Quote:Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has dramatically raised the stakes in a confrontation with the Biden administration over illegal immigration from Mexico. He has ordered state forces to lay down barbed wire along the Rio Grande River, and thus block federal Border Patrol from approaching the border. His actions run directly contrary to the exclusive federal control over the border, as made clear by the Supreme Court, and threaten a conflict between federal and state militaries unseen since the darkest days of desegregation in the South.
Instead of inviting a breakdown of federal-state relations, no matter how deep the disagreement over border policy, Texas should instead invite the Supreme Court to overturn its precedent pre-empting any state role in immigration enforcement. Congress can also play an important role by making clear its views on whether the calamity at the border qualifies as an "invasion" or "imminent danger" under the Constitution sufficient to justify a state’s resort to self-defense. But unless Governor Abbott and his state and congressional supporters adopt this less confrontational, though also less immediately satisfying, approach, he will lose in the courts and may well lose control of his national guard units to Washington, D.C.
...This record-breaking surge has imposed heavy costs on communities in Texas, Arizona, and California, created a route for the trafficking of people and drugs, and has led to thousands of deaths of migrants at the crossings.
President Biden bears primary responsibility for this failure. Our constitutional system has recognized for almost 150 years that protecting the territory of the nation falls within the responsibilities of the federal government. In The Chinese Exclusion Case (1889), the Supreme Court recognized the federal government’s inherent power to exercise the powers of national sovereignty, such as conducting foreign relations, protecting the national security, and controlling the border. In a series of immigration laws, Congress ordered the executive branch to detain aliens entering the country illegally, provide hearings for those claiming political asylum, and to remove those here without a valid visa.
Quote:On Wednesday, the court argument began by saying that Disney lacked standing to sue the governor or his administration because, “When a statute is facially constitutional, a plaintiff cannot bring a free-speech challenge by claiming that the lawmakers who passed it acted with a constitutionally impermissible purpose.”
“Because Disney seeks injunctive relief, it must allege an imminent future injury, and it has not alleged facts showing that any imminent future appointments will contribute to its harm,” it said. “Disney struggled to articulate any injury attributable to the Secretary” or governor.
The court further argued that Disney has standing to sue district members of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CTFOD) but still lost on the merits.
The case is Walt Disney Parks & Resorts v. DeSantis, No. 4:23-cv-163 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida.
Quote:California law requires that would-be ammunition purchasers submit to a background check like the check one undergoes to purchase a firearm.
The law implementing the ammunition background checks came from Senate Bill 1235, which usurped a permit-to-purchase scenario passed by California voters in 2016. The court challenge was directed toward SB 1235 and its chief enforcer, California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
[US District Court Judge Roger T.] Benitez weighed the background check requirement in light of the Supreme Court’s Bruen (2023) decision and found it unconstitutional.
He wrote, “The ammunition background checks laws have no historical pedigree and operate in such a way that they violate the Second Amendment right of citizens to keep and bear arms.”
Plaintiffs also targeted California’s law against purchasing ammunition in other states and bringing it back to California. Benitez also decided in plaintiff’s favor concerning the anti-importation law.
Benitez subsequently barred AG Bonta and any of his agents from enforcing the ammunition background check requirement or the anti-importation law.
Quote:The socialist government of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez suffered a major blow this week as his Catalan separatists amnesty bill, which he promised in order to form a coalition government, was shot down in parliament by the separatist party that had backed the formation of the government in the first place.
Demonstrating the fragility of the coalition government Sánchez cobbled together following last year’s elections, in which the centre-right People’s Party (PP) won the most votes but fell short of enough seats to form a government, the Catalonia-based leftist-separatist Junts party broke ranks and voted down the amnesty bill put forward by the government they voted to install, El Mundo reports.
The Junts party (Together for Catalonia) is led by former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, who is currently living in exile as a fugitive in Belgium in order to avoid prosecution for treason over attempts to see Catalonia secede from the rest of Spain in 2017.
The party agreed to back Sánchez in his quest for a third government in November after the socialist PM agreed to introduce amnesty legislation for the Catalan separatists, many of whom are accused of involvement in terrorist attacks in addition to the treasonous support of breaking the country apart. The move by Sánchez, described by many as a craven political tactic to remain in power, sparked weeks of protests from conservatives and populists on the streets of Madrid, warning that the move would fundamentally undermine the rule of law.
Yet, rather than Sanchéz’s amnesty bill being blocked by conservatives, in a dramatic turn of events, it was the Junts party that voted down the measure, arguing that it did not go far enough to ensure that separatists
would not face prosecution and therefore would violate their post-election support agreement.
Quote:The American supercarrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower will need to return to the U.S. soon and the Royal Navy is ready to replace her with a British carrier on station in the Red Sea if necessary, the Armed Forces minister says.
James Heappey MP answers weeks of criticism over why the United Kingdom has two aircraft carriers but none have been deployed to the Red Sea conflict hotspot, saying there is already enough Western military equipment in the area, but British ships would go if needed. A group of allied warships including a British destroyer and frigate, and a U.S. battlegroup including the supercarrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (‘Ike’) have been deployed to the Red Sea since last year, defending global merchant shipping from missile, drone, and pirate attacks by Iran-backed Shiite Muslim Houthi militias.
The Red Sea is one of a handful of strategic global waterways which provide an important time-saving passage to the flow of trade, but which are also narrow enough for state action or terrorism to potentially close them off to commercial ships. In this case, hundreds of ships have been diverted away from the Red Sea to around the Horn of Africa, adding nearly two weeks to the voyage and piling considerable costs onto the industry.
Ultimately, the downstream effects to the wider world is the threat this is yet another inflationary pressure on the economy, while shortages and delays can shutter starved factories or lead to empty store shelves. Nevertheless, the UK’s position is one that the situation is being managed for now.
Quote:The farmer uprising in France continued to grow this week, as an estimated 12,000 farmers in over 6,000 tractors enacted roadblocks in at least 120 locations throughout France on Tuesday, including access points to major cities such as Paris, Lyon and Marseilles. However, some are calling for the protests to set their sights on the EU government.
“The next step is Brussels, that’s for sure,” a grain grower from Loiret told the Le Figaro newspaper, with another adding: “We are able to go to Brussels, that doesn’t scare us.”
Motivated by the climate change agenda and expansionist visions, the EU has gone from being the friend to farmers as it was in decades past and is slowly becoming a major foe of agriculture, imposing onerous environmental regulations on agriculture while at the same time allowing food produced cheaper in other parts of the world without such stringent standards to freely flow into Europe, and thereby undercutting local farmers.
Defending the system he has been integral in creating, French President Emmanuel Macron said that “it would be easy to blame everything on Europe”.
Macron, who left the country for a state visit to Sweden on Tuesday despite the national crisis, did admit that the decision by Brussels to grant Ukrainian agriculture tariff-free access has had negative ramifications on farmers throughout the bloc.
Quote:The lower house of Russia’s parliament on Wednesday approved a bill that would allow authorities to confiscate money, valuables and other assets from people convicted of spreading “deliberately false information” about the country’s military.
After its swift passage in the State Duma, the bill is now expected to quickly sail through the upper house of parliament and receive Russian President Vladimir Putin’s signature.
Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said the measure would strengthen the punishment for the “traitors who sling mud at our country and our troops” and “strip those scoundrels of honorary titles, confiscate their assets, money and other valuables.”
The new law would apply to people who are convicted of publicly inciting “extremist activities,” calling for actions that would hurt the security of the state or “discrediting” the armed forces. Discrediting the Russian military became a criminal offense under a law adopted as part of a sweeping government crackdown on dissent after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
“Everyone who tries to destroy Russia, who betrays it, must suffer the deserved punishment and pay compensation for the damage inflicted on the country, at the cost of their property,” Volodin said before Wednesday’s vote.
The proposed law does not appear to include real estate among the assets subject to seizure, unlike the draconian Soviet-era legislation that authorized the seizure of housing.
Quote:Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages being held by Hamas have attempted to block humanitarian aid entering Gaza over the past week, gathering at border crossings to protest and to obstruct truck convoys of supplies being sent through Israel.
Israel has allowed dozens of trucks of humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, after inspection, since shortly after the war began. It has allowed the aid to flow despite evidence that much of it is stolen by Hamas terrorists and armed gangs, and kept from civilians.
Meanwhile, families of Israeli hostages, over 130 of whom are still thought to be in captivity — though not all are thought to be alive — are becoming desperate, protesting not only in favor of a hostage deal but against humanitarian aid being sent into Gaza.
They argue that Palestinians, and Hamas, should not receive food, fuel, water, and medicine if there is no guarantee that hostages are also receiving aid. Hamas is already thought to have broken an agreement to bring medications to hostages that require them.
As the Times of Israel notes, protesters succeeded in blocking at least some aid trucks from entering Gaza via the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and southern Gaza on four successive days, from last Wednesday through this past Sunday.
Quote:Just one day after former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was sentenced to a decade in prison for mishandling secure documents, another court slapped him and his wife, Bushra Bibi, with 14 years in jail for corruption.
The new conviction for Khan came from the Toshakhana case, named after the Pakistani agency in charge of regulating gifts for politicians. Khan and Bibi were accused of improperly keeping expensive foreign gifts and later selling some for cash, including $2 million in jewelry given to Khan by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Khan is already in prison, having been convicted on a previous Toshakhana allegation in August 2023. He has already been banned from running for office for five years — a prohibition extended to ten years by the new conviction. Khan and Bibi were additionally fined almost $3 million each.
Khan accused the court of rushing through proceedings to obtain a speedy conviction ahead of Pakistan’s elections, which are on February 8, 2024. Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Party is urging voters to turn out for the party slate to demonstrate their contempt for what they see as rigged legal proceedings against Khan, arguably the most popular political figure in Pakistan.
...
Khan refused to remain in the courtroom on Wednesday, so he was convicted in absentia.
...
The ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (PML-N) Party, on the other hand, celebrated Khan’s conviction as the downfall of a “certified Toshakhana thief in front of the world.”
Quote:Members of a rock band that has been critical of Moscow’s war in Ukraine remained locked up Tuesday in a Thai immigration jail, fearful that they could be deported to Russia as a reported plan to let them fly to safety in Israel was apparently suspended.
The progressive rock band Bi-2 said on Facebook that it had information that intervention from Russian diplomats caused the plan to be scuttled, even though tickets had already been purchased for their flight.
“The group participants remain detained at the immigration center in a shared cell with 80 people,” the post said. It said they declined to meet with the Russian consul. The Russian press agency RIA Novosti said the refusal was confirmed by Ilya Ilyin, head of the Russian Embassy’s consular section.
The seven band members were arrested last Thursday after playing a concert on the southern resort island of Phuket, reportedly for not having proper working papers. On Facebook, they said all their concerts “are held in accordance with local laws and practices.” Phuket is a popular destination for Russian expats and tourists. After paying a fine, the band members were sent to the Immigration Detention Center in Bangkok.
The detained musicians “include Russia citizens as well as dual nationals of Russia and other countries, including Israel and Australia,” the group Human Rights Watch said in a statement Tuesday. Those holding only Russian citizenship are thought to be most at risk.
Quote:NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby gave socialist Venezuela a deadline of April to commit to a “free and fair” presidential election in remarks on Monday, threatening the restoration of oil and gas sanctions lifted by U.S. President Joe Biden.
The announcement comes after Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) recently upheld a ban imposed on top opposition candidate María Corina Machado that prevents her from running against socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro in the yet-to-be scheduled “free and fair” election.
“Now, accordingly, they [the Maduro regime] got until April to do so, so we have options available to us. I’m not going to preview any of those at — at this time. But we certainly have options, with respect to sanctions and that kind of thing that — that we could take,” Kirby said.
“They — they’ve got until April. They need to make the right decisions here and allow opposition members to run for office and release the political prisoners that they’re holding right now,” he continued.
The Maduro regime and the Venezuelan “opposition” signed a series of agreements in Barbados in October to work towards a “free and fair” presidential election to take place sometime in the second half of 2024.
Quote:Venezuela’s vice president Delcy Rodríguez threatened the United States on Monday evening with halting deportation flights of Venezuelan migrants coming from the U.S. by February if the oil and gas sanctions the White House recently lifted return.
Since October, the socialist regime of dictator Nicolás Maduro has been enjoying a generous oil and gas sanctions relief package awarded by U.S. President Joe Biden in exchange for a vague list of promises toward celebrating a “free and fair” presidential election in 2024.
Weeks before the sanction relief package was granted, the Biden administration signed an agreement with the Maduro regime in October to establish deportation flights of Venezuelan migrants through the regime’s dubious Vuelta a la Patria (“Return to the Homeland”) program.
According to the socialist regime, Venezuela received 11 deportation flights from the United States as of December 31. The Maduro regime did not publicly disclose the total amount of migrants who returned in those flights.
The Maduro regime, which has taken no material steps towards fulfilling its commitments in the elections deal, has so far failed to uphold the terms of the agreement, opting to instead double down on its persecution of political dissidents.
...
In response, the Biden administration rescinded the sanctions relief granted to the state-owned Minerven oil company and gave the Maduro regime an April deadline to comply with the “free and fair” electoral agreements or it will reinstate the oil and gas sanctions lifted in October.
Quote:Brazil’s Federal Police raided the house of Carlos Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, on Monday morning as part of a broader probe into illegal espionage activities allegedly committed during his father’s presidency.
The police burst into the home and office of Carlos, Bolsonaro’s second eldest son and a Rio de Janeiro city councilman, by order of Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) Minister and “anti-fake news crusader” Alexandre de Moraes, who is leading the broader investigation.
The probe that prompted the raid, named “Operation Close Surveillance” by the Brazilian Federal Police, seeks to determine the alleged involvement of Carlos Bolsonaro in a purported scheme carried out by the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (ABIN) during his father’s presidency to carry out illegal espionage activities under a “parallel ABIN” structure. Carlos Bolsonaro stands accused of illegally obtaining intelligence through the alleged operation.
“In this new stage, the Federal Police seek to advance in the political core, identifying the main recipients and beneficiaries of information produced illegally within the scope of Abin, through clandestine actions,” the official police statement reads. “In these actions, investigation techniques specific to the judicial police were used, without, however, any judicial or Public Ministry control.”
The raid on Carlos Bolsonaro’s home Monday took place after de Moraes ordered a raid on Alexandre Ramagem, who served as Jair Bolsonaro’s former spy chief and is a current member of the Brazilian Congress, as part of the same investigation. The police executed another seven warrants on Monday.
The purported “parallel” ABIN structure allegedly conducted espionage activities in favor of Jair Bolsonaro on “targets and public authorities with the aim of creating false narratives” through the use of an Israeli-made software known as “First Mile.”
A source from the Brazilian police told Reuters that Carlos Bolsonaro is suspected of having used data obtained with the Israeli espionage software “possibly” to “feed fake news” against his father’s political opponents.
Keep in mind that the President of the Supreme Electoral Court in Brazil, Alexandre de Moraes, deeply hates Bolsonaro and freedom of speech. Apps and companies like Telegram have also been targeted by him and his colleagues in the past.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
Quote:The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee sent a subpoena on Friday to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to obtain documents related to possible misuse of federal funds related to her case against former President Donald Trump and more than a dozen other co-defendants.
In a letter sent by House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), he noted that the committee in August 2023 had requested documents regarding the usage of federal funds. However, he said even after two letters were sent to her office last year, she has “failed to comply voluntarily with any of our requests.”
“In accordance with the attached Schedule instructions, you, Fani T. Willis, in your capacity as the District Attorney of Fulton County and head of the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, are required to produce the following items in your possession, custody, or control, from the period of September 1, 2020, to present in unredacted form,” it said before making specific requests for documents and communications related to federal funds usage or allegations about their misuse.
As of Friday morning, Ms. Willis, an elected Democrat, has not publicly responded to the subpoena. The Epoch Times contacted her office Friday.
Previously, her office condemned Mr. Jordan’s requests, claiming they are politically motivated, and said last year that under the Constitution, Congress has no right to “interfere with a state criminal matter.”
The House Judiciary letter made reference to a Washington Free Beacon report that claimed a former employee in the Fulton County District Attorney’s office was demoted after she issued a warning to Ms. Willis about her use of federal grant funding that was allegedly intended to be used for gang prevention efforts in Fulton County. Months later, according to the letter that cited the report, the employee was “abruptly terminated” and was “escorted out of her office by seven armed investigators.”
Quote:The Georgia House of Representatives has passed a bill to revive an oversight panel with powers to discipline and remove wayward county prosecutors, which could potentially target alleged misconduct by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in her case against former President Donald Trump.
The House on Jan. 29 voted 95-75 along party lines for House Bill 881, sending it to the Senate for further debate.
The measure would empower the Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission to operate after the state Supreme Court in November 2023 refused to approve rules governing its conduct.
...
The bill lays out grounds for discipline, removal, or “involuntary retirement” of wayward prosecutors, including for engaging in “willful misconduct” or for being convicted of a “crime involving moral turpitude” or persistently failing to carry out their duties.
Ms. Willis, who charged President Trump over his efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, has been accused of misconduct, court documents show.
She’s accused of having had an “improper” relationship with her top Trump prosecutor and benefitting from the relationship financially, among other allegations.
Quote:The verdict in former President Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial in Manhattan that could see him banned for life from doing business in New York has been delayed until mid-February, according to a court spokesperson.
Justice Arthur Engoron said during the trial’s closing arguments on Jan. 11 that he hoped to make his final decision by Jan. 31 in a much-anticipated verdict that could, in addition to hitting the former president with a lifetime business ban, see him fined $370 million.
After the tentative Jan. 31 deadline came and went without a verdict, the spokesperson for the New York State Office of Court Administration, Alfred Baker, said that the judge is now expected to deliver his decision in early to mid-February.
“That’s the working plan now,” Mr. Baker told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement on Feb. 1.
The spokesperson added that the new timeline for a verdict is a “rough estimate” that could still change, and that the verdict would be a written decision, with no news conference.
While it’s unclear why Justice Engoron is taking more time to deliver the verdict, reports suggest that it could have something to do with a 12-page letter issued by a court-appointed monitor claiming that parts of President Trump’s financial disclosure appeared incomplete or inconsistent.
Attorneys for President Trump, who maintains his innocence and has called the case a political witch hunt, have disputed the monitor’s characterization of the financial disclosures.
The letter from the monitor, former judge Barbara Jones, pointed out errors on seven disclosure forms, three inconsistencies, and five clerical errors.
President Trump’s attorneys have said the issues flagged by Ms. Jones are immaterial amid the thousands of pages of financial data she has received, which include Trump Organization financial disclosures to third parties, documents related to transactions, bank statements, and all manner of paperwork related to taxes.
Quote:Ten Republican senators in Oregon cannot run for reelection, the state’s top court ruled on Feb. 1.
The court found that the senators are banned from running for reelection under a constitutional amendment approved in 2022.
The amendment, Ballot Measure 113, states that lawmakers who miss at least 10 legislative days without an excuse cannot seek reelection.
The ruling upheld a decision from Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade, a Democrat.
Ms. Griffin-Valade said in 2023 that the senators, under the measure, could not try for another term after their current term.
“My decision honors the voters’ intent by enforcing the measure the way it was commonly understood when Oregonians added it to our state constitution,” she said at the time.
The decision sparked a lawsuit from some of the Republican senators, but the Oregon Supreme Court sided with the secretary of state.
“Because the text is capable of supporting the secretary’s interpretation, and considering the clear import of the ballot title and explanatory statement in this case, we agree with the secretary that voters would have understood the amendment to mean that a legislator with 10 or more unexcused absences during a legislative session would be disqualified from holding legislative office during the immediate next term, rather than the term after that,” the new ruling reads.
Quote:President Joe Biden has decided what course of action he will take to retaliate against the Iran-backed militants responsible for an attack that killed three American soldiers over the weekend.
Speaking to reporters in Florida on Jan. 30, President Biden said that he would not seek an all-out war with Iran.
“I do hold [Iran] responsible in the sense that they’re supplying the weapons to the people who did it,” he said.
“I don’t think we need a wider war in the Middle East. That’s not what I’m looking for.”
The president did not confirm if the administration had established a firm link between the Islamist regime in Tehran and the attack on U.S. troops but said that the “discussion” would be had.
Pressed as to whether he believed new strikes would finally deter an increasing number of attacks on Americans in the Middle East, the president said simply, “We’ll see.”
Quote:The Biden administration on Jan. 31 formally identified the group responsible for a drone attack on a U.S. military outpost in Jordan that left three U.S. Army Reservists dead.
An umbrella group uniting several terror organizations resourced and conducted the attack, according to White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.
“We believe that the attack in Jordan was planned, resourced, and facilitated by an umbrella group called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which contains multiple groups, including Kata’ib Hezbollah,” Mr. Kirby told reporters.
“We will do what we need to do to make sure that those responsible are held properly accountable.”
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq isn’t a single group but a network of ideologically aligned Islamic terror groups that broadly support Iran and its interests.
Mr. Kirby reaffirmed that the United States wouldn’t pursue a war with Iran over the attack and the hundreds of others that have targeted U.S. troops in the Middle East in recent months, which the administration claims have been backed by Iran.
“We don’t seek a war with Iran,” Mr. Kirby said. “We’re not looking for a broader conflict. We’re not looking for a war with Iran.”
...
Some Republican leaders have called for direct strikes against Iran, a possibility that the White House appears to have ruled out.
Then Iran already won this round.
Don't forget to check our MIDDLE EAST section! We've got a followup article there.
Quote:Republicans at the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs suggested during a hearing earlier this week that the White House had deliberately waited to allocate funds to UNRWA before announcing a suspension of aid on January 26. While evidence has yet to emerge to prove that, Fox News reports that the administration sent $51 million to UNRWA in November, long after the agency had been accused of excessive sympathy for, and even some ties to, the Palestinian terrorists who carried out the attack.
The Biden administration sent millions in government assistance to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for FY24 amid allegations of terrorist ties against federal employees prior to the administration’s pause of new funding.
The administration announced a pause on new funding would be enacted last week over allegations that some of its members were “involved” in the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack in Israel. The U.S. government had already earmarked $51 million for FY24 prior to the pause.
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“The pause decision was well after the initial tranche to UNRWA’s oPt Flash Appeal of $51M,” a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “That funding was obligated back in mid-November in the early part of the crisis, about 100 days before the Jan. 26 pause.”
At the moment, only $300,000 worth of funds earmarked for UNRWA this year have actually been affected by the suspension.
Quote:Sixty-seven plaintiffs filed suit in the District of Columbia on Wednesday seeking damages from the government of Iran for supporting the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.
“Iran bears direct responsibility for the October 7 attacks. Indeed, that point is essentially undisputed. The Iranian regime has openly flaunted its motive for aiding the horrors,” said the plaintiffs, who included surviving victims of the attack and the families of those killed and kidnapped by Hamas.
A landmark U.S. court decision in 2016 held that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) does not protect state sponsors of terrorism from lawsuits. Iran was designated a state sponsor of terrorism in 1984.
The lawsuit charged Iran, a “sworn enemy of Israel and the United States,” with orchestrating the attack to sabotage diplomacy between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
“As potential Israeli normalization with Saudi Arabia progressed, Iran prepared to reset the regional balance, including by attempting to unite Arab states around the Palestinian cause,” the lawsuit said.
The plaintiffs said they would provide evidence including their own sworn testimony, expert witnesses, and U.S. government documentation on how Iran finances Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and other terrorist groups. One of the Iranian officials named as a conspirator in the attack was Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian.
