PN>>18767099 Darren Beattie On Tucker Carlson's Uniqueness In American Media And Murdoch's Role In Termination (article by Breitbart mentioned)

Exclusive — Disarray Consumes Fox News as Murdochs Attempt to Reassert Control with Carlson, Bongino Ousters

Matthew Boyle 27 Apr 2023Washington, DC1/4

Fox News is trying to sideline former Tucker Carlson Tonight host Tucker Carlson through the 2024 election, multiple sources familiar with the matter told Breitbart News.

Carlson’s current contract runs through December 2024, and as of now three sources familiar with the matter told Breitbart News that executives at the network are trying to keep Carlson on contract and not release him until after the 2024 election. The shocking decision to cancel Carlson’s top-rated weeknight program came just days after the networkshut down its top-rated weekend program with host Dan Bongino. What follows here is an insider account from people actually in the know after Breitbart News spent the past several days interviewing key players in the personnel matters at Fox News, asking what really happened.

Two things are clear from speaking to people who actually know what’s happening on the inside: First, theofficial narrative from the network is untrue. Second, and perhaps more importantly, many of the leaks and speculation that have poured out in the past couple days since the bombshell news of Carlson’s show getting canceled was announced are also simply untrue.

Nobody would speak on the record, for a number of reasons. First off, Fox News and the broader Murdoch empire are known for their ruthlessness against anyone who speaks the truth about what is actually happening there. Network spokeswoman Irena Briganti is believed to use outlets alsoowned by the Murdochs like the New York Post and Wall Street Journalto plant pieces that reflect poorly on foes of News Corporation.

Secondly, both Carlson and Bongino are technically still under contract by the network. Bongino’s contract runs through the end of April and Carlson’s through the 2024 general election. Both are, sources say, trying to negotiate exit packages—and even after they formally have those agreements in place, there will be non-disparagement clauses that prevent them from ever speaking the truth about this.

In response to requests for comment on this story, Fox News spokespersons just reissued to Breitbart News the same public statements that the network issued when announcing Carlson’s and Bongino’s departures.

“FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways,” the Fox News statement on Carlson reads. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.”

“We thank Dan for his contributions and wish him success in his future endeavors,” the Fox News statement on Bongino reads.

The brazen power play by the Murdoch family—at the helm of which is elderly patriarch Rupert Murdoch, but rising in power are his sons Lachlan and James Murdoch—is like a scene out of the hit HBO show Succession.

They wiped out their biggest shows both on weekends and on weekdays to show the rest of the staff who’s the real boss, but in effect insiders saythey have created a crisis that is quickly burgeoning out of control. In Succession, an aging media mogul, Logan Roy, navigates major business decisions for his sprawling empire while his children aggressively use whatever leverage they have to manipulate goings-on to advance their own positions. While Rupert Murdoch is said to hate the show, its plot is actually very close to what is happening in real life at Fox Corporation—Fox News’s parent company—as the adult children of Rupert Murdoch make moves in their bid to succeed their father.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/04/27/exclusive-disarray-consumes-fox-news-as-murdochs-attempt-to-reassert-control-with-carlson-bongino-ousters/

>>18767304

2/4

“As of right now, the plan remains the same: pay out Carlson’s contract and keep him on the sidelines through the 2024 elections,” one source close to Fox News senior executives told Breitbart News. “They knew they would take a beating for this, but everyone — and I mean everyone — is pretty rattled. They weren’t expecting the blowback to be this bad. Hate to say it, but it’s clear that Rupert has lost a step or two.”

That is objectively true: The “blowback” has been severe this week, as evidenced by a steep drop in Fox News ratings in the 8:00 p.m. ET hour day over day:

In fact, replacement host Brian Kilmeade lost to MSNBC in all ratings–and lost to CNN and MSNBC in the key demographic–on Wednesday night.

Multiple other sources told Breitbart News this detail about Carlson’s contract. “He’s still not fired, you know that right?” another Fox News source said about Carlson. “His contract is still ongoing.”

A third source close to Carlson also said it, noting that the Murdochs may end up trying to hold Carlson in his contract through the next presidential election to effectively silence him and keep him from becoming serious competition to them, whatever he ends up doing.

