>>18106524

Yes crazy times, WWG1WGA

8 Jan, 2023 21:37

Lula orders ‘federal intervention’ against rioters

The newly-inaugurated Brazilian president has declared a state of emergency after former leader's supporters overran government buildings

Supporters of Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro clash with police as they storm the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, January 8, 2023 © AP / Eraldo Peres

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has declared a state of emergency in the Federal District of Brasilia after thousands of supporters of his right-wing predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, overran Congress, the Presidential Palace, the Supreme Court, and the Planalto Palace.

The leftist leader, inaugurated just last week, gave the order on Sunday, appointing justice minister Ricardo Garcia Capelli to lead the ‘federal intervention’. Lula’s order gives Capelli the power to ask both civil and military bodies for “the necessary means to achieve the object of the intervention.”

The scope of the order, which expires at the end of the month, is limited to Brasilia’s Federal District, and its stated aim is to “end the serious compromising of public order in the State in the Federal District, marked by acts of violence and invasion of public buildings.”

Decreto assinado por Lula para intervenção federal no Distrito Federal.

#EquipeLulapic.twitter.com/1gHjIuDGLf

— Lula (@LulaOficial) January 8, 2023

To achieve that goal, Capelli may call upon “the financial, technological, structural, and human resources of the Federal District” – including, but not limited to, the military and police – as needed.READ MORE: Bolsonaro supporters swarm Brazilian Congress

Promising to make those responsible for the chaos “pay with the force of the law” in a speech broadcast to his social networks, Lula pledged to get to the bottom of “who are the financiers” of the swarm of protesters – most outfitted in matching attire with the colors of the Brazilian flag – who rushed through a barricade and into the government buildings.

He denounced the demonstrators as “vandals and fascists,” blaming Bolsonaro for filling their heads with extremism. The former leader’s supporters have been staging chaotic demonstrations since he lost a close election to his leftist rival in October, blocking roads, setting vehicles on fire, and at one point even surrounding a military facility to try to convince the soldiers inside to rise up and restore Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro left Brazil several days before the traditional handoff ceremony installing Lula in the presidency rather than appear to legitimize the leftist’s win by showing up, maintaining that his defeat had been unfair even as he condemned the violent protests that had resulted. Lula blamed what he described as the day’s “unprecedented” violence on his nemesis, declaring “this is also the responsibilities of him and of the parties that belong to him.”

https://www.rt.com/news/569575-brazil-lula-coup-emergency/

8 Jan, 2023 19:24

Bolsonaro supporters swarm Brazilian Congress

Newly-inaugurated President Lula da Silva has reportedly been evacuated to a secure location

Social media footage allegedly showing the moment Bolsonaro supporters breached barricades at the National Congress in Brazil

Supporters of right-wing former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro have swarmed the country's Congress building, climbing its roof and breaking windows on Sunday, following weeks of unrest.

Video posted to social media shows the rioters attacking the Supreme Court building as well. Water can be seen pouring out of a broken window and makeshift lettering pasted on another window as demonstrators, many clutching or wearing Brazilian flags, survey the damage. The court had slapped Bolsonaro with a hefty fine in November over his efforts to challenge the results of the presidential race, accusing him of acting in bad faith.

Video posted to social media appeared to confirm reports that protesters had also broken into both the Presidential Palace and the Planalto Palace. While local media reports placed the crowd size at around 3,000 people, reports by police in the Federal District of Brasilia cited on social media suggested they were concerned they might be outnumbered by the demonstrators.

Bolsonaro’s successor Lula da Silva, inaugurated last week, has reportedly been evacuated to a secure location in Sao Paulo, according to news outlet Folha. Bolsonaro made a point of avoiding the ceremonial transition of power to his left-wing rival, opting to fly to Florida ahead of the date. The former leader left behind a tearful farewell message to supporters in which he reiterated that his electoral defeat had been unfair, while condemning the violent protests that followed.

The minister of justice has also been evacuated and the military reportedly ordered to deploy.

Since Lula’s narrow electoral victory in October, supporters of the former president have blocked roads, set vehicles on fire, and even surrounded military buildings, in an effort to try to convince soldiers inside to overthrow the new government.

