Shot-down Ukrainian drones full of NATO electronics

Belarus displayed UAVs that were brought down while in its airspace earlier this week

The Belarusian Defense Ministry has published footage of the wreckage of the Ukrainian drones that were shot down in its airspace earlier this week.

The video, which was posted to Telegram, demonstrated the charred metallic fragments of what appear to be a wing and parts of the hull of a drone scattered around a wooded area. The Belarusian military did not elaborate on what types of UAVs were intercepted. Some of the drones ended up making it through to Russia, where they were later shot down near the city of Yaroslavl.

According to the Belarusian media, the UAVs were filled with various NATO electronics and equipment, including a US-made active antenna and a Belgian navigation system. “The downed drones appear to have been assembled [by Ukraine] together with NATO engineers,” the Belarusian Belta news agency reported.

Neither Kiev nor its Western backers have commented on the incident so far. Minsk summoned Kiev’s interim charge d’affaires, Olga Timush, over the issue to express its protest. The Foreign Ministry warned that such actions by Ukraine could lead to further escalation and demanded Kiev prevent such incidents in the future.

The ministry also stated that the continued presence of Ukrainian diplomats in Belarus could be jeopardized if they are unable to influence Kiev’s policies when it comes to such “provocations.”

On Sunday, the Belarusian Defense Ministry also announced that it was deploying tank units to the Ukrainian border in light of the drone incident. Lukashenko also ordered the military presence on the Ukrainian border to be strengthened. Kiev has suggested the buildup was aimed at diverting Ukraine’s attention from its incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region.

Belarus has never directly taken part in the conflict between Moscow and Kiev. However, at the start of Russia’s military campaign in February 2022, it allowed the Russian military to use its territory to launch an offensive on Kiev. Relations between the two neighbors have been strained ever since.

https://www.rt.com/russia/602455-belarus-ukrainian-drones-nato-electronics/

Audio: Dem Insider Says ‘Republicans For Harris’ is Scam Created By Kamala’s Campaign

On Friday, the Maine Wire — a local right-wing outlet — published undercover audio of a discussion between a “citizen journalist” and Peter Mills, the former executive director of the Maine Turnpike Authority and the brother of the state’s Democrat governor, Janet Mills.

In a discussion with the undercover operative, who was posing by someone under the pseudonym “Tim Dillon,” Mills — a registered Democrat and one of the “top faces” of the group, according to the publication — sought to join it. Mills pointed him toward Amy Cookson, one of Kamala’s campaign staffers.

The former Planned Parenthood operative had an email address that ended in “@kamalaharris.com.”

“I think she’s a paid worker,” Mills said.

“I think that’s her job here is to find – she’s looking – she has an organization called Republicans for Harris.”

More than that, he went on to say that she was “the main representative of that group.”

“I think it’s a national structure that’s being organized by, obviously, by the Harris campaign,” he said.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/08/audio-dem-insider-says-republicans-harris-scam-created/

https://rumble.com/v5achjl-peter-mills-exposes-republicans-for-harris.html

ActBlue Tightens Donation Security Requirements Amid Investigations

ActBlue agreed to tighten its donation security requirements, according to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who, along with other Republican-controlled states and a congressional committee, is investigating the Democratic fundraising platform.

Paxton said in an Aug. 8 statement that ActBlue has cooperated with the Texas investigation and will now require CVV codes for credit card contributions.

One primary focus of the Texas probe launched in December 2023 involved ActBlue’s failure to require donors to provide CVV codes, which are numerical codes printed on credit cards commonly used to combat credit card fraud.

“ActBlue has been the subject of numerous allegations of illicit activity, including that its platform may enable fraud,” the statement said.

Paxton said his office issued a supplemental civil investigative demand in his ongoing probe to obtain additional information relevant to allegations of wrongdoing regarding ActBlue.

Enforcing the law surrounding elections and campaign contributions is critical, he said.

“Certain features of campaign finance law may incentivize bad actors to use platforms like ActBlue to covertly move money to political campaigns to evade legal requirements,” Paxton said.

State attorneys general from Virginia, Wyoming, and Missouri have launched similar investigations into ActBlue.

ActBlue has denied wrongdoing.

“This investigation is nothing more than a partisan political attack and scare tactic to undermine the power of Democratic and progressive small-dollar donors,” the organization said in a statement on Aug. 2 as Virginia announced its investigation.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/actblue-tightens-donation-security-requirements-amid-investigations

Trump Campaign Hacked, Microsoft Says Iran-Backed Group "Mint Sandstorm" Responsible

Microsoft’s cyber threat assessment unit said on Aug. 9 that a high-ranking official on a U.S. presidential campaign had been hacked by an Iran-backed group, with the Trump campaign later revealing that it had been the target of a cyber attack and linked the breach to “foreign sources hostile to the United States.”

The report from the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center (MTAC) indicates that an Iranian group called Mint Sandstorm that is connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sent a spear phishing email in June to a high-ranking official on a presidential campaign from the compromised email account belonging to a former senior campaign adviser.

