“Unspeakable Suffering”: Israeli Military Kills Nine Children from Same Family

Pediatrician Dr. Alaa al-Najjar (38) left her ten children at home last Friday when she went to work in the emergency room at the Nasser Medical Complex in southern Gaza.

Hours later, the bodies of seven children – most of them badly burned – arrived at the hospital. They were Dr. Najjar’s own children, killed in an IDF airstrike on her family’s home. The bodies of her two other children, a seven-month-old and a two-year-old, were trapped under the rubble. Only one of her ten children – critically injured – survived. Dr. Najjar’s husband, himself a doctor, was also critically injured in the strike.

Hamdi al-Najjar is in critical condition in Nasser hospital where relatives try and comfort him. (Photo: Getty Images)

Dr al-Najjar is facing “unspeakable suffering,” colleague Dr Angelova-Chee ruefully said.

The IDF said aircraft had “struck a number of suspects who were identified operating from a structure adjacent to IDF troops in the area of Khan Yunis” and was reviewing the claim civilians had been killed.

By their own admission, the IDF struck “suspects” without positive identification. The only due process Palestinians receive from the IDF is death from a safe distance with US-provided munitions.

Top genocide scholars from several countries are unanimous that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.  Sadistically aiding and abetting these atrocities is the US government. In March 2025, USSECSTATE Marco Rubio signed a declaration to use emergency authorities to expedite the delivery of approximately four billion dollars of American taxpayer funds in military assistance to Israel.

Adam (11) on the left is the only surviving child in the family. He is pictured here with his sisters Sidra and Rival (R) who were both killed in the Israeli air strike. (Photo: al-Najjar family)

The Palestinian death toll from the Israeli onslaught since October 2023 has risen to 53,939 fatalities, with an additional 122,797 people wounded or maimed. The majority of the victims are women and children. Frustration with American and European complicity in the ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the West Bank have led to attacks against Israeli targets by angry volunteers in various locations, as you will read later.

South Africa and other countries leveled charges of genocide against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague. An international arrest warrant issued by the ICC for crimes against humanity remains active for Benjamin Netanyahu.

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

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/24/middleeast/gaza-doctor-children-bodies-hospital-intl

https://www.icc-cpi.int/defendant/netanyahu

https://www.state.gov/military-assistance-to-israel/

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/top-genocide-scholars-unanimous-israel-committing-genocide-gaza-investigation-finds

https://www.icj-cij.org/index.php/home

Mexico: 700 Animals Rescued from Drug Cartel Violence

Elephants, lions, and tigers await relocation from Ostok Sanctuary amid cartel violence near Culiacán. (Photo: Felix Marquez)

A Mexican wildlife sanctuary has evacuated hundreds of exotic animals to escape cartel violence near Culiacn, Sinaloa, marking one of the largest animal relocations in the country’s history. 700 animals including elephants, tigers, and lions, were transported from Ostok Sanctuary 140 miles to a new refuge in Mazatln after months of armed attacks, threats, and supply shortages. A 15-truck convoy, escorted by National Guard personnel, accompanied zoo veterinary technicians and wildlife management specialists. Ostok Sanctuary is located 25 km north of the capital of Culiacn, a city that rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel have turned into a battlefield for territorial control, following last summer’s arrest and extradition to the US of cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.

The American demand for illegal drugs continue making trafficking a lucrative business for the Mexican cartels. At least 70% of recovered weapons in Mexico originated in the US, called the “Iron River” by Mexicans. This month drug cartel assassins ambushed three security consultants who worked with the USG.  Good for these poor innocent animals rescued from the cruelties of man.

Sources:

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/mexican-security-consultant-worked-us-state-department-killed-121915953

Moldova Extradites White Supremacist Terrorist to US

Michail Chkhikvishvili (Photo: Justice Department)

Georgian national Michail Chkhikvishvili (21) AKA “Commander Butcher” was extradited to the US from Moldova. Chkhikvishvili was arrested in connection with planning a mass casualty attack in NYC. Chkhikvishvili is a leader of the Maniac Murder Cult. This defendant allegedly planned to poison Jewish children and carry out mass murder in NYC. Via the internet he incited bombings, arsons, and violence against racial and religious minorities, driven by a hateful Neo-Nazi ideology. Michail Chkhikvishvili faces 50 years in prison if convicted on four counts of terrorism-related charges.  

Chkhikvishvili wanted the planned attack to be a “bigger action than Breivik,” referring to Anders Behring Breivik, a Norwegian Neo‑Nazi who killed 77 people in a bombing and mass shooting in Norway in 2011. Meanwhile, Chkhikvishvili told others of his plan and claimed to have previously committed other hate crimes while living in Brooklyn in 2022.  Chkhikvishvili boasted to others that he was “glad I have murdered,” and that he would “murder more” but “make others murder first.”

Some of the 77 innocent victims of Anders Behring Breivik.

This maniac may have already murdered someone, which authorities will investigate. This is a thoroughly dangerous and revolting lunatic who should be separated from society quickly and for a long time.

