News of the World

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Have you ever  dreamed to see the day you'd hate watching people being quite thankful to other people for what they've done for them? Well, wait no more!

Kremlin sent out kids from Mariupol to ‘thank’ their invaders at anniversary event

Anna Naumenko, a black haired 15-year-old girl, was sent onstage with her sister, Karolina, at the Feb. 22 event to thank a Russian soldier named Yuri Gagarin for “saving” them from the shattered city on the Sea of Azov, according to The Guardian.

“Thank you Uncle Yura for saving me, my sister and hundreds of thousands of children in Mariupol,” Anna told the soldier, whom The Kyiv Independent reported as having allegedly “saved” 367 children from the town.

But it was also the Russians who left the children motherless – their mom, a blogger named Olga, was killed by shrapnel from an April 2022 explosion while she ran out for cigarettes, The Guardian reported. She was buried near a hospital.

The family had reportedly been hiding from the Russian shells in a Mariupol cultural center, then in an administrative building, the Independent said.

UK Defence Committee Chair Calls for Inquiry
After Chinese-Made Security Cameras Found at Army Bases

The chairman of the UK Defence Select Committee has called for an inquiry after an investigation found that surveillance cameras from Chinese technology companies Hikvision and Dahua are still in use at British army bases, months after they should have been replaced over security concerns.

In November 2022, the UK government banned the installation of new surveillance equipment from China on sensitive government sites, and more than a year after the Ministry of Defence reportedly issued guidance to not use or install Hikvision cameras.
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The report said Hikvision cameras were seen at sites including an army training and weapons testing site at Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, and the Westminster Barracks of the 1st Battalion London Guard, while Dahua cameras were found at Hyde Park Barracks, minutes away from Buckingham Palace.

The investigators visited a dozen other sites but couldn’t get close enough to identify the brands of the surveillance cameras.

Hikvision and Dahua, both ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), were blacklisted in 2019 by the U.S. Commerce Department for being implicated in enabling human rights violations and abuses against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups in China’s Xinjiang region.

Alec Baldwin sued by 3 ‘Rust’ crew members after pleading not guilty in shooting

The individuals claim they have suffered anxiety and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder after the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in October 2021. She was 42.
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The plaintiffs in the new suit — including dolly operator Ross Addiego, set costumer Doran Curtin and key grip Reese Price — were in the church set at New Mexico’s Bonanza Creek Ranch when Baldwin’s gun fired, killing Hutchins and striking director Joel Souza.

Addiego, Curtin and Price allege they were in close proximity to Baldwin, 64, when the gun was fired and sustained “blast injuries” from the ear-splitting sound of the shot.

NYC Chinese criminal gang steal identities of 3,000,
targeting ‘look-alikes’ of illegal immigrants

At least 3,000 Asian-Americans had their identities scalped from a Texas driver database before officials got wise to the scheme – but shockingly none of them have been notified of their identity being compromised over two months later.

The criminal group first obtained personal information of Asian-Americans through the dark web and used it to order duplicate driver’s licenses through the state’s website, the Texas Department of Public Safety [DPS] – which issues licenses – admitted.

When ordering a new copy of a license through an online portal, which was run by a third party, the criminals were able to use information such as previous addresses or mother’s maiden names which they had nefariously obtained to answer security questions. They were then able to order new licenses for as little as $11 which they sent to “third-party addresses.” The DPS admitted 2,400 licenses had been shipped in this way.

Asians of various ethnicities were victimized.
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The scheme came to light when a vendor who handles payments notified the DPS to an “increase in customers challenging credit card charges for online transactions,” reported the Texas Tribune.

I guess this is another topic you'll hate to have read, making it the second in a row.

‘Deranged’ new horror movie has viewers leaving theaters to vomit: ‘Hellish’

viewers are claiming that they have been left with nightmares and had to walk out of the theater to vomit. One theater-goer even claimed his Apple watch alerted him about his heart rate — twice.

“The Outwaters” was released on February 9 and has since received mixed reviews from both critics and distraught fans.

The indie found-footage film follows a group of friends in their 30s who adventure to the Mojave Desert to shoot a music video — until all hell breaks loose.
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The movie is written and directed by Robbie Banfitch, who also stars in the “Blair Witch”-style film.

“I’m still processing #TheOutwaters. I am not sure if it worked for me,” Leandro Calado tweeted. “The sounding made me so uncomfortably dizzy that I had to leave the theatre to vomit. This never happened to me before. It’s more disturbing than scary if that makes any sense.”

Crew that beat 79-year-old in NYC jewelry heist made off with $1.1M

Cops said the four thieves — including one dressed like an Amazon deliveryman — remain on the loose following the harrowing Feb. 22 robbery that left the victim at Diamond Collect in Flushing battered with a blood clot to her head.
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“She gets knocked on the floor, pistol-whipped, both kicked her, they drag her to the back trying to get her to open the safe with a gun. It’s pretty harrowing.

“She says they don’t say anything to her,” Essig said. “She, heroically, closes the safe and takes out the key. And that’s when he has the gun on her asking her to open up the case.”

Yuchi Lin, the mother of shop owner Eva Chen, was manning the counter at the store around 2:30 p.m. while her daughter was grabbing lunch, police said.

That’s when the faux Amazon deliveryman placed a package outside the locked door, hid around the corner — and pounced when Lin opened the door to grab the box.

Two of the crook stormed into the store wielding a gun and a hammer while the other two waited outside as lookouts, Essig said.

 Beware of the fake deliveries, guys!  Creepy thugs could be behind them.

Ghislaine Maxwell to say she was held ‘under inhumane conditions’ in appeal

...she was held in solitary confinement in the Brooklyn Detention Center “under inhumane conditions” during her trial.

The court papers are expected to argue that Maxwell was subjected to “sleep deprivation,” we hear, and could not get proper access to her legal counsel to prep for her blockbuster trial.

Maxwell’s team will also argue that she was subject to “malnourishment” and “living with vermin in her cell,” along with “overall deplorable conditions.”

Her lawyer, Arthur L. Aidala, said in a statement on Tuesday, “By the time of trial, she was so disoriented and diminished that she was unable meaningfully to assist in her own defense, much less to testify.”

...other mistakes were made in the case — including a controversy during Maxwell’s trial when one juror told the judge that he’d failed to disclose his own history of child abuse during jury selection.
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The judge in the case, United States Circuit Judge Alison J. Nathan, previously shot down Maxwell’s request for a new trial, and she was convicted on five of six counts, including sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking. She was sentenced to 20 years behind bars.

Biden picks Julie Su for labor secretary, despite massive California fraud

President Biden said Tuesday he will nominate deputy labor secretary Julie Su to replace Marty Walsh as labor secretary — despite Su overseeing billions of dollars in fraudulent handouts when she held the same post in California.

Su, 54, was the Golden State’s labor secretary from January 2019 to July 2021 and took heat for her agency’s sluggish distribution of COVID-19 unemployment benefits. According to a nonpartisan report from August, payments to roughly 5 million California workers were delayed during the pandemic — while around 1 million more had their benefits wrongly denied.

But that looked like a minor hiccup after Su admitted in early 2021 that California’s Employment Development Department may have paid out as much as $31.4 billion in unemployment funds to fraudsters. More recent estimates have put that amount as high as $40 billion.

White House deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton defended Su’s performance in California during a Tuesday gaggle on Air Force One.

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Blinken Ends Central Asia Visit Without Changing Minds on Russia, Ukraine

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up a two-day visit to Central Asia after meeting the leaders of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

He also met with his counterparts from the C5+1 group of nations, which comprises Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and the United States.
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During his visit, Blinken repeatedly stressed Washington’s commitment to the “sovereignty” and “territorial integrity” of the five Central Asian states.
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He also stressed Washington’s “full support for the aims of President Tokayev’s reform agenda” and the U.S. commitment “to working with government, civil society, and other Kazakh partners to advance the values shared by our two countries.”
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He commended Uzbekistan’s “regional leadership, especially through engaging in the C5+1 diplomatic format,” according to the State Department.
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The Central Asian region has historically been seen as Russia’s “backyard.” Like Ukraine, all five Central Asian states were Soviet republics before the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991.

Although the Central Asian states maintain close ties with post-Soviet Russia, none of them has publicly endorsed Moscow’s year-old “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Nor, however, have they condemned it.

What did he expect?
The region is controlled by Russia and China, meaning there was pretty much no room for negotiations.

US Imposes Fresh Sanctions to Restrict North Korea’s Revenues

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Chilsong Trading Corporation, which it says is used by North Korea to earn foreign currency and collect intelligence; and Korea Paekho Trading Corporation, which is accused of generating funds for the North Korean regime since the 1980s by conducting art and construction projects throughout the Middle East and Africa.

OFAC also sanctioned two individuals—Hwang Kil Su and Pak Hwa Song—for helping the North Korean regime generate revenue, the Treasury Department said in a statement.

The department said the individuals established a company named Congo Aconde SARL in the Democratic Republic of Congo to earn revenue from construction and statue-building projects with local governments.

Last week, state media said North Korea test-fired four strategic cruise missiles during a drill designed to demonstrate its ability to conduct a nuclear counterattack against what it calls hostile forces.

Chinese Donors to Trudeau Foundation
Asked for Statue of Mao to Be Erected at University of Montreal

Jeff Heinrich, a spokesperson for the University of Montreal, told The Epoch Times that the institution in 2016 received $550,000 from Zhang Bin and another donor, Niu Gensheng, which went toward establishing the Bin Zhang-Niu Gensheng Chinese-Canadian Scholarship Fund, although a final payment of $250,000 was never made.

