March 3rd • 0m
Shownotes
Every new episode of No Agenda is accompanied by a comprehensive list of shownotes curated by Adam while preparing for the show. Clips played by the hosts during the show can also be found here.
Season of Reveal
Season of Reveal - Climate Change Hoax MUST be addressed!
MIC
Military spending and GDP BOTG
ITM Adam,
You've said a couple of times recently that somehow the government is propping up the economy by sending money to Ukraine and that is absolutely true. The way you calculate GDP in economics is by adding up consumer spending, government spending, domestic investment (basically capital expenditures by corporations), and net exports. So when we hand buckets of cash to the military industrial complex it increases government spending and when they decide to upgrade or build a new factory it increases domestic investment. By just printing money and handing it to military contractors the GDP does go up. These kinds of shenanigans are how we get an economy that is somehow not in a recession despite everyone saying the economy sucks. The government is spending their way out of the recession. The problem is when this happens inflation always follows. Hope this helps.
Eric
Big Tech AI & Socials
Unionized Google workers learned their jobs were over while testifying to City Council about why they need higher pay
Employees unionized as part of the larger fight for better pay and benefits and petitioned Google to come to the table for negotiations, but the software company had refused. The company has claimed that because the employees are contractors, Google is not responsible for bargaining; instead, the contractor, Cognizant, is. But the NLRB has said otherwise, ruling Google and Cognizant as joint employers of YouTube Music workers.
The NLRB has ruled that Google’s refusal to bargain with YouTube Music workers is illegal. The board also introduced a new rule this December that would “make it even harder for companies like Google to argue they aren’t responsible for dealing with unionization efforts by third-party contractors,” according to the Verge.
Indeed, in a statement to Fortune, a Google spokesperson says that the Austin-based unionized workers are “not Google employees. Cognizant is responsible for these workers’ employment terms, including staffing.” They add that they “have no objections to Cognizant employees electing to form a union. We simply believe it’s only appropriate for Cognizant, as their employer, to engage in collective bargaining,” and say that Google will be appealing the NLRB’s ruling that stated otherwise.
Big Pharma
Psychiatric Nurse SRI's BOTG
I have been a psychiatric nurse for seventeen years.
Paroxetine (Seroxat) and Fluoxetine (Prozac) were famous for igniting impulsive conditions wherein people started killing others or themselves. I have seen a boy who killed his disabled brother because he couldn’t control himself. I have seen a girl who we would have to watch constantly because otherwise she would kill herself. This was a known side affect. It is only in the first three weeks but it is lethal.
Another thought; if you don’t want children from the age of thirteen to explore there sexuality, you just give them SSRI’s.
Did you know that the medication effectiveness of any SSRI is the same as progressive relaxation. (It is a kind of meditation) I have no clue why this is given to people in general.
SSRI’S turn people into zombies. Is that the endgame?
Antidepressants BOTG
Some are also used for pain management. I used one for a short time not knowing it was an antidepressant. My wife said I was unbearable to be around because it made me irrational at times. Quit it quickly.
Boots on Ground - Anti-depressant prescribed for nerve back pain
Dear Adam,
Re: your comment about anti-depressants being prescribed for other uses among ‘youth.’ At 32, I don’t know if I still count as youth, but in January I was prescribed an anti-depressant, Amitriptyline, along with a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and a muscle relaxant by a physician at the clinic at the university (McGill) where I am doing my PhD. I was scandalized when I learned that Amitriptyline is an anti-depressant, and that the physician prescribed it to me without even telling me it was an anti-depressant. I almost took it without looking it up. Thank god I didn’t. Turns out it sometimes prescribed for pain management, and that it has been associated with suicidality, especially among young people who are not usually on anti-depressants. And stopping it cold turkey is not recommended.
*Poorly written report, but if for whatever reason you read it on air, please avoid identifying me by name. ‘PhD candidate in Anthropology at McGill University’ would be fine.
[https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/meds/a682388.html](https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/meds/a682388.html)
N.b. Been meaning to send you plenty of stuff for over a week now. I’m in a super crunch mode with my thesis and other obligations. Might not be able to contribute much at all to No Agenda for most of this month.
Best,
Transmaoism
Google woke AI BOTG
JCD and Adam,
Anyway, I make 100s of AI requests a day to OpenAI. I have access to Google and Anthropic as well. My results are often pages long. For example, I'm building an AI generated question bank for some common exams. Every query I'll get 300 questions and answers back.
Google's AI tools are really bad. And, the ones that are decent are so expensive it's cheaper to self host them (speech to text specifically).
A few others I've tried are buggy or just lacking the depth of OpenAI.
I noticed in an AI security assessment I did in 2023 for the ISC2, that there was a translation layer on OpenAI when using the browser. With all the rules around content, it's clear that filtering and results manipulation are inevitable for free services.
However, when using the paid API these issues are eliminated.
John asked why they, Google, would create a data transformation that was so bad. They wouldn't. Google is under attack.
I agree with Scott Adams we are at peak wokeness. Unfortunately, corporate espionage can ride rough shod over these companies by simply pulling pranks. Everyone will blame the woke employees. Woke employees don't take notes on work, only on people they hate. They don't comment code. They only have time to focus on reporting people to HR.
I manage a large Google Workspace. In the last 6 months, they have changed or added data sub processors 3 times. I've never seen notices like this since working with the technology in 2009.
They are moving and adding companies that can access data seemingly without a long term plan. It's weird because they use to own their own data centers.
I'm sure this is cost savings, but it's opening them up to careless moves. There's no way they can ensure security of data access from these countries while making changes at this velocity.
They are also charging more and more for services. We used to be able to lock in pricing for 3 years, now it's year to year.
Google fired or marginalized many employees through woke policies. They are outsourcing complex development like AI to programmers who probably don't understand it. Their ex-employees likely planted Easter eggs and triggers in their code. I'm also assuming Microsoft has people at Google adding some chaos. Google uses sub processors all over India. Everyone knows Microsoft owns India.
And Why not? You can just blame the woke. It's a great way to kill Google who now has bad results, ads that do not make sense, and is getting hammered in quality by DuckDuckGo.
The normal woke manipulation is subtle. A popular elementary school product, Brainpop,is woke. When you search US History, you will see a picture of Oprah in the first five results with George Washington being further down the list.
It's ridiculous, but subtle. Your transformation is about ranking and inserting, not total results. People need to believe Oprah is among other great people, and above many.
That's how we know this is an attack, probably planted by the disgruntled, fueled by Microsoft spies, and easy to execute with foreign and H1B programmers who are thrown into millions of lines of code and no time to get up to speed.
MSFT weather bug Algo BOTG
Hi,
I work for Microsoft so I have some insights on the "Start" and "New Tab Page" article ads being served. The algos are tuned to your location so John being in CA will probably get a lot of anti-Trump propaganda because it sells. Less in Texas. It's funny because we get feedback about it being both too liberal and too conservative leaning, probably from the minorities suffering from the majority.
The content curation is also outsourced to another company, which has led to embarrassing situations like this: [https://www.makeuseof.com/microsoft-edge-adware-news-feed/](https://www.makeuseof.com/microsoft-edge-adware-news-feed/)
Trains Good Planes Bad
Epstein
Diddy Case
This is based mainly on Whitney Webb's flawed analysis of Hoover
Interesting how this has gone viral, I expect Whitney to start whining about this guy
It's a big distraction.
The Diddy stuff is not connected to Mob, just the satatnic entertainment industry
Israel vs Hamas
Replacement Migration
Newcomers on WH bill description
Immigration - Bodies vs Voters
Is it population growth that helps (Big Bankers),? Or is it the census bureau? It counts Body's, Not Voters.
Delegates Are Being created. More than 33 states of the Union now have less representation in the House of Rep, than your local sanctuary capital.
Spot the Spook
Climate Change
Texas Fire BOTG
In the morning...
I know my email won't be read on the show but I had a boots on the ground report (kind of) of the Texas fire. My grandmother and uncles houses were both burned completely down to the ground in Stinnett Texas. She had the home for 60+ years. Everyone is okay and they are taken care of and have a home for now. Just a little comment that this exact same thing happened last year and my grandma was evacuated just like this time, it started in the exact same spot. This is a yearly thing up there, this time the winds were just too intense.
Also side note, my grandma's house is the one in the background behind the news model.
[https://www.instagram.com/reel/C38IgQdRahk/?igsh=b28zbDNhamdhczN1](https://www.instagram.com/reel/C38IgQdRahk/?igsh=b28zbDNhamdhczN1)
Love is Lit!
-Nicole
Ukraine vs Russia
Zalensky is no longer officially president of Ukraine
Grappig dat Rutte gisteren een overeenkomst tekende met Zelensky.
Wist je dat Zelensky sinds gisteren constitutioneel GEEN president meer is van Oekraïne.
Er zijn geen verkiezingen gehouden en ook geen aparte zitting van de regering waarin werd besloten dat Zelensky president mag blijven totdat er verkiezingen zijn
Ook dit zal nooit gebeuren omdat Zelensky verschillende oppositiepartijen heeft verboden en ook andere parlementsleden hun functie hebben neergelegd.
Hierdoor kan Zelensky, volgens de constitutie, niet genoeg stemmen krijgen en is hij nog steeds president af.
STORIES
Bob Heil, K9EID, Silent Key
Sun, 03 Mar 2024 18:05
03/01/2024The man who defined the sound of live rock 'n' roll music and brought audio engineering principals into mainstream amateur radio use, Dr. Bob Heil, K9EID, has passed away at the age of 83. He was an ARRL Life Member and in the ARRL Maxim Society. A Facebook post from Heil Ham Radio paid tribute to their founder: ''Bob fought a valiant, yearlong battle with cancer, and passed peacefully surrounded by his family.''
Heil founded Heil Sound in 1966, through which he created the template for modern concert sound systems for musicians like the Grateful Dead, The Who, Joe Walsh, and Peter Frampton. The talk box used on iconic live record Frampton Comes Alive! was of Heil's design. His audio engineering products have been featured in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and he was honored in 2007 with the Parnelli Audio Innovator Award for his impact on the live sound industry. ''My life has been about achieving great sound, whether on the concert stage or in the amateur radio world,'' Bob Heil recounted in 2022. ''I've watched Heil Sound go from a regional sound company to a world-class microphone manufacturer. This company has been my passion,'' he said.
Parallel to his commercial and artistic success in live music, was his passion for amateur radio. He was active in ham radio from a young age and merged his expertise in audio engineering with his love for radio. Heil Ham Radio was founded to produce microphones, headsets, and other gear for radio amateurs with an emphasis on high-quality audio.
Heil was known as a mentor who enjoyed helping others find success in ham radio. Recently, his grandson Charlie Hartley, KF0OOP, became a licensed ham to surprise Heil for his birthday. The pair attended the ARRL Midwest Convention/Winterfest in St. Louis, Missouri, on January 27, 2024.
Heil was a generous donor to amateur radio organizations, including ARRL. Recently, he donated a host of new audio gear to the Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Station, W1AW.
His generosity and kind nature will be missed by many, including ARRL Director of Development Kevin Beal, K8EAL. ''Bob was a titan in many areas. He was generous with his time, offered keen insights, and had the heart of a philanthropist in the ARRL Maxim Society,'' Beal said. ''He was a gentleman to his core, making friends easily and everywhere he went, from rock stars to captains of industry. I consider it a real privilege to have become a friend to him, too, all because of amateur radio.''
Heil was known for his passion for AM operations. He served for many years as an on-camera host of the Ham Nation podcast. Tributes to Heil have been flooding social media, including from his co-hosts.
ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR, said Heil's passing is a significant loss. "Bob Heil's technical achievements that brought high-quality audio to amateur radio pale in comparison to his generosity and willingness to help his fellow ham. He's long been known as someone eager to help mentor and teach. His legacy on our hobby will be long-lasting. Our thoughts are with his loved ones."
75th Anniversary Celebration with Amy Goodman | KPFA
Sun, 03 Mar 2024 18:05
Join us on Saturday, April 6th at 6:30 pm with Amy Goodman award-winning journalist and host of Democracy Now! Amy will be in Berkeley to honor KPFA's 75 years of building community trust. She has a long and valued relationship with KPFA and will offer her unique perspective on our 75-year history, hosted by UpFront's Brian Edwards-Tiekert.
This special evening celebrating KPFA is happening at one of the Bay Area's greatest architectural monuments, The First Church of Christ Scientist, designated as a National Landmark and designed by Bernard Maybeck.
Support the Bay Area's truly independent media outlet.
Tickets are now on sale! Support the Bay Area's truly independent media outlet and get your tickets today before they sell out: http://tinyurl.com/amy75kpfa
The event will begin at 6:30pm.The First Church of Christ Scientist 2619 Dwight Way Berkeley, CA 94720
VIP Meet and Greet with Amy Goodman + Reserved Seating $500General Admission $75General Admission '' Sliding Scale $25
For questions or media inquiries, please contact Quincy McCoy, [email protected]
Jeffrey Epstein: Players in early prosecution in Palm Beach County
Sun, 03 Mar 2024 17:52
The Jeffrey Epstein saga began '-- and could have ended '-- in Palm Beach County in 2006. The Palm Beach Post sued in 2019 to find out why it didn't. Now, a judge has decided that secret documents detailing what happened are not going to be released, if at all, until after July 1, when a new law on releasing them takes effect.
The Jeffrey Epstein case, 19 years long and still going, began in Palm Beach County in 2005 with one 14-year-old girl and her stepmother reporting to Palm Beach police that she had been molested by a wealthy man on the island. It would blow up into a global epic involving hundreds of survivors coming forward.
It would ensnare a prince, CEOs and almost taint two former presidents, Donald Trump and Bill Clinton. Yet so much of the early case involved roughly two dozen teenage girls, many of whom attended Royal Palm Beach High School, where friends recruited friends, saying they'd earn money giving an old guy massages.
Read The Post's 2019 investigation:Jeffrey Epstein case, the first failure: To the first prosecutors, Epstein's victims were prostitutes
Jeffrey Epstein, serial sexual predatorJeffrey Epstein was a wealthy financier with a mansion on El Brillo Way in Palm Beach who sexually abused and trafficked hundreds of underage girls in his lifetime. He also owned estates in Paris, New York, New Mexico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, all of which were described as places he sexually abused girls. He pleaded guilty in Palm Beach County to two prostitution-related felonies in 2008. He served 13 months of an 18-month sentence in a private wing of the Palm Beach County stockade with permission to leave the property under work release 12 hours a day, six days a week.
