Ex-US Green Beret Linked to Attempted 2020 Venezuelan Coup

Venezuelan forces captured several mercenaries after the failed 2020 coup [Getty Images]

Jordan Goudreau, a decorated former US Green Beret, is being prosecuted for allegedly smuggling automatic weapons from Florida to South America as part of a failed 2020 coup attempt against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. His DNA was found on some of 60 recovered weapons, linking him to illegal arms trafficking that facilitated an amphibious raid against the Maduro government in Venezuela.  

Several fighters were killed and two of Goudreau’s former US Special Forces colleagues were imprisoned in Venezuela. Goudreau allegedly spent $90,000 on a yacht he used to transport ammunition, body armor plates and magazines for AR-15 rifles. Some of the weapons never made it because the yacht sank in the middle of the Caribbean. Goudreau and an unnamed associate had to be rescued by a passing natural gas tanker.

The 2020 anti-Maduro incursion was carried out by a ragtag group of Venezuelan army deserters whom Goudreau allegedly helped arm and train in neighboring Colombia. Goudreau later claimed responsibility for the putsch, but said he was acting in concert with the Venezuelan opposition to protect democracy. The defendant stated he was in touch with then-President Donald Trump’s administration, which made no secret of its desire to see Maduro gone, even though there’s no evidence US officials approved the invasion.

The 48-year-old has no criminal record and was a three-time Bronze Star recipient in Iraq and Afghanistan, but prosecutors argued he was both a danger to the public and a flight risk because of his firearms expertise, access to a sailboat at a USAF base in Tampa and an astonishing $10,000-a-month in military retirement disability income. If convicted, Goudreau faces between 10 and 20 years in prison.

Sources:

Middle District of Florida | Former Green Beret and Venezuelan National Charged with Violating Export and Firearms Laws | United States Department of Justice

US arrests a former Green Beret over the failed 2020 raid into Venezuela to remove Maduro | AP News

DNA on weapons implicates ex-U.S. Green Beret in attempted Venezuelan coup, federal officials say | AP News

FBI Arrests DoD Contractor with Scores of Classified Documents

Gokhan Gun, an electrical engineer and DoD contractor, was arrested by the FBI following a court-ordered search warrant of his home in Falls Church, VA. Investigators became aware that while working for the USAF in Washington, Mr. Gun had printed thousands of documents since starting his job in mid-2023. Many documents were unclassified, but some were marked Top Secret. Mr. Gun printed 256 documents, totaling approximately 3,400 pages. He then printed more than 406 pages of documents, which included 82 with Top Secret headings. Mr. Gun is charged with illegally obtaining and retaining national defense secrets.

Investigators are still trying to determine why Mr. Gun, who became an American citizen in 2021, hoarded so many documents. He nonchalantly carried them out of his office in rolled-up wads in plastic shopping bags. Mr. Gun frequently travels overseas and owns homes in Virginia, Texas and Florida. The FBI arrested the suspect early in the morning at his house while Mr. Gun was preparing to leave for what he described as a “fishing trip” with friends in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The counterintelligence investigation is continuing.

Source:

Defense Dept. Contractor Arrested With Dozens of Classified Documents – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Fire at Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Plant in Occupied Ukraine, but Officials Say Safety Not Compromised

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said radiation indicators appeared normal for the plant.

The brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine established a new precedent. For the first time in history, a nuclear power plant has been occupied by a hostile foreign power. Russian forces took over the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Plant early during Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” against Ukraine. Worldwide concerns skyrocketed about potential radiation leaks or fallout from any mishap at the atomic plant.

A fire broke out on 11 August at a cooling tower at this nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine following what Russian officials allege was Ukrainian shelling, which Kiev denied. Plant management reported the fire was still blazing but that it was not endangering the safe operation of the facility. Ukrainian officials disclosed there was unofficial information or rumors that Russian forces had set fire to a large number of automobile tires in the cooling towers.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has access to the site and reported no impact on nuclear safety. Along with the EU Joint Research Center, they are monitoring radiation levels in a potentially catastrophic situation for Europe, Ukraine, and Russia.

Sources:

Zelenskiy / Official – Telegram

Update 241 – IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine | IAEA

Radiological Maps – European Commission (europa.eu)Fire Hits Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Plant, But Officials Say Safety Not Compromised (rferl.org)

Ex-POTUS Donald J. Trump Losing Support from Within: ‘You’re gonna lose this!’

Mr. David McAfee at Raw Story reports that Donald Trump is getting pushback on his latest conspiracy theory from his own MAGA supporters. The former president claimed that VPOTUS Kamala Harris was faking her huge crowd sizes by using AI. The claim was ranked as “just false” by CNN, and one lawmaker said this comment made Trump unfit to be president. When Trump posted this absurd claim on Truth Social, some of his own supporters encouraged the GOP presidential nominee to back off.

Raw Story catalogued the following MAGA criticisms:

@Trumpbobo: “You realized that there is a video right that so otherwise shows.”

@Gobbyrocks: “It’s not fake, Trump. Please fire your disastrous advisors immediately before we lose this election!”

@Magahlahgo: “Are you ever going to talk about what you plan on doing if you win? Nobody cares about her crowds.”

@Cordlopez: “Please shut the f— up and get focused.”

@Witness023: “No. Consult with a good expert on this. They are going to make us look dumb.”

@Deplorable59: “STFU about the crowd size. She’s getting bigger crowds now face that fact. You’re gonna lose this! Stop with this bulls— – get out on the road. Talk to the people-don’t talk about her personally. Talk about the issues and what you will do to change things. You’re our only hope – you gotta stop screwing it up!”

Karlyn Borysenko: “I want you to win but you have got to start hinging back into reality and stop listening to anyone who lies to you about Kamala’s campaign. This is a video that aired live of the event. It is real. The photos are being generated from a parody account.”

Conservative influencer Ian Miles Cheong: “Kamala’s crowd at the airport was in fact real,” he wrote. “You can claim they’re paid actors or that they were just there for a concert but they are definitely not AI.”

Our deepest appreciation to Mr. David McAfee at Raw Story for monitoring Truth Social and presenting his findings.

