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Former Allies and Intelligence Partners Moving Away from Untrustworthy US

As to be expected, America’s former allies are distancing themselves away from the Trumpf regime. As Russian President Vladimir Putin, indicted for war crimes by the ICC at the Hague announced in Nov 2024 with the Trumpf election win: “There will be a new world order.”

The US stopped sharing satellite intelligence with Ukraine and vetoed a G-7 resolution against tracking Russia’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers and stopped all offensive cyber-operations against Russia. Washington has quietly informed NATO partners that it won’t be participating in military exercises after 2025.

Russian spokesman Dimitry Peskov said on Russian state media “The new (US) administration is rapidly changing all foreign policy configurations. This largely coincides with our vision.” A senior Conservative MP has said it is time to consider the “possibility” that the US president is a Kremlin asset. Graham Stuart, a former Foreign Office minister, issued the comment in response to Donald Trumpf’s decision to pause all military aid to Ukraine. Elon Musk’s super-AI computer “Grok 3” calculated with a 75-85% likelihood that Trumpf is “a Putin-compromised asset.”

Is there anybody on the planet that does not know Donald Trumpf is in the pockets of the Kremlin?

Canada, which will have a new Liberal Prime Minister standing for federal elections later this year, had deliberately chose a “position of dependency” over the years that relied on American intelligence to inform everything from domestic criminal investigations to foreign policy. Canada provided the Five Eyes specific “niche missions” based on geography or the access held by Canadian agencies.

“The entire foundational philosophy of the Canadian intelligence system, in terms of its capabilities, in terms of its focus, was based on reliable, ongoing, massive access to Five Eyes intelligence, primarily from the US,” said Wesley Wark, a senior fellow with the Center for International Governance Innovation.

“The old great bargain is no more. We’re going to have to do more of the intelligence heavy-lifting ourselves.”

Ottawa receives intelligence from CSIS, the RCMP and her allies.

In Germany, the largest economy in Europe, the Bundestag’s top intelligence experts are calling for a European spy network, warning that Europe can’t rely on intelligence from the US amid growing uncertainty.

Konstantin von Notz, chairman of the German parliament’s intelligence oversight committee, urged Germany and its European allies to establish their own intelligence-sharing network. “We need a European intelligence cooperation format — call it ‘Euro Eyes’ — to ensure that strong states can exchange information swiftly and securely on clear legal grounds. There is no way around increasing our own intelligence capabilities in the future.”

BND HQ, Berlin, Germany. (Photo: Jan Kleihues / Stefan Müller) https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index

To Followers of the Watch, none of this should come as a surprise. As New York Yankee legend catcher Yogi Berra—an athlete with ten World Series rings– once said ‘It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.’ What we can predict is that Canada, the UK, and Germany will increase their budgets for intelligence collection, as well as cultivate new partners. Their intelligence veterans will be wary of new allies because of the potential that they too maybe compromised by the Kremlin. South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan may be the least harmed by the Trumpf regime as his focus seems to be on Beijing. Australia and New Zealand will continue their reliance on faraway UK.  

Mark Carney will be the next Prime Minister of Canada after being sworn in by the Governor-General, and then face a general election. He will be one of the new leaders of the Free World, alongside UK PM Keir Starmer, France President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. For his sake, and the sake of Canada, let us hope there is nothing to this photograph below of Mr. Carney with the thoroughly despicable sex trafficking Ghislaine Maxwell. Note that several AI-generated photographs of Mark Carney with the lurid sex fiend Jeffrey Epstein have been circulating on the internet in an attempt to smear him. The Prime Minister-designate had previously answered questions about this authentic photograph below and denied being friends with Ghislaine Maxwell.    

Then-governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney, second from left, attends the Wildness Festival with his wife Diana Fox, far right, and others including Ghislaine Maxwell, second from right, at Cornbury Park in Oxfordshire, England, on 10 Aug 2013. Disgraced and disgusting Maxwell is wearing an AAA all-access VIP badge. Hmph. (Photo: Adrian Sherratt / Shutterstock)

This is more like it:

Sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell (USMS #02879-509) was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment and is now in Tallahassee FCI.  (Photo: US Justice Department)

Sources:

Senior Conservative MP says UK must consider possibility ‘Trump is a Russian asset’ – Politics.co.uk

Canada looks to shift intelligence sharing away from diverging U.S. | National Post

US curtails Ukraine access to satellite imagery – POLITICO

German lawmakers float ‘Euro Eyes’ spy network amid uncertainty on US intel – POLITICO

US vetoes G7 proposal to combat Russia’s shadow fleet of oil tankers | US politics | The Guardian

Information: The United States abandons planning of military exercises in Europe

Elon’s Grok Chatbot Calculates Probability That Trump Is a Russian Asset

Kremlin says Trump’s foreign policy ‘largely coincides’ with Russia’sMark Carney faces questions on photos with Ghislaine Maxwell | Toronto Sun

Russia-Ukraine Update

Ukraine Launches Massive Drone Strike on Moscow

According to the BBC, this appears to be the largest drone attack that Ukraine has launched so far in and around Moscow. It involves dozens of drones, some of them targeting residential areas.

The governor of the Moscow region says one person has been killed and three others wounded. There are reports of damage to apartment blocks, as well as a large fire at a car park.

Four Moscow airports have been forced to close temporarily.

The Moscow mayor says Russian air defenses shot down more than 60 drones on their approach to the capital. Russia’s defense ministry has said overall 337 Ukrainian drones were either intercepted or destroyed – in Moscow and nine other regions.

These attacks happened hours before scheduled peace talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, between USSECSTATE Marco Rubio and a Ukrainian delegation.  The man below represents the US:

Russian Spy Ring Wanted Unimaginable Death for Bulgarian Journalist

Christo Grozev (Undated photo: Reuters)

A journalist targeted by a Russian spy ring said it had a list of “assassination methods” to kill him that was “beyond any imagination.” Christo Grozev told the BBC the group “fantasized” about his death, and talked about using a sledgehammer and even a “suicide bomber” to target him. The Bulgarian, who has published several exposes on Russia with colleague Roman Dobrokhotov, said several incidents showed the pair were tracked across Europe and had agents “breathing down our necks.” Grozev was speaking after three Bulgarian nationals were found guilty last week of spying for Russia one of the largest foreign intelligence operations in the UK. Bulgaria joined NATO in 2004 and the EU in 2007.

Russian Officials Give Meat Grinders to Mothers of Soldiers Killed in Ukraine

Mothers and spouses of Russian soldiers killed in the meat grinder in Ukraine awarded literal meat grinders. $150 Luxper MG-2000S Meat Grinder. Look at the smiles on the faces of the apparatchiks. (Photo: Social media)

Local officials from Russia’s ruling party have caused controversy by presenting mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine with gifts of meat grinders, an appliance widely used to describe Russia’s brutal tactics on the frontline. The United Russia party in the northern Murmansk region posted photos on social media showing officials smiling as they visited bereaved mothers with gifts of flowers and boxed meat grinders for International Women’s Day on Saturday, which is widely celebrated in Russia. The post included a message thanking the “dear mums” for their “strength of spirit and the love you put into bringing up your sons.” It said the gifts were the initiative of the women’s wing of the party.

Soviet Army human wave attack during the Second World War. The Chinese PLA will NOT be copying this tactic in any conflict with Taiwan, the US, or remotely North Korea. (Photo: Russia Beyond via russiainphoto.ru)

Mother Russia has lost 875,070 soldiers since their brutal invasion of Ukraine in Feb 2022. Ukrainian intelligence estimates that 1,000 Russians are killed daily in human wave or “meat attacks” or other operations. And here the ruling party presents bereaved mothers with meat grinders. You can’t make this stuff up. Regarding the Bulgarian being stalked by Russian assassins is no surprise, and neither is the cruelty they intended to inflict on him.  The Ukrainian drone attack serves as a symbolic gesture that despite the withdrawal of US intelligence and support, Kiev is still capable of reaching out and striking Moscow.  

Sources:

Russian spy ring plans to kill journalist were ‘beyond imagination’

Russian officials criticised for giving meat grinders to mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine | Russia | The Guardian

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c51ypekv9xwt

Chinese Espionage Continues

Three US Army Soldiers Netted

Two US Army soldiers stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington and a former soldier in Oregon have been accused in separate indictments of sharing classified military information with China. One spy was tasked with obtaining instructions and manuals for Bradley and Stryker armored vehicles used by the Army and selling them to his accomplice, who was paid by unknown people in China.

A third soldier has been accused of obtaining and selling about 20 government hard drives, some marked “SECRET” and “TOP SECRET,” to buyers in China.

Of interest to China’s intelligence in these cases is information on military exercises between the US and her allies in the Indo-Pacific region, the operation of strategic rockets and missiles, and the devastatingly effective HIMARS multiple-rocket launcher.

A M142 HIMARS launches a rocket toward Bakhmut on 18 May 2023, in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. Kiev has released footage it says shows a strike on Russian positions. (Photo: Serhii Mykhalchuk / Getty Images)

These soldiers sold out their country for 30 pieces of silver. Their future is prison time and dishonorable discharges.

Bluetooth Chip Used by Billion Devices Compromised

FTA:

“The ubiquitous ESP32 microchip made by Chinese manufacturer Espressif and used by over one billion units as of 2023 contains undocumented commands that could be leveraged for attacks.

The undocumented commands allow spoofing of trusted devices, unauthorized data access, pivoting to other devices on the network, and potentially establishing long-term persistence.

This was discovered by Spanish researchers Miguel Tarascó Acuña and Antonio Vázquez Blanco of Tarlogic Security, who presented their findings yesterday at RootedCON in Madrid.

“Tarlogic Security has detected a backdoor in the ESP32, a microcontroller that enables WiFi and Bluetooth connection and is present in millions of mass-market IoT devices,” reads a Tarlogic announcement shared with BleepingComputer.

“Exploitation of this backdoor would allow hostile actors to conduct impersonation attacks and permanently infect sensitive devices such as mobile phones, computers, smart locks or medical equipment by bypassing code audit controls.”

The researchers warned that ESP32 is one of the world’s most widely used chips for Wi-Fi + Bluetooth connectivity in IoT (Internet of Things) devices, so the risk is significant.

China, the “world’s factory,” insiduously infused their massive Chinese intelligence apparatus with their manufacturers. This backdoor allows Chinese spies to infiltrate millions of devices. Using the “thousands of sand grains” approach to intelligence collection, Beijing analysts can produce a mosaic on anything they have collected on. The enemy will be able to target and collect on specific individuals by link analysis of telephone numbers, internet purchases, public records, imagery, or email addresses. Beijing can also launch offensive operations through these devices such as hidden computer viruses.  

Sources:

Office of Public Affairs | Active-Duty and Former U.S. Army Soldiers Arrested for Theft of Government Property and Bribery Scheme | United States Department of Justice

Undocumented commands found in Bluetooth chip used by a billion devices

Canada: Preventable Measles is Spreading

(Photo: BBC / SPL)

The Government of Canada informs:

As of 6 Mar 2025, Canada has recorded 227 measles cases, many requiring hospitalization. The majority of cases are unvaccinated or under-vaccinated children who have been exposed in their communities, such as in social events, daycares, schools, and healthcare settings. Notable outbreaks occurred in New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec, and Manitoba. Measles is contagious and can cause serious illness, with complications including pneumonia, deafness, brain inflammation, and, in severe cases, death.

Measles is preventable with vaccines; however, Canada sadly suffers from a minority cult of anti-vaxxers. Measles is also spreading in the US and other parts of the world as you have read here on Coriolanus.

Sources:

Canada: Measles Spreading

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/anti-vaxxers-among-canadians-of-all-demographics-poll-finds-it-could-be-your-neighbour-thats-the-scary-thing

Former Philippines President Duterte Arrested for Crimes Against Humanity

The ex-president once said “he would be happy to kill three million drug addicts.” (Undated photo from social media)

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested at Manila’s international airport on order of the ICC in connection with a crime against humanity case filed against him. Duterte was arrested after arriving from Hong Kong and police took him into custody on orders of the ICC, which has been investigating the mass killings that happened under the former president’s deadly crackdown against illegal drugs. In Dec 2018, the country’s Commission on Human Rights (CHR) estimated the number of drug-war killings could be as high as 27,000.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who succeeded Duterte in 2022 and became entangled in a bitter political dispute with the former president, has decided not to rejoin the global court. But the Marcos administration has said it would cooperate if the ICC asked international police to take Duterte into custody through a so-called Red Notice, a request for law enforcement agencies worldwide to locate and temporarily arrest a criminal suspect.

ICC arrest warrants remain active for Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes. These two ICC defendants have blood on their hands, like Rodrigo Duterte.

Indictments are merely allegations. All defendants are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Sources:

Rodrigo Duterte, former Philippines president, arrested on ICC warrant over drug killings – CBS News

www.icc-cpi.int

Cat Food Recall in Washington State and Oregon Because of Avian Flu

A company based in Washington state is voluntarily recalling its frozen raw pet food for cats over concerns of it being contaminated with avian flu. The recall includes Wild Coast Raw’s 16-ounce and 24-ounce frozen Boneless Free Range Chicken Formula, which was distributed to pet food retailers in Washington State and Oregon. The Washington State Department of Agriculture said multiple cats have been infected with the avian flu after consuming the food. One had to be euthanized. Officials have also encouraged pet owners not to give their animals raw milk because of the possible presence of the virus.

“As of 6 Jan 2025, there have been 66 confirmed human cases of H5N1 bird flu in the US since 2024 and 67 since 2022. A Louisiana man is the first person in the US who has died as a result of an H5 infection. Outside the US, more than 950 cases of H5N1 bird flu have been reported to the WHO; about half of those have resulted in death.”

Sources:

Cat Food Recall in Washington, Oregon Because of Avian Flu

www.cdc.gov

Incidents Plague White House and Trumpf Properties

USAF fighter jets intercepted a civilian aircraft flying in the temporarily restricted airspace near Trumpf’s Florida home Sunday, bringing the number of violations to more than 20 since he took office on 20 Jan. The incident took place as Trumpf finished a round of golf at his West Palm Beach private club.

The USSS shot an armed man near the White House. Andrew Dawson (27) was armed with a knife and a gun when he was confronted by agents just after midnight on Sunday, one block from the West Wing. The suspect was subsequently transported to a hospital, and his condition remains undisclosed. No USSS agents or other individuals were injured during the incident.

Trumpf’s golf course destroyed Scottish dunes he promised to preserve. (Photo: AFP)

Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland was vandalized with pro-Palestinian graffiti. A protest group claimed responsibility. Red paint was scrawled across walls at the course with the slogans “Free Gaza” and “Free Palestine” as well as insults against Trumpf. “Gaza is not for sale” was also painted on one of the greens and holes dug up on the course.

DOGE fired thousands of federal employees, nearly 8.4 million Americans hold multiple jobs to make ends meet, and President Trumpf was out golfing again. Trumpf has spent 14 days golfing (28% of his tenure so far). Hopefully problems like the Carolina fires, avian flu, the Ukraine war, or rising prices don’t keep Trumpf from the links.  

The White House physician once declared Trumpf to be in excellent health.

Sources:

More Americans have two jobs or more, a sign of inflation’s burden

Statement Regarding March 9, 2025, Officer-involved Shooting | United States Secret Service

Trump golf course destroyed Scottish dunes he promised to preserve – Raw Story

Trump’s golf resort in Scotland vandalized with pro-Palestine graffiti, World News – AsiaOne

trumpgolftrack.com

VPOTUS JD Vance Blatantly Lied on ‘X’ That His Three-Year-Old Daughter Was Menaced by Pro-Ukrainian Protestors

JD Vance complained on “X” that his 3-year-old daughter was menaced by a group of protesters shouting “Slava Ukraini.” He even went so far as to call some of them “sh*t.” JD Vance and his daughter were well-protected in a cocoon of USSS SAs as you can see in the video below. JD Vance just couldn’t double-talk his way out of his hypocrisies and then lied about the encounter.

The peaceful protestors– mostly women– got JD Vance to admit that Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

JD Vance’s cousin, Nate, who volunteered in Ukraine, has said that the Trumpf administration is acting like “useful idiots” for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Nate Vance is reported to have spent three years fighting in Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. When he criticized aid to Ukraine, I told myself that it was because he had to please a certain electorate, that it was the game of politics,” Nate Vance told Le Figaro. “But what they did to Zelensky was an ambush of absolute bad faith. “Donald Trumpf and my cousin clearly believe they can placate Vladimir Putin,” he added. “They are wrong. The Russians are not about to forget our support for Ukraine. We are Vladimir Putin’s useful idiots.“

Transvestite VPOTUS JD Vance’s cynical use of a child reminded Coriolanus of a Stephen King novel which became a famous movie decades ago.

In Stephen King’s 1979 novel The Dead Zone, Republican Congressman and presidential hopeful Greg Stillson used a child as a human shield. The novelist’s choice of “Stillson” for a name was clever as it sounds like “stillborn.” Actor Martin Sheen plays the scoundrel Republican in the 1983 film of the same name. Coriolanus recommends both the novel and the film.

Below, the two on the right are who Americans elected in Nov 2024 to lead their country:

Sources:

JD Vance Lies That 3 Year Old Daughter Was Chased

JD Vance’s cousin – who volunteered in Ukraine – brands VP and Trump ‘useful idiots’ to Putin | The Independent

No One Wanted This Vocal Black Cat at the Shelter Until…

Europe Step Ups for Ukraine

Activists display a 500-square-metre banner in support of Ukraine in Brussels, 6 Mar 2025. (Photo: EPA-EFE / OLIVIER MATTHYS)

Dedicated Followers of the Watch, Coriolanus is doing his utmost best to keep up with the madness of King Trumpf and the repercussions of his destructive policies on behalf of Vladimir Putin. Not to be neglected is Felon Musk, the worst person in the world, who will receive a dedicated post about his nefarious activities in the near future.    

