israel

Israel Rejects UN Ceasefire to Allow Polio Vaccinations in Gaza

Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip walk through a dark streak of sewage flowing into the streets of the southern town of Khan Younis on 4 July 2024. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Julian Borger at The Guardian reports that the first verified case of type 2 poliovirus in 25 years in Gaza, in a baby, has resulted in the paralysis of the infant. This child will be the first of many if the UN is not allowed to administer vaccines to 650,000 children in the Strip, which will definitely require a ceasefire. Israeli authorities are allowing refrigerated units into the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom border crossing, but are refusing a cease-fire. Without a ceasefire, families will not line up their children to receive the oral vaccine. Some 95% of the infants in Gaza need to have the vaccine administered to prevent an outbreak, and they need two doses. But aid workers cannot safely move around to make arrangements for administering the doses.

Aid organizations want to use Deir al-Balah to store and distribute the vaccines, but the IDF has evacuated and invaded the area, risking destroying the remaining medical infrastructure there. Some 250,000 Palestinians have been expelled from their shelters since the beginning of August. Allowing refrigerated units in without a necessary cease-fire is tantamount to someone mailing in a bill but neglecting to sign the check and put a stamp on the envelope.

There is no cure for polio once it is contracted and victims will either be paralyzed or die. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war on the Gaza population has killed more than 15,000 children.

“Gaza Polio,” by Juan Cole, Digital, Dream / Dreamland v. 3 / Clip2Comic, 2024

Meanwhile, hundreds of Israeli troops backed by helicopters, drones, and armored personnel carriers raided Jenin and Tulkarm and other areas in the occupied West Bank. But they were there not to arrest rabid Israeli settlers who have killed over 500 West Bank Palestinians over the past two years, but other Palestinians, killing at least ten of them.

Sources:

Israel Rejects UN Ceasefire to Allow Polio Vaccinations in Gaza – Truthdig

At least 10 Palestinians killed in major Israeli raids across West Bank | Reuters

Belarus Ramps Up ‘Military-Patriotic’ Camps for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children

An officer of Belarus’s Interior Ministry teaches a child to fire an automatic weapons in March 2020.

Following the unprecedented pro-democracy demonstrations that broke out after Belarus’s disputed 2020 presidential election, the Aleksandr Lukashenko regime undertook a ruthless crackdown on dissent that included jailing activists, shutting down independent media, and generally dismantling civil society.

And among those left most completely isolated were the country’s thousands of orphans and children whose parents have been deprived of custody. Following Vladimir Putin’s lead of indoctrinating Ukrainian children, Aleksandr Lukashenko is doing the same for orphans and parentless children in Belarus.

Orphans from state and Belarusian Orthodox Church institutions have been sent to camps at military installations, instructed in military drills and weaponry, trained by mercenaries from Russia’s notorious Wagner Group, and assigned to write letters of encouragement to Russian soldiers occupying parts of Ukraine. The state’s “patriotic” education efforts are jointly coordinated by the Education, Defense, Interior, and Emergencies ministries. Although such camps for vulnerable children have been run since at least 2007, the war in Ukraine and Belarus’s growing authoritarianism have made the effort a government priority.

Disadvantaged teens participating in a Belarusian militarized camp in July 2010.

The number of camps for orphans and other socially disadvantaged children hosted by military units has increased steadily since 2020. In 2021-22, there were about 480 of them, state media reported, and in 2023, 583 such camps were organized with the participation of “nearly 6,000 children.”

For 2024, the government planned to host 14,000 children in camps conducted by veterans, mercenaries, and active-duty personnel, some with programs titled “Kindness and Courage.”

Wagner mercenary fighters instruct children at a “military-patriotic” club near Minsk in 2023 in this screen grab from a video posted by state TV commentator Ksenia Lebedeva “This is not Mary Poppins, you know,” Lebedeva wrote. “Our children are choosing the right toys and the right teachers.”

The Emergencies Ministry University runs a high school for orphans, disadvantaged children, and children from troubled families. This year, 93 percent of the school’s graduates planned to study at military-technical institutes. The Moscow-affiliated Belarusian Orthodox Church was operating about 20 military-patriotic clubs around the country. In May, the Education Ministry authorized Orthodox monasteries to open shelters for vulnerable children.

At a session of the UN Human Rights Council in March 2023, the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) expressed alarm at “Belarusian military training programs of children,” saying that more than 18,000 children “as young as 6” had passed through the training — which included the use of firearms — in 2022.

All of these innocent children are being indoctrinated to be loyal to the state and Aleksandr Lukashenko.

Source:

Belarus Ramps Up ‘Military-Patriotic’ Camps For Orphans And Other Vulnerable Children (rferl.org)

Kentucky Man Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for Attacking US Capitol on 6 Jan 2021

Dan Edwin Wilson (48) of Louisville, KY, was sentenced to five years in prison, 36 months of supervised release, and $2,000 restitution for attacking the US Capitol on 6 Jan 2021.

In late 2020, Wilson began planning to obstruct and interfere with the joint session of Congress at the Capitol during the 6 Jan 2021 certification of the Electoral College vote. On 22 Dec 2020, Wilson—who in an encrypted messaging application went by the moniker “Live Wire”—responded to a discussion regarding traveling to Washington, D.C. for 6 Jan 2021, by writing, “Ooh Rah. Curb stomp crew all in!!!”

Later that same day, Wilson wrote, “We are willing to work and coordinate with others, but I am a gray ghost ranger,” referring to Wilson’s affiliation with a particular militia.  Wilson also discussed bringing firearms to Washington, D.C. for 6 Jan 2021, but he ultimately wrote, on 24 Dec 2020, “In my opinion I don’t think it’s time to gun up for the sixth we have to play this out but if they seat Biden on the 20th all bets are off it’s gonna happen even if Trump wins we have to get this government under control it’s been crossing my mind if we go to a Civil War do we try to take Washington DC first or do we try to take state capitals first.”  On 27 Dec 2020, Wilson wrote, “I am ready to lay my life on the line. It is time for good men to do bad things.”

Should Democrat Kamala Harris win the election this November, this dangerous maniac and militia member will be incarcerated during her entire first term. Every day Dan Edwin Wilson will see portraits of President Harris hanging proudly on the walls of his US Bureau of Prisons (BOP) facility.

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

Source:

District of Columbia | Kentucky Man Sentenced to Five Years in Prison on Felony Conspiracy Charge for Actions During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach | United States Department of Justice

Hungarian National Arrested on Charges of Conspiring to Export 200 US Military-Grade Radios to Russia

Masked Russian soldier employing tactical radio. Undated imagery.

US authorities detained a Hungarian man on suspicion of engaging in illegal export activities to Russia. Bence Horváth (46), a resident of Spain, was detained at San Francisco International Airport on 23 Aug as he entered the US. Horvath and his accomplices allegedly violated the 2018 Export Control Reform Act. The Justice Department alleged Horváth operated as part of an international intermediary and procurement network with direct contractual relations with Russian government institutions. He and others operating in Spain, Serbia, Hungary, Latvia, and other unnamed countries are suspected of procuring American technology and smuggling it to Russia.

Bence Horvath faces up to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1 million for violating the Export Control Reform Act.

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

Source:

Office of Public Affairs | Hungarian National Arrested on Charges of Conspiring to Export U.S. Military-Grade Radios to Russian Government End Users | United States Department of Justice

Trump Campaign Staff Accused of Verbally Abusing Arlington National Cemetery Official

President Trump at the Conservative Political Action Conference annual meeting at National Harbor on 2 March 2019. (Yuri Gripas/Reuters)

Members of Donald Trump’s campaign staff were reportedly involved in an altercation with an Arlington National Cemetery official during a wreath-laying ceremony that has been criticized as a cheap, tawdry campaign stunt.

