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RE: News of the World - kyonides - 12-28-2023

US NEWS

3 Bad News + 1 Good News

EUROPEAN NEWS


Quote:Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny resurfaced on Tuesday, over two weeks after he mysteriously disappeared during a prisoner transfer.

Navalny reappeared at one of Russia’s harshest prisons, a former gulag called the Polar Wolf colony in the Arctic Circle.

“I am your new Father Frost,” Navalny said with characteristic humor when writing his first social media post since he disappeared before a scheduled court video appearance on December 11. Father Frost is the feisty Russian version of Santa Claus.

“Well, I now have a sheepskin coat, an ushanka hat, and soon I will get valenki,” Navalny told his followers. Ushankas are furry hats with flaps to cover the ears, while valenki are traditional Russian felt boots.

“The twenty days of transfer were quite tiring, but I’m still in an excellent mood, as Father Frost should be,” he said, noting that his “strange” route of transportation to the prison colony was seemingly designed to keep him in transit, and out of touch, for as long as possible. He said he was a little surprised when one of his lawyers appeared at his cell door because he thought he would not be found until mid-January.

ASIAN NEWS

2 Crises

MIDDLE EASTERN NEWS


Quote:U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said Tuesday that the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists of Yemen launched a massive barrage of drones and missiles at Israel, only to see their weapons intercepted and destroyed by the guided missile destroyer USS Laboon and F/A-18 fighters from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier battle group.

CENTCOM said U.S. forces “shot down twelve one-way attack drones, three anti-ship ballistic missiles, and two land attack cruise missiles in the Southern Red Sea that were fired by the Houthis over a 10 hour period.”

“There was no damage to ships in the area or reported injuries,” the statement added.

CENTCOM did not indicate if USS Laboon or other Navy assets were targeted by the Houthi drones and missiles.

The Houthis launched their attack the day after U.S. warplanes conducted retaliatory strikes against Iran-backed militias in Iraq, whose latest assault on American positions in Iraqi Kurdistan injured three U.S. service members.

LATIN AMERICAN NEWS

Bolivian Socialists Got Quite Bloodthirsty Now



RE: News of the World - DerVVulfman - 12-29-2023

Confused  This week, we get to play PING PONG with the U.S. election cycle.  First, the Ping...


Colorado’s secretary of state said Thursday that former President Donald Trump will remain on the 2024 primary ballot for certification next week, as the state Republican Party appeals a court ruling that had found him ineligible for office earlier this month.

“With the appeal filed, Donald Trump will be included as a candidate on Colorado’s 2024 Presidential Primary Ballot when certification occurs on January 5, 2024, unless the US Supreme Court declines to take the case or otherwise affirms the Colorado Supreme Court ruling,” Jena Griswold’s office said in a press release.

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled 4-3 on Dec. 19 that the former president could not receive the Republican nomination because he had unconstitutionally participated in an “insurrection” against the US government on Jan. 6, 2021.

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment includes a clause that bars those who have taken an oath of office from being elected again to govern if they have violated the Constitution by having “engaged in insurrection or rebellion.”

“Donald Trump engaged in insurrection and was disqualified under the Constitution from the Colorado Ballot. The Colorado Supreme Court got it right. This decision is now being appealed,” Griswold said in a separate statement. “I urge the US Supreme Court to act quickly given the upcoming presidential primary election.”

On Wednesday, the Colorado Republican Party asked the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling from their state’s high court, saying the party “has been irreparably harmed by the decision” to disqualify the 77-year-old ex-president.

“The state has interfered in the primary election by unreasonably restricting the Party’s ability to select its candidates,” states the 45-page petition from the Colorado GOP and the nonprofit American Center for Law and Justice.

“As a natural and inevitable result, the state has interfered with the Party’s ability to place on the general election ballot the candidate of its choice. And it has done so based on a subjective claim of insurrection the state lacks any constitutional authority to make.”

The high court has yet to make a decision on the ruling, which would need to occur before a Jan. 5 deadline for candidate names to be certified by both parties for the Colorado ballot.

The Colorado court in its decision cited a prior ruling by Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, who oversees the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes the Centennial State

Attorneys for Trump have yet to appeal the Colorado ruling to the Supreme Court.

