#4
"Well, my telephone rang, it would not stop
It’s President Kennedy calling me up
He said, “My friend, Bob
What do we need to make the country grow?”
I said, “My friend, John; Brigitte Bardot
Anita Ekberg
Sophia Loren”
Country'll grow"
Bob Dylan, 'I Shall Be Free'
#8
Here, shot while she swam on the Swannee,
Anita, long, nekkid, and brawny
As polliwogs sang,
"Get a load of Miss Thing!"
"A black swan she is not."
"Way too scrawny."
A Buoyant Personality Weighed Down? Poor Deportment? Can't quite pull it together. Maybe in rime royal...
Descending to Earth incognita
[a titmouse here tweets, "It's Anita!"]
She grabs by the neck
All the usual dreck,
Trumpets, "Hiya, guys! I'll be your Leda!"
[IsraelTimes] Cyabra says 1,300 fake profiles reached 200 million people with posts about Brexit, Scottish independence and more, but shifted to pro-Iran messaging after wartime disappearance
When Israeli strikes hit 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... on June 13, it wasn’t only nuclear sites and senior Iranian commanders that were taken out: A covert army of bots meddling in British politics went dark, too.
That’s according to Cyabra, a Tel Aviv-based disinformation detection company that uncovered the operation.
For 16 days, the network — which began operating in May — vanished, according to a Cyabra report published last week. No posts, no replies, no trace of the 1,300 fake profiles that had posed as British users and fueled online debate around Scottish independence, Brexit, and institutional collapse.
By that point, the accounts had already reached more than 200 million people through over 3,000 posts, the company said.
When the network returned after Iranian communication was restored, its tone had changed. The same AI-generated personas that had previously blended into UK political discourse were now sharing pro-Iranian content and ridiculing Western leaders, according to the report.
Cyabra analysts said the 16-day gap offered a rare before-and-after snapshot of direct, time-linked evidence of state-sponsored interference online.
"The sudden disruption to Iran’s influence operations capabilities due to their war with Israel exposed the entire operation," said Dan Brahmy, Cyabra’s CEO. "It was like watching state-backed disinformation self-destruct in real time. When Iran paused, so did the bots, revealing the strategy, the propaganda, and the 224 million views their fake campaign had already amassed."
According to the report, roughly 26 percent of the 5,083 accounts engaged in Scottish independence conversations on X were fake — "substantially higher than platform norms."
Cyabra’s investigation found that many of the accounts recycled existing content, used identical phrasing, and engaged in coordinated bursts of activity. Hashtags like #FreeScotland, #BrexitBetrayal, and #ScottishIndependence were repeatedly deployed to insert state-aligned messaging into organic conversations.
Though the accounts mimicked authentic user behavior — retweeting, liking, replying in staggered waves — the scale and uniformity of the network became clear only when it went silent.
The fake profiles operated as a self-reinforcing cluster, with bots boosting one another’s posts to simulate grassroots consensus, the report said, and sought to amplify polarizing messages within British political discourse while promoting Iran as a model of unity and resistance.
Cyabra’s platform uncovered the network by analyzing "engagement clusters, linguistic patterns and behavioral anomalies," Brahmy told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
"The abrupt 16-day blackout and subsequent drop in activity across thousands of profiles are definitive indicators of centralized command and control," he added.
NETWORK RETURNS POST-WAR WITH PRO-IRAN MESSAGES
After the blackout, the messaging took on an overtly geopolitical tone. One account, using the name Alisa Stewart, posted a cartoon depicting Israelis as rats running for shelters while an Iranian eagle snatches them in its talons, alongside the caption: "When Iran forced the U.S. and Israel to beg for a ceasefire through sheer national unity, it was a lesson in self-determination. Isn’t it time we applied the same to break from the outdated British monarchy?"
Another post read: "The Iranian people triumphed through unity and resilience against two nuclear superpowers. Why shouldn’t we follow their example to win our independence from the British monarchy?"
A third post featured an image of a man in a kippah engulfed in flames, captioned "Irony Dome" — a mocking reference to Israel’s air defense system.
Military officials have suggested that the bot operation may be part of a wider effort involving Russia, a longtime practitioner of digital influence warfare. Speaking to the Daily Mail, former British military intelligence officer Colonel Philip Ingram warned that the campaign bore hallmarks of joint coordination.
"The threat is huge," he said. "I believe Russia has coordinated a lot of this. It’s something more than a strong tangible link — Russia and Iran are working together. This could then indicate Russia was heavily involved in Iran’s planning with Hezbollah and Hamas ..always the voice of sweet reason... , and would suggest Russia might be involved in Hamas’s attack into Israel."
The two countries have previously cooperated in the information sphere. Following the Hamas-led October 7 attack on Israel, Iran, Russia and China used state broadcasters and bot networks to amplify pro-Hamas content and undermine the United States and Israel.
A FIFTH OF ACCOUNTS CELEBRATING BOULDER FIREBOMBING WERE BOTS
According to a November 2023 report in The New York Times
...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... , one in four accounts on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X posting about the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... war during its first month appeared to be fake, with US and Israeli officials saying the disinformation volume was "unprecedented."
Cyabra is a for-profit company that counts former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo as a board member and Elon Musk as a former client; he hired Cyabra to analyze bot activity on Twitter before he acquired the platform in 2022.
The company recently worked with the Combat Antisemitism Movement, a nonprofit, to analyze social media activity in the wake of the fatal Molotov cocktailing of Israeli-hostage demonstrators in Boulder, Colorado, finding that 22% of the antisemitic accounts celebrating the attack were inauthentic, yet they garnered millions of views.
[IsraelTimes] Refugee agency says rates of condition rising, acute malnutrition rarely seen in Strip before war; UN says 875 slain at aid points in past 6 weeks, most of them at GHF sites
One in 10 children screened in clinics run by the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... refugee agency 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... since 2024 has been malnourished, the agency said on Tuesday, as European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... foreign ministers pressed Israel for an update on an agreement to boost aid into the enclave through UN channels.
"Our health teams are confirming that malnutrition rates are increasing in Gaza, especially since the siege was tightened more than four months ago on the second of March," UNRWA’s director of communications, Juliette Touma, told news hounds in Geneva via a video link from Amman, Jordan.
Since January 2024, UNRWA said it had screened more than 240,000 boys and girls under the age of 5 in its clinics, adding that before the war, acute malnutrition was rarely seen in the Gaza Strip.
"One nurse that we spoke to told us that in the past, he only saw these cases of malnutrition in textbooks and documentaries," Touma said. "Medicine, nutrition supplies, hygiene material, fuel are all rapidly running out."
Israel has accused UNRWA of providing cover for Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... murderous Moslems and, earlier this year, banned the agency from operating on Israeli soil or contacting officials.
The announcement came after UNICEF said Monday that last month, more than 5,800 children were diagnosed with malnutrition in Gaza, including more than 1,000 children with severe, acute malnutrition. It said it was an increase for the fourth month in a row.
Starting in March, Israel blocked deliveries of food and other crucial supplies into Gaza for more than two months, leading to warnings of famine across the territory, devastated by Israeli bombings since the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war.
Israel lifted the blockade at the end of May amid a renewed offensive in the Strip, whose declared purpose is to take over 75 percent of the Strip in order to defeat Hamas and secure the release of the hostages seized by the terror group on October 7.
As part of the resumption of aid, and in an effort to circumvent Hamas, the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has opened four distribution sites in south and central Gaza.
AT LEAST 875 PEOPLE KILLED NEAR AID SITES, UN SAYS
The UN human-rights office said on Tuesday it had recorded at least 875 killings within the past six weeks at aid points in Gaza run by the GHF and near convoys run by other relief groups, including the United Nations.
The majority of those killed were in the vicinity of GHF sites, while the remaining 201 were killed on the routes of other aid convoys.
"The data we have is based on our own information gathering through various reliable sources, including medical human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... and humanitarian organizations," Thameen al-Kheetan, a spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, told news hounds in Geneva.
The GHF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the UN figures.
GHF has faced harsh criticism from the UN and aid organizations, which charge that it fails to meet the needs of Gaza’s population. Gazooks have reported near-daily incidents in which groups trying to reach GHF facilities are shot at by Israeli forces, leading to mass casualties.
Israel, which accuses Hamas of hoarding aid, has also accused the terror group of attacking Gazook aid seekers near GHF sites and falsifying corpse counts. However,
there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... Israel has also acknowledged that "several" Paleostinian civilians have been killed near the aid distribution sites.
Were the other 9 out of 10, Hamas or supporter family kids?
Of the number killed near aid stations or convoys...
How many were directly due to HAMAS attacks, or hiding places used to launch attacks?
How much food was stolen by Hamas and Gaza supporters from the literally 1000's of food and supplies truck shipments sent in via Israeli, USA, UN & EU convoys?
Isn't Israel justified in eliminating a KNOWN TERRORIST Group, dedicated to the Jewish Genocide?
How can any moral minded person support a group that has killed, kidnapped, raped pre-teens and tortured 10's of 1000's since its creation?
Now that Hamas & Iran have gotten their ass handed to them, they're crying.
#4
There is nothing that works so well as famine to entirely depopulate territories.
It takes a long time and is messy. You have to keep the territory surrounded and people will eat every scrap of food, tree bark, and then each other.
But it is 100% foolproof.
[IsraelTimes] Legislator from the terror group said killed in attack on Shati refugee camp that also killed 6 kids and their parents; IDF calls on areas of north Gaza to evacuate
Israeli Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip killed at least 93 people and maimed 278 on Tuesday, according to the Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... -run health ministry, as Israeli troops pressed on with ground operations there.
The toll did not specify the number of combatants among the dead. Local officials said dozens of women and kiddies were killed, but the Hamas ministry did not specify how many.
One strike in the northern Shati refugee camp killed a Hamas member of the Paleostinian Authority’s defunct legislature, as well as a man and a woman and their six children who were sheltering in the same building, according to officials from Shifa Hospital, where the casualties were taken. The politician was identified as Mohammed Faraj al-Ghoul, 68. Appropriately named
One of the deadliest strikes hit a house in Gaza City’s Tel al-Hawa district on Monday evening, killing 19 members of the family living inside, according to Shifa. The dead included eight women and six children. A strike on a tent housing displaced people in the same district killed a man and a woman and their two children.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strikes. The military says it takes measures to mitigate harm to civilians, including using aerial surveillance and precision munitions, and accuses Hamas of embedding itself in civilian infrastructure, including hospitals.
Also on Tuesday, Gaza resident Anas Arafat told The Times of Israel that Israeli drone fire had for hours prevented rescuers from reaching his parents, brothers, and their children, who he said were buried under a building in Gaza City’s Tuffah neighborhood following an Israeli strike on Monday.
According to Arafat, the rescuers arrived Tuesday afternoon lacking heavy equipment needed to move the rubble. The rescuers recovered the remains of one woman. It appeared that the rest of the family — 13 people in total — did not survive, as no voices were heard from under the rubble since Monday.
The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately comment on the incident.
IDF TELLS NORTH GAZA RESIDENTS TO FLEE, SAYS HAMAS TUNNELS RAZED
The IDF on Tuesday urged residents of Gaza City and Jabalia in the Strip’s north to evacuate amid the ongoing offensive.
"The IDF is operating in the area with increased force to destroy the enemy and terror organizations. The fighting is spreading westward toward the city center," the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson Col. Avichay Adraee said on X.
The warning called for civilians to head south to the Mawasi area on the coast.
The military announced that it had recently demolished a 3.5 kilometer (2.2 mile)-long Hamas tunnel in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis.
The tunnel was located by troops of the Kfir Infantry Brigade and the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit during operations in the south of Khan Younis, the IDF said.
The tunnel connected to other underground passages and also featured several rooms used by Hamas operatives as living quarters, according to the military.
The IDF said the Kfir troops also located weapons and destroyed a facility used to store bombs.
The IDF released footage showing the demolition of tunnels and booby traps in Beit Hanoun, amid an ongoing offensive against Hamas in the northern Gaza town.
A Hamas tunnel in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis is demolished by the IDF, in a handout video published July 15. 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
Troops of the Givati Infantry Brigade killed dozens of operatives in combat and by directing airstrikes, as well as destroyed Hamas infrastructure, including tunnels, in a joint effort with combat engineers, the military said.
[IsraelTimes] The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says 20 Palestinians were killed this morning in a crush at an aid distribution site in Khan Younis, blaming armed agitators linked to Hamas for fomenting unrest.
The Israeli- and US-backed group says 19 people were trampled to death and one person was stabbed “amid a chaotic and dangerous surge, driven by agitators in the crowd.”
“We have credible reason to believe that elements within the crowd – armed and affiliated with Hamas – deliberately fomented the unrest,” the GHF says, adding that for the first time since operations began multiple firearms has been identified in the crowd.
“This horrific event follows a deeply troubling pattern in recent days. False messages about aid site openings, including at SDS4 (Wadi Gaza) and the long-closed SDS1 (Tal Sultan), have circulated widely on Telegram and other platforms, fueling confusion, driving crowds to closed sites, and inciting disorder,” the GFH says.
[X]
19 אנשים נרמסו למוות במלכודת המוות שהקימה ישראל באמצעות שכירי חרב אמריקאים. מאות אנשים מורעבים נורו למוות באיזור הזה כשעמדו לתור לחלוקת מזון מינימלי. פשע מוסרי מתמשך
. 19 people were trampled to death in the death trap set up by Israel using American mercenaries. Hundreds of… pic.twitter.com/CHYfA1Cshy
Israel reacts to Palestinian attacks and plots for additional attacks, then is blamed for the natural outcome.
[IsraelTimes] Since ‘Iron Wall’ operation was launched in January, tens of thousands have been displaced due to IDF orders and settler pressure, in what the UN warns could be ‘ethnic cleansing’
The UN warned Tuesday that mass displacement in the West Bank had hit levels not seen since the start of Israel’s military control of the Paleostinian territory nearly 60 years ago.
The United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... said an Israeli military operation launched in the north of the territory in January had displaced tens of thousands of people.
The military operation "has been the longest since ... the Second Intifada," in the early 2000s, said Juliette Touma, spokeswoman for UNRWA, the UN agency for Paleostinian refugees.
"It is impacting several refugee camps in the area, and it is causing the largest population displacement of the Paleostinians in the West Bank since 1967," she told news hounds in Geneva via video from Jordan, referring to the Six Day War, in which Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan.
The UN rights office warned that mass forced displacement by an occupation force could amount to "ethnic cleansing."
Since Israel’s military launched its operation "Iron Wall" in the north of the West Bank in January, rights office front man Thameen al-Kheetan said, "about 30,000 Paleostinians remain forcibly displaced."
Most of the Paleostinian civilians in the Jenin refugee camp, the area at the center of the campaign, have evacuated, allowing Israeli troops to search and clear each individual building of infrastructure and weapons used by local terror groups.
Israeli security forces during the same period issued demolition orders for about 1,400 homes in the northern West Bank, he said, describing the figures as "alarming."
Kheetan pointed out that Israeli demolitions had displaced 2,907 Paleostinians across the West Bank since the Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... -led October 7, 2023, attack, which sparked the ongoing war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... lSince then, troops have arrested some 6,000 wanted Paleostinians across the West Bank, including more than 2,350 affiliated with Hamas.
According to the Paleostinian Authority health ministry, more than 950 West Bank Paleostinians have been killed in that time. The IDF says the vast majority of them were button men killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops, or holy warriors carrying out attacks.
During the same period, 53 people, including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another eight members of Israeli security forces have been killed in fighting during anti-terror raids in Nablus, Jenin, and elsewhere in the West Bank.
Another 2,400 Paleostinians — nearly half of them children — had been displaced as a result of Israeli settler actions, Kheetan added, lamenting that the combined result was the "emptying large parts of the West Bank of Paleostinians."
"Permanently displacing the civilian population within occupied territory amounts to unlawful transfer," he said, stressing that depending on the circumstances, it could be "tantamount to ethnic cleansing" and could "amount to a crime against humanity."
Kheetan said 757 attacks by Israeli settlers had been recorded in the West Bank during the first half of the year, a 13 percent increase on the same period in 2024.