Allegedly two members of his staff verbally assaulted and pushed a cemetery official who tried to prevent Trump staffers from taking video and photos in a section where recent US casualties are buried. Only cemetery staff are authorized to conduct photography in the area known as Section 60. Trump was at Arlington to mark the third anniversary of an attack on US forces in Afghanistan during the chaotic withdrawal from the country.

GOP candidate Trump has repeatedly tried to blame Vice President Kamala Harris for the 26 August 2021 suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport that killed 13 American service members.

Per Arlington National Cemetery:

“Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign. Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants.”

After this incredibly egregious misstep, the ex-President then followed that up by resharing a vulgar post on his social media site Truth Social suggesting Vice President Kamala Harris used sexual favors to advance her career. A CNN anchorwoman described Trump as “divorced from reality” and Kamala Harris simply said “Donald Trump was out of his mind.”

As the Trump Campaign disintegrates and continues to alienate women, another damaging video of GOP VPOTUS candidate JD Vance has emerged of Vance attacking childless women, this one from during his run for the Senate seat he now occupies.

In the video clip shown on national TV, the Yale Law School graduate launched a broadside at teachers who don’t have children of their own, telling a crowd he thinks they are “trying to brainwash the minds of our children.”

JD Vance singled out Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers, and smeared her by exclaiming, “If she wants to brainwash and destroy the mind of children, she should have some of her own and leave ours the hell alone.”

One opinion maker described the Trump Campaign vetting process as “simply insane” and rumors are floating that Trump regrets picking JD Vance as his VPOTUS running mate.

The NYT reported that Team Kamala had a 3% national polling average lead over Trump as of 28 Aug. This is absolutely breathtaking that the 2024 US Presidential election could even be close between Donald Trump and JD Vance versus Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

Sources:

Trump Campaign Staff Accused Of Verbally Abusing Arlington National Cemetery Official | IBTimes

https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-2669093418/

‘This is simply insane’: Questions raised about vetting of J.D. Vance amid new blow-up – Raw Story

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/schumer-trump-regrets-weird-vance-1235069638/

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov Indicted on All Charges and Banned from Leaving France

Copyright Tatan Syuflana/AP

French authorities charged Telegram CEO Pavel Durov with allowing alleged criminal activity on his messaging app. He was released after four days of questioning and barred from leaving France pending further investigation. In addition to Russia and France, Durov is also a citizen of the United Arab Emirates, and the island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis.

The co-founder of the messaging app was detained on Saturday at Le Bourget airport outside Paris as part of a sweeping judicial inquiry.

Allegations against the Russia-born Durov, who is also a French citizen, include that his platform is being used for child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking, and that Telegram refused to share information or documents with investigators when required by law.

The first preliminary charge against him was for “’complicity in managing an online platform to allow illicit transactions by an organized group,” a crime that can lead to sentences of up to 10 years in prison and a €500,000 fine. Durov’s arrest in France has caused outrage in Russia, calling it politically motivated and proof of the West’s double standard on freedom of speech. The outcry has raised eyebrows among Kremlin critics because in 2018, Russian authorities themselves tried to block the Telegram app but failed, withdrawing the ban in 2020.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that Durov’s arrest wasn’t a political move but part of an independent investigation. In a statement posted on its platform after Durov’s arrest, Telegram said it abides by EU laws, and its moderation is “within industry standards and constantly improving”.

A legal move like this probably caught the attention of ‘X’ CEO Elon Musk, who has angered government officials in the UK, Australia, and Brazil for allowing right-wing hate messages or disinformation to flourish on his ‘X’ social platform.

Sources:

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov indicted on all charges and banned from leaving France | Euronews

Pavel Durov’s arrest could expose how the Kremlin used Telegram to its advantage, expert says

FBI: Trump Gunman’s Motive Still Mystery

The FBI reported that the 20-year-old Thomas Crooks acted alone, that there is no sign of foreign involvement, and a motive for the assassination attempt remains unknown. The assault rifle used in the shooting was purchased legally and Thomas Crooks was not known to the FBI when he attempted to shoot the former president at a rally in Butler, PA, on 13 July. His attack grazed Trump’s ear, killed one man, and seriously injured two others.

Crooks began searching online for Trump campaign events in September 2023. He searched for events for both Trump and President Joe Biden, who was still the Democratic nominee at the time of the shooting. He also looked for the location of both the Republican and Democratic national conventions. Thomas Crooks apparently had a “mixture of ideologies,” according to the FBI.

Please see FBI evidence gallery at bottom.

Unfortunately for the FBI, they can not interrogate a corpse, hence the importance of capturing and keeping a suspect alive. By training, the USSS (permanently) neutralized the immediate threat to the ex-POTUS; but now investigators must piece together or speculate the reasons for the attempted assassination.

Imagine what the US Intelligence Community (USIC) or law-enforcement agencies could have been learned if Lee Harvey Oswald wasn’t killed by Jack Ruby in Nov 1963, if sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was prevented from committing suicide while under federal custody in Aug 2019, or if Osama Bin Laden was taken alive by Seal Team Six in May 2011?

Sources:

Update on the FBI Investigation of the Attempted Assassination of Former President Donald Trump — FBI

A photo of the AR-15-style rifle used by Thomas Crooks.

A backpack and the rifle carried by Thomas Crooks.

HVAC unit on the side of the building which Thomas Crooks used to climb onto the roof where he shot at the ex-President.

Two explosive devices in Thomas Crooks’s car. The FBI stated the receiver on the devices for remote detonation was in the ‘off’ position and that they ‘had several problems in the way they were constructed.’

US Sanctions Hundreds to Cripple Kremlin’s Military Production

Shahed-136 drones (AKA Geran-2), is an Iranian-designed loitering munition. Image Credit: Screenshot.

The US sanctioned nearly 400 individuals and entities to disrupt Russia’s international supply chains, metal procurement, and financial services that support its war effort in Ukraine. The move builds on sanctions already imposed on Russia in response to its full-scale war in Ukraine and were aimed at distinct networks, individuals, and entities whose products and services enable Russia to sustain the war and evade sanctions.

The list includes numerous transnational networks that procure ammunition and military materiel, entities that facilitate Russian oligarchal sanctions evasions, gold launderers, and procurers of sensitive and critical items such as advanced machinery tools and electronic components.

The sweeping action targets networks, individuals, and entities across 16 jurisdictions, including in China, Switzerland, Turkey, and the UAE. The measures against companies in China alone are aimed at 190 targets. Also targeted are entities and individuals involved in Russia’s future energy, metals, and mining production, subsidiaries of Russia’s state atomic energy corporation Rosatom and “malign actors involved in the attempted, forcible ‘re-education’ of Ukraine’s children.”

The US government also added 123 entities to the Commerce Department Entity List that forces suppliers to obtain licenses before shipping to targeted companies (63 Russian, 42 Chinese, 18 other).  The US is attempting to impede the production of Russian Shahed-136 drones used against Ukraine.

This move comes from Washington comes just as Kiev recently launched its largest drone attack on Moscow, its intelligence services hacked Russian TV (embarrassing Vladimir Putin), and the Ukrainians celebrated their Independence Day (24 August 1991).

Sources:

U.S. Sanctions Hundreds Of Targets In Effort To Cripple Kremlin’s Military Production (rferl.org)

Sanctions List Search (treas.gov)

https://www.bis.gov/entity-list

IDF Kills Dozens in Airstrikes as Ceasefire Talks Inch Forward

Palestinians walk next to sewage in the streets of Khan Younis, Gaza, 4 July 2024. Health authorities and aid agencies are racing to prevent an outbreak of polio in the Gaza Strip after the virus was detected in the territory’s wastewater. The UN confirmed the first cases of polio in the Gaza Strip in 25 years. (Photo: Jehad Alshrafi / AP)

At least three dozen Palestinians were killed in multiple Israeli strikes in the southern Gaza Strip, even as preparations moved ahead for high-level cease-fire talks in Egypt. Among the dead were 11 members of the same family, including two children, when an Israeli airstrike hit their home in the city of Khan Younis. Nasser Hospital received a total of 33 dead who were killed in three separate strikes in and around Khan Younis. The city’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said it received three bodies.

