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Afghan National Arrested for Plotting Election Day Terrorist Attack in Name of ISIS

Image: FBI

The FBI arrested Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi (27) of Oklahoma City, OK who allegedly planned to conduct a violent attack on US soil in the name of ISIS on Election Day. He and a co-conspirator expected to die as martyrs, according to charging documents.


Tawhedi, who arrived in the US in Sep 2021, had taken steps in recent weeks to advance his attack plans, including by ordering AK-47 rifles, liquidating his family’s assets and buying one-way tickets for his wife and child to travel home to Afghanistan.


On 7 Oct Tawhedi and his juvenile accomplice met with FBI assets and purchased, received, and took possession of two AK-47 assault rifles, ten magazines, and 500 rounds of ammunition. Upon receipt of the rifles and ammunition, Tawhedi and his accomplice were arrested.


Tawhedi was charged with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to ISIS, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years, and receiving a firearm to be used to commit a felony or a federal crime of terrorism, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 15 years, if convicted.


Tawhedi entered the US on a special immigrant visa in 2021 and has been on parole status pending the conclusion of his immigration proceedings. The program permits eligible Afghans who helped Americans, despite great personal risk to themselves and their loved ones, to apply for entry into America with their families. Eligible Afghans include interpreters for the US military as well as individuals integral to the US Embassy in Kabul. The program has existed since 2009 and the number of applicants skyrocketed after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in Aug 2021.


Shawn Van Diver, the president of #AfghanEvac, a coalition of organizations dedicated to helping Afghans trying to leave Afghanistan, said that though the charges are serious, “it’s critical that we do not assign blame to an entire community for the actions of one individual. Thousands of Afghans who resettled in the US are working to build new lives and contribute to our shared future. These are the same individuals who stood shoulder to shoulder with us in Afghanistan for over two decades, defending the values we hold dear.


This defendant was committed to his attack plan as evidenced by all of the preparations for sending his wife and child back to Afghanistan and liquidating his assets. Thanks to Muslim-American or Afghan-American FBI assets who duped Tawhedi, the plot was interrupted. Note this is an ISIS-inspired plot, not a Taliban plot.
 

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

Sources:


Office of Public Affairs | Afghan National Arrested for Plotting an Election Day Terrorist Attack in the Name of ISIS | United States Department of Justice
dl (justice.gov)
FBI arrests Afghan man who officials say planned Election Day attack in US | AP News
 
 

Minnesota Man Sentenced to Prison on Felony Charge for Actions During 6 Jan Attack on the US Capitol

Photos: FBI


Paul Orta Jr (34) of Blue Earth, MN was sentenced to six months in prison, 12 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution and fines by the Honorable US District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich. Orta pleaded guilty to a felony charge of obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder on 14 May 2024

Orta traveled from Minnesota to Washington, DC to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally on 6 Jan at the National Mall. A crowd of rioters, with Orta at the front, began to overwhelm officers at the Peace Memorial entrance and began to move onto Capitol grounds. United States Capitol Police (USCP) officers retreated from this area and attempted to set up a new police line, but some in the crowd, including Orta, pressed forward. As Orta advanced toward the retreating officers, he yelled, “We’re taking that s— today!” Minutes later, Orta forcefully moved at least two temporary bike racks that were being used by law enforcement to control the crowd and threw them over a concrete wall.


During the scrum, Orta lobbed a dark-colored object over the heads of rioters and towards a crowd of law enforcement officers. He then pushed a bike rack barricade against the police line and made physical contact with law enforcement officers. After the mob broke through the police line and advanced to the Lower and Upper West Terraces, Orta climbed on top of a concrete wall and raised a fist in the air.


The FBI arrested Orta on 14 Nov 2023 in Minnesota.


Note that Orta appears dressed for combat, not a rally, and was given a fairly light sentence. He represents America’s Fedayeen Saddam (FS), dead-enders clutching on to the last vestiges of white supremacy in the US. This young man threw whatever semblance of a life away by heeding the idiotic call of Donald J. Trump. The internet is forever and technically so is Orta’s federal conviction. Orta will face difficulties obtaining gainful employment after he is released from prison.


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 | Minnesota Man Sentenced to Prison on Felony Charge for Actions During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach | United States Department of Justice

Cholera Cases, Deaths Surge in Nigeria

Houses and other buildings are submerged following a dam collapse in Maiduguri, Borno state, Nigeria, on 10 Sep 2024. Image: VOA

Cholera is surging in Nigeria with the number of cases and deaths increasing by more than 200% this year. The Nigerian Center for Disease Control recorded nearly 11,000 cases of cholera this year — a 220% increase compared with the same point in 2023. Fatalities over the same periods have increased from 106 to 359 — a rise of 239%.

Nigeria has a population of 236,747,130 people. GDP per capita: $5,700 (2023 est.) Data: CIA. Map: ontheworldmap.com

The state of Lagos accounted for 43% of the nation’s cases, while Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, and Borno also recorded significant numbers.

Last month, the worst flooding in 30 years ravaged conflict-ridden Borno state, worsening an already dire humanitarian situation there. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced and moved to overcrowded camps. The flooding caused a massive prison break earlier this summer.

“We’re now facing a significant public health challenge that demands urgent attention and action,” Borno Health Commissioner Baba Mallam Gana said. “The floods have created ideal conditions for the spread of waterborne diseases like cholera by contaminating water sources and disrupting sanitation systems.”

Cholera is a bacterial disease, usually spread by contaminated food or water. It causes severe diarrhea and dehydration.

Nigeria’s Health Ministry is sending hundreds of thousands of doses of cholera vaccine to the affected areas. Borno alone received 300,000 doses, and state authorities say the vaccine has been distributed to camps for those displaced by the floods.

Nigeria has Africa’s highest malaria death rate which the floods will exacerbate.

Lagos residents use art to draw attention to the gaps in the prevention and treatment of malaria. According to UNICEF, over 1,000 children under the age of five catch malaria every day. Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images.

Sources:

Cholera cases, deaths surge more than 200% in Nigeria (voanews.com)

CIA

Nigeria has Africa’s highest malaria death rate – progress is being made, but it’s not enough (theconversation.com)

Osama bin Laden’s Son Omar Ordered to Leave France

Saudi painter Omar bin Laden in Le Teilleul, western France, on 1 July 2022. © AFP – Jean-François Monier

Born in Saudi Arabia, where he spent his early years, Omar bin Laden (43) has also lived in Sudan and Afghanistan. He left his father at the age of 19 and eventually settled in Normandy in northern France in 2016, taking up painting.

France’s new interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, said on X that Omar bin Laden “posted comments on his social networks in 2023 that advocated terrorism. As a result, the prefect of Orne issued an order to leave French territory. The courts have confirmed the legality of this decision taken in the interests of national security,” he added.

The interior minister also said he had signed off on a ban preventing Omar bin Laden “to return to France for any reason whatsoever.”

He did not provide further details and it was not clear if Omar bin Laden had already left France.

Omar bin Laden’s marriage to British woman Jane Felix-Browne, a grandmother who had been divorced five times previously and over two decades his senior, had caused considerable media interest when it was confirmed in 2007. Omar bin Laden sought to live in the UK, but his bid was rejected by the British authorities.

The announcement of Omar bin Laden’s expulsion comes as the French interior minister held a meeting on Tuesday with the police chiefs of the 21 departments most affected by illegal immigration.

This comes at a time when the French government just survived a no-confidence vote. The motion was brought forward by the left-wing New Popular Front, who won the most seats in the snap legislative elections called by President Emmanuel Macron earlier this year.

French Prime Minister Michel Barnier passed the first test of his new government on Tuesday, as a leftist no-confidence motion failed to garner enough votes to bring down his center-right administration.

President Emmanuel Macron tapped Barnier for the job of prime minister last month after a snap election led to a fractious hung parliament. Barnier’s government is weak, propped up by the far right and despised by leftist lawmakers who filed the no-confidence motion last Friday.

The no-confidence motion was always a longshot, as it needed the backing of the far-right National Rally (RN) party to get over the line – a move RN lawmakers had signaled they were unwilling to take.

 RN’s Marine Le Pen said she wanted “to give a chance” to the prime minister. But she set out red lines, including that any tax increases be offset by increased spending power for the lower and middle classes.

Anti-immigration is becoming an issue in European politics and this announcement by the French Interior Minister may have been to appease the far-right which is part of the governing coalition. There is no information where Omar bin Laden will re-locate to or whether another EU country will accept him. There is no open source reporting that he has not been charged with any crimes.

Sources:

Osama bin Laden’s son Omar ordered to leave France (rfi.fr)

French government survives no-confidence vote as far right stays neutral (rfi.fr)

French Island Uncovers Waste Ring Exporting Toxic Vehicle (HAZMAT) Scrap to India

Most illegal vehicle waste ends up in countries in Africa and Asia, where the environmental impact is devastating.  Photo: AP / Mark Lennihan

The illegal operation, which ran for several years, shipped approximately 200 containers of dangerous car waste annually from the French overseas department and generated profits of €3.5 million. Under environmental laws, vehicles must be depolluted before being exported. 

Map: Courtesy of Business Insider

Those arrested include a prominent local entrepreneur in the vehicle destruction sector, his wife and seven others. The investigation revealed that the suspects had been hiding dangerous materials with other waste products whose international trade is permitted. 

Illegal exports of waste, including electronics and vehicle parts, are not uncommon. Much of this waste ends up in countries in Africa and Asia, where the environmental impact is devastating.  

Developing countries often receive vast shipments of waste – both legally and illegally – from wealthier nations. India is a frequent destination for such waste. French authorities are continuing their investigation into the Reunion-India trafficking network, with further arrests possible in the coming weeks. 

The move comes as part of a wider crackdown on international waste trafficking.  

In 2023, INTERPOL reported a 50% percent increase in such operations over the previous two years. 

In 2017, 835 large ocean-going ships were sold to scrap yards, 543 of which were broken down on beaches of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. The toxic materials stripped from these hulks have caused illnesses and deaths among the poor people doing this dangerous work, but authorities do not seem to be investigating the causes. And India already has a pollution problem, causing 2.3 million premature deaths in 2019, according to a Lancet study. Nearly 1.6 million deaths were due to air pollution alone, and more than 500,000 were caused by water pollution.

Sources:

French island uncovers waste ring exporting toxic vehicle scrap to India (rfi.fr)

Lancet study: Pollution killed 2.3 million Indians in 2019 (bbc.com)
 

Iran: An Earthquake or Secret Underground Nuclear Test?

The University of Tehran’s seismography center announced that a 4.4-magnitude earthquake had shaken the city of Aradan in Iran’s Semnan province, with tremors also felt in parts of eastern Tehran this past Saturday. The epicenter of the earthquake, which occurred 12km below ground, were recorded as 35.42° north and 52.78° east.

Hours after the news broke, social media users began speculating that the Tehran regime had attempted to conduct its first underground nuclear test, presumably as a deterrent measure against Israeli attacks on its territory. Tehran had stopped disclosing its nuclear activities to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) after then-President Donald Trump recklessly withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018.

These speculations came as Islamic Republic officials and Revolutionary Guard commanders repeatedly threatened that if economic, political, and military pressures on the country intensify, Tehran will alter its military defense doctrine — a change that would require amending the Iranian leader’s fatwa on the illegality of nuclear weapons. Iran is also a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The NorNews news website, which operates informally as the Islamic Republic’s National Security Council main information outlet, dismissed the nuclear speculation as “rumors” and once again stressed that nuclear testing contradicts Iran’s nuclear and defense doctrine.

In 2019, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies claimed that Iran had begun a program to build underground nuclear testing sites, known as the “Field Project”.

The foundation has been sanctioned by Iran’s Foreign Ministry for five years for “producing and disseminating lies, encouraging, consulting, lobbying, and negative propaganda campaign against the Islamic Republic with the aim of playing an effective role in imposing and intensifying economic sanctions”.

According to its 2019 report, its researchers “identified the likely location (in an area southeast of Semnan) where underground non-nuclear explosives tests were conducted in 2003 as part of developing seismic methods of measuring the yield of an underground nuclear explosive.”

This raises the speculation that the earthquake reported in Semnan could be connected to Tehran’s first nuclear test. While Iran has previously acknowledged the existence of the “Imam Khomeini” space center and missile headquarters southeast of Semnan, the site is more than 100 kms from the earthquake’s epicenter. Conspiracy theorists claim Iran prefers use this as a testing site instead of conducting them at a well-known facility such as Natanz.

Iran is an earthquake-prone country, so tremors like these are not uncommon or strange. During the savage Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, Iranian generals wanted to desperately counter-attack Iraqi chemical weapons attacks with their own stockpiles, but the religious leaders of Iran issued a fatwa against the use of WMDs, arguing thy would despoil nature. The Iranian High Command bitterly acquiesced in the face of appalling battlefield casualties. The recent social media speculation seems to be emanating from war-hawks itching to incriminate Iran and inflame tensions in an already precarious time with Israel continuing its murderous rampage in Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, and against Shia Yemenis on the Arabian peninsula.  

Sources:

M 4.4 – 50 km NW of Bardaskan, Iran (usgs.gov)

Iran: An earthquake — or a secret underground nuclear test? | Euronews

Project Midan (fdd.org)

Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – Wikipedia

Ex-British MI6 Operative: Donald Trump Took British Naval Secrets to Mar-A-Lago

Boxes and boxes with classified information stored inside a bathroom at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in April 2021. Photo: Department of Justice

Donald Trump took “British naval secrets” to Mar-a-Lago after he left the White House, the former UK MI6 operative Christopher Steele writes in a new book.
“I was reliably informed by impeccable sources that among the classified documents which Trump, apparently unauthorizedly, took with him to Mar-a-Lago at the end of his presidency were British naval secrets, some of the most sensitive ones in our governmental system,” Steele writes.


“It remains unclear to me, at least, why Trump would have wanted to retain such documents and what eventually happened to them.”

Steele does not say what the secrets concerned.

Trump’s retention of classified documents after leaving power in 2021 was the subject of an FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago and 40 criminal charges brought by the special counsel Jack Smith. That case was thrown out in June by Aileen Cannon, a Florida judge appointed under Trump. Smith has appealed.

Trump was convicted on 34 criminal charges in New York, over hush-money payments to an adult film star. His attempts to overturn the 2020 election are the subject of four federal criminal charges and eight in Georgia.

Trump was previously reported to have discussed US nuclear submarines at Mar-a-Lago with an Australian billionaire who then shared the information. Reporting of that incident did not mention “British naval secrets”.

A Russian foreign ministry photo showing Donald Trump with Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak sharing a laugh during their meeting in the White House on 10 May 2017 (EPA)

Steele discusses the reported occasion in May 2017 when Trump shared “top secret intelligence”, allegedly about an Israeli asset working inside the terrorist group Isis, with Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister. Sources, Steele says, believe Russia told Iran, which tipped off ISIS, leading to the death of the asset.

Steele then cites his “impeccable source” saying Trump took documents concerning British naval secrets to Mar-a-Lago. He also says the British government knew of links between Trump and Moscow before his intervention, as the Australian government reported activities involving a Trump adviser, George Papadopoulos, in 2016.

The two most dangerous internal national security threats to the United States of America are Donald J. Trump and disgraced retired US Army LG Michael Flynn.

The head table of a gala celebrating the tenth anniversary of Russia Today in Dec 2015 in Moscow. Mikhail Klimentyev / Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP and NBC News.

Sources:
Trump took ‘British naval secrets’ to Mar-a-Lago, says Christopher Steele | Donald Trump | The Guardian
Trump indictment unsealed: Read the copy (axios.com)

How Waffle House Helps Southerners and FEMA Judge Storm’s Severity

Image: FOX Weather

Golden hashbrowns, gravy-smothered biscuits and crispy waffles with a hearty helping of maple syrup are among the classic Southern comfort foods. But when hurricanes tear through Southeastern towns, the hot meals and bold yellow signs of the local Waffle House provide another kind of comfort.

If a Waffle House stays open in town, even in a limited capacity, neighbors are reassured that the coming storm is unlikely to cause devastation. A closed location of the dependable diner chain has come to indicate impending disaster. The metric is known as the Waffle House Index.

What might sound like silly logic has become one of the most reliable ways for Southerners — and even federal officials — to gauge a storm’s severity and identify communities most in need of immediate aid.

About two dozen Waffle House locations remained closed in the Carolinas and the chain’s home state of Georgia on Tuesday, nearly two weeks after the states were among those battered by Hurricane Helene. Several other locations were open but serving a limited menu.

As Hurricane Milton barrels toward Florida communities still recovering from Helene, many Waffle House locations along the Gulf Coast, including those in Tampa, Cape Coral, and St. Petersburg, have closed in preparation.

The South’s favorite disaster authority provides an informal measure of how significantly a storm will affect or has affected a community.

A map of the chain’s over 1,900 locations, concentrated in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic, helps residents of storm-prone states assess whether they’re likely to lose power, experience severe flooding or endure other extreme conditions that might cause a resilient restaurant to close its doors. For some, it’s a telltale sign of whether they need to evacuate.

Waffle House is known not just for serving breakfast 24/7, 365 days a year, but also for its disaster preparedness. For decades, people across the South have noticed that the local Waffle House seemed to be the only business still open during a storm or the first to reopen after it passed.

The restaurant chain’s reputation for remaining open when people desperately needed a place to warm up, charge devices and grab a hot meal became a fairly reliable — albeit amusing — source to help track recovery efforts.

Waffle House’s social media shares color-coded maps of its restaurant locations in certain regions that will soon be hit or are recovering from storm damage. FEMA also offers some live tracking.

Waffle House has closed many Florida locations before Hurricane Milton has made landfall, indicating the damage will likely be severe.

The appropriately named Milton (Paradise Lost) was upgraded back to a Category 5 storm Tuesday as it churned toward Florida’s west coast. The “meteorological monster” could land a once-in-a-century direct hit on Tampa and St. Petersburg, engulfing the populous region with towering storm surges and turning debris from Helene’s devastation into projectiles.

Source:

Waffle House Index helps Southerners and FEMA judge a hurricane’s severity | AP News

Friendly Cat Joins Canine Airport Therapy Squad at Denver Intl Airport

Therapy cat Xeli always seems to know when she’s needed. So, when she starts tugging on her leash, her handlers follow the cat to an older couple hunched miserably over their chairs at one of Denver International Airport’s concourses. Their return flight was cancelled, and they’ve logged countless hours trying to get back home.  


Volunteers Nathan and Laine ask the duo if they’d like to hold the cat. The travellers’ faces light up instantly and Xeli bounds onto their laps and curls into a ball. The couple start reminiscing about their own pet who resembled the tabby. By the time the trio leaves, the travelers are smiling.  “Visiting with Xeli was the highlight of our day,” they say.

Photo Courtesy The Petco Foundation

These kinds of transformations are par for the course for members of the Canine Airport Therapy Squad (CATS). Despite the acronym, the team consists of 94 dogs and one cat—Xeli. The program, founded in 2015, offers stress relief to travelers overwhelmed by the airport’s hustle and bustle, missed or late flights, or the scrutiny at security. By the time voyagers reach the boarding areas, they’re ready for the soothing snuggles and distraction of the therapy teams.

Xeli has always done that. Her “sweet nature” was evident to Nathan and Laine from the moment they glimpsed the purring kitten at a Petsmart adoption event. After bringing her home, the couple quickly realized that Xeli could charm even their most feline-resistant friends. A friend told Laine, “I’m not really a cat person, but Xeli’s pretty cool.” That’s when the couple began to see Xeli’s potential as a therapy animal.  

Not every cat is cut out for the role. A potential therapy cat must have a mellow disposition and enjoy interacting with people. Prospective animals have to be certified by a recognized national agency who puts them through a gauntlet of simulated real-life situations, including loud noises and nearby dogs. Cats who prove their mettle undergo a more specific evaluation at the airport, where they’re shepherded through security, taken up escalators, and ride the trains.

Some travelers don’t know what to make of the tabby and her handlers, dressed in matching blue plaid vests. “Some people give us weird looks,” says Laine. Others offer money. A few have even tried to adopt the cat.   

Photo: Courtesy K99

“We own her,” the volunteers clarify. “We’re here so that people who might be a little anxious can have some kitty cuddles.” 

