Friday, July 08, 2022
Trump can never governor in any capacity because he does not recognize rules, only loyalty to him.
By Chris Anderson
TMTG (click here)
Donald Trump removed himself from the board (click here) of his Sarasota-based social media company, records show, just weeks before the company was issued federal subpoenas by both the Securities and Exchange Commission and a grand jury in Manhattan.
Trump, the chairman of Trump Media and Technology Group, was one of six board members removed on June 8, state business records show.
Among the board members removed were Kashyap Patel, Trump's former point man in the White House; Scott Glabe, a former assistant to Trump who was counsel for the media company; and Donald Trump, Jr.
The SEC served Trump Media and Technology Group with a subpoena on June 27, according to a regulatory filing. Trump's media company owns Truth Social, an app similar to Twitter. Trump was banned by Twitter for inflammatory remarks concerning the insurrection....
Donald Trump removed himself from the board (click here) of his Sarasota-based social media company, records show, just weeks before the company was issued federal subpoenas by both the Securities and Exchange Commission and a grand jury in Manhattan.
Trump, the chairman of Trump Media and Technology Group, was one of six board members removed on June 8, state business records show.
Among the board members removed were Kashyap Patel, Trump's former point man in the White House; Scott Glabe, a former assistant to Trump who was counsel for the media company; and Donald Trump, Jr.
The SEC served Trump Media and Technology Group with a subpoena on June 27, according to a regulatory filing. Trump's media company owns Truth Social, an app similar to Twitter. Trump was banned by Twitter for inflammatory remarks concerning the insurrection....
Thursday, July 07, 2022
This is no reference to write this estimation.
Abe was invested in the Japan Self Defense Force (click here) rather than the US drafted constitution which dates back to WWII.
l. Russia and China have been putting stress on Japan since Russia invaded Ukraine.
2. Is the Japanese internet carrying references to hate? I do not doubt China thinks nothing about increasing tensions in more than sending it's navy to harass the Japanese islands.
4. Japan and Russia relations (click here).
5. Current complaints by North Korea.
July 3, 2022Seoul, South Korea — North Korea (click here) on Sunday slammed the United States, South Korea and Japan for pushing to boost their trilateral military cooperation targeting the North, warning that the move is prompting urgent calls for the country to reinforce its military capability.
North Korea has long cited what it calls hostility by the United States and its allies as a reason to pursue a nuclear program. Sunday's statement comes as North Korea's neighbors say the country is ready for its first nuclear test in five years as part of its provocative run of weapons tests this year.
"The prevailing situation more urgently calls for building up the country's defense to actively cope with the rapid aggravation of the security environment of the Korean Peninsula and the rest of the world," the North Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement, without elaborating how it would boost its military capacity....
It is not all bad, the Phillipines have been working with Japan to build a joint defense.
Japan and the Philippines (click here) agreed on Saturday to consider further expanding defence cooperation against a backdrop of regional tensions and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The meeting in Tokyo of the two Asian nations' foreign and defence ministers was the first in the "2+2" format between the key U.S. allies.
The two countries will look at potentially enhancing cooperative activity and sharing supplies, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said after the meeting....
These are the international tensions that might launch hate of Abe's politics. I hope is okay. They were saying something about a heart attack with/without the gun attack.
There is an enormous disruption in China by Typhoon Chaba (click here). There were tornadoes. Japan received a tropical storm that quickly reduced to subtropical (click here).
Fresh out of ideas as to what anyone would attempt murder of a very popular former Prime Minister.
I have no idea what it takes to end this danger to police.
When a city starts to put armor and bullet proof glass in their cars it gets expensive because the cars become heavy and they need different suspension. There is the issue of militarizing our law enforcement. It is not only expensive, it is duplicated by the National Guard.
This is ridiculous.
Senator Durbin stated there is something like 5 million of these damn guns in the USA in private ownership. Then there is the report that American citizens own more guns than the USA military. The dynamics of this begins to challenge natonal security when there are White Supremacists emboldened by elected officials and an entire American political party.
Do you know how completely ridiculous and laughable it is to realize the Republican Party panders to violent groups in this country? It was due to happen. A clown like Trump would come along and entertain the American electorate just enough while FOX demonized Hillary Clinton to have him elected to president. It is completely laughable to realize the way it happened and how ego driven the elections have become. White Men are laughable!
5 million are a lot of very dangerous guns. Every American needs to ask themselves where we go from here because it cannot continue.
Today Derek Chauvin was sentenced in violation of George Floyd's civil rights (click here). 21 years is a significant sentence. It doesn't bring George Floyd back to his family or his community that loved him. For that Americans are profoundly sorry. I believe most of us are very sorry for all the injustice. The message is making it's way through. The more Americans are exposed to profound racism and hatred that kills men like Chauvin will go to prison.
Geroge Floyd will always be larger than life.
By Darryl Coote
A little more than a year (click here) after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of killing George Floyd, his counsel asked an appeals court to overturn his conviction.
Chauvin's attorney William Mohrman in the filing asked the Minnesota court of appeals to either reverse Chauvin's conviction, order a new trial in a new venue or have him be re-sentenced, citing a slew of issues with how the case was originally tried....
