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:

World Court Hears Case Against Israel for Genocide

Judges attend a hearing at The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the ongoing case regarding Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, in The Hague, Netherlands, 28 Apr 2025. (File Photo: Reuters)

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) began hearings into Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). The ICJ, which sits in The Hague and is the UN’s top court, is expected to hear from 40 States and four international organizations in proceedings slated to last all week. Link: The head of OCHA testified: “Today people are not surviving in Gaza, those that aren’t being killed with bombs and bullets are slowly dying.” Charges against Israel for apartheid were previously filed against Israel at the ICJ.

A woman mourns her sister, killed in an Israeli strike in Rafah on 21 Oct 2023. How many corpses are in this photo? (Photo: AFP)

Palestinian children in Gaza starving for food. (Photo: al-Jazeera)

Chutzpah

Israel Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Photo: Amir Cohen / Reuters)

“With God’s help and the valor of your comrades-in-arms who continue to fight even now, we will end this campaign when Syria is dismantled, Hezbollah is severely beaten, Iran is stripped of its nuclear threat, Gaza is cleansed of Hamas and hundreds of thousands of Gazans are on their way out of it to other countries,” Smotrich said during a speech in the occupied West Bank.

US State Dept attorney Joshua Simmons (L); unidentified attorney (R) (Photo: Sondos Asem / MEE)

AIPAC Deflections and Distractions

The American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is committed to aligning US foreign policy with that of Israel’s. To that effect, AIPAC donates billions of dollars to candidates and issues talking points. Many members of the Democratic Party repeat the following mantras of Arab-Americans: “See? They should have voted for Kamala!” or “Is this better?” or “Serves them right for not voting for Kamala Harris!”

Did this child amputee in Gaza vote in the US election on 5 Nov 2024?

Palestinian child, a victim of IDF attacks in Gaza (Photo: Reuters)

The other talking point is that the Palestinians and Muslims are all “terrorists.”

As the 19th-century Sioux Nation warriors fought against America’s westward expansion, and the 19th-century Central Asian Kazakhs resisted Russia’s eastward expansion, so too are 21st century Palestinian guerrillas fighting back unrelentless encroachment and ethnic cleansing.

“You’ll pardon me if I fight back with the only weapons I have while my people are being exterminated.”
Signed,
The Resistance Fighters of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising

Censorship

The other tactic AIPAC and Zionists use is attacking Israel’s critics as antisemitic. US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), an Ashkenazi Jew, rebuked Benjamin Netanyahu when he said:

“No, Mr. Netanyahu. It is not antisemitic or pro-Hamas to point out that in a little over six months your extremist government has killed 34,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 77,000 – seventy percent of whom are women and children. ” (25 April 2024)

As you have read here on Coriolanus, pro-Palestinian activists in the US have been detained by ICE for deportation and the Trumpf junta has threatened to slash funding for universities with an alleged antisemitic agenda.

Adjusting for inflation, US aid to Israel from 1951 to 2022 totaled $317.9 billion, making it the largest recipient of American foreign aid since World War II. There are many in the Democratic Party that vote Democratic in US elections, but support AIPAC and the Likud Party in Israel. Young David Hogg and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) pose a threat to members of that calcified status quo, like Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

AIPAC’s goal is to ensure the US and other countries never recognize the State of Palestine. This powerful lobbying group already succeeded in getting the US to name Jerusalem as the capital of Israel to the utter dismay and shock of millions of Muslims worldwide, as well as the beleaguered Palestinians.

Below, see how much Palestinian land has been lost to Israelis, much like the Apaches and Navajo tribes of 19th-century America:

Two dibbuks sealing the fate of millions of innocent people.

An international arrest warrant issued by the ICC remains active for Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes. An indictment is merely an accusation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/American-Israel-Public-Affairs-Committee

www.middleeasteye.net

www.icj-cij.org 

https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/04/1162656

https://www.trackaipac.com/

https://www.opensecrets.org/

Israel Ironically Requests International Aid for Wildfires

View of a massive wildfire near Mevo Horon, 30 Apr 2025. (Photo: Yonatan Sindel / Flash90 )

Islamophobia Rampant in US

Mob of Lunatic Brooklyn Jews Pursue Terrified Woman

A police officer protects a woman from a mob of Orthodox Jewish men who pursue them in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, NY. (Photo: AP)

A Brooklyn woman said she feared for her life as she was chased, kicked, spit at, and pelted with objects by a mob of maniacal Orthodox Jewish men who mistook her as a participant in a protest against Israel’s far-right security minister, ethnic cleanser Itamar Ben-Gvir. “They were shouting at me, threatening to rape me, chanting death to Arabs.’ I thought the police would protect me from the mob, but they did nothing to intervene,” the victim said. A lone police officer tried to escort her to safety. The two were followed for blocks by hundreds of men and boys jeering in Hebrew and English. Watch below:

Maniac Charges Podium in Texas

Extremist congressional candidate Valentina Gomez charged a podium at a Texas Capitol Muslim Event and screamed about pedophilia. “Islam is the religion of rape, incest and pedophilia where they bow down to a stupid rock and a false prophet. I will never let sharia law take over Texas.” In the replies to her gloating post, fellow far-right extremists like Laura Loomer praised her actions. Gomez has appeared here several times for hurling anti-gay slurs during her failed campaign for Missouri secretary of state. Her brother is currently suing Jersey City mayor and New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Steven Fulop after being fired for contributing to Gomez’s Missouri campaign. Watch the horror unfold below:

Christian Islamophobes

The US Contamination Began in Israel

Mental Illness is Growing in the Western World

Some scholars say belonging to certain religious groups is tantamount to being in a cult. Other academics simply dismiss religion as menticide. Either way, mental illness in the West has been increasing, as will incidents of Islamophobic or xenophobic hatred. The state of Pennsylvania alone recently produced these examples of mental illness below.

Thomas Matthew Crooks who tried to kill presidential candidate Trumpf in Butler, PA on 13 July 2024.

Cody Balmer burned down the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion earlier this year.

US Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) official portrait. (Photo: https://ballotpedia.org/John_Fetterman)

US Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) dressed in shorts and a hooded sweatshirt for Trumpf’s inauguration on 20 Jan 2025.

Source:

Mob chased Brooklyn woman after mistaking her for protester at speech by Israeli security minister

UK Police Share Protestor Information With Israel

Tens of thousands rally in central London to show solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza on 3 Aug 2024 (MEE)

The UK government shared contact details of police and prosecutors with the Israeli embassy during an investigation into protests at an arms factory raising concerns about foreign interference. Last year 18 Palestine Action activists were arrested under the Terrorism Act after a protest at an Israeli weapons factory. Parliamentarians asked: “Why, for example, did the Attorney General’s Office provide the contact details for the Crown Prosecution Service, an independent body, to the Israelis? What further exchanges followed and was there discussions about ongoing criminal prosecutions? “ Dr Shahd Hammouri, an academic and international lawyer bluntly said: “[this] indicates foreign influence.”

Note that RAF jets recently joined USAF missions against the starving Houthis in Yemen on behalf of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman.

Sources:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/apr/29/police-and-prosecutors-details-shared-with-israel-during-uk-protests-inquiry-papers-suggest

 www.forcesnews.com 

DOGE Gains Access to Department of Energy Nuclear Secrets

The worst person in the world.

Two members of Felon Musk’s DOGE were given accounts on classified networks that hold highly guarded details about America’s nuclear weapons. Luke Farritor (23) a former SpaceX intern, and Adam Ramada (35), a Miami-based venture capitalist, have had accounts on the computer systems for at least two weeks. Prior to their work at DOGE, neither Farritor nor Ramada appear to have had experience with either nuclear weapons or handling classified information. A spokesperson for the Department of Energy initially denied that Farritor and Ramada had accessed the networks.’ Two DOE employees said they directly saw Ramada and Farritor’s names in the directories of the networks. 

American national security is in complete disarray as you will read more about below. NATO and other Western countries would be wise to strengthen their own defenses and increase their intelligence collection and counterintellligence capabilities.

Endnote: The US Congress released a voluminous report detailing that Felon Musk and his companies faced at least $2.37 billion in potential federal fines and penalties the day President Trump took office, according to the linked congressional report that highlights the possible conflicts of interest posed by the thieving oligarch’s cost-cutting work in government.

Sources:

List of DOGE thieves: https://www.newsweek.com/doge-list-staff-revealed-2029965

https://www.npr.org/2025/04/28/nx-s1-5378684/doge-energy-department-nuclear-secrets-access

 www.latimes.com

US National Security Update

FBI Heading in Completely Wrong Direction

The two most unqualified people to ever direct the FBI. Director Kash Patel (L) and Deputy Director Dan Bongino

Polygraphs Used to Detect Leakers

The Trumpf junta is ramping up investigations into alleged leaks to the news media, in some cases using polygraph tests that current and former officials say are creating a climate of fear and intimidation. At D/FBI Kash Patel’s direction, the bureau in recent weeks has begun administering polygraph tests to identify the source of information leaks. “People are trying to keep their heads down,” said one former FBI Senior SA. “Morale’s in the toilet. … When you see people who are being investigated, or names [of agents who worked on Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot cases] being passed over to the DOJ, it’s what the f”?” Below: The two most unworthiest creatures to ever direct the FBI.

Retribution and Reassignments

FBI agents and employees take a knee with demonstrators on Pennsylvania Avenue on 4 Jun 2020, in Washington, DC. (Photo © Jose Luis Magana /AP / File)

The FBI has reassigned several agents who were photographed kneeling with demonstrators during a 2020 protest in the wake of police killing of George Floyd. The reassignments, viewed as demotions by many inside the FBI, come nearly five years after the episode that ignited controversy inside the bureau. FBI officials offered no explanation for changing the roles to less coveted positions for the agents.

The targeting of the kneelers is part of a broader effort by the new FBI leaders to make good on promises to root out what Dotard Trumpf has called “woke” and politicized elements inside the agency. A former FBI official said punishing agents involved in the incident now raises concern that the bureau is bypassing its regular disciplinary process, which can take months and even more than a year to review incidents.

“This notion that the bureau would go after these people, it’s just disgusting,” the former official said.

After quickly ousting senior FBI leaders, the Justice Department has said it is reviewing the conduct of more than 1,500 agents associated with cases that have found disfavor in the new Trumpf era, including investigations of the president and his allies. FBI agents who executed the search warrant on Trumpf’s Mar-a-Lago home and who worked on 6 Jan 2021-related cases have been bracing for possible retribution.

National Security Advisor Mike Waltz Resigns

US national security advisor Mike Waltz was spotted appearing to look at the Signal messaging app on his phone while attending a cabinet meeting. (Photo: Reuters /Evelyn Hockstein)

After being embroiled in the infamous Signalgate scandal, Mike Waltz resigned as National Security Advisor. Above, you can see him using his Smartphone during a cabinet meeting, a breach not only of protocol, but OPSEC (operational security). Waltz’s reward for his amateurism is a nomination to be the US Ambassador to the UN, a Senate-confirmed position. Worse, his replacement appears to be Steve Witkoff, a geriatric oligarch and friend of Dotard Trumpf. Witkoff, a real estate mogul, has zero experience in national security and was tapped by Trumpf to be his special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, alongside retired US Army Lieutenant-General Keith Kellogg.

Sources:

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article305477131.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/04/28/leak-polygraph-fbi-justice-odni-dhs/

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/exclusive-fbi-reassigns-agents-from-iconic-photo-of-them-kneeling-during-george-floyd-protest/ar-AA1DUrsV

Mother Duck Takes Ducklings to Sleep With Kittens

“This is America”

Followers of the Watch: The vignettes below will inform you of the real state and nature of America.

Two Mass Shooting Survivors Speak

Ms Stephanie Horowitz survived two mass shootings, the 2018 massacre of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School by Nikolas Cruz and the recent Florida State University attack when Phoenix Ikner killed two students and wounded six.  

Jackie Matthews

Jackie Matthews survived the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that killed 26 people in Newtown, CT, and she survived the 13 Feb 2023 attack at Michigan State University which killed three students.

“I am 21 years old, and this is the second mass shooting that I have now lived through. The fact that this is the second mass shooting that I have now lived through is incomprehensible.”

In a now-deleted clip, Ms. Mathews detailed how she suffered a post-traumatic stress disorder fracture in her back because of what happened in 2012, something that still affects her to this day.

Only America can claim the ignimonious achievement of people surviving multiple mass shootings.

Mass Shooter Kills 22 Reportedly for Dotard Trumpf

Mass murderer Patrick Crusius was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing 22 people at a Wal-Mart in El Paso, Texas. His defense attorney Joe Spencer testified:

“While Patrick claimed in his manifesto that his views predated the then-president (Donald Trumpf) and that political figures were not to blame, he also explicitly stated the attack was a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas, echoing the language used by political figures. Indeed, Patrick believed he was acting at the direction of the president at the time, seeing it as his duty to stop the invasion because that’s what he believed [Trumpf] was telling him.”

Florida Killer Phoenix Ikner Trumpf Supporter

Nikolas Cruz, the 2018 Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School murderer is a Trumpf supporter as well. He wore his bright red MAGA hat to a funeral.

Nikolas Cruz mugshot.

Nikolas Cruz in his Trumpf MAGA hat practicing how to shoot and kill. (Montage: Public domain)

Lunatic Sets Fire to Pennsylvania Governor’s Mansion

Cody Balmer (38) is charged with attempted murder, aggravated arson, burglary, terrorism, and related offenses for allegedly setting fire to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s (D-PA) governor’s mansion on 13 Apr 2025. (Photo: Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office)

Cody Balmer allegedly set fire to Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s mansion out of hatred for him. The damage was extensive and luckily no one was injured in the inferno. How this maniac was able to penetrate the defenses of the governor’s mansion is unclear. In 2024 Gov. Shapiro was on Kamala Harris’ short-list for VPOTUS candidate and he may run himself in 2028.