The university declined the request to build the Mao statue.

Heinrich also noted that the university had no knowledge of the donation allegedly coming at the behest of a Chinese official, as reported recently in a Globe and Mail report citing a national security source.
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According to the Globe, Zhang was instructed by a Chinese diplomat to donate $1 million to the Trudeau Foundation, and that Beijing would reimburse him for the amount. The report adds that the conversation was captured by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) in 2014, soon after Trudeau became Liberal leader in 2013, and that the diplomat and Zhang had discussed the upcoming 2015 federal election, and the possibility that the Liberals could defeat the Conservatives to form government.
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Zhang was a guest at a Liberal Party cash-for-access fundraiser event in 2016 with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Shortly after the 2016 fundraiser, Zhang and Niu donated $1 million to “honour the memory and leadership” of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, the Globe says. The amount was split for different initiatives, including the building of Pierre Trudeau’s statue, a donation to set up a scholarship at the University of Montreal’s faculty of law, where the former prime minister had attended as a student and was later an instructor, and a donation to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.

In a September 2016 newsletter produced by the University of Montreal’s law school, Zhang and Niu were seen in a photo posing with Guy Breton, former rector of the University of Montreal, Alexandre Trudeau, then director and member of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, Peng Jingtao, then consul-general of China in Montreal, and Jean-François Gaudreault-DesBiens, who was the University of Montreal’s Dean of the Faculty of Law from 2015 to 2019.

Trudeau Foundation Returns $200,000 Donation
From Chinese Billionaire 7 Years Later

The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation is returning a controversial $200,000 donation it received seven years ago from a Chinese billionaire with ties to China’s communist regime.

Trudeau Foundation President Pascale Fournier announced in a statement on March 1 that the organization “learned in recent days through the media that there was a potential connection between the Chinese government and a 2016 pledge of $200,000 to be received by the Foundation.”
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“We cannot keep any donation that may have been sponsored by a foreign government and would not knowingly do so. In light of these recent allegations, the Foundation has refunded to the donor all amounts received with respect to the donation pledge,” he said.

Finnish Parliament Passes NATO Bill With Large Majority

Approval of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s treaties and Finland’s accession passed with 184 members of the 200-seat parliament voting in favor, seven against, and one abstaining.

In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago, Finland last May applied to join NATO.
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New NATO entrants must be approved by all existing members of the Western military alliance, and support for Finland’s application remains pending from Turkey and Hungary.

By adopting NATO’s founding documents, Finland may get a head start on neighboring Sweden, which has also applied to join but has had its application held back by Turkey.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said his country is ready to accept Finland into NATO but accuses Sweden of harboring people he considers members of terrorist groups.
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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party will back the ratification of Finland and Sweden’s bid to join NATO.

US Homeland at Risk in CCP Taiwan Invasion: Army Secretary

“If we got into a war with China, the United States homeland would be at risk as well, with both kinetic attacks and non-kinetic attacks,” Wormuth said during a Feb. 27 discussion with the American Enterprise Institute.

“They are going to go after the will of the United States public. They’re going to try to erode its support for a conflict.”

In the event of such a catastrophic conflict, Wormuth said, it was likely that the CCP would conduct large-scale cyber and kinetic attacks on vital U.S. infrastructure including the power grid and natural gas pipelines.
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U.S. military leadership believes that the CCP is preparing for a full-scale amphibious invasion of the island, with various military officials predicting that fighting could break out in either 2025 or 2027.

With that in mind, Wormuth said that such a conflict would likely become a protracted war, drawing in numerous powers across the globe.
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To that end, Wormuth said the U.S. Army had two key priorities: “Helping Taiwan become a porcupine” by arming it with asymmetric strike capabilities, and “complicating China’s decision-making” by ensuring that the United States would have multiple regional partners engaged in the fight.

After witnessing Blinken's "success" in Central Asia, I don't know if the US can truly rely on all of its regional partners. Just keep in mind the Philippino President paying a visit to the infamous Xi!

Senate Votes Unanimously to Declassify COVID-19 Wuhan Lab Leak Intelligence

The bill, known as the COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023, specifically aims to investigate the possibility that the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China.

Republican Sens. Mike Braun and Josh Hawley reintroduced the bill on Monday after the Department of Energy (DOE) provided a classified intelligence report to the White House and certain members of Congress, which concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic most likely arose from a lab leak. The FBI had previously come to a similar conclusion.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) made a request for unanimous consent of the bill, which was granted “without objection.” Unanimous consent enables a bill to pass without a recorded vote.
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The bill would require Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines to declassify the information in the U.S. government’s possession on the most likely origins of COVID-19.
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Braun also declared the unanimous passage of the motion, likewise calling on the House to pass the bill.

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FBI Agents Wanted to Close Trump Documents Probe
but DOJ and FBI Leaders Pushed for a Raid

FBI officials and the DOJ clashed fiercely over how to handle recovering suspected classified documents from Trump, with FBI agents arguing for a cooperative approach and the DOJ pushing for the unprecedented raid on a former president’s home.
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Two senior FBI officials argued a raid would be “too combative” and proposed to seek Trump’s permission first, but DOJ prosecutors argued that Trump was “knowingly concealing secret documents” at Mar-a-Lago and pushed the FBI to conduct a surprise raid.

Even before the raid on August 8, 2022, FBI agents in the Washington field office as early as May wanted to slow the probe into the suspected classified documents and some wanted to shut down the investigation altogether in early June, after corresponding with Trump’s legal team.
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Federal prosecutors in the DOJ’s national security division — the same one that oversaw the investigation into the Russia collusion hoax — argued for an aggressive approach.

According to the Post, “The FBI agents’ caution also was rooted in the fact that mistakes in prior probes of Hillary Clinton and Trump had proved damaging to the FBI, and the cases subjected the bureau to sustained public attacks from partisans.” Meanwhile, prosecutors argued that not treating Trump like other government employees who had retained classified information “could threaten the nation’s security.”

The Post reported that the case was “closely monitored at every step by senior Justice Department officials.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland personally approved the raid.

British Royal Navy Seizes Iran Weapons Shipment off Oman

A British warship intercepted a boat smuggling Iranian weapons, including anti-tank missiles, off the coast of Oman in a joint operation with US forces last week.
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The boat, travelling south from Iran, was intercepted by forces from British frigate HMS Lancaster before it could navigate back to Iranian territorial waters on February 23.

The weapons discovered on board included medium-range ballistic missile components as well Iranian versions of Russia’s Kornet anti-tank missile, a statement said.

The seizure took place along a route historically used to smuggle weapons to Yemen, according to the Bahrain-based United States Fifth Fleet.

“This is the seventh illegal weapon or drug interdiction in the last three months and yet another example of Iran’s increasing malign maritime activity across the region,” said US Vice-Admiral Brad Cooper.

In January, the U.S. Navy said it had seized more than 2,000 assault rifles smuggled on a fishing boat along a maritime route from Iran to Yemen.

Colombia Ex-Guerrilla President Starts Feud with El Salvador
Calling Gang Mega-Prison a ‘Concentration Camp’

Bukele announced on Friday that the first 2,000 inmates had been transferred to the country’s new 40,000-bed Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT) “mega prison” as part of El Salvador’s crackdown on the country’s rampant gang violence.
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Petro criticized the new Salvadoran prison facility in a Wednesday speech during the inauguration of a new University in Bogotá.
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“The terrible photos – I can’t go into other countries – of the concentration camp in El Salvador, full of thousands and thousands of young people imprisoned, it makes one shudder,” Petro said. “I think there are people who undoubtedly like that, to see the youth in jails and believe that this is security, popularity soars. Undoubtedly, we also experienced this in Colombia.”

During his speech, the far-left president added that he achieved a reduction of crime rates in Colombia without the need to build prisons.
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“The president of El Salvador feels proud because he reduced the homicide rate by subduing the gangs that today are in those, in my opinion, Dante-esque prisons,” Petro said. “Well, we achieved the same thing — of course, the press is not going to recognize it as much — we also managed to reduce that homicide rate, crime and violence, but not through prisons, but through universities, schools, spaces for dialogue, spaces for poor people to stop being poor.”

In reality, six of Colombia’s cities are featured on the list of most violent cities in the world as of February 2023. Homicide rates in the Colombian capital city of Bogotá, where Petro served as mayor, have increased by 21 percent during the first month of 2023, while the homicide rate in Cali increased by three percent by mid-February 2023 when compared to the previous year.

According to statistics presented by the civil society organization Excellence in Justice Corporation (CEJ), about 1.8 million crime reports at a rate of 3,486 criminal reports per 100,000 inhabitants were registered during 2022 — up from 1.4 million in 2021 during the presidency of Petro’s predecessor, the conservative Iván Duque.

 So he never made crime rates drop nor properly explained what those spaces for poor people actually are and how they work in stopping crime waves. Dialogue. That sounds like a normal idea until you finally notice that it only goes one way, from the petty criminals to their poor victims. Besides, he doesn't admit how several prisons in South American countries, including Colombia and Venezuela, have released dangerous inmates just because "their prisons were overcrowded" and nothing else.

And guess what's their next destination?

