Posted by: Fred ||
11/10/2024
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#1
No (obvious) tats. No metal studs. Nice smile. I like.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
11/10/2024 6:33
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#2
IIRC, she made a donation to San Francisco Medical Center in the late '70s. Got a giggle from the fact that it was for the Pulmonary Function Clinic....
#4
Confucius hiss, "Miss Russell rack
Eglegious tattoos, blic-a-blac
In her barbarous face,
And genteel Chinese grace...
But have whole Analects in her creavage!"
"And emergency cash in her ear."
Pedicab fare, I guess.
"The U.S. told Israel in a letter last month it must take steps in the next month to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or face potential restrictions on U.S. military aid."
[IsraelTimes] The United States appears to be reinforcing its presence in the Middle East ahead of an expected Iranian attack on Israel, with the American military confirming Thursday that F-15 fighter planes have arrived in the region.
“Today, US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles from the 492nd Fighter Squadron, RAF Lakenheath, England, arrive in the US Central Command area of responsibility,” the military command responsible for the Middle East said on social media.
The aircraft join the B-52 Stratofortress bombers, tanker aircraft and Navy destroyers that US Defense Lloyd Austin ordered to deploy to the Middle East earlier this week, as well as the advanced THAAD, or the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, system to that the US rushed to Israel last month.
The anti-missile system is a critical part of the US military’s layered air defense systems and adds to Israel’s already formidable anti-missile defenses amid indications of an imminent Iranian response to Israel’s recent retaliatory strike.
On Thursday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tehran’s network of terror proxies remained strong despite the killing of many of their senior leaders.
The “leaders of the resistance” are “still fighting,” he said, according to a report on Iran’s state television.
“God willing, the world will see a day when the Zionist regime will be defeated by them,” he added, referring to Israel.
The October 1 attack was Iran’s second-ever direct attack on Israel, having launched some 300 missiles and drones at Israel in April, after a decades-long shadow war.
[IsraelTimes] Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer secretly visited Russia last week, Army Radio reported Sunday, in what appeared to be part of Israel’s efforts to reach a ceasefire in Lebanon where it is battling the terror group Hezbollah.
Dermer’s office said that it had no comment on the report.
Dermer then flew to Washington on Saturday night for talks with US officials, the Ynet outlet reported.
Russia is a major player in Syria, and its cooperation in a diplomatic arrangement to end fighting between Israel and Hezbollah could be an important piece of a deal that keeps the Iran-backed group from rearming.
Syria, an ally of Tehran, is a key supply route of weapons from Iran to the Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah, which Israel says has suffered massive damage to its leadership, infrastructure, and arsenal as a result of the Israeli military offensive. That ground operation was launched after 11 months of near-daily rocket fire and drone attacks — at times deadly — which caused the evacuation of some 60,000 residents from areas close to the northern border.
Meanwhile, Lebanese politicians told the Hezbollah-affiliated outlet Al-Akhbar that US special envoy Amos Hochstein told them he assured the country’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati last week that he would arrive in the country within ten days.
However, other unnamed sources told the outlet that Lebanon has not been given any official date for Hochstein to arrive, with one source casting doubt on the envoy’s ability to achieve anything after coming up emptyhanded for the past year. The source noted that Israel has said it will expand its ground operation in southern Lebanon and that Iran is believed to be posed to launch a third direct attack on Israel.
Meanwhile, US President-elect Donald Trump has informed the Biden administration that he expects to see progress in the efforts to reach a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the Ynet news site reported Saturday.
Citing anonymous US officials, the report added that Hochstein is confident that the two sides will be able to reach an agreement and bring an end to more than a year of cross-border fighting and Israel’s ground operation in southern Lebanon.
On Friday the Lebanese MTV outlet cited unnamed US sources as saying that Trump told Hochstein to continue his work and “make a deal with Lebanon.”
US officials have said they will make a final push to reach deals on the conflicts between Israel and the Hamas and Hezbollah terror groups, although it is unclear how much leverage they have over Israel and other actors in the region now focused on the incoming Trump administration.
In October, ahead of the November 5 presidential election, Trump pledged to end the “suffering and destruction in Lebanon.”
“I want to see the Middle East return to real peace, a lasting peace, and we will get it done properly so it doesn’t repeat itself every 5 or 10 years,” he added at the time.
A Russian delegation visited Israel on October 24. A source in Netanyahu’s office told The Times of Israel that the Russian delegation’s visit was not connected to hostages held by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023
[Breitbart] A massive drone strike rattled Moscow and its suburbs overnight into Sunday, injuring a woman and temporarily halting traffic at some of Russia’s busiest airports, while a huge nighttime wave of Russian drones targeted Ukraine, officials reported.
This came after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a pact with North Korea Saturday night, obliging the two countries to provide immediate military aid using “all means” if either is attacked. The agreement marks the strongest link between Moscow and Pyongyang since the end of the Cold War.
Earlier this week, Ukraine reported its troops engaged for the first time with North Korean units. U.S. officials earlier confirmed the deployment of at least 3,000 North Korean troops to Russia, fueling concerns this may further destabilize the Asia-Pacific and broaden Moscow’s war on Ukraine.
Both Moscow and Kyiv have kept a tight lid on casualty figures since the start of the full-scale war despite regular reports of Russian forces taking huge losses following “human wave” attacks that aim to exhaust Ukrainian defenses.
However, the chief of the U.K. defense staff, Tony Radakin, told the BBC that Russian forces had suffered their worst month of casualties in October since their full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He said Moscow’s troops suffered an average of 1,500 dead and wounded “every single day,” bringing their total losses in the war to 700,000.
According to Radakin, ordinary Russians were paying “an extraordinary price” for the war, even as a grueling, monthslong Russian offensive in Ukraine’s industrial east continues to eke out gains. He did not say how UK officials had calculated the Russian casualty figures.
“There is no doubt that Russia is making tactical, territorial gains and that is putting pressure on Ukraine,” he said, but that the losses were for “tiny increments of land,” and Moscow’s mounting defense and security spending was putting an increasing strain on the country.
Radakin insisted that Ukraine’s Western partners should stand by it for “as long as it takes” to beat back Russian aggression, even as allies of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump have signaled that Kyiv may have to cede territory to seek peace.
On Sunday, the Kremlin’s official spokesman voiced cautious optimism about Trump’s upcoming presidency, saying: “At least, he talks about peace … he does not talk about confrontation.”
“The signals are positive. Trump, during his election campaign, said that he perceives everything through deals, that he can make deals that will lead everyone toward peace,” Dmitry Peskov told reporters at a briefing.
“He does not talk about a desire to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, and this favorably distinguishes him from the current (US) administration,” Peskov said.
Meanwhile, Russia’s defense ministry said a total of 70 drones were shot down overnight in Russian territory, including 34 over Moscow’s outskirts. Russia’s aviation authority said flights were briefly grounded at major international airports including Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo.
A woman in her 50s suffered burns to her face, neck and hands after drones sparked a blaze in her village southeast of Moscow, local Gov. Andrei Vorobyov reported.
No one was hurt in Moscow itself, according to Sobyanin, although Russian channels on the messaging app Telegram carried eyewitness reports of drone debris setting fire to suburban homes.
Russia overnight launched a “record” 145 drones at Ukrainian territory, according to Ukraine’s air force, 62 of which were shot down. A further 67 were “lost”, the air force said, a likely reference to electronic jamming that caused the drones to veer off course.
At least one person was injured as Russian drones struck residential areas in Ukraine´s southern port of Odesa, local Gov. Oleh Kiper reported.
[The Hill] Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) is projected to beat Republican Kari Lake in a consequential race for Arizona Senate, dealing the former local news anchor her second straight electoral loss, according to Decision Desk HQ.
Gallego, who has served in the House for nearly a decade representing a Phoenix-based House seat, will succeed outgoing Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.). Sinema opted against reelection after changing her political affiliation from Democrat to Independent last year, as Sinema faced steep odds in getting reelected.
Gallego announced his challenge to Sinema even before she made clear she would not be seeking another term, putting Senate Democrats in a temporarily awkward position of possibly having to choose which Democrat they would support.
The Arizona Democrat leaned into his biography as the son of a single mom, with family roots in Mexico and Columbia. He also touted his time in the Marines.
#5
Gallego flooded the airways with Dem money using his supposedly poor background and lies about Lake. The GOP refused to help Lake and she ran almost zero adds. Funding mattered here.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
11/10/2024 11:25
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#6
Just think of all those Republican lawyers who were watching the polls showing up in February as DoJ lawyers doing a Jack Smith on the Maricopa County election machine.
[NY Post] The circular firing squad forms up
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tore into Sen. Bernie Sanders who had derided the Democratic Party and its alleged issues with the working class that ultimately failed to support Vice President Kamala Harris in her bid for the White House.
In a scathing letter to his former party a day after the election, Sanders blasted the Dems for “abandoning” the working class and seemingly acting surprised they didn’t show up at the polling booths.
“It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them,” the Democratic socialist, 83, said in a fiery statement on X.
“First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well. While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right,” the Democratic Socialist said.
Pelosi didn’t take kindly to the Vermont independent senator’s remarks, rebutting Sander’s claim and doubling down that the Democratic Party didn’t abandon the working class.
“I have a great deal of respect for him, for what he stands for, but I don’t respect him saying that the Democratic Party has abandoned the working-class families. That’s where we are,” the 84-year-old California Rep. told the New York Times podcast “The Interview.”
Pelosi was pressured to reveal what went wrong in Harris’ campaign, but could not admit it was the vice president’s fault for losing the presidential election to Donald Trump.
“Well, I just completely disagree. And, in fact, Kamala Harris ran ahead of Bernie Sanders in Vermont,” Pelosi told the podcast.
Pelosi, who was seen as the mastermind in getting Joe Biden to drop his reelection campaign, said cultural issues were the reason Trump was backed by the lower classes.
“Well, there are cultural issues involved in elections as well. Guns, God and gays — that’s the way they say it,” she added.
During her conversation with Luu Garcia-Navarro, released Friday, Pelosi admitted it was a mistake to allow Biden to stay in the race for as long as he did before ultimately dropping out in July and handing the reigns over to Harris.
“Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary.”
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/10/2024
06:24 ||
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#1
Liar.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
11/10/2024 6:47
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#2
The real concern is your stock portfolio Nancy.
#6
How about a statement from the other guy? What happened to the guy who took over when she stepped down and stopped running things? Does he have anything to say? Is he too busy making all the decisions?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/10/2024 10:00
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#7
Men have always been the working class. They just didn't abandon it, they full on attacked it when they specifically targeted men with their mean girl campaign.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
11/10/2024 10:43
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[JPost] Legislation introduces prison terms for promoting Zionism and displaying Zionist symbols to incite communal hatred. Land of the Pure and Peace™
In an unprecedented move, Pakistan's Senate Standing Committee on Interior approved a bill on Thursday imposing prison sentences for promoting Zionism. The legislation aims to curb incitement to communal hatred amid concerns over the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
The new bill stipulates that promoting Zionism to incite communal hatred can lead to a prison term of up to three years. Displaying Zionist symbols with the intent to cause public unrest carries a sentence of up to two years.
Senator Afnanullah Khan of the ruling Muslim League-N party introduced the Criminal Law Amendment Bill. Khan claimed that the ideology of Zionism promotes violence, citing the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Speaking during a session led by Senator Faisal Saleem Rehman, Khan asserted that Zionist ideologies currently influence the world. He stated, "It is written in the books of Zionism that those who do not agree with you should be killed. They are martyring children in Gaza under this ideology."
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/10/2024
06:17 ||
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[11160 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#2
Great Muslim Achievements
"Oh, wow!"
Pure Paks bred a flawless green cow
Whose Mohammedan moos
Repelled elephants Jews.
"Pakistan's Zionismusrein now!"
"Whew."
"Close call."
"Dodged a bullet."
"Allyoohoo akbar!"
[JPost] US defense officials told Saudi news site Al Arabiya that the strikes had targeted Houthi weapons facilities holding advanced conventional weapons.
The United States and Britain launched raids on the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, the Amran governorate, and other areas, Al Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by the Houthi movement, reported on Sunday.
US defense officials told Saudi news site Al Arabiya that the strikes had targeted Houthi weapons facilities holding advanced conventional weapons. The weapons had been used to target ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
Houthi media and residents said about nine raids had targeted Sanaa, its suburbs, and the Amran governorate.
"Eyewitnesses said they heard intense flying, along with explosions in different parts of the capital Sanaa," Houthi-run media Al Masirah said.
Iran-aligned Houthi terrorists have launched attacks on international shipping near Yemen since November last year in solidarity with the Palestinians in Israel's war with Hamas.
The attacks have drawn US and British retaliatory strikes and disrupted global trade as ship owners reroute vessels away from the Red Sea and Suez Canal to sail the longer route around the southern tip of Africa.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/10/2024
06:15 ||
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Top|| File under: Houthis
[EuroNews] A day with a "y" in Pakistain
A suicide bomber blew himself up at a train station in troubled Baluchistan province on Saturday, killing at least 26 people, officials said.
A suicide bomber blew himself up at a train station in troubled southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least 26 people, including soldiers and railway staff, and wounding about 62 others, some critically, officials said.
The attack happened when nearly 100 passengers were waiting for a train to travel to the garrison city of Rawalpindi from Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, according to Hamza Shafqaat, a senior government administrator.
When asked about a security breach that led to the bombing, Shafqaat told reporters that "it is usually very difficult to stop such suicide attacks."
However, Shahid Nawaz, who is in charge of security at Quetta’s train station, insisted there was no breach as the attacker was disguised as a passenger and blew himself up among people at the station.
TV footage showed the steel structure of the platform’s roof blown apart and a destroyed tea stall. Luggage was strewn everywhere. Most of the victims were taken to a state-owned hospital and some to a military one.
Wasim Baig, a spokesman for the health department and police said over a dozen soldiers and six railway employees were among the dead at the station, where a walk-through gate has been installed to check whether anyone is carrying explosives. Still, there are multiple other entrances to the station without such security.
A separatist group, the Baluchistan Liberation Army, claimed the attack in a statement, saying a suicide bomber targeted troops present at the railway station. The outlawed BLA has long waged an insurgency seeking independence from Islamabad.
A senior superintendent of police operations, Muhammad Baloch, said separatists frequently attacked soft targets.
"When their people are arrested, they also attack in retaliation. We all have to fight this war. We are resilient. Our teams are here and trying to save as many lives as we can."
Police said some of the critically wounded passengers had died in the hospital, raising the death toll.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif denounced the bombing in a statement, saying those who orchestrated the attack "will pay a very heavy price for it," adding that security forces were determined to eliminate "the menace of terrorism."
Saturday's assault came a little over a week after a powerful bomb attached to a motorcycle exploded near a vehicle carrying police officers assigned to protect polio workers in the province, killing nine people, including five children who were nearby.
In August, the BLA carried out multiple coordinated attacks on passengers buses, police and security forces across Baluchistan, killing more than 50 people, mostly civilians.
Oil- and mineral-rich Baluchistan is Pakistan’s largest but also least populated province. It is a hub for the country’s ethnic Baloch minority whose members say they face discrimination and exploitation by the central government. Along with separatist groups, Islamic militants also operate in the province.
The BLA mostly targets security forces and foreigners, especially Chinese nationals who are in Pakistan as part of Beijing’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, which is working on major infrastructure projects. The group often demands the halt of all Chinese-funded projects and for workers to leave Pakistan to avoid further attacks.
Last month, the BLA claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that targeted a convoy with Chinese nationals outside Karachi airport, killing two. Beijing has asked Pakistan to ensure the safety of its citizens working in Baluchistan and other parts of the country.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Emily, a part-time receptionist at a cardiology centre in a small New South Wales town, wasn't used to seeing people her age at the clinic where she worked.
So when a 21-year-old - pretty, stylishly dressed, in towering heels and carrying a pricey tote - announced she had an appointment with the specialist, her first thought was that she had come to the wrong place.
She was having heart palpitations, the young woman said, and her GP referred her.
When Emily registered some surprise at this - palpitations are typically associated with older people with high blood pressure or heart disease - the patient uttered six words that took her breath away.
'Yeah, I do coke on weekends.' "We don't have Coke. We have Pepsi.
"OK, I'll take a gram of that"
It was a join-the-dots moment for Emily, whose other job is a weekend bartender at a lively country pub where the sight of young people 'doing lines' in the bathrooms has become so commonplace it hardly raises an eyebrow.
Since then, Emily has begun to notice more and more young people reporting heart problems at the clinic. She recognises some from the pub.
Australia holds the unenviable distinction of having the most cocaine users per capita in the world, which is attributable to the enormous number of weekend users who don't think twice about spending up to $350 on a bag every Friday night.
The National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2022–2023 found cocaine was the second-most used illicit drug in Australia behind cannabis. In that year, 4.5 per cent of Australians used cocaine, equating to roughly a million people.
While it's no secret our appetite for cocaine is fuelling the bloody international drug trade, what is less often discussed is the drug's dire effects on our heart health.
The surge in casual cocaine use in recent decades coincides with data showing sudden cardiac death (SCD) as one of the biggest killers of Australians under 50.
Researchers at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute last year found almost a third of young adults in Victoria who died of sudden cardiac issues between 2019 and 2021 had been users of illicit drugs, including cocaine.
Cannabis was the most common illicit drug found in the deceased's toxicology reports, but coke - along with amphetamines and heroin - wasn't far behind.
The study's lead investigator and cardiologist Dr Elizabeth Paratz says there's nothing new about drugs wreaking havoc on young people's bodies, but the correlation between drug use and SCD has been alarming.
'We certainly found that a very high number had toxicology that was positive for illicit substances, such as cocaine and methamphetamine,' says Dr Paratz, who has since moved to the St Vincent's Institute of Medical Research.
'As clinical cardiologists, we've definitely noticed we have more young patients who've had issues with their heart. If people don't have a genetic issue or a structural issue, it tends to be that they've been using illicit drugs.
'We've certainly seen people who are in their twenties who've wound up requiring transplants and things for heart failure. That's purely caused by illicit drug use - so it's an avoidable cause.
'It's something that doesn't need to happen and it's pretty tragic when it does happen.'
Cocaine increases the risk of both heart attacks and SCD. A heart attack is caused by a blockage and can often be remedied by a stent or surgery, explains Dr Paratz, but SCD occurs when the heart stops completely and requires CPR.
'Cocaine speeds up your heart rate, increases blood pressure and thickens the heart muscle so if you're using it regularly it can be associated with all sorts of issues,' she adds.
'It's important to note the increased heart rate is different from the high heart rate you get from exercising as drugs are affecting all the movement of your electrolytes, like sodium and potassium, and it throws your body out of balance.
