[IsraelTimes] 9 said killed as strikes hit power stations in rebel-held capital Sana’a, Red Sea oil terminal; no Israelis hurt as missile downed, but debris hits Ramat Gan school, fells building
IAF fighter jets were already en route to Yemen when the Houthis launched a ballistic missile at Israel at around 2:35 a.m.
The Israeli military carried out a series of intense Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s that shook Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... ’s rebel-held capital and a port city early Thursday, in a pre-planned operation that coincided with the Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... s firing a missile at central Israel.
No one was injured by the ballistic missile, which the Israel Defense Forces said was downed outside Israeli airspace by the long-range Arrow air defense system, though falling shrapnel caused heavy damage in the city of Ramat Gan. It was the second missile from Yemen fired this week, along with a drone attack.
According to a statement by the Israel Defense Force, dozens of Israeli Air Force (IAF) aircraft participated in the strikes in Yemen — conducted shortly after the missile launch —including fighter jets, refuelers and spy planes, some 2,000 kilometers from Israel. The Houthi "military targets" were struck at the Hodeidah port — which Israel has struck twice before — and for the first time, in the rebel-held capital Sana’a, the IDF said.
Planes hit tugboats used to bring ships into the port and power stations in the capital.
Breaking: New FAFO sighting from Israeli airstrikes in Houthi-controlled Sana'a, Hodeidah and Ras Isa Port pic.twitter.com/IKtPm1YaXo
Overnight, the Israeli Air Force launched airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, in response to the Iran-back group's missile and drone attacks on the country.
The strikes came as overnight the Houthis launched a ballistic missile at central Israel which was intercepted by… pic.twitter.com/zabR24swZq
… which was intercepted by the long-range Arrow air defense system, according to the military.Debris from the interception struck a school in Ramat Gan, causing extensive damage.
According to the military, dozens of IAF aircraft participated in the strikes, including fighter jets, refulers, and spy planes, some 2,000 kilometers from Israel.
The Houthi "military targets" were struck at the Hodeidah port -- which Israel has struck twice before -- and for the first time, in the capital Sanaa, according to the military.
The IAF has been preparing for this strike for several weeks, military sources say.
The projectile set off sirens in central Israel communities due to concerns about falling debris from the interception, which caused extensive damage to a school in Ramat Gan, where a building collapsed. Millions of people were forced into bomb shelters due to the attack, the IDF said.
The military was investigating the incident. In the past, partially intercepted missiles launched at Israel have crashed with their warhead intact and caused extensive damage.
The shrapnel also struck a number of parked cars in the city, which is a suburb of Tel Aviv.
The Houthis did not immediately claim the missile attack but said an important military statement would be issued in the coming hours, following a pattern of how they claim their assaults.
Israeli military sources said the strikes in Yemen were aimed at paralyzing all three ports used by the Iran-backed Houthis on the coast of the country.
All of the tugboats used to bring ships into ports were struck in the Israeli attack.
In Israel’s previous attack on the Hodeida port, the cranes used to unload shipments were struck.
Israel now believes that all activity at the ports controlled by the Houthis is paralyzed, sources said.
Shortly after the missile fire, the Houthi satellite channel al-Masirah reported strikes in Sana’a and the coastal Hodeida province, some of which it said targeted power stations in the capital as well as the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea.
It said the strikes killed nine people.
Unverified video shared on social media purported to show the aftermath of the attack, showing buildings ablaze.
The overnight airstrikes marked the first time the IDF has hit targets in Sana’a and the third time it has struck Yemen in response to Houthi attacks, including in July following a drone attack that killed a civilian in Tel Aviv.
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari confirmed that among the targets hit in the "precise strikes" were "ports and energy infrastructure," which he accused the Houthis of harnessing for "their military actions."
"With their attacks on international shipping vessels and routes in the Red Sea and other places, the Houthis have become a global threat. Who is behind the Houthis? Iran," he said in an English-language video statement while vowing the military "will act against anyone in the Middle East" who threatens Israel.
The airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen overnight were carried out in two waves, according to the military.
Fourteen IAF fighter jets, along with refuelers and spy planes, were involved in the strikes, which had been planned by the military for several weeks in response to the Iran-backed group’s attacks on Israel.
IAF fighter jets were already en route to Yemen when the Houthis launched a ballistic missile at Israel at around 2:35 a.m. The strike was set for overnight due to various operational concerns and efforts to improve intelligence on the targets.
At 3:15 a.m. the first wave of strikes was carried out along the coast of Yemen, hitting the Hodeidah, Ras Isa and Salif ports. Eight tugboats used to bring ships into the ports were also destroyed in the strikes. A second wave of airstrikes at 4:30 a.m. hit two power stations in Sana’a.
In all, dozens of munitions were dropped by the IAF on the five targets, the military said.
The Kan public broadcaster reported that Israel had notified the US before the strike.
Rebel-held Hodeida, some 145 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of Sana’a, has been key for food shipments into Yemen as its decade-long civil war has gone on. There have also long been accusations that weapons from Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... have been transferred through the port — which the IDF referred to in an earlier statement on the strikes.
"Attacking these targets harms the terrorist authorities by preventing the exploitation of infrastructure for military and terror purposes, including transferring Iranian weaponry to the region," said the IDF statement.
The IDF also said that "with Iran’s guidance and funding," the Houthis have acted together with Iran-backed militias over the past year to attack Israel, "undermine regional stability and disrupt global shipping."
"The IDF is determined to continue acting and striking whoever threatens citizens of the State of Israel, at any distance required."
The Houthis have launched over 200 missiles and 170 drones at Israel in the past year. According to the IDF, the vast majority did not reach Israel or were intercepted by the military and its allies in the region.
Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a warning to Houthi leaders on Thursday.
"The long arm of Israel will reach you," he said in a statement. "Whoever lifts a hand will have it severed. Whoever strikes [us], will be struck many times over."
Courtesy of Fred, we have site identification:
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
The Hezyaz Central Power Plant in the Yemeni Capital of Sana'a is fully engulfed in Flames, as the City remains in a Blackout. pic.twitter.com/Fk3TsMHSLN
[IsraelTimes] An anonymous Hamas official tells the Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadeen news outlet that there has been considerable progress in the negotiations for a phased hostage release and ceasefire deal with Israel.
According to the official, Israel’s demand during the first stage of the deal is for the release of 34 hostages on humanitarian grounds — chiefly all remaining women and children, including female IDF soldiers, and the sick and elderly.
And these are all alive? What are their names?
In return, Israel will release an unconfirmed number of Palestinian security prisoners, including some serving life sentences, al Mayadeen reports.
The Hamas official alleges that during the first 42-day phase of the ceasefire, Israel will allow a significantly increased flow of humanitarian aid to enter the Strip, as well as the equipment needed to repair and rebuild Gaza’s hospitals and public facilities.
The official claims that Israel has also agreed to withdraw from densely populated areas in the Strip during the first phase of the deal.
He says that while all parties have agreed to reopen the Rafah Crossing on the border with Egypt during the first phase, the issue of who will maintain control of the crossing has yet to be resolved.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that Israel has agreed to a gradual withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border, and that Hamas had agreed it would not be involved in running the Rafah Crossing.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long vowed that Israeli troops would remain on the route.
The crossing has remained shuttered since May of this year when the IDF launched its offensive in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city.
[IsraelTimes] At the UN Security Council meeting, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield slams Israel’s recent conduct in the West Bank.
While she acknowledges the recent Israeli decision to extend a corresponding banking agreement for another year, which prevents the Paleostinian Authority from collapsing, Thomas-Greenfield says it’s just a start given the dire economic situation in the West Bank.
The US envoy urges Israel to ease restrictions on Paleostinian economic activity, including by re-issuing worker permits for well over 100,000 Paleostinians that were revoked following Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... ’s October 7 onslaught.
Thomas-Greenfield slams Israeli actions that have undercut the PA and dampened prospects for a two-state solution — a framework that the current Israeli government opposes.
Israel continues to withhold hundreds of millions of shekels in Paleostinian tax revenues that the US has long urged Israel to release.
She pans Israel’s recent advancement of plans for over 500 new homes in several settlements throughout the West Bank and laments that more settlement units were approved this past year than in any other 12-month period this last decade. The total number of homes advanced by the end of 2024 will be 9,221.
Thomas-Greenfield calls out continued settler attacks against Paleostinians, noting that many of them have been carried out by suspects living in some of the several dozen new outposts established over the past year — hamlets that are illegal even under Israeli law, but that are rarely subject to any enforcement measures.
Last year saw the highest number of Paleostinians killed in the West Bank since the UN began collecting data in 2005, she says, calling on Israeli authorities to act against the phenomenon and to dismantle illegal outposts.
[IsraelTimes] US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield knocks both Israel and the United Nations for failing to appropriately cooperate to ensure that humanitarian aid can reach civilians in Gaza.
“It is time for Israel and the United Nations to stop working against each other and instead take pragmatic steps to ensure there is no interruption of humanitarian aid delivery to Palestinians in desperate need,” Thomas-Greenfield says in remarks at the monthly UN Security Council session on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The US envoy calls on Israel not to restrict the delivery of aid, lift obstacles that hamper such deliveries and ensure that the recently passed Knesset legislation aimed at dismantling UNRWA doesn’t further harm the aid effort.
But Thomas-Greenfield also urges the UN to work with Israel and other parties to advance a viable plan to ensure the delivery of aid once the Knesset legislation goes into place late next month.
She laments that a recent letter from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s office, defending the work of UNRWA amid a flood of revelations tying the relief agency for Palestinian refugees to Hamas, indicated that the UN “has not yet begun an earnest conversation with Israel regarding implementation of the [Knesset] legislation.
“Nor does it appear that relevant UN agencies have had detailed conversations regarding steps they could take to help ensure continuity of UN aid deliveries to Gaza,” she continues. “With lives in the balance, this must change. The UN must demonstrate that it will continue to work to find a path to support the people of Gaza.”
[IsraelTimes] Emeritus rabbi at Congregation Beth Tikvah says damage limited to shattered glass and the vestibule, invites non-congregants to attend Shabbat solidarity service on Saturday
Assailants Molotov cocktailed a synagogue in a Montreal suburb for the second time in just over a year, the latest in a series of attacks on Canadian Jewish institutions since Hamas ..always the voice of sweet reason... ’s October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel.
As in the other recent attacks on Canadian Jewish sites, no one was injured in the incident.
Mordecai Zeitz, the emeritus rabbi at Congregation Beth Tikvah, a modern Orthodox synagogue in the suburb of Dollard-des-Ormeaux, said the congregants met for morning prayers on Wednesday morning outside the synagogue.
"We were able to recite the morning prayers in an abbreviated way," he said."We did not close even if we had to go outside to avoid the fires on the inside, but we had the fires of Jewish identity and Jewish pride very much front and center, in front of the charred doors of the synagogue," Zeitz told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Flames were seen rising from the building at around 3 a.m. local time. Police later said they found an "incendiary device" near the scene.
"The damage is minor, we are talking about smashed windows and damage caused by smoke from the fire," Montreal police spokeswoman Veronique Dubuc told AFP.
There were no injuries, she said.
Witnesses saw a "suspicious man" leave the area right after the fire broke out, she said, and a another building belonging to a Jewish community group was also damaged nearby.
A criminal investigation was underway, but Dubuc said it was too early to attribute a motive.
Another synagogue in Canada has been firebombed.
Here in Montreal, Congregation Beth Tikvah was targeted with an “incendiary device” in a suspected hate crime.
Attacks on the Jewish community have skyrocketed in the city, yet Mayor Plante has failed to take action against the… pic.twitter.com/SdFwhC0A38
Assailants tossed a Molotov cocktail at the same synagogue in November 2023 just weeks after Hamas’ invasion, which launched Israel’s multi-front war. There have been a number of similar attacks on Canadian Jewish institutions since then, including shots fired at Jewish schools. In August, bomb threats were sent to dozens of Jewish institutions across Canada.
This week’s attack also comes after a violent mostly peaceful pro-Paleostinian demonstration in Montreal in late November where protesters burned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in effigy. And it comes roughly two weeks after an Australian synagogue was Molotov cocktailed.
Zeitz said the damage was limited to the shattered glass and to the vestibule, and that he expected services to be held inside on Wednesday evening. The synagogue was inviting non-congregants to attend a solidarity Shabbat service on Saturday morning, he said, noting that the day school attached to the building had stayed open and functioning.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Warring Democratic factions are in a 'knife fight' for control of the Party after Kamala Harris former senatrix from California, 2020 Dem presidential hopeful and ultimately Joe Biden's intended successor 's humiliating election loss, say political insiders.
The battle lines are now drawn between West Coast liberals, Bernie Sanders
...The only first openly Socialist member of the U.S. Senate. Sanders was Representative-for-Life from Vermont until moving to the Senate for the rest of his life in 2006, assuming the seat vacated by Jim Jeffords. He ran for the 2016 nomination for president, to be cheated out of it by Hillary Clinton, then went back to being an Independent socialist, waiting for 2020 to roll around... -socialists and moderate technocrats in the Midwest, who insist the party has completely lost touch with the average American voter.
But first, there is one thing that all sides seemingly agree on: The current political establishment must be chased out of national politics for good.
A reckoning is coming.
'The people that are responsible for this s**tshow are the Obama people. They're just grifters,' a well-connected Democratic donor exclusively told Daily Mail.
He singled out Jen O'Malley Dillon, who went from Biden 2024 campaign chair to serve in the same role for Harris's camp, and David Plouffe, an ex-Obama 2008 campaign manager turned top Kamala adviser.
Deep-pocketed lefty patrons are enraged by Plouffe's post-election admission that Harris never led Trump in their internal campaign polling, despite public surveys showing her ahead.
'[Polls] came out in late September, early October, showing us with leads that we never saw,' Plouffe revealed late last month on the Democrat-friendly podcast 'Pod Save America.'
'They lied to us. It's just a circus of lies,' the donor erupted, complaining that Harris' team regularly painted a much rosier picture when speaking to supporters who were signing big checks.
Particularly appalling to these critics is that Harris' campaign also managed to blow through an unprecedented $1.5 billion in donor cash over the course of 15 weeks — and with barely anything to show for it, losing control of the White House, Senate and failing to flip the House of Representatives.
The campaign, for instance, spent nearly $1 million to light up the 366-foot-high, 516-foot-wide LED screen wrapping around The Sphere arena in Las Vegas.
The strip landmark played a 90-second Harris campaign ad for a week.
'$900,000 to put her face on The Sphere in Las Vegas! The ego!' griped Democrat mega-donor and trial attorney John Morgan last month. He describes himself as a 'Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. Too old and senile to be prosecuted, not too old and senile to set national policy... Democrat.'
Other examples of alleged profligate spending included $2.5 million on the production costs for an Oprah Winfrey town hall event in September.
And there were purported donations totaling $500,000 paid to the civil rights hustler Al Sharpton ...Tawana Brawley's spiritual advisor... 's National Action Network charity (Harris was later treated to a softball interview on Sharpton's MSNBC show).
'People are pissed, and they are rightfully pissed,' fumed Democratic strategist Mike Nellis, a former senior advisor to Harris, to the Mail.
Donors like John Morgan are seriously suspicious.
'There's a lot of whispers. There's a lot of names about who got paid this, who got paid that, and a lot of people got rich on the back of donors trying to stop Trump,' he said.
Of Harris, he concluded, 'I think this disqualifies her forever. Forever.'
'If you can't run a campaign, you can't run America... The same thing is going to follow Harris for the rest of her career. She cannot be trusted with the money.'
Certainly, those vying to be the next boss of the Democratic National Committee are determined to get to the bottom of all of this.
Ken Martin, the Minnesota Party chair and frontrunner for the top DNC (If you're white you ain't right!) ...Democrat National Committee, where all those off-the-wall talking points originate... job, has called for a third-party audit of the entire Democratic party infrastructure.
'I think you're looking at everything. It's not just contracts and consultants, it's not just ad spends and media buys, it's A through Z,' he told MSNBC this week.
Another DNC chair hopeful, Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler agrees: 'There needs to be a full review, a full and formal evaluation of this last cycle — the good, the bad and the ugly.'
Regardless, Harris insists she is not going anywhere and has, according to reports, been 'instructing advisers and allies to keep her options open.'
The VP still has supporters, even among those vying to be the next chair of the DNC.
Consultants speaking to the Mail described her four-month race as 'near perfect' and 'nearly flawless,' despite the result. If given more time, they say, Harris could bounce back in a future bid.
'Kamala Harris, whether she knows it or not, is the face of the party, if she wants to be,' said Democratic strategist Michael Trujillo. 'The day after Trump is sworn in she could announce her run for president in 2028.'
They blame Biden for staying in the race too long and not giving Harris enough time to get a campaign off the ground.
Indeed, relations between the Harrises and Bidens has appeared to turn downright frigid.
At a Kennedy Center award ceremony in Washington DC on Sunday, the president and first lady were seated next to the second couple, yet they didn't acknowledge their presence or even look in their direction.
Things are getting ugly.
Former Speaker Nancy San Fran Nan Pelosi Congresswoman-for-Life from the San Francisco Bay Area, born into a family of professional politicians. On-again-off-again Speaker of the House. It's not her fault when they lose, but it's her accomplishment when they win. Noted for her heavily botoxed grimace and occasional senior... uhhh... moments... is reportedly working behind the scenes to sabotage on Congresswoman Alexandria Boom Boom Ocasio-Cortez Dem Congressgirl from da Bronx in Noo Yawk and leader of the Mean Girl Caucus in Congress. One of the Great Minds of the 21st Century, she is known as much for her innaleck as for her dance moves. She is all in favor of socialism, even though she's fuzzy on the details. She was the inventor of the Green New Deal, though she doesn't talk about it much anymore bid to become ranking member of the powerful House Oversight Committee.
Former reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown ...home of Al Capone, the Chicago Black Sox, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel... mayor and outgoing ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel has in recent weeks been vocal in slamming his party for its elitism, focusing too much on woke notions and special interests instead of the average American.
'Here's what I would say to the Democrats ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... : You have a YETI cup? Sit down and shut up,' said Emmanuel this month.
Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, Governor Gavin Governor Hair Gel Newsom ...mayor of San Franciscoas it transformed itself into Poopville, currently governor of Californiaas it transforms itself into Cinderland... threw a shovelful of dirt on Biden's political grave after the president's pardon of his son Hunter despite vowing that he would not.
'I took the president at his word,' Newsom said last week. 'So by definition, I'm disappointed and can't support the decision.'
And even Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has gotten in on the action.
He triggered an angry response from establishment Democrats almost immediately after the election, when he lamented Harris's 'disastrous campaign' for 'abandoning' the working class.
To some, all this bloodletting is welcome.
'Stare into the abyss and see what comes of it because I think that the Democratic Party does a poor job of having tough internal conversations about what went right and what went wrong,' said former Harris adviser Nellis.
But it's what comes next that's most critical — and there already early signs of the skirmish.
'There's a reckoning inside the Democratic Party,' said CNN ...formerly the Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for... commentator and left-wing activists Van Jones. 'Kamala Harris promised us freedom... well, she delivered it to us, because now we're free from having to run anything in Washington, DC.'
#3
'They lied to us. It's just a circus of lies,' the donor erupted, complaining that Harris' team regularly painted a much rosier picture when speaking to supporters who were signing big checks.
Well, those donors don't sound too bright then. It's not like the MSM wasn't painting a rosy picture, either. Besides, they were buying influence and it failed. Sour grapes, anyone?
#5
'They lied to us. It's just a circus of lies,' the donor erupted, complaining that Harris' team regularly painted a much rosier picture when speaking to supporters who were signing big checks.
Unlike Samuel Benjamin Bankman-Fried's scheme, you won't be able to have Yellen get your money back from the public treasury.
#6
This story was posted several hours ago and nobody's ordered popcorn yet? You're leaving it to me who doesn't get up until 7 a.m. Pacific time? C'mon.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/19/2024 11:55
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#7
This is the best entertainment we've had in years!
