#2
..of course the next year, he'd authorized the invasion of French North Africa without warning or declaration of war even though we had open diplomatic relations with the Vichy government.
#4
My Dad is the tall man standing in the doorway. He was a Secret Service Agent on the Presidential detail for the entire war, on the plane for the Casablanca trip, at Yalta and agent in charge at Warm Springs when FDR died. He remained on the detail for Truman for the rest of the War, traveling to Potsdam and the SF conference to establish the UN before transferring to the State Department. In 1958, he was the Chief of Security for the entire State Department and personally ran the Khrushchev visit security, where he was famed for deciding the he would not visit Disneyland.
Standing behind Churchill at the Quebec Conference
[IsraelTimes] Since breaking ties with al-Qaeda in 2016, the head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has sought to portray himself as a more moderate leader; whether that is true remains up for debate
Abu Mohammed al-Golani,
…that’s his nom de guerre, also spelt Abu Mohammad al-Julani. His real name is Ahmed Hussein al-Shar’a and the CIA considers him a Specially Designated Global Terrorist….
leader of the Islamist rebel alliance that has captured swaths of Syria in a lightning offensive, is an murderous Moslem who has adopted a more moderate posture to try to achieve his goals.
At the head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... (HTS), which is rooted in Syria’s branch of al-Qaeda, Golani says the goal of his offensive is to overthrow President Bashir al-Assad’s rule.
"When we talk about objectives, the goal of the revolution remains the overthrow of this regime. It is our right to use all available means to achieve that goal," Golani told CNN ...formerly the Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for... in an interview aired on Friday.
Golani for years operated from the shadows. Now, he is in the limelight, giving interviews to the international media and appearing on the ground in Syria’s second-largest city Aleppo after wresting it from government control for the first time in the country’s civil war.
He has over the years stopped sporting the turban worn by jihadists, often favouring military fatigues instead.
On Wednesday, he wore a khaki shirt and trousers to visit Aleppo’s citadel, standing at the door of his white vehicle as he waved and moved through the crowds.
Since breaking ties with al-Qaeda in 2016, Golani has sought to portray himself as a more moderate leader.
But he is yet to quell suspicions among analysts and Western governments that still classify HTS as a terrorist organization.
"He is a pragmatic radical," Thomas Pierret, a specialist in political Islam, told AFP.
"In 2014, he was at the height of his radicalism," Pierret said, referring to the period of the war when he sought to compete with the jihadist Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group. "Since then, he has moderated his rhetoric."
Born in 1982, Golani was raised in Mazzeh, an upscale district of Damascus. He stems from a well-to-do family and was a good student.
During the offensive he launched on November 27, he started signing his statements under his real name — Ahmed al-Sharaa.
In 2021, he told US broadcaster PBS that his nom de guerre was a reference to his family roots in the Golan Heights, claiming that his grandfather had been forced to flee after Israel’s takeover of the area in 1967 during the Six Day War.
According to the Middle East Eye news website, it was after the September 11, 2001 attacks that Golani was first drawn to jihadist thinking.
"It was as a result of this admiration for the 9/11 attackers that the first signs of jihadism began to surface in Golani’s life, as he began attending secretive sermons and panel discussions in marginalized suburbs of Damascus," the website said.
Following the US-led invasion of Iraq, he left Syria to take part in the fight. He joined al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and was subsequently detained for five years, preventing him from rising through the ranks of the jihadist organization.
In March 2011, when the revolt against Assad’s rule erupted in Syria, he returned home and founded the al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... Front, Syria’s branch of al-Qaeda.
In 2013, he refused to swear allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who would go on to become the emir of the Islamic State group, and instead pledged his loyalty to al-Qaeda’s Ayman al-Zawahiri ...Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area assuming he's not dead like Mullah Omar. He lost major face when he ordered the nascent Islamic State to cease and desist and merge with the orthodox al-Qaeda spring, al-Nusra...> .
A realist in his partisans’ eyes, an opportunist to his adversaries, Golani said in May 2015 that he, unlike IS, had no intention of launching attacks against the West.
He also proclaimed that should Assad be defeated, there would be no Dire Revenge attacks against the Alawite minority that the president’s clan stems from.
He cut ties with al-Qaeda, claiming to do so in order to deprive the West of reasons to attack his organization.
According to Pierret, he has since sought to chart a path towards becoming a credible statesman.
In January 2017, Golani imposed a merger with HTS on rival Islamist groups in northwest Syria, thereby claiming control of swaths of Idlib province that had fallen out of government hands.
In areas under its grip, HTS developed a civilian government and established a semblance of a state in Idlib province, while crushing its rebel rivals. Throughout this process, HTS faced accusations from residents and rights groups of brutal abuses against those who dared dissent, which the UN has classed as war crimes.
Aware perhaps of the fear and hatred his group has sparked, Golani has addressed residents of Aleppo, home to a sizeable Christian minority, in a bid to assure them that they would face no harm under his new regime. He also called on his fighters to preserve security in the areas they had "liberated" from Assad’s rule.
"I think it’s primarily just good politics," said Aron Lund, a fellow of the Century International think tank.
"The less local and international panic you have and the more Golani seems like a responsible actor instead of a toxic jihadi murderous Moslem, the easier his job will become. Is it totally sincere? Surely not," he said.
"But it’s the smart thing to say and do right now."
Since then at the latest it has been clear that Israel seriously intended to diminish Hezbollah's capabilities which would clearly shift the balance in power in Syria to the detriment of Assad/Iran/Russia.
Why hasn't Russia made any viable contingency plans for this event?
🚨🇨🇳CHINA'S NEW SPHERICAL POLICE ROBOT: CRIME-FIGHTER WITH AI
China has introduced a revolutionary spherical police robot equipped with AI, capable of autonomous operation. Unlike Western models focused on surveillance, this robot actively pursues criminals.
I like how the infomercial for the use of an AI Droideka was put together by an AI; surprised by the lack of mentioning 'also for search and rescue'. And LOL, just bumps the DOGBOT and it goes down and is done.
[GatewayPundit] Former MD Police Commander and Dana Bash Fantasize that UnitedHealthcare CEO “Orchestrated” His Own Assassination.
CNN’s Dana Bash indulged in conspiracy theories during a Friday segment of CNN’s Inside Politics, more like Inside the Loony Bin, when her guest, former Maryland State Police Commander Neill Franklin, suggested that United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson “orchestrated” his own assassination.
Franklin’s only evidence: “[The shooter] knew too much about where he was going to be at a specific time.” As Franklin explained how the assassin couldn’t have possibly known where Thompson would be, Bash justified the claims, pointing out that “he knew.” Wouldn’t any assassin likely know where their target would be at a specific time?
Surely, it’s possible, but what a stretch!
The Gateway Pundit reported on Wednesday morning that Brian Thompson was murdered outside of the Hilton Hotel. He arrived before 7 am for a conference when he was shot at multiple times by a masked man who police say was waiting for him to arrive. The fact that the assassin was waiting for Thompson “is what is really digging at me as a former criminal investigator,” said Franklin.
WATCH:
Bash: Do you think that they know who he is? Do You think that they have his identity?
Franklin: It's a good chance. It's a very good possibility, with these new photographs, that they already know who he is. It's a very good chance of that. But also, I want to say something else that I know these criminal investigators are looking into as it relates to motive. There have been times when people have orchestrated their own demise for certain reasons. We know that there was some— and I'm not saying this is the case, but as an investigator…
Bash: Like, for insurance purposes?
Franklin: Absolutely. Insurance purposes, maybe they fear some type of investigation down the road, maybe they want to leave their family in a good light. But there have been cases where people have orchestrated…
Bash: You're saying it in a nice language, you're saying, you're saying that it is a possibility that he hired somebody to kill him?
Franklin: Absolutely. It cannot be ignored. And this is what is really digging at me as a former criminal investigator. This guy knew too much about where he was going to be at a specific time. There's no evidence that I've seen of him— when you look at the timeline of him coming to that area outside of the Hilton and where he was outside of the Hilton, it's a very small window, very small window. It's not like he was roaming around, we have video of him roaming around, going from one door to the next, to the next, trying to figure out where he's going to be at a specific time.
Bash: He knew.
Franklin: He was there. He was laying in wait. Who would have that specific type of information as to what sidewalk he was going to be on?
#1
Dana Bash says stuff that the three letter agencies put on her script. What she doesn’t say is truth.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/08/2024 11:17
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#2
It turns out that the insurance company who's CEO was murdered last week is in some hot water already with the DOJ, or so I'm told. This insurance company has THE highest denial rates, over 30%. They own a large part of big pharma, they also own urgent clinics and hospital groups. Oh, and also responsible for over 25% of medicare/medicaid. They are giants! So how is this playing out. The accusations are that they deny and delay claims targeting hospital groups and large doctors offices. When they start to go under, they buy them. A business model of sorts.
So there is the background, or conspiracy theory so far. The shooter, that is getting so much press is being called an amateur by the news and that he is moments away from capture. We will see. While he may or may not be a professional shooter, he has thought this out and playing it better than anyone. First, this CEO has 24 hour security, the shooter found a gap, only pros know how to do this. He used a silenced small caliber weapon, like the pros. He did it in the open, under camera surveillance, he knew he was being video taped. He even left messages on the shells he left behind, probably causing the jams. What amazes me is his thought out trail of clues, like an easter egg hunt. He stayed in a hostel that had working cameras, did not hide from them. He only wore his mask enough to make the police work at it. He went to Starbucks right before, anyone knows his movements will be backtracked. He again left some clues, if they were good clues, finger prints and DNA he would have his name in lights by now. He left his backpack, purposefully leaving another clue. Now is on a bus out of town that stops at every po dunk city on the way out. He is dust in the wind.
They might eventually catch up with him. I assume the NYPD will find a body somewhere and attribute it to suicide and close the case. But what he had done is made this a media event like DB Cooper. The press cant let it go. In the way the press works, they will dig into background, like they are doing. The facts of how corrupt the insurance company is will surface on its own, like it is happening now. The new CEO of the insurance company knows this as well, he is calling for the media to drop the hype. The shooter has effectively given his one lone voice a national bullpen for the abuses in the system. Kinda like Batman!!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/08/2024 12:09
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#3
/\ Thanks for the data dump Pan. I take it we still don't have anything at all on the 6 Jan pipe bomb fella ?
#5
The stupidity of the MD Police Commander tells me everything I need to know why MD is such a 3rd World Shithole. And if you think UNH claims denial is solely on them and not DRs and creative billing, well, MD is the place for you.
Posted by: Regular joe ||
12/08/2024 13:48
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[AmericanThinker] Eighty-three years after the disastrous sneak attack on Pearl Harbor which galvanized our nation to prepare for a long fight and ultimate victory, we have a clearer picture of how Barack Obama (and through him, President Biden) destroyed his party and with it many of our institutions. We now have a leader and a plan to restore their strength. Much has been written about why the Democrats suffered such a devastating loss in the election, but I’m inclined to place great weight on the views expressed by Adam Mill in Chronicles Magazine, who argues persuasively that the Democrats’ decision-making process doomed their chances, a process unlikely to soon change.
“Democrats don’t have leaders, rather they have ‘facilitators’ who balance the many competing demands of their disparate coalition, leading to a rigid script of talking points,” he argues. To keep on message is the key autocratic aim of the party, so any “single deviation from the script endangers the entire enterprise.” This explains as well as most theories why Kamala Harris’s rare public interviews devolved into bafflegab word salads. Why in the absence of good sense, the party left the border open, supported pornographic books in public school libraries, “fought for abortion of viable fetuses up until birth, and demanded free sex surgeries for illegal immigrants in custody.”
By contrast, Donald Trump, who had clear views of his own on significant subjects, met with hostile reporters, political critics, and opponents. “He preserves his own agency.” The consequences of their rigid orthodoxy not only damaged their party, but caused all of us to suffer from their tactics, not the least of which is “a widespread crisis of incompetence within the institutions that sacrificed merit for ideological parity.” The party was riddled with corruption, and it spread throughout the government. As Michael Walsh has long contended, the Democrats “are nothing less than a criminal organization masquerading as a political party.”
A reactionary criminal organization, etc… The nonsense they’ve been pushing is the same old line used since 1968, pushed all the way to the endpoint of possibilities. Donald Trump’s MAGA movement is where all the new ideas are.
#1
Eighty-three years after the disastrous sneak attack on Pearl Harbor which galvanized our nation to prepare for a long fight and ultimate victory,
After which America quickly demobilized their military. Most of the pre-war FDR big government agencies had dwindled. DC didn't go full internationalist again till the events of 1948 with Soviet subversion around the globe [Czechoslovakia, Turkey, Greece, China, and Berlin airlift]. The price for that 'save the world' mentality costs us the very Constitutional law that we have lived with since the beginning. It was the start of the never ending centralization and concentration of power that we are dealing with today along with the death of classical liberalism that would be compromised by the hard Left in the lust for that power. The world is still chaos and our treasury empty.
[PJM] She and Miss Lindsey getting a little too big for their britches.
Eventually, everything in politics goes full circle. If you wait long enough, it all turns Ecclesiastes 3.
Take Joni Ernst, the junior senator from Iowa, for example. She burst onto the national scene, pledging to “cut pork” in a very memorable way:
Video at the link.
When your opening line is, “I’m Joni Ernst, I grew up castrating hogs on an Iowa farm,” not only do you have our attention — you’ve got us squirming in our seats. (Ouch.)