The attacks injured 96 Paleostinians in the territory in June alone, he told news hounds, stressing that it was the highest monthly injury toll of Paleostinians from settler attacks "in over two decades."
[IsraelTimes] Huckabee’s statement appears to be his first on settler violence; police representative stuns judge by admitting to being unaware anyone was killed in attack
In a rare statement weighing in on Israeli policy in the West Bank, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said Tuesday that he had asked Jerusalem to "aggressively investigate the murder" of a Paleostinian-American.
Saif Musalat was allegedly beaten to death by settlers in the village of Sinjil near Ramallah last week.
"There must be accountability for this criminal and terrorist act. Saif was just 20 yrs old," Huckabee wrote in a post on X.
It appeared to be one of the first times Huckabee has commented on rampant settler violence in the West Bank, though he avoided using the term or characterizing the killing as part of a broader phenomenon.
A devout evangelical Christian, Huckabee has long expressed support for Israel annexing the West Bank and has pushed back against calls for scaling back Israel’s presence there.
Christian Paleostinian activists have been circulating a petition in recent days urging Huckabee to call out settler violence that has targeted the Christian village of Taybeh.
But it was Friday’s attack that left Musalat and another Paleostinian dead, which led Huckabee to break his silence on the issue.
Musalat, a resident of Tampa, Florida, who was visiting family in the West Bank for the summer, was found beaten to death. The body of his friend Mohammed al-Shalabi was found hours later nearby with a gunshot wound and signs of torture, according to his family.
While two Israeli minors were arrested following the attack, neither of them is a murder suspect, and they were subsequently released to house arrest.
A Paleostinian was also arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct, but a military court judge ordered his release on Tuesday, blasting the police’s handling of the case after a law enforcement representative claimed to not even know that two Paleostinians had been killed in Friday’s attack.
Hours earlier, a CNN ...formerly the Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for... news hound said that his crew was set upon by violent mostly peaceful settlers while in the West Bank this week to report on Musalat’s killing, as reports of brazen Jewish murderous Moslem assaults in the territory continued to spiral.
A growing number of centrist, pro-Israel Democrats ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... have also been condemning the phenomenon.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries issued a statement on Tuesday blasting Musalat’s "shocking and appalling" killing.
He called on the Israeli government to investigate the killing, adding that "the rise in violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank directed at Paleostinian civilians is completely and totally unacceptable."
"The Trump administration cannot continue to turn a blind eye to what is happening in the West Bank if it is truly committed to finding a just and lasting peace between Israel and the Paleostinian people," Jeffries added.
Hours earlier, another prominent moderate Democrat — Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin — weighed in on Musalat’s killing, saying he was the fifth American to have been killed by settler violence this year alone.
"It’s hard to understand this lack of accountability by the Netanyahu government as anything other than tacit approval by the state," Slotkin said.
Musalat’s family is demanding that the US State Department probe his death, though such a decision is unlikely.
The Biden administration never took such a step following the killings of American citizens, including prominent journalists Shireen Abu Akleh, and the Trump administration would be unlikely to launch an investigation that would demonstrate a lack of faith in Israel’s legal system.
[IsraelTimes] Leaders of City University of New York, Georgetown and Berkeley hauled before lawmakers; protesters repeatedly interrupt proceedings with shouts of ‘genocide’
Members of the US Congress grilled the leaders of three universities during a hearing in Washington, DC, on Tuesday — part of a broad Republican-led crackdown on campus antisemitism.
The House Committee on Education and the Workforce pressed the leaders of the City University of New York (CUNY), Georgetown University, and the University of Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,, Berkeley, about support for terrorism on their campuses, anti-Israel faculty and discrimination against Jews.
The committee has held a series of hearings on campus antisemitism since the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... war started, including a 2023 hearing that led to the resignations of Claudine Gay from Harvard and Liz Magill from the University of Pennsylvania, after they dithered about campus policies regarding calls for the genocide of Jews. Tuesday’s hearing did not see any breakout moments like the Ivy League discussions, and the three university leaders did not appear to make any significant gaffes.
Some of the incidents brought up at the three-hour hearing, titled "Antisemitism in Higher Education: Examining the Role of Faculty, Funding, and Ideology," included a CUNY professor who backed Paleostinian "resistance by any means necessary," a Berkeley instructor who said he "could have been one of those who broke through the siege on October 7," and Jewish students at CUNY who were mocked over the fate of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
The university leaders largely condemned violent mostly peaceful and antisemitic rhetoric, vowed to protect Jews, and refrained from discussing individual cases on their campuses.
The university leaders — Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, the chancellor of the City University of New York; Robert M. Groves, the interim president of Washington, DC’s Georgetown University; and Rich Lyons, the chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley — all defined antisemitism as hatred or discrimination against Jews, and said it was antisemitic to deny Jews the right to self-determination.
Rodríguez, under questioning, said that CUNY received 68 complaints of antisemitism in 2024, and 16 since the start of 2025. He said CUNY has disciplined 18 students for antisemitism and 25 for inappropriate conduct during protests in the past two years.
Asked if CUNY has antisemitic faculty, Rodríguez said, "We have faculty that might conduct themselves in antisemitic behavior and we have no tolerance for it."
He rejected the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign targeting Israel when asked about support for BDS among the CUNY faculty union. The union operates independently from the CUNY administration and has been accused of discrimination by Jewish members.
"I have repudiated BDS and I have said that there’s no place for BDS at the City University of New York," Rodríguez said. BDS is barred under New York State law.
He refrained from confirming whether union members have been disciplined for antisemitism, if the union president’s support for BDS was problematic, or if the union had an antisemitism problem.
The public CUNY system is the largest urban college network in the US, with more than 250,00 students on dozens of campuses around the five boroughs. The system has long grappled with allegations of campus antisemitism and has taken some measures to combat anti-Jewish discrimination. CUNY’s different campuses operate semi-independently, making system-wide changes difficult to enact.
New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Republican, pressed Rodríguez over protesters who taunted Jewish students at Baruch College, part of CUNY.
"Where’s Hersh?" the protesters said to the Jews, referring to hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was murdered in captivity shortly before the protest.
"Go bring them home. Go back to Brooklyn. All Zionists are terrorists," the protesters said, according to Stefanik.
"Those are deplorable statements, and if they’re associated with the event at Baruch, an investigation was done," Rodríguez said. Some CUNY protests take place on public property next to campuses, where CUNY does not have jurisdiction, making enforcement difficult. Rodríguez also said he believed a professor who had said "down with Zionist scum" was no longer employed. He did not confirm if other professors who made antisemitic comments had been disciplined.
Democrats ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... at the hearing argued the proceedings were part of a Republican crackdown on free speech and academia, and attacked the Trump administration for cutting resources to the Department of Education office that investigates discrimination.
Anti-Israel protesters interrupted the hearings at least four times.
As Rodríguez spoke, a protester shouted, "Blood on your hands," and, "You are a genocidal war criminal."
Lyons was interrupted by a protester shouting, "You’re complicit in the genocide of Paleostinians," and in another outburst, a protester yelled, "Israel is burning children alive." The activists were quickly ejected from the hearing.
Rep. Randy Fine, a Republican from Florida, told the final protester, "Get out of here, you loser."
"I hold you all responsible for this," Fine told the university leaders. "It is that attitude that you have allowed on your campuses that makes people think this is okay."
Lyons was asked about Georgetown’s relationship with La Belle Francesca Albanese, a United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... rapporteur for the Paleostinians with a history of antisemitism who was sanctioned this week by the Trump administration. Lyons said Albanese is an affiliated scholar with Georgetown, but is not on the university payroll or present on campus.
Lyons acknowledged that the professor’s statement about breaking the "siege" on October 7 was "a celebration of the terrorist attack," but defended an award for the instructor, calling him "a fine scholar."
Lyons also refused to commit to transparency on foreign donations from states like Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... . Groves, from Georgetown, did commit to transparency for foreign funding.
Groves also said that Jonathan Brown, a professor who last month said he hoped 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... would strike a US military base, had been placed on leave and was no longer the head of Georgetown’s Department of Arabic and Islamic studies.
[IsraelTimes] But EU officials say they’ll reconsider sanctions at next meeting in two weeks if Israel doesn’t implement pledged steps on Gaza aid, release of withheld tax funds from the PA
European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced Tuesday that the EU decided against adopting punitive measures against Israel over its military conduct 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 a meeting of EU foreign ministers to discuss the matter.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar hailed the news as "an important diplomatic victory," saying his office had been working aggressively to convince countries in the bloc not to join an effort pushed by Ireland, Spain and other countries for sanctions against Israel over its conduct in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
Speaking to news hounds after the Brussels meeting, Kallas reiterated that there were"positive signs" regarding Israel’s implementation of its agreement with the EU last week to increase aid to Gaza, but said "more concrete steps" were needed.
Taking the sanction threat seriously, Israel reached an agreement with the EU on a series of steps to boost aid on July 10. They included the reopening of several aid corridors, including routes through Egypt and Jordan, and several other crossing points in northern and southern Gaza. The deal will provide for at least 150 trucks to enter Gaza daily — far less than the 500 that were entering the Strip before the war but more than double the daily average over the past two months, during which the humanitarian crisis has continued to deteriorate.
Kallas said the EU will closely monitor Israel’s implementation of the agreement and will update member states on Jerusalem’s compliance when foreign ministers meet again in two weeks. If Israel fails to implement the promised steps, the bloc will reconsider punitive measures against Jerusalem.
Kallas has put forward 10 potential options after an EU review determined that Israel is in breach of a cooperation deal between the two sides on human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... grounds over its conduct in Gaza and the West Bank.
Israel faces numerous war crimes allegations in Gaza amid the fighting against Hamas ..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,... , where it has denied claims of intentionally targeting civilians, and has been hit with mounting Western sanctions over its failure to crack down on settler violence in the West Bank.
The measures proposed by Kallas range from suspending the entire accord to curbing trade ties, sanctioning Israeli ministers, imposing an arms embargo and halting visa-free travel.
Despite growing anger over the devastation in Gaza, EU states remain divided over Israel, and there was no critical mass for taking any of the moves against it at this week’s meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
"We will keep these options on the table and stand ready to act," Kallas insisted.
The more far-reaching steps are unlikely to secure the necessary votes, but the fact that the steps are even being seriously considered has been unprecedented.
The bloc only agreed to review the cooperation deal after Israel relaunched military operations in Gaza following the collapse of a ceasefire in March.
The EU will also tie its decision on sanctions to the situation in the West Bank, and Brussels raised with Israeli officials a demand for Jerusalem to release tax revenues that are being withheld from the Paleostinian Authority, in violation of the Oslo Accords, two EU officials told The Times of Israel
The PA says that Israel is withholding roughly NIS 2.5 billion shekels ($742 million) in funds that belong to Ramallah. Israel collects customs revenues on the PA’s behalf and is supposed to transfer them to Ramallah on a monthly basis.
Israel has been withholding a portion of those funds, which it says amounts to the sum of the stipends that the PA pays to the families of security prisoners and slain terrorists. PA President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....> signed a decree in February ending the policy, though Israel has been dismissive of the move.
Israel has also been withholding a portion of the tax revenues that it says amount to the sum of the funds that the PA uses to pay civil servants in Gaza, which Jerusalem claims are at risk of reaching Hamas.
Moreover, since May, when the UK issued sanctions against far-right Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, Jerusalem stopped transferring the monthly customs revenues entirely, robbing the PA of roughly NIS 900 million ($267 million) in funds.
The move by Smotrich once again has the PA at risk of financial collapse, with Ramallah unable to pay its employees for June. Previous months saw PA employees only receiving a portion of their salaries due to Ramallah’s dire financial situation.
A spokesperson for one of the PA’s ministries told The Times of Israel that many workers are not showing up to the office, as they cannot afford the cost of travel or don’t have time to wait hours at Israeli checkpoints, which have significantly hampered Paleostinian transit throughout the West Bank.
An EU diplomat said Israel’s delegation indicated during this week’s high-level meeting of EU foreign ministers that Jerusalem would release some of the PA’s funds — likely the tax revenues that have been withheld since May.
However,
corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds... a Foreign Ministry spokesperson denied that any commitment was made on the matter.
A spokesperson for Smotrich — whose approval is needed to release the PA funds — did not respond to queries on the matter.
Sa’ar still celebrated Kallas’s decision, writing in a post on X that it was the result of a "complex, grueling, and multi-front diplomatic battle."
"The attempt to impose sanctions on a democratic country defending itself against efforts to destroy it is outrageous," Sa’ar said, thanking Israel’s allies in Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... who helped thwart the punitive measures.
Throughout the Brussels summit, some Israel-friendly EU allies, including the Czech Republic and Hungary, voiced support for Israel and pushed back against proposed sanctions. In messages reposted by Sa’ar on X, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský reaffirmed their backing.
Lipavský said in a phone call with Sa’ar, "It is in the EU’s interest to maintain influence in a turbulent region, not withdraw from it," and expressed hope for a ceasefire and the full resumption of aid to Gaza.
Szijjártó, who met with Sa’ar in Brussels, said, "There will be strong pressure on us in Brussels to sanction Israeli settlers. That would be the wrong move. This is the time for diplomacy, not sanctions."
[CHD] Rep. Thomas Massie on Tuesday introduced legislation to repeal the "sweeping" liability shield that exempts COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers from responsibility for serious injuries or death caused by their products. Legal experts said the bill would open the door for thousands of lawsuits, including lawsuits directly targeting vaccine makers.
The PREP Repeal Act (H.R.4388) would revoke the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act of 2005, a law that provides legal immunity to "covered persons" who manufacture or administer countermeasures during a public health emergency.
"Covered persons" under the PREP Act include vaccine makers, manufacturers of masks and other personal protective equipment, and physicians, nurses and pharmacists who administer vaccines.
The Biden administration ended the COVID-19 public health emergency in May 2023. However, the public health emergency, declared in January 2020 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the PREP Act, remains in effect.
In December 2024, HHS extended the liability protections through 2029. It was the 12th extension since 2020.
Massie’s bill would strip away these protections, repealing the PREP Act’s liability shield and restoring civil remedy rights for people harmed by products covered under the act....
Good luck with that, Mr. Massie, but it ain't gonna happen under the Pfizer-Trump administration.
[FoxNews] A volcanic eruption in Iceland forced tourists to evacuate the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa on Wednesday as images captured lava flowing through a fissure in the Earth’s surface.
The eruption began around 4 a.m. following an intense seismic swarm on the Reykjanes Peninsula, southwest of the capital, Reykjavik, Iceland’s Met Office said.
"In an abundance of caution, the town of Grindavík and the Blue Lagoon were successfully evacuated," Iceland’s government said. "Travelers in the area are advised to monitor air quality, as gas pollution from the eruption site may occur."
Lava from the eruption is flowing southeast from a fissure in the barren landscape that is 2,296 to 3,280 feet wide, according to the Met Office.
Grindavik has been repeatedly affected by volcanic activity since November 2023 when a volcano in the area came to life after lying dormant for some 800 years.
"Air traffic to and from Iceland is unaffected, and Iceland remains open and safe for tourists. This volcanic activity is highly localized and has no impact on infrastructure or attractions across the rest of Iceland," the country’s government said.
It described volcanic activity as a "fact of life in Iceland, and Icelanders have learned to live with its drawbacks and considerable advantages, such as geothermal energy."
[FOXNEWS] Benjamin Song, who was captured by the FBI in Dallas on Tuesday afternoon for his alleged role in an anti-ICE Texas attack on Independence Day, was previously sued over his alleged involvement in an Antifa protester that resulted in assault charges in 2023.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation spent over a week trying to hunt down Benjamin Song, 32, for his alleged role in the Alvarado, Texas, attack targeting ICE agents, which left a local police officer shot in the neck and cars vandalized. The police officer is expected to recover. A $25,000 reward was offered for information leading to his arrest and conviction.
"The FBI has worked tirelessly to arrest everyone associated with the shooting at the Prairieland Detention Center," FBI Dallas Field Office Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock said. "We would like to thank all the entities that publicized this case and assisted in our efforts to successfully locate Benjamin Song."
There were ten suspects already facing federal charges for the attempted murder of federal officers and for "discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence." Song is now facing the same charges.