Vladimir Putin with his protege in Helsinki, Finland on 16 Jul 2018. (AP Photo / Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Trumpf’s Underhandedness

Two of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s political rivals have confirmed that they have been in contact with members of US President Donald Trumpf’s entourage. Secret discussions have been held about holding snap presidential elections in Ukraine that could potentially unseat President Volodomir Zelensky before a final peace deal is signed.

Yulya Tymoshenko and Petro Poroshenko are currently much less popular in Ukraine than Zelensky. Just 10% of Ukrainian voters said they would support Poroshenko in a presidential election, while only 6% said they would vote for Tymoshenko. The former commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, who is currently serving as the Ukrainian ambassador to London, has been Zelensky’s main political rival for some time now, with 21% of Ukrainians surveyed saying they supported him.

Trumpf has also indicated a desire to revoke the temporary legal status for around 240,000 Ukrainians in the US who fled Putin’s brutal Feb 2022 invasion. His cruelty knows no bounds.

This underhanded back-channel operation to undermine President Zelensky is right out of the Republican playbook. In 1968 Richard Nixon’s aides convinced Saigon to stop the Paris Peace talks and in 1980 Ronald Reagan’s aides convinced Tehran to release the American embassy hostages after Jimmy Carter lost the 1980 Presidential elections. Both nefarious plots promised a good deal for cooperation; both Saigon and Tehran complied. In this case, Vladimir Putin and US business interests would be the beneficiaries of a pro-Kremlin leader in Ukraine.

The US has halted intelligence sharing with Kiev, threatening Ukraine’s ability to strike Russian targets amid the full-scale war, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said during a TV interview. “Trumpf had a real question about whether President (Volodymyr) Zelensky was committed to the peace process, and he said let’s pause,” Ratcliffe said. The move follows Washington’s decision to freeze all military aid supplies to Ukraine following a public spat between Zelensky and Donald Trumpf. The decision was likely intended to put pressure on Zelensky in peace talks.

American volunteer soldiers fighting in Ukraine say that they feel “betrayed” by their own country after the US halted military aid and stopped sharing intelligence with Kiev.

Alexis Antilla is an American volunteer fighting in Ukraine. (Photo: CBS, circa 2022)

“(US President Donald Trumpf) betrayed every one of us,” a US Army veteran, who goes by the callsign ‘Goldfish’ said.

And on the frontlines, a Ukrainian sniper named “Lektor” achieved a remarkable feat.

Ukrainian Army sniper “Lektor” in an undated photo.

A soldier of the Main Intelligence Directorate named “Lektor” in a duel with a Russian sniper killed him at a record 2,069 meters. That’s an incredible two kilometers.

According to Lektor, the chances of hitting the target from such a distance were low.

“This distance is the limit for the caliber of weapons with which I worked. Plus, it was a moving target. There is very little chance of hitting a moving target, given that the bullet flies at that distance of 4 seconds, the target moves, there is one wind near me, and a completely different one near the target, which affects the trajectory of the bullet. But that’s how it turned out. Everything is right, it turns out, he did it,” the sniper notes.

At the same time, Lektor added that after this shot, he could not leave his position for a long time, as the enemy was trying hard to detect it.

France Responds

Paris has signaled they will provide intelligence to Ukraine following this unsurprising stab in the back from Putin’s protege. Paris has approximately 100 military and commercial satellites in orbit.

Artist’s rendition of a Comsat NG satellite. (Image: Thales Alenia Space)

More ominously, France will consider extending the protection of its nuclear arsenal to its allies said French President Emmanuel Macron, while warning that Europe needs to be ready for the US to not “remain by our side” in the Ukraine-Russia war.

“I’ve decided to open the strategic debate on the protection by our deterrence of our allies on the European continent,” he said in a live broadcast on his official social media channels. Macron stressed the need for Europe to continue assisting Ukraine and strengthen its own defense. “Our nuclear deterrence protects us, it is complete, sovereign, French from end to end,” Macron said of France’s nuclear arsenal. “This protects us much more than many of our neighbors.”

The Suffren can sail autonomously for 70 days at a depth of 350m. (Photo: AFP)

France is ranked 7 out of 145 countries in terms of military strength by the Global Firepower Index (GFI). They possess an arsenal of 290 nuclear warheads with the range to strike Moscow. Roughly 80% of the warheads are for delivery by three ballistic missiles submarines. Decades ago, France established its own nuclear arsenal so as not to depend on the US and it seems they were right. In a nuclear exchange with Russia, Paris would be atomized within minutes. This is the conundrum of “Mutually Assured Destruction” (MAD). Look where Trumpf and Putin have taken the world.

The EU Responds with ReArm Europe

Excerpt from EU President Ursula von der Leyen statement:

“We are living in the most momentous and dangerous of times. I do not need to describe the grave nature of the threats that we face. We are in an era of rearmament. And Europe is ready to massively boost its defense spending. Both, to respond to the short-term urgency to act and to support Ukraine but also to address the long-term need to take on much more responsibility for our own European security. ReArm Europe could mobilize close to EUR 800 billion Euros for a safe and resilient Europe. We will continue working closely with our partners in NATO.” Signed, EU President Ursula von der Leyen.

Europe and NATO are working around the US, as Washington under Trumpf is now viewed as a hostile power under occupation by the Kremlin. The UK, Turkiye, and Canada expressed willingness to deploy peacekeepers to Ukraine within a “coalition of the willing.” Europe will adjust to the new security and intelligence paradigm, although this will be difficult for some of the member states as they relied on the US “Rock of Gibraltar” for nearly 80 years.

Sources:

Trump team meets with Zelensky’s political rivals in apparent bid to remove him from power — Novaya Gazeta Europe

Ukraine war latest: US halts intelligence sharing with Ukraine, CIA director confirms

Press statement by the President on the defense package

Macron says France to consider protecting European allies with its nuclear arsenal | CNN

www.globalfirepower.com

‘He betrayed every one of us’ – US soldiers in Ukraine speak out after Trump’s military aid halt

www.bbc.com

Canada ‘ready and able’ to join Ukraine peacekeeping force, defense minister says | CBC News

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/politics/government/trump-planning-to-revoke-legal-status-of-240-000-ukrainian-refugees-key-developments/ar-AA1AmTXY

Canada Punches Back Against Trumpf

Ontario Premier Doug Ford along with PM Justin Trudeau have been leading the national charge against Trumpf.

Canada, a G-7 nation that enjoys $53,431.20 per capita GDP, is not taking Trumpf lightly. Ontario Premier Doug Ford slapped a 25% surcharge on US-bound electricity, which will affect New York, Michigan, and Minnesota. Ontario cancelled its $100-million contract with Felon Musk’s Starlink as well. The contract, signed in 2024, was intended to provide Starlink satellite internet to 15,000 remote homes and businesses in northern Ontario.

A $100 million contract for 15,000 remote homes? What in blazes did Felon Musk almost get away with in Ontario?

Premier Doug Ford also removed all US alcohol and liquor from its official stores run by the LCBO. The LCBO is the largest single purchaser of alcoholic beverages on the planet, serving a population of nearly 16 million people.

The province of Manitoba proudly followed suit. These moves will result in a loss of $1 billion to American companies. Please click link:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1897348869815722066

CEO Brown Forman, the manufacturer of Jack Daniel’s Whiskey in Tennessee, said that Canadian provinces removing American liquor from its shelves is “worse than a tariff.” In 2024, the “Volunteer State” solidly voted for Donald Trumpf as you could see below.

In 1998, Frank Sinatra was famously buried with a pack of Camel cigarettes, a Zippo lighter, and a bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey. A mourner quipped, “Here, Frank, you may need this.”

To the west, British Columbia is hitting back at economic threats from the US by introducing tools to impose fees on US truck traffic travelling through the province on the way to Alaska.

Premier David Eby said the tolls may or may not be used, but warned that Canada needs to have tools available to fight the tariffs coming from America’s Godzilla.

British Columbia Premier David Eby

Eby made the announcement on the lawn of the Legislative Assembly building in Victoria, which had been draped with a large Canadian flag, while members of his party chanted “Canada” in the background.

Of course there are other countermeasures Canada and her provinces are individually and jointly pursuing against Trumpf but time constraints preclude listing them all. Coriolanus has a suggestion for Canadian sports franchises that value their patriotism over profits.

If the Toronto Blue Jays baseball franchise boycotted the 2025 Major League Baseball (MLB) season which opens soon, this would likely result in a multimillion-dollar loss for the US economy according to AI calculations.

Total Estimated Cost to the US Economy

Direct Game Revenue Loss: $152 million (tickets, concessions, etc.)

Local Economic Impact: $228 million to $380 million (multiplier applied)

Broadcast/Sponsorship Loss: $30 million to $50 million (US share)

Tax Revenue Loss: ~$30 million

Total Loss Range for US: $410 million to $612 million

Similarly, if the Toronto Raptors boycotted the 2025 NBA season, AI calculations estimate that the US economy might see a loss of $300-$500 million.

In a trillion dollar economy these amounts may seem small, but they will have some economic impact. More importantly, the psychological impact will be much more effective. Plus, MLB and the owners will have to scramble and find 162 replacement games (out of a total 2,430 games), which will upset their schedules. Since most owners are wealthy oligarchs overcharging fans for beer, hot dogs, and hamburgers at the stadiums, why not give them the headache?

Sources:

Ontario Removes All American Alcohol From Store Shelves | Crooks and Liars

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/ontario-starlink-1.7475817

Ontario slapping 25% surcharge on U.S.-bound electricity Monday, Ford says | CBC News

B.C. planning legislation that could toll trucks travelling to Alaska, Eby says | CBC News

Mavericks Owner’s $100 Million Trump Donation Dwarfs All Other Sports Owner Political Giving

US National Security Weakens as FBI and CIA Culled Again by Trumpf

FBI Senior SA James Dennehy (Photo: Sarah Yenesel / EPA, via Shutterstock)

The top agent at the FBI’s New York field office has been forced out of his job, following clashes with Justice Department officials over Trump administration directives.

The veteran agent, James E. Dennehy, was told to retire from his role leading the FBI’s largest field office, delivering another blow to the senior ranks of the bureau. Mr. Dennehy, who had been running the office since Sep 2024, had angered Trumpf administration officials by supporting bureau leaders who resisted turning over the names of those who investigated the 6 Jan 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Mr. Dennehy had also angered Attorney General Pam Bondi by what she claimed was the New York office’s failure to turn over all the investigative files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the financier charged with sex trafficking who killed himself in prison. Ms. Bondi provided no evidence to back up her assertion.

Mr. Dennehy’s departure comes after weeks of turmoil at the FBI that saw nearly a dozen executives at headquarters removed unexpectedly, leaving a leadership vacuum and confusion on the seventh floor of the Hoover Building in Washington, DC.

Mr. Dennehy, who served for seven years as a USMC officer before joining the bureau in 2002, spent most of his career investigating or supervising counterintelligence cases, which, in essence, involved chasing (Russian or Chinese) spies rather than building criminal cases.

Underqualified sycophant John Ratcliffe is the ninth director of CIA. (Photo: CIA)

The government cuts ordered by the Trump administration have hit CIA. Some officers hired in the last two years have been summoned to a location away from the agency’s headquarters in Langley, VA, and asked to surrender their credentials to security personnel.

Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the reports that newly hired agents were being fired were troubling and would “undercut our national security.”

In fact, some young agency officers working inside Langley have been hesitant to answer their phones, worried that it will be a call from security asking them to report to an off-site location. The firings have devastated morale and cut productivity.

CIA officers are formally on probation for four years. But the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has been focused on paring back more recent hires.

The first two years of CIA officers’ careers are a time of intense training, and the government spends large amounts of money to teach them spy tradecraft, languages, and other skills.

More experienced officers who transfer to CIA from other intelligence agencies also face a lengthy probationary period. Senator Warner stated that if the layoffs affect those officers, it would effectively waste years of training investment.

These culls are designed to rid the US Intelligence Community (IC) of non-conformists, those who are not loyal to Trumpf or minority employees, using the guise of cost-cutting. As a former member of the USIC, Coriolanus worked with several CIA officers, some would go on to become friends. Your author is appalled that the US government has become a cat’s paw to the Kremlin, thanks to Donald Trumpf, and the damage he is causing to the US is irreparable. These are important lessons for Ottawa, London, Paris, Brussels, Kiev, and Tokyo, Seoul: Remain vigilant to foreign interference and espionage lest you follow America’s hideous path.

Sources:

North Carolina Man Pleads Guilty to Attempting to Illegally Export Sensitive Technology to China

David C. Bohmerwald, the owner of a Raleigh-based electronics resale business called Components Cooper, Inc., pled guilty to attempting to export accelerometer technology with military applications to China without a license, in violation of the Export Control Reform Act (“ECRA”), and faces up to 20 years in prison when sentenced. 

Ultra Low Noise Miniature Triaxial Accelerometers

Bohmerwald (63) purchased 100 accelerometers from a US-based electronics company and then attempted to export the devices to a company in China. These accelerometers have a wide array of applications ranging from research and development of products to defense uses. When used for military applications, accelerometers are crucial to structural testing, monitoring, flight control, and navigation systems. The technology can help missiles fly more accurately and measure the precise effect munitions have on structures. A license is required to export the accelerometers to China.

The US based electronics company notified law enforcement due to Bohmerwald’s suspicious and unusual purchase request. Among other things, when Bohmerwald purchased the accelerometers, he claimed that they were for an end user in Missouri. In fact, when federal agents contacted the Missouri company, they denied having an order pending with Bohmerwald and his business, Components Cooper.

After Bohmerwald received the accelerometers, he dropped two parcels at a local FedEx shipping store. One of the packages was addressed to a business in China. An agent with the Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security, detained the package and found it contained 100 accelerometers. The agent confirmed that there were no relevant licenses on file to support the export of the items. In addition, Bohmerwald falsely listed the value of the package at $100, when the true value was nearly $20,000. When interviewed by agents, Bohmerwald admitted to acquiring the technology on behalf of a Chinese-based company, knowing that the technology was export-controlled, and knowing export of the items required a license.

As long as Beijing has the manpower, funds, and resources, Chinese espionage will continue unabated as stealing technology can be cheaper than research and development (R & D). Moreover, as long as there are traitors in the West who are willing to sell out their country for money, as you have read about here on Coriolanus, the USIC (and allies) will have their hands full for some time.

Source:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ednc/pr/raleigh-man-pleads-guilty-attempting-illegally-export-sensitive-technology-china

Israel Shin Bet: Netanyahu’s Policies Paved the Way for 7 Oct 2023 Attacks

ICC-indicted Benjamin Netanyahu has been trying to fire the director of the Shin Bet, Ronen Bar. (Photo: Maya Alleruzzo / AP)

Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet, has said Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies were among the underlying causes of the 7 Oct 2023 attack in which Hamas and other militants killed about 1,200 Israelis and seized 251 captives. In its report on the 7 Oct 2023 attack, Shin Bet acknowledged its own responsibility, admitting it was aware of warning signs that Hamas was planning an operation, but the agency did not grasp the scale, timing, and location of the planned attack. Netanyahu’s acquiescence in the flow of funds from Qatar to Gaza was designed to divide Palestinians by boosting Hamas at the expense of the Palestinian state.

The gunmen attacked to seize Israeli hostages because thousands of Palestinians were being held in security detention for years without trial or hearing. Amnesty International reported many Palestinians were tortured in those military prisons. With no way to get these captives freed, Hamas took hostages for a prisoner swap. Two trades took place in Nov 2023 before Bibi unleashed the full-scaled Nakba during the entire year of 2024, which led to his indictment as an alleged war criminal by the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague. In 2024, the “Crime Minister” continued the Nakba every single day to ethnically cleanse Gaza, delay his corruption trial, and weaken the Democrats in the 2024 election. He partially succeeded.

Hundreds of Palestinian detainees in Israeli military detention have been subjected to mistreatment and torture.

Palestinian children in IDF detention. (Undated photo)

Is it any wonder that armed gunmen from Gaza went on a rampage to abduct Israelis in order to conduct a prisoner trade?

Israel Security Agency director Ronen Bar speaks at the World Summit on Counter-Terrorism at Reichman University in Herzliya, 11 Sep 2022. He poses a threat to Netanyahu far greater than the Iranians or Palestinians. (Photo by Avshalom Sassoni / Flash 90)

Spokesperson Eli Feldstein is seen at an event with PM Benjamin Netanyahu during the Nakba against the Palestinians in Gaza. He is under investigation by the Israel Attorney-General’s office for the alleged theft and leaking of classified IDF documents to contacts in Qatar. (Photo: IDF)

Coriolanus visited pre- and post-apartheid South Africa and can testify that Netanyahu followed a similar strategy the Afrikaaners used to divide their opposition. The Afrikaaners secretly funded the Zulu Inkatha Freedom Party who were opposed to the African National Congress as they were predominantly from the Xhosa tribe. Using tribal warfare, Pretoria kept the two massive groups at each other’s throats for years, much like the disunified Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza. Over time, the white minority government realized their hold on power was untenable, so they released Nelson Mandela and transitioned away from apartheid with a minimum amount of bloodshed.

Dubbed the “Crime Minister” by his political opposition and “Israel’s curse” by a Canadian newspaper, Netanyahu has an outstanding international arrest warrant out for him issued by the ICC. His wife Sara and he are embroiled in a corruption trial and “Bibi” faces a serious inquiry into his handling of the 7 Oct 2023 surprise attack by Palestinian resistance fighters.

