Quote:Colorado cannot disqualify former President Donald Trump from appearing on the 2024 ballot, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday.

In a historic ruling, the Supreme Court said only Congress can disqualify a candidate from the ballot using the Fourteenth Amendment’s “Insurrection Clause,” overturning a 4-3 opinion in December from the Colorado Supreme Court that the provision prohibits former President Donald Trump from appearing on the ballot for the presidency in 2024.

That ruling partially reversed a prior ruling in November that Trump is not an officer of the United States as defined by the Fourteenth Amendment and that the Amendment therefore cannot be used to disqualify him from appearing on the Colorado primary ballot.

This is the first time the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The court wrote:

Proposed by Congress in 1866 and ratified by the States in 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment expanded federal power at the expense of state autonomy and thus fundamentally altered the balance of state and federal power struck by the Constitution. […]

The court continued:

Section 3 works by imposing on certain individuals a preventive and severe penalty—disqualification from holding a wide array of offices—rather than by granting rights to all. It is therefore necessary, as Chief Justice Chase concluded and the Colorado Supreme Court itself recognized, to ‘ascertain what particular individuals are embraced’ by the provision. […]

Chase went on to explain that to accomplish this ascertainment and ensure effective results, proceedings, evidence, decisions, and enforcements of decisions, more or less formal, are indispensable. […]

The Constitution empowers Congress to prescribe how those determinations should be made. The relevant provision is Section 5, which enables Congress, subject of course to judicial review, to pass “appropriate legislation” to “enforce” the Fourteenth Amendment. […]

The court went on to note that Congress did so by passing the Enforcement Act of 1870.

Quote:Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows (D) withdrew her previous determination that former President Donald Trump should be prohibited from appearing on the ballot, doing so following the Supreme Court’s nine-to-zero decision, which determined that states do not possess the authority to ban a candidate from the ballot using the Fourteenth Amendment’s “Insurrection Clause.”

In December, Bellows determined that she believed Trump to be ineligible to appear on the state’s ballot based on Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Insurrection Clause. However, she said at the time that the decision would not be carried out until the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in.

“Specifically, I find that the declaration on his candidate consent form is false because he is not qualified to hold the office of the president under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment,” she wrote at the time. However, following the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling, she formally withdrew her determination.

“The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that individual states lack authority to enforce Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment with respect to federal offices,” she wrote, according to the Hill.

“Consistent with my oath and obligation to follow the law and the Constitution, and pursuant to the Anderson decision, I hereby withdraw my determination that Mr. Trump’s primary petition is invalid,” Bellows continued.

“As a result of the modified ruling, votes cast for Mr. Trump in the March 5, 2024, presidential primary election will be counted,” she added.

Quote:Michael Hart of San Diego was arrested under the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2020, which prohibits the importation of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) without proper permits from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

HFCs are potent greenhouse gases commonly found in refrigerators and air conditioners, building insulation, fire extinguishing systems, and aerosols. They can be hundreds to thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere, exacerbating the climate crisis.

According to the Department of Justice, Hart purchased refrigerants in Mexico and smuggled them into the United States in his vehicle, hidden under a tarp and tools.
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“The illegal smuggling of hydrofluorocarbons … undermines international efforts to combat climate change under the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol,” said David Uhlmann of the EPA, referring to an agreement the United States, along with most countries, has signed.

It calls to phase out the super pollutants by 80-85 percent by 2047.

The indictment also alleges Hart imported HCFC 22, an ozone-depleting substance regulated under the Clean Air Act. Mexico as a developing country has a longer timetable for phasing out such pollutants than the United States as a developed country.

Quote:The National Center for Youth Law (NCYL), Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law (CHRCL), and Children’s Rights are asking the judge to order the Department of Homeland Security to cease detaining migrant children in open-air detention sites (OAD) and, among other actions, to document the circumstances of any detention of migrant children in OAD’s that exceed two hours from the first encounter with the agency.

In the court filing, the groups are citing the terms of a 1993 Supreme Court case, Reno v. Flores, regarding the treatment of unaccompanied migrant children while in immigration detention. The case stemmed from the 1985 detention of an El Salvadoran unaccompanied migrant child, Jenny Lissette Flores, by the then Immigration and Naturalization Service.

The new filing by NCYL and CHRCL, who brought the class action suit on behalf of Flores, is now asking the judge in the Flores case to enforce the agreement and block any detention actions by DHS that do not meet the settlement standards.

The motion to enforce describes conditions in Jacumba and San Ysidro, California, where migrant children are led by CBP personnel to outdoor processing sites to await transportation. The detention times in those outdoor encampments can range from hours to days, according to the filing. The groups assert the open-air sites lack adequate hygiene facilities, medical staff, food, or shelter and do not provide sufficient security for the migrant children.

Quote:Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) was purposefully “trying to wreak havoc in other cities and states across the country.”

Anchor Dana Bash said, “I want you to listen to what the Texas Governor Greg Abbott told me on the show about the idea of whether or not legislation is needed. Take a listen.”

Abbott said, “The fact that the matter is there are laws on the books passed by Congress of the United States right now that authorize the executive branch to deny illegal entry. The president does not need new laws. The president needs a backbone to make sure that he said he enforces the immigration laws that are already on the books.

Mayorkas said, “Couldn’t be more wrong, couldn’t be more wrong. As a matter of fact, former President Trump tried to close the border and it was enjoined in the courts and never saw the light of day.”

He continued, “This coming from an individual who is purposefully refusing to coordinate, communicate, collaborate with other officials, and trying to wreak havoc in other cities and states across the country. That is not a model of governance and he couldn’t be more wrong.”

 So what's his way to deal with this dangerous issue? To let them in unvetted and wait for them to kill Americans like Mrs. Riley?

Quote:On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “The Story,” White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby responded to claims from former Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz that he never spoke with either President Joe Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris during his tenure running the agency from August 2021 to the end of June 2023 by stating that Biden is engaged with DHS and Border Patrol and visited the border for the second time last week.

Host Martha MacCallum asked, [relevant exchange begins around 1:25] “You say he’s ‘actively engaged,’ and yet, according to his former Border Patrol Chief, who spoke out on ‘60 Minutes,’ Raul Ortiz, he never spoke with the President the entire time he was the border Chief overseeing 21,000 agents or the Vice President. Given the fact that this is the number 1 issue for voters in every primary state we’ve covered so far, John, how is that possible?”

Kirby responded, “Well, you saw the President down at Brownsville last week, Martha. That’s the second visit down to the border. He obviously has a close relationship with Secretary Mayorkas and everybody at DHS. He had a chance to meet directly with border agents down there in Brownsville. This is an issue he knows is important to the American people. It’s important to him. And frankly, Martha, that’s why it was so important for the Senate to pass that bipartisan bill, which included significant changes, not only in border security, but immigration policy, and now it’s languishing because the House won’t take it up. The President’s willing to negotiate and compromise and talk about all these things and move forward. That’s why he asked for the national security supplemental.”

MacCallum then cut in to ask, “John, how has he never spoken to — and we did some reporting on this earlier today — not only Raul Ortiz, the former Chief of the Border Patrol, but the current chief of the Border Patrol, Chief Owens, who, you pointed out, he did meet with in Brownsville. But from, what we could find out, they had never spoken before that. How is that possible?”

Kirby answered, “The President’s engaged with DHS. He’s engaged with leadership there –.”

MacCallum then cut in to ask, “But why not the Border Patrol?”

Kirby answered, “He’s engaged with the Border Patrol, Martha. He was just down there in Brownsville meeting and talking to those folks directly and hearing from them about the situation on the ground.”

MacCallum followed up, “But he never met with the former or current Chief. The current Chief, he just met. He’s been President for three years, just met him the other day.”

Kirby responded, “He, again, is engaged with everybody at DHS, including the Border Patrol, down there in Brownsville talking to them on the ground, hearing from them directly about what their concerns are.”

So when you have no real answers, just keep repeating yourself.

Quote:More than eight million illegal aliens will be living freely in the United States — not detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — while awaiting deportation by the end of 2024, federal officials project.

President Joe Biden is likely to have nearly tripled ICE’s non-detained docket by the end of his first term in the White House. ICE’s non-detained docket includes illegal aliens living in American towns and cities whom the agency has not detained but who are awaiting deportation from the U.S.

As Breitbart News reported, by the end of Fiscal Year 2023, 6.2 million illegal aliens were living in the U.S. not detained by ICE but awaiting deportation, including 1.3 million of whom have final deportation orders from a federal immigration judge.

According to internal federal records, Axios reports that the number of illegal aliens on ICE’s non-detained docket will have ballooned to more than eight million by the end of 2024 — nearly triple the 3.2 million illegal aliens on the docket in 2020.

At the beginning of 2024, Sens. Roger Marshall (R-KS), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Rick Scott (R-FL), Mike Lee (R-UT), Mike Braun (R-IN), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) sought a vote of no confidence against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for massively increasing ICE’s non-detained docket.

Quote:The basement being used as an illegal migrant shelter was so cramped, the migrants — who were mostly from Senegal — reportedly had to sleep in shifts so that they all could get some rest, the New York Post reported.

The basement dwelling was discovered when investigators from the New York Fire Department (FDNY) entered a Queens furniture store at 132-02 Liberty Avenue in South Richmond Hill after being called because a witness had seen a large number of e-bike batteries being improperly stored on the premises.

The FDNY called city officials in after finding a large number of illegal immigrants in the store’s basement.

After an investigation, the NYPD and the city’s building department determined that 74 or more migrants were living in the store’s basement.

“A further probe revealed that up to 80 individuals have been living there, taking turns to sleep due to the limited space available,” the FDNY said in a statement.

Police officers and members of the city Department of Buildings discovered 14 bunk beds on the building’s first floor and an additional 13 bunk beds in the basement space, which had no ventilation, too few exits, no natural light, and illegal plumbing.

Upon questioning, the store’s owner, Ebou Sarr, 47, admitted he was charging the illegal aliens $300 a month for a bed. But he also claimed that the the $300 charge was a “donation” and that he often took only what the migrants could afford.

Quote:Multiple sources familiar with the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office exclusively told Breitbart News that the Biden administration has Democrat operative DiSantis inside a Fulton County office to target Trump.

DiSantis, as Breitbart News exclusively reported, has ties to the Biden White House and his reelection campaign through his private consulting firm and business partner.

Speaking at Mar-a-Lago, Trump, fresh off a Supreme Court victory to remain on state ballots, recalled Breitbart News’ exclusive reports that he previously shared on Truth Social.

“I’m being prosecuted by Biden, my opponent. … whether it’s Fani Willis or Bragg — these are local and state, but they’re in total coordination with the White House,” Trump said. “You can’t do that. It shouldn’t be done.”

Trump also highlighted another Breitbart News exclusive in which Fani Willis, Fulton County’s top prosecutor, permitted Nathan Wade to make hiring decisions during the transition following her election win in 2020, according to Breitbart News sources.
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“She [Fani Willis] hired somebody; she knew the person long before this horrible prosecution took place,” Trump said about Wade. “And she went out and she paid them an unbelievable amount of money, more money than he ever had hoped possible — much more money than other people that do that for a living — he never did it at all, had no experience at all.”

“They had obviously a conflict,” Trump added.

Quote:Hunter Biden’s CEFC China Energy Co. “client” who paid him $1 million for legal services never rendered in 2017 has reportedly threatened to sue the president’s son if he does not return the money.

The threat raises questions about the nature of Hunter’s legal representation of CEFC, a foreign entity. Hunter did not register as a foreign agent to represent CEFC. The special counsel did not charge Hunter with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) in the tax indictment.

Sixty-nine percent of Americans believe Hunter violated FARA, while only 18 percent claim he did not, according to TIPP polling. Thirteen percent are unsure.

CEFC executive Patrick Ho, whom Hunter previously described as “the fucking spy chief of China,” wrote in a demand letter to Hunter requesting the return of the funds because the president’s son did not fulfill his obligations, the New York Post’s Miranda Devine reported:

Ho’s letter, sent by Hong Kong law firm Huen & Partners to Hunter’s attorney Abbe Lowell in Washington, DC, set a deadline of seven days for the repayment of any remaining funds.

“Patrick says he paid him, and that Hunter never did anything for him,” a friend of Ho’s told The Post, “and that according to the contract, the money should be reimbursed.”

The $1 million legal retainer was wired from CEFC in China to CEFC’s Hong Kong HSBC account, and then, on November 2, 2017, to the American bank account of Hudson West III (HWIII), the firm Hunter co-owned with CEFC, and then to Hunter’s private firm, Owasco, according to his California tax indictment.

Hunter admitted during his failed plea deal in July, “My own law firm” got a $1 million “payment for legal fees for Patrick Ho.”

The 2017 contract between Ho and Hunter specified that “Attorney [Hunter] will perform the legal services called for under this agreement, keep Client informed of progress and developments, and respond promptly to Client’s inquiries and communications,” the Post reported. The legal services Hunter pledged to provide were “conferences, court sessions, depositions preparation and participation; correspondence and legal documents review and preparation; legal research; and telephone conversations.”

 And where exactly will Hunter get all that  money from? The poor taxpayers!?

Quote:Radical anti-Israel demonstrators hindered the New York Police Department’s response to a reported explosive device found by an Uber driver, according to authorities who were unable to reach the site of the scene in due time as a result.

The incident unfolded on Saturday when the driver noticed a grenade in his vehicle after a fare drop-off near 42nd Street and 7th Avenue in Manhattan.

Due to protesters opposing Israel’s war on Hamas blocking the streets, the police response was delayed.

The NYPD faced challenges in accessing the location where the grenade, later identified as harmless, was discovered in the Uber car on Saturday evening, according to The New York Post.  Law enforcement eventually managed to secure the area surrounding the vehicle and confirmed the grenade was non-functional.

Arrests were made among the protesters for obstructing the path of emergency services en route to the scene.

NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry, who oversees the NYPD Security Operations Center, slammed the pro-Palestinian protesters blocking the department’s Emergency Service Unit in a post later that day.

“Happy Saturday to all! Except the people who thought it was a good idea to block an NYPD ESU vehicle on the way to a bomb threat call,” he wrote. “They will be spending their Saturday where they belong – in jail!”

In January, at a pro-Palestinian protest that shut down the Sundance Film Festival, Israeli actress and producer Noa Tishby spoke with demonstrators and revealed the ignorance of those chanting against Israel with radical slogans.

Quote:China launched its “two sessions” — the annual meetings of its top lawmaking body, the National People’s Congress (NPC), and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), an “advisory” body with over 2,000 members — on Monday, seeking to devise ways to reverse its increasingly concerning economic decline.

The Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported that the members of the two legislatures would prioritize “promoting high-quality development” and “new productive forces,” apparently in the face of the fall of the old productive forces, such as a robust body of workers and the real estate industry.

China’s real estate market remains mired in an unprecedented crisis in modern China, documenting steep declines in new home prices, existing home sales, and other key indicators. One of China’s largest and most powerful real estate developers, Evergrande, collapsed in the aftermath of Beijing’s extreme coronavirus lockdown and quarantine camp policy, ordered to liquidate in January and leaving as much as $300 billion in debt.

China is also facing record-high levels of youth unemployment and a rapidly dwindling pool of young workers, as young Chinese opt not to start their own families. Dictator Xi Jinping, who exacerbated the crisis with a mass forced sterilization and abortion campaign against the Turkic people of East Turkistan, ended the decades-long “one-child policy” in 2015, but the country still documented record-low fertility rates in 2023. It remains illegal in China for most people to have a fourth child, an increasingly uncommon problem.

China’s economy “likely grew at its weakest annual rate for more than three decades in 2023,” the Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported in late January. It documented an 80-percent drop in foreign direct investment in 2023, losing much of that to neighboring India, whose stock market boomed in February.

“As the world’s second-largest economy endeavors to solidify the momentum of economic recovery in its pursuit of Chinese modernization, the sessions carry immense significance for China and beyond,” Xinhua emphasized on Monday.

Quote:Indian police on Sunday detained four men and continued their manhunt for three others who allegedly attacked a Spanish tourist couple, beat them both, and gang-raped the woman.

The couple gave their names as “Vincente” and “Fernanda” in an interview with Spanish media on Saturday, the day after the attack. The pair has an Instagram account with about 200,000 followers where they post videos of their world travels.

According to the couple, they were on a motorcycle tour of Jharkhand in eastern India when they were attacked. They had just set up camp for the night, about a mile off the main road, when they were approached by a group of seven men who entered their tent and brutally assaulted them.

“They beat us. They put a knife to my neck, and told me they were going to kill me,” the man called Vincente said in a post to the couple’s Instagram account after the attack.

“Something has happened to us that we would not wish on anyone. Seven men have raped me. They have beaten us and robbed us, although not many things because what they wanted was to rape me. We are at the hospital with police. It happened tonight here in India,” said a tearful Fernanda.

“They raped me, they took turns while some watched and they stayed like that for about two hours,” she said in the Spanish interview.

Injuries were visible on the faces of both tourists in their video, and in their subsequent TV interview. The man said in a later Instagram post that his assailants struck him in the head with his motorcycle helmet.

“My mouth is destroyed, but my partner is worse than me. They have hit me with the helmet several times, with a stone on the head. Thank goodness she was wearing the jacket and that stops the blows a little,” he said.

Quote:Former Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was sworn in for another term on Monday, despite opposition protests and allegations the February election was rigged to keep former PM Imran Khan out of office.

Sharif, 72, is the younger brother of yet another Pakistani prime minister, Nawaz Sharif. The 2024 election was supposed to be Nawaz’s chance to rise from the ashes after he stepped down amid corruption allegations in 2017 and spent some years in political exile. Nawaz Sharif enjoys the unique distinction of being Pakistan’s longest-serving prime minister, even though he never completed any of his three terms in office.

Nawaz Sharif’s comeback was driven partly by the powerful Pakistani military establishment turning decisively against Imran Khan, the populist Islamist leader who was himself booted from office by a parliamentary vote of no confidence in April 2022. Khan has been jailed and banned from politics on several of the hundred-plus allegations of corruption and misconduct haunting him since his ouster, but he remains the most popular politician in Pakistan.

The military reportedly turned to Nawaz Sharif as its best chance of beating Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, fearing incumbent PM Shehbaz Sharif would not be able to get the job done after a lackluster term with growing popular discontent. Nawaz accordingly returned from his self-imposed exile in London and even declared victory after the election in early February.

Quote:UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten visited Israel to collect evidence and reported that there was “clear and convincing” evidence corroborating Israeli accusations of rape by Hamas in three locations.

Patten’s report states (paragraph numbers omitted):

Based on the information gathered by the mission team from multiple and independent sources, there are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred during the 7 October attacks in multiple locations across Gaza periphery, including rape and gang rape, in at least three locations. Across the various locations of the 7 October attacks, the mission team found that several fully naked or partially naked bodies from the waist down were recovered – mostly women – with hands tied and shot multiple times, often in the head. Although circumstantial, such a pattern of undressing and restraining of victims may be indicative of some forms of sexual violence.

At the Nova music festival and its surroundings, there are reasonable grounds to believe that multiple incidents of sexual violence took place with victims being subjected to rape and/or gang rape and then killed or killed while being raped. Credible sources described finding murdered individuals, mostly women, whose bodies were naked from their waist down – and some totally naked – tied with their hands behind their backs, many of whom were shot in the head. On Road 232, credible information based on witness accounts describe an incident of the rape of two women by armed elements. Other reported instances of rape could not be verified in the time allotted. The mission team also found a pattern of bound naked or partially naked bodies from the waist down, in some cases tied to structures including trees and poles, along Road 232. In kibbutz Re’im, the mission team further verified an incident of the rape of a woman outside of a bomb shelter and heard of other allegations of rape that could not yet be verified.
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With respect to hostages, the mission team found clear and convincing information that some have been subjected to various forms of conflict-related sexual violence including rape and sexualized torture and sexualized cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and it also has reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may be ongoing.

The report said that it could not find evidence of some widely-circulated claims of sexual violence, including a claim that terrorists ripped open a pregnant woman’s belly and stabbed her unborn child. It also found some other claims lacked evidence, while affirming broader claims.

In addition, Patten claimed that some Palestinians detained by Israeli security forces had been subject to sexual abuse — a claim Israel has denied, stating that no complaints have been filed and that Israel would probe any such claims.

The Palestinian claims included “invasive body searches” and “prolonged forced nudity.” Israel has defended the practice of requiring terror detainees to undress to make sure they are not wearing explosive suicide belts or vests.

Israel recalled its UN ambassador, Gilad Erdan, on Monday, claiming the UN had downplayed credible claims of rape.

Quote:The Times of Israel reports the terror group has been indiscriminately launching rockets, missiles, and drones at northern Israel daily amid the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

The outlet cited the Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulance service as revealing a man in his 30s was killed and two were listed in serious condition. Another four men were moderately hurt, and one more victim was listed in good condition, MDA said.

It confirmed the victims were all foreign laborers, reportedly from Thailand, who were evacuated by helicopter to several hospitals.

In response to the anti-tank missile attack, the Times reports the IDF said it shelled the launch site with artillery.

The IDF also said it had earlier struck a Hezbollah compound where members of the terror group were gathered in the southern Lebanon town of Chihine, and another site belonging to Hezbollah in Ayta ash-Shab.

Quote:Israeli public broadcaster Kan confirmed on Sunday it would ask songwriters to rewrite submissions in consideration to represent the country at the Eurovision Song Contest after reports indicated that the contest would reject a song with references to the Hamas October 7 slaughter because it was too “political.”

The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition in which European countries and some non-European participants, such as Israel and Australia, send a musical artist to perform an original song. A combination of elite judges and public voting are used to determine the best song, whose country hosts the next year’s event. The 2023 winner – in a controversial ruling in which Finland won the popular vote but failed to convince the experts – Sweden will host the 2024 competition.

As a post-World War II institution, Eurovision aggressively imposes bans on perceived “political” content.

“The ESC is a non-political event,” the official contest rules read. “All Participating Broadcasters, including the Host Broadcaster, shall be responsible … to make sure that the ESC shall in no case be politicized and/or instrumentalized and/or otherwise brought into disrepute in any way.”

Israel has not formally submitted an entry but chose singer Eden Golan to represent the country. The outlet Israel Hayom reported in February that organizers had chosen the song “October Rain” for her, which had lyrics overtly honoring the families killed by Hamas on October 7.
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The Times of Israel reported that Kan had previously insisted it would not rewrite any lyrics submitted to the song contest, but issued a statement on Sunday confirming that it had asked the writers of “October Rain” and another finalist entry, “Dance Forever,” to rewrite the songs “with full artistic freedom.” The result of that process is reportedly a song called “Hurricane” which uses the same music of “October Rain” but is about a “young woman surviving a personal crisis,” rather than about terrorism victims. Kan added that the nation would not officially reveal the 2024 entry until Sunday, March 10.



The Kan statement credited Israeli President Issac Herzog with arguing for a rework that would guarantee Israel was represented on the Eurovision stage.

“Particularly at a time when those who hate us are trying to push us out and boycott the State of Israel on every stage, Israel must have its voice heard with its head raised high and fly its flag in every global forum, particularly this year,” Herzog had reportedly argued.

Sweden, as a host, is facing significant pressure not to allow Israel to participate in the contest from pro-Hamas elements, who claim that Israel’s self-defense operations in Gaza to ensure that the terrorists cannot repeat the horrors of October 7 merit ostracizing Israel from the civilized world. In early February, a group of over 1,000 Swedish music artists and members of the industry signed a letter demanding Eurovision banish Israel from the contest, including prominent Swedish artists such as Robyn and members of the electro duo The Knife.
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Organizers of Eurovision have struggled to consistently enforce their ban on political content. In 2016, for example, Ukraine won the contest with a song about Josef Stalin’s ethnic cleansing of Crimean Tatars, expelled from the Crimean peninsula now once again under Russian control. The lyrics included over references to the clearly political event, including, “when strangers are coming, they come to your house, they kill you all and say, ‘we’re not guilty, not guilty.’”

That year’s contest, also hosted by Sweden, was advertised as promoting a “refugee crisis” theme.

Quote:Hussein al-Ezzi, whom the Houthis refer to as their “deputy foreign minister,” claimed that the United Kingdom was a “rogue state” and a legitimate target in the group’s ongoing war against Israel. The Shiite terrorist Houthis, formally known as “Ansar Allah,” declared war on Israel in October as a gesture of solidarity with Hamas, a Sunni terrorist organization based in Gaza, which, like the Houthis, receives generous support from Iran.
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The main form that the Houthi “war” on Israel has taken is mounting attacks on seemingly random ships attempting to transit in and around the Red Sea. Houthi leaders first promised to attack only ships with ties to Israel in an attempt to hurt the country’s economy, then expanded their targets to British and American ships in response to airstrikes meant to weaken their attack capabilities. In reality, however, Houthi attacks have hit ships unrelated to the Houthis’ enemies and, on some occasions, ships with ties to Houthi allies, such as Russia, China, and Iran.
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The sinking of the Rubymar, which threatens to become an environmental disaster as a result of the ship’s cargo of fertilizing and other chemicals, is the largest success in the Houthis’ Red Sea terror campaign so far. Ezzi, the “deputy foreign minister,” issued a warning on Sunday that more ship sinkings will follow.

“Yemen will continue to sink more British ships, and any repercussions or other damages will be added to Britain’s bill,” Ezzi wrote in a post on social media, as translated by the Iranian propaganda outlet PressTV. “It is a rogue state that attacks Yemen and partners with America in sponsoring ongoing crimes against civilians in Gaza.”

The Houthis claim that Israel’s self-defense operations against Hamas in its stronghold of Gaza, which it has governed for nearly two decades, are “crimes against civilians.”

Ezzi’s remarks follow a series of belligerent speeches from the leader of the Houthis, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, who promised “surprises” for British and American ships in his latest address on Thursday.

Quote:Cartel gunmen used high-powered rifles to shoot down a Mexican Army helicopter this weekend. The shootdown came during a series of shootouts in the cartel-controlled state of Michoacan.

The attack took place over the weekend as a Mexican Army helicopter provided air support to a group of soldiers patrolling the region searching for cartel gunmen. Gunmen from the ground used high-powered rifles to shoot at the helicopter, striking it several times. The attack forced the pilot to make an emergency landing. Unofficial information points to the co-pilot and crewmen sustaining critical injuries from the impact during the landing. Military forces rushed to help the crew and tried to get them medical attention. Mexican authorities have since attempted to downplay the issue.

Cartel gunmen have been using various types of machine guns and .50 caliber rifles in their clashes with authorities. The rifle below [click on the link above] was found last week in the area where the shootouts have been taking place.

The shootouts come as cartels have been using land mines and other explosives to kill military forces and rivals as they fight for control of drug production and trafficking routes into Mexico. As Breitbart Texas reported, last week in that same region, cartel gunmen killed four soldiers. They also injured close to a dozen others using landmines and drones to drop explosives on the soldiers.

While it remains unclear which cartel attacked the soldiers, the attack on the helicopter took place near the town of Tepalcatepec. That town is a known stronghold of Jose “El Abuelo” Farias, a drug lord who gained fame in Mexico for masquerading as the founder of a self-defense group. El Abuelo has some government protection from bribery of various public officials and in the past has hired former Colombian terrorists who had taught his gunmen how to develop explosives.

Quote:The Haitian government declared a state of emergency on Sunday following days of street battles, two dangerous prison breaks, and an open declaration of insurrection by gang leader Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier.

The state of emergency includes curfews throughout western Haiti for the next three days, during which the streets will be cleared from 6:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. During the overnight hours, only police, firefighters, medical workers, and reporters will be allowed on the street.

Cherizier, a former police officer and one of the most powerful leaders of the gangs that largely took over Haiti after the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, said on Friday he is ready to fight until sitting Prime Minister Ariel Henry has been overthrown.

Cherizier told civilians to shelter in their homes while the insurrection rages. He asked all of the gangs to join together under his leadership and wage a campaign that would include the targeted kidnapping and assassination of government officials.

“The battle will last as long as it needs to. We will keep fighting Ariel Henry. To avoid collateral damage, keep the kids at home,” he said at a press conference.

“Today, I declare that the hunt for ministers and the Director General of the PNH, Frantz Elbé, is open. We must stop them and send them to join Ariel Henry where he is so that he never returns to the country,” he said. The PNH is the Haitian national police force.

“The Haitian people must be liberated. We will do it with our weapons. All the armed groups in the country, in the provinces and in Port-au-Prince, are more united than ever. We, the armed men, have decided to take the future into our own hands,” he declared.

Quote:Ronald Ojeda, a Venezuelan dissident living in Chile wanted by the socialist Maduro regime, was found dead and buried over the weekend after being reportedly kidnapped on February 21.

Chilean officials pledged to investigate Ojeda’s death, as well as continuing investigations that started after his kidnapping, to determine if the Venezuelan socialist regime had any involvement in Ojeda’s death.

Officials announced on Friday evening that Ojeda’s body was found inside a suitcase buried under a cement structure in the Maipú commune, located in the Santiago metropolitan region.

According to prosecutor Héctor Barros, Ojeda is believed to have been dead for seven to ten days by the time of his discovery which, he explained, “also coincides with the date on which the kidnapping occurred.”

“The murder of Ronald Ojeda is the most serious outcome that his kidnapping could have had and unfortunately it is the one we are facing. We express our condolences to his family and loved ones,” Chilean Security Minister Carolina Tohá wrote on social media.

“We will continue to support the investigation being carried out by Chile’s Prosecutor’s Office so that this crime is fully clarified and punished with the utmost severity,” she continued. “The fight against this criminality is an absolute priority for our government and must be a State task.”

Local authorities arrested a 17-year-old Venezuelan for his alleged involvement in the kidnapping and murder of Ojeda, and announced they had identified two more subjects, who remained at large at press time.

Chilean newspaper El Mercurio reported on Monday that the suspects may be linked to the Tren de Aragua (Aragua Train), a Venezuelan transnational criminal organization with active cells spread across several countries of the region, including the United States.

Quote:Iran vowed to strengthen cooperation with Bolivia following a meeting this weekend between Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Bolivian socialist President Luis Arce, his “friend.”

Raisi praised Arce for the “revolutionary and anti-imperialist” positions of the Bolivian government — making special mention of Arce’s support of “Palestine” after Arce’s government cut all ties with Israel in response to Israel’s self-defense operations against the jihadist terrorist organization Hamas, which Iran funds.

“Your passionate defense of Palestine will definitely be a good support for the people of this country,” Raisi told Arce.

Raisi and Arce met on Saturday in Algeria on the sidelines of the Assembly of Heads of Gas Exporting Countries. The “strengthened” cooperation plan, according to the Iranian presidency, will cover trade, energy, technical engineering services, and agriculture.

The Iranian president also remarked that his country “has no obstacle to promote cooperation with the Bolivian government and the economic and commercial relations between the two countries should grow and develop to the extent of political interactions between them.”

Arce responded by describing the positions of Bolivia and Iran in international issues as “very close,” claiming that his government’s view of Iran is as more than a country but as a “friend and brother.”

The socialist president, who described Israel’s self-defense operations as a “genocide,” also claimed that “enemies inside and outside Bolivia launched a propaganda campaign and psychological warfare” against the country in response to his government’s decision to cut ties with Israel. Arce did not provide any examples of said propaganda or proof for his claims:

Bolivia has dramatically increased its cooperation and ties with the Iranian regime in the past decade. The increased relationship between both countries led the executive director of the Center for a Secure Free Society (SFS), Joseph Humire, to describe Bolivia as Iran’s “most successful” project in the region in the Islamic regime’s decades-long plans to spread its influence in Latin America.

Quote:The Associated Press called the Colorado Republican primary for Trump at 7:09 p.m. MST. With 42% of results in, Trump had secured 61% of the vote to Haley’s 35.5%.

Trump’s Colorado victory comes one day after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that struck his name from the ballot.

The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision that only Congress can deny a candidate ballot access restored Trump’s name to ballots in states across the nation and killed other lawsuits still working their way through the courts. The lawsuits argued the Fourteenth Amendment’s Section 3 “Insurrection Clause” that disqualified certain officials deemed to have committed an insurrection from holding office applied to Trump, despite no court ever holding Trump was guilty of such actions.