Former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly also reported that detail on her show on Thursday, saying that Carlson and Fox News are negotiating his exit and that while his show is canceled and he has been kicked out of his company email address, his contract is still in effect, which keeps him from doing something else.

The Murdoch family has owned Fox News since its inception, and with it they wield immeasurable power over the American populace. They technically control what shows up in news programming on the television screens of millions of Americans, but whether and when they exercise that control has varied over their decades of running it. Much like the Roy family in Succession, there are lots of times when the Murdochs have seemed either oblivious or indifferent—or both—to what exactly is appearing on their network. But there are occasions throughout its history when something rises to the level, on a business decision level, where they have felt the need to intervene and change things. For instance, during the 2016 presidential election, they ousted longtime and founding network head Roger Ailes, who a short time later passed away—and right now, they are stepping in to wipe out two major shows, thereby sending a message to everyone else that they are in fact the bosses.

Since Ailes’ ouster, though, the Murdochs have been on a long stream of indifference, mostly, at Fox News. Tucker Carlson Tonight first went on the air in November 2016, and the show aired until this week at 8:00 p.m. every weeknight. Carlson regularly was edgy in his content, questioning establishment Republicans—the Murdochs’ friends in the donor class in other words—and hammering things like a desire by some for endless war.

The tradeoff for the Murdochs was, despite the disruption that Carlson brought to their social circles, he was a ratings machine and represented in the truest possible way a ratings boomtown for the network. Carlson’s first show was less than a week after Donald Trump’s shocking victory in the 2016 presidential election, and having someone more ideological aligned with Trump in primetime—though Carlson did regularly disagree with Trump even though they shared skepticisms of many powers-that-be—helped thenetwork that had tried just a year earlier to destroy Trump’s 2016 campaignrehabilitate its image with the right.

If the 2016 election was one “inflection point” for Fox News, as one insider told Breitbart

News, the 2020 election was another one.

Fox’s decision to call Arizona for now-President Joe Biden days ahead of everyone else really infuriated the “Make America Great Again,” or MAGA, base and Fox News was reeling again and needed an intervention to stop the bleeding among its audience.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/04/27/exclusive-disarray-consumes-fox-news-as-murdochs-attempt-to-reassert-control-with-carlson-bongino-ousters/

>>18767307

3/4

“Post-2020, when Fox was really hurting, there was sort of ashift to the right byFox to cover their flank,” one former Fox News staffer told Breitbart News. “It’s why they brought in Bongino. They gave Jesse 7:00 p.m. They got Tucker to do the Fox Nation shows. They replaced Shannon Bream’s 11:00 p.m. show with Greg Gutfeld’s show. They generally became more conservative as a network.”

In so doing, with the hard push to the right that began when Trump won in 2016 and essentially accelerated post-2020 because of network moves to undercut him when Biden won, there was what amounted to a Wild West-like environment at Fox News where management—in other words, the Murdochs and their agents—receded and the hosts and talent did what they wanted.

“In [Carlson’s] hour he did whatever he wanted to do in that hour,” one network insider told Breitbart News. “That made it unique and made it poignant television because you didn’t know what topic would be discussed and how it would be discussed.”

But everything changed with the Dominion settlement. When Fox News settled for nearly $800 million with the company, the staggering sum of the settlement—and the amount of other suits barreling down the pike against Fox News from Smartmatic and from former producer Abby Grossberg—the Murdochs were rattled, per these network sources.

Multiple sources familiar with the matter told Breitbart News that Carlson never actually met Grossberg in person during her months as a producer for his show, something others have reported already.

Several sources familiar with the matter said thatthey quickly moved to reestablish control over their media empireand by ousting Bongino and Carlson they sent a message internally to everyone else that they best remember who’s in charge.

“It’s like when in your first day in prison you find the biggest, baddest, meanest dude in the yard and beat the living shit out of him,” another network insider told Breitbart News.

“From that day forward, everyone knows not to fuck with you. That’s what the Murdochs just did by getting rid of Tucker and Dan—anyone who would have challenged their vision for the direction of this company has learned that if you fuck around you will find out something not so good for yourself.”

