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:

‘Are We Not Humans?’ Fury in Beirut as Massive Israeli Strike Kills 20

Before impact. Beirut’s Shayah neighborhood (Photo: Fadel Itani / UPI)

After impact. (Photo: Fadel Itani / UPI)

Chiyah neighborhood of Beirut (Photo: Fadel Itani / UPI)

A massive Israeli air strike on central Beirut has killed at least 20 people, Lebanese officials say, in the latest attack on the capital amid an escalation of Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah.

The strike happened without warning at about 04:00 (02:00 GMT) on Saturday, and was an attempt to assassinate a senior Hezbollah official, Israeli media reported. The attack was heard and felt across the city, and destroyed at least one eight-story residential building in the densely populated Basta district.

Lebanon’s National News Agency said a so-called bunker buster bomb was used, a type of weapon previously used by Israel to kill senior Hezbollah figures, including former leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Emergency workers used heavy machinery to remove the rubble and retrieve bodies.

More than 60 people had been injured and the number of victims was expected to rise as DNA tests would be carried out on body parts that had been recovered.

“It was a very horrible explosion. All the windows and glasses were over me, my wife and my children. My home now is a battlefield,” said 55-year-old Ali Nassar, who lived in a nearby building.

“Even if one person is hiding here…Should you destroy buildings where people are sleeping inside? Is it necessary to kill all the people for one person? Are we not humans? That’s what I’m asking.”

According to the Israeli public broadcaster Kan, the attack was an attempt to kill Mohammed Haydar, a top Hezbollah official. Hezbollah MP Amin Sherri said none of the group’s leaders were in the building hit, and Haydar’s fate remained unclear.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has not commented.

Also on Saturday, the IDF carried out further air strikes on the Dahieh, the area in southern Beirut where Hezbollah is based, saying they were buildings linked to the group.

Israeli attacks have also hit the south, where an Israeli ground invasion is advancing, and the east, where air strikes in the city of Baalbek killed at least 15 people, including four children.

Lebanese officials say a ‘bunker buster’ bomb was used in the devastating strike.

In AKZ-L (Lebanon), more than 3,670 people have been killed and at least 15,400 injured since Oct 2023, with more than one million forced from their homes. With the onset of winter, more innocent and homeless Arabs will die of exposure. The IDF has killed scores of Lebanese medics while destroying the country’s medical infrastructure. PIFWC Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud Party have certainly incubated the next two generations of anti-Israelis and antisemites. Netanyahu can’t wait until Donald Trump becomes POTUS next year. But having a Democratic president in the White House these past four years haven’t really stalled or delayed the Likud Party’s plans to ethnically cleanse Israel of Palestinians anyway.

The imminent and unholy Repub-Likud alliance in 2025 will also bode poorly again for Iranians and chances of a lasting peace in the Middle East.

Sources:

Israel hits Lebanon with widespread bombing and shelling, killing at least 47 – UPI.com

‘Are we not humans?’: Anger in Beirut as massive Israeli strike kills 20

Israel: Fanatical Settlers Attack IDF Major-General Avi Bluth in West Bank

This past weekend, lunatic Settlers in the West Bank attacked IDF Central Command Major-General Avi Bluth, ludicrously calling him a “traitor” and “Israel hater.”

Head of IDF Central Command Major-General Avi Bluth. He escaped unharmed and must have been shocked to face an intifada from the very citizens he has sworn to protect and defend.

Since Oct 2023, Israeli security forces and fanatical Settlers have killed at least 763 Palestinians in Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) to facilitate the seizure of lands and homes by religious zealots. A few of these maniacs possibly like the Settler pictured below have been sanctioned by the Biden Administration.

Palestinian Alice Kisiya (R), whose family land was taken over by armed Israeli settlers, confronts a rabid Settler in the area of al-Makhrour in the occupied West Bank, near Beit Jala, on 22 Aug 2024. (Photo: AFP / Hazem Bader)

The above pictured Israelis celebrate the death of Palestinian resistance leader Yahya Sinwar at a southern kibbutz, 17 Oct 2024. Note the elation on the faces of the celebrants as if this was V-E Day 1945. They are unaware of twice-GOP Presidential candidate NYS Governor Thomas E. Dewey’s famous words, “You can’t shoot an idea with a gun,” as if the IDF killing of one man erases Palestinian nationalism. Urbane Israelis in Ramat Aviv or Haifa wonder how much taxes these kibbutzers pay or whether they ever served in the IDF like them or MG Avi Bluth. (Photo: AP)

Above, Israeli Police officers arrest an ultra-Orthodox Jew as they block a main road during a protest against IDF conscription in Jerusalem, 19 Oct 2017. Israeli police arrested 40 people in protests by a fringe group within Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. (Photo: Ariel Schalit / AP)

Israeli border police stand guard near Orthodox Jews in the Old City’s Christian quarter, after an incident in which Haredi Orthodox Jews spat at a Christian procession carrying a cross through Jerusalem’s Old City in 2023. Israeli police arrested five suspects. (Photo: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Ultra-Orthodox Jews defied COVID regulations. Above, Israeli security forces arrest an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man as they close a synagogue in Jerusalem (Mar 2020). COVID infection rates in ultra-Orthodox communities were markedly higher than the rest of Israel. (Photo: Ahmad Gharabli / AFP / Getty Images)

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man (L) and a secular man (R) above argue during a protest against the strict religious codes favored by the ultra-Orthodox in the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh. (Photo: Reuters/Landov)

So, is it any wonder that an IDF Major-General may be attacked by his own people when you see the fanaticism emanating from the religious sectors of Israel? Many military veterans have favorite commanders or generals and Coriolanus is no exception. I can’t imagine being in a security detail or in the entourage of my favorite (unnamed) general under attack by maniacs. Luckily MG Avi Bluth and his staff escaped unharmed.

For years Israel has been undergoing a political civil war between secularists and fundamentalists, ultra-nationalists and peace activists, Sabras and newcomers, Ashkenazis and Sephardics, and Likudniks versus Laborites. So far, the religious right-wing and their coalition have been winning in the kaleidoscope of the Knesset, keeping Israeli Crime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in power (for now).

Besides facing an international arrest warrant for war crimes, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu will be facing a criminal or Knesset inquiry into his handling of the 7 Oct 2023 surprise attack which killed more than 1,200 citizens and the capture of over 200 hostages.

Sources:

Israel: Some ultra-Orthodox Jews are ignoring the coronavirus rules | CNN

Israelis Clash Over Strict Religious Codes |

Israeli police arrest 5 Jews for allegedly spitting on Christian pilgrims amid spate of attacks – Jewish Telegraphic Agency

US issues new batch of sanctions targeting West Bank settlers amid rampant violence | The Times of Israel

Passengers Stop Man from Opening American Airlines Plane Cabin Door Mid-Flight

Passengers on American Airlines Flight 1219 stopped a Canadian man who allegedly tried to open the airplane’s cabin door mid-flight by restraining him with duct tape and flex cuffs.

The suspect reportedly told a flight attendant he needed to exit the plane and began acting erratically when he was denied.

The man tried to open an emergency door while the jetliner was airborne.

“He was sitting at the emergency exit and he cracked open the window that was protecting the handle,” reported a passenger. “He ripped down the handle where it exposed some of the emergency exit and all the wind came rushing down.”

“The guy was screaming ‘I want to get out,’” reported a witness.

The unhinged man allegedly assaulted a flight attendant, injuring her wrist and neck.

A passenger sprung into action by restraining the man and securing him with duct tape and flex cuffs provided by the crew. The suspect remained restrained on the floor for the rest of the flight.

After landing, law enforcement and FBI agents boarded the plane to detain the man for a medical evaluation. The flight attendant was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, while the suspect was taken off the plane in a wheelchair.

The FAA and FBI are working together to investigate the incident further. No charges have been filed.

“The safety and security of our customers and team members is our top priority and we thank our team members and customers for managing a difficult situation,” American Airlines said.

Luckily enough passengers had the wherewithal to overcome and restrain the unhinged man before a catastrophe occurred. Air travel remains one of the safest methods of travel, but occasional incidents like this challenge aviation security experts to come up with non-lethal solutions to neutralize unruly or dangerous passengers without harming innocent people or endangering the flight.   