The lawsuit charged Iran with giving the “green light for Hamas, PIJ, and the other Iran-backed groups to launch the pre-planned attack against Israel, using Iranian intelligence, training, and military supplies” five days before the “deadliest killing of Jews since the Holocaust” was perpetrated. The suit described some of the most heinous atrocities in detail to emphasize the utter depravity of the attack.
The plaintiffs are reportedly seeking over a billion dollars in damages from Iran, including damages from the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism funds.
Quote:The Justice Department is charging four Chinese nationals for their alleged role in exporting American electronics to Iran.
Members of the alleged conspiracy smuggled electronic components from the United States through China and Hong Kong for the benefit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which the United States designates as a terror organization.
“For more than a decade, the defendants allegedly orchestrated a scheme to smuggle U.S. manufactured parts to the IRGC and the Iranian agency charged with developing ballistic missiles and UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles],” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen said in a prepared statement.
Baoxia Liu, Yiu Wa Yung, Yongxin Li, and Yanlai Zhong have been indicted for unlawfully exporting and smuggling U.S. export-controlled items through China and Hong Kong from 2007 to 2020.
The defendants allegedly used an array of front companies in communist China to funnel dual-use technologies, including electronics and components that could be utilized in the production of drones and ballistic missile systems.
These products were then sold to sanctioned Iranian entities with ties to the IRGC and Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, which oversees the regime’s production of missiles and drones.
“Such efforts to unlawfully obtain U.S. technology directly threaten our national security, and we will use every tool at our disposal to sever the illicit supply chains that fuel the Iranian regime’s malign activity,” Mr. Olsen said.
“As a result, a vast amount of dual-use U.S.-origin commodities with military capabilities were exported from the United States to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions and export control laws and regulations.”
Quote:Dozens of Chinese students have been interrogated by U.S. border law enforcement officers, had their visas canceled, and were repatriated at Washington Dulles International Airport for their possible connections with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The Chinese Embassy lodged a formal protest against the United States for blocking Chinese students from entry and issued a caution over traveling through Dulles International Airport.
Chinese ambassador to the United States Xie Feng said that dozens of Chinese students holding valid visas have been denied entry over the past few months when returning to school from overseas travel or visiting relatives in China, and some were interrogated for 8 hours by officers, according to a post on the Chinese Embassy website on Jan. 29. However, Mr. Xie didn’t say the specific reasons why the Chinese students were denied entry by the United States.
The Chinese Embassy also said in a post that the U.S. officers at the airport also checked the electronic devices the Chinese students carried. The embassy didn’t disclose the exact number of Chinese students under interrogation or the specific circumstances.
CCP-controlled Chinese media reported that since the end of November 2023, at least 8 Chinese students holding legal and valid documents have been interrogated and deported by the United States at Washington Dulles Airport alone.
In a separate statement on its website, the Chinese Embassy said it had made “solemn representations” to the U.S. government about the treatment of students arriving at Dulles airport in Washington, D.C. and cautioned Chinese students who travel through the airport.
Meanwhile, several Chinese official media outlets reposted an earlier report from Qiaowang, an official Chinese website focusing on overseas Chinese affairs, detailing a few cases of Chinese students being interrogated and repatriated at Dulles Airport last year.
Quote:Researchers in China’s military are studying how to use influence operations to sow discord abroad and encourage a mentality of defeat in the United States, according to one expert.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its military wing, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), are engaged in “cyber-enabled influence operations” against the United States and looking to further expand their capability for disruption, according to Nathan Beauchamp-Mustafaga, a policy researcher at the RAND Corporation.
“There is a group of PLA researchers, often focused on [influence operations], who argue that the cognitive domain is the new focus of warfare,” Mr. Beauchamp-Mustafaga said in prepared testimony to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission on Feb. 1.
Such “cognitive domain operations,” or CDO, are ultimately aimed at encouraging “a psychological or cognitive decision to surrender,” he added.
Thus, by leveraging technologically enhanced propaganda, like AI-generated deepfakes, the regime hopes “to win a conflict with as little kinetic destruction as possible and force the adversary to accept defeat short of total destruction.”
Mr. Beauchamp-Mustafaga outlined how researchers associated with the PLA have expressed interest in using “inauthentic content,” which they refer to as “synthetic information,” to coordinate “precision cognitive attacks” against adversaries.
These precision attacks are unique to other forms of CCP propaganda in that they are “specifically tailored or even personalized against small groups or individuals.”
As part of this effort, Mr. Beauchamp-Mustafaga said the PLA was researching how to reinforce “information cocoons,” or echo chambers, to deliberately polarize and divide American society to detract from “mainstream [Western] values” and isolate individuals psychologically.
Mr. Beauchamp-Mustafaga added that it was difficult to say how far the regime has yet gone to implement the researchers’ suggestions and that such ideas may be limited to certain scholarly circles associated with the PLA.
His findings, however, are consistent with reports documenting an increasing tempo and granularity in CCP influence operations.
Quote:Carl Weathers, who immortalized the role of Apollo Creed opposite Sylvester Stallone in Rocky and three of its sequels, has died. He was 76.
Weathers’ family announced that the actor died Tuesday. No cause of death was given.
“We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Carl Weathers,” his family said in a statement sent to multiple news outlets.
“He died peacefully in his sleep on Thursday, February 1st, 2024. … Carl was an exceptional human being who lived an extraordinary life. Through his contributions to film, television, the arts and sports, he has left an indelible mark and is recognized worldwide and across generations. He was a beloved brother, father, grandfather, partner, and friend.”
Among his other notable screen roles were as Colonel Al Dillon opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator, and the voice of the military action figure Combat Carl in Toy Story 4.
With his muscular frame and imposing physicality, Carl Weathers cut an intimidating figure on movie screens, leading Hollywood to cast the former athlete in action roles.
He was a star football player at San Diego State before launching a brief career in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders. He segued into acting in the early 70s and eventually landed the role of heavyweight boxing world champion Apollo Creed in the 1976 movie Rocky.
Quote:Iran issued a warning on Jan. 31 that any U.S. attack on the Islamic regime would be met with a decisive response. The threats followed accusations by President Joe Biden that Iran is linked to the recent killing of three U.S. soldiers at a military base in Jordan.
The drone attack on the military base on Jan. 28 prompted the United States to prepare for retaliatory strikes in the region. At least 40 troops were injured at Tower 22, a base in northeastern Jordan that has been a crucial stronghold for the U.S. military’s presence in neighboring Syria.
There are growing concerns, however, that a U.S. response could trigger further unrest in a region already embattled by Israel’s ongoing war with the Hamas terrorist group, as well as continued attacks on shipping in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists.
A recent attack on American forces in the waterway by Houthi militants was averted when a U.S. Navy destroyer shot down an anti-ship cruise missile launched on Jan. 30. It was the latest attack on U.S. forces patrolling the key maritime trade route, officials said.
Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations in New York, Amir Saeid Iravani, first issued the warnings on Jan. 30 in a briefing to Iranian journalists, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
“The Islamic Republic would decisively respond to any attack on the [country], its interests and nationals under any pretexts,” IRNA quoted Mr. Iravani as saying. He described any possible Iranian retaliation as a “strong response,” but did not elaborate further.
Despite reports by the Qatari-funded pro-Hamas satellite TV channel Al Jazeera that messages had been exchanged between the United States and Iran over the last few days, through either direct or indirect channels, Mr. Iravani denied that such communication had taken place.
“Such messages have not been exchanged,” Mr. Iravani said.
Quote:El Salvador will hold an unprecedented presidential election on Sunday as polls suggest President Nayib Bukele will win reelection by an overwhelming landslide despite the country’s Constitution explicitly forbidding presidents from seeking more than one term.
Sunday will see some 5.5 million Salvadorans head to the polls to choose who will lead their country for the next five years. The country entered a mandatory three-day silent period on Thursday in which no participating candidate or party may issue any kind of political statement or publish propaganda.
According to polls released by El Salvador’s Central American University in January, 81.9 percent of voters intend to vote for Bukele, placing the president vastly ahead of his closest rival, Manuel Flores of the leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Party (FMLN), who received 4.2 percent support. Joel Sánchez, of the center-right Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA) party, received 3.4 percent support in the poll.
Bukele, who now leads the ruling New Ideas (NI) party, was a former FMLN member until he was expelled in 2017 for “violating” the party’s principles. He successfully ran as an outsider in the 2019 presidential elections, in which he obtained 54 percent of the vote.
Bukele’s all-but-certain Sunday reelection is unprecedented in El Salvador’s modern democratic history and has generated international controversy, as the nation’s Constitution contains several articles that explicitly establish a five-year presidential term duration, prohibit serving multiple terms, and penalize “those who subscribe acts, proclamations or adhesions to promote or support the reelection or continuation of the President of the Republic, or use direct means to that end” with a complete loss of citizen rights.
Bukele will be able to run — and most certainly win — in Sunday’s election thanks to a controversial ruling issued by the Supreme Court of Justice in 2021.
The court, which had all of its top justices replaced by the pro-Bukele majority in Congress prior to the ruling, issued a new interpretation of Article 152 of the Salvadoran Constitution, which states, “The term of office of the President shall be five years and shall begin and end on the first day of June, and the person who has served as President shall not be able to continue in office for one more day.”
Quote:El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele cheerfully brushed off criticism from embattled U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) on Wednesday, saying he and his country were “honored” to receive her attacks “just days before OUR election.”
“I would be very worried if we had your support,” Bukele told Omar:
Bukele was responding to a message Omar posted on Twitter trumpeting that she “led Members of Congress in sending a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging action on threats to democracy in El Salvador.”
“The State Dept must review its relationship with El Salvador and defend democratic values. The Salvadoran people deserve free and fair elections without fear of repression,” Omar pontificated.
Amusingly, readers of Omar’s post immediately slammed her with fact checks pointing out that El Salvador does have free elections, Bukele and his party won them fairly, and there is a technicality that allows Bukele to legally run for office again.
...
Since the actual wording of the Constitution states that candidates who held the presidency for six months before the election cannot run again, Bukele essentially just had to take a vacation to circumvent the restriction. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal ruled in November that Bukele was indeed eligible to run again. Bukele’s critics furiously accused him of packing the courts to obtain the ruling he needed.
Bukele’s immense popularity in El Salvador is due largely to his successful war against gang violence, which has also prompted criticism from human rights groups and made him a hated figure of the global left.
Huh? Why would a Somali-American congresswoman attack El Salvador President Bukele?
Didn't the politician herself claim that she was fighting for Somali interests only?
Plus, is her beloved Somalia truly democratic?
Or do technicalities only matter when they favor right wing politicians or even ALL politicians in general?
Quote:Jerônimo Rodrigues, the Gov. of Bahia, Brazil, is celebrating his successful efforts to ban water pistols at this year’s upcoming Bahia Carnival.
Brazil Posts English noted the ban “prohibits the use of ‘water pistols’ in street parties” and “the measure applies to the entire state.”
g1 reported that a ceremony marking the adoption of the ban was held at the Bahia Administrative Center in Salvador on Monday.
In light of the ban, any water pistols discovered during the carnival will be seized and will be turned over for recycling at the carnival’s end.
Rodriques noted, “In addition to seizing the water pistols, our main objective is to create an environment of tranquility and understanding for people, so that they internalize that this is no longer an acceptable and liberated practice.”
Elisângela Araújo, Bahia’s Secretary of Women’s Policies, praised the ban, claiming the absence of water pistols will be good for women: “We believe in prevention and raising people’s awareness to put an end to this type of sexist and misogynistic violence within our carnival, which is a beautiful party and the world loves it.”
Err, wasn't it a lot easier for women not to walk through all those streets for the time being than passing any legislation or measure? Just asking.
Quote:Venezuela’s socialist dictator, Nicolás Maduro, accused the Venezuelan “opposition” on Wednesday of being “terrorists and extremists” who operate “outside the Constitution and the law.”
Maduro’s accusation was specifically directed at the Unitary Platform, the latest iteration of the Venezuelan “opposition” coalition, which the socialist regime met with for negotiations in Barbados last year intended to culminate in a “free and fair” presidential election sometime in 2024.
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Maduro accused the opposition of “terrorism” during a speech at the opening ceremony of Venezuela’s 2024 judicial year, where he remarked on the Venezuelan top court’s decision to uphold a ban on opposition presidential frontrunner María Corina Machado from holding public office.
“That decision was the product of an impeccable process of dialogue promoted by us, by the Bolivarian government, a process of persistent dialogue with the master and his servants,” Maduro said, referencing the United States and the Unitary Platform, respectively.
Venezuela’s socialist regime has consistently accused dissidents of being “lackeys” of the United States, a tactic shared with the other regional authoritarian regimes of Cuba and Nicaragua:
The socialist dictator availed himself of the opportunity to insult Machado, branding her as “Mrs. Hatred, Mrs. Tantrum, Mrs. Violence.”
Although the Venezuelan electoral authorities have not yet announced a date for the upcoming “free and fair” election, Maduro recently announced that his regime’s lawmakers will start working on an electoral schedule proposal next week. The socialist dictator has reiterated that the decision to ban Machado — who, according to polls published last year, would easily defeat him in a real election — is “firm” and will not be overturned.
In apparent discord with Maduro’s remarks, his longtime henchman and alleged drug lord, Diosdado Cabello, suggested on his Con el Mazo Dando (“Hitting with the Mallet”) socialist television show that the sham electoral event could take place in March.
Quote:Bolivia’s economy has suffered over $680 million in losses as a result of sympathizers of Bolivia’s socialist former President Evo Morales rioting for ten days and counting against the socialist government of Luis Arce, Morales’ “disowned” successor.
The ongoing protests mark a new chapter in the rift between Arce and Morales who, despite being ineligible to run for president, is attempting to once again rule Bolivia, ignoring the two-term limits that the nation’s constitution explicitly sets.
The rioters are demanding that the Bolivian government replace the members of its top court with new elections. The justices’ terms were extended beyond their expiration dates due to parliamentary disagreements in the ruling Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party. The Bolivian constitution allows the nation’s electorate to choose its top-level court justices.
The protests erupted on January 22, weeks after the Bolivian Constitutional Court disqualified Morales from running for a fifth presidential term, reaffirming that the Bolivian constitution only allows a person to serve as president or vice-president of Bolivia for a maximum of two terms.
Morales ruled Bolivia between 2006 and 2019 across four terms, a feat he managed to achieve after forcing the courts in 2017 to issue a dubious ruling that stated that presidential term limits were a “violation” of his human rights. The controversial ruling was issued after Morales called for a referendum in 2016 to amend the constitution by removing presidential term limits, which failed to pass.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
Quote:According to US officials, the co-ordinated attack was against Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Quds Force and allied militia groups.
US President Joe Biden said the US attacks "will continue at times and places of our choosing".
Critics have argued that the strikes should have occurred earlier.
A statement from US Central Command (Centcom) said the attack occurred at 16:00EST (21:00GMT) - which is about midnight local time in the region.
Forces used numerous aircraft, including B-1 "long-range bombers flown from [the] United States" to hit a total of 85 targets at seven sites.
More than 125 precision munitions were used, the statement said.
US General Douglas Sims said the B-1 bombers "flew a single nonstop route from the US" and were able to "gas and go" while travelling in the air.
He added that the US is "pretty confident" that the locations struck were "pretty significant in degrading capability".
"We will know better in terms of what [the assessment] looks like tomorrow," Gen Sims said.
US officials have blamed an Iranian-backed militia group, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, for the attack and say the one-way drone was Iranian-made and similar to the ones being supplied to Russia.
The militant organisation - an umbrella group of multiple militias - is believed to have been armed, funded and trained by the IRGC.
Seven locations were hit - four in Syria and three in Iraq - over 30 minutes.
The facilities struck included command and control operations and munition supply chain facilities of "militia groups and their IRGC sponsors who facilitated attacks against US and coalition forces", the Pentagon added.
According to reports by AFP news agency, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said at least 13 pro-Iran fighters were killed in eastern Syria.
There were no strikes on Iranian soil and an Iranian warship in the Red Sea, thought to be involved in helping direct Houthi attacks on commercial shipping, was not targeted.
The attacks came several hours after Mr Biden attended a repatriation ceremony for the remains of William Rivers, 46, Kennedy Sanders, 24, and Breonna Moffett, 23.
More than 40 other service members were injured in the same drone attack, which struck Tower 22 - a US base in north-eastern Jordan.
Quote:The United States and United Kingdom struck at least 30 Houthi targets in Yemen late Saturday, according to reports.
Targets linked to Iran-backed terrorist group across 10 locations were struck by US F/A-18 fighters launched from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier, and American warships in the Red Sea fired off Tomahawk missiles as well, US officials said.
The targets included command and control operations centers, an underground weapons storage facility and other weapons Houthis have used to target international shipping vessels, CNN reported, citing an unnamed US official.
Saturday’s strikes on the Houthis came after the US attack overnight Friday on 85 targets linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and related militias in Iraq and Syria, in retaliation for a drone strike that killed three American soldiers in Jordan last weekend.
Quote:The US targeted Iran-backed terrorists for the third day in a row Sunday, destroying a Houthi missile it said posed an “imminent threat” to Navy ships in the Red Sea — as the extremist group vowed revenge.
“Forces conducted a strike in self-defense against a Houthi anti-ship cruise missile prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea,” US Central Command announced in an early morning tweet.
The 4 a.m. strike was launched after US forces determined the missile, located in a Houthi-controlled part of Yemen, threatened the safety of nearby Navy and trade ships, according to Central Command.
“This action will protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for U.S. Navy vessels and merchant vessels,” the statement said.
Shortly after the strike, a Houthi spokesman doubled-down on his terror group’s claims that its monthslong campaign attacking and hijacking trade ships in the Red Sea was being carried out exclusively to aid humanitarian efforts and Gaza, and vowed retaliation.
“These attacks will not deter us from our moral, religious and humanitarian stance in support of the steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, and will not pass without response and punishment,” the rep said in a tweet.
Sunday morning’s US strike followed a fiery 48 hours between the Houthis and American forces in the region.
On Saturday, at least 30 Houthi targets were hit by US and UK forces across 10 different locations in Yemen, including weapons storage facilities and command centers where the terrorists have been coordinating their Red Sea havoc.
A day earlier, US forces took out 11 armed Houthi drones which had either been launched or were being prepared for launch.
The strikes coincided with an extensive US assault on other Iran-linked groups in Iraq and Syria.
Overnight airstrikes Friday killed at least 39 people and injured dozens across 85 targets linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard in what wasin response to a drone strike from the extremist groups that claimed the lives of three US service members at a base in Jordan last weekend.
Tehran called the strikes “violations of the sovereignty and territorial integrity,” while US Defense Secretary said they were merely the beginning of America’s response to the Jordan attack.
Quote:Police officers and other critics are slamming Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for refusing to seek bail for the rowdy migrants arrested after allegedly being caught on camera attacking NYPD cops in Times Square.
Veteran police officers fumed to The Post Saturday that Bragg made a mockery of the entire justice system by letting five migrants walk after they were arraigned Wednesday on charges of second-degree assault on a police officer and obstruction of governmental administration in the shocking Jan. 27 beatdown.
“Alvin Bragg just showed all New Yorkers that the Police Department doesn’t matter to him,” said an NYPD detective with more than two decades on the job.
“What this does is open the window for all people to say we can beat up cops and nothing is going to happen to us. Thanks, Mr. Bragg.”
Another 25-year NYPD cop tore into the lefty prosecutor, saying his lack of action is a “complete joke “because the migrants committed “bail-eligible offenses.”
“They are not coming back,” said the police officer.
“I won’t be surprised if they’re back in Mexico.”
The outrage came as the embattled DA pledged Saturday to bring a grand jury investigation into the case.
“We are … preparing to present charges to the Grand Jury on Tuesday and will update the public as soon as legally permissible,” Bragg said in a statement. “We will not rest until every person who assaulted a police officer in this awful attack is held accountable.”
The seven men arrested so far in the beatdown of the cop and NYPD lieutenant were from shelters in outer boroughs, according to the NYPD.
Police are seeking six more suspects.
Of those arrested, six — including Darwin Andres Gomez, 19, Kelvin Servita Arocha, 19, Wilson Juarez, 21, and Yorman Reveron, 24 — have reportedly left for California, a police official said.
Also arrested were Jhoan Boada, 22, Yohenry Brito, 24, and Jandry Barros, 21, cops said.
All were listed by police as either homeless or living at migrant shelters.
Brito is being held without bail.
Boada flipped the bird with both hands to reporters and photographers after leaving his court arraignment.
“I think the cops are fed up,” the veteran cop added.
“We talk about it all the time. We’re a catch-and-release city. This is a complete joke. We put bad people behind bars to keep the community safe and, they just keep on letting them out. I really don’t understand what their agenda is.”
The feds are now involved, a senior law enforcement source told The Post, with immigration warrants having been issued for at least five of those who fled.
City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island) also ripped Bragg refusing to seek bail for the punks and cheered a Manhattan judge for recently exposing the prosecutor’s two-face tactics.
“Alvin Bragg is to the perversion of justice as Harvey Weinstein is to perversion in general,” Borelli said.
“His backwards view on public safety is, once again, on full display for all to see. For those committing victimless political crimes, he is Wyatt Earp, for migrants committing the violent assaults our police officers, he is Barney Fife.”
Quote:San Francisco's oldest toy store, which inspired the "Toy Story" films, is closing in February.
Jeffrey's Toys has been open since 1938, but the Luhn family, which founded and still runs the shop, admitted it had been struggling "for a number of years," saying crime and disorder in the city's downtown area were partially to blame, the British newspaper The Times reported.
The Luhns, in a statement released by the family lawyer, cited "the perils and violence of the downtown environment, inflation, the decrease in consumer spending and the demise of retail across the world," as reasons contributing toward the store's closure.
As The Times noted, thieves have targeted the store. In one incident, a member of staff had been threatened with being stabbed.
"The family is saddened it has come to this and we've explored all other options to try and keep the business going," the family said in its statement. "The leadership of the city of San Francisco and the Downtown Association have their work cut out for them on how to revitalize what was once a vibrant and fun downtown experience."
San Francisco has long grappled with challenges, notably homelessness, marked by frequent makeshift encampments on its streets. Crime also remains a persistent issue, with a 14% increase in robberies recorded last year compared to 2022, The Times noted.
In December, Matthew Luhn, co-owner of Jeffrey's Toys with his father, shared that the family paid a monthly rent of $20,000 for their Union Square shop. Luhn said that the family felt let down by the city.
"We're putting our money in, we're putting our hard work in, and we're putting our love into it," Luhn, who worked as an animator at Pixar and worked on the first "Toy Story" movie for the studio, said. "But, in the relationship we have with the city, that's not being returned."
He added: "During 'Toy Story,' we would have my dad come to give us ideas. And when we did reference for almost all the 'Toy Story' films, we always went to Jeffrey's Toys. My dad just closed up the store and said, 'Just play, have fun, and let me know if you need anything.'"
Up is down, left is right and sideways is straight ahead. - Cord "Circle of Iron", 1978 (written by Bruce Lee and James Coburn... really...)
Quote:President Joe Biden’s border chief says Americans need more migrants to fill jobs — even as House legislators debate his possible impeachment and the Senate considers a legislative deal he helped broker.
Mayorkas made his demand for a high-migration, low-productivity economy during a softball interview with the New York Times:
Wouldn’t it be more orderly, and wouldn’t it be responsible governance to be able to deliver a lawful pathway to fill what we have, which is a labor need, and cut the exploitative smugglers out and give individuals a path to arrive lawfully, safely, in an orderly way, to perform labor that we need? They can send remittances home. They can return home when their work is done. Isn’t that an element of a workable immigration system?