The Colorado order had been stayed by the Colorado Supreme Court until the U.S. Supreme Court could act, so Trump would have appeared on the ballot regardless of yesterday’s ruling. The outcome is a symbolic victory for Trump, who expended significant time and resources in courts across the nation fighting Fourteenth Amendment cases.

This was the first time the Supreme Court ruled on the Insurrection Clause.

Colorado was one of the final Super Tuesday states to be called that had been considered relatively favorable for Haley, although her projected total Tuesday night was underwhelming.

Quote:CBS News declared Biden the winner of Old Dominion’s Democrat primary, where 99 delegates are at stake. Biden easily defeated Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), the congressman for Minnesota’s third congressional district.

A Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) poll in January found that Biden held a three-point advantage over former President Donald Trump. Trump has promised to make a “heavy play” for states such as Virginia to expand the battleground for the 2024 presidential election.

Biden is also projected as the winner of Vermont’s Democrat presidential primary, beating out several challengers that made the ballot in the Green Mountain State. Decision Desk HQ called the race at 7:00 p.m. when polls closed. Biden had three notable challengers who made the ballot in Vermont, including Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), Marianne Williamson, and left-wing commentator Cenk Uygur – who was born in Turkey and does not meet the Constitution’s “natural born citizen” requirement to hold the office of the presidency.
Sixteen delegates are on the line for these candidates in Vermont, per CBS News, and they will be divided by the proportion of the statewide vote each candidate received, as is the standard for Democrat contests in all states, the AP noted in November:

They also win district delegates in proportion to their share of the vote in each congressional district. Candidates must receive at least 15% of the statewide vote to qualify for any statewide delegates and at least 15% of votes in a congressional district to qualify for delegates in that district.

Unless a challenger surpasses that 15 percent threshold, Biden will take all the delegates at stake.

And right when Democrats would love to celebrate, fun stuff happens!

Quote:President Joe Biden lost the American Samoa Democrat caucus on Super Tuesday, denying the president a complete primary sweep of all states and territories.

Decision Desk HQ called the race at around 9:30 p.m. Eastern.

The territory is worth 11 Democrat delegates.

Biden lost to Democrat Jason Palmer, an entrepreneur and investor who previously worked with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, according to his campaign.

Palmer reportedly qualified for 16 presidential ballots in states and territories, the campaign said.

Quote:President Joe Biden is operating a “secretive flights” program to fly hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens to the United States every year, according to records obtained by Todd Bensman at the Center for Immigration Studies.

The records, obtained by Bensman via a Freedom of Information (FOIA) lawsuit, show that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) imported 320,000 illegal aliens to the United States last year through the little-known flight component of Biden’s “CBP One” mobile app.

The migrant mobile app, Breitbart News has extensively reported, has allowed about 465,000 illegal aliens to schedule appointments at the United States-Mexico border for release into the United States interior from January 2023 through January 2024.

The app’s flight component has flown additional hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens into 43 American airports last year alone, Bensman reveals. DHS officials have refused to say which airports are being used to fly illegal aliens to the United States, admitting that revealing such information poses “operational vulnerabilities” because “bad actors” would attempt to exploit the program.
...
Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Tom McClintock (R-CA) have asked DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to release publicly a full numerical accounting of every illegal alien released by the agency into the United States interior since February 2021.

Mayorkas, though, has refused to answer the request.

Quote:Last month, the White House announced sanctions against four Israeli citizens, none of whom had been charged with any crime, for so-called “extremist settler violence.”

The language of President Joe Biden’s executive order is so broad that it allows the administration to adopt sweeping sanctions on any Israeli who lives across the 1949 armistice lines, or who supports the rights of Israelis to live and settle there, as the Trump administration recognized they could legally do.

As Caroline Glick has noted, claims of “extremist settler violence” are highly exaggerated. But the Biden administration is using the sanctions — and the threat of more sanctions — in an attempt to appease anti-Israel voters in Michigan and other swing states, amid growing dissatisfaction among the Democratic base with Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza.

Biden also reversed Trump’s policy that had once acknowledged that Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) is legal, and declared it “inconsistent” with international law instead. He is also reportedly preparing more sanctions on “extremist” settlers — a development that the Israeli government itself has called an “extreme” policy.

Later in February, it was revealed that the U.S. had opened an investigation into an Israeli company that makes parts for the Iron Dome missile defense system, necessary for protecting civilians —  a decision that puzzled Israeli leaders.

And on Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned a Greek firm headed by Israeli executives that produces spyware. It was, according to the Times of Israel, the first time that the U.S. sanctioned any companies for alleged misuse of spyware.

The company’s products were allegedly used to spy on U.S. government officials. Ironically, Biden was part of a previous administration that spied on Israeli government leaders and their communications with members of Congress.

These sanctions conform to the demands of the anti-Israel “boycott, divestment, sanctions” (BDS) movement, which attempts to isolate and destroy Israel, and is often regarded as antisemitic since it only singles out the Jewish state.

From the same woman that admitted to Sen. Marc Rubio that the US government had several secret labs in Ukraine, comes this announcement.

Quote:Her retirement comes just two years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and after she lost out for the deputy secretary of state position to another diplomat, Kurt Campbell. She had served in the position on an acting basis for seven months.

Blinken said in a statement:

Victoria Nuland has let me know that she intends to step down in the coming weeks as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs — a role in which she has personified President Biden’s commitment to put diplomacy back at the center of our foreign policy and revitalize America’s global leadership at a crucial time for our nation and the world.

He specifically noted her work on Ukraine.

Her efforts have been indispensable to confronting Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, marshaling a global coalition to ensure his strategic failure, and helping Ukraine work toward the day when it will be able to stand strongly on its own feet — democratically, economically, and militarily.

Blinken said he and President Joe Biden has asked John Bass — who served as the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan during Biden’s botched and deadly withdrawal — to fill Nuland’s role until her replacement is confirmed.

According to the New York Times, some analysts interpreted Campbell’s promotion over Nuland a sign that Biden and Blinken considered the U.S. relationship with China as a higher priority than Ukraine.
...
In February 2023, Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk posted on X about the Ukraine War: “Nobody is pushing this war more than Nuland.”

Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova on Tuesday attributed Nuland’s retirement to the “failure” of the Biden administration’s policy on Russia.

Quote:Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Friday denounced the “climate of violence” and “atmosphere of intimidation” against Indian diplomats in Canada, which he said was created by Canada’s indulgence of Sikh separatists, such as Hardeep Singh Nijar, whom Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently accused the Indian government of murdering.

“Because there is freedom of speech, to make threats and intimidate diplomats, I don’t think that’s acceptable,” Jaishankar said.

“We have had an ongoing problem with Canada and the Canadian government for some years now,” he said. “The ongoing problem really revolves around the permissiveness to terrorism, extremism, and violence.”

“This permissiveness is also reflected in the fact that some important extradition requests have not been responded to from their side,” he added.

One of those requests was for Nijjar, whom Indian police attempted to extradite from Canada in 2022, according to the Hindustan Times. India filed similar requests against other members of the Sikh separatist movement, which is named after Khalistan, the prospective Sikh state they wish to carve out of India’s Punjab province.

A senior Indian police officer told the Hindustan Times in September that India had filed 21 “red notices” with Interpol for “gangsters” living in Canada, but the Canadian government ignored them all. A red notice is a request from one Interpol member to another to take an accused criminal into custody and begin extradition proceedings.

“We have had smoke bombs thrown at the mission, we have had violence in front of consulates, there are posters put up,” Jaishankar said on Friday. “Do you consider this normal? If this had happened to any other country, how would they react? It is important to call out what is happening there.”

Jaishankar rejected Trudeau’s argument that Sikhs living in Canada are free to speak on any subject they wish, including the Khalistani independence movement.

Quote:China set an official 2024 target for GDP growth of around five percent in the “government work report” presented to the National People’s Congress (NPC) by Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday morning. The 2024 target was substantially the same as 2023’s reported GDP growth of 5.2 percent.

China’s state-run Global Times touted Li’s report as proof that “China’s economy will still be one of the fastest-growing major economies and the biggest contributor to global growth.”

“This is a relatively high target, which shows that the central government has relatively high confidence,” economist Wan Zhe of Beijing Normal University said.

The Global Times noted the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted 4.2 percent growth for China in its World Economic Outlook report in January, which would be substantially lower than 2023’s claimed growth or Li Qiang’s 2024 prediction but still higher than the average global growth rate of 3.1 percent for advanced economies.

The Chinese Communist paper asserted:

While the Chinese economy faces challenges and risks amid a global economic downturn and an increasingly complex geo-economic landscape, Chinese policymakers still have plenty of policy tools at their disposal to tackle those challenges and ensure stable growth.

The projection of five percent GDP growth was enough to add 7.2 percent to China’s military budget, which the Global Times predictably portrayed as a “reasonable” and “restrained” force for world peace — especially when compared to the “aggressive defense spending hike by countries like the US and Japan.”

The editors further complained about countries like the Philippines and Australia causing problems for China under the American military umbrella. China is especially vexed at the Philippines at the moment for pushing back against Beijing’s excessive territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Quote:The Chinese government newspaper Global Times published an effusive homage to pop star Taylor Swift on Monday, thanking her for scheduling a “convenient and accessible” concert in Singapore and quoting fans declaring her an “inspiration to many.”

Swift chose the lavishly wealthy city-state of Singapore as her only “Eras Tour” stop in the region, meaning Chinese fans would have to travel internationally to see her. She is scheduled to perform in the country through March 9.

The Global Times took her visit to Singapore as an opportunity both to acclaim the singer and advertise Beijing’s recent agreement with Singapore allowing mutual visa-free travel, allowing Chinese passport holders to travel to Singapore with minimal documentation.

Swift has for years been one of America’s most popular figures in communist China, the product of engaging in friendly visits and helping promote regime-friendly businesses such as Alibaba. Swift made an appearance in China for Alibaba in 2019, helping promote sales associated with the shopping holiday “Singles Day.”

Chinese state media refers to Swift with the Chinese nickname “Meimei.” In December, following the release of Swift’s Eras Tour concert film, the Global Times similarly gushed about Swift’s “unique appeal” and urged Chinese artists to emulate the use of concert films to promote their careers.

Quote:On Tuesday, reporters at the daily White House press briefing peppered the administration with questions about what it would do about Israel “keeping aid out of Gaza.”

Yet Israel has been saying for months that it is capable of providing “unlimited” amounts of aid to Gaza, and that the limiting factor is poor distribution by the United Nations.

Israeli government spokesman Avi Hyman told reporters on Tuesday: “Yesterday alone, 4,160 tons of foo were transferred to Gaza. 5,580 tons of humanitarian aid was transferred on Monday including food water medical supplies and shelter equipment.

“We say again: there is no limit to the amount of aid that can enter Gaza. This morning we sent 50 incubators designed for hospitals in the northern and southern Gaza Strip. … Yesterday, four tankers of cooking gas and three tankers of fuel went into Gaza.”

He added that there would be a local pause in fighting for four hours to facilitate aid delivery.

Much of the aid — some 50%-60%, according to Israeli military estimates — is stolen by Hamas or other armed gangs.

The Times of Israel noted Tuesday that the humanitarian crisis in northern Gaza has to do with the fact that when aid trucks enter through southern crossing points, “almost all have been cleaned out before they make it to the north.”

Quote:“Israel calls for the immediate convening of the UN Security Council with the aim of declaring Hamas a terrorist organization,” Avi Hyman, an Israeli government spokesperson, said. “Now, even the UN recognizes Hamas’s horrific sexual crimes.”

Though Hamas is clearly a terrorist organization, the UN has refused to recognize it as one. As the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) has noted:

The UN does not recognize Hamas as a terrorist group despite decades of suicide bombings, thousands of rockets launched indiscriminately at Israeli cities, and the barbaric actions of October 7. In addition, the UN body formerly known as the 1267 Committee, now known as the ISIL (Dae’sh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee, does not view Hamas (or any other Iranian proxy) as a terrorist group.

The UN’s refusal to recognize Hamas as a terrorist organization is the result of the influence of Islamic nations, as well as Russia and China, which adopt a generally anti-Western stance.

In that regard, the UN report Monday was unusual.

Hyman also said that now would be the “perfect time” for the UN to investigate the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which caters solely to Palestinian refugees, separate from other refugees in general.

Israel has long noted UNRWA’s role in radicalizing Palestinians, and has presented evidence to the UN that UNRWA employees participated in the October 7 attack. On Monday, the Israel Defense Forces released an audio recording of a UNRWA employee boasting that he had taken Israeli women hostage, using demeaning language to refer to them.

Quote:The FBI issued a public alert for fugitive Majid Dastjani Farahani, an Iranian agent “wanted for questioning in connection with the recruitment of individuals for various operations in the United States.”

Farahani is allegedly trying to recruit assassins to kill Trump administration officials, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in revenge for the 2020 airstrike in Iraq that killed Iranian terrorist mastermind Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

The FBI alert stated:

Farahani also reportedly recruited individuals for surveillance activities focused on religious sites, businesses, and other facilities in the United States. Farahani acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security.

According to the FBI, the 41-year-old Farahani speaks Farsi, French, Spanish, and English and has frequently traveled to Venezuela. His current mission is to recruit “individuals for operations in the U.S., to include lethal targeting of current and former officials.”

Intelligence-focused news site Semafor speculated Tuesday that the FBI issued the alert for Farahani through its Miami bureau due to his familiarity with Venezuela.

Semafor quoted unnamed U.S. officials who said they believe Pompeo and Brian Hook, the Trump administration’s special envoy to Iran, are on “Tehran’s hit list.”

“The U.S. government is currently providing both men with around-the-clock security due to the severity of the threat,” the report said.

Hook said, during testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday, that he requires a security detail because Iran could still be planning to assassinate him.

“I wish we were in a place that it was not necessary, but that is where we are,” he said.

Quote:The Iran-backed Houthi terrorists of Yemen announced on Monday they had bombed another commercial ship – the Liberian-flagged, Swiss-owned MSC Sky – in an alleged attempt to hurt the Israeli economy.

Houthi spokesman “Brigadier General” Yahya Saree claimed that the terrorists had struck the ship “in an accurate and direct manner,” according to the Iranian state propaganda outlet PressTV. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), however – the arm of the Pentagon that operates in the Middle East – claimed that the ship appeared to suffer minimal damage and did not ask for any help.

...While Hamas is a Sunni-led jihadist organization and both the Houthis and the Iranian government are Shiite terror entities, Iran offers Hamas and fellow jihadist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad as much as $100 million in funding a year, according to the U.S. State Department. Tehran is the world’s most prolific state sponsor of terrorism, also supporting a growing number of Shiite terrorist entities in Iraq and Syria, as well as the Houthis and expanding operations in Latin America.
...
“The Yemeni Armed Forces affirm their continued commitment to preventing Israeli navigation or navigation headed to the ports of occupied Palestine until the aggression is stopped,” Saree, the Houthi spokesman, declared on Monday, according to the Hezbollah-owned outlet al-Manar. The Houthis falsely consider themselves the official military of the state of Yemen.
...
Al-Manar and PressTV both falsely described the MSC Sky as an “Israeli ship.” PressTV cited Saree as the source for claiming the ship has ties to Israel. The Maritime Executive, an industry publication, reported that the apparent link between the ship and the state of Israel is that the company that owns it, MSC, has a top shareholder who was born “in what is now the state of Israel.”

“Some analysts suggest that Yemen’s Houthi rebels have identified this connection and are targeting MSC vessels because of the affiliation,” the outlet claimed, noting that multiple ships the Houthis have targeted are owned by MSC.

CENTCOM confirmed the attack on the MSC Sky but indicated that it did not cause any significant harm to the ship.

“Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles from Yemen into the Gulf of Aden at M/V MSC SKY II, a Liberian-flagged, Swiss-owned container vessel,” CENTCOM explained in a press release. “One of the missiles impacted the vessel causing damage. Initial reports indicate there were no injuries; the ship did not request assistance and continued on its way.”

CENTCOM also documented the Houthis shooting an “anti-ship ballistic missile” into the Red Sea on Monday, which did not hit anything and did not appear to have a clear target.

Quote:Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley formally suspended her presidential campaign on Wednesday following her string of losses on Super Tuesday.

Haley expressed gratitude that her mother, a first generation immigrant, had the opportunity to vote for her daughter for president but said it is now time to suspend her campaign.

“I am filled with gratitude for the outpouring of support we’ve received from all across our great country. But the time is now come to suspend my campaign. I said I wanted Americans to have their voices heard. I have done that. I have no regrets,” she said, explaining that she will continue to use her voice for things she believes in.

Haley briefly reiterated her belief that the national debt will “eventually crush our economy” and said a “smaller federal government is not only necessary for our freedom; it is necessary for our survival.”

“The road to socialism is the road to ruin for America. Our Congress is dysfunctional and only getting worse. It is filled with followers, not leaders. Term limits for Washington politicians are needed now more than ever,” she said, emphasizing that she believes it is crucial for America to stand by allies in “Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan,” deeming it a “moral imperative.”

“We must bind together as Americans. we must turn away from the darkness of hatred and division. I will continue to promote all those values as is the right of every American,” she continued. “I sought the honor of being your president, but in our great country, being a private citizen is privileged enough in itself.”

Quote:Appearing alongside Vice President Kamala Harris in Selma, Alabama, on Sunday, Garland called voter ID laws and other voter integrity laws “discriminatory, burdensome, and unnecessary.” The two were speaking at an event commemorating the fifty-ninth anniversary of the Bloody Sunday attacks on civil rights marchers in Selma.

Garland recalled the history of voting rights for black Americans since the end of slavery, which he said has “never been steady” into the present day, charging that voter ID laws have made it harder “for millions of eligible voters to vote and to elect the representatives of their choice.”

Garland said at Selma’s Tabernacle Baptist Church:

Those measures include practices and procedures that make voting more difficult; redistricting maps that disadvantage minorities; and changes in voting administration that diminish the authority of locally elected or nonpartisan election administrators.

“Such measures threaten the foundation of our system of government,” he added.

Garland said that he has increased the number of lawyers working in the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division, referring to voter integrity laws as “discriminatory, burdensome, and unnecessary restrictions on access to the ballot, including those related to mail-in voting, the use of drop boxes, and voter ID requirements.”

“That is why we are working to block the adoption of discriminatory redistricting plans that dilute the vote of black voters and other voters of color,” he said.

Polling shows that a majority of Americans support voter ID laws of some kind, including 60 percent of Democrats.

Quote:With the bogus case against former President Donald Trump imploding in Georgia, fascist Democrats in Arizona are speeding up their own bogus case in the hopes of falsely imprisoning the leader of the opposition party.

“Arizona prosecutors in recent weeks issued grand jury subpoenas to multiple people linked to Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign,” reports the far-left Politico.

Politico describes this as “a sharp acceleration of their criminal investigation into efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s [alleged] victory in the state.”

The state’s Democrat attorney general, Kris Mayes, “is nearing a decision on whether to charge Trump’s allies in the state.”

As Trump pointed out, all of this comes directly from the Biden White House — maybe not from Biden himself. His Fraudulency has no idea what’s going on, especially with the distraction coming from the Murder She Wrote marathon on TBS. But as Trump gains strength in the polls and Biden loses ground with his base of support among Jew-haters, young people, and black and Hispanic voters, all the Biden team’s got are these banana republic tactics. If you can’t beat him, arrest him, is the new Democrat Party motto, one backed up 100 percent by the corporate media.

Currently, in the RealClearPolitics average poll of polls, Biden’s approval rating has collapsed to 39 percent. His disapproval rating sits at 57.3 percent. He’s 18 points underwater.

At the same time in 2020, Biden led Trump by an average of 5.5 points in a head-to-head matchup. Today, Biden is losing by 2.2 points. That’s a 7.7-point swing in Trump’s direction. No Republican presidential candidate has polled this well in 20 years.

Trump leads Biden by nearly three points in a potential four-way race that includes third-party candidates Robert F. Kennedy, Cornel West, and Jill Stein.

In the seven swing states that will decide who becomes our next president, Trump leads in six — and in six of those seven, Trump allegedly lost to Slow Joe in 2020. In Arizona, Trump is +5.5; Nevada, +7.7; Wisconsin, +1; Michigan, +3.6; Pennsylvania, -0.8; North Carolina, +5.7; and Georgia, +6.5.

Quote:The South Carolina Senate passed the constitutional carry conference report on Wednesday and on Thursday Gov. Henry McMaster (R-SC) will sign it into law.

The legislation will take effect immediately.

On March 5, Breitbart News noted that constitutional carry passed the House after being taken up by a legislative committee comprised of three House and three Senate members, who cleaned the bill up then released it via a conference report.

The conference report passed the state House on Tuesday and passed the state Senate on Wednesday.

Constitutional carry will be signed into law by McMaster during a private signing ceremony on Thursday and a ceremonial, non-private signing will occur at a future date.

Quote:Adelvis Carmona Rodriguez, 29, was arrested on March 5 and is accused of shooting at a woman on February 4 in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, according to WFLD-TV.

The victim received multiple gunshot wounds and was listed in critical condition at Mount Sinai Hospital.

The shooters were seen in an SUV, the Chicago Police Department reported.

Rodriguez was ultimately identified and arrested on February 26 by the U.S. Marshals Service and the Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force, which identified him as an illegal alien from Venezuela and a suspected gang member.

The suspect was charged with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault with a weapon, and possession of a weapon.

According to data supplied by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, approximately 335,000 Venezuelan nationals were encountered by the Border Patrol in 2023, but the Biden administration only deported 834 of them.

In addition, President Joe Biden also redesignated Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans who arrived before July 31, 2023, shielding around 470,000 illegal border crossers from that country from deportation.

According to a February 24 report by Fox News, illegals from Venezuela are increasingly linked to violent crimes in the U.S.A.

Quote:The jury convicted Reed on Wednesday after just three hours of deliberation following two weeks of testimony about the unsafe conditions on the set of Rust, which culminated in the fatal moment when actor Alec Baldwin accidentally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins with a gun he had been told was “cold.” The armorer was, however, acquitted of a separate charge of tampering with evidence and faces up to 18 months in prison.

Per Variety.:

As the film’s armorer, Gutierrez Reed was responsible for safe handling of guns on set. She loaded a live bullet into Baldwin’s pistol, which should have contained only dummy rounds. The gun fired, killing Halyna Hutchins and seriously wounding director Joel Souza. To convict on the involuntary manslaughter charge, jurors had to agree that Gutierrez Reed acted with “willful disregard for the safety of others” and that the death was a “foreseeable” consequence of her actions. ShorVtly before the verdict, the jurors asked a question about what might constitute an “intervening event” that would break the foreseeable chain of events. Marlowe Sommer said that she could not offer further explanation than what was contained in jury instructions.

During closing arguments, prosecutor Kari Morrissey said that Reed failed to adhere to safety regulations that could have prevented Halyna Hutchins’ tragic death, including her decision to bring live rounds onto a movie set and her not properly rattle-testing them to ensure they were dummies. Reed’s defense, argued, that the responsibility belongs to the film’s management, which would include Alec Baldwin serving as a producer at the time. He also blamed weapons supplier Seth Kenney for providing both live rounds and dummy rounds to the set.

Quote:Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) has vetoed a Republican-backed bill that would allow Arizona law enforcement to arrest illegal aliens.

This week, Hobbs made her first veto of the year when she refused to sign the “Arizona Border Invasion Act” into law, which authorizes law enforcement officers across the state to arrest illegal aliens who have crossed the United States-Mexico border.

Arizona police would be permitted to charge illegal aliens with a misdemeanor when they are first arrested and a felony if they are arrested a second time for crossing into the state.

In a letter, Hobbs claimed the bill “does not secure the border” and would be “harmful for … businesses” that hire illegal aliens to fill Arizona jobs.

State Sen. Janae Shamp ® told AZ Central that “the legislature did its job to protect our citizens, but Governor Hobbs failed to do hers” with her veto of the bill.

Quote:The state of New York is sending the National Guard, State Police, and MTA cops into New York City subways, so commuters “feel safe” amid a leadership failure by the mayor that has devastated the city.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced Wednesday that she would deploy state law enforcement to the Big Apple subway network, as well as “teams of mental health workers,” to “help commuters and visitors to the city feel safe,” according to the New York Times.

The Times reports:

Additional law enforcement officers would add to an already large presence in the subways, where Mayor Eric Adams ordered an additional 1,000 officers in February following a 45 percent spike in major crimes in January compared with the same time last year.

Grand larcenies — thefts without the use of force — were a main driver of the January spike in crime, according to the police. Grand larcenies are defined by the police as major crimes, along with homicides, assaults and robberies.

Hochul is sending 1,000 members of State Police, National Guard, and MTA cops, ostensibly to conduct “bag checks.” It is unclear how that plan will be executed on the service that sees upward of three million riders per day.

“These brazen heinous attacks on our subway system will not be tolerated,” Hochul said Wednesday. “No one heading to their job or to visit family or go to a doctor appointment should worry that the person sitting next to them possesses a deadly weapon.”

New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) was not present at Hochul’s announcement.

Quote:Ukraine has taken responsibility for “disabling” a railway bridge in the Russian mainland region of Samara after explosions were seen in the early hours of Monday morning.

Apparently continuing with the strategy to take the war closer to home for Russians, the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) confirmed “disabling railway bridge in Russia’s Samara region,” state media Ukrinform reported.

In a post on social media, the Ukrainian intelligence service wrote: “The Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine confirmed the fact that the railway bridge over the Chapayevka River in was disabled.”

The DIU claimed that the railway was used by the “aggressor state to transport military cargo” including “engineered ammunition produced by the Polimer JSC plant in Chapayevsk, Samara region.”

The intelligence service said that in light of the damage sustained during the explosion, it is likely that the bridge will be out of commission for at least the next few weeks.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) confirmed to state news agency TASS that a “blast” was heard at the railway bridge at around 5:13 am local time on Monday and that train traffic has since been suspended.

Local emergency services told the Russian news outlet that they believed an explosive device was planted at the base of the bridge’s footing and that support structures and a fence for the bridge were damaged near banks of the the river.

Quote:Ukraine stepped up attacks behind Russian lines on Wednesday with the apparent killing of a Russian election official in a car bomb and a drone assault on a metals plant.

Strikes also rocked the Ukrainian port city of Odesa during a visit by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who was holding talks in the city with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Both Russia and Ukraine have increased their aerial attacks as Moscow’s troops advance on the frontlines and Kyiv faces a shortage of manpower and weapons.

“We heard the sound of sirens and explosions that took place near us. We did not have time to get to a shelter. It is a very intense experience,” Mitsotakis said through a translator in Odesa.

Zelensky said the strike had left “dead and wounded”, but he did not have figures.

“You can see who we are facing. They don’t care where they strike,” he he told the joint press conference.

The apparent hit comes just days after 12 people, including five children, were killed when a Russian drone hit an apartment block in the Black Sea city, one of the deadliest attacks on civilians for weeks.

– Car bomb –

Authorities in the Russian-occupied city of Berdyansk in southern Ukraine said a local election official had been killed in a car bombing it blamed on Kyiv.

“A homemade explosive device was planted under the vehicle of a member of the precinct election commission,” the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

“The victim died from her injuries,” it added, publishing a video of a blown-out small beige car parked on a dirt track.

The attack came with early voting already underway across occupied Ukraine for this month’s Russian presidential election.

Quote:Data published by the British Ministry of Defence’s periodic Defence Intelligence digest claims the war in Ukraine continues to claim an ever higher number of Russian casualties incurred daily, on average, hits new levels. The new average daily loss by Russia estimated by the UK has now hit 983 per day killed and wounded, a considerable increase on the 172 a day experienced in the summer of 2022.

The British figures show that while the casualty figures have wavered in over two years of war, the strong overall trend has been upwards year on year. As noted by the digest, the steep increase “almost certainly reflects” Russia pursuing “mass and attritional warfare”, which the UK notes is costly to Russian life but also increases “pressure” on Ukraine, which is presumably less able to absorb mass casualties.

Based on its rolling aggregate of Russian casualties the United Kingdom estimates Russia has lost 355,000 men killed and wounded during its invasion of Ukraine so far. The number is comparable to Ukraine’s own numbers, which claims 416,00 “Russian invaders” killed and wounded. While there is a serious discrepancy between Ukraine’s claim and the British assessment, the gap is smaller there than in some other areas of the war where Ukraine states it has taken out twice as many Russian weapons as Western estimates suggest.

In armoured vehicles, for instance, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said in February that Russia has now lost 3,000 tanks in the course of the war so far, and 8,800 armoured fighting vehicles. The Ukrainians, for their part, said they’d taken out 6,500 Russian tanks and 12,000 armoured vehicles.

Comparing Russia’s casualties, stated by the British Ministry of Defence, with Ukraine’s count of its own casualties is also difficult. While the country normally published no figures, President Volodymyr Zelensky made a rare statement on the second anniversary of the conflict starting by saying a figure of 300,000 given for his side alleged by the Kremlin is a “deceitful” lie and the true number was 31,000 killed.

In August last year, U.S. government sources cited in reports said the number of killed and wounded on both sides had reached half a million including 120,000 Russian dead and 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers dead. As observed, if true the Ukrainians have already sustained more dead than the U.S. in 20 years in Vietnam.

Quote:The families of several Indian citizens tricked into fighting for Russia on the front lines in Ukraine have asked the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring their missing sons and husbands home safely.

The Indian opposition slammed Modi for remaining silent on the issue and for creating an economy that would drive so many desperate workers to accept dodgy offers of employment in places such as Russia.

At least 20 Indian citizens have reportedly fallen prey to a scam that offered to fly them to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for lucrative employment. The victims boarded their flights as directed, but found themselves landing in Russia, where they were strong-armed into joining the Russian military to fight in Ukraine.

Raja Begum of India’s Poshwan village told the UK Telegraph on Saturday that her 31-year-old son Azad Yousuf Kumar was recruited for a “housekeeping job” in the UAE by an “independent consultant” named Faisal Khan. Khan runs a YouTube channel called “Baba Vlogs” where he bills himself as a highly successful recruiter for well-compensated jobs in the Middle East.

According to Begum, Khan provided her son with a UAE visa and arranged a flight for him, charging almost $4,000 for his services. Kumar disappeared for months after departing for his “job,” only to resurface in a phone call from a mysterious number, saying he had been tricked and was in desperate need of help.

“He said that he stayed in Sharjah for 16 days and later they were told there were no jobs in the UAE. Instead, he would be taken to Russia to work in the kitchen. He was immediately taken to a secret military base. For two weeks he and others were taught how to use guns and throw grenades,” Begum said. Sharjah is the third-largest city in the UAE.

Quote:The circumstances of his death are unclear, but the victim was said to be among the Indians sent to fight for Russia in Ukraine.

Asaddudin Owaisi, president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) party, told The Hindu on Wednesday that the family of 30-year-old Muhammad Asfan learned of his death after making repeated efforts to discover his whereabouts.

“An Indian Embassy staffer confirmed that Asfan passed away,” Owaisi said. He did not have details about exactly where, or when, Asfan died.

Asfan’s brother Imran said he was one of many Indian men duped by a “travel agent” named Faisal Khan, who runs a YouTube channel for tourists and job-seekers called Baba Vlogs. This operation allegedly lures impoverished Indian men with promises of good jobs in places like the United Arab Emirates but then abandons them in Russia, where they are arrested as undocumented migrants and forced to join the military.

Some victims alternately say they were offered support positions in the Russian military, with good pay and promises of no combat role, only to find themselves forced onto the front lines in Ukraine after minimal training. Muhammad Asfan seemed to fall in the latter category.

“On November 13, they were made to sign a one-year agreement, which was in Russian, a language he did not know. Believing the agent, he signed the agreement,” his brother said.

The family last heard from Asfan two months ago, when he contacted them from the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don to say he was being deployed to the front lines in Ukraine. His brother Imran said the family heard from another Indian pressed into Russian military service that Muhammad “had been wounded by a bullet.”

Quote:For decades, EU nations have slumbered under the protective nuclear cover of the United States through the NATO alliance while their defense spending and crisis preparedness withered.

A first warning under Donald Trump’s presidency highlighted a lack of coordination and supplies that would be needed if European nations would ever have to defend themselves without Washington’s help.