Before the castration spot aired, Ernst was struggling to raise money, trailing Republican frontrunner Mark Jacobs by several points for the GOP nomination. Conservative women — including Sarah Palin — found the ad humorous, endorsed her candidacy, and helped Ernst build her war chest. Within months, she was the undisputed frontrunner.
And in 2020, she was elected to her second term in the Senate.
Unfortunately, there’s a disease endemic to D.C. called “turning native.” For whatever reason, it seems to infect conservatives more than liberals. There’s no known cure. (Symptoms include the sudden abandonment of traditional beliefs; invitations to “trendy” house parties; and oodles of donations from cabals of liberal bigwigs. Consult your doctor for more information.)
Over the past few days, Joni Ernst has emerged as the face of the Republican opposition to President-elect Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth. She stood in judgment of his candidacy and (according to media reports) found him lacking. As her hometown paper noted, she strongly suggested that Hegseth is unworthy of being secretary of defense.
This is the same Joni Ernst who voted in favor of Lloyd Austin, President Biden’s selection for secretary of defense.
And now, her hometown paper has detected an Iowa backlash. She’s in danger of being primaried:
This is a novel development. In fact, it’s unprecedented.
For generations, “conservative” Republicans would talk a big game back home, but then “go native” when they were elected to congress. During election years, they’d put on their overalls back on and pose by a pickup truck, but all those years in between? They’re dressed to the nines, hitting all the trendiest cocktail parties, cutting backdoor deals with Democrats.
D.C. is a wonderful town for a squishy Republican. You’re seen as one of the few “good ones,” and you get the “John McCain treatment”: fawning, adoring, positive press… just as long as you never threaten their power base.
During the 2024 campaign, MAGA activists changed the rules. Now, there’s a very high cost to “going native.”
And the mainstream media can’t cover for you anymore.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/08/2024
08:17 ||
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[11155 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
Still amazed that the Nikki Haley political carcass is not hitting home to the RINOs. Now is not the time to drop the camouflage.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/08/2024 9:49
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#2
Ernst needs to go, the sooner, the better.
Same with Lindsey Graham. Same with Mittens. Same with Murkowski. Same with.....
[Wash Examiner] President-elect Donald Trump called for nonintervention in Syria, blaming the escalating situation on former President Barack Obama.
In his first public statement on the recent anti-government offensive in Syria, Trump voiced his preference for neutrality in the conflict, while suggesting that the ousting of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could be good for Russia and Syria.
"Opposition fighters in Syria, in an unprecedented move, have totally taken over numerous cities, in a highly coordinated offensive, and are now on the outskirts of Damascus, obviously preparing to make a very big move toward taking out Assad," he said in a post on Truth Social.
Trump said that Russia would be unable to stop the rebel advance on Damascus due to being tied up in Ukraine. He then blamed the whole situation on Obama.
#4
The rebels took the former prime minister's office. Then they escorted the PM to the Four Seasons hotel instead of shooting him.
Maybe they aren't so bad.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
12/08/2024 9:19
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#5
Maybe they aren't so bad.
Or this is a much more savvy marketing campaign than the Taliban did a few years ago, Lord Garth, to keep the conquered populace and potential foes abroad quiescent while Al Qaeda in Syria consolidates its gains.
#9
Trump ‘danger to everyone’ UW-Madison LGBT scholars say
To paraphrase an old joke - "What do you mean 'We' white man?"
I doubt if any of the newly awaken Black and Hispanic males who've join the white males, among the 72 million who voted for Trump, constitute the 'everyone' he's referring to.
#10
Trump: 'The war must end, but Israel must win' US President-elect Donald Trump told Meet the Press that he does not believe that many of the hostages in Gaza are alive: I hate to say it, I think you have far fewer hostages than people think.''
Wigged out? Shrieking freely of seizing
The assets and kiddies you're squeezing
While fearful of violence
From long-suff'ring silence?
Keep digging those holes... or quit teasing.
#13
Welcome to Afghanistan 2.0 Problem is the fundamentalist porKoranimals that will now be a jihad base. But as long as they aren't Russians. Short sighted to say the least.
[Pricklypear] A sobering report by the Public Building Reforms Board paints a grim picture of federal employees’ blatant disregard for duty.
The report found that 94% of federal workers do not show up in person regularly, highlighting the poor service delivery and complacency in government offices.
The Department of Energy, the Agency for Global Media, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture topped the list of absentee/absconders with abysmal occupancy rates of 0%, 2%, and 6%, respectively.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (7%), the Environmental Protection Agency (8%), the Department of Labor (9%), and the Nuclear Regulation Commission (9%) followed closely with their appalling numbers.
Federal agencies with the highest office occupancy rates include the Department of Commerce, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Office of Personnel Management, each with an attendance rate of a measly 11%.
#1
Most federal jobs require what is known as "access" (a security clearance) as a condition of employment. If they fail to report to work, revoke their access.
[SteynOnline] ~Yesterday world leaders gathered in Paris for the re-opening of Notre Dame, five years after it was engulfed by flames. The guest of honour, somewhat surprisingly, was Donald J Trump, who was seated between M Macron and his missus. The "president-elect" will not take office for another month-and-a-half but he is already a bigger deal than any of the actual presidents, princes or prime ministers in attendance and for the most part they were happy to treat him as such.
As to the non-Trump aspects of the observances, there was, I thought, a palpable absence of the divine. As you may recall, "terrorism" was ruled out even as the building was still burning - and yet no plausible alternative source of the fire has been offered in the years since while the deliberate targeting of other churches has continued uninterrupted day after day after day. Here is what I wrote (and broadcast) in the immediate wake of the inferno:
Twenty-four hours after Notre Dame de Paris began to burn, there is better news than we might have expected: More of the cathedral than appeared likely to has, in fact, survived intact - including the famous rose windows, among the most beautiful human creations I've ever seen. The "new" Notre Dame will be mostly high up and out of sight, which is just as well given that modern man prides himself on having no smidgeonette of empathy with his flawed forebears and thus the chances of historic recreation of the animating spirit of 1160 are near zero.
There is an architectural debate to be had, I suppose, about whether a reconstructed twelfth-century cathedral requires nineteeth-century appurtenances such as its spire. But the minute that starts you risk some insecure dweeb like Macron, on whose watch the thing went up in smoke, getting fanciful ideas about bequeathing to posterity some I M Pei pyramid on the top of the roof. France's revolution, unlike America's, was aggressively secular, and it ultimately found expression in the 1905 law on the separation of churches and the state. Since then the French state has owned the cathedral, and thus it will be Macron who ultimately decides what arises in its place.
Beyond that are the larger questions: When the iconic house of worship at the heart of French Christianity decides to mark Holy Week by going up in flames, it's too obviously symbolic of something ...but of what exactly? Two thousand churches have been vandalized in the last two years: Valérie Boyer, who represents Bouches-du-Rhône in the National Assembly, said earlier this month that "every day at least two churches are profaned" - by which she means arson, smashed statutes of Jesus and Mary, and protestors who leave human fecal matter in the shape of a cross. This is a fact of life in modern France.
As it is, there is no shortage of excitable young Mohammedans gleefully celebrating on social media. In 2017 some inept hammer-wielding nutter yelling "Allahu Akbar!" had a crack at Notre Dame, and a couple of years before that the historian Dominique Venner blew his brains out on the altar to protest same-sex marriage. I love France but, in recent years, it's hard not to pick up on the sense that it's coming apart - and that, when the center cannot hold, the things at that center, the obsolete embodiments of a once cohesive society, are a natural target.
In addition, the authorities' eagerness to assure us that it was an accident at a time when such a conclusion could not possibly be known - and when their own response to the emergency was, to put it politely, somewhat dilatory - was itself enough to invite suspicion: "Sure, it might be an accident. But, even if it weren't, they'd still tell us it was..."
So, precisely because Paris is full of people who would love to burn down Notre Dame four days before Good Friday, it seems bizarrely improbable that it should happen by accident: that a highly desirable target should be taken out by some slapdash workman leaving a cigarette butt near his combustible foam take-out box - the lunchpack of Notre Dame - and letting the dried-out twelfth-century timbers do the rest.
Yet that surely is as perfectly symbolic as anything of a desiccated Christendom and its careless stewardship of its glorious inheritance. On Tucker's show last night I wondered aloud about the Parisians weeping in the street: What were they mourning? The loss of great architecture? Beautiful artwork? Magnificent music in an acoustically perfect space? Or were they mourning something greater, the loss of some part of themselves?
[FoxNews] The 1,800-page bill also includes anti-DEI and anti-CRT measures.
Will the Senate pass it and President Biden sign it before the end of the session, or will they have to redo it in January after President Trump is sworn in?
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said the bill "refocuses our military on its core mission of defending America and its interests around the globe by supporting law enforcement operations and the deployment of the National Guard to the southwest border, expediting innovation and reducing the acquisition timeline for new weaponry, supporting our allies and strengthening our nuclear posture and missile defense programs."
#1
I don’t understand how psych meds bar your enlistment, but these meds are ok. Delta Force guys and Seals are discharged for taking steroids, but this is OK.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/08/2024 9:53
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[RT] US President-elect Donald Trump has met briefly with French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky in Paris. No joint statement was released after the trilateral talks, but Zelensky hailed the conversation as “good and productive.”
[NAHARNET] Hezbollah is pulling its forces from the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus and the Homs area, a source close to the Lebanese group said Sunday, as their ally President Bashir al-Assad faces a rebel offensive.
The group "has instructed its fighters in recent hours to withdraw from the Homs area, with some heading to Latakia (in Syria) and others to the Hermel area in Leb ...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... ," the source told AFP, noting that "Hezbollah fighters have also vacated their positions around Damascus."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/08/2024
02:16 ||
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#1
It is a time of great opportunity for promotion within the Hezbollah hierarchy. More likely you’ll get killed. Inshallah.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/08/2024 11:15
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[Jpost] The natural gas production platforms have been shut down multiple downs since the start of the war last year.
Chevron CEO Mike Wirth described to Bloomberg on Friday the effectiveness of the Iron Dome in protecting Israel's natural gas assets.
“These facilities have been targeted by rockets and missiles from Hezbollah,” Wirth said.
“The naval version of the Iron Dome has proven to be effective in interdicting. We’ve had autonomous underwater attacks as well.”
The natural gas production platforms have been shut down multiple downs since the start of the war last year.
Israel considers the Leviathan and Tamar natural gas platforms to constitute a key strategic asset in the Israeli energy sector, giving the state a measure of energy independence.
ISRAEL'S ENERGY SECTOR
Since the start of gas production in 2019, the Leviathan platform has provided approximately 40% of Israel's electricity consumption.
In addition, the platforms export natural gas to Egypt and Jordan under export agreements signed with these countries, amounting to billions of dollars.
Chevron holds 39.66% of the rights in the Leviathan reservoir and 25% of the rights in the Tamar reservoir, alongside other various Israeli partners natural gas partners.
The gas field has been a source of conflict with Lebanon in recent years, with Hezbollah threatening to target it in major attacks.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was strongly criticized for a 2022 deal with Lebanon, which would allow for joint gas exploration and profit sharing due to Hezbollah's influence over the Lebanese government.
This led multiple MKs to push him to cancel the deal after the start of the war.
[JPost] They can tell which way the wind is blowing.
Following a deal to end more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, attention has swung back to the Gaza Strip, but any hopes of a rapid end to the war there look likely to be dashed.
Announcing the Lebanon accord on Tuesday, US President Joe Biden said he would now renew his push for an elusive agreement in Gaza, urging Israel and Hamas to seize the moment.
However, there was no sign that Israeli leaders wanted to ease up on Hamas, which triggered the conflagration last year by attacking southern Israel, with ministers making clear their war aims for Gaza were very different than those for Lebanon.
“Gaza will never be a threat to the State of Israel again… We will reach a decisive victory there. Lebanon is different,” said Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter, a member of the security cabinet and a former head of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).
“Are we at the beginning of the end [of the Gaza campaign]? Definitely not. We still have a lot to do,” he told a group of foreign correspondents this week.
There remain 101 hostages in Gaza, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed both to bring them all home and to eradicate Hamas.
MILITARY PRESSURE ON HAMAS
Negotiations between the two sides have long stalled, with each side blaming the other for the impasse. Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri on Wednesday accused Israel of being inflexible, saying his group still wanted a deal.“We are committed to cooperating with any effort to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, and we are interested in ending the aggression against our people,” the terrorist group said.
“We have informed mediators in Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey that Hamas is ready for a ceasefire agreement and a serious deal to exchange prisoners,” a Hamas official told AFP.
Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said on Wednesday the group appreciates Lebanon’s right to reach an agreement that protects its people and it hopes for a deal to end the war in Gaza, adding that he hoped it would pave the way to reaching an agreement that ends the Israel-Hamas War.
The Biden administration on Wednesday said it was pushing ahead with a $680 million arms sales package to Israel, according to a US official familiar with the plan.
The package, which was first reported by the Financial Times, includes thousands of joint direct attack munition kits and hundreds of small-diameter bombs, according to the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.The ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect on Wednesday after both sides accepted the agreement brokered by the United States and France, but international efforts to halt the 14-month-old war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza have stalled.
Earlier Wednesday, Hamas said it was open to efforts to secure a deal in Gaza, reiterating its outstanding conditions.An agreement must end the war, pull Israeli forces out of Gaza, return displaced Gazans to their homes, and achieve a hostages-for-prisoners swap deal.