The Colorado Supreme Court stayed its ruling rendering Trump ineligible until Jan. 4, 2024, but the US Supreme Court may still issue its own stay of the decision ahead of its first conference day of the new year, which falls on Jan. 5.

The Centennial State will host its primary on March 5, the day after the former president is scheduled to appeal in Washington, DC, federal court on his four-count indictment for trying to overturn the 2020 election results.

Trump remains the favorite for the 2024 Republican nomination by more than 50 percentage points, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average, with competitors Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley in a distant second and third place, respectively.

The former president is also leading President Biden in recent surveys, including in several swing states that he lost to the Democrat in 2020.
Judge  Of course, there are the other considerations such as Impeachment is a political process and not a legal one. The democrat's footage of Trump's speech would have landed the editor in legal trouble with doctoring footage.  The second is that there was no Federal Court trial to convict.  And third, this is a federal matter and not the purview of the states.

And now the Pong...


MAINE'S SECRETARY OF STATE
REMOVES TRUMP FROM BALLOT
[Image: yhgjdkhljkl.jpg]
I think they hob-nob together...

Maine's Democratic secretary of state on Thursday disqualified former President Trump from the state's presidential primary ballot.

In her ruling, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows cited Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution which bans from office those who "engaged in insurrection."

Bellows made the ruling after some state residents, including a bipartisan group of former lawmakers, challenged Trump's position on the ballot.

Trump's lawyers requested Bellows disqualify herself over tweets that they believed showed bias. In the tweets, Bellows, a lawyer and former executive director of the ACLU, called the U.S. Capitol attack an "insurrection" and bemoaned that Trump wasn't convicted by the U.S. Senate after being impeached by the U.S. House.

Trump Campaign spokesman Steven Cheung derided Bellows as "a virulent leftist and a hyper-partisan Biden-supporting Democrat who has decided to interfere in the presidential election on behalf of Crooked Joe Biden."

"We are witnessing, in real-time, the attempted theft of an election and the disenfranchisement of the American voter," Cheung said. "Democrats in blue states are recklessly and un-Constitutionally suspending the civil rights of the American voters by attempting to summarily remove President Trump’s name from the ballot.

"Make no mistake, these partisan election interference efforts are a hostile assault on American democracy. Biden and the Democrats simply do not trust the American voter in a free and fair election and are now relying on the force of government institutions to protect their grip on power."

Maine law mandated that Bellows hold a public hearing over the issue, which she did in December. Bellows allowed each side to submit additional arguments after the Colorado Supreme Court's historic Dec. 19 decision that Section 3 of the 14th amendment barred Trump from the ballot.

Bellows suspended her ruling until Maine's state Superior Court rules on the matter.

A ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court earlier this month booted Trump from the ballot there under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Colorado is a Democratic-leaning state that is not expected to be competitive for Republicans in November.

But even though Maine has just four electoral votes, it's one of two states to split them. Trump won one of Maine's electors in 2020, so having him off the ballot could have significant consequences for the election – should he emerge as the Republican candidate. If he's not on the ballot there, he would start his 2024 campaign down one Electoral College vote.

Similar battles are playing out in other states, where activists have asked election officials to remove the former president from their states' primary ballots under Section 3 of the 14th amendment.

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to make a final decision on whether Trump can still run for president early next year.
Head-desk Thud  So this time, she wants to remove someone from an election.  It was early this year she testified she was against Voter ID, a means to strengthen election integrity. Her claim it forces one to carry a specific form of photo identification is bogus when 'State IDs' (not Drivers Licenses) can be readily accessible and its damn required to get a job anyway.



A swatting attempt targeted the U.S. Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Christmas at her Georgia residence, police say.

Swatting is a deliberate, illegal harassment practice of making false crime reports to emergency services in order to draw local police or SWAT teams to a particular location. It's often used to target someone's residence or place of work and can be fueled through social media to spread misinformation.

Greene posted about the incident on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying it is the eighth attempt.

From Twitter Wrote:Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene
@RepMGT - Follow

I was just swatted.

This is the 8th time.

On Christmas with my family here.

My local police are the GREATEST and shouldn't have to deal with this.

I appreciate them so much and my family and I are in joyous spirits celebrating the birth of our savior Jesus Christ!

