kamala harris

Post-Election Democratic Party Dismay and Discourse: “Ready! Aim! Fire!!!”

Democratic Party voters and strategists are still conducting their post-mortem analysis of the 2024 catastrophe. Kamala Harris energetically filled rallies, selected a sound, competent, popular running mate in Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, set records in fund-raising, and trounced Donald Trump in their one nationally televised debate.

Yet, Kamala Harris lost both the Electoral College and the popular vote. 2004 was the last time the Democrats lost the popular vote (former US Navy Seal John Kerry: 48.3%; George “Dubya” Bush: 50.7%).

Post-COVID inflation, Latino male support shifting to the GOP, Kamala Harris not appearing on a podcast (racist blue-collar Joe Rogan), insufficient campaign time, or America was not ready for a woman of color to be POTUS, were factors that contributed to the Kamala Harris defeat in one way or another.  

Not all, but some Democrats have reached their own infallible, unshakeable conclusion as to why Kamala Harris lost in 2024. A small but vocal portion of the Democratic Party blame the 3,500,000 Arab-Americans that did not vote for Kamala Harris on Election Day, particularly the community in swing-state Michigan.

Kamala Harris won a miserable 20% of the vote in Michigan while Donald Trump barely eked out a 1% edge over her (21% supported the Republican). Green Party candidate Jill Stein won the lion’s share with 59% of their vote. Had Dr. Stein selected a Palestinian-American VPOTUS running mate, she might have won even more votes in the Wolverine State. Kamala’s dismal numbers shouldn’t have surprised political strategists. TV commentator Mehdi Hasan said not only did Harris not court the Muslim and Arab America vote, Harris “actively spurned it.” Worse, US arms shipments to Israel continued unabated throughout the campaign season.

In the blogosphere, some Democrats claim that thanks to these spurned Arab-American Michiganders, “things will get worse for Palestinians” in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank under Donald Trump: “So there!”

One furious blogger sounded like a war-hawk Likudnik by suggesting the US “carpet-bomb Dearborn, MI,” like the USAF did over the skies of North Vietnam in the 1960s and early 1970s. These words came from a Democrat.

44,500 Palestinians have been killed, over 105,000 wounded or maimed, and 2.3 million Gazans have been displaced. The UN warns of an imminent famine this winter in Gaza. So, how much worse could it get for Palestinians who are being slaughtered at an average rate of 3,000 per month since 7 Oct 2023, with a sitting Democrat in the White House?

The ones who have been hurling venomous vituperation at Arab-Americans– “hijab-wearers”— sound like Donald Trump with his tropes about “the enemy within.” We can almost hear them think: “Wouldn’t it be better without all these goddamned Arabs?” Basically, these angry Democrats made Arab-Americans a convenient but illogical scapegoat responsible for Kamala Harris’ cataclysmic loss.

Wiser would be for Democrats to look at the enormous anti-war segment of the American population for why they lost in November 2024 and not blame the “hijab wearers” or “Hamas lovers.”

Demonstrators protest outside the UN during a resolution to demand the cease-fire in Gaza on 12 Dec 2023 in NYC. (Photo by Kena Betancur / VIEWpress)

In early 2024, 67% of Americans of all political affiliations wanted the Biden/Harris Administration to join the international call for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza. US vetoes at the UN Security Council frustrated peacemakers. After being sidelined at the 2024 DNC Convention in Chicago, anti-war Democrats and Americans simply did not turn out nationally on 5 Nov for Kamala Harris. This explains the huge difference in numbers between 2020 Biden/Harris and 2024 Harris/Walz presidential elections.

In 2024 to protest the brutality of the Likud regime, USAF Airman Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire in front of the Israeli Embassy in Wash DC. (Photo: Social media)

To protest the brutality of the Saigon regime in 1963, Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Duc set himself on fire. (Photo: Public domain)

As history taught us, after anti-war Democrats were sidelined in 1968, they too did not turn out nationally for Hubert Humphrey, ushering in the corrupt Richard Nixon era. You may read the exact numbers for both elections in my 20 Nov post about the striking parallels between 1968 and 2024.

Being anti-war in 1968 did not make one a “Viet Cong lover”; being anti-war in 2002 did not make one a “jihadi lover;” being anti-war in 2024 did not make one a “Hamas lover.”

Indicted war criminal Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s unrelentless Nakba against the Palestinians and his incalcitrant lack of cooperation with the Biden Administration in reaching a ceasefire to free the hostages sealed the fate for the Democrats in 2024. In the US, the number of anti-war Americans far, far outnumber 3,500,000 Arab-Americans (who are not all eligible to vote by age). VPOTUS Kamala Harris may have been better served paying attention to the powerful antiwar sentiment reverberating throughout the American people as evidenced by the thousands of protests on US college campuses in 2024.

Sources:

How Kamala Harris Thumbed Her Nose at Arab American and Muslim Voters – CounterPunch.org

3.5 Million Reported Middle Eastern and North African Descent in 2020

Most Michigan Muslims voted for Jill Stein, followed by Trump, exit poll suggests

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1035521/popular-votes-republican-democratic-parties-since-1828/

Thích Quảng Duc: The Burning Monk | Barbara O’Brien

Aaron Bushnell: Aaron Bushnell: Candlelight Vigil Planned Outside Israeli Embassy In Washington DC For US Airman Who Set Himself On Fire | US News News, Times Now

Campus protests over Gaza are spreading: See our map

Two-Thirds of US Voters Across Political Spectrum Support Permanent Gaza Cease-Fire | Common Dreams

FBI Arrests NYC Woman Over FSB Contacts

Nomma Zarubina (Social media)

The US charged a Russian woman who engaged with anti-war opposition activists over false statements about her ties with Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).