In an unexpected twist, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Turkey was ready to help in any way possible to establish a lasting ceasefire in Gaza and expressed satisfaction with the ceasefire agreement that has come into effect in Lebanon.
Reports claim that the Israeli Defense Force has launched a ground operation into Syria's Quneitra Province, deploying tanks and armored vehicles from the Golan Heights. Israel characterizes this military action as a measure to bolster border defenses in response to regional instability.
🚨 Breaking: Bashar Assad has delivered a message to the US 🇺🇲 through UAE, that if America helps him stay in power, he promises to cut all ties with Iran and Hezbollah.
#8
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/H1khVbWdu
Israeli air strikes hit southern Syria, state media reports May 6, 2021 ·
Israel carried out airstrikes overnight in the southern Syrian province of Quneitra, Syrian state media and a war monitor said Thursday...
For years Israel has wanted to neutralize Quneitra. for
Posted by: Albert Pelosi3459 ||
12/08/2024 6:02
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#9
At least Bashar can go back to his British Ophthalmology practice
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/08/2024 6:33
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#10
In light of these recent developments involving Hezballah, and Iran, and Syria … is it true that Antony Blinken will be leading additional Mourning Sessions — at taxpayer expense — at the U.S. State Department?
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The Russian State Military Historical Archive (RGVIA) has revealed a substitution of the decree of Emperor Peter I. Izvestia reported this on December 7, citing a source.
The institution kept a dummy document dated 1723. It was about the decree "On the prospecting of coal and ores in the Don and Voronezh province."
The original document was discovered at an online auction held on the website of the auction house International Autograph Auctions Europe SL in Spain. The newspaper's source clarified that the deputy director of the archive contacted law enforcement agencies regarding the valuable lot.
The Russian State Museum of History was asked to check whether the document presented at the auction belonged to the institution's funds. A decree was found that was identical to the lot on the Spanish website.
A more thorough analysis revealed that the Russian archive contained a fake. The police launched an investigation into the theft of the original.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on October 24, information appeared that one of the first decrees of another emperor, Peter II, had been replaced in the Russian Military Historical Archive. The document was signed in 1727 and confirmed the removal of Yegor Famentsyn from the post of commandant of St. Petersburg and the appointment of Prince Grigory Urusov in his place.
The dummy was discovered by the deputy director of the archive, Vasilisa Denisova. Law enforcement officers began an investigation into the substitution.
On October 31, the French auction house Aguttes reported that the original decree of Peter II was sold at auction in France. The starting price for the document was €1-2 thousand, and as a result of the auction, the document was sold for €3,120 (approximately 330 thousand rubles at the time of sale).
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[LB] 177 combat clashes were recorded on the frontline in a day.
by Ivanna Kapustianska
The 1,018th day of the Russian Federation's large-scale armed aggression against Ukraine has begun. Over the past day, 177 combat clashes have been recorded . The enemy was most active in the Pokrovsky and Kurakhiv directions.
This is reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
According to updated information, within 24 hours the enemy launched three missile strikes using five missiles, as well as ten airstrikes, dropping 36 anti-aircraft missiles on the positions of Ukrainian units and settlements. In addition, it carried out about 4,000 attacks, 143 of which were from multiple launch rocket systems.
The aggressor carried out airstrikes on the settlements of Novoyehorivka, Constantinople, Dachne, Odradne, Zaporizhia, Novopavlivka, and Novosilka.
Yesterday, the Defense Forces' aviation, missile forces, and artillery launched five strikes on areas where enemy personnel and munitions were concentrated, and also hit two command posts.
In the Kharkiv direction near Vovchansk, Tykhy and in the direction of Vysokaya Yaruga and Kozachaya Lopan, Russian terrorists stormed the positions of Ukrainian units five times and were repulsed.
Nine clashes took place over the past day in the Kupyansk direction, in particular near Kolisnykivka, Lozova, Zagryzove, and Zapadne.
According to updated information, the enemy attacked 14 times near Cherneshchyna, Hrekivka, Kopanky, Nadiya, Makiivka, Torske and Terni in the Lyman direction.
Near the settlements of Bila Hora and Stupochka, in the Kramatorsk direction, five clashes occurred within a day.
In the Toretsk direction, the Russians attacked nine times near Toretsk, Diliivka, and Shcherbinivka.
In the Pokrovsky direction, our defenders repelled 48 enemy assault actions in the areas of the settlements of Myrolyubivka, Promin, Lysivka, Zhovte, and Chumatske.
In the Kurakhiv direction, there were 35 attacks in the past 24 hours near Stary Terni, Zory, Sontsivka, Kurakhiv, Dachny, and Dalny.
Our defenders repelled 21 assaults near the settlements of Uspenivka, Kostiantynopolske, Rozdolne, Novodarivka, and Novosilka, which are in the Vremiv direction.
An attempt to attack our positions in the direction of Novodanylivka, in the Orikhiv direction, turned out to be a failure for the invaders.
The enemy was defeated three times, attacking the Ukrainian defensive lines in the Dnieper direction.
In Kursk, Ukrainian defenders repelled 14 attacks by Russian invaders.
The situation in the Hulyaipil direction is unchanged.
No signs of the formation of enemy offensive groups were detected in the Volyn and Polissya directions .
On the border with Chernihiv and Sumy regions, the enemy maintains a military presence, carries out mortar and artillery attacks on settlements from the territory of the Russian Federation.
At the same time, our soldiers continue to actively inflict significant losses in manpower and equipment on the occupation forces, exhausting the enemy along the entire line of combat contact.
In total, the total losses of the Russian invaders over the past day amounted to 1,300 people. Our soldiers also neutralized 17 armored combat vehicles, 12 artillery systems, two air defense systems, 19 operational-tactical UAVs, and 49 vehicles.
[MSN] Shaurn Thomas, who was released from prison and paid $4.1 million by the city after serving 24 years for a murder he says he didn't commit, pleaded guilty Thursday to killing a man over a $1,200 drug debt.
There are lots of bad habits to be picked up in prison, unfortunately.
Thomas, whose 1992 murder conviction was overturned in 2017, was convicted of third-degree murder and related crimes for fatally shooting 38-year-old Akeem Edwards last year.
That admission of guilt — by a millionaire who killed someone over a relatively paltry sum — means that the now 50-year-old Thomas, who has already spent half of his life behind bars, will now return there to live out much of what is left of it. At least he has coin for the prison commissary
More than 30 years ago, a jury convicted Thomas of second-degree murder for the 1990 robbery and shooting death of a North Philadelphia businessman. For that, he was sentenced to life in prison.
His conviction was vacated by a judge on appeal in 2017, after documents emerged showing that detectives knew Thomas had a potential alibi, but did not try to verify it. Investigators zeroed in on Thomas based on statements made by two alleged coconspirators, whose stories shifted and who later recanted their testimony. One of the men said the detectives fed him a false story, and assaulted him until he repeated it.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/08/2024
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He’s probably broke. His lawyer is probably spending balling.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/08/2024 10:22
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[NYPOST] A crocodile is dead, an alligator is recovering, and two brothers are in jail after an argument about anime turned fatal in Alaska.
Tyler and Rickey Lowe's Thursday night feud came to a head when they tossed each other's exotic pets out the window of their shared apartment and into the snow, according to Alaska State Troopers.
Tyler, 33, threw Rickey's pet alligator and Rickey, 30, launched Tyler's crocodile from their Wasilla apartment, Alaska News Source reports.
It is not clear what anime kicked off the dispute.
State troopers were able to locate the alligator, which survived, but were not able to locate the croc, who is presumed dead, according to the report.
A neighbor recounted his bizarre encounter with a trooper who was tasked with finding the very out-of-place critters.
''They go 'Have you seen an alligator run past here?' And I go 'You guys are kidding, right?','' Matt Strickland, next door neighbor to the Lowe brothers, told Alaska News Source.
Strickland, who has lived in the apartment building about an hour outside of Anchorage for a month, said he had no idea that a croc and a gator were right next door.
Troopers were called by Rickey Lowe from the street after he left the apartment with his 2-year-old child, according to the report.
The brothers were both arrested and charged with animal cruelty and assault.
Rickey Lowe faces additional charges of DUI and child endangerment.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/08/2024
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Bizarre. Florida Man in Alaska.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
12/08/2024 4:41
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#2
Why would any women leave these two to babysit a two year old kid?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/08/2024 10:28
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[PJMEDIA] 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... is abandoning its Syrian ally following rapid gains made by Islamist rebel forces, who are now closing in on the capital Damascus.
''Iran is starting to evacuate its forces and military personnel because we cannot fight as an advisory and support force if Syria's army itself does not want to fight,'' a prominent advisor to the Iranian regime, Mehdi Rahmati, told the New York Times
...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... ''The bottom line,'' he said, ''is that Iran has realized that it cannot manage the situation in Syria right now with any military operation and this option is off the table.''
The unspoken reason Iran is leaving Syria is that Israel smashed Iran's proxy Hezbollah, fatally weakening its ability to carry out operations outside of 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... Significantly, Iran is pulling out its powerful Quds Force and other Revolutionary Guards units. They see the writing on the wall, and know that Syrian President Bashir al-Assad is doomed.
Assad still has his Russian ally, but President Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... is extremely unlikely to send ground forces to Syria while he's heavily engaged in Ukraine. The Russian Air Force can help, but Assad needs boots on the ground to fight the Islamists.
By Dylan Malyasov
Dec 7, 2024
Modified date: Dec 7, 2024
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is marshaling all available military forces and resources to fortify Damascus, his government’s final stronghold, as opposition forces make significant territorial gains. The battle for Syria’s capital appears to be escalating toward a critical juncture.
Reports from the ground indicate that opposition forces have seized control of Daraa and reached the city center of Homs, although the latter has yet to be fully captured.
Meanwhile, Assad’s regime has pulled back from key positions in Deir ez-Zor, Suwayd, and Mashara village in central Quneitra, leaving strategic areas vulnerable to opposition advances.
The Southern Operations Room of the Syrian opposition has announced ambitious plans to push toward Damascus. “Our target is Damascus, and our meeting point is Umayyad Square,” the group’s spokesperson declared in a recent statement. This unified opposition effort has already led to substantial territorial gains, particularly along Syria’s southern border with Jordan, where insurgent forces now control roughly half the frontier.
This surge from the south has exposed the Assad regime’s vulnerabilities. Local uprisings and insurgent activity have destabilized areas long considered under regime control. Rebel forces’ swift advances have reportedly faced little resistance, with regime-aligned police and isolated military outposts proving ineffective in halting the offensive.
Read the rest at the link
Even More from Boris Rozhin: The Collapse of Syria
It is unlikely that Bashar al-Assad's government will survive until next weekend.
Damascus may fall in the next 24 (maximum 48) hours.
There is no serious interaction between the Syrian army and the Syrian security forces, as well as no serious resistance. In fact, the Syrian security forces are not defending their own country. Individual exceptions only emphasize the picture of general disintegration. It is no longer so important whether everything fell apart on its own or whether there was betrayal somewhere - the fact itself is important. Syria in its previous form is living out its last days. If any assistance was planned, it simply will not be in time - the Syrian army and state are disintegrating as quickly as possible.
Russia will have to solve the following issues:
1. Preservation of its military bases in Latakia.
2. Evacuation of its citizens and military from Damascus.
3. General minimization of consequences and costs.
Iran is effectively left without the land corridor that Soleimani built in 2017. This is a strategic defeat. My emphasis
Syria will most likely face a long war on the ruins of the state in the style of Libya and Afghanistan. Millions of refugees and terrorists spreading across the region are included.
Relying on the captured areas of Syria, radical Islamism will certainly give its ugly shoots in many countries. Including here, it will try.
Yet more from Boris Rozhin: On the situation in Syria. 12/07/2024
The situation in Syria continues to develop according to the most negative scenario.
The Assad government continues to lose territory without significant resistance, the army is in a semi-decayed state. Organized resistance of individual units does not change the overall bleak picture. It is very likely that Syria in its familiar form will soon cease to exist and will be directly or indirectly divided, and its territory will repeat the fate of Afghanistan and Libya.
The probable loss of Homs can significantly accelerate the processes of disintegration of the state apparatus and the remaining state logistics.
At the same time, Russia risks losing its bases in Latakia (which will affect both the positions of the Russian Federation in the Middle East and operations in Africa, which, among other things, relied on Khmeimim), and Iran is actually on the verge of losing its land corridor (Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon), which was Iran's main conquest in the Syrian war. All this will seriously change the alignment of forces in the Middle East.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/08/2024
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Rumors that the IL-76 carrying Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has either Crashed or carried out an Emergency Landing to the West of Homs, after having taken-off earlier from Damascus International Airport. The Aircraft descended to 1,600ft before disappearing from Radar.
🚨 Syria: US official told Reuters the Assad regime in Damascus could even fall in the coming hours. Consensus building that the dictatorship may not survive through the weekend. Russian soldiers tasked with protecting the dictator are fleeing the country. https://t.co/vwiMxOPiVrpic.twitter.com/LhY8dDBljH
Footage from the City of Douma just to the Northeast of the Syrian Capital of Damascus, confirming that Fighters of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) have taken the City. pic.twitter.com/Z9nDIOpWE7
Some of the troops were maimed and are currently receiving medical treatment, he added.
Rebels on a lightning advance through Syria said they were nearing Damascus on Saturday, although Bashir al-Assad's government denied that the army had withdrawn from areas around the capital.
"Our forces have begun the final phase of encircling the capital," said rebel commander Hassan Abdel Ghani.
The leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... (HTS) told fighters to prepare to take the seat of Assad's government, just over a week into a renewed rebellion in the long dormant conflict.
"Damascus awaits you," said HTS's Ahmed al-Sharaa in a statement on Telegram, using his real name instead of his nom de guerre, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani.
Rumint: Assad may have been shot down and killed in his plane while fleeing Homs
🚨Unconfirmed reports from Homs of people hearing a massive explosion from the area where Assad's airplane lost signal.
Now link
CaucasusWarReport
@Caucasuswar
Personal opinion: Bashar al-Assad probably fled with his family over the past two days, during his trips to Iran and Russia. The individuals on the IL-76 plane that crashed tonight were likely high-ranking members of the regime.
Be aware that Russia and Iran may attempt to frame the situation as if Assad was on the plane to prevent people from tracking him and his family down.
And then this link
Russian S-300 at Tartus might have just shot Assad's plane out of the sky
Altitude when contact was lost 1750~ ft IVO Khirbet Tin Nur Syria which has an elevation is 1739 ft.
Reports claim Israeli tanks crossing into Syria buffer zone
After the collapse of the Assad regime overnight, Syrian reports claim that Israeli tanks have crossed the border into Syria from the Golan Heights. The unconfirmed reports say that Israeli forces pushed into the buffer zone in the Quneitra area, and launched artillery shelling in the area.
“This country can be a normal country that builds good relations with its neighbors and the world… but this issue is up to any leadership chosen by the Syrian people. We are ready to cooperate with [that leadership] and offer all possible facilities,” Jalali says in a speech broadcast on his Facebook account.
Syrian rebels also say Damascus is “now free of Assad,” calling on Syrians abroad to return to their newly freed country.
An Associated Press journalist in Damascus reports seeing groups of armed civilians along the road in the outskirts of the capital and hearing sounds of gunshots. The city’s main police headquarters appeared to be abandoned, its door left ajar with no officers outside, they say.
Another AP journalist shoots footage of an abandoned army checkpoint where uniforms are discarded on the ground under a poster of Assad’s face.
Hezbollah retreats from key city on Syria-Lebanon border, in major blow to group
Lebanon’s pro-Iranian Hezbollah terror group has withdrawn from the Syrian city of Qusayr along the border with Lebanon shortly, before rebel forces seized it, Syrian army sources say.The city had been a key holding for Hezbollah, which relies on a nearby crossing to smuggle Iranian weapons into Lebanon and fighters in and out of Syria since the terror group seized Qusayr in 2013 at the early phase of the Syrian conflict.
The Syrian sources tell Reuters at least 150 armored vehicles carrying hundreds of Hezbollah fighters left Qusayr in phases. Israel, which has repeatedly hit Hezbollah weapons depots and underground fortifications it had built in the city, hit one of the convoys that was leaving, one source says, without elaborating.
Earlier, the Hezbollah-linked al-Manar network reported that Israeli planes had carried out an attack in the area Qusayr. The Israel Defense Forces said Friday it had bombed several roads in the Qusayr area as part of a concerted campaign to stymie attempts to smuggle Iranian weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
As the rebels advanced this past week, Syrian forces appeared to melt away, putting up no resistance, with several reports of defection. Russian forces carried out occasional airstrikes.
Aron Lund, a Syria expert with Century International, a New York-based think tank, and a researcher with the Swedish Defense Research Agency, said the developments in Syria are a geopolitical disaster for Russia and Iran.
“They too were surely surprised by what happened, and they have all sorts of resource constraints,” including Russia’s war in Ukraine and Hezbollah’s losses in Lebanon and Syria.
EXHAUSTED AND BROKEN
While Syria’s conflict lines have been largely stalemated since 2020, the country’s economic woes have only multiplied in the past few years.
The imposition of US sanctions, a banking crisis in neighboring Lebanon, and an earthquake last year contributed to the fact that almost all Syrians face extreme financial hardship.
That has caused state institutions and salaries to wither.
“If you can’t pay your soldiers a living wage, then maybe you can’t expect them to stay and fight when thousands of Islamists storm” their cities, Lund said. “It is just an exhausted, broken and dysfunctional regime” to start with.
Part of the insurgents’ attempt to reassert their grip on Aleppo, the city where they were ousted in 2016 after a grueling military campaign, was to issue a call to government soldiers and security agencies to defect, granting them what they called “protection cards,” which offer some sort of amnesty and assurances that they won’t be hunted down.
The spokesman for the insurgents, Hassan Abdul-Ghani, said more than 1,600 soldiers have applied for the cards over two days in Aleppo city.
Hundreds of defectors lined up outside city police stations Thursday to register their details with the insurgents.
Hama native Hossam al-Bakr, 33, who served in Damascus and defected four years earlier to Aleppo, said he came to “settle his position” and get a new ID.
The laminated card handed out to each defector was titled the “defection card.” It showed the name, ID number, and place of service of each defector. It is issued by “The General Command: Military Operations Room.”
On Thursday, Maj. Mohamed Ghoneim, who was in charge of registering the defectors, said more than 1,000 soldiers or police officers came to register. Some who had their official guns handed them over, he added.
“There are thousands who want to apply,” he said.
Defectors line-up to register their details with Syrian insurgents in Aleppo, Syria, to defect, granting them what they called "protection cards," which offer them some sort of amnesty and assurances that they won't be hunted down.AP Photo/Omar Albam pic.twitter.com/bHHYNkH8rX
Posted by: DarthVader ||
12/08/2024
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[11209 views]
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#1
wow
Nov 29 Aleppo taken;
Dec 5 Hama taken;
Dec 6 Homs taken;
Dec 8 Damascus taken
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
12/08/2024 0:08
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Russia shown as weak overseas, Iran lost the land bridge to supply Hezbollah. even though the rebels are most likely little better, a good day for Israel.
If Georgia throws off the Russian yoke, Russia will be little more than a joke and ripe for pushing to collapse.
This is the flight radar recording of Assad's plane. This is far outside of my expertise. If any pilots see this, let me know what you think. From a layman's perspective it looks like he may have been shot at, hard turn to evade, gotten hit & went down. pic.twitter.com/rZe3zNuPYD
#14
Perhaps a family member with a plane full of cash and documents too bulky for the land E&E? Linked video gives a pretty good insight into the level of storage for important things now obviously removed in some haste!
President-elect Donald Trump seems dead set to put Syria in the rearview mirror during his second term, referring to the country as the place “where former President Obama refused to honor his commitment of protecting the RED LINE IN THE SAND, and all hell broke out, with Russia stepping in.”
“There was never much of a benefit in Syria for Russia, other than to make Obama look really stupid,” Trump continued. “In any event, Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, and THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!”
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/08/2024 16:26
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#17
^ I might add though, Obama never needed Syria or the Russians to make him look stupid. He does that quite well all by himself.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/08/2024 16:27
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#18
22K feet in 8 seconds
Quite a ROD there. You'd have to, um...
Four miles above Wile E. Coyote
A contrail crawled, peaceful and floaty.
Cue long johns (Johns Manville),
A rocket, and anvil
(not counting the weight of peyote).
[REGNUM] On December 5–6, the OSCE Foreign Ministers' Council meeting was held in Malta. The event takes place every year, but this one was special for several reasons: this was the first visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to the EU in three years (since the OSCE meeting in Stockholm in 2021), and for the first time since the meeting, representatives of the Russian Federation and Ukraine were present at the OSCE venue.
In 2022, Poland, as the country holding the presidency of the Organization, did not send an invitation to Russia, and in 2023, the Ukrainian delegation boycotted the meeting in North Macedonia due to Lavrov’s arrival.
However, this time it was not without scandal. On the eve of the event, Malta "due to circumstances beyond its control" cancelled the visa of the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, as it became known later, at the insistence of the Baltic countries.
The situation is certainly outrageous, as Lavrov said during the meeting in Valletta, but Maria Vladimirovna did not waste time and instead of going to Malta, she went to a concert in the Kremlin Palace, and then went to Yekaterinburg for the opening ceremony of the monument to Emperor Alexander I, who defeated Napoleon and liberated Europe. It turned out very symbolic.
"But she could have quietly sat on a chair in the OSCE Foreign Ministers' Council meeting room and sympathetically empathized with the comatose state of the Helsinki Final Act. But, as they say, you asked for it - let's recall today the glory of the heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812 and the beaten Napoleon," Zakharova wrote on her Telegram channel.
The organizers seated the delegations in alphabetical order, but for some reason the USA and Germany were next to each other, allowing US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and German Minister Annalena Baerbock to while away the time by talking. The head of the State Department was separated from Lavrov by 14 seats, and from Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga by 2. According to journalists present in the room, he caught every gesture and glance of his American colleague, and pointedly did not look in the direction of the Russian minister, who was sitting 11 chairs away.
Russian diplomats went to the event expecting to openly discuss the accumulated problems and ways to solve them on fundamentally new terms, respecting the interests of all participating states. However, as before, Western countries used this platform for their own interests, which, in fact, led to the current institutional crisis of the OSCE.
As Maltese Foreign Minister Ian Borch was about to deliver his speech, there was a noise. It was just rain, the host reassured his colleagues, calling it a good omen. The same inclement weather had hit Malta on December 2–3, 1989, during the meeting between Mikhail Gorbachev and George H. W. Bush, which marked the end of the Cold War. Lavrov would later mention that historic event in his speech.
"Times have changed significantly, but our relations are once again defined by geopolitical rivalries, and relations between OSCE members are facing serious tests in the area of peace and security. This is our third meeting since the beginning of Russia's war against Ukraine, which poses a systemic threat to European security," Borc said.
Thus, he set the tone for further speeches. And so, the first of the OSCE member states to speak was Ukraine. In his speech, Sybiga asked the West for even more air defense systems and revealed Kiev's "peace plan": Russia should leave Ukraine, and then Ukraine would be accepted into NATO. However, these words of the head of the MFA clearly contradict what Volodymyr Zelensky said just a few days ago : Ukraine is ready to stop military actions along the front line, giving up claims to lost territories, in exchange for membership in the Alliance. There is a discrepancy.
A dozen ministers who spoke after Sybiga used roughly the same rhetoric, focusing on the Ukrainian theme instead of touching on issues of global security and the institutional crisis of the OSCE. What can we talk about if Borch, a representative of the country chairing the OSCE, did exactly the same thing?
Blinken, whose term ends in six weeks, was the most aggressive. The US secretary of state accused Russia of pursuing an “imperial project” based on the idea of “wiping Ukraine off the map” and of trying to destroy the founding principles of the OSCE, enshrined in the Helsinki Act of 1975.
Lavrov, when it was his turn, parried these accusations of his American colleague. But first the Ukrainian delegation could not resist a prank: Sibiga, and after him the heads of the Polish and Czech Foreign Ministries, demonstratively left the hall as soon as the Russian minister began his speech.
He noted that the Helsinki Act of 1975 put the principle of indivisibility of security at the forefront - no one strengthens their security at the expense of others, no country or organization claims dominance in Europe. However, there is a gulf between that Security Conference 49 years ago and today. Life has shown that for NATO and the EU, the Helsinki principles are "an empty piece of paper," the minister added. In 1999, the North Atlantic Alliance committed aggression against Yugoslavia, dismembering the state in the center of Europe, and now it has ignited the Ukrainian conflict to suppress Russia.
"The US and its allies have thrown all this on the scrap heap. The question is: for what purpose? The answer is obvious to us: to please the desire to return NATO to the political forefront. After the Afghan disgrace, a new "unifying enemy" was needed. The result is a reincarnation of the Cold War, only now with a much greater risk of it going into a "hot" phase," Lavrov warned.
Later, commenting on these words of the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic admitted that he was concerned about the further escalation of the conflict in Eastern Europe, and expressed hope that politicians would have enough common sense and wisdom to avoid this. Although some actors in Europe and the world are not ready for dialogue with each other to solve the accumulated problems.
Lavrov had to return to this topic when responding to criticism from his German colleague. Addressing the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Baerbock said: "You can deceive yourself in some ways, but you cannot deceive us - 1.3 billion people in Europe." However, she made a gross mistake: the population of Europe is almost half as much - about 745 million people. In the quote from the minister, published on the social network X, the German Foreign Ministry corrected the error, indicating that it was not about Europe, but about the OSCE area.
But the head of Russian diplomacy is always precise in his statements. Lavrov clearly explained who is responsible for the danger of transition to a "hot phase of conflict" today, much higher than in the East-West confrontation in the 20th century, and who is responsible for the new round of the Cold War: the West.
Later, at the final press conference, he stated that all Western international organizations without exception were aggressively, dishonestly, and resorting to outright lies, promoting the Ukrainian issue. The OSCE was no exception - the gala dinner was entirely dedicated to Ukraine, which is why the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry refused to attend.
The Ukrainization of the OSCE is especially sad, since the Organization was created on the principles of consensus, equality and the search for a balance of interests of states. And, continuing to apply them, today it could become, as Lavrov put it, one of the points of gathering the interests of all members of the European space.
"But it would never occur to anyone to use the OSCE for these purposes. To NATO and EU members - because their actions have pushed the OSCE "to the sidelines" of political processes, and to us and everyone else - because such an OSCE is meaningless. <…> The OSCE is a victim of the course of subordinating Europe to the United States with the help of Euro-Atlantic security concepts. There is not a single area left where the OSCE could play any useful role in finding answers to direct questions within its purview," the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
Western countries, which worry about human rights at any opportunity, maintain a deathly silence about the extermination of the Russian language in all spheres in Ukraine and the infringement of the rights of national minorities, the provocation in Bucha, the crimes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kursk region, and the undermining of the Nord Streams.
