Donald Trump Jr.
@DonaldJTrumpJr
What a disgrace. If you're a GOP Senator who voted for Lloyd Austin, but criticize @PeteHegseth, then maybe you're in the wrong political party!
https://x.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1864686299300454403
Bomb Threat Against Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene
The Rome Police Department's Assistant Chief of Police received an email containing a bomb threat directed at Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.
We are pleased to report that Congresswoman Greene is safe. She extends her heartfelt gratitude to the Rome Police Department for their swift and professional response in ensuring her safety.
The source of the email has been traced to a Russian IP address. Due to the international nature and severity of this threat, our office is collaborating closely with local and federal law enforcement, including the FBI, to ensure the perpetrator is brought to justice.
After receiving this threat, the Rome Police Department quickly dispatched their Bomb Squad to her home to ensure there was no active threat against the Congresswoman.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time the Rome Police Department has been dispatched to Congresswoman Greene's home. Since being elected to federal office, the Congresswoman has been swatted at least nine times—deliberate attempts to provoke a deadly police response through false and highly exaggerated threats.
https://greene.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=848
Tren de Aragua spreads to North Dakota after member of brutal gang is busted there
The Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua has now made its mark in 17 US states after at least one member was arrested in one of the smallest and most remote states in the US.
Local cops in West Fargo, North Dakota, arrested Dallas-based suspected gang member Henry Theis, 25, early last month, according to local news reports.
Police originally pulled over Theis for a broken taillight, but soon discovered more than $24,000 in cash he allegedly stole from a nearby bank, two facemasks, black latex gloves, wires and a computer keyboard, according to KXLG.
Theis later admitted to his role in a group hacking ATMs with a virus in order to steal cash.
He was quickly taken into custody and charged with felony theft.
The ruthless foreign gang has already established footholds in the following states, according to a leaked Homeland Security memo and previous reporting by The Post:
-California
-Colorado
-Florida
-Georgia
-Illinois
-Louisiana
-Nevada
-New Jersey
-New York
-North Carolina
-Tennessee
-Texas
-Wisconsin
-Virginia
-Montana
-Wyoming
West Fargo Police Chief Pete Neilsen confirmed that the Venezuelan national is in the US illegally, slamming the feds for not taking charge of the case.
“When you have someone that comes into your community and steals $150,000, that’s an illegal alien, and then leaves. One would think that the feds would step in and say, ‘You know, I’m going to take this one,’” said Nielsen.
West Fargo has a population of just 40,000. North Dakota is the fourth least populous state — with fewer than 785,000 residents.
Police in West Fargo also arrested two other suspects, Jefferson Rodriguez-Quintero and Ryber Sanchez, who are believed to connected to the heist near Watertown, South Dakota, and found to have almost $100,000 in cash in their vehicle.
Tren de Aragua members have mainly arrived into the US via the southern border, where they’ve embedded in the massive waves of migrants crossing under the Biden administration and posed as asylum seekers to more easily get released by federal authorities.
In Theis’ case, the gangbanger crossed the border illegally into El Paso, Texas, last year, when he was quickly released with a future court date by border agents because the feds lacked space to further detain him, Homeland Security sources told The Post.
In August 2024, he was arrested in Lewisville, Texas, for a DWI. However, it’s not clear when or why he was released from custody and not turned over the ICE, according to sources.
After his latest arrest, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer tried to interview the alleged gangbanger, but was prevented from doing so because he was placed on suicide watch in jail, according to sources.
ICE later lodged a detainer with the local jail and took Theis into custody, sources said.
The gang’s members are allegedly responsible for the shooting and beatings of NYPD cops, the gruesome murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley and the brutal rape and killing of 12-year-old Houston girl Jocelyn Nungaray.
The gang has also taken over apartment complexes in Aurora, Colorado, run gun smuggling rings in New York City migrant shelters, and established sex trafficking rings in multiple states.
The incoming Trump administration will now inherit the issue.
Trump’s selection for border czar, Tom Homan, has promised mass deportations, starting with criminals who entered the country illegally.
https://www.aol.com/tren-aragua-spreads-one-america-224648210.html
Trump EV Skepticism Threatens $54 Billion in Korean Investments
South Korean companies are reconsidering their $54 billion investment blitz to build electric-vehicle battery plants in the US over concerns President-elect Donald Trump could undo tax credits for EVs.
