Jeffrey Epstein’s Unreleased Pedophilic FBI Files Driving Donald Trump and Republican Junta Absolutely Insane

(Photo: Copyright John Bazemore / 2024 The AP. All rights reserved.)

The New York Times just published another lengthy piece about Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein’s 15-year-long friendship that centered around one commonality: their insatiable fetish for nubile young girls.

What Does First Lady Melania and Daughter Ivanka Think of the Paterfamilias?

Source:

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

Like MacBeth driven to lunacy by the ghost of Banquo, so to is Dummkopf Trumpf being driven to lunacy by the ghost of sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein and his sordid, lengthy FBI dossier which the junta is loath to publicly release.

Trumpf Junta Tactics: “Circle the Wagons” and Distract the Hoi Polloi

Servient of America’s oligarchs House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said he does not plan to allow votes on any measures related to the Jeffrey Epstein case in the House’s final week in Washington before a weekslong recess, despite intense pressure from some of his own GOP members to go on the record on the issue.

The MAGA Republicans are ‘circling the wagons’ around their beleaguered cult leader, Dummkopf Trumpf, even though other Republicans want to see congressional action on the scandalous Epstein files.

Link: Johnson shuts door on House vote before September on releasing Epstein files | CNN Politics

Moreover, the Trumpf junta has gutted the office in the State Department that combats international human trafficking.

Link: https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/epstein-trump-human-trafficking-state-department-tip-office-rcna219689

Distract! Deflect! Deny! Defend! Delay!

To distract the media and the hoi polloi, the Trumpf junta began a smear campaign against former President Barack Obama, which you read about on Coriolanus. As if trying to distract a child or a cat, the junta pulled out more ‘shiny new objects’ as red meat for their base and another issue for progressives to deal with.

Trumpf Urges Sports Teams to Restore Their Previous Racist Names

Dotard Trumpf posted on Truth Social:

“The Washington “Whatever’s” should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team. There is a big clamoring for this. Likewise, the Cleveland Indians, one of the six original baseball teams, with a storied past. Our great Indian people, in massive numbers, want this to happen. Their heritage and prestige is systematically being taken away from them. Times are different now than they were three or four years ago. We are a Country of passion and common sense. OWNERS, GET IT DONE!!!”

The President threatened to sanction the NFL Washington Commanders team if the owner did not comply.

Source: Trump urges Cleveland Guardians and Washington Commanders to restore old names

More Utter Dysfunction from the Trumpf Junta

“Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart.” (2018 Trumpf tweet)

Trumpf administration plans to destroy nearly $10m of contraceptives for women overseas. As part of the Dotard’s end to foreign aid, destruction of the long-acting contraceptives will cost US taxpayers $167,000.

“It is unacceptable that the State Department would move forward with the destruction of more than $9m in taxpayer-funded family planning commodities purchased to support women in crisis settings, including war zones and refugee camps,” said US Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH). Shaheen and Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) have introduced legislation to stop the destruction.

Link: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/18/trump-administration-destroy-contraceptives-usaid-africa

Trumpf Replaces US Naval Academy Superintendent with USMC General

USSECDEF Pete Hegseth walks alongside US Naval Academy Superintendent Vice Adm. Yvette Davids during his visit to the US Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD, 1 April 2025. I don’t think she is smiling today. (Photo: DoD / USN Petty Officer 1st Class Alexander Kubitza)

The Trumpf junta has chosen a Marine general to replace the first woman to lead the US Naval Academy, trading out one history-making officer for another, well short of the typical three-year tenure for the position.

Lt. Gen. Michael Borgschulte, who currently oversees the Marine Corps‘ personnel directorate, has been nominated to replace Vice Adm. Yvette Davids as superintendent of the academy.

Davids was the first woman to head the service’s storied academy. Meanwhile, Borgschulte will be the first Marine to head the academic institution in its 180-year history.

Davids’ tenure at the academy was shorter than usual and, in that time, the institution had become a focus for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his campaign against topics and materials that the Trumpf junta considers “woke.”

Links:

https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/4249504/secretary-of-defense-general-and-flag-officer-announcements-for-july-18-2025/

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/07/18/naval-academy-superintendent-first-woman-post-replaced-early-marine-general.html

EPA Eliminating Its Scientific Research Arm

President Nixon signing the Clean Water Act, 1972

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said that it would eliminate its scientific research arm and begin firing hundreds of chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists, after denying for months that it intended to do so. The Trumpf junta is forging ahead with efforts to slash the federal work force and dismantle federal agencies after the Supreme Court allowed these plans to proceed while legal challenges unfold. Government scientists have been particular targets of the administration’s large-scale layoffs.

The decision to dismantle the EPA’s Office of Research and Development had been widely expected since March. But until Friday, the Trumpf junta maintained that no final decisions had been made.

This was a perfect time to make this announcement and is consistent with the junta’s plans to enshittify the US and stupidify Americans. These scientists and researchers will be welcome in Canada, the UK, and the EU.