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

Sources:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/georgian-national-extradited-moldova-face-charges-soliciting-hate-crimes-and-planning

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/media/1401446/dl?inline

Mental Illness Increasing in US

Feliz Enrique was indicted with assault in the first degree and other crimes. The defendant allegedly approached a nine-year-old girl as she was playing on a Queens street and forcefully struck the child with his hand on 10 May. Video surveillance film above shows Enrique winding up (left) and then pummeling the defenseless child with hurricane force (right). When a nearby, off-duty NYPD Sergeant intervened with bystanders to apprehend him following the incident, Enrique allegedly bit off the top segment of the officer’s right index finger.

The girl was treated at a local hospital and sustained bruising to her arm and back, bleeding to her lip and arm, loose teeth, as well as substantial pain. The injured NYPD officer was also treated at a local hospital and sustained bite marks to his hand and leg, and abrasions to his arm and leg. Physicians were unable to reattach the officer’s fingertip.

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

Florida: Miscreant Sentenced One Month for Killing Defenseless Dolphins

Zackery Brandon Barfield (31) of Panama City, FL was sentenced to 30 days imprisonment, a $51,000 fine, and one-year supervised release for poisoning and shooting dolphins. Barfield grew frustrated with dolphins eating red snapper from the lines of his charter fishing clients. He began placing methomyl inside baitfish to poison the dolphins that surfaced near his boat. Methomyl is a highly toxic pesticide that acts on the nervous system of humans, mammals, and other animals. Barfield recognized methomyl’s toxicity and impact on the environment but continued to feed poisoned baitfish to the dolphins for months. Barfield also used a 12-gauge shotgun to shoot the defenseless dolphins that surfaced near his vessel, killing one immediately.

On other occasions, Barfield shot, but did not immediately kill, dolphins near his vessel. On one trip the maniac shot an innocent dolphin while two elementary-aged children were on board, and another with more than a dozen fisherman on board.

Dolphins have highly developed language abilities and can learn complicated tricks. Coriolanus and his wife safely swam with the dolphins in the Caribbean. Dolphins have served the US and Russian navies and some believe they can even sense cancer tumors. A marine biologist said: “They have culture, they use tools, they have complex societies. These animals are very much like us because of their social complexities, their behavior, their level of self-awareness.” Some researchers have argued that dolphins should be afforded the same human rights as people.

Zackery Brandon Barfield shot and poisoned these defenseless, intelligent mammals, as if the earth’s waters and her sea life aren’t threatened enough with toxic algae, oil spills, pollution, and dangerous chemicals. One month is far too short a sentence for this miscreant. And yes, you guessed correctly; this gun-loving maniac is a registered Republican.

Nihilist Dies in Suicide Attack Against California Fertility Clinic

Guy Edward Bartkus, who is thought to have died in the blast, left behind writings which suggest he disapproved of people being brought into the world against their will.

Bartkus detonated explosives outside the clinic on Saturday morning and tried to livestream the attack. Four other people were injured in the explosion and have been released from hospital. None of the wounded are staff or patients at the clinic.

Sources:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndfl/pr/panama-city-commercial-fisherman-sentenced-killing-dolphins-gulf-america

https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/just-how-intelligent-are-dolphins

https://voterrecords.com/voter/7476799/zachary-barfield

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/florida-fisherman-convicted-killing-dolphins

usafacts.org

www.cdc.gov

usnewsper.com 

www.vox.com

nchstats.com

www.va.gov

https://maxread.substack.com/p/the-zizians-and-the-rationalist-death

https://usafacts.org/articles/how-common-is-mental-illness/

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c787j90wp6po

Russia-Ukraine Update

The US National Security Agency (NSA) reports that hackers working for Russian military intelligence (GRU) are targeting Western technology and logistics companies involved in shipping assistance to Ukraine, including US ports, airports, and rail systems. The hackers are trying to obtain details about the type of assistance entering Ukraine and sought access to internet-connected cameras near Ukrainian border crossings, amongst other probes. The full unclassified report is linked at bottom.

“Mum, I’ve been exchanged, I’m home!” (Image: President Volodomir Zelensky via Telegram)

Russian forces executed two Ukrainian POWs near Udachne in Donetsk Oblast. Nevertheless, Ukraine and Russia conducted the largest POW exchange of the war: 270 soldiers and 120 civilians returned to Kiev. Polish fighter jets intercepted a Russian Su-24 bomber in international airspace over the Baltic Sea. The incident marks the latest in a series of Russian provocations near NATO territory.

Pro-Kremlin Ukrainian Politician Shot Dead in Spain

Andriy Portnov in happier times.

Unknown assailants permanently removed a US-sanctioned pro-Kremlin politician from the chessboard in an affluent neighborhood in Madrid, Spain. Andriy Portnov (51) had just dropped his children off at the school in the Pozuelo de Alarcón area of the city and was walking to his car in the school parking area. At least one unidentified attacker fired several shots at the quisling before fleeing into a wooded area in a nearby public park. Portnov had been an MP and deputy head in the administration of Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian president ousted in 2014 after months of protests. The ripesuck reportedly made a fortune collecting bribes as a “fixer” in Ukraine’s judicial system which led to his sanctioning by the Biden administration.

The government of Ukraine investigated Portnov for his involvement in Russia’s annexation of Crimea and other crimes, but there is no record that any official charges were pressed against this quisling. Unclear is how much of Ukraine’s wealth Portnov siphoned off from the Ukrainian treasury or how much he amassed collecting bribes. Whatever the amounts were, his wealth didn’t save him from a hail of bullets by unknown assassins.

