IDF Major General Tomer Bar woke up 7 Oct 2023 with the national alarm like other Israelis.
FTA:
“A thorough 750-page investigation by the Israeli Air Force details the events during the first hours of the 7 Oct war, highlighting significant failures in safeguarding the country’s airspace and protecting communities near Gaza.
IDF Air Force commander Major General Tomer Bar woke up that Saturday at 06:30 AM when the alarms sounded. By 07:10 AM, he declared war from the Air Force bunker and, according to the investigation’s findings, scrambled the entire force. The first flight log shows that the Air Force went into offensive action at 07:15, 45 minutes after the massacre in the Gaza envelope began when the first aircraft attacked Netiv Ha’Asarah.
Air Force Commander Major General Tomer Bar is part of the General Staff that failed in its response, and during the investigation, he took full responsibility, admitting in his own words, “We failed.”
IDF airstrike in the Gaza Strip, 9 Oct 2023. By midnight of the first day, approximately 1,000 attacks had been conducted, with 12,000 shells fired from helicopter gunships. (Photo: Atia Mohammed / Flash90)
“A civilian commission investigating the events surrounding 7 Oct 2023 has released a scathing report accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government of failing to protect Israeli citizens.
The commission, chaired by retired judge Varda Alsheikh, found that both the government and security agencies failed to heed warnings and prepare adequately, concluding the disaster “was not an act of fate but could have been dramatically minimized.”
Members of the civilian commission of inquiry into the 7 Oct massacre present their findings (Photo: Yariv Katz)
After 1,200 Israelis were killed and 250 captives taken for a prisoner swap on 7 Oct 2023, Netanyahu’s Nakba killed 46,707 Palestinians (including 18,000 children) and injured 110,265. Thousands of Arabs were killed and maimed in Lebanon as well. Both Gaza and Lebanon saw record levels of devastation, causing hundreds of thousands of refugees. Unqualified US support for Netanyahu’s reprisals against the Arabs during the 2024 election year cost Kamala Harris the White House on 5 Nov as antiwar voters stayed home in disgust. Netanyahu has since been indicted for war crimes by the ICC and he is on trial for corruption in Tel Aviv along with his wife Sara. Netanyahu is doing everything he can to prevent a 9/11-style commission into his handling of this savage war of ethnic cleansing. And is there anyone on the planet that thinks Joe Biden or Kamala Harris are friends with Bibi?
US Senator Bernie Sanders Excoriates Trumpf, Musk, and Oligarchs in Congress
In a speech reminiscent of William Jennings Bryant’s powerful 1896 “Cross of Gold” speech, Senator Sanders launched a tirade for the ages.
Senate Democrats Are Fighting Back Against Musk and DOGE Through GAO
Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) (Getty Images)
On 12 Feb, the GAO confirmed by written letter that it will pursue the request for an investigation made by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Senator Ron Wyden into how and why DOGE accessed the US Treasury’s payment system.
“GAO’s mission is to support Congress in carrying out its constitutional duties and GAO is a legislative branch agency. As the investigative arm of Congress, GAO examines how federal dollars are spent and how federal programs, policies, and operations work.”
GAO operates with a $637m budget, employing approximately 3,000 full-time staff. Independent of the Executive Branch, DOGE can not interfere with them.
In addition, the Democratic Senators established this website:
This was posted on social media and identifies some of the DOGE perpetrators pilfering through US government systems on behalf of Teflon Musk, the Worst Person in the World. So far, sleuths have uncovered 17 of these miscreants.
11-Year-Old Texas Girl Commits Suicide Because of Immigration Status
Jocelynn Rojo Carranza (11)
Jocelynn Rojo Carranza was bullied and taunted at school over her family’s immigration status. “They were going to call immigration so they could take her parents away and she would be left alone,” her mother said. The child ended up killing herself. Mrs. Carranza did not address the immigration status of the family.
ICE Lawyer Runs Racist Website
The Texas Observer has identified the operator of “GlomarResponder,” an overtly racist social media account, as Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Assistant Chief Counsel James Rodden (on the left below), based on an overwhelming number of biographical details matched through publicly available documents, other social media activity, and courtroom observation.
Can you tell the two monsters apart?
Books Mentioning Civil Rights Removed From Shelves at Fort Campbell, KY School
Fort Campbell, KY is the home of the famous 101st Airborne Division, the “Screaming Eagles.” Clarksville Now is reporting that an elementary school at Fort Campbell is removing books from its library in response to a Trumpf executive order. Clarksville Now reported it received a copy a letter sent to school administrators from the DoD Education Activity that lays out several directives to comply with the US President’s order which includes banning the promotion of “monthly cultural observations.” The eagle should be screaming.
On 25 Sep 1957, paratroopers from the 101st Airborne Division (the ‘Screaming Eagles’) escorted nine students of color into the all-white Central High School in Little Rock AK.
Note the bayonets on the rifles. President Eisenhower must get credit for this important move against segregation, even though he initiated Operation Wetback in 1954.
Americans should expect vigilante groups cropping up throughout the country hunting for migrants, more ICE raids (even though detention facilities are limited), and more grandstanding from the Dotard-in-Chief.
At least two people were killed when two small planes collided in Arizona. Coriolanus is having difficulty keeping up with these incidents and people have begun calling Trumpf “President Planecrash.” Meanwhile, with Ukraine fighting for its survival, “President Planecrash” spent another leisurely day golfing. Since being in office 31 days, he has been on the links nine times, or 29% of his presidency.
NASA: ‘City Killer’ Asteroid has 3% Chance of Hitting Earth
Asteroid 2024 YR4 is traveling at 40,000 MPH. (Imagery: NASA)
An asteroid that could level a city now has a 3.1% chance of striking Earth in 2032, according to NASA, making it the most threatening space rock ever recorded by modern forecasting. But, despite the rising odds, experts say there is no need for alarm. The global astronomical community is closely monitoring the situation.
2024 YR4 was first detected on 27 Dec 2024 by the El Sauce Observatory in Chile.
Astronomers estimate its size to be between 130 and 300 feet (40–90 meters) wide, based on its brightness. Analysis of its light signatures suggests it has a fairly typical composition, rather than being a rare metal-rich asteroid.
NASA’s latest calculations estimate the impact probability at 3.1%, with a potential Earth impact date of 22 Dec 2032.
That translates to odds of one in 32 — roughly the same as correctly guessing the outcome of five consecutive coin tosses. The last time an asteroid of greater than 30 meters in size posed such a significant risk was Apophis in 2004, when it briefly had a 2.7 percent chance of striking Earth in 2029 — a possibility later ruled out by additional observations.
US Navy SEAL Candidates Sickened by Training in Sewage-Laced Ocean Water
US Navy SEAL candidates participate in Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training at Coronado, CA, 23 Jan 2018. (Petty Officer 1st Class Abe McNatt / US Navy photo)
Navy SEAL candidates in California are often training in water filled with bacteria that cause illnesses, a Department of Defense watchdog report found, and the service’s special warfare command does not have a formal policy for monitoring water quality and relocating training.
The DoD inspector general’s findings said candidates at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado would often train in the water even when local San Diego beaches nearby were closed to the public due to high levels of “fecal indicator bacteria.”
Between January 2019 and May 2023 alone, the Naval Special Warfare Center reported 1,168 cases of acute gastrointestinal illnesses with symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea among SEALs and candidates.
A notable 39% of those cases, or 457 people, were diagnosed with those illnesses within a week of being in ocean water that surpassed the state’s limits for contamination. Water contamination has been a long-standing issue in Coronado due in part to pollution from the Tijuana River Valley in Mexico, which flows to area beaches and causes significant closures to the shoreline.
