NATO arsenals ‘empty’ – Stoltenberg

Continued support for Ukraine will require more industrial production, the military bloc’s chief has said

NATO needs a “more robust” industry in order to refill the stocks of weaponry and ammunition emptied by a year of supplying Kiev, the bloc’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday, at an industrial conference in Germany.

The US-led military bloc “must continue to support Ukraine” as it has done since 2014, Stoltenberg insisted at the Day of Industry in Berlin, hosted by the Federation of German Industries (BDI).

“We also need a more robust defense industry,” the secretary general argued. “Our weapons and ammunition stocks are depleted and need to be replenished. Not just in Germany, but in many countries across NATO.”

He added that he met with representatives of the military industry last week and discussed how best to ramp up production and streamline supply chains, adding that this was “key to sustain our support for Ukraine.”

Stoltenberg also repeated his argument that only a Ukrainian victory on the battlefield can result in a just and lasting peace. Kiev’s forces had attempted a large-scale offensive on the southern front over the past week, with heavy losses in manpower, as well as in weaponry provided by the West.

The US and its allies have sent over $100 billion worth of weapons, equipment and ammunition to Kiev in the last year, after the conflict escalated. They insist this does not actually make them a party to the hostilities with Russia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused the West of direct involvement, not just with the weapons deliveries but also by training Ukrainian troops in the UK, Germany, Italy and elsewhere.

Kiev has complained that a lot of the weapons coming in are in such poor condition they have to be cannibalized for parts. At least a third of Ukraine’s military potential is undergoing repairs at any given time, according to the New York Times.

https://www.rt.com/news/578307-nato-stoltenberg-arsenals-empty/

US plotting to interfere in Russian elections – Lavrov

The Russian foreign minister warned about the threat to next year’s vote

Washington has openly embraced the goal of destabilizing Moscow, with an eye to the 2024 presidential election, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.

The US is not stopping its “vicious practice of interference in the internal affairs of sovereign countries,” Lavrov told the meeting of the ruling United Russia party.

“The forms of such interference are very diverse, including threats, blackmail and the organization of ‘color revolutions’. The bloody coup d'état in Ukraine that succeeded in 2014 was attempted again six years later in Belarus, unsuccessfully,” the foreign minister explained. “This obviously won’t be the last step. They openly set the goal of undermining domestic political stability in our country – in the context of the 2024 presidential elections.”

While the situation in the world is “not easy,” it is also increasingly apparent that the main trend is the strengthening of multipolarity, Lavrov added. New centers of growth and global decision-making are emerging in Eurasia, the Pacific, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, based on the “natural, inalienable right of peoples to determine their own destiny.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the 2024 presidential election will be held “in strict accordance with the law,” and in compliance with all democratic and constitutional procedures. He is eligible to run for re-election, but has not yet announced if he intends to do so.

In March 2022, US President Joe Biden publicly declared that Putin “cannot remain in power,” though officials in Washington later said he was expressing a personal sentiment and not an actual policy change.

Several months later, former national security adviser John Bolton openly advocated for “regime change” in Russia, urging the US to encourage “Russians themselves to exacerbate divisions among those with real authority,” in order to bring about a revolution.

https://www.rt.com/russia/578311-lavrov-us-election-meddling/

School Principal Quits Job To Homeschool Her 3 Kids On A 10-Acre Homestead: 'I Wanted To Raise Thinkers'

A former school principal who grew frustrated with the school system quit her job and instead chose to homeschool her three kids on a 10-acre (4.05-hectare) homestead. Merging her children’s learning with their land and home, she has created an immersive “real world” educational experience based on her kids’ unique need

Mandy Davis, 37, lives in Central Oregon with her husband, Josh, 38, and their children Emma, 11, Clara, 9, and Cruz, 1. For Mandy, who was adopted from Seoul, South Korea, and who later grew up in Nebraska, her own public school experience was “not all roses.” Neither was Texas native Josh’s since he moved often as a child and suffered from huge learning gaps as he moved between state education systems.

