86 Palestinians Killed in the Living Hell of Gaza as Israel Prepares to Invade

Note one of the mourners is missing an eye. (Photo: Palestinian Health Authority)

At least 91 Palestinians were killed and 284 others were wounded over the past 24 hours as the IDF prepares for a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian death toll since Oct 2023 is now 54,381; 124,381 people are injured or maimed. The majority of the victims are women and children. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the IDF operation will lead to a complete takeover of the territory: “We are finally going to conquer the Gaza Strip.”

In March 2025, the American taxpayer expedited delivery of four billion dollars in military assistance to Israel.

The remains of the Indonesia Hospital in northern Gaza. (Photo: UN OCHA)

Displaced Palestinians trying to survive the IDF onslaught. (Photo: Public domain)

31 starving Palestinians were killed at this food distribution center. (Photo: Public domain)

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/01/middleeast/palestinians-killed-gaza-aid-center-intl-hnk

We Are Going to Build a Jewish State in the West Bank”

With those statements, Katz had a clear message for French President Emmanuel Macron “and his friends”: “They will recognize a Palestinian state on paper, and we will build the Jewish Israeli state on the ground here,” the defense minister said during his visit. “The paper will disappear into the trash of history and Israel will flourish and flourish.”

Earlier, Macron called the recognition of the Palestinian state “not only a moral duty, but a political necessity.” He also urged a tougher line from European countries against Israel if it does not respond to the disastrous humanitarian situation caused by the war in the Gaza Strip in the coming hours and days.

Rampaging Israeli settlers protected by the IDF attacking Palestinian vehicles driving at a section of Nablus-Jenin road in the north of the occupied West Bank.

In 2025, the death toll of Palestinians at the hands of Israeli forces and maniacal Settlers in the West Bank has reached 99, with 60% of these fatalities occurring in just four areas, including Jenin and the Nur Shams refugee camps. The Israeli cabinet just approved establishing 22 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, which marks the largest expansion of settlements in decades.

Source: https://www.un.org/unispal/document/ocha-humanitarian-situation-update-276-west-bank/

IDF Soldier Use of Human Shields Widespread

The boy shook constantly, he said, and both repeated “Rafah, Rafah” — Gaza’s southernmost city, where more than one million Palestinians had fled from fighting elsewhere at that point in the war. It seemed they were begging to be freed, the sergeant said.

Several Palestinians and soldiers told the AP that Israeli troops are systematically forcing Palestinians to act as human shields in Gaza, sending them into buildings and tunnels to check for explosives or militants. The dangerous practice has become ubiquitous during 19 months of war, like you can see below.

Palestinian Hazar Estity kisses her 21-month-old son, Nizar, who is being held by his grandmother, Nazek, on April 29, 2025, at an apartment in the West Bank town of Zababdeh. Estity says she was used as a human shield by Israeli soldiers. (Photo: AP / Nasser Nasser)

Some IDF soldiers and veterans with a sense of decency joined Breaking the Silence. You can read their testimony about IDF brutality here: https://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/

In 2024, PM Benjamin Netanyahu, an MIT graduate, skillfully used the hostage situation to continue military operations to depopulate the Palestinian population in Gaza and the West Bank, keep his corruption trial in abeyance, and tilt the US 2024 election towards Dotard Trumpf by alienating the antiwar segment of the Democratic Party (approximately 6,265,888 voters the Joe Biden/Kamala Harris ticket had in 2020). An international arrest warrant for war crimes issued by the ICC remains active for Benjamin Netanyahu. An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of a law.

Ensuring American support for Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel is the notorious American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Their Islamophobic messaging and funding of pro-Israeli candidates in US elections ensures the uninterrupted flow of military and economic aid to Israel. AIPAC’s effective messaging of demonizing Arabs and Islamophobia explains why many American voters are indifferent to the plight of the Palestinian people. AIPAC talking points that “they” should have voted for Kamala Harris in 2024, “they” had previous chances at statehood and didn’t take it, or “they” are all terrorists, or pro-peace activists are all “Hamas lovers,” are all overused palaver. Blah-blah-blah. Thanks to AIPAC, the American taxpayer is complicit in ethnic cleansing and war crimes against the Palestinian people.

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/31/middleeast/israel-gaza-strip-occupation-resources-dg

https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-army-human-shields-80f358dd2c87a1123f26ffada159701c

https://www.demorgen.be/snelnieuws/live-midden-oosten-israel-opent-vuur-op-menigte-bij-hulpdistributiepunt-zeker-30-mensen-gedood~ba7f8873/

https://www.trackaipac.com/

https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus?ind=Q05

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

US Intelligence Community Update

Director of National Intelligence

Director of National Security Tulsi Gabbard wants to turn President Dotard Trumpf’s daily intel briefings into Fox News-type broadcasts because he “doesn’t read.” The most under-qualified person to ever the any US intelligence agency is hoping to add animations and more dynamic multimedia elements to Trumpf’s President’s Daily Briefs, or PDBs, to fit his viewing habits and hold his attention, five people with knowledge of the discussions told NBC News. Gabbard also reportedly consulted with current and former intelligence officials on bringing in a Fox News producer and host to reshape the PDBs “which are usually text and image-based for national security reasons” to deliver the intel in broadcast form. The process could involve granting the Fox News team security clearance to access classified information.

Source: https://archive.ph/4h2N9

More Stalinist Purges

Tulsi Gabbard fired two senior analysts from the prestigious National Intelligence Council (NIC) who disagreed with Dotard Trumpf about Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro and his alleged connection with a street gang called Tren de Aragua (TDA).

Half of the National Security Council’s (NSC) 350 members were abruptly removed and many were given two hours to clean out their desks. This was supposedly done as a cost-cutting measure, but the reality is the Trumpf junta is ensuring only loyal followers of the MAGA cult remain in positions of power in the US national security architecture.

Sources:

https://www.axios.com/2025/05/06/trump-venezuela-gangs-tda-intel-memo

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/national-security-council-cuts_n_6830f4cee4b0ca4a5f5699b9

FBI Arrests DIA Employee for Attempting to Sell Secrets

The FBI arrested Nathan Vilas Laatsch (28), a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) employee for attempting to transmit classified information to a friendly foreign government. Laatsch, who held a TS/SCI clearance, said that he had “completed intelligence products, some unprocessed intelligence, and other assorted classified documentation” that he wanted to send. He said his reasoning for the decision was because he did not align with the current Trumpf junta’s policies. The FBI was subsequently tipped off and made contact with Laatsch under the guise of the aforementioned foreign government. Laatsch would end up transcribing and smuggling out classified products on two occasions to who he thought was an official of the friendly foreign government, and was arrested after the second exchange.

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

This is terrible. Nathan Vilas Laatsch worked ten years at Publix before finally getting his break with a position at DIA, only to be disgusted by the Trumpf junta, motivating him to sell secrets. This young man threw his life away. Decades ago DIA was a fine place to work, but who knows how toxic the environment is now under the white supremacist Trumpf junta?

Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-government-employee-arrested-attempting-provide-classified-information-foreign-government

CIA Update

Civilian Sleuth Exposes CIA Tradecraft

404 Media reported that Ciro Santilli, an amateur security researcher, discovered that the CIA had been using several Star Wars sites in the early 2000s to communicate with informants in other countries (Image: Cirosantilli2/Wikimedia Commons)

Ciro Santilli, an amateur security researcher, discovered that CIA had been using several Star Wars sites in the early 2000s to communicate with informants in other countries. One such site is StarWarsWeb.net. Santilli dug through hundreds of domain names and analyzed each of the sites’ HTML and even used bots to bypass the Wayback Machine, a massive archive of the internet, to see what the website might have looked like at its launch.

The unassuming site, which is decked out in pictures of R2D2 and C-3P0, a stock image of a boy dressed as a Jedi, also includes ads for the latest Star Wars video games and Lego sets. (Image: cirosantilli.com)

In order to chat with their CIA handler, informants would simply have to enter a password into the search bar, and a pop-up window would appear. The sites were forced to shut down after the Iranian government doubled down on its efforts to find informants who may be speaking with American intelligence agencies in 2018.

“The CIA really failed with this,” said Bill Marczak of the University of Toledo’s Citizen Lab. According to Marczak, the messaging system “stuck out like a sore thumb.”

By 2011, Iranian authorities successfully dismantled the CIA network in its country, and either executed or imprisoned the informants. Likewise, it was reported that authorities in China also found similar websites being used in their country and executed more than two dozen CIA sources between 2011 and 2012.

Other sites include a fan site for the late comedian Johnny Carson, a site about extreme sports, and one about Brazillan music. (Image: cirosantilli.com)

The outlet reports that some of the sites targeted France, Spain, and Brazil based on their language and content. (Image: cirosantilli.com).

Israel, North Korea, Russia, Israel, and China have competent and experienced counterintelligence organizations. Cultivating and handling HUMINT sources in hostile environments with sophisticated or pervasive surveillance systems is therefore a daunting challenge for CIA and DIA. If a civilian sleuth like Ciro Santilli was able to piece this CIA operation together, imagine how easily America’s adversaries were able to unravel this program and neutralize the informants. CIA and DIA adopted other methods of clandestinely communicating with their sources since this operation which Coriolanus is aware of, so that means the enemy is also aware. Moreover, Trumpf’s idiotic purge of the USIC will make intelligence collection even more difficult with the loss of experienced operators, analysts, and investigators.