Some Korean companies have slowed or hit the pause button on any ongoing construction of some plants because they’re concerned about reduced demand for EVs and what Trump would do during a second term in the White House, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue. Posco Future M, which makes cathodes for General Motors Co., said in a filing in September that it is delaying the completion of its plant in Quebec due to “local conditions.”
Although companies haven’t taken any action yet, many are “anxious” about to what degree Trump would slash government incentives for the EV market, said Kenny Kim, chief executive officer at SNE Research, a Seoul-based research firm that focuses on Korean battery makers.
Read More: Tesla, Rivian Drop on Report Trump Wants to End EV Credit
Trump has long criticized President Joe Biden’s efforts to subsidize EVs through his landmark energy bill, the Inflation Reduction Act. The incoming administration is looking to slash fuel-efficiency requirements and, according to a Reuters report last month, could eliminate the key $7,500 consumer-tax credit.
Ending hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies, tax credits and other incentives would threaten tens of thousands of US jobs and undo years of work shifting the global EV supply chain away from China. It could also hit the earnings of Korean firms, key US partners in the effort to reduce reliance on Chinese suppliers, at a time when they’re already suffering from weaker demand for EVs and falling battery prices.
“We are paying attention to every single word from Trump” about EVs, said Byeonghoon Kim, chief executive officer at Ecopro Materials Co., a supplier of precursor materials for the EV batteries used by Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co.
“We have considered the Inflation Reduction Act as a very important issue so far,” Kim said. “If there’s any change in the policy, we may have to change our strategy too.”
The Biden administration last week offered $7.5 billion to help finance a joint venture between Samsung SDI Co. and Stellantis NV to create cell manufacturing plants in Indiana. However, the Trump transition team was quick to call the offer into question. Vivek Ramaswamy, one of the two nominated co-chairs of Trump’s soon-to-be Department of Government Efficiency, said in a post on X that the department would scrutinize the facility.
South Korea’s three largest battery makers — Samsung SDI, LG Energy Solution and SK On Co. — have announced 15 battery plants in the US, the most aggressive investment drive of any of the world’s three major battery hubs — China, Japan and South Korea.
Half of the Korean plants were announced after the Inflation Reduction Act was signed in 2022, promising to create more than 20,000 jobs in total, located largely in the so-called “battery belt,” which stretches from Michigan through Ohio and Kentucky to Georgia.
“South Korea has contributed to creating jobs and investments in the Rust Belt,” said Park Tae-sung, vice chairman at the Korea Battery Industry Association. Having Korean battery suppliers is also beneficial for the US to win in the competition against China-dominated supply chains for EVs, he said, adding the group is in talks with US authorities to lobby to keep the credits.
EV batteries accounted about half of all of the foreign direct investment and reshoring from overseas in the US between 2021 and the first quarter of 2024, according to Reshoring Initiative. Korean FDI and reshoring in the US created 20,360 jobs in North America in 2023, more than any other country, the data show.
Cutting tax credits would hit Korean battery companies hard at a time they’re suffering from weaker demand for EVs. Prices of lithium, a key mineral tied to the selling price of an EV battery, plunged nearly 90% from their highs in 2022 due to slower-than-expected adoption of EVs.
LG Energy Solution, a key partner of GM, booked about 1 trillion won ($773 million) of IRA credits in its accounts so far this year but analysts expect a net loss for the fiscal year of 2023. SK On, the partner of Ford, also received about 211 billion won in tax credits from the US during the first three quarters, yet still reported an operating loss during the period.
‘Disaster’ for Korea
Korean companies also worry Trump might allow Chinese battery companies to enter the US. China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd, or CATL, said it will consider building a US plant if Trump opens the door, Reuters reported last month.
The IRA has so far blocked investments from China, asking carmakers to gradually reduce sourcing critical battery minerals from “foreign entities of concern.”
“China’s entry to the US would be a disaster for Korea,” said Park Chulwan, a professor in the car engineering department at Seojeong University. “Chinese battery firms would offer much lower prices.”
Still, some are optimistic Trump will not cut the credits for battery makers given their plants are mostly located in Republican-governed states.