Source:

‘You’re gonna lose this!’ Trump fans rebel against him over ‘A.I.’ Harris rally claim – Raw Story

Five Suspects Arrested for Rocket Attack on al-Asad Air Base in Iraq

Iraqi security personnel detained five individuals in connection with a rocket attack on al-Asad Air Base in western Iraq that wounded four US servicemembers and a defense contractor. Three rockets were launched by an Iranian-backed militia, two of which impacted the base, while the third rocket was intercepted. US CENTCOM is investigating how the rockets penetrated defense measures. See map at bottom.

The attack is the latest targeting al-Asad Air Base in recent weeks. On 25 July, two rockets were launched but did not strike the base. On 16 July, the base came under attack by two drones, one of which struck the base but caused minimal damage. The second drone launched in the same attack was shot down. No casualties were reported following either attack.

US bases in the region are prone to retaliatory strikes by pro-Iranian Shia militias whenever Israel attacks Iranian sovereign territory with rockets or drones or conducts extra-judicial killings (XJK) in Iran, Syria, or Lebanon. Shia Houthis on the Arabian Peninsula in support of their co-religionists in Iran similarly retaliate against maritime Western targets that may be allied or associated with Israel.

This last rocket attack followed an order by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to move additional warships and a fighter squadron to the Middle East to bolster Israel’s defense. The decision to move US forces came ahead of an anticipated Iranian counterattack in response to the Israeli assassination of Palestinian resistance leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

Source:

5 arrested for rocket attack on base in Iraq that injured 4 service members, 1 contractor | Stars and Stripes

“Absolute loyalty’: Xi Jinping Focuses Anti-Corruption Campaign on China’s Military

Xi Jinping has unleashed a new campaign to enforce party discipline and root out corruption in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), in a sign that the Chinese leader’s decade-long push to exert tight personal control over the armed forces has fallen short.

The Central Military Commission, China’s top military leadership organ which Xi chairs, called for the establishment of an “early warning mechanism for integrity risks in the military” and announced a probe into corruption in equipment procurement going back almost six years.

The renewed campaign to root out corruption comes as several top officers of the PLA’s Rocket Force, which oversees the country’s nuclear and conventional missile arsenals, have disappeared from public view — often a signal of an investigation. China’s former foreign minister Qin Gang was absent from public commitments for a month before he was replaced by his predecessor.

According to Cercius, a Canada-based consultancy tracking elite Chinese politics, the status of about 10 current and former Rocket Force officials is unclear. Rod Lee, a leading expert on the PLA Rocket Force at the USAF Academy suggested the possibility that some, if not all, of these individuals were “rolled up for discipline or corruption.”

In an unprecedented move in 2022, China extradited Yanjun Xu, a senior operative in the Ministry of State Security (MSS) to the US. He is the first Chinese intelligence officer ever to be extradited to America to stand trial. Xu targeted US aviation companies, recruited employees to travel to China, and solicited their proprietary information, stealing advanced technology on behalf of Beijing.

The 42-year-old veteran spy was eventually convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Yanjun Xu (USM #77877-061) is incarcerated at Otisville FCI New York, and scheduled to be released 16 April 2035.

Sources:

‘Absolute loyalty’: Xi Jinping turns anti-corruption focus to China’s military (ft.com)

Office of Public Affairs | Chinese Government Intelligence Officer Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Espionage Crimes, Attempting to Steal Trade Secrets From Cincinnati Company | United States Department of Justice

Approximately 320 US military personnel are assigned to al-Asad Airbase alongside 9,000 or so Iraqi airmen and soldiers. Denmark and Norway maintain a combined contingency of 190 personnel.

Maniac who Attacked US Capitol Police on 6 Jan 2021 Sentenced to 20 Years

US Justice Dept image shows David Dempsey stomping on police officers in the Lower West Terrace Tunnel at the US Capitol on 6 Jan 2021.

David Dempsey (37) of Santa Ana, CA, was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to assaulting law enforcement with a dangerous weapon during the 6 Jan 2021 attack on the US Capitol. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the US Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.

Senior US District Judge Royce C. Lamberth, a President Ronald Reagan nomination, confined David Dempsey to 240 months in prison, 36 months of supervised release, and ordered him to pay $2,000 in restitution.

Prosecutors described this runamok as one of the most violent members of Donald Trump supporters that attacked the Capitol as lawmakers met to certify Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory. David Dempsey represents America’s “Fedayeen Saddam,” a white supremacist dead-ender who stomped on heads, swung poles and a metal crutch, and attacked police officers with pepper spray and broken pieces of furniture.

US Justice Dept image shows David Dempsey throwing a pole at a police officer in the Lower West Terrace at the US Capitol on 6 Jan 2021.

Unless presidentially pardoned, this miscreant will grace the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) with his departure when he is 57 years of age. After two decades of incarceration, Davis Dempsey will not have contributed much towards his Social Security retirement and he will have to find adequate employment just to sustain him plus save money for his imminent golden years.

In the 43 months since 6 Jan 2021, more than 1,488 suspects have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the attack on the US Capitol, including nearly 550 seditionists charged with feloniously assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The FBI investigation remains ongoing.

Sources:

District of Columbia | California Man Sentenced for Assaulting Law Enforcement with a Dangerous Weapon During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach | United States Department of Justice

https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-arrests-2654807458

Ukrainian SBU Uses Double Agent to Apprehend Senior Russian GRU Agent in Kiev

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) arrested a senior agent of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces (GRU) through the use of their own double agent. A Russian operator was organizing a sabotage cell in Kiev to target select vehicles with arson. An individual previously caught by the SBU became a double agent for them and documented the subversive activities of the female Russian military intelligence officer. This is called “turning in place.”

She recruited and coordinated the arsonists and helped them organize other subversive activities in Kiev. The woman gave instruction in the manufacture of homemade ignition devices, which were to be used to destroy military vehicles. The GRU operative arranged to film the arson attack to be committed by the SBU double agent and was caught in the act.

The captured operative will be charged with acts of treason committed under martial law for which she faces life imprisonment with confiscation of property. She may be used in a future prisoner swap for a high value Ukrainian operative held by the Kremlin.

The SBU also reported the detention of a 32-year-old fitness trainer from Odessa who set fire to the cars of the Armed Forces in Kyiv, Dnipro and Odessa on the orders of the FSB. The Odessa man, who was looking for quick money on the Internet, set fire to an АFU van in Kiev after having traveled to the capital, where he rented an apartment for one day. At night, he set fire to the parked military vehicle, capturing the result on his phone which Russia wanted to “prove” the existence of a pro-Russian underground in Kyiv. He intended to carry out similar actions in other Ukrainian cities.