Messages were posted in Mandarin, Farsi and Korean on various CIA accounts. CIA/ Facebook

Source: https://archive.ph/oPiLu

Drunk Driver Lucky Not to Be Killed by CIA Security Officers

Background: CIA new headquarters building in Langley, Virginia (CIA.gov) Inset: Monia Spadaro (Alexandria Sheriff’s Office)

Security officers shot Monia Spadaro who was driving in the wrong lane toward CIA headquarters. The drunkard was driving her gray Toyota Corolla at about 3:40 a.m. on Thursday, 22 May, when she traveled on to CIA HQ in Langley, Virginia. The federal sign at the front entrance reads: “WARNING: RESTRICTED US GOVERNMENT INSTALLATION” and prohibiting entry to people “without proper authorization.”

Spadaro reportedly entered the complex in the outbound lane of traffic — causing a CIA police officer in a marked CIA vehicle to flash their lights and activate their sirens.

She continued toward the main security gate “while executing several reckless maneuvers” by driving on the wrong side of the road and swerving from one lane to the other. Another CIA officer reportedly tried to stop the car, but it sped up, and as it reached the gate, the officer fired shots at the car and hit Spadaro. The defendant was treated at a local hospital and then arraigned before a federal magistrate in the Eastern District of Virginia.

Miss Spadaro is lucky to be alive. She could have been easily killed by CIA security personnel who did not know whether she was a terrorist, saboteur, lunatic, or drunkard.

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

Source:

Canada: Thousands Flee Massive Wildfires in Northern Manitoba; Evacuation Orders in Alberta and Saskatchewan

Massive wildfires burning out of control in western and central Canada are forcing thousands to flee as dire forecasts for the country’s fire season come to fruition. The intensifying blazes are also sending hazardous smoke toward major cities in the US.

The premiers of Manitoba and Saskatchewan provinces have declared monthlong states of emergency, and much of Canada, from the Northwest Territories and Alberta to Ontario, are at “extreme” risk of wildfires. — the highest level on Environment Canada’s fire risk scale.

A wildfire in the Sherridon, Man. area is shown in a government handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO – Manitoba Government

There are just over 170 wildfires burning across Canada, about half of them uncontrolled. The country raised its National Preparedness Level to 5 of 5, unusually high for this early in the fire season. Last year, Canada didn’t reach that level until 15 July.

These fires are the result of global climate changing and are going to add pollution and carbon into the atmosphere, reducing the Air Quality Index (AQI) in surrounding areas. The habitats of thousands of animals are being destroyed, along with people’s homes and properties. Insurance costs are going to skyrocket after paying out for the losses.

The new Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney, has several challenges on his plate. Besides dealing with the new geo-political landscape caused by Dotard Trumpf and war criminals Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin, Mr. Carney must deal with this natural catastrophe. But the new PM holds a doctoral degree and assembled a competent cabinet which will deal with all of these issues logically. Link: https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/cabinet

Sources:

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/wildfires/article/evacuation-orders-impact-thousands-as-wildfires-continue-burning-in-manitoba-saskatchewan-alberta/

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/29/weather/canada-wildfires-smoke-midwest-climate

https://www.saskpublicsafety.ca/emergencies-and-response/active-incidents

https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/readouts/2025/05/30/prime-minister-carney-convenes-incident-response-group

US: Multi-State Food Recall for Salmonella-Tainted Cucumbers From Florida

The FDA informs: “Bedner Growers, Inc. of Boynton Beach, FL is voluntarily recalling cucumbers sold at Bedner’s Farm Fresh Market between 29 Apr and 14 May 2025 because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis and arthritis.”

The cucumbers are being recalled because they have been linked by the FDA to a Salmonella outbreak that has resulted in 26 illnesses in AL, CA, CO, FL, IL, KS, KY, MI, NC, NY, OH, PA, SC, TN, and VA.

Florida is probably one of the worst managed states in America, led by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who graduated Yale University and Harvard Law School. His handling of the COVID epidemic was a disaster as his is response to escalating gun violence in the Sunshine State: tax holidays for firearm purchases. DeSantis wasted money on establishing an election police and empowered local police forces to enforce immigration laws. Tourism is crashing in Florida, farms have lost migrant workers, and the orange juice industry is falling apart. We should expect more calamities from Florida because of poor governance during natural disasters, as well as uncontrolled gun violence and unvaccinated people.

Source:

https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/bedner-growers-inc-recalls-cucumbers-because-possible-health-risk

US: Dangerous Invasive Tick Spreading

Per the CDC, the number of people diagnosed in 2022 with tick-borne diseases in the US rose to 62,551. In the previous decade, infections averaged about 33,000 a year. With climate change raising temperatures, tick populations have expanded into new regions and put more people in contact with ticks and their illness-causing bacteria.

Sources:

https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/caes/publications/caes-press-release-invasive-longhorned-tick-infection-5-27-25.pdf?rev=a916f5a25703451994cecca4a8721600&hash=64A38C08E5838D15D88091BF928C6B47

USAToday

Legionnaires Disease Detected in Las Vegas

Five travel-associated cases of Legionnaires’ disease are being investigated by the Southern Nevada Health District. Four individuals have recovered and one remains hospitalized.

Following notification of cases, the Health District conducted environmental water sampling at the facilities the travelers stayed at. Multiple water samples tested positive for Legionella, the bacteria that can cause Legionnaires’ disease, the release said.

Legionnaires’ disease symptoms typically begin within two to 10 days after exposure to the bacteria. However, people should watch for symptoms such as cough, shortness of breath, fever, muscle aches and headaches for up to two weeks after exposure.

Source:

https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/8323167/Grandview-Legionella-Investigation

Endnote: The Trumpf junta published its long-awaited report Making America Healthy Again, which was rife with errors and poor or missing citations. Hardcopies of the report would make excellent kindling for the fireplace. HHS cancelled a $590 million contract with Moderna to develop a vaccine for avian flu and the Trump junta terminated the CDC’s Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program as part of the agency’s reduction in force. In Nov 2023, the FDA had recalled these three children’s beverages below because they were linked to lead poisoning.

Link: FDA

A recent report suggested that Felon Musk and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had a dust-up in the White House and Musk was seen with a black eye in the Oval Office which he attributed to his five-year-old son inaptly named “X.”

The Worst Person in the World sporting a black eye. Felon Musk won’t be going away anytime soon as a “special government employee.” Expect more corruption, as well as mega-contracts and zero regulation of his companies.

Simply put, the Trumpf junta’s health, economic, diplomatic, intelligence, and national security departments are led by incompetents, lickspittles, political hacks, oligarchs, and mountebanks. The arch-malefactor is oligarch Felon Musk. Their policies do not promote the security, safety, or health of the American people. Dotard Trumpf has turned the White House into a three-ring circus which will endanger American lives while robbing them blind, as you will read more about below.

Russia: Deputy Mayor of Stavropol Neutralized by Explosion

See video of operation in link: https://mamul.am/en/news/326364

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

Germany: Two Heroes in Stabbing Rampage Muslim Refugees

Muhammad al-Muhammad helped to halt a knife attack in Hamburg in which 18 people were injured. (Photo: Marco Zitzow/BILD/BILD Fotoservice)

There were no calls from neo-Nazis to shut down Germany’s borders after this terrorist rampage because the perpetrator was a white German native woman. A 2023 analysis found that both print and television German media reported five times more on violent crimes when the suspect was a foreigner. Munich-based Ifo Institute found there was no correlation between migration and higher crime rates. In June 2024, some 3.48 million refugees with varying types of residency permits were living in Germany, a country of 84,198,272 people, and the third largest economy in the world. Germany provides universal health care for its residents, is cracking down on Neo-Nazis, and is generously helping Ukraine fend off Russian aggression. 

Gut arbet, Muhammad, live long and prosper in Germany; Coriolanus enjoyed his assignment there decades ago.

Sources:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/26/hamburg-knife-attack-syrian-refugee

https://www.ifo.de/en/press-release/2025-02-18/more-foreigners-do-not-increase-germanys-crime-rate#:~:text=Migration%20to%20Germany%20does%20not,and%20the%20local%20crime%20rate.

South Africa: Pet Baby Hippo Kills Owner

The late Major Marius Els with Humphrey (Photo: Social media)

An army Major from Free State province of South Africa met a horrifying end after he was mauled to death by his pet hippo who he took in as a baby and treated ‘like a son.’ Marius Els (40) was bitten to death by the 1.2 ton hippo he named Humphrey. He had brought Humphrey to his 400 acre farm where the animal learned to swim with humans. A clip of Els riding the 2,000-pound beast like a horse went viral after many people were shocked he was able to accomplish such a feat.

But there had been several signs the animal would never be able to be domesticated — including an incident where a 52-year-old man and his seven-year-old grandson had to climb a tree to get away from the hippo when they canoed through the section of river on Els’ farm where Humphrey lived. Els reportedly tempted the hippo away with an apple while the pair were rescued by paramedics.