10:48 AM - Dec 25, 2023

According to The Associated Press, Kelly Madden, a spokesperson for the city of Rome, Ga., confirmed that the call was a hoax and did not send officers to Greene's house. Madden told the AP that a man in New York called a Georgia suicide hotline and claimed he had shot his girlfriend at Greene's home and was going to kill himself next.

"My local police are the GREATEST and shouldn't have to deal with this," Greene said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

She also wrote that she was swatted on Dec. 21, when a man sent death threats on social media. According to her post, a suspect has not been arrested yet.

From Twitter Wrote:Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene
@RepMGT - Follow

I was swatted this morning on Christmas Day and a few days ago - Thursday Dec 21st. we received this death threat where this man is saying I will be shot in the head and skinned to make a "parasol" making a reference to Gein, who was a psycopath killer who could make things out... Show More

3:58 PM - Dec 25, 2023

"Swatting is extremely dangerous and people have been killed as a result from swatting calls. It's also a waste of police time and resources and harassment," Greene wrote. "I will be introducing legislation to track down swatters."

Rome police said it has formed a close working relationship with Greene's security detail and is in the process of identifying the latest harasser, Madden told the AP.

This is not the first time the congresswoman, who is known for embracing conspiracy theories, has been targeted. Last month, a man in Georgia was arrested after threatening to kill her.



GERMANY EXPECTS EU DEAL ON UKRAINE AID,
EVEN WITHOUT HUNGARY
Budapest blocked the 50 Billion Euro deal in December
Germany expects European Union member states to pass their next Ukraine support package either way, even if Hungary should continue to block an unanimous decision.

EU leaders have been looking for ways to get around Budapest’s intransigence after talks over the €50 billion ($55 billion) package for the government in Kyiv broke down at a summit in mid-December.

A potential back-up option that has been floated is having member states funnel money to Kyiv outside of the EU budget process, an option Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban signaled may be viable.

The proposal would involve national guarantees from member states to raise funding in the markets should Hungary continue to block the review of the EU’s long-term budget at an extraordinary summit on Feb. 1.

Speaking at a regular government news conference in Berlin, Foreign Ministry spokesman Christian Wagner said Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government will provide military support for Ukraine worth €8 billion in 2024 and Berlin will continue to “campaign vigorously” for the adoption of the bigger EU aid package worth €50 billion early next year.

“The EU will also continue its support for Ukraine, in any case,” Wagner added. “The EU-26 will of course also be able to act. But I don’t want to speculate now on how such support could be organized. This also requires further consultation in Brussels.”

Ukraine is seeking to manage its government spending and military resources as the war approaches the two-year mark, with more than $110 billion in financial aid from the US and the EU delayed by political disputes in Washington and Brussels.

After its counteroffensive largely failed to oust Russian forces from occupied eastern and southern Ukraine, fighting on the front line is largely at a stalemate.



RE: News of the World - kyonides - 12-29-2023

US NEWS


Quote:A man accused of stabbing two teenagers at New York City’s Grand Central Terminal on Christmas Day was freed by a judge just weeks prior after a string of violence, and he now allegedly has stabbed a fellow prisoner at Rikers Island.

The alleged assailant, Steven Hutcherson, 36, of the Bronx, allegedly attacked two teenage girls at the Tartinery in the Grand Central Dining Concourse on Monday after arguing with restaurant staff over sitting in the establishment’s area. According to reports, he remarked that the two teen girls, 14 and 16, were allowed to sit there, ultimately pulling out a knife and stabbing them — one in the thigh and the other in the back, the latter of whom was treated for a collapsed lung at Bellevue Hospital.

The man allegedly shouted racist remarks as well. Law enforcement sources told the New York Post at the time that the man yelled, “I want all the white people dead,” and “I want to sit next to the crackers.”

His stabbing spree did not end there, however. After police took Hutcherson into custody at the Eric M. Taylor Center, he allegedly got up from the cot in his dorm and stabbed his 43-year-old cellmate with a 1.5-inch ceramic blade at 8:00 a.m. on Thursday. The attack left “gashes across the left side of his face and head” of Hutcherson’s cellmate, sources informed the Post.

The Post continued, “A correction officer intervened quickly, pepper-spraying Hutcherson and rushing the victim to the jail infirmary and eventually to Elmhurst Hospital to be treated for the slash.” Hutcherson had apparently been searched for weapons before the attack, but none were found. An investigation is underway as to how Hutcherson acquired the blade.

