#2024 united stations presidential election

[quotesfrommyreading]

An unpunished plot is practice for the next.

  —  How Donald Trump Could Subvert the 2024 Election

[deadpresidents]

Formal Presidential Proclamation Announcing the Death of President Carter

December 29, 2024

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

To the People of the United States:

It is my solemn duty to announce officially the death of James Earl Carter, Jr., the thirty-ninth President of the United States, on December 29, 2024.

President Carter was a man of character, courage, and compassion, whose lifetime of service defined him as one of the most influential statesmen in our history. He embodied the very best of America: A humble servant of God and the people. A heroic champion of global peace and human rights, and an honorable leader whose moral clarity and hopeful vision lifted our Nation and changed our world.

The son of a farmer and a nurse, President Carter's remarkable career in public service began in 1943 as a cadet at the United States Naval Academy. He later served in both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets before becoming a decorated lieutenant and being selected to join the elite nuclear submarine program.

After his father died, he shifted from active duty to the Navy Reserve and returned home to Plains, Georgia, to help manage his family's peanut farm. He worked hard stewarding the land while leading his community as a church deacon, Sunday school teacher, and board member of a hospital and library. His deep faith inspired a passion for public service that led him to be elected State Senator, Georgia's 76th Governor, and ultimately President of the United States.

As President, he understood that Government must be as good as its people -- and his faith in the people was boundless just as his belief in America was limitless and his hope for our common future was perennial.

With President Carter's leadership, the modern Department of Education and the Department of Energy were created. He championed conservation, and his commitment to a more just world was at the heart of his foreign policy, leading on nuclear nonproliferation, signing the Panama Canal treaties, and mediating the historic 1978 Camp David Accords. His partnership with Vice President Walter Mondale is one that future administrations strived to achieve.

Following his Presidency, President Carter advanced an agenda that elevated the least among us. Guided by an unwavering belief in the power of human goodness and the God given dignity of every human being, he worked tirelessly around the globe to broker peace; eradicate disease; house the homeless; and protect human rights, freedom, and democracy.

Through his extraordinary moral leadership, President Carter lived a noble life full of meaning and purpose. And as a trusted spiritual leader, he shepherded people through seasons of pain and joy, inspiring them through the power of his example and healing them through the power of his guidance.

As we mourn the loss of President Carter, we hold the memory of his beloved Rosalynn, his wife of over 77 years, close in our hearts. Exemplifying hope, warmth, and service, she and her husband inspired the Nation. The love Rosalynn and President Carter shared is the definition of partnership, and their devotion to public service is the definition of patriotism.

May President Carter's memory continue to be a light pointing us forward. May we continue to be guided by his spirit in our Nation and in our world.

Now, Therefore, I, Joseph R. Biden Jr., President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, in honor and tribute to the memory of President James Earl Carter, Jr., and as an expression of public sorrow, do hereby direct that the flag of the United States be displayed at half-staff at the White House and on all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions for a period of 30 days from the day of his death. I also direct that, for the same length of time, the representatives of the United States in foreign countries shall make similar arrangements for the display of the flag at half staff over their embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.

I hereby order that suitable honors be rendered by units of the Armed Forces under orders of the Secretary of Defense.

I do further appoint January 9, 2025, as a National Day of Mourning throughout the United States. I call on the American people to assemble on that day in their respective places of worship, there to pay homage to the memory of President James Earl Carter, Jr. I invite the people of the world who share our grief to join us in this solemn observance.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth day of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-ninth.

JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

[mariacallous]

Shortly following reports of an apparent second assassination attempt against former US president and 2024 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Elon Musk decided to speak up.

“And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala 🤔,” Musk, X’s owner, wrote in a now deleted post, in response to another person asking, “Why they want to kill Donald Trump?”

After deleting the post—which could be interpreted as a call to murder President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s Democratic opponent in the US presidential election—Musk indicated that it was merely a joke that fell flat given the context. “Well, one lesson I’ve learned is that just because I say something to a group and they laugh doesn’t mean it’s going to be all that hilarious as a post on 𝕏,” he wrote, adding, “Turns out that jokes are WAY less funny if people don’t know the context and the delivery is plain text.”

The incident was the latest in a long line of increasingly incendiary political posts from Musk, whose substantial defense contracts with the US government may give him access to highly sensitive information even while he makes potential threats against the sitting commander in chief. And they point to the more pressing risk that Musk’s recent rhetoric has posed: the potential to inspire further political violence.

While Sunday night’s post is gone, it appears likely that Musk could receive some attention from federal law enforcement, if he hasn’t already.

The United States Secret Service declined WIRED’s request to comment on Musk’s post. “We can say, however, that the Secret Service investigates all threats related to our protectees,” USSS spokesperson Nate Herring tells WIRED.

“In my experience, the Secret Service would take such a comment very seriously,” says Michael German, a former FBI special agent and a liberty and national security fellow at NYU School of Law’s Brennan Center for Justice. “Typically, agents would go out and interview the subject to ensure that there wasn't an existing threat, and to make the subject aware that the agency takes such statements seriously.”

German notes that it’s possible the FBI could also launch an investigation. However, it’s unlikely that Musk would face any charges for his post. “On its face, the tweet would not meet the ‘true threat’ test, in that it wasn't a direct threat to do harm to the vice president, so it wouldn't likely proceed to prosecution,” German says. Still, “it would create a record of the investigations.”

The FBI declined WIRED’s request to comment on Musk’s post. X did not immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment.

Both Biden and Harris have released statements condemning the apparent attempt on Trump’s life and political violence more broadly. In a statement to ABC News, the White House condemned Musk’s post. "Violence should only be condemned, never encouraged or joked about,” the statement says. “This rhetoric is irresponsible."

Where things get dicier for Musk is his role as a major contractor for the US Department of Defense and NASA. According to Reuters, SpaceX signed a $1.8 billion contract in 2021 with the National Reconnaissance Office, which oversees US spy satellites. The US Space Force also signed a $70 million contract late last year with SpaceX to build out military-grade low-earth-orbit satellite capabilities. Starlink, SpaceX’s commercial satellite internet wing, is providing connectivity to the US Navy.

NASA, meanwhile, has increasingly outsourced its spaceflight projects to SpaceX, including billions of dollars in contracts for multiple trips to the moon and an $843 million contract to build the vehicle that will take the International Space Station out of commission.

The US government’s heavy reliance on companies controlled by Musk has repeatedly raised the hackles of national security experts. Concerns at the Pentagon came into stark relief last September after Musk denied Ukraine’s request to enable Starlink in Crimea, a disputed territory bordering Russia, so it could launch an attack on Russian troops. (Starlink was not under a military contract when he denied the request.) In response to previous WIRED reporting, Musk asserted that “Starlink was barred from turning on satellite beams in Crimea at the time, because doing so would violate US sanctions against Russia!”

Neither the Defense Department nor NASA have responded to WIRED’s request for comment.

Even Musk’s October 2022 acquisition of Twitter (now X) had some experts worried about the national security risks it could pose to the US, given his business relationship and communications with the Chinese government, his alleged outreach to Russian president Vladimir Putin (which Musk has denied), and Saudi Arabia’s continued investment in Twitter following Musk’s buyout. Others raised concerns that China may have leverage over Musk, due to his relationships with Beijing related to Tesla, his electric car company that has a factory in Shanghai. And all that was before Musk—a citizen of South Africa, Canada, and the US—reactivated the accounts of conspiracy theorists and white nationalists, and began heavily pushing his own right-wing political narrative. Immediately following the first attempted assassination of Trump in mid-July, Musk endorsed Trump and reportedly pledged $45 million per month to support a pro-Trump PAC, a funding vow he said he did not make.

Musk’s deleted Sunday night post further complicates matters. The CEO reportedly has security clearance given his companies’ work on classified US government projects. While there are many rules around who gets security clearance, such as abstaining from cannabis use, the designation is awarded and maintained on a risk-vs-reward basis for the US government. Given that Musk is perhaps the world’s richest man and most famous chief executive, it may be tricky to pull his security clearance regardless of his flippant discussions of political assassinations.

“This is where Musk's status might have a greater effect,” says the Brennan Center’s German. “It would be hard for managers to revoke the security clearance of someone in a position of power, whereas they could be expected to take quick action against a regular employee who engaged in similar conduct.”

The most concerning aspect of Musk’s post is its potential to further inflame extremist threats in the US, says Jon Lewis, a research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, who calls the post “merely the latest example of right-wing incitement that has become concerningly mainstream in recent years.”

“That the owner of a major social media platform—and US government contractor—is opining on the assassination of political opponents should be alarming for Americans across the political spectrum,” Lewis says. He warns that “culture war narratives and thinly veiled racism” have already had effects on the real world, which could be exacerbated by the far-right’s willingness to answer calls to arms.

“These extremists are waiting for the justification to engage in violence,” he says, “and rhetoric like this provides the perfect excuse.”

[warningsine]

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/venezuelans-vote-highly-charged-election-amid-fraud-worries-2024-07-28/

CARACAS, July 28 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his opposition rival Edmundo Gonzalez were each claiming victory in a presidential election on Monday morning, after a vote marked by accusations of underhand tactics and isolated incidents of violence.