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/19/2024 12:01
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#8
@#5 - At least Scam Bankrupt-Fraud had all charges of campaign finance dropped. /sarc
[ABC] Court disqualifies Fani Willis from Georgia election case against Trump, but indictment still stands
The Georgia Court of Appeals has disqualified Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from her prosecution of President-elect Donald Trump and his co-defendants in their election interference case.
"After carefully considering the trial court's findings in its order, we conclude that it erred by failing to disqualify DA Willis and her office," the court ruled.
The indictment against Trump and his co-defendants still stands, the court said.
Trump and 18 others pleaded not guilty last year to all charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.
Defendants Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis and Scott Hall subsequently took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants.
Thursday's ruling leaves the question of who takes over the case -- and whether it continues -- to the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia. That decision may be delayed if Trump or Willis continues their appeal to the state's highest court, Georgia's Supreme Court.
The case has been on pause after Trump and his co-defendants launched an effort to have Willis disqualified from the case over her relationship with fellow prosecutor Nathan Wade. Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee declined to disqualify Willis, leading Trump to appeal that decision.
The appeals court ruled to disqualify Willis and her entire office from the case because "no other remedy will suffice to restore public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings," the ruling said.
"The remedy crafted by the trial court to prevent an ongoing appearance of impropriety did nothing to address the appearance of impropriety that existed at times when DA Willis was exercising her broad pretrial discretion about who to prosecute and what charges to bring," the order said, reversing Judge McAfee's original decision.
Wade, who had been the lead prosecutor in the case, resigned as special prosecutor in March after McAfee issued his ruling that either Willis or Wade must step aside from the case due to a "significant appearance of impropriety" stemming from a romantic relationship between the DA and the prosecutor.
While the appeals court disqualified Willis and her office, it did not find enough evidence to justify "the extreme sanction" of tossing the entire indictment against Trump and his co-defendants, as Trump had sought in his appeal.
"While this is the rare case in which DA Willis and her office must be disqualified due to a significant appearance of impropriety, we cannot conclude that the record also supports the imposition of the extreme sanction of dismissal of the indictment under the appropriate standard," the ruling said.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/19/2024
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[11154 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
She should be brought up on criminal charges, debarred and put in prison.
[Breitbart] Two Russian oil tankers were wrecked in the Kerch Strait over the weekend, coating almost 40 miles of Black Sea coastline in heavy fuel oil.
Several towns along the coast have declared a state of emergency, while a furious Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the Russians of causing an environmental catastrophe by sending two “old, poorly maintained” ships into rough seas.
“These ships were nearly 50 years old. They shouldn’t have been in operation at all, especially in this part of the waters and during this season. Right now, our sea is facing yet another environmental disaster caused by Russia,” Zelensky said on Tuesday.
The two ships in question are 50-year-old tankers called Volgoneft 212 and Volgoneft 239. They were sailing through the Kerch Strait, which separates Russian-occupied Crimea from the Ukrainian mainland, when they ran into 25-foot waves and 45 mile-per-hour winds.
Each ship was loaded with thousands of tons of low-grade heavy oil known as mazut. This type of fuel is rarely used in the West, where it is generally referred to as “waste oil.” Russia and the former Soviet satellite states make much heavier use of mazut in their boilers and furnaces.
The storm in the Kerch Strait ripped Volgoneft 212 in half, leaving the horrified crew to watch as the bow of their ship drifted away. According to the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, one member of the crew was killed, two are still missing, and the other 12 have been rescued. Two of the rescued crew members have been hospitalized in serious condition.
Volgoneft 239 ran aground off the village of Taman, Russia at around the same time its sister ship was breaking up. The crew was rescued after weather conditions improved.
Greenpeace Ukraine said on Monday that at least 3,700 tons of oil have spilled from the two ships — an even larger spill than in 2007, when a damaged tanker bathed both sides of the Kerch Strait in oil and caused environmental damage that took years to heal.
“Any oil or petrochemical spill in these waters has the potential to be serious,” Greenpeace Research Laboratories chief Dr. Paul Johnston said on Tuesday.
“It is likely to be driven by prevailing wind and currents, and in the current weather conditions, is likely to be extremely difficult to contain. If it is driven ashore, then it will cause fouling of the shoreline which will be extremely difficult to clean up,” Johnston said.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, yet another Russian-flagged tanker, the Volgoneft 109, issued a distress call from the Kerch Strait due to a damaged cargo tank. The third ship is also carrying about 4,000 tons of mazut. The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations insisted the situation aboard the Volgoneft 109 is “not critical.”
Marine scientist Sergey Stranichny told Russia’s state-run Tass news service on Wednesday that copious amounts of oil are continuing to leak from the wreck of Volgoneft 212. Stranichny said the growing oil spill could be clearly seen on satellite images.
[FoxBusiness] Teamsters represents about 10,000 workers at ten Amazon facilities across the United States.
Thousands of Amazon workers organized under the Teamsters union went on strike at 6 a.m. Thursday after the company's "repeated refusal to follow the law and bargain."
Amazon Teamsters at seven facilities in Skokie, Illinois; New York City, Atlanta, San Francisco and Southern California are participating in the "largest strike" against the trillion-dollar company in American history, the union said in a news release. Workers at other facilities are prepared to join them.
Though Teamsters says it represents about 10,000 people across ten Amazon facilities in the U.S., the company doesn't recognize workers' affiliation with the union.
Amazon says the Teamsters union is "intentionally [misleading] the public" because they don't represent Amazon employees and drivers, company spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a statement to Fox Business.
#1
Great timing there Teamsters. Screwing the public to make your message. If the employees deserve it or not, you suck for making the customers Christmas a possible mess...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/19/2024 16:26
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#2
Skokie, Illinois; New York City, Atlanta, San Francisco and Southern California
[TennesseeConservative] New Tennessee Bill Would Require Parents Of Juvenile Delinquents To Pay Fine For “Law Enforcement Expenses”
State Representative John Gillespie (R-Memphis-District 97) is sponsoring a new bill that would require Tennessee’s juvenile courts to charge parents for expenses incurred by law enforcement, if their child commits a third or subsequent offense.
House Bill 0038 (HB0038) as introduced, amends Tennessee Code Annotated Title 37 by requiring “a juvenile court, upon finding a child has committed a third or subsequent delinquent act, to enter an order of restitution against the parent, legal custodian, or guardian who had custody of the child at the time of the act for the expenses incurred by any law enforcement agency in responding to and investigating the delinquent act.”
So, if a child commits a third or subsequent offense, Tennessee courts would be required by law to charge the parents money.
While Tennessee courts would not be required to do this for a child’s second offense, they would be allowed to under this legislation.
According to the bill text, “If the child is found to be delinquent for a second delinquent act, the court may enter an order of restitution against the parent, legal custodian, or guardian who had custody of the child at the time of the act for the expenses incurred by any law enforcement agency in responding to and investigating the delinquent act.”
The restitution order would have to be at least $250 if the act committed by the child would be a misdemeanor for an adult, and at least $500 if the act committed by the child would be a felony for an adult.
Neither restitution order could exceed $1,000 under this legislation.
Additionally, the bill notes that if the child’s parent, legal custodian, or guardian is found indigent by the court, restitution may be waived.
However, if restitution is waived, the court is required to order the child’s parent, legal custodian, or guardian to perform community service work instead.
The amount of community service work that a child’s indigent parent or guardian would be required to perform is not established within this legislation.
If passed by the General Assembly, this legislation would take effect on July 1st, 2025.
The intention behind this bill is likely to decrease Tennessee’s juvenile recidivism rate by forcing parents and guardians of juvenile delinquents who are not taking much initiative, to take more responsibility for the actions of the child they are raising.
Perhaps, this is the push that some parents and guardians need to get more involved in preventing their child from committing criminal acts.
A potential concern however, may be that this requirement could put undue additional stress and pressure on some parents and guardians who are already actively trying to right the path of their child.
This concern may be especially magnified for indigent parents and guardians who on top of everything else, would be faced with a fine that they cannot pay or community service that they must take time off work and/or time away from other minor children to perform.
The bill does not currently have a Senate version or sponsor.
#1
Fabulous. They are going to target at-risk youth's parents and criminalize them. Most likely parent, the mom. Most of these kids are from broken homes w/o fathers.
What could go wrong with this demographic that does so well with the court system. You dont get community service unless you are found guilty and if you are found guilty, you will be some type of probation. This will create way more problems for at-risk broken home families than the bill will solve.
[MAIL] 'What happens after we die?' is the most existential question humans face.
But a man with one of the highest IQs in history claims to know the answer.
Chris Langan, 72, is an American horse rancher who is alleged to have an IQ between 190 and 210. That 'genius' score is 30 to 50 points higher than Albert Einstein's.
Langan has developed a hypothesis called the Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe (CTMU), which he says 'explains the connection between mind and reality.'
He believes that when we die, we transition from one form of being to another within the computational structure of reality, meaning the consciousness, or 'soul,' moves to another dimension or plane of existence we cannot access while alive.
#2
Moorehouse wrote about this stuff in the mid-90's. The effort gained visibility during the Red Brigade kidnapping and eventual rescue of US General James Lee Dozier from his apartment in Verona, Italy in December 17, 1981.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
12/19/2024 9:42
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#4
Do you believe in Synchronicity?
What is the commonality btwn synchronicity, us, and the universe? To me, seems synchronicities are too structured and personal to be random and coincidence, so how are they created, formed, and personalized for us?
#5
Synchronicitiesare coincidences that seem to be meaningfully related but are not explained by conventional cause and effect. The term was introduced by analytical psychiatrist Carl Jung, who believed that synchronicities reflect deep psychological processes and can carry messages.
Here are some examples of synchronicities:
Having similar thoughts with someone who is far away
Having a mental image of an unexpected event before it happens
Receiving a text message from a friend you were just thinking about
Some say that synchronicities can be a sign that you are on the right path. Others say that synchronicities can be a way to mark your life and journey.
#6
how are they created, formed, and personalized for us
For us?
Interesting.
I had assumed/imagined they were deceitful artifacts of the anthropomorphism engine, correlation of the unassociated dissimilar into a recognizable pattern, fractalized for categorization and long term memory storage.
A face in an apple, on someone that you meet moments later.
Knowing that the phone would ring. Anticipating a call from someone you know.
Calling someone that was just reaching for the phone to call you.
Having exact change for a purchase in your pocket.
Intuiting the form of the curve of a thrown baseball as a partial differential equation solution in your CRC solution book.
Sometimes, time isn't linear when tagged to the memory of a sensory event.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Journalist Tucker Carlson successfully lobbied President Donald Trump to keep his former Secretary of State and CIA director Mike Pompeo out of his second administration, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Trump's decision to block Pompeo from his administration demonstrates his willingness to trust non-traditional media sources and outsider confidants rather than establishment figures with experience in government.
Pompeo, a four-term congressman from Kansasm was first in his class at West Point, and a graduate of Harvard Law University before entering the Trump administration in 2017 as the director of the CIA.
Trump shifted Pompeo to the State Department in 2018 after the disappointing tenure of former Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson, the president's first choice to lead the department.
Carlson has long been a public critic of Pompeo, in particular because of his reported attempt to assassinate Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
'Mike Pompeo, who is a very sinister person, the worst, and I always thought that and I've told Trump that, never should have let him run CIA or State,' Carlson said in a podcast interview with TV star Roseanne.
The story of Pompeo's efforts against Assange were first reported by Yahoo News in 2021, based on 'conversations with more than 30 former U.S. officials.'
Carlson, who urged Trump to pardon Assange, continued hammering Pompeo even after he left office.
'Mike Pompeo tried to have him murdered,' Carlson said, and added, 'Why is Mike Pompeo not in prison?'
Pompeo, Carlson repeated, would repeatedly flatter Trump to get him to trust him and his advice on foreign policy, which was that of a committed pro-war neo-conservative.
“Mike Pompeo, I saw it up close, and I saw it intimately close, is a liar and a flatterer,' he said.
Carlson also grew wary of Pompeo after the former CIA director's lawyers contacted him after he spoke about the John F. Kennedy assassination on his Fox News show.
'I spoke to someone who seen the documents two years ago and I got one fact out of them, which is yes the CIA was involved,' Carlson said during a 2024 interview with podcaster Joe Rogan. 'I thought that was news, so I went on TV and said that.'
'His lawyer called me and said, you know, you should know that anyone who tells you the contents of classified documents has committed a crime,' Carlson continued. 'He's threatening me.'
Carlson also blamed Pompeo for convincing Trump not to release the full investigative files of the JFK assassination to the public.
Mike Pompeo is the one who pressed Trump to keep those documents secret,' Carlson said to Rogan. 'Pompeo did that. I think Pompeo is a really sinister person and a criminal. I think that. I think that because the facts suggest that he was caught.'
Carlson told Rogan that Pompeo 'fully expects to become the Secretary of Defense' and called the idea 'completely insane.'
'Why would you give a criminal nuclear weapons?' he asked.
While he was still at Fox, Carlson also criticized Pompeo for escalating tensions with Iran after Trump killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani in a drone strike.
'It seems like about 20 minutes ago, we were denouncing these very people as the Deep State and pledging never to trust them again without verification,' he said in a 2020 Fox News segment. 'Now for some reason we do seem to trust them implicitly and completely.'
Carlson was one of many high-profile critics of Pompeo's views on foreign policy that Trump took to heart as he began drafting officials to serve in his cabinet.
Billionaire Silicon Valley investor David Sacks also opposed Pompeo, noting that the former Trump official was determined to expand NATO and escalate the conflict with Russia for launching a war with Ukraine.
'He's dangerously out of step with President Trump's views,' Sacks wrote before ultimately deleting his post on X.
Sacks also criticized an Wall Street Journal op-ed penned by Pompeo about the best way to proceed on the war in Ukraine.
'This is not a peace plan; it's a way to start WW3,' Sacks wrote bluntly.
Comedian Dave Smith, a libertarian, also voiced his criticism of Pompeo after Trump won the election.
'The "stop Pompeo" movement is great but it's not enough. Right now we need maximum pressure to keep all neocons and war hawks out of the Trump administration,' Smith wrote. 'They have had their time at the table and brought nothing but disaster to the world and this country.'
Smith's political influence has exploded in recent months after Rogan endorsed him as someone who 'actually knows what he's talking about.'
Donald Trump Jr. publicly agreed with Smith and indicated he would follow up with his father.
'Agreed 100%!!! I'm on it,' he wrote.
Hours later Trump announced on social media that Pompeo would not be invited back.
'I will not be inviting former Ambassador Nikki Haley, or former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to join the Trump Administration, which is currently in formation,' Trump wrote.
Pompeo was clearly angling for a position in Trump's second administration, even attending a rally with him in Pennsylvania before the election.
At the rally, Trump praised Pompeo as a 'great guy' and urged him to 'stand up' to be recognized.
But after Trump publicly announced Pompeo would not be invited back, he expressed his disappointment on social media.
'Mr. President - I was proud to work with you too. As you said, when we were together last week, you and I built the plan that made the world safer & led to no new wars,' he wrote on X.
#2
I think Trump's appointee process needs to be (or should have been) monitored. He hasn't learned his lesson from his last rodeo despite his version of TDSers saying he has. Same old, same old.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] A 19-year-old student who wanted to find 'peace' with herself shot a classmate at a high school in the northern Brazilian town of Natal on Tuesday, the Rio Grande de Norte Civil Police said.
Authorities said that Lyedja Santos spotted an 18-year-old classmate along the hallway and shot him in the head at the E. Berilo Wanderley School.
Santos, who is in the 11th grade, then walked inside a classroom and attempted to shoot a teacher as students were about to being taking a test, but the gun got jammed, Brazilian news outlet G1 reported.
A student who was in the classroom told Inter TV Cabugi that one of their male classmates rushed at Santos and was able to restrain her.
'We were in the classroom about to take the test and she called her friends to talk to her, to talk about the classroom. A short time passed, about a minute, and we only heard the shot,' the student said.
'We didn't know for sure if it was a shot, we thought it was a bomb. She entered the classroom armed, aimed at the teacher's head, but the gun jammed,' they recalled.
'When it jammed, she turned her back to try to run, and the boy in the classroom jumped on top of her and managed to pull her away.'
The Rio Grande do Norte Military Police recovered the .38 caliber revolver that Santos had in her possession as well as three knives and several books about serial killers.
Authorities also found a handwritten note that Santos had on her in which she detailed the motive behind the failed school massacre.
'I acted alone, I acquired everything on my own and no one knew anything about it,' she wrote.
'To my friends and family, I thank you for everything you have done for me and I am sorry for everything I have caused. I would never have dreamed of dying like this, but this was the best option.
'I loved each and every one of you, even if I didn't show it. I hope you understand and forgive me, because that is the only way I will find peace.'
The wounded student, who is also an 11th grader and whose name has not been released, is in stable condition at Monsenhor Walfredo Gurgel Hospital, his father told G1.
'There is an entry and exit hole, the bullet was not lodged,' said Ilzeany Dilis, a nursing technician with the Mobile Emergency Care Service.
'At the time [of the shooting], he was conscious, oriented, and had vomiting symptoms. He had a CT scan, was evaluated by a neurologist and his health is fine.'
#4
A friend (whose paperwork was mislaid, or he might have been a sub that day), says the shooter shot everyone in the room, except two students. It wasn't just the teacher, per speculation in the first link. And if there was any bullying, it wasn't visible to the kids who sat next to her or had a locker next to her; on the contrary.
Wild guess, in light of her "manifesto" and the 2nd link--the parents were getting desperate and hoped the Christian school would be a good influence.
Posted by: James the lesser ||
12/19/2024 17:16
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#5
@#4
Generation Lockdown, broken family, non-stop Modern Feminism Revenge Prrn...wonder what meds she was on?
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] The Commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazloum Abdi, announced on Tuesday his readiness to establish a demilitarized zone in Ain al-Arab (Kobani) and deploy security forces under American supervision and presence.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Abdi explained that the proposal aims to address Ottoman Turkish concerns and ensure lasting stability in the region.
The Manbij area, which has an Arab majority in northeastern Aleppo province, is controlled by the Manbij Military Council, composed of local fighters operating under the umbrella of the SDF, with the Kurds being its backbone and supported by the US.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2024
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[11154 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
The fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime has disrupted the Middle East’s largest drug network, exposing Syria’s role in industrial-scale Captagon production, a stimulant fueling a $10 billion global trade.
I recall that although Captagon was produced in Assad's Syria, the manufacturing was the price of having Hezbollah fight on the side of the regime during the Syrian Civil War (which is when Captagon became a thing) and is mostly operated by Hezbollah and Iran.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The person detained on suspicion of murdering the chief of the radiation, chemical and biological defense troops, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, did not maintain ties with terrorists, the Uzbekistan-24 TV channel reported on December 18.
"Information about this citizen was immediately sent to Moscow. He did not maintain ties with terrorists and was not held accountable," the TV channel reported, citing a source.
On the same day, it became known that the suspect in the terrorist attack against Kirillov was allegedly named Akhmad Kurbanov. Earlier, the representative of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs Irina Volk reported that the perpetrator of the terrorist attack was detained in the village of Chernoye in the Balashikha District of the Moscow Region.
As noted by the official representative of the Investigative Committee Svetlana Petrenko, the detainee explained during interrogation that he was recruited by the Ukrainian special services. According to him, it was on their instructions that the man came to Moscow, received a homemade explosive device, which he attached to an electric scooter parked at the entrance to the apartment building where the general lived. The man also admitted that for committing the terrorist attack he was promised a reward of 100 thousand dollars and travel to one of the European countries to live.
The bomb explosion that killed Kirillov and his assistant occurred early in the morning of December 17 on Ryazansky Prospekt in Moscow. The general's driver, who was waiting for him in his official car, was concussed and injured by glass fragments. The power of the homemade explosive device exceeded 1 kg of TNT.
The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under three articles of the Russian Criminal Code: murder, terrorist act, and illegal trafficking of weapons and ammunition (Articles 105, 205, and 222 of the Russian Criminal Code).
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Russian units have stopped the advance of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) in the Kursk region, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov said on December 18.
"The enemy's advance has been stopped. Air strikes and artillery fire have thwarted attempts by mobile groups of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and foreign mercenaries to break through deep into Russian territory," he said at a briefing for military attachés of foreign countries.