Now, with an increasingly assertive Moscow, the need to beef up defense is becoming ever clearer.

“After decades of underspending, we must invest more on defense, but we need to do it better and together,” said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. “A strong, resilient, and competitive European defense industry is a strategic imperative.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has exposed glaring weaknesses in Europe´s arms manufacturing capacities that were neglected in the wake of the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall and the promise of a peace dividend in Europe.

So when Kyiv was badly in need of the most elementary ammunition to stave off Russian forces, European nations were caught out, unable to deliver what was asked and even promised.

The realization that former President Trump might return to the White House and undermine support for Ukraine has also focused minds in Europe. EU heavyweights France and Germany have warned that the bloc must do more to protect itself.

And after years of go-it-alone defense strategies that left Europe divided despite high spending, the plan seeks to impose common strategies.

Quote:Local Argentine media reported on Tuesday that President Javier Milei is planning to visit Ukraine in June to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky and express Argentina’s support for the country amid Russia’s ongoing invasion.

Milei’s planned trip to Ukraine will mark the first time a Latin American head of state visits the country after Russia’s February 2022 invasion since former Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei’s visit to Kyiv in July 2022.

In Latin America, Moscow’s deep friendly ties with leftist authoritarian regimes in the region – most notably those of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua – has resulted in leftist politicians more likely to support the invasion, while conservative and/or right-wing political figures are more likely to take Ukraine’s side.

Sources from Argentina’s Casa Rosada (Pink House) presidential office told Todo Noticias that although the details of Milei’s itinerary are not yet confirmed, both countries are working to outline dates and details. The Argentine presidency is aiming for a June date despite the logistical complications inherent to the ongoing war in Ukraine. The encounter’s prospective June date was also confirmed to other local Argentine outlets such as El Cronista.

Shortly after his November 2023 electoral victory, Milei held a roughly 20-minute telephone conversation with Zelensky in which both heads of state reportedly agreed to organize an Argentine-hosted peace summit between Latin American countries and Ukraine sometime during 2024. Shortly after the conversation, Zelensky publicly thanked Milei for his support, noting that he had extended an invitation to the Argentine president to visit Ukraine.

Quote:During an interview with CBS on Wednesday, State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel responded to a question on what the U.S. is doing to ensure that the aid it is dropping into Gaza will get to the right people by stating that “every lever possible needs to be pulled when it comes to humanitarian aid. And that is what we are trying to do in close coordination with partners in the region.”

Host Anne-Marie Green asked, “I want to ask you about that humanitarian aid, of course, part of the reason it’s happening is because the U.S. and other countries have pulled support from UNRWA, the U.N. [agency] that had been providing most of the humanitarian aid in Gaza. As I understand it, these drops are very difficult, very dangerous, and I wonder what precautions are being taken to ensure that they are being given to people who are most in need, that the aid is going to the right people?”

Patel answered, “Our point of view, Anne-Marie, is that every lever possible needs to be pulled when it comes to humanitarian aid. And that is what we are trying to do in close coordination with partners in the region. And look, as it relates to UNRWA, there were…some very serious and credible allegations as it relates to employees of UNRWA that the United Nations and UNRWA itself are continuing to look into. But that being said, we know that they are critical partners as it relates to the provision of aid in the region, but they have an internal process that they need to work through. Of course, any kind of participation in terrorism and violence is certainly a nonstarter for us.”

Patel never explained which levers they're actually pulling in this case.

Quote:John Kerry — former senator, onetime Democrat candidate for president, and special presidential envoy for climate (SPEC) to President Joe Biden — said on Tuesday that people around the world might “feel better” about the Russian government if it invests as much effort into fighting climate change as it puts into fighting Ukraine.

Kerry made the jaw-dropping comment at a press conference in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, the day before he retired as SPEC to join Biden’s reelection campaign.

A Russian reporter asked if the state of relations between the U.S. and Russia was interfering with climate cooperation, quoting a Russian official who complained that Western sanctions made it difficult for Moscow to invest in green energy.

“In this regards, do you think that the Western sanctions are affecting global efforts to fight climate change and the shared commitments under the Paris Agreement?” the reporter asked.

Kerry responded:

No, I don’t. Because I believe that Russia has the ability to be able to make enormous changes if it really wanted to. I mean, if Russia has the ability to wage a war illegally and invade another country, they ought to be able to find the effort to be responsible on the climate issue. And unfortunately, because of the actions that Russia took in an unprovoked, illegal war against another nation, we have not been engaged in discussions with Russia, sadly. I say “sadly” because it’s a loss for the world not to be able to have Russia acting constructively on this issue.

But we need every country, including Russia – Russia’s one [of] the largest emitters in the world. If Russia wanted to show good faith, they could go out and announce what their reductions are going to be and make a greater effort to reduce emissions now. Maybe that would open up the door for people to feel better about what Russia is choosing to do at this point in time.
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Fox News noted this was not the first time Kerry rambled about climate change while discussing the war in Ukraine. For example, in a July 2023 MSNBC interview, he asked viewers to think about all the greenhouse gas emissions from Russia’s intense bombing campaign:

Lots of parts of the world are exacerbating the problem right now, but when you have bombs going off, and you have damage to septic tanks or to power centers, etcetera, you have an enormous release of greenhouse gas, methane, all of the family of greenhouse gasses and the result is it’s adding to the problem.

Quote:[NPR’s All Things Considered] Co-host Ari Shapiro asked, [relevant exchange begins around 3:10] “China is building more coal-fired power plants and the U.S.[‘s] emissions are not falling fast enough to meet American climate goals. And so, what leads you to believe that these promises will be kept?”

Kerry responded, “Yes, China has about 360 gigawatts of coal-fired power that is slated to come online or be built. And that would be catastrophic if that’s what happens. But China is, I think, to some degree, hedging against the reality of what their economy needs as a backstop. But they’re building, they’re constructing and deploying more renewables than all of the rest of the world put together.”

Shapiro then asked, “You think the coal plants are a just in case break glass in case of emergency that might never be used?”

Kerry answered, “That’s what they say to us. And that’s what begins to be a possibility as we look at the massive amount of renewable that’s being deployed.”

That demonstrates why Kerry is a moron. After what happened with the spy balloon, he dares to believe the CCP cares about their international commitments?  

Quote:Chinese dictator Xi Jinping demanded innovative solutions to China’s growing economic woes in remarks on Tuesday and Wednesday, warning against “a headlong rush into projects and the formation of industry bubbles” that could result in “abandoning traditional industries.”

Xi made appearances at the ongoing “two sessions” of the country’s rubber-stamped lawmaking bodies, the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). The NPC can draft and pass laws but is entirely beholden to the leadership of the Communist Party elite, while the CPPCC is advisory in nature and has no real power.

The annual “two sessions” began on Monday with an emphasis on rehabilitating China’s languishing economy. China documented its first-ever decline in foreign direct investment in November – an $11.8-billion fall recorded in the fiscal quarter ending in September – in part as a result of a growing real estate crisis, rising youth unemployment, and growing awareness of the risks of doing business with the genocidal, totalitarian Communist Party. China’s falling status as a premier investment location has been in part at the expense of India, which has aggressively courted multinational corporations based in China with increased success in the aftermath of China’s “zero-Covid policy.”

The solution the Chinese government is touting most enthusiastically to its economic woes is “new quality productive forces,” a self-admitted “buzzword” for technological innovation intended to create entirely new industries for Beijing to dominate. A propaganda video published by the state outlet Global Times described “new quality productive forces” as the answer to “what China is doing to tackle various challenges,” defined as “advanced productivity that is led by innovation.”

Xi reportedly “stressed” the pursuit of “new quality productive forces” but, unlike the many propaganda pieces in state media advancing the concept, emphasized that these potentially lucrative fields in the future cannot come at the expense of the productivity of sectors of the economy that actually exist today.

“Xi called for focusing on high-quality development as the top priority, urging efforts to step up innovation, foster emerging industries,” the Chinese government news agency Xinhua relayed, “adopt forward-thinking plans for developing future-oriented industries and improve the modernized industrial system.”

Quote:Reuters reported on Tuesday that major Indian firms are interested in building at least ten gigawatts of coal-fired power generation over the next decade, expanding some existing plants and reviving projects that stalled out when coal power fell into environmentalist disfavor.

“The potential investments, which have not been previously reported, could cumulatively cost billions of dollars and demonstrate renewed appetite in an industry seen by many as financially unattractive. But they also threaten to undermine progress made by the world’s No.3 greenhouse gas emitter in weaning its economy off carbon,” said Reuters.

India currently has about 215 gigawatts of coal power, plus 47 gigawatts of hydropower and 135 gigawatts of renewable energy. Sources in both the government and private sector told Reuters that India feels it has done enough to reduce emissions and must now focus on building affordable and reliable power capacity to meet its industrial needs.

If anything, the support for coal plants voiced by big corporations like Adani Power and Essar Power is modest compared to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s desire to add 80 gigawatts of coal power by 2032.

India’s power ministry said in November that 27 gigawatts of coal power is already under construction, but the government wants to line up private investors to finance an additional 55 to 60 gigawatts. India’s power demands hit record highs last year and it has the world’s fourth-largest coal reserves standing by to meet that demand.

“India needs 24×7 availability of power for its economic growth; and we are not going to compromise on availability of power for our growth,” the power ministry said in November.

“This power cannot be achieved by renewable energy sources alone. Since nuclear capacity cannot be added at a rapid pace, we have to add coal-based thermal capacity for meeting our energy needs,” the ministry said.

Power ministry officials said solar power was too unreliable and dependent on weather conditions to meet surging demand, although India still plans to add more green energy generators as well.

Quote:The South Korean government on Tuesday appointed a career diplomat named Lee Tae-woo to head up rushed negotiations for the renewal of a defense agreement with the U.S. that will not expire for two years.

Former President Donald Trump has notably called for South Korea to increase its contributions by 500 percent; the South Korean government’s moves to ensure that the agreement will remain as-is far beyond the 2024 American presidential election could be interpreted as a way to prepare for Trump’s potential return to the White House.

The Special Measures Agreement (SMA) covering U.S. contributions to South Korea’s defense has been renewed 11 times since 1991, most recently in April 2021, when a deal lasting until 2025 was sealed.

Under the eleventh SMA, the administration of former President Moon Jae-in agreed to a 13.9-percent increase in the amount paid to keep American troops in South Korea. This marked the first time Seoul’s contribution had increased by more than ten percent in a single round of the SMA and the first time it paid more than a billion dollars.

In the final year of his administration, Trump rejected South Korea’s offer of a 13-percent increase. Trump felt South Korea was taking advantage of American protection, paying a pittance when its huge economy would allow it to handle a much heavier share of the costs.

“This is a very strong alliance we have, but Korea is a wealthy country and could and should pay more to help offset the cost of defense,” Trump’s Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in November 2019 after meeting with his South Korean counterpart, Jeong Kyeong-doo.

Esper added that most of the funding in question is spent in South Korea to cover the cost of U.S. troops living in the country, so the money would stay in Korea rather than being sent to the United States.

Quote:Civilian mariners have been killed in a missile strike in the Red Sea for the first time in the present conflict, with a bulk carrier abandoned and burning in the critical waterway after a Houthi attack.

The U.S. and UK condemned the aggression of Iran-backed proxies the Houthis after a ballistic missile struck a a Barbados-flagged, Liberian-owned merchant ship attempting to transit the Gulf of Aden, killing three and critically wounding several others.

The United States Central Command reported an anti-ship ballistic missile “launched from Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist-controlled areas of Yemen” struck the Bulk Tanker MV True Confidence at 1130am Sanaa Time (0830 London, 0330 New York) on Wednesday morning. Ballistic missiles travel high into the outer atmosphere before plunging back down to earth at very high speeds, which can make them hard to intercept.

Three crewmen were killed and at least four people were injured, three of which were said to be in critical condition. The ship sustained “serious damage” and the missile’s detonation started a fire. Images published by the US Navy clearly show smoke, scorch marks, and mangled deck cargo from the blast. Lloyds of London reports there was a “series of loud explosions” onboard and that the crew was comprised of 20 people from India, Vietnam, and the Philipines, as well as three armed guards from Sri Lanka and Nepal.

The True Confidence, which is burning, has been abandoned by its crew and Western warships were attending the scene.

A military spokesman for the Houthis, the Iran-backed Shiite Islamist terror group that controls swathes of Iran and who have been attacking global shipping since Hamas launched its terror attack against Israel last year, said the lethal strike against the True Confidence was a victory for Palestine.

Quote:Israel accused the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) of using Hamas to “protect” humanitarian aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip, with the result that much of the aid was stolen and not distributed to needy civilians.

Eylon Levy, an Israeli government spokesman, told reporters Wednesday that reports of Israel restricting aid to Gaza were “misleading,” and that there was virtually unlimited capacity at Israeli border crossing points for aid into Gaza.

Levy noted that 2,735 tons of food had entered Gaza the day before — three pounds per person, he said — and that Israel had achieved a “record” capacity of 277 aid trucks per day, checking as many as 44 trucks per hour for banned weapons.

The border crossings, Levy said, were being “underutilized by donor states at the moment.” The problem was that the United Nations “is struggling to distribute aid at the pace Israel is letting it in,” citing UNRWA in particular.

Israel has said that UNRWA is aligned with terrorists, noting the involvement of UNRWA employees in the October 7 attack in Israel. It has said that UNRWA should be replaced in Gaza by United Nations agencies not tainted by line to terror.

Asked by Breitbart News whether UNRWA’s problems were due to its own incompetence, or to Israeli pressure, Levy said: “UNRWA was doing a cataclysmically bad job of distributing aid even before the revelations. … And the reason is UNRWA is not an aid agency.” He added that UNRWA was established to provide “education, health and welfare services … to those [Palestinians] falsely classified as refugees” several generations after fleeing the 1948 war.

Quote:The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) warned in a video published on Tuesday that Iran has successfully expanded its influence in Venezuela to such a degree that it has planted military assets there that pose a threat to American cities within attack distance, such as Miami, Florida.

The video is part of a series by the IDF called “Iran’s Axis of Terror,” explaining how Tehran uses alliances around the world to undermine global security and enable jihadist terrorism that poses a threat far beyond Israel.

Iran’s Islamist “revolutionary” regime and the socialist gang led by dictator Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela conspicuously flaunt their alliance. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi most recently visited Venezuela – and fellow leftist allies Nicaragua and Cuba – in June, inking deals in Caracas to develop a “technology office” and significant expansions of the presence of Iranian mining, education, agriculture, and other industries in the impoverished socialist country.

“Having common interests, views and enemies has made cooperation deep and strategic,” Raisi declared at a joint press conference with Maduro at the time.

The IDF report focused on Iran’s weapons cooperation with Venezuela, asking, “Why are Iranian weapons on display in military parades in Latin America?”

“Iran uses Venezuela as its home base in South America. Iran delivers weapons to Venezuela by air and sea that are very well capable of hitting U.S. territory,” the IDF observed. “For example, the Iranian Mohajer 6 UAV that was displayed during a recent military parade in Venezuela has a flight time of 12 hours and a range of 1,200 miles, placing U.S. cities like Miami well within striking distance.”

“Iranian Zolfagher boats armed with anti-ship missiles currently sit off the coast of northwest Venezuela,” the report continued, noting that the boats are believed to be stationed currently in Zulia state, one of the country’s poorest. “Even though these boats are not meant to go very far into the ocean, the missiles they carry are.”

The IDF also accused Iran of benefitting from the transcontinental illegal drug trade originating in Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, and Mexico, using proxies such as the Hezbollah terrorist organization to connect with cartels in the region. For many years, the Venezuelan regime was believed to work with Hezbollah through former Oil Minister Tareck El Aissami, who was once identified as “one of Hezbollah’s great bagmen” and key to Iran-Venezuela relations. Maduro purged El Aissami in 2023 after years of accusations of corruption, making ties to Iran and its terror proxies more direct.

Quote:Iran confirmed on Wednesday it would seize the oil aboard the Advantage Sweet, a cargo ship the regime seized in the Persian Gulf in April alleging it had been involved in a maritime collision.

Iran’s state-run PressTV reported that the Iranian government had seized the oil, which was en route to Texas to be processed by the American oil giant Chevron, to compensate Iranians who had sued the American government on the grounds that sanctions on the state sponsor of terror made it impossible for them to secure critical medication.

The Advantage Sweet displays the flag of the Marshall Islands and was traveling from Kuwait, where the oil is believed to have originated, to Houston, Texas, when the Iranian Navy intercepted and seized it in April 2023. The oil onboard is believed to be worth $50 million.

The seizure of the ship’s cargo follows a tumultuous month at sea in the Middle East, largely the product of the Iranian proxy terrorist organization Ansar Allah, more commonly known as the Houthis, declaring “war” on Israel in support of the fellow Iran-backed terror group Hamas. The Houthi “war” has consisted in attacking commercial ships transiting in and around the Red Sea, resulting in skyrocketing insurance and shipping rates and a significant disruption in global commerce, as ships avoid Mideast waters and redirect around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa. The potential for Iranian government seizures of commercial ships for shifting reasons could add to concerns that shipping around the Red Sea is no longer a safe option for many companies.

“[An] unknown ship collided with an Iranian vessel last night in the Persian Gulf, causing several Iranian crew members to go missing and get injured,” Iranian state media reported in April, according to the U.S. Naval Institute, as the excuse for seizing the Advantage Sweet.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), which is in charge of Pentagon operations in the Middle East, issued a statement in the immediate aftermath of the seizure of the ship blaming the Iranian Navy for stealing the ship.

“In the past two years, Iran has unlawfully seized at least five commercial vessels sailing in the Middle East,” CENTCOM observed.

 Huh? And what was CENTCOM doing right then when the Iranians were seizing them at will?

Quote:Sweden formally ended its long history of quasi-neutrality on Thursday as it signed articles with NATO in Washington, becoming the 32nd member of the alliance and the second new joiner in a year.

Sweden, like Finland in April 2023, has joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). The official signing of the instrument of accession with the U.S. State Department, as represented by Antony Blinken, took place with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in Washington D.C..

The U.S. State Department is the depository for the Treaty of Washington which founded NATO in 1949 and consequently is the body which signs up new members. A similar ceremony took place for Finland last year.

Sweden and Finland both applied to join NATO in the wake of Russia’s second invasion of Ukraine in 2022, fearing a resurgent Moscow looking covetously on its neighbours. Sweden’s addition to NATO completes, to some extent, what is called the ‘NATO lake’ of the Baltic sea. Now every state bordering the great water is a NATO member except Russia, which has its ports of St Petersburg and Kaliningrad (Konigsberg) on the sea.

While Finland’s membership was processed quickly, Sweden had butted heads with various NATO members in the past and it took time to persuade some states, predominantly Turkey and Hungary, that it would be a positive new member.

In the case of Turkey, for instance, Ankara objected to Sweden giving refuge to fighters the Turkish government considers to be terrorists, and the matter of Sweden’s strong freedom of speech laws allowing Quran burnings both stood in the way of getting the go ahead. Any single NATO member state can veto the application of a new state, an essential safeguard given article 5 of the alliance determines that an attack on one is an attack on all, and absolutely requires mutual defence.

Quote:The company that makes tracks for most of Britain’s armoured vehicles and those of other allied nations worldwide has reverse-engineered old Soviet designs from tank parts and documents held in museums to keep Ukraine’s army going.

The world’s largest tank museum has been providing parts from vehicles held in their collection and original Soviet documentation from their archives to a historic British family-owned engineering firm to produce new stores of spares for vintage Russian tanks serving on the front line for the Ukrainian armed forces, a report reveals. The Bovington Tank Museum in Dorset, England which holds hundreds of vehicles including the world’s first working tank has a collection which mainly focuses on vehicles that had been operated by Britain’s armed forces, or which have been captured by British soldiers in combat, has a large selection of Soviet-era tanks.

The Ukraine War, particularly as the frontline became more static through the winter of 2022-23 has heavily featured mine warfare and this has meant a large number of Ukrainian tanks taken out of service that could still fight except for having had their rotating caterpillar-type tracks blast-damaged. The deal suggests Ukraine’s intense war of self-defence is taking its military equipment beyond whatever Soviet-era stores and spares were left in the country at the end of the Cold War.

That Cook Defence Systems of County Durham, England would be producing tank tracks for Soviet-made vehicles was quietly floated last year, as the Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Patrick Sanders visited the business in June and discussed how the company is “supporting armoured vehicles in service in Ukraine”.

Cook, which exports tracks to Europe, the Middle East, South East Asia and Australia was “commissioned” by the British government to start work on making spares for Soviet tanks last year and signed a multi-million-pound contract for the components and for spare tracks for the British-made armoured vehicles which have been donated to Ukraine in February 2024. The Ministry of Defence said then the deal would “provide hundreds of spare caterpillar tracks for tanks and armoured vehicles – which will allow the AFU [Armed Forces of Ukraine] to recover and restore vehicles damaged by anti-tank weapons and landmines… The company’s experts have been examining and analysing Soviet-era vehicles, some salvaged from Ukraine, to create new tracks to fit a range of requirements.”

Quote:Germany has refused to apologise to the United Kingdom for appearing to disclose that British troops are active on the ground in Ukraine, with Berlin’s ambassador to London declaring there is “no need” to say sorry to its ally.

Last week, in an apparent effort to save face over his refusal to supply Ukraine with its stock of long-range Taurus cruise missiles, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz seemingly disclosed that both France and the United Kingdom have troops on the ground in the war-torn country to oversee the use of their own long-range missiles, while saying that such a step represented a risk he is unwilling to take given the potential for sparking a wider conflict with Russia.
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The comments from Scholz were followed by a leaked recording of top German military officials, including the head of the German Luftwaffe (Air Force) Generalleutnant Ingo Gerhartz, appearing to confirm that British soldiers were providing military intelligence on targets and overseeing the launches of cruise missiles on Russian targets.

The recording, leaked by Moscow, has been confirmed by the German Defence Ministry, however, they left some questions unanswered by saying that it was currently unclear if portions of the audio had been edited before its release by Russia.

Despite not openly denying the veracity of the recording, Berlin has attempted to cast off the scandal as an act of Russian “disinformation” intended to sow discord among Western allies.

This was the line taken up by Germany’s ambassador to Britain, Miguel Berger, who told the BBC’s Today programme that the leak was “a Russian hybrid attack” seeking to “destabilise the West” and therefore said that there is “no need to apologise” to the UK or France.

“We have to be careful not to fall into the Russian trap of creating division and regrettably some media and some people have fallen into this trap,” the ambassador said in comments reported by London’s Daily Telegraph.

Nevertheless, a rift among the three major Western European powers does seem to be emerging, with French President Emmanuel Macron urging allies to not act “cowardly“, in an apparent jibe at Berlin for refusing to send long-range missiles to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, former British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said that the leaked German military recording showed that Berlin is “neither secure nor reliable” as a partner while claiming that the UK has information indicating that “Germany is pretty penetrated by Russian intelligence”.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius claimed on Tuesday that the leak was a result of a single individual and therefore not representative of a system-wide failure. He claimed that one of the participants on the recording had called in from a Singapore air show conference via an insecure Webex line through which the Russians could have easily tapped in.

Quote:A majority of Germans believe their country reached its limit of refugees, as the number of asylum applications hit their highest level since 2016.

Last year, Germany saw 352,000 foreigners apply for asylum, including 329,000 first-time applications, an increase of 51 per cent over the previous year and the highest level since 2016, according to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees.

The sharp increase of alleged asylum seekers into the country has put heavy strain on government financial resources and stretched thin the ability of localities to accommodate and provide for migrants.

Amid this background, a study from the Bertelsmann Foundation found that 60 per cent of Germans believe that the country has hit its breaking point in terms of letting in massive waves of refugees. This is compared to just 36 per cent in 2021, and 54 per cent in 2017 during the Europe Migrant Crisis, broadcaster NTV reports.

The poll found that 78 per cent of those surveyed were concerned about increased costs to the public towards welfare payments as a result of immigration, while 74 per cent feared the influx of foreigners would lead to housing shortages in cities and 71 per cent were worried about the impact of migration on schools. Additionally, 73 per cent said that they were fearful of increased conflicts between the local and foreign populations.

The author of the study, Ulrike Wieland, said results indicated a feeling among Germans that migration is stretching the “systemic capacities” of the country and a growing perception that the scale of migration was preventing the ability to integrate foreigners. He said that the study also found that the economic downturn in Germany — despite the supposed benefits of migration to economic growth claimed by open borders advocates — is creating an “impression of collective exhaustion and excessive demands”.

Wieland went on to note that the problems associated with mass migration have created an environment in the country in which the populist right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) prospers, as more voters disaffected with the neo-liberal governance over the past decade look past establishment parties for answers.

Rather than meaningfully address the public’s concerns over mass migration, the government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz — whose own Social Democrat Party has been surpassed in the polls by the populist insurgent AfD — is seeking to impose anti-democratic measures to curtail the rise of the so-called “far-right”.

If they were true measures to prevent Nazis from getting back into the Reichstag, I mean, the Bundestag, I wouldn't mind. The thing is that the German politicians can't simply ignore the fact that you can't let in every single immigrant just because they're Syrian or Palestinian and the like. Just take a look at what happens in Spain, Sweden and yes, the US as well!

Quote:Poland saw its most violent protest by farmers and supporters yet Wednesday as some participants threw stones at police and tried to push through barriers around parliament, injuring several officers, police said.

Police used tear gas and said they detained over a dozen people and prevented the protesters from getting through to the Sejm, the Polish parliament.

Farmers are angry over European Union climate policies and food imports from Ukraine that they say threaten their livelihoods. Such protests have occurred across the 27-member EU in recent weeks, but this one was decidedly angrier than earlier demonstrations in the central European nation.

Police noted on the social media platform X that its officers “are not a party to the ongoing dispute” and warned that behavior threatening their safety “cannot be taken lightly and requires a firm and decisive response.”

The deputy agriculture minister, Michal Kolodziejczak, said he didn’t believe that “real, normal farmers caused a riot in front of the Sejm today,” and that it was necessary to isolate “provocateurs and troublemakers.”

He did not say who he thought was behind the violence.

Hey! You know, they could go to any State capitol or the US Capitol itself and do whatever they want there and no Democrat would ever care if they steal a thing or two just because.

Quote:More than 50,000 Colombians flocked to the streets of Colombia’s main cities on Wednesday to peacefully protest against sweeping leftist reforms the government of radical socialist President Gustavo Petro is attempting to impose on the country.

Wednesday’s peaceful protests were the latest in a recurring series of such events organized by the Colombian opposition against Petro’s Marxist government.

The nationwide event, called the “March of the Majorities,” was organized by members of Colombian conservative political parties such as the Democratic Center, Just and Fair Colombia, and the National Salvation parties, as well as unions such as the General Confederation of Labor (CGT). Local media reported that the peaceful demonstrations took place in at least 18 Colombian cities, including the capital city of Bogotá.

Participants of the demonstrations expressed their rejection of the economic, political, healthcare, and social reforms that Petro’s government has been attempting to implement since taking office in 2022. Most notably, the event allowed the peaceful demonstrators to express disapproval over the health reform proposal that the Colombian Congress is close to approving.

If passed, the reform will bring drastic changes to the nation’s healthcare system, such as granting the state larger control of the country’s healthcare facilities and severely diminishing the role of private healthcare providers.

The controversial healthcare reform is one of the several yet-to-be-implemented policies that Petro, a former member of the Marxist M19 guerilla, and his Historic Pact coalition have insisted on passing to significantly change Colombia — a country that, prior to Petro, had not elected a single leftist president in its history.

Quote:Akira Toriyama, one of Japan’s leading comics authors, whose manga and anime franchise “Dragon Ball” achieved worldwide success with its mix of comedic characters and rousing martial arts battles, died on March 1. He was 68.

His death was confirmed on Friday in a statement by his manga and design production company, Bird Studio, and Capsule Corporation Tokyo. The statement said the cause was acute subdural hematoma, a condition in which blood collects between the skull and brain. It did not say where Mr. Toriyama died.

Mr. Toriyama’s body of work, which also includes “Dr. Slump” and “Sand Land,” is recognizable far beyond Japan’s borders, having influenced generations of manga artists and cartoonists. The studio said he had several projects in the works at his death.

His best-known work, “Dragon Ball,” follows a young boy named Son Goku who embarks on a journey to collect the seven magical orbs that summon a wish-granting dragon. Since its creation in the 1980s, it has spanned 42 volumes, sold millions of copies worldwide and become one of the most famous manga, inspiring television, film and video game adaptations.

Throughout his career, Mr. Toriyama said in a 2013 interview with the Japanese newspaper The Asahi Shimbun, he did not care if his work did anything besides entertaining its readers. He was, he suggested, unlike “other manga artists concerned about conveying didactic messages.”

“The role of my manga,” he said, “is to be a work of entertainment through and through.”

Akira Toriyama was born on April 5, 1955, in Kiyosu, Japan, according to local news media. He studied design at a technology and engineering high school in Aichi Prefecture. After graduating, he worked as a designer for an advertising company in Nagoya.

He left his job after a few years and started drawing manga at 23. His first manga, an action and adventure comic called “Wonder Island,” was published in 1978.

He gained popularity with the serialization of “Dr. Slump” from 1980 to 1984, a science-fiction manga about an android girl known for her childlike personality and superhuman strength. It was adapted for television as an anime series.

Quote:Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi hosted a one-and-a-half-hour press conference on Thursday in which he outlined what he described as his country’s top foreign policy concerns, among them the claim that America is “obsessed with suppressing China” and needs to protect its “credibility” by maintaining China-friendly policies.

Wang was speaking on the ongoing occasion of the annual “two sessions,” in which China’s national legislative bodies, the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), meet to advance the goals of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The NPC is the most powerful legislative body in the country, a rubber-stamp entity fully controlled by dictator Xi Jinping. The CPPCC is an “advisory” body, meaning it has no power to enact law, and it often serves as a place for regime-friendly elites to obtain a political position while having to put little to no effort into governing. Xi has allowed multiple individuals with ties to organized crime to hold seats in the CPPCC.

Wang is China’s most powerful diplomat, holding both the foreign minister position and the director of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee Foreign Affairs Commission Office. Wang obtained the foreign minister seat after the mysterious purging of his predecessor Qin Gang in the summer of 2023.

The foreign minister’s extensive press conference touched on several sensitive issues, including the ongoing threat of radical Islamic terrorism against Israel, Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine, and China’s false claims of sovereignty over the nation of Taiwan. Wang dedicated a significant percentage of his remarks to the relationship with America, however, asserting that “peaceful coexistence is the baseline” and that Washington needed to do more to embrace “win-win cooperation.”

“Mutual respect is the precondition, because interaction sustains only when differences in social and political systems are respected and acknowledged,” Wang Yi said, according to a translation by the Foreign Ministry. While granting that “some improvement” in bilateral ties had occurred since dictator Xi Jinping met with American President Joe Biden in California in November, Wang blamed “U.S. misperception toward China” for stunting the potential friendship between the two countries.

“The U.S. has been devising various tactics to suppress China and kept lengthening its unilateral sanctions list, reaching bewildering levels of unfathomable absurdity,” Wang complained, suggesting America would soon lose “credibility” as a world power...

Quote:Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc., the parent company of the Discovery Channel, appeared to express remorse in a letter to members of Congress made public on Thursday about its decision to co-produce a travel program with Chinese state media focused on occupied East Turkistan, where the Communist Party has been engaging in genocidal activities since at least 2017.

The Discovery Channel entered an agreement with CGTN, a Chinese government propaganda outlet, to produce a documentary released in January called World’s Ultimate Frontier, showcasing the breathtaking desert and mountain landscapes of East Turkistan. China refers to East Turkistan, a formerly free state colonized by mass murderer Mao Zedong, by the Mandarin name “Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region,” or XUAR. The documentary claims to portray the “real Xinjiang,” as opposed to the reality that human rights activists and journalists have uncovered throughout the past decade of a genocidal police state littered with concentration camps, slave-worked farms, and high-tech mass surveillance.

“What comes to mind when you think of Xinjiang? Vast expanses of desert, towering mountains, diverse minorities living in harmony, cultures fusing together?” CGTN asks in its promotional video on the documentary.