The country's electoral authority said just after midnight on Monday that Maduro had won a third term with 51% of the vote, despite multiple exit polls which pointed to an opposition win.

The authority said opposition candidate Gonzalez won 44% of the vote, though the opposition had earlier said it had "reasons to celebrate" and asked supporters to continue monitoring vote counts.

Maduro, appearing at the presidential palace before cheering supporters, said his reelection is a triumph of peace and stability and reiterated his campaign trail assertion that Venezuela's electoral system is transparent.

He will sign a decree on Monday to hold a "great national dialogue," Maduro added.

Fireworks sounded over Caracas, as lighted drones formed a brightly-colored image of Maduro in the sky above the presidential palace.

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said Gonzalez had won 70% of the vote and that multiple independent exit polls and quick counts decisively showed his victory.

"Venezuela has a new president-elect and it is Edmundo Gonzalez. We won and the whole world knows it," she said in a joint statement with Gonzalez.

Gonzalez said he was not calling for supporters to take to the streets or commit any acts of violence.

A poll from Edison Research, known for its polling of U.S. elections, had predicted in an exit poll that Gonzalez would win 65% of the vote, while Maduro would win 31%.

Local firm Meganalisis predicted a 65% vote for Gonzalez and just under 14% for Maduro.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States had "serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people."

Blinken called for electoral authorities to publish a detailed tabulation of votes.

About 80% of ballot boxes have been counted, said national electoral council (CNE) president Elvis Amoroso in a televised statement, adding results had been delayed because of an "aggression" against the electoral data transmission system.

The CNE has asked the attorney general to investigate the "terrorist actions" Amoroso said, adding participation was 59%.

The CNE is meant to be an independent body, but the opposition alleges its acts as an arm of the government.

The top opposition official meant to witness the overall national count was not allowed to and there were several polling stations where opposition observers were not allowed to observe, the opposition said on Sunday night.

Earlier Machado reiterated a call for the country's military to uphold the results of the vote. The opposition says it has copies of about 40% of voting records.

"A message for the military. The people of Venezuela have spoken: they don't want Maduro," she said earlier on X. "It is time to put yourselves on the right side of history. You have a chance and it's now."

Venezuela's military has always supported Maduro, a 61-year-old former bus driver and foreign minister, and there have been no public signs that leaders of the armed forces are breaking from the government.

STREET FIGHTS

Machado has been the star of the coalition campaign, despite a ban on her holding public office that forced her to pass the torch to Gonzalez, a 74-year-old ex-diplomat known for his calm demeanor.

Gonzalez won backing even from some former supporters of the ruling party, but the opposition and observers raised questions ahead of the vote as to whether it would be fair, saying decisions by electoral authorities and the arrests of opposition staff were meant to create obstacles.

Maduro – whose 2018 reelection is considered fraudulent by the United States, among others - had warned last week of a "bloodbath" if he were to lose.

Attorney General Tarek Saab told Reuters on Sunday evening that he did not anticipate any violence and that except for some isolated incidents voting had been peaceful.

Less than a block from Saab's office in central Caracas, dozens of ruling party supporters arrived together on motorcycles outside Andres Bello secondary school, the country's largest voting center, scuffling with opposition supporters gathered outside.

The crowd dispersed after about 20 minutes, but videos on social media showed similar incidents in other locations around the country.

The Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict said on X that armed groups of the motorcycle-riding ruling party supporters known as 'collectives' were reported in six states and Caracas.

One man died of a gunshot wound in the border state of Tachira after a collective attacked people outside a polling place, the Observatory said. Reuters could not independently verify the details of the incident.

Reuters journalists in seven locations around the country had reported morning lines outside polling stations, including some that opened late or where voting was moving slowly. Many voters had arrived before dawn.

"I work cleaning houses and my four grandchildren depend on me. I earn just $15 per week and that is enough to eat one day but not the next," said Luisa Gonzalez, 61, who voted in the state of Bolivar, traditionally a ruling party bastion.

"I was a Chavista, but people have changed," she said, using the term for ruling party supporters, a reference to the late President Hugo Chavez.

Maduro's government has presided over an economic collapse, the migration of about a third of the population, and a sharp deterioration in diplomatic relations, crowned by sanctions imposed by the United States, the European Union and others which have crippled an already struggling oil industry.

Maduro said if returned to power he would guarantee peace and economic growth, making Venezuela less dependent on oil income.

THE CHAVEZ LEGACY

Maduro voted early in the morning in Caracas and said the result announced by the electoral authorities would be recognized and defended by the armed forces and the police.

Maduro said he would decree a national dialogue on Monday, using a term that typically means conversations between the government and opposition, businesses, communities and others.

Many Maduro supporters speak enthusiastically of his mentor Chavez, and see Maduro, in power since Chavez's death in 2013, as a continuation of Chavez's legacy of helping the poor.

Others told Reuters they saw Maduro's record as mixed but that they would back him.

"There are things that without doubt need to improve in our country, but this government has lived through sanctions and blockades like no other. That's why I back President Maduro and think he deserves another chance," said Jose Lopez, 57, as he waited to vote in central Valencia.

Gonzalez and Machado promised major changes and said a fresh start may motivate migrants to return.

Forty-six people have been arbitrarily detained since Friday in connection with the elections, Gonzalo Himiob, the vice president of human rights organization Foro Penal, said on X late on Sunday, and at least 23 remain detained.

Saab this week denied participating in political persecution.

Migrants around the world reported difficulties registering and only a small percentage of the large Venezuelan diaspora was registered to vote.

[thoughtportal]

December 6, 2024

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — A top Romanian court on Friday annulled the first round of the country’s presidential election, days after allegations emerged that Russia ran a coordinated online campaign to promote the far-right outsider who won the first round.

The Constitutional Court’s unprecedented decision — which is final — came after President Klaus Iohannis declassified intelligence on Wednesday that alleged Russia organized thousands of social media accounts to promote Calin Georgescu across platforms such as TikTok and Telegram.

The court, without naming Georgescu, said that one of the 13 candidates in the Nov. 24 first round had improperly received “preferential treatment” on social media, distorting the outcome of the vote.

Georgescu denounced the verdict as an “officialized coup” and an attack on democracy, as did the second-place finisher, reformist Elena Lasconi of the center-right Save Romania Union party.

Despite being an outsider who declared zero campaign spending, Georgescu emerged as the frontrunner who was to face Lasconi in a runoff on Sunday. Some 951 voting stations had already opened abroad on Friday for the runoff for Romania’s large diaspora, but had to be halted.

Iohannis said he would remain in office until a new presidential election could be rerun from scratch. On Dec. 1, one week after the first round of the presidential race, Romania also held a parliamentary election, which saw pro-Western parties win the most votes but also gains for far-right nationalists. Iohannis said that once the new government is formed, the date of the new presidential vote would be set.

On Wednesday the president had released intelligence files from the Romanian Intelligence Service, the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Special Telecommunication Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

In a televised statement Friday, Iohannis said he was “deeply concerned” by the contents of the intelligence reports. “Intelligence reports revealed that this candidate’s campaign was supported by a foreign state with interests contrary to Romania’s. These are serious issues,” he said.

The Constitutional Court in its published decision cited the illegal use of digital technologies including artificial intelligence, as well as the use of “undeclared sources of funding.” It said one candidate received “preferential treatment on social media platforms, which resulted in the distortion of voters’ expressed will.”

Georgescu slammed the verdict as putting “democracy is under attack.”

“I have only one pact … with the Romanian people and God,” he said in a video statement. “We are no longer talking about fairness but rather about a mockery that betrays the principles of democracy … It is time to show that we are a courageous people who know that the destiny and rights of the Romanian nation are in our hands.”

Lasconi also strongly condemned the court’s decision, saying it was “illegal, immoral, and crushes the very essence of democracy” and that the second round should have gone forward.

“Whether we like it or not, from a legal and legitimate standpoint, 9 million Romanian citizens, both in the country and the diaspora, expressed their preference for a particular candidate through their votes,” she said.

“I know I would have won. And I will win because the Romanian people know I will fight for them, that I will unite them for a better Romania,” she added.

Some 9.4 million people — about 52.5% of eligible voters — had cast ballots in the first round in this European Union and NATO member country. The president serves a five-year term and has significant decision-making powers in national security, foreign policy and judicial appointments.

Most surveys had predicted the top candidate would be Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu of the ruling center-left Social Democrats. They indicated that second place would be claimed by either Lasconi or the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, George Simion.

As the surprising results came in with Georgescu on top, and Lasconi narrowly beating Ciolacu, it plunged the political establishment into turmoil.

The same court last week ordered a recount of the first-round votes, which added to the myriad controversies that have engulfed a chaotic election cycle. Following a recount, the court then validated the first-round results on Monday.

Many observers have expressed concerns that annulling the vote could trigger civil unrest. The court said Friday that its decision was meant “to restore citizens’ trust in the democratic legitimacy of public authorities, in the legality and fairness of elections.”

Simion, of the far-right party, said the development was a “coup d’état in full swing” but urged people not to take to the streets. “We don’t let ourselves be provoked, this system has to fall democratically,” he said.

