hawaii

DNI Tulsi Gabbard: Barack Obama Could Face Criminal Charges Alleging ‘Treasonous Conspiracy’ Against Donald Trump

President Jimmy Carter’s funeral in January 2025 brought together all five of the living American presidents: Trumpf, Obama, President Biden, former President Clinton and former President George W. Bush. Only Obama took the time to chat with Trumpf and they actually exchanged witticisms and pleasantries.

The most under-qualified person to ever lead an intelligence organization anywhere on the planet, Hare Krishna offshoot sect member Tulsi Gabbard, released a declassified report spuriously alleging that former President Barack Obama was involved in a seditious conspiracy against Donald Trumpf.

Link: New Evidence of Obama Administration Conspiracy to Subvert President Trump’s 2016 Victory and Presidency

DNI Gabbard then went on the rightwing TV show Fox and Friends to hammer home her smear campaign against President Obama.

Interview here: Tulsi Gabbard: Obama Could Be Charged Over Anti-Trump ‘Coup’

For years Donald Trumpf suggested falsely for years that Obama was not born in the US  and shouldn’t have been eligible to be president, and has repeatedly accused Obama of spying on his 2016 campaign. Trumpf had previously revoked the security clearances for Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and a string of top Democrats and political foes, including Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, former Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger and NYAG Letitia James, who prosecuted Trumpf for fraud, as well as former president Biden’s entire family. Trump stripped Joe Biden of access to the Presidential Daily Brief (PDF), a custom granted to ex-POTUS for decades, but he had not stripped Obama of this privilege. This will most likely change.

Link: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/21/trump-revokes-security-clearance-for-biden-harris-clinton-and-other-enemies-00244081

After the DNI release and TV interview, Trumpf then posted this AI-created video of Barack Obama being arrested.

These maneuvers from the Trumpf junta are all meant to distract attention away from the Big Beautiful Bill (BBB) which will kill thousands of Americans with their budget cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, Trumpf’s inability to reach peace deals between the Israelis and Palestinians, Ukraine and Russia, the horrific police state besieging Americans, the internal witchhunt for undesirables in the USIC, and most importantly, the badly botched Jeffrey Epstein files which would no doubt incriminate Donald Trumpf as a pedophile.

FBI agents were ordered to flag every mention of Trumpf’s name in the vast holdings which USAG Pam Bondi will not release.

Link: FBI agents told to flag Jeffrey Epstein records about Trump: Durbin

The Jeffrey Epstein FBI Records and the Trumpf Junta: “Tick-tick-tick…”

Tulsi Gabbard Dangerous Selection to be Director of National Intelligence

Sycophant Tulsi Gabbard avoids discussing her membership in the notoriously Islamophobic, homophobic Science of Identity Foundation. (Photo: Marco Garcia / NYT)

A former member of Tulsi Gabbard’s secretive Hawaiʻi religious sect warned members of Congress about the potential dangers of confirming Tulsi Gabbard as the next DNI.

Anita van Duyn says she spent 15 years inside the Science of Identity Foundation, a fringe offshoot of Hare Krishna that was formed in the 1970s and has been described by defectors as a cult.

Van Duyn has sent letters to Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, detailing Gabbard’s deep ties to the organization and its reclusive founder, Chris Butler, who still resides in a multimillion-dollar beachfront home in Kailua.

Link: Senators Urged To Examine Gabbard’s ‘Deep and Intense’ Ties To Hawaiʻi Sect – Honolulu Civil Beat

Watch the Brutal US Police State in Action

An Iranian woman experienced a severe panic attack while masked ICE agents arrested her husband near an area known as “Tehrangeles” because of its large Iranian population. The woman called her pastor, Ara Torosian, to help intervene, but he could do little as he watched her panic attack escalate into convulsions.

The woman lay on the ground spasming while ICE agents hovered over her, not knowing what to do, such as calling for an ambulance. Torosian can be heard pleading with them to administer medical aid. He can also be heard asking whether they know about the situation in Iran and why Christian Iranians fear returning to their native country. The woman and her husband are members of his church and entered the US last year under Joe Biden’s CBP One program which President Donald Trumpf ended this year.

Followers of the Watch, be warned. The following video is disturbing and your heart breaks watching the terrified woman enter into spasms during her conniption.

The ragbag decals and non-uniform equipment indicates that these goons are the deputized ICE officers under Dotard Trumpf’s Executive Orders to expand the number of DHS personnel.

Links:

https://www.dhs.gov/archive/executive-orders-protecting-homeland

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/iranian-woman-suffers-severe-panic-attack-ice-agents-arrest-husband-rcna215119

Breadwinner Father of Two Dies After Frenzied ICE Raid

Jaime Alanís, a father of two from the town of Huajúmbaro in Michoacán, Mexico. (Photo: GoFundMe)

Farm worker Jaime Alanís (57) died from injuries he sustained after falling from a greenhouse roof during an ICE raid of a California cannabis farm. He was a “hard-working, innocent farmer” and the sole provider for his wife and daughter, his family says.

Alanís died a day after a frenzied immigration raid of Glass House Farms in Ventura county where authorities arrested at least 200 workers. The 57-year-old, who was from the town of Huajúmbaro in Michoacán, Mexico, is the first known person to die during the Trumpf junta’s enhanced immigration enforcement operations in southern California. Migrants have died in detention in other parts of the US, including a poor Haitian woman in Florida.

Links:

Farm worker who died after California Ice raid was ‘hardworking and innocent’, family says | California | The Guardian

https://www.npr.org/2025/05/01/nx-s1-5383108/haitian-woman-death-ice-detention

Irishman Overstays Visa By Three Days Detained by ICE for Three Months

A 35-year-old Irishman dressed in an orange jumpsuit watched coverage of Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s visit to the White House while detained in an ICE gulag. His hands and feet were cuffed at the time of the televised St Patrick’s Day celebrations as he was being moved, he said, adding that it was a moment he will “never forget.”

The man, who wished to be identified as Thomas, returned home to Ireland in late March. He had been detained by ICE for about 100 days in total in three separate facilities because he overstayed three days on his visa.

Thomas, who works in the tech sector, travelled to the US to visit his girlfriend in West Virginia late last year under the ESTA visa waiver program which allows tourists to visit the US for a maximum of 90 days. However, after seriously injuring his calf, he was advised to avoid flying for at least eight weeks due to a risk of blood clots, which meant his stay would exceed the 90 days.

After overstaying his travel by three days, Thomas, who had booked a flight home for the following week was arrested by ICE agents after suffering a mental health episode while in a hotel. Thomas had received extensive inpatient treatment for mental health difficulties in Ireland shortly before travelling, and did not have access to his medication while in the US for several weeks,

Now banned from travelling to the US for ten years, Thomas said those visiting should take immigration rules “very seriously”.

Link: Irish tech worker detained by immigration agents in US for 100 days: ‘I didn’t know when I was getting home’ – The Irish Times

An Irish woman visiting her sick father in Ireland was detained at the Tacoma ICE facility. Cliona Ward is a green card holder and has been living in Santa Cruz, California for 30 years, but was locked up for a 2007 drug conviction that was vacated. ICE agents detained her when she returned to the US after landing in San Francisco.

Link: https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/irish-woman-detained-ice-tacoma

AUSA Subpoenas New Jersey Governor Over Protecting Migrants

NJ Governor Phil Murphy was also US Ambassador to Germany. A third generation Irishman, his parents were enthusiastic supporters of JFK.

Alina Habba, who has used her job as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor to aggressively target Democrats, is pursuing an investigation into remarks made by Gov. Philip D. Murphy about housing a migrant.

Mr. Murphy said in February that he was prepared to house a woman whose immigration status was unclear at his family’s home in Middletown. FBI agents have since sought to interview at least four witnesses in connection with the comments, two of the people said, with one adding that the governor had been subpoenaed but not questioned.

Lawyer Alina Habba speaks during a rally for Republican presidential nominee and former US President Dotard Trumpf at Madison Square Garden, in NYC 27 Oct 2024. (Photo: Andrew Kelly / Reuters)

Ms. Habba, the interim US Attorney in New Jersey, is a former personal lawyer for President Trumpf. She previously announced that she was directing prosecutors in her office to investigate the governor and New Jersey’s attorney general, Matthew J. Platkin, in connection with the state’s immigration policies.

Alina Babba’s parents, Chaldean Catholics, emigrated from Iraq to the US to escape religious persecution. Note the Iranian family in the preceding story emigrated to the US from Iran to escape religious persecution. So, to the under-whelming Ms. Alina Babba, Coriolanus proudly awards her the below certificate to go along with her ‘law degree’ from the world renowned Widener University Commonwealth Law School in Pennsylvania.  Who? Where? What school?

Links:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/press-release/file/1247586/dl?inline=

U.S. Subpoenas Governor Who Said He Would House Migrant at His Home – The New York Times

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

UN: “The World’s Oceans are Dying”

“The ocean is facing an unprecedented crisis due to climate change, plastic pollution, ecosystem loss, and the overuse of marine resources,” Li Junhua, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, who is also serving as Secretary-General of the event.

The crisis isn’t a distant threat: it’s happening now. In April, global sea surface temperatures hit their second-highest levels ever for that month, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Meanwhile, the most extensive coral bleaching event in recorded history is underway — sweeping across the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, and parts of the Pacific. More than a single event, it’s a planetary unraveling.

Coral reefs, which sustain a quarter of all marine species and underpin billions in tourism and fisheries, are vanishing before our eyes. Their collapse could unleash cascading effects on biodiversity, food security, and climate resilience.

And the damage runs deeper still. The ocean continues to absorb more than 90% of excess heat from greenhouse gas emissions — a worldwide service that may be nearing its limits. “Challenges like plastic pollution, overfishing, biodiversity loss, ocean acidification, and warming are all linked to climate change,” Mr. Li warned.

Heat Threatening Sea Life in Mediterranean Sea

 A recent ocean heatwave in the Mediterranean Sea has been so intense scientists fear potentially devastating consequences for marine life.

The temperature of the sea surface regularly passed 30C off the coast of Majorca and elsewhere in late June and early July, in places six or seven degrees above usual.

Balmy temperatures can pose hidden threats. Harmful bacteria and algae often spread more easily in warmer seawater. Most life has a temperature threshold beyond which it can’t survive, though it varies a lot between species and individuals.

But sea creatures can also suffer from prolonged heat exposure, which essentially drains their energy through the summer to a point where they can no longer cope.

Seaweeds and seagrasses act a bit like the forests of the Mediterranean Sea, home to hundreds of species, as well as locking up planet-warming carbon dioxide. Some of them are well adapted to typical Mediterranean warm temperatures, but actually they often cannot withstand marine heatwave conditions, which are becoming more extreme and widespread. The heat can also cause what ecologists call “sub-lethal effects”, where species essentially go into survival mode and don’t reproduce.

Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB) in Mediterranean

The fast-warming Mediterranean Sea is “a canary in the coal mine for climate change and marine ecosystems,” a marine biologist grimly warned.

Links:

The world’s oceans are dying. Can a UN summit in Nice turn the tide? | UN News

Intense Mediterranean Sea heatwave raises fears for marine life

For the Shakespeareans and Thespians Amongst the Followers of the Watch

Before the late Scotsman Sir Sean Connery immortalized 007 in 1962…

…Sean Connery immortalized his ‘ancestor’ MacBeth in this classic 1961 Canadian production. Coriolanus is confident you will enjoy this:

Tiny Kitten Uses Golden Retriever as Favorite Bed

Brutal Police State in America Worsens Under Racist Trump Junta

Horrific Back-to-Back Videos of Police Brutality

In the first video, ICE arrests a teenage female in Massachusetts and the neighbors protest; one of the cops holds a girl’s face to the ground. Warning: Some Followers of the Watch will find these videos disturbing:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/massachusetts-police-hold-girls-face-ground-ice-arrests-mother-video-s-rcna205798/

In the second video NYPD beat up pro-Gaza volunteers in Brooklyn. You can clearly see an NYPD cop slugging a volunteer in the face while he is helpless on the ground.

Being Palestinian is Becoming Illegal in America

Note the language in this Justice Department Press Release:

“Palestinian Nationals Charged With Unlawful Possession Of Firearms And Ammunition”

“Mohammed Aburidi (24, Palestinian) and Tareq Aburidi (19, Palestinian) with possessing firearms and ammunition as aliens admitted to the US on nonimmigrant visas. If convicted, each faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison. An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.” 

The press release reads “Palestinian Nationals…” and not “Two Florida Men…” Imagine if Justice Department statements read “Two Black Men….” There is no reason for this brazen language in the document other than to imply that the two defendants have an inherent ‘mens rea’ simply for being Palestinian.

Press release: https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/palestinian-nationals-charged-unlawful-possession-firearms-and-ammunition

Trumpf Junta Calls for 20,000 Deportation Officers

Excerpted from the Presidential Proclamation Establishing Project Homecoming, dated 9 May 2025:

“The Secretary of Homeland Security shall supplement existing enforcement and removal operations by deputizing and contracting with State and local law enforcement officers, former Federal officers, officers and personnel within other Federal agencies, and other individuals to increase the enforcement and removal operations force of the Department of Homeland Security by no less than 20,000 officers in order to conduct an intensive campaign to remove illegal aliens who have failed to depart voluntarily.”

“The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will pay illegal aliens a stipend of $1,000 to self-deport back to their home country through the CBP Home App, paid after their return home has been confirmed. DHS will also provide travel assistance to self-deportees. This program will decrease the costs of a deportation by approximately 70%. Currently the average cost to arrest, detain, and remove an illegal alien is $17,121.”

Source: https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/05/05/dhs-announces-historic-travel-assistance-and-stipend-voluntary-self-deportation

This insurrectionist above proudly carried the symbol of white supremacy, the Confederate flag, into the US Capitol on 6 Jan 2021. He and the other rabble that attacked Congress that day were all later pardoned by President Dotard Trumpf and treated as “patriots.”

You can only imagine how many Proud Boys, Oaf Keepers, or January 6 maniacs will try to become armed deputized ICE officers to deport migrants, aliens, refugees, asylum seekers, or other vulnerable foreigners, as Trumpf’s proclamation allows “other individuals” to become contracted DHS officers (in addition to retired, federal, state, or local police personnel).

Is this Latina voter above one of the tens of thousands of people who now regret voting for Dotard Trumpf?

America’s Local Police Forces Already Assisting ICE

More than 100 people have been taken into custody by ICE in a joint operation with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, leaving many in Nashville’s immigrant community uncertain and worried.

“None of us have ever seen anything like this,” said Lisa Sherman Luna, executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition.

The Highway Patrol made 588 stops in the joint operation with ICE, which took custody of 103 under investigation for immigration violations. The operation with ICE is a reminder of how local and state law enforcement jurisdictions are critical to the Trumpf junta’s plans for mass deportations. Last week, Florida officials touted a joint operation with ICE that resulted in 1,120 immigration arrests.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/immigration-arrests-nashville-ice-tennessee-0fe523bc9d0ed143e105da0e96ad0c6c

Surveillance State Widens: CBP To Photograph All Vehicles Driving to Mexico and Canada

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) plans to collect photographs of everyone leaving the US for Mexico or Canada by car. The photographs will then be matched to the images in the passengers’ passports, visas, or travel documents.

The agency is “still working on how to handle outbound vehicle lanes.”

The new face-scanning initiative may be intended to track self-deportation by undocumented persons, something the Trumpf junta is promoting. Photos will be used to verify later crossings into the US.

Source: https://www.pcmag.com/news/driving-to-mexico-or-canada-us-will-snap-pics-of-everyone-in-your-car

Newark, NJ Mayor Arrested at ICE Detention Facility

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.

The Democratic mayor of Newark, New Jersey, who is running to be the state’s governor, was arrested after refusing to leave a federal immigration detention center. Moreover, while nearby Newark Int’l Airport falls apart, the Trumpf junta is making its stand at the same Newark ICE concentration camp by threatening to arrest other lawmakers involved in the oversight visit.

Dr. Martin Luther King was arrested approximately 30 times before a white supremacist assassinated him on 4 Apr 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/10/nyregion/newark-ice-protest-lawmakers-ras-baraka.html

Archived link: https://archive.ph/NUsIJ

“Make America White Again”

Dotard Trumpf is attempting to reverse the demographic trend that will make white Americans a minority in the country. To that end he has been conducting mass deportations, removing books from federal or military libraries that promote diversity, and firing competent people of color in government. To that end, his latest victim of thousands is Carla Hayden, the longtime head of the Library of Congress, in a move that Democratic lawmakers panned as “callous” and “ignorant.”

Carla Hayden had one year left in her ten-year appointment, but Trumpf cruelly took that away from her.

First Afrikaner Refugees Coming to US Next Week

Afrikaners outside one of the US missions in South Africa.

To further his goal of making America white again, Trumpf is bringing the first group of white South Africans it has classified as refugees to the US early next week. Trumpf cruelly halted virtually all other refugee admissions shortly after he took office in January, but the junta hastily put together a program to admit Afrikaners, who he claims have been the victims of racial persecution in their home country. The junta plans to send government officials to Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia for a gala event to celebrate the arrival of white people to America.

Followers of the Watch will recall that the US Embassy in South Africa received a list of 67,042 Afrikaners interested in refugee status in the US under Trumpf’s plan to relocate them in the US. 2.7 million Afrikaners live in South Africa, which has a total population of 62 million. 67,042 out of 2,700,000 is a minority of 4%. These Afrikaners are racist dead-enders and the majority of the Boers are staying in South Africa, per two of their associations. South Africa has the second highest rate of gun ownership in Africa, so these Afrikaners will fit in perfectly with red State America.

Sources:

za.usembassy.gov

Trumpf Junta Good at Fascism, Terrible at Everything Else

Trumpf Fires FEMA Chief as Hurricane Season Nears

With three weeks before hurricane season begins, Trump fired the acting head of FEMA, Cameron Hamilton. His sin was contradicting Trump when he said: “I do not believe it is in the best interest of the American people to eliminate FEMA.” Hamilton was deployed four times overseas as a USN SEAL before he worked for the State Department and DHS. Trump’s budget proposes a $644 million cut to FEMA. Trump was sharply critical of FEMA’s response to Hurricane Helene, a devastating storm that killed 250 people and inflicted $78.7 billion in damage from Florida to North Carolina.

One of the biggest factors for tropical development in 2025 is the abundance of warm water available to fuel storms. Water temperatures across the ocean, as well as in the Gulf and Caribbean, are already well above historical averages, and they will continue to run warm throughout most of the year, as you could see from the satellite imagery above. This will prime storms for explosive development.

Firing the head of FEMA and slashing its budget will hurt hurricane and flood-prone areas, affecting Red States more than the Blue States. As you could see below, historic amounts of rainfall in April has caused flooding in the Tennessee, Ohio, and middle Mississippi valleys. Runoff from that rain is just now surging through the lowest portion of the Mississippi River and will lead to moderate to high flood levels in some areas, including Baton Rouge, LA.

Trumpf already turned down the Arkansas governor’s plea for assistance after tornados devastated the home state of former POTUS Bill Clinton. Republicans in these Red States who voted for Trumpf shot themselves in their own foot.

Sources:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/05/08/donald-trumps-administration-fires-fema-administrator-cam-hamilton/83517764007/

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2025/04/25/weather-tennessee-ohio-mississippi-valleys-flood-risk-april-2025/6401745616716/

Trumpf Has Skipped All But Twelve Daily Intelligence Briefings

Dotard Trumpf has been in office for 110 days and played golf 24 times, yet only sat for twelve presentations of the selective and highly informative President’s Daily Brief (PDB).

USIC analysts and investigators work hard on the night shift prepping intel briefings for POTUS, VPOTUS, CJCS, D/NSA, D/FBI, D/DIA, etc that are rich with satellite imagery, information from deep human sources, informants, wiretaps, collateral intelligence from allies, and signals interceptions. Your humble author worked on such analytical or investigatory products for the CJCS and SECDEF, once in a while earning the vaunted ‘SECDEF’ stamp, meaning the product was personally endorsed by the Secretary of Defense.

So Why Does Trumpf Want Boxes and Boxes of Classified Documents?

After losing the 2020 election, Dotard Trumpf hoarded thousands of boxes of classified White House documents and stored them improperly at his palatial estate in Mar-a-Lago, FL, which lead to a special counsel investigation. Because of corrupt Republican judges like Aileen Cannon, Special Counsel Jack Smith was unable to convict Trumpf of this breach. The classified documents were returned to the White House or to secure archives during the Biden Administration.

Boxes are loaded onto Air Force One before Dotard Trumpf’s departure at Joint Base Andrews, MD, on Friday, 28 Feb 2025. (Photo:
Luis M. Alvarez / AP)

After Dotard Trumpf re-won the White House on 5 Nov 2024, he ordered his staff to re-take those boxes of classified documents (and possibly other items) back to his Mar-a-Lago compound, which does not have enough GSA-approved safes for all of those secret documents– re-perpetrating his Original Sin.

So, if Trumpf doesn’t enjoy receiving these invaluable PDBs, why is he illegally storing them and other secrets unsafely in Florida, and where does he get his information from?

