Syrian state media said Thursday an Israeli air strike hit the coastal city of Latakia, targeting a weapons depot according to a war monitor.
Two people were maimed and buildings were damaged, state media reported citing a military statement.
SANA claimed that Syrian anti-aircraft defense intercepted "hostile targets" in the skies above Latakia.
The news agency reported "fires were triggered by the Israeli aggression" at the entrance to Latakia, a stronghold of President Bashir al-Assad.
Video circulated on social media appeared to show large secondary explosions, suggesting the presence of weapons at the targeted site.
The Syrian government is allied to the Hezbollah terror group, which began attacking Israel a day after Hamas’s devastating October 7 onslaught, it what it said was a show of support for Paleostinians.
The Israeli military, which has launched hundreds of strikes in Syria in recent years, did not comment on the alleged Latakia strike.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britannia-based monitor of unclear funding, said the Israeli raid "targeted a weapons depot in Latakia city."
Strikes have been rare on the port city, which is near the Russian air base in Hmeimim.
The Observatory on October 3 reported drones hit a weapons depot near Jableh, located in Latakia province next to Hmeimim.
"Huge explosions were heard from far away," the monitor said without detailing the source of the drones.
Anti-aircraft defense systems operated by Syria and Russia, an ally of Assad, attempted to intercept the missiles according to the Observatory. Syrian state media did not report on the Jableh strikes.
Last month, it was reported that Israeli special forces carried out a massive raid on an Iranian weapons facility in the Masyaf area in Syria, killing at least 14 people, wounding 43, and sparking fires.
[Rudaw] At least one civilian was killed and five others were maimed in artillery strikes carried out by the Syrian army on the northwestern Idlib province, the last remaining rebel bastion in the area, a war monitor reported on Wednesday.
"A 5-year-old girl was killed and five civilians were maimed with varying degrees of wounds as a result of heavy artillery shelling by regime forces, targeting agricultural lands around the villages of Maarbalit and Maarzaf southeast of Idlib," reported the UK-based watchdog Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.
Syrian regime forces shelled the towns of Nairab, San, Majdalaya, and Benin ...Benin, a French-speaking West African nation, that they put where Dahomey used to be. It is a birthplace of voodoo and zombies. In Abomey, Dahomey's former capital, the Historical Museum occupies two royal palaces with bas-reliefs recounting the kingdom’s past and a throne mounted on human skulls. To the north, Pendjari National Park offers safaris with elephants, hippos and lions and tigers and bears, oh my!... in eastern Idlib countryside, and a regime suicide drone targeted the outskirts of Deir Sunbul village in southern Idlib countryside, while the Syrian-rebels shelled Syrian army positions in the Shorin and Jabal al-Ahmar camps, according to SOHR.
Rebel sites in Idlib and Latakia were also targeted by at least seven Russian Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s on the same day.
Half of Idlib province, as well as parts of Aleppo, Hama, and Latakia provinces, are the last rebel-held bastions in the country after President Bashir al-Assad seized back swathes of territory over the course of the brutal Syrian civil war, which erupted in 2011.
Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... (HTS), the former Syrian branch of al-Qaeda, is the prominent force among dozens of different rebel factions operating in the rebel-held northwest. It controls large swathes of Idlib and parts of Aleppo, Hama, and Latakia provinces.
It has been internationally recognized as a terrorist organization.
A ceasefire brokered by Russia and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... has been in place in northwest Syria since March 2020, but the area has witnessed a recent flare-up in violence.
Over 13 million Syrians have been displaced since the start of the civil war, more than six million of which are refugees who have fled the war-torn country, according to a report from the United Nations ...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense... High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Follow-up to this story from yesterday. They did it to themselves, with no help from Mossad… probably.
[Rudaw] At least three people died and over a dozen others were maimed after separate fires erupted in Iran’s Isfahan and Khuzestan provinces, state media reported on Wednesday.
A blaze erupted at the Pars Petro Shushtar refinery in Khuzestan’s Shushtar city at around 10 pm, local time, on Tuesday, according to Shushtar governor Seyyed Mohsen Seyyed Mousavi.
"The initial cause of the incident was unsafe refilling of the transport vehicles," Mousavi said.
The fire in Shushtar killed one person and injured seven others, with three of them being at death's door, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
In a separate incident on Tuesday, a kaboom in Isfahan province’s Kashan city killed two and injured seven others, state media IRNA reported.
"An explosion of a melting furnace at the cast iron factory located in Phase two of Amir Kabir Industrial urban area in this city left two dead and seven injured on Tuesday afternoon," Mehrdad Farzandipour, the head of Kashan emergency center told IRNA.
"One of the fatalities in the incident died instantly at the moment of the earth-shattering kaboom due to severe burns, while the other person passed away in the hospital," he added.
Mousavi announced on Wednesday that the fire was brought under control, but the emergency teams at the site remain on standby.
[IsraelTimes] The IDF says that an Israeli airstrike killed the head of Hamas’s drone operations in the northern Gaza Strip, naming him as Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.
Al-Mabhouh was responsible for directing drone attacks on Israel and on Israeli troops in Gaza, the IDF says.
In Jabaliya, troops with the IDF’s 162nd Division have killed Hamas operatives in face-to-face combat as well as in airstrikes, the military says.
Meanwhile in Rafah, Israeli forces directed drone strikes against “a cell of armed terrorists” who were planning terror attacks, the military adds.
[IsraelTimes] The Inter-Parliamentary Union defeated a motion calling on Israel to withdraw its forces from Gaza and Lebanon, as well as the West Bank and East Jerusalem, during a meeting of representatives of 195 parliaments in Geneva yesterday.
The Palestinian resolution demanded the Knesset “submit a monthly report on the extent of its compliance with UN General Assembly resolution ES-10/24,” which called on Israel to vacate the West Bank within a year. Failure to do so would result in sanctions.
The resolution failed to obtain the necessary two-thirds majority, eliciting cheering and clapping from the members of the Israeli delegation, led by MKs Dan Illouz (Likud), MK Tzega Melaku (Likud) and MK Elazar Stern (Yesh Atid).
When Illouz spoke out against the resolution, parliamentarians from Iran and a number of Arab countries walked out of the hall in protest, with lawmakers from multiple countries chanting “free, free Palestine” and yelling “murderers” at the Israeli delegation.
“How dare the Palestinian Authority lecture us on international law violations,” Illouz countered. “This is the same authority that pays terrorists to murder innocent Jews and brainwashes schoolchildren to hate and kill.”
“The clause submitted by the Palestinians is full of lies. Israel, unlike its neighbors, respects international law. We are the only democracy in the region, committed to the rule of law,” he declared.
[IsraelTimes] The United States imposes sanctions on what it described as a Lebanon-based sanctions evasion network that funnels millions of dollars to Hezbollah.
The action targeted three individuals linked to Hezbollah’s finance arm and four Lebanon-based companies registered to conceal ties to the terror group, according to a Treasury Department statement.
The US also sanctions three individuals involved in the production and sale of the amphetamine known as captagon, who it said have funded the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad and its allies, including Hezbollah.
“Today’s action underscores (Hezbollah’s) destabilizing influence within Lebanon and on the wider region, as the group, its affiliates, and its supporters continue to finance their operations through covert involvement in commercial trade and the illicit trafficking of captagon,” Bradley T. Smith, acting undersecretary of Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, says in the statement.
[IsraelTimes] Key regional mediator Egypt replaces the head of its powerful state intelligence agency, local media reports, appointing a new chief, Hassan Rashad.
Abbas Kamel, a close ally of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and his former chief of staff, has held the post since 2018. He held the role of the main Egyptian mediator in talks between Israel and Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... Kamel will now take up the post of presidential advisor and envoy, as well as general coordinator of security services, according to state-aligned media Extra News. It is unclear if he will maintain his role as mediator 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... talks.
The switch-up comes as Egypt finds itself surrounded by regional conflict.
For over a year, it has failed alongside fellow mediators 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... and the US to achieve a ceasefire and hostage deal in the Israel-Hamas war, which has since spread into Leb ...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the 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 Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... .
[IsraelTimes] Defense minister accuses France of implementing ‘hostile policy toward the Jewish people,’ after Euronaval organizer says French gov’t decided Israeli companies can’t display wares
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday called French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to ban Israeli firms from exhibiting at a naval arms show "a disgrace" and accused Gay Paree of implementing a hostile policy towards the Jewish people.
The decision to bar Israeli firms is the latest by the Macron government to express its unease over Israel’s conduct in the fighting against Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... 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... and Hezbollah in Leb ...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the 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 Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... It came after French efforts to secure a truce in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon foundered and as Israel carries out more Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s in the former French mandate.
"French President Macron’s actions are a disgrace to the French nation and the values of the free world, which he claims to uphold," Gallant posted on X.
"La Belle France has adopted, and is consistently implementing, a hostile policy toward the Jewish people. We will continue defending our nation against enemies on 7 different fronts, and fighting for our future — with or without La Belle France."
French officials have repeatedly said that Gay Paree is committed to Israel’s security and point out that its military helped defend Israel after Iranian attacks in April and earlier this month.
Euronaval, organizer of the event set to take place in Gay Paree from November 4-7, said in a statement that the French government had informed it on Tuesday that Israeli delegations were not allowed to exhibit stands or show equipment, but could attend the trade show. The decision affected seven firms, it said.
It is the second time this year that La Belle France has banned Israeli firms from a major defense show. In May La Belle France said conditions were not right for Israel to participate in the Eurosatory military trade show when Macron was calling for Israel to cease operations in the Gaza Strip, where it has been fighting since Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught last year started the war.
"These measures not only harm relations between our two countries, but also the bonds of trust that they have built, and thus cast doubt on La Belle France’s ability to play a leading role on the diplomatic scene to promote peace and stability in the Middle East," the Israeli embassy said in a statement.
DIPLOMATIC SPARRING
Israeli forces have carried out numerous airstrikes and a ground incursion targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon, causing substantial civilian casualties and leading Western allies, including La Belle France, to call for an immediate ceasefire.
Diplomatic sparring between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Macron has increased in recent weeks after Gay Paree had worked with Washington to secure a 21-day truce that would then open the door to negotiations on a long-term diplomatic solution.
Believing Israel was generally on board with the effort, and having received assurances from the Lebanese government that Hezbollah would go along with it, La Belle France and the United States were caught by surprise when the next day Israel launched strikes that killed Hezbollah leader His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah ...The late, lamented satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...> Netanyahu has rejected a unilateral ceasefire that fails to stop Hezbollah rearming and regrouping, while the Lebanese terrorist organization has ruled out any truce that is not accompanied by an end to the fighting in Gaza. La Belle France has sought to continue to work on a diplomatic resolution.
Macron has irked Netanyahu several times, notably as United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... peacekeeping forces have been caught in Israeli crossfire in southern Lebanon.
La Belle France, with nearly 700 troops in the 10,000-strong UNIFIL peacekeeping force, is one of the main European contributors alongside Italia and Spain. All three have condemned what the UN says have been Israeli attacks and violations against peacekeepers, while Israel maintains its operations have targeted Hezbollah posts but their proximity to UNIFIL has led to several accidental strikes.
Macron has urged an end to the supply to Israel of offensive weapons used in Gaza and Lebanon, a call that Netanyahu has slammed as "a disgrace."
On Tuesday, Macron told a cabinet meeting that Netanyahu should not forget that Israel was created by a UN decision, according to a French official.
Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot sought to downplay the comments, saying they had been general remarks reminding Israel of the importance of respecting the UN charter.
But Netanyahu’s office said in response that Israel was established through "the War of Independence with the blood of our heroic fighters, many of whom were Holocaust survivors, including from the Vichy regime in La Belle France" — referring to the French government that had collaborated with Nazi Germany.
[IsraelTimes] Vladimir Verhovsky, 35, suspected of communicating via Telegram with Iranian agents, carrying out tasks including graffiti, hanging flyers, intelligence gathering on Israeli official
A 35-year-old Israeli man was indicted on charges of planning to assassinate Israeli figures on orders from Iran, the Israel Police and State Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday.
Vladimir Verhovsky, from central Israel, was charged with contact with a foreign agent, carrying and transporting a weapon, and conspiracy to commit a terrorist act.
According to the indictment, Verhovsky made contact sometime in August 2024 with an entity operating on behalf of Iranian intelligence services, who portrayed himself as an Israeli citizen living in Canada, calling himself "Eli."
Verhovsky carried out a series of tasks for "Eli," despite knowing he was hostile to the State of Israel, in exchange for transfers of between $30 and $200 to a cryptocurrency wallet. The tasks were coordinated in English over the Telegram app.
The tasks included spray-painting graffiti reading "LEHI" in English and Hebrew, and "HITLER=NETANYAHU," in different locations. He also buried tracking devices behind a bus station and filmed demonstrations in Tel Aviv.
To communicate with "Eli," Verhovsky purchased a dedicated cell phone, paid for using money he received from "Eli" for that purpose, the indictment said.
In late September, Verhovsky agreed to gather intelligence about a resident of Tel Aviv’s Borla Street, and took photographs of the interior of the resident’s building. He also presented a photograph of the resident to neighbors and asked whether they knew him, and knocked on the resident’s door.
Finally, Verhovsky agreed to kill an Israeli scientist, in exchange for $100,000, the indictment said.
He was dispatched by the Iranian agent to pick up a gun from a bag in a discreet public location, to use in the murder. When he returned from retrieving the weapon, Verhovsky was arrested by security services.
He is slated to appear before a court hearing on Wednesday for an extension of his remand, police said.
"The defendant committed security offenses while the State of Israel was waging one of the most difficult wars it has ever known, on many fronts, including Iran," the prosecutor noted in a hearing, according to the State Attorney’s Office statement.
The announcement of Verhovsky’s charges came just two days after another two Israelis were arrested for carrying out a series of acts of sabotage on behalf of Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... and plotting to kill a senior Israeli figure.
It was not immediately clear whether the two operations were connected.
The Shin Bet in recent months has announced a series of alleged Iranian plots, in which Iran had tried to trick Israelis online into carrying out missions for Tehran.
Last month, a Jewish Israeli civilian was arrested after he was allegedly recruited by Iran to advance an liquidation plot of Israel’s prime minister, defense minister, or the head of the Shin Bet.
In January, authorities uncovered a scheme in which Israelis were allegedly recruited to gather intelligence on high-profile figures.
[IsraelTimes] Invisible detonators and wafer-thin plastic explosives turned batteries into bombs after a fake, but convincing, online history was created for bulky new product used by thousands.
[IsraelTimes] US notes initial steps taken by Israel to boost humanitarian aid into Strip, hours after confirming it sent letter warning of consequences if situation doesn’t improve in 30 days
Israel allowed 50 trucks of humanitarian aid into the northern Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip on Wednesday, hours after the US confirmed sending a letter warning that Washington’s continued supply of weapons was at risk if Jerusalem didn’t take significant steps to address the growing humanitarian crisis in the enclave within 30 days.
Fifty trucks carrying food, water, medical supplies and shelter equipment from Jordan were transferred from the Allenby Crossing into the West Bank into northern Gaza through the Erez West Crossing, said a statement from COGAT, the Israeli military body that oversees aid distribution in the coastal enclave.
COGAT said Israel "will continue to facilitate and ease the entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza."
Israel allowed 30 trucks of aid to reach northern Gaza on Monday after nearly two weeks during which humanitarian groups said that all assistance had been blocked. This period coincided with the IDF’s launch of an operation aimed at thwarting Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... ’s revival in northern Gaza.
The military issued broad evacuation orders to tens of thousands of civilians before launching the operation, but many have refused to comply. Some have said they are unable, others cite claims Israeli troops have targeted those fleeing the area and others highlight the squalid conditions in the southern Gaza humanitarian zone where millions have been pushed after repeated evacuations throughout the past year of war sparked by Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught.
The dire conditions in northern Gaza appeared to have been one of the triggers leading US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ...71st United States secretary of state and a leading light of the corrupt and inept Biden administration. He previously served as deputy national security advisor from 2013 to 2015 and deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017 under the corrupt and inept Obama administration. He advocated for the 2003 invasion of Iraq while serving as the Democratic staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2002 to 2008. He was a foreign policy advisor for the Biden 2008 presidential campaign. During his tenure in the Obama administration, Blinken helped craft B.O.'s policy on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the nuclear program of Iran. We all saw how well each of those worked. After leaving government service, Blinken moved into the private sector, co-founding WestExec Advisors, a lobbying firm... and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to send a letter to Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Sunday, warning that Israel would be in violation of an executive order signed by President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. Sleazy Dem machine politician, paterfamilias of the Biden Crime Family... if significant measures weren’t taken to alleviate the humanitarian situation in Gaza within a month.
The February executive order requires the administration to receive written assurances from recipients of security assistance that they won’t arbitrarily restrict the delivery of humanitarian aid.
In their letter, Blinken and Austin pointed to the fact that September saw the lowest amount of aid entering Gaza since the start of the war; the apparent Israeli "isolation" of northern Gaza and the nearly complete halt to aid deliveries from Jordan. They suggested that Israel was not adhering to a written assurance it provided in March and presented a list demanding over a dozen steps be taken in the next 30 days to address the humanitarian crisis.
Failure to do so would put the continued US supply of offensive weapons to Israel in jeopardy.
Asked by news hounds what legal action should be taken against Israel if the warnings in the letter are ignored, US Vice President Kamala Harris who got her start in politix between former Oakland mayor Willie Brown's' knees responded, "We’ll take it one step at a time, if necessary."
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller noted during a Wednesday briefing that the administration is still obligated under US law to ensure that Israel maintains a Qualitative Military Edge over its regional adversaries, in addition to abiding by the 10-year Memorandum of Understanding to deliver $3.8 billion in security assistance to Israel through 2028.
However,
ars longa, vita brevis... he noted that the administration is no less bound by the February executive order, indicating that the US could still restrict the delivery of some — but not all— weapons to Israel.
Alarmed by the US warning, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened an emergency meeting Friday to discuss expanding humanitarian aid to Gaza, three Israeli officials who attended the discussion said, adding that assistance would likely to increase soon.
A fourth Israeli official said the security cabinet was expected to further discuss the matter on Sunday.
Miller noted Wednesday that Israel has already taken several steps to address the crisis since the letter was sent. He pointed to the 50 aid trucks Israel allowed into northern Gaza earlier in the day.
Over the past several days, Israel also reopened the Erez Crossing into northern Gaza in addition to opening a new access route from the south to the north of the Strip, Miller said, adding that another route was opened for delivering aid in southern Gaza.
Israel also reopened an aid route to allow the resumption of aid deliveries from Jordan, he added.
Israel has taken steps to approve new warehouses and other staging facilities for the UN and other humanitarian organizations aimed at easing some of the logistical burdens they have faced in storing and delivering aid inside Gaza, Miller continued.
Israel has also informed the UN and other humanitarian organizations in the past day that it would waive for 12 months the customs declarations that it has been requiring individuals to sign to bring goods in, Miller said. This follows a request from aid organizations and was one of the demands made by the Biden administration in its letter to Israel earlier this week.
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the Security Council during a Wednesday session on the Gaza war that Washington is watching to ensure that Israel’s actions on the ground show that it does not have a "policy of starvation" in the northern Gaza Strip.
She told the 15-member council that such a policy would be "horrific and unacceptable and would have implications under international law and US law."