The Ukrainian intelligence services continue to improve, neutralizing threats within their border and maintaining a clandestine network within Russia. Overall Operational Security (OPSEC) is also excellent, as the Russian military seems to have been caught unawares of Ukraine’s recent surprise offensive into Kursk. Either that, or the Kremlin ignored intelligence of the imminent AFU attack. President Putin appeared displeased at a recent emergency session of his national security council.

Sources:

SBU Uses Double Agent to Apprehend a Senior GRU Agent in Kyiv (kyivpost.com)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/23/ukraine-cia-shadow-war-russia/

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/08/09/putin-seethes-as-ukraines-shock-incursion-catches-leadership-by-surprise-a85970

Wildfires Rage Across North America

The US Forest Service is at “the highest level of wildfire response possible,” as forests grapple with record-breaking dry timber conditions. Last year, more than 1,600,000 hectares of land in Canada were scorched, setting a new record. In the US, NOAA reported that 55,571 fires burned 2,633,636 acres of land. North America could see similar or more damage this year. Drier conditions caused by global climate change are the root cause.

The first link below is an interactive real-time NASA map to show you the extent of the current conflagration.

Unless mankind can turn things around PDQ, Mother Nature will have a difficult time to recuperating from these grievous environmental wounds which impacts oxygen levels in the atmosphere and our delicate food cycle. The same can be said about our oceans. Warming waters are creating more “dead zones” and “algae blooms,” killing off the flora and fauna of the Seven Seas. One such oxygen-depriving “dead zone” the size of New Jersey is lurking in the Gulf of Mexico. The time to act is now to save our environment for future generations.

Sources:

https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/usfs/map/#d:24hrs;@-100.0,40.0,4.0z

https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/wildfires-tracker-canada

https://www.nbcnews.com/western-wildfires

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/01/dead-zones-in-our-oceans-have-increased-dramatically-since-1950-and-we-re-to-blame/

https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/phytoplankton-blooms-grow-climate-change-1.6764789

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/weather/topstories/a-dead-zone-about-the-size-of-new-jersey-lurks-in-the-gulf-of-mexico/ar-BB1r2LAt

Canadian North Korea UN Expert Detained in Switzerland for Espionage

Swiss authorities took the rare and unusual move to detain an unnamed Canadian in spring 2024 on suspicions of spying, most likely for China. Craig LNU is a resident of Geneva and a former UN expert on North Korea. He first attracted the attention of the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service when he met with a suspected Chinese spy and appeared to accept cash in return for providing information.

The suspect sought to capitalize on his knowledge of North Korean diplomats with whom he had cultivated relationships over many years. This investigation is an effort by Switzerland to root out Chinese espionage operations in Geneva, home to multiple UN organizations, and the arrest is highly unusual in a country that typically asks spies to quietly leave. The Chinese military intelligence agent, accredited to Beijing’s permanent mission to Geneva, has since left Switzerland. 

“It is very rare for the Swiss authorities to make arrests on spying charges, let alone bringing such a matter eventually to court,” advised an expert on Chinese operations at the University of Basel. The last major case in which Switzerland is known to have detained a foreign national for espionage dates back to 1998, when authorities arrested a Mossad agent in Bern targeting the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

“If [the Swiss authorities prosecute a suspect], one must assume that they have a solid case,” he said, suggesting that external pressure may have played a role in Bern’s actions. If charged and convicted of gathering military, economic and political intelligence for a foreign government, Craig LNU could face up to three years in a Swiss prison.

Nota Bene: Swiss and Western intelligence agencies must intensively debrief Craig LNU for damage assessment, which is probably being discreetly conducted . If the suspect shared sensitive information about former UN colleagues or North Korean diplomats, he may have put them in grave peril when they travel to China or North Korea, both of which have a have a history of detaining foreigners on allegations of espionage, subversion and other trumped-up charges.

Source:

North Korea expert, missing for months, detained in Switzerland for espionage | NK News

GOP Nominee to Run North Carolina Schools Advocated pro-Trump Military Coup in 6 January 2021 Video and Deaths of Presidents Obama and Biden

Michele Morrow, who supported a putsch against the US government on 6 Jan 2021, as well as advocated the public executions of Presidents Obama and Biden, is seeking a position where her estimated annual salary could be as high as $172,318. 

Michele Morrow, the Republican nominee to run the K-12 public education system in North Carolina, filmed a video while attending the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol urging then-President Donald Trump to put “the Constitution to the side” and use the US military to stay in power. This same person who has been nominated to run North Carolina’s $11 billion budget for K-12 public schools and set education priorities and the curriculum, also called for violence against Democrats, including executing Presidents Obama and Biden.

Morrow was at the US Capitol as the 6 January 2021 attack occurred, according to public videos reviewed by CNN that show her in a restricted area on the northwest side of the Capitol. CNN has seen no evidence that Morrow entered the Capitol building that day or that she engaged in violence, and she was not charged with any crimes.

In the March 2024 Republican primary, Morrow defeated the incumbent North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction. That same month, CNN’s KFile reported Morrow had previously called for the public execution of Barack Obama and the death of Joe Biden and other prominent Democrats in comments on a since-deleted X account. The candidate has purged past extremist posts since running for office.

Remarkable that North Carolina is an election away from giving a handsome annual salary of potentially $172,318 to a neo-Confederate to manage its $11bn K-12 public school system. If the normal people of the Tar Heel State allow this Trump supporter to win the election, they will have to hold their noses for four years as their hard-earned tax dollars provide Michele Morrow with a robust salary as she oversees the curriculum being taught to 1,459,852 public school (and possibly 77,791 charter school) students.

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2024/03/21/north-carolina-gop-public-schools-nominee-sot-ac360-vpx.cnn

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/14/politics/kfile-gop-nominee-north-carolina-public-schools-michele-morrow-executing-democrats

https://www.dpi.nc.gov/documents/fbs/resources/fy25webschedulesupdated7-12-24pdf/download?attachment

Israeli airstrike on Gaza school used as shelter kills at least 80, Palestinian officials report

An Israeli airstrike hit a school-turned-shelter in Gaza early Saturday, killing at least 80 people and wounding nearly 50 others, Palestinian health authorities reported. This was one of the deadliest IDF attacks over the past ten months. A witness said the munitions struck during prayers at a mosque in the building.