Source:

Passengers Stop Man from Opening Plane Door Mid-Flight By Duct Taping His Wrists And Ankles Together: Officials | IBTimes

Man subdued on an American Airlines flight after trying to open an emergency exit | CTV News

North Korean Defector: NK Soldiers Will Desert ASAP in Ukraine

North Korean supremo Kim Jong-un meets with his loyal and adoring troops in Mar 2024 (Photo: AP)

Entire units of North Korea’s troops fighting for Vladimir Putin will desert as soon as they get to the frontline, a defector has claimed.

Hyun-Seung Lee, spent 3 1/2 years with an artillery and reconnaissance battalion in the early 2000s. His time in the army included training for six months alongside the Storm Corps. Lee says the troops in Russia will be looking to escape the battle in Ukraine “from the beginning.” 

Leaked footage shows the North Koreans (AKA “Norks”) training in Russia (Credit: Telegram)

He believes the troops are not ready for the frontline and will be used as “human shields” by Russian soldiers in “meat attacks.”

Kim Jong-un has sent his Storm Corps, the country’s equivalent of special forces, to fight for the Kremlin as his war continues to stall. The 10,000-strong force is set to be used on the battlefield in the coming days as the Russian tyrant looks to claw back Kursk

Questions have been raised about how well the North Korean soldiers will fight having not seen combat since the Vietnam War and with the units armed, clothed, and led by the Russians.

In one clip the Norks appear to be practicing Russian (Credit: Telegram)

Lee said the young soldiers in North Korea will have been forced to go and they won’t be that committed to the fighting. 

He said: “It will be individuals at first, but more like as time passes, I think there’ll be like a larger number of group defections, including officers.”

That’s because, Lee says, the Russians will likely treat them as “expendable” and even more poorly than their own troops. 

He said: “Russian soldiers don’t respect them as their fellow warriors and the NORKs will die without any impact.”

North Korean soldiers could be thinking twice about defecting as it could see their families thrown in prison. Pyongyang has a guilty by association policy; if the North’s soldiers are seen defecting by colleagues their families could be put in jail.

Lee said: “They would be socially not respected, there’s criticism [they would face] from the community and organizations.”

High-ranking families would likely face a more severe punishment if authorities knew their relative had fled.

But Lee, whose family fled Pyongyang in 2014, said some families might not even know their brother, son or father are in Russia fighting as North Korea keeps all troop movements secret. The troops will be watched over by a Worker’s Party political officer who will administer two hours of ideological training a day.

Inside North Inside North Korea’s ‘Elite’ Storm Corp Special Forces

The Storm Corps is made of ten units, including a sniper’s unit, a light infantry unit, and a paratroopers unit, according to Lee Hyun Seung.

Lee emphasized they are not comparable to Western special forces. He said North Korea didn’t have the equipment to continually train troops for combat as ammunition and bombs would need replacing.

Instead, they trained “for show” so they could march in parades or for propaganda videos. Lee said those soldiers are drawn from North Korea’s working class and will be ambivalent about fighting for the regime. 

The defector added: “They are just seeking food and then they’re seeking career advancement. I’m sure nowadays, these, you know, young soldiers they don’t have like a real loyalty to the regime. They just got order command from the Supreme Commander, and then they have no choice but to, you know, [go] to Russia.” 

Ukrainian military intelligence had leaked to the press that a score of North Korean soldiers had already deserted but were soon recaptured by Russian security services. Another report suggested that up to 40 NK troops had been killed in recent fighting in Kursk. Coriolanus posted that the Ukrainian military targeted a Russian command and control center and possibly wounded a North Korean general and other HVTs.  The Ukrainians will continue using their PSYOP program to induce defections and undermine the morale of the NORKs while targeting their HVTs. Kiev has less than two months to catastrophically damage the Russian and North Korean armies before Trump takes over the White House and kowtows to Vladimir Putin.

Source:

I was a North Korean soldier – Kim’s terrified troops will FLEE Putin’s army when they reach Ukraine frontline – The US Sun | The US Sun

Cluster of Ventura County, CA Farmworkers Diagnosed with Rare Leptospirosis

Ventura County lies west of Los Angeles, CA.

Ventura County public health officials said they’re investigating a rare and potentially severe disease diagnosed in several workers in county berry fields.

The illness, leptospirosis, is caused by bacteria found in contaminated water or soil. The disease can be spread by urine from animals including rodents and livestock.

In severe cases, the condition can cause kidney damage, liver failure, or meningitis and can be fatal.

Public health officials report the local cases appeared to have emerged between Sep 2024 and Nov 2024. They do not know the exact cause but said farmworkers harvesting or handling berries grown under hoops may be at higher risk of infection.

There are 18 cases, but the numbers are fluctuating. Some of the cases have been confirmed and others are presumed to be leptospirosis.

Farm worker. (Photo: VCStar)

Public health officials said leptospirosis is not considered a risk to the general public as the illness is not spread from person to person and it’s safe to eat berries.

Some patients reported severe symptoms like meningitis, an infection that can cause inflammation of membrane around the brain and spinal cord. Other cases involved mild symptoms like headache and fever.

Public health strongly advised agricultural workers and employers to take precautions to reduce the risk of leptospirosis:

  • Wear waterproof protective clothing and equipment while working outdoors including gloves, long-sleeved shirts, pants and boots or shoes.
  • Cover cuts and scratches with waterproof bandaging.
  • Wash hands, arms and exposed skin thoroughly with soap and water after working in the fields, especially before eating or drinking.
  • Employers should take measures to keep pest populations under control.

Officials inform that rodents are the most common source of the disease but livestock, dogs and cats can also be infected. People should keep pets away from ponds, lakes and other natural bodies of water and prompt veterinary care for animals that become sick.

The CDC reports that some infected people may have no symptoms. Leptospirosis sometimes occurs in two phases with initial symptoms that improve but are followed by more severe conditions like kidney/liver failure or meningitis.

An estimated one million severe cases of leptospirosis in humans occur every year, causing about 58,900 deaths. The disease is most common in tropical areas of the world but may occur anywhere. Outbreaks may arise after heavy rainfall.

Sources:

Cluster of Locally Acquired Leptospirosis Infections – Ventura County Public Health

Public health investigates cluster of leptospirosis infections

About Leptospirosis | Leptospirosis | CDC

Leptospirosis – Wikipedia

First Freight Train from China Arrives in Afghanistan as Beijing Increases Ties

A direct freight train link between Afghanistan and China was inaugurated this month. (File photo)

The first train carrying goods from China to Afghanistan arrived in Mazar-e Sharif on 23 Nov after crossing through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, Kabul reported. The Taliban said 55 containers arrived in Afghanistan after a 22-day journey, marking the inauguration of the first direct train link between China and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The train is expected to take Afghan goods back to China for sale there. Since the Taliban returned to power in Aug 2021, no country, including China, has formally recognized the extremist group — which has been accused of massive rights violations — but Beijing has attempted to increase ties as part of its economic push in the region, including its Belt and Road initiative.

Central Asia Rail Routes Map courtesy of Ansher Global

China, the world’s factory, is also building a massive railway system on the Dark Continent which will connect east and west Africa, a concept the previous European colonial powers never conceived.   

China has pledged $75 billion of funding to Africa and her projects have employed tens of thousands of Ethiopians and Djiboutians.

The West is involved in devastating and costly wars while Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative is quietly and peacefully securing China’s future economic hegemony. Beijing will soon have access to critical minerals in Afghanistan needed for the telecommunications and computer manufacturing industries.  

Ukrainians are fighting for their very survival from the Kremlin onslaught while the US wastes precious economic and military resources funding Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians while the IDF devastates Lebanon with US-provided weapons.  The US already wasted billions of dollars fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan while China invested her time and resources wisely to expand her influence globally while subtly beginning her conquest of space.

Sources:

Keynote Address by Helga Zepp-LaRouche to Conference: U.S.-China Cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative and Corresponding Ideas in Chinese and Western Philosophy 4/13-4/14/2017 NYC

Freight Train Arrives In Afghanistan From China As Beijing Looks To Increase Ties

Simultaneous Comeuppance for Two Right-Wing Doppelgangers

Brazilian ex-president Jair Bolsonaro (R) and his Floridian doppelganger ex-Congressman Matt Gaetz (L)

Last week Brazil’s federal police charged former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and 36 accomplices of being part of a criminal conspiracy designed to obliterate Brazil’s democratic system through a right-wing coup d’état attempt on 8 Jan 2023. Bolsonaro had proudly described himself as the “Trump of Brazil,” had accelerated the arboricide of the earth’s lings, the Amazon Rain Forest, for the sake of making money.  