"The Government of Israel has said that this is not their policy, that food and other essential supplies will not be cut off, and we will be watching to see that Israel’s actions on the ground match this statement," Thomas-Greenfield said.
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon told news hounds ahead of the Security Council meeting that Jerusalem "remains committed to working with our international partners to ensure aid reaches those who need it" in the Gaza Strip.
"The problem in Gaza is not a lack of aid. The problem is Hamas, which hijacks the aid — stealing, storing, and selling it to feed their terror machine, while civilians suffer," he said.
This dynamic is what has led several former IDF generals to advocate for laying siege to northern Gaza until Hamas fighters aiming to re-establish control over the area surrender. The IDF has insisted that this is not its policy.
Moreover, US officials have warned that Hamas fighters will likely continue popping up throughout Gaza, so long as Israel doesn’t allow for a viable alternative to fill the temporary power vacuum it is creating through its military victories. The US argues that the Paleostinian Authority should be tasked with filling that vacuum, but that idea has been blocked by Netanyahu, who likens the PA to Hamas and rejects the two-state framework that the PA aims to advance through its return to Gaza.
Netanyahu’s refusal to plan for the post-war management of Gaza has been a major source of tension with the US, with Biden and his aides convinced that the premier is unwilling to take steps necessary for winding down the war due to fears that he’ll alienate his far-right coalition partners who he needs to remain in power.
Asked about Blinken and Austin’s letter during a press briefing, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stressed that the message was similar to one that Washington sent in April after Gaza aid had plummeted and the IDF had just killed several aid workers in an Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... Israel responded to that warning constructively, taking a range of steps to boost aid, and the administration hopes it will do so again this time, Jean-Pierre added.
[IsraelTimes] The tax authority’s revocation of charitable status for JNF Canada and others has reverberated inside and outside the country – though the motives behind it are disputed.
[IsraelTimes] Gift from the prolific pro-Israel donor is the largest among new batch of major spending disclosures, eclipses the $75 million that Elon Musk recently gave to a pro-Trump pac.
Miriam Adelson has delivered on a pledge she reportedly made at the start of the general election season, donating $100 million to a campaign committee supporting the candidacy of Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and whatever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... , according to disclosures filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission.
The money was distributed to Adelson’s super PAC, Preserve America, which she had seeded earlier this year with $5 million, in a series of installments: $25 million a month in July, August and September and an additional $20 million at the end of September.
A major funder of pro-Israel politics and a prolific donor to Jewish causes, Adelson, 79, is carrying on a legacy she built with her late husband, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. The Adelson family has long been one of the largest sources of campaign money for Republican candidates and has backed Trump during each of the last three general elections. Now, the widow is wielding an estimated net worth of $35 billion on her own. Though seen as more deliberate in her decision-making, she has not meaningfully departed from her late husband’s politics.
Her contribution was the largest in an array of new big money disclosures on Tuesday, eclipsing the $75 million contributed by Elon Musk, the world’s richest person and head of Tesla and SpaceX, to his own pro-Trump super PAC.
If Trump wins, Adelson could once again be instrumental in shaping American policy on the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict. Miriam Adelson and her husband were influential in Trump’s monumental direction to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the country’s capital city of Jerusalem in 2017.
Adelson’s ties to Israel run deep. She was born in Tel Aviv during the British Mandate and speaks fluent Hebrew. She also served as an officer in the Israeli military. Though her business empire is based in the United States, she reportedly spends much of her time nowadays in Israel, where is known as the owner of the country’s largest newspaper, Israel Hayom.
Her writing in the newspaper since the attacks of October 7, 2023, makes clear that she’s been swept up in the political and social fervor gripping the country as it mourns the dead and seeks retribution. She said those who don’t support Israel in its campaign against Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... are "dead to us."
Adelson’s spokesperson earlier this year denied a report No, no! Certainly not! that she conditioned support for Trump on his public endorsement of Israeli annexation of the West Bank. But a top confidant, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, told the New York Times
...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... she’s against the establishment of a Paleostinian state.
That position, along with many others, puts her at odds with liberal-leaning J Street, a lobbying group set up as a counterweight to the more hawkish AIPAC. J Street on Wednesday announced a fundraising milestone of $6 million for the campaign of Kamala Harris Former Oakland mayor Willie Brown's' former mistress and Tim Walz ...Kamala's smarmy-looking running mate, governor of Minnesota, who decided to retired rather than to deploy with his National Guard unit, then claimed to have been in Iraq and Afghanistan. One man's socialism is another man's neighborliness.... , the largest contribution total from any Jewish organization.
[TH and Fox News reports] Top Hamas leader and October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar is dead. The news was reported by Israeli media outlets Thursday morning and appeared to be confirmed by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in a cryptic tweet.
According to reports, U.S. officials have been notified by the Israeli Defense Forces that they are in possession of Sinwar's body and he was targeted in an airstrike Thursday.
Prior to his planning of the October 7, 2023 attacks, Sinwar was graciously and mercifully treated for a brain tumor in Israel. In 2011, he was released in a prisoner exchange after spending 22-years behind bars for terrorism.
The latest elimination of Sinwar comes after weeks of successful targeting by the IDF and other Israeli agencies of Iran's top terrorists, including the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut.
Security officials have said that the chances that Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in a strike 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... are "increasingly higher," Israeli media reported on Thursday. The IDF and Shin Bet (ISA) put out a joint statement on the possible liquidation earlier Thursday.
"Initial report - During IDF operations in the Gaza Strip, three Lions of Islam were eliminated. The IDF and ISA are checking the possibility that one of the Lions of Islam was Yahya Sinwar. At this stage, the identity of the Lions of Islam cannot be confirmed," the IDF said.
"In the building where the Lions of Islam were eliminated, there were no signs of the presence of hostages in the area. The forces that are operating in the area are continuing to operate with the required caution."
Sky News Arabia published a report shortly after, quoting a security official as saying that his death is confirmed. NewsNation: Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is dead, Israeli military sources confirmed to NewsNation, following an initial DNA check.
#5
Breitbart: Update: (Members of the security cabinet were reportedly told that Sinwar had indeed been killed, though there was, as of 6:00 p.m. Thursday evening, no public confirmation.
Dental and orthodontic experts confirmed that the body was Sinwar’s according to the Jerusalem Post.
Army Radio reported that one of the two terrorists found near the body was that of the leader of Hamas’s Khan Yunis brigade, who was known to be close to Sinwar.)
According to reports circulating on social media, it appeared that soldiers were simply carrying out a routine attack on a building in which three terrorists had taken cover. They were shocked to discover who one of them might be.
Some speculated that with Sinwar dead, it may be easier to achieve a hostage deal, since he was a main obstacle.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/17/2024 12:40
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#6
It’s now officially official. ;-) Times of Israel liveblog, seven minutes ago:
In a message to dozens of foreign ministers around the world, Foreign Minister Israel Katz confirms that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed, becoming the first Israeli official to do so on the record.
“The mass murderer Yahya Sinwar, who is responsible for the massacre and atrocities of October 7, was killed today by IDF soldiers,” says Katz, according to his office.
“This is a great military and moral achievement for Israel and a victory for the entire free world against the evil axis of radical Islam led by Iran,” he continues.
Katz says the killing “creates a possibility” for getting the hostages out immediately and for creating a Gaza free of Hamas and Iranian control.
“Israel needs your support and assistance now more than ever to advance these important goals together,” Katz finishes.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/17/2024 18:20
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#21
The big winner is whomever has access to his Swiss account. What was he doing in harm’s way to begin with?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
10/17/2024 18:30
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#22
..that would be the Swiss bank. You think anyone really wants to expose who they are by claiming it. See - Jews trying to recover assets from Swiss banks after WW2
#23
WONDERFUL news, i nearly choked on my wheeties!
Saw this on msnbc on drudge also where they describe Hamas as “Iranian-backed terror group” which is misleading as they are “The Gazan wing of the Muslim Brotherhood” who hide in Qatar
The death of Sinwar is great
The media lies are not great and are a bad sign of misdirecting the public so they can end the war on Gaza before the problem is addressed
Those muslim arabs in Gaza must be resettled in qatar, egypt and jordan or else we will only be fighting this same Muslim Brotherhood in 15 years.
One generatiom is all it takes because without ripping out the Muslim Brotherhood then all you have done is destroy a replaceable cog in the system
Sinwar falls but others are rising. Until you defeat the Muslim Brotherhood and Qatar
And how can you do that if the subject is changed to Iran before the job is done?
#26
where they describe Hamas as “Iranian-backed terror group” which is misleading as they are “The Gazan wing of the Muslim Brotherhood” who hide in Qatar
Both are true, Anon1. Iran also finances Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another Sunni jihadi group in Gaza. They have a long-held plan for obliterating Israelby a pincer movement —10,000+ rockets and Sunni Hamas/Islamic Jihad jihadis bursting east from Gaza simultaneously with an uprising in the West Bank, and 150,000 missiles and Hezbollah Shiite jihadis heading west from Lebanon, followed by the big missiles from Iran — including the threat of nuclear missiles as soon as their uranium gas is concentrated enough to do whatever it is they do to make a bomb core. But they jumped the gun once in the West Bank — kidnapping a trio of school boys, and by the time the manhunt found the bad guys, momentum was lost. Twice Hamas blew it — the first time shooting off their stock of rockets to no avail, the second time on 10/7.
So Iran has spent an awful lot of money training, arming,and supporting the salaries of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza and presumably others in the West Bank, plus the claimed 100,000 soldiers of Hezbollah, and they’ve annoyed Israel but aren’t anywhere close to their goal of destroying Israel.
[FoxNews] Illegal aliens now have an on-ramp to Medicaid – as many as 22 million of them.
This budding crisis is a major danger to our health care system and American taxpayers. It’s the direct result of the Biden-Harris administration’s immigration and welfare policies and will surely worsen if Kamala Harris wins in November.
The Biden-Harris White House is shattering a system that was already cracking. My organization recently submitted state freedom of information requests on the number of Medicaid applicants who can’t prove their citizenship status yet receive coverage anyway.
When people apply, states typically check their citizenship status with the federal sources, but if the data doesn’t match, states give applicants a 90-day grace window, known as a "reasonable opportunity period" to collect documentation.
This system wasn’t prepared for the Biden-Harris administration’s dangerous combination of lax border enforcement, welfare expansion and lack of concern for welfare program integrity. Only nine states meaningfully responded to our request, including Arizona, Kentucky, Missouri, Texas and Wisconsin. Some states, like Pennsylvania and Michigan, claimed they had no records at all, while others, like California, demanded exorbitant fees to access the records.
Regardless, the nine responsive states showed that between 2019 and 2023, the number of illegal aliens on Medicaid grew by 500%. The expense to taxpayers has also soared. In the five states that provided financial information, taxpayers forked over nearly 550% more to cover illegal aliens. Across all 50 states, it’s likely that at least 100,000 ineligible aliens are on Medicaid, potentially costing at least a billion dollars a year.
These numbers are rising quickly because more illegal aliens are applying for welfare, a direct response to Biden-Harris border and welfare policies. States are also routinely extending the reasonable opportunity periods beyond 90 days.
Across all people receiving grace coverage on the taxpayer’s dime, the number of people who stayed on Medicaid after three months soared by nearly 50% between 2019 and 2023.
In Kentucky, under Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, the number of individuals receiving Medicaid coverage while the state unsuccessfully tried to verify their citizenship grew from zero in 2019 to nearly 2,400 in 2024. Arizona’s situation has also worsened under Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.
But the Biden-Harris administration has ensured that the worst is yet to come. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued a new federal regulation, effective as of June, that prohibits states from limiting extensions to reasonable opportunity periods.
Once the 90 days end, the state is no longer empowered to stop them from getting another grace period. In other words, illegal aliens who apply for Medicaid can be put on the program for never-ending 90-day windows as long as they claim they are making an "effort" to prove their citizenship.
While there’s no hard data yet on how many are taking advantage of the Biden-Harris loophole, the incentives are clear and the deluge inevitable. California already extends Medicaid coverage to illegal aliens at an annual cost of about $4 billion.
[FoxNews] NC election officials says 76 polling locations in the 25 counties affected by Hurricane Helene will be open for early voting
Early in-person voting kicks off Thursday in North Carolina, one of seven hotly contested battleground states in the 2024 presidential election.
Some North Carolina communities are making last-minute adjustments to their 2024 election schedules in the fallout from Hurricane Helene this month.
In Buncombe County, one of the counties hit hardest by the storm, the board of elections approved new times and locations for early voting. Early in-person voting kicks off Thursday morning, with polls remaining open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Nov. 1.
"We’ve got a new early voting plan," Buncombe Board of Elections Chair Jake Quinn said in a statement. "Please everybody, spread the word."
Buncombe is also having to adjust polling locations, as some are no longer fit to serve as polling places or are more difficult to access. The county published a list of locations that are now operating for early voting.
Buncombe County voted decisively for President Biden in the 2020 election, according to state records. Biden received 96,515 votes, compared to former President Trump's 62,412, totaling a 60%-40% split.
Nearby Watauga County also released its own revised early voting schedule this month. The county's board of elections says none of its polling places has changed, but they will now expand their timing to be open on weekends during early voting. Residents will be able to access polling places from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
"We are grateful to all the people that worked so hard to build our county’s infrastructure back so quickly. It is truly amazing to see people from all over the country pitching in to help strangers in need. That’s what America is all about. This helped minimize any disruptions to voters so that every voice can be heard. We also want to thank all the election officials who offered to work the new weekend shifts. We literally can’t do it without them," the board said in a statement.
Biden also took Watauga County in the 2020 election, receiving 53% of the vote to Trump's 44%.
State election officials are scheduled to hold a press conference Thursday on other measures they are taking to ensure the election goes smoothly.
They say roughly 25 counties were heavily impacted by Helene, and those contain 80 polling locations. Officials say 76 of those locations will be operational for early voting. Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the NC State Board of Elections and Corinne Duncan, the Buncombe County elections director will lead the press conference.
The majority of North Carolina voters in the 25 counties impacted by Helene are Republican, according to state voter registration records. Officials say 482,930 registered Republicans live in the area, compared to 294,106 Democrats. There are also 492,546 unaffiliated voters.
North Carolina is one of the most competitive states this cycle
North Carolina last voted for a Democrat president in 2008, when then-Sen. Barack Obama won the state by 0.3 points, or 14,177 votes.
Trump pulled out a convincing 3.7 point win in 2016, but that margin shrank to 1.3 points against Biden in 2020.
Late last month, the Fox News Poll had the two 2024 presidential candidates just a point apart from each other, with Democrat nominee Vice President Harris at 49% and GOP nominee former President Trump at 50%. North Carolina is ranked a Toss Up on the Fox News Power Rankings.
The state has become more competitive as its population has grown. Over the last full decade, North Carolina added roughly 1.1 million people, the fourth-largest gain among all states.
Much of that growth has been in urban and suburban areas like those in solidly blue Mecklenburg and Wake counties.
The pandemic brought more wealthy, urban Americans from surrounding states, and there are pockets of college voters as well.
Rural areas have experienced some population decline, but they remain a powerful part of the state’s overall vote, and they vote overwhelmingly Republican.
HOW TO VOTE IN NORTH CAROLINA
This is a guide to registration and early voting. For comprehensive and up-to-date information on voter eligibility, processes and deadlines, please go to Vote.gov and the election website for North Carolina.
[FoxNews] A bipartisan panel condemned the Secret Service handling of former President Trump's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Thursday, saying the agency needs "fundamental" changes to be effective.
The panel, made up of former senior law enforcement and government officials, warned that if there are not extensive reforms at the Secret Service, then "another Butler can and will happen again."
Butler, Pennsylvania, was the site of the first assassination attempt against Trump this year. The Secret Service faced heavy criticism for negligence and sluggish reaction speed.
"The Secret Service as an agency requires fundamental reform to carry out its mission," the panel wrote in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. "Without that reform, the Independent Review Panel believes another Butler can and will happen again."
The panel's review highlighted key issues both within the Secret Service and specifically regarding the July 13 assassination attempt. The agency had poor communications both internally and with local law enforcement, the panel said. Agents on the ground also had no plan to secure key buildings around the rally venue.
"The failure to secure a complex of buildings, portions of which were within approximately 130 yards of the protectee and containing numerous positions carrying high-angle line of sight risk, represents a critical security failure," the report said.
"Relying on a general understanding that ‘the locals have that area covered’ is simply not good enough and, in fact, at Butler this attitude contributed to the security failure," it continued.
The panel also noted a breakdown in communications. There were two command posts at the Butler rally, one for local law enforcement and another for the Secret Service.
Secret Service agents also had to switch radio channels due to an event for First Lady Jill Biden in Pittsburgh. The first lady's Secret Service team's communications could be heard at the Butler rally at the time.
The panel ultimately recommended that the Secret Service bring in outside leadership, as well as de-emphasize its role in investigating financial crimes.
"In the Panel’s opinion, it is simply unacceptable for the Service to have anything less than a paramount focus on its protective mission, particularly while that protective mission function is presently suboptimal," the report said.
The panel members were Mark Filip, deputy attorney general under President George W. Bush; David Mitchell, who served in numerous state and local law enforcement roles in Maryland and Delaware; Janet Napolitano, homeland security secretary under President Barack Obama; and Frances Fragos Townsend, Bush's assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism.
"The National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) was established as a component of the Secret Service in 1998 to provide research and guidance in direct support of the Secret Service protective mission, and to others with public safety responsibilities."
#3
The Secret Service and other protection services have coasted for years on mystique and reputation. The fact is, anybody with resources and a willingness to make a loud noise will get their target. It's only the desire to get away that stops anyone.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
10/17/2024 14:55
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[Jpost] Investigations continue into allegations that Lafarge was complicit in crimes against humanity, part of the wider probe into how the group kept its factory running in Syria.
Cement maker Holcim's Lafarge will face trial in a French court on charges that its Syrian subsidiary financed terrorism and breached European sanctions in order to keep a plant operating, France's anti-terrorism prosecutor and a lead plaintiff said.
Lafarge, which became part of Swiss-listed Holcim in 2015, has been the subject of an investigation into its operations in Syria since 2016, one of the most extensive corporate criminal proceedings in recent French legal history.
Investigative judges in Paris gave the order Lafarge face trial on Wednesday.
In a statement to Reuters on Thursday, Lafarge said it acknowledged the decision of the investigating judges.
Holcim shares fell nearly 2% in late Wednesday trading after the news, before recovering a little to close 0.7% lower.
Investigations continue into allegations that Lafarge was complicit in crimes against humanity, part of the wider probe into how the group kept its factory running in Syria after war broke out in 2011, said the anti-corruption group Sherpa, which brought the criminal complaint against Lafarge.
Charges of complicity in crimes against humanity
France's highest court in January rejected a request from Lafarge that charges of complicity in crimes against humanity be dropped from the investigation.
The sanctions breach charges relate to a European ban on financial or commercial links to Islamist militant groups Islamic State and Al-Nusra, Sherpa said.
In a separate investigation in the United States, Lafarge admitted in 2022 that its Syrian subsidiary paid groups designated by Washington as terrorists, including Islamic State, to help protect staff at the plant in a country shaken by years of civil war.
[Jpost] As Iran's foreign minister makes his tour, it is in contrast to his Israeli counterparts, who have not made any regional tours like this or have not been able to do much outreach since October 7.