FEMA Head of Search and Rescue Operations Resigns in Disgust

Ken Pagurek talks to CNN after searching the rubble of a collapsed condo in Surfside, FL, in 2021 (Image:  
CNN)

The head of FEMA’s Urban Search and Rescue branch, which runs a network of teams stationed across the country that can swiftly respond to natural disasters, resigned on Monday.

Ken Pagurek’s departure comes less than three weeks after a delayed FEMA response to catastrophic flooding in central Texas caused by bureaucratic hurdles put in place by the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the disaster response agency.

Pagurek told colleagues at FEMA that the delay was the tipping point that led to his voluntary departure after months of frustration with the Trumpf junta’s efforts to dismantle the agency. It took more than 72 hours after the flooding for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to authorize the deployment of FEMA’s search and rescue network.

After spending more than a decade with FEMA’s urban search and rescue system, including about a year as its chief, Pagurek said in his resignation letter that he was returning to the Philadelphia Fire Department and did not mention the Texas flooding.

Link: https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/21/politics/fema-search-and-rescue-chief-resigns

Trumpf Junta Fires Another Unqualified DOD Staffer

Another goniff hired and fired by the Trumpf junta.

A senior Pentagon staffer and adviser to Pete Hegseth has been ousted, marking at least the sixth person under the Defense Secretary to quit within his first six months in office.

Justin Fulcher, who recently made headlines after accusing a colleague of calling the Pentagon police on him, will no longer serve as a senior adviser to Hegseth.

Fulcher previously ran a telehealth startup called RingMD that went bankrupt. He seemingly overstated his credentials before he was hired to work at DOGE, including claiming a doctorate in international relations and affairs from Johns Hopkins University.

Links:

Justin Fulcher, who alleged colleague called the cops on him, fired by Pete Hegseth | The Independent

Another top Hegseth adviser leaves the Pentagon

Trumpf Junta Defies World Health Organization (WHO)

US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a Joint Statement of formal rejection by the US of the 2024 International Heath Regulations (IHR) Amendments by the WHO.

The amended IHR would give the WHO the ability to order global lockdowns, travel restrictions, or any other measures it sees fit to respond to nebulous “potential public health risks.” These regulations are set to become binding if not rejected by 19 Jul 2025, regardless of the US withdrawal from the WHO.

“The proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations open the door to the kind of narrative management, propaganda, and censorship that we saw during the COVID pandemic,” Secretary Kennedy said. “The US can cooperate with other nations without jeopardizing our civil liberties, without undermining our Constitution, and without ceding away America’s treasured sovereignty.”

Secretary Kennedy also released a video explaining the action to the American people.

Link: HHS & State Department: The United States Rejects Amendments to International Health Regulations | HHS.gov

The Making America Great Again (MAGA) Base That Supports Dummkopf Trumpf

Trumpf’s approval rating, according to the latest from The Economist (22 July 2025):

Unsure: 4%

Favorable: 41%

Unfavorable: 55%

No matter what distractions and dysfunctional decisions the junta makes, the Jeffrey Epstein FBI files will continue to drive Dotard Trumpf nuts. Journalists that ask him about the files will be banned from the White House and Trumpf will ask conservative media allies to discuss issues other than this sordid affair. The junta will create more international distractions and diversions, possibly getting more innocent people killed in the Middle East or Africa. Meanwhile, Putin’s protege in the White House is allowing Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin to continue their vicious murderous campaign against Palestinians and Ukrainians.

China’s Political Warfare in Canada

The Government of Canada informs:

Canada has long been a target of China’s United Front influence campaign. Important ethnic Chinese organizations have been effectively taken over by Beijing, as have most Chinese language media. Chinese embassies and consulates monitor the Chinese ethnic community and coordinate United Front activities.

Link: https://www.canada.ca/en/security-intelligence-service/corporate/publications/hybrid-methods-in-the-grey-zone/beijings-political-warfare-canada-tracking-footprints-united-front-work-department.html

Conservative MP for Wellington-Halton Hills Michael Chong prepares to appear as a witness at the standing committee on procedure and House affairs on foreign election interference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on 16 May. (Photo: Spencer Colby / The Canadian Press)

The USCC informs:

“China uses “United Front” work to co-opt and neutralize sources of potential opposition to the policies and authority of its ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCP’s United Front Work Department (UFWD)—the agency responsible for coordinating these kinds of influence operations—mostly focuses on the management of potential opposition groups inside China, but it also has an important foreign influence mission. To carry out its influence activities abroad, the UFWD directs “overseas Chinese work,” which seeks to co-opt ethnic Chinese individuals and communities living outside China, while a number of other key affiliated organizations guided by China’s broader United Front strategy conduct influence operations targeting foreign actors and states. Some of these entities have clear connections to the CCP’s United Front strategy, while others’ linkage is less explicit.”

Dr. Lining “Larry” He (48) resigned from disgraced Andrew Cuomo’s NYC mayoralty campaign. He denied any ties to the Chinese Communist Party. “I’ve never been an asset beholden to the Chinese government,” He said.  (Photo: Kings County Democratic County Committee / ‘X’)

Link: Andrew Cuomo campaign aide worked for companies tied to CCP

Globally, Beijing has established Confucian Institutes to spread CCP influence, as well as covert police stations in North America to monitor dissent amongst the Chinese community, including French-speaking Quebec.