“The fact is that Xinjiang has so many facets that its charm can hardly be captured in words! Thankfully anyone interested in experiencing the real Xinjiang is in for a treat when the documentary World’s Ultimate Frontier is aired on January 19.”

CGTN deleted its preview article and video on the documentary series shortly after its debut, as it attracted the attention of members of Congress, who questioned the Discovery Channel’s role in promoting the series. The series remains online, however, on CGTN’s YouTube channel, with no overt mentions of the Discovery Channel’s role in the production.

Quote:Customs agents in Thailand found a trove of endangered animals hidden in luggage on Wednesday at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport.

Deutsche Welle (DW) reported that six Indian nationals were taken into custody on suspicion of animal smuggling.

The group of suspects was traveling to Mumbai, and NBC News noted that “Thailand, which borders four countries, has seen its fair share of illegal wildlife trafficking and customs officials at Suvarnabhumi often seize reptiles and small animals in luggage.”

Authorities found the red panda inside a storage basket and customs officials released an image of the endangered creature looking straight into the camera when the container was opened:

Customs officials explained in a statement, “We have found out that the animals include 29 black throat monitor lizards, 21 snakes, 15 birds, including parrots —  a total of 87 animals. The animals were hidden inside the luggage.”

Per the NBC report, animal products are in high demand in Asian countries such as China, Myanmar, and Thailand. Some people use them when practicing traditional medicine; others consume the animals.

A multilateral treaty dubbed CITES protects the animals discovered in the luggage. The treaty shields against endangered plants and creatures from being traded internationally, according to the DW article.

Quote:India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) announced on Thursday it has opened a case against a “major human trafficking network” that is luring Indian men to fight for Russia on the front lines in Ukraine.

These scam operations became a media sensation in India over the past few weeks as the families of men tricked into joining the Russian military came forward. The victims were mostly men from impoverished areas desperate for overseas employment. Some believed they were taking safe support jobs for the Russian military, only to find themselves on the battle line in Ukraine with minimal gear and training. Others thought they had applied for jobs in busy overseas markets like the United Arab Emirates, but were instead stranded in Russia and forced into military service.

The Indian Foreign Ministry said this week it was aware of about 20 cases, but CBI said at least 35 men have been lured to Russia so far and more could be revealed as family members come forward. At least two of the victims have been killed in Ukraine under uncertain circumstances and others have been “grievously injured,” according to Indian investigators.

CBI said in addition to the employment scams perpetrated through shady social media platforms, some Indian men have been lured with phony admissions to “dubious private universities” and offered “free discounted visa extensions” if they accepted.

A number of victims’ families have said the men paid substantial amounts of money to the traffickers for travel arrangements and papers. CBI announced it has already confiscated the equivalent of over $605,000 from alleged traffickers and detained some suspects for “questioning at various locations.”

“The trafficked Indian nationals were trained in combat roles and deployed at front bases in Russia-Ukraine War Zone against their wishes,” CBI said.

On Friday, CBI said “two Russia-based agents” named “Christina” and Moinuddin Chippa are under scrutiny for trafficking Indians into the Ukraine war zone.

Quote:President Joe Biden’s State of the Union (SOTU) speech included a brief mention of China, but the language was carefully trimmed to avoid saying anything that might offend Beijing, beyond the most cursory mention of Taiwan.

The China segment of SOTU mostly consisted of Biden bragging that his economy is strong, contrary to the opinions of most Americans, while China no longer poses much of a challenge.

“For years, all I’ve heard from my Republican friends and so many others is, China’s on the rise and America is falling behind. They’ve got it backward. America is rising. We have the best economy in the world,” Biden said.

“Since I’ve come to office, our GDP is up. And our trade deficit with China is down to the lowest point in over a decade. We’re standing up against China’s unfair economic practices,” he said.

In truth, India has the fastest-growing Gross Domestic Product of any major industrialized nation at the moment. China’s economy is in trouble – probably much more trouble than its leadership is willing to admit – but that trouble has nothing to do with Joe Biden or his policies.

China’s recovery from its heavy-handed pandemic lockdowns was much slower than the leadership expected, hindered by some ill-advised fiscal policies, and foreign capital turned out to be more serious about “de-risking” by moving investments out of China after the pandemic than Beijing anticipated. The Chinese real-estate market remains a sizzling debt bomb that makes international investors nervous about putting big money into any aspect of the Chinese economy.

Still, the Chinese economy grew at a reported 5.2 percent in 2023 – granted that Beijing’s official figures should always be taken with some skepticism – and roughly comparable growth is expected for 2024. Overall GDP growth for the United States in 2023 was much lower at only 2.5 percent. The pace picked up in the third and fourth quarters, but still lagged considerably behind China’s growth, contrary to Biden’s boasts.

The U.S. trade deficit with China remains enormous, although it did get lower in 2023 compared to a near-record high of $951 billion in 2022. Biden conveniently forgot to mention that the trade deficit soared again in January 2024.

Even CNN felt compelled to call foul on Biden’s trade deficit boast, noting that only one thing Joe Biden has done had any effect on that deficit: he blew American inflation through the roof, leaving U.S. consumers with less money to spend on imported goods as they struggled to feed their families...

Just click on the link above to  read the whole article.

Quote:The heckler who shouted at President Biden during his State of the Union address Thursday night was identified as the father of a fallen Marine — and was later arrested over the disruption.

“America’s safer today than when I took office,” Biden, 81, was in the middle of saying before he was interrupted from the chamber’s balcony.

“Abbey Gate!” Steve Nikoui yelled down at the president. “Second Battalion, First Marines!”

Capitol Police escorted Nikoui, 51, out of the chamber around 10:15 p.m. and took him into custody.

He was charged with crowding, obstructing, or incommoding Congress, a misdemeanor that typically results in the offender’s release after paying a $50 fine.

Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) invited Nikoui to the State of the Union and helped coordinate his release in the early hours of the morning from the custody of the House Sergeant at Arms.

“Mr. Nikoui lost his son due to Joe Biden’s incompetence, and lost another son to grief over his brother being killed,” Mast told The Post in a statement, referring to Dakota Halverson, who committed suicide on Aug. 9, 2022.

“This man and his family have given America more than I could personally bear and to attack him with a BS charge of “demonstrating” is a disgrace.

Nikoui’s son, Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, was killed by a suicide bomber outside Kabul’s international airport while trying to process evacuees from the Biden administration’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal in August 2021.

Twelve other US service members were also killed in the blast.

Two other Gold Star fathers told The Post in an interview before Biden’s speech that the president should expect harsh words over the catastrophe.

Quote:Vice President Kamala Harris wouldn’t say Friday in an interview with NBC News chief White House correspondent Peter Alexander if President Joe Biden will participate in general election debates against former President Donald Trump.

The full interview will air on “NBC Nightly News” on Friday.

Alexander said, “Mr. Trump has challenged the president to debate him any time, anywhere, any place. Will President Biden commit to debating Donald Trump?”

Harris said, “I haven’t talked to the president about that yet. But I will tell you something if you want to look at the split screen to understand what is at stake. On the one hand, you’ve got Joe Biden, someone who is competent, who is principled, who has accomplished more than many presidents even hoped for, be it on infrastructure, on climate, on health care. On the other side of that split screen, you’ve got the former president, who glorifies dictators and has said he’ll be a dictator on day one. Someone who has said that he will weaponize the Department of Justice against his political enemies.”

She added, “The split screen is clear.”

Alexander said, “Should President Biden debate him in your view?”

Harris said, “That is a choice. This is going to be decided upon soon, and we will keep you posted.”

Alexander said, “Will you commit to a debate?”

Harris said, “Peter, we just got through the State of the Union. And I’m just so excited about what we accomplished last night and our president.”

How I do figure the interview might have ended after another hour of asking her "hard" questions?
The reporter would keep getting evasives, no real updates, no compromise for the rest of the session.

Quote:Montana has experienced an over 20,000 percent increase in fentanyl seizures by anti-drug forces since 2019, with the state’s attorney general calling on President Joe Biden to “do his job” and “secure the border.”

Attorney General Austin Knudsen’s ® office also announced Wednesday that the amount of fentanyl seized more than doubled between 2022 and 2023 alone, “shattering previous records.”

Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (RMHIDTA) task forces seized a total of 398,552 dosage units in 2023, compared to 188,823 dosage units in 2022.

The levels are a nearly 600 percent increase from 2021 — when drug task forces seized 60,557 dosage units — and a 6,000 percent increase from 6,663 dosage units in 2020.

Knudsen said:

Fentanyl is a poison that’s killing men, women, and children at unprecedented rates and devastating Montana communities. As Attorney General, I’m doing everything I can to combat this crisis. We’re putting more boots on the ground and giving prosecutors the tools they need to hold perpetrators accountable, but until the southern border is secure the problem will not be solved.

Quote:Fact Check 1:
“15 million new jobs in just three years — a record,” Biden claimed.

The Times ruled the claim needed context because the job gains “were beginning to return” before Biden came to office:

That is a growth of about 10 percent in three years. However, it is worth noting that Mr. Biden came to office as jobs were beginning to return after huge losses during the coronavirus pandemic. Total jobs are now about 3.5 percent higher than the prepandemic peak in February 2020. About half of the 22 million jobs lost in 2020 had returned by the start of the Biden administration.

Fact Check 2:
“In fact, my policies have attracted $650 billion in private sector investment, in clean energy, advanced manufacturing, creating tens of thousands of jobs here in America!” Biden claimed.

The Times ruled Biden’s statement lacked context. The outlet said Biden calculated $650 billion based on “public announcements of investments — not necessarily dollars spent — across industries targeted by Mr. Biden’s legislative accomplishments.”

Fact Check 3:
“I am cutting our carbon emissions in half by 2030,” Biden claimed.

The Times determined that Biden’s statement lacked context. It said Biden confused his goal of cutting emissions in half with what his actual policies would cut.

Fact Check 4:
“We’ve already cut the federal deficit over a trillion dollars,” Biden claimed.

The Times ruled Biden’s claim needed context:

Under Mr. Biden’s watch, the federal deficit dropped to $1.4 trillion in fiscal year 2022 from $3.1 trillion in fiscal year 2021 — but much of that reduction was attributed to the expiration of coronavirus relief spending. The deficit then rose in 2023, to about $1.7 trillion.
...
The deficit remains higher than it was before the coronavirus pandemic. In fiscal year 2019, the deficit was about $984 billion and lower in years prior. And the national debt has grown to about $34.4 trillion today, from about $27.8 trillion in January 2021.

Fact Check 5:
“You know, there are 1,000 billionaires in America. You know what the average federal tax is for these billionaires? They are making great sacrifices: 8.2 percent. That’s far less than the vast majority of Americans’ pay,” Biden claimed.

The Times ruled Biden’s claim as needing context. The outlet said Biden cited a 2021 White House study that referenced a “’more comprehensive measure of income’ than is currently assessed.” The Times reported Biden’s claim did not “technically” reflect the current tax rate.

Fact Check 6:
“Many of my friends on the other side of the aisle want to put Social Security on the chopping block,” Biden claimed.

The Times determined that Biden’s claim needed context. “Republicans are not currently calling for cuts to Social Security,” the Times said.

Former President Donald Trump told Breitbart News in 2022 that he would never cut Social Security.

Quote:“The Ukrainian army urgently needs new soldiers”, notes Die Welt — the broadsheet The Times analogue founded by British occupying forces after the Second World War to give Germany a highbrow quality paper in the wake of Nazi-era publications being shut down — before examining the number of military-age Ukrainian males who fled the country in the early days of the war and what could be done with them.

Ukraine for its own part has said it needs half a million extra soldiers on top of the nearly one million presently serving, a major increase by any standard.

Given the clandestine nature of the act, knowing exactly how many Ukrainian men fled military service after Russia’s second invasion in 2022 is difficult. Kyiv has been prosecuting a network of over 100 military recruitment officers who are alleged to have sold exemption papers for big cash or cryptocurrency payoffs, and data reported last year stated 20,000 Ukrainian men fleeing conscription were detected crossing illegally into European border states in 2022.

Between legitimate reasons to break Ukraine’s wartime state of martial law to leave the country as an adult male of military age, those fleeing conscription, and other cases Welt reports there are 159,512 men aged between 27 and 60 presently in Germany. If President Volodymyr Zelensky’s plan to push the conscription age downward to 25 went through, that number would rise to 167,854 of-age men in Germany, they said.

While the numbers involved are large, they are dwarfed by the overall number of Ukrainians in Germany, who are typically women, children, and the elderly, and who number some million-and-a-quarter people. In all of the European Union and the United Kingdom, there are nearly four and a half million Ukrainians on refugee papers.

Among the options for getting Ukrainians back to Ukraine, the report noted, was Germany removing asylum status, cutting off the benefits paid to military-age Ukrainian men while they live in Germany, and the Ukrainian government sanctioning its own citizens, freezing their bank accounts back home.

Quote:A poll conducted by Forsa for German broadcaster RTL Deutschland, found that 59 per cent of adults said they would “probably not” or “absolutely not” take up arms to defend their homeland in the case of an invasion or other attack.

Conversely, just 38 per cent of German adults said that they would “definitely” or “probably” be willing to fight to protect their nation, NTV reports.

The survey showed striking differences among generations, with 45 per cent of 18 to 29-year-olds and 44 per cent of those aged between 45 and 59 would be willing to fight for their country. This was opposed to millennial Germans, or those between the ages of 30 and 44, with just 34 per cent expressing willingness to pick up arms in the case of an attack.

Differences were also seen among political affiliation, with supporters of the Green party being the least likely to be willing to defend the country with arms at just 35 per cent. Supporters of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) were the most willing to fight, at 49 per cent.

There was also a steep divide among the genders, with men overall being more inclined to pick up arms to defend the nation than women, by a margin of 54 per cent to 23 per cent. The polling firm also said that the willingness to protect one’s country also declined among those who went through higher education.

The poll comes as Germany and other countries in Europe are seeing increased calls to bring back military conscription in light of a potential full-on war between Western NATO powers and Russia over Ukraine.

Quote:The UK Guardian published an article Tuesday claiming that Palestinian women in Gaza are suffering from a shortage of sanitary products, without once mentioning the roughly 20 young female Israeli hostages or concern for their fate.

There are thought to be 134 Israeli hostages still in Hamas captivity, of whom about 100 are thought to be alive, and about 20 of whom are female, most of them young women.

The Guardian‘s Aseel Mousa wrote:

Nearly five months into Israel’s assault on Gaza, almost everyone trapped in the territory is hungry, with little access to clean drinking water, sanitation or electric power. But for women, the war has brought an additional monthly horror.

“Israeli bombings and displacement have created an immense amount of stress, but experiencing menstruation in these circumstances feels like an entirely different kind of war,” Mona says.
...
The UN estimates that nearly 700,000 women and girls in Gaza have menstrual cycles, which they are trying to manage with little privacy or access to pads, toilets and clean water. In the shelters run by Unrwa, the UN aid agency for Palestinians, on average there is only one toilet per 486 people.

Mousa failed to mention the female Israeli hostages, who are likely suffering more than other women in Gaza.

Israel provides for the transfer of thousands of tons of aid each and every day into Gaza, including food, water, fuel, and medicine, including sanitary products.

Unfortunately, the United Nations is failing to distribute aid, and Hamas terrorists are known to steal the bulk of it.

Quote:The Houthi terrorists of Yemen organized multiple rallies throughout the country Friday in support of their Red Sea terror campaign, reportedly attracting thousands of people in support of the Sunni jihadist terror group Hamas.
...
The attacks have caused massive disruptions to global commercial shipping, forcing ships to redirect around Africa to avoid Mideast waters and forcing insurance companies to raise rates. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) documented a 50-percent drop in traffic at the Suez Canal that connects the Mediterranean and Red Seas in the first two months of the year, noting that “about 15 percent of global maritime trade volume normally passes” through there.
...
Houthi sympathizers rallied in Sana’a on Friday, as well as Saada, Raymah, and Marib, according to al-Mayadeen, a media outlet affiliated with the Shiite terrorist group Hezbollah. The Iranian state outlet PressTV, which also reported on the events, described the theme of the rallies as “Victory for Gaza … Our Strikes are Escalating,” an apparent reference to the Red Sea terror campaign. Gaza is the disputed territory currently controlled by Hamas, used by the terrorist organization to organize and execute attacks on Israel. Israel launched a self-defense military operation in the aftermath of October 7 that continues at press time, outraging anti-Israeli governments, activists, and terrorist organizations.

PressTV published a statement allegedly representing the participants in the rally that cited Ramadan as a reason to intensify the frequency of acts of jihadist terrorism.

“The month of Ramadan is a month of jihad before it is a month of worship,” the statement reportedly read. “We will continue to mobilize, and stay on alert.”
...
PressTV and the Turkish state media outlet Anadolu Agency both described the attendance at the rallies as totaling in the “thousands,” but offered no concrete total. Anadolu confirmed that the Houthis organized the rallies in areas they control, rather than Yemenis spontaneously organizing to support Hamas. Al-Mayadeen reported that the Houthis have been organizing similar rallies on Fridays for the past 22 weeks.

“The rally was called upon by the Houthi group under the title ‘In support of Gaza, our hits to intensify,’ in reference to the group’s escalating of its attacks in the Red Sea against Israel-linked ships and the US-UK military ships,” Anadolu specified.

Al-Mayadeen quoted participants as shouting slogans such as “no retreat, no disgrace” and “our strikes are escalating.”

The leader of Ansar Allah, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, has indeed hinted at a rise in the number of terrorist attacks in the near future.

“Our military operations will continue and advance and we have surprises that our enemies will not expect at all,” Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi declared on February 29, boasting that American and British airstrikes “have not affected our military power in any way.”

“The Americans are now admitting their failure to achieve their aggressive goals against our country and are surprised by our strength,” he said.
...
The State of the Union address and the Houthi rallies capped a week that began following the news on Saturday of the sinking of the Rubymar, a British-owned ship carrying 21,000 metric tons of fertilizer that the Houthis bombed in February. The Rubymar‘s cargo, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) warned, could cause an environmental disaster.

“The approximately 21,000 metric tons of ammonium phosphate sulfate fertilizer that the vessel was carrying presents an environmental risk in the Red Sea,” CENTCOM said in a statement this weekend. “As the ship sinks it also presents a subsurface impact risk to other ships transiting the busy shipping lanes of the waterway.”

The Rubymar also reportedly damaged three telecommunications cables at the bottom of the Red Sea, the Biden administration assessed on Wednesday.

Quote:A pallet of humanitarian aid airdropped into Gaza on Friday morning killed five people and injured ten more, according to reports.

Witnesses told the Guardian that the accident happened near the coastal refugee camp al-Shati after a parachute attached to the pallet failed to deploy properly and fell on a group of men, teenagers, and children waiting for aid.

“Then, all of a sudden, the parachute didn’t open and fell down like a rocket on the roof of one of the houses,” witness Mohammed al-Ghoul told the newspaper. “Ten minutes later I saw people transferring three martyrs and others injured, who were staying on the roof of the house where the aid packages fell.”

According to a video obtained by CNN of the malfunction, the pallet can be seen falling at a high speed, with bags coming apart “in a shower of debris, and later seen and heard impacting the ground with audible loud thuds.”

Muhammad Al-Sheikh, Head of Emergency Care Department at Al Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, said those injured are in serious condition.

The government media office in Gaza called the airdrops “useless” and “flashy propaganda rather than a humanitarian service,” according to Al-Jazeera.

It is not yet clear who the aid was from. Multiple countries, including the U.S., are conducting airdrops of aid in Gaza. According to CBS News, the U.S., Jordan, Egypt, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium dropped aid over Gaza on Friday.

Friday’s accident came a day after President Joe Biden announced the U.S. military would build a temporary pier off the coast of Gaza to deliver more aid amid warnings of a coming famine and as the president faces political fallout from Muslim Americans and young progressives at home over the Israel-Hamas War.

Quote:During a portion of an interview with MSNBC set to air on Saturday’s broadcast of “The Saturday Show,” President Joe Biden stated that he regrets using the word “illegal” to describe the “Undocumented person” who is the suspected killer of Laken Riley.

Host Jonathan Capehart asked, “I noticed the look of surprise on your face when you walked into the chamber and you saw Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). It was priceless. You feigned shock at seeing her. But, during your response to her heckling of you, you used the word ‘illegal’ when talking about the man who allegedly killed Laken Riley.”

Biden responded, “Undocumented person. And I shouldn’t have used ‘illegal,’ I should have — it’s undocumented. And look, when I spoke about the difference between Trump and me, one of things I talked about on the border was the way he talks about vermin, the way he talks about these people polluting the blood. I talked about what I’m not going to do, what I won’t do. I’m not going to treat any of these people with disrespect. Look, they built the country, the reason our economy is growing. We have to control the border and [have] more orderly flow, but I don’t share his view at all.”

Capehart then asked, “So, you regret using that word?”

Biden answered, “Yes.”

Quote:Pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside President Biden’s State of the Union on Thursday night in an apparent attempt to disrupt proceedings.

About 100 protesters showed up at the intersection of Constitution Avenue and 3rd Street in Washington, D.C., on Thursday night, about an hour before Biden was set to deliver his State of the Union address.

Protesters could be seen holding up a sign that said, "Biden’s legacy is genocide."

Photos from the scene showed protesters, many of them wearing face masks, blocking the street.

The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department told Fox News Digital, "MPD is monitoring First Amendment activity at this location and no arrests have been made at this time."

Fox 5 DC reported earlier in the day that another pro-Palestine protest had taken place nearby in Lafayette Square around 6 p.m. ET. 

Police say one person was arrested and charged with reckless driving.

The protests further highlight the growing animosity Biden faces within his own party from activists calling for a cease-fire in Gaza and demanding the president do more to address the issue of civilian loss of life in Gaza.

Recent Fox News polling showed that support for Palestinians among Democrats has increased 17 points since October.

Quote:Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he hopes the intelligence community will “dumb down” former President Donald Trump’s briefings once he has the nomination.

Anchor Kristen Welker said, “Let me ask you about this development. This weekend, U.S. intelligence officials are planning to provide briefings for Donald Trump. One will see if he officially secures the nomination despite the fact that he’s facing 40 felony charges for his handling of classified documents as the former chair of the House Intelligence Committee. Do you think it’s appropriate for him to receive intelligence briefings,

Schiff said, “Well, then that is the practice but we never had a situation where one of the candidates for president has been so criminally negligent when it comes to handling if not worse when it comes to handling classified information. So I have to hope, knowing the intelligence community as i do that they will dumb down the briefing for Donald Trump. That is they will give him no more information than absolutely necessary, nothing that would reveal sources or methods because we can’t trust that he will do the right thing with information. He’s been so reckless. So yes, it does concern me. It is part of a long tradition they will be wary of what they share with him and they should.”

 Well, Biden did a terrible job at safekeeping his own share of classified documents.

Quote:FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh has been given a not-so-nice name after she said officials would try to identify firefighters that erupted in jeers on Thursday at New York Attorney General Letitia James, who previously vowed to take down former President Donald Trump.

The Daily Mail reported Saturday that Kavanagh has been labeled a “fascist pit bull” for planning to go after the first responders.

The initial incident happened Thursday as James prepared to give a speech at a New York Fire Department promotion ceremony. When she took the stage, shouting was heard and the firefighters also chanted Donald Trump’s name, the outlet said.

Video footage shows James behind a podium telling those in attendance to “simmer down” before the chant “Trump, Trump, Trump!” begins.

The Mail article continued:

FDNY Chief of Department John Hodgens sent an email to department leaders warning of an impending investigation by the Bureau of Investigation and Trials (BITS) into the booing and ‘Trump’ chants directed at James.

Hodgens has urged those involved to come forward voluntarily to avoid being pursued by the department which is currently reviewing video footage of the entire ceremony.

Per the outlet, an FDNY firefighter criticized the chief’s response to the incident, saying, “It was a political stunt for the city to have the AG there. When it backfired, they sent their fascist pit bulls after guys for exercising their First Amendment rights,” adding that many in the crowd were off-duty and not wearing their uniforms at the time.

Even if they were wearing their uniforms, they still have rights. Plus, they weren't criticizing their own boss.

Quote:The Oscars will be conducted behind a massive screen of chain-link fencing this year as organizers are faced with threats of disruption by pro-Palestinian supporters.

The city block surrounding the Dolby Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles has been blocked off with the fencing and, according to the New York Post, thousands of police and security personnel will be deployed to guard the venue.

The Los Angeles Police Dept. confirmed to the Post that they intend to have a large presence.

“We will deploy enough officers to ensure the safety of all the citizens and Oscar attendees. We hope for the best and are prepared for the worst,” the LAPD spokesman told the paper.

Oscars organizers are desperate to avoid what happened to the Grammy Awards when pro-Hamas protesters blocked roadways and prevented awards show participants from getting to LA’s Crypto.com Arena.

As Variety noted last month, the red carpet was shut down for a period of time as celebrities and other awards participants were prevented from reaching the arena.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences told the media that it hopes to avoid politics this year and that the safety and security of attendees is of primary importance.

Still, Oscars organizers also said they have not mandated that winners keep politics out of their stage speeches.

Quote:Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols said on Thursday that the incentives the administration of President Joe Biden granted to Venezuela’s socialist regime were not “sufficient” to convince dictator Nicolás Maduro to carry out a “free and fair” presidential election.

Nichols made the assertion during a conference held by the Americas Society on the subject of the Biden administration’s Western Hemisphere policies.

Nichols said:

I think we have to make it very clear that the incentives that we and I think others in the international community have put on the table to move towards a competitive election in Venezuela have not been sufficient to motivate reforms and openness that Maduro’s side believes would jeopardize his government.

The Biden administration, which, for years, has encouraged Maduro to hold a “free and fair” election, offered the dictator lavish concessions in exchange for vague promises that the regime never indicated it would honor. By far the most lucrative incentive given was a broad oil and gas sanction relief package in October that allows Venezuela to once again freely sell its oil in U.S. and international markets.

Quote:The U.S. military said Sunday that it had flown forces in to beef up security at the U.S. Embassy in Haiti and allow nonessential personnel to leave.

The aircraft flew to the embassy compound, the U.S. Southern Command said, meaning that the effort involved helicopters. It was careful to point out that “no Haitians were on board the military aircraft.” That seemed aimed at quashing any speculation that senior government officials might be leaving as the gang attacks in Haiti worsen.

The neighborhood around the embassy in the capital, Port-au-Prince, is largely controlled by gangs.

“This airlift of personnel into and out of the Embassy is consistent with our standard practice for Embassy security augmentation worldwide, and no Haitians were on board the military aircraft,” according to the Southcom statement.

In many cases, nonessential personnel can include the families of diplomats, but the embassy had already ordered departure for nonessential staff and all family members in July. The personnel ferried out of the embassy may have simply been rotating out, to be refreshed by new staff.

The statement Sunday said that the United States remains focused on aiding Haitian police and arranging some kind of U.N.-authorized security deployment. But those efforts have been unsuccessful so far.

Haiti’s embattled prime minister, Ariel Henry, traveled recently to Kenya to push for the U.N.-backed deployment of a police force from the East African country to fight the gangs. But a Kenyan court ruled in January that such a deployment would be unconstitutional.

Henry, who is facing calls to resign or form a transitional council, remains unable to return home. He arrived in Puerto Rico on Tuesday after he was unable to land in the Dominican Republic, which borders Haiti.

On Saturday, the office of Dominican President Luis Abinader issued a statement saying that “Henry is not welcome in the Dominican Republic for safety reasons.” The Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, has closed its land border.

And that last part sounds a lot like an overstatement because Haitians have been crossing to the Dominican Republic with ease, pretty much like US Southern Border.

Quote:The world “needs President Trump to win” this coming election because only a “strong” American leader can offer “stability and security to the international order,” according to Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, who argued the war in Ukraine “cannot be resolved on the battlefield” and that Trump “can make peace” between the sides.

Szijjártó also slammed President Joe Biden’s weakness on the global stage and relentless push for a Palestinian state as well as the EU’s “hypocrisy” over Israel, asserting that Hamas’s defeat is critically imperative for global stability.

In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News in Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday, Szijjártó discussed global geopolitical dynamics, and what a future working together with Trump would look like in the international arena.

The interview comes as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán along with the Hungarian Foreign Minister traveled to Mar-a-Lago on Friday to meet with the former president, in a move that was harshly criticized by President Biden, who accused the Hungarian premier of “looking for dictatorship.”

Trump, who hailed Orbán as a “Great Leader” ensuring his country’s safety, currently leads Biden by four points, indicating a decline in Biden’s favorability ahead of the 2024 presidential elections, according to a recent New York Times poll.

Russia-Ukraine War: ‘No battlefield solution’

Underscoring the need for a non-military resolution, Szijjártó highlighted the widespread displacement, significant casualties, and educational disruption that the ongoing conflict in Ukraine has led to:

Look, we have now been living in the neighborhood of the war for more than two years, and I can tell you that this war has really tragic consequences. While we have received more than a million refugees in Hungary, there are multiple millions who had to flee from Ukraine, millions of families torn apart, and hundreds-of-thousands in casualties. We still have more than 1,500 schools and kindergartens where Ukrainian children are being enrolled.

“So we see the devastating impact of this war,” he added, “and we also see that this war cannot be resolved on the frontlines.”

I wonder why it reminds me of 1 Tessalonians 5:3 warning people about the time when they say "peace and security..."

Quote:Poland’s foreign minister says the presence of NATO forces “is not unthinkable” and that he appreciates the French president for not ruling out that idea.

Radek Sikorski made the observation during a discussion marking the 25th anniversary of Poland’s NATO membership in the Polish parliament on Friday, and the Foreign Ministry tweeted the comments later in English.

Last month French President Emmanuel Macron said the possibility of Western troops being sent to Ukraine could not be ruled out, a comment that prompted an outcry from other leaders.

French officials later sought to clarify Macron´s remarks and tamp down the backlash, while insisting on the need to send a clear signal to Russia that it cannot win its war in Ukraine.

The Kremlin has warned that if NATO sends combat troops, a direct conflict between the alliance and Russia would be inevitable. Russian President Vladimir Putin said such a move would risk a global nuclear conflict.

Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk was among those European leaders who ruled out sending troops to Ukraine after Macron’s remarks, saying: “Poland does not plan to send its troops to the territory of Ukraine.”

Sikorski did not speak of a plan to send Polish troops to Ukraine, but struck a different tone.

“The presence of NATO forces in Ukraine is not unthinkable,” he said, according to the Foreign Ministry. He said he appreciated Macron’s initiative “because it is about Putin being afraid, not us being afraid of Putin.”

Quote:Pope Francis has said in an interview that Ukraine, facing possible defeat, should have the courage to negotiate an end to the war with Russia and not be ashamed to sit at the same table to carry out peace talks.

The pope made his appeal during an interview recorded last month with Swiss broadcaster RSI, which was partially released on Saturday.

“I think that the strongest one is the one who looks at the situation, thinks about the people and has the courage of the white flag, and negotiates,” Francis said, adding that talks should take place with the help of international powers.

Ukraine remains firm on not engaging directly with Russia on peace talks, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said multiple times the initiative in peace negotiations must belong to the country which has been invaded.

Russia is gaining momentum on the battlefield in the war now in its third year and Ukraine is running low on ammunition. Meanwhile, some of Ukraine’s allies in the West are delicately raising the prospect of sending troops.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said Saturday that Francis picked up the “white flag” term that had been used by the interviewer. He issued a statement of clarification after the pope’s “white flag” comments sparked criticism that he was siding with Russia in the conflict.

Throughout the war, Francis has tried to maintain the Vatican’s traditional diplomatic neutrality, but that has often been accompanied by apparent sympathy with the Russian rationale for invading Ukraine, such as when he noted that NATO was “barking at Russia’s door” with its eastward expansion.

Francis said in the RSI interview that “the word negotiate is a courageous word.”

“When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, you have to have the courage to negotiate,” he said. “Negotiations are never a surrender.”

The pope also reminded people that some countries have offered to act as mediators in the conflict.

Quote:London’s Metropolitan Police have come under heavy criticism for arresting a man carrying a sign calling Hamas a “terrorist” organisation during a pro-Palestinian protest in the British capital on Saturday.