USN SEALs are considered amongst the toughest commandos on the planet because of their intense training and strict standards. President Obama deployed SEAL Team Six to covertly capture Al-Qaida mastermind Osama Bin Laden in May 2011.
In nearly three decades of military service, Coriolanus has never heard of a USSECDEF being booed by Americans like Pete Hegseth was pilloried in Germany last week, nor has your author heard of USN SEAL candidates being sickened by bacteria-infected ocean water. Coriolanus worked with a former USN SEAL years ago and he never related a story like this. And he had great stories. The environment is continuously deteriorating with pollution with no end in sight.The USN should consider moving training farther north, away from the offending Tijuana River.
Footnote:
To the north, San Francisco allegedly dumps dumps millions of gallons of sewage into the Pacific Ocean during big storms. Environmentalists and surfers are trying to put a stop that.
Conservation Efforts Have Doubled India’s Tiger Population
The Royal Bengal Tiger as been classified as an endangered animal by the IUCN.
Approximately three-quarters of the world’s tigers now live in India, despite rapidly growing urbanization and human populations. From 2010 to 2022, tigers in India more than doubled from an estimated 1,706 to nearly 3,700.
The improved situation for tiger populations is due to conservation and environmental protection methods safeguarding them from habitat loss and poaching. The researchers believe it offers key lessons for other big cat conservation programs around the world.
“Creating human-free protected areas allowed tigers to establish breeding populations from which they dispersed to occupy multi-use forests,” said lead author Yadvendradev Vikramsinh Jhala, a conservationist at the Wildlife Institute of India.
From 2010-2022, India’s tiger habitat grew by 30% — about 1,131 square miles annually. Tigers are now spread across 53,359 square miles , an area about the size of England.
Bengal tiger cubs.
Coriolanus had an enjoyable experience like this in Asia decades ago.
President Donald Trumpf signed a memo Wednesday that sets in motion preparations for a facility to house thousands of migrants at the US military camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, which he said was an effort to “halt the border invasion.”
Trumpf said the US has
“30,000 beds in Guantánamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people.”
Trumpf previewed the directive at a signing ceremony for the Laken Riley Act, an immigration detention measure, saying he would “instruct the departments of Defense and Homeland Security to begin preparing the 30,000-person migrant facility at Guantánamo Bay.”
No, those aren’t Russian soldiers abusing Ukrainian POWs. They’re Muslim detainees arriving at Camp X-Ray in Jan 2002. (Photo: Shane T. McCoy, US Navy)
The Guantánamo Bay announcement caught many officials at the Pentagon off-guard, according to five defense officials. One official said the Guantánamo mission will be a DHS mission. It is unclear whether the military will be involved, but the Pentagon has no orders or guidance from the White House beyond the memo.
Officials who were surprised by Trump’s announcement said they do not know how many beds for migrants are at Guantánamo or whether it would be a short- or a long-term mission. They said there are no plans to upgrade or change the military facilities there.
Camp X-Ray in Jan 2002 (Photo: Shane T. McCoy, US Navy)
Beginning in 1991, over 32,000 men, women and children fled Haiti in makeshift boats. Many were pro-democracy activists seeking refuge after a military dictatorship overthrew President Aristide. Intercepted by the US Coast Guard, they came to crowded camps surrounded by barbed wire at Guantánamo to pre-screen their asylum claims.
Somebody on Trumpf’s staff alerted him that Guantanamo Bay once held 32,000 Haitian migrants, which is where he got the number 30,000 for his directive.
There are only a handful of Muslim detainees left in Guantanamo. President Barack Obama made several efforts to close down this tropical torture chamber but was stymied by Republicans in the Congress. This inhumane ukase will be a costly one for the hardworking American taxpayer. The expense of operating a C-17 military transport aircraft is $28,500 per hour. A recent military deportation flight to Guatemala most likely cost at least $4,675per migrant. Moreover, feeding 30,000 unfortunate souls will be expensive as well. One wonders which Trumpf crony will be awarded the lucrative contract to cater to these poor detainees. No doubt the oligarch will overcharge the US government while providing the refugees gruel.
Trumpf is a fount of human kindness like his role model. (Michelle Kondrich/The Washington Post; Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post; AP)
Trumpf Withdraws Security Details for Several Former VIPs
President Trumpf pulled security from John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, and his assistant John Hook, despite an assassination contract put out by Iran. This is just another example of Trumpf’s vindictive nature to invite political violence against his enemies
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced he is “immediately pulling” retired Gen. Mark Milley’s personal security detail and security clearance. The sycophantic secretary is also directing the new acting Inspector General to conduct a review board to determine if enough evidence exists for Gen. Milley to be stripped of a star in retirement based on his actions to “undermine the chain of command” during President Donald Trump’s first term.
The DoD will also be removing a second portrait of Gen. Milley inside the Pentagon. This one is from the Army’s Marshall Corridor on the third floor honoring his service as chief-of-staff of the Army. This means there will be no more portraits of Gen. Milley inside the Pentagon.
Background Information
The US State Department announced a $20 million reward for information leading to the arrest of the alleged Iranian mastermind behind a plot to assassinate former White House official John Bolton.
The US designated the entire IRGC a “foreign terrorist organization” in 2019, after previously designating its external operation wing, the Quds Force.
In Aug 2022, US officials uncovered a plot by Shahram Poursafi, a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), to kill John Bolton, who served as national security adviser to former President Donald Trump. The reward offer came when Trumpf who was running for a new White House term, claiming there were “big threats” on his life by Iran.
Bolton, an Islamophobe, is considered a foreign policy hawk and is a fierce critic of Iran. He advocated that Trump unilaterally and recklessly withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018.
President Donald Trump flanked by National Security Adviser John Bolton, right, speaks during a meeting with Senior Military Leadership in the Cabinet Room of the White House on 9 April 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Oliver Contreras /Sipa USA via AP)
Poursafi allegedly offered an unidentified person inside the US $300,000 to kill Bolton in the capital area. The plan was likely set in motion after the US killing of top IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani in Iraq on 3 Jan 2020 by a drone strike outside Baghdad Int’l Airport (BIAP). But it never made headway because the ostensible assassin became an informant of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Iranian authorities have dismissed the allegations as “fiction.”
The late General Qasem Soleimani. (Photo: Public domain)
General Qasem Soleimani was a popular figure in Iran and an effective combat leader against ISIS in Syria and Iraq. When the US invaded Afghanistan in Oct 2001 after the 11 Sep 2001 attacks, General Soleimani collaborated with the US and led the 2001 uprising in Herat against the Taliban, which included ethnic Hazaras, the Northern Alliance, and the Quds Force which liberated the city before US forces entered. Years later, the QF supported the Shia resistance against US forces in Iraq, particularly with lethal EFPs (explosively formed penetrators,
As reported previously here on Coriolanus, the IRGC-QF have contracted out assassinations to organized crime groups such as the Hell’s Angels, as well as recruited spies and saboteurs within Israel.
“Crossing Lines”
On 4 Dec 1981, President Ronald Reagan signed Executive Order 12333. Part 2.11 of E.O. 12333 reiterates a proscription on US intelligence agencies sponsoring or carrying out an assassination. It reads:
No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination.
Then-President Trumpf abused the Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) to get around this proscription by deploying DOD assets to murder General Soleimani.