Among the accused are Bolsonaro’s former spy chief, as well as a cadre of senior defense, foreign affairs, and justice ministers. Also charged are a far-right congressman and blogger.


In a scene quite similar to the US Capitol on 6 Jan 2021, Jair Bolsonaro supporters generate chaos in Brasilia, Brazil, by invading the Supreme Court, National Congress, and the Planalto Palace on Sunday, 8 Jan 2023. Mounted police and helicopters helped safeguard democracy. (Photo: Mateus Bonomi/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Meanwhile to the north, Bolsonaro’s American junior doppelganger received a concomitant bit of comeuppance. Reactionary Trump acolyte Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) rashly resigned his congressional seat after President-elect Donald Trump nominated him to be his Attorney-General. His annual salary was approximately $174,000. Matt Gaetz, previously arrested on DUI charges in 2008 which his father allegedly influenced the case in his favor, was embroiled in a congressional Ethics Committee investigation and was confident his sins would remain secret from the American public. Joel Greenberg, an accomplice of Matt Gaetz, was already and convicted and sentenced to 11 years for sex trafficking of a minor and a litany of other crimes.

Official Press Release from Ethics Committee (18 June 2024):

“On April 9, 2021, the Committee announced it had initiated a review into allegations that Representative Matt Gaetz may have engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift, in violation of House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct”.

For years, Republicans successfully prevented the release of the damaging investigation findings of Congressman Gaetz’s alleged peccadillos and acts of moral turpitude. When a reporter from CNN asked Gaetz about reports of a second sexual encounter with a 17-year-old girl, six minutes later Gaetz withdrew his nomination to be President-elect Donald Trump’s next attorney general.

Both right-wing disgraced doppelgangers Jair Bolsonaro and MAGA militant Matt Gaetz are considered innocent of all charges and accusations until both defendants are proven guilty in their respective courts of law.  

“The moral arc of the university is long, but it bends towards justice.”

Sources:


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/21/jair-bolsonaro-charged-coup-plot

The rise and fall of Matt Gaetz in eight wild days

Friend of Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz sentenced to 11 years in prison in sex trafficking case

Cat Rescued After Five Days Stuck Up Tree

Terrorists Kill Five, Wound 22 at Turkish Aerospace Company Near Ankara

At least five people have been killed and 22 others wounded in an attack on the headquarters of Turkiye’s aerospace and defence company, Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAS), near the capital Ankara.

“Two terrorists were neutralised” in the incident at the headquarters of the state-run firm, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya posted on X.

“Sadly, we have 5 martyrs and 22 wounded in the attack. Three of the injured were already discharged from hospital, 19 of them under treatment,” he said.

In orderly fashion, ambulances line up at the entrance of the headquarters of Turkey’s aviation company, TUSAS [Photo: Reuters]

Footage from the scene broadcast by local media just after the attack, which took place at 3:30PM local time (12:30 GMT), showed huge clouds of smoke and a large fire raging at the site in Kahramankazan, a small town some 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Ankara.

Security camera images from the attacks showed a man in plainclothes carrying a backpack and holding an assault rifle. The images also appeared to show a woman carrying a weapon.

15,000 people work at the TUSAS campus in Kahramankazan.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but the justice minister said an investigation had been opened and said it was “probably linked” to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged a decades-long rebellion against the government.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was holding talks in Russia with Vladimir Putin at the time of the attack, condemned what he said was a “heinous terrorist attack”. Putin offered Erdogan his “condolences in connection with the terror attack” at the start of their meeting in the Russian city of Kazan on the sidelines of the BRICS summit of major emerging market nations that groups Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

Earlier this week, the leader of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which belongs to Erdogan’s ruling coalition, invited jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan to address parliament to announce his movement’s dissolution.

Turkish opposition leader Ozgur Ozel of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) released a statement condemning the attack and saying he “condemns terrorism, no matter who or where it comes from”.

The main pro-Kurdish DEM party also condemned the attack, saying it was “noteworthy that the attack took place just as Turkish society was talking about a solution and the possibility of dialogue” with the PKK.

The attack occurred as a major trade fair for the defence and aerospace industries was taking place in Istanbul, which was visited this week by Ukraine’s top diplomat.

Turkey’s defense sector, which is widely known for its Bayraktar drones, accounts for nearly 80 percent of the nation’s export revenues with revenues expected to top $10.2bn in 2023. Ukraine is a main recipient of these drones. TUSAS is one of those important defense and aviation companies, producing KAAN, the country’s first national combat aircraft, among other projects.

The TAI Kaan is a stealth, twin-engine, all-weather air superiority fighter, pictured here on its inaugural flight on 21 Feb 2014 (Photo: AA)

In response to this attack, Turkey’s Air Force struck Kurdish targets in Iraq and Syria in apparent retaliation. The Ministry of National Defence reported 47 targets were “destroyed” in the aerial offensive without providing details on the locations that were hit, adding that “all kinds of precautions” were taken to prevent civilian harm.

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said that Turkish air attacks in northern and eastern Syria killed 12 civilians, including two children, and wounded 25 people.

There was no immediate statement from the PKK and no group has claimed responsibility for the attack on TUSAS.

Unclear is whether this was a suicide attack on TUSAS or if the terrorists had an escape plan. This murderous attack was well-prepared and timed to both embarrass Turkish President Erdogan while he is visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin and as PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan was invited to address the Turkish Parliament to establish a dialogue between Ankara and the Kurdish minority. These homicidal maniacs accomplished little other than killing unarmed civilians and causing irreparable emotional harm to the families of the victims. But the attack may help maintain a wedge between Ankara and its Kurdish minority if these perpetrators were indeed linked with the PKK.

Sources:

At least five killed in attack on aerospace firm near Turkey’s Ankara | News | Al Jazeera

Turkey strikes Iraq, Syria after attack on defence company near Ankara | Military News | Al Jazeera

Ukraine’s Prosecutor-General Resigns Amid Draft-Dodging Scandal

Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Andriy Kostin (Undated image: RadioSvoboda.org / RFE/RL).

Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Andriy Kostin has resigned amid investigations that found dozens of government officials had dodged military service by claiming disability benefits.

Kostin announced his resignation on 22 Oct on Telegram after a meeting of Ukraine’s National Security Council attended by President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said Kostin “should take political responsibility” for corruption and loopholes being used to get draft deferrals.

“The problem is not just that officials use their connections to get disabled status. It is also the fact that people who are really disabled, especially in combat, often do not get the appropriate status and fair payment,” Zelensky said.

Earlier this month, investigators found that a number of public prosecutors in the western Khmelnytskiy region had falsely obtained disability permits and were receiving special benefits. Investigations into the issue are ongoing in other parts of Ukraine.

Kostin’s resignation still needs parliamentary approval, but that is expected to move through the legislature with little resistance, as Zelensky’s party holds a majority of the seats.

“I consider the position of President Zelensky to be absolutely correct…. I [also] think it is correct to announce my resignation as prosecutor-general,” Kostin said.

Soon after Kostin’s resignation, Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal announced the dismissal of several other senior officials, the management of the central commission overseeing fitness for service, and officials in the Health Ministry who coordinate the activities of local commissions.

In a sign of the precarious situation Ukraine faces as it tries to hold off Russia’s massive troop advantage, military recruiters in recent weeks have shown up at conspicuous events like concerts and weddings looking for men who had not registered for service under a long-debated and highly controversial military mobilization law that was adopted last spring.

Mobilization is a sensitive issue in Ukraine, whose troop numbers have been depleted after more than 2 1/2 years of fighting Russia’s invasion. In this video, a military-age male in Ukraine is dragged off the street.

Zelensky has acknowledged several times the “very, very difficult” situation the military is facing, while he also tries to keep the country unified during the war, which has had drastically differing impacts on various population groups, with its burden falling most heavily on Ukrainians from the south and east of the country.