All indictments are merely allegations. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Sources:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/05/israeli-security-agency-says-netanyahus-policies-paved-the-way-for-2023-hamas-attack?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=bluesky&CMP=bsky_gu

https://www.timesofisrael.com/report-5-months-before-oct-7-shin-bet-head-told-netanyahu-war-in-gaza-inevitable/

Israel/OPT: Horrifying cases of torture and degrading treatment of Palestinian detainees amid spike in arbitrary arrests   – Amnesty International

AG orders criminal probe into Netanyahu’s aides’ ties to Qatar | The Times of Israel

Investigators Assess if Netanyahu’s Aides Forged Oct. 7 Phone Records – DNyuz

US Stops Sharing Air Quality Data From Embassies Worldwide

The US government will stop sharing air quality data gathered from its embassies and consulates, worrying local scientists and experts who say the effort was vital to monitor global air quality and improve public health. The State Department said its air quality monitoring program would no longer transmit air pollution data from embassies and consulates to the EPA’s AirNow app and other platforms, which allowed locals in various countries, along with scientists around the globe, to see and analyze air quality in cities around the world.

The US embassy’s hourly smog updates have irked Beijing officials—and spurred mitigation measures. (Photo: Kevin Frayer / Stringer / Getty Images)

Air Quality Index (AQI) rooftop sensors on top of the US Embassy in Beijing provided genuine data on the massive extent of air pollution in China where the 2008 Olympics were held. This is America’s Godzilla censoring any info or discussion about the environmental degradation that the wealthy are creating with their global factories. There was no harm in sharing this information, so this is also just being spiteful and nasty, like Godzilla.

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/05/world/us-air-quality-pollution-intl-hnk/index.html

https://www.science.org/content/article/rooftop-sensors-us-embassies-are-warning-world-about-crazy-bad-air-pollution

Unvaccinated Americans Dying or Sickening from Preventable Illnesses

The New Mexico Department of Health said that the state had its first measles death. The victim tested positive for the measles virus after death and the official cause of his demise is under investigation. The adult, who was unvaccinated, didn’t seek medical care before dying.

Measles is spreading rapidly in West Texas, with 159 cases reported so far. Most of the cases are in Gaines County. In neighboring Lea County, New Mexico, ten cases have been identified. A school-age child in Texas last week was the first person to have died in the outbreak and the first to have died from measles in the US in a decade. Most of the people who have gotten the measles in Texas haven’t been vaccinated, including the child who died. Mexican authorities warned their citizens to avoid Texas.

The Minnesota Department of Health reported a case of tetanus in an unvaccinated child under ten years of age in 2024. The child experienced pain and stiffness in the neck, and he could not breathe on their own. They were intubated and admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). The child had no visible wounds, and parents were not aware of any recently healed wounds. Tetanus is a rare, but a very serious vaccine-preventable disease that causes significant illness and can be fatal. Also called lockjaw, it is a disease caused by bacteria that affects the body’s muscles and nerves. Tetanus cannot be spread from person to person and vaccination is the best way to prevent it. Luckily, the child survived.

The CDC reported that there are at least 32,000 cases of pertussis (“whooping cough”) in the US. This is another disease that is preventable with vaccination.   Antibiotics can treat the bacterial infection, but only if it’s caught within the first few weeks, before the arrival of the exhausting, painful cough. Then, the only treatment is comfort care with plenty of rest and fluids while the infection runs its course.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr made a small fortune as an anti-vaxxer before joining the Trumpf regime. He vowed to “Make America Healthy Again.” (Photo: Rebecca Noble / Getty Images)

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote in a recent editorial that “vaccines not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity.” But Kennedy, a longtime notorious anti-vaccine activist, stopped short of calling for parents to vaccinate their children. “The decision to vaccinate is a personal one,” he wrote.

RFK Jr. has claimed that cod liver oil, budesonide, and clarithromycin have shown “very, very good results” as remedies for measles. Infectious disease experts, however, say these treatments don’t have much medically sound backup and are not intended as measles remedies. The only proven way to prevent measles is through the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Two doses are 97% effective.

Each of these unnecessary deaths and illnesses are the result of anti-vaxxer propaganda. If these idiots wish to die or allow their families to die because of this gross misbelief, so be it. But they are also harming innocent people. When COVID-19 was raging, false prophets touted the effectiveness of ivermectin (a horse de-wormer) as an alternative to vaccination. The number of preventable COVID deaths under Trumpf was incalculable. Now the effectiveness of cod liver oil as a treatment for measles is spreading. Avian flu is spreading globally and Trumpf cut resources at CDC and NIH, as well as withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization (WHO). We can only guess how many needless deaths all of this chaos will cause.

Sources:

Second measles death reported in ongoing outbreak

Minnesota officials report tetanus case in unvaccinated child in 2024

RFK Jr. Claims Cod Liver Oil, Steroids, Antibiotics Can Treat Measles—Here’s What Doctors Say

Whooping cough cases in the US are the highest they’ve been in a decade | CNN

Helpful Cats

Sanctioned Russian Firms Sold $2BN Air Defense System to Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia agreed to pay sanctioned Russian arms companies more than two billion euros for the Palantir air defense system, according to leaked documents. Trade data shows that some equipment was delivered in 2023, the year after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Details about arms sales to Saudi Arabia and other countries are included in leaked emails and internal documents from Roselectronics, which were analyzed by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).  

The Pantsir is a self-propelled air defense missile and gun system which can shoot down missiles, airplanes, helicopters, aerial bombs, and drones, like the recent Azerbaijani Airlines flight.

The documents show that Saudi Arabia ordered 39 trucks capable of shooting down aircraft, as well as ten vehicles housing “command posts” to direct the operations of combat vehicles. Also included in the purchase were hundreds of missiles, as well as additional vehicles.

A sanctioned Rostec subsidiary called United Instrument Manufacturing Corporation, was appointed to oversee the supply of the radio communications systems that were also purchased under the contract.

Efforts were made to conceal the identities of the clients.

For example, in the de-coded documents, foreign customer “012” stands for Algeria. In 2022, Russia was going to supply Algeria with its Acacia-E automatic aerospace defense system.

Foreign customer “364” of the Post-3M radio reconnaissance station in 2021 was Iran. Foreign customer “818″ of the Polyana-D4M1 command and control system is Egypt. Project 82P is Saudi Arabia.  The “82” is a part of the country code for Saudi Arabia (682), and the letter “P” refers to the product name — Pantsir.

And these Russian arms sales provide geo-political influence at the UN.

Saudi Arabia voted for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine while promising to provide Ukraine with $400 million in humanitarian aid. However, Riyadh abstained from voting on more than half of the UN resolutions regarding Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Other countries doing arms deals with the Kremlin either voted in Russia’s favor or abstained: Algeria, Egypt, India, Uganda, Belarus, China, Uganda, Ethiopia.   

President Trump’s first phone calls included one to bully the Danish PM over selling Greenland to the US. His other call was to Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman (MBS), the notorious murderer of Saudi dissident/journalist Jamal Khashoggi and financial backer of Jared Kushner, his son-in-law. Whatever matters these two malefactors discussed, it wasn’t in the best interest of international peace, justice, or the masses.  

Sources:

Sanctioned Russian Firms Sold $2B Air Defense System to Saudi Arabia, Leaked Documents Show | OCCRP

European arms imports nearly double, US and French exports rise, and Russian exports fall sharply | SIPRI

A Peek at the Poland-Belarus Border

Per CIA, Belarus has a population of 9.5 million people and GDP per capita is $27,700. Poland, an EU and NATO member has a population of over 39 million people and GDP per capita is $44,400.

For almost four years, Poland has been on a permanent state of high alert because of Belarus, which stands accused of luring asylum seekers from far-away destitute nations and pushing them en masse towards the border with the purpose of sowing chaos and polarising Polish society. During its six-month presidency of the EU Council, Poland presented a program under the slogan “Security, Europe!” that broke down the concept of security into seven different dimensions, one of them was migration.

And thanks to Belarusian Supremo Aleksandr Lukashenko, here’s what the Polish-Belarusian border looks like:

(Copyright Euronews)

The Polish-Belarusian border is equipped with thermos-vision cameras and sensor cables. (Copyright Euronews)

This road connecting the two countries is firmly blocked. (Copyright Euronews)

Poland argues its actions, such as turning away migrants, are necessary to defend the EU’s external borders. (Copyright Euronews)

Warsaw has urged the EU to think of migration as a security issue. (Copyright Euronews)

A Polish-German border crossing.

And the man responsible for this, Aleksandr Lukashenko, is set to win a seventh term in an election the opposition calls another “farce”. Amnesty International described the Belarus elections as being held in a “climate of total fear and repression.”

Just one of the thousands of Lukashenko’s political victims:

Imprisoned Belarusian human rights activist and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski sits in a defendant’s cage during a court session in Minsk on 5 Jan 2023. (Photo: Vitaly Pivovarchyk / BelTA Pool Photo via AP)

Here is a Lukashenko protestor from 2020. (Photo: Tut.by via AP)

Recent protests against Lukashenko resulted in a brutal crackdown with more than 65,000 arrests and thousands beaten, bringing condemnation and sanctions from the West. His iron-fisted rule since 1994 — Lukashenko took office two years after the demise of the Soviet Union — earned him the nickname of “Europe’s Last Dictator,” relying on subsidies and political support from close ally Russia. The Belarussian dictator never bothered to change the name of the KGB like Russia and Ukraine did after the fall of the USSR.

(Image: Nataliia Shulga / Al Jazeera)

The 71-year-old Lukashenko, who only knows about life from the former Soviet Union, is afraid of his own people as well as losing power. And people in his proximity are afraid. A former minister said that officials sit with their heads down during meetings with him, avoiding eye contact with him out fear.

Sources:

At the Poland-Belarus border, security and migration merge into one | Euronews

Belarus strongman set to win a 7th term in an election the opposition calls a farce – ABC News

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/01/belarus-authorities-hold-presidential-election-in-climate-of-total-fear-and-repression/

“Jacuzzi of Death” for Sealife in Gulf of Mexico

Imagery courtesy of The Sun UK

The “Jacuzzi of Death” is filled with tragic creatures that have been killed in its toxic waters. This horrifying spot in the Gulf of Mexico is known to kill everything that goes inside it.

The dead zone is a 100-foot-wide “bottomless” pocket filled with toxic substances.

This concoction of methane, excessively salty water, and hydrogen sulphide means nearly everything that crosses its path is killed.

The murderous underwater lake sits nearly 3,000 feet below the Gulf of Mexico.

Its briny waters are so dense the death trap has been dragged to the bottom of the gulf and cannot mix with the rest of the ocean.

The “Jacuzzi of Death” is 3,000 ft below the Gulf’s surface.

A crab in the toxic zone.

Nearly all creatures that unknowingly enter the area die.

This death pool is four times saltier than the ocean waters around it, which ensures these bodies never mix.

Images reveal how these toxic waters slowly disintegrate the unfortunate crabs and fish that end up in the death zone.

This dangerous spot was found by scientists ten years ago when they realized creatures would enter never to be seen again. The death zone was dubbed a “jacuzzi” as the temperature of this pool is warmer than the waters around it. Mussels are the only living creature that can survive in these toxic waters. Colonies of bacteria have also been able to survive in this underwater spot.

The unfortunate crab being pickled.

The “Dead Zone” in the Gulf of Mexico has been growing for decades. Pollution, sewage treatment plants, fertilizer chemicals from farm land, beef production, oil toxins, and other sources along the Mississippi River wash into the Gulf of Mexico, causing algae blooms that deplete oxygen from the water, endangering marine life.

Analysis and imagery: NOAA

Oil Toxins Pervasive in Gulf of Mexico

Some analysts assess that we are the last generation to enjoy genuine, safe ocean seafood. Unless marine pollution is stopped, the analysts are correct. President Trump ordered the Gulf of Mexico be renamed the Gulf of America, but the AP style guide continues referring to it by its original name, as will Coriolanus.  

Sources:

Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone

https://www.usf.edu/marine-science/news/2020/oil-toxins-pervasive-in-gulf-of-mexico.aspx

Inside the ‘Jacuzzi of Death’ where anything that DARES enter will be killed & left to disintegrate in toxic waters | The US Sun

Gulf of Mexico ‘dead zone’ larger than average, scientists find | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Thieves Use Explosives to Steal Gold Artifacts from Dutch Museum

The Helmet of Cotofenesti, pictured in the Romanian Museum of Antiquities, is strikingly decorated with mythological beasts and a pair of eyes. (Getty Images).

Four ancient gold artifacts were stolen from a Dutch museum in an overnight raid in the early hours of Saturday morning. Thieves used explosives to blast their way into the Drents Museum in Assen, which was hosting an exhibition of priceless Romanian jewellery made from gold and silver. They stole three Dacian spiral bracelets and the exhibit’s central piece – the strikingly decorated Helmet of Cotofenesti, which was crafted almost 2,500 years ago.

All four stolen items are of huge cultural significance to Romania, with the Helmet of Cotofenesti considered a national treasure.

Romania’s ministry of culture has promised to take all possible steps to recover the stolen items, which had been loaned to the Dutch museum from Bucharest.

Police are also investigating a burning vehicle which was found on a nearby road, which they suspect may be linked to the burglary.

No arrests have been made, but authorities suspect multiple individuals were involved. Police have called global policing agency INTERPOL to help with the investigation. Please see next story.

This was a professional operation. These artifacts are valueless to the thieves, so they are either working for an unscrupulous oligarch or they intend to sell them back to Bucharest for millions of dollars. The stolen items could have easily been taken out of the country by boat or ship.   

Source:

Thieves use explosives to steal gold ‘masterpieces’ from Dutch museum

INTERPOL Publishes First Ever Silver Notice Targeting Criminal Assets

Not all Notices are available to the general public, like war criminal Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu or Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Red Notices issued on behalf of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague.

From INTERPOL:

“INTERPOL has published its first-ever Silver Notice to help trace and recover criminal assets, combat transnational organized crime and enhance international police cooperation.

The Notice, requested by Italy, seeks information on the assets belonging to a senior member of the mafia.

The Silver Notice is the newest addition to the Organization’s suite of color-coded Notices and Diffusions, which enable countries to share alerts and requests for information worldwide. It is being launched as part of a pilot phase involving 52 countries and territories, which will run at least until November 2025.

Through Silver Notices and Diffusions, member countries can request information on assets linked to a person’s criminal activities such as fraud, corruption, drug trafficking, environmental crime, and other serious offenses. It will facilitate locating, identifying, and obtaining information about laundered assets including properties, vehicles, financial accounts and businesses. Countries may subsequently use such information as a basis for bilateral engagement, including bilateral requests for seizure, confiscation or recovery of assets, subject to national laws.

Countries and territories participating in the pilot phase:

Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Burundi, China, Colombia, Congo, Ecuador, Estonia, France, Gabon, Georgia, Gibraltar (UK), Guinea, Hungary, India, Iraq, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea (Rep. of), Kuwait, Latvia, Malawi, Malta, Moldova, Mozambique, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Trinidad & Tobago, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zambia, Zimbabwe.”

Source:

INTERPOL publishes first Silver Notice targeting criminal assets

Vietnam: 30 Children Poisoned with Pink Colored Rodenticide

Several students of Phu Lam Primary School in northern Vietnam picked up some bottles of pink water solution in a ball bag next to the school gate, then shared and drank it together, poisoning themselves.  

The patients were hospitalized, suffering with symptoms of fatigue, nausea, vomiting yellow fluid, dull abdominal pain around the navel, and some seizures. Doctors determined that the children were poisoned with fluoroacetate rodenticide, based on the results of toxicity tests and clinical diagnosis. The children are being closely monitored and treated while police in Tuyen Quang province investigate the case

Images provided by the family. Photo: BVCC

Last year, twenty Lai Chau children were hospitalized on suspicion of accidentally ingesting rat poison like the one pictured below.

A nefarious actor deliberately left that ball bag with the pink juice near the school. As previously posted on Coriolanus, there is a pattern of food poisoning incidents in Vietnam.

Sources:

Nearly 30 students were poisoned with rodenticides – VnExpress Health Newspaper

20 Lai Chau children hospitalized on suspicion of eating the wrong rat poison – VnExpress Health Newspaper

US/Canada Auto Recall: 80,000 Kia Vehicles for Improper Air Bag Deployment, Improper Wiring

2024 Kia Sorento

Automaker Kia America is recalling more than 80,000 vehicles due to floor wiring beneath the front passenger seat that can become damaged and prevent airbags and seat belts from deploying properly.

Damaged wiring can also cause an unintended side curtain air bag deployment, according to documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The recall covers 80,255 2023-2025 Niro EV, Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV), and Hybrid vehicles.

To remedy the situation, dealers will inspect, replace and reroute the floor wiring assembly, as necessary, for free. In addition, dealers will install wiring covers. Owners will be notified by letters mailed in Mar 2025.

The recall follows one in November, when Hyundai and Kia recalled over 208,000 electric vehicles to fix a transistor in a charging control unit that could be damaged and stop charging the 12-volt battery. That in turn could cause loss of drive power, increasing the risk of a crash.

Sources:

Kia recalls more than 80,000 U.S. autos due to improper air bag deployment and improper wiring | AP News

RCLRPT-25V024-8197.PDF

Hyundai, Kia recall EVs to fix problem that can cause power loss | AP News

Transport Canada Recall – 2025011 – KIA – Canada.ca

Maine Coon Cat Becomes Accidental Frequent Flyer After Being Left on Plane by Mistake

Margo Neas holds her cat Mittens at her home in Melbourne, Australia, 22 Jan 2025. (Photo: Rod McGuirk / AP)

A Maine coon cat named Mittens became an accidental jetsetter this month when her cage was overlooked in a plane cargo hold and she made three trips in 24 hours between New Zealand and Australia.