America’s beloved “Old Blood and Guts.” (Photo: Public domain)
During a state of war, enemy generals are high value targets (HVTs). The Ukrainian secret services killed a Russian CBRN general last year. In mob parlance, Trumpf killing Qasem Soleimani “crossed a line” with the Iranians as the US was not in a Congressionally-declared war with Tehran. Imagine how upset Americans would have been in 1945 if former members of the Third Reich assassinated General George Patton after the war ended. That’s how the Iranians feel today about Soleimani’s death.
Giuseppe “Pino” Greco killed up to 300 victims on behalf of the powerful Corleonesi clan during the Sicilian Mafia war of the late 1970s.
Like Giuseppe “Pino” Greco, when you live by the sword, expect to die by the sword. Perhaps this will be a lesson to national security functionaries to be a little more circumspect before ordering the taking of another man’s life. In sharp contrast to America’s dilemma of protecting homicidal bureaucrats, former President of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador dismissed his military bodyguard detail when he assumed office. During his five year term, no one from the drug cartels, ISIS, the FSB, the IRGC-QF, or even a deranged lunatic made any attempts to harm President Obrador.
President of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador(Photo: Government of Mexico)
Mexico’s President-Elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador shakes hands with a supporter while leaving the National Palace in Mexico City, Mexico 3 Jul 2018. (Photo: Reuters / Daniel Becerril)
Mexico President Obrador sat unprotected on a delayed commercial flight for three hours. He said he would be “embarrassed” to board “a luxurious plane in a country where there is so much poverty.” President Obrador intended to sell the specially made $218.7m presidential jet.
Distributing military recruitment leaflets in Moscow. (Photo: Pelagia Tikhonova / Moskva News Agency)
I Russian Recruitment
The number of Russians signing contracts at Moscow recruitment centers to fight in the war against Ukraine has fallen five-fold since its peak in late summer of last year. The daily number of volunteers signing-up reached a high following Ukraine’s Kursk offensive and the introduction of a one-time payment of 1.9 million rubles ($19,200) shortly before that.
Since then, daily applicants number around 40, a fivefold decrease, citing a source in the Moscow mayor’s office. The composition of applicants has changed, and half of those signing up currently are foreigners of African, Asian, or Chinese origin looking to make extra money, or Russians under investigation in criminal cases.
Russia is currently suffering around 1500-1750 casualties daily on the battlefield, including dead, wounded, and captured, as it continues to make grinding advances in eastern Ukraine in “meat attacks.”
Soviet Army human wave attack in WWII.
II Ukrainian Strategic Drone Offensive
Ukrainian drones continue destroying strategic targets inside Russia, including an oil refinery, pumping station, and a missile arsenal. Four drones struck the Lukoil oil depot in the city of Kstovo, causing “significant damage.”
All of these targets are hundreds of miles inside Russia, conducted by Ukrainian Special Operations or intelligence personnel (HUR). The Russians were forced to shut down the main pipeline that supplies oil to the Ust-Luga terminal in Leningrad Oblast.
Australian volunteer Oscar Jenkins. Credit: HANDOUT/’SLADKOV+’ TELEGRAM ACCOUNT/AAP
Oscar Jenkins is serving in the 402nd Separate Rifle Battalion, which is part of Ukraine’s 66th Separate Mechanized Brigade. He went missing on 16 Dec 2024 while on a combat mission near the village of Mykolaivka in Luhansk Oblast. Thought to be executed by the Russians, Australian FM Penny Wong received confirmation from the Kremlin that Jenkins is alive and in custody.
IV NATO Support for Ukraine
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan: “Ukraine deserves NATO membership.” (Photo: Tolga Bozoglu EPA / Shutterstock)
NATO is on course to fulfill its promise to send approximately $41.6 billion in security assistance to Ukraine by the end of the year, NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Shekerinska said on 29 Jan. Member nations pledged to provide the funding to Ukraine during the NATO summit in Washington, DC in July 2024. The future of US military aid remains uncertain under President Donald Trump who has urged Europe to shoulder more of the financial burden.
Ukraine continues striking strategic targets inside Russia to damage its economy and undermine enemy morale. The word is out on the Russian street about the appalling number of deaths on the Ukrainian front, lowering the number of native Russians seeking military contracts. NATO and the EU are stepping up to fill the void of assistance caused by Vladimir Putin protégé Donald Trump and are executing their contingency plan across the financial, intelligence, and defense spectrum. For example, the US ceded Poland’s air defense command to NATO last year. The Russians would not execute a foreigner like Oscar Jenkins because he has value for any potential prisoner swaps. If a Russian spy is detained in Australia, Moscow and Canberra would conduct a trade.
“Uncle Vanya Wants You!”
Uh-huh.
A Russian Defender of the Fatherland Day poster, celebrated on 23 Feb.
Uganda confirms an Ebola virus outbreak in its capital, Kampala, with the first patient, a nurse, succumbing to the disease. This highly infectious virus spreads through bodily fluids and has claimed 55 lives during a previous outbreak. The health ministry is handling the emerging situation cautiously.
Per CIA, Uganda has nearly 50m people; real GDP per capita is $2,800.
The highly contagious viral infection, which transmits through contact with infected bodily fluids and tissues, causes symptoms such as headaches, muscle pain, and bleeding. Uganda last battled an Ebola outbreak in late 2022, which officially ended on 11 Jan 2023, after claiming 55 lives, including six health workers.
The average Ebola case fatality rate is around 50%. Case fatality rates have varied from 25–90% in past outbreaks, depending on circumstances and the response.
Violent Lunatic Pardoned by Trumpf Sought on Charges of Child Sex Solicitation
Andrew Taake holding a metal whip during a confrontation at the US Capitol on 6 Jan 2021 (via FBI court filing).
Andrew Taake (36) from Houston, TX was released from prison after being pardoned by Donad Trumpf is now wanted on separate charges of child sex solicitation. He had pleaded guilty in 2023 to beating officers with a metal whip and dousing them with bear spray while storming the Capitol grounds on 6 Jan 2021.
After being turned in by a woman he chatted with on the dating app Bumble, he was sentenced to six years in federal prison plus three years of post-released supervision. But now that he’s free again, Texas prosecutors are seeking him for trial on charges related to text messages he allegedly sent an undercover cop pretending to be a 15-year-old girl back in 2016.
This maniac was already awaiting trial for those messages when he journeyed to the Capitol “ready for violence” in January 2021. Nevertheless, Takke was freed from federal prison despite a formal request from Texas authorities to keep him in custody so that he could be tried for the 2016 charge.
Pardoned 6 Jan Offender Kills Mother of Two While DUI
Another one of Trumpf’s pardons backfired. Emily Hernandez was sentenced to ten years in prison for a deadly drunk driving crash days after being pardoned for her role in the 6 Jan Capitol attack.
Emily Hernandez holding a stolen, broken nameplate belonging to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Hernandez pleaded guilty for her involvement and served 30 days in federal prison. Look how happy she looks.
On 5 Jan 2022, Hernandez drove on I-44 in Missouri for several miles going the wrong way, with a blood and alcohol concentration of .125, before crashing into another car belonging to a Franklin County couple, Victoria and Ryan Wilson. The couple just left dinner celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary. Victoria (32) died and Ryan faced serious injuries. The couple has two children, now ages 18 and 13.
Credit: Family of Victoria Wilson
Emily Hernandez destroyed this once happy family in Missouri and a sexual predator is now on the loose in Texas. Expect more mayhem from the approximately 1,500 pardoned maniacs. When people contend that Donald Trumpf is trying to destroy the US from within, do not disbelieve them.
