no immediate word if Sinwar was among the casualties.
The IDF later bombed the area several more times, in an apparent attempt to prevent anyone from approaching the tunnel and aiding the terror operatives.
According to the officials cited by the Wall Street Journal, Hamas recovered Sinwar’s body a day after the strike and temporarily buried it in another tunnel, with the intention of moving his remains to a more suitable grave once the fighting ceases.
Saudi channel al-Hadath reported that Sinwar’s body was was recovered along with the remains of 10 of his aides. Hamas has not confirmed this.
Israel has also not confirmed that Sinwar was killed, but Defense Minister Israel Katz said that "according to all the indications Muhammad Sinwar was eliminated."
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 Yahya was killed by IDF troops, he became the de facto leader of the terror group in the Strip.
Israeli officials have described Muhammad Sinwar as obstinate concerning negotiations for the release of hostages, and an obstacle to reaching a ceasefire deal.
The younger Sinwar was also wanted for terrorist actions against Israel and has been active in Hamas for decades.
He was locked away Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! 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 the 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 Thursday, Paleostinian media reported that Zakaria Sinwar, brother of Yahya and Muhammad Sinwar, succumbed to wounds sustained in an Israeli Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... on Saturday night.
Zakaria, a lecturer at the Islamic University in Gaza, was initially said to have been killed in the strike, but media reports later said he had been critically injured.
[IsraelTimes] Flight of pro-Assad factions comes amid Trump’s demand that the new regime crack down on Palestinian terrorism as a condition for sanctions relief
Leaders of Iran-backed Paleostinian terror groups in Syria close to former president Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... have left the country under pressure from the regime of Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the ouster of the Iran-backed strongman in December, Paleostinian sources said Friday.
The armed factions’ flight comes amid a White House demand that Sharaa crack down on Paleostinian terror groups as a condition for the removal of Washington’s sanctions on Damascus. There have also been unconfirmed reports that Syria’s new regime has held indirect talks with Israel on potential normalization between the two countries, despite Israeli leaders’ deep suspicion of Sharaa due to his jihadi past.
The crackdown did not appear to affect the Syrian presence of 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... -based Hamas ..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,... , which is also backed by Iran, nor that of Fatah, the secularist faction that dominates the West Bank-based Paleostinian Authority.
The leader of one Iran-backed Paleostinian group, who left Syria after Assad’s overthrow, said on condition of anonymity that "most of the Paleostinian factional leadership that received support from Tehran has left Damascus" to countries including Leb ...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel... . Another faction leader still in Damascus confirmed the development.
The first faction leader said "the factions have fully handed over weapons in their headquarters or with their cadres" to the authorities, who also received "lists of names of faction members possessing individual weapons" and demanded that those arms be handed over.
A third Paleostinian faction source in Damascus said that after Assad’s overthrow, "we gathered our members’ weapons ourselves and handed them over, but we have kept individual light weapons for protection... with the [authorities’] authorization."
In Yarmouk, a Paleostinian refugee camp in the Damascus suburbs that was devastated during Syria’s civil war, factional banners usually displayed at the entrance were gone and party buildings were closed and unguarded, AFP photographers said. Factional premises elsewhere in Damascus also appeared closed.
Many Paleostinians fled to Syria in 1948 following the creation of Israel, and from the mid-1960s Syria began hosting the leadership of armed Paleostinian factions. Iran-backed Paleostinian groups enjoyed considerable freedom of movement under Assad.
Washington, which designates some of the factions as terrorist organizations, last week announced it was lifting sanctions on Syria. The White House had earlier said the new Syrian regime would have to comply with demands, including suppressing terrorism and preventing "Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... and its proxies from exploiting Syrian territory."
According to the White House, during a meeting in Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... last week, US President Donald Trump ...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party... gave Sharaa a list of demands that included deporting "Paleostinian terrorists."
The Iran-backed Paleostinian factions in Syria, along with other terror groups from Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... , are part of Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance®, which is openly committed to Israel’s destruction. Some Axis members fought alongside Assad’s forces when civil war erupted in Syria in 2011.
In neighboring Lebanon, a government official told AFP that the disarmament of Paleostinian camps, where factions usually handle security, would begin next month based on an accord with visiting Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....> , who also met with Sharaa in Damascus last month.
’UNWELCOME’
The Iran-backed Paleostinian groups in Syria "did not receive any official request from the authorities to leave Syrian territory" but instead faced restrictions, the first faction leader told AFP.
Some factions "were de facto prohibited from operating," or their members were arrested, he said, adding that the new authorities have seized property from "private homes, offices, vehicles and military training camps in the Damascus countryside and other provinces."
Syrian authorities did not immediately provide a comment to AFP when asked about the matter.