Cristian Andrei, a political consultant based in Bucharest, said the court’s decision amounts to a “crisis mode situation for Romanian democracy.”

“In light of the information about the external interference, the massive interference in elections, I think this was not normal but predictable, because it’s not normal times at all, Romania is an uncharted territory,” he told The Associated Press. “The problem is here, do we have the institutions to manage such an interference in the future?”

Georgescu’s surprising success left many political observers wondering how most local surveys were so far off, putting him behind at least five other candidates before the vote.

Many observers attributed his success to his TikTok account, which now has 6 million likes and 541,000 followers. But some experts suspected Georgescu’s online following was artificially inflated while Romania’s top security body alleged he was given preferential treatment by TikTok over other candidates.

In the intelligence release, the secret services alleged that one TikTok user paid more $381,000 (361,000 euros) to other users to promote Georgescu content. Intelligence authorities said information they obtained “revealed an aggressive promotion campaign” to increase and accelerate his popularity.

Georgescu, when asked by the AP in an interview Wednesday whether he believes the Chinese-owned TikTok poses a threat to democracy, defended social media platforms.

“The most important existing function for promoting free speech and freedom of expression is social media,” he said.

[head-post]

Trump or Harris? US decides today

Millions of people are rushing to the polls to vote for candidates who offer an opposing vision of America. Harris and Trump need at least 270 electoral votes to win the election.

Millions of Americans head to the polls in the final race for the White House

In one of the closest presidential elections ever, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are vying to become the next US president.

Harris, who became the Democratic candidate after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, is in favour of abortion rights and has promised to lower food and housing prices for working families.

Republican candidate Trump, who has survived two assassination attempts this year, has vowed to shut down the border and proposed trillions in tax cuts.

More than 81 million people have already voted in what polls say will be a historically close election. States such as Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are expected to be crucial to their victory.

When are the results of the 2024 presidential election expected?

In some presidential races, the winner has been named late in the evening or early the next morning. This time around, because of the intense competition in many states, the media may wait longer before naming a winner.

Minor victories could also lead to recounts. For example, in the key state of Pennsylvania, a statewide recount would be required if there was a half a per cent difference between the votes cast for the winner and the loser. In 2020, the difference was just over 1.1 percentage points.

Litigation is also a possibility. Republicans have already filed more than 100 election lawsuits, including over eligibility and voter roll management.

The 2020 election was held on Tuesday. However, US TV stations did not declare Joe Biden the winner until late morning on Saturday, after the result in Pennsylvania became clearer.

Close Harris-Trump election race in “swing” states

There are 50 states in the US, but because most of them almost always vote for the same party, there are realistically only a few where both candidates have a chance of winning. These are places where elections will be won and lost, and they are known as battleground states, or swing states.

Currently, the lead in the “swing” states is so small that it is impossible to determine who is really ahead by looking at polling averages.

Stakes are high

According to CNN, if Trump wins on Tuesday, he will become only the second president to be defeated and win more than one term in a row. He would complete one of the most stunning political comebacks in history after being convicted of a crime and escaping two attempts on his life this year.

Harris could break a nearly 250-year streak of male commanders-in-chief and become the first female president. That would be a stunning achievement after she united a demoralised Democratic Party in July, when ageism destroyed President Joe Biden’s re-election bid, CNN adds.

Ms. Harris spent Election Day in Pennsylvania, speaking at a recent rally attended by Lady Gaga, Oprah Winfrey and Ricky Martin.

On the night in Pennsylvania, Harris delivered a final message of unity, telling the crowd:

I pledge to listen to those who will be impacted by the decisions I make. I will listen to experts. I will listen to the people who disagree with me. Because, you see, unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe that people who disagree with me are the enemy.

Trump held his last rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where the Republican candidate said he was already ahead by hundreds of thousands of votes.

In the final hours of his campaign, Trump secured the support of scandal podcaster Joe Rogan, who held rallies in North Carolina and Pennsylvania before his last campaign event in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Election Day in 2024, when the contenders are separated by a minimal margin, will make history.

“Nostradamus” of US election makes huge prediction

Allan Lichtman, known as the “Nostradamus of the polls,” has correctly predicted the results of nine out of ten presidential elections since 1984. He claims that all of them have been correct except for George W. Bush’s victory in 2000.

The historian claims his prediction of who will win the 2024 presidential race is correct, even though recent polls say otherwise. Lichtman, who admitted he has never before felt “so much hatred” for his views during an election cycle, has a method of predicting outcomes known as “‘The Keys to the White House.” He said he developed the system to “accurately calculate” the results in 1981 with Russian academic Vladimir Keilis-Borok.

Lichtman believes the Democrat will win and become the first female president of the United States. He said in a new YouTube video:

My prediction has not changed. I have frequently made my prediction correctly in defiance of the polls, it’s based on 160 years of precedent.

However, he acknowledged there is still a chance he could be wrong. He said:

The keys are very robust. But it’s always possible that something so cataclysmic and so unprecedented could change the pattern of history.

The academic evaluates 13 factors, including scandals, social unrest, comparative charisma and the state of a country’s economy, and assigns a “true” or “false” score for each category. He also added:

My predictions have stood the test of time, my indicators have always been right.

Read more HERE

[newstfionline]

Sunday, October 20, 2024

Teen Burnout (Vox) A new study of 1,545 teens surveyed by researchers found that many of them are working hard to dive into adult habits such as “completely burning yourself out” and “obsessing about your future at an unhealthy level.” Of those surveyed, 56 percent said they felt pressure to have a game plan for their future lives and 53 percent said they felt pressure to be impressive through their achievements. Overall, 27 percent of teens said they were actively struggling with burnout.

Biden envoy told aid groups Israel too close an ally for US to suspend arms (Politico) The top U.S. official working on the humanitarian situation in Gaza told aid groups in August that the U.S. would not consider withholding weapons from Israel for blocking food and medicine from entering the enclave—a rare admission by someone in the administration. At the Aug. 29 meeting in Washington, Lise Grande told the leaders of more than a dozen aid organizations that the U.S. could potentially consider other tactics to convince Israel to allow life-saving aid into Gaza—such as applying pressure through the United Nations, but stressed that the administration would continue to support Israel and would not delay or stop weapons shipments. That account is based on conversations with three people in the meeting and two others who were briefed on it, along with a set of detailed notes from the encounter reviewed by POLITICO. A humanitarian aid official who attended the meeting said Grande noted that Israel is one in a “tight circle of very few allies” that the U.S. will not oppose, nor will it “hold anything back that they want.”

Gangs attack neighborhoods across Haiti’s capital in new wave of violence (AP) Multiple gangs attacked several communities in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince on Friday, setting fire to homes and a church as bullets whizzed through the area. At least one woman was killed as gangs opened fire in Solino, St. Michel, Tabarre 27 and other neighborhoods, with panicked residents calling radio stations since late Thursday pleading for help. It wasn’t clear what prompted the latest attack, which comes just days after Haitian and Kenyan police launched an operation killed at least 20 suspected gang members in an area controlled by the 400 Mawozo gang that operates mainly in Tabarre. Gangs control 80% of Port-au-Prince, although communities like Solino have been fighting attempts by gunmen to control it.

Three Americans among latest to be detained in Venezuela over alleged anti-government plot (AP) Venezuela detained five more foreigners, including three U.S. citizens, for their alleged connection to a plot to destabilize the country, the interior minister announced Thursday, marking the latest round of arrests for what authorities have characterized as anti-government activities following the disputed July presidential election. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello did not provide proof to back the allegations that the detainees were linked to terrorist activities. As in similar previous announcements, he also claimed without showing any evidence that U.S. intelligence agencies planned the activities. Last month, Cabello announced the arrests of three Americans, two Spaniards and a Czech citizen whom he accused of traveling to Venezuela to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro. Cabello said the foreign citizens were part of a CIA-led plot to overthrow the Venezuelan government and kill several members of its leadership. The Maduro administration has previously used Americans imprisoned in Venezuela to gain concessions from the U.S. government. In a deal conducted last year with the Biden administration, Maduro released 10 Americans and a fugitive wanted by the U.S. government to secure a presidential pardon for Alex Saab, a close Maduro ally who was held in Florida on money laundering charges.

UK now home to more atheists than Christians? (TCW/UK) The UK is now home to more atheists than Christians. This is a conclusion from the three-year ‘Explaining Atheism’ project led by Queen’s University Belfast. The interdisciplinary research team surveyed nearly 25,000 people from across six countries (Brazil, China, Denmark, Japan, UK and USA) to find out why they become atheists and agnostics. They also brought together converging results from the British Social Attitudes Survey and World Values Survey to show the UK now has a relative majority of atheists. The report concluded that the strongest influences on belief are parental upbringing and societal expectations. The team leader, Professor Jonathan Lanman from Queen’s, explained: ‘Our large cross-cultural surveys reveal that while many factors may influence one’s beliefs in small ways, the key factor is the extent to which one is socialised to be a theist. Many other popular theories, such as intelligence, emotional stoicism, broken homes and rebelliousness, do not stand up to empirical scrutiny.’