Many observers pointed out similarities between the events in the Federal District and the riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. In both cases, supporters of a right-wing leader ousted in a hotly-contested election swarmed government buildings that had been left largely unguarded, meeting with little if any resistance from authorities. Like their American counterparts, the Bolsonaro supporters came outfitted with their nation’s flags and messaging for the crowd - “We want the source code,” one banner dropped from the roof of the Congress read, presumably referring to the voting machines whose integrity Bolsonaro had questioned.

https://www.rt.com/news/569572-bolsonaro-supporters-swarm-brazilian-congress/

8 Jan, 2023 20:14

Belgrade is the new Casablanca – Vucic

Serbian capital has been swarming with numerous spies, the country’s president has claimed

A still from the 1942 movie Casablanca. © Global Look Press /

Serbia has seen a record influx of foreign spies, with the country’s capital city Belgrade swarming with them amid the New Year's Eve celebrations, President Aleksandar Vucic has said, likening the city to Casablanca during World War II.

"This New Year's Eve, Belgrade has become the new Casablanca. We regularly receive these reports, there were no spies who would not check in our hotels,there have never been so many spies," Vucic told TV Pink on Sunday.

The Moroccan city of Casablanca during WWII has long been portrayed in popular culture as a city swarming with assorted Nazis, war refugees, and spies from all over the globe, primarily thanks to the 1942 namesake Hollywood classic. This image of the Moroccan city, a French colonial territory at the time, has been repeatedly reprinted in many spy movies since then.

The influx of spies to Belgrade came amid ongoing tensions between Serbia and its breakaway region of Kosovo, the Serbian president said, stating that the city has never seen such intelligence activity since, at least, the WWII era. The intelligence agents have been "doing their job" and "obviously preparing various things," Vucic added. The president did not elaborate from which countries the purported spies came from.

Serbia and Kosovo have been at odds throughout most of 2022 over Pristina’s plans to ban Belgrade-issued license plates in its jurisdiction. Heavily armed ethnic Albanian police had been deployed in Serbian-populated areas, with locals staging protests and erecting barricades in response.

Tensions were reignited earlier this week when two Serbian youths were wounded in a drive-by shooting near the town of Strpce, as they were walking with oak branches in celebration of Orthodox Christmas.

The alleged attacker, who has been detained, turned out to be an ethnic Albanian. The incidents like the Strpce shooting are a direct result of hostile policies pursued by the Pristina authorities, Vucic has said, warning that a "difficult period" still lies ahead.

https://www.rt.com/news/569570-belgrade-vucic-new-casablanca/

>>18106795

Clinton did this….

8 Jan, 2023 23:03

Biden accused of ‘stage-managed’ border tour

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has blasted the president for getting only a “sanitized” view of America’s immigration crisis

(PDJT is watching him. Kek)

President Joe Biden walks with US Border Patrol agents along a stretch of the US-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, January 8, 2023 ©

Texas Governor Greg Abbott welcomed Joe Biden for the president’s long-awaited visit to the southern US border by hand-delivering a letter demanding that the federal government address the “worst illegal immigration” crisis in the nation’s history by enforcing current laws.

“Your visit to our southern border with Mexico today is $20 billion too little and two years too late,” Abbott said in the letter, which he handed to the president after Biden disembarked Air Force One on Sunday in El Paso. He added that Biden’s visit was being carefully crafted to avoid seeing the havoc and damage caused by his open-borders policies.

“Even the city you visit has been sanitized of the migrant camps which had overrun downtown El Paso because your administration wants to shield you from the chaos that Texans experience on a daily basis,” Abbott said. “This chaos is the direct result of your failure to enforce the immigration laws that Congress enacted.”

Illegal border crossings into the US have surged fivefold since Biden took office in January 2021 and reached a record high of 2.76 million in the government fiscal year that ended on September 30. Biden hadn’t been to the border since 2008, when was campaigning in New Mexico. He announced a new border plan on Thursday, including new limits on migration from Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti.

However, Abbott said the new policies are primarily about helping illegal migrants, rather than blocking them from entering the US. “All of this is happening because you have violated your constitutional obligation to defend the states against invasion through faithful execution of federal laws.”

The governor launched Operation Lone Star in March 2021 to help secure the border. The operation has netted 23,000 criminal arrests and seizures of over 354 million doses of fentanyl. The state also has bussed 16,000 migrants to so-called “sanctuary cities” that support open borders, including Washington and New York.

US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas criticized Abbott on Sunday for failing to work through the federal government to address border concerns. “We cannot have unilateral governor action,” Mayorkas said in an ABC News interview.

https://www.rt.com/news/569576-biden-sanitized-border-visit/

8 Jan, 2023 19:47

New US House chief makes pledge on Ukraine aid – media

Kevin McCarthy has reportedly agreed to cap aid to Kiev to win support from colleagues who were blocking his election as speaker

Newly elected US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reportedly won over the final few votes needed to secure the gavel by promising conservative lawmakers that he will help pass legislation that would limit future economic and military aid to Ukraine.