Niyak Ghorbani, a 38-year-old Iranian-born man who lives in London was arrested by police while holding a sign saying “Hamas is terrorist” during the latest anti-Israel rally in the city.

Footage posted on social media showed officers dragging the counter-protester to the ground as he shouted out: “Shame on you!” and adding: “I wrote down Hamas is a terrorist organisation… but they arrested me”.

The Met claimed that the arrest was not motivated by the message on the sign but rather for assault. However, footage appeared to show that it was Mr Ghorbani who was assaulted by a pro-Palestinian mob that had surrounded him.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Ghorbani said: “They attacked me from behind and hit me in the head. They pushed me and told me Hamas is a protector of Palestine.”

“The police destroyed my sign and told me that I had harassed someone in the protest and that is why they arrested me.

“They arrested me because someone who supports Hamas attacked me and I defended myself. After 10 minutes my friends showed them a video of what I was doing and they released me.

“The person who attacked me was not arrested.”

In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said: “The man was arrested after an altercation was ongoing, and officers intervened to prevent a breach of the peace. He was arrested for assault.

“Officers then fully reviewed footage provided of the incident, and he was later de-arrested. The arrest was not made in relation to the placard.”

So now a person is not released but "de-arrested" according to this bozos.  Nope. They never ever arrested the man because of his anti-Hamas stance. And who cares if they never detained the other guy.

Quote:UK Foreign Office staff were reportedly told that it was wrong to call Hamas terrorists and that Israel, as a “white, settler colonialist” nation, was ultimately to blame for the conflict in the Middle East.

A report from the London-based Jewish Chronicle claimed that the Foreign Office held a seminar for civil servants in which they were lectured by four academics, Professor Jeroen Gunning from King’s College London,  Dr Tristan Dunning of the University of Queensland, Dr Anas Iqtait of Australian National University in Canberra, and Dr Martin Kear of the University of Sydney, on how to discuss the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the wake of the October 7th terror attacks.

The session, which was attended by around 100 top staff members from the government’s diplomatic arm, was billed “Israel/Gaza: What next for Hamas” and was set up by the senior Middle East research analyst from the Foreign Office, Martin Hetherington.

Despite Hamas terrorists killing around 1,200 people in Israel and taking hundreds more captive, Foreign Office staff were reportedly told that using the “terrorist label” for Hamas was “unhelpful” and that it may serve to derail efforts to achieve a peace settlement under the pretence that the “political wing” of Hamas was more “moderate” and therefore necessary to “engage with them”.

After being pressed by Foreign Office staff was whether the October 7th massacre should be described as terrorism, the academics are said to have refused to respond, however, Professor Gunning reportedly said that it should be viewed in the context of Palestinian “resistance” to the supposed “occupation” from Israel, despite the Jewish state withdrawing from Gaza in 2005.

Meanwhile, Dr Dunning said that as an Australian: “I know all about white, settler colonialism and stealing land from the native population,” comparing Israel to the British colonisation of Australia.

Responding to the revelations from the seminar held for civil servants, a Foreign Office spokesman said: “The UK Government’s position is unequivocal that Hamas is a terrorist organisation. Many of the views expressed by the academics in the seminar were wrong and contrary to the government’s position.

Quote:Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has officially backed the appointment of former Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s armed forces Valerii Zaluzhny as the next ambassador to Britain in a move widely regarded as an attempt to sideline the president’s top political opponent.

In a video statement, President Zelensky announced this week his support for General Zaluzhny to serve as the country’s next diplomat to the United Kingdom after being removed from his top military post earlier this year following the failures of the counteroffensive launched against Russia last year.

“Gen. Valery Zaluzhny told me that this is the direction he would like to take — diplomacy,” Mr Zelensky said, adding: “Our alliance with Britain should only get stronger”.

Upon the likely approval of London, Zaluzhny would replace Vadym Prystaiko, who was kicked out of his role last July after mildly criticising President Zelensky in public.

Zaluzhny earned widespread respect in Ukraine and internationally for leading the successful pushback of the Russians from Kyiv during the outset of the war in 2022. However, he appeared to lose the confidence of the government following the much-heralded, yet ultimately failed counteroffensive last year.

The final straw was seemingly his public admission that the war had devolved into a World War I-style stalemate, with him being removed from his position as Commander-in-Chief three months later.

Although a significant step-down, Zaluzhny will likely serve as one of Ukraine’s top international figures lobbying Western powers to continue supplying the country with weapons and money, with the UK being one of the leading financial and military supporters of Kyiv on the international stage.

Quote:Ukrainian authorities said two people including a teenage boy were killed Saturday in Russian artillery attacks and Russia reported it had shot down a Ukrainian fighter jet and destroyed a wave of drones over several regions.

The attacks came as Russia is gaining momentum on battlefield and Ukraine is running low on ammunition.

Ukraine’s allies in the West are delicately raising the prospect of sending troops. Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said Friday that deploying NATO troops to Ukraine “is not unthinkable.” French President Emmanuel Macron said last month that the idea should not be ruled out.

Serhiy Lysak, governor of Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, said a 16-year-old boy was killed and a 22-year-old man injured in a morning artillery attack that hit the town of Chervonohryhorivka. The town is on the opposite bank of the river from the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest, and the area is subject to almost-daily Russian attacks.

In the town of Chasiv Yar, one person was killed in artillery fire, according to authorities in the Donetsk region, much of which is under Russian control and where fighting has been heavy throughout the war that is now in its third year.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 41 drones that were launched over the Rostov region, which borders Ukraine and is home to Russia’s southern military command, along with two drones over the Kursk region and three over Volgograd. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

The ministry also said the air force had shot down a Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter jet over Pokrovsk, a city and important railway junction in the Donetsk region that is a prime Russian target following Ukrainian forces’ February withdrawal from Avdiivka, a significant setback for Ukraine’s struggling war effort.

The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, reported that Ukrainian drones attacked two villages near the border Saturday, but that no one was injured. The governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, did not specify damage from the attacks.

Despite its military setbacks, Ukraine resists suggestions of peace negotiations with Russia. During a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country was willing to host a peace summit of Russia and Ukraine.

Quote:Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters converged on Amsterdam on Sunday as the Dutch city unveiled the National Holocaust Museum in a ceremony attended by Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

Riot police were forced to be deployed to hold back over 2,000 anti-Israel protesters as they attempted to march on the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam during the opening of the new National Holocaust Museum.

Demonstrators were seen waving Palestinian flags, carrying signs accusing Israel of “genocide” in Gaza, and calling for Israeli President Herzog to be tried at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes, Dutch public broadcaster NOS reported. Clashes with the police were also witnessed, while some activists were seen climbing on top of police vehicles.

According to the De Telegraaf newspaper, the activists also took to shooting fireworks and throwing eggs at the police. They also were seen plastering stickers on police vans with the face of Herzog with the text “wanted”.

King Willem-Alexander, who gave a speech at the opening ceremony held at the synagogue, was booed as he officially opened the museum’s building.

For his part, President Herzog used the occasion to once again call upon Hamas in Gaza to release the hostages taken from Israel during the October 7th terror attacks by the jihadist Palestinian group.

“Let’s pray in this house of prayer for the release of the hostages,” Herzog said.

During his speech, the Israeli president invoked World War II, saying that too many people in the Netherlands stood by as Jews were being gathered up to be exterminated. However, Herzog also praised the courage of the people who resisted the Nazis, recounting an instance of two Dutch citizens who risked their lives by hiding Jews.

Herzog said that after the war, the Jews housed by the Dutch later moved to Israel and that their grandson died fighting to protect the Jewish state.

The Israeli president’s presence at the unveiling of the museum drew the ire of local activists, who accused him of war crimes over his country’s military response to the October 7th terror attacks, in which Hamas terrorists slaughtered around 1,200 people in Israel and took hundreds more captive.

Quote:The White House announced Tuesday a stopgap $300 million package of vital military aid to Ukraine, sidestepping Republicans in Congress amid fears that Russia’s invasion is gaining ground.

The shipment, the first in months from Kyiv’s biggest ally Washington, will include anti-aircraft missiles, ammunition, artillery rounds and some armored vehicles, officials said.

The announcement comes as President Joe Biden hosts Poland’s President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk at the White House to reassure them of US support for NATO and Ukraine.

“Today, on behalf of President Biden, I’m announcing an emergency package of security assistance and $300 million worth of weapons and equipment to address some of Ukraine’s pressing needs,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters.

“The world is watching. The clock is ticking and we need to see action as rapidly as possible.”

The announcement comes as Republican lawmakers have been blocking Biden’s request for a $60 billion aid package for Ukraine, with the Democratic president’s rival Donald Trump urging them not to give him a legislative win in an election year.

US defense officials said they had managed to find the $300 million for Ukraine by making savings on recent purchases by the Pentagon, but stressed the need for Congress to pass more aid.

Quote:U.S. President Joe Biden is reportedly attempting to force the “collapse” of the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the middle of a war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza and a potential war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Biden has been increasingly hostile to Netanyahu in his public remarks, recently saying that Netanyahu is “hurting” Israel more than he is helping it through his conduct of the war. (Netanyahu fired back, saying that Biden was “wrong.”)

Now, New York Magazine reports that the Biden Administration is actively looking for ways to force Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition, which has been remarkably unified, to fall apart, which would bring about early elections. It reported (original emphasis):

One Israeli expert frequently consulted by American officials says, “I have been asked by a serious administration figure what it is that will force the Netanyahu coalition to collapse. They were interested in the mechanics, what can we demand which will collapse his coalition.”

In the event the new American position over Netanyahu remained unclear, Vice-President Kamala Harris left no doubts in a Friday interview with CBS News, which asked “Are the Israelis at risk of losing U.S. aid if this continues?” Harris replied: “I think it’s important for us to distinguish or at least not conflate the Israeli government with the Israeli people.”

Quote:A federal judge has ordered President Joe Biden to continue building border wall along the United States-Mexico border with funds allocated under former President Donald Trump.

Late last week, Judge Drew Tipton issued a preliminary injunction ordering the Biden administration to halt diverting funds — initially allocated to building border wall — away from border wall construction.

In 2019, Congress approved billions in funds to construct border wall along the southern border. On Biden’s first day in office, he halted all construction of border wall.

As a result, Texas and Missouri sued Biden for failing to use allocated funds for border wall construction.

Tipton ordered Biden to spend the funds as allocated, to build border wall:

The Government and all its respective officers, agents, servants, employees, attorneys, and other persons who are in active concert or participation with them are hereby ENJOINED and RESTRAINED from implementing the July 2022 Amended Plan to the extent that its obligations are not authorized under Subsection 209(a)(1) and Section 210 as laid out in this Order.

The Government is prohibited from obligating funds under Subsection 209(a)(1)—and corresponding funds under Section 210—toward mitigation and remediation efforts, repair of existing barrier, so-called system attribute installation at existing sites, or other similar purposes. Those types of expenses may be authorized under Subsections (a)(2) through (a)(5) where appropriate, however, Subsection (a)(1) permits only the construction of physical barriers, such as additional walls, fencing, buoys, etc.

This preliminary injunction shall remain in effect pending a final resolution of the merits of this case or until a further Order from this Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit or the United States Supreme Court.

Quote:The United States Supreme Court extended its pause, preventing the implementation of Texas SB4 immigration law on Wednesday. The nation’s highest court extended the temporary pause until Monday, March 18.

If allowed to take effect, the new Texas immigration law would allow state and local law enforcement officers to arrest and prosecute migrants who illegally enter the state. The latest pause is just one of several legal hurdles the law has faced since it was initially set to take effect earlier this month.

The controversial law would also allow migrants to voluntarily accept removal from the United States for a reduced sentence on the charge of illegally entering the country. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito issued the latest order extending the pause on the state’s implementation of the law.

The federal court wrangling on the constitutionality of Texas’ new immigration law has seen the law blocked, reinstated, and twice paused by the U.S. Supreme Court. In late February, Austin’s Senior U.S. District Judge David Ezra halted the implementation of Senate Bill 4, which was to take effect on March 5, citing the federal government’s supremacy over the enforcement of immigration laws.

In his decision, Ezra stated, “For the past century, Texas has relied on its expansive police powers afforded to it under the Constitution to regulate crime within its borders. Texas may continue to do so, but it cannot regulate the federal field of unlawful entry and removal.”

Texas filed an appeal of Ezra’s ruling on the matter leading up to a federal appeals court ruling that granted a seven-day hold barring enforcement of the law to allow the Biden Administration to elevate the matter to the United States Supreme Court. Under the appeals court ruling overturning Ezra’s initial order, the law would have gone into effect on March 9 had the Supreme Court not stepped in.

Quote:Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray refused to tell House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) at a hearing Tuesday whether the FBI is engaged in counterintelligence investigations into President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump.

During the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence’s Annual Threat Assessment hearing, Stefanik pressed Wray on the matter. She first emphasized that former FBI Director James Comey “testified that he did not follow the proper protocol regarding the notification of Congress of the opening of the Crossfire Hurricane”  – the counterintelligence investigation into Trump in 2016.

The third-ranking House Republican also noted under the Intelligence Authorization Act, the FBI is directed to inform “Congressional leadership of any counter-intel investigation into a federal candidate for office” before asking about potential counterintelligence investigations into Trump or Biden.

After a long pause, Wray attempted to refer Stefanik to Special Counsel Robert Hur, but Stefanik demanded an answer, citing the IAA.

“There is no investigation that I could confirm here, no,” he said, his language seeming to raise alarm bells for Stefanik, who followed up with a grin:

Stefanik: Is there a counterintelligence investigation?
Wray: Again, I’m not confirming any investigation into either candidate.
Stefanik: Are you aware that you’re required by the IAA to notify Congress of any counterintelligence investigation?
Wray: And we will comply with the law.
Stefanik: Have you already complied with the law? Has there been a notification?
Wray: I believe we have been in compliance with the law.
Stefanik: You believe you have been or has there been a notification to Congress of any counterintelligence investigation of a federal candidate?
Wray: I believe we have complied with the law.

The director went on to say he is “not in the business of confirming, especially not at open hearing assessments or anything like that when it comes to counterintelligence matters” when asked if a “counter-intel assessment” had been conducted on either of the presumptive nominees or one of their immediate family members.

Quote:Former Special Counsel Robert Hur testified at the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that the White House tried to interfere with his report to the Attorney General on President Joe Biden’s abuse of classified documents.

Specifically, he confirmed that the White House wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Associate Deputy Attorney General Bradey Weinsheimer, who were supervising Hur’s work, asking for changes to Hur’s comment on Biden’s poor memory.

The testimony confirmed earlier reports of attempted interference by the Biden White House in the investigation.

Democrats and the White House have been upset by Hur’s conclusion that “Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” Though Hur cited that as a reason not to recommend prosecuting Biden for what otherwise would be a clear case of willful mishandling of classified documents, Biden and his supporters are furious with Hur for his unflattering observations.

Committee Chair Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) asked Hur to comment on several letters sent by the White House to his superiors. Though Hur said that the White House counsel’s office and President Biden’s lawyers were entitled to write to whomever they wished, the purpose of the Special Counsel is to operate independently of political interference.

Democrats claimed that Biden had cooperated fully with Hur’s investigation, attempting to draw a contrast with then-President Donald Trump, who declined to be interviewed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in the Russia “collusion” investigation.

Quote:The transcript of Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Bob Hur showed the president frequently wandered off topic, even making “car noises.”

The transcript, obtained by Breitbart News in advance of Hur’s testimony to the House Judiciary Committee, showed a prosecutor had asked Biden about his beloved Corvette, trying to pinpoint the timeline of when classified documents were moved to make room for the car in his home garage.

Attorney Marc Krickbuam asked Biden: “Do you remember whether it was when the Corvette was coming back after the Jay Leno show? So, in other words, it goes out for Jay Leno, eventually it comes back.” Biden responded, “Oh no, it was, it was in and out for a bunch of reasons,” before starting to chatter away.

“Because it drove me crazy; I wanted to drive it,” Biden continued. Krickbaum responded, “Got it. That makes sense. A beautiful car.” According to the transcript, Biden then proceeded to talk about his car, and make car noises.

“And the worst part was, they said I couldn’t drive it outside the driveway. It’s a long driveway. So I’d get to the bottom of the driveway, tack it up to about four grand (indiscernible) (makes car sound) (indiscernible) (laughter),” it quoted Biden.

Biden then started talking about cars in general, before Hur interrupted with, “Sir, I’d love — I would love to hear much more about this, but I do have a few more questions to get through.”

Biden ignored him, and continued talking about cars, to which Hur finally said, “All right. So let’s — let’s launch into the next subject which relates to the Penn Biden Center.”

Another portion of the transcript shows Hur asking Biden about the time he lived at the Naval Observatory as vice president that ended up with Biden discussing a man losing part of his testicles and penis.

Hur asid, “So now let’s talk about the Naval Observatory. So you’ve been living there for eight years. So at the end of your vice presidency, what kinds of papers or documents or files were at the Naval Observatory as you were preparing to leave and move out?”

Biden then launched into a long-winded story, where he talked about waiting for bar exam results and working for a law firm in the meantime that was representing a young man.

Quote:House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) subpoenaed Hunter Biden’s AT&T phone records, according to a March 6 subpoena obtained by Breitbart News.

The subpoena demands AT&T hand over all records related to Hunter’s activity, which includes 13 years of texts and call logs dating back to 2011. AT&T has until March 20 to comply.

In a cover letter to AT&T, Comer said Hunter’s user activity could encompass a personal phone line that President Joe Biden used during his vice presidency

Comer crafted the subpoena to target business entities linked to the Biden family: Owasco PC, Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC, and Rosemont Seneca Advisors, LLC.

Joe Biden received “direct monthly payments” from Hunter Biden’s “Owasco PC” business account, which received “payments from Chinese state-linked companies and other foreign nationals and companies,” Comer told Breitbart News in December.

“We know from the laptop that Hunter Biden’s business paid for a private phone line that Joe Biden used when he was vice president,” Peter Schweizer, a senior contributor at Breitbart News and president of the Government Accountability Institute, previously told Fox News. “It was AT&T. It was $300 a month. It was a global phone that you could access somebody anywhere around the world.”

“We shared that phone number and that account information with people at the House Oversight Committee,” he continued. “My hope is that if they haven’t already, that they will subpoena those records because I think it will give an indication of how tight the communication was.”

Comer also highlighted phone calls in the subpoena in which Hunter put Joe Biden on speakerphone during Hunter’s business meetings. Devon Archer, a Biden family associate, told House investigators that Joe Biden spoke about the weather during the phone calls. Archer also testified that Joe Biden was the “Biden brand.”

Quote:A former Boeing employee who became a whistleblower against the company has been found dead amidst a lawsuit he had been aiding.

John Barnett died on March 9 at the age of 62 from what police have described as a “self-inflicted wound. Prior to his death, he had “been giving evidence in a whistleblower lawsuit against the company,” per the BBC. Barnett had retired from the company in 2017 for health reasons after working with Boeing for 32 years. The BBC writes:

From 2010, he worked as a quality manager at the North Charleston plant making the 787 Dreamliner, a state-of-the-art airliner used mainly on long-haul routes.

In 2019, Mr. Barnett told the BBC that under-pressure workers had been deliberately fitting sub-standard parts to aircraft on the production line.

He also said he had uncovered serious problems with oxygen systems, which could mean one in four breathing masks would not work in an emergency.

Barnett further said that emergency oxygen systems for the Boeing 787 had a failure rate of 25 percent in a real-life emergency, adding that he alerted upper management to the problems. After he began working in a South Carolina facility, he observed workers failing to follow procedures to track components through the factory, and in some cases, workers used sub-standard parts to prevent production delays. While Boeing denied all of his claims, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed in 2017 that some of his arguments had merit, determining that the location of at least 53 “non-conforming” parts in the factory were considered lost, demanding that Boeing take “remedial action.”

Barnett had been in Charleston at the time of his death and even gave a formal deposition last week. On March 9, he was found dead in his truck in the parking lot of the hotel where he was residing. His lawyer described the death as “tragic,” and Boeing expressed their condolences to his family.

Quote:Over 100 pizzerias could shut down in New York City due to the government’s new green rule forcing shops that use coal and wood-fired stoves to cut carbon emissions by 75 percent.

Ted Timbers, spokesman for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, confirmed the new rules in June of last year.

“All New Yorkers deserve to breathe healthy air and wood and coal-fired stoves are among the largest contributors of harmful pollutants in neighborhoods with poor air quality,” Timbers said in a statement at the time. “This common-sense rule, developed with restaurant and environmental justice groups, requires a professional review of whether installing emission controls is feasible.”

As pizzerias gear up for the new law to take effect on April 27, several business owners told Fox News they will have to shut down for good.

“This regulation will go a long way to put an end to charming wood-fired pizza restaurants in New York City,” Brooklyn pizzeria owner Paul Giannone said. “A sad day in my opinion.”

“I think putting this regulation in place for everyone, regardless if it’s having an impact on neighbors or not, is overkill,” Giannone added.

Quote:A Dollar General in Mineral Point, Wisconsin, saw all of its workers quit at the same time over the weekend, and a sign on the door explained why.

The walkout happened as the group of six employees that included managers claimed they were underpaid, undervalued, and overworked, WKOW reported Sunday.

One of the signs read, “We Quit! Thank you to our amazing customers. We love you and we will miss you!”

An image shows the large neon-colored sign:

Another sign said, “The store is CLOSED. The whole team has walked away due to a lack of appreciation, being overworked, and being underpaid.”

Former store manager Trina Tribolet said the group of workers did not agree with the company’s donation policy that said employees must trash items near expiration or the store did not sell anymore.

The group wanted the items to go to local charities, therefore, they tagged items set to be thrown away as damaged and handed them off to the charity groups.

Even though the group also said they were understaffed and overworked, Dollar General’s directive to cease donating unlisted items brought the decision to walk off the job to a boiling point.

Quote:Approximately 150 workers at the John Deere Des Moines Works in Ankeny, Iowa, will experience layoffs soon.

Factory leaders notified workers about the layoffs on Friday, KTVO reported Monday.

“The company said about 150 production employees will be placed on ‘indefinite layoff effective over the months of April and May,'” the outlet continued.

Details regarding the decision are still a mystery. In a statement, John Deere noted that “Each John Deere factory balances the size of its production workforce with the needs of the individual factory to optimize the workforce at each facility.”

There are reportedly 1,700 workers at the Ankeny factory and over 1,000 of them hold positions in production and maintenance.

It is interesting to note that in June 2022 John Deere planned to move part of its Tractor and Cab Assembly Operations facility located in Waterloo, Iowa, where about 1,100 people worked, to Mexico by the 2024 fiscal year.

Breitbart News reported at the time:

Breitbart News has previously documented the offshoring of American manufacturing jobs to Mexico. In 2021, the Ford Motor Co. announced plans to offshore a $900 million investment for a plant “originally intended for an Avon Lake, Ohio, plant to a site in Mexico.”

Breitbart News also reported “[i]n 2020, about 108,846 Americans lost their jobs as a result of free trade,” according to federal data.

Quote:West Point Superintendent Army Lt. Gen. Steve Gilland on Monday announced a new mission statement for the venerable institution that replaces the words “duty, honor, country” for the more generic “Army values.”

The West Point’s previous mission statement was:

To educate, train and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the nation as an officer in the United States Army.

The new statement says:

To build, educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets to be commissioned leaders of character committed to the Army Values and ready for a lifetime of professional excellence and service to the Army and Nation.

Gilland claimed he wanted to focus more on the “mission essential tasks” of “build, educate, train, and inspire” versus “duty, honor, country.”

He said in a message posted on the West Point website:

Duty, Honor, Country is foundational to the United States Military Academy’s culture and will always remain our motto. It defines who we are as an institution and as graduates of West Point. These three hallowed words are the hallmark of the cadet experience and bind the Long Gray Line together across our great history.

Our responsibility to produce leaders to fight and win our nation’s wars requires us to assess ourselves regularly. Thus, over the past year and a half, working with leaders from across West Point and external stakeholders, we reviewed our vision, mission, and strategy to serve this purpose. We believe our mission binds the Academy to the Army — the Army in which our cadets will serve. As a result of this assessment, we recommended the following mission statement to our senior Army leadership:

To build, educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets to be commissioned leaders of character committed to the Army Values and ready for a lifetime of service to the Army and Nation.

Both the Secretary of the Army and Army Chief of Staff approved this recommendation.

Our updated mission statement focuses on the mission essential tasks of Build, Educate, Train, and Inspire the Corps of Cadets to be commissioned leaders of character, with the explicit purpose of being committed to the Army Values and Ready for a lifetime of service. The Army Values include Duty and Honor, and Country is reflected in Loyalty, bearing truth faith and allegiance to the U.S. Constitution, the Army, your unit, and other Soldiers. In the past century, West Point’s mission has changed nine times. Many graduates will recall the mission statement they learned as new cadets did not include the motto, as Duty, Honor, Country was first added to the mission statement in 1998.

Our absolute focus on developing leaders of character ready to lead our Army’s Soldiers on increasingly lethal battlefields remains unchanged.

Go Army!

Duty Honor Country

LTG Steve Gilland

61st Superintendent

The build, educate, train, and inspire combo truly sounds like reeducation-camp style formation.

Quote:Hunter Biden on Wednesday refused to accept House Oversight Committee James Comer’s (R-KY) offer to publicly testify before Congress on March 20.

Hunter previously said he would only testify in public and refused to appear for a closed-door interview in December.

“Here I am, Mr. Chairman, taking up your offer when you said we can bring these people in for depositions or committee hearings, whichever they choose. Well, I’ve chosen. I’m here to testify in a public hearing today to answer any of the committee’s legitimate questions,” Hunter said outside the U.S. Capitol in December.
Hunter later appeared in February for a closed-door interview before the House impeachment inquiry.
In a letter to Comer on Wednesday, Abbe Lowell, Hunter’s lawyer, said the invitation is an “attempt to resuscitate your Conference’s moribund inquiry with a made-for-right-wing-media, circus act.”

“I must convey my surprise by your hasty request,” he continued. “After that 6-plus hour deposition on February 28, 2024 … I thought even you would recognize your baseless impeachment proceeding was dead.”

Lowell also stated Comer’s request for a March 20 hearing conflicted with Hunter’s hearing in California. Hunter pleaded not guilty to federal tax charges in California in January. The controversial tax charges did not include Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) violations and did not implicate President Joe Biden in any wrongdoing.

Comer said Hunter would not show for a hearing because he confirmed compromising evidence against Joe Biden during his closed-door deposition...

Quote:A Florida convicted pedophile has been arrested again less than two months after his release from prison, for allegedly raping a random woman.

Kendrick Marclain, 31, registered as a sex offender with the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office on January 8 after getting out of prison on December 31, Fox News reported. Then, a woman accused the Panoma Park man of attacking her on February 3.

The woman told police that she had gotten into an argument with a family member while intoxicated that night and decided to leave the residence and go for a walk by herself. She reported noticing a strange man following her, and called her mother around 10:12 p.m. but lost connection.

“The victim said the man continued to follow her and made contact with her near Dollar General asking for a cigarette,” the sheriff’s office said. “The victim gave the man a cigarette, which they shared.”

Before she could leave, the woman said the man grabbed her by the neck, hit her head on a wall, and raped her.

The victim said the man then attempted to take her to his residence, but it was at this time that her father came looking for her and she was able to escape to his vehicle.

Investigators were able to match surveillance footage and forensic evidence to Marclain on Monday, officials said.

He was arrested, charged with sexual assault on a person over the age of 18, and is being held in the Putnam County Jail without bond.

Marclain had recently been released from prison for sexually assaulting a child under the age of 12, Fox News reported.

Quote:Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY) said Wednesday on ABC’s “The View” that she believed after the border bill failed, Republicans were to blame for the migrant crisis.

Hochul said, “We are a nation of immigrants. I’m sitting here because my grandparents were teenagers in Ireland leaving great poverty. My grandpa started as a migrant farm worker himself in South Dakota in the wheat feels.”

She continued, “Fast forward to today, which is your question, we are doing the best we can to manage the influx, get people housing, it is very expensive and the state of New York is in for about $4.3 billion. I would like federal money. And guess what the federal money is and why it’s being held up?”

Hochul added, “The Republicans in Congress and in the Senate, said no, because Donald Trump called him up one night, the night before they should have voted on this to send 2,000 more agents, border patrol people to the border. I need some on the northern border, by the way we border Canada, money for states like New York, that would have helped us a lot, and just have a different path of citizenship and look at the asylum and whether it’s too loose right now the way it’s being used and probably abused. So I blame the Republicans now, the mess was bipartisan before that. Democrats and Republicans have not successfully found a way to have a path to legal citizenship because the employers want this.”

I seriously doubt any American with a little dose of common sense would ever want unvetted illegals get a free or simplified path to citizenship. 

Quote:Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is “stonewalling” on details regarding Jose Antonio Ibarra, the illegal alien accused of murdering Laken Riley, Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) tells Breitbart News.

Green, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, sent a letter to Mayorkas on February 27 requesting all information on Ibarra, including his release into the United States and internal DHS communication regarding his immigration proceedings.

Mayorkas was asked to respond with the relevant information by March 11.

Green’s office told Breitbart News that DHS acknowledged on February 27 that the request was received, with officials calling it a “high priority.” As of March 13, though, Green’s office said Mayorkas has yet to respond with information on Ibarra.

“It’s unacceptable that DHS has failed to comply with this reasonable request,” Green said.

“The documents and information that we have requested should be quite simple for DHS to compile and produce,” he continued. “Secretary Mayorkas has repeatedly claimed that parole is being granted on a case-by-case basis, per the law’s requirement, and if that’s true, DHS shouldn’t have any trouble producing the documents verifying that in the matter of Jose Ibarra.”

Mayorkas, Green said, has also failed to brief the House Homeland Security Committee on the issue of Riley’s murder.

“Aside from confirming receipt of our request, DHS has not contacted the Committee to even discuss a timeline to respond,” Green said. “This is the type of stonewalling we’ve encountered over and over again from the administration. It’s time for DHS to be forthcoming.”

Quote:Republicans have introduced the bipartisan “Laken Riley Act” in the United States Senate after the legislation passed the House with support from 251 Republicans and 37 Democrats.

On Wednesday, Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Katie Britt (R-AL), and Ted Budd (R-NC) introduced Rep. Mike Collins’s (R-GA) Laken Riley Act, which would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to take into custody illegal aliens arrested, charged, or convicted for burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting.

“Laken Riley should still be alive today, and we must act to prevent tragedies like this from continuing to occur in our country … we must prioritize American lives over illegal aliens,” Blackburn said.

“We simply cannot tolerate any more senseless tragedies like this one. What happened to Laken Riley should never happen to any American citizen,” Budd said.

Specifically, the legislation would require DHS to issue an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer against any illegal alien in the U.S. hit with such local charges if they are not already detained by local, state, or federal officials.

An ICE detainer requests local law enforcement to hold an illegal alien in their custody until federal agents can take over.

Britt said Riley’s murder “was a direct, preventable consequence of willful open border policies by President Biden and his administration,” while Collins thanked Britt for leading on the legislation:

Quote:DeSantis’s office announced Wednesday that it was deploying “additional state assets to the Keys and southern waters of the State of Florida.” According to the press release, there are security and surveillance assets in South Florida as well as the Keys “as a part of Operation Vigilant Sentry to stop illegal immigration at sea.”

Additional assets include 39 officers from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, 23 from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission “with eight additional seacraft,” 48 additional Guardsmen from the Florida National Guard “with four additional helicopters,” and 30 officers from the Florida Highway Patrol.

DeSantis said in a statement:

Given the circumstances in Haiti, I have directed the Division of Emergency Management, the Florida State Guard, and state law enforcement agencies to deploy over 250 additional officers and soldiers and over a dozen air and sea craft to the southern coast of Florida to protect our state.

He noted that Florida has “significant” resources to halt illegal immigration from Haiti.

“No state has done more to supplement the (under-resourced) U.S. Coast Guard’s interdiction efforts; we cannot have illegal aliens coming to Florida,” he added.

The announcement comes as Haiti continues to descend into chaos, overwhelmed with bloody gang violence.