Els’s widow, Louise — a pharmacist — also expressed misgivings, as the hippo had caused trouble before. Humphrey had chased golfers on a nearby course and killed several calves belonging to Els’ business partner.

But Els’ himself was always upbeat about his unusual relationship with the animal. He said: “Humphrey’s like a son to me, he’s just like a human. There’s a relationship between me and Humphrey and that’s what some people don’t understand.”

“They think you can only have a relationship with dogs, cats, and domestic animals. But I have a relationship with the most dangerous animal in Africa.”

“I can swim with him. I go in the water. He allows me to get on his back, and I ride him like a horse. He swims with me. He’s like a son to me.”

But unfortunately for the animal lover, the situation did not end well for him after Humphrey turned on him — resulting in Major Els being killed by the hippo. Paramedics found Els immersed in a river and “had been bitten several times by the animal.” It was unclear how long he had been lying in the water.

Here is a video of what an adult hippopotamus is capable of:

Photo by William Warby on Flickr CC BY 2.0 (Cropped from original).

Hippos are formidable creatures and are armed with giant canine teeth — they are said to kill more people every year than lions, elephants, leopards, buffalo, and rhinos combined. Vegetarians, adult hippos have no predators because of their huge size, thick skin, ferocious temperament, and powerful jaws, but young hippos are vulnerable to Nile crocodiles, leopards, lions, and spotted hyenas.

While the common hippo (Hippopotamus amphibious) is categorized as vulnerable, its smaller relative, the pygmy hippo (Choeropsis liberiensis or Hexaprotodon liberiensis), does have a place on the endangered species list. Both species continue to be threatened by illegal hunting and shrinking habitats.

Source:

https://www.unilad.com/news/us-news/pet-hippo-mauled-owner-humphrey-marius-els-south-africa-491517-20250528

Sidenote: South Africa President Cyril Cyril Ramaphosa had recently rebuked Dotard Trumpf’s mythological claim that white Afrikaners are being persecuted in his country. But one such “persecuted” Boer who took advantage of the resettlement plan in the US established a website with resource information to help other Boers emigrate to America:

https://www.refugeforafrikaners.com/

The website author ridiculously wrote that rightwing Fox News and Newsmax are “Trusted News Sources.” At the bottom of the website is a gif of the Dotard doing a silly dance.

‘Verloorder’ is Afrikaans for “loser.”

Mexico Fighting Organized Water Pilferage

Authorities in the Mexican state of Michoacán are employing satellite technology to counter water theft, as criminal groups exploiting an increasingly scarce and valuable natural resource.  The environmental surveillance system will monitor deforestation and land-use, as well as the 35,000 privately-owned irrigation reservoirs to ensure they are not illegally filled during the dry season. If the reservoirs are filled, the government will investigate the source of the water used. 

The system, which is backed by NASA and EU satellites, would permit authorities to “address environmental crimes on a large scale like never before in the state’s history.”

Nearly 76% of Mexico experienced drought through the end of May 2024, according to the North American Drought Monitor (NADM) and the soil has not yet fully recovered. That was the most widespread drought Mexico has experienced since 30 Jun 2011, when 85% of the country was affected.

In March, the Trumpf junta callously refused to release Colorado River water to Mexico, making that the first time the US had refused to release water in their 80-year partnership agreement. On 28 April in the spirit of good fellowship, Mexico said it would meet its water-sharing responsibilities with the US to help Texas ranchers and farmers. This past January, Dotard Trumpf idiotically wasted 2.2 billion gallons of California’s precious water, against the wishes of the US Army Corps of Engineers and Sacramento. Weather predictions indicate this summer will prove to be punishing in the American Southwest.

Sources:

https://insightcrime.org/news/water-scarcity-is-a-boom-for-mexican-organized-crime/

https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2025/04/welcoming-mexicos-water-deliveries-to-the-united-states-and-steps-to-meet-1944-water-treaty-requirements/

https://www.climate.gov/news-features/event-tracker/multi-year-drought-and-heat-waves-across-mexico-2024

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

Donald Trumpf and Cronies Make Fortune in White House

Two Mega-Goniffs Score With $2bn Investment from Abu Dhabi

The investment by a firm controlled by Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund will go to World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm whose biggest beneficiaries are the Trumpf and Witkoff families. Thanks to Abu Dhabi’s purchase of their “stablecoin”, the Trumpfs and Witkoffs will collect hefty fees and could reap hundreds of millions of dollars in interest payments.

Source:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/30/trump-steve-witkoff-envoy

Felon Musk Tried to Block Massive Trumpf-backed Mideast AI Deal Unless He Was Included

The worst person in the world rushed to the Mideast to hold up a massive Trumpf-endorsed American AI operation in Abu Dhabi unless it included him. That apparently explains Felon Musk’s sudden appearance at a Trumpf meeting with Saudi Arabia officials during the president’s three-country Middle East vacation.

Trumpf was about to announce a huge AI partnership on foreign soil with America’s OpenAI, run by Musk’s arch rival Sam Altman, and the United Arab Emirates’ G42 company to build a Stargate UAE campus in Abu Dhabi.

The operation would also include America’s Oracle, Nvidia, and Cisco, and Japan’s SoftBank as part of the UAE’s push to become a major AI player. The new venture will be the biggest AI campus outside the US.

The Dotard must have said ‘WTF is Elon doing here?’ like when he blocked Musk’s secret China war briefing a few months ago. Trumpf and his cronies have completely erased the lines between government and private business, making mega fortunes for themselves and there is little the American people can do about their abominable corruption and greed.

Source:

www.the-independent.com

Kitten Comforts Crying Abandoned Puppy

You can hear the robust purr of the kitten comforting the poor puppy.

Donald Trumpf Waved Off Israeli Strike on Iran to Placate Vladimir Putin

Israel had planned to strike Iranian nuclear sites as soon as next month but was waved off by Donald Trumpf in recent weeks in favor of negotiating a deal with Tehran to limit its nuclear program, according to press reports. Trumpf claims he made his decision after months of internal debate over whether to pursue diplomacy or support Israel in seeking to set back Iran’s ability to build a bomb, at a time when Iran has been weakened militarily and economically.

Has Donald Trumpf been in office long enough to “internally debating” this issue from his golf resorts?

The Reality

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian meet at the Kremlin in Moscow on 17 Jan 2025. (Photo: Vyacheslav Prokofyev / Pool via AFP)

While Benjamin Netanyahu can’t wait to get the US to help him destroy Iran’s infrastructure, Trumpf has another master in the Kremlin. Tehran and Moscow signed a twenty-year cooperation treaty and are economically enmeshed. Iran has been sending Shaheed drones to Russia for three years in its brutal war on Ukraine. As predicted, Donald Trumpf cannot please two masters at the same time, so Vladimir Putin trumps Benjamin Netanyahu on the issue of attacking Iran. For now, Netanyahu will just have to settle for the hardworking American taxpayer wasting billions on obliterating the Shia Houthis, as that won’t affect the Kremlin’s investments or interests in Iran.

Attacking Hodeidah is a deliberate act of cruelty by the Trumpf junta.

The Ras Isa fuel port on fire following US airstrikes (photo from social media via Al Mayadeen)

US forces bombed the Ras Isa fuel port in Yemen’s Red Sea province of Hodeidah, targeting the facility with two attacks that killed dozens of civilian workers and paramedics. At least 80 people, including at least five paramedics, were killed, and 150 were wounded. The paramedics were hit by a second US attack on the facility that came after rescue workers had already arrived at the scene to help victims of the first strikes. Targeting medical personnel is a war crime according to the Geneva Convention.

Attacking the starving (Shia) Houthis also pleases (Sunni) Muhammad Bin Salman of Saudi Arabia. But as you will see below, besides killing Houthis, Trumpf makes it up to ‘Bibi’ by doing something else nefarious for him.

An outstanding international arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) remain active for Benjamin Netanyahu. An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

 

Sources:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/18/more-than-30-killed-80-injured-in-us-air-strikes-on-yemen-report

www.reuters.com

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/17/russia-and-iran-presidents-sign-partnership-treaty-in-moscow

Columbia University Dean of SIPA Former IDF Intelligence Officer

Dr. Keren Yarhi-Milo poses with Hillary Clinton during Clinton’s 2023 guest teaching stint at Columbia University. With thousands of Palestinians being butchered in Gaza in 2023, what did these two find so hilarious? (Photo: Public domain)

Dr. Keren Yarhi-Milo, Dean of the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University, is a former IDF intelligence officer and an official at Israel’s UN Mission in NYC. Yarhi-Milo played a significant role in drumming up public hysteria about a supposed wave of intolerable anti-Semitism sweeping over the campus during Israel’s Nakba against the Palestinians in 2023 and 2024. Dr Yarhi-Milo laid the groundwork for the extensive nationwide crackdown on civil liberties and ICE detentions, including Mahmoud Khalil.

Pro-Israel billionaires and oligarchs have donated $100 million to Columbia University and they are getting their money’s worth.