According to Gerasimov, Russian military personnel continue to destroy and force out Ukrainian fighters and foreign mercenaries from some of the settlements they have occupied.
On December 17, Regnum news agency reported that in the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost up to 260 soldiers in the Kursk direction. The enemy also lost three combat armored vehicles and a RAK-SA-12 MLRS launcher. In total, since the beginning of hostilities in the Kursk region, Ukrainian units have lost more than 41.6 thousand soldiers.
Earlier, the British magazine The Economist wrote that the situation of the Ukrainian military after the invasion of the Kursk region is getting worse. As one of the officers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces noted, the Russian forces have a huge advantage both in personnel and in weapons and equipment.
The Kiev regime's Kursk adventure is a crime against the people of Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on December 16. The head of state added that throwing the enemy out of the Kursk region is the sacred duty of the Russian Armed Forces, and the task of the special services is to find and punish the criminals.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] The Syrian Salvation Government (SSG), formed after the fall of Damascus, is gradually resetting contacts with its former allies, in particular, Qatar.
A high-level delegation of Qatari diplomats visited Damascus on Sunday to “finalize preparations” for the opening of the country’s embassy. After 13 years, Doha, which supported the Syrian opposition “from afar,” is officially returning to Syria, giving the new authorities a chance to strengthen their international status.
However, despite the warm welcome, other allies of yesterday's opposition have their own plans for developing ties with the "new Syria." And here Qatar will have to show some urgency to keep up with its competitors.
FRIENDS OF THE OPPOSITION
In 2011, Doha froze relations with Damascus in response to "repressive measures" taken by the government of Bashar al-Assad to suppress mass protests.
In addition, the Qatari authorities quickly established channels of communication with the armed opposition in Syria: in 2013, their first “diplomatic mission” in the region opened on Qatari territory.
Individual Qatari philanthropists provided financial support to the “born of the revolution” by launching special charity projects and supplying food and supplies to Idlib, which is controlled by anti-government forces.
However, the fact of support for the opposition and the reduced level of diplomatic relations with official Damascus did not prevent Qatari business from consistently developing the Syrian market.
By mid-2024, at least two Qatari banks, several dozen large technology and trading firms, as well as a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises were operating in Syria (at the representative office level).
Moreover, during the diplomatic crisis (2017–2021), when Qatar found itself politically isolated by most of its Arab partners, the Syrian market turned into one of the “windows” that allowed Doha to bypass the economic blockade and keep its own exports afloat.
The fall of the Assad regime gives Qatar the opportunity to take economic cooperation with Syria to a new level and take over a part of the market that was previously controlled by other players, such as the Iranians.
Given its solid economic background, Doha has every chance of taking the position of one of the leading partners of the “new Syria” – especially in light of the willingness of Qatari leaders to unfreeze investment programs for the post-war reconstruction of Syria.
Another opportunity that has opened up for Qatar is the revival of the joint gas pipeline project with the Turks through Syrian territory, which was “cut short” at one time due to the fundamental disagreement of the Assad government.
The new Syrian authorities are showing interest in the project, seeing it as an opportunity to strengthen not only their international prestige, but also their local power, and are ready to provide their partners with every possible assistance.
Of course, Qatar is showing much less zeal here than its ally Turkey (the key beneficiary of the project) – for Doha, the gas pipeline project still looks like a “side project”. Especially considering that over the past decade, the country has been consistently building up its gas fleet, making seaborne LNG deliveries its “calling card”.
At the same time, the opportunity to strengthen influence on official Damascus through smart investments in infrastructure is interpreted positively by the Qatari government.
THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE WHO WANT TO
Despite the intensive dialogue between Doha and Damascus and the mutual desire to take relations to a new level, Qatar is far from the only contender for a leading role in the development of the “new Syria.” And, more importantly, it is not the only major sponsor of yesterday’s opposition.
Turkey is pulling the blanket over itself, in whose eyes Doha is still a “junior partner” in the alliance of the two countries, and therefore can only act in Syria as a supporter of Turkish foreign policy plans.
There is a rationale for such claims. Ankara was among the first to initiate a discussion about unfreezing and increasing foreign investment in the “new Syria”; it was also at its instigation that the forgotten gas pipeline project returned to the forefront.
In addition, Turkey was among the first to launch a discussion on the possible rehabilitation of the representatives of the “Idlib freebooters” and the removal of the terrorist organization label from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham* (HTS*). It is not surprising that, with so many efforts, Ankara demands that the new Syrian authorities prioritize their interests.
In addition, Qatar's neighbors on the Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, will not allow Qatar's influence in Syria to grow too strong. And this is not just a matter of economic interests, although Riyadh and Abu Dhabi are not averse to developing new niches in local markets.
The Arabian monarchies still suspect Doha of secret sympathies for Iran and fear that Qatar will try (through the new Syrian authorities) to maintain the Iranian transit corridor through Syria, thereby creating new threats to Arabian interests in Iraq and Lebanon.
Finally, Qatar's position inside Syria is affected by the deepening contradictions between factions of the new Syrian government. The disagreements that have been accumulating since the "Idlib liberties" have only intensified with the fall of Damascus (although they are carefully hidden from the eyes of external partners).
And despite the fact that Doha is currently trying to build relations with the PSS as a whole, without singling out any specific party or group, sooner or later it will have to choose a favorite.
True, the longer Qatar takes a wait-and-see position, the fewer factions in the new government are left without a strong external patron. And Doha is not in the mood to “beat off” someone else’s creature – at least for now.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Ilya Ropshin
[REGNUM] On the morning of December 17, an explosion thundered on Ryazansky Prospekt in Moscow. An unknown person detonated an explosive device planted in a scooter left near the entrance of a residential building. At that moment, the head of the NBC Protection Troops of the Russian Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, and his assistant, Major Ilya Polikarpov, came out of the entrance. They died of the injuries they received. The explosion was so strong that it blew out the windows of the building across the street.
A criminal case has been opened into the deaths of Kirillov and Polikarpov under the articles “Murder,” “Terrorist Act,” and “Illegal Circulation of Weapons and Ammunition.”
Two suspects, one of whom is a foreign citizen, have already been detained on the trail. The criminal said that he came to Moscow on the instructions of the Ukrainian special services, received an explosive device and attached it to a scooter near the entrance where the general lived. For carrying out the terrorist attack, he was promised 100 thousand dollars and a trip to the European Union. The terrorist organized an online broadcast from a car-sharing car for his employers, who were in Dnepr (Dnipropetrovsk). The legality of his stay in Russia is currently being determined.
It is noteworthy that less than a day before the terrorist attack, the office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine accused Kirillov of “using chemical weapons.”
"The prosecutor's office and the SBU worked together. When the saboteurs in Moscow reported their readiness to carry out a terrorist attack, the prosecutor's office declared a suspicion. All for the sake of PR effect. Like, they declared him an enemy and eliminated him within 24 hours," former Verkhovna Rada deputy Oleg Tsarev commented on this "coincidence."
After the terrorist attack, Western and Ukrainian media, citing sources in the special services, reported that the Security Service of Ukraine was behind the explosion. This was later confirmed by the SBU itself.
"Today's attack on Lieutenant General Igor Kirilov, head of the radiation, chemical and biological defense troops of the Russian Armed Forces, is a special operation of the SBU," the statement said.
PROVEN METHOD
Kirillov is not the only victim of the Ukrainian special services. On the evening of December 10, the Telegram channel "YuVAO Online Moscow" published a video from Kotelniki, which borders Moscow.
"A murder was committed in the Kuzminsky forest park area. Presumably, it was a contract killing. The assailant escaped," the caption to the video said.
Two days later, on December 12, Ukrainska Pravda, citing a number of sources, reported that Mikhail Shatsky, deputy general designer of the Mars Design Bureau, who was busy upgrading the Kh-59 missiles to the Kh-69 level, had been killed in Kotelniki. The publication stated that "this was a special operation by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine."
The very next day, December 13, Russian media, citing Telegram news channels, reported that an explosion of a Toyota Land Cruiser belonging to Gennady Devyatkov, deputy director for production at the Machine-Building Design Bureau (KBM), had been prevented in the Moscow region. KBM develops and produces missile systems for various purposes, including Iskander, Shmel, and Igla.
It is noteworthy that the talk about unleashing targeted terror in Russia in Ukraine began immediately after the start of the SVO. At the same time, it was proposed to use not Ukrainian agents, but representatives of the criminal world.
"Representatives of the criminal world are unlikely to refuse money that they will be paid for a night visit to the home of some military man with further actions against this military man, his wife and their children. So, in a complex. Therefore, it is possible, in principle, to establish, and it will not even be necessary to ask to risk the lives of the special services, to risk the lives of Ukrainian guys. It is necessary to simply establish contact with Russian, Dagestani, Chechen criminals. Even contact the Tajiks," said political strategist Vladimir Petrov, working for the office of the President of Ukraine, back in April 2022.
But in addition to the perpetrators, there is also the question of the informants: how do the Ukrainian special services find out the addresses of the people they are interested in and who helps them with this.
"VOLUNTARY" HELPERS
A little over a day before the terrorist attack on Ryazansky Prospekt, another investigation by Ukrainian OSINT-er and journalist Anatoly Ostapenko was released on the YouTube channel "Telebachennya Toronto". This time, the video was dedicated to American Daniel Martindale, who managed to cross the front line and get to Russia.
However, Ostapenko was interested not so much in Martindale as in his acquaintance, Russian officer Vladimir Gniteyev.
The latter had previously been targeted by Ukrainians, his data had appeared on the infamous website "Peacemaker". But Ostapenko found out not only the officer's place of service, but also his current residential address. At the same time, Ostapenko, according to him, used leaked databases, including food delivery services.
Earlier, thanks to the same leaked databases, Ostapenko found out the address of the female employees of the Novator Design Bureau, which produces Kalibrs. It is noteworthy that in that episode, Ostapenko admitted to collaborating with the Ukrainian Defense Forces. In addition, the OSINT agent threatened the women he had de-anonymized.
And that's not even the "bottom". Thus, Ostapenko's "colleagues" - sex blogger Polina Maiko, who fled Mariupol, and the OSINT agency Molfar - revealed the identities of the children of Russian military pilots. Maiko tried to write a denunciation of one of the children for "insulting the feelings of believers".
Ukrainian OSINT specialists work in coordination with Ukrainian special services. For the latter, outsourcing such work is a real salvation. The one who can attract funding through a bright story on a YouTube channel is engaged in finding out data from open sources.
However, there are also blunders. Thus, the BIHUS.Info publication, in an investigative frenzy, accused a network of cosmetology clinics operating in Ukraine and Armenia of “aiding the aggressor.” It turned out that another clinic in the network operated in Saratov, not far from the Russian strategic aviation base in Engels.
According to the "investigators", the clinic was founded by relatives of the adviser to the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, known for his pro-Western position. It is noteworthy that the story was soon closed for viewing by Russian citizens. Apparently, BIHUS.Info realized (or was prompted) that the clinics might have questions not from the SBU, but from the FSB. Because if the network of clinics is collecting information, it is clearly not in the interests of Russia.
WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
Of course, targeted terror is not an invention of the modern Kyiv regime. After Kirillov's murder, many remembered the "attentats" - the murders carried out by Banderovites during and after the war.
The victims were both political opponents of the Banderites (not only communists like Yaroslav Galan : one of the most famous attentats was the murder of Melnyk nationalists Mykola Stsiborsky and Omelyan Senik ), as well as teachers and doctors whom the Soviet government sent to Western Ukraine. The more desperate the situation of the Banderites, the more brutal the reprisals were. Thus, journalist Galan was hacked to death with an axe by a member of the OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists - a terrorist organization whose activities are banned in the Russian Federation) Mykhailo Stakhur.
As a result, measures against nationalists were tightened. The work of the MGB was strengthened in Lviv. The result included the liquidation of the commander of the UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army - a terrorist organization whose activities are banned in the Russian Federation) Roman Shukhevych. Stakhur was found, arrested, then tried and hanged.
As for Ukrainian OSINT-ers, who it is time to stop perceiving as journalists and start considering them as employees of the Ukrainian special services, they have sponsors.
The already mentioned Ostapenko release is accompanied by an advertisement for the OKKO gas station chain of the Galnaftogaz concern. OKKO regularly sponsors Ukrainian foundations like "Come Back Alive", providing them with money to purchase weapons. In essence, this is about financing terrorist activity. Thus, the OKKO network becomes a legitimate target.
Its president, Vitaly Antonov, lives not in Ukraine, but in Switzerland. The authorities of that country will probably find it useful to know that they have a sponsor of terrorist attacks on Russian territory.
At the same time, OKKO is far from the only private sponsor of Ukrainian OSINT-ers and volunteers. The same head of the "Come Back Alive" foundation, Taras Chmut, has repeatedly thanked the Kyivstar mobile operator for assistance in purchasing weapons and equipment. The company's president, Oleksandr Komarov, interviewed Chmut several times, in which he also discussed the foundation's cooperation with the mobile operator.
At the same time, "Come Back Alive" is not an ordinary fund. The selection for work there is carried out with the help of the SBU and the GUR. And the same Chmut, after the beginning of the SVO, visited the USA, where he met with congressmen, among others.
Thus, the infrastructure of the Kyivstar company can also be considered as military or supporting military activities.
It is more effective to hit not only and not so much the OSINTers, who in Ukraine will post mortem be declared “independent journalists” and fighters for everything good, but their wallets: to make the very cooperation with OSINTers and volunteers as toxic as possible.
What is characteristic: the Ukrainian command does not particularly reflect on civilian/non-civilian targets, but systematically disables Russian oil refineries. Perhaps Russia should adopt this tactic as a countermeasure and start disabling oil storage facilities and even individual gas stations, as well as mobile towers of sponsors of terrorist attacks in Russia.
But it is important not to forget another important detail. The Ukrainian special services and military had teachers and inspirers. British specialists taught Ukrainians how to mine, including household items. And the restructuring of the GUR and SBU after 2014, turning them into terrorist structures, took place under the close supervision of the United States.
And no hypocritical laying of flowers in Murmansk to the British and American military attachés should make us forget how the protégés of the British and Americans blew up people in the capital of Russia.
[IsraelTimes] A tunnel in southern Lebanon that served as a Hezbollah command center was recently demolished by combat engineers, the IDF says.
According to the military, the underground facility was used by Hezbollah to direct numerous rocket attacks on Israeli towns in the Galilee in the past year.
Troops located weapons, surveillance equipment, and other military gear inside the tunnel, the IDF says.
The IDF says several weapons depots were located near the tunnel, including one inside a mosque, where hundreds of explosive devices, guns, grenades, and other equipment were stored.
After the tunnel was fully investigated by the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit, it was blown up.
במהלך הפסקת האש: לוחמי צה"ל גילו מפקדה גדולה של חיזבאללה - והשמידו אותה | תיעוד pic.twitter.com/1vvqjpDj81
[IsraelTimes] A new Tel Aviv University study has revealed “encouraging data regarding coexistence in Israel,” with 57.8% of Arab Israelis saying they “believe that the ongoing war has fostered a sense of shared destiny between Arabs and Jews in Israel,” the university says in a press release.
The study was conducted by the Konrad Adenauer Program for Jewish-Arab Cooperation at the university’s Moshe Dayan Center.
The announcement noted that a June 2024 survey had found only 51.6% of Arab respondents felt the same. And a similar study conducted in November 2023, just a month after the October 7, 2023, attacks, showed that “the majority of the Arab public (69.8%) said the war had harmed solidarity between Arabs and Jews,” it says.
And so “the current figure represents a statistically significant increase in this metric,” the release notes.
The press release highlights further results from the current survey:
Only 9% of Arab Israeli respondents said that “their Palestinian identity is the dominant component of their identity,” with 33.9% noting Israeli citizenship, 29.2% citing religious affiliation and 26.9% their Arab identity as the “dominant elements” in their personal identity.
Just 6.7% “think Hamas should continue governing the Gaza Strip after the war,” while 20.7% favored the Palestinian Authority, 20.1% a multinational force, 17.9% Israel and 15.8% “local Gazan entities.”
More than half of the respondents, 53.4%, said “a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia could signal a positive regional development,” and almost half (49.2%) said that “resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should not be a precondition for such an agreement.”
A majority of Israeli-Arab respondents, 71.8%, “support the inclusion of an Arab party in the Israeli government after the next elections,” with some 47.8% supporting Arab parties joining “any government, not just a center-left coalition.”
At the same time, a “weak sense of personal security,” largely caused by “the high incidence of violence in Arab communities,” was reported by 65.8% of the respondents.
A majority, 65.1%, reported “a relatively good economic situation.”
“It appears… that under the dark shadow cast by the war over all citizens of Israel, both Arabs and Jews, meaningful bright spots are emerging, that could redefine the rules of the game in the post-war era,” says Dr. Arik Rudnitzky, project manager at the Konrad Adenauer Program for Jewish-Arab Cooperation.
Linked article is available only through a VPN.
[EngMilRu] The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation.
In Kharkov direction, units of the Sever Group of Forces inflicted losses on armed formations of one mechanised brigade of the AFU and one territorial defence brigade near Zolochev and Volchansk (Kharkov region).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 50 troops, one armoured fighting vehicle, and four 122mm D-30 howitzers.
Units of the Zapad Group of Forces improved the tactical situation and inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of one mechanised brigade, one assault brigade of the AFU, and one territorial defence brigade near Novomlynsk, Zagryzovo, Lozovaya (Kharkov region), Ivanovka, Torskoye, Terny (Donetsk People's Republic), and Novoyegorovka (Lugansk People's Republic). Two counter-attacks launched by assault detachments of the enemy were repelled.
The AFU losses amounted to up to 540 troops, one infantry fighting vehicle, one U.S.-made M113 armoured personnel carrier, one Polish-made Rosomak armoured personnel carrier, two pickup trucks, one UK-made 155mm FH-70 howitzer, one 152mm D-20 gun, three 122mm 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled artillery systems, two 122mm D-30 howitzers, one U.S.-made 105mm M-119 gun, and one U.S.-made 105mm M-101 howitzer. One Kvertus electronic warfare station was destroyed.
As a result of decisive actions, units of the Yug Group of Forces liberated Trudovoye (Donetsk People's Republic).
Losses were inflicted on formations of two mechanised brigades, one mountain assault brigade, one infantry brigade of the AFU, and two territorial defence brigades near Dronovka, Chasov Yar, Reznikovka, Zvanovka, Fyodorovka, and Petrovskoye (Donetsk People's Republic).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 350 troops, one armoured fighting vehicle, two motor vehicles, and one 122mm D-30 howitzer.
One U.S.-made AN/TPQ-50 counter-battery radar and one ammunition depot were destroyed.
As a result of successful offensive operations, units of the Tsentr Group of Forces liberated Starye Terny (Donetsk People's Republic).
Losses were inflicted on manpower and hardware of two mechanised brigades, one assault battalion of the AFU, two territorial defence brigades, and one special operations brigade near Dzerzhinsk, Zarya, Katerinovka, Shevchenko, Pravdovka, and Shcherbinovka (Donetsk People's Republic). In addition, 11 AFU counter-attacks were repelled.
The AFU losses amounted to up to 440 troops, one Canadian-made Senator armoured fighting vehicle, two motor vehicles, three 152mm Msta-B howitzers, two 152mm D-20 guns, and one 122mm D-30 howitzer.
Units of the Vostok Group of Forces continued advancing to the depth of the enemy's defences and inflicted losses on formations of two mechanised brigades of the AFU and two territorial defence brigades near Velikaya Novoselka, Zelenoye Pole, Razliv, Bogatyr, and Vremevka (Donetsk People's Republic). One counter-attack launched by the enemy's units was repelled.
The AFU losses amounted to up to 160 troops, one UK-made Snatch armoured fighting vehicle, one 152mm 2S3 Akatsiya self-propelled artillery system, one 122mm Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system, and one 152mm D-20 gun.
Units of the Dnepr Group of Forces inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of one mechanised brigade, one mountain assault brigade of the AFU, and one territorial defence brigade near Antonovka, Sadovoye (Kherson region), Nesteryanka, and Kamenskoye (Zaporozhye region). Two counter-attacks launched by the enemy's formations were repelled.