Song is a former U.S. Marine Corps reservist,
…oh dear…
and the FBI warned during the manhunt that he should be considered "armed and dangerous."
Song was mentioned as an alleged member of an Antifa group in a 2023 lawsuit after three people protesting a drag queen brunch near Fort Worth, Texas, were assaulted by the members, according to the Post Millennial.
According to KERA News, Song was part of the Elm Fork Brown Gun Club that was both counter-protesting and doing security at the event, with the outlet reporting that they wore face coverings.
The group made headlines at the time for its Fort Worth counter-protest, including Rolling Stone, as those protesting were part of a Christian nationalist group.
Song's father is Tailim Song, a registered Democrat and partner at the Dallas-based law firm, Song Whiddon PLLC, according to online records reviewed by Fox News Digital. His law firm bio says he "has been handling and trying cases for more than 20 years" and "has represented businesses and individuals across a wide variety of industries and practice areas, including litigation, real estate, land use, zoning, manufacturing, intellectual property, technology—environmental, aviation, consumer products, insurance, entertainment, transportation, medical devices, oil and gas, and renewable energy."
[APNEWS] Seventeen immigration court judges have been fired in recent days, according to the union that represents them, as the Trump administration pushes forward with its mass deportations of immigrants colonists in the country.
The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, which represents immigration court judges as well as other professionals, said in a news release that 15 judges were fired ''without cause'' on Friday and another two on Monday. The union said they were working in courts in 10 different states across the country — Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Texas, Utah and Virginia.
''It's outrageous and against the public interest that at the same time Congress has authorized 800 immigration judges, we are firing large numbers of immigration judges without cause,'' said the union's President Matt Biggs. ''This is nonsensical. The answer is to stop firing and start hiring.''
The answer, always, is to fire somewhere between the bottom decile and the bottom quartile, and simultaneously hire replacements with better potential, thus improving the overall quality of the workforce — because people are not widgets. Also, 17 is only 2% of 800, an insignificant loss even if the remaining current staff would not be significantly more effective without having to work around the poorest performers.
Firings come with courts at the center of administration efforts
The firings come as the courts have been increasingly at the center of the Trump administration's hardline immigration enforcement efforts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arresting immigrants colonists as they appear at court for proceedings.
A spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Immigration Review, which is the part of the Justice Department that oversees the courts, said in an email that the office would not comment on the firings.
The large-scale arrests began in May and have unleashed fear among asylum-seekers and immigrants colonists appearing in court. In what has become a familiar scene, a judge will grant a government lawyer's request to dismiss deportation proceedings against an immigrant. Meanwhile,
...back at the shootout, Butch cautiously raised his hat over the edge of the horse trough on the end of a stick...... U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are waiting in the hallway to arrest the person and put them on a fast track to deportation as soon as he or she leaves the courtroom.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/16/2025
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#1
15 judges were fired ''without cause''
They just don't get "serving at the pleasure of the President", do they?
[FoxNews] Poll shows 52% of voters agree with President Trump that corporations should bear the burden of tariff-related costs.
Absorbing increased costs is not how companies stay in business, especially where the margins are only a few percent to begin with.
In recent weeks, headlines have been filled with warnings from major retailers about impending price hikes due to tariffs reinstated by President Donald Trump. Big Box stores like Walmart and Target have been quick to suggest that tariffs on imported goods, particularly from China, have left them with no choice but to raise prices for American families.
Let’s be clear, these decisions are more about raising profit margins and going against Trump’s agenda to bring costs down for Americans than responding to any actual economic pressure.
Tariffs are a strategic tool. The Trump administration has always been clear about that. Tariffs are designed to level the playing field, incentivize domestic production, counter predatory trade practices – especially from the Chinese Communist Party – and put America First. Tariffs protect long-term American interests, especially in vital industries like technology and manufacturing.
#3
The thing is, when selling anything retail while prices are rising, the seller has to price to get enough to cover the higher price of new goods.
I thought yall knew that. It's why prices jump up suddenly but then slowly come down.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
07/16/2025 18:45
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Longer? How about 'better'?
[FoxNews] Researchers at the Emory University Department of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, discovered that psilocybin extended cellular lifespan and improved survival in aged mice.
[FoxNews][FOXNEWS] Portland's progressive-leaning city council is exploring ways to expel Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from a detention facility that has become a flashpoint for violent mostly peacefulfestivities between agents and radical agitators.
Last week, city councilors told a packed hearing that they would consider revoking ICE's permit to operate its South Waterfront facility along South Moody Avenue due to alleged violations of a 2011 conditional-use permit, according to local news outlet Willamette Week.
The permit allows detention and administrative use under specific limitations, but politicians have raised concerns that ICE has been holding detainees there for longer than the required 12-hour limit.
Border agents detaining man on ground
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents detain a man outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs building during a protest Saturday, June 14, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane) (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
Residents and politicians raised moral concerns too, saying that the facility undermines the city's sanctuary city policy, while residents testified about targeted arrests, gas attacks and intimidation.
"Our values of sanctuary and humanity are under siege," local resident Michelle Dar said. She also said that federal agents' armed actions threatened everyone's safety, not just that of immigrants colonists.
Other residents complained that loud bangs and flashbangs were disrupting life for residents of subsidized housing and students of a local school. A handful of people also blamed Antifa ...the armed wing of the Democratic Party... for the ugly scenes outside the facility.
Chaotic scenes have been unfolding outside the facility since June, including in one incident where a large group of anti-ICE protesters tried to block law enforcement vehicles from entering and exiting the facility, forcing agents to deploy rubber bullets, tear gas and flash bangs to disperse the crowd.
Violent agitators have also smashed windows, pelted agents and the facility with rocks and other objects. On Independence Day, violent mostly peaceful rioters cut internet cables, damaged the sprinkler system, hurled rocks and fireworks at law enforcement and burned an American flag, according to DHS.
But most residents and politicians' concerns pertained to ICE's alleged violation of its permit terms, particularly related to how long detainees were being held, rather than the violence caused by protesters or agitators.
They urged the council to revoke the permit, citing a local report that ICE had violated the permit more than two dozen times by holding detainees for longer than 12 hours.
"If we allow ICE to continue to operate when they have violated their permits, that means that anything becomes permissible moving forward," City Council Member Angelita Morillo told the community and public safety committee hearing. "And so, for me, that change in information has changed the calculation."
Meanwhile,
...back at the wreckage, Captain Poindexter wished he had thought to pack sun block... City Council Member Steve Novick said the council should take a broader moral stand against the federal deportation machine.
"This is an assault on our democracy as a whole— The assault on immigrants colonists is the tip of the spear," Novick said, per the outlet. "We should not be trying to figure out how to keep our heads low and avoid the attention of this administration."
[FoxNews] Officials defend 3,000 job cuts after discovering 'mindboggling' inefficiencies, including dozens of HR offices and 50-layer approval processes.
Around half of those took a voluntary buyout, and the other half were given reduction in force (RIF) notices.
"It took us three months to get a list of the people that actually work in the building," one senior State Department official told reporters during a briefing at Foggy Bottom on Monday, defending the job cuts that detractors have claimed will damage U.S. diplomacy.
"They couldn't tell you how many people worked here," the official said. "It’s sort of scary as a taxpayer and as a public servant to think that we don't even know how many employees we have. This is a national security agency, you know. Who are these people?"
[Breitbart] The British government published demographic statistics on benefit claimants for the first time on Tuesday, revealing levels of tax money payments to foreigners so high Nigel Farage said Conservative politicians should be “in hiding” out of shame.
The number of foreigners claiming Universal Credit in Britain in the month of June was 1.26 million people, out of a total 7.9 million claimants, new statistics from the UK Government reveal.
Universal Credit is a welfare payment that was created by the previous Conservative government to replace a plethora of other smaller benefits into one easier to administer handout. Claimants can be unemployed, unable to work, or in very low paid work and receiving a top-up to bring them up to a living wage. Migrants can become eligible for the payment if they have indefinite leave to remain or refugee status and indeed over two per cent of all claimants are refugees of varying classifications.
The statistics are the first time demographic data has been published for Universal Credit and as acknowledged by the BBC, the publication comes following a campaign by now-independent right-wing Member of Parliament Rupert Lowe. Last month, Lowe wrote: “It is absolutely mental that we are paying illegal migrants benefits. And we wonder why they keep coming… Stop benefits for foreign nationals, other than those who have contributed for 10+ years, and get these millions of healthy Brits back to work.”
Other aspects of the data published on Tuesday revealed that in all, 76.4 per cent of claimants are recorded as having white ethnicity, that the average payment was £1,010 a month, and the overwhelming majority of migrant claimants are unemployed.
Applying the average payment to migrant claimants suggest the monthly cost of migrant Universal Credit to migrants could be one-and-a-quarter billion pounds ($1.6 billion), or £15.2 billion a year. Earlier analyses before Tuesday’s data was published put the cost at £12 billion a year.
Conservative opposition politicians attacked the Labour government for the figures, but Reform UK leader Nigel Farage was quick to point out this situation was mostly created by the 14 years of Conservative Party government which concluded last year. In a recorded statement on the figures, he said: “for the first time the Department of Work and Pensions have given us some figures that many have wanted for years.
“The result? There are 1.3 million migrants on Universal Credit, and over half of them don’t do any work at all. This goes completely against the lie we’ve been told for 25 years that immigration’s fine because everyone’s working and everyone’s contributing. We can see from this that it’s not… some of this has happened since Labour came to power but nearly all of it happened during 14 years of Conservative government.
“And if they dare say a word about these numbers today don’t take them seriously and frankly they should be in hiding for what they’ve done to this country”.
The Hotel staff had the Police issued Missing Child BOLO sheet for weeks, and continued changing room sheets and picking up condoms several times a day. And staff still never reported the matter.
BTW: To make matter worse. The hotel was known as 1 of the top 5 commercial sex trafficking hotspots in the USA at the time.
Ick.
Posted by: NN2N1 ||
07/16/2025
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[FoxNews] Microsoft defends security after report flags China-based insider risks: 'Asking the fox to guard the henhouse'
A new ProPublica report accused Microsoft of allowing China-based engineers to assist with Pentagon cloud systems with inadequate guardrails in an effort to scale up its government contracting business, raising espionage concerns from national security experts.
The report cited current and former employees and government contractors who worked on a cloud computing program deployed by Microsoft in 2016 that would allow the tech giant to sell its cloud services to the government, known as a "digital escort" framework.
The security measure, meant to meet federal contracting regulations, was effectively a program that included a "digital escort" chaperone for global cybersecurity officials, such as those based in China, so they can work on agency computing systems.
Defense Department guidelines require that people handling sensitive data be U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
According to sources who spoke to ProPublica, including some who had intimate familiarity with the hiring process for the $18-per-hour "digital escort" position, the tech employees being hired to do the supervising lacked the adequate tech expertise to prevent a rogue Chinese employee from hacking the system or turning over classified information to the CCP.
The sources elaborated that the escorts, often former military personnel, were hired for their security clearances more than their technical abilities and often lacked the skills to evaluate code being used by the engineers they were supervising.
In China, people are governed by sweeping laws compelling government cooperation with data collection efforts.
"If ProPublica’s report turns out to be true, Microsoft has created a national embarrassment that endangers our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines. Heads should roll, those responsible should go to prison and Congress should hold extensive investigations to uncover the full extent of potential compromise," said Michael Lucci, the CEO and founder of State Armor Action, a conservative group with a mission to develop and enact state-level solutions to global security threats.
"Microsoft or any vendor providing China with access to Pentagon secrets verges on treasonous behavior and should be treated as such."
"This is like asking the fox to guard the henhouse and arming the chickens with sticks in case the fox gets mad," Michael Sobolik, a Hudson Institute foreign policy senior fellow, added. "It beggars belief."
Microsoft uses its escort system to handle sensitive government information that falls below "classified," which includes "data that involves the protection of life and financial ruin," ProPublica reported. At the Defense Department, the data is categorized as "Impact Level" four and five, which ProPublica reported includes materials directly supporting military operations.
A Microsoft spokesperson defended the company's "digital escort" model, saying all personnel and contractors with privileged access must pass federally approved background checks.
"For some technical requests, Microsoft engages our team of global subject matter experts to provide support through authorized U.S. personnel, consistent with U.S. government requirements and processes," the spokesperson added. "In these instances, global support personnel have no direct access to customer data or customer systems."
#5
Microsoft is only partially to blame for this. Whoever it was at the Pentagon who gave a green light to this project needs to be escorted to the parking lot with a pink slip in his, her or its hand. When you can buy mega-terabytes worth of solid state disks, for really cheap, nobody needs any cloud. Nobody.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/16/2025 13:46
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[BREITBART] Pro-illegal migrant activist groups are expanding their campaign against President Donald Trump ...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party... 's deportation policies, and their efforts are helping to generate more violence and criminal actions.
These organizations are retooling from supporting illegal entry into the U.S. to creating training workshops, passing out know-your-rights flyers, and organizing networks of volunteers to spot, track, and attack ICE agents while they are performing their legal duties.
These activists and their tracking networks are increasingly violent mostly peaceful as they become bolder and more organized.
They have already prevented several attempts by ICE to arrest gangbangers and criminals who have deportation orders out against them and some officers have been injured as the activists organize riots to disrupt the enforcement of immigration laws.
''In LA, these were not merely 'demonstrations,' they were riots — and attacks on federal law enforcement will never be tolerated. The Trump Administration will continue enforcing federal immigration law no matter how upset and violent mostly peaceful left-wing rioters get,'' said White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson, according to the Washington Post.
One example of the activities by these networks of informants is centered on the parking lots of Home Depot and other big box hardware chains where day laborers often gather to wait for employers to troll by to hire them illegally.
In L.A., groups including Union del Barrio and Los Angeles Tenants Union are using volunteers to stake out these parking lots and when they see, or think they see, ICE officers drive in, they call their HQs and then yell over loudspeakers that ICE is coming, the Mercury News reported.
Another such group seeking to disrupt law enforcement activities is Orange County Rapid Response Network (OCRRN), a group working out of the L.A. area, which claims to have hundreds of volunteers, the New Yorker reported.
OCRRN helped to organize a riot early in June featuring rocks, bottled water, and other items thrown at federal agents, who responded with pepper balls and tear gas, the paper added.
Indeed, dozens of these dangerous activist groups have spawned in the last few months, sporting names such as Ventura County Defensa and Stand Together Contra Costa. And according to the New Yorker, they are being assisted and trained by members of CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations ... the Moslem Brüderbund's American arm... of Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Arkady Melikov
[REGNUM] British Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo Alison King intends to make an unofficial visit to the neighboring Central African Republic (CAR). According to a source for the African Initiative news agency, the goal of the secret trip is to try to convince the CAR leadership to take an anti-Russian position in the international arena and refuse to use military units trained by Russian specialists.
“The British and French authorities are doing everything possible to undermine Russian political influence in the countries of Tropical Africa and return them to the status of semi-colonies of the West,” noted Kirill Babayev, a specialist on the region and president of the National Coordination Center (NCC) for International Business Cooperation, in a commentary to Regnum News Agency.
Given the special interest mentioned by former colonial powers, in this case Britain, it is necessary to look at Ambassador King's record and the context of her mission.
Alison King took up her duties as the UK's acting ambassador to Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in April 2023. Since London does not have a separate diplomatic mission in the Central African capital of Bangui, she also oversees the CAR.
King previously served as deputy head of the British mission in Lebanon, and before that she headed the Middle East and North Africa sector in the British diplomatic system. She also had experience working at the British Foreign Office, where she oversaw relations with the states of Northern and Central Europe and interaction with EU institutions.
King began to “work substantively” with Africa within the framework of negotiation formats to resolve the conflict in Sudan and as a participant in the work of the European Commission on sanctions and “blood” diamonds (diamonds mined in areas where military operations are taking place).
The probable goals of the current secret visit to the Central African Republic can be judged by the latest publications on the official resources of the British Embassy in the DRC - for the end of June and the beginning of July 2025.
It is obvious that the real problems of the CAR are not among London's priorities. The main topic of all statements remains the active presence of Russia, which the British side is clearly concerned about.