Interviewer Lulu Garcia-Navarro passively accepted his family-separating, George W. Bush-like “Any Willing Worker” pitch as she suggested the nation’s migration debate is really about how to ensure more orderly migration:
Q. So what I’m hearing you say is that you’d like to expand legal pathways in order to relieve some of the pressure on the Southern border where people come in illegally?
A. Yes, and to fulfill one of the goals of our immigration system.
Mayorkas did not mention that a primary legislated goal of the immigration system is ensuring that American families are not discarded by employers’ use of cheap and compliant foreign labor.
Since 2021, Mayorkas has allowed more than 6.2 million migrants into Americans’ housing, schools, hospitals, and workplaces. His policy has pressured down Americans’ wages. It also boosted rents and housing prices and inflicted more divisive diversity on Americans’ society. The inflow has also pushed many native-born Americans out of careers in a wide variety of fields and spiked the number of “Deaths of Despair.”
Quote:The outlet [Fox News] on Saturday cited the Economic Policy Innovation Center’s (EPIC) report about money that was supposed to help state and local government responding to and recovering from the pandemic.
The organization stated on Friday in its report titled “Bidenomics Slush Fund Subsidizes ‘Undocumented’ Immigration”:
Now, EPIC has discovered that the Biden Administration approved $340 million in SLFRF money for cash payments to “undocumented” immigrants in Washington State.
Americans’ COVID relief money was used to send $1,000 checks to immigrants unlawfully residing in the State of Washington.
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The $340 million project is categorized as a “cash transfer” expenditure under the SLFRF, approved for the State of Washington. This means the Biden Administration directly subsidized “undocumented” immigration under the guise of COVID-19 pandemic relief.
However, the report noted the state’s coronavirus relief fund for immigrants was no longer accepting applications, which meant the fund has run dry.
The Washington COVID-19 Immigrant Relief Fund Impact Evaluation Report said, “In April 2021, the Washington State Legislature approved an additional $340 million for another round of funding for undocumented Washingtonians.”
Quote:Shellyne Rodriguez first made headlines in May 2023 when she hurled expletives at pro-life students and vandalized their anti-abortion display at Manhattan’s Hunter College, where she worked as an adjunct professor at the time.
The 47-year-old educator was reprimanded by the taxpayer-funded CUNY (City University of New York) institution, but wasn’t fired until she threatened a reporter with a machete when questioned about the incident.
...
Rodriguez was then finally fired by Hunter College, as well as CUNY’s School of Visual Arts.
She pleaded guilty to harassment and menacing, according to the Bronx District Attorney’s Office.
“Under the terms of a conditional plea agreement, she must complete a therapy program and, if successful, can withdraw the misdemeanor plea and will be sentenced on the violation to a conditional discharge,” the Post reported.
...
However, that didn’t stop her from soon obtaining another job at Cooper Union, a private art and science college in Lower Manhattan.
Cooper Union Students for Justice in Palestine shared a January 23 email from Rodriguez soon after her spring semester sculpture class kicked off, sharing the news that she had been fired once again.
“Cooper Union has fired me because of a social media post I made about ‘Zionists,’” the troubled educator wrote in a memo to students.
Quote:National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the United States will take additional action after earlier airstrikes targeting Iran-backed militant groups, but he would not specify where including ruling out Iran.
Sullivan said, “The president ordered strikes in Iraq and Syria in response to the tragic death of three brave service members. Those strikes were carried out Friday night to good affect.”
He added, “The president was clear when he ordered them and when he conducted them that that was the beginning of our response. There will be more steps to come.
Anchor Dana Bash said, “You said it’s the beginning. I want to clarify does that means that there will be more strikes coming in the next few days?”
Sullivan said, “What it means is that we will take further action. I’m not going to describe the character of that action. I don’t want to telegraph our punches. There will be further action.”
Bash asked, “Inside Iran? Would you rule that out at this point?”
Sullivan said, “Look, sitting on a national TV program, I’m not going to rule in and rule out any activity anywhere..."
Quote:New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ plan to distribute $53 million to city migrants on pre-paid credit cards was blasted by 50 Cent on Saturday, with the rapper saying the proposal simply inspires him to believe former President Donald Trump is the man to address the country’s manifest problems.
He used an Instagram post to set out his argument.
“WTF mayor Adams call my phone, I don’t understand how this works somebody explain,” the rapper wrote after sharing a screengrab of the New York Post’s coverage of the proposal. “Can’t explain this I’m stuck maybe TRUMP is the answer.”
The city program will offer asylum seekers at the Roosevelt Hotel with hard cash from taxpayer pockets, intended to help illegal migrants pay for food, according to city records.
50 Cent has already slammed California over a similar decision to use taxpayer money to fund health care for aliens.
Adams argues the scheme will save the city $600,000 a month, or $7.2 million annually as it will allegedly stop wasting money on meals the asylum seekers do not want.
Quote:Former Trump administration official Mike Gill, who was shot during a carjacking spree on the 900 block of K Street Northwest in Washington, DC, has died. He was 56.
The father of three previously worked at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission under former President Donald Trump and was gunned down after his assailant entered his Jeep in an attempt to steal it.
The incident also claimed the life of another innocent man, as Breitbart News reported.
“His sudden departure has left a void in our lives that can never be filled,” Kristina Gill said in the statement as reported by NBC News, calling Mike Gill “not only a devoted husband and father but also a cherished son, brother, and friend.”
Gill was dedicated to improving others’ lives, being an active member of his church, befriending and mentoring coworkers, serving on the District of Columbia Board of Elections and coaching his daughter’s soccer team, Kristina Gill added.
Former CFTC chairman Christopher Giancarlo called Gill “one of the most wonderful, honest, earnest, and open-hearted persons on this earth.”
The attacker, identified as 28-year-old Artell Cunningham, was fatally shot by police Tuesday in New Carrollton, Maryland, Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown said in a statement.
Latest collated data shows former and current public figures in the District have been targets before while crime in the Democrat-controlled city spiked in 2023, according to police department numbers previously cited by Breitbart:
Homicides: Up 35 percent
Robberies: Up 67 percent
Violent Crime: Up 39 percent
Motor Vehicle Theft: Up 82 percent
Quote:The Human Rights Council evaluates all U.N. member countries through a process called the “Universal Periodic Review,” in which the Council drafts reports on respective governments’ respect for human rights and allows a session of peer commentary in which other countries can remark on the evidence of respect for or abuse of human rights. In 2024, the Human Rights Council is scheduled to evaluate 14 countries, China among them; it held its peer review session for China on January 23.
“Last week, at the Universal Periodic Review of the People’s Republic of China at the United Nations, the Chinese Communist Party thought that it could drown out the truth of its shameful human rights record,” Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), the chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), said at a hearing on the U.N. process held on Thursday, “enlisting its allies to offer pampering praise instead of probing questions, while giving a platform to Party-controlled civil society groups over independent non-governmental organizations.”
Smith declared the Chinese Communist Party and its leader, totalitarian dictator Xi Jinping, “a systemic challenge to the international, rules-based order.”
...
The Chinese Communist Party is one of the world’s most aggressive state violators of human rights. At the top of its list of atrocities is the ongoing genocide of the ethnic Uyghur minority of East Turkistan, a region communist China occupies and administers under the Mandarin name “Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.” In addition to imprisoning up to 3 million Uyghurs and other Turkic minority members in concentration camps, China has engaged in a systematic campaign to reduce the population through the killing of Uyghur babies both in and outside the womb, the forced sterilization of entire villages of women, widespread campaigns to enslave the population in factories, and a documented process to kill Uyghurs by cutting out their organs alive and selling them to wealthy buyers.
Quote:The UNSC report published on Monday was confident about the establishment of four new al-Qaeda camps in the Ghazni, Laghman, Parwan, and Uruzgan provinces, plus a weapons depot in Panjshir Valley and five madrassas (religious schools) for indoctrinating Afghan children.
UNSC also found al-Qaeda has safe houses in Herat, Farah, and Helmand provinces plus the national capital of Kabul, which it uses to maintain communications between al-Qaeda forces in Afghanistan and the organization’s leadership, which has taken shelter in Iran.
...
The UNSC report accused the Taliban of providing protection and support for al-Qaeda, contrary to promises by Taliban leaders that they would not harbor the worldwide terrorist organization. The report also expressed concern about al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban assisting Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a militant group that has launched numerous attacks against the Pakistani government in a bid to destabilize the country.
UNSC said TTP has conducted cross-border attacks from Afghanistan into Pakistan, some Afghan Taliban members have joined TTP’s ranks, and the Afghan Taliban is providing aid to the families of TTP members. Al-Qaeda fighters have joined TTP on some of these raids.
The Afghan regime has covered some of these activities by taking minimal action against the TTP to placate the Pakistani government. TTP also sought to muddy the waters by creating a splinter group called Tehrik-e-Jihad Pakistan (TJP), which has claimed several recent high-profile attacks on Pakistani targets. Pakistani officials say some of the TJP fighters killed by its security forces were Afghan nationals.
...
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejected the U.N. report as “propaganda” on Thursday.
Quote:Defense Minister Dong Jun of China reportedly declared that Beijing would “not change or abandon [its] established policy” in support of the Russian invasion of Ukraine this week – a full-throated endorsement presenting a shift from the Communist Party’s prior attempts to remain “neutral” in the conflict.
The Russian state outlet RT reported that Dong made the remark during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Shoigu on Wednesday. Dong’s meeting with Shoigu marked his debut on the international stage, as communist dictator Xi Jinping appointed him to the position of defense minister on December 29. His predecessor, Li Shangfu, disappeared without explanation in August and subsequently lost his position in October, leaving China with no defense minister for two months. Li’s whereabouts, or why he disappeared, remain a mystery at press time.
Dong used his first prominent appearance as defense minister to endorse the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which approaches its second anniversary in late February.
“We have supported you on the Ukrainian issue despite the fact that the US and the EU continue to put pressure on the Chinese side,” RT quoted Dong as saying. Dong reportedly promised Shoigu that China “will not change or abandon [its] established policy course over this.”
RT added that Dong ranted against America, claiming, “The US is always targeting Russia and China, seeking to retain its hegemony around the globe.” Dong predicted that America’s alleged “hegemony” was “doomed to failure.”
Shoigu – a veteran of several high-profile power struggles within the Russian military apparatus – reportedly expressed satisfaction with Beijing’s support of Moscow, stating that their military collaboration was “developing steadily” and the countries were enjoying “close-productive cooperation.”
Quote:The Indian Defense Ministry announced this week that it had begun a joint army exercise alongside Saudi Arabia named “Sada Tanseeq,” or “Forever in Coordination,” expected to run through February 10.
The event is the first of its kind uniting the armies of Saudi Arabia and India.
India is hosting the exercises in the northern state of Rajasthan, which borders Pakistan and hosts a military complex used for desert terrain training. The exercises are small; the Indian Defense Ministry stated that each country is sending 45 service members each from the Royal Saudi Land Forces and Indian Army. While the two nations have engaged in naval exercises in the past, “Sada Tanseeq” represents a significant elevation in defense cooperation and indicate that Riyadh and New Delhi are seeking to dramatically expand their friendship beyond economic and technology cooperation.
Saudi Arabia has traditionally maintained friendlier ties with India’s top geopolitical ally Pakistan, as the two countries are Islamic theocracies governed by the sharia. The dramatic growth of the Indian migrant population of Saudi Arabia, now estimated to number 2.6 million people, has also been a source of tension on occasion, as cases have surfaced of alleged enslavement of Indian nationals and heinous abuse of domestic and labor workers.
Under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, however – the de facto ruler of the country despite the elderly King Salman formally holding the title – the two countries have explored agreements in increasing technology cooperation, joint diplomatic works, and trade deals. The two are now officially allies under the framework of BRICS, a global coalition named after its founding members Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Saudi Arabia became one of five states – alongside Iran, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, and Ethiopia – to join BRICS in 2024.
LATIN AMERICA
Thinking about traveling to Mexico? You better think it twice or even thrice.
Quote:Authorities in the Mexican border state of Coahuila are looking into the killing of two migrants whose bodies were found inside a home that had been set on fire.
The incident took place in the border city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, just south of Eagle Pass, Texas. According to information provided to Breitbart Texas by state authorities, police officers responded early Monday morning to the Periodistas neighborhood to a call of shots fired. When police arrived, they found a fully engulfed home and called for the city firefighters to help put out the flames.
Once firefighters put out the fire, they found the burned bodies of two victims believed to be migrants. The identities of the migrants have not been revealed. A motive for the murder and subsequent arson has not been determined. However, authorities are interviewing a possible suspect who has some burns on his body.
The Periodistas neighborhood is near the Rio Grande and has a strong presence of organized crime members who are currently in control of all human and drug trafficking activities. That neighborhood is considered a hotspot for violence in the region.
Quote:Two innocent bystanders sustained gunshot injuries and two other men died in multiple locations during a day of cartel shootouts in the border city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas. Unconfirmed information points to the almost capture of a local cartel figure as being the trigger for the spike in violence.
The violence began shortly after 9 a.m. on the city’s western side along a dirt road called Becerro. In that area, convoys of gunmen clashed with Tamaulipas state police forces. As in prior cases, neither Mexico’s National Guard nor the military responded to help the state police forces who often are outnumbered and outgunned as the Gulf Cartel has been using armored SUVs to mobilize their gunmen during their shootouts.
Unconfirmed information points to state cops coming close to capturing Carlos Humberto “M36” Acuna de Los Santos, a local cartel lieutenant with the Metros faction of the Gulf Cartel.
To avoid capture, Acuna deployed his gunmen and had other members drop hundreds of road spikes in various parts of the city as a way to cause traffic jams and slow down police forces.
During the multiple shootouts throughout the city, a 17-year-old student at the TecMilenio high school sustained a gunshot injury and had to be rushed to a local hospital where he is listed in serious condition but is expected to recover.
Quote:On Wednesday afternoon, Mexico’s Secretary of the Interior (SEGOB) sent a formal request to the nation’s congress calling for an inquiry against Cresencio Contreras Macias a federal judge based in the border city of Reynosa.
According to the accusation, Contreras Macias, in his rulings, had sided with organized crime members “promoting impunity and denying justice to the Mexican people,” a prepared statement revealed.
Most recently, Contreras Macias was overseeing the case of Jose Alberto “La Kena” Garcia Vilano, a top leader with the Gulf Cartel. According to Mexico’s Proceso, the federal judge was dismissing charges claiming that federal prosecutors had not done enough to prove that La Kena was tied to criminal activity.
According to the allegations from SEGOB, Contreras Macias was also linked to the release of cartel individuals behind the recent kidnapping of 31 migrants in Tamaulipas. As Breitbart Texas reported, on December 30, Gulf Cartel gunmen kidnapped a group of more than 30 migrants who were riding in a passenger bus. While Mexican authorities took credit for rescuing the group, Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was forced to admit days later that it was the Gulf Cartel that had released the captive migrants.
Quote:Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador lashed out at the U.S. government, calling its agencies immoral for allowing three news outlets to publish a series of exposés detailing how the Sinaloa Cartel funneled millions into his 2006 failed presidential campaign.
In separate but connected news articles, Pro-Publica, Insight Crime, and the German news outlet GW.com published separate stories by Tim Golden and Anabel Hernandez, where each reported on a DEA investigation into how the Sinaloa Cartel had funneled millions into Lopez Obrador’s failed presidential bid. The criminal organization funneled cash to all of the candidates to hedge their bets and have friends in power regardless of the outcome.
In their report, both Golden and Hernandez explain in detail how, through their top lieutenants with the Beltran Leyva organization, including Edgar “La Barbie” Villarreal, the Sinaloa Cartel sent between $2-5 million in cash to Lopez Obrador’s campaign. The information in the publication matches witness testimony from the 2019 trial of Sinaloa Cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, where top witnesses stated that money had been funded into presidential campaigns, including AMLO’s, Breitbart Texas reported.
In the story by Hernandez, she claimed that Lopez Obrador spoke on the phone directly with La Barbie to thank him for a donation and asked for his help in reducing violence once elected.
Lopez Obrador ran for president a total of three times, failing in the first two bids until he was successful in 2018 for a six-year term. This summer, Mexico will hold its 2024 presidential elections, where the Morena party founded by Lopez Obrador is one of the favorites.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
Quote:Seven teenage migrants from Egypt have been arrested after a 13-year-old girl was gang raped in front of her boyfriend this week in Catania, an ancient port city on the island of Sicily.
According to information released by local police, a 13-year-old girl and her boyfriend were approached by a group of seven foreigners in the municipal garden of Villa Bellini in the city of Catania.
After threatening the young Italian couple, the gang of migrants attacked the boy, beating him and then holding him down. Two from the group then held down the 13-year-old girl and took turns raping her as the others watched on. Despite their screams, no one came to their aid. After being raped by the second assailant, the girl managed to break free and the young couple fled.
Using footage from nearby surveillance cameras and descriptions provided by the victim and her boyfriend, the police were able to quickly identify their attackers. Of the seven Egyptian nationals, three were teenage minors. Despite four being over the age of 18, they were also put in migrant reception centres intended for minors, Il Giornale reports.
Following their arrests, three were taken to Catania Piazza Lanza prison, one was placed under house arrest, and the final three were returned to the migrant reception centre.
The horrific attack has sparked political outrage within Italy, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni saying: “I want to express my solidarity with her and her family. The state will be there and justice will be done.”
Quote:A 32-year-old Malian, officially only identified as ‘Kassogue S.’, who left three injured including one critically during an attack in Paris’ second-busiest train station on Saturday, reportedly had a history of anti-French comments and “a profile of pan-Africanism”.
Police have claimed that the man suffers from mental disorders and that terrorism was not likely the motivation for the attack. However, videos published on his TikTok account, authenticated by the Le Parisien newspaper, saw the African national proclaim: “I’m not French, I don’t dream of being French, I don’t like France, I hate all French people.”
Kassogue, who entered France legally with Italian residence papers, added: “It is my own reason to ignore France because the French who deprived me of my right to live, it is the French who took away my dignity. It was the French who stole… it was the French who took my grandparents hostage for slavery. It was the French who forced my grandparents to do forced labour to be able to settle their accounts, their economy.”
In another video, he said: “You entered the African continent illegally for resources, mistreated people, raped women, murdered small children, removed children’s organs, stole our financial material goods… You are more cursed than Satan. Even Satan can’t teach you a lesson.”
The Malian man also appeared to suggest he was planning violence, saying: “Sometimes you have to attack, you shouldn’t always wait for the principle of reciprocity. Sometimes you have to attack to be able to dominate your own enemy, to be able to scare your enemy, to threaten your enemy. This is what we call the principle of domination”
Quote:A police search has been launched after footage emerged of three youths brandishing machetes in broad daylight in Nottingham city centre.
In the early afternoon of Friday, a confrontation among unidentified youths broke out near the Nottingham Contemporary gallery, as they waved long blades at one another. Fortunately, no injuries were reported in connection to the incident.
An employee of the gallery told the BBC that the incident took place at around 12:30 on Friday, saying: “They were wielding knives at each other, and a lady tried to stop them.”
“Everyone ran away. I locked the door of the [venue], the Contemporary locked the door,” the employee said, adding: “I was scared for my life. We were lucky we had no customers in.”
The BBC has faced backlash on social media for sharing footage of the incident in which the faces of the three youths were blurred out.
Former Brexit Party MEP and GB News presenter Martin Daubney said: “Why did the BBC blur their faces? Why protect the identities of dangerous thugs?” adding: “How low Nottingham, my home city, has fallen, to feral mobs.”
The Nottinghamshire Police have since released pictures of the suspects to allow for the public to aid the investigation in apprehending them.
Chief Inspector Karl Thomas of the Nottinghamshire Police said: “I have seen the footage of this incident and share the same sense of revulsion that other viewers will feel.
“Detectives are investigating what happened as a matter of urgency and are working at speed to identify all the young people involved.”
Quote:Police named 35-year-old Abdul Shokoor Ezedi on Thursday as being wanted in connection to a serious attack near Clapham Common in South London on Wednesday which saw a woman run over, a child repeatedly “smashed” into the ground, and a strong alkali chemical thrown, causing severe burns. 12 people were injured, some seriously, including a mother, her daughters, members of the public who went to help them, and police officers responding to the scene.
Police warned “dangerous individual” Ezedi should not be approached if seen, but the “horrific incident” he is alleged to have perpetrated and the circumstances surrounding his being in the United Kingdom at all have seen questions raised — yet again — about the quality of the nation’s immigration system.
Pizza takeaway chef Ezedi, it is now claimed, is an Afghan asylum seeker who arrived in the UK illegally hidden in the back of a truck and who despite two previously failed asylum application attempts from 2016 onwards and a conviction for a sex offence in 2018 finally had his application accepted around 2021. It is reported by The Daily Telegraph that this third application for asylum by Ezedi was on the basis that he was a Christian convert and consequently faced prosecution for apostasy if he returned to his native Afghanistan.
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The revelation the alleged London chemical attacker had made what may be a false conversion to game the asylum system has triggered inevitable comparisons to Emad Jamil Al Swealmeen, an Iraqi asylum seeker who had lied about being Syrian, and being a Christian, to get the right to remain in the United Kingdom. He blew himself up inside a taxi in an apparent attempted terrorist attack against a hospital in Liverpool, but ended up being the only victim.
In the Swealmeen case, as appears to be the case with Ezedi, the Church of England supported the asylum application by saying a conversion had taken place.
British state broadcaster the BBC now reports Ezedi’s right to remain in the United Kingdom should never have been approved as, given his 2018 conviction for a sex crime, he was not eligible for asylum status anyway.
Quote:Sweden’s domestic security agency said Friday that it’s investigating “a dangerous object” that was found at the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm earlier this week as possible terrorism.
The agency, known by its acronym SAPO, said that it had taken over the investigation from Stockholm police, which haven’t disclosed what exactly was found on the embassy’s grounds on Wednesday. The object, described by some Swedish media as a hand grenade, was found near the fence of the diplomatic mission, which is located in the eastern part of Stockholm.
Dozens of officers were dispatched to the scene and the area was sealed off before a bomb squad arrived. A police spokeswoman said that the object eventually was destroyed. The embassy wasn’t evacuated. No arrests have been made.
SAPO said that it was now investigating what the agency considers to be a “terrorist crime through grossly illegal threats and attempts to cause public destruction.” The domestic security agency said that it wouldn’t comment further, because the investigation is at a preliminary phase.
Hours after embassy staff spotted an object that they suspected was dangerous and alerted authorities, Israeli Ambassador Ziv Nevo Kulman tweeted that “today we were subject to an attempted attack against the Embassy of Israel in Stockholm and its employees.”
“We will not be intimidated by terror,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Quote:A Norwegian lawmaker revealed on Friday that he had nominated the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), its office dedicated to services for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Leftist Norwegian Labor Party member Asmund Aukrust, who also serves as vice-chairman of the Norwegian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, announced his choice for the Nobel Peace Prize at the tail end of a week in which the government of Israel revealed it had identified multiple UNRWA members among the terrorists invading the country on October 7. The October 7 attack, coordinated by the Gaza-based terrorist organization Hamas, resulted in the deaths of 1,200, the abduction of over 250, and widespread acts of gang rape, infanticide, torture, and desecration of corpses.
The Israeli government revealed on Tuesday that it had found among the UNRWA’s staff ten Hamas members, two members of the Sunni terrorist organization Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and one “unaffiliated” person who actively engaged in terrorism on October 7.
Aukrust told the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet that UNRWA deserved the Nobel Peace Prize for its “long-term work to provide vital support to Palestine and the region in general.”