Now we know why Dotard Trumpf mistakenly called called General H.R. McMaster– he meant to call Governor H.R. McMaster (see last post).

Yehuda Kaploun and his wife with ethnic cleanser Dotard Trumpf.

Sources:

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/04/19/uger-a19.html

https://www.informationliberation.com/?id=64906

https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/news-releases/dhs-to-begin-screening-aliens-social-media-activity-for-antisemitism

https://www.mintpressnews.com/

US National Security Council To Be Staffed By MAGA Cultists

The White House is starting to rebuild the NSC with aides that are staunchly aligned with Trumpf’s Make America Great Again agenda. Derek Harvey, a military intelligence analyst and retired US Army colonel, is expected to be named senior director for intelligence.

“Always, we’re letting go of people,” Trumpf told reporters about the firings of aides to National Security Adviser Mike Waltz in the wake of the Signal group chat controversy. “People that we don’t like, or people that we don’t think can do the job, or people that may have loyalties to somebody else.” 

The man selected to lead the National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC) is a former CIA officer associated with white supremacist paramilitary organizations. DNI nominated Joe Kent, a failed Republican politician who never won a race, to lead this important position.

White supremacist Joe Kent is vastly underqualified to lead the NCTC, a Senate-confirmed position. (Public domian image)

Followers of the Watch, Coriolanus is proud to have personally worked with a genuine analyst decades ago who would later go on to lead the NCTC, Ms. Christy Abizaid:

Former D/NCTC Christy Abizaid.

Purges continue in the US government and Coriolanus is doing his best to provide you the more interesting or impactful cases, like this vignette below, involving the manifestly underqualified USSECSTATE Marco Rubio.

6 Jan terrorist Peter Marocco, the Trumpf junta apparatchik in charge of dismantling USAID, left a meeting at the White House last week to return to his office at the State Department. But when he arrived, Marocco could not enter the building: security told him he was no longer an employee there. Word of Marocco’s firing quickly tore through the GOP and MAGA ecosystem, startling Trumpf’s loyalists who viewed the aide as part of an elite cohort of administration true believers. Loud voices on the right piled on Marco Rubella, accusing him of undermining their disruptive agenda. Rubella has also differed with Trumpf regarding Ukraine and Russia.

Just as the Third Reich cowardly eliminated their enemies, so does the Trumpf junta by not addressing the victims to their face. Employees are terminated by email or surprise, like Peter Marocco, who deserved his fate.

The NSC will undergo a dramatic Islamophobic and anti-NATO realignment, rife with faulty analysis and bellicose policy decisions– an AIPAC dream come true. When Democrats return to power, they should immediately rescind the over-abused POTUS Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF). The damage this right-wing NSC will cause will take years for Democrats to repair while Ukrainians suffer and the Palestinian population and their lands will be further reduced.

Sources:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/national-security-council-rebuilding-aides-aligned-maga-agenda/

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/little-marco-rubio-splits-with-trump-with-brutal-slapdown-over-ukraine/ar-AA1Dc5ws

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/18/marco-rubio-peter-marocco-usaid-firing-00297812

https://www.dni.gov/index.php/nctc-who-we-are

Ukraine-Russia Update

This Ukrainian POW amputee somehow survived Russian captivity for an unspecified amount of time. (Photo: Ukrainian government)

1) After ICC-indicted war criminal Vladimir Putin announced an ‘Easter ceasefire’ with Kiev, Russian forces carried out 387 attacks and 19 assaults. Ukrainian casualty counts are still being tabulated. 2) China is supplying weapons to Russia, including gunpowder and artillery, and Chinese representatives are involved in weapons production on Russian territory, Ukraine’s president President Volodomir Zelensky announced.  3) Fascist Viktor Orban of Hungary is urging countries against Ukraine’s ascension into the EU. The Putin acolyte vowed not to let Brussels “force” Budapest to accept Kiev’s EU membership, lying that Ukraine’s entry would harm Hungary’s economy. 4) A prisoner exchange with the Kremlin returned 277 Ukrainian POWs and 246 Russian EPWs. Most of the Ukrainians had been held in captivity for nearly three years. The Russian EPWs were most likely not undernourished like the Ukrainian POWs. 5) Christopher Smith is expected to become the US Ambassador to Ukraine. From 2022-23 he served as deputy chief of mission in Kiev. Bio: 2021-2025.state.gov

Trumpf’s Ukraine ceasefire is slipping away, a war he promised his supporters and the world that he would end within a day.

Russians Celebrate Trumpf Serving Russia’s Interests

Dotard Trumpf is a “Soviet leaders’ dream” according to a leading Russian scholar. Writing in a weekly Russian newspaper, the scholar praised the actions of Trumpf for “driving a wedge” between the US and “the European part of NATO.” Other Russian news outlets echoed these sentiments. Moskovsky Komsomolets described the actions of Trumpf as “destroying the world created by American liberals.” In another newspaper, Russian Duma Senator Alexei Pushkov wrote: “None of the steps Trumpf has taken threatens Russia’s interests directly.”

The Economist was much more charitable in their assessment of Trumpf:

“The American president increasingly looks like Russia’s willing dupe.”

An outstanding international arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) remain active for Vladimir Putin. An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Sources:

https://english.nv.ua/nation/zelenskyy-russia-launched-387-attacks-after-putin-declared-easter-ceasefire-50507790.html

https://archive.ph/vgTxZ#selection-1119.0-1123.68

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/2043274/russia-donald-trump-ukraine

Ex-NYPD Sergeant Sentenced as Illegal Agent for China

Michael McMahon on his way to trial. (Photo: Public domain)

A former NYPD sergeant was sentenced to 1-1/2 years in prison for acting as an illegal Chinese agent. Michael McMahon (57) was hired as a private investigator to surveil a New Jersey resident as part of a global campaign by Chinese law enforcement to repatriate alleged criminals living abroad, known as Operation Fox Hunt. Two of McMahon’s co-defendants were similarly sentenced. McMahon said he thought he was working for a company seeking to recover embezzled funds, and would not have taken the job if he knew the Chinese government was behind it. “I was unwittingly used,” McMahon testified. 

China Monitors Its Citizens Worldwide

An NYPD officer with McMahon’s experience should have known better, as he’s not operating in a vacuum of knowledge about China and their oppressive system. Retired NYPD officers enjoy a healthy pension, pistol permits, and access to a tremendous network of gumshoes and security companies in the Big Apple, which McMahon flushed away.

Source:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/private-investigator-sentenced-prison-interstate-stalking-and-harassment-chinese-nationals

Powerful Explosion at Northrop Grumman’s Utah Rocket Facility

A powerful explosion destroyed part of Northrop Grumman’s solid rocket motor production facility in Promontory, UT.  Unbelievably, no serious injuries resulted from the blast which sent shockwaves through the surrounding area. The facility, known as “Rocket Ranch,” is a cornerstone of the US solid rocket motor (SRM) production capability and plays a central role in some of the nation’s most critical defense and space programs. An investigation and safety review are underway.

Sources:

https://www.ft.com/content/4a3cba7d-1377-479e-8a09-4ef1d0f989a3

https://www.rferl.org/a/wagner-veteran-timur-praliev-detained-us-mexico-border-russia/33271493.html

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69518211/3/united-states-v-praliev/

Canadian TV Show Mocks Trumpf Mercilessly

Trumpf has been in office three months and he has a 43% approval and 55% disapproval rating. Nearly 70% of CEOs disapprove of Trumpf’s tariffs, including oligarch Felon Musk. Trumpf was already named the worst president of all time (Joe Biden was ranked 14th greatest).

President Plane Crash’ Meme for Trumpf Mostly True

During the National Prayer Breakfast at the US Capitol, Trumpf mentioned the aviation disaster in which 67 people lost their lives after an American Airlines flight collided with a Black Hawk US Army Helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport — and compared the odds of a helicopter and plane colliding to golf balls striking one another on a golf driving range:

“I guess the helicopter was high, and we will find out exactly what happened,” he said. “But the odds even if you had nothing, nobody, the odds of that happening are extremely small. You go to a driving range in golf and hit hundreds of balls, thousands of hours.”

He added, “I’ve never seen a ball hit another ball. … Balls going up all over the place, you never see them hit. It was amazing that could happen. There were a lot of mistakes made. It should’ve never happened.”

Besides this imbecilic comparison of an aviation tragedy to hitting golf balls, Trumpf and Felon Musk’s DOGE team began slashing the federal budget, including the FAA. Concern grew that American aviation would become unsafe. After another plane crash occurred shortly after the Washington calamity and the budget cuts, the internet meme “President Plane Crash” went viral. Remarkably, the pundits and aviation analysts were correct.

Just over 100 days in, 2025 is already the deadliest year for US aviation since 2001. Fear of flying has spiked with 29% Americans now thinking it is unsafe to travel by plane. Analysis reveals such concerns are not entirely unfounded. While the 21 accidents recorded up to 10 April are lower than the 24 recorded by this point last year ” the number of aviation fatalities in 2025 exceed that of the past 15 years combined. There have been 83 fatalities on civilian airliners in the US so far this year, making up 63% of the global total of 131. And this is not inclusive of helicopter crashes, so the overall aviation total is even higher. The rate of fatalities per month is, as such, ten times higher in 2025 relative to 2024.