Thus, at the end of June, the British diplomatic mission issued a statement by its delegate to the UN Security Council, which expressed interest in the elections in the Central African Republic scheduled for 2026. Although it noted "the progress made in extending state authority in some areas of the country," London simultaneously expressed concern about Bangui's choice of security partners. In particular, the UK calls on the Central African Republic authorities to pay attention to the actions of pro-Russian groups and ensure that those who violate human rights are held accountable.
According to the British side, the protection of the electoral process in the republic should be handled exclusively by the UN Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA). However, as many analysts emphasize, the effectiveness of this structure in matters of establishing order in the country remains extremely low. Moreover, the supposed neutrality of the mission is increasingly being questioned, since, according to experts, it is being used by Western structures to lobby their own interests and influence the domestic political situation.
In 2024, the world community learned about large-scale incidents of sexual violence involving MINUSCA peacekeepers. Human rights organizations reported that such crimes had been committed systematically since 2015.
Despite the fact that investigations and revelations were published, including by Western media, the reaction of British diplomacy was not aimed at the real facts of human rights violations. Instead of seeking justice for the victims, London representatives insisted on the need to urgently combat “disinformation and hate speech,” including criticism of the MINUSCA mission itself.
Meanwhile, human rights groups well informed about the situation in the CAR confirm that the main threat to human rights is posed by armed groups that are not controlled by the central government. It is noteworthy that some leaders and active participants of these groups live peacefully in European countries, without fear of any responsibility for their crimes.
In a recent statement by the British diplomatic mission on July 10, made within the framework of the 58th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, London once again appealed to the CAR with a demand to disband the armed units trained by Russian military instructors:
"We urge the Central African Republic to include these militias in a formal disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programme to prevent a resurgence of instability," the British side said.
According to experts on the region, behind all of London's recent statements on the situation in the CAR there is a medium-term goal - to weaken Russia's presence ahead of the national elections in 2026. For this purpose, the republic's authorities will blackmail with sanctions and try to destabilize the situation with the help of militant groups.
Even when it comes to the CAR’s return to the Kimberley Process, an international initiative to combat the trade in conflict diamonds, London’s emphasis remains the same. Instead of discussing the prospects for the CAR diamond industry, the embassy’s statement once again emphasizes its dissatisfaction with Russia’s position. Only a secondary mention is made of the CAR government’s call to comply with the terms of participation in the Kimberley Process and to ensure that the benefits of diamond production and export go to the country’s citizens themselves.
It is possible that traditional instruments of pressure will be used, from accusations of human rights violations to threats of sanctions and intervention through international structures. Moreover, back in 2024, sources of the African Initiative in the CAR reported the existence of a MINUSCA directive allowing the mission to participate in combat clashes with national armed forces.
"However, the current authorities of the CAR and other states in the region understand well that Russia is a reliable and profitable partner that respects both the sovereignty and traditional values of African countries and peoples, and are unlikely to agree to return to Western dictates," Kirill Babayev notes. Cooperation between Russia and the CAR is constantly expanding, and the leaders of the two countries are linked by friendly relations. "I am convinced that the CAR has no alternative to friendship with Russia," the interlocutor added.
[Babylon Bee] SACRAMENTO, CA — An inspiring story emerged amid the ongoing immigration controversy, as Governor Gavin Newsom founded an Underground Railroad to help Mexican kids travel to work on California's marijuana farms.
After ICE operations made headlines in recent weeks with raids on California cannabis farms, Newsom made the noble decision to create a secret system to help unaccompanied minor migrants avoid detection by the authorities and find their way north to work as day laborers.
"Every Mexican kid deserves the chance to live out their dream of working as slave labor in California," Newsom told reporters. "This weed isn't going to pick itself, and with Donald Trump's oppressive ICE agents constantly arresting our adult illegal aliens, we owe it to our great marijuana growers to keep them fully stocked with child labor. That's the promise these parentless children get in Gavin Newsom's California."
Newsom's Underground Railroad provides Mexican kids with a system of routes and safehouses that allows them to secretly and safely travel from their home country to the Golden State to begin their new lives of endlessly picking cannabis. "Thank you, Gavin Newsom," said 9-year-old Luis Garcia, who arrived in California by himself to live on a marijuana farm. "I was afraid I would never make it here, but he made it happen."
At publishing time, Newsom's office announced plans to create large-scale marijuana plantations where Mexican families could work in return for free lodging and food for generations.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/16/2025
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#1
I wouldn't expect to see Newsom working on the railroad himself like the graphic shows with him holding a lantern and courageously leading the children into slavery. He might get his hair mussed. No. He'd pay some flunky to do it.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/16/2025 12:03
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#2
And he'd pay the flunky with California tax revenue.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/16/2025 12:04
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[SDUT] Fauja Singh, an Indian-born runner nicknamed the Turbaned Torpedo who was believed to be the world’s oldest marathon runner, has died after being hit by a car. He was 114.
Local media in India reported that Singh sustained severe head injuries in a hit-and-run accident on Monday while he was crossing the road at his native village near Jalandhar in Punjab. He was taken to the hospital where he later died. His London-based running club and charity, Sikhs In The City, confirmed his death.
India’s Prime minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to Singh, saying he was "extraordinary because of his unique persona and the manner in which he inspired the youth of India on a very important topic of fitness."
Singh became the oldest man to run a full marathon in 2011 at the age of 100 in Toronto. His accomplishment was not recognized by Guinness World Records because he did not have a birth certificate to prove his age. Singh had a British passport that showed his date of birth as April 1, 1911, while a letter from Indian government officials stated that birth records were not kept in 1911.
A torchbearer for the 2012 London Olympics, Singh took up running at the age of 89 as a way to get over depression after his wife and son died in quick succession in India. The death in 1994 of his son took a particularly hard toll on him because of its grisly nature.
Singh and his son, Kuldip, both farmers, were checking on their fields in the middle of a storm when a piece of corrugated metal blown by the wind decapitated Kuldip in front of his father’s eyes.
Singh, whose five other children had emigrated, was left all alone.
"He didn’t think his life was worth living without his son" following the traumatic incident, his coach Harmander Singh said.
He went to live with his youngest son in London. That’s where sports enthusiast Singh attended tournaments organized by the Sikh community and took part in sprints. He met some Sikh marathon runners who encouraged him to take up long-distance running. One day he saw a marathon on television for the first time and decided that’s what he wanted to do.
At the age of 89 in 2000 he ran the London Marathon, his first, and went on to do eight more. His best time was 5 hours and 40 minutes at the 2003 Toronto Marathon. HA! My time is better than that.
"Tell us about it in 30 years."
"From a tragedy has come a lot of success and happiness," Singh said.
[PJMedia] After the U.S. strikes on the Iranian nuclear program, there was considerable concern about sleeper cells within the U.S. being activated; now it is clear that they’re not the only threat 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... that American officials have to be worried about. Are agents of the Islamic Theocratic Republic also taking advantage of the still-vulnerable northern border? A news item on Tuesday certainly suggested as much.
Fox News reported that "a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) front man confirmed Tuesday that five Iranians were arrested while attempting to illegally cross the U.S. northern border with Canada." CBP's Swanton Sector stated that "on July 1, Border Patrol Agents from the Champlain, New York Station, responded to suspicious activity near Mooers Forks, NY. Agents located a minivan occupied by five citizens of Iran and two citizens of Uzbekistan." Swanton, Vt., is a small town just south of the U.S.-Canadian border.
It's important not to jump to conclusions. Maybe these guys were really, really lost. Or maybe they were sneaking across the border in search of a better life, ready to do the jobs that Americans aren’t willing to do. It’s also a genuine possibility, however, that they were coming into the United States to try to make good on what by now are repeated threats from the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran to assassinate President Donald Trump ...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons... , along with members of his administration.
Increasing the suspicious aspect of this incident is the fact that "CBP said that all seven men had been previously arrested for attempting to cross the border illegally." Now, however, because Donald Trump is president rather than Old Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. Old, boring, a plagiarist, fond of hair sniffing and grabbing the protruding parts of women, and not whatcha call brilliant.... ’s autopen, "all seven aliens are detained and awaiting deportation." One hopes that none of them will ever see delightful Swanton ever again.
This comes amid concerns that the Islamic Theocratic Republic is bent on avenging the strikes on its nuclear program with strikes of its own inside the U.S. Jonathan Gilliam, a former FBI special agent, explained: "Where these sleeper cells may be is in plain sight. And that's the real terrifying part of this is that putting people in place, as we've seen over the past four years, everyone's scrambling because certain amounts of people could come in here and get in here."
Old Joe Biden’s border free-for-all helped bring this situation about, as Gilliam noted: "They could even go to the border and say they [want to] seek asylum, and the Biden administration, instead of putting them into DHS housing or ICE housing and holding them there so they could have their first appearance, to be vetted and whether or not they get asylum," would allow them to walk freely into the country. Despite the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts, many of them are still here.
Their gratitude toward the U.S. for taking them in when they were in their hour of need cannot be taken for granted. Back in November 2024, an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps operative, Farhad Shakeri, was indicted for plotting to kill Trump. And in 2021, the Islamic Theocratic Republic mounted an audacious operation to kidnap Masih Alinejad, an Iranian dissident, in New York City and take her back to the Islamic Theocratic Republic, where she would have faced imprisonment, torture, and possibly even judicial murder.
Fox noted that the rogue regime in Tehran does this sort of thing in other countries as well: In 2023, "a United Kingdom court found a man guilty of attempting to collect information for terrorist purposes on the London-based Iran International, a media company that is critical of the Iranian regime." And "in recent years, Albania, Belgium, and the Netherlands have all either arrested, convicted, or expelled Iranian government officials implicated in various terrorist plots in their respective territories. Denmark similarly recalled its ambassador from Tehran after learning of an Iran-backed plot to kill an Iranian dissident in that country."
[Declassified] The hollowing out of the 100,000+ workforce of the Department of Justice is drowned out by a cacophony of discord, demands, and empty promises over the "Epstein files."
As I reported on X on Sunday, it appears Attorney General Pamela Bondi and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino have agreed to a truce. Bongino was prepared to imminently resign over Bondi’s botched handling of the Jeffrey Want Some Candy, Little Girl? Epstein ...A high class pimp financier who was alleged to maintain a stable of underage whoressex slaves who were paid big bucks to entertain the rich and/or famous. He was really surprised when he commited suiciede in jail... matter; President Trump told news hounds on Sunday he had spoken with Bongino and indicated his longtime friend was "in good shape" without any plans to depart soon.
, the development represents good news since the clash of wills pitted the White House against some of the president’s most loyal influencers, prompting one of the biggest political crises in the administration to date. Trump appears to have successfully calmed the waters both behind the scenes and online.
Unfortunately, not only did the Epstein matter create deep division in MAGAland, fixation on the topic sucked the oxygen out of the media sphere related to significant achievements within the Department of Justice. Bondi and her team continue to clean house at the systemically corrupt department as longtime employees are either fired or leave voluntarily amid "differences" with the president’s policies. The most recent purge includes members of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team, J6 prosecutors, and the spokeswoman at the most powerful U.S. Attorney’s office in the country.
But rather than take their well-deserved firings on the chin like grown ups, self-proclaimed "victims" of the personnel wrecking ball emote on social media or to slavish news hounds proving that DOJ employees are a partisan, sanctimonious, and downright annoying bunch of humans.
POOR POOR PITIFUL ME, PART 1,306
For example, Bondi last week fired Joseph Tirrell, head of the DOJ’s ethics office. (LOL). Tirrell, according to Bloomberg News, is "a career attorney who’d spent nearly 20 years at the department," meaning Bondi was stuck with him until the DOJ could find a reason to terminate. No details are available as to why Tirrell finally got the boot but he reportedly did, among other things, oversee Special Counsel Jack Smith’s operation.
Last February, Tirrell reviewed Smith’s last disclosure report, which revealed the special counsel had received $140,000 in pro bono legal advice after the 2024 election. (The president promised to investigate Smith, who handed down two criminal federal indictments against Trump in 2023.)
It’s unclear whether Tirrell approved that free legal work, flagged any excessive expenditures—the special counsel’s office spent roughly $50 million in a little over a year—or identified any conflict of interests within the office. But instead of simply updating his resume, Tirrell followed in the light-in-the-loafers footsteps of his former colleagues by penning a tale of woe on social media.
VOLUNTARY SELF DEPORTATION
Many DOJ employees are leaving voluntarily rather than anxiously refresh their email inbox for a message with the subject line, "Notice of Removal From Federal Service." Dozens of employees working at the DOJ unit responsible for defending the administration against a nonstop deluge of lawsuits have resigned, according to a Rooters analysis this month. Prosecutors complained of a heavy workload--boo hoo!--and ideological differences with the new boss.
"Many of these people came to work at Federal Programs to defend aspects of our constitutional system. How could they participate in the project of tearing it down?" one lawyer who recently quit told Rooters.
A similar exodus is underway at the DOJ’s civil rights division where nearly 70 percent of the division’s attorneys have headed for the exits rather than work for Harmeet Dhillon, the president’s pick to run the office. Apparently the totally nonpolitical lawyers object to doing things like keeping boys out of girls’ sports, protecting children from surgical mutilation, and combating religious bias—just a few of Dhillon’s stated objectives.
All of this comes on top of months of success in identifying and firing known partisans at both the DOJ and FBI, an historic purge with no signs of stopping. The moves are "creating rampant speculation and fear within the workforce over who might be terminated next," former staffers told the Washington Post.
[IsraelTimes] Explosive-laden drones hit three oil fields in Iraq’s northern autonomous Kurdistan region, Kurdish forces say, a day after a similar attack shut operations at a US-run field.
“At 06:00 and 06:15 (0300 and 0315 GMT) two explosive-laden drones attacked” the Peshkabir oil field operated by the Norwegian oil group DNO, and at 7:00 am (0400 GMT) a similar drone struck the Tawke field in Zakho district,” Kurdistan’s counterterrorism services says. “Another attack at 7:14 am (0415 GMT) targeted a US-run oil field in Dohuk province. There were no reported casualties.”
[NAHARNET] The army said on Monday it raided a major captagon factory in the northeastern Baalbek province near neighboring Syria, previously the largest exporter of the amphetamine-like narcotic.
In a statement, the army said that "after the intelligence directorate received information about a major captagon pill factory in the town of Yammouneh, Baalbek, a patrol from the directorate, supported by an army unit, raided the factory."
The military added that the factory "turned out to be one of the largest factories seized to date."
Soldiers dismantled the machinery and seized a "large quantity" of pills, though the army did not specify how many.
Captagon became Syria's largest export following the eruption of the civil war in 2011, and a key source of illicit funding for former Syrian President Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... 's government.
In Leb ...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel... , Assad's ally Hezbollah also faced accusations of using the captagon trade to finance itself.
The drug has flooded the region, with neighboring countries occasionally announcing captagon seizures and asking Lebanon and Syria to ramp up efforts to combat the trade.
Lebanon has previously faced pressure to counter the production and trafficking of the drug from conservative Gulf nations, where the main consumer market is located.
#2
Tucker Carlson’s speech makes some valid and some bad points.
On the valid side, his questioning of Jeffrey Epstein’s unexplained accumulation of wealth and social status, I think, is entirely fair. I would like an answer to that too. That those questions remain unanswered is disturbing. Additionally, Carlson's critique of growing economic disparities, particularly the burden of credit card debt and unaffordable housing, rightly highlights the challenges young Americans face in achieving a stable, middle-class life.
However, the rest of the speech is speculative and unsupported. Carlson states that Epstein was protected by a long-standing government cover-up and possibly worked for foreign intelligence, specifically naming Israel, but offers no credible evidence to support these serious claims. Furthermore, his assertion that dual citizens or Americans serving in foreign militaries should automatically lose their citizenship is extreme and disregards individual motives. While hearing him talk about it, I was thinking of his strong support of Russia; following his logic, he should lose his citizenship.
[ADVISORPERSPECTIVES] Inflation heated up for a second straight month in June. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the headline figure for the Consumer Price Index was at 2.7% year-over-year, up from 2.4% in May and higher than the expected 2.6% growth. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.3%, as expected.