'We've personally seen people's heart rates reach 250bpm. We say about 60 to 100bpm is healthy. It's a similar story with blood pressure.
'Serious heart damage is typically seen in people who are using illicit drugs regularly but there's so many variables - like how much they're taking and the drug's purity. Some drugs are cut with actual poisons on the street. You never really know what you're having.'
Fortunately, if young cocaine users become aware of any heart issues early on and dedicate themselves to quitting, some of the damage can be reversed.
'It really depends on how established the damage is at the time it's picked up and how motivated you are to stop,' Dr Paratz says.
'There have certainly been cases where a person has stopped using and fully reversed the damage to their heart. They go on to lead a very normal life. We've had some real success stories there.
'That's why this is such an important public health message, because it's a health issue you didn't need to have and it's something you, hopefully, can reverse if you stop early enough.'
People who suffered SCD after using drugs often died while sedentary or sleeping. Patients were more likely to be male, smokers and excessive alcohol drinkers.
Other common traits included a psychiatric diagnosis, lower body mass index and lower rates of high blood pressure.
Dr Paratz is pushing for more research to be done in the area to determine exactly what drugs and dosages are having the worst effects on heart health.
However, those familiar with the nightlife in major cities like Melbourne and Sydney will tell you exactly what the drug of choice is: cocaine.
'I think the take-home message in the meantime is, don't wait for researchers to tell you what the safe dose is - there is no safe dose of drugs,' Dr Paratz adds.
'The simplest thing is to just not use them. If you do use them, stop. There's quite a good chance damage can be reversed.'
It's not the first time researchers have raised the alarm.
A 2012 Australian study found that young people who used cocaine at least once a month 'had up to a 35 per cent increase in aortic stiffening, higher blood pressure than non-users and an 18 per cent greater thickness of the heart's left ventricle wall'. These factors all increase the risk of cardiac arrest.
Lead researcher and cardiologist Prof Gemma Figtree remarked: 'It's so sad. We are repeatedly seeing young, otherwise fit individuals suffering massive heart attacks related to cocaine use.
'Despite being well-educated professionals, they have no knowledge of the health consequences of regularly using cocaine.
'It's the perfect heart attack drug.'
That research from 12 years ago was prompted by a surge in otherwise healthy cocaine users presenting at hospital with heart problems. Crucially, it marked one of the first studies of social users, rather than addicts.
There were 884 cocaine-related deaths in Australia between 2000 and 2021, another study from 2022 found, citing data from the National Coronial Information System.
That study's lead author, Prof Shane Darke, a world expert on drug deaths, said of the findings: 'These deaths are largely due to more widespread use of cocaine.'
Tellingly, his research showed a significant increase in cocaine-related deaths among people who had no history of substance use problems.
'Twenty years ago, 90 per cent of cocaine deaths had a history of substance use problems. Now that figure is much lower at 50 per cent,' said Prof Darke, who also noted casual users tended to be unaware of the heart disease and stroke risk.
Emily - the bartender and cardiologist receptionist - isn't remotely surprised by the statistics on Australia's cocaine use. She tells me almost half her customers at the bar are under the influence by 10pm on a Friday or Saturday night.
'It's not always coke but often you can just look at people and see something's not right,' she says.
'Every weekend we're cleaning little plastic baggies off the bathroom floors - all used and ripped open for any remains.'
Cocaine has become so common many pubgoers don't even care to hide their usage. One patron even asked Emily while she was in her uniform where they could buy a bag. Another ordered a round of drinks and 'looked like he'd just smashed his nose into a plate of flour'.
Efforts were recently made to limit the number of flat surfaces in the pub toilets, but patrons have resorted to racking up and snorting drugs off toilet lids. Pub management can't easily prevent this because cameras are banned in bathrooms.
Emily tells me that while the cocaine epidemic hit regional New South Wales hard and fast, a new wave of drugs is already taking hold.
'There was a real phase with coke but now people have gone back to pills. I think people find them more convenient,' she said.
'No matter what it is, the drug problems are never going to go away.'
A large part of the problem is how readily accessible drugs are once revellers are already drunk and open to suggestion.
'People will offer laced cocaine for free in the bathrooms and it could be mixed with anything from GHB [a common date rape drug] to meth. Free coke is not just going to be coke,' Emily says.
'Then that person will either get hooked or, more often if it's a girl, they'll get attacked.
'Other people will spend hundreds of dollars on coke when they're blind. They get even more desperate when the pubs shut. I've heard of bags being sold for $800.'
While pub workers are usually quick to spot dealers in venues, they often face trouble kicking users out.
'Most of the time you're just going off suspicion. You don't want to kick someone out because their pupils are the size of dinner plates, only to find out they have a medical condition,' Emily adds.
#4
This is not news. Back in the 1990s, we'd see young black men who were prescribed the same medications as their elderly grandmothers.
Crack was big in the north, while Meth was pretty much unknown at the time.
Young Crack smokers would suffer major heart attacks and the ones that survived were "cardiac cripples." They'd take medications such as Lopressor, Cardizem, HCTZ, and Lasix. All medications we'd expect to see in the elderly, not kids.
Crack pipes littered the streets of black neighborhoods. For the most part white kids used Heroin, which brought it's own problems, but not cardiac disease.
Meth was almost unknown at the time.
A lot of younger people used Cocaine during COVID.
#5
Not saying cocaine is not a problem, but this story gives me the feeling that they are still covering for Big Pharma and the Australian government for the Cerveza virus "vaccine".
#6
No such thing as a safe "street drug". They are not dispensed from reputable pharmacies, nor manufactured by reputable manufacturers. What the user of street drugs actually gets could be anything at all, or nothing at all.
[FoxNews] The FEMA official instructed workers canvassing Lake Placid in Florida to 'avoid homes advertising Trump'
The House of Representatives Oversight Committee has launched an investigation into the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) after an employee was terminated for instructing hurricane relief workers in Florida to avoid homes with Trump flags.
That would be Marn’i Washington, former supervisor and advisor of her very own list of best practices for helping those in need after that hurricane swept through Florida a few weeks ago, but only those she deemed deserving.
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairperson of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, announced Saturday he sent FEMA Director Deanne Criswell a letter requesting she testify at a hearing to answer questions about the agency’s response to hurricanes Helene and Milton.
In the letter, Comer said the hearing would "permit members to investigate recent reports that a FEMA official instructed relief workers to bypass hurricane-impacted homes displaying campaign signs for President Trump."
"In the wake of the recent major disasters that impacted Americans of all political persuasions, it is critical that FEMA adheres to its disaster relief mission," he wrote.
The Oversight Committee's investigation followed Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis's announcement Friday that he was launching an investigation into the agency.
"The blatant weaponization of government by partisan activists in the federal bureaucracy is yet another reason why the Biden-Harris administration is in its final days," DeSantis said. "At my direction, the Division of Emergency Management is launching an investigation into the federal government's targeted discrimination of Floridians who support Donald Trump.
"New leadership is on the way to D.C., and I'm optimistic that these partisan bureaucrats will be fired."
The investigations were promptly launched after FEMA confirmed to Fox News Digital that an employee had instructed aid workers to deny relief to residents who had Trump campaign signs at their homes. The Daily Wire was the first to report it.
"We take our mission to help everyone before, during and after disasters seriously. This employee has been terminated, and we have referred the matter to the Office of Special Counsel," Criswell said. "I will continue to do everything I can to make sure this never happens again."
A FEMA spokesperson told Fox News Friday the agency is "deeply disturbed" by the employee’s actions and that it was an "isolated incident."
"FEMA helps all survivors regardless of their political preference or affiliation," the spokesperson said.
"The employee who issued this guidance had no authority and was given no direction to tell teams to avoid these homes, and we are reaching out to the people who may have not been reached as a result of this incident," the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that the agency has helped more than 365,000 households affected by hurricanes Helene and Milton in Florida and provided nearly $900 million in direct assistance to survivors."
"We are horrified that this took place and therefore have taken extreme actions to correct this situation and have ensured that the matter was addressed at all levels."
#2
So this happened when? and it just came to light a couple of days ago? Seems like if it were as far out of normal procedures as the admin is claiming, some worker bee would have blown the whistle as soon as the instructions came out.
BTW__ what's in a name? "Marnie" was a grifter in the novel and movie of the same name.
#3
Fire the FEMA director at minute one. She was gonna get replaced anyways, but a firing before the clock even strikes one on 1/20 will send a message.
#4
Get the House Oversight start talking about repealing the Civil Service Act, given that 90%+ are registered for one party and act accordingly. It is not a non-partisan bureaucracy.
#5
Only the President gets to fire people. They can impeach the FEMA person. That would definitely be a signature end to this shart of an administration. In reality, everyone will be too busy job searching to do much with this. The political theatre is closed until January.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/10/2024 10:04
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#6
report from earlier this week showed that a FEMA supervisor advised her team to “avoid” Florida homes “advertising Trump.” That supervisor, Marn’i Washington, says she is a "patsy” and that FEMA made her a “scapegoat.”
Washington told the Washington Examiner that not only did she and her teams canvas houses with Trump signage, “we’ve registered and provided resources to Trump supporters.”
The language in the leaked screenshot was “shorthand,” according to Washington. She explained the full context: Washington let her supervisors “know specific streets we could not do because of hostile political encounters,” and according to communications obtained by the Washington Examiner, she was encouraged and supported in her decision to avoid certain streets “to keep the team safe.”
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
11/10/2024 11:00
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#7
^ Suuure. Then name names. Turn on your higher-ups!
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/10/2024 11:04
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#8
Turn on your higher-ups!
Or cry racism and sexism and fall on your sword, hoping the Machine will find you a cushy spot to land. I suspect Marni was *not* an isolated instance at FEMA.
“Paging Uncle Sugar! Uncle Sugar to the white courtesy phone!”
[Breitbart] The Africa Centers for Disease Control (Africa CDC) on Thursday called for President-elect Donald Trump to honor outgoing President Joe Biden’s pledge to supply a million doses of monkeypox (or mpox) vaccine for the outbreak in central and eastern Africa.
“We’ll continue to talk to them and to engage them to fulfill their commitment. If they don’t do that, the mistrust that we have today in Africa will lead to a major issue between the U.S. and the continent,” warned Africa CDC Director John Kaseya.
It is wise for beggars to at least pretend to be grateful.
“I’m available to fly and to meet and discuss with them about what Africa needs in the health area and how we can work together,” he added.
The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) declared a global health emergency for mpox in August. Biden announced at the U.N. General Assembly meeting in September that the U.S. would donate one million doses of mpox vaccine, plus at least $500 million in funding.
There have been no mpox cases reported in the United States, but Biden administration officials hinted that an outbreak was possible
Hinted? They were trying to gin up another pandemic scare so they could lock us all down and have another vote-by-mail election…
and complained that Congress had not provided enough funding to handle another pandemic.
“We’re really squeezing right now to be able to respond effectively in this moment. And I think anticipating potentially additional cuts in the future will make it more and more difficult for us to have a robust response to these types of outbreaks,” an unnamed U.S. official told Reuters in September.
The boy who cried wolf…
Reuters on Thursday speculated some of Africa CDC’s apprehension might flow from the presence of noted vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on his team. Kennedy said in an NPR interview on Wednesday that it was not his intention to “take vaccines away from anybody.”
“The science on vaccine safety particularly has huge deficits, and we’re going to make sure those scientific studies are done and that people can make informed choices about their vaccinations and their children’s vaccinations,” he said.
According to Africa CDC, the heaviest demand for mpox vaccines is currently in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Other affected nations include the Central African Republic (CAR), Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, and Uganda.
All nations with a great deal of internal unrest, as I recall, making it very difficult to get vaccines beyond the big cities.
Vaccines have been donated by Canada, the European Union, and the Gavi vaccine alliance in addition to the United States.
Some health officials in the DRC believe the epidemic is “stabilizing.” The epidemic peaked at about 400 cases a week in July, and is currently producing 200 to 300 confirmed cases per week. The W.H.O., however, is worried that DRC officials may not be testing enough infected individuals, and warns the epidemic is still spreading in Uganda.
Dr. Salary Rhissa of the nonprofit group ALIMA told the Associated Press (AP) on Wednesday that a vigorous vaccination campaign could wipe out mpox now, and spare Africa from having to deal with new variants of the disease in the future.
“If we miss this opportunity, the likelihood of another significant outbreak increases substantially,” Rhissa said. “We’ve seen how past outbreaks, such as the one in Nigeria in 2017, can lead to larger global events if not effectively contained.”
Dr. Salim Abdool Karim of South Africa’s University of KwaZulu-Natal said the current variant of mpox is not burning out and disappearing, as previous outbreaks have done.
“We’re in new territory with mpox this time,” he said. “We’re never going to solve this until we vaccinate most of our people.”
#1
Just give them cash. It makes the stealing more efficient. Giving the vax and then releasing the info that the vax is dangerous would be problematic.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/10/2024 10:06
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#2
It is wise for beggars to at least pretend to be grateful.
And to stay away from the monkeys. Beggars, don't be buggers!
That, and the psychotic rage.
It's good we can't hear what people are saying.
[FoxNews] As thousands of wounded warriors and military veterans battle disabilities and injuries every day, the most common ailment often gets overlooked.
Tinnitus, or ringing in the ear, is the leading disability in the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), according to Dr. Tom Tedeschi, chief audiology director for Amplifon Hearing Health Care.
Utah-based Tedeschi, who is also a Vietnam-era Army veteran, shared with Fox News Digital how prevalent hearing loss and complications are among the veteran community.
About 60% of Vietnam veterans and 50% of Gulf War veterans suffer from hearing loss, according to the expert.
"It's estimated that probably one out of every three veterans has some degree of hearing loss or tinnitus," he said. "And it's just because we're around noise all the time … The military is not a quiet place."
When hearing is lost, it "doesn’t grow back," the expert cautioned — and even mild hearing loss in young veterans can become more severe with time.
"There are more people now under the age of 50 with hearing loss than over the age of 50."
CARE AND PROTECTION
"Most people who have hearing loss do not acknowledge it," he said. "It's the people around them who notice."
Tedeschi urged veterans to seek help if they experience a constant ringing in the ears, otherwise known as tinnitus, or trouble hearing while having conversations or watching TV.
"We can't cure [tinnitus] or make it completely disappear, but there are different protocols and strategies to help," he said.
This could include wearing hearing aids, which Tedeschi said are "light years ahead" of what they were a decade ago.
Tedeschi emphasized the importance of wearing proper hearing protection, like ear buds and earmuffs, both in and out of combat.
"We live in a noisy world," he said. "If you're out mowing the lawn, you should pop in some hearing protection. A lot of people love to go to concerts ... Those are loud and they can sustain damage."
Some medications, like aspirin, can cause hearing loss as a side effect, Tedeschi warned.
"If you're taking a lot of aspirin for arthritis or things like this, you need to be careful – and talk to your doctor about whether there is an alternative," he advised.
Tedeschi encouraged veterans to seek help to avoid further complications linked to hearing loss, such as cognitive decline.
"We're seeing more and more individuals with untreated hearing loss who have faster decline in their cognitive function, because the brain is working overtime to compensate," he told Fox News Digital.
"For our veterans, you need to know there's help out there for you, and there's no need to experience all the co-morbidities associated with hearing loss."
Veterans can visit their local VA center to have their hearing evaluated or connect with their counselor for a referral to a hearing loss specialist.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
11/10/2024 4:11
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#2
The 'eeeeeeeeeeeee' that I hear 24/7/365 almost drowns out all conversation. It seems to get worse/louder in a noisy crowd. Naturally, nothing can be done. But no 'psychotic rage' here thankfully. I think.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
11/10/2024 6:42
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#7
Re: #6: I received 10% for my hearing, but on a more practical level, state of the hearing aids as well as all consumables. A bigger surprise was the call to make an app’t about 5 years later; VA audiologist said I needed new units. Why, these are working fine. So new bluetooth enabled units arrived. Suspect that VA, like all gov’t agencies, has a ‘use it or lose it’ budget philosophy.
Don’t get me wrong, they gave me back what 26 years of playing with airplanes took away.
The day we ( a group of about 7) got our first units (tailored for each person’s needs) we are sitting around a table. Someone slid the attendance sheet my way to sign and I had to play with it; hadn’t realized that soft sound of the paper on the table had been missing in my world. While the 10% won’t make me rich, the hearing aids are the next best thing to not experiencing hearing loss at all.
[JustTheNews] The money will go to 33 public transportation projects designed to increase the ease and efficiency of moving residents to economically significant employment centers or places of work outside their home communities.
I was completely unaware of this. Even our poor people have cars out here.
Ohio plans to spend $17.5 million in taxpayer funds to get people to and from work.
The state announced a series of grants Friday to fund workforce transportation efforts in both rural and urban areas across the state as part of the Ohio Workforce Mobility Partnership Program.
The money will go to 33 public transportation projects designed to increase the ease and efficiency of moving residents to economically significant employment centers or places of work outside their home communities.
“Transportation should never be a barrier to opportunity," Gov. Mike DeWine said. "With these grants, we're ensuring that Ohioans can easily travel to and from work without having to choose between a good paying job or the relocation of their family.”
The program funds infrastructure, equipment, technology vehicles and planning projects.
The projects include more than $1 million for the Central Ohio Transit Authority, covering Columbus and the surrounding areas, for an entry drive, canopy and technology that shows real-time bus arrival information at the system’s transit hub at Rickenbacker International Airport.
The hub connects central Ohio's transit authority and the Groveport Rickenbacker Employee Access Transit to transit agencies in Fairfield, Fayette, Madison and Pickaway counties.
“Public transit serves an important role by providing mobility options for our workforce. This funding ensures that transit agencies are better able to connect Ohio's workers to their jobs and to employment opportunities across the state,” Ohio Department of Transportation Director Pamela Boratyn said.
Also, the Butler County Regional Transit Authority, near Cincinnati, will get $2.5 million to expand its bus yard, add a propane fuel station and train drivers. It supports the CincyLink Commuter route that connects people in Butler and Warren counties with jobs in Hamilton County.
The state estimates 25,000 jobs within 3 miles of CincyLink.
Funding is also going to Clinton, Cuyahoga, Delaware, Lake, Marion, Morgan, Ottowa, Perry, Portage, Sandusky, Shelby and Stark counties.
"Come on, man! Graft is such a harsh word. We just want to get our beaks wet. And some of us have *very* dry beaks!"
Normal, results-oriented people look at projects like California's Train to Nowhere and see failure. But that ignores all the people getting paid. The purpose of a system is what it does.