This attack was the latest of what a UN human rights officer called “systematic attacks on schools” by Israel, with at least 21 schools destroyed since 4 July 2024 leaving hundreds dead, including women and children.

“For many, schools are the last resort to find some shelter,” a UN official reported after Saturday’s bombardment.

The venomous Benjamin Netanyahu government has turned the Gaza Strip, once described as the “world’s largest open prison,” into a massive merciless hecatomb. Palestinians, UN refugee workers, World Central Kitchen volunteers, humanitarians, Freedom Flotilla samaritans, and journalists are completely unsafe and vulnerable to death or maiming at any time at the hands of the IDF.

All this carnage takes place while the world blithely enjoys the “Bread and circuses” spectacle of the vainglorious Paris XXXIII Olympiad. Sadly, Western governments that provide economic or military aid to Israel are complicit in these “massacres by munitions.”

To eliminate Muslims from the nascent Republika Srpska in July 1995, Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan Milosevic and General Ratko Mladic orchestrated an infamous mass execution of 8,000 unarmed Bosnian men and boys in Srebrenica. Both caitiffs were later convicted of genocide by the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague.

So, you wonder how much population reduction the Likud government is seeking in the Gaza Strip, with the thousands and thousands of casualties the IDF have inflicted. And in the West Bank, the UN reports at least 500 Palestinians have been murdered by settlers over the past two years to which the Israeli security services seems to have turned a blind eye.

Sources:

https://www.voanews.com/a/israeli-airstrike-kills-over-60-people-at-gaza-school-palestinian-health-officials-say/7737279.html

https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/06/1150596

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srebrenica_massacre

Defending the Indefensible: Israeli Leaders Shield IDF Soldiers Accused of Gang Rape; “Everything is Legitimate.”

Undated photo of Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers abusing and kicking a defenseless and barefooted Palestinian youth. The next generation of anti-Semites and/or counter-Zionists is being incubated right before our very eyes.

Video has emerged of Israeli guards gang raping a Palestinian prisoner at the Sde Teiman detention facility in the Negev desert, southern Israel. The video, which has been verified by Al Jazeera, shows the captive being selected from a larger group lying bound on the floor. The victim is then escorted to a wall, where guards, using their shields to hide their identity from the camera, proceed to rape him.

The attack was so brutal that after he was transferred to a hospital, the victim was unable to walk. Ten soldiers were ultimately arrested for the rape on 29 July. The soldiers belong to a unit known as Force 100, which is tasked with guarding the Sde Teiman prison facility.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir argued that any action, even gang rape, is permissible if undertaken for the security of the state. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich demanded “an immediate criminal investigation to locate the leakers of the [incriminating] trending video.”

In the middle of this horrific continuous onslaught against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip (approximately 32,000 killed; 73,000 injured), a rank imbecile in the halls of American power invites the odious Benjamin Netanyahu, a man indicted for war crimes by the Hague, to address the US Congress on 25 July 2024. Why? Were Vladimir Putin or Pol Pot not available?

Mr. Marek Edelman, the last surviving leader of the Warsaw ghetto uprising against Nazi occupation forces in Poland said:

“To be a Jew means always being with the oppressed, never with the oppressors.”

What would Mr. Edelman say about the inhumane conduct of these IDF soldiers, as well as the abominable attitude and ghastly comments of these senior members of the Israeli Cabinet?

Below is an image of what Marek Edelman endured in Poland.

German soldiers kicking a Jew in Wloclawek, German occupied Poland, circa 1939. Image courtesy of the Jewish Virtual Library. Look at the expressions on their faces and compare with the photo at the top of this post.

Sources:

Warning: Viewers may find the below video disturbing.

‘Everything is legitimate’: Israeli leaders defend soldiers accused of rape | Human Rights News | Al Jazeera

Palestine urges ICC arrest warrant for Smotrich over call to starve Gaza

https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/03/1147512

Ukrainian Youngsters Forced to Assemble AK-47s in Front of the Watchful Eyes of Vladimir Putin and a Russian Flag in Re-Education Center

The speed and accuracy of the youngsters are monitored by a masked instructor. 

The Times UK reports that at least 330 Ukrainian children from Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia are sequestered in “military-patriotic” camps where they learn to shoot automatic weapons and operate drones. These camps were established by order of President Vladimir Putin.

Russian TV ORT reports about a young girl from Kherson attending one of these camps. Notably, the report did not criticize the training, but instead was supportive. Referring to the camp, the girl said “you can learn something here,” adding that the instructors were Russian soldiers with combat experience in Ukraine.

Kateryna Rashevska, a legal expert at the Kyiv Regional Center for Human Rights, argues that these camps perpetrate “political indoctrination” of Ukrainian children and violate the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child [CRC] by attempting to sever their connection to their homeland.

Kiev asserts that approximately 19,000 to 20,000 children have been relocated to various Russian camps. Ukraine launched a website called “Children of the War,” to keep track of all its missing children since the 2022 Russian invasion (website link below).

“The Kremlin is forcibly creating a generation of Ukrainian children indoctrinated with hatred and violence against all things Ukrainian,” stated Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian parliament’s leading human rights official. He accused Moscow of turning these children into “full-fledged soldiers.” 

Last year, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for President Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova over war crimes charges related to the abduction of Ukrainian children. Russia has denied these allegations but acknowledges that more than 700,000 Ukrainian children have been repatriated to Russia since 2022. Lvova-Belova claimed that the “overwhelming majority” were accompanied by their parents or guardians but did not provide further details.

Sources:

Ukrainian teens, 14, are putting together AKs right next to ‘Putin’ (bulgarianmilitary.com)

https://childrenofwar.gov.ua/en/

https://www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war/article/ukrainian-children-given-assault-rifles-at-russian-heroes-camp-p9mwb2wtr

US Charges Russian-German National with Smuggling Military Technology to Russia

The Orion combat drone has a 200 kg (441 pounds) combat load and can be equipped with anti-tank missiles (ATM). Undated imagery from the Kremlin.