Link: Canadian police investigate Chinese ‘police stations’ in Quebec

CCP Mouchards (AKA Police Spies or ‘Wu Maos’)

Low-level CCP or UFWD operatives on the internet (AKA trolls) or those eavesdropping on conversations in bars, restaurants, classrooms, social settings, parks, or schools are ‘Wu Maos,” which translates roughly as ‘50 cents party workers.’ These Wu Maos defend CCP positions over Tibet, Taiwan, or the Uighurs, and report back to their handlers who the enemies of the CCP are. Coriolanus has witnessed Wu Maos in action on several occasions in North America.  

Sources:

Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions – Final Report Vol. 1 (January 2025)

China’s Overseas United Front Work: Background and Implications for the United States | U.S.- CHINA | ECONOMIC and SECURITY REVIEW COMMISSION

RCMP opens investigation into claims China intimidated MP Chong | CBC News

CONFIRMED: China Interfered in Canadian Elections – Encounter TodayCanadian police investigate Chinese ‘police stations’ in Quebec

Russia: Putin Launches Spy App to Keep Russians in ‘Digital Gulag’

Russian police push protesters back during a demonstration against President Vladimir Putin in Pushkin Square in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, 5 May 2018. (Photo: AP / Pavel Golovkin)

WhatsApp is to be banned and replaced with Max, which incorporates permanent snooping technology and will be installed on all digital devices sold in Russia.

The app, which was test-launched in March, was developed on Vladimir Putin’s orders and provides online messaging, video calls, mobile payments, social networking and access to government services. It was developed by the Kremlin-controlled company VK. Under a new law, it will be installed on every digital device that is sold in Russia from 1 Sep.

Critics have described it as a “spy program” that installs snooping software on a user’s smartphone that remains in place even after the app is removed. It is being seen as Russia’s equivalent to China’s WeChat app, which Beijing uses for online surveillance and censorship.

“[Max] is interested in where the user was, who they called or wrote to, including through other messengers, what crypto wallets and bank accounts they have, as well as what purchases they made, what cafés they visited and what they surfed for on the internet,” wrote Red Binder, a Russian Telegram channel that focuses on online issues.

Data that is collected by Max will be easily accessible to the FSB security services and Kremlin agents might even be able to monitor online conversations in real time,

Andrey Okun, a Russian opposition journalist, called Max a key component in the Kremlin’s plans to construct a “digital gulag”, a reference to Soviet labor camps. “This will be a sterile space in which the authorities have complete control over the leisure time, motives and thoughts of citizens.”

When Putin came to power 25 years ago, about 1% of Russians were online and the Kremlin paid little attention to the internet. Even in 2010 Putin was largely dismissive of its potential, describing it as “50 per cent porn material” and claiming never to have been online.

By 2011, when the first large anti-Putin protests broke out in Moscow, one in two people had access to the internet and foreign websites such as YouTube and Facebook became the opposition movement’s most potent weapons. Putin realized that, if left untamed, the internet could destroy him. “[The internet] is a CIA project,” he claimed in 2014, without providing evidence.

The surprising revelation in this development is that KGB veteran Vladimir Putin didn’t think of this earlier. Either way, this gives Putin another tool to crack down on dissent. The Max app will probably be available in neighboring Belarus, to fellow despot Oleksandr Lukashenko’s delight.

Source:

Putin launches spy app to keep Russians in ‘digital gulag’

Archived link:

Putin launches spy app to keep Russians in ‘digital gulag’

Russophile American Father of Three Sent to Russia’s Frontline Against Ukraine

Derek Huffman (46), his wife DeAnna and three daughters.

A Texan father who uprooted his family to Russia in a bid to escape ‘woke America’ has reportedly been sent to the front lines of the brutal war in Ukraine to fight for Putin.

Derek Huffman (46) moved with his wife DeAnna, their three daughters and the family husky to the small town of Istra, near Moscow, earlier this year after claiming the US had become overrun by ‘woke ideology’.

The family took advantage of a Kremlin-backed visa programme aimed at attracting Westerners who reject liberal ideals – something Mr Huffman called ‘a fresh start in a country that respects family values.’

But the American expat’s dream of a quieter life in Russia has taken a dramatic turn.

Initially promised a non-combat role in the Russian military – first as a welder, then a war correspondent – Mr. Huffman now finds himself alarmingly close to the battlefield, according to his wife.

DeAnna Huffman said her husband felt he was being ‘thrown to the wolves’ given that he had only received a limited amount of training, and that it was in Russian. She added that her husband, who only had minimal instruction before being deployed, is ‘leaning on faith’ to survive, as the family awaits news in fear.

The last message they received from him came on Father’s Day in June. In a video clip, Mr Huffman appears in full camouflage, speaking directly to his children.  

Derek Huffman wanted to FAFO now in his military uniform.

Russian forces lose approximately 1,000 soldiers a day in human wave or ‘meat attacks’ against staunch Ukrainian defenders protecting their homeland. Followers of the Watch will recall that another ‘useful idiot,’ the son of a CIA officer, was killed fighting against Ukraine. In the English vernacular ‘FAFO’ means ‘Fuck Around, Find Out.’ Imbecile Derek Huffman and his family are now in the ‘FO’ portion of this equation.