Trumpf’s Main Source of Information is TV

Answer: Dotard Trumpf has an addictive personality which might explain this odd behavior. He broke his addiction to aspartame (Diet Coke) during his first Reign of Terror and he still has a fondness for junk food, but he watches “tons of TV” according to sources around him. So adding to his sins of cheating on his wife and at golf, manipulating stock prices and cryptocurrency, we can add two more peccadillos: Hoarding and an unbreakable addiction to TV. The Dotard hopelessly watches hours of TV every day. And because of a lifetime of watching TV, this buffoon held a decades-long grudge against PBS which he wants to now de-fund, makes idiotic decisions like re-opening Alcatraz Prison in San Francisco, or selects sycophants for his pathetic junta like over-the-hill TV personality mouth-for-hire Jeanine Pirro. All of these preceding ideas came from TV shows that Dotard Trumpf watched.

FBI Director Kashyap Patel Completely In Over His Head

The most under-qualified man to ever lead the FBI attends intelligence briefings twice per week, similar to Dotard Trumpf blithely ignoring national security issues. Moreover Congress recently exposed Kashyap Patel’s incompetence, lack of professionalism, and petulance. Below Kashyap Patel attends a budget meeting without a budget:

‘You Have No Timeline?!’ Senator Gobsmacked by FBI Director Kash Patel Showing Up at Budget Hearing Without a Budget

— Mediaite (@mediaitenews.bsky.social) 2025-05-08T14:56:36Z

Below, watch Kashyap Patel melt down after US Congresswoman Madeleine Dean (D-PA, 4th CD) accused him of committing perjury during his Senate confirmation hearing earlier this year. When Patel became obnoxious and belligerent, Congresswoman Dean ends by saying “sadly, this is an unserious moment for the FBI.”

Kashyap Patel, the first non-white man to ever direct the FBI shows the world that he is a crass, incompetent lickspittle. Meanwhile, his FBI will be targeting NYS Attorney General Letitia James for alleged mortgage fraud. General James is a woman from a modest background who began her career as a Legal Aid defense lawyer and she defeated Dotard Trumpf in a multi-million dollar civil lawsuit.

Source: https://stefanik.house.gov/2025/5/stefanik-commends-fbi-and-u-s-attorney-investigation-into-letitia-james-for-alleged-mortgage-fraud

What would this man think of Kashyap Patel?

Sources:

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/09/trump-intelligence-briefing-frequency-00338946

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/kash-patels-new-way-leading-fbi-fewer-morning-intel-briefings-sports-e-rcna202865

https://www.mic.com/impact/jan-6-video-trump-tv

https://trumpgolftrack.com/

Incompetent Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard

Hare Krishna offshoot cult member DNI Tulsi Gabbard issued a collection emphasis message to intelligence agency heads to learn more about Greenland’s independence movement and attitudes on American resource extraction on the island. Astonishingly, the most under-qualified person to ever lead the ODNI used the same easily cracked password for different online accounts over a period of several years. 

Directing intelligence collection on Greenland is a monumental waste of time and resources for the USIC, but reflects Trumpf’s idiotic ambitions to absorb the landmass one day. Tulsi Gabbard’s simpleton password use means that her personal communications may have been compromised by nefarious actors or volunteers from Anonymous. She has already fired 100 or so USIC analysts for alleged inappropriate use of secure chat rooms when a reprimand would have sufficed. This rank amateur and member of the ‘Science of Identity Foundation’ (SIF), a notoriously homophobic and Islamophobic cult, has absolutely no business whatsoever leading the USIC.

Archived links: WSJ.com, wired.com, https://www.culteducation.com/group/1298-science-of-identity/36770-tulsi-gabbard-s-ties-to-secretive-cult-may-explain-her-perplexing-political-journey.html

India’s Influence in White House Could Begin to Parallel AIPAC’s

JD Vance and his Hindu wife and father-in-law in India.

As Followers of the Watch know, the Islamophobic America-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AKA AIPAC) has tremendous influence governing the foreign policy of the US. But India too now has occult power within the halls of American power. Dotard Trumpf and his junta met Indian PM Narendra Modi before they met Canadian PM Mark Carney or other EU/NATO PMs. Incompetent Kashyap Patel says the FBI will continue offering full support to PM Narendra Modi. VPOTUS JD Vance and Usha enjoyed a recent junket to India at US taxpayer expense while the Trumpf junta fired more civil servants, adding to America’s unemployment. This is critical to know as India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers, are in an undeclared war and the US will not be viewed as a neutral party by Islamabad.

Led by the ultra-nationalist pro-Hindu BJP Party, India’s brutal occupation of Kashmir and Jammu led to the recent grievance guerilla attack which was timed to coincide with JD Vance’s vacation to India. Indian security services use shotgun pellets to blind protestors. Moreover, India’s immutable and merciless caste system alienates non-Punjab Balochs, discriminates against Muslims, and fuels the Naxalite insurgency led by ‘Untouchables’ (AKA Dalits). These Maoist guerillas operate in large swaths of India as you could see below.

Don’t Believe Coriolanus About India’s Influence in the White House?

VPOTUS JD Vance and family enjoying an American taxpayer-funded vacation to India.

Hindu cult member DNI Tulsi Gabbard with Hindu nationalist India PM Narendra Modi.

Two Islamophobes meet in the White House.

The world’s worst person laughs with rightwing Hindu nationalist PM Narendra Modi.

National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya was born in 1968 in Calcutta, India, to a Bengali Hindu family.

D/FBI Kashyap Pramod “Kash” Patel is a member of the Patidar community in Gujarat, India.

Followers of the Watch are aware from previous posts that PM Narendra Modi has signed death warrants for Sikh separatists in Canada and the US. One Sikh activist was killed in Canada, while another one in NYC was saved.

Source: https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/India/india-pakistan-tensions-kash-patel-says-fbi-will-continue-offering-full-support-to-pm-modi-govt-top-updates/ar-AA1DGBwC

“Make America Healthy Again”

Measles Epidemic Reaches 1,000 for First Time in 30 Years

The CDC informs: “As of 8 May 2025, a total of 1,001 confirmed measles cases were reported by 31 jurisdictions: Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, NYC, NYS, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.”

Source: https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html

National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya sent shockwaves through the autism community by announcing the creation of a “disease registry” to track autistic people. Nazi Germany used such a list to identify possibly hundreds of autistic children to be killed in experimental “euthanasia” clinics. Until the 1970s, numerous US states used registries to identify disabled people to be subjected to forced sterilization and institutionalization. A number of states still maintain lists of autists. “The history there is deeply, deeply disturbed,” says Larkin Taylor-Parker, legal director of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. “It doesn’t usually end well for us. It has ended in murder, industrial-scale incarceration and murder.” 

The Third Reich killed at least 5,000 special needs children years before exterminating Jews in the Holocaust.

Source: https://www.nih.gov/

Violent White Americans Rampage Unchecked

White NYS Town Official Shoots Door Dash Deliveryman

John J. Reilly III mugshot.

In Chester, NY, John J. Reilly III (48) shot a Door Dash delivery driver (age 24) who knocked on his door after getting lost. Reilly told the victim to get off his property, before firing multiple shots at the victim as he attempted to leave in his vehicle, striking the victim once in the back, causing serious physical injuries. Reilly is the Town of Chester Highway Superintendent and a federally licensed firearms dealer (FFL). John J. Reilly is charged with three felonies: Assault in the First Degree, Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, and Criminal Possession of a Firearm.

The Economics of John J. Reilly III’s Folly

The median value of a home in Chester, NY is $399,000, the median household income is $147,000, and the average annual salary for a Highway Superintendent in New York State is $129,718. In essence, John J. Reilly III was living, pardon the pun, the Life of Riley in his 64% white majority hamlet of 12,588 people while enjoying his well-paying sinecure. But that wasn’t enough for John J. Reilly III, so he also sold firearms using his FFL. But Mr. Reilly is being investigated by the ATF after he shot the poor guy in the back with an illegal weapon.

BLUF: This imbecile had it real good until he tripped over his own hatred and racism. Now the ATF is dismantling John J. Reilly III’s firearm trafficking business, he will lose his $129,718 per annum sinecure, and he will be facing state and federal charges. This dope threw away his life away “protecting his property.”

In an average year, 870 people die and 2,607 are wounded by guns in New York. Throughout the US, every eleven minutes someone is murdered with a firearm. This deliveryman is lucky to be alive after being shot in the back by this lunatic.

Sources:

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/chestertownorangecountynewyork/PST045223

https://troopers.ny.gov/news/new-york-state-police-arrest-chester-man-following-doordash-shooting-incident

White Tesla Driver Arrested Again for Road Rage and Assault

Tesla driver Nathaniel Radimak (38), who was charged with attacking motorists’ vehicles with a pipe in the Los Angeles area, has been arrested again for allegedly assaulting two women during a road rage incident in Honolulu. The recent arrest comes less than a year after this lunatic was released from prison for the California road attacks. A woman, 18, was parking her vehicle downtown when she saw a gray Tesla speeding past. The woman and Radimak “exchanged words” before he got out of the Tesla and assaulted the woman and her mother. Radimak then fled in his gray 2022 Tesla with Oregon license plates and was located in Waikiki. Charges are pending. 

Nathaniel Radimak was originally sentenced to a five-year prison term, but was released on parole after serving less than one year, as confirmed by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). The CDCR states his early release was “after serving his full sentence as defined by law.”

Nathaniel Radimak has the independent means to own a Tesla and vacation in Hawaii. Somehow this dangerous runamok was released on parole within one year of his five-year sentence. Any of Nathaniel Radimak’s victims are lucky not to have been killed. This time the lunatic is going to prison for a longer time and the Court will no doubt order psychiatric care for Radimak. California may request his extradition from Hawaii for violating the terms of his parole.

All indictments are merely accusations. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/tesla-road-rage-honolulu-los-angeles-arrest-91b436b256fc8eb6897041b41c54a8a8

Harper Magazine’s Weekly Review 6 May 2025

US Attorney General Pam Bondi stated that border agents stopped more than 22 million fentanyl-laced pills from crossing into the US, effectively saving 258 million lives or around three quarters of the population; and the Trumpf junta’s preliminary budget proposed to cut a program that would expand access to the overdose antidote naloxone. Mike Waltz was fired as the national security advisor and replaced by Marco Rubio, who is now the interim national security advisor, the secretary of state, the acting administrator of USAID, and the acting archivist for the National Archives and Records Administration. “Too much,” said a Virginia senator of Rubio’s roles. It was reported that the US economy contracted by 0.3% in the first quarter of 2025, which marks the country’s first economic downturn in three years. “The bad parts,” said Dotard Trumpf, “are the Biden economy.” General Motors announced that it was due to lose between $4 billion and $5 billion in annual revenue; American Airlines announced a $473 million net loss for the first quarter of 2025; the US Navy lost a Super Hornet fighter jet, which costs more than $60 million, after it fell overboard from the USS Harry S Truman into the Red Sea; and millions of dimes rolled onto a highway in Wise County, Texas, after the truck transporting them tipped over. Junta supremo Trumpf said that he does not “rule out” using military force to take control of Greenland; the Department of Justice sued Hawaii and Michigan over their plans to sue fossil fuel companies for their contributions to the climate crisis; the White House issued an executive order demanding that the board of directors for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, three of whose members the president sought to fire in a separate executive order, “cease federal funding for NPR and PBS”; a report on press freedom ranked the US 57th on its freedom index, on par with Gambia and Uruguay; and Sovereignty edged out Journalism to win the Kentucky Derby.