The Ukrainian espionage and counterintelligence services are first rate, but no one has claimed credit for this assassination and there are no suspects yet. Russian organized crime or the FSB is as good a suspect as the Ukrainian special services in the dark world of Russian oligarchs.

Appalling Russian Military Losses Continue

International arrest warrants issued by the ICC for war crimes remain active for Russia President Vladimir Putin and Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu. 

An indictment is merely an accusation. Both defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Sources:

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/05/23/7513766/

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx277jklkyzo

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0523

Former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Made False Bomb Threat to Bring Attention to Gaza Genocide

Los Angeles Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Brian K. Williams. (Photo: Public domain)

Former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Brian K. Williams (61) was charged with threatening to bomb Los Angeles City Hall last year in a single-count information. Williams agreed to plead guilty to the felony charge, which carries a statutory maximum sentence of ten years in federal prison. Williams used the Google Voice application on his personal cellphone to place a call to his city-issued cellphone and then falsely reported:

“Bomb threat: I received phone call on my city cell at 10:48 am this morning. The male caller stated that he was tired of the city support of Israel, and he has decided to place a bomb in City Hall. It might be in the rotunda.’ 

In fact, Williams received no such call and had made the bomb threat himself. At no time did Williams intend to carry out the threat.

Frustrated with unqualified US support for Israel and the genocide in Gaza which has killed over 53,939 Palestinians, wounding or maiming 122,797, Deputy Mayor Williams seemed to think the publicity from his bomb threat would bring attention to this grave injustice. Of the billions of dollars the US sends to Israel every year, the State of California contributes a total of $609,845,124, the most out of any other state.

Here’s Why

Palestinian children being mourned.

This support for Israel cost the Democratic Party the presidential election on 5 Nov 2024.

An indictment is merely an accusation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Sources:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/former-los-angeles-deputy-mayor-public-safety-agrees-plead-guilty-threatening-bomb-la

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/21/politics/individuals-connected-to-israeli-embassy-shot-in-dc-sources-says

Argentina: Nazi War Criminals Allegedly Paid $200M in Bribes to Perón Govt

President Juan Domingo Perón and wife Eva Duarte.

Recently declassified files suggest that Nazi war criminals may have paid $200 million in gold bribes to Argentine authorities to secure refuge in the country after World War II.

The files indicate German submarines transported the gold to Argentina’s southern coast, where it was delivered to Eva Duarte, wife of then-President Juan Domingo Perón. The money was reportedly later handled by German bankers Richard von Frente, Ricardo Stauch, and Rodolf Freude.

The released material includes 1,850 documents compiled into seven files dating from 1950 to 1980. The records confirm that Third Reich fugitives arrived in Argentina beginning in 1945 with the protection of Peron, and that their arrival was not isolated but part of a larger effort.

Nazi ideology had gained notable support in Argentina as early as the 1930s. On 10 April 1938, nearly 10,000 people attended a rally organized by the German embassy at Luna Park stadium in Buenos Aires.

Otto Skorzeny was Der Fuhrer’s favorite commando. In 1943, he rescued Benito Mussolini from prison in a daring raid using gliders. Skorzeny, an avid fencer, was proud of the scar on the left side of his face. Undated image from the public domain,

Infamous Waffen-SS commando Otto Skorzeny, once described by SHAEF Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower as “the most dangerous man in Europe,” wended his way to Argentina after WWII and served as a bodyguard to Eva Perón, who he allegedly had an affair with. Skorzeny eventually moved to Ireland in June 1957 and then to Madrid, Spain, where he would die at age 67 in 1975.

You may never watch Evita again the same way again.

Sources:

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2025/05/23/paraguay-argentina-nazi-leaders-bribes/6981748030375/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6345751/How-Hitlers-favourite-Nazi-commando-saved-Mussolini-fortress-farmer-Ireland.html

Pride of Kittens Attack German Shepherd

President of Ukraine Meets Mobster in White House

Last Friday, Ukraine President Volodomir Zelensky met a mafia don at the White House. This brutal two-on-one ambush by Donald Trumpf on the leader of a country fighting for is survival shocked even some Republicans in Congress.  

After being publicly embarrassed by France President Emmanuel Macron earlier in the week, the Mafia head of the US brought his vicious hillbilly lapdog (VPOTUS JD Vance) who he sicced on the ambushed Ukrainian President to outnumber him two-to-one:

This type of undiplomatic negotiation of threats, extortions, and unreasonable demands is right out of organized crime.

And like the infamous Al Capone pictured above who suffered from syphilis, there are rumors circulating that Donald Trumpf is suffering from the same sexually-transmitted disease.

The mafioso bullied the President of Ukraine, yet look how Trumpf helped fellow rightwing ethnic-cleanser Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu into his chair at the White House last month.

The Aftermath

The multi-billion dollar mineral deal was not signed and the discussion of a path forward was cut short. Zelensky left the White House early and a press conference scheduled to take place after the meeting was canceled. After this appalling display of mafioso bravado, a Norwegian oil and shipping company has announced an immediate halt to fuel supplies for US military forces docking in the country’s ports. Haltbakk Bunkers, which supplied approximately 3,000,000 liters of fuel to the US military in 2024, issued a scathing statement on Facebook. “Today we have witnessed the greatest ‘sh*t show’ ever presented live on television, by the current American president and his vice president,” the company wrote. “Huge credit to the president of Ukraine for restraining himself and for keeping calm even though the USA put on a backstabbing TV show. It made us sick. Short and sweet.”