“Mint Sandstorm similarly targeted a presidential campaign in May and June 2020 five to six months ahead of the last U.S. presidential election,” MTAC said, adding that the same group also tried but failed to breach an account belonging to a former presidential candidate.

No details were released on the official’s identity, but Microsoft’s threat assessment team said that the Iranian-linked breaches related to increasing attempts to influence the U.S. presidential election in November.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-campaign-hacked-microsoft-says-iran-backed-group-mint-sandstorm-responsible

NO EVIDENCE

Russia Begins Heavy Retaliation On Ukrainian Capital As Zelensky Breaks Silence On Kursk Invasion

Now in the sixth day of the Kursk invasion, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky explained the following on Sunday, breaking his silence and giving his first official confirmation of the daring cross-border ground operation, "Today, I received several reports from Commander-in-Chief Syrskyii regarding the front lines and our actions to push the war onto the aggressor’s territory." He added: "Ukraine is proving that it can indeed restore justice and ensure the necessary pressure on the aggressor."

On the same day Russia’s Foreign Ministry has vowed, "A tough response from the Russian army will not be long in coming." But that response appears to have already begun overnight and into Sunday, as the capital of Kiev has come under heavy missile attack. Missiles did not reach the center of the city, but the suburbs were impacted.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russia-begins-heavy-retaliation-ukrainian-capital-zelensky-breaks-silence-kursk

Half Of OECD Countries Earn Less Now Than Pre-Pandemic

According to a recent report, around half of OECD countries are earning less now than they had before the pandemic.

As Statista's Katharine Buchholz reports, when considering hourly real wages - wages adjusted for inflation - people in the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia and many European countries now have less money at their disposal than roughly four years ago. No data was published for Turkey, Chile and Colombia.

While the pandemic caused issues for some industries, others also started paying workers more as they wound up being in short supply due to the upheavals to employment Covid-19 caused. After the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in early 2022, most workers around the world took a hit to their real wages as inflation was running hot in many countries, causing price increases to effectively outweigh any potential wage growth.

Finland, Italy, the Czech Republic, Sweden and New Zealand were hardest hit by this phenomenon according to the OECD Employment Outlook 2024, seeing real wages decrease by more than 5%. Sweden saw wages dwindle most, by 7.5%. The country is known for relatively low real wages compared to its pricy standard of living—pay is 11% lower than in neighboring Denmark and 16-20% lower than in Germany, the Netherlands or Norway. Trade unions negotiate a majority contracts in the country that has placed a focus on equality, but like in many European nations, collective bargaining has become more contentious. In this context, observers have even referred to a "lost decade" for Swedish wages.

The United States fared better than others as real wages were just 0.8% lower in Q1 of 2024 than in Q4 of 2019. Neighbor Canada lost 2.4% of hourly real wages in roughly the same time period, while the loss was even more severe in Australia at 4.8%. The University of Sydney comments that a departure from collective bargaining and a decrease in manufacturing have affected the jobs that used to be peak performers for wage growth in the country.

https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/half-oecd-countries-earn-less-now-pre-pandemic

RAY McGOVERN: Decay, Decrepitude, Deceit in Journalism

Journalism is not like war: In war the victors get to write the history; in today’s journalism, the losers write it.

Russiagate continues to survive like a science fiction monster resilient to bullets.

The latest effort at rehabilitating it is an interview by Adam Rawnsley in the current issue of Rolling Stone magazine of one Michael van Landingham, an intelligence analyst who is proud of having written the first draft of the cornerstone “analysis” of Russiagate, the so-called Intelligence Community Assessment.

The ICA blamed the Russians for helping Trump defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016. It was released two weeks before Trump assumed office. The thoroughly politicized assessment was an embarrassment to the profession of intelligence.

Worse, it was consequential in emasculating Trump to prevent him from working for a more decent relationship with Russia.

In July 2018, Ambassador Jack Matlock (the last U.S. envoy to the Soviet Union), was moved to write his own stinging assessment of the “Assessment” under the title: “Former US Envoy to Moscow Calls Intelligence Report on Alleged Russian Interference ‘Politically Motivated.’”

In January 2019, I wrote the following about the ICA:

“A glance at the title of the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) (which was not endorsed by the whole community) — ‘Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections’ — would suffice to show that the widely respected and independently-minded State Department intelligence bureau should have been included. State intelligence had demurred on several points made in the Oct. 2002 Estimate on Iraq, and even insisted on including a footnote of dissent.

https://consortiumnews.com/2024/08/08/ray-mcgovern-decay-decrepitude-deceit-in-journalism/

Biological Warfare: Tim Walz Filled Nursing Homes with Covid Patients

Tim Walz turned Minnesota's nursing homes into death factories.

Minnesota Governor and Kamala Harris’ running mate Tim Walz filled his state’s nursing homes with Covid patients amid 2020’s “pandemic” and doubled down on his actions when questioned on the wave of completely avoidable infections and deaths that followed. When Walz’s policy was in effect, nursing homes and assisted living facilities accounted for around 80% of total Covid-related deaths in Minnesota.