The officer was ambushed. That isn't even pursuit. It was a fake call. The officers that responded were going to die. One did with an assault weapon.
Americans have had enough of high powered weapons on the streets of our cities. Any city. A city that is impoverished. A city that is wealthy. We have had enough of this danger.
All of us!
By Andrea May Sahouri
Rarely does Larry Courts Sr. answer calls from numbers he doesn't recognize. (click here) But on Wednesday night, he said something was telling him to pick up the phone.
On the other line, a woman was screaming hysterically. It was his son's partner on the Detroit police force.
Loren Courts, his son, had been shot on duty on the city's west side....
..."He's my hero, my dude. I have so much respect for him," Courts told the Free Press at his Detroit home.
"God needed him more than we did down here — my arms are too short to box with God."
Courts was told his son was responding to a call of shots fired when he was himself shot by a suspect with a Draco, a semiautomatic, AK-style pistol....
By Emma Stein and Frank Witsil
Detroit Police Chief James E. White
Police Chief James White (click here) called on the justice system, lawmakers, and the public to help end gun violence and bring justice for the death of Detroit Police Officer Loren Courts, who he said was ambushed by a "murderer."
"It's getting old hearing what everyone is going to do," a frustrated White said, reiterating his praise for Courts, 40, and his partner, Amanda Hudgens, and declaring that the force was "devastated but not defeated."
Hudgens, he said, was prepared to die to try to save Courts.
Flanked by the department's top brass at police headquarters on Thursday, White said he didn't have the words to console Courts' family and described in more detail than the night before, a shootout in which, Ehmani Davis, a 19-year-old man, took aim at police.
He shot out his apartment window to do so....
Police Chief James White (click here) called on the justice system, lawmakers, and the public to help end gun violence and bring justice for the death of Detroit Police Officer Loren Courts, who he said was ambushed by a "murderer."
"It's getting old hearing what everyone is going to do," a frustrated White said, reiterating his praise for Courts, 40, and his partner, Amanda Hudgens, and declaring that the force was "devastated but not defeated."
Hudgens, he said, was prepared to die to try to save Courts.
Flanked by the department's top brass at police headquarters on Thursday, White said he didn't have the words to console Courts' family and described in more detail than the night before, a shootout in which, Ehmani Davis, a 19-year-old man, took aim at police.
He shot out his apartment window to do so....
Kyiv Asks Turkey to Probe Three More Russian Ships It Alleges Transported Stolen Grain
Kyiv Asks Turkey to Probe Three More Russian Ships It Alleges Transported Stolen Grain: By Jonathan Spicer and Reade Levinson ISTANBUL, July 6 (Reuters) – Ukraine has asked Turkey to help investigate three Russian-flagged ships as part of Kyiv’s efforts to probe what it alleges is...
U.S. Navy Offers Cash Reward For Tips On Illegal Maritime Activity And Cargo
U.S. Navy Offers Cash Reward For Tips On Illegal Maritime Activity And Cargo: The U.S. Navy will for the first time reward individuals for reporting information that leads to the detection of illegal maritime activity or seizure of illicit cargo in waters across...
Zelenskyy Blasts Greek Ship Owners For Moving Russian Oil
Zelenskyy Blasts Greek Ship Owners For Moving Russian Oil: by John Konrad (gCaptain) Yesterday at an Economist forum in Athens, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blamed Greek tanker owners for undermining economic sanctions by moving Russian oil. “We see Greek companies...
Are they violating sanctions?!?!
It is an issue. They planned to kidnap and execute a governor. Republicans are a problem.
Who looks to violent groups for votes? It is an issue. January 6, 2021 resulted by that empowerment.
Get real.
The increased activity of recruitment in 2020 did not happen spontaneously, it was an election year and they had insurrection on their minds.
By Phillip Martin
It was a rare look inside the strategic planning of an upstart neo-Nazi movement. (click here)
In a video posted last summer on social media, Chris Hood, 23, the founder of the Nationalist Social Club - 131, a New England white nationalist collective, gave instructions to a 22-year-old UMass Lowell student named Liam MacNeil.
“If you’re in college you should be getting together with all the other guys on campus that think like you, circling all the frat parties and bullying the chicks that race mix and start dominating the party and take over the campus,” Hood said. “Same policy as out here [the street] but just do it on campus.”
“We can do that,” MacNeil responded. “Everyone knows where I am now, but they’re going to have to physically remove me. You know, they’re going to have to kick me out.”
Hood and MacNeil, now 23, are part of a tiny but growing group of white nationalists who have begun publicly announcing their presence across New England through a rising wave of racist and antisemitic demonstrations, attacks and vandalism. The groups appear to have escalated their activities in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, attempted insurrection in the U.S. Capitol, where members of these groups were present. It’s a rise that worries local law enforcement and community members, spurring them to respond.
In the wake of this weekend’s racially motivated murders in Buffalo — the latest among a series of hate-inspired mass shootings — experts on extremism say there is good reason to be concerned about the spread of neo-Nazism, racism and white ethnonationalism in New England.