Some twenty armed federal agents busted into an Oklahoma City home and seized the laptops, phones, and life savings of the family living there, even though their names did not match those of the suspects listed on the officers’ search warrant; and ICE agents raided the house of an Irvine, California, couple whose son has been accused of doxxing agents, but had moved to New York months ago. A group of Jewish men in New York chased, kicked, and threw a traffic cone at a woman they mistakenly assumed was a protester agitating against the arrival of Israel’s national security minister. A man was arrested in an Israeli airport for his connection to a 2022 cryptocurrency hack that nearly destroyed a California blockchain company; kidnappers in Paris chopped off the finger of a Frenchman and demanded that his son, a cryptocurrency millionaire, pay ransom four months after a co-founder of a crypto firm was abducted and had his own finger cut off in central France; and it was reported that a Japanese woman cut off her boyfriend’s ring finger with an axe after having allegedly snipped off his nipple with a pair of scissors three weeks prior. “I heard,” said the boyfriend, “that nipples regenerate.”

A California railroad executive was found guilty of embezzling funds to build a secret apartment in the Burlingame train station, and a London man traveling by train to court to face thirty-six counts of train fare evasion was stopped by transit authorities for traveling without a ticket. A British man received an eight-month suspended sentence for setting fire to his own house twice in one night; a man who had been rescued from Mount Fuji after suffering from altitude sickness was rescued a second time after returning to the mountain in search of his phone; and a man who allegedly killed another man on a basketball court in Louisiana returned to the scene of the crime wearing nothing but a towel. A man in Pennsylvania broke into a Mormon church while in the nude, and a naked man was arrested trying to break into a home in Flagler County, Florida. “Attempting to break into a home without your britches,” said the sheriff, “is not an encounter you want to have with law enforcement.” It was reported that the president of the Art Institute of Chicago stripped on a flight to Europe, a strip club in Detroit was shuttered after a cellphone video of twenty kids partying inside was discovered by one of their mothers, Google announced plans to introduce an AI chatbot for children, and the US president posted an AI-generated blasphemous photo of himself as the pope. “I’m fine,” said US VPOTUS JD Vance, “with people telling jokes.” —Megan Evershed

Our deepest appreciation to Megan Evershed and the esteemed staff at the venerable Harper’s Magazine for this invaluable weekly synopsis chronicling the insanity, inanity, and inhumanity besetting the world.

Chimpanzee Asks For Help Drinking Water, Then Washes Man’s Hands

“This is America”

Followers of the Watch: The vignettes below will inform you of the real state and nature of America.

Two Mass Shooting Survivors Speak

Ms Stephanie Horowitz survived two mass shootings, the 2018 massacre of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School by Nikolas Cruz and the recent Florida State University attack when Phoenix Ikner killed two students and wounded six.  

Jackie Matthews

Jackie Matthews survived the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that killed 26 people in Newtown, CT, and she survived the 13 Feb 2023 attack at Michigan State University which killed three students.

“I am 21 years old, and this is the second mass shooting that I have now lived through. The fact that this is the second mass shooting that I have now lived through is incomprehensible.”

In a now-deleted clip, Ms. Mathews detailed how she suffered a post-traumatic stress disorder fracture in her back because of what happened in 2012, something that still affects her to this day.

Only America can claim the ignimonious achievement of people surviving multiple mass shootings.

Mass Shooter Kills 22 Reportedly for Dotard Trumpf

Mass murderer Patrick Crusius was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing 22 people at a Wal-Mart in El Paso, Texas. His defense attorney Joe Spencer testified:

“While Patrick claimed in his manifesto that his views predated the then-president (Donald Trumpf) and that political figures were not to blame, he also explicitly stated the attack was a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas, echoing the language used by political figures. Indeed, Patrick believed he was acting at the direction of the president at the time, seeing it as his duty to stop the invasion because that’s what he believed [Trumpf] was telling him.”

Florida Killer Phoenix Ikner Trumpf Supporter

Nikolas Cruz, the 2018 Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School murderer is a Trumpf supporter as well. He wore his bright red MAGA hat to a funeral.

Nikolas Cruz mugshot.

Nikolas Cruz in his Trumpf MAGA hat practicing how to shoot and kill. (Montage: Public domain)

Lunatic Sets Fire to Pennsylvania Governor’s Mansion

Cody Balmer (38) is charged with attempted murder, aggravated arson, burglary, terrorism, and related offenses for allegedly setting fire to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s (D-PA) governor’s mansion on 13 Apr 2025. (Photo: Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office)

Cody Balmer allegedly set fire to Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s mansion out of hatred for him. The damage was extensive and luckily no one was injured in the inferno. How this maniac was able to penetrate the defenses of the governor’s mansion is unclear. In 2024 Gov. Shapiro was on Kamala Harris’ short-list for VPOTUS candidate and he may run himself in 2028.

Inside the governor’s mansion after the fire. (Photo: Pennsylvania State Police)

Police State Under Trumpf Worsens

German teens Charlotte Pohl and Maria Lepere (Photo Credits: X/ @MarioNawfal)

Two teenage girls from Germany were detained, arrested, and deported at an airport in Hawaii after immigration officials said it was suspicious they had not booked a hotel room. But despite having ESTA travel authorization, immigration officials accused them of attempting to enter the US. to work illegally, and they were placed in handcuffs and taken to a nearby detention center they later learned was a deportation facility. Upon arrival, they were subjected to full-body scans, strip searches, and forced to wear green prison jumpsuits. They were then placed in a holding facility with serious criminals, including an alleged murderer who had been locked up for 18 years, and were forced to spend the night in a freezing cold double cell.

Migrant Children in Immigration Court Without Lawyers

(Imagery: ABC News)

“The reason we’re here is because the government of the United States wants you to leave the United States,” Judge Ubaid ul-Haq, presiding from a courtroom on Varick Street, told a group of about a dozen children on a recent morning on Webex. “It’s my job to figure out if you have to leave,” ul-Haq continued. “It’s also my job to figure out if you should stay.” The parties included a 7-year-old boy, wearing a shirt emblazoned with a pizza cartoon, who spun a toy windmill while the judge spoke. There was an 8-year-old girl and her 4-year-old sister, in a tie-dye shirt, who squeezed a pink plushy toy and stuffed it into her sleeve. None of the children were accompanied by parents or attorneys, only shelter workers who helped them log on to the hearing.

The Trumpf junta has been firing immigration judges and legal resources are limited to represent immigrants in court, let alone helpless children.

‘The cruelty is apparent‘

Canadian Border Agents Fail Family of Four Fleeing America

A family of four from El Salvador crossed the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls to Canada fleeing the ICE raids and sudden deportations sweeping the US. But the CBSA focused on small discrepancies in their paperwork and rejected them, even though they qualified for entry under exception and have a brother who is a Canadian citizen. When the four were disappointingly driven back to the US border, CBP detained them. They have been in custody two weeks now.

Aracely sits with her two daughters, aged four and 14. The three were detained with Aracely’s common-law husband in a holding cell for two weeks at the US port of entry in Niagara Falls, NY, after Canadian border guards turned them away. CBC News is not showing the family’s faces or revealing their full names for safety reasons. (Image: Ousama Farag / CBC)

Canada turns away most asylum seekers who attempt to enter from the US at land border crossings, but there are exceptions to this rule, which this family met. I hope those CBSA officers are happy with themselves knowing that these four vulnerable people, including two girls (4 and 14), will eventually be deported to rightwing-led, impoverished, and gang-infested El Salvador.

(Photo: Al Drago, NYT)

In 2022, 48,000 Americans were killed by gun violence. 2025 or 2026 could be the year the US reaches 50,000 deaths in one year. Now the state is inflicting violence on its people with mass deportations and flagrant violations of due process. Trumpf is inspiring political violence across the US, from mass shootings to arson to vandalizing Felon Musk’s hideous Tesla vehicles. There is a reason why America ranked 24th on the World Happiness Report (below Israel and Mexico) and Dotard Trumpf was recently ranked the worst president of all time. Followers of the Watch, you will see more violence, police brutality, and economic chaos over the next four years as Trumpf shrinks the social safety net, hate radio continues spewing xenophobic lies, and mental illness continues unchecked in the US.

Sources:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2025/03/19/world-happiness-report-2025/82551709007/

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/photos-arson-fire-damages-pennsylvania-governors-residence/4159709/

https://www.unilad.com/news/sandy-hook-michigan-shooting-survivor-604402-20230215

Walmart mass shooter pleads guilty in El Paso court, gets life sentence

https://www.latestly.com/socially/world/vacation-gone-wrong-2-german-teens-strip-searched-jailed-and-deported-from-us-after-cbp-finds-incomplete-hawaii-travel-plans-suspicious-6797703.html

https://gothamist.com/news/4-year-old-migrant-girl-other-kids-go-to-court-in-nyc-with-no-lawyer-the-cruelty-is-apparent?utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit&utm_campaign=shared_reddit

India: 26 Killed in Terror Attack During VPOTUS JD Vance Trip

At least 26 people have been killed and 36 wounded in Indian-controlled Kashmir in the north after gunmen opened fire at a beauty spot near the resort town of Pahalgam, nicknamed ‘Mini Switzerland.’ Authorities blamed it on the resistance fighting Indian rule which deploys 500,000 soldiers in Kashmir. The attack seemed to have been timed to coincide with JD Vance’s four-day tour of India and PM Nahendra Modi’s visit to Saudi Arabia. Delhi has swiftly taken a series of retaliatory steps: closing the main border crossing, suspending a critical water-sharing treaty, and expelling diplomats.

India’s unforgiving and immutable Hindu caste system has made internal enemies of both Hindus (impoverished Dalits AKA the ‘Untouchables’) and non-Hindus (Muslims, Baluchs, and Sikhs). Destitute Hindu Dalits called “Naxalites” have been fighting Delhi for decades in an agrarian Maoist insurgency similar to guerillas fighting for land reform in Central and South America. These Naxalites are undefeated in several parts of India:

The massive Indian security force presence in Jammu and Kashmir (500,000 personnel) use shotgun pellets to purposely blind Muslim protestors like Manzoor Ah-Dar below:

Manzoor Ah-Dar poses for a portrait in Rahmoo, Kashmir. Manzoor was injured in both eyes by metal pellets when Indian forces raided the village. (Bernat Armangue/AP)

PM Narendra Modi can blame Pakistan for supporting their fellow Muslims oppressed in Jammu and Kashmir, but poverty and Hindu-supremacist Delhi’s repression of the ‘Other’ is the root cause of unhappiness and strife in India.