Arthur Petrov (33) allegedly participated in a Russia-based Illicit procurement network that, subsequent to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, illegally procured large quantities of sensitive microelectronics for use by the Russian military.

Arthur Petrov, a dual Russian and German national, made his initial appearance in a Manhattan federal court, following his extradition from the Republic of Cyprus for criminal offenses related to export control violations, smuggling, wire fraud and money laundering. Petrov was arrested on 26 Aug 2023, in the Republic of Cyprus at the request of the US.

“As demonstrated by today’s extradition, just because you’re located overseas doesn’t mean we won’t find you,” said Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Matthew S. Axelrod of the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). “If you procure sensitive US microelectronics with military applications for Russia, you risk the very real threat of facing justice in a US courtroom.”

Arthur Petrov has been charged with a multitude of crimes which you could read in the link below. If convicted, he is probably facing 20-years in prison. Mr. Petrov is a potential candidate for a future swap with any unlawfully imprisoned American citizen brutally being held in Russian prisons by Vladimir Putin.  

A criminal complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Source:

Office of Public Affairs | Russian-German National Extradited for Illegally Exporting to Russia Sensitive U.S.-Sourced Microelectronics with Military Applications in Violation of U.S. Export Controls | United States Department of Justice

Two Young Men Immediately Sentenced and Imprisoned for Far-Right Agitprop that Incited Vicious Rampage Against Refugees and Asylum-Seekers in the UK

Tyler Kay (26), a father of three, is at left. Jordan Parlour (28) is at right. Note the expression of contempt in Jordan Parlour’s face. He made a “raspberry” noise during his legal proceedings. Undated photos courtesy of Sky News.

Two men have been remanded to prison for inciting hatred and violence online after the Southport attack, in the first cases of their kind linked to the recent riots seen across the country. Jordan Parlour (28) was sentenced to 20 months after pleading guilty to inciting racial hatred with Facebook posts in which he advocated an attack on a hotel in Leeds.

In Northampton, Tyler Kay (26) was given three years and two months in prison for posts on “X” that called for mass deportation and for people to set fire to hotels housing asylum seekers. Authorities in the UK have arrested at least 700 berserkers since the carnage.

Jordan Parlour and Tyler Kay are the first miscreants to be charged for posting criminal messages online linked to the recent far-right violence. A UK opinion maker suggested that Elon Musk should be similarly prosecuted for hosting and enabling hate messaging through his social platform “X.”

The UK Metropolitan Police Department previously linked recent arson attacks against Ukrainian businesses in London by members of far-right extremist groups to the Russia-based Wagner Group.

Sources:

First men jailed for riot-related social media posts | UK News | Sky News

Two charged in connection with investigation into alleged offences under the National Security Act | Metropolitan Police

Two Men Charged Over Alleged Arson Attack on Behalf of Wagner Group – Bloomberg

Boar’s Head Provisions Co. Recalls to Seven Million Pounds of Ready-To-Eat Meat and Poultry Products Due to Possible Listeria Contamination

For pregnant women, listeriosis can cause miscarriages, stillbirths, premature delivery or life-threatening infection of the newborn. Fortunately, listeriosis is treatable with antibiotics.

Boar’s Head Provisions Company is recalling approximately 7,000,000 pounds of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products. Whole genome sequencing results show that a liverwurst sample tested positive for the outbreak strain of Listeria monocytogenes. Consumption of food contaminated with L. monocytogenes can cause listeriosis, a serious infection that primarily affects people who are pregnant, aged 65 or older, or with weakened immune systems.

Listeriosis can cause fever, muscle aches, headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance and convulsions sometimes preceded by diarrhea or other gastrointestinal symptoms. An invasive infection spreads beyond the gastrointestinal tract. In addition, serious and sometimes fatal infections can occur in older adults and persons with weakened immune systems.

Consumers with questions regarding the recall may contact Boar’s Head Provisions Co., Inc., Customer Service at 1-800-352-6277. Media with questions can contact Elizabeth Ward, Vice President of Communications, Boar’s Head Provisions Company at media@boarshead.com.

Sources:

Boar’s Head Provisions Co. Expands Recall for Ready-To-Eat Meat and Poultry Products Due to Possible Listeria Contamination | Food Safety and Inspection Service (usda.gov)

View full product list. View labels.

www.fsis.usda.gov/recalls

Ex-POTUS Donald J. Trump’s California Helicopter Crash Story Refuted by Witnesses

Ex-POTUS Donald J. Trump sitting on his golfcart beside his private helicopter in this undated photo. Note how well kept the golf course is.

Former President Donald Trump‘s recent story about surviving a helicopter crash landing with former California State Assembly Speaker Willie Brown in 2018 is untrue, witnesses informed the New York Times. During a recent press conference, the 2024 GOP presidential nominee claimed that Willie Brown was mean-mouthing Kamala Harris during a close brush with death together in a helicopter crash landing in California.

However, the alleged helicopter ride with Willie Brown never happened. The passenger was then-California Gov. Jerry Brown who accompanied Trump during a trip to survey damage caused by the deadly 2018 California wildfires. The former president either confused the two Browns or fabricated the story.

Current California Governor, Gavin Newsom, who also was aboard the helicopter during the 2018 flight, claimed the aircraft never made an emergency landing and that none of the passengers onboard were ever in any danger.

“I call complete B.S.,” Newsom said.

Willie Brown, now 90, told the NYT that Trump’s tale was false, confirming that he had never ridden in a helicopter with the former president, never nearly died in a crash and that he remained an “avid supporter” of Kamala Harris.

If Donald Trump, who is the oldest candidate to ever run for President was confused over his own experience, then his faculties are certainly in steep decline because Willie Brown is black and Jerry Brown is white.

Years ago North Korean supremo Kim Jong-Un tweeted that Donald J. Trump was a “mentally deranged US dotard.” The leader of the secluded Hermit Kingdom was able to find an archaic English appellation that has steadfastly clung onto the ex-President’s shoe like a long strand of soiled toilet paper after he has ambled out of the washroom.

Sources:

Trump’s Calif. helicopter crash story refuted by those cited in tale – UPI.com

https://www.businessinsider.com/what-does-dotard-mean-2017-9–

Know Justice Know Peace Amos by The Metropolitan Museum of Art is licensed under CC-CC0 1.0

Kamala Harris Must Fend Off a Three-Headed Monster for 100 Days

Cerberus was the monstrous three-headed dog that guarded the Underworld.