Hate sprouts locally
In Massachusetts, the Anti-Defamation League counted 388 reported hate, extremism, antisemitism and terror incidents in 2021. Five years earlier, it tallied only 123 reported incidents. Much of this activity is graffiti or leafleting or other acts of racist propaganda. But some of it is violence....
The extremists groups have been emboldened by Trump. They are on the move.
Michael Moore is exactly correct. Crimo studied his victims and the response. He planned his get away, but, it is curious he left the gun behind. I guess it didn't fit under the dress as well as he thought.
By Michael Moore
How the Highland Park shooter (click here) understood the country he lived in, which allowed him to initially escape the massacre he created
I’ll say this about mass murderer Bobby Crimo. He knows that we are safe from the 51% of the population who doesn’t do mass murder. 99.9% of mass murderers are men. So he knew that the best way to escape his slaughter on Monday in Highland Park, Illinois, was to blend in with the terrorized crowd running for their lives — and to do so dressed as a “woman.“ Because no one would dare suspect he was the shooter because, well, he was a “woman.” He had dressed as a woman, even as he was up on the roof, wearing a skirt and makeup as he fired off his 70+ bullets....
I’ll say this about mass murderer Bobby Crimo. He knows that we are safe from the 51% of the population who doesn’t do mass murder. 99.9% of mass murderers are men. So he knew that the best way to escape his slaughter on Monday in Highland Park, Illinois, was to blend in with the terrorized crowd running for their lives — and to do so dressed as a “woman.“ Because no one would dare suspect he was the shooter because, well, he was a “woman.” He had dressed as a woman, even as he was up on the roof, wearing a skirt and makeup as he fired off his 70+ bullets....
This group is in Texas, but, recently there were recruiting pamphlets distributed in Massachusetts. The recruitment flyer was in a plastic bag with a rock in it. The flyers were probably distributed by car or van or truck.
November 10, 2020
By Paulina VillegasSome residents in the San Antonio area (click here) woke up Sunday to find a smattering of anti-Black Lives Matter and white supremacist messages on their doorsteps.
Hundreds of the fliers were distributed around homes in Hollywood Park, Oak Haven Heights and Stone Oak and nearby communities. They are believed to have been distributed by members of 14First the Foundation, a self-described “pro white organization fighting for the white race,” in an effort to recruit like-minded followers and enlarge their ranks, Hollywood Park Police Chief Shad Prichard said.
“We are in fact in a war for our people,” read one of the fliers, which led with a swastika at the top. Other fliers denigrated the Black Lives Matter movement, attacked Jewish people and invoked Adolf Hitler....
Masschusetts had the largest number of flyer distribution in 2020. This march was unauthorized. The Mayor and Council have held closed door meetings with law enforcement regarding these violent extremist groups.
July 2, 2022
By Laura Crimaldi and Nick Stoico
Members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front (click here) marched through downtown Boston Saturday afternoon, according to officials, while Boston police said they had a report that members of the group attacked a Black man near Copley Square.
Dressed in khaki pants, navy T-shirts, and wearing white neck gaiters covering most of their faces, sunglasses, and baseball caps, the marchers were videotaped in well-known spots along the Freedom Trail. Some of the participants held shields, carried Patriot Front flags, and a banner reading, “Reclaim America,” as they walked in step with a snare drum. The organization published four videos of the march on Telegram, a messaging app, with captions that said they were in Boston for the Fourth of July....
By Laura Crimaldi and Nick Stoico
Members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front (click here) marched through downtown Boston Saturday afternoon, according to officials, while Boston police said they had a report that members of the group attacked a Black man near Copley Square.
Dressed in khaki pants, navy T-shirts, and wearing white neck gaiters covering most of their faces, sunglasses, and baseball caps, the marchers were videotaped in well-known spots along the Freedom Trail. Some of the participants held shields, carried Patriot Front flags, and a banner reading, “Reclaim America,” as they walked in step with a snare drum. The organization published four videos of the march on Telegram, a messaging app, with captions that said they were in Boston for the Fourth of July....
Young men in the USA are targets for these violent groups. To date, USA intelligence has not sought to dismantle the web access to these groups. Congress needs to address this ENORMOUS PROBLEM PARENTS DON'T HAVE CONTROL OVER. The young men recruitment begins early at the age of 13. If the Patriot Act is not sufficient to end this threat to American lives, then the legislation must be passed and the FBI needs to end this threat to young American minds.
Wednesday, July 06, 2022
The $7500 tax credit should go forward, so long as the EVs are priced realistically.
EVs have always carried the reputation of being for the wealthy. That needs to change. Every family, every household should be able to shop for EVs without retreating into a petroleum industry price gouging utopia.
It has been decades since the auto industry has maintained it's focus on the internal combustion engine in the face of a very danger climate crisls. They have a responsibility in ending greenhouse gas emissions out of their tailpipes. In that is the responsibility they have to the American people to provide EVs every person and family can afford.
Let's face it, the petroleum industry has created an economy that will springboard sales of EVs. The American people are ready for this change. They want to go on road trips. That is now impossible for many people. The costs are prohibitive.