Seventeen others were killed when a strike hit a road south of Khan Younis, including the passengers on a tuk-tuk and passers-by. Another strike hit a tuk-tuk east of Khan Younis, killing at least five people. Palestinian first responders also recovered the bodies of 10 people from a residential block west of Khan Younis. The circumstances of their deaths were not immediately clear and this area was repeatedly bombed by the Israeli military over the past week. An Associated Press journalist at the hospital counted the bodies and filmed the funeral service in the hospital’s courtyard.

President Biden called Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to stress the urgency of reaching a cease-fire and hostage release deal. Israel’s retaliatory offensive since October 2023 has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians and caused widespread destruction, forcing 2.3 million Gazans to flee their homes. The New York Times reported the IDF onslaught against Gaza has created an estimated 19,000 Palestinian orphans, several with amputated limbs (see previous post by Coriolanus).

The American taxpayer has given Israel more than $260 billion in combined military and economic aid since World War II, plus about $10 billion more in contributions for missile defense systems like the Iron Dome. Meanwhile, Israeli cabinet members have publicly called for a “nabka” and you wonder how much Palestinian population reduction will eventually satisfy them.  

Sources:

Dozens killed in strikes in Gaza as preparations for cease-fire talks move forward (voanews.com)

‘We’re Rolling Out Nakba 2023,’ Israeli Minister Says on Northern Gaza Strip Evacuation – Israel News – Haaretz.com

Israeli Minister Admits Military Is Carrying Out ‘Nakba’ Against Gaza’s Palestinians (msn.com)

Why Israel’s leaders call for ‘Second Nakba’ | Middle East Eye

How Much Aid Does the U.S. Give to Israel? | Best Countries | U.S. News (usnews.com)

Maryland Police Officer Justin Lee Guilty of Attacking US Capitol on 6 Jan 2021

A Rockville, MD man was convicted today of forcibly obstructing law enforcement and other charges for attacking the US Capitol on 6 Jan 2021. Justin Lee (25) was found guilty of two felony offenses, including assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and civil disorder. In addition to the felonies, Lee is guilty of misdemeanor offenses of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building.

Lee was present at the “Tunnel”, the site of the heaviest close-quarters-combat between seditionists and USCP officers, where amongst other actions, the defendant deployed a smoke grenade. After the 6 January attack, Justin Lee astonishingly joined the Montgomery County Police Department where he was subsequently involved in a shooting incident which was being investigated by authorities. Justin Lee will be sentenced on 22 Nov 2024.

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

Sources:

District of Columbia | Maryland Man Convicted of Forcibly Obstructing Law Enforcement and Other Charges During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach | United States Department of Justice

Montgomery Co. officer charged with assaulting police on Jan. 6 | fox43.com

Florida Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Act as Agent of PRC Government

Ping Li (59) of Wesley Chapel, FL pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as an agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) without notification to the Attorney General. The former Verizon employee spied for the PRC’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) for twelve years as a “cooperative contact.”

LI, a US citizen, admitted that he provided the MSS information concerning Chinese dissidents and pro-democracy advocates, members of the Falun Gong religious movement, and US-based non-governmental organizations. Li also provided the MSS with information he obtained from his employers. The defendant used a variety of anonymous online accounts for the purpose of communicating with the MSS, traveling to China to meet with his handlers as well.

If convicted, Li faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Sources:

Office of Public Affairs | Florida Telecommunications and Information Technology Worker Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Act as Agent of PRC Government | United States Department of Justice

https://www.pcmag.com/news/former-verizon-employee-accused-of-spying-for-china

Cat Ran Away 11 Years Ago; Found by Microchip

The cat looks a bit scrawny, but quite happy indeed. Image: Charleston County Animal Control  and AP

After Sam Sam the Kittycat Man disappeared 11 years ago, Jennifer Ravenel couldn’t hold another cat in her lap. Her heart never could overcome the loss of that feral kitten she had rescued from the crook of a tree on her South Carolina farm. But Sam is now back in Ravenel’s lap, thanks to her decision to have a microchip put in him.

Charleston County Animal Control found Sam this month, skinny and feeding off scraps from a feral colony less than a mile from Ravenel’s home. His microchip was scanned, and Ravenel got a nearly unbelievable phone call. Once everyone was sure Sam was OK, Ravenel got to hold her lap kitty again. She squeezed him, telling him that he was her boy and remarking how skinny he was.

“I haven’t held a cat since he left — 11 years — because it broke my heart. To feel his little heartbeat in there, oh, gosh, it’s the craziest thing that has ever happened to me,” Ravenel said in a video provided by the Animal Society.

Source:

Sam Sam the Kittycat Man ran away. He was found close by — 11 years later | AP News

CIA Director Makes Stop in Kosovo as Part of Unannounced Visit to Balkan Region

CIA Director William Burns enters the building of the Kosovar presidency on 22 August.

CIA Director William Burns arrived in Kosovo after stops earlier this week in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia on an unannounced trip amid concerns about US relations with Kosovo and Russian influence in the Balkans.

Burns traveled from Sarajevo to Belgrade, Bulgaria, and North Macedonia before arriving in Kosovo. According to the flight-tracking website Flightradar24, a US military plane believed to be used to fly the CIA chief made stops in those countries. On 22 August, the aircraft was seen parked at the VIP gate at Pristina’s international airport.

D/CIA Burns’ visit to Kosovo follows concerns about the partnership between the US and Kosovo, especially regarding the government’s handling of issues related to the country’s Serb minority.

Since 2001, the US has provided Kosovo with $97,830,378 in foreign assistance.

Sources:

CIA Chief Makes Stop In Kosovo As Part Of Unannounced Visit To Balkan Region (rferl.org)

U.S. Foreign Assistance by Country

Mass Bomb Threat E-Mailed to Dozens of Jewish Institutions Across Canada

Canada’s oldest synagogue Temple Emmanu-el, c1900 (Photo: Courtesy of Congregation Emanu-El, Victoria, BC)

Multiple synagogues, Jewish community centers, and hospitals in Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa were targeted with an emailed bomb threat early Wednesday morning. In response to the threat, Toronto Police evacuated buildings near an intersection in a heavily Jewish neighborhood.

A Jewish organization reported the threat was not credible, though it is still being investigated by Toronto, Montreal, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). This incident comes just a few months after shots were fired at a Chabad-Lubavitch girls’ school in Toronto. Soon afterward, a synagogue in Vancouver was attacked. In November, shots were fired at two Orthodox Jewish day schools in Montreal. No injuries were reported in any of the attacks.

A representative from the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs stated “all indications point to these threats being nuisance emails designed to disrupt lives. There is no imminent threat.”

Likud Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, a man indicted as a war criminal by the International Criminal Court (ICC), and his policies towards the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is stoking antisemitism worldwide. Nearly 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed since October 2023. The US Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported that 190 of the 312 antisemitic incidents from 7 Oct 2023 to 23 Oct 2023 were directly linked to the war in Israel and Gaza.

Sources:

Mass bomb threat sent to dozens of Jewish institutions across Canada – Jewish Telegraphic Agency (jta.org)

How the Gaza crisis is stoking antisemitism across the U.S. (nbcnews.com)

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

Counting the dead in Gaza: difficult but essential – The Lancet

More Americans Unwilling to Die for Other Countries

“It is time to end the forever war,” President Biden said in 2021, when he ordered the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan.

A July poll shows that a majority of the American public does not support sending US soldiers to defend Taiwan or Ukraine, suggesting that Americans appear to be warming to restraint and non-interventionism in international affairs.