Another Fox News source confirmed this sentiment, noting that even though Carlson is not to blame for the issues that led to the settlement—they said others were, mostly, responsible for it—the message is clear. “At the core of that is hosts doing what they want without much oversight,” this source said.

“That sort of happened in the post-Ailes area. People forget that Fox used to be much more centrist because it used to be top-down.”

“This change at Fox makes it more fundamentally top-down driven,” this person added. “Only recently did Fox try and reflect grassroots conservatism more. I think we’re going to see a reversion to the Fox of the past, where it’s fewer segments attacking Mitch McConnell andgenerally dumbed down.”

What’s truly interesting is just how much blowback Fox is getting from its audience for canceling Carlson’s and Bongino’s shows—something that the brass, includingthe Murdochs, seem to not have calculated clearly ahead of time. In fact, the ratings crashed in primetime this week and Carlson’s own video released on Twitter on Wednesday evening in its first hour post-publication got more views online than the network’s 8:00 p.m. hour—his old time slot—got in total ratings. For now,the Murdochs think they are above it all and that this too shall pass.

“As the Dominion thing got uglier, and particularly the Grossberg thing, which is getting uglier by the minute, the Murdochs just want a clean slate,” a fourth network insider told Breitbart News. “The election is coming up next year, and they think they’re going to get their viewers back anyway because there’s nowhere else to go.”

Another interesting detail about all of this is how quickly the Murdochs shifted gears. While Bongino has been classy in his public comments about everything—his Rumble video announcing the end of his time at Fox News got well over a million views—the truth of the matter is far more complicated and as one person said “bizarre.”

>>18767326

4/4

A source intricately familiar withBongino’s contract negotiationstold Breitbart News thatfor months Fox News tried to get him to re-uphis current deal. Negotiations were failing for a long time because Bongino did not like doing the show on Saturdays, and did not like working six days a week. While Bongino had his battles with Fox News management over a number of things—them editing his interview with Trump, for instance, was a sore spot—he got along well with everyone there and just was not sure he wanted to take Fox News up on the offer to renew the show due to the scheduling problems.

Negotiations were ongoing for a while, and Fox News were the ones pursuing Bongino, this source said: “There was a lot of back and forth and there was never a hint they didn’t want to renew the show, ever.” “As a matter of fact, they made multiple repeated offers to renew the show—it was never in question,” the source added.

So, what’s mind-boggling to network insiders is that Bongino appeared to come to an agreement weeks ago on a renewal. “There’s not two versions of this—this is the only version,” the source with intricate knowledge of Bongino’s discussions with Fox News added. “This is what happened.”

“He honestly did it because he just really felt bad,” this source said. “He’s been there for years and he’s got friends there.”

Then Fox News settled with Dominion—and promptly, management at the networkcalled Bongino saying they “changed their minds—they’re not interested.”

Bongino went on his own show on Rumble the next day and announced his departure from Fox—Fox had wanted him to go on air and do one last show, which he did not want to do and said he would just announce it on his show.

“Fox was a little worried he was going to flame them,” this source said, but Bongino did not—and instead aired a very classy announcement telling his fans his show was ending and publicly downplaying any disagreements with the network.

A few days after that, on Monday morning of this week, Fox News cut Carlson and the picture came much more into focus as to what exactly was going on.Bongino and Carlson, one source said, “were considered the two most likely to say ‘fuck you’ to management,” a network insider said, adding that Bongino “gave zero fucks, and Tucker gave even less fucks.”

One network source told Breitbart News that the Bongino and Carlson ousters “are so obviously tied together that anyone can see it clearly.” “After the Dominion settlement, there was clearly a meeting at the network—I don’t know if it was a board meeting or just the Murdochs, but someone made a decision—and said these two are the biggest threats to the network and they don’t listen to anyone,” the source said. “Neither one of them were controllable, and they were just doing their own thing. They were developing such a profile that it became problems for them. They just decided on Wednesday to cut bait.”

Every network source that Breitbart News spoke to made clear they do not think this is an effort by Fox News management or the Murdoch family to try to stop Trump in the 2024 GOP primary. They also downplayed the idea, floated by some like Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman, that this had to do with Carlson’s Christianity.

“That’s just fabricated and totally made up,” one source said. “I don’t think it’s about MAGA stuff either.” “It’s not about religion. It’s not about the MAGA stuff,” that source added. “It’s that the two of them did not listen to anybody.