Sources:

Cat Infiltrates Canine Airport Therapy Squad – Modern Cat

Ukraine Withdraws from Vuhledar as Russia Attacks Strategic Grain-Exporting Port on Danube River

The Ukrainian military has confirmed that it is pulling out of the strategic city of Vuhledar as Moscow continues its grinding offensive. Vuhledar, a deserted former mining town with a prewar population of some 14,000, has been at the center of ferocious battles since the start of Russia’s unprovoked invasion in Feb 2022. Russian Telegram channels posted videos of troops waving the Russian flag over shattered buildings.

Russian forces used repeated attacks on the flanks of Vuhledar to exhaust the Ukrainian defenses, threatening to surround the hilltop city. Although razed, this location is strategically important for Russia to protect its supply routes. Vuhledar could also act as a springboard toward Pokrovsk, a communications hub some 80 km to the north that Moscow has been eying for months.

Moscow’s troops, overwhelmingly superior in numbers and equipment, have been slowly advancing in eastern Ukraine despite huge losses, as Ukraine has been desperately appealing to its Western allies to provide it with more advanced weapons and give it permission to strike military objectives deeper inside Russia.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s critically important Danube port of Izmayil was again targeted by waves of Russian drone strikes that raised the alarm in neighboring NATO member Romania. Izmayil, on the border with Romania, is Kiev’s only gateway to exporting its grain and other produce.  Two people, including a Turkish citizen, were wounded in the attack.

Vladimir Putin is waging war against grain and global food security to disrupt the Western and Ukrainian economies. As previously reported on Coriolanus, the Kremlin recently ordered jets to attack a cargo ship carrying Ukrainian grain in the Black Sea to Egypt.

Sources:

Ukraine Withdraws From Vuhledar As Russia Resumes Strikes On Danube Port (rferl.org)

Azerbaijani Opposition Figure Brutally Murdered in France

Vidadi Isgandarli (undated web screenshot).

Vidadi Isgandarli, an Azerbaijani opposition figure in exile well-known for his fierce criticism of the government, has died in France after being brutally beaten and stabbed in an attack at his apartment that his family says was politically motivated.

The deadly attack on Isgandarli follows a similar pattern of violence against Azerbaijani opposition figures in exile; in 2021, another politician in exile, Mohammad Mirzali, survived being stabbed.

“My brother had no idea who the attackers were or what motivated the assault…. They did not speak, and they wore masks, making it impossible to identify them,” said Oktay Isgandarl.

“I have no doubt this is a politically motivated assassination. My brother survived a previous attack by approximately 15 assailants in 2022 here in France.”

Oktay Isgandarli said he received a desperate video call from his brother early on 29 Sep as he clutched a pillow to his abdomen to try and staunch the bleeding after being attacked by three masked men who had broken into his apartment in Mulhouse in eastern France.

Vidadi Isgandarli was stabbed at least 21 times in the abdomen as well as blows to the body and head.

Medics managed to resuscitate him, but he never regained consciousness and succumbed to his injuries on 1 Oct.

Vidadi Isgandarli was known as a vocal critic of the Azerbaijani government and President Ilham Aliyev, who has maintained a tight grip on power since 2003. Azerbaijani Supremo Ilham Aliyev gestures as he addresses the nation in Baku, Azerbaijan, 20 Oct 2020. Israel supplied Azerbaijan with nearly 70% of its arsenal between 2016 and 2020 — giving Azerbaijan an edge against Armenia and boosting Israel’s large defense industry. Aliev has also been deepening ties with Vladimir Putin. (AP Photo)

In 2010, Vidadi Isgandarli participated in parliamentary elections, which he denounced as fraudulent after opposition candidates failed to get elected. He then helped organize protests against the official election results.

Arrested in 2011 and charged with various offenses, including assault and interference with election officials, Vidadi denied the allegations, claiming they were politically motivated.

He was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison but was released early in Dec 2012 in a presidential amnesty. Fearing further persecution, Vidadi, his brother, and their families emigrated to France in 2015.

With Azerbaijan set to host the climate conference COP29 in November, right groups have said it is imperative that the event is used also to shine a spotlight on the country and the deteriorating human rights situation there.

Amnesty International and other human rights groups had documented the “widespread abuse” by the Azerbaijani authorities of the criminal justice system to crack down on human rights including the right to freedom of expression, often “detaining and falsely charging their critics with economic crimes.”

Editorial cartoon on the 2015 Baku European Games from Meydan TV (Image: Meydan TV)

These cowardly murderers took advantage of world attention being focused on the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and Russia’s campaign against Ukraine to eliminate this political opponent of the Aliev regime which has been in power for 21 years. The Amnesty International report contains several instances of political opponents being bullied or imprisoned on fabricated charges. The Aliev regime has the wealth and security apparatus, the DTX, to maintain power and target opponents at home and abroad. The petroleum industry in Azerbaijan produces about 873,260 barrels (138,837 m3) of oil per day and 29 billion cubic meters of gas per year as of 2013.[1] Azerbaijan is one of the birthplaces of the oil industry. This attack is reminiscent of the brutal 2018 murder and butchery of political dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, which was directly linked to Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman.

Sources:

Azerbaijani Opposition Figure Dies After Brutal Attack In France (rferl.org)

Human rights in Azerbaijan Amnesty International

Israeli weapons quietly helped Azerbaijan retake Nagorno-Karabakh — sources, data | The Times of Israel

CIA Makes It Easier for Potential Informants to Share Tips

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) wants to make it easier — and safer — for people in Iran, China, and North Korea to share information with America’s premier spy agency.

CIA posted online instructions in Korean, Mandarin, and Farsi detailing steps that potential informants can take to contact US intelligence officials without putting themselves in danger.

The instructions include ways to reach the CIA on its public website or on the darknet, a part of the internet that can only be accessed using special tools designed to hide the user’s identity. The CIA posted similar instructions in Russian two years ago following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“People are trying to reach out to us from around the world and we are offering them instructions for how to do that safely,” the agency said in a statement. “Our efforts on this front have been successful in Russia, and we want to make sure individuals in other authoritarian regimes know that we’re open for business.”

The tips, presented in text-only videos and infographics, include using a virtual private network, or VPN, to circumvent internet restrictions and surveillance, and the use of a device that can’t easily be traced back to the user. The CIA also urged any potential informants to use private web browsers and to delete their internet history to cover their tracks.

The messages in the three languages were posted on Telegram, YouTube, X, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Several of those platforms are blocked in China, Iran, and Russia but can still be accessed using a VPN.

Authoritarian leaders around the world have used the internet as a tool of mass surveillance and as a way to deliver propaganda and disinformation while blocking sites and views deemed unfavorable to the government.

China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran all block access to American platforms like Facebook, for example, and use web access to control which sources of information users can access.

VPNs and other tools offer ways around this censorship and surveillance, but that ability has made them a target. In its instructions to potential sources, the CIA warned its audience to be selective, as their well-being could depend on choosing the right program.

“Use a VPN provider not headquartered in Russia, Iran, or China, or any other country that is considered unfriendly to the US,” CIA wrote in its instructions for Mandarin users.

This system apparently worked with informants operating in Russia. For the technologically savvy who are confident of remaining undetected, this method may provide the USIC with useful information from Iran, China, and North Korea. Of course, the information would be evaluated for quality and access. For years Wikileaks has used a system to allow people to anonymously download information without detection.   

Sources:

CIA

CIA makes it easier for potential informants to share tips (voanews.com)

Denmark: Three Arrested Following Explosions Near Israeli Embassy in Copenhagen

Security personnel inspect the site of two explosions near the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Wednesday. Police are conducting initial investigations at the scene of two blasts for a possible connection to the Israeli embassy located in the area, Copenhagen police said on social media platform. No injuries were reported in the incident, the police added. Photo by Emil Helms/EPA-EFE.

Police in Denmark arrested three people Wednesday following a pair of explosions overnight near the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen, probably two hand grenades. There were no injuries or damage to the Israeli facility.

The first suspect was arrested within the Danish capital before two others were taken into police custody on a train at Copenhagen Central Station. The three suspects are Swedish males between the ages of 15 and 20 years old. The pair of explosions occurred at around 3:20 AM at the intersection of Strandagervej and Lundevangsvej near the Israeli embassy in Hellerup, north of Copenhagen. Police said they had launched an investigation to see if the explosions were in relation to the Israeli embassy.

Israel’s offensive against the Palestinians and Lebanon with the increasing death toll has resulted in growing criticism and anger directed toward the Middle Eastern country. Last month, German police shot and killed an armed man near Munich’s Israeli embassy after he opened fire on security forces. In June, a man with a crossbow attacked police outside the Israeli embassy in Belgrade, Serbia.

Meanwhile, Israel continues pounding Lebanon. At least six people have been killed and eight wounded in Israeli air strikes targeting central Beirut overnight. A further 46 people were killed and 85 injured in IDF attacks across Lebanon in the previous 24 hours. More than 1,900 people have been killed and about 9,000 wounded in Lebanon in almost a year of cross-border fighting, with most of the deaths occurring in the past two weeks.

Destruction at the site of an overnight Israeli air raid on the Bir el-Abed neighbourhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs on 1 Oct 2024 [Anwar Amro/AFP]

As written here on Coriolanus, Israel and the West will be dealing with asymmetric reprisals, ranging from rank amateurish like this hand grenade episode to highly professional attacks, because of the Likud government’s brutal campaign against the Palestinians and its offensive against Lebanon. Innocent Jews and Israelis, who may be Labor Party members or peace activists like the young woman on the left seated next to Greta Thunberg below, are vulnerable worldwide thanks to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. The right-wing in Israel and the West will denounce attacks like this hand grenade folly with the standard lines that it’s “antisemitism,” when it’s really an anti-Likud gesture and an expression of anger and frustration that people of a darker color and a different religion should be killed so easily in the name of “self-defense.”  

Sources:

3 arrested following explosions near Israel’s embassy in Copenhagen – UPI.com

At least 8 killed, 9 wounded in Tel Aviv mass shooting at rail station – UPI.com

Live: Israel hits Beirut, killing 6, Hezbollah fights Israeli army in south | Israel attacks Lebanon News | Al Jazeera

Israel Bars UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from Country

Israel Wednesday banned UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from entering the country because in Israel’s opinion he was not sufficiently unequivocal about condemning Iran’s missile attack on Israel. After Iran’s attack Tuesday Guterres condemned the escalation of violence in the Middle East and called for it to stop. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Israel Wednesday banned UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from entering the country, citing his comments immediately following Iran’s attack on Tel Aviv..

“I decided today to declare UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres an undesirable personality in Israel and to ban his entry into Israel,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on X. “Anyone who is unable to unequivocally condemn Iran’s criminal attack on Israel, as almost all the countries of the world have done, does not deserve to set foot on Israel’s soil.”

Tuesday Guterres said in a statement after Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel, “I condemn the broadening of the Middle East conflict, with escalation after escalation. This must stop. We absolutely need a cease-fire.”

Guterres added, “An all-out war must be avoided in Lebanon at all costs, and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon must be respected.”

Katz alleged that Guterres “has not yet denounced the massacre and sexual crimes committed by the murderers of Hamas on 7 Oct, and has not led to decisions to declare them a terrorist organization.”

In Oct 2023 in remarks at the UN Security Council, Guterres said, “I have condemned unequivocally the horrifying and unprecedented 7 Oct acts of terror by Hamas in Israel.”

“Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians – or the launching of rockets against civilian targets,” he said at the time.

In his Oct 2023 remarks, Guterres cited Israeli occupation in the West Bank:

“It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum,” he said. “The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.”

In remarks before the UN Security Council on Wednesday, Guterres said the “deadly cycle of tit-for-tat violence must stop.”

“The events of the past week, the past month and indeed nearly the past year make it clear: It is high time for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, with the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, the effective delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza and irreversible progress to a two-state solution,” Guterres said. “It is high time for a cessation of hostilities in Lebanon, real action towards full implementation of Security Council resolutions 1559 and 1701, paving the way for diplomatic efforts for sustainable peace.”

“It is high time to stop the sickening cycle of escalation after escalation that is leading the people of the Middle East straight over the cliff. Each escalation has served as a pretext for the next.”

Guterres told Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati that the entire UN system in Lebanon is mobilized to assist all those in need in the country as Israel continued it military attacks on Hezbollah.

As it attacked Hezbollah, Israel has also killed civilians with its attacks and has forced dislocation of civilian residents in the country. Guterres said the UN will continue efforts to de-escalate the situation.

Katz said in his statement Wednesday that the global terrorism of Iran will be remembered as a “forever blot in the history of the UN.”

Guterres maintains that the UN must demand that all parties uphold and respect obligations under international law, including how warfare and occupation are conducted.

Katz’ X statement Wednesday said, “Israel will continue to protect its citizens and maintain its position and national honor with or without Antonio Guterres.”

Israel and the UN have clashed over the role of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian humanitarian relief. Israel accused several of the agency’s staff of being involved in the 7 Oct 2023 attack on Israel.

That surprise attack killed hundreds of Israelis, including civilians as well as military personnel, when armed Palestinians gunmen crossed into Israel from Gaza. These gunmen kidnapped hostages in order to conduct a prisoner swap with Israel as over 7,000 Palestinians have been held in military detention without trial or hearing. Israel massively attacked Gaza in response to the 7 Oct attacks.

Guterres has not yet publicly responded to being banned from Israel nor should he dignify this childish edict.

The Israeli government has a long, rich tradition of ignoring UNSC Resolutions. Former Israeli PM Ariel Sharon is depicted above bullying UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. This cartoonist caricaturized Ariel Sharon as a pig with hooves and a tail. Note the bottom of Ariel Sharon’s hoof is (regrettably) an American flag. Since 2023, over 300 aid workers have been killed in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

This diplomatic blunder by Israel should not surprise anyone. Bullies and authoritarian regimes exercise censorship tactics to prevent a counter-narrative inimical to their position. Mr. Guterres will probably not personally respond to this idiotic measure taken by the Israeli Foreign Minister. A member of the Likud Cabinet had previously called for another “nakba” against the Palestinians and another lunatic minister advocated the use of a nuclear device against the Gazans. The Likud government was more upset of a leaked video showing IDF soldiers gang-raping a Palestinian man, not at the unforgivable crime of rape perpetrated by those Israeli miscreants. That grim episode was posted here on Coriolanus. Both the Israeli Prime and Defense Ministers have been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague for war crimes.

Sources:

Israel bars U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from country over response to Iran attack – UPI.com

Aid Worker Security Database | Aid Worker Security Database

68 Dangerous California White Supremacists from “SFV Peckerwoods” Gang Indicted

The letters SFV for the Peckerwoods gang signify “San Fernando Valley” and the acronym of “Searching for Victims.” 

A massive law enforcement sweep targeting the SFV Peckerwoods, what federal prosecutors call a San Fernando Valley based white supremacist street gang has led to the arrests of 42 members of the racist criminal organization. 

A total of 68 alleged members of the SFV Peckerwoods were named in a 76-count federal grand jury indictment unsealed Wednesday that details a litany of crimes related to what prosecutors call a “years-long pattern of racketeering activity that included trafficking of drugs — including fentanyl — illegal firearms possession, and COVID-19 benefits and loan fraud.” 

A massive cache of guns and drugs was seized by the Joint Terrorist Task Force in sweeps targeting the SFV Peckerwoods, a violent white supremacist street gang. Photo: Department of Justice

Of those caught up in a series of federal and local law enforcement sweeps, twelve alleged Peckerwood members were hit with federal racketeering charges, while another 56 defendants were charged with conspiring to distribute drugs. Another 13 defendants were already behind bars. 

The Peckerwoods use Nazi tattoos, graffiti, and iconography to indicate their violent white supremacy extremist ideology. Among the monikers its members use include nicknames like “Bezerker,” “Rascal,” “Monster,” and “Meat,” while inked with “tattoos and iconography” that “include swastikas, the symbol “88”, used by violent white supremacy extremists as code for “Heil Hitler”, and images of Nazi aircraft.”

The gang has a large number of females, who call themselves “Featherwoods,” including “SFV Mama,” whose real name is Claire Patricia Haviland, who was among those arrested Wednesday. 

During the investigation, law enforcement seized large quantities of illegal firearms, and dozens of pounds of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and heroin, according to the indictment. The AUSA aid “the Peckerwoods’ violent white-supremacist ideology and wide-ranging criminal activity pose a grave menace to our community. By allegedly engaging in everything from drug-trafficking to firearms offenses to identity theft to COVID fraud, and through their alliance with a neo-Nazi prison gang, the Peckerwoods are a destructive force. In prosecuting the members of the Peckerwoods criminal organization, our office is carrying out its mission to protect the public from the most dangerous threats.”

When these dangerous maniacs are convicted, the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) will no doubt incarcerate them at separate maximum security facilities throughout the US to prevent them from re-organizing behind prison walls. But these miscreants will join the Aryan Brotherhood, Proud Boys, or other neo-Nazi white supremacist gangs in federal prison.

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

Sources:

Office of Public Affairs | Sixty-Eight Defendants Charged in Indictment of Dozens of Members and Associates of California White Supremacist Gang | United States Department of Justice

Dozens of Suspected White Supremacists Based in L.A. Busted in Federal Racketeering Case – LAmag

Canada: Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Geckos Kills One, Infects 25

Orange phase crested gecko (Public domain imagery).

A salmonella outbreak linked to reptiles has left one person dead and three others hospitalized in Canada. The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) said at least 25 people have been infected across seven provinces in this outbreak, which is the second one linked to geckos in 2024.

Cases have been reported in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador.

“Many of the individuals who became sick reported having direct or indirect contact with geckos, or the environments where these pets are kept, before their illnesses occurred,” the PHAC announced.

“Some people who became sick did not touch or handle the geckos themselves, but lived in the same house where they were kept.”

The illnesses occurred between Aug 2020 and Sep 2024. Most of the people infected were females (64 per cent) and in the age range 1 to 103.An investigation into the outbreak is ongoing and PHAC said that the number of cases is likely higher than what has been reported so far.

Salmonella is a bacterial infection commonly transmitted through contaminated food and water and it poses a significant health threat, especially to children and older adults, as it can lead to severe gastrointestinal symptoms, dehydration, and, in extreme cases, death.

People can also get sick with salmonella infection by directly touching reptiles or their environments, as well as through indirect contact by touching contaminated surfaces where these animals are kept.

To prevent infection, the agency has the following advice among other recommendations in its public health notice:

  • always wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water immediately after touching a reptile or rodent, and anything they eat, or after being in the area where they live, play or touch
  • if visiting an exhibit or event with reptiles, wash your hands when you leave animal areas, even if you do not touch the animals directly
  • clean any surfaces or objects your reptile or rodent touches with soapy water followed by a household sanitizer
  • never kiss a pet reptile
  • always supervise children when they touch or play with reptiles
  • keep reptiles and rodents and all their food, containers, enclosures, and any objects that have been in their enclosures, such as plants or enrichment items, away from the kitchen and other places where food is made or eaten
  • clean or bathe reptiles in a dedicated plastic bin, not in the kitchen or bathroom sink

Symptoms of salmonella infection typically start between six and 72 hours after exposure and can last anywhere from four to seven days. They may include fever, chills, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, or abdominal cramps.

If you suspect you have salmonella, PHAC recommends seeing a health-care provider. Most people recover on their own after a few days without any medical treatment.

At least 36 people got sick with salmonella infection between March 2020 and March 2024 in a separate outbreak linked to geckos. The salmonella strain of that outbreak was traced back to a gecko habitat at a home of a person who was infected.

Sources:

Public Health Notice: Outbreak of Salmonella Muenchen infections linked to geckos – Canada.ca

Salmonella outbreak linked to geckos kills 1, infects 25 in Canada – National | Globalnews.ca

‘Make Them Riot’: Politico Pulls Six Key Details from Jack Smith’s Massive Trump Filing

“We will never concede,” President Trump told his supporters at a rally in front of the White House. Credit: Pete Marovich for The New York Times

Special counsel Jack Smith’s massive new filing with new evidence against former President Donald Trump contains at least six telling revelations.

Politico legal affairs reporter Kyle Cheney shared his immediate takeaways on the 165-page document Smith filed in a Washington DC federal court.

In the filing, Smith asserts his case against the former president within the context of the Supreme Court ruling that Trump enjoyed partial presidential immunity in the lead-up to the US Capitol riots on 6 Jan 2021.