As mighty Hercules battled the three-headed Cerberus that guarded the gates of Hades, so must Kamala Harris combat the triple-headed threat of Donald J. Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu for the next 100 days until 5 November. The former prosecutor is dealing with three criminals who have all been indicted or convicted of crimes and each of them are desperate for a GOP victory this November.

The convicted former US 45th POTUS has the Sword of Damocles hanging over his head in the form of damaging criminal and civil litigation and he thinks winning the White House can offer him presidential immunity from his legal woes. His supporters have called for a “civil war” if Donald J. Trump loses, and the world witnessed the rabidity of his base when white supremacists stormed Capitol Hill on 6 January 2021 in an attempt to overturn the US election. An estimated 500 of these American Fedayeen Saddam (FS) deadenders have been sentenced in federal courts.

Although the Russian economy is facing 16,000 economic sanctions and surviving, the Russian Army is facing acute manpower shortages, imperiling Vladimir Putin’s dreams of establishing a Pan-Slavic Union. His plan on defeating Ukraine seems to be relying heavily on a fractured NATO, Western “Ukraine fatigue”, and a withdrawal of US support to Kiev with a Trump victory. Last year the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin’s for war crimes.

Benjamin Netanyahu has also been similarly indicted by the ICC. Moreover, he is being tried on felony corruption and bribery charges in Jerusalem, but the trial was suspended because of the war in the Gaza Strip. So, the Likud PM extends military operations against the population in Gaza while goading and provoking Iran with assassinations and rocket strikes, knowing full well the US will sacrifice her soldiers and American taxpayer dollars to defend Israel. And war with Iran or Lebanese Hezbollah will further delay Netanyahu’s nettlesome trial. During his recent trip to the US, he belittled American protestors of his Punic Gaza policy as “useful idiots of Iran.” Insulting hardworking American taxpayers who send money to Israel every year and who may have relatives in harm’s way in the Middle East thanks to him is particularly galling.  

As President Biden and his national security team focus on two of the vicious heads of Cerberus, the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz ticket will concentrate their efforts on the remaining bloviating orange-hued head for the next 100 days. And somehow behind this ferocious three-headed demon lurks Elon Musk in the shadows.

U.S. Calls on All Parties in Middle East to De-Escalate Tensions > U.S. Department of Defense > Defense Department News

ICC statement on arrest warrants of Israeli and Hamas leaders (bbc.com)

Trial of Benjamin Netanyahu – Wikipedia

Elon Musk Visits Congress As Guest Of Netanyahu (forbes.com)

Elon Musk spoke with Vladimir Putin directly, Pentagon official says | The Independent

Elon Musk is going all-in on Donald Trump | CNN Business

Mexico Rejects Ukraine’s Request to Arrest Russia’s Putin During October 2024 Visit

The International Criminal Court in the Hague, Netherlands.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has rejected a request from Ukraine to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin if he attends the 1 October 2024 inauguration of President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, her country’s first elected female leader. “We can’t do that. It’s not up to us,” Lopez Obrador said at a news conference on 8 August 2024.

As noted above, an arrest warrant was issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague on 17 March 2023 and the beginning reads as follows: “Mr. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, born on 7 October 1952, President of the Russian Federation, is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation (under articles 8(2)(a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute)”. 

Mexico trades in two days with the US what it trades in a whole year with Russia, so ideology seems to be paramount in this decision not to arrest Mr. Putin. The traditional left in Mexico, and throughout Latin America in general, tend to support policies that push back against “Western imperialism.”  Kremlin propaganda about “NATO aggression” and “de-nazifying Ukraine” sounds credible to the ear of Mexicans who in the mid-19th century had lost California and Texas to the Yanquis.

Whether Mr. Putin attends the inauguration in Mexico City in October remains to be seen; however, if he does go there will certainly be an awkward diplomatic moment.

Notably, during the Second World War, Mexican Air Force pilots proudly served with the US against Japanese forces in the Pacific Theater of Operations (PTO). The 201st Fighter Squadron was known by the nickname Águilas Aztecas or “Aztec Eagles” and they suffered eight casualties during their brief participation in the war as American allies.

Lastly, should Kamala Harris win this November, North America will have two female presidents at the same time, a first for both countries and the continent.

Sources:

Mexico Rejects Ukraine’s Request To Arrest Russia’s Putin During Visit (rferl.org)

Situation in Ukraine: ICC judges issue arrest warrants against Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova | International Criminal Court (icc-cpi.int)

López Obrador’s flirtation with Russia risks worsening US-Mexican relations | Brookings201st Fighter Squadron – Wikipedia

201st Fighter Squadron – Wikipedia

Russia Spying on Ireland

Years of experience have honed the tradecraft of the Irish security services.

Russia is one of a small group of hostile foreign states carrying out spying operations with a malign intent in Ireland, the assistant commissioner of her national police force disclosed in a recent radio interview. The Irish Garda is closely monitoring certain individuals suspected of espionage activities and cooperating closely with foreign partners.

The Irish security services are well-seasoned and capable of dealing with HOIS (Hostile Intelligence Services) and Known or Suspected Terrorists (KSTs) and are no doubt monitoring far-right extremist groups that might be linked to the Kremlin. But Ireland’s overall military defensive capabilities are questionable. Ireland has a policy of neutrality, is not a member of NATO, and has one of the lowest rates of defense spending across the EU (approx. 0.2% GDP). Although the experienced and hearty Irish soldier has served successfully and honorably in UN Peacekeeping Operations (PKO) for decades, the Global Firepower Index (GFI) ranks Ireland 94 out of 145 countries surveyed.

In January 2024 the Russian Navy announced that it would conduct war games approximately 155 miles off the coast of Cork, concerning Dublin (and NATO) that the operation could be cover for an attack on transatlantic fiber-optic oceanic cables that serve as essential infrastructure for communications between North America and Europe. But it was Irish fishermen that dissuaded the Russian Fleet from conducting the drills in those waters, arguing that they might endanger their livelihoods.

Ireland has generously taken in approximately 100,000 Ukrainian refugees since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion and has recognized Russia’s war against Ukraine as genocide.

