Japan's prime minister is expected to participate in an upcoming NATO summit

Fumio Kishida, the Prime Minister of Japan, is considering attending a summit of leaders from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to discuss the potential of Japanese collaboration with Western leaders over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

The Strait Times, a daily English language newspaper published in Singapore, reported that Kishida’s move marks an “unusually aggressive stance for a Japanese leader.” The Times also noted that Kishida has repeatedly condemned the Russian military and the country’s leadership over perpetrating what he has described as a “war crime” against Ukraine.

The leadership of Japan has a long-standing practice of carefully maintaining their country’s relationship with Russia as the two countries have a long history of territorial disputes.

A spokesperson for the Japanese government said that officials will be unable to offer comment on the Kishida’s discussions with NATO allies. Kishida’s attendance of the upcoming NATO summit was first reported by Japanese media outlets this past Saturday.

The NATO summit will take place on June 29 and 30 in the Spanish capital city of Madrid. The meeting is expected to overlap with the Kishida and other Japanese politicians campaign efforts as the meeting will overlap with the upcoming Japanese election cycle.

Kishida is expected to make a final decision as to whether or not he will attend the summit in the coming days as he must take into account the rapidly approaching elections.

NATO leaders have invited officials from Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea to attend the summit as its partners in the Asia-Pacific region.

Should Kishida attend the summit, it is expected that his presence will be welcomed and send a strong message of international solidarity during a period of heightened geopolitical tension.

The potential of an increasing Japanese presence among NATO allies could also be a result of China’s potential invasion of Taiwan.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/-2657460454

>>16401607

Seems like he's mocking everyone, the worlds going to shit but hey I get my golf tournament

Alec John Such, bassist and founding member of Bon Jovi, dead at 70

Alec John Such, the bassist and a founding member of Bon Jovi, has died. He was 70.

Jon Bon Jovi on Sunday announced the death of John Such, the New Jersey rock band’s bassist from 1983 to 1994. No details on when or how John Such died were immediately available. A publicist for Bon Jovi didn’t immediately respond to messages.

“He was an original,” Bon Jovi wrote in a post on Twitter. “As a founding member of Bon Jovi, Alec was integral to the formation of the band.”

Bon Jovi credited John Such for bringing the band together, noting that he was a childhood friend of drummer Tico Torres and brought guitarist and songwriter Richie Sambora to see the band perform. John Such had played in a band called the Message with Sambora.

The Yonkers, New York-born John Such was a veteran figure in the thriving New Jersey music scene that helped spawn Bon Jovi. As manager of the Hunka Bunka Ballroom in Sayreville, New Jersey, John Such booked Jon Bon Jovi & The Wild Ones before joining the singer-songwriter’s band. He played with Bon Jovi through the group’s heyday in the ’80s.

John Such departed the band in 1994, when he was replaced by bassist Hugh McDonald. He later rejoined the band for its induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.

“When Jon Bon Jovi called me up and asked me to be in his band many years ago, I soon realized how serious he was and he had a vision that he wanted to bring us to,” said John Such at the Hall of Fame induction. “And I am only too happy to have been a part of that vision.”

https://nypost.com/2022/06/05/alec-john-such-founding-member-of-bon-jovi-dead-at-70/

One Step Closer: Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover Clears Federal Antitrust Review

On Friday, Elon Musk moved one step closer to completing his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter after the highly-publicized takeover deal officially cleared the federal regulatory waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act (HSR) of 1976.

Immediately after announcing his planned acquisition of the influential Big Tech platform, Federal regulators opened a review, as is required by law when transactions of this caliber are processed. The review involved officials from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), who had the authority to request additional records about the transaction in order to assess its legality, but regulators did not request any additional information, according to Fox Business.

From Fox Business:

“The HSR requires companies to give advance notice of transactions above a certain threshold to the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice. The agencies have 30 days from the notification to pursue an initial investigation of the transaction to determine whether additional information is needed to assess its legality. Neither agency requested additional information.”

In short, the 30-day review was unable to pinpoint any reason to prevent Musk from purchasing Twitter, which clears the billionaire Tesla founder – federally – to move ahead with his purchase, but he still has several other hurdles to clear in order to finalize the takeover.

The main one is the final approval of the deal from Twitter’s current shareholders and board, in addition to any other remaining “regulatory approvals,” according to a statement by Twitter.