Nearly a decade after he was released, New York prosecutors charged him in July 2019 with sex trafficking minors, among other charges.
Where he is now: He was found hanged in his jail cell nearly a month after he was arrested in New York. The medical examiner ruled it a suicide.
POST EXCLUSIVE:Never-before-seen Jeffrey Epstein biography surfaces
Barry Krischer, Palm Beach County state attorneyBarry Krischer in 2006 was the first prosecutor ever to consider criminal charges against Jeffrey Epstein. His office became involved in 2005 as Palm Beach police conducted its investigation into Epstein and the sexual abuse of underage girls. Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter said Krischer was at first gung-ho but then cooled after Epstein's dream team of defense attorneys showed up. Krischer's office never reached out to or interviewed any of the girls who accused Epstein of molesting or raping them, according to state attorney's office records. In a highly unusual move, Krischer called a grand jury to consider the case.
Where he is now: Krischer retired as state attorney in 2009 after 16 years in office. He edits a criminal justice community newsletter for the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office.
Jeffrey Epstein's victimsSeveral survivors have spoken out over the years, but women such as Courtney Wild, Virginia Giuffre, Michelle Licata and Jena-Lisa Jones are but a fraction of as many as 500 victims of Epstein's sex trafficking and abuse. These four women were attending Palm Beach County schools when they were cast into the clutches of one of the world's most prolific sexual predators.
Wild was attending Lake Worth Middle School; Virginia Giuffre, Wellington and Royal Palm Beach high schools; Licata, Royal Palm Beach High; and Jones, Seminole Ridge.
Victims' attorney Brad Edwards has said he believes Epstein had as many at 500 victims, maybe more.
Where they are now:
Wild, 36, had a victims rights bill in her name introduced in Congress. She recently wrote a letter to JP Morgan Chase executive Mary Erdoes, saying, ''JP Morgan was Epstein's right hand in allowing him to become the most abusive sex offender in history.''
Giuffre, 40, has reportedly secured a book deal and settled with Prince Andrew for millions of dollars. She has said the prince raped her in 2001 when she was 17. In 2022, she dropped a lawsuit against Epstein attorney Alan Dershowitz, saying she may have been mistaken when she accused him of sexual abuse.
More:The Palm Beach Post sued to find out why Jeffrey Epstein wasn't stopped 15 years ago
Lanna Belohlavek, chief child sex crimes prosecutorAssistant State Attorney Lanna Belohlavek led the prosecution against Epstein during the grand jury proceedings. She discredited her own witness, the only victim to testify, with the girl's MySpace pages, which simulated sex and depicted what appears to be drinking and drugs. Belohlavek said more than once that there were no victims in this case.
Where she is now: Belohlavek, formerly an assistant state attorney in Fort Myers, now practices for the Provo Law Firm there.
Daliah Weiss, child sex crimes prosecutorDaliah Weiss was on the Epstein case in the beginning but bowed out when Epstein hired the law firm where her husband was working. She was known as a hard-nosed prosecutor.
Where she is now: Weiss is a Palm Beach County circuit court judge.
More:'Open secret' at Royal Palm High: At least 15 students were lured to Jeffrey Epstein's Palm Beach mansion
Alan Dershowitz, Kenneth Starr: Epstein's dream team of lawyersEpstein took no prisoners. He picked high-powered lawyers and made sure they went on the offensive when it came to his defense. Among them:
Jack Goldberger '-- A local high-powered defense attorney who was close with Krischer.
Where he is now: Goldberger is still practicing criminal law in West Palm Beach for the firm of Atterbury, Goldberger and Weiss.
Alan Dershowitz '-- The famed law professor was in Palm Beach County as early as December 2005 to supply Krischer with opposition research, such as the 14-year-old girl's MySpace pages. Dershowitz was later accused in court documents of sexually abusing one of Epstein's victims. She said later that she was mistaken.
Where he is now: Dershowitz, still professor emeritus at Harvard, has represented former President Donald Trump in recent years.
Gerald Lefcourt '-- A nationally renowned New York criminal defense attorney whose clients have included Abbie Hoffman, Black Panther Party leaders, Russell Crowe and real estate tycoon Harry Helmsley.
Where he is now: Lefcourt recently represented Andrey KuKushkin, a defendant with Boca Raton businessmen Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who were accused of conspiring to circumvent federal laws against foreign influence in American elections by funneling campaign donations to a pro-Donald Trump super PAC. KuKushkin, a Ukrainian born businessman, was found guilty and sentenced to a year in prison.
Kenneth Starr '-- He was the independent counsel who investigated former President Bill Clinton's role in the Whitewater scandal and brought Monica Lewinsky to the fore leading to Clinton's impeachment. A former appeals court judge and solicitor general, Starr also was president of Baylor University. After he was accused of mishandling an investigation of sexual assaults, Starr resigned. In 2020, he signed on to represent former President Donald Trump in his first impeachment trial. He said he was "in the room" when former U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta made the controversial deal with Epstein that scuttled a federal prosecution.
Where he is now: Starr died in 2022 from complications of surgery. He was 76.
Roy Black '-- The criminal defense lawyer with the folksy style fought to keep a federal judge from throwing out Epstein's infamous plea deal because prosecutors hadn't notified victims before it happened. He was successful once Epstein died. Black denied that the deal was negotiated in bad faith and that the dream team went too far in digging into the personal lives of federal prosecutors '-- allegations launched in 2017 by former U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta. Black established fame defending William Kennedy Smith in 1991 and getting him acquitted of rape charges in Palm Beach County. Black's third and current wife, Lea, was a juror on that trial. They both went on to star in reality TV shows, including a three-year stint by Lea on The Real Housewives of Miami.
Black represented the late conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh, accused of doctor shopping for pain meds (he got deferred prosecution for drug treatment); Justin Bieber, accused of DUI and pleaded guilty to reduced charges; and John Goodman, the Wellington polo club founder found guilty of DUI manslaughter in the death of Scott Wilson who drowned after Goodman hit his Hyundai and it overturned into a canal.
Where he is now: Black is still practicing law at age 79 and is a professor at the University of Miami law school.
Jay Lefkowitz '-- A nationally known attorney, he urged then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta to hold off notifying any victims of the hearing at which Epstein would plead guilty. None of them was ever told, so they had no opportunity to object to the deal or to give an impact statement at the hearing. Over roughly 10 months between Epstein signing the plea deal and the guilty plea, Lefkowitz and Starr took the matter to top Justice Department officials to get a better deal.
Where he is now: He is a senior partner at Kirkland & Ellis in New York and a professor at Columbia law school.
Guy Lewis '-- Former U.S. attorney, Lewis was by Epstein's side when Epstein went into the Palm Beach Countycourtroom where he would plead guilty to two prostitution-related charges.
Where he is now: Lewis continues to practice law at his own firm in Miami.
Palm Beach Police Chief Michael ReiterPalm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter became increasingly worried about how the prosecution of the case was going in 2006. He sent a personal letter to Krischer about two months before Epstein was arrested, expressing his concern about the "unusual course" Krischer's office was taking and suggesting that Krischer consider disqualifying himself. Reiter took the case to the FBI about two months before Epstein was arrested.
Where he is now: Michael Reiter retired from Palm Beach police in 2009 and established a security firm, Michael Reiter and Associates. He gave the commencement address at Florida Atlantic University in May.
Video:Inside Jeffrey Epstein's Palm Beach home: What the victims saw and described to police
Palm Beach police detective Joseph RecareyPalm Beach police detective Joseph Recarey passionately pursued the investigation of Epstein. He began leading the investigation about six months after the 14-year-old girl's stepmother told police she thought her daughter was molested by a wealthy man. Like his boss, Recarey became increasingly concerned about the prosecution of the case. After unreturned calls, he visited the State Attorney's Office in April 2006. That's when he learned Krischer was allowing Epstein to plead guilty to aggravated assault, a misdemeanor with no jail time. He was incensed that prosecutors did not consult with police first. Prosecutors then asked Recarey to write an arrest warrant. His warrant called for four counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor and one count of lewd and lascivious molestation. The charges, punishable by maximum 30- and 15-year sentences, respectively, could have sent Epstein to prison for decades.
Where he is now: Recarey died in 2018 at age 50.
Naples jet crash update: NTSB report gives new details
Sun, 03 Mar 2024 17:51
Tuesday the National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report on the jet that crashed and caught fire after its pilots attempted an emergency landing on a highway just outside Naples, Florida.
According to the report, while the cause of the crash is still to be determined, investigators are taking special care in examining the fuel and engines. The report also shed light on the last seconds of the flight before its crash.
The 68-foot-long Bombardier Challenger 600 had five people on board when it took off from Ohio State University's airport at 12:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 9 on its way to the Naples Airport. It was scheduled for a subsequent departure to Fort Lauderdale.
It was filled with two pilots, two passengers, a crew member and 350 gallons of fuel, the report said.
Roughly six miles out of its destination at the Naples Airport, the plane's crew contacted air traffic control and got the clear to land. However, as the jet approached its final turn to the Naples airport, within seconds of one another, both engines '' first left, then right '' sent warning signals to the plane. They were out of engine oil in both.
A third signal warned there was a problem with the engine, the report said. Then a fourth and final signal lit up in red: engine oil.
Twenty seconds later, the pilots radioed air traffic control again, the report said. We have "lost both engines'... emergency'... making an emergency landing," the crew told air traffic control. The tower controller acknowledged the call and cleared the airplane to land.
''We are cleared to land but we are not going to make the runway'... ah'... we have lost both engines,'' the crew replied.
Instead, they aimed for the southbound side of Interstate 75.
According to FlightAware's flight tracker, the jet plunged from 1,800 feet to the ground in just one minute.
By just 900 feet above ground, the plane was traveling at a speed of 115 knots, or roughly 130 miles an hour, the report said.
The report detailed their landing: The plane touched down on the pavement with its landing gear in the center lane and the right lane, then continued off the pavement on to the shoulder of the road. It collided with the western concrete sound barrier and exploded into flames almost instantly. Dashcam footage caught the final descent, landing, and crash.
See dashcam footage:Video shows moment plane crashed on Interstate 75 and burst into flames near Naples, Florida
Jim Hall, the former chairman of the NTSB from 1994 to 2001, called the preliminary report "very thorough."
''It's important to note that both engines have been retained for additional examination, as well as the fuel injectors and the fuel samples,'' Hall said. ''That doesn't mean there might not be other issues that come up as they conduct their investigation, but those parts of the aircraft are going to get a close look as part of this investigation."
The plane, which crashed onto the highway at about 3:10 p.m. destroyed two vehicles: a 2015 Chevrolet Silverado and a 2023 Nissan Armada SUV. One driver, whose car was hit by the plane as it landed, was injured, but survived.
Witnesses to the crash saw an explosion, smoke, and flames.
"All of a sudden I saw a lot of black smoke," said Naples-area resident Jinny Johnson on that day. "It was pitch black. ... And then I saw flames."
As firefighters hosed down the plane, the smoke changed from black to gray to white.
Pilot qualifications, jet history examinedThe jet was engulfed in flames after hitting the sound wall alongside the highway. Both the cabin and emergency exits were blocked by flames, the flight attendant told investigators. She and the passengers escaped through the baggage door at the rear of the plane, the report said.
Both pilots died at the scene of the crash.
The Collier County Sheriff's Office identified the dead as pilot Edward Daniel Murphy, 50, of Oakland Park, Fla., and Ian Fredrick Hoffman, 65, of Pompano Beach, Fla.
Crew member Sydney Ann Bosmans, 27, of Jupiter, Fla. and passengers Aaron Baker, 35 and Audra Green, 23, of Columbus, Ohio, survived the crash.
According to the preliminary report, Murphy held an airline transport pilot certificate, and was rated for single and multiengine planes. His most recent Federal Aviation Administration first-class medical certificate was issued on October 10, 2023, and his employer, Hop-A-Jet, reported he had accrued 10,525 total hours of flight experience, of which 2,808 hours were in the accident's airplane make and model.
Hoffman also held an airline transport pilot certificate with ratings for airplane single- and multiengine landings. His most recent FAA first-class medical certificate was issued on September 26, 2023.
Hop-A-Jet reported he had accrued 24,618 total hours of flight experience, of which 138 hours were in the accident airplane make and model.
Inspectors examined the jet's history, too. According to FAA and maintenance records, the airplane was manufactured in 2004 and was powered by two General Electric CF34 Series turbofan engines. It was last inspected January 5, 2024, at 9,763 total hours of operation, the report said.
Investigators examine fuel, enginesA few days after the crash, the NTSB moved the downed Bombardier Challenger 600-series jet to an undisclosed secure facility in Jacksonville for continued investigation.
The incident was at least the seventh fatal crash involving that series of Bombardier private jets since 2000.
Much of the agency's preliminary report focuses on the presence of fuel in the plane. When examined, the crash site reeked of jet fuel, the report said, indicating fuel was present. The left-wing fuel boost pump was not found. Fuel was also found in one of the two fuel lines when the engines were cut away for inspection.
Inspectors drained fuel from the plane for inspection. They examined exhaust nozzles, fan blades, main fuel control, fuel filters, injectors, and more. All appeared to be unclogged, and operating within normal parameters before the crash, the report said. The fuel showed no debris or anomalies.
While the report did not conclude what the cause of the engine loss and plane crash might have been, the NTSB announced it would retain the fuel and engines for further inspection.
While Hall, the former NTSB chairman, said he could not speculate on what the report would find. He said the fact that the investigation's supporting staff were primarily from interested parties such as GE Aerospace, Hop-A-Jet, Bombardier and NTSB Canada was troubling, and indicative of low staffing levels at the NTSB.
Hall called for Congress to reauthorize federal funding for the NTSB.
''Congress needs to look closely at the funding of the National Transportation Safety Board in terms of the investigation of general aviation accidents," Hall said. "We see more jets being flown in private commercial service and staying on top of that issue is key. We continue to see new growth in these commercial aviation accidents and the board is not staffed as it was in the past to investigate these in the detail they need to be.''