Smith argues Trump can still be tried on election interference charges as he acted as a private citizen seeking personal gain and not a US official seeking to protect the integrity of national elections.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to those charges and contended Wednesday, as he has in the past, that Smith is mounting a political witch hunt.

1) A Trump campaign employee sought to foment chaos at the TCF Center in Detroit where ballots were being processed.

“When a colleague at the TFC Center told [redacted] ‘We think [a batch of votes heavily in Biden’s favor is right, [redacted] responded, “find a reason it isn’t,” “give me options to file litigation,” and “even if itbis [sic],” the filing reads.

“When the colleague suggested that there was about to be unrest reminiscent of the Brooks Brothers Riot, a violent effort to stop the vote count in Florida after the 2000 presidential election, [redacted] responded, ‘Make them riot’ and ‘Do it!!!'”

2) Trump sidelined his campaign legal team on 13 Nov and put Rudy Giuliani in charge because he was willing to lie about the election results.

“As the defendant placed alternating phone calls to [redacted] and [redacted] throughout 13 Nov [redacted] informed [redacted] , another private Campaign advisor, of the change,” the filing states, “writing, “Close hold don’t tell anyone Trump just fired [redacted] and put [redacted] in charge.”

3) Vice President Mike Pence told Trump he saw no evidence of fraud over the course of many conversations detailed in his book and cited by prosecutors.

“In the post-election time period, Pence, the defendant’s own running mate, who he had directed to assess fraud allegations told the defendant that he had seen no evidence of outcome-determinative fraud in the election.”

“The defendant disregarded [redacted] and Pence in the same way that he disregarded dozens of court decisions that unanimously rejected his and his allies’ legal claims, and that he disregarded officials in the targeted states including those in his own party–who stated publicly that he had lost and that his specific fraud allegations were false.”

4) Trump repeatedly promised to provide election fraud evidence to Govs. Doug Ducey (R-AZ) and Brian Kemp (R-GA) but never did.

“The defendant was on notice that there was no evidence of widespread election fraud in Arizona within a week of the election.”

“The defendant also raised claims of election fraud, and [redacted] asked the defendant to send him supporting evidence. Although the defendant said he would, stating ‘we’re packaging it up,’ he never did.”

5) Mark Meadows and a White House attorney exchanged messages on 3 Dec 2020 confirming that dead voters statistics were false.

“During the hearing, Chief of Staff [redacted] and [redacted] exchanged text messages on their personal phones confirming that a Campaign attorney, [redacted] had verified that [redacted] claim of more than 10,000 dead voters was false and that the actual number was around 12 and could not be outcome-determinative.”

6) A US senator helped facilitate a 8 Dec call between Trump and Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr.

“US Senator [redacted] told [redacted] that the defendant had heard that [redacted] was ‘whipping,’ or lobbying, other state attorneys general against filing amicus briefs in support of Texas.”

“[Redacted] asked [redacted] if he would speak with the defendant about it, and [redacted] agreed.”

Trump supporters heeded his call and stormed the US Capitol on 6 Jan 2021. Many of them have now been convicted and incarcerated. VPOTUS Mike Pence did not abandon his duty as Trump wanted; instead, he stayed to certify the election. Photo: Roberto Schmidt AFP via Getty Images

Special Counsel Jack Smith is competent and experienced, having convicted war criminals at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague. Nevertheless, the American electorate should not rely on Mr. Smith, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, NYSAG Letitia James, or any part of the US legal system to stop Donald Trump and Project 2025. The Democratic strategy should be to register voters as many voters as possible and overwhelm Republican ballots so that even GOP voter suppression tactics will be ineffective.

Sources:

‘Make them riot’: Politico pulls 6 key details from Jack Smith’s massive Trump filing – Raw Story

United States v Donald J. Trump Superseding Indictment (justice.gov)

India’s Rhino Stronghold Sees 86% Drop in Poaching and Five-Fold Increase in Population

Greater one-horned rhino – CC 4.0. Nejib Ahmed

Since 2016, poaching of one-horned rhinoceroses in India’s Assam state has fallen 86% after the government took decisive steps to protect them

By expanding protected areas and bolstering ranger patrols, 3,000 rhinos grace the Assam savannah.

“Rhinos are synonymous with the identity of Assam. They are our pride and the crown jewel of our biodiversity. Ever since we assumed office, we have taken various initiatives to protect the prized species, expand its habitat and ensure its safety,” Assam state’s Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma wrote on X.

In India, the Chief Minister, often abbreviated CM, is the equivalent on an American governor, and the state of Assam which Sarma governs is India’s rhino stronghold, with 88% of all the rhinos in the country located in Kaziranga, Manas, and Orang national parks, and Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary.

The remaining 12% is spread widely across the country. CM Sarma’s tenure which began in 2021 oversaw the addition of nearly 50,000 acres of habitat in Orang National Park, and another 50,000 to two other protected areas.

Last year, GNN reported that for the first time since 1977, zero rhinos were poached in India.

Sarma ordered the rhinos to be treated like “presidents”, with sophisticated police commando teams patrolling the parks with night vision equipment and drones during moonlit nights.

Since then, the population of Assam’s rhinos has grown by 105 to 3,000; up from a low of 600 during the 1960s. The government released these figures on World Rhino Day (22 Sep) to show that “if the will to protect these animals is there, the most poached megafauna species on Earth can thrive.”

Source:

India’s Rhino Stronghold Sees 86% Drop in Poaching and Five-Fold Increase in Rhinos (goodnewsnetwork.org)

Mexico’s First Female President Takes Oath of Office, Promises to Help Poor

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum addresses supporters during a rally in the Zocalo, Mexico City’s main square, on her inauguration day, 1 Oct 2024. Photo: AP

Claudia Sheinbaum was sworn in Tuesday as Mexico’s new president, becoming the country’s first female president and the first president of Jewish descent in the largely Roman Catholic country. Her win comes 70 years after women in Mexico won the right to vote. President Sheinbaum is also the first woman to lead a government in North America. Should Kamala Harris win the US election next month, the continent will have two women in charge of their nations, another first.

The daughter of activist academics, Sheinbaum (62) was also the first female mayor of Mexico City, Mexico’s capital. She stepped down from that position last year for her presidential campaign, which had the support of her predecessor and political mentor, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

She has promised to continue the social welfare programs for the country’s poor that Lopez Obrador initiated, despite Mexico’s current massive budget deficit and sluggish economy.

Sheinbaum is also facing a country beset with violence, such as battles between drug cartels that often erupt onto the streets of the northwest city of Culiacan, where many cartels are located. Local security forces have had little luck in quelling the violence.

As mayor of Mexico City, Sheinbaum was applauded for reducing the city’s homicide rate by increasing the salaries of an expanded police force, a strategy she has promised to duplicate across the country.

Sheinbaum is also assuming Mexico’s helm just as the country is implementing a judicial overhaul, a move spearheaded by Lopez Obrador. The controversial reform will eventually replace all of Mexico’s judges with new ones elected by popular vote.

Former President Ernesto Zedillo, who has been critical of the overhaul, said in a recent guest essay in Britain’s Economist magazine that “our hard-won democracy will be transformed, for all practical purposes, into a one-party autocracy.”

Sheinbaum, however, said, “The reforms to the judicial system will not affect our commercial relations, nor private Mexican investments, nor foreign ones. Rather, the opposite. There will be a greater and better rule of law and democracy for everyone.”

The first trip for the new president, a former climate scientist who has a doctorate in energy engineering, will be to Acapulco, the resort on Mexico’s Pacific coast, which was brutalized last week by the rains of Category III Hurricane John, after being devastated last year by Hurricane Otis.

Population of Mexico: 130,739,927; GDP per capita: $22,400 (2023 est.) Data and map: CIA

Sources:

Mexico’s first female president takes oath of office, promises to help poor (voanews.com)

Mexico Factsheet – The World Factbook (cia.gov)

Russian Forces Execute 16 Ukrainian POWs Near Pokrovsk

In 2022, Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old tank commander, was sentenced to life in prison for killing an unarmed civilian in Ukraine’s first war crime trial following Russia’s invasion. He had pleaded guilty to killing a 62-year-old citizen in north-eastern Ukraine. There will be more war crimes trials in the future. Photo Credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Russian forces appear to have shot 16 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) in Donetsk Oblast, the largest recorded case of mass execution of surrendered soldiers on the battlefield, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office said on 1 Oct.

Evidence of the execution appeared on social media earlier on 1 Oct. The POWs were reportedly killed after surrendering on the front line near Pokrovsk. The Prosecutor General’s Office said it was verifying the material published online and investigating the circumstances around the case.

The execution of POWs is a “cynical and gross violation of the Geneva Conventions,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said.  

“This is the most massive known case of execution of Ukrainian POWs on the front line,” Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said.

“The murders and torture of prisoners are not an accident, but a purposeful policy of the Russian military and political leadership,” he added.

In early September, Russian forces executed three Ukrainian POWs near Toretsk in Donetsk Oblast. The Prosecutor General’s Office said earlier this year that it was investigating more than 50 cases of execution of Ukrainian POWs.

The US Department of Justice has been investigating Russian war crimes as well. Last year the DOJ charged four Russian soldiers with torture, inhumane treatment, and unlawful confinement of a US national in Ukraine.

Sources:

Russian forces execute 16 Ukrainian POWs near Pokrovsk, prosecutors say (kyivindependent.com)

Office of Public Affairs | Four Russia-Affiliated Military Personnel Charged with War Crimes in Connection with Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine | United States Department of Justice

Russian soldier jailed for life in Ukraine’s first war crime trial (brusselstimes.com)

Iran Counterattacks Israel on Behalf of Lebanese Hezbollah with Ballistic Missiles

Photo: AP

Iran launched a massive ballistic missile attack at Israel on 1 Oct in retaliation for Israel’s campaign against Lebanon’s Hezbollah in a new escalation of the conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed resistance group.

Israeli air defenses intercepted many of the estimated 180 missiles that were fired, though some landed in central and southern Israel. There were no reports of any injuries and after about an hour after the attack was launched it was safe for them to leave their bomb shelters.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the attack “a big mistake” and said Tehran “will pay for it.” He added: “Whoever attacks us, we attack them.”

US President Joe Biden said he would discuss a response with Netanyahu. Asked what the response would be, Biden replied: “That’s in active discussion right now. That remains to be seen.”

He added that the attack appears to have been “defeated and ineffective, and this is a testament to Israeli military capability and the US military” and said the US is “fully supportive of Israel.”

Israeli police reported that at least six people were killed and nine wounded in a shooting and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv. Police said it was a “terrorist” attack carried out at a light rail station and the two attackers were later killed by civilians and inspectors using their own firearms. There has been no claim of responsibility.

While the missile attack sent Israelis scurrying to take cover in bomb shelters, it prompted people in Iran to celebrate. State television broadcast images from the city of Mashhad showing people in the streets waving the yellow flag of Hezbollah and portraits of the group’s slain chief, Hassan Nasrallah. Similar celebrations also took place in the capital Tehran and in several provincial cities.

World leaders urged Iran and Israel to step back from the brink and negotiate a cease-fire.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the “broadening conflict in the Middle East” following fighting in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.

To a hammer, everything is a nail as Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is demonstrating. He has ignored the entreaties of the UN and world leaders for a cease-fire, as well as the pleas of his citizens to make a deal to release the remaining hostages. The widening conflict will keep Netanyahu’s bribery and corruption trial in abeyance while casualties begin to mount.  In this “David versus Goliath” conflict, Israel and her supporters should expect asymmetric attacks or lone-actor reprisals against soft civilian targets, ranging from runamok knife attacks (like in Germany earlier this year), vandalism against synagogues, or bomb threats against Jewish hospitals (like earlier this year in Canada).  

Lebanese man stands in remains of a building destroyed by the IDF in Beirut on 1 Oct 2024. The Lebanese economy was already in shambles before the Israeli onslaught. Photo: Fadel Itani / UPI.

A French naval ship is deploying to Lebanon to assist with any evacuations of French citizens. Approximately 23,000 French and Franco-Lebanese residents live in Lebanon. The French embassy in Beirut has established a hotline and started coordinating evacuation options for civilians who wish to leave. Two French nationals have already been killed by the IDF.

Sources:

Iran Launches Massive Ballistic Missile Attack On Israel (rferl.org)French navy deploys near Lebanon as Israel launches ground raids on Hezbollah (rfi.fr)

Florida Man Found Guilty of Felony Destruction of Property and Other Charges During 6 Jan Capitol Breach

Supporters of then-US President Donald Trump enter the US Capitol’s Rotunda on 6 Jan 2021, in Washington, DC. Photo: NBC News.

A federal jury in the District of Columbia found Marcus Smith (47) of Fleming Island, FL, guilty of a felony offense of destruction of government property and several misdemeanor charges during the 6 Jan 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

Joining the mob that stormed the US Capitol, Smith noticed some rioters trying to breach a locked door inside the building. The defendant joined them in breaking down the door. The Architect of the Capitol later determined that the value of the damage to the door, which was part of the original construction of the Senate Wing of the Capitol and dated back to the 1850s, necessitated the door being replaced at a cost of approximately $21,000.

After further trespassing within the US Capitol, this runamok finally departed at approximately 2:50 PM. The FBI arrested Smith on 26 Jan 2024, in Fleming Island. 

This brontosaurus represents America’s Fedayeen Saddam (FS), dead-ender white supremacists clinging on to the last vestiges of white privilege in the US. Marcus Smith is lucky that he wasn’t charged with any crimes of violence against USCP officers. The Honorable US District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich will sentence Smith on 10 Jan 2025.

In the 44 months since 6 Jan 2021, more than 1,504 suspects have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to attacking the US Capitol, including more than 560 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.

Source:

District of Columbia | Florida Man Found Guilty of Felony Destruction of Property and Other Charges During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach | United States Department of Justice

US Targets Israeli-Occupied West Bank Settler Violence with Sanctions

Hilltop Youth settlers in West Bank (Photo credit: REUTERS/Gil Cohen Magen)

The US sanctioned one informal organization and two people as the Biden administration continues to tighten its financial grip on those it accuses of perpetrating violence against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The US Treasury designated Hilltop Youth, an extremist group of West Bank settlers accused of attacking Palestinians and destroying their homes and property. The US government listed Hilltop Youth as a “criminal organization.”

The Treasury said the group of settlers has “conducted a campaign of violence against Palestinians,” which includes killings, arson, assaults and intimidation, with the goal of driving Palestinians out of the West Bank. It conducts what are called “price tag” assaults, which are revenge attacks conducted in reprisal for actions carried out against settlers.

The late author and Israel Prize laureate Amos Oz who was known as: “The humane heart of Israel.”

In 2014, the late Amos Oz condemned the perpetrators of “price tag” attacks, saying “‘Price tag’ and ‘Hilltop Youth’ are cute nicknames for a monster that needs to be called what it is: Hebrew neo-Nazi groups.” Oz went on to say that the only difference between neo-Nazis around the world and those who commit hate crimes in Israel is that “our neo-Nazi groups enjoy the support of numerous nationalist or even racist legislators, as well as rabbis who give them what is in my view pseudo- religious justification.”

The State Department sanctioned Eitan Yardeni and Avichai Suissa, who leads Hashomer Yosh, an Israeli non-government organization the US sanctioned in late August.

Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territory and the establishment of settlements are widely viewed as illegal under international law and have attracted the repeated criticism and condemnation of the UN and the wider international community.

The US has been a critic of Israel’s occupation and has said it represents an obstacle to a two-state solution. The Biden administration has sanctioned 27 individuals and entities accused of perpetuating violence there under an executive order that President Joe Biden signed in February.

The Biden administration has used the sanctions to criticize Israel for not doing more to curb violence in the West Bank, while critics have called on the administration to use its sanctioning power against those in the Israeli government who enable the violence against Palestinians.

“The Biden administration imposes more sanctions on settlers for violence against West Bank Palestinians but still hasn’t imposed sanctions on any of the Israeli officials who are encouraging the settler violence,” Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch and current visiting professor at Princeton, said on X.

According to an update from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, there have been some 1,390 attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians between the start of the Israel-Hamas war on 7 Oct and 23 Sep.

Of those attacks, 135 involved the killing and wounding of Palestinians, 1,110 saw Palestinian property damaged and about 150 caused both casualties and property damage. The report added that some 1,628 Palestinians, including 794 children, have been displaced by the settler violence. The AP reported that 623 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank.

Sources:

Sanctions List Search (treas.gov)

U.S. targets Israeli-occupied West Bank settler violence with sanctions – UPI.com

Amos Oz: Hilltop youth are Hebrew neo-Nazis – The Jerusalem Post (jpost.com)

French Far-Right Leader Marine Le Pen on Trial for Misusing EU funds

Marine Le Pen sits in the European Parliament, Strasbourg, in Jan 2017.  She looks quite pleased with herself. Photo: AP / Jean-Francois Badias

Marine Le Pen, her father, and 25 colleagues – including current and former French lawmakers and MEPs – are accused of embezzling public funds and collusion. Prosecutors claim that the defendants set up a fake jobs scheme using European parliamentary funds to pay for assistants who in fact worked for her National Rally party, formerly called the National Front, rather than on European affairs.

The scheme, which ran from 2004 to 2016, was in breach of EU rules.

The EU Parliament estimated in 2018 that 6.8 million euros had been embezzled. Marine Le Pen has always denied any wrongdoing.

The trial runs through to 27 Nov. If found guilty, Le Pen could face a maximum ten years behind bars and a €1 million fine. That’s unlikely, but she also faces a possible five-year ban on standing for public office. This would rule her out of the 2027 presidential election she is preparing for, and which a recent poll suggests she has a stronger than ever chance of winning.

A total of 11 members of the European Parliament, 12 of their parliamentary assistants and four party collaborators are to be tried as well, while the RN party itself faces charges of concealing the wrongdoing. Among the high-profile figures are Le Pen’s father Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the National Front, her former partner Louis Aliot – the mayor of the southern city of Perpignan – and RN spokesperson Julien Odoul.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, who is 96 years old, will not be present in court after a medical report in July diagnosed him as “unfit” to stand trial.

The National Rally is not the only party to be accused of misappropriating MEP funds.

In February this year the centrist MoDem party, currently part of President Emmanuel Macron’s Ensemble coalition, was fined €350,000 for similar charges.

MoDem’s leader, Francois Bayrou, was acquitted due to reasonable doubt, but the eight people found guilty were ordered to pay fines, sentenced to prison terms of 10 to 18 months and were banned from serving in public office.

Sources:

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen on trial for misuse of EU funds (rfi.fr)

Far right election gains ensure a financial jackpot for Le Pen’s National Rally

Germany Arrests Chinese Woman Accused of Spying

German police arrested a Chinese woman accused of spying on the country’s defence industry while working in a logistics company.

Named only as Yaqi X., she allegedly reported to another suspected Beijing agent now under arrest, Jian G., who was working in the office of a German far-right member of the European Parliament, Maximilian Krah. The woman arrested on Monday is “strongly suspected of acting as an intelligence agent for a Chinese secret service.”

Yaqi X. worked for a company that provides logistics services at Leipzig/Halle Airport in eastern Germany.

She allegedly used her position to gather information on “the transport of military equipment and persons with connections to a German arms company.”

Between mid-2023 and February, she “repeatedly sent information on flights, cargo and passengers at the airport to an employee of a Chinese secret service — namely Jian G., who is being prosecuted separately,” prosecutors said.

Jian G., a German national, was arrested in April on suspicion of spying while working in the Brussels office of German MEP Krah of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Her Leipzig home and workplace were also searched.

Justice Minister Marco Buschmann told Bild daily that “the arrest of a suspected Chinese spy in Leipzig shows us once again that foreign intelligence services have long had Germany in their sights.

Citing unnamed security sources, news site Der Spiegel reported that Yaqi X., a 38-year-old, in particular had targeted the arms giant Rheinmetall, which is involved in making Leopard tanks and which uses Leipzig airport for cargo flights.

Her alleged handler Jian G. was arrested on suspicion of sharing European Parliament information with a Chinese intelligence service and of spying on Chinese opposition figures in Germany.