They did their own thing and their own shit, andFox has a brand. The brand is ‘You will rep our company, shut the fuck up, and do what we tell you.’That’s why they love Kilmeadeand these people because that’s what they do.”

While the Murdochs clearly do not like Trump, a second person added, Trump’s strong performance in the polls for now means going against him would be akin to rocking the boat—and basically what the Carlson and Bongino moves signal is a move by the Murdochs away from anything edgy, and that includes slamming the brakes on any efforts to try to significantly shake up the 2024 GOP primary.

“I think this has less to do with Trump and DeSantis andmore to do with people like Mitch McConnell and John Thune,” this source said. “The change in the programming will be that if there’s some sort of controversial bill moving on Capitol Hill, Tucker would often use his show to try to kill it. That sort of stuff won’t be going on anymore. I just think thenetwork and the programming will be dumber, rah rah Republicans. Milquetoast content. It’s a reversion to what Fox was. The Tucker era at Fox was a deviation from the norm at Fox.”

(If FOX was hurting after 2020, we all need to push up the pressure in 2023, so they get a 10th of their audience there is no one interesting there except a few. If they want to pivot towards RINOS,let them)

>>18767352

NOTHING

>>18767281

Heritage just lost my interest, they are also big on Bill Barr

2:48 p.m. today, it's slowing down, 75 million maybe the most he gets,Trumps number in 2020

https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1651376097349578753?s=20

>>18767424

I read all bud products were taking a hit, that weirdo wrecked an iconic brand.

>>18767423

what do you mean?

>>18767402

kek,China did this on purpose….smart

28 Apr, 2023 17:19

UK allegedly censored report on British neo-Nazis fighting in Ukraine

British spies are afraid the far right will establish connections with other extremists on the battlefield, the document suggests

A British intelligence report on the global threat ofright-wing terrorism includes a completely redacted section on ‘returning foreign fighters’ from an unnamed European country, highly likely to be Ukraine.

Published last July, the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament’s report on ‘Extreme Right-Wing Terrorism’ gave British lawmakers an overview of the threat posed by right-wing radicals at home and abroad.

Drawn from material provided by Britain’s multiple intelligence agencies, including MI5 and MI6, the 130-page report includes detailed sections on right-wing violence in northern Europe and North America.

However, one section that follows those on northern Europe and the US and Canada is entirely redacted, its six paragraphs replaced by asterisks.

A semi-redacted paragraph offers some further context. It states that British intelligence officers are concerned that “There is no process in place to monitor those ‘G***’ individuals who have travelled overseas for Extreme Right-Wing Terrorism-related purposes and have returned to the UK.”

It notes that “there is a strong possibility that these returning foreign fighters, some of whom may have fought ***, will have been further radicalised” in the unnamed country, and will have “developed connections with others who share their Extreme Right-Wing ideology.”

“There is little doubt that for *** we are talking about interesting details of the situation in one of the countries of Eastern Europe,” Russian journalist and Kremlin critic Max Solopov wrote on Telegram on Thursday. “Especially considering that the UK is the most involved country in the Ukrainian conflict after Russia.”

Extremist ideology in Ukraine was covered extensively by the Western media before the start of Russia’s military operation last February. White supremacists from Germany, the US, UK, Scandinavia, and elsewhere traveled to Ukraine from 2014 onwards to join the neo-Nazi Azov militia, which would go on to be formally integrated into the Ukrainian military.

When the numbers of foreign fighters entering Ukraine multiplied last year, theUS Customs and Border Patrolwarned in a memo that “Ukrainian nationalistgroups including the Azo[v] Movement areactively recruitingracially or ethnically motivated violent extremist-white supremacists to join various neo-Nazi volunteer battalions.”

“What kind of training are foreign fighters receiving in Ukraine that they could possibly proliferate in US based militia and white nationalist groups?” the document asked, noting an “intelligence gap” in US law enforcement at the time.

Shortly before Russia’s military operation began, UK counterterrorism police were deployed to British airports to question people traveling to Ukraine.

According to The Guardian, officers were looking to identify “far-right extremists” seeking weapons training and military experience.