[IsraelTimes] Maersk says vessel not carrying ‘military weapons or ammunition’; Spain has been one of Israel’s biggest critics in Europe over war in Gaza, recognized Palestinian state this year
A Maersk container ship has been denied entry to the Spanish port of Algeciras, the Danish shipping company said Saturday, denying that the vessel is transporting arms to Israel.
"The cargo to be transshipped through the port does not include any military weapons or ammunition," Maersk said in a communique.
Spanish daily El Pais earlier this week cited Spanish government officials saying that the ship, as well as another also belonging to Maersk and due to dock later this month, "will not stop in Spain," according to the press, because its cargo includes weapons being delivered to Israel.
Spain, which is seeking to convince other European countries to recognize a Paleostinian state, has refused to dock ships transporting arms to Israel.
"To gain clarity for future operations, we have consulted the Spanish authorities to understand why entry was denied for cargo no different than previous shipments that have routinely been transshipped through this port without incident," the Danish company said.
"It is our understanding that Spain has in its discretion changed its criteria and is now rejecting vessels that carry anything military-related going to, or from, Israel, notwithstanding such cargo being legal."
We’re not antisemites or anything uncouth like that, it’s just that Joooooos are icky, so we have to keep them far away, even if it would be legal for anyone else — it’s a scientific fact. You don’t want to be an ignorant anti-science ignoramous, do you?
The Maersk Denver diverted first to Tangier and, according to the specialized VesselFinder site, is now en route to Oman.
Spain, which has stopped exporting arms to Israel, is one of the European countries most critical of Israel’s offensive 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 anddisproportionate response... Alongside Ireland and Norway, the country recognized a Paleostinian state in May, drawing ire from Israel, which said the move incentivized terrorism.
[IsraelTimes] Manhattan DA says suspect called Jewish passenger a ‘Zionist’ and warned ‘we’ll find you and there will be consequences,’ around time of widely decried rally against Nova exhibit
New York prosecutors indicted a man for an antisemitic hate crime that allegedly occurred around the time of controversial protests against an exhibit on the October 7, 2023, Nova music festival massacre.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg ...Soros-owned and operated Manhattan DA. Putting vicious and blood-thirsty criminals in jail only makes them unhappy, and they've led such hard lives after all... said Friday that Christopher Husary, 36, had been indicted for attempted coercion as a hate crime and aggravated harassment.
Bragg’s office said Husary’s alleged victim, a 35-year-old Jewish man, boarded a subway at Fulton St. station in lower Manhattan on the evening of June 10 and saw Husary drawing an inverted red triangle, a Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... symbol, on a subway door.
The Jewish man then allegedly used his cell phone to photograph Husary, who then approached the man, who was wearing a kippah, and demanded he delete the photo.
According to Bragg’s office, Husary berated and threatened the Jewish man, calling him a "Zionist" and saying, "You’re not a real Jew." He then added, "We’ll find you and there will be consequences."
The victim reported the incident to police two weeks later, on June 22, Bragg’s office said. The same day, the New York Post published an article identifying Husary as a resident of a wealthy the Socialist paradise of San Francisco ...where God struck dead Anton LaVey, home of the Sydney Ducks, ruled by Vigilance Committee from 1859 through 1867, reliably and volubly Democrat since 1964... suburb with a history of legal trouble. Soon afterward, the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force launched an investigation into the incident.
The incident occurred around the time that protesters gathered outside a Lower Manhattan exhibit commemorating the victims of Hamas’ massacre at the Nova music festival on October 7, where more than 360 people were killed.
The protest, led by the hardline activist group Within Our Lifetime, was widely decried as antisemitic by government officials and Jewish leaders.
Protesters gathered in Union Square before taking the subway to the exhibit. A man appearing to match Husary’s description, and wearing a Hezbollah shirt, was at the Union Square protest. The New York Post report similarly said Husary wore a mask and a Hezbollah shirt at the protest.
In a separate incident on the same day, a protester in a crowded subway car in the same area allegedly demanded that "Zionists" identify themselves. Anas Saleh, 24, was arrested weeks later and charged with attempted coercion in the third degree for the incident.
Widely circulated footage showed a man matching Saleh’s description shouting, "Raise your hand if you’re a Zionist" on a packed subway car.
"This is your chance to get out," the man shouted. The call was repeated by other activists on the train, many of whom were wearing keffiyehs, or Paleostinian scarves frequently worn by activists, that covered their faces.
Antisemitic hate crimes have surged in New York City in the past year.
Prosecutors are pursuing hate crimes charges in a number of high-profile cases, including in an indictment announced this week against activists who allegedly sprayed Hamas triangles on the home of the Brooklyn Museum’s Jewish director. That incident was also tied to a campaign led by Within Our Lifetime.
BREAKING: The Dutch government is opening an investigation into their failure to prevent the pogrom on Israeli Jewish fans.
The Mossad urged Dutch authorities to tighten security at the stadium and hotels after violent, antisemitic rhetoric surged online, but it appears no… pic.twitter.com/t5uABUWTwh
… but it appears no action was taken to warn local police or fans.
The Dutch Minister of Justice says they are examining why Israel’s warnings were dismissed and improperly handled.
Jews deserve for hate crimes against us to be taken seriously. Will you listen to us now?
Dutch prosecutors impose fines on dozens of suspects in Amsterdam attacks on Maccabi fans
[IsraelTimes] Prosecutors in Amsterdam say that four suspects remain detained on suspicion of violent acts, including two minors, and that 40 people had been fined for public disturbance and 10 for offenses including vandalism over the brutal assaults on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans in the Dutch city. The prosecutors add that they expect to make more arrests.
Druze Maccabi Tel Aviv fan says he yelled in Arabic to distract Amsterdam assailants
[IsraelTimes] Melhem Asad, a resident of the northern Druze town of Kisra-Sumei who is fan of the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team, recalls to Channel 12 news how he yelled in Arabic at a group of assailants in Amsterdam to prevent them from attacking Jewish fans of the team.
According to Asad, Maccabi fans were escorted by police to the match against Ajax due to anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian demonstrations but after the game “the local police just screwed up.”
“They didn’t guard us, we felt really exposed,” he says.
Asad says that he had nearly made it safely back to his hotel after the brutal attacks started when he encountered a group of Arabic-speaking suspects planning to assault Maccabi fans.
“I told them that no Jews are still here, that they escaped. I did everything to confuse them… I directed them the other way and then ran toward groups of Israelis and warned them that there are immigrants who are looking to hurt them,” he tells the network, explaining he told his fellow Maccabi supporters to take off their blue and yellow jerseys so they couldn’t be identified.
Asad says the violence reminded him of Hamas’s October 7 onslaught last year.
“I feel that God sent me at the right time and to the place to save whoever was possible,” he adds.
The Dutch government is investigating whether and how warning signs highlighted by Israel were missed in the events leading up to this week’s widespread attacks by local Arab and Muslim gangs on Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer fans in Amsterdam, Justice Minister David van Weel said in a letter to Parliament.
“An investigation is still being conducted on possible warning signs from Israel,” Van Weel said in his letter late on Friday evening.
“The Public Prosecution Service has stated that it aims to apply fast-track justice as much as possible,” van Weel said, adding that it is “the absolute priority” to identify every suspect.
Police on Saturday said four people remained in custody of the 63 people initially detained.
MOSSAD WARNINGS
A senior Israeli security official said Friday that Israeli security services had identified a “flare-up” on Dutch social media ahead of the game with calls by pro-Palestinian groups to hold a violent protest near the stadium.
“Due to this, the Mossad passed a warning to security services in the Netherlands with a request to immediately and significantly reinforce the security for Israelis in the area of the stadium and across the city, with an emphasis placed on hotels where the fans were known to be staying,” the official said.
However, he noted that Israel’s National Security Council had not been briefed on the threats and as such did not issue a warning to the public, including the some 3,000 fans who had traveled to see the match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax.
The official noted that the attacks, which he said “spread like wildfire” were apparently organized by Islamic elements in the Netherlands, and not by Iran, which has been accused of fomenting violent attacks on Israeli targets in other parts of Europe, particularly Sweden and Denmark.
Hebrew media on Friday also detailed that other Israeli ministries had also identified threats ahead of the game, with the Diaspora Affairs Ministry, which monitors antisemitism around the world, drawing up a warning document on Wednesday that highlighted the “very high risk” of such attacks, Channel 12 news reported.
It said the warning was based on “indications” in social media monitored by the ministry, which showed overt online coordination of plans for violent demonstrations, including an online post by a Dutch Palestinian group headed “No Zionists in UEFA/FIFA.”
PUBLIC AND FANS NOT WARNED
The ministry’s warning noted that protesters were being told not to carry Palestinian flags or other signs of Palestinian affiliation, and said the organizers were presenting the planned violent protests as constituting “a direct clash” with Israeli security forces and the Mossad.
The TV report said the ministry drew up its warning document in the light of what it saw as “the open encouragement of violence by the organizers of the demonstrations,” and the fact that there would be many children and identifiable Israelis in Amsterdam for the Maccabi Tel Aviv-Ajax soccer match.
The TV report said the Diaspora Affairs Ministry’s warning was shared with the Foreign Ministry and “a discussion was held.” But neither of the ministries, nor the National Security Council, issued warnings or guidelines to Maccabi or to the fans.
The report said the head of Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, is now in touch with his Dutch counterpart amid the ongoing investigation of suspected assailants who are in Dutch police custody, and what it classed as ongoing security issues.
It also said, without sourcing the claim, that there were “high alerts” at Israeli and Jewish facilities in Europe, and concerns about security at several forthcoming sporting events involving Israeli teams in the coming days.
While the outlet noted that Sports Minister Miki Zohar has recommended against Israeli fans traveling to matches in Europe, it stressed that the National Security Council, which issues such warnings, hasn’t done so and has no intention of changing the current travel guidance warnings.
Holland is on the NSC list of countries where a “Level 2” designation applies, indicating a “potential threat” and the need to take “precautionary measures.”
Israeli officials said 10 citizens were injured in the overnight violence. Hundreds more Israelis huddled in their hotels for hours, fearing they could be attacked.
Many said that Dutch security forces were nowhere to be found as the Israeli tourists were ambushed by gangs of masked assailants who shouted pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel slogans as they hunted, beat and harassed them.
The mayor of the Dutch capital on Friday banned demonstrations for three days and gave police emergency stop-and-search power after the attacks which she called “antisemitic hit-and-run squads.”
Mayor Femke Halsema said Maccabi soccer fans had been “attacked, abused and pelted with fireworks” around the city, and that riot police intervened to protect them and escort them to hotels.
“Antisemitic hit-and-run squads” managed to evade a force of around 200 officers, she said.
Halsema said city police had been taken by surprise after security services failed to flag the match against Ajax Amsterdam as high risk.
Ajax is known as a soccer club with links to Amsterdam’s Jewish community because visiting fans had to pass the city’s Jewish quarter to get to the club’s former stadium. Ajax fans sometimes wave Star of David flags and chant the Dutch word for Jews.
Security has been tightened in the city, where a service was planned at a Jewish monument on Saturday.
The incidents in Amsterdam spurred fears of similar violence across Europe. However, a basketball match in Italy involving Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv on Friday ended without incident.
Israeli authorities had advised fans to stay away from that game. “Calls continue on social media to harm Israelis and Jews, and there are concerns that the events of the last 24 hours may lead to a wave of copycat actions and further disturbances and attacks against Israelis abroad,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement on Friday.
“In light of this, the National Security Council is advising Israelis to avoid attending Maccabi Tel Aviv’s game in Bologna and to avoid displaying visible Israeli or Jewish symbols as much as possible.”
The EuroLeague match, which Virtus Bologna won 84-77, was held amid extra security ordered by Bologna’s police chief, who also assigned a special escort to the Israeli team, Italian media reported.
“Growing antisemitism is unacceptable and horrible, and it is our duty to guarantee complete security to all our citizens of the Jewish religion,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a statement.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Over the past 24 hours, the Russian Aerospace Forces have destroyed two militant bases in the Syrian province of Homs. This was reported on November 9 by Captain First Rank Oleg Ignasyuk, Deputy Head of the Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides (CROS) in the Syrian Arab Republic.
“Over the past 24 hours, Russian Aerospace Forces strikes destroyed two militant bases in the area of the Palmyra settlement in Homs province,” he said during a briefing.
According to him, an additional Russian military police post will be deployed in the Golan Heights area as part of monitoring the situation on the line of separation between Israeli and Syrian troops.
Protecting the border from Syrian or other infiltration, or acting as a tripwire to protect everyone from the IDF?
Over the past 24 hours, the Center for Strategic and Inter-Agency Cooperation recorded three attacks on positions of Syrian government troops by terrorist groups in the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo. Three Syrian servicemen were injured as a result of three improvised explosive devices dropped from unmanned aerial vehicles near the settlement of Urum al-Sughra.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on October 28, Ignasyuk reported that a Boeing P-8 Poseidon anti-submarine patrol aircraft of the so-called international coalition led by the United States of America came dangerously close to a Su-35 fighter jet of the Russian Aerospace Forces over the waters of the eastern Mediterranean Sea. He noted that the collision was avoided thanks to the timely actions taken by the Russian pilot, who demonstrated high professionalism.
On October 20, the deputy head of the Center for the Prevention of Crusades reported that the Jabhat al-Nusra group is preparing a provocation in Syria with the staging of the use of toxic substances in the area of populated areas in the southern part of the Idlib de-escalation zone in order to accuse Syrian government forces of allegedly carrying out indiscriminate strikes and using toxic substances against the population.
Earlier, Ignasyuk reported that the Russian Aerospace Forces had struck nine militant bases in the Idlib de-escalation zone. As a result of the strikes, a militant training facility and an ammunition depot were destroyed.
The article doesn't discuss the downside.
[Regnum] According to seismologists, the United States may be threatened by a 30-meter tsunami and a 9-point earthquake, the British newspaper Daily Mail reported.
Experts have found signs of a possible cataclysm by surveying the Cascade Subduction Zone and identifying four segments along the 970-km-long fault that stretches from the US-Canada border to northern California, the report said. The data was obtained through high-precision underwater photography.
In the coming years, the region could experience tremors that would cause a powerful tsunami that would threaten several states, the authors noted. In the worst-case scenario, tens of thousands of people could die from the cataclysm, and the economic damage would be enormous, the article says.
The detailed image of the fault suggests that the potential earthquake and tsunami in the region could be the largest in history, the authors noted. Researcher and marine geophysicist Suzanne Carbotte pointed out that current U.S. emergency response plans are based on outdated information and that the country is not prepared for a disaster of this magnitude.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, Hurricane Milton reached Florida on October 9. Forecasters and scientists expected Milton to become one of the strongest hurricanes in recorded history, but upon reaching the coast, it weakened significantly. Nevertheless, the elements had a devastating impact on several states at once. At least 14 deaths were reported, more than 5 million US residents were evacuated, and 3.5 million people were left without power.
As I read the above, I noted all the weasel words — maybe, could, possible, worst case scenario — and wondered whether this is just Daily Mail hysteria over something highly unlikely or a real concern. Fortunately, the internet regularly throws up answers to even the most obscure questions, and here is one for ours, dated October 29, 2024:
Oh. A worst case scenario drill, to make sure the authorities have thought of everything, just in case.
[HoodlinePortland] As the specter of an overdue megaquake looms over the Pacific Northwest, emergency crews and agencies in Washington County are taking proactive steps to ensure readiness through the state-wide disaster response drill named "IronOR." The exercise, happening today and tomorrow, is a multilayered simulation that involves the Oregon Department of Emergency Management and multiple local agencies, as reported by Washington County.
This drill envisions the aftermath of a catastrophic magnitude 9.0 earthquake striking along the well-known Cascadia Subduction Zone, alerting authorities to anticipate a situation where they must navigate the complexities of rescue and recovery in the quake's aftermath; on it, the IronOR initiative fosters interagency collaboration and aims to streamline the flow of critical information to policymakers, for, undeniably, in such harrowing times, clear communication is crucial for effective disaster management.
Participants are expected to hone in on critical areas such as human services, focusing on sheltering, public information, and communications, all within the challenging context of coordinated inter-agency operations. The underlying goal is to critically examine and update existing earthquake response plans based on the insights gained from this drill. "The IronOR exercise provides Washington County and other response and recovery partners with the opportunity to test our plans and coordinate our efforts," according to Washington County. John Wheeler, Washington County Emergency Management's manager, highlighted the value of these simulations.
The drill is not merely an abstract precaution; the Cascadia Subduction Zone has historically been the epicenter of significant seismic activity, with experts stating a major earthquake occurs roughly every 300 years
… not urgent, then…
— with the last major incident recorded over 324 years ago,
…or possibly even less urgent than that, or more urgent. The thing about statistics is that you don’t know until it actually happens…
this region braces for what seems to be an inevitable geological event, and while agencies prepare at the macro level, individuals and households are urged to devise their survival strategies that must include adequate supplies, communication plans, and safe meeting locations in the likely event that a natural disaster of this scale disrupts the very fabric of daily life for an extended period.
#5
Wouldn't wiping out the West Coast basically be a Sodom and Gomorrah redo?
While I see the article as likely slow news weekend filler.
Compounded with so many Media groups are in a panic and retuning their news models, staff and political slanted coverage. In order to appeal to the clear and overwhelming proven actual Reader/Viewer audience.
Looking forward.
It will be interesting how these media groups cover "The Big Surprise" that the DC Swamp/ LSD's are surely cooking up to inhabit or eliminate Trump's MAGA agenda.
Of course! Everyone reads the Daily Mail. How else would you know what GCHQ wants you to think?
Personally, I like the variety of curated news sources here at the 'Burg. Carry on!
Side Question: is there a formal name in the intelligence community for that thing where you leak a story to your pet journalist and then go to your boss and say "See! This really is a thing because the media is reporting it".
#14
Obviously there is, SteveS. The SteelE Dossier method was slick and well-practiced. It was discussed, as I recall, in the BBC comedy “Yes, Minister.” Or possibly the sequel, “Yes, Prime Minister.”
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... has decided to end its role as mediator between Israel and Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... amid long-stalled negotiations for a 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... ceasefire and hostage release deal, a diplomat familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel on Saturday.
The diplomat, who is not American, also confirmed Friday’s revelation by the US that Doha told Hamas officials late last month to leave the country, but appeared to deny that the decision was taken in connection with a request from the Biden administration.
The diplomat said Qatar made the decision on its own, determining that it could not continue mediating between Israel and Hamas if neither side was willing to negotiate in good faith. And if it is no longer mediating, there is no purpose for Qatar to allow Hamas to maintain its offices in the country, the diplomat said.