The European Union assembly, which had listed Jian Guo as an accredited assistant to Krah, moved to suspend him earlier this year. Krah posted on X at the time that prosecutors had confirmed to his lawyer that he was “not a suspect in the investigation”. The allegations involving China were among a series of controversies to hit Germany’s AfD, including claims that some of its members have links to Russia.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser called the allegations against Guo “very serious” and said that, if confirmed, it was “an attack on European democracy from within”.

According to German broadcasters ARD, RBB, and SWR, Guo was no stranger to German intelligence. He had reportedly offered his services as an informer at least a decade ago but was turned away on suspicion he might be a Chinese double agent.

Source:

Germany Arrests Chinese Woman Accused Of Spying | Barron’s (barrons.com)

California Wildfires One Million Hectares This Year

Map: FIRMS US / NASA

The total hectares burned in California this year surpassed one million as spiking temperatures Tuesday added to the challenges facing firefighters struggling to contain a stubborn blaze in the mountains northeast of Los Angeles that flared up over the weekend.

Evacuation orders were expanded again Monday for remote communities northeast of Los Angeles as the Line Fire that has been burning for nearly a month spread over nearly 176 square kilometers (68 square miles) of the San Bernardino Mountains, and containment dropped from 83% to 76%.

“The dry vegetation, steep slopes and wind aligned … to create conditions for the rapid fire spread,” according to a statement late Monday from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.

The risk of wildfires increased across California as an autumn heat wave scorched much of the state. Some inland areas could see temperatures up to 20 degrees above average for this time of year, according to the National Weather Service.

San Francisco, where residents typically break out the sweaters in October, could hit 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit), while triple digits 38 C were predicted for Sacramento. The weather service office in the state’s capital urged residents to stay indoors during the heat of the day on Tuesday.

Dry, hot winds in the northern part of the state prompted Pacific Gas & Electric to pre-emptively cut power to small clusters of customers in high-risk areas. The utility routinely stops electricity service in counties where weather conditions increase the probability of fires.

In Southern California, the Line Fire’s surge pushed the total hectares burned across the state in 2024 to 405,492 (1,001,993 acres) as of Tuesday morning, according to Cal Fire. The milestone surpasses the total scorched during the same time last year — 118,719 hectares (293,362 acres) — but is roughly on par with the five-year average for the period, the Los Angeles Times reported.

At its height, the blaze threatened more than 65,000 homes in and around the Big Bear Lake area.

A 34-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to starting the Line Fire on 5 Sep. Justin Wayne Halstenberg of Norco, CA, was charged with 11 arson-related crimes.

Firefighters monitor the advancing Line Fire in Angelus Oaks, CA, 9 Sep 2024.

Sources:

Wildfires in California have burned 1 million hectares so far this year (voanews.com)

NASA | LANCE | FIRMS US/Canada

Vietnam: 25 Students Suspected of Poisoning After Drinking Free Soft Drinks; Other Cases of Possible Food Poisoning Reported This Summer

Pediatric patient treated at the hospital. Photo: BVCC

After drinking free soft drinks at the gate of Binh Minh Secondary School, Thanh Oai, 25 students showed signs of poisoning; 12 were hospitalized with headaches, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting. Physicians suspect food poisoning. Three more serious patients were transferred to Intensive Care, the rest were treated at the Infectious Diseases Department. The children drank free bottled soft drinks outside the school gate. There is no information yet regarding the brand or the ingredients, but the product was distributed for free for advertising purposes.

Authorities recommend that schools in the area, as well as parents, educate their children not to eat snacks outside the school gate and absolutely not to accept food from strangers.

On 21 Sep, 70 people at Primary and Secondary School in Nong Thuong commune, Bac Kan city vomited, had abdominal pain, diarrhea, headache, and were hospitalized. The day before, 88 students and five teachers ate rice, fried chicken, vegetable soup with melons, stir-fried potatoes, and watermelon.

The next morning, 20 students appeared with hot fever, abdominal pain, headache, diarrhea, and were admitted to the emergency city health center. The number of sick patients increased to 70 with similar symptoms. The cause is unknown.

On 16 Sep, 34 students of Ton Duc Thang Secondary School in Pleiku drank milk tea at the Mid-Autumn Festival. Within a few hours, 21 students had abdominal pain, nausea, dizziness, and vomiting. They received emergency medical treatment and doctors suspected food poisoning.

The City Health Center took food samples for testing to find the cause.

Without further information, these incidents appear to be isolated examples of poor quality control over food and beverage production in Vietnam, and not a sinister plot to murder innocent children.

Sources:

25 students suspected of poisoning after drinking soft drinks are given out for free – VnExpress Health Newspaper

70 people in Bac Kan were hospitalized with the same symptoms of vomiting and headache – VnExpress Health Newspaper

21 students suspected of poisoning after the Mid-Autumn Festival party – VnExpress Health Newspaper

Used Baby Incubators Help Save Orphaned Kangaroos by Imitating Their Mother’s Pouch

Story: Andy Corbley; Photo: Mandy Watson

When an Australian nurse working at a hospital with outdated incubators happened upon a kangaroo rescue center, she realized she could help save lives.

Once used to help save premature human babies, the incubators are now mimicking the conditions of a mother kangaroo’s pouch, where her joey will live for the first eight months of its life.

Every year dozens of orphaned joeys and pinkies, or marsupial pups who haven’t opened their eyes yet, are brought into Kununurra Kangaroo Rescue Haven in East Kimberly, Australia.

Since they are the largest terrestrial animal in Australia, an adult kangaroo rarely has to worry about predators and their populations can balloon quite dramatically. This, unfortunately, renders them much like whitetail deer in the US—at extreme risk of becoming roadkill.

Mandy Watson, director of the Kununurra Haven, has saved hundreds of orphaned joeys from their moms who have been hunted or struck by vehicles. Young, pinky joeys can struggle to survive without the warmth and humidity of their mother’s pouch. She has seen hundreds of orphans return to the wild, but thousands not make it to adulthood.

“In 20 years, we’ve released 823 back into the wild. It’s really hard, especially in the dry season, for us to keep up that constant temperature,” Watson told ABC News Down Under. “The humidicrib (incubator) is going to be a constant temperature that’s going to dramatically help [to] save a few more lives.”

The humidicribs were donated by nurse Jane Darlington, a clinical pediatric nurse at the Kununurra District Hospital. The hospital needed to get rid of them as the rapid march of medical technology had seen them become obsolete.

Darlington got the idea while shopping in town. She saw a volunteer from the rescue center helping to raise awareness of their work by walking around in a wallaby costume, holding one of their orphaned joeys.

Mandy Watson (left) and a volunteer play with some joeys next to their truck-mounted incubator. Photo: Jane Darlington

Source:

Old Incubators Help Save Orphaned Kangaroos by Imitating Their Mother’s Pouch (goodnewsnetwork.org)

“What? The right-wing in Europe is linked to Russian and Chinese intelligence? And involved in financial chicanery? Who knew?!”

Israel Launches Massive Attack on Beirut Killing Lebanese Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah

Undated photo courtesy of the Washington Post. Several ministers in the Likud government agree with this young lady.

Israeli launched a massive strike on what it said was Iran-allied Hezbollah’s central headquarters in a Beirut suburb shortly after PM Benjamin Netanyahu warned the UN that actions against Lebanese Hezbollah would not stop. The IDF announced that the strike killed Lebanese Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, Ali Karki, and other commanders. At least four buildings were destroyed in the strikes, six people were killed, and more than 91 were injured. The intensified fighting has killed hundreds and tens of thousands more have been displaced.

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon, 28 Sep 2024.

Earlier in the day, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted that “the path to diplomacy” was still open in the Middle East despite Israel’s latest massive strike in Lebanon, but he insisted Israel and Hezbollah must both “stop firing.” This diplomatic effort has been rendered moot by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Elsewhere, Iran, Russia, and their allies condemned the strikes on Beirut as a “war crime.”

The attacks against Hezbollah began when many world leaders — including those from the Middle East — were in New York for the annual UN General Assembly gathering on 27 Sep. Before these airstrikes, pagers and walkie-talkies used by Lebanese Hezbollah operatives- and civilians– simultaneously exploded last week, killing 42 people and maiming hundreds.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati urged the global community to “stop” Israel from waging a “genocidal war” against Lebanon.

“This new Israeli aggression proves that the Israeli enemy doesn’t care about all the international efforts and calls for a cease-fire,” Mikati said.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said: “It is time to face the truth, and the truth is unless Netanyahu is stopped, unless this government is stopped, war will encompass all of us.”

We are probably too late.

Adjusting for inflation, US aid to Israel from 1951 to 2022 totaled $317.9 billion, making it the largest recipient of American foreign aid since World War II. Israel’s behavior is a poor return for the hardworking American taxpayer who does not enjoy universal health care like Israelis do.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu will do anything to hold on to power and keep his nettlesome bribery and corruption trial in Jerusalem held in abeyance, at the cost of Arab lives which the IDF and Likud Cabinet consider disposable. Last year Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter said Israel was going to roll out “Nakba 2023” and Heritage Minister Amihal Eliyahu suggested deploying a nuclear weapon against the people in Gaza.

The constant drumbeat of amalgamating all Muslims as terrorists, all Palestinians as Hamas, all Lebanese as Hezbollah may work with the Western audience, but the rest of the world and the UN sees through the propaganda.

The death toll in the tiny Gaza Strip has surpassed 40,000. The Associated Press (AP) provided the following data:

Palestinians killed in Gaza: at least 40,005

People killed in Israel: about 1,200

Palestinians killed in the West Bank: 623

People killed in Lebanon: approximately 530

Civilians

Civilians killed in Gaza: 5,956 women; at least 10,627 children.

Civilians and foreigners killed in Israel: 860

Children killed in Israel: 53

Civilians killed since 7 Oct in Israel along its northern border: 24

Civilians killed in Lebanon: 97

Meanwhile, the belligerent Netanyahu regime has practically guaranteed denying his principal ally, Democratic US President Joe Biden, a small diplomatic victory before he leaves office. A ceasefire and deal to release the 100 or so remaining hostages held by armed Palestinian groups would have been a final achievement to Biden’s long political career and a boost for his successor VPOTUS Kamala Harris. But now Pres. Biden and the West must expect escalation and asymmetric warfare retaliation by Lebanese Hezbollah and the possibility of a wider war with Iran.

While Netanyahu doesn’t mind if he angers the UN, he should mind upsetting the Biden Administration. Biden felt Netanyahu had humiliated both Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Biden himself with his back-and-forth palaver about a cease-fire proposal with Hezbollah. Netanyahu at first told US officials he supported a pause in fighting with the Lebanon-based militant group, then roundly rejected the cease-fire proposal once it was made public and began this well-planned onslaught on Lebanese Hezbollah, regardless of how many innocent civilians are killed, injured, or maimed.

Netanyahu has made Pres. Biden and his cabinet look ineffectual right before the November presidential election. Democratic President Jimmy Carter also appeared ineffectual during the 1980 “Iranian hostage crisis” and he would go on to lose the election to Republican Ronald Reagan. Does Netanyahu want Donald Trump to win in November?

And thanks to “Crime Minister” Netanyahu, US military personnel in CENTCOM AOR are in harm’s way in the Middle East. US forces are scheduled to depart Iraq next year, but other Americans are based throughout the region. Shia Houthis may attack Western maritime targets in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden on behalf of the people who previously helped them during the Saudi-caused famine in Yemen.

The US military maintains an outsized basing presence for ground troops in the Middle East, which tempts policymakers to use force in a region increasingly marginal to US national security interests. The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier group and an attack submarine have recently deployed to the region. Map: defensepriorities.org.

As posted previously on Coriolanus, the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague has indicted Netanyahu (and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant) for war crimes, but their international arrest warrants have inexplicably not yet been issued. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague has also rebuked the Israeli government for its military operations against the Palestinians.  

Psychological Theory: At the famous 4 July 1976 “Raid at Entebbe,” Israeli commandos rescued hostages whose plane was hijacked by Palestinian and German gunmen and flown to Uganda. The one Israeli military casualty was Yonatan Netanyahu, the brother of the current prime minister. Aleksandr Ilyich Ulyanov, the older brother of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, was hanged in May 1887 for a failed assassination attempt of Czar Alexander III of Russia. After the deaths of their beloved siblings, Muslims (Palestinians, Iranians, Arabs) became anathematic to Benjamin Netanyahu, like the Romanovs became abominable to V.I. Lenin and hence the “no quarter given” policies of both leaders.

Yoni Netanyahu, in a photograph taken shortly before his death at Entebbe in 1976. Yoni was described as a “talented, sensitive man.” His death may have forever impacted his brother’s attitudes towards Palestinians or Iranians. (GPO, Wikimedia)

All official and news sources are linked below.

Sources:

Israel Targets Hezbollah Leader In Massive Beirut Attack (rferl.org)

Statement of ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan KC: Applications for arrest warrants in the situation in the State of Palestine | International Criminal Court (icc-cpi.int)

Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in (icj-cij.org)

The ICJ and ICC put Israel on notice but cannot stop the war | Chatham House – International Affairs Think Tank

Israel right-wing ministers’ comments add fuel to Palestinian fears (nbcnews.com)

With Gaza’s death toll over 40,000, here’s the conflict by numbers | AP News

Biden told allies that Netanyahu doesn’t want to end fighting in Lebanon – POLITICO

Bases, logistics, and the problem of temptation in the Middle East – Defense Priorities

Yonatan Netanyahu – Wikipedia

Aleksandr Ulyanov – Wikipedia

How much aid does the US give to Israel? (usafacts.org)

Pennsylvania Brothers Plead Guilty to Felony Charges for Actions During 6 Jan Capitol Attack

Center: Matthew Valentin, circled in yellow, and Andrew Valentin circled in red. Clockwise from top right: Enlarged image depicting Matthew Valentin grabbing a police officer through a metal barrier; Matthew Valentin’s hand, circled in yellow, can be seen grabbing a police officer’s baton; body-worn police camera footage allegedly shows Matthew Valentin pepper spraying officers; Matthew and Andrew Valentin climbing the media tower on Capitol grounds (all images via Department of Justice court records.)

Matthew Valentin (31) of Stroudsburg, PA, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers. His brother, Andrew Valentin (26), also of Stroudsburg, PA, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon.

The Honorable US District Judge Reggie B. Walton will sentence the two on 17 Jan 2025.

On 6 Jan, at approximately 2:29 PM, the brothers rushed a police line while rioters yelled, “push, push, push.” The two then pushed a metal barricade into a line of Capitol Police officers.

The officers retreated and formed a new protective line on the south side of the West Plaza. Matthew Valentin then approached the line and sprayed a chemical irritant towards the officers. The brothers then moved from the Lower West Terrace to the Upper West Terrace, arriving at approximately 2:50 p.m. At about 3:30 PM, the mob, including Matthew Valentin, rushed the line of officers. Matthew grabbed a police baton and attempted to tear the baton out of that officer’s hands.

At approximately 5:12 PM, Andrew Valentin threw a folding chair at the line of officers that were protecting the Upper West Terrace, striking one officer’s shield.

The FBI arrested the Valentin brothers on 11 and 12 Feb 2024 in Pennsylvania. 

In the 44 months since 6 Jan 2021, more than 1,504 suspects have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to attacking the US Capitol, including more than 560 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.

These two young siblings threw their lives away over white supremacy and Donald Trump.

Sources:

District of Columbia | Pennsylvania Brothers Plead Guilty to Felony Charges for Actions During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach | United States Department of Justice

France: Banned Pesticides Found in Imported Foods

Signs reading “pesticides = cancer” and “pesticides = murder” are seen near entrance of the International Agriculture Fair at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris on 22 Feb 2024. AFP – LUDOVIC MARIN

According to Vert de rage (Green with Rage), produced by public French television, seven of 22  samples of fruits and vegetables purchased in large French supermarket chains contained pesticide residues banned in Europe.

A grapefruit from China contained two banned products: chlorpyrifos (recognized as neurotoxic, toxic for reproduction, and an endocrine disruptor, and propiconazole (recognized as toxic for reproduction). The EU banned chlorpyrifos in 2020, propiconazole since 2009.

Grapes from Peru contained residues of imidacloprid (part of the neonicotinoids family – known to be harmful to bees), and myclobutanil, a fungicide, which was banned in 2021. An orange from Tunisia contained malathion, a pesticide classified as “probably carcinogenic”, banned in the EU since 2008.

Analysis was conducted by the NGO network Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN Europe) and the European Food Safety Authority.

Pesticides banned in Europe were more prevalent in products such as coffee, tea, spices, and some vegetables. Tahitian limes, passion fruit and plums are the most affected, while rice, zucchini and plantain bananas were also found to contain pesticides.

“Imported foods are twice as likely to contain pesticides banned by the EU as foods grown in the EU,” reported the EFSA.

In France, in 2022, the French public agency in charge of food safety Directorate General for Food (DGAL) issued 2,446 food recalls. 328 of them were linked to the presence of pesticides. Among them, 296 contained at least one banned pesticide or pesticide residue “exceeding the maximum limit authorized in food.”

In 2022, the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) reported that pesticide residues were the leading cause of food warnings. Among the products distributed in France, 104 out of 114 notifications concerned the presence of banned pesticides. In 2023, RASFF issued 292 notifications for products containing pesticides, of which 77 contained at least one banned pesticide or pesticide residue.

In three years, “26.46 percent of products distributed in France containing banned pesticides came from India”, making this country “the most frequent origin” for this type of problem.

Vert de rage also discussed pesticides that have been withdrawn from the European market, but which are still produced in France to be exported to countries where they remain authorized.

According to the Swiss NGO Public Eye, the top five destinations for French-made pesticides in 2023 were Brazil, followed by Ukraine, the US, Russia, and the UK.

Despite the ban on sales in France, there are concerns that the production of these pesticides is affecting drinking water, surface water, and groundwater in the towns where the factories are located.

Sources:

Banned pesticides found in imported foods in France, data shows (rfi.fr)

French food authority finds traces of banned pesticide in drinking water (rfi.fr)

US Charges Iranians with Hacking Attack on Trump Campaign

Montage courtesy of the FBI

The US Justice Department unsealed criminal charges accusing three members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of hacking Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and trying to disrupt the 5 Nov election. The indictment is the latest effort by the Biden administration to counter foreign efforts to interfere in the presidential election between Trump, a Republican, and his Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris. The US Treasury Department also said it was imposing sanctions on seven members of the IRGC.

Photo: Carlo Allegri / Reuters

Meanwhile, Donald Trump, whose mental faculties have been called into question more and more by psychologists, threatened to criminally prosecute the Internet search engine Google for allegedly favoring Democratic opponent Kamala Harris in its search results if he wins in November,

Without providing evidence, Trump claimed in a post on his Truth Social site that Google is trying to interfere with the 2024 presidential election by purposely displaying only “bad stories” about him.

“It has been determined that Google has illegally used a system of only revealing and displaying bad stories about Donald J. Trump, some made up for this purpose while, at the same time, only revealing good stories about Comrade Kamala Harris,” he wrote in the post.

Recently the oldest man to seek the Presidency of the United States asked at a rally for the return of iconic TV legend Johnny Carson: “Where Is Johnny Carson? Bring back Johnny.”

The “King” of late-night comedy died in 2005.

The immortal Johnny Carson as the clairvoyant “Carnac the Magnificent”. “Hmm, I see an obese orange-haired alte cocker losing an election and calling for a mulligan.”  

Sources:

U.S. Charges Iranians With Hacking Attack On Trump Campaign (rferl.org)

United States Sanctions Iran-Backed Malicious Cyber Actors That Have Attempted to Influence U.S. Elections – United States Department of State

Joint ODNI, FBI, and CISA Statement

Trump threatens to criminally prosecute Google for displaying ‘bad stories’ about him – UPI.com

Donald Trump Wants Johnny Carson’s Late Night Return: Fallon Is Dying (variety.com)

French Polynesia: Chinese ICBM Landed ‘Not Far’ From Its Economic Zone

Screenshot of the WeChat channel of China’s Defense Ministry showing the launch of an ICBM that would land in the Pacific, 25 Sep 2024. © Screengrab WeChat via agencies

China’s Defense Ministry had announced the rare trial on Wednesday, saying that the missile was carrying a dummy warhead and “fell into expected sea areas”.

The launch sparked protests from countries in the region, with Japan saying it had not been given advance notice, and Taiwan expressing “solemn condemnation”.

Australia said it was seeking an explanation, while New Zealand called the launch “an unwelcome and concerning development”.