The AFU losses amounted to more than 70 troops, two motor vehicles, two 152mm D-20 guns, and one 122mm 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system.
Operational-Tactical Aviation, attack unmanned aerial vehicles, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Groups of Forces struck infrastructure of military airfields, UAV workshops and depots, as well as engaged AFU manpower and hardware clusters in 139 areas.
Air defence units shot down one U.S.-made HIMARS MLRS projectile and 43 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles.
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 650 aircraft, 283 helicopters, 37,910 unmanned aerial vehicles, 590 anti-aircraft missile systems, 19,834 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,501 MLRS combat vehicles, 19,803 field artillery guns and mortars, and 29,294 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.
In the course of offensive operations, units of the Sever Group of Forces inflicted losses on formations of four mechanised brigades, one tank brigade, three air assault brigades, one naval infantry brigade, two territorial defence brigades, and two assault battalions of the AFU near Aleksandriya, Viktorovka, Daryino, Kositsa, Kruglenkoye, Lebedevka, Leonidovo, Malaya Loknya, Martynovka, Melovoy, Russkoye Porechnoye, Sverdlikovo, Staraya Sorochina, and Cherkasskaya Konopelka.
Operational-Tactical and Army aviation and artillery inflicted losses on the enemy's manpower and hardware near Guyevo, Kolmakov, Kurilovka, Maryevka, Makhnovka, Nikolayevo-Daryino, Novoivanovka, Novaya Sorochina, Orlovka, Pogrebki, Rubanshchina, Cherkasskoye Porechnoye as well as Basovka, Belovody, Veselovka, Vodolagi, Zhuravka, and Miropolye in Sumy region.
Over the past 24 hours, the AFU losses amounted to more than 210 troops, two tanks, two infantry fighting vehicles, one armoured personnel carrier, four armoured fighting vehicles, two motor vehicles, one Croatian-made RAK-SA-12 MLRS launcher, one 152mm D-20 gun, and one 122mm D-30 howitzer.
Since the beginning of hostilities in Kursk region, the AFU losses amounted to more than 41,870 troops, 244 tanks, 184 infantry fighting vehicles, 127 armoured personnel carriers, 1,283 armoured fighting vehicles, 1,152 motor vehicles, 318 artillery guns, 42 MLRS launchers, including 11 of HIMARS and six of MLRS made by the USA, 13 anti-aircraft missile launchers, seven transport-loading vehicles, 75 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.
[IsraelTimes] Palestinians told to move away from 4 residential areas in Bureij; Hamas-run authorities say at least 12 killed in recent strikes; IDF probing reports of attack on hospital
The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday ordered another evacuation in central Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... ahead of an offensive in the area, even as Israel and Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... appeared to inch closer to a hostage-ceasefire deal in the 14-month war.
"This is an advance warning ahead of an offensive," IDF front man Avichay Adraee posted on X, asking the residents to move to a "humanitarian zone" in the Muwasi area.
The order included four residential block areas in Gaza’s central Bureij, where Adraee said that Paleostinian operatives had fired rockets at Israeli troops.
The order came after sources with knowledge of the Gaza talks told Rooters on Tuesday that CIA Director Bill Burns was set to meet Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... i Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Doha on Wednesday to try to bridge the remaining gaps between Israel and Hamas on a hostage-ceasefire deal.
Three US, Israeli, and Arab officials have told The Times of Israel that a renewed push to close an agreement before US President-elect Donald Trump ...So far he's been unkillable, and they've tried.... takes office has made progress, though major obstacles remain, despite various reports touting breakthroughs in the negotiations.
President Isaac Herzog was set to meet Wednesday with Trump’s Mideast envoy, Adam Boehler, in Jerusalem. Boehler, a former aide to Jared Kushner, met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week.
The deal on the table includes a six-week pause in fighting during which Hamas would release 30 hostages, including three of the four who are dual Israeli-US citizens, in exchange for Israel releasing hundreds of Paleostinian security prisoners.
US State Department front man Matthew Miller said on Tuesday that "cautious optimism is a fair way to characterize it, though very much tempered by realism."
Meanwhile,
...back at the pound, the little lost dog backed into the corner and showed its teeth. And what big teeth they were!... the Hamas-run civil defense agency in Gaza said on Wednesday that IDF strikes across the Strip had killed at least 12 people, the majority of them displaced Paleostinians taking shelter in a house in the north.
Civil defense front man Mahmud Bassal told AFP that 10 Paleostinians were killed when an Israeli strike at dawn hit a house in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahia.
There was no immediate comment from the IDF on the strikes.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
Later on Wednesday, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia said that "gunfire and tank shells" caused a fire in the intensive care unit, with some patients suffering burns.
Hospital director Hossam Abu Safia told AFP that staff had to quickly move all patients out of the intensive care unit.
The IDF said it was looking into that incident.
Elsewhere in northern Gaza, Bassal said a child was killed and several others maimed in a strike that hit a house in Jabalia, where Israeli forces have focused their operations in recent months.
Overnight, a tent in an Israeli-designated safe zone in the southern Gaza Strip was hit, killing one Paleostinian, according to the civil defense front man.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] The parents of a volleyball player who was left with serious brain damage after she was knocked to the ground by a transgender opponent have broken their silence and have urged families to 'pull your kid' from sports games.
Payton McNabb was 17 when a ball spiked by a trans opponent with force struck her in the face, threw her to the ground and left her unconscious while she played a volleyball match in September 2022.
I have a female cousin who suffered a concussion during some kind of weird body contact "game" during a team-building exercise sponsored by her employee. All participants wore a balloon like suit to cushion themselves and ran full speed into their opponents. A video shows her colliding with a man who appeared 50% larger than she was, at full running speed. Both wore the protective suits, which turned out not to be that protective for her. She rebounded like tennis ball served by a pro player, went limp and was unconscious for a while after landing on the floor.She suffered headaches & various neurological problems for days or weeks afterward. The whole notion of this "game" was ridiculously dangerous. IMNSHO she could have sued her employer for its sponsorship of this disaster.
The only way to win at "games" like these is not to play. Complete boycotts of "sports" like these would be a good start.
#1
Injury = A former high school volleyball player, who suffered a brain hemorrhage... Payton was left with brain damage and paralysis on her right side, which ended her dreams of getting a volleyball college scholarship and has made it difficult to walk without falling... As McNabb hit the floor and was subsequently carried off the court in a stretcher, the gym fell into silence...
FFS woke people are complete idiots, it took a review to determine:
A major review carried out last year found that early exposure to testosterone in trans women mean they possess at least eight physical and mental attributes that could give them an advantage in sports... Trans women were also shown to have greater muscle mass and bone density, as well as bigger lungs, higher oxygen levels in the blood and increased connections in the area of the brain responsible for spatial awareness.
We're already back to 2017. Bullshit reports spreading like wildfire, only to be snuffed out after a day of freakouts. Cycle will begin with something new tomorrow. Time is a flat circle. pic.twitter.com/tDAQT5SggF
[Modernity] Reuters Fact Checks Babylon Bee Article Stating ‘Allahu Akbar’ Has Replaced ‘Cheerio Mate’ As UK’s Favoured Farewell.
Reuters is at it again with their team of ‘fact checkers’. They’re targeting The Babylon Bee, a satirical website, over an article that states the most favoured farewell in the UK, ‘cheerio mate’ has been replaced with ‘Allahu Akbar.’
The humorous satire piece states, “A recent poll conducted by the University of Oxford just revealed that ‘Allahu Akbar’ has officially replaced ‘Cheerio, mate!’ as the most popular greeting in the UK,” adding that experts called the results of the “survey” a “flippin’ landslide, old bean.”
Kyle Mann, the Editor-in-Chief of the Babylon Bee, shared the lunacy on X, noting that “Reuters fact-checkers reached out for comment on our Babylon Bee story about ‘Allahu Akbar’ replacing ‘Cheerio Mate’ in the UK. I tried to help them out.” Mann then shared screenshots of the ridiculous message he was sent by Reuters.
The message reads “I’m contacting you from the fact-checking desk at Reuters. We investigate false and misleading claims spreading on social media. Our fact checks can help curb the circulation of misinformation.”
By going after satire, OK.
The message continues, “We’re currently looking into a claim that, sharing a Babylon Bee article, says “Allahu Akbar” has officially replaced “Cheerio, mate!” as the most popular greeting in the UK. I have pasted it below for your convenience.”
“We plan to write a fact check to set the record straight. It’s clearly a satirical article but I am reaching out to you should you wish to challenge this or comment in the fact-check article. Please get in touch if you would like to,” it ridiculously adds.
If it’s “clearly a satirical article” why are they wasting time ‘fact checking’ it?
[X]
Reuters fact-checkers reached out for comment on our @TheBabylonBee story about 'Allahu Akbar' replacing 'Cheerio Mate' in the UK. I tried to help them out. pic.twitter.com/obHm9qB7cG
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] Mohammad Ali al-Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... , a member of the Supreme Political Council, confirmed that the American-British Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s on the capital Sana'a and Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... i provinces will not deter the Yemeni people from supporting the Paleostinian people in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... This came during a visit by Mohammad Ali al-Houthi, along with Minister of Information Hashim Sharaf al-Din, to the al-Ardi complex in the Bab al-Yemen area of Sana'a, to inspect the damage caused by two airstrikes waged by the US- British aggression forces early today.
He pointed out that the US-British airstrikes will not affect the Yemenis or their military capabilities. ''The more the US targets and bombs Yemen, the more steadfast, defiant, victorious, and prepared we become for confrontation,'' he said. Well all good then. On to victory, assholes!
''If the US and British attacks were able to achieve their goals, we would have stopped on the first day. However,
it was a brave man who first ate an oyster... the Revolution Leader clearly stated that the US threatened to stop humanitarian relief and launch direct military actions against Yemen, making multiple threats if Yemen did not stop supporting Gaza. The Revolution Leader's response was explicit: our operations in support of Gaza will not stop until the aggression and siege on Gaza end,'' he added.
''The attacks by America and its allies continue against our country, but targeting the capital Sana'a and other provinces will not deter us from supporting Gaza. We are moving in the right direction, and we fully understand the truth of the grievances faced by the Paleostinian people, just as the Yemeni people face their own hardships,'' he stated.
He explained that the US Navy and the countries attacking Yemen are afraid of the heroes, leadership, and personnel of the Ministry of Defense. ''The steadfastness of our heroes is due to their belief, awareness of the hegemonic plans of America, Britannia, and Israel, as well as their love for their homeland and their understanding of the nature and course of the conspiracy being woven against the Yemeni people,'' he added.
Mohammad Ali al-Houthi considered the leader's weekly speech as a motivation for the people of Yemen, particularly for the Ministry of Defense and the Yemeni army, which faces the enemy with pride, innovation, and continued development of military capabilities according to the guidance of the wise revolutionary leadership.
''We assure the Yemeni people that the al-Aradi complex will remain a symbol of resistance, steadfastness, and defiance. Its heroes will defeat all aggressors and will not fear anyone,'' he declared.
''Yemen does not care about America or its allies in the region, because we have faced them for ten years. We are now in a phase of de-escalation, and if Washington stops its support for the Zionist enemy, which is annihilating the people of Gaza, that would be a better option for us to halt military operations,'' added the Supreme Political Council member.
He condemned the US-British airstrikes, considering them barbaric and terrorist acts that will not change Yemen's position in supporting Gaza and the Paleostinian cause. He stressed that the battle continues against all who attack our country.
Mohammad Ali al-Houthi reiterated that ''America's interests are being targeted by the Yemeni armed forces, which have prepared a plan to confront America within the framework of their operational capacity. The Yemeni people and the army heroes, led by the Revolution Leader, will not fear any movement. The strikes of our heroes in the missile and drone forces has reached the Mediterranean, Arabian, Red, and Indian seas, and even 'Yaffa.' We have no red lines as long as the sons of Yemen are being bombed and targeted, and as long as the war of annihilation continues in Gaza.''
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[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] The health ministry in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... said on Tuesday that the Israeli army committed three massacres in different areas of the Gaza Strip during the past 24 hours, and killed and injured at least 110 civilians, while a large number of victims are still under the rubble of bombed buildings or lying on roads.
In a statement, the health ministry explained that the Israeli army killed and injured a large number of civilians in different areas of Gaza during the past 24 hours, but at least 31 deaders and 79 maimed citizens arrived at hospitals.
The health ministry added that the corpse count from the ongoing Israeli bombardments and shooting attacks climbed to 45,059 deaders and the number of the maimed surged to 107,041 people.
The Gaza Strip has been under brutal bombardment since a cross-border operation was launched by Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... 's armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, on October 7, 2023.
Besides the large number of casualties and the huge displacement of people, basic food, fuel, water and medical supplies have run out for the 2.3 million residents in Gaza due to the tight Israeli blockade and the massive destruction of infrastructure and facilities.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
I don't think Gazans get along well with numbers.
#2
As has been documented here in RB by others.
The UN/HAMAS/GAZA/Etc. method of counting lacks any realistic validity.
But, what if the number is 1/2 what's stated?
Remember, PA & Gazan's actively have assisted the genocidal Anti-Israel Terrorists for years. A large number even directly assisted Hamas, and still are hiding Oct 7th hostages.
Previously hampered by a lack of imagination, learning finally occurs.
[IsraelTimes] While many US Jewish organizations believe in free speech, they are hoping the incoming president will curb antisemitism on college campuses and in schools.
#3
1&2^
Several people have written about why people hold untenable beliefs after getting lots of evidence of the falsehood of the beliefs.
Essentially, the pleasure of thinking oneself morally superior is so great that it overwhelms the analytical part of the intellect. It takes a significant emotional experience (like seeing your wife arrested and raped for no crime) or a significant physical one (like being robbed and beaten) to overcome the feeling.
Most of this has been explained by defectors from Communism but also from defectors from NYCity and LA leftism.
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12/19/2024 19:23
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[IsraelTimes] Despite negative findings, study says educational content related to the Holocaust and Jewish history has improved since last report in 2016
[BREITBART] President-elect Donald Trump ...So far he's been unkillable, and they've tried.... has filed a lawsuit against pollster J. Ann Selzer due to her poll in the days before the election, which absurdly showed him trailing Vice President Kamala Harris What can be, unburdened by what has been by three points in Iowa.
Trump attorneys Edward Paltzik and Alan Ostergren filed the 29-page lawsuit Monday in the Iowa District Court for Polk County, seeking a jury trial. They allege that the defendants, including Selzer, the Des Moines Register, which sponsored the poll, its parent company Gannett Co., Inc., and Tribune Company, engaged in ''brazen election interference'' to benefit Harris. Fox News first reported that Trump had filed the suit.
The poll, conducted October 28-31 and published November 2, days before the election, was an extreme outlier. It found Harris with a 47 percent to 44 percent edge on Trump in the former swing state, which he won comfortably in 2016 and 2020.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
I am not sure how you can miss that bad in a state that you know intimately for years. It’s possible that she cooked the data. Alternately she could be incompetent. If it gets to discovery, we will find out, but I don’t think it will get there under this Iowa statute. The end result will probably be libs suing the three of four accurate pollsters that don’t fall in line with the fakes.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/19/2024 7:37
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#2
Lawyers and insurance providers open a new liability insurance scam.
#3
Trump’s lawsuit argues that Selzer, the other defendants, “and their cohorts in the Democrat Party hoped that the Harris Poll would create a false narrative of inevitability for Harris in the final week of the 2024 Presidential Election.”
They have been trying to rig elections for some now with their phony polls. I wonder how much they are being sued for? This ought to chill down this fraud and election interference in the election system. Need to go after lawfare with a sledge hammer and wrecking ball as well.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] Options for cooperation with Syria were voiced by Ramzan Kadyrov as part of a PR campaign by the Russian authorities, who are trying to save face after the fall of the Assad regime, analysts said.
As reported by the " Caucasian Knot ", on December 16, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, outlined the idea of cooperation with the "new authorities of Syria" in order to "prevent a humanitarian catastrophe" in Syria. He proposed excluding the group "Hayat Tahrir al-Sham"*, which seized power in Syria, from the Russian list of terrorist organizations and sending Chechen security forces to that country to "patrol the streets" and transfer "experience and knowledge to the Syrian police."
On December 1, the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham* group forced Syrian government troops to leave Aleppo, which had been controlled by President Bashar al-Assad's army since 2016. On the night of December 8, armed opposition fighters entered Damascus. Assad left the presidency and left the country. Sources reported that he and his family arrived in Moscow. By December 15, the situation in Aleppo had stabilized, and the city's residents had returned to peaceful life.
Ramzan Kadyrov's statement was commented on to the "Caucasian Knot" by political scientist and orientalist, author of the Telegram channel "Nerusskiy" Rinat Mukhametov, orientalist and political analyst Harun Sidorov, as well as Turkish journalist and political scientist Salman Niyazi.
Russia's statement through Ramzan Kadyrov about its readiness to cooperate with the new Syrian government, patrol Syrian streets and remove Hayat Tahrir al-Sham* from the list of terrorists is an element of a PR campaign that has little to do with real life, Rinat Mukhametov believes.
"This is more of a propaganda campaign. The issue of Russian bases has more real grounds, but I don't think that in the long term they have any chance of staying there, including with Turkey's participation. Russia will be allowed to leave, saving face, so as not to complicate relations with the new authorities and Turkey itself. The issue of Russian bases will develop precisely in this vein," he said.
Mukhametov ruled out any anti-Israeli military activity by the new Syria in the near future. "They are interested in preserving the country, and they do not need conflicts with those who are obviously stronger, and in a confrontation with whom they will simply be destroyed.
Hopefully HTS will indeed be that wise.
Hamas itself expressed support and understanding of this situation, especially since Hamas has not been based in Syria for a long time - in recent years, its centers were in Qatar and Turkey. Therefore, Syria has not been so important for it for a long time," the orientalist believes.
THIS WILL NOT AFFECT REFUGEES IN THE CAUCASUS
Relations with the new government will not affect the attitude of the Russian and Chechen authorities to refugees in the Caucasus, as well as the situation of Palestinian refugees in Syria itself, the expert believes. "This will not affect refugees in the Caucasus - this is a parallel process. As for the Palestinians, I think the situation with the refugees will not change - they will remain in Syria," Mukhametov said.
In October 2023, the Muslims of the North Caucasus reacted sharply to the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Refugees from Palestine began to arrive in the regions of the North Caucasus Federal District. A year later, more than 200 refugees from the Gaza Strip lived in Chechnya, and a Palestinian national and cultural autonomy was created in the republic.
KADYROV'S STATEMENTS ARE PART OF THE POLITICAL BEHAVIOR THAT MODERN GROZNY IS DEMONSTRATING
Speaking about Turkey's reaction to the possible presence of Russian forces in Syria in the person of Kadyrov's men, Rinat Mukhametov called the presence of any conflict of interest in this issue minimal. "In Turkey, no one takes the presence of Kadyrov's men seriously. No one will raise this issue, stir it up or react. Kadyrov's statements are part of the political behavior that modern Grozny is demonstrating, nothing more," he said.
The preservation of the Russian presence in Syria can be called a negative development of the situation, but such a possibility is not excluded, believes Harun Sidorov. "It is impossible to completely exclude such a possibility. Although it should be noted that the statements that this is a settled issue may be a kind of information operation of Russian propaganda. This is intended to sweeten the pill and, so to speak, save face - to the extent that it is possible for them. Especially considering that they have largely lost it in Syria, where the fall of the Assad regime is undoubtedly a huge defeat for Russia and Putin personally. Therefore, it is possible that these conversations, even if the issue is not resolved, are intended to create the impression that "not all is lost" and that these two bases, for which they allegedly fought, will remain. Russia is trying to present the situation as if it came out with minimal losses," the orientalist said.
According to him, the new Syrian authorities "may decide to temporarily or limitedly retain Russian bases for reasons of playing on checks and balances between external players." "Statements have been made [in Syria] that Russia will be given the opportunity to "reset relations." It is possible that such a decision will be made temporarily, so that Russia can save face, although this will not correspond to reality. Technically, it is clear that the withdrawal of equipment and infrastructure takes time," said Harun Sidorov.