According to aviation trial attorney Bob Clifford, who has handled private jet and commercial crashes since the late 1970s, the NTSB would engage engineers from General Electric and Bombardier to conduct their own inspections as they are experts on their engines and aircraft.
Clifford said the investigators would have to look into the cockpit recorder, black box, and even the position of all the switches in the cockpit.
''They'll tear these engines apart,'' said Clifford. He currently represents all the families in the Ethiopian Boeing Max 8 crash.
''What occurred here is extraordinarily rare,'' said Clifford. ''How do you lose oil pressure on two engines in a row? You don't lose oil pressure twice."
Kate Cimini is the Florida Investigative Reporter for the USA TODAY-Network Florida, based at The News-Press and The Naples Daily News. Contact her at 239-207-9369 or kcimini@news-press.com.
The U.S. national debt is rising by $1 trillion about every 100 days
Sun, 03 Mar 2024 17:48
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington, D.C., on March 13, 2023.
Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The debt load of the U.S. is growing at a quicker clip in recent months, increasing about $1 trillion nearly every 100 days.
The nation's debt permanently crossed over to $34 trillion on Jan. 4, after briefly crossing the mark on Dec. 29, according to data from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. It reached $33 trillion on Sept. 15, 2023, and $32 trillion on June 15, 2023, hitting this accelerated pace. Before that, the $1 trillion move higher from $31 trillion took about eight months.
U.S. debt, which is the amount of money the federal government borrows to cover operating expenses, now stands at nearly $34.4 billion, as of Wednesday. Bank of America investment strategist Michael Hartnett believes the 100-day pattern will remain intact with the move from $34 trillion to $35 trillion.
"Little wonder 'debt debasement' trades closing in on all-time highs, i.e. gold $2077/oz, bitcoin $67734," he wrote in a note Thursday.
Spot gold is currently hovering around $2,084 an ounce, while bitcoin was recently around $61,443. The cryptocurrency in February closed out its best month since 2020, briefly trading above $64,000 on Wednesday before pulling back. Inflows into crypto funds are on course for a "blowout year," with an annualized inflow of $44.7 billion so far this year, Hartnett noted.
Moody's Investors Service lowered its ratings outlook on the U.S. government to negative from stable in November due to the rising risks of the country's fiscal strength.
"In the context of higher interest rates, without effective fiscal policy measures to reduce government spending or increase revenues," the agency said. "Moody's expects that the US' fiscal deficits will remain very large, significantly weakening debt affordability."
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End of Life Options with Emphasis on California's End of Life Option Act | Events | Contra Costa County Library
Sun, 03 Mar 2024 13:19
This presentation by End of Life Choices California addresses the legal end of life options for Californians, including discontinuing or declining medical treatments, palliative care, hospice care, voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED), and Medical Aid in Dying. Also covered is California's End of Life Option Act (2016) in more detail, including who is eligible, recent legal changes, the patient's required process and written request needed for obtaining the prescription from a physician, the estimated costs, and ingestion guidelines. Also, there will be a brief mention of Advanced Care Planning, directives, and durable powers of attorney.
Thank you for registering for End of Life Options with Emphasis on California's End of Life Option Act on March 19 at 11am. A Zoom link will be emailed to you the day of the event.
If you have not received a Zoom link by March 19, please check your junk folder, or contact your local library to receive a link.
Register for the Zoom webinar with your email on this page.
Information on how to access the Zoom webinar will be sent to your email address 24 hours before the program. The Library will provide closed captioning for this event. This program will be recorded and uploaded to the Library's YouTube channel after the event.
Leadership | National Museum of African American History and Culture
Sun, 03 Mar 2024 12:49
Dr. Rex M. Ellis is presently the Associate Director for Curatorial Affairs at the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) at the Smithsonian Institution. Dr. Ellis is charged with the responsibility for planning, developing, directing, and managing all curatorial, collections, education and outreach programs and activities. Curatorial Affairs is the primary implementing office of the museum's mission. In this regard, the office develops preserves, documents, interprets, and makes accessible to diverse audiences the scholarship and collections of the museum through exhibitions, education, and public programs. The Museum, the first of its kind on the National Mall, is due to be completed by 2016.
Prior to this position, Dr. Ellis was Vice President of the Historic Area for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, where he oversaw all programs and operations. Ellis was the first African American Vice President in the Foundation's history and served in that position for eight years.
He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University, a Masters in Fine Arts from Wayne State University, a Masters of Divinity from Virginia Union University, and an Ed.D from the College of William and Mary.
He has contributed articles to such publications as The Journal of American History, The Colonial Williamsburg Journal, August House Publications, and History News. He is the author of two books, Beneath the Blazing Sun: Stories from the African American Journey and With a Banjo on My Knee which chronicles the history of black banjo players from the time of slavery to the present.
He has memberships in the Screen Actor's Guild, The American Association of Museums, The American Association for State and Local History, the National Association of Black Storytellers, and the National Storytelling Association. He has served as consultant to organizations such as the Midland Independent School District, in Texas; The Los Angeles County School District, Old Salem Village, the Henry Ford Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Fine Arts, The National Constitution Center, Monticello, Mt. Vernon, the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, and the Puerto Rican Preservation Trust. He has also worked with various institutions in Johannesburg, Capetown, Pretoria, and Robben Island, South Africa, as well as institutions in Masterton, New Zealand, Paris, France, Ghana, West Africa, and Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv, Israel.
His presentations, lectures, workshops and consultancies focus on, public programming, diversity, interpretation, and African American History and culture. His disciplinary interests also include the spoken word, and early American History, with special emphasis on slavery.
Bundeswehr Wiretap Bombshell - German Generals Exposed Planning Kerch Strike
Sun, 03 Mar 2024 12:17
A bombshell wiretap leak has set the intelligence and geopolitical world ablaze today, revealing high ranking members of the German Bundeswehr openly discussing plans to supply the Taurus missiles and help Ukraine destroy Russia's Kerch Bridge.
Many are understandably pinning the leak on Russia's GRU, but it seems just as'--if not more '--plausible that it was leaked by German insiders themselves in order to thwart the plans of their own deepstate establishment which is clearly bent on starting WWIII.
Before anyone questions the authenticity, let us first begin with the validation by Der Spiegel, who rules it as most likely legit:
Spiegel writes about the authenticity of the audio recording of German officers discussing the attack on the Crimean Bridge.
"After initial analysis, it is presumed that the recording of the meeting is authentic. According to the initial assessment, the possibility of forgery using AI is largely ruled out," the publication reports.
Here are the most damning snippets:
As well as another interesting couple:
Here is the full recording for those interested'--though, caveat, it's an auto-machine translation and may have irregularities:
And here is a transcript of it provided by RT's Margarita Simonyan, for those who prefer reading'--though you'll have to do a machine translation in your browser:
https://vk.com/@m_s_simonyan-rasshifrovka-razgovora-vysokopostavlennyh-oficerov-bundesver
It's clear that there is an ongoing internal revolt in Europe by the last remaining sane faction against the hardliners pushing WWIII. This is evident by the fact that this entire pressure wave of 'leaks' suddenly coincided together from a variety of directions, which included Scholz himself outing British involvement in the war:
In light of Scholz's disclosures, a slew of revelations have come to light about NATO's true involvement in the war:
But what's more, according to the Le Monde article above'--though it's behind a paywall'--France is considering sending a contingent of special forces to Ukraine specifically to create a ''strategic dilemma'' for Russia:
The French government allegedly views such a troop deployment as a way of posing a ''strategic dilemma'' for Moscow, the paper said, adding that it could ''constrain'' Russia's targeting and strike capabilities. In particular, it may prove to be ''essential'' ahead of the arrival of US-made F-16 fighter jets, scheduled to take place later this year, the French daily added.
Keep in mind, ostensibly, they're referring to a small contingent of troops placed somewhere in the rear to 'train' Ukrainian soldiers. But the 'strategic dilemma' part is very interesting'--what could they possibly mean by that?
The article makes some interesting revelations. For instance, it seems to suggest that the timed release of all the current hints is a precisely choreographed CIA campaign meant specifically to give signals to Moscow:
US intelligence services's controlled transparency operation '' known as "campaigning" '' is part of their plan to reinforce a form of strategic ambiguity that was initiated by Monday's meeting of allies in Paris, several sources close to the matter told Le Monde. Although the US was not involved in the precise wording of what Macron was going to say and may have been surprised by his remarks, the prospect of sending Western troops to Ukraine had been talked about in advance. The US had also sent a representative to Paris. The growing pressure from Moscow on Europe's eastern flank is worrying the US as much as the other participants.
On the aspect of 'strategic dilemma' they note specifically:
But here is the final and most important paragraph of the entire article, which ties directly into things I've been writing about and predicting here from the very beginning:
Paris wants to provide Kyiv training in surface-to-air defense in particular, which has been targeted by the Russians. The presence of French soldiers, or those of other nationalities, would potentially secure certain areas of Ukrainian territory and severely restrict Moscow's current unfettered bombing. An allied presence would also prove essential to the promised arrival of American-built F-16s in Ukraine in 2024.
And that, folks, is what gives the true game away.
Recall my earliest predictions about NATO coming in to 'secure' certain critical areas of West Ukraine from Russian takeover at the final hour when all else fails and it seems certain that Russia will overrun the AFU. I spoke specifically about Odessa, with the 101st and 82nd coming to dogpile and squat on it simply in the hopes that Russia will cautiously refuse to send troops, in fear of 'clashing' with NATO forces and starting WWIII.
It seems the French have got the same idea, though it may be for a different area or areas'--hoping that by simply placing troops there, Russia will hesitate from striking the critical infrastructure for fear of killing NATO soldiers.
Interestingly, however, soon after French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne rejected this possibility:
No combat troops will be sent to Ukraine, French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne told Radio France Inter on Friday. Earlier, the nation's president Emmanuel Macron told journalists that NATO could entertain such a possibility in the future.
Paris would not risk a direct conflict between Moscow and the US-led bloc, Sejourne said when asked to comment on Macron's remarks. ''Everything we do is to avoid war'' between Russia and NATO, the minister said, adding that the French government did not want to increase the level of anxiety among its citizens.
A new poll from Le Figaro likewise showed 68% of French citizens do not approve of troop deployment to Ukraine:
68 percent of French people do not approve of Emmanuel Macron's position on the possibility of introducing Western troops into Ukraine, 31 percent agree. This is according to a poll published by Le Figaro newspaper
However, on the heels of these bombshells, Canada attempted to join the fray:
The Canadian Minister of National Defense, Bill Blair stated today that Canada is willing to Participate in a NATO-Led Training Mission for Ukraine, which would involve the Deployment of a Limited Contingent of Canadian Servicemembers into Ukraine, who would assist in the Training of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and act in a Non-Combatant Role against Russia away from the Frontlines.
You can see the desperate, seeking attempts to find any lifeline for Ukraine. The NATO/EU nomenklatura are scrambling to create any possible conditions that may give Ukraine a tiny leg up, or even some leeway or breathing room for a few months.
In general, though, this recent spate of threatening announcements could simply be a message to Russia: in essence, a warning in attempt to get Russia to make concessions about resolving the conflict, or simply to keep it from pursuing the most maximalist goals.
This of course all stems from the urgency inherent to Russia's growing battlefield initiative, where Russian forces continue breaking through Ukrainian lines, generating total trepidation across the Western globalist ruling class:
Lloyd, for instance, again reiterated the tired threat today:
''If Ukraine Falls, NATO Will Fight Against Russia'' '' Lloyd Austin "If Ukraine loses, Putin will not stop, he will continue to attack and seize the sovereign territory of his neighbors," Austin claimed during a House Armed Services Committee hearing. Adding, "And if you're a Baltic country, you're very worried about being next. And that's why they know Putin, they know what he's capable of. And frankly, if Ukraine loses, I really believe that NATO will go to war with Russia."
There could also be a couple other potential explanations:
Firstly, France in particular may be pushing the brinkmanship due to:
The fact that Russia may have seriously wounded them by killing a bunch of secret French special forces in the infamous strike in January.
Some believe that Macron is being heavily 'pressured' by his generals to pay back Russia for the grave humiliation it doled out unto France in Africa, by using hybrid warfare to boot the French colonialist presence there and totally usurp control over Francophone ex-colonies.
The combination of both explanations is fairly plausible, logic would dictate.
Some reports even suggest that Macron wants to push the issue further, likely owing to this very pressure he's under:
ðð·ðºð...ð·ðºMacron wants to gather the leaders of all parties in the French parliament to discuss the war in Ukraine.
Le Figaro reports this.
The publication writes that the French President, ''isolated among Western countries after statements about the potential dispatch of ground troops to Ukraine,'' wants to raise this topic at a meeting with the leaders of French parties.
It seems France is desperate to regain some form of lost prestige or influence on the world stage, or is merely now just out for pure revenge.
But what's more troubling is that in light of the earlier Telegraph article , where Scholz 'exposed' British operations in Ukraine, some other grave rumors have been illuminated. For instance, though unsourced, a new rumor claims that British servicemen directly operated the air defense systems which shot down the Russian Il-76 carrying Ukrainian POWs over Belgorod recently:
Ukraine sources. IL-76 with UAF POWs was shot down by British servicemen operating in the Kharkov region. UK government has now obtained written immunity from prosecution for all involved. No one will face consequences. Kiev has quietly lodged a request for return of the bodies.
These combined revelations paint a stark picture of NATO's true involvement in the war'--but, alas, it is one that we have already long suspected. Particularly, readers of my blog will have long known about the deep involvement from my consistent coverage on the topic, like when I posted videos of AFU servicemen openly describing Polish and other soldiers operating their own equipment, like AH Krabs, etc. It's just telling that this is coming out in the open now, which further emblemizes the current period as one of culmination, and perhaps termination phase for Ukraine.
Ultimately, though, it shows the utter disarray that NATO and the West are in. It's clear that there is huge disagreement and perhaps even outright revolt'--what else could possibly cause Scholz to come out to countermand, and outright expose, his allies in this way?