Such reports have since vanished from the Western media, replaced by stories sympathetic to foreign volunteers and articles downplaying the Azov Regiment’s neo-Nazi roots.

(These idiots are allowing neo nazi's in their country to recruit more!)

https://www.rt.com/russia/575503-uk-neo-nazis-ukraine/

28 Apr, 2023 14:46

At least nine dead in Ukrainian shelling of Donetsk – monitor

Kiev’s forces have subjected the city to massive rocket artillery fire, destroying a passenger bus and killing multiple civilians

Ukrainian shelling has leftnine civilians deadand more than a dozen injured in the Russian city of Donetsk, according to the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) monitoring group. Residential areas were hit by fire from multiple rocket launchers, with a passenger bus being destroyed and a local hospital suffering damage.

“Today, the central districts of the capital of the republic were subjected to another brutal shelling by the armed units of Ukraine,” Denis Pushilin, the interim head of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), wrote in a Telegram post. According to the official,Ukrainian forces targeted a local hospital, an urban park, and several residential buildings.

At leastseven fatalitiesresulted from the destruction of the bus, includingone child. The vehicle apparently suffered a direct, or a very close hit, bursting into in flames, footage from the scene has shown. All of the passengers on board were said to have been killed, and the vehicle completely burned out.

Ukrainian forces also directly struck the Donetsk trauma center, inflicting material damage on the DPR’s only magnetic resonance imaging scanner, the local health ministry told TASS.

The shelling also damaged and partially destroyed multiple residential houses across the city. Nineteen civilians received injuries of varying severity and were hospitalized, according to local officials. Later in the day, the JCCC provided a revised tally of the shelling, stating that a total of nine civilians were killed and 16 injured in the attacks on the city.

Formerly part of Ukraine, the DPR was incorporated into Russia last October together with the People’s Republic of Lugansk (LPR) and Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions. The areas joined Russia following referendums in which the local populations overwhelmingly backed the move.

(Wouldn't the UN be involved if Ukraine is intentionally targeted civilians, why aren't they even checking on this?)

https://www.rt.com/russia/575488-donetsk-bus-hospital-civilians/

28 Apr, 2023 13:11

Western arms may not be enough, Ukrainian troops tell NYT

Russia has the battlefield advantage despite Kiev’s foreign backing, soldiers on the frontline have told the newspaper

Ukrainian troops on the conflict frontline are concerned that Russian forces still have the advantage, despite the extensive military assistance sent by Kiev's backers, The New York Times has reported.

“I don’t know where the Russians are getting so much artillery,” a 43-year-old Ukrainian private named Pavel, who is deployed near the Donbass city of Ugledar, told the US newspaper.

“And there are also tanks, helicopters, and jets. The guys can’t get in and out of their positions, the firing is so heavy,” he complained. “We can’t go up against them with rifles. We need heavy equipment on the ground and support in the air.”

Kiev is expected to launch a counteroffensive against Russia within weeks, utilizing tanks, armored vehicles, and other heavy weapons provided by the West. Ukrainian Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov said on Friday that the troops were ready for the order to attack.

A company commander, who uses the callsign Dolphin, told NYT that his men's morale was high and they wanted to go on the offensive, despite the numbers not being in their favor.

“We lost our best people– those who died and those who were taken out of the fight because of injuries,” he said of the unit’s recent action against Russian forces.

“But there is one but,” he added. “There are more of them, but we’re stronger.”(KEK!)

Another fighter, a 23-year-old sergeant by the name of Michael, described alack of trainingin operating Western weapons. He is the only one in his company who knows how to properly use a US-made Mk-19 grenade launcher, the article said.

“At the time it entered into service with the Ukrainian armed forces, there were no instructors who could explain how to work it,” he said. “The manuals were only in English and in the Ukrainian military few speak English.”

Michael, according to NYT, has five years of experience with grenade launchers and is sharing it with others.