VIEWING RUSSIAN MILITARY BASES AS A COUNTERWEIGHT TO ISRAEL IS NAIVE
Turkey's role, according to the expert, could be that of a mediator in this matter. "It could indeed play a mediating role in the negotiations. It is difficult to say on what basis the bases could remain - supposedly as a counterweight to Israel. But it is absolutely obvious that Russia and Israel have established behind-the-scenes interaction and coordination on key issues for Israel. It is naive to consider Russian military bases as a counterweight to Israel: in all this time, except for voting on declarations in the UN, Russia has done nothing that would really threaten Israel. The Russian presence can be explained by anything, but not by a real confrontation with Israel," Sidorov noted.
At the same time, Ankara’s interests are more obvious and are aimed at both resolving the Kurdish issue and interacting with the Syrian democratic forces and maneuvering in relations with the West, he said.
"Theoretically, we cannot rule out a scenario in which Turkey would benefit from preserving the Russian bases in exchange for something, and it would ask the new Syrian authorities to meet them halfway. However, this is not obvious, especially considering the contacts of the new Syrian authorities with the British leadership after the visit of Turkish Defense Minister Hakan Fidan. Turkey has normal relations with Britain, and if the British influence the situation, preserving the Russian bases will become unlikely," Sidorov predicted.
In his opinion, there are no grounds for changing the situation with Palestinian refugees in Russia in connection with the change of power in Syria. These are "different cases," Harun Sidorov explained. "The reception of Palestinian refugees, including Muslim regions of the Russian Federation, remains part of Russia's reputational policy in the Islamic world and a means of its "positioning as a defender of the Palestinians."
Defending the Palestinians against who? You have already stated that Russia will not stand against Israel. And Russia certainly is not going to defend the Palestinians against HTS, the new rulers of Syria.
There is no logical connection with the change of power in Syria in this context. However, given the lack of logic in Russian policy, nothing can be ruled out in principle," he said.
The attitude of the new Syrian authorities to the Palestinian issue will be two-tiered, the expert noted. “Ideologically, the Syrian authorities are certainly on the side of the Palestinians. Julani [Ahmed al-Sharaa, known as Abu Muhammad al-Julani] himself said that the mujahideen should strive to come to Jerusalem.
Interesting. Hezbollah has been describing those killed by the IDF post 10/23/2023 as having died on the road to Jerusalem…
At the same time, HTS* [Hayat Tahrir al-Sham] and Julani are demonstrating a patient strategy for the long term. After the fall of Aleppo, when full-scale military actions froze, HTS tacitly observed a ceasefire. Then they needed a break and a reboot, and this allowed them to return to solving strategic tasks. Israel is a more serious factor than the Assad regime. If it took time to strengthen relations with Assad, then with Israel this task is many times more difficult. Therefore, the new Syrian authorities will avoid being drawn into a confrontation with Israel, which now could be suicidal. The Israeli leadership, however, is doing a lot to provoke Syria into conflict, but so far the new government has not given in to this,” Sidorov said.
The analyst ruled out the possibility of military activity by Palestinian groups in Syria. "The priority of the new government now is to establish itself as a state, strengthen itself, and restore the army and infrastructure. This follows from the statements of Julani, who emphasizes the need to think like a state, not like an opposition. Thus, the new Syria will avoid being drawn into a military confrontation with Israel, especially given that HTS* does not control the entire country. There are unresolved issues in relations with the Syrian National Army, Turkey, the Kurds, and the Druze. This process will be difficult, and only after Syria is strengthened as a state will it be possible to assess the prospects for decisive action, including on the Palestinian issue," Sidorov concluded.
Russian military bases in Tartus and Khmeimim play an important role in ensuring Russia's interests in Africa, but their future remains in question, says Salman Niyazi. "Considering the importance of two ports in Syria - Tartus and Khmeimim - for ensuring interests in Africa, it seems logical that Russia would like to preserve its bases there by all possible means... It is clear that negotiations and contacts are underway regarding their continued presence, but this fate seems unclear," he said.
According to him, the Russian military presence "remains a symbol of Moscow's bloody past" in the Syrian conflict. "Russian bases there serve as a reminder of support for Assad, who destroyed his cities, bombed Aleppo, including [with the support] of the Russian Aerospace Forces," the political scientist noted.
This is an attempt to build bridges using the Muslim factor. And this bridge is Kadyrov.
Russia's attempts to use Chechen security forces to demonstrate cooperation with the new Syria are more likely political manipulation, Niyazi believes. "What patrolling can offer is an attempt to build bridges using the Muslim factor. And this bridge is Kadyrov. It is no secret that the Russian Federation has tried to do this more than once, for example, in the case of the UAE, or when Chechen servicemen under Assad patrolled in Syria. But the possibility of their appearance there is extremely small," he added.
The military police battalion was first sent from Chechnya to Syria in December 2016. Military police from Chechnya accompanied humanitarian convoys in Syria, patrolled territories and guarded facilities.
Turkey takes a balanced position on the Syrian issue and continues to pursue a pragmatic policy, Niyazi believes. "Turkey is monitoring the possibility of Russia's presence there and is trying to pursue a balanced policy, not wanting to offend anyone. As Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said, they are trying to establish a dialogue so that there are no losers in the region," the political scientist emphasized.
The Syrian government needs two things now - money and recognition.
In his opinion, the further preservation of Russian bases in Syria faces the question of their expediency for the new Syrian government. "The question remains: what can the Russian Federation offer the new leadership in return, what leverage does it have? Under Assad, it was the guarantor of his survival, but now Russia is bogged down in the Ukrainian conflict. It will not be possible to increase military supplies, and the lifting of sanctions against Syria by the West depends on the withdrawal of Russian bases... The new Syrian government now needs two things - money and recognition from the international community. Russia cannot provide either one. Rather, on the contrary, it can complicate the achievement of these goals," the expert explained.
At the same time, cooperation between Russia and Turkey, in his opinion, will smooth out possible disagreements. "The presence of the Russian Federation in Syria is not a problem for Turkey. In addition to the immediate proximity of Russian bases on the border with Turkey in Armenia, a joint monitoring center in Aghdam, Ankara and Moscow have experience of interaction within the framework of the Astana process. Therefore, for Turkey, the presence of Russia nearby will not be a strong irritant, the parties have experience of interaction," Niyazi noted.
The new Syrian government is not enthusiastic about the Russian presence, the political scientist claims. "From official statements, the representative of HTS*, Ubeida Arnaout, stated that Russia should reconsider its presence and interests in Syria," Niyazi recalled.
As for the Palestinian issue, the new Syrian regime will avoid confrontation with Israel, the expert is sure. "HTS leader* Julani said that they are not going to conflict with anyone, since they have just emerged from a bloody civil war. Their main task is to collect the torn economy, and Syria will not aggravate the situation with Israel," Niyazi said.
He also noted that HTS* will not become a transit route for arming Palestinian groups. "Support may only be in words, but it will not reach the practical level now," he said.
Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title
[Korrespondent] 22:58 The Ukrainian Air Force has published a photo of Scalp&Storm Shadow missile launches. It is claimed that the missiles were launched towards Russia.
"There is nothing more beautiful than Scalp&Storm Shadow missiles heading towards the evil empire," the Telegram post reads.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine thanked their partners from France and Germany for their support of Ukraine.
22:35 Ukraine needs 19 more air defense systems to protect energy infrastructure from Russian attacks, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said.
"We know about your request... I think 19 systems (air defense - ed.) will be delivered to Ukraine to protect critical infrastructure. So this will all be on the agenda," he said.
21:55 Ukraine and Russia have come close to exhausting their forces in the war and are ready for peace talks. This was stated by the special representative of the newly elected US President Donald Trump for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg.
"I think both sides are ready. Imagine a cage fight. You have two fighters and they both want to win. You need a referee to separate them into corners, so I think President Donald Trump can do that," he said.
20:15 European countries are discussing the possibility of sending a military contingent to Ukraine in the event of the end or freezing of the war with Russia.
Thus, the minimum number of such a mission could be 40 thousand military personnel, however, according to experts, 100 thousand military personnel are required to effectively contain Russia.
19:35 This year, almost 4,000 appeals have been recorded regarding the actions of employees of territorial recruitment centers, which citizens consider unlawful. This was reported by the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets.
According to the ombudsman, most of the requests come from Zakarpattia, while in some regions, in particular in Kropyvnytskyi, the number of complaints is significantly lower, and most of them are not confirmed.
17.25 Ukraine has asked the US for a license to produce Patriot air defense systems, but has not received anything yet, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with Le Parisien .
17.19 The number of Russian troops in Ukraine has reached a new maximum – an additional 100 thousand soldiers have arrived this year. This was reported by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrsky, in an interview with Le Monde .
16.32 Since the beginning of the current day, 138 combat clashes have occurred on the front. The hottest now are in the Kursk region, Pokrovsk, Kurakhovsky and Vremivsky directions, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported in a report as of 16:00.
15.56 European leaders are discussing the possibility of sending up to 100,000 troops to Ukraine if a ceasefire or peace deal is reached, Reuters reported , citing sources.
15.10 Russians attacked a number of Ukrainian military fortifications in Donetsk Oblast, as a result of which they were destroyed. The details were reported by the Operational-Strategic Group of Forces (OSUV) Khortitsa.
14.36 Australia has provided Ukraine with military aid in the form of 49 Abrams tanks and 14 boats. This was stated by Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha. The total amount of Australian aid to Ukraine was more than $1 billion, of which $880 million was military aid.
14:08 No leader in the world has the right to negotiate with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin without Ukraine. Kiev has not given a mandate for this. The corresponding statement was made by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
13:57 Russian troops struck Kharkov with a Molniya drone on the morning of December 18. This was reported by the city mayor Igor Terekhov on Wednesday, December 18.
13:17 The Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets reported that since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, cases of execution of 177 Ukrainian prisoners of war have been confirmed, 109 of them in 2024. The ombudsman said this in an interview with UP.
12:42 The Ministry of Defense has codified and approved for delivery the domestically produced universal ground robotic complex CRAB-LS . This was reported by the Main Directorate for Support of the Life Cycle of Weapons and Military Equipment, the Ministry of Defense reports. CRAB-LS is designed to perform tasks primarily in logistics support - delivery of necessary equipment, ammunition, equipment to positions and evacuation of the wounded. It can also be used to install combat modules and as a transporter in hazardous areas.
12:13 The Security Service of Ukraine intercepted conversations of Russian occupiers, which indicate significant losses among the DPRK military in the Kursk region. This was reported on December 18 by the press service of the SBU. In just a few days, more than 200 wounded DPRK servicemen were brought to one of the Russian hospitals near Moscow.
11:57 The EU authorities have already started working on the draft of the 16th package of sanctions against Russia. This was stated by the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen during the plenary session of the European Parliament.
11:41 The German concern Rheinmetall has signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for the supply of propellant charge modules for 155-mm guns. This was reported by the company's press service.
10:30 The Security Service of Ukraine is conducting counterintelligence (security) activities in the government quarter of Kiev. Their goal is to check the counter-sabotage protection of state facilities, as well as to strengthen the security of residents of the capital and persons subject to state protection.
9:59 The DPRK lost "several hundred" soldiers in the war against Ukraine. This refers to killed and wounded soldiers. This was reported by The New York Time, citing a statement by a high-ranking Pentagon military official at a closed briefing.
9:25 Two suspects in the case of the murder of General Igor Kirillov have been detained in Russia. According to the source, the suspects were identified "hot on the heels" - investigators examined surveillance cameras and found several suspicious vehicles.
8:57 The US leadership, led by President Joe Biden, will probably not have time to use the entire $5.6 billion in military aid to Ukraine before Donald Trump takes office, The New York Time reports.
8:28 The Kremlin avoids acknowledging the presence of North Korean troops in the Kursk region or their participation in military operations against Ukrainian forces, so as not to admit that Russia needs foreign troops to recapture its own territory.
7:59 Explosions were heard in Rostov on the night of December 18. Ukrainian drones allegedly attacked the city, local social networks and media claim.
7:26 The United States of America does not rule out the possibility of transferring new units from North Korea to Russia. However, there is currently no confirmed information about this. This was stated by US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
03:55 Russian invaders have occupied Solntsevka and advanced near Novotroitske, Berestki, Zelenovka, Novy Komar, Storozhevy, Kurakhovo, Pushkino, Dachenskoye and Vozrozhdeniya, DeepState reported.
01:23 Military aid, which the Biden administration continues to provide, should cover Ukraine's needs for weapons, equipment and materials until the end of 2025. This was stated by US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
[BManalysis] This article is about the damaging effects of ammunition with a particular analysis of what the Oreshnik warhead can do to a target. The whole subject of hypersonic impact on the ground is highly technical and often relies on empirical and simulation research. It can be the subject of many scientific research projects and theses. This article attempts to explain a very complex problem to non-technical readers and describe the characteristics of the hypersonic warhead and how it may affect a highly classified underground facility such as a top command post.
To better understand the overall problem, readers are advised to read the previous two articles discussing the first use of Oreshnik and attacks on underground objects:
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos is said to be 'apoplectic' and 'humiliated' following the network's decision to pay $16 million to settle a defamation lawsuit between ABC and Donald Trump.
The settlement, which includes $15 million towards a presidential foundation and $1 million for Trump's legal fees, has sparked a firestorm within the Disney-owned news organization.
Stephanopoulos, a former aide to Bill Clinton in the 1990s, was particularly incensed at being compelled to issue a public apology, according to the New York Post.
Insiders explained how the veteran anchor remains 'defiant' amid the fallout.
'George is a very guarded person. His circle of trust is so small, and a lot of them don't work [at ABC anymore]. He felt cornered and blindsided,' one insider said.
The anchor's frustration with the network couples both the personal and professional strain the episode has taken on him - and it appears to have boiled over as he has since deactivated his X account, cutting ties with his more than 2.3 million followers.
The decision to settle has also left many ABC News staffers seething.
'It's front-page news everywhere, yet ABC doesn't report on itself,' one employee said.
A lack of internal communication from company bosses has only served to fuel resentment following recent layoffs across multiple departments at the network.
'It's another gut punch. The sheer level of embarrassment—people are furious,' a staffer lamented.
The lawsuit stemmed from a March interview during which Stephanopoulos erroneously claimed Trump had been found liable for the rape in a civil case of writer E. Jean Carroll.
In that case, a jury actually found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll, awarding her $5 million in damages.
However, the jury did not conclude that Trump had committed rape as defined under New York law.
Stephanopoulos' phrasing - referring to Trump as being 'found liable for rape' -became the crux of the defamation suit.
Trump argued the statements were made with 'malice' and disregard for the legal distinction that the jury's verdict did not meet the state's specific definition of rape.
During the interview, Stephanopoulos pressed Mace, saying: 'Judges and two separate juries have found him liable for rape and for defaming the victim of that rape.'
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... has announced its military alert following the announcement of the UAE-backed ''Socotra Council'' on the Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... i island last Thursday.
According to informed sources on the island, Saudi Arabia sent a military delegation to the Socotra Archipelago, east of the Gulf of Aden, last Monday, led by Muhammad Bashir al-Anzi and the commander of the island's forces ''808,'' following the UAE's council declaring so-called ''autonomy.''
The sources noted that the Emirati declaration of ''self-rule'' by Khalfan Al Mazrouei was a provocation to Saudi influence, and the Saudi delegation met with Abdullah bin Afrar upon its arrival in Hadibo city, the center of the archipelago.
The sources indicated that the UAE has recently moved to limit the Saudi presence on the island since the arrival of its forces in 2018, which caused tension between the two state partners in the Saudi-led coalition. The sources reported that the Saudi-Emirati differences in Socotra have reached a state of tension that is likely to explode, coinciding with the expansion of Saudi interests in Hadhramaut and Al Mahrah.
Since the arrival of its forces in 2018, the UAE has worked to restrict Saudi presence on the island, causing tension between the two Saudi-led coalition partners, and this tension is likely to escalate as Saudi interests expand in Hadhramaut and Mahrah provinces, according to sources.
The sources added that Saudi Arabia has requested the return of Sheikh of Sheikhs of Socotra, Issa Salem bin Yaqout, and the island's former governor, Ramzi Mahrous, to limit the powers of the new council established by the UAE, headed by ''Ali bin Afraar,'' who holds Emirati citizenship.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2024
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3/2024: ALBAWABA- In a significant revelation, a US defense official confirms the existence of a military presence on Yemen's Socotra Island, marking the first admission of its kind, as reported by Sky News Arabia. The island, situated in the Indian Ocean, is currently controlled by the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council and Saudi Elite forces, with no authority from Yemen's internationally recognized government.
Speaking to Sky News Arabia, the American defense official disclosed the purpose behind bolstering missile defenses on Socotra Island, citing the need to intercept potential long-range missile attacks by the Houthi rebels. Emphasizing proactive measures, the American official stated that preparations on Socotra were aimed at thwarting any potential attacks on American bases in the region.
Posted by: Albert Pelosi3459 ||
12/19/2024 6:50
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[IsraelTimes] Alice Jill Edwards calls hostage-taking a ‘war crime,’ says she’s hopeful for deal; pledges to speak to PA about sexual violence, and Israel about allegations of abusing detainees
Because the two things are equal, in the eyes of the UN.
The United Nations ...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense... ’s senior expert on torture visited the kibbutzim that were attacked on October 7, 2023, for the first time on Wednesday, to offer support to families of Israelis held hostage by Hamas ..always the voice of sweet reason... in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Alice Jill Edwards, the UN special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment, spoke to Rooters, as mediated talks continued between Israel and Hamas for a potential hostage-ceasefire deal.
"I’m very hopeful for a deal. I’ve been calling for a long time for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages. This is an unlawful act under international law. It’s an atrocity. It’s a war crime," she said in an interview.
"I am hopeful that the families will be able to see their loved ones as soon as possible and that there will be peace restored in this region."
Some 3,000 Hamas-led holy warriors invaded southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages, amid acts of brutality and sexual assault. The Hamas attack started the ongoing war in Gaza, which has also included fighting on other fronts.
On her visit, Edwards described the scene as both eerie and uneasy, a mix of flowers and greenery amid broken windows and shattered glass, the result of intense shootouts and homes being set on fire by the Hamas invaders as they attempted to flush residents out on that October day 14 months ago.
Edwards said she had written to the Paleostinian Authority — which governs parts of the West Bank, and does not have a presence in Gaza — about independent and verifiable reports of sexual torture and violence that occurred on October 7. It was not immediately clear whether Edwards made any reference to Hamas or other terror groups that participated in the attack.
In March, the UN envoy on sex crimes during conflict presented a report at the UN indicating that rape and gang rape likely occurred during the onslaught, that "clear and convincing" evidence shows that hostages were raped while being held in Gaza, and that those currently held captive are still facing such abuse.
Edwards said she would also speak to Israeli authorities about allegations of torture and mistreatment of Paleostinians in Israeli detention.
The UN human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... office issued a report in July, alleging that Paleostinian detainees held by Israel since October 7 have been subjected to torture, including waterboarding, sleep deprivation, electric shocks, the release of dogs, and other forms of mistreatment.
The Israel Defense Forces and Israel Prison Service said at the time that all prisoners are treated in accordance with international law, and that reports of abuse are investigated.
Israel’s High Court of Justice said in September that authorities must abide by the law in their treatment of Paleostinian terror suspects, addressing in particular the notorious Sde Teiman detention facility, where several soldiers have been investigated, and one indicted, over alleged abuse of detainees.
Edwards said Wednesday, "It is very important that when you have two communities that are suffering and live so close together, that we recognize the suffering of each. They are different. They are of different scale. They will be different individually."
"But, you know, everybody counts and every life counts and we should preserve that. And that is the essence of human rights. It’s not about, you know, picking sides. The side is of human rights and the people’s right to live in safety, peace and security," she said.
Edwards said her goal was to document what happened in Israel and to let the hostages and their families know there are people who are fighting for the captives’ safe return, and the return of the bodies of hostages who have been killed in captivity.