“This work has been important for over 70 years, in the last three months it has been vital,” Aukrust asserted, specifically citing UNRWA’s work in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks, which its members participated in, as a reason to award it the prize.
The Nobel Peace Prize is an annual recognition offered to “the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses,” according to prize founder Alfred Nobel.
Only individuals identified as qualified to nominate can submit a formal nomination for someone who deserves the prize; qualified individuals include all members of national federal legislatures, cabinet members, and heads of state.
Quote:A Conservative pro-Israel Member of Parliament representing a “mainly Jewish area” who had his office burnt out at Christmas says he will not seek re-election, citing death threats.
Mike Freer, a Conservative Member of Britain’s lower house who has represented Finchley and Golders Green since 2010 has become the latest member of his party to announce he won’t be attempting to defend his seat in this year’s forthcoming General Election, widely anticipated for the Autumn.
The politician cited threats to his life and a recent arson attack against his constituency office.
Freer’s parliamentary colleague Sir David Amess was stabbed to death by Islamist terrorist Ali Harbi Ali in October 2021. It was revealed during Ali’s trial that Sir David may not have been the first intended target, and before killing him the Islamist had attended a constituency surgery (open door meeting, ‘town hall’) that Freer had meant to attend, but had to cancel at the last minute.
After this was revealed, Freer said he and his staff would wear a stab vest and carry a panic alarm when meeting the public in future on the advice of police.
Beyond this apparent actual attempt to kill Freer by a terrorist who went on to kill another Member of Parliament, the MP has received several death threats going back as far as 2011 from groups including Muslims Against Crusades which was later classified as a terrorist organisation by the government and banned. One group invaded an event he was hosting at a mosque and shouted that he was a “Jewish homosexual pig”.
Quote:Donald Trump is the only leader in the United States or Europe who is “strong enough” to put an end to the war in Ukraine, Viktor Orbán said as the Russian invasion of Ukraine approaches its second anniversary.
“Peace has a name, that of Donald Trump,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told the French news magazine Le Point this week.
Despite fatigue with funding NATO’s proxy war with Russia setting in across the West, globalist politicians appear intent on continuing the war no matter what. For the Hungarian leader, who has been a lone voice among European heads of state calling for peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv — leading to accusations seeking peace makes him a Kremlin stooge — the only viable offramp for the conflict is for his longtime friend and ally to return to the White House.
“We should not forget that Trump was one of the most successful foreign policy presidents of the United States. Not a single war was started by him. And the Abraham Accords were the only serious chance to generate peace, balance and an acceptable form of life in the very difficult Middle East region,” Orbán said.
“My personal conviction remains that if, in February 2022, the American president had been called Donald Trump, there would be no more war in Europe. Today I don’t see anyone other than him, neither in Europe nor in America, who is a leader strong enough to stop the war,” the Hungarian leader declared.
Quote:Sinn Fein Vice President Michelle O’Neill is poised to make history Saturday by becoming the first Irish nationalist leader of Northern Ireland as the government returned to work after a two-year boycott by unionists.
O’Neill is expected to be nominated as first minister in the government that under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday peace accord shares power between Northern Ireland’s two main communities – British unionists who want to stay in the U.K., and Irish nationalists who seek to unite with Ireland. Northern Ireland was established as a unionist, Protestant-majority part of the U.K. in 1921, following independence for the Republic of Ireland.
One side can’t govern without agreement from the other. Government business ground to a half over the past two years after the Democratic Unionist Party walked out to protest trade issues related to Brexit.
O’Neill will share power with a deputy first minister from the DUP who has not yet been named. The two will be equals, but O’Neill, whose party captured more seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly in the 2022 elections, will hold the more prestigious title.
“This is a historic day,” O’Neill said on X, formerly known as Twitter. “As a first minister for all, I am determined to lead positive change for everyone, and to work together with others to progress our society in a spirit of respect, co-operation, and equality.”
O’Neill, 47, was elected to the Stormont Assembly in 2007 and comes from a family of Irish republicans. Her party, Sinn Fein, was affiliated with the militant Irish Republican Army during the Troubles, a period of about 30 years of violent conflict over the future of Northern Ireland which ended with the Good Friday Agreement.
The return to government came exactly two years after a DUP boycott over a dispute about trade restrictions for goods coming into Northern Ireland from Great Britain. Northern Ireland’s 1.9 million people were left without a functioning administration as the cost of living soared and public services were strained.
Quote:The European Union and the United States expressed their deep concern Sunday after Kosovo banned the use of the Serbian currency and police raided the premises of organizations working with the Serb minority in the north of the country.
In the past week, Kosovo police searched the premises of Serbia-administered institutions and of an ethnic Serb non-governmental organization, confiscating papers and computers believed to hold documentation contrary to the country’s laws.
Some of the documents bore the emblem of the Serbian government in Belgrade, police said, while others referred to illegal parallel structures of government set up by ethnic Serbs but not accepted by Kosovo.
Police closed some of those offices.
Most of Kosovo uses the euro, even though the country isn’t part of the EU. But parts of Kosovo’s north, populated mostly by ethnic Serbs, continue to use the dinar. Many rely on the government of Serbia for financial support, often delivered in dinars in cash.
The U.S. Ambassador in Kosovo, Jeffrey Hovenier, also expressed concerned over the efforts of Kosovo police to seize the vehicle transporting Serbian dinars which are then distributed for “social benefit payments from Serbia.”
A statement from the EU said the closure of those offices would “have negative effects on the daily lives and living conditions of Kosovo Serb communities, as it will restrict their access to basic social services given the apparent absence of alternatives at this moment.”
Quote:Dawn Queva, a schedule coordinator for BBC 3, made a series of racist anti-white and antisemitic comments on social media, according to multiple reports.
In one post, reported by The Telegraph, she is said to have described white people as an aberration against the natural order of the world and that they are a “barbaric bloodthirsty rapacious murderous genocidal thieving parasitical deviant breed”.
According to the British broadsheet, the BBC staffer said Britain was “bigoted” and “genocidal” while referring to the United Kingdom on several occasions as the “UKKK”, a reference to the Ku Klux Klan. She also reportedly said that white people were a “virus”, a “mutant invader species” and “melanin-recessive parasites”.
According to Deadline, she previously worked for A+E Networks, Disney, and UKTV. The news outlet reported that Queva had also written several antisemitic rants on the conflict in Israel, including one which said that Israelis were a “subcontinental Caucasian invader coloniser species with zero indigenous/blood.”
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The BBC employee also reportedly said that Jewish people were “Nazi apartheid parasites” and criticised the Rothschild family for supposedly funding a “holohoax”.
In response to the reports, the BBC said: “We don’t comment on individual members of staff and we have well-established and robust processes in place to handle such issues. We do not tolerate anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, or any form of abuse and we take any such allegations seriously and take appropriate disciplinary action wherever necessary.”
The BBC, which is funded by a licence fee imposed on anyone who watches live television in the UK on pain of prosecution and potential jail time, has previously come under criticism for apparent bias against Israel.
Quote:Moscow-installed officials say Ukrainian shelling killed at least 28 people at a bakery in the Russian-occupied city of Lysychansk.
At least one child was among the dead Saturday, local leader Leonid Pasechnik wrote in a statement on Telegram. A further 10 people were rescued from under the rubble by emergency services, he said.
Ukrainian officials in Kyiv did not comment on the incident.
Both Moscow and Kyiv have increasingly relied on longer-range attacks this winter amid largely unchanged positions on the 1,500-kilometer (930-mile) front line in the nearly 2-year-old war.
However, Ukrainian forces have come under intense Russian attack over the past 24 hours, with continuous assaults along the front line, Ukraine’s General Staff said in a statement Sunday.
Fighting has been particularly fierce in the eastern city of Avdiivka, where Moscow is attempting to encircle Kyiv’s troops, while Ukrainian forces have also been on the defensive in Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmut and Zaporizhzhia, officials said.
Quote:Snow-dusted tractors lined up outside the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, and nighttime protests in Romania marked by vivid national flags have become markers of a farmer protest movement across Europe.
The biggest demonstrations have been seen in France, where farmers blocked highways around Paris with their tractors, but the dayslong protests have spread across the European Union, highlighting deep-seated grievances within the agricultural sector.
The movement, triggered by concerns over low wages, heavy regulation and cheap imports, has involved farmers from Spain, Italy, Germany, Romania and Greece calling for action.
Lines of tractors rolled menacingly across a residential street in Poland and across a German bridge, while farming protesters in Italy burned spectacular nighttime fires by stone statues.
Convoys with hundreds of angry farmers driving heavy-duty tractors created chaos outside the European Union´s headquarters on Thursday demanding leaders at an EU summit provide relief from rising prices and bureaucracy.
It made for a dramatic display, creating disruptions and bringing the disgruntled farmers´ demands directly to the heart of EU policymaking.
Meanwhile, there were traffic barricades on highways around Paris amid a large police presence as French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced measures to quell the unrest.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
We’re at a turning point in America is build is crucial and history will look back on it and say did America fail itself?
Why is it crucial? Well, if we don’t aid Ukraine, Putin will walk all over Ukraine, we will lose the war. And we could be fighting in eastern Europe in a NATO ally in a few years. Americans won’t like that.
Two months ago, President Joe Biden made that same argument — that U.S. troops would be fighting Russia if more aid is not passed.
“If he keeps going and then he attacks a NATO Ally — well, we’ve committed as a NATO member that we’d defend every inch of NATO territory — then we’ll have something that we don’t seek and that we don’t have today: American troops fighting Russian troops,” Biden warned.
There's just one MAJOR problem with Biden's and Schumer's viewpoints: Ukraine has NEVER been a member of NATO nor the European Union. Thus, neither the US nor the EU are forced to do anything in Ukraine. There's no mandatory rule forcing their hand to move in any direction under the current circumstances.
Before you start calling me names, keep in mind that I was one of the first guys around the world to denounce Russia's actions as an true invasion, not just "a special operation" as Putin loves to call it. Letting the Kremlin do its bidding is a terrible idea, but right now Ukraine has no way to ensure they can achieve a relatively quick victory. And the first step to change this virtual impasse might not be related to Europe at all but close to the Strait of Hormuz instead...
Quote:“I’ve reviewed the bill, I don’t think it will solve our border crisis, and might make it worse. I will oppose it,” Cotton announced.
“Joe Biden created this crisis by design. He can and should reverse his open border policies today,” he continued before listing some of his specific issues with the bill, which was negotiated by Sens. James Lankford (R-OK), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ).
“The bill gives Secretary Mayorkas the right—for the first time—to grant asylum claims (and thus American citizenship) to illegal aliens at the border without review by the immigration courts, which will be a massive pathway to rubber-stamping amnesty,” he began, highlighting the fact that the measure also codifies catch-and-release under “alternatives to detention” for any illegal who merely says they “intend” to apply for asylum or another protection.”
The bill actually creates another magnet for illegal immigration, he continued, as it gives work permits to asylum seekers “as long as they pass an initial screening by liberal bureaucrats.”
“This will be a huge magnet for more illegal immigration,” Cotton observed, adding that the bill also grants “50,000 extra green cards per year for no apparent reason and entirely unrelated to border security.”
It also “guarantees new, government-funded lawyers for illegal aliens,” he wrote, adding that the legislation also does nothing to limit “Biden and Mayorkas’s abuse of immigration parole, allowing them to continue abusing parole and issuing work permits to any illegal alien who they claim has an ‘urgent humanitarian reason’ to stay.”
Cotton also said the bill provides “humanitarian” aid to Gaza but without adequate safeguards to ensure the money is not used for “anti-American purposes.”
Quote:Whether Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas becomes only the second presidential cabinet member to be impeached by the House of Representatives in American history will likely be decided Tuesday when the issue is brought to the floor of the lower chamber for a vote.
Secretary of War George Belknap was impeached by the House in 1876, but the Senate refused to convict him. Even so, Belknap resigned from his position.
The rapid move of the two Mayorkas articles of impeachment adopted Jan. 30 by the House Committee on Homeland Security from that panel to the full House for a final vote was expedited by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) and by the House Rules Committee, chaired by Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.).
Meeting late into the evening Monday, the rules panel approved a “closed” rule providing for the articles to be considered without amendments being offered from the floor. The rule was adopted on an 8-4 party-line vote, with all of the Republicans supporting it and all of the Democrats opposing it.
Before the vote to adopt the closed rule, the committee also rejected an amendment on another party-line vote that would have required public airing of background information on all of the homeland security panel’s sources in its impeachment deliberations.
Republicans opposed the amendment, while Democrats supported it.
That amendment and two others offered by Democratic members of the panel had also been offered and rejected on party-line votes during the Jan. 30 proceedings.
There was little doubt on the rules panel, which includes nine Republicans and four Democrats, that all three of the Democratic amendments would be rejected.
Democrats also demanded roll call votes on all three of the amendments. One Republican, Rep. Nick Langeworthy of New York, was not present.
The vote on the rule concluded a hearing in which Ranking Member Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and other Democratic members of the Rules panel repeatedly claimed Republicans were impeaching Mr. Mayorkas as a “political stunt” in order to satisfy former President Donald Trump’s demands and without evidence of the secretary having committed any actions that satisfy the “high crimes and misdemeanors” provision of the Constitution.
Mr. Cole opened the hearing by reminding members of the panel “what this crisis at the border means. It means countless young Americans’ futures stolen by the poison of fentanyl, it means terrified young children abandoned by smugglers in the dark, it means criminals, traffickers and cartels becoming enriched, it means bad actors on our terrorist watch lists looking to exploit gaps to get into the country, it means support systems are overwhelmed in communities from coast to coast, it means school children losing access to their schools to house migrants, it means an over-stressed Border Patrol that is unable to successfully carry out its mission, it means a public health crisis and the tragic deaths of countless people as they enter our country drawn by the knowledge that the border is open and the United States government will not stop them.”
Quote:During a speech in Las Vegas on Sunday, President Joe Biden boasted that he has continued canceling student debt thanks to workarounds in defiance of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that blocked his debt relief plan—while claiming that the forgiveness won’t burden taxpayers.
“I promised we'd help eliminate accumulated student debt that millions of Americans carried during the economic pandemic and beyond,” President Biden said in the speech, recalling one of his key campaign promises.
“The Supreme Court of the United States blocked me, but they didn’t stop me,” he continued, saying he “found another way” to continue canceling student debt, while falsely claiming that the various forgiveness schemes were “not costing people” anything.
In a 6-3 decision in the summer of 2023, the Supreme Court blocked President Biden’s plan to cancel $430 billion in student loan debt for some 43 million Americans, protecting taxpayers from having to fund the forgiveness scheme but delivering a blow to one of the president’s campaign promises.
At the time, President Biden denounced the decision, saying in a June 30, 2023, speech at the White House that the Supreme Court decision “closed one path” but that his administration would “pursue another,” including by way of a student debt forbearance scheme under the Higher Education Act.
Since then, the Biden administration has continued to cancel debt for specific groups of federal student loan borrowers by tweaking and expanding rules under existing relief programs.
For example, in his Las Vegas speech, President Biden said he “fixed” one of the existing programs to allow public servants to get student debt relief, adding that members of this group would be getting notices in the mail soon.
“This time, they’re not going to have any doubt about who sent it to you. It’s going to have my name on it—Biden,” he declared.
Quote:The United States is urging Venezuela’s neighboring countries to help build bridges between socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro and the Venezuelan opposition after Maduro torched a dubious deal brokered by the White House, Bloomberg reported Saturday.
Bloomberg stated that, according to anonymous individuals, two unnamed American officials met with several diplomats at the residence of the Colombian Ambassador in Washington last week and pressured the diplomats to help reconcile the socialist dictatorship and the leaders it oppresses.
A spokesperson for the Colombian embassy confirmed to Bloomberg that Ambassador Luis Gilberto Murillo hosted the meeting under the auspices of the Group of Latin America and Caribbean countries (GRULAC), a regional bloc that gathers periodically in the various member embassies in Washington.
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Failure to comply will, according to NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby, restore the sanctions.
Bloomberg asserted in its report that Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols and NSC Senior Director for the Western Hemisphere Juan Gonzalez have stated that the goal is “not to reimpose sanctions” on the Maduro regime.
“Instead, they want to foster conditions for a fair and competitive election that includes Maduro and the opposition, the people said, asking not to be named because they’re not authorized to speak publicly,” the report read.
The report claimed that the Biden strategy to fix the mess created by Biden’s sanctions relief hinges on Colombia’s far-left President Gustavo Petro, who, immediately upon taking office in August 2022, allied himself with the Maduro regime.
Guys, that's like asking the FARC to talk to a rival faction that also depends on illicit drug trafficking to negotiate on behalf of the US government... Wait a second! That's exactly what's happening here! Petro was an actual member of a Colombian guerrilla organization! And Maduro's henchman Cabello has been called a drug dealer by the last 2 US administrations!
Do you recall that not long ago I had posted an article on a former Trump official passing away, namely getting killed by a suspect? Well, here's a follow-up!
Quote:Artell Cunningham, 28, was fatally shot by Maryland cops early last Tuesday morning after he gunned down [Mike] Gill, 56, and Alberto “AJ” Vasquez Jr, 35, in two separate D.C. carjackings on Monday evening.
Gill, a father of three, was shot in front of his wife, who rushed to hold his hand as he lay bleeding on the ground with one foot still inside his car. He remained alive at the scene, but died at the hospital on Saturday.
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[Gill] served as chief operating officer of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission during former President Donald Trump’s tenure.
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After shooting Gill, Cunningham continued his campaign of terror with a failed attempt to carjack another nearby motorist before moving on to Vasquez, taking his car after fatally shooting him.
“Everyone always remembers AJ. Everyone always remembers him not matter what the scene was,” his mother, Antoinette Walker said to Fox 5 DC. “With the amount of carjackings and just instances of this magnitude, now it’s touched our doorstep. It’s not right.”
Vasquez’s father, Jacob Walker, highlighted the tremendous loss that his son’s two young daughters have experienced, and said he wished he could tell him how much he loves him.
“His daughters will never get that chance to talk to him again. No weddings, no nothing. He’s 35 years old,” Walker said, before going on to grieve how gun violence “has just become normalized in a sense for America.”
The mourning father added that he would have “never had expectations that I would be…having to bury my child over something as senseless as a carjacking.”
Quote:In a video, Mike was handcuffed and escorted out by Los Angeles police at Crypto Arena after some joyous moments for him at the Grammys’ Premiere Ceremony on Sunday, where he won three awards in quick succession.
A police spokesperson didn’t offer a name or additional details, but confirmed a Black male was detained.
A representative for Mike did not immediately respond to an emailed or text request for comment.
“The only thing that limits your age is not being truthful about your age or what you’re doing,” the 48-year-old Mike said backstage. He won for best rap performance, rap song and rap album.
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Mike’s first win came after he won for best rap performance for “Scientists & Engineers,” which also took home best rap song. The single features Andre 3000, Future and Eryn Allen Kane.
He won best rap album for “Michael.”
When he collected third award, the Atlanta-based rapper shouted out “Sweep! Atlanta, it’s a sweep!”
Quote:Police in Chicago have charged a 23-year-old suspect with shooting a woman in the face in November while inside a car.
After the incident, which occurred in Jefferson Park, law enforcement said a person inside another vehicle shot the woman while she was in another car, CWB Chicago reported Saturday.
However, investigators and prosecutors now say that is not what happened.
The suspect charged in the case was identified as Nathan Frazer, a Skokie resident. An image shows the man in question:
Prior to the shooting, someone drove Frazer to the victim’s residence to meet up with her and two other individuals, the CWB Chicago report noted, adding the suspect had only met the woman one time before the incident happened:
He arrived holding a bottle of alcohol and quickly became agitated when he misplaced his phone, but he became quiet and kept to himself after finding it in the Lexus he came in. About two hours later, the group all entered the Lexus to give Frazer a ride home, according to a written proffer filed by prosecutors.
Frazer was apparently in the seat behind the driver next to two other people. The victim in the case had taken the passenger seat. When the suspect yelled and demanded to be returned home, the driver told him the car was warming up and they were waiting for it to finish doing so.
However, once the vehicle began moving, the suspect tried to exit and the victim pleaded with him to behave, the CWB Chicago report continued:
After Frazer unsuccessfully lunged toward the victim, she yelled that he would not do anything to her “because this is a nice white neighborhood,” the proffer said.
“Who isn’t going to do anything, b***h?” allegedly Frazer replied, in sum and substance, as he pulled a gun from his waistband and immediately shot her in the face.
Quote:Damage reports piled up late Sunday as a slow-moving storm system steadily pummeled Southern California, and downtown L.A. broke a 97-year-old rainfall record.
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On Sunday, downtown L.A. had seen 4.1 inches of rain, which broke the record for the calendar day set on Feb. 4, 1927, when 2.55 inches of rain was recorded. Sunday was the third wettest February day on record and tied for the 10th wettest day for any time of year since recordkeeping began in 1877, the National Weather Service said. (The wettest day ever was March 2, 1938, which brought 5.88 inches of rain.)
Several schools announced closures for Monday, though the bulk of Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) schools remained open, as of this writing.
The San Francisco Chronicle noted that the storm, a “Pineapple Express” or “atmospheric river” that swept in from the Pacific and hit the whole state, had been classified as a “bomb cyclone,” which results from a dramatic decrease in air pressure.
Quote:A court in Beijing on Monday sentenced Australian writer Yang Hengjun to a “suspended death sentence” on espionage charges — effectively sentencing him to life in prison.
Australia responded with shock and outrage, denouncing the sentence as an “appalling” threat to improved relations with China.
Yang Hengjun, born in China in 1965 under the name Yang Jun, worked for the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Ministry of State Security before taking a private-sector job in Hong Kong. From there, he decided to emigrate to Australia in 2002, and also lived in the United States for a time, holding a position at Columbia University as a visiting scholar. In recent years he worked as a political pundit, blogger, and writer of espionage novels.
Yang is a pro-democracy political activist, which drew the baleful attention of his former employers at the Ministry of State Security. In January 2019, he traveled to China with his wife, a Chinese citizen with permanent residency in Australia, and her child. Yang’s wife and the child were allowed to enter China, but he was arrested at the airport and has been held in “pre-trial detention” ever since.
Yang’s fateful trip to China was made at the height of the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement, which the Chinese Communist Party would eventually crush with a tyrannical “national security law,” and also at a time of tense relations between Australia and China. The Australian government and human rights groups have frequently protested his detention over the years, describing him as a political prisoner and criticizing his long-delayed and utterly opaque “trial” as a mockery of legal proceedings.
Quote:The governments of South Korea and Saudi Arabia signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly research and develop new weapons technology, the two parties confirmed on Monday.
The agreement is the latest expansion of defense cooperation between Seoul and Riyadh, which has exploded as conservative South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol expands efforts to elevate South Korea as a major military technology provider. Yoon has found a willing partner in Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is endeavoring to diversify his alliances in the face of the catastrophic deterioration in relations between Saudi Arabia and America under leftist current President Joe Biden. Particularly aiding Saudi-South Korean ties was Biden’s decision to stop selling “offensive” weapons to Saudi Arabia in 2021, caving to pressure from pro-Iran groups to stop supporting Saudi efforts against the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists of Yemen.
Anonymous reports in the past year have indicated that Biden has toyed with the idea of restoring those weapons sales, but he has yet to do so. In the meantime, the Houthis have launched a terrorist campaign against commercial shipping in the Red Sea that has devastated global commerce, and Saudi Arabia has inked numerous deals to buy South Korean weapons.