UK Shadow First Secretary of State Emily Thornberry in 2017: Trumpf Is a “dangerous asteroid of awfulness that has fallen on this world” and a “racist.”(Photo: Getty Images)
UK: Alleged Russian Spy Believed She Was Working for Interpol
Court artist sketch of Vanya Gaberova, who said she never doubted the identity of the man who allegedly told her he was part of Interpol. (Photo: Elizabeth Cook / PA)
A woman accused of spying for Moscow told the Old Bailey she believed she was working for Interpol after a man showed her a fake ID and told her he could enrol her at “police school in Wembley.”
On her first day of giving evidence, London-based beautician Vanya Gaberova (30) said she did not question Bizer Dzhambazov (43) who also told her that untrained people such as her were better at surveillance because they did not stand out in a crowd.
Gaberova said she and Dzhambazov became close in Aug 2021 and gradually started a relationship as he began to give her surveillance tasks around Europe, which prosecutors say were for the benefit of Russia.
Dzhambazov, a medical courier, told her he was part of an Interpol economic crime unit and showed her credentials, which she did not question, and added that he could help her get a job in the police, which she said was an aspiration of hers.
Dzhambazov has already pleaded guilty to spying for Russia, carrying out surveillance tasks as part of a spy ring run by his friend Orlin Roussev, based in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. Roussev, who has also admitted guilt, was accused of working for Jan Marsalek, an Austrian fugitive and Russian agent based in Moscow.
The NATO Counterintelligence/Operational Security (CI/OPSEC) posture remains high because of the threat of Russian sabotage and espionage. The war in Ukraine has forced the Kremlin to recruit amateurs and non-professional assets without diplomatic immunity such as Vanya Gaberova. Nevertheless, they pose a threat to Western interests. These Russian spies will no doubt be traded in a future prisoner swap.
Russian spy Maria Butina who infiltrated the GOP and the NRA.
President Trumpf visited a Trump Organization property on 428 of the 1,461 days (30%) of his first presidential term and is estimated to have played 261 rounds of golf, one every 5.6 days.
One of Trumpf’s campaign pledges was to immediately lower the prices of eggs and gasoline for American consumers. Since being in office, both prices have increased while the Commander-in-Chief golfed. The ingenious Trumpf Golf Tracker is monitoring the time the President of the United States is on the links while “Rome burns down.”
Lebanese soldiers stand guard as rescuers search for survivors in the rubble at the site of an IDF attack on the al-Shiyah neighborhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Tuesday(Photo: [Anwar Amro / AFP)
In AKZ-L, the Israeli Death Forces (IDF) killed three Lebanese soldiers in an air strike on an army base in southern Lebanon’s town of Sarafand. The latest killings bring the overall death toll in the Lebanese army to 41.
The IDF has not yet commented on its latest killing of Lebanese soldiers who have for months provided security for Lebanese civilians and engaged in search and rescue efforts amid the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.
Lebanon’s government plans to file a formal complaint with the UNSC over “repeated attacks” by Israel on its army, and accused Israeli forces of repeated violations of international law. The IDF has also been targeting Lebanese medical personnel and infrastructure.
In AKZ-G, IDF airstrikes killed 12 Palestinians and ten are missing under rubble in Jabalia. The IDF killed one and wounded several Palestinians in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City. The victims (below) were photographed at al-Ahli Arab Hospital.
A Palestinian woman mourns after an Israeli attack on the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City at al-Ahli Arab Hospital (Photo: Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu)
Several young children were injured in this IDF attack (Photo: Dawoud Abo Alkas / Anadolu)
The IDF targeted members of the Gaza Civil Defense after they responded to the initial bombing (Photo: Dawoud Abo Alkas / Anadolu)
In AKZ-W, the IDF conducted ethnic cleansing raids at the following locations:
The city of Hebron
The city of Halhul, north of Hebron
The Fawwar refugee camp, south of Hebron
The cities of Ramallah and el-Bireh
The towns of al-Mughayyir and Silwan, north of Ramallah
The Jalazone refugee camp, north of Ramallah
The village of Osrin, south of Nablus.
The casualty list has not been tabulated at time of publication.
Coriolanus and media outlets have difficulty keeping up with Israeli atrocities. Remarkable how easily and callously IDF pilots and drone operators can launch their weapons without regard to collateral damage or nearby innocent parties.
When destroying medical personnel/infrastructure and housing, the IDF creates the “NHI” condition (“No Human Involved”). “NHI” allows wounds, disease, starvation, and exposure to freezing temperatures to attrit Arabs without killing them directly. This is why the IDF targets the medical personnel of Lebanon so they cannot treat wounded Shia Muslims resisting the Israeli offensive.
By year’s end the IDF will probably have killed a total 50,000 Muslims in the three Arab Killing Zones (AKZ), while maiming close to 150,000. Coriolanus monitors the Murder-Death-Kill rate as best as possible from open source media.In just over one year, the IDF already surpassed 38,239, the number of Muslims liquidated by Bosnian Serb war criminals from 1992-1995. See previous post for sources.
According to worlddata.info, Israel ingloriously shares the stage with Afghanistan, Belarus, Myanmar, North Korea, Russia, Sudan, and Syria as a Pariah State. Congratulations to the State of Israel for the wonderful accomplishment.
With the exception of the US, which country would welcome the utterly loathsome Likudnik Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu other than the Hague for war crimes prosecution?
Ukrainian Killing Zone (UKZ): Russia Murders 21, Wounds +100 in Odessa and Sumy with Missile Strikes
Russian missile strikes on 18 Nov left at least 21 people dead and more than 100 injured in Ukraine, as strikes targeted the cities of Odesa and Sumy.
In Odesa, a midday strike left ten people dead and 39 injured, including a child, with four in critical condition. The strike damaged residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, with the city’s center among the hardest-hit areas.
Hours earlier, a late-night missile strike devastated a residential building in Sumy, a city 40 kms from the Russian border, leaving 11 dead, including two children, and 89 wounded.
The Russian attack damaged 90 apartments, 28 cars, two educational institutions, and 13 buildings.
Rescuers evacuated over 400 residents and continue to search for survivors. The attack also left Sumy’s administrative center without power.
The late-night attack on Sumy followed what Kyiv said was a “massive” attack on Ukraine’s power grid with 120 missiles and 90 drones that killed at least seven people. Moscow routinely denies targeting civilian infrastructure. Such strikes are widely considered a war crime.
Russian strikes have hammered Ukraine’s power infrastructure since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022, prompting repeated emergency power shutdowns and nationwide rolling blackouts.
The massive Russian attack also came as US President Joe Biden had reportedly authorized the use of US-supplied long-range missiles by Ukraine to strike inside Russia, after lobbying by Ukrainian officials.
The weapons are likely to be used in response to North Korea’s decision to send thousands of troops to support Russia in the Kursk region where Ukraine mounted a military incursion over the summer.
In the overnight attack on Sumy, the Ukrainian Air Force said the Russian military used two Iskander-M ballistic missiles and a Kh-59 guided missile.
The US Embassy in Kiev closed on Wednesday after receiving “specific information of a potential significant air attack,” as the Kremlin warned it would retaliate after the Biden administration reportedly permitted Ukraine to strike deeper within Russia.
Ukraine and Russia will continue pounding each other with drones and missiles over the next two months until Donald Trump assumes the Presidency. Kiev must maximize what it can during this pre-Trump period because they should expect nothing from Washington DC afterwards.