LATIN AMERICAN NEWS

Mexico's Solutions to Migration Issues

EUROPEAN NEWS

Bad News for Europe



RE: News of the World - kyonides - 12-31-2023

US NEWS

Migration & Ballots

EUROPEAN NEWS

Ongoing War in Ukraine & a Lot More

ASIAN NEWS

India's Hypocrisy & A Couple of Crises

LATIN AMERICAN NEWS

Straight from Nicaragua & Argentina



RE: News of the World - kyonides - 01-01-2024


Quote:“On Dec. 31 at 6:30am (Sanaa time) the container ship MAERSK HANGZHOU issued a second distress call in less than 24 hours reporting being under attack by four Iranian-backed Houthi small boats. The small boats, originating from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, fired crew served and small arms weapons at the MAERSK HANGZHOU, getting to within 20 meters of the vessel, and attempted to board the vessel. A contract embarked security team on the MAERSK HANZGHOU returned fire,” Central Command (Centcom) outlined in an issued statement.

“U.S. helicopters from the USS EISENHOWER (CVN 69) and GRAVELY (DDG 107) responded to the distress call and in the process of issuing verbal calls to the small boats, the small boats fired upon the U.S. helicopters with crew served weapons and small arms. The U.S. Navy helicopters returned fire in self-defense, sinking three of the four small boats, and killing the crews. The fourth boat fled the area. There was no damage to U.S. personnel or equipment,” Centcom said.

It is the first time that the U.S. military has killed Houthi crews in response to attack on commercial vessels and U.S. ships in the Red Sea since they began in October. There have been at least 23 attacks by the Houthis on commercial vessels since then, with some of them causing damage.


Quote:Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II announced Sunday that she plans to leave the throne to make way for her son, Crown Prince Frederik.

The queen announced during her New Year’s speech that she would abdicate on Jan. 14th, which is the 52nd anniversary of her own accession to the throne at age 31 following the death of her father, King Frederik IX.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen confirmed the decision in a news release that paid tribute to the 83-year-old monarch, offering a “heartfelt thank you to Her Majesty the Queen for her lifelong dedication and tireless efforts for the Kingdom.”

The 6-foot-tall (1.82-meters-tall), chain-smoking Margrethe has been one of the most popular public figures in Denmark. She often walked the streets of Copenhagen virtually unescorted and won the admiration of Danes for her warm manners and for her talents as a linguist and designer.

A keen skier, she was a member of a Danish women’s air force unit as a princess, taking part in judo courses and endurance tests in the snow. Margrethe remained tough even as she grew older. In 2011, at age 70, she visited Danish troops in southern Afghanistan wearing a military jumpsuit.

Russian News

A Very Large Article



RE: News of the World - DerVVulfman - 01-04-2024

The Alvand class destroyer had been a part of the Iranian navy's 34th fleet

Quote:Iran's Alborz warship has reportedly entered the Red Sea, emerging at a time of heightened tensions in the key shipping route amid ongoing attacks on vessels in response to the Israel-Hamas war.

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported Monday that the vessel had entered the Red Sea through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, though it was unclear precisely when. 

Tasnim did not give details of the Alborz's mission but said Iranian warships had been operating in open waters to secure shipping routes, combat piracy, and carry out other tasks since 2009.

The Alvand class destroyer had been a part of the Iranian navy's 34th fleet, and patrolled the Gulf of Aden, the north of the Indian Ocean and the Bab Al-Mandab Strait as far back as 2015, according to Iran's Press TV.

The news comes as the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier strike group – which was moved to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea following Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 invasion of Israel – is heading back to its home in Norfolk, Va.
The Alvand class destroyer does carry missile launchers, and clearly meant to be a show of force after the U.S. sank a Houtis vessel that attacked a commercial cargo vessel. But the Iranian vessel, let alone its navy,



Quote:Harvard University president Claudine Gay announced Tuesday she is stepping down from leading the prestigious college, following weeks of controversy over campus politics and her own academic record.

“It is with a heavy heart but a deep love for Harvard that I write to share that I will be stepping down as president,” Gay, 53, wrote in the emotional missive.

“[I]t has become clear that it is in the best interests of Harvard for me to resign so that our community can … focus on the institution rather than any individual,” she explained of the decision.