An international arrest warrant issued by the ICC for war crimes remains active for Russia President Vladimir Putin. An indictment is merely an allegation. All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Sources:

Father-of-three who fled to Russia to escape ‘woke’ America ‘is sent to the front line to fight for Putin’ | Daily Mail Online

https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-ukraine-icc-judges-issue-arrest-warrants-against-vladimir-vladimirovich-putin-and

134 Passengers Aboard Royal Caribbean International Ship Stricken with Illness

Royal Caribbean International’s ship Navigator of the Seas.

The CDC informs that 134 passengers on board the Royal Caribbean International Navigator of the Seas suffered from gastrointestinal illness:

Cruise line: Royal Caribbean International

Cruise ship: Navigator of the Seas

Voyage dates: 4 July 2025–11 July 2025

Voyage number: 23491

Date outbreak reported to VSP: 11 July 2025

Number of passengers who reported being ill during the voyage out of total number of passengers onboard: 134 of 3,914 (3.4%)

Number of crew who reported being ill during the voyage out of total number of crew onboard: 7 of 1,266 (0.6%)

Predominant symptoms: Diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal cramps

Causative agent: Unknown

Trumpf Junta Cut CDC Budget for Cruise Ship Health Inspections

Thanks to Dummkopf Trumpf, all full-time employees at the CDC Vessel Sanitation Program have been laid off. A group of about 12 US Public Health Service (USPHS) officers will remain. According to one AI estimate, on any given day in 2025 approximately 360,000 to 430,000 passengers are likely on US cruises, based on estimated US passenger volume, ship capacities, and operational patterns.

Links:

Trump administration lays off cruise ship inspectors despite recent outbreaks – pennlive.com

About Vessel Sanitation Program | Vessel Sanitation Program | CDC

https://www.cdc.gov/vessel-sanitation/cruise-ship-outbreaks/navigator-of-the-seas-july-2025.html

Afghans Who Loyally Served With US Military in Peril

Interpreter Abdul Qader Zaman with US Army MSG Terry Best.

DHS has ended Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for Afghans. Since last summer, more than 76,000 Afghans have arrived in the US. Many of those fled the country on flights in the chaotic weeks before the US fully withdrew from Afghanistan in late August. They include former interpreters, NGO workers, and soldiers who worked with American and NATO forces during the 20-year war. If Afghans here under TPS status do not self-deport, ICE will detain them and then send them back to the waiting hands of the Taliban.

Link: DHS Terminating Temporary Protected Status for Afghanistan | Homeland Security

An Afghan interpreter went to a routine green card appointment has already fallen victim to ICE. Identified only as ‘Zia S’, the 35-year-old husband and father of five who entered the US in October 2024 with a visa issued by US authorities was arrested and taken away in a van after a routine biometrics appointment for his green card in East Hartford, Connecticut.

Link: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/23/afghanistan-war-translator-ice-connecticut

Another Afghan Interpreter’s Odyssey

As Kabul fell to the Taliban last August, Abdul Qader Zaman (pictured above) and his family were among the tens of thousands desperately trying to flee the country. With the help of volunteers and veterans from his time as an interpreter for US soldiers, Zaman and his family eventually escaped. For PBS, Hari Sreenivasan reports from Erie, PA, where the Zamans are now beginning life again.

Link: After escaping Kabul, an Afghan interpreter reunites with an American vet | PBS News Weekend

Cruelty Awaits Afghans Who Collaborated with ISAF

An Afghan judge whips a woman in front of a crowd in Ghor Province in 2015. (Photo: Reuters)

An Afghan interpreter named Mohammed Rafi Hottak who is safe for now in the UK says his own life remains in danger after recruiting hundreds of interpreters for the British military in Afghanistan.

He relates the following testimony in a court alleging that interpreters who worked in Iraq are better treated by the UK than those who worked in Afghanistan.

Hottak Mr Hottak describes in a statement to the court how one particular video “broke my heart.”

He says two of the six young men seen having their heads sawn off with a handheld knife were friends and old room-mates specially targeted after they chose to work as interpreters with US forces.

Mr Hottak and another ex-interpreter, referred to as ‘Al,’ are accusing the UK Government of unlawfully failing to offer adequate assistance to former Afghan interpreters who worked for them.

Lord Justice Burnett and Mr Justice Irwin, sitting in London, were told by their barrister Ben Jaffey that each had given “loyal, important, and dangerous service” for the UK armed forces.

As a result both they and their families had suffered serious injuries in Taliban attacks.

But they and other interpreters like them were being discriminated against and given less favorable treatment and assistance than Iraqi interpreters whose lives became endangered working for the British in the Iraq war.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Ministry of Defense are fighting the claim.

Mr Hottak said while he was working in Kabul in 2007 the UK forces received the body of a dead interpreter.

“Luckily he had not been beheaded. He had just been shot sixty times and whipped with a chain.”