Highlighting the growing unrest over the issue of mobilization, protesters in August tried to force their way into a military recruitment center in Ukraine to demand the release of four young men who they claimed were illegally detained amid the country’s increased mobilization efforts. Days earlier, Zelensky endorsed bills extending martial law and a general military mobilization for 90 days, the 11th time he had done so since Russia invaded.

Press ganging is not a new phenomenon. 1780 caricature of a press gang by an unknown artist courtesy of Wikimedia.org.

President Zelensky is doing the best he can leading Ukraine in its defense against Russia, but he cannot magically increase his population pool to match Russia’s, which is also facing manpower shortages. Zelensky and Putin are not alone when it comes to conscription problems. 50,000 to 125,000 young Americans fled to Canada to avoid being drafted for Vietnam. During the First World War, while 24 million American men registered for the draft, as many as 3.5 million failed to do so, thereby successfully evading induction.

Notably, two American icons avoided getting killed in war. Heavyweight boxing contender Jack Dempsey was somehow exempt from fighting the Kaiser in the First World War. He would become heavyweight champion after the war ended. Physically fit 1-A John Wayne was somehow not mustered into service during the Second World War, although he reportedly tried to enlist at age 34. The “Duke” would win an Oscar in 1969 for his portrayal of Rooster Cogburn in True Grit.

Heavyweight champion Jess Willard (L) suspected that draft-dodging Jack Dempsey (R) wore “loaded gloves” when he lost the title to him on 4 July 1919. Dempsey floored Willard seven times in the first round. Dempsey would go on win the bout to became heavyweight champion. Jack Dempsey and Babe Ruth became popular athletic celebrities in the “Roaring 20s.” (Image: boxrec.com)

Like a sky-pilot who never goes into battle himself, handsome rigged John Wayne inspired and motivated thousands of patriotic Americans to fight and die in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. John Wayne toured US military bases with the USO in the Pacific Theater of Operations, but he completely evaded military service. Above is a four-for-one sale of those inspirational movies.

Sources:

Ukraine’s Prosecutor-General Resigns Amid Draft-Dodging Scandal (rferl.org)

Amid Corruption Scandals And Mounting Problems, Ukraine Vows To Shake Up The Military Enlistment System. It’s A Tough Task. (rferl.org)

Men Dragged Off The Street As Ukraine Tries To Tackle Manpower Crisis At The Front (rferl.org)

Draft Resistance and Evasion | Encyclopedia.com

Why John Wayne Was Labeled a ‘Draft Dodger’ During World War II | Military.com

GLOVES LOADED? DEMPSEY SAYS NO; Willard Supports Charges Made by Kearns – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

America’s First Line of Defense, the FBI, has been busy with Donald Trump’s “useful idiots,” white supremacist nitwits. Two cases follow.

NY Proud Boy Found Guilty of Felony and Misdemeanor Charges for Actions During 6 Jan 2021 Attack on US Capitol

William Joseph Pepe is on the right. Note this maniac was carrying a walkie-talkie on 6 Jan. (Photo: FBI)

William Joseph Pepe (35), of White Plains, NY was found guilty of felony and misdemeanor charges related to his egregious conduct during the 6 Jan 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

Aware that USDJ Timothy J. Kelly is a Republican and Donald Trump appointee, Pepe (probably upon advice of defense counsel) opted for a bench trial. He was convicted nevertheless and will be sentenced on 11 Mar 2025.

On 6 Jan 2021, Pepe met an army of approximately one hundred Proud Boys members in Washington, DC near the Washington Monument at approximately 10:00 AM. Shortly after, the rabble marched toward the US Capitol building with Pepe as vanguard against police lines. At the Peace Circle, the mob violently disassembled and trampled the metal bike rack barriers blocking entry into Capitol grounds.

After the police retreated and reformed, Pepe encouraged the rioters, yelling into a camera “Let’s go! This is what we came for, yeah!”

Officers deployed pepper spray and other crowd control measures. Pepe posted a selfie-style video in which he declared:

“Yo, the cops pepper sprayed me and Hooks. Me and Hooks got f—ing maced. Storming that Capitol, baby!”

Pepe made his way into the Capitol through the Senate Wing Door where he recorded and sent a video to fellow Proud Boys, stating “We did it.” (Photo: FBI)

The FBI arrested Pepe on 22 Jan 2021, in White Plains, NY.

With this felony conviction, this 35-year-old Proud Boy threw his life and career away with the MTA in NY.


Former NJ Governor Chris Christie doppleganger Republican USDJ Timothy J. Kelly will sentence his fellow Republican on 11 Mar 2025. (Public domain image courtesy of Wikimedia.org)

Sources:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/new-york-proud-boy-found-guilty-felony-and-misdemeanor-charges-actions-during-jan-6

https://www.yahoo.com/news/did-ex-mta-worker-convicted-203836477.html

Texas Couple Sentenced to Prison for Assaulting Law Enforcement and Other Charges During 6 Jan 2021 Attack on US Capitol

Mark Middleton (55) and Jalise Middleton (54). Note how joyful they look on 6 Jan 2021. (Photo: FBI)

Mark Middleton (55) and Jalise Middleton (54) both of Forestburg, TX were sentenced to 30 and 20 months in prison, respectively, by the Honorable USDJ Randolph D. Moss for their heinous and violent conduct on 6 Jan 2021.

Mark Middleton was additionally sentenced to 36 months’ supervised release, and a $2,000 fine. Jalise Middleton was additionally sentenced to 30 months’ supervised release, and a $2,000 fine.

After the “Stop the Steal” rally, Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers responded to the West Front of the US Capitol building to assist USCP officers against an army of amassed rioters.

Mark Middleton called the officers “traitors” and then pushed against the barricades and the police line. Officers are heard on body-worn camera footage repeatedly ordering Mark Middleton and others to “Get back!” In response, Mark Middleton is heard yelling “f— you!” as he continued to push against the police barricades. Mark Middleton resisted MPD officers, grabbed onto an MPD officer’s left arm, and pulled the officer forward over the barricades and towards the mob.

Jalise Middleton repeatedly grabbed and struck the same officer over the barricade with her hand, striking him in the face, chest, and arms. Another officer stepped in to assist, and Jalise Middleton struck that officer as well. Mark Middleton then used his flagpole to strike the second officer in the head. This lunatic couple continued to grapple with and strike at the officers. The Middletons attempted to pull the first officer into the mob, as rioters jabbed, slashed, and swung flag poles at officers. The injuries sustained by those police officers were not revealed in this press release.

(Photo: FBI)

The Middletons only broke off their vicious assault after they were sprayed in the face with chemical irritants, forcing them to retreat. Both miscreants later posted social media messages touting their key role in helping to breach the barricades by fighting officers and that they had only stopped because they were pepper sprayed.

Mark and Jalise Middleton were arrested on 21 Apr 2021 in Forestburg, TX.

Mark and Jalise Middleton. This middle-aged couple do not appear as happy in these mugshots from Collin County Texas Jail as they do in the photo of them on 6 Jan at the top.

In the 45 months since 6 Jan 2021, more than 1,532 suspects have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to attacking the US Capitol, including more than 571 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.

Middle age is not a good time to get jammed up by the federal system. These two white supremacist imbeciles threw their lives away with these felony convictions and incarcerations, heeding the idiotic call of Donald Trump. The Lone Star State hosts 17 federal correctional facilities (FCIs) of varying security levels. Two of these prisons will be the Middleton home for the next few years.

Sources:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/texas-couple-sentenced-prison-assaulting-law-enforcement-and-other-charges-during-jan-6

First Presumed Human Infections of Avian Flu Under Investigation in Washington State

(Map: beautifulwashington.com)

Four agricultural workers tested presumptively positive for avian influenza after working with infected poultry at a commercial egg farm in Franklin County. The individuals experienced mild symptoms and have been provided with antiviral medication. Testing of additional individuals on the farm is currently pending and the number of cases under investigation may change.

(Image courtesy: hightoppoultry.com)

These are the first presumed human cases of H5 virus under investigation in Washington state. The cases took place at a farm that was the site of an avian influenza outbreak in chickens. About 800,000 birds were euthanized after test results by the Washington State Department of Agriculture on 15 Oct showed that they were infected with avian influenza.

Any employees or contractors who may have worked on a poultry farm in Benton or Franklin counties since 7 Oct should contact BFHD at 509-460-4550 if they have symptoms such as red eyes or respiratory infections.