Additionally, some harsh words of accusation have now been thrown around by bloc members:
Tobias Ellwood, the former chairman of the UK Commons' defence committee, said: ''This is a flagrant abuse of intelligence deliberately designed to distract from Germany's reluctance to arm Ukraine with its own long-range missile system. This will no doubt be used by Russia to racket up the escalator ladder.''
Ultimately, the entire German bombshell, vis a vis the Taurus missiles, is quite humorous given that in the recording, the German high command openly laments they only have about 50 Taurus missiles they could potentially give, admitting that ''this would not change the war'':
Also, the recording confirms not only my long-standing assertion in regard to hardened bridges in general, that it takes upwards of 10-20 missiles to take them out, but that the Kerch in particular could take even a far greater amount.
This pretty much condemns such an operation to implausibility; in the recording, the Germans give out another secret: Ukraine, according to them, has ''single digits'' Su-24s remaining'--i.e. less than 10. In order to hit the bridge with the needed 20 Taurus missiles or so to bring a section down, they'd need a fairly large complement of planes simultaneously launching the missiles.
Secondly, there's very little chance of that many missiles bypassing Russia's air defense on the bridge, which thus far has been pretty much impenetrable. Even with a saturation attack, they may get one or two to go through, but certainly not all 10-20, particularly given the fact they've already attempted previous saturation attacks many times, and every single one was shot down in full. The Kerch has been one area where Russia has not slacked in air defense and seems to have its most powerful systems and best crews present, which is why Ukraine has been forced to rely on either naval drone strikes, or outright terrorist suicide attacks.
The key summarizing takeaways are the following:
The West is absolutely desperate to staunch Ukraine's impending collapse and have doubled down on taking out the Kerch Bridge as their final 'holy grail' of salvation
The West is in disarray, with secret infighting, backbiting, double-crossing, or outright revolt amongst the ranks due to terminal fear of uncontrollable escalation
The combination of the above is a decisive confirmation that the Ukrainian military is getting down to its dregs and could be on its final legs
In fact, Substack's very own
phrased it best on X: the Kerch has become the White
Whale Bridge to the West's Ahab-esque quest. Well, we all know what happened to Ahab in the end, don't we? The last most important point that's come to light amid all this recent controversy is the further illumination of the deep role that the CIA has played in Ukraine from the beginning.
In particular, a new NYTimes article details some startling never-before-seen information which in many ways serves to vindicate Russia:
The article is a must-read, and openly admits that the CIA helped build 12 secret underground bases/bunkers along the Russian border, which are used to spy on Russia and launch terror attacks on its territory:
There is also one more secret: The base is almost fully financed, and partly equipped, by the C.I.A.
''One hundred and ten percent,'' Gen. Serhii Dvoretskiy, a top intelligence commander, said in an interview at the base.
It states the partnership took root more than a decade ago, i.e. even before the Maidan movement, and now serves such purposes:
The C.I.A. and other American intelligence agencies provide intelligence for targeted missile strikes, track Russian troop movements and help support spy networks.
The most notable revelation completely repudiates years of propagandists' claims that Russian FSB/GRU/etc. had assassinated top Donbass 'patriotic' figures, like Motorola, Givi, Zakharchenko, Mozgovoy, etc. These propagandists, many of them 6th columnist ostensibly pretending to be 'pro-Russian patriots', attempted to tie these incidents into a wider conspiracy theory about the Kremlin allegedly hunting down any ''true patriots'' like Strelkov and co.
But now, the CIA readily admits via their NYTimes mouthpiece that it was in fact the secret Ukrainian intelligence directorate they trained, which carried out the murders of figures like Motorola:
In fact, rather than being responsible for the murders, Russia had avenged them, according to the CIA Times:
A shadow war was now in overdrive. The Russians used a car bomb to assassinate the head of Unit 2245, the elite Ukrainian commando force. The commander, Col. Maksim Shapoval, was on his way to meeting with C.I.A. officers in Kyiv when his car exploded.
As a final emphasizing point, listen to this unearthed talk from January 14, 2022, just before the Russian invasion. Ukrainian politician and former presidential candidate Yvegeniy Muraev, leader of the now-banned ''Nashi'' party, lucidly enumerates precisely what was then dawning on Ukraine, that so many blinkered Ukrainians failed'--or willfully neglected'--to see:
In particular take note of his reference to the British building bases in the Odessa region, a fact I myself have belabored since the beginning of this blog, which greatly contributed to Russia being forced to take the actions it eventually took.
For the last part, let's move into some of the battlefield updates which are, after all, driving much of the frenetic urgency we're seeing out of the West, which is responsible for the latest leak fiasco. If it wasn't for Russia's overwhelming battlefield successes, and Ukraine's concomitant ongoing collapse, we wouldn't see these drastic and risky measures taking place.
The only thing I want to cover today in this regard is the current 'meta' surrounding the Avdeevka line collapse. We've discussed how most of it is owed to Ukraine's inability to build proper second echelon defenses on this axis, for a variety of reasons which include corruption and embezzlement.
From a Ukrainian source:
One notable aspect missing from much of the analysis here is the fact that Ukraine's collapse was precipitated in large part to order-spurning mutinies, with units like the 47th outright countermanding their own leadership to flee on their own. This has created chaos in this direction which the Ukrainian command is desperate to hide and sweep under the rug. But the truth has slowly come to light from several videos of captured AFU who confirm that they first withdrew , and only then the official order of withdrawal issued in order to save face.
For instance, listen to this recent POW's brief words:
The 110th brigade was also said to have been mostly destroyed and is now being removed to the rear for reconstitution:
The writing is on the wall'--even Ukrainian officials see what is obvious, that a domino effect may soon precipitate, with many areas falling one after the other:
So, what is the big concern in the Avdeevka axis in particular, besides the lack of constructed defenses? Here's one view from a Russian military analyst:
Yevgeny Krutikov: "Behind the new line of defence of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which has developed in the Avdeyevka area at the moment (provisionally around Orlovka), an empty space has opened up in which there are no natural obstacles capable of supporting new defensive fortifications."
Yevgeny Krutikov: "There is nothing like this up to the next major settlements of the Donbass, primarily Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsky). The enemy has not strengthened the small villages there in any way, thinking it wouldn't be necessary."
What he's saying is, behind Orlovka, which Russian forces were said to have taken today, there are no good, naturally defensible positions all the way up to Pokrovsk. And this happens to be precisely where all the current talk revolves around.
For reference, here's the current defense line which is a temporary transit point that Ukraine has already mostly lost:
But the Vovcha River is the central focus of the commentariat presently, as being the first truly defensible position Ukraine can reliably fall back to in the medium term'--a point Big Serge underscores:
The natural defensive barrier of the river shown in yellow below:
One Russian military linked channel says the river will be reached by end of March:
Two small boilers were formed near Avdiivka-between three settlements: Tonenke-Orlovka-Berdychy . They record conversations between military personnel, equipment and personnel. These "dead men" should slow down the advance of the Russian army, which is expected to reach the watershed of the Volchya River by the end of March. The next frontier for our infantry will be the Umanskaya-Novoselovka line to the west. The enemy will not have time to dig in well there and will not hold these villages.
And a Ukrainian take:
from Ukrainian channel
evening 02/28/2024
[The cascade of reservoirs should contribute to our defense in the Avdeevsky direction, - press secretary of the AFU Tavria OSUV (Group) Likhovoy]
PS
The APU will withdraw (while preserving HP as much as possible) beyond the Karlovskoye Reservoir and a chain of reservoirs, floodplains and streams along the vector to Ocheretino.
While the Armed Forces of Ukraine are fighting for the villages of Pervomaiskoye and Netailovo, their rear forces will be building new lines of defense behind the Karlovsky water chron at a frantic pace.
(our videoconferencing and high-precision technology will help them). Because the dam explosion will be blamed on our FABs in any case.
It is possible that several dams in the adjacent ponds and the Charles Dam itself will be blown up during our offensive.
This is further supported by Rezident UA channel:
Our source in the General Staff said that Syrsky gave the team to prepare Selidovo for defense and the creation of a fortified area from the city, while Pokrovsk, which now brings technology and BC, should become the main center of resistance. The command has already transferred more than ten thousand military personnel to that area, who occupy empty houses and apartments, to create defensive structures.
Not to mention the following:
MI-6 handed over new intelligence to the Office of the President and the General Staff, which contains information on the preparation by the Russian army of four new strike corps for the spring offensive in eastern Ukraine. British intelligence believes that the Kremlin wants to collapse the front and seize new territories in order to strengthen its position in a protracted war.
'--
As a final note:
Here's a very evocative video of Orlovka, just to the west of Lastochkino in Avdeevka:
Most striking are the gigantic Fab-500 craters, which are distinct from the regular 152mm shell craters moonscaping the surroundings. Julian Roepcke once more grieved at the sight of it, describing how Ukrainian positions were annihilated by the endless waves of Russian glide bombs, and how they stand no chance because of it:
He further elucidates the situation:
Lastly:
This quite astute observation from an ex-chairman of the NATO military committee, Harald Kujat, regarding the fallacy of 'wunderwaffen''--like the Taurus missiles'--saving Ukraine in any way:
The opinion that Western arms supplies will turn the strategic situation at the front in Kiev's favor is a fallacy. The ex-chairman of the NATO military committee, Harald Kujat, speaks about this. He also reminded the audience that ''there were negotiations in Istanbul with an excellent result for Ukraine.''
''All the dead Ukrainians, as well as all the dead or wounded Russians after April 9, are due to the fact that Ukraine was not allowed to sign this peace treaty,'' says Kujat.
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Journalist Catherine Herridge held in civil contempt for refusing to divulge source | AP News
Sat, 02 Mar 2024 22:08
WASHINGTON (AP) '-- A federal judge held veteran investigative reporter Catherine Herridge in civil contempt on Thursday for refusing to divulge her source for a series of Fox News stories about a Chinese American scientist who was investigated by the FBI but never charged.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington imposed a fine of $800 per day until Herridge reveals her source, but the fine will not go into effect immediately to give her time to appeal.
Cooper wrote that he ''recognizes the paramount importance of a free press in our society'' and the critical role of confidential sources in investigative journalism. But the judge said the court ''also has its own role to play in upholding the law and safeguarding judicial authority.''
''Herridge and many of her colleagues in the journalism community may disagree with that decision and prefer that a different balance be struck, but she is not permitted to flout a federal court's order with impunity,'' wrote Cooper, who was nominated to the bench by former President Barack Obama.
A lawyer for Herridge, Patrick Philbin, declined to comment.
The case has been being closely watched by media advocates, who say forcing journalists to betray a promise of confidentiality could make sources think twice before providing information to reporters that could expose government wrongdoing.
''Holding a journalist in contempt for protecting a confidential source has a deeply chilling effect on journalism,'' Fox News said in a statement. ''FOX News Media remains committed to protecting the rights of a free press and freedom of speech and believes this decision should be appealed.''
A CBS spokesperson said the contempt order ''should be concerning to all Americans who value the role of the free press in our democracy and understand that reliance on confidential sources is critical to the mission of journalism.''
The source is being sought by Yanping Chen , who has sued the government over the leak of details about the federal probe into statements she made on immigration forms related to work on a Chinese astronaut program.
Herridge, who was recently laid off by CBS News, published an investigative series for Fox News in 2017 that examined Chen's ties to the Chinese military and raised questions about whether the scientist was using a professional school she founded in Virginia to help the Chinese government get information about American servicemembers.
The stories relied on what Chen's lawyers contend were items leaked from the probe, including snippets of an FBI document summarizing an interview conducted during the investigation, personal photographs, and information taken from her immigration and naturalization forms and from an internal FBI PowerPoint presentation.
Chen sued the FBI and Justice Department in 2018, accusing the government of violating the Privacy Act '-- which prohibits the public disclosure of private information about individuals without their consent. Chen's lawsuit says both her personal and professional life were upended amid a wave of negative media attention after the leak, leading to hate mail and death threats.
An attorney for Chen, Andrew Phillips, said the Privacy Act is meant to guard against government officials selectively leaking information about an American's citizen's private life ''to smear reputations or score political points.''
''Such misconduct should not be without recourse just because a rogue government official happens to launder his or her wrongdoing via a journalist,'' Phillips said in an email. ''Today's ruling is an important one to ensure that government officials can be held to account for outrageous abuses of power.''
The judge had ordered Herridge in August to answer questions about her source or sources in a deposition with Chen's lawyers. The judge ruled that Chen's need to know for the sake of her lawsuit overcomes Herridge's right to shield her source.
Herridge was interviewed under oath in September by a lawyer for Chen, but declined dozens of times to answer questions about her sources, saying at one point, ''My understanding is that the courts have ruled that in order to seek further judicial review in this case, I must now decline the order, and respectfully I am invoking my First Amendment rights in declining to answer the question.''
Philbin, who served as deputy White House counsel during the Trump administration, has said that forcing Herridge to turn over her sources ''would destroy her credibility and cripple her ability to play a role in bringing important information to light for the public.''
Philbin also told the judge that disclosing the identity of Herridge's sources raises national security concerns, writing in court papers that there is a ''serious risk'' that Chen ''was involved in making information about U.S. military members available'' to the Chinese.
Legal fights over whether journalists should have to divulge sources are rare, though they've arisen several times in the last couple of decades in Privacy Act cases like the one filed by Chen. Some lawsuits have ended with a hefty Justice Department settlement in place of a journalist being forced to reveal a source.
In 2008, for instance, the Justice Department agreed to pay $5.8 million to settle a lawsuit by Army scientist Steven Hatfill, who was falsely identified as a person of interest in the 2001 anthrax attacks. That settlement resulted in a contempt order being vacated against a journalist who was being asked to name her sources.
____This story has been corrected to reflect that the scientist's first name is Yanping, not Yanpin.
____Richer reported from Boston.
Alanna is a legal affairs reporter
Tucker covers national security in Washington for The Associated Press, with a focus on the FBI and Justice Department and the special counsel cases against former President Donald Trump.
22-year-old pleads guilty to plotting mass shooting to kill 3,000 women at a university
Sat, 02 Mar 2024 20:53
HIGHLAND COUNTY, Ohio (WXIX/Gray News) '' A 22-year-old man could spend the rest of his life in prison after he pleaded guilty to plotting a mass shooting to ''slaughter'' 3,000 women at an Ohio university.