The diplomat lamented that the long-foundering ceasefire and hostage release negotiations "became more about politics and elections" for both Israel and Hamas, as opposed to a "serious attempt to secure peace." The diplomat claimed both sides backed out of commitments they had made throughout the negotiations and were only engaged in them for the purpose of "political optics."
Earlier this week, former defense minister Yoav Gallant suggested to the families of hostages held in Gaza that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has kept the war going for political reasons, not security ones, preventing a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
The diplomat said that once the decision was made by Qatar to cease its mediating role and to kick Hamas officials out of the country, it first informed the other mediators — the US and Egypt — and then told Hamas and Israel. The notification was provided at the end of October.
No timeline was given for when Hamas will leave Doha, but it is not something that can happen overnight, the diplomat indicated.
The diplomat stressed that Qatar’s decision isn’t necessarily permanent and could be reversed if both sides demonstrate a sincere willingness to negotiate in good faith.
This is what happened in April, when Qatar quietly pushed Hamas out of the country, the diplomat says. The terror group’s leaders went to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund... , but the US and Israel asked Doha to bring them back in order to resume talks, after attempts to do so with Hamas in Ankara did not succeed.
Indeed, two government officials revealed that sequence of events to The Times of Israel in May.
The diplomat speculated that after Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh ...became Prime Minister of Gaza after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank... ’s liquidation in Tehran, Hamas officials will once again head to Turkey. This could place Ankara in a difficult position, though, as the Biden administration made clear Friday that it doesn’t want its allies hosting the terror group.
An Israeli official in Netanyahu’s office issued a statement to news hounds welcoming Qatar’s decision, saying that no country should host the terror group.
The Israeli official asserted that Donald Trump ...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party... ’s election victory this week also contributed to the decision, suggesting that the Republican president-elect would not have supported Hamas’s continued presence in Doha.
At the same time, a senior Hamas official contradicted the diplomat and US officials, telling news hounds on condition of anonymity that the terror group had not received any directive from Qatar to leave the country.
Interesting. No doubt at some point we’ll find out what is actually true, and what is the fertile Arab imagination..
Qatar has hosted Hamas officials in Doha since 2012 when the terror group moved its headquarters out of Damascus amid the Syrian civil war. Successive US administrations from both parties urged Qatar to serve as a conduit to the terror group.
Following Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, the US informed Qatar that Doha would not be able to maintain "business as usual" with the terror group. However,
denial ain't just a river in Egypt... the administration held off on asking the Gulf state to shutter the Hamas office, viewing the communication channel with the group to be as critical as ever in brokering a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
Those talks yielded a week-long deal last November, but they have failed to secure a permanent ceasefire or the release of the remaining 101 hostages.
A US official told The Times of Israel on Friday that Hamas’s execution of American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin along with five other captives in late August, and subsequent rejection of more ceasefire proposals, are what led the administration to change its approach regarding the terror group’s continued presence in Doha, deeming it "no longer viable or acceptable."
The US decision also coincided with its unsealing of indictments against Hamas officials, including one of its top leaders Khaled Meshaal, who is known to reside in Doha, the US official said.
"After rejecting repeated proposals to release hostages, its leaders should no longer be welcome in the capitals of any American partner," a second senior administration official told The Times of Israel.
The official said Hamas showed no signs of budging from "unrealistic positions" in the negotiations, maintaining conditions that would have effectively ensured its ability to remain in power in Gaza — "something the US and Israel will never accept."
Two weeks ago, the US asked Qatar to kick out Hamas, the US official said, adding that Doha agreed and gave the notice around October 28.
Details regarding when the expulsion of Hamas officials will actually take place and where they will be ordered to go are still being worked out, the US official added.
The official stressed that the administration is continuing to pursue a number of initiatives aimed at securing a hostage deal before the end of US President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. I'm not working for you. Don't be such a horse's ass.... ’s term and believes that the combination of Hamas’s expulsion from Qatar, US sanctions and other tools at Washington’s disposal could succeed in coaxing the terror group to come down from its demands.
The US official stressed that Doha has played an "invaluable role" as a mediator throughout the conflict. It’s unclear what role Qatar will be able to play moving forward, once it no longer hosts Hamas leaders.
Qatar has come under fire from Congressional Republicans who have been less praiseworthy of Doha’s role in the conflict and argued that the Gulf emirate could have placed more pressure on Hamas to secure a deal.
The Biden administration has repeatedly pushed back against this criticism and has relied on Qatar as a mediator in several other conflicts in addition to the one in Gaza.
Egypt is likely to continue playing a mediating role, given the contacts that it maintains with Hamas leaders in bordering Gaza.
Al-Araby says that information reported by media outlets, including The Times of Israel, is inaccurate.
However, an Arab official tells The Times of Israel that the Al-Araby report is false, calling it a “smokescreen” put on by sources who do not support the decision to oust Hamas.
Senior Biden administration officials told The Times of Israel overnight that Qatar informed Hamas over a week ago that it must close its diplomatic office in Doha.
Qatar has hosted Hamas officials in Doha since 2012, when the terror group moved its headquarters out of Damascus amid the Syrian civil war and after successive US administrations from both parties urged Qatar to serve as a conduit to the terror group.
Following Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, the US informed Qatar that Doha would not be able to maintain “business as usual” with the terror group. However, the administration held off on asking the Gulf state to shutter the Hamas office, viewing the communication channel with Hamas to be as critical as ever in brokering a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
A US official told The Times of Israel that Hamas’s execution of American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin along with five other captives in late August and subsequent rejection of more ceasefire proposals are what led the administration to change its approach regarding the terror group’s continued presence in Doha, deeming it “no longer viable or acceptable.”
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Terrorist groups operating in northern Mali have confirmed their cooperation with the Kiev regime, which is a cause for serious concern. This was stated by the head of the Malian Foreign Ministry, Abdoulaye Diop.
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Tsk! And again I say tsk! On the other hand, Russia has rented terrorists in job lots from Turkey (Turkic Moslem Brotherhood types and former ISIS gunnies who fled the battlefield for safer employment as Ottoman Proxy bullyboys) and North Korea. Pot/kettle, or more Biblically motes and beams. You aren’t fooling anyone, O Russian Regnum reporter.
"Recently, some terrorists in northern Mali have also confirmed their cooperation with Ukraine. This is a cause for serious concern for us," he told TASS.
He clarified that terrorists, with the support of Ukraine and other countries, would like to change the regime in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that Russia will fight Ukraine's support for terrorists in Africa. According to Georgy Mikhno, acting director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department for New Challenges and Threats, the Kiev regime actively and openly supports terrorist groups on the African continent.
In early August, the Ukrainian Ambassador to Senegal, Yuriy Pivovarov, published a video supporting Malian terrorists, after which he was summoned to the Senegalese Foreign Ministry, and the Malian authorities severed diplomatic relations with Ukraine.
On August 7, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that the Kiev regime had decided to open a “second front” in Africa due to the lack of opportunity to defeat Russia on the battlefield. According to her, Ukraine “indulges” terrorist regimes in African countries friendly to Russia.
In July, leading researcher at the Center for the Study of Russian-African Relations and Foreign Policy of African Countries at the Institute of African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, former Russian Ambassador to Mali and concurrently to Niger, Yevgeny Korendyasov, in a conversation with Regnum News Agency, expressed the opinion that Ukraine’s main goal in Africa is the desire to set African countries at odds with Russia.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] The situation remains tense in the Kurakhovsky direction.
Ukrainian troops are wearing down the Russian invaders along the entire front line and in the rear.
Since the beginning of the day, 108 combat clashes have occurred on the front. The greatest activity of Russians is observed in the Pokrovsky and Kurakhovsky directions. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in a report as of 16:00 on Sunday, November 9.
In the Kupyansk direction, the enemy tried to advance towards Ukrainian positions in the areas of Kucherivka, Kruglyakovka and Lozove during the day. Two enemy attacks are still ongoing. In total, four combat clashes were recorded in the direction. Enemy aviation struck Kupyansk with five guided air bombs.
Russian troops have increased the number of attacks to 14 in the Liman direction . Combat actions took place near Grekovka, Nevsky, Torskoye and Belogorovka. Four combat clashes are ongoing. Enemy bombers carried out strikes in the areas of Terny and Yampolevka.
In the Seversk direction, the enemy advanced near Verkhnekamenskoye and carried out air strikes with guided aerial bombs in the Seversk area.
In the Kramatorsk direction, defenders repelled an attack by the occupiers in the area of Belaya Gora. The enemy continues to destroy Chasov Yar with air strikes, and today has already dropped nine UABs and carried out strikes with unguided air missiles.
In the Toretsk direction, the invaders attacked six times in the area of Toretsk, Dilievka, Shcherbinovka and Nelipovka. Four attacks were repelled, two battles are still ongoing. The enemy dropped two UABs on Konstantinovka.
The enemy remains highly active in the Pokrovsky direction. Clashes of varying intensity have broken out here 28 times today. Fighting is currently ongoing in the Luch area.
The situation remains tense in the Kurakhovsky direction . Near Ilyinka, Novoselidovka, Novodmitrovka, Maksimilyanovka, Dalniy, Yekaterinovka and Antonovka, 16 assaults have been repelled, and seventeen battles are currently ongoing.
In the Vremovsky direction, the Russians are trying to advance near Bogoyavleniye, Trudovoye and Maksimovka. In Pridneprovsky, the defenders repelled one enemy assault.
In other directions, the enemy is launching air strikes and artillery shelling at the positions of our troops and populated areas.
Today, the Russians have carried out nine airstrikes on Kurshchyna , dropping 15 UABs. Also in this direction, Ukrainian soldiers are repelling enemy attacks, of which there are already 13 today.
Let us recall that over the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian Armed Forces eliminated 1,660 occupiers. Since the beginning of the full-scale war against Ukraine, the Russian army has lost 707,540 soldiers.
[FoxNews] Rep. Seth Moulton is a moderate Democrat and military veteran
A top aide to Rep. Seth Moulton, a moderate Democrat from Massachusetts, has reportedly resigned after the lawmaker’s recent comments about transgender athletes and the left’s tolerance for dissenting views.
Moulton has faced a barrage of criticism from progressives after he used the issue of transgender athletes in school sports to illustrate his complaint that liberals showed little capacity for dissent in an interview with The New York Times.
Hours after the interview was published, his campaign manager Matt Chilliak resigned, according to the Boston Globe.
The report did not cite a reason, and Moulton’s campaign would not comment on personnel matters.
The Democratic operative posted on X shortly after Trump won the election in the early hours of Wednesday morning, "Millions of Americans today showed that they hate immigrants and transgender people more than they fear fascism."
Moulton had told the Times, "Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face."
"I have two little girls, I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat I’m supposed to be afraid to say that," he said.
[IsraelTimes] Hezbollah fired over 40 rockets at Israel on Saturday, according to the Israel Defense Forces, as the military and Lebanese terror group continued to trade cross-border strikes.
In the afternoon, eight rockets were fired at the center of the Galilee with one impacting the area of Even Menachem, while the rest of the rockets were either intercepted or hit open areas. No injuries were reported as a result of that barrage.
Overnight Saturday, Israeli fighter jets struck Hezbollah command rooms, weapons manufacturing sites, and other infrastructure in Beirut’s southern suburbs, the IDF said, adding that the sites were located "in the heart of a civilian population."
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] A court in Maykop has extended the detention of a native of Tajikistan, who is accused of preparing a terrorist attack on a church, by two months.
As the "Caucasian Knot" reported , on July 12, a court in Maykop arrested a native of Tajikistan, Idris Idibekov, in connection with the case of preparing an attack on a church.
A native of one of the Central Asian countries was preparing an attack on an Orthodox church in Maykop and the murder of clergy and security guards. An incendiary mixture and a flag of a terrorist organization were confiscated from the detainee, the FSB reported. In a video recording published by the agency, during interrogation, he said that after watching videos of supporters of the "Islamic State", he planned to stab a guard and set the building on fire.
What a lovely example of humanity, to be sure.
A court in Maykop arrested a native of Tajikistan, Idris Idibekov, for two months. According to the investigation, he had an accomplice from among local residents.
The Maykop City Court extended the detention of a native of Tajikistan, who is also a Russian citizen, who, according to investigators, planned to attack and set fire to the Holy Dormition Cathedral and kill clergy and security guards, RIA Novosti reported on November 8.
Previously, the man was arrested until September 10, then his arrest was extended until November 11. This time, the period of detention has been extended by two months, until January 11, 2025, writes Gazeta.ru.
[IsraelTimes] A part of the Shiite community is being radicalized and trained for terrorist activities. Its networks present not only a direct threat to Israel and the US but also to the stability of fragile African states.
Hezbollah, an Islamist Lebanese Shia militia and political party that controls 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... , has conducted a war of attrition against Israel since October 2023. It is a proxy 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... in the attempt to attain hegemony in the region and to destroy Israel. Hezbollah, aligned with Iranian geopolitical interests, has extended its operations and influence beyond the Middle East into Latin America and into Africa. With Iran’s help, Hezbollah has steadily expanded its financial and operational presence across the African continent, setting up networks that could be weaponized against Western interests. Weak institutions and mostly non-existent borders facilitate the building of such an infrastructure.
Hezbollah focuses on states where there are Shiite Lebanese diasporas. Hezbollah has tapped into Lebanese communities, particularly in West and Central Africa, that had been previously in contact with the Shiite Lebanese Amal movement. Its key activities in Africa include fundraising and financing, criminal activities, procurement and transportation of weapons, and alliances with local Islamist militias. A part of the Shiite community is being radicalized and trained for terrorist activities. Its networks present not only a direct threat to Israel and the US but also to the stability of fragile African states.
Countries such as Sierra Leone, Senegal ... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees... , Gambia ... The Gambia is actually surrounded by The Senegal on all sides but its west coast. It has a population of about 1.7 million. The difference between the two is that in colonial days Senegal was ruled by La Belle France and The Gambia (so-called because there's only one of it, unlike Guinea, of which there are the Republic of Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, New Guinea, the English coin in circulation between 1663 and 1813, and Guyana, which sounds like it should be another one) was ruled by Britain... , and Ivory Coast are noted for fundraising activities for Hezbollah. Lebanese-owned businesses are approached by Hezbollah for a "donation" on a yearly or semi-annual basis whereby the amount to be contributed is a defined percentage of revenue. Those contributions are collected, generally in cash, by Hezbollah bag men who move the funds to the Middle East by courier. While some contributions are genuine voluntary donations meant for the social services offered by Hezbollah, many contributions are just extortions.
Hezbollah operatives were linked to criminal activities such as money laundering, smuggling, and narcotics trafficking in several countries. Money laundering schemes, often tied to Hezbollah-affiliated businesses, allow for the movement of funds to Lebanon. In Congo, Shiite traders in illegal diamonds were subordinated to Hezbollah men through middlemen, broadening the revenue stream to finance the organization. Hezbollah blended the illegal diamond trade with legitimate business enterprises, helping to disguise finances that supported Hezbollah activities in Lebanon.
Africa also serves as a hub for the procurement and transportation of weapons and other supplies. These end up often in the Middle East, particularly in Lebanon and Syria. Some African ports are used to ship arms illegally to Hezbollah and Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... Sudan ...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans... ’s ports, along the Red Sea have always generated great interest, as they provide access to international shipping lanes. They also function as a gateway for the IRGC and Hezbollah deeper into Africa. Nowadays, the IRGC has forged close ties with General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of Sudan’s military that is engaged in a civil war. In exchange for military support, such as drones and advanced weaponry, Iran looks to set up a naval base in Port Sudan. This base would give Iran and Hezbollah a new platform from which to attack Israeli and Western targets in the region. The collaboration between the financial and logistical networks allows them to strike at US and Israeli interests in Africa while keeping plausible deniability. The IRGC and Hezbollah seek to establish a contiguous zone of influence from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, enveloping some of Africa’s fragile states.
The Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... s, an Iranian proxy in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... has been trained by Hezbollah operatives in launching Iranian missiles that are instrumental in blocking the Bab El Mandeb strait, an important international waterway. The Houthi nuisance value is a leverage against Egypt, an important African country. The Houthi location also allows for increased Iranian and Hezbollah influence in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea. Hezbollah’s presence was also documented in Mozambique and in Kenya, states along the shores of the Indian Ocean. This is another manifestation of the ambitious strategic goals of Iran and Hezbollah.
In West African countries like Guinea and Sierra Leone, Hezbollah-linked businesses have taken root, generating significant financial resources for the organization. One example of Hezbollah’s financial operations is Kassim Tajideen, a prominent businessman of Lebanese extraction who used his commercial empire in Guinea and Sierra Leone to funnel money to Hezbollah. In 2009, the US Treasury sanctioned Tajideen for his role as a Hezbollah financier, and he was later extradited to the US for money laundering activities across West Africa. His businesses were also engaged in smuggling and tax evasion.
In Gambia, the Euro-African Group, a company run by Hussein Tajideen, Kassim’s brother, took advantage of the country’s financial sector to launder money. According to US intelligence, the group worked closely with other Hezbollah financiers across West Africa to send millions of dollars to the terrorist organization.
Nigeria has also seen Hezbollah-linked cells. In 2013, Nigerian authorities discovered a Hezbollah arms cache in the northern city of Kano, intended for attacks in Nigeria and abroad. Moreover, Hezbollah-linked charities in Nigeria have raised money under the guise of supporting the Lebanese diaspora but are components of Hezbollah’s financial infrastructure. For example, the al-Qard al-Hassan Association served as a financial front for Hezbollah.
Hezbollah has strong ties to the Lebanese community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... . US intelligence agencies have documented Hezbollah’s involvement in the illicit diamond trade, exploiting the country’s weak regulatory environment. The diamonds, once sold on the international market, provide Hezbollah with a steady stream of liquid assets and allow the group to evade international financial sanctions.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration has documented Hezbollah’s ties to South American narco mobs, using West Africa as transit for narcotics. In 2011, Ayman Joumaa, a Hezbollah operative, was indicted by the US for laundering drug money from Latin American cartels through West African countries, with the proceeds transferred to Hezbollah.
Lebanese businessman Oussama Salhab, based in Togo, was a key figure in using the African used-car market to launder drug money. Investigations revealed that Salhab’s transport company moved used cars from the US to Africa, with the revenue laundered and sent to Hezbollah. The US Treasury has imposed sanctions on Hezbollah financiers working in Africa, including Adham Tabaja, who owns businesses in Lebanon and West Africa, which have been linked to Hezbollah’s funding enterprises.