By Andrew Lisa
...GOBankingRates surveyed more than 1,000 American adults (click here) from across the country and found that more than half — 52.87% — are driving less. Older sets are more likely than their younger counterparts to cut back on driving, although men and women are driving less in nearly identical percentages. But for some people, less time behind the wheel just isn’t an option.
About 1 in 5 respondents would like to drive less but simply can’t manage to. Another 28% aren’t changing their driving habits at all.
So, beyond not driving as much as they used to, what can regular people do to endure this very irregular spike in gas prices? GOBankingRates asked the experts to share their best gas-saving tips....
About 1 in 5 respondents would like to drive less but simply can’t manage to. Another 28% aren’t changing their driving habits at all.
So, beyond not driving as much as they used to, what can regular people do to endure this very irregular spike in gas prices? GOBankingRates asked the experts to share their best gas-saving tips....
The people that want to drive less but can't is probably hit hard by the cost of gasoline. It is a lot of stress. They are being pinched and their savings is disappearing. The auto makers need to know the need of these Americans and build EVs that can be purchased by everyone.
See, the cost of gasoline has put these consumers on the same platform as those that normally could afford the EVs. Everyone is qualifying as weathy now simply because the petroleum industry is charging ridiculous amounts of money for their commodity.
Americans want EVs and now that gasoline puts their auto expenditures on the same level of previous EV purchases, they should be a focus for all the automakers. I might add, Tesla's pickup trucks are coming in around $55k. That is competitive with Ford and GM and their top end gas guzzlers.
The Congress should provide a very healthy incentive for the automakers to push more EVs out the door and into consumer's garages. Whatever it takes should be taken seriously, so long as the consumer is benefiting from the purchase.
June 21, 2022
By David Shepardson and Tina Bellon
...General Motors Co (GM.N), (click here) Ford Motor Co (F.N), Chrysler-parent Stellantis NV (STLA.MI) and Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) have pledged to invest more than $170 billion through 2030 to bolster EV development, production and sales.
Automakers are making a furious last-ditch effort to convince Congress to approve an extension of EV incentives before Republicans, who are largely opposed to doling out EV subsidies, could potentially take over both houses of Congress next year.
Without those incentives, particularly an extension of a $7,500 EV purchase tax credit, the U.S. auto industry will fall behind on the Biden administration's goal of 50% EV sales by 2030, auto executives, lawmakers and consultants say....
By David Shepardson and Tina Bellon
...General Motors Co (GM.N), (click here) Ford Motor Co (F.N), Chrysler-parent Stellantis NV (STLA.MI) and Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) have pledged to invest more than $170 billion through 2030 to bolster EV development, production and sales.
Automakers are making a furious last-ditch effort to convince Congress to approve an extension of EV incentives before Republicans, who are largely opposed to doling out EV subsidies, could potentially take over both houses of Congress next year.
Without those incentives, particularly an extension of a $7,500 EV purchase tax credit, the U.S. auto industry will fall behind on the Biden administration's goal of 50% EV sales by 2030, auto executives, lawmakers and consultants say....
The reason Trump is chomping at the bit is to push back against the January 6th Committee.
Trump wants to enforce his lies and think up bigger ones. It is just that simple. He hopes to overtake the loss of support he has garnered due to the TRUTH! I believe the truth will win. Some Americans have been resistent to give up on the idea of a 2024 Trump campaign, but, that has changed. Americans value the truth and to realize the Big Lie is actually the Big Lie and a method to end our democracy matters.
There is always the money, too. Donations. Trump's anti-election campaign of 2020 is more about money than any opposition to a flawed election. That focus is more or less a Giuliani issue, too. He has received a lot of money during the Trump years.
By David Jackson
Washington - Donald Trump's prospective campaign (click here) to reclaim the presidency in 2024 faces legal and political jeopardy, but allies said some of the potential roadblocks – including the threat of prosecution – actually motivate him to run.
Trump is dealing with revelations about his conduct during the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, pushback from Republicans and, above all, the prospect of an unprecedented indictment of a former president.
Despite these problems, Trump is considering a 2024 campaign and may make an announcement as early as this summer, said aides and allies discussing internal deliberations on condition of anonymity....
The World Cup is beginning soon.
This is what is so ridiculous about communism, they aren't good at governance and oppress people rather than leading them. It shows.
July 6, 2022
By Michael Nowels
By Michael Nowels
China needs to be a real country to it's people and not some kind of mess of a power player in the world. (click here)
Mexican soccer fans in the Bay Area will have the opportunity to see their men’s team off this fall before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Mexico will face Colombia on Sept. 27 at Levi’s Stadium as part of El Tri’s “MexTour Sendoff Series”. No time has been announced for kickoff yet.
Tickets are set to go on sale Thursday at 10 a.m. via Ticketmaster.
The Santa Clara date is the third of three games in the U.S. for the Mexican team over the course of a month. Mexico will face Paraguay in Atlanta on Aug. 31, then play Peru at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena Sept. 24 before the match at Levi’s Stadium three days later....