NYC resident Nomma Zarubina (34) was accused of concealing her 2020 recruitment by an FSB agent under the code name “Alyssa,” according to the Russian America for Democracy in Russia (RADR).

“[Zarubina] aimed to build a network of US contacts among journalists, military personnel, think tank researchers and Russia experts to influence their perspectives,” RADR said.

Zarubina faces up to five years in prison if found guilty of making false statements to law enforcement agencies. She was released on $25,000 bail and banned from traveling outside New York. A judge scheduled a preliminary hearing in her case 30 days from 21 Nov. 

On 19 Nov, the defendant spoke in Canada’s Parliament Hill at a conference on Russia’s future where she mingled with MPs, academics, and policy makers.

Zarubina has engaged with its community organizers across various cities, attended discussion panels hosted by US think tanks and posed for photos with notable Russian opposition figures since 2023. Zarubina recently began appearing as an expert at conferences held by the Free Nations of PostRussia Forum, a Poland-based platform that advocates for Russia’s decolonization and fragmentation into 41 independent states. 

Russia last year labeled the Free Nations of PostRussia Forum an “undesirable organization,” and on  22 Nov designated 172 of what it called its “subdivisions” as terrorist organizations.

Zarubina advocated for a “United States of Siberia” at the forum’s joint panel with the Jamestown Foundation in April, according to the Russian civil activist news outlet activatica.org. Zarubina actively supported President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea on social media, according to an analysis by the investigative news website Agentstvo.

Zarubina wrote on Facebook that media reports about her arrest amount to “rumors, opinions and blackmail.”

Zarubina told the Sibir.Realii news outlet that she had been summoned by the Russian special services in late 2020 but denied receiving any instructions from them. She then claimed to voluntarily report those and other contacts with Russians to the FBI in April 2021.

“I’ve since been in touch with the Americans around once every six months,” the US-funded outlet quoted Zarubina as saying.

“I’ve known the people who arrested me for four years. I thought we had a very good relationship, I was kind of helping them,” she added.

Zarubina voiced fears that she may now become the target of Russia’s security services, which she said were unaware of her contacts with the FBI despite claiming to have her under surveillance in NY.

“This is no longer the level of false statements, but of treason. And it’s not safe for me to be in New York either.”

There is more to this story than meets the eye. As a covert influencer for the Kremlin, through a penny-ante 18 USC 1001 violation, Nomma Zarubina has been rendered ineffective by the FBI Counterintelligence Division. But there may be an undisclosed reason for her arrest and public exposure. If Nomma Zarubina attempted to walk the tight-rope as a double agent, then she failed both the FBI and the FSB. We shall see what fate has in store for our modern day Mata Hari.

Sources:

U.S. Charges Russian Woman Over FSB Contacts – Reports – The Moscow Times

Russian Woman Arrested in U.S. For Alleged Ties To Russian Intelligence

Russian consultant accused of spying for Moscow spoke at Parliament Hill forum two days before arrest by FBI – The Globe and Mail

Russian America for Democracy in Russia Inc – GuideStar Profile

Israel: Nakba Remorselessly Continues as Gaza Pummeled Again

A rescuer sifts through charred debris after an Israeli strike hit a makeshift camp for displaced Palestinians, in Mawasi Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on 4 Dec 2024. (Photo: AFP)

Israel launched more attacks on targets in Gaza. One IDF strike that hit a tent camp housing displaced people killed at least 21 and wounded 28 in southern Gaza. The IDF said its aircraft struck senior Hamas militants “involved in terrorist activities” in the area.

At least 15 bodies were brought to the hospital, but reaching a precise number of dead was difficult because many were dismembered, some without heads or badly burned. The strike hit the Mawasi area, a sprawling coastal camp housing hundreds of thousands of displaced people.

Earlier strikes elsewhere in Gaza killed eight people, including four children.

A wounded Palestinian child is carried on a stretcher at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah, following an Israeli bombardment in Nuseirat, central Gaza, 4 Dec 2024. (Photo: AP)

UN officials say there are no safe areas left in Gaza and that most of its 2.3 million people have been displaced multiple times.

Displaced Palestinians make their way as they flee the northern part of Gaza, amid an IDF operation in the northern Gaza Strip, 4 Dec 2024. (Photo: Reuters)

Further north, another Israeli airstrike hit three houses in Gaza City, killing at least ten people and wounding many others. Many victims were still trapped under the rubble with rescue operations under way.

11 people were killed in three airstrikes on areas in central Gaza, including six children and a medic. Five of the dead had been lining up outside a bakery.

A further nine Palestinians were killed by tank fire in Rafah, near the border with Egypt.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 44,500 Palestinians, more than half of the verified deaths women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry. Israel says that the death toll includes thousands of militants it has killed.

As you read in the previous post, at one point more IDF soldiers are going to have pangs of guilt over their conduct in this horrible Nakba. Leaked videos of IDF personnel abusing Palestinian prisoners were a sign of discontent within the ranks of the Israeli military. PTSD, depression, alcohol/drug addiction, and suicides will take their toll on Israeli society as it did on America following all of her wars. In the meantime, more Palestinians will be killed and wounded; they too will be suffering from irrevocable PTSD.    