Hezbollah, with Iran’s backing, has steadily expanded its financial and operational presence across the African continent with limited opposition from local governments. As tensions between Iran, Israel, and the US continue to grow, Hezbollah could use its African networks to conduct attacks on Western interests, turning the continent into a new battleground in the broader geopolitical struggle. Addressing this threat requires a coordinated effort between the US, Israel, and African governments to disrupt Hezbollah’s financial networks and prevent its use of its Africa footholds for its future operations. The US must adopt a firmer strategy in Africa to counter Iran’s and Hezbollah’s influence.
Weakening Hezbollah and Iran is a Western strategic imperative. The US should capitalize on Israel’s war on Hezbollah to further weaken it in other arenas. The war on Hezbollah is one facet of Israel’s battle against the enemies of the West. Current attempts to impose a ceasefire, which help Hezbollah and Iran recuperate, are ill-advised. Calling for ceasefires with such organizations and hoping it will lead to stable diplomatic arrangements is a pipe dream.
[IsraelTimes] US president-elect says he believes in enforcing sanctions and then removing them, expected to ease clamps on Russian energy
Former US president Donald Trump ...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party... ’s return to the White House could mean tougher enforcement of US oil sanctions against Iran, potentially trimming global supplies, but his administration could struggle to get China, Iran’s top crude customer, to cooperate, analysts said.
Cracking down on OPEC-member Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... would support global oil prices, but the effect could also be offset by other Trump policies, from measures to expand domestic drilling, the imposition of tariffs on China that could depress economic activity, or an easing of relations with Russia that could unfetter its sanctioned crude shipments.
"Trump cuts both ways for oil prices," said Clay Seigle, an independent energy strategist in Houston, adding that tariffs and trade wars would pull down US gross domestic product and oil demand with it.
Iranian crude exports have shot to the highest level in years in 2024 as the country found ways to sidestep punitive sanctions targeting its revenue. Trump re-imposed the sanctions during his first presidency after he unilaterally withdrew the US from a Western nuclear deal with Tehran in 2018.
Trump has said during his campaign that US President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. Old, boring, a plagiarist, fond of hair sniffing and grabbing the protruding parts of women, and not whatcha call brilliant.... ’s policy of not rigorously enforcing oil-export sanctions has weakened Washington and emboldened Tehran, allowing it to sell oil, accumulate cash and expand its nuclear pursuits and influence through armed proxies.
Jesse Jones, head of North American upstream at Energy Aspects said a Trump administration return to a maximum-pressure campaign on Iran could lead to a 1-million-barrel-per-day decrease in Iranian crude exports.
"That could be done relatively quickly without additional legislation, just by enforcing sanctions that are already on the books," he said.
ClearView Energy Partners, a research group, has estimated some 500,000 bpd to 900,000 bpd could be taken out of the market.
’MILLION-DOLLAR QUESTION’
But a tougher stance on Iran also means cracking down on China, which does not recognize US sanctions and is the Islamic Theocratic Republic’s biggest oil customer.
"The million-dollar question is how much significant financial pressure you’re willing to put on Chinese financial institutions," said Richard Nephew, a Columbia University professor and a former US deputy special envoy for Iran.
Nephew said China could retaliate by strengthening work in the BRICS club of emerging economies, consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa and others, including by reducing reliance on the dollar in deals in oil and other goods.
Trump spoke at the New York Economic Club in September about the risks to dollar dominance that sanctions can bring.
"I was a user of sanctions, but I put them on and take them off as quickly as possible, because ultimately it kills your dollar, and it kills everything the dollar represents," Trump said at the time.
"So I use sanctions very powerfully against countries that deserve it, and then I take them off, because, look, you’re losing Iran. You’re losing Russia," he said.
China and Iran have built a trading system that uses mostly Chinese yuan and a network of middlemen, avoiding the dollar and exposure to US regulators, making sanctions enforcement tough.
Seigle said cracking down on Iran could be bullish for oil prices. But the impact could be muted especially if Trump follows through on campaign promises to impose blanket tariffs on US imports to protect domestic manufacturing, including 60 percent levies on anything from China.
"A trade war that pulls down GDP would reduce oil demand and take prices lower," Seigle said.
Ed Hirs, energy fellow at the University of Houston, said Trump was also likely to ease sanctions on Russia’s energy industry, imposed by Western countries as punishment over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Trump promised during his campaign to "settle" the war in Ukraine before taking office in January.
"I would expect Trump would relieve all sanctions on Russian oil," Hirs said.
Western sanctions on Russian oil are not intended to halt flows, but only to limit Russia’s revenue from exports to $60 a barrel for those sales using Western maritime services. The sanctions have shifted the market for Russian oil off Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... to China and India, adding costs for Russia.
#1
Is there a trans-Asian pipeline? If not then the oil has to go by ship. A try at Taiwan would result in a shut down of all such imports in to China. That's putting your neck in a noose.
#2
...The Iranians - among all their other problems right now - have a single-point failure system for getting their oil out. There's only so many places the tankers can onload, there's only one way out, and once they're in open water, the US Navy can still make them wish they'd never left port.
Don't have to sink them, don't have to capture them. Just make 'em turn back.
[IsraelTimes] Speaking soon after his return from Netzarim Corridor, Lt. Col. Dori says he saw Hamas gunmen seize aid trucks, believes totally dismantling terror group will take a long time
Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... , though significantly weakened, is still able to initiate attacks in central 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... , a senior officer in the 14th Reserve Armored Brigade told The Times of Israel days after completing an operation in the Bureij refugee camp there.
"In general, their motivation is high to act and try to create victory images, and to create achievements," said Lt. Col. Dori, the brigade’s operations officer. The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit only allowed the publication of his first name.
In the area where he was operating, Hamas button men "are still working as a system and trying to carry out attacks," Dori said, but generally avoid direct confrontation with troops.
The 14th Brigade was deployed to the Netzarim corridor in central Gaza in late August, and began a weeklong operation in Bureij in early October. The IDF announced the end of the operation on October 11 and the brigade has now left the Strip.
According to the IDF, the brigade attacked a compound in Bureij that was a school before the war. Hamas was using it as a staging point for attacks on IDF troops. "In the area of the school," said the IDF, "the forces located bandidosLions of Islam who fired anti-tank missiles from the windows of the classrooms and also located weapons and ammunition."
Dori, 47, said attacks like the anti-tank fire point to a functioning Hamas chain of command, at least in Bureij.
"Let’s do some reverse engineering," he said. "There was a squad that received instructions, ostensibly from someone higher up. The weapons apparently moved from place to place. There is someone organizing this force. This shows some ability to carry things out, but we don’t see it in large numbers."
After being hammered for over a year, Dori said, Hamas is extremely constrained in its capacity to carry out attacks, at least in the Netzarim area. Most of its attacks nowadays, he said, are done at least partly in order to create propaganda content for social media.
"They either retreat and station a sniper to search for our troops and wait until the moment our soldiers are slightly less aware, and that’s when they hope to harm us and film it," said Dori, "or they wait to mine the areas they think we will reach."
Last month, for example, the commander of the 401st Armored Brigade, Col. Ehsan Daqsa, was killed when he and other officers walked into an observation point that had been booby-trapped by Hamas.
The Hamas fighters "are not brave," said Dori. "They don’t try fighting face-to-face with IDF soldiers, because they know they will always lose."
Despite the IDF’s tactical success in Gaza, it remains unclear how the fighting will end. Israel set its war goals there as the destruction of Hamas and the return of hostages, and the IDF assessed in September that Hamas has been largely defeated militarily, and is now effectively a guerrilla terror group.
Dori believes finishing off Hamas is achievable, but not at all imminent: "We are continuing to take apart its capabilities. It takes time; it’s long and hard, no question. But it’s not endless. We strike hard in the areas where we know they are organizing, and destroy more weapons."
The crewmen of the 14th Brigade have done over 250 days of reserve service in the war that started with the Hamas attack on October 7 last year. They initially helped secure Kibbutz Mefalsim and Kibbutz Kfar Aza, both on the Gaza border, on October 8, when some of the bandidosLions of Islam who carried out the invasion and massacre were still on the lam, and then maneuvered into Gaza under the 252nd Division on October 28. In two months of intense fighting, the brigade operated in the northern Gaza Strip and captured the compound known as the Paleostine Outpost, used by Hamas as a training site for attacks.
The brigade killed hundreds of Hamas bandidosLions of Islam during its time in Gaza, losing eight soldiers with another 83 injured. Eleven soldiers were maimed in the August-October deployment in the Netzarim area.
DAILY CONVOYS
The brigade had very little contact with civilians in Netzarim, where the IDF has carved a corridor that runs across Gaza, isolating the north of the Strip from the south. There were occasional Gazooks heading south to the Muwasi humanitarian zone, but in general, said Dori, civilians knew not to approach troops.
However,
Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried... the force did facilitate humanitarian convoys almost every day.
"The reports that the Gazook population doesn’t receive food and all sorts of things are simply not true," said Dori, describing the situation in the area where he and his troops were deployed. "With my own eyes, I saw humanitarian convoys go in almost every day," with the exception of days when operational reasons precluded this. "But the next day, the amount is made up."
Israel has come under criticism over the quantity of aid reaching Gazook civilians, with the US on Monday charging that Israel was failing to meet its obligations, with potential consequences for US weapons supplies. Israel says it is not blocking aid.
Once supplies get to Gaza, humanitarian groups still face obstacles distributing them to warehouses and then to people in need.
"If there is any reason food doesn’t reach civilians, it’s because of Hamas looters that don’t allow their civilians to reach it or don’t distribute it," Dori maintained.
He said he saw Hamas button men steal aid: "They wait for trucks to come, raid them and loot them."
At the beginning of the brigade’s deployment, some soldiers asked why they were being required to facilitate aid convoys, said Dori. But, he went on, it was explained to them that for the IDF to remain in Netzarim, it needs to ensure that aid continues to flow through the area. "The Netzarim Corridor is a bone in Hamas’s throat. It’s a strategic asset for Israel — a tool for the country to reach its war goals."
Dori was adamant that the brigade’s soldiers uphold the moral and legal standards of war.
Last month, the New York Times
...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... alleged that IDF troops were using Gazooks as human shields during operations in the Strip. The newspaper said it spoke with seven IDF soldiers who said the practice was "routine, commonplace, and organized."
The IDF denied the practice, telling The Times of Israel that "the orders and instructions of the IDF forbid using civilians in Gaza who were arrested in the field for military missions."
"Unequivocally, no," Dori said of the human shield allegations. "We didn’t do that, we didn’t see that, we certainly didn’t instruct anyone to do that. I didn’t come across anything like or hear about anything like that."
Dori said that if a soldier ever did something unethical or immoral with a civilian or captured soldier, they would be immediately expelled from the unit.
"The advantage of reservists is that they’re more mature and more deliberate," he added. "And they usually think twice before they do anything."
It seem that while we weren’t working, the Afghan Digest went from daily to irregularly weekly reports. Here are a few highlights — go to the link to read the rest.
The Afghan Digest archive can be explored here, for those who don’t want to wait for me to get around to working up another post in a few weeks or months — or you can work up a post yourself, dear Reader, and then we all can enjoy the result. ;-)
SECURITY AND CONFLICT
House to House Searches Kabul – Beginning on Monday, various sources confirmed that the Taliban conducted house-to-house searches in Kabul's PD 4, PD 11, and PD 17. The Taliban stated that they were looking for ISKP members, criminals, and narcotics. Locals reported that the Taliban prevented any filming during the searches. The areas selected suggest the searches may be targeting individuals suspected of sympathizing with resistance fighters.
House to House Searches in Nimroz – This week, the Taliban began conducting house-to-house searches in several provinces, including Nimroz, which has sparked strong reactions from residents. In Khang district, protests erupted after Taliban forces entered a home occupied solely by women and children, leading to the detention of at least 50 protesters, some of whom were reportedly beaten. The Taliban claimed these searches aimed to target drug dealers.
Taliban Fire on Protestors in Ghor – On Saturday, in Feroz Koh, Ghor province, at least six people were injured when Taliban forces opened fire on protesters who were opposing body searches conducted on local women. Demonstrators had gathered to demand an end to these invasive searches, highlighting mounting public anger over the Taliban’s treatment of women. Witnesses described a tense atmosphere as the Taliban used firearms to disperse the crowd, underscoring the growing unrest with their restrictive policies and prompting similar protests across Afghanistan.
IS Attack in Ghor – On October 20, Taliban forces clashed with ISIS fighters in the Nurkoh area of Ghor province. The fighting, which lasted several hours, involved both light and heavy weaponry. The Taliban later claimed they attacked an ISIS hideout, killing two members, although they did not disclose any of their own casualties. Photos circulated online of Engineer Saifullah, a Taliban fighter killed in the clash. Taliban officials allege that ISIS in Ghor operates from Balochistan, Pakistan, where it recruits and trains fighters. ISIS activity has increased in central and western Afghanistan, complicating Taliban efforts to maintain security and targeting civilians in areas beyond Taliban control.
Explosion in Pamir Cinema Market – On Wednesday, an explosion occurred around 2:00 p.m. local time in the Pamir Cinema area of Kabul, targeting the crowded Lailami Market, known for selling second-hand clothes. The blast killed one child and injured 11 people, including a three-year-old girl, a four-year-old boy, a sixteen-year-old boy, two women, and six men, one of whom is in critical condition. The attack struck one of Kabul's most densely populated and impoverished neighborhoods. No group has claimed responsibility for the incident.
HUMAN RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES
Further Bans on Women's Voices – Taliban minister Khalid Hanafi recently declared it forbidden for adult women in Afghanistan to let their voices be heard by other adult women, specifically prohibiting them from reciting the Quran or performing the Takbir aloud. This new directive, which is part of broader restrictions on women’s rights, mandates full-body covering, including the face. Hanafi’s comments have sparked significant backlash from Afghan women, who are advocating for their rights against what many see as increasingly oppressive Taliban policies. It remains unclear how this extreme directive will be enforced or if it is an official policy.
Political Analyst Detained – On October 19, Jawed Momand, a university professor and political analyst, was detained by Taliban intelligence agents in Kabul's Karte Naw district. The Taliban have not provided any statement regarding his detention.
Women Prevented from Riding Buses Without Masks – The Taliban’s vice and virtue police in Kabul have barred women and girls from boarding city buses if they are not wearing masks, according to multiple local sources.
Retirees Protest unpaid Pensions – On Saturday, retirees in Kabul protested three years of unpaid pensions, blocking the street leading to the Ministry of Finance. The Taliban dissolved the pension system and cut retiree salaries, exacerbating economic hardships for many. During the protest, one retiree was arrested, underscoring the widespread discontent amid ongoing financial struggles.
Floggings – On Monday, a man and a woman were flogged in Logar province, with similar punishments meted out in Bamiyan the same day. On Wednesday, 17 people were flogged in Khost, followed by the flogging of one man in Kabul on Thursday and one individual in Faryab on Sunday.
INTERNAL POLITICS
Acting Minister Of Education Statement on Jihadi Madrassas – The Taliban's acting minister for higher education, Neda Mohammad Nadim, emphasized the role of jihadi madrasas in maintaining the jihadist mindset in Afghanistan. In the past 40 days, 16 new madrasas have been established across 10 provinces at a cost of 54 million Afghanis. Afghanistan now has 21,000 madrasas, surpassing the 18,000 schools in the country. Critics, including Afghan citizens and international observers, express concerns that this increase could promote extremism and radicalization, further destabilizing the nation.
Dissent on Banning Living Images – TTaliban officials in Kabul, including Acting Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, Acting Defense Minister Yaqoob Mujahid, and three Acting Deputy Prime Ministers, oppose Mullah Hibatullah’s ban on broadcasting images of living beings. They argue that the law undermines the Taliban's interests, particularly in media and diplomacy. The Haqqani network, which manages propaganda centers, also criticizes the restrictions. Despite Mullah Hibatullah’s orders, enforcement has been inconsistent, with some officials permitting audio recordings and defying full implementation.
Saleh Statement on Doha Process – On Friday, former Vice President Amrullah Saleh claimed that the Doha process, backed by NATO, effectively constituted a coup against Afghanistan’s Republic. He argued that it was a carefully orchestrated effort to sideline Ashraf Ghani and destabilize the government. Saleh asserted that many Afghan political leaders supported anti-republicanism, viewing it as a means of securing personal gain, under the assumption that the U.S. would integrate the Taliban into the government. Instead, he contended, this strategy resulted in national disgrace and authoritarian rule.
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS
NYT Publishes Interview with Haqqani – On Thursday, the New York Times published an interview with Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban's acting interior minister and a wanted terrorist. In the interview, Haqqani portrays himself as a dissident within the Taliban and attempts to present himself as a diplomat. He has a $10 million bounty on his head from the U.S. for orchestrating terrorist attacks against international forces, Afghan officials, and civilians.
CSTO Approves Plan to Strengthen Afghan-Tajik Border – On Saturday, Imangali Tasmagambetov, secretary general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), announced plans to enhance Tajikistan's border security with Afghanistan at an upcoming CSTO meeting in Astana. The draft plan has been reviewed and agreed upon by CSTO member states. The organization has expressed ongoing concerns about the potential spread of extremism from Afghanistan to Central Asia over the past three years. Representatives from over 40 countries recently warned that rising extremism and radical teachings could lead to catastrophic consequences.
OCHA report on Projects in Afghanistan – The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that in September 2024, 83 humanitarian projects were temporarily suspended due to 173 incidents, 98% of which were attributed to Taliban interference. This marks a 66% increase from last year. The incidents involved disruptions to operations, violence against staff, and movement restrictions. The Taliban also imposed illegal taxes, seized aid, delayed document processing, and enforced strict regulations on female staff, threatening the safety of humanitarian workers.
Afghan Consulate in Germany to Close – On Thursday, Germany requested that Afghanistan’s ambassador in Berlin and its consul in Bonn step down, refusing to accept Taliban-appointed representatives. However, technical staff will continue to provide consular services at the embassy and consulate, according to a diplomatic source. The German government maintains its position against recognizing Taliban officials.
BRICS Statement on Afghanistan – At the Kazan summit on Thursday, BRICS leaders, including those from China and Russia, urged the Taliban to lift the ban on girls' and women's education. They emphasized the need to respect the fundamental rights of Afghan citizens, including women and ethnic groups, and called for immediate humanitarian aid. The leaders also stressed the importance of taking action against terrorism in Afghanistan and highlighted the role of regional platforms in addressing the country’s challenges. BRICS reaffirmed its support for a peaceful, independent Afghanistan.