Inside the governor’s mansion after the fire. (Photo: Pennsylvania State Police)

Police State Under Trumpf Worsens

German teens Charlotte Pohl and Maria Lepere (Photo Credits: X/ @MarioNawfal)

Two teenage girls from Germany were detained, arrested, and deported at an airport in Hawaii after immigration officials said it was suspicious they had not booked a hotel room. But despite having ESTA travel authorization, immigration officials accused them of attempting to enter the US. to work illegally, and they were placed in handcuffs and taken to a nearby detention center they later learned was a deportation facility. Upon arrival, they were subjected to full-body scans, strip searches, and forced to wear green prison jumpsuits. They were then placed in a holding facility with serious criminals, including an alleged murderer who had been locked up for 18 years, and were forced to spend the night in a freezing cold double cell.

Migrant Children in Immigration Court Without Lawyers

(Imagery: ABC News)

“The reason we’re here is because the government of the United States wants you to leave the United States,” Judge Ubaid ul-Haq, presiding from a courtroom on Varick Street, told a group of about a dozen children on a recent morning on Webex. “It’s my job to figure out if you have to leave,” ul-Haq continued. “It’s also my job to figure out if you should stay.” The parties included a 7-year-old boy, wearing a shirt emblazoned with a pizza cartoon, who spun a toy windmill while the judge spoke. There was an 8-year-old girl and her 4-year-old sister, in a tie-dye shirt, who squeezed a pink plushy toy and stuffed it into her sleeve. None of the children were accompanied by parents or attorneys, only shelter workers who helped them log on to the hearing.

The Trumpf junta has been firing immigration judges and legal resources are limited to represent immigrants in court, let alone helpless children.

‘The cruelty is apparent

Canadian Border Agents Fail Family of Four Fleeing America

A family of four from El Salvador crossed the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls to Canada fleeing the ICE raids and sudden deportations sweeping the US. But the CBSA focused on small discrepancies in their paperwork and rejected them, even though they qualified for entry under exception and have a brother who is a Canadian citizen. When the four were disappointingly driven back to the US border, CBP detained them. They have been in custody two weeks now.

Aracely sits with her two daughters, aged four and 14. The three were detained with Aracely’s common-law husband in a holding cell for two weeks at the US port of entry in Niagara Falls, NY, after Canadian border guards turned them away. CBC News is not showing the family’s faces or revealing their full names for safety reasons. (Image: Ousama Farag / CBC)

Canada turns away most asylum seekers who attempt to enter from the US at land border crossings, but there are exceptions to this rule, which this family met. I hope those CBSA officers are happy with themselves knowing that these four vulnerable people, including two girls (4 and 14), will eventually be deported to rightwing-led, impoverished, and gang-infested El Salvador.

(Photo: Al Drago, NYT)

In 2022, 48,000 Americans were killed by gun violence. 2025 or 2026 could be the year the US reaches 50,000 deaths in one year. Now the state is inflicting violence on its people with mass deportations and flagrant violations of due process. Trumpf is inspiring political violence across the US, from mass shootings to arson to vandalizing Felon Musk’s hideous Tesla vehicles. There is a reason why America ranked 24th on the World Happiness Report (below Israel and Mexico) and Dotard Trumpf was recently ranked the worst president of all time. Followers of the Watch, you will see more violence, police brutality, and economic chaos over the next four years as Trumpf shrinks the social safety net, hate radio continues spewing xenophobic lies, and mental illness continues unchecked in the US.

Sources:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2025/03/19/world-happiness-report-2025/82551709007/

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/photos-arson-fire-damages-pennsylvania-governors-residence/4159709/

https://www.unilad.com/news/sandy-hook-michigan-shooting-survivor-604402-20230215

https://www.latestly.com/socially/world/vacation-gone-wrong-2-german-teens-strip-searched-jailed-and-deported-from-us-after-cbp-finds-incomplete-hawaii-travel-plans-suspicious-6797703.html

India: 26 Killed in Terror Attack During VPOTUS JD Vance Trip

At least 26 people have been killed and 36 wounded in Indian-controlled Kashmir in the north after gunmen opened fire at a beauty spot near the resort town of Pahalgam, nicknamed ‘Mini Switzerland.’ Authorities blamed it on the resistance fighting Indian rule which deploys 500,000 soldiers in Kashmir. The attack seemed to have been timed to coincide with JD Vance’s four-day tour of India and PM Nahendra Modi’s visit to Saudi Arabia. Delhi has swiftly taken a series of retaliatory steps: closing the main border crossing, suspending a critical water-sharing treaty, and expelling diplomats.

The massive Indian security force presence in Jammu and Kashmir (500,000 personnel) use shotgun pellets to purposely blind Muslim protestors like Manzoor Ah-Dar below:

Manzoor Ah-Dar poses for a portrait in Rahmoo, Kashmir. Manzoor was injured in both eyes by metal pellets when Indian forces raided the village. (Bernat Armangue/AP)

PM Narendra Modi can blame Pakistan for supporting their fellow Muslims oppressed in Jammu and Kashmir, but poverty and Hindu-supremacist Delhi’s repression of the ‘Other’ is the root cause of unhappiness and strife in India.

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwynx7kgyqvo

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy9vyzzyjzlo

 https://www.independent.co.uk

Trumpf Strips Visa for Colombia President Gustavo Petro

The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, claimed that the US has withdrawn his visa and that he can no longer enter the country. (Credit: Presidency of Colombia / Flickr)

Dotard Trumpf petulantly stripped Colombia President Gustavo Petro’s visa, preventing him from attending imminent meetings of the IMF and IBRD in the US. The major international snub comes after Trumpf threatened ‘decisive retaliatory measures’ over Colombia’s Jan 2025 refusal to let two US military flights full of deportees land. In a cabinet meeting, President Petro let slip that his nickname for Dotard Trumpf is ‘Donald Duck’ and he took this idiotic snub with aplomb.

Colombia’s Former Colonial Masters Shoot and Burn Trumpf in Effigy

(Public domain photo)

An effigy of Dotard Trumpf was marched through the streets before being shot and burned as part of Easter Sunday celebrations in Spain. Every Easter, locals in the town of Coripe, Seville, string up a Judas’ figure representing a public figure whose actions are deemed to be morally reprehensible’. Video shows the Trumpf doll, sporting a dark navy suit, red tie, and unmistakable shock of blonde hair, leading a town parade at gunpoint before being hung from a tree in the town square and shot at with rifles from close range. The burning of Judas’ effigies is a common ritual amongst Christian communities as part of traditional Easter celebrations.

Coriolanus regrets missing this worthy auto-da-fe.

Sources:

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/donald-trump-effigy-shot-burned-123840954.html

https://colombiaone.com/2025/04/22/colombia-petro-us-visa-trump-donald-duck/

Karma for Puppy-Killing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, infamously known for admitting in her autobiography that she killed her 14-month-old rambunctious puppy, fell victim to a thief while eating dinner at a downtown Washington, DC, restaurant Sunday night. Noem, who was asked about the theft at the White House Easter Egg Roll, acknowledged the incident and said the matter has not been resolved. The Secret Service, which provides security for Noem, reviewed security camera footage at the restaurant and saw an unknown white male wearing a medical mask steal her bag and leave the restaurant, a law enforcement source said. The thief got away with Noem’s driver’s license, medication, apartment keys, passport, DHS access badge, makeup bag, blank checks, and about $3,000 in cash.

Shooting a defenseless, harmless puppy is not only a disqualification from becoming Secretary of Homeland Security, but a disqualification from the human race. The US Senate confirmed her appointment as Secretary with a 59-34 vote. Astonishing.

Coriolanus was intensely curious regarding the contents of Secretary Noem’s stolen handbag. Why she was dining with her passport (official or diplomatic) and blank checks in Washington DC is mystery to your author. One question arose is what medications Secretary Noem is taking and for what condition. Her predilection to animal cruelty and mass deportations of vulnerable people provide a clue.

Having her makeup kit makes sense to maintain Noem’s disguise as a human being.

As Governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem was banned from indigenous lands by the local tribes. At the border in Derby Line, Vermont, Noem taunted Canadians with shouts of “51st state!” and she shamelessly flaunted herself and her jewelry in front of male convicts in a notorious El Salvador prison for a tawdry photo opportunity.

Secretary Noem in a pathetic photo-op in El Salvador on 26 Mar 2025 (Photo: Reuters)

The irony is rich. For a few hours on Sunday, the manifestly under-qualified Secretary Kristi Noem was “undocumented” like the people she has been persecuting. And this architect of fear for millions of vulnerable people was in a frenzied panic in a tony Washington DC bistro like her victims.

Karma, where would we be without you?

Sources:

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s bag, including $3,000 in cash, is stolen from DC restaurant | CNN Politics

https://apnews.com/article/south-dakota-indian-reservation-bans-governor-noem-b55339eb624a119bc571c8b4dab848f4

Trumpf Junta Targets Anti-Christian Bias While Israel Persecutes Christians

In a statement marking Easter before the death of Pope Francis I, Marco Rubio called for “all nations to respect the right of Christians to declare Christ is King. Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the king of kings and lord of all nations,” Rubio posted on ‘X’. Rubio’s implication is that Christian freedom of worship is under threat.

The Trumpf junta has ordered State Department employees to report on any instances of coworkers displaying “anti-Christian bias” as part of its effort to implement a sweeping new executive order on supporting employees of Christian faith working in the federal government. Marco Rubio, the most under-qualified person to ever lead the State Department, also asked staffers via official cable to report any perceived discriminatory actions taken against Christians or employees advocating on their behalf between Jan 2021 and Jan 2025.

Moreover, US Attorney-General Pam Bondi announced she is establishing a task force to combat anti-Christian bias in the US.

The Stench of Republican Hypocrisy is Stifling

White supremacist MAGA acolyte Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (MTG) from Georgia posted this vile message after Pope Francis I died.

US Attorney-General Pam Bondi did not condemn this anti-Christian message from MTG and worse, SECSTATE Marco Rubio conveniently ignores the fact that for decades Palestinian Christians have been attacked by both Israeli civilians and the IDF.

Theodosios (Atallah Hanna), the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Sebastia, delivers a speech during a demonstration in Beit Jala in the West Bank 17 May \2021 to express solidarity with Gaza and Sheikh Jarah. (Photo: Hazem Bader / AFP via Getty Images)

You can watch the videos here:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/20/palestinians-in-gaza-west-bank-mark-sorrowful-easter-amid-israeli-attacks

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-04-15/ty-article/israeli-police-violently-detain-several-holy-fire-worshipers/00000187-8563-dc6c-a5ff-ef7373080000

To Trumpf’s vicious sycophantic lapdogs in the junta, they are each awarded this:

Other Oddities From Israel

IDF destroying Indonesian hospital in Gaza (Image: Planet Labs)

ICC-indicted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: public domain)

The availability of high resolution satellite imagery of the Israeli Death Forces (IDF) will irritate Benjamin Netanyahu no end and make concealing their war crimes more difficult.

Swimmer Killed After Rare Shark Attack

A swimmer was killed following an extremely rare shark attack off the coast of Israel about 25 miles north of Tel Aviv. Sharks are known to gather there where warm water is discharged by a local power plant, and especially at this time of year, but they are usually harmless. There have been no recorded fatal shark attacks in waters off Israel since the country was founded in 1948. Below Israelis admire a shark in the same area in 2021.

(Photo: AFP)

Pre-attack video of the shark captured here:

If the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip can’t enjoy the Mediterranean Sea, this seems fitting that Likudniks shouldn’t enjoy their much cleaner beaches to the north.

Sources:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/top-health-officials-hold-urgent-meeting-as-1st-monkeypox-case-confirmed-in-israel/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-rubio-state-department-anti-christian-bias-biden/

https://www.ynetnews.com/business/article/hkbugnh1xg

https://www.timesofisrael.com/man-dies-after-contracting-brain-eating-amoeba-in-israels-2nd-ever-recorded-case/

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/247686/gazas-only-catholic-priest-calls-israel-gaza-violence-extremely-serious

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c793rygrpjqo

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2025/04/22/marjorie-taylor-greenes-viral-controversial-post-after-pope-francis-death-marjorie-taylor-greene/83207982007/

19 Richest American Households Made One Trillion Dollars Last Year

“The wealthiest have gotten richer, and control a record share of America’s wealth. New data suggest $1 trillion of wealth was created for the 19 richest American households alone in 2024. That is more than the value of Switzerland’s entire economy.”

GOP Tax Cuts Will Cull Thousands of Poor Americans

To pay for the oligarch’s unneeded tax cuts, congressional Republicans in both chambers passed a resolution to cut at least $880 billion from the budget through 2034. Because Medicaid accounts for approximately 93% of non-Medicare funding, the program is expected to absorb the overwhelming share of these reductions. The cuts to Medicaid would result in widespread coverage losses, which could lead to 15,400 deaths due to work reporting requirements or roughly 34,200 deaths from reduced federal funding each year. 

The oligarchs have been greedily amassing their pelf for centuries. Just imagine how much more fabulously wealthy the billionaires will be next year after Trumpf’s horrendous tax cuts take effect. And how many poor Americans will have died because of inadequate medical funding. The GOP and American billionaires are aiding and abetting what Friedrich Engels described as “social murder.”

Sources:

https://www.wsj.com/economy/1-trillion-richest-families-wealth-increase-bc13874a?mod=hp_lead_pos7

Rescue Pit Bull Finds Best Friend in Donkey

Secretary Noem, are you watching this?

Followers of the Watch, Coriolanus is doing his utmost to keep up with the sinister machinations of the Trumpf junta, including their blatant stock manipulations with tariff threats and massive cryptocurrency grifting, all while keeping an eye on global intelligence and national security issues.

Trumpf Continues Purging Pentagon of Competent Leadership to Putin’s Delight

President Donald Trumpf continued purging the Defense Department of experienced, capable leaders through his inept and alcoholic SECDEF “Whiskey Pete” Hegseth. The latest victim is a 40-year veteran of the US Navy and someone easily qualified to be the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Staff CJCS). Admiral Lisa Franchetti spent roughly half of her 40-year career at sea, commanding a destroyer, two carrier strike groups and the US Sixth Fleet. She was the first female officer to rise to the Navy’s top job of Chief of Naval Operations.

Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the US Chief of Naval Operations, during a media conference in Perth, Australia, in July 2024. (Photo: Richard Wainwright/EPA, via Shutterstock)

The announcement came in a statement emailed to reporters Friday night, shortly after President Trumpf said he was firing Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“Whiskey Pete” Hegseth said in his statement that he would also replace Gen. James C. Slife, the Air Force’s vice chief of staff, as well as the top uniformed lawyers for the Army, Navy and Air Force.

Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. was the 21st Joints Chiefs of Staff Chairman. (Photo: United States Air Force)

Trumpf and Hegseth are firing competent commanders because they are minorities and competent and will weaken US national security. The purge of civilian and military inspectors-general, as well the military’s top lawyers, signals a dark future era of unaccountability within the DOD which already has trouble with contractor corruption, bribery, cost overruns, etc. Soldiers, Marines, Airmen, and Sailors fighting discrimination will not find sympathetic voices with the Trumpf-Hegseth appointed Inspector-Generals or Judge Advocate Generals (JAGs).

‘The US Is Doing Russia’s Work’ Say Ecstatic Propagandists

Putin’s media mouthpieces are in a lather of excitement over Trumpf’s recent moves, including abandoning Ukrainian President Volodomir Zelensky.

Coriolanus completed several tours with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and will be perfectly blunt. “Whiskey Pete” Hegseth is an alcoholic, misogynist US Army National Guard officer who never made it past the rank of Major. He is neither competent nor experienced enough to qualify as an aide-de-camp to Admiral Franchetti or General Brown, let alone lead the world’s most powerful military. This dipsomaniac and Trumpf sycophant didn’t have the courage to fire General Brown or Admiral Franchetti in person.

A national disgrace leads the US Department of Defense.

Below are screen captures of “Whiskey Pete” Hegseth hurling an axe at a target during his Fox TV show. The axe would strike and injure a US Army NCO playing in the military band behind the barrier.

“Whiskey Pete” Hegseth was later sued over this idiotic incident.

The US proposed its own UN resolution marking the third anniversary of Russia’s war in Ukraine after refusing to back one drafted by Kiev and backed by Europe. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described it as “a simple, historic resolution … that we urge all member states to support in order to chart a path to peace.”

The draft US resolution does not condemn Russia as the aggressor in the conflict, nor does it make any acknowledgement of Ukraine’s territorial integrity. “This resolution is consistent with President Trumpf’s view that the UN must return to its founding purpose, as enshrined in the UN Charter, to maintain international peace and security, including through the peaceful settlement of disputes,” Rubio’s statement said.

No wonder Russian President Vladimir Putin is thrilled with his intelligence asset, America’s Godzilla, who is destroying US institutions through DOGE, appointing incompetent cabinet secretaries, while firing thousands of capable civil servants in health, aviation safety, forestry management, agricultural surveillance, environmental protection, and nuclear weapons security.

How much destruction will America’s Godzilla wreak in four years on behalf of Vladimir Putin?

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/22/politics/ukraine-war-us-proposes-un-resolution/index.html

Update: Ukraine-Russia

Front Page of the Rightwing New York Post ( 21 Feb 2025)

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he was willing to step down if it meant peace in Ukraine. His remark came days after President Trumpf questioned his legitimacy and called him a “dictator without elections,” echoing a Kremlin talking point.

“If it brings peace to Ukraine, and if you need me to step down — I am ready,” Mr. Zelensky said during a news conference on Sunday, on the eve of the third anniversary of the war. “Second, I can exchange this for NATO.”

This is a highly unlikely scenario given Trumpf’s opposition to allowing Ukraine into the military alliance. EU leaders are meeting for an extraordinary summit on 6 Mar to discuss additional support for Ukraine, European security guarantees and how to pay for European defense needs.

Cuban Mercenaries Fighting for Kremlin

(Image: RFE/RL.org)

Cuban mercenaries have been fighting for Russia, like Frank Dario Jarrosay Manfuga (36) above who joined Russia’s army in Jan 2024 and was captured in Mar 2024.

A former geography teacher he later became a professional musician to increase his income.
“I never intended to kill anyone. I never wanted to participate in a war. I have a family,” said Manfuga, who claimed he was tricked into boarding a Russia-bound plane with the promise of a job in construction. He has no desire to return to Russia or Cuba and Manfuga’s claim that he was duped could not be verified.

An estimated 5,000 Cuban soldiers are fighting for Russia,” Orlando Gutierrez-Boronat, co-founder of the Cuban Democratic Directorate, a US-based NGO advocating for democratic change in communist Cuba reported. “This network could not function without the Cuban regime’s approval.” Unlike North Koreans, Cuban fighters in Russia have left a significant social media footprint, with many openly embracing the Kremlin’s militarism and ideology.

Putin Promotes War Criminal

Unindicted war criminal Major-General Sergei Atroshchenko.

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has promoted Sergei Atroshchenko, who ordered the bombing of a drama theater in Mariupol on 16 Mar 2022, to the rank of Major-General.

The AP reports as many 600 Ukrainians were killed in a deliberate strike against defenseless civilians. (Photo: CNN)

After occupying Mariupol, Russian forces began demolishing the drama theater building to destroy evidence of the war crime.

Ukrainian Security Services Prevent Assassination

The Security Service of Ukraine and the National Police detained a saboteur who prepared a terrorist attack in the center of Odessa on 20 Feb.

The saboteur set up an IED near the car of the special prosecutor. Law enforcement officers pursued and detained the perpetrator, an 18-year-old resident of Odessa. He was recruited by Russian intelligence through a Telegram channel in search for “easy” money. On the instructions of the Russian special services, the saboteur personally constructed an improvised explosive device (IED) with a capacity of 300g in TNT equivalent.

To increase the lethality, the suspect stuffed the explosives with metal nuts and planted it under the military prosecutor’s car. Opposite the “target”, the attacker installed a hidden mobile phone with a remote access function for the FSB. Later, the Russian special service remotely activated the explosives, injuring a passer-by.

During exploitation of the crime scene, a mobile phone with evidence of his communication with his Russian handlers was seized from the detainee.

President Zelensky is capable, competent, and clever, a genuine national leader who cares about the future of his people. Ukrainian secret services continue to thwart Russian assassination attempts within their homeland. This suspect, like other young miscreants, prepared the IED for money, not out of love for Mother Russia or hatred of Ukraine. No doubt that Major-General Sergei Atroshchenko is on the Special Prosecutor’s list or in the cross-hairs of the Ukrainian espionage network for either justice or vengeance. Ukrainian military intelligence has previously liquidated HVT war criminals within Russia. The case of the Cuban mercenaries underscores their need for money and loyalty to Russia, as well as demonstrating that Moscow still needs manpower. Lastly, the question of American mercenaries fighting for Russia emerges as some are fugitives from US justice. How will they be treated by the US government at the end of hostilities?

Two criminals in love. Benjamin Netanyahu would complete the menage-a-trois.

Sources:

https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-cuban-recruits-fighters-ukraine-mercenaries/33315782.html

https://english.nv.ua/nation/putin-promotes-atroshchenko-to-military-general-after-mariupol-theater-bombing-50492041.html

https://ssu.gov.ua/novyny/sbu-ta-natspolitsiia-po-hariachykh-slidakh-zatrymaly-ahenta-fsb-yakyi-na-zamovlennia-rf-pidirvav-avto-viiskovoho-prokurora-v-odesi


https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-leaders-meet-extraordinary-summit-ukraine-eu-defence-march-6-2025-02-23/

US Bloodbath: No End in Sight to America’s Undeclared War on Itself

General Garibaldi’s red shirts prevailed over the Army of the Two Sicilies in the Battle of Volturno (Oct 1860. (Courtesy of Peter Dennis)

In the past 48 hours several shootings terrorized and killed American citizens, including police officers, throughout different parts of the US.

Louisville, Kentucky

Police work the scene of a shooting outside a driver’s licensing office in Louisville, Kentucky, 21 Feb 2025. (Source: WHAS TV)

Three people were shot and killed in a parking lot outside a driver’s licensing office in Louisville, Kentucky. A male victim died at the scene while two female victims died at a hospital. No suspect is in custody and the shooter fled the scene. Authorities didn’t discuss any potential connection between the victims.

“There does not seem to be a public threat,” police said at a news conference, even though the murderer was on the loose.

In an average year, 827 people die and 1,857 are wounded by guns in Kentucky. The Bluegrass State has the 11th-highest rate of gun violence in the US. Gun deaths and injuries cost Kentucky $9.6 billion each year, of which $183.4 million is paid by taxpayers. In Kentucky, 54.6% of adults have firearms at home. Licenses in 2021: 108,833

York, Pennsylvania

Patrolman Andrew Duarte had served with the West York Borough Police Department for over two years and previously served with the Denver Police Department for five years. This was a good-looking young man who seemed quite happy. (Photo: public domain)

Officer Andrew Duarte died while responding to a 10:43AM call about an active threat at UPMC Hospital in York, Pennsylvania.

No patients were injured during the shooting, and the five-story, 104-bed hospital has been secured, according to a statement by Pennsylvania State Police. It’s unclear if there were any other injuries.

“At this time, the shooter is deceased and there is no danger to the public. The hospital is secured,” police said.

In an average year, 1,759 people die and 4,020 are wounded by guns in Pennsylvania. The Keystone State has the 20th highest rate of gun violence in the US. Pennsylvania firearm licenses in 2021: 348,167. An estimated 40.7% of adults in Pennsylvania have guns in their homes.

Virginia Beach, Virginia

VBPO Cameron Girvin. He seemed like a happy person. No photo available of VBPO Christopher Reese.

Police Officers Christopher “Chris” Reese and Cameron Girvin were shot while conducting a traffic stop at Sylvan Court at approximately 2330 Friday evening.

“While on patrol Officer Reese and Officer Girvin observed a car with an expired plate and executed a traffic stop. During the traffic stop the officers asked the subject to exit the vehicle and the subject refused; when finally exiting the vehicle the subject “tussled” with the officers and immediately produced a pistol, shooting both Officer Reese and Officer Girvin. While the officers were incapacitated and on the ground, the subject shot each officer a second time and then fled the scene. The subject was found in a shed near the initial scene with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

First responders attempted life-saving procedures and both officers were transported to local hospitals but would succumb to their wounds.”

Nota Bene: Coriolanus does not like the use of the word “tussled” as any local or federal judge would immediately question the definition of the word and what exactly transpired between the police officers and the suspect (who was later found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound).

In an average year, 1,065 people die and 1,911 are wounded by guns in Virginia. Around 44.6% of adults in Virginia have guns at home. Federal firearm licenses: 423,707.

Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico

Security Forces members assigned to the 377th Security Forces Squadron responded to an incident at approximately 2AM Saturday, 22 Feb resulting in a shooting incident. One Airman received a nonfatal gunshot wound to the hand and was transported to UNM Medical Center for treatment. He has since been released with no life-threatening injuries.

The other Airman was found dead at the scene. The cause of death and the incident remains under investigation by local authorities. The Air Force Office of Special Investigations was leading the probe along with the FBI and Albuquerque PD. Authorities said there is currently no threat to the public, even though the suspect remains at large.

In an average year, 433 people die and 618 are wounded by guns in New Mexico. The “Land of Enchantment State” has the 12th-highest rate of gun violence in the US. In New Mexico, 46.2% of adults have at least one gun at home. Firearms licenses in 2021: 122,968

Indiana

Trinity Shockley (18) Credit: Morgan County Sheriff’s Office

Last week, an 18-year-old from Mooresville, Indiana, was arrested for allegedly planning a mass school shooting at Mooresville High School. The Mooresville Metropolitan Police Department received information around 7PM 11 Feb from the FBI about someone who was potentially planning a school shooting on 14 Feb 2025.

During the department’s investigation, officers identified the person of interest as Trinity Shockley, of Mooresville. Court documents say Trinity is transgender, going by the name Jamie. Someone called the FBI and reported that Trinity was planning a shooting and that she had access to an AR-15 and ordered a bulletproof vest.

This is a catastrophe averted. The student reportedly had expressed admiration for other mass shooters, including Nikolas Cruz, who murdered 17 people and wounded 17 others at Parkland High School, Florida on 14 Feb 2018.

In an average year, 1,111 people die and 1,556 are wounded by guns in Indiana. Indiana has the 30th-highest rate of gun violence in the US. Indiana firearm licenses in 2021: 157,546. In Indiana, 44.8% of adults have at least one firearm at home.

NRA-rated A+ Republican US Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) at the 2015 CPAC convention. (Photo: Adweek)

In 2022, the CDC reported the US suffered 48,000 gun-related homicides. These are wartime casualty numbers. Every day 327 people are shot in the US. Of those, on average, 117 will die. By contrast in 2023 the entire country of Canada with approximately 41.6m people suffered 289 homicides by firearms. That averages to less than one firearm-related murder per day.

The US government may wish to consider deploying US Army medics or US Navy Corpsmen like the soldiers below throughout the country to triage and treat her daily casualties, like a warzone.

(Photo: US Army)

Unless America does something drastic and soon, her undeclared war with herself will reach 50,000 annual gun deaths possibly in 2025 or 2026. But remarkably, America’s Godzilla is doing the exact opposite. Trumpf recently signed an Executive Order reversing federal firearm regulations, making purchasing guns easier.

Sources:

https://www.whas11.com/article/news/local/indiana/18-year-old-charged-allegedly-planning-mass-shooting-mooresville-high-school-trinity-shockley/531-3ab9d4e1-1d0c-4948-a6e3-289847054be5

https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/gun-ownership-rates-by-state/41/

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/protecting-second-amendment-rights/


https://www.kirtland.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4074588/one-airman-dead-and-another-hospitalized-outside-kirtland-release-2/

https://www.odmp.org/

South Carolina Convict to be Killed in First Firing Squad Execution in 15 Years

Brad Sigmon. (Photo: Courtesy of Brad Sigmon legal team)

“A South Carolina man on death row has chosen to be killed by firing squad, and if his execution goes forward next month, it would be the first time in 15 years that capital punishment in the US is carried out by gunfire. Brad Sigmon (67) is scheduled to be shot to death on 7 Mar, part of a spate of rapid killings the state has pursued in the last six months as it revives executions after a 13-year pause.