Most Recent Airplane Crashes

Emergency crews respond after a plane crashed into the Platte River killing several people Friday, 18 Apr 2025, in Fremont, NE. (Photo: Nikos Frazier / Omaha World-Herald via AP)

The pilot of an airplane that crashed into a carport near Deer Valley Airport had only minor injuries. (Photo: 19 Apr, Phoenix Fire Authorities)

Sources:

https://nypost.com/2025/04/19/us-news/nebraska-plane-crash-leaves-3-dead/

https://nypost.com/2025/04/19/us-news/nebraska-plane-crash-leaves-3-dead/

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025/04/16/has-flying-in-america-become-more-dangerous/

Belize: US Hijacker Shot Dead Aboard Small Passenger Plane

A US man has been shot dead after hijacking a small passenger plane in the Caribbean nation of Belize. Fourteen passengers were on board the aircraft when Akinyela Sawa Taylor took control of the flight at knifepoint. Two passengers were injured, including one who was stabbed in the back.

Taylor ordered the pilot to take him out of the country, but was then shot in the chest by another passenger. The hijacker’s motives are unclear, but Taylor had previously been refused entry into Belize. How Taylor was able to get through its borders is unclear as is how another passenger was able to board the flight with a loaded firearm.

Akinyela Sawa Taylor is allegedly a US military veteran and he could have been suffering from PTSD and/or have been under the influence of drugs.

In another unrelated mystery that was recently solved in Belize, in Feb 2025 three American women were found dead in a beach resort in Belize. Officials first investigated the deaths as possible drug overdoses. Belize police identified the women as Kaoutar Naqqad (23), Imane Mallah (24), and Wafae El-Arar (26), who were staying at the Royal Kahal Beach Resort. Note: Carbon monoxide detectors are not legally required in homes and businesses in Belize, so many hotels and lodgings do not have carbon monoxide detectors. People have suffered adverse effects or died from exposure to carbon monoxide in Belize and indeed, forensic investigators determined in March that was the cause of their tragic and useless deaths.

Sources:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/17/belize-hijacking-plane

https://apnews.com/article/belize-american-women-dead-overdose-92244764df6318c7cdeb0985a39725f5

https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/cause-of-death-determined-for-3-young-u-s-women-found-dead-at-belize-resort/

Cats and Toddlers

Sanctioned Russian Firms Sold $2BN Air Defense System to Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia agreed to pay sanctioned Russian arms companies more than two billion euros for the Palantir air defense system, according to leaked documents. Trade data shows that some equipment was delivered in 2023, the year after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Details about arms sales to Saudi Arabia and other countries are included in leaked emails and internal documents from Roselectronics, which were analyzed by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).  

The Pantsir is a self-propelled air defense missile and gun system which can shoot down missiles, airplanes, helicopters, aerial bombs, and drones, like the recent Azerbaijani Airlines flight.

The documents show that Saudi Arabia ordered 39 trucks capable of shooting down aircraft, as well as ten vehicles housing “command posts” to direct the operations of combat vehicles. Also included in the purchase were hundreds of missiles, as well as additional vehicles.

A sanctioned Rostec subsidiary called United Instrument Manufacturing Corporation, was appointed to oversee the supply of the radio communications systems that were also purchased under the contract.

Efforts were made to conceal the identities of the clients.

For example, in the de-coded documents, foreign customer “012” stands for Algeria. In 2022, Russia was going to supply Algeria with its Acacia-E automatic aerospace defense system.

Foreign customer “364” of the Post-3M radio reconnaissance station in 2021 was Iran. Foreign customer “818″ of the Polyana-D4M1 command and control system is Egypt. Project 82P is Saudi Arabia.  The “82” is a part of the country code for Saudi Arabia (682), and the letter “P” refers to the product name — Pantsir.

And these Russian arms sales provide geo-political influence at the UN.

Saudi Arabia voted for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine while promising to provide Ukraine with $400 million in humanitarian aid. However, Riyadh abstained from voting on more than half of the UN resolutions regarding Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Other countries doing arms deals with the Kremlin either voted in Russia’s favor or abstained: Algeria, Egypt, India, Uganda, Belarus, China, Uganda, Ethiopia.   

President Trump’s first phone calls included one to bully the Danish PM over selling Greenland to the US. His other call was to Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman (MBS), the notorious murderer of Saudi dissident/journalist Jamal Khashoggi and financial backer of Jared Kushner, his son-in-law. Whatever matters these two malefactors discussed, it wasn’t in the best interest of international peace, justice, or the masses.  

Sources:

Sanctioned Russian Firms Sold $2B Air Defense System to Saudi Arabia, Leaked Documents Show | OCCRP

European arms imports nearly double, US and French exports rise, and Russian exports fall sharply | SIPRI

A Peek at the Poland-Belarus Border

Per CIA, Belarus has a population of 9.5 million people and GDP per capita is $27,700. Poland, an EU and NATO member has a population of over 39 million people and GDP per capita is $44,400.

For almost four years, Poland has been on a permanent state of high alert because of Belarus, which stands accused of luring asylum seekers from far-away destitute nations and pushing them en masse towards the border with the purpose of sowing chaos and polarising Polish society. During its six-month presidency of the EU Council, Poland presented a program under the slogan “Security, Europe!” that broke down the concept of security into seven different dimensions, one of them was migration.

And thanks to Belarusian Supremo Aleksandr Lukashenko, here’s what the Polish-Belarusian border looks like:

(Copyright Euronews)

The Polish-Belarusian border is equipped with thermos-vision cameras and sensor cables. (Copyright Euronews)

This road connecting the two countries is firmly blocked. (Copyright Euronews)

Poland argues its actions, such as turning away migrants, are necessary to defend the EU’s external borders. (Copyright Euronews)

Warsaw has urged the EU to think of migration as a security issue. (Copyright Euronews)

A Polish-German border crossing.

And the man responsible for this, Aleksandr Lukashenko, is set to win a seventh term in an election the opposition calls another “farce”. Amnesty International described the Belarus elections as being held in a “climate of total fear and repression.”

Just one of the thousands of Lukashenko’s political victims:

Imprisoned Belarusian human rights activist and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski sits in a defendant’s cage during a court session in Minsk on 5 Jan 2023. (Photo: Vitaly Pivovarchyk / BelTA Pool Photo via AP)

Here is a Lukashenko protestor from 2020. (Photo: Tut.by via AP)

Recent protests against Lukashenko resulted in a brutal crackdown with more than 65,000 arrests and thousands beaten, bringing condemnation and sanctions from the West. His iron-fisted rule since 1994 — Lukashenko took office two years after the demise of the Soviet Union — earned him the nickname of “Europe’s Last Dictator,” relying on subsidies and political support from close ally Russia. The Belarussian dictator never bothered to change the name of the KGB like Russia and Ukraine did after the fall of the USSR.

(Image: Nataliia Shulga / Al Jazeera)

The 71-year-old Lukashenko, who only knows about life from the former Soviet Union, is afraid of his own people as well as losing power. And people in his proximity are afraid. A former minister said that officials sit with their heads down during meetings with him, avoiding eye contact with him out fear.

Sources:

At the Poland-Belarus border, security and migration merge into one | Euronews

Belarus strongman set to win a 7th term in an election the opposition calls a farce – ABC News

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/01/belarus-authorities-hold-presidential-election-in-climate-of-total-fear-and-repression/

“Jacuzzi of Death” for Sealife in Gulf of Mexico

Imagery courtesy of The Sun UK

The “Jacuzzi of Death” is filled with tragic creatures that have been killed in its toxic waters. This horrifying spot in the Gulf of Mexico is known to kill everything that goes inside it.

The dead zone is a 100-foot-wide “bottomless” pocket filled with toxic substances.

This concoction of methane, excessively salty water, and hydrogen sulphide means nearly everything that crosses its path is killed.

The murderous underwater lake sits nearly 3,000 feet below the Gulf of Mexico.

Its briny waters are so dense the death trap has been dragged to the bottom of the gulf and cannot mix with the rest of the ocean.

The “Jacuzzi of Death” is 3,000 ft below the Gulf’s surface.

A crab in the toxic zone.

Nearly all creatures that unknowingly enter the area die.

This death pool is four times saltier than the ocean waters around it, which ensures these bodies never mix.

Images reveal how these toxic waters slowly disintegrate the unfortunate crabs and fish that end up in the death zone.

This dangerous spot was found by scientists ten years ago when they realized creatures would enter never to be seen again. The death zone was dubbed a “jacuzzi” as the temperature of this pool is warmer than the waters around it. Mussels are the only living creature that can survive in these toxic waters. Colonies of bacteria have also been able to survive in this underwater spot.

The unfortunate crab being pickled.

The “Dead Zone” in the Gulf of Mexico has been growing for decades. Pollution, sewage treatment plants, fertilizer chemicals from farm land, beef production, oil toxins, and other sources along the Mississippi River wash into the Gulf of Mexico, causing algae blooms that deplete oxygen from the water, endangering marine life.