This US Vietnam War veteran is homeless like millions of Palestinians and may be suffering from PTSD like them and Israelis (Photo: Courtesy of endhomelessness.org)

Source:

Dozens killed in new Israeli attacks in Gaza, Palestinian officials say

Norway: Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Alfalfa Sprouts Stricken 23

Norwegian officials are investigating a national outbreak of Salmonella that may be linked to alfalfa sprouts. 23 people had fallen in nine regions.

Patients have been reported since mid-October. They range in age from 18 to 79 with a median of 48 years old and 16 of them are women. Eight people have been hospitalized. Bacteria with a similar genetic profile have been detected in all patients, which suggests a common source of infection.

“Several of the infected people in the outbreak reported eating sprouts. Earlier this year, FHI also saw an increase in cases of Salmonella infection where sprouts have been suspected as the cause of disease,” said Umaer Naseer from FHI.

Consumers are advised to throw away sprouts purchased in recent weeks. This also applies to products where alfalfa sprouts are an ingredient, such as sandwiches, baguettes, salads, and wraps.

The suspicion is based on patient interviews, epidemiological data, patients’ purchasing information and product distribution patterns.

Norske Spirer has recalled products containing organic alfalfa sprouts from the market.

Norway recorded 757 Salmonella cases in 2023, with 37 percent infected in the country and 63 percent infected abroad. Three Salmonella outbreaks affected 14 people. 

Swedish update

Meanwhile, in Sweden there has been a recall as authorities continue to investigate a different Salmonella outbreak also linked to sprouts.

The Public Health Agency of Sweden said 92 people from 18 regions have been infected with one of 12 genetically closely related Salmonella Typhimurium sequence type (ST) 36 variants.

Authorities made a connection between illness and consumption of alfalfa sprouts germinated from a certain seed batch. SydGrönt and Munkagrodden issued a recall and stopped germination from the seed lot.

Source:

Norway links Salmonella outbreak to sprouts | Food Safety News

Update: FBI Arrests Alleged Sex Predator John Doe 49

Thanks to all of you who identified the distinctive tattoos from a previous post, the FBI arrested alleged child abuser John Doe 49 AKA Christopher Lynn Driskill (48) of Texas. We knew John Doe 49 would be found with maximum public exposure, and he was. If convicted, this sexual deviant faces up to 30 years in federal prison.

If you are experiencing or witness child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. If you believe a child is in immediate danger, call 911.

The National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline — 800.656.HOPE (4673) — provides free, 24/7 support for those in need.

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

A criminal complaint is merely an allegation of criminal conduct, not evidence. Mr. Driskill is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Source:

Northern District of Texas | Alleged Child Molester Identified by His Distinctive Tattoos | United States Department of Justice

American Warzone: Three Dead, Five Wounded in Chicago’s Gage Park Neighborhood

Eight people were shot, including three fatally, Monday afternoon at a social gathering in Chicago’s Gage Park neighborhood.

The shooting was reported to police around 2:10 p.m. CST in the 3500 block of West 59th Street, Chicago Police Chief of Patrol Jon Hein told reporters in a press conference.

Hein said investigators were still conducting interviews. He described the victims as being four men and four women between the ages of 20 and 35. All were Hispanic. Six of the victims were located at the scene and were transported by ambulance to the hospital. The other two victims self-transported.

Asked if any of the victims were migrants, Hein retorted that their immigration status “is irrelevant at this time.”

“We have eight victims, and we’re going to solve this crime and find the individuals responsible for this heinous, terrible incident,” he said, calling on members of the public with information about the shooting to contact the authorities.

He added that police have previously received calls at the residence where the shooting took place. The circumstances leading up to the shooting were unclear, but Hein said the victims had been attending an unspecified social gathering.

The Windy City has been re-dubbed “Chiraq” because of the endemic shootings plaguing the metropolis. According to The Gun Violence Archive, a non-advocacy group that tallies gun violence across the US, there have been at least 473 mass shootings with four or more victims so far this year.

Per the CDC, in 2022 there were more than 48,000 firearm-related deaths in the US. That’s approximately 132 people dying from a firearm-related injury each day. These are war-time casualty numbers without an enemy invasion.

US Army medics treating the wounded during a Field Training Exercise (FTX). (Photo: US Army)

Sources:

8 shot, 3 fatally, in Chicago’s Gage Park neighborhood – UPI.com

Fast Facts: Firearm Injury and Death | Firearm Injury and Death Prevention | CDC

The Arctic Could Be Ice-Free by Summer 2027: What it Means for Weather, Shipping and Polar Bears

While most projections of the Arctic’s sea ice have focused on month-by-month conditions, a new study has revealed possible predictions down to the day.

Previous expectations had the Arctic Sea loss predicted around 2030, but these results reveal that an ice-free day could occur as early as late summer 2027. 

Nine other simulations, while less likely, predict that it could occur within the next three to six years.

Scientists, from the study published in Nature Communications, say the Arctic’s first ice-free day is now inevitable and irreversible, regardless of how humans alter greenhouse gas emissions.

Source: Mappery.com

The Arctic Ocean covers a vast area of more than 16 million square kilometres, and for thousands of years, it has witnessed a natural seasonal event: layers of frozen seawater dramatically build up over the winter months into a thick ice cap that peaks in March before it melts in September. 

In recent decades, however, this dramatic event has been less prevalent. 

Sea ice has declined by more than 12 per cent every decade since 1978, when satellite imagery – the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer or ‘SMMR’ – started recording Arctic sea ice growth and retreat.