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwynx7kgyqvo

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy9vyzzyjzlo

 https://www.independent.co.uk

Trumpf Strips Visa for Colombia President Gustavo Petro

The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, claimed that the US has withdrawn his visa and that he can no longer enter the country. (Credit: Presidency of Colombia / Flickr)

Dotard Trumpf petulantly stripped Colombia President Gustavo Petro’s visa, preventing him from attending imminent meetings of the IMF and IBRD in the US. The major international snub comes after Trumpf threatened ‘decisive retaliatory measures’ over Colombia’s Jan 2025 refusal to let two US military flights full of deportees land. In a cabinet meeting, President Petro let slip that his nickname for Dotard Trumpf is ‘Donald Duck’ and he took this idiotic snub with aplomb.

Colombia’s Former Colonial Masters Shoot and Burn Trumpf in Effigy

(Public domain photo)

An effigy of Dotard Trumpf was marched through the streets before being shot and burned as part of Easter Sunday celebrations in Spain. Every Easter, locals in the town of Coripe, Seville, string up a Judas’ figure representing a public figure whose actions are deemed to be morally reprehensible’. Video shows the Trumpf doll, sporting a dark navy suit, red tie, and unmistakable shock of blonde hair, leading a town parade at gunpoint before being hung from a tree in the town square and shot at with rifles from close range. The burning of Judas’ effigies is a common ritual amongst Christian communities as part of traditional Easter celebrations.

Coriolanus regrets missing this worthy auto-da-fe.

Sources:

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/donald-trump-effigy-shot-burned-123840954.html

https://colombiaone.com/2025/04/22/colombia-petro-us-visa-trump-donald-duck/

Karma for Puppy-Killing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, infamously known for admitting in her autobiography that she killed her 14-month-old rambunctious puppy, fell victim to a thief while eating dinner at a downtown Washington, DC, restaurant Sunday night. Noem, who was asked about the theft at the White House Easter Egg Roll, acknowledged the incident and said the matter has not been resolved. The Secret Service, which provides security for Noem, reviewed security camera footage at the restaurant and saw an unknown white male wearing a medical mask steal her bag and leave the restaurant, a law enforcement source said. The thief got away with Noem’s driver’s license, medication, apartment keys, passport, DHS access badge, makeup bag, blank checks, and about $3,000 in cash.

Shooting a defenseless, harmless puppy is not only a disqualification from becoming Secretary of Homeland Security, but a disqualification from the human race. The US Senate confirmed her appointment as Secretary with a 59-34 vote. Astonishing.

Coriolanus was intensely curious regarding the contents of Secretary Noem’s stolen handbag. Why she was dining with her passport (official or diplomatic) and blank checks in Washington DC is mystery to your author. One question arose is what medications Secretary Noem is taking and for what condition. Her predilection to animal cruelty and mass deportations of vulnerable people provide a clue.

Having her makeup kit makes sense to maintain Noem’s disguise as a human being.

As Governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem was banned from indigenous lands by the local tribes. At the border in Derby Line, Vermont, Noem taunted Canadians with shouts of “51st state!” and she shamelessly flaunted herself and her jewelry in front of male convicts in a notorious El Salvador prison for a tawdry photo opportunity.

Secretary Noem in a pathetic photo-op in El Salvador on 26 Mar 2025 (Photo: Reuters)

The irony is rich. For a few hours on Sunday, the manifestly under-qualified Secretary Kristi Noem was “undocumented” like the people she has been persecuting. And this architect of fear for millions of vulnerable people was in a frenzied panic in a tony Washington DC bistro like her victims.

Karma, where would we be without you?

Sources:

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s bag, including $3,000 in cash, is stolen from DC restaurant | CNN Politics

https://apnews.com/article/south-dakota-indian-reservation-bans-governor-noem-b55339eb624a119bc571c8b4dab848f4

Trumpf Junta Targets Anti-Christian Bias While Israel Persecutes Christians

In a statement marking Easter before the death of Pope Francis I, Marco Rubio called for “all nations to respect the right of Christians to declare Christ is King. Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the king of kings and lord of all nations,” Rubio posted on ‘X’. Rubio’s implication is that Christian freedom of worship is under threat.

The Trumpf junta has ordered State Department employees to report on any instances of coworkers displaying “anti-Christian bias” as part of its effort to implement a sweeping new executive order on supporting employees of Christian faith working in the federal government. Marco Rubio, the most under-qualified person to ever lead the State Department, also asked staffers via official cable to report any perceived discriminatory actions taken against Christians or employees advocating on their behalf between Jan 2021 and Jan 2025.

Moreover, US Attorney-General Pam Bondi announced she is establishing a task force to combat anti-Christian bias in the US.

The Stench of Republican Hypocrisy is Stifling

White supremacist MAGA acolyte Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (MTG) from Georgia posted this vile message after Pope Francis I died.

US Attorney-General Pam Bondi did not condemn this anti-Christian message from MTG and worse, SECSTATE Marco Rubio conveniently ignores the fact that for decades Palestinian Christians have been attacked by both Israeli civilians and the IDF.

Theodosios (Atallah Hanna), the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Sebastia, delivers a speech during a demonstration in Beit Jala in the West Bank 17 May \2021 to express solidarity with Gaza and Sheikh Jarah. (Photo: Hazem Bader / AFP via Getty Images)

You can watch the videos here:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/20/palestinians-in-gaza-west-bank-mark-sorrowful-easter-amid-israeli-attacks

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-04-15/ty-article/israeli-police-violently-detain-several-holy-fire-worshipers/00000187-8563-dc6c-a5ff-ef7373080000

To Trumpf’s vicious sycophantic lapdogs in the junta, they are each awarded this:

Other Oddities From Israel

Israel’s Most Sensitive Sites Revealed in High Level of Detail on Internet

IDF destroying Indonesian hospital in Gaza (Image: Planet Labs)

High-resolution satellite images of Israel’s Dimona Nuclear Center, IDF bases, and Gaza operations are now publicly available on mapping platforms. The availability of such high-resolution satellite images transforms them into a significant open-source intelligence resource for hostile entities, researchers, or curious individuals.

ICC-indicted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: public domain)

The availability of high resolution satellite imagery of the Israeli Death Forces (IDF) will irritate Benjamin Netanyahu no end and make concealing their war crimes more difficult.

Swimmer Killed After Rare Shark Attack

A swimmer was killed following an extremely rare shark attack off the coast of Israel about 25 miles north of Tel Aviv. Sharks are known to gather there where warm water is discharged by a local power plant, and especially at this time of year, but they are usually harmless. There have been no recorded fatal shark attacks in waters off Israel since the country was founded in 1948. Below Israelis admire a shark in the same area in 2021.

(Photo: AFP)

Pre-attack video of the shark captured here:

In other rare instances in Israel, last year a 25-year-old man died from a “brain eating amoeba” after swimming at the beach, making him the second victim of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis; the first victim of this rare disease was a 36-year-old in Aug 2022. In 2024, Israel also confirmed its first ever case of mPox (monkeypox). Thanks to the hard-working American taxpayer who doesn’t have universal healthcare like Israel, these patients were well-treated in a first-rate medical system. Thank you, Uncle Sam!

If the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip can’t enjoy the Mediterranean Sea, this seems fitting that Likudniks shouldn’t enjoy their much cleaner beaches to the north.

Sources:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/top-health-officials-hold-urgent-meeting-as-1st-monkeypox-case-confirmed-in-israel/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-rubio-state-department-anti-christian-bias-biden/

https://www.ynetnews.com/business/article/hkbugnh1xg

https://www.timesofisrael.com/man-dies-after-contracting-brain-eating-amoeba-in-israels-2nd-ever-recorded-case/

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/247686/gazas-only-catholic-priest-calls-israel-gaza-violence-extremely-serious

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c793rygrpjqo

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2025/04/22/marjorie-taylor-greenes-viral-controversial-post-after-pope-francis-death-marjorie-taylor-greene/83207982007/

19 Richest American Households Made One Trillion Dollars Last Year

“The wealthiest have gotten richer, and control a record share of America’s wealth. New data suggest $1 trillion of wealth was created for the 19 richest American households alone in 2024. That is more than the value of Switzerland’s entire economy.”

GOP Tax Cuts Will Cull Thousands of Poor Americans

To pay for the oligarch’s unneeded tax cuts, congressional Republicans in both chambers passed a resolution to cut at least $880 billion from the budget through 2034. Because Medicaid accounts for approximately 93% of non-Medicare funding, the program is expected to absorb the overwhelming share of these reductions. The cuts to Medicaid would result in widespread coverage losses, which could lead to 15,400 deaths due to work reporting requirements or roughly 34,200 deaths from reduced federal funding each year. 

The oligarchs have been greedily amassing their pelf for centuries. Just imagine how much more fabulously wealthy the billionaires will be next year after Trumpf’s horrendous tax cuts take effect. And how many poor Americans will have died because of inadequate medical funding. The GOP and American billionaires are aiding and abetting what Friedrich Engels described as “social murder.”

Sources:

https://www.wsj.com/economy/1-trillion-richest-families-wealth-increase-bc13874a?mod=hp_lead_pos7

Congressional Republicans’ Proposals To Slash Medicaid Could Cost Tens of Thousands of Lives

Rescue Pit Bull Finds Best Friend in Donkey

Secretary Noem, are you watching this?

Followers of the Watch, Coriolanus is doing his utmost to keep up with the sinister machinations of the Trumpf junta, including their blatant stock manipulations with tariff threats and massive cryptocurrency grifting, all while keeping an eye on global intelligence and national security issues.

Ukraine Russia Update: WMDs, Economics

Soldiers prepare to destroy a ballistic missile at the former Soviet military rocket base in Vakulenchuk, Ukraine, 24 Dec 1997.

The US is not considering returning to Ukraine the nuclear weapons it gave up after the Soviet Union collapsed, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.

A New York Times article last month that said some unidentified Western officials had suggested US President Joe Biden could give Ukraine the arms before he leaves office.

“That is not under consideration, no. What we are doing is surging various conventional capacities to Ukraine so that they can effectively defend themselves and take the fight to the Russians, not [giving them] nuclear capability,” he told ABC.

Last week, Russia said the idea was “absolute insanity” and that preventing such a scenario was one of the reasons why Moscow sent troops into Ukraine.

