USA
ASIA
MIDDLE EAST
Super Tuesday
Quote:The Associated Press called the Colorado Republican primary for Trump at 7:09 p.m. MST. With 42% of results in, Trump had secured 61% of the vote to Haley’s 35.5%.
Trump’s Colorado victory comes one day after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that struck his name from the ballot.
The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision that only Congress can deny a candidate ballot access restored Trump’s name to ballots in states across the nation and killed other lawsuits still working their way through the courts. The lawsuits argued the Fourteenth Amendment’s Section 3 “Insurrection Clause” that disqualified certain officials deemed to have committed an insurrection from holding office applied to Trump, despite no court ever holding Trump was guilty of such actions.
The Colorado order had been stayed by the Colorado Supreme Court until the U.S. Supreme Court could act, so Trump would have appeared on the ballot regardless of yesterday’s ruling. The outcome is a symbolic victory for Trump, who expended significant time and resources in courts across the nation fighting Fourteenth Amendment cases.
This was the first time the Supreme Court ruled on the Insurrection Clause.
Colorado was one of the final Super Tuesday states to be called that had been considered relatively favorable for Haley, although her projected total Tuesday night was underwhelming.
Quote:CBS News declared Biden the winner of Old Dominion’s Democrat primary, where 99 delegates are at stake. Biden easily defeated Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), the congressman for Minnesota’s third congressional district.And right when Democrats would love to celebrate, fun stuff happens!
A Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) poll in January found that Biden held a three-point advantage over former President Donald Trump. Trump has promised to make a “heavy play” for states such as Virginia to expand the battleground for the 2024 presidential election.
Biden is also projected as the winner of Vermont’s Democrat presidential primary, beating out several challengers that made the ballot in the Green Mountain State. Decision Desk HQ called the race at 7:00 p.m. when polls closed. Biden had three notable challengers who made the ballot in Vermont, including Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), Marianne Williamson, and left-wing commentator Cenk Uygur – who was born in Turkey and does not meet the Constitution’s “natural born citizen” requirement to hold the office of the presidency.
Sixteen delegates are on the line for these candidates in Vermont, per CBS News, and they will be divided by the proportion of the statewide vote each candidate received, as is the standard for Democrat contests in all states, the AP noted in November:
They also win district delegates in proportion to their share of the vote in each congressional district. Candidates must receive at least 15% of the statewide vote to qualify for any statewide delegates and at least 15% of votes in a congressional district to qualify for delegates in that district.
Unless a challenger surpasses that 15 percent threshold, Biden will take all the delegates at stake.
Quote:President Joe Biden lost the American Samoa Democrat caucus on Super Tuesday, denying the president a complete primary sweep of all states and territories.
Decision Desk HQ called the race at around 9:30 p.m. Eastern.
The territory is worth 11 Democrat delegates.
Biden lost to Democrat Jason Palmer, an entrepreneur and investor who previously worked with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, according to his campaign.
Palmer reportedly qualified for 16 presidential ballots in states and territories, the campaign said.
Ye Old Open Border
Quote:President Joe Biden is operating a “secretive flights” program to fly hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens to the United States every year, according to records obtained by Todd Bensman at the Center for Immigration Studies.
The records, obtained by Bensman via a Freedom of Information (FOIA) lawsuit, show that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) imported 320,000 illegal aliens to the United States last year through the little-known flight component of Biden’s “CBP One” mobile app.
The migrant mobile app, Breitbart News has extensively reported, has allowed about 465,000 illegal aliens to schedule appointments at the United States-Mexico border for release into the United States interior from January 2023 through January 2024.
The app’s flight component has flown additional hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens into 43 American airports last year alone, Bensman reveals. DHS officials have refused to say which airports are being used to fly illegal aliens to the United States, admitting that revealing such information poses “operational vulnerabilities” because “bad actors” would attempt to exploit the program.
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Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Tom McClintock (R-CA) have asked DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to release publicly a full numerical accounting of every illegal alien released by the agency into the United States interior since February 2021.
Mayorkas, though, has refused to answer the request.
Biden Hates Israel?
Quote:Last month, the White House announced sanctions against four Israeli citizens, none of whom had been charged with any crime, for so-called “extremist settler violence.”
The language of President Joe Biden’s executive order is so broad that it allows the administration to adopt sweeping sanctions on any Israeli who lives across the 1949 armistice lines, or who supports the rights of Israelis to live and settle there, as the Trump administration recognized they could legally do.
As Caroline Glick has noted, claims of “extremist settler violence” are highly exaggerated. But the Biden administration is using the sanctions — and the threat of more sanctions — in an attempt to appease anti-Israel voters in Michigan and other swing states, amid growing dissatisfaction among the Democratic base with Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza.