Mittens (8) was booked for one-way travel with her family from Christchurch, New Zealand to their new home in Melbourne, Australia on 13 Jan. But owner Margo Neas said Wednesday that as she waited for Mittens to be unloaded from the plane’s freight area, three hours passed with no sign of the cat.

It was then that ground staff told Neas the plane had returned to New Zealand — with Mittens still on board. The return trip involves about 7.5 hours in the air.

Mittens, not usually an affectionate pet, is “the cuddliest she’s ever been,” said Neas.

Source:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/22/travel/mittens-cat-australia-new-zealand-intl-hnk/index.html

International Arrest Warrants Finally Issued for Benjamin Netanyahu

The Israeli government did its utmost to fight the indictment and issuance of the arrest warrant but failed to stop justice at the Hague. The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued the following statement:


“The Chamber issued warrants of arrest for two individuals, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr. Yoav Gallant, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024, the day the Prosecution filed the applications for warrants of arrest.”

“The arrest warrants are classified as ‘secret’, in order to protect witnesses and to safeguard the conduct of the investigations.”

Any nation that is a signatory to the ICC has an obligation to execute these arrest warrants.

The US, India, Indonesia, and China are not state parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court which founded the ICC in 2002. The US has observer status at the ICC where Special Counsel Jack Smith completed an assignment prosecuting PIFWCs (Persons Indicted For War Crimes) before investigating Donald Trump.


An arrest warrant was also issued for Palestinian resistance leader Mohammed Deif who the IDF killed without trial and Yoav Gallant, the ex-Defense Minister. The Israeli PIFWCs can therefore safely travel to those four countries without fear of being detained.


This was a long time coming and a national black eye for Israel. Moreover, at the nearby International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague, several countries have charged the State of Israel with committing genocide. See official charging document at link below. But none of these actions dissuaded Netanyahu from continuing his Murder-Death-Kill campaign against Arabs. At time of publication, the IDF killed 133 victims in AKZ-L, AKZ-G, and AKZ-S.

Palestinian residents and civil defence teams launch a search and rescue operation following an Israeli attack on the Remal Clinic on al-Wehda Street in Gaza City (Photo: Dawoud Abo Alkas / Anadolu Agency)

The Israeli Death Forces pounded northern Gaza, killing 88 Palestinians in two waves of attacks on Beit Lahiya and the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City (AKZ-G). The IDF also killed nine in Tyre (AKZ-L) and 36 in Palmyra (AKZ-S).

The Likud Party and the IDF have killed at least 43,985 Palestinians and wounded 104,092 since 7 Oct 2023. An estimated 1,139 Israelis were killed during the attack to seize hostages for a prisoner swap; more than 200 were taken alive.

In AKZ-W, the IDF continued ethnic cleansing operations, arresting four Palestinians arrested near West Bank’s Hebron, Nablus. Israeli forces stormed the nearby village of Qabalan and tore down a barracks.

In Lebanon (AKZ-L), at least 3,558 people have been killed and 15,123 wounded in IDF since Oct 2023. UNICEF stated that increased Israeli violence is the ‘horrific new normal’ for children in Lebanon.

The Likud Party and the IDF are robbing the happiness, health, and future of Arab children within arm’s length of their US-provided weapons.

Members of a family rest in a tent after fleeing their home in Lebanon. (Photo: UNICEF/Fouad Choufany)

Meanwhile the US Senate voted overwhelmingly against three resolutions sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) that would have blocked the sale of certain US weapons to Israel. Even this token measure failed.

And, of course, the US cast the single veto against a Gaza ceasefire resolution at the UN Security Council supported by 14 of the 15 UNSC members. US representative Ambassador Robert Wood said that the US could not support an unconditional ceasefire unless it was tied to releasing the Israeli hostages being held in Gaza by resistance fighters. This statement mirrors Likud Party policies.

Tor Wennesland, the out-going Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative of the Secretary-General stated bluntly without naming the US: ‘We are at the point where diplomacy has failed.’

To no one’s surprise, US President Joe Biden called the ICC war crimes arrest warrant for Netanyahu “outrageous” and vetoed a ceasefire initiative at the UNSC. Biden and the Democrats will be out of office in two months, just like in 1968 when Hubert Humphrey and his coterie were ingloriously kicked out over the Democrat’s failed policies on Vietnam. “Crime Minister” Benjamin Netanyahu will maintain his firm grip on power while receiving enormous amounts of lethal aid from the hard-working American taxpayer. The IDF will continues its vindictive Nakba across several Arab Killing Zones (AKZ). Over 50,000 Arabs will be killed by 1 Jan 2025. While the Cold Warrior got it right dealing with the Kremlin these past three years, Joe Biden just didn’t get it at all dealing with Israel. We trust President Biden enjoys his retirement next year.   

Sources:

LIVE: Israel kills dozens in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria; US defends UNSC veto | Israel-Palestine conflict News | Al Jazeera

United States vetoes Gaza ceasefire resolution at Security Council | UN News

https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-state-palestine-icc-pre-trial-chamber-i-rejects-state-israels-challenges

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

Bolivia files a declaration of intervention in the proceedings under Article 63 of the Statute

Dozens of Palestinian detainees abused, Israeli rights groups say – Ya Libnan

The Ukrainian military destroyed a location where North Korean generals could have been present alongside senior Russian military leaders.

According to Ukrainian outlet Defense Express, the use of multiple Storm Shadow missiles indicates the likely presence of high-ranking military personnel in the area or High-Value Targets (HVTs).

Debris analysis confirmed the use of UK-provided Storm Shadow missiles rather than French SCALPs.

(Credit: Will Stewart)

Defence Express highlighted the use of these cruise missiles on similar high-value military targets in the past, including a reserve command post of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

The attack underscores the strategic importance of targeting such facilities, noting the implications of Ukraine’s authorization to use Storm Shadow missiles within Russian territory.

Hours later, the Defense Secretary announced the Armed Forces will be hit by £500 million worth of cuts, The Telegraph reports.

The announcement came after the US gave Kiev permission to use ATACMS long-range missiles against Russian targets. Britain initially allowed Storm Shadows to target Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine, but it now appears Kiev has permission to use them against targets inside Russia.

The £800,000 missiles are highly effective, designed to evade air defenses and hit targets with GPS-guided precision at speeds of up to 600mph. With a range of 180 miles, these weapons can strike deep into Russian territory.

As pointed out in a previous post, the Ukrainians must “strike firstest with the mostest” against North Korean military interlopers sent to help Russia. Eliminating the North Korean High Command in Russian territory will de-moralize the troops and ruin their command and control. Kiev and NATO have two months to maximize their offensive before the next US presidential administration takes over and cuts military, intelligence, and economic aid to Ukraine.

Source:

Fiery moment ‘British Storm Shadow missiles explode inside Russia targeting underground control room’ | The US Sun

Danish Military Keeps Watch on Chinese Ship Suspected of Baltic Undersea Cable Sabotage

(Photo of the Yi Peng 3 by Mikkel Berg Pedersen / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP via Getty Images)

The Danish Defense Command is monitoring the Chinese cargo ship Yi Peng 3, which is anchored off the coast of Denmark and suspected of being involved in recent damage to fiber-optic communications cables in the Baltic Sea.

Suspicions have been growing in Western capitals that damage to two key Baltic Sea cables was likely the result of deliberate actions.

The Chinese ship, reportedly captained by a Russian naval officer, was sailing from the Russian port of Ust-Luga. The Yi Peng 3 is suspected of having traveled over the area in the Baltic Sea where the cables connecting Sweden and Lithuania are located.


European governments and Washington have not tied Moscow directly to the damage, but they have accused Russia of orchestrating “hybrid attacks” on Western infrastructure to punish European countries for their assistance and support for Ukraine’s military as it tries to repel invading Russian forces.

Some analysts say the ship may have damaged the cables when dragging its anchor. Ukraine’s allies pointed to past incidents of alleged sabotage by Moscow, especially following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which recently hit the 1,000-day mark amid devastating losses on both sides.

Authorities in states bordering the Baltic Sea are investigating the cutting of the cables — the second connects Finland to Germany — following similar suspicious occurrences in the sea in recent years. Denmark and Germany are already NATO allies and share critical intelligence with Washington.

A year ago, Finland said it couldn’t exclude that a “state actor” was responsible for damage to the Balticconnector gas pipeline and a telecommunications cable in the Baltic Sea. The pipeline was damaged by an anchor dropped from the deck of the Chinese container ship Newnew Polar Bear. The ship was not detained and sailed away. Neutral Finland joined NATO on 4 Apr 2023 out of concern of Russian aggression, as did Sweden on 7 Mar 2024.

Moscow has said such allegations are being fabricated by the West to discredit Russia. Chinese officials have not commented on the situation surrounding the Yi Peng 3.

This is a troubling sign that China seems to be working with Russia to conduct sabotage against NATO and the EU. Beijing and Moscow have been increasing their military cooperation. Chinese and Russian jets were intercepted near the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) this past 24 July 2024.

(24 Jul 2024 Photo: NORAD)

Any future Chinese military invasion against the island republic would involve severing such communications cables to isolate Taiwan. Taipei would then be forced to communicate in a less secure digital environment vulnerable to MSS interception and hacking. Two Taiwanese undersea cables were sabotaged in 2023.

(Illustration: The Yomiuri Shimbun)

The Chinese and Russians don’t have to rely on frog-men or spy subs to sabotage these cables. The Russians have a special naval sabotage unit called the GUGI. But why deploy them when Russia and China have access to hundreds of commercial ships?

Once vulnerable telecommunication or energy cables/pipes are located, the Russians or the Chinese can sever or break them cheaply with tremendous anchors like above from ships like the Yi Peng 3. The ship captain can claim ignorance if he is boarded by NATO naval personnel.

This recent maritime sabotage incident in the Baltic Sea may be a Chinese rehearsal on behalf of the Kremlin. Sabotage against gas/power lines during winter would bring hardship to energy-dependent European countries while punishing them for supporting Ukraine.


Sources:

https://www.rferl.org/a/danish-defense-chinese-ship-yi-peng-baltic-sea-cable-damage/33209361.html

https://www.norad.mil/Newsroom/Press-Releases/Article/3849184/norad-detects-tracks-and-intercepts-russian-and-prc-aircraft-operating-in-the-a/

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_213448.htm

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_223446.htm

The Future Will Look Like the Past: Texas Offers Trump 1,402 Acres for Mass Deportation Camps

Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham is offering the incoming Trump administration 1,402 acres the state purchased along the Texas-Mexico border to be used in a mass deportation operation. The Extermination Camp Auschwitz-Birkenau reportedly covered 500 acres and it was the largest camp in the Third Reich.

In a letter to President-elect Donald Trump, Buckingham said she’s offering the land “to be used to construct deportation facilities.”

So, Madame Commissioner, here is what America will look like thanks to Donald Trump and people just like you.


Jews in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Oswiecim, Poland, in Jan 1945. (Photo: EPA)


Bosnian Muslims in Serbian concentration camp circa 1995. (Photo: ICTY)

DHS camp for Hispanic migrants of separated children during Trump’s first reign of terror.


Palestinian children crammed in Israeli prison cell circa 2016. (Photo: AP)


Sub-Saharan migrants in detention center in Zawiyah, Libya, in Jun 2017. (Photo: Taha Jawashi / AFP/ Getty Images)



Loyal Japanese-Americans dining in their mess facility in an internment camp (photo circa 1942).

Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham is a true humanitarian, isn’t she?

Source:

https://abcnews.go.com/US/texas-land-commissioner-offers-acres-trump-deportation/story?id=116048937

Nationwide Food Recall: Wolverine Packing Co. Recalls 167,000 Pounds of Ground Beef Products Due to Possible E. Coli

Wolverine Packing Co. in Detroit, MI is recalling approximately 167,277 pounds of ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, the USDA Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.

The fresh products have a “use by” date of 11/14/2024 and the frozen products are labeled with production date 10/22/24.

Please check these links: View full product list. View labels.

The products subject to recall bear establishment number “EST. 2574B” inside the USDA mark of inspection. These items were shipped to restaurant locations nationwide. 

The problem was discovered when FSIS was notified by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture of a group of 15 patients who had reported that they consumed ground beef prior to their illness.

Anyone concerned about an illness should contact a healthcare provider. E. coli O157:H7 is a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause dehydration, bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps 2–8 days (3–4 days, on average) after exposure the organism. While most people recover within a week, some develop a type of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). This condition can occur among persons of any age but is most common in children under 5-years old and older adults. It is marked by easy bruising, pallor, and decreased urine output. Persons who experience these symptoms should seek emergency medical care immediately.

FSIS is concerned that some product may be in restaurant refrigerators or freezers. Restaurants are urged not to serve these products. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.

Consumers and members of the media with questions about the recall can contact Don Tanner, company representative at (248) 762-1533.

Consumers with food safety questions can call the toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 888-MPHotline (888-674-6854) or send a question via email to MPHotline@usda.gov.

For consumers that need to report a problem with a meat, poultry, or egg product, the online Electronic Consumer Complaint Monitoring System can be accessed 24 hours a day at https://foodcomplaint.fsis.usda.gov/eCCF/.

Sources:

Wolverine Packing Co. Recalls Ground Beef Products Due to Possible E. Coli O157:H7 Contamination | Food Safety and Inspection Service

Wolverine Packing Co. | Your Complete Protein Solution

French Defense Minister Calls on Arab Gulf States to Aid Lebanese Forces

Lebanese children wave French flags as they stand in front of a Lebanon’s national flag, at a ceremony to open a French-built bridge by the coastal town of Naameh, south of Beirut, on 18 Sep 2006. (Photo: Petros Karadjias / AP)

“I have reiterated to each counterpart that we need them to support the Lebanese armed forces,” French DM Sébastien Lecornu said after visits to Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Lecornu’s appeal came following talks with President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed of the UAE in Abu Dhabi.

“To secure the border between Israel and Lebanon, and to reinforce Lebanon’s sovereignty, the armed forces must be properly armed,” he added.

Israel expanded the focus of its lethal operations from Gaza to Lebanon in Sep 2024, making southern Lebanon inhospitable to Shias while devastating the country’s medical infrastructure. More than 3,510 people in Lebanon have been killed, with most fatalities recorded since late September.

Last month, a conference in Paris raised $200 million to support the Lebanese armed forces, on top of $800 million in humanitarian aid for the country.

The Lebanese military, which plays a crucial role in maintaining stability in the deeply divided country, struggles to meet the basic needs of its 80,000 soldiers. The Lebanese Army previously received financial assistance from Qatar and the US to pay salaries.

Lebanese Army Soldiers at double time. The IDF has killed at least 41 of them over the past few weeks. (Undated photo: Getty Images).

Next month French President Emmanuel Macron travels to Saudi Arabia. His visit is expected to focus on defense contracts and investment in new technologies. Perhaps he can persuade Crown Prince Muhammad Bin-Salman (MBS) to withdraw the hideous blockade on Shia Yemenis which has caused them a man-made famine. The Sunni Saudi alliance with Sunni Yemenis is what drove the Shia Houthis right into the Shia Crescent led by Tehran. This is why the Houthis fire drones at Western or Israeli shipping in the Red Sea or Gulf of Aden: Gratitude and loyalty to their Shia benefactors in Lebanon and Iran.

There was a time when France was seen as Lebanon’s big brother and protector. An estimated 23,000 French citizens live in Lebanon and more than 300,000 Lebanese reside in France.

But now Paris has become a schnorrer asking other countries to step in.

Quite simply, France has lost its political clout in Lebanon: “In 10 years French influence has collapsed,” said a political scientist. Another French diplomat noted the dramatic drop in the use of French.  

“Years ago, if you went to bars where middle-class youth gathered, you’d hear Arabic or French. If you go there now, you’ll hear Arabic and English – people under the age of 30 don’t speak French.”

Cuts in the French diplomatic corps did not help. A former senior French official describing Paris’ diplomacy as “disoriented.” Moreover, France miscalculated by supporting Sunni rebels against Syrian President Bashir al-Assad. Germany paid the price of absorbing thousands of Syrian refugees. Berlin then put a stop to France’s policy of using EU funds to favor its foreign policy, notably in Lebanon.

France “no longer has a say” in Beirut: the foreign powers that matter are Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the US.

David Schenker, once in charge of Near East affairs at the US State Department, told the Lebanese on a visit to Beirut: “‘Don’t forget! It’s the Americans and the Saudis who sign the cheques.'”

Sources:

France’s defence minister calls on Gulf states to aid Lebanese forces

Macron promises €100m for Lebanon at aid conference in Paris

From protector to onlooker: how France lost its influence in Lebanon

Laos: Methanol-Tainted Alcohol Kills Several Tourists; Dozen Stricken

Laos has a population of nearly eight million people. Real GDP per capita is $8,400 (2023 est.)

Several Western tourists died after drinking tainted alcohol in the tourist town of Vang Vieng in Laos. So far, two Danish, one unidentified American, and a British citizen have been reported dead and at least ten have been stricken. The numbers could be more.

The late lawyer Simone White (28) from the UK was travelling South East Asia. (Image: Facebook)

The parents of two 19-year-olds from Melbourne are at their bedsides in separate Thai hospitals — one in Bangkok and the other in Udon Than.

Bianca Jones (L, 19) and Holly Bowles (R, 19) below were staying at a backpacker hostel in Vang Vieng, a popular party town north of Vientiane. Their parents from Melbourne are at their bedsides in separate Thai hospitals — one in Bangkok and the other in Udon Than. Sadly, a late report indicated that Ms. Holly Bowles (R) succumbed to the poison.