Calls for Gay’s resignation started in the fall, when she would not condemn over 30 Harvard student groups that published a letter holding Israel “entirely responsible” for Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack.

She then appeared before congress on Dec. 5 where she refused to say that anyone calling for the genocide of Jews at the university would be punished. 

In her resignation, Gay cited how she had been subject to racism since the attacks, writing: “It has been distressing to have doubt cast on my commitments to confronting hate and to upholding scholarly rigor—two bedrock values that are fundamental to who I am—and frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus.”

Inaction over antisemitism on campus and Gay’s disastrous appearance before congress led Rabbi David Wolpe, a visiting professor at Harvard divinity school, to quit a panel formed by Gay to advise on antisemitism because there was “no sense of urgency, no sense of anger, no sense of disgust,” at the “urgent crisis” before them.

Despite that, Gay said in her resignation how she’d hoped to represent all and make them feel welcome as president.

Joseph Potasnik, executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis, said Gay’s departure was overdue.

“It was the right decision that should have happened sooner.  It should not have taken this long. There was a clear lack of leadership. Her resignation was warranted,” he told The Post.
The article is way longer than this, but it covers several key factors: support for anti-Israeli students, refusal to condemn antisemitism in Congress, fifty counts of plagiarism including aformer professor's work for her doctoral thesis and Harvard covering the incidents up.

NOW?  She's claiming that duplicating work is not plagiarism. And social media is calling it an attack on diversity.  Please...



Israel has insisted the assassination of a Hamas leader in Beirut was not an attack on Lebanon, as its enemies warned of "punishment" for his death.
Quote:Israel has neither confirmed nor denied that it killed Saleh al-Arouri, but a spokesman called it a "surgical strike against the Hamas leadership".

Hamas denounced it as a "terrorist act", while its ally Hezbollah said it was an assault on Lebanese sovereignty.

Lebanon's PM accused Israel of trying to "drag" it into a regional war.

Lebanese media report that Arouri, a deputy political leader of Hamas, was killed in a drone strike in southern Beirut on Tuesday along with six others - two Hamas military commanders and four other members.

He was a key figure in the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing, and a close ally of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader. He had been in Lebanon acting as a connection between his group and Hezbollah.

There have been near daily exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israeli forces since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, but so far the violence has been limited to the area along the Israel-Lebanon border.

Hezbollah - which, like Hamas, is considered a terrorist organisation by Israel, the UK and others - is the largest political and military force in Lebanon and has ministers in the country's government.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) refused to comment on the assassination of Saleh al-Arouri, but said its troops were "highly prepared for any scenario".
Again, a much larger news article than what I'm presenting here, but the topic title is able to be clicked as every other in this thread.

And in retaliation, Hasan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, says the killing of Hamas's powerful deputy leader will "not go unpunished". Of course, Hezbollah is itself a terrorist organization.



Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre's 2015 lawsuit finally leads to name drop
Quote:Nearly 200 names that had previously been redacted from court documents in a lawsuit against Jeffrey Epstein's former lover and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell have been made public on orders of a federal judge in New York.

U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ordered their release in December but gave the Jane and John Does two weeks in case they wanted to appeal.

The names were unveiled in a series of 40 documents that have been posted to the docket without previous redactions that hid big names including former Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, Clinton's estranged longtime aide Doug Band, Prince Andrew, the late former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, and the French modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, who like Epstein died while awaiting trial.

Epstein had many high-profile connections, including former U.S. presidents, foreign prime ministers and Britain's Prince Andrew, as well as Hollywood stars, leading academics, people in the modeling and fashion industries and other public figures.  Some of the names were previously known through other means despite having been withheld from the public's eye in the lawsuit.

Many of the names belong to people who have not been accused of wrongdoing, including Clinton, who also declined to ask the court to have his name remain sealed.

A spokesperson for Clinton also denied claims in one of the documents that alleged the former president and Epstein had a "close personal relationship.

Other names unsealed Wednesday included billionaire Glenn Dubin and his former private chef Rinaldo Rizzo. Previously released documents revealed that Rizzo claimed Epstein and Maxwell once visited Dubin's house with a disoriented, 15-year-old Swedish girl who told him the couple asked her for sex and that her passport had been taken.  Others mentioned include Tony Figueroa, Limited Brands founder and former Victoria's Secret CEO Lex Wexner, and Epstein accusers such as Johanna Sjoberg and Annie Farmer.