Prisoners of the Taliban awaiting a grim public punishment. (Image: AMU TV)

Statistics from the Taliban’s Supreme Court and statements from officials across Afghanistan indicate that the group publicly flogged 583 people and executed six individuals during 2024.

UN experts, including Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett, called on the Taliban to immediately halt all “inhumane punishments” in Afghanistan, including public executions and corporal punishment, after four executions were carried out in a single day last week.

Links:

Taliban Publicly Flogged Nearly 590 Individuals in 2024 | Afghanistan International

UN experts urge Taliban to immediately halt executions and corporal punishments | Amu TV

This is what the Trumpf junta is cruelly doing to Afghans who risked their lives for the US.

Who will trust the word of America ever again?

US: Southwestern Drought Will Last Through 2100

The drought in the Southwestern US is likely to last for the rest of the 21st century and potentially beyond as global warming shifts the distribution of heat in the Pacific Ocean.

The Southwestern US is experiencing a megadrought resulting in the aridification of the landscape, a decades-long drying of the region brought on by climate change and the overconsumption of the region’s water. That’s led to major rivers and their basins, such as the Colorado and Rio Grande rivers, seeing reduced flows and a decline of the water stored in underground aquifers, which is forcing states and communities to reckon with a sharply reduced water supply. Farmers have cut back on the amount of water they use. Cities are searching for new water supplies. And states, tribes, and federal agencies are engaging in tense negotiations over how to manage declining resources like the Colorado River going forward.

Dummkopf Trumpf Wasted California’s Precious Water Earlier This Year

2015 photo of Dotard Trumpf courtesy of CNN.

One of the first blunders Trumpf made as soon as he assumed office was releasing 2.2 billion gallons of precious water from two of California’s reservoirs to fight the Los Angeles wildfires, against the wishes of Governor Gavin Newsom and the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Link: https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/03/climate/trump-california-water-dams-reservoirs

“Hey, Mexico! There’s a Hole on Your Side of the Boat!”

Source: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/

Then the Trumpf junta selfishly denied a special request from Mexico for the delivery of Colorado River water to the city of Tijuana — marking the first such denial in 81 years. Justifying the decision, the US State Department blamed Mexico for failing to abide by the terms of a historic water partnership accord signed between the two nations in 1944.

Link: https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5211310-trump-administration-denies-water-request-colorado-river-mexico/

Mexico has been undergoing a severe drought for several years now and shouldn’t be blamed for having less water to go around. Mexican rescue workers came to the help of the 4 July flood victims in Texas before US FEMA teams arrived to help.

More than two dozen Mexicans came to Central Texas to help with recovery efforts after the 4 July flood. Firefighters with the Mountain Home Fire Department worked with them for six days, searching for missing people in the Guadalupe River. (Photo: Greta Díaz González Vázquez / KUT News)

Unstoppable Desertification

As you read previously on Coriolanus, the world’s oceans are dying. Global climate change is slowing destroying the earth and causing mass migration from arid areas to moister regions. Unless mankind takes drastic steps now to lower greenhouse gas emissions, plant more trees, use natural sources of power like wind, solar, and tidal, and guard our precious water, the earth will continue getting warmer and drier, leading to increased desertification of the planet, more powerful storms, and toxic ocean waters.

Links:

https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/2c39108f-9ab7-11e8-a408-01aa75ed71a1/language-en

Southwestern drought likely to continue through 2100, research finds

Followers of the Watch That Are Aficionados of Grappling

On a grass field slick with olive oil and steeped in tradition, hundreds of boys as young as 11 joined the ranks of Turkiye’s most time-honored sporting event: the annual Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling Championship.

Held every summer in the northwestern city of Edirne (once the capital of the Ottoman Empire), the event is said to date back to the 14th century as a way of keeping the Ottoman Empire’s fighting men fit and ready for battle.

The sport, which is on UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list, sees wrestlers cover themselves in olive oil and try to press their opponent’s back to the ground to win the bout.

Alongside the men contesting, youngsters also don the iconic “kispet” leather trousers to embark on a slippery test of strength, skill and stamina under the scorching sun.

A young wrestler is doused in oil during the 664th annual Historic Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling championship, in Edirne, northwestern Turkey, Sunday, 6 July 2025. (Photo: Khalil Hamra / AP)

The boys are ranked in divisions based on age, height and build, with the youngest generally placed in the “minik,” or tiny, category. Under strict safety regulations, their matches are shorter and closely supervised.

Most young wrestlers train year-round at local clubs, often in towns where oil wrestling is passed down through generations.

While the youngest competitors aren’t wrestling for titles like “baspehlivan,” the grand champion of the men’s matches, their participation is no less significant as it is key to the continuity of a sport that holds deep cultural importance across Turkey.

This year’s contest — the 664th in its history — saw 36-year-old Orhan Okulu win his third men’s title.

“My goal was the golden belt in Kirkpinar and thanks to my God, I succeeded,” Okulu said of the coveted prize.

Link: https://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/photos-show-turkey-s-youngest-oil-wrestlers-20760276.php

The Greatest Wrestler of All Time

The undefeated Gama is often considered the greatest wrestler who ever lived.