“I don’t think there’s a high chance they will reduce the benefits in the Inflation Reduction Act,” said Kitae Kim, chief executive officer at SungEel Recycling Park Indiana, a battery recycler under construction in Whitestown, Indiana.
The state of Georgia, home to four SK On plants, will also help Korean companies “maximize their ability to efficiently reach consumers across the country,” Georgia Department of Economic Development Commissioner Pat Wilson said in an email to Bloomberg News.
“The US market is still the most important consumer market in the world,” Wilson said. “Korean companies knew that prior to the Biden Administration, and that fact will not change with the new administration.”
https://archive.is/VVg4q#selection-2131.0-2205.209
Assad regime's collapse is a devastating defeat for Iran
The swift collapse of the Iranian-backed government in Syria is the latest in a series of setbacks for Iran that have punctured assumptions about its power in the region.
The swift collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime represents a devastating defeat for Iran, the latest in a string of setbacks that have punctured long held assumptions in the West about Tehran’s military prowess.
In recent months, Iran has proved unable to thwart Israeli covert operations from targeting key figures in the regime, defend itself from damaging Israeli airstrikes, or protect an ally next door that was a linchpin in its regional proxy network, dubbed the “axis of resistance.”
For decades, Syria has served as a vital land bridge to Iran’s Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, allowing Tehran to ferry weapons to its partners across the Syrian border. After a mass uprising against Assad in 2011, Russia provided air power for Damascus and Iran propped up the brutal ruler with weapons, cash, Iranian Revolutionary Guard officers and militants from Iranian-backed proxy forces in Lebanon, Iraq and elsewhere.
But when Syrian rebel forces seized Aleppo last month against poorly trained, demotivated Syrian army troops, Iran was caught off guard at a difficult moment, with its military depleted from Israeli air raids and its proxy forces in Lebanon decimated from fighting with Israel, current and former U.S. officials said. As the rebels pressed ahead, there was no concerted effort to stop the advance with Russian warplanes or Iranian-backed proxy forces.
The dramatic events over the weekend marked “a fundamental change in the equation of the entire Middle East,” a senior Biden administration official told reporters on Sunday.“Assad was effectively abandoned because his only friends … Iran, Hezbollah and Russia, no longer had the capacity to help,” the official added.
Iran’s weakened position has challenged prevailing assumptions in Washington and other capitals about Iran’s power and resilience, as well as expectations about how a direct clash between Israel and Iran would play out, former U.S. intelligence officials and experts said.
“You have a series of myths that have evaporated over the last year,” said one former U.S. official.
The United States and other governments had feared an Israeli attack on Iran would produce an overwhelming response against Israel by Iran’s proxies. There also was a widespread view that Iran’s vast missile arsenal would deter Israel from ever directly attacking, and if it did, Tehran might overwhelm Israeli air defenses in retaliation.
And there were fears that a direct clash between Iran and Israel would result in an open-ended conflagration that would draw in the United States and other countries.
None of those scenarios came to pass.
Israeli air raids against Iran did not trigger a crippling response from Iran’s proxies in Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq or Yemen. It was unclear whether those proxy forces lacked the means and the will to act more aggressively, or whether Tehran’s leadership was reluctant to confront Israel directly, former officials said.
With crucial help from the United States and its allies, Israel was able to shoot down most of the ballistic missiles and drones launched by Iran. Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia armed and trained by Iran, have proved no match for Israel’s military and intelligence operations, which have killed much of its leadership and penetrated its communications.
Those incorrect assumptions about Iran “shaped and indeed constrained regional and U.S. policy on Iran,” said Norman Roule, former senior U.S. intelligence official and senior adviser to United Against Nuclear Iran, a nonprofit that focuses on combating threats posed by Iran.
The loss of Syria as a reliable and subservient ally has likely irreparably damaged Iran’s proxy network, which Tehran viewed as a defensive wall protecting Iran and a way of fighting countries with more powerful conventional militaries, current and former U.S. officials said.
“The fall of Assad really puts a big question mark around whether the ‘axis of resistance’ is still feasible,” said Alex Vatanka of the Middle East Institute, a Washington-based think tank. “Iran paid billions in the last two decades to establish this ‘forward defense’ model — and for a long time it delivered results,” he said.