Earlier this month, officials from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine-General Command (PFLP-GC) said Syrian authorities briefly detained factional chief Talal Naji.
In April, 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... said Syrian official Khaled Khaled and organizing committee member Yasser al-Zafri were tossed into the calaboose "without explanation." A source from the group told AFP on Friday that they were still detained.
The second Paleostinian faction leader, from a group that has remained in Damascus with limited representation, said there was "no cooperation between most of the Paleostinian factions and the new Syrian administration."
"The response to our contact is mostly cold or delayed. We feel like unwelcome guests, though they don’t say that clearly," he added, also requesting anonymity.
A Hamas official in Gaza told AFP that it had "channels of communication with our brothers in Syria."
Hamas has minimal representation in Syria, having left the country after the civil war there began. Hamas’s ties with the Assad regime had deteriorated amid the terror group’s support for opposition demands.
Yarmouk camp resident Marwan Mnawar, a retiree, said that "nobody knows what happened to the factional leadership," adding that "people just want to live, they are exhausted" by the conflict and factional infighting.
[Times of IS] House of Commons, in London, on May 20, 2025.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced Tuesday that the United Kingdom is suspending free trade agreement negotiations with Israel and taking other punitive measures, including the imposition of sanctions on West Bank settlers, in response to Israel’s wartime policies during its conflict with Hamas in Gaza.
The announcement followed comments by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer earlier on Tuesday, saying he was "horrified" by Israel’s expanded ground campaign in Gaza.
"While the UK government remains committed to the existing trade agreement in force, it is not possible to advance discussions on a new, upgraded FTA with a Netanyahu government that is pursuing egregious policies in the West Bank and Gaza," the British government wrote in a statement.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] The Ukrainian Armed Forces are engaged in heavy fighting in the east and south of Ukraine.
In the Kursk direction, the Ukrainian Armed Forces units repelled 19 enemy attacks. Three more clashes are ongoing.
Since the beginning of the day, 84 combat clashes have occurred on the front. Enemy activity in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation has increased significantly. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in an operational report as of 16:00 on Friday, May 23.
Thus, in the Kharkov direction, the enemy tried to break through the defense near Vovchansk and was rebuffed.
In the Kupyansk direction, the enemy tried to advance three times in the areas of Kolesnikovka and Zagrizovoye, but was stopped by our defenders.
In the Liman direction, the invading army attacked six times near the settlements of Novoye, Novomikhaylovka, Zelenaya Dolina, Torskoye and in the direction of Grigorovka; three clashes continue.
In the Kramatorsk direction, the Ukrainian Armed Forces repelled one attack by enemy units in the direction of Belaya Gora.
In the Toretsk direction, the enemy attacked nine times near Ozaryanovka, Krymskoe, Druzhba and Toretsk. Currently, two combat clashes are ongoing.
In the Pokrovsky direction, the occupiers carried out 25 assaults in the areas of the settlements of Shevchenko Pervoye, Mirolyubovka, Elizavetovka, Malinovka, Lisovka, Udachnoye, Novomikolaevka, Troitskoye, Kotlyarovka and Andreyevka. The defense forces repelled 21 attacks. Four clashes continue.
In the Novopavlovsk direction, the enemy attacked 13 times near the settlements of Novopol, Zelenoe Pole, Volnoe Pole, Bogatyr, Vesyoloye and Burlatskoye. One battle is still ongoing.
In the Orekhov direction, the occupiers unsuccessfully advanced three times in the Stepovoye area and in the direction of Novodanilovka.
In the Dnieper direction, the enemy made one unsuccessful attempt at an offensive.
In the Kursk direction, the Ukrainian Armed Forces units repelled 19 attacks by Russian invaders, and three more clashes are ongoing. It should be noted that as of yesterday at 16:00, nine battles were recorded in the Kursk region. That is, enemy activity has increased significantly.
Let us recall that on May 22, Russia lost more than 1,000 fighters killed and wounded in one day. The total number of Russian losses will soon exceed 1 million people.
[IsraelTimes] No injuries or damage in latest attack carried out by Iran-backed group; 38 ballistic missiles launched since late March
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... on Friday morning was intercepted by air defenses, the military said.
The missile fire marked the second day in a row of Houthi attacks on Israel, and the fourth within a week.
There were no reports of injuries or damage in the attack early Friday.
The missile set off sirens at around 4 a.m. in central Israel, including in Tel Aviv, sending nearly a million residents scrambling to bomb shelters. Preceding the sirens by some three minutes, an early warning was issued to residents, alerting them of the long-range missile attack via a push notification on their phones. However,
there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... the advanced warning does not override the do-not-disturb functions on cell phones, unlike the siren alerts.