Despite the statement by OSCE Chairman Jan Borg about the need to interact with everyone, especially against the backdrop of raging conflicts, in reality the Organization is of little use now. It is sad that the OSCE leadership and those who manipulate it deliberately leave this organization outside the framework of creative work and the objective course of history, Lavrov stated.
But not so long ago, in the 1990s, former French President François Mitterrand called the OSCE a narrow but reliable bridge that allowed the participants in the Cold War not to fall into a hot war. It seems that since then the “bridge” has become quite dilapidated.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 23:59 Official summary of the DPR Representative Office in the JCCC from 00:00 12/07/2024 to 00:00 12/08/2024.
Six cases of armed attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces were recorded by the DPR Representative Office in the JCCC over the past 24 hours.
There were no reports of civilian casualties.
DAMAGED:
No damage to residential buildings or civil infrastructure facilities was recorded.
Six artillery attacks in the Gorlovka direction.
A total of 13 units of different ammunition were fired.
21:10 The situation around Velikaya Novoselka continues to deteriorate, Russian troops storming populated area on all sides, – DS.
19:46 Reprisal is inevitable: a UAV crew of the motorized rifle brigade of the "Southern" group of troops destroyed a Ukrainian Armed Forces vehicle, –video.
Kurakhovsky direction. Unmanned aviation units actively use quadcopters with drops to destroy the Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel and equipment.
18:30 «Fisherman»: Pokrovsk direction: breakthrough to Shevchenko.
Situation as of 17:00 December 7, 2024:
– While the offensive of Russian troops on Kurakhovo is entering its final phase, to the north the Russian Armed Forces are gradually creating conditions for the subsequent assault on Pokrovsk.
– On the approaches to Mirnograd, the Russian Armed Forces are fighting in the forest belts in the area of Grodovka and Nikolaevka. There is a chain of strongholds of the Ukrainian Armed Forces there, the capture of which will open the road to Luch (Promin) and Moskovske.
- South of Lysovka, Russian troops have advanced in the area of the M-30 highway, occupying a strong point to the east of the road. The next goal is probably to break through to the southern outskirts of Dachenskoye and eliminate the "pocket" that has formed in the area of the highway.
– To the west, Russian troops are building on the success achieved after the liberation of Petrovka and Novoalekseevka. At the end of November, units of the Russian Armed Forces reached Zheltye and secured a private sector, repelling counterattacks and destroying several enemy armored vehicles.
– The advance towards Zheltye was parallel to the advance in the area of ??Vorovskoye (Yuryevka) and Pustynka. The assault troops attacked from Grigorovka and Novoalekseyevka, forcing the Ukrainian Armed Forces to retreat under the threat of envelopment. As a result, by November 30, most of Pustynka was liberated.
- Later, the Russian Armed Forces cleared Zheltoe, occupied most of Novopustynka and reached Shevchenko on the southern approaches to Pokrovsk. And by December 7, assault groups reached the northern outskirts of Novotroitskoye and almost completely captured a large stronghold of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to the east of the village.
In Pokrovsk itself, the situation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is also getting worse. The enemy's media resources report an increase in the intensity of Russian UAV strikes in the area ofthe M-30 Pavlograd-Pokrovsk and T-04-06 highways, which supply the garrison. And recently, the Russian Armed Forces hit a diesel locomotive to the east of the city.
17:53 Sniper accuracy.
A combat drone crew of the Zapad group of forces dropped a VOG munition into the hatch of an enemy BMP-1. Objective control footage confirmed the precise hit, fire and destruction of the infantry fighting vehicle of the Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers, –video.
16:53 Drone operators of the 3rd battalion of the 39th Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Vostok group are terrorizing the enemy with drops on the southern bank of the Sukhie Yaly River, –video.
14:40 Another Ukrainian tank did not survive an encounter with the Lancet in the border area of the Kursk region, –video.
During reconnaissance operations in the border area of the Kursk region, servicemen of the "North" group of troops identified a T-64 tank of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. As a result of a direct hit from a "Lancet" loitering munition, the tank of the Ukrainian Armed Forces militants was destroyed.
12:22 Telegram-kagal "Front-line bird":
Advance of the Russian army. Pokrovsk direction. Shevchenko area.
From early morning our stormtroopers advanced. Fighting is going on close to the village of Shevchenko.
In addition, our soldiers, using T-90M and T-72B3 tanks, are processing enemy positions in the area of the village of Novy Trud.
The advance of the Russian Armed Forces troops is significant. Pokrovsk is just a stone's throw away.
11:30 A mortar crew of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was hit precisely in the Khar'kov region, –video.
– In the area of the settlement Lozovaya, we observe the preparation of a 120mm mortar “Sani” for combat operation by a crew and its destruction by an FPV drone.
10:40 Telegram channel "WarGonzo":
Frontline summary as of the morning of 07.12.2024
- Zaporizhzhya Front. Without significant changes in LBS. The battles are mainly positional in nature.
- Donetsk Front. Fighting continues in the area of ??the settlement of Novy Komar, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are introducing reserves into the battle. From the south of Velyka Novosyolka, the Russian Armed Forces continue to put pressure on the defense of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
In Kurakhovo, there are more tactical successes of Russian troops within the city limits. To the north of the city, the Russian Armed Forces continue to expand their zone of control, and are also trying to completely encircle the Ukrainian garrison located in the "pocket".
- Chasov Yar direction. No significant changes. Urban fighting continues in Chasov Yar, where Russian troops are trying to dislodge the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the territory of the plant, which is one of the main defense points in the city.
- Kursk region. There are tactical successes of the RF Armed Forces in the Plekhovo area, but they are hard won. The Ukrainian Armed Forces do not stop feeding the direction with reserves, constantly conducting counterattacks.
9:32 Soldiers of the Irbis UAV company hit enemy equipment in the Pokrovsk direction.
Drone operators catch armored vehicles of Ukrainian soldiers from the 25th Airborne Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine right on the move and carry out precise strikes on the enemy with FPV drones.
8:12 Telegram channel "Front-line bird":
Kherson direction:
It is reported that this morning, the Russian Aerospace Forces aviationworkedaccording to the identified enemy positions on the right bank.Our UFAB-250 and UFAB-500 smashed the enemy's fortified positions to pieces.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Russian satellites took a photo of the snow cyclone that covered Moscow on December 7. The photograph was published by the state corporation Roscosmos.
The image, taken by the Elektro-L and Arktika-M satellites, shows the moment a cyclone passes over the central region of Russia.
"Roscosmos satellites are monitoring a cyclone over Moscow. According to forecasters, the snow cover in the capital will grow to 9 cm," the report says.
As previously reported by the Regnum news agency, earlier that day, Moscow's housing and utilities services were put on high alert due to snowfall. Deputy Moscow Mayor Pyotr Biryukov reported that emergency crews are on duty around the clock, and rotary and other equipment, small-scale mechanization equipment, and teams of street cleaners are being used to clear the snow.
In addition, the scientific director of the Hydrometeorological Center of Russia Roman Vilfand said that in the capital during the day the thermometers will drop to -1…-3 degrees, and in the region - to -6 degrees and noticeable snow will fall. The same temperature is predicted for the night of December 8.
Linked article is available only through a VPN
[EngMilRu] The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation.
In Kharkov direction, the Sever Group of Forces hit units of a Ukrainian territorial defence brigade and one border detachment of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine near Tikhoye, Volchansk, and Liptsy (Kharkov region). Two counter-attacks launched by AFU assault detachments were repelled.
The AFU losses amounted to up to 60 troops, an infantry fighting vehicle, two motor vehicles, and three D-30 howitzers.
The Zapad Group of Forces took more advantageous lines, inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of two mechanised brigades, an airborne brigade, and three territorial defence brigades close to Grigorovka, Zagryzovo, Kupyansk (Kharkov region), Novoyegorovka (Lugansk People's Republic) and Torskoye (Donetsk People's Republic). Eleven counter-attacks of AFU assault groups were repelled.
The AFU losses amounted to up to 490 troops, a tank, two armoured fighting vehicles, five motor vehicles, a UK-made 155mm FH-70 howitzer, a U.S.-made 155mm M-198 howitzer, and a 105mm M-119 gun, a 152mm Msta-B howitzer, and a 122mm D-30 howitzer.
The Yug Group of Forces improved the tactical situation and defeated the units of the two mechanised brigades, an airmobile brigades, and an air assault brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine close to Ulakly, Kurakhovo, Nikolayevka, and Dachnoye (Donetsk People's Republic). Two counter-attacks of AFU assault detachments were repelled.
The AFU losses amounted to up to 325 troops, two motor vehicles, a 155mm M-777 howitzer, and a 105mm M-119 gun made in the USA, a 122mm 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system, and a 122mm D-30 howitzer.
The Tsentr Group of Forces continued advancing to the depths of the enemy's defence and liberated Berestki (Donetsk People's Republic).
Russian units hit manpower and materiel of two mechanised brigades, a motorised infantry brigade, a naval infantry brigade, close to Dzerzhinsk, Shcherbinovka, Petrovka, and Novoalekseyevka (Donetsk People's Republic). Ten AFU counter-attacks were repelled.
The AFU losses amounted to up to 525 troops, five armoured fighting vehicles, including a U.S.-made M-113 armoured personnel carrier, three motor vehicles, three 152mm D-20 guns, and two 122mm D-30 howitzers.
The Vostok Group of Forces took more advantageous lines, hit a mechanised brigade of the AFU, two territorial defence brigades, and a National Guard brigade close to Konstantinopol, Novoocheretovatoye, and Otradnoye (Donetsk People's Republic). Three counter-attacks of enemy assault groups were repelled.
The AFU losses amounted to up to 100 troops, two armoured fighting vehicles, a motor vehicle, a 155mm Bogdana self-propelled artillery system, and a 122mm 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system.
The units of the Dnepr Group of Forces engaged the manpower and materiel of two mechanised brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and a territorial defence brigades close to Malaya Tokmachka (Zaporozhye region) and Antonovka (Kherson region).
The AFU losses amounted to more than 60 troops, two infantry fighting vehicles, six motor vehicles, and a counter-battery station.
Operational-Tactical Aviation, attack unmanned aerial vehicles, and Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Groups of Forces have engaged the energy facilities that support the work of the Ukrainian defence industry as well as clusters of enemy manpower and military hardware in 142 areas during the day.
Air defence systems shot down 26 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles.
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 649 aircraft, 283 helicopters, 37,380 unmanned aerial vehicles, 586 anti-aircraft missile systems, 19,698 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,497 MLRS combat vehicles, 19,145 field artillery guns and mortars, and 29,080 units of support military vehicles have been neutralised.
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the operation to neutralise an enemy group, which broke into the territory of Kursk region.
The Sever Group of Forces engaged the units of three mechanised brigades, a heavy mechanised brigade, a tank brigade, three air assault brigades, a naval infantry brigade, a guard brigade as well as three territorial defence brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Agronom, Viktorovka, Kurilovka, Lebedevka, Leonidovo, Martynovka, Nikolayevo-Daryino, Nikolsky, Novoivanovka, Plyokhovo, and Sverdlikovo.
Operational-Tactical aviation and Army aviation, and Artillery inflicted fire damage on enemy manpower and hardware in the areas of Aleksandria, Guyevo, Kruglenkoye, Kurilovka, Lebedevka, Leonidovo, Martynovka, Makhnovka, Mirny, Nizhny Klin, Nikolayevo-Daryino, Plyokhovo, and Cherkasskoye Porechnoye as well as Basovka, Belovody, Glukhov, Zhuravka, Miropolye, and Pavlovka in Sumy region.
Over the past 24 hours, the AFU losses amounted to more than 380 troops. An armoured fighting vehicle, four motor vehicles, and three mortars were neutralised. Three AFU servicemen surrendered.
Since the beginning of hostilities in Kursk region, the AFU losses were more than 38,865 troops, 232 tanks, 169 infantry fighting vehicles, 123 armoured personnel carriers, 1,231 armoured fighting vehicles, 1,096 motor vehicles, 308 artillery guns, 40 MLRS launchers, including 11 of HIMARS and six of MLRS made by the USA, 13 anti-aircraft missile launchers, seven transport-loading vehicles, 72 EW stations, 13 counter-battery warfare radars, four air defence radars, 27 units of engineering and other materiel, including 13 counterobstacle vehicles, one UR-77 mine clearing vehicle, six armoured recovery vehicles, and one command post vehicle.
The operation to neutralise the AFU units is in progress.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. Syrian Army Strengthens Positions in Damascus Suburbs
[Regnum] Syrian troops are strengthening their positions in the suburbs of Damascus amid terrorist attempts to destabilize the situation. This was reported on December 7 by the Arab Republic's Defense Ministry.
“Our armed forces units have strengthened their positions in all areas of the Damascus suburbs and the southern district to prevent any incidents as a result of the unrest that terrorists are trying to provoke,” the Syrian General Army Command clarified.
It is noted that the Syrian army continues to carry out operations against militants in Homs, Aleppo and Hama. Hundreds of terrorists, dozens of vehicles, many headquarters, weapons and ammunition depots have been destroyed.
As reported by Regnum News Agency, on December 7, a meeting was held in the capital of Qatar, Doha, between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. They called for an immediate end to military actions and the beginning of a dialogue between the government and legitimate opposition forces.