South Carolina now directs those on death row to choose how they will be killed — electric chair, lethal injection or shooting. If they decline to make a selection, the state electrocutes them. Attorneys for men on South Carolina’s death row have previously objected to firing squads, raising concerns about the pain caused by shootings and arguing the method constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. But Sigmon selected a firing squad in part because of concerns about the state’s lethal injection methods, his attorneys said.”

Utah and Idaho are also considering the use of firing squads (I wrote an OP about this several weeks ago). One rifleman is anonymously given a powerful blank cartridge so he can think that he wasn’t the one who killed the prisoner. (Photo: NY Post / Shutterstock)

Source:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/21/brad-sigmon-death-penalty-firing-squad

Australia Warns Airlines to Beware of Chinese Navy Live-Fire Exercise

Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning and auxiliary ships. (Photo: navalnews.com)

Australia warned international airlines flying between Australian airports and New Zealand to beware of Chinese warships conducting a live-fire exercise in the Tasman Sea.

Regulator Airservices Australia had warned commercial pilots of a potential hazard in airspace between the countries as three Chinese warships conduct exercises off the Australian east coast.

Several international flights had diverted as a result.

“It would be normal practice where a task group is engaging in exercises for there to be advice given to vessels and aircraft in the area and Airservices Australia is doing what it should do, which is to give that advice,” Australian FM Penny Wong said.

Australia was discussing with China about the notification and transparency around its naval exercises, “particularly live-fire exercises,” Wong said.

Australian military ships and planes have been monitoring the Chinese warships for days as they pass in international waters off the Australian east coast.

The Royal Australian Navy Fleet consists of 27 commissioned ships and 11 non-commissioned ships manned by 16,000 officers and seamen; 4,600 in the reserves. The Chinese navy has 384,000 active personnel manning 788 ships and 600 aircraft.

Civil aviation has paid the price of flying near active military warzones Russia shot down a Malaysian Airlines several years ago, as well as an Azerbaijani Airways flight recently. This warning and quarantine zone is an obvious safety measure from Canberra. Conducting live fire drills in this vicinity is clearly a provocation from Beijing. Since Australia and New Zealand are allies of the US, perhaps China is testing the reaction from Trumpf.

Sources:

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/australia-warns-airlines-beware-chinese-navy-live-fire-119033470

https://www.airservicesaustralia.com/

Inside Britain’s Fascist Fight Clubs: Secret Footage Shows Far-Right Group Preparing for ‘Race War’

“A white supremacist group masquerading as a fitness club has been secretly working to build a far-right militia, holding training sessions in plain sight.

An undercover investigation by ITV News has revealed how ‘Active Club England’ is following a blueprint established by neo-Nazi networks in the US and Europe, using extreme fitness and fraternity as a front to recruit and radicalize members for a so-called “race war”.

ITV News has uncovered how a recruitment drive in the wake of the 2024 summer riots attracted dozens of new members. By capitalizing on social unrest, the group expanded to more than 100 members, with one branch drawing enough new followers to begin fortnightly training sessions at a park in Vauxhall, south London, just steps from MI6 headquarters.”

Last year Scotland Yard’s counter-terror chief reported a “startling” rise in the number of children in London becoming lured into terrorist activity with arrests now running at double the 20-year average.

Fight club members regularly took part in boxing training sessions in London and had to meet strict fitness standards. (Credit: ITV News)

Jay Barlow was sentenced in Sep 2024 for the possession of a knife and a racist offence against a police officer. (Credit: Metropolitan Police)

Rundo was arrested in a Romanian gym in 2023. (Credit: X/@Shtuni)

From 30 Jul to 5 Aug 2024, [a] far-right, anti-immigration protests and riots occurred in England and Northern Ireland.

There are hundreds of these right wing maniacs ready to commit violence against immigrants, people of color, Muslims, and Jews in the UK, and many have already sone so. Worse, these neo-Nazis are preparing for an ominous “race war.” One thug laments on the difficulties of obtaining firearms in the UK, unlike the ease found in other countries. Britain’s MI5 and Scotland Yard have their hands full dealing with these dangerous lunatics. The Kremlin has been linked to supporting rightwing, white supremacist groups throughout Europe and no doubt Elon Musk’s social platforms are facilitating their hate messages.

Watch the video here: https://www.itv.com/news/2025-02-11/undercover-footage-shows-far-right-group-preparing-for-race-war

Source:

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/terrorism-arrests-children-london-far-right-islam-metropolitan-police-b1129874.html

Is This A Woman or a Man?

Ms. Hunter Schafer (Getty Images)

“Hunter Schafer, a transgender woman and star of hit HBO teen drama Euphoria, has said a new US passport lists her as male, despite selecting female when she filled out the paperwork. Ms. Schafer said she changed her gender markers for her driver’s license and passports when she was a teenager, but that her birth certificate was never amended. The US State Department, which issues passports, says on its website that it will “only issue passports with an M or F sex marker that match the customer’s biological sex at birth.”

America’s Godzilla reversed the US State Dept policy which previously allowed a citizen to mark “X” under gender for their passport.

Thailand has long recognized a third gender called Kathoeys or “Ladyboys.”

So are DHS airport inspectors or border patrol agents at the Ports of Entry (POE) going to conduct strip searches or genetic tests on Ms. Schafer or kathoeys from Thailand?

Whatever happened to the time-honored American tradition of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?”

Source:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg4klq45ngvo

Cat in Shelter Was Sad So He Was Sent to Nursing Home

Staggering Toll of US Failure in Afghanistan on Taxpayers is Laid Bare by Government Auditor

Map: USCENTCOM

Excerpt:

“The US failure in Afghanistan was caused by a system that rewarded generals, diplomats, contractors, and policymakers who reported successes on the ground, rather than the grim reality of a bloody insurgency.

The result, said one US military adviser, was that the system “became a self-licking ice cream” as more money was committed to justify the billions already spent.”

Soldiers bear the remains of US Army SPC Michael A. Dahl, Jr., of Moreno Valley, CA from a transport plane at Dover Air Base, DE, 19 Oct 2009. (Photo: Cliff Owen / AP)

The SIGAR report which will be released imminently will reveal that experts and government officials now believe decisions made as early as 2002 meant the war was doomed to failure.

The analysis will highlight how American ignorance of Afghan culture, the impact of local corruption, and weak cooperation among US agencies have all contributed to a war effort that has returned the country to the Taliban, at the cost of more than 2,400 American lives and two trillion dollars.

The 1971 Pentagon Papers (linked below) regarding US involvement in Vietnam is quite similar in analysis. US leadership realized the Vietnam War was unwinnable, no matter the number of Soldiers sent or bombs dropped, as the French realized in 1954.

US servicemembers coming home from Vietnam in 1965. (Photo: Harry Groom / Newsweek)

The beneficiaries of all these wars in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan were the military-industrial complex and reconstruction contractors which made Mammon-like fortunes, as well as generals getting opportunities to add stars, medals, and ribbons to their uniforms.

Below is the commander of an army that hasn’t been to war in centuries.

Head of Switzerland’s army: Corps Commander Thomas Süssli — © DDPS/DDPS

Sources:

https://www.sigar.mil/

https://www.archives.gov/research/pentagon-papers

https://www.archives.gov/research/pentagon-papers

Apple Computers Facing “Blood Minerals” Lawsuit in Africa So CEO Tim Cook Personally Donates One Million Dollars to Trump Inaugural Fund

The DRC has a population of 115,403,027; 75% of them live under the poverty line.

Global tech companies have been exploiting miners in Africa for decades. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), various armed groups – including both Congolese army and rival armed rebel groups, among them the M23 – occupy mines and trading routes, forcing miners to work for free. These resources have been called “conflict” or “blood minerals.”


Minerals from these mines, including tungsten, tin and tantalum (often referred to as the 3Ts), have been illegally smuggled through Rwanda for several years, and eventually exported to tech companies such as AppleTesla, and Samsung.

Slave labor miners being exploited by armed gangs in the DRC. (Photo: Mark Craemer)

The DRC filed criminal charges against Apple Computers over the use of conflict minerals. A criminal complaint was filed in Dec 2024 against Apple’s subsidiaries in France and Belgium, where the Congolese government alleges Apple uses conflict minerals laundered through international supply chains – which the American tech giant denies.

So, what does Apple CEO Tim Cook do? He “personally” makes a one million dollar donation to Trump’s inaugural committee. Cook recently visited Mar-a-Lago in Florida for a meeting with Trump. Tesla CEO Elon Musk was also spotted at the dinner table with Trump and Cook. Both Tesla and Apple require those “blood minerals” from Africa. There is no coincidence that Trump has designs on Greenland with its vast treasure of minerals and resources under the tundra ready for excavation.   

Two oligarchs sharing a laugh. According to Forbes, Tim Cook is worth $2.3B; $1M seems cheap for him. Photo: Reuters

Apple CEO Tim Cook has joined a chorus of Big Tech executives making sizeable donations to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg visited Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump, as did Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Trump has also met with Jeff Bezos and many other high-profile executives in the Big Tech industry.

Meta, Amazon, and Uber have donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund. OpenAI’s Sam Altman also made a $1 million donation. Outside of Silicon Valley, companies including Ford, Toyota, GM, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Coinbase, and more have donated millions to the Trump inauguration fund.

The era of oligarchal kakistocracy is settling in comfortably before the peaceful transition of power takes place on 20 Jan 2025. Expect the Trump administration to pay back all of these donors in the transactional manner he is known for. Worse, the wealth disparity between America’s oligarchs and the hoi polloi will be the greatest after the next four torturous years.

Sources:

https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20250103-drc-case-against-apple-brings-new-hope-in-conflict-minerals-crisis

https://www.globalwitness.org/en/reports/tackling-conflict-minerals/

Apple CEO Tim Cook donates $1M to Trump’s inauguration fund – 9to5Mac

The Dutch Set Up “Government-in-Exile” When Third Reich Invaded 10 May 1940. Too Bad US Won’t Do Same With Trump-Putin-Musk Cabal

The Netherlands hadn’t seen war in 125 years when the Third Reich brutally invaded and occupied the country on 10 May 1940. Queen Wilhelmina fled to the UK and established a “Government-in-Exile” until normalcy could be restored to her beleaguered nation.

Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy, Prime Minister of the exiled Dutch government about to speak on the BBC, 23 Sep 1941.

If a Vladimir Putin puppet made it back to the White House a second time, the Quisling known as Donald Trump, then the US truly lost the Cold War. And the American people are not used to losing wars.

A hand-colored woodcut illustration of British soldiers after setting fire to the White House during the War of 1812, the last time America lost a war on its homeland until Nov 2024. (Image: AP)

For half of America the next four years will feel like an occupation force under the Trump administration. Vulnerable darker-skinned migrants will be herded up for deportation and a brain drain will emaciate the resistance. After 20 Jan 2025, there may also be a mass exodus of national security veterans and Assistant US Attorneys (AUSAs) who opposed Trump, like Jack Smith, as well as progressive media luminaries. 

Former D/CIA Michael Hayden led the charge of 130 former Republican national security officials denouncing Donald Trump in 2020.

Too bad the US can’t set up a government-in-exile in Canada or the UK like the Dutch did in 1940, so our allies could continue dealing with trustworthy counterparts. Until these Quislings are defeated in the ballot box (mid-terms for Congress in 2026 and 2028 for President), Americans may feel like the Dutch or French did from 1940 to 1945 and our allies will be circumspect in sharing their intelligence with us.

Texas Encourages Monitoring and Reporting of Animals Affected by New World Screwworm

From the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife (TPWD):

TPWD is asking hunters and other outdoor enthusiasts in South Texas to be on the lookout for animals affected by the New World screwworm (NWS) after a recent detection in Mexico.

This detection, found in a cow at an inspection checkpoint in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas near the Guatemalan border, follows the progressive northward movement of the NWS through South and Central America.

New World screwworm favorability analysis. (image: casasglobal.org)

As a protective measure, animal health officials are asking those along the southern border of Texas to monitor wildlife, livestock and pets for clinical signs of NWS and immediately report possible cases.

New World screwworms are larvae or worms of the NWS fly (Cochliomyia hominivorax), which cause a painful condition known as NWS myiasis. NWS flies lay eggs in open wounds or living tissue holes such as nostrils, eyes, or mouth. These eggs hatch into dangerous parasitic larvae, and the worms burrow or curl into the flesh with sharp mouth hooks. Wounds can become enlarged, and an infestation can often cause serious and fatal damage or death to the infected animal.

Screwworms infestations have been confirmed in Florida. (Image: USDA APHIS)

NWS primarily infests livestock, but it can also affect humans and wildlife, including deer (deer) and birds.

The parasite was last eradicated from the US in 1966, with costly efforts by federal and state animal health officials, livestock producers, and veterinarians. Eradication efforts have continued in Central America, but the pest is considered widespread in Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and countries in South America.

NWS infestations begin when a female NWS fly is attracted to the smell of a natural wound or opening on a live, warm-blooded animal, where she lays her eggs. These openings can include wounds as small as a tick bite, nasal or eye openings, a newborn’s belly button, or genitals.

A female NWS fly can lay up to 300 eggs at a time and can lay up to 3,000 eggs during her lifetime. The eggs hatch into larvae (worms) that burrow into an opening to feed. After feeding, the larvae fall to the ground, burrow into the ground, and emerge as adult NWS flies. Adult NWS flies can fly long distances, and the movement of infested cattle or wildlife can increase the rate of spread.

Sources:

https://tpwd.texas.gov/newsmedia/releases/?req=20241230a

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/cattle/ticks/screwworm

Montenegro Cracks Down On Firearms After New Year’s Massacre

The Montenegrin government has announced a raft of new gun-control measures, following a mass shooting that killed 12 people, including two children.