2024 Democratic Party Candidate VPOTUS Kamala Harris (L); 1968 Democratic Party Candidate VPOTUS Hubert Humphrey (R)
Many parallels exist between the 1968 and 2024 US presidential elections. In both instances, the Democrats were the incumbent party that had won the preceding election with landslide numbers. Both re-elections were theirs to lose.
1964
In the 1964 Presidential election, the Democratic Party ticket of Lyndon B. Johnson/Hubert Humphrey won 43,129,040 votes (61.1% of the popular vote) compared to the GOP ticket of Barry Goldwater/William Miller which took 27,175,754 votes (38.5% of the popular vote).
The LBJ administration would pass the Civil Rights Act (1964), the Voting Righting Act (1965), and other progressive legislation under the Great Society program to eradicate poverty and racial injustice in the US. But LBJ increased America’s involvement in Vietnam, propping up a brutal and unpopular regime in Saigon by deploying more American Soldiers to the jungles of SE Asia.
The Vietnam War would wreck LBJ’s legacy, including the Great Society program.
Anti-war protestors in 1968 (Image: thenation.com)
1968
Fierce opposition to the Vietnam War on the nation’s college campuses and within the Democratic Party led LBJ to not seek re-election in 1968. LBJ’s approval rating in April 1968 was under 40%.
At the 1968 DNC Convention in Chicago, anti-war protestors were excluded from having a voice and the “enemy” were “g—ks” and “Communist guerillas.” VPOTUS Hubert Humphrey became the POTUS candidate to carry on LBJ’s policies. Before that fateful 1968 convention, a candidate named Robert F. Kennedy ran for President but was tragically assassinated months prior. A woman’s right to an abortion was illegal, Moscow had invaded Czechoslovakia, and white supremacists strutted openly in the Deep South.
In 1968 members of the KKK, a domestic terrorist organization, proudly walked the streets in “Old Dixie”. You wonder what that little girl (C) is thinking and what has happened to her since. The two young men on the left may have served their country in Vietnam.
In the Nov 1968 election, the Humphrey/Muskie ticket won 31,271,839 votes (42.7%) to Nixon/Agnew’s 31,783,783 votes (43.4%). Segregationist George Wallace siphoned away 9,901,118 votes from both the Democrats and the GOP (13.5% of the popular vote and carrying five southern states). Richard M. Nixon narrowly won the White House.
Critically, the Humphrey/Muskie ticket received 11,857,201 less votes than from four short years ago.Millions of Democrats did not support the pro-war 1968 Humphrey/Muskie ticket or the Great Society program.
2020
In the 2020 election, the Joe Biden/Kamala Harris ticket won 81,283,501 votes (51.3% of the popular vote) compared to 74,223,975 votes (48.6%) for the GOP Donald Trump/Mike Pence ticket. This was a sizeable victory for the Democrats. The post-COVID US economy grew and consumer prices began to drop. Russia would invade Ukraine in Feb 2022 and the Biden administration immediately began sending military and financial aid to Kiev. But Palestinian frustration at being unable to release thousands of prisoners being held in security detention by the Israelis led to a surprise attack to seize hostages in Oct 2023. Backed by US military and economic support, Israel conducted massive reprisals against the Palestinians at a 20:1 scale.
2024
Nationwide campus protests in 2024 against US support for Israel during its Nakba against Gaza looked eerily similar to college protests against US involvement in Vietnam in 1968. Americans disliked the unpopular leaders and policies of both 1968 Saigon and 2024 Jerusalem.
US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT):
“Continuing to provide Israel with the offensive weapons it uses on civilians is morally wrong.”
Anti-war protestors gather at Harvard University to show their support for Palestinians in Gaza at a rally in Cambridge, MA, on 14 Oct 2023. (Photo: AFP)
Pres. Joe Biden’s approval rating in June 2024 dropped to 43%. After a poor performance at one debate, Biden was persuaded to step aside for his much younger VPOTUS, Kamala Harris. The incumbent VPOTUS received 99% delegate votes at the DNC convention.
Like in 1968, in 2024 anti-war protestors were excluded from having a voice at the Chicago DNC Convention. The “enemy” in 2024 were not “g—ks” like in 1968 but “Islamic terrorists” in the Gaza Strip. Moreover, a man named Robert F. Kennedy (Jr) ran for POTUS as an independent (yes, the son of slain Bobby Kennedy), Moscow had invaded Ukraine in Feb 2022, a woman’s right to an abortion was illegal, and white supremacists parade down Main Street, USA.
In Nov 2024 Columbus, Ohio, neo-Nazis recently paraded down a street without fear. (Source: Social media)
In the recent 5 Nov 2024 election, Harris/Walz won 73,912,254 votes (48.3% of the popular vote) to Donald Trump/JD Vance’s 76,535,898 votes (50% of the popular vote).
The GOP won 2,311,923 more votes than in 2020. Green Party candidate Jill Stein insignificantly pickpocketed .5% of the popular vote, siphoning off nothing consequential like segregationist George Wallace in 1968.
Importantly, the Harris/Walz ticket received a whopping 7,371,247 less votes than in 2020, including Blue State strongholds. In 2024, Democrats simply stayed home (just like in 1968) or voted for Donald Trump.
Biden and LBJ, both former VPs, became one-term presidents (LBJ was a five-year POTUS because of the 1963 JFK assassination).Both passed the torch to their VPs. In 1968 and 2024 the incumbent Democratic candidates lost significant numbers of voters within a short span of four years, undoing their previous domestic achievements.
In 2024 the Biden administration through USSECSTATE Antony Blinken and D/CIA William J. Burns earnestly tried to achieve a ceasefire with the warring parties in the Middle East to release innocent Israeli and AMCIT hostages. The US ultimately failedbecause of Likudnik Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu who has turned Israel into a Pariah State. The USIC term for Netanyahu is PIFWC: Person Indicted For War Crimes.
NATO and EU Suspect Russia Sabotaged Two Baltic Undersea Cables
European governments and the US have accused Russia of intensifying “hybrid attacks” following reports that Baltic Sea fiber-optic communications cables were damaged by suspected sabotage, although they have not yet directly tied the incident to Moscow.
Moscow has long denied it is involved in sabotaging Western infrastructure to punish European countries for their assistance to Ukraine’s defense, but suspicions grew in Western capitals on 19 Nov that damage to two key Baltic Sea cables were likely the result of deliberate actions.
Ukraine’s allies pointed to past incidents of alleged sabotage by Moscow, especially following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has hit the 1,000-day mark amid devastating losses on both sides.
(Map courtesy: ontheworldmap.com)
Regional states are investigating the cutting of a cable connecting Finland to Germany and one linking Sweden and Lithuania following similar suspicious occurrences in the sea in recent years.
Swedish prosecutors and Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation separately said national authorities had launched investigations into the cut cables.
Moscow has said such allegations are being fabricated by the West to discredit Russia.
As reported here on Coriolanus, Moscow was likely to carry out sabotage operations and has been bolstering its secretive marine (GUGI) unit that deploys ships, submarines, and drones to survey the Baltic seabed.
NATO stepped up monitoring critical infrastructure in the Baltic following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the destruction of the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline seven months later.
A ship lays the now-damaged telecommunications cable off the shore of Helsinki in Oct 2015. (Photo: AFP)
The West should expect increased sabotage and espionage from the Kremlin to maximize damage to NATO and the EU until Donald Trump assumes the presidency in January 2025. And even after then as Commander-in-Chief, Trump can order the USIC and DOD to ignore Russian espionage, leaving the onus of counterintelligence in the hands of NATO and EU partners.