1000 Migrants Begin Caravan from Southern Mexico to U.S. Border

Most of the migrants have either no documentation or no documents that allow them to travel through Mexico, reports indicate.

The group is made up of about 1,000 migrants from Venezuela, Honduras, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, and Guatemala, according to a report from Vallarta Daily. The caravan departed from Tapachula and headed north to Arriaga, Chiapas.

Videos tweeted from Chiapas show the large group of migrants making their way through the city as the caravan kicked off on February 28.
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Vallarta Daily reported that some of the migrants have paperwork from Mexico’s National Institute of Migration (INM). Those documents, however, only allow the migrants to legally reside in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas and are not for free travel inside Mexico. Others are proceeding with no documents at all, the article states.

New policies put in place by the Biden Administration in January allowed for 30,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans to travel to the U.S. However, if these migrants arrive on U.S. soil without following the new policy, they are subject to immediate removal to Mexico, the Mexican news outlet reported.

The caravan comes as the Biden administration reports its second straight month of decreases in migrant apprehensions at the border, Breitbart Texas reported.
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“It’s just seasonal,” the Texas governor [Greg Abbott] said. “The people crossing the border illegally always decreases in January, and so we fully expect it to pick up.”...“the Biden Administration itself said that when Title 42 is eliminated, to expect about 18,000 people a day to cross the border illegally.

China Expands Military Budget, Reportedly Buys Russian Uranium

China’s defense budget for 2023 will be unveiled on Sunday at the National People’s Congress (NPC) half of the annual “Two Sessions” legislative event.

Chinese state media touted the new budget as a substantial increase in military spending – and China is reportedly spending some of its money to buy a disturbing amount of Russian uranium, with an eye to producing weapons-grade nuclear material.

China’s state-run Global Times predictably praised the authoritarian regime’s military buildup as “steadily and reasonably” investing in “modernization,” with an eye toward the “security tensions China is being confronted with” – in other words, the looming possibility that the people Beijing is trying to drive off their land might start fighting back.
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The Global Times insisted modernization requires large expenditures over long periods of time and insisted there was nothing provocative about the budget increases because China spent modestly before 2000 – but then admitted the pace of increased spending is still accelerating, even after years of “modernization,” and the only reason Chinese “experts” could think of was the looming menace of Taiwan.
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The Global Times then insisted no one should criticize China’s military spending spree because “U.S. military expenditure remains three to four times that of China,” and U.S. allies like Japan, Britain, France, Germany, and Australia are spending more, as well. Of course, the Global Times did not dwell on the fact that some of those other countries are spending more on defense to counter Chinese aggression.
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China began beefing up its nuclear capabilities in 2021. According to Bloomberg News on Wednesday, Russian engineers delivered a “massive load of nuclear fuel” in December to a breeder reactor on Changbiao Island – a facility that could soon begin cranking out enough weapons-grade plutonium to increase China’s stockpile of nuclear warheads by 400 percent in 12 years.

Russia Warns NATO, U.S. to Back Off or Risk ‘Catastrophic Consequences’

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva “the most acute strategic threat is posed now by the U.S. and NATO policy aimed at further fomenting the conflict in and around Ukraine.”

“Their growing involvement in an armed confrontation is fraught with a direct military clash of nuclear powers with catastrophic consequences.”

AFP reports Russia’s diplomatic representative spoke before a largely empty chamber, with many Western diplomats gathering instead for a nearby photo opportunity in front of a mural painted in the blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag during his scheduled speaking time.
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Russia’s warning of consequences comes just days after NATO agreed to Ukraine’s request for membership sooner rather than later, as Breitbart News reported.

“NATO allies have agreed that Ukraine will become a member of our alliance, but at the same time that is a long-term perspective,” Stoltenberg told reporters during a visit to Finland’s capital Helsinki.

Stoltenberg’s statement reaffirmed the belief already held in Kiev that membership is only a step away.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered a video address Thursday morning stressing the need to extend a high-level war crimes investigation over Moscow’s actions against its neighbor, a so-called Commission of Inquiry, into Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

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China cryptically warns Elon Musk about sharing posts on COVID lab leak theory

China is warning Twitter CEO Elon Musk against sharing posts that promote the lab leak theory of the coronavirus, suggesting that such commentary could hurt Tesla’s relationship with the company’s second-largest market.

The cryptic warning came on a social media post by the state-run Global Times newspaper.
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The original tweet, from the account “Kanekoa The Great,” questioned whether Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was involved in the development of COVID-19 because he had funded “gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab.“

“He did it via a pass-through organization (EcoHealth),” Musk responded, referring to the nonprofit group that was awarded nearly $8 million in federal research grants to study bat coronaviruses in China.
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The Global Times warned Musk that he could be “breaking the pot of China.” The saying is similar to the expression “to bite the hand that feeds you,” according to CNBC’s Eunice Yoon.
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As noted by the outlet, the electric vehicle maker maintains a factory campus in Shanghai – China is the company’s second-largest market.

Of course, the lab leak explanation has hurt the feelings of the  Chinese authorities a lot.

China Revives Conspiracy Theory
Coronavirus Came from Maryland as Wuhan Lab Suspicion Grows

Chinese officials sputtered insults at every Western authority promoting the lab leak theory and insisted China has done nothing to impede the global hunt for the true origin of the coronavirus.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday blasted Nicholas Burns, the American ambassador to China, for saying Beijing should be “more honest about what happened three years ago in Wuhan with the origin of the [Chinese coronavirus] crisis.”
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Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning responded by laughably insisting China has been “open and transparent, and shared information and data on [coronavirus] with the international community in a timely manner.”
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In truth, China has consistently destroyed evidence and denied access to vital information, a fact the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) was reluctantly forced to admit after Beijing turned the long-delayed visit by W.H.O. investigators to Wuhan in early 2021 into a stage-managed farce.

W.H.O. formally abandoned the search for the virus’s origins two weeks ago, expressly because China has effectively obstructed the investigation.
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Mao then trotted out China’s lunatic conspiracy theory that the virus was secretly created by the U.S. military in Maryland and dropped on Wuhan like a biological bomb.

“It is the U.S. who should respond to the world’s questions and concerns over Fort Detrick and its military and biological labs across the world. By politicizing the issue, the U.S. will not succeed in discrediting China. Instead, it will only hurt the U.S.’s own credibility,” she railed.

China’s state-run Global Times on Tuesday rolled out another conspiracy theory, in which the Biden administration tasked all of its agencies to drop “dirt bombs” on China to tee up the Republican majority in the House of Representatives for a big attack on Beijing.

Well, it wouldn't be hard to convince them of China being a real threat to US national security after what has happened in the last couple of years, especially after the spy balloon incident.

Right, they've also come with other weird theories in the past like calling out Italy or even Spain for irresponsibly releasing the   virus to the public.

Hunter Biden advised Joe’s office on answering Burisma queries

Then-second son Hunter Biden coached then-Vice President Joe Biden’s press secretary on how to respond to media questions about him joining the board of Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings, emails reviewed by The Post show.

The May 13, 2014, exchanges between Hunter and Kendra Barkoff, which have not been previously reported, form the basis of a complaint sent to the Justice Department on Friday alleging that the Biden scion, now 53, violated federal law by failing to register as a foreign agent.

...“Hunter Biden ‘represent[ed] the interests of [a] foreign principal before any agency or official of the Government of the United States,'” America First Legal Foundation general counsel Gene Hamilton wrote to the assistant attorney general for national security, Matthew Olsen, quoting the relevant statute.

Burisma announced Hunter Biden’s appointment to its board of directors on May 12, 2014. The following day, according to the complaint, Barkoff sent Hunter an email saying: “Thanks for talking to me. [L]et me know who I should refer folks to.”

“What exactly are they asking?” Hunter responded. “For the time being I’d just refer them to my office. FYI I joined the board of Burisma Holdings Ltd. (Burisma.com) an independent/private natural gas producer in Ukraine along with the former president of Poland. I think the press release is on their website.”

Barkoff then forwarded Hunter an email from Max Seddon, then a foreign correspondent at BuzzFeed News.

“Russian state media is loving this press release, supposedly from a Cypriot-held Ukrainian natural gas company, claiming that the Vice President’s son has joined its board of directors,” Seddon wrote, addressing then-National Security Council spokesperson Laura Lucas Magnuson, who had forwarded it to Barkoff.

“The news seems rather odd on its face and, if true, would present a fairly glaring conflict of interest given the VP’s role on Ukraine policy – particularly since the company is controlled by Nikolai Zlochevsky, who was energy minister and deputy NSC chief under [former pro-Moscow Ukrainian President Viktor] Yanukovych,” the reporter added.

Emphasis is mine.

Russian billionaires who shopped for US property with Hunter Biden
and dined with Joe dodge sanctions

Two Russian billionaires who have managed to dodge US sanctions over Moscow’s year-old invasion of Ukraine went property shopping with Hunter Biden, dined with then-Vice President Joe Biden, and discussed “favors” they might swap, sources tell The Post.

New details of Joe and Hunter Biden’s association with Yelena Baturina and Vladimir Yevtushenkov flesh out tantalizing clues from the first son’s abandoned laptop. The sources spoke with The Post this week after the duo was yet again spared a fresh batch of sanctions announced by the Treasury Department Friday.