That’s 80,000 square kilometers every year – roughly the same size as Austria or the Czech Republic. 

Scientists define ‘ice-free’ as the sea ice area dropping to less than one million square kilometers in a short time, which is considered a climate tipping point. 

A team of international researchers used over 300 computer models to predict the first ice-free day. These showed an accelerated timeline compared to what was previously projected. 

Rapid ice loss events are typically associated with intense winters and spring warming. 

Long-term, if the Arctic Ocean is regularly declared ice-free, this could significantly impact the fragile ecosystem of the northernmost sea, including everything from the ‘emblematic polar bear to the crucial zooplankton,’ the study reveals. 

Polar bear Gerda (six) cuddles up with her cub at Novosibirsk Zoo in Russia. Zoos may be the safest places for these poor creatures. (Photo: Vera Salnitskaya)

The day the Arctic shows ice-free conditions is symbolically significant. It will visually highlight how humans have changed one of our planet’s defining natural features: from a white to a blue Arctic Ocean.

The sun never sets in the Arctic during summer, so without the reflective ice reflecting sunlight into space, the ocean will absorb and distribute a substantial amount of heat around the Earth. 

International waters do not have any jurisdiction, so commercial industries could exploit opportunities found in the warmer Arctic waters. They could fish and deep-mine previously inaccessible marine and mineral populations, while freight companies could take a quicker shipping route across the Northwest Passage.

The warming could also lead to more erratic and extreme weather events through changing wind and ocean current patterns. 

Warmer years have already occurred: in March 2022, some of the Arctic was 50F/10C warmer than the average, which caused areas around the North Pole to almost melt.

The study’s authors say there is still a chance to delay the timeline for the sea ice melt in the near future. 

“Any reductions in emissions would help preserve sea ice,” added Jahn.

Arctic-oriented military installations; mostly Russian.

The Kremlin is ready to exploit the untold wealth under the Arctic Sea and have military plans and resources specifically for that purpose, so the Kremlin welcomes the melting sea ice. Earlier this year, NORAD intercepted the first Chinese bombers flying near the ADIZ, accompanied by Russian planes. Beijing has eyes on the untapped resources in the Arctic as well.

In 2007, a Russian deep-sea submersible planted a flag on the Arctic seabed claiming the continental shelf.  The area is estimated to hold 258 billion tons of fuel equivalent.  

Sources:

The Arctic could be ice-free by summer 2027: What it means for weather, shipping and polar bears | Euronews

Russia in the Arctic – Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik

Speculation Swirling about President Biden Pardoning President-elect Donald J. Trump

President Gerald R. Ford pardoning Richard M. Nixon on national TV, 8 Sep 1974.

Democratic Congressman James Clyburn supports President Joe Biden pardoning Donald Trump, agreeing with Senator Joe Manchin (I-WVA) after Special Counsel Jack Smith filed to dismiss the two federal cases against the president-elect.

Speculation is rife and causing dismay among Democrats that such a sacrilege could even be entertained. The judicial system, including the Supreme Court, has– and will– blatantly shield Donald Trump from any legal jeopardy. State prosecutors have been stymied as well.

Either way, Trump has made a mockery of justice and will continue to do so after he leaves office, clearly demonstrating that wealthy oligarchs are above the law in the US.

President Biden may as well as get the last word in before he retires. So, here is the pardon that Joe Biden should read live soberly and somberly on his teleprompter in the Oval Office to a rapt, international audience like Gerald Ford exactly 50 years ago:

“Now, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN, President of the United States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Donald J. Trump for all offenses against the United States such as inciting insurrection, vile treachery, business fraud, racial discrimination, cowardly draft evasion, being an unregistered agent of the Russian government, tax avoidance, Mammon-like graft, voter suppression, plundering classified information, slander, libel, sexual misconduct, and manifest deception against the American people, which he, Donald J. Trump, has heinously committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from June 14, 1946 through January 19, 2025.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this tenth day of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty-four.”

JOSEPH R. BIDEN

This way, the message is heard far and wide and will last forever. Plus, Joe Biden gets in the last word about Donald J. Trump on international TV.

And kick for that matter. “Here’s a pardon for you, Donald!”

Source:

Donald Trump Pardon Supported by Top Democrat – Newsweek

Affectionate Cats

America Has Spoken: “The South Shall Rise Again!”

In 2020, the Biden/Harris ticket won 81,283,501 votes against 74,223,975 votes for Trump/Pence (51.3% to 46.8%). But in 2024, the Harris/Walz ticket won only 66.8 million votes while Trump/Walz won the popular election (and Electoral College) with 71.7 million votes.  Democratic votes disappeared between 2020 and 2024, a short span of four years.

In 1865, the Union Army defeated the Confederacy to eradicate slavery, abolishing the physical Mason-Dixon Border Line after the US Civil War. But the War Between the States did not eliminate the myth of white supremacy and the Mason-Dixon Line remained a constant nefarious meta-physical border ever since. POTUS Joe Biden won the battle against the neo-Confederacy in 2020, but his successor lost the war to them in 2024.

What happened to the Democratic Party turnout?