Mexican soccer fans in the Bay Area will have the opportunity to see their men’s team off this fall before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Mexico will face Colombia on Sept. 27 at Levi’s Stadium as part of El Tri’s “MexTour Sendoff Series”. No time has been announced for kickoff yet.
Tickets are set to go on sale Thursday at 10 a.m. via Ticketmaster.
The Santa Clara date is the third of three games in the U.S. for the Mexican team over the course of a month. Mexico will face Paraguay in Atlanta on Aug. 31, then play Peru at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena Sept. 24 before the match at Levi’s Stadium three days later....
Maybe the Republicans are counting on communists.
I don't recall ever seeing this level of engagement of the public by two security allies. I don't appreciate China's "space war" mongering. War is impossible in space. Space is a void. There is nothing there that would feed a flame. There is no oxygen and there is no gravity. The entire idea of space wars is hideous. It is nothing by war mongering.
A space race is not a war.
This joint press moment is possible because President Biden doesn't practice oppression of the Press. That is a complete 180 degree turn from the previous administration. There is far more information flowing to the public now.
By Gordon Corera
The heads of UK and US security services (click here) have made an unprecedented joint appearance to warn of the threat from China.
FBI director Christopher Wray said China was the "biggest long-term threat to our economic and national security" and had interfered in politics, including recent elections.
MI5 head Ken McCallum said his service had more than doubled its work against Chinese activity in the last three years and would be doubling it again.
MI5 is now running seven times as many investigations related to activities of the Chinese Communist Party compared to 2018, he added.
The FBI's Wray warned that if China was to forcibly take Taiwan it would "represent one of the most horrific business disruptions the world has ever seen".
The first ever joint public appearance by the two directors came at MI5 headquarters in Thames House, London....
If Republicans can get away with breaking the laws, then 2022 elections will return a Republican federal majority and no worries.
"I always counsel against assuming (click here) that any one court decision is going to dramatically change the landscape. But this case is different," says Marc Elias on the Supreme Court taking up a case on state legislatures' authority over elections.
November 18, 2021
Lawsuit filed on behalf of plaintiffs from Harper v. Lewis (click here) challenging the state’s new congressional and legislative maps drawn with 2020 census data. The North Carolina Supreme Court struck down the maps for being partisan gerrymanders that violate the North Carolina Constitution. In a 4-3 decision, the court concluded that partisan gerrymandering claims are justiciable and any map “that diminishes or dilutes a voter’s opportunity to aggregate with likeminded voters to elect a governing majority…infringes upon that voter’s fundamental right to vote,” explicitly rejecting the lower court and Republican defendants’ notion that partisan gerrymandering is allowed under the state constitution. The trial court then adopted remedial plans: the state House and Senate remedial maps passed by the General Assembly and a congressional map drawn by court-appointed special masters. The congressional map will only be in place for the 2022 elections...
By Zachery B. Wolf
The US Supreme Court is on a tear remaking the way Americans live. (click here)
It cut back states' abilities to regulate the carrying of guns.
It gave states the power to outlaw abortion.
It undercut the power of the Environmental Protection Agency and other government agencies to regulate polluters.
Next up could be a complete re-imagining of American democracy, where, if a legal theory based on the word "legislature" is adopted by the Supreme Court, state lawmakers could, in theory, have new power to ignore voters and pick presidents.
The conservative-majority court has agreed to hear a North Carolina case that pits the state's GOP-controlled legislature against state courts that threw out congressional maps they said were gerrymandered....
The case will end democracy in the USA where every vote is supposed to matter. This is a regressive court that rather have George Washington as King than a democracy that Franklin stated, "If you can keep it."
The Supreme Court is corrupt and they are pushing the elimination of individual rights as a loyalty to the Federalist Society.
The opinions above are not alone. This estimate is showing up in more than one location. It is a legitimate concern.
The Supreme Court (click here) has agreed to hear a case in its fall term that has the potential to make partisan gerrymandering an unstoppable political force and gut voting rights protections. That may be a best-case scenario....
The party that cuts food stamps also allows specific funds for COVID to be used as a block grant.
DeSantis is breaking the law in multiple ways (click here). The latest is using COVID funds for his own agenda.
What it boils down to with many Republican governors is that they never spent the COVID-19 monies on the people. Instead, they spread fear of the vaccine only to turn around and play politics with money intended for human health.
The Republican Governors in many instances are using COVID-19 funds to raise their approval rating among the people and voters. It has campaign funds stored in the state's treasury.
When politicians violate the public trust this deeply to the point where people die, it is time to investigate and prosecute.
July 5, 2022By Tony Romm
As gas prices climbed toward record highs this May, (click here) Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) secured a pause on the state’s fuel taxes — a $200 million plan he helped pay for with a pot of federal funds awarded earlier in the pandemic.
The policy was intended to save money for local drivers and state coffers alike. But it also appeared to mark a potential violation of federal law — and the latest skirmish in an escalating clash between GOP officials and the White House over how states can use generous federal stimulus dollars.
More than a year after Congress approved a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, Republicans in nearly two dozen states have ratcheted up efforts to tap some of those funds for an unrelated purpose: paying for tax cuts. The moves have threatened to siphon off aid that might otherwise help states fight the pandemic, shore up their local economies or prepare for a potential recession....