The latest agreement surfaced following a visit to Saudi Arabia by South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik this weekend to attend the World Defense Show, a military industry showcase in Riyadh. The World Defense Show gave global investors and interested state parties the chance to discuss collaboration in defense technology and related topics with Saudi authorities, who expressed enthusiasm about military development becoming a formidable part of the Saudi economy.
“The sector is expected to contribute as much as $25 billion (93.75 billion Saudi riyals) to the country’s GDP by 2030,” the Saudi news outlet al-Arabiya reported. “It is also expected to support 40,000 direct and 60,000 indirect job opportunities, according to government estimates.”
Quote:Reuters on Monday interviewed investment managers who said India’s long effort to attract business from the “de-risking” movement, which gained steam after the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, is finally paying off even though India’s markets still have some negative qualities.
India pulled in about $20 billion in foreign money in 2023, adding to the growing volume of domestic investors.
India’s economy is projected to grow by 6.5 percent over 2024 — one of the best growth rates in the world and almost two percent better than China’s. Chinese equities pulled in about $8 billion in 2023 compared to India’s $20 billion.
India’s negative qualities include overpriced stocks, mercurial regulators, and some lingering unease over Modi’s Hindu nationalist government and the resulting domestic unrest. The potential for the Indian market is so vast that foreign money is overlooking the risks and buying in.
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The implication from many financial analysts was that they value stability above all else, and as long as Chinese authoritarianism delivered stability and constant growth, Big Money was not losing much sleep over it. International investors give the impression that India’s market surge could taper off abruptly if China starts performing better.
India, unlike China, is a democracy, and the major risk event that could interrupt India’s market growth would be an unpredictable result in May’s national elections. Few observers expect Modi to lose, but if he and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) underperform at the polls or if the election is accompanied by domestic unrest, market-boosting reforms could be imperiled.
Another potential problem is that India’s booming stock market is fueling a rush of initial public offerings (IPOs), with at least 66 of them already planned for 2024 — but with valuations pushed so high by the roaring market, there is a strong risk that some of those IPOs will flop and scare investors away.
Quote:The Iran-backed Houthi terrorists of Yemen wrote a menacing post on the Telegram messaging platform in December that suggested they might try cutting undersea cables carrying Internet traffic from around the world.
Telecom corporations affiliated with the legitimate government of Yemen warned on Monday that the Houthis are capable of such sabotage because global firms unwisely did business with them and showed them how the undersea cable system works.
The alarming Houthi post on Telegram included a map of telecommunication cables running along the bottom of the Red Sea, along with an ominous message, which read, “There are maps of international cables connecting all regions of the world through the sea. It seems that Yemen is in a strategic location, as internet lines that connect entire continents – not only countries – pass near it.”
The Houthis have been launching terrorist attacks against Red Sea shipping to support the Hamas terrorists in Gaza, shutting down one of the world’s most important sea lanes. Sabotaging the world’s Internet traffic seems like something they might consider doing if they can overcome the logistical hurdles.
According to Yemeni telecom corporations, up to 16 major undersea submarine cables run through the Red Sea towards Egypt and the Suez Canal. One of them links Southeast Asia to Europe. In total, the cables handle about 17 percent of the world’s Internet traffic, which is, coincidentally, close to the percentage of world shipping that passed through the Red Sea before the Houthis began attacking ships with missiles, drones, and hijackers.
Quote:Shipowners determined to make a bid for a return to normalcy in global trade without running the risk of becoming a victim of Iran-backed rebels in the Red Sea are asking for clearance to embark armed security teams.
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A group of Dutch shipowners have approached the Ministry of Defence in Amsterdam to get permission to embark armed teams onboard cargo ships flying the national flag. While the mercenaries would be of little use in the case of a missile attack — of which there have been many since the Houthis started launching strikes on global trade in sympathy with their allies in Gaza — the ship owners want them in case of pirate attacks by the terror group.
That boarding raids are part of the Houthis’ modus operandi was dramatically illustrated at the end of last year when large car carrier the Galaxy Leader was taken by their commandos. The ship, her crew, and its valuable cargo remains in the possession of the Houthis, with the group even allowing curious members of the public to go aboard to enjoy the new “tourist attraction”.
Acting on the assumption that the group of navies working to defend merchant ships from Houthi missiles and drones would soon succeed in the combination of shootdowns and strikes against launch sites in Yemen, the Royal Association of Dutch Shipowners sought to get teams to defend their ships against attacks on their ships by boatloads of fighters, Dutch broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) reports.
The embarkation of armed teams is redolent of the response by many ship owners to the Somali Pirate attack crisis earlier this century, when large numbers of ships transiting the Gulf of Aden were attacked by gangs using fast boats, commonly armed with ex-Soviet stock weapons like the AK-47 platform and rocket-propelled grenades. The United Nations’ International Maritime Organisation issued new guidance on Private Armed Security over the Somali piracy attacks, noting “The carriage of firearms on board merchant ships is a complex legal issue”.
Quote:King Charles has cancer, Buckingham Palace has said in a statement, and he will postpone his public duties while undergoing a programme of treatment that began today.
Just days after being discharged from hospital for treatment of a non-cancerous enlarged prostate, it has been revealed King Charles III also has cancer. The cancer was discovered during tests the monarch underwent during his hospital stay, which identified a “separate issue of concern”.
Subsequent testing confirmed the King does have a non-specified “form of cancer”, Buckingham Palace said, and that he had already started a regime of treatment today.
The BBC reports the King has received treatment in London as an outpatient.
While the King is unable to perform public duties, the Palace made clear his constitutional role is unaffected as he would be able to continue to undertake “State business and official paperwork as usual”.
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King Charles III is the King of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and ten other Commonwealth Realms besides. As a Constitutional monarch, his assent is required for the passing of laws but in practice this is now a mere formality, and he acts on the advice of his Prime Minister and Parliament.
Quote:Self-styled Californian Prince Harry has spoken to the King and will fly back to Britain to see his father in the wake of his cancer diagnosis having been made public, British tabloid newspaper The Sun reports, citing “a source close to Harry”. Per the claims, the King telephoned Prince Harry ahead of the announcement today that Charles III had started cancer treatment.
In recent years, Harry’s trips to the UK have generally been in support of his court cases, and it is reported he has seen little of his family, following an alleged rift. It was claimed during a three-day flying visit to Britain for a court hearing in 2023, Harry was unable to see his father or brother. The Sun claims Harry will come alone, and his wife Meghan Markle and their children Archie and Lillibet will remain in the United States.
King Charles had been in hospital last week for a planned procedure on an enlarged prostate, which the Palace reassured the public at the time was benign and not cancerous. However, tests taken while the King was admitted discovered a “separate issue of concern”, which subsequent investigation revealed to be a “form of cancer”. The King started treatment today, and an announcement that this was happening was made at six o’clock.
Quote:In the case of a war between the United Kingdom and a similarly-sized opponent, the British Armed Forces would exhaust their capabilities “after the first couple of months of the engagement,” said General Sir Nick Carter, the former Chief of the Defence Staff, a House of Commons defence committee report revealed.
General Lord Houghton told the committee that there has been a “hollowing out” of the Armed Forces since 2010, which has resulted in shortfalls in the country’s warfighting resilience.
The Ministry of Defence admitted that gaps in their warfighting readiness include insufficient infrastructure and warehousing for munitions, infrastructure at key ports and airbases, operational medical capacity, and armoured vehicle equipment support.
The Minister for the Armed Forces, James Heappey, claimed that while the cuts to the military were necessary at the time they were enacted, but acknowledged that “there is a whole load of stuff that we disinvested in that we urgently need to reinvest in” and that the Minstry of Defence has “an awful lot of work to do to recover the… readiness that we enjoyed during the cold war, and that we require again now.”
In addition to suffering under lack of investment, the readiness of the military has also been diminished by aid to Ukraine. According to The Telegraph, the 155th Artillery Regiment is literally out of guns after they were shipped to Kyiv for the war effort against Russia.
The House of Commons report also noted that “bottleneck in procurement and delivery” for the 6,000 NLAW anti-tank systems and 155mm artillery ammunition Britain sent to Ukraine will not likely to begin to be replenished at scale until later this year. Therefore, the report said that the MoD should be “strategic about the resources we have, including how to maintain and replenish stockpiles”.
The British armed forces have also struggled to hit recruiting targets and at present, only have around 75,000 soldiers in the army, approximately half that of thirty years ago. This has prompted suggestions from General Patrick Sanders, the head of the British army, that the UK may need to call upon a “civilian army” in the event of a major conflict.
Quote:Parisians voted Sunday to muscle SUVs off the French capital’s streets by making them much more expensive to park from fall, the latest leg in a drive by Socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo to make the host city for this year’s Olympic Games greener and friendlier for pedestrians and cyclists.
More than 54% of the votes cast in the low-turnout election supported the measure to triple parking fees for large SUV drivers from out of town to 18 euros ($19.50) per hour in the city’s center, according to official results from City Hall. Only 5.7% of the 1.3 million eligible voters cast ballots at the 39 voting stations around the city.
In get-out-the-vote posts on social media, Hidalgo argued that SUVs take up too much space on narrow Parisian streets, are too polluting and “threaten our health and our planet,” and cause more traffic accidents than smaller cars. The additional fees will come into force from Sept. 1, Hidalgo said.
“The time has come to break with this tendency for cars that are always bigger, taller, wider,” she said. “You have the power to take back ownership of our streets.”
The cost for non-residents to park SUVs in Paris´ central districts, in the arrondissements numbered 1 through 11, would soar to 18 euros ($19.5) per hour for the first two hours, compared to 6 euros per hour for smaller cars.
After that, parking would become increasingly punitive. A six-hour stay with an SUV – enough, say, to take in a show and a restaurant – would cost a whopping 225 euros ($243), compared to 75 euros for smaller vehicles.
Away from the heart of the city, in Paris’ outer arrondissements numbered 12 through 20, an out-of-town SUV driver would pay 12 euros per hour for the first two hours, progressively rising to 150 euros for six hours.
The mini-referendum was open to Parisians registered to vote. The question they were asked was: “For or against the creation of a specific rate for the parking of heavy, bulky, polluting individual cars?”
People, it's been an old rule for any kind of referendum to not portray any specific ideology or personal opinion in any of the questions included in the ballot. They blatantly broke it here!
It was more than enough to call them large cars instead of heavy or bulky or polluting cars.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
Quote:federal appeals panel ruled Tuesday that Donald Trump can face trial on charges that he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election, rejecting the former president’s claims that he is immune from prosecution.
The decision marks the second time in as many months that judges have spurned Trump’s immunity arguments and held that he can be prosecuted for actions undertaken while in the White House and in the run-up to Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. But it also sets the stage for additional appeals from the Republican ex-president that could reach the U.S. Supreme Court. The trial was originally set for March, but it was postponed last week and the judge didn’t immediately set a new date.
“We conclude that the interest in criminal accountability, held by both the public and the Executive Branch, outweighs the potential risks of chilling Presidential action and permitting vexatious litigation,” the judges wrote.
The trial date carries enormous political ramifications, with the Republican primary front-runner hoping to delay it until after the November election. If Trump defeats President Joe Biden, he could presumably try to use his position as head of the executive branch to order a new attorney general to dismiss the federal cases or he potentially could seek a pardon for himself.
The appeals court took center stage in the immunity dispute after the Supreme Court last month said it was at least temporarily staying out of it, rejecting a request from special counsel Jack Smith to take up the matter quickly and issue a speedy ruling.
The legally untested question before the court was whether former presidents can be prosecuted after they leave office for actions taken in the White House related to their official duties.
The Supreme Court has held that presidents are immune from civil liability for official acts, and Trump’s lawyers have for months argued that that protection should be extended to criminal prosecution as well.
Quote:The House of Representatives let Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas off the hook for the border crisis created under his watch in a historic 216-214 vote against impeachment.
Reps. Ken Buck (R-CO) and Tom McClintock (R-CA) announced before the vote they would vote against impeachment. They were joined by Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) in voting with unified Democrats.
After the vote was decided, Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT) voted nay, but only for procedural reasons so that the House may vote on the measure again at some point.
Gallagher expressed concerns with impeachment Tuesday morning in a closed-door Republican Conference meeting.
Buck, who announced last year this would be his final term and has openly expressed a desire to work for msnbc or CNN, and McClintock, who last year told Breitbart News Daily he believes the impeachment is unconstitutional, were seen as immovable.
Despite arm twisting on the House floor by multiple members of Republican leadership and senior members, Gallagher also cast his ballot with Democrats.
Moore, who remarkably serves as a member of House leadership, cast his vote against impeachment at the last second, minutes after the previous final vote and moments before the gavel crashed down.
Quote:In a long profile by the Post, Mayorkas is featured as a victim of attacks by Republican lawmakers. This week, House Republicans fell just shy of the majority needed to approve articles of impeachment against Mayorkas, though leadership has vowed to try again.
One of the reasons House Republicans have sought to impeach Mayorkas, as the Post notes, is the federal government’s inability to protect Americans from illegal immigration. Last year, for example, Mayorkas recalled having to face Angel Mom Elisa Tambunga.
Tambunga’s 71-year-old mother, Maria Tambunga, and her 7-year-old daughter, Emilia Tambunga, were killed in a Texas crash caused by a human smuggler from the United States-Mexico border that was trafficking 11 illegal aliens into the country.
Maria Tambunga was bringing her granddaughter Emilia Tambunga home from a play date at the time of the fatal crash.
During the congressional hearing last year, Mayorkas recalled making a vague apology to the Angel Family. Elisa Tambunga, though, said the apology did not cut it and met with Mayorkas after the hearing, showing him a video of her daughter following the crash.
“I shared a very, very, very private video of my daughter after the crash,” Tambunga told the Post. “And I made him watch it and I said, ‘Don’t you dare look away. You need to see what’s happening.’ And he watched it. And from that moment, I saw [a] human come out, I saw emotion come out. It hit him.”
Mayorkas acknowledged to the Post that the Tambunga case is “just extraordinarily tragic” and followed up saying that losses like the Tambunga family have suffered “should not be politicized.”
The remark comes as Mayorkas refused to face Angel Families last month who told their stories before the House Homeland Security Committee and blamed his actions at the southern border for each of their daughters’ deaths.
Quote:Disgraced former Baltimore District Attorney Marilyn Mosby sobbed in court Tuesday as she was convicted of mortgage fraud — a verdict that could carry decades in prison.
The Democrat served in office from 2015 until she lost her 2022 reelection bid after being indicted on perjury and mortgage fraud charges related to the withdrawal of funds from the city’s Deferred Compensation Plan.
Prosecutors believe that in May 2020, Mosby took advantage of the CARES Act — the first coronavirus relief bill — by seeking a $40,000 withdrawal from her city retirement account, reported the Baltimore Sun.
Though she blamed the withdrawal on financial setbacks supposedly suffered due to the pandemic, Mosby’s salary had actually increased by $10,000 to a total of $248,000 that year, according to the local publication.
According to her indictment, Mosby received $36,000 from the retirement compensation account, then put it towards purchasing a rental property in the Orlando, Florida, area.
“But prosecutors say in purchasing that property, she lied about having a federal tax lien and falsely said the property was a second home, which lowered the interest rate,” the Sun reported.
Mosby, 44, was indicted on both the perjury and mortgage fraud charges in January 2022, and was found guilty of the perjury in November 2023.
Quote:McDonald’s executives have finally acknowledged that their $18 Big Mac meals and other inflated prices are putting off lower-income customers.
“We certainly know consumers are more wary or weary of pricing,” Chief Financial Officer Ian Borden told investors during a Monday earnings call.
The transcript of the conversation, which Business Insider obtained, also revealed that CEO Chris Kempczinski said that McDonald’s customers — especially those making less money — are placing smaller orders than in previous years.
During an October earnings call, company executives told investors that the price increases “largely hadn’t put customers off,” according to the Insider analysis.
According to Borden, menu prices increased by around ten percent in 2022 and again in 2023.
A Big Mac burger, a medium beverage, and a medium fry meal now costs $18 in some locations, up $10 from 2018 when former President Donald Trump was in office, Breitbart News reported in November 2023.
“Where you see the pressure with the U.S. consumer is that low-income consumer,” Kempczinski said during the recent call. “Call it $45,000 and under. That consumer is pressured.”
“From an industry standpoint, we actually saw that cohort decrease in the most recent quarter, particularly, I think, as eating at home has become more affordable.”
Hey! Go tell people where there should go buy their meat and groceries ASAP!
Morons!
Quote:On Wednesday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) reacted to a U.S. strike that killed a leader of an Iranian proxy group connected to the fatal attacks on U.S. soldiers by stating that “we should expect more and more and more” attacks from Iranian proxies and this strike won’t deter them by itself. He also stated that deterrence efforts have so far failed to improve things in the Middle East.
Bennet said, “Well, what I know is we should expect more and more and more out of this out of Iran and their proxies. And it’s going to be very important for us to act in a way that deters the Iranians and makes sure that this dispute — this war that is happening between Israel and Hamas is not something that’s going to spill out into the broader region. And every single day, Iran’s proxies are testing us and testing us and testing us and they need to know that we are going to respond to that and that we are paying attention to what they’re doing. So, this is not something that you can deter in one day or even one week or I would say even one month. We have to be vigilant about this day after day after day, and that’s — I think that’s what you are seeing today.”
Co-host Kailey Leinz then asked, “Well, but as you see these proxy groups continuing to conduct attacks in the Red Sea and against U.S. forces, is there any real sign that things are improving, that deterrence efforts are even starting to work, even if they haven’t worked entirely? What does the intelligence suggest?”
Bennet responded, “I would not say things are improving. I’d say this is a dangerous moment in the Middle East. I’d say that the Iranian proxies are trying to decide how to gain the most advantage in this war as they can, and, as I said, we’re going to have to be vigilant. And, in my view, we’ve got to get to a place where we can begin to figure out how to have a negotiation about a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinian people that can begin to create some order in this part of the world. That’s not going to happen today or tomorrow, but I think that the United States of America can’t take our eye off that goal. And, in the meantime, we’ve got to make sure that we don’t allow this to escalate into a wider war.”
Quote:A U.S. drone strike hit a car in the Iraqi capital Wednesday night, killing three members of the powerful Kataib Hezbollah militia, including a high-ranking commander, officials said.
The strike came on a main thoroughfare in the Mashtal neighborhood in eastern Baghdad. A crowd gathered as emergency response teams picked through the wreckage. Security forces closed off the heavily guarded Green Zone, where a number of diplomatic compounds are located, amid calls for protesters to storm the U.S. embassy.
Two U.S. officials familiar with the matter said that a senior Kataib Hezbollah commander was targeted in a U.S. strike on Wednesday in Iraq. They were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Two officials with Iran-backed militias in Iraq said that one of the three killed was Wissam Mohammed “Abu Bakr” al-Saadi, the commander in charge of Kataib Hezbollah’s operations in Syria. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak to journalists.
The strike came amid roiling tensions in the region and days after the U.S. military launched an air assault on dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria used by Iranian-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in retaliation for a drone strike that killed three U.S. troops in Jordan in late January.
Quote:Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered an English version of his earlier remarks to the Israeli media in Hebrew on Wednesday evening, rejecting the idea that Hamas would be allowed to use hostage negotiations to survive the war it started.
Netanyahu’s response came after details of a Hamas counter-offer emerged in ongoing negotiations over a deal to release the Israeli hostages — roughly 136, at least 32 of whom are believed to be dead — in exchange for a pause in the fighting in Gaza.
Hamas wants Israel to withdraw its military completely from Gaza and to stop the fighting — conditions that Israel will not accept. It is also demanding the release of thousands of convicted Palestinian terrorists serving long sentences, among other conditions.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on a diplomatic mission to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank had already met with Netanyahu earlier Wednesday by the time Netanyahu delivered his address.
Netanyahu’s statement was therefore as much for American consumption as for Israeli consumption.
Quote:The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released evidence Tuesday that it said showed direct payments from Iran to the Hamas terrorist organization and its leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar.
This evening, we are publishing some of the intelligence information found there by our forces – indicating a direct “connection” from Iran to Hamas and more so – to Yahya Sinwar. We found official Hamas documents from 2020 detailing the funds transferred by Iran between the years 2014 and 2020 to Hamas and to Sinwar. More than one hundred and fifty million dollars were transferred from Iran to Hamas. This is another example of how Iran exports terror across the Middle East. The terror that Iran exports and produces is a global problem. The intelligence information we find, we pass on to our partners around the world for verification.
In the same subterranean space, we also found a safe with banknotes and bags containing more than twenty million shekels in cash, as you can see in the blue and black bags addressed to a clear location [see above]. These amounts join tens of millions of shekels we located during the war in Hamas tunnels in cases filled with millions of dollars. This is a recurring phenomenon – large sums of cash, kept in organized compounds underground for the personal use of senior Hamas officials. Hamas leaders invested the money in their personal survival and that of their families underground.
It has long been known that Iran funds and arms Hamas, but the IDF chose to declassify direct evidence to show the role played by the Iranian regime, and to show the personal greed of Hamas’s leaders at a time when many Gazans are relying on aid for their basic necessities.
The IDF also wanted to show its penetration of Hamas’s physical infrastructure underground in the former stronghold of Khan Younis, where the terrorist leadership is thought to be hiding.
Quote:The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led coalition of fighters in Syria allied with the United States, announced on Monday an attack, apparently by Iran-backed militias from Iraq, on an American base killed at least six of their fighters.
In addition to evidence linking them to the attack, the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq” – a nebulous name used by several mostly Shiite Iranian-backed militias in the country – independently claimed responsibility, claiming they used drones to attack the base in Deir ez-Zor, Syria.
The attack is the latest in a series of dozens of attacks attributed to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq or the Iranian government directly on American positions in the Middle East. The Pentagon has documented over 160 drone strikes, missile assaults, and other attacks on U.S. assets in Syria and Iraq since the October 7 terrorist assault on Israel by the Iran-backed Sunni jihadists of Hamas.
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America still maintains an estimated 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria intended to aid local forces in protecting against a resurgence by the Islamic State. Iranian proxies have most fervently targeted them, succeeding in killing Americans on January 28 in a strike on the border between Syria and Iraq. Three Americans died in that drone attack, also attributed to the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq.”
The attack on the SDF appears to be part of the same campaign. According to the Kurdish news outlet Rudaw, a “suicide plane” targeted a training camp at an American base.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
Quote:President Joe Biden fumbled an opportunity to show he isn’t asleep at the wheel in his first address to the nation after Thursday’s damning special counsel report portraying the president as a senile old man.
In a hastily arranged Thursday night address from the White House, Biden confused yet another world leader, referring to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as “the president of Mexico.”
“I think that, uh,” Biden said before a long pause, continuing, “as you know, initially, the president of Mexico, Sisi, did not wanna open up the gate to allow humanitarian material to get in. I talked to him. I convinced him to open the gate.”
Biden’s untimely gaffe, made when the president shuffled back to the podium after initially ending the press conference, is the latest in a recent string of mixing up world leaders.
This year, Biden has described recent conversations with foreign leaders who died many years ago, one as far back as 1996.
The address was his first opportunity to showcase his mental capacity to do the job of President of the United States of America after Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report released earlier on Thursday referred to the president as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
Hur and his team interviewed the president for several hours last fall. Their report relayed shocking examples of Biden’s “significantly limited” memory.
The report says Biden “did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died.”
Really guys, just click on the link to the full article. I dare you!
Quote:President Joe Biden snapped at a reporter who brought up concerns — documented in polling — that Americans harbor about his age after he addressed the nation about the special counsel report finding he “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency.”