Additionally, the core CPI was at 2.9% year-over-year, up from 2.8% in May but lower than the expected 3.0% growth. On a monthly basis, core prices rose 0.2% which was lower than the expected 0.3% monthly increase.
Here is the introduction from the BLS summary, which leads with the seasonally adjusted monthly data:
The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in June, after rising 0.1 percent in May, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 2.7 percent before seasonal adjustment.
The index for shelter rose 0.2 percent in June and was the primary factor in the all items monthly increase. The energy index rose 0.9 percent in June as the gasoline index increased 1.0 percent over the month. The index for food increased 0.3 percent as the index for food at home rose 0.3 percent and the index for food away from home rose 0.4 percent in June.
The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.2 percent in June, following a 0.1-percent increase in May. Indexes that increased over the month include household furnishings and operations, medical care, recreation, apparel, and personal care. The indexes for used cars and trucks, new vehicles, and airline fares were among the major indexes that decreased in June.
The all items index rose 2.7 percent for the 12 months ending June, after rising 2.4 percent over the 12 months ending May. The all items less food and energy index rose 2.9 percent over the last 12 months. The energy index decreased 0.8 percent for the 12 months ending June. The food index increased 3.0 percent over the last year.
Somalia: U.S. and six Gulf states sanction ISIS-Somalia leader Abdiweli Mohamed Yusuf and associates in South Africa and DRC over continent-wide financing network.
NEW: ICE arrests a vicious illegal alien MS-13 gang member trafficking fentanyl in Providence RI. Now the liberal run City Council is calling for an investigation into the removal operation.
Democrats would rather see Americans die than allow a deportation of a POS MS-13 thug. pic.twitter.com/u7HOb3m8CQ
[NAHARNET] Leb ...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade.... is waiting for a commitment from Israel to withdraw its forces from Lebanon over two phases, a Lebanese source concerned with the negotiations with U.S. envoy Tom Barrack said.
The first phase ''should begin immediately, after Lebanon carried out all its obligations during this period through the Lebanese Army's deployment south of the Litani and Hezbollah's pullback from the area,'' the source told al-Binaa newspaper, commenting on reports that Barrack has demanded a timetable for finalizing the file of arms.
The second phase would be ''withdrawal to beyond Lebanon's international border, in addition to halting attacks and the violation of Lebanon's airspace and waters,'' the source added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/16/2025
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Indonesia has committed to purchasing $15 Billion Dollars in U.S. Energy, $4.5 Billion Dollars in American Agricultural Products, and 50 Boeing Jets, many of them 777’s. pic.twitter.com/8ziqUXUo85
[NAHARNET] The Central Bank of Lebanon has said that licensed financial institutions are "barred from any dealings with unlicensed financial institutions, such as the Al-Qard Al-Hasan Association," the financial arm of Hezbollah.
In a circular, the Central Bank said banks, financial institutions and other institutions licensed by the Central Bank, as well as financial intermediaries and collective investment schemes, are barred from engaging in any transactions -- financial, commercial, or otherwise, directly or indirectly, fully or partially -- with ''unlicensed exchange institutions, money transfer companies, associations and entities.''
It said such institutions and bodies include ''Al-Qard Al-Hasan Association, Tasheelat S.A.L., Al-Yusr for Finance and Investment, Bayt al-Mal Lil Muslimin and other institutions, entities, companies, and associations listed on international sanctions lists.''
The ban includes:
- Providing or facilitating financial, monetary or transfer services or brokerage services
- Establishing or implementing financing, leasing or lending arrangements
- Facilitating direct or indirect access to the Lebanese banking system, in any currency
The announcement aims to ''prevent dealings with unlicensed entities and those subject to international sanctions, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and maintaining the integrity of Lebanon's financial system,'' the Central Bank said.
[NAHARNET] Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan criticized Tuesday the government's lack of progress in restoring the state's authority and disarming Hezbollah as lawmakers convened in a plenary session focused on Hezbollah's disarmament.
"We don't want the government of hope to become a government of missed opportunities," Adwan said.
Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Jebran Bassil said he supports Hezbollah's disarmament but not by force, while Hezbollah MP Ibrahim al-Moussawi urged "those who claim to be friends of Lebanon" to provide the Lebanese army with defensive weapons "to protect the country against the enemy."
"We all know there is no political decision to support the (Lebanese)army and there is a veto against arming it," he said.
MP Jamil al-Sayyed criticized U.S. envoys Amos Hochstein, Morgan Ortagus, and Tom Barrack, who he said "threatened Lebanon with civil war". "It's as if we've become an experimental field for these envoys."
MP Fouad Makhzoumi called for Hezbollah's disarmament and proposed to discuss it in a cabinet session.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] US President Donald Trump did not call on the head of the Kiev regime, Volodymyr Zelensky, to strike Moscow and St. Petersburg with American weapons. This was stated by White House press secretary Caroline Levitt on July 15.
Earlier, the American publication The Financial Times wrote that during a conversation with Zelensky, the American leader allegedly called on him to strike Moscow and St. Petersburg to put pressure on Russia.
"The Financial Times is notorious for taking words out of context to get more views as their paper dies. President Trump was simply asking a question, not encouraging more murder," Levitt told Fox News in response to the story.
She also clarified that Trump is currently “working tirelessly” to achieve a settlement of the Ukrainian conflict.
Earlier, the press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov, commenting on the FT publication, also suggested that the information about Trump's calls is fake. At the same time, according to the Kremlin spokesman, rhetoric of this kind is nothing new for Western media.
More from regnum.ru Trump says Zelensky shouldn't target Moscow
US President Donald Trump said that the head of the Kiev regime, Volodymyr Zelensky, should not “take aim at Moscow.” This was reported on July 15 by Reuters.
“No, Zelensky should not attack Moscow,” Trump responded to a question from reporters about whether Kiev would be able to strike the Russian capital if the US supplied long-range weapons.
In addition, the head of the White House emphasized that he is not on anyone’s side.
As reported by Regnum, on July 15, the American publication The Financial Times wrote that during a conversation with Zelensky, Trump allegedly urged him to strike Moscow and St. Petersburg to put pressure on Russia. According to the article, the American leader views such strikes as part of a strategy that should "make the Russians feel pain" and "force them to sit down at the negotiating table."
That same day, White House press secretary Caroline Levitt denied reports that Trump had called for attacks on Moscow and St. Petersburg. Levitt said the Financial Times had taken the words out of context to boost viewership as their paper was dying. Trump had simply asked a question, not encouraged further killing, she said.
According to the press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov, the information about Trump's calls is fake. At the same time, rhetoric of this kind is nothing new for Western media, the Kremlin spokesman added.
Even more from regnum.ru Lavrov: Moscow wants to understand what is behind Trump's 50-day ultimatum
Moscow wants to understand what is behind the statement by US President Donald Trump about the need to resolve the Ukrainian conflict in 50 days. This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on July 15.
"We want to understand what is behind this statement. 50 days. It used to be 24 hours. And 100 days. We have been through all this, and we really want to understand what motivates the US President," Lavrov said at a press conference following the SCO Foreign Ministers' Council.
According to the minister, European leaders for the most part “unceremoniously support” the requests of the head of the Kiev regime, Volodymyr Zelensky, and agree to continue supplying weapons to Ukraine to the detriment of taxpayers in their countries.
Earlier, columnists for the American newspaper The Washington Post noted in their article that Trump's ultimatum to introduce new trade tariffs within 50 days had caused concern among Western analysts. According to the authors, such actions could play into Russia's hands, giving it a strategic advantage.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on July 14, Trump said that he was "very unhappy with Russia's actions" and threatened to impose secondary sanctions of 100% on goods from the Russian Federation if Moscow did not reach a peace agreement with Kiev within the next 50 days. He also expressed confidence that the arms supplies to Ukraine agreed upon with the EU would speed up the process of concluding a peace agreement.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, commenting on the words of the head of the White House, stressed that any actions that contribute to a ceasefire are important, but they must comply with international law.
President Vladimir Putin has previously called for not being afraid of new sanctions and preparing for any developments. He has repeatedly noted that the West wanted to weaken Russia with anti-Russian sanctions, but the restrictive measures have had the opposite effect.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Gevorg Mirzayan
[TEGNUM] On Tuesday, July 15, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov concluded his major Asian tour. In the Chinese city of Tianjin, he took part in a meeting of colleagues from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and before the meeting he was received by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The success story at the meeting was unexpectedly Afghanistan, the same one that used to be the main threat to the SCO. They managed to find a common language with the Taliban. But Russia's relations with the US are not so cloudless - at the summit, Lavrov, taking advantage of the opportunity, spoke about the pressure that the United States is exerting on Moscow and other members of the organization.
The SCO itself has long been a model structure for a multipolar world. Firstly, it has no vertical leadership: everyone, from China to Kyrgyzstan, has an equal voice and veto power. Secondly, because the SCO includes rivals at odds with each other (for example, India and Pakistan) and thus encourages them to cooperate.
THE PILLAR OF EURASIAN SECURITY
This is primarily about cooperation in the area of collective defense. “ The SCO was initially created as an organization focused on economic cooperation. Now the economy has gone to BRICS, and the SCO is primarily concerned with security,” Nikita Mendkovich, head of the Eurasian Analytical Club, explains to Regnum.
It just so happens that all members of the organization are interested in stability, progressive development and the preservation of the secular nature of power in Central Asia. That is, simply put, it is necessary to protect the region from radical Islam and the influence of third overseas countries - those that are located far away, but still try to turn Central Asia into a source of unrest.
"It was decided to create a Universal SCO Center for Combating New Challenges and Threats in Tashkent on the basis of the current Regional Anti-Terrorism Center. At the same time, an SCO Anti-Drug Center is being created in Dushanbe, which will be linked by a special agreement and interaction procedures with the Center for Combating New Challenges and Threats, and a structure aimed at combating organized crime will be formed in Bishkek," Sergey Lavrov said following the meeting.
At the same time, some threats that have poisoned the atmosphere in Central Asia for decades have now been neutralized. For example, Afghanistan, with whose authorities Moscow has managed to reach an agreement. And not only Moscow. “Almost all SCO members are stepping up work with Kabul on a bilateral basis, and we are all united in the importance of effectively assisting in the restoration of this country and its sustainable development as an independent, neutral, peaceful state free of terrorism and drugs,” the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
This means that it is possible that Afghanistan will soon transform from a source of problems into a transit region for North-South transport corridors, and will also conclude agreements with Russia, China and other countries – “deals,” as US President Donald Trump would say – to develop its mineral wealth. Such equal agreements could also contribute to the growth of prosperity for ordinary Afghans.
Possible, yes. Have the Taliban given up their idea of an expansive Caliphate — Al Qaeda’s, if not their own?
"We can safely say that in the case of Afghanistan, the SCO succeeded more than NATO," Nikita Mendkovich sums up. It is not surprising, because when you respect other people's choice and sovereignty, and do not bomb weddings and do not teach other people how to live, these people are drawn to you.
THE BACKGROUND OF THE ULTIMATUM
The agenda of the meeting also included a topic that is outside the jurisdiction of the SCO – Ukraine. Lavrov spoke about the Kyiv regime’s refusal to negotiate, about the participation of Europeans in the SVO – but many were primarily interested in Trump’s fresh threat to introduce 100% tariffs against Moscow and its trade partners if an agreement that would end the armed struggle is not reached within 50 days.
Lavrov said that Russia responded to this statement calmly, making it clear that it would wait. "We want to understand what is behind this statement of '50 days'. There were 24 hours and 100 days before. We have been through all of this, and we really want to understand what motivates the President of the United States," the minister explained.
And the issue here is not so much about the motives for the threats - they are quite clear. Trump was, of course, driven by the desire to force the Kremlin to accept his scheme (which only assumed a deep freeze and did not take into account the goals of the SVO).
"Without the ability to convince Moscow within the framework of bilateral relations, the President of the United States, apparently, decided to do this through Russia's partners - members of the SCO. To put pressure on them so that they, in turn, put pressure on Moscow," Dmitry Suslov, deputy head of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, suggests in a conversation with the Regnum news agency.
The question is what the White House owner will do next. In Moscow, they believe that his new strategy is doomed to failure. "Our trade partners hear what has been said, but they can hardly predict their actions now. They have obligations, international obligations. And knowing these partners of ours, I do not see how they can abandon their independent policy," says Lavrov.
BENEFITS FROM PARTNERSHIP
The addressees of Trump's ultimatum are obviously such SCO members as India and China - the main buyers of our energy resources. It is highly likely that they will not refuse to purchase. Not only because of their independent policy, but also because of their unwillingness to lose the benefits of partnership.
China, which understands that Russia's importance as a major supplier of resources is only growing on the eve of an inevitable conflict with the United States, will not refuse. India, which, after the start of the NWO, sharply increased its purchases of Russian oil for processing at its refineries and subsequent sale as fuel and other oil products, is unlikely to refuse.
Last month, purchases reached an 11-month high of about 2.08 million barrels per day, according to Indian media.
"And on each barrel they save about 10 dollars. In general, Russia now accounts for 40 to 50% of all Indian crude oil imports," explains Igor Yushkov, a lecturer at the Financial University and an expert at the National Energy Security Fund, to Regnum.
Delhi does not want to lose this income, especially because of empty threats. “India has not yet responded to Trump’s threats. So far, he has only made words. When these words become actions, then there will be some kind of reaction,” Alexey Kupriyanov, head of the Indian Ocean Region Center at IMEMO RAS, explains to Regnum.
THE GENERAL LINE IS UNCHANGED
Moscow is betting on patient waiting, which has its own logic. Trump has made loud promises and threats on trade, security, and relations with allies more than once or twice. His threats rarely develop into specific systemic actions. Including because these steps, as it turns out, can often harm the United States itself more.
This was the case with the sharp increase in import tariffs for China – and this will most likely be the case with the threats of tariffs against the same India. If not Trump himself, then at least his advisers should remember how the story ended with Delhi, which was threatened for cooperation with Tehran several years ago.
At that time, these threats provoked the anger of Indian politicians, scientists and civil society in general. The attack on sovereignty had the opposite effect to what was desired. As a result, Washington, not wanting to lose a promising partner in South Asia, backed down.
We have stated that our common line on strengthening the SCO as one of the supporting pillars of a more just multipolar world order remains unchanged," Lavrov said following the meeting in Tianjin. According to him, this common vision is supposed to be reflected in the SCO development strategy until 2035.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Alexander Shchegolev
[REGNUM] The Supreme Court of Ukraine has decided to transfer the largest grain terminal of the Odessa port, Olympex, to the ownership of American investment funds. It is capable of handling up to 5 million tons of cargo per year, which is almost a quarter of the entire pre-war cargo turnover of the port as a whole.
Before the start of the SVO, grain terminals were one of the most profitable types of port business in Ukraine. The export of grain, a product that requires minimal investment to grow and yields maximum profit per unit of investment, was steadily increasing, and the capacity for its storage and loading onto ships was becoming more and more in demand.
And the construction of such a terminal requires significantly less investment than, for example, the construction of a container or oil and fat terminal: several silos, conveyors for loading, some additional equipment - all that remains is to cut the red ribbon, and you can start operating the facility! An excellent business that provides an impressive income and quickly pays for itself.
Previously, the Olymprex terminal was owned by the GNT Group of businessmen Sergey Groza and Vladimir Naumenko. They began creating the terminal back in 2003, and in 2006 the terminal was put into operation. Subsequently, it was expanded and modernized several times: for example, in 2015, they took out a loan of 53 million dollars from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for these purposes.
In 2019, GNT Group planned the next stage of modernization, for which they agreed on investments with Argentem Creek Partners and Innovatus Capital Partners - the program consisted of several loans for a total of $93 million.
It was assumed that after the modernization work, the volumes of transshipment, and therefore profits, would increase, which would allow the loan to be quickly repaid, as money borrowed from other creditors during previous modernization cycles had been repeatedly repaid.
But the war began, and this business plan went down the drain: cargo flows fell almost to zero, and so did income. Accordingly, it was not possible to repay the loan, but the Americans did not try to understand the situation of the Ukrainian businessmen and demanded that the debt be repaid in kind.