Born in Amritsar of undivided India in 1878, Gama is often considered the greatest wrestler who ever lived and the man who inspired Bruce Lee.

Ghulam Mohammad Baksh Butt (22 May 1878 – 23 May 1960), commonly known by the title Rustam-e-Hind and by the ring name The Great Gama, was a pehlwani wrestler and strongman in British India and later, Pakistan. In the early 20th century, he was an undefeated wrestling champion of British India for 52 years.

Read about his matches with Europe’s champions here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Gama

Bruce Lee adopted the Great Gama’s training techniques, amongst other skills.

Link: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/who-is-the-great-gama-pehlwan-india-wrestler

Sleepy Kittens

Followers of the Watch, Coriolanus returns to the stage next week. Until then, please look after yourselves and enjoy this wonderful First Violinist:

CENTCOM: US, Iraqi Security Forces Kill 15 ISIS Operatives; In Yemen, Two Shia Houthi Drones Destroyed

A UH-60 Black Hawk flies during a 2022 mission targeting ISIS. (MAJ Karl R. Cain II/ US Army)

CENTCOM forces and Iraqi Security Forces conducted a partnered raid in Western Iraq in the early hours of 29 Aug, resulting in the death of 15 ISIS operatives.  Seven US casualties were reported. The ISIS element was armed with numerous weapons, grenades, and explosive “suicide” belts.  There is no indication of civilian casualties or if any prisoners were taken for interrogation or prosecution. Iraqi Security Forces continue to further exploit the locations raided. CENTCOM also reported in the past 24 hours they destroyed two Iranian-backed Houthi uncrewed aerial vehicles in a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen.

The Houthis are a Shia Muslim minority in Yemen, seen as heretical by the majority Sunnis Muslims on the Saudi Peninsula. After the Yemen government collapsed earlier this century, Saudi Arabia, led by the king and Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman (MBS), supported the Yemeni Sunnis in the ensuing civil war. After the Yemeni Shias defeated and humiliated the Saudi Army in 2015, MBS instituted a Saudi air and naval blockade of Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen. This created an appalling humanitarian disaster of starvation and disease. The UN estimates 130,000 deaths from lack of food, health services, and infrastructure as of December 2020.

Hashem Mahmoud Atin, a 10-month-old displaced child suffering from acute malnutrition and who is unable to reach a hospital for treatment, is held by his mother at a refugee camp in Yemen. (2020 image: Sky News).

The famine and blockade propelled the beleaguered Shia Yemenis into the arms of Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah, their fellow Shia co-religionists.  This is why we see Houthi drone counterattacks against Western maritime targets in the Red Sea or the Gulf of Aden after Israel conducts an Extra-Judicial Killing (XJK) in Lebanon, Syria, or sovereign Iranian territory (via drone, missile, jet, or assassin). The Shia Houthis are simply supporting the two groups that are helping them to survive. This humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen can be laid squarely at the feet of the notorious MBS, who allegedly had a dissident journalist named Jamal Khashoggi literally butchered and dismembered in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on 2 Oct 2018.

Sources:

CENTCOM Forces and Iraqi Security Forces conduct partnered raid in Western Iraq > U.S. Central Command > Press Release View

15 ISIS militants killed, 7 US troops injured during Iraq raid (airforcetimes.com)

Yemen in ‘a desperate situation’ as famine looms and hundreds of thousands face starvation | World News | Sky News

The Houthis: Who They Are and Why Conflict Exists (brookings.edu)

Famine in Yemen (2016–present) – Wikipedia

Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi – Wikipedia

Hundreds of Taiwanese Disappear in China Like a Black Hole Over Past Ten Years

Victims of enforced disappearance in China (L to R) rights attorney Gao Zhisheng, retired university professor Sun Wenguang, 2022 bridge banner protester Peng Lifa, and the 11th Panchen Lama.

More than 800 nationals of democratic Taiwan have “disappeared” over the past ten years in China, which has long used forced disappearances to silence and control its own dissidents and rights activists, rights groups. Figures compiled by the Taiwan Association for Human Rights and several other non-government groups showed that 857 Taiwan nationals have been “forcibly disappeared or arbitrarily arrested” in China.

The victims include publisher Li Yanhe (pen name Fu Cha), detained in Shanghai since April 2023, democracy activist Lee Ming-cheh, who served a five-year jail term in Hunan province for “attempting to subvert state power,” and businessman Lee Meng-Chu, jailed for nearly two years for “espionage” after he snapped photos of People’s Armed Police personnel during the 2019 Hong Kong protests.

Meanwhile, Taiwanese lawmaker Hung Shen-han warned that it’s not only Taiwanese who are at risk of arbitrary arrest and “disappearance” in China. “Chinese citizens themselves face the same problem.”

Geng He, the US-based wife of human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng said it has been seven years since he “disappeared” on 13 Aug 2017.

Disappeared Chinese rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng in an undated photo. (Weiquanwang)

Chinese authorities have also forcibly disappeared Uyghurs and Tibetans in the far-western part of mainland China. An estimated 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims have been detained in Xinjiang under flimsy pretexts during mass incarcerations that began more than seven years ago in an effort by Chinese authorities in a massive Sinicization project.