Many Democrats simply didn’t vote for Harris/Walz in 2024 compared to the 2020 Biden/Harris ticket, as the numbers reflect. And Democrat declines were acute in blue states:  900,000 votes in NY, 500,000 in NJ and Maryland, 300,000 in Massachusetts, and 180,000 in Virginia. Democrats either stayed home or voted for Jill Stein. Kamala Harris was down 10% in Red states and about 4% in swing states. The reasoning may have been the lack of democracy in the process when POTUS Joe Biden anointed Kamala Harris as the POTUS candidate (without a convention vote or primary process), simple personal dislike of the candidate, or the Biden Administration’s handling of the incessant murderous Israeli rampage against Palestinians.

VPOTUS Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff botched the origin of Hanukkah in a social post in Dec 2023. The DNC did not allow Arab-Americans to have a voice at the 2024 convention in Chicago resulting in massive demonstrations outside.  79% of American Jews reportedly voted for Kamala Harris, but 45% of New York Jews voted for Donald Trump. On election night, a Jewish voter at Trump HQ in Florida told a PBS reporter that she voted for Trump because “he would be better for Israel.” Arab-Americans in Michigan punished the Biden Administration’s atrocious mishandling of the Israeli Nakba by either voting for Donald Trump or Jill Stein. Some may have simply stayed home in disgust.

Critically, the GOP also won over 46% of the Latino vote (despite Latinas turning out for Kamala Harris) and Trump won more black votes in 2024 than he did in 2020.

Other factors that led to this disaster for the Democrats (and the American people) included the appearance that the Democratic Party became the party of the status quo and the elite, supported by “intellectual snobs” and wealthy Hollywood celebrities. Liberal TV icons like Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, and Stephen Colbert were derided as “elitist snobs” by blue collar working-class Republicans.  To this point, Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live (SNL), while Donald Trump appeared on the blue-collar racist Joe Rogan podcast (to a record number of viewers). While the Democratic Party raised millions of dollars, so did the GOP. Fueled by Elon Musk’s donations and supported by his social platform “X,” the Democratic Party had no counter to this.

The biggest issues for voters in 2024 turned out to be immigration and the economy. While high prices affected all Americans, the right-wing was successful in making migrants– the “others”– an important issue. This is similar to why right-wing political parties in Europe gained traction over the past few years: Xenophobia and post-COVID inflation.

Democratic strategists may have been misled by the full, raucous rallies attended by Kamala Harris supporters, observing the flat and unfilled rallies of Trump. While Democrats ridiculed Trump’s loathsome comments and infirmities, perhaps they should have focused on the evils of Project 2025 during this first Presidential election after Roe vs Wade was overturned by SCOTUS. Trump’s clownish and boorish behavior became the focus of the Democrats. Now the Democratic Party will conduct their autopsy of what went wrong. They will discover that shooing out Joe Biden because of his age and anointing Kamala Harris may have been a mistake. Kamala Harris had 107 days to campaign, she selected an excellent VPOTUS candidate, and she raised a record number in funds. Her “ground game” was touted as formidable.

But while Americans were ready for a female President in 2016 when Hilary Clinton won 65,844,954 votes (48.2%) to Trump’s 62,979,879 (46.1%), in 2024 Americans were not ready for a female president of color. Regrettably, Kamala Harris was not a transformative figure like former POTUS Barack Obama. Moreover, some critics within the Democratic Party also found her disingenuous and disconnected to life on Main Street, unlike the popular VPOTUS candidate Tim Walz.

What’s next for America and the World?

Hint: The Trump Administration won’t be like JFK’s fabled Camelot.

Americans will have to hold their noses for four years while the Trump Administration fills the cabinet and government with reactionary right-wing loyalists regardless of competence or experience who will implement the Taliban-like Project 2025.

Former D/DNI and Congressman John Ratcliffe staring dumbly above will be the new D/CIA. He is a Trump acolyte and spreads conspiracy theories about a “deep state” in the US.

TV Fox News host and military veteran Pete Hegseth (44) will oversee and lead the $842 billion budget DOD. He previously said that women should not serve in combat and now wants to purge the US military of “woke” personnel. This nomination is tantamount to a bat-boy being promoted to manage the World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo: wikimedia.org)

Donald Trump (L) mocks Marco Rubio (R) drinking water during his rebuttal to the 2013 State of the Union address. But Trump selected him to be US Secretary of State. As a Senator, Rubio did his utmost to undermine Obamacare (the ACA) and Rubio is happy send someone else’s American children to fight Iran on behalf of Israel.

Pro-Settler, ultra-Christian reactionary Mike Huckabee gesticulating above will be US Ambassador to Israel. Expect more Palestinian evictions and deaths in the West Bank over the next four years. (Photo: 18 Nov 2016, NYC courtesy of Spencer Platt / Getty Images)

The new D/Homeland Security nominee proudly wrote in her autobiography that she murdered a disobedient 14-month-old puppy, as well as a defenseless goat. Governor Kristi Noem was banned from indigenous reservations in her home state of South Dakota. This psychotic will gleefully carry out mass deportations to ensure America remains a white-majority population.  

Tulsi Gabbard, a practicing Hindu and former Democrat, as DNI will overlook Indian PM Narendra Modi’s homicidal plots against Sikhs and Muslims in India, the US, Canada, and other countries. Gabbard has never worked in the IC and she nefariously parrots the same talking points as the Kremlin.

Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, previously under FBI investigation for having sex with under-aged girls, is Trump’s selection for US Attorney-General. Thanks to his father’s connections, he had previously escaped DWI convictions in Florida. A former senior Justice Department official said: “He is the least qualified person ever nominated for a position in the Department of Justice.”

Who else will the President-Elect choose for his Cabinet?