A notable new name is David Copperfield – who was himself accused of sexually assaulting a teen model and is described in the documents as a friend of Epstein.

Sjoberg, according to a deposition in the lawsuit claimed that Epstein once told her "Clinton likes them young, referring to girls" and that Copperfield, a friend of Epstein's, "did some magic tricks" at dinner.
Dang, another long news file.  Yes, more here in the news article than I presented here. So read for yourself. Not all of them, but a couple of court documents are available within, so you can actually judge for yourself.  The documents released were more towards an official courtroom interview rather than a list. There are 40 documents, not pages. And there are well over 170 individuals that are expected to be named.



Clients, believed to include members of Congress, military officers, and national security contractors, have not yet been unmasked and charged
Quote:Intelligence experts are becoming increasingly convinced that six high end brothels in the suburbs of Boston and Washington, D.C. were set up by a foreign nation as an espionage 'honeytrap'.

They believe the brothels – allegedly masterminded by a 41-year-old South Korean woman – targeted politicians, high ranking government officials and defense contractors.

But the mystery is which country was behind the scheme. Russia, China, Korea itself, or even Israel are al seen as possibly being behind the scheme.

'Having the Koreans out front could have been a false flag to give China or another country plausible deniability if the plot unraveled,' a one-time CIA senior operations officer told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview.

The brothels were raided in November and prosecutors said they were looking to charge 28 people in Massachusetts alone.

Joshua Levy, the Acting U.S. Attorney for the state said his office will seek 'accountability for the buyers who fuel the commercial sex industry'.

There was no evident motive to establish two cathouses in the greater Washington area, sources noted emphatically. None of the three defendants live anywhere near the capital and sex workers were flown in from Los Angeles or Las Vegas.

Han Lee, the alleged mastermind, Junmyung Lee, 30, and James Lee, 68 – all South Korean-born U.S. nationals – were charged in November with running the sex ring. The three Lees are not related.

Han and Junmyung both live in the Boston area so the locations of four of the brothels there made sense. James lives in Torrance, a suburb of Los Angeles.

Members of Congress, military officers, and national security contractors who 'possessed security clearances' were among the steady customers at the 'high-end brothels' run by the ring, prosecutors say.

The ring's clients, who paid rates of up to $600 an hour, included corporate executives, professors, lawyers, and scientists.
Dang... all these long news articles.  But while it suggests other nations, the names of the ring leaders would kinda point fingers at which nation was behind this scheme.



Quote:Controversy is again swirling around Capitol incursion figure Ray Epps as the Department of Justice calls for him to spend no more than six months in jail and face a $500 fine.

Epps was highly visible in multiple videos from the incursion and was seen urging people to go to the Capitol building.

Because he was not initially charged, speculation ran rampant that Epps was a federal agent whipping up and organizing protesters. He was eventually charged with one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct in September.

American Greatness reporter Julie Kelly noted in a post on X at the time that the charge was far milder than other charges against Jan. 6 defendants.
Julie Kelly on X/Twitter Wrote:This lame single charge tells us everything we need to know about Ray Epps. No obstruction felony? No civil disorder charge? Not even a trespassing on restricted grounds misdemeanor?” she wrote.

This lame single charge tells us everything we need to know about Ray Epps.
No obstruction felony? No civil disorder charge? Not even a trespassing on restricted grounds misdemeanor?

Can't even tell you the last time I saw an "information" (misdemeanor version of indictment) for a J6er on a sole count. Not sure it exists but will check.
(One page of court document included in actual X/Twitter post)
Code:
https://twitter.com/julie_kelly2/status/1704152740086067516

Similar thoughts erupted after the government’s sentencing memorandum was issued Tuesday.

In it, prosecutors described Epps' case as "unique ... in the context of January 6 defendants."

“Although Epps engaged in felonious conduct during the riot on January 6, his case includes a variety of distinctive and compelling mitigating factors," the memorandum said.

The memo noted that Epps repeatedly attempted to "deescalate conflict and avoid violence" on Jan. 6, "turned himself in to the FBI two days after the riot," and "cooperated with both the FBI and Congress, participating in multiple lengthy voluntary interviews."