Another poll found that a majority of Americans (56%) do not believe that the US should pick a side in Israel’s war on Gaza. Another recent survey found that just 4 in 10 support the US sending soldiers to defend Israel if attacked by its neighbors.

Notably, the US recently deployed two aircraft carrier groups and a nuclear-powered submarine armed with 154 Tomahawk missiles to the Middle East. Israel is expecting an Iranian counterattack for its continuous airstrikes on Shia targets in Lebanon and Syria, as well as the 31 July assassination of Palestinian resistance leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

After the 11 Sep attacks against the US in 2001, the media helped to normalize the idea of deposing Saddam Hussein. By January 2002, 73% of the American public supported the use of force in Iraq, believing the Bush administration falsehoods about WMDs in Saddam’s hands. After years of hindsight, only 32% of Americans considered the Iraq War the right thing to do according to a 2024 survey.

Sources:

More Americans Unwilling to Die for Other Countries – Truthdig

https://www.yenisafak.com/en/news/2-us-carrier-strike-groups-in-middle-east-send-very-powerful-deterrence-message-to-iran-pentagon-3689711

American Drug Firms Accused of Unethical Clinical Trials in Uyghur Region of China

Since 2017, the Chinese government has been operating a vast detention and “sinicization” program, focused on eliminating Uyghur life and culture.

American pharmaceutical companies are carrying out drug trials in China’s far-western Xinjiang region, where the US says a genocide of the Uyghur population is taking place. In a letter to the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), the two top lawmakers on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party requested an explanation of the practice, which they said is recorded in “hundreds” of entries on the FDA website “clinicaltrials.gov.”

In the letter, Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI) and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) questioned “the ethics of conducting these trials in Xinjiang,” where they said Chinese officials “force ethnic minorities … to participate in gruesome medical procedures, which likely overlap with FDA-approved research.”

Given that China does not allow independent evaluators to examine facilities in Xinjiang for rights violations, there was reason to query if Uyghurs were being forced to undergo medical testing. The involvement of China’s People’s Liberation Army, they added, also raised “serious concerns” that the intellectual property of U.S.-based companies had been compromised and “co-opted” by Chinese firms.

Even precious metals have not been untouched, with a report last year accusing US brands of links to gold being mined through slavery.

In 2021, the US government declared that a genocide was taking place against the mostly Muslim Uyghur minority in China, after years of mounting evidence about mass internment camps, torture, forced labor and forced sterilization taking place in Xinjiang.

Sources:

American drug firms accused of clinical trials in Uyghur region — Radio Free Asia (rfa.org)

Home | ClinicalTrials.gov

https://www.glanlaw.org/copy-of-uyghur-forced-labour

INTERVIEW: ‘There’s exposure across Wall Street’

Report: US brands linked to Uyghur-mined gold

US imported cars tied to Uyghur slave labor, Senate report says

Vladimir Putin Humiliated as Hackers Take Over Russian State TV

Getty/X

Hackers from Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) broke into servers of several Russian television channels and broadcasted “objective videos about the war in Ukraine.” HUR‘s footage was displayed three times on prime-time TV channels: Pervouralsk TV, Eurasia 360, Eurasia Pervyi Kanal, and others.

The targeted channels further reportedly included Lugansk 24, Pervyi Respublikanskyi, SpB, Oplot, TV-3, and Pervyi Rosiyskyi. Some of the channels belong to Russian oligarch Andrey Komarov. The nine channels had to suspend their broadcasting as a result of the hack.

The TV company Pervouralsk issued an apology on the VKontakte social network, saying that unspecified “attackers gained access to the live broadcast and launched unauthorized video materials that contradict the TV channel’s policy.”

This comes on the heels of Ukraine’s successful offensive into Russia and the largest drone attack against Moscow to date.

Source:

Ukrainian hackers show war footage on Russian TV, source says (kyivindependent.com)

Haiti: Suspect in Killings of US Missionary Couple and Nonprofit Director Arrested

A funeral procession for mission director Judes Montis, killed by gangs alongside two of his US missionary members, makes its way to the cemetery in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 28 May 2024. (Imagery: Odelyn Joseph / AP)

Police in Haiti have arrested a suspect in the fatal shooting of a US missionary couple and a Haitian man who headed a nonprofit organization in May. The 23 May murders of missionaries Davy Lloyd and his wife, Natalie Lloyd, and Jude Montis, the country’s director for Missions in Haiti Inc., was blamed on gangs rampaging across Haiti’s capital and beyond.

A video posted on social media late Wednesday by Haiti’s National Police shows a 52-year-old man in handcuffs, accused of being involved in the killings of the Lloyds and Montis. Police allege the suspect’s phone was used to make calls after the killings, but the man rejected that accusation.

The young couple — Davy was 23 and Natalie just 21 — were supposed to celebrate their two-year wedding anniversary in June.

From January to May, more than 3,200 killings were reported across Haiti, with gang violence leaving more than half a million people homeless. In February, gangs launched coordinated attacks on key government infrastructure, raided police stations and opened fire at the main international airport, forcing it to shut down for nearly three months. Gunmen also stormed into Haiti’s two biggest prisons, freeing thousands of inmates.

A U.N.-backed police force from Kenya arrived in June to lead a multinational mission, nearly two years after Haiti’s government requested urgent deployment of a foreign force.

Source:

Suspect in killings of U.S. missionary couple and nonprofit chief arrested in Haiti – CBS News

Deadly Floods Leave Millions Stranded in Bangladesh

The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) reports with the rains continuing, water levels could rise further, raising concerns about additional flooding and displacement. [Munir Uz Zaman/AFP]

At least 13 people have been killed and 4.5 million affected by floods triggered by heavy rains in eastern Bangladesh. Water-borne diseases such as diarrhea, dysentery, fever, skin infections, and other waterborne diseases are increasing amongst the displaced. An estimated 100,000 Bangladeshis already suffer from cholera which will no doubt increase with these floods.

Floods triggered by torrential rains have swamped swaths of low-lying Bangladesh and rescuers are scrambling to evacuate flooded communities. Nearly 190,000 people were taken to emergency relief shelters and 11 of the country’s 64 districts were affected by the flooding.

The South Asian nation of 170 million people, crisscrossed by hundreds of rivers, has seen frequent floods in recent decades and is among the countries most vulnerable to disasters and climate change.

Sources:

https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2024/8/23/deadly-floods-leave-millions-stranded-in-bangladesh

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/health-concerns-emerge-bangladesh-flood-waters-recede-2022-06-23/

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-33576-3

IDF Kills Ten in Southern Lebanon Preceding US Secretary of State Blinken Visit to Israel and Start of America’s DNC Convention

Israel Defense Forces killed at least ten people during an overnight strike in southern Lebanon, including a mother and her two children. This was the deadliest Israeli strike in southern Lebanon since October 2023. Hezbollah retaliated by firing 55 rockets into northern Israel, causing some fires but no casualties.

This was a calculated move by war crimes-indicted Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to cause a counterattack from the Shia Crescent during critical negotiations with Hamas to reach a cease-fire and release the remaining Israeli hostages (which includes eight AMCITs).

Moreover, the 2024 Democratic National Convention (DNC) gets underway shortly in Chicago. Any reprisal attack from the Shia Crescent during the convention would demonstrate to Democrats the dangers that Israelis must endure (ignoring the fact that the perils are caused by none other then the bellicose Likud Party).

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III, D/CIA William Burns, and D/DIA Director Lt Gen Jeffrey A. Kruse, as well as the hardworking American taxpayer, must be wondering how and why Benjamin Netanyahu keeps insulting their intelligence with his lethal provocations and brutal policies.

More than 40,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza and over 500 Palestinians have been murdered in the West Bank since October 2023. The Likud Party should simply change its name to the Tsaba (War) Party.