(Undated images: Social media)

Vang Vieng is a popular destination for backpackers travelling in Laos. (Photo: Basile Morin via Wikimedia Commons)

Duong Duc Toan, the manager of Nana Backpack hostel displays a bottle of vodka, in the bar of the hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos, Tuesday, 19 Nov 2024. (Photo: AP / Anupam Nath)

Methanol is a clear liquid chemical that is often illegally added to alcoholic beverages as a cheaper alternative to ethanol. Consuming even a small amount can be fatal.

Westerners seeking inexpensive vacations in exotic locations should take heed of this cautionary tale. Drink cocktails from a Western-owned hotel or stick to bottled or canned beer that should be opened in one’s presence (like bottled water).

Sources:


https://apnews.com/article/australian-laos-thailand-alcohol-poisoning-a5a4035fff9ac6e0960c0ffa4a2ef576

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2024/11/22/laos-methanol-poisoning/5591732171277/


https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/fifth-person-died-methanol-laos/

CIA

Canada Fears Trump’s Mass Deportations Will Push Migrants North

RCMP officers confront migrants arriving at the Roxham Road border crossing in Quebec from New York State in 2023. (Photo: Nasuna Stuart-Ulin for The New York Times)

Story written by Matina Stevis-Gridneff and Hamed Aleaziz and extracted from the New York Times.

Canadian authorities fear that Mr. Trump’s promised mass deportations will push migrants north, while Republicans have raised alarms over a recent spike in undocumented migrants crossing from Canada to the US.

Canadian officials are planning to add patrols, buy new vehicles and set up emergency reception facilities at the border between New York State and the province of Quebec in preparation for a surge of undocumented migrants following Donald Trump’s promised mass deportation program.

The new border czar, Tom Homan, who is a native of a NY town near the US-Canadian border, called the northern border a “huge national security issue.”

Mr. Homan said “special interest aliens” — a term used for migrants with possible criminal links, including to terrorism — might use the northern border because there are “a lot less, fewer officers here.”

Concerns over the northern border highlight a key shift in Canada’s view of migration between the first and second Trump administrations. During the first, PM Justin Trudeau made clear that asylum seekers were welcome in Canada just as Mr. Trump was tightening asylum rules and introducing policies like family separation at the US southern border.

Today, the mood in Canada is very different. Many Canadians believe the arrival of more legal migrants since the end of the COVID pandemic has strained resources such as affordable housing and access to medical care. Many blamed Mr. Trudeau’s government, which is now taking steps to significantly limit legal immigration.

The Canadian authorities also intend to wield a key agreement between the two countries to send back people crossing into Canada to seek asylum. The agreement designates Canada and the US as “safe third countries” in which to make asylum claims, so when asylum seekers travel from one country to the other, they can be sent back, with few exceptions.

Provincial leaders in Quebec are also anxious about the need to harden its border with New York and have already raised complaints about the growing number of legal immigrants and refugees who have settled there in recent years.

From Oct 2023 to Sep 2024, more than 19,300 undocumented migrants were apprehended by US authorities at the border between Quebec and Vermont, NYS, and New Hampshire, a 300-percent jump from the 6,925 apprehended during the same period the previous year. The figure for Oct 2020 to Sep 2021 was just 365 people.

More than 12,000 of the 19,300 people detained were Indian nationals, underscoring a booming migrant smuggling route from India to the US via Canada.

Some of this smuggling is encouraged online. Videos circulate on TikTok from “travel agencies’’ marketing smooth transport to the US in exchange for thousands of dollars.

One TikTok ad shows a group of men with US flag emojis hiding their faces advertising a “100% safe route.” The provider says it can take travelers from Brampton, a city outside Toronto with a large South Asian population, to New York, by taxi.

Six Indian nationals, aged 19-21 years, were arrested by the US border authorities after they were apprehended on a sinking boat during a failed attempt to be smuggled into America from Canada.  They were charged with “Improper Entry by Alien.” (Undated photo: Reuters)

Despite the immigration agreement between the US and Canada, the process to turn back people claiming asylum can take weeks at a time as migrants try to find a lawyer and gather evidence to try to make a case to avoid being sent back to Canada.

With minimal resources at the northern border, few people were being sent back to Canada earlier this year. Instead, migrants were being released from custody with notices to appear in US immigration courts, which face an enormous backlog.

But starting this summer, US officials deployed more federal officials to the northern border to help process people and transferred more people into detention.

They also made a key change to make the process to return migrants to Canada easier: Starting in Aug 2024, migrants who had been detained had only four hours to find a lawyer and collect evidence for their case. Before, migrants were given at least a day to do both.

Since then, the numbers of crossings have dropped dramatically — from roughly 3,600 crossings in June to around 1,800 in September — while the number of migrants returned to Canada has increased. More than 400 people were returned to Canada between Aug and Oct 2024.

Migrants who had crossed the border from Canada, many of them from India, talking to taxi drivers in Plattsburgh, NY, who were offering rides to NYC. (Credit: Anna Watts for The New York Times)

Elise Stefanik, a Republican congresswoman from upstate NY who has been chosen by Mr. Trump to serve as UN Ambassador, called the increase in arrivals an “invasion” in a social media post.

Still, Canadian officials say they are fortifying the border and will deport migrants who attempt to enter Canada to escape Mr. Trump’s crackdown.

Xenophobia is tragically affecting both sides of the world’s largest undefended border, whose G-7 economies grew thanks to the blood, sweat, and tears of millions of immigrants toiling in the farms, factories, mines, fisheries, and slaughterhouses for two hundred years in the US and Canada. Every year thousands of migrants sacrifice their life savings or indeed their very lives trying to make their way to places such as the US, Canada, the EU, or Australia just to merely survive.

 

At least 8,565 people died on migration routes worldwide in 2023 according to the International Office of Migration (IOM). Undated photo above of migrants courtesy of the Vatican News Service.

Sources:

Canada Prepares for Immigration Surge After Trump Vows Mass Deportation – The New York Times

Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement – Canada.ca

Mysterious Chemical By-Product in US Tap Water Finally Identified

Scientists discover formula and structure of chlorine-related molecule and urge tests for possible toxicity.

A mysterious byproduct of a chemical used to disinfect the tap water of about one-third of Americans has finally been identified, and the international research team behind the discovery is advocating rapid assessment of its potential toxicity.

The research, reported in the journal Science, does not claim the byproduct is unsafe to drink or that the finding represents any kind of emergency. All water, including bottled water, contains contaminants.

But the discovery of a new and previously unknown chemical, called chloronitramide anion, could have implications for municipal water systems that use a class of chlorine-based disinfectants called chloramines. For decades these disinfectants, derived from the mixture of chlorine and ammonia, have been added to many municipal water supplies to kill bacteria and prevent waterborne illnesses.

“We need to investigate it. We don’t know the toxicity,” said environmental engineer Julian Fairey, an associate professor at the University of Arkansas and lead author of the paper. “This work was 40 years in the making in terms of trying to identify the compound, and now that we have identified it, we can delve into how toxic is this thing.”

Cigarettes like the ones advertised above were once touted as a cure for asthma, wheezing, or coughing. Medical quackery like the above example has killed countless victims over the centuries.

Now the US is on the verge of official government medical quackery with the potential Trump nominations of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to lead HHS and Dr. Mehmet Oz to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Therefore, the FDA, USDA, HHS, EPA, CDC, have two months to solve this issue before it’s swept under the carpet in 2025. Anti-Vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr can use a case like this to ban fluoride from American drinking water or come up with other wacky solutions.

Blue States will have to step up their Air Quality Index (AQI), food, health, workplace, and environmental inspections over the next four years to protect their citizens. Red State governors and their constituencies don’t seem to mind if they are killed by firearms violence, sickened by spoiled food, work in dangerous work sites, breathe polluted air, or drink unsafe water.

Sources:

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adk6749

https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2024/11/21/tap-water-byproduct-chloronitramide-anion/

Minnesota Authorities Restore EagleCam to Delight of Viewers Worldwide

Watch eagle emerge from snow-covered nest after storm.

Likud Continues Murder-Death-Kill Pogrom Against Arabs

Lebanese soldiers stand guard as rescuers search for survivors in the rubble at the site of an IDF attack on the al-Shiyah neighborhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Tuesday(Photo: [Anwar Amro / AFP)

In AKZ-L, the Israeli Death Forces (IDF) killed three Lebanese soldiers in an air strike on an army base in southern Lebanon’s town of Sarafand. The latest killings bring the overall death toll in the Lebanese army to 41.

The IDF has not yet commented on its latest killing of Lebanese soldiers who have for months provided security for Lebanese civilians and engaged in search and rescue efforts amid the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.

Lebanon’s government plans to file a formal complaint with the UNSC over “repeated attacks” by Israel on its army, and accused Israeli forces of repeated violations of international law. The IDF has also been targeting Lebanese medical personnel and infrastructure.

In AKZ-G, IDF airstrikes killed 12 Palestinians and ten are missing under rubble in Jabalia. The IDF killed one and wounded several Palestinians in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City. The victims (below) were photographed at al-Ahli Arab Hospital.

A Palestinian woman mourns after an Israeli attack on the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City at al-Ahli Arab Hospital (Photo: Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu)

Several young children were injured in this IDF attack (Photo: Dawoud Abo Alkas / Anadolu)

The IDF targeted members of the Gaza Civil Defense after they responded to the initial bombing (Photo: Dawoud Abo Alkas / Anadolu)

In AKZ-W, the IDF conducted ethnic cleansing raids at the following locations:

  • The city of Hebron
  • The city of Halhul, north of Hebron
  • The Fawwar refugee camp, south of Hebron
  • The cities of Ramallah and el-Bireh
  • The towns of al-Mughayyir and Silwan, north of Ramallah
  • The Jalazone refugee camp, north of Ramallah
  • The village of Osrin, south of Nablus.

The casualty list has not been tabulated at time of publication.

Coriolanus and media outlets have difficulty keeping up with Israeli atrocities. Remarkable how easily and callously IDF pilots and drone operators can launch their weapons without regard to collateral damage or nearby innocent parties.

When destroying medical personnel/infrastructure and housing, the IDF creates the “NHI” condition (“No Human Involved”). “NHI” allows wounds, disease, starvation, and exposure to freezing temperatures to attrit Arabs without killing them directly. This is why the IDF targets the medical personnel of Lebanon so they cannot treat wounded Shia Muslims resisting the Israeli offensive.   

By year’s end the IDF will probably have killed a total 50,000 Muslims in the three Arab Killing Zones (AKZ), while maiming close to 150,000. Coriolanus monitors the Murder-Death-Kill rate as best as possible from open source media. In just over one year, the IDF already surpassed 38,239, the number of Muslims liquidated by Bosnian Serb war criminals from 1992-1995. See previous post for sources.

According to worlddata.info, Israel ingloriously shares the stage with Afghanistan, Belarus, Myanmar, North Korea, Russia, Sudan, and Syria as a Pariah State. Congratulations to the State of Israel for the wonderful accomplishment.

With the exception of the US, which country would welcome the utterly loathsome Likudnik Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu other than the Hague for war crimes prosecution?

Source:

(1) Update LIVE: Israel shells Gaza’s Kamal Adwan, kills three soldiers in Lebanon

List of the 13 current Pariah States

Ukrainian Killing Zone (UKZ): Russia Murders 21, Wounds +100 in Odessa and Sumy with Missile Strikes

Russian missile strikes on 18 Nov left at least 21 people dead and more than 100 injured in Ukraine, as strikes targeted the cities of Odesa and Sumy.

In Odesa, a midday strike left ten people dead and 39 injured, including a child, with four in critical condition. The strike damaged residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, with the city’s center among the hardest-hit areas.

Hours earlier, a late-night missile strike devastated a residential building in Sumy, a city 40 kms from the Russian border, leaving 11 dead, including two children, and 89 wounded.

The Russian attack damaged 90 apartments, 28 cars, two educational institutions, and 13 buildings.

Rescuers evacuated over 400 residents and continue to search for survivors. The attack also left Sumy’s administrative center without power.

The late-night attack on Sumy followed what Kyiv said was a “massive” attack on Ukraine’s power grid with 120 missiles and 90 drones that killed at least seven people. Moscow routinely denies targeting civilian infrastructure. Such strikes are widely considered a war crime.

Russian strikes have hammered Ukraine’s power infrastructure since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022, prompting repeated emergency power shutdowns and nationwide rolling blackouts.

The massive Russian attack also came as US President Joe Biden had reportedly authorized the use of US-supplied long-range missiles by Ukraine to strike inside Russia, after lobbying by Ukrainian officials.

The weapons are likely to be used in response to North Korea’s decision to send thousands of troops to support Russia in the Kursk region where Ukraine mounted a military incursion over the summer.

In the overnight attack on Sumy, the Ukrainian Air Force said the Russian military used two Iskander-M ballistic missiles and a Kh-59 guided missile.

The US Embassy in Kiev closed on Wednesday after receiving “specific information of a potential significant air attack,” as the Kremlin warned it would retaliate after the Biden administration reportedly permitted Ukraine to strike deeper within Russia.

Ukraine and Russia will continue pounding each other with drones and missiles over the next two months until Donald Trump assumes the Presidency. Kiev must maximize what it can during this pre-Trump period because they should expect nothing from Washington DC afterwards.  

Sources:

At Least 21 Dead in Russian Missile Strikes In Ukraine’s Odesa, Sumy

US closes Kyiv embassy after reciving information on ‘potential significant air attack’ – UPI.com

The Striking US Parallels Between 1968 and 2024

2024 Democratic Party Candidate VPOTUS Kamala Harris (L); 1968 Democratic Party Candidate VPOTUS Hubert Humphrey (R)

Many parallels exist between the 1968 and 2024 US presidential elections. In both instances, the Democrats were the incumbent party that had won the preceding election with landslide numbers. Both re-elections were theirs to lose.

1964

In the 1964 Presidential election, the Democratic Party ticket of Lyndon B. Johnson/Hubert Humphrey won 43,129,040 votes (61.1% of the popular vote) compared to the GOP ticket of Barry Goldwater/William Miller which took 27,175,754 votes (38.5% of the popular vote).

The LBJ administration would pass the Civil Rights Act (1964), the Voting Righting Act (1965), and other progressive legislation under the Great Society program to eradicate poverty and racial injustice in the US. But LBJ increased America’s involvement in Vietnam, propping up a brutal and unpopular regime in Saigon by deploying more American Soldiers to the jungles of SE Asia.

The Vietnam War would wreck LBJ’s legacy, including the Great Society program.

Anti-war protestors in 1968 (Image: thenation.com)

1968

Fierce opposition to the Vietnam War on the nation’s college campuses and within the Democratic Party led LBJ to not seek re-election in 1968. LBJ’s approval rating in April 1968 was under 40%.

At the 1968 DNC Convention in Chicago, anti-war protestors were excluded from having a voice and the “enemy” were “g—ks” and “Communist guerillas.” VPOTUS Hubert Humphrey became the POTUS candidate to carry on LBJ’s policies. Before that fateful 1968 convention, a candidate named Robert F. Kennedy ran for President but was tragically assassinated months prior. A woman’s right to an abortion was illegal, Moscow had invaded Czechoslovakia, and white supremacists strutted openly in the Deep South.


In 1968 members of the KKK, a domestic terrorist organization, proudly walked the streets in “Old Dixie”. You wonder what that little girl (C) is thinking and what has happened to her since. The two young men on the left may have served their country in Vietnam.

In the Nov 1968 election, the Humphrey/Muskie ticket won 31,271,839 votes (42.7%) to Nixon/Agnew’s 31,783,783 votes (43.4%). Segregationist George Wallace siphoned away 9,901,118 votes from both the Democrats and the GOP (13.5% of the popular vote and carrying five southern states). Richard M. Nixon narrowly won the White House.

Critically, the Humphrey/Muskie ticket received 11,857,201 less votes than from four short years ago. Millions of Democrats did not support the pro-war 1968 Humphrey/Muskie ticket or the Great Society program.

2020

In the 2020 election, the Joe Biden/Kamala Harris ticket won 81,283,501 votes (51.3% of the popular vote) compared to 74,223,975 votes (48.6%) for the GOP Donald Trump/Mike Pence ticket. This was a sizeable victory for the Democrats. The post-COVID US economy grew and consumer prices began to drop. Russia would invade Ukraine in Feb 2022 and the Biden administration immediately began sending military and financial aid to Kiev. But Palestinian frustration at being unable to release thousands of prisoners being held in security detention by the Israelis led to a surprise attack to seize hostages in Oct 2023. Backed by US military and economic support, Israel conducted massive reprisals against the Palestinians at a 20:1 scale.

2024



Nationwide campus protests in 2024 against US support for Israel during its Nakba against Gaza looked eerily similar to college protests against US involvement in Vietnam in 1968. Americans disliked the unpopular leaders and policies of both 1968 Saigon and 2024 Jerusalem.

US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT):

“Continuing to provide Israel with the offensive weapons it uses on civilians is morally wrong.”

Anti-war protestors gather at Harvard University to show their support for Palestinians in Gaza at a rally in Cambridge, MA, on 14 Oct 2023. (Photo: AFP)

Pres. Joe Biden’s approval rating in June 2024 dropped to 43%. After a poor performance at one debate, Biden was persuaded to step aside for his much younger VPOTUS, Kamala Harris. The incumbent VPOTUS received 99% delegate votes at the DNC convention.

Like in 1968, in 2024 anti-war protestors were excluded from having a voice at the Chicago DNC Convention. The “enemy” in 2024 were not “g—ks” like in 1968 but “Islamic terrorists” in the Gaza Strip.  Moreover, a man named Robert F. Kennedy (Jr) ran for POTUS as an independent (yes, the son of slain Bobby Kennedy), Moscow had invaded Ukraine in Feb 2022, a woman’s right to an abortion was illegal, and white supremacists parade down Main Street, USA.  