Biden also reversed Trump’s policy that had once acknowledged that Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) is legal, and declared it “inconsistent” with international law instead. He is also reportedly preparing more sanctions on “extremist” settlers — a development that the Israeli government itself has called an “extreme” policy.
Later in February, it was revealed that the U.S. had opened an investigation into an Israeli company that makes parts for the Iron Dome missile defense system, necessary for protecting civilians — a decision that puzzled Israeli leaders.
And on Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned a Greek firm headed by Israeli executives that produces spyware. It was, according to the Times of Israel, the first time that the U.S. sanctioned any companies for alleged misuse of spyware.
The company’s products were allegedly used to spy on U.S. government officials. Ironically, Biden was part of a previous administration that spied on Israeli government leaders and their communications with members of Congress.
These sanctions conform to the demands of the anti-Israel “boycott, divestment, sanctions” (BDS) movement, which attempts to isolate and destroy Israel, and is often regarded as antisemitic since it only singles out the Jewish state.
Loosemouth Nuland Quits
From the same woman that admitted to Sen. Marc Rubio that the US government had several secret labs in Ukraine, comes this announcement.
Quote:Her retirement comes just two years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and after she lost out for the deputy secretary of state position to another diplomat, Kurt Campbell. She had served in the position on an acting basis for seven months.
Blinken said in a statement:
Victoria Nuland has let me know that she intends to step down in the coming weeks as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs — a role in which she has personified President Biden’s commitment to put diplomacy back at the center of our foreign policy and revitalize America’s global leadership at a crucial time for our nation and the world.
He specifically noted her work on Ukraine.
Her efforts have been indispensable to confronting Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, marshaling a global coalition to ensure his strategic failure, and helping Ukraine work toward the day when it will be able to stand strongly on its own feet — democratically, economically, and militarily.
Blinken said he and President Joe Biden has asked John Bass — who served as the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan during Biden’s botched and deadly withdrawal — to fill Nuland’s role until her replacement is confirmed.
According to the New York Times, some analysts interpreted Campbell’s promotion over Nuland a sign that Biden and Blinken considered the U.S. relationship with China as a higher priority than Ukraine.
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In February 2023, Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk posted on X about the Ukraine War: “Nobody is pushing this war more than Nuland.”
Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova on Tuesday attributed Nuland’s retirement to the “failure” of the Biden administration’s policy on Russia.
ASIA
Content Hidden
Quote:Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Friday denounced the “climate of violence” and “atmosphere of intimidation” against Indian diplomats in Canada, which he said was created by Canada’s indulgence of Sikh separatists, such as Hardeep Singh Nijar, whom Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently accused the Indian government of murdering.
“Because there is freedom of speech, to make threats and intimidate diplomats, I don’t think that’s acceptable,” Jaishankar said.
“We have had an ongoing problem with Canada and the Canadian government for some years now,” he said. “The ongoing problem really revolves around the permissiveness to terrorism, extremism, and violence.”
“This permissiveness is also reflected in the fact that some important extradition requests have not been responded to from their side,” he added.
One of those requests was for Nijjar, whom Indian police attempted to extradite from Canada in 2022, according to the Hindustan Times. India filed similar requests against other members of the Sikh separatist movement, which is named after Khalistan, the prospective Sikh state they wish to carve out of India’s Punjab province.
A senior Indian police officer told the Hindustan Times in September that India had filed 21 “red notices” with Interpol for “gangsters” living in Canada, but the Canadian government ignored them all. A red notice is a request from one Interpol member to another to take an accused criminal into custody and begin extradition proceedings.
“We have had smoke bombs thrown at the mission, we have had violence in front of consulates, there are posters put up,” Jaishankar said on Friday. “Do you consider this normal? If this had happened to any other country, how would they react? It is important to call out what is happening there.”
Jaishankar rejected Trudeau’s argument that Sikhs living in Canada are free to speak on any subject they wish, including the Khalistani independence movement.
China's GDP Report Not as Good as Expected
Quote:China set an official 2024 target for GDP growth of around five percent in the “government work report” presented to the National People’s Congress (NPC) by Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday morning. The 2024 target was substantially the same as 2023’s reported GDP growth of 5.2 percent.
China’s state-run Global Times touted Li’s report as proof that “China’s economy will still be one of the fastest-growing major economies and the biggest contributor to global growth.”
“This is a relatively high target, which shows that the central government has relatively high confidence,” economist Wan Zhe of Beijing Normal University said.
The Global Times noted the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted 4.2 percent growth for China in its World Economic Outlook report in January, which would be substantially lower than 2023’s claimed growth or Li Qiang’s 2024 prediction but still higher than the average global growth rate of 3.1 percent for advanced economies.