The Kiev compromise was one of the key concessions that McCarthy, a California Republican, accepted to win over recalcitrant colleagues who had opposed his election as speaker, the UK’s Telegraph newspaper reported on Saturday. Republicans won back control of Congress in November’s midterm elections, but it took five days and 15 rounds of voting for speaker – the most since 1860 – to reach enough consensus on who will shepherd the party’s legislative agenda.

Since Russia began its military offensive against Ukraine last February, Congress has approved $100 billion in US aid to Ukraine – much to the chagrin of ‘Freedom Caucus’lawmakers, such as Republicans Matt Gaetz (Florida) and Lauren Boebert (Colorado). Gaetz led a group of about 20 representatives in opposing McCarthy’s election, at one point nominating former President Donald Trump for the job.

After McCarthy failed to win enough support from fellow Republicans in the first three rounds of voting on Tuesday, Gaetz said, “Today the House didn’t organize. Biggest loser: [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky. Biggest winner: US Taxpayers.” He had opposed previous aid requests for Kiev, including a $45-billion package approved last month, saying, “Hemorrhaging billions in taxpayer dollars for Ukraine while our country is in crisis is the definition of America last.”

McCarthy, who occasionally wears a Ukrainian flag pin on his lapel, also agreed to congressional rule changes, limits on defense spending and the creation of a committee to investigate “weaponization” of the federal government. In addition, conservatives won a pledge to allow votes on several of their top issues, including border security, congressional term limits and a balanced budget amendment. The new speaker agreed to give Freedom Caucus members key seats on House committees.

Among those panels is the House Rules Committee. As the Telegraph noted, giving Freedom Caucus members leadership roles on the Rules Committee could create “immense hurdles” to passage of additional aid packages for Ukraine.

https://www.rt.com/news/569573-mccarthy-pledges-ukraine-aid-cut/

>>18106890

Pretty handsie pictures, I noticed a lot of congress use hand geatures and bullying

8 Jan, 2023 15:18

One in four British troops ‘dangerously’ overweight – media

A veteran commander excoriated officials for their ‘failure of leadership’ regarding soldiers’ weight

A quarter of all British soldiers are ‘dangerously’ overweight or obese, according to statistics seen by the Mail on Sunday, fueling a growing health crisis in the ranks. Nearly 40,000 of the 145,000 members of the UK military have been classified as overweight in the last five years.

The alarming statistic “represents a failure of leadership among those responsible for ensuring troops under their command remain fit and healthy and ready to fight,” former British commander Col. Richard Kemp told the Mail.

“Every overweight serviceman or -woman became overweight while serving,” the veteran, who led British troops in Afghanistan, continued. “Allowing soldiers’ health to decline in this way is the same as neglecting a weapon system or combat vehicle to the extent it cannot function when needed.

READ MORE US Army to expand weight rule – media

The service has reportedly had to medically discharge some 5,200 overweight soldiers since 2010, including one 420-pound (191 kg) soldier let go after failing mandatory fitness tests. More than 800 of those dismissed weighed over 252 pounds (114 kg). However, a Ministry of Defense spokesperson cautioned that “personnel can have multiple causes listed in a medical discharge, so may not have been discharged specifically for weight related issues.”

But the extra pounds can take a toll beyond simply reducing physical fitness. The ministry’s statistics seen by the Mail reveal that over 1,100 servicemembers have developed type II diabetes, 1,113 have been diagnosed with high blood pressure, and 100 have heart disease. Since 2014, 850 soldiers have been prescribed diet pills, while 60 were given liposuction.

Former Army chief Lord Dannatt told the Mail that if the weight of “young overweight soldiers” could not be controlled, “they should be discharged,” describing the “obesity and overweight issue” as “very much a chain of command matter.”

“Rigorous enforcement of the physical fitness tests is essential,” Dannatt continued, arguing that commanders were letting older soldiers off the hook despite putting on weight, as their roles became less active.

By the military’s own Body Composition Measurement metric, which takes into account both the more commonly used Body Mass Index and waist measurement, nearly 40,000 troops are at risk of health issues due to their size, according to the Mail.

https://www.rt.com/news/569567-british-army-overweight-fitness-readiness/

8 Jan, 2023 15:39

Rising MMA star dead at 18

Victoria Lee was considered to be one of the sport’s most promising fighters

Rising MMA star dead at 18

Teenage MMA star Victoria Lee who died on December 26, 2022 © Instagram / Instagram / victorialee.mma

MMA sensation Victoria Lee has died at the age of 18, according to her sister and ONE Championship atomweight titleholder Angela Lee.