Yuval Haran, 38, whose father was killed and whose seven relatives were kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri, stood outside the rubble of his parents’ home.
"This isn’t about the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict, it isn’t about politics or right or left, it isn’t about war, it’s about human beings and we need to remember these are human beings that for almost 440 days are being held," he said.
"We don’t care about Dire Revenge. You know, my father was murdered here, but I don’t want Dire Revenge for my father ... I want all the hostages back. I want that we have a quiet and peaceful life. This is what I pray for."
Edwards said: "All of the crimes that have been committed in these last 13, 14 months need independent and impartial investigations."
[Politico] TURNING RED: Asian American voters in New York are increasingly shifting red — and Democrats ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... are trying to stop the bleeding.
And that dynamic is propelling a lobbying effort from the Coalition of Asian-American Independent Practice Associations (CAIPA), a group representing independent physicians that has sought to increasingly wield influence in Albany as the need for Democratic inroads with Asian Americans grows.
In the wake of Trump’s decisive victory and the Democratic autopsy underway nationally, party representatives in the city’s Asian American communities are undergoing a post-mortem of their own.
"This is not a fluke," said Assemblymember Grace Lee, co-chair of the body’s Asian Pacific American Task Force and the co-chair of the Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee, which organizes in competitive districts.
"This is a trend that has been happening over the course of a number of years," she added.
Those trends were born out in this year’s Election Day results.
In a South Brooklyn district representing Sunset Park and Bensonhurst, Democratic state Sen. Iwen Chu lost to Republican Steve Chan.
In the East Asian neighborhood of Flushing, Queens, Democratic Assemblymember Ron Kim saw his district go decisively for Trump even as he was able to hold onto his seat
And across the city, in areas where at least 45 percent of constituents are Asian, Kamala Harris who got her start in politix between former Oakland mayor Willie Brown's' knees saw her support drop 37 percent from President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. Too old and senile to be prosecuted, not too old and senile to set national policy... ’s showing in 2020. Meanwhile,
...back at the alley, Bugs Moroni was holding Slats from behind while his brother Greasy Thumb was pounding his face into paste ... Trump increased his margin by 19 points, according to a New York Times
...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... analysis.
"The recent immigrants colonists of Chinese, Asian descent have voted for Trump out of extreme frustration in the lack of delivery of solutions for their middle-class and working-class families," Kim said, noting that "Flushing’s gone red" for the last few cycles now.
"They’re angry, but they don’t really know who to blame or how to fix the problem. They just know that they no longer trust whatever is being sold to them," he added.
Both Lee and Kim said the debate over admissions to specialized high schools, a rise in anti-Asian hate and concerns about inflation have boosted Asian American support for Republicans in the city.
The shift is forcing Democrats like Kim and Lee to strategize how to win those voters back. And coalitions advocating in Albany on behalf of Asian Americans are seeing opportunity in the red shift.
CAIPA says the shift bolsters its relevance.
"Our community is very reliant on physicians, and physicians really, in the health care business, they’re very aligned with Democrats," said Peggy Sheng, who oversees CAIPA’s political activities. "We can make the influence, provided that the government works with us and try to promote more health care programs and really look at the needs of the community besides health care, like personal safety."
The group, which mainly focuses on issues around medicine, like laws governing medical malpractice filings or Medicaid funding, ramped up their little-known political action committee this year and boosted both Kim and Chu through digital ads and Chinese-language media pushes.
Ahead of the upcoming session, CAIPA is hoping to push Gov. Kathy Hochul to fund programs like the Medicaid Quality Incentive Program, which incentivizes providers to make changes that address health disparities for low-income New Yorkers. Lawmakers keen on building support among Asian American communities will be sure to take note.
"This is kind of new for the Asian American community to see this type of organizing happen," said Lee. "It really is coming at a really important time for the Asian American community, where often we feel targeted, but unseen, and it’s time for us to really make sure we’re exercising our political power."
[REDSTATE] The key issue in particular that is perhaps the most grating of all on Republican members of Congress is the one that has taken center stage in recent years involving so-called "transgender rights" including the inclusion of transgender "women" in women's sports, bathrooms, dressing rooms, etc.
It's an issue that has seen prominent female athletes strongly take public stands in favor of leaving women's sports as they were originally intended. One of those athletes, LGBTQ icon Martina Navratilova, has loudly spoken out on the matter only to see the same far-left groups who had previously praised her for being a groundbreaker in sports turn around and try to cancel her for the crime of WrongSpeak.
Riley Gaines, a champion former University of Kentucky swimmer, has also emerged as a leading voice on this topic after having to share the trophies podium (and locker room) with former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, who identifies as a woman but who was born a man. Gaines has testified countless times before members of Congress on Capitol Hill and also before various state legislatures on the issue, and is currently part of a lawsuit against the NCAA.
It was Gaines' troubling experiences and those of other concerned girls and women that were at the heart of the aggressive questioning of NCAA president Charlie Baker during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday on sports gambling.
Baker unwittingly set himself up for quite the grilling with remarks made in his opening statement in which he declared that an "essential priority of the Association and its members is coordinating and delivering safe and fair competition."
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) took the ball and ran with it, questioning the former Massachusetts governor's statement and contrasting it with what he characterized as the NCAA's unfairness in not standing up against athletes like Lia Thomas being able to compete against female athletes.
At one point, Kennedy cornered Baker and got him to bend the knee on a key point by having him concede that men who compete against women in sports have an advantage "every time" after Baker initially (and laughably) claimed the point was "debatable."
''Why don't you go onto Amazon and buy a spine online and take a stand?'' Kennedy finally said at one point in frustration over Baker's continued insinuations that the NCAA didn't have a choice but to take the position they have because the courts supposedly have not provided "clarity" on the issue.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] A Texas father says his four-month-old twins have been mistakenly deported along with their mother and siblings in an immigration mix-up.
Federico Arellano Jr says his wife Christina Salazar and their four kids were put on a plane on December 9 after missing a hearing with an immigration judge.
He says that he is a US Citizen - along with three of his four kids. It's unclear what Christina's status is.
Despite being born in Houston in October, the twins were sent to Mexico with their mother.
Now, Jr. is fighting to bring them all back, describing it as an ICE misunderstanding.
He said his children were crying as they and Salazar were taken into custody.
The distressed mother later told KHOU that Arellano Jr. was not allowed to say goodbye to the twins in the moment and she was unable to call for help after agents had ripped her cell phone away from her hands.
Attorneys Isaias Torres and Silvia Mintz, who are representing the family, said that Salazar was born in Mexico and married Arellano Jr. in 2019.
It's unclear how he obtained citizenship, or how long he has been living in the US.
The family believes they were harshly punished for simply missing the hearing.
Now, they are begging to be reunited.
'Because their babies are US citizens, they deserve to be here and get the attention they need - the medical attention they need,' one of their lawyers said.
'They were shocked and surprised that they were separated,' another added.
Trump and his incoming border czar Tom Homan have made no secret of their plans to implement mass deportations and family separations when they take office.
Homan makes no apologies for it either.
He has been demonized by Democrats and revered by Republicans for his direct approach.
The incoming administration is yet to address how it will handle scenarios like the Salazar family's.
Mr. Homan bluntly said the kids go with their parents. And newborns should be with their mother, if possible — fathers can’t nurse.
Homan previously revealed that he will first target Chicago in his mass deportations.
#1
Simple legal process.
A person involved in an illegal activity cannot benefit from the crime. Granting automatic citizenship to any female because they snuck across the border to have their kid(s). should be treated as such.
Remember, we have over 12 Million illegals here already.
If such Automatic citizenship is granted, then imagine what the SNAP/Welfare and Gov assistance roles will look like soon?
[HeritageFoundation] What the Afghanistan Withdrawal Means for Georgia’s NATO Dreams.
Published in 2021.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Georgia has prided itself on its contributions to U.S. and NATO-led combat operations since it joined the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq in 2004.
Since independence, Georgia has been subjected to diplomatic, informational, military, and economic assaults by Russia.
Georgia has been able to implement serious defense reforms and continues to participate in security operations at a rate much higher than that of many NATO members.
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] Israeli occupation military tanks entered the town of Saida in the Golan Heights countryside, south of Syria, Israeli media reported on Wednesday
During his visit to Mount Sheikh, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israeli forces will stay in a buffer zone on the Syrian border, and specifically on the summit of Mount Hermon, ''until another arrangement is found that will ensure Israel's security.''
Netanyahu said he had been on the summit of Mount Hermon 53 years ago as a soldier, but the summit's importance to Israel's security has only increased given recent events.
In the same context, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, said that ''the summit of the Hermon is the eyes of the state of Israel to identify our enemies who are nearby and far away.''
Additionally, the Israeli occupation army has brought advanced communication equipment to the Quneitra countryside, directly overlooking the town of Majdal Shams.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Elon Musk, Donald Trump's pick to hack away at frivolous government spending, has publicly slammed Republican Speaker Mike Johnson's nearly 1,600-page funding plan.
The super-sized bill is a continuing resolution (CR) to extend government funding until March, basically kicking the issue down the road three months.
But it's being met with heavy headwinds from disgruntled Republicans and members of Trump's incoming Cabinet.
Billionaire Musk, who is heading up Trump's DOGE agency with Vivek Ramaswamy, is leading the charge to slap down the bill he calls a 'piece of pork.'
He went so far as to threaten any Republican who votes for the measure, saying they'll be fired from Congress next election.
'Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!'
Attached to the package is over $100 billion relief aid to help states reeling from disastrous hurricanes Milton and Helene.
It also provides farmers with assistance, approves cash for submarines, and helps with other disasters.
But Musk is taking issue with a provision to bump up members of Congress' pay from $174,000 - a level set in 2009 - to $243,300 per year and other measures.
'How can this be called a 'continuing resolution' if it includes a 40 percent pay increase for Congress?' he questioned. Both of the DOGE boys took action:
Call your elected representatives today to stop the steal of your tax dollars! pic.twitter.com/6suIuQMcO4
There was more in this Continuing Resolution that the Daily Mail didn’t realize would be important to voters:, but Vivek was on it for all of us:
I wanted to read the full 1,500+ page bill & speak with key leaders before forming an opinion. Having done that, here's my view: it's full of excessive spending, special interest giveaways & pork barrel politics. If Congress wants to get serious about government efficiency, they…
#1
But Musk is taking issue with a provision to bump up members of Congress' pay from $174,000 - a level set in 2009 - to $243,300 per year and other measures.
#7
..there are several ways. The Pelosi gambit is the play the insider trading routine heavily. For others is to raise a impressive reelection war chest that they get to covert to personal income upon 'retirement'. Then there is the Biden gambit of basically running RICO and skimming grifts.
#8
I was really impressed that Vivek Ramaswamy read the whole thing so quickly, then I saw this:
Huge implications for the use of AI. They used AI to "read" all 1,574 pages of that monstrosity and pull out the graft and corruption. This is a game changer. They can't hide things in multi-thousand page bills anymore.
#9
The raise isn’t unreasonable, given there hasn’t been one in 15 years. Trying to hide it in the CR is unreasonable.
Given that they are ones who are primarily responsible for this country's $37 trillion debt, I'd say they should take a severe cut in pay. If they don't like inflation, they should do something to bring it under control instead of just giving themselves a raise to try to keep up with it.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/19/2024 12:22
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#10
Have they done the What About the Farmers?! yet, like Josiah and Edith won't be able to hitch the plow when it's really Tyson, Smithfield, etc.
And a raise? A 40% raise? Get the fuck outta here.
#11
I misbelieve the 2009 angle. Seems like they change their own compensation during every lame duck session. Maybe it’s not always salary.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/19/2024 15:11
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#12
This CR with all the pork in it was going to exempt members in Congress from Obamacare as well as a provide a huge increase in member's pay. The country has $36 trillion debt and is heading toward 40 trillion rapidly with the debt increasing at the rate $1 trillion every 100 days. Many in Congress don't seem to be aware the house is burning down. They must figure they can just print more money.
[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] President-elect Donald Trump ...The man who was so stupid he beat fourteen professional politicians, a former tech CEO, and a brain surgeon for the Republican nomination in 2016, then beat The Smartest Woman in the World in the general election. Then he beat Kamala while dodging bullets... 's most striking characteristics today are clarity, confidence, and calm. This is extraordinary in a man renowned for chaos, confusion, and the thin-skinned hurling of demeaning insults. But it is a truth that needs to be acknowledged and accounted for to understand what we are witnessing as Trump prepares to resume the presidency.
His presser at Mar-a-Lago on Dec. 16 revealed a man almost preternaturally at ease with himself, his mission, his domestic support, and his acceptance abroad. His tone was measured, even somewhat humble, despite some bragging. When he dismissed questions, as he justifiably did once or twice, it was not done angrily or in a way that looked petty but with an assurance that widened the gap between himself and his erstwhile adversaries.
The press asked questions almost deferentially, showing respect for his office and a quietude rooted in the magnitude of his political triumph and mandate. The spectacle was a stunning contrast with the media maelstrom of his first term, when the likes of CNN ...formerly the Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for... 's Ace Newshound Jim Acosta ...CNN's showboating White House correspondent... , posing vainly as a modern-Danton or people's tribune, treated Trump as though he were axiomatically as illegitimate a president as Crooked Hillary Clinton ...former first lady, former secretary of state, former presidential candidate, Conqueror of Benghazi, Heroine of Tuzla, formerly described by her supporters as the smartest woman in the world, usually described by the rest of us as The Thing That Wouldn't Go Away. Politix is not one of her talents, but it's something she keeps trying to do... and others bitterly claimed.
But as the days and weeks of the current presidential transition pass by, the significance of the stunning electoral outcome on Nov. 5 is settling on Trump, the nation, and the rest of the world.
Van Jones, one of the Left's level-headed analysts, captured the truth lucidly in an interview with CNN's Chris Cillizza. When Cillizza asked Jones how such a supposedly unlikely guy as Trump ''became the one that cracked the code,'' Jones rejected the premise of the question.
''Can we cut it out? — Donald Trump is smarter than me, you, and all critics. You know how we know? Because he has the White House, the Senate, the House, the Supreme Court, the popular vote, he has a massive media ecosystem bigger than the mainstream built around him and for him, and a religious fervor in a political movement around him, and his best buddy is the richest person in the history of the world, and the most relevant Kennedy is with him. This dude is a phenomenon. He is the most powerful human on Earth in our lifetime. And we're still saying, 'How is this guy doing it?' We look like idiots.''
Jones's litany would give anyone confidence in their position and their power. Trump is the only president other than Grover Cleveland, kept in touch with the world by Obamaphone, ...was ruled by a Democrat machine from 1942 through 1971. After the river caught fire during the administration of Carl Stokes they tried a Republican, then went back to being Democrats when the party hacked up Dennis Kucinich... 130 years ago to win reelection after defeat. Assuming he completes his second term in office, he will have led the Republican Party for as long as Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush combined. He was impeached twice, hounded by corrupt officials in a banana-state-style lawfare campaign, convicted on 34 trumped-up felonies, faced two liquidation attempts, was shot once, and faced voters who'd been told by what was once the opinion-forming elite that he was manifestly ineligible for election and should be rejected.
In the face of all this, America essentially said, ''Stuff that,'' and chose him to return to office, sweeping all swing states with a near landslide in the Electoral College and a plurality of the popular vote.
Whereas in 2016, Trump could be seen as an aberration and supported by fewer voters than opposed him, today, no such self-deception is available to his detractors. The change means that he is approaching governing with a more radical reform agenda, which he is articulating with more sober and persuasive rhetoric. Although he pledged in 2016 to ''drain the swamp,'' he approached that task, if at all, only tentatively despite much braggadocio. Now, he is arriving in office more determined in his goals but more restrained and deliberate in his language. It has produced in him less swagger and more solidity. His opponents and critics have yet to work out how to respond.
In the face of Trump's popular election victory, the largely silent Left and foreign leaders know that a repudiation of Trump would now be read as a repudiation of America. Naturally, foreign leaders, many of whom are already on thin ice with their own people, will not do that. And here in the United States, many critics will not do it yet.
President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. Former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body.... has vanished, and Trump is universally treated as the leader of the world's most powerful nation. This was apparent early this month at the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Gay Paree and at his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron.
In 2016, then-President Barack Obama I inhaled. That was the point... mocked a tweet in which Trump called him ''perhaps the worst president in the history of the United States.'' Obama responded, ''At least I will go down as a president,'' and then dropped his mic to emphasize his smiling contempt.
We cannot know how Trump's second term will pan out. But his political achievement already outshines that of Obama, who is no longer smiling.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2024
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#1
Trump has a history of refurbishing threadbare institutions. I consider his approach and team to be more entrepreneurial rather than chaos - especially Musk. America will be his greatest success or his greatest failure. I am betting on success, as I don’t see any alternative.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/19/2024 14:55
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#2
America will be his greatest success or his greatest failure. I am betting on success, as I don’t see any alternative.
He may have to beat down the Dems, RINOs and deep-state to achieve success. That is a huge job. Wishing and praying for his and our (USA's) success.
[TOWNHALL] Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) said he was "proud" to block a proposal from Democrats ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... to protect federal workers from potentially getting reclassified as political appointees under the incoming administration.
The measure was introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) as a way to prevent such reclassification without congressional approval. He asked for unanimous consent to pass the Saving the Civil Service Act, warning about ''attempts in recent years to erode the independence of the federal civil service,'' a reference to efforts President-elect Trump made in his first term.
Kaine and other Democrats fear that Trump, now reelected, may attempt to reclassify tens of thousands of federal workers as political appointees who could be hired and fired at will.
Kaine argued that federal workers need to keep their civil service protections to insulate them from political retaliation. He argued that such protections would better equip them to implement federal laws and policies dispassionately.
His bill would prohibit any position in the federal civil service from being reclassified as a job outside of the merit-based system without the consent of Congress. (The Hill)
Schmitt blocked the request, however.
''What we've seen in the last 100 years is the growth of an administrative state that isn't accountable to anybody,'' he said.
''There is no secret that President Trump ran on greater government efficiency and reducing the size of government. This is another effort to Trump-proof before Jan. 20,'' the Republican argued.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2024
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#1
He asked for unanimous consent to pass the Saving the Civil Service Act, warning about ''attempts in recent years to erode the independence of the federal civil service,'' a reference to efforts President-elect Trump made in his first term.
Independence is exactly what is wrong with the civil service. Nobody elected them. Nothing in the Constitution gives them any power to decide anything, including the terms of their employment.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/19/2024 12:29
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#2
I don’t know much about Schmitt, but this is very positive.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/19/2024 14:58
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[ISSUESINSIGHTS] Since the election, not-soon-enough-to-be-former President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. We hold these truths to be self-evident. All men and women created... by the — you know — you know, the thing... has provided a steady stream of reminders as to why the nation will be glad to be rid of him. His unique mixture of incompetence, cluelessness, disdain, arrogance, and sleaziness has been on full display.
Consider what Biden managed in a few short weeks.
The unprecedented, sweeping pardon of his son Hunter made a mockery of not only his solemn pledge that he'd trust the justice system but managed to infuriate every Democratic leader and media fanboy who'd sung his praises for that pledge.
The mysterious appearance of drone swarms around the country has showcased the ineptitude of Biden's administration, which has attempted to: 1) tell Americans that they must be mistaken, 2) reassure everyone that the drones pose no threat and 3) admit that it has absolutely no idea what's going on with these drone flights.
The administration's muddied responses sparked bipartisan outrage. New York's Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul complained that ''this has gone too far'' after drones temporarily shut down runways at New York Stewart International Airport.
Biden's decision to commute nearly 1,500 sentences for people — who, he said, ''have shown that they deserve a second chance'' — and pardon 39 others has raised hackles, even among the mainstream media.
NBC News led its story this way:
A county commissioner who was convicted of taking nearly half a million dollars' worth of bribes, including a stone-fired pizza oven; a tax attorney wrapped up in the ''biggest tax fraud prosecution ever''; and the owner of a bankrupt, increasingly impoverished, reliably Democrat, Detroit ... ruled by Democrats since 1962. A city whose Golden Age included the Purple Gang... -area Medicare billing company who orchestrated a $26 million Medicare fraud.