French Polynesian President Moetai Brotherson said “the missile fell not far from … the Marquesas Islands”, an archipelago that is part of its exclusive economic zone.

Hawaii seems to be in range of this Chinese ICBM. Map: Brittanica.com

“The Chinese authorities previously notified their French counterparts of this test,” the French High Commission said in a statement. The US also received “some advanced notification of this ICBM test”, describing this as “a step in the right direction” that would help prevent “misperception or miscalculation”.

China’s military on Thursday released imagery of the missile, showing the projectile soaring into the air in a plum of smoke from an undisclosed location.

The Chinese Defense Ministry described the test launch as a “routine arrangement in our annual training plan” than is “in line with international law and international practice and is not directed against any country or target”.

Analysts said the imagery suggested the launch could be of a Dongfeng-31 AG ICBM, unveiled during a military parade in 2017.

As previously reported here on Coriolanus, Beijing has been rooting out corruption in the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) leadership. At least a dozen executives or officers have been recently purged. This launch, the first of its kind in four decades, is a readiness and capability test and may be a progress report that the anti-corruption measures are working and that the systems are copasetic.

Sources:

French Polynesia says Chinese missile landed ‘not far’ from its economic zone (rfi.fr)

The Shakeup in China’s Rocket Force Continues – The Diplomat

American Warzone: Twenty-Year Old Suspect Attacks California Courthouse, Five Injured

Nathaniel McGuire – Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office via AP

Santa Barbara resident Nathaniel James McGuire (20) was charged with maliciously damaging a building by means of explosive. McGuire allegedly lunged through the Santa Maria Courthouse doors and tossed an explosive at the local arraignment room. When McGuire entered the courthouse, he yelled “Liberty or death!”

After escaping he was quickly detained. McGuire allegedly yelled that the government had taken his guns and that everyone needed to fight, rise up, and rebel. In a recorded interview with investigators, McGuire said he arrived at the courthouse with the intention to kill deputies working the security desk inside the courthouse.

McGuire allegedly was going back to his car to get a shotgun, a lever action rifle, and Molotov cocktails and he planned on re-entering the courthouse to kill a judge. The suspect’s alleged motivation was his 28 July arrest for an alleged firearms violation. Deputies had seized a loaded, concealed, unregistered revolver that was in McGuire’s pants pocket.

If convicted on his federal charge, McGuire faces a minimum sentence of seven years in prison and a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison.

Ten Molotov cocktails, one bomb, and several weapons were recovered from his car outside Santa Maria Courthouse. EOD rendered the bomb safe. Image: US Attorney

If law-enforcement personnel hadn’t quickly detained McGuire after he hurled the explosive, there would have been a lot more victims and carnage. This 20-year-old man threw his life away over his gun craze.

In an average year, 3,299 people die by guns in California. With a rate of 8.2 deaths per 100,000 people, the Golden State has the 45th-highest rate of gun deaths in the US. Nationally, 44,341 people die by guns in an average year, a rate of 13.3 deaths per 100,000 people.

Sources:

Feds charge 20-year-old suspect in California courthouse attack that left 5 injured – ABC News (go.com)

EveryStat – EveryStat.org

Poll: Half Of Russians Wants Putin to Withdraw Troops from Ukraine

Women walk past a banner that depicts Russian President Vladimir Putin as Hitler and says ‘Killer’ and ‘Nuremberg for Putin’ in Wroclaw, Poland. Photo: SERGEI GAPON/AFP via Getty Images

Nearly half of the Russians surveyed this month support an immediate military withdrawal from Ukraine and negotiations for a peace deal. The independent poll, which found 49% want to end the invasion that began in Feb 2022, also revealed that only 32% were prepared to join the fight if ordered by the Defense Ministry, according to the Kyiv Independent. Another 29% reportedly said they weren’t willing to wage war against Ukraine.

But 53% said they supported ousting Ukrainian troops from the territory seized in Russia’s Kursk region since launching a cross-border incursion 6 Aug. And 29% said they favored another wave of conscription to boost Russia’s military.

The findings are based on a survey of 800 Russians over 18 by the ExtremeScan and Chronicles polling organizations, according to the Kyiv Independent, which cited a Russian-language report on the currenttime.tv website. The results were reportedly released to coincide with the two-year anniversary of Russia’s first call-up of draftees to fight in Ukraine.

The results reflect an increase of about ten percentage points in favor of ending the war since February, according to earlier polling by ExtremeScan and Chronicles. The companies were founded by Russian antiwar activists following the invasion of Ukraine. Russian polling outfits show more popular support for the war. In February, the Levada Center said 77% of those it surveyed backed the war, which the Kyiv Independent said at the time was consistent with the center’s previous findings.

Staggering casualties are being felt by the Russian people and relatives miss their loved ones. As previously posted here, mothers and children of soldiers sent to the war against Ukraine protested outside the Ministry of Defense recently demanding their fathers and husbands come home.

Source:

Half Of Russians Wants Putin To Withdraw Troops From Ukraine: Poll | IBTimes

Unwanted Shelter Dogs Pampered With Supermodel Treatment to Find Them Forever Homes

All Dogs Matter, a rescue shelter in London, England, organized a photoshoot to promote lonely canines for adoption. They featured some of their older, bigger, and less ‘photogenic’ pooches, as well as pairs of pups that need to be adopted together.

Whether in foster care or housed at the shelter, these poor dogs were treated to a day of extra attention in the countryside where they were pampered with ‘supermodel treatment’.

Photo shoot for All Dogs Matter – by Wex Photo Video via SWNS

Brian and Cody, a very sweet and bonded pair (10 months – one year old) are up for adoption or fostering at All Dogs Matter. Wex Photo Video / SWNS

Three-year-old brothers Rumi and Ryan are gentle spirited and regal; up for adoption at All Dogs Matter shelter-by Wex Photo Video/ SWNS

“Much like a dating profile, pictures tell a thousand words,” said a worker at the shelter.

“If these wonderful photos help even one pup find a home, we’ll consider it a job well done.”

Last year All Dogs Matter rescued 331 dogs and placed them with new owners.

Source:

Unwanted Shelter Dogs Get the Supermodel Treatment to Help Them Find New Forever Homes (LOOK) (goodnewsnetwork.org)

Unpopularity of Putin’s War on Ukraine Growing in Russia

A child protester outside the Russian Defense Ministry in Moscow on 22 Sep with a sign reading: “Return my dad. I’ve been waiting two years.” (Image: RFE/RL Current Time)

A group of wives, mothers, and children of mobilized Russian soldiers deployed in their country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine protested outside the Defense Ministry in Moscow, with an unspecified number of detentions reported. The protest in the Russian capital on 21 Sep coincided with the date two years ago when Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on a partial mobilization. The group reportedly was demanding a meeting with Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, as well as a demobilization. At one point, the protesters, numbering about two dozen, were confronted by a group hurling abuse and trying to disperse them. There is no information available yet as to what punishments these loved ones of mobilized Russian soldiers will receive.

More evidence of the growing unpopularity of the Russian invasion comes from lowered interest in a pro-war singer’s concerts. At least two cities in Russia canceled Shaman’s performances of his “Victory” tour due to low ticket sales.

Pro-Kremlin Singer Yaroslav Dronov (AKA Shaman). Photo: Pelagia Tikhonova / Moskva News Agency

Last month Shaman kicked off his 100-city tour in Red Square with plans to perform in Ukrainian cities occupied since Russia’s invasion. The singer said he aims to “program” his audience to think about Russia’s victory over Ukraine, more than two and a half years into the war.

However, his scheduled performances in Nizhny Tagil on 24 Sep and Magnitogorsk on 3 Oct were cancelled. The independent investigative outlet Agentstvo reported that only half of the tickets had been sold for the Nizhny Tagil show, and there was “not much hype” surrounding the Magnitogorsk event.

Earlier this month, authorities in the Stavropol region canceled another of Shaman’s shows and required him to refund 15 million rubles to the regional government.

Agentstvo also noted that Shaman’s concerts in the cities of Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, and Tver are at risk of being canceled due to poor ticket sales. TV ratings for Shaman’s performances have reportedly been lower than other popular programs.

As casualties mount on the frontline and successful Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s infrastructure increase like the spectacular strike shown below, more people will grow disillusioned and discontent with Vladimir Putin. Unfortunately, the Russian masses will be basically powerless to overthrow the regime because of the dense internal security apparatus the Kremlin controls.

2,000 tons of ammo, including North Korean-made rounds, were destroyed in this recent attack that registered as small earthquakes and also drew the attention of NASA’s fire-spotting satellites. There was no information as to Russian casualties caused by Ukraine’s new jet-powered Palianytsia cruise missile.

Sources:

Mothers, Wives, Children Of Russian Soldiers Protest, Demand Demobilization (rferl.org)

Russian Cities Cancel Pro-War Singer Shaman’s Shows Amid Low Ticket Sales – Agentstvo – The Moscow Times

Ukrainian Drones Just Blew Up 2,000 Tons Of Ammo in Southern Russia (forbes.com)

France Deploys Notorious Anti-Riot Police Unit to Martinique

Martinique has a land area of 436 sq mi and a population of nearly 350,000. Map: Brittanica.com

France deployed a contingent of special anti-riot police that’s been banned for 65 years to the French Caribbean island of Martinique, where protesters have gathered despite the government barring demonstrations in parts of the island. The local government issued a curfew after violent protests broke out last week over the high cost of living. Six police officers and one civilian were wounded. Police launched tear gas and several stores were looted.

But the curfew was met by defiance by many on the island, with massive peaceful protests breaking out Saturday night. Videos from local media show crowds of thousands peacefully walking along highways overnight banging on drums and waving flags.

As protests continued without violence, a contingency of French anti-riot police arrived on the island and checked into a hotel in Fort-de-France. The size of the force was not disclosed.

French riot police in action in 2018. Photo: Stephane Mahe/Reuters

The elite riot police, known as the Companies for Republican Security, were banned in the French territory following bloody riots in Dec 1959 for allegedly using disproportionate force against protesters, ending in the deaths of a number of young demonstrators. The force is rarely deployed in French territories in the Caribbean but was called on during riots and strikes in Guadeloupe in 2009.

Martinique’s leaders requested the forces amid the recent protests. Beatrice Bellay, a representative of the socialist party blasted the move, saying: “Martinique is not in a civil war, it is a social war. This measure … only serves to aggravate tensions and distract attention from the legitimate demands of the people of Martinique.”

A man holds a flare during an anti-government protest in Fort-De-France, Martinique in 2021. 5,000 to 15,000 residents of Martinique demonstrated in protest on 27 March 2021, denouncing the possible statute of limitations on a complaint filed by civil parties for the use of chlordecone in causing life endangering illnesses. Photo: Reuters

Martinique is burdened with a chronic high rate of unemployment, as well as rising costs of imported food and other basic necessities. Banana is the foremost plantation crop grown in Martinique and the widespread use of carcinogenic chlordecone for five decades to control banana pests gave rise to an ecological disaster and an angry population. Although this practice had stopped in 2003, the recalcitrant dangerous pesticide remained largely in the soil.

Until all soil has all been successfully de-contaminated, use of the land for any new agricultural activities is unsafe; people have been warned to refrain from eating self-produced vegetables. The challenge to create meaningful employment in Martinique under these social-economic and environmental constraints is thus formidable.

Sources:

Long-forbidden French anti-riot force sent to Martinique as thousands defy bans on protests (voanews.com)

Intractable Social-Economic Problems of Martinique (openedition.org)

Former CIA Officer Sentenced to 30 Years for Sexually Assaulting Scores of Women

Undated photo of Brian Jeffrey Raymond courtesy of the FBI.

Brian Jeffrey Raymond (48) of La Mesa, CA, a former CIA officer who drugged and sexually assaulted dozens of women, was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Raymond was also ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release and to pay $260,000 in restitution to the victims. After his release from prison at the age of 78, Raymond will be required to register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

This miscreant drugged more than two dozen women and performed nonconsensual sexual acts or made sexual contact with at least ten women. Raymond also photographed and recorded videos of victims without their consent while they were drugged or otherwise incapacitated. He had previously worked for the CIA for over 20 years.

Raymond would lure women he met on dating apps back to his government-leased apartment, later drugging and assaulting them.

The assaults date back to 2006 and took place in multiple countries, including Mexico and Peru. An investigation of Raymond began in May 2020 when police in Mexico City responded to a naked woman screaming for help on the balcony of Raymond’s residence. She said that Raymond had raped her and accused him of drugging her when the two had drinks at his apartment. Police then searched Raymond’s devices as apart of the investigation. They discovered several explicit videos and images showing Raymond sexually assaulting numerous women.

Several of the women spoke in court about the trauma caused by Raymond’s actions. Many did not realize they had been assaulted until they were approached by police and shown images or videos taken by Raymond.

“My body looks like a corpse on his bed,” said one woman of the photos. “Now I have these nightmares of seeing myself dead.”

Another woman testified in court: “Was I raped? Was I sexually assaulted. I will never know, and that haunts me too.”

Raymond’s sentencing comes as the CIA faces intense scrutiny over its handling of sexual misconduct cases. A 648-page internal watchdog report revealed that the agency routinely failed to address such incidents. More than two dozen women reported that they had experienced sexually assault or unwanted contact, later facing retaliation after they reported it to the CIA.

CIA personnel undergo extensive background investigations and must undergo routine polygraph examinations during their careers. How this sexual predator operated in the USIC for 14 years without getting caught is remarkable. Moreover, Raymond presents a dilemma for CIA. Foreign intelligence agencies may start putting clues together and uncover CIA sources in countries Raymond operated in.

From a counterintelligence perspective, Raymond holds a treasure trove of US secrets in his head. His incarceration in the BOP must take that into account. Lastly, Brian Jeffrey Raymond cost the American taxpayer a small fortune with all the expensive training he received and living overseas in government-paid housing and expense accounts.

Sources:

Former CIA officer sentenced to 30 years for sexually assaulting scores of women | CIA | The Guardian

As the CIA promises to stop sexual misconduct in its ranks, new cases of workplace assault emerge | PBS News

Whooping Cough (Pertussis) Spreading in US and Canada

Undated image courtesy of USATODAY.

The CDC reports that whooping cough (pertussis) is spreading in the US. In 2020, the US had about 6,000 cases of pertussis, roughly 2,000 cases in 2021, 3,000 cases in 2022 and about 5,000 last year. Now the US has seen 14,569 cases this year, compared with 2,844 at the same time last year, according to the CDC’s Nationally Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System.

In Canada, more than 12,000 cases of whooping cough, or the 100-day cough, have been reported to date in 2024, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). That’s far higher than the roughly 500 to 4,500 nationwide infections typically reported each year. 

Whooping cough starts with symptoms that look a lot like a regular cold: a runny nose, sneezing, a low-grade fever and a tickly cough. A week or two later, the infection moves into a new stage, leading to a violent full-body cough.

These coughing fits can be so severe that they cause patients to vomit or break ribs, and they’re often accompanied by a whooping sound as the person tries to catch their breath. Antibiotics can treat the 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.

Unvaccinated babies and adults are those at highest risk of severe infection and, rarely, death. But doctors have increasingly been seeing vaccinated people with infections, too.

Pertussis vaccination rates are high in the US – around 90% – and did not dip during the pandemic as they did in some other countries. Despite that, the upward trend in infections has continued.

The increase in cases is not fully understood. There’s evidence that it may be due to changes in the bacteria that causes the infection or changes in the vaccines.

Gavin and Tara Hills with their seven children were anti-vaxxers. (Social media).

The above family of anti-vaxxers from Ontario, Canada, changed their minds about vaccinations too late. Gavin Hills, his wife Tara, and their seven children are now in quarantine at their Kanata, Ont. home while the children are being treated for whooping cough.

The children, who are aged 10 months to 10 years, are “doing okay.” The irony of the timing is not lost on them, says Gavin Hills. While it’s frustrating to be quarantined, what’s more frustrating is knowing that the whole thing could have been avoided, Hills says. For six years, he and his wife were on the fence about vaccine safety, so they chose to hold off on vaccinating until they understood the issue better. But by then, it was too late and they caught pertussis.

Ottawa Public Health is treating them with antibiotics for the potentially serious illness and they should recover soon.

Sources:

About Whooping Cough Outbreaks | Whooping Cough | CDC

Whooping cough cases are soaring. Can infecting people help test a better vaccine? | CNN

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/whooping-cough-spike-1.7308407

Germany: Social Democrats Narrowly Defeat Far-Right in Brandenburg Elections

Map: Courtesy of freeworldmaps.net

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) party narrowly won an election in the eastern German state of Brandenburg. Three weeks after the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party made gains in two other east German states, the SPD came out on top. 

According to final results, the SPD won 30.9% of the votes while the AfD came a close second with 29.2%. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), a new leftist movement, came in third with 13.5% while the centre-right Christian Democrats took 12.1%. 

The SPD’s victory brought a reprieve to Scholz, whose three-party governing coalition has fared poorly in elections so far this year. Social Democrats have governed Brandenburg since 1990, and a loss there would have been a major setback for Scholz, who has his constituency in the state capital of Potsdam. 

Any political defeat of the right-wing in any country is a victory, no matter how big or small. Germany holds federal elections October 2025.

This is the enemy.

Source:

Social Democrats narrowly beat out far-right in Brandenburg elections | Euronews

Chinese Aircraft Carrier Comes Closer Than Ever to Japan

In 2012, Liaoning (16; Chinese: 辽宁舰; pinyin: Liáoníng Jiàn) was the first aircraft carrier commissioned in China’s navy after extensive refurbishing. Total airpower: 40 fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft. (Image source: http://www.armyrecognition.com).

On 18 Sep, a Chinese aircraft carrier sailed closer to Japan than ever before, prompting Tokyo to express serious concerns to Beijing about China’s increasing military activity in the region.

The Chinese carrier Liaoning, accompanied by two destroyers, entered Japan’s “contiguous zone” – a section of sea beyond territorial waters where Japan still exercises some control. According to the Japanese Defense Ministry, the fleet passed between Japan’s Yonaguni and Iriomote Islands, east of Taiwan.

Chinese warships also sailed near the disputed Senkaku Islands, which are controlled by Japan but claimed by China, where they are known as the Diaoyu Islands.

Hiroshi Moriya, Japan’s Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, condemned the incident, calling it “absolutely unacceptable” for national and regional security. He emphasized that China has been ramping up military activity around Japan in recent years. The Japanese government conveyed its concerns to China through diplomatic channels.

Tensions between the two nations have escalated following other recent incidents. Last month, Japan reported that a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft entered its airspace, followed by a Chinese survey ship breaching Japanese territorial waters near Kagoshima Prefecture.

In response, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, Lin Jian, defended the activity of Chinese warships, stating it was following both Chinese domestic laws and international regulations.

Japan has strengthened its defenses in the southwestern region, including remote islands, viewing them as critical to its overall defense strategy. China now has two more aircraft carriers, including one entirely designed and built domestically.

China is increasingly flexing its growing military power. This summer, two Chinese aircraft accompanied Russian bombers near Alaska for the first time and a military hospital ship has been treating patients for free along Africa’s coast (see previous posting on Coriolanus). This naval incident occurred during the annual UN General Assembly in NYC, so Beijing may also be testing its diplomatic prowess. According to the Global Firepower Index (GFI), China is ranked third out of 145 militaries surveyed; Japan is ranked seventh; Taiwan is ranked 24th.

Sources:

Chinese aircraft carrier comes closer than ever to Japan (bignewsnetwork.com)

Global Firepower – 2024 World Military Strength Rankings

US, Canada Consumer Safety Alert: LUCID Platform Beds Sold by Walmart, Target, Amazon Recalled

Photo of the recalled Lucid Upholstered Square Tufted Platform Bed (Charcoal)

Nearly 137,000 beds sold by major retailers Walmart, Target, and Amazon have been recalled because the frames could collapse or break, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). 890 were sold in Canada. So far, there have been 245 reports of the beds breaking or collapsing, which caused at least 18 injuries including contusions.

The beds were manufactured in Malaysia and sold online through Amazon, Bed Bath & Beyond, Belk, Brookside, eBay, Home Depot, JCPenney, Lowes, Macy’s, Menards, Overstock, QVC, Sears, Target, Malouf VIP, Wayfair, and Walmart.