“I think it’s very fishy,” said one source who had firsthand knowledge of the business relationship between Hunter Biden and Yevtushenkov — who is sanctioned by the UK and Australia but not by the US.
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Yevtushenkov, whose Sistema business empire until recently included Russian rocket and radar-maker RTI and drone-maker Kronstadt, admitted last year he met with Hunter Biden for breakfast at the Ritz-Carlton in Manhattan on March 14, 2012 — but denied any further contact.

However, emails and calendar entries from Hunter’s former laptop show that they were set to meet again on Jan. 27, 2013, for dinner at DC’s Cafe Milano before looking at a commercial real estate development the next day near Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia.
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“He made it very clear to me that, you know … ‘I think it would be good to have a good relationship with this guy … maybe he can do a favor for us and we can do a favor for him,’” the source continued. “It was a complete quid pro quo that he was going in for.”
...
A different source, meanwhile, told The Post he vividly recalled Baturina and her husband, ex-Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, looking “like an odd couple” at a now-infamous, intimate dinner with Hunter and his father, the then-vice president.

It’s long been uncertain whether Baturina, estimated by Forbes to be worth $1.4 billion, and Luzhkov actually attended the April 16, 2015 dinner at Cafe Milano — the same Georgetown restaurant where Hunter and Yevtushenkov set a date more than two years prior.

Alex Murdaugh juror reveals reason behind quick verdict

A juror on the Alex Murdaugh case has come forward, revealing it took less than an hour to reach a verdict.
...
“[Murdaugh is] a good liar, but not good enough,” juror Craig Moyer told Eva Pilgrim on “Good Morning America” early Friday, less than 24 hours after the disgraced South Carolina attorney was convicted of killing his wife and son.

After a six-week trial involving mountains of evidence from over 70 witnesses, Moyer and the 11 other jurors deliberated for three hours before finding Murdaugh, 54, guilty of the murders and related weapons charges.

Ultimately, Moyer said, it took just 45 minutes for the group to reach the unanimous decision that Murdaugh shot his wife, Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, in cold blood near the kennels on the family’s sprawling estate on June 7, 2021.
...
Moyer was unmoved by Murdaugh’s emotional testimony, during which he broke down several times when discussing the murders.
...
“All he did was blow snot, [there were] no tears. I saw his eyes.

“I didn’t see any true remorse or compassion or anything.”

Mom put to death — at her own request — after murdering her 5 kids

A Belgian woman who murdered her five kids was put to death — at her own request — 16 years to the day after she slit the throats of her son and four daughters with a kitchen knife, her lawyer said.

Genevieve Lhermitte, 56, murdered her children — ages 3 to 14 — on Feb. 28, 2007, in the town of Nivelles while their dad was away, the BBC reported.
...
Lhermitte was sentenced to life in prison in December 2008 and transferred to a psychiatric hospital in 2019.

Her lawyer, Nicolas Cohen, said she died by euthanasia Tuesday — the 16th anniversary of the killings, according to Sky News. It’s not clear how she died, but lethal injection is typically the method.

Lhermitte died at Leonard de Vinci hospital in Montigny-le-Tilleul, the news outlet reported.
...
During the trial, Lhermitte’s lawyers argued the woman was mentally disturbed and should not be sent to prison. But the jury found her guilty of premeditated murder and sentenced her to life behind bars.

In 2010, Lhermitte filed a civil lawsuit demanding up to 3 million euros — about $3.2 million — from a former psychiatrist, claiming his “inaction” failed to prevent the murders.

Semafor news site partners with think tank ‘linked to Chinese Communist Party’

Semafor, the news site recently co-founded by former BuzzFeed and New York Times star Ben Smith, touted a new partnership with a China think tank suspected of having ties to Beijing’s ruling Communist Party.

The site trumpeted an “ambitious new initiative” with the China Center for Globalization (CCG) which will “create a new platform…for global business leaders seeking a way forward” despite economic tensions between the US and China.
...
The collaboration will include two events titled “China and Global Business.” The first will be held in New York City in June followed by another in Beijing in October, according to Semafor.

A spokesperson for Semafor told The Post on Thursday that the news site will retain “full editorial independence and financial control.”
...
On its website, CCG denies that it is “an organ of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government.”
...
CCG bills itself as a “nongovernmental think tank” which “relies on corporate donations and research grants for funding” — particularly from “Chinese private sector companies and multinational corporations.”
...
One way in which “United Front Work Department” (UFWD) promotes the agenda of the Chinese government is through engaging with foreign think tanks.

The paper alleges that the CCG is headed by Wang Huiyao, who also happens to be an adviser to UFWD.

[kyonides]

Tom Sizemore Dead: Acclaimed Actor Dies At 61 After Brain Aneurysm

After being hospitalized in intensive care after suffering a brain aneurysm, Tom Sizemore, known for his roles in Saving Private Ryan, Pearl Harbor, and Black Hawk Down, has died at age 61. He passed on Friday, March 3, in a Los Angeles hospital. His rep Charles Lago released a statement, per TMZ. “It is with great sadness and sorrow I have to announce that actor Thomas Edward Sizemore (“Tom Sizemore”) aged 61 passed away peacefully in his sleep today at St Joseph’s Hospital Burbank. His Brother Paul and twin boys Jayden and Jagger (17) were at his side.”

It was reported in the evening hours of Monday, February 27, that the family was “deciding end of life matters” after the February 18 medical event. Charles previously told Variety in a statement that, “doctors informed his family that there is no further hope and have recommended end of life decision. The family is now deciding end of life matters and a further statement will be issued on Wednesday.”

So if you have been expecting to see some activity on his Twitter account, well, let's just say you'll be waiting for ever and ever.

And for those that ever played The Last of Us videogame, I guess you already knew that one of its voice actresses passed away back in January.

Annie Wersching, an actress best known for her work in 24, Bosch, Runaways and voicing the character Tess in the video game The Last of Us, died Jan. 29 at the age of 45 following a battle with cancer. Born and raised in St. Louis on Mar. 28, 1977, Wersching started her acting career in 2002 with a guest appearance on Star Trek: Enterprise, and continued racking up credits on Frasier, Angel, Charmed, Boston Legal, and Supernatural. In 2009, she was cast as FBI special agent Renee Walker on the seventh season of 24 and in 2013, Wersching voiced the character Tess in the video game The Last of Us, who is played by Anna Torv in HBO's adaptation. Wersching's other notable credits include Julia Brasher on Bosch, Emma Whitmore on Timeless, Leslie Dean on Runaways, and the Borg Queen on Stark Trek: Picard.

For a long, detailed list of famous people and not so renowned artists that have passed away this very same year, you can click here.

By the way, on February the 25th, the Japanese voice actor Mitsuo Senda left this world as well. He died of heart failure at age 82.

He worked in anime like Yu Yu Hakusho as the ice demon Seiryu, who gets quickly defeated by Hiei.
Later on he appeared on Naruto as Shinayakana, the guy that kept spending his money like crazy because he thought it could solve all of his problems.
Then in Naruto Shippuuden he reappeared as Gamamaru the old toad.

[kyonides]

Republicans Spur Investigation into China-Owned Corporation
Given Billions in U.S. Tax Dollars to Build Rail Cars

The China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) is now being investigated by the Department of Transportation (DOT) Inspector General (IG) after the China-owned company has raked in billions in American taxpayer money, producing rail cars for a number of cities in the United States.

The CRRC, owned by the government of China, was initially awarded a $138 million contract with the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to build at least 45 new rail cars.

Already, the contract has been marked with delays and production issues like “‘repeated failures of water-tightness tests,’ faulty interior panels, wiring issues, repeated brake test failures, and ‘unsafe emergency exit windows,'” according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
...
DOT IG has announced a probe into whether the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is properly overseeing CRRC and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority’s (SEPTA) adherence to Buy American rules.
...
Chinese media outlets have previously suggested that CRRC has scored billions in American taxpayer money through contracts with cities like Philadelphia; Boston, Massachusetts; and Chicago, Illinois, to produce passenger rail cars.

Effectively, American tax dollars have helped line the pockets of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members who control the country’s government and subsidize CRRC production costs.
...
In 2019, researchers at Oxford Economics found that for every $1 billion given to a China-owned corporation to build rail cars, some 3,250 to 5,100 American jobs are lost. In other terms, every American job created as a result of a city or state contract with a Chinese firm ultimately costs 3.5 to 5.4 additional American jobs.

Narco-Surveillance Center Found near Cancun, Says Mexican President

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced the discovery of a cartel-run surveillance center near Cancun which operated cameras at the international airport.
...
This week, Lopez Obrador made a brief announcement during one of his morning news conferences that federal authorities discovered a fully operational surveillance and communication center near Cancun.

“They even had cameras in the airport to see the planes landing and everything — a C5.” [surveillance center]

The announcement comes at a time when Cancun, Cozumel, Tulum, and the Riviera Maya have all seen a spike in cartel violence. The violence is primarily between Cartel Jalisco New Generation and allies of the Sinaloa Cartel inside tourist areas.

Cancun Mayor Ana Patricia Peralta told a local news outlet that she did not have details about the surveillance center.

Treasury to Testify Friday for Withholding Biden Family ‘Suspicious’ Wire Transfers

The Treasury Department will testify before the House Oversight Committee on Friday about its withholding of 150 suspicious activity reports (SARs) generated by the Biden family and their associates by unusual foreign or high-dollar transactions.

The Treasury’s Jonathan C. Davidson, assistant secretary for legislative affairs, will testify before the committee about why the agency has refused to provide the SARs, which often contain evidence of potential criminal activities, such as money laundering and fraud.