Relatives mourn during a commemoration service for victims of New Year’s Day mass shooting in Cetinje, Montenegro. (Photo: 4 Jan 2025, Reuters)

The proposed law will mandate the reverification of existing weapons licenses and impose severe penalties for those who fail to surrender illegal weapons within a two-month period. Hunting clubs would be verified and the authorities would establish an anonymous tip line where citizens can report illegal weapons possession for a reward.

Montenegro has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in Europe. In the country of just over 620,000 people, there are about 245,000 firearms in use. Other estimates suggest the figure is lower. According to 2022 police data provided to RFE/RL’s Balkan Service, there are over 100,000 legally owned weapons in Montenegro, while illegal firearms are estimated to number between 40,000 and 80,000.

With one police officer per 141 inhabitants, Montenegro remarkably has the second highest number of police officers per capita in Europe (after Monaco) yet has a large organized crime presence.

Despite the large constabulary, Cetinje (the site of the massacre) had only a minimal police presence despite being home to 120 known organized crime members and having experienced a similar massacre in August 2022. Then, an attacker killed ten people and wounded six before being killed by a passerby.

Restricting firearms will not be an easy task for Podgorica with its long tradition of gun ownership. Moreover, Montenegro is ranked fifth in Europe for organized criminality by the Global Organized Crime Index.

Source:

https://www.rferl.org/a/montenegro-new-gun-control-measures-cetinje-shooting-response/33263200.html

Pennsylvania US Army Veteran Charged With Attempting to Join Lebanese Hezbollah

Undated photo of Jack Danaher Molloy courtesy of the FBI.

Jack Danaher Molloy (24) has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on charges of attempting to support the foreign terrorist organization (FTO) Lebanese Hezbollah and making false statements to an agency of the US. As alleged, Molloy —a dual citizen of the US and Ireland, who previously served on active-duty status in the US Army—traveled to Lebanon in Aug 2024 and attempted to join Hezbollah, an organization formed in the wake of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and has conducted numerous terrorist attacks against Israeli and Western targets. While in Lebanon, Molloy was told by multiple individuals that the time was not right, and that he needed to take other steps before he could join LH. Molloy then traveled from Lebanon to Syria in Oct 2024 in an effort to fight for Hezbollah in Syria. When that failed, he returned home. Met by FBI agents at the airport, Molloy lied to them about his attempts to join an FTO (18 USC 1001 violations).

The maximum sentence for the material support offense is a term of imprisonment of 20 years, a fine of $250,000, or both. Each of the false statement charges carries a maximum sentence of eight years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.

Jack Molloy is missing some marbles if he thought he could walk into a Lebanese Hezbollah (LH) recruitment office in the middle of a war with Israel and just sign up. After LH dismissed this “mejnun,” they probably tipped off Lebanese Army G-2 who then tipped off the LEGATT, RSO, or CIA CoS in Beirut. His Irish passport probably saved him from an “OBE” award (one behind the ear) from suspicious actors in Lebanon or Syria. FBI intervention most likely prevented an attack against Jewish or Israeli targets in the US.

Instead of getting desperately needed psychiatric care, Molloy will languish in a BOP facility for 28 to 36 years. He will probably be close to 60 when he is finally released and will not have contributed towards his social security retirement during his lengthy incarceration. He would be better off making his way to Ireland after his release, as their social safety net is superior to America’s.

An indictment and a criminal complaint are accusations. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Sources:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdpa/pr/upper-st-clair-man-who-traveled-lebanon-and-syria-goal-joining-hizballah-indicted

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdpa/media/1379546/dl?inline

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdpa/media/1382696/dl?inline

Russia-Appointed Officials in Crimea Declare Emergency as Oil Spill Reaches Sevastopol

(Map courtesy of Global News)

More than 86,000 tons of contaminated sand and soil have been removed along the region’s shoreline since the original spill. Up to 200,000 tons in total may have been contaminated with mazut, a heavy, low-quality oil product.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the oil spill an “ecological disaster.”

Rescuers and volunteers work to clean up tons of fuel oil that spilled out of two storm-stricken tankers more than two weeks ago in the Kerch Strait, in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region. (Photo: Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP)

Water pollution, the war, and fishing have been killing dolphins in the Black Sea for some time now and this spill won’t help these poor sea mammals that some ethicists correctly assert should be treated with the same rights as human beings.

Sources:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/multimedia/image/ap-russia-oil-spill-88871-jpg/

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20221222-how-the-war-in-ukraine-is-killing-marine-mammals

https://inf.news/en/animal/6848e299d25bc0eedde64f94646465aa.html

Rescue Dog’s Heartwarming Response to Deaf Cat

Israel Launches Massive Attack on Beirut Killing Lebanese Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah

Undated photo courtesy of the Washington Post. Several ministers in the Likud government agree with this young lady.

Israeli launched a massive strike on what it said was Iran-allied Hezbollah’s central headquarters in a Beirut suburb shortly after PM Benjamin Netanyahu warned the UN that actions against Lebanese Hezbollah would not stop. The IDF announced that the strike killed Lebanese Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, Ali Karki, and other commanders. At least four buildings were destroyed in the strikes, six people were killed, and more than 91 were injured. The intensified fighting has killed hundreds and tens of thousands more have been displaced.

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon, 28 Sep 2024.

Earlier in the day, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted that “the path to diplomacy” was still open in the Middle East despite Israel’s latest massive strike in Lebanon, but he insisted Israel and Hezbollah must both “stop firing.” This diplomatic effort has been rendered moot by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Elsewhere, Iran, Russia, and their allies condemned the strikes on Beirut as a “war crime.”

The attacks against Hezbollah began when many world leaders — including those from the Middle East — were in New York for the annual UN General Assembly gathering on 27 Sep. Before these airstrikes, pagers and walkie-talkies used by Lebanese Hezbollah operatives- and civilians– simultaneously exploded last week, killing 42 people and maiming hundreds.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati urged the global community to “stop” Israel from waging a “genocidal war” against Lebanon.

“This new Israeli aggression proves that the Israeli enemy doesn’t care about all the international efforts and calls for a cease-fire,” Mikati said.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said: “It is time to face the truth, and the truth is unless Netanyahu is stopped, unless this government is stopped, war will encompass all of us.”

We are probably too late.

Adjusting for inflation, US aid to Israel from 1951 to 2022 totaled $317.9 billion, making it the largest recipient of American foreign aid since World War II. Israel’s behavior is a poor return for the hardworking American taxpayer who does not enjoy universal health care like Israelis do.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu will do anything to hold on to power and keep his nettlesome bribery and corruption trial in Jerusalem held in abeyance, at the cost of Arab lives which the IDF and Likud Cabinet consider disposable. Last year Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter said Israel was going to roll out “Nakba 2023” and Heritage Minister Amihal Eliyahu suggested deploying a nuclear weapon against the people in Gaza.

The constant drumbeat of amalgamating all Muslims as terrorists, all Palestinians as Hamas, all Lebanese as Hezbollah may work with the Western audience, but the rest of the world and the UN sees through the propaganda.

The death toll in the tiny Gaza Strip has surpassed 40,000. The Associated Press (AP) provided the following data:

Palestinians killed in Gaza: at least 40,005

People killed in Israel: about 1,200

Palestinians killed in the West Bank: 623

People killed in Lebanon: approximately 530

Civilians

Civilians killed in Gaza: 5,956 women; at least 10,627 children.

Civilians and foreigners killed in Israel: 860

Children killed in Israel: 53

Civilians killed since 7 Oct in Israel along its northern border: 24

Civilians killed in Lebanon: 97

Meanwhile, the belligerent Netanyahu regime has practically guaranteed denying his principal ally, Democratic US President Joe Biden, a small diplomatic victory before he leaves office. A ceasefire and deal to release the 100 or so remaining hostages held by armed Palestinian groups would have been a final achievement to Biden’s long political career and a boost for his successor VPOTUS Kamala Harris. But now Pres. Biden and the West must expect escalation and asymmetric warfare retaliation by Lebanese Hezbollah and the possibility of a wider war with Iran.

While Netanyahu doesn’t mind if he angers the UN, he should mind upsetting the Biden Administration. Biden felt Netanyahu had humiliated both Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Biden himself with his back-and-forth palaver about a cease-fire proposal with Hezbollah. Netanyahu at first told US officials he supported a pause in fighting with the Lebanon-based militant group, then roundly rejected the cease-fire proposal once it was made public and began this well-planned onslaught on Lebanese Hezbollah, regardless of how many innocent civilians are killed, injured, or maimed.

Netanyahu has made Pres. Biden and his cabinet look ineffectual right before the November presidential election. Democratic President Jimmy Carter also appeared ineffectual during the 1980 “Iranian hostage crisis” and he would go on to lose the election to Republican Ronald Reagan. Does Netanyahu want Donald Trump to win in November?

And thanks to “Crime Minister” Netanyahu, US military personnel in CENTCOM AOR are in harm’s way in the Middle East. US forces are scheduled to depart Iraq next year, but other Americans are based throughout the region. Shia Houthis may attack Western maritime targets in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden on behalf of the people who previously helped them during the Saudi-caused famine in Yemen.

The US military maintains an outsized basing presence for ground troops in the Middle East, which tempts policymakers to use force in a region increasingly marginal to US national security interests. The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier group and an attack submarine have recently deployed to the region. Map: defensepriorities.org.

As posted previously on Coriolanus, the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague has indicted Netanyahu (and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant) for war crimes, but their international arrest warrants have inexplicably not yet been issued. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague has also rebuked the Israeli government for its military operations against the Palestinians.  

Psychological Theory: At the famous 4 July 1976 “Raid at Entebbe,” Israeli commandos rescued hostages whose plane was hijacked by Palestinian and German gunmen and flown to Uganda. The one Israeli military casualty was Yonatan Netanyahu, the brother of the current prime minister. Aleksandr Ilyich Ulyanov, the older brother of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, was hanged in May 1887 for a failed assassination attempt of Czar Alexander III of Russia. After the deaths of their beloved siblings, Muslims (Palestinians, Iranians, Arabs) became anathematic to Benjamin Netanyahu, like the Romanovs became abominable to V.I. Lenin and hence the “no quarter given” policies of both leaders.

Yoni Netanyahu, in a photograph taken shortly before his death at Entebbe in 1976. Yoni was described as a “talented, sensitive man.” His death may have forever impacted his brother’s attitudes towards Palestinians or Iranians. (GPO, Wikimedia)

All official and news sources are linked below.

Sources:

Israel Targets Hezbollah Leader In Massive Beirut Attack (rferl.org)

Statement of ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan KC: Applications for arrest warrants in the situation in the State of Palestine | International Criminal Court (icc-cpi.int)

Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in (icj-cij.org)

The ICJ and ICC put Israel on notice but cannot stop the war | Chatham House – International Affairs Think Tank

Israel right-wing ministers’ comments add fuel to Palestinian fears (nbcnews.com)

With Gaza’s death toll over 40,000, here’s the conflict by numbers | AP News

Biden told allies that Netanyahu doesn’t want to end fighting in Lebanon – POLITICO

Bases, logistics, and the problem of temptation in the Middle East – Defense Priorities

Yonatan Netanyahu – Wikipedia

Aleksandr Ulyanov – Wikipedia

How much aid does the US give to Israel? (usafacts.org)

Pennsylvania Brothers Plead Guilty to Felony Charges for Actions During 6 Jan Capitol Attack

Center: Matthew Valentin, circled in yellow, and Andrew Valentin circled in red. Clockwise from top right: Enlarged image depicting Matthew Valentin grabbing a police officer through a metal barrier; Matthew Valentin’s hand, circled in yellow, can be seen grabbing a police officer’s baton; body-worn police camera footage allegedly shows Matthew Valentin pepper spraying officers; Matthew and Andrew Valentin climbing the media tower on Capitol grounds (all images via Department of Justice court records.)

Matthew Valentin (31) of Stroudsburg, PA, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers. His brother, Andrew Valentin (26), also of Stroudsburg, PA, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon.

The Honorable US District Judge Reggie B. Walton will sentence the two on 17 Jan 2025.

On 6 Jan, at approximately 2:29 PM, the brothers rushed a police line while rioters yelled, “push, push, push.” The two then pushed a metal barricade into a line of Capitol Police officers.

The officers retreated and formed a new protective line on the south side of the West Plaza. Matthew Valentin then approached the line and sprayed a chemical irritant towards the officers. The brothers then moved from the Lower West Terrace to the Upper West Terrace, arriving at approximately 2:50 p.m. At about 3:30 PM, the mob, including Matthew Valentin, rushed the line of officers. Matthew grabbed a police baton and attempted to tear the baton out of that officer’s hands.

At approximately 5:12 PM, Andrew Valentin threw a folding chair at the line of officers that were protecting the Upper West Terrace, striking one officer’s shield.

The FBI arrested the Valentin brothers on 11 and 12 Feb 2024 in Pennsylvania. 

In the 44 months since 6 Jan 2021, more than 1,504 suspects have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to attacking the US Capitol, including more than 560 seditionists charged with feloniously assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The FBI investigation remains ongoing.

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

These two young siblings threw their lives away over white supremacy and Donald Trump.

Sources:

District of Columbia | Pennsylvania Brothers Plead Guilty to Felony Charges for Actions During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach | United States Department of Justice

France: Banned Pesticides Found in Imported Foods

Signs reading “pesticides = cancer” and “pesticides = murder” are seen near entrance of the International Agriculture Fair at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris on 22 Feb 2024. AFP – LUDOVIC MARIN

According to Vert de rage (Green with Rage), produced by public French television, seven of 22  samples of fruits and vegetables purchased in large French supermarket chains contained pesticide residues banned in Europe.

A grapefruit from China contained two banned products: chlorpyrifos (recognized as neurotoxic, toxic for reproduction, and an endocrine disruptor, and propiconazole (recognized as toxic for reproduction). The EU banned chlorpyrifos in 2020, propiconazole since 2009.