Nevertheless, now that Musk has passed the FTC and DOJ tests, the deal is expected to be finalized sometime before the end of 2022.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/06/one-step-closer-elon-musks-twitter-takeover-clears-federal-antitrust-review/

Virginia school district sued for forcing teachers to hide students' gender identity from parents

Superintendent says district "offered a collaborative approach" with the plaintiffs "throughout our correspondence with them" after January warning letter. "They refused each time. Their way or the highway."

Virginia's Harrisonburg City Public Schools is violating the rights of parents and teachers by forcing the latter to address students by their preferred name and gender pronouns "on pain of discipline" while hiding students' gender identities from their parents, according to a new lawsuit.

The nondiscrimination policy and guidance, based on a model policy issued by the state Department of Education last year, both compels and restricts the speech of teachers in violation of the Virginia and U.S. constitutions and tramples their "religious convictions about gender and honesty," the suit says.

It's filed on behalf of parents and teachers by the Alliance Defending Freedom, which is involved in similar disputes in Kansas and Wisconsin.

The religious liberty law firm blacked out the plaintiffs' names in the version of the Rockingham County Circuit Court document it posted Saturday, but the Daily News-Record identified them as teachers Deborah Figliola, Kristine Marsh and Laura Nelson, and parents Timothy Nelson, John Stephens and Nicolette Stephens.

The district compels staff to "mislead and deceive parents," the group said in a press release, violating parents' state constitutional and statutory rights to "direct the upbringing and education of their children." It previously warned the district in a January letter.

The district policy of "immediate social transition and unquestioning affirmation without parental involvement for every case of gender dysphoria in minors is harmful, not to mention contrary to science," the suit says. "Each child's situation is unique and warrants loving and tailored attention-attention that is best determined not by school officials, but by parents."

Counselors were told to report any teachers not using preferred names and pronouns to the administration at an August 2021 training, the suit claims.

"Teachers and staff cannot willfully hide kids’ mental health information from their parents, especially as some of the decisions children are making at school have potentially life-altering ramifications," Senior Counsel Ryan Bangert said.

Superintendent Michael Richards told Just the News the district "offered a collaborative approach" with the plaintiffs "throughout our correspondence with them. They refused each time. Their way or the highway." He said he would post the correspondence this week.

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/education/virginia-school-district-sued-forcing-teachers-hide-students-gender

Lebanon warns Israel

President Michel Aoun says any effort by Israelis to tap natural gas deposits in disputed waters would be an “aggressive action”

A battle over Mediterranean waters rich in natural gas deposits bubbled up on Sunday when Lebanese President Michel Aoun warned Israel that trying to tap the offshore riches without first resolving a territorial dispute would be seen as a “provocation.”

“Any action or activity in the disputed area represents a provocation and an aggressive action,” Aoun said on Sunday in a statement. He made his comments after a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel arrived in the disputed area, where London-based upstream firm Energean plans to start pumping gas from the Karish field under contract with the Israeli government later this year.

Aoun said he discussed the FPSO’s arrival with Prime Minister Najib Mikati and asked Lebanon’s Army Command to provide him “accurate and official data to build upon the matter.” Mikati called the situation “extremely dangerous,” saying Israel was trying to “create a new crisis, encroaching on Lebanon’s maritime wealth and imposing a fait accompli in a disputed area.”

Karish is located about 90km west of Haifa, close to the much larger gas fields of Leviathan and Tamar, and it holds reserves estimated at more than 300 million barrels of oil equivalent. Energean signed a contract in March to sell output from Karish to Israel Electric Co., the largest Israeli gas buyer.

Jerusalem has claimed that Karish is located in Israel’s exclusive economic zone, as recognized by the United Nations, and isn’t subject to the country’s territorial dispute with Lebanon. Aoun said negotiations to resolve the issue are continuing, and both countries have filed disputes with the UN regarding their overlapping maritime claims.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group has threatened to take action if Israel extracts fossil fuels in the disputed area without resolving the territorial impasse.

https://www.rt.com/news/556663-lebanon-warns-israel-over-disputed-gas-field/

Ex-CIA director watched torture of prisoner – NYT

Gina Haspel observed an interrogation with waterboarding at a Thai black site, court testimony has revealed

Former CIA Director Gina Haspel watched as a prisoner was tortured by interrogators at a Thai black site that she ran for the agency in 2002, the New York Times reported on Friday.

As chief of the CIA base in Thailand in late 2002, Haspel personally observed interrogation sessions in which USS Cole bombing suspect Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri was waterboarded, the newspaper outlined, citing testimony from a psychologist who took part in the torture. The doctor, James Mitchell, admitted in a Guantanamo Bay court hearing that he held a cloth over al-Nashiri’s face to direct the flow of water as another interrogator poured.