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) is investigating James and Hunter Biden, along with Eric Schwerin, for nine violations, including, wire fraud and money laundering. During its investigations, the Treasury has tried to stonewall Comer’s request for the SARs because the reports are a key trove of information that will provide details about the family’s foreign business transactions, along with knowledge of whether President Joe Biden remains compromised by foreign governments through his family’s business.
...
In January, Davidson denied the committee’s request for 150 SARs flagged by U.S. banks, citing “improper disclosure” of relevant information that could reduce the Biden administration’s ability to “conduct of law enforcement, intelligence, and national security activities.”

While the Treasury stonewalls Comer, the Biden family’s top financial lieutenant Schwerin is expected to “soon” provide requested documents to the committee. Schwerin, who shared bank accounts with President Joe Biden and dubbed the family’s “moneyman,” was also the president of Rosemont Seneca Partners, a fund created by Hunter Biden and several associates that spawned business deals in Russia, Ukraine, China, and Romania.

Biden’s Ex-Disinformation Czar Nina Jankowicz Soliciting $100,000
to Sue Fox News and for ‘Other’ Costs

Jankowicz posted a five-minute video to her Twitter account along with a GoFundMe page asking for money to sue Fox News. According to the GoFundMe page, she is seeking to raise $100,000. So far, she has raised over $10,000.
...
In April 2022, the Biden administration created the “Disinformation Governance Board,” which would be situated within the DHS to combat “disinformation” and focused on disinformation regarding the U.S. southern border but also Russian disinformation. The administration appointed Jankowicz, a former adviser to Ukraine, as its executive director.

The creation of the board and Jankowicz’s appointment garnered fierce opposition from conservatives over the prospect of the government regulating Americans’ speech, leading to the pausing of the board and Jankowicz resigning. DHS dismantled the board in August 2022.

Jankowicz said in her video she now wants to sue Fox News for “malicious, reckless lies” about her.
...
Jankowicz at one point pushed the narrative that the New York Post‘s reporting on abandoned Hunter Biden laptops that contained a trove of information about his business dealings was Russian disinformation.
...
She said the money raised would help her sue Fox News and support “other security and legal costs related to Fox News’ actions.” She said that includes hiring a lawyer after being subpoenaed by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH)’s Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.

She said recently hired a lawyer to help her obtain a protective order against a harasser, and that she had to hire a separate lawyer due to being sued in what she called “frivolous, nonsensical lawsuit.”

I can't ignore the feeling that makes me think those contributors have been  scamned.

Why don't we go back to April 28, 2022 for a moment...

Biden ‘disinformation’ chief a Trump dossier author fan
and Hunter Biden laptop doubter

[Jankowicz] has a history of sharing misleading claims about British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s discredited dossier and downplaying controversy embroiling President Joe Biden's son.

Nina Jankowicz, who was a disinformation fellow at the Wilson Center and adviser to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry as part of the Fulbright Public Policy Fellowship.
...
[S]he would “coordinate countering misinformation related to homeland security” and focus on Russia.
...
On Aug. 7, 2020, Jankowicz tweeted about an appearance Steele made on the Infotagion podcast. “Listened to this last night — Chris Steele (yes THAT Chris Steele) provides some great historical context about the evolution of disinfo. Worth a listen," she said.
...
Steele’s alleged main source, Igor Danchenko, was charged “with five counts of making false statements to the FBI,” which John Durham claims he made about the information he provided to Steele for his discredited dossier.
...
Jankowicz replied that “your party funded the dossier first” and tweeted April 22, 2020, that “you’re probably aware that [the Steele dossier] began as a Republican opposition research project.”

But Steele created his discredited anti-Trump dossier after being hired in early 2016 by the opposition firm Fusion GPS, which was itself hired by the Perkins Coie law firm and Marc Elias, the general counsel for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
...
Jankowicz also said in April 2020 that “the inclusion of the Steele dossier didn’t influence the conclusions of the [intelligence community assessment].”

However, FBI Director James Comey and FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe fought to include information from Steele’s dossier in the January 2017 ICA on Russian election interference. Although the CIA and NSA ultimately overruled their efforts, the dossier was still summarized in a classified annex attached to the report.
...
Jankowicz also cast doubt on the Hunter Biden laptop story while falsely claiming an intelligence community report on foreign meddling referenced it. In particular, she played a key role in trying to shoot down reports by the New York Post about the contents of the laptop believed to have belonged to the younger Biden.

The Associated Press ran a story Oct. 14, 2020, reporting, “Disinformation experts say there are multiple red flags that raise doubts about their authenticity, including questions about whether the laptop actually belongs to Hunter Biden, said Nina Jankowicz.” The report quoted her as saying that “we should view it as a Trump campaign product.”

OK, Nina. Explain to us how is it possible that the laptop found in Delaware was a mere conspiracy theory made up by the Trump administration. Especially after what Hunter Biden stated on February 2nd, 2023.

Hunter Biden threatens legal action over laptop allegations

Hunter Biden is urging an investigation into those he accuses of trafficking in stolen material from his laptop.

In letters filed on Wednesday, lawyers representing the US president's son named a computer repair shop owner and Rudy Giuliani as among those who they say had broken the law.

Hunter also threatened to sue Fox News' Tucker Carlson for defamation.

It's a shift in strategy for him to hit back after years of scrutiny, a source close to him told CBS News.

Emphasis isn't mine but BBC's.

Bill Barr likens Mexican drug cartels to ISIS, demands Biden send military

“These narco-terrorist groups are more like ISIS than like the American mafia,” Barr, 72, wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. “Merely designating the cartels as terrorist groups will do nothing by itself. The real question is whether we are willing to go after them as we would a terrorist group.”
...
Barr...said Congress should pass a joint resolution authorizing “select military capabilities” to beat back drug traffickers in the provinces of Sinaloa and Jalisco.

“Optimally, the Mexican government will support and participate in this effort, and it is likely to do so once they understand that the US is committed to do whatever is necessary to cripple the cartels, whether or not the Mexican government participates,” Barr wrote.

The former AG noted that more than 106,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2021, according to the National Institutes of Health — with nearly two-thirds of that number due to non-methadone synthetic opioids like fentanyl.

Even if I won't ever appreciate the very existence of cartels, telling the US government to literally go beyond their constitutional obligations and enter Mexican territory with the excuse that they would just go there to deal with those criminals once for all is nothing but a total overreach and a public request to justify an unlawful invasion of a neighbor country.

They should work WITH the Mexican government the WHOLE TIME and ONLY if they ALLOW them to enter their territory beforehand. Otherwise, the US claim that it defends democracy or freedom would get shattered, totally discredited in no time.

[kyonides]

Mercedes-Benz Begins Building Battery Recycling Factory in Southern Germany

Mercedes-Benz laid the foundation stone for a sustainable battery recycling factory in Kuppenheim, southern Germany on Friday.

The pilot plant will have an annual capacity of 2500 tonnes and will contribute to the production of more than 50,000 battery modules for new electric Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

Recycled batteries will come from test vehicles and start-up batteries. Based on the pilot’s success, production volumes could be scaled up in the medium to long term.

Commissioning for the first stage of the plant—mechanical dismantling—is scheduled to begin in December this year. Subject to talks with the public sector, the pilot factory will be completed a few months later.

Biden and Germany’s Scholz Vow to Support Ukraine ‘As Long as It Takes’

Scholz met Biden in the Oval Office for an extended one-on-one discussion about Russia’s attempted conquest in Ukraine, during which both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to supplying military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

“It is really important that we act together, that we organize in lockstep, and that we make it feasible that we can give the necessary support to Ukraine during all this time,” Scholz said.
...
Scholz said that U.S.-German relations were in “very good shape,” and that the two nations were prepared to follow through on their commitments to help Ukraine defend itself from Russian aggression.

Biden also described the U.S.-German partnership to support Ukraine as working in “lockstep,” and said that the nations had followed through on their vow to impose costs on Moscow for its hostilities.
...
Shortly before the meeting took place, the United States announced a 33rd Presidential Drawdown of security assistance for Ukraine, which has relied heavily on international aid to maintain its defense against Russia.

The new package will provide Ukraine with $400 million worth of artillery systems and munitions, as well as spare parts for the maintenance of damaged equipment, and bring the total amount of U.S. military aid to Ukraine to more than $30 billion since Russia’s full-scale invasion last year.

Putin Says Ukrainian Group Attacks Border Region, Kyiv Denies Russian ‘Provocation’

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia had been hit by a “terrorist attack” in the southern Bryansk region bordering Ukraine, and vowed to crush what he said was a Ukrainian sabotage group that had fired at civilians.

Ukraine accused Russia of staging a false “provocation,” but also appeared to imply some form of operation had indeed been carried out by Russian anti-government partisans.

Putin, in a televised address, accused the group of opening fire on civilians in a car, including children. Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz said the attack had killed two people and wounded an 11-year-old boy.

“They won’t achieve anything. We will crush them,” said Putin.
...
The FSB security service said in an initial statement that the army and FSB were trying to liquidate “an armed group of Ukrainian nationalists” who had crossed the border.

In a later update, the FSB said the situation was under the control of law enforcement agencies. It said a large number of explosive devices had been found and demining was taking place. It did not mention earlier reports by state news agencies that hostages had been taken.

In two videos circulating online, armed men calling themselves the “Russian Volunteer Corps” said they had crossed the border to fight what they referred to as “the bloody Putinite and Kremlin regime.”