Posted by: Skidmark ||
10/17/2024
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[11148 views]
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[RushBabe49] Once again, I will post this in its entirety for those who are not following Wendy on X/Twitter (she is @wendyp4545). This gives us a look into conditions prevailing in NC before the hurricanes and floods decimated the western part of the state, as well as eastern Tennessee. This also offers a look at the behavior of the state and federal governments, and especially North Carolina’s DemocRat Governor, Roy Cooper. Frankly, this is disgusting. Your government is working against you.
To the Litigation Attorneys representing all of the people in North Carolina who lost everything because of the flood and who will not have money to rebuild because they didn’t have flood insurance: There are a few things that you need to know.
A) FEMA didn’t update the flood zone maps for decades so the people who purchased their properties didn’t know they bought land in a flood zone. FEMA didn’t do their job.- Maria in the Morning interview 10-15-2024
B) Duke Power opened the dam that caused the water that created mudslides which then caused the roadways to fail and rivers to flood.
C) The River monitors were broken and had been broken and were reported by homeowners in the area near Chimney Rock.
D) No evacuation was given until after Duke Power opened the dam after the mudslides began.
E) Video testimony exists of victims who didn’t receive evacuation notices until the mudslide events were in progress.
F) FEMA Spokesman on Fox interview 10-14-2024 said that the Governor has to request FEMA. Governor RoyCooper was partying in New York and did not call in FEMA Search and Rescue causing many people who could have been rescued to lose their lives.
G) Many of the Representatives in North Carolina were convieniantly out of state or town including the Mayor of Chimney Rock. – Video testimony exists.
Given this information, I suggest that it is imperative that you all vote for President Donald Trump in November, to drain the swamp.
[CS] I’m sharing an announcement that I ran across whilst perusing the Federal Register this morning. It appears that travel from Rwanda is being restricted due to Marburg diagnoses.
[Bee] ATLANTA, GA — Continuing her push to bolster support among minority voters, Vice President Kamala Harris appealed to black voters by offering each of them a free pack of menthols and a copy of Madea's Family Reunion on DVD.
With her support from black males slipping despite her recent announcement to offer free cash and legal weed, Harris held an emergency meeting with her campaign staff to determine what special incentives could bring her popularity back up.
"We struck out with offering to legalize drugs, and everyone called us racist -- but we were not deterred," said Harris-Walz campaign staffer Elaine Johnson said. "If offering cash and weed was a no-go, how about a pack of menthols and a Madea DVD? Tyler Perry is still popular with the, uh, black people, right?"
When asked about the move, Vice President Harris had only one brief comment: "Madea! HAHAHA! Am I right? HAHAHA!"
At publishing time, black voters had reportedly reminded her that the DVD came out in 2006 and it was her administration that worked to ban menthol cigarettes.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/17/2024
06:25 ||
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[France24] Genaro Garcia Luna, the former security chief behind former Mexican President Felipe Calderon's crackdown on drug trafficking between 2006 and 2012, was sentenced to 38 years in a US prison on Wednesday for taking millions in bribes from drug cartels as their "partner in crime".
Mexico's former top security official Genaro Garcia Luna was sentenced to more than 38 years in a US prison on Wednesday for aiding the very drug cartels he was tasked with dismantling.
Garcia Luna, 56, was convicted at a high-profile trial in New York last year of taking millions of dollars in bribes to allow the Sinaloa Cartel to smuggle tons of cocaine.
District Judge Brian Cogan sentenced Garcia Luna, who served as secretary of public security under president Felipe Calderon from 2006 to 2012, to 460 months in prison and a $2 million fine at a hearing in federal court in Brooklyn.
Prosecutors had sought a life sentence.
"Today's sentencing of Genaro Garcia Luna is a critical step in upholding justice and the rule of law," US Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement.
"His betrayal of the public trust and the people he was sworn to protect resulted in more than one million kilograms of lethal narcotics imported into our communities and unleashed untold violence here and in Mexico," Peace said.
Garcia Luna's month-long trial shone a spotlight on the corruption of the highest-ranking Mexican government figure ever to face trial in the United States.
It also opened a window on the vast resources of the Sinaloa Cartel under Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who is now serving a life sentence in a US penitentiary.
At his trial, prosecutors said Garcia Luna, who held high-ranking security positions in Mexico from 2001 until 2012, was the cartel's "partner in crime."
That included his time as the architect of Calderon's crackdown on Mexico's drug gangs between 2006 and 2012.
But instead of stopping the smuggling, Garcia Luna took millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel to allow safe passage of narcotics shipments.
According to prosecutors, he tipped off drug traffickers about law enforcement operations, targeted rival cartel members for arrest and placed other corrupt officials in positions of power.
Garcia Luna served as chief of the Mexican equivalent of the FBI from 2001 until 2006, when he was elevated to secretary of public security, essentially running the federal police force and most counter-drug operations.
Calderon said after the sentencing that he never had "verifiable evidence" or information from Mexican or foreign intelligence agencies implicating Garcia Luna in illegal activities.
"I am in favor of those who break the law assuming the consequences of their actions," the ex-president wrote on social media.
'SUPERCOP'
Nine of the 26 witnesses who testified against Garcia Luna, once known as "supercop," were accused drug traffickers extradited from Mexico and collaborating with US prosecutors in exchange for possible leniency in their own trials.
They included high-level cartel bosses Jesus "Rey" Zambada, Sergio Villarreal Barragan and Oscar "Lobo" Valencia.
They claimed to have paid millions of dollars to Garcia Luna collectively, and through Arturo Beltran Leyva, who ran his own drug cartel and served as a go-between with Garcia Luna in exchange for protection.
Garcia Luna, a mechanical engineer by trade, moved to the United States in 2012 and was detained in Texas in December 2019.
He was convicted of multiple charges including engaging in a criminal enterprise that involved conspiracy to import and distribute cocaine.
US Drug Enforcement Administration chief Anne Milgram said Garcia Luna's sentencing "sends a clear message to corrupt leaders around the world who use their positions of power to help the cartels: no amount of power will shield you from justice."
The world's biggest narcotics organization at one time, the Sinaloa Cartel moved multi-ton loads of cocaine each month from producing countries in the Andean region up through Mexico and on to streets in Europe and North America.
[IsraelTimes] Residents of northern Arab town treated for minor injuries; EU ministers say they back expanding UNIFIL’s rules of engagement, but need IDF to withdraw from Lebanon first
The IDF said that it killed a Hezbollah district commander in southern Leb ...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the 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 Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... on Wednesday as rocket fire from the terror group persisted, injuring four people in northern Israel.
Four people were lightly maimed by shrapnel following the latest rocket barrage from Lebanon toward the Galilee, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said. Three men and a woman in her 50s were treated for their wounds at the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya, according to MDA.
A home in the Arab town of Majdal al-Krum near Karmiel suffered a direct hit from a rocket, Ynet reported.
The IDF said that around 30 rockets were fired in the barrage from Lebanon and that while most of them were intercepted, some impacted sites in the Galilee.
Later Wednesday, the IDF said it killed Hezbollah’s Kafr Qana district commander Jalal Mustafa Hariri in an Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... in southern Lebanon. Hariri was responsible for planning and carrying out terror activities against Israel and was killed alongside commanders responsible for artillery fire and anti-tank fire in the area, according to the army.
Meanwhile,
...back at the shootout, bullets whapped! around Butch as he tried to tie his scarf around his shoulder as a tourniquet...... Hezbollah said its terror operatives in southern Lebanon were locked in festivities with Israeli troops "at point-blank range," in the vicinity of the al-Qawzah village, as the IDF continued its raids targeting Hezbollah posts in south Lebanon. Troops killed dozens of Hezbollah terror operatives in the area, and uncovered two warehouses in civilian areas filled with weapons including shells, mortars, cornet missiles and anti-tank guided missiles, according to the military.
Furthermore, troops uncovered four entrances into tunnels hiding weapons and used them as shelters for terrorists, the IDF said Wednesday. During the operations, gunnies launched an anti-tank missile at troops and then fled, the military said. The air force then launched a strike targeting the terrorists.
Earlier Wednesday, the IDF said its forces destroyed the elite Radwan Force’s headquarters in southern Lebanon.
The IDF says its operations have targeted Hezbollah posts but their proximity to UN peacekeepers and members of the Lebanese army has led to several accidental strikes on the latter two groups. In the latest incident, UNIFIL reported that peacekeepers at a position near southern Lebanon’s Kfar Kela observed an Israeli Merkava tank firing at their watchtower on Wednesday morning. Two cameras were destroyed, and the tower was damaged, UNIFIL said in its statement.
"Yet again we see direct and apparently deliberate fire on a UNIFIL position," it added.
The IDF later released a statement saying "UNIFIL infrastructure sites and forces are not a target."
Sixteen EU defense ministers issued a joint statement Wednesday expressing "the shared will to exert maximum political and diplomatic pressure on Israel" to prevent further "incidents" against UN peacekeepers in Lebanon. Italia and La Belle France organized a video conference involving the 16 EU countries that participate in UNIFIL, where the ministers "strongly condemned" attacks the mission has blamed on Israel, the statement adds. Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto told RAI television that changing UNIFIL’s rules of engagement or increasing troop numbers could happen if Israel stopped its operations.
"The message we want to send to Israel is that if you stop your army, the UN can also change its approach in that part of Lebanon, so that we can peacefully achieve what you’re now trying to do by attacking Hezbollah’s bases militarily," he said.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that the activities of UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, near the border, are of "great importance" and that the force could play a vital role when the war with Hezbollah ends.
"Israel places great importance on the activities of UNIFIL and has no intention of harming the organization or its personnel," Katz said in a statement posted on X, adding: "Israel views UNIFIL as playing an important role in the ’day after’ following the war against Hezbollah."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has angered European allies in recent days by insisting that the international peacekeeping force UNIFIL leave its posts in southern Lebanon to avoid getting caught in the crossfire between Israel and Hezbollah.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that any negotiation to end fighting in Lebanon must be conducted "under fire." Meeting with commanders of the reservist 146th Division near the northern border, Gallant said the recent capture of Hezbollah terror operatives in southern Lebanon proves "the IDF’s success and Hezbollah’s predicament," according to a Defense Ministry statement.
"We are learning things through questioning that we would not have learned any other way, and they will be useful for us soon," Gallant said, adding that the ongoing ground operation will allow evacuated residents of northern Israel to return to their homes.
The World Health Organization warned that the risk of cholera spreading in Lebanon is "very high" after a case of the acute and potentially deadly diarrhoeal infection was detected in the conflict-hit country.
Lebanon’s health ministry said a cholera case had been confirmed in a Lebanese national who went to hospital on Monday suffering from watery diarrhea and dehydration. The patient, from Ammouniyeh in northern Lebanon, had no history of travel, the ministry said.
Lebanon suffered its first cholera outbreak in 30 years between 2022 and 2023, mainly in the north of the country.
Earlier Wednesday, Israel confirmed striking Beirut overnight, after several days without targeting the Lebanese capital amid Washington’s concerns over the scope of the bombing campaign in recent weeks. AFP witnesses said Israeli jets carried out at least two strikes in south Beirut’s Dahiyeh suburb, the terror group’s stronghold, some five hours after Hezbollah fired a rocket barrage at Safed in northern Israel. In a statement, the IDF said Israeli Air Force fighter jets, guided by intelligence operatives, struck an underground weapons cache belonging to Hezbollah.
The military said it took steps to avoid civilian casualties ahead of the strike, including issuing an evacuation order for the area.
The IDF said its planes also struck dozens of Hezbollah targets, including weapons stashes and command centers, around southern Lebanon’s Nabatiyeh, where Hezbollah and its ally Amal hold sway. The strike killed 16 people and maimed 52, the Lebanese health ministry said, without differentiating between civilians and combatants. Lebanese security sources say that the mayor of Nabatiyeh was among those killed in the strike.
A pair of interesting videos can be seen at the link.
[MSN] Israeli military forces discovered Russian weaponry during searches of Hezbollah militants' bases in southern Lebanon. The found weapons are described as state-of-the-art, according to an interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The head of the Israeli government emphasized in his conversation with the media that, according to a UN Security Council resolution from 2006, only the Lebanese army is allowed to possess weapons in the area south of the crucial Litani River.
"However, in this area, Hezbollah has dug hundreds of tunnels and caches, where we have just found a quantity of state-of-the-art Russian weapons," Netanyahu stated.
He added that a new civil war in Lebanon would be a tragedy.
"It is certainly not our aim to provoke one. Israel does not intend to interfere in Lebanon’s internal affairs," the Israeli prime minister assured in his conversation with Le Figaro, discussing the IDF's operations in Lebanon.
According to Netanyahu, the sole aim of the Israeli side is to allow our citizens living along the Lebanon frontier to go home and feel safe.
WHAT WEAPONS WERE FOUND AT HEZBOLLAH BASES
In this interview, the Israeli prime minister did not specify which particular Russian weapons were discovered by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Hezbollah's tunnels in Lebanon.
However, on October 16, the Israeli military command released footage of a weapons cache located in a civilian residential building in southern Lebanon.
Additionally, in the released footage of the Russian weapons found with Hezbollah, the Kornet anti-tank guided missile systems and Igla MANPADS can be seen. The production dates on them range from 2018 to 2021.
[ZeroHedge] Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says Elon Musk pulled off a "superhuman" feat by setting up a supercluster of 100,000 H200 Blackwell GPUs in just 19 days - a process he says takes everyone else "one year to accomplish."
According to Tom's Hardware, the xAI team reportedly went from "concept" to full-ready compatibility with Nvidia's "gear" in less than three weeks - including running xAI's first AI training run.
From start to finish, the process involved building the massive X factory where the GPUs would reside and equipping the entire factory with liquid cooling and power to make all 200,000 GPUs operational. That's not to mention all of the coordination between Nvidia's and Elon Musk's engineering teams to get all of the hardware and infrastructure shipped and installed precisely and in a coordinated manner.
What's more, Huang says that networking Nvidia's gear isn't as simple as networking traditional data center servers. "The number of wires that goes in one node...the back of a computer is all wires," he said, adding that Musk's integration of 100,000 H200 GPUs has "never been done before," and probably won't be repeated by anyone else anytime soon.
[Washington Examiner] A judge in Georgia has invalidated several new election rules, including requirements for a "reasonable inquiry" before elections are certified, hand-counting ballots on election night, and more access for partisan poll watchers.
On Wednesday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox Jr. declared the rules "illegal, unconstitutional and void" after they were passed by the State Election Board’s Republican majority.
Cox, responding to a lawsuit filed against the board, said that the politically appointed officials overstepped their authority in setting election procedures when elected representatives have the power to do so. Two Republicans, former state Rep. Scot Turner and Chatham County election board member James Hall, filed the lawsuit.
"The Georgia Constitution provides that only the General Assembly may provide for a law for a procedure whereby returns of all elections by the people are made to the Secretary of State," Cox wrote in his 11-page order. "The Election Code accomplishes this and the SEB has no authority to legislate otherwise."
An attorney representing the Republicans opposing the rules matched the judge’s observation.
"Three members of the State Election Board, kind of like Napoleon, they put a crown on their head and said, ’We are the emperors of elections.’ That is not the way our system of government works," Chris Anulewicz said. "The State Election Board cannot play in this space, and yet they did it anyway."
An attorney for the Georgia Republican Party disagreed, arguing the State Election Board’s members could legally pass statewide rules to help secure elections.
"The majority of this election board has identified that having this reconciliation process is important. That was a priority," Brad Carver, an attorney for the Georgia Republican Party, said. "The General Assembly can’t foresee every particular circumstance in a changing environment. That’s why we have executive branch agencies in the first place. They’re the subject matter experts."
The aim of the lawsuit was to protect voting rights and to preserve the separation of powers, Turner said.
#2
Whoops! In an excess of consolidating enthusiasm, I stacked Israeli strike on Lebanese municipality building kills 16 under Latest on Israel's invasion of Lebanon, along with a bunch of other things.
Dead Democrats DO vote.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Former President Jimmy Carter voted this week for likely the last time in his life on Wednesday.
The 100-year-old cast his ballot in the 2024 presidential election for Vice President Kamala Harris, his family revealed.
Carter told family members that he was only trying to make it to his 100th birthday in October so he could also vote for Harris to become the first female President of the United States.
The former Democratic president's ballot for the VP's promotion was deposited in the drop box at Sumter County Courthouse near Plains, Georgia, where Carter has remained in at-home hospice care since February 2023.
Carter's grandson Jason Carter and son Chip Carter told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that their family's patriarch 'feels good' and that he 'absolutely' voted for Harris.
He's never voted for a Republican in his life,' Chip added.
The longest-living president's son said his wife Becky dropped off the ballot on his father's behalf on Wednesday.
'It was a good morning for him and good for us that he got it done,' Chip said.
Early voting began on Tuesday in Georgia and more than 300,000 people cast their ballots in the first 24 hours – more than double the turnout in 2020.
Carter said it was one of his final wishes to vote in the 2024 election.
Georgia is one of the seven key swing states in the 2024 race, and Donald Trump is dead set on winning it back after losing in the Peach State to Joe Biden in 2020.
#5
Fractionation Day! Masks, waxing antic,
And making caucasians act frantic!
It's fiery and Black,
Full of agency, [*crack*]
And now new and improved! Transatlantic!
Grab a Berliner Weisse while I fix y'all up a tectonic plate. [needle drops on your favorite Kool and the Gang tune]
[X] The most corrupt judge in Georgia just ruled to BLOCK the hand counting of ballots on election night to ensure the machine counts are accurate, saying he doesn't want a repeat of January 6th
Note his PHOTO is at the X link
"Finally, the public interest is not disserved by pressing pause here. This election season is fraught; memories of January 6 have not faded away, regardless of one’s view of that date’s fame or infamy. Anything that adds uncertainty and disorder to the electoral process disserves the public." - Traitorous Crook Robert McBurney.
The crook judge also said he's preventing the perfectly legal rule from being implemented because it would take time and resources to train election workers. WHAT THE HECK DO GEORGIANS PAY TAXES FOR THEN?
This is the same judge who also ruled to force election officials across Georgia to certify 2024 election results even if fraud exists. In all my previous posts, I expected McBurney to continue his corruption, but I had no idea he would be citing January 6th in a freakin court ruling. My blood is actually boiling.
We need an immediate appeal of this ridiculous garbage ruling and then, hopefully, a total reversal of this disgusting ruling. I also hope the cowards in the Georgia legislature can find some balls and impeach this fraud already.
#3
I work the polls in Ohio. My training is already completed. If an Ohio judge changed the process at this point, it would be pretty chaotic at the election board level as voting has already begun.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
10/17/2024 12:53
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[ToSD] SpaceX has sued a California commission in federal court, accusing panel members of political bias for blocking the company from increasing the number of rockets it launches from an air base in the state.
The space venture company, which is owned by billionaire Elon Musk, sued the California Coastal Commission on Tuesday in Los Angeles. It is seeking an order that would bar the agency from regulating the company’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket launch program at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara.
One commissioner on the twelve-member coastal panel had said that Musk, who has increasingly injected far-right conspiracy theories into the U.S. presidential race, of "spewing and tweeting political falsehoods."
Musk, whose politics have taken a sharp right turn, has endorsed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and become a mega donor, campaigning for the former president and saying he would accept a role in Trump’s administration if he wins.