Building A Wall In Brussels (AP) It’s not a secret—E.U. leaders are focused on clamping down on the flow of asylum seekers into their countries. Yesterday, as leaders from across the 27-nation bloc met at a summit in Brussels—there, they agreed that they need to implement more restrictive immigration policies, but acknowledged that such changes would take time. Many E.U. governments are apparently looking to Italy, which has a policy of shipping asylum seekers to Albania, where they’re held in Italy-run facilities as their asylum applications are processed. Others are looking to mimic Finland, which simply suspended asylum rights entirely in July. The European Commission has already promised to put forth a proposal for a bloc-wide arrangement similar to Italy’s deal with Albania, where member states would establish contracts with non-E.U. countries to hold their rejected immigrants.

Two days of torrential rain bring major flooding to central France (AP) France’s prime minister said Friday that firefighters and other rescuers have been involved in about 2,300 operations, some of them lifesaving, in what appears to be the biggest flooding in 40 years in central France. Michel Barnier visited French authorities’ crisis center in Paris and said there hadn’t been such violent rain in many people’s memory. Over 1,000 people were evacuated. Most of them were able to go back home on Friday. French weather agency Meteo France said as much as 700 millimeters (27.5 inches) of rain fell in in 48 hours in some local areas in the regions of Ardeche and Lozere.

China’s demographic crisis (SCMP) If China’s fertility rate remains on its downward trajectory, for every newborn in the future, six people would die—a trend that threatens to intensify the nation’s demographic crisis, a demographer has cautioned. “With the current half-hearted incentive policies, not only is it impossible to raise the fertility rate, but even maintaining it at 1.0 seems out of reach,” warned a recent report published by the YuWa Population Research Institute. “Anti-marriage and anti-childbearing sentiments are intensifying, and the pro-birth policies aren’t even enough to counter this downward trend.” China and South Korea have among the world’s lowest birth rates, dragged down by high child-rearing costs, intense societal pressures, educational competition, and unaffordable housing.

Hezbollah’s web of tunnels (AP) Israeli forces have spent much of the past year destroying Hamas’ vast underground network in Gaza. They are now focused on dismantling tunnels and other hideouts belonging to Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military has combed through the dense brush of southern Lebanon for the past two weeks, uncovering what it says are Hezbollah’s deep attack capabilities—highlighted by a tunnel system equipped with weapons caches and rocket launchers. With Israel’s air power far outstripping Hezbollah’s defenses, the militant group has turned to underground tunnels as a way to elude Israeli drones and jets. Experts say Hezbollah’s tunnels are not limited to the south. “It’s a land of tunnels,” said Tal Beeri, who studies Hezbollah as director of research at The Alma Research and Education Center, a think tank with a focus on northern Israel’s security. Eva J. Koulouriotis, a political analyst specialized in the Middle East and Islamic militant groups, said tunnels stretch under the southern suburbs of Beirut, where Hezbollah’s command and control are located and where it keeps a stockpile of strategic missiles. She said the group also maintains tunnels along the border with Syria, which it uses to smuggle weapons and other supplies from Iran into Lebanon.

Freedom of expression threatened more seriously in Gaza than in any recent conflict, UN expert says (AP) Freedom of expression has been threatened more seriously in Gaza than in any recent conflict, with journalists targeted in the war-torn territory and Palestinian supporters targeted in many countries, a United Nations expert said Friday. Irene Khan, the U.N. independent investigator on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, pointed to attacks on the media and the targeted killings and arbitrary detention of dozens of journalists in Gaza. “The banning of Al Jazeera, the tightening of censorship within Israel and in the occupied territories, seem to indicate a strategy of the Israeli authorities to silence critical journalism and obstruct the documentation of possible international crimes,” she said. Khan also sharply criticized the “discrimination and double standards” that have seen restrictions and suppression of pro-Palestinian protests and speech. She cited bans in Germany and other European countries, protests that were “crushed harshly” on U.S. college campuses, and Palestinian national symbols and slogans prohibited and even criminalized in some countries.

Negative stereotypes in international media cost Africa £3.2bn a year—report (Guardian) Africa loses up to £3.2bn yearly in inflated interest payments on sovereign debt due to persistent negative stereotypes that dominate international media coverage of the continent, according to a new report. Research by consultants Africa Practice and the advocacy non-profit Africa No Filter suggests that media portrayals, especially during elections when global coverage is heightened, focus disproportionately on conflict, corruption, poverty, disease and poor leadership, widening disparities between perceived and actual risks of investing in the continent, and creating a monolithic view of Africa. “We’ve always known that there’s a cost to the persistent stereotypical media narratives about Africa. Now we’re able to put an actual figure to it,” said Moky Makura, executive director of Africa No Filter. The organisations involved in the report say that the figure is a “prejudice premium” that could fund the education of more than 12 million children or immunisations for more than 73 million, “clean drinking water for two-thirds of Nigeria’s population” or help the continent as it faces some of the worst climate change impacts.

[adrl-pt]

01/06/2024 🙋 40th Weekly protest

Missiles and drones instead of a New Year's gift. What to do and what is the Russian opposition doing.

You are watching the first news of this year from the weekly rally at the Russian embassy in Lisbon. Today is January 6th, 14:30.

While the whole world was preparing to celebrate the New Year, residents of Ukraine were dying under the shelling of the Russian army. Here are just a few headlines from the internet media "Ukrainian Pravda": "The massive attack on Ukraine cost Russia at least $1.27 billion." "The December 29 attack was the largest in terms of civilian victims in Kyiv. The city will declare a day of mourning." "Journalists from the German channel ZDF were under shelling at a hotel in Kharkiv." "In Vishnevoe, apartments of 700 people were damaged due to the attack by the Russian Federation."

As citizens of Russia, we demand from the authorities: stop shooting, withdraw troops from Ukraine, restore what was destroyed and extradite military criminals.

If the authorities do not fulfill the demands of their citizens, citizens change the authorities. With representatives of the people in power, there are such options as elections, a vote of no confidence, and impeachment. But in Russia, the authorities represent only themselves. So what to do?

There are three ways: military defeat, internal coup, and mass protests. People work in all three directions, and we have ones to support.

In March, Putin's reappointment will take place in Russia. The Anti-War Committee is preparing the "Noon Against Putin" action - on the last day of voting at 12 o'clock we gather in queues at polling stations to see that there are many of us. The Anti-War Committee also promotes a petition calling for Putin to be declared illegitimate and to refuse contacts with the authorities of the Russian Federation. Link in the description: https://www.change.org/illegitimate_eng

It is very important to express your position, but more needs to be done. The Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF) has launched the "Russia without Putin" campaign, which calls for actively persuading Russians to oppose Putin. Everyone contributes to the common cause, and the effect increases tenfold.

Mark Feygin announced the preparation of a tool for holding alternative presidential elections in Russia. Although the number of participants in such elections is limited, this will also be a way to show each other that we exist.

The "Committee 2024" association calls for actively spreading information about the usurpation of power by the Putin regime, which, according to international law, gives the people of Russia the right to revolt and overthrow this regime. For this purpose, it is proposed to collect evidence of electoral fraud and confirm them in the form of complaints to the CEC.

The more people are against the regime, the more chances there are for a coup within the current ruling elite.

The resistance of the Armed Forces of Ukraine best convinces Russians of the senselessness of this war. Therefore, supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including our volunteer units in their composition, is a big blow to the regime.

Activists around the world help you to participate in the anti-war movement. On January 21, we will support the international rally of the ACF. In Lisbon, the rally is called "Russia without Putin and Putinism" and will take place at Praça dos Restauradores at 14:00. An rally is also being prepared in Porto. If there is no rally in your city - contact us, we will tell you how to make it. Link to the event - in the description. Come and bring friends! https://www.facebook.com/events/3765824253675650/

[steelbluehome]

"The film mostly succeeds in this monstrous true story due to the transformative and utterly compelling performances of Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong. Stan’s gradual transformation is entirely believable, avoiding SNL-levels of parody through his eerily uncanny, surprisingly restrained, and frightening portrayal of a total and complete narcissist. He absolutely nails Trump’s body language, speech patterns, and facial expressions, and he does this more progressively throughout the film while never once overplaying it. By the time you reach the end of the film, his version of Trump is completely unrecognizable from the person we met at the beginning of the film, not just in mind and body (courtesy of some convincing makeup work), but also in spirit."

The Next Best Picture

"THE APPRENTICE” (click for article)

May 20, 2024

By Matt Neglia

THE STORY – A dive into the underbelly of the American empire, the film charts a young Donald Trump’s ascent to power through a Faustian deal with the influential right-wing lawyer and political fixer Roy Cohn.

THE CAST – Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, Maria Bakalova, Martin Donovan & Joe Pingue

THE TEAM – Ali Abbasi (Director), Jennifer Stahl & Gabriel Sherman (Writers)

THE RUNNING TIME – 120 Minutes

Making a film about former President of the United States, Donald Trump, was always going to be a hot-button topic amongst cinephiles. Such a controversial figure who is still, to this day, a very real presence in our lives and has no intentions of fading away, one would think any form of a biopic about him would want to wait a number of years, perhaps after his passing, to tell any story about him so not to garner intense reactions out of people. But perhaps that’s the goal all along. No matter what the response to filmmaker Ali Abbasi’s (“Holy Spider“) latest film is, it’s going at least get some sort of a reaction out of people. And in a way, such a reckless and blatant approach to making and releasing this film now, while both his supporters and haters are out in full force during an election year where he will be the Republican nominee once again (barring an indictment of any kind) feels right in line with the kind of person Donald Trump is and has always been, well at least after he met Roy Cohn, which is what Abbasi’s film depicts. It’s not concerned with his Presidential years in the Oval Office, but rather the early days in his real estate career, when barely anyone knew who he was and through a mentor/protege friendship, it gave birth to this Frankenstein’s monster who not only became rich and famous, but infamous.