Americans should expect more Conservative Republican federal judge appointments, the possibility of two young reactionary SCOTUS judges replacing Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, an increase in Christian advertising in the media, increased Christian proselytizing in the military academies, the potential of a massive deportation of migrants and refugees, a purge of enemies and progressives from government (including Special Counsel Jack Smith), and increased defense, space and telecommunications contracts for Elon Musk (with no oversight). Donald Trump’s USSS detail will remain a phalanx of white Praetorian Guards as we have witnessed over the past eight years.

The US averages 42,000 firearms-related deaths per annum. This will no doubt increase as the Trump Regime will reduce federal safeguards to gun and ammunition ownership. Public lands, like in Alaska or the American southwest, will be made available to commercial interests. The GOP will gut food safety, transportation, and environmental regulations for the sake of profits. Social safety nets like Medicaid, Medicare, Obamacare, the SNAP program, as well as social security, will be vulnerable to cuts. Trump will pardon 6 January insurrectionists duly processed by the Justice Dept.  

Internationally, war criminal Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu will have carte blanche to continue decimating and depopulating Palestinians. The US will reduce military and financial support for Ukraine in their fight for survival against Vladimir Putin, and the potential of military strikes against Iran increased (unless Putin somehow dissuades Trump from obeying Netanyahu).

Ambassadorships will be filled with loyal lickspittles of varying competencies, like Mike Huckabee noted above. America’s allies will share less critical intelligence with CIA, DIA, NSA, and the FBI out of concern the information will be leaked to the Kremlin or Jerusalem, and the Board of Governors of the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) will be filled with Christian and ultra-nationalistic acolytes. With Russia no longer the international bogeyman for the GOP, hate-radio and Fox News will laser in on China, Iran, and Palestinian “terrorists,” while accusing Ukraine of corruption, nepotism, and unworthy of American taxpayer support. One mantra already heard is that the US govt sent more aid to Ukraine than to American citizens in Hawaii whose homes were destroyed by volcanic lava.  

The National Targeting Center (NTC) will discontinue tracking Russian oligarchs and the US DOJ OSI will stop investigating Russian war crimes perpetrated in Ukraine. President-elect Trump, enjoying his mandate, will abuse his AUMF powers (Authority to Use Military Force) under a GOP-controlled Congress. More Shia (and Sunni) Muslims will be killed globally.

These truly are dark times for Ukrainians, Palestinians, and Iranians, as Putin and Netanyahu will continue their Murder-Death-Kill campaign without respite. And in America, the Trump Regime portends poorly for the poor, non-Christians, women, and people of color.

In a troubling sign of things to come under the Trump Cabal, a white supremacist detective in Long Island, NY was charged with a hate crime after he called a phone service worker “nigger,” spewing a racist tirade: “We don’t want you or your kind in the neighborhood.”

John Murphy (40) allegedly erupted into a hateful rage after spotting a black cellular service subcontractor inside an SUV in his Manorville neighborhood. Murphy identified himself as a police officer, ignored the employee’s identification card, and damaged the victim’s SUV. The Rockville Centre Police Dept suspended the bigoted imbecile who was ordered to stay away from the victim. Nota Bene: This incident occurred just before election night.

Racist Rockville Centre detective John Murphy (Undated photo: Newsday)

The charges contained in the indictment are merely allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. All factual recitations are derived from documents filed in court and statements made on the record in court.

President Joe Biden can still recover some bit of his legacy. He should consider resigning the Presidency on grounds of “health” before Inauguration Day in Jan 2025, thereby making Kamala Harris the first female POTUS (and one of color). As Donald Trump churlishly did not hand over power in person on Inauguration Day in Jan 2021 to snub Joe Biden, he can return the favor in spades. Even though Kamala Harris will be a temporary, unelected President, the history books will record her achievement forever. To their eternal chagrin, white supremacist Republicans will always have female, black Kamala Harris’ official portrait staring at them in the halls of power in every federal institution in America.

American schoolchildren rendering the Pledge of Allegiance circa mid-1930s. This is what white Americans voted for in 2024.  Heil Trump!

Sources:

Interactive: How key groups of Americans voted in 2024 | PBS News

How many Jews voted for Donald Trump? How many for Kamala Harris? – Jewish Telegraphic Agency

How Trump broke GOP losing streak in Dearborn with support of Arab-Americans | AP News

Home | FEC

FBI Arrests Alleged Leaker of US Intelligence Related to Israel’s Attack Plans Against Iran

(Undated photo of Asif W. Rahman courtesy of thenightly.com.au.)

The FBI arrested Asif William Rahman on 12 Nov in Cambodia. He is charged with allegedly leaking highly classified US intelligence about Israel’s plans to attack Iran. He is to appear before a federal magistrate in Guam. Court documents indicate that he was employed by the US government, reportedly the CIA. The New York Times said that Rahman was indicted on a charge related to the posting of the intelligence on Telegram in mid-Oct 2024. The documents posted included Israeli plans for moving munitions and IDF exercises involving air-to-surface missiles.

The charges contained in the indictment are merely allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. All factual recitations are derived from documents filed in court and statements made on the record in court.

As previously predicted here on Coriolanus, a government employee frustrated with the unshakeable ionic bonds between the US and Israel leaked this information on social media. His motive was to either help Iran defend itself or deter Israel from conducting another homicidal attack on Tehran.