After delivering brief remarks, Biden began fielding questions from the press, and reporters zoned in on his age and memory. One reporter drew Biden’s ire when she raised concerns about his age.
“Mr. President, for months when you were asked about your age, you would respond with the words, ‘watch me,’” she noted, prompting Biden to say, “watch me,” from the podium.
“Many American people have been watching, and they have expressed concerns about your age,” she followed up.
“That is your judgment! That is your judgment,” the president interjected with his brow furled and finger pointed. “That is not the judgment of the press.”
“They express concerns about your mental acuity, they say that you are too old. Mr. President, in December, you told me, ‘there are many other Democrats who could defeat Donald Trump,’ so why does it have to be you now?” she fired back.
“Because I’m the most qualified person in this country to be president of the United States and finish the job I started,” he responded.
So do the voters truly believe him?
Quote:A Harvard-Harris poll published in late January found that 63 percent of the 2,346 registered voters sampled had “doubts about his fitness for office,” while nearly 70 percent said he was “showing he is too old” for the presidency.
Quote:Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson (LA) declared President Joe Biden “unfit” for office following his press conference on Thursday, during which he angrily scolded a special counsel for questioning his cognitive abilities.
“The President’s press conference this evening further confirmed on live television what the Special Counsel report outlined. He is not fit to be President,” the speaker declared on X.
President Joe Biden angrily attacked Special Counsel Robert Hur during his press conference on Thursday for mentioning in a recent report that the president had trouble remembering when his son Beau died.
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The report says the investigation “uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen” but does not establish guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Yet Hur’s assessment of Biden’s “significantly limited” memory also played a part in his decision not to prosecute.
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“It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him — by then a former president well into his eighties — of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness
Quote:This week, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that Biden would consider gutting the number of deportations carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents unless the House and Senate passed billions in funds for DHS to more quickly get border crossers into the U.S. interior and the NGOs that aid the process.
“Because congressional Republicans are choosing partisan politics over our national security and refusing to pass the bipartisan national security agreement that includes significant border reforms and funding, over the coming weeks, ICE will be forced to reduce operations because of budget shortfalls,” Jean-Pierre said on Air Force One:
We have asked Congress for additional funding and resources, and every time Congress has provided less than we asked for, or most recently, completely ignored our supplemental request. [Emphasis added]
Jean-Pierre’s comments came after a bill from Sens. James Lankford (R-OK), Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), and Chris Murphy (D-CT) went down in flames in the Senate. The bill, among other things, would have funneled countless billions of American taxpayer money to DHS and contracted NGOs to more efficiently get border crossers into American communities.
Specifically, the bill provided $1.4 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Shelter and Services Program (SSP) and $2.3 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services’s (HHS) Refugee Entrant and Assistance program.
Both programs are boondoggles for NGOs helping the federal government facilitate illegal immigration into the U.S. interior.
Quote:Trump’s lawyers reject the accusation that Trump’s actions amount to insurrection and appealed on a host of issues, including whether Section 3 applies to presidential candidates at all, whether it requires Congress to pass a law to consider disqualification, whether states have any right of action to make their own determinations on this issue, and whether Trump was denied due process in Colorado.
It appears clear that Trump is about to win big, likely either 8-1 or even a unanimous 9-0 decision. Such a decision would very likely boost his lead in the polls as the presidential election swings into high gear.
One point several justices appeared to agree with is that the president is not an officer of the United States. That term instead refers to federal officers appointed by a president, not the president himself. Various provisions in the Constitution, like the Appointments Clause, the Commission Clause, and the Impeachment Clause, mention the president separately from “officers of the United States” or an office “under the United States,” and Section 3 should be interpreted consistent with those other provisions.
Justice Clarence Thomas questioned the lawyer representing the Colorado voters seeking to disqualify Trump what historical examples they could point to about state officials or state courts declaring national candidates ineligible on the ballot. That lawyer, Jason Murray, had none.
“I’d like to sort of look at Justice Thomas’s question sort of from the 30,000-foot level. I mean, the whole point of the Fourteenth Amendment was to restrict state power, right?,” Chief Justice John Roberts said as a follow-up, listing various protections in the Fourteenth Amendment. “States shall not abridge [citizens’] immunity, they won’t deprive people of property without due process, they won’t deny equal protection. And on the other hand, it augmented federal power under Section 5. Congress has the power to enforce [the Amendment through legislation].”
Justice Brett Kavanaugh would have none of it. Referencing a court decision from the year after the Fourteenth Amendment’s ratification in 1868, Kavanaugh pushed back:
On your point it that it’s been dormant for 155 years, I think the other side would say the reason for that is Chief Justice Chase’s opinion in 1869 in Griffin’s Case to start, which says that Congress has the authority here, not the states. That’s followed up by the Enforcement Act of 1870, in which Congress acts upon that understanding, which is followed – and there’s no history contrary in that period, as Justice Thomas pointed out – there’s no history contrary in all the years leading up to this of states exercising such authority. I think the reason it’s been dormant is because there’s been a settled understanding that Chief Justice Chase, even if not right in every detail, was essentially right, and the branches of the government have acted under that settled understanding for 155 years. And Congress can change that. And Congress does have [18 U.S.C. § 2383], of course, the Insurrection Act, a criminal statute. But Congress could change it, but they have not, in the 155 years, in relevant respects for what you want here today, at least.
Kavanaugh separately made the point that regarding the insurrection crime referenced in that exchange, Section 2383, Trump has never even been charged with that crime, to say nothing about being convicted under it.
Things aren't as that great for one of Trump's allies.
Quote:A federal judge rejected former Donald Trump adviser Peter Navarro’s bid to stay out of prison while he appeals his contempt of Congress conviction for defying a subpoena from the Jan. 6 select committee.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled Thursday Navarro’s claim that he might succeed on the appeal was not enough of a basis to postpone the four-month prison sentence.
The judge sentenced Navarro to four months in prison last month after the former aide was convicted in September on two counts of contempt of Congress, one for refusing to testify and one for refusing to turn over documents.
Mehta said Navarro must report to his designated Bureau of Prisons facility at a date to be specified by the bureau. If the ruling holds, he would be the first Trump aide to serve prison time for crimes stemming from the effort to overturn the 2020 election.
Mehta rejected a host of claims from Navarro, who argued he had “testimonial immunity” because of his position in the White House during the events leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and that the prosecution was politically biased because of his loyalty to Trump.
“If anything, the record demonstrates just the opposite,” Mehta wrote, noting the absence of political bias in the Justice Department’s decision not to prosecute Trump aides Mark Meadows and Dan Scavino, both of whom were subpoenaed but did not testify before Congress.
Navarro also was unable to convince Mehta that Trump had invoked executive privilege to bar any testimony to Congress.
“After over a year of litigation, Defendant still has not offered what he thinks is required for a proper invocation of executive privilege,” Mehta wrote.
Quote:Iranian Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) Vice President Mohammad Eslami announced on Monday that construction has begun on a fourth nuclear reactor in the city of Isfahan.
According to Eslami, the “process of pouring concrete for the foundation of the reactor” is now underway. His office told Iranian state media that, when completed, the ten-megawatt reactor will test fuel, produce industrial radioisotopes, and process pharmaceuticals.
Isfahan currently has three research reactors. Iran has one operational nuclear power plant, a 3,000-megawatt facility in Bushehr. A second reactor using Russian designs has been under construction at Bushehr since late 2019, and a third is planned after that.
Last Thursday, Eslami announced that an entirely new nuclear power complex is planned in the city of Sirik, and it will be more powerful than the existing reactor at Bushehr, with a capacity of about 5,000 megawatts.
“We must reach the production capacity of 20,000 megawatts of nuclear power in the country by the year 2041,” Eslami said, suggesting that at least one more reactor will be planned after Sirik and the Bushehr expansion.
Iran International, a dissident media organization, was highly skeptical of Eslami’s claims on Sunday, pointing out that the price tag for the Sirik reactor would be at least $20 billion — a difficult bill for Iran to pay given international sanctions against its nuclear missile program.
“The difficulties Iran has faced in building new power plants in the last ten years raise doubts about whether the 25,000 megawatts of new electricity that the previous national development plan sought to bring about can be achieved,” Iran International said, noting that Iran claimed it would generate five percent of its power with nuclear and other non-fossil-fuel methods by 2021 but actually managed only one percent.
Iran has always insisted its enthusiasm for enriching uranium is purely for civilian purposes, such as generating electricity and creating medical products. In reality, Iran is spending a fortune on amassing a huge stockpile of uranium enriched far beyond any conceivable civilian need, but just below the level needed for atomic weapons.
Quote:The South Korean Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday announced Saudi Arabia has agreed to purchase a $3.2 billion surface-to-air missile defense system, while China gushed that its weapons “attracted great interest” from the Saudis at a defense show in Riyadh over the weekend.
The Saudis are also making strides with indigenously produced military systems, potentially marking the definitive end of the Kingdom’s dependence upon the United States for defense products.
Saudi arms purchases from the U.S. became politically problematic for two main reasons: criticism of heavy civilian casualties from the Saudi intervention in Yemen’s civil war, and the growing schism between Riyadh and Washington following the election of President Joe Biden. Human rights activists have pressured the U.S. to halt arms sales to protest the Saudi’s human rights record and their conduct in the war in Yemen.
Saudi Arabia remained the largest customer for American military hardware at the close of 2023, ringing up $84.3 billion in purchases. The Saudis have one of the largest defense budgets in the world, ranking behind only the U.S., China, Russia, and India.
The trend away from complete reliance on the U.S. for arms began with Saudi Vision 2030, the roadmap for a post-oil economy devised nearly a decade ago by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), who is now the de facto chief executive of the country.
Quote:Reuters noted on Tuesday that Biden’s team is now “cozying up” to Bukele, praising the health of democracy in El Salvador, and even publicly congratulating Bukele on his commanding 85-percent election victory.
For his part, Bukele has backed away from the confrontational stance he took when he felt the Biden administration was trying to push him around. At the nadir of the relationship two years ago, Bukele published a private chat with the top U.S. diplomat in El Salvador, who was angered enough by the revelation that she left the country.
Neither the Biden State Department nor Bukele has entirely abandoned their beefs with each other, however. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s congratulations to Bukele on his reelection included a little jab about the fine work of “electoral observers” to keep the election clean and an even less veiled promise that the U.S. remains focused on “good governance, economic prosperity, fair trial guarantees, and human rights in El Salvador.”
Bukele is beloved in El Salvador, admired across the hemisphere, and yet viewed with deep suspicion by human rights groups because he turned his country from one of the most dangerous in Latin America to one of the safest, by throwing a considerable portion of the population in jail.
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Salvadorans fleeing violence and poverty have migrated to the U.S. for decades, hitting record levels in 2021. Following the gang crackdown that began in March 2022, the number of Salvadorans reaching the U.S. southern border fell, dipping 36% from 2022 to 2023, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Bukele has also implemented measures such as hefty taxes on flights from 57 largely African countries to dampen onward U.S. migration.
Also, while El Salvador clearly wants to maintain good economic relations with the United States and keep hefty foreign aid checks coming, Bukele has made it known that he could turn to Beijing if Washington freezes him out. El Salvador has developed its own brand of Vietnam’s “bamboo diplomacy,” balancing the U.S. and China against each other, letting each other know that the other is a suitor waiting in the wings.
Quote:Professional soldiers from Colombia bolster the ranks of volunteers from around the world who have answered Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s call for foreign fighters to join his nation’s war with Russia.
A 32-year-old from the city of Medellín was trying to save a colleague wounded in three days of heavy fighting with Russian forces. Russian drones attacked the group and shrapnel from a grenade dropped by one pierced his jawbone.
Colombia’s military has been fighting drug-trafficking cartels and rebel groups for decades, making its soldiers some of the world’s most experienced.
With a military of 250,000, Colombia has Latin America´s second-largest army, after Brazil´s. More than 10,000 retire each year. And hundreds are heading to fight in Ukraine, where many make four times as much as experienced non-commissioned officers earn in Colombia, or even more.
“Colombia has a large army with highly trained personnel but the pay isn’t great when you compare it to other militaries,” said Andrés Macías of Bogotá’s Externado University, who studies Colombian work for military contractors around the world.
Retired Colombian soldiers began to head overseas in the early 2000s to work for U.S. military contractors protecting infrastructure including oil wells in Iraq. Retired members of Colombia’s military have also been hired as trainers in the United Arab Emirates and joined in Yemen’s battle against Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
Quote:Former Chilean president Sebastián Piñera died in a helicopter crash on Tuesday evening as he was traveling to southern Chile with three members of his family, who survived.
Piñera, 74, was the first and so far only center-right president of Chile since its return to democracy at the end of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, having served two presidential terms from 2010 to 2014 and 2018 to 2022.
The former Chilean president was reportedly piloting the crashed helicopter, having taken off from the home of Chilean businessman José Cox on Tuesday afternoon after sharing a meal. Piñera was accompanied by his sister Magdalena, his son-in-law Ignacio Guerrero, and Guerrero’s son.
Initial reports indicate that the helicopter took off in rainy and foggy weather conditions, which caused it to crash in a lake near the southern town of Lago Ranco minutes later. Piñera was reportedly unable to unbuckle his seatbelt and sank with the helicopter. The three survivors were able to swim to the shore, where they were rescued and aided by local security and members of the Emergency Medical Attention Service (SAMU). Piñera’s body was recovered from the depths of the lake and transported in a Chilean Navy boat.
Local media reported on Wednesday morning that according to Magdalena Piñera, who survived the crash, the former president’s last words were, “you jump first, because if I jump with you, the helicopter will fall on all of us,” as he maneuvered the helicopter in an attempt to save their lives.
Magdalena Piñera described her brother as a “great man, a very generous and very brave man.”
Quote:The government of Chile declared a state of emergency after more than 100 fires erupted that have so far claimed the lives of 122 people and ravaged thousands of homes in the central region of Valparaíso.
While some media outlets have reported that the fires are the result of an ongoing heat wave and drought, Chilean government authorities are reportedly investigating the possibility that someone started at least some of the devastating and unprecedented wildfires intentionally. Authorities announced the arrests of two individuals allegedly related to the fires on Monday morning.
Officials with Chile’s National Defense announced they had detained at least two individuals suspected of having started fires near the Viña del Mar botanical garden, which was completely destroyed. The individuals have not been identified in public at press time, nor have the specific charges leading to the reported arrests.
The arrest of the two suspects comes hours after the superintendent of the Valparaíso Fire Department, Juan Paredes Brante, asserted that some of the presumed wildfires may have been intentionally caused:
Even if we have the best intent, as the commander of the Valparaíso firefighter corps said, while they managed to advance in the Salto de Agua emergency, they saw when another fire was being started with accelerant liquids in the southern part of the Laguna de la Luz sector. This is real, this was affirmative. Even if we work well, we are seeing that it keeps burning behind our backs.
“From the experience in Salto del Agua, yes. This is totally intentional, that is a reality that we must face, and especially because sectors have been burned that did not have to be burned,” Paredes Brante said.
Quote:Venezuelan opposition leader and banned frontrunner in the yet-to-be-scheduled presidential election against dictator Nicolás Maduro, María Corina Machado, announced that a mob of socialists attacked her campaign event on Wednesday, beating her supporters “with sticks and stones.”
“More than 100 regime colectivos attacked with sticks and stones and injured numerous attendees,” Machado wrote in a message on Twitter. “The police present, through their inaction, abetted the armed colectivos.”
The term colectivo is used in Venezuela to mean socialist regime-linked armed thugs who have waged campaigns of terror against known dissidents through street beatings, extrajudicial killings, and other violence since the time of late dictator Hugo Chávez. The colectivos, unlike the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB), are not official arms of the Maduro regime and thus offer some distance between the dictator and his oppressive forces.
The presidential candidate published a video in which a mob was hurling rocks at a vehicle, cracking its windows, as visible from within. She also released a video of a man dressed in a Vente Venezuela shirt covered in blood, apparently suffering from a head wound that bled onto his neck and shirt.
Vente Venezuela is Machado’s center-right political party.
Other videos that Vente Venezuela shared from the event, which occurred in the Venezuelan state of Miranda, showed a throng attacking the outside of the rally venue.
Quote:Brazil’s Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) ordered former President Jair Bolsonaro to hand over his passport – effectively trapping him in the country – as part of a broad probe into an alleged “coup” plot following Bolsonaro’s defeat in the 2022 presidential election.
The measure is part of a broad operation known as Operação Tempus Veritatis (“Operation Time of Truth”). Police reportedly seized Bolsonaro’s passport from his office located at the headquarters of the Liberal Party (PL) in Brasília on Thursday noon local time.
The court order demanding Bolsonaro hand over his passport was issued by (STF) Minister and “anti-fake news crusader” Alexandre de Moraes. The operation claims to dismantle a purported “criminal organization” acting to keep Bolsonaro in power through a coup following his defeat in the October 2022 election.
According to de Moraes’ court order, Bolsonaro and his allies, after the results of 2022’s election, allegedly prepared a “coup” through a purported decree that contained provisions for the arrest of de Moraes alongside other STF members and other local authorities, as well as the immediate call for a new election.
The court order also reportedly stated that Bolsonaro and his allies were actively monitoring de Moraes himself and that Bolsonaro personally decided to arrest the STF minister before calling for new elections.
The probe’s large operation saw officials from the Brazilian Federal Police (PF) conduct 33 search and seizure warrants on Thursday morning, as well as four preventive arrest warrants and 48 different precautionary measures.
The list of targets, led by Bolsonaro, includes some of his former ministers and military officials, as well as former advisers during his presidency. The precautionary measures reportedly include the prohibition of those targeted from maintaining contact with one another, a ban on leaving Brazil, and the suspension of the exercise of public functions.
Quote:Recently, Costa Rica faced a serious water contamination crisis affecting various sectors of San José, prompting decisive action from authorities. The Public Prosecutor’s Office has confirmed the initiation of an investigation file in response to the escalating situation.
Led by the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ), the probe has yet to pinpoint any suspects in connection with the contamination, which has sent shockwaves across affected communities.
The crisis unfolded on Monday, January 22, with residents reporting an unusual smell and taste of gasoline in areas including Moravia, Goicoechea, and Tibás. The issue quickly spread to districts in Montes de Oca and the central canton of San José, alarming authorities, and residents alike.
Despite initial ambiguity, the Costa Rican Institute of Aqueducts and Sewers (AyA) eventually confirmed the presence of hydrocarbons in low concentrations, issuing warnings against water usage and consumption.
In response to the risks posed by the contaminated water supply, authorities initiated a distribution process via cisterns while intensifying efforts to clean affected tanks. However, these measures yielded little success, exacerbating frustration among impacted residents. Subsequently, authorities opted to interconnect alternative water supply points in a bid to mitigate the crisis.
Amid growing uncertainty, questions regarding the nature of the contaminant loomed large. While early studies dismissed the presence of xylene, subsequent intervention by the University of Costa Rica (UCR) confirmed its involvement in the contamination.
Prosecutor Luis Diego Hernandez emphasized the need for a thorough investigation in light of these developments. “The case was opened following sampling conducted by Acueductos y Alcantarillados and public universities, which identified the substance as xylene,” he stated.
Hernandez underscored the versatile nature of xylene, highlighting its use in various industries and its potential ties to the drug market, including in the production of fentanyl.
Crucially, investigators are working to determine whether the contamination resulted from a direct or indirect spillage. “Current indications suggest that the contamination affected surface water rather than groundwater, indicating a discharge prior to the water’s entry into the treatment plant,” Hernandez explained.
Meanwhile, the Costa Rican Drug Institute (ICD) initially refuted any association between xylene and fentanyl. However, subsequent verification revealed regulatory measures surrounding the substance’s commercialization, raising questions about its legality.
Quote:Seven organizations were canceled for “non-compliance” in their financial reports, and their assets will pass to the State, and eight for “voluntary dissolution of members,” according to two resolutions published in the official newspaper La Gaceta.
A resolution by the Ministry of the Interior shut down seven bodies that “did not report their Financial Statements for periods of between 02 to 11 years in accordance with fiscal periods, with detailed breakdowns of income and expenses, balance sheets, details of donations (origin, source and end beneficiary) and Board of Directors.”
These NGOs were left “in breach of their obligations, in accordance with the Laws that regulate them, and hindering the control and supervision of the General Directorate of Registry and Control of Non-Profit Organizations,” the publication said.
Nicaragua tightened laws following protests against President Daniel Ortega’s government in 2018, which left over 300 dead in three months of street blocks and clashes between opponents and supporters, according to the UN.
Ortega’s government, which considered the protests an attempted coup promoted by Washington, claimed some NGOs financed them.
The closed Evangelical organizations include the Evangelical Mission Association “Cristo Viene” of Nicaragua, the Centro Misionero Esperanza de Dios Church Association and the Sicar Evangelical Church Association.
The legal statuses of Viviendas León NGO, Sonati-Nicaragua Association and Global Partnerships were also canceled, as well as the Rescatando Huellas Foundation, dedicated to the care and shelter of dogs and cats.
The movable and immovable assets of those seven associations will be transferred to the State, according to the legislation governing non-profit organizations, the Interior Ministry said.
Quote:Nicaragua granted asylum this Wednesday to former Panamanian president Ricardo Martinelli, days after he lost the last appeal to overturn an almost 11-year prison sentence for money laundering.
Martinelli “requested asylum at the Embassy of the Republic of Nicaragua in Panama, considering himself persecuted for political reasons and at risk,” reads a note sent by Managua’s foreign ministry to Panama, adding that President Daniel Ortega’s government decided to grant it.
The note, read in Managua to the press by the vice president and Ortega’s wife, Rosario Murillo, asks Panamanian authorities “to provide assurances for the prompt departure and humanitarian transfer of asylum seeker Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Berrocal to the territory of the Republic of Nicaragua”.
The right-wing former president (2009-2014) had started his campaign for the May 5 presidential election last Saturday, a day after the Supreme Court published the ruling rejecting his last legal appeal to overturn the prison sentence.
Managua has granted asylum to other Central American former presidents and senior officials facing legal troubles, including former Salvadoran leftist presidents Mauricio Funes (2009-2014) and Salvador Sánchez Cerén (2014-2019).
After the Supreme Court ruling, the Electoral Tribunal must formalize his disqualification from the presidential race. Martinelli’s conviction was to become final this Friday, allowing Panamanian authorities to order his arrest.
I guess that corrupt politicians have to help each other in times of crisis.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
Quote:This week, 17 Senate Republicans joined Democrats to approve sending Ukraine another $60 billion. Twelve of those Republicans previously suggested they would not help send Ukraine any more American taxpayer money until the United States’s border was secure from illegal immigration.
On Thursday, Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Susan Collins (R-ME), John Cornyn (R-TX), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Kennedy (R-LA), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), John Thune (R-SD), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Todd Young (R-IN) joined every Senate Democrat excluding Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to send billions more in taxpayer dollars to Ukraine.
The money, if approved by the House, will fund weapons and military training, among other things, for Ukraine in its war with Russia.
Twelve of those Republicans who voted for the Ukraine funding, coupled with $14.1 billion for Israel in its war with Hamas, previously suggested to the media that they would not support more funding for Ukraine until America’s own southern border was secure. ”So in order for our national security interests to be served, we must have a four-prong approach here. Israel, the border, Ukraine, and Taiwan,” Capito said in December 2023, for example, while Cassidy said, “We got to support our allies, but we got to secure our own border first and the Biden administration has not done so” the same month.
Similarly, in December 2023, Ernst said ,”The issue is not Ukraine, and it’s not President Zelensky. It’s our own national security at our southern border” and Collins called reforms at the southern border an “absolutely essential part” of any funding package that includes more money for Ukraine.