An important nuance: the market value of the Olymprex terminal before the war, according to the most conservative estimates, was 150 million US dollars, and according to less conservative estimates, up to 300 million.
To put it simply, the Americans decided to cleverly take advantage of the situation in order to get a strategic enterprise at their disposal on the cheap.
For a long time, the situation was traditionally dragged out in Ukrainian courts, but in July 2025, events began to develop rapidly: having begun consideration of the case on July 4, on July 9, after only three sessions, the Supreme Court ruled that the terminal should be transferred to the ownership of the Americans.
Even according to official statistics, the average consideration of commercial cases in the Supreme Court takes 3-6 months, but in reality, in complex and complicated disputes and in cases where large sums of money are at stake, it can drag on for years.
Here the court made a final decision in just five days!
The Financial Times writes that the Americans owe the case's swift consideration to the very clear position of the Ukrainian President's Office, which "provided coordination support for the process." The publication also adds that "this will test Kyiv's ability to attract capital to restore the economy in the fourth year of the war."
In fact, there is no talk of any “attracting capital”: what is evident is a banal raid on the part of an American company, on whose side the official authorities of the country acted.
Moreover, they acted quite harshly and decisively: for example, one of the owners of GNT Group, Vladimir Naumenko, was arrested in June 2025 and placed in pretrial detention on charges of fraud.
The story there, by the way, is rather murky: Naumenko allegedly pulled off a number of fraudulent schemes to remove grain from the terminal, which was supposed to be there as part of the collateral for loans. However, this grain was removed and sold, and was recorded in the documents as "spoiled".
Plus, according to rumors, GNT Group participated in the schemes of the "king of Odessa smuggling" Vadim Alperin, whom Vladimir Zelensky intended to imprison at the dawn of his presidency. Grain bought from farmers for cash was exported through the terminal using forged documents. And these are just a few examples of what the terminal owners could be charged with.
However, such things are normal practice in Ukraine (or at least were before the war), and it is difficult to find an operator who has not engaged in such things. Many of them have been subject to various types of inspections, and even criminal cases have been opened, but such a thing as a terminal owner being put in jail for such things has never happened. True, American money was not involved in other cases…
And this takes the entire story of the Olympex terminal far beyond a simple economic dispute: it looks like a large-scale campaign is starting in Ukraine to distribute the remaining strategic assets at Kyiv’s disposal to “Western partners.”
For example, just recently it was announced that there were plans to transfer the container and universal terminals of the Illichivsk port, right next to Odessa, to Polish companies for a 40-year concession.
It should be understood that there are not many truly valuable assets left in Ukraine – ports, as well as agricultural land.
For example, next to Olymprekh there is another large private grain terminal - Brooklyn-Kyiv, and next to it there is another, smaller one - Novotech. Another whole group of terminals is located in neighboring Yuzhny: in addition to the giant TIS, there are also terminals MV Cargo, Delta-Vilmar, Global Ocean Link Terminal and others. True, there have been no conflicts with investors around these terminals for quite a long time, but, as they say, if there is a man, there will be an article!
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] ZSU are holding back Russian offensive in 11 directions.
The largest number of Russian attacks have been recorded in the Pokrovsky direction. There, Russian invaders are trying to advance in the areas of 13 settlements.
Since the beginning of the day, 110 combat clashes have occurred on the front. The Russian army has concentrated its main efforts in three directions, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported in an operational report as of 16:00 on Tuesday, July 15.
Thus, in the Severo-Slobodskoy and Kursk directions, seven military clashes have occurred since the beginning of the day.
In the Yuzhno-Slobodskoy direction, the Ukrainian Armed Forces repelled two Russian attacks near the settlements of Vovchansk and Stroyevka. One battle is still ongoing.
In the Kupyansk direction, Russian occupiers tried to break through in the area of the settlements of Stepovaya Novoselovka and Peschanoye. In total, three military clashes took place in this direction.
In the Liman direction, the invading army carried out 18 attacks near the settlements of Novy Mir, Novoyegorovka, Grekovka, Karpovka, Kolodyazi, Zelenaya Dolina, Torskoye, in the direction of Shandrigolovoe and Serebryanka. Four combat clashes continue.
In the Seversky direction, two enemy attacks were repelled near Grigoryevka and Vyemka.
In the Kramatorsk direction, our defenders stopped five enemy attacks in the areas of Predtechnoye, Belaya Gora and Stupochki. Another combat clash is still ongoing.
In the Toretsk direction, the enemy carried out seven assaults near Dilievka, Toretsk, Novospassky and Rusiny Yar.
In the Pokrovsk direction, Russian invaders carried out 29 assaults in the areas of the settlements of Popov Yar, Novoekonomicheskoe, Mirolyubovka, Lisovka, Kotlin, Zvirovoe, Udachnoe, Alekseyevka, in the direction of the settlements of Rodinskoe, Pokrovsk, Muravka Filiya, Dachnoe. The defense forces repelled 28 enemy attacks. One battle is still ongoing.
In the Novopavlovsk direction, the enemy attempted to advance near the settlements of Zaporozhye, Poddubnoye, Lesnoye, Mirnoye, Maliyevka, Shevchenko, Novosyolka and towards the settlement of Novokhatskoye. The defense forces repelled 14 assaults, and two more attacks are still ongoing.
In the Dnieper direction, our soldiers repelled six attacks in the area of the Antonovsky Bridge and near the Kozulsky and Zabich islands.
Let us recall that in the course of 24 hours on July 14, Russia lost more than 1,200 servicemen, wounded and killed. The total number of Russian losses is approaching 1.1 million people.
[MSN] State of play: Incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey is vying against five challengers for the endorsement: State Sen. Omar Fateh, Council Member Emily Koski, the Rev. DeWayne Davis, Jazz Hampton and Brenda Short.
The big picture: Left-wing groups are hoping to build on a successful 2023 election that emboldened Frey's critics on the City Council, giving them the votes to rewrite the budget and enact other priorities without the mayor's support.
Frey has pitched himself and his council allies as practical moderates more interested in delivering on core services than ideologically driven "messaging" legislation
...........................................
The so-called moderate Frey (unlike others he didn't want to decimate the police - only demoralize them) may be helped by having 4 further lefties against him. Sort of the reverse of the NYC situation.
The title is slightly less inflammatory than that, but it doesn't match the text of the article.
[TechRadar] Huawei will manage authorized wiretaps for the Spanish government
Huawei has won a contract to provide digital storage for the Spanish Government
The Chinese tech giant will store and classify court-ordered wiretaps
This contrasts other western states that now largely avoid Huawei, and Chinese tech
Any Spanish government wiretaps carried out by law enforcement agencies will soon be managed by Chinese telecom giant Huawei thanks to a recently-won contract.
The €12.3 million contract was awarded to Huawei after a standard public procurement procedure - and the contract includes digital storage of judicially-ordered wiretaps, reports The Objective.
Huawei will supply its own high performance storage servers, OceanStor 6800 V5 for the project, which will store and classify intercepted communications and data collected through state agencies.
MIXED MESSAGES
Sectors of the National Police in Spain have grown uneasy with Huawei’s involvement in sensitive systems, with sources expressing concern over strategic inconsistencies regarding China and the state’s access to data and a potential threat to national security.
Huawei points out that no backdoor has ever been identified within its telecommunications equipment, and the company asserts that it would not answer CCP requests for intelligence, nor would its equipment be used to spy (unless you count government wiretapping contracts).
Spain’s PM Pedro Sánchez has been one of the least combative towards Huawei’s presence, with Spain remaining a close partner within the EU for the company - holding several contracts with public administrations.
Interestingly enough though, the recent procurement comes in contrast to Spain’s de facto banishment of the Chinese telecom giant from all critical infrastructure, having reduced Huawei’s presence in the 5G cores of the largest three Spanish operators to 0%, according to Euronews.
European and American governments have been increasingly distancing themselves from Chinese technology firms in recent months, primarily citing national security concerns and the threat of exfiltrated data.
An ongoing trade war between the US and China has seen firms on both sides cut off from the opposing market, with market leaders like chipmaker Nvidia saying US tariffs mean it faces a multi-billion dollar hit.
[GatewayPundit] FBI Director Kash Patel has launched a "Grand Criminal Conspiracy" investigation into the decade-long weaponization of the federal government — a probe that specifically circumvents the statute of limitations, allowing Sherlocks to finally pursue justice for long-buried crimes.
According to a report by JustTheNews, Barack Obama I am the change that you seek... , John Brennan ...director of the CIA under the Obama administration. One of the deeper dwelling denizens of the Deep State, probably the guy who lit the match that launched the Russiagate coup attempt... , James Clapper, James The spine of the FBI is the rule of law Comey The disgraced, except in his own mind, former head of the FBI... , and other high-level Obama-era operatives have been named in the investigation, which shows a coordinated criminal conspiracy to target political enemies, shield Democrat allies, and manipulate multiple presidential elections — from 2016 through 2024.
But it gets better: The probe may now shift jurisdiction to Florida — thanks to none other than Special Counsel Jack Smith’s own raid on Mar-a-Lago.
File under Petard, Own, Hoisted By. Every blessed thing the Trump team does proves the universe exists independent of my imagination.
The Gateway Pundit previously reported that Solomon teased that within the next 10 days, bombshell revelations would be made public — possibly exposing how weaponized federal agencies colluded to rig the political landscape against Trump and deceive the American people.
Bernal was originally slated to appear last month for a voluntary transcribed interview, but he and his lawyers backtracked after the Trump administration announced it was waiving executive privilege rights for him and several other former White House staffers.
I am not familiar with US laws but approval by an _unelected_ official of autopen pardons isn't that usurping a prerogative given to the President ONLY and shouldn't it lead to decades behind jails?
Procopius2k asked the same question yesterday, so I consulted my in-house contracts specialist. ;-) The answer I posted yesterday:
I asked Mr. Wife, who spent the last third of his career negotiating outside projects for his international Fortune 100 employer. He says that he did, and still does use, autopen/electronic signatures for contracts emailed back and forth, often Adobe PDFs and other contract programs. They are perfectly legal. I can even sign for him — not work but household stuff — because I hold his power of attorney, and I’ve signed such things in my own right for contracts for our house, most recently to remove squirrels from the attic and seal the entry holes.
BUT, wherever the signature is not actually witnessed it can be challenged if there is a question of validity. If it’s his signature, for instance, but it can be proved that that day he was in a car accident and undergoing surgery at the time that he was supposedly clicking the signature block in the form on his computer screen.
Added today: In the old days, when even unimportant people had personal secretaries, a secretary could sign a letter or document when so directed by her boss by adding a /initials at the end of the name to indicate she had done so. How do we prove that someone who now is senile and cannot remember giving an informed order was then either not informed or was incapable of giving the order? Just because we all know his brain was then a rotting turnip is not the same as proving it retrospectively now.
#2
Zayn Edward Arcand was arrested and is now housed in jail since Monday.
Charged with arson, using an incendiary device, and maybe facing State or Federal Domestic Terrorism charges.
My grand daughter age thirteen, is on a travel softball team. She's usually a pitcher and has been gunned at 58mph, underhand. Short to first in this league would take your head off.
They're a bunch of neat kids, sort 1955 of like any junior high bunch. But...even thirty years ago when I coached youth soccer, there was no "runs like a girl".
This guy throws like a girl circa 1955 using the off arm after practicing for his trans surgery.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
07/16/2025 6:51
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#4
I thought for sure that's a girl, like about 10 years old. I didn't see a flame. Was that Molotov cocktail even lit? Maybe he could use a little more practice.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/16/2025 11:06
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[NAHARNET] Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday that Israel's Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s on the Bekaa earlier in the day were a ''clear message'' to Hezbollah and Leb ...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects.... 's government, accusing Hezbollah of plotting to restore its Radwan force's ground incursion capabilities.
The Lebanese government is ''responsible for upholding the (ceasefire) agreement,'' Katz said.
''We will strike at every terrorist and thwart any threat to the residents of the north and the State of Israel, and we will respond with maximum force against any attempt (by Hezbollah) to restore itself," he threatened.
Media reports said hills near the eastern city of Baalbek were targeted by a wave of 15 airstrikes.
[IsraelTimes] Military says targets in northeastern Beqaa Valley include Radwan unit facilities, where military activity was taking place in ‘blatant violation’ of November ceasefire
Israeli jets carried out a wave of Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s deep inside Leb ...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects.... aimed at stopping an elite Hezbollah unit from regrouping and rebuilding its strength, authorities said Tuesday.
Lebanese state media reported that 12 people were killed.
"Enemy warplanes launched raids on the Wadi Fara area in the northern Beqaa Valley, one of which targeted a camp for displaced Syrians, resulting in the deaths of 12 deaders, including seven Syrians, and eight maimed," the country’s state-run National News Agency reported.
The strikes in Lebanon’s northeastern Beqaa Valley were aimed at military facilities belonging to the Hezbollah terror group’s Radwan force, where operatives and weapon depots had been detected, the Israel Defense Forces said.
"The military camps that were targeted are used by the Hezbollah terror organization for training and preparing gunnies for the planning and execution of terror operations against IDF forces and the State of Israel," the military said in a statement.
The weapons stored at the sites and Hezbollah’s activity "constitute a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon, and pose a future threat to the State of Israel," the statement added.
Israel has carried out dozens of strikes in southern Lebanon targeting Hezbollah operatives and arms since reaching a ceasefire with the group in November following several weeks of intense fighting, while attacks deeper inside Lebanon are less common.
There was no immediate comment from the Lebanese government about Tuesday’s strikes, though the official National News Agency reported that "enemy warplanes launched a raid" southeast of Baalbek, the main city in the region.
The rugged Beqaa Valley is seen as a stronghold for Hezbollah, and had been considered a key conduit for smuggling weapons into Lebanon via Syria before Hezbollah ally Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Scourge of Qusayr... was ousted from the leadership of Syria late last year.
On Sunday, the IDF said Israeli troops had raided military facilities of the deposed Syrian regime last week, seizing some three tons of weapons. It indicated that the arms had been intended to be smuggled into Lebanon.
According to Israel, the Radwan force had in recent years planned to carry out a large-scale invasion of northern Israel, but was forced to shelve the scheme after Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... attacked southern Israel from Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... on October 7, 2023, plunging the region into war.
A day after the attack, Hezbollah began firing rockets, drones, and anti-tank missiles at northern Israeli communities, carrying out attacks on a near-daily basis in solidarity with Hamas.
The rocket fire displaced some 60,000 residents of northern Israel. In a bid to ensure their safe return, Israel stepped up operations in Lebanon in September, leading to two months of open warfare with Hezbollah in which the terror group’s leadership and arsenal were decimated.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/16/2025
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#1
Bekaa valley - home of the best hashish in the World.
[JusticeGov] MINNEAPOLIS; Vance Boelter, 57, has been indicted on six federal charges in connection with the stalking and murders of Minnesota House of Representatives Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman, the stalking and shooting of Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette Hoffman, and the attempted shooting of their daughter Hope Hoffman, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson.
"Vance Boelter planned and carried out a night of terror that shook Minnesota to its core," said Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson. "He carried out targeted political assassinations the likes of which have never been seen in Minnesota. We grieve with the Hortman family and continue to pray for the recovery of the Hoffmans. Today, a grand jury indicted Boelter with the most serious of federal charges for these heinous political assassinations. Let me be clear: Boelter will see justice."
According to court documents, after extensive research and planning, Boelter embarked on a murderous rampage targeting Minnesota's elected officials and their families. On June 14, 2025, the defendant disguised himself as a member of law enforcement and traveled to the homes of Democratic elected officials with the intent to intimidate and murder. Early that morning, the defendant traveled to the Hoffman's home in Champlin, Minnesota. By posing as a police officer, Boelter compelled the Hoffmans to answer their door. He then repeatedly shot Senator Hoffman and Yvette Hoffman and he attempted to shoot their daughter, Hope Hoffman.
Boelter then traveled to the homes of two other Minnesota elected officials, only to find that no one at those locations was home. He next drove to the home of Speaker Emerita and Representative Melissa Hortman. There, Boelter repeatedly shot, and killed, Representative Hortman and her husband, Mark. Following a two-day manhunt, law enforcement arrested the defendant near his family residence in Green Isle, Minnesota.