Sources:

Israel kills 10 in southern Lebanon strike ahead of Antony Blinken’s visit – UPI.com

240520-panel-report-eng.pdf (icc-cpi.int)

GOP Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Unravelling and Getting Ridiculed

Former President Donald Trump held a rally in Pennsylvania which was reported to have empty seats and video shows supporters trickling out during one of his rambling speeches. The oldest man to ever run for President also shouted out “North Carolina!” forgetting that he was conducting his rally in Pennsylvania. And with less than 90 days before Election Day, the frustrated 45th President has been unable to stick Kamala Harris with a famous nickname, a shtick to attack enemies he may have learned years ago at the fabled Friar’s Club in NYC .

While Trump historically came up with effective epithets such as “crooked Hillary,” “sleepy Joe,” “Sloppy Steve” (Bannon), or “Lyin’ Ted” (Cruz), the ex-president has yet to come up with nicknames for Harris or Minnesota Governor Tim Walz that have stuck. Trump’s attempts at branding Kamala Harris with “Laffin’ Kamala,” “Lyin’ Kamala,” or “Crazy Kamala” have been ineffective on his Truth Social platform.

Responding to a Republican commentator who remarked Kamala Harris is “beautiful,” Donald Trump replied:

“I say that I am much better looking than her. I’m a better-looking person than Kamala.”

A Democratic strategist responded: “This guy has lost his f—— marbles” and Team Kamala weighed in: “Trump melts down over Kamala Harris being on the cover of TIME Magazine.”

Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party have effectively commandeered the media narrative since President Biden exited the race on 21 July. And after the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the two candidates should see a two to four-point boost in polls. Meanwhile, as Trump prepares for his televised debate with Kamala Harris on 10 Sep, he must also be distracted by his imminent sentencing date on 18 Sep for his 34-count felony conviction in NYS.

Watch below or click here.

Watch below or click here.

‘More empty seats’: Reporter shows people ‘trickling out of’ Trump’s rally as he’s talking – Raw Story

Trump likely in state of ‘panic’ due to ‘ineffective’ nicknames for Kamala Harris: report – Raw Story

‘Lost his marbles’: Trump ridiculed for claiming to be ‘better looking’ than Kamala Harris – Raw Story

USAF Security Personnel Exchange Gunfire With Unknown Assailants

USAF security personnel exchanged gunfire with an unknown shooter in a passing vehicle who twice within two hours opened fire on an entrance to Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, early Saturday morning. There were no casualties and the San Antonio Police are investigating.

The motive, number of assailants, or how many rounds were fired are still being determined. The entrance was closed for several hours and the base was not locked down. US and NATO bases in Europe have been on high alert after several attempts by Kremlin-linked saboteurs and infiltrators were thwarted.   

In an average year, 4,122 people die and 7,726 are wounded by firearms in Texas. The Lone Star State has the 29th highest rate of gun violence in the US. Texas firearms licenses in 2021: 1,006,555. 45.7% of Texans say they live in homes with guns.

Sources:

Guards at San Antonio Air Force base exchange fire with unknown shooters – UPI.com

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/09/politics/intelligence-russian-sabotage-threat-us-bases-europe/index.html

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

Lockouts at Canada’s Two Largest Railroads May Disrupt US Supply Chain

Canada’s two largest railroads are starting to shut down their shipping networks as a labor dispute with the Teamsters Union threatens to cause lockouts or strikes that would disrupt cross-border trade with the US. The union represents 10,000 workers at both railroads and they seek cite crew scheduling, rail safety, and worker fatigue has their main sticking points.

Both the Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) and Canadian National (CN) railroads, which haul millions of tons of freight across the border, have stopped taking certain shipments of hazardous materials and refrigerated products. They are threatening to lock out Teamsters Canada workers starting Thursday if deals are not reached. On Tuesday, CPKC will stop all shipments that start in Canada and all shipments originating in the US that are headed for Canada. CN barred container imports from US partner railroads.

The two railroads handle about 40,000 carloads of freight each day, worth about $1 billion. Shipments of fully built automobiles and auto parts, chemicals, forestry products and agricultural goods would be hit hard, especially with harvest season looming.

Analysts expect work stoppages to last only a few days, but if they continue, there could be significant supply chain disruptions. Both railroads have extensive networks in the US, and CPKC also serves Mexico. Those operations will keep running even if there is a work stoppage.

Sources:

Lockouts at Canada’s 2 largest railroads may disrupt US supply chain (voanews.com)

Nearly 68M People Suffering from Drought in Southern Africa

About 68 million people, 17% of the population in Southern Africa, are suffering the effects of an El Nino-induced drought that has wiped out crops across the region. The drought, which started in early 2024, has hit crop and livestock production, causing food shortages and damaging the wider economies.

This is southern Africa’s worst drought in years, owing to a combination of naturally occurring El Nino — when an abnormal warming of the waters in the eastern Pacific changes world weather patterns — and higher average temperatures produced by greenhouse gas emissions.

Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi have already declared the hunger crisis a state of disaster, while Lesotho and Namibia have called for humanitarian support. Heads of state from the 16-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) were meeting in Zimbabwe’s capital Harare to discuss regional issues including food security.

Sources:

Nearly 68M suffer from drought in Southern Africa, SADC says (voanews.com)

Kiev Opens Investigation into Alleged Beheading of Dead Soldier

Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska speaks at a Russian war crimes exhibition in London (Undated image: James Manning/AP/REX/Shutterstock)

Ukraine’s Prosecutor-General’s Office is investigating an allegation that a Ukrainian soldier participating in the recent Russia incursion was beheaded. A video circulating on social media on 16 August showed a Russian soldier beside a pole with a severed head.

The Telegram channel DeepState identified the Russian soldier in the video as a member of the 155th Marine Brigade, which is deployed near the Kolotilovka checkpoint in the Belgorod region. Ukrainian forces were fighting in that area on 12 August.

Authorities in Kiev are also investigating a 18 June report that Russian troops beheaded a Ukrainian soldier in the eastern Donetsk region.

The desecration of soldiers’ bodies, including mutilation and beheadings, is a war crime.

Sources:

Kyiv Opens Investigation Into Alleged Beheading Of Dead Soldier (rferl.org)

Ukrainian Prosecutor Says Russian Troops Beheaded Ukrainian Soldier (rferl.org)

Melting Arctic Permafrost Could Release Mercury into Waters as Temperature Rise

Flowing across Alaska to the Bering Sea, the Yukon River erodes the permafrost along its banks and carries with it sediment downstream.

As our planet warms, permafrost which contains large amounts of accumulated mercury, is eroding faster and releasing this highly toxic metal into the environment.  Though the mercury released from melting permafrost doesn’t pose a toxic threat today, its impact will grow over time. Mercury gradually accumulates in the food chain, beginning with plants, fish, and animals that humans eventually consume.

Natural atmospheric circulation causes pollutants to move towards higher latitudes. This results in mercury accumulating in the Arctic where it is absorbed by plants which then die and become part of the soil. This freezes in the permafrost – where the ground stays frozen all year round – and over thousands of years, mercury concentrations build up in the soil. In this form, mercury isn’t particularly dangerous. But this toxic metal is released when the soil thaws, and the Arctic is warming four times faster than the global average. This poses a major environmental and health threat to the five million people living in the Arctic and more than three million people who live in areas where the permafrost is expected to disappear completely by 2050.

Unless mankind does something soon, the earth as we know it today won’t be the same for future generations.

Sources:

Melting Arctic permafrost could release a ‘mercury bomb’ as temperatures rise | Euronews

Young Palestinian Man Killed as Israeli Settlers Torch Homes and Cars in West Bank Village

The Palestinian Authority health ministry said 23-year-old Rasheed Seda was killed and another Palestinian was critically wounded by the “settlers’ bullets.”