Writing on Instagram, Angela Lee said her younger sister died on December 26, and that she and her entire family, which also includes another ONE Championship standout Christian Lee, are devastated at the loss.

No explanation was given for her passing.

Nicknamed ‘The Prodigy’, Victoria Lee very much lived up to her moniker by racing to a 3-0 start in her professional MMA career, despite being the youngest fighter on the ONE Championship roster.

She made her debut for the Singaporean organization in February 2021, fighting two more times that year – finishing all three of her fights before the end of the second round – but hadn't competed since a September 2021 TKO victory against Victoria Souza.

“She has gone too soon and our family has been completely devastated since then,” Angela Lee wrote online.

“We miss her. More than anything in this world. Our family will never be the same. Life will never be the same.

“Victoria was the most beautiful soul who ever lived. She was the best little sister in the world. The best daughter, the best granddaughter and the best godma / aunty to Ava and Alia.

“We miss you so much sis. More than you could ever realize. We’re all broken. Because a piece of you was in each of us and when you left, those pieces were ripped out of us.

“We will never be the same.”

Angela Lee had previously stated that she believed her younger sister to be the most talented fighter in their family, and that she would quickly surpass her own accomplishments in the sport – and even those of Christian Lee, who is the organization’s lightweight and welterweight champion.

“I am heartbroken by Victoria Lee’s passing,” wrote ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong online.

“I first met Victoria when she was 11 years old. I watched her blossom over the years as a martial artist and a human being. I always remember thinking how wise, thoughtful, and selfless she was beyond her years.

“Of course, she was an extraordinary martial arts prodigy even back then, but I could see that she was so much more than that.”

https://www.rt.com/sport/569564-mma-victoria-lee-death/

8 Jan, 2023 09:43

Authorities point to cause of Donbass pipeline explosion

The incident in Lugansk Region left more than 13,000 people without gas, according to emergency services

The explosion that rocked a gas pipeline in Lugansk Region on Saturday was most likely an act of sabotage, the local emergency services have said.

According to preliminary data, the incident near the town of Lugutino was a result of a “deliberate detonation,” rescuers told the media on Sunday.

The explosion has left more than 13,300 people without gas, they added.

Local authorities said that repairs on the pipeline have been completed, with the supply of gas to customers currently being restored.

In recent months, Russia’s security services announced having foiled several attempted terrorist and sabotage attacks in the country, thought to have been planned on behalf of Kiev.

Earlier this week, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said that three men had been caught red-handed trying to disable a railway facility in Chelyabinsk Region, in the Urals.

In December, a group of four Ukrainian would-be saboteurs were killed as they tried crossing into Russia with weapons and explosives on them, according to the FSB.

Moscow blames Kiev for having orchestrated an explosion that damaged the Crimean Bridge in early October. The attack prompted Russia to ramp up its missile campaign against Ukraine’s military facilities and energy infrastructure.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said earlier that Ukrainian saboteurs had tried targeting power lines that connect a Russian nuclear power plant to the national grid, and also a natural-gas pipeline to Türkiye. Kiev has been denying involvement in these and other plots.

The People’s Republic of Lugansk, together with three other former Ukrainian territories – the People’s Republic of Donetsk, and Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions – joined the Russian state in autumn after their populations overwhelmingly supported the move in referendums.

https://www.rt.com/russia/569551-gas-pipeline-explosion-lugansk/

8 Jan, 2023 02:31

Bayraktar hints at kill switch in combat drones

Turkish drone maker Baykar “dominates” the software running its tech, the company’s CTO said

Turkish defence company Baykar has brushed off concerns that, as its exports grow, its attack drones could be turned against Ankara someday.

The company’s top executive has suggested thatall necessary precautionshave been taken against the military technology falling into the hands of a potential foe.

Speaking in an interview with TV100 earlier this week, Baykar chairman and chief technology officer, Selcuk Bayraktar, explained that first and foremost the company sells combat drones only to countries that have “close relations” or a “strategic alliance” with Türkiye, and thus does not “expect” a stab in the back.

“You also know that these are high-tech devices, and you equip high-tech devices with software. Only those who develop that technology dominate the software,” he added, without elaborating.

Baykar has also taken steps to prevent hackers from taking over and causing harm with its UAVs, the CTO explained. “Of course, we have special measures regarding information security,” Bayraktar told host Candas Tolga Isik. “Now you know that in this era, states are also hacked. We are taking special measures against all these, and this is also a race.”