The Russian Armed Forces continue to provide military assistance to the Syrian army and are trying to do everything possible to counter terrorists in the republic, said Sergey Lavrov. Support is provided with the help of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which are based in Khmeimim. Using terrorists for geopolitical purposes of any country is unacceptable, Lavrov emphasized.
Militant groups in Syria launched an offensive against government army positions in the Aleppo region on November 27. The terrorists were able to capture 13 settlements. The Syrian army launched a counteroffensive against militants in Aleppo and Idlib on November 29. The authorities of a number of countries, including the United States and China, called on their citizens to leave Syria.
More from regnum.ru Lavrov denies withdrawal of Russian ships from Syrian Tartus
Military exercises are currently being conducted in the Mediterranean Sea. This was reported on December 7 by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in response to a request to comment on information from a number of media outlets that Russia had allegedly withdrawn its ships from a base in the Syrian port of Tartus.
Lavrov explained the departure of warships from Syrian Tartus as exercises
“Military exercises are underway in the Mediterranean,” the head of the Foreign Ministry said at talks taking place in the capital of Qatar.
Lavrov suggested that those who disseminated information about the withdrawal of ships may have misinterpreted images from satellite photographs.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, earlier the Russian Foreign Minister held a meeting in Doha within the framework of the Astana format with the heads of the Turkish and Iranian Foreign Ministries, Hakan Fidan and Abbas Araghchi. The main topic of the ministers' conversation was the escalation that is being observed in Syria.
Tartus is home to a Russian Navy logistics base. In June, exercises were already held here, in which the Syrian military participated together with the Russian Armed Forces. During the maneuvers, attacks by a potential enemy on the base were repelled.
Air defense units' servicemen hit targets simulating unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The mock enemy's sea drones were destroyed by the crews of the Pantsir-S anti-aircraft missile system (SAM) together with the crews of the Black Sea Fleet's anti-sabotage boat Kadet and small missile boats of the Syrian Navy.
Even more from regnum.ru Lavrov said that the Russian Armed Forces are helping the Syrian army
The Russian Armed Forces continue to provide military assistance to the Syrian army and are trying to do everything possible to counter terrorists in the republic, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during his speech at the Doha Forum.
“Russia is providing military assistance to Syria with the help of the Aerospace Forces based in Khmeimim,” the diplomat said.
Lavrov also clarified that Russia is doing everything possible to counter terrorists in Syria and stated that using terrorists for the geopolitical purposes of any country is unacceptable.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on November 27, militant groups in Syria launched an offensive against government army positions in the Aleppo region. The terrorists were able to capture 13 settlements. On November 29, the Syrian army launched a counteroffensive against militants in Aleppo and Idlib.
In his article, Regnum News Agency observer Leonid Savin pointed out that behind the interests of the Islamists trying to overthrow the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, there is Turkey with its interests in destroying the military-political structures of the Kurds, and in a broader context, we are talking about following the strategy of neo-Ottomanism and pan-Turkism.
On December 7, following a meeting in the Astana format, the heads of the Foreign Ministries of Russia, Turkey and Iran called for an immediate end to violence in Syria. Lavrov said that it was unacceptable to allow terrorists to seize land in the SAR. The ministers called on the parties to the conflict to engage in dialogue and reaffirmed their commitment to Syria's sovereignty.
Yet more from regnum.ru Syrian Defense Ministry Denies Reports of Troop Withdrawal from Damascus
The Syrian Defense Ministry has denied reports of the republic's armed forces withdrawing from Damascus. The ministry's press service published the statement on December 7 on Facebook (which is owned by Meta, a company recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation).
“Any news about the withdrawal of units of our armed forces present in all areas of the Damascus countryside is not true,” the defense ministry emphasized.
Ministry officials said that false information is being spread by terrorist organizations in an attempt to sow panic among civilians.
Earlier, the Defense Ministry called information about militants breaking through to the city of Al-Qaryatayn in the Homs province in the central part of the republic untrue. The settlement is located 67 km from the city of Homs, the center of the province of the same name.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on November 27, militant groups in Syria launched an offensive against government army positions in the Aleppo region. The terrorists were able to capture 13 settlements. On November 29, the Syrian army launched a counteroffensive against militants in Aleppo and Idlib.
On December 6, the Syrian Defense Ministry reported that the government army had strengthened its defense line in Homs province. The report noted that information about the army's withdrawal from Homs was not true.
In his article, Regnum News Agency observer Leonid Savin pointed out that behind the interests of the Islamists trying to overthrow the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, there is Turkey with its interests in destroying the military-political structures of the Kurds, and in a broader context, we are talking about following the strategy of neo-Ottomanism and pan-Turkism.
On December 7, following a meeting in the Astana format, the heads of the Foreign Ministries of Russia, Turkey and Iran called for an immediate end to violence in Syria. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that it was unacceptable to allow terrorists to seize land in the SAR. The ministers called on the parties to the conflict to engage in dialogue and reaffirmed their commitment to Syria's sovereignty.
Even more from regnum.ru Syrian and Russian Aerospace Forces strike terrorist supply routes
Syrian troops, together with the Russian Aerospace Forces, launched massive strikes on terrorist positions and supply routes. This was reported on December 7 by the press service of the Syrian Arab Republic Defense Ministry.
The department specified that Syrian and Russian aircraft carried out strikes in the province of Homs, destroying dozens of terrorists and units of equipment. The government army is also conducting intensive shelling of militants' deployment sites and supply lines in the provinces of Hama and Homs.
"Our forces operating in the provinces of Hama and Homs are carrying out massive strikes with cannon and rocket artillery on the positions and supply routes [of terrorists]," the Syrian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on November 27, militant groups in Syria launched an offensive against government army positions in the Aleppo region. The terrorists were able to capture 13 settlements. After that, the Syrian military launched a counteroffensive against Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation) militants in Aleppo and Idlib. The government army also managed to liberate the city of Al-Bakum.
On December 2, the command of the Syrian government army stated that the country's troops and the Russian Aerospace Forces had destroyed more than 400 militants in the Aleppo and Idlib provinces in a few hours.
On December 3, in a telephone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out the need to stop terrorist aggression against that country.
The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, noted that Russia resolutely supports the efforts of the Syrian authorities amid the escalation.
On December 7, The New York Times reported, citing officials, that Iran had begun evacuating its military commanders, diplomats and advisers from Syria. They and their families, as well as ordinary Iranians, are being sent by plane and land to Tehran, Iraq and Lebanon.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] In Dagestan, law enforcement officers detained 12 members of a terrorist cell who were planning a major terrorist attack. This was reported on December 7 by the press service of the regional FSB department, providing a video of the searches and detention.
“As a result of operational and investigative measures carried out by the FSB Directorate for the Republic of Dagestan in cooperation with the regional department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 12 members of a secret cell of a terrorist organization banned in Russia, who were planning to carry out a major terrorist act, were detained,” the security forces specified.
During searches of the suspects' residences, small arms, two assembled homemade explosive devices with a capacity of one kilogram of TNT equivalent each, components for their manufacture, 20 bags of ammonium nitrate with a total weight of one ton, and ammunition were found. The security forces destroyed everything on the spot.
The FSB Directorate for the Republic of Dagestan added that the detainees are giving confessions. The issue of choosing a preventive measure in the form of detention is being decided, the department noted.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on December 2, five people were arrested in Dagestan for two months on suspicion of preparing a series of terrorist attacks. According to security officials, the criminal group was organized in the Kizlyar region. Components for making a bomb were seized from the detainees.
In late November, law enforcement officers detained two residents of Dagestan suspected of preparing a terrorist attack in one of the republic's state institutions. According to investigators, residents of the village of Kurush in the Khasavyurt district purchased components for making a bomb in June and wanted to detonate it in a state institution to destabilize the situation in the region. They did not have time to assemble the explosive device, as they were detained.
The term of house arrest was extended for the wife of the former head of the Sergokalinsky district of Dagestan, Aishat Omarova, whose son was liquidated by security forces. This was reported on December 7 by the press service of the Sovietsky District Court of Makhachkala.
“The Soviet District Court of Makhachkala extended Aishat Omarova’s house arrest until February 8, 2025,” the court told RIA Novosti.
In October, Omarova was detained on suspicion of embezzlement and official forgery. According to investigators, in 2014, Omarova, who worked as a kindergarten manager, fictitiously hired her relative as a clerk. As a result, budget funds in the amount of more than 121 thousand rubles were stolen through embezzlement.
That’s apparently only about US$1200. They’re going after the family root and branch.
The woman's husband, former head of the Sergokalinsky district Magomed Omarov, and one of Adilpasha's sons are also under investigation. They are accused of fraud, and both have been arrested.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on June 23, attacks were carried out on two Orthodox churches, two synagogues and a traffic police post in Derbent and Makhachkala. As a result of the attack by armed militants, 22 people were killed and more than 40 were injured. Five militants involved in the attacks were eliminated by security forces. Among them was 31-year-old Osman Omarov, the son of the former head of the Sergokalinsky district, Magomed Omarov.
#5
I don’t see us doing as much as you would expect. Lindsey will be big mad.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/08/2024 11:07
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Top||
#6
^ Goober's hissy fit will be temporary
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/08/2024 12:19
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#7
It is not our fight but the forces likely to gain power in Syria are dangerous aggressive enemies of Western civilization who thanks to the refugee flood have a foothold in the West.
If we don't deter them it will become our fight in the West.
[THEPOSTMILLENNIAL] YouTuber Tim Pool's lawsuit against Kamala HQ, which represents and posts on behalf of Kamala Harris once a marijuana-busting Caliphornia DA ' presidential campaign on X, reached a successful conclusion on Friday. While the details of the settlement have not been made public, Pool posted that he was "satisfied" with the result along with a screen capture showing that the allegedly defaming post from Kamala HQ had been deleted. In his suit against the campaign, Pool had asked for a retraction: the deletion of the post is essentially that.
"The lawsuit between I, Tim Pool, and The Kamala Harris Campaign has been resolved to my satisfaction," he said. "Thank You." One of the things his suit against the campaign alleged was that he had suffered "reputational harm" at the hands of the Kamala campaign. The deletion of their post, while it does not fully repair that damage, reveals that the campaign has been made fully aware of their falsehood against Pool.
When asked if he thought this resolution was an indication that things are finally getting back to even, and how far he thinks we still have to go, he said "I think it's getting better. I think we are winning," but mentioned two recent events from this week that give him pause, namely the ongoing Daniel Penny trial and the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. "The Daniel Penny verdict and the CEO liquidation shows the far left is still here and still dangerous." The chorus of leftists practically cheering the death of the CEO was deafening and Penny could end up facing another trial on manslaughter charges.
The suit had originated in September of this year when Kamala HQ accused Pool of being a "Trump operative" and claimed that he wanted to "execute those who don't support Trump if he wins." This text was accompanying a video clip from Pool's Timcast IRL where he was in fact advocating exactly against the death penalty and against political retribution. Kamala HQ prescribed views to Pool that were actually entirely anathema to his beliefs and cut the clip out of context to uphold their bold, salacious, derogatory claim.
In response to the post, Pool said "I have engaged legal counsel. We are preparing to take action. More to come." That "more" came when Pool filed a suit against Kamala Harris' campaign, taking aim at every one of their allegations and discrediting them.
"Trump operatives say their Project 2025 plan is to give Trump total, unchecked legal power so they can jail and execute those who don't support Trump if he wins," Kamala Harris' campaign posted on X, along with an out-of-context clip, noting by way of accusation that "They have since scrubbed this video from YouTube."
Pool stated that he was never associated with the Heritage Foundation or their massive publication called Project 2025, that he opposes capital punishment and always has, and that the video in question was not "scrubbed" as the campaign said but was removed by Pool due the potential interpretation of comments made by a guest on the show to be calls for violence.
"I feel that the lies from the Kamala campaign have become so shockingly, shockingly egregious, they strike at the conscience of any good, rational American," Pool said.
"We are preparing a lawsuit against the Kamala Harris campaign due to a defamatory statement posted on X which is extreme, egregious," Pool continued at the time, "and I just got to say, outright psychotic in accusing me, me personally, as well as Laura Loomer, but we are two separate individuals, of calling for unchecked legal power so that they, meaning Trump and his allies, can jail and execute anyone who doesn't support Trump if he wins, which is a shocking and egregious lie that goes so far beyond the pale. I, well, I just can't even. It's shocking and downright insane."
"We're going to get things straightened out in this country," Trump said
[FoxNews] The incoming president was honored alongside other heroes at the sixth annual Fox Nation Patriot Awards.
The incoming president was honored alongside other notable recipients across the nine categories.
Other awards include the "T2T Stephen Siller Back the Blue Award," "Young Patriot," "Salute to Service," "FOX Weather Ultimate Patriot," "Service to Veterans," "Culture Warrior," "Bravery" and "Courage."
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] Six activists representing various public organizations of Chechens in Europe held a picket of solidarity with women victims of repression in Chechnya.
The picket took place outside the Russian consulate in Brussels without any reaction from the diplomatic agency, reports a correspondent for the "Caucasian Knot".
As those gathered told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, the purpose of the picket was to protest against the repressions carried out against Chechen women.
One of the organizers of the picket was the "United Force" movement, which recalled the role of Chechen women in the national liberation struggle of Chechens in the past.
"The role of Chechen women in the national liberation struggle of the Chechen people is not only significant, but also decisive. We remember how they took on the economic burden of wartime, how they risked their lives [...]," said the announcement of the event, distributed the day before on Chechen media platforms of opponents of the republican authorities.