Before he made his billions, Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan) was a young, upstart real estate mogul looking to secure a deal with the city of New York under his wealthy father, Fred Trump’s (Martin Donovan) nose, who owned The Trump Organization. After venturing into a bar one night visited by some of the most powerful, corrupt, and wealthiest individuals in the city, Trump meets hotshot American lawyer and prosecutor Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong), a blowhard, vulgar, and offensive individual who doesn’t care about anything other than winning. Trump elicits Cohn’s help to get the feds to back off his family’s business so he can move forward with building a luxury hotel in the middle of Grand Central Station, and Cohn eventually agrees. He likes the kid and seizes the moment to take him under his wing and teach him his three key principles to winning: Rule 1: Attack. Attack. Attack. Rule 2: Admit nothing. Deny everything. And Rule 3: Claim victory and never admit defeat. This mental attitude would go on to become the blueprint for how Donald Trump would eventually grow his family’s real estate empire through the 1970s and 80s, leading to the unbreakable mindset that would one day lead him to the Presidency.

Naturally, there’s quite a bit of fear and hesitation about how Sebastian Stan would portray Trump in “The Apprentice” (the title of the film applying to Trump’s role under Cohn’s tutelage and a play off of his famous television show of the same name). Is this meant to be a comedy? A drama? Perhaps even a horror film? Abbasi’s film, surprisingly, plays everything mostly straight, giving the film “Succession” levels of Shakespearean drama (backed by some brass-heavy pieces of score which will also remind viewers of the hit HBO show) as the relationship between Trump and Cohn touches upon themes of friendship, loyalty, and betrayal. The two start off the film in totally different places, and, by the end, they swap as one eventually becomes humbled by life, and the other displays a total disregard for it and its rules based on the teachings he inherited from the other. By telling such a story, “The Apprentice” does not shy away from showing audiences what a driven but naive young Donald Trump once was but also the notorious scumbag he would grow to become.

The film mostly succeeds in this monstrous true story due to the transformative and utterly compelling performances of Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong. Stan’s gradual transformation is entirely believable, avoiding SNL-levels of parody through his eerily uncanny, surprisingly restrained, and frightening portrayal of a total and complete narcissist. He absolutely nails Trump’s body language, speech patterns, and facial expressions, and he does this more progressively throughout the film while never once overplaying it. By the time you reach the end of the film, his version of Trump is completely unrecognizable from the person we met at the beginning of the film, not just in mind and body (courtesy of some convincing makeup work), but also in spirit. The same goes for Strong as Cohn, who captures Cohn’s voice, slight head bob while speaking, and, more importantly, his viciousness, ruthlessness, and cruelty. The latter human qualities are particularly noteworthy for how Strong manages to pry even the slightest degree of pity for Cohn from the audience by the end after watching what a despicable human being he was earlier in his life is nothing short of fantastic acting from the Emmy Award-winning actor. Watching those almost inhuman powers transfer from one actor to the other seamlessly over the course of the two-hour runtime is the film’s best asset, as Abbasi never asks us to sympathize with Trump but instead seeks to give us a better understanding of how anyone could ever think and behave the way he does. By the time you’re done watching Abbasi’s cautionary character study, it starts to make a bit more sense.

Some will feel that none of this is new information and the film’s very act of existence is objectionable, given how much of a prevalent force Trump remains in our daily lives. While Stan and Strong’s exceptional work makes the film worth checking out, there are still numerous flaws to be found within its storytelling. The decision to shoot utilizing different video formats, such as celluloid filmstock and camcorder footage, provides a clear distinction between the time periods, accentuated by the film’s soundtrack comprising various hits from the time. Some of these needle drops feel appropriate, while one in particular during a physical assault by Trump on his former wife Ivana Trump (a sadly underused Maria Bakalova) feels completely out of place and cuts the horrifically violent act’s knees right from underneath it. Abbasi wisely avoids showcasing any and all contemporary scenes during Trump’s presidential run and eventual Presidency, but that doesn’t stop screenwriters Jennifer Stahl & Gabriel Sherman from constantly eluding to it in some heavy-handed ways. Whether it’s played for laughs or for a cheap wink at the camera to tell audiences unnecessary indicators such as, “See! That’s how he got his campaign slogan!” it never hits as hard as the drama conjured by Stan and Strong, nor the queasy feelings it produces in your stomach knowing what this power-hungry, nonsensical fraud of a businessman would later go on to do.

While Trump constantly fabricates the truth to create a scenario where he comes out ahead, Abbasi’s film is about getting as close to the truth as possible to paint a picture of a figure where he comes out not as low as possible but across as honestly as possible. That honesty is rotten to the core, and Stan’s immersive portrayal never breaks away from that truth. There is no breaking of the fourth wall to over-explain details to the audience, nor is there a sharp divide between the film’s drama and comedy, causing us to question whether we should take the film seriously or not. It’s as serious a film for our tumultuous times as any other. Although it might not be perfect, and some will rightfully question whether the timing of “The Apprentice” is justified, Stan and Strong provide awards-worthy work that will get people talking and hopefully convince them to see Trump for who he is and has always been.

[whenyoulookupatnight]

VOTE! DO IT!

(My Guide to Voting of Sorts:)

Early voting is still available in many states for tomorrow, Nov 4, if you are registered! If you’re not sure if you’re registered, check online through your state’s website, or simply go to https://www.vote.org to see if you can still vote, where to vote, if you can vote early, etc.!

YOU HAVE TWO DAYS TO INFLUENCE THE FUTURE OF NOT ONLY THE UNITED STATES, BUT THE WORLD, FOR DECADES, IF NOT *CENTURIES* TO COME.

Don’t think your vote doesn’t count based on your state’s voting trends either—even if you’re sure your presidential vote won’t “count” for the electoral college, VOTE IT ANYWAY!Pennsylvania flipped red in 2016! Georgia flipped blue in 2020! and IOWA could flip blue in 2024! (<link)

ALSO, MAKE SURE TO VOTE STATE AND LOCAL. Up AND down the ballot!!! That’s actually where the most power resides regarding your day to day life, especially state constitutional amendments and local propositions.

You can research your local issues and candidates with many online tools by the way! I prefer https://ballotpedia.org/Main_Page - there is also https://www.vote411.org/ballot , and many others I’m sure if you look it up!

(Quick reminder that these are only tools, as you CANNOT vote online— you MUST visit your local polling station!!)

(Examples of local issues: I just voted on restoring reproductive rights in my state, as well as for a well needed local half cent tax to fix our roads, including my own street, which hasn’t been repaved the entire time I’ve lived there. Better late than never, and—)

Better ON TIME than ever- check your registration, and if you still can, VOTE Nov 5th, in two days at the latest. It’ll be here before you know it!!

Oh yeah, and I’m not your dad, but here’s that old extremely useful quote about fascism that I wish more people deeply knew and understood (plus important context: Niemöller initially symphathized with some fascist propaganda before becoming a vocal critic of those 1930 Germans [idk the censorship trends on Tumblr I’m being cautious, you know what and who I mean]):

“ First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

—Martin Niemöller

It does not matter who you are now. The definition of “the enemy within” will continue to expand until you—even you who thought you were safe— will be at risk of arrest, prison time, possibly torture, and even death.

Fascism does not stop escalating until no one has a voice except a dictator with supreme power.

No matter what he says, Trump does not care about you. No matter how loyal you are or were to him, he sees you as a number only to clutch power again.

If he sees you as an enemy, he WOULD and WILL kill you- even if he says he would never do so now! I’m deadly serious, and I’m speaking to all past and near future voters here, especially past Trump voters.

Hell, he’s jokingly (but sincerely) said as much 8 years ago: https://youtu.be/qC16c98hDPc?si=hT5VcgRs1pPjTzhy

This is not about just one issue, even ones most pressing to us in the moment. I disagree with Kamala Harris on many issues, particularly on the U.S.’s foreign policy on Israel, but I voted for her to vote against Trump. And so maybe my voice could be heard in a government that is still intact as it has been since the Civil War, and ideally listens to all of its constituents, or at least *could*, if I am vocal enough, organize with people, etc.

(Also, voting third party, as always, in our flawed two-party system, WILL hand the electoral college to Harris or Trump, depending on the state. (< Link)

I strongly advise you all not to do that, as it is a crapshoot who a third party vote would support.)

My choices for local elections could differ from yours too—politics is complicated.

But I think one choice—for President—is pretty clear this time, if you care about the future of yourself, your neighbors, and your planet.