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McConnell, who has previously said that Ukraine is Republicans’ number one priority, told the media in November 2023 that “any serious supplemental legislation with a shot of passing the Senate in the coming weeks will have to take meaningful steps toward fixing the Biden administration’s border crisis.”
Likewise, Rounds was abundantly clear in November 2023 when he said that “Any bill with aid for Israel and Ukraine must include policy changes at our southern border.”
Quote:Last month, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee Chairman Tom McClintock (R-CA) sent a letter to Mayorkas asking for a “numerical breakdown of all illegal alien releases at the southwest border since January 20, 2021.”
McClintock’s office confirmed to Breitbart News that as of February 9, Mayorkas has not responded to the request despite the congressmen asking for the data by February 5.
Jordan and McClintock also asked Mayorkas for “all data relating to and supporting your assertion that DHS has released into the interior over 85 percent of illegal aliens encountered at the southwest border,”
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According to Border Patrol agents as of last month, Mayorkas told them that more than 85 percent of illegal aliens arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border are being released into American communities.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that from January 2021 through December 2023, Biden’s DHS welcomed 6.2 million illegal aliens to the U.S. — a foreign population that is nearly twice the annual American birth rate.
And before you forget it as well, let's refresh our memory by reading the next article.
Quote:President Joe Biden told two fundraiser audiences Wednesday he discussed the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot with a European leader who was actually dead at the time, referencing supposed talks with the deceased he has boasted of before.
Biden told Democratic donors in New York he spoke about events on Jan. 6 with former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, whose death came nearly half a decade before the supposed conversation, the New York Post reports.
The gaffe comes just days after the octogenarian president confused French President Emmanuel Macron with the country’s ex-leader Francois Mitterrand — who died in 1996, as Breitbart News reported.
Biden made the blunder Wednesday not once but twice in front of audiences as he regaled donors with tales of his first international trip as president – to the 2021 G-7 summit in Great Britain – after his 2020 election win over former President Donald Trump.
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“I showed up … and I sat down and said, ‘America’s back,’ and [French President Emmanuel] Macron looked at me and said, ‘For how long?’ How long? Not a joke,” Biden recalled, according to a pool report of the president’s stop at the home of Maureen White, whose husband Steven Rattner manages billionaire former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s fortune.
“Helmut Kohl said, ‘Joe, what would you think if you picked up the phone and picked up the paper tomorrow and learned in the London Times, on the front page, that 1,000 people stormed the Parliament, broke down the doors of the House of Commons and killed 2 bobbies in the process … trying to stop the election of a prime minister?’” he added.
Kohl, who served as the chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998, died in 2017 – nearly four years before the 2021 G7 summit.
Angela Merkel was the chancellor of Germany at the time of the gathering of world leaders Biden referenced.
Quote:Data from the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) shows that since Biden took the White House in early 2021, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has rapidly seized market share for U.S. imports of nitrile medical gloves. In 2019, during former President Donald Trump’s administration and before the coronavirus pandemic, USITC import data shows that the U.S. relied upon China for about 14.2 percent of such medical gloves. Domestic manufacturing accounted for zero percent, but other countries, like Malaysia, Thailand, and more—far more friendly nations to the United States than China—made up 85.7 percent of imports.
But this picture drastically changed when Biden took office, and not for the better. In 2021, Biden’s first year in the White House, China increased its share of imports of medical gloves to the United States to 26.8 percent, while the other countries dropped to 73.1 percent. Two years later, in 2023, China increased its share of imports of medical gloves to the United States to 44.15 percent—while the other countries dropped to just 53.6 percent. In 2023, thanks to a program started during the pandemic under Trump but stymied under Biden, the U.S. made around 2.22 percent of medical gloves used domestically.
At this pace, if nothing changes, the U.S. will be dependent on China for approximately 60 percent of medical gloves used domestically in 2024.
Blue Star, a company that was set to manufacture these gloves domestically but whose efforts the Biden administration’s failures have held up, complied charts showcasing this shocking government data. These charts are being shared with congressional investigators and with Breitbart News.
CANADA
Trudeau's Admin Stops Denying It Had Invited a Nazi to the House
Quote:In the wake of one of the largest political scandals in modern Canadian history, Trudeau and his government have attempted to claim that they were unaware of plans to host Hunka in the parliament, placing the blame entirely upon the since-ousted Speaker of the House Anthony Rota. Trudeau, government ministers, parliamentarians and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had given multiple standing ovations to Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old Ukrainian who fought in the Galicia Division of the Waffen-SS during the Second World War on behalf of Nazi Germany.
However, despite Rota falling on his sword, accepting entire responsibility and resigning, a freedom of information request from Rebel News has revealed that Trudeau’s government appeared to have had prior knowledge of Hunka’s attendance and had also invited him to attend a reception with President Zelensky on the evening following the Ukrainian leader’s appearance in the Canadian Parliament.
“The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, is pleased to invite you to a special event,” the invitation to Hunka from the Office of Protocol of Canada read according to the news outlet.
Acknowledging the veracity of the letter sent to Hunka, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement on Tuesday per the National Post: “Last September, there was a community event with the President of Ukraine in Toronto with over 1,000 people invited. Hundreds of Canadians were invited.”
The statement added that the “individual in question’s name was submitted by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress” and that “knowing what is known now — the individual shouldn’t have been invited.” According to the PMO, Hunka ultimately did not attend the second event with Zelensky.
Quote:The United States “for sure” blew up the Nord Stream pipeline in the Baltic sea, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed during his interview with broadcaster Tucker Carlson this week. The allegation, which he made without corroborating evidence, was said to be self-evidently true because the U.S. had both the motivation and the means to damage the energy infrastructure.
When probed for further details, such as “evidence” for the claim by Carlson, and even in response to the suggestion proving who blew up Nord Stream might constitute a “propaganda victory” for Moscow, Putin refused to be drawn. He replied: “, I won’t get into details, but people always say in such cases, look for someone who is interested. But in this case, we should not only look for someone who is interested, but also for someone who has capabilities, because there may be many people interested, but not all of them are capable of sinking to the bottom of the Baltic Sea and carrying out this explosion.”
Asked why he wouldn’t give up what he knew on what Tucker called “the biggest act of industrial terrorism ever”, Putin shrugged off the question by stating it was pointless trying to go toe-to-toe with the U.S. on the “war of propaganda” because Washington “controls all the world’s media”, so Moscow couldn’t hope to compete. “It’s clear to the whole world what happened” to Nord Stream, said Putin, so elaborating any further would not be cost-effective.
While light on new information, the exchange on Nord Stream did at least allow one of the few moments of light relief during the otherwise staid interview, with Putin accusing Tucker personally — either by design or misinterpretation — of having blown up the pipeline. Both men laughed as he attempted to reply, and Tucker riposted: ” I was busy that day. I did not blow up Nord Stream. Thank you though!”.
“The CIA has no such alibi” for the day the pipeline was destroyed, was Putin’s rejoinder, one of several occasions over the course of the interview Putin namechecked the U.S. spy agency. Bizarrely, the former KGB agent appeared to rib Carlson over the fact he had applied to join the CIA after college, but had apparently been turned down.
Quote:Amid the left-wing establishment furore over Carlson’s decision to interview the Russian head of state, former Belgian prime minister and current member of the European Parliament, Guy Verhofstadt called for an EU travel ban to be imposed on the American journalist and for the bloc to begin the process to levy sanctions External Action Service, the EU’s diplomatic controlled by Spanish socialist Josep Borrell.
However, the body does not have unilateral authority to sanction individuals but rather can merely present evidence to the European Council, the executive arm of the EU composed of the heads of state or government of the EU member states, any of whom has the power to veto a decision.
Therefore, socially conservative Hungary has the ability to block the EU from sanctioning Carlson and on Tuesday confirmed that it would do so if the measure was put before the Council.
Responding to a news story about the potential of EU sanctions on the American journalist, Balázs Orbán, the political director of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wrote on social media: “Don’t bother trying – we won’t let it happen!”
The instant shutdown from Budapest will likely further rile Verhofstadt, who has been at the forefront of calling for the elimination of veto power for EU member states over Hungary’s opposition to funding for the war in Ukraine.
The principle of unanimity and the enforcement mechanism of national veto powers, in a similar fashion to the allocation of senators or electoral college votes in the United States, was an essential component of the formation of the European Union as it guaranteed that smaller member states could not be entirely overpowered by larger nations such as France or Germany.
However, as the power of Brussels has grown, there has been a growing disdain for conservative countries such as Hungary and Poland defending their ideals and interests.
Quote:General Valerii Zaluzhnyi has been removed as the head of the Ukrainian armed forces, a major change at the top weeks shy of the second anniversary of Russia’s re-invasion, with comments of a need for change from top figures appearing as a tacit admission of failure.
Top Ukrainian figures were full of thanks for the service of General Valerii Zaluzhnyi as he was removed from post on Thursday, but immediately below the surface discussion of the need to change, and even a detailed breakdown of improvements needed by his successor was laid out by President Zelensky. Morale is low in Ukraine and citizens “talk about victory less often”, he said, while calling for serious change in method and tempo.
President Zelensky revealed Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, the leader of Ukraine’s land forces who he praised as “the most experienced Ukrainian commander”, had been appointed to replace General Zaluzhny.
Apparently reading from the same script, both the outgoing General Zaluzhnyi and the Ukrainian Minister of Defence Rustem Umerov both made clear reference to how the nature of the war had shifted, and how change was now needed. General Zaluzhnyi took to social media to note on Thursday afternoon that: “Our battle continues and changes daily. The tasks of 2022 are different from the tasks of 2024. Therefore, everyone must change and adapt to new realities as well.”
Quote:The Ukrainian Parliament has decided the nation’s state of martial law will not expire later this month, extending it a further 90 days.
Martial law will last until May 13th in Ukraine at least — and likely much longer than that, as the national Verkhovna Rada confirmed a law approving a presidential decree made on Monday. The measure passed with an overwhelming majority in the parliament where 11 opposition political parties were suspended in 2022, accused of fomenting “division or collusion” by President Zelensky.
As noted by Ukrainian state media, the original martial law was activated on the day of the Russian re-invasion on February 24th 2022, and was then extended on April 25, August 23, and November 21 of that year, then in 2023 on February 19, May 20, August 18, and November 15.
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Trench warfare notwithstanding, the Ukrainian state has spoken again of a Spring Counteroffensive for this year, predicting the Russian attempts to gain ground will be “completely exhausted” in a few months.
Quote:A German navy frigate set sail for the Red Sea on Thursday with the aim of protecting commercial ships from attacks by Yemeni rebels, as part of a planned European Union mission.
The deployment marked “the most serious engagement of a unit of the German navy in many decades,” navy chief Jan Christian Kaack told reporters in Berlin.
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The Red Sea normally carries about 12 percent of global maritime trade.
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The “Hesse” frigate set off from the northern German port of Wilhelmshaven with a crew of around 240 people, Kaack said.
It will be able to respond to potential attacks including from missiles, drones and remotely controlled “kamikaze boats”, he said.
It is expected to be tasked with escorting commercial ships and intercepting attacks.
The frigate’s mission still needs to be confirmed by the German parliament and the European Union, however.
The EU is currently considering a naval mission to improve security for merchant ships in the Red Sea.
Quote:The suspected Gare de Lyon train station knife attacker, a 32-year-old man from the West African nation of Mali who entered France legally through the European Union’s internal open borders Schengen system after receiving an Italian residency permit in 2019, was charged on Tuesday with “aggravated assassination attempts”.
According to the Le Figaro newspaper, the suspected attacker, publicly referred to as “Kassogue S.”, admitted to police that his intentions were to “attack French people”.
During the attack on Saturday, three people were left injured, including one man who was left in critical condition after being attacked with a knife and a hammer. Law enforcement officials were quick to blame the attack on “mental health” issues while downplaying the possibility of terrorism.
However, this was apparently undermined by the discovery of the suspected attacker’s TikTok account, in which he expressed support for “pan-Africanism” and expressed anti-colonial sentiments, with the French drawing the brunt of his rage.
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He also expressed support for political violence, saying that “sometimes you have to attack to be able to dominate your own enemy, to be able to scare your enemy, to threaten your enemy.” While police claimed that there were no signs that religion played a role in the attack, video has also emerged of Kassogue saying: “RIP in three months, may Allah welcome me to his paradise”.
Public figures have argued that the attack on French people by an African migrant is a political issue, not merely a mental health one, with former presidential candidate Eric Zemmour saying that the statements from the prosecution “confirmed, several days later, what all French people knew from the start: the attack on Gare de Lyon was indeed Francocide.
Quote:Following major wins last year in The Netherlands, tractor protests from farmers secured another significant victory against the globalist agenda on Tuesday, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen scrapping plans to require the agriculture sector to cut methane and nitrogen emissions by a third by 2040.
Brussels is also set to backtrack on plans to cut the use of pesticides in half during the same time frame, which farmers have argued puts them at a disadvantage to foreign agriculture imported into the bloc under free trade deals at cheaper costs due to their countries having less stringent environmental regulations as the EU.
Plans to encourage Europeans to eat less meat, a central theme of the Great Reset movement favoured by elites, have also been abandoned.
Commenting on the move, EU chief von der Leyen said per The Telegraph: “Our farmers deserve to be listened to.”
“I know that they are worried about the future of agriculture and their future as farmers. But they also know that agriculture needs to move to a more sustainable model of production so that their farms remain profitable in the years to come”, she told the European Parliament.
However, it is unclear if the concessions made by Brussels on Tuesday will suffice to quell the anger of the farmers, given that they still face over-regulation at both the national and EU levels as well as facing issues from cheap foreign produce, notably from Ukraine, which was granted tariff-free access to the EU market following the Russian invasion.
Quote:Three explosions rocked the Swedish capital of Stockholm over just a four-day period as the country is coming off a record year for gang-related bombings.
After a few months of relative calm, gang wars in the Nordic nation once again appear to be on the rise, as three explosions at residential buildings in Stockholm have been seen since Friday when a large blast went off at an apartment in Sundbyberg where a man with ties to a criminal gang lives.
This was followed by an explosion on Saturday outside a hair salon in the industrial area of Vällingby. Finally, on Monday, an apparent bomb went off at the gate of an apartment block in the Haninge area of the Swedish capital.
“We are investigating possible connections between the explosions, but that cannot be confirmed,” police spokeswoman Anna Westberg said per Aftonbladet.
The explosions in Stockholm came as two more apparent bombings occurred in the Gävleborg area of the country to the north of the capital.
According to a report from public broadcaster SVT, at least four of the explosions are believed to be tied to the ongoing internal conflicts within the Foxtrot gang of notorious Iranian-born criminal Rawa Majid, known as the “Kurdish Fox”, who is currently believed to running the gang in Sweden from a hideout in Turkey.
The police believe that the explosions are tied to gang activity given that several of the addresses were known homes of people either directly involved in gangs or the relatives of gang members.
The latest string of explosions comes on the backs of a historic year for gang-tied bombings in Sweden, with 149 bombings being recorded in 2023, a new grim record for the once peaceful nation. This comes despite efforts from police, who seized an astonishing ten tonnes of explosive material from criminals during the same time period.
Quote:An Iranian asylum seeker was shot dead by police as he charged at an officer while wielding an axe, the culmination of a four-hour hostage-taking aboard a Swiss regional train service.
Nearly 100 members of the emergency services responded to a hostage-taking aboard a local train service stopped Essert-sous-Champvent train station after passengers managed to contact police to alert them of the situation. A “screaming” 32-year-old Iranian asylum seeker armed with an axe and a knife had tied up at least some of the 14 passengers and the driver of the Sainte-Croix to Yverdon train, leading to a four-hour hostage situation, reports Switzerland’s 20 Minutes.
Police were eventually able to speak to the man through Whatsapp installed on the cell phones of hostage passengers, but had to use an interpreter as the attacker only spoke Farsi and English. Eventually, the Iranian hostage taker stood away from his captives for a moment, giving police a window for action. Explosives were set off to dazle the man, and officers stormed the carriage while police snipers stood by.
No hostages or police officers were injured in the operation, it is stated, but the Iranian hostage-taker charged a police officer while wielding his axe and was shot dead for his troubles.
While Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung reports police have said “according to initial investigations, the perpetrator’s motive is still unclear”, nevertheless officers are apparently confident enough to already declare the hostage-taking is “neither terrorist nor jihadist”.
Quote:Turkish police on Tuesday shot dead two assailants from a leftist organisation, branded “terrorists” by authorities, who attacked a security checkpoint outside Istanbul’s main court, killing one person and injuring five, officials said.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the assailants were members of the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) — a fringe leftist group that has staged periodic attacks in Turkey since the 1980s.
The DHKP-C issued no initial claim of responsibility.
The group, which is considered a terrorist organisation by the United States, has been fighting US influence in the Middle East and across the world.
In 2014, Washington offered a $3 million reward for the capture of the group’s leaders.
“I congratulate our security forces, who eliminated the treacherous attack with timely intervention,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in televised remarks.
“Two terrorists, one a woman and the other a man, were neutralised.”
Erdogan said the attack injured three police and three civilians, one of whom died later.
A witness told AFP the assailants opened fire on police after a brief altercation at a checkpoint leading to a main entrance to the sprawling building, which has been used for some of Turkey’s biggest trials.
Quote:Reuters reported on Wednesday the highest insurance premium spikes are hitting ships tied to the United States, United Kingdom, and Israel because the Houthis have vowed to continue targeting those ships until Israel halts its war against the Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
Two insurance industry sources told Reuters that some American, British, and Israeli ships are paying even more than 50 percent higher. Ships linked to those three countries are now paying about one percent of the ship’s value for insurance on each transit.
“The ships that have so far had problems, almost all of them have got some element of Israeli or U.S. or UK ownership in there somewhere,” noted Marcus Baker of insurance broker Marsh.
Other insurance company executives noted that since the Houthis promised safe passage to Russian, Iranian, and Chinese vessels, some enterprising ship managers are attaching messages to their tracking profiles that loudly announce they have Chinese crew members on board. One can only wonder if Chinese crew will soon command premium salaries as competition for their services heats up.
Ships flying other flags are not confident of passing safely through the threatened region, as the Houthis have demonstrated they will attack ships with very tenuous, or even imaginary, links to the U.S. or Israel. Shipping associations published an advisory on February 5 warning all carriers to be aware that “their vessel could be misidentified” by the terrorists.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
Quote:Trump made his argument at a packed afternoon rally in Conway, South Carolina, broadcasted by Right Side Broadcasting Network, ahead of the state’s Republican primary in two weeks, where polls indicate he will trounce former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC).
“The special counsel’s report tries to let Biden off by claiming that he is too mentally incompetent to convict at a trial,” Trump noted, implying that this demonstrates Biden is unfit to lead. “‘I’m not going to charge him with a crime, but it’s okay for him to become Commander in Chief’ – think of that one.”
After a brief disturbance, in which an anti-Trumper in attendance made an outburst and was quickly removed, Trump said, “But we know that Joe Biden has always been too mentally incompetent.”
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Trump, who has been charged on 40 counts in his own classified documents case by Special Counsel Jack Smith under Biden’s Department of Justice, also contended the decision not to prosecute Biden underscores “a weaponized two-tiered system of justice in this country.”
“Crooked Joe got off scot-free,” Trump said before quipping, “and I don’t know if you call it scot-free; they said he was a mental basket case.”
He went on to add, “Biden’s thugs are still trying to put me in jail on fake charges for crimes that they openly admit that Crooked Joe did. He actually did these crimes.”
Quote:Trump co-defendant Michael Roman filed a motion on Friday identifying a witness who could testify that Fulton County’s district attorney and a prosecutor she hired began a romantic relationship before they pursued the election case, refuting sworn testimony.
In the 122-page filing, Mr. Roman’s lawyer said a former associate of prosecutor Nathan Wade would refute the prosecutor’s timeline of his relationship with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
Mr. Wade and Ms. Willis recently admitted under oath to having a “personal relationship,” which Mr. Wade said began after the election case began in 2022.
However, this timeline will be refuted by Terrence Bradley, a lawyer and member of the Georgia Bar who is a former associate of Mr. Wade, according to the filing.
Mr. Bradley, who the filing asserts has “non-privileged, personal knowledge,” will testify that the alleged relationship began in January 2021, before Ms. Willis was sworn in as Fulton County’s district attorney.
Adding a layer of complexity to the matter, Mr. Bradley at one time represented Mr. Wade in his divorce.
However, Mr. Roman’s lawyer argued that attorney-client privilege would not prevent the testimony. The motion argues that the information about Mr. Wade’s relationship was obtained “in a personal capacity” as friends before Mr. Wade sought legal advice from Mr. Bradley.
Furthermore, his testimony will not relate to any privileged attorney-client communications or work product, the filing states.
So who can take seriously a couple of liars that prosecute a public figure with dubious claims of crimes being committed during his tenure as US President? Just asking here.
Quote:A recent Fox News report revealed the true feelings that many local leaders have espoused about Democrat Gov. Tina Kotek’s plans that do not appear to be doing enough:
Ramshackle RVs, nondescript sedans, shopping carts, bicycles, tents and tarps line a street on the edge of the city [of McMinnville], bordered by an open field and, beyond that, the Yamhill River. A lonely dumpster, lid thrown open, sits amid piles of trash.
Deputies recently responded to three overdoses at the camp in one day. Another overdose call sent them racing to a logging road in the Coast Range, a 35-minute drive from the sheriff’s office. Much too long for them to reach the person in time.
“There’s nothing out there,” Yamhill County Sheriff Sam Elliott said. “They weren’t camping. They weren’t living up there. They just were up there specifically to smoke pills.”
“It’s like playing Whac-A-Mole… with the number of challenges that counties are facing,” Association of Oregon Counties President Danielle Bethell told the outlet, adding that rural communities have been “left out” of the action plan to improve the drug, crime, and poverty issues.
Kotek declared a state of emergency for the city of Portland over the fentanyl crisis in early February, but critics believe that many other areas in the large state need drastic help as well.
“We have a crisis on our hands, and that’s easy to see,” said Oregon Rep. Lucetta Elmer ®, whose district spans areas in Polk and Yamhill counties about an hour south of Portland.
Quote:As Breitbart News reported, citing the New York Times, Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer was dispatched to Michigan to assuage concerns among Arab- and Muslim-American voters who are angry that President Joe Biden has been somewhat supportive of Israel in its war against Hamas terrorists following the October 7 terror attack.
The Times also noted that Biden officials met with a man named Osama A. Siblani:
Osama A. Siblani, the influential publisher of The Arab American News, a Dearborn newspaper, had meetings with both Ms. Chávez Rodríguez and Mr. Finer’s delegation. He said Arab American voters in Michigan felt betrayed after backing Mr. Biden in large numbers in 2020, arguing that they had “received nothing” since then “but lip service.”
“I’ve been involved in this community day in and day out every single day for 40 years,” Mr. Siblani said. “I can tell you right now, I cannot convince my community to vote for Biden if I kiss their feet. They will not do it.”
The Middle East Media Research Institute identified Siblani as the speaker who made a radically pro-terror speech in 2022:
“Peace be upon the pure blood that poured from Shireen Abu Akleh’s head. Peace be upon the blood that irrigates the land of Palestine, so that heroic martyrs like her and like others would emerge from it, and Palestine would be liberated and restored to the Arab nation.
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“Do you see what is happening in Palestine? They thought that 1948 is a demarcation line. They thought we forgot. Now, surprise, fedayeen are setting out from the land of 1948. They are striking them with knives and with their bare hands, and they are victorious.