Those gathered at the Russian consulate in Brussels openly spoke about the abductions, persecution and pressure to which mothers, wives and sisters of the regime's opponents are subjected. In their hands they held printed portraits of Zarema Musayeva, Amina Okuyeva, Natalya Estemirova, Binazira Khamidova.
Zarema Musayeva is the wife of former federal judge Saidi Yangulbaev. Chechen security forces took her away from her apartment in Nizhny Novgorod on January 20, 2022. After that, the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov accused the Yangulbaev family of organizing a terrorist network and said that a place "in prison or underground" awaited them.
The car in which Adam Osmaev and his wife Amina Okueva were traveling was fired upon near the village of Glevakha near Kiev on October 30, 2017. Okueva died on the spot, and Osmaev was wounded. On January 12, 2021, Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov announced that the police had detained members of a criminal group, one of whose members is suspected of organizing an assassination attempt on Osmaev and the murder of his wife Okueva.
Igor Redkin, a native of Kaspiysk, was arrested for two months until March 11. In February of the same year, Redkin was released under house arrest.
In December 2023, it became clear that Redkin had left for Hungary. Natalya Estemirova was kidnapped on July 15, 2009, taken to Ingushetia and killed. Based on her information about human rights violations in Chechnya, human rights activists made inquiries to official bodies and compiled lists of missing persons. You can learn about the investigation and the main versions of the murder of the human rights activist from the "Caucasian Knot" report " The Murder of Natalya Estemirova ".
"We have gathered here to protest against the Kadyrov regime, against the crimes against Chechen women. I want to clarify that the Kadyrov regime is not a Chechen regime, but a Russian one, and has nothing in common with Chechen culture," Fatima Suleimanova, a representative of the United Force movement, told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
The action is an expression of solidarity, not a demand on the Russian embassy, the event's co-organizer, an activist named Safiya, told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
"We have no demands on the embassy, there is no point in talking to them. We want to show solidarity with Chechen women, to show that we are with them. First of all, this concerns Zarema Musayeva, as well as the stories when Mufti Salah Mezhiyev removed niqabs from girls.
But the niqab is a symbol of religio-political oppression, more often indicating Papa’s or Husband’s opinions than the female hidden behind it.
This also concerns Binazira Khamidova, a pregnant woman who [...] was tortured to death," the girl said.
She noted that the case of Zarema Musayeva "only strengthened the feeling in Chechen society that Kadyrov is only capable of fighting women."
Those gathered also outlined a number of other problems of the diaspora related to the provision of asylum to agents of the regime and the deportation of political refugees. "The most people gather for rallies against extraditions. And often it is possible to prevent extradition. For example, Amina Gerikhanova," said Safiya, identifying this problem as "one of the key ones" in the diaspora.
On November 4, it became known that Chechen native Amina Gerikhanova, who was wanted by Russia as a participant in the fighting in Syria, received refugee status in Romania. Gerikhanova was removed from the Interpol wanted list, the human rights association "Vaifond" reported on November 30.
She also spoke about the problem of legalization in Europe and obtaining refugee status by Kadyrov's agents or retired Kadyrovites who have no real problems in Russia and, in all likelihood, are being introduced into the ranks of political emigrants as agents. "This problem exists. Kadyrov sends many here and keeps them on his payroll," the girl said.
Not all of the girls who gathered were ready to speak publicly, citing concerns about their relatives back home.
Representatives of the Russian diplomatic department showed no interest in the picket at the embassy walls. The establishment was guarded by local police, who fenced off the protesters from the Russian mission with a metal fence.
[THEPOSTMILLENNIAL] Chelsea Manning ...formerly Bradley Manning before he decided to become a girl. He, or she or whatever it was, was a misfit Army intel analyst who decided to leak all the secrets he could lay hands on. Sentenced to 35 years in Leavenworth, he was sprung on an Obamapardon in 2017.... , the infamous military intelligence leaker, was arrested on Thursday for illegally occupying a women's restroom at the US Capitol complex. Manning, 36, a trans-identified biological male, was among dozens of trans activists protesting House Speaker Mike Johnson's new rule that prohibits men from using female restrooms on US Capitol grounds.
US Capitol Police told the New York Post that officers arrested 15 people "for illegally protesting inside the Cannon House Office building," a demonstration that violated "DC Code 22-1307 - crowding, obstructing, or incommoding."
In 2013, Manning, a former Army intelligence analyst, was sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking confidential military intelligence material to WikiLeaks. Manning was released from prison in 2017 after President Barack Obama How much damage could he do in four years?... Eight, then... commuted Manning's sentence. While imprisoned, Manning underwent gender reassignment treatments and started to identify as a woman named "Chelsea." Manning was born as a biological male named Bradley.
Demonstrators organized an occupation inside the women's restroom near Speaker Johnson's office, expressing their outrage at Johnson and Mace. Some of the signs they brandished while chanting at the politicians said "Congress Stop Pissing On Our Rights" and "Flush Bathroom Bigotry."
Rep. Mace, who has remained steadfast in safeguarding female-only spaces amid repeated threats from radical trans activists, quipped at the group on X and mocked them outside the cop shoppe with a blowhorn. "From leaking state secrets to taking leaks in women's restroom, just can't seem to get it right," she wrote, particularly aiming at Manning.
The ongoing debacle began when Rep. Mace said she would be introducing a resolution that sought to prohibit men who identify as transgender from using female facilities inside the Capitol, citing the recent election of transgender Delaware rep-elect Sara McBride (D). Shortly after, Speaker Johnson adopted a resolution requiring bathrooms at the Capitol to be for same-sex use.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/08/2024
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MD-Doctors assisting, or conducting Sex Change operations, should be stripped of their medical licenses. Given it is clear, they are facilitating, not treating a mental illness. Thus violating their Hippocratic Oath by doing a greater harm.
BTW: As far as I am concerned. "IT" is just another example of the Obama Admin that started this Pro-perversion movement.
#4
Can you imagine the excitement of the group when they confirmed that Manning would join their protest? It probably made Ru Paul’s rejection sting just a little less.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/08/2024 10:11
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#5
Sounds kinda insurrection-y to me.
Should be jailed in the wing with the J-6 prisoners.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
12/08/2024 16:42
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#6
Does using the wrong bathroom get you on the sex perv list?
Where, NN2N1? They closed them all during the One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest period. There are a few very expensive, private long-term residential programs, emergency psych wards in hospitals that usually keep people between three and thirty days for diagnosis, detox, and suicide de-escalation. Other than that the options are prison psych wards for those who have killed, living on the street, or outpatient treatment if the crazy person agrees he needs help. If he does not see a need for help, in this country it’s generally illegal to force someone to be treated, except in an emergency, imminent-danger-to-self-or-others situation — and that gets us back to the 3-30 days in the hospital emergency psych ward for diagnosis and stabilization.
[THEPOSTMILLENNIAL] A new report has revealed that 21 George Soros ...either Ernst Stavro Blofeld or Auric Goldfinger come true... -linked district attorneys across the United States have been replaced by "tough-on-crime" prosecutors. The report also noted that four have left office, either through recall efforts or other means.
Among those listed by the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund were former Portland District Attorney Mike Schmidt, who lost a May election to Democrat challenger Nathan Vasquez, Western Judicial Circuit District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez, who lost her reelection bid to Kalki Yalamanchili, and Kim Foxx, the former Cook County State's Attorney who in 2023 announced that she would not seek reelection.
For those who were removed from office, there is Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens, who in November was indicted on federal bribery charges, and Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, who was recalled last month after serving just 18 months in office, per The National News Desk.
Replacements also noted by the report were Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon, who lost to challenger Nathan Hochman in last month's election, and former Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby, who lost the 2022 Democratic primary election to Ivan Bates. Since her election loss, Mosby has been found guilty of one count of mortgage fraud.
The district attorneys' links to Soros are defined by the organization as meeting one of three categories: "receiving campaign support from Soros-funded or affiliated groups," participating in soros groups' sponsored programming, or "signing 3 or more public statements or amicus briefs coordinated by Soros-funded criminal justice groups (i.e. Fair and Just Prosecution).
The report also noted that 13 new Soros-linked prosecutors have been elected into office since 2022, and 8 Soros-linked prosecutors have been replaced by other soft-on-crime prosecutors.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/08/2024
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#2
How about we start limiting campaign donations to only those made by Living Registered US Citizen Voters ONLY. Then cap the donations at, say $2000 per person, per campaign.
Thus banning Uber-Rich Elites, Special Interest groups, MSM, and etc. from buying elections.
Where they currently steer campaigns to install Federal, State and local Government puppets to their bidding?
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances
What we want is transparency. Individuals should not be limited on how much they give but must be clear and open record of such and with a "no later than date". No PACs, no fronts, no astroturfing with significant criminal penalties for false or misrepresentations.
#4
Part of what made Soros’s DA plan so successful was that no one was paying attention. It was like Moneyball. He exploited an inefficiency in the market for owning politicians at the DA level. The gambit changed the market and now people are paying attention. His group will move on and try to destroy us a different way.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/08/2024 10:08
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[FoxNews] When Trump brings the economy back from the brink, Biden and his Democrat allies will deserve no credit
Democrats have no equals when it comes to taking undeserved credit and evading well-deserved blame. Consider a recent Time article titled "Don’t Give Trump Credit for the success of the Biden Economy." Of course, no one, including President-elect Trump, wants credit for Biden’s dumpster fire economy. That debacle just cost the Democrats an election.
So, what is Time’s piece all about? Well, it is part of an effort to position Democrats to take credit for what even they see as Trump’s coming economic turnaround.
It’s not the first time Democrats have tried to take credit for Trump’s economic success.
Recall that in 2017, Trump inherited a stagnant economy mired in big government muck. He immediately cut taxes, slashed regulations and encouraged domestic energy production. Freed from eight years of President Obama’s oppressive policies, business optimism soared and the economy boomed.
In three years, America’s economy went from stagnating to thriving precisely because Trump reversed virtually every one of Obama’s stifling big government policies and adopted energizing free market policies. Obama nonetheless attempted to claim credit for that success.
NBC News, among other legacy media sources, predictably ran a piece supporting this notion claiming that "Trump didn’t build a great economy he inherited it."
So, here we go again.
The elephant in the room is, of course, our record high federal debt and deficit. While both have been increasing for decades, pandemic spending put those negative trends on steroids.
As a result, four years later, Biden is handing over an economy encumbered by an astounding record high debt of over $36 trillion and a record high annual deficit of $1.8 trillion. And the damage isn’t done. Recently, in just over the last 100 days, the federal debt soared an additional $1 trillion.
With inflation up over 20% since Biden took office, real wages (wages minus inflation) have declined 2.2%. Because real wages are what people live on, consumers are stretched to their economic limits.
Adjusted for inflation, retail sales over the past three year have flatlined. Household debt has reached a record high of nearly $18 trillion. Mortgages, car loans and credit card debt are all at record highs. Credit card and car loan delinquency rates as well as corporate bankruptcies are at their highest levels since the Great Recession. That’s the "success of the Biden economy."
Perhaps most damning, Biden has no plan in place to alleviate this economic pain. As is often the case with Democrats, their one proposal is to increase taxes while they continue spending like drunken sailors – an insult to drunken sailors who at least spend their own money.
Contrary to what you will hear from the Democrats, if you want to increase tax revenue, don’t increase tax rates. Meaningfully increasing tax rates reduces economic growth which reduces tax revenue.
For example, under the current Trump tax cuts, tax revenue hit historic highs of over $4 trillion in each year of the Biden administration. In 2022 and 2024, tax revenue was just under a gobsmacking $5 trillion. None of the naysayers predicted this revenue boom.
The problem is that in 2024 the government spent $6.75 trillion.
Obviously, we don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem. We need to meaningfully reduce spending while we simultaneously increase tax revenue through economic growth.
To accomplish those goals, Trump will undo Biden’s economic policies as he did Obama’s.
To continue increasing tax revenue, Trump will keep the current low rates in place and selectively reduce rates to further encourage economic growth. This worked for Presidents Kennedy, Reagan and Trump (in his first term). It’s the plan for his second term, and it will work – again.
When President Trump brings the economy back from the brink, Biden and his Democrat allies will deserve no credit and, in a rational world, they will get what they deserve.
[GEO.TV] A then six-year-old boy found a strange rock on a beach in Sussex, England and didn't tell anyone for the next three years, having lost track of it. The rock has now been identified as a 50,000-year-old Neanderthal hand axe.
Curator of archaeology and social history at Worthing Theatres and Museum James Sainbury received an email from the mother of the boy named Ben about the rock, he did not expect the object to be something out of the ordinary, he told Live Science.
"I get emails like this all the time, especially about beach finds, and they're usually just pebbles that look funny," he said.
"But as soon as I saw the photo, I thought, 'That's an Upper Paleolithic Neanderthal hand axe.' It's an absolutely incredible find,'' Sainsbury added.
The Neanderthal hand axes are relatively small and have dark two-sided flints, making them recognisable, according to the curator.
To be more specific, Sainsbury identified the artifact to be a Mousterian hand axe, meaning "it's from that very late Neanderthal period when their days were really numbered in Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... and Britannia''.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Kid is going to win show-and-tell, no doubt.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/08/2024 10:25
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[GEO.TV] At least 22 bad boyz were potted and six soldiers martyred in three separate engagements in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Saturday.
The military's media said the three separate engagements took place in KP's Tank, North Wazoo, and Thall districts from December 6 to 7.