Sources:

us-national-security-leak_redacted.pdf

France: Prosecutor Seeks Prison and Election Ban for Right-Wing Politician Marine Le Pen

(Undated photo of the right-wing xenophobic fraud, Marine Le Pen: AFP)

The Paris prosecutor has asked for a prison sentence of five years and a five-year ban from political office for far-right leader Marine Le Pen in an illegal party funding case. Nicolas Barret asked for the ban to become effective immediately after the verdict, even if the defence team appeals, ruling Le Pen out of standing again for president in 2027.

She and more than 20 other senior party figures are accused of hiring assistants who worked on party business, rather than for the European Parliament which paid them.

Le Pen, who denies the charges, told reporters the requested sentence was an “outrage”, and accused the prosecution of trying to “ruin” her National Rally (RN) party.

“I think the prosecution’s wish is to deprive the French people of the ability to vote for whom they want,” she said after the hearing in the French capital, where she is on trial with 24 other defendants.

Le Pen was defeated by Emmanual Macron at the last presidential election in 2022 by 58.55% to 41.45% but RN is the biggest among the numerous parties in the National Assembly.

As well as the prison sentence and ban from political office, a fine of €300,000 (£249,000; $319,000) is being sought against the RN leader.

The proposed prison sentence is “convertible” and France’s AFP news agency says that Le Pen “would not necessarily go to prison”.

However, the ban on political office would take effect immediately and would not be delayed by the appeals process, as some had been expecting.

The prosecutor asked for the ban to apply to all 25 defendants.

The defendants plus the party itself, as a legal entity, are accused of syphoning EU parliamentary funds to pay the salaries of party workers.

According to the prosecution case, Le Pen presided over a system for several years in which RN staff members from Paris were “taken on” as EU parliamentary assistants in Brussels. These RN officials rarely set foot in the EU parliament and had no role there. The trial is due to continue until 27 November.

This should come as no surprise that a right-wing, racist fanatic hypocritically took advantage of a generous, socialist EU budget to enrich herself and her staff while spewing hate-messages about immigrants and “one world government,” and other agit-prop designed to sow discord in France, the EU, and NATO.   

Source:

Marine Le Pen: Prosecutor seeks jail and election ban in party funding case

Canada: First Avian Flu Case in British Columbia

Map courtesy of Worldatlas.org

A teenager in British Columbia Children’s Hospital is infected with a human case of avian influenza (also known as bird flu) caused by influenza A (H5N1) virus in Canada. The patient is in critical care in hospital. His symptoms included conjunctivitis, fever, and coughing.

The teenager had no farm exposure but had been exposed to dogs, cats and reptiles, and the infection source has not been identified

This is Canada’s first domestically acquired human case of H5N1 avian influenza.

Health officials in BC continue to undergo contract tracing and testing to determine if the virus spread further, but provincial health officers do not believe anyone else has been infected.

Human infection with avian influenza A (H5N1) is rare and usually occurs after close contact with infected birds, other infected animals or highly contaminated environments.

A colorized transmission electron micrograph of three H5N1 virus particles. Photo: CDC & NIAID via Flickr

Public Health Canada informs:

“This detection was picked up via hospital-based influenza surveillance, confirming that human influenza surveillance in British Columbia and Canada is effective at detecting avian influenza A(H5). We must continue to remain vigilant in our efforts to prevent the spread of avian influenza between animals and to humans.”

Sources:

Statement from the Public Health Agency of Canada: Update on Avian Influenza and Risk to Canadians – Canada.ca

Teenager in critical condition with Canada’s first human case of bird flu | Canada | The Guardian

Man Dead After Explosions Outside Brazil Supreme Court Ahead of G20 Summit

Police vehicles in front of the Brazilian Supreme Court after explosions in the Three Powers Square in Brasilia ahead of the G20 Summit. (Photo: Tom Molina/Reuters)

A man killed himself with a bomb outside Brazil’s supreme court after trying to enter the building, stirring security concerns before the country hosts global leaders from the Group of 20 major economies.

The blasts come five days before the G20 heads of state meet in Rio de Janeiro, followed by a state visit to the capital Brasília by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The first of two explosions went off on Wednesday evening in a parking lot near the court building and a second blast came seconds later in front of the court, where the man’s body was found.

Federal District vice-governor Celina Leao said preliminary information suggested the man had killed himself with explosives after trying to enter the supreme court. She said he owned a nearby car in which another explosion blew open the trunk.

Leao said she hoped it was the crime of a “lone wolf,” but she could not be sure.

“We are considering it as a suicide because there was only one victim. But investigations will show if that was indeed the case.”

Police said they had not made a final identification of the dead man as they were confronting the risk of additional explosives on the body.

The explosions took place around the Plaza of the Three Powers, an iconic square in Brasília connecting the principal buildings of Brazil’s three branches of federal government.

It was the scene of riots on 8 January last year when supporters of former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro ransacked the buildings to protest his electoral defeat.

Police deployed a bomb squad with an explosive disposal robot to the square in the heart of Brazilian capital to investigate the blasts. The supreme court justices had just ended a plenary session when the blasts happened and were quickly evacuated safely. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had left the executive palace on Wednesday night shortly before the explosions.

This is a serious security matter for Brazil with world leaders convening there for the imminent G20 Summit. Luckily there were no casualties other than the alleged suicide bomber. Investigators must determine if this was a “lone actor” with psychiatric issues and what the motive was. People who commit suicide usually leave behind a note or reasoning for their actions. In this case, none were uncovered yet. Investigators must also learn where the individual obtained the explosives and how he learned to fashion them. Some terrorist groups have used involuntary suicide operatives, where the person is tasked with delivering an innocuous item. But unbeknownst to them, the courier was carrying a remote-controlled IED.  