Moscow cited the creeping expansion of NATO into Ukraine and a growing threat to Russian national security stemming from it as one of the key reasons for launching its military operation in February 2022.

https://www.rt.com/russia/575487-nyt-ugledar-russian-advantage/

(NYTs interviews the soldiers because no one believes the Ukrainian leaders)

27 Apr, 2023 00:31

Russia and Ukraine hold fresh prisoner exchange

The 40-40 swap also included four severely injured Ukrainian POWs, Moscow’s human rights commissioner has announced

The Russian Defense Ministry on Wednesday confirmed that 40 servicemen have been returned from captivity, in exchange for 44 Ukrainians. The four extra Ukrainians had especially serious injuries and were sent back as a humanitarian gesture, according to Moscow.

TheRussians faced grave danger in captivity, the military said in a statement. They will be flown to Moscow to continue their medical treatment and undergo further rehabilitation, officials added.

Russia’s human rights commissioner, Tatyana Moskalkova, confirmed the addition of Ukrainian casualties to the exchange roster later in the day.

“Guided by humanitarian concerns, the Russian Defense Ministryadded four seriously injured Ukrainian servicemento the exchange, which was 40 for 40,” Moskalkova wrote.

Earlier in the day, Russia’s Investigative Committee announced a probe into several French citizens fighting for Ukraine, accusing them of murdering Russian prisoners.

According to the agency, one of the “French mercenaries” publisheda photo that showedthree Russian soldiers executed at point-blank range. Moscow has identified the alleged perpetrators as members of the 92nd Brigade of the Ukrainian military, as well as the infamous neo-Nazi Azov Battalion.

https://www.rt.com/russia/575402-russia-ukraine-prisoner-exchange/

28 Apr, 2023 19:16

Ex-Google CEO nearly deployed AI to win elections for Dems – media

Eric Schmidt stopped short of pulling the trigger on a $1 million plan to explore using the technology to garner votes (He’s lying)

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt nearly poured $1 million into a project to test how best to use artificial intelligence to win elections for Democrats, only to back out at the last minute, according to a report from Axios published on Thursday.

The proposal, which was from a subsidiary of his ownphilanthropicoutfit calledOneOne Venturesand dating from earlier this month, would have put at least three technical teams to work on new AI tools related to political advertising, Axios revealed. The results would have been tested during the 2024 race.

However, the billionaire ultimately rejected the plan for reasons he declined to make public via a spokesperson fromSchmidt Futures, OneOne’sparent organization. The committed Democrat is still reportedly expected to get involved in some kind of election-related AI project for the coming contest.

Republicans have already unleashed an AI-generated ad of their own for 2024, countering President Joe Biden’s official re-election announcement with a 30-second ‘Beat Biden’ spot featuring a series of computer-generated ‘what if’ catastrophe vignettes. In the clip, Biden’s victory is followed in rapid-fire by China invading Taiwan, the closure of 500 regional banks, 80,000 migrants over-running the US-Mexican border, and the city of San Francisco somehow closing its doors.

If not for the tiny line of text in the upper-left corner revealing the ad was AI-generated, the images could easily pass for real to human audiences. AI-generated deepfakes are expected to cause major disruptions in the news cycle during the months preceding the election, though the technology is advancing so rapidly it is hard to tell what will be possible to fake by October 2024.

Schmidt poured $4 million into the 2022 midterm elections after dropping $8.5 million on the 2020 race, and he is expected to donate big in 2024 as well. The former Google CEO has bankrolled voter analytics software and other tech enhancements for Democratic campaigns, and his influence has been heavily felt in the Biden administration’s tech policy.

Last year, Schmidt announced he was giving away $125 million through Schmidt Futures to AI researchers focusing on “hard problems” in the field, explaining he hoped to hardwire ethical considerations into the technology while addressing the seismic upheavals it is expected to cause in the labor market and economy, the way humans perceive and consume information, and the fusion of man and machine.

https://www.rt.com/news/575509-eric-schmidt-ai-election-rejected/

28 Apr, 2023 09:03Really cool video

Lightning strikes disrupt SpaceX launch plans (VIDEOS)

The postponement comes a week after the company’s Starship exploded just minutes after taking off

SpaceX has postponed the launch of its Falcon Heavy spacecraft after lightning struck the launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The American aerospace manufacturer said it would conduct another attempt on Friday evening.

In a message posted on Twitter on Thursday, SpaceX announced that “due to unfavorable weather, the team is standing down from tonight’s Falcon Heavy launch of @ViasatInc’s ViaSat-3 Americas mission.”