President Zelensky escaped the White House ambush and flew to the UK where he was properly greeted by PM Keir Starmer and King Charles. Starmer announced a four-point plan to work with Ukraine to end the war and to defend it from Russia.

UK PM Starmer warmly hugged the beleaguered Zelensky.

King Charles meeting President Zelensky. The monarch had also extended an invitation to America’s Godzilla which has not been a popular decision in the UK.

And as for VPOTUS JD Vance who has been barely on the job for two months, he took his family to a skiing vacation in Vermont while thousands of fired federal civil servants are looking for employment. The VPOTUS and his family were met with an army of people who lined the streets and booed him.

EU and NATO countries without the US are going to continue funding and supporting Ukraine. The backlash of this mafioso approach to diplomacy will continue stinging the Trumpf regime. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a willingness to both intermediate between Kiev and the Kremlin, as well as supply future peacekeepers into the area. Turkiye has the second largest military in NATO and their soldiers have gained experience in PKO and security missions overseas. Erdogan is also closing in on a permanent peace agreement with the outlawed PKK terrorist group, as well as increasing ties with the new Syrian government who he helped install.

Meanwhile, prison cells at the Hague both await ICC-indicted Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu.

America’s Godzilla will continue wreaking havoc in the US with his oligarch-in-crime partner, Felon Musk (AKA Mecha-Godzilla)

Sources:

https://www.newsweek.com/hundreds-protest-jd-vance-during-family-ski-trip-2038280

https://eng.obozrevatel.com/section-politics/news-under-certain-conditions-turkey-is-ready-to-deploy-peacekeepers-to-ukraine-bloomberg-27-02-2025.html

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/norway-fuel-supplier-cuts-us-off-over-trumps-treatment-of-zelensky-7827845

https://apnews.com/article/pkk-turkey-kurdish-militants-ceasefire-66bae6dd7d08c8144b683f92042fbfc9

Rare Planetary Alignment Ends 4 March 2025; Next Event 2040

(Image credit: Stellarium)

In honor of this celestial event, below is the appropriate music to enjoy the space spectacle. Many consider Gustav Holst’s “The Planets” (Opus 32) the last orchestral composition of the Romantic Era. This “one-hit wonder” from Holst premiered in London on 29 Sep 1918. Note the first planet in the score is “Mars, Bringer of War.”

Europol has supported authorities from 19 countries in a large-scale operation against child sexual exploitation that has led to 25 arrests worldwide. The suspects were part of a criminal group whose members were engaged in the distribution of images of minors fully generated by artificial intelligence (AI). Operation Cumberland identified 273 suspects, arrested 25 suspects, conducted 33 house searches, and seized 173 electronic devices.

The late notorious sex maniac Jeffrey Epstein and a man who is rumored to be suffering from syphilis posing together at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, FL, in 1997. (Photo: Davidoff Studios / Getty Images)

The files did not disclose new information as flight logs naming Trumpf as a passenger on Epstein’s aircraft at least seven times had already been made public in a separate court case. There is no suggestion in the documents that the president engaged in any illegal acts. The first phase of the release is linked below.

Trumpf prefers hiring loyal, attractive women despite their qualifications, like lickspittle USAG Pam Bondi.

But don’t let the Attorney-General’s appearance fool you, Followers of the Watch, because here is what she really is:

Sources:

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-named-repeatedly-jeffrey-epstein-files-released-pam-bondi-2037648

https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/25-arrested-in-global-hit-against-ai-generated-child-sexual-abuse-material

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-pamela-bondi-releases-first-phase-declassified-epstein-files

Mexico Update

Ricardo Trevilla Trejo and Omar García Harfuch during an operation in the municipalities of Culiacán and Cosalá, Sinaloa, 14 Feb. (Photo: SECRETARÍA DE SEGURIDAD PÚBLICA Y PROTECCIÓN CIUDADANA)

FTA

The Texas Department of Agriculture has issued a warning to ranchers who operate near the Mexico border after a 74-year-old rancher from Brownsville, TX, with land across the border in Mexico has been killed from an improvised explosive device (IED). The device was allegedly planted by members of a drug cartel.

Antonio Cespedes Saldierna, who operated land on both sides of the border, along with Horacio Lopez Pena, were killed in the blast earlier in February in Tamaulipas, Mexico, about 80 miles south of Brownsville. Lopez’s wife, Ninfa Griselda Ortega, was hospitalized with injuries.

Last week, the US Justice Department announced that 29 wanted drug cartel suspects were extradited to the US. President Claudia Sheinbaum is balancing a tightrope between protecting Mexico’s sovereignty and not unleashing chaos on her people from the powerful drug cartels, all the while trying to uplift her people out of poverty and avoiding the wrath of Trumpf and his tariffs. If Americans stopped smuggling weapons to Mexico and reduced their insatiable desire for illegal drugs, life would improve on both sides of the Rio Grande River.

Besides a general warning to Mexicans visiting the US regarding police abuse, racism, or gun violence, Mexico has issued a warning to its citizens asking them not to travel to Texas and seven other states in the US due to a measles outbreak.

Mexico’s Health Secretary noted 106 cases of measles in the states of Alaska, California, Georgia, New Jersey, New York, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and in nine counties throughout Texas.