CNN ...formerly the Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for... ran a story with this headline: ''Victims 'shocked' after Biden grants clemency to 'kids for cash' judge and $54 million embezzler.''
The ''kids for cash'' judge refers to Michael Conahan, who was convicted of ''funneling juveniles to for-profit detention centers in exchange for more than $2 million in kickbacks.'' One of those juveniles did away with himself. Now we learn that Biden acted ''without considering the specifics of his case.''
Pennsylvania's Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro called it ''absolutely wrong'' and said Biden ''created a lot of pain here in northeastern Pennsylvania.''
Meanwhile,
...back at the abandoned silver mine, a triangular dorsal fin appeared in the water. Then another... Biden's decision to auction off pieces of Donald Trump ...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party... 's border wall — which had been sitting around for four years — will cost taxpayers twice. The government will collect pennies on the dollar for these parts, and then Trump will have to buy them again to finish the wall.
That's a hefty price to pay to hamstring the next president.
(Fox News reported yesterday that Texas officials are planning to ''buy and store border wall materials'' and ''give it to Donald Trump.'')
To further underscore Biden's disdain for taxpayers, he's instructed his people to spend as much money as they can in their final weeks because Trump has promised to rescind unspent funds for Biden boondoggles such as the Inflation Reduction Act.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2024
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[NYPOST] A notorious Mexican cartel boss was bumped off in a shootout with police — after pulling off a hit at a local cockfight that left two dead and other maimed, according to reports.
Jose ''El Chabelo'' Isabel, the top honcho for the Sinaloa Cartel in the Mexican city of Manzanillo, got into a fatal shootout with cops after he and his cohort pulled off the cockfight bloodbath on Sunday, according to the Spanish-language news outlet Excelsior.
Isabel's crew stormed into the clandestine arena in the Las Parotas neighborhood and opened fire on the crowd, killing two before fleeing the scene, the reports said.
A Mexican national police squad caught up with the button men, leading to a wild shootout that left Isabel and his unidentified accomplice dead, the outlet reported.
Isabel, believed to be a ''plaza boss'' for the cartel in the city, was already wanted on a homicide warrant before the fatal encounter, Latin Times said in a report.
[IsraelTimes] Israeli assessments were nearly identical, but Netanyahu decided to step up campaign in Lebanon, deeming the heavy cost worth paying, officials tell ToI
10/7 changed all calculations. The promise of repeated 10/7 attacks changed them even further. Naturally the Biden administration missed that point.
US intelligence assessments before Israel escalated its conflict against the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group in September said that such a move risked sparking an all-out war in which hundreds — if not thousands — of Israelis would be killed, three US officials and one Israeli official told The Times of Israel this week.
The assessments relied heavily on similar ones crafted by Israel’s own intelligence community, the US officials said, acknowledging that both countries’ assessments proved wildly inaccurate within days, as the IDF methodically took out much of Hezbollah’s missile and drone capabilities, dismantled its military infrastructure in southern Leb ...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... , picked off almost every member of its big shotship and killed or maimed thousands of operatives — many of them in audacious mass detonations of the terror group’s communication devices.
Hezbollah did manage to expand the range of its rocket and drone launches, disrupting life for tens of thousands of citizens in parts of Israel that had been free of such threats over the past year. Fifty-seven Israeli soldiers and 21 non-combatants were killed during the roughly two-month escalation that ensued.
But Israel’s military achievements in Lebanon were overwhelming and ultimately led the Iran-backed Shiite group to agree to a ceasefire late last month after having pledged for over a year that it would not halt its attacks — which it began hours after Hamas ..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,... ’s October 7 onslaught — until Israel agreed to a still-elusive ceasefire in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... As tensions between Israel and Hezbollah began to ratchet up over the summer, US intelligence assessments had warned of a very different scenario in the offing.
"The assessments... were that this was potentially going to be a catastrophic war that would cause potentially hundreds or thousands of Israeli casualties as Hezbollah missiles overwhelmed Israeli defenses," said one of the US officials.
The disaster scenario appeared increasingly likely as Israel began striking targets deeper into Lebanon while Hezbollah refused to unlink its conflict with Israel from the one in Gaza, and negotiations for a hostage release and ceasefire deal in the Strip failed repeatedly to reach a breakthrough, said the three US officials.
Upon receiving the assessments from the American intelligence community, top aides to US President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. Gave an airbase and billions in military hardware to the Taliban and called it an extraordinary success... in the Pentagon and the White House began to hold meetings to formulate Washington’s response to the expected deadly war, the first US official said.
The US officials stressed that intelligence assessments coming out of Washington weren’t very different from those being crafted in Jerusalem and even relied on the latter’s assessments.
"There’s a narrative out there that [Israel’s major offensive against Hezbollah] would have happened a lot earlier if the Americans hadn’t applied pressure on Israel and prevented it. That’s not what happened. Everybody was very concerned on both sides about what this would look like and how severe it would be," said the first US official.
"This was why for many months Israel held off on launching the kind of attacks it began conducting in September. They were no less concerned about what a full-blown war with Hezbollah would mean," said a second US official.
"Ultimately, they moved forward anyway, but it wasn’t under the assumption that it wouldn’t come at a major cost. The Israelis just believed that this cost was necessary," the US official added.
On September 17 and 18, Israel simultaneously set off thousands of explosive-laden Hezbollah communication devices. Even then, the US privately continued to caution Israel to exercise caution, fearing the shock-and-awe operation would drag 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... into the conflict, the US official said, while confirming reports that Israel rushed to launch the exploding pager operation amid fears that its details had been exposed.
But Israel was unmoved by the words of caution from Washington, and the IDF conducted Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s two days later that eliminated the leadership of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force. Then, on September 27, Israel killed Hezbollah’s longtime secretary-general, His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah ...The late, lamented satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...> However,
there's more than one way to skin a cat... it was the widespread air raids that the IDF conducted several days earlier against Hezbollah’s rocket and weapon depots across Lebanon that "fundamentally" changed the US assessment regarding the trajectory of the war, the first US official said, adding that Washington went on to shift its position to back Israel piling on the blows against the badly battered terror group.
That doesn’t explain why the US still sought to broker a 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, announcing the initiative on September 25. But it does explain why the US quickly moved away from the temporary ceasefire effort as Israeli military gains against Hezbollah began to accumulate in the days and weeks that followed.
The White House said publicly at the time that it wouldn’t have moved forward with the effort if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hadn’t indicated his support.
The US was further emboldened in its position days later when it helped Israel thwart a second Iranian missile attack, demonstrating that Tehran was almost powerless to come to the aid of its proxies.
Reflecting on how events developed over the past several months, a third US official noted that it was possible to defend the summertime intelligence assessments by chalking up Israel’s battlefield achievements to luck.
However,
there's more than one way to skin a cat... they weren’t very convinced by that argument and maintained that the ordeal should warrant a reckoning for the intelligence communities in the US and Israel.
During an onstage interview Tuesday evening at the 92nd Street Y in New York, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan was asked which of the events in the Middle East over the last several months were most surprising — from Israel’s restoration of its escalation dominance, to the apparent implosion of the Iran-led Axis of Resistance®, to the overthrow of Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... ’s regime in Syria.
"Yes," Sullivan quipped in response, seemingly suggesting that all of those events caught the US off guard.
"Every one of those pieces has been maybe not surprising directionally — in the sense that, one could see the ways in which Israel, backed by the United States... was taking the fight to its enemies," Sullivan began.
"One could see the weakening and the fracturing of the Axis of Resistance® and the weakening of Iran, and one could see the pressure on Assad — particularly because his two main patrons, Iran and Russia, were distracted and weakened.
"But the speed, the scope and the scale of the remaking of the Middle East in this short amount of time — I think you’d find very few people who could have predicted all of that and that we would be sitting here in December of 2024 with the picture looking the way that it looks," Sullivan said.
#4
Perhaps the US intelligence and pols had no idea as the depth of knowledge the IDF/Bibi knew about Hamas and Hezbollah. IDF performance is/was impressive.
#5
It seems that US Intel hasn't been very intelligent for some time now.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/19/2024 11:29
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#6
When I think of war fighters, I dont think of the rainbow flag cult. But apparently there is a Gay Bar Index. When there is a foreign crisis and the gay bars in Dupont Circle, DC are empty, you know the crisis is serious and getting analyzed by the IC. With the Occupancy of Gay Bars in DC as a metric, you have to ask if there's a correlation with the IC being so incompetent.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The fall of the regime of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad occurred due to a long-term economic crisis in the republic caused by sanctions from the collective West. This was stated by the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov during a briefing.
“The offensive of the armed opposition is due to the Syrian army’s inability to conduct regular combat training and the low morale of its personnel as a result of the long-term economic crisis caused by unprecedented sanctions by the US and its allies,” he said.
Gerasimov also clarified that the “Astana format” for a peaceful settlement in Syria proposed by Russia was rejected by the United States and Great Britain.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on December 8 it became known that Assad had decided to leave the presidential post and left the country, giving instructions to peacefully transfer power. Information also appeared that the politician and his family had arrived in Moscow, Russia had granted them asylum.
For several years, Russia has supported the Syrian government led by Assad in its fight against terrorist forces. Moscow has pledged to provide support as long as the Syrian state itself is conducting military operations, noted Russian President Vladimir Putin. Back in 2015, he emphasized that “we are not going to be more Syrian than the Syrians themselves.”
Posted by: badanov ||
12/19/2024
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[FoxNews] NY governor says the deployment of 750 soldiers makes 'a psychological difference'
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Wednesday that hundreds of National Guard members have been deployed to patrol the New York City subway system this holiday season.
Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, Hochul confirmed that 750 National Guard members and 250 members of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Police were recently sent to guard New York City train stations.
"It's clear to me, as I've heard from many people, that the presence of the National Guard has made not just a physical difference, but a psychological difference in how they feel about safety," Hochul said. "When people see a person in uniform… even our National Guard, they feel more secure."
Hochul previously unveiled her five-point subway safety plan in March, when she deployed 750 members of the National Guard to assist the New York Police Department (NYPD) with bag searches at entrances to busy train stations.
“ When I saw a spike [in crime]… I knew that we needed to quickly stabilize and ensure that we didn't start ending up in the wrong direction once again," Hochul said. "A lot of people didn't think would make a difference, and I'm incredibly proud of these individuals in uniform here with me today."
Hochul also touted a decrease in subway crime during the press conference on Wednesday. In March, the Democrat predicted that her plans would create a "deterrent effect."
"For people who are thinking about bringing a gun or knife on the subway, at least this creates a deterrent effect," Hochul said at the time. "They might be thinking, ‘You know what, it just may just not be worth it because I listened to the mayor and I listened to the governor, and they have a lot more people who are going to be checking my bags.’"
The decision comes as New York City officials continue to fight violent crime in the Big Apple. Earlier in December, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) report found that, in New York City alone, there are 58,000 illegal migrants who are convicted of or facing criminal charges.
Of the 58,626 criminal migrants, 1,153 are "suspected or known gang members," the report added.
Hochul previously received criticism for the move to add National Guard members to the subways. On an episode of "Outnumbered," Fox News co-host Emily Compagno called the move "too little, too late."
[DailyMail, where America gets its news] School shootings have become a near-daily occurrence in the United States, but the Wisconsin rampage that left three dead on Monday was a rarity.
The Abundant Life Christian School massacre is the 10th school shooting to be carried out by a female shooter since the Columbine High School shooting in 1999 where 13 were murdered. The massacre is often seen as a watershed moment in the age of American school shootings.
Natalie Rupnow, 15, armed herself with a pistol and opened fire at the small Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin on Monday, killing a teacher and another student. Six others were injured in the attack.
Rupnow, who turned the gun on herself after the massacre, is the youngest female mass school shooter in US history.
Only about 3 per cent of all US mass shootings - defined by the Gun Violence Archive as a single attack in which at least four victims shot, either injured or killed - are perpetrated by females.
EXPERTS WARN
But experts warn that with the rise of gun violence and the increase in the sheer number of school shootings since Columbine that it is almost inevitable that more school massacres will be carried out by female students.
Duh. Three percent of a larger number will also be a larger number. Math always works.
Males often have easier access to firearms, and many shooters model themselves after previous attackers, most of whom were men, said Jonathan Metzl, a sociology and psychiatry professor at Vanderbilt University and gun violence expert.
Some sociologists also view mass shootings as 'reflective of a pathology of toxic masculinity,' Metzl said, adding that men are more likely to commit violent crimes in general, not just school shootings.
I suspect that men are more likely to commit physical violence, whereas women are more likely to commit psychological abuse. That would be a nice little research project for you, Professor, instead of just making blanket statements that reveal your toxic biases.
But other factors common to school shootings - bullying, isolation, social media - are not specific to boys, experts claim.
See?
Data also shows an increase in aggression and violence among adolescent girls in recent years, according to Elizabeth Dowdell, a professor of nursing at Villanova University who has studied school shootings.
Craig Jackson, a professor of Occupational Health Psychology at Birmingham City University in the UK, warned there could be more female schools shooters as levels of narcissism in teenagers continues to rise.
'Much research has looked at the high levels of narcissism required in order to undertake mass shootings, i.e. believing the death of innocent victims is justified,' Jackson told DailyMail.com on Tuesday. 'Unsurprisingly younger males tend to have higher levels of narcissism than their female peers who may be socialized and conditioned into more non-narcissistic behaviors.
'Worryingly, some research shows levels of narcissism in teenagers are increasing year on year as an affect of the me-based society and social media, and this can only suggest mass shootings will continue to increase.'
Jackson has predicted that Rupnow's sex will likely be examined by investigators as a potential source of motive in Monday's attack.
'On social media, especially amongst the widespread online misogynistic movement, the sex of the shooter will no doubt be poured over as a potential source for Rupnow's motive, potentially even seeing her as an 'avenging female',' Jackson said.
'This is a very short-sighted view. Rupnow is more likely to have killed for the same reasons as male shooters do: anger, isolation, or attention. It may have even be a 'solution' to possible recent stressors in her life.'
Here are the female students who have carried out school school shootings over the last 25 years...
#2
Correlation and causation are not necessarily related but......if mom isn't healthy?
Throw in social media, teenage angst, and the indoctrination of toxic feminism in the school systems, stir and you may get these results.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[LB] The hottest time is now in the Kurshchyna, Pokrovsky, Kurakhiv, and Vremiv directions.
by Ivanna Kapustianska
The Ukrainian Defense Forces are holding back the Russian occupiers' offensive. Terrorists continue to kill Ukrainians and destroy Ukrainian cities and villages with rocket, air, and artillery strikes.
According to the General Staff, the number of combat clashes has now increased to 138.
The hottest time is now in the Kurshchyna, Pokrovsky, Kurakhiv, and Vremiv directions. Defense forces are taking measures to prevent the enemy from advancing.
Today, communities in the Sumy and Chernihiv regions, such as Semenivka, Yanzhulivka, Turya, Grabovske, Velyka Pysarivka, and Ponomarenki, were hit by enemy artillery and mortar fire; the invader struck Krasnopilly with MLRS; and Oleksandrivka with unguided rockets.
In the Kharkiv direction, an enemy attack on the positions of our units in the Vovchansk area continues. The enemy launched air strikes on Vovchanskie Khutory and Udy.
In the Kupyansk direction, Russian occupiers attacked the Defense Forces three times in the Petropavlivka and Lozova areas. Two clashes are still ongoing. Ukrainian soldiers are holding their defenses steadfastly and inflicting losses on the enemy.
In the Lyman direction, the invading army carried out 11 attacks on Ukrainian positions near Hrekivka, Novoyehorivka, Nadiya, Yampolivka, and Terni during the day. Six clashes ended, five more are ongoing.
Three attacks by enemy troops were repelled by Ukrainian defenders in the Siversky direction, and a battle is currently underway near Verkhnyokamyansky.
The enemy tried to advance three times in the area of Chasovy Yar, Hryhorivka, and in the direction of Bila Hora, and the fighting continues.
In the Toretsk direction, with the support of aviation, the enemy is trying to penetrate our defenses in the area of Toretsk, Diliivka, and Shcherbinivka, eight clashes are ongoing.
In the Pokrovsky direction, Russian invaders made 27 attempts to push our defenders from their occupied positions in the areas of Myrolyubivka, Promyen, Lysivka, Dachenske, Zeleny, Novovasylivka, Chumatske, and Novoolenivka. The defense forces are holding back the onslaught and have repelled 19 enemy attacks, and eight clashes are still ongoing.
In the Kurakhiv direction, the enemy army attacked 14 times near the settlements of Sontsivka, Stari Terny, Kurakhovo, and Dachne. Nine attempts by the occupiers to advance have already been repulsed.
In the Vremiv direction, there were 15 enemy attacks near Kostyantynopolske, Rozlyv, Velyka Novoselka, Blagodatny, Novy Komar, and Storozhevo. Six clashes are ongoing.
The enemy carried out offensive operations in the areas of Novoandreyevka in the Orikhiv direction, the attack was repelled by Ukrainian units.
The operation in the Kursk region is ongoing. Enemy aviation continues to raze its villages and cities to the ground. Since the beginning of the day, Russian aircraft have carried out 14 strikes (17 CABs) on its own territory. Ukrainian soldiers have repelled 36 enemy attacks today, and fighting continues.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2024
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#1
The US Taxpayers sure have been helping.
Thursday, June 3, 2021
"The United States continues to be the world's largest donor to the Syria crisis response, providing more than $13 billion since the start of the decade-long conflict."
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
"The United States remains the single largest humanitarian donor to the Syria response and has provided nearly $15 billion in humanitarian assistance throughout Syria and the region since the start of the eleven-year conflict..."
[NYPOST] There are growing indications that President Biden is about to fundamentally change the use of presidential pardons by granting ''prospective'' or ''pre-emptive'' pardons to political allies.
Despite repeated denials by President-elect Donald Trump ...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party... that he is seeking retaliation against opponents and wants ''success [to be] my Dire Revenge,'' Democratic politicians and pundits have called for up to thousands of such pardons.
While there is little threat of any viable prosecution of figures like the members of the House's Jan. 6 committee, the use of ''white knight pardons'' offers obvious political benefits.
After many liberals predicted the imminent collapse of democracy and that opponents would be rounded up by the Trump administration, they are now contemplating the nightmare that democracy might survive and that there will be no mass arrests.
The next best thing to a convenient collapse of democracy is a claim that Biden's series of pre-emptive pardons averted it — to preserve the narrative.
Biden's pardon list has replaced the usual Inauguration Ball lists as the ''must-have'' item this year. Pardon envy is sweeping over the Beltway, as politicians and pundits push to be included on the list of presumptive Trump enemies.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
How can the Biden pardon a person for a crime they have NOT been convicted of?
What if he pardoned all Pedophile's for any sexual abusive actions done in the last 10 years?
And don't say ridiculous.
Given what we have already seen, this Perverted Democrat administration do and pardon.
[GEO.TV] Security forces bumped off 11 bandidosDeath Eaters in three separate operations in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Wednesday.
In a statement, the military's media wing said that the operations were conducted in different areas of the province between December 17 and 18.
It said that an intelligence based operation (IBO) was conducted in KP's Tank district on reported presence of bully boys.
''During the conduct of operation, own troops effectively engaged the khwarij location, as the result of which seven Khwarij were sent to hell.''
Another IBO was conducted in general area of Datta Khel in North Wazoo district, during which two bad boyz were potted.
In third encounter that took place in general area of Mamad Gat in Mohmand district, two bad boyz were potted after an intense exchange of fire.
Weapons and ammunition were also recovered from slain bully boys, who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities against the security forces as well as innocent civilians, said the ISPR.
Sanitisation operations were launched to eliminate any other bandidosDeath Eaters found in the area, as security forces of Pakistain are determined to wipeout the menace of terrorism from the country.
Third quarter (July-September) of 2024 saw a sharp increase in fatalities of terrorist violence and counter-terrorism campaigns, with a 90% surge in violence, according to a report issued by Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS).