“But once under pressure, the model and the Arab partners of Iran have proven to lack the capacity to withstand pressure," Vatanka added. "It began with Hezbollah and now Assad."
Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a former vice president of Iran, wrote on social media shortly before the Assad government collapsed that the fall of the regime “would be one of the most significant events in the history of the Middle East.” Abtahi added that “resistance in the region would be left without support. Israel would become the dominant force.”
Recent events, including the failure to fend off anti-regime rebel forces in Syria over the past two weeks, have exposed a “rot” inside Iran’s military and security apparatus, Roule said.
“Starting with the killing of Soleimani in 2020, Iran faced a series of setbacks and defeats that exposed weaknesses and failures in Iran’s intelligence and security services,” Roule said, referring to Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the leader of the Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, who was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020.
“Over the past year, Israel accelerated this rot through its killing of a large number of experienced IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps) and Hezbollah officers involved in Syria,” he said.
Those officers had decades of experience in Syria and a network of contacts among the militants in Iran’s proxy network, including Iraqis, Afghans, Pakistanis, Yemenis and others.
“When those officers and their ‘rolodex’ were lost, Iran’s bureaucratic cohesion and efficiency suffered,” Roule said.
Iran’s intelligence services appear incapable of giving their leaders advance warning about direct threats or disrupting hostile covert operations, according to Roule and other analysts.
It was unclear why commanders in the Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, which oversees the proxy network and has worked closely with the Syrian army, did not take decisive action to rescue the Assad regime’s forces. In both Lebanon and Syria in recent months, Iran has chosen not to deploy its own forces in significant numbers to aid its partners.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, “has traditionally refused to allow Iranian forces to risk themselves to protect proxies,” Roule said.
The loss of Syria has undermined the image Iran cultivated about its Quds Force being an elite military unit able to defeat its adversaries and protect Shiite populations abroad.
Iran now may have second thoughts about the Oct. 7 attack on Israel last year by Iranian-backed Hamas militants in Gaza, which Tehran applauded at the time. The attack, masterminded by the late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, caught Israel by surprise but set off a chain of events that have undermined Iran on multiple fronts, culminating in the demise of the Assad regime, according to Marc Polymeropoulos, a former CIA officer with experience in the Middle East.
“The Iranian axis of resistance has crumbled thanks to one person, Yahya Sinwar, who started this on October 7,” Polymeropoulos said.
Although Iran has suffered a blow in the short term, it will most likely seek to rebuild its proxy forces, possibly by using Yemen as a hub or exploiting possible chaos in Syria after Assad’s exit.
The United States and Arab partners will need to cut off Iran’s ability to dispatch weapons and trainers to Lebanon to ensure that Tehran does not rebuild its militant network, said Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., a former U.S. diplomat.
“I think it’s in our national security interest that we cut off Iran’s capabilities in Syria because that’s how they were transitioning and transferring weapons to Hezbollah, through the ground as well as overflight over Iraq and Syria,” Kim told MSNBC. “And if we’re able to sever this right now, this could be not just a setback but a devastating blow.”
With its air defenses, missile arsenal and regional status damaged, Iran will have to decide how to manage its nuclear program and how to approach the new U.S. administration under President-elect Donald Trump, who imposed severe economic sanctions on Tehran during his first term. Those sanctions have remained in place, and Iran has continued to enrich uranium to levels close to weapons-grade while refusing to fully cooperate with U.N. inspectors over its nuclear program.
But Iran so far has opted to stop short of building nuclear weapons, and may look for a diplomatic compromise with the United States and other powers as it tries to regroup, experts said.
“I think Iran will think twice before weaponizing and will maintain the nuclear card as a bargaining chip, and for now attempt compromises with its foreign opponents,” Vatanka said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/assad-regimes-collapse-devastating-defeat-iran-rcna183369
SCOTUS Sets Conference Date for the Snope v. Brown Assault Weapon Ban Case
The United States Supreme Court has set an official conference date of December 13 to decide if the High Court will hear Snope v. Brown, a case directly challenging Maryland’s assault weapon ban, addressing whether states can legally ban semi-automatic rifles such as the AR-15, commonly owned and