Even if you never vote for a Democrat again, I advise voting for Harris. Just this one time. This election is NOT a normal one. You and your children’s future are at stake. It’s time to put country first over party, so we even have a country that everyone can safely call home.

Politics is about future moments as much as our current moment.

It is a continuum—

And again, this election will have ramifications for DECADES, even for CENTURIES.

Don’t sit this out.

VOTE.

Your life—and the lives of your neighbors—quite literally depend on it.

Thank you.

(Bonus: my I Voted sticker from the 2022 midterms I still have in my wallet! I had to take the photo at an angle and crop it so it looks a lil funky, but here it is! Democracy in action! I have three I Voted stickers in my wallet now. Man, even on my important voting post I’m a nerd, LOL. Well, my fellow nerds, my geeks and freaks (respectful freaks that is), go vote!!! 🗳️ 🤓☝️🇺🇸💙)

Because I remember disinformation being spread around the last few elections and I’m sure assholes will bring it back:

YOU CAN’T VOTE ONLINE.

YOU CAN’T VOTE FROM YOUR PHONE.

IN MANY STATES THERE ARE LEGAL CONSEQUENCES FOR PHOTOGRAPHING YOUR BALLOT.

DO NOT WEAR CAMPAIGN GEAR TO THE POLLS.

DO NOT TRY TO PERSUADE PEOPLE TO VOTE FOR A CANDIDATE AT THE POLLS.

DO NOT ENGAGE IN ANY KIND OF POLITICAL DISCOURSE AT THE POLLS.

NO ELECTION IS EVER A SURE THING, EVEN IF YOU’RE IN THE BLUEST OR REDDEST OF STATES.  IF SOMEONE TRIES TO TELL YOU THAT YOU CAN SIT THIS ONE OUT, THEY ARE EITHER IGNORANT OR MALICIOUS.

VOTE.

[fancoloredglasses]

The Case of Big Boss's Master Plan (4 years earlier than reality never mind)

[All images are owned by DIC Animation City and Hasbro. Please don’t sue me]

[QUICK NOTE: I wrote this before the 2024 US Presidential election, so either this episode was prophetic or a glimpse as to what could’ve been.

Hell, if Harris loses, I’ll probably just delete this and move to Canada (obviously I didn't, since you're reading this)]

As previously stated, C.O.P.S. was set in the “future time” of 2020, so they missed (almost) history by four years. However, some people refuse to see the trailblazers as anything but exploitable, as this two-part episode demonstrates. If you would like to watch part 1, it’s available on YouTube.

[NOTE: the video captures came from YouTube, and the captioning is spotty at best with no breaks when a different character starts speaking, so apologies if it reads like gobbledygook]

Bulletproof’s briefing begins by stating that this caper threatened not only New York Empire City, but the entire United States! How bad could it possibly be?

We open with reporter Whitney Morgan reporting that the Navy’s latest supercarrier is about to be christened (wait, Big Boss is gonna steal a Naval vessel? Is Berzerko planning this?) and the President will be on hand, arriving by train (is Air Force One in the shop?)

Upon hearing the report, Big Boss tells his gang to get aboard the train and bring the President to him (Ohhhhh….that’s a bit more reasonable, I guess)

Later, aboard the Presidential Train, we get a glimpse of the passengers…

…including Bulletproof, Longarm (patrolman specialist), and Hardtop (…rookie specialist? He was an NYPD Empire City Police rookie who helped the C.O.P.S. on their first case and was immediately recruited) Bulletproof explains that the C.O.P.S. are there to augment the Secret Service as additional security (so who’s watching Empire City? We all know the only police force in the city is C.O.P.S.) The Secret Service goes over the security measures on the train.

Later, outside a tunnel along the train's path, Berserko wonders if they somehow missed the train despite the fact they’re standing over the only track in the area. Ms. Demeanor (Big Boss’s muscle) sarcastically suggests Berzerko go down and listen at the tracks Native American-style.

Then Buttons McBoomBoom (Big Boss’s hit man, who has machine guns implanted in his chest) hears the train approaching, foiling Ms. Demeanor’s attempt to keep Berzerko out of their hair for a while. The three jump on the train (and no one heard?) and head for the President’s car.

Unfortunately, Berzerko find the Security Detail car instead. Fortunately, everyone’s watching the Secret Service demonstrate their gadgets and no one noticed.

His second attempt is a success.

That’s right. In the 80s, C.O.P.S. predicted the US would have a woman of color as President in 2020. Hey, they were only potentially off by four years! [that gag doesn't go over so well now] Berzerko then breaks into the President’s car…

…and stuffs her in a giant sack being extracted from the train (while the Secret Service are still busy showing off their toys)

Meanwhile Berzerko stays behind to gloat and provide a distraction by causing chaos.

…while Ms. Demeanor and McBoomBoom sabotage the train’s throttle, making it impossible to stop, before bailing themselves. The C.O.P.S. arrive to find there’s no way to stop the train and it’s barreling toward the train station!

Bulletproof contacts Mainframe (cybersecurity expert who was also a rookie in the right place when Bulletproof needed her so was recruited) who discovers a junction between their location and the terminal. She dispatches Highway (motorcycle expert…sure, why not?) to switch the track (Mainframe couldn’t do that remotely?) while the C.O.P.S. on the train work in disconnecting the engine from the rest of the train. Once disconnected, Bulletproof applies the brakes (while the throttle’s fully open? That would destroy the wheels before the train stopped!), stopping the train.

Now to work on saving the President.

Speaking of the President, Big Boss is having a lovely lunch with her.

…though that phrase may have been a bit generous.

Big Boss wants the President to hand over the supercarrier (remember that?) I’m not entirely sure Big Boss thought that through. After all, the President (or Vice President, assuming Big Boss doesn’t free her should she cooperate) could mobilize the military to take it right back. Not that it matters, since she refuses to do so.

However, Dr. Badvibes has an invention that will make the President more agreeable.

Later, Big Boss appears on every screen in Empire City with the President (who sounds like an early attempt at AI) urging the government to hand over the supercarrier. We all know that the US government doesn’t negotiate with terrorists.

Mayor Davis, on the other hand…

Meanwhile, the President’s Secret Service detail prepares to mount a rescue operation.

Unfortunately, they’re as competent at rescuing the President as they were with protecting her, as a magnetic crane sends the Secret Service's car into the bay! Bulletproof and the rest of the C.O.P.S. rush off, leaving Davis to bungle handle the exchange. Surprisingly, the exchange goes off without a hitch.

Meanwhile, the C.O.P.S. work on saving the Secret Service agents.

Wait, Bulletproof has a metal torso. Why the hell is he diving into the ocean?! He’ll sink like a rock!

Once they reach the car, they use micro-explosives to blow the doors off and carry the agents to safety.

With that, Big Boss’s gang float off in their new supercarrier, but at least the President is safe…or is she?

With that, the episode ends, to be continued next episode. However, we don’t have to wait that long. If you would like to see how the conclusion, it’s also available on YouTube or behind your favorite paywall.

Big Boss is savoring his victory as Dr. Badvibes reminds him that the C.O.P.S. will be coming after them soon (what about the US military? I’m sure they’ll want their supercarrier back!) However…

Dr. Badvibes’s plan is to implant AI technology based on his brain patterns into the flight systems of the supercarrier’s fighters, allowing them to fly themselves. Sure, why not? Though I kinda wonder if he knows how to fly. If not, it’ll be a quick flight.

Back at Empire City Hall, Mayor Davis refuses to allow the C.O.P.S. to attack the supercarrier while the President is aboard (isn’t Bulletproof FBI? And isn’t C.O.P.S. his unit? Technically, Davis could forbid Longarm, Hardtop, and Mainframe (who are part of the NYPD Empire City Police, but the rest were recruited from other cities)

Later Big Boss gives his next set of demands: Empire City must be evacuated and handed over to him, or else the President gets it! (He will not be happy when there’s no one working in the city. His gang might actually have to (le gasp!) work for a living!) Furthermore, he wants the C.O.P.S. imprisoned by the time he arrives to take possession of the city (who else can see how this will go VERY wrong for Big Boss?)

Mayor Davis and the C.O.P.S. agree to Big Boss’s demands, so the city is evacuated (wait, the military is coordinating the evacuation? Davis really DID disband the NYPD Empire City Police force!)

So Mayor Davis is forced to surrender to Big Boss’s robot army, who put the C.O.P.S. in jail (come on! You KNOW someone has a key or lockpick stashed somewhere in their uniform!)

Back on the supercarrier, Dr. Badvibes demonstrates his “Brain Planes” (planes telepathically controlled by him. I guess cloning his brain patterns didn’t work very well. I still question his piloting abilities) Despite a minor glitch (a bombing run that nearly hits the boat), Big Boss declares the test run a success and puts Dr. Badvibes in charge of his Air Force.

(I would like to note that the demonstration was with a single plane. I have reservations about Dr. Badvibes’s ability to control a squadron)

With that, Big Boss steers his floating fortress back to Empire City, ordering his majordomo Squeaky Clean to arrange a ticker tape parade (How? There’s no one left in the city!)

…as the C.O.P.S. are locked up by Big Boss’s robots. Just as things look hopeless…

…the Secret Service stages a jailbreak!