The Texas Health Department confirmed this week the death of a child who had contracted measles, the first such death in the US since 2015. One case of measles had been confirmed in the state of Chihuahua, which is located directly across the border from Texas. The Mexican state of Nuevo León, also south of Texas, is warning its residents not to travel to Texas unless they have received the measles vaccine.

The World Health Organization describes measles as a highly contagious, serious airborne disease caused by a virus that can lead to severe complications and death.

HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy has made a fortune fighting against vaccines, as the chairman of an anti-vax charity and with a new bestselling book. (NY Post photo composite)

Remarkable that the supposedly less-developed country of Mexico has to issue a warning to her citizens to avoid travelling to the supposedly developed US because of a completely preventable disease (measles). Thanks to anti-vaxxer Robert Kennedy Jr, there are many Americans convinced that vaccines causes autism. Meanwhile, his first cousin Caroline reported that Kennedy himself secretly vaccinated his own children.

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

Sources:

https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-03-02/sinaloa-flooded-with-fentanyl-mexico-hits-los-chapitos-in-its-drug-stronghold.html

https://www.borderreport.com/news/health/mexicans-warned-not-to-travel-to-texas-over-measles/amp/

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-pamela-bondi-announces-29-wanted-defendants-mexico-taken-us-custody

https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/news/farm-life/article/2025/02/26/texas-ag-commissioner-issues-warning

“Russia’s Roswell Incident” by Philip Stone Hill and Phillip Mantle (Paperback, 2017)

With the imminent release of “The Age of Disclosure,” here is a look back at a Soviet UFO incident in 1986, a few months before the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster in Ukraine. On 29 Jan 1986, a blazing red fireball crashed on “HEIGHT 611” in the Soviet Far East which UFO-ologists dubbed as “Russia’s Roswell Incident.”

A drawing informed by witnesses shows the UFO plunging down into the mountainside. (Credit: Phillip Mantle)

A view of Height 611 – the mountainside where the reported UFO crashed. (Credit: Philip Mantle)

Scientists combing through the site of an alleged crashed UFO at Height 611, far-south-east Russia. (Credit: Philip Mantle)

Strange metallic droplets were found in the earth. (Credit: Philip Mantle)

The material had an incredibly unusual amorphous structure that can usually only be created in labs. (Credit: Philip Mantle)

Local researcher Valeri Dvuzhilni with material removed from the crash site. (Credit: Philip Mantle)

Pictures of wreckage found near the crash site. (Credit: Philip Mantle)

Links:

https://openlibrary.org/books/OL27625819M/Russia’s_Roswell_Incident

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/age-of-disclosure-ufo-documentary-trailer-sxsw-1236114831/

NIH Study Links Gum Disease With Dementia

FTA

“The mouth is home to about 700 species of bacteria, including those that can cause periodontal (gum) disease. A recent analysis led by NIA scientists suggests that bacteria that cause gum disease are also associated with the development of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, especially vascular dementia.”

“Gum disease results from infection of the oral tissues holding teeth in place. Bleeding gums, loose teeth, and even tooth loss are the main effects of this disease. Bacteria and the inflammatory molecules they make can travel from infections in the mouth through the bloodstream to the brain.

The analysis revealed that older adults with signs of gum disease and mouth infections at baseline were more likely to develop Alzheimer’s during the study period. Among those 65 years or older, both Alzheimer’s diagnoses and deaths were associated with antibodies against the oral bacterium P. gingivalis, which can cluster with other bacteria such as Campylobacter rectus and Prevotella melaninogenica to further increase those risks.

A long-term follow-up for this study is needed because the findings suggest that oral infection preceded the diagnosis of dementia. After all, having dementia makes it more likely that an individual will not be able to brush and floss effectively, which increases the likelihood of such infections and gum disease.”

This study makes sense. Organs like the kidneys and liver filter out toxins before sending blood to the brain. But the gums have no natural filtering system and bacteria or virus can navigate slowly through capillaries, canals, and sinuses in the maxillofacial skeleton.

Through the gums, people can directly inject into their bloodstream the addictive chemicals found in chewing tobacco. Here, Chicago White Sox second baseman Nellie Fox (L) and Washington Senators shortstop Rocky Bridges (R) pose with bulging wads of chewing tobacco before a game at Washington on 1 Aug 1957. A California lawmaker wants to ban chewing tobacco from all levels of organized baseball in the state. (Photo: William J. Smith / Associated Press)

Source:

https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/large-study-links-gum-disease-dementia

America’s Godzilla Breaks US Laws Again

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

After Trumpf’s disastrous meeting on Friday with President Zelensky, he transported back to Florida boxes of documents that the FBI had seized from Mar-a-Lago after executing a court-ordered search warrant in August 2022.

“The Department of Justice has just returned the boxes,” Trumpf said in a statement. “They are being brought down to Florida and will someday be part of the Trump Presidential Library,” he said, going on to claim that “justice finally won out” and that the investigation into his mishandling of presidential documents, including highly sensitive classified documents, was “merely an attack on a political opponent.”

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung, who said the boxes were loaded onto Air Force One, told reporters aboard the plane that the boxes contain “personal items that belong to the president.”

If the staff members in the photograph are not credentialed to transport US classified information, they too may be in violation of US laws regarding the secure transportation of classified documents. American national security, as well as the intelligence allies have shared with the US, are in dire jeopardy with Trumpf at the helm.