Customers should immediately stop using the recalled beds and contact Lucid for a free replacement bed frame.

Consumer Contact: Lucid toll-free at 888-910-0235 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET Monday through Thursday, or on Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET, by email at recall@lucidmattress.com.

Sources:

CVB Recalls LUCID Platform Beds with Upholstered Square Tufted Headboards Due to Fall and Injury Hazards | CPSC.gov

Upholstered Platform Bed (lucidmattress.com)

Nearly 137,000 beds sold by Target, Walmart recalled for collapsing (scrippsnews.com)

SAS Flight Diverted After Mouse Scurries Out of Passenger’s In-Flight Meal

Economy class cabin of an SAS A350 (Photo: SAS)

A Scandinavian Airlines flight traveling from Norway to Spain was forced to make an emergency landing in Copenhagen, Denmark after a mouse scurried out of a passenger’s in-flight meal. A passenger said the situation was surprisingly calm. Passengers were later flown to the Spanish city of Malaga on a different plane without further incidents.

The emergency landing was part of SAS company procedures as the mouse posed a safety risk on board. Rodents can chew through electrical wiring, making them strictly forbidden on most airlines.

Source:

Flight diverted after mouse scurries out of passenger’s in-flight meal (scrippsnews.com)

Oregon Man Pleads Guilty to Assaulting Law Enforcement During 6 Jan Attack on Capitol

Andy Steven Oliva-Lopez (27) from Oregon man pleaded guilty to a felony charge of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers during the 6 Jan 2021 attack on the US Capitol. He will be sentenced on 17 Jan 2025.

Oliva-Lopez drove from his home in Oregon with a friend to attend the 6 Jan 2021, “Stop the Steal” rally scheduled to take place on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. After attending the rally, Oliva-Lopez walked toward the Capitol and made his way to the West Plaza, which was, by that time overrun with rioters. At that location, US Capitol Police and MPD officers attempted to maintain lines of defense and were struggling to prevent rioters from advancing further to the building.

At about 2:04 PM, Oliva-Lopez, wearing a full-face respirator mask, sprayed streams of orange-colored bear spray at the faces and heads of police officers on the West Plaza. Over the course of several minutes, Oliva-Lopez did this on three distinct occasions. Police officers blinded by the bear spray testified that the intense pain levels were either eight or nine on a scale of ten.

Thanks to online sleuths, the FBI arrested Oliva-Lopez on 23 Jan 2024.

Oliva-Lopez’s plea agreement states his estimated sentencing guidelines range is 51 to 63 months in federal prison. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) officials will read his dossier and the pain Oliva-Lopez inflicted on the police officers defending the Capitol when he repeatedly sprayed them with bear repellant.

In the 44 months since 6 Jan 2021, more than 1,504 suspects have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to attacking the US Capitol, including more than 560 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:

gov.uscourts.dcd.271080.28.0.pdf (courtlistener.com)

District of Columbia | Oregon Man Pleads Guilty to Assaulting Law Enforcement During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach | United States Department of Justice

Israel Launches Intense Strikes on Lebanon

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese village of Khiam near the border, 19 Sep 2024.

Israeli forces carried out their most intense strike on southern Lebanon in nearly one year of war, increasing tensions between the two countries despite international calls for calm. IDF jets struck about 100 multiple-rocket launchers in more than 52 strikes. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The UK called for a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, and the US is “afraid and concerned about potential escalation,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.

Lebanese Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah acknowledged that this week’s deadly explosive attacks in Lebanon on the militant group’s communications devices were a “severe blow,” while contending that Israel had crossed a “red line” in carrying out the operation that killed at least 32 people and wounded another 3,000. Unsuspecting Hezbollah operatives and civilians answered messages on their pagers and tried to carry on conversations on their walkie-talkies, only to have them explode in their hands.

Because of the lethal devastation from the attacks, Lebanon has banned passengers flying from Beirut’s international airport from carrying pagers or walkie-talkies on board their flights. The ban applies to both checked and carry-on luggage, as well as cargo.

The longer Israel remains in a state of war, the longer Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delays his bribery and corruption trial in Jerusalem, and the approximate 100 Israelis remain hostage and vulnerable. The West should expect reprisal attacks from Lebanese Hezbollah or their allies against Israeli targets overseas.

Background Information:    

In 1978, Israel invaded Lebanon to neutralize PLO fighters conducting cross-border raids. After a ceasefire was brokered, UNIFIL kept the peace. With Democratic President Jimmy Carter out of the White House in 1981, Israeli war-hawks found a friend in Republican Ronald Reagan. In 1982, Israel re-attacked Lebanon to stamp out remaining PLO fighters who were observing the ceasefire. Israel used the 1982 Abu Nidal assassination attempt on the Israeli Ambassador in London as a casus belli, or pretext, for the invasion. Yasser Arafat and the PLO had disavowed Abu Nidal, who was a rival to the PLO Chairman.

During the invasion, the IDF used a Lebanese Christian militia, the Phalange, as one of their proxies, resulting in the Sabra and Shatila massacre. Hezbollah was established by Lebanese clerics primarily to fight this 1982 Israeli invasion. Lebanese Hezbollah would receive aid from their fellow Shiites in the newly formed Islamic Republic of Iran. After a 22-year military presence, the IDF would finally leave Lebanon on 24 May 2000, under UN Security Council Resolution 425.

Now decades later, the battle is joined once again.  

The Sabra and Shatila massacre was the 16–18 Sep 1982 mass killing of between 1,300 and 3,500 civilians—mostly Palestinians and Lebanese Shias—in the city of Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War. The mass murder was perpetrated by the Lebanese Forces, one of the main Christian militias in Lebanon, and supported by the IDF that had surrounded Beirut’s Sabra neighborhood and the adjacent Shatila refugee camp.

Many of the bodies found had been severely mutilated. Young men had been castrated, some were scalped, and some had the Christian cross carved into their bodies.

Sources:

Israel launches intense strikes on Lebanon (voanews.com)

Sabra and Shatila massacre – Wikipedia

US Treasury Targets Key Actors in Sanctions Evasion Scheme to Support Russia and North Korea

The US imposed sanctions on a network of five entities and Dmitry Yuryevich Nikulin for allegedly enabling payments between Russia and North Korea.

The entities and Dmitry Nikulin are based in Russia and the Georgian region of South Ossetia. They are accused of actions that “supported ongoing efforts to establish illicit payment mechanisms” between Russia and the North Korea.

Western powers have accused cash-strapped North Korea of selling ammunition to Russia in defiance of sanctions over the more than 30-month-old war in Ukraine, and North Korea has recently bolstered military ties with Russia. President Vladimir Putin made a rare visit to Pyongyang in June and signed a “comprehensive strategic partnership” that calls for mutual assistance in the event of an attack by a third country.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who met with Putin, said the agreement opened a new era of cooperation. Kim made further pledges to deepen ties with Russia after meeting last week with visiting Russian security chief Sergei Shoigu.

The new sanctions expose how the Kremlin uses illegal financial schemes to help North Korea access the international banking system in violation of UN Security Council sanctions.

The US has previously sanctioned many of the entities and individuals providing assistance to North Korea’s ballistic missile program. International sanctions against North Korea over Pyongyang’s nuclear program were imposed after its first nuclear test in 2006.

Sources:

Treasury Targets Key Actors in Sanctions Evasion Scheme to Support Russia and North Korea | U.S. Department of the Treasury

Sanctions List Search (treas.gov)

U.S. Hits Network Allegedly Facilitating Russia-North Korea Sanctions Evasion (rferl.org)

Earth Will Have Second ‘Tiny Moon’ for Two Months

Earth will have a second moon when a small asteroid begins to orbit the planet later this month, space researchers have announced.

The celestial visitor, dubbed 2024 PT5, is from the Arjuna asteroid belt, according to researchers at the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, or ATLAS, an asteroid monitoring system in South Africa. Researchers say Earth’s gravity will pull the tiny moon toward our planet and act a lot like the regular moon, orbiting the Earth in a horseshoe shape, but for just shy of two months, from 29 Sep to 25 Nov.

Other so-called non-Earth objects have entered the planet’s orbit in the past, but typically have not completed full revolutions, meaning they do not act like a typical “moon.”

When they do enter Earth’s orbit, like 2024 PT5, they are dubbed “mini-moons.” This particular asteroid is scheduled to return in 2055. 2024 PT5 won’t be visible to the naked eye or even with a consumer-grade, backyard telescope.

2024 PT5 will reach a distance of about 2.8 million miles away from Earth and slow to a speed of about 2,200 mph, allowing it to be affected by Earth’s pull, even if only temporarily.

Sources:

Earth will have a second ‘tiny moon’ for two months – UPI.com

‘Dangerous Antisemitism’: Donald Trump Condemned for Scapegoating Jews If He Loses Election

Dr. Anthony Fauci has a moment as President Trump speaks during a COVID-19 briefing at the White House on 20 March 2020. Photo: NBC News

Social media critics roundly denounced former President Donald Trump suggestion Thursday that if he loses the 2024 election to Vice President Kamala Harris, Jewish people would have a “lot to do with” it.

Trump made the comment at a summit about combating antisemitism in the country, which was hosted by Jewish philanthropist Miriam Adelson.

“In my opinion, the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss,” Trump said. “If I’m at 40%, think of it, that means 60% are voting for Kamala, who in particular is a bad Democrat. Democrats are bad to Israel. Very bad. They’ll never change because they have a section of their party now which has become amazingly, quickly very powerful vote-wise.”

Trump then repeated a campaign attack against Senate Majority Chuck Schumer (D-NY), calling him a “Palestinian.”

“Who would’ve thought that was going to happen? What the hell happened to him?” attacked Trump. “I saw him the other day. He was dressed in one of their robes. That’ll be next.”

“It’s only because of the Democrat hold, or curse, on you,” added Trump.

At the summit, Trump seemingly used Israel and American Jews interchangeably.

“Israel, I believe, has to defeat her,” Trump said of Harris on Thursday. “More than any people on earth, Israel has to defeat her.”

Trump’s remark earned widespread derision on social media, calling it “dangerous antisemitism” and could lead to violence against Jews. One critic called Trump’s language something that might be said before an imminent “pogrom.”

Source:

‘Dangerous antisemitism’: Trump slammed for saying Jews will have a ‘lot to do with’ loss – Raw Story

France Probes Online Threats Against Afghan Taekwondo Fighter Marzieh Hamidi

Marzieh Hamidi (C) chants slogans with the Paris crowd, including the “women, life, freedom” holding an Afghan flag, in support of Iranian and Afghan women, 8 Mar 2023. © Hans Lucas / Amandine Lauriol

Marzieh Hamidi, an Afghan taekwondo fighter and refugee, had suffered “cyber-harassment including death, rape, and other threats via social media,” Paris prosecutors allege. A special online hate unit was investigating the case.

“I want the terrorists threatening me with death to be identified and tried in court, so that I can live freely without fear and in full safety,” Hamidi said in a statement sent to France’s AFP news agency.

The martial artist is under police protection until the perpetrators are identified and prosecuted.

Hamadi did not qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics in her under-57 kg category, but she has been in the media spotlight in France for “speaking out publicly about women’s rights and the Taliban regime.” according to the complaint she filed on 3 Sep.

The current wave of threats followed her denunciation on social media of an August Taliban law barring women’s voices from being heard in public. Hamidi reiterated her opposition to the law in a press interview and launched the social media hashtag #letusexist.

Since 1 Sep, “a vast wave of hatred smashed down on her Afghan Whatsapp phone number which was shared; she received hundreds of calls and thousands of messages in the space of just a few hours,” the prosecutor’s complaint read.

Afghan taekwondo athlete Marzieh Hamidi, pictured at a Paris training center on 29 June 2023. Although under police protection, Hamidi feels like she lost her freedom and safety: “I don’t feel safe any more in Paris.”  © AFP – JOEL SAGET

Hamidi’s complaint specifies the offences of sharing private information, malicious phone calls, death or rape threats, online harassment, and online sexual harassment. She told RFI she had been flooded with threatening messages since posting a video on social media at the end of August denouncing “gender apartheid” in her homeland.

Sources:

France probes online threats against Afghan taekwondo fighter Marzieh Hamidi (rfi.fr)

France and allies condemn Taliban decision to ban women from universities

Report: US Health System Worst Overall Compared to Other High-Income Countries

The Commonwealth Fund, a private research and advocacy foundation, analyzed different countries’ healthcare systems and ranked the US worst among ten nations surveyed.

The report compared Australia, Canada, France, Germany, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, and the US. Australia ranked the top overall. The US was at the bottom for access to care and health outcomes.

The report was based on data that included international population and physician surveys from 2021, 2022, and 2023; plus the World Health Organization, Our World in Data, national data registries and published research.

The US came in second to last in rankings of equal care and how efficient the administrative process is.

Experts say one issue with the US health care system is the complexity of insurance. There’s a variety of insurance plans with different requirements, which impacts how providers get paid and how the patient’s bill is paid for.

“That leads to denials of service. It leads to the bargaining that goes on between doctors and hospitals and insurance companies and between patients and insurance companies. It leads to prior authorization and disapproval of ordered services,” said Dr. David Blumenthal, former Commonwealth Fund president. “The US lags both in having +20 million Americans still uninsured. 70% of the population, though a historic low, still very high by international standards. And it also lacks in terms of the ability of lower income people to get access to basic services.”

The US did rank high in some metrics, coming in second for care processes. That includes things like preventive care and patient engagement.

The term “medical bankruptcy” is not known in most of the world, except the US. Medical bills are reported to be the number-one cause of US bankruptcies. One study has claimed that 62.1% of bankruptcies were caused by medical issues. Another report suggests that over two million Americans are adversely affected by their medical expenses.

In 2011, Debt.org reported that people aged 55 and older account for 20% of total bankruptcy filings. Even with assistance from Medicare, the average 65-year-old American couple faces $275,000 in medical bills throughout retirement. Debts and unaffordable housing contribute to America’s homelessness problem.

Sources:

Mirror, Mirror 2024: An International Comparison of Health Systems | Commonwealth Fund

US health system worst overall compared to other high income countries (scrippsnews.com)

Medical Bankruptcy Statistics (thebalancemoney.com)

Study: Many Toxic Chemicals Enter Body Via Food Packaging

Plastic wrap around food is not benign. Photo by Adobe Stock/HealthDay News

A new study shows that more than 3,600 chemicals leach into food during the packaging process.

Of that number, 79 chemicals are known to cause cancer, genetic mutations, and endocrine and reproductive issues, a team of international researchers reported in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology.

While food packaging materials may comply with government regulations, the study shows these chemicals may not be completely safe.

One well-known and ubiquitous chemical the study detected in both food and the human body was bisphenol A (BPA), which was used in baby bottles, sippy cups and infant formula containers until parents boycotted those products more than a decade ago.

BPA has been linked to fetal abnormalities, low birth weight and brain and behavior disorders in infants and children, while it is linked to diabetes, heart disease, erectile dysfunction, cancer and a higher risk of early death in adults.

Then there were perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which are present in the blood of an estimated 98% of Americans, according to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Another chemical the researchers discovered in human bodies was phthalates, which have been linked with genital malformations and undescended testes in baby boys and lower sperm counts and testosterone levels in adult males. Other studies have linked phthalates to childhood obesity, asthma, cardiovascular issues, cancer and premature death.

The US Department of Health and Human Services has more information on food safety.

Copyright © 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Source:

Study: Many toxic chemicals enter body via food packaging – UPI.com

Homeowner Finally Relents to Stubborn Cat

Stella (circa Sep 2024)

L.P., a sane and sober contributor to a progressive website, related this story in the blogosphere. A persistent young feline kept coming around the back door of L.P.’s house who paid it little mind. But after repeated visits, L.P. finally relented and admitted the stubborn cat. Now named Stella, this affectionate five or six-month-old kitten soon adopted L.P.

L.P. advises that Stella will be taken to the vet for shots/fleas/worms protocols (and eventual spaying) before she eventually takes full command over L.P.’s home.

Pagers Rigged with Explosives Kill Nine, Wounds 2,800 in Lebanon; Israel Blamed

A victim is carried on a stretcher outside American University of Beirut Medical Center as people, including Hezbollah fighters and medics, were wounded and killed when pagers exploded across Lebanon on 17 Sep 2024.

At least nine people were killed and more than 2,800 others wounded, overwhelming Lebanon’s hospitals, when pagers used by Hezbollah members exploded Tuesday. No one has claimed responsibility for this terrorist attack, but the people of Lebanon are blaming Israel. Many of the injuries were described as gruesome and some victims lost their eyes.

Lebanese press reports said the pagers were relatively new and were part of an order of 5,000 given to Hezbollah operatives in the past few months. They had been using pagers to communicate as Israeli intelligence is able to track and record cellphones.

Hsu Ching-Kuang, founder of Taiwan-based manufacturer Gold Apollo, told reporters Wednesday his company did not manufacture the pagers, but rather authorized its brand to be used on devices produced and sold by a company called BAC in Budapest. Two or three ounces of explosives were secreted into each device which exploded simultaneously across Lebanon at approximately 3:30PM.

Iran state media reported the country’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was among those wounded by an exploding pager. Lebanon’s Hezbollah issued a statement Tuesday blaming the blasts on Israel, which has not officially commented. At least two Hezbollah members were reported dead as well as a child.

The Lebanese government condemned the attack as “criminal Israeli aggression.” Beirut is a recipient of US military assistance and its security services may request forensic assistance from Washington to determine the culprits of this attack. Lebanon also enjoys close economic and political ties with France whom they can also ask for investigative help.

If Israeli intelligence was responsible, this was a monumental counterintelligence and political blow against Lebanese Hezbollah, which also served to demonstrate Israel’s espionage capabilities. And this was also an innovative method of conducting Extra-Judicial Killings (XJK) across international borders which Israeli can deny perpetrating. If ISIS, al-Qaida, the FARC, or the IRA conducted this attack, the world would condemn it as terrorism.

Lebanese Hezbollah said it would continue its fight against Israel in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and that Israel should await “harsh punishment.”

US forces in Iraq should be prepared for reprisal attacks from Iran’s Shia proxies. Western commercial ships in the Red Sea or Gulf of Aden may see attacks from the Shia Houthis, who have become allies with Tehran and Lebanese Hezbollah. After the Sunni Saudi blockade created a catastrophic famine for Shia Yemenis, the Houthis accepted Iran’s aid and have since become proxies for Tehran.

Sources:

Pagers rigged with explosives kill 9, wound 2,800 in Lebanon (voanews.com)

BBC NEWS | Middle East | French nearly fired at Israelis

Russia Claims to Kill ‘Ukrainian Agent’ Plotting Assassination of Defense Executive

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said that its agents killed a suspected Ukrainian military intelligence officer allegedly plotting to assassinate a Russian defense industry executive.

The FSB identified the man as a Russian citizen born in 1984, accusing him of illegal trafficking explosives and claiming he was working on behalf of Ukraine’s HUR military intelligence agency.

According to Russian law enforcement authorities, the man was instructed by “his handlers” to create an improvised explosive device (IED), which was to be used as a car bomb targeting a defense executive in the Sverdlovsk region, a major hub for Russian defense manufacturing.

FSB agents reportedly killed the man during a gunfight as he attempted to place the IED in a cache. “While being apprehended, he offered armed resistance and was neutralized by return fire,” the FSB said in a statement.

Footage released by state news agencies showed the body of a man in a wooded area holding a handgun, along with images of what the FSB claimed were the explosive device components found in a garage.

The FSB did not identify the alleged target of the assassination plot, describing him only as a “senior employee of a defense company.”

There was no immediate response from Kiev about Russia’s allegations.

IEDs have killed high-value target (HVT) Russians during the war. The daughter of ultra-nationalist Putin-ally Alexander Dugin was killed in a bomb attack in August 2022 and in May 2023, pro-war blogger Zakhar Prilepin was seriously injured in an attack.

Sources:

Russia Claims to Kill ‘Ukrainian Agent’ Plotting Assassination of Defense Executive

Russian military intelligence officer injured in Moscow car bomb attack, Kommersant says | Reuters‘

Car bomb attack’ investigated in Moscow – amid conflicting reports military officer was target | World News | Sky News

Impeachment Proceedings Against France’s Macron Pass First Hurdle

The pomp and spectacle of the Paris Olympiad are over as reality returns for President Macron in this undated image. (AP – Thomas Padilla)

The hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) has accused President Macron of denying democracy in refusing to name a prime minister from one of their ranks. The procedure to impeach him got over the first hurdle on Tuesday but it’s highly unlikely the president will fall. LFI has accused Macron of carrying out an “anti-democratic coup” after he ruled out choosing its pick for prime minister, naming veteran conservative politician Michel Barnier instead.