Tres Genco of Hillsboro, Ohio, has been in custody since his arrest in July 2021.
According to U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker, Genco is a self-identified incel, short for involuntary celibate. The online community of incels is made up of men who harbor anger toward all women and think they ''unjustly deny them sexual or romantic attention.''
A press release from the U.S. Department of Justice said Genco had profiles on popular incel websites and made hundreds of posts from July 2019 to March 2020, Parker said.
In one post, Genco described spraying women and couples with orange juice in a water gun. He referred to women as ''foids,'' short for ''femoids,'' which are common incel terms for women.
When he first began posting on the websites, Genco was attending Army Basic Training in Georgia. He was discharged for entry-level performance and conduct in December 2019.
A month after being discharged, Genco scouted out a university in Ohio on Jan. 15, 2020, in preparation for a mass shooting, Parker said. Officials did not clarify which university it was.
The same day, Parker said, Genco searched online for topics that included ''planning a shooting crime'' and ''when does preparing for a crime become an attempt?''
Deputies with the Highland County Sheriff's Office were called to Genco's home in March 2020 for a domestic issue between him and his mother. According to Det. Vinny Antinore, that's when deputies noticed weapons and body armor ''that just looked out of place'' and prompted a further investigation.
In all, deputies found a firearm with a bump stock attached, a modified Glock-style 9mm semi-automatic pistol, several loaded magazines, body armor and ammunition boxes. As part of his plea, Genco admitted that he possessed both firearms in furtherance of his plot.
Investigators also found Genco's manifesto, in which he wrote about killing women ''out of hatred, jealousy and revenge.''
The investigation revealed that when he wrote his manifesto, he searched online for sororities and a university in Ohio.
Genco also wrote that he believed his ''extremely empowering action'' of killing women would compare to that of Elliot Rodger, who killed six people and injured 14 more at a California sorority house in 2014. Prior to his mass attack, Rodger also used a water gun to shoot orange juice at a group of college students.
Law enforcement found another note from Genco that said he hoped to kill 3,000 women.
In January 2020, Genco wrote a document entitled ''isolated'' that he described as ''the writings of the deluded and homicidal.'' Genco signed the document, ''Your hopeful friend and murderer.''
FBI Cincinnati Special Agent J. William Rivers said thankfully, law enforcement partners working closely together prevented a deadly killing spree targeting women.
''Genco's hate-filled beliefs and actions were extremely dangerous and could have resulted in irreparable harm to our community and many precious lives,'' Rivers said. ''We urge the public to report concerning behavior to the FBI and local police to help prevent future violence.''
The charge of attempting to commit a hate crime, to which Genco pleaded guilty, is punishable by life in prison.
Copyright 2022 WXIX via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
Germany Confirms Leaked Audio Of Its Top Generals Discussing Blowing Up The Crimean Bridge | ZeroHedge
Sat, 02 Mar 2024 20:14
In a huge development and absolute smoking gun revelation, the government of Germany has confirmed the authenticity of a leaked audio recording file published by Russia's state-backed RT. The leak was first published by RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan, who described that she received it from Russian security officials.
It first appeared under the headline "Alleged audio of German officers discussing Crimean Bridge attack leaked" - as it featured top ranking Germany military officials in a private discussion of "a potential German operation to bomb the Crimean Bridge in Russia," as it was initially described by RT. Russian media is now openly admitting that the call was in fact intercepted by Russia. Moscow is now saying this shows "direct" German involvement in the war.
Last year's major Ukraine attack on the Kerch Strait Bridge, which severely damaged a portion of it, but did not put it out of commission. The audio could have easily been dismissed in the West as simply Russian-sourced propaganda or even an AI fake; however, in an unexpected development the highest levels of the German government have now confirmed that the audio is indeed real and Berlin launched an investigation into the "serious" breach of secured communications.
"What is being reported is a very serious matter and that is why it is now being investigated very carefully, very intensively and very quickly," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in Rome.
Germany's military has also confirmed the leaked recording, but officials have avoided weighing in the actual content of what was said pending an internal investigation:
A German defense ministry spokeswoman confimed to AFP that the ministry believes a conversation in the air force division was "intercepted".
"We are currently unable to say for certain whether changes were made to the recorded or transcribed version that is circulating on social media," the spokeswoman said. Experts consulted by Der Spiegel magazine said they believed the recording was authentic.
Germany's Ministry of Defense said per the country's dpa: "According to our assessment, a conversation within the Air Force was intercepted. We cannot currently say with certainty whether changes have been made to the recorded or written version that is circulating on social media."
AFP further writes that "Topics include aiming the missiles at targets such as a key bridge over the Kerch strait linking the Russian mainland to Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014."
Taurus missile, South Korean Defense Ministry via Getty ImagesAdditionally the potential supply of Taurus long-range air-to-surface missile to Kiev is a major focus of the conversation. The Franco-British cruise missile Storm Shadow also receives mention.
Importantly, it seems none other than Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz '' the commander of the national air force, is among the four voices heard in the audio among top generals within the Bundeswehr, Germany's armed forces.
A particularly damning section of the audio for which Moscow is currently demanding answers from German leaders...
ð(C)ðª Germany Planned a Crimea AttackGerman military officials reportedly planned to attack Russia's Crimea bridge, aiming for strategic and political impact, stressing non-direct involvement.
"The target is not only of military-strategic importance, but also political good. We'... pic.twitter.com/rfIjC8E7eo
'-- Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 1, 2024They are heard openly discussing "interesting targets" including the "bridge in the east" and nearby "ammunition depots".
Of course, the vital 12-mile bridge which spans the Kerch Strait and connects Crimea with mainland Russia was already previously severely damaged and briefly knocked out of commission in a major July 2023 missile or drone attack from Ukraine. Prior to that in October 2022 a truck bomb detonated on the bridge, resulting in parts of the roadway collapsing into the water below.
Those prior attacks were suspected to have had Western intelligence help, given the sophistication of the operations. Are the German officers caught in the audio possibly plotting another future attack? (Or alternately some of the contents or references could predate the prior attacks on the bridge, timeline-wise). Third time's a charm? Most likely, this is a very recent conversation wherein they talk about a future potential attack:
In the 38-minute recording, military officers discuss the question of how the Taurus long-range cruise missiles could be used by Ukraine. A debate has been taking place in Germany over whether to supply the missiles as Ukraine faced setbacks on the battlefield after two years of war, and with military aid from the United States being held up in Congress.
Earlier this week Scholz said he remains reluctant to send the Taurus missiles to Ukraine, pointing to a risk of Germany becoming directly involved in the war. His hesitancy is a source of friction in his three-party coalition and also annoyed Germany's conservative opposition.
But in the purported audio recording, German officers discuss the theoretical possibility of the missiles being used in Ukraine.
Listen to more snippets from the Crimean Bridge section of the recording:
RT has compiled a timeline of reporting and outline of what has been learned about the leaked audio recording, including initial international reactions, some of which is reproduced below:
* * *
A transcript and an audio recording, made public
Simonyan posted the transcript of the February 19 phone call on her VK page, identifying the participants as the head of the German air force (Luftwaffe), General Ingo Gerhartz, the branch's deputy chief of staff for operations, Brigadier-General Frank Graefe, and two others.
Soon afterward, Simonyan published the audio recording of the discussion as well, in German, on her Telegram channel.
What was said in the call
The officers discussed the operational and targeting details of Taurus long-range missiles that Germany was debating sending to Ukraine, as if this had already been agreed upon '' and how to maintain plausible deniability so that Germany could avoid crossing the ''red line'' of direct involvement.
Gerhartz brought up various ''tricks'' that the Luftwaffe could use, including relying on ''many people [in Ukraine] in civilian clothes who speak with an American accent,'' but Graefe insisted that ''there is no language that makes us a party to the conflict.''
Other officers spoke about providing the Ukrainians with both the missiles and the training to use them, as well as the satellite targeting information, possibly via Poland.
Obsession with the Kerch Strait Bridge
The Germans noted the Ukrainians' fixation on the Crimean Bridge, mainly for political reasons. They noted that the bridge was sturdy enough that not even 20 missiles would be able to destroy it. The 50 or so missiles Berlin could provide Kiev '' in batches '' ''won't change the course of the war,'' Gerhartz himself admitted.
Russian reactions
''We demand an explanation from Germany. Official Berlin must provide it immediately. Attempts to dodge the question will be considered an admission of guilt,'' said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that NATO had ''egg on its face'' due to the recording. He also noted that the German officers knew perfectly well that they were discussing direct involvement, as evidenced by attempts to disguise or hide it, and highlighted the part about Americans operating in Ukraine.
Speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin said the legislature will address the recording when it reconvenes on March 11. The matter ''deserves the most serious discussion'' and Moscow certainly needs to ''send a demand to the Bundestag to conduct an investigation,'' he added.
Germans have ''once again turned into our archenemies,'' said former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. ''Just take a look at how thoroughly and in what detail the Krauts are discussing long-range missile strikes on Russia's territory, and are picking out targets and the most workable ways to harm our Motherland and our people.'' He ended his post with the WWII-era slogan, ''Death to the Fascists!''
Western reactions
When asked about the recording and the transcript on Friday, the Pentagon declined to comment, telling American reporters to reach out to the German military instead.
German officials have responded to the revelation by launching an investigation into how the recording got out. Speaking to Bild, a spokesperson for the Defense Ministry declined to ''say anything about the content of the communications that were apparently intercepted.''
However, multiple German media outlets have reported that a preliminary probe appeared to conclude that the recording was authentic. In light of this, Bundeswehr has resorted to censorship, with multiple accounts on X (formerly Twitter) that distributed the material being blocked in Germany, according to Bild.
* * *
Listen to the full leaked audio below (without translation from the German):
Margarita Simonyan, as promised, publishes audio of a conversation between Bundeswehr officers discussing how they will bomb the Crimean Bridge. https://t.co/nIns6PjRlL pic.twitter.com/x5WVyZSYWw
'-- Victor vicktop55 (@vicktop55) March 1, 2024Loading...
The Scandal of Clarence Thomas's New Clerk | The New Yorker
Sat, 02 Mar 2024 17:00
Last week, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas shocked the legal community when the news broke that one of his new law clerks will be Crystal Clanton'--who became notorious in 2015 for apparently sending texts that said, ''I HATE BLACK PEOPLE. Like fuck them all . . . I hate blacks. End of story.'' For most young lawyers, sending such a text would indeed have been the ''end of story.'' Instead, Clanton is on the cusp of clinching one of the most coveted prizes in the American legal system. In the past several years, as Clanton has risen through the ranks of conservative legal circles, the story of her alleged racist outburst has been curiously transformed into a tale of victimhood. The new narrative is that Clanton was somehow framed by an unnamed enemy who'--for motives that remain unclear'--fabricated the racist texts to defame her.
This new account has been greeted with suspicion by many. If the revised story is a lie, then it threatens to implicate not just Justice Thomas, who has endorsed it, but several lower-court federal judges and the leader of a major political group aligned with former President Donald Trump. Indeed, the whole affair may prove one of the most shopworn axioms of political reporting'--that the coverup is worse than the crime.
Photograph courtesy the author
When the vile texts were sent, Clanton was the second-in-command and field director of the hard-right youth group Turning Point USA. The organization, a nonprofit advocacy group closely allied with Donald Trump's Presidential aspirations in 2024, is well known for poisonous rhetoric: its leader, Charlie Kirk, has recently denigrated Martin Luther King, Jr., as ''awful,'' questioned whether Black pilots are capable of flying planes, and argued that televised public executions, perhaps by guillotine, should be held in America, with young people watching. Yet, even within Turning Point, colleagues were so shocked by the bluntness of Clanton's alleged texts that they preserved screenshots of the messages, which were shared in 2017 with The New Yorker. At the time, multiple Turning Point employees told me that Clanton was the author of the messages.
In 2017, Clanton told me, via e-mail, that she didn't recall sending the texts, and that they seemed out of character. But when she was asked directly if she denied sending them she declined to answer. The screenshots of the messages bore her cell-phone number. Another former Turning Point employee, John Ryan O'Rourke, who was the recipient of the texts, said at the time that he preferred not to discuss them. Several other Turning Point colleagues had also seen and circulated the screenshots. And there was more evidence. In addition to the racist comments, the screenshots show Clanton asking, ''Can I come to Starbucks in 5?''; she showed up at one, on cue, a few minutes later. (In 2018, the online platform Mediaite revealed another offensive statement by Clanton, sent on Snapchat. The post featured a photograph of a man who appeared to be Arab, accompanied by a caption that she had added: ''Just thinking about ways to do another 9/11.'')
In 2017, Clanton told me that she had resigned from Turning Point. Kirk, her boss at the time, made her departure sound less voluntary. In an e-mail, he told me that, after he learned of the texts, ''Turning Point assessed the situation and took decisive action within 72 hours.'' Four years later, a spokesman for Turning Point, Andrew Kolvet, confirmed the same set of facts to Ruth Marcus, a columnist for the Washington Post, telling her that Clanton was ''terminated from Turning Point after the discovery of problematic texts.''
The story would likely be long forgotten, were it not for an extremely strange plot twist. After the texting scandal, Ginni Thomas, the lobbyist and politically active wife of Clarence Thomas, who had worked closely with Clanton as an adviser to Turning Point, unofficially adopted Clanton as the couple's prot(C)g(C)e. The Thomases harbor deep anger at the mainstream media, stemming in part from the Justice's embattled 1991 confirmation hearing, and evidently saw in Clanton a fellow-victim. Soon after leaving Turning Point, Clanton started working for Ginni Thomas. Remarkably, the Thomases then invited Clanton to live with them at their home in exurban Virginia, for the better part of the next year. The couple encouraged Clanton to go to law school, and Justice Thomas himself recommended her when she successfully applied to the Antonin Scalia Law School, at George Mason University. Justice Thomas also helped Clanton, who graduated in 2022, line up a prestigious judicial clerkship with Chief Judge William H. Pryor, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Pryor is one of the most conservative members of the federal bench, and a well-known ''feeder'' of clerks to Justice Thomas's chambers.