Quote:American missionaries trapped in Haiti pleaded for rescue on Tuesday, reporting constant gunfire around their hideaway and corpses rotting in the streets. The group’s leader said the only assistance they have received from the Biden administration was advice to “be safe.”

“Okay, well, that’s not really helpful,” Jill Dolan of the group Love A Neighbor said of the response she received from the U.S. Embassy when she asked for help getting her family out of Haiti.

“My fear is that we will be caught in the middle of something really dangerous. We’re already on the front lines of it; we’re in a bad area. It’s kind of depressing. The gunfire never stops,” Dolan told the New York Post on Tuesday.

Dolan and her family are holed up in a “makeshift motel” in the capital city of Port-au-Prince, where the worst battles of Haiti’s immense gang war have been fought. She and her family founded Love a Neighbor — a nonprofit missionary charity, based in Washington State — to help manage a small orphanage for children abandoned or sold by their impoverished parents.

Dolan said she was on her way out of Haiti to attend a wedding in Florida with her husband and adopted teenage children when gangs attacked the airport, causing all commercial flights to be canceled.

“We’ve contacted agencies to extract us out. They have just said, ‘It’s way too dangerous where you are; you have to stay put,’” she told CBS News on Wednesday.

The Post spoke to other American missionaries and charity volunteers who said they have been trapped in various parts of Haiti — few of them as completely overrun with violent anarchy as Port-au-Prince, but nowhere in Haiti seems entirely safe.

The other missionaries also spoke of being abandoned by the Biden administration, which seemed able to do little beyond evacuating staffers from the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince.

Quote:With the announced resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, the most powerful man in blood-soaked Haiti is ex-cop gang boss Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier.

Barbecue is not without his rivals, foremost among them a 26-year-old rap-singing gangster named Johnson Andre, aka Izo Vilaj de Dye, whose resume includes kidnapping, extortion, savage murders, and a YouTube award for one of his music videos.

“Izo,” as he prefers to be known, began cranking out politicized rap videos shortly after a rival Haitian gang abducted seventeen foreign missionaries in November 2021. The song, titled “Se Fot Yo,” accused the Haitian government of arming gangs and using them as paramilitary enforcers.

Izo’s YouTube channel quickly racked up 100,000 subscribers, which earned him a “Silver Play Button” plaque and a cash award from the video streaming service. Izo posed with his winnings in a social media snapshot and declared himself part of the “artist Mafia.”

This was not hyperbole because Izo leads one of the deadliest Haitian gangs, Baz 5 Segonn, or the “Five Seconds Gang.” Cherizier’s rival gang, actually a confederation of smaller criminal packs, is called G9 and Family. There are at least 200 distinct gangs operating in Haiti, with 23 of them competing for control of the capital city, Port-au-Prince.

Izo’s gang controls one of Haiti’s most miserable slums, the “Village of God,” where it practices such abuses as murder, rape, cop killing, recruiting child soldiers, and kidnapping. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has prosecuted gang leaders linked to Izo for abducting American citizens.

A petition campaign was quickly organized to rescind Izo’s platinum award and shut down his YouTube channel.

Quote:The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, declared on Sunday that “we can fix” the ongoing political turmoil and rampant gang violence in Haiti, equating the images of brutality from the island nation to the state of affairs in his home country before implementing a law enforcement crackdown in 2022.

Bukele did not specify who the “we” in his sentence was — whether he meant the government of El Salvador or the international community in general. He later commented that “experts” had declared similar violence in El Salvador “intrinsic” to the country, and the eradication of organized criminal violence from the country had proven them wrong.

El Salvador suffered decades of near-total control of society by organized criminal gangs, most prominently Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and the 18th Street gang. Bukele, who took office in 2019, greatly expanded police authority and, in 2022, enacted a “state of exception” that allowed police to detain tens of thousands of gang suspects. Bukele also built “mega-prison” complexes to house the suspects and is processing the criminals in mass trials to facilitate their removal from society.

Bukele’s dramatic expansion of law enforcement powers has alarmed outside observers, who fear that regular citizens may soon see their constitutional rights eroded as well. Yet no reports have surfaced from El Salvador of the imprisoning of political dissidents or silencing of opposition. The country’s most prominent opposition newspaper, El Faro, conceded in 2023 that “gangs do not exist” in the country as they used to, allowing citizens to enact basic liberties such as visiting their public parks in peace and establishing small businesses without paying the gangs extortion fees. El Faro continues to operate and freely publish materials critical of Bukele.

Bukele was overwhelmingly reelected in February’s presidential election with an estimated 85 percent of the vote.

Quote:A group of cartel gunmen kidnapped and tortured a well-known journalist in Mexico who dared to write a column about the impunity with which drug lords lived in his state. The gunmen held the journalist for two days while they tortured him and questioned him before releasing him with a warning.

The incident began on Monday afternoon when Jaime Barrera Rodriguez, one of the most famous journalists in the state of Jalisco, was leaving his job at a local radio station on his way to his office at a local TV station for the night newscast when a group of gunmen kidnapped him at gunpoint in the city of Zapopan.

Soon after the kidnapping, Jalisco State Governor Enrique Alfaro made the incident public and revealed he was personally overseeing the issue.

By Wednesday morning, the gunmen released Barrera, who then called for help. State and federal authorities responded to the journalist’s location and continued their investigation. Alfaro announced the release and held a news conference where he provided additional details about the case.

Soon after his release, Barrera spoke with various journalists, and he claimed that the kidnapping was not for ransom but was actually a warning. He contended that gunmen tied him up and beat him with a paddle as they questioned him about his stories.

In a radio interview, Barrera claimed they asked him if he wrote under someone’s orders and why he wrote what he wrote.

According to Mexico’s El Universal, a possible reason for the kidnapping could have been over his most recent column where he criticized the government’s apparent lack of urgency in capturing the leadership of Cartel Jalisco New Generation and how in certain towns the group’s main leader Nemesion “El Mencho” Oseguera is welcomed with open arms even by public officials.

Quote:Maduro, a close ally of Moscow, claimed that he supports Pope Francis’s recent call to negotiate an end to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. During an interview with Switzerland’s Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS), Pope Francis said that Ukraine should have the “courage to negotiate” an end to Russia’s invasion of its territory. The comments, and Ukraine’s reaction to them, prompted the Vatican Press Office to clarify that the pope’s statements did mean he supported Ukraine’s surrender.

The socialist dictator asserted that “the time has come to negotiate peace” in Ukraine, comparing Zelensky, whom he further described as “crude” and “defeated,” to Venezuela’s former legitimate interim president, Juan Guaidó. Guaidó was president from January 2019 to December 2022 after Maduro clung to power by holding a sham presidential election in 2018 that paved the way for a constitutional crisis in the South American nation.

“Zelensky, the eastern president from over there in Ukraine, more and more resembles Guaidó to me, as clownish, as crude and as defeated as Guaidó, as harmful to his people as Guaidó,” Maduro said.

“In any case, I could say with my heart as a Christian, as a man of faith, that Pope Francis is right,” he continued. “And from Venezuela, we firmly support with devotion the words of Pope Francis’ call for peace in Ukraine.”

The socialist dictator then claimed that all wars, including what he called the “extermination of the Palestinian people” by Israel, must end.

Maduro further alleged that “U.S. Imperialism” is preparing to “discard” Zelensky, claiming that it would not be the first time “that imperialism sets up a puppet, uses it, burns it, destroys it and discards it.”

“We had a clown like Zelensky: Guaidó, the biggest clown, who said he was president in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022. And in 2023, imperialism grabbed him, discarded him and threw him to the garbage dump in Miami,” Maduro said. “Now he lives like garbage in Miami — yes, a multimillionaire.”

Quote:Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson secretly traveled to Venezuela in February to meet with socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro, the British newspaper the Sunday Times reported over the weekend.

The Sunday Times claimed that Johnson allegedly discussed the Russian invasion of Ukraine with Maduro, who is a staunch supporter and key ally of Russia in the region. The newspaper further alleged that U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron knew of the meeting.

Unnamed sources claimed to the Sunday Times that Johnson was acting as a “back channel for the UK and the West more generally given the dire state of relations with a strategically significant country.”

Johnson reportedly spent less than 24 hours in Venezuela, traveling by use of a private jet from a family vacation in the Dominican Republic and arriving at a location outside of the capital city of Caracas, where he met with the socialist dictator. Johnson then returned to the Dominican Republic before departing to Ukraine to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky on the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Johnson spoke to Maduro about the war in Ukraine amid concern in western diplomatic and intelligence circles that the oil-rich socialist republic could supply weapons or other military support to Russia, a close ally,” the report read.

Johnson also allegedly discussed conditions to normalize relations with the Maduro regime. The United Kingdom does not recognize Maduro’s government as legitimate after the socialist dictator held a sham presidential election in May 2018 to cling to power.

Like much of the free world, the U.K. had instead chosen to recognize the now-dissolved presidency of Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate government. The U.K.’s recognition of Guaidó’s presidency over Maduro’s illegitimate rule was a crucial element leading to a London court ruling in favor of denying control to Maduro of more than $1 billion worth of Venezuelan gold held in the Bank of England in 2022. The socialist regime appealed the court ruling in 2023 after Guaidó’s presidency was dissolved in December 2022. A new ruling over control of the gold remains pending.

Other topics discussed between Johnson and Maduro, according to the Sunday Times, were the matter of holding a “free and fair” presidential election in 2024 and a de-escalation of Venezuela’s tensions with Guyana over the disputed Essequibo territory.

Guyana was a former British colony until it gained its independence in 1966. A 120-year-old territorial dispute over the Essequibo region, which represents two-thirds of Guyana, remains active today, a holdover of the British era. The Maduro regime escalated the dispute last year by threatening to forcefully annex the contested territory. Maduro has also continuously threatened the American oil company ExxonMobil to abstain from drilling oil in waters near the contested territory.

Quote:A Telegram channel allegedly linked to the Ukrainian military published a video of a man claiming to be a Cuban national scammed into fighting for Russia after accepting what he thought was a masonry job in exchange for the promise of Russian citizenship, multiple Spanish-language outlets reported on Monday.

The video is allegedly of a man caught fighting on the front lines against the Ukrainian military in Marinka, in the disputed Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. The man identified himself in the video as Frank Darío Jarrosay Manfugás of Guantánamo and insisted that “at no time did we know that we were going to go to war” when he and his compatriots accepted jobs in Russia.

Jarrosay — sporting a heavy Cuban accent — tells his captors through an interpreter that “Cubans who were here [in Russia]” recruited him through Facebook to work in the country.

“It was not directly to the war. I didn’t come to the war. The page said that you come here to work in plumbing, masonry, carpentry,” he continued. “That is to say, the cities that Russia conquered, we came to rebuild them. That was the contract, but not to shoot bullets.”

The man identifying himself as Jarrosay said he was offered 250,000 rubles — about $2,725.24 — a month for “masonry” work, and he was paid his monthly salary in February and another 100,000 rubles — about $1,090.10 — for completing his first month on the job. He said he was part of a group of 35 Cubans sent to fight in Ukraine.

Jarrosay continued:

At no time did we know that we had to go to the war, do you understand me? We came to do carpentry, masonry. They made the contract up in Russian; we didn’t know what the contract said in Russian. They make you sign believing that it is for the labor you think you are signing up for. Before you know it, you’re in a trench shooting.

“The Cubans coming here do not have military training; they do not come with military training because they don’t come here for the war,” the man insisted. “I was never a police officer; I never shot bullets in Cuba. I don’t have military training.”

He recounted how the Ukrainian military captured him. During a mission to transport a portable solar panel grid, bombs started falling, and he lost track of his team.

Quote:The Chinese Foreign Ministry asserted Tuesday “all sides” in the Russian invasion of Ukraine “attached high importance” to the ongoing Chinese diplomat tour of Europe allegedly seeking to end the war, a claim undermined by the apparent lack of enthusiasm in Russia and Ukraine about the trip.

Li Hui, a senior Chinese diplomat and former ambassador to Russia, is leading his second round of “shuttle diplomacy” since the Russian government began its “special military operation” to recolonize Ukraine. Li and his team have stopped in Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Germany, and France since he left China on March 2, engaging in meetings with senior officials in each state on the status of the war. In Russia, Li received plaudits for trying – and an earful condemning Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s peace formula, which requires Russia to return conquered Ukrainian lands to his country. In Ukraine, Li received pressure for China to do something about evidence of North Korean weapons being used by the Russian military and to encourage Moscow to return children abducted from disputed territories.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced in February that Li would travel to Europe to spread “China’s wisdom” and make meaningful contributions to ending the war. The tour is a sequel to a similar round of “shuttle diplomacy” in May 2023 that resulted from a phone conversation between Zelensky and Chinese dictator Xi Jinping, one of Russian strongman Vladimir Putin’s closest partners on the world stage.

In May, China encouraged Ukraine to “build up trust” with Russia as Russia continued its attempt to colonize large percentages of Ukrainian land.

“Special Representative Li Hui laid out China’s position and proposals on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at the time. “There is no panacea for defusing the crisis. All parties need to do their part to build up trust and create conditions for ceasefire and peace talks.”

Li’s first tour did not result in talks between Ukraine and Russia or any notable changes to the state of the war. Similarly, in the past nearly two weeks of Chinese intervention, neither side offered any commitments to move forward with new talks or negotiate a definitive end to the conflict, reports from state media in both countries indicated. Discussion of China’s “political settlement” plan for the Russian invasion – a vague series of suggestions that include asking both countries to “calm down as soon as possible” – appeared nearly entirely absent this month.

Quote:Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke with French broadcaster BFMTV and engaged with controversial remarks by President Emmanuel Macron, that nothing was off the table when it comes to defeating Putin’s Russia and further NATO involvement shouldn’t be ruled out. The comments have caused concern across the NATO alliance in recent weeks with other national and military leaders insisting such a deployment was totally off the table.

Yet Europeans need not worry about fighting Russia directly, Zelensky said, as long as Ukraine is successful in doing it for them, another chance for the leader to hammer home his often-repeated point that wider war in Europe can be avoided by giving Kyiv more money and more weapons.

Zelensky told the French broadcaster that: “as long as Ukraine holds out, the French army can stay on French territory… Your children will not be killed in Ukraine, but if Russia invades NATO countries, your children may be sent to one of these countries.”

While Zelensky seemed content to pour cool water on feverish European discussion about the future of NATO support for Ukraine — while subtly promoting his own cause and the importance of continuing support — he also made clear the door was open for limited Western military deployment to his country. Rather than speaking of soldiers to fight Russia, NATO could consider sending support troops instead.

He said “why not think about technical personnel who would come to Ukraine”, citing the present situation that when advanced western vehicles are damaged in Ukraine they are shipped back to Poland to be repaired, the workshops and European personnel could be forward-deployed. France has also discussed such military services, with the suggestion the country could send combat engineers to find and remove landmines, or soldiers to train Ukrainian troops on their home turf.

Quote:Hungary summoned its ambassador from the United States on Tuesday over what Budapest termed as “lies” from President Biden about Prime Minister Viktor Orbán supposedly seeking to become a dictator.

A diplomatic rift broke out between Budapest and Washington this week following comments from President Joe Biden, who claimed during a campaign stop in Philadelphia on Friday that Prime Minister Orbán “stated flatly he doesn’t think democracy works and is looking for dictatorship”.

Responding to the incendiary rhetoric, Hungarian Foreign Affairs Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Tuesday that the Orbán government has summoned the U.S. ambassador for an explanation for Biden’s comments.

“We are not obliged to take lies from anyone, even if that person is the President of the United States,” Minister Szijjártó said on Tuesday afternoon. “Since such a lie has been said in connection with the Hungarian prime minister, we summoned the ambassador of the United States to the ministry, who was here today.”

Szijjártó went on to say that Biden’s comments made it more difficult to build Hungarian-U.S. relations, as it was “an offence not to the government, but to the country”.

When pressed by Fox News reporter Jacqui Rogers during a White House briefing on Tuesday as to whether it was the official stance of the United States that Hungary, a NATO ally, was a dictatorship, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan refused to confirm whether or not the president’s comments reflect the government’s official stance, referring the question to the Biden re-election campaign.

“Our position is that Hungary has engaged in an assault on Democratic institutions and that remains a source of grave concern to us,” Sullivan said

The accusations from President Biden came after the Hungarian Prime Minister — who was democratically elected in 2014, 2018, and 2022 after serving years in opposition after his first stint as leader between 1998 and 2002 — once again expressed his belief that only Donald Trump can bring peace back to Europe, while chastising Biden as a “pro-war” president.

Quote:Vladimir Putin faces re-election this week for a fifth term in office — a vote Western observers say isn’t fair and free and is essentially a rubber-stamping exercise — and gave a pre-election interview to Russian television where he once again made remarks on the potential for nuclear war over Ukraine. Broadcast Wednesday morning, the interview saw Putin assert his country was absolutely ready to use its nuclear arsenal but said he did not see the world “rushing to it” yet.

Warning Russian military doctrine absolutely called for nuclear retaliation if the Russian government, the nation’s sovereignty or independence were threatened, Putin told the broadcaster that “we are ready for this… from the military, technical viewpoint, we are prepared”.

Making reference to comments by France’s Emmanuel Macron about the possibility of NATO states deploying troops to Ukraine — a position he has doubled down on despite outrage from fellow alliance leaders about the danger of such remarks — Putin said: “the nations that say they have no red lines regarding Russia should realize that Russia won´t have any red lines regarding them either.”

Again making a clear reference to Western boots on the ground in Ukraine, Putin quipped he hadn’t used battlefield tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine yet because there hadn’t been the need so far.

Yet the Russian President, who is likely to ‘win’ another six years in power this week moderated the war talk by saying he wouldn’t feel obliged to launch nuclear weapons if Western states would just do as he tells them. He expects NATO states to keep their troops out of Ukraine, he said, and even that he was ready to enter negotiations with the West on the future of the country he invaded but only if those talks were based on what he called “realities”.

 Does that mean Putin now wants all Americans (especially their politicians) to become his lackeys!?

Quote:Russian citizens fighting for Ukraine counter-invaded Russia on Tuesday morning, Ukrainian state media claimed, saying they were fighting to liberate Russia from “Putin’s dictatorship”. Both sides have so far claimed combat success in the clashes.

Kyiv-loyal units of Russian citizens have performed several incursions into Russia proper in the past year, but Tuesday morning’s attack which is alleged to have involved the coordination of several units including tanks across the borders of two Russian regions appears to be the biggest of the war so far. Units including the Russian Legion, the Siberia Battalion and the Russian Volunteer Corps are said to have crossed the border into the Russian provinces of Belgorod and Kursk on Tuesday morning, a day that also saw a large coordinated airstrike by Ukraine deep into the Russian interior.

Russia acknowledged an attempt on their border had been made, but said they repelled all assaults and claimed to have inflicted heavy losses on the rebels. By Wednesday, Ukraine reported Russian forces were increasing the deployment of landmines along the Belgorod border, suggesting they did not welcome further incursions.

Footage shared, allegedly of the assault, shows tanks flying the blue and white flags of the Russian resistance apparently moving into combat. Ukrainian state media meanwhile claims the Kyiv-armed Russian paramilitaries — what they call “liberation forces — have captured the border village of Tiotkino in the Kursk Oblast and the border town of Lozova Rudka in Belgorod. Ukraine cites a report from the fighting by the Russian anti-Putin units which claim following the capture of a settlement: “Putin’s army is rapidly withdrawing from the village, leaving their positions behind and abandoning heavy military equipment.”

Spokesman for the Russian Legion Alexei Baranovsky gave his perspective on the fighting, telling Ukrainian television that the counter-invasion was timed for the Russian national elections that are taking place this week, but given the state of Russian democracy, they were having to ‘vote’ with guns. He said: “We decided to exercise our constitutional right to vote… We are casting our vote for a Russia without Putin; for the liberation of Russia from Putin…. We are going home to liberate our homeland from Putin’s dictatorship.”

Quote:Ukraine launched a wave of long-range drones against targets deep inside Russia on Tuesday, Russian officials said, hitting at least two oil facilities in the attack on eight regions of Russia in the latest display of Kyiv´s expanding drone capacity.

One drone struck and set ablaze an oil refinery in the Nizhny Novgorod region, according to regional governor Gleb Nikitin. That region is located some about 775 kilometers (480 miles) from the Ukraine border.

In another deep strike, a drone was shot down in the Moscow region, Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. Though it was brought down well south of the city center, the drone was close to Zhukovsky Airport, one of Mocow´s four international airports.

Another drone hit an oil depot in Oryol, 116 kilometers (95 miles) from Ukraine.

The strikes appeared to be evidence of Ukraine´s growing sophistication in domestic drone technology and its brashness in taking the war to Russia, after the Kremlin´s forces launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last year that his country had developed a weapon that hit a target 700 kilometers (400 miles) away, in an apparent reference to drones.

Ukraine has also increasingly deployed sea drones in the Black Sea, where it claims to have sunk Russian warships.

Kyiv´s forces are hoping for more military supplies from Ukraine´s Western partners, but in the meantime are struggling against a bigger and better-provisioned Russian army that is pressing hard at certain front-line points inside Ukraine.

Kyiv´s increasingly bold attacks behind the 1,500-kilometer (930-mile) front line running through eastern and southern Ukraine are coinciding with Russia´s presidential election. President Vladimir Putin is widely expected to win another six-year term, but Ukraine´s attacks on Russian soil could embarrass him.

The Russian Defense Ministry also said Tuesday that drones were intercepted over the Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk, Leningrad and Tula regions of Russia.

Separately, the ministry said that one Tochka-U ballistic missile, with a range of about 70 kilometers (40 miles), and eight Vampire missiles, which are fired from trucks and have a range of about 20 kilometers (12 miles), were shot down over Belgorod.

Russian border defenses are also reportedly being tested, though it was impossible to independently verify any side´s battlefield reports.

Quote:A Russian military transport plane with 15 people on board crashed on Tuesday while taking off from an air base in western Russia, the Defense Ministry said.

It said the Il-76 aircraft with eight crew and seven passengers crashed in the Ivanovo region. It didn’t say whether there were any survivors.

Ivanovo Gov. Stanislav Voskresensky offered condolences to the victims’ families. He said there was no damage on the ground.

The Defense Ministry said in a statement that an engine fire during takeoff was the likely cause of the crash. It said a team of investigators flew to Ivanovo to conduct a probe.

Russian media broadcast a video showing the aircraft heading down with at least one of its engines ablaze.

The four-engine Il-76 is a heavy-lift transport plane that has been in service since the 1970s with the Soviet and then Russian air force.

Tuesday´s crash came on a day when the Defense Ministry reported dozens of attacks on Russia by Ukrainian drones. In the past, Ukrainian drones hit some military air bases deep inside Russia.

Military experts have noted that as the number of Russian military flights increased sharply during the fighting in Ukraine, so has the number of crashes.

Quote:The Russian Defense Ministry on Monday announced that a group of Russian warships has arrived in Iranian waters for participation in a joint exercise with Iran and China called “Maritime Security Belt 2024.”

“The practical part of the exercise will take place in the waters of the Gulf of Oman of the Arabian Sea. The main purpose of the maneuvers is to work out the safety of maritime economic activity,” the defense ministry said.

“The goals of this exercise include strengthening the security of international maritime trade, combating piracy and maritime terrorism, facilitating information exchange for maritime rescue operations, and sharing operational and tactical insights,” said Iranian state media.

Russia’s flagship in the exercise is the Varyag, a guided-missile cruiser whose hull dates back to the 1980s. The ship carries an extensive inventory of modern radar systems and weapons, for both surface and submarine warfare. The Varyag often represents Russia’s Pacific Fleet in training exercises and demonstrations.

The Iranian Navy said last month that it was eager to participate in joint exercises with the more advanced and experienced Russian and Chinese navies, to enhance Iran’s blue-water naval capabilities.

“By accompanying Iranian ships at sea, we protect the shipping of the Islamic Republic of Iran and help countries that need support to ensure security and safety,” said Rear Admiral Shahram Irani, commander of Iran’s navy – an ironic sentiment, given that Iran’s Houthi terrorist proxies in Yemen are currently menacing the shipping of every other nation.

The Maritime Security Belt 2024 exercise is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, and will be observed by naval officers from Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Oman, India, and South Africa.

Quote:Police in Amsterdam arrested a man on Sunday for allegedly threatening to kill populist leader Geert Wilders, who has spent over a decade under police protection and is one of the most targeted politicians in the Netherlands.

Geert Wilders, who pulled off a “mega victory” in the Dutch general election in November, thanked Amsterdam police for their swift action in responding to the latest threat against his life, De Telegraaf reports.

The populist firebrand and strident campaigner against the Islamisation of Europe and mass migration wrote on social media following the arrest: “Many thanks to the Amsterdam police unit who arrested a person in a home this weekend because of a threat to kill me… Without the police, I would be an outlaw.”

Wilders has long been subjected to death threats, mostly in response to his blunt criticism of the Islamic religion and its teachings, and has received police protection for many years, and has been forced to hire 24-hour security and resides in a safe house for his protection. The Party for Freedom (PVV) leader has claimed that he receives multiple threats daily, sometimes as many as hundreds per day.

Following the release of his 2008 short film Fitna, which argued against the theology of the Qur’an and claimed the Islamic holy text was responsible for inspiring terrorism, antisemitism, violence against women, and the persecution of homosexuals and infidels, extremist leaders tied to Al-Qaeda issued fatwas (death warrants) on Wilders’ head.

According to the latest figures from the Threatened Politicians Team at The Hague, there were 1,125 death threats made against politicians in 2022, with at least half of those being directed towards Wilders.

Quote:Over three months since the Netherlands sensationally swung towards right-populist firebrand Geert Wilders the country is still without a new government, and negotiations now look towards a coalition where the leader of the largest party doesn’t get the largest job, possibly the humbling price of keeping the left out of power.

UPDATE 2100 — Wilders confirms he may not be Prime Minister

After all that speculation, Mr Wilders makes clear he is willing to step aside from the leadership role for now for the good of the country — very noble. Writing on social media tonight he said:

…I would like a right-wing cabinet. Less asylum and immigration. Dutch [as the priority]. The love for my country and voters is great and more important than my own position.

So, a right wing government possibly led by Wilders’ party, but without Wilders himself in the driving seat seems likely. Interesting. Wilders also counselled his followers not to despair, because the present electoral arithmetic didn’t preclude him from becoming leader in the future, should subsequent elections change the balance. He continued:

And don’t forget: I will still become Prime Minister of the Netherlands. With support from even more Dutch people. If not tomorrow then the day after tomorrow. Because the voices of millions of Dutch people will be heard!

Quote:The European Union’s executive arm will recommend that member countries open accession negotiations with Bosnia-Herzegovina, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday, despite lingering ethnic divisions in the Western Balkan country.

Bosnia-Herzegovina country is among six nations from the region – alongside Albania, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia – who are at different stages of the EU accession process, following a period of wars and crises in the 1990s.

Their memberships have been stalled for years. But after Russia´s war on Ukraine, EU officials are more keen on trying to lure them away from the Kremlin’s influence.

“We have realized that it is not enough to just wait for the Western Balkans to move closer to us,” von der Leyen told EU lawmakers on Tuesday. “It is not enough to say that the door is open. We must also take responsibility, and support their path towards our Union in any possible way.”

EU leaders are expected to discuss the European Commission´s recommendation at a summit scheduled in Brussels next week. There is no guarantee that member states will endorse it as separatist Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, who is pro-Russia, continues to undermine the presidency and other political functions in Bosnia.

Bosnia has been riven by ethnic divisions, even decades after the war that tore the country apart in the 1990s. In December, Dodik told The Associated Press that he intended to keep weakening the country to the point where it fell apart.

Bosnia was granted candidate status in 2022. For candidates to join the EU, they have to go through a lengthy process to align their laws and standards with those of the bloc and show their institutions and economies meet democratic norms.

Von der Leyen said that Bosnia needs to do “more progress” to join the EU, but insisted on the “impressive steps” towards the 27-nation bloc that the country has already achieved.

“More progress has been achieved in just over a year than in over a decade,” she said. “First, Bosnia and Herzegovina is now fully aligned with our foreign and security policy, which is crucial in these times of geopolitical turmoil.”

Quote:Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg asked a trial court in New York to postpone the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump by 30 days. Trump faces prosecution for allegedly falsifying business records.

Trump’s attorneys had sought a 90-day postponement to consider new documents that had only been handed over recently by federal prosecutors. Bragg offered a 30-day postponement instead.

The New York Times reported:

The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which accused Mr. Trump of covering up a sex scandal during and after the 2016 presidential campaign, said the delay would give Mr. Trump’s lawyers time to review a new batch of records. The office sought the records more than a year ago, but only recently received them from federal prosecutors, who years ago investigated the hush-money payments at the center of the case.

In response to the new records — tens of thousands of pages of them — Mr. Trump’s lawyers requested that the trial be delayed 90 days. Although the former president frequently requests such delays, prosecutors consenting to any postponement makes one far more likely.

Trump is not accused of “covering up a sex scandal,” but rather of falsifying business records of payments made to Stormy Daniels (née Stephanie Crawford) as part of a non-disclusure agreement prior to the 2016 presidential election.

Quote:Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who is federally accused of accepting gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for his influence as a senator, is reportedly mulling an independent reelection bid.

Citing a pair of sources “who spoke with him directly,” NBC News’s Julie Tsirkin, Carol E. Lee, and Kate Santaliz reported Thursday that Menendez is considering an independent run:

He is now making calls to allies about his record and career and is preparing to collect petitions to run in November as an independent, the sources said. If Menendez were to run as a Democrat, he would need to come up with 1,000 signatures by March 25th — so time is not on his side. But running as an independent would give him more time; in that case, he would only need 800 signatures by June 4th to qualify for the ballot.

A clearly frustrated Menendez did not deny that he’s planning to run as an independent when asked by NBC News Thursday afternoon, saying multiple times: “I don’t have to declare what I am doing. When I do, everybody will know.”

The report comes days after Menendez entered a not-guilty plea to newly added charges in what has grown into an 18-count indictment, as the Associated Press noted. The fresh obstruction of justice charges to which he and his wife Nadine Menendez pleaded not guilty on Monday “are related to what prosecutors say were efforts to cover up the illegal bribes,” per the outlet.

Quote:Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) issued an extraordinary demand Thursday for Israel to hold new elections aimed at ousting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom the Biden administration and Democrats dislike.

NBC reported:

Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in the U.S., said in remarks on the Senate floor that “the Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after Oct. 7.”

“The world has changed — radically — since then, and the Israeli people are being stifled right now by a governing vision that is stuck in the past,” Schumer said in what was billed as a major address by the Democratic leader from New York.

Netanyahu has “lost his way,” Schumer continued, “by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel.” Schumer said that Netanyahu has aligned himself with “far-right extremists” like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who he said are “pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows.”

Schumer has long been a critic of Netanyahu’s, and even attacked Netanyahu during a speech against antisemitism in November. But Thursday’s statement goes much further, interfering brazenly in Israel’s democratic politics — an action that, if taken by any foreign country against the United States, would be denounced as foreign election interference.

Netanyahu, who was briefly replaced by a center-left coalition, made a political comeback and was elected in November 2022 with a right-wing coalition that had one of the largest majorities in the recent electoral history of the Jewish state.

Quote:House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) on Thursday launched a “government-wide” probe into the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) ongoing attempt to “target, influence, and infiltrate every sector and community in the United States.”

The probe comes in the wake of Peter Schweizer’s new book, Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn a Blind Eye While China Kills Americans. Blood Money landed at number one on the New York Times bestseller list one week after its release by HarperCollins.

Among several bombshells, Blood Money revealed how the Biden family bagged $5 million from the business partner of the “White Wolf,” the head of a gang involved in the drug trade. It also exposed how China is involved in the fentanyl crisis throughout North America. In addition, the book uncovered how the CCP uses TikTok as a “modern day Trojan Horse” to push propaganda into the United States.

“I’m thrilled that Chairman Comer is launching a major investigation on this,” Schweizer, president of the Government Accountability Institute and a Breitbart News senior contributor, exclusively told Breitbart News. “I look forward to helping the committee in their efforts.”