Meanwhile, Big Boss is disappointed by the lack of cheering crowds for his return. However, thanks to speakers he gets the crowd noise.

Back at C.O.P.S. HQ, the C.O.P.S. and the Secret Service team up, with half of their combined forces rescuing the President while the rest deal with Big Boss.

Big Boss finds out that the C.O.P.S. refused to be model prisoners (I mean, the NERVE of those guys!) and sends his gang to deal with them, starting with the Brain Planes. He then sends McBoomBoom to guard the President on the supercarrier (you mean you left her there? Who’s making sure she’s fed and whatnot (and by “whatnot” I mean…well, it’s not like there’s a Little President’s Room in that cage))

Outside the supercarrier, the Secret Service, Mace (SWAT specialist), and Sundown (former Texas Ranger, so…horseback specialist?) wait for a signal from Bowser (K-9 specialist) and Blitz (Bowser's cyborg K-9) to proceed. They get the signal and board the boat!

…drawing Big Boss’s robot guards away from the President

…while Hardtop and Bowser stage the rescue from below deck.

Inside the city, Bulletproof and Longarm find Dr. Badvibes.

…who sics his Brain Planes on them!

On the boat, the C.O.P.S. find out the robots’ weakness:

Stairs!

…as McBoomBoom, Berzerko, and Turbo Tutone (the gang’s getaway driver) arrive.

Back in the city, Longarm realizes the helmet Dr. Badvibes is wearing is what’s controlling the Brain Planes. Bulletproof grabs one of his micro-charges and throws it at the helmet.

Nice shot, Agent Vess!

With the Brain Planes neutralized (well, crashed), Dr. Badvibes escapes as the C.O.P.S. deal with the flaming wrecks and injured civilians (I thought everyone was evacuated?)

On the boat, the rescue team awaits pickup from the rest of the Secret Service, starting with the President. Once the President is safely away, the team prepares to follow as the gang finds them. However…

…the robots were instructed to stop anyone on the boat, and the first ones they find are the gang.

With that, all that’s left is the wrap-up. The C.O.P.S. were all given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the citizens of Empire City were able to return.

[darkmaga-returns]

4 January 2025, by Eric Zuesse. (All of my recent articles can be seen here.)

Do you remember the ‘news’ reports in late October 2024, right before the U.S. Presidential election, such as “Chinese hackers targeted phones affiliated with Harris campaign, source says” (Reuters), “What to Know About the Chinese Hackers Who Targeted the 2024 Campaigns” (New York Times), “Salt Typhoon Hacks of Telecommunications Companies and Federal Response Implications” (U.S. Congressional Research Service), “Chinese hackers targeted Trump and Vance’s phone data” (CNN), and many others?

Well, on January 1st of 2025, the high-tech-news site “The Verge” headlined “US soldier arrested after allegedly posting hacked Trump and Harris call logs / The soldier is reportedly connected to a hacking alias that was offering to sell stolen data from the Snowflake breach.” The site’s Executive Editor Jacob Kastrenakis reported that “The United States has arrested a US Army soldier and charged him with being part of a hacking scheme to sell and distribute stolen phone records. An indictment alleges that 20-year-old Cameron John Wagenius knowingly sold ‘confidential phone records’ over online forums and other communications platforms last November.”

Allegedly, Wagenius was connected to a hacker called “Kiberphant0m,” which “claimed to have hacked 15 telecom firms and was working with the person allegedly behind the Snowflake data breach to sell the stolen information.” The cybersecurity firm KrebsOnSecurity had headlined on 30 December 2024 “U.S. Army Soldier Arrested in AT&T, Verizon Extortions” and reported that

Federal authorities have arrested and indicted a 20-year-old U.S. Army soldier on suspicion of being Kiberphant0m [actually lower-case “kiberphant0m”], a cybercriminal who has been selling and leaking sensitive customer call records stolen earlier this year from AT&T and Verizon. As first reported by KrebsOnSecurity last month, the accused is a communications specialist who was recently stationed in South Korea.

Cameron John Wagenius was arrested near the Army base in Fort Hood, Texas on Dec. 20, after being indicted on two criminal counts of unlawful transfer of confidential phone records.

[mariacallous]

As voters in the U.S. head to the polls in presidential elections set to decisively steer the trajectory of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, the situation on the battlefield is beginning to unravel for Kyiv.

After two years of brutal attritional warfare across southern and eastern Ukraine, dynamism has returned to the front line.

According to a Bloomberg analysis published on Nov. 1, Ukraine has lost 1,146 square kilometers of its own territory since the launch of the Kursk Oblast incursion in early August, with the week up until Nov. 1 reported as the worst in terms of lost territory in all of 2024.

On Nov. 2, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that Ukraine was facing “one of the most powerful” Russian offensives since the start of the all out war.

Over autumn, large chunks of Ukrainian territory, sometimes including entire cities, have been lost on a near-daily basis in southern Donetsk Oblast, while Russian forces have also made operationally significant gains near Toretsk, Chasiv Yar, Kupiansk, as well as on their own soil in Kursk Oblast.

The increasing pace of Russia’s advance is evidence of how the war of attrition that many officials and analysts in the West had called a “stalemate,” had, slowly but surely, been flowing in Moscow’s favor.

With manpower shortage and systemic structural issues at the heart of Ukraine’s predicament, the options for Kyiv and its partners to stabilize the front in the face of Russia’s acute resource advantages look limited.

Desperation on the steppe

The most critical sector of the front line as of early November is in the southern half of the Ukrainian-controlled part of Donetsk Oblast.

After advancing quickly beyond Avdiivka towards the key logistical hub of Pokrovsk over summer, Russian forces pivoted south in early September, cutting off a large pocket of Ukrainian-held land west of the Vovcha River with the successful capture of the city of Ukrainsk.

Further Russian advances toward Pokrovsk initially slowed over autumn, halted at the gates of the city of Selydove, where the relatively fresh 15th National Guard Brigade took over the defense of the mining city once home to over 22,000 people.

Over the next two months, however, instead of storming Selydove, the Russian troops picked away at the fields on either flank, which were both manned by more exhausted Ukrainian brigades plagued by personnel losses.

“It's a very tough situation to be honest,” Andrii, callsign “Mazhor,” a Ukrainian artillery officer with the 15th Brigade, told the Kyiv Independent.

“The neighboring units left our flanks bare and we were almost completely surrounded.”

Meanwhile, the almost two year-long defense of Vuhledar, dubbed a city fortress by many Ukrainians, ended with its capture by Russian forces in the first days of October. Heavy losses and relentless enemy assaults forced what was left of Ukraine’s 72nd Mechanized Brigade and other attached units to withdraw from the city across fields swarming with Russian drones.

The fall of Vuhledar handed Russia a significant advantage in the fight for the vast open fields north of the city, the position of which on higher ground allows for the placement of antennas enabling reconnaissance and strike drones to fly deep behind Ukrainian lines.

As of early November, Ukrainian lines northwest of Vuhledar have incurred successive local collapses, leading to some of the most rapid Russian gains since the early months of the full-scale invasion.

Piercing through Ukrainian lines before clearing the positions in between the breakthroughs, Russian forces advanced over ten kilometers north across the open steppe, bringing them closer to the main road leading into the city of Kurakhove.

Kurakhove, whose large thermal power station was still working back at the start of 2024, is now itself quickly being encircled on three sides.

If not contained, Russia’s southern Donetsk offensive could soon spill out of the oblast’s own boundaries.

The advances now threaten the western town of Velyka Novosilka, and beyond it, the eastern borders of Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts.

Pressure on all fronts

As dramatically as the front line has moved in southern Donetsk Oblast, it is not the only sector of the front line where recent Russian gains represent a serious cause for concern for the Ukrainian defense.

Northwest of Pokrovsk, heavy urban fighting continues in the twin cities of Toretsk and Niu York, where Russian forces continue to make small incremental gains through the cities’ ruined streets.

Over spring and summer, Ukraine’s defense of Chasiv Yar, just five kilometers west of the destroyed city of Bakhmut, seemed to be a relative bright spot on the front line.

There, Ukraine’s experienced 24th Mechanized Brigade had held Russian forces at a near standstill on the western edge of the city for months, aided greatly by the formidable defensive barrier that is the Siverskyi Donets-Donbas Canal.

But after sustained pressure, countless failed assaults, and the mass use of drones complicating the Ukrainian defense, Russian forces breached the canal in mid-October, both along the main highway into Bakhmut, and inside the urban area of Chasiv Yar itself.

If Russian forces can cement their presence on the western side of the canal and advance further, they could close the distance to the cities of Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, and Druzhkivka.

Further north in Kharkiv Oblast, while the defense of the area around Kharkiv itself has remained almost static since the Russian initial push in May, large chunks of liberated territory are under threat of a second occupation near Kupiansk.

Ukraine’s hold on the territory east of the Oskil River, which Kupiansk straddles, has been put under real threat by Russian advances, most notably around Pishchane, where a new Russian salient gradually pierced through 15 kilometers of Ukrainian-held territory to reach the riverbank.

Meanwhile, in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, where Ukraine’s surprise incursion had initially overwhelmed the thin defenses on the state border, Kyiv is also now squarely on the back foot.