Isreal will continue to defend it's people. Basically, Putin is backing Hezbollah.
This is not unusual for Israel. They have always been vigilant of transfers of weapons to Hezbollah because it increases the danger to Israeli citizens. Russia has no right to back Hezbollah. It has become a member of the South American drug cartel.
By Anna Ahronheim
Russia (click here) has again condemned an alleged Israeli airstrike that hit targets in Syria over the weekend, calling the IDF’s war-between-wars campaign in Syria “categorically unacceptable” and demanding it to stop.
"We strongly condemn such irresponsible actions that violate the sovereignty of Syria and the basic norms of international law, and we demand their unconditional cessation," said Foreign Minister Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova..
Two Syrian civilians were wounded in the airstrike targeting sites near the coastal city of Tartus.
While Syria’s SANA state media said that the missiles targeted “several poultry farms in the vicinity of Hamadiyah, south of Tartus,” Israeli reports said that they targeted advanced air defense systems that had been transferred to the country by Iran.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights meanwhile said that the strike targeted weapons that were headed to Hezbollah in Lebanon....
...Israel has warned repeatedly about Iran’s nuclear ambitions as well as aspirations of regional hegemony and has admitted to hundreds of airstrikes as part of its campaign to prevent the transfer of advanced weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon and the entrenchment of its forces in Syria where they could easily act against the Jewish state....
It seems obvious why Hezbollah has become a member of the drug cartel. Russia doesn't care about Syria, it cares about dependency of other countries on Russia petroleum. Israel opened up another gas well.
July 3, 2022
Jerusalem - The Israeli military on Saturday (click here) said it shot down three unmanned aircraft launched by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah heading toward an area where an Israeli gas platform was recently installed in the Mediterranean Sea.
The launch of the aircraft appeared to be an attempt by Hezbollah to influence U.S.-brokered negotiations between Israel and Lebanon over their maritime border, an area that is rich in natural gas.
In a statement, the Israeli said the aircraft were spotted early on and did not pose an "imminent threat." Nonetheless, the incident drew a stern warning from Israel's caretaker prime minister, Yair Lapid.
"I stand before you at this moment and say to everyone seeking our demise, from Gaza to Tehran, from the shores of Lebanon to Syria: Don't test us," Lapid said in his first address to the nation since taking office on Friday. "Israel knows how to use its strength against every threat, against every enemy."...
Isreal is looking at the need with the alliance of free countries and they are attempting to address it. There is a global paradgm shift for resources that sustain civilizations while attempting to address the climate crisis. The global community needs to pull together and find solutions for food scarcity and energy resources.
It is time to pursue peace and end this hatred that seems to permeate international relationships due to communists. The free world never threatened China or Russia for it's government of choice but their hatred of the free world has become a sincerely ridiculous political stance.
By Marc DAOU
An Israeli floating gas production unit (click here) arrived in the maritime zone disputed between Israel and Lebanon on Sunday – prompting the anger of the Lebanese government, especially as negotiations between the two countries on this dispute are at a standstill.
In abeyance for more than a decade, the dispute between Israel and Lebanon over the two countries’ maritime borders resurfaced on June 5. The Lebanese presidency warned the Israeli government against any “aggressive actions” in the disputed maritime area.
After a floating production, storage and offloading unit belonging to the company Energean (listed in both Tel Aviv and London) arrived on Sunday, the problem was obvious: Israel and Lebanon have never drawn their borders. The Karish gas field where Israel is exploring is located in a disputed area of 860 km2 in the middle of the eastern Mediterranean where huge gas reserves have been found in recent years....
Benjamin Netanyahu needs to stop gaminig the Knesset.
This is the fifth election in Israel in three years.
Patrick Kingsley and
...Differences (click here) between the coalition’s two ideological wings, compounded by unrelenting pressure from Mr. Netanyahu’s right-wing alliance, led two right-wing lawmakers to defect — removing the coalition’s majority in Parliament. When several left-wing and Arab lawmakers also rebelled on key votes, the coalition found it impossible to govern.
The final straw was the government’s inability last week to muster enough votes to extend a two-tier legal system in the West Bank, which has differentiated between Israeli settlers and Palestinians since Israel occupied the territory in 1967.
Several Arab members of the coalition declined to vote for the system, which must be extended every five years. That prevented the bill’s passage and prompted Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, a former settler leader, to collapse the government and thereby delay a final vote until after another election....
...Differences (click here) between the coalition’s two ideological wings, compounded by unrelenting pressure from Mr. Netanyahu’s right-wing alliance, led two right-wing lawmakers to defect — removing the coalition’s majority in Parliament. When several left-wing and Arab lawmakers also rebelled on key votes, the coalition found it impossible to govern.
The final straw was the government’s inability last week to muster enough votes to extend a two-tier legal system in the West Bank, which has differentiated between Israeli settlers and Palestinians since Israel occupied the territory in 1967.
Several Arab members of the coalition declined to vote for the system, which must be extended every five years. That prevented the bill’s passage and prompted Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, a former settler leader, to collapse the government and thereby delay a final vote until after another election....