Canada Reportedly Foiled Iranian Plot to Assassinate Former Justice Minister
Liberal MP Irwin Cotler speaks in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, 15 Dec 2011. (Photo: Reuters)
Canadian authorities recently foiled an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Irwin Cotler, a former justice minister who has been a strong critic of Tehran.
The 84-year-old was justice minister and attorney general from 2003 to 2006. He retired from politics in 2015 but has remained active with many associations that campaign for human rights around the world.
Cotler was informed on 26 Oct that he faced an imminent threat — within 48 hours — of assassination from Iranian agents.
Cotler had already been receiving police protection for more than a year after the 7 Oct 2023 attack in Israel by armed Palestinian groups seizing hostages in order to trade them for any number of the 2,000 Palestinians being held in indefinite security detention.
Cotler, who is Jewish and a strong backer of Israel, has advocated globally to have Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps listed as a terrorist entity.
His name reportedly also came up in an FBI probe of a 2022 Iranian murder-for-hire operation in New York that targeted American human-rights activist Masih Alinejad.
Ottawa, which severed diplomatic ties with Iran more than a decade ago, listed the Revolutionary Guard as a banned terrorist group in June.
It said at the time that Iranian authorities displayed a consistent “disregard for human rights both inside and outside of Iran, as well as a willingness to destabilize the international rules-based order.”
As a lawyer, Cotler also represented Iranian political prisoners and dissidents.
Cotler’s daughter pictured above, Michal Cotler-Wunsh, is an Israeli politician and diplomat who previously served as a member of Israel’s parliament. (Photo: Marc Israel Sellem / The Jerusalem Post)
As reportedly here on Coriolanus, the nexus of organized crime and the intelligence world is deeply enmeshed. The IRGC-QF most likely contracted out the killing to local criminals but were foiled by Canadian security services. Analyzing available public documents, the author is surprised that the IRGC considers Irwin Cotler an HVT (high value target) who is worth the risk and money to assassinate.
RCMP Close Protection Team in the Diamond Formation escorting Canadian PM Justin Trudeau. Note the tell-tale lapels pins on the dark-suited centurions. (Undated photo by Chris Wattie / Reuters)
New York City Issues First Drought Warning in Two Decades
The sky is lit red, orange and blue behind One World Trade Center and the Manhattan Skyline just before sunrise in NYC. Mayor Eric Adams elevated the city’s drought watch to a warning. (Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo)
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has issued the city’s first drought warning in 22 years, as its reservoirs continue to drop below normal amid a near-record dry spell.
The warning was issued Monday as wildfires have threatened to spark across much of the Eastern US this fall, including in NYC, where a Brush Fire Task Force was launched as 271 brush fires ignited citywide in the last two weeks — a record over a 14-day period.
The fires are being exacerbated by dry weather. October and November saw the second-longest rainless streak in 155 years.
Officials said the city’s water reservoirs were at about 60% capacity, significantly lower than the 79% for this time of year.
“Over the last 10 weeks, we have had 8.23 inches less rain than in the average year,” Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala of the Department of Environmental Protection said. “So, this drought has come on fast, it has come on furious, and that’s why the last six weeks have been the driest on record.”
The warning follows a drought watch issued earlier this month. With the upgrade to the second of three levels of water conservation, city agencies were directed to immediately implement water-saving measures.
NYS Gov. Kathy Hochul also declared a drought watch because of “a historic shortage of rainfall” for the state, while elevating 15 counties in mid-Hudson and New York City to a drought warning. The governor has also declared a statewide burn ban.
The last time NYC was under a drought warning was in 2002.
As previously reported here, environmental degradation is affecting another megalopolis. The air pollution in Delhi, India, is now at ‘extreme’ and ‘toxic’ levels.
Air quality in India’s Delhi region reached “severe plus” with pollution at 1,500 on the Air Quality Index. (Photo by Rajat Gupta/EPA-EFE)
Missouri: 90 E. coli Cases Tied to Rockwood Summit HS Events
More than 90 cases of E. coli have been linked to Rockwood Summit High School events in St Louis County, Missouri.
The St. Louis County Health Department said 94 cases have been identified. Some of those cases have been confirmed; others show compatible symptoms and links to confirmed cases. Health authorities said the cases are allegedly connected to Andre’s Banquet and Catering which catered some events for Rockwood Summit High School.
The St. Louis County Health Department suggests that salad is the source of illness, but a specific ingredient has not been identified.
One lawsuit has been filed against the catering company on behalf of a cheerleader at Rockwood Summit High School.
The owner of Andre’s Banquets and Catering said the lawsuit has no merit. He said vendors spot-check produce loads daily, are USDA-inspected and follow strict food safety guidelines. He also claimed that the fact that three students who aren’t Rockwood Summit High School students were infected is proof his business is not the source of the outbreak.
State and local health department workers were at the catering business to take samples of food for testing. Health department officials will also use genetic testing on stool samples to get more certainty on the outbreak.
An E. coli outbreak in 18 states that involves organic carrots is not linked to this incident.
E. coli are germs called bacteria and are found in many places, including in the environment, foods, water, and the intestines of people and animals. Most E. coli are harmless and are part of a healthy intestinal tract. E. coli helps humans digest food, produce vitamins, and protect people from harmful germs.
But some E. coli can make people sick with diarrhea, urinary tract infections, pneumonia, sepsis, and other illnesses.
TSA Intercepts Loaded Firearm from Flight Crew Member at Reagan National Airport Security Checkpoint
A member of an airline flight crew was cited by police after Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport intercepted a firearm among a flight crew member’s carry-on items at one of the checkpoints on Friday, 15 Nov. The 9mm handgun was loaded with nine bullets, including one in the chamber. See photo above.
When TSA officers intercepted the firearm, they notified the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) Police who responded to the checkpoint, confiscated the gun and issued a citation to the woman. TSA also notified the airline of the serious violation.
Additionally, the woman faces a Federal civil penalty for bringing a loaded firearm to a TSA checkpoint. The Federal penalty for carrying weapons can reach a maximum of $15,000.
To transport a firearm for a flight, it must be unloaded, packed in a locked hard-sided case and declared at the airline counter so it can be placed in the belly of the aircraft with the checked baggage.
In 2024, TSA confiscated 36 firearms at Ronald Reagan Airport (DCA).
The scale of firearms ownership and custodianship in the US is simply breath-taking. As if Americans don’t have enough to worry about getting shot on the streets, now they have to worry about “flying the unfriendly skies.” Recently, an unknown assailant fired shots at an airplane at Dallas Airport; no injuries were reported and the aircraft sustained slight damage. According to CDC data, 48,830 people were killed with a firearm in the US in 2021. No doubt next year a freshman GOP lawmaker will be caught with a firearm at a TSA or US Capitol Hill security checkpoint and be outraged at the indignation.
Egypt: Stray Dogs in Giza Become Tourist Draw After ‘Pyramid Puppy’ Sensation
A pack of about eight dogs has made its home among the ancient ruins of the Giza Pyramids. Look at the thick paws of this confident canine. (Photo AFP)
Beneath the blazing Egyptian sun, crowds at the Giza Pyramids gazed up at the ancient wonders, but some had their eyes peeled for a new attraction.
“There he is,” one Polish tourist told his wife as they spotted a scrappy dog perched on one of the stones.
They were talking about Apollo, a stray who became an overnight sensation last month after being filmed scaling the Great Pyramid of Khafre, one of the seven wonders of the world.
The viral footage, captured by American paragliding enthusiast Alex Lang and shared online by his friend Marshall Mosher, showed Apollo fearlessly climbing the 136-meter monument, barking at birds from the summit.