Dozens of extremist Israeli settlers, many of them masked, rampaged in the West Bank Palestinian village of Jit, setting fire to homes and vehicles. A Palestinian man was killed in the attack.

The settlers hurled stones and Molotov cocktails, torching at least four homes and six vehicles in the village, located just west of Nablus. More than 100 assailants were involved. Minutes after the “grave incident” was reported, troops and border police officers were dispatched to the scene. The IDF said the troops used riot dispersal means and fire rounds in the air while taking the Israelis out of the village.

Israeli authorities rarely arrest Jewish perpetrators in such attacks. Rights groups lament that convictions are even more unusual, and the vast majority of charges in such attacks are dropped.

While many members of the Israeli cabinet condemned the attack, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the storming of Jit was “not connected in any way to the settlement enterprise or to settlers.”

According to the UN, more than 500 Palestinians have been murdered in the West Bank over the past several years. Recently, the US sanctioned four Israeli settlers for violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, but these measures were apparently not enough to deter this type of wanton rampaging, murder, and displacing Palestinians from their homes.

Sources:

Palestinian killed as settlers torch homes and cars in West Bank village | The Times of Israel

More than 500 Palestinians killed in occupied West Bank: UN rights chief | UN News

US sanctions Israeli settlers over West Bank violence (bbc.com)

Cardinals Superfan Known as Rally Runner Gets Ten Months in Prison for January 6 Attack on Capitol

Rally Runner, F.K.A., Daniel Donnelly, Jr. (44) of St. Louis, MO, was sentenced to ten months in prison, 24 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay $3,000 in fines and restitution by US District Judge Jia M. Cobb. Runner previously pleaded guilty to a felony charge of obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder on 22 March 2024.

Rally Runner attended the former President’s rally at the Ellipse on 6 Jan 2021. Runner then proceeded to the US Capitol building and then to the Lower West Terrace Tunnel, wearing a red “Keep America Great” hat, red jacket, and distinctive red face paint. The Tunnel was the site of some of the most violent attacks against US Capitol Police officers that day. Seditionists at the Tunnel battled police officers for hours as they attempted to storm the Capitol building. Police had retreated inside the Tunnel to protect an entrance to the Capitol building.

The defendant made his way to the threshold of the Tunnel’s entrance, facing off with police while holding a riot shield he had obtained earlier. USCP officers attempted to move the crowd out of the Tunnel. Runner is seen holding up the stolen riot shield to the USCP officers, forming a wall in connection with other shields held by other seditionists. After finally being forced out of the Tunnel, Runner triumphantly celebrated his conduct.

Tucker Carlson featured this flamboyant seditionist on a December 2021 segment of his now-canceled Fox News show. Carlson showed an image of Rally Runner outside the Capitol — wearing red face paint and red clothes — as the television host promoted conspiracy theories that uncharged “agent provocateurs” had infiltrated the mob.

Another member of America’s “Fedayeen Saddam” (FS), a white supremacist dead-ender, has been incarcerated and will most likely watch the November election from prison.

Source:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/missouri-man-sentenced-felony-charge-actions-during-jan-6-capitol-breach

NYC Paid $120,000 to Settle Police Misconduct Allegations Against now-GOP Congressional Candidate Alison Esposito

In an episode straight out of the TV show American Horror Story (FX), a former NYPD officer twice-sued over wrongful arrests during her 25 glorious years with New York’s Finest, is a Republican candidate for Congress, a position that pays $174,000 per annum plus extraordinary benefits. Alison Esposito is the NYS GOP selection to run against West Point graduate Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY, 18th CD). This the same Republican cabal that afflicted the world with infamous ex-Congressman George Santos (whose name anagrams into “Strange Goose”).

Two wrongful arrest lawsuits against Alison Esposito cost NYC taxpayers $120,000 in settlements. In 2005, three black women sued Officer Esposito for wrongful arrest and were awarded $95,000 in damages. In 2017, Esposito was sued again for entering into an apartment building where she “did unlawfully stop, assault, frisk, handcuff, detain, arrest and imprison” an infant named Rebecca Cuevas. The mother was ultimately given $25,000 in a settlement.

Furthermore, Esposito received eight complaints through the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board, though none of those were substantiated. On 12 Aug, Politico reported that Esposito was reprimanded by her superiors in the NYPD after she left her service weapon and badge in an unlocked car which were stolen. We can only hope that nobody was killed with the missing firearm.

What an episode of American Horror Story.

Sources:

https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2024/08/nyc-paid-120000-settle-police-misconduct-allegations-against-now-gop-candidate-alison-esposito/398813/

https://patryan.house.gov/

Silk non-Dairy Milk Recalled in Canada Amid Listeria Outbreak: Three deaths

The death of a third person has been linked to almond, oat and other non-dairy milks recalled in Canada for potential listeria contamination.

Do not consume, use, sell, serve or distribute various recalled plant-based refrigerated beverages.

The Public Health Agency of Canada issued an alert on 17 July advising people to avoid drinking certain refrigerated non-dairy milk products produced by Danone Canada and sold in the country under the Silk brand and Walmart’s Great Value brand. Consuming plant-based drinks had been linked to two deaths and 12 cases of listeria infection.

A third death and eight more cases – 15 have been hospitalized and 20 cases have been linked to the outbreak. Thirteen of the cases were reported in Ontario, five in Quebec and one each in Alberta and Nova Scotia; people became sick between August 2023 and early July 2024.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency continues to investigate and said additional products may be recalled. “More recent illnesses may continue to be reported in the outbreak because there is a period between when a person becomes ill and when the illness is reported to public health officials.”

Sources:

Public Health Notice: Outbreak of Listeria infections linked to recalled plant-based refrigerated beverages – Canada.ca

Silk non-dairy milk recalled in Canada amid listeria outbreak: Deaths increased to three (msn.com)

Beijing Reports “Destroying Large Network” of Taiwanese Spies

The Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) announced they had “destroyed” a large network of Taiwanese spies in the mainland and uncovered more than 1,000 espionage cases in a vow to fight “separatism.”

“The cases involved espionage activities and leaking state secrets,” said the MSS. The ministry cited the case of Taiwanese citizen Yang Zhiyuan, who was arrested in August 2022 in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, on suspicion of engaging in “separatist activities” and endangering China’s national security.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council reports that the MSS uses “vague and unclear laws” to detain people from Taiwan who do not conform with the political ideology of China’s ruling Communist Party.

In 2022 researcher Cheng Yu-chin, a former aide to Taiwan’s former President Tsai,  was imprisoned for seven years on espionage-related charges. Taiwanese activist Lee Ming-che was sentenced to five years prison for subversion before being released in 2022, while Taiwanese businessman Lee Meng-chu was jailed on espionage charges in Shenzhen in 2019 for taking photos of armed police officers.

Without further data, this political sweep by the MSS appears to be out of the movie Casablanca:

“Round up the usual suspects.”

Whether the MSS uncovered genuine deep penetration sources, double agents, sleeper cells, low level informants, or commercial spies remains to be seen.

Beijing has dialed up diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan since former president Tsai Ing-wen’s administration came to power in 2016. Tsai and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) refuse to acknowledge that Taiwan and the mainland belong to “One China.” President Lai Ching-te, who is also a DPP member, is viewed with suspicion by the CCP.

Sources:

China says it ‘destroyed large network’ of Taiwanese spies — Radio Free Asia (rfa.org)

Dual US-Russian Citizen Sentenced To 12 Years for Treason over $51 Donation to Ukrainian Charity

A Russian court in Yekaterinburg sentenced dual US-Russian citizen Ksenia Karelina to 12 years in prison after convicting her of treason for transferring $51 to a Ukrainian aid charity in early 2022. Karelina’s lawyer said his client admitted making the donation, but planned to appeal the verdict.

Karelina (33) moved to the US in 2015, married a US citizen, and received US citizenship in 2021. She was arrested in Yekaterinburg in January on suspicion of petty hooliganism.