America’s national security under the Trumpf administration.

Source:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/28/politics/trump-seized-boxes-returned-air-force-one/index.html

Security Guard Brings Home Stray Cat

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

3.5 Million Reported Middle Eastern and North African Descent in 2020

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

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

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

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

Campus protests over Gaza are spreading: See our map

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

FBI Arrests NYC Woman Over FSB Contacts

Nomma Zarubina (Social media)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

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

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

Russian America for Democracy in Russia Inc – GuideStar Profile

Israel: Nakba Remorselessly Continues as Gaza Pummeled Again

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source:

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

Norway: Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Alfalfa Sprouts Stricken 23

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Swedish update

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

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

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

Source:

Norway links Salmonella outbreak to sprouts | Food Safety News

Update: FBI Arrests Alleged Sex Predator John Doe 49

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

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

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

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

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

Source:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: Mappery.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Arctic-oriented military installations; mostly Russian.

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

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

Sources:

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

Russia in the Arctic – Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

JOSEPH R. BIDEN

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

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

Source:

Donald Trump Pardon Supported by Top Democrat – Newsweek

Affectionate Cats

At Least 51 Killed, 219 injured in Russian Missile Strike in Central Ukraine

An Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile launcher. Russian forces have been firing such missiles from mobile launchers across the border into Ukraine. (Credit: Maxim Shipenkov/EPA, via Shutterstock)

At least 51 people were killed and 219 were injured on 3 Sep in one of Russia’s deadliest attacks in a single strike since its all-out invasion of Ukraine. Two missiles struck a building of the Military Communications Institute in a morning attack on the city of Poltava in central Ukraine.

The victims didn’t have time to evacuate to a bomb shelter after hearing the air-raid alert. 15 people may still be under the rubble as search teams were continuing to work at the scene.

The Prosecutor-General’s Office announced that it launched an inquiry after President Zelensky ordered a “full and prompt investigation” into what happened.

The attack is believed to be the deadliest single strike since May 2022 when 87 soldiers were killed at a military training center in the northern Cherniv region. Ukraine’s defense readiness came under scrutiny after the strike on Poltava, and some observers questioned why a large number of people were left vulnerable to a single attack.

Vladislav Seleznev, a Ukrainian military analyst and former spokesman for the General Staff of the Ukrainian military, said Ukraine can blame the Kremlin for the strike on Poltava, but there must also be a clear understanding of Kiev’s responsibility.

President Zelensky had previously requested 25 Patriot air defense systems to fully defend its airspace and protect the entire country from Russian missile attacks.

Sources:

https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-strikes-poltava/33105117.html

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-zelenskyy-27ea21c05a2fc336ac4fdbbce31b77bc

Former Aide to New York Governors Charged with Acting as Agent of Chinese Government

Undated image of Linda Sun.

A former aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo was charged with acting as an agent for the Chinese government.

Linda Sun, a former deputy chief of staff to Hochul and a Cuomo aide, was charged with violating and conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registrations Act, visa fraud, alien smuggling, and money laundering, according to an unsealed copy of the indictment.

Her husband and co-defendant, Chris Hu, was also charged with conspiracy to launder money and commit bank fraud as well as misusing means of identification.

Sun acted as “an undisclosed agent of the Chinese government while her husband, Hu, facilitated the transfer of millions of dollars in kickbacks for personal gain.”

Prosecutors allege Sun blocked Taiwanese diplomacy and ensured then-Governor Andrew Cuomo praised China for help during the Covid-19 emergency. The defendants used shell companies, iCloud accounts and WeChat messages – with everything in Mandarin – in their alleged crimes.

Sun and Hu were arrested at their palatial Long Island residence and both pleaded not guilty to all charges in federal court Tuesday afternoon. Sun’s bond is set at $1.5 million and her husband’s is set at $500,000. Both will have their travel limited to NYC, Long Island, Maine, and New Hampshire.

Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is scheduled to testify at a Congressional hearing on 10 Sep regarding his response to the Covid-19 response.

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

Sources:

Office of Public Affairs | Former High-Ranking New York State Government Employee Charged with Acting as an Undisclosed Agent of the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party | United States Department of Justice

BREAKING: Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to Testify at Public Hearing on September 10 – United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability

American Warzone: Man Kills Four People on Train Near Chicago

Rhanni S. Davis (30) of Chicago was charged with four counts of first-degree murder after he allegedly killed four people on a Chicago Transit Authority train in Forest Park, Illinois, early Monday.

The Forest Park Police Department received a 911 call about three people shot on a westbound train at the CTA Blue Line station in Forest Park, just west of Chicago, around 5:30 a.m. local time.

Authorities cleared the station, finding four victims. Three were pronounced dead at the scene and the fourth died later in a hospital.

Law-enforcement agencies used video surveillance to help identify the alleged murderer. The suspect was taken into custody and a firearm was recovered. The shooting appears to have been an isolated incident with no immediate additional threat to the community.

In an average year in Illinois, 1,657 people die and 4,994 are wounded by guns.

With a rate of 13.2 deaths per 100,000 people, the Land of Lincoln has the 35th-highest rate of gun deaths in the US.