“No previously sentenced case contains the same balance of aggravating and mitigating factors present here,” the DOJ said.

Many on social media said the sentence was far too lenient given what others have received.

The DOJ is giving this guy (Ray Epps) a mere 6 month prison sentence, which they claim is the ‘high-end’ of their ‘sentencing guidelines!’

Court docs: “He cooperated with the FBI and Congress, and attempted to de-escalate the conflict.”
Another long one. Sufficed to say, replies and postings on Twitter within the actual news link depict videos of Epps on both the 5th and 6th of January telling people to go into the capital after Trump's speech. And his actual participation going through barricades and charge to the capital like so many others who were indeed arrested.


RE: News of the World - kyonides - 01-05-2024

US NEWS


Quote:Anti-Israel radicals staged an insurrection in the California State Assembly on Wednesday, shutting down the first day of the state legislative session and forcing lawmakers to flee. There were no arrests, as insurrectionists were allowed to linger in the chamber.

The disruption was staged bythree so-called “Jewish” groups whose claim to Jewish identity is never verified and who, at best, represent a radical fringe of the American Jewish community. Two of the three groups have a history of support for terrorism.

Protesters calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war on Wednesday shut down the California Assembly on the Legislature’s first Capitol floor session of the new year.

Hundreds of demonstrators from Jewish anti-war organizations packed the Rotunda and the Assembly gallery and began chanting, singing and unveiling banners around 1:30 p.m., just as lawmakers reconvened in Sacramento after a months-long recess.
...
Protesters sang “cease-fire now” as lawmakers began leaving the chamber, although a few lingered on the floor and in the back of the room. None of the California Highway Patrol sergeants who provide security at the Capitol removed or arrested any of the demonstrators, who continued singing and chanting to a largely empty room. They remained even after the lights in the Assembly chamber were shut off after the adjournment, continuing to sing while turning on their cell phone flashlights.

The most common charge against those who entered the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, was “obstructing an official proceeding.” No such charges will be brought against the insurrectionists in Sacramento, though they did the same.

Politico noted: “It’s the third time in recent months that cease-fire demonstrators have disrupted a major political event in California, highlighting a widening rift between progressive activists and more mainstream Democrats over the conflict.”

Other News

MIDDLE EASTERN NEWS

Several Articles

LATIN AMERICAN NEWS

Argentina & the Middle East



RE: News of the World - kyonides - 01-07-2024

US NEWS

3 Articles

EUROPEAN NEWS

The Crisis Doesn't Seem to Be Fading Away Any Time Soon

ASIAN NEWS

4 Articles

MIDDLE EASTERN NEWS

Iran & the Far East



RE: News of the World - kyonides - 01-07-2024

US NEWS


Quote:Good news: The U.S. military isn’t packed with violent extremists. That’s the gist of a new report commissioned by the Pentagon in 2021 and released quietly with little notice in December. The result won’t surprise Americans who have spent time in uniform, but it should calm the media frenzy about right-wing radicals in the armed forces.

After reports that some service members participated in the Jan. 6 riot, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered an independent study to get “greater fidelity” on extremism in the ranks. The think tank tasked with the report, the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), “found no evidence that the number of violent extremists in the military is disproportionate” to U.S. society. A review of Pentagon data suggested “fewer than 100 substantiated cases per year of extremist activity by members of the military in recent years,” the report says.

Since you'd need a subscription to WSJ, here's what Military Times reported on this issue:

Quote:Service members don’t participate in violent extremism at higher rates than the rest of the U.S. population, but former troops do — and their involvement is growing, according to research published at the end of December.

According to the report, which was commissioned by the Defense Department, anecdotal accounts of service members being involved in violent extremism create a false impression that it’s an outsized problem. Those accounts often fail to differentiate between current service members and former troops, a demographic found to participate in violent extremism at higher rates, the research states.

“[The] review found no evidence that the number of violent extremists in the military is disproportionate to the number of violent extremists in the United States as a whole,” the research says. “Extremism in the veterans’ community has peaks and valleys over recent decades, and currently appears to be on the increase.”

While the study found there were not more violent extremists in the military than in the overall population, researchers did highlight racism and sexism as ongoing problems in the Armed Forces. Moreover, researchers said that even a single incident of violent extremism carried out by a service member can lead to “significant negative repercussions” for the nation as a whole.