The Chinese Communist paper asserted:
While the Chinese economy faces challenges and risks amid a global economic downturn and an increasingly complex geo-economic landscape, Chinese policymakers still have plenty of policy tools at their disposal to tackle those challenges and ensure stable growth.
The projection of five percent GDP growth was enough to add 7.2 percent to China’s military budget, which the Global Times predictably portrayed as a “reasonable” and “restrained” force for world peace — especially when compared to the “aggressive defense spending hike by countries like the US and Japan.”
The editors further complained about countries like the Philippines and Australia causing problems for China under the American military umbrella. China is especially vexed at the Philippines at the moment for pushing back against Beijing’s excessive territorial claims in the South China Sea.
CCP Loves... Taylor Switf!?
Quote:The Chinese government newspaper Global Times published an effusive homage to pop star Taylor Swift on Monday, thanking her for scheduling a “convenient and accessible” concert in Singapore and quoting fans declaring her an “inspiration to many.”
Swift chose the lavishly wealthy city-state of Singapore as her only “Eras Tour” stop in the region, meaning Chinese fans would have to travel internationally to see her. She is scheduled to perform in the country through March 9.
The Global Times took her visit to Singapore as an opportunity both to acclaim the singer and advertise Beijing’s recent agreement with Singapore allowing mutual visa-free travel, allowing Chinese passport holders to travel to Singapore with minimal documentation.
Swift has for years been one of America’s most popular figures in communist China, the product of engaging in friendly visits and helping promote regime-friendly businesses such as Alibaba. Swift made an appearance in China for Alibaba in 2019, helping promote sales associated with the shopping holiday “Singles Day.”
Chinese state media refers to Swift with the Chinese nickname “Meimei.” In December, following the release of Swift’s Eras Tour concert film, the Global Times similarly gushed about Swift’s “unique appeal” and urged Chinese artists to emulate the use of concert films to promote their careers.
MIDDLE EAST
Israeli Government is Very Active as of Late
Quote:On Tuesday, reporters at the daily White House press briefing peppered the administration with questions about what it would do about Israel “keeping aid out of Gaza.”
Yet Israel has been saying for months that it is capable of providing “unlimited” amounts of aid to Gaza, and that the limiting factor is poor distribution by the United Nations.
Israeli government spokesman Avi Hyman told reporters on Tuesday: “Yesterday alone, 4,160 tons of foo were transferred to Gaza. 5,580 tons of humanitarian aid was transferred on Monday including food water medical supplies and shelter equipment.
“We say again: there is no limit to the amount of aid that can enter Gaza. This morning we sent 50 incubators designed for hospitals in the northern and southern Gaza Strip. … Yesterday, four tankers of cooking gas and three tankers of fuel went into Gaza.”
He added that there would be a local pause in fighting for four hours to facilitate aid delivery.
Much of the aid — some 50%-60%, according to Israeli military estimates — is stolen by Hamas or other armed gangs.
The Times of Israel noted Tuesday that the humanitarian crisis in northern Gaza has to do with the fact that when aid trucks enter through southern crossing points, “almost all have been cleaned out before they make it to the north.”
Quote:“Israel calls for the immediate convening of the UN Security Council with the aim of declaring Hamas a terrorist organization,” Avi Hyman, an Israeli government spokesperson, said. “Now, even the UN recognizes Hamas’s horrific sexual crimes.”
Though Hamas is clearly a terrorist organization, the UN has refused to recognize it as one. As the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) has noted:
The UN does not recognize Hamas as a terrorist group despite decades of suicide bombings, thousands of rockets launched indiscriminately at Israeli cities, and the barbaric actions of October 7. In addition, the UN body formerly known as the 1267 Committee, now known as the ISIL (Dae’sh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee, does not view Hamas (or any other Iranian proxy) as a terrorist group.
The UN’s refusal to recognize Hamas as a terrorist organization is the result of the influence of Islamic nations, as well as Russia and China, which adopt a generally anti-Western stance.
In that regard, the UN report Monday was unusual.
Hyman also said that now would be the “perfect time” for the UN to investigate the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which caters solely to Palestinian refugees, separate from other refugees in general.
Israel has long noted UNRWA’s role in radicalizing Palestinians, and has presented evidence to the UN that UNRWA employees participated in the October 7 attack. On Monday, the Israel Defense Forces released an audio recording of a UNRWA employee boasting that he had taken Israeli women hostage, using demeaning language to refer to them.