Long standing leaders are leaving.
By Noa Shpigel
Two veteran lawmakers (click here) – Likud Knesset member Yuval Steinitz and Meretz lawmaker-turned-minister Esawi Freige – announced on Tuesday that they would not run in the upcoming Knesset election.
The 64-year-old Steinitz said that “After 23 years as a Knesset member – during which I was honored to serve as finance, intelligence and energy minister and as chairman of the [Knesset] Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee – I felt that my family and I deserve to breathe a little fresh air."...
Regardless of the chronically imploding Knesset, Israel has been making progress on many fronts.
July 5, 2022\
Jerusalem - Israel said on Tuesday (click here) it will reopen its economic and trade office in Turkey, as the countries work to restore diplomatic ties that have been strained for more than a decade.
Both governments expelled ambassadors in 2018 and have often traded barbs over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, though they are now looking to restore representation to ambassador level. Israel cut back its economic representation as well in 2019....
The Associated Press is reopening it's Gaza office.
July 5, 2022
Top executives from the Associated Press (click here) launched the news agency’s new office in the Gaza Strip more than a year after Israel gave AP staff an hour’s notice to leave before bombing the building it said also housed a Hamas intelligence unit.
The importance the agency attached to reopening the bureau was signaled by the presence of Daisy Veerasingham, the AP president, and executive editor Julie Pace at the dedication of the new office on Tuesday. Israel is already under intense scrutiny of how it handles the international media following the shooting death in May of a popular Palestinian American journalist.
“AP’s resilient Gaza team has never wavered, even in the moments our bureau collapsed and in the weeks that followed,” Veerasingham said in a release. “The Associated Press has operated in Gaza for more than half a century and remains committed to telling the story of Gaza and its people.”...
Top executives from the Associated Press (click here) launched the news agency’s new office in the Gaza Strip more than a year after Israel gave AP staff an hour’s notice to leave before bombing the building it said also housed a Hamas intelligence unit.
The importance the agency attached to reopening the bureau was signaled by the presence of Daisy Veerasingham, the AP president, and executive editor Julie Pace at the dedication of the new office on Tuesday. Israel is already under intense scrutiny of how it handles the international media following the shooting death in May of a popular Palestinian American journalist.
“AP’s resilient Gaza team has never wavered, even in the moments our bureau collapsed and in the weeks that followed,” Veerasingham said in a release. “The Associated Press has operated in Gaza for more than half a century and remains committed to telling the story of Gaza and its people.”...
Israel has been accepting Ukraine refugees.
Jerusalem/Warsaw - Israel and Poland have agreed (click here) to improve relations that had deteriorated after Warsaw introduced a law last year limiting the ability of Jews to recover World War Two properties, saying on Monday they would mutually restore ambassadors.
The move marked a shift for new Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who as foreign minister had denounced as "anti-Semitic and immoral" the bill affecting property seized by Nazi German occupiers and retained by Poland's post-war communist rulers....
July 5, 2022
Molokan (55) and Estabel (50), who landed with the special flight, waited in Gondar to immigrate to Israel for about 20 years. They stayed there with their children aged 23, 15, 11 and 4. Molokan, who was waiting to be reunited with his father and brother in Israel said before he took off on the special flight "We didn't think we would wait that long. Our brothers made aliyah 11 years ago and we stayed in Ethiopia. We went through the whole aliyah process with them but ours just stopped."...
Some Israelis would like relations on a social level with Arabia to gain momentum, but, it appears to be slow.
As speculation mounts (click here) over a possible breakthrough in relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia in the near future, an Israeli journalist recently traveled to Riyadh to see how the Saudi people may feel about warming relations with the Jewish state.
While traveling on non-Israeli passports, since individuals with Israeli passports are officially not yet allowed to enter the kingdom, Channel 13 military correspondent Alon Ben-David said he and a fellow Israeli reporter did not hide the fact that they were from Israel. (* See Editor’s note at the foot of this article.)
In a segment broadcast Monday night, the reporter noted that obtaining a visa for the trip was a quick and easy process, and described going through passport control upon landing as a smooth experience....
Tuesday, July 05, 2022
A battalion of AR-15s won't stop one single tank.
It is institutionalized fear to drive profits. Just that simple. The fear of "the other" is rampant in the USA. It is racist and bigoted in nature and delivers profits to Wall Street.
Yes, tanks are deployed to protests. It was during the "W" administration when peaceniks were protesting the Iraq war that tanks showed up and attempted to intimidate the protesters.
Those protesters were the best armed group against tanks, they carried protest signs and wore costumes of CEOs and government officials. There were even snippers on the rooves of buildings along the protest route.
Those protesters, if armed with AR-15s, would have been mowed down regardless of their message. The idea citizens could ever be armed well enough to stop the military is idiotic and disordered thinking. There is absolutely no basis for this ideology anywhere in modern American society.
Oh, what came out of the protests? Nothing? "The Iraq Study Group." (click here)
The idea Americans need weapons of war is bizarre, and a social lie to the greatest democracy ever to exist on Earth.
Plutocrats are social poisons.