Sources:

Man charged in fatal shooting of 4 people on train near Chicago – ABC News

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

US Justice Dept Indicts Hamas with One Hand; US State Dept Negotiates with Hamas with Other

Demonstrators in Tel Aviv, Israel, hold placards showing support for hostages who were kidnapped during the 7 Oct 2023 attack.

The Justice Department announced criminal charges against Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other senior militants in connection with the 7 Oct 2023 rampage in Israel, marking the first effort by US law enforcement to formally call out the masterminds of the attack.

The seven-count criminal complaint filed in federal court in NYC includes charges of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, conspiracy to murder US nationals, and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, resulting in death. It also accuses Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah of providing financial support and weapons, including rockets, that were used in the attack.

The charges come as the White House says it is developing a new cease-fire and hostage deal proposal with its Egyptian and Qatari counterparts to try to bring about an agreement between Israel and Hamas to end the nearly 11-month war in Gaza. A US official, who was not authorized to talk publicly about the case and spoke on condition of anonymity, said there was no reason to believe the charges would affect the ongoing negotiations.

A State Department spokesman said that reaching a cease-fire and release of the 100 or so remaining hostages “will require both sides to show flexibility. It will require that both sides look for reasons to get to yes rather than reasons to say no.”

The full unsealed complaint is linked below.

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

The fabled Pushmi-Pullyu from the Dr. Dolittle canon.

Sources:

Office of Public Affairs | Justice Department Announces Terrorism Charges Against Senior Leaders of Hamas | United States Department of Justice

dl (justice.gov)

US charges Hamas leader, other militants in Oct. 7 attack on Israel (voanews.com)

US issues new call for Israel, Hamas to reach cease-fire pact (voanews.com)

Canada Turning Away More Foreigners Amid Rise in Anti-Immigration Sentiment

At a 2020 rally, protesters called on the federal government to grant permanent status to all refugees across Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. (Michael Charles Cole/CBC)

Canada is taking steps, both official and unofficial, to curb the number of people coming to the country, highlighting the way in which immigration has become a political flashpoint ahead of a federal election.

The ratio of refused visitor visa applications to approved ones was higher in recent months than at any point since the height of the Covid pandemic. Immigration officials rejected more applications than they approved in January, February, May, and June 2024. At the same time, the number of approved study and work permits dropped. And in July, Canada refused entry to nearly 6,000 foreign travelers, including students, workers and tourists – the most since at least January 2019.

Recent polling has shown a sharp change in how Canadians perceive of immigration, amid a mounting cost of living crisis. One immigration lawyer in Nova Scotia said his firm has seen an increase in rejections – and mounting hostility towards the firm’s clients. The sudden growth of the Canadian population stressed the affordable housing and medical care infrastructure.

The immigration minister said he would reassess the number of people applying for permanent residency. PM Justin Trudeau added his government would scale back the controversial temporary foreign workers following a surge in applications. The program was recently condemned by a UN special rapporteur for being a “breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery”.

The prime minister also mentioned reducing the number of permanent residents Canada accepts each year, dramatically upending years of increased immigration levels under his tenure. In late 2023, the federal government said it would freeze permanent resident targets over the next three years to ensure inflows were “sustainable”. Ottawa intends to bring in 485,000 permanent residents in 2024, but only 500,000 in both 2025 and 2026.

Sources:

Canada turning away more foreigners amid rise in anti-immigration sentiment | Canada | The Guardian

UN envoy calls Canada’s use of migrant workers ‘breeding ground for slavery’

Read more

Russia Orders French Researcher Accused of Spying Held for Six More Months

French researcher Laurent Vinatier during a court hearing in Moscow, Russia, on 31 July 2024. © Yulia Morozova/Reuters

A court in Moscow on Tuesday ordered a French researcher to remain in jail until at least February 2025, on the first day of his trial for unlawfully collecting sensitive data. Laurent Vinatier was arrested in June for gathering information on Russia’s military without being registered as a “foreign agent”.

The 48-year-old French national has been charged with collecting information on Russia’s “military and military-technical activities” and he faces up to five years in prison if convicted. After he was first arrested, he admitted to the charge of not having registered as a foreign agent, saying he did not know that he was legally required to do so. Vinatier has been held in pre-trial detention since June, despite several requests to be placed under house arrest.

Vinatier is a specialist on the former Soviet Union and worked with the Swiss NGO Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), which helps to mediate conflicts outside of standard diplomatic channels. He was reportedly working on mediation efforts in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

His detention has increased tensions between Moscow and Paris, already strained since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and France’s subsequent support of Kiev. Arrests on charges of spying and collecting sensitive data have become increasingly frequent in Russia since the start of the war.

After the biggest post-Cold War prisoner exchange between Russia and the West in early August, which did not include Vinatier, France called on Moscow to free all people “arbitrarily detained in Russia.”

Source:

Russia orders French researcher accused of spying held for six more months (rfi.fr)

Indigenous Mothers Fight to Search Former CIA Experiment Site in Montreal, Quebec

Anthropologist Philippe Blouin poses with Mohawk mothers Kahentinetha and Kwetiio at the Allen Memorial Institute in Montreal. (Image: Alexis Aubin/AFP)

Between 1957 and 1964 (though possibly beginning as early as 1948), psychiatric experiments were conducted at the Allan Memorial Institute in Montreal, a psychiatric teaching hospital affiliated with McGill University. Scottish-American psychiatrist Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron led and conducted these experiments which exposed patients to electroshocks, hallucinogenic drugs, and sensory deprivation. The program is widely believed to have been partly funded by the US CIA as part of their top-secret MKULTRA program, as well as the Canadian government.