A petition, signed by more than 300,000 people, refers to Macron’s “unprecedented authoritarian drift … in the system of representative democracy.”

Impeachment proceedings have never gone this far before. Ten years ago, a proposal tabled by the right against then Socialist president François Hollande didn’t get beyond the committee stage.However, there is little chance of Macron being forced to step down. Under Article 68 of the Constitution, the motion now has to be examined by the assembly’s Law Committee, before being put to a wider vote by MPs. The text must be approved by two-thirds of MPs – 385 out of 577.

Mathematically that’s highly unlikely as Macron can count on his centrist Ensemble (Together) coalition and the mainstream right Republicans to vote against.

Outgoing prime minister Gabriel Attal has described the motion as “a declaration of war on our institutions.” The far-right National Rally (RN) and its allies – with 143 MPs – will not vote in favour either. RN leader Marine Le Pen has termed the motion a “sinister comedy” and accused the left of spreading “disorder and chaos.” The Socialists have also announced they will not vote to impeach Macron.

Should it pass the MP hurdle, it will then go to the Senate, where Ensemble and the Republicans hold a majority.

Tuesday’s vote is, however, a strong symbolic victory for the leftist alliance.

“It’s an opportunity to put Emmanuel Macron’s early departure on the public agenda,” said LFI MP Clemence Guetté, while fellow MP Antoine Léaument hailed a “parliamentary riposte”.

The New Popular Front (NFP) has called for nationwide demonstrations on Saturday “to depose Macron”.

Source:

Impeachment proceedings against France’s Macron pass first hurdle (rfi.fr)

Canada: Justin Trudeau Under Pressure as Liberal Party Loses Montreal By-Election

Louis-Philippe Sauvé celebrated with his Bloc Québécois supporters after his win in LaSalle-Émard-Verdun. Photograph: Canadian Press/REX/Shutterstock

Canada’s ruling Liberal party has lost a once-safe seat in Montreal, a result that is likely to put more pressure on the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, to quit.

Elections Canada said that with 100% of the votes counted in the parliamentary constituency of LaSalle-Émard-Verdun, the separatist Bloc Québécois candidate, Louis-Philippe Sauvé, had beaten the Liberal candidate, Laura Palestini, by a whisker: 28% to 27.2%. The New Democratic party (NDP) candidate received 26.1%.

The election, which was held to replace a Liberal legislator who resigned, will put more focus on the political future of Trudeau, who has become increasingly unpopular after almost nine years in office.

Trudeau insists he will lead the party into an election that must be held by the end of October 2025, but some Liberal legislators have broken ranks to call for change at the top.

Alexandra Mendès, a Liberal MP who represents a Québec constituency, said last week that many of her constituents wanted Trudeau to go.

In the 2021 general election, the Liberal party won the Montreal seat with 43% of the vote, ahead of the Bloc Québécois on 22% and the NDP on 19%.

Polls now suggest that the Liberals will lose badly in the next federal election to the right-of-centre Conservatives, led by Pierre Poilievre. A Leger poll last week put public support for the Conservatives at 45%, a level rarely seen nationally in Canada, with the Liberals in second place at 25%.

Trudeau’s popularity has sagged as voters struggle with a surge in the cost of living and a housing crisis.

Poilievre has promised to do away with a federal carbon tax that he claims is making life unaffordable and last week vowed to cap immigration limits until more homes could be built.

Liberals concede the polls look grim but say they will redouble efforts to portray Poilievre as a supporter of the “Make America Great Again” movement led by the former US president Donald Trump.

Poilievre, an acerbic career politician who often insults his opponents, also says he would defund the CBC, Canada’s national public broadcaster. In April he was ejected from the House of Commons after he called Trudeau “a wacko”.

Source:

Justin Trudeau under pressure as his party loses Montreal election | Canada | The Guardian

Portugal Wildfire Deaths Rise to Seven After Firefighters Trapped in Blaze

A woman next to her home in Covelo, Gondomar, northern Portugal. Photograph: José Coelho/EPA

Seven people have been killed and more than 50 injured in wildfires ravaging central and northern Portugal after three firefighters died when their vehicle was trapped in flames.

Portugal’s civil protection service said 54 wildfires were burning nationwide, mainly in the north, with 5,300 firefighters mobilised. France, Greece, Italy, and Spain sent eight water-bombing planes through the EU’s mutual assistance mechanism.

More than 1,000 firefighters battled to control four separate blazes near the towns of Nelas and Aveiro, south of Porto, with TV footage showing residents frantically pouring buckets of water on rapidly advancing flames. In Aveiro alone, the blazes have consumed more than 10,000 hectares (24,710 acres) of forest and scrubland in the last two days, roughly the same area that has been burnt by fires so far this year across the country.

The national civil protection commander said the three firefighters – two women and a man – had been killed near Nelas. Four people, including a man retrieving tools from his shed, were reported dead.

Three firefighters died in Nelas, southeast of Porto, on Tuesday. Photograph: Pedro Nunes/Reuters

The fires forced the closure of two railway lines and several motorways, including part of the main road between Lisbon and Porto and could consume a further 20,000 hectares.

The weather conditions on Monday brought the highest risk of fire in northern Portugal since 2001, experts said. After a wet start to the year Portugal and Spain have recorded fewer wildfires than last year, but temperatures were above 30C across Portugal over the weekend amid exceptionally low humidity and strong winds, which have fanned the flames.

The government increased fire-prevention funding ten-fold and doubled its firefighting budget after deadly blazes in 2017 claimed 64 lives.

Scientists have said human-caused climate breakdown is supercharging extreme weather across the world, driving more frequent and more deadly disasters, from floods – as seen this week in central Europe – to heatwaves, droughts and wildfires.

Human-caused climate breakdown is making heatwaves more likely and more intense, such as the extreme heatwave in western Canada and the US in 2021.

Source:

Portugal wildfire deaths rise to seven after firefighters trapped in blaze | Portugal | The Guardian

UK MoD: Russia Suffered Over 610,000 Casualties in Ukraine

(Undated photo: Vladimir Smirnov / TASS)

Russia has likely suffered over 610,000 causalities, killed or wounded, since the beginning of its full-scale invasion, according to the UK Defence Ministry’s latest intelligence update.

Russian officials said that in 2023, the defence ministry was recruiting at a rate of 1,600 daily. However, publicly cited figures this year put the rate at around 1,000 daily.

The Washington Post, meanwhile, claims that the total number of Ukrainian and Russian servicemen killed or wounded since the start of Russian aggression has reached one million.

The WSJ, citing confidential data dating back to earlier this year from sources familiar with the matter, wrote that “the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed stands at 80,000 and the number of wounded at 400,000.”

“Western intelligence estimates of Russian casualties vary, with some putting the number of dead as high as nearly 200,000 and wounded at around 400,000,” the newspaper reported.

The Financial Times, citing a senior Ukrainian military intelligence official, reports that Russian forces have committed 38,000 personnel to fight in Kursk region, including assault brigades redeployed from southern Ukraine.

Russian forces recently recaptured territory in the Ukrainian salient, advancing northern Obukhovka, southeast of Korenevo.

Ukrainian and Russian forces continued to advance in Glushkovsky district amid continued fighting in the area.

Russian troops march during the Victory Day military parade in Red Square in Moscow, 9 May 2024.  Photo: Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters. President Putin recently ordered to boost the size of the army by 180,000 troops to 1.5 million

Source:

Russia has likely suffered over 610,000 causalities in Ukraine, says UK MoD | Euronews

Washington State Man Sentenced on Felony and Misdemeanor Charges for Actions During 6 Jan Capitol Attack

Benjamin John Silva (37) of Yacolt, WA, was sentenced to four months in prison, 24 months of supervised release to include four months of home incarceration, and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution.

Silva pleaded guilty to a felony charge of obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder on 5 Apr 2024.

Silva was identified on 6 Jan 2021, at approximately 2:49 p.m., near an entrance to the Capitol building on the Lower West Terrace, often referred to as the Tunnel. Some of the most violent attacks against law enforcement on January 6th occurred at the Tunnel. Inside the Tunnel, Silva made his way to the front of a crowd of rioters confronting an established police line.

During the melee, Silva distracted a police officer while a seditionist behind him sprayed the line of officers with a chemical irritant. When police lines held, some attackers began leaving the Tunnel. But Silva fought to stay in and to pressed forward in a concerted effort with other rioters doing the same. Defeated, Silva made his way out of the Tunnel at about 3:07 PM but remained in the area outside the Tunnel for several minutes afterward.

The FBI arrested Silva on 25 July 2023, in Oregon.

In the 44 months since 6 Jan 2021, more than 1,504 suspects have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to attacking the US Capitol, including more than 560 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.

US Military Aid Packages to Ukraine Shrink Amid Concerns Over Pentagon Stockpiles

Photo: USAF

US military aid packages for Ukraine have been smaller in recent months, as the stockpiles of weapons and equipment that the Pentagon is willing to send Kiev from its own inventory have dwindled. The shift comes amid concerns about US military readiness being impacted as US arms manufacturers play catchup to the huge demand created by the war against Russia.

The shortage means the Biden administration still has $6 billion in funds available to arm and equip Ukraine, but the Pentagon lacks the inventory it is willing to deliver.

The US is ramping up production of key items, such as 155 mm ammunition and Patriot missile systems, both to supply Ukraine and to refill US inventories. But it is a yearslong process that won’t quickly meet the surging demand.

Before the war in Ukraine, the US produced approximately 15,000 155 mm artillery shells each month. With new factories and production lines opening, the US is now producing 40,000 shells a month. But it will still take more than a year for the Pentagon to hit its goal of 100,000 shells each month.

Ukraine is feeling the impact of the inventory shortages, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky. During a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Germany this month, Zelensky told the US and other allies that deliveries of promised air defense systems were moving too slowly and warned of a “significant” shortfall in vital aid.

The US is still trying to announce a new aid package roughly every two weeks which Ukraine is “supportive of because they believe getting new packages every two weeks is a morale boost.”

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has vowed to continue providing military support to Ukraine and announced a new $250 million aid package at the meeting in Germany this month. Austin acknowledged that the US is working to ramp up production and “speed up deliveries” to Ukraine.

“Time is of the essence, especially with winter on its way,” Austin said. “And we must all step up our support — and quickly.”

The US is simultaneously sending military aid to Israel. And as noted in a previous post, North Korea and Iran are assisting Russia with their supply shortfalls during this 2 ½ year war.

Source:

US military aid packages to Ukraine shrink amid concerns over Pentagon stockpiles | CNN Politics

The Lancet: Superbug Crisis Could Get Worse, Killing Nearly 40 Million People by 2050

This illustration of a bacteriophage shows its tripod-like form that mimics a tiny robot. These microscopic creatures have saved the lives of patients dying from superbug infections and are being used in clinical trials as a potential solution to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance. In the US alone, more than 2.8 million antimicrobial-resistant infections occur each year. SCIEPRO/Science Photo Library/Getty Images

Cumulatively, from 2025 to 2050, the world could see more than 39 million deaths that are directly attributable to antimicrobial resistance or AMR, according to the Lancet.

Antimicrobial resistance happens when pathogens like bacteria and fungi develop the ability to evade the medications used to kill them.

The World Health Organization has called AMR “one of the top global public health and development threats,” driven by the misuse and overuse of antimicrobial medications in humans, animals and plants, which can help pathogens develop a resistance to them.

The new study reveals that when it comes to the prevalence of AMR and its effects, “we expect it to get worse,” said lead author Dr. Chris Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

“We need appropriate attention on new antibiotics and antibiotic stewardship so that we can address what is really quite a large problem,” he said.

Sources:

Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance 1990–2021: a systematic analysis with forecasts to 2050 – The Lancet

Nearly 40 million people could die from antibiotic-resistant superbug infections by 2050, new study estimates | CNN

Birth of Spectacled Bear Brings Joy to Farming Community in Peru

A spectacled bear was born in a rescue center built by a Peruvian farming community that has protected these animals for more than two decades.

The bear cub, which does not yet have a name, was discovered after park rangers in the community of Santa Catalina de Chongoyape, in northern Peru, noticed that a female bear named Lola did not leave.

Born in mid July, the little bear is the second birth after a female was born six years ago in a fenced area of several hectares where food and care are provided to ailing bears.

The farming community manages an ecological reserve where spectacled bears (Tremarctos ornatus) and other animals such as the white-winged guan (Penelope albipennis) are not hunted and can find a safe habitat for their lives in its carob trees and other types of flora.

The spectacled bear is a vulnerable species, according to the Red List of Threatened Species released by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. They are the only bear species in South America with potentially as few as 2,500 mature individuals remaining.

Source:

The birth of a spectacled bear brings joy to a farming community in Peru | AP News

At Least 51 Killed, 219 injured in Russian Missile Strike in Central Ukraine

An Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile launcher. Russian forces have been firing such missiles from mobile launchers across the border into Ukraine. (Credit: Maxim Shipenkov/EPA, via Shutterstock)

At least 51 people were killed and 219 were injured on 3 Sep in one of Russia’s deadliest attacks in a single strike since its all-out invasion of Ukraine. Two missiles struck a building of the Military Communications Institute in a morning attack on the city of Poltava in central Ukraine.

The victims didn’t have time to evacuate to a bomb shelter after hearing the air-raid alert. 15 people may still be under the rubble as search teams were continuing to work at the scene.

The Prosecutor-General’s Office announced that it launched an inquiry after President Zelensky ordered a “full and prompt investigation” into what happened.

The attack is believed to be the deadliest single strike since May 2022 when 87 soldiers were killed at a military training center in the northern Cherniv region. Ukraine’s defense readiness came under scrutiny after the strike on Poltava, and some observers questioned why a large number of people were left vulnerable to a single attack.

Vladislav Seleznev, a Ukrainian military analyst and former spokesman for the General Staff of the Ukrainian military, said Ukraine can blame the Kremlin for the strike on Poltava, but there must also be a clear understanding of Kiev’s responsibility.

President Zelensky had previously requested 25 Patriot air defense systems to fully defend its airspace and protect the entire country from Russian missile attacks.

Sources:

https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-strikes-poltava/33105117.html

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-zelenskyy-27ea21c05a2fc336ac4fdbbce31b77bc

Former Aide to New York Governors Charged with Acting as Agent of Chinese Government

Undated image of Linda Sun.

A former aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo was charged with acting as an agent for the Chinese government.

Linda Sun, a former deputy chief of staff to Hochul and a Cuomo aide, was charged with violating and conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registrations Act, visa fraud, alien smuggling, and money laundering, according to an unsealed copy of the indictment.

Her husband and co-defendant, Chris Hu, was also charged with conspiracy to launder money and commit bank fraud as well as misusing means of identification.

Sun acted as “an undisclosed agent of the Chinese government while her husband, Hu, facilitated the transfer of millions of dollars in kickbacks for personal gain.”

Prosecutors allege Sun blocked Taiwanese diplomacy and ensured then-Governor Andrew Cuomo praised China for help during the Covid-19 emergency. The defendants used shell companies, iCloud accounts and WeChat messages – with everything in Mandarin – in their alleged crimes.

Sun and Hu were arrested at their palatial Long Island residence and both pleaded not guilty to all charges in federal court Tuesday afternoon. Sun’s bond is set at $1.5 million and her husband’s is set at $500,000. Both will have their travel limited to NYC, Long Island, Maine, and New Hampshire.

Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is scheduled to testify at a Congressional hearing on 10 Sep regarding his response to the Covid-19 response.

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

Sources:

Office of Public Affairs | Former High-Ranking New York State Government Employee Charged with Acting as an Undisclosed Agent of the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party | United States Department of Justice

BREAKING: Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to Testify at Public Hearing on September 10 – United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability

American Warzone: Man Kills Four People on Train Near Chicago

Rhanni S. Davis (30) of Chicago was charged with four counts of first-degree murder after he allegedly killed four people on a Chicago Transit Authority train in Forest Park, Illinois, early Monday.

The Forest Park Police Department received a 911 call about three people shot on a westbound train at the CTA Blue Line station in Forest Park, just west of Chicago, around 5:30 a.m. local time.

Authorities cleared the station, finding four victims. Three were pronounced dead at the scene and the fourth died later in a hospital.

Law-enforcement agencies used video surveillance to help identify the alleged murderer. The suspect was taken into custody and a firearm was recovered. The shooting appears to have been an isolated incident with no immediate additional threat to the community.

In an average year in Illinois, 1,657 people die and 4,994 are wounded by guns.

With a rate of 13.2 deaths per 100,000 people, the Land of Lincoln has the 35th-highest rate of gun deaths in the US.

Sources:

Man charged in fatal shooting of 4 people on train near Chicago – ABC News

Gun-Violence-in-Illinois-2024-05.pdf (everystat.org)

US Justice Dept Indicts Hamas with One Hand; US State Dept Negotiates with Hamas with Other

Demonstrators in Tel Aviv, Israel, hold placards showing support for hostages who were kidnapped during the 7 Oct 2023 attack.

The Justice Department announced criminal charges against Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other senior militants in connection with the 7 Oct 2023 rampage in Israel, marking the first effort by US law enforcement to formally call out the masterminds of the attack.

The seven-count criminal complaint filed in federal court in NYC includes charges of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, conspiracy to murder US nationals, and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, resulting in death. It also accuses Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah of providing financial support and weapons, including rockets, that were used in the attack.

The charges come as the White House says it is developing a new cease-fire and hostage deal proposal with its Egyptian and Qatari counterparts to try to bring about an agreement between Israel and Hamas to end the nearly 11-month war in Gaza. A US official, who was not authorized to talk publicly about the case and spoke on condition of anonymity, said there was no reason to believe the charges would affect the ongoing negotiations.

A State Department spokesman said that reaching a cease-fire and release of the 100 or so remaining hostages “will require both sides to show flexibility. It will require that both sides look for reasons to get to yes rather than reasons to say no.”

The full unsealed complaint is linked below.

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

The fabled Pushmi-Pullyu from the Dr. Dolittle canon.

Sources:

Office of Public Affairs | Justice Department Announces Terrorism Charges Against Senior Leaders of Hamas | United States Department of Justice

dl (justice.gov)

US charges Hamas leader, other militants in Oct. 7 attack on Israel (voanews.com)

US issues new call for Israel, Hamas to reach cease-fire pact (voanews.com)

Canada Turning Away More Foreigners Amid Rise in Anti-Immigration Sentiment

At a 2020 rally, protesters called on the federal government to grant permanent status to all refugees across Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. (Michael Charles Cole/CBC)

Canada is taking steps, both official and unofficial, to curb the number of people coming to the country, highlighting the way in which immigration has become a political flashpoint ahead of a federal election.

The ratio of refused visitor visa applications to approved ones was higher in recent months than at any point since the height of the Covid pandemic. Immigration officials rejected more applications than they approved in January, February, May, and June 2024. At the same time, the number of approved study and work permits dropped. And in July, Canada refused entry to nearly 6,000 foreign travelers, including students, workers and tourists – the most since at least January 2019.

Recent polling has shown a sharp change in how Canadians perceive of immigration, amid a mounting cost of living crisis. One immigration lawyer in Nova Scotia said his firm has seen an increase in rejections – and mounting hostility towards the firm’s clients. The sudden growth of the Canadian population stressed the affordable housing and medical care infrastructure.

The immigration minister said he would reassess the number of people applying for permanent residency. PM Justin Trudeau added his government would scale back the controversial temporary foreign workers following a surge in applications. The program was recently condemned by a UN special rapporteur for being a “breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery”.

The prime minister also mentioned reducing the number of permanent residents Canada accepts each year, dramatically upending years of increased immigration levels under his tenure. In late 2023, the federal government said it would freeze permanent resident targets over the next three years to ensure inflows were “sustainable”. Ottawa intends to bring in 485,000 permanent residents in 2024, but only 500,000 in both 2025 and 2026.