Supreme Court clerkships, which last for a year, are extremely valuable in both professional and financial terms. It's common for former clerks to receive half-a-million-dollar bonuses when they sign on for their first law-firm jobs, and the credential eases the path to coveted academic and political positions. An extraordinary number of Thomas clerks'--twenty-two, according to the Associated Press in 2018'--populated the high ranks of the Trump Administration or were nominated by Trump for judgeships; others have fanned out across the nation to other prominent posts.
Ordinarily, only the very best law students in the country, with the most impeccable r(C)sum(C)s, get a shot at a Supreme Court clerkship. Presumably, a past that included termination for making grotesquely racist statements would present an obstacle. But Ginni Thomas's intense enthusiasm for Clanton became evident in a leaked video of a 2019 closed-door session of the secretive Council for National Policy, a conservative leadership group to which both Ginni Thomas and Charlie Kirk belong. The video shows her introducing Clanton to the members as her special guest, and saying, ''Crystal was for five years Charlie's right-hand person, the wind in his sails, from a garage organization to this organization. And now she's the wind in my sails.''
In one sense, it hardly matters whom Justice Thomas hires as a law clerk. His conservative judicial views are well known and unwavering, and it's improbable that one of his clerks would bend his decisions in any discernible way. Also, had Clanton apologized, it's unlikely that many people would still care. But hiring a young woman who was fired for racial bigotry, and who has never apologized for it, could scarcely send a worse message to Black litigants and lawyers, or do more to undermine the Court's promise'--carved into its building's grand fa§ade'--to deliver ''Equal Justice Under Law.''
Perhaps even more disturbing than Clanton's hiring is the dubious revisionist history that has emerged to justify her selection. This refashioned narrative threatens to implicate the credibility of some of the most powerful legal officials in the country.
In the fall of 2021, reports surfaced that Clanton had lined up two successive clerkships: the first with U.S. District Court Judge Corey Maze, of the Northern District of Alabama, and the second with Judge Pryor, of the Eleventh Circuit. Ruth Marcus, the Washington Post opinion writer, posted a column asking of Pryor, ''Why is a prominent federal judge hiring a law clerk who said she hates Black people?'' Democrats on Capitol Hill filed an ethics complaint with the Eleventh Circuit, complaining that Maze and Pryor had hired ''an individual with a history of nakedly racist and hateful conduct.'' They warned that placing such a person in ''close proximity to judicial decision-making threatens to seriously undermine the public's faith'' in the federal courts. And they argued that no member of any minority would ''trust that they will receive equal justice before these judges.''
The federal judiciary's self-policing process is abstruse enough to delight fans of ''Bleak House.'' The complaint was transferred to the Second Circuit, in New York, where Chief Judge Debra Ann Livingston, an appointee of George W. Bush, began an inquiry. The confidential process took place behind closed doors, but Bill Rankin, a reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, obtained letters that Justice Thomas and Judge Pryor sent to the Second Circuit in support of Clanton. Justice Thomas wrote that his wife had ''informed me of the horrible way'' Clanton ''had been treated at Turning Point and asked that she be allowed to live with us.'' The implication was that Clanton had been victimized at Turning Point.
Pryor added more detail. He put forward a novel defense of Clanton, which he attributed to conversations he'd had with Justice Thomas, along with a previously unmentioned set of facts provided by Charlie Kirk. According to this new account, Clanton was actually the victim of an unidentified former employee, who, for unknown reasons, had framed her as the author of the racist texts. It was not explained why this outlandishly devious plot hadn't been exposed earlier'--not at the time of her resignation, nor when Clanton was interviewed by The New Yorker, nor during the subsequent four years, when Turning Point's spokesman consistently confirmed that Clanton had been fired for sending the texts.
Nancy Pelosi Trading Activity | Quiver Quantitative
Sat, 02 Mar 2024 16:56
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'It feels like we've been lobotomised': the possible sexual consequences of SSRIs | Mental health | The Guardian
Sat, 02 Mar 2024 16:53
During Melbourne's strict lockdown of 2020, Rosie Tilli, a then 20-year-old nurse living and working in the city, began to experience growing anxiety and depression.
Visiting her GP, she was quickly prescribed escitalopram, a commonly used drug from a class known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). These medicines attempt to treat depressive symptoms by boosting the levels of the hormone serotonin in the brain and rank among the most widely prescribed drugs. In the first 11 months of 2023 alone, more than 80m prescriptions for antidepressants were issued by the NHS.
Tilli was nervous about escitalopram but, reassured by a psychiatrist, she began taking the tablets. However, rather than experiencing relief, she soon noticed a worrying drop in her libido combined with an inability to feel any sexual sensations at all.
Nearly four years on '... I can't experience any physiological sexual response. No arousal even when physically touchedA quick Google search alerted her to a condition known as post-SSRI sexual dysfunction (PSSD), where both men and women who have taken various SSRIs have been left with sexual problems, persisting for years or even decades. Alarmed, she began tapering off the medication after four months, but there was no change.
''I reassured myself that I would be fine as soon as I fully ceased the medication, but I wasn't,'' she says. ''Now nearly four years on, I've learned to put on a sunny disposition, but internally I am riddled with psychological grief and anguish. I can't experience any physiological sexual response. No arousal even when physically touched. It's as if the entire electrical hardwiring of the sexual system has been short circuited. My clitoris feels like my elbow now, and there's nothing I can do to reverse it.''
While the first reports of persistent sexual side-effects in response to SSRIs began emerging in the early 1990s, PSSD as a condition was not recognised by the European Medicines Agency until 2019. A patient organisation called the PSSD Network has been launched, and its affiliated Reddit community has amassed more than 10,000 members around the world.
Psychiatrist David Healy, founder and CEO of the company Data Based Medicine, which is dedicated to making medicines safer, is particularly concerned because the majority of patients who are treated with SSRIs are not the most severe cases of depression. Instead, he says, they tend to be individuals with milder symptoms, often teenagers and young adults. ''They're being handed out without much thought these days,'' he says. ''Now absolutely, people who are at high risk of suicide do need treatment. But the average family doctor is handing SSRIs out to people who are anxious or mildly depressed. They need to realise that if you cause PSSD, you're going to lead to suicide cases because people feel they can't live this way.''
Rosie Tilli: 'Pharmaceutical companies and psychiatrists have a moral, ethical and professional responsibility to fund research.' Photograph: Arsineh HouspianTilli describes herself as ''completely broken'' due to the effects of PSSD, and like many with the condition she fears being perpetually alone because it has made sexual intimacy and romantic relationships impossible. Another sufferer told the Observer that it feels akin to having been ''lobotomised''.
''I know of other women with PSSD who are now speaking of getting artificial insemination [to have a child] because all of their relationships have failed due to the condition,'' says Tilli.
Now Healy and other researchers around the world are working to try to understand why PSSD occurs, and whether it may be possible to reverse the symptoms.
Possible brain alterationsThere is no precise consensus regarding the prevalence of PSSD, but when SSRIs were launched clinically, their initial labels stated that less than 5% of patients in clinical trials had reported sexual dysfunction. However, in some unpublished phase 1 trials of the drugs, more than 50% of healthy volunteers developed severe sexual problems, which in some cases persisted after treatment stopped. One post-market research study found that between 5% and 15% of patients developed sexual impairments after taking SSRIs, and Healy and other doctors are now concerned that the prevalence could be greater than previously thought.
SSRIs have been marketed to patients for more than three decades, yet the PSSD Network says patients' suffering is being ignored by mainstream psychiatry. Few doctors, it says, have attempted to delve into why this side-effect occurs, and why some people are especially vulnerable.
Through testing in male rats, some studies have indicated that these drugs may cause toxicity to the testicles. Last year researchers from S£o Paulo found that the SSRI paroxetine can cause testicular changes in lab animals, including impaired sperm production, which persisted after the drug was stopped. However, the few scientists who have dedicated themselves to this topic believe that the root cause of the genital numbness, lack of libido and plethora of other sexual side-effects that PSSD sufferers experience happens in the brain.
''I believe that PSSD is primarily a neurological disorder relating to altered brain functionality,'' says Prof Roberto Melcangi of the University of Milan, who has been researching the condition for the last three years and has also spent more than a decade studying sexual dysfunction caused by the drug finasteride, which is taken for male pattern baldness.
Melcangi and his team have conducted their own research on paroxetine in rodents, which he is now hoping to replicate in a small study of male PSSD patients. Initial results indicated that the drug could alter certain so-called steroid hormones, which act as important regulators of brain function, including sexual behaviour. Further experiments have suggested that paroxetine might also impair the gut microbiome, which interacts with the brain.
Antonei Csoka, a researcher on ageing at Howard University, who has been studying PSSD intermittently since the early 2000s, suspects that as a side-effect of targeting serotonin receptors in the brain, SSRIs drive epigenetic changes, particular DNA modifications, which then affect the activity of genes relating to sexual function. Why this seems to happen in some unlucky patients and not others remains a mystery.
''Various scientists, including myself, have published studies showing that an SSRI can change epigenetics and human cells,'' says Csoka. ''If that's happening, then those cells or tissues may not immediately revert back to how they were once treatment stops. It's as though an imprint has been left there. However, it's still not known precisely what these epigenetic changes are. So what we need to do is narrow it down '' what is happening?''
'Medical gaslighting'
When Tilli first began experiencing symptoms, she was called neurotic by her GP, who insisted that SSRIs could not cause sexual dysfunction and sent her home to do deep breathing exercises. But far worse would follow.
''When I reached out for help with my local mental health service, I was sectioned and placed involuntarily into psychiatric care as the psychiatrist said I had 'delusional disorder', and tried to put me on antipsychotics,'' she says. ''It shattered my trust in ever seeking help for my mental health again.''
The psychiatry profession and pharmaceutical companies have a moral, ethical and professional responsibility to fund researchTilli and other PSSD patients feel they should have been given greater warning of the potential side-effects of SSRIs before commencing the drugs. However, most of all they describe feeling completely abandoned to their fate by the medical community, through cases of what they call ''medical gaslighting'', with psychiatrists refusing to acknowledge this source of drug-induced harm.
At the same time, the PSSD Network and researchers say that funding to better understand the cause of these symptoms and further the search for potential treatments remains virtually nonexistent. Much of Csoka's research into PSSD so far has needed to be covered by grants relating to ageing, while Melcangi's work is partly crowdfunded by PSSD patients themselves.
''The psychiatry profession and pharmaceutical companies have a moral, ethical and professional responsibility to fund research into the biological pathophysiology and treatments for PSSD,'' says Tilli, who is part of the PSSD Network. ''They are mocking harmed patients by forcing us to self-fund our own PSSD research. On top of that, many sufferers are teenagers and university students, who either work part-time for minimum wage or not at all.''
When the Observer approached leading SSRI manufacturers GSK and Eli Lilly for comment, neither indicated that they would consider funding PSSD research in future. GSK representatives said: ''As with all medicines, SSRIs have potential side-effects. These are clearly stated in the prescribing information and patients should only take these medicines under the direction of a medical professional.''
The Lilly public affairs team issued a similar statement regarding the SSRI fluoxetine, commonly known as Prozac: ''Fluoxetine continues to be considered to have a positive benefit-risk profile by regulatory authorities, physicians and patients around the world. Lilly continues to submit fluoxetine safety data to regulatory authorities around the world.''
Both Melcangi and Csoka believe that potential therapeutic solutions for PSSD are out there, either through repurposing existing drugs or using emerging technologies to target the epigenome. Csoka is aware of case reports where patients have managed to regain at least partial sexual function either through taking various nutraceuticals, using low-power laser therapy, or drugs that attempt to readjust the chemical imbalances in the brain, such as bupropion and vortioxetine. In the coming years, Melcangi hopes to raise funds to conduct a trial using a drug called allopregnanolone, which he believes could modulate the abnormal brain behaviour behind cases of PSSD.
But there are many challenges. PSSD is likely to have many underlying causes, which vary both between individuals and between the sexes. Different therapies may be required for different patients, a level of biological variability that is both challenging and costly to try to understand. But Melcangi is optimistic that even with limited resources, something might ultimately be done to help people with the condition.
''It will be difficult to find a therapeutic approach '... for all the effects of PSSD, but an important step would be to at least counteract some of the side-effects,'' he says.
For Tilli and others, having even a glimmer of hope is vital. ''Our community has had many suicides,'' she says. ''Our main goal is to raise awareness so that we can get funding for research to pave a path towards hopeful treatments and prevent the despair that leads many to end their lives.''
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Center for Outbreak Response Innovation (CORI) debuts TV broadcast series that delivers respiratory virus disease forecasts to public | Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security
Fri, 01 Mar 2024 16:30
February 27, 2024 '' Last night, the Center for Outbreak Response Innovation (CORI) debuted the first in a series of broadcasts at WBZ-TV Boston involving infographics that deliver current respiratory virus disease forecasts to viewers within the station's broadcast area.
The CORI team, based at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, supplies TV partners with infographics and talking points for area-specific respiratory disease forecasts, to be delivered live by meteorologists during weathercasts. The data used to generate these forecasts comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and its academic partners in the National Outbreak Analytics & Disease Modeling Network, of which CORI is a member.
This effort, led by Senior Scholar Dr. Eric Toner, is forming collaborations across the nation to incorporate disease forecasting into weather broadcasts in the upcoming months, with more TV partners to join soon.
CORI, led by Senior Scholars Drs. Caitlin Rivers and Crystal Watson, aims to build partnerships nationwide and train individuals in epidemic response tools while engaging diverse groups including public health departments, elected leaders, and meteorologists.
Watch a recording of last night's broadcast on WBZ-TV Boston here .
For media inquiries, email Cagla Giray at cgiray1@jhu.edu
Divine right of kings | Definition, History, & Facts | Britannica
Fri, 01 Mar 2024 16:24
Home Lifestyles & Social Issues Sociology & Society Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica divine right of kings, in European history, a political doctrine in defense of monarchical absolutism, which asserted that kings derived their authority from God and could not therefore be held accountable for their actions by any earthly authority such as a parliament. Originating in Europe, the divine-right theory can be traced to the medieval conception of God's award of temporal power to the political ruler, paralleling the award of spiritual power to the church. By the 16th and 17th centuries, however, the new national monarchs were asserting their authority in matters of both church and state. King James I of England (reigned 1603''25) was the foremost exponent of the divine right of kings, but the doctrine virtually disappeared from English politics after the Glorious Revolution (1688''89). In the late 17th and 18th centuries, kings such as Louis XIV (1643''1715) of France continued to profit from the divine-right theory, even though many of them no longer had any truly religious belief in it. The American Revolution (1775''83), the French Revolution (1789), and the Napoleonic Wars deprived the doctrine of most of its remaining credibility.