The drone maker was propelled into the global spotlight after Azerbaijan deployed its Bayraktar TB2s against Armenia to great effect in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The flagship UAV is already being sold to over a dozen countries, with Baykar’s exports jumping 78% last year to $1.18 billion. At the same time the company makes sure that Türkiye’s military gets UAVs at one third the prices it charges in foreign countries, Bayraktar said.

Ukraine also purchased dozens of TB2 strike drones even before the conflict with Russia began last February, with officials in Kiev claiming the weapons would give them an edge on the battlefield against the Donbass regions. Kiev has reportedly received an unspecified number of additional drones during the past year, despite Türkiye’s official neutrality over the conflict.

Since Russia began its military operation,most of Ukraine’s fleet of TB2s has been destroyed, the Russian Defense Ministry has claimed. Responding to a prank caller in October, one Ukrainian official described themas “first and foremost a PR project” and said “they were all shot down within a week.”

https://www.rt.com/news/569541-bayraktar-drones-dominate-software/

8 Jan, 2023 08:27

World’s ‘most wanted’ human trafficker caught – Interpol

Kidane Zekarias Habtemariamwas previously sentenced to life in jail in absentia for extorting money from African migrants

A notorious human trafficker convicted of smuggling thousands of people during the European migrant crisis has been arrested in an international operation led by the UAE in coordination with Interpol.

Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam, an Eritrean national who had been on Interpol’s radar since 2019, was arrested in Sudan on January 1. According to the UAE Interior Ministry, he led an organization that “kidnapped, mistreated and extorted East African migrants to smuggle them into Europe.”

Habtemariam was initially arrested in Ethiopia in 2020, but escaped from a court building in Addis Ababa the following year. An Ethiopian court sentenced him to life in prison in absentia for human trafficking in 2021. Habtemariam was charged with holding refugees and migrants in warehouses in Libya, and extorting thousands of dollars from them and their families, Reuters reported at the time, citing legal documents.

He was also wanted in the Netherlands, with the Dutch government describing him as “one of the world’s most notorious and cruelest people smugglers.” According to the Dutch authorities, Habtemariam ran a migrant camp in Libya, where residents were held by force, beaten and raped.

Officials said Habtemariam exploited the plight of people who desperately tried to escape to Europe, which saw a large influx of migrants since 2014. Many of them were forced to languish in camps in Libya and embark on a dangerous journey across the Mediterranean Sea on overcrowded and unsafe boats.

“It is estimated that since 2014, Kidane is responsible for having trafficked hundreds of victims. His arrest will neutralize a major people smuggling route towards Europe and protect thousands who would have been at risk of exploitation,” the UAE Interior Ministry said on Thursday in a statement on its website.

Brigadier Saeed Abdullah al Suwaidi, a top Emirati anti-narcotics official, said the suspect’s arrest had allowed the route to be shut down, through which migrants were moved from Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia to Libya. From there, they had attempted to cross the Mediterranean Sea and land on European shores.

https://www.rt.com/news/569549-most-wanted-trafficker-arrested/

Sunday Talks, Nancy Mace Declares She Is a Purple RepublicanWho Is “On The Fence Right Now” About Supporting House Rule Changes

January 8, 2023 | Sundance |

The true enemy of a constitutional republic are the Mitch McConnell’s and Nancy Mace’s of the professional political class who build systems to undermine the will of the people under the pretense of representing them. These are the abusers, the professional abusers, the psychologically Machiavellian and inherently evil people within the system of power who operate on false pretense. They are smiley-faced fascists and liars, period.

“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist.

A murderer is less to fear.” ~ Taylor Caldwell

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/01/08/sunday-talks-nancy-mace-declares-she-is-a-purple-republican-who-is-on-the-fence-right-now-about-supporting-house-rule-changes/

Sunday Talks, Shannon Bream -vs- Jim Jordan

January 8, 2023 | Sundance

Fox News HostShannon Bream, one of the true Machiavellian conscripts, is given the responsibility to maintain the great pretending on behalf of the Republican chattering class. One of the key tactics of the professional pretenders is to ¹frame constant opposition narratives as questions.

To reply, Representative Jim Jordan is responsible for dispatching the pretending narrative delivered by Bream and hitting back with the reality hammer.

¹This is why I do not watch Fox News puppets much. Their production group is a functional set of background puppeteers. This is also why Fox News host Tucker Carlson produces and directs his own show from outside the system, just like Lou Dobbs used to. Tucker Carlson Tonight is essentially a podcast distributed by broadcast media.

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/01/08/sunday-talks-shannon-bream-vs-jim-jordan/