Comer’s probe will demand federal agencies provide information on how the United States is combatting the CCP’s warfare that influences several significant sectors:

Education
Agriculture
Critical infrastructure
Research
Energy
Business
Space
Technology sectors

“Without firing a single bullet, the Chinese Communist Party is waging war against the U.S. by targeting, influencing, and infiltrating every economic sector and community in America,” Comer said in a statement:

Quote:Anti-Israel protesters outside a Jewish community-sponsored film screening in Chicago on Monday attacked a Jewish man in his late fifties who entered the theater with a small Israeli flag, allegedly punching him repeatedly in the head.

Local ABC affiliate WLS-7 reported:

As anti-Israel protesters tried to block people from entering a Monday night screening of “Nova,” a documentary about the October 7 Hamas massacre at the Nova Music Festival that killed hundreds, a Jewish attendee was attacked. Chicago police are now investigating.
...
The man, who is in his late 50s, said one protester tried to yank the flag from his hand. The next thing he knew, he was being attacked by several protesters.

“A group of them was swinging me around and threw me into a parked car,” the victim said. “I was completely surrounded by maybe six or seven that started punching me in the head.”

The man spoke to local news on camera, but did not want to be identified, and said he feared for his children’s safety.

Chicago is home to a large Palestinian-American community, and frequently features radical anti-Israel protests that rival those in Detroit.

Quote:Biden’s pro-migration deputies began facilitation the migration of critical reserves of better-educated Haitians, including policemen and politicians.

Haiti’s 10,000-man national police, for example, lost 1,600 police in 2023 — many of whom used Biden’s 2023 offer of “parole pathway” visas to join their relatives in the United States labor force.

“A lot of police officers have left in the Biden [visa] program,” Gary Victor, a Haitian writer told the Miami Herald in September 2023. “Haiti is a country that has no one governing it.”

“It’s the same brain drain issue [seen elsewhere] but dialed up to 11,” said Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies. He continued:

It’s the most extreme example of what U.S. immigration policy does, in drawing off — not just the elite of a country because the top people in any country can leave if they want to — all of the people under the elite who keep things functioning.

The poorest of the poor — whether in Haiti or anywhere else — aren’t usually the ones who leave. It is the ones with a little bit of resources, a little bit of social capital, who can leave. And that leaves society stripped of the necessary elements of a leadership class.

Quote:The U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) announced on Wednesday that the Marine Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team (FAST) has been deployed to Haiti to “maintain strong security capabilities at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince.”

SOUTHCOM said deploying a team like FAST to a theater where the U.S. Embassy is at risk is a “common and routine practice worldwide” that will relieve the pressure on Marine guards already in place and “allow additional non-emergency personnel to depart.”

“The U.S. Embassy remains open, and limited operations continue, focused on assistance to U.S. citizens and supporting Haitian-led efforts to secure a peaceful transition of power,” the statement said, referring to Monday’s announced resignation of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

Haiti, already unstable and infested by brutal street gangs, exploded into violence when Henry left the country to secure a deal for security intervention with Kenyan President William Ruto. Gang leaders declared a “bloody revolution” and blocked Henry from returning to the country. Henry is currently stranded in Puerto Rico.

The deal with Kenya, meanwhile, was scuttled by Kenyan courts and the pronounced lack of enthusiasm for intervening in Haiti among Ruto’s constituents.

SOUTHCOM said:

This week, the Department of Defense doubled our funding for the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, and we are working with Haitian, Kenyan, and other partners to expedite its deployment to support the Haitian National Police and to restore security in Haiti.

It remains unclear who will put boots on the ground for that multinational mission.

The exact details of Henry’s resignation are still being hammered out, and the gangs could launch a fresh rampage if he does not depart soon. U.S. and Caribbean officials seem nervous that the gangs could declare victory for toppling Henry and seize power for themselves if his departure is too abrupt.

U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller on Tuesday commended Henry for his “statesmanship” in “putting his country first and agreeing to step down when the transitional presidential council is established.”

Miller expected the transitional council to be formed soon — setting a timetable of “24 to 48 hours” that would prove incorrect — and Henry would resign soon after the council named an interim prime minister.

Quote:Multiple political power brokers in Haiti – and the country’s most prominent gang boss, Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier – vocally rejected a plan on Wednesday enthusiastically backed by the administration of President Joe Biden to create a “Transitional Presidential Council” to replace outgoing Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

Haiti, an unstable country for decades, is experiencing an especially violent wave of chaos this month following Henry’s trip to Kenya to seek aid in the form of Kenyan police participation in a security support mission to stabilize the country. Henry has been prime minister since 2021, when then-President Jovenel Moïse appointed him days before assassins gunned him down in the presidential estate. Haiti has not had a president since Moïse’s assassination.

Upon Henry’s departure to Kenya, criminal gangs led by Cherizier orchestrated a massive prison break that put an estimated 4,000 violent criminals on the streets. The armed militias surrounded the airport, stranding Henry in Puerto Rico, and Cherizier announced that his gangs would facilitate a “genocide” if Henry did not resign. Henry announced he would resign days later, but only on the condition that a “Transitional Presidential Council” be established to replace him and organize a presidential election.

As of Wednesday evening, the possibility of establishing a functional Council appeared dim, as multiple parties invited to form it rejected the plan as unacceptable foreign intervention. Opponents noted that the Council plan was concocted and adopted during a meeting on Monday of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), attended by American Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Among those rejecting the plan is Guy Philippe, one of Haiti’s most prominent political figures following his overthrow of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004. Philippe was elected senator in 2016 but was indicted in a U.S. court and extradited to America, ultimately being convicted on charges of laundering money originating in Colombia’s illicit cocaine trade. The Biden administration deported him in November 2023, allowing him to return to political activity in Haiti.

Philippe’s participation in the Transitional Presidential Council is a “non-starter,” the Miami Herald reported, because he has a criminal record; Caricom agreed to ban convicted felons from joining the Council.

Philippe published a video on social media on Tuesday claiming the Council is a conspiracy to “ridicule the Haitian people” by deciding their future.

Quote:The Dominican Republic’s Foreign Minister Roberto Álvarez said on Wednesday that his country will continue to deport illegal Haitian migrants, rejecting a United Nations request that urged the country to stop “forced deportations” of Haitian citizens.

Neighbors Haiti and the Dominican Republic each occupy one side of the territory of Hispaniola Island, one of the four Caribbean Greater Antilles alongside Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico.

Haiti has experienced a multi-year intense period of turmoil and criminal violence that worsened in 2021 with the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, who was shot dead in the presidential residence.

The already precarious situation deteriorated this week after organized armed militias led by Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier took control of the country, forcing the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry on Monday. Henry is currently stranded in Puerto Rico, finding himself unable to return to Port-au-Prince as the militias control the airport.

In light of Haiti’s worsening situation. Dominican authorities launched a deportation campaign to remove illegal Haitians this week, transporting them in trucks, and dropping them at the border with Haiti.

In a press conference on Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General spokesman Stéphane Dujarric urged the Dominican Republic, as well as other countries, to “respect the human rights” of Haitians and avoid “forced deportations.”

“We don’t want mass or forced deportations of people to a country that is clearly not safe,” Dujarric said.

Dominican Foreign Minister Roberto Álvarez rejected Dujarric’s statements minutes later in remarks given during his participation in a private media encounter.

Quote:More than a dozen Brazilian lawmakers led by Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro and current member of the chamber of deputies, denounced the persecution that opponents of radical leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are being subjected to in a Tuesday Congress hearing.

The group of lawmakers, as well as Brazilian journalist Paulo Figueiredo, recounted their personal experiences to Congress, detailing the growing persecution and censorship that the government led by Lula is using to single out opposition members.

The hearing was led by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Chairman of the House Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations Subcommittee. Rep. Smith stated, “Since late 2022, Brazilians have been subject to human rights violations committed by Brazilian officials on a large scale.”

In his remarks, Eduardo Bolsonaro, who represents Sao Paulo in the Brazilian lower house, denounced the persecution that his father, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, is being subjected to, claiming that “not even a single word” has been said by the Biden administration with regards to Bolsonaro’s persecution.

“I have always warned in my speeches in [Brazil’s] Congress about dangers of my country turning into a Cuba or Venezuela with their concentration camps,” Eduardo Bolsonaro said. “Today, unfortunately, I live in my own movie about the gulag. My father is now persecuted and slandered in the various ways, and as in any tyranny, the limit of the ridiculous no longer exists.”

“We are living this right now and with not even a single word from the Biden Administration, State Department, or any governmental authority from the homeland of democracy — the United States of America,” he continued. “Brazil, unfortunately, is not a democracy anymore.”

Quote:Former Bolivian President Jeanine Áñez marked three years as a political prisoner of the current Bolivian socialist government on Wednesday, releasing a public letter in which she reaffirmed her innocence and demanded the Bolivian courts free her.

Áñez, a lawyer and a conservative politician, assumed the presidency of Bolivia between November 12, 2019, and November 8, 2020, as a result of a political crisis caused from former socialist president Evo Morales’s voluntary resignation. Morales and his cabinet, members of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) Party, fled the country after his resignation.

The absence of Bolivia’s cabinet of ministers and other high-ranking officials left  Áñez, who at the time was the second vice-president of the Bolivian Chamber of Senators, as the next in line in Bolivia’s presidential line of succession.

Morales, who is still presently attempting to return to power by trampling over the nation’s constitutional term limits, is believed to have forced the nation’s courts in 2017 to issue a ruling to allow him to run a fourth time claiming that term limits were a “violation of his human rights.”

Morales then “won” in a highly fraudulent October 2019 that was met with local protests and international condemnation, resulting in his voluntary resignation and flight to Mexico a month later.

Although eligible, Áñez chose not to present her candidacy in the 2020 election. The election saw the return of MAS to power through current socialist President Luis Arce.

Quote:Egyptian Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said on Sunday that Egypt’s $24 billion sale of Mediterranean resort real estate to Abu Dhabi, plus a $20 billion “support package” from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), will balance the national budget despite the painful loss of Suez Canal revenue due to relentless attacks in the Red Sea by the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists of Yemen.

“The positive part is the Ras al-Hikma deal, a not-small portion of which will enter the general budget in pounds. The total deficit will be less than targeted because of Ras al-Hikma,” Maait told reporters on Sunday.

Ras al-Hikma is a coastal Egyptian city that will be developed into a major vacation destination — a “fully functional urban community and not just a beach resort,” as Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly put it in February — with a total price tag of $150 billion. Work on the extensive construction project is scheduled to begin in 2025.

Egypt sold the development rights to Ras al-Hikma to a consortium from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for $24 billion, plus a 35-percent stake in the development. $10 billion from the sale has already been deposited in Egypt’s central bank, with the rest due by May.

Ras al-Hikma is the largest development project, and biggest land sale, in Egypt’s history. The proceeds were large enough to significantly strengthen the Egyptian pound against the U.S. dollar, which was a condition the IMF set for its $20 billion financial support package.

...
Egypt has been so desperate for foreign currency that a huge black market developed for currency trades. The government response was a stringent crackdown that infuriated Egyptian citizens, who complained of vigorous police searches (and seizures) whenever they made cash withdrawals from banks.

The Suez Canal has long been a major source of revenue for Egypt, but with Iran’s Houthi terrorist proxies attacking cargo ships and tankers in the Red Sea, canal revenues fell by almost 50 percent in 2024.

Quote:The gunmen who kidnapped 286 students and staff from a school in northwestern Nigeria threatened on Tuesday to kill the hostages unless a ransom of one billion Nigerian naira — roughly $620,000 — is paid within 20 days.

A swarm of gunmen attacked the elementary and secondary schools in the town of Kuriga on March 7, killing one person and abducting almost the entire student body and faculty from both institutions. At least 100 of the victims are less than 13 years old.

It was the second and worst mass kidnapping of that week; a third followed two days later when 15 children were taken from a school in the town of Sokoto.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu sent a detachment of troops to rescue the Kuriga abductees, but they remain in captivity.

According to Jubril Aminu, a community leader acting as spokesperson for the families of victims, the kidnappers threatened to “kill all the students and the staff if the ransom demand is not met” during a phone call on Tuesday.

Sky News pointed out that one billion naira works out to more than $2,000 per hostage — more than the average annual income in Nigeria.

Nigerian Information Minister Mohammed Idris told reporters on Wednesday that President Tinubu has directed his security forces to ensure that “not a dime is paid” of the ransom. Instead, Tinubu ordered the recovery of all hostages without paying any money.

“I have received briefings from security chiefs on the two incidents, and I am confident the victims will be rescued. Nothing else is acceptable to me and the waiting family members of these abducted citizens. Justice will be decisively administered,” Tinubu himself said on Friday, referring to the child abductions in Kuriga and Sokoto.

Quote:A government jet carrying the British defence minister back from a NATO military exercise was subjected to signal jamming leaving the aircraft’s GPS navigation system and cell phones onboard non-operational, with the finger of blame pointed at Russia.

The Dassault 900LX Falcon jet returning Grant Shapps, the British Defence Secretary from observing part of Operation Steadfast Defender, the largest NATO military exercise in decades passed by Russian territory in northern Europe and found itself experiencing without satellite navigation for around 30 minutes, it is claimed. The apparent jamming by Russian forces took place close to Kaliningrad, an isolated remnant of Russia’s old European empire stuck between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic.

The territorial exclave is notorious for the GPS jamming which has appeared to emanate from the area for years. It is not clear whether the aircraft was deliberately targeted, given it was not flying dark and had its transponder on, or if it flew through typical Russian interference.

A report in The Times of London states mobile phones could not access mobile data and the aircraft’s GPS system did not function during the period of alleged jamming. An unnamed defence source speaking to the paper said that while military flights can deal with interference, it nevertheless “puts an unnecessary risk on civilian aircraft and could potentially endanger people’s lives”. The spokesman called Russia’s attacks on the radio spectrum “wildly irresponsible”.

Shapps had been in Poland to observe NATO exercises and while in the country had announced the United Kingdom was extended the deployment of a contingent of soldiers it has in the country operating an air defence missile system, which the minister sais is keeping Poland “safe from growing threats and aggressive forces”. He also called for a considerable increase in UK defence spending, but shrugged off responsibility for actually doing so, saying it would be a question for after the election.

Quote:The British government is planning on giving failed asylum seekers up to £3,000 to voluntarily leave the country and relocate to Rwanda in a desperate bid to clear the ever-growing backlog of alleged asylum seekers.

A new separate deal with Rwanda will see failed asylum seekers will receive financial aid from the British taxpayer if they voluntarily choose to move to the East African nation.

The government, which has been bogged down in legal limbo over its previous Rwanda deportation scheme for illegal aliens, said that it does not believe new legislation would be necessary to pay failed asylum seekers to go to Rwanda as long as it is on a voluntary basis, the BBC reports.

Under current law, the government can provide up to £3,000 to failed asylum seekers to return to their “country of origin”. However, the voluntary returns scheme has never included a third-party country, meaning that the new deal with Rwanda would be the first of its kind.

The government handout would be made available to any migrant who had their asylum application rejected and therefore would encompass tens of thousands of people currently residing in the country.

Upon reaching Rwanda, the failed asylum seekers would also receive housing assistance from the government in Kigali, as well as being afforded assimilation assistance, education and training for work. Additionally, they would be given the opportunity to work towards citizenship in Rwanda.

Quote:The UK has announced it is working on a new, broader definition of extremism that will cover groups that until recently even worked with the government, a tacit admission that Britain has been funding and providing succour to Islamist groups for years.

Conservative minister Michael Gove addressed the Commons on Thursday, reassuring the public that the United Kingdom is “stronger because of our diversity” even if that is now “under challenge” from extremists. Unveiling a new definition of the term, he said, will increase scrutiny and stop the government from inadvertently supporting such groups in the course of misguided community outreach. In particular, Gove said the definition would cover groups that do not technically break the law, but which nevertheless agitate against liberal democracy.

“Most extremist materials and activities are not illegal and do not lead to terrorism or the national security threshold. For instance, Islamist and Neo-Nazi groups in Britain are operating in Britain lawfully, but they advocate and work towards the replacement of democracy with an Islamist or Nazi society,” he said.

Gove named five organisations as examples of such groups, three Islamist and two Neo-Nazi. Of the Islamists, he cited the Muslim Association of Britain, Guantánamo Bay campaigners CAGE, Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND), and of the Nazis he spoke of Patriotic Alternative and the 1960s-era white supremacist group the British National Socialist Movement.

In naming groups from just two extremes, Gove appeared to be presenting a perceived dichotomy of extremism, yet despite recent warnings from the government’s independent adviser on political violence and disruption on the left-wing threat, no such groups have yet been cited. Lord Walney had cautioned that far-left groups were making an “unholy alliance” with radical Islamists, and there is presently a “gap in the government’s understanding of damage that the anti-democratic far-Left can do… They are now at the forefront of the threat to our democratic institutions.”

A fuller list of extremist groups that fall under the new definition will be released “in the coming weeks”, a government spokesman said after Gove finished his speech.

Quote:Downing Street announced on Wednesday that it has agreed to a Statement of Mutual Cooperation trade pact with Texas, the second-largest economy in the United States with a GDP of £1.9 trillion ($2.4 tn) in 2022, which if counted as a single country would be the eighth largest economy in the world, beating out Italy and just trailing behind France.

With the Biden White House shutting down any hopes of a post-Brexit trade deal between the two allies, the UK has taken to doing deals with individual states in America. The agreement with the Lone Star state marks the eighth such deal but by far the largest agreement to date.

Number 10 said that the UK is already the eighth-largest international goods export market for Texas, with trade in goods hitting £14.7 billion in 2023.

The British government said that the agreement with Texas will seek to make it “quicker, easier, and cheaper for UK and Texas firms to do business” together by reducing trade barriers and increasing investment.

The agreement will specifically seek to increase cooperation in “areas of opportunity and future growth, such as aerospace, advanced technologies, supply chains and critical minerals, infrastructure, transport services, and chemicals.”

The relationship between the United Kingdom and Texas stretches back to even before the state was annexed and incorporated into the Union. A physical representation of this relationship remains in central London, with the building which housed the Texas Legation diplomatic mission to the British Empire from the Republic of Texas between 1836 and 1845 still standing today — marked with a plaque — in Pickering Place near St James’s Palace.

Commenting on the agreement Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said: “Today’s signature with Texas marks the UK’s eighth US state-level pact, meaning UK firms now have access to states with a combined GDP of £5.3 trillion – equivalent to a quarter of the whole US economy. This shows our US state-level strategy is working and really delivering for British businesses. ”

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said: “As our ninth largest trade partner, the United Kingdom plays a critical role in the Texas economic juggernaut. Strengthening the bond between Texas and the United Kingdom is crucial for our shared economies to prosper.

Quote:Farmers disrupted traffic around Europe’s second biggest port of Antwerp and two other Belgian harbors Thursday during yet another demonstration to protest against what they say is excessive environmental rulemaking.

Dozens of tractors disrupted morning rush hour traffic to and from the harbor facilities, though they shied away from a full blockade following warnings by port authorities they would hold them legally liable for suffered losses.

Farmers from across the 27-nation European Union have protested against what they see as unnecessary bureaucratic rules, clean-air and soil targets and unfair competition from abroad that, they say, is driving them toward bankruptcy. EU nations and environmentalists have said a thorough revamp of the way the EU farms is necessary to contain climate change and pollution and meet global green targets.

The farmers counter that their sector is unfairly singled out and that more measures should be targeted at industry instead.

Last week, Poland saw its most violent protest by farmers and supporters yet as some participants threw stones at police and tried to push through barriers around parliament, injuring several officers. Last month, f armers clashed with police in Belgium outside EU headquarters in a show of force as the European Union´s agriculture ministers met in search of ways to address the protesters´ concerns.

The tractor protests have had a stunning impact on political decision-making. At national and EU levels, several concessions toward the farmers have already been made, angering environmentalists.

Quote:A commission drawn from the European Parliament and Council has agreed on the creation of a database to track millions of guns believed to be in civilian hands across the European Union.

Politico reported the upwards of “35 million” firearms are believed to be privately held and tracking those guns is being presented as a way of fighting gang violence and terrorism.

The database follows a 2022 move to switch from paper records in gun stores to electronic records, the latter of which can now be rolled into a centralized list.

Bernd Lange, a member of the parliament’s trade committee, said, “There are still inadequate controls on the import and export of handguns. In Latin America for instance, many illegal activities and shootings use handguns smuggled in from Europe; revising the inadequate rules was more than overdue.”

Gun control moved insidiously in Europe during the 20th century, particularly in Britain.

On September 14, 2014, Breitbart News pointed to a 2009 Daily Mail online report which examined The Firearm Act of 1997–the culminating point of all Britain’s 20th century gun controls–and found violence had exploded following the Act.

In fact, the Daily Mail online described Britain as “the most violent country in Europe.” They noted that Britain’s home figures showed “the UK [had] a worse rate for all types of violence than the U.S. and South Africa.”

Quote:North Korean state media claimed on Thursday that dictator Kim Jong-un personally drove a new model tank to “stormy cheers of hurrah” during exercises to prepare for a land war, presumably with South Korea.

In Kim’s remarks at the event, which reportedly took place on Wednesday, Kim said that North Korea produced the “most powerful tanks in the world” and “expressed great satisfaction over the fact that the new-type main battle tank successfully demonstrated its very excellent striking power and maneuverability,” according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

“He [Kim] said it is the fact to be proud of that the KPA is equipped with the most powerful tanks in the world,” KCNA asserted. “After reviewing the tank crews, [Kim] mounted a new-type main battle tank, seized the control lever and drove the tank himself, adding to the high militant spirit of the tankmen of our army and deeply instilling firm outlooks on the enemy and war into them.”

“All the officers and men of the tank units raised stormy cheers of hurrah, looking up to the invincible and iron-willed brilliant commander,” KCNA thundered.

KCNA published several photos of Kim allegedly driving a tank, greeting soldiers, and observing military exercises.

The South Korean newspaper Korea JoongAng Daily reported that outside experts believe the tanks in the photos to be “an upgraded version of a similar vehicle displayed for the first time during a military parade in Pyongyang in October 2020 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party.”

Quote:China’s state-run Global Times newspaper predictably observed the occasion of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump formally cementing the nominations to their respective parties on Wednesday by lamenting that both are “unpopular” candidates and proof that American democracy has “failed to express or address issues of public concern.”

The Chinese government’s media arms regularly use American elections, and especially the hard-fought presidential races, to argue that the American political system is obsolete and repressive, and only totalitarian communism can free the American people.

While the Global Times derided the nominations of Biden and Trump as negative developments for humanity, the Chinese Foreign Policy touted the Communist Party-controlled Chinese legislatures as an example of successful “whole-process people’s democracy” for the world to emulate. The two federal lawmaking bodies, the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the advisory Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), act on the orders of genocidal dictator Xi Jinping, do not debate policies, and effectively blindly approve the demands of the Politburo in their annual “two sessions.” The “two sessions” concluded last week.

Following a series of state primaries in 2024 in which both candidates were overwhelmingly dominant, the incumbent president and his predecessor secured enough delegates for the Republican and Democrat national conventions to be nominated this week.

“Our Party is UNITED and STRONG, and fully understands that we are running against the Worst, Most Incompetent, Corrupt, and Destructive President in the History of the United States,” Trump declared in a statement in response to the development.

“Donald Trump is running a campaign of resentment, revenge, and retribution that threatens the very idea of America,” Biden said in his statement about his own nomination, which he shared with reporters via email. “He is glorifying dictators and pledging to become one himself on day one. … Voters now have a choice to make about the future of this country.”

The Global Times, citing pro-regime “observers,” declared Americans “unenthusiastic” about their options and concluded that “the election mechanism and US democracy have become rigid and failed to express or address issues of public concern.” The candidates’ statements, the Chinese propaganda outlet said, “reminded observers of the farcical development of their first matchup in 2020” and lamented the “repeat of the bitter 2020 election.”

Could TikTok be behind this apathy of sorts?

Quote:Taiwan’s National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen warned the legislature on Monday that China will probably increase its already heavy levels of pressure against the new administration of President-elect Lai Ching-te after his inauguration on May 20.

Director-General Tsai expected China to “push and pull” even harder on every lever of pressure it brought to bear after the election of Lai’s predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen.

China reviled Tsai as a dangerous “separatist” and waged a harsh diplomatic campaign to peel away Taiwan’s few allies. The Chinese sought to isolate Taiwan from international bodies, meddle in its politics, exhaust its morale with relentless “gray zone” tactics, and intimidate it with threats of invasion. 

Taiwan’s security chief warned that all of these tactics would intensify as Lai’s inauguration drew near. He said China is already making a push to “normalize” provocative military drills near Taiwan’s waters and airspace, turning gray zone warfare into a weekly event.

Tsai said:

We found that whenever other countries pass resolutions friendly to Taiwan, or foreign vessels pass through the Taiwan Strait, or when foreign dignitaries visit Taiwan, China will coordinate their existing regular patrols to coincide with these diplomatic events.

On the bright side, Tsai said his agency saw no “risky signal that could catalyze a war” before Lai’s inauguration. He said allied intelligence agencies concurred that despite China’s heightened belligerence before the election and a brief flaring of tensions after two Chinese fishermen died while fleeing the Taiwanese Coast Guard in February, there is no indication that Beijing intends to start a war in the near term.

“After all, stability in the Taiwan Strait is also in [Beijing’s] interest and we have noticed that they have employed certain risk control measures following the incident,” Tsai said, as quoted by the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

Quote:The Indian government on Monday announced its plans to implement a controversial 2019 citizenship law that fast-tracks immigration for non-Muslims from three neighboring Muslim-majority nations.

India’s parliament ratified the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in December 2019, sparking massive and violent protests by Muslims across the country, in addition to stern criticism from civil rights advocates and Indian opposition politicians who denounced the new law as blatantly discriminatory.

At least 31 people were killed during the protests, which continued for months despite a police ban on demonstrations and thousands of arrests. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ultimately backed away from implementing the law, although it remained on the books.

Critics dismissed the CAA as a Hindu nationalist flex by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) while advocates insisted the reasoning behind the law was sound and extended fast-track immigration to many groups besides Hindus.

The idea at the heart of the CAA was that religious minorities are not well-treated in the Islamist nations of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, so non-Muslims from those countries should be given special consideration when they immigrate to India. Muslims living in those countries, on the other hand, cannot claim to be fleeing religious oppression, so they would not be granted fast-track immigration status.

One of the points raised by critics of the CAA is that Muslims of certain denominations are persecuted in majority-Muslim nations, as with Pakistan’s Ahmadis and Myanmar’s Rohingya. The CAA also does not offer citizenship to refugees from non-Muslim nations who have a substantial presence in India, such as the Tamil of Sri Lanka.

Quote:Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, hoping to broker peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, warned on Tuesday that negotiations will only be possible if NATO avoids antagonizing Russia by expanding its membership and influence.

Erdogan said at a Ramadan dinner with foreign ambassadors in Ankara that he supports Ukraine’s sovereignty, but Russia’s security concerns must be addressed for a ceasefire deal to take shape.

“While putting forth our support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, we have already said that peace plans excluding Russia will not yield any results,” Erdogan said.

“We are working to re-establish navigational safety in the Black Sea and ensure grain trade can be done safely. We believe steps that would exacerbate conflicts in the region, that would spread to NATO as well, must be avoided,” he said.

Erdogan offered to host a peace summit during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last Friday, arguing that Turkey’s good relations with Russia made it better suited to play peacemaker than any other NATO member.

“Since the beginning, we have contributed as much as we could toward ending the war through negotiations. We are also ready to host a peace summit in which Russia will also be included,” he said after meeting with Zelensky on Friday.

Erdogan keeps stressing that Russia must be involved in negotiations because Zelensky has said his country will not directly bargain with Moscow. Instead, he reiterated his ten-point peace plan – really a list of Ukraine’s demands, including the withdrawal of Russian troops and release of all prisoners of war – when he met with Erdogan in Istanbul.

Just a day earlier this report was published online.

Quote:Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appears to be preparing for another military incursion into the border regions of Syria and Iraq to fight the PKK, a violent Marxist Kurdish separatist group seen by Erdogan’s government as the primary threat to Turkey’s security.

Erdogan said after a cabinet meeting last week that he was preparing a decisive operation against PKK positions in Syria and Iraq.

“Hopefully, this summer, we will have permanently resolved the issue regarding our Iraqi borders. Our will to create a security corridor 30-40 kilometers deep along our Syrian borders remains intact,” Erdogan said.

“We have preparations that will give new nightmares to those who think that they will bring Turkey to its knees with a ‘terroristan’ along its southern borders,” he added.

According to independent Turkish media outlet Duvar, Turkish forces have already crossed the Iraqi border and moved about 30 kilometers inland. Airstrikes against PKK positions in Iraq and Syria have been ongoing since January 12, when nine Turkish soldiers were killed during a PKK raid on a military outpost in the Kurdistan Autonomous Region of Iraq.

This attack, coupled with the killing of 12 Turkish soldiers in northern Iraq three weeks previously, prompted Turkish officials to declare they would “fight to the end” to eradicate the PKK.

Erdogan laid the groundwork for his latest cross-border assault on the PKK by sending envoys to meet with officials from Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), as well as the United States and Russia. Erdogan personally met with KRG President Nichirvan Barzani on March 1.

Duvar quoted various sources who said Erdogan is waiting for either the end of the Muslim Ramadan holiday season or local elections on March 31 in Iraq, before pulling the trigger on a major military operation against the PKK. Erdogan has predicted the operation would be complete by the end of the summer.

Quote:Four U.S. Army supply ships loaded with tons of equipment and steel pier segments left Virginia on Tuesday heading to Gaza ready to fulfill President Joe Biden’s promise to build a pier linking the war-torn territory to the rest of the world.

AP reports the vessels pulled out of docks at Joint Base Langley-Eustis and headed toward the Atlantic Ocean for what could be a month-long voyage to the Mediterranean Sea.

There, at a yet-to-be-announced location along the Gaza shore, the ships and troops from the 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary) will build and operate a floating dock courtesy of U.S. taxpayers.

As Breitbart News reported, Biden used his recent State of the Union address to propose the U.S. military build a new port in Gaza to link it to the world.

This is despite the Israeli government repeatedly pointing out unlimited amounts of aid already enters Gaza; the problem is distribution, especially as Hamas steals much of the aid.

And the White House itself admitted in a briefing that trucking aid in is a more efficient and effective approach. Despite that, the four latest ships follow the General Frank S. Besson which left a base in Virginia and is now on its way to the Eastern Mediterranean also laden with equipment for construction.

The latest Pentagon plan calls for the U.S. military to build what is called a modular causeway system. Offshore, the Army will build a large floating platform where ships can unload large containers of aid, the AP report notes.

Quote:President Joe Biden’s administration slapped more sanctions on Israelis over so-called “extremist settler violence” on Thursday — including on two outposts in the West Bank, marking the first sanctions on Israel relating to a specific area.

The sanctions are a virtual gift to the anti-Israel and antisemitic “boycott, divestment, sanctions” (BDS) movement, at a time when Biden is trying to shore up flagging Arab- and Muslim-American support. The news also came on the same day that the Biden Administration sent senior White House officials to meet with Palestinian-Americans in Chicago.

The sanctions also came a day after the Biden Administration renewed a sanctions waiver on Iran that will allow the regime to gain access to up to $10 billion in assets. The waiver is aimed at encouraging diplomacy, as Iran funds attacks on Israel, as Iranian-backed militias attack U.S. troops elsewhere in the region, and as the Iranian-backed Houthis are continuing their attacks on international shipping and the U.S. Navy in the Red Sea, disrupting the global economy.

The Times of Israel reported:

The US State Department offers information explaining the decision to sanction two Israeli illegal outposts in the West Bank and three extremist settlers.

The two sanctioned outposts are Moshe’s Farm, also known as Tirza Valley outpost, which was established in January 2021; and Zvi’s Farm, near the Halamish settlement.

The three settlers sanctioned are Moshe Sharvit, who runs the former outpost, Zvi Bar Yosef, who runs the latter outpost, and Neriya Ben Pazi, from the Rimonim Farm in the West Bank.

How does anybody support the Ayatollah's Iran, the world's largest sponsor of terrorism?

Quote:Israel declined to confirm or deny reports Thursday that the Biden administration had given it a “green light” for limited strikes against Hamas in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, which it had previously opposed.