Today, a group of Indigenous women are trying to stop the bulldozers at a former Montreal hospital which they believe could hold the truth about children still missing from that grisly half-century-old CIA experiment. They have spent the last two years trying to delay the construction project by McGill University and the Quebec government.

The mothers are relying on archives and testimonies that suggest the site contains unmarked graves of children formerly interned at the Royal Victoria Hospital and Allan Memorial Institute, a neighboring psychiatric hospital.

In the fall of 2022, these activists obtained an injunction to suspend work on a new university campus and research center at the site — a project worth Can$870 million (US$643 million).

In recent years, Canada has opened its eyes to past atrocities. Generations of Indigenous children were sent to residential schools where they were stripped of their language, culture, and identities in what a 2015 truth and reconciliation report said amounted to “cultural genocide.”

Between 1831 and 1996, some 150,000 Indigenous children were taken from their homes and placed in 139 such schools. Several thousand never returned to their communities.

In May 2021, the discovery of unmarked graves of 215 children at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia started a national reflection on this dark chapter of Canadian history, while sparking searches for more graves across Canada.

“It was not only residential schools, it involved hospitals, sanatoriums, churches, and orphanages too,” said Kwetiio (pictured above).

Last summer, sniffer dogs and specialized probes were brought in to search the hospital’s expansive and dilapidated buildings. They managed to identify three areas of interest for excavations. But, according to McGill and the government’s Societe Quebecoise des Infrastructure (SQI), “no human remains have been discovered.”

The Indigenous activists were not satisfied with the search and want another investigation conducted by a party unaffiliated with the government or the university.  

Sources:

Montreal MKULTRA Experiments | The Canadian Encyclopedia

Indigenous mothers fight to search CIA experiment site in Montreal – Raw Story

‘The American People Deserve to Know’: Dems Demand Answers from Trump on $10M Egypt Donation

Donald Trump with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah-el-Sisi on 23 Sep 2019.

On top of his stumbling campaign, Neanderthalic VP running mate JD Vance, imminent due dates for criminal and civil liabilities, and hideous, incoherent speeches, ex-President Donald Trump has another headache to deal with. On 2 Aug, Washington Post journalists Carol Leonnig and Aaron C. David reported that Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi “sought to give” Donald Trump “$10 million to boost his 2016 presidential campaign.” The journalists also noted that in January 2017 — five days before Trump was sworn in as president — almost $10 million was withdrawn from a bank in Cairo.

A month after that article was published, Leonnig and David report that the top Democrats on the House Oversight Committee — Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) — have sent a letter asking Trump “if he ever illegally received money from the government of Egypt, and whether money from Cairo played a role in a $10 million infusion into his 2016 run for president.”

“As members of the House minority,” Leonnig and David explain, “Raskin and Garcia do not have the power to subpoena documents or witnesses, and Trump is under no obligation to respond to their inquiries. But the Democrats said the public deserves answers now that Trump is running for president again.”

Should Donald Trump elect to answer the inquiry (the entire six-page letter is linked below), his legal team would advise him to answer truthfully. Making false statements (18 U.S.C. § 1001) in “any matter within the jurisdiction” of the federal government of the US, is punishable up to five imprisonment as well as a fine. This law generally prohibits knowingly and willfully making false or fraudulent statements, or concealing information, even by merely denying guilt when asked by a federal agent. One of the charges George Santos pleaded guilty to was making false statements to the House of Representatives.

Sources:

Copy of the official six-page letter to ex-President Donald Trump: 2024-09-03.JBR to DJTrump re. Egypt.pdf (house.gov)

‘The American people deserve to know’: Dems demand answers from Trump on $10M Egypt donation – Alternet.org

What Are the Penalties for Lying to Congress? – FindLaw

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-congressman-george-santos-pleads-guilty-fraud-and-identity-theft

Norway’s Forests Have More Than Tripled in One Hundred Years

Norwegian forest development since 1919. Forest volume has more than tripled (dark blue); logging has long been fairly steady (yellow); forest growth (red) has decreased in recent years. (2024 Data and graphic: Landskogtakseringen/NIBIO).

In good news for the world, Norway has tripled its forest volume over the past 100 years to one billion cubic meters of forest; ten percent grew in the last ten years alone. These forests valuably convert the world’s carbon dioxide to oxygen. In 2023, approximately 18 million tons of CO2 (and greenhouse gasses) were absorbed by Norwegian forests.

Several factors account for this phenomenal growth. In the 1960s, schoolchildren planted almost 100 million spruce trees in Norway. Another factor has been higher temperatures and longer summers, as well as increased amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.

Jane Goodall believes that planting one trillion trees before 2030 can reverse global climate change. See how this can be accomplished here: A platform for the trillion trees community. | 1t.org.

Sources:

Statistics Norway: “Standing forest volume has passed 1 billion cubic meters”, 30 Aug 2024

NIBIO: “Major changes in The development trend for Norwegian spruce forests”, 6 Feb 2024

Energy and climate: “What is it that is happening to our forest?”, 21 May 2024

Why We Believe Planting 1 Trillion Trees Can Save the Planet | TIME

Our forest has more than tripled in a hundred years (forskning.no)