Iranian Agent Wanted by FBI
Quote:The FBI issued a public alert for fugitive Majid Dastjani Farahani, an Iranian agent “wanted for questioning in connection with the recruitment of individuals for various operations in the United States.”
Farahani is allegedly trying to recruit assassins to kill Trump administration officials, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in revenge for the 2020 airstrike in Iraq that killed Iranian terrorist mastermind Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
The FBI alert stated:
Farahani also reportedly recruited individuals for surveillance activities focused on religious sites, businesses, and other facilities in the United States. Farahani acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security.
According to the FBI, the 41-year-old Farahani speaks Farsi, French, Spanish, and English and has frequently traveled to Venezuela. His current mission is to recruit “individuals for operations in the U.S., to include lethal targeting of current and former officials.”
Intelligence-focused news site Semafor speculated Tuesday that the FBI issued the alert for Farahani through its Miami bureau due to his familiarity with Venezuela.
Semafor quoted unnamed U.S. officials who said they believe Pompeo and Brian Hook, the Trump administration’s special envoy to Iran, are on “Tehran’s hit list.”
“The U.S. government is currently providing both men with around-the-clock security due to the severity of the threat,” the report said.
Hook said, during testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday, that he requires a security detail because Iran could still be planning to assassinate him.
“I wish we were in a place that it was not necessary, but that is where we are,” he said.
Houthis Are Back... Or Never Planned to Leave...
Quote:The Iran-backed Houthi terrorists of Yemen announced on Monday they had bombed another commercial ship – the Liberian-flagged, Swiss-owned MSC Sky – in an alleged attempt to hurt the Israeli economy.
Houthi spokesman “Brigadier General” Yahya Saree claimed that the terrorists had struck the ship “in an accurate and direct manner,” according to the Iranian state propaganda outlet PressTV. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), however – the arm of the Pentagon that operates in the Middle East – claimed that the ship appeared to suffer minimal damage and did not ask for any help.
...While Hamas is a Sunni-led jihadist organization and both the Houthis and the Iranian government are Shiite terror entities, Iran offers Hamas and fellow jihadist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad as much as $100 million in funding a year, according to the U.S. State Department. Tehran is the world’s most prolific state sponsor of terrorism, also supporting a growing number of Shiite terrorist entities in Iraq and Syria, as well as the Houthis and expanding operations in Latin America.
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“The Yemeni Armed Forces affirm their continued commitment to preventing Israeli navigation or navigation headed to the ports of occupied Palestine until the aggression is stopped,” Saree, the Houthi spokesman, declared on Monday, according to the Hezbollah-owned outlet al-Manar. The Houthis falsely consider themselves the official military of the state of Yemen.
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Al-Manar and PressTV both falsely described the MSC Sky as an “Israeli ship.” PressTV cited Saree as the source for claiming the ship has ties to Israel. The Maritime Executive, an industry publication, reported that the apparent link between the ship and the state of Israel is that the company that owns it, MSC, has a top shareholder who was born “in what is now the state of Israel.”
“Some analysts suggest that Yemen’s Houthi rebels have identified this connection and are targeting MSC vessels because of the affiliation,” the outlet claimed, noting that multiple ships the Houthis have targeted are owned by MSC.
CENTCOM confirmed the attack on the MSC Sky but indicated that it did not cause any significant harm to the ship.
“Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles from Yemen into the Gulf of Aden at M/V MSC SKY II, a Liberian-flagged, Swiss-owned container vessel,” CENTCOM explained in a press release. “One of the missiles impacted the vessel causing damage. Initial reports indicate there were no injuries; the ship did not request assistance and continued on its way.”
CENTCOM also documented the Houthis shooting an “anti-ship ballistic missile” into the Red Sea on Monday, which did not hit anything and did not appear to have a clear target.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
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Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
HiddenChest & Roole
Give me a free copy of your completed game if you include at least 3 of my scripts!
Just some scripts I've already published on the board...
KyoGemBoost XP VX & ACE, RandomEnkounters XP, KSkillShop XP, Kolloseum States XP, KEvents XP, KScenario XP & Gosu, KyoPrizeShop XP Mangostan, Kuests XP, KyoDiscounts XP VX, ACE & MV, KChest XP VX & ACE 2016, KTelePort XP, KSkillMax XP & VX & ACE, Gem Roulette XP VX & VX Ace, KRespawnPoint XP, VX & VX Ace, GiveAway XP VX & ACE, Klearance XP VX & ACE, KUnits XP VX, ACE & Gosu 2017, KLevel XP, KRumors XP & ACE, KMonsterPals XP VX & ACE, KStatsRefill XP VX & ACE, KLotto XP VX & ACE, KItemDesc XP & VX, KPocket XP & VX, OpenChest XP VX & ACE