Afghan Representative Speaks at UN – On Wednesday, Nasir Ahmad Faiq, Afghanistan's acting representative to the UN, urged the international community to take decisive action regarding Afghanistan’s crisis. Speaking to the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee, he emphasized the Taliban’s oppressive policies, particularly gender apartheid, and called for its criminalization under international law. Faiq highlighted the Taliban’s focus on extremism in education and the erosion of fundamental rights, especially for women and girls.
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
Ban on Living Images and TV Station Shutdowns – Television stations in Badghis province have ceased operations following a Taliban directive banning live images, according to the Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC). Both state-run and private TV stations are now limited to written and audio content. The ban, enforced under the "Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice" law, extends to other provinces, posing a significant threat to press freedom. On Thursday, sources reported that the Taliban have expanded the ban on broadcasting images of living beings to at least 10 provinces, including Kandahar, Helmand, Uruzgan, Kunar, Khost, Takhar, Badghis, Panjshir, and Laghman.
400 Books Banned in Kabul – The Taliban have banned 400 books in libraries across Kabul, mandating their removal if they conflict with Taliban principles, according to local librarians. The ban targets works related to Shia Islam, democracy, political freedoms, civil rights, art, and prominent figures such as Ahmad Shah Massoud. Librarians report that the Taliban have already begun collecting these titles and promoting works deemed acceptable by the regime. Booksellers fear financial losses and potential crackdowns as enforcement is expected to intensify starting in November.
MISCELLANEOUS
Report on Afghan Migration – Between July and September 2024, 786,769 Afghan citizens left Afghanistan while 973,696 returned, according to the IOM. The report, Mobility Dynamics at Afghanistan’s Borders, highlights migration driven by economic opportunities, healthcare access, family visits, and safety concerns. Nearly six million Afghans now reside in Iran and Pakistan, with 3.75 million in Iran and 2.05 million in Pakistan, making Afghans the world’s largest refugee population, surpassing Syrians. The full report can be accessed here
Lack of Electricity at Mes Aynak – Afghanistan’s Aynak copper mine faces setbacks due to unreliable electricity, according to the Chinese company Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC). During a recent meeting, MCC emphasized that insufficient power could hinder progress on the project, despite a $2.5 billion investment agreement. Persistent delays, mainly due to security concerns, have stalled significant work on the mine, which holds one of the world’s largest untapped copper reserves.
[FoxNews] Republicans refuse to accept the 'norm' that political news must be dominated by people who want the Republicans disparaged and then destroyed.
The 2024 presidential campaign ended pretty much where it began: loathing the never-ending presence of Donald Trump. On the day before the election, The New York Times front page displayed a gaudy editorial (badly disguised as "News Analysis") under the title "Torrent of Lies Redefines Political Norms."
Doesn't that sound like a hard-charging rerun of 2016? Nothing ever seems to change from the paper that gaudily proclaimed under Trump that "The Truth Is More Important Now Than Ever."
You can point and laugh, since The New York Times refused to admit that Hunter Biden's laptop full of corruption details was authentic until 2022, and then it acknowledged reality in a story on page A-20, in paragraph 23. It was buried, almost like an unmarked grave.
Chief White House correspondent Peter Baker's editorial bubbled over with contempt for how many lies Trump told in the first 300 seconds of an interview with Tucker Carlson on Halloween. "Public appearances by Mr. Trump throughout this year's campaign have been an Alice-in-Wonderland trip through the political looking glass, a journey into an alternate reality often belied by actual reality."
Baker thinks it's amusing that Trump will sell his administration as the greatest ever seen in American history. Baker can't imagine anyone thinks he and his journalist wife Susan Glasser and his journalist friends sound like the exact opposite. They have sold Trump's administration as the most horrendous years America has ever seen.
Every American who pays even a moment's attention to American politics knows that Trump exaggerates wildly and egotistically, selling himself like he's closing another real-estate deal. Everything is the best or the worst ever. Everyone loads that into their political calculus. But Democrat-coddling journalists act perpetually shocked, like they're all starring in "50 First Dates" and forget every night how Trump operates.
What's really shocking here is how the major media pretend that the Democrats are dramatically more honest, like 10 times more honest. Set apart on page A-16 is their New York Times analysis of candidate speeches: 64 is the number of false or misleading statements at a typical Trump rally, according to them. By contrast, six is the number of false or misleading statements at a typical rally for Kamala Harris.
The obvious joke is that Trump's rally speeches can go on for 90 minutes, while Harris is closing out the campaign with 10-minute speeches. So, what's the minute-by-minute falsehood rate?
Under these stilted numbers is "33 percent," as in the percentage of registered voters who agree with Trump's false claims that Joe Biden "did not legitimately win." The Times can't acknowledge that this fraction of voters who believe dramatic media suppression of Biden scandal news can translate into "illegitimate" victory. You can accept the result and yet protest the unfair process.
Then the partisanship is underlined by their selected expert. "No one in American politics has ever lied on this scale," said Bill Adair, a founder of PolitiFact whose new book is titled "Beyond the Big Lie." The Times left out Adair's partisan subtitle: "The Epidemic of Political Lying, Why Republicans Do It More, and How It Could Burn Down Our Democracy."
Republicans could "burn down our democracy" since they lie so much more, maybe 10 times more. Adair is quite candid about how he thinks the Republicans were aggressive liars before Trump, so put the Democrat donkey ears on his head.
Republicans refuse to accept the "norm" that political news must be dominated by people who want the Republicans disparaged and then destroyed -- as they identify themselves as nonpartisan truth-tellers. That's a very large and egotistical lie.
#6
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Watching their postmortems, the Left assumes the third condition. Yes, they're liars. The good part is that they lie about themselves.
[Regnum] Azerbaijan and Armenia are close to reaching a final agreement on the text of the peace treaty. This was stated by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev during a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on November 9.
“Armenia’s significant delay in submitting proposals on the text of the document had a negative impact on the process, but despite this, the parties are close to reaching a final agreement on the text of the document,” says a statement distributed by the Azerbaijan State News Agency ( AZERTAC ).
According to him, it was Baku that initiated the principles underlying the peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia. He noted that negotiations towards finalizing the text of the treaty will continue after the end of the United Nations Climate Conference (COP-29).
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on July 21, Aliyev stated that the conclusion of a peace treaty between the two republics is impossible until the Armenian authorities amend the country's constitution. According to him, the current constitution of Armenia poses a territorial threat to Azerbaijan, since the document provides for a reference to the 1990 declaration of independence, according to which Nagorno-Karabakh is part of the country. This clause prevents the conclusion of a peace agreement, the Azerbaijani president noted.
In August, Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that Moscow is ready to continue assisting in the development of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty and advancing the process of border delimitation and demarcation. The conversation between the Russian head of state and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan also touched on the normalization of relations between Baku and Yerevan.
The Russian Ministry of Defense failed to provide it usual daily operational briefing, so we will be using the Russian Ministry of Justice summaries.
Direct Translation via Google Translate.
[NewsFront] 19:44 Governor of Belgorod Region Vyacheslav Gladkov:
Emergency in Valuysky District.
– At the entrance to the village of Stary Khutor, a passenger carblew upon the ammunition of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The worst thing has happened - a civilian has died. The man died on the spot from his wounds before the doctors arrived. I express my sincere condolences to the family and friends of the deceased.
His wife, in serious condition with multiple shrapnel wounds, was taken away by passing transport and handed over to an ambulance team. She is currently being taken to the Valuyskaya Central District Hospital. She is receiving all the necessary assistance.
By decision of the operational headquarters on August 28, 2024, a ban on entry to Stary Khutor was introduced. I would like to remind all residents once again, especially those settlements where a state of emergency is in effect or entry is temporarily restricted: without permission from the heads of territories who are in contact with the military and have information about the operational situation, you cannot come to closed villages - it is life-threatening!
18:46 Head of the DPR Denis Pushilin:
Unfortunately, information continues to arrive about the consequences of shelling of cities in the Republic.
– In the Nikitovsky district of Gorlovka, as a result of the detonation of a previously unexploded cluster submunition, a woman born in 1967 was killed. Also, due to an enemy attack using barrel artillery, a man born in 1956 received moderate injuries; he is receiving the necessary medical care.
The total number of victims today has increased to five people: three died, two people were injured.
Four civilian infrastructure facilities were damaged in the Nikitovsky district of Gorlovka (two administrative buildings, an outpatient clinic, a boiler room).
– By this hour, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have carried out eight armed attacks, firing about 20 rounds of ammunition. They used 155 mm barrel artillery and an attack UAV.
18:23 Governor of Belgorod Region Vyacheslav Gladkov:
– The village of Novoye, Volokonovsky district, againwas subjected toattacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Three civilians were wounded.
Explosive devices were dropped from an unmanned aerial vehicle onto the territory of a private home. A woman and a man, who were outside at the time, were injured. They were taken to the Volokonovskaya Central District Hospital by a passing vehicle. Doctors diagnosed the woman with a foot wound, and the man with a blind shrapnel wound to the leg. After receiving medical care, they were released for outpatient treatment. The third victim was also injured as a result of an explosive device being dropped from a drone. An ambulance team is taking the man with various shrapnel wounds to the Valuyskaya Central District Hospital. He is receiving all the necessary assistance.
– In addition, as a result of repeated discharges in the village, various damages were recorded to two passenger cars and a GAZelle.
17:59 Russian Ministry of Defense:
Around 16:00 Moscow timestoppedan 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.
A Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle was destroyed over the territory of the Belgorod region by air defense systems on duty.
17:25 A mercenary from Colombia shows the bodies of his brothers-in-arms killed in the area of Chasovy Yar —video.
16:53 DPR Representative Office in the JCCC:
Attackstrike UAV from the Ukrainian Armed Forces:
– Gorlovka (Central City District): discharge of explosives from a UAV.
16:24 Verkhovynsky TCC kidnapped a Kiev resident and is forcibly holding him in a basement without food or water, about thisstatedhis wife.
15:48 Onvideofrom Kharkov, as local publics write, police and TCC are trying to stop the car, threatening with weapons. The driver is trying to escape from the chase.
15:15 Another Ukrainian occupier, Yevgeny Chaykovsky, was liquidated in the Kursk region —photo.
14:29 Governor of Belgorod Region Vyacheslav Gladkov:
Armed Forces of Ukraineinflicteddrone strikes on three populated areas. There were no casualties, according to preliminary data.
– In the city of Shebekino, an FPV drone attacked an apartment building – windows were knocked out and the facade was damaged.
In addition, as a result of three UAV attacks, the glazing, facades, warehouse and equipment of three buildings of one of the enterprises were damaged.
– In the Volokonovsky district, in the village of Novoye, as a result of several explosive device drops from a drone, one unit of agricultural machinery was damaged.
- In the village of Borisovka, a drone dropped an explosive device. As a result of the explosion, windows were blown out in one residential building. Two cars were damaged by shrapnel.
13:44 Russian soldiers eliminated Ukrainian soldier and TV cameraman from Mariupol, Alexey Andreyev.
Was destroyed in the Bogdanovka area of the Artemovsky district -photo.
12:52 In UkrainediscoveredColombian mercenary Numarul Machado Navas , born January 20 , 1991 , age 33 , in El Blanco , Magdalena , Colombia .
He arrived in Ukraine in the fall of 2023 , where he joined other Latin American mercenaries.
11:53 In Poltava region the entire team of SC Poltava before the First League matchtook awayin the TCC. There, everyone was given summonses and released to the match.
11:26 Investigators from the Russian Investigative Committee willinvestigateanother crime of the Ukrainian Armed Forces against civilians of the Donetsk People's Republic
According to the executive authorities, as a result of the attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on a vehicle of an energy supply organization in the village of Ozeryanovka in the DPR, two employees were killed and one was injured.
The Investigative Committee of Russia will establish all the circumstances of the incident and the circle of persons involved in the commission of the crime.
10:54 Russian Armed Forces eliminated another Ukrainian lieutenant Roman Khopta —photo.
He became an officer of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at the age of 19 in 2022. However, in 2024 he was sent to the Kursk region, where he was liquidated by Russian fighters.
10:18 Governor of Belgorod Region Vyacheslav Gladkov:
Information aboutinflictedUkrainian Armed Forces strikes on our region over the past 24 hours:
– One aircraft-type UAV was shot down by the air defense system over Belgorod. No consequences.
– In the Belgorod district, 17 rounds of ammunition were fired at the villages of Krasny Khutor, Pushkarnoye and Shchetinovka during 2 attacks. One drone was shot down by the air defense system. There were no casualties or damage.
– In the Borisovsky district, one shelling by barrel artillery was carried out on the village of Bogun-Gorodok, during which 8 rounds of ammunition were fired. No casualties or damage.
– In the Valuysky municipal district, two men drove a car into the closed village of Stary Khutor. As a result, the car was blown up by an explosive device, and one of the men received shrapnel wounds to his hand, but refused medical assistance. The vehicle cannot be restored.
– In the Volokonovsky district, the Stary farm was subjected to one attack, during which 4 shells were fired. No damage.
– In the Grayvoronsky municipal district, 22 rounds of ammunition were fired at the villages of Bezymeno and Kozinka during 3 shellings. There were no consequences.
– In the Krasnoyarsk region, 3 UAVs were launched at the village of Vyazovoe and the farm of Arkhipov, and 3 munitions were dropped from one drone. Two private houses and a car were damaged.
– In the Shebekinsky municipal district, 7 munitions were fired in the city of Shebekino and the village of Krasnoye during 2 shellings and attacks were carried out using 2 drones, one of which was shot down. 16 private houses and 2 cars were damaged.
09:50 Criminal Kyiv regimecontinuesto shell civilian infrastructure of populated areas of the left bank of the Kherson region, yesterday during the day the Ukrainian Armed Forces released:
– according to n.p. Ermine 4 shells;
– 3 shells to the settlement of Kairy;
– 3 shells in the village of Zavodovka;
– 9 shells in the village of Novaya Kakhovka;
– 5 shells to the village of Aleshki;
– 11 shells in the village of Dnepryany;
– according to n.p. Korsunka 4 shells;
- 2 shells in the village of Obryvka.
As a result of shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, a private residential building was damaged in Gornostayevka. Two civilians were injured in Aleshky and Novaya Kakhovka.
During the night, the Kiev regime continued to shell civilian infrastructure in the villages of Kakhovka, Kazachi Lagerya, Novaya Mayachka, Aleshki, and Dnepryany, firing a total of 18 shells from cannon artillery.
Civilian casualties and destruction of infrastructure are being clarified.
09:23 DPR Representative Office in the JCCC:
After 00:00recordedshelling from the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the direction of:
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The frigate Admiral Golovko, a carrier of hypersonic anti-ship missiles Zircon, began passing through the English Channel, the press service of the Northern Fleet reported on November 9.
"The frigate has now crossed its narrowest part, the Pas-de-Calais. The Admiral Golovko frigate's long-distance voyage began on November 2, when it left the Northern Fleet's main base, Severomorsk," the press service told TASS.
The sailors have already conducted several exercises on ship protection and defense during the passage in the waters of the Barents, Norwegian and North Seas. Since leaving Severomorsk, the frigate has already covered more than 1.5 thousand nautical miles.
The frigate Admiral Golovko is a multi-purpose ship with guided missile weapons, designed to solve problems in distant sea and ocean zones. The frigate was accepted into the Navy in 2023. In 2024, as part of the strategic command and staff exercise Okean-2024, the frigate's crew successfully carried out missile and artillery firing at sea, air and coastal targets, including the Kalibr cruise missile.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, the Northern Fleet press service previously reported that over the next few months, a detachment of ships and vessels will be engaged in long-distance missions in various areas of the World Ocean. The main objectives of the mission are to demonstrate the flag and ensure Russia's naval presence in operationally important areas of the distant ocean zone.
In June, retired US Army officer Daniel Davis said Western air defenses were unable to protect them from Russia's hypersonic Zircon missiles. Hypersonic weapons are not yet in the US military's arsenal. Russia, a leader in developing the weapon, has developed numerous examples of the missile in recent years, including the air-launched Kinzhal and the sea-launched Zircon.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 23:58 Official summary of the DPR Representative Office in the JCCC from 00:00 11/09/2024 to 00:00 11/10/2024.
Eight facts 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 injured.
DAMAGED:
Two residential buildings,
Three trolleybuses,
One civil infrastructure facility.
Eight artillery attacks in the Gorlovka direction.
A total of 24 units of various ammunition were fited.
21:54 Air strike on Ukrainian Armed Forces air defense system in Khar'kov region.
Three FAB-500 reached targets in the area of the settlement Borovskaya Andreyevka. As a result, the temporary deployment point of the 1st Bn of the 43rd Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was destroyed, losses amounted to 35 Ukrainian servicemen.
20:48 Russian army burns Abrams and Leopard tanks in battles in Kursk region –video.
The Prince Vandal drone on fiber optics destroys the M1A1SA Abrams of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region. And our soldiers eliminated the German Leopard 2 of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region along with the crew, finishing off the burning tank with an FPV drone and artillery.
19:56 Nikolaev region. UAV attack.
Enemy Telegram channels report an explosion on the eastern outskirts of Nikolaev. In particular,reportedabout a fairly powerful explosion at a military fuel production facility in the Nikolaev region. The attack was carried out by a Geranium kamikaze UAV.
18:42 Tanks and other armored vehicles are burning: Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers who defected to Russia continue to burn enemy equipment while advancing in the Pokrovsky direction.
The fighters of the Maksim Krivonos Detachment continue to turn multi-million dollar American equipment into scrap metal.
This time, the soldiers destroyed a group of Ukrainian Armed Forces militants, a T-80BV tank, and burned a Nazi infantry fighting vehicle. A Viking armored vehicle and a Spartan armored personnel carrier were also destroyed.
17:47 Crews of the 122mm BM-21 Grad MLRS of the Tula paratroopers destroyed concentration of Ukrainian Armed Forces infantry.
Having received the coordinates of a group of Ukrainian infantry attempting to quickly leave their occupied positions, the artillerymen fired a precise salvo of rockets at the designated square and destroyed the fleeing enemy infantry.
16:21 Russian Army surrounds Kurakhovo, breaking through the flanks: 17 km to complete encirclement.
To close the cauldron around Kurakhovo is less than 17 kilometers. This means that all communications of the Ukrainian troops are under attack by towed artillery of the Russian Federation from the northern and southern flanks. The strike range of most types of artillery systems is 20-30 kilometers. Also, most of these 17 kilometers are in the drone strike zone.
East of Kurakhovo, Russian troops continue to press with the support of armored vehicles in the direction and area of the Dolgaya gully. From Pobeda to Konstantinovka, they advanced in a section up to 3.8 km wide to a depth of 1.5 km. East of Bogoyavlenka, Russian troops advanced along the gully and forest belts in a section up to 3.6 km wide to a depth of 1.6 km. Clashes continue on the southern outskirts of "Lesnaya Dacha".