Wanting to be a positive change and advocate for all students, Mandy got into the education field right after college. However, after struggling with having little control over what she was so passionate about, Mandy, who has a Master’s in Education and Instruction Design and has worked in both public and private schools, felt called to take full control of her children’s education.

“Schools today are tough,” she told The Epoch Times. “I couldn’t be the change I wanted to be in our school system, but more so, I couldn’t leave my children in it to suffer.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/school-principal-quits-job-homeschool-her-3-kids-10-acre-homestead-i-wanted-raise

Legalise Cannabis party introduces personal use bills in NSW, Victoria and Western Australia

The Legalise Cannabis party will today introduce bills to legalise marijuana for personal use in parliaments in Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia.

Key points:

Bills to legalise cannabis have been introduced in NSW, Victoria and Western Australia

The move would divert cannabis users away from the criminal justice system if passed

Over 700,000 cannabis-related offences have taken place in the last 13 years

It is the first time the same bill has been tabled in three states on the same day.

The bills will be introduced to the states' upper houses and will need support from major parties to become law.

It will not allow people under 18 to access cannabis, or permit driving while impaired by the drug.

New South Wales upper house MP Jeremy Buckingham said the reform would allow people over the age of 18 to grow up to six cannabis plants in their households.

It would also allow people to gift small quantities to other people but driving under the influence of the drug would remain prohibited.

"This is a historic move by the Legalise Cannabis Party across Australia to bring a coordinated reform for cannabis legalisation," Mr Buckingham said.

He said the intention of the reform was to divert people who use cannabis from the criminal justice system, which has seen over 700,000 cannabis-related offences nationally since 2010.

Police also estimate cannabis generates $8 billion in profits for organised crime each year.

"The wider community wants cannabis law reform," Mr Buckingham said.

"They've seen how successful medicinal cannabis has been and are sick of governments wasting billions of dollars of taxpayers' money on people who are going to before the courts for simple cannabis possession."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-20/legalise-cannabis-party-bill-nsw-wa-victoria/102498976

They're waking up, quick give them weed

Submarine CEO Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding and French diving expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet named as missing in Titanic voyage

Three of the five people feared missing in a submersible on a once-in-a-lifetime underwater tour of the Titanic wreckage have been named, as search and rescue teams desperately conduct an underwater and aerial search of the vessel, which may have only about 70 hours of oxygen left.

A submarine chief executive, a British billionaire and a French diving expert are among three people feared missing on a once-in-a-lifetime voyage of the Titanic.

It is believed five crew boarded a submersible, owned by the OceanGate Expeditions, for an underwater tour of the ship's wreckage in the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday.

But contact was lost with the vessel about one hour and 45 minutes into the trip, the United States Coast Guard said in a press conference on Tuesday morning.

A desperate search for the craft is underway involving government agencies and deep sea firms, which may only have about 70 hours of air left inside.

Submarine CEO Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding and French mariner Paul-Henri Nargeolet have been named as three of the five missing crew.

Mr Rush is the chief executive and founder of OceanGate Inc, the company involved in the incident, which sends thrill seekers on underwater voyages.

The second reported missing person, Mr Nargeolet, 73, is the Director of Underwater Research Program at Premier Exhibitions, RMS Titanic.

While Mr Harding, 58, is a businessman, aviator and "space tourist", and runs Action Aviation which sells commercial and private aircraft.

He has three Guinness World Records next to his name, including the greatest distance covered at full ocean depth and greatest duration spent at full ocean depth.

Mr Harding reached the deepest place on earth, the Mariana Trench, which is about 36,000 feet or 11 kilometres, in 2021 using a two-man submarine.

The billionaire shared his excitement on social media about the Titanic adventure on the weekend, saying weather had cleared a "window" for the dive.

"Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023," he said.

"The team on the sub has a couple of legendary explorers, some of which have done over 30 dives to the RMS Titanic since the 1980s including PH Nargeolet."

His family confirmed on Facebook he is among the missing.