Washington is the sixth state to identify a human infection of H5N1. H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has caused ongoing multistate outbreaks in poultry, dairy cattle, and wildlife.

Avian influenza is a disease caused by avian influenza Type A viruses that naturally occur in wild aquatic birds throughout the world. H5N1 viruses can also infect other species of birds, and occasionally mammals, and can cause significant mortality in poultry species, such as chickens, turkeys, pheasants, quail, ducks, geese, or guinea fowl.

On rare occasions, avian influenza viruses infect people and make them sick. Most instances of people becoming infected with avian influenza have happened after prolonged, close contact with animals infected with avian influenza or environments contaminated with avian influenza.

The CDC currently considers the risk to the general public from this H5N1 avian influenza to be low; however, people with job-related or recreational exposures to infected birds, cattle, or other potentially impacted domestic or wild animals are at higher risk and should take precautions, including wearing personal protective equipment.

DOH reminds the community to never handle or allow pets near dead birds. For more information on safety precautions, visit https://doh.wa.gov/avian-influenza.

Sources:

First presumed human infections of avian influenza under investigation in Washington state | Washington State Department of Health

Bird Flu | Bird Flu | CDC

Gang Members Drown Off Haitian Coast While Re-Supplying Ammunition for Attack

(Map courtesy of https://www.viamichelin.fr)

Approximately 50 suspected gang members have died this week after attacking a coastal town in Haiti, including at least a dozen who drowned after their boat capsized.

While the majority were killed by police, a group of gunmen drowned after their boat hit the reef as they ferried ammunition to gangs attacking the town of Arcahaie, reported Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency.

The attack began on Monday with gunmen burning homes and cars in the town located just northwest of the capital of Port-au-Prince. When the gangs ran out of ammunition, they hid in nearby areas and were ferreted out by residents and police.

The attack is still ongoing and the Civil Protection Agency warned that officers on the scene urgently need reinforcements from soldiers and special police units.

The attack is blamed on a gang coalition called Viv Ansanm, which also has targeted communities in Port-au-Prince recently.

Undated photo of Viv Ansanm gang members. Note the “leader” in the center is unmasked.

The spike in gang violence comes just months after a UN-backed mission led by Kenyan police began with the aim of quelling a surge in violence from gangs, who control more than 80% of Port-au-Prince. More than 700,000 people have been left homeless, thousands have been killed, and the country’s main airport was forced to close for nearly three months earlier this year because of the violence.

The US government and top Haitian officials have warned that the Kenyan-led mission lacks personnel and funding and have asked that it be replaced with a UN-peacekeeping mission.

Haiti, a failed state, is the Somalia of the Caribbean. Violence, rape, murder, and chaos have been plaguing the Haitian people for years now. Malnutrition and cholera are also spreading amongst the population. If Haitians aren’t being murdered by gang members, they are drowning in boats trying to escape. Haiti’s neighbor, the Dominican Republic, has been cracking down on Haitian refugees who made it to safety across the border. This failed state needs a massive military intervention and financial assistance beyond a small but robust police contingency. But with US attention and resources focused on helping Ukraine and Israel, other nations must fill the void.

Haitians wait to cross the border into the Dominican Republic in Dajabon, Dominican Republic, Friday, 19 Nov 2021. Santo Domingo “profusely rejected” the denunciation of its migratory crackdowns on Haitian migrants by a growing number of countries and human rights agencies. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)

Sources:

At least a dozen gang members drown near Haiti while ferrying ammunition: Official – ABC News (go.com)

“VIV ANSANM” amplifies the misery of the poorest in Haiti (vantbefinfo.com)

Deadly Violence in Haiti at Record High, Some Worst Scenarios Now Realities, Special Representative Tells Security Council, Urging Deployment of Support Mission | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases

Haiti’s health system pushed to breaking point: UNICEF | UN News

Dominican Republic rejects criticism of Haitian deportations | AP News

Five countries pledge personnel for Haiti security mission, UN says | Reuters

Australia: Pet Owners Warned About Tick Boom on East Coast After Last Year’s Hot, Wet Summer

Note the red area on the east coast is where lies the threat of the paralysis tick. (Illustration courtesy of the Karl McManus Foundation.)

Global warming has not only been a boon to mosquitos, but also to disease vector ticks. Pet owners in Australia have been warned about a tick boom unfolding along their east coast, with some experts predicting an unusually bad season for our furry friends.

Veterinary scientist and parasitologist Peter Irwin, an emeritus professor at Murdoch University, said the severity of a tick season was largely determined by the preceding weather, and last summer had been very hot and wet along the east coast”.

“That implies the tick season this year will be bad, and indeed it seems to be panning out that way,” he said.

Paralysis ticks – found along a narrow strip of coastline stretching from north Queensland to Lakes Entrance in Victoria – were responsible for 95% of tick bites in humans, and were potentially lethal to cats, dogs, and other animals.

Factors influencing tick seasons were complex. Temperature and humidity played a key role, as well as the abundance of host animals like kangaroos and bandicoots. “You also have human factors as well – how often are people moving in and out of tick habitat?” he said.

If people or their pets were bitten, it was important to remain calm and not to try to pull the tick off. “You should always freeze it, not squeeze it” using tick-freezing spray from a pharmacist.

On a recent trip to Culburra Beach on the south coast of NSW, Eleanor removed 39 live ticks from her four-year-old Finnish lapphund, Beans.

Beans, a Finnish lapphund, had no fewer than 39 ticks removed while on a holiday at Culburra Beach on the New South Wales coast, her owner said. (Photo: The Guardian)

She was aware it was tick season but “had no idea it would be like this”, she said. Beans was “crawling with parasites”.

“The number of ticks we found on her was nightmarish,” she said. “We spent every evening when the kids went to bed pulling ticks out of her fur.”

Irwin said adult paralysis ticks, mainly active between August and December, were a serious concern for pet owners and veterinarians.

Australian paralysis tick (Ixodes holocyclus). Photo: Peter Rowland

“Cats and dogs, untreated, will die of tick paralysis. Even treating them is not always successful,” he said. Luckily the disease was largely preventable, with effective collars, tablets, and treatments.

Prof Ala Tabor, an animal health specialist with the Queensland alliance for agriculture and food innovation at the University of Queensland, said the larger an animal was the more likely it would be able to survive paralysis tick toxins.

This season the university lost a cow to paralysis ticks, Tabor said.

Tabor was developing a paralysis tick vaccine for cats and dogs that was being licensed to an Australian company.

Once a vaccine was available, an annual dose would probably be cheaper and easier for pet owners and could provide a solution for animals that had adverse reactions to chemicals in common treatments.

Sources:

Dog owners warned about boom in ticks on Australia’s east coast after last year’s hot, wet summer | Environment | The Guardian

Fact File: Australian paralysis tick (Ixodes holocyclus) – Australian Geographic

Who We Are – Karl McManus Foundation

Tick Check | NexGard® Range

Japan Scrambles Jets to Intercept Chinese Bomber and Spy Plane

ADIZ over Japan (blue), South Korea (green), China (pink), and Taiwan/ROC (Orange). (Map: Wikimedia)

Japan recently scrambled fighter jets as China sent a bomber and a spy plane over waters near the Japanese southwestern islands for a long-distance mission from the Chinese mainland.

The Joint Staff Office (JSO) under the Defense Ministry of Japan reported the Chinese military aircraft’s movement within its air defense identification zone. The H-6 bomber and the Y-9 spy plane were spotted flying from mainland China and heading into the Miyako Strait. 

Japan, the US, Taiwan, and South Korea have set up air defense identification zones (ADIZ) around the countries in the interest of national security. The zone begins where sovereign airspace ends and is within the international airspace.

The Miyako Strait lies between the Japanese islands of Miyako and Okinawa, part of the so-called first island chain. This US defense concept extends from Japan to Taiwan and the Philippines to the south, attempting to contain China in the Western Pacific Ocean.

According to a Chinese military observer, the bomber was a H-6J, which the Pentagon described as a maritime strike bomber and a naval variant of the H-6K operated by the Chinese air force.

In this photo provided by the Defense Ministry of Japan, a Chinese H-6 bomber transits the Miyako Strait on 20 Oct inside the Japanese ADIZ.