In Tank district, it said troops effectively engaged the terrorists' location during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Gul Imam area on the reported presence of terrorists.
Resultantly, 9 bad boyz were potted while six got injured, the military's media wing said.
In another operation, security forces successfully neutralised 10 forces of Evil in North Waziristan.
In a third encounter, as per the ISPR, the security forces thwarted terrorists' attempt to attack a check post in Thall district and killed three more terrorists.
However,
there's more than one way to skin a cat... six soldiers, having fought gallantly, paid the ultimate sacrifice and embraced shahadat during the intense exchange of fire, said the ISPR.
[GEO.TV] In a major development, rival tribes in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's Kurram district have finally agreed to an ''indefinite ceasefire'' after deadly festivities that claimed at least 133 lives, announced the Kohat Region Commissioner on Friday.
The development came following a grand Jirga, organised to ensure sustainable peace in the restive territory, under the chairmanship of the Kohat region commissioner.
The jirga was attended by over 100 individuals, including elders, from the rival tribes.
The recent episode of festivities triggered by ambush on two separate convoys under police escort, resulting in 52 deaths on November 21. Subsequently, festivities between the warring clans escalated despite efforts to broker a ceasefire.
The violence claimed at least 133 lives and injured 186 others, in total.
In a statement issued today, the commissioner said: "Tribal elders from both sides have agreed on an indefinite ceasefire," adding that the parties have expressed resolved to "sit together" to establish lasting peace in the region.
Meanwhile,
...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth ordered the entire 614th quadrant searched. The Green Lensman must be found!... KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur hailed the peace efforts of the grand jirga and met the members of the body, said adviser to KP Chief Minister on Information Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif quoting the provincial chief executive.
''Over 100 people from both sides attended the jirga,'' he said, adding that it was decided that firing posts would be vacated until the final decision of the jirga.
[LI] As a Roman Catholic, I hope the next Pope is a Catholic Christian capitalist - for a change
Inappropriate to place a Jew on a scarf that has become a symbol of those who want to destroy Israel and exterminate Jews.
Pope Francis inaugurates the new nativity scene called "Betlehem 2024" in the Vatican
Looks like the Pope has also fallen for the absurd claim that Jesus was a Palestinian. pic.twitter.com/nVhsOW8vuL
[IsraelTimes] Drawing on lessons from the latest conflicts, the military begins to arm female surveillance soldiers, move their war rooms away from borders; infantry to get explosives training
After 14 months of fighting in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip and 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... , the Israel Defense Forces’ Ground Forces on Thursday laid out a series of changes it was seeking to implement to face current and future challenges, from expanding its combat engineering forces to giving infantry troops more independence.
Amid the war, top IDF officials have repeatedly said that the military needs to grow in size, though they have never specified exactly where.
According to the Ground Forces, its top priority is establishing a new standing army Combat Engineering Corps battalion. Currently, the military only has four combat engineering battalions in the standing army, but more than a dozen in reserves.
Combat engineers have operated intensively during the war, demolishing hundreds of kilometers worth of Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... tunnels and other infrastructure belonging to the terror group in the Gaza Strip, as well as Hezbollah facilities in Lebanon.
Their intensive activity amid the war has brought top officers to the realization that there needs to be more combat engineers readily available in the standing army.
With the same thinking, the Ground Forces also plans to expand the size of the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit, which has also been used constantly during the war for special operations in Hamas tunnels in Gaza.
In addition to the new combat engineering battalion and expanding Yahalom, the Ground Forces said it would also begin to train infantry forces to carry out simple explosive-related engineering tasks, to free up the combat engineers.
The Ground Forces also seeks to train all of the IDF’s infantry forces to use armored vehicles and become mechanized infantry brigades. Currently, only the Givati and Golani brigades are considered mechanized infantry, while the Nahal Brigade is in the process of adopting more advanced armored personnel carriers.
Infantry units amid the war have largely lacked their own mobility units. Therefore the Ground Forces also plans to provide them with Humvees and light armored vehicles, in addition to the APCs.
In terms of women in the Ground Forces, the IDF said that in 2023, some 7,000 female soldiers served in combat roles, and each year around 1,600 new female fighters are drafted. The IDF has been opening up new combat units for young women joining the army in recent years.
A pilot program in Yahalom, where there is an active all-female team and another team in training, will end in July 2025. Another pilot for women to serve in infantry mobility units began in November, and there are plans for a pilot program for female soldiers to serve in the Armored Corps starting in November 2025.
Additional changes the Ground Forces was working to implement were moving the Combat Intelligence Collection Array’s command centers away from the country’s borders and providing the female surveillance soldiers with weapons.
Female surveillance soldiers, referred to in Hebrew as tatzpitaniyot, have been positioned very close to Israel’s borders with the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. On October 7, the Nahal Oz base next to Gaza, where one such command center is based, was overrun by turbans who killed and kidnapped over 20 surveillance soldiers. The female soldiers, aside from the commanders, were mostly unarmed.
The Ground Forces said that in the coming months, all of the tatzpitaniyot will have weapons, and in the coming years all the command centers will be moved back from the borders.
The Ground Forces seeks to achieve bringing all the reservist units up to the same level as the standing army, in terms of their equipment. Many reserve armored brigades are using older Merkava tanks without active defense systems. Those tanks will undergo upgrades to retrofit them with more advanced systems, including active defenses that are featured in the latest models.
The Ground Forces is also establishing two new divisions and a new brigade for ultra-Orthodox soldiers.
One division, known as the Eastern Division will be tasked with Israel’s border with Jordan.
The second, known as the 96th Division, will be a light infantry force based on volunteer reservists for patrol and routine security during periods of escalation across the country.
Meanwhile,
...back at the abandoned silver mine, there was another explosion... the army’s new Haredi brigade, known as the Hasmonean Brigade, will receive its first company of ultra-Orthodox men later this month.
#1
Problem is, combat engineers are are typically the top 20% test scores of the infantry, diverted for special training. The ASVAB is used to sort them out. You don't get more just because you want them.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
12/08/2024 16:35
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#2
The IDF is a near-universal conscript army though, ed. They’re drawing from a pool that’s flatter and broader than our American volunteer service, I suspect during a zeitgeist that’s much like what we saw here after 9/11.
[FoxNews] A former Massachusetts migrant shelter director is speaking out against what he says were incidents of widespread violence, child sexual assault and rape at shelters in the state
A former director at a Massachusettsmigrant shelter is speaking out against what he says were incidents of widespread violence, child sexual assault and rape at shelters in the state, including an incident where a father impregnated his 14-year-old daughter.
Massachusetts, a sanctuary state, has been one of a number of states that have been overwhelmed by the migrant surge coming from the southern border.
The state has spent nearly $1.1 billion of taxpayers' money this fiscal year to house and feed the border crossers who have often been placed in hotels converted into shelters.
One such migrant shelter in Marlborough, Massachusetts, was managed by Jon Fetherston from November 2023 to July 2024, who painted a chaotic picture of his time there with violence, wasteful spending and rape.
"There was a lot of violence," Fetherston told The Daily Wire of the crowded 550-person shelter at Holiday Inn at 265 Lakeside Ave. "Unfortunately there was a gentleman in the hotel that impregnated his own daughter and got very violent when the state removed her from the shelter."
A Maine Wire report from June appears to corroborate the claim, reporting that illegal immigrant Ronald Joseph allegedly raped his 14-year-old daughter numerous times on the journey to the U.S. — both before and after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Dept. of Children and Families (DcF) interviewed the young girl before making the decision to remove her from her father’s custody on an emergency basis," the document obtained by The Maine Wire states.
Joseph was then given a taxpayer-funded Lyft ride to another shelter in Worcester, Massachusetts, after he started yelling and making threatening gestures at the shelter staff, The Maine Wire reports, citing Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) records.
"They had me send them to Worcester County," Fetherston told the Daily Wire. "And I, for the life of me, don’t understand why he wasn’t locked up. A man who admits he committed rape, you’re just going to put in another shelter so he can rape again another day? It makes no sense."
That shelter is also paid for by taxpayers and residents receive the full slate of benefits while staying there, according to The Maine Wire, which reports that the official report did not recommend that any criminal charges should be brought against Joseph.
In another disturbing incident, Fetherston says that a 16-year-old female student says she was raped multiple times by a 29-year-old man.
"She told the police officer that she was raped multiple times. It was probably the most disturbing conversation I’ve ever heard in my adult life," Fetherston told the Daily Wire.
The man, identified as Gladimy Rodene by The Maine Wire, was arrested, removed from the shelter and was reportedly issued an abuse prevention order, which forbade him from approaching the Marlborough Holiday Inn or the local High School where his victim is a student.
Rodene reportedly sexually assaulted another girl, according to the Daily Wire, citing a report from a security guard recounting a statement from the original victim.
A spokesperson for ICE told The Daily Wire that they do not have a detainer on either of the individuals.
In another violent incident at a Massachusetts shelter, a pregnant woman was allegedly raped and assaulted at a different hotel shelter in July by 34-year-old Haitian national Marc Kervens Beauvais, per the Boston Globe.
In August, ICE says it arrested 26-year-old Haitian national Cory Bernard Alvarez, accused of aggravated rape of a 15-year-old child in a Rockland migrant shelter.
Fetherston also spoke about migrants fighting over microwave access and in one incident, a migrant drove a car into Fetherston’s office, knocking him off his chair, in what he claims was retaliation for refusing to hand out diapers to migrants on government benefits.
"If you were receiving benefits and you were receiving those, then we were going to start scaling back on providing diapers, formula and wipes," Fetherston said. "That did not go over well with the migrants. They thought that they were being attacked. A gentleman then drove his car into my office."
Fetherston told the Daily Wire that his daily tasks included assisting migrants with enrolling in social services like food stamps and government health insurance. The migrants were given three meals a day from catering companies, and he purchased essential items such as toiletries, diapers, strollers and baby wipes for them.
He also coordinated state-paid, same-day dry cleaning for the migrants and arranged Uber rides to work when needed. He added he was given an Amazon budget and other accounts to buy necessities for the migrants with no spending cap.
"They maybe have two days’ worth of clothing on them and they have no toiletries, they don’t have any IDs, they don’t have anything," Fetherston told The Daily Wire. "The state contract was that you provide everything that they would need. So a lot of the days you spent ordering."
The news comes as Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has said that her state police will "absolutely not" be cooperating with the expected mass deportation effort by the incoming Trump administration, warning that she will use "every tool in the toolbox" to "protect" residents in the blue state.
President-elect Trump has pledged to launch the "largest domestic deportation operation in American history" to deport millions of illegal immigrants. One report by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) estimated 50,000 migrants have arrived in the state since 2021.
"I do think it is important that we all recognize that there is going to be a lot of pressure on states and state officials. I can assure you we're going to work hard to deliver," Healey said following President-elect Trump’s resounding election win last month.
Last year, Healey declared a state of emergency in the state due to the surge and called for federal action. She also acknowledged that the state’s policies may be a draw for migrants.
"Many of these families are migrants to Massachusetts, drawn here because we are and proudly have been a beacon to those in need," she wrote in a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
#2
Now we own all this mess. The kids are going to need help. The people offering to help need to be seriously vetted to make sure they aren’t another version of Hillary’s Haitian helpers.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/08/2024 10:35
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#3
We left Massachusetts this time last year. As my wife says, we got out just in time.
I feel like screaming "GET OUT" to our friends who are stills stuck there.
#6
The news comes as Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has said that her state police will "absolutely not" be cooperating with the expected mass deportation effort by the incoming Trump administration, warning that she will use "every tool in the toolbox" to "protect" residents in the blue state.
Here the question was asked: where are the promised Iranian troops and Hezbollah?
The latter is simple: the Lebanese group suffered serious losses in its command and rank and file during the last war with Israel. Therefore, Hezbollah was able to deploy only small forces in Homs, which is most likely its current limit for such operations.
In the case of Iran, everything is more complicated: even if we leave aside the political aspects, the question of logistics arises, namely how to ensure the transportation of troops and material and technical resources. The land corridor through Iraq is closed - Deir ez-Zor was taken by the Kurds, and the desert highway by militants from At-Tanf. The Israeli Air Force does not allow all this to be airlifted to Damascus, threatening to simply shoot down the aircraft.
So in this situation, Iran can only wish Assad a good mood, since it currently has no real opportunity to provide large-scale military support and preserve its “Shiite crescent.”
Posted by: 3dc ||
12/08/2024
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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.
[Wash Examiner] President-elect Donald Trump called for nonintervention in Syria, blaming the escalating situation on former President Barack Obama.
...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...
[MSN] Shaurn Thomas, who was released from prison and paid $4.1 million by the city after serving 24 years for a murder he says he didn't commit, pleaded guilty Thursday to killing a man over a $1,200 drug debt.
Tyler, 33, threw Rickey's pet alligator and Rickey, 30, launched Tyler's crocodile from their Wasilla apartment, Alaska News Source reports.
...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...
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
once a marijuana-busting Caliphornia DA
...formerly Bradley Manning before he decided to become a girl. He, or she or whatever it was, was a misfit Army intel analyst who decided to leak all the secrets he could lay hands on. Sentenced to 35 years in Leavenworth, he was sprung on an Obamapardon in 2017....
...either Ernst Stavro Blofeld or Auric Goldfinger come true...
[FoxNews] When Trump brings the economy back from the brink, Biden and his Democrat allies will deserve no credit
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum....png "Wazoo")
Wazoo
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