Rain and strong winds were reported in eastern Florida during the day, with the US National Weather Service issuing a tornado warning.

Footage shared online showed multiple lightning bolts striking the launchpad and the surrounding area on Thursday.

On board Falcon Heavy are several commercial satellites which it is expected to take into orbit.

The delay follows a failure last Thursday when SpaceX’s Starship exploded just minutes after liftoff. The spacecraft failed to separate from the booster rocket and began to fall from the sky.

The flight termination system, which is essentially a self-destruct mechanism, “was commanded on both the booster and ship,” SpaceX later explained.

The launch had been put off earlier that week and was almost aborted during the countdown.

“With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary,” the company said in a statement.

https://rumble.com/embed/v2iaox8/?pub=4

https://www.rt.com/news/575471-spacex-falcon-heavy-launch-postponed-weather/

28 Apr, 2023 19:08

US envoy questions Russian use of term ‘Anglo-Saxons’

Ambassador Lynne Tracy’s public statements have drawn sharp rebukes from the Kremlin

US ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy has argued that the Kremlin shouldn’t use the term “Anglo-Saxons” to describe American and British leadership, as the US is “enriched” by immigrants. Tracy’s tenure in Moscow has already proven contentious, with Russia’s Foreign Ministry accusing her of “direct interference” in the country’s affairs.

Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin and former President Dmitry Medvedev, have repeatedly used the term “Anglo-Saxons” to describe the foreign leaders – mostly in the UK and US – pushing the hardest anti-Russia policies. The publication of Russia’s updated foreign policy doctrine last month made its use official, listing “the US and other Anglo-Saxon states” separately from countries in the “European region.”

“I noticed the use of this term, but…it seems very strange to me,” Tracy told the Kommersant newspaper on Thursday. “And it does not at all reflect the essence of the United States, which is a multinational country where people from all over the world live.”

“And all of them, as you know, have contributed to American culture, greatly enriched American life,” she added. (What a crazy bitch, why are dems so stupid, she’s arguing against using words instead of trying to be an Ambassador)

Tracy’s issue, however, with the Kremlin’s phrasing is relatively minor compared to the numerous other controversies that have emerged since she arrived in Moscow in January.

Tracy, along with Britain and Canada’s envoys to Russia, weresummoned to the Russian Foreign Ministryearlier this month for demanding the “immediate release” of Vladimir Kara-Murza, an opposition activist who was found guilty of treason and handed a 25-year prison sentence.

Tracy’s “provocative statements” amounted to “blatant interference into internal affairs,” the ministry said, referring to Kara-Murza as a US-backed “agent of influence.”

The ministry responded unfavorably to Tracy’s Kommersant interview too, particularly her comment that Washington “does not view Russians as enemies.” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated on Friday that despite Tracy’s platitudes, “Russian people are getting killed” with American weapons, wielded by “a regime that was brought to power by the US as a result of a coup orchestrated by the US.”

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Zakharova did not directly address Tracy’s “Anglo-Saxons” comment. However, she did stress that any interference by envoys of the US, Britain, Canada, or “other countries that have joined the frenzied Russophobia of the Anglo-Saxons…will be suppressed in the most decisive way, and the diplomats involved in this subversive work will be expelled from Russia.”

https://www.rt.com/russia/575507-lynne-tracey-anglo-saxon/

>>18767723

Very sad state of affairs!

>>18767736

AOC it's called a job, get one.

Justice Alito has a 'pretty good idea' of who leaked Dobbs decision draft

The court launched a comprehensive investigation into the leaker's identity, but could not make a final determination.

Updated: April 28, 2023 - 4:47pm

Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito indicated in a recent interview that he believed he knew who leaked the draft opinion of the Dobbs v. Jackson decision that ultimately overturned the constitutional right to an abortion but that he lacked enough evidence to make a public accusation.

"I personally have a pretty good idea who is responsible, but that’s different from the level of proof that is needed to name somebody," he told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published Friday.

In May of 2022, Politico published a draft opinion of the landmark case, which Alito had authored. The draft majority opinion indicated that the court was poised to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade case. It later proved authentic when the court released its final opinion doing exactly that.