The lawsuit claims that the commission, which oversees the use of land and water within the state’s more than a thousand miles of coastline, unfairly asserted regulatory powers over the company’s launches based on a disapproval of Musk’s political views.
Musk’s lawsuit called any consideration of his public statements improper, violating speech rights protected by the U.S. Constitution.
The agency, at its Oct. 10 meeting, had said commercial space launches are not federal government activity and must submit to the commission’s coastal development permitting authority.
The commission, SpaceX, and its lawyers at the law firm Venable did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday morning.
The lawsuit also accused the commission of "unconstitutional overreach," intruding on the national security of the United States and other federal interests, and said launches at the base have had "no significant effects on coastal resources."
"Rarely has a government agency made so clear that it was exceeding its authorized mandate to punish a company for the political views and statements of its largest shareholder and CEO," it said.
SpaceX has launched Falcon 9 rockets from the central California air base since 2013. The Air Force has proposed increasing the number of SpaceX launches from 36 to 50
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/17/2024
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[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] The contentious high-drama interview between Fox News anchor Bret Baier and Vice President Kamala Harris drew immediate attention and reactions online after it aired on Wednesday night.
Baier tried to press Harris on a number of key issues but the vice president protested that he needed to let her finish her answers to the questions.
Meanwhile she tore into Donald Trump for being totally 'unfit to serve' as president for a second term because he's 'dangerous.'
It was a contentious 30 minutes as the current VP worked to distance herself from Biden, saying her presidency would not 'be a continuation' while defending the administration's policies.
The first testy moment started after a brawl over the Biden-Harris administration immigration policies.
Kamala Harris just ran into a Bret Baier buzzsaw when asked about the number of illegal aliens in the country,' wrote conservative communicator Steve Guest as the interview aired.
Baier's interview style drew praise from former Fox News personality Megyn Kelly.
'Bret is crushing this and she is incapable of defending her deadly border policies,' she wrote.
Meanwhile, supporters of Harris accused Fox News of conducting an 'ambush' interview and argued that she did well.
'Kamala Harris (strong) handled an ambush Fox interview light years better than the hash Donald Trump (unstable) made of the Fox pep rally disguised as a town hall,' Harris campaign advisor David Plouffe wrote on X.com.
Baier said on Fox News after the interview that Harris and her team arrived late to the interview and cut it short of what they agreed to.
'We were supposed to start at 5:00 p.m. ... originally we were going to do 25 or 30 minutes, it came in and said well maybe 20. So, already getting whittled down, then the vice president showed up about 5:15 p.m.' Baier said.
#6
Baier gave her the same treatment Trump and Vance had been getting. Thought he did fine. Unfortunately for Harris, Baier's a bit more passive demeanor was a high contrast to Harris' aggressive defense. Bet that's how she treats her staff.
If this was the desired outcome, if the plan was to 'go into the lion's den and be Trumpian', that was not a great plan.
That's like having me pinch hit in the 9th with the game on the line, and thinking I can convince the pitcher I'm a deep ball threat by sticking a bunch of gum in my mouth and doing some bat dance.
#9
Ugh. Into the Lion's Den is exactly how they are trying to frame it. So stunning! So Brave!
So predictably stupid. Mark Steyn or Tucker Carlson, sure, but Team Harris throwing in the towel with Brett Baier? All he did was hold to the question, as uncomfortable as that was, it wasn't aggressive and witty cross-examination or, as in the 3v1 Trump Harris debate, constant hen pecking and right out lying.
[NEWSWEEK] Some 18 North Korea ...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche... n soldiers are believed to have deserted the Russian frontline, with Kremlin fighters reportedly searching for them.
The troops were deployed in Russia's Kursk and Bryansk oblasts, about four miles from the border with Ukraine, when they deserted, the public broadcasting company of Ukraine, Suspilne, reported.
Intelligence officials cited by the broadcaster said the Russian military is searching for the North Korean soldiers, while commanders are trying to conceal the desertion from their higher-ups.
It comes after reports that Moscow was planning to assemble a battalion of troops sent over by Kim Pudge Jong-un ...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished... to help push Ukraine's forces out of Kursk.
Ukrainian outlet LIGA reported on Tuesday that the soldiers would be involved in combat missions in the country's Southwestern regions, where Russia is still battling Ukraine's incursion.
North Korean soldiers were set to form a "special Buryat battalion," named after the Mongolic ethnic group indigenous to the region spanning Siberia as well as northern Mongolia and China, sources quoted by LIGA said.
Pyongyang and Moscow have been developing their relationship for some time now, pledging earlier this year to provide aid to one another if attacked.
Russian 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... visited North Korea for the first time in 24 years in June, when he and Kim signed a so-called "comprehensive strategic partnership pact" with a clause similar to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... ), which states that an attack one member is an attack on all.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2024
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#1
Not exactly going to blend into the populace...
[HUMANGLEMEDIA] In a chilling resurgence of violence, suspected members of Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... have released a graphic video depicting the brutal beheading of four people recently kidnapped in the Gwoza area of Borno State, North East Nigeria.
The nearly six-minute-long footage showed the armed gunnies in a remote mountainous location, parading their captives—two men and five women—who were bound and defenceless.
The captives were those reported to have been taken last week after the terror group attacked and killed at least five people in Ngoshe, Gwoza. The gunnies ambushed farmers while they worked and kidnapped about 15 of them, including children and the elderly.
The video features two members of the group, who, speaking in Hausa, justified their heinous act by claiming the victims were part of a group supporting those responsible for attacking and killing their members the previous week.
''This is in response to the relentless onslaught and killings of our people by the Nigerian military,'' one of them stated, highlighting a grim cycle of violence. He also identified the two slain men as Red Thingy workers, a claim HumAngle has not independently verified.
Among the victims was a young woman in her mid-20s, identified by one of the executioners as the daughter of his elder brother, ''Yaya Dikko.'' In a shocking display of cold-heartedness, he said, ''We do not share the same faith with her,'' before participating in her execution.
Despite the horror of the killings, the gunnies spared three elderly women, promising to return them to their village to demonstrate that they do not target those with grey hair.
The video concludes with the group vowing to intensify their attacks under the leadership of a new figure, ''Sheikh Abu Sumaiyya.'' They referenced their past notoriety, stating, ''We will rekindle the hostilities known during the early days of the senseless insurgency.''
The Gwoza attack may foreshadow the challenges farmers will face as they enter the harvest season. Similar attacks have previously hindered their ability to reap the rewards of their labour, exacerbating food scarcity in the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2024
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[THEASPENBEAT] The left has hounded artistic Colorado baker Jack Phillips for over a decade. It started back in 2012 when a gay couple demanded that he create a ''gay wedding cake'' with two figurine husbands on top.
Of course, the gay couple could have gotten their gay cake created by many other bakers. They seem to have chosen Phillips not despite, but because, creating such a object was contrary to his religious beliefs.
Phillips politely said he would happily bake a cake for them, but not a gay cake. That's an important point. Phillips did not simply refuse to serve the couple on the grounds that they were gay. Rather, he refused to create a special ''gay cake'' for them.
Phillips thus refused to create an artistic expression that was contrary to his religious beliefs.
The gay couple were something like a couple seeking out a Kosher restaurant, demanding that the Jewish chef cook up an elaborate pork dish, and then contending that they'd been discriminated against when told that pork is not on the menu.
It's actually worse than that. The gay couple thought Phillips' beliefs were not just discriminatory, but should be illegal. So, they schemed to establish that as a legal matter.
First, they brought an action against Phillips before the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, and won. The case then went to a Colorado appellate court, and they won there too.
Phillips finally filed for review in the Colorado Supreme Court, where all seven Justices are Democrat appointees. Those Colorado Justices refused to even hear the case on the grounds there was zero merit to Phillips' appeal.
Then Phillips filed for an appeal in the U.S. Supreme Court. It's the court of last resort in America, and they accept only a few percent of the appeals lodged there.
To everyone's surprise, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that Phillips' case was worth hearing. Not only that, but after hearing the case they reversed the Colorado decision. They decided that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission had exhibited an unfair antipathy toward Phillips' religious-based actions.
Let that sink in. The U.S. Supreme Court — the highest court in the land — found that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission and state courts had shown six years of unfair antipathy toward Phillips' ordinary Christian religious beliefs.
At least they didn't feed him to the lions. But what happened next was almost as bad, as anyone who's been a defendant in a lawsuit will tell you.
On the very day the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in favor of Phillips, a self-described ''devil worshipper'' demanded by email that Phillips bake a cake celebrating the devil's birthday — complete with a dildo on top. (It's not clear what is bedeviling about dildos.)
As before, Phillips politely explained that he could not bake such a cake because it was contrary to his religious beliefs.
Before then, on the very day that the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Phillips' appeal of the ''gay cake'' case, someone came into Phillips' bakery and demanded that he create a ''transgender cake'' depicting transgender stuff.
You can see the pattern.
As before, Phillips refused to create the ''transgender cake.'' As before, the transgender person brought an action before the Colorado Civil Rights Commission. As before, he/she won. And as before, the case eventually went up to the Colorado Supreme Court.
This time, the Colorado Supreme Court took the case (perhaps feeling stung by the U.S. Supreme Court's reversal of the Colorado decisions the earlier time).
But the Colorado Supreme Court dodged a decision on the merits. Instead, they dismissed the case on a technicality.
It was a win for Phillips, but it didn't establish any precedent for other Christian bakers or anyone else who wants protection for his religious beliefs.
Pity the Colorado Supreme Court. They were faced with either (1) defying the earlier U.S. Supreme Court decision by ruling against Phillips, or (2) defying their woke principles by ruling in his favor.
Ah, they were torn between the law of the land and the law of the woke. They found a clever way to choose neither.
But trust me, they'll be back. The devil-worshipping transexuals, the kangaroo state courts and ''civil rights'' commissions stacked with Democrat appointees, and the rest of the totalitarian wokerati — they'll all be back, lawless as ever.
They want to outlaw religious beliefs that they don't believe in, and that's almost all of them.
Lebanese MP Nadim Gemayel has criticized Hezbollah, stating that they are now facing the consequences of their own actions. He asserted that Lebanon will not step in to resolve Hezbollah’s crisis, emphasizing that the group must first disarm. Gemayel questioned the… pic.twitter.com/orB04YaHo8
#3
Wiki: On 14 September 1982, a bomb was detonated during a meeting of the right-wing Christian Kataeb Party (also known as the Phalanges) in the Beirut neighborhood of Achrafieh. Militia commander and Lebanese president-elect Bachir Gemayel and 23 Kataeb Party politicians were killed in the blast.
The attack was carried out by Habib Shartouni and allegedly planned by Nabil Alam, both members of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP). Both men were believed to have acted on instructions of the Syrian government led by president Hafez al-Assad. The next day, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) moved to occupy the city, allowing members of the Lebanese Forces militia under the command of Elie Hobeika to enter the centrally located Sabra neighborhood and adjoining Shatila refugee camp.
Posted by: S MAI ||
10/17/2024 7:09
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#4
Damour massacre...by Palestinians is more important...
[REDSTATE] A recent report chronicles the struggles of a handful of federal employees as they learn to cope with the reality that Donald Trump just might win the election.
It is unintentionally one of the funniest things you're going to read this election cycle.
POLITICO covered the group heralding from various government agencies as they came to terms with the fact that their jobs might be on the line if Trump defeats Kamala Harris. They suggest a new administration would be "vindictive" and eliminate their jobs. As such, they prep for the inevitability.
A large portion of these federal workers are fleeing the EPA, transferring to departments that won't be as target-rich for a Trump administration eager to eliminate waste and over-spending.
But the outlet also gets down into the weeds, noting one couple who is being forced to put off buying a new car and making home renovations because they're worried about their jobs.
Now look, I'm not one to relish in anybody's misery. But the POLITICO piece has all the vibes of this group ...
I have friends who are federal workers. They would acknowledge the bloat in various government agencies. It's nothing personal. But man, this article is glorious. It needs to be injected directly into my veins.
It's practically an ad in the making for the Trump campaign.
''We have stopped doing any money-spending things because what if we're without jobs in the next year?'' one Interior employee tells POLITICO. ''We need all the savings we can get.''
Gosh, that really resonates with the average American who has had to 'stop doing money-spending things' for four years, just so they could afford gas to drive to their two jobs and then pick up a scaled-down list of groceries that their family has to ration on the way home.
That couple, by the way, no longer feels confident in buying a new car or making home repairs. Sad. How many of you have put that off during this administration's evisceration of the American worker's paycheck?
''We're both feeling the heaviness of this right now," they state.
Words are peppered throughout the column that capture the mood of those who suddenly feel like their livelihoods might be on the chopping block.
Panic. Distraught. Fear. Doom and gloom ... literally.
''They're so vindictive, I can see them going back through E&E News articles and saying, 'You're fired,''' one employee worries.
Seems a handful of federal employees can now relate to those who lost their jobs during the pandemic. Who were threatened with being - or actually were - fired if they didn't submit to the needle.
To quote Officer John McClane from "Die Hard" - Welcome to the party, pal.
Through it all, though, one can rest assured that the sacrifice these federal employees might have to make pales in comparison to the overall picture. You guessed it - the threat to democracy.
''People are worried, but anybody who has half a brain is existentially afraid for the safety of democracy,'' an employee at the National Science Foundation says.
Oh, the self-imagined heroism. Funny you should mention half a brain.
Perhaps the fear isn't so much that Trump will be vindictive but rather, that he will hold federal employees accountable. Does anybody at the EPA or the Interior or State Departments remember what that word means?
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2024
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#1
Learn to code.
Ha ha!
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
10/17/2024 0:55
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#4
But the outlet also gets down into the weeds, noting one couple who is being forced to put off buying a new car and making home renovations because they're worried about their jobs.
Everyone not government employed the last 4 years. Hell, the last 20 years except for 4.
Maybe we could replace all those EPA employees with Haitians. Bet they could get all that forest underbrush gathered up for cooking firewood.
#5
One thing nobody is talking about is the enormous boost to the economy when Trump reroutes all those hyper-efficient federal employees to the private sector. "Stand aside, boys, lemme show you how we did things at the Department of Education!"
Posted by: Matt ||
10/17/2024 16:31
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#6
Latter Snark O' The Day
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/17/2024 18:27
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#7
Someone asked "who will pick the produce if we deport all the illegals?"
When the FBI originally released the "final" crime data for 2022 in September 2023, it reported that the nation’s violent mostly peaceful crime rate fell by 2.1%. This quickly became, and remains, a Democratic Party talking point to counter Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and whatever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... ’s claims of soaring crime.
But the FBI has quietly revised those numbers, releasing new data that shows violent mostly peaceful crime increased in 2022 by 4.5%. The new data includes thousands more murders, rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults.
The Bureau — which has been at the center of partisan storms — made no mention of these revisions in its September 2024 blurb.
RCI discovered the change through a cryptic reference on the FBI website that states: "The 2022 violent mostly peaceful crime rate has been updated for inclusion in CIUS, 2023." But there is no mention that the numbers increased. One only sees the change by downloading the FBI’s new crime data and comparing it to the file released last year.
After the FBI released its new crime data in September, a USA Today headline read: "Violent crime dropped for third straight year in 2023, including murder and rape."
It’s been over three weeks since the FBI released the revised data. The Bureau’s lack of acknowledgment or explanation about the significant change concerns researchers.
"I have checked the data on total violent mostly peaceful crime from 2004 to 2022," Carl Moody, a professor at the College of William & Mary who specializes in studying crime, told RealClearInvestigations. "There were no revisions from 2004 to 2015, and from 2016 to 2020, there were small changes of less than one percentage point. The huge changes in 2021 and 2022, especially without an explanation, make it difficult to trust the FBI data."
[X]
BREAKING: The FBI just quietly updated their crime data for 2022. Turns out it was missing thousands of crimes!
The updated data shows there were 80,029 more violent crimes than in 2021. There were an additional 1,699 m*rders, 7,780 r*pes, 33,459 robberies, and 37,091 aggravated… pic.twitter.com/oEAgDsf1Lc
#2
So, the FBI has now admitted that they just make up the stuff in their press releases.
Informative. Not unexpected, though.
Let's get to the part where they admit that their 'expert witnesses' lie on the stand.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
10/17/2024 8:56
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#3
I assume the revised numbers still don’t include stats from those cities that haven’t bothered to submit their data.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[LB] At the beginning of the day, the number of combat clashes increased to 97.
by Ivanna Kapustyanska
The defense forces continue to resolutely oppose the enemy's attempts to advance deep into the territory of Ukraine. The Russian occupiers continue to try to use their superiority in manpower and air support.
According to the information of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, by this time the number of combat clashes has increased to 97. The enemy is currently operating most actively in the Kurakhiv direction - almost half of all attacks were conducted there.
The invaders use aviation and artillery, hitting the border areas of Sumy and Chernihiv regions. In particular, the areas of Pokrovka and Karpovichi settlements came under artillery fire.
The aggressor also carried out airstrikes near Budivelny. According to the available information, the Russian aviation has carried out seven strikes on the Kursk region, dropping nine guided aerial bombs.
In the Kharkiv direction, Russian terrorists stormed the positions of our units in the Staritsa area four times. The situation is under control.
Seven times the enemy attacked our positions in the Kupyansk direction : near Kucherivka, Pishchany, Stepova Novoselivka, Lozova, and Vyshnevo. Two attacks were repulsed by the Defense Forces, five clashes are still ongoing.
On the Lymansky direction, the enemy attacked in the areas of Grekivka, Nevsky, Terni and Torsky. Since the beginning of the day, there have already been ten clashes in this direction, and the battle near Grekivka is still ongoing.
In the Kramatorsk direction, Ukrainian soldiers repelled an enemy attack near Stupochy. Enemy aircraft attacked Chasovoy Yar with unguided air missiles.
In the Toretsk direction, the enemy attacked near Toretsk. The aggressor's aircraft bombarded Toretsk and Katerynivka, and the occupiers also fired at Druzhba with unguided air missiles.
In the Pokrovsky direction, since the beginning of the day, the occupiers have already made eight attempts to dislodge our defenders from their positions in the Promin and Selidove districts. The defense forces restrained the onslaught and repelled five enemy attacks, three clashes are still ongoing.
It is the hottest today in the Kurakhiv direction , where invaders have attacked our units 42 times since the beginning of the day. They are trying to advance in the vicinity of Zoryanyi, Zhelany Drugo, Izmailivka, Novodmytrivka, Hirnyk, Novoselidivka, Georgiivka, and Katerynivka. Sixteen attacks were repulsed by the Defense Forces, and the fighting continues.
One assault of the enemy was repulsed in the Vremivsk direction , and a battle near Zolotaya Niva is currently ongoing. Russian unguided rockets exploded near Novodarivka.
In the Orihiv direction, a battle is taking place near Malaya Tokmachka.
In the Dnieper direction, Ukrainian units repelled three attacks on the positions of our troops.
In other directions, there are no significant changes.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Yaroslav Karpikov
[REGNUM] The invasion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces into the Kursk region has obviously not only failed to achieve its goals, but the occupiers are rapidly losing the positions they managed to secure in August-September. If the situation continues to develop at the current rate, Kiev's bloody adventure will soon come to an inglorious end. It seems that the historical experience of the Ukrainians teaches nothing, because this is not the first failure of their military adventure near Kursk.