In Nov 2024 Columbus, Ohio, neo-Nazis recently paraded down a street without fear. (Source: Social media)

In the recent 5 Nov 2024 election, Harris/Walz won 73,912,254 votes (48.3% of the popular vote) to Donald Trump/JD Vance’s 76,535,898 votes (50% of the popular vote).

The GOP won 2,311,923 more votes than in 2020. Green Party candidate Jill Stein insignificantly pickpocketed .5% of the popular vote, siphoning off nothing consequential like segregationist George Wallace in 1968.

Importantly, the Harris/Walz ticket received a whopping 7,371,247 less votes than in 2020, including Blue State strongholds. In 2024, Democrats simply stayed home (just like in 1968) or voted for Donald Trump.

Biden and LBJ, both former VPs, became one-term presidents (LBJ was a five-year POTUS because of the 1963 JFK assassination). Both passed the torch to their VPs. In 1968 and 2024 the incumbent Democratic candidates lost significant numbers of voters within a short span of four years, undoing their previous domestic achievements.

In 2024 the Biden administration through USSECSTATE Antony Blinken and D/CIA William J. Burns earnestly tried to achieve a ceasefire with the warring parties in the Middle East to release innocent Israeli and AMCIT hostages. The US ultimately failed because of Likudnik Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu who has turned Israel into a Pariah State. The USIC term for Netanyahu is PIFWC: Person Indicted For War Crimes.

Sources:

https://www.sanders.senate.gov/op-eds/bernie-sanders-no-more-arms-sales-to-netanyahu/

https://www.cnn.com/2015/01/12/opinion/zelizer-lbj-vietnam-disaster/index.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Democratic_National_Convention_protests

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dnc-roll-call-of-states-2024/

LBJ’s Presidential Approval Ratings, 1963-1969

Biden approval polling tracker

NATO and EU Suspect Russia Sabotaged Two Baltic Undersea Cables

European governments and the US have accused Russia of intensifying “hybrid attacks” following reports that Baltic Sea fiber-optic communications cables were damaged by suspected sabotage, although they have not yet directly tied the incident to Moscow.

Moscow has long denied it is involved in sabotaging Western infrastructure to punish European countries for their assistance to Ukraine’s defense, but suspicions grew in Western capitals on 19 Nov that damage to two key Baltic Sea cables were likely the result of deliberate actions.

Ukraine’s allies pointed to past incidents of alleged sabotage by Moscow, especially following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has hit the 1,000-day mark amid devastating losses on both sides.

(Map courtesy: ontheworldmap.com)

Regional states are investigating the cutting of a cable connecting Finland to Germany and one linking Sweden and Lithuania following similar suspicious occurrences in the sea in recent years.

Swedish prosecutors and Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation separately said national authorities had launched investigations into the cut cables.

Moscow has said such allegations are being fabricated by the West to discredit Russia.

As reported here on Coriolanus, Moscow was likely to carry out sabotage operations and has been bolstering its secretive marine (GUGI) unit that deploys ships, submarines, and drones to survey the Baltic seabed.

NATO stepped up monitoring critical infrastructure in the Baltic following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the destruction of the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline seven months later.

A ship lays the now-damaged telecommunications cable off the shore of Helsinki in Oct 2015. (Photo: AFP)

The West should expect increased sabotage and espionage from the Kremlin to maximize damage to NATO and the EU until Donald Trump assumes the presidency in January 2025. And even after then as Commander-in-Chief, Trump can order the USIC and DOD to ignore Russian espionage, leaving the onus of counterintelligence in the hands of NATO and EU partners.

Source:

Europeans Probe Baltic Cable Damage as Suspicions Turn Toward Russia

Canada Reportedly Foiled Iranian Plot to Assassinate Former Justice Minister

Liberal MP Irwin Cotler speaks in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, 15 Dec 2011. (Photo: Reuters)

Canadian authorities recently foiled an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Irwin Cotler, a former justice minister who has been a strong critic of Tehran.

The 84-year-old was justice minister and attorney general from 2003 to 2006. He retired from politics in 2015 but has remained active with many associations that campaign for human rights around the world.

Cotler was informed on 26 Oct that he faced an imminent threat — within 48 hours — of assassination from Iranian agents.

Cotler had already been receiving police protection for more than a year after the 7 Oct 2023 attack in Israel by armed Palestinian groups seizing hostages in order to trade them for any number of the 2,000 Palestinians being held in indefinite security detention.

Cotler, who is Jewish and a strong backer of Israel, has advocated globally to have Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps listed as a terrorist entity.

His name reportedly also came up in an FBI probe of a 2022 Iranian murder-for-hire operation in New York that targeted American human-rights activist Masih Alinejad.

Ottawa, which severed diplomatic ties with Iran more than a decade ago, listed the Revolutionary Guard as a banned terrorist group in June.

It said at the time that Iranian authorities displayed a consistent “disregard for human rights both inside and outside of Iran, as well as a willingness to destabilize the international rules-based order.”

As a lawyer, Cotler also represented Iranian political prisoners and dissidents.

Cotler’s daughter pictured above, Michal Cotler-Wunsh, is an Israeli politician and diplomat who previously served as a member of Israel’s parliament. (Photo: Marc Israel Sellem / The Jerusalem Post)

As reportedly here on Coriolanus, the nexus of organized crime and the intelligence world is deeply enmeshed. The IRGC-QF most likely contracted out the killing to local criminals but were foiled by Canadian security services. Analyzing available public documents, the author is surprised that the IRGC considers Irwin Cotler an HVT (high value target) who is worth the risk and money to assassinate.

RCMP Close Protection Team in the Diamond Formation escorting Canadian PM Justin Trudeau. Note the tell-tale lapels pins on the dark-suited centurions. (Undated photo by Chris Wattie / Reuters)

Sources:

Former Canadian minister Irwin Cotler says he was target of alleged Iran-backed assassination plot – ABC News

New York City Issues First Drought Warning in Two Decades

The sky is lit red, orange and blue behind One World Trade Center and the Manhattan Skyline just before sunrise in NYC. Mayor Eric Adams elevated the city’s drought watch to a warning. (Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo)

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has issued the city’s first drought warning in 22 years, as its reservoirs continue to drop below normal amid a near-record dry spell.

The warning was issued Monday as wildfires have threatened to spark across much of the Eastern US this fall, including in NYC, where a Brush Fire Task Force was launched as 271 brush fires ignited citywide in the last two weeks — a record over a 14-day period.

The fires are being exacerbated by dry weather. October and November saw the second-longest rainless streak in 155 years.

Officials said the city’s water reservoirs were at about 60% capacity, significantly lower than the 79% for this time of year.

“Over the last 10 weeks, we have had 8.23 inches less rain than in the average year,” Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala of the Department of Environmental Protection said. “So, this drought has come on fast, it has come on furious, and that’s why the last six weeks have been the driest on record.”

The warning follows a drought watch issued earlier this month. With the upgrade to the second of three levels of water conservation, city agencies were directed to immediately implement water-saving measures.

NYS Gov. Kathy Hochul also declared a drought watch because of “a historic shortage of rainfall” for the state, while elevating 15 counties in mid-Hudson and New York City to a drought warning. The governor has also declared a statewide burn ban.

The last time NYC was under a drought warning was in 2002.

As previously reported here, environmental degradation is affecting another megalopolis. The air pollution in Delhi, India, is now at ‘extreme’ and ‘toxic’ levels.

Air quality in India’s Delhi region reached “severe plus” with pollution at 1,500 on the Air Quality Index. (Photo by Rajat Gupta/EPA-EFE)

Source:

New York City issues first drought warning in two decades – UPI.com

Missouri: 90 E. coli Cases Tied to Rockwood Summit HS Events

More than 90 cases of E. coli have been linked to Rockwood Summit High School events in St Louis County, Missouri.

The St. Louis County Health Department said 94 cases have been identified. Some of those cases have been confirmed; others show compatible symptoms and links to confirmed cases.
Health authorities said the cases are allegedly connected to Andre’s Banquet and Catering which catered some events for Rockwood Summit High School.

The St. Louis County Health Department suggests that salad is the source of illness, but a specific ingredient has not been identified.

One lawsuit has been filed against the catering company on behalf of a cheerleader at Rockwood Summit High School.

The owner of Andre’s Banquets and Catering said the lawsuit has no merit. He said vendors spot-check produce loads daily, are USDA-inspected and follow strict food safety guidelines. He also claimed that the fact that three students who aren’t Rockwood Summit High School students were infected is proof his business is not the source of the outbreak.

State and local health department workers were at the catering business to take samples of food for testing. Health department officials will also use genetic testing on stool samples to get more certainty on the outbreak.

An E. coli outbreak in 18 states that involves organic carrots is not linked to this incident.

E. coli are germs called bacteria and are found in many places, including in the environment, foods, water, and the intestines of people and animals. Most E. coli are harmless and are part of a healthy intestinal tract. E. coli helps humans digest food, produce vitamins, and protect people from harmful germs.

But some E. coli can make people sick with diarrhea, urinary tract infections, pneumonia, sepsis, and other illnesses.

Sources:

https://www.firstalert4.com/2024/11/18/more-e-coli-cases-tied-rockwood-school-events/

https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/about/index.html

TSA Intercepts Loaded Firearm from Flight Crew Member at Reagan National Airport Security Checkpoint

A member of an airline flight crew was cited by police after Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport intercepted a firearm among a flight crew member’s carry-on items at one of the checkpoints on Friday, 15 Nov. The 9mm handgun was loaded with nine bullets, including one in the chamber. See photo above.

When TSA officers intercepted the firearm, they notified the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) Police who responded to the checkpoint, confiscated the gun and issued a citation to the woman. TSA also notified the airline of the serious violation.

Additionally, the woman faces a Federal civil penalty for bringing a loaded firearm to a TSA checkpoint. The Federal penalty for carrying weapons can reach a maximum of $15,000.

To transport a firearm for a flight, it must be unloaded, packed in a locked hard-sided case and declared at the airline counter so it can be placed in the belly of the aircraft with the checked baggage.

In 2024, TSA confiscated 36 firearms at Ronald Reagan Airport (DCA).

The scale of firearms ownership and custodianship in the US is simply breath-taking. As if Americans don’t have enough to worry about getting shot on the streets, now they have to worry about “flying the unfriendly skies.” Recently, an unknown assailant fired shots at an airplane at Dallas Airport; no injuries were reported and the aircraft sustained slight damage. According to CDC data, 48,830 people were killed with a firearm in the US in 2021. No doubt next year a freshman GOP lawmaker will be caught with a firearm at a TSA or US Capitol Hill security checkpoint and be outraged at the indignation.

Source:


https://www.tsa.gov/news/press/releases/2024/11/18/tsa-intercepts-firearm-flight-crew-member-reagan-national-airport

Egypt: Stray Dogs in Giza Become Tourist Draw After ‘Pyramid Puppy’ Sensation

A pack of about eight dogs has made its home among the ancient ruins of the Giza Pyramids. Look at the thick paws of this confident canine. (Photo AFP)

Beneath the blazing Egyptian sun, crowds at the Giza Pyramids gazed up at the ancient wonders, but some had their eyes peeled for a new attraction.

“There he is,” one Polish tourist told his wife as they spotted a scrappy dog perched on one of the stones.

They were talking about Apollo, a stray who became an overnight sensation last month after being filmed scaling the Great Pyramid of Khafre, one of the seven wonders of the world.

The viral footage, captured by American paragliding enthusiast Alex Lang and shared online by his friend Marshall Mosher, showed Apollo fearlessly climbing the 136-meter monument, barking at birds from the summit.

“He was acting like a king,” Lang said.

As news of Apollo’s daring climb spread worldwide, interest grew in the dogs who have long made their homes among the ancient stones.

A visitor from Argentina felt a special bond with the dogs saying it felt like connecting with the pharaohs while petting a member of Apollo’s pack.

Apollo’s newfound fame has even inspired local guides to include him and his pack in their stories for tourists.

“This is Anubis,” one tour guide told two American tourists, comparing Apollo, now known as the “pyramid puppy”, with the ancient Egyptian god of the dead, often depicted as a man with a jackal’s head.

“He and his pack are now part of our tour conversations,” said Sobhi Fakhry, another tour guide.

Businesses around the Giza plateau are also seeing a boost as tourists are eager to meet the so-called pyramid dogs.

One pyramid guard, who preferred to remain anonymous, also said that some celebrities had paid for permits to have their own dogs photographed with Apollo.

Apollo, a three-year-old Baladi dog, is part of a pack of about eight that has made their home among the ancient ruins. The dogs, a local breed, are known for their resilience, intelligence and ability to survive in Egypt’s harsh climate.

The American Cairo Animal Rescue Foundation monitors the pyramid dogs and described Apollo as the pack’s “alpha male”.

Apollo was born in a rocky crevice within the Khafre pyramid where his mother, Laika, found shelter. Sadly, some of Apollo’s siblings did not survive the site’s perilous heights. A sympathetic guard eventually relocated Laika to a safer spot where Apollo now stands out with his distinctive curled tail and confident nature.

The initial focus of Lang and Marshall was the daring canine climber, but their visit led to a deeper connection with Cairo’s stray dogs.

Intrigued by the challenges they face, Mosher decided to adopt a puppy from the pack: Anubi, who is Apollo’s daughter. Anubi will join Marshall in the US after she receives the dedicated care she needs in Egypt to grow up healthy.

At the pyramids, local animal care groups are now working with the government in order to set up food and water stations for the strays, as well as for other animals including camels and horses. A permanent veterinary center will be established at the pyramids with staff set to receive animal care training.

Source:

Stray Dogs In Giza Become Tourist Draw After ‘Pyramid Puppy’ Sensation | IBTimes

World Holds Breath as America Votes

Vice-President Kamala Harris has a ONE PERCENT (1%) edge in the popular vote and a 226 to 219 electoral college vote (ECV) lead over Donald Trump entering the final weekend before the US election. 270 ECVs are needed to win. But why is this race between a successful VPOTUS, former California State Attorney-General, and US Senator against a failed business and family man even this close?

Nothing, except Donald Trump is white.

So, why is this race so close?

White supremacist racist bigots, ignorance, and religious intolerance, fueled by right-wing hate radio and Fox News, supported and funded by oligarchs such as Elon Musk and Peter Thiel. Otherwise, a criminally-convicted wastrel who was sued for sexual assault and twice impeached as POTUS should be watching the election from home with less than 10% support of the American people. Trump has no logical economic policy for the hard-working American taxpayer other then touting the need for tariffs and being proud of avoiding paying income taxes (as well as military service), calling those Americans who do pay taxes and die for the US “suckers.”  

Donald Trump, a deeply dysfunctional man with catastrophic character flaws, is an avatar for white people who believe in the innate superiority of their race. This makes him a perfect reflection of his supporters (AKA MAGAts) who believe America is being usurped by minorities, Latinos, Chinese, Muslims, etc etc. White Americans are becoming a minority in the US and MAGA is code for Make America White Again.

Family members, like Mary Trump (L), a psychologist and niece to Donald Trump, know how nefarious he is and have been warning the American public about his deviancy, as well as his mental and cognitive decline.

MAGAts defile the US Capitol Rotunda on 6 Jan 2021 in Washington, DC. On 1 Nov, two lunatics were found guilty and one sentenced for their idiotic participation. In the nearly four years since then, more than 1,532 MAGAts have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to attacking the US Capitol, including more than 571 racists charged with feloniously assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The FBI investigation remains ongoing. Special Counsel Jack Smith is prosecuting this case against Donald Trump. (Photo: NBC News)

Former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Republican Dan Coats suspects that Russian President Vladimir Putin is blackmailing Donald Trump.

The Kremlin is desperate for Trump to win in order to withdraw lifesaving US military and economic support for Ukraine. In the same vein, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is eager for a Trump victory which will allow the Likud Party to continue its policy of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians without interference from Washington. America’s immediate neighbors do not want to see a Trump win. Canada and Mexico have elected progressive leaders to run their countries.

House Majority Leader famously rebuked then-POTUS Trump: “With you, Mr. President, all roads lead to Putin!”

Inexplicably, Donald Trump took hundreds of thousands of classified documents from the White House and stored them at his Mar-A-Lago Florida estate. Special Counsel Jack Smith is prosecuting this case as well.

Donald Trump makes no attempt whatsoever to hide his disdain for people of color. Years ago in NYC, the Trump Organization refused to lease apartments to people of color.

Military veterans, once stalwart supporters of the GOP, have begun to turn away from the Donald Trump/JD Vance ticket, and with good reason.

But some influential Republicans continue to support Trump, as well as hillbilly JD Vance.

For example, disgraced and convicted GOP ex-Congressman George Santos (L) supports VPOTUS candidate JD Vance (R). Like Trump, JD Vance is a reflection of his supporters.

The Republican Party, the NRA, and ALEC have turned America into one vast warzone. According to the CDC, in 2022, there were more than 48,000 firearm-related deaths in the US. These are wartime casualties without having to invade another country. By contrast, Canada (with a population of approximately 40 million people), recorded 297 victims of firearms-related homicides in 2021.

The Republican Party answer to this national crisis?

GOP VPOTUS JD Vance candidate offered his policy prescription for the plague of firearms violence victimizing innocent people by blithely dismissing school shootings in the US as “a fact of life.” Donald Trump nonchalantly said after a school shooting in Iowa: “We have to get over it.”

US Army medics treating a casualty. Democrats want universal health coverage for all Americans; Republicans want gun rights enshrined for white people. (Photo: defense.gov)

This ersatz AI-generated image above of wishful thinking circled the globe many times over. Trump wants to be POTUS again to avoid the litany of criminal and civil charges against him.