Emphasis is mine.

Deadly Greek Train Crash Prompts Strike; Relatives Give DNA

Family members awaited the results of DNA testing to identify victims of a train crash that killed nearly 60 people in Greece, as workers went on strike Thursday saying the rail system is outdated, underfunded, and dangerous.

The government has blamed human error, and a railway official was charged with manslaughter.

Emergency crews, meanwhile, inched through the mangled remains of passenger carriages in their search for the dead from Tuesday night’s head-on collision, which has left 57 confirmed dead—a number that rescuers fear will increase.
...
DNA matching was going fast, with at least four families—in the presence of psychologists—receiving confirmation Thursday that their relatives were among the dead, said police spokeswoman Constandia Dimoglidou.
...
Railway workers’ associations called strikes, halting national rail services, and the subway in Athens to protest working conditions and what they described as a dangerous failure to modernize the rail system. A second 24-hour strike was called for Friday.

Two separate protests in central Athens were held by left-wing groups, with one resulting in clashes between stone-throwing youths and riot police. Protests were also held in Thessaloniki and Larissa.

And talking about train wrecks...

Another Train Derails in Springfield; No Hazardous Materials Spilled: Ohio EPA

A Norfolk Southern train derailed in Springfield, Ohio, on Saturday.

The Clark County Emergency Management Agency asked residents within 1,000 feet of the incident to shelter in place “out of an abundance of caution,” it said in a post on Facebook. The shelter-in-place order was lifted later, according to an updated Facebook post at 2:15 a.m. Sunday.

The derailment took place at Ohio 41 near the Prime Ohio Business Park, according to the agency, which asked all locals who need the highway to “find alternate routes.”

Local and state first responders confirmed that no hazardous materials were found at the train derailment site in Clark County.

About 20 of the 212 cars derailed. Four tankers were identified to contain non-hazardous materials—two had a small amount of Diesel Exhaust Fluid and the other two had small amounts of Polyacrylamide Water Solution.
...
There was no indication of any injuries or risk to public health, they said.

CCP’s Top ‘Two Sessions’ Political Meeting Kicks Off:
Sets Lower GDP Target, Increases Military Spending

The regime’s outgoing premier, Li Keqiang, made the last “Government Work Report” during his tenure on March 5 during the meeting, in which this year’s China’s economic growth (GDP) target was set at about 5 percent, lower than expected by the outside world.
...
Even with the lowered target rate, in 2022...the final reported achieved GDP growth was only 3 percent, far below expectations.
...
Fujian is a major manufacturing and foreign trade province of China, selling light industrial products such as shoes, clothing, textiles, and food to the domestic market and abroad. Many local private manufacturing companies’ owners expressed to the media that they have been experiencing a sharp decline in product orders.

...many small and medium-sized Chinese enterprises have also decided to relocate to Southeast Asia to set up factories and adjust their business models. “It is possible that foreign trade orders will not go directly to China in the future.”
...
CCP leader Xi Jinping is expected to appoint an economic team during the Two Sessions, which is expected to be led by the new premier, Li Qiang.
...
“There were some experts in the CCP’s State Council, or some professionals with overseas and international experience. They will all be replaced by Xi’s loyalists.”
...
The Chinese regime also announced on March 5 that this year’s military budget is 1,553.7 billion yuan ($224 billion), an annual increase of 7.2 percent, the second highest in the last five years. In the context of the escalation over Taiwan, intensified regional conflicts, and international turmoil, the CCP’s military budget has continued to increase in recent years despite a sluggish economy, which has caused international concern.

China Outpacing US in Military Ship Buildup: Former Intelligence Officer

China is outpacing the United States in military ship buildup, according to veteran intelligence officer and author Grant Newsham.

Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said on Feb. 28 that the Chinese military is producing warships at a greater pace than the United States, jeopardizing U.S. supremacy on the seas. He noted that China currently has about 340 ships and is seeking to add 100 more by 2030.

Newsham echoed Toro’s opinion, noting that the number doesn’t even include the regime’s coast guard ships, which are built like warships, and a maritime militia that adds thousands of ships to that.

The U.S. Navy reportedly has about 295 ships to cover the entire world.
...
Newsham cited the inflow of fentanyl reportedly from China, which has led to the deaths of about 70,000 Americans per year. More than 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in the 12 months ending in April 2021, according to a report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
...
Newsham took note of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s call on the United States not to “abuse the concept of national security to oppress Chinese companies,” during his November 2021 virtual summit with President Joe Biden.
...
“That shows you that they are terrified of being cut off from American technology, cut off from American markets, etc., and even our allies’ markets,” he said. “The Chinese Communist Party is vulnerable to an economic slowdown, and they know it.”

Newsham also highlighted the CCP’s fear of the United States and/or other like-minded countries banding together to present a unified front against the regime.

Biden Extends ‘National Emergency’
Due to ‘Extraordinary Threat’ of Russian Actions in Ukraine

President Joe Biden has extended an executive order that declared a “national emergency” in the United States because of Russian actions in Ukraine that conflict with U.S. interests, according to a White House notice.
...
Just days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Biden signed another executive order that “further expanded the scope of the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13660” and “relied on for additional steps taken” in other orders.

“The actions and policies addressed in these Executive Orders continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” the White House stated, noting that Biden will continue “for 1 year the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13660.”

The White House stated that executive orders “deal with” individuals who “undermine Ukraine’s democratic processes” as well as threaten the country’s security, peace, and sovereignty.
...
Bakhmut has been reduced to a wasteland, with only a few thousand of its 70,000 pre-war residents still there amid street-by-street warfare. Russian troops, bolstered by Wagner Group mercenaries, have been advancing north and south of the city to cut it off.

The city has limited strategic value, but Ukraine says it’s exhausting Russia’s invasion force in what has become the bloodiest battle of the war.

[kyonides]

Atlanta 'Cop City' anarchy sees at least 35 'agitators' detained
part of an 'international group'

At least 35 people have been detained after demonstrators allegedly set fire to the construction site of an Atlanta public safety training facility that anti-police and environment activists dubbed "Cop City."

A group of "agitators" left the nearby South River Music Festival around 5:30 p.m. and descended on the construction site of the proposed Atlanta Public Safety Training Center "to conduct a coordinated attack on construction equipment and police officers," the Atlanta Police Department said in a statement.

Authorities noted how the group changed into black clothing and allegedly began to throw commercial-grade fireworks, Molotov cocktails, large rocks and bricks at police officers.
...
"This wasn’t about a public safety training center. This was about anarchy, and this was about an attempt to destabilize. And we are addressing that quickly," Schierbaum told reporters.
...
"Some of those arrested yesterday were from Massachusetts and New York and France and Canada. So this is a national network, an international group of people that are organized to come to our state to undermine a public safety training center," Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said in an appearance on Fox News Monday morning.

Atlanta police said at least 35 people had been detained as of Sunday night. Carr said all but two were from out of state, and 23 individuals were charged with domestic terrorism.

Georgia's Bureau of Investigation had published the following article last December...

Five Arrested for Domestic Terrorism Charges
at Site of Future Atlanta Public Safety Training Center

Five people have been arrested and charged with domestic terrorism and other charges after a joint operation at the site of the future Atlanta Public Safety Training Center ... Yesterday, December 13, 2022, our agents assisted APD and other local, state, and task force members in an operation to remove barricades blocking some of the entrances to the training center.

Prior to yesterday’s operation, APD and other agencies had made several arrests over the past few months for the ongoing criminal activity at the site location. Some of the criminal activities include carjacking, various crimes against persons, destruction of property, arson, and attacks against public safety officials. Law enforcement continues to address the criminal acts committed by the individuals that continue to occupy the area of the proposed training site.

Yesterday, several people threw rocks at police cars and attacked EMT's outside the neighboring fire stations with rocks and bottles. Task force members used various tactics to arrest individuals who were occupying makeshift treehouses.
...
After police cleared the area of concern, which included makeshift treehouses, they found explosive devices, gasoline, and road flares.

Gavin Newsom Left Blizzard Emergency for Baja California

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) reportedly left the state during the blizzard emergency for a personal trip to Baja California, according to a spokesperson quoted by San Francisco Chronicle‘s Emily Hoevan.
...
It was not immediately clear where Newsom had gone, though he has previously vacationed in Cabo San Lucas.

Newsom belatedly declared a state of emergency last Wednesday, as Breitbart News reported — a week after the storms swept the state, trapping thousands of residents and visitors in California’s mountain communities.

He then left California, apparently on Thursday, before returning around midday on Sunday. He later claimed to have been working “today” on Sunday, though a photo of his watch showed him working during the evening.

While Newsom was away, communities continued to struggle with shortages of food, fuel, and medicine. The California National Guard troops that Newsom had mobilized failed to reach several mountain communities.
...
In 2021, Newsom extended California’s state of emergency for coronavirus, then spent Thanksgiving at a villa in Cabo San Lucas that he had rented from a Russian oligarch who had previously pleaded guilty to tax fraud.

European Parliament President Demands West Send Warplanes to Ukraine
Pushes for EU Membership

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola called for EU governments to send fighter jets to Ukraine as she made a surprise visit to the country on Saturday to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
...
“Member States should seriously consider sending warplanes to Ukraine,” Metsola said at a briefing in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, adding that she will continue to advocate for more military equipment to be sent to the war zone, German newspaper Die Welt reported.