Al-Nashiri was strapped to a gurney during the torture sessions, and he was pivoted from lying on his back to an upright position to catch his breath between waterboarding pours, Mitchell reportedly testified. The prisoner was described as being nude and sometimes hooded. Interrogators used other coercive techniques, such as confining him in a small box, slapping him, or slamming his head into a burlap-covered wall, the psychologist reportedly said.

Haspel’s knowledge of the controversial interrogation techniques was previously disclosed. In fact, she wrote memos to Washington about what was done to al-Nashiri and what was learned from the interrogations. However, Mitchell’s testimony offered a more detailed peek at her work in Thailand.

Al-Nashiri was accused of orchestrating the bombing of the US Navy destroyer USS Cole, which killed 17 American sailors in 2000. According to the Times, the military judge in the criminal case against al-Nashiri allowed Mitchell’s testimony only because the CIA destroyed videotapes that defense lawyers claimed would show interrogators torturing the alleged terrorist and another prisoner at the black site.

Haspel previously acknowledged her role in destroying 92 interrogation tapes, most of which showed Abu Zubaydah, the first terrorism suspect known to have been targeted in the CIA’s post-9/11 torture program. At the time, she was chief of staff to CIA operations chief Jose Rodriguez Jr. She later went on to serve as CIA director under then-President Donald Trump, from April 2018 to January 2021.

During the 2018 Senate hearings for her confirmation as CIA director, Haspel said of the destroyed video footage, “I would also make clear that I did not appear on the tapes.” Asked by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) whether she had overseen interrogations of al-Nashiri, she declined to answer, saying such information was classified. An internal review by the CIA “found no fault” with Haspel’s role in ordering the destruction of the tapes.

“The more we review the classified facts, the more disturbed we are – both by the actions she has taken during her career and by the CIA’s failure to allow the public the opportunity to consider them,” a group of senators opposing Haspel’s nomination as CIA director wrote in 2018. She got the job anyway, making her the first woman to head the agency.

https://www.rt.com/news/556632-cia-haspel-torture-black-site/

Disney Channel actor Stoney Westmoreland is jailed for two years after being accused of trying to entice a minor into sex

Stoney Westmoreland, 52, was arrested in 2018 after trying to meet an investigator who was posing as a 13-year-old teenager on Grindr, police said

Westmoreland, who played grandfather 'Ham' on Disney's hit series Andy Mack, took a plea deal with the prosecution and will spend 24 months behind bars

The disgraced actor originally faced a ten-year sentence stemming from charges of enticement of a minor over the Internet or text

After taking the deal, he was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of using interstate facilities to transmit information about a minor

A former Disney Channel actor will spend two years in federal prison for allegedly enticing a minor into sex, prosecutors said.

Stoney Westmoreland, 52, communicated with an undercover officer on the app Grindr and was arrested in 2018 after trying to meet the investigator who was posing as a 13-year-old teenager.

Westmoreland, who played grandfather 'Ham' on Disney's hit series Andy Mack, took a plea deal with the prosecution and will spend 24 months behind bars followed by ten years of supervised release, TMZ reported.

The disgraced actor originally faced a ten-year sentence stemming from charges of enticement of a minor over the Internet or text.

After taking the deal, he was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of using interstate facilities to transmit information about a minor.

Westmoreland's lawyers had argued that the actor believed he was communicating with an adult roleplaying as a 13-year-old and had no real intention of meeting with a minor.

In addition to the sentence, Westmoreland will not be allowed to interact with minors without adult supervision.

His electronic devices and social media accounts will also be subject to random inspections upon his release, according to TMZ.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10886853/Disney-Channel-actor-Stoney-Westmoreland-jailed-two-years.html

NFL's first transgender cheerleader: Dancer, 29, signs for Carolina Panthers and says 'more people need to see this' as she practices ahead of new season

Justine Lindsay, 29, told the world in an Instagram post in March she made the Topcats, the cheerleading squad for the Carolina Panthers

In that same post, she also came out as transgender

Lindsay will now represent the Panthers at everything from community events and fundraisers to business conferences

Sam Ames, the director of advocacy and government affairs for the Trevor Project, said it is 'critical' for LGBTQ children to see her as a role model

Ames said her dancing on the Panthers team could 'inspire' LGBTQ youth

Chandalae Lanouette, the Topcats director, insisted she was hired not to break barriers but because of her record

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10887183/NFLs-transgender-cheerleader-Dancer-29-signs-Carolina-Panthers.html

>>16401888

Infinity trips say good question