“The rest of us, we may self-isolate, but where are we going to put [these] people?” Walz said to the media at a May 2020 press conference, where he defended his decision to fill Minnesota’s nursing homes with Covid patients, who he says had “recovered” but were “still in that [Covid] mode.”

“This was what everyone was doing,” Walz explained, justifying his nursing home policy by saying that other governors, like the infamous Andrew Cuomo, were doing the same thing.

“This was not a mistake,” Walz insisted. “It wasn’t like no one thought about this. There was complexity in how you deal with this.”

At the same press conference, Walz even minimized the severity of the massive nursing home die-off as just a regular part of American medicine, telling the media that “if you are going to die in an American hospital, the number one thing that will kill you is hospital-acquired infections. That kills 90,000 people a year.”

https://nationalfile.com/biological-warfare-tim-walz-filled-nursing-homes-with-covid-patients/

>>21392241

Elon should avoid race baiting, but race baiting is the deep states plan

Government Awards Boeing MASSIVE Multi-Billion Dollar Contract with US Air Force

Boeing has announced that it has been awarded a $2.56 billion dollar contract from the U.S. Air Force to manufacture E-7A AEW&C Wedgetail aircraft. This is despite the company coming under fire in recent years due to the lack of quality production and oversight that has led to multiple tragedies with their aircrafts.

The head-scratching announcement comes against the backdrop of Boeing’s troubled recent history, which have embroiled the company in numerous controversies casting doubt on its ability to deliver reliable and safe aircraft.

One of the notable issues has been with Boeing’s 737 MAX aircraft, which faced two catastrophic crashes in 2018 and 2019. These crashes resulted in the tragic loss of over 300 lives and highlighted the significant lapses in both design and oversight.

In addition to the 737 MAX issues, Boeing’s troubles have extended to other areas. The company’s handling of NASA’s Starliner spacecraft, designed to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station, has also been problematic, as the spacecraft has experienced significant malfunctions that have left astronauts stranded in space.

According to Boeing’s Vice president, the U.S. Air Force’s focus is on “stable, predictable execution”, which sounds nice, however the company seems to have the opposite reputation of ‘predictably bad execution’, leaving us to question why the U.S Air Force would even consider the company for this contract.

Military aircraft, given their critical roles in national defense and security, demand the highest standards of safety and operational readiness. The stakes involved in military aviation are exceptionally high, and the consequences of failure can be severe. The lives of military personnel should also take precedence over the consideration of a company that has developed a poor reputation in regards to the safety and efficacy of their products…

…and especially one that it’s whistleblowers end up like this:

But hey, that’s the M.O. of the deep state: rank incompetence, cover it up, silence dissent. It’s actually a perfect match.

https://www.domigood.com/2024/08/government-awards-boeing-massive-multi.html

NASA's NEOWISE asteroid spotter turned off for the final time

A mission that was supposed to last for less than a year went on for more than a decade

NASA's comeback kid, the NEOWISE spacecraft, was this week shut down for the final time as its transmitter was turned off ahead of a reentry into the Earth's atmosphere later this year.

The Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) is at the end of its second mission, after completing its first mission as the WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) telescope in February 2011.

The spacecraft was launched in December 2009 with a six-month assignment to scan the entire infrared sky. It completed this in July 2010, and NASA extended the program until 2011.

However, all good things must come to an end, and with the depletion of the cryogenic coolant required to offset the heat generated by the spacecraft, WISE was put into hibernation. During its first mission, the telescope had mapped the night sky twice and demonstrated its prowess at spotting near-Earth objects.

Engineers and scientists were not done with WISE, though. In 2013, the telescope was brought out of hibernation under the Near-Earth Object Observations Program, which preceded NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office. The project was then called NEOWISE.

While the depletion of coolant meant that NEOWISE could no longer observe the faintest infrared objects in the universe, it could still be used to hunt for asteroids and other near-Earth objects.

Joseph Masiero, NEOWISE deputy principal investigator, said, "Without coolant, we had to find a way to cool the spacecraft down enough to measure infrared signals from asteroids.

"By commanding the telescope to stare into deep space for several months, we determined it would radiate only enough heat to reach lower temperatures that would still allow us to acquire high-quality data."

Scientists have known for a while that the end was coming and planned accordingly.

At the end of 2023, Masiero said, "The mission has planned for this day a long time. After several years of calm, the Sun is waking back up.

"We are at the mercy of solar activity, and with no means to keep us in orbit, NEOWISE is now slowly spiraling back to Earth."

NEOWISE's survey concluded on July 31, and on August 8, mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory sent the command to turn off the spacecraft's transmitters, effectively ending that portion of the operation.

Masiero said, "This is a bittersweet moment. It's sad to see this trailblazing mission come to an end, but we know there's more treasure hiding in the survey data.

https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/09/nasas_asteroid_spotter_turned_off/

>>21392330

Says Supremacist Israeli media Ynet