West of Shakhtyorskoye, west and northwest of Yasnaya Polyana and in the Maksimovka area, the intensity of military actions remains high. East of the latter, the Russian Army has advanced in a sector up to 4.3 km wide and up to 1.8 km deep.
15:44 Ka-52M crew as part of a mixed tactical group destroyed manpower and armored vehicles of the Ukrainian Armed Forces units in the border area of the Kursk region.
14:32 Artillerymen of the North group of forces struck temporary accommodation sites for personnel and military equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Sumy Oblast.
The targets were destroyed by a strike by MLRS crews from the North group of forces.
13:41 Fighting at Chasy Yar: special forces hunts the infantry of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The special forces unit "HUNTER" of the 51st Guards Army of the Russian Armed Forces carries out raids on the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces at night, contributing to the successful advancement of Russian troops at the front.
12:35 A Rosgvardia UAV operator destroyed a Ukrainian Armed Forces tank retreating from combat positions in the Kursk region –video.
11:36 Ukrainian Armed Forces artillery gun destroyed in Kursk region by direct hit from Russian FPV drone –video.
10:40 Calculations of the 122mm BM-21 MLRS "Grad" of the "West" group of forces destroyed combat armored vehicles, a concentration of manpower and a special forces group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the area where the special operation is being conducted.
09:47 FPV drone operator of the 42nd Motorized Rifle Division hit a Ukrainian dugout with manpower in the Zaporizhia region —video.
09:25 The enemy runs without looking back:
So look like captured positions, destroyed military equipment and manpower of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the border area of the Kursk region.
Naval infantry of the North group of troops are successfully fighting Ukrainian armed formations in the border area of the Kursk region, approaching the State border every day.
In one of the areas, servicemen of the naval infantry brigade set up an ambush for Ukrainian Armed Forces militants: they destroyed their positions along with military equipment produced by NATO countries.
As the naval infantry brigade servicemen themselves say, the enemy did not expect such a tough rebuff. After unsuccessful frontal attacks, the militants were taken by surprise. Naval infantrymen were able to take advantageous positions for further control of the movement and destruction of light and heavy combat equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
As a result of the battle, the naval infantry captured Western-made weapons, flags and personal belongings of the Ukrainian Armed Forces militants. While retreating, the enemy leaves dead and wounded comrades in their positions.
Realizing that they will not return to this territory, the Ukrainian Armed Forces militants mine certain areas of the terrain. In order to ensure safety for the advance of our infantry, the naval infantrymen destroy the mines planted by the enemy.
08:46 A fighter with the call sign “Truth” spoke about captured documents and chevrons of Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen destroyed by the Black Sea Fleet naval infantrymen —video.
08:00 Telegram channel «Fisherman»:
Chronicle of the special military operation for November 8, 2024
– Ukrainian formations attacked an oil refinery in Saratov with drones. The Russian Armed Forces hit enemy targets in Sumy, Odessa, Khmelnytsky and Kyiv regions.– In the Kursk direction, according to some reports, Russian troops have entered the active phase of the offensive in the Sudzhansky region in the direction of Staraya Sorochina.
– In the Donetsk direction, Russian troops expanded the zone of control to the southwest of Maksimilyanivka in the direction of Kurakhovo.
– In the South Donetsk direction, the Russian Armed Forces are attacking west of Trudovoye and advancing in the forest belts east of Bogoyavlenka.
Hattip Skidmark. The details below the article are just to get the situation on record, not because anything is significantly changed.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Donald Trump officially flipped the state of Arizona on Saturday to sweep all seven swing states in the 2024 presidential election.
In addition to a remarkable win to take back the White House, Tuesday's election also saw Republicans take the Senate and the party is well on the way to retaining its majority in the House.
With 87 % of the votes counted in Arizona, the AP had Trump at 52.6 percent of the votes counted with Kamala Harris on 46.4 percent. The state had previously been won by now-President Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
The nationwide results will hand Trump virtually unchecked power when he takes his oath of office in January. The Supreme Court, which includes an unprecedented three appointees from Trump, maintains a nine to three conservative majority.
After months of neck-and-neck polling with Vice President Kamala Harris in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan, Trump won every single battleground state.
With 312 Electoral College votes, Trump's shocking and decisive win saw him earning the largest margin of victory since the 1988 election for President George H. W. Bush.
In 2016, six of the seven 2024 swing states went red for Trump with the exception of Nevada. Then in the 2020 cycle, all of the states flipped blue except for right-leaning North Carolina.
This year, Trump took all 93 Electoral College votes across the major battlegrounds and turned Nevada red for the first time in a decade.
All sorts of details about the vote counting since the polls closed on Election Day at the link.
#3
There were about half a dozen districts still uncalled as of last night, JohnQC, mostly in California. Take a look at the link in the post — under House.
[IsraelTimes] Authorities in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip say Israel struck a school-turned-shelter run by the United Nations in Gaza City, killing 14 people and wounding dozens of others.
The Israeli military does not immediately respond to a request for comment on the attack that hit a UNRWA facility in the Shati refugee camp, just west of Gaza City along the Mediterranean coast.
In recent months, Israel has conducted dozens of airstrikes on schools across the embattled enclave, structures where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by fighting have sought refuge. Israel says Hamas fighters use schools and other protected humanitarian sites as cover, turning Palestinian civilians and aid workers into human shields.
Shortly after the strike, the Israeli army ordered the evacuation of Shati camp among other neighborhoods west of Gaza City, spreading panic among Palestinians who in recent days had sought refuge in those areas from Israel’s renewed offensive against Hamas further north.
Meanwhile, the army says it will allow 300 truckloads of humanitarian aid supplied by the United Arab Emirates to enter the Strip in the coming days.
That’s less than the 350 trucks per day that the United States has said it wants to see enter the war-ravaged territory.
COGAT, the military body in charge of civilian affairs in Gaza, says the aid was brought in by sea and unloaded at the Israeli port of Ashdod, just north of Gaza. It says the shipment, which includes food, water, medical equipment, shelter and hygiene supplies, will be inspected before being trucked into Gaza, though it does not specify a date.
[IsraelTimes] The IDF says troops demolished two large tunnel systems and killed several Hamas operatives, including two who participated in the October 7 onslaught, during a recent operation in the southern Gaza Strip.
The operation was carried out by the Gaza Division’s Southern Brigade, along with the Desert Reconnaissance Unit, commonly known as the Bedouin Reconnaissance Unit.
According to the IDF, the operation began with airstrikes on Hamas anti-tank missile positions, booby-trapped buildings, and observation posts in southern Gaza.
The military says combat engineers, along with members of the Shin Bet, uncovered two Hamas tunnels in the area, which the IDF describes as attack tunnels. Together, the tunnels were over two kilometers in length. They did not cross into Israeli territory.
The tunnels featured around 10 exit shafts, some of which were booby-trapped with explosives, the IDF says. The soldiers also found weapons inside the tunnels.
During the operation, the troops exchanged fire with several gunmen who emerged from the tunnel system. The IDF says some of the Hamas operatives were killed by the ground forces and others in airstrikes.
According to the IDF, two of the Hamas operatives killed in the operation participated in the October 7 onslaught. They are named as Baha Abu Qarshin, a Hamas Nukhba Force commander, and Muhammad Ibrahim Sateri, a member of Hamas.
[IsraelTimes] No injuries reported in barrages on Israel; Lebanon reports death toll in Friday’s strikes in Tyre rises to seven, including two children
Hezbollah fired over 40 rockets at Israel on Saturday, according to the Israel Defense Forces, as the military and Lebanese terror group continued to trade cross-border strikes.
In the afternoon, eight rockets were fired at the center of the Galilee with one impacting the area of Even Menachem, while the rest of the rockets were either intercepted or hit open areas. No injuries were reported as a result of that barrage.
Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and nearby towns on Saturday afternoon due to fears of a drone attack, but the military later said they were false alarms.
A barrage earlier in the afternoon saw 25 rockets fired at the Galilee and Haifa Bay area, with the IDF saying some were intercepted while the rest landed in open areas. Five rockets were fired at the area on Saturday morning with the same result.
Also in the afternoon, five rockets were launched at the Western Galilee, all of which were either intercepted or fell in open areas.
The IDF also intercepted a drone launched from Iraq overnight. The drone, which the Iran-backed Islamic Resistance® group took responsibility for, was shot down before crossing into Israeli airspace, but it still activated sirens in several towns in the southern Golan Heights.
Another drone launched from 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 also intercepted overnight in the Western Galilee, causing sirens to go off there as well.
IAF POUNDS LEBANON, SYRIA
Overnight Saturday, Israeli fighter jets struck Hezbollah command rooms, weapons manufacturing sites, and other infrastructure in Beirut’s southern suburbs, the IDF said, adding that the sites were located "in the heart of a civilian population."
The military, which issued evacuation warnings to civilians in the area before the strikes, accused Hezbollah of using the local population as human shields.
In Syria, several soldiers were maimed overnight in what appeared to be an Israeli Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... in the Aleppo and Idlib area, Syria’s state-run SANA news agency reported. There was no comment from the IDF on the strike.
Meanwhile,
...back at the alley, Slats grabbed for his rosco... the corpse count from Israeli air strikes in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on Friday rose to seven people including two maiden of tender yearss, Lebanon’s health ministry said.
The ministry also said that 46 people were maimed in the attack, adding that rescuers were still searching for missing people under the rubble and that body parts had been found and will be "identified with DNA testing."
The IDF said it struck several Hezbollah command rooms where operatives had gathered.
ALPINISTS FINISH WEEK-LONG OPERATION
The IDF’s elite reserve Alpinist Unit, under the 810th "Mountains" Regional Brigade, concluded a week-long operation this week on the Lebanese side of Mount Dov and on the outskirts of the town of Shebaa, the IDF said.
The reservists located Hezbollah tunnels, rocket launchers and weapon depots amid the operation in the area, according to the IDF.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support 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... amid the war there.
Some 60,000 residents were evacuated from northern towns on the Lebanon border shortly after Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... ’s October 7 onslaught, amid fears Hezbollah would carry out a similar attack and due to increasing rocket and missile fire by the terror group.
The attacks on northern Israel since October 2023 have resulted in the deaths of 41 civilians. In addition, 62 IDF soldiers and reservists have died in cross-border skirmishes and in the ensuing ground operation launched in southern Lebanon in late September. Two soldiers have been killed in a drone attack from Iraq, and there have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
The IDF estimates that some 3,000 Hezbollah operatives have been killed in the conflict. Around 100 members of other terror groups, along with hundreds of civilians, have also been reported killed in Lebanon. Hezbollah has named 516 members who have been killed by Israel amid the fighting, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. These numbers have not been consistently updated since Israel began a new offensive against Hezbollah in September.
[IsraelTimes] The IDF says it has expanded its ongoing ground operation in the northern Gaza Strip to the town of Beit Lahiya.
The Kfir Brigade began operations in Beit Lahiya in the past day, after the IDF says it had prior intelligence, and evidence on the ground, of Hamas members operating there.
Some 3,000 Palestinians are estimated to be residing in Beit Lahiya. The IDF says it is enabling the civilian population to safely evacuate the town as the troops operate against Hamas.
One soldier with the Kfir Brigade’s Nahshon Battalion was seriously wounded during the fighting yesterday.
Meanwhile, in northern Gaza’s Jabalia, the military says some 50 terror operatives were killed in the past day.
Meet the 11 anti-Israel agitators arrested after occupying a University of Minnesota building
[CampusReform] 11 anti-Israel protesters were arrested on Oct. 21 after they occupied a campus building at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. The protest was led by Students for a Democratic Society, with Students for Justice in Palestine also involved in the protest. According to Alpha News, a safety alert was issued after protesters entered Morrill Hall and began damaging property.
“He is a traitor to America. He is a traitor to the Jewish people. Shame on him! This is what the Democratic Party has become.”
According to the report, Columbia trustees ridiculed the committee for reviewing their oversight of the violence and prejudice on campus and texted about how they hoped Democrats would take control of Congress after Shafik’s discussion with Schumer. University leadership then felt emboldened to avoid any kind of meeting with Republicans after Schumer and his staff indicated that a forum with the political party wasn’t necessary, the report states.
As the new school year started last month, Columbia was slammed by more anti-Israel protesters, who defaced an Alma Mater statue on college grounds with red paint.
The Republican-led House Education panel also found that Ivy League university leaders made “an intentional decision” to cut language condemning Hamas’ massacre of more than 1,200 civilians as “violence” and references to their Israeli hostages from any official statements following the brutal attack.
“We denounce this act of terror,” reads an earlier draft of the statement that was jettisoned, according to the report. The report also found several schools withheld support from Jewish students.
It’s cynically done by people who do not live Jewishly. Sukkot has always been celebrated at home, in private Jewish spaces like synagogue and community center grounds. During the Temple period Jews went up to Jerusalem to offer the mandated sacrifices, but that ended nearly two millennia ago.
Jews Against Zionism NYU has also expressed vocal support for Within Our Lifetime, a radical pro-Palestinian group that advocates Israel’s destruction and whose protest targets — including Brooklyn’s “OY/YO” sculpture and an exhibit commemorating the victims of the Nova festival massacre — have led mainstream Jewish groups and a range of politicians across the political spectrum to charge it with antisemitism.
There were other signs of intra-Jewish unrest on campuses, including Harvard Hillel’s suspension of its chapter of the liberal pro-Israel group J Street U after the latter group initiated a Yom Kippur-themed flyer protest campaign.
The sukkahs were met with a range of reactions, mostly in opposition, from universities on edge about stoking further campus tensions around Israel. In many cases, the sukkahs were classified as unauthorized structures and removed by university administrators, who cited new public protest rules solidified in the aftermath of this spring’s pro-Palestinian encampment movement.
Such responses at times turned aggressive: Rutgers University, for example, brought a bulldozer to the site of its students’ anti-Zionist sukkah.
Betar US, a right-wing pro-Israel group that traces its roots to pre-state Zionist activist Zeev Jabotinsky, told the student paper they “happily and proudly” disrupted the sukkah. On Instagram, Betar referred to it and similar Gaza solidarity sukkahs as a “Jihaddi [sic] Sukkah” and referred to its participants as “thugs” and “terrorists.”
As we read during the Passover Seder, answering the question what makes the night when we celebrate the exodus of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt different from all other nights of the year:
The wicked son says: "What is this service to you?" Since he excluded himself from the whole you should exclude him from the whole. Say to him, "'because of what God did for me'—me and not you, if you had been there, you would not have been redeemed."
Across the country, around two dozen anti-Zionist Jewish groups, most aligned with Jewish Voice for Peace, constructed theirown Gaza solidarity sukkahs in a similar spirit to the Passover seders and Shabbat services they held in encampments this spring.
All offensive public performances of rituals they do not live.
[IsraelTimes] Police say border cops shot a suspect who attempted to carry out a ramming attack in a West Bank town outside of Jerusalem.
According to police, the suspect accelerated his vehicle toward officers in Anata, who opened fire and “neutralized” him after he ignored their calls to stop.
No police were injured. There is no immediate word on the suspect’s condition.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Supersonic test plane XB-1 smashed its top speed record Tuesday, screaming through the sky at Mach 0.82 or 499 knots (575 miles per hour) true air speed.
The milestone, achieved high above California's Mojave Desert, marks the closest that aerospace innovator Boom Technology's supersonic demonstrator aircraft has come to traveling faster than the speed of sound, Mach 1.
Boom's XB-1 effort promises to deliver the technical knowhow for their future supersonic passenger jet, Overture: a Mach 1.7 craft slated for testing in 2026.
At Mach 0.82, subsonic test plane XB-1 could get from New York City to London in 6 hours — but, at Mach 1.7, the Overture will soon make that trip in just 2.7 hours.
But, Tuesday's test also took the exotic aircraft higher than it has every gone before.
'XB-1 reached a new top altitude of 23,015 feet, allowing the team to perform a final cockpit pressurization test,' Boom noted, 'ensuring that it is safe to proceed up to 30,000 feet — the altitude XB-1 will fly when it reaches supersonic speeds.'
Boom's project has been likened to the famous Concorde passenger jets of the 20th Century, which flew over the Atlantic at speeds of Mach 2 from 1973 to 2003.
#5
"Eu, why so excitable, Neville?"
"By Jove, Yves, she flies like the devil!"
The Mail: "What a FEAST!
Chocolate ration increased
To one-half of its '70s level!"
Who knew The Future would be a Father Brown car chase... forever?
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] The situation at the front remains difficult and has a tendency to worsen, the commander-in-chief noted.
The situation at the front tends to escalate. This was stated by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky following a conversation with the Commander of the US Armed Forces in Europe Christopher Cavoli on Saturday, November 9.
"At the beginning of the conversation, I informed my American colleague about the situation on the front line. The situation remains difficult and has a tendency to escalate. The enemy, using its numerical advantage, continues to conduct offensive actions and concentrates its main efforts on the Pokrovsky and Kurakhovsky directions," the commander-in-chief wrote on Facebook.
Syrsky noted that there is extensive information about the preparation of North Korean military personnel to participate in combat operations on the side of Russian troops.
The Commander-in-Chief reported that during the conversation the American side confirmed strict compliance with the undertaken obligations to provide the Ukrainian Armed Forces with the declared range of weapons and military equipment.
Let us recall that since the beginning of the day, 108 combat clashes have occurred on the front. The greatest activity of Russians is observed in the Pokrovsky and Kurakhovsky directions.
Over the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have eliminated 1,660 occupiers. Since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine, the Russian army has lost 707,540 soldiers.
#2
^ From Grom's link: Biden administration allows American technical teams to be in the war-torn country to maintain F-16 fighter jets and Patriot missiles
Not a surprising development. Multiple commenters here have mentioned the logistics tail that accompanies modern wonder weapons. You need parts and maintenance techs to keep things running. Sending "advisors" is quicker than training the locals, but leads to headlines in the Daily Mail about "Russian Missiles Kill Americans"
[IsraelTimes] Iran’s foreign minister is seeking to distance Tehran from the US Justice Department revelations that it sought to assassinate US President-elect Donald Trump, who reports indicate could renew the US “maximum pressure” campaign on the Islamic Republic when back in the White House.
“Remember the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran right after our President’s inauguration? Everyone knows who did it and why,” writes Abbas Araghchi on X, referring to the killing of the Hamas leader in late July that Iran has blamed on Israel.