Kiev inherited nuclear weapons from the Soviet Union after its 1991 collapse, as it inherited Crimea, but gave up its atomic arsenal under a 1994 agreement (the Budapest Memorandum), in return for security assurances from Russia, the US, and Britain.

Former US President Bill Clinton has expressed regret about his role in persuading Ukraine to give up its nuclear weapons in 1994. Mr. Clinton suggested that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine if Kiev still had its nuclear deterrent. These security commitments were broken in 2014, when Russia invaded and annexed Crimea, and further shattered when it began a wider war against Ukraine in Feb 2022.

Russia’s 2025 Budget: 35% for National Defense

President Vladimir Putin has approved a new, multiyear budget that sets defense spending for next year at record-high levels, signaling no let-up in Russia’s determination to defeat Ukraine.

The approved budget, which was published on the government’s main website on December 1, calls for 35.5 percent of all spending to be allocated for national defense in 2025. That’s up from a reported 28.3 precent this year. The $145 billion defense-related spending is at a level not seen since the Cold War.

The flood of government spending has caused the economy to wobble in recent months. Officials have steadily ratcheted up already high wages and benefits for volunteer soldiers to fight in Ukraine, a sign that recruiting efforts are growing more difficult as the war stretches on more than 32 months.

But that has resulted in labor shortages in many industries, driving up wages and prices. Prices for basic staples like potatoes or butter have skyrocketed in recent month. The unemployment rate has dropped to 2.4 percent

The central bank, meanwhile, has hiked interest rates to levels not seen in years, in a bid to cool down the economy. But that in turn has dampened real estate transactions — as mortgages become unaffordable — and prompted business leaders to grouse about the potential for bankruptcies.

The “Guns versus Butter” argument faced by Western democracies is not an issue for authoritarian regimes like Russia or North Korea and the common man continues to suffer with food insecurity and malnourishment. Iran has been cutting back on social services to help fund its defense against Israel, evidenced by the poor quality of food being served in their national universities. You may remember my recent post about food poisoning in Iran and the complaints from the students and teachers.

Putin’s Hypersonic Missiles Not Invincible

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed in a video address the day after the Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile destroyed a target in Ukraine that his superweapon could not be intercepted:

There are “no means of countering such weapons today. Missiles attack targets at a speed of Mach 10, which is 2.5 to 3 kilometers per second. Air defense systems currently available in the world and missile defense systems being created by the Americans in Europe cannot intercept such missiles. It is impossible.”

The Oreshnik is a new, experimental intermediate-range missile derived from the RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile. This hypersonic missile reached Mach 11 during its flight.

While hypersonic weapons present unique challenges to missile defense, experts and available evidence suggest that Putin’s claim is an exaggeration of the current technological realities.

Hypersonic missiles travel “at speeds greater than Mach 5” while maneuvering unpredictably, making them far more difficult to track and intercept than conventional ballistic missiles. Their speed and agility significantly cut the time defense systems have to respond, posing a serious challenge to current radar and sensor technologies.

However, describing interception as “impossible” ignores ongoing advancements in missile-defense technology. Systems such as the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense are designed to counter fast-moving threats, including some hypersonic missiles. While not foolproof, these systems are continually being upgraded to address evolving threats.

According to Fabian Hoffmann, a doctoral research fellow at the Oslo Nuclear Project, the US and Israel possess anti-missile systems capable of shooting down an Oreshnik.

“Systems like SM-3 from Aegis or Aegis Ashore, as well as most likely Arrow 3 and THAAD, can absolutely deal with this type of threat,” Hoffmann told CNN on 22 Nov.

Several countries, including the US, are developing technologies specifically aimed at countering hypersonic threats. Key initiatives include:

a) The Glide Phase Interceptor being developed by Northrop Grumman in collaboration with Raytheon. These companies are working under contracts with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency to create a system capable of intercepting hypersonic missiles during the glide phase of their trajectory, when they are most vulnerable.

b) Advanced radar systems such as the new generation Long-Range Discrimination Radar are designed to detect and track hypersonic weapons.

c) Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) are laser-based systems being explored as potential countermeasures for hypersonic threats.

DragonFire DEW fires during a trial by the UK MOD in Jan 2024. (Photo: UK MoD / Open Government License

Despite Putin’s claim, Russia has not provided conclusive evidence that the Oreshnik missile is operationally deployed or that it has been tested in conditions replicating modern Western missile defense environments. So far, Russia has used Oreshnik once and against a country that does not have Western air defense systems capable of shooting down hypersonic missiles.

According to Maxim Starchak, an expert on Russian nuclear policy and strategic weapons, Moscow tends to exaggerate its capabilities and “itself may not actually know if air defense systems can intercept this [Oreshnik] missile. These claims remain unsubstantiated without tests or real combat attempts to shoot it down.”

Previous tests of Russian hypersonic weapons, such as the Avangard glide vehicle, have demonstrated capabilities but also faced skepticism regarding their real-world applicability and effectiveness.

Furthermore, the US and its allies have conducted successful interceptions of fast-moving targets in controlled environments. For example, tests of THAAD and Aegis systems have demonstrated their ability to intercept medium-range ballistic missiles, albeit inconsistently against hypersonic targets.

Putin’s statement fits a pattern of emphasizing Russia’s advanced military capabilities to assert strategic dominance and influence international perception. Previously, he made similar claims about the impossibility of intercepting other weapons systems, including the Sarmat ICBM and the Zircon hypersonic missile.

Despite Russian claims that the missile is on “combat alert,” the Sarmat has faced significant setbacks since its 2022 flight test, with four failed launches, the latest occurring on 21 Sep 2024.

The Zircon missile, capable of reaching speeds up to Mach 9, is one the Kremlin’s fastest hypersonic weapons.

Courtesy of graphicnews.com and Getty Images

Nevertheless, when Russia launched two Zircon missiles at Kiev on 25 Mar, according to Ukrainian sources, both were intercepted by air defense systems.

Photographs of missile debris were later published. Systems like the Patriot and the SAMP/T can destroy the Zircon in its terminal phase, slowing to Mach 4.5, a view supported by Western analysts.

“The good news is that in missile warfare, especially dealing with Russian weapons, ‘claimed’ and ‘actual’ capabilities are often very different. … Is Zircon an undefeatable superweapon: NO. Is learning how to counter it difficult, YES,” Sharpe wrote 3 Apr 2024 in The Telegraph.

Sources:

US will not return nuclear weapons to Ukraine 

Putin Approves New Budget With Record Defense Spending

Putin claims new Oreshnik missile is unstoppable, sparking doubts

Clinton regrets persuading Ukraine to give up nuclear weapons

Human Rights Watch (HRW) Urges ICC Member States to Address Threats to Tribunal

Chief prosecutor Karim Khan posing for a picture at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on 27 May 2022. The Kremlin put Khan on a ‘wanted’ list after the Hague-based court issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin in Mar 2022. (Photo: AFP)

HRW made the appeal in a statement issued before the annual session of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) Assembly of States Parties in The Hague.

HRW said the court has been under “extreme pressure” since ICC judges issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant and Hamas’s Mohammed Deif. These include threats from US legislators who said they would impose sanctions on ICC officials and those cooperating with the court.

“ICC warrants, whether against Vladimir Putin or Benjamin Netanyahu, send a critical message that no one is above the law,” said Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch.

“ICC member countries should make a commitment during their annual meeting to take all necessary steps to ensure that the ICC’s crucial work for justice can continue without obstruction.”

Notably, Special Counsel Jack Smith (pictured below) completed an assignment successfully prosecuting war criminals at the ICC before returning to the US to deal with Donald J. Trump.

Rejecting the arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu would make the US a rogue superpower.

President Biden has already recklessly said Netanyahu’s arrest warrant is “outrageous.” I doubt that US-AG Merrick Garland would agree with his boss since he assigned the former ICC prosecutor to go after Donald Trump. If the US does not abide by the rule of law, why would Washington expect its citizens or other countries to respect domestic or international laws?    

Moreover, the loathsome Benjamin Netanyahu– the “curse of Israel”– disgustingly went to a familiar tool in his bag by slandering those who say he is committing war crimes in Gaza as being antisemitic. Netanyahu uttered the same blasphemies earlier this year when hundreds of anti-war protests erupted on US campuses (and throughout the world) protesting the Nakba.

Well, that makes everybody pictured below, you, the loyal Followers of the Watch, as well as Coriolanus antisemites. How about them apples?

US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) who ran for President in 2016.

(Undated image courtesy of Forward Magazine)

Holocaust survivor Rene Lichtman (R) at a vigil in Farmington Hills, MI protesting the ongoing Nakba on 30 Jun 2024. (Photo: WSWS)

Climate activist Greta Thunberg (R) with friends (social media)

Sources:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/12/2/live-israeli-forces-kill-10-palestinians-in-north-gaza-four-in-west-bank

Sanders: It Is Not Antisemitic to Oppose Israel’s Assault of Gaza | Truthout

‘Sophisticated’ Spy Ring Passed Secrets to Russia for Three Years

Bulgarian nationals Katrin Ivanova (L) and Vanya Gaberova (R) are on trial at the Old Bailey alongside Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev. (Imagery: Elizabeth Cook / PA)

A “sophisticated” UK-based spy ring passed secrets to Russia for nearly three years and gathered information on targets across Europe.

Three Bulgarian nationals – Katrin Ivanova (33), Vanya Gaberova (30), and Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev (39) – allegedly carried out surveillance on individuals and places of interest to Russia.

Among those said to have been targeted were an award-winning Bulgarian journalist who worked with the late Russian opposition dissident Alexei Navalny. The journalist was allegedly the subject of discussions about killing or kidnapping him and taking him to Moscow. Other alleged discussions concerned the deployment of two female defendants in a “honey trap” ploy to capture more information.

Alison Morgan KC, opening the case for the prosecution on Thursday, said: “Over a period of nearly three years they sought to gather information for the benefit of Russia, an enemy of the UK, information about various targets, both people and physical locations. Information of particular interest to the Russian state. Their activity caused obvious and inevitable prejudice to the safety and interests of the United Kingdom.”

She said of the defendant’s alleged activities: “It was high risk and it was highly sophisticated. The defendants earned significant sums for what they were doing. None of them engaged in this activity blindly.”

The defendants allegedly worked with a number of other people who spied for Russia between 2020 and 2023 in London, Vienna, Valencia, Montenegro, and Stuttgart.

The spy ring included two more defendants, Orlin Roussev and Biser Dzhambazov, who have pleaded guilty to espionage charges. The defendants plotted with a Russian agent, Jan Marsalek, who was known as “Rupert Ticz” and was said to be an Austrian national, to obtain material useful to Russia.

Jurors were told that Dzhambazov (43) was in a relationship with both Ivanova and Gaberova, and the latter was formerly involved with Ivanchev.