And no matter what happens on this fateful Tuesday or what chicanery Republican operatives try at the election polls and tabulating centers, Donald J. Trump has an appointment with the Honorable Judge Juan Mercan on 26 Nov to answer for his 34 NYS felony convictions for falsifying business records. Merchan is the first judge in history to preside over the criminal indictment and conviction of a US President, and the first judge to hold a President in criminal contempt of court. This is a handsome man and sharp jurist.

Special Counsel Jack Smith, who successfully prosecuted war criminals at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague, is not going away any time soon. This is a capable, uncompromising professional.

Americans and the world have suffered enough Trump-fatigue this past decade. Remarkably, the world’s oldest man to seek the Presidency, suffering from steep mental and cognitive decline, as well as what appears to be morbid obesity, said he would run again in 2028. Oof!

Sources:

Trump’s Intelligence Chief Suspects Putin Blackmailing Trump | Crooks and Liars

Read the newly released evidence in the Jan. 6 case against Trump | PBS News

Judge questioned how Trump didn’t notice classified docs in bedroom (nbcnews.com)

Canada: RCMP Dismantle ‘Largest, Most Sophisticated’ Drug Mega-Lab

Aerial view of the drug “mega-lab.” (Photo: RCMP)

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) seized 1,100 pounds of illegal narcotics, including the deadly opiate fentanyl, during a raid at a major drug megalab in British Columbia.

(Map: researchgate.net)

The raid took place in a rural area of southeastern British Columbia at what police referred to as “the largest and most sophisticated fentanyl and methamphetamine drug superlab in Canada.”

RCMP officers seized 119 pounds of fentanyl, 860 pounds of methamphetamine, 77 pounds of cocaine and 33 pounds of MDMA during the raid, much of it destined for international export. (Photo: RCMP)

“The combined fentanyl and precursors seized at this facility could have amounted to over 95,500,000 potentially lethal doses of fentanyl, which have been prevented from entering our communities, or exported abroad,” police said.

Authorities also recovered almost 90 firearms, “massive amounts” of drug precursor chemicals, ammunition, firearm silencers, high-capacity magazines, body armor, and $500,000 in cash during the operation, which was assisted by members of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). (Photo: RCMP)

Prior to the late-October raid, officials also seized an additional 683 pounds of methamphetamine associated with the super lab and destined for export.

This raid denied this transnational organized crime group an estimated $485 million dollars in profits.

Police arrested Gaganpreet Randhawa who faces six charges related to firearms and possession of a controlled substance.

Sources:

BC RCMP – Federal Investigators take down the largest, most sophisticated drug superlab in Canada (rcmp-grc.gc.ca)

Police dismantle ‘largest and most sophisticated’ drug superlab in Canada – UPI.com

Israel ‘Emptying Gaza Completely’

A year of war in Gaza has undermined international law and threatens to make the strip uninhabitable, according to the UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese. She is making the case at the UN that Israel’s Nakba offensive be classified a genocide.

Palestinians gather at the site of IDF strikes on houses and residential buildings in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip on 20 Oct 2024. (Photo: Reuters / Abdul Karim Farid)

More than 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza are experiencing extremely critical levels of hunger, according to the UN. Seventy percent of crop fields and livelihoods have been destroyed during the Israeli military offensive, AKA Nakba 2024.

The war, which has claimed 42,000 lives in Gaza and left hundreds of thousands wounded, has also spread to the West Bank and Lebanon. Civilians as well as UN peacekeepers have been targeted by the IDF. At this rate of carnage, approximately 50,000 Palestinians will have been killed by year’s end.

“I used the word ‘catastrophe’ for the first time back in Oct 2023,” Francesca Albanese said, “when Israel had killed 8,000, 6,000 people in the first weeks of the conflict and destroyed entire neighborhoods, bakeries, churches, and targeted UN buildings and universities. This is not the way wars are conducted.”

Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, says a regional ceasefire is urgent. (Photo: AP / Salvatore Di Nolfi)

The Special Rapporteur argues that Israel’s military actions form part of a systematic attempt to displace Palestinians that goes back decades – and which she calls a genocide.

“Israel occupies that land, according to the International Court of Justice, unlawfully,” Albanese said. 

Click to access n2427968.pdf

“So, Israel unlawfully occupies a territory, oppressing its people, who of course retaliate. Then they wage a war against them. It doesn’t work that way.”

Ms. Albanese warns that the trauma of 7 Oct 2023 has deepened Israeli animosity towards Palestinians and spurred calls for vengeance, providing the government with an opportunity to escalate its actions in the occupied territories with the goal of making them unhospitable.

“As we speak, Israel is running extermination raids neighborhood per neighborhood in the areas that were already forcibly evacuated, ethnically cleansed of nearly one million people in northern Gaza.”

“Only 400,000 people remained, who have been starved, abused and bombed. What the people in Gaza have gone through is really unspeakable, and now it is emptying the land completely.”

UN leaders have called for a ceasefire and denounced starvation, mass displacements, atrocities, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The IDF recently demolished an UNRWA office in Gaza and the Israeli Knesset approved a controversial bill to ban them from operating on Israeli territory. Albanese called for the UN to consider suspending Israel as a member state over Nakba 2024.

Meanwhile, anti-Likud protestors demonstrated in Tel Aviv at the Israeli Defense Ministry. Many criticized PM Benjamin Netanyahu, a man indicted by the ICC for war crimes.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in front of the Israeli Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv call for the release of hostages held captive since 7 Oct 2023. (Photo: 2 Nov 2024 / AFP)

Flag-waving demonstrators in the country’s commercial hub held placards with slogans including “Deal now,” “Stop the war” and “We won’t abandon them,” and beat drums and chanted “Why are they still in Gaza?”

“There have been countless opportunities to end this crisis, and each one was torpedoed by the government,” said demonstrator Zahiro Shahar Mor (52), a bank employee from Tel Aviv.

Critics have questioned why a truce has still not materialized now that Israel has achieved many of its war aims, including last month’s killing of Hamas’s leader Yahya Sinwar, who was supposedly an obstacle to reaching a truce. Yahya Sinwar was not afforded a day in an Israeli court to answer for his alleged crimes against the Israeli people and was killed extra-judicially (XJK) by the IDF.

Ifat Kalderon, a prominent antigovernment protester afraid for her cousin still held in Gaza, blamed Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister.

“Each hostage deal they start to talk about, Netanyahu sabotages. He always blamed Sinwar, but now there is no Sinwar. But every time he finds another reason,” the 50-year-old stylist said.

“It’s a bloody war, we need to stop it. Enough. So many soldiers are dying. And ordinary citizens,” she said, referring to civilians from both sides of the conflict paying with their lives.

The IDF held thousands of Palestinian detainees in security detention without hearing or trial prior to the 7 Oct 2023 attack to seize Israeli bargaining chips. The Mossad chief immediately advised Israeli PM Netanyahu to affect an immediate prisoner swap and one trade was concluded in Nov 2023. Afterwards, the Likud regime used the 7 Oct 2023 raid as a casus belli to de-populate the Gaza Strip. The odious son-in-law of ex-president Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, already slipped that the Gaza Strip has prime beachfront property for luxury resorts (as you read previously here on Coriolanus).    

Some at the rally — organized by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group — brought up the plight of Israel’s soldiers, who are exhausted more than a year into the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Others hoped for international intervention, including from the US, which holds a presidential election Tuesday. The sane people of Israel must vote out the Likud Party. (Photo: AFP)

Sources:

UN rapporteur says Israel’s war in Gaza is ’emptying the land completely’ – International report (rfi.fr)

https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1l/k1lr8ngem8

Israel’s continued occupation of Palestinian territory ‘unlawful’: UN world court | UN News

Protesters demonstrate in Tel Aviv to demand end of war, return of hostages (voanews.com)

Bangladesh: Four Dengue Patients Die; 1,154 Hospitalized in Last 24 Hrs

Tiger mosquitoes spread diseases such as dengue fever, chikungunya and Zika virus which, until recently, were typically only present in parts of Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

Four dengue patients died and 1,154 patients were admitted to different hospitals during the last 24 hours.

“During the period, 397 dengue patients were hospitalized in Dhaka city while 757 patients were admitted to different hospitals outside the capital,” reported the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

This year, the total number of cases rose to 60,574 and 290 deaths from dengue disease.

Last year, Bangladesh suffered 1,705 dengue-related deaths and a total of 321,179 dengue cases.

Mankind’s acme predator, the mosquito, continues to spread illness and death in SW Asia. The tiger mosquito (an invasive species) has also set up home in 13 countries in the EU, including France, Spain, and Greece, with experts linking their presence to a rise in dengue fever in Europe.

Climate change is creating favorable conditions for the tiger mosquito to spread, said the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The recent catastrophic flooding in Spain may provide more breeding grounds for the tiger mosquito and other predators.

Sources:

Four dengue patients die, 1,154 hospitalized in last 24 hrs | News (bssnews.net)

Spread of tiger mosquito behind rise of dengue fever in Europe (bbc.com)

Ukraine Eager to Pre-Emptively Strike North Koreans in Russia; China Unhappy, but Silent

North Korean supremo Kim Jong-Un keeps the $2,000 monthly salary of each soldier and receives uranium and technology for his nuclear program from Russia. President Putin gets cannon fodder for “meat attacks” against Ukrainian defenders. How easily these two maniacs throw people’s lives away like trash. (Rebel Pepper / RFA)

The recent North Korean record-long ICBM test suggests Russia is aiding Pyongyang’s missile program. (Photo: Lee Jin-man / AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has spent months urging Western suppliers to allow Kiev to use their advanced weaponry to strike deeper inside Russia. This week he accused them of inaction in response to the 8,000 North Korean soldiers which the Kremlin “fully intends” to deploy in combat against Ukrainian troops. The Biden Administration, which announced a $425 million package of fresh security assistance to Ukraine under the presidential “drawdown authority,” its 69th tranche of defense equipment since late 2021, is concerned about escalation with Russia. The USSECDEF argued that deep strikes against Russia wouldn’t tip the balance of the war towards Kiev. So, the powerful HIMARS system can only be used defensively on Ukrainian territory.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces could benefit greatly by using Western-provided long-range mass casualty weapons to strike the North Korean troops “the firstest with the mostest.”  Such devastating attacks would both attrit and demoralize the unseasoned North Koreans before they even get a chance to see combat. The Ukrainian PSYOP program has been instructing North Korean soldiers how to safely surrender.  South Korean intelligence is reportedly assisting Kiev and Seoul may provide them mass-casualties in response.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with President Xi Jinping in Beijing, 10 Jan 2019. Neither supremo looks happy and this is before Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. (Photo: KCNA / via Reuters)

“Beijing is clearly uncomfortable with the news that North Korean soldiers have been deployed to Russia to assist Moscow’s war in Ukraine for a number of reasons,” said Patricia Kim, a fellow at the Brookings Institute in Washington.

Beijing sees a tightening Russia-North Korea alignment as reducing its own influence with those states, and worries that any military assistance Pyongyang gets from Moscow in return for deploying troops might make it more aggressive in Northeast Asia.

“China has no interest in the rise of a militarily strengthened and emboldened North Korea that might take greater risks and bring chaos to the region.”

A bolder Pyongyang would add to the troubles stoked by North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs, which has been a main source of regional tension for decades. Pyongyang recently refused Beijing’s assistance after massive floods wreaked the northern portion of the Hermit Kingdom. Kim Jong-Un is reportedly unhappy with China’s crackdown on revenue-supplying North Koreans in China. North Korean escapees have re-iterated a common refrain in North Korea: “Japan is our enemy of 100 years, China is our enemy of 1,000 years.”

Sources:

Is China peeved – or pleased – by North Korean troops in Ukraine? – Radio Free Asia (rfa.org)

White House Says New Ukraine Aid On The Way, As Kyiv Braces For Fresh Attack (rferl.org)

Iceland: Preschool E. coli Outbreak Traced to Mixed Ground Beef

(Photo: Art Bicnick)

An E. coli outbreak at Mánagarður preschool in Reykjavík has been traced to mixed beef and lamb ground meat, which was insufficiently cooked. Eleven children were being monitored at Hringurinn children’s hospital.

According to a statement released on the website of the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority (MAST), the E. coli infection originated from mixed beef and lamb ground meat provided by Kjarnafæði, one of the largest food processing companies in Iceland.

The preparation of the meat during cooking was insufficient. This is the conclusion reached by an investigation conducted by Matís – a government-owned independent research company – and MAST. RÚV reported yesterday that the head cook of Mánagarður had tendered their resignation.

The MAST statement notes that the meat was not sold to the general public but was exclusively supplied to large kitchens, such as those in restaurants, cafeterias, and preschools. When suspicions regarding the meat were raised, MAST contacted Kjarnafæði, which promptly notified all clients who received meat from the same batch used at Mánagarður.

“The recall revealed that the buyers had already used it in their operations, though no reports of infection or illness have been noted among other consumers,” the statement reads.

Eleven children were being monitored at Hringurinn Children’s Hospital with four of them in serious condition in the ICU. One child recovered and was discharged.

The Reykjavík Health Inspectorate visited Mánagarður, taking numerous samples of foods used in meal preparation that day, including meat and vegetables. All food samples tested negative for E. coli, except for the ground meat.

Some children who typically do not eat meat also fell ill, though the transmission method remains unconfirmed in these cases. These children may have contracted the infection from other students who attended the preschool after becoming ill but before the facility was closed.

E. coli bacteria are part of the natural gut flora of humans and animals and can be introduced into water, meat, vegetables and other foods during their production. Different types of E. coli exist. Most types of E. coli are harmless, but Shigatoxin-producing E. coli (STEC) carry genes that register for toxins that can cause illness (virulence genes). However, their strains can be pathogenic. Hygiene and proper handling of meat and adequate cooking by users/consumers is therefore key to prevent infection with E. coli, including STEC from meat.

Sources:

Preschool E. coli Outbreak Traced to Mixed Ground Beef (icelandreview.com)

E. coli O145 confirmed in children and mixed minced meat | Food and Veterinary Authority (mast.is)

Four Raccoons Escape from Zoo in England

A zoo in England is asking members of the public to be on the lookout for four female raccoons that escaped from the facility Friday morning.

The Amazon World Zoo Park, near Sandown on the Isle of Wight, said the raccoons managed to escape their enclosure late Thursday night or Friday morning.

Referred to as the “Island” by residents, the Isle of Wight is the largest and second-most populous island in England and a designated UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. In 1970, Jimi Hendrix performed one of his last public concerts on the Isle of Wight, enjoyed by 600,000 to 700,000 spectators.

“If you have a sighting please do not approach them, they are not normally aggressive but will be scared,” the zoo advised on social media.

Officials asked nearly residents to check sheds and bonfire pits, as the animals “sleep during the day and become active at dusk.”

Rowena Welsh, a supervisor at the zoo, said a search has been launched for the masked fugitives.

“They are new here. Everyone is out searching and we have tracker dogs and drones looking for them,” she said.

Source:

Four raccoons escape from zoo in England – UPI.com

Coriolanus shall return to the stage in a few weeks after the election. In the meantime: “Good night, and good luck.”

The late, great CBS war correspondent Edward R. Murrow (25 Apr 1908 – 27 Apr 1965). Those of you unfamiliar with his life and career should read his biography or enjoy the 2005 movie “Good Night, and Good Luck.”

After Killing Palestinian Resistance Leader, IDF Continues Special Military Operation in Gaza

Palestinian children line up for food in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, 17 Oct 2024. A UN-backed assessment has found some 345,000 Gazans face “catastrophic” levels of hunger this winter.

Israel conducted raids on Gaza on Friday, pressing its yearlong war to crush the Palestinians after killing resistance leader Yahya Sinwar. Like Osama bin-Laden who should have faced justice in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) for the 9/11 attacks on the US, Sinwar too was killed without judicial process.  

According to Gaza’s civil defense agency, rescuers recovered the bodies of three Palestinian children from the rubble of their home in the north of the territory after it was hit at dawn. The IDF is pressing its operation in Jabalia, where air and drone strikes killed at least 14 people on Thursday.

With the civilian toll in Gaza mounting, Israel has faced criticism over its conduct of the war, including from the US. Israel’s Nakba campaign and free the hostages seized by Palestinian fighters has killed 42,438 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, women, and children. Several more nations have cut diplomatic ties with Jerusalem and an American journalist suggested Israel be expelled from the UN because of its brutal pogrom against the Palestinians and for declaring UNGA Secretary-General António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres persona non grata.

These Israelis joyously celebrate the news of the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar at a southern kibbutz, 17 Oct 2024. Note the elation on the faces of the celebrants, unaware of twice-GOP Presidential candidate Thomas E. Dewey’s famous words, “You can’t shoot an idea with a gun,” as if the IDF killing of one man erases Palestinian nationalism. Urbane Israelis in Ramat Aviv or Haifa wonder how much taxes these kibbutzers pay or whether they ever served in the IDF like them (Photo: AP)

Sources:

Israel conducts raids on Gaza after killing Hamas chief Sinwar (voanews.com)

Moldovan Police Arrest ‘Provocateurs’ Trained in Russia, Balkans

Moldova has a population of 3,599,528 people comprised of these ethnic groups: Moldovan 75.1%, Romanian 7%, Ukrainian 6.6%, Gagauz 4.6%, Russian 4.1%, Bulgarian 1.9%, other 0.8% (2014 est.), GDP per capita: $15,700 (2023 est.) Map and information: CIA.

Moldovan authorities exposed a network of more than 100 people trained in Russia and the Balkans to provoke post-election unrest. Four suspects were arrested and placed in pretrial custody for 30 days following extensive searches by police and Moldova’s Intelligence and Security Service (SIS).

Pro-Western President Maia Sandu is running for a second term on 20 Oct in an election that takes place simultaneously with a referendum to decide whether Moldovans want their impoverished country of 2.5 million people to pursue integration into the EU.