Analysis and imagery: NOAA

Oil Toxins Pervasive in Gulf of Mexico

Some analysts assess that we are the last generation to enjoy genuine, safe ocean seafood. Unless marine pollution is stopped, the analysts are correct. President Trump ordered the Gulf of Mexico be renamed the Gulf of America, but the AP style guide continues referring to it by its original name, as will Coriolanus.  

Sources:

Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone

https://www.usf.edu/marine-science/news/2020/oil-toxins-pervasive-in-gulf-of-mexico.aspx

Inside the ‘Jacuzzi of Death’ where anything that DARES enter will be killed & left to disintegrate in toxic waters | The US Sun

Gulf of Mexico ‘dead zone’ larger than average, scientists find | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Thieves Use Explosives to Steal Gold Artifacts from Dutch Museum

The Helmet of Cotofenesti, pictured in the Romanian Museum of Antiquities, is strikingly decorated with mythological beasts and a pair of eyes. (Getty Images).

Four ancient gold artifacts were stolen from a Dutch museum in an overnight raid in the early hours of Saturday morning. Thieves used explosives to blast their way into the Drents Museum in Assen, which was hosting an exhibition of priceless Romanian jewellery made from gold and silver. They stole three Dacian spiral bracelets and the exhibit’s central piece – the strikingly decorated Helmet of Cotofenesti, which was crafted almost 2,500 years ago.

All four stolen items are of huge cultural significance to Romania, with the Helmet of Cotofenesti considered a national treasure.

Romania’s ministry of culture has promised to take all possible steps to recover the stolen items, which had been loaned to the Dutch museum from Bucharest.

Police are also investigating a burning vehicle which was found on a nearby road, which they suspect may be linked to the burglary.

No arrests have been made, but authorities suspect multiple individuals were involved. Police have called global policing agency INTERPOL to help with the investigation. Please see next story.

This was a professional operation. These artifacts are valueless to the thieves, so they are either working for an unscrupulous oligarch or they intend to sell them back to Bucharest for millions of dollars. The stolen items could have easily been taken out of the country by boat or ship.   

Source:

Thieves use explosives to steal gold ‘masterpieces’ from Dutch museum

INTERPOL Publishes First Ever Silver Notice Targeting Criminal Assets

Not all Notices are available to the general public, like war criminal Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu or Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Red Notices issued on behalf of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague.

From INTERPOL:

“INTERPOL has published its first-ever Silver Notice to help trace and recover criminal assets, combat transnational organized crime and enhance international police cooperation.

The Notice, requested by Italy, seeks information on the assets belonging to a senior member of the mafia.

The Silver Notice is the newest addition to the Organization’s suite of color-coded Notices and Diffusions, which enable countries to share alerts and requests for information worldwide. It is being launched as part of a pilot phase involving 52 countries and territories, which will run at least until November 2025.

Through Silver Notices and Diffusions, member countries can request information on assets linked to a person’s criminal activities such as fraud, corruption, drug trafficking, environmental crime, and other serious offenses. It will facilitate locating, identifying, and obtaining information about laundered assets including properties, vehicles, financial accounts and businesses. Countries may subsequently use such information as a basis for bilateral engagement, including bilateral requests for seizure, confiscation or recovery of assets, subject to national laws.

Countries and territories participating in the pilot phase:

Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Burundi, China, Colombia, Congo, Ecuador, Estonia, France, Gabon, Georgia, Gibraltar (UK), Guinea, Hungary, India, Iraq, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea (Rep. of), Kuwait, Latvia, Malawi, Malta, Moldova, Mozambique, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Trinidad & Tobago, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zambia, Zimbabwe.”

Source:

INTERPOL publishes first Silver Notice targeting criminal assets

Vietnam: 30 Children Poisoned with Pink Colored Rodenticide

Several students of Phu Lam Primary School in northern Vietnam picked up some bottles of pink water solution in a ball bag next to the school gate, then shared and drank it together, poisoning themselves.  

The patients were hospitalized, suffering with symptoms of fatigue, nausea, vomiting yellow fluid, dull abdominal pain around the navel, and some seizures. Doctors determined that the children were poisoned with fluoroacetate rodenticide, based on the results of toxicity tests and clinical diagnosis. The children are being closely monitored and treated while police in Tuyen Quang province investigate the case

Images provided by the family. Photo: BVCC

Last year, twenty Lai Chau children were hospitalized on suspicion of accidentally ingesting rat poison like the one pictured below.

A nefarious actor deliberately left that ball bag with the pink juice near the school. As previously posted on Coriolanus, there is a pattern of food poisoning incidents in Vietnam.

Sources:

Nearly 30 students were poisoned with rodenticides – VnExpress Health Newspaper

20 Lai Chau children hospitalized on suspicion of eating the wrong rat poison – VnExpress Health Newspaper

US/Canada Auto Recall: 80,000 Kia Vehicles for Improper Air Bag Deployment, Improper Wiring

2024 Kia Sorento

Automaker Kia America is recalling more than 80,000 vehicles due to floor wiring beneath the front passenger seat that can become damaged and prevent airbags and seat belts from deploying properly.

Damaged wiring can also cause an unintended side curtain air bag deployment, according to documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The recall covers 80,255 2023-2025 Niro EV, Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV), and Hybrid vehicles.

To remedy the situation, dealers will inspect, replace and reroute the floor wiring assembly, as necessary, for free. In addition, dealers will install wiring covers. Owners will be notified by letters mailed in Mar 2025.

The recall follows one in November, when Hyundai and Kia recalled over 208,000 electric vehicles to fix a transistor in a charging control unit that could be damaged and stop charging the 12-volt battery. That in turn could cause loss of drive power, increasing the risk of a crash.

Sources:

Kia recalls more than 80,000 U.S. autos due to improper air bag deployment and improper wiring | AP News

RCLRPT-25V024-8197.PDF

Hyundai, Kia recall EVs to fix problem that can cause power loss | AP News

Transport Canada Recall – 2025011 – KIA – Canada.ca

Maine Coon Cat Becomes Accidental Frequent Flyer After Being Left on Plane by Mistake

Margo Neas holds her cat Mittens at her home in Melbourne, Australia, 22 Jan 2025. (Photo: Rod McGuirk / AP)

A Maine coon cat named Mittens became an accidental jetsetter this month when her cage was overlooked in a plane cargo hold and she made three trips in 24 hours between New Zealand and Australia.

Mittens (8) was booked for one-way travel with her family from Christchurch, New Zealand to their new home in Melbourne, Australia on 13 Jan. But owner Margo Neas said Wednesday that as she waited for Mittens to be unloaded from the plane’s freight area, three hours passed with no sign of the cat.

It was then that ground staff told Neas the plane had returned to New Zealand — with Mittens still on board. The return trip involves about 7.5 hours in the air.

Mittens, not usually an affectionate pet, is “the cuddliest she’s ever been,” said Neas.

Source:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/22/travel/mittens-cat-australia-new-zealand-intl-hnk/index.html

Emmanuel Macron and the Mass Murderer

Saudi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (L) welcomes French President Emmanuel Macron (R) at the Royal Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Photo: Bandar Aljaloud / AP)

President Macron is meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) ostensibly to discuss peace in the Middle East during his three-day state visit just as a political crisis threatens to topple the French government.  The agenda includes ways to strengthen Lebanon’s military and the so-called “Two-State Solution” for Israel and Palestine. The optics of such a conference looks benevolent.  In 2021, Macron became one of the first Western leaders to meet Prince Mohammed in Saudi Arabia after the 2 Oct 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at Riyadh’s consulate in Istanbul.

But in reality, a President Macron is in Riyadh to drum up business for the French economy. A caravan of 50 senior officials from major French companies including TotalEnergies, EDF and Veolia, as well as start-ups in artificial intelligence and quantum physics accompanied him. Importantly, Paris wants Riyadh to acquire French-made Rafale fighter jets and all the incidental, technical, and training contracts worth billions that would come with it. This is directly meant to deal with oil-producing Shia-led Iran.

Rafale F3R Fighter Jet (Photo: Dassault Aviation / A. Pecchi)

Under the thin veil of finding peace in the Middle East, Emmanuel Macron is dealing with Muhammad bin Salman, the man behind the heinous torture, murder, and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi. On 2 Oct 2018, the sadistic MBS listened in gleefully to the transmitted sounds of the butchery sent by his clumsy assassins. Linked at bottom is the official ODNI redacted version of this atrocity. Caught but embarrassed, the Saudi government eventually ‘punished’ the hit team calling it a ‘rogue operation’, but MBS walked away unscathed, becoming an international pariah along the way.

Undated photo of the late Jamal Khashoggi, Time’s Person of the Year in 2018.

But worse than this grisly murder which President Biden said was “unacceptable and won’t be tolerated,” MBS is responsible for the man-made famine in Yemen which killed an estimated 130,000 innocent Yemeni Shiites.