Former Xinjiang University President Tashpolat Teyip, who himself vanished in 2017 amid rumors he had run afoul of China’s increasingly hardline policies in Xinjiang has had no news about his brother, Nury, who also fell victim to an enforced disappearance. Teyip, who now lives in the US state of Virginia, said he has lost faith in the UN and international human rights organizations which did little to help except release a statement.

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy highlighted a “disturbing trend” of underreporting of the number of Tibetans who are victims of enforced disappearances as China cracks down more heavily with restrictions and heightened surveillance in Tibet.  The rights group has documented more than 63 known cases of Tibetans subjected to enforced disappearance in Tibet over the past four years, but said the underreporting likely had to do with fear of reprisals. 

In February 2024, Tibetan performer  Gyegjom Dorjee (pictured below), who sang publicly about the exiled Dalai Lama’s return to Tibet and blasted Chinese leaders as “false,” was arrested in China’s Sichuan province.

In March, Chinese police arrested Pema, a Tibetan monk from Kirti Monastery, for staging a solo protest while holding a portrait of the Dalai Lama.  And on May 28, the Chinese authorities arrested Rabgang Tenzin who hoisted the Tibetan national flag in Tibet’s Chamdo prefecture as part of a consecration ceremony.  

The U.S. Congressional Executive Commission on China and the Tibetan government in exile urged Beijing to reveal the whereabouts of one of the highest Tibetan Buddhist leaders, the 11th Panchen Lama, or Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, as one of the “most prominent enforced disappearance cases.” He was abducted by Chinese authorities in May 1995, just days after the Dalai Lama recognized the then six-year-old as the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, the second-highest spiritual leader in the largest sect of Tibetan Buddhism. 

Source:

Hundreds of Taiwanese ‘disappear’ in China over past 10 years — Radio Free Asia (rfa.org)

Since Its War in Ukraine, Russia Relies More on “Bargain Basement” Spies

Pablo Gonzalez (second from left in back), a freelance journalist from Spain, listens to Russian President Vladimir Putin addressing him and other “swapped” Russian prisoners upon their arrival in Moscow on 1 Aug 2024. (Imagery: Radio Free Europe)

After Russia lost many of its valuable spy assets when dozens of diplomats were expelled from Western countries after the invasion of Ukraine, non-diplomatic civilian agents have now become essential. 90% of operations now carried out by these shadowy figures.

Many manage to avoid detection by working in innocuous jobs that allow them access to events and people of interest to Moscow. One purpose of these low-level spies is to exert influence on the Western world by infiltrating radical protest groups or opposition organizations.

A recent prisoner swap with Moscow included supposed art dealers and a Spanish-Russian freelance reporter Pablo Gonzalez, also known as Pavel Rubtsov.

On the surface, Pablo Gonzalez worked as a reporter for media outlets that included Deutsche Welle (DW) and the Voice of America (VOA), specializing in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. But in reality, according to the head of the British MI6 secret service, Gonzalez was gathering information on Russian opposition groups and trying to destabilize Ukraine in the run up to Moscow’s full-scale invasion. Polish authorities detained Gonzalez in February 2022. Until 1 August, he was held in a high-security jail on charges of spying for Russia — allegations he had denied.

Media watchdogs condemned the conditions in which Poland held Gonzalez, but video footage of him being welcomed by Putin after the swap appeared to confirm his primary role was spy craft, not journalism.

Marc Marginedas, a correspondent for Spanish newspaper El Periodico, said despite the expulsions of Russian diplomats after the Ukraine invasion, the Russian intelligence service is like a small army. Staff in Russian embassies and state-run media organizations are probably forced to work in some kind of intelligence capacity. Marginedas agreed that “illegals” or “bargain basement” agents are now a mainstay of Moscow’s spying operation.

“Russia has invested heavily in ‘illegal’ agents who do not enjoy diplomatic protection,” he said. “Putin, by receiving those people with pomp at [Moscow’s] airport and promising them jobs and medals, was sending out the message to the future spies that the Russian state will not abandon its spies.”

Sources:

‘Renaissance of illegals’: Since its war in Ukraine, Russia is relying more on bargain basement spies (voanews.com)

Putin’s welcome ends speculation around true identity of Pablo Gonzalez

South Africans Flocking to Visiting Chinese Hospital Ship for Free Medical Care

The Peace Ark has a capacity to treat 700 patients each day and the service forms part of a joint exercise between the South African and Chinese armies. (Image: BBC)

As reported above, while undesirables are disappearing in China, Beijing is fostering goodwill in Africa with the Peace Ark, a 300-bed hospital that is docked in Capetown, South Africa. The military medical staff on board are providing free health care to needy South Africans.

Since the Peace Ark arrived last week, more than 2,000 South Africans have been treated on board – ranging from maternity check-ups and cataract surgeries to cupping therapy. Approximately 60 surgeries have been carried out so far, a tiny dent in the province’s waiting list of 80,000 patients.

The floating hospital leaves Cape Town for Angola before moving on to several other countries. The Peace Ark already visited the Seychelles, Tanzania, Madagascar, and Mozambique on this 10th excursion since being commissioned in 2008.