The new and larger advanced H-6J has six pylons for carrying weapons instead of four, capable of firing supersonic antiship cruise missiles. The bomber is equipped with advanced avionics and upgraded engines, the Pentagon said in a report released in October last year.

Long-range bombers are part of the Chinese military’s anti-access/area denial capabilities. These aim to prevent the American military forces—especially the navy and its aircraft carriers—from approaching the first island chain during a potential conflict with Taiwan.

China held a large-scale military exercise around Taiwan last week, a self-ruled island that has been viewed by Beijing as part of its territory. During the exercise, Chinese warships and combat aircraft have engaged in drills focusing on blockades on key ports and areas.

This was not the first time the Chinese sent the same types of bombers and spy planes over waters near the southwestern islands of Japan, where they had conducted a similar mission on 12 Mar.

Chinese Y-9 spy plane transits the Miyako Strait on 20 Oct. (Photo: JSO)

Japan’s Joint Staff Office on Thursday reported that from 1 Apr to 30 Sep, its air force scrambled fighter jets 358 times in response to foreign military aircraft approaching the country, showing a decrease from the same period last year, which occurred 424 times.

Among the Japanese scrambles, 241 of them were against the Chinese military aircraft, which is fewer than last year’s 304 times. However, the number of scrambles against the Russian military aircraft was 115 times, which is an increase from last year’s 110 times.

On 12 Sep, a pair of Russian Tu-142 maritime reconnaissance and antisubmarine warfare aircraft flew on an anticlockwise flight around Japan.

This week the World Uyghur Congress is taking place in Sarajevo, Bosnia, and the BRICS summit convened in Kazan, Russia. China is flexing its growing muscles while probing and testing the new Japanese Prime Minister. Japan should expect more of these near-intrusions from China as Beijing has eyes on maritime waters, economic fisheries, that they claim is theirs.  Last year, Chinese and Russian aircraft violated the South Korean ADIZ, forcing the ROK AF to scramble. Seoul could expect more near-intrusions now that they have warned Moscow that using North Korean troops might lead to massive weapons transfers to Ukraine.

Source:

US Ally Scrambles Jets To Intercept Chinese Bomber and Spy Plane – Newsweek

Chinese, Russian military aircraft enter KADIZ, South Korea scrambles fighter jets (joins.com)

Family on Road Trip Hear Cry for Help — Then Realize it’s Coming from Engine

The “cat distribution system” works in mysterious ways. On a road trip, the Wolford family reached its destination and heard a strange cry coming from within the car. They quickly exited the vehicle and popped the hood. To their sheer astonishment, a pair of wide, innocent eyes and a tiny, fluffy face met their gaze from underneath the engine.

Wedged snugly in the engine of their car was a tiny kitten. It appeared as though this little feline friend had been their silent passenger for the entire duration of their journey. The Wolford family couldn’t believe their eyes.

Mary Wolford recounted the moment, saying, “Everyone was shocked that he was alive. He rode probably 20 or 30 miles in there.”

With great care and gentleness, they managed to free the kitten from their car, yet their relief was short-lived. As soon as he was in their arms, he executed a daring escape, leaping out and darting away.

The kitten, who they named Racoon, hid another car, but was safely extracted and cleaned up.

Eventually, the family dogs, including a large Great Dane, welcomed Racoon into their midst.

Raccoon’s journey had taken a remarkable turn. When he had initially climbed into this caring family’s car engine, he was in search of a temporary refuge. Little did he know that he was about to find a loving forever home.

Source:

Family on a Road Trip Hear Cry For Help — Then Realize it’s Coming From the Engine – We Love Cats and Kittens

Lebanon: Free-Fire Zone for Right-Wing Likud Party and IDF; 13 Killed, 57 Wounded in Latest Attack

At least 13 people were killed and 57 wounded in an IDF strike near Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut, just as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Tel Aviv for the 11th time to uselessly meet with indicted war criminal Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. The death toll could be higher.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his ruling Likud party have turned Lebanon into a free-fire zone in their attempts at liquidating members of Lebanese Hezbollah. This blood-thirsty cabal has no regard for collateral damage whatsoever. The latest strike hit the Al Janah district of the capital where the main government-run Rafik Hariri University Hospital is located, Lebanon‘s Ministry of Public Health said in an update on X citing its Public Health Emergency Operations Center.

At least 13 people were killed and 57 wounded in this IDF strike near Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut. (Photo: Wael Hamzeh EPA/EFE)

Rescue teams were continuing to comb through the rubble Tuesday morning in the hope of finding survivors from at least three destroyed medium-rise buildings as well as other buildings badly damaged in the strike in the neighborhood, one of Bierut’s poorest.

However, a second hospital was evacuated after the IDF alleged it housed a secret underground bunker used by Hezbollah to store cash, sparking panic that an airstrike could be imminent.

The Israeli army also hit the coastal city of Tyre with ten rounds of strikes after calling on residents of the al-Hawsh neighborhood to evacuate.

Hezbollah counter-attacked against Israeli territory firing around 80 “projectiles” across the border, causing no injuries or damage, only tripping loud air-raid sirens.

Lebanese Hezbollah confirmed that it was responsible for a failed attempt over the weekend to attack Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu‘s private residence in Caesarea with three explosive drones.

The announcement at a press briefing in Beirut came as Netanyahu sat down for talks with Blinken with Netanyahu’s office posting a photo on social media of the pair in the Israeli leader’s office in Jerusalem.

Blinken will earnestly try to kickstart negotiations for a cease-fire in Gaza to release the remaining hostages and pressure Israel to improve humanitarian aid access in Gaza after threatening to halt weapons shipments over the issue.

The State Department said in a statement that during his four-day trip, which will also take in other capitals in the region, Blinken would also be discussing the need to “reach a diplomatic resolution to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that fully implements UN Security Council Resolution 1701” and allowed civilians on both sides of the Blue Line to return to their homes.

“The Secretary will reaffirm the US commitment to work with partners across the region to de-escalate tensions and provide lasting stability,” the department said.

Since Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, 1.2 million people have been displaced, 2,412 people killed (including 127 children), and 11,267 people wounded. The next generation of anti-Israelis and antisemites have been well-incubated by the Likudniks.

Remarkably, Israel apologized for killing three Lebanese Army soldiers last weekend. The Lebanese Army is not a party to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. The multi-faith manned Lebanese Army does not support Israel’s invasion of its country and refers to them as the “enemy.” Lebanon’s army receives US military and financial assistance (for example, in 2021 the US provided $236 million. This is a mere drop in the bucket relative to what Israel has received since 1950. See State Dept info on US aid to Lebanon below).

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, one of the most competent members of the Biden Administration and a man with a reputation for intellect and decency, must be holding his nose every time he meets with the odious Prime Minister of Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu has been indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the State of Israel has been cited for war crimes at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), both august bodies located near each other at the Hague.

This man is patiently waiting for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant. He is Karim Khan KC, the Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague. Americans should be familiar with the ICC. Special Counsel Jack Smith completed his assignment at the ICC prosecuting war criminals before returning to the US to prosecute Donald Trump for his alleged crimes against the American people. (Photo: Office of the Prosecutor via BBC).

Sources:

At least 13 killed, 57 injured in Israeli airstrike near Beirut hospital as Blinken arrives in Israel – UPI.com

UN world court calls for prevention of genocidal acts in Gaza | UN News

Israel Apologizes After Strike Kills 3 Lebanese Soldiers – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

U.S. Security Cooperation With Lebanon – United States Department of State

Ukraine Military Intelligence: Russian Pilot Involved in Deadly Kremenchuk Strike ‘Eliminated’

The late Russian Air Force Colonel Dmitry Golenkov was an unindicted war criminal.

Ukraine’s Military Intelligence (HUR) announced on 21 Oct the “elimination” of Russian military pilot Dmitry Golenkov, a chief of staff in Russia’s 52nd heavy bomber aviation regiment who was involved in a deadly missile attack on a shopping center in Ukraine’s Kremenchuk in June 2022. The attack, carried out using Tu-22M3 bombers, resulted in 22 deaths and dozens of injuries among the nearly 1,000 civilians present at the Amstor shopping center at the time.