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

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

The famine and blockade propelled the beleaguered Shia Yemenis into the arms of Tehran and Lebanese Hezbollah, their fellow Shia co-religionists.  This is why we see Houthi drone counter-strikes against Western maritime targets in the Red Sea or the Gulf of Aden after Israel conducts an Extra-Judicial Killing (XJK) in Lebanon, Syria, or sovereign Iranian territory (via drone, missile, jet, or assassin). The Shia Houthis are simply supporting the two groups that are helping them to survive. This humanitarian catastrophe can be laid squarely at the feet of the notorious MBS.

Emmanuel Macron meeting up with the fabulously wealthy but odious Crown Prince for the sake of the stumbling French economy should come as no surprise. The President of the Fifth Republic recently stated that France won’t honor the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against PIFWC Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, unlike most of the EU. And France is the home of INTERPOL in Lyon. Jerusalem may have threatened to withhold the ceasefire with Lebanese Hezbollah (LH) to coerce that public comment from Macron, desperate to maintain influence in the Middle East.

While Macron (who heads La Francophonie and has a sizeable domestic Arab constituency) and MBS perform a kabuki dance about the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza or the West Bank and calling for elections in Lebanon, they are really making mega-business deals. Arguably, Beijing has done more for the Palestinians than Paris or Riyadh.

Mahmoud al-Aloul from Fatah (L), Chinese FM Wang Yi (C), and Mussa Abu Marzuk, from Hamas (R) in Beijing on 23 July 2024. China successfully reconciled their differences. For decades Beijing has pushed for international recognition of Palestine; France, the UK, and the US have not.  (Photo: Pedro Pardo / AFP / Getty Images)

In all fairness to France, they are like the US in opposing Vladimir Putin’s Nakba against Ukraine and support his ICC arrest warrant. Both are sending Kiev military and economic assistance. France does not oppose Benjamin Netanyahu’s “special military operation” against the Palestinians and oppose his arrest warrant, like the US. If the French diplomatic corps can’t understand why their influence in the Arab world has waned considerably over the decades, their myopia is worse than I thought.

Sources:

Assessment-Saudi-Gov-Role-in-JK-Death-20210226v2.pdf

France, Saudi Arabia sign strategic partnership, call for fresh elections in Lebanon

Macron’s Saudi visit targets arms deals and economic diversification

Saudi crown prince approved murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi: U.S. intelligence report | CBC News

Hamas and Fatah sign agreement in Beijing ‘ending’ their division, China says | CNN

Saudi Court Sentence Five To Death For Journalist Khashoggi’s Murder – SKN News

Xi pledges more Gaza aid and talks trade at summit with Arab leaders | AP News

California Man Arrested for Allegedly Exporting Shipments of Firearms, Ammunition, and Other Military Items to North Korea

Kim Jong-un firing an automatic pistol. The photographer is ill-positioned as he is down-range of the weapon and no one seems to be wearing hearing or eye protection. (Undated image)

The FBI arrested Shenghua Wen (41) of Ontario, CA, for allegedly exporting shipments of firearms, ammunition, and other military items to North Korea that were concealed inside shipping containers bound from Long Beach through Hong Kong to North Korea.

The FBI seized two devices that he intended to send to North Korea for military use: a chemical threat identification device and a hand-held broadband receiver that detects eavesdropping devices. Law enforcement also seized approximately 50,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition that Wen allegedly obtained to send to North Korea.

(Photos: FBI)

(Photos: FBI)

Wen is a Chinese national who is illegally in the US after overstaying his student visa and is therefore prohibited from possessing any firearms or ammunition. Wen lacks the required licenses from the US government to export ammunition, firearms, and the other devices that law enforcement seized at his home to North Korea.

Wen is charged with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which carries a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.

The MSS is a vast apparatus and unknown is whether the Chinese government was aware of this conspiracy or whether they looked the other way. Espionage continues to be a less expensive way of acquiring sensitive technology from the West. The 50,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition would most likely be intended for North Korean espionage agents or their Special Forces, like the ones who deployed to Russia to fight against Ukraine.

The Browning Hi-Power 9mm pistol above is issued to North Korean spies and commandos.

North Korean supremo Kim Jong-un enjoying a cigarette and light refreshment while his people starve. Nine out of ten North Koreans suffer from food insecurity.  (Photo: 13 Jun 2022, Reuters)

A criminal complaint 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 | California Man Arrested for Allegedly Exporting Shipments of Firearms, Ammunition and Other Military Items to North Korea | United States Department of Justice

COVID Map Update Reveals New States With ‘Very High’ Wastewater Activity

More states are detecting “very high” levels of the COVID-10 virus in wastewater.

According to the US CDC, Idaho, New Mexico and South Dakota all had “very high” levels of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in their wastewater during the week between 17 and 23 Nov., Between 10 and 16 Nov, only New Mexico’s wastewater had this level of the virus present.

Arizona, Arkansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire currently have “high” levels of COVID-19, while “moderate” levels were detected in Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, and Wyoming.

Nineteen states had “low” levels, while 14 states and Wash DC had “minimal” levels of the SARS-CoV-2 virus present in wastewater.

The COVID-19 virus is spreading but cases of illness are not exploding because of the previous vaccination program. If Americans do not want to endure another nightmarish lockdown, they should take annual booster shots and maintain good hygiene habits. Covering the mouth when sneezing or coughing, as well as washing the hands constantly will help.  The US Senate can assist by not confirming any of the frauds or quacks the President-elect seems to have in mind for his imminent administration.

Source:

https://www.newsweek.com/covid-wastewater-map-cdc-virus-levels-variants-very-high-levels-1994758

Why Israeli Men Volunteered to Fight, But Now Refuse to Return to Gaza

Excerpted from Fergal Keane’s excellent article. She is a Special Correspondent to the BBC.

Look at these heavily armed IDF soldiers warn this Palestinian child riding a bicycle. The troop on the left seems to be aiming his assault rifle at this waif. (Photo: circa 2012)

Yuval Green (26) is among those refusing to continue fighting in Gaza.

Yuval immediately answered his country’s call to arms after the 7 Oct 2023 surprise attack by armed Palestinian groups in southern Israel. It was a mission to defend Israelis. Then came the fighting in Gaza itself. Things seen that could not be unseen. Like the night he saw cats eating human remains in the roadway.

“Start to imagine, like an apocalypse. You look to your right, you look to your left, all you see is destroyed buildings, buildings that are damaged by fire, by missiles, everything. That’s Gaza right now.”

“Start to imagine, like an apocalypse. You look to your right, you look to your left, all you see is destroyed buildings, buildings that are damaged by fire, by missiles, everything. That’s Gaza right now.”

IDF soldiers pass by destroyed homes inside the Gaza Strip. (IDF Handout via REUTERS)

One year on, the young man who reported for duty on 7 Oct 2023 is refusing to fight. There have been social media posts from soldiers in Gaza abusing prisoners, destroying property, and mocking Palestinians, including numerous examples of soldiers posing with people’s possessions – including womans’ dresses and underwear.

“I was trying to fight that at the time as much as I could,” says Yuval. “There was a lot of dehumanizing, a vengeful atmosphere.”

His personal turning point came with an order he could not obey.

“They told us to burn down a house, and I went to my commander and asked him: ‘Why are we doing that?’ And the answers he gave me were just not good enough. I wasn’t willing to burn down a house without reasons that make sense, without knowing that this serves a certain military purpose, or any type of purpose. So, I said no and left.”

That was his last day in Gaza.

Yuval is the co-organizer of a public letter signed by more than 165 – at the latest count – IDF reservists, and a smaller number of permanent soldiers, refusing to serve, or threatening to refuse, unless the hostages are returned – something that would require a ceasefire deal with Hamas.

The UN has said reports of alleged torture and sexual violence by Israeli guards were “grossly illegal and revolting” and enabled by “absolute impunity.”

Ten years ago, a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, warned about this phenomenon in what he called the ‘religification’ of the IDF.

“Within this context, messages about Jewish superiority and demonization of the enemy are fertile ground for fostering brutality and releasing soldiers from moral constraints.”

Michael Ofer-Ziv (29) was an operations officer in a brigade war room. (Photo: Getty Images)

The decisive moment for Michael Ofer-Ziv came when the IDF shot three Israeli hostages in Gaza in Dec 2023. The three men approached the army stripped to the waist, and one held a stick with a white cloth. A soldier had felt threatened and opened fire, killing two hostages. A third was wounded but then shot again and killed, when a soldier ignored his commander’s ceasefire order.

“I remember thinking to what level of moral corruption have we got… that this can happen. And I also remember thinking, there is just no way this is the first time [innocent people were shot]… It’s just the first time that we are hearing about it, because they are hostages. If the victims were Palestinians, we just would never hear about it.”

Coriolanus wishes these young fellow warriors well in a future of justice, peace, and tranquility in the Middle East.

The numbers of war-resisters in Israel will grow as war-related guilt, pangs of conscience, memories of horror, and PTSD spread throughout the ranks. This is an all too familiar pattern with war. As noted in a previous post, high school girls will be refusing induction into the IDF, as did a young man who will face judicial consequences for his moral stand.

Gil Zalsman, the Chair of the Israeli National Council for Suicide Prevention, had warned about the “tsunami of mental illnesses” among IDF personnel in the occupied territories and the potential increase in suicide cases after the end of the war. He stressed that referrals to crisis and mental health centers in the occupied territories increased by 40% last year.