A similar adventure, the scene for which became the same lands of the Kursk border, was the attack of the Cossacks of the first Little Russian hetman-traitor Ivan Vyhovsky 350 years ago.
The history of the Pereyaslav Rada of 1654 is well known in Russia since school years, and was also known in Ukraine (before history textbooks were rewritten in the key needed by the independent state ). Less well known is what happened after Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky and the Zaporozhian Host took the oath of allegiance to the Russian Tsar.
Khmelnitsky died already in 1657. And if this commander and statesman played a positive role for the general Russian history (with all the complexity of the personality of Bohdan Mikhailovich), then the situation was completely different with his successors, who led such an inconstant and “shaky” mass of people as the Cossacks.
MR. VYHOVSKY'S EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
After Khmelnytsky's death, power was taken over by the former general clerk of the Zaporozhian Host, Ivan Vyhovsky. The Hetman's mace fell into his hands thanks to intrigues combined with repressions, which vividly resembles the modern Ukrainian "politicum".
According to Bohdan's will, the young son Yuri Khmelnitsky was to become the new head of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, with Vyhovsky acting as a sort of regent. But in the end, Yuri Bohdanovich was sent to study at the Kiev-Mohyla Academy, and the general clerk seized the reins of government.
He was supported by a part of the "significant" Zaporozhians - the Cossack elders and the Orthodox gentry who joined them, who believed that it was better to receive back the privileges from the Polish king Jan Casimir than to continue to serve - albeit a co-religionist - the Russian tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. The Zaporozhian golytba (golutvenny Cossacks) and part of the elders were faithful to the oaths of the Pereyaslav Rada.
Vyhovsky's downside was his "murky" biography.
He was not a natural Zaporozhian, but a nobleman from the present-day Zhitomir region, served in the "kvartsiany", that is, regular army of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. During the battle of the Poles with Khmelnitsky's Cossacks (and the Crimean Tatars, with whom Bohdan was in a temporary alliance) at Zhovti Vody, he was captured, tried to escape and was caught by the Crimeans. It is known that Khmelnitsky bought the prisoner from Khan Islam Giray for a horse.
In gratitude, Vyhovsky swore an oath to Khmelnytsky. The nobleman, who graduated from the Mohyla Academy, was a valuable acquisition - thanks to his diplomatic skills, Khmelnytsky established contacts with the Transylvanian prince and the court of the Turkish sultan. It is not surprising that, by the will of Hetman Khmelnytsky, Vyhovsky headed the General Chancellery of the Zaporozhian Host.
But they did not believe the general clerk "bought for a horse". The Russian historian Sergei Solovyov quoted the words of the Cossack envoys to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich: "We do not want Vyhovsky as a hetman at all and do not trust him in anything... Bogdan gave him life and made him a clerk; but by his nature, he does not want any good for the Army, and his wife is a noblewoman from a noble house."
In the struggle for power, Vyhovsky showed a tough character. Pereyaslav Cossack Colonel Timofey Tsetsyura wrote that he "ordered to flog many colonels who did not want to listen, and shot and hanged others, and gave many Cossacks with their wives and children to the Crimea as Tatars." Needless to say, "Euro-oriented" Ukrainian politicians have always known a thing or two about repressions and reprisals.
Vyhovsky began "European integration" immediately after seizing power. In early September 1658, in the city of Gadyach, Vyhovsky signed an agreement with the Poles. The "Gadyach Articles" promised the hetman's lands the status of a third full member of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - along with the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a "Russian Principality" was to appear. The Cossacks were promised the liquidation of the Brest Church Union.
But the promises remained on paper - Warsaw explained that the Sejm ratified the "articles", but in a greatly reduced form. In reality, the Hetmanate, with a minimum of benefits, received a maximum of problems, finding itself - like today's Ukraine - in the position of the West's battering ram against Russia.
True, Vyhovsky, unlike current figures, looked at things more realistically and, not counting on help from Jan Casimir, just in case swore allegiance to the Crimean Khan Mehmed Giray in the expectation of military assistance.
MATTRESS OF MILITARY SIGNIFICANCE
After the treaty with the Poles in Gadyach, the hetman, together with the previously invited Tatars, conceived an act of intimidation against the Russian state: an attack on the border lands to the west of the defensive structure - the Belgorod line. The "traitor Ivashka Vyhovsky" chose the Kamennoye fortress as the place of the first attack.
This town (now the village of Kamennoye in the Sumy region, about 90 km from the border with the Kursk region) can be compared in its location to today's Sudzha - a border town without great strategic importance, chosen for a show of force. But behind the fortress there were critically important and vulnerable roads - Bakayev Shlyakh and Svinoy Shlyakh, along which the Crimean Tatars could break through.
The city of Kamennoye was built in the summer of 1651 through the efforts of the governor Fyodor Arsenyev, who erected Ostrogozhsk the following year (now a city in the Voronezh region).
The fort in Kamennoye was built from oak forest and consisted of eight towers - six blind and two passage towers. The main tower - "Moskovskaya" - was about 20 sazhens (slightly less than 43 meters) high. The total length of the fort wall was about 600 meters. The city's artillery consisted of one iron messenger pishchal - a long-barreled aimed gun, three regimental copper pishchals, three iron regimental pishchals (all on mounts). The defenders were armed with 11 iron zatinny pishchals - heavy fortress muzzle-loading guns, as well as one iron mattress.
At that time, a mattress was the name given to a primitive firearm, a tube 40–130 cm long, welded at one end and with a conical socket at the muzzle.
The beginning of the invasion. "And the churches of God and the bread he burned..."
We can judge the events under the walls of Kamenny from the letters of the city governor Prokofiy Karpov, who had been in charge of the newly built fortress since 1658, which have been preserved in the archives. In addition, the chief of the Discharge Order, Prince Grigory Romodanovsky, reported to Moscow about what was happening.
The first raids of the "Cherkasy" - Vyhovsky's Cossacks on Kamennoye began on August 18, 1658, when they drove away "horses and all kinds of animals" and also killed a boyar's son (as one of the classes of service people was called) and a Cossack in Russian service.
On September 10, 1658, large forces of Cherkass and Tatars appeared near Kamennoye, who “… laid siege and took away the entire settlement and became camps” — that is, they captured the suburbs and set up camp.
In a report that reached Moscow only on November 10, Governor Karpov wrote: Vygov “burned the Church of God, and the settlement, and the threshing floors, the grain and the mills, destroyed everything down to the foundations, not a single house remained.”
Around the city, the Cossacks built trenches - positions for cannons. On Vyhovsky's orders, the cannons fired for "three days." One of the targets of the shelling was "God's Cathedral Church," which brings to mind the fate of the temple in Sudzha.
Vyhovsky "broke the city and killed many of your Sovereign's people with cannons," wrote Karpov. On August 19, there was a "cruel attack" - Cossacks and Tatars tried to break through the Moscow Gate and dug tunnels under the tower. But, "by the grace of God," the enemy's attack was repelled, many Cherkassy colonels and Tatar murzas were beaten "and the city was defended."
Along with the siege of Kamenny, the Tatars and Cherkassy of Vyhovsky decided to expand the zone of military operations and, having crossed the Psel River (flowing through Sudzha and Sumy), they besieged the royal fortress of Lebedin (now a city in the Sumy region) in the northeast.
The fighting here lasted from September 10 to 19. The trading post was burned, but the Russian city was never taken - this can be found out from the message sent by the Lebedinsky voivode Kirill Mishkov.
SEVEN REGIMENTS CAN'T COPE. MYSTERIOUS NEGOTIATIONS
The Cherkasy captured under torture near Akhtyrka informed about Vyhovsky's forces participating in the attack on the Russian borderland. The voivode of the Russian fortress of Akhtyrka (now a city in the Sumy region) Maksim Telegin sent two captured Cossacks of the Mirgorod regiment, Ivashka Yunchenko and Danilka Samoilov, to the voivode Romodanovsky in Belgorod.
The Mirgorodians showed that the hetman who had defected to the Polish side brought seven regiments: Chigirinsky, Cherkassky, Prilutsky, Nezhinsky, Mirgorodsky, Lubensky and Kanevsky. Crimean Tatars arrived to help the invasion forces under the command of Karach-bey Murza, a well-known organizer of raids on the "southern Ukraines" of Russia.
The Tatars alone, according to the captives, had 40 thousand sabres. The figure is clearly exaggerated. But if we consider that all the invasion forces "in the Ukraine" consisted of several tens of thousands of Cherkassians and Tatars, this can be compared with the current grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region (30 thousand at the beginning of October, according to The Washington Post).
After unsuccessful assaults on several fortresses, the enemy's morale began to decline. During interrogation in Belgorod, prisoners Yunchenko and Samoilov reported that the Poltava Regiment had "seceded" from Vyhovsky. The residents and Cossacks of the Poltava Regiment's cities who remained loyal to their oath to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich locked themselves in their cities and disobeyed the traitor hetman.
On the other hand, the situation of the Kamennoye garrison was difficult - three dozen of the 200 defenders died. The city fought back, but the fighters were exhausted, there was a problem with food, and famine began.
Nevertheless, in view of the failures, Vyhovsky abandoned the siege of Kamennoye, and on September 22 ordered the preparation of a crossing over the Psel River in order to go to other tsarist cities. In the testimony of the captured "Vyhovskys" there is an interesting detail that is not in the reports of the governor Karpov. Before lifting the siege, the hetman had a personal meeting with the governor of Kamennoye and a local priest: "The Kamenovsky governor and the priest went from the city to the hetman's camp and spent the night with him, the hetman. And on September 23, the hetman... let the governor and the priest go to the city."
It is unknown what the negotiations were about. Perhaps about some guarantees for Vyhovsky in case his “operation” fails and he is captured by the Russians?
VYHOVSKY AT THE WALLS OF OLESHNYA. "THERE WAS A BATTLE UNTIL NIGHT..."
Be that as it may, on September 23 the siege of Kamenny was lifted, and Hetman Vyhovsky with all his forces headed across the Psel River towards the next Russian city - Oleshnya.
The city of Oleshnya (now a village in the Akhtyrsky district of the Sumy region) stood on the western edge of the Belgorod line, on a plain near the river of the same name. During the Time of Troubles, it was captured by the Poles, but the Russian state managed to recapture the city shortly before the events described. Oleshnya, following Kamenny, had to withstand the onslaught of Vyhovsky's army.
According to the archives, the city's artillery consisted of a one-and-a-half copper cannon, three copper cannons on mounts, two iron arquebuses without mounts (sent from Tula gunsmiths). The Ostrog in Oleshny was smaller than in Kamennoye - a wall with a total length of less than 400 meters, four corner towers and one roadway gate about three meters wide.
It was in 1658 that the newly appointed governor Alexei Bovykin took over the estate. Even before the arrival of Hetman Vyhovsky near Oleshnya, the garrison was reinforced by a company of dragoons numbering 60 men with captain Ivan Golenskin sent from Belgorod by Prince Romodanovsky.
Vyhovsky's troops and the Tatars approached Oleshnya on September 25 "at the seventh hour of the day." In advance, even before the enemy arrived, the governor Bovykin ordered the church books and icons to be transferred from the Cathedral Church of the Transfiguration, which was in the settlement, to the prison.
“There was… a battle until nightfall,” the inhabitants of the settlement became the first victims of the Tatars and Cherkassians, the governor “is under siege,” communication with the city is broken, Romodanovsky reported.
But Bovykin not only sat under siege, but also made a successful sortie from the prison. Later, the Oleshansky voivode reported that during the siege, more than 20 poods of "potion" (gunpowder) were spent (out of 90 poods of the total arsenal), 100 cannonballs from large and small cannons.
The city was defended by a little over three hundred people. Among the defenders were both service children of the boyars from the Great Russians (117 people plus 60 of their children and relatives who "came in time" for service) and 117 Cherkassian Cossacks, loyal to the oath to the Russian Tsar. Judging by the same document, only three Cherkassians fled to the enemy - ironically, three Fedors: Fedka Savostyanov, Fedko Savchenko and Fedko Borovik.
Hetman Vyhovsky stood for three days at the walls of Oleshnya, burned the settlement, greatly ravaged the county and on September 28 lifted the siege, leaving for Little Rus'. The hetman began to have problems in the rear, and Prince Romodanovsky's army set out from Belgorod to clear the captured lands and help the besieged cities.
LESSONS OF RUIN
The rebellious Cossacks were driven back from the Kursk and Sloboda "Ukraines", which, however, did not mark the end of the special operation against Vyhovsky. It was just an episode in another clash between Russia and the "outpost of the West" Poland - the war of 1654-67. The Ottoman Empire, the Crimean Khanate, and the Swedish Kingdom all tried to turn the southern Russian lands into their sphere of interests, and local Cossack leaders sought an alliance with them and fought with each other. The result was an era that went down in the history of Little Russia under the eloquent name of "Ruin".
These events, as well as Vyhovsky's further adventures, require a separate story. Let us note only that the Russian state won the protracted and difficult war, but as a result of this victory it was able to secure only Kyiv and the left bank of the Dnieper. The right bank, where the main events of the Khmelnitsky uprising unfolded, remained under Poland for another hundred and fifty years.
Lessons were also learned from Vyhovsky's raid on the Russian borderland.
On the one hand, the attacks on Kamennoye, Oleshnya and other cities came as a surprise to the tsarist government. The unprotected districts and settlements were devastated by the people of the "Polish Crown Hetman" and the Tatars. Only a month after the attack, the governor Romodanovsky was able to gather sufficient forces of the Belgorod Discharge Regiment and set out to "cleanse" the districts of the invaders.
On the other hand, the fortress cities were able to hold out and withstand the siege thanks to well-built forts and other fortifications. This helped them hold out until the main forces arrived. The result of Vyhovsky's "demonstrative" campaign was an inglorious retreat - similar to what can now be seen in the Kursk borderland.
One of the West's goals was to bring the war to the Russian People, and in Kursk they did just that. The terror campaign in Kursk, a backwater region that offered little strategic value was largely a success.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] A dangerous Venezuela
...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south... n gang has taken over at least four apartment complexes in San Antonio, Texas, as it expands its reach in yet another America city, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Dubbed the 'epitome of evil', Tren de Aragua (TdA) is known to run drug smuggling, child prostitution and human trafficking rings in South America, with its members crossing over into the US in recent years amid a wave of Venezuelan migrants colonists.
The tattooed mobsters have since unleashed a wave of crime across the country from Miami and Texas to Denver and New York.
The gang's activities in the American cities are back in the spotlight after ABC News’ Martha Raddatz claimed the instances of gang members' presence in apartments was limited to a 'handful' of complexes in Aurora, Colorado.
Just last week a small army of coppers raided an apartment complex in San Antonio and arrested 19 individuals - including four gang members.
Law enforcement sources confirmed TdA had been operating at the Palatia Apartments for five to six months - squatting in empty units they either rented out to other migrants colonists, used as a base to deal cocaine or, most horrifically, as prostitution dens to pimp out women and kiddies.
But now DailyMail.com can reveal that this apartment invasion is just the tip of the iceberg in the major southern Texas city, with at least three other rental properties also occupied by the criminal organization.
#1
Yet a week or so ago the Texas Guv was bloviating about how they'd declared war on TdA and that would making "confiscating their property" easier. Go back to your roots, Guv. Stephen Austin would not be impressed.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Mark Dranitsyn
[REGNUM] - There, do you see? I'm telling you, the fields are dug up from top to bottom by Ukrainian trenches, and inside everything is covered in concrete and sealed with metal, - Pavel Sidorov says, slowing down his car and describing several circles in the air with his right hand.
Together with his wife Alla, they are the only volunteers in this area who travel from their native Makeyevka (DPR) to the so-called red zone - a place of increased danger, a combat zone where you can easily run into an enemy drone or cluster munition. Just recently, whole hordes of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were standing here, deeply dug in.
“I remember in the fall, and especially in the winter, this picture: stove pipes sticking out of the ground, and thick smoke pouring out of them without ceasing,” Pavel continues his story, crossing himself three times as he walks. “So thickly that you can’t see the end of the edge.”
“I thought we’d never smoke them out of here, ” Alla’s wife joins in the conversation. “They’ve crawled like cockroaches, Lord have mercy!”
It is in these parts that the final destination of our route is located - Valeryanovka. A tiny village thirty kilometers from the center of the "fortress city" and the most important logistics hub of Ugledar, which after two and a half years of heavy fighting was liberated by the Russian army.
And although Valeryanovka itself returned to the Donetsk Republic back in 2022, the villagers were effectively cut off from civilization all this time, literally stuck in the line of fire: when trying to evacuate to nearby Volnovakha, refugees almost inevitably faced death from enemy shelling. Nevertheless, some residents still left for temporary accommodation points or to the territory of "big" Russia. For those who remained, Pavel and Alla from time to time, when they scrape together the bins, bring essential items - water, food and clothing.
All this is sorely lacking here.
- Well, shall we stop by Olga's right on the way? - the volunteers consult among themselves.
A few minutes later, the car parks in the yard of an unremarkable house. In front of us is a simple, slanted house - you see them here almost at every step. A middle-aged woman limps at the threshold. Her face is stamped with endless fatigue. But at the sight of old friends, a timid spark of hope lights up in her eyes.
- Pavlik, Allochka, my dears, - the hostess hugs the guests tightly. - Lord, bless! As soon as I hear the creaking of wheels, I immediately know - it's you.
While Pavel takes bags of humanitarian aid out of his road-weary car, Olga Volkova exchanges news with Alla.
— Yes, we haven’t been able to receive our pension for six months now. After the re-registration, they promised in September, but in September, nothing again. They are already meeting me there with hands and feet: “Are you talking about Maxim Volkov again?” I say yes. They answer that everything will be in October. But October has already arrived.
Maxim is Olga's son, he has the second group of disability. The guy is 25 years old, but due to a congenital disease, his level of development is barely similar to that of a first-grader. The pension due from the state is not yet being given - due to bureaucratic red tape, the family is being kicked around month after month by the competent authorities.
— Maksimka recently learned to write poetry, we are learning it now. There is just a problem with food. There is not enough food. In general, there is not enough of everything. There is no coal. Now the cold is coming, and there is nothing to heat the house with. Thanks again to Alla and Pasha — last year they gave us cellophane film, we covered the windows with it. This year I don’t know what we will do. My husband earns ten thousand. That’s how we live.
Fleeing the war, Olga moved her family from Yegorovka, which is even closer to Ugledar than Valeryanovka. The site of her native village was left as scorched earth.
- The soldiers said that there were exactly three huts left there. And even then, it wasn't the huts themselves, but rather their outlines. And we live with relatives, this is their home. And we don't know, what if they need it themselves, what to do then, where to run? - Olga can barely hold back her tears.
And as if all these problems that have fallen on our heads were not enough, about a month ago the well completely dried up. Now there is simply nowhere to get drinking water from.
- Look, there's not even enough for a spoon, - Olga lifts the wooden lid of the pit. - Only walnut leaves are floundering at the bottom. Thanks to the military guys, they always help - they bring water and share food.
In response, Olga always tries to treat our fighters with nuts, which, unlike everything else, are in abundance here.
- Of course, they will take a handful for the sake of appearances, so as not to offend the hostess. But they understand that she needs the nuts herself - they are a filling, high-calorie thing, - Alla whispers in my ear. - She will offer us some now.
Indeed, when we were already getting ready to leave, Olga came out onto the porch with a small bag of supplies.