The main point of her trip, however, was to advance the prospect of Ukraine joining the European Union, with Metsola saying that she hoped accession negotiations could begin as early as this year. President Zelensky, for his part, said that his government would do everything to try to meet the standards of admission into the bloc so negotiations could begin as soon as possible.

Finally, the European Parliament president’s agenda also included participating in the ‘United for Justice’ conference, which seeks to hold Russian figures to account after the war is concluded.

DHS Maintains Secret Domestic Intelligence Program

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretly maintains a domestic intelligence program that allows agency officials to interview willing Americans without their lawyers present, raising civil liberties concerns, according to a report.

The secret program is called the “Overt Human Intelligence Collection Program” and enables the federal government to interview Americans in prison and jail, along with illegal migrants at immigrant detention centers, according to a trove of internal DHS documents reported by Politico.
...
According to the report, an unnamed employee in the trove of documents allegedly said that the Overt Human Intelligence Collection Program’s office “is ‘shady’ and ‘runs like a corrupt government.’” A second document reportedly showed employees also claimed the program raised so many red flags that they wanted the program to pay for legal liability insurance.

Carrie Bachner, a former DHS undersecretary for intelligence, told Politico if the secret intelligence program exists to question Americans, it is immoral.

Ex-Soldier Gets 45 Years Behind Bars
for Plotting ‘Jihadist Attack’ on Unit:
‘He Betrayed the U.S. Military’

An ex-soldier from Louisville, Kentucky, will spend the next 45 years behind bars for planning an attack on other soldiers, the Hill reported Saturday.
...
Ethan Phelan Melzer, aka Etil Reggad, 24, of Louisville, pleaded guilty to attempting to murder U.S. service members, providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists, and illegally transmitting national defense information on June 24, 2022, before U.S. District Judge Gregory H. Woods, who imposed today’s sentence. According to court documents, Melzer planned a jihadist attack on his U.S. Army unit in the days leading up to a deployment to Turkey and sent sensitive details about the unit — including information about its location, movements, and security — to members of the extremist organization Order of the Nine Angles (O9A), a white supremacist, neo-Nazi and pro-jihadist group.

Woods described his crimes as “repugnant,” adding, “He betrayed the United States of America. He betrayed the US military,” he said in court moments before imposing the sentence, according to the New York Post.

Meanwhile, Melzer said he regretted everything, stating, “I wish I could say I’m sorry to my platoon.”

 Man, that's the weirdest and dangerous group I've ever heard about in my whole life indeed!

Jihadi Convicted in Saudi Court Pleads Guilty to Supporting ISIS in Tampa

Muhammed Momtaz al-Azhari, a 26-year-old U.S. citizen born in California who lately resided in Tampa, Florida, pleaded guilty last week to attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State.
...
Al-Azhari is described by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) as “a United States citizen who spent most of his life abroad and came to embrace dogmatic, Islamist/Salafist beliefs.” His travels took him to Saudi Arabia, where he was arrested for vocally supporting one of the Islamist militias fighting in Syria.
...
After Al-Azhari completed his three-year prison sentence in Saudi Arabia and returned to the United States in 2018, he became a huge fan of ISIS and began rabidly consuming its propaganda. He was evidently determined to become one of the “lone wolf jihadis” ISIS was encouraging to “rise up” and perpetrate mass casualty attacks in the Western world.

According to the FBI’s charging documents, Al-Azhari settled in Tampa during the summer of 2019 and “acquired at least three firearms,” even though his felony conviction in Saudi Arabia should have prevented him from buying guns.

...and his eventual desire to buy heavier weapons like an AK-47.

Over the course of the next two years, the FBI kept a close eye on Al-Azhari while he accumulated an arsenal that included an Uzi submachine gun and a bulletproof vest. Agents watched as he scouted locations for a mass-casualty attack, including FBI headquarters in Tampa, the Honeymoon Island beach resort, and even the Pulse nightclub in Orlando – the site of jihadi Omar Mateen’s deadly rampage in June 2016. Al-Azhari was a great admirer of Mateen and even tried to learn where he was buried so he could pay respects at his grave.

[kyonides]

Tucker Carlson: Ray Epps Lied to January 6 Committee About When He Left Capitol

Mysterious January 6 figure Ray Epps lied to the January 6 Committee about when he left the Capitol grounds on the day of the riot.

Carlson, releasing never seen video footage from January 6, 2021, alleged that Epps misled the January 6 Committee in a sworn testimony. Carlson claimed to have Epps’s text messages that he sent to a relative about leaving the Capitol grounds later than he disclosed to the committee.
...
“Under public pressure, the January 6 Committee finally interviewed Ray Epps. He told the committee he never entered the Capitol and therefore never committed a crime,” Carlson explained. “In text messages showed that at 2:12:00 PM, he boasted to his nephew that he had ‘orchestrated’ the protest at the Capitol.”

“He admitted he helped get people there,” Carlson said. “Tonight, we can tell you that at the very least Ray Epps lied in his sworn testimony to the January 6th Committee. Epps testified that when he sent the text messages to his nephew, he had already left the Capitol grounds to return to his hotel room. That is not true.”

“The surveillance footage we found that shows in fact Ray Epps remained at the Capitol for at least another half an hour,” Carlson said, allegedly displaying the video proof. “What was Epps doing? We cannot say, but we do know that he lied to investigators. The January 6 Committee likely knew this too. Democrats had access to the same tape, yet they defended Ray Epps.”

Tucker noted his video shows Epps encouraging protestors outside the Capitol Building to enter.

January 6 Video: Capitol Police Were ‘Tour Guides’ for ‘Q Shaman’

U.S. Capitol Police acted as “tour guides” for Jacob Chansley, the infamous “Q Shaman,” during the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
...
Carlson and his producers were given nearly 41,000 hours of footage from January 6 by new Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), after Democrats had suppressed it, releasing only what they wanted to be seen.

Much of the footage, Carlson said, was not relevant...But the rest overturned Democrats’ claim of an “insurrection” to overthrow the government.
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While some footage showed violence and vandalism, much of it showed people moving through the Capitol peacefully, often being escorted by members of the Capitol Police, who did not confront them but rather opened doors for them.

While the police may have had no choice, given that then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) had turned down requests for National Guard assistance, Carlson argued that it showed many of those in the Capitol lacked an intention to commit crimes.

In the case of Chansley, whose buffalo-horned costume became the iconic image of the Capitol riot, Carlson showed Capitol Police guiding him through hallways and even opening locked doors to the Senate chamber.
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Chansley, who served in the U.S. Navy, would later say in a jailhouse interview that he regretted not knowing that he was breaking the law, trusting that because police officers were helping him, his actions were condoned.

Carlson argued that Chansley, who was sentenced to 41 months in prison, and other defendants did not have access to the full footage and potentially exculpatory evidence, which he said had been withheld by Democrats.
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However, the public had never seen that footage, as it had been placed under a protective order, meaning that the public impression of Chansley’s behavior and that of other non-violent defendants remained incomplete.

Democrats Reviewed Sicknick Video, Lied About Death

Democrats knew that Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick had not been murdered during the Captiol riot, but lied to the public about his death, according to Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, based on newly-released video.
...
n the case of Brian Sicknick, whom the media falsely claimed had been killed by being struck with a fire extinguisher during the riot (a story later retracted by the New York Times), the January 6 Committee continued to claim he had been killed by rioters even after his death was determined to be from natural causes.

Carlson showed footage in which an officer, whom he said was Sicknick, continued to perform his duties “vigorously” even after being confronted by the mob outside the Capitol.
...
As Breitbart News noted last year, January 6 committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) claimed, falsely, that the rioters were guilty of “savagely beating and killing law enforcement officers,” despite the evidence.
...
Carlson also released footage that, he said, debunked the claim that Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) had run away from the Capitol in fear.

Trudeau Pledges ‘Disinfo’ Crackdown
Amid Claims of Chinese Election Meddling on Behalf of His Party

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced his government will be setting aside $5.5 million to combat “disinformation” as he struggles with accusations of benefitting from Chinese Communist Party election interference.

Prime Minister Trudeau announced the $5.5 million investment into “combatting disinformation” on Monday at a press conference in Ottawa saying, “I can announce were are investing 5.5 million dollars to build capacity of civil society organisations to combat disinformation.”

...the Trudeau government has a history of funding questionable groups and individuals in recent years.

Among those who were handed Trudeau government cash, was alleged “anti-hate” activist Leith Marouf who was revealed to be a prolific antisemite on social media.
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Marouf’s group, the Community Media Advocacy Centre (CMAC), saw its funding cut in August of last year after Housing and Diversity and Inclusion Minister Ahmed Hussen called his statements “reprehensible and vile.”

Trudeau has also given large sums of cash to the Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN), which came under fire for attempting to link the former flag of Canada that flew during World War Two with hatred, calling it a “hate-promoting symbol” as part of a government-funded school handbook project.
...
The allegations emerged from leaks from the Canadian Secret Intelligence Service (CSIS), which claimed to have warned Trudeau about Chinese attempts to interfere in the last two elections.

When previously confronted on the topic, Trudeau dodged questions and even made bizarre statements regarding anti-Asian hatred in response to questions regarding MP Han Dong, who was specifically named by the CSIS leakers.

Xi Jinping: U.S. Global Conspiracy Against China
Causing ‘Unprecedented Severe Challenges’

Chinese dictator Xi Jinping told a panel of Communist Party officials on Monday that America and its Western allies were executing a conspiracy to ensure “all-round containment” of his country, which has resulted in “severe challenges.”