“Now, with another election, a new scenario is fabricated with the same goal: as a killer does not exist in reality, scriptwriters are brought in to manufacture a third-rate comedy. Who can in their right mind believe that a supposed assassin SITS IN IRAN and talks online to the FBI?!”
Araghchi insists that Iran respects the American people’s choice of president, but “the path forward is also a choice. It begins with respect.”
He also claims: “Iran is NOT after nuclear weapons, period. This is a policy based on Islamic teachings and our security calculations. Confidence-building is needed from both sides. It is not a one-way street.”
🚨BREAKING: Prof. Dr. Salman Al-Daya, Dean of the College of Sharia and Law at the Islamic University of Gaza and Gaza’s foremost religious authority, has issued a series of six statements condemning Hamas leaders' blatant disregard for Gazan lives—and has called on Hamas to step… pic.twitter.com/NIAF0OMVN5
[IsraelTimes] Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar welcomes a decision by Berlin’s Regional Court this week to convict an Iranian national and graphic designer for incitement for writing “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” on her Instagram.
Following the October 7 massacre by the Hamas terror group, the 42-year-old woman expressed identification with Hamas along with the slogan on her social media account, media reports say.
The court said she had made use of terror and unconstitutional symbols. She was fined 1,300 euros and her phone was confiscated, the reports say.
Sa’ar writes on X that “the new antisemitism based on denying the right of the Jewish state to exist must be uprooted.”
Unless Germany plans to punish every person who posts something like that, I don’t see how it will have an impact.
#1
The only thing more detestable than anti Semitism is censoring people who have detestable beliefs.
If the Germans can silence her, they can and will silence anyone that the government finds objectionable. We came very close here in the US and if Harris had won we'd see more people thrown in prison for exercising their First Amendment rights.
#2
^ Agreed. Bad precedent. Mock and cancel her, publicly, but keep the State out of it.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/10/2024 10:21
Comments ||
Top||
#3
The "precedent rule" doesn't apply here - if only because her kind (Nazis, leftists, Muslims etc...) don't need precedents, just power. The "golden rule" is what applies here.
Good. About time they did something constructive instead of destructive.
[IsraelTimes] Nonprofit takes on project initiated by grandson of murdered Kibbutz Kfar Aza co-founder, who says ‘no need to wait for the state’ with volunteers lining up to help.
Very wise. The state is straining to finish the war that must be fought. There’s no need for civilians to add to the country’s burdens when they can self-organize to fix the problem. And also it will keep these people from giving aid and comfort to the enemy and angering their fellow Israelis by protesting against the Netanyahu government.
The first 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... -border neighborhood to be fully renovated since the October 7 massacre last year will be in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, thanks to the initiative of the 32-year-old grandson of a woman murdered on that day, and the Brothers and Sisters in Arms organization.
Omri Ronen was born on the kibbutz. When he was young, the family moved to central Israel’s Kochav Ya’ir, but returned frequently to Kfar Aza to visit relatives, among them his grandparents.
On October 7, his widowed grandmother, Nira, 86, a co-founder of the kibbutz, was murdered in her home alongside her Filipina caregiver, Angie Aguirre.
After nearly 200 days serving in a special IDF reserve unit, Ronen — married with an eight-month-old son — visited Kfar Aza with his father to find that none of the ruins had been rebuilt.
In his grandmother’s house, he found a note in her day planner written in Arabic by one of her killers. It said, "You will die here. You won’t remain here."
"Not only aren’t we dead, we are alive and are here to stay," Ronen told The Times of Israel.
He approached the kibbutz’s leaders and argued that rebuilding had to start as soon as possible without waiting for the authorities. After a while, they gave him the green light.
Having protested against the government’s controversial judicial reforms with Brothers and Sisters and Arms, it was natural for him to undertake the project as part of that group.
With kibbutz approval, Ronen chose Green Floors, a neighborhood of 16 units built in the 1970s to house 17- and 18-year-old kibbutz members (Ronen’s father and aunt had both lived there). It subsequently housed other young people from the kibbutz and elsewhere.
Nobody was murdered there on October 7, unlike the adjacent neighborhood, which remains as it was until the kibbutz decides what to do with it.
"I wanted the young people’s area renovated first because the young people are the life of the kibbutz," Ronen explained.
"The kibbutz was the life project of my grandfather and grandmother, which is why I’m so determined to continue it."
The Green Floors units were pocked with holes from bullets and mortars, their doors and windows smashed in, and their interiors vandalized by the Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... terrorists, Ronen said. One apartment had been burned.
When he issued a call through Brothers and Sisters in Arms for volunteers, nearly 6,000 people responded.
"Brothers in Arms have been with me from the start. They are the best people there are," said Ronen. "We’re in a new situation. The state doesn’t know how to cope. Brothers in Arms knows how to organize and get things done. Everyone is volunteering. Even the materials are donated."
The two-month project started during the recent Sukkot holiday. If all goes as planned, on the first night of Hanukkah, on December 25, 16 young people who lived on the kibbutz before October 7 will receive the keys to completely renovated, fully furnished apartments, complete with pergolas and exterior landscaping.
To date, around 1,000 people from all regions and sectors of society have come to the building site to help, many with no construction experience who are willing to learn on the job. On each day, someone different manages the work. (When this news hound visited, it was architect Roy Gordon).
Volunteers range from youngsters doing a year’s community service through HaShomer HaHadash (which seeks to strengthen Zionist values) to a man in his 80s.
Ronen wants to repeat the project in other communities along the Gaza border and the Lebanese one in northern Israel. He wants to get the engines of growth moving and show the authorities that it can be done. "I don’t think we need to wait for the State of Israel," he said. "People are lining up. They want to give. It helps build resilience and takes them out of hopelessness to Zionist work. They’re excited to come."
"We took all the units apart and just left the skeletons," he went on. "Now we’re building."
"The message is that they broke us, but we will build back better and more beautifully and stand up to terror. We are here to stay."
[MerylNass] CDC Planned Quarantine Camps, Nationwide/Jeffrey Tucker @ Brownstone Institute
No matter how bad you think Covid policies were, they were intended to be worse.
Consider the vaccine passports alone. Six cities were locked down to include only the vaccinated in public indoor places. They were New York City, Boston, Chicago, New Orleans, Washington, D.C., and Seattle. The plan was to enforce this with a vaccine passport. It broke. Once the news leaked that the shot didn’t stop infection or transmission, the planners lost public support and the scheme collapsed.
It was undoubtedly planned to be permanent and nationwide if not worldwide. Instead, the scheme had to be dialed back.
Features of the CDC’s edicts did incredible damage. It imposed the rent moratorium. It decreed the ridiculous “six feet of distance” and mask mandates. It forced Plexiglas as the interface for commercial transactions. It implied that mail-in balloting must be the norm, which probably flipped the election. It delayed the reopening as long as possible. It was sadistic.
Even with all that, worse was planned. On July 26, 2020, with the George Floyd riots having finally settled down, the CDC issued a plan for establishing nationwide quarantine camps. People were to be isolated, given only food and some cleaning supplies. They would be banned from participating in any religious services. The plan included contingencies for preventing suicide. There were no provisions made for any legal appeals or even the right to legal counsel.
The plan’s authors were unnamed but included 26 footnotes. It was completely official. The document was only removed on about March 26, 2023. During the entire intervening time, the plan survived on the CDC’s public site with little to no public notice or controversy.
It was called “Interim Operational Considerations for Implementing the Shielding Approach to Prevent COVID-19 Infections in Humanitarian Settings.”
“This document presents considerations from the perspective of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) for implementing the shielding approach in humanitarian settings as outlined in guidance documents focused on camps, displaced populations and low-resource settings. This approach has never been documented and has raised questions and concerns among humanitarian partners who support response activities in these settings. The purpose of this document is to highlight potential implementation challenges of the shielding approach from CDC’s perspective and guide thinking around implementation in the absence of empirical data. Considerations are based on current evidence known about the transmission and severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and may need to be revised as more information becomes available.”
By absence of empirical data, the meaning is: nothing like this has ever been tried. The point of the document was to map out how it could be possible and alert authorities to possible pitfalls to be avoided.
The meaning of “shielding” is “to reduce the number of severe Covid-19 cases by limiting contact between individuals at higher risk of developing severe disease (‘high-risk’) and the general population (‘low-risk’). High-risk individuals would be temporarily relocated to safe or ‘green zones’ established at the household, neighborhood, camp/sector, or community level depending on the context and setting. They would have minimal contact with family members and other low-risk residents.”
In other words, this is what used to be concentration camps.
Who are these people who would be rounded up? They are “older adults and people of any age who have serious underlying medical conditions.” Who determines this? Public health authorities. The purpose? The CDC explains: “physically separating high-risk individuals from the general population” allows authorities “to prioritize the use of the limited available resources.”
This sounds a lot like condemning people to death in the name of protecting them.
#1
Japan had a simple solution.
They masked up early and focused on super spreader
events(Cluster Busting) and trained its public to avoid closed spaces, crowded spaces and close conversations.
#3
The CDC needs to be completely torn down and if necessary, built back up from the ashes, sparingly. I am certain that we do not need such an organization as it currently exists.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
11/10/2024 6:57
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#4
um, Crazy, masks don't stop viruses... read the label.
#9
If you wonder about CDC , the leadership and directors are the problem
*sigh* The above, of course, is true — basic psych of orgs theory. But your hypothesis about the reason why is fatally flawed, and on the internet everyone can prove, in less than ten seconds, exactly what you got wrong. I’m leaving up your link to give everyone here a chance to see if they can beat my speed.
Posted by: Rex Dominic ||
11/10/2024 15:50
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#10
In July 2022, I met a high ranking NIH official on a cruise. I asked if masks and 6 foot social distancing worked. He said no and they only put that out to assuage the public.
Posted by: Jack Salami ||
11/10/2024 16:17
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#11
4^
Yes but they do restrict droplets and meant for others not your own protection.
#12
The Bureaucratic State has gotten way out of control and needs to be seriously reined in. Also, the weaponization of agencies has to stop. Currently trust for government is zilch.
[FoxNews] Radio host Charlamagne Tha God observed the widespread change of tone among many of President-elect Donald Trump’s critics, who have gone from warning he would end democracy to respecting his legitimate victory.
"I'm glad everybody's having a sense of optimism, because the reality is we have no choice, because we're here now. Donald J. Trump is going to be the 47th President of the United States of America, like it or not, and we all hope for the best for this country," Charlamagne tha God said.
"Don’t y’all find it strange that now that he’s won, they’re not calling him a threat to democracy? They’re not calling him a fascist. I mean, damn, on Monday, they was just calling him that," Charlamagne added.
"I would think that, you know, if you really believe that, then somebody’s speech would be about how America effed up and how things are about to be really bad. It just makes you wonder how much of it did they really believe, or how much of it was just politics. That’s all," he said.
In brief remarks Thursday, Biden said he congratulated Trump on his victory and assured that his entire administration would work "to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition." He emphasized unity and spoke about political campaigns as a "contest of competing visions" that the country chooses between.
This was a stark departure from Biden’s rhetoric about Trump and his supporters being a threat to democracy or "garbage." As he campaigned in the final weeks of the election for Harris, Biden had also called for Trump to be locked up "politically."
On Thursday, Fox News senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich questioned White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about this change in rhetoric from Biden, recalling that "this administration messaged to millions of Americans that they're going to wake up the day after the election if Trump won and have their rights stripped away, that democracy would crumble. And the president said today, ‘We're going to be OK,’ So how do you square that?"
After being pressed repeatedly by the reporter, Jean-Pierre eventually bristled and said, "Well, now you're just twisting everything around, and that's really unfair. No it is, no, no, no, Jackie, it's unfair because I've been standing here trying to be very respectful to what happened the last two nights, two nights ago. Being respectful."
#2
So Charlamagne evidently doesn't watch "The View".
Of course, neither does anybody else who has something to do. (Or has nothing to do, but doesn't want to listen to crap. I'm in that group.)
Posted by: ed in texas ||
11/10/2024 8:51
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#3
It was politics, losing politics.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/10/2024 10:08
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#4
I guess that's why Harris quit calling Biden a racist during the Dem 2020 primaries. Or was it because....
[FoxNews] Critics say China's trade status has allowed companies to outsource their manufacturing
Fresh off Tuesday’s red sweep, House Republicans have begun to renew the idea of ending China’s preferential trade status.
They have begun to promote the idea of ending China’s Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR). With Republicans seizing control of the White House and Senate, and being on track for a likely win in the House, the idea that was once considered a longshot now now become a likelihood.
"For too long, the Chinese Communist Party has taken advantage of America’s open hand with predatory economic practices that target the American economy, our workers, businesses, and our national security. We believe in free trade with free nations, but as the Committee recommended on a bipartisan basis, it is now time to reset our relationship with China by moving past PNTR to a trade relationship that reflects the threat we face from the CCP," a spokesperson for the House China Committee told Fox News Digital.
In 2000, Congress voted to grant China permanent normal trade relations. The designation fundamentally changed China-U.S. trade relations: U.S. consumers gained access to low-priced Chinese imports, and between 2001 and 2021, the value of goods imported from China quadrupled to $500 billion.
Critics of PNTR say it allowed companies to outsource their manufacturing to China – and that renewed tensions with Beijing could lead to supply chain issues.
Proponents of PNTR say that removing that status would cause inflation, allowing further tariffs on billions’ worth of Chinese goods.
President-elect Donald Trump has already proposed an across-the-board 60% tariff on all Chinese goods and end China’s favored trade status.
Repealing PNTR would automatically reset the tariffs on Chinese goods to higher levels.
Trump could enact much of his trade agenda on goods he deems to be an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to national security or the U.S. economy.
The GOP's platform unveiled in July called for an ending of PNTR. In September, Fox News Digital first reported that a group of Republican senators put forth a bill to mmmend China's PNTR and increase tariffs on many of its goods up to 100%.
The revenue generated, according to the bill, would go toward farmers and manufacturers injured by potential Chinese retaliation, the purchase of key munitions important to a Pacific conflict, and paying down the debt.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Barack Obama and his wife Michelle have been slammed by his biographer for 'talking down' to voters in 'tone-deaf and clueless' preaching that harmed Kamala Harris' ill-fated presidential campaign.
Just another straw. She broke her own back without any need for outside assistance.
The effect was so bad that – combined with Donald Trump's victory – it is likely to reduce the 44th president's political relevance to 'Bill Clinton levels', David Garrow said in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com.
Ouch. He got Bill Clinton on the backswing with his scalpel.
'People do not want to be talked down to, no matter who they are,' the 71-year-old Pulitzer Prize winner said.
Since when does the opinion of garbage people matter? Oh, right.
'I thought it was tone-deaf and clueless for them to preach as they did,' he told DailyMail.com.
Dear, dear Barry always did have a solidly tin ear.
'I would expect that perception will be shared by lots of people. If so, I think it reduces their relevance to Bill Clinton territory.
Let them be bitter together, along with their bitter celebrity pals, as they all discover what happens to an expensive lifestyle when the money stops rolling in.
Garrow wrote the 2017 biography Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama. He won his Pulitzer for an earlier book on Martin Luther King.
He predicted that the Obamas will now largely vanish from the political scene to hang out with celebrities on Martha's Vineyard.
Garrow said Tuesday's electoral rout has left Obama, 63, 'nervous' about the impact Trump could have on how he is seen by future generations.
He will be seen fairly, which is what he ought to want. He worked hard to get the ideas he championed a fair trial, so now it is indelibly proved that everything he fought for is an abject failure. He’ll be in high school civics textbooks for generations to come, next to Lysenko as an example for how not to do it. Most people learn best from painful mistakes, so he can be proud that he was a really good teacher.
'He has been and remains extremely concerned and nervous about his historical legacy,' he said.
'That has certainly taken a big hit with Trump once again triumphing.'
One of the major pillars of Obama's political legacy is the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which brought health insurance to millions and outlawed denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions. Obama has been intensely aware of Trump's repeated attempts to repeal the law. Trump issued an executive order in 2017 aimed at rolling it back, but failed to push the plan through Congress. He called the act 'lousy' and said he was working to replace it during his presidential debate with Harris in September.
The biographer and historian added that he believes the disastrous election result for Democrats means they will no longer want the Obamas front and center in future campaigns.
'The conclusion for Democrats is that they've got to dispense with these people from the past, including Hillary Clinton too, and move to a new generation of figures who are not in the AOC club at all,' he said, referring to left-wing firebrand Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Who are these new generation figures? The older generation preferred minions to mentees.
But the writer predicted that Barack still has enough 'star-power' to pull in large speaking fees – such as the $400,000 he was paid for a single 2017 speech by Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald, according to the New York Times.
'I'm not sure that would necessarily decline. He still has the celebrity factor of being an ex-president,' Garrow said.
In certain circles, anyway. No longer the ones that move and shake, unfortunately for his amour-propre.
The author said he expected the Obamas to 'continue to hang out with celebrities and live on Martha's Vineyard', the millionaires' playground island off the coast of Massachusetts.
'I certainly expect them to be spending less time in Washington after early January,' he said.
The power couple will be keeping themselves busy with their business endeavors including their TV company Higher Ground Productions, which was behind the movies Leave the World Behind and Crip Camp – which credited one or both of the Obamas as an executive director – the Barack-narrated documentary Our Great National Parks and the Michelle Obama Podcast.
I’ve not heard of any of them, but at the moment we’re watching British and European police procedurals and middle-period Dr. Who.
Former First Lady Michelle, 60, is also lending her personal brand to a fruit drink PLEZi, marketed as healthy and for younger kids.
She surprised shoppers at Costco in Livermore, northern California in September when she showed up promoting the drink, which has eight grams of sugar per can and 45 calories.
Garrow said Obama will not be playing puppet-master in the Democratic party, and he believes the former president was not involved in Joe Biden's ousting in July – but only because it would have made Biden dig his heels in.
'Before Biden withdrew, I said that if he had the impression that Barack was pushing him to get out, that would backfire, because Biden has had very sore feelings going back eight years now, that he didn't think Barack sufficiently respected him,' Garrow said.
'I think the "credit" for that goes largely to Nancy Pelosi.'
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/10/2024 10:45
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#12
Are we supposed to be grateful about Obamacare after Government Health Care and The Holy Science killed about two million Americans from 2020-2021?
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.
The bulldozers are for clearing streets of rubble so aid can be delivered... 
[NY Post] 
...where God struck dead Anton LaVey, home of the Sydney Ducks, ruled by Vigilance Committee from 1859 through 1867, reliably and volubly Democrat since 1964...
[Instagram] 
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
...46th president of the U.S. Old, boring, a plagiarist, fond of hair sniffing and grabbing the protruding parts of women, and not whatcha call 
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