Rescuers working sift through rubble at the Amstor shopping center in Kremenchuk after it was hit by a Russian missile strike on 27 Jun 2022. Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine / AFP

HUR also linked Golenkov to the January 2023 missile attack on a residential building in the city of Dnipro, which killed 46 people, including six children. The intelligence agency reported that Golenkov’s body was found with head injuries, possibly inflicted with a hammer, emphasizing “fair retribution for every war crime.” Russia had claimed the June 2022 attack targeted military storage facilities near Kremenchuk, not the civilian center. 

Ukraine’s espionage capabilities are constantly improving. Rather than attempt an abduction and bring this killer to face justice in a war crimes trial in Kiev, Colonel Golenkov was rendered ineffective on Russian soil and his unknown assailants have disappeared.

Source:

Kyiv Says Russian Pilot Involved In Deadly Kremenchuk Strike ‘Eliminated’ (rferl.org)

Food Safety Alert: McDonald’s Quarter Pounder Hamburgers

McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers are making people sick, with most illnesses in Colorado and Nebraska. At least 49 illnesses have been reported across ten states, including one death of an older person. Ten people have been hospitalized, including a child who had hemolytic uremic syndrome, a serious complication that can develop from an E. coli infection.

CDC, FDA, USDA FSIS, and public health officials in multiple states are investigating an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections. Most people in this outbreak are reporting eating the Quarter Pounder hamburger at McDonald’s before becoming sick. It is not yet known which specific food ingredient is contaminated.

McDonald’s is collaborating with investigation partners to determine what food ingredient in Quarter Pounders is making people sick. McDonald’s stopped using fresh slivered onions and quarter pound beef patties in several states while the investigation is ongoing to identify the ingredient causing illness.

McDonald’s recently opened a lawsuit against US beef suppliers for price-fixing and GOP hopeful Donald Trump completed a photo-op at a McDonald’s restaurant in Pennsylvania which was ridiculed at many levels. As a Republican strategist once said, “everything Trump touches, dies.”

Sources:

E. coli Outbreak Linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders | E. coli infection | CDC

McDonald’s sues major beef producers in US price-fixing lawsuit | Reuters

South Korea May Send Weapons to Ukraine to Counter North Korea’s Troop Deployments

South Korea is a top-ten weapons producer in the world. Pictured above is the K239 Chunmoo, a multiple launch rocket system (MLRS). (Photo: Hanwha Defense / Armaments Agency)

South Korea could send weapons to Ukraine as part of “phased measures” it vowed to take against North Korea and Russia over their deepening military cooperation, a senior presidential official said.

The comment came after South Korea’s deputy national security adviser Kim Tae-hyo told a news conference that the South Korean government demanded that Pyongyang immediately withdraw troops it sent to Russia to help in the war with Ukraine.

“If the illegal military cooperation between North Korea and Russia continues, [we] will not stand by but respond firmly in collaboration with the international community,” Kim said, warning of “phased measures” in response to the level of their military ties.

A senior presidential official told reporters that the measures could include sending weapons for defense and attack, but the official did not elaborate. 

South Korea’s spy agency said last week that the North had decided to send about 12,000 troops to help Russia with its war in Ukraine, and had already dispatched 1,500 soldiers to Vladivostok for training.

18 of them have already deserted their posts in Russia. (Photo: ukranews.com)

North Korea has denied the report, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed speculation of North Korean troops going to Ukraine as “fake news.”

South Korea has a long-standing policy of not supplying weapons to countries fighting wars and has maintained that stance with Ukraine, sending only humanitarian aid.

The official’s remarks came in response to the Ukrainian envoy’s comment that the North was planning to soon send “large-scale” regular troops to help Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine.

Russia said it would continue to strengthen ties with North Korea, while declining to confirm South Korea’s report. The US said it could not confirm the report, while North Korea’s state-run media outlets had remained silent at time of publication.

North Korea and Russia have moved closer over the past year or more amid widespread suspicion that North Korea has supplied conventional weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine in return for military and economic assistance. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly submitted a bill to the lower house of parliament on Monday to ratify a treaty to raise its relationship with North Korea to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. The change was agreed by Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on 19 Jun in Pyongyang after summit talks during the Russian president’s state visit.   

The new partnership includes a mutual defense assistance clause that would apply in the case of “aggression” against one of the signatories.

Both raging wars in the Middle East and Ukraine are escalating and Vladimir Putin miscalculated the South Korean response. His attempt at disguising the North Koreans as Siberian Buryats was seen through and the Ukrainians could benefit greatly from the effective mass casualty-causing South Korean weapons. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is paralleling the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War, with allies sending arms and personnel in a massive testing ground and battlefield meat-grinder. The North Korean “volunteers” will become cannon-fodder in “meat attacks” when they encounter tired, but combat-hardened and experienced Ukrainian soldiers like the Amazon pictured below and the dense intelligence web targeting them.

Anastasia Blyshchyk said she was initially rebuffed when she volunteered to fight. “I heard, ‘You’re a woman, you need to make babies, go home.’” Photo: Emile Ducke for The New York Times

While the Biden Administration cannot persuade Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-Un, or the Iranian leadership to de-escalate, Pres. Biden can talk to his so-called “ally” to a achieve a ceasefire in the Middle East. And like Tehran, Moscow, and Pyongyang, the Likud regime is not cooperating with him either. And hands down the US is Israel’s greatest benefactor in the world. Prolonged hostilities defer Netanyahu’s bribery and corruption trial and enfeebles the Biden Administration. Democratic Party leaders are right to suspect that Netanyahu wants to continue hostilities in the Middle East, as well as a right-wing GOP victory this November. Right-wingers like Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are birds of the same feather, like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-Un.

Sources:

Seoul could send weapons to Ukraine to counter North Korea’s troop deployments — Radio Free Asia (rfa.org)

South Korea summons Russian envoy to urge it to stop North Korean Ukraine involvement

North Korea sending troops to aid Russia in Ukraine war: South’s spy agency

Russia forming North Korean battalion amid soldier shortage: reportOpinion | Ukrainian Women Fight for Their Own Liberation – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

American Warzone: Five Dead in Shooting at Home in Washington State; Teenager Arrested

Americans suffer wartime casualties every year because of the proliferation of firearms in the US. According to the CDC, in 2022 there were more than 48,000 firearm-related deaths in the US.

Law enforcement officials found five people killed in a shooting inside a home southeast of Seattle on Monday morning and took a teenager into custody.

Several people called 911 around 5AM to report a shooting in Fall City, WA.

(Google Maps)

Arriving deputies immediately took one teen into custody while another teenager who had been hurt was taken to a Seattle hospital. Both teens live at the house.

Deputies entering the home found the bodies of five people. Two were adults and three were described as young teenagers. No names have been released yet.

“Once bodies were discovered, clearly we understand that this is a hugely significant crime scene,” the King County Sheriff’s office said.

The shooting appears to involve members of a family, but authorities didn’t yet know how they were related. There was no ongoing threat to the community.

“I have no reason to think that there will be any additional arrests,” said the sheriff’s department.

The teen in custody was booked into King County’s juvenile detention facility and will be arraigned on Tuesday or Wednesday.

A neighbor told KING-TV that a couple and their five children lived in the home.

“I’m just in total shock, I keep bursting into tears,” Lynne Trowern, told the news outlet.

King County Councilmember Sarah Perry said the shooting involved a family of seven people.

Sheriff Patricia Cole-Tindall told KING-TV that she was “very sad, very disturbed” to learn about the shooting.

Guns are in the households of an estimated 42.1% of Washington state residents. In 2021, 165,534 firearms licenses were recorded in the state. In an average year, 887 people die and 1,245 are wounded by guns in Washington State. Gun violence costs Washington $1,559 per resident each year. Gun deaths and injuries cost Washington $11.9 billion each year, of which $171.7 million is paid by taxpayers.

Sources:

Teen in custody after 5 found dead in shooting at home in Washington state (voanews.com)

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

11. Washington – Gun map: Ownership by state – statistics and rates (cbsnews.com)

https://www.cdc.gov/firearm-violence/data-research/facts-stats/index.html

Leptospirosis Cases Rising in Philippines

Est. population 118,277,063; GDP per capita: $9,700 (2023 est.) Map and data: CIA

The Philippines continues to log more leptospirosis cases and deaths. From January to October, the Philippines Dept of Health recorded 5,835 cases, 16 per cent more than in the same period last year. Meanwhile, 509 deaths have been reported across the country.