Grapes from Peru contained residues of imidacloprid (part of the neonicotinoids family – known to be harmful to bees), and myclobutanil, a fungicide, which was banned in 2021. An orange from Tunisia contained malathion, a pesticide classified as “probably carcinogenic”, banned in the EU since 2008.

Analysis was conducted by the NGO network Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN Europe) and the European Food Safety Authority.

Pesticides banned in Europe were more prevalent in products such as coffee, tea, spices, and some vegetables. Tahitian limes, passion fruit and plums are the most affected, while rice, zucchini and plantain bananas were also found to contain pesticides.

“Imported foods are twice as likely to contain pesticides banned by the EU as foods grown in the EU,” reported the EFSA.

In France, in 2022, the French public agency in charge of food safety Directorate General for Food (DGAL) issued 2,446 food recalls. 328 of them were linked to the presence of pesticides. Among them, 296 contained at least one banned pesticide or pesticide residue “exceeding the maximum limit authorized in food.”

In 2022, the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) reported that pesticide residues were the leading cause of food warnings. Among the products distributed in France, 104 out of 114 notifications concerned the presence of banned pesticides. In 2023, RASFF issued 292 notifications for products containing pesticides, of which 77 contained at least one banned pesticide or pesticide residue.

In three years, “26.46 percent of products distributed in France containing banned pesticides came from India”, making this country “the most frequent origin” for this type of problem.

Vert de rage also discussed pesticides that have been withdrawn from the European market, but which are still produced in France to be exported to countries where they remain authorized.

According to the Swiss NGO Public Eye, the top five destinations for French-made pesticides in 2023 were Brazil, followed by Ukraine, the US, Russia, and the UK.

Despite the ban on sales in France, there are concerns that the production of these pesticides is affecting drinking water, surface water, and groundwater in the towns where the factories are located.

Sources:

Banned pesticides found in imported foods in France, data shows (rfi.fr)

French food authority finds traces of banned pesticide in drinking water (rfi.fr)

US Charges Iranians with Hacking Attack on Trump Campaign

Montage courtesy of the FBI

The US Justice Department unsealed criminal charges accusing three members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of hacking Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and trying to disrupt the 5 Nov election. The indictment is the latest effort by the Biden administration to counter foreign efforts to interfere in the presidential election between Trump, a Republican, and his Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris. The US Treasury Department also said it was imposing sanctions on seven members of the IRGC.

Photo: Carlo Allegri / Reuters

Meanwhile, Donald Trump, whose mental faculties have been called into question more and more by psychologists, threatened to criminally prosecute the Internet search engine Google for allegedly favoring Democratic opponent Kamala Harris in its search results if he wins in November,

Without providing evidence, Trump claimed in a post on his Truth Social site that Google is trying to interfere with the 2024 presidential election by purposely displaying only “bad stories” about him.

“It has been determined that Google has illegally used a system of only revealing and displaying bad stories about Donald J. Trump, some made up for this purpose while, at the same time, only revealing good stories about Comrade Kamala Harris,” he wrote in the post.

Recently the oldest man to seek the Presidency of the United States asked at a rally for the return of iconic TV legend Johnny Carson: “Where Is Johnny Carson? Bring back Johnny.”

The “King” of late-night comedy died in 2005.

The immortal Johnny Carson as the clairvoyant “Carnac the Magnificent”. “Hmm, I see an obese orange-haired alte cocker losing an election and calling for a mulligan.”  

Sources:

U.S. Charges Iranians With Hacking Attack On Trump Campaign (rferl.org)

United States Sanctions Iran-Backed Malicious Cyber Actors That Have Attempted to Influence U.S. Elections – United States Department of State

Joint ODNI, FBI, and CISA Statement

Trump threatens to criminally prosecute Google for displaying ‘bad stories’ about him – UPI.com

Donald Trump Wants Johnny Carson’s Late Night Return: Fallon Is Dying (variety.com)

French Polynesia: Chinese ICBM Landed ‘Not Far’ From Its Economic Zone

Screenshot of the WeChat channel of China’s Defense Ministry showing the launch of an ICBM that would land in the Pacific, 25 Sep 2024. © Screengrab WeChat via agencies

China’s Defense Ministry had announced the rare trial on Wednesday, saying that the missile was carrying a dummy warhead and “fell into expected sea areas”.

The launch sparked protests from countries in the region, with Japan saying it had not been given advance notice, and Taiwan expressing “solemn condemnation”.

Australia said it was seeking an explanation, while New Zealand called the launch “an unwelcome and concerning development”.

French Polynesian President Moetai Brotherson said “the missile fell not far from … the Marquesas Islands”, an archipelago that is part of its exclusive economic zone.

Hawaii seems to be in range of this Chinese ICBM. Map: Brittanica.com

“The Chinese authorities previously notified their French counterparts of this test,” the French High Commission said in a statement. The US also received “some advanced notification of this ICBM test”, describing this as “a step in the right direction” that would help prevent “misperception or miscalculation”.

China’s military on Thursday released imagery of the missile, showing the projectile soaring into the air in a plum of smoke from an undisclosed location.

The Chinese Defense Ministry described the test launch as a “routine arrangement in our annual training plan” than is “in line with international law and international practice and is not directed against any country or target”.

Analysts said the imagery suggested the launch could be of a Dongfeng-31 AG ICBM, unveiled during a military parade in 2017.

As previously reported here on Coriolanus, Beijing has been rooting out corruption in the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) leadership. At least a dozen executives or officers have been recently purged. This launch, the first of its kind in four decades, is a readiness and capability test and may be a progress report that the anti-corruption measures are working and that the systems are copasetic.

Sources:

French Polynesia says Chinese missile landed ‘not far’ from its economic zone (rfi.fr)

The Shakeup in China’s Rocket Force Continues – The Diplomat

American Warzone: Twenty-Year Old Suspect Attacks California Courthouse, Five Injured

Nathaniel McGuire – Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office via AP

Santa Barbara resident Nathaniel James McGuire (20) was charged with maliciously damaging a building by means of explosive. McGuire allegedly lunged through the Santa Maria Courthouse doors and tossed an explosive at the local arraignment room. When McGuire entered the courthouse, he yelled “Liberty or death!”

After escaping he was quickly detained. McGuire allegedly yelled that the government had taken his guns and that everyone needed to fight, rise up, and rebel. In a recorded interview with investigators, McGuire said he arrived at the courthouse with the intention to kill deputies working the security desk inside the courthouse.

McGuire allegedly was going back to his car to get a shotgun, a lever action rifle, and Molotov cocktails and he planned on re-entering the courthouse to kill a judge. The suspect’s alleged motivation was his 28 July arrest for an alleged firearms violation. Deputies had seized a loaded, concealed, unregistered revolver that was in McGuire’s pants pocket.

If convicted on his federal charge, McGuire faces a minimum sentence of seven years in prison and a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison.

Ten Molotov cocktails, one bomb, and several weapons were recovered from his car outside Santa Maria Courthouse. EOD rendered the bomb safe. Image: US Attorney

If law-enforcement personnel hadn’t quickly detained McGuire after he hurled the explosive, there would have been a lot more victims and carnage. This 20-year-old man threw his life away over his gun craze.

In an average year, 3,299 people die by guns in California. With a rate of 8.2 deaths per 100,000 people, the Golden State has the 45th-highest rate of gun deaths in the US. Nationally, 44,341 people die by guns in an average year, a rate of 13.3 deaths per 100,000 people.

Sources:

Feds charge 20-year-old suspect in California courthouse attack that left 5 injured – ABC News (go.com)

EveryStat – EveryStat.org

Poll: Half Of Russians Wants Putin to Withdraw Troops from Ukraine

Women walk past a banner that depicts Russian President Vladimir Putin as Hitler and says ‘Killer’ and ‘Nuremberg for Putin’ in Wroclaw, Poland. Photo: SERGEI GAPON/AFP via Getty Images

Nearly half of the Russians surveyed this month support an immediate military withdrawal from Ukraine and negotiations for a peace deal. The independent poll, which found 49% want to end the invasion that began in Feb 2022, also revealed that only 32% were prepared to join the fight if ordered by the Defense Ministry, according to the Kyiv Independent. Another 29% reportedly said they weren’t willing to wage war against Ukraine.

But 53% said they supported ousting Ukrainian troops from the territory seized in Russia’s Kursk region since launching a cross-border incursion 6 Aug. And 29% said they favored another wave of conscription to boost Russia’s military.

The findings are based on a survey of 800 Russians over 18 by the ExtremeScan and Chronicles polling organizations, according to the Kyiv Independent, which cited a Russian-language report on the currenttime.tv website. The results were reportedly released to coincide with the two-year anniversary of Russia’s first call-up of draftees to fight in Ukraine.

The results reflect an increase of about ten percentage points in favor of ending the war since February, according to earlier polling by ExtremeScan and Chronicles. The companies were founded by Russian antiwar activists following the invasion of Ukraine. Russian polling outfits show more popular support for the war. In February, the Levada Center said 77% of those it surveyed backed the war, which the Kyiv Independent said at the time was consistent with the center’s previous findings.

Staggering casualties are being felt by the Russian people and relatives miss their loved ones. As previously posted here, mothers and children of soldiers sent to the war against Ukraine protested outside the Ministry of Defense recently demanding their fathers and husbands come home.

Source:

Half Of Russians Wants Putin To Withdraw Troops From Ukraine: Poll | IBTimes

Unwanted Shelter Dogs Pampered With Supermodel Treatment to Find Them Forever Homes

All Dogs Matter, a rescue shelter in London, England, organized a photoshoot to promote lonely canines for adoption. They featured some of their older, bigger, and less ‘photogenic’ pooches, as well as pairs of pups that need to be adopted together.

Whether in foster care or housed at the shelter, these poor dogs were treated to a day of extra attention in the countryside where they were pampered with ‘supermodel treatment’.

Photo shoot for All Dogs Matter – by Wex Photo Video via SWNS

Brian and Cody, a very sweet and bonded pair (10 months – one year old) are up for adoption or fostering at All Dogs Matter. Wex Photo Video / SWNS

Three-year-old brothers Rumi and Ryan are gentle spirited and regal; up for adoption at All Dogs Matter shelter-by Wex Photo Video/ SWNS

“Much like a dating profile, pictures tell a thousand words,” said a worker at the shelter.

“If these wonderful photos help even one pup find a home, we’ll consider it a job well done.”

Last year All Dogs Matter rescued 331 dogs and placed them with new owners.

Source:

Unwanted Shelter Dogs Get the Supermodel Treatment to Help Them Find New Forever Homes (LOOK) (goodnewsnetwork.org)

Israel on Warpath: 22 Killed in Gaza, 37 in Beirut; Two Lebanese Hezbollah Commanders Dead

Palestinians inspect a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza city after it was hit by an Israeli strike. Reuters

An Israeli air strike on a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza city’s Al Zeitoun neighbourhood has killed at least 22 people as strikes across the enclave intensified.

Israel’s strikes on Gaza have killed at least 119 people in the past 72 hours, the enclave’s Health Ministry said on Saturday, excluding the latest toll from the attack on the school.

A separate strike hit Al Falah school in the same area, injuring a number of people. The Israeli military claimed it was targeting Hamas operatives in the school. The Israeli military often accuses Hamas militants of hiding in schools where thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought shelter. The group has repeatedly denied this claim.

The death toll in the enclave since 7 Oct 2023 has risen to 41,391, while 95,760 have been wounded. Over the past three days, 209 people were injured.

Beirut after IDF airstrike. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the attack showed Israel “gives no weight to any humanitarian, legal, or moral considerations”.

The latest Israeli attack killed senior Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil along with at least 37 people on Friday. The strike, which destroyed a residential building in Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh, also wounded 68 people.

Calls for blood donations for the victims were multiplying on social media. People searching for their loved ones also took to social media to ask for help, sharing pictures of their missing relatives, including children. Lebanon’s medical infrastructure, already under strain from the massive pager and walkie-talkie sabotage attack, was taxed again. UN human rights chief Volker Turk  denounced the rigged device attacks carried out in Lebanon, saying they constitute a breach of international human rights law and could amount to a war crime.

Volker Turk advised the UN Security Council that using devices disguised as “apparently harmless portable objects” is an act of violence aimed at spreading “terror among civilians”. The human rights chief called for an independent, thorough, and transparent investigation, and for those who ordered and carried out the attacks to be held to account.

Lebanese Hezbollah counterattacked with rocket launches into Israel; four casualties were reported.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is making conditions for a ceasefire or eventual peace in the Middle East impossible. IDF attacks are not only enraging the Arab population, but adding to deep-seeded resentments with every loss or maiming of a family member. The Lebanese people (and the Iraqis) already rank as the world’s angriest population for manifold reasons; the next generation of anti-Israeli enemies has been spawned. Meanwhile, the Biden Administration has been attempting in good faith some sort of cease-fire or deal to release the remaining hostages being held by armed Palestinian groups. At one point, Washington must restrain the bellicose Likud Party or the US will be needlessly sucked into a war of Netanyahu’s making.

Sources:

Israel rules out political solution as strike on Beirut kills Hezbollah commanders | The National (thenationalnews.com)

Booby-trapped device attacks in Lebanon breach international law, says UN rights chief | The National (thenationalnews.com)

Israeli strike on Gaza school-turned-shelter kills at least 22 people | The National (thenationalnews.com)

Lebanese, Iraqis among world’s angriest populations: report (newarab.com)

Ohio “Man of God” Sentenced for Organizing and Rallying 6 Jan Attackers

(Images: US Dept of Justice)

Pastor William Dunfee (59) of Frazeysburg, OH, was sentenced to 30 months in prison, 36 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and $2,000 in restitution for one felony offense of civil disorder and a misdemeanor offense of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds on 6 Jan 2021. He rallied seditionists to storm the US Capitol to disrupt the peaceful transition of Presidential power.