On 7 February treason charges were filed against her after investigators learned that on the second day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, she had transferred $51 to Razom, a Ukrainian aid group that helps civilians affected by the war. Prosecutors found evidence of the donation on her mobile phone.

This is the same judge who in July sentenced US journalist Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in prison on espionage charges.

According to rights groups, nearly 900 Russians have been convicted of treason, espionage, or cooperation with foreign governments since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Sources:

Dual U.S.-Russian Citizen Sentenced To 12 Years For Treason In Yekaterinburg (rferl.org)

LAPD Arrests Four Suspects in Slaying of ‘General Hospital’ Actor Johnny Wactor

Three 18-year-olds and a 22-year-old accomplice have been arrested in connection with the slaying of General Hospital actor Johnny Wactor in Los Angeles. The three teenagers were arrested on murder charges while the older man was taken into custody as an accessory, police said in a statement.

The teenage suspects are Robert Barceleau, Leonel Gutierrez, and Sergio Estrada. Frank Olano (22) was jailed on the accessory warrant.

Wactor (37) was shot on 25 May. Witnesses said the slaying happened after Wactor had finished a shift working as a bartender when he discovered three suspects were in the process of stealing his car’s catalytic converter. The actor was “shot without provocation” after which the suspects fled in a stolen 2018 black Infiniti Q50. Police sources told The Los Angeles Times they suspect the Florencia 13 street gang is involved in this crime.

In an average year, 3,089 people die by guns in California. With a rate of 7.7 deaths per 100,000 people, the Golden State has the 44th-highest rate of gun deaths in the US.

California Firearms Licenses in 2021: 406,360

An estimated 28.3% of adults in California have guns in their homes. The number of illegal firearms flooding the streets of California is unknown.

Sources:

LAPD arrests 4 in slaying of ‘General Hospital’ actor Johnny Wactor – UPI.com

4. California – Gun map: Ownership by state – statistics and rates (cbsnews.com)

Every-State-Fact-Sheet-2.0-042720-California.pdf (everytownresearch.org)

Florida Man Arrested for Threatening and Attacking Energy Facility

Source: Case number 6:24-cr-201 in the Middle District of Florida, Document 17. Supplement to motion for detention. Solar panels with cracked glass that Hnaihen damaged.

Hashem Younis Hashem Hnaihen (43) a Jordanian citizen residing in Orlando, FL is charged with four counts of threatening to use explosives and one count of destruction of an energy facility.

Beginning around June 2024, Hnaihen targeted and attacked businesses in the Orlando area for their perceived support for Israel. Wearing a mask, under the cover of night, Hnaihen smashed the glass front doors of businesses and left behind “Warning Letters.”

At the end of June, Hnaihen broke into a solar power generation facility in Wedgefield, FL, and spent hours systematically destroying solar panel arrays. He smashed panels, cut wires, and targeted critical electronic equipment. Hnaihen left behind two more copies of his threatening demand letter. Hnaihen is believed to have caused more than $700,000 in damage.

Hnaihen was arrested on 11 July, shortly after another “Warning Letter” threatening to “destroy or explode everything” was discovered at an industrial propane gas distribution depot in Orlando.

Hnaihen is charged with four counts of threatening to use explosives and one count of destruction of an energy facility. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for each threat offense and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for the destruction of an energy facility offense.

Frustration and anger at US foreign policy, and the fact that Jordan lies in-between Israel and Iran, no doubt motivated this Jordanian to commit sabotage. Any conflict between Israel and Iran could affect Jordan with collateral damage. Moreover, war increases the risk of political instability in the Hashemite Kingdom as an estimated three million displaced Palestinians have been living there for decades.  

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

Sources:

Office of Public Affairs | Man Arrested for Explosives Threats and Attack on Energy Facility | United States Department of Justice

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

Four US Flight Attendants Convicted of Smuggling Drug Money to Dominican Republic

Photo by Vinh Lu00e2m on Pexels.com

Four New York-based flight attendants admitted to smuggling drug money to the Caribbean island of the Dominican Republic.

Sarah Valerio Pujols (42), Charlie Hernandez (42), Emmanuel Torres (34), and Jarol Fabio (35) pleaded guilty to one count of operation of an unlicensed money transmission business.

“These four flight attendants abused their privileges as flight attendants to move money for drug traffickers,” SDNY US Attorney Damian Williams said.

Prosecutors say the flight attendants worked for different international airlines and had elevated TSA security clearance that allowed them to pass through a less-scrutinized security screening at airports. A cooperating witness operated a money laundering business that specialized in the movement of cash from New York City drug sales to the Dominican Republic.

The flight attendants were allegedly paid a fee to get the money past airport security and hand them off to a person in the Dominican Republic. The four suspects were caught through a series of orchestrated sting operations.

The four defendants face up to five years in prison when they are sentenced.

Sources:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/flight-attendants-charged-connection-smuggling-drug-money-dominican-republic

https://www.hngn.com/articles/262787/20240814/flight-attendants-smuggling-drug-money-dominican-republic.htm

Will Donald Trump Dump JD Vance for Another VPOTUS Running Mate?

You wonder what the evangelists, the American Christian Taliban, and the uber- machismo Proud Boys think of this photograph, taken during JD Vance’s scholarship years at Yale Law School (circa 2012). No wonder the Democratic VPOTUS candidate calls the GOP “weird.”

Speculation has been growing in certain quarters that 2024 GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump might replace JD Vance with a more effective candidate in an effort to resuscitate his flatlining election campaign. House Republicans opined that JD Vance was the “worst choice” for VPOTUS and decorated retired four-star US Army General Barry R. McCaffrey denounced the junior Senator from Ohio on ‘X’:

“JD Vance is a shameful person unsuitable for public office. His comments are those of a stooge for Russian aggression”.

Replacing JD Vance is mere speculation and not yet at the RUMINT level. The 45th POTUS might use the pretext of the JD Vance dossier dump as an excuse to replace his hillbilly VPOTUS on the ticket. Casting aspersions, the ex-President accused the Iranians of leaking this massive treasure trove, the same bogeymen whom he insinuated attempted to assassinate him on 13 July in Butler, PA. In reality, a disaffected young white male from the Keystone State attempted to murder the 45th POTUS with the GOP and NRA weapon of choice, an AR-15-style assault rifle.  

Before the RNC convention, Donald Trump reportedly considered the successful billionaire Governor of North Dakota, Mr. Douglas James Burgum, as his running mate . #45 was apparently talked out of this by his sons Uday and Qusay (perfect sobriquets for Don Jr. and Eric that Americans graced the two siblings with years ago). They convinced the paterfamilias to choose cross-dressing JD Vance, a parent who admitted to yelling at his seven-year-old son to “shut the hell up about Pokemon!” The presentable Governor Burgum would have been a much more formidable and stable opponent for Team Kamala than eyeliner-wearing JD Vance.

With approximately 90 days before the imminent electoral Battle of Philippi, the twice-divorced, twice-impeached, criminally convicted ex-POTUS must make a decision soon. Campaign finance laws and individual state requirements for changing a candidate’s name on the ballot after the formal nomination process may prove difficult. And the Trump Campaign might have to undergo another internal vetting process for the right VEEP candidate. Business Insider examined this specific situation and their analysis is linked below.

Napoleon taught: “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”

This axiom applies not just to warfare, but politics, bridge, judo, chess, or any competitive endeavor. Perhaps Team Kamala team should just stay mum and let the glorious GOP Titanic, with all who sails upon her, speed into the massive iceberg dead ahead of them this November.