Source:

Man dead after explosions outside Brazil supreme court ahead of G20 | Brazil | The Guardian

Iran: 70 Students Stricken with Food Poisoning

70 students of the Rajai Teacher Training University in Tehran were sickened with food poisoning and were taken to hospitals. The students were poisoned after eating dormitory dinner, which included tuna and potato puree.

Students began to feel ill early the next day and went to the university housing official for help.

On 30 Oct, Hamdan Industrial University reported that a number of students had been poisoned because of food served at the university. Videos and published reports also showed that students of Hamdan Industrial University staged a hunger strike on 2 Nov to protest food poisoning in support of their stricken colleagues.

Earlier this month, the Amir Kabir University student news bulletin reported that students of Zahra University in Tehran objected to the quality of food in the university restaurant. Students complained of expired foodstuffs and finding insects in their salads.

The Iranian government remains under US sanctions and their economic priorities are national security against Israel as well as assisting her few allies: Lebanese Shias, Saudi-embargoed Houthis, and Russia. Civil society and students seem to be the big losers of the “Guns versus Butter” argument in Iran.

Source:

Dozens of Iranian Students Poisoned After Eating Contaminated Food In Their University Residence | Iran International

Confluence of Major Events in Early November

Within the space of a few days, the US Presidential Election occurred, on 10 Nov Turks all over the world commemorated Kemal Ataturk Remembrance Day while US Marines celebrated their 249th birthday, and Veteran’s Day (Armistice Day) was observed throughout the Western world on 11 Nov.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is the George Washington and Abraham Lincoln of modern Turkiye. On 10 Nov (the 86th anniversary of his passing), 1,092,000 visitors paid their respect to Mustafa Pasha at the Anitkabir, his final resting place. This was the highest turnout ever recorded for 10 Nov. No matter what Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan does for Turkiye, he realizes he can never supplant Ataturk.

From Coriolanus to all of his USMC buddies and friends worldwide, Happy Belated 249th Birthday. May we all meet again under peaceful circumstances. Semper Fi!

A Sentinel from the 3d US Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) guards the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, VA. (Undated US Army photo by Elizabeth Fraser).

Over the past 76 years, only 731 Soldiers have earned full status as guards, earning the title of Sentinel and the right to wear a Guard, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Identification Badge. The two newest Sentinels were awarded their badges this Veterans Day.

US Army Major General William Zana is one of those elite 731 Sentinels and he chose to retire after completing one final shift guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on 24 May 2024.

MG William Zana examines a ceremonial M14 rifle as he prepares to stand one final watch over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. (US Army photo, 31 May 2024 / SFC Jon Soucy)

Qualifying for duty as a Tomb Guard remains largely unchanged from the process MG Zana went through in 1989. The first cut-off is genetic — men must be between 5-foot-10 and 6–foot-4, while women must be 5-foot-8 and 6-foot-2. Volunteers must be in “superb physical condition” with an “unblemished military record.”

After an interview, Zana was given a two-week trial period, by the end of which he had to repeat back seven pages of Cemetery history verbatim.

MG Zana points to a photo from his assignment as a Tomb Sentinel (Jun 1989 to Sep 1991). (US Army photo by SGT Ethan Scofield).

For his first hour on duty, several of the guards joined him at the post. For the second hour, Zana stood alone.

“And that was some of the most profound time of my military career,” Zana said. “I look back, 37 years and you can do the math on the number of hours and minutes. But when you get down to [it], there’s just two hours. Then just this one hour. Tonight, you know the clock strikes, we change the guard. And I depart the cemetery as a retired soldier.”

A line MG Zana memorized in his original shift at the Tomb echoed in his mind.

Surrounded by well meaning crowds by day, alone in the thoughtful peace of night, this soldier will in honored glory rest under my eternal vigilance.

Sources:

Record-breaking visits to Anıtkabir on Atatürk Remembrance Day – Türkiye News

An Army general’s final ‘walk’ at the Tomb of the Unknowns

Two Tiny Rescue Kittens Have So Much Energy They Impress Family Dog

Kittens Cheeto and Frito with Kano (L); (Photo: Asa)

Cheeto and Frito, two ginger tabbies, were two weeks old when they came to Today Tomorrow Forever Animal Rescue for a chance at a better life.

A volunteer stepped up to provide round-the-clock feeding and plenty of TLC. After each meal, the kittens cuddled together and even cleaned each other’s faces. Thriving on bottle-feeding, they grew into plump, happy, and wiggly kittens.

After being adopted, the two kittens were delighted to find a canine companion named Kona who was impressed by their energy.

“They are non-stop purr machines. The only time they’re not purring is when they’re running around the room wreaking havoc.”

Our thanks to Today Tomorrow Forever Animal Rescue in southern California for rescuing these two tiny dynamos and sharing this heart-warming story.

Source:

Kittens Brought in at 2 Weeks Old for New Start, Now Have So Much Energy They Even Impress Family Dog – Love Meow

World Holds Breath as America Votes

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

Nothing, except Donald Trump is white.

So, why is this race so close?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Republican Party answer to this national crisis?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Map: researchgate.net)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

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

Israel ‘Emptying Gaza Completely’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Click to access n2427968.pdf

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

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

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

(Photo: Art Bicnick)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

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

Four Raccoons Escape from Zoo in England

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source:

Four raccoons escape from zoo in England – UPI.com

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

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