The bishop Jacques-B(C)nigne Bossuet (1627''1704), one of the principal French theorists of divine right, asserted that the king's person and authority were sacred; that his power was modeled on that of a father's and was absolute, deriving from God; and that he was governed by reason (i.e., custom and precedent). In the middle of the 17th century, the English Royalist squire Sir Robert Filmer likewise held that the state was a family and that the king was a father, but he claimed, in an interpretation of Scripture, that Adam was the first king and that Charles I (reigned 1625''49) ruled England as Adam's eldest heir. The anti-absolutist philosopher John Locke (1632''1704) wrote his First Treatise of Civil Government (1689) in order to refute such arguments.
The doctrine of divine right can be dangerous for both church and state. For the state it suggests that secular authority is conferred, and can therefore be removed, by the church, and for the church it implies that kings have a direct relationship to God and may therefore dictate to ecclesiastical rulers.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Brian Duignan.
Quotations on the Jefferson Memorial | Monticello
Fri, 01 Mar 2024 16:22
Below are listed the quotations shown on the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. Some of the quotations appear in edited form on the memorial, so when appropriate, we have also included the passages from which the selections were taken, with the quoted excerpts in bold.
Inscription engraved on the frieze encircling the Dome"...I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." - Jefferson to Dr. Benjamin Rush, September 23, 1800[1]
Southwest Wall"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men. We...solemnly publish and declare, that these colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states...And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." - The Declaration of Independence[2]
Northeast Wall"Almighty God hath created the mind free. All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens...are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion...No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship or ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion. I know but one code of morality for men whether acting singly or collectively."
Original Passage"Well aware that the opinions and belief of men depend not on their own will, but follow involuntarily the evidence proposed to their minds; that Almighty God hath created the mind free, and manifested his supreme will that free it shall remain by making it altogether insusceptible of restraint; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments, or burthens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion...Be it enacted by the General Assembly that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities." - "A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom", Section I[3]
Jefferson Memorial, Washington, D.C. National Park Service.
Northwest Wall"God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever. Commerce between master and slave is despotism. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free. Establish a law for educating the common people. This it is the business of the state and on a general plan."
Original Passages"But let them [members of the parliament of Great Britain] not think to exclude us from going to other markets, to dispose of those commodities which they cannot use, nor41 to supply those wants which they cannot supply. Still less let it be proposed that our properties within our own territories shall be taxed or regulated by any power on earth but our own. The god who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time: the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them." - "A Summary View of the Rights of British America"[4]
"For in a warm climate, no man will labour for himself who can make another labour for him. This is so true, that of the proprietors of slaves a very small proportion indeed are ever seen to labor. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever . . . ." - Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII[5]
"The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other. Our children see this, and learn to imitate it. . . ." - Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII[5]
"Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free. Nor is it less certain that the two races, equally free, cannot live in the same government. Nature, habit, opinion has drawn indelible lines of distinction between them." - Jefferson's Autobiography[7]
"Preach, my dear sir, a crusade against ignorance; establish & improve the law for educating the common people." - Jefferson to George Wythe, August 13, 1786[8]
"It is an axiom in my mind that our liberty can never be safe but in the hands of the people themselves, and that too of the people with a certain degree of instruction. This it is the business of the state to effect, and on a general plan." - Jefferson to George Washington, January 4, 1786[9]
Southeast Wall"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."
Original Passage"I am certainly not an advocate for frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions. I think moderate imperfections had better be borne with; because, when once known, we accommodate ourselves to them, and find practical means of correcting their ill effects. But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors." - Jefferson to H. Tompkinson (AKA Samuel Kercheval), July 12, 1816[10]
Further SourcesNational Park Service. Thomas Jefferson National Memorial.Look for sources in the Thomas Jefferson Portal on the Thomas Jefferson Memorial
Angry mob forces Jewish students to evacuate UC-Berkeley theater
Fri, 01 Mar 2024 16:02
Jewish students at the University of California, Berkeley were forced to evacuate an auditorium as anti-Israel protesters banged on and eventually broke through the glass doors of a campus theater, where an Israeli Defense Forces soldier was scheduled to speak.
Disturbing footage posted online by the Daily Wire shows an angry mob chanting ''intifada, intifada'' and banging violently on the glass doors outside Zellerbach Playhouse Monday night as a small group of students gathered inside Monday night for a talk about the war in Gaza.
In one clip, a student could be heard telling his friends inside the auditorium that a woman outside spat on him and called him ''Jew, Jew, Jew '-- literally right to my face.''
Disturbing footage posted online showed anti-Israel protesters chanting outside Zellerbach Playhouse Monday night, where an IDF soldier was scheduled to speak about the war in Gaza. X / @realDailyWireOther students also claimed the protesters shoved a senior into the auditorium door as he tried to check in attendees and grabbed a freshman by the neck, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Eventually, some of the glass could be heard shattering in the videos posted online, after which one person could be heard shouting, ''You got what you deserve.''
At that time, university police reported, ''They've breached the door,'' according to dispatch audio posted online.
''Do you want us to go get our hats and bats?'' one officer could be heard asking as the protest grew even more violent.
''We're going to have to fight our way up the stairs to push them back to close the door,'' he explains.
''Negative,'' the respondent says. ''We're going to be shutting down the event.''
The protesters violently banged on the glass doors to the theater and eventually broke the glass. X / @realDailyWireMeanwhile, another officer could be heard calling for cover as dispatchers sent more officers inside the building.
There, footage showed UC Berkeley Chief of Police Yogananda Pittman taking the microphone in the auditorium and advising those inside to leave.
As a result, the scheduled ''Israel at War: Combat the Lies'' event, featuring IDF soldier Ran Bar-Yoshafat '-- who served in Gaza '-- was canceled, after already being rescheduled several times over security concerns, according to the Daily Wire.
Afterward, one student said she heard the protesters chant, ''We won, we won, we won,'' she told the Jewish Journal.
One student could be seen telling his friends that a woman spat on him and called him a ''Jew, Jew, Jew.'' X / @realDailyWire University officials were forced to evacuate those inside the theater. X / @realDailyWireBar-Yoshafat had been invited by Jewish student groups to discuss Israel's ''international legal challenges'' and whether the nation is violating international law in the war in Gaza, a joint Instagram post by Students Supporting Israel at Berkeley and Berkeley Tikvah said.
He would also speak about how the IDF could better protect civilians, as well as issues of ''perception and ideology'' that Israel is facing.
But the anti-Israel student group, Bears for Palestine, announced on its own social media Sunday that it would seek to shut down the event.
The Bears for Palestine student group had vowed to ''shut down'' the event. Instagram / @bearsforpalestine''Shut it down: Genocidal murderers out of Berkeley,'' the group posted, with a photoshopped image of Bar-Yoshafat with red eyes.
''In October of 2023, Ran Bar-Yoshafat was serving in the IOF partaking in the obliteration of Gaza and extermination of Palestinians,'' Bears for Palestine captioned their image, referring to the IDF as the Israeli Occupied Forces.
It said he had been invited to campus to ''spread settler colonial Zionist propaganda about the very genocide he has participated in.
University officials estimate some 200 people participated in the violent protest Monday night, but no arrests have been made. X / @realDailyWire''This individual is dangerous,'' the group continued. ''Ran Bar-Yoshafat has Palestinian blood on his hands.
''He has committed crimes against humanity, is a genocide denier and we will not allow for this event to go on.''
In response to the threat, university officials moved the event to Zellerbach Playhouse and said only those who had RSVP'd to the lecture would be allowed to find out the new location, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Ran Bar-Yoshafat had been invited by Jewish student groups to discuss Israel's ''international legal challenges'' and whether the nation is violating international law in the war in Gaza. Instagram / @ran_barioWhen Bar-Yoshafat arrived on campus, he was also instructed to wear a hat to mask his identity, the soldier told the Daily Wire.
But the protesters somehow found out about the venue change, and were seen in videos marching towards the playhouse chanting ''Yoshafat, you can't hide, we charge you with genocide.''
Bar-Yoshafat said he felt ''really bad for the students'... because they were scared.
Bar-Yoshafat, who fought in the war in Gaza, right, said the event had been rescheduled in the past due to security concerns. X / @Ostrov_A''Girls were crying from being attacked and I think the kid that was spat on was just so shaken,'' he told the Daily Wire.
''I don't think the students anticipated so many people being violent, they thought they would just chant outside.''
University officials estimate some 200 students took part in the violent protest Monday night, and called the incident ''appalling.''
In a message sent to students and staff Tuesday afternoon, UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ and Provost Benjamin E. Hermalin said the incident was ''an attack on the fundamental values of the university.''
They confirmed the auditorium had to be evacuated ''to protect the speaker and the members of the audience,'' according to the LA Times.
''We want to express our deep remorse and sympathy to those students and members of the public who were in the building, fearing for their safety,'' the officials said in the statement.
''We deeply respect the right to protest as intrinsic to the value of a democracy at an institution of higher education. Yet, we cannot ignore protest activity that interferes with the rights of others to hear and/or express perspectives of their choosing.
''We cannot allow the use of threat of force to violate the First Amendment rights of a speaker, no matter how much we might disagree with their views.''
University spokesman Dan Mogulof has since pledged that the school will launch an investigation into the violent protest, he told Algemeiner.
He said the university has received multiple messages from staff, students and community members expressing their concerns about the violence Monday night and ''we're taking those messages to heart,'' he told the LA Times.
Mogulof also explained that school officials believed they had deployed enough police officers to the scene ahead of the event, based on previous anti-Israel protests on campus.
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But he stressed that the university ''understands now that we are in new territory'' and called the incident a ''black mark'' on its reputation.
Danielle Sobkin, one of the organizers of the event, though said Monday's violence ''isn't an isolated incident.
''This is a continuous trend that's persisted my entire time on campus: Jewish hate. The targeting of Jewish students,'' she told the Chronicle.
She described the events of Monday as a ''witch-hunt of Jewish students,'' and said it was a ''breaking point for all of us.
''If there is truly no change after last night, there's no place for Jewish students at UC Berkeley,'' she told the Jewish Journal.
The Post has reached out to Berkeley and the Bears for Palestine student group for comment.
Obama Judge Holds Journalist Catherine Herridge In Contempt For Not Revealing Source | The Daily Wire
Fri, 01 Mar 2024 16:01
A federal judge tapped by former President Barack Obama ruled on Thursday to hold veteran investigative journalist Catherine Herridge in civil contempt for refusing to reveal who her source was for a series of reports about a Chinese scientist working at an American university who was under FBI criminal investigation.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper imposed a fine of $800 per day '-- nearly $300,000 per year '-- until Herridge reveals who her source was for the stories that she wrote while at Fox News.
''Herridge and many of her colleagues in the journalism community may disagree with that decision and prefer that a different balance be struck, but she is not permitted to flout a federal court's order with impunity,'' Cooper wrote.
Cooper said that Herridge, who is widely respected for being impartial and pursuing stories that many in the mainstream media ignore, must reveal how she learned about the federal investigation, which centered around learning whether the Chinese scientist lied about her military service and if her school's student database could be accessed by the Chinese.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP
The Chinese national sued the federal government claiming that it gave Herridge information that violated their privacy, ''including snippets of an FBI document summarizing an interview conducted during the investigation, personal photographs, and information taken from her immigration and naturalization forms and from an internal FBI PowerPoint presentation,'' the Associated Press reported.
Fox News blasted the ruling in a statement late on Thursday: ''Holding a journalist in contempt for protecting a confidential source has a deeply chilling effect on journalism. Fox News Media remains committed to protecting the rights of a free press and freedom of speech and believes this decision should be appealed.''
Related: CBS Seized Confidential Files From Fired Reporter Who Was Pursuing Hunter Biden Story
Hunter Biden's Deposition Transcript Is Out...and Right Out of the Gate Eric Swalwell Proves He's a Child '' RedState
Fri, 01 Mar 2024 15:56
After several dramatic twists and turns in the Will He or Won't He Appear for a Deposition saga involving Hunter Biden, the First Son finally sat for a closed-door interview with members and staff counsel of the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees on Wednesday, and the transcript has now been released.
RELATED:
Hunter Biden Gives Surprise Presser in Front of Capitol Building, Desperately Moves the GoalpostsBREAKING: Hunter Biden Skips Deposition After Self-Serving Speech, Invites Contempt ChargeWATCH: Chaos As Hunter Shows Up at House Contempt Hearing, Flees After Getting Blasted by Mace and MTGHunter Biden Just Surrendered in Contempt Battle Against Republicans
The transcript is 229 pages, so it will take some time to read and digest, but I wanted to go ahead and share it here (it's linked above and may be viewed below) and share an initial observation regarding the maturity level of one Eric Swalwell (D-CA).
While preliminary introductions were being made and staff counsel was reviewing ground rules for the testimony '-- and before testimony had even begun '-- Swalwell, who's allegedly 43, interrupted, demanding to know when the transcript would be released and making snide Russia references.
[STAFF COUNSEL]: Finally, I will make note for the Members and staff that the contents of what we discuss in the deposition today is confidential under the House deposition regulation. Under the rules, the chairman and ranking minority member shall consult before any release of testimony, transcripts, including portions thereof.
MR. SWALWELL: Hey, Chairman, about that, parliamentary inquiry, when are you going to release this transcript?
[STAFF COUNSEL]: I'm going to get to that in one moment, sir.
MR. SWALWELL: I'm asking the chairman, not you.
Chairman Comer, when are you going to release the transcript on this?
CHAIRMAN COMER: We're conducting the deposition.
MR. SWALWELL: Yeah, but you've got 91 of them buried and --
CHAIRMAN COMER: I don't care what your question is.