“As we expect more rain to come, we must always be mindful of what to do especially if there is flooding. Avoid floodwaters as much as possible,” Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said. Leptospirosis is a bacterial infection commonly spread through water contaminated with animal urine.

Humans become infected through direct contact with the urine of infected animals or with a urine-contaminated environment. Cases of leptospirosis can increase after floods when people may have to wade through contaminated water.

Without treatment, leptospirosis in people can lead to kidney damage, meningitis (inflammation of the membrane around the brain and spinal cord), liver failure, trouble breathing, and even death.

About one million cases in people occur around the world each year, with nearly 60,000 deaths. Leptospirosis has been reported throughout the US. Leptospirosis is treated with antibiotics, such as doxycycline or penicillin.

Residents wade across a flooded street with their belongings in Sangli in Western Maharashtra, India. They are vulnerable to a host of water-borne diseases. (Undated photo: PTI)

Leptospirosis and other water-borne diseases such as cholera and dysentery will continue afflicting people in flood-prone areas. The ubiquitous mosquito will also thrive in these wetlands, becoming vectors for Zika, Chikungunya, Dengue, and Malaria. Mankind needs pesticides to combat these pests, but at the same time we see that some pesticide residues can contaminate water supplies, as we have seen in Martinique and France.

Sources:

https://assamtribune.com/health-and-fitness/leptospirosis-cases-continue-to-rise-in-the-philippines-1555127?infinitescroll=1

About Leptospirosis | Leptospirosis | CDC

View from Europe: Donald Trump’s Unpredictable Actions Fuel Concern for his Mental and Cognitive Health

Copyright John Bazemore/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved.

With a few weeks to go before the presidential election, European writer Andrew Naughtie summarized concerns about Donald Trump mental and cognitive health.  

“In recent weeks, Trump has been behaving particularly oddly, rambling and slurring his words in increasingly long-winded speeches and at one point remaining on the stage after an event to spend half an hour silently dancing to a mournful playlist.

One particularly strange appearance lately saw him deliver a five-minute-plus monologue about the late golfer Arnold Palmer, in the course of which he alluded to other linksmen’s astonishment at the size of Palmer’s genitalia.”

Mr Naughtie further writes:

“Trump’s campaign has also declined to release his medical records and pulled him out of numerous public events and interviews, fueling speculation that he is “exhausted” and that they are trying to limit opportunities for him to give a particularly poor performance.

Meanwhile, Kamala Harris’s campaign is leaning hard into the idea that Trump is unfit to be president not just because of his previous conduct but because he is not psychologically up to the task.”

“It is clear: Donald Trump is increasingly unstable and unhinged,” Vice-President Kamala Harris said at a recent campaign stop. “And he is seeking unchecked power.”

In the 2016 presidential campaign, Democratic candidate Senator Hilary Clinton said:

“I will leave it for psychiatrists to explain [Trump’s] affection for tyrants.”

Mr Naughtie writes there was a great debate in the American psychiatric and psychological establishment over whether or not it was ethical for clinicians to diagnose Donald Trump with a personality disorder from afar without examining him in person.

He wrote that this argument dates back to the 1964 election when more than 1,000 psychiatrists told a survey that, in their professional opinion, then-Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater was unfit for office. This is called a “duty to warn.”

Mr. Naughtie concludes:

“Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, frequently deride Harris as intellectually subnormal, with Trump going so far as to deride her as “crazy” and “nuts”. While this may play well with their voters, there is so far no sign of any serious discussion about the state of Harris’s mental health.

The vice president has also released her medical records, which show her to be in excellent physical health besides minor myopia and seasonal allergies — and despite all the speculation about his physical and mental exhaustion, there is so far no indication that Trump will be releasing his.”

Many Americans are dumb-founded that this election could be even this close between a convicted felon who was twice impeached as President and a former California Attorney-General, US Senator, and current VPOTUS. The only explanation is that whites, the bulk of the Republican Party, have no choice but to support Donald Trump, an avatar of white supremacy or “whiteness,” regardless of the catastrophic social and economic policies outlined in Project 2025 or his tremendous panoptic character flaws. Both Trump and Vance perpetrate lies about Haitian refugees eating pets or spread lies about Kamala Harris or Ken Walz as a distraction. Discussing the Christian Talibanization of America embodied in Project 2025 may turn off enough white female Republican voters in battleground states who have already lost reproductive rights thanks to the reactionary US Supreme Court.

Source:

Donald Trump’s unpredictable actions fuel concern for his mental and cognitive health | Euronews

Georgia Man Arrested for Assaulting Law Enforcement with Weapon and Other Charges During 6 Jan 2021 Assault on US Capitol

Cylester Maxwell at the Stop the Steal rally on 6 Jan 2021. (Photo: FBI)

Cylester Maxwell (42) of Alpharetta, GA was arrested by the FBI and charged in a criminal complaint filed in the District of Columbia with felony offenses of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon and civil disorder during the 6 Jan 2021 assault on the US Capitol.

Maxwell was identified in open-source video footage on 6 Jan 2021, in Washington, DC marching with a crowd of rioters away from the “Stop the Steal” rally at the Ellipse and toward the Capitol building. By approximately 1:35 PM Maxwell made it onto restricted Capitol grounds positioned near the front of the crowd confronting a police line on the West Plaza near the Media Tower erected in front of the Inaugural Stage.

Maxwell, together with other members of the mob, shoved an eight feet tall and ten feet wide sign into the line of police like a battering ram. Several seconds later, after the sign was pushed into the officers, Maxwell let go of it and grabbed and pulled a barricade away from the police line.  

(Photo: FBI)

Maxwell pulled another bike rack barricade away from the police and successfully broke through the West Plaza police line. He then remained on or near the West Plaza for some time as rioters flooded the Capitol’s Lower and Upper West Terraces.

In the 45 months since 6 Jan 2021, more than 1,532 suspects have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to attacking the US Capitol, including more than 571 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.

This brontosaurus heeded the call of idiotic call of Donald Trump, behaved violently at his behest, and now has thrown his life away listening to the ex-President, whose mental fitness is being questioned.

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

Sources:

District of Columbia | Georgia Man Arrested for Assaulting Law Enforcement with a Weapon and Other Charges During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach | United States Department of Justice

New Zealand Airport Sets Time Limit on Goodbyes and Hugs

The cuddle cap was imposed in Sep 2024 to “keep things moving smoothly” in the redesigned passenger drop-off area outside the airport, CEO Dan De Bono told the AP. It was the airport’s way of reminding people that the zone was for “quick farewells” only. (Photo: AP)

Emotional farewells are a common sight at airports, but travelers leaving the New Zealand city of Dunedin will have to be quick. A new three-minute time limit on goodbye hugs in the airport’s drop-off area is intended to prevent lingering cuddles from causing traffic jams.

“Max hug time three minutes,” warn signs outside the terminal, adding that those seeking “fonder farewells” should head to the airport’s parking lot instead.

(Map: ontheworldmap.com)

The signs had polarized social media users, De Bono said.

AP correspondent Charles de Ledesma reports on a ‘hug cap’ imposed at a New Zealand airport.

“We were accused of breaching basic human rights and how dare we limit how long someone can have a hug for,” he said, adding that others had welcomed the change.

The signs were meant as an alternative to those at other airports warning of wheel clamping or fines for drivers parked in drop-off areas. Some in Britain have imposed fees for all drop-offs — however brief.

Dunedin’s airport — a modest terminal serving a city of 135,000 people on New Zealand’s South Island — preferred a “quirky” approach, De Bono said.

Three minutes was “plenty of time to pull up, say farewell to your loved ones and move on,” he said. “The time limit is really a nicer way of saying, you know, get on with it.”

A 20-second hug is long enough to release the wellbeing-boosting hormones oxytocin and serotonin, De Bono said. Anything longer was “really awkward.”

But passengers need not worry unduly about enforcement. “We do not have hug police,” De Bono said.

Visitors might, however, be asked to move their lingering embraces to the parking lot, where they can cuddle free of charge for up to 15 minutes.

At age 57, Lynda Perry has become the oldest ‘new’ constable in the history of the Royal New Zealand Police College. Luckily, she won’t be enforcing any hug violations at the airport.

Source:

New Zealand airport wants you to hug goodbye faster | AP News