Sources:

Canada turning away more foreigners amid rise in anti-immigration sentiment | Canada | The Guardian

UN envoy calls Canada’s use of migrant workers ‘breeding ground for slavery’

Read more

Russia Orders French Researcher Accused of Spying Held for Six More Months

French researcher Laurent Vinatier during a court hearing in Moscow, Russia, on 31 July 2024. © Yulia Morozova/Reuters

A court in Moscow on Tuesday ordered a French researcher to remain in jail until at least February 2025, on the first day of his trial for unlawfully collecting sensitive data. Laurent Vinatier was arrested in June for gathering information on Russia’s military without being registered as a “foreign agent”.

The 48-year-old French national has been charged with collecting information on Russia’s “military and military-technical activities” and he faces up to five years in prison if convicted. After he was first arrested, he admitted to the charge of not having registered as a foreign agent, saying he did not know that he was legally required to do so. Vinatier has been held in pre-trial detention since June, despite several requests to be placed under house arrest.

Vinatier is a specialist on the former Soviet Union and worked with the Swiss NGO Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), which helps to mediate conflicts outside of standard diplomatic channels. He was reportedly working on mediation efforts in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

His detention has increased tensions between Moscow and Paris, already strained since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and France’s subsequent support of Kiev. Arrests on charges of spying and collecting sensitive data have become increasingly frequent in Russia since the start of the war.

After the biggest post-Cold War prisoner exchange between Russia and the West in early August, which did not include Vinatier, France called on Moscow to free all people “arbitrarily detained in Russia.”

Source:

Russia orders French researcher accused of spying held for six more months (rfi.fr)

Indigenous Mothers Fight to Search Former CIA Experiment Site in Montreal, Quebec

Anthropologist Philippe Blouin poses with Mohawk mothers Kahentinetha and Kwetiio at the Allen Memorial Institute in Montreal. (Image: Alexis Aubin/AFP)

Between 1957 and 1964 (though possibly beginning as early as 1948), psychiatric experiments were conducted at the Allan Memorial Institute in Montreal, a psychiatric teaching hospital affiliated with McGill University. Scottish-American psychiatrist Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron led and conducted these experiments which exposed patients to electroshocks, hallucinogenic drugs, and sensory deprivation. The program is widely believed to have been partly funded by the US CIA as part of their top-secret MKULTRA program, as well as the Canadian government.

Today, a group of Indigenous women are trying to stop the bulldozers at a former Montreal hospital which they believe could hold the truth about children still missing from that grisly half-century-old CIA experiment. They have spent the last two years trying to delay the construction project by McGill University and the Quebec government.

The mothers are relying on archives and testimonies that suggest the site contains unmarked graves of children formerly interned at the Royal Victoria Hospital and Allan Memorial Institute, a neighboring psychiatric hospital.

In the fall of 2022, these activists obtained an injunction to suspend work on a new university campus and research center at the site — a project worth Can$870 million (US$643 million).

In recent years, Canada has opened its eyes to past atrocities. Generations of Indigenous children were sent to residential schools where they were stripped of their language, culture, and identities in what a 2015 truth and reconciliation report said amounted to “cultural genocide.”

Between 1831 and 1996, some 150,000 Indigenous children were taken from their homes and placed in 139 such schools. Several thousand never returned to their communities.

In May 2021, the discovery of unmarked graves of 215 children at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia started a national reflection on this dark chapter of Canadian history, while sparking searches for more graves across Canada.

“It was not only residential schools, it involved hospitals, sanatoriums, churches, and orphanages too,” said Kwetiio (pictured above).

Last summer, sniffer dogs and specialized probes were brought in to search the hospital’s expansive and dilapidated buildings. They managed to identify three areas of interest for excavations. But, according to McGill and the government’s Societe Quebecoise des Infrastructure (SQI), “no human remains have been discovered.”

The Indigenous activists were not satisfied with the search and want another investigation conducted by a party unaffiliated with the government or the university.  

Sources:

Montreal MKULTRA Experiments | The Canadian Encyclopedia

Indigenous mothers fight to search CIA experiment site in Montreal – Raw Story

‘The American People Deserve to Know’: Dems Demand Answers from Trump on $10M Egypt Donation

Donald Trump with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah-el-Sisi on 23 Sep 2019.

On top of his stumbling campaign, Neanderthalic VP running mate JD Vance, imminent due dates for criminal and civil liabilities, and hideous, incoherent speeches, ex-President Donald Trump has another headache to deal with. On 2 Aug, Washington Post journalists Carol Leonnig and Aaron C. David reported that Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi “sought to give” Donald Trump “$10 million to boost his 2016 presidential campaign.” The journalists also noted that in January 2017 — five days before Trump was sworn in as president — almost $10 million was withdrawn from a bank in Cairo.

A month after that article was published, Leonnig and David report that the top Democrats on the House Oversight Committee — Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) — have sent a letter asking Trump “if he ever illegally received money from the government of Egypt, and whether money from Cairo played a role in a $10 million infusion into his 2016 run for president.”

“As members of the House minority,” Leonnig and David explain, “Raskin and Garcia do not have the power to subpoena documents or witnesses, and Trump is under no obligation to respond to their inquiries. But the Democrats said the public deserves answers now that Trump is running for president again.”

Should Donald Trump elect to answer the inquiry (the entire six-page letter is linked below), his legal team would advise him to answer truthfully. Making false statements (18 U.S.C. § 1001) in “any matter within the jurisdiction” of the federal government of the US, is punishable up to five imprisonment as well as a fine. This law generally prohibits knowingly and willfully making false or fraudulent statements, or concealing information, even by merely denying guilt when asked by a federal agent. One of the charges George Santos pleaded guilty to was making false statements to the House of Representatives.

Sources:

Copy of the official six-page letter to ex-President Donald Trump: 2024-09-03.JBR to DJTrump re. Egypt.pdf (house.gov)

‘The American people deserve to know’: Dems demand answers from Trump on $10M Egypt donation – Alternet.org

What Are the Penalties for Lying to Congress? – FindLaw

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-congressman-george-santos-pleads-guilty-fraud-and-identity-theft

Norway’s Forests Have More Than Tripled in One Hundred Years

Norwegian forest development since 1919. Forest volume has more than tripled (dark blue); logging has long been fairly steady (yellow); forest growth (red) has decreased in recent years. (2024 Data and graphic: Landskogtakseringen/NIBIO).

In good news for the world, Norway has tripled its forest volume over the past 100 years to one billion cubic meters of forest; ten percent grew in the last ten years alone. These forests valuably convert the world’s carbon dioxide to oxygen. In 2023, approximately 18 million tons of CO2 (and greenhouse gasses) were absorbed by Norwegian forests.

Several factors account for this phenomenal growth. In the 1960s, schoolchildren planted almost 100 million spruce trees in Norway. Another factor has been higher temperatures and longer summers, as well as increased amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.

Jane Goodall believes that planting one trillion trees before 2030 can reverse global climate change. See how this can be accomplished here: A platform for the trillion trees community. | 1t.org.

Sources:

Statistics Norway: “Standing forest volume has passed 1 billion cubic meters”, 30 Aug 2024

NIBIO: “Major changes in The development trend for Norwegian spruce forests”, 6 Feb 2024

Energy and climate: “What is it that is happening to our forest?”, 21 May 2024

Why We Believe Planting 1 Trillion Trees Can Save the Planet | TIME

Our forest has more than tripled in a hundred years (forskning.no)

Israel Rejects UN Ceasefire to Allow Polio Vaccinations in Gaza

Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip walk through a dark streak of sewage flowing into the streets of the southern town of Khan Younis on 4 July 2024. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Julian Borger at The Guardian reports that the first verified case of type 2 poliovirus in 25 years in Gaza, in a baby, has resulted in the paralysis of the infant. This child will be the first of many if the UN is not allowed to administer vaccines to 650,000 children in the Strip, which will definitely require a ceasefire. Israeli authorities are allowing refrigerated units into the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom border crossing, but are refusing a cease-fire. Without a ceasefire, families will not line up their children to receive the oral vaccine. Some 95% of the infants in Gaza need to have the vaccine administered to prevent an outbreak, and they need two doses. But aid workers cannot safely move around to make arrangements for administering the doses.

Aid organizations want to use Deir al-Balah to store and distribute the vaccines, but the IDF has evacuated and invaded the area, risking destroying the remaining medical infrastructure there. Some 250,000 Palestinians have been expelled from their shelters since the beginning of August. Allowing refrigerated units in without a necessary cease-fire is tantamount to someone mailing in a bill but neglecting to sign the check and put a stamp on the envelope.

There is no cure for polio once it is contracted and victims will either be paralyzed or die. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war on the Gaza population has killed more than 15,000 children.

“Gaza Polio,” by Juan Cole, Digital, Dream / Dreamland v. 3 / Clip2Comic, 2024

Meanwhile, hundreds of Israeli troops backed by helicopters, drones, and armored personnel carriers raided Jenin and Tulkarm and other areas in the occupied West Bank. But they were there not to arrest rabid Israeli settlers who have killed over 500 West Bank Palestinians over the past two years, but other Palestinians, killing at least ten of them.

Sources:

Israel Rejects UN Ceasefire to Allow Polio Vaccinations in Gaza – Truthdig

At least 10 Palestinians killed in major Israeli raids across West Bank | Reuters

Belarus Ramps Up ‘Military-Patriotic’ Camps for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children

An officer of Belarus’s Interior Ministry teaches a child to fire an automatic weapons in March 2020.

Following the unprecedented pro-democracy demonstrations that broke out after Belarus’s disputed 2020 presidential election, the Aleksandr Lukashenko regime undertook a ruthless crackdown on dissent that included jailing activists, shutting down independent media, and generally dismantling civil society.

And among those left most completely isolated were the country’s thousands of orphans and children whose parents have been deprived of custody. Following Vladimir Putin’s lead of indoctrinating Ukrainian children, Aleksandr Lukashenko is doing the same for orphans and parentless children in Belarus.

Orphans from state and Belarusian Orthodox Church institutions have been sent to camps at military installations, instructed in military drills and weaponry, trained by mercenaries from Russia’s notorious Wagner Group, and assigned to write letters of encouragement to Russian soldiers occupying parts of Ukraine. The state’s “patriotic” education efforts are jointly coordinated by the Education, Defense, Interior, and Emergencies ministries. Although such camps for vulnerable children have been run since at least 2007, the war in Ukraine and Belarus’s growing authoritarianism have made the effort a government priority.

Disadvantaged teens participating in a Belarusian militarized camp in July 2010.

The number of camps for orphans and other socially disadvantaged children hosted by military units has increased steadily since 2020. In 2021-22, there were about 480 of them, state media reported, and in 2023, 583 such camps were organized with the participation of “nearly 6,000 children.”

For 2024, the government planned to host 14,000 children in camps conducted by veterans, mercenaries, and active-duty personnel, some with programs titled “Kindness and Courage.”

Wagner mercenary fighters instruct children at a “military-patriotic” club near Minsk in 2023 in this screen grab from a video posted by state TV commentator Ksenia Lebedeva “This is not Mary Poppins, you know,” Lebedeva wrote. “Our children are choosing the right toys and the right teachers.”

The Emergencies Ministry University runs a high school for orphans, disadvantaged children, and children from troubled families. This year, 93 percent of the school’s graduates planned to study at military-technical institutes. The Moscow-affiliated Belarusian Orthodox Church was operating about 20 military-patriotic clubs around the country. In May, the Education Ministry authorized Orthodox monasteries to open shelters for vulnerable children.

At a session of the UN Human Rights Council in March 2023, the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) expressed alarm at “Belarusian military training programs of children,” saying that more than 18,000 children “as young as 6” had passed through the training — which included the use of firearms — in 2022.

All of these innocent children are being indoctrinated to be loyal to the state and Aleksandr Lukashenko.

Source:

Belarus Ramps Up ‘Military-Patriotic’ Camps For Orphans And Other Vulnerable Children (rferl.org)

Kentucky Man Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for Attacking US Capitol on 6 Jan 2021

Dan Edwin Wilson (48) of Louisville, KY, was sentenced to five years in prison, 36 months of supervised release, and $2,000 restitution for attacking the US Capitol on 6 Jan 2021.

In late 2020, Wilson began planning to obstruct and interfere with the joint session of Congress at the Capitol during the 6 Jan 2021 certification of the Electoral College vote. On 22 Dec 2020, Wilson—who in an encrypted messaging application went by the moniker “Live Wire”—responded to a discussion regarding traveling to Washington, D.C. for 6 Jan 2021, by writing, “Ooh Rah. Curb stomp crew all in!!!”

Later that same day, Wilson wrote, “We are willing to work and coordinate with others, but I am a gray ghost ranger,” referring to Wilson’s affiliation with a particular militia.  Wilson also discussed bringing firearms to Washington, D.C. for 6 Jan 2021, but he ultimately wrote, on 24 Dec 2020, “In my opinion I don’t think it’s time to gun up for the sixth we have to play this out but if they seat Biden on the 20th all bets are off it’s gonna happen even if Trump wins we have to get this government under control it’s been crossing my mind if we go to a Civil War do we try to take Washington DC first or do we try to take state capitals first.”  On 27 Dec 2020, Wilson wrote, “I am ready to lay my life on the line. It is time for good men to do bad things.”

Should Democrat Kamala Harris win the election this November, this dangerous maniac and militia member will be incarcerated during her entire first term. Every day Dan Edwin Wilson will see portraits of President Harris hanging proudly on the walls of his US Bureau of Prisons (BOP) facility.

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

Source:

District of Columbia | Kentucky Man Sentenced to Five Years in Prison on Felony Conspiracy Charge for Actions During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach | United States Department of Justice

Hungarian National Arrested on Charges of Conspiring to Export 200 US Military-Grade Radios to Russia

Masked Russian soldier employing tactical radio. Undated imagery.

US authorities detained a Hungarian man on suspicion of engaging in illegal export activities to Russia. Bence Horváth (46), a resident of Spain, was detained at San Francisco International Airport on 23 Aug as he entered the US. Horvath and his accomplices allegedly violated the 2018 Export Control Reform Act. The Justice Department alleged Horváth operated as part of an international intermediary and procurement network with direct contractual relations with Russian government institutions. He and others operating in Spain, Serbia, Hungary, Latvia, and other unnamed countries are suspected of procuring American technology and smuggling it to Russia.

Bence Horvath faces up to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1 million for violating the Export Control Reform Act.

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

Source:

Office of Public Affairs | Hungarian National Arrested on Charges of Conspiring to Export U.S. Military-Grade Radios to Russian Government End Users | United States Department of Justice

Trump Campaign Staff Accused of Verbally Abusing Arlington National Cemetery Official

President Trump at the Conservative Political Action Conference annual meeting at National Harbor on 2 March 2019. (Yuri Gripas/Reuters)

Members of Donald Trump’s campaign staff were reportedly involved in an altercation with an Arlington National Cemetery official during a wreath-laying ceremony that has been criticized as a cheap, tawdry campaign stunt.

Allegedly two members of his staff verbally assaulted and pushed a cemetery official who tried to prevent Trump staffers from taking video and photos in a section where recent US casualties are buried. Only cemetery staff are authorized to conduct photography in the area known as Section 60. Trump was at Arlington to mark the third anniversary of an attack on US forces in Afghanistan during the chaotic withdrawal from the country.

GOP candidate Trump has repeatedly tried to blame Vice President Kamala Harris for the 26 August 2021 suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport that killed 13 American service members.

Per Arlington National Cemetery:

“Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign. Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants.”

After this incredibly egregious misstep, the ex-President then followed that up by resharing a vulgar post on his social media site Truth Social suggesting Vice President Kamala Harris used sexual favors to advance her career. A CNN anchorwoman described Trump as “divorced from reality” and Kamala Harris simply said “Donald Trump was out of his mind.”

As the Trump Campaign disintegrates and continues to alienate women, another damaging video of GOP VPOTUS candidate JD Vance has emerged of Vance attacking childless women, this one from during his run for the Senate seat he now occupies.

In the video clip shown on national TV, the Yale Law School graduate launched a broadside at teachers who don’t have children of their own, telling a crowd he thinks they are “trying to brainwash the minds of our children.”

JD Vance singled out Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers, and smeared her by exclaiming, “If she wants to brainwash and destroy the mind of children, she should have some of her own and leave ours the hell alone.”

One opinion maker described the Trump Campaign vetting process as “simply insane” and rumors are floating that Trump regrets picking JD Vance as his VPOTUS running mate.

The NYT reported that Team Kamala had a 3% national polling average lead over Trump as of 28 Aug. This is absolutely breathtaking that the 2024 US Presidential election could even be close between Donald Trump and JD Vance versus Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

Sources:

Trump Campaign Staff Accused Of Verbally Abusing Arlington National Cemetery Official | IBTimes

https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-2669093418/

‘This is simply insane’: Questions raised about vetting of J.D. Vance amid new blow-up – Raw Story

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/schumer-trump-regrets-weird-vance-1235069638/

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov Indicted on All Charges and Banned from Leaving France

Copyright Tatan Syuflana/AP

French authorities charged Telegram CEO Pavel Durov with allowing alleged criminal activity on his messaging app. He was released after four days of questioning and barred from leaving France pending further investigation. In addition to Russia and France, Durov is also a citizen of the United Arab Emirates, and the island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis.

The co-founder of the messaging app was detained on Saturday at Le Bourget airport outside Paris as part of a sweeping judicial inquiry.

Allegations against the Russia-born Durov, who is also a French citizen, include that his platform is being used for child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking, and that Telegram refused to share information or documents with investigators when required by law.

The first preliminary charge against him was for “’complicity in managing an online platform to allow illicit transactions by an organized group,” a crime that can lead to sentences of up to 10 years in prison and a €500,000 fine. Durov’s arrest in France has caused outrage in Russia, calling it politically motivated and proof of the West’s double standard on freedom of speech. The outcry has raised eyebrows among Kremlin critics because in 2018, Russian authorities themselves tried to block the Telegram app but failed, withdrawing the ban in 2020.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that Durov’s arrest wasn’t a political move but part of an independent investigation. In a statement posted on its platform after Durov’s arrest, Telegram said it abides by EU laws, and its moderation is “within industry standards and constantly improving”.

A legal move like this probably caught the attention of ‘X’ CEO Elon Musk, who has angered government officials in the UK, Australia, and Brazil for allowing right-wing hate messages or disinformation to flourish on his ‘X’ social platform.

Sources:

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov indicted on all charges and banned from leaving France | Euronews

Pavel Durov’s arrest could expose how the Kremlin used Telegram to its advantage, expert says

FBI: Trump Gunman’s Motive Still Mystery

The FBI reported that the 20-year-old Thomas Crooks acted alone, that there is no sign of foreign involvement, and a motive for the assassination attempt remains unknown. The assault rifle used in the shooting was purchased legally and Thomas Crooks was not known to the FBI when he attempted to shoot the former president at a rally in Butler, PA, on 13 July. His attack grazed Trump’s ear, killed one man, and seriously injured two others.

Crooks began searching online for Trump campaign events in September 2023. He searched for events for both Trump and President Joe Biden, who was still the Democratic nominee at the time of the shooting. He also looked for the location of both the Republican and Democratic national conventions. Thomas Crooks apparently had a “mixture of ideologies,” according to the FBI.

Please see FBI evidence gallery at bottom.

Unfortunately for the FBI, they can not interrogate a corpse, hence the importance of capturing and keeping a suspect alive. By training, the USSS (permanently) neutralized the immediate threat to the ex-POTUS; but now investigators must piece together or speculate the reasons for the attempted assassination.

Imagine what the US Intelligence Community (USIC) or law-enforcement agencies could have been learned if Lee Harvey Oswald wasn’t killed by Jack Ruby in Nov 1963, if sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was prevented from committing suicide while under federal custody in Aug 2019, or if Osama Bin Laden was taken alive by Seal Team Six in May 2011?

Sources:

Update on the FBI Investigation of the Attempted Assassination of Former President Donald Trump — FBI

A photo of the AR-15-style rifle used by Thomas Crooks.

A backpack and the rifle carried by Thomas Crooks.

HVAC unit on the side of the building which Thomas Crooks used to climb onto the roof where he shot at the ex-President.

Two explosive devices in Thomas Crooks’s car. The FBI stated the receiver on the devices for remote detonation was in the ‘off’ position and that they ‘had several problems in the way they were constructed.’