“He was acting like a king,” Lang said.
As news of Apollo’s daring climb spread worldwide, interest grew in the dogs who have long made their homes among the ancient stones.
A visitor from Argentina felt a special bond with the dogs saying it felt like connecting with the pharaohs while petting a member of Apollo’s pack.
Apollo’s newfound fame has even inspired local guides to include him and his pack in their stories for tourists.
“This is Anubis,” one tour guide told two American tourists, comparing Apollo, now known as the “pyramid puppy”, with the ancient Egyptian god of the dead, often depicted as a man with a jackal’s head.
“He and his pack are now part of our tour conversations,” said Sobhi Fakhry, another tour guide.
Businesses around the Giza plateau are also seeing a boost as tourists are eager to meet the so-called pyramid dogs.
One pyramid guard, who preferred to remain anonymous, also said that some celebrities had paid for permits to have their own dogs photographed with Apollo.
Apollo, a three-year-old Baladi dog, is part of a pack of about eight that has made their home among the ancient ruins. The dogs, a local breed, are known for their resilience, intelligence and ability to survive in Egypt’s harsh climate.
The American Cairo Animal Rescue Foundation monitors the pyramid dogs and described Apollo as the pack’s “alpha male”.
Apollo was born in a rocky crevice within the Khafre pyramid where his mother, Laika, found shelter. Sadly, some of Apollo’s siblings did not survive the site’s perilous heights. A sympathetic guard eventually relocated Laika to a safer spot where Apollo now stands out with his distinctive curled tail and confident nature.
The initial focus of Lang and Marshall was the daring canine climber, but their visit led to a deeper connection with Cairo’s stray dogs.
Intrigued by the challenges they face, Mosher decided to adopt a puppy from the pack: Anubi, who is Apollo’s daughter. Anubi will join Marshall in the US after she receives the dedicated care she needs in Egypt to grow up healthy.
At the pyramids, local animal care groups are now working with the government in order to set up food and water stations for the strays, as well as for other animals including camels and horses. A permanent veterinary center will be established at the pyramids with staff set to receive animal care training.
CIA Director William Burns (L) and MI6 Chief Richard Moore (R) said their agencies had “exploited our intelligence channels to push hard for restraint and de-escalation” in the Middle East.
In an opinion piece for the Financial Times (linked below), the two spymasters said a ceasefire in Israel’s Gaza war “could end the suffering and appalling loss of life of Palestinian civilians and bring home the hostages after 11 months of hellish confinement.”
Burns has been heavily involved in efforts to broker an end to the Israeli war, travelling to Egypt in August for high-level talks aimed at bringing about a captive release deal and at least a temporary halt to the conflict.Burns said ending the war would require “some hard choices and some political compromises” from both Israel and Hamas.
The US and the UK are both staunch allies of Israel, though London diverged from Washington by suspending some arms exports to Israel because of the risk they could be used to break international law.
Burns and Moore stressed the strength of the trans-Atlantic relationship in the face of “an unprecedented array of threats,” including an assertive Russia, an ever-more powerful China, and the constant threat from international terrorism.
Nota Bene: When the two heads of Western intelligence make a public joint appeal, we should heed their good counsel. CIA and MI6 have access to a mountain of classified information A-to-Z about all the players and activities in the region derived from signals intercepts, HUMINT sources, satellite imagery, low-level informants, defectors, diplomatic cables, and simple wiretaps. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Cabinet should heed this joint communique.
According to a report by risk intelligence company Osprey Flight Solutions (OFS), transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) have been increasingly using commercial and cargo flights in Latin America to move drugs, arms, and gold. OFS analyzed post-incident alerts between Feb 2021 to Feb 2024 on the seizure of illicit goods with connections to the US, Europe, and Africa.
For example, on 4 Jul Brazil’s Federal Police (PF) arrested a Chinese citizen attempting to board a flight bound for Hong Kong with 17 gold bars in coffee bags. Following his arrest, the PF found that the man was involved in another similar seizure on 8 May with a kg of gold. In 2023, Colombian antinarcotics found 1.5 tons of cocaine inside a shipment of 57 boxes containing vegetables and apples in a cargo aircraft bound for the US.
Data shows that alerts generated at Latin American airports, in warehouses, and aboard aircraft, increased by 147 percent between 2021 and 2023, with the highest numbers in Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia.
Brazil recorded the highest number of seizures: 1,737. The incidents mainly had to do with gold and drug trafficking. According to the PF regarding drug seizures (cocaine, marijuana, skunk, ecstasy, amphetamine, and methamphetamine) at Brazilian airports, the amount jumped from 4.4 tons in 2021 to 9.8 tons in 2023, an increase of more than 120 percent.
Although the increase in alerts coincides with the return to normality of international flights, following the removal of COVID-19 travel restrictions, the datareflects greater international drug flow and demand.
Thiago Moreira de Souza Rodrigues, a security researcher from Fluminense Federal University in Rio de Janeiro says that “Global air traffic has grown a lot in the last three decades. So, surveillance, whether by radiometry, physical surveillance, dogs, in short, specialized personnel, is very complicated, always done by samples. Even if some drug shipments are seized, the volume that passes through is much greater than what is seized in the surveillance networks. In air traffic, although it is smaller and more spread out, shipments are multiplied by the large number of air routes and flows. If you take airports like the world’s major hubs, there are thousands of flights a week.”
TCOs use many methods to smuggle drugs and other illicit goods via air routes. Common tactics include placing goods in hidden compartments built into legal shipments, setting up export companies to conceal illegal shipments, corrupting airport authorities, and using smugglers who transport the goods on their flights.
“Since the golden age when drug trafficking began as a transnational economy, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, commercial air travel has always been used, and basically for the same reason, the link between airport employees on the ground, the logistical maintenance of the airport itself, the airlines, in short, the yield is so high that many people take the risk,” InSight Crime said in a report.
Mexico registered 700 alerts during the period studied, highlighting the flow of synthetic drugs via domestic flights from Culicán and Querétaro to cities on the US-Mexico border, such as Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez. Colombia, which came in third place with 488 alerts, recorded cocaine as the most common substance trafficked via air cargo through Bogotá, San Andrés Island, and on to Belgium, France, the UK, and Australia. Alerts at Colombian airports increased by 275 percent between Feb 2021 to Feb 2024.
According to the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC), only two percent of containers that travel around the world by air, sea, roads, and railways, are adequately inspected to detect contraband.
Indonesia Arrests Seven Over Pope Francis ‘Terror Threats’
A security detail of approximately 4,000 personnel, including snipers, soldiers, police and his personal security team of Swiss Guards, protected the Pope before he departed for the rest of his trip in Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore. Roads around key sites were re-routed or closed.
Indonesia arrested seven people for making online “terror threats” against Pope Francis during his visit to the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country this week. The 87-year-old pontiff made Southeast Asia’s biggest economy the first stop of an arduous Asia-Pacific tour, delivering a message of religious unity to counter extremism and intolerance.
Indonesia’s elite counter-terrorism unit Densus 88 arrested the suspects in Jakarta, West Sumatra, and Bangka. They are accused of posting statements and images online that threatened bomb attacks on the pope’s public meetings in Jakarta.
The first Jesuit pontiff’s schedule had included visits to Southeast Asia’s biggest mosque, Jakarta’s cathedral, the presidential palace, and the national football stadium.
Fortunately, no serious terrorist plots were exposed. Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), an al-Qaida-linked terror group, was rendered ineffective years ago. Ji was responsible for the 2002 bombings on the resort island of Bali that killed 202 people, the deadliest attacks in the country’s history.