Morgan said the defendants may try to “rely on the relationships” and suggest they were misled “or were simply following people around Europe out of love or dedication”.

The defendants were tasked to spy on prominent individuals of obvious interest to Russia, often because they were dissidents who had fled their homeland for their own safety. A range of activities were alleged including surveillance operations, following people around and finding out where they were and then reporting back to the Russian state.

Their nefarious activities allegedly included surveillance in 2022 at the Patch barracks, a US military base in Stuttgart, Germany, which the defendants believed to be a location where Ukrainian forces were being trained.

US Army Gen. Mark Milley, CJCS, meets with leaders responsible for the training of Ukrainians at Grafenwoehr, Germany, 16 Jan 2023. (Photo: Jordan Sivayavirojna / US Army)

Messages were exchanged between Marsalek and Roussev in which they discussed “options” relating to Christo Grozev, a Bulgarian journalist who has been the lead Russia investigator with Bellingcat, the award-winning investigative journalism group. These options were said to have included carrying out surveillance of him, kidnapping him and taking him to Moscow, killing him and infiltrating Bellingcat.

The defendants deny conspiring to collect information for a purpose prejudicial to the safety and interest of the state between 30 Aug 2020 and 8 Feb 2023. Ivanova also denies possessing 18 false identity documents, including British and other passports and documents.

The trial is expected to go on until February next year.

Another Russian espionage ring has been rendered ineffective by the British security services. As non-diplomats, these spies will be incarcerated once convicted and no doubt they will be traded in a future prisoner swap with the Kremlin. The head of MI6 recently told a conference in Paris that Russian espionage and sabotage operations in Europe are at the highest in 40 years. British and friendly intelligence services have less than 50 days to work with the USIC before the pro-Kremlin Donald Trump assumes the Presidency. Rumors are already circulating that high-ranking CIA personnel are going to resign once Trump becomes POTUS next year.

Source:

‘Sophisticated’ spy ring passed secrets to Russia for three years, UK court told | UK news | The Guardian

Hawaii: Avian Influenza Confirmed in Backyard Flock of Birds

(Map: Courtesy of welt-atlas.de)

The highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was detected in a backyard flock of various birds in Central O‘ahu. The property involved is within the area served by the Wahiawā Wastewater Treatment Plant, where a recent detection was reported through the National Wastewater Surveillance System.

This is the first confirmed detection of the virus in Hawai‘i. The virus detected here matches the strain that has infected  domestic poultry on the US mainland.

HPAI causes severe illness with a high mortality rate among affected birds. With the confirmation of avian influenza, HDOA today issued a quarantine order on the site which requires that all birds on the property be depopulated and the premises cleaned and disinfected. While confirmatory tests were being conducted, HDOA had placed a hold order, which prevents movement of any animals from the property.

Human illness with H5N1 is uncommon and reported symptoms among humans infected in the US have been mild. People in Hawai‘i are unlikely to get sick from H5N1 influenza at this time. H5N1 infection in humans on the US mainland have been reported almost exclusively among workers who have close contact with infected animals. The most common symptoms of avian flu in humans are conjunctivitis and upper respiratory symptoms like sore throat and cough. Sustained human-to-human transmission has not been reported.

To report multiple or unusual illnesses in poultry, livestock, or other wild birds or animals, contact HDOA Animal Industry Division at 808-483-7102 or 808-837-8092.

Residents who believe they may have been exposed to sick birds or other wildlife should contact the Disease Outbreak Control Division Disease Reporting Line at 808-586-4586 for additional guidance.

Americans can sleep well knowing that their next Commander-in-Chief and his tentative picks to lead critical USG health agencies have been roundly denounced as crackpots, dunces, and quacks. Only during the confirmation hearings can the US Senate save Americans from potential epidemics at the hands of mountebanks like Mehmet Oz, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Dr. Marty Makary, Janette Nesheiwat, or Paul Weldon.

Source:

Department of Agriculture | Avian Influenza Confirmed in Backyard Flock of Birds

China’s New Fighter Jet Compared to US F-35

Top, the US F-35; bottom Chinese J-35A Falcon Hawk. (Photo: AFP)

Produced by the Chinese aviation company, Shenyang, the new jet took more than a decade to build and strongly resembles the F-35 made by Lockheed Martin. USAF Chief of Staff David Allvin said “you could practically see where they got their blueprints.” In 2013, Defense Acquisitions Chief Frank Kendall told a Senate hearing that stolen F-35 data helped US rivals speed up their own fifth-generation fighter projects.

The J-31 is more svelte than the F-35, despite the fact that the Chinese model has two engines, while the US-made F-35 has one.

Chinese designers may have chosen to build their aircraft with two engines to give the jet more power, suggested one analyst.

But the design could have also been chosen for a more primitive reason: the second engine could serve as a backup in case of mission failure.

“Maybe they have less faith in the reliability of the aircraft,” says Greg Malandrino, a former US fighter pilot.

Chinese pilots will have to make do with a smaller workspace than American F-35 pilots. The US fighter jet’s cockpit is cushier, roomier, with a bigger canopy, while the Chinese plane’s cockpit reflects “a more utilitarian approach to pilot ergonomics.”

Chinese J-35A fighter (top) and American F-35 (bottom). (Photo: Chen Yang/Xinhua via Getty Images)

Malandrino, says he did not notice any significant differences in the design of the two cockpits. The cockpit of a fighter jet, whether Chinese or American, is not known for comfort. The seat is designed to provide the pilot with a way out of a tricky situation.

“You’re sitting on ejection seat,” he says. “It’s basically a rocket seat.”

All variants of the F-35 have a top speed of 1.6 Mach; the J-35 1.8 Mach. But in terms of stealth, the J-31 spits a lot of smoke from its exhaust pipe when it’s in the air, which could make it easier to detect the plane.

But experts agree that the real power of a fighter jet lies in the overall strength of the military they serve. Says Forecast International: “People are thinking about two jets operating in a dog fight. But in the real world, it depends on the entire combat system.”

“Until the two countries fight, it’s just guesswork. You really don’t know till the shooting starts.”

These two jets represent the cream of the crop in air superiority. Chinese espionage and copycatting US technology have evidently been successful. Decades ago, the USSR manufactured a space shuttle called the “Buran“ which looked like a twin of the US Space Shuttle, thanks to the KGB. See photo below. Air-to-air combat exercises will sharpen the skills of USAF and Chinese pilots, but as the analyst above wrote, no one knows the outcome until the battle joins.

Sources:

China debuted a new fighter plane. How does it compare to the F-35? – Radio Free Asia

The Reason Why This Soviet Space Shuttle Looks So Familiar | The National Interest

Morocco: One Dead, Twelve Stricken with Food Poisoning

(Map courtesy of worldeasyguides.com)

A 24-year-old man has died and 12 other people have contracted a foodborne illness caused by consumption of snacks from a fast-food restaurant in Agadir city. Some of the critically ill victims were admitted to emergency rooms. The authorities opened an investigation into the incident and the suspected restaurant has been temporarily closed.

This incident of food poisoning questions the monitoring services and their role in enforcing health codes and punishing violators.

The Al-Salam neighborhood and the Jet Residence area of Agadir have become a destination for professionals serving ready-made and fast food, due to its large population density and large variety of foods.

Westerners traveling to exotic destinations for vacation must exercise caution with the comestibles they enjoy. As we saw in Laos, alcohol poisoning killed several people at a resort. In this incident, locals were sickened and one killed. Tourists may want to inspect food inspection certificates at restaurants in foreign destinations, but that is not a guarantee of anything as these documents could easily be forged.

Source:

Agadir: Food poisoning epilepsy a young man in his twenties and sends 12 others to the emergency in critical condition.

Marmot’s First Bath with Electric Brush

This marmot is simply having the time of its life. Nice and clean! Imagine doing this to your cat or dog?

Footnote: Marmots are large ground squirrels with 15 species living in Asia, Europe, and North America. They are the heaviest members of the squirrel family. These herbivores are active during the summer, when they can often be found in groups, but are not seen during the winter, when they hibernate underground.

Will a domesticated marmot like the one above also need to hibernate during winter?

Source:

Marmot – Wikipedia

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)

US Army Soldier from Hawaii Arrested for Assaulting Law Enforcement with Weapon and Other Charges During 6 Jan Attack on US Capitol

Alexander Cain Poplin (31), an active duty servicemember of the US Army, was arrested in Hawaii for allegedly assaulting law enforcement and other charges related to his conduct during the 6 Jan 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

In addition to the felonies of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers with a dangerous weapon and civil disorder, Poplin is charged with three misdemeanor offenses, including entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds.

On the morning of 6 Jan 2021, Poplin attended a rally held by the former President at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Poplin was observed wearing a black Columbia jacket, a black beanie, and an Army ACU camouflage backpack. Throughout the day, he was seen holding various flags.

At approximately 2:30 p.m., Poplin was at the Lower West Plaza of the US Capitol Building and within the restricted perimeter. He was holding an “Area Closed” sign in his left hand and a flagpole with a blue flag in his right. Poplin allegedly repeatedly struck a Metropolitan Police Department officer with the blue flagpole. Video footage from open-source media and body-worn cameras captured the assault. Poplin’s alleged actions at the Lower West Plaza contributed to the chaos as rioters confronted law enforcement officers who were defending the Capitol. After the attack, Poplin reportedly posted on Facebook “we beat their fucking ass and stood for something” and “we took our house back.”

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

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

Civilian Cargo Ship Carrying Ukrainian Grain Attacked by Russian Jets in Black Sea

Ukraine accused Russia of using strategic bombers to fire missiles at a civilian ship carrying Ukrainian grain in the Black Sea.

The ship was in the maritime economic zone of Romania, a NATO member, when it was hit. The vessel was transporting the grain from Chernomorsk, Ukraine, to Istanbul when it was attacked. The ship’s cargo was bound for Egypt. Russia deployed Tupolev Tu-22 bombers to fire the missiles at around 11 PM local time on 11 Sep.

Tupolev Tu-22M-3 (Image courtesy of airliners.net).

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said the strike was “a brazen attack on freedom of navigation and global food security.”

The attack was confirmed by the Romanian Coast Guard, which said the vessel had a crew of 22 people on board. No one was injured and the ship headed to Constanta for damage assessment.

The ship was 55 kilometers from the town of Sfantu Gheorghe in the exclusive economic zone of Romania when the attack took place. The exclusive economic zone is the maritime area adjacent to a country’s territorial waters and can extend up to a maximum of 200 nautical miles.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said earlier that a cargo ship carrying wheat was hit by a Russian missile strike in the Black Sea as it was headed for Egypt.