As the seditionists attacked and threatened the lives of members of Congress after a Donald Trump speech urging them to “fight like hell”, Dunfee used a bullhorn to egg them on, falsely proclaiming the lie that the 2020 election was stolen.

A pastor of the New Beginnings Ministry Warsaw in Ohio, Dunfee pushed a metal barricade against officers with the US Capitol Police who were attempting to hold the line and then entered the Capitol building without authorization.

During sentencing the Honorable Judge Reggie Walton asked Dunfee, “What kind of man of God would do that, Sir?”

In the 44 months since 6 Jan 2021, more than 1,504 suspects have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to attacking the US Capitol, including more than 560 seditionists charged with feloniously assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The FBI investigation remains ongoing.

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

Source:

District of Columbia | Ohio Man Sentenced to Prison on Felony and Misdemeanor Charges for Actions During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach | United States Department of Justice

American Warzone: Four KIA, 20 WIA in Late Night Shooting in Alabama

US Army medics treating wounded soldiers in Vietnam on 2 Apr 1967. In the US, 44,341 people die by firearms in an average year, a rate of 13.3 deaths per 100,000 people. Americans suffer from wartime casualty amounts every year without going to war. Image: http://www.flickr.com

Four people were killed and more than 20 wounded following a shooting in a nightlife area in Birmingham, AL. Just after 11 PM, “multiple shooters fired multiple shots on a group of people” in the Five Points South area.

Two men and a woman were found dead at the scene; a fourth victim died at a hospital. Other victims were transported to hospitals in private vehicles. The University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital was treating 11 victims and their conditions have not been released.

The victims were all located on the sidewalk or the streets and detectives are trying to determine if the shooters walked up to the victims or drove by a vehicle.

The Five Points South area of Birmingham has numerous entertainment venues, restaurants, and bars and is often crowded on Saturday nights. Police said there were no immediate arrests.

In an average year, 1,175 people die by guns in Alabama. With a rate of 23.9 deaths per 100,000 people, the Cotton State has the fourth-highest rate of gun deaths in the US.

Alabama Firearms Licenses in 2021: 194,920

An estimated 55.5% of adults in Alabama have guns at home.

Sources:

At least four killed, multiple injured in late night shooting in Alabama (archive.md)

EveryStat – EveryStat.org

10. Alabama – Gun map: Ownership by state – statistics and rates (cbsnews.com)

Ukraine Destroys 71 of 80 Russian Drones Overnight

A Ukrainian police officer stands next to a destroyed car following a Russian missile attack in Kharkiv late on 21 Sep. At least 12 people were injured. Photo: AFP

The Ukrainian Air Force reported that air-defense systems shot down 71 of 80 Russian attack drones launched overnight. It said six more drones were neutralized by electronic warfare. The air force also said Russia had launched two guided missiles from occupied parts of Ukraine’s Luhansk region. It did not say what happened to the missiles. Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said air-defense units had destroyed 15 drones that Ukraine launched overnight. Late on 21 Sep, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said explosions rang out in Kharkiv — Ukraine’s second-largest city — with a guided bomb hitting a residential high-rise, injuring at least 12.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to kick off his US visit on 22 Sep with a stop at the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant, a Pennsylvania factory producing key munitions for his country’s fight against Russia. Scranton is Pres. Biden’s birthplace. This ammunition plant manufactures 155 mm artillery shells used in howitzer systems that can strike targets from up to 32 kms away. The US has so far provided Kiev with more than three million of the shells and Ukraine fires up to 8,000 of them daily.

An employee handles 155 mm shells at the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant on 16 Apr. Photo: Charly Triballeau / AFP.

Pres. Zelensky addresses the UN General Assembly in NY on 24 Sep and will meet separately at the White House with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on 26 Sep. Pres. Zelensky will reportedly meet with GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump as well at an undisclosed time.

Sources:

Ukraine Says It Destroyed 71 Of 80 Drones Fired By Russia Overnight (rferl.org)

Ukraine’s Zelenskiy To Begin U.S. Trip With Visit To Pennsylvania Munitions Factory (rferl.org)

Possible Widespread Labor Action by Longshoreman’s Union at East Coast Ports on 1 Oct

ILA’s Dennis A. Daggett says union will be on the “right side of history” if it must strike on 1 Oct 2024. “Corporate greed must end,” he emphasized.

A major strike is on the horizon for thousands of maritime workers, posing a threat to East Coast ports responsible for offloading billions of dollars of goods. 

The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), the largest union of maritime workers in North America, has vocalized plans to go on strike at all of its Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports 1 Oct if a new contract agreement can’t be reached with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX). The union is arguing for better wages and continued protections against automation and new technology in its terminals.

“A sleeping giant is ready to roar on Tuesday, 1 Oct 2024, if a new Master Contract Agreement is not in place,” ILA President Harold J. Daggett said in a statement Monday.  “My members have been preparing for over a year for that possibility of a strike.”

According to a statement from USMX, negotiations with the ILA began in the last week of May. Now, the union’s current six-year contract is less than two weeks away from expiring.

The Port Authority of NY and NJ is “closely monitoring developments and remain hopeful. For the over 600,000 regional jobs our port supports and the $240 billion in goods moved through here each year, we urge both sides to find common ground and keep the cargo flowing for the good of the national economy,” said a spokesperson for the Port Authority. 

The ILA has argued that the USMX is denying workers fair contracts with adequate wage raises and proper benefits. 

“USMX claims to offer industry-leading wages, however, their interpretation of ‘leading wages’ is polar opposite to ours,” a statement from the ILA on Monday said. 

“Our members are struggling to pay their mortgages and rent, car payments, groceries, utility bills, taxes, and in some cases, their children’s education. USMX’s corporate greed has made them delusional — profits over people. They have taken advantage of a low entry-wage and a tiered progression system for thirty years,” the statement continued. 

The union said its rank-and-file members will no longer accept contracts that include small wage increases of a dollar or less. It argued further that for more than three decades, ILA workers only saw annual wage increases of 2.02% per year on average — with some years having wage raise percentages of zero, according to the ILA statement. 

The ILA is the largest union of maritime workers in North America, representing upwards of 85,000 longshoremen on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, Great Lakes, major U.S. rivers, Puerto Rico and Eastern Canada, and the Bahamas. The longshoremen of the ILA kept cargo moving non-stop during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sources:

ILA Union

Layout 1 (usmx.com)

Major maritime strike could threaten ports across the East Coast (nbcnews.com)

Possible widespread strike on East Coast ports poses a serious risk – Internewscast Journal

Taiwan: Pesticide Found in Food Poisoning Victims

Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) confirmed that eight people who fell ill due to suspected food poisoning had terbufos, a hazardous chemical compound found in some pesticides, in their systems.

Terbufos, which can potentially kill humans, is used on various crops, including bananas, beans, citrus, coffee, groundnuts, sorghum, and maize as soil cover to combat wireworms, mossy beetles, beet flies, and the black bean louse.

Four of the eight sampled patients were all found to have reduced acetylcholinesterase, reflecting organophosphorus poisoning. The suspected food poisoning happened last week when an 83-year-old woman died after eating millet dumplings she prepared. Several relatives and friends who came to mourn her death ate the leftover dumplings and exhibited symptoms such as vomiting and convulsions.

A sample of the millet dumplings known as “Abai,” a traditional cuisine of some of Taiwan’s Indigenous peoples at the center of the food poisoning incident. CNA photo 18 Sep 2024.

Even at low levels of exposure, terbufos can lead to serious negative health effects, including neurological harm. Terbufos is used in 19 American states.

Sources:

Terbufos found in suspected food poisoning victims’ systems: CDC – Focus Taiwan

Terbufos in the United States: Harmful Health Effects and Widespread Use – Earthjustice

North Koreans Are Getting Sick of Propaganda Song “Friendly Father”

North Korean military choir members sing on the eve of the 70th anniversary of North Korea’s founding day in Pyongyang, DPRK, 8 Sep 2018.

North Koreans are growing weary of being bombarded by “Friendly Father,” an upbeat propaganda song praising leader Kim Jong Un that has been blanketing the country for months now.

People are forced to sing it before every public event and a loudspeaker car drives through cities blaring it.

“He is holding his 10 million children in his arms and taking care of us with all his heart,” go the lyrics.

“The love you give me is like the sea. The trust you give me is like the sky,” says verse two. “You are always by our side, and make all our wishes come true.”

“Every factory, company, school, work unit, and neighborhood-watch unit in the province has both children and adults sing this song whenever the opportunity arises,” according to an anonymous informant.

North Korean students sing in music class at the Pyongyang Orphans’ Secondary School in Pyongyang, DPRK, 1 Sep 2016. (Jon Chol Jin/AP)

The government created a high-quality music video for the song depicting people from all walks of life enthusiastically singing along to it.

Friendly Father was inspired by an earlier propaganda song called “Friendly Name” that sung the praises of Kim’s father and predecessor Kim Jong Il. The melody is different but many of the lyrics in “Friendly Father” are callbacks to the earlier song, which most North Koreans know by heart.

The order to promote the song comes from the Central Party of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party.

It’s gotten to the point where people actively avoid places where the song is played publicly if they can help it. For example, in the city of Hyesan, on the border with China, there is a park where retired people gather to spend their free time by talking, singing, dancing, playing games, or exercising. 

But when the park turned off their music and began playing “Friendly Father” over the park’s public address system, the senior citizens went home. The park, which used to teem with old folks from sunrise to sunset, is now empty almost every day.

Another problem with the song stems from Korea’s Confucian culture. Often complete strangers are expected to grant older people a certain amount of respect simply because they are older, with the promise that they will receive the same respect from the young when they reach the same age.

However, “people in their 70s and 80s are being forced to call Kim Jong Un, who is only in his 40s and is about the same age as their sons, their ‘friendly father.’”

North Koreans sing at a picnic gathering at a park in Pyongyang, 18 Apr 2012, a national holiday celebrating the birthday period of the late leader Kim Il Sung.  (Vincent Yu/AP)

People scoff at the notion that Kim Jong Un could be their “friendly father,” because they do not trust his leadership abilities, the second resident said.

“They have no hope in their leader, but they are forced to familiarize their eyes, ears, and mouths with the image of him as their friendly father through the song.”  Propaganda efforts are getting bigger and louder as people’s dissatisfaction with society and food insecurity increases.

Source:

North Koreans are getting sick of propaganda song “Friendly Father” — Radio Free Asia (rfa.org)

Iceland Locals Save Baby Puffins by Tossing Them Out to Sea

Imagery and Story: Kyana Sue Powers, Megan Cook, Andy Witchge

People in Iceland patrol the streets at nights with flashlights and boxes. They are rescuing baby puffins, also known as pufflings. If found, they would be rounded up and gently tossed off the cliffside in the morning. At six weeks old — when their fluffy down matures and their beaks are still black — a puffling is ready to fly the nest. Once they head out to sea, they will spend three to four years of their life flying abroad, before returning to the cliff sides to start a family of their own. 

However, each year (in late August or September) pufflings come crashing down on streets and residential homes, as their internal compass ushers them to the moon… and the “moon” turns out to be the electronic lights of the city. In the same way that baby sea turtles can be disoriented — and misdirected — by city lights in coastal towns, pufflings will often fall for the allure of artificial lights. 

Thankfully, the residents of Vestmannaeyjar know to keep an eye out for wandering pufflings, and they take the volunteer position seriously. Residents can find between four to ten pufflings in a single night during puffling season. Before they release pufflings, locals are encouraged to record the weight of each puffling on an official “Puffin Patrol” website

Image via Andy Witchge / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

The baby puffins are gently picked up and placed in a box and brought to the south side of Iceland where they are released. Typically, instinct takes over and the pufflings are able to fly toward the ocean without issue. 

Volunteer work is critical to keeping puffin populations up. Globally the Atlantic puffin is considered vulnerable, but in Europe, it’s on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species. And in Iceland, specifically, they are critically endangered. 

This is due in part to declining fish populations, rising sea temperatures, and oil spills. 

For puffin patrollers, caring for the wayward baby birds is akin to helping little, lost friends. In fact, the scientific name for the Atlantic puffin subspecies, Fratercula arctica, literally translates to “little brother of the North.”

Sources:

Inspired by Iceland

Beautiful Puffin and Shore View

Why Icelanders are tossing baby puffins off of cliffs (goodgoodgood.co)

US Charges Former Trump 2016 Campaign Adviser Dimitri Simes for Working with Sanctioned Russian Media

Undated image of Dmitri Simes.

The US government has charged a Russian-born US citizen and former adviser to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign with working for a sanctioned Russian state television network and laundering the proceeds. Dimitri Simes (76) and his wife allegedly received over $1 million dollars and a personal car and driver in exchange for work they did for Russia’s Channel One. The state television network was sanctioned by the US in 2022 over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Simes and his wife, Anastasia (55), have a home in Virginia and are believed to be in Russia. Simes ran a think tank based in Washington that advised Trump’s campaign.

A second indictment alleges that Anastasia Simes (55) received funds from sanctioned Russian oligarch Alexander Udodov. If convicted of the charges, the two face a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

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

Sources:


TV Presenter Who Worked for Channel One Russia Charged with Violating U.S. Sanctions Imposed on Russia

https://apnews.com/article/trump-simes-russia-election-fbi-f0b0fe681c821f735c4e951736f041c8

US Indicts Six Russian Hackers for Attacking Ukrainian and US Computer Systems

This image released by the US State Department shows Russian military officers charged for allegedly conducting cyberattacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine ahead of the Russian invasion.

A grand jury in Maryland has charged six Russians, including five who are officers in Russia’s military intelligence agency (GRU), with conspiracy to hack into computer systems and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The indictment, unsealed on 5 Sep, alleges that the Russians conspired to hack into computer systems associated with the Ukrainian government in advance of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Their original targets included Ukrainian government systems and data with no military or defense-related roles and later included computer systems in countries around the world that were providing support to Ukraine, including in the US. The whereabouts of the men are unknown, and the State Department has issued a reward for information leading to their arrest.