The Israel Defense Forces said air defenses successfully intercepted the missile.
Video shared on social media purported to show an interceptor missile launched to shoot down the Houthi projectile.
Last week, the Israeli Air Force struck the Houthi-controlled Hodeida and Salif ports in Yemen in response to the Iran-backed group’s repeated attacks on Israel. The Houthis vowed to respond and have since continued their missile attacks on Israel.
On Thursday, the Houthis launched two missiles at Israel, claiming to have targeted Ben Gurion Airport. The IDF said both were intercepted. On Sunday, another missile fired from Yemen was shot down, according to the military.
Earlier this month, a Houthi missile slipped through air defenses and landed in the grounds of Ben Gurion Airport, injuring six people, none of them seriously. A slew of international carriers promptly halted services to Israel, though some have since said they will resume operations.
Israel responded to that attack with strikes on Sanaa airport, causing an estimated $500 million worth of damage. On Saturday, some flights to the Yemeni airport resumed.
[Breitbart] California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) was fuming Thursday as Congress passed a repeal of California’s electric vehicle (EV) mandate, which relied on a special waiver from the outgoing Biden administration in December.
“Make America Smoggy Again,” he announced, sarcastically. The Senate voted 51-44 to repeal the waiver, after a bipartisan majority in the House had done the same, as Breitbart News reported earlier this month.
The repeal relies on the Congressional Review Act, a Bill Clinton-era law that allows Congress to repeal regulations that are not presented to it for timely approval. Newsom says the waiver is exempt from review.
In a press statement, he vowed to sue:
Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta announced today the state will file a lawsuit as Republicans in the U.S. Senate target California’s clean vehicles program – a move that will “Make America Smoggy Again.”
The Republican-controlled Senate is illegally using the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to attempt to revoke California’s Clean Air Act waivers, which authorize California’s clean cars and trucks program. This defies decades of precedent of these waivers not being subject to the CRA, and contradicts the non-partisan Government Accountability Office and Senate Parliamentarian, who both ruled that the CRA’s short-circuited process does not apply to the waivers.
However, as Ashley Zavala of Sacramento-era NBC affiliate KCRA reported, neither California voters nor American voters generally have ever voted to approve Newsom’s EV mandate.
The US Justice Department said Elias Rodriguez, 31, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, as well as other charges, including the murder of foreign officials.
An affidavit filed by an FBI agent in support of the criminal complaint said that as police escorted Rodriguez from the building, he shouted, “Free Palestine.”
The document said police reviewed security footage showing Rodriguez walking past the victims outside the museum, then turning, pulling a firearm from his waistband, and shooting them in the back.
After the victims fell to the ground, he approached them and fired several more times, as Milgrim attempted to crawl away from him. Milgrim then sat up while Rodriguez reloaded, and he shot her again, the video shows, according to the affidavit.
Investigators recovered 21 empty shell cases and a 9mm handgun from the scene that matched a firearm Rodriguez purchased in Illinois in 2020. He flew from Chicago to Virginia with the firearm in his checked baggage, the affidavit said. He had declared the firearm for the flight.
Rodriguez later told detectives that he admired Aaron Bushnell, an anti-Israel activist who self-immolated outside the Israeli embassy last year in protest, calling Bushnell a “martyr.” Rodriguez, a 30-year-old from Chicago, also said he had bought a ticket to the event at the museum three hours before it started.
The case is being investigated by the FBI and Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department, and is being prosecuted by the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
Israel’s ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, said the attacker was inside the event before the attack.
“He milled around inside the event. We still don’t know exactly what he said, but he said enough that they removed him,” Leiter said at a press briefing at the scene of the attack. “He went outside, waited for embassy workers to come out, and shot them.”
Three others escaped the shooting unharmed, Leiter said.
At his first appearance in court on Thursday, the suspect waived his right to a detention hearing, and a preliminary hearing in the case was set for June 18.
Rodriguez said little during the proceeding except to answer, “I do” to questions from a federal magistrate judge about whether he understood his rights.
FBI agents were seen at his apartment in Chicago on Thursday, where law enforcement blocked off the street.
On Wednesday night, three armed security officers stood guard as the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington held its annual meeting in the nation’s capital. On the agenda: discussions about the various ways antisemitic rhetoric can lead to violence.
Hours later, JCRC CEO Ron Halber said, he found out about the deadly shooting of two Israeli embassy staff at the Capital Jewish Museum. It was a nightmare come to life.
“It’s just godawful. There’s no other way to describe it. It was a horrific, antisemitic, anti-Israel, violent attack,” Halber told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency Thursday. “For years I’ve said in Washington, we’re lucky we’ve never had anything” of this magnitude attacking the Jewish community. “That record came to an end last night.”