The pro-Kremlin network was financed by Russia-friendly fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor, who is wanted in Moldova for his involvement in the theft of some $1 billion from the impoverished ex-Soviet republic’s banking system about a decade ago.

Authorities released hidden-camera videos purporting to depict training sessions in Russia, Serbia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. In one video, young people standing on a stage in what appears to be a training hall mock a protest and chant slogans such as “Our language is Russian,” “No dual citizenship,” and “We don’t want to be in Europe.” Another video purportedly shows a training camp said to be in the Balkans where young men are appear to be learning how to make explosives and pilot drones.

The investigators said the approximately 100 young people who took part in the alleged training were around 20 years old. They started traveling to Russia in June and some of them underwent additional training at camps in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina belonging to Russian mercenary groups Ferma and Wagner. Among the coordinators of the action is Konstantin Potyomkin, who has ties with the notorious Wagner group. SIS chief Alexandru Musteata said Moldovan authorities “have the situation under control,” and the degree of risk regarding possible destabilization is now “low.”

Under Sandu’s government, Moldova secured EU candidate status in 2022 and opened accession talks with the bloc earlier this year after siding with Ukraine following Russia’s unprovoked invasion, in a radical U-turn toward the West and away from Moscow’s decades-long influence.

The two polls are seen as crucial for the future of the former Soviet republic and come amid a hybrid campaign of disinformation employed by Russia to scare Moldovans away from the EU and keep them in Moscow’s orbit.

Moldovan and several Western governments have warned that Russia and Shor plan to organize mass unrest if the elections and the referendum will have results contrary to the Kremlin’s liking. Russia’s eventual goal is to bring in a pro-Moscow government in Chisinau, which seems to be thwarted for now.

Sources:

Moldovan Police Arrest ‘Provocateurs’ Trained In Russia, Balkans (rferl.org)

Russia Pressures Central Asian Prisoners to Fight in Ukraine as ‘Expendable Force’

The Sakharovo migration center in Moscow (Photo: AP)

A 24-year-old migrant worker from Kyrgyzstan, Eleman enlisted in the military at a Russian prison in 2023 with the promise of parole, big money, and Russian citizenship in return for six months of combat in Ukraine. In jail for drug trafficking, he was sent to the front line after just a few days of training.

Eleman was forced to remain on the battlefield even after his contract had ended despite being wounded. His father said:


“If you’re alive and can shoot, it’s enough for them to send you to the combat zone.”


Eleman was finally discharged from the military earlier this year after he sustained even more severe injuries that left him disabled.  Eleman is one of thousands of inmates in Russia who were recruited to fight in Ukraine as Moscow struggles to replenish its depleting forces while trying to avoid another unpopular mobilization.

Russia’s Defense Ministry began enlisting inmates in early 2023, taking over from the notorious Wagner mercenary group that started the prisoner-recruitment scheme in July 2022 — five months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Wagner had enlisted nearly 50,000 prisoners — 20 percent of whom were killed in Ukraine — as of May 2023, according to the group’s founder, Evgeniy Prigozhin. Prigozhin fell out of favor with the Kremlin before dying in a suspicious plane crash in Aug 2023.

The Defense Ministry has expanded the practice of recruiting inmates to the extent that dozens of penal colonies in Russia were emptied and closed. Pretrial-detention facilities and immigration-detention centers — which hold hundreds of migrant workers mainly from Central Asian countries have become recruitment hubs. Russian officials have made prison conditions unbearably harsh and inhumane in an effort to pressure inmates into joining the military.

“They keep you in a cold cell, you sleep on the floor with just a pillow underneath you holding plastic bottles filled with hot water to keep warm,” is how one Kyrgyz inmate described his bleak life in a prison in central Russia.

The father of another Kyrgyz inmate incarcerated in the Sverdlovsk region said his son told him that prisoners “had to drink their own urine after being kept in isolation for days without food or water.”

Once recruited into the military, the convicts are treated as an expendable force, with little consideration for their lives and are often thrown onto the front line with just a few days of military training.

Kyrgyzstan says some 1,500 Kyrgyz nationals are serving time in Russian prisons, most of them accused of drug trafficking. The number of Tajik inmates and detainees in Russia was estimated at about 10,000 before the Ukraine invasion. The exact number of Central Asian prisoners in Russia is unknown. Nor is it clear how many Central Asian inmates were recruited to war from Russian prisons.


Kyrgyzstan has repatriated about 100 of its nationals from Russian prisons to serve the remainder of their sentences in Kyrgyzstan. About 500 other such requests by Bishkek have been rejected by Russian authorities.

This cynical Kremlin strategy provides the Russian military with cannon-fodder for the front line against Ukraine while simultaneously depopulating itself of minorities (non-Slavic Muslims). Over a century ago, rumors spread that an abnormally high amount of the Czar’s casualties in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) also came from minority groups, particularly at Port Arthur. But this is strictly anecdotal. And note North Korea sent troops to fight against Russia. ROK CIA (NIS) reported that 1,500 SOF personnel are being readied for combat in an unspecified location in Russia.     

Source:

Russia Pressures Central Asian Prisoners To Fight In Ukraine As ‘Expendable Force’ (rferl.org)

US Treasury Sanctions Chinese Drone Makers

The Garpiya has been deployed by Russia in its brutal war against Ukraine, destroying critical infrastructure and causing mass casualties.

The US imposed sanctions on two Chinese companies and an affiliated Russian company involved in making and shipping drones that Russia has used in its full-scale war in Ukraine.

The two Chinese companies designated by the US Treasury Department are Xiamen Limbach Aircraft Engine Company, and the Redlepus Vector Industry Shenzhen.

Xiamen Limbach Aircraft Engine Company makes an engine that powers Russia’s Garpiya series long-range unmanned aerial vehicles. Redlepus Vector Industry Shenzhen is involved in shipping the attack drones.

A Russian national and company affiliated with the two Chinese companies were also designated in the sanctions: Artem Yamshchikov and TSK Vektor.

These are the first US sanctions imposed on Chinese entities that produce complete weapons systems in partnership with Russian firms. Previously imposed sanctions on Chinese entities have targeted those that provided components critical to Russia’s military-industrial base.

The drone was designed and developed by China-based experts and is produced at factories within China in collaboration with Russian defense firms before they are transferred to Russia for use against Ukraine, according to the department.

The sanctions freeze any assets held by the individuals and companies in US jurisdiction and bar US persons from conducting business with them.

Sources:

Treasury Targets Actors Involved in Drone Production for Russia’s War Against Ukraine | U.S. Department of the Treasury

Chinese Drone Companies Targeted By Latest U.S. Sanctions (rferl.org)

Justice Department Announces Charges Against Indian Government Employee in Connection with Foiled Plot to Assassinate US Citizen in NYC

Vikash Yadav from the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) allegedly orchestrated a failed bid to kill him. RAW is the Indian government’s equivalent of CIA. Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.

The Justice Department filed charges against Vikash Yadav (39) in connection to a foiled assassination plot of a US citizen in NYC. Yadav’s alleged co-conspirator, Nikhil Gupta (53) was previously charged and extradited to the US; Yadav remains at large.

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun (above) is a Sikh dissident in NYC. He is reportedly a citizen of Canada as well.

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun is a vocal critic of the Indian government and leads a US-based organization that advocates for the secession of Punjab, a state in northern India that is home to a large population of Sikhs, an ethnoreligious minority group in India. The victim has publicly called for some or all of Punjab to secede from India and establish a Sikh sovereign state called Khalistan, and the Indian government has banned the victim and his separatist organization from India.

Vikash Yadav is a citizen and resident of India, and he directed the plot to assassinate the victim from India. His accomplice Gupta recruited a hit-man, who was in reality a confidential source (CS) of the DEA. Gupta specifically instructed his assassin not to commit the murder around the time of the Indian Prime Minister’s official state visit to the US on or about 20 Jun 2023. On or about 18 June 2023, approximately two days before the Indian PM Narendra Modi’s state visit to the US, masked gunmen murdered Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia, Canada. Nijjar was an associate of the victim, and, like the victim, was a leader of the Sikh separatist movement and an outspoken critic of the Indian government.

Yadav and Gupta of India have been charged with several felonies and face possibly up to 40 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

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

The Canadian government recently expelled several Indian diplomats in connection with the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. The Sikhs are an integral part of Canadian society and they were outraged by this brazen assassination. For several years, the right-wing government of Narendra Modi has been making life difficult for non-Hindus in India, as well as abroad. The US must tread carefully as India is seen as an ally against a growing Chinese military. Washington also doesn’t want Delhi to increase its support or trade with Russia.

Sources:

Office of Public Affairs | Justice Department Announces Charges Against Indian Government Employee in Connection with Foiled Plot to Assassinate U.S. Citizen in New York City | United States Department of Justice

dl (justice.gov)

RAW officer Vikram Yadav ‘hired hit team’ to kill Pannun: Washington Post – Hindustan Times

Statement by the Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs on the RCMP’s findings regarding criminal activity in Canada with connections to agents of the Government of India – Canada.ca

Texas Fanatic Sentenced to Prison for Assaulting Law Enforcement During 6 Jan Attack on US Capitol

This lunatic shouted “Fuck you” at police officers all day and impeded the progress of a medical team that was trying to aid a rioter that was shot. (Photo: FBI)

Dana Jean Bell (66) of Princeton, TX was sentenced to 17 months in prison, 36 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution by US District Judge Timothy J. Kelly for her atrocious and felonious conduct on 6 Jan 2021. Her actions led to the eventual suicide of a police officer.

When the Trump-supporting mob began assaulting officers with pepper spray and ripping at least one police riot shield out of an officer’s hands, Bell made her way to the front of the rabble.  As the rioters inside the building forced the East Rotunda doors open, Bell reached out and grabbed the doors from the outside, disregarding that a USCP officer was pinned behind the doors.

After a rioter was shot in the Capitol, Bell refused orders to clear the way for a medical team, shouting “Don’t fuckin’ touch me!”  She told multiple officers to “get a real job” and that “no one support y’all, nobody!” This included Officer Jeffrey Smith, who tragically took his own life following severe personal injuries sustained in the line of duty on 6 Jan. As she was forced down the hallway, Bell also shoved her elbow multiple times into one officer’s chest.

When Bell finally exited the Capitol, she also assaulted two journalists. The FBI arrested the maniac on 7 Dec 2023 in Texas.

(Photos: FBI)

Erin Smith, whose husband Jeff Smith suffered a traumatic brain injury and a fracture while repelling the rioters, spoke at the sentencing hearing.

“Because of Dana Bell, (my husband) didn’t get the chance to keep serving as a police officer,” Smith said. “At 35, instead of becoming a mother, I became a widow.”

The presiding judge, a Republican and Donald Trump appointee, sentenced this maniac too lightly despite all the evidence he was presented. Although this was Dana Bell’s first offense, the US Sentencing Guidelines probably allows for upward departure in cases like this where significant harm arose subsequent to the instant offense. Here, a man received TBI and then committed suicide.

In the 45 months since 6 Jan 2021, more than 1,532 suspects have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to attacking the US Capitol, including more than 571 seditionists charged with feloniously assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The FBI investigation remains ongoing.

Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.

Sources:

District of Columbia | Texas Woman Sentenced to Prison for Assaulting Law Enforcement During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach | United States Department of Justice

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/erin-smith-january-6-widow-jeff-smith-testifies-sentencing-dana-bell/

Flesh-Eating Bacteria Infections Increase in Florida After Hurricanes Helene, Milton

Flesh-eating bacteria cases (necrotizing fasciitis) have surged in the last few weeks since Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton swept through, according to data from the Florida Department of Health (FDOH). Vibrio vulnificus, a naturally occurring but potentially fatal bacterial infection, thrives in warm floodwaters when hurricanes and tropical storms push brackish water along the coast and into rivers and canals, filling them and low-lying areas with rainwater, pollutants, sewage, and debris.

In southwest Florida, four new cases in Lee County and one in Collier County have been reported — an “unusual increase” due to the recent hurricanes. In 2022, Lee and Collier counties also experienced a spike in cases due to the impacts of Hurricane Ian. There have been 37 cases and four deaths reported statewide since mid-Sep 2024, with 13 cases and one death in Pinellas County. The 2024 total of Vibrio vulnificus in Florida is 70 confirmed cases and 11 deaths. In 2023, there were 46 cases all year, and 11 deaths.

If Vibrio vulnificus bacteria infects a person, such as by floodwaters coming in contact with a cut or other open wound, it can cause the skin and soft tissue around the wound to quickly break down. Treatment may require limb amputation to stop the rapid flesh deterioration, and the infection can be fatal.

Nationwide, vibriosis from Vibrio vulnificus and other Vibrio bacteria causes an estimated 80,000 illnesses and 100 deaths every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). About 52,000 of these illnesses are believed to come from eating contaminated food, but the bacteria are also often found in flood waters, something Florida has seen a lot of lately.

Sources:

Vibrio vulnificus | Florida Department of Health (floridahealth.gov)

About Necrotizing Fasciitis | Group A Strep | CDC

Christopher Columbus Wasn’t a Christian from Italy, But Instead A Sephardic Jew From Spain, New Study Alleges

Posthumous painting completed circa 1519

In 1492, Christopher Columbus embarked on a voyage that would change the course of history. While his disputed discovery of the New World is well-known, the mysteries surrounding both his final resting place and his origins have puzzled historians for centuries.

After his death in 1506, Columbus’ remains were reburied several times across different countries over the course of hundreds of years, sparking debates over whether his declared final resting place at Seville Cathedral in Spain was actually legitimate.

Now, thanks to groundbreaking DNA research, the question of his burial site has reportedly been solved. Furthermore, surprising details about his origins have come to light, with scientists claiming that he was born in Spain, not Italy, and that he was of Sephardic Jewish descent.

An illustration of Christopher Columbus’ death on 20 May 1506.

At 54 years old, famous explorer Christopher Columbus passed away in Valladolid, Spain in 1506. In the 14 years leading up to his death, Columbus had suffered from bouts of gout and arthritis. His health continued to deteriorate, and he was often bedridden for months at a time.

Upon his death, Columbus was buried at the Chapel of Wonders at the Convent of St. Francis in Valladolid. Then, he was moved at the request of his son to the monastery of La Cartuja in Seville. Then, in 1536, both Columbus’ remains and those of his son were moved to a church in Colonial Santo Domingo, now the Dominican Republic. In his will, Columbus requested to be buried there.

However, when France took control of the island in 1793, Columbus’ remains were interred in Havana, Cuba. They remained there until Spain’s defeat in the Spanish-American War and the relinquishing of Cuba in 1898. From there, Columbus’ remains were moved to the Seville Cathedral.

Christopher Columbus’ tomb at the Seville Cathedral. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

Evidently, the frequent shuffling of Christopher Columbus’ remains raised concerns among historians. An initial observation of the remains at Seville Cathedral revealed discrepancies with known information about Columbus’ age at death and general stature. Additionally, Dominican Republic authorities claimed that Columbus’ remains never left the island.

For years, people questioned whether Seville Cathedral really held the remains of Christopher Columbus, prompting Spanish scientists to tackle the mystery for themselves.

Beginning with the collection of DNA from the remains in the Seville Cathedral in 2003, scientists have just now received the answers they were looking for.

RTVE: Samples of Christopher Columbus’ bones that were tested by scientists.

In 2003, historians Marcial Castro and José Antonio Lorente opened the tomb of Columbus at Seville Cathedral and collected DNA evidence from bone fragments.

The DNA sample was then compared to the DNA of Columbus’ son Hernando, who is also buried at the cathedral. At the time, the results came back as a match, but there was still a large margin of error. Technology at the time simply could not confirm conclusively that the remains belonged to Christopher Columbus.

Then, in 2020, Spanish broadcaster RTVE began production of a documentary to not only discover the true location of Columbus’ burial site but also shed light on his mysterious origins. Led by Lorente, an expert forensic scientist, the documentary crew explored these historical mysteries.

The investigation involved comparing the 2003 DNA sample to remains from many of Columbus’ reported relatives. To increase the validity of the DNA testing, the research team had separate laboratories from Spain, the US, Mexico, and Italy test the items and come to their own conclusions.

“The process was carried out independently, with no communication between the clinics, ensuring the objectivity of the data,” Lorente told El País.

Ultimately, the labs confirmed that the remains at Seville Cathedral were indeed those of Christopher Columbus.

“Today it has been possible to verify it with new technologies, so that the previous partial theory that the remains of Seville belong to Christopher Columbus has been definitively confirmed,” Lorente told Reuters.

“The process was carried out independently, with no communication between the clinics, ensuring the objectivity of the data,” Lorente told El País.

Ultimately, the labs confirmed that the remains at Seville Cathedral were indeed those of Christopher Columbus.

“Today it has been possible to verify it with new technologies, so that the previous partial theory that the remains of Seville belong to Christopher Columbus has been definitively confirmed,” Lorente told Reuters.

Christopher Columbus Painting

The 1856 painting Inspiration of Christopher Columbus. (Wikimedia Commons)

As for Christopher Columbus’ true origins, the investigation revealed that Columbus was a Sephardic Jew from Western Europe, likely Spain.

“We have DNA from Christopher Columbus, very partial, but sufficient. We have DNA from Hernando Colón, his son,” Lorente said in the documentary. “And both in the Y chromosome (male) and in the mitochondrial DNA (transmitted by the mother) of Hernando there are traits compatible with Jewish origin.”

However, some scientists have begun to cast doubt on these claims, with further debate likely to come when the new results are soon published in a peer-reviewed journal.

If the DNA testing confirms that Christopher Columbus was indeed a Sephardic Jew and not an Italian Catholic, what new name will the US-based Catholic Knights of Columbus choose?

Source:

Where Was Christopher Columbus Born? New Study Says Spain (allthatsinteresting.com)