On 22 Nov, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper wrote that at least six IDF soldiers who fought in Gaza and Lebanon, committed suicide in recent months. In the US, an average of 20 veterans dies from suicide every day.

Our special thanks to Fergal Keane at “the BeeB.” Her complete article may be read at the link below.

Source:

IDF refusers: The men who volunteered but now won’t fight in Gaza

Israeli official warns against increase in mental illnesses in occupied territories – IRNA English

United States military veteran suicide – Wikipedia

Food Recall in California: Raw Farm Milk and Cream 

Raw Farm, LLC is voluntarily recalling its raw milk and cream products due to possible bird flu contamination. Californians are strongly encouraged not to consume any raw milk or cream products in their possession or still on store shelves. Pasteurized milk remains safe to drink.  

Raw Farm milk products have tested positive for bird flu at both retail and dairy storage and bottling sites in recent days. 

Customers should immediately return any remaining product to the retail point of purchase. 

While this voluntary recall only applies to raw whole milk and cream, due to multiple bird flu detections in the company’s operation the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) urges consumers to avoid consuming any Raw Farm products for human consumption including raw milk, cream, cheese, and kefir, as well as raw milk pet food topper and pet food kefir marketed to pet owners. 

In addition to the statewide voluntary recall, CDFA has placed the farm under quarantine, suspending any new distribution of its raw milk, cream, kefir, butter and cheese products produced on or after 27 Nov. 

No human bird flu cases associated with the product have been confirmed to date, and the state is working closely with federal and local partners to investigate the situation and better understand how it might impact consumers. California continues to monitor and respond to bird flu outbreaks in dairy cows and poultry. Bird flu virus levels have been demonstrated to be high in raw milk from infected cows, and sporadic human cases identified in workers in close contact with infected dairy cows and their milk indicate that raw milk is infectious to humans.   

Public health experts have long warned consumers against consuming raw milk or raw milk products due to elevated risks of foodborne illness. Outbreaks due to Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, toxin producing E. coli, Brucella, Campylobacter, and many other bacteria have all been reported related to consuming raw dairy products. Raw milk products are not pasteurized, a heating process that kills bacteria and viruses such as bird flu.

Pasteurized milk and pasteurized milk products are safe to consume because the heating process kills pathogens, including bird flu, that can cause illness.

Drinking or accidentally inhaling raw milk containing bird flu virus may lead to illness. In addition, touching your eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands after touching raw milk with bird flu virus may also lead to infection. Symptoms of bird flu infection in humans include eye redness or discharge, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, diarrhea, vomiting, muscle or body aches, headaches, fatigue, trouble breathing and fever. Anyone who has consumed these specific products and is experiencing these symptoms, should immediately contact their health care provider or local health department.

Pet Safety and Raw Milk Pet Food Products

​CDPH advises consumers to avoid raw milk “pet food topper” and “pet food kefir” products marketed to pet owners. They should neither eat this food themselves nor feed it to their pets. Cats, dogs, and other animals may become sick with bird flu after drinking raw milk. Cats on infected dairy farms in multiple states have died from bird flu, most likely from drinking raw milk from infected cows. CDPH encourages pet owners to avoid feeding their pets raw pet food products in general, including raw milk-based products. To further limit risk to pets, pet owners should also keep their pets away from sick or dead birds.​​

Pasteurized milk is safe to drink. Pasteurization, one of the most significant scientific food safety discoveries in human history, is the process of heating milk to specific temperatures for a certain length of time to kill many microorganisms and enzymes that lead to spoilage and illness. Pasteurization kills the bird flu virus and other harmful germs that can be found in raw milk. CDPH advises consumers not to drink raw milk or eat raw milk products due to the risk of foodborne illnesses.

Since early October, California has reported 31 confirmed human cases of bird flu, 30 of whom had direct contact with infected dairy cows. No person-to-person spread of bird flu has been detected in California or the US. 

Farmers should contact the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s bird flu hotline at 866-922-2473 if they suspect their animals are infected with bird flu.

Source:

State Secures Broad Voluntary Recall of Raw Milk and Cream to Protect Consumers

Stowaway On Delta Airlines NYC-Paris Flight Bypassed Security Checkpoints at JFK

Different flight paths between NYC and Paris.  

A Russian woman who stowed away on a flight from New York to Paris last week was able to sneak through the security checkpoint by starting off in a lane reserved for airline flight crews. Ms. Svetlana Dali (57) was able to get through an advanced imaging technology body scanner at JFK and dodge document and ID checks during the security process.

Once the woman proceeded to the gate, she placed herself in the middle of what appeared to be a family traveling together.

Investigators believe a contributing factor may have been the massive holiday weekend crowds at the airport. The TSA said it screened nearly 2.7 million passengers at US airports on that Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

TSA checkpoints at JFK (Photo: TSA)

The woman is attempting to claim asylum in France. But French authorities are apparently denying Svetlana Dali entry to the country because she doesn’t meet the criteria for asylum nor did she have a visa, leaving her in limbo in the airport.

The Russian national remains in France after allegedly causing a disturbance and refusing to board a return flight to the US a couple of days ago.

While Ms. Dali hasn’t been arrested or detained in France, she could face charges such as criminal trespass and theft of services upon her return to the US.

But it remains unclear how she was able to board the plane.

Once on board, Ms Dali moved from one bathroom to another and never took a seat until flight attendants began to notice. Once confronted, The stowaway repeated: “I do not want to go back to the USA. Only a judge can make me go back to the USA.”

The woman was expected to be accompanied by six US marshals on her flight back to NY.

Inspectors from the TSA are preparing a civil case against the stowaway after reviewing airport security video from inside JFK. The TSA cannot bring criminal charges, though it can refer them to the Justice Department. It’s unclear whether any criminal charges will be filed.

Delta Airlines has not said how the woman was able to board the plane once she made it past the TSA checkpoint but “is conducting an exhaustive investigation of what may have occurred.”

This clever and determined woman was evidently hell-bent on departing the US. She may have been absconding justice or the prospects of living in the US under the incoming Trump administration may have been too much for her. Wealthy people have already begun their exodus, like actress Eva Longoria.

Investigators will soon determine Ms. Dali’s motive for fleeing the US and if she was genuinely seeking asylum in France. Instead of fining and punishing this woman, TSA, Delta Airlines, and the FAA should learn from her experience. Should federal charges be brought before Ms. Dali, they would be in the Eastern District of NY where some compassionate judges are sitting at the bench.  

Sources:

Stowaway caught on Paris flight attempts to claim asylum

Woman who sneaked onto Paris flight bypassed checkpoints by jumping into different security lines, TSA says | CNN

Mystery Disease in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Kills 143 People

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

A flu-like disease that has killed dozens of people over two weeks is being investigated in southwestern DRC, not to be confused with neighboring Congo-Brazzaville to the west.

The deaths were recorded between 10 and 25 Nov in the Panzi health zone of Kwango province. Symptoms include fever, headache, coughing, and anemia.

The deputy provincial governor reported that between 67 and 143 people had died. He warned the population to exercise caution and refrain from contact with dead bodies to avoid contamination. WHO is aware of the unidentified disease and has a team on the ground working with local health services to collect samples.

Congo is already dealing with massive food insecurity as eight million internally displaced people (IDP) require daily humanitarian assistance.

Bulengo IDP Camp. (Photo: Concern Worldwide)

Moreover, Congo is also plagued with the mpox epidemic. More than 47,000 suspected cases and over 1,000 suspected deaths from the disease have been recorded in the Central African country. Readers may recall this terrifying, but controversial, bestseller below about the Ebola virus which became a TV series.

The DRC has one of the largest reserves of potential wealth, including 200 million acres of cultivable land and large reserves of gold, diamonds, copper, zinc, coltan, and cobalt. Yet, the DRC is the sixth-lowest country on the UN’s Human Development Index (HDI). 75% of the population live below the poverty line and GDP per capita is $1,500.

Since independence, the former personal territory of King Leopold II of Belgium has suffered from political instability, a lack of infrastructure, corruption, and centuries of both commercial and colonial extraction and exploitation. Just recently, Belgium has just been found guilty of crimes against humanity for the forced removal of five mixed-race children from their mothers in colonial Congo. Five plaintiffs were forcibly removed from their Congolese mothers between 1948 and 1953 as small children and sent to a Catholic mission far from their homes. The total number of such inhuman abductions by the Belgian colonial government has not yet been uncovered.  

The above Tintin book written in 1931 was once banned in several countries for its naive and racist portrayal of the natives while highlighting “benevolent” Belgian rule. Herge was, of course, a Belgian and conservative Catholic who survived Nazi occupation.  

Sources:

Health officials investigate mystery disease in southwest Congo after 143 deaths | AP News

World Health Organization

CIA

Democratic Republic of the Congo | World Food Program

The Democratic Republic of the Congo crisis, explained: Five things to know in 2024 | Concern Worldwide

Belgium found guilty of crimes against humanity in colonial Congo | Belgium | The Guardian

Why Humans are So Obsessed with Cats