Because of the effect that even a small number of incidents can create, researchers urged the Pentagon to hold a zero-tolerance policy on troops’ advocacy of violent extremism and take steps to ensure “core military values prevail over fringe beliefs.”

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RE: News of the World - kyonides - 01-09-2024

US NEWS


Quote:The bipartisan framework would set defense funding at $866 billion and non-defense spending at $704 billion for the current fiscal year, which is in line with the spending levels set with the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA), the debt limit deal struck by President Joe Biden and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

The deal arose just about two weeks before funding for many government agencies was set to expire. The first tranche of agency funding was set to expire, while the remainder would end on February 2.

In his letter to House lawmakers, Johnson said that the “final spending levels will not satisfy everyone, and they do not cut as much spending as many of us would like.”

The Speaker said that the deal would remove in overall “$30 billion total reduction” from the Senate’s spending plans. He explained that there would be $10 billion in cuts to the IRS mandatory funding, and $6.1 billion from the “Biden administration’s continued COVID-era slush funds.”
...
“It’s even worse than we thought. Don’t believe the spin. Once you break through typical Washington math, the true total programmatic spending level is $1.658 trillion — not $1.59 trillion. This is total failure,” the Freedom Caucus wrote.

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EUROPEAN NEWS

First the German farmers took it on Vice Chancellor Habeck, the main antagonist here, now it's against the government's policies including the aid to Ukraine...
The Crisis Never Stopped Being a Heavy Burden

ASIAN NEWS


Quote:China’s state-run Global Times on Sunday noted the Red Sea shipping crisis has entered its third month — despite the Biden administration ostensibly putting together a multinational security alliance to protect ships from the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists of Yemen — so China is stepping in to offer its railroad network as a “viable alternative.”

Shipping demand is increasing as the Lunar New Year holiday approaches and long detours to avoid the Red Sea are both inefficient and expensive. The Global Times suggested companies like Maersk, which just announced the indefinite suspension of shipping through the Red Sea and Suez Canal, should think about the China-Europe freight train service instead.

Trains can make the trip in about 12 days, compared with about 40 days for ships, industry sources said.

But traders are grappling with price differentials. “The use of China-Europe freight trains is an option, but they run less often and often mean higher costs compared with ships,” Gao Yangjiang, general manager of Ningbo Rapid International Freight Agency Co, told the Global Times.

“More traders are using China-Europe freight trains, but there’s no fundamental solution to the Red Sea crisis at the moment. Rail shipping accounts for less than 3 percent of sea transportation, and it’s very difficult to increase that by even one percentage point,” Kang Shuchun, a director of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, told the Global Times on Sunday.


Quote:The government of the Maldives on Sunday suspended three deputy ministers for making disparaging remarks about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

One of India’s largest travel companies suspended bookings to the Maldives on Monday as the diplomatic row escalated, a serious step given how much the Maldives depends upon Indian tourism.

The controversy began when three deputy ministers in the Maldives Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Information, and Arts took umbrage at Modi for promoting tourism to the islands of Lakshadweep in a video.

Lakshadweep is an archipelago off the southwestern Indian coast that bears a considerable resemblance to the famed beaches of the Maldives. Modi paid a visit to Lakshadweep last week, went snorkeling, praised the natural beauty of the archipelago, and advised fellow “beach lovers” to give the islands a try.

Modi’s recommendation caused Indian search engine traffic for Lakshadweep to explode and, within a few days, global searches for the islands reached a 20-year high. MakeMyTrip, one of India’s top travel agencies, reported a 3,400-percent surge of interest in Lakshadweep on its website after Modi’s snorkeling adventure.

This news was not welcomed in the Maldives, where some residents felt Modi was trying to steal tourism revenue by touting Lakshadweep as an alternative. Modi’s government has indeed been sponsoring a celebrity campaign to convince Indian tourists to visit domestic attractions instead of traveling abroad. Last year, Modi suggested Indian couples should plan their weddings at domestic vacation spots instead of traveling abroad to get married.

People, it doesn't matter if Modi or Trump or Scholz did it, they are entitled to promote a local destination at any time. Even my small country has a Tourism Ministry and that's the kind of job they should be doing right now. Other countries might not like other nations' tourism campaigns but they should NEVER protest against that. No nation owns the tourists, they are free to choose their destinations at will.

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