The court launched a comprehensive investigation into the leaker's identity, but could not make a final determination.

"After examining the Court’s computer devices, networks, printers, and available call and text logs, investigators have found no forensic evidence indicating who disclosed the draft opinion," the marshal announced in January of this year.

Alito was sure, however, of the leaker's motive, insisting that the release of the draft opinionwas an effort to generate public opposition and stop the final releaseof the court decision.

"It was a part of an effort to prevent the Dobbs draft…from becoming the decision of the court. And that’s how it was used for those six weeks by people on the outside—as part of the campaign to try to intimidate the court," he said.

Following the Politico report, demonstrations erupted outside the homes of the justices. Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh became the subject of an alleged assassination attempt after Nicholas John Roske, allegedly traveled to the justice's Maryland home with the intent to kill him. He has pleaded not guilty.

https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/justice-alito-has-pretty-good-idea-who-leaked-dobbs-decision-draft

Updated: April 28, 2023 - 12:58pm

Anti-abortion bills fail to pass in Nebraska, South Carolina

Republicans in both state legislatures voted against these anti-abortion bills. (Cowards)

GOP-controlled legislatures in South Carolina and Nebraska failed on Thursday to pass anti-abortion legislation.

The "Heartbeat Act" in Nebraska would have banned most abortions after six weeks with exceptions including rape, incest and the life of the mother.

The measured stalled in the state legislature and a vote to overcome a filibuster of the bill failed by a vote of 32-15. Two senators abstained from voting.

GOP state Sen. Merv Riepe called for the bill to be reconsidered and proposed an amendment to move the ban to 12 weeks instead of six weeks. The amendment did not receive a vote.

“It is unacceptable for senators to be present not voting on such a momentous vote," Nebraska GOP Gov. Jim Pillen said in a statement. “I call on Senator Merv Riepe to make a motion to reconsider and stand by the commitments to life he has made in the past.”

As of now, Nebraska prohibits the majority of abortions past 20 weeks.

The South Carolina state Senate also failed to pass the "Human Life Protection Act," which would have banned abortions in the state. It failed in a 22-21 vote withthree Republicans voting against it.

The bill will be moved to next year’s legislative session, which starts in January.

"Once a woman became pregnant for any reason, she would now become property of the state of South Carolina if the ‘Human Life Protection Act’ were [to] come into law," Republican state Sen. Katrina Frye Shealy said on the Senate floor before voting against the bill.

"She could no longer make decisions on her own or at the advice of her well-trained doctor," she continued. "Every female, regardless of her age, would suddenly become subject to the power of a code book regarding her health." (These people are fucking evil and crazy, they can go across state lines and get one.)

https://justthenews.com/nation/states/anti-abortion-bills-fail-pass-south-carolina-and-nebraska

Pence testifies before grand jury in special counsel investigation, report

Of interest to Smith were efforts by Trump and his allies to pressure Pence into intervening in the electoral certification process.

Updated: April 27, 2023 - 6:15pm

Former Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday appeared before a grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Pence's testimony came as part of special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into Trump, Politico reported, citing "two people familiar with the matter." Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith to handle the DOJ's Trump-related matters, including his alleged mishandling of classified materials, following the Republican's announcement of his 2024 presidential campaign.

Of interest to Smith were efforts by Trump and his allies to pressure Pence into intervening in the electoral certification process. Trump had sought to block Pence's testimony, though a panel of judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals denied that request on Wednesday.

Chief U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg in late March, issued a historic ruling by granting Pence a limited degree of immunity on the grounds that he had been presiding over Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, and therefore enjoyed certain protections in that capacity, Politico observed.

Pence declined acquiesce to Trump and intervene in the certification process. He has since found himself object of his former running mate's ire and struggled to retain clout in the Republican Party as he mulls a presidential bid of his own. He currently places third with 5.4% support in the RealClearPolitics polling average for the Republican primary despite not having officially declared his candidacy. (Pence lost clout when he betrayed America it wasn't what Trump said, it's what Pence did, he's a liar and traitor.)

Only Trump himself and Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis stand ahead of him.

(Grand Jury rules of secrecy was destroyed by democrats.)

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/all-things-trump/pence-testifies-grand-jury-special-counsel-investigation