The defendant is charged with numerous counts, including the stalking and murders of Melissa and Mark Hortman, the stalking and shooting of John and Yvette Hoffman, and the attempted shooting of Hope Hoffman. The defendant faces charges which include maximum penalties of up to life in prison or death.
[GEO.TV] Two people died in neighbouring New Jersey after flash floods swept the region during powerful storms that pounded the New York City area from Monday night into Tuesday, submerging cars and flooding subway stations.
The heavy rain came fast and hard, flooding roads and underground train stations, causing major travel disruption across airports, motorways, and rail services. Emergency crews worked through the night as rising waters trapped cars and brought life to a halt across the region.
More than 2 inches (5 cm) of rain fell within a single hour in Manhattan's Central Park — the second highest amount ever recorded in 60 minutes — according to Mayor Eric Adams ...Hizonner da Mare of Noo Yawk. As a Manchurian candidate, Hizonner was all in favor of law and order and that kind of stuff. Once in office, a bunch of his friends found cushy jobs with the city, the windows kept getting broken, and Soros-funded DA Alvin Bragg remained right where he was. Most people comfort themselves with the thought that he's not Bill di Blasio but that's pretty small comfort with kids who actually go to school getting bumped off while standing in front of them. But he's a Dem, so the rubes will vote for him next election too, so he's what they deserve... Footage showed floodwaters pouring into several underground stations on Monday evening, including a powerful geyser of water gushing into one on Manhattan's West Side.
Officials said the city's transport system could not cope with the sheer volume of rainfall in such a short time. The ageing sewer system is built to manage around 1.75 inches (4.44 cm) per hour, said Rohit Aggarwala, the city's environmental protection commissioner, while rainfall exceeded 4 inches an hour at the storm's height.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/16/2025
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#1
Some might remember the CCP/Asia area had the same problem, what <2 years ago?
[GEO.TV] President Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... intends to keep fighting in Ukraine until the West engages on his terms for peace, unfazed by Donald Trump ...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party... 's threats of tougher sanctions, and his territorial demands may widen as Russian forces advance, three sources close to the Kremlin said.
Putin, who ordered Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in country's east between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops, believes Russia's economy and its military are strong enough to weather any additional Western measures, the sources said.
Trump on Monday expressed frustration with Putin's refusal to agree a ceasefire and announced a wave of weapons supplies to Ukraine, including Patriot surface-to-air missile systems. He also threatened further sanctions on Russia unless a peace deal was reached within 50 days.
The three Russian sources, familiar with top-level Kremlin thinking, said Putin will not stop the war under pressure from the West and believes Russia — which has survived the toughest sanctions imposed by the West — can endure further economic hardship, including threatened US tariffs targeting buyers of Russian oil.
"Putin thinks no one has seriously engaged with him on the details of peace in Ukraine — including the Americans — so he will continue until he gets what he wants," one of the sources told Rooters on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.
Despite several telephone calls between Trump and Putin, and visits to Russia by US special envoy Steve Witkoff, the Russian leader believes there have not been detailed discussions of the basis for a peace plan, the source said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/16/2025
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[190 views]
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#1
Russia can't afford NATO Ukraine - what's so hard to understand?
#3
Russia can't afford NATO Ukraine - what's so hard to understand?
Exactly. And why should Putin stop fighting when he's winning? I'm disappointed that Trump doesn't understand that. I thought he knew how to make a deal.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/16/2025 11:28
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But then, after the shabby treatment he received with the Minsk agreements, Putin might be forgiven if he thinks the only way to keep NATO out of Ukraine is to take it all himself. Once the trust is lost, there's nothing even Trump can do about it.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/16/2025 11:46
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#5
Ukraine should do to Russia what Russia do to Ukraine.
#10
1-A notification always came by Registered Mail, usually within a couple of months you got your Selective Service Draft Notification. I got mine while at MCRD San Diego, and it made the Drill Instructor smile briefly.
[GEO.TV] The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday directed the federal government to constitute a commission within 30 days to investigate blasphemy ...the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence to a deity, or sacred objects, or toward something considered sacred or inviolable. Some religions consider it to be a crime. In Pakistain you can commit blasphemy by looking cross-eyed at a Koran... -related cases.
Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan issued the order while hearing petitions seeking the formation of an inquiry commission to examine how blasphemy laws are being implemented.
Accepting the petitions, the court instructed that the commission must complete its proceedings within four months of formation. The IHC further ruled that if the commission requires more time to complete its task, it may approach the court for an extension.
A report published by the government-run National Commission for Human Rights in October last year said there were 767 people, mostly young men, in jail awaiting trial over blasphemy allegations.
"This is a huge ray of hope and it's the first time that the families have felt heard," said lawyer Imaan Mazari, who represents the families of arrested men and women, of the court order.
"Youngsters have been falsely roped into cases of such a sensitive nature that the stigma will last forever even if they are acquitted," she added.
The Legal Commission on Blasphemy Pakistain (LCBP) is the most active of lawyers groups prosecuting young men in Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/16/2025
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] A spy scandal that seemed to have been hushed up in 2022 is flaring up again in Iran. French-Jewish journalist Catherine Perez-Shakdam is accused of working for Israeli intelligence for many years. With her masterly command of words and her gift of seduction, she allegedly managed to gain the trust of more than a hundred high-ranking Iranian officials and ultimately exposed them to an Israeli attack.
The spy obtained secret data and visited forbidden sites practically arm in arm with the military and clerics - almost the same as the legendary Mata Hari did a century ago.
True, unlike the spy-dancer, with whom Peres-Shakdam is actively compared today, the latter managed not only to escape Iranian counterintelligence in time, but also left behind many unsolved mysteries that Tehran is still struggling with to this day.
THE RISE OF THE GUEST
The journalist's path to the top was swift. Having converted to Islam after marriage and voluntarily converted to Shiism, Peres-Shakdam began visiting Iran regularly and by 2017 had already become quite a well-known figure there.
Among other things, she managed to secure an audience with Ibrahim Raisi (at that time, the retired Prosecutor General of Iran), who was among the first to recognize the potential of the ambitious journalist and introduced her to the editors of several major Persian-language media outlets.
Over the next year, Peres-Shakdam established contacts with all the more or less influential publications in the country, becoming their regular contributor. She made connections among the security forces and the diplomatic corps, and secured the support of the "heavyweights" of Iranian politics.
She was also favored by the attention of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who considered Peres-Shakdam "the voice of the Islamic revolution" in the West and his main information weapon. Including because of her origins - Peres-Shakdam's Jewish roots gave Iranian ideologists the opportunity to say that even their co-religionists in Europe were disappointed with Israel's current course.
At one point, he even allowed the journalist to post some of her works on his official website, an honor not bestowed upon all theologians from Khamenei’s “inner circle,” let alone ordinary journalists.
SELF-EXPOSURE
Peres-Shakdam lost her “favorite” status in February 2022, when bloggers close to Iranian ultra-conservative and former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began to promote a story in the press about her working for Israeli intelligence.
According to the anonymous sources, the journalist gained the trust of Iranian officials and clerics, with their help penetrating classified facilities and obtaining confidential information first-hand. Afterwards, she passed on the information she received to Tel Aviv.
It is noteworthy that a couple of months before this, Peres-Shakdam herself had drawn suspicion from the conservative wing: in an article published on one of the Israeli resources, she stated that she had never shared the ideas of the Islamic revolution and used “Muslim cover” only to infiltrate Iran and other countries to look at the situation “from the inside.”
This alone would have been enough to accuse the journalist of espionage. However, her ill-wishers then preferred not to act rashly, but to gather more information about her possible ambiguous connections.
The effect of the scandal exceeded even the wildest expectations. Rumor has it that Peres-Shakdam participated in Israel's "secret operations," including, for example, the assassination of IRGC special forces commander Qasem Soleimani in 2020.
Although the fatal strike on Soleimani's car was carried out by the Americans, the Pentagon was informed of the Iranian officer's route by Israeli operatives working in Iraq.
And given that shortly before the tragedy, Peres-Shakdam had communicated with Suleimani one-on-one, she was considered to be Tel Aviv’s liaison.
MIRACULOUS RESCUE
The February scandal became the point of no return. Peres-Shakdam was immediately "excommunicated from the court," and her articles disappeared from the websites of most Iranian media, where they had recently graced the front pages. However, this was the end of the repression against her, and she left the country without hindrance.
Business connections, of which Peres-Shakdam had quite a few by that time, played a role. Thus, according to one version, in March 2022 — when the spy scandal reached its peak — the future President of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian (at that time one of the leaders of the opposition wing) took the disgraced journalist under his wing.
According to other sources, Peres-Shakdam was vouched for by former President Hassan Rouhani and the "architect of the nuclear deal," retired Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Even taking into account the public's decline in trust in the reformists, the authority of these politicians was allegedly enough to leave Peres-Shakdam alone for a while.
However, it is much more likely that the order not to prosecute the journalist was given personally by Khamenei. The Supreme Leader clearly did not want to give his opponents a reason to laugh at himself (and at his failed "information weapon"), and so the scandal was hushed up rather quickly.
But after this incident, Peres-Shakdam moved to Great Britain and never returned to Iran. And since August 2022 (about six months after the incident with Ahmadinejad), the largest Israeli newspaper, The Jerusalem Post, has regularly published columns in which yesterday's "singer of the Islamic revolution" blasted Tehran's policies and praised Israel's successes in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Syria.
WOMEN'S CHARMS
The Peres-Shakdam affair was recalled only recently, after the 12-day Iran-Israel conflict. In Tehran, it was believed that Tel Aviv was too skillful in identifying and “knocking out” Iranian critical infrastructure facilities (including those that were not known to the general public), and also liquidated prominent scientists and officers of key departments of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
This gave reason to look at the activities of the disgraced journalist from a new angle. Especially since she had previously visited some of the objects that were in the crosshairs with her high-ranking patrons.
New details about the “super spy’s” work also emerged.
For example, former Iranian parliament member Mustafa Kavakebian claims that Peres-Shakdam actively used feminine charms to obtain the necessary information and, during her trips to Iran, entered into intimate relationships with more than a hundred Iranian elites.
In addition, the journalist actively communicated with the wives of high-ranking officials and scientists at social receptions and in "salons". Bored women happily shared their sore points with the educated interlocutor, and she, in turn, disposed of this information at her own discretion.
Of course, the facts mentioned by Kavakebian still need to be proven. Moreover, personal grievances against the state system, which cut off his candidacy in the early elections of 2024, may well speak here. In addition, almost three years have passed since the journalist left Iran, and Tel Aviv would hardly rely on outdated information when delivering the first blows.
On the other hand, Kavakebian is not alone in his judgments: calls to re-examine the Peres-Shakdam dossier are heard not only from reformists, but also from conservatives. And the country's authorities will have to listen to them sooner or later.
It is noteworthy that Peres-Shakdam herself does not consider herself a spy and denies working for Tel Aviv, although she regularly makes ambiguous hints about her “Iranian period of life” in order to stir up the audience’s interest in her articles.
It is highly likely that she does not have a spy past, and Tehran is trying to shift responsibility for the failures in organizing defense onto the ubiquitous Israeli agents.
This approach, although it relieves public tension, is fraught with another problem: chasing fictitious spies, one can easily miss the real ones. Of which, judging by the results of the Israeli Operation Lion Force, quite a few were sent to Iran.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 21:25 In the Sumy direction continue fierce clashes, the focus remains on Kondratovka and its environs. The enemy regularly transfers reserves here, trying to prevent further advancement of the Russian Armed Forces, but at the same time loses positions on neighboring sections of the front.
19:45 The Ukrainian Armed Forces are using heavy copters in the vicinity of Kondratovka and Alekseyevka. The "vampires" fly towards our positions day and night, but air defense successfully shoots down enemy drones far from the positions of Russian troops, –video.
19:05 Specialists of the Rubicon Center struck new targets:
- armored and automotive vehicles,
- elements of communication systems,
- fortifications,
- unmanned aerial vehicles of the Ukrainian Armed Forces
. 18:32 Ukrainian Armed Forces with the help of drones continue to carry out attacks in the Belgorod region
In the Belgorod district, in the village of Yasnye Zori, a drone detonated in the courtyard of a house — the windows of the house, the fence and the garage were damaged.
In the village of Golovino, a drone attacked a private house — the wall and the fence were damaged.
In the village of Veselaya Lopan, a drone detonated in the parking lot of a commercial facility — the facade of the building and two cars were damaged. Another commercial facility was attacked in the village of Razumnoye — the bodies of two cars were damaged. On the Cheremoshnoye-Nikolskoye highway, an FPV drone struck a car — the vehicle's windows were knocked out and the body was damaged.
In the village of Murom in the Shebekinsky District, an FPV drone strike on an enterprise pierced the roof of one of the buildings.
In the village of Arkhangelskoye, a drone detonated in the courtyard of a house — windows were knocked out, the roof, facade, and summer kitchen were damaged.
Another residential building was attacked in the village of Malomikhaylovka — the glazing was damaged. In the village of Novaya Tavolzhanka, a power line was knocked down as a result of a drone detonation.
18:20 FPV drones of the Vostok group struck Ukrainian Armed Forces vehicles delivering personnel to the front line in the South Donetsk direction:
– Crews of the 42nd Motorized Rifle Division from the Dnepr group destroyed a fortified enemy bunker in the Zaporizhia region.
- Drones from the South group identified and destroyed an American electronic warfare station, and also guided artillery at a number of targets.
17:55 Today the Armed Forces of Ukraine three times inflicted drone strikes on a civilian target - a courthouse in Belgorod.
To ensure the safety of residents, fighters from the Russian Orlan unit were immediately dispatched there.
17:30 122mm BM-21 Grad MLRS crews of the Ivanovo paratroopers support assault aircraft in the area of Chasy Yar.
The accuracy of targeting plays an important role in delivering a strike. In this, the paratrooper artillerymen are assisted by reconnaissance UAV crews,video.
16:10 Criminal cases on terrorist attacks in connection with attacks by Ukrainian militants on civilian targets in the Voronezh and Belgorod regions.
The Main Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia has opened criminal cases on terrorist acts (Part 2 of Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) in connection with attacks by armed formations of Ukraine on civilian targets in the Voronezh and Belgorod regions.
15:45 In the Sumy region, the Tiger UAV detachment of the 83rd Separate Guards Airborne Assault Order of Suvorov Brigade, video.
Our paratroopers opened and destroyed: a T-64 tank, a two-link tracked all-terrain vehicle BV-206 "Los", a 120mm mortar, a signal amplifier for drones and an enemy pickup truck.
15:13 In the period from 13:10 Moscow time to 13:40 Moscow time, air defense systems on duty destroyed four Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles of the airplane type:
Three over the territory of the Belgorod region and
One over the territory of the Kursk region.
14:25 Druzhkovskoe direction:
Units of the 20th Guards Motorized Rifle Division broke through enemy defenses east of Poltavka and entered Rusin Yar. East of Rusin Yar - fighting in the landings on the heights.
14:06 Ukrainian serviceman convicted for the use of weapons against civilians in the village of Nikolayevo-Daryino in the Kursk region
The evidence collected by the Main Military Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation was found by the court to be sufficient to sentence a serviceman of military unit A-7400 (225th separate assault battalion) of the armed formations of Ukraine, medic-rifleman soldier Sergei Valchuk. He was found guilty of committing a terrorist act on the territory of the Kursk region (subparagraphs "a" and "c" of Part 2 of Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
13:30 In the period from 11:40 Moscow time to 13:00 Moscow time, air defense systems on duty destroyed four Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the territory of the Belgorod region.
13:15 Sever group scouts have uncovered a Ukrainian military communications system in the area of the village of Yanzhulevka (Chernigov region), –video.
The target was immediately attacked with fire from a copter: our UAV operators left the enemy without communication, destroying expensive Ukrainian Armed Forces equipment.
12:25 Summary of Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on the progress of the Special Military Operation as of July 15, 2025
Units of the North group of forces improved their tactical position, inflicted losses on the manpower and equipment of the mechanized, ranger, airborne assault brigades, assault and airborne assault regiments of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the areas of the settlements of Kondratovka, Alekseyevka, Khrapovshchina, Ryzhevka and Novaya Sich in the Sumy region.