- Alla, Pavlik, take at least a little for your children! - the compassionate village woman holds out a gift.
Inside you can see not only the characteristic shell, but also the skin of sweet peppers - modest fruits grown in a small garden. It is surprising, of course, that Olga herself has to make ends meet, and she treats guests. Modestly, with what God sent, but sincerely and from the heart.
The next stop is a hundred meters from here, almost around the bend. This time, a flock of noisy geese greets us at the hut. "Ga-ga-ga, ga-ga-ga, ga-ga-ga," they loudly, even angrily, shout their incomprehensible curses in chorus.
"They've already driven me crazy - well, where are our volunteers, they ask? I give them the phone and tell them to call them yourself, otherwise it's inconvenient to disturb people," says Maria Gevalo.
Of course, it wasn't the geese who pestered her with questions about the volunteers (at least, no one has complained about them yet), but her own children. There are six of them in the family. The youngest in this team of cheerful kids always wait for Pasha and Alla more than the average Russian child for Father Frost.
- Bogdana, what do you need to say? - the mother of the family scolds a blonde girl of about six years old.
At first, she grabbed the box of chocolates with her usual childish naivety. But, realizing that it was probably impolite, she immediately fixed her hair, smiled with all her baby teeth and, as if nothing had happened, loudly said: "A big thank you!" Intentionally stretching out several vowels at the end of her sincere gratitude.
- And where are you going? You should be slapped on the wrists, not fed sweets, you little rascal! - Maria scolds Bogdana's brother, ten-year-old Kolka, who squints slyly at his gifts. It seems that all these threatening accusations do not scare him at all. Kolya, like a true gentleman, shakes hands with the male members of the team, steps aside a little and solemnly declares: "Actually, I chopped some firewood, I earned it!"
At that moment, a pale shadow crossed Maryivanna’s face, which quickly turned into a crimson blush of anger.
- I'll chop you up myself now, you little bastard! Who burned down our summer kitchen, huh? When are you going to earn enough for it, you rascal?
It turns out that the boy had played too much with matches the day before and burned down the outbuilding - accidentally, of course. And he probably got what he deserved for his prank. And after that, nothing is scary anymore.
- Stop gobbling it up when your mother is talking to you! - Maria doesn't let up. - Give it to your sisters, then you can share it all.
Nikolai deliberately slowly placed another barberry in his cheek, covered the box with a lid and gave it to Bogdana. She was somewhat taken aback by such a load and almost dropped the treats from her hands. Having caught her balance, the girl beamed even brighter with pleasure - she had not held so many delicacies in her hands for a long time.
- Pavlik, Allochka, thank you, God bless you, - the mother of the family crossed the volunteers. - If it weren’t for you...
And then Maria was overcome. Just a minute ago it seemed that neither the roaring guns nor the passing tanks were a problem for this woman - she was a rock in the flesh. But she suddenly started crying. As if a whole barrel of various griefs had long been accumulated inside her.
— Oh my God, I’m so ashamed, I can’t… — the mother of the family wipes away her tears and takes a breath. — In the spring, I was diagnosed with a tumor, now I go to the Donetsk Central Hospital, to the oncology department. Chemotherapy, lasers — such procedures. My children always see me off, as if for the last time: “Mommy, Mommy, don’t go anywhere, we’ll behave ourselves.” I don’t tell them anything, although they probably guess everything.
Maria's house, like many others in these parts, came under fire. The roof was broken, the windows were knocked out. All the utensils were ruined. The children and she temporarily moved into an empty shack left by relatives. In fact, it was not a home, but an ordinary shed. But at least you could hide from the rain.
“This is how we huddle here, ” Maria leads us into the inner rooms.
Along the walls are three beds, each with two children sleeping on it. The room is about fifteen square meters, no more. The windows are lined with heat-insulating material. The light is turned on only when absolutely necessary - the wiring is acting up, and they are saving money. On the only nightstand, a plush rabbit and a bear are hugging each other, and judging by their appearance, they also had a hard time: dirty, shabby - real frontline toys.
— Winter is coming soon, it will be hard for us here, — complains the mother of six children. — We saved up little by little for the renovation of our old house. When I applied for child support, we bought cement and boards with that money. We partially installed the windows. But then this stupid illness of mine…
Maria bursts into tears again. Obviously, cancer treatment is not cheap. And then you also have to support your family and restore your home.
— And how much is needed for treatment right now?
- Well, at least six or seven thousand.
- And to return home?
- Well, so that it would be possible to return... I think about thirty thousand.
The price of survival for a large Russian family is forty thousand rubles. Fortunately, the world is not without good people - part of this amount was found immediately. I want to believe that the rest will arrive soon. At least Masha and the kids will not disappear for the next month - there is already money for medicine, and Pavel and Alla brought food and belongings.
At the end of the house where the volunteers unloaded the boxes, a faded sign can be seen: “People live here.” And wherever you look, even if you see a war-torn shack before your eyes, you will see that people live there too. And often, as in Maria’s case, entire families.
On one such plot we met Tamara Fedorenko, a grandmother who runs a farm with her daughter and two grandchildren: a younger boy and an older girl, already a teenager.
Grandson Mitya, seeing Pasha and Alla, joyfully runs to meet them. In his tiny hands, the national flag of the Russian Federation flutters, hiding half his head.
- Oh, how you've grown. You used to be afraid of everything in the world, - says Alla Sidorova. - You'd look at him like this, and he'd start crying right away. That's why we tried not to look at him for a long time, so he wouldn't cry. And now, look at him, he greets guests himself. How businesslike!
Perhaps the boy had firmly learned that if you show the tricolor, you will definitely be provided with gifts. That is what happened this time. Mitya, of course, would have received his gifts anyway. But why spoil the touching magic? Let him firmly know that where Russia is, there is delicious and good.
Although, of course, it is not just for the sake of sweets for the children that Alla and her husband harness their old cart every week for humanitarian missions to the "red zone". The problem is that, despite the fall of Ugledar, there is no transport in the area at all - buses and minibuses do not run, checkpoints are scattered everywhere. Every now and then, air defense exits or artillery work can be heard in the air.
In addition, without a personal car - and this is an unaffordable luxury for the remaining villagers - it is impossible to leave Valeryanovka or return. That is why all the grocery stores are closed. What's more, there is not even electricity everywhere.
And people still live here. And they need help: with food, medicine, building materials - with everything you can think of.
— We have been here since 1914, although I was born here. Then I got married, left, but came back, — Tamara Dmitrievna shows her home. — We have been here the whole war. Before, something was constantly whistling overhead, it was very scary. Now, of course, it is less. Well, how less — it bangs, like a bang. Only not so close, when after a bang or a whistle you expect a shell to explode somewhere nearby. In principle, this has not happened. However, recently something also flew into our yard.
An old woman shows a broken barn. In the residential building opposite, the windows are broken, and in their place hangs a tarpaulin film.
- Everyone flies, and we got it too. Just like everyone else, just like everyone else, - Tamara Dmitrievna retells the story in a completely routine manner.
The woman said that during the Ukrainian occupation, young men who did not have time to leave were hidden in basements so that they would not be dragged into the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Because there would have been no way back. Moreover, they hid not only adults, but also teenagers: the other side did not hesitate to take away children. Why the Ukrainian soldiers did this and what would have happened to the kids next - only God knows.
After delivering the packages, volunteers Alla and Pavel move to the local humanitarian hub — the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Here they unload the bulk of the supplies they brought — bread, corn, cereals, tea, water, and various hygiene products. The church itself is located in the old two-story building of the local school.
The fact is that the main church complex next door has not been completed for many years. The complex has been repeatedly shelled by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The walls are cut by shrapnel, one of the domes miraculously did not fall apart after being hit - only the metal frame remained.
The local rector, Father Anatoly, once almost lost his life for the Orthodox faith. Ukrainian Nazis directly threatened the priest: if you don’t renounce the Moscow diocese, you’ll get into trouble. Of course, Father Anatoly didn’t betray himself or God. Regnum News Agency will tell his story separately.
[FoxNews] Gmail is used by nearly 2.5 billion users worldwide, making it a frequent target for scammers. If you use Gmail, you've probably encountered phishing emails impersonating popular companies like Microsoft, Google, Apple and others. These scams are often easy to spot due to suspicious email addresses and other red flags like poor grammar or urgent requests for personal information.
However, a new AI-powered scam is making the rounds, and it’s much harder to detect unless you're very cautious. Wondering how this scam works and how to protect yourself? I’ve got you covered. In this article, I'll share a real-life example and provide practical tips to safeguard your information.
#1
Behold! An analysis tool so complex it could translate the Egyptian ruins, fit together the various broken puzzle pieces, create a simulation of the Aegean Economy prior to 1100 BC, then create a Virtual Tour of any of the deciphered settlement or fill in the blanks effectively, and let a person VR into this world, complete with smells, and interact with any of the characters in a real non-NPC to experience life or investigate existential questions, or play running an ancient shipping transport company!
[ManilaBulletin] DAVAO CITY — Former President Rodrigo Duterte claimed that Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian told him that the Philippines will not be spared if it allows the United States to utilize its military installations in the country to launch an aggressive action against China.
During his program Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa aired over SMNI News, Duterte said that the Chinese envoy conveyed to him, during their recent meeting, that even the Philippines, one of the strongest allies of China, would become a target once US forces initiate an attack against it.
"I reminded him (Chinese Ambassador) again that the Philippines does not have a quarrel with China," Duterte said, "but his answer to me was, ’if you provide places where there can be an aggressive action to China, the Philippines would always be a target.’"
Duterte admitted meeting with Huang regularly.
"I am not a lackey of China. I do not want to be subservient to any country. Neither would I be a protector or spokesman of America. I am just a Filipino," the former commander-in-chief stressed.
He urged both governments of the Philippines and the US to inform the Filipino people about the US military bases under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) that have actually been established in the country.
Duterte claimed EDCA sites have grown to 17 locations across the country.
"In the interest of the public’s right to know, there should be an open discussion. Americans should come clean and give us a truthful narration or narrative or an explanation and identify the places where they have installed bases here in the Philippines," he said.
He said the Marcos administration should be "open for discussion" because it would affect the Filipino people who "would be facing a war not of our own making" if tensions between US and China would escalate.
Duterte, who disallowed EDCA during his time as President, said that the US could bring "nuclear warheads" to its military installations in the country.
"I said by granting America several bases, we can be sure and I am sure as the Sun will rise in the east that these nuclear bases...will have nuclear warheads," he said.
Duterte feared that the "the next war or wars will be fought mainly using nuclear warheads."
"We don’t know because of EDCA, they are bringing in some right now. There is no accounting of the weapons in the hands of Americans to use against China if war breaks out. But we can be sure and it would be stupid for us or so naive to think that there is none," he said.
Duterte said that the consequence of a US attack on China would be a retaliation with nuclear arms against the Philippines.
"You (US) who are farther away have ’anti-missiles’ missiles. You can shoot them down before they can enter your airspace. The problem is here in the Philippines. What are the stakes for us? Nothing," he said.
He said a nuclear weapon could affect a "wide area" leaving radioactive materials that could last for 50 years.
"It would not only be destructive. I believe that the Philippines would be a graveyard, if war comes. Remember that," he said.
He said he does not welcome US military installations as he does not welcome the possible catastrophic consequence of a possible war between US and China.
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Israeli strike on Lebanese municipality building kills 16 in Nabatieh
[GEO.TV] The mayor of a major town in south Leb ...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the 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 Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... was among 16 people killed when an Israeli Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... destroyed its municipal headquarters in the biggest attack on an official Lebanese state building since the Israeli air campaign began.
Lebanese officials denounced the incident, which also maimed more than 50 people in Nabatieh, a picturesque provincial capital, saying it was proof that Israel's campaign against the Hezbollah gang was now shifting to target the Lebanese state.
The Israelis "intentionally targeted a meeting of the municipal council to discuss the city's service and relief situation" to aid people displaced by the Israeli campaign, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said.
WATCH 🚨
Nice shot!
Hezbollah terrorists fired an RPG missile at IDF forces, fled to a house, and were eliminated by an aircraft. pic.twitter.com/d80GyvPmq9
[FoxNews] Residents of a rural Indiana city are begging for help from the government as many insist a mass influx of migrants has overwhelmed the community.
"We need some help here. We need some federal help. We need transparency between our local officials, and we need some more information and communication," warned Dave Price, a resident of Logansport, approximately 78 miles north of Indianapolis.
Appearing Wednesday on "FOX & Friends," Price relayed the on-the-ground struggle residents face as more immigrants come into the area.
"Logansport is just not used to [this]. We had immigrants come in throughout the years to Logansport from the Mexico area, so we have a lot of Hispanics in the area which have acclimated very well, and they've grown their businesses, and they've earned the respect of Americans, and we've respected them in return," he said.
"But what we're seeing now is a little different. It's coming from a Third World country coming into Logansport, and these individuals don't necessarily know the local laws or rules and how to behave here, basically, and we just ask that our local leaders, state and federal, take a look at Logansport, Indiana."
While it is unknown exactly how many migrants have come into the area over the last three years, one area resident estimated the number could surpass 2,000, local outlet FOX 59 reported.
The situation was described as "unsustainable."
"Migrant spiritual leaders told city leaders that 5,000 Haitian immigrants have recently moved to the city, but the mayor said he has no way of verifying that number," the outlet wrote in a report published last week, adding that finding out an accurate number is important since Logansport's "budgets, money and services" are planned on the basis of its 18,000 census population.
The report also indicated that even the mayor, Chris Martin, has been left in the dark about the number of migrants in Logansport. However, he has noted a "20% to 30% increase" in traffic and school and hospital populations.
He has even considered declaring a state of emergency, FOX 59 reported.
It's believed that many migrants arrived to work at a local Tyson Foods plant.
When contacted by the local outlet via phone and email, the plant did not respond to questions.
The crisis has reportedly fueled several key problems, including a strain on local services like schools, housing and health facilities, though Logansport Memorial Hospital says there are additional reasons for skyrocketing birth rates.
"Logansport Memorial has seen an increase in births this year but partially due to area hospitals closing their OB departments. Dukes, a CHS hospital, in Peru closed in June of 2024. Parkview Wabash closed in 2023. Pulaski County closed in January of 2022. And Carroll County does not have a hospital. IU White County has not delivered babies for several years. LMH is on track to have 566 births, approximately 12% of those are newcomers. Medicaid has not increased their rates in 30 years. This has put a significant burden on OB care in the state of Indiana," the hospital said in a statement.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Ukraine is facing the threat of a huge influx of North Korean troops who are being trained by Russia's army.
At least 10,000 soldiers from the Pyongyang regime are understood to be taking part in manoeuvres before an expected deployment in regions close to the Ukrainian border.
The Kremlin is said to have paid North Korea to send personnel to the front in a deal struck on president Vladimir Putin's state visit to Kim Jong Un.
North Korea, like Iran, is also reported to be supplying weaponry and ammunition.
The suggestions emerged as Volodymyr Zelensky unveiled his blueprint for liberating Ukraine, calling Russia and its allies as a 'coalition of criminals'.
The earlier demo of highways and railroad crossings suggests Kim has found in Russia a sponsor for the prelude of an Israel/Gaza type assault.
For decades DPRK has practiced assaults from tunnels. The road and rail destruction is to impede ROK/US forces moving north. The split Obama/Biden/Harris Presidency may be the trigger to assume the US will withdraw or at least stand passive.
With a big enough backer, the world may whine but little else.
#7
The earlier demo of highways and railroad crossings suggests Kim has found in Russia a sponsor for the prelude of an Israel/Gaza type assault.
I dunno. Kim periodically acts out when he feels the world is not paying enough attention. Threatening apocalyptic war is a good gig both at home and abroad, but you can only actually play the card once. I see it as aggravated bluster, but if I am wrong, we will definitely notice.
Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title.
[Korrespondent] 21:55 The meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Council will take place in Brussels on October 17 at the level of defense ministers, Secretary General Mark Rutte announced.
21:43 The Pentagon has released the contents of a new military aid package for Ukraine:
anti-aircraft guided missiles for the NASAMS air defense system;
The White House also said the United States would provide Ukraine with a range of additional capabilities in the coming months, including hundreds of air defense interceptors, dozens of tactical air defense systems, artillery systems, ammunition, hundreds of armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, and thousands of additional armored vehicles. The two leaders also directed their teams to consult further on the next steps in implementing Ukraine's "victory plan."
20:40 The United States has provided Ukraine with a new defense package worth $425 million , which includes new air defense systems and long-range weapons, Zelensky said following a conversation with Biden. The president also proposed considering the possibility of developing joint weapons production and additional training for the Ukrainian military. Particular attention was paid to the upcoming Rammstein meeting, which will be held online. Zelensky also confirmed that tomorrow he will present his "victory plan" at a meeting of the Council of Europe.
20:01 The Ramstein summit, which was postponed due to the hurricane in the United States, will take place next month, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said. She also said that Biden will soon hold a conversation with Zelensky and announce a new "substantial" package of military aid to Ukraine.
19:22 The Ministry of Defense reported that it has issued an official permit for the first time for a private school for UAV operators - the Kyiv-based Global Drone Academy received it under a simplified procedure. The school will not only train military and civilian personnel to operate drones, but also provide graduates with the appropriate military registration specialty, which will allow them to serve in the army in a specific direction.
18:37 NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that Zelensky's "victory plan" will be discussed behind closed doors with allies, and "there are many points that need to be sorted out." Rutte also could not confirm information about the participation of DPRK soldiers in the war against Ukraine, noting only that these reports "obviously cause concern."
18:01 The EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell, commenting on the "victory plan", said that Ukraine needs stronger security guarantees. According to him, Europe has hesitated too much in providing military aid in the past, but now it is necessary to act decisively to prevent a protracted war. Borrell stressed that the only way to force Putin to negotiate is for Ukraine to win on the battlefield.
17:19 The Nordic-Baltic Eight will provide Ukraine with a winter aid package - this was announced by the heads of the Foreign Ministries of Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Finland. The package will include solar panels, generators and other equipment needed to get through the winter.
16:23 US Permanent Representative to NATO Julian Smith stated that "the situation at the moment does not favor inviting Ukraine to NATO." She also noted that Washington's position regarding restrictions on Kiev's use of long-range American weapons remains the same.
16:18 GUR reported that its active units Arta and Kraken, together with fighters from the International Legion and the Freedom of Russia Legion, cleared 400 hectares of forest north of the settlement of Liptsy in the Kharkiv region. As a result of the operation, the fighters captured the enemy's battalion defense area, destroyed three motorized rifle battalions, the Storm detachment, and the reconnaissance company of the 7th separate motorized rifle regiment of the 11th army corps of the Russian Armed Forces. Russian soldiers were also captured during the assault.
16:04 Australia is preparing a $245 million military aid package for Ukraine, ABC News reports. The package will include 49 M1A1 Abrams tanks.
15:34 Scholz declared his readiness to talk to Putin: "We had a conference in Bürgenstock in Switzerland, which ended with the conclusion: we need another one, in which Russia should also take part. And therefore it is right that when they ask whether we will talk to the Russian president, we say: yes, that is so."
15:26 Rocket debris has been found in northern Moldova. According to border police, the debris was found near the village of Lenkeuti, 4 km from the border with Ukraine.