Posted by: Fred ||
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[BREITBART] President-elect Donald Trump ...His ancestors didn't own any slaves... nominated former Georgia United States Senate candidate Herschel Walker to serve as a U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump highlighted that Walker is a ''successful businessman, philanthropist,'' and a ''former Heisman Trophy winner'' who has ''been a tireless advocate for youth sports.'' Trump added that Walker has ''traveled to over 400 Military installations around the World'' in an effort to remove ''the stigma'' around mental health.
''I am pleased to nominate Herschel Walker as United States Ambassador to the Commonwealth of the Bahamas,'' Trump wrote. ''Herschel has spent decades serving as an Ambassador to our Nation's youth, our men and women in the Military, and athletes at home and abroad.''
Posted by: Fred ||
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Will he appoint an ambassador to Bavaria? I mean, Berlin is pretty dysfunctional these days.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
12/19/2024 10:11
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#2
You have a consulate there, surely, European Conservative. Set up a meeting and get some projects started — he’ll upgrade the relationship based on sheer momentum. ;-)
As author Sarah Hoyt says, “Work over, work under, work around.”
[IsraelTimes] The State Department has carved out exceptions for close ally Israel that block a US law restricting foreign military support over human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... abuses, a lawsuit from a group of Paleostinians in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... and American relatives aassert. Who don't have standing, right?
Former State Department officials and crafters of the 1997 "Leaky" Leahy law are among those advising and backing the lawsuit.
The lawsuit details the barriers that it accuses the State Department of creating on Israel’s behalf to skirt enforcement and asks courts to intervene. That is after campus protests and moves by some politicians failed in their goal of limiting US military support to Israel over civilian deaths in Gaza during the war with Hamas ..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,... The law bars US military assistance to foreign military units when there is credible evidence of gross human rights abuses.
The State and Justice departments decline to comment. Secretary of State Antony Blinken ...71st United States secretary of state and a leading light of the corrupt and inept Biden administration. He previously served as deputy national security advisor from 2013 to 2015 and deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017 under the corrupt and inept Obama administration. He advocated for the 2003 invasion of Iraq while serving as the Democratic staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2002 to 2008. He was a foreign policy advisor for the Biden 2008 presidential campaign. During his tenure in the Obama administration, Blinken helped craft B.O.'s policy on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the nuclear program of Iran. We all saw how well each of those worked. After leaving government service, Blinken moved into the private sector, co-founding WestExec Advisors, a lobbying firm... has previously denied that the department has given Israel a pass. "Do we have a double standard? The answer is no," he said in
Their monkeys copying our monkeys. Did it occur to anyone over there to invite Mr. Musk for a discussion of the matter?
[IsraelTimes] Israel is among a number of United States allies that have expressed concerns Elon Musk could share sensitive information with others, defense officials tell The New York Times.
Israel’s Defense Ministry called Musk a “wild card” after early 2023 meetings between Israeli military intelligence officials and US defense officials over Starlink, two individuals with knowledge of the talks tell the newspaper.
Israeli officials were reportedly concerned Musk could pass sensitive information about Israel to other parties, although they eventually allowed Starlink to begin operating this year.
The report says the US Air Force recently denied high-security access to Musk due to potential security risks, with the billionaire and his SpaceX company facing at least three federal reviews over whether they have complied with federal reporting rules aimed at protecting national security.
A 2018 incident in which Musk, who is also CEO of Tesla, smoked marijuana on a live web show with Joe Rogan also sparked a security clearance review by the Pentagon.
The New York Times says the new reviews were initiated by the Air Force, the Defense Department’s inspector general and the undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security. It cites eight people with knowledge of the rocket company and internal documents.
Last month, two Democratic US senators, Jeanne Shaheen and Jack Reed, wrote in a letter that reports that Musk has held multiple calls with Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, should be investigated by the Pentagon and law enforcement agencies on national security grounds. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall responded last week to Shaheen that he shared those concerns but could not comment on the status of a person’s security clearance.
Tech billionaire Musk spent at least $270 million to help Donald Trump win the US presidency, according to new federal filings, making him the country’s biggest political donor.
Trump has selected the South African-born tycoon and fellow ally Vivek Ramaswamy to head the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, through which the pair have promised to deliver billions of dollars of cuts in federal spending.
Musk does not respond to a request for comment and there is no comment from the Israeli Defense Ministry.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 19:11 The settlement of Novy Komar in the DPR is completely released by the Russian army. The Ukrainian Armed Forces group in the area of Velyka Novosyolka has become one step closer to operational encirclement. 18:10 Destroyed Ukrainian T-64BV tank near the village of Olgovka in the Kursk region –photo.
17:59 Zaporizhia Oblast Governor Balitsky reported that the enemy attempted to attack Berdyansk and Tokmak with four Storm Shadow missiles. All missiles were shot down, there were no casualties or damage.
17:49 Explosions in Khar'kov and Sumy regions.
17:30 Explosions in Sumy Oblast. Russian Aerospace Forces are using FABs on Ukrainian Armed Forces positions.
17:12 Liberation of Uspenovka.
The servicemen of the 20th Motorized Rifle Division of the 8th Guards Army of the Russian Armed Forces are fully cleared out and liberated Uspenovka from the criminal Kyiv regime. Now the fighters can calmly demonstrate the waving flags of Russia on the main streets of the village, which symbolizes the restoration of control over this region and the further advance of the assault forces of the Russian Army.
16:55 Air defense is repelling a missile attack on Rostov Oblast, Acting Governor Slyusar reported. Three of four missiles were shot down in the Kamensk area, one hit an outbuilding. There are no preliminary casualties.
16:08 FPV drone of the Russian Armed Forces destroyed a combat armored vehicle of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Khar'kov region.
16:02 In Toretsk on November 15, 2024, British mercenary Hayden William Davis was liquidated. Born December 9, 1994 –photo.
15:56 Around 14:00 Moscow time, an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack using an aircraft-type UAV against targets on the territory of the Russian Federation was thwarted.
A Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle was destroyed over the territory of the Belgorod region by air defense systems on duty.
15:25 Explosions in Krivoy Rog.
15:17 Enemy reports: "The northwestern and southern parts of Zelenovka are under the Russian Armed Forces' control. It is difficult to organize a defense in the village. It is almost impossible to dig trenches."
14:25 In the Pokrovsky direction, the Russian Armed Forces are taking the Ukrainian Armed Forces garrison into a “semi-ring” –map.
Russian troops have advanced south of the village of Novoolenovka, thus taking the settlement in a "half-ring" is taking shape. The settlement is located south of Pokrovsk.
14:11 In Tisza drowned another Ukrainian draft dodger. He turned out to be a 39-year-old resident of the Kyiv region. The body was found five meters from the Romanian shore.
14:00 The advance of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region has been stopped, attempts by Ukrainian groups and mercenaries to break through deep into Russia have been thwarted, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov reported.
He stated that Ukraine lost more than 42,000 soldiers, over 1,800 tanks and armored vehicles in the Kursk border region.
13:54 In the Pokrovsky direction of the Russian Armed Forces released half of Dachenskoye. In addition, the Russian army advanced from Novotroitskoye towards Solenoye.
In the Kurakhovsky direction, north of the reservoir, the Russian Federation forces are advancing west from Sontsovka. Southwest of the reservoir, a serious offensive is underway towards Constantinople; Constantinople has been practically liberated.
Russian troops took Makarovka and the adjacent territory south of Velikaya Novosyolka. In the area of Novy Komar, part of the adjacent territory was liberated.
13:04 Volyn TCC beaten up man, after which an ambulance was called for him because of the beatings. Despite the doctors' comments, the military commissars took him out on a gurney and threw him into their minibus.
12:47 Ukrainians again showed an act of vandalism, defaced with paint the monuments of Vorontsov, Pushkin and Apelsin in Odessa.
12:29 The Russian Armed Forces have liberated Trudovoe and Starye Terny in the DPR, the Defense Ministry reported. Over the past 24 hours, the infrastructure of military airfields, drone assembly workshops, and storage sites have been damaged.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost a Polish Rosomak armored personnel carrier, a British Snatch armored vehicle, and a Canadian Senator armored vehicle.
12:17 Units of the Russian Armed Forces advanced up to 700 meters in two areas in the area of the settlement Lozovaya. Due to high losses, two battalions of the 44th Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were withdrawn from the combat zone and a decrease in the activity of the 77th Airmobile Brigade in counterattacks was noted.
12:05 Calculations of the 122mm BM-21 Grad multiple launch rocket systems of the Vostok group of forces daily are hitting positions of Ukrainian nationalists, destroying enemy manpower and military equipment in the SVO zone.
11:11 The Armed Forces of Ukraine are actively preparing Konstantinovka and Druzhkovka for defense after the withdrawal of heavy equipment from Chasov Yar. This was stated by the chief of the operational headquarters of the Melodiya reconnaissance center of the Espanola volunteer brigade of the volunteer corps as part of the South group with the call sign Chukcha.
11:01 The Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked seven districts of the Belgorod Region with 64 munitions and 18 drones over the past 24 hours. The largest number — 26 munitions — were fired at the Volokonovsky District, Gladkov said.
10:54 Crimean paratroopers' UAV operators have discovered a US-made Abrams tank. With a precise strike from an FPV drone, the operator - a platoon commander with the call sign "Chekhov" - hit and immobilized the Ukrainian Armed Forces tank, and with a second hit from his subordinates, the armored vehicle was destroyed -video.
10:41 Enemy reports: "in the Vrem'yevsk direction, the Russian Armed Forces are pushing through the flanks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the area of Velyka Novosyolka and may take them in the near future, encircling the city.
In Novy Komar, north of Velyka Novosyolka, there is a battle, and to the south (in the area of Blagovatnoye), Russian troops are advancing. In the near future, the Russian Armed Forces may take full control of the flanks around the city, and then everything will be as usual, as we have seen before, not a very encouraging prospect."
10:17 A car with police officers came under artillery fire in Gorlovka, one of them died
Andrey Stroyev, an employee of the Nikitovsky District Service Department, was driving the car that the police used to arrive at the scene. Shrapnel from a Ukrainian shell pierced the car, Stroyev was fatally wounded, his colleagues were not hurt.
10:12 Russian naval infantry arranged an ambush of Ukrainian military in the Kursk region, the enemy lost three NATO-made armored vehicles, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.
09:34 The criminal Kiev regime continues to shell the civilian infrastructure of populated areas on the left bank of the Kherson region. Yesterday, during the day, the Ukrainian Armed Forces fired from barrel artillery:
– Five rounds in the village of Golaya Pristan;
– Four rounds to the settlement of Velikiye Kopani;
– Four rounds in the village of Malokakhovka;
– Six rounds in the village of Novaya Kakhovka;
– Three rounds in the village of Sagi;
- Five rounds to the village of Aleshki.
During the night, the Kiev regime continued to shell civilian infrastructure in the settlements of Dnepryany, Aleshky, Kardashynka, Korsunka, and Golaya Prystan, firing a total of 24 rounds from cannon artillery. Civilian casualties and infrastructure destruction are being clarified.
09:10 The Russian Armed Forces have liberated three square kilometers near Zelenovka in the Kurakhovsky direction, Vladimir Rogov reported.
09:04 Today at 05:20 am, passenger bus route #25 in Gorlovka DPR was attacked by a UAF drone, there were no casualties. This was reported by the city's mayor, Ivan Prikhodko.
08:49 The DPR representative office in the JCCC recorded seven cases of fire from the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Gorlovka direction in 24 hours, 19 rounds of ammunition were fired. There were no reports of civilian casualties. No damage to residential buildings or civilian infrastructure facilities was recorded.
08:31 Russian forces have improved their tactical position near the village of Lozovaya in the Khar'kov region, partially forming a “fire bag” for Ukrainian Armed Forces units, military expert Marochko reported.
08:24 The Russian Armed Forces crossed the Mokrye Yaly River during the battle for the village of Storozhevoe to the south of Velikaya Novosyolka in the DPR, Vladimir Rogov reported.
08:15 The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost most of their forces while trying to break out of the pincer movement in Uspenovka south of Kurakhovo, the security forces reported.
08:12 Crimean paratroopers destroyed an American Abrams tank in the Novoivanovka area of the Kursk region, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.
08:10 Crews of 152mm 2S19 self-propelled howitzers "Msta-S" of the "West" group of forces destroyed camouflaged guns, machine gun emplacements and Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel. Fire adjustment and target engagement control were performed by UAV crews.
08:08 The Russian Armed Forces have liberated three settlements. The channel "Whisper of the Front" reported that the Russian army has occupied Makarovka in the Veliko-Novoselovsky direction, as well as Konstantinopolskoye and Uspenovka near Kurakhovo.
08:05 Armed Forces of Ukraine killed civilians in Kurakhovo in the DPR, using FPV drones and mortars against them, a refugee reported.
08:03 Air defense systems destroyed two Ukrainian UAVs over the Belgorod region and one over the Bryansk and Kursk regions at night, the Defense Ministry reported.
08:01 Russian troops have cleared the "Yuzhnokurakhov cauldron", Vladimir Rogov said. At the same time, according to him, those who refused to surrender were liquidated.
[IsraelTimes] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the mother of a US journalist missing in Syria that Israel is careful not to strike areas in which Austin Tice might be held.
In a letter to Tice’s mother Debra Tice, published by journalist Barak Ravid, Netanyahu says: “Please rest assured that Israel and its intelligence agencies are fully coordinated with the relevant American authorities on the matter and that the IDF is not active in the area where Austin may be located.”
Debra had written to Netanyahu asking him to halt Israeli strikes in a particular neighborhood of Damascus where Tice is credibly believed to be held.
“We have credible information… that Austin may now be held in a prison called Mt. Qasioun prison. This prison has a secret tunnel which connects the Al-Maliki neighborhood to the Republic Palace. The prison is located underneath a military museum,” Debra Tice wrote.
“We are aware that your military has an active campaign in the area, preventing rescuers from approaching and accessing the prison facility,” she said. “We urgently request you pause strikes on this area and deploy Israeli assets to search for Austin Tice and other prisoners. Time is of the essence. We are calling on you to leverage all your relationships and resources to liberate that prison.”
Israel does not have troops on the ground in the area, with its forces only deployed near the Israeli border to secure it.
🚨🚨🚨Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised the mother of U.S. journalist Austin Tice that the IDF isn't conducting airstrikes in areas in Syria where he might be located. My story on @axioshttps://t.co/Hzopew9lIWpic.twitter.com/zkMxsx5gY5
[IsraelTimes] Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have tightened their grip on the country’s oil industry and control up to half the exports that generate most of Tehran’s revenue and fund its proxies across the Middle East, according to Western officials, security sources and Iranian insiders.
All aspects of the oil business have come under the growing influence of the Guards, from the shadow fleet of tankers that secretively ship sanctioned crude, to logistics and the front companies selling the oil, mostly to China, according to more than a dozen people interviewed by Rooters.
The extent of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) control over oil exports has not previously been reported.
Despite tough Western sanctions designed to choke Iran’s energy industry, reimposed by former US President Donald Trump ...The cad! Twice caught beating wimmin!... in 2018, 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... generates more than $50 billion a year in oil revenue, by far its largest source of foreign currency and its principal connection to the global economy.
Six specialists — Western officials and security experts as well as Iranian and trading sources — say the Guards control up to 50% of Iran’s oil exports, a sharp increase from about 20% three years ago. The sources declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Three of the estimates were based on intelligence documents about Iranian shipping while others derived their figures from monitoring shipping activity by tankers and companies linked to the IRGC. Rooters is unable to determine the exact extent of the IRGC’s control.
The IRGC’s growing domination of the oil industry adds to its influence in all areas of Iran’s economy and also makes it harder for Western sanctions to hit home — given the Guards are already designated as a terrorist organization by Washington.
As part of their expansion in the industry, the Guards have muscled in on the territory of state institutions such as the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and its NICO oil trading subsidiary, according to four of the sources.
The IRGC, NIOC, NICO and Iran’s foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
[IsraelTimes] Four anti-government protesters accused of launching flares at the Caesarea home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month have said they were jailed by “terrorists and spies,” in a letter from prison obtained by Channel 12.
The four, Rear Adm. (res.) Ofer Doron, 63, his son Gal Doron, 27, and two other longtime anti-government activists, Itay Yaffe, 62, and Amir Sadeh, 62, were indicted in the Haifa District Court on charges of carrying out an act of terror through the reckless and negligent use of fire and attempted arson.
They have argued they did not intend to hit the home and only meant to fire the flares in its vicinity in protest.
Y’all are officers. You know all about never show a gun unless you plan to use it, and no plan survives first contact with the enemy. So your intention not to hit when you fired something exactly designed to hit is more than a bit disingenuous.
In their letter penned from detention, the four say: “We were interrogated by about 10 Shin Bet investigators for long days.”
“By the third day of the investigation, the investigators concluded that we had no intention to harm the prime minister or his residence,” they assert. At the same time, “We were interrogated as if it were a grave terrorist act, even though the flares we launched are completely legal.”
Not when shot toward where people can be expected to be.
“In the Shin Bet interrogation facility, we were held in isolation, adjacent to cells of terrorists, spies, and detainees suspected of harming state security,” they say. “Later, we were transferred to the Turkish Detention Center at the Russian Compound in Jerusalem, where we were kept in a freezing and unbearable cell.”
So you think you are better than the general run of prisoners, you elitist? You deserve special treatment?
“The attitude of the prison service guards was fair, but the conditions were harsh, certainly for men of our age,” they add. “We were treated as terrorists, even though all our actions were part of non-violent protest.”
You cased the joint ahead of time, snuck in — trying to avoid being seen by security cameras — waited in position until your target time, then shot the same kind of rocket used by Hamas. Where is the non-violence in all that?
They claim that in their act “there was no intention to harm or create panic. Our protest was solely intended to convey a message.”
The message that Bibi andhis family are unsafe in their own home. Got it.
[IsraelTimes] The Iranian rial falls to its lowest level in history, losing more than 10% of value since Donald Trump won the US presidential election in November and signaling new challenges for Tehran as it remains locked in the wars raging in the Middle East.
The rial traded at 777,000 rials to the dollar, traders in Tehran say, down from 703,000 rials on the day Trump won.
Iran’s Central Bank has in the past flooded the market with more hard currencies in an attempt to improve the rate.
In an interview with state television Tuesday night, Central Bank Gov. Mohammad Reza Farzin said that the supply of foreign currency would increase and the exchange rate would be stabilized. He said that $220 million had been injected into the currency market.
The currency is plunging as Iran ordered the closure of schools, universities, and government offices today due to a worsening energy crisis exacerbated by harsh winter conditions. The crisis follows a summer of blackouts and is now compounded by severe cold, snow and air pollution.
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] The Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... i Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Monday the resumption of the work of its embassy in Syria, starting tomorrow.
Earlier, Qatari Foreign Ministry front man Majed al-Ansari announced that ''a Qatari diplomatic delegation arrived in Damascus to complete the necessary procedures for opening the Qatari embassy.''
Al-Ansari added that the delegation renewed, during its meetings with the interim government in Syria, ''the State of Qatar's full commitment to supporting the Syrian people.''
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2024
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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.
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the 
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
...mayor of San Franciscoas it transformed itself into Poopville, currently governor of Californiaas it transforms itself into Cinderland...
[FoxBusiness] Teamsters represents about 10,000 workers at ten Amazon facilities across the United States.
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the 
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos is said to be 'apoplectic' and 'humiliated' following the network's decision to pay $16 million to settle a defamation lawsuit between ABC and Donald Trump.
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
..always the voice of sweet reason...
...every time you hear the phrase 
[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] President-elect 
...every time you hear the phrase 
...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party...
Wazoo
...His ancestors didn't own any slaves...
...71st United States secretary of state and a leading light of the corrupt and inept Biden administration. He previously served as deputy national security advisor from 2013 to 2015 and deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017 under the corrupt and inept Obama administration. He advocated for the 2003 invasion of Iraq while serving as the Democratic staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2002 to 2008. He was a foreign policy advisor for the Biden 2008 presidential campaign. During his tenure in the Obama administration, Blinken helped craft B.O.'s policy on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the nuclear program of Iran. We all saw how well each of those worked. After leaving government service, Blinken moved into the private sector, co-founding WestExec Advisors, a lobbying firm...
...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 
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