Sources:

Russia involved in spying in Ireland, Irish official says (kyivindependent.com)

How a group of Irish fishermen forced the Russian Navy into a U-turn | CNN

After Russian ships menaced off its shores, Ireland wonders if it should beef up its military spending | America Magazine

Irish Far-right Hate and Extremist Groups identified in report (irishcentral.com)

2024 Ireland Military Strength (globalfirepower.com)

Ireland | United Nations Peacekeeping

Nashville Man Arrested in Alleged North Korea Weapons Scheme

Locations of North Korea’s WMD production and R&D sites.

Matthew Isaac Knoot (38) of Nashville, TN, was arrested for his efforts to generate revenue for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK or North Korea) illicit weapons program, which includes weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The defendant used a “Laptop Farm” to deceive companies into thinking they had hired a US-located worker.

Knoot participated in a scheme to obtain remote employment with US and UK companies for foreign information technology (IT) workers, who were actually North Korean actors. Knoot allegedly assisted them in using a stolen identity to pose as a US citizen; hosted company laptops at his residences; downloaded and installed software without authorization on such laptops to facilitate access and perpetuate the deception; and conspired to launder payments for the remote IT work, including to accounts tied to North Korean and Chinese actors.

Such IT workers can bring in as much as $300,000 a year while generating hundreds of millions of dollars annually for the North Korean Defense Ministry and others involved in illicit weapons development schemes. If convicted, Knoot faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, including a mandatory minimum of two years in prison on the aggravated identity theft count.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Source:

Office of Public Affairs | Justice Department Disrupts North Korean Remote IT Worker Fraud Schemes Through Charges and Arrest of Nashville Facilitator | United States Department of Justice

Four Wisconsin Hotel Workers Charged with Murder After Pinning Man Down who Pleaded or his Life

Warning: Some viewers may find the video disturbing.

Video link: Unlimited L’s on X: “JUST IN: Prosecutors charged four men with felony murder in the death of D’Vontaye Mitchell, ruled a homicide due to “restraint asphyxia and toxic effects of cocaine and methamphetamine” Police said that D’Vontaye Mitchell caused a disturbance and was pinned down by four hotel https://t.co/VMysLJvg81” / X

In a case eerily similar to when former police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd on 25 May 2020, four men have been charged with killing D’Vontaye Mitchell, an unarmed black man, who pleaded for his life before dying. Four employees working at a Hyatt Regency Hotel in Milwaukee, WI are facing felony murder after pinning a man down to the floor as he repeatedly pleaded for help. Arrest warrants were issued for the hotel security guard Todd Erickson, front desk worker Devin Johnson-Carson, bellhop Herbert Williamson and security guard Brandon Turner. Surveillance footage from 30 Jun 2024 shows D’Vontaye Mitchell desperately running into the lobby’s hotel and then into a gift shop before entering the women’s restroom.

Turner, who was off duty at the time, pulls Mitchell into the lobby by his shirt, and the two begin to scuffle when Turner punches him six times, knocking him to the floor. Mitchell can be seen on video as he’s dragged and held down on his stomach for eight or nine minutes before police and emergency responders arrived, according to the Associated Press. One employee told investigators that Mitchell was struggling to breathe and was repeatedly pleading for help.

These four individuals allegedly took away someone’s life and most likely threw away their own lives, and for what? Protecting the Hyatt Regency Hotel?  Each face a maximum of 15 years and 9 months in prison if convicted. Black men already have a 2.5x more chance of being killed by a police officer in the US, now men of color must worry about uncontrollably angry white hotel workers.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Sources:

4 Wisconsin hotel workers charged with murder after pinning man down | HNGN – Headlines & Global News

d41586-020-01846-z.pdf (nature.com)

First cases of Oropouche detected in Europe after two deaths in Brazil

The shaded areas in Cuba are Oropouche Virus hotspots.

The first cases of the Oropouche Virus have been detected in Europe, days after two women died in Brazil after contracting the virus that is spreading rapidly in Latin America. Two people who had recently travelled to Cuba reported to hospitals with symptoms of Oropouche disease on their return to Italy, the Lancet reported. The first patient, a 26-year-old woman, suffered fever and diarrhea after returning to Verona on 26 May from a two-week trip to Cuba’s Ciego de Ávila province. The second traveler, believed to be a 45-year-old man, who travelled to Havana and Santiago de Cuba in early June, quickly developed symptoms before seeking medical help in Fori, northern Italy, on 7 June.

Both travelers made a full recovery.

This incident is the first time an Oropouche infection has been diagnosed outside of Latin America. The virus, which is spread by infected midges and mosquitoes, has already been linked with stillbirths and birth defects, raising fears of a repeat of the Zika virus outbreak that swept the continent beginning in 2015. Brazil has recorded 7,284 cases of Oropouche this year, up from 832 in 2023. Researchers report that climate change and the increase in the movement of human populations risk making viruses once confined to the tropical belt endemic in higher latitudes.  To date, there is no evidence of human-to-human OROV transmission and there are no vaccines to prevent or medicines to treat Oropouche. The best way for humans to protect themselves from Oropouche is to prevent bug bites when traveling to Cuba or other tropical areas.

Sources:

First cases of Oropouche detected in Europe after two deaths in Brazil (msn.com)

https://www.paho.org/sites/default/files/styles/document_thumb/public/pdfpreview/148527-2024-aug-03-rra-oropouche-phe-final.png?itok=NgDOg7nD

Why Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is the right VP for America

The new addition to the Walz family, a rescue cat named Honey (Undated photo).

Kamala Harris made a superb and wise choice when she asked Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be her Vice-Presidential running mate. Besides being a former high school teacher and successful junior varsity football coach, US Congressman, and a retired US Army National Guard Command Sergeant-Major (CSM), the popular Mr. Walz is a compassionate family man who cares about animals.  Governor Walz also has personal experience in China, having taught classes and honeymooning there, learning rudimentary Mandarin along the way. The retired CSM is credited with first describing ex-POTUS Donald J. Trump and other Republicans as “weird,” making him the perfect opponent for former USMC corporal JD Vance who publicly confessed that he told his seven-year-old son to “shut the hell up about Pokemon” while he was on a phone call with ex-President Donald J. Trump.