"Thoughts and prayers for my stepfather Hamish Harding as his submarine has gone missing exploring Titanic," stepson Brian Szasz said.

"Search and rescue mission is underway."

https://www.skynews.com.au/world-news/submarine-ceo-stockton-rush-british-billionaire-hamish-harding-and-french-diving-expert-paulhenry-nargeolet-named-as-missing-in-titanic-voyage/news-story/4efedecc3039d00f9c6416e2437b7d6d

Biden's Secretary of State says US is not seeking to 'economically contain' China

"One of the important things for me to do on this trip was to disabuse our Chinese hosts to the notion that we are seeking to economically contain them. We’re not."

Speaking from a press conference in Beijing, China on Monday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US is not seeking "to economically contain" China.

"One of the important things for me to do on this trip was to disabuse our Chinese hosts to the notion that we are seeking to economically contain them. We’re not."

"And as I’ve said, we are not about decoupling, we’re about de-risking and diversifying, and here’s what I mean by that: first, when it comes to decoupling or economic containment, I think the facts simply belie that proposition. As I mentioned, our trade relationship has reached the highest number that it’s ever hit last year, about $700 billion in trade," said Blinken.

He added that American foreign investment in China "has reached levels that we haven’t seen since 2014."

"Parenthetically, we’ve got about 300,000 Chinese students studying in the United States. We have many American companies that I met with, or at least the representatives here, including they Chamber of Commerce, they continue to be very interested to do business here, and it’s profoundly in our interest," he said.

Blinken said that he told his Chinese hosts that their country’s economic success "is also in our interest."

"We have done a remarkable job of rebounding from Covid and having a growing economy, very low unemployment, tremendous investments in our future, but we also benefit tremendously when there is growth and progress in other countries, especially on one of the world’s largest economies when it comes to China."

Blinken said it would be "disastrous" to economically contain China.

"However, what is clearly in our interest is making sure that certain specific technologies that China may be using to, for example, advance its very opaque nuclear weapons program to build hypersonic missiles, to use technology that may have repressive purposes, it’s not our interest to provide that technology to China, and I also made that very clear," Blinken said.

Blinken said that the US would continue to take "narrowly focused, carefully tailored" actions to "advance and protect our national security, and I think that’s a very important distinction."

Noting that the phrase "de-risk not decouple" came from the President of the European Commission, Blinken said that this "reflects very well the approach that many countries are taking, both because of the importance of sustaining economic relations, trade investment of China, but also because of concerns about some of the things that China is doing with the technology that’s getting to them."

Blinken said he made this very clear during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other officials in the country.

During the same press conference, which took place after Blinken’s meeting with Xi Jinping, he noted that the US does "not support Taiwan independence."

"On Taiwan, I reiterated the longstanding US One China policy. That policy has not changed. It’s guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, three joint communiques, the six assurances. We remain opposed to any unilateral changes to the status quo by either side. We continue to expect the peaceful resolution of cross-strait differences."

https://thepostmillennial.com/bidens-secretary-of-state-says-us-is-not-seeking-to-economically-contain-china

Multi-millionaire Colin Kaepernick says US needs to end capitalism, partners with Marxists in new book

Former NFL quarterback Colin Kapernick says it's time for the United States to forgo capitalism.

Former NFL quarterback Colin Kapernick says it's time for the United States to forgo capitalism, despite accumulating a $40 million net worth and owning a $5.4 million dollar mansion in Las Vegas, all at the hands of America's capitalist economic system.

Kaepernick, who turned himself into a civil rights activist after being booted from the NFL for poor performance, insisted that "black liberation" is not possible under capitalism while he promoted his new book which was co-edited by two famed Marxists, Daily Mail reports.

When asked by The New Republic about his experience working alongside "two of the most prominent black Marxists in the country," Kaepernick said, "I've long admired Keeanga and Robin's work as well as their uncompromising political analysis and understanding that Black liberation simply isn’t possible under capitalism."