Xi’s remarks, appearing in the Chinese-language version of the state-run Xinhua News Agency, reportedly occurred at a panel presentation related to the ongoing “two sessions,” the annual gatherings of China’s two legislative bodies, the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC)...Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who repeated much of Xi’s warnings about the United States and suggested that confronting China’s genocidal acts, wholesale intellectual property theft, or other international malfeasance could result in war.
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Xi reportedly predicted that the “risks and challenges” posed by the Western conspiracy would “only increase and become more severe” over time.
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Xi also encouraged lawmakers to come up with policies that make China’s economy as independent – and thus not beholden to human rights or other sanctions – as possible.
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Qin claimed, describing left-wing President Joe Biden’s decision to shoot down the balloon after it had traveled across the continental United States and Alaska. “It overreacted, abused force, and dramatized the accident, creating a diplomatic crisis that could have been avoided.”

 What about shooting the balloon themselves instead of waiting for some F22 Raptor to do it for them?

Arnold Schwarzenegger Pleads with Antisemites to Stop Hating,
Warns They Will ‘Die Miserably’

Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger released a 12-minute-long video in which he compassionately pleaded with antisemites and other racists to give up the hate in their hearts or else “die miserably.”

Citing his own father’s flirtation with the Nazis in Austria and the broken men he saw in the wake of World War II, Schwarzenegger called out anyone who has “heard some conspiracies about Jewish people or any race or gender and thought, ‘That makes sense to me.’”

Schwarzenegger, who visited the death camp Auschwitz last year, said that all movements based on hate end up losing in the end, leaving in its wake a trail of broken men who wasted their time in service of something false.
...
“There has never been a successful movement based on hate,” Schwarzenegger said. “Nazis? Losers. The Confederacy? Losers. The Apartheid movement? Losers. I don’t want you to be a loser. I don’t want you to be weak… despite all my friends who might say, ‘Arnold, don’t talk to those people. It’s not worth it,’ I don’t care what they say. I care about you. I think you’re worth it. I know nobody is perfect… I can understand how people can fall into a trap of prejudice and hate.”

Schwarzenegger also talked about how hate and scapegoating, specifically Jewish people, can lead individuals to give up their responsibility instead of looking in the mirror to become something great.
...
Recalling his work as a fitness enthusiast, Schwarzenegger concluded his message with a call for “strength” and for people to deny the path of least resistance.

Wasn't that actor the same guy that told people hesitant about vaccines and masks that they were a Schmuck and "screw your freedoms!"?  Is he now pretending to be the defender of human rights and a peacemaker?
 Well, the last statement of mine could still be true if we recall that there's a Colt nicknamed Peacemaker...

[kyonides]

Eric Adams raps Kamala Harris over migrant crisis: ‘Too much in her portfolio’

Mayor Eric Adams appeared to lash out at Vice President Kamala Harris over the city’s $4.2 billion migrant crisis — marking the first time he’s explicitly faulted President Biden’s controversial “border czar.”

“There needs to be an individual who is dedicated to do the decompression strategy for the federal government. Someone should be at these entry points: El Paso, Brownsville, Texas, and others, too, to organize a real decompression strategy across the entire country,” Adams said during a City Hall news conference Tuesday.

“One person should, we should be looking at — it is often stated that as the role of the VP has too much in her portfolio to be focused on just doing that decompression strategy. If not, the decompression strategy can’t be New York City.”
...
“It’s been frustrating to not have a point person on topic that’s senior enough to make adjustments in response to the crisis on the ground. The main contact has been [the Department of] Homeland Security,” the source said.

Mexico kidnapping victim Zindell Brown made chilling warning before fateful trip

Zindell Brown had been aware of the perils of traveling from South Carolina with Latavia “Tay” McGee and Eric James Williams so McGee, a mother of six, could undergo a tummy tuck procedure, his sister Zalandria Brown said.

“Zindell kept saying, ‘We shouldn’t go down,’” she said in a phone interview with the Associated Press.

Zalandria, who lives in Florence, SC, said his death has been “like a bad dream you wish you could wake up from.”

“To see a member of your family thrown in the back of a truck and dragged, it is just unbelievable,” she added.

Horrifying video posted to social media Friday showed men with assault rifles and body armor loading the four Americans into the bed of a white pickup in the crime-ridden city of Matamoros [Mexico].

One was alive and sitting up, while others appeared to be either dead or wounded. At least one appeared to lift his head from the pavement before being dragged to the vehicle.

The four Americans were found Tuesday in a wooden shack, guarded by a man who was arrested, in a rural area east of Matamoros, said the state’s chief prosecutor, Irving Barrios.

Ex-CDC chief: Fauci ‘sidelined’ me from COVID debate for backing lab leak theory

Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield told lawmakers Wednesday that Dr. Anthony Fauci “sidelined” him from internal debates about the origin of COVID-19 at the start of the pandemic, saying the former White House chief medical adviser did not appreciate Redfield’s support for the so-called “lab leak theory.”

“This was an a priori decision that there’s one point of view that we’re going to put out there, and anyone who doesn’t agree with it is going to be sidelined,” Redfield said at a hearing of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. “And as I say, I was only the CDC director, and I was sidelined.”

Redfield added that he was not aware that Fauci and then-National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins had convened a conference call on Feb. 1, 2020 to discuss the worldwide outbreak until internal emails were published by the Washington Post and Buzzfeed News in June 2021.
...
“Because I had a different point of view,” Redfield responded. “And I was told that they had made a decision that they would keep this confidential until they came up with a single narrative — which I will argue is antithetical to science.”

I've been wondering for quite some time now if the people behind the Resident Evil franchise picked the surname Redfield for some of their characters on purpose.

Michelle Yeoh tweets, deletes ‘forbidden’ post about Oscars nominee Cate Blanchett

Michelle Yeoh narrowly avoided a slap on the wrist from the academy.

Yeoh, 60, was in hot water Tuesday for possibly violating the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ “References to Other Nominees” rule after reportedly posting a photo of a Vogue article, which suggested Blanchett doesn’t need a third Oscar.

The “Everything Everywhere All at Once” actress posted the photo on her Instagram account mere hours before official Oscar voting ended and then promptly deleted it, according to the Daily Beast.

Yeoh and “Tár” star Blanchett, 53, are nominated in this year’s Best Actress category — and both are considered front-runners.

 Definitely not a smart move, Yeoh. I mean, you could still lose because of that.

21-year-old man arrested in shooting of two teens near NYC high school

Cops cuffed 21-year-old Ousmane Diallo, of Crown Heights, for allegedly opening fire on the students in Sunset Park around 2:30 p.m. The teens were inside a bodega across from PS 371 Lillian L. Rashkis High School when they were each shot in the shoulder.

The suspected gunman is believed to be a member of the Insane Gangsta Crips gang and is well-known to cops, law enforcement sources said.

In August, Diallo was arrested and charged with attempted murder, assault and other raps for a January 2022 shooting in Crown Heights. He was out on a $500,000 bond in that case, which is still open, according to online records.

 And then they start complaining about people calling NY justice system a revolving door...

Release of new video, audio in Tyre Nichols police murder probe
on hold amid legal challenge By Jesse O’Neill

A lawyer for one of the ex-cops charged with murdering Nichols had filed a motion seeking to block the release of the new evidence, and a Tennessee criminal court blocked the release of additional video, audio, or records Wednesday afternoon pending “further orders” by the court, according to records viewed by The Post.

The developments came a day after the city’s chief legal officer Jennifer Sink told city council members that an eighth police employee would have also been fired in connection with the Jan. 7 deadly beating of the unarmed black man, but he had retired during an internal probe.

Five of the six named officers who were fired in connection with Nichols’ death are facing second-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and other charges after being caught on camera pummeling Nichols after a traffic stop that Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis had labeled “very questionable.”

The officers were part of a controversial, since-dismantled street crimes unit.

Marine in Kabul airport blast says he was told not to shoot ISIS bomber

A Marine who survived the deadly bombing at Kabul’s airport during the 2021 US withdrawal from Afghanistan told lawmakers Wednesday he was told not to kill a suspected ISIS terrorist who he believes was responsible for later killing 13 of his fellow service members and countless Afghans.

Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews recounted to the House Foreign Affairs Committee how his team deployed to Hamid Karzai International Airport on Aug. 26, 2021, and were tracking a man who intelligence officers believed was a suicide bomber “throughout the entirety” of the day leading up to the explosion.

“Intel guys confirmed the suicide bomber … described as clean-shaven, brown-dressed, black vest and traveling with an older companion,” he said. “I asked intel guys why he wasn’t apprehended sooner since we had a full description. I was told the asset could not be compromised.”

Vargas-Andrews recounted his experience during his opening remarks at the committee’s hearing examining the Biden administration’s handling of the final weeks of the 20-year US war in Afghanistan. The chaotic effort brought massive crowds to the airport with fewer than 6,000 US troops deployed to assist.

Vargas-Andrews told the committee that his team continually updated intelligence teams that day on the suspect’s actions, noting the men were an “anomaly in the crowd” and “both had obvious mannerisms that go along with who we believed him to be.”
...
Vargas-Andrews said he requested permission to kill the suspected terrorist and his team leader got a sniper gun ready. But the Marines were told not to shoot because “leadership did not have the engagement authority for us.”