By David Welna
...Seated at the witness table (click here) was Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the National Rifle Association. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., had a question for the NRA chief: Did he agree with the point of view that people needed firepower to protect themselves from the government?
"Senator, I think without any doubt, if you look at why our Founding Fathers put it there, they had lived under the tyranny of King George and they wanted to make sure that these free people in this new country would never be subjugated again and have to live under tyranny," LaPierre said.
The same argument is being made by a smaller, more strident gun lobbyist, the Gun Owners of America.
"I think principally the Second Amendment deals with keeping the government from going astray in a tyrannical direction," says Larry Pratt, the group's executive director....
...To get a sense of how much more mainstream, I spoke with some gun owners at a diner in Hellertown, Pa. All said the government is not to be trusted.
"I fear the government, and I think when they start getting background checks, they're going to — just like in Germany years ago, they used that to confiscate weapons later on," David Kulp said.
"Everyone who has a gun, they want to take them and put them into a system that everyone can look at and say this person has a gun," said gun owner Michael Shallot.
Vasilios Christogiannis put it this way: "They put the Second Amendment in the Constitution ... in order for us individuals to protect ourselves against a power-hungry government."
Elected officials seem to be playing off those fears. Ted Cruz, the newly elected Republican senator from Texas, had the crowd on its feet at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference....
...Seated at the witness table (click here) was Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the National Rifle Association. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., had a question for the NRA chief: Did he agree with the point of view that people needed firepower to protect themselves from the government?
"Senator, I think without any doubt, if you look at why our Founding Fathers put it there, they had lived under the tyranny of King George and they wanted to make sure that these free people in this new country would never be subjugated again and have to live under tyranny," LaPierre said.
The same argument is being made by a smaller, more strident gun lobbyist, the Gun Owners of America.
"I think principally the Second Amendment deals with keeping the government from going astray in a tyrannical direction," says Larry Pratt, the group's executive director....
...To get a sense of how much more mainstream, I spoke with some gun owners at a diner in Hellertown, Pa. All said the government is not to be trusted.
"I fear the government, and I think when they start getting background checks, they're going to — just like in Germany years ago, they used that to confiscate weapons later on," David Kulp said.
"Everyone who has a gun, they want to take them and put them into a system that everyone can look at and say this person has a gun," said gun owner Michael Shallot.
Vasilios Christogiannis put it this way: "They put the Second Amendment in the Constitution ... in order for us individuals to protect ourselves against a power-hungry government."
Elected officials seem to be playing off those fears. Ted Cruz, the newly elected Republican senator from Texas, had the crowd on its feet at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference....
Still another one with similarities that occured in others.
It seems more important that killers have free access to their weapons of war and plenty ammunition to feed their diseased minds then have an uneventful July 4th parade. I don't know who has the worst diseased minds, the gunman or the government that enables him.
The gunman is the same as others, having nine years of violence programming and relatives that say, "I never knew. I can't believe he is capable of such a thing."
The websites and indoctrination aren't any different than those in the past. They want to kill people that are nameless and faceless with a weapon of war to make a statement about their priorities. It never changes. The scenario is always the same.
Law enforcement does a great job in responding to the violence and in conducting a man hunt. They can't get any better as they walk through carnage carrying their own AR-15 to counter the weapons power of the killer. Any and all spending to support a response by law authority was always well spent. The hearts and minds of the men and women that seek to serve always demonstrated to be disgusted with the violence in the stone faced response.
It is always the same as if authored by the same demon.
Hours (click here) after a mass shooting at a 4 July parade in Illinois left six people dead and dozens of others injured, state senator Darren Bailey asked Americans to move on and celebrate....
Of couse, let's move on and wait for it to happen again. Osama bin Laden was a sick man that chose 911 to conduct horror, and the killer choose July 4th to kill. They are sick bastards that have no appreciation for life and the simple joy of a parade. How did such depraved people come to be an abomination to everyone?
But, hey, let's just move on.
Protect the NRA and the profits from selling weapons of war as well as the Republican dogma, so, let's just move on.
This didn't really happen. Did it?
The scars don't matter, the PTSD doesn't matter. Look at the young people, they know exactly what to do to carry out a successful lockdown. So proud of them. They know what to do, while generations older say, "Lockdown? Shelter in place? I don't know what to do exactly and my life depends on it."
The great United States knows how to cower to the gun lobby and their bought and sold Republicans, so we do what? Shelter in place? Is that normal for a society? Does anyone ever ask that question?
By Cheryl Teh
A doctor (click here) who was in the thick of the chaos during the Highland Park parade mass shooting on Monday said he saw people with "horrific injuries" at the scene.
Dr. David Baum told NBC Chicago that he was about 100 yards away from where people were shot and killed during the Fourth of July parade in the Chicago suburb.
Baum described hearing the "pow, pow" of a "Howitzer-type" weapon and that people began screaming and scattering moments after.
"You saw blood everywhere. You saw bodies down. You saw people screaming, you saw massive amounts of blood in the people who were gone," Baum told NBC. "There were a lot of bodies. Who was expecting to need 15 ambulances on the scene of our Highland Park parade?"...
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