"I think the anthology makes this argument quite well, and I hope it challenges readers to see that racism is not white supremacy’s only ingredient. White supremacy persists in part because of its relationship with capitalism, heteropatriarchy, ableism, and so on," Kaepernick explained, who became known for boycotting the National Anthem during football games by means of kneeling.

According to Daily Mail, Kaepernick's book features a collection of essays authored by notable civil rights activists such as W.E.B. Du Bois and Angela Davis who explain in their pieces that "systemic racism is built into the capitalist economic system." The book is predominately written by anti-capitalist authors.

Kaepernick, who has been a pivotal voice in the Marxist Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, slammed Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in the interview and said that his book "is the kind of book DeSantis wants to ban."

"Any attempt to whitewash the past should actually be understood as a concrete step toward fascism and a desire to build a nation state where power is concentrated in the hands of a self-anointed (read: white) few," he said.

The two renowned Marxists that Kaepernick worked with to edit his book "Our History Has Always Been Contraband: In Defense of Black Studies" are Robin D.G. Kelley and Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor.

According to Daily Mail, Kelley describes himself as a "Marxist surrealist feminist" and is a professor of history at UCLA, while Taylor teaches African American studies at Northwestern University and is on the board of the International Socialist Review.

https://thepostmillennial.com/multi-millionaire-colin-kaepernick-says-us-needs-to-end-capitalism-partners-with-marxists-in-new-book

Fuckery afoot

FBI Investigates After 100 Letters Containing White Powder Sent to Kansas Lawmakers

Republican lawmakers and officials in Kansas said they received letters containing white powder, and the FBI and state investigators are now involved.

In a June 18 statement, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation confirmed that there was white powder in the letters and that about 100 such letters were sent to people across Kansas. A sample of the letters with the powder was sent to a laboratory that specializes in testing potential biological samples, officials said.

“Preliminary tests have returned from this lab indicating the substance is presumptively negative for common biological agents of concern. Further and more complete testing will be conducted on this sample, as well as on additional letters that have been collected, in an effort to determine the components of the substance. The investigation is ongoing. Nothing further will be released at this time,” the agency’s statement said.

The FBI and Kansas Department of Health and Environment are now involved in the investigation. Currently, no injuries or illnesses have been reported so far.

State House Speaker Daniel Hawkins, a Republican, received one of the letters, according to a statement to CNN from spokesperson Carrie Rahfaldt.

“We are very appreciative of KBI Director [Tony] Mattivi, the agents of the KBI, local law enforcement and fire departments, the KS National Guard, KDHE, the FBI, the Office of the State Fire Marshall, and everyone else who was involved in the massive process of retrieving these envelopes and ensuring the safety of our members,” Hawkins’s office told media outlets.

Also, Republican state Rep. Stephen Owens also got a letter with the powder, and he said he believes that only Republicans received such letters.

The letter read, in part: “It’s important not to choke on your ambition.” And it was signed “your secret despiser,” Owens told CNN.

CNN also posted a copy of the letter that was sent to Owens, showing that the writer used multiple fonts. “Salutations … to honor your recent accomplishments … I send to you a gift from the exclusive astruc baruch collection (sic),” it reads. It had a June 14 postdate.

“There’s a question whether maybe it’s related to some of those vetoes that we overrode,” Owens told CNN. “It’s really terrifying to think that because of someone’s political beliefs that they can be a target,” he said.

The Republican-led state legislature overrode multiple vetoes handed down by Kansas’s governor this year, Owens said, including one that bars transgender athletes from competing on women’s sports teams.

Owens said that he believed that the letter was from a constituent because the return address was for a church located in his district. “It was very deliberate, very intentional to get us to open the letters,” Owens said.

“Violence and acts of violence and threats do absolutely nothing, nothing to change one’s perspective. As a matter of fact, that strengthens the resolve of myself and my colleagues and of our party to continue the work that we’re doing.”

Another Republican lawmaker, Rep. Tory Marie Brew, posted a suspicious letter on her Facebook page.

https://www.ntd.com/fbi-investigates-after-100-letters-containing-white-powder-sent-to-kansas-lawmakers_926285.html

boy down a well distraction?