Sources:

Did Trump Make the Wrong Call Picking JD Vance? – Business Insider

The inside story of how Trump chose JD Vance as his running mate (nbcnews.com)

House Republicans Slam Trump’s ‘Worst Choice’ for VP Pick JD Vance – GV Wire

Could Trump Replace JD Vance? Experts Explain How It Would Work – Business Insider

Barry R McCaffrey on X: “@MalcolmNance @JDVance1 JD Vance is a shameful person unsuitable for public office. His comments are those of a stooge for Russian aggression.” / X

JD Vance recalls telling his 7-year-old son to ‘shut the hell up’ during call with Trump | The Independent

FBI Seeking Information Regarding Missing Afghan-American Business Contractor

The map highlights areas of HQN Area of Operations. An estimated 10,000 experienced guerillas constitute this dangerous organization. Map: US Director of National Intelligence.

The FBI is seeking help in locating Mahmood Shah Habibi, an Afghan-American business contractor who disappeared two years ago in Afghanistan. He worked for Asia Consultancy Group, a Kabul-based telecommunications company. Habibi was taken from his vehicle near his home in Kabul City along with his driver on 10 Aug 2022. The FBI assesses that Habibi was taken by Taliban military or security forces. Other employees of Asia Consultancy Group were similarly taken, but have since been freed. A Taliban spokesman said the Kabul government has only imprisoned two AMCITs and neither of them are Mahmood Shah Habibi.

A potential suspect in his disappearance might be the Haqqani Network (HQN). The HQN is a formidable Pashtun network based in eastern Afghanistan and northwest Pakistan. The HQN participated with the Taliban in an insurgency after the US invasion of late 2001/early 2002. In 2012, the US Government designated the Haqqani Network (HQN) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). HQN has a history of abducting Westerners, conducting spectacular attacks, and maintains a close relationship with Pakistani intelligence (the ISI).

The nebulous abductors, whoever they may be, might be seeking a prisoner swap for any Afghans still held at Guantanamo Bay or other US facilities.

Sources:

FBI seeks information in disappearance of Afghan American business contractor – UPI.com

Report: U.S. Contractor Kidnapped in Afghanistan by Haqqani Network (thedailybeast.com)

White House Blames Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich as Obstacle to Ceasefire Deal and ‘Jeopardizing’ Hostage Lives

A top White House official blamed Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and other far-right Israeli politicians for obstructing a deal that would bring about a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and the release of hostage

President Joe Biden and other US and global officials have criticized Netanyahu’s far-right allies in the past, including after 7 Oct 2023, but National Security Council spokesman John Kirby accused Smotrich of endangering hostages’ lives:

“Mr. Smotrich claimed that the hostage deals are a surrender to Hamas or that hostages should not be exchanged for prisoners. Mr. Smotrich essentially suggests that the war ought to go on indefinitely without pause and with the lives of the hostages of no real concern at all. His arguments are dead wrong. They’re misleading the Israeli public.”

As the White House is working diligently on making a deal to save the lives of the hostages, the US military is helping to protect Israel from an Iranian reprisal attack after the 31 July assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

Mr. Kirby added:

“[The President] has directed that we do everything possible to defend Israel, and that’s what we’re doing.”

In related news, Team Kamala has named Ilan Goldenberg, an Israeli-born former peace negotiator, as its liaison to the Jewish community. Goldenberg, who has served as VPOTUS Harris’ adviser on Middle East issues, has criticized both Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestinian leadership. He formed close ties with the organized Jewish community during the failed 2013-2014 Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, when he was a lead on the Obama administration’s negotiating team.

There is no word as to whom the Harris Campaign will name as their outreach liaison to the Arab-American community.

Sources:

White House names Bezalel Smotrich as obstacle to ceasefire deal, says he is ‘jeopardizing’ hostage lives – Jewish Telegraphic Agency (jta.org)

Harris campaign taps Israeli-born former peace negotiator Ilan Goldenberg as liaison to Jewish community – Jewish Telegraphic Agency (jta.org)

The American Warzone Continues: Two Dead, 37 Wounded in Chicago Over Weekend

At least two people were killed and 37 were wounded in weekend shootings across Chicago. The ages of the victims ranged from 13 to 54. To date, Chicago has recorded 353 homicides and the vast majority of the victims are young, black, and male. More Americans were wounded in Chicago this weekend than in the 16 July drone attack on al-Asad AB in Iraq which caused seven non-fatal injuries to US servicemembers and contractors.

Data analysis from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) informs that historically, 50% of firearms recovered in Chicago originated outside Illinois. Strict firearms laws in Chicago or Illinois doesn’t equate to prudent gun control measures in neighboring communities: State lines simply don’t stop firearms.

Sources:

2 dead, 37 wounded in Chicago weekend shootings, police say – CBS Chicago (cbsnews.com)

Firearms Trace Data: Illinois – 2020 | Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (atf.gov)

Tracking Chicago homicides in 2024: Number of victims, location (chicagotribune.com)

The Danger of Lithium-Ion Batteries

From the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) website:

“While [lithium-ion] batteries provide an effective and efficient source of power, the likelihood of them overheating, catching on fire, and even leading to explosions increases when they are damaged or improperly used, charged, or stored.”

Watch what happens when this poor dog chews on one.

Both dogs and a cat survived the ensuing house fire unharmed.

Sources:

Video shows dog chewing on a lithium-ion battery and sparking house fire in Oklahoma | AP News

Lithium-Ion Battery Safety (nfpa.org)

Russian Military Continues Probing Around Alaska

On 24 July, NORAD detected, tracked, and intercepted two Russian TU-95 and two Chinese H-6 military aircraft operating in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). NORAD fighter jets from the US and Canada conducted the intercept. This was the first time that NORAD intercepted Chinese aircraft in the ADIZ. This joint Russian-Chinese mission indicates an increased level of military cooperation between Moscow and Beijing. See photo of interception at the bottom of this post.

Recently, the US Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) Alex Haley (WMEC-39) detected and shadowed a Russian Federation Vishnya-class naval vessel south of the Aleutian Islands, Alaska. The encounter comes as US defense officials and analysts are warning of increasing incursions of Russian and Chinese military forces into that region – in the air and on the sea – and the growing interest of both in the Arctic and in the High North.

Sources:

US patrol shadows Russian naval vessel near Alaska amid growing concerns of adversarial encounters in High North (janes.com)

NORAD detects, tracks and intercepts Russian and PRC aircraft operating in the Alaska ADIZ > North American Aerospace Defense Command > Press Releases

Bulgarian National Extradited for Illegally Exporting US Microelectronics to Russia

Bulgarian national Milan Dimitrov (50) was extradited from Greece for allegedly violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA). With Ilias Sabirov (52) of Russia and Dimitar Dimitrov (74) of Bulgaria, they schemed to procure sensitive radiation-hardened integrated circuits from the US and illegally export those components to Russia through Bulgaria. Ilias Sabirov and Dimitar Dimitrov remain at large.  

Milan Dimitrov is charged with two counts of IEEPA violations, one count of money laundering, and one count of making false statements to the Department of Commerce in violation of ECRA. Each count in the indictment carries up to 20 years in federal prison.

Last year, Bulgarian police arrested twelve suspects for allegedly exporting military goods to Russia in violation of EU sanctions. The smuggling ring attempted to deliver $4.24 million worth of optical sights, ballistic meters, and aviation radios to Russian special forces operating in Ukraine. Those arrested included Russian and Belarussian nationals.

Bulgaria joined NATO in 2004, participated in ISAF (Afghanistan), and joined the EU in 2007, so their law-enforcement and intelligence services are strongly collaborating with their new allies in the West.

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

Sources:

Office of Public Affairs | Bulgarian National Extradited for Scheme to Illegally Export U.S.-Origin Sensitive Microelectronics to Russia | United States Department of Justice

Bulgaria arrests 12 people for alleged planning to export over $4M military goods to Russia

US and Canadian fighters intercepting one of the two Russian TU-95 bombers on 24 July 2024. NORAD reports there was no danger to either the US or Canada.