China enjoys a strong political partnership with South Africa, and this is Beijing’s latest show of soft power and a further step in China’s efforts to increase its influence on the African continent.

The 300-bed Peace Ark has a crew of 100, 20 intensive care beds, operating theatres, clinical departments, and a rescue helicopter.

Source:

Peace Ark: South Africans flock to Chinese hospital ship in Cape Town (bbc.com)

West Nile Virus Kills Two in New Jersey as US Death Toll Reaches Five; EEE Threatens New England

Two people have died in New Jersey after contracting West Nile virus — marking the fourth and fifth deaths in the US this year from the mosquito-borne disease. Little is known about the victims, beyond that they’ve been identified as “older adults.”

The deaths come on the heels of two virus-related fatalities in Wisconsin and one in Illinois. There have been a total of eight West Nile cases in New Jersey this year, leading to seven hospitalizations for encephalitis or meningitis. In 2023, 14 cases were reported in New Jersey and one death. NYC has reported six cases of West Nile and a total of 20 cases have been reported throughout NYS.

To the north as reported in a previous post, New England health authorities have been dealing with mosquitos carrying eastern equine encephalitis (EEE). Vermont’s health department is urging residents of several towns, including one bordering Quebec, to stay indoors from dusk to dawn to prevent the spread of a mosquito-borne illness.

Sources:

Department of Health | News | State Officials Urge Residents to Take Precautions Against Mosquito-Borne Illnesses (nj.gov)

West Nile kills 2 in NJ — 5 total dead across US (nypost.com)

Quebec towns near U.S. border alerted as Vermont faces mosquito-borne illness threat | CBC News

Jews and Arabs Hoped to Fill One Truck with Aid for Gaza Civilians. They filled 300.

Haviva Ner-David (R) with other Standing Together volunteers collecting humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza at Umm al-Fahem, a mostly Arab Israeli city in the Haifa district, 11 Aug 2024. (Photo: Faisel Mahagneh)

Standing Together, a joint Jewish-Arab Israeli national activist movement working for peace, equality and justice, had a plan to hire one big truck to go from one Arab town to another across Israel collecting donations of supplies. These would then be transported across the border and distributed to Gazan civilians through an international organization.

But already at the first site in northern Arab city of Sakhnin, it became clear more than one truck would be needed and volunteers filled three trucks. At Umm El Fahem, these volunteers collected 29 trucks full of aid. Donations included tuna fish, baby formula, bags of legumes and flour, as well as packages of diapers and menstrual pads. By the end of the humanitarian aid drive, which was extended a few extra days to include a couple more sites, Standing Together filled 300 trucks with supplies.

Before the war, back in January 2023, Standing Together organized the first mass demonstration against the government in Tel Aviv, drawing thousands of Arabs and Jews.

Humanitarian aid collected for civilians in Gaza at a warehouse in Umm al-Fahem, Israel, Aug. 11, 2024. (Jacob Ner-David)

Source:

Jews and Arabs hoped to fill a truck with aid for Gaza civilians. We ended up filling 300. – Jewish Telegraphic Agency (jta.org)

American Warzone: NFL Rookie Wounded During Robbery Attempt in San Francisco

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall during NFL football training camp in Santa Clara, Calif., Wednesday, 31 July 2024. Photo by: Jeff Chiu/AP

America’s two favorite pastimes, firearms and football, collided this weekend when 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall (23) was shot Saturday during an attempted robbery in central San Francisco.  Police said that Pearsall was injured while being robbed and so was the suspect. Both were taken to the hospital and Pearsall’s condition was reported as “good” by his teammate Deebo Samuel (posted on X).

In an average year, 3,299 people die and 9,787 are wounded by guns in California. The Golden State has the 32nd-highest rate of gun violence in the US. Per CBS News, California firearms licenses in 2021 numbered 406,360 and an estimated 28.3% of adults in California have guns in their homes. The number of illegal firearms in California is unknown.

Sources:

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall shot during attempted robbery (scrippsnews.com)

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

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

Baby Rhino’s First Video: Southern White Calf Born in Melbourne Zoo

The new rhino calf will be named by public vote in the coming weeks. His mother, Kipenzi, means “precious one” in Swahili. Imagery: Werribee Open Range Zoo

Kipenzi is an 11-year-old southern white rhino, one of the most numerous rhino subspecies. Her calf was born on 18 Aug, and unlike her first baby which she tragically rejected years ago, she has been an attentive mother this time around.

Sheltered from public view as the two bond, visitors will soon be able to see the new boy stomping about his enclosure. Dr. Mark Pilgrim, the zoo’s director, said that Kipenzi was “doing her best to shepherd it and keep it close to her, and making sure that it’s not wandering off too far. So she’s just doing the perfect thing we expect a mother rhino to do.”

Kipenzi herself was born at Werribee Zoo in 2013 to resident rhino Sisi, who also presented a danger to her calf as she would not let Kipenzi out of her sight, even just to walk alongside her to nurse.

Source:

Baby Rhino’s First Video: Adorable Footage of Southern White Calf Born in Aussie Zoo (goodnewsnetwork.org)