15:19 Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico believes that the end of the war in Ukraine in the near future is "very likely": "The probability of ending the war in Ukraine in the short term is very high. I expect that tomorrow it will be possible to hint at something, because suddenly the topic of inviting Ukraine to NATO appears." At the same time, Fico emphasized that this invitation for Ukraine will not be "free" and called for "forgetting" that Russia will leave the occupied territories. The Prime Minister also repeated that the Slovak government will not support Ukraine's membership in NATO.
14:35 According to updated information, today the air defense shot down another 17 enemy drones, four more were lost in location. In total, on the night of October 16, 68 out of 136 attack UAVs were shot down, 64 were lost in location, two returned to Russia, and two more carried out strikes.
13:47 Western partners have taken a "practical and attentive" approach to the "victory plan," and the teams are now focused on the details of effective support, Zelensky said. At the same time, he acknowledged that in non-public communications, some partners are calling on Kyiv to negotiate: "We hear the word "negotiations" from our partners, and the word "justice" is heard much less often. Ukraine is open to diplomacy, but to honest diplomacy."
13:18 Zelensky said that Ukrainian intelligence is recording not only the transfer of weapons from North Korea to Russia, but also the transfer of people: "These are workers for Russian factories - instead of Russians killed in the war. And personnel for the Russian army. In fact, this is the participation of a second state in the war against Ukraine on the side of Russia."
12:46 The "Victory Plan" consists of five points and three secret annexes , Zelensky said. He also stressed that if we start moving according to the "Victory Plan" now, the war can be ended "no later than next year."
The first point is inviting Ukraine to NATO now. "We understand that NATO membership is a question of the future, not the present. But Putin must see that his geopolitical calculations are losing... That is why this is the starting point of the victory plan. Evidence of determination. An unconditional invitation now. This is certainty - how partners actually see Ukraine's place in the security architecture," the head of state emphasized.
The second point is defense , one of the sub-points of which is the continuation of operations on the territory of the Russian Federation, "in order to prevent buffer zones on our land." This point also includes military assistance from partners, strengthening air defense, domestic weapons production, lifting restrictions on the use of long-range weapons and providing Ukraine with such weapons. Zelensky noted that the defense point has a secret appendix, which is accessible to those partners who have the appropriate military assistance potential.
The third point - containment - also has a secret appendix, which has already been received by the leaders of the USA, Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany, and will be received by some other states in the future. Within the framework of this point, Ukraine proposes to place on its territory a comprehensive non-nuclear strategic containment package , which will be sufficient to protect the country from any military threat from the Russian Federation and will narrow Moscow's options for action: "Russia either goes into diplomacy or loses its war machine."
The fourth point is strategic economic potential. This point also has a secret appendix. Kiev, in particular, proposes that partners conclude a special agreement on the joint protection of critical resources available in Ukraine, such as uranium, titanium, lithium, graphite, etc.
The fifth point is designed for the post-war period , because after the war Ukraine will have one of the most experienced and largest military contingents. According to the president, this Ukrainian experience should be used to strengthen NATO's defense and ensure security in Europe.
12:11 Zelensky presents his "victory plan" in the Verkhovna Rada:
11:59 NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the Alliance's strategy is to supply weapons to Ukraine so that it can negotiate an end to the war from a position of strength. "Prevent Putin from getting what he wants in Ukraine. That means providing massive aid to Ukraine so that they can resist. We must do everything to ensure that Ukraine has the ability to continue to act," Rutte said.
11:37 Kiev is asking Biden for an invitation to NATO before the US president leaves the White House, Ukraine's ambassador to the Alliance Natalia Galibarenko told Reuters. "We believe that inviting Ukraine at this moment is a political signal. We sincerely believe that this can become part of the legacy of the current US administration... If we say that there is an invitation, for the Russian Federation this will be like a final verdict: that's it, we can no longer raise the stakes using this topic," she explained.
At the same time, Reuters notes that most NATO members, including the United States, are not ready to accept Ukraine. A source in the American government told the publication that the position has not changed.
11:21 France will soon begin supplying Ukraine with its first development of kamikaze drones, the country's Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said. According to him, the tests of the first French attack UAV were successful, so the first French units, as well as Ukraine, will receive them "in the coming weeks."
11:13 In Russia's Far East, 10,000 North Korean troops are currently undergoing training, RBC-Ukraine reports, citing a source in the Defense Forces. According to him, the DPRK troops are being prepared for redeployment to border areas near Ukraine. The Russian Federation is also preparing them for rotation of its troops in order to free up personnel.
10:52 Biden plans to meet with the leaders of Germany, France and the UK this week to discuss Ukraine, among other things, CNN reports, citing sources. The four leaders were scheduled to meet last week with Zelensky at Ramstein Air Base, but the meeting was canceled due to a hurricane in the US.
10:30 Deputy Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said the US will not deploy the THAAD medium-range missile defense system near Ukraine to shoot down Russian missiles and drones. When asked why the US is deploying the THAAD system in Israel to protect against Iran, but not in NATO countries to protect Ukraine, Singh said these are different situations: "These are different wars, different regions, and the commitments to Israel and Ukraine are different."
Politico, in turn, writes, citing several American officials, that the United States is shooting down missiles over Israel because Iran, unlike Russia, does not have nuclear weapons. "The tough answer, which the Ukrainians may not like to hear but which is unfortunately true, is that we can take the risk of shooting down Iranian missiles over Israel without provoking a direct war with Tehran that could lead to a nuclear war... There is much more risk if you try to do this with Russia," one of the newspaper's interlocutors explained.
Two other Biden administration officials echoed his assessment that sending U.S. troops to shoot down Russian missiles over Ukraine could lead to a direct military clash between the world's two leading nuclear powers — "with potentially apocalyptic consequences."
09:44 Britain is working on its own proposals for strikes deep into Russia as part of the practical implementation of the Ukrainian "victory plan," Syrsky said following a telephone conversation with the Chief of the British Defence Staff, Tony Radakin.
09:39 In the Kherson region, over the past day, six people were injured as a result of Russian shelling, reported the head of the OVA, Oleksandr Prokudin.
09:28 In Donetsk region on October 15, as a result of Russian shelling, three people were wounded: in Konstantinovka, Selidovo and Svetloye, reported the head of the OVA Vadim Filashkin.
08:57 In the Kharkiv region, over the previous day, as a result of Russian shelling, one person was killed - in the village of Kruglyakovka in the Kupyansky district, reported the head of the OVA Oleg Sinegubov.
08:23 Air defense destroyed 51 attack UAVs out of 136 in Sumy, Cherkasy, Kirovograd, Ternopil, Kherson, Kharkiv, Zhytomyr, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Kyiv, Poltava, Chernihiv and Chernivtsi regions at night, the Air Force reported. Another 60 Russian drones were lost due to electronic warfare countermeasures, two returned in the direction of the Russian Federation. More than 20 UAVs remain in Ukrainian airspace, combat operations continue.
In addition, at night the enemy launched a strike on Donetsk Oblast with an S-300/400 anti-aircraft guided missile and on Chernihiv Oblast with an Kh-59 guided air missile.
08:15 The US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reports, citing Ukrainian military officials, that Russia has upgraded Shahed attack drones, making them fly faster and at higher altitudes. At the same time, Ukrainian mobile fire teams have also improved their equipment and tactics and continue to shoot down enemy UAVs.
07:54 The General Staff announced the estimated losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of October 16:
personnel - about 672,850 (+1,450) people,
tanks - 8997 (+9),
combat armored vehicles - 17,969 (+30),
artillery systems - 19,459 (+29),
MLRS - 1231 (+0),
air defense systems - 978 (+0),
aircraft - 369 (+0),
helicopters - 329 (+0),
Operational-tactical level UAVs - 17,050 (+31),
cruise missiles - 2620 (+0),
ships/boats - 28 (+0),
submarines - 1 (+0),
automotive equipment and tank trucks - 26,732 (+78),
special equipment - 3441 (+0).
07:18 At night, the enemy attacked one of the industrial facilities in the Ternopil region - a large-scale fire broke out, which has already been extinguished, reported the head of the OVA Vyacheslav Negoda. No one was hurt.
03:16 Ukrainian OSINT project DeepState reports that the Russian army has occupied the village of Ostrovskoe in the Kurakhovskaya community of the Pokrovsky district of the Donetsk region. The enemy has also advanced near Levadnoye in the Zaporizhzhya region, Tsukurino in the Selidovskaya community of the Pokrovsky district and in Toretsk in the Donetsk region.
China's intelligence gathering operations have surged to an all-time high, posing a significant challenge to Western nations. These efforts have far exceeded Cold War-era espionage activities in both scale and persistence.
According to US intelligence, around 600 000 individuals are involved in China's intelligence and security operations. The FBI has revealed that Chinese hackers outnumber its own cyber personnel by at least 50 to one. FBI Director Christopher Wray stated that China's hacking program surpasses the combined efforts of all other major nations.
Recently, a data breach linked to a Chinese state-owned company compromised 260,000 internet-connected devices across several countries, including the US, UK, and France.
Additionally, investigations uncovered that Chinese cargo cranes in US seaports were equipped with technology allowing remote control by Chinese intelligence.
China has also been using students, researchers, and LinkedIn to collect sensitive information.
Kupyansk has been on the Russian menu since the spring.
[Korrespondent] The enemy is approaching Kupyansk.
Russian militaristic bloggers claim that the Russians managed to cut off the Kupyansk-Borovaya highway in the Kruglyakovka area.
The Russians continue their advance on different sections of the front. In particular, the occupiers have advanced southeast of Kupyansk in the east of the Kharkiv region. Geolocation footage confirms that they have occupied part of the village of Kolesnikovo, and Russian military bloggers claim that the Russians have managed to cut off the Kupyansk-Borovaya highway in the Kruglyakovka area. There is no official confirmation of Russian units reaching the Borovaya highway yet, but it is obvious that it is under full fire control and the Ukrainian Armed Forces cannot fully use it.
THE IMPORTANCE OF RUSSIAN SUCCESS
This means that the Russian army has effectively managed to cut the Ukrainian bridgehead on the eastern bank of the Oskol River. Now the supply of the Ukrainian Armed Forces units defending the area of the eastern suburbs of Kupyansk is tied to the only half-broken bridge on the Chuguev-Svatovo highway. Such logistics look extremely unreliable and could be disrupted by the first accurate hit of an aerial bomb or missile on the bridge support.
There are also reports of ongoing Russian attacks in many other directions – to the east, southeast and northeast of Kupyansk.
MANDATORY EVACUATION
On October 15, the head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, Oleg Sinegubov, announced the mandatory evacuation of all citizens living in the city of Kupyansk, as well as the communities of Kondrashovka, Kurilovka and Borovaya, “due to the worsening military situation.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF KUPYANSK
Before the war, the Kupyansk agglomeration with a population of over 55 thousand people was one of the largest in the Kharkov region. In addition, Kupyansk is a major transport hub, with several highways and five railway lines running through it.
The city was captured by Russian troops at the very beginning of the invasion in February 2022. Kupyansky played a key role in military supply, in particular, troops and cargo were transferred through it from the territory of the Belgorod region to the Russian group operating near Izyum.
In September 2022, as a result of the counteroffensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Kupyansk was liberated and the Russian units were pushed far to the east beyond the Oskol River. In the summer of 2023, Russian troops again went on the offensive in the Kupyansk direction, but despite the large number and good technical equipment of the Zapad group they had assembled, the advance was slow.
However, by the fall of 2024, the Russian army managed to approach Kupyansk to a threatening distance. The city is subject to constant shelling and destruction, most of the residents left it even before the evacuation order.
THREAT TO SLAVYANSK AND KRAMATORSK Slavyansk is the prize.
It will be extremely difficult for the Russians to capture all of Kupyansk. Most of the city is located on the high opposite bank, and the bridge across the river will most likely be blown up if Russian troops approach.
It is unlikely that the capture of the Kupyansk-Uzlovaya railway station will significantly facilitate Russian military logistics. Although it is located on the eastern bank of the Oskol, it was built so close to the river that direct fire can be conducted on it from the western bank.
However, the liquidation of the Ukrainian bridgehead on the left bank of the Oskol and the displacement of the Ukrainian Armed Forces beyond the reservoir allows the Russian army to create a stable defense there and secure the right flank of its group. This, in turn, creates the preconditions for changing the direction of attacks - advancing south along the river and the railway towards the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration.
U.S. Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin states that tonight’s B-2 Strikes against the Houthi Terrorist Group in Yemen, targeted a Series of Five Hardened Underground-Weapons Storage Facilities.
#7
Recently relocated to KC area and business took me past Whiteman as one of these magnificent birds took off and flew right over top of my car. What a rush and that quite literally may not have seen us coming, lol.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The PRC will not abandon the forceful option of returning Chinese Taipei (Taiwan). Moreover, if the situation escalates, the island will be completely destroyed. This was stated on October 16 by the Chairman of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council of the PRC Chen Binhua.
"No matter how many troops Taipei has and how many weapons it acquires, and whether outside forces intervene or not, if the island dares to take risks, it will lead to its own destruction," Reuters quoted Binhua as saying.
He stressed that Beijing seeks peaceful reunification of territories, but China's actions to protect national sovereignty and territorial integrity will not stop "for a minute."
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on October 14, the People's Liberation Army of China (PLA) began the Joint Sharp Sword 2024B exercise around Taipei, during which they will practice a joint assault, blockade, and take control of key ports and areas of the island. The goal of the maneuvers conducted by the Chinese military is stated to be "intimidation of separatist forces" that seek "independence" of the island.
A day earlier, a detachment of PLA naval ships sailed into the Pacific Ocean through the Bashi Strait near Chinese Taipei. The Taipei Defense Ministry said it was monitoring the situation and responding accordingly.
On July 27, during a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that Chinese Taipei was and remains part of China and will never become a "separate state." According to him, the Chinese authorities will definitely take countermeasures to provocations by forces supporting the island in its desire to separate.
Article Linked Is Available Only Via VPN.
[EngMilRu] The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation.
The units of the Sever Group of Forces in Liptsy and Volchansk directions have engaged the 57th Motorised Infantry Brigade and the 92nd Air Assault Brigade of the AFU close to Liptsy, Bolshiye Prokhody, and Malye Prokhody (Kharkov region).
The AFU losses were up to 40 troops and two 122mm D-30 howitzers.
One UAV depot has been neutralised.
As a result of offensive actions, the units of the Zapad Group of Forces have liberated Nevskoye (Lugansk People's Republic).
Russian troops have hit AFU manpower and hardware of 43rd, 44th, 53rd Mechanised brigades, the 77th Airmobile Brigade, and the 1st National Guard Brigade near Kupyansk, Novoosinovo, Berestovoye, Zeleny Gai, and Glushkovka (Kharkov region).
Five counterattacks of AFU 14th, 54th, 28th Mechanised brigades and the 3rd Tank Brigade have been repelled.
The enemy losses were over 430 servicemen, one tank, two motor vehicles, one 122mm D-30 howitzer, one U.S.-made 105mm M-119 gun, and one Anklav-N electronic warfare station.
One ammunition depot has been destroyed.
The units of the Yug Group of Forces continued to advance to the depths of enemy defences, defeating units of the 28th Mechanised Brigade, the 46th Airmobile Brigade, the 5th Assault Brigade, and the 79th Air Assault Brigade of the AFU near Ilyinka, Kurakhovo, Dyleyevka, Ivanopolye, Konstantinovka, and Yelizavetovka (Donetsk People's Republic).
Seven counterattacks of the 81st Airmobile Brigade and the 54th Mechanised Brigade have been repelled.
The enemy losses were up to 710 troops, two pick-up trucks, and one U.S.-made 155mm M777 howitzer.
The units of the Tsentr Group of Forces have liberated Krasny Yar (Donetsk People's Republic).
Russian troops have inflicted damage on AFU 67th, 150thMechanised brigades, the 59th Motorised Infantry Brigade, 101st, 111th Territorial Defence brigades, and the 15th National Guard Brigade close to Vishnyovoye, Novoselidovka, Dzerzhinsk, Vozdvizhenka, Selidovo, and Sukhaya Balka (Donetsk People's Republic).
In addition, 10 counter-attacks of AFU 23rd, 100th, 157th Mechanised brigades, the 25th Airborne Brigade, the 142nd Infantry Brigade, the 78th Air Assault Regiment, 49th, 425th Assault battalions, and the 38th Naval Infantry Brigade have been repelled.
The enemy losses were up to 465 troops, two Turkish-made Kozak and Kirpi armoured fighting vehicles, four motor vehicles, one 152mm D-20 gun, and one 122mm D-30 howitzers.
The units of the Vostok Group of Forces have seized more advantageous lines, inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of the AFU 72nd Mechanised Brigade, 110th and 129th Territorial Defence brigades near Temirovka (Zaporozhye region), Dobrovolye, and Velikaya Novosyolka (Donetsk People's Republic).
One counter-attack has been repelled by an assault detachment of the AFU 152nd Jaeger Brigade.
The enemy losses were up to 100 troops, three motor vehicles, and one Polish-made 155mm Krab self-propelled artillery system.
The units of the Dnepr Group of Forces have hit 31st, 65th Mechanised brigades, the 141st Infantry Brigade of the AFU, the 35th Naval Infantry Brigade, 121st and 126th Territorial Defence brigades near Kamenskoye, Orekhov, Malaya Tokmachka (Zaporozhye region), Kreshchenovka, and Zolotaya Balka (Kherson region).
The AFU losses were up to 75 troops, nine motor vehicles, one 152mm D-20 gun, and one 122mm 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system.
In addition, one Mandat-B1E electronic warfare station and one ammunition depot have been neutralised.
Operational-Tactical Aviation, attack unmanned aerial vehicles, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Groups of Forces have neutralised a depot storing uncrewed surface vehicles and hit the infrastructure of a military airfield, two enterprises: one manufacturing of explosives and ammunition, one oil refinery that supplied fuel to the AFU, systems of a Neptune antiship missile system, one S-200 air defence system as well as clusters of enemy manpower and military hardware in 138 areas.
Air defence facilities shot down three U.S.-made HIMARS MLRS projectiles and 56 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles.
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 646 aircraft, 283 helicopters, 33,704 unmanned aerial vehicles, 582 anti-aircraft missile systems, 18,632 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,472 MLRS combat vehicles, 16,246 field artillery guns and mortars, and 27,295 units of support military vehicles have been neutralised.
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the operation to neutralise an enemy group, which broke into the territory of Kursk region.
The units of the Sever Group of Forces continued offensive operations and have inflicted losses on formations of 22nd, 41st, 47th, 115th Mechanised brigades, the 17th Tank Brigade, 82nd, 95th Air Assault brigades, the 36th Naval Infantry Brigade, 103rd, and 129th Territorial Defence brigades of the AFU near Lyubimovka, Malaya Loknya, Novy Put, Novoivanovka, and Plyokhovo.
In addition, over the past 24 hours, the units of the Sever Group of Forces have repelled nine enemy counterattacks in the direction of Zeleny Shlyakh, Lyubimovka, Nizhny Klin, Novoivanovka, and Plyokhovo.
As a result, the AFU losses were up to 70 troops killed and wounded, one tank, one infantry fighting vehicle, seven armoured fighting vehicles, and two motor vehicles. Six AFU servicemen surrendered.