Sources:

The Tim Walz cheat sheet: 10 things to know about Harris’s VP pick | US elections 2024

| The Guardian J.D. Vance Told His Son to ‘Shut The Hell Up’ About Pokemon While Talking to Trump (thedailybeast.com)

UN Warning: Infectious Diseases Spreading Rampant in the Gaza Strip

Unidentified Palestinian boy scavenging in the Gaza Strip (undated photo)

“People in the Gaza Strip are facing yet another peril: Hepatitis A is spreading including among children,” reports the UN amid chronic water scarcity and the incapability to manage sewage and waste. Since the start of the war in October 2023, UNRWA reported 40,000 cases of the disease, compared to only 85 in the same period before the conflict erupted. Hepatitis A is an inflammation of the liver caused by a virus that is transmitted through ingestion of contaminated food and water, or through direct contact with an infectious person.

“The waste management system in Gaza has collapsed. Piles of trash are accumulating in the scorching summer heat. Sewage discharges on the streets while people queue for hours just to go to the toilets,” said a UN official. When combined, they “make a dangerous recipe for diseases to spread.” Humanitarians are also preparing for the worst-case scenario of a polio outbreak following the recent discovery of the disease in sewage samples.

Meanwhile, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich recently implied that he believes blocking humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip is “justified and moral” even if it causes two million civilians to die of hunger, but the international community won’t allow that to happen.

“We bring in aid because there is no choice,” Smotrich said at a conference in Yad Binyamin hosted by the right-wing Israel Hayom outlet. “We can’t, in the current global reality, manage a war. Nobody will let us cause two million civilians to die of hunger, even though it might be justified and moral, until our hostages are returned.”

Sources:

 Humanitarian Aid

Smotrich: It may be ‘justified’ to starve 2 million Gazans, but world won’t let us | The Times of Israel

Federal Jury Convicts New York Resident of Acting as a Covert Chinese Agent

Chinese espionage against the West is on a “par with Russia.”

Shujun Wang (75), a naturalized US citizen of Chinese descent, pretended to be opposed to the Chinese government so he could get close to prominent activists seeking to bring democracy, reform and human rights to China. This academic and author helped start a pro-democracy organization in Queens, NY that opposes the current communist regime in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Shujun Wang was recently convicted in the Eastern District of New York (EDNY) on all four counts charging him with acting and conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government without prior notification to the US Attorney General, criminal use of identification and making false statements to law enforcement.

“This defendant infiltrated a New York-based advocacy group by masquerading as a pro-democracy activist all while covertly collecting and reporting sensitive information about its members to the PRC’s intelligence service,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “Today’s verdict demonstrates that those who would seek to advance the Chinese government’s agenda of transnational repression will be held accountable.”

Feng He, Jie Ji, Ming Li and Keqing Lu are Ministry of State Security (MSS) officials who remain at large. Shujun Wang is scheduled to be sentenced on 9 January 2025 and faces up to 25 years in prison.

So pervasive is the espionage threat of China’s MSS to the US, the FBI opens up two credible counterintelligence investigations daily. Moreover, in 2021 CIA established the China Mission Center (CMC) , strictly dedicated to dealing with Beijing.

Source:

Office of Public Affairs | Federal Jury Convicts New York Resident of Acting as a Covert Chinese Agent | United States Department of Justice

https://www.ft.com/content/282aed88-de6e-4356-8a46-5718943853c4

Ammunition Vending Machines Coming to Colorado

In America, accidental shootings among children occur nearly every other day.

Nearly six million residents populate the Centennial State and as of 2021, 149,382 people were issued a firearms license. An estimated 45.1% of adults report that they live in a home with guns. In an average year, 805 Colorodans die and 360 are wounded by these firearms. Including mass shootings, death rates in the Centennial State are the highest in two decades at 18:100,000.  Thanks to the recent introduction of these ammunition vending machines, or “death distributors” to Colorado, these casualty counts will only increase.

In 2021, there were a total of 48,830 firearm deaths in the US, an increase of 3,608 or 8% from 2020. Today the American people are suffering from war-like casualty counts dispersed throughout the homeland. Until each state in America restricts firearms and ammunitions sales, within a few years the annual number of firearms deaths will equal, then surpass 58,220, the total number of US military fatal casualties in Vietnam.  

By contrast, Canada with a total population of approximately 40 million people, suffered a grand total of 297 firearms-related homicides nationwide in 2021, a rate of 0.78 per 100,000 population.

Sources:

Ammo Vending Machine Now In Service in Colorado, Here’s Where (k99.com)

Gun-Violence-in-Colorado-2.9.2021.pdf (everytownresearch.org)

US gun deaths (usafacts.org)

15. Colorado – Gun map: Ownership by state – statistics and rates (cbsnews.com)

https://www.thetrace.org/2023/06/children-gun-safety-accidental-shootings/

Firearms and violent crime in Canada, 2021 (statcan.gc.ca)

UN: Armed Gangs Rape 40 Victims Per Day in Haiti

Undated photo of masked gang members in Haiti

The UN is calling for international reinforcements for Haiti as the country continues to spiral into anarchy. Between April and June 2024, at least 1,379 people were killed or wounded in gang warfare and 428 people kidnapped. An average of 40 women per day are raped in parts of the country. 400 Kenyan police officers trained by Canada are combatting powerful street gangs in Haiti now.

The sexual abuse of women and girls has become alarmingly commonplace, with gangs using rape as a weapon to stamp their authority on communities before shooting them dead and burning their corpses or dumping them in rubbish. Children as young as three have allegedly been raped in homes and refugee camps. In addition to the abhorrent levels of violence and anarchy, anthrax and cholera cases have been reported in parts of Haiti, which has now become the Gaza Strip of the Caribbean. US Coast Guard migrant interdiction operations are in a state of emergency as thousands of Haitians (and Cubans) continue to try and make their way to US shores.

Sources:

UN: Armed Gangs Rape 40 Victims Per Day in Haiti

Health authorities attentive to cases of anthrax in Haiti

https://www.paho.org/en/documents/paho-situation-report-n4-haiti-humanitarian-situation-april-1-2024

https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2023/february/coast-guard-migrant-interdiction-operations-are-state-emergency

During the decades-long despotic rules of “Papa Doc” Duvalier followed by his son “Baby Doc,” the feared Tonton Macoutes enforced their brutal rule against the helpless population. Today, armed gangs in masks have taken the place of these secret policemen. (Undated photo,)