In Papua New Guinea, a country that has struggled with tribal conflicts throughout its history, Pope Francis made a heartfelt appeal for peace. Earlier this year, 26 people were killed in a gunfight in Enga Province, a region that has been plagued by violence between tribal groups.
Missouri Reports First Confirmed Case of Avian Flu in Human; US Total Now 14
Missouri reported its first confirmed human case of bird flu in a person who reported no exposure to animals. The case brings the national total to 14 so far this year. The latest case in Missouri was in an adult with underlying medical conditions. He was hospitalized on 22 Aug and has since recovered.
“The patient has reported no exposure to animals,” the Missouri health department said. The information is preliminary and would require further investigation by health authorities.
The case of bird flu, also known as H5, was initially detected through the state’s normal influenza surveillance testing program. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also confirmed it to be a human case of the H5 subtype of flu.
Enlisted US Sailor Detained in Venezuela as Tensions Between the Two Countries Simmer
Undated photo of Venezuelan riot police detaining a protestor. Image: European Pressphoto Agency
An enlisted American sailor was detained by authorities in Venezuela and being held incommunicado. The sailor was “not authorized to travel, on official travel or approved leave” when he was detained. The State Department is working with the Venezuelan authorities to secure the sailor’s release.
The news of the sailor’s detention also comes just days after the Department of Justice announced the seizure of a private jet that was used by Venezuela’s leader, President Nicolás Maduro.
The sailor’s detention, which was first reported by CNN, seems to be the latest in a series of events that has showcased the growing tensions between the US and Venezuela. Those tensions have been building since Venezuela’s 28 July election between Maduro and Edmundo González, which officials from several countries say was stolen by Maduro.
The State Department has long warned US citizens not to travel to Venezuela, citing “a high risk of wrongful detention.”The travel warning also notes that Venezuela’s “security forces have detained US citizens for up to five years” and the US “is not generally notified of the detention of AMCITs in Venezuela or granted access to them.”
The unnamed sailor is just the latest in a string of service members to find themselves in the jail of a hostile nation after failing to heed travel warnings.
In May 2024, SSG Gordon Black was arrested in Russia and has been in prison there ever since. PVT Travis King drew international attention in July 2023 when he left a tour group and dashed across the Demilitarized Zone into North Korea, which detained him for about two months.
US Egg Recall: Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Illnesses in Nine States
A salmonella outbreak linked to eggs sold in Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois has resulted in 24 hospitalizations and 65 illnesses in nine states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
The egg recall reported Friday applies to Milo’s Poultry Farms and Tony’s Fresh Market eggs including those labeled cage-free or organic.
Food recalls have reached a peak the US hasn’t approached since before the COVID-19 pandemic, an April report found. Recalled food products led to 1,100 sickened people and six dead in 2023, per the US Public Interest Research Group Education Fund.
People have been reported sick in California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin, where most cases have been reported.
Symptoms of salmonella — including diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps — typically begin six hours to six days following infection, and most of those infected recover without treatment within a week. Children younger than five years, adults 65 years and older, and people with weakened immune systems may experience more severe illnesses that require medical treatment or hospitalization.
Despite Warnings, Sarajevo Police Use Controversial Chinese-Made Body Cameras
Sarajevo police officers from the traffic unit wear Hytera body cams at a press event for the launch of the pilot program on 1 July.D/CIA William Burns recently visited Sarajevo and presumably advised his Bosnian counterpart of the perils associated with Chinese technology.
Amid a growing push for transparency, Sarajevo police have chosen to use body cameras from a controversial Chinese company that is under scrutiny in Canada and the EU and blacklisted in the US over national security concerns.
Despite those warnings, which also include charges from the US Justice Department of industrial espionage, the Sarajevo Canton’s Interior Ministry decided to purchase 200 police body cams in 2023 from Hytera, a partially state-owned Chinese manufacturer, for a pilot program launched on 1 July.
This local-level episode comes amid an evolving conversation across Europe over the use of Chinese telecommunications equipment in government programs. While the US has been the strictest — banning surveillance cameras and other equipment made by Chinese giants like Huawei, ZTE, Dahua, and Hikvision — European governments like Britain, Germany, France, and the Baltic states are also updating their procurement systems amid growing probes into security risks caused by Chinese firms.
In Bosnia-Herzegovina and elsewhere across the Balkans, budget-conscious governments have increasingly turned to affordable Chinese equipment with little public debate about the potential security implications.
In the case of the 200,000-euro ($222,000) sale of the police body cams — small video cameras worn by an officer to record arrests and provide evidence from crime scenes — Sarajevo Canton Interior Minister Admir Katica has not said publicly that the equipment is made by Hytera or that the company has been blacklisted in the US and is under increased scrutiny.
Unidentified Chinese military computer installation. Source: “Chinese Hackers Persist in Attacking US Networks” by Bill Gertz, 2 Oct 2012. Chinese intelligence services, including the MSS, have the manpower and computers to conduct massive worldwide surveillance and hack Western networks.
American Warzone: Junior Sailor Fatally Shot in San Diego; Multiple People Shot Near Lexington, KY
18-year-old sailor Albert Lee Soto died Saturday after being shot in San Diego, according to the US Navy and police. He was assigned to the destroyer Pinckney. Police received reports at 12:49 a.m. of shots fired in San Diego’s East Village neighborhood, and a responding officer found Soto suffering from at least one gunshot wound. After CPR was administered at the scene, Soto was transported to a local hospital and died from his wounds shortly after.
Soto was involved in an altercation with a group of men inside a nearby nightclub before the shooting, but detectives have not confirmed whether the two incidents involving the sailor are related. The suspects in Soto’s shooting are described as four Black males wearing dark clothing who were last seen running eastbound on F Street.
Individuals with pertinent information are urged to contact the San Diego Police Department Homicide Unit at (619) 531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.
To the east, a manhunt is underway for 32-year-old Joseph A. Couch, suspected in shooting at least five people along Interstate 75 in a rural area south of Lexington, KY. All the victims are in stable condition. The Kentucky State Police urged people to stay indoors as the suspect is “armed and dangerous.”
Joseph A. Couch is “armed and dangerous.” (Imagery: NBC News)
State Firearms Data:
Kentucky: 108,833 firearms licenses reported; 54.6% of adults have firearms at home. In average year, 728 people die and 1,036 are wounded by guns in the Bluegrass State.
California: 406,360 firearms licenses reported;an estimated 28.3% of adults have guns in their homes. In an average year, 3,299 people die by guns in the Golden State.
British Four-Year-Old Heroine Uses Amazon Alexa to Save Mom During Epileptic Fit
Lyla Leathem with a trophy and certificate for helping her mother. (LEAH BIGGS VIA SWNS)
When her mother suffered an epileptic seizure on 25 Aug, quick-thinking Lyla Leathem ran upstairs and asked Alexa to call her great-grandmother after she was unable to unlock her mother’s phone. Lyla explained to her great-grandmother that her mother had “a big fit” in the night and bitten her tongue. Lyla’s great-grandmother then rushed over from her home and helped stay-at-home mother Leah Leathem. She was treated at her home and recovered.
Family members had previously shown Lyla how to use Alexa for phone calls as her mom often suffers from nocturnal seizures which can be “life-threatening.” But they had no idea the youngster had listened – until she was called into action.
Proud Leah Leathem with quick-thinking Lyla.(LEAH BIGGS VIA SWNS)
Coriolanus 