MR. NADLER: Well, I care what his question is. When are you going to release the transcript? There are 91 transcripts that haven't been released yet.
CHAIRMAN COMER: We will release the deposition -- the transcripts like we always do when we agree to release the deposition, the transcripts.
MR. SWALWELL: Shouldn't the witness know?
[STAFF COUNSEL]: Yeah, we want to put the transcript out within a day.
MR. NADLER: Within a day? Very good. Thank you.
[STAFF COUNSEL]: We'll do our best, yeah.
MR. SWALWELL: In English or Russian?
[STAFF COUNSEL]: Excuse me? What'd you say?
CHAIRMAN COMER: We've already answered the question, Eric, and we're not going to tolerate outbursts like we had the last time.
MR. NADLER: He said within a day. That's fine.
(At least Jerry Nadler was displaying a measure of maturity.)
Following the deposition, the committee chairs, James Comer (R-KY), Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Jason Smith (R-MO) joined Sean Hannity to discuss the takeaways from the deposition.
Comer says much of what the embattled First Son had to say contradicted the testimony of three other witnesses who have appeared before the committees.
''We were able to confirm a lot of the wrongdoings through Hunter Biden's testimony'...there are many financial crimes that were committed by the Biden family. Hunter was asked about specific transactions with specific LLCs that I refer to as 'shell companies.' We got his answers on the record,'' Comer says.
''The next phase now is to bring Hunter in for a public hearing and hear from the other Biden associates and let's determine who the American people think is telling the truth. We have the bank records and the bank records don't lie.''
''We still don't know what the Biden family did to earn the $30 million dollars from our enemies around the world,'' Comer says.
There will undoubtedly be more to glean from the transcript '-- Oversight has promised to share highlights on X/Twitter soon, and we'll be hitting some more of them here, as well.
ð¨BREAKINGð¨We have released the Hunter Biden deposition transcript.
Read Here: https://t.co/58zVrUzWsW
Key takeaways will be posted soon. pic.twitter.com/O88nCWY2c8
'-- Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) February 29, 2024Hunter Biden Transcript Redacted by Susie Moore on Scribd
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VIDEO - Biden invites Trump to work together to lobby Congress on an immigration bill as both candidates visit border
Sat, 02 Mar 2024 22:30
BROWNSVILLE, Texas '-- Both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump visited the southern border Thursday in a dramatic split-screen moment as the 2024 presidential campaign ramps up over an issue that has confounded administrations of both parties for decades: immigration.
Biden's briefing from border officials here began just moments after Trump began his remarks in Eagle Pass. Biden thanked border agents and said he would get them more resources ''come hell or high water.''
''It's long past time to act,'' he said, adding that border control ''desperately'' needs more resources.
Biden made a direct appeal to Trump, asking him to join him in telling Congress to pass the bill, which was tanked after Trump rallied his allies in Congress against it.
''You know and I know it's the toughest, most efficient, most effective border security bill this country's ever seen,'' Biden said. ''So instead of playing politics with the issue, why don't we just get together and get it done?''
Biden touted the bipartisan border bill as ''a win for the American people,'' calling it a ''truly bipartisan initiative.'' He called on the Senate to reconsider the bill, asking senators to ''set politics aside'' and for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to put the bill on the floor.
''We need to act,'' Biden said, adding that Republicans in Congress needed to ''show a little spine.''
Trump's national press secretary hit back at Biden's appeal.
"Instead of shifting the blame on everyone but himself, Joe Biden should take responsibility for the border crisis, deaths, and destruction that his policies have caused, say Laken Riley's name, and use his executive power to shut the border down today," Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
In his remarks, Trump said the death of Riley, 22, a graduate nursing student who was killed this month while on a jog near the University of Georgia, was ''barbaric'' and referred to her as ''a beautiful young woman.''
Conservatives across the country have pointed to Riley's death as an example of migrant crime after an undocumented Venezuelan migrant was charged in connection with her death.
Trump revealed Thursday that he spoke to Riley's parents Wednesday. ''They're incredible people that are devastated beyond belief,'' he said.
Trump also called the migrant crisis a ''Joe Biden invasion'' and a ''vicious violation to our country.''
Texas National Guard troops stop immigrants trying to pass through razor wire after having crossed the border into El Paso from Ciudad Jurez, Mexico, on Jan. 31. John Moore / Getty Images fileThe trip to the border was Biden's second since he took office. His first was to El Paso in January 2023. This time, he visited Brownsville, a border town in the Rio Grande Valley that has long felt the impacts of migration up close.
Critics of the administration have pointed out that Biden is visiting Brownsville at a time when the direst consequences of the migrant influx have shifted elsewhere. Many more immigrants are now crossing at other parts of the border, such as Arizona and Eagle Pass, according to Customs and Border Protection, the federal agency that includes the Border Patrol.
Trump has visited the border many times before '-- and he announced his trip before the White House did. Biden said this week that he'd been planning to go but that he didn't know ''his good friend'' would be there the same day. Two senior administration officials said the timing of the trip was meant to maximize its political impact a week before the State of the Union address. One of the officials said ''we welcome the split screen'' with Trump.
"Nice weather. Beautiful day. But a very dangerous border. We're going to take care of it," Trump told reporters in Texas.
Trump joked of Biden on a radio show this week: ''Well, we found out how to get him off his ass. It took me announcing that I'm going down to the border.''
On Wednesday, the White House insisted Biden's trip had already been planned.
''We just can't all of a sudden put something on the president's schedule,'' Jean-Pierre said, responding to a question about whether Trump's visit prompted the White House's announcement. ''It takes time to do that.''
Border Patrol agents guard migrants who crossed into Shelby Park as they wait to be picked up for processing in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Feb. 4. Michael Gonzalez / Getty ImagesAn NBC News poll from January found that 57% of registered voters said Trump would handle securing the border better, while 22% said the same for Biden. The poll found that 48% of people said they would trust Biden to treat immigrants humanely, while 31% said the same of Trump.
The Biden administration has been making the case that House Republicans '-- at Trump's urging '-- torpedoed a bipartisan bill that included $20 billion for border security. It was hashed out in the Senate and endorsed by the Border Patrol Union. The White House said it would have added 100 immigration judges, 1,500 Customs and Border Protection personnel and 4,300 asylum officers, as well as more detention beds. It would have also funded the installation of more inspection machines to detect fentanyl at ports of entry.
But Johnson, the House speaker, said the Senate version didn't go far enough to deal with the border crisis. Democrats accuse the GOP of refusing to compromise to keep the immigration issue front and center during an election year to claim that Biden hasn't done enough to stop the migrant influx.
With Congress failing to act, Biden has been considering executive actions to tighten asylum rules. Migrants' advocates and progressive Democrats have urged him not to do so, arguing that making it harder for immigrants to claim asylum opens them up to dangerous conditions in Mexico.
The Democratic National Committee said Thursday that it would display a mobile billboard in Eagle Pass during Trump's visit criticizing him over his efforts to kill the bipartisan border bill and his immigration agenda.
The billboard will say Trump "broke the border" during his administration, "and now for pure politics, he's killed the bipartisan border deal," according to the committee.
''If given the chance, Trump would double down on his cruel, chaotic, and inhumane immigration agenda of ripping away children from their parents, rounding up people into detention camps, and using the military to carry out mass deportations,'' DNC spokesperson Alex Floyd said in a statement. ''When voters head to the ballot box this November, they'll remember how Trump put himself and his political ambitions ahead of securing the border and delivering for the American people.''
Republicans insist that the Trump administration's border policies deterred illegal immigration and secured the border. Illegal crossings were lower during most of his term, but they did start to rise in late 2019 before the Covid pandemic. Before that, even Trump himself backed off one particularly controversial hard-line immigration policy '-- what was known as ''zero tolerance'' '-- which led to the forced separation of migrant families at the border in 2017.
When Biden took office in 2021, he promised a return to more ''humane'' immigration rules and immediately signed executive orders rolling back some Trump-era policies. In 2022, the Biden administration also ended a rule that was known as ''Remain in Mexico,'' which mandated that asylum-seekers wait across the border while their claims were adjudicated.
But the White House soon found that its policies didn't stem the flow of migrants after the pandemic limits lifted. Instead, record numbers of immigrants began arriving at the southern border. The Border Patrol reported 1,659,206 encounters with migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in the 2021 fiscal year, topping the previous highs of 1,643,679 in 2000 and 1,615,844 in 1986.
Trump and his supporters blamed what they saw as Biden's lax policies for the influx. The Biden administration argued the migration was due to other factors, including seasonal fluctuations, recent hurricanes in Central America and misinformation promoted by human smugglers.
Regardless, the migrants have kept coming. And coming. Border cities in Texas, such as El Paso and Eagle Pass, have been overwhelmed at times with an unprecedented influx that has stretched local resources thin and prompted frantic calls for federal help. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott escalated the border battle by assigning state troopers to patrol the border in defiance of the federal government. He also started busing migrants to what he called sanctuary cities across the country, which the White House has called a ''political stunt.''
Since then, major cities such as New York, Chicago and Denver have struggled to care for tens of thousands of migrants who have arrived. The White House said the stalled bipartisan border bill would have included $1.4 billion for cities and states and expedited work permits for immigrants who qualify.
Gabe Gutierrez Gabe Gutierrez is a senior White House correspondent for NBC News.
Alexandra Marquez Alexandra Marquez is a politics reporter for NBC News.
Megan Lebowitz Megan Lebowitz is a politics reporter for NBC News.
Nnamdi Egwuonwu and Jake Traylor contributed.
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VIDEO - Google's unionized YouTube Music employees learned they lost their jobs in the middle of testifying to City Council | Fortune
Sat, 02 Mar 2024 14:45
Rather than meeting employees at the bargaining table, Google decided to do what could be described as the equivalent of hucking the table into the sky. This week, YouTube Music workers who were recently locked in a tense union fight with Google were laid off while in the middle of testifying before Austin City Council.
this is the exact moment our coworkers found out we had been laid off while speaking in front of city council pic.twitter.com/IcsCszGe3Z
'-- jacob (@peepaw_) March 1, 2024In a video of the testimony, Jack Benedict spoke of their unionization efforts, explaining that a group of less than 50 was determined to fight two of the largest corporations in the world (Google and its subcontractor Cognizant). During the speech, another employee approaches and says ''They just laid us all off. Our jobs are ended today, effective immediately.'' Benedict, visibly shocked, responds ''wow,'' and they leave the podium as they're told their time is up.
This all comes in light of a year-long fight, after a group of 58 employees on the YouTube Music Content Operations Team unanimously voted to unionize as part of the Alphabet Workers Union last spring, in an election overseen by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), per a press release by Austin City Council Members. Employes spoke of the need for better pay, benefits, and a more flexible return-to-office policy.
The news of Google laying off the YouTube Music team broke before the results of an Austin City Council vote on a resolution calling for Google and Cognizant to negotiate with the YouTube Music Content Operations Team. The resolution passed 9-1.
''While workers were at city hall testifying, they received word that their team had been laid off. Instead of getting the chance to stay and celebrate the passage of their resolution they instead needed to leave to go retrieve their personal belongings from their office,'' according to an Austin City Council press release. ''Many of the workers feel they could lose their homes due to the sudden and unexpected layoff, which some of them believe could be retaliation for standing up today.''
The dark side of techEmployees unionized as part of the larger fight for better pay and benefits and petitioned Google to come to the table for negotiations, but the software company had refused. The company has claimed that because the employees are contractors, Google is not responsible for bargaining; instead, the contractor, Cognizant, is. But the NLRB has said otherwise, ruling Google and Cognizant as joint employers of YouTube Music workers.
The NLRB has ruled that Google's refusal to bargain with YouTube Music workers is illegal. The board also introduced a new rule this December that would ''make it even harder for companies like Google to argue they aren't responsible for dealing with unionization efforts by third-party contractors,'' according to the Verge.
Indeed, in a statement to Fortune, a Google spokesperson says that the Austin-based unionized workers are ''not Google employees. Cognizant is responsible for these workers' employment terms, including staffing.'' They add that they ''have no objections to Cognizant employees electing to form a union. We simply believe it's only appropriate for Cognizant, as their employer, to engage in collective bargaining,'' and say that Google will be appealing the NLRB's ruling that stated otherwise.
Google also denied that it fired the YouTube Music workers, saying this was a routine end of contract ''which was agreed to with Cognizant.''
After this story's publication, a Cognizant spokeperson told Fortune, ''ramp-downs and ramp-ups of projects are a normal part of Cognizant's business operations. This contract ended at its planned expiration date. ''
The spokesperson added that the former YouTube Music workers ''will become part of Cognizant's deployable talent pool, better known as our 'bench,' where they are given seven (7) weeks of dedicated, paid time to explore other roles within the organization and build new skills through our training ecosystem. ''
Still, the Alphabet Workers Union said that the contract end had come as a surprise, with no notice to affected workers.
As a former employee noted, the NLRB has twice ruled that Google and Cognizant are joint employers of these contractors and that Google has illegally changed working conditions without contacting the union.
Alphabet Workers Union directed Fortune to its public statement on the issue, which mentioned how many employees were forced to work multiple gigs to make ends meet and were unable to meet the mandate to work in person as they were ''not paid enough to afford the associated expenses with in-person work, like gas and childcare costs.'' They also highlighted a quote from the regional director of the NLRB in Fort Worth, Texas, from last year's ruling that found the contractors were employed by both Alphabet and Cognizant. ''Google exercises direct and immediate control over benefits, hours of work, supervision and direction of work,'' said the regional director.
An employee who had worked at YouTube Music for three years opened up about how the tech job was not as cushy as it's often stereotyped to be. ''Truth of the matter is, we get paid $19 an hour here with awful benefits that come out of our paycheck and [we had] a restrictive PTO policy,'' they said in an Instagram post. ''This is simply not enough to live with any kind of comfortability in this city which is, across the board, significantly increasing its average cost of living year by year.'' Adding that the group unionized to change these conditions and pay, the employee notes that the gig was easier when working remotely as they could save money by skipping a commute and making food at home.
''Google and Cognizant have profited immensely off of our labor and consequently -for lack of a better word- fucked us,'' says the employee.
Update, Mar. 1, 2024: This story has been updated with a response from Cognizant.
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