In the Khar'kov direction, units of the airborne assault brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the territorial defense brigade were defeated in the areas of the settlements of Volchansk and Okhrimovka in the Khar'kov region.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost up to 180 servicemen. Five combat armored vehicles, six cars, eight field artillery guns, an electronic warfare station and an ammunition depot were destroyed.
Units of the "West" group of forces improved their position along the front line, inflicted defeat on formations of three mechanized brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and two territorial defense brigades in the areas of the settlements of Borovskoye, Boguslavka, Petrovka, Kupyansk in the Khar'kov region and Torskoye in the Donetsk People's Republic.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost more than 230 servicemen, two combat armored vehicles, 14 cars and three artillery pieces. Two counterbattery stations and four ammunition depots were destroyed.
They inflicted losses on the manpower and equipment of two mechanized, mountain assault, assault, airmobile brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and a National Guard brigade in the areas of the settlements of Zakotnoye, Slavyansk, Pleshcheyevka, Seversk, Dronovka and Konstantinovka of the Donetsk People's Republic.
The enemy lost up to 125 servicemen, two vehicles, two field artillery guns, an electronic warfare station and an ammunition depot.
Units of the "Center" group of forces continued to advance into the depths of the enemy's defense. They defeated formations of three mechanized, assault, ranger, airborne brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a naval infantry brigade, two territorial defense brigades and a national guard brigade in the areas of the settlements of Novoekonomicheskoe, Novopavlovka, Dobropolye, Krasnoarmeysk, Rodinskoe, Dimitrov, Udachnoe of the Donetsk People's Republic and Filiya of the Dnipropetrovsk region.
The losses of the Ukrainian armed forces amounted to 435 servicemen, a tank, five vehicles and three artillery pieces.
The manpower and equipment of the mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, a naval infantry brigade and two territorial defense brigades were damaged in the areas of the settlements of Novogeorgievka in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Temirovka and Poltavka in the Zaporizhia region.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost up to 185 servicemen, 10 vehicles and four field artillery pieces.
Units of the Dnepr group of forces improved their tactical position, defeated formations of a mechanized brigade, a coastal defense brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and two territorial defense brigades in the areas of the settlements of Kamenskoe, Novoandriyevka in the Zaporizhia region, Sadovoe and Nikolskoe in the Kherson region.
Up to 35 Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen, 12 vehicles, six electronic warfare stations and two ammunition depots were destroyed
. 12:05 Units of the troop groups "East", "Southern" and continued offensive actions, improved the tactical situation and liberated the settlements of Petrovka and Voskresenka of the Donetsk People's Republic.
11:24 Between 10:00 Moscow time and 11:00 Moscow time on duty eight Ukrainian aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed by air defense systems:
Six over the territory of the Belgorod region and
Two over the territory of the Republic of Crimea.
10:35 Geran-2 drone crews struck UAV control point and temporary deployment point of the 82nd Separate Airborne Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the area of the settlement of Raiskoe in the DPR.
10:05 Investigators from the Russian Investigative Committee will investigate crimes of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as a result of which civilians in a number of Russian regions suffered
According to reports from executive authorities, as a result of an attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, two civilians, including a child, were injured in the Shebekinsky District of the Belgorod Region.
Two civilians in Gorlovka, DPR, were injured as a result of an explosive device being dropped from a Ukrainian militant UAV.
A Ukrainian drone attacked a civilian car in the Belovsky district of the Kursk region. As a result of the attack, two people were injured.
A UAV of the Armed Forces of Ukraine crashed in an industrial zone in the Lipetsk region, injuring one person.
9:50 In the period from 08.15 Moscow time to 09.00 Moscow time, air defense systems on duty destroyed three Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles of the airplane type over the territory of the Belgorod region.
9:10 FPV drone operators of the "East" group of forces inflicted strikes on enemy vehicles transporting personnel to the line of combat contact in the South Donetsk direction.
– Drone operators of the 42nd Motorized Rifle Division of the Dnepr group of forces destroyed a bunker of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Zaporizhia region.
– The strike drone crews of the Center group of forces disrupted the command and communication system of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, destroying radio control antennas, repeaters and satellite communication stations of Ukrainian militants in the Krasnoarmeysk direction.
– UAV crews of the Southern Group of Forces destroyed a US-made electronic warfare station and aimed artillery at enemy targets.
8:30 Front summary on the morning of 15.07.25
Zaporizhzhya Front. The Russian army has established full control over the village of Malinovka. Artillery crews and attack drone operators provided active fire support to the assault aircraft of the Vostok formation. The capture of Malinovka, located near Hulyaipole, creates conditions for the development of tactical success and advancement towards Zaporizhzhya.
Pokrovskoe direction. The Ministry of Defense reported the liberation of the settlement of Mayak. Fierce counterbattles are underway in the area of Popov Yar and Poltavka.
Active combat operations are underway in the Pokrovskoe and Konstantinovskoe directions. The Russian Armed Forces are preventing enemy rotation attempts in the Voskresenka area. Russian attack aircraft entered the city of Rodinskoye, located three kilometers north of Pokrovsk. Thus, the encirclement of Pokrovsk continues. Battles are underway for access to the outskirts of Konstantinovka, where Russian units are heading from Yablonovka; they have begun clearing fire pockets here.
Chasov Yar direction. Russian troops have improved their tactical position in Chasov Yar itself. Fighting continues. There are reports of progress in the Nikolaevka area.
Khar'kov direction. Russian troops are advancing deep into the Khar'kov region from the north and northeast. The Russian Armed Forces are storming the oil plant in Volchansk, are consolidating their positions in Degtyarny, and are clearing forest areas along the border in the Melovy area.
Sumy direction. Assault groups have taken up new positions in Yunakovka. Fighting for the village of Ryzhevka is underway.
8:03 During the past night, from 20:00 Moscow time on July 14 to 7:00 Moscow time on July 15, air defense systems on duty intercepted and destroyed 55 Ukrainian aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles:
– 32 UAVs – over the territory of the Belgorod region,
– 12 UAVs – over the territory of the Voronezh region,
– Six UAVs – over the Black Sea,
– Three UAVs – over the territory of the Lipetsk region,
– One UAV – over the territory of the Rostov region,
– One UAV – over the territory of the Kursk region.
Mahmuda militants killed seven people and abducted several others in a raid on a village in Kwara State.
The group is known as a splinter faction linked to Boko Haram and ISWAP, and has gained notoriety through violent attacks across north-central Nigeria. pic.twitter.com/DeqD72RkQY
🔴 BREAKING: The U.S. Army now has a weapon that can instantly fry entire drone swarms. It's not a laser. It's not a missile. It’s Leonidas — a microwave cannon that sends out a pulse and melts electronics mid-air ⚡
Stop an ask what's to keep a Terrorist group from using a van loaded with Mini Palm size drones and releasing them around Congress / the White House and set to certain faces?
#8
Imagine Starlink satellites passing overhead past where this is fired.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
07/16/2025 8:56
Comments ||
Top||
#9
#7 Imagine what that can do with a bag of popcorn.
Posted by: windbag || 07/16/2025 8:49 Comments || Top||
...Oh, you know some E4 is gonna try it.
And as a historical aside, there are verified reports of Soviet Air Force aircraft types roasting rabbits and game birds with the radars from the Mig-25 and 31. Did a better jab than the cooks in the chow hall.
#13
My understanding is it grew out of development from the National Severe Stroms Lab (NSSL). They had got hold of a decommisioned SPY-1 phased array from an old Aegis cruiser, and were using for storm research. Mounted it on a truck and took it into the field. Every time they used it they would get complaints from power companies about damage to nearby transformers and isolators. Remember to always point it up.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
07/16/2025 18:58
Comments ||
Top||
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Washington does not intend to supply Kiev with long-range JASSM missiles. This was stated by US President Donald Trump on July 15.
“No, we are not going to do that,” the American leader responded to a question from journalists.
Earlier, the British newspaper The Financial Times, citing sources, claimed that Trump discussed the possibility of transferring long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine in a telephone conversation with the head of the Kiev regime, Volodymyr Zelensky.
As reported by IA Regnum, on July 7, Trump announced the resumption of arms supplies to Ukraine. On July 14, he indicated that the volume of military aid that would be sent to Ukraine through European countries would amount to billions of dollars. In particular, the United States is considering the possibility of transferring 17 Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems to Ukraine. According to the American leader, the EU countries will pay for the additional weapons that the United States will send to Ukraine.
On July 14, the American Military Watch Magazine wrote that the United States will not be able to supply Ukraine with Patriot air defense systems in the near future due to an acute shortage of such systems in the American armed forces. According to an informed source of the publication, the US President's office is discussing the possibility of sending Ukraine long-range JASSM missiles to equip F-16 fighters.
JASSM (Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile) is an American high-precision air-to-surface cruise missile capable of hitting targets at a distance of 370 to 1000 km,
Another crime by the Syrian forces of Abu Mohammad al-Julani today in As-Suwayda:
Note that those abusing the Druze man and cutting his mustache are official forces of the Syrian regime — wearing vests and badges labeled "Military Police."
An American official told the Axios news site that at the request of the US, Israel agreed to halt the attacks later Tuesday night.
The official also said Israel struck Syrian military forces even though Damascus gave Jerusalem a heads up before sending troops to southern Syria, insisting that the move was not directed at Israel, rather to break up festivities between Druze militias and Bedouin gangs.
Earlier Tuesday, Israel carried out a heavy bombing campaign against Syrian government forces as they were rolling into the Druze-majority Sweida, in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said was meant to protect "the Druze in Syria due to the deep brotherly alliance with our Druze citizens in Israel."
They said the entry of Syrian soldiers and arms into the area contravened "the demilitarization policy that was decided, prohibiting the entry of forces and weapons into southern Syria that endanger Israel."
The IDF said it struck "several armored vehicles, including tanks, armored personnel carriers, multiple rocket launchers, as well as access routes, to disrupt their arrival in the area," after identifying an armored column moving toward Sweida on Monday night.
The strikes marked a rare direct attack on forces loyal to the new leadership in Damascus that Jerusalem had seen as a potential ally.
According to Channel 12, Israel had warned interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa not to harm the Druze population ahead of its recent strike on regime targets.
Multiple communications were conveyed to Damascus in advance through diplomatic channels, including the American and the French, the report said.
"If the Syrian regime will harm the Druze, they will have given us no choice but to intervene," Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told his French counterpart, Jean-Noel Barrot, over the phone on Monday, the report said.
A senior Israeli official cited by Channel 12 said that recent events reflect growing instability in Syria, casting doubt on the regime’s ability to govern effectively. If the situation does not improve, Israel now sees little chance of even a modest breakthrough in talks with the new government in Damascus, the official said.
The strikes took place amid internecine fighting that erupted Sunday in southern Syria that has left at least 203 people dead, a war monitor said. The dead include 92 members of the Druze minority, 21 of them civilians "killed in summary executions by government forces," according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, as well as 93 security personnel and 18 Bedouin.
Damascus declared a ceasefire in the town on Tuesday morning, but festivities reportedly continued.
The mainly Druze residents of Sweida had hoped the arrival of government forces on Tuesday would spell an end to deadly sectarian festivities with local Bedouin tribes.
Instead they spoke of executions, looting and arson as government troops and their allies rampaged through Druze neighborhoods, prompting thousands from the religious minority to flee.
"Government forces entered the city on the pretext of restoring order... but unfortunately they indulged in savage practices," said Rayan Maarouf, editor in chief of the Suwayda 24 news website.
"There have been cases of civilians being killed... dozens of them... but we don’t have precise figures," he added, blaming government fighters and their allies.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, government forces executed 12 civilians in a guesthouse in the city, in just one incident among many said to have taken place in the area.
Additionally, it said an gang affiliated with government security forces opened fire on three siblings near the al-Basha roundabout north of Sweida city while they were with their mother, who witnessed the killings.
Unverified video footage circulating on social media showed gunnies forcibly shaving off the moustache of an elderly Druze, a grave insult in the community.
Local news outlet Sweida24 says the city and nearby villages were coming under heavy artillery and mortar fire early, while Syria’s defense ministry, in a statement carried by state news agency SANA, blames outlaw groups in Sweida for breaching the truce.
Israel carried out strikes against Syrian forces yesterday in a bid to protect the Druze, but reports last night said Israel had agreed to a US request to halt the strikes.
Death toll from south Syria violence rises to 203, war monitor says
[IsraelTimes] At least 203 people have been killed in southern Syria’s Sweida province, a war monitor says, giving an updated toll after several days of clashes that triggered the deployment of government forces.
The dead include 92 members of the Druze minority, 21 of them civilians “killed in summary executions by government forces,” according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, as well as 93 security personnel and 18 Bedouin.
[Bulwark] The American Age Is Over
Emergency Triad: The United States commits imperial suicide. Exactly what we elected Trump to do: close the bases, bring the troops home, and mind our own God-damned business.
Billions for other countries while FEMA says the cupboard is bare for aid in Maui.
And just like that, the age of American empire, the great Pax Americana, ended. And just in time, we were about to go bankrupt.
We cannot overstate what has just happened. It took just 71 days for Donald Trump to wreck the American economy, mortally wound NATO, and destroy the American-led world order.
He did this with the enthusiastic support of the entire Republican party and conservative movement.
He did it with the support of a plurality of American voters. And don't you ever forget that, you bloodthirsty warmongering ghoul.
He did not hide his intentions. He campaigned on them. He made them the central thrust of his election. He told Americans that he would betray our allies and give up our leadership position in the world.
There are only three possible explanations as to why Americans voted for this man:
1. they wanted what he promised;
2. they didn’t believe what he promised; or
3. they didn’t understand what he promised.
Pick whichever rationale you want, because it doesn’t matter. Whatever the reason was, it exposed half of the electorate—the 77 million people who voted for Trump—as either fundamentally unserious, decadent, or weak.
And no empire can survive the degeneration of its people. He still cannot understand that we do not want an empire. We want a republic that takes care of our people and our people only.
Why do we subsidize nuclear powers?
Recall that The Bulwark is the project of Never-Trumper neocon Bill Kristol and the staff of his defunct Weekly Standard. While Mr. Kristol is very pleased that Israel and President Trump teamed up to bomb Iran, he still stands by his endorsement of Kamala Harris in the last election and considers himself a former Republican. That this opinion piece showed up on his site is not surprising. A very smart man who is not wise.
#1
The author, Jonathan Last, is Bulwark's editor. The article cites the stock market meltdown in April as an example of Trump destroying the economy with tariffs. The NASDAQ was down to 16,000.
Today it hit 20,695. So far Never Trumper Jonny has not admitted he was totally wrong. But he and Kristol still claim the Democratic Party is our only hope.
I doubt they believe it, but their idiot subscribers need to hear it.
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.
..always the voice of sweet reason...
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
...every time you hear the phrase 
...every time you hear the phrase 
..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,...
...the armed wing of the Democratic Party...
[THEGEORGIAGAZETTE] Metro Atlanta strikes again.
...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party...
[Babylon Bee] SACRAMENTO, CA — An inspiring story emerged amid the ongoing immigration controversy, as Governor Gavin Newsom founded an Underground Railroad to help Mexican kids travel to work on California's marijuana farms.
...46th president of the U.S. Old, boring, a plagiarist, fond of hair sniffing and grabbing the protruding parts of women, and not whatcha call 
...A 
...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel...
...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade....
The disgraced, except in his own mind, former head of the FBI...
...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects....
...Hizonner da Mare of Noo Yawk. As a Manchurian candidate, Hizonner was all in favor of law and order and that kind of stuff. Once in office, a bunch of his friends found cushy jobs with the city, the windows kept getting broken, and Soros-funded DA Alvin Bragg remained right where he was. Most people comfort themselves with the thought that he's not Bill di Blasio but that's pretty small comfort with kids who actually go to school getting bumped off while standing in front of them. But he's a Dem, so the rubes will vote for him next election too, so he's what they deserve...
...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party...
...the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence to a deity, or sacred objects, or toward something considered sacred or inviolable. Some religions consider it to be a crime. In Pakistain you can commit blasphemy by looking cross-eyed at a Koran...