In the attack’s aftermath, Jewish community professionals including Halber are refocusing, again, on how to protect their institutions from threats. The shooting has also raised urgent questions: What went wrong? And what needs to change?
“Why they failed tonight we obviously have to figure out,” Eric Fingerhut, CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, said in an interview with JTA hours after the shooting, regarding security.
He added later, “The risks have continued to rise as antisemitism has risen and as anti-Israel behavior in America has risen and our security teams have worked so hard to keep up with that. They obviously didn’t succeed tonight but we will not stop until we’ve ensured the security of our community.”
The timeline of the attack is relatively clear and, to security analysts, troubling: According to reports, the attacker shot his victims, the couple Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, on the street outside the museum as the event, organized by the American Jewish Committee, was winding down.
He then walked inside the museum, where an eyewitness said organizers offered him water and he remained for around 10 minutes until police arrived and he confessed to the shooting. Both elements of the incident — that the attacker was able to reach his victims outside the event and then proceed inside for an extended period of time — indicate missteps, according to security professionals.
“What concerned me as a seasoned law enforcement official is in all the work and the efforts that we put into training civilians, his behavior was almost literally screaming that there’s an issue here,” said Paul Goldenberg, the former head of the Secure Community Network, which coordinates security for Jewish institutions nationwide. Goldenberg said that in a widely circulated video of the suspect entering the building, he appeared nervous and disheveled, with jerky movements.
Goldenberg says in the future, rank-and-file attendees need to be aware of those signs — and act on them by alerting someone.
“The second he walked in after the shooting there should have been a plan,” added Goldenberg, who is now the chief policy adviser and head of global policing at Rutgers University’s Miller Center on Policing. “If we know that he just shot individuals outside, whatever security was in place, he never should have made it inside that building.”
Neither the AJC nor the museum immediately responded to JTA queries about who was responsible for security on Wednesday night. But by Thursday afternoon, five of the leading Jewish groups that focus on security put out a series of security recommendations for future events.
The recommendations focus principally on expanding the security perimeter of events; withholding the details of events and vetting attendees; and coordinating with law enforcement or hiring security guards.
The AJC had done at least some of that: The invitation said the location would be “shared upon registration.”
“The Jewish community is already among the most hardened targets in the country,” Oren Segal, who oversees the ADL’s Center on Extremism, told JTA prior to the recommendations being publicized. “Bulletproof glass and metal detectors is the norm. And the question is, how broad does the perimeter need to be for the Jews to feel secure?”
Leading up to the event, the museum was broadly conscious of threats. The day before the shooting, it had announced a new security grant from the local DC government — one that Halber said the JCRC had helped arrange — in connection to a new exhibit on LGBTQ Jews.
The $30,000 grant was meant to help the museum cover the costs of security guards both at the front desk and roaming around the museum “to make sure that everybody is safe and that we are prepared in the event of an emergency,” executive director Beatrice Gurwitz told local news at the time. She added that the grant “also helps our staff prepare.”
Signs in window: “Proud Union Home,” “Justice for Wadea”
Jewish Voice for Peace (founded by Hamas BDS activist Hatem Bazian, while its social media managers live in Lebanon and a large chunk of its funding comes from the Soros Open Society Foundations)
Party for Socialism and Liberation - Chicago
ANSWER Chicago (formerly known as International A.N.S.W.E.R.)
Yesterday we learnt that Mr. Rodriguez‘s father, Eric Rodriguez, was an activist for veteran’s and federal workers’ rights, for which he was honoured by Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García (D-Ill.), who brought him to see President Trump’s joint speech to Congress in March. This report adds that he had served in the Army National Guard, which sent him to Iraq.
#1
Last year I visited a Holocaust museum. I parked in the lot an hour before it was to open. Met a security guy walking around the building, and then around the lot. He checked me out with a short conversation.
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.
...Oh, noze! Not him!...
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
...
... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia attempting to metastasize into Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and similar places, all ofwhich have enough problems without them...
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) - A judge denied bond for the two people charged in a chase turned shooting in 
[ZH] The head of the 
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
...sees all, knows all, gets 'em all in the end...
...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration....
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, from May 20 to 08:00 on May 23, a multiple increase was recorded - 788 attacks by aircraft-type UAVs and Western-made missiles on the territory of the Russian Federation, and outside the Special Military Operation zone. Our air defense forces destroyed 776 drones and missiles, 12 UAVs, unfortunately, reached their target.
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
[Mail] The inventor of the Sarco suicide pod is building a 'kill switch' implant which could allow dementia sufferers to seal the time of their death years in advance.
...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it 
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the 