“Today’s strike in the Black Sea was against an ordinary civilian vessel immediately after leaving Ukrainian territorial waters. According to preliminary data, fortunately, there were no casualties,” he said. “Ukraine is one of the key global donors of food security. The internal stability and life of dozens of countries in different parts of the world depends on the normal and smooth operation of our export food corridor.”

Ukraine, one of the world’s leading grain producers and exporters, has been shipping about four million tons of grain each month through the Black Sea corridor, which was set up through a deal mediated by Turkey and the UN.

The US recently signalled that it may allow Ukraine to fire missiles more deeply into Russia. Aircraft like the TU-22M-3 could have easily sunk this unarmed cargo ship. This move by the Kremlin is probably a warning that if Ukraine is permitted to strike deep targets in Russia with Western hi-tech weapons, the Kremlin will retaliate with economic attacks like this.

Sources:

Civilian Cargo Ship Carrying Ukrainian Grain Hit By Russian Strike In Black Sea (rferl.org)

US reconsidering Ukraine missile restrictions on firing into Russia (voanews.com)

NYPD Commissioner to Resign After FBI Seized His Phone

Edward Caban (L) being sworn in as NYPD Police Commissioner on 17 July 2023. Mayor Eric Adams is on the right.

NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said he would resign Thursday, one week after it emerged that his phone was seized as part of a federal investigation that touched several members of Mayor Eric Adams’ inner circle.

Edward Caban (57) had been in charge of the nation’s largest police department for about 15 months. Of Puerto Rican heritage, he was the first Latino to lead the 179-year-old NYPD and oversee its annual budget of over $5 billion. There are approximately 36,000 sworn officers in New York’s Finest.

Caban was one of several high-ranking city officials whose electronic devices were seized recently by federal investigators. The subject of the investigation, which is being led by the SDNY US Attorney, remains unclear. Federal authorities are also investigating Caban’s twin brother, James Caban, who runs a nightclub security business.

Other NYC officials whose devices were recently seized include First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright; Philip Banks, the deputy mayor for public safety; his brother David Banks, the Board of Education chancellor; and Timothy Pearson, a mayoral adviser and former high-ranking NYPD official.

Mayor Adams, a first-term Democrat, was subpoenaed in July, eight months after federal agents seized his cell phones and an iPad while he was leaving an event in Manhattan. Federal authorities haven’t publicly accused him or any officials of any crimes and Adams has denied any wrongdoing. The SDNY investigation may have to do with campaign fundraising.

Under Commissioner Caban, from 1 Jan 2024 to 1 Sep 2024, the NYPD tallied 243 murders, compared with 279 in the same period last year. Burglary, grand larceny, and auto thefts were also down. At the same time, there was a 17.8% spike in reported hate crimes, 11.1% jump in rapes and smaller increases in some other categories.

Caban was criticized for his handling of officer discipline. The NYPD has stifled more than 400 cases of alleged misconduct this year which an oversight board had investigated and substantiated. Two examples follow.

In April, Caban declined to take disciplinary action against two officers involved in the fatal 2019 shooting of Kawaski Trawick inside his Bronx apartment. Caban said the officers “acted within the law” and that the city’s police watchdog agency waited too long to bring administrative charges.

In August, Caban upheld a department administrative trial judge’s recommendation to drop a disciplinary case against Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, who was accused of ordering officers to void the November 2021 arrest of a retired officer who previously worked for him. The trial judge, Rosemarie Maldonado, said the watchdog agency didn’t have jurisdiction to investigate the case.

Mayor Adams named retired FBI Special Agent Thomas Donlon interim police commissioner. The timing of Caban’s resignation is astonishing with the UN General Assembly (UNGA) convening in NYC. Several weeks ago, the director of the US Secret Service resigned in the middle of the 2024 presidential campaign.

Sources:

New York City police commissioner to resign after his phone was seized in federal investigation (voanews.com)

FBI seized phones, iPad of NYC mayor amid campaign fundraising probe | CBC News

https://www.propublica.org/article/nypd-tossed-out-police-misconduct-discipline-cases-edward-caban

Bomb Threats Reported in Springfield, Ohio, Amid False Malignant Claims Targeting Haitian Migrants

Donald Trump pandering to the Haitian vote during a 2016 visit to Little Haiti, Miami. Now Haitians have becoming a convenient scapegoat for him. Photo courtesy of Michael Bennett via miamitimesonline.com.

Local and federal law enforcement agencies responded Thursday to a bomb threat made against multiple facilities in the Ohio city of Springfield. City Hall, a driver’s exam station, an Ohio BMV facility, the Springfield Academy of Excellence, and Fulton Elementary School were all evacuated and cleared by explosive-detecting K9s.

The threat comes days after Donald Trump repeated baseless and dehumanizing claims made online that Haitian immigrants in Springfield were eating residents’ pets. He made the comments during his Tuesday debate against Vice President Kamala Harris which were echoed by his running mate, JD Vance.

The city of some 58,000 people has pushed back against the claims, with City Manager Bryan Heck explaining in a recorded statement “it is disappointing that some of the narratives surrounding our city has been skewed by misinformation circulating on social media and further amplified by political rhetoric in the current highly charged presidential election cycle.”

The city manager added Springfield is experiencing challenges due to the rapid growth of its immigrant population, those challenges “are primarily due to the pace of the growth rather than the rumors.”

Sources:

Bomb threats reported in Springfield amid false claims targeting migrants – UPI.com

Trump, missing-in-action with Haitians, still draws handful of supporters – The Haitian Times

North Korea Releases Rare Images of Uranium Enrichment Site

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits a uranium enrichment facility, which produces weapon-grade nuclear materials. The photos were published by North Korean state media on Friday, 13 Sep 2024. No located or date were released for the photos and certain faces in the pictures had been blurred before their release. (Courtesy: KCNA / Rodong Sinmun)

New pictures of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un touring what state media described is a uranium enrichment facility have given an extremely rare glimpse inside the isolated nation’s closely guarded nuclear weapons program.

According to a report from Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim visited the facility – a bright, sterile warehouse filled with long rows of cylindrical machinery – which is used to produce weapons-grade nuclear material for the North’s growing arsenal. The report comes as North Korea continues to ramp up its illegal nuclear weapons program and strengthens relations with Russia, deepening widespread concern in the West over the isolated nation’s direction under Kim.

The location and exact date of Kim’s visit to the site were not disclosed in the report, but the purpose of his inspection was clear, according to KCNA: to lay out a “long-term plan for increasing the production of weapon-grade nuclear materials.”

Experts say the images – which show Kim flanked by men in military uniforms and crisp white lab shirts – underscore North Korea’s growing confidence in its position as a nuclear power.

In a speech celebrating the 76th anniversary of North Korea’s founding on Monday, Kim pledged to “exponentially” expand the regime’s nuclear arsenal, reiterating bellicose rhetoric he has used in the past.

As reported here on Coriolanus, the North Korean supremo ordered the launch of a ballistic missile into the sea when the dust settled after the US presidential debate. For years the West kept “kicking the can down the road” regarding North Korea and the dynastic family which has been producing WMDs while starving their own people. Neighboring South Korea, Japan, and China, must be wondering how this dangerous dynasty will one day end and what type of fallout will ensue.

Sources:

North Korea releases images of Kim Jong Un visiting a uranium enrichment site | CNN

Four Black Rights Activists Convicted Over Nefarious Russian Links

Protesters gathered outside the US Embassy in London to support Omali Yeshitela (Imagery: BBC, circa Sep 2024)

Four activists for black rights have been convicted of federal charges of conspiring to act as unregistered Russian agents.

Omali Yeshitela (82), Penny Hess (78), Jesse Nevel (34), and Augustus Romain (38), face maximum sentences of five years in prison. A jury in Tampa, FL, found them not guilty of the more serious charge of acting as agents of a foreign government. A date has not yet been set for sentencing.

Yeshitela is the founder of the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) and Uhuru Movement. Hess and Nevel are white allies of the groups. Romain is the leader of a Georgia-based spinoff known as Black Hammer. The four carried out a number of actions in the US between 2015 and 2022 on behalf of the Russian government and received money and support from Aleksandr Ionov, the president of the Moscow-based group Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia.

Mr. Ionov used the APSP, Uhuru Movement, and Black Hammer to promote Russian views on politics, the Ukraine war, and other issues. The US State Dept is offering a reward up to $10 million for information that would lead to his arrest.

Sources:

Office of Public Affairs | U.S. Citizens Convicted of Conspiring to Act as Illegal Agents of the Russian Government | United States Department of Justice

Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov – Rewards For Justice

US black-rights activists convicted over Russian links (bbc.com)

Usutu Virus Threatens Blackbirds in Germany

The blackbird is one of the most common birds in Germany, but the spread of Usutu virus is threatening their population. Numerous cases have been identified in the Rendsburg and Eckernförde areas of Germany (see map). Infested birds become disoriented, begin to stagger, and often die within a few days.

The Usutu virus, which originated in South Africa, was first detected in Germany in 2011. Since the disease mostly affects blackbirds, the Usutu epidemic is also known as “blackbird death”. The virus is generally transmitted by mosquitoes. Humans can become infected with the virus – but serious illness is rare. Most recently, the pathogen caused a severe bird mortality in Germany in 2018.

Source:

Dead blackbirds: Usutu virus reaches the Rendsburg area | SHZ

Trump Tower Declared ‘Public Nuisance’ After Killing Thousands of Fish in Chicago

Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago. Locals have long derided the building as an aesthetical and architectural eyesore which doesn’t blend in with the Windy City’s marvelous architecture. (Courtesy Ghornephoto / Getty Images).

An Illinois Cook County judge has ruled that Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago has been conducting operations that violate state and federal environmental law, operates without a legitimate state environmental permit, and has killed thousands of fish over the years.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Thaddeus L. Wilson on Monday found that Trump International Hotel & Tower “committed a continuing public nuisance through a series of failures to comply with state and federal law dating back to 2008.”

This ruling has taken years of litigation to achieve, with Friends of the Chicago River, the Sierra Club, and the Illinois Attorney General having filed the lawsuit in 2018.

Sources:

Trump Tower Declared ‘Public Nuisance’ After Killing Thousands of Fish | IBTimes

News Detail Page (illinoisattorneygeneral.gov)

Dog Rushes into Burning Ukraine Home to Save Helpless Kitten

A few years ago, an explosion occurred in a defense industry building near Donetsk City, Ukraine. Fire and smoke spread to nearby areas. As people rushed out of burning buildings and homes, they made sure that family members were with them, but some pets got left behind in the chaos. One dog re-entered a burning house to the surprise of the owner and neighbors. After a while, the dog emerged from the house fire with a tiny fluff ball in his jaws. The dog had gently picked up a kitten from the burning home and carried him to safety.

The lucky kitten has eight lives left.

Source:

Dog Rushes Into Burning Ukraine Home To Save Helpless Kitten (iheartdogs.com)