President Joe Biden has repeatedly warned Israel against operating in Rafah, saying that there were too many civilians there. The White House has insisted Israel prepare a plan for evacuating those civilians before any attack on Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said that defeating Hamas in Rafah is the key to winning — and ending — the war, because the last four Hamas battalions are stationed there, with Hamas leaders and hostages.

The Israeli government released a plan Wednesday to evacuate civilians to “humanitarian islands” near Rafah, and Politico reported that the Biden Administration had privately told Israel that it could support limited Rafah strikes.

Politico said:

Senior U.S. officials have told their Israeli counterparts the Biden administration would support Israel going after high-value Hamas targets in and underneath Rafah — as long as Israel avoids a large-scale invasion that could fracture the alliance.
...
In private conversations, top administration officials have signaled to Israel that they could support a plan more akin to counterterrorism operations than all-out war, four U.S. officials said. That, the administration officials argue, would minimize civilian casualties, decimate Hamas’ ranks and avoid scenes that have led to souring public opinion on Israel’s campaign and Biden’s handling of the war.
...
For months, the Biden administration has pushed Israel to consider a military plan requiring specialized, more-precise troops to fight roughly 3,000 Hamas militants in Rafah — the same number that Hamas used to attack Israel on Oct. 7. They want to avoid Israeli forces turning the city to rubble and killing many Palestinians [sic] civilians. A large-scale campaign, Biden and his top aides have said publicly, would not be acceptable.

Avy Hyman, from Israel’s National Public Diplomacy Directorate, responded to a question from Breitbart News at a briefing on Thursday, declined to address the Politico article directly: “I’ve seen the reports that you’re referencing. Israel is a sovereign state. Israel needs to eliminate the last four Hamas battalions in Rafah. It’s a matter of time. We will destroy Hamas, we will bring home the hostages, and we will ensure that Gaza no longer poses a threat to the people of Israel.”

Quote:Donald Trump’s allies have failed in their effort to get Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani T. Willis removed from prosecuting her election subversion case against Trump and others.

But amid their concerted campaign to target prosecutors, they have succeeded in damaging her in a way that could reverberate — with a very significant assist from Willis herself.

And to some legal experts, the judge’s decision raises significant questions about the wisdom of Willis pressing forward, even though she can.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled Friday that either Willis (D) and her office or special prosecutor Nathan Wade must leave the case. The dispute centered on a previously undisclosed romantic relationship between Willis and Wade, whom she appointed in late 2021, and whether Willis improperly benefited from it.

McAfee found that the Trump-allied defendants hadn’t proved there was a conflict of interest but that the situation carried the “appearance of impropriety.”

The easy call, of course, is for Wade to step aside to allow Willis and her office to press forward. But that might not be the end of the matter, politically or otherwise.
...
But he suggestively pointed to other forums that could shed more light, including the state bar, a state ethics commission and the Georgia General Assembly. (As it happens, the legislature passed a law, signed by Gov. Brian Kemp ® this week, empowering a panel to investigate and potentially punish “rogue” local prosecutors. While the law is not explicitly targeted at Willis, the ruling could provide fodder for such a process.)

Quote:Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s ex-lover and fellow prosecutor Nathan Wade resigned from the Trump case Friday afternoon, handing former President Donald Trump a political victory.

Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee ruled Friday that Willis could remain on the Trump case if she removed Wade or if he voluntarily resigned.

In a letter addressed to Willis, Wade wrote he would resign from the case pursuant to McAfee’s ruling:

Although the court found that “the defendants failed to meet their burden of proving that the District Attorney acquired an actual conflict of interest,” I am offering my resignation in the interest of democracy, in dedication to the American public, and move this case forward as quickly as possible.

Willis accepted Wade’s resignation and thanked him for his alleged “professionalism and dignity you have shown over the last 865 days, as you have endured threats against you and your family, as well as unjustified attacks in the media and in court on your reputation as a lawyer.”

McAfee’s Friday ruling found that the former lovers’ relationship produced no “actual conflict” that would force Willis from the case. McAfee also wrote the two former lovers only engaged in an “appearance of impropriety,” which should result in Willis leaving her office if Wade is not removed from the case.

Quote:Former Vice President Mike Pence said Friday on Fox News Channel’s “The Story” that he would not be endorsing former President Donald Trump for president.

Anchor Martha MacCallum said, “President Trump sewed up the nomination, which he did earlier this week. He has received endorsements from some of the people running against him. We have not heard from you. Will you be endorsing your former president, you were on the ticket with him last time around?”

Pence said, “Well, Martha, I appreciate the question. It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year. Look, I’m incredibly proud of the record of our administration. It was a conservative record that made America more prosperous, more secure and saw conservatives appointed to our courts in a more peaceful world.”

He added, “That being said, during my presidential campaign, I made it clear there were profound differences between me and President Trump on a range of issues, not just our difference on my constitutional duties that I exercised on January 6. As I have watched his candidacy unfold, I’ve seen him walking away from our commitment to confronting the national debt. I’ve seen him starting to shy away from a commitment to the sanctity of human life.”

Quote:According to Sens. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), in 2018, the U.S. imported only 15 percent of the 10 million needles and syringes used every day in America. However, that percentage is now 40 percent, the senators said in a recent op-ed.

Not only is that putting Americans’ lives at risk from faulty Chinese needles and syringes, but it has caused the shutdown of four out of six manufacturing sites in the U.S., the senators said.

Ricketts and Blumenthal wrote Wednesday in the RealClearPolitics op-ed:

As we learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, relying on health care products produced outside the United States carries significant risks. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently investigating reports of faulty syringes made in China. Leaking or broken syringes have serious medical consequences, such as delivering the wrong dose of a medication—a potentially fatal mistake.

The senators noted that during the COVID-19 pandemic, American businesses and manufacturers ramped up production of “everything from respirators to hand sanitizers,” and urged for that to continue.

Ricketts and Blumenthal added:

Without a resilient domestic supply chain for medical supplies, we risk our nation’s crisis response, and the health of our citizens. The most effective way to ensure the quality of these products is to manufacture them in the U.S. If we don’t change course soon, we risk losing the last of our syringe manufacturing facilities, which would make the United States largely reliant on China — a mistake we can’t afford to make.

It is not just needles and syringes that are being imported in greater amounts from China in recent years — it is also other critical supplies such as rubber medical gloves.

Quote:More than 140 House Democrats are demanding that the ability to bar veterans from gun purchases/ownership under certain circumstances be added back to the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.

For decades, the VA has been required to report veterans to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) for mental issues, and such issues include using a fiduciary to manage one’s VA benefits. But this year, the Clinton-area gun ban was rolled back in the Senate by an amendment put forward by Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA).

Following the adoption of his amendment, Kennedy said, “Unelected bureaucrats shouldn’t be able to strip veterans of their Second Amendment rights unilaterally. The Senate did the right thing for veterans and all freedom-loving Americans by passing my amendment today.”

Democrats in the House are crying foul and demanding the gun ban be added back into the appropriations bill.

The letter, spearheaded by Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA), says, in part:

The Kennedy Amendment rolls back 30 years of common-sense precedent and practice which ensures that veterans who are deemed to be “mentally incompetent” are added to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The current process used by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to make a competency determination as required by law, includes an opportunity for appeals, helps ensure that veterans who are a danger to themselves or others are flagged in the background check system if they try to purchase a firearm.

Quote:As millions of migrants pour through the U.S.-Mexico border, they’re taking up space in emergency rooms, intensive care units (ICUs), and racking up exorbitant amounts of debt while being uninsured and taking advantage of Medicaid.

A November 2023 report from the House Committee on Homeland Security revealed that out of an estimated $451 billion in yearly costs connected to the Biden administration’s immigration crisis, a significant chunk is going to healthcare for illegal aliens.

While the vast majority of illegals don’t have insurance, they’re free to rack up debt with long hospital stays. Many are also able to get government welfare, including Medicaid. All an illegal migrant would have to do is cross the southern border into California to receive taxpayer-funded insurance.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) ushered in the first state program to offer free subsidized healthcare to illegal migrants under the Medi-Cal system in the beginning of 2024, Breitbart News reported.

An employee of a Southern California hospital who recently spoke with the Epoch Times on conditions of public anonymity said, “The entire health care system is just being bombarded” by the stream of migrants.

“Our healthcare system is so overwhelmed, and then add on top of that tuberculosis, COVID-19, and other diseases from all over the world,” she added.

Just in the first five months of the current fiscal year, Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 902,000 migrants who illegally crossed into the U.S. between ports of entry, Breitbart News reported.

“Last year broke a new record high for illegal border crossings, surpassing more than 3.2 million apprehensions,” the Epoch Times noted.

California’s new program will cost taxpayers more than $4.8 billion, according to a fiscal burden analysis by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), citing California Health and Human Services data.

Quote:President Joe Biden’s endorsement Friday of a call by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for Israel to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hold new elections marks the worst crisis in the history of U.S.-Israel relations.

Israel is currently fighting to defeat Hamas, which murdered 1,200 people in the October 7 terror attack. It is also under attack from Hezbollah in Lebanon, and has even faced missile attacks launched by Houthi rebels in Yemen.

All of these groups are funded and armed by Iran, which views the United States as its enemy. Instead of backing Israel fully, Biden is not only criticizing Israel in increasingly strident terms, but demanding it remove its democratic leader.

Biden is also slapping sanctions on Israelis who have not been convicted of any crime; this week, he also sanctioned two geographic areas under Israeli control in the West Bank. At the same time, he gave Iran a $10 billion sanctions waiver.

Meanwhile, the Senate — at Schumer’s direction — is refusing to pass billions of dollars in military aid for Israel. And there are reports that the Biden administration is “slow-walking” deliveries of ammunition already promised to Israel.

This is happening because Netanyahu — like most Israelis — rejects Biden’s plan to impose a Palestinian state after the war, which would reward Hamas for terror. Israelis also want to win the war — not to wait, and allow Hamas to survive.

Biden is furious, and wants Netanyahu out of the way. So he, and Schumer, have sent a message to Israel: if you do not replace Netanyahu, you will not be receiving more money and more weapons. You will be on your own against terror.

If Israel complies, and elects a new leader — should one be found who accepts Biden’s policies, which are rejected by the majority of Israelis — then Israel might receive aid and ammunition, but it would definitely fall short of its war goals. It would probably not be able to complete the defeat of Hamas in Rafah, and it would almost certainly be unable to secure northern Israel against Hezbollah. Israeli shipping through the Red Sea will remain impossible. Israel will lose the war.

This is a terrible dilemma, one that has no precedent in the history of U.S-Israel relations. Barack Obama triggered a crisis in 2015 by imposing the Iran nuclear deal on Israel, which Netanyahu opposed publicly because it allowed Iran to emerge as a nuclear power after a decade, and gave Iran money with which to fund terrorism. That was bad enough. What Biden is doing is far worse, involving active political interference in Israel in the midst of an existential conflict.

Quote:The Biden White House was caught in a lie on Thursday as it tried to deny that it had tried to meet with the radical Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Chicago as part of an outreach to Arab-, Muslim-, and Palestinian-Americans.

As Breitbart news has noted:

In 2007-8, CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the terror financing trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. That case, in turn, led the FBI to discontinue its work with the organization. In 2009, a federal judge ruled that the government “produced ample evidence to establish” the ties of CAIR with Hamas, the Palestinian terror organization. The United Arab Emirates labeled CAIR a terrorist organization in 2014 (a decision that the Obama administration opposed).

CAIR executive director Nihad Awad declared that he was “happy” with the October 7 terror attack by Hamas, a claim that led the White House to distance itself from the group, with which it had consulted on its “antisemitism strategy.”

But the White House sought a meeting with CAIR on Thursday as part of its effort to appease anti-Israel voters who are unhappy with President Joe Biden’s support (however tepid) for Israel’s war effort against Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

Politico reported that CAIR was among several local leaders who boycotted the Biden meetings (original emphasis):

BREAKING: Illinois leaders in the Palestinian communities angry over how President Joe Biden has handled the Middle East war have turned down a request by the White House to meet in Chicago today.
...
A big concern is that the White House is trying to improve optics at home instead of taking action abroad. “We believe a thousand percent in civic engagement. We preach it,” CAIR-Chicago Director Ahmed Rehab told Playbook about why he declined to attend.

“But this is an unusual moment and requires an unusual response. We have made clear that a ceasefire is needed,” Rehab said, adding, the “trickle of humanitarian aid” from the U.S., which is also sending weapons to Israel “is akin to offering band-aids with one hand while wielding an ax with the other.”

The White House denied ever having reached out to CAIR — but went further. White House Spokesman Andrew Bates claimed that CAIR is “never” invited to White House meetings, a claim that was easily and immediately refuted.

Bates has a history of misleading the press, including lying about a meeting between then-Vice President Joe Biden and Burisma board adviser Vadym Pozharskyi in 2015, which was proven by Hunter Biden’s laptop and later testimony.

Quote:President Joe Biden and Democrats want an open border, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said during an appearance on Breitbart News Daily, laying out the evidence.

Host Mike Slater asked Johnson to respond to a conversation on The View featuring New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), which featured the governor asserting that the border is now squarely a Republican problem.

“President Biden and Democrats, they want an open border. It’s obvious this is what they want,” Johnson said, explaining that even with weakened authority due to court decisions, former President Donald Trump secured the border.

Johnson said Biden used executive authority — dozens of executive actions — to “reverse all those successful policies” of the Trump administration.

“And then for three years, he and his Secretary of Homeland Security denied that there was a crisis. They only admitted it once. Mayor Adams and Mayor Johnson, in Chicago in New York, started looking at their sanctuary city and realize this doesn’t work too good. We can’t handle this. … They started making noise and all sudden the mainstream media had to start covering it,” Johnson explained.

“That started putting pressure on the Democrats … all the Democrats were looking for was political cover. And unfortunately, Leader McConnell entered secret negotiations on a subject where the American people agree with us that were all we were looking for, in any kind of legislation was the enforcement mechanism to force President Biden to use the authority has to secure the border,” Johnson continued.

“We weren’t looking for an immigration bill. And that’s what McConnell apparently negotiated for us. I think the quote from Schumer in Politico was priceless. He said they were — referring to himself and Democrats — were playing chess. They were playing checkers. And we’re in a lot better position on the border than we were three weeks ago. I mean, that speaks volumes,” he said, adding that Leader Mitch McConnell “gave them the poker cover they’re looking for.”

Describing the immigration bill as “awful,” Johnson added that it only saw some support from Border Patrol because they are “drowning” and anything lower than 10,000 illegals a day would be a “win for them.”

Quote:A Haitian national, released into the United States, is accused of raping a 15-year-old girl at a migrant shelter in the sanctuary state of Massachusetts.

Cory Alvarez, a 26-year-old migrant from Haiti, has been arrested and charged this week with aggravated rape of a child under 16-years-old. Alvarez has since pleaded not guilty to the charge.

According to Plymouth County law enforcement, Alvarez was living at a migrant shelter in Rockland, Massachusetts when he invited the 15-year-old girl over to his room. The girl told police Alvarez promised to help her open apps on her tablet.

Instead, police allege, Alvarez raped the girl, even as she asked him to stop.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) told the media that Alvarez arrived in the state after being released into the U.S. “through a federal program,” — likely President Joe Biden’s parole pipeline which allows those arriving at the southern border to be released into the nation’s interior while their immigration cases are sorted out.

“His person was in the country under the federal program,” Healey said. “… again, we don’t know the specifics of this case, but we take all allegations of sexual assault most seriously. My heart goes out to the victim, the alleged victim in this case, and her family. We need to let the criminal justice system do its work.”

Alvarez has been forced to surrender his passport and is being held in custody in Plymouth County without bail.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has placed a detainer on Alvarez, although Massachusetts does not allow law enforcement to cooperate with turning criminal illegal aliens over to federal agents.

Quote:Florida law enforcement recently intercepted a vessel carrying Haitians armed with guns, drugs, and night vision gear, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Friday.

Speaking about the continued effort to keep the Sunshine State safe — particularly in the midst of the violent unrest in Haiti — DeSantis said Florida officers prevented 25 potential illegal immigrants hailing from Haiti from entering Florida.

“Just recently within the last couple of weeks — and this will be made public later today — our Florida Fish and Wildlife officers interdicted a vessel that had 25 illegal immigrants, potentially illegal immigrants, from Haiti,” the governor announced.

“In their boat, in their vessel, they had firearms. They had drugs. They had night vision gear and were boating very recklessly which would potentially endanger other folks,” he said, adding that the boat was “interdicted near the Sebastian inlet,” which is roughly 40 miles south of Port Canaveral.

“And those illegal aliens were turned over to the Coast Guard for deportation. So our folks have been doing this before we augmented this, and they’re gonna continue to do it,” DeSantis said, boasting of the “incredible amount of resources that are now on display.”

This is always a priority of officials, DeSantis said, but he explained that it is different now because there are more resources from the state, so it is an overall larger effort.

DeSantis went on to say that this issue — a matter of border security and illegal immigrants — should be the federal government’s responsibility, but the Biden administration has continued to shirk its duties and ultimately, the Coast Guard is “undermanned.”

“The Coast Guard does by and large a good job, but they’re undermanned. They’re under-resourced, so we’re filling those gaps,” he said. “I think one difference now is, and we see this with our folks that we have at the border, you have people coming across the southern border from all over the world,” DeSantis continued, explaining that at this point it would actually be easier for potential illegal immigrants from Haiti to fly to Mexico once flights resume and enter the United States on the southern border.

“I would anticipate if flights resume, that will likely be where a lot of those folks [go] who are trying to flee. If they want to come to the United States, they’re probably gonna go to Mexico and then come in through the border, knowing that Biden will just let everybody in,” he said.

Quote:Haitian gang lord Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier on Thursday threatened violence against the families of anyone who joins the Biden administration-backed “transitional council” to select an interim prime minister.

“Don’t you have any shame? You have taken the country where it is today. You have no idea what will happen,” Cherizier said in an audio message posted to social media on Thursday morning, suggesting he views the proposed transitional council as merely an extension of the corrupt Haitian ruling elite.

“I’ll know if your kids are in Haiti, if your wives are in Haiti … if your husbands are in Haiti,” he said menacingly.

Cherizier diluted the threat slightly by suggesting he meant anyone who aspires to govern Haiti should live in the country. “If you’re gonna run the country all your family ought to be there,” he grumbled.

The gang boss applauded the announced, but not yet implemented, resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, but added that even Henry’s ouster would be only “a first step in the battle” for Haiti’s future.

After two days of relative calm, gang violence surged again on Thursday with an attack on a police academy and reports of a fire breaking out at the National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince, which the gangs attacked and largely emptied of prisoners two weeks ago.

Heavily armed police officers entered the National Penitentiary on Thursday afternoon and were apparently able to extinguish the fire, the cause and extent of which have not been made public.

Quote:Unknown assailants believed to be affiliated with the nation’s out-of-control criminal gang network reportedly looted and burned down the home of the director-general of the Haitian National Police, Frantz Elbe, on Thursday.

Elbe’s home was reportedly one of several targets of terrorist assaults by the gangs on Thursday in a resurgence of gang violence after a modest period of calm on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The gangs have largely taken over the country following the departure of Prime Minister Ariel Henry for a visit to Kenya at the beginning of the month, in which he asked the country to send police officers to help Haiti’s depleted law enforcement resources combat the threat of the gangs. Henry, unelected and with seemingly no public support, has, in effect, run the country since the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in his home in 2021. Following his flight out of Haiti, the G9 and Family gang syndicate, led by Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, launched an assault in which it freed 4,000 prison inmates and surrounded the Port-au-Prince airport, making it impossible for Henry to return.

Henry is stranded in Puerto Rico at press time and announced plans to resign on Monday. Henry insisted that he would not formally vacate the position until his country established a “Transitional Presidential Council,” backed by the international community, tasked with choosing a new prime minister and organizing elections.

As of Thursday, the “Presidential Council” has chosen six of its seven prospective members. The Council plan is not especially popular in Haiti, however, and faces significant opposition – notably from Cherizier, who issued threats on Thursday against the families of anyone participating in the Council or materially supporting it. Another influential opponent of the Council is Guy Philippe, a gang-affiliated political leader precluded from joining the Council due to having been convicted on money laundering charges in the United States. President Joe Biden’s administration freed Philippe in September, allowing him to return to Haiti and vie for power.

Haiti remains unsafe for Henry to return and the few people in leadership positions left in the country are also under siege. On Thursday, “armed individuals” attacked the home of Elbe, the police chief, reportedly looting the premises before setting it on fire. Elbe and his family were reportedly not there, as they had long faced threats to their person.

Quote:The government of the Dominican Republic told one of the nation’s largest newspapers on Thursday that the United Nations had not consulted it to create a “humanitarian air bridge” to send supplies and relief workers into Haiti.

The apparent absence of communication between the U.N. and the Dominican Republic signals a growing rift in the global agency’s relationship with the Caribbean government following Santo Domingo dismissing requests from U.N. officials to cease mass deportations of Haitians illegally present in the country. In response to calls not to deport the illegal immigrants, Dominican officials insisted that not allowing them to remain was a “national security” issue for the country and suggested the U.N. demand more action from countries that do not share a land border with Haiti.

Haiti has been mired in gang-fueled violence for decades, but its government has been in a state of unprecedented disarray since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. Haiti has not had a president since, leaving unelected Prime Minister Ariel Henry with no identifiable public support and few resources to contain gang violence. Henry left the country in early March to travel to Kenya, where he asked President William Ruto to provide police officers for a U.N.-approved Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission. Upon his departure, armed militias led by notorious gang boss Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier attacked prisons, freeing as many as 4,000 criminals, and surrounded Port-au-Prince’s airport, making it impossible for Henry to return.
...
The U.N. announced a plan on Wednesday to address the ongoing lawlessness in Haiti by creating the “air bridge,” flying staffers, food, and medicine into the country and evacuating non-emergency personnel. The U.N. Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) issued a statement that made the plan appear to be a given fact, promising the “air corridor will enable the transport of aid and ensure the safe relocation of staff both in and out of the country.”

The statement read:

The UN [in Haiti] is establishing an airbridge between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The airbridge will ensure the seamless delivery of humanitarian aid and support services to Haiti, and facilitate the movement of our personnel in and out of the country.

“The air bridge announced on Wednesday between Haiti and the Dominican Republic to send humanitarian aid to the Haitian people, victims of a grave crisis, should be operative as soon as possible,” Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters on Thursday.

Quote:Venezuelan opposition frontrunner candidate María Corina Machado is facing increased pressure from her alleged allies to choose a replacement who can run against socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro in the upcoming July sham presidential election, according to a report published by Reuters on Thursday.

Machado, who leads Venezuela’s only mainstream center-right party Vente Venezuela, was elected as the opposition’s candidate in October’s primary election, where she obtained more than 93 percent of the votes. Polls released in late 2023 showed that Machado would easily defeat Maduro with more than 70 percent of the votes. Without the frontrunner opposition candidate, dictator Nicolás Maduro is expected to “win” the fraudulent electoral event, securing a new six-year term for himself.

Venezuela is slated to hold a new sham presidential election on July 28. The Maduro regime, which controls all branches of Venezuela’s government, is refusing to allow Machado’s participation. The regime banned Machado from running for public office through 2030 as punishment for expressing support for international human rights sanctions.

Although the Maduro regime upheld her ban, Machado has refused to step down and designate a substitute person to run in her stead. She also continued her presidential campaign despite the arrests of several of her regional campaign leaders and violent assaults committed by pro-regime thugs.

Machado previously rejected the possibility of naming a replacement candidate, asserting that the one who needs to be replaced is Maduro.

Reuters’s report cited five unnamed sources “with knowledge on the matter.” The sources claimed that this week Venezuelan “opposition” party leaders asked Machado to define a strategy ahead of the upcoming July 28 sham presidential election, stressing that although “they have expressed their support for her candidacy, they want her to decide on an alternative candidate.”

A decision is expected to occur soon, as the socialist-controlled National Electoral Center provided a very limited electoral roadmap. Prospective candidates only have from March 21 to 25 to register their candidates with Venezuela’s top electoral authority.

Quote:Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) managed to unite many Israelis — against him, and behind Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at least when it comes to the right of Israelis to choose their own leaders democratically.

Israeli opposition leaders joined Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party in denouncing Schumer for demanding Thursday that Israel hold new elections to oust Netanyahu from power.

Schumer claimed that Netanyahu was an “obstacle to peace.”

Netanyahu’s main rival, Benny Gantz of the Blue and White Party, who serves in Israel’s emergency government of national unity, said: “The leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate Chuck Schumer is a friend of Israel, who helps her a lot even these days, but he made a mistake in his statement. Israel is a strong democracy, and only its citizens will determine its leadership and future. Any external intervention in the matter is incorrect and unacceptable.”

Naftali Bennett, a former Netanyahu aide-turned-rival who ousted him as prime minister in 2001, also added: “Regardless of our political opinion, we strongly oppose external political intervention in Israel’s internal affairs. We are an independent nation, not a banana republic. With the threat of terrorism on its way to the West, it would be best if the international community would assist Israel in its just war, thereby also protecting their countries.”

Only opposition leader Yair Lapid of the Yesh Atid party — which is viewed as close to the Democratic Party in the U.S. — used Schumer’s speech to criticize Netanyahu, saying that the prime minister was alienating Israel’s best friends.

Schumer added fuel to rumors that the Biden Administration wants to see Netanyahu ousted from office, because he opposes some of Biden’s policies for postwar Gaza, notably the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Quote:Israel believes that the Biden Administration is “slow-walking” military aid, including urgently needed ammunition, according to a report by ABC News on Thursday, putting the success of the war against Hamas terrorists in jeopardy.

ABC reported:

A senior Israeli official says the United States has begun slow-walking some military aid to Israel — an assertion senior U.S. officials denied was the case, in what’s perhaps more evidence that the relationship between the two allies is growing increasingly strained.
...
According to a senior Israeli official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the U.S. military aid shipments at the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war “were coming very fast,” but “we are now finding that it’s very slow,” which has put pressure on Israel as it attempts to destroy the terrorist Hamas organization in Gaza.
...
According to the senior Israeli official, in increasingly short supply are 155 mm artillery shells and 120 mm tank shells. The U.S. had been supplying similar munitions to Ukraine, which also reports specifically running low on 155 mm artillery shells.

The official told ABC that Israel feared “we might lose this war” due to the delays in ammunition.

Despite the Biden administration’s denials, the delay could be a way of preventing Israel from attacking the last Hamas stronghold in the town of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. President Joe Biden has opposed such an attack, at least until there is a plan for evacuating Palestinian civilians.

The delay could also be a way of discouraging Israel from attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon, after the Iranian-backed terror group forced the evacuation of Israel’s northern towns by firing continuously on communities near the border in a show of solidarity with the Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

Quote:Israel rejected a reported counteroffer by Hamas for a potential hostage deal on Thursday, but sent negotiators to Qatar to continue negotiations, as hope increased for an agreement that could lead to a temporary ceasefire in the near future.

According to the Times of Israel, Hamas offered to release female Israeli hostages, of whom there are thought to be over a dozen, along with elderly and ill hostages. In return, it demanded the release of 100 convicted Palestinian terrorists serving life sentences for the murder of Israelis, and an agreement by Israel to end the war for a second hostage release.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Hamas’s demands: “Hamas is continuing to hold to unrealistic demands,” he said in a statement Thursday. Israel has long said that it will not end the war until Hamas’s military and governing capacity have been destroyed, and Netanyahu has refused to release Palestinian terrorists with Israeli blood on their hands.

However, the Times of Israel reported, Netanyahu has sent negotiators back to Qatar to continue talks.

Earlier this week, meeting with families of Israeli hostages, Netanyahu said that Qatar had begun to pressure Hamas to offer reasonable demands, confirming media reports that Qatar had threatened to expel Hamas leaders if they did not.

Meanwhile, Israel’s war cabinet approved plans for an attack on the last Hamas stronghold, in the town of Rafah. The plans include efforts to evacuate Palestinian civilians to “humanitarian islands” near the city for their safety.

Quote:An Israeli Arab Muslim man whose relatives are among the 134 hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza confronted the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations on Monday, demanding to know why his family had been taken captive.

The Israeli man, Ali Ziadna, was dressed in Muslim attire and observing the fast of Ramadan as he joined other Israeli relatives of hostages at a session of the UN Security Council, where Israel demanded that the world pressure Hamas.

Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour looked taken aback as Ziadna approached him and questioned him. In the video of their exchange, which went viral on Tuesday, Mansour looked uncomfortable as he faced Ziadna’s questions.

The left-wing Israeli daily Ha’aretz noted that Ziadna asked the ambassador to explain Hamas’s behavior: “They returned the Thai workers without a deal while the Muslims who are like me and you are left in the tunnels hungry.”

The Jerusalem Post added:

The dialogue between the two is in Arabic, however, multiple accounts on X have posted the video with roughly similar translations of what was being said
...
Ziadna told Mansour, “Why did they kidnap my family? What crime did they commit that Hamas kidnapped them? They have been in the tunnels for 5 months, and for what? On what basis? They returned the Thai workers without a deal and the Muslims who are like me and you are left in the tunnels hungry, in pain, and naked…”.

The Palestinian ambassador replied to him: “Remember your Muslim brothers and sisters who died in Gaza, 30 thousand… and 75 thousand (wounded) and the destruction in Gaza. We are against harming any citizen, think of the civilians who have been harmed, and show solidarity with them. Don’t let [Israel] take advantage of you, those who kill the Palestinians will take advantage of you.”

The figure of 30,000 dead in Gaza is provided by Hamas, and cannot be verified; it also fails to distinguish between terrorists killed in combat and civilians killed in the crossfire (or dying from natural causes, for that matter).

Hamas murdered dozens of Israeli Arab Muslims, and took some to Gaza as hostages. Two Israeli Arab Muslim teenagers were among those released during a truce in November. One Arab hostage was accidentally killed by Israeli soldiers (along with two Jewish Israelis with whom he had escaped). Arab Muslim Israeli soldiers are also fighting in Gaza, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently visited with the family of a fallen Arab Muslim Israeli soldier.

Quote:The leader of Yemen’s Ansar Allah terrorist organization, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, announced on Thursday that his jihadists would expand their attacks on random commercial ships beyond the greater Red Sea region in an attempt to disrupt shipping routes around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa.

The Houthis, as Ansar Allah are commonly known, launched a terror campaign against ships attempting to transit around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait surrounding Yemen into the Red Sea after declaring war on Israel in October, a move meant to support fellow Iran-backed terror outfit Hamas following its gruesome massacre of 1,200 Israeli civilians on October 7. The Houthis claim that their attacks are an attempt to stop Israel from continuing self-defense operations in the Hamas stronghold of Gaza meant to prevent a sequel to the atrocities committed in October.

The Houthis claim, falsely, to be the legitimate government of Yemen. They have controlled the nation’s capital, Sana’a, since a siege in 2014, which launched their ongoing civil war against the true government of the country, currently headquartered in the southern city of Aden.

Houthi leaders claimed that they intended to inhibit commerce with Israel and that they would only target ships attempting to travel to and from Israel, then expanded their attacks to ships affiliated with America and Britain, a response to coalition airstrikes on Houthi targets. The U.S. and U.K. militaries authorized airstrikes meant to deteriorate the Houthis’ ability to target commercial ships. President Joe Biden admitted in January, however, that the attacks were not working.

While insisting that global shipping is safe and only ships with ties to Israel, Britain, and America will face Houthi attacks, the Houthis have bombed ships with no overt relationship to those countries and even targeted ships affiliated with Houthi allies, such as Russia, China, and Iran. The unpredictable nature of the attacks has resulted in the world’s largest shipping companies rerouting away from the Red Sea region and sailing south around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa. By January, the Financial Times reported that container ship traffic through the Suez Canal had fallen 90 percent year-on-year.

Abdul Malik al-Houthi said on Thursday that the Houthis would soon begin bombing the ships rerouting to Africa.

...Houthi declared, according to the Iranian state outlet PressTV. “For this important, advanced, and significant step, we have begun to implement our operations related to it through the Indian Ocean and from South Africa towards the Cape of Good Hope.”