Ukraine’s hold over Russian territory has shrunk to almost half its original expanse as fresh Russian forces sent there took back a slew of settlements in successive counteroffensive pushes.

On top of the initial force that broke through in August, Kyiv has been forced to commit some of its strongest units to prop up the defense of the areas controlled in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, a task only expected to become harder as North Korean troops enter the fight.

The only major part of the front line that has been notably quieter has been in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, but this might not be the case for long.

Over summer and autumn, Russian forces have slowly carved away at the small salient that Kyiv retook at immense cost in the 2023 summer counteroffensive, and now, with many stronger units peeled off the Zaporizhzhia front line, the threat of a new Russian push from the south looms high.

Personnel predicament

Throughout 2024, one issue that has been consistent across the board for Ukraine on the battlefield is the lack of quality manpower.

Now, although itself exacerbated by ammunition shortages, poor fortifications, and issues in command, it is precisely Ukraine’s dire manpower situation that has been the main factor allowing Russia to advance at greater pace along the front line, according to three officers who spoke to the Kyiv Independent from three different sectors in Donetsk Oblast.

The greatest problem is, as always, in the infantry, whose job of holding zero line positions in the face of daily Russian assaults, bombardment, and drone attacks is consistently the most dangerous and least desirable.

The reasons for the shortage are well-documented, first and foremost rooted in Ukraine’s struggle over 2024 to mobilize and properly train enough combat-capable men.

Ukraine’s new mobilization law — finally passed in April this year — lowered the draft age to 25, expanded data collection for all eligible men, but did not offer an end point for military service after a clause setting the term for demobilization at 36 months was removed at the last minute.

“Of course, we need a breath of fresh air, and at the very least, a reliable rear guard,” said a senior officer fighting near Kurakhove, who requested to remain anonymous, to the Kyiv Independent.

“But we see a very different picture: donations are dwindling, people don’t want to join the army because, as always, something doesn’t sit right with them. As a result, soldiers are already exhausted, both mentally and physically.”

Another issue is how Ukraine’s newly-mobilized infantry are then used.

On top of Ukraine’s chronic issues with its basic training, which is often inadequate and dominated by Soviet-era practices, many newly-mobilized soldiers end up in newly-formed brigades, which — without any combat experience — inevitably end up taking more losses and suffering more cases of desertion once sent to battle.  

On the battlefield, these problems ultimately end up compounding.

Inadequate mobilization leads to not enough soldiers to replenish ranks or create enough new brigades, while issues with training, the selection of older, less-fit men, and the sending of new brigades without combat experience into battle in turn leads to higher losses and the need to mobilize even more people.

Over time, if they take losses that aren’t being replenished for long enough, even Ukraine’s strongest and battle-hardened brigades begin to quickly lose their combat effectiveness as units.

"The manpower situation has deteriorated over the past year," said Rob Lee, senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.

"Most brigades rarely rotate from the front line, which can lead to exhaustion and degradation over time.

"Ukraine’s 110th and 72nd mechanized brigades had both held Avdiivka and Vuhledar since 2022 before Russia captured them after lengthy and costly assaults."

Ukraine is working on combatting the Soviet-era legacy in its draft system, former Ukrainian commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi said in October, while Kyiv has also tapped into a new source of manpower by allowing prisoners to serve, mostly as infantry.

Meanwhile, recent reports of the sending of specialists from artillery, air defense, and other specialist units to the infantry to replenish losses testify to the depth of the crisis across the military.

Amid daily long-range drone attacks on Kyiv, controversial MP Mariana Beuzhla claimed on Nov. 2 that air defense specialists were being sent to the infantry, a fact tacitly confirmed by Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat.

One commander fighting north of Chasiv Yar said that by the end of summer, his battalion’s infantry had completely run out, with artillerymen and drone operators sent in groups of 2-4 to occupy zero-line positions one at a time.

Fighting fires

As much as Ukraine continues to struggle with its own manpower crisis, much of Russia’s success continues to be to Russia’s overwhelming numbers advantage, both in manpower, ammunition, and equipment.

Russian forces have also continued to refine the the practice of targeting the weak points in Ukrainian lines, manned by more poorly-trained, poorly-equipped or simply more exhausted brigades.

The problem is especially acute in southern Donetsk Oblast, where the greatest Russian gains have been made in sectors defended by Territorial Defense (TDF) units.

“Neighboring units lose their positions without reporting it to their higher command because they are scared of being punished for retreating,” said the officer fighting near Kurakhove.

“While they continue to report that they are holding, the Russians come in and take control of them, and in doing so, often cut off our troops.”

This systematic overstretching, according to Lee, has ultimately only been exacerbated further by the Kursk Oblast incursion, which only lengthened the active front line that Ukrainian unites needed to defend.

"Kursk has further stretched Ukrainian forces," said Lee, "leaving commanders with fewer reinforcements and reserves to respond to Russian advances elsewhere."

Amid this unending pressure, Ukraine’s higher command often reacts in a way that is controversial at best and self-destructive at worst: peeling off battalions and even companies from brigades and sending them to other sectors of the front line under the command of different brigades.

What results is a chaotic, disjointed command structure that seeks to constantly fight fires, at the detriment to overall combat effectiveness.

"Instead of operating as cohesive units, many brigades have also piecemeal deployed battalions to other parts of the front line, which leaves them weakened," said Lee.

"This and other stop gap measures are only short-term solutions, and they create greater problems the longer they are employed."

Hanging in the balance

Looking ahead to the coming winter on the battlefield, the greatest unknown remains the question of how long Russia can continue to attack at this rate across so many fronts.

As Moscow expanded offensive operations through summer and autumn, its losses have also surged.

On Nov. 4, Russian personnel losses reported by Ukraine’s General Staff passed the 700,000 mark, with daily figures often passing the 1,200 mark.

Moscow’s move to double the sign-up bonus for contract soldiers in July, as well as the bringing in of thousands of North Korean soldiers to the fight, are testament to the fact that Russia’s own manpower resources are not infinite.

Still, these signs of strain are yet to translate into slowing down, let alone actual culmination, on the battlefield.

"The situation on the battlefield this winter primarily depends on how long Russian can continue to recruit 20,000-30,000 volunteers per month," said Lee.

In that light, whatever the result of the U.S. election this week, it is difficult to see how any action from Ukraine’s partners can quickly make a difference to the infantry war on the ground.

Come next year, much of Ukraine’s fate will likely be decided by the next occupant of the White House.

But in the meantime, Ukrainian soldiers say, the country must tackle its own problems if Russia’s advance is to be stopped.

“It’s completely possible to stabilize the lines if everything and everyone worked for the front,” said the senior officer fighting near Kurakhove, “they could mobilize healthy, ordinary men. People back home could donate like they did in the early days.

“Then we would have the means and reliable infantry. But, unfortunately, that sounds like a dream right now… it’s far away from the reality."

[masr356]

Venezuela offers $100,000 reward for arrest of exiled opposition candidate | masr356.com

The United Nations’ Human Rights Committee has ordered Venezuela “to refrain from destroying” the voting tallies from the presidential election in July 2024. The voting tallies – a detailed official breakdown of the votes from each polling station – have been at the centre of the dispute over who won the election. The government-aligned National Electoral Council (CNE) declared the incumbent,…

[nomoremaybe]

Matthew’s Messages

December 3, 2024

Seasonal vibrations; US presidential election; Illuminati opposition; weather warfare; Antarctica

With loving greetings from all souls at this station, this is Matthew. During this season of religious services, majestic music, festive gatherings with family and friends and sharing with souls in need, living from the heart is especially evident. And, dear ones, however you are expressing love, joy, generosity and reverence for God, by whatever name, doing so with gratitude for the blessings in your life heightens vibrations throughout your world.

Celebrations this year can include a significant step forward in ridding Earth of darkness. We are referring to the United States’ presidential election. Most people see it as a political contest that Donald Trump won. Light beings throughout this universe see it as a stellar victory for the light.

A sampling of relevant statements from previous messages…

September 11, 2010: Despite the energy poured into campaigns by candidates and their adamant supporters and wealthy contributors, partisan politics soon will start fading into history.

February 3, 2021: Life as you have known it has been controlled by massive deception, greed and societal conditioning. What is quietly moving forward as we speak is the liberation of Earth’s civilization.

March 2, 2021: When governments retain control by perpetuating fear, deception, warring, impoverishment and divisiveness, it is not a political matter. It is darkness vs light, wrong vs right, captivity vs freedom, evil vs godliness.

October 1, 2024: The electorate think in terms of polls, endorsements, fundraising figures and vote counting, but it is the light intensity that fortifies all rightful action that will have the most impact on the election.

November 1, 2024: The public doesn’t know about the light forces and it’s doubtful that they are thinking about vibrations; however, those powerful sources have major roles in all elections and other national affairs and their aftermath. Whatever gains permanence anywhere in the world will be aligned with the light, and anything with base intention will be fleeting or never get off the ground.

To individuals who have concerns about the election outcome we say, please forego judgment. Once in office, the new administration will undertake a monumental task that has global implications, and, as is true of every effort, positive thoughts and feelings favorably affect progress.

Continued: https://www.matthewbooks.com/december-3-2024/