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 | Five Russian GRU Officers and One Civilian Charged for Conspiring to Hack Ukrainian Government | United States Department of Justice

US widens indictment of Russians in ‘WhisperGate’ conspiracy to destroy Ukrainian and NATO systems | AP News

China’s Consul General in NY Departs After Aide Charged with Acting as Agent for Chinese Government

The State Dept reported that Huang Ping was not expelled, but had rather reached the end of a regularly scheduled rotation and departed his post at the end of August.

China’s consul general in New York departed after a former aide for New York governors Kathy Hochul and Andrew Cuomo was charged with acting as an agent for the Chinese government.

“I have conveyed my desire to have the counsel general from the People’s Republic of China and the New York mission expelled, and I’ve been informed that the counsel general is no longer in the New York mission,” Hochul said during an off-topic portion of an unrelated press conference. The governor was on the phone with a high-ranking State Department official at the request of Antony Blinken. He was later identified as Kurt Campbell, the deputy secretary of State.

Hochul’s announcement comes after Linda Sun, a former deputy chief of staff to Hochul and Cuomo aide, was charged with violating and conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registrations Act, visa fraud, alien smuggling and money laundering conspiracy.

If Huang Ping was not expelled, Beijing won’t reciprocate by expelling a US diplomat from China.

Beijing has presented the USIC and federal law-enforcement with a complex and challenging counterintelligence threat that will not go away any time soon. The USIC has also been dealing with nefarious Russian espionage and election interference attempts and the FBI must spend precious resources investigating dead-ender 6 Jan insurrectionists that were allegedly inspired by then-President Donald Trump.

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/04/us/china-consul-general-ny-expelled/index.html

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/chinese-consulate-says-envoy-not-162531466.html

German Police Kill Gunman in Shootout Near Israeli Consulate in Munich

(Image Credit: X/Hans92183466101)

German police shot dead an Austrian gunman in Munich close to the Israeli consulate. The 18-year-old man fired shots from an old carbine rifle with a bayonet in Munich’s Maxvorstadt district, near both the consulate and a Nazi history museum, before being killed in a shootout with five officers.

The incident occurred on the 52nd anniversary of the 1972 attack at the Munich Olympics in which Palestinian militants killed 11 Israeli athletes. “There may be a connection between the two,” Bavarian state Premier Markus Soeder told reporters, adding that this was being investigated.

The teenage gunman was already known to Austrian authorities for alleged membership in an extremist group.

The use of lethal force in Germany is rare. Since 1952, German law-enforcement personnel have killed a total of 529 people; between 1961 and 1989, perhaps 140 people were killed by East German security services at the infamous Berlin Wall.

German police will be unable to interrogate the corpse of this 18-year-old suspect and will have to speculate as to his motivation for the attack. As long as injustices and brutality continue against Palestinians or Arabs, Western intelligence services should expect more lone actor attacks or IS-inspired plots against soft civilian targets like the Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna or the recent stabbing spree in Solingen, Germany. That attack left three people dead and eight injured. The suspect, a young Syrian asylum seeker, was taken alive and will be thoroughly interrogated and prosecuted.

Sources:

German police kill suspected Islamist gunman in shootout near Israeli consulate | Reuters

List of killings by law enforcement officers in Germany – Wikipedia

The East German secret police and the Berlin Wall – DW – 08/12/2021

Suspect in custody after stabbing spree in Germany killed three people – ABC News

Greta Thunberg Detained by Danish Police at pro-Palestinian Demonstration: “Protests Should Be Everywhere.”

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg (C) participates in a march from the University of Copenhagen to Vor Frue Square in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 4 Sep 2024. (EMIL HELMS via Getty Images)


Danish police detained activist Greta Thunberg (21) at a Copenhagen University protest against the war in Gaza and Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. The activist was part of a group occupying a University of Copenhagen building to call for an academic boycott of Israeli universities. Thunberg was later released from detention and the daily Ekstra Bladet showed video footage of her walking out of a police station.

Students Against the Occupation posted on Instagram that “while the situation in Palestine only gets worse, the University of Copenhagen continues cooperation with academic institutions in Israel.”

Widely known for her campaign to end man-made climate change, Swedish-born Greta Thunberg has increasingly taken up the Palestinian cause and in May said such protests “should be everywhere”.

Since last spring, pro-Palestinian protesters have set up encampments at universities around the US and Europe to demonstrate against Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and the occupation of Palestinian territories. The IDF have killed more than 40,000 Palestinians and injured at least 94,398 others, according to Al Jazeera’s tracker of the conflict.

A UN special rapporteur on human rights said earlier this year that there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that Israel’s military offensive in Gaza amounts to genocide. The International Criminal Court (ICC) indicted Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes, but his arrest warrant has inexplicably not been issued yet.

Insensitive bloggers, on supposedly liberal websites in the US, have already began robotically demonizing defenseless Greta Thunberg for daring to protest Western complicity in what US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) described in April 2024 as “ethnic cleansing.”

“It is not antisemitic to oppose Israel’s US-backed massacre of over 33,000 Palestinians.  I don’t think there’s any doubt that what Netanyahu is doing now, displacing 80 percent of the population in Gaza, is ethnic cleansing.”

Greta Thunberg and those Danish students agree with you, Senator.

Sources:

Greta Thunberg arrested at pro-Palestinian protest in Denmark (lemonde.fr)

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/greta-thunberg-detained-by-danish-police-at-pro-palestinian-protest/ar-AA1pZ4CB?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=EDGEXST&cvid=051174ff722246fb9930b3a85efd7a76&ei=27

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/09/04/greta-thunberg-arrested-at-pro-palestinian-protest-in-denmark_6724752_4.html

Sanders: It Is Not Antisemitic to Oppose Israel’s Assault of Gaza | Truthout

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx88l499vero

New Hampshire Man Tests Positive for EEE and Two Other Mosquito Viruses Fighting for His Life

Joe Casey. (Family photo)

A New Hampshire man is fighting for his life because of a mosquito bite. Fifty-four-year-old Joe Casey of Kensington has tested positive for three mosquito-borne viruses, including eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), West Nile Virus, and St. Louis Encephalitis

Casey started to feel sick back in early August. He now has swelling in the brain and is barely able to communicate at Exeter Hospital.

Last week, 41-year-old Steven Perry of Hampstead, N.H., died after contracting EEE.

The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services said Kensington has had at least one mosquito pool test positive for EEE. The town has sent out postcards notifying residents and the threat level has been raised to high.

This is another danger that global climate change is causing. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) reports current and future climate will affect mosquito and parasite biology, but that “temperature is not the only driver of change.” Other environmental factors include rainfall, humidity, land use, and human population density. 

To avoid mosquito bites, people must cover up their skin, use mosquito repellant, and avoid being out from dusk to dawn. Leave dragonflies and spiders alone, as they help catch virus-spreading mosquitoes.

Sources:

New Hampshire man tests positive for EEE and 2 other mosquito viruses, now fighting for life – CBS Boston (cbsnews.com)

Researchers Discuss Impact of Climate Change on Mosquito-Borne Diseases | NIH Record

North Korea Launches More Trash-filled Balloons Across Border

North Korea resumed launching hundreds of trash-filled balloons into the South. 20 balloons carrying paper and plastic bottles fell in Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province, with no hazardous substances detected. (File Photo by Yonhap)

The South Korean High Command confirmed that North Korea had launched more than 420 garbage balloons across the border with South Korea, continuing its latest nuisance campaign for the second day in a row. While Beijing launches sophisticated spy balloons against the West, Pyongyang launches petty balloons filled with garbage and manure against her southern neighbor.

This marked the first time in 25 days that North Korea has launched the balloons, ramping up the back-and-forth Cold War-style psychological warfare that has emerged along border areas in recent months. North Korea has conducted 13 rounds of launches since early June, sending thousands of balloons carrying scrap paper, shredded clothing, and manure into the South — including one that spilled trash on South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s compound.

In response, South Korea started propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts near the DMZ in mid-July, blasting K-pop songs and South Korean news and information. The broadcasts reportedly call for soldiers working in border areas to escape and include news of the defection of a North Korean diplomat from Cuba last year. South Korea’s military claims the speakers can be heard as far as 15 miles away.

A pair of North Koreans, including one soldier, defected across the inter-Korean border on two separate occasions last month, prompting speculation that the broadcasts may be having an impact. The balloon launches come as US and South Korean officials held high-level talks in Washington. The US and South Korea are also currently staging a 13-day military amphibious landing exercise and the allies concluded their annual summertime Ulchi Freedom Shield joint exercise last week.

Pyongyang frequently condemns the joint drills as preparation for an invasion and maintains that its own nuclear and weapons programs are a necessary form of deterrence.

Source:

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2024/09/05/north-korea-trash-balloons-dmz-launch-border/4631725522632/

Dangerous Pennsylvania Man Pleads Guilty to Assaulting Law Enforcement During 6 Jan 2021 Capitol Attack

Joshua Lee Atwood (31) of Burgettstown, PA, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon during the 6 Jan 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

Atwood traveled from his home in Burgettstown to Washington, D.C., to attend the 6 Jan 2021 “Stop the Steal” rally on the National Mall. After the rally, Atwood made his way toward the US Capitol building and arrived at the Lower West Terrace Tunnel, the site of some of the most violent attacks against law enforcement that day. Atwood observed law enforcement officers actively attempting to prevent members of the crowd from entering the building.

Atwood climbed into the Capitol building through a broken window next to the Tunnel and entered into a Senate room near the Lower West Terrace exterior doors. Atwood exited the building and joined the mob gathered around the Tunnel entrance, which law enforcement officers were actively defending. Atwood started throwing several objects at officers in the Tunnel, including a plastic bottle and a metal pole, both of which struck police officers.

The defendant then picked up a wooden pole and used it to forcibly strike at the riot shields of officers, struck an officer’s helmet, then threw the pole at the USCP. Next, Atwood drew a canister of pepper spray and continuously sprayed the police until the canister was depleted, which he then threw at police. This maniac then hurled additional items at the police, including a baseball bat and a plastic bottle.

Atwood then used a police riot shield to strike at officers guarding the Tunnel. When striking police with the riot shield, Atwood yelled, “F— off, you guys are all pieces of s—”, and “Everyone of you should be ashamed of yourself. Everyone of you m—f—are pieces of s—. Betraying your country like this, why would you betray your country. Do you love your country, or do you want civil…communist f—.”

Shortly after, the defendant picked up a metal scaffolding pipe and threw it at police which bounced off a riot shield and struck another officer in the head and neck. Moments later, Atwood picked up a heavy black speaker and threw it toward the USCP. The FBI arrested Atwood on 17 April 2024, in Pennsylvania.

This dangerous member of America’s “Fedayeen Saddam” (FS), dead-ender white supremacists, has been in custody since his arrest and will be sentenced on 20 Dec 2024. Remarkably, this miscreant is reportedly the owner of an HVAC company and the father of two children, with a third on the way.

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

Sources:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/pennsylvania-man-pleads-guilty-assaulting-law-enforcement-dangerous-weapon-during-jan-6

https://triblive.com/local/regional/federal-judge-keeps-accused-jan-6-rioter-from-burgettstown-behind-bars-pending-trial/

Ukraine Names Career Diplomat Andrii Sybiha as New Foreign Minister in Government Shake-Up

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on 5 Sep 2024. Photo: Ukrainian Parliament Press Office.

Ukrainian lawmakers appointed Andrii Sybiha (49) as the country’s new foreign minister in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s reshuffling of his top advisers. He replaces Dmytro Kuleba, who had been instrumental in lobbying Ukraine’s Western allies for military assistance for Ukraine’s 30-month fight against Russia’s invasion.

Sybiha, who speaks English and Polish, has been the deputy foreign minister and had also served as ambassador to Turkey. He is considered to be closer to Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, than Kuleba, who is the most prominent departure from Zelenskyy’s list of top officials.

While Kuleba’s diplomatic skills were acknowledged, his removal was part of a bid by Zelenskyy to exert a tighter grip on foreign policy, Ukrainian sources suggested. A source in Zelenskyy’s party said the presidency had been growing frustrated with Kuleba:

“He was giving interviews, speaking beautifully, going on trips, this handkerchief in his jacket. … He was engaged in self-promotion, instead of improving the work of embassies, working systematically on countries and getting their support.”

Zelenskyy, when asked about the rationale for his government shake-up, told reporters, “We need new energy. And these steps are related to strengthening our state in various areas.”

Ukraine’s parliament also approved new nominations for several other posts, naming two new vice prime ministers and six other new ministers.

On the battle front, Ukraine’s military shot down 60 of 78 Russian drones that targeted regions across the country. In Kherson, officials reported Russian strikes that hit two medical facilities and injured two people. Russian forces struck an educational institution in Poltava, but there was no information about casualties. Russia’s defense ministry said it destroyed a rocket and two Ukrainian aerial drones over the Belgorod region, injuring one person and damaging a home. Russian air defenses also shot down three drones over the Kursk region and two drones over Bryansk.

Source:

Ukraine names career diplomat Andrii Sybiha as new foreign minister (voanews.com)

Sumatran Tiger Cub Born at San Diego Zoo

 The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance announced the birth of a baby Sumatran tiger cub at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

The alliance said first-time mother Jillian gave birth to a cub 23 Aug in the park’s Tull Family Tiger Trail habitat. Care specialists said Jillian quickly bonded with the newborn and has been displaying the expected maternal behaviors.

“We are thrilled at the birth of this very special tiger cub at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park,” said Lisa Peterson, senior vice president and executive director of the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. “This birth adds Jillian’s incredibly important genes into the pool of the population, furthering the genetic diversity and health of the Sumatran tiger species.”

Sumatran tigers are considered critically endangered, with only 400-600 of the big cats believed to live in the wild. Officials said the mother and cub will remain in their den for the next few weeks while specialists continue to monitor the duo and their milestones.

Animal lovers can “adopt” a tiger at the International Tiger Project, linked below.

Sources:

Watch: Sumatran tiger cub born at San Diego Zoo – UPI.com

https://www.internationaltigerproject.org/adopt/