Army Aviation and artillery have inflicted losses on clusters of manpower and hardware of AFU 22nd, 41st, 61st, 115th Mechanised brigades, the 17th Tank Brigade, the 36th Naval Infantry Brigade, 82nd and 95th Air Assault brigades, the 1st National Guard Brigade as well as 103rd and 129th Territorial Defence brigades near Aleksandria, Gogolevka, Daryino, Zeleny Shlyakh, Kruglenkoye, Lebedevka, Malaya Loknya, Lyubimovka, Martynovka, Makhnovka, Novy Put, Nikolayevo-Daryino, Plyokhovo, Sverdlikovo, Sudzha, Staraya Sorochina, and Cherkasskoye Porechnoye.
Operational-Tactical Aviation and Missile Troops have inflicted fire damage in Sumy region on concentration areas and reserves of AFU 21st, 41st, 47th and 115th Mechanised brigades, the 95th Air Assault Brigade, the 1st National Guard Brigade as well as 101st, 103rd, and 129th Territorial Defence brigades near Belovody, Volnaya Sloboda, Zhuravka, Katerinovka, Kislaya Dubina, Luzhki, Miropolye, Pavlovka, Sosnovka, Topolya, Esman, and Yunakovka.
During the day, the AFU losses were more than 350 troops, 21 armoured vehicles, including two tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles, 16 armoured fighting vehicles, five mortars, and seven motor vehicles. Six AFU servicemen surrendered.
In total, the enemy lost more than 23,550 servicemen, 160 tanks, 75 infantry fighting vehicles, 100 armoured personnel carriers, 934 armoured fighting vehicles, 639 motor vehicles, 189 artillery guns, 37 multiple rocket launchers, including nine of HIMARS and six of MLRS made by the USA, nine anti-aircraft missile launchers, five transport and loading vehicles, 48 EW stations, nine counterbattery warfare radars, three air defence systems, 22 units of engineering and other equipment, including 13 counterobstacle vehicles, one UR-77 mine clearing vehicle, and three armoured recovery vehicles.
The operation to neutralise the AFU units is in progress.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] John Deere is laying off even more workers - while moving manufacturing to Mexico.
On Wednesday. the tractor maker told officials in Iowa and Illinois that nearly 300 workers are being laid off as demand slumps.
About 200 production workers will be laid off in East Moline, Illinois. Additionally, 80 workers in Davenport, Iowa will also lose their jobs, along with seven in Moline, Illinois.
It is the latest batch of layoffs this year, after 103 jobs were also cut in July, for the company founded 187 years ago.
The total this year is now around 2,100. They layoffs are across several Iowa sites - Ankeny, Dubuque, Ottumwa, Urbandale, Waterloo - plus Davenport and East Moline in Illinois, as well as a research center in Urbandale.
In many instances, production that these US workers were responsible for is being shifted to new locations in Mexico.
But the company said Wednesday that the layoffs are unrelated to its production moving to Mexico.
Instead, bosses attributed the job cuts to a decline in demand for tractors and other agricultural equipment, which has resulted from falling crop prices and farmers reducing their expenditures.
Movement of production to Mexico has attracted the attention of politicians.
Donald Trump said in September that he will slap a 200 percent tariff on John Deere's imports into the US if the company goes ahead with plans to move production to Mexico.
#7
I would rather do business with Japanese brands that manufacture in the US. The Japanese are not only vastly more quality conscious, they are a far better ally than Mexico.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
10/17/2024 18:54
Comments ||
Top||
#9
Nice crop sprayer, buddy!
Nah, its a 710 Series with a lift kit.
Looking forward to getting Farm Simulator 2025 with the ultra real mod.
-purchase a Juan Deere-
"Sorry! Contraband was found in the gas tank of your purchase and has been confiscated with no refund! Would like like to purchase again?"
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 23:58 Official summary of the DPR Representative Office in the JCCC from 00:00 16.10.2024 to 00:00 17.10.2024.
A total of 23 cases of armed attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces were recorded by the DPR Representative Office in the JCCC over the past 24 hours.
There were reports of one civilian being killed and four injured.
DAMAGED:
Two residential buildings,
One car.
A total of 23 artillery attacks in the Gorlovka direction.
A total of 64 units of various ammunition were fired.
23:02 Strikes are reported on Ukrainian Armed Forces facilities in Sumy, Poltava, Chernihiv regions, as well as in Kherson. Ballistics and Gerani are working.
19:11 An explosion occurred in Khar'kov in eastern Ukraine. This was reported by the Ukrainian publication Novosti Live.
19:10 Russian troops are six kilometers away from Kupyansk in the Khar'kov region. This was reported by State Duma deputy Viktor Vodolatsky.
He also noted that today there are units of NATO brigade units on the territory of Ukraine, in particular, a Polish brigade is located in the Kupyansk direction under the guise of mercenaries.
18:50 Group of attack helicopters Mi-35m, Mi-28nm, Ka-52msupportedground group of troops in the border area of the Kursk region.
On command from the lead crew, the wingmen launched a missile strike on the detected launch site, destroying the artillery crew and the Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel. In addition, during the flight mission, the army aviation crews destroyed Ukrainian Armed Forces armored vehicles hidden in a wooded area.
Army aviation carries out tasks of escorting columns, destroying armored vehicles, delivering troops, military cargo, and providing air support to units carrying out tasks as part of a special operation.
17:19 Crew of the 152mm self-propelled artillery unit 2S19 "Msta-S" of the "South" group destroyed enemy stronghold and armored vehicles of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kurakhovsky direction.
17:01 Statements of representatives of the North, West, South, Center, East and Dnepr groups on the progress of the special military operation (as of October 16, 2024).
15:02 Operational data is coming in that the Konstantinovka checkpoint on the border of Sumy and Kursk regions has come under the control of our forces.
15:00 The village of Nevskoye on the Zherebets River in the Krasnolimansk direction came under the control of our forces.
14:20 Destruction by loitering munition "Lancet" of the 155mm self-propelled artillery unit "Krab", supplied to the Ukrainian Armed Forces from Poland.
13:17 Servicemen of the West group of troops in the area of ??the special military operation successfully apply various UAVs for performing combat missions.
13:15 Footage from the settlement of Nevskoye in the Lugansk People's Republic, which was liberated as a result of active offensive actions by units of the West military group.
12:00 Ukrainian Armed Forces covertly transport military equipment and ammunition, using not military trucks, but simple civilian trucks. In this way, they try to disappear among the civilian population, since the Russian army regularly destroys military cargo during transportation.
10:33 A Ukrainian army officer voluntarily surrendered and went over to the Russian side on the Zaporizhzhya front line, Rogov told RIA Novosti.
According to Rogov, the officer indicated the location of the command post of the Ukrainian Armed Forces militants and their positions, after which they were attacked.
09:44 Russian troops inflicted missile strike on an armored vehicle plant in Nikolaev, the Defense Ministry reported.
As a result of the strike, five industrial buildings of the enterprise were damaged, 10 units of armored vehicles were destroyed, including six tanks. The production and repair of armored vehicles at the plant was stopped.
08:23 Strikes on Ukrainian Armed Forces targets were carried out within the Nizhyn district of Chernihiv region. Two Kh-59/69 guided air missiles were used.
08:19 During the past night, an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack using an aircraft-type UAV against targets on the territory of the Russian Federation was thwarted.
Air defense systems on duty destroyed three Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles: two UAVs over the territory of the Belgorod region and one over the territory of the Voronezh region.
08:15 Attack aircraft crews on Su-25 aircraft torn off rotation of units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the border area of the Kursk region.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) struck nine militant bases in the Idlib de-escalation zone in Syria, Deputy Head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in this Arab Republic (CRPS), Captain First Rank Oleg Ignasyuk told journalists on October 16.
The contents of the briefing were made public by the Russian Ministry of Defense. Ignasyuk noted that militants continue to attempt to attack objects in the territory controlled by the Syrian government. To do this, according to the deputy head of the Center for Strategic and Strategic Defense, terrorists use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS).
The captain of the first rank specified that the Russian military also managed to destroy a militant training point and an ammunition depot. He added that the Russian Armed Forces recorded three incidents of shelling of Syrian government positions by terrorist groups in the Idlib de-escalation zone over the past 24 hours.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on October 7 it became known that in two weeks, the military had discovered 16 caches of American-made weapons in militant hideouts in Syria. The Center for Reconnaissance and Military Services reported that reconnaissance and search operations were continuing in the provinces of Homs and Deir ez-Zor. The operations were being carried out in cooperation with the command of the Syrian Armed Forces and the Russian group of troops on Syrian territory.
On October 15, information appeared that the Russian Aerospace Forces destroyed three terrorist training points, one warehouse, and two UAV manufacturing workshops in Syria in one day.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported an Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... by Russian fighter jets in the Idlib province of Syria, resulting in several casualties, including a child.
In a statement released early this Thursday, October 17, the organization noted that Russian jets attacked the outskirts of Idlib in Syria.
The airstrike targeted a "woodworking and furniture-making" workshop, killing at least 10 people, including a child.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported that at least 30 people were maimed, including 14 children.
The media outlet "The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... Today" has also confirmed the extensive airstrikes by Russian fighter jets in northwestern Syria, citing local sources that report 10 dead and 32 injured.
According to the report, three Russian jets took off from the Hmeimim airbase in Latakia and conducted four airstrikes on Idlib around 5 PM local time.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum]< A live dog was found at the top of the Cheops pyramid in Egypt, running in circles and barking at birds. This was reported on October 16 by Times Now News. The poor pup will die unless rescued.
The animal was discovered by a social media user named Alex Lang, who was flying over the pyramid on a paraglider. He filmed the dog and posted the video online, where it went viral.
The article notes that tourists often use paragliders to see what is on top of the Cheops pyramid, since entry to it is prohibited.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, in November 2023, a dog was rescued in Podolsk, Moscow Region, after it got stuck between pipes in a manhole. The 12-year-old dachshund fell into the manhole while walking with its owner. The city administration organized a rescue operation, during which specialists used heavy equipment to move the concrete blocks that had trapped the pet. The dog was freed a few hours later. The animal was not harmed.
[REDSTATE] The property management firm managing several buildings in Aurora, Colorado, that have been taken over by members of the Venezuela
...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south... n Tren de Aragua gang, is speaking out. The company has taken to X to provide a full description of how the buildings were invaded and taken over by the illegal alien gangsters, how the tenants fled, how people were threatened and assaulted, and how the local government reacted. It all starts here.
The thread starts with a powerful affirmation of what we already knew, and what some in government and the legacy media have tried to downplay: Gangs have taken control of entire apartment buildings. The company took over these buildings in 2019 and immediately started renovations to the run-down properties.
So far, so good, right? This is what a responsible property management firm does. If a new property needs renovations, they are done; this raises the value of the property, attracts a better sort of tenant, and provides a more pleasant place to live. But that's not what happened in this case; not after undocumented Democrat gang members started to focus their efforts on the property, and in time, to take over altogether.
Look at those images. This wasn't just an attack, this was a brutal beating, delivered by gang members who had taken over a property illegally.
But it didn't stop there.
This raises the question of how they got this representative's phone number. If it was a company phone, his number may have been available on the management company's website. If it was a private number, that's another thing entirely. But in either case, this is the use of a telecom system to directly threaten a person, which makes the whole thing now a federal issue.
Next, it came to light, as we have already documented, that tenants and squatters were indeed paying rent - to the gang.
So the property management company, with faith in the local government that turned out to be in vain, started complaining. Local authorities picked up a few gang members, but the overall problems remains.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2024
00:00 ||
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[11185 views]
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#2
Now it's San Antonio. Seems the Dems found a weak link.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
10/17/2024 10:02
Comments ||
Top||
#3
It was San Antonio, apparently the Texas law enforcement figured out who and where, then had a massive raid with hundreds of cops and hauled them off. I'm guessing Abbott told them "They crop up here, you stomp them."
[NYPOST] Media heiress Shari Redstone, the controlling stakeholder in CBS News parent Paramount Global, reportedly fumed to network executives over its left-leaning lurch in its coverage of Israel and lobbied for them to hire more conservative voices.
Redstone sent clips from other outlets to CBS higher-ups as examples of what she felt was more balanced coverage of Israel's battle against Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... terrorists, according to current and former network executives cited by Wall Street Journal.
She was particularly upset with a ''Face the Nation'' broadcast last spring in which the show was critical of Israel after seven aid workers were killed during a strike on Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... , the Journal reported.
Her reported fury comes after she called out CBS News President Wendy McMahon last week over her sanctioned dressing down of morning show anchor Tony Dokoupil for grilling author Ta-Nehisi Coates about his strong criticism of Israel in his latest book.
Redstone — the 70-year-old daughter of late media mogul Sumner Redstone — called Dokoupil to praise him for the tough interview and had dinner with the anchor earlier this week, the Journal reported.
The Post has sought comment from Paramount and CBS.
Aside from the Dokoupil dust-up, the Tiffany Network has been embroiled in multiple firestorms that have raised questions about the journalistic integrity at the former home of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite.
Last week, the network came under fire for allegedly editing a ''60 Minutes'' interview with Vice President Kamala Harris It is time for us to do what we have been doing. And that time is every day that whittled down a ''word salad'' answer to supposedly make it more coherent.
On Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson ripped CBS News for trimming down his Sunday interview on ''Face the Nation,'' charging it was part of a pattern of undermining conservatives.
Republicans were also upset with CBS moderators who sparred with Republican Sen. JD Vance during the vice presidential debate against Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz ...Kamala's smarmy-looking running mate, governor of Minnesota, who decided to retired rather than to deploy with his National Guard unit, then claimed to have been in Iraq and Afghanistan. One man's socialism is another man's neighborliness.... earlier this month.
CBS News also recently instructed its staffers not to refer to Jerusalem as being part of Israel, according to a report in The Free Press.
Redstone — who sold her controlling stake in Paramount to Skydance Media in a deal that is expected to close next year — had reportedly pushed for more conservative voices on the network to balance what she felt was a liberal tilt.
#2
She was right if she felt CBS has a liberal bias. It's more like all the folks at CBS hate America. The question is: Why didn't Redstone do anything about it?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
10/17/2024 14:37
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[X - Falun Gong] The CCP has already started to massively conscript discharged soldiers to return to service. This is a "Reserve Service Notification." The full text translates to:
"Comrade Kong Deyong:
In accordance with the "Law of the People's Republic of China on Reserve Personnel," you have actively responded to the call and have been honorably approved to serve in the reserve force of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. It is hoped that you will faithfully fulfill your military service obligations and contribute to the defense of the socialist motherland."
The date of the notice is September 18, 2024, with the seal of the "Chinese People's Liberation Army XXX People's Armed Forces Department." The specific location in the middle has been concealed.
Hit the link in title for images and more background
#4
The post election Overton Window moment preparation. I fear it will be linked to massive fifth column events to American critical infrastructure targets as the Taiwan invasion unfolds.
[YouTube] A satirical book titled The Achievements of Kamala Harris has gone viral, with all 191 pages completely blank. Authored by Jason Dudash and illustrated by Michael Boles, the Amazon bestseller has sparked widespread reactions. A viral video from Walmart shows a reader flipping through the empty pages, and the book's cover features Vice President Kamala Harris in her iconic style. Shared on X with the caption, “Walmart is now selling a new book titled The Achievements of Kamala Harris—and all the pages are blank. This is INCREDIBLE,” the video has taken the internet by storm.
Posted by: 3dc ||
10/17/2024
00:00 ||
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[11163 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life,
Rare footage of Trophy active protection system on an Israeli Merkava tank being activated in Gaza.
The Trophy radar detected a shot from an RPG, followed by the release of smoke and the interception of the attacking munition. pic.twitter.com/nolbVYGHGZ
[TOWNHALL] Fulton County DA Fani Willis is reportedly requesting that the Georgia Court of Appeals reinstate six criminal charges against former President Donald Trump ...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down... and his allies in the sprawling 2020 election interference case after a judge had dismissed the slew of felony counts.
In a brief filed Tuesday, the Democrat district attorney's office asked the appellate court to overturn Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee's dismissal decision issued in March, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. McAfee, who's presiding over the criminal proceedings, previously ruled that the state was not specific enough in the charging documents for the Trump co-defendants to be able to adequately defend themselves.
Willis is arguing that the indictment "more than sufficiently placed [Trump and his co-defendants] on notice of the conduct at issue and allowed them to prepare an intelligent defense to the charges," adding that it "included an abundance of context and factual allegations about the solicitations at issue, including when the requests were made, to whom the requests were made and the manner in which the requests were made."
"The brief filed by DA Fani Willis is simply incorrect on the law," Trump's lead defense attorney, Steve Sadow, said in a statement shared with Townhall. "The trial court's dismissal order properly decided that the State failed to sufficiently plead the allegations in the dismissed counts under Georgia law."
The six counts in question accuse the Trump party of felony solicitation:
The charges dismissed from the indictment include counts 2, 5, 6, 23, 28, and 38. They relate to alleged efforts by Trump and others to solicit violations of oaths of office from state officials like Brad Raffensperger and former GA House Speaker David Ralston. pic.twitter.com/IdU4cO3Aex
The grand jury indictment originally contained 41 felony counts. There are now 32 counts remaining, including eight against Trump, which is down from the 13 initially filed. This includes the two counts tossed out last month; it was determined that Willis did not have the authority to bring those charges, which related to the alleged filing of false documents in federal court.
The Trump case has been in a state of limbo since the summer when the appeals court agreed to consider whether Willis should be kicked off the case. Oral arguments are scheduled to be heard on that matter in December, a month after the presidential election, by a panel of GOP-appointed judges. Willis initially tried to take Trump to trial before Election Day.
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.
...Benin, a French-speaking West African nation, that they put where Dahomey used to be. It is a birthplace of voodoo and zombies. In Abomey, Dahomey's former capital, the Historical Museum occupies two royal palaces with bas-reliefs recounting the kingdom’s past and a throne mounted on human skulls. To the north, Pendjari National Park offers safaris with elephants, hippos and lions and tigers and bears, oh my!...
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
...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 
...71st United States secretary of state and a leading light of the corrupt and inept Biden administration. He previously served as deputy national security advisor from 2013 to 2015 and deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017 under the corrupt and inept Obama administration. He advocated for the 2003 invasion of Iraq while serving as the Democratic staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2002 to 2008. He was a foreign policy advisor for the Biden 2008 presidential campaign. During his tenure in the Obama administration, Blinken helped craft B.O.'s policy on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the nuclear program of Iran. We all saw how well each of those worked. After leaving government service, Blinken moved into the private sector, co-founding WestExec Advisors, a lobbying firm...
...Kamala's smarmy-looking running mate, governor of Minnesota, who decided to retired rather than to deploy with his National Guard unit, then claimed to have been in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
[Bee] ATLANTA, GA — Continuing her push to bolster support among minority voters, Vice President Kamala Harris appealed to black voters by offering each of them a free pack of menthols and a copy of Madea's Family Reunion on DVD.
...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the 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 Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
"Finally, the public interest is not disserved by pressing pause here. This election season is fraught; memories of January 6 have not faded away, regardless of one’s view of that date’s fame or infamy. Anything that adds uncertainty and disorder to the electoral process disserves the public." - Traitorous Crook 
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] The contentious high-drama interview between Fox News anchor Bret Baier and Vice President Kamala Harris drew immediate attention and reactions online after it aired on Wednesday night. 
...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and whatever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
[FoxNews]
...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the 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 Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
...
...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down...