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“They will fight with stones, others will fight with guns, others will fight with planes, drones, and rockets, others will fight with their voices, and others will fight with their hands and say: ‘Free, free Palestine!'”
Quote:Federal prosecutors on Friday accused Annazette Collins of submitting the policies for individuals who did not request them or were not even real people, the Chicago Sun-Times reported, noting officials have so far not filed criminal charges against her regarding the allegations.
An image shows the woman in question:
“Those policies were tied to bank accounts controlled either by Collins or her daughter, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Parthum told a judge,” the outlet said.
Collins recently said she would testify for allegedly evading almost $100,000 in taxes.
“Prosecutors had previously disclosed Collins was fired from her job at American Income Life Insurance, but they said they would not seek to disclose the reason unless she decided to take the stand,” the Sun-Times report said, noting she was later fired from her position as an insurance agent with the company for allegedly violating its policies.
Jurors were permitted to hear about the allegations if she decided to take the stand, but she apparently decided against it.
A verdict was not reached on Friday afternoon. Therefore, jurors plan to come back on Monday.
Quote:During a portion that aired on Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” Lechleitner said, “The sanctuary jurisdictions are inherently more unsafe, because they’re letting these individuals out who have very serious convictions at times and are public safety threats, if not national security threats. It is a concern and I’m very baffled by it.”
In another portion of the interview that was aired on Friday’s broadcast of FNC’s “Special Report,” Lechleitner stated, “I want to work with any jurisdiction to put public safety and national security first, and I’m willing to talk to anyone to do it.”
Quote:During a portion of an interview with NBC New York affiliate NBC4 host David Ushery set to air on Sunday’s broadcast of “The Debrief” that was released on Friday, NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell stated that there is “an uptick” and “trends in migrant crime that [are] hurting our city a little bit” like robberies purse snatching committed on mopeds, pickpocketing on transit and streets, and “mob-like” behavior in some retail locations. And that “we’re seeing these trends start to get bigger and bigger, and it’s adding to our everyday New Yorkers’ crime, and we’re trying to put a lid on it.”
Quote:Simpson, 76, is now undergoing chemotherapy treatment in Las Vegas, according to WPLG-TV in Miami.
The Pro Football Hall of Famer has been seen in Vegas in recent weeks looking frail and limping, the New York Post reported.
He also posted a video to social media last week knocking rumors that he was being placed in hospice and is on the verge of death.
“No, I’m not in any hospice; I don’t know who put that out there. Whoever put that out there, it’s like Donald [Trump] says: can’t trust the media. In any event, I’m hosting a ton of friends for the Super Bowl here in Las Vegas. All is well. Take care, have a good Super Bowl Weekend,” Simpson said.
Once known as “The Juice,” Simpson was famous for his expertise on the football field for the Buffalo Bills in the 1970s. But became infamous for beating a murder rap for the 1994 death of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.
While he was acquitted of murder, he was held civilly responsible in a 1997 trial and ordered to pay the families of the victims $8.5 million in compensatory damages.
I guess those that still hold OJ as being resposible for the murders of his wife and her lover might wind up calling it just another case of poetic justice.
Quote:A suspect is under arrest after nine gunshots rang out on the UC Berkeley campus Friday night at about 8:40 p.m. No injuries were reported.
ABC 7 noted the shots were fired outside Sproul Plaza, and the incident appeared to have occurred following some type of “altercation.”
Students were ordered to shelter in place after the shots rang out. An all-clear was issued at 9:45 p.m.
SF Gate observed that a suspect was arrested, but no details about the suspect were provided.
California is the number one state for gun law strength, according to Mike Bloomberg-affiliated Everytown for Gun Safety. The gun controls include universal background checks, a ten-day waiting period for gun purchases, gun registration, a red flag law, an “assault weapons” ban, a “high capacity” magazine ban, a ban on carrying a gun on a college campus for self-defense, a ban on being armed on K-12 campuses for self-defense, a background check for ammunition purchases, and limits on the number of guns law-abiding citizens can purchase each month.
EUROPE
Boris Johnson Mad at Tucker Carlson, Russia Strikes Again & More
Quote:Responding to the interview with Putin, which he compared to interviews conducted with Adolph Hitler in 1940, Boris Johnson wrote in his column in the Daily Mail that the interview was “straight out of Hitler’s playbook” and that Tucker Carlson served as a “stooge of the tyrant, the dictaphone to the dictator and a traitor to journalism,” adding: “In his fawning, guffawing, slack-jawed happiness at having a ‘scoop’, he betrayed his viewers and listeners around the world.”
Johnson — who has been one of the most ardent backers of Ukraine since the Russian invasion of 2022, to such an extent that the former British leader has had streets renamed in his honour in Ukraine, and has been the subject of murals and paintings celebrating his devotion to the Ukrainian cause — compared Putin’s actions in Ukraine to Hitler in the Second World War and Carlson to those who opposed U.S. involvement in the war against the Nazis.
“I pray that the people of the U.S. are able to see through last night’s unholy charade of an interview. I know how many U.S. congress men and women have been fans of Tucker Carlson, and I say: remember Charles Lindbergh, remember the America Firsters, remember how many American legislators at first opposed involvement in the war with Hitler,” Johnson wrote.
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Johnson went on to beseech former President Donald Trump, who has consistently called for peace talks to end the war, to “turn his party around” on the issue and to continue to arm Ukraine as he did in 2018, with the approval of the sale of Javelin anti-tank missiles to Kyiv.
The heated response came as Putin used the interview to accuse Johnson of preventing a peace deal in the early days of the war in 2022. While Johnson did not expressly deny urging the Ukrainians to walk away from the table, he said: “As every member of the Ukrainian government will confirm, from Zelensky down, nothing and no one could have stopped those lion-hearted Ukrainians from fighting for their country — and nothing will.
Quote:A Russian drone strike on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, killed at least seven people overnight, including three children, Kharkiv region governor Oleh Syniehubov reported Saturday.
He said the Iranian-made Shahed drone hit civilian infrastructure in the Nemyshlyan district on the city, causing a massive fire that burned down 15 private houses.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said more than 50 people had been evacuated and that emergency workers had contained the blaze by Saturday morning.
The Ukrainian air force said air defense systems destroyed 23 out of 31 Iranian Shahed drones launched by Russia overnight. The drones primarily targeted the northeastern Kharkiv region and the southern province of Odesa, the statement said.
Odesa regional governor Oleh Kiper said four people were injured there by the overnight drone attacks.
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Romania’s Ministry of National Defense said on Saturday that Russia carried out overnight drone attacks on Ukraine’s river ports of Ismail and Reni, near the border with Romania.
The ministry said that an F-16 jet of the Turkish Air Force was deployed from a Romanian airbase around 1:15 a.m. to carry out “reconnaissance missions” in national airspace to monitor the situation. Text alerts were also issued to residents in two counties adjacent to the attacks.
NATO member Romania has discovered drone debris on its territory several times before, following sustained attacks on Ukraine’s port infrastructure as Moscow attempted to disrupt Kyiv’s ability to export grain and other produce to world markets.
Quote:Farmers in Italy, Spain and Poland demonstrated Friday as part of ongoing protests against European Union farming policies and to demand measures to combat production cost hikes, reduced profits and unfair competition from non-EU countries.
...
The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, has made some concessions over the last few weeks, including shelving plans to halve the use of pesticides and other dangerous substances. Nonetheless, the protests have spread.
In Poland, where imports of cheap grain, milk and other produce from Ukraine have caused particular anger, farmers drove tractors across the country to slow down traffic and block major roads, some displaying signs that read “EU Policy is Ruining Polish Farmers.”
Access roads to border crossings with Ukraine in Hrebenne and Dorohusk, in the east, were temporarily blocked.
...
The organizers, the Solidarity Union of Individual Farmers, said EU policies triggered the protest.
They said storage warehouses were filled with Ukraine grain, causing prices to fall 40% in 2023. Demand for Polish sugar, milk and meat has fallen: as a result, farmers are holding off on investments.
...
In Italy, a small convoy of tractors moved across Rome’s historical center to the Colosseum on Friday morning, escorted by police patrols.
Farmers have been peacefully protesting outside of Rome and across the country for days to express their discontent.
Italy’s Premier Giorgia Meloni has repeatedly said that her right-wing government has already addressed some of the farmers´ key requests, but many of them feel neglected.
Meloni stressed that her government has already earmarked an extra 3 billion euros from the Italian chunk of EU´s post-pandemic recovery funds, raising total resources dedicated to the agricultural sector to 8 billion euros.
...
Farmers in Spain staged similar actions in their fourth straight day of protests.
Besides EU policies, Spanish farmers maintain that a law aimed at guaranteeing that wholesale major supermarket buyers pay fair prices for their goods isn’t being enforced while consumer prices soar.
Friday’s protests centered around the northern cities of Oviedo, Pamplona and Zaragoza, with tractors clogging several city streets and commuter roads. In many places, farmers kept their protests going overnight.
A group not affiliated with Spain’s three main farming organizations has called for farmers to move on Madrid at midnight for a Saturday protest near the headquarters of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist party.
Quote:Katalin Novák, 46, announced in a televised message on Saturday that she would step down from the presidency, an office she has held since 2022.
Her decision came after more than a week of public outrage after it was revealed that she issued a presidential pardon in April 2023 to a man convicted of hiding a string of child sexual abuses in a state-run children’s home.
“I issued a pardon that caused bewilderment and unrest for many people,” Novák said on Saturday. “I made a mistake.”
Quote:Two Spanish police officers have been killed when a speedboat suspected of belonging to drug smugglers smashed into their patrol craft, Spain’s Civil Guard said Saturday.
The incident occurred late on Friday, police said, when the Civil Guard craft was tasked with identifying speedboats spotted in the southern port of Barbate. Video footage showed how one speedboat slammed into the patrol craft in the port’s waters.
The Civil Guard said Saturday that it had arrested eight suspects.
Another two officers from the six-member crew were hurt, the Civil Guard said.
Quote:A war between Moscow and NATO, a subject of frequent speculation among NATO leaders in recent months, would bring “all humanity to the brink of destruction” and consequently the Russian Federation is not interested in invading Poland, President Putin has claimed.
Broadcaster Tucker Carlton reflected on months of discussion about the possibility of a coming war between Russia and the NATO alliance with one of his questions to the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin this week when he asked: “Do you think NATO is worried about this becoming a global war or a nuclear conflict… Can you imagine a scenario where you send Russian troops to Poland?”.
Putin was apparently dismissive of the idea, asking rhetorically: “Why would we do that? We simply don’t have any interest”. In all, Putin claimed, the only circumstance in which he would attack Poland was if Poland invaded Russia first.
How important these remarks are is difficult to judge for, as ever, taking the words of Vladimir Putin at face value is fraught with difficulty. Indeed, Carlson challenged Putin’s initial denial on these lines, remarking that to outsiders it would appear that Russia does clearly have territorial ambitions beyond its own borders, hence the war in Ukraine.
Nevertheless, Putin insisted Poland — a NATO member — is a whole other matter for Russia in contrast to Ukraine, as attacking it would start a world war. He told Carlson: “It is absolutely out of the question. You just don’t have to be any kind of analyst. It goes against common sense to get involved in some kind of a global war and a global war will bring all humanity to the brink of destruction. It’s obvious.”
Putin asserted NATO had been using him as a convenient “imaginary Russian threat” to “intimidate their own population”, asserting his alleged belief that “thinking people” in the West understood this was in fact fake, but a convenient political expediency to “extort additional money from U.S. taxpayers and European taxpayers”.
Thus, whenever Putin or his successor sets foot in Poland or any other EU country, don't even think it's anything but a "special operation" to get rid of a bunch of Nazis in that country. It's difficult to stomach it even as a sad joke, guys. Anyway, you've been warned now.
ASIA
China Becoming More And More Aggressive By the Day
Quote:“We have actively supported the better integration of Hong Kong and Macau into the overall development of the country,” Xi declared.
In Hong Kong’s case, that “integration” required shocking and horrifying human rights defenders around the world by imposing a tyrannical “national security law” that effectively criminalized all dissent against the Chinese Communist Party.
The Beijing-controlled puppet government of Hong Kong has ignored international calls to repeal the national security law, including from the United Nations.
As the international community realized Hong Kong was no longer a haven for free enterprise, a plush front lobby from which the outside world could do business with China, billions of dollars in Hong Kong’s wealth evaporated. In January 2024, the Hong Kong stock market slipped below its volume on the day China took control of the island in 1997.
Xi said that over the past year, his regime “strongly opposed separatist acts of Taiwan independence and interference by foreign forces, and resolutely defended the country’s sovereignty, security and development interests.”
As the South China Morning Post (SCMP) truculently noted, Xi has always loathed Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen as an alleged “separatist,” waged a relentless diplomatic campaign to isolate the island as punishment for electing her, and used everything from propaganda to threats to knock her party out of power in Taiwan’s January election — but Tsai’s vice president and chosen successor William Lai Ching-te won a landslide victory anyway.
Xi claimed China’s diplomacy “brought certainty and positive energy to a world of change and chaos” in 2023 — a rather difficult boast to back up, given the state of the world at the end of the lunar year, but he probably wanted his audience to think of something like the China-brokered rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran. China has been tirelessly promoting that agreement as evidence it has arrived as a major force on the geopolitical stage.
Quote:Outgoing Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen released a polite statement for the Lunar New Year, thanking the free world for its support, but the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China decided to commemorate the holiday with a music video of its warships surrounding and invading Taiwan.
“I believe that as long as we continue to support each other, we can overcome difficulties; as long as we continue to unite, we can protect the country,” Tsai told the world in her Lunar New Year message...
...
Tsai will leave office on May 20, completing her second four-year term — a period marked by increasing hostility from Beijing.
...
The PLA’s Lunar New Year message to Taiwan vividly restated the campaign propaganda theme that only “coming home” — submitting to “reunification” under Beijing’s tyrannical rule — can guarantee a happy ending for the Taiwanese people. The alternative is war and annihilation:
The video is titled “You Only Win by Coming Home,” and its lyrics include a lament that “it’s hard not to feel regret for a family which has not gotten back together.”
The imagery in the video makes it clear this is a threat, not a wistful salute to brotherly love. Mixed in with some scenes of Taiwan is copious footage of the PLA practicing a ground invasion, launching advanced jet fighters, and hammering Taiwan with missiles.
PLA stands for People's Liberation Army, a branch of the Chinese military forces.
Quote:Data from the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) shows that since Biden took the White House in early 2021, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has rapidly seized market share for U.S. imports of nitrile medical gloves. In 2019, during former President Donald Trump’s administration and before the coronavirus pandemic, USITC import data shows that the U.S. relied upon China for about 14.2 percent of such medical gloves. Domestic manufacturing accounted for zero percent, but other countries, like Malaysia, Thailand, and more—far more friendly nations to the United States than China—made up 85.7 percent of imports.
But this picture drastically changed when Biden took office, and not for the better. In 2021, Biden’s first year in the White House, China increased its share of imports of medical gloves to the United States to 26.8 percent, while the other countries dropped to 73.1 percent. Two years later, in 2023, China increased its share of imports of medical gloves to the United States to 44.15 percent—while the other countries dropped to just 53.6 percent. In 2023, thanks to a program started during the pandemic under Trump but stymied under Biden, the U.S. made around 2.22 percent of medical gloves used domestically.
At this pace, if nothing changes, the U.S. will be dependent on China for approximately 60 percent of medical gloves used domestically in 2024.
Blue Star, a company that was set to manufacture these gloves domestically but whose efforts the Biden administration’s failures have held up, complied charts showcasing this shocking government data. These charts are being shared with congressional investigators and with Breitbart News.
...
More charts from USITC data show that when it comes specifically to medical grade nitrile gloves, China is, as of late 2023, the single-biggest importer of such gloves into the United States, surpassing Malaysia for the first time. When it comes to non-medical nitrile gloves, Malaysia and Thailand are still the number one and two countries, but China has similarly increased its percentages during the Biden presidency.
What a good job Biden is doing by keeping US dependence on Chinese production at bay...
Quote:The genocidal terrorist organization Hamas and allies in the Arab League and other regional organizations condemned libertarian Argentine President Javier Milei this week for moving his country’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and issuing a full-throated defense of Israel’s war in Gaza.
The Arab Parliament, the legislature of the Arab League, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) joined Hamas in lamenting the move out of Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as an insult to “Palestinians,” without specifying a governing Palestinian entity. Multiple Muslim states in the region, most prominently Saudi Arabia, have responded to Israel’s self-defense operations in Gaza by demanding that Israel cede control of East Jerusalem to a hypothetical Palestinian state. Others, such as top Hamas funder Iran, have repeated longstanding calls for the complete destruction of the state of Israel.
...
Milei spent much of this week in Israel, his first official state visit since being inaugurated president in December, to honor the victims of the October 7 attacks, denounce Hamas, and pray before the Western Wall. Milei has publicly expressed interest in converting to Judaism and studying the Torah. Prior to his inauguration, he promised that his first foreign trip as president would be to Israel and that he would realign Argentine geopolitics – for decades tilted towards China, Russia, and other rogue states by leftist leaders – to make the countries closest allies America and Israel.
Quote:Israel has said for days that it intends to attack Hamas in Rafah, the last area of the Gaza Strip that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have not struck. The town is crucial to Israeli victory: it is used by Hamas to smuggle weapons, and people in and out.
However, it is also the place to which many Palestinian civilians displaced by fighting elsewhere in Gaza have fled. Egypt has publicly opposed an Israeli attack on Rafah because of the possibility that it would encourage Palestinians to cross the border.
On Thursday, White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that an Israeli attack on Rafah would be a “disaster” under present conditions, and that the U.S. would not support it. He claimed, bizarrely, that Israel was not preparing such an attack — despite numerous public statements by Israeli spokespeople and by Netanyahu himself that an attack on Rafah was both imminent and necessary to win the war, after Israel had destroyed almost all of Hamas’s terrorist Battalions in Gaza.
Also on Thursday, President Joe Biden shocked Israelis by saying that Israel’s conduct in Gaza against Hamas had been “over the top,” suggesting the U.S. wanted to stop the war.
On Friday, just before sundown and the onset of the Jewish Sabbath, Netanyahu delivered the following statement (translated from Hebrew by the Government Press Organization):
It is impossible to achieve the goal of the war of eliminating Hamas by leaving four Hamas battalions in Rafah.
On the contrary, it is clear that intense activity in Rafah requires that civilians evacuate the areas of combat.
Therefore, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the IDF and the security establishment to submit to the Cabinet a combined plan for evacuating the population and destroying the battalions.
Guys, you have to understand that any other army or air force or combined forces in the world would simply hit the targets and ask questions later. At least some old reports of US military activity in countries like Afghanistan mention the US forces throwing leaflets to warn civilians about upcoming attacks.
Yet, this is a very uncommon practice anywhere else. Just take a look at Nigeria's forces who a couple of months ago almost razed a town completely by launching a missile while trying to hit some gangs. Both Israel and the US have been ridiculously considerate in the past so there's no way to justify any criticism against such operations during any war.
Quote:In a joint statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israel Security Agency (or Shin Bet, or Shabak) said on Saturday:
Earlier today, following IDF and ISA intelligence, aircraft struck and eliminated Ahmed Eliakubi, a senior Hamas operative in the area of Rafah. Eliakubi was responsible for the security provisions for senior Hamas leaders and served as a senior commander in the Rafah district. During the strike, Iman Rantisi, a Hamas senior military operative was eliminated, and an additional operative was killed.
The Hamas leaders may have been lulled into a false sense of security due to the public opposition of the U.S. and other countries to an Israeli military operation in Rafah, given the large number of Palestinian civilians who have taken refuge there.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the military to prepare a plan to evacuate the civilians and then destroy what remains of Hamas.
Meanwhile, the IDF is said to be dropping leaflets in Gaza, featuring a photograph of the son of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh enjoying a soccer match in the Qatari capital of Doha recently:
The Times of Israel reported Saturday that Netanyahu is said to believe Israel has one month in which to destroy Hamas in Rafah before global pressure becomes too great to resist.
Quote:In a joint statement Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israel Security Agency (ISA, or Shin Bet, or Shabak) said:
Over the last two weeks, IDF and ISA forces have been conducting a division-level targeted raid on terror targets in northern and central Gaza.
The forces operated in the areas of Shati and Tel al-Hawa in northern Gaza. Approximately 120 Hamas terrorists were killed and 20 terrorist infrastructure sites were destroyed as part of the operation.
Following ISA intelligence, the forces arrived at a tunnel shaft near an UNRWA school. The shaft led to an underground terror tunnel that served as a significant asset of Hamas’ military intelligence and passed under the building that serves as UNRWA’s main headquarters in the Gaza Strip.
The tunnel was 700 meters long and 18 meters deep and contained several blast doors. A wide variety of intelligence assets were seized during the operation. The newly-found intelligence will allow the forces to operate against additional Hamas targets. The dismantling of the tunnel weakens Hamas’ intelligence capabilities.
The forces located electrical infrastructure inside the tunnel connected to UNRWA’s main headquarters, under which the underground tunnel was located, indicating that UNRWA’s facilities supplied the tunnel with electricity.
Following these findings and based on preliminary ISA intelligence, the forces conducted a targeted raid on UNRWA’s central headquarters, which contains offices for various humanitarian and international organizations. Large quantities of weapons were found inside the rooms of the building, including rifles, ammunition, grenades and explosives. Intelligence and documents discovered in the offices of UNRWA officials confirmed that the offices had in fact also been used by Hamas terrorists.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
News of the World
that the President of the Supreme Electoral Court in Brazil, Alexandre de Moraes, deeply hates Bolsonaro and freedom of speech. 
Apps and companies like Telegram have also been targeted by him and his colleagues in the past.![[Image: SP1-Scripter.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-Scripter.png)
![[Image: SP1-Writer.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-Writer.png)
![[Image: SP1-Poet.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-Poet.png)
![[Image: SP1-PixelArtist.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-PixelArtist.png)
![[Image: SP1-Reporter.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/GmxWbHyL/SP1-Reporter.png)
Huh? Why would a Somali-American congresswoman attack El Salvador President Bukele?
Err, wasn't it a lot easier for women not to walk through all those streets for the time being than passing any legislation or measure? 
Just asking.
![[Image: 220-west-42-street-physical-75730829.jpg...&strip=all]](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/220-west-42-street-physical-75730829.jpg?resize=1024,683&quality=75&strip=all)
![[Image: QrnbKlx.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/QrnbKlx.jpg)
![[Image: sGz1ErF.png]](https://i.imgur.com/sGz1ErF.png)
![[Image: liM4ikn.png]](https://i.imgur.com/liM4ikn.png)
![[Image: fdzKgZA.png]](https://i.imgur.com/fdzKgZA.png)
![[Image: sj0H81z.png]](https://i.imgur.com/sj0H81z.png)
![[Image: QL7oRau.png]](https://i.imgur.com/QL7oRau.png)
![[Image: uSqjY09.png]](https://i.imgur.com/uSqjY09.png)
![[Image: GAA3qE9.png]](https://i.imgur.com/GAA3qE9.png)
![[Image: 2Hmnx1G.png]](https://i.imgur.com/2Hmnx1G.png)
![[Image: BwtNdKw.png%5B]](https://i.imgur.com/BwtNdKw.png%5B)
That's exactly what's happening here! Petro was an actual member of a Colombian guerrilla 
organization! And Maduro's henchman Cabello has been called a drug dealer by the last 2 US administrations! 
blind all of a sudden!?
It's difficult to stomach it even as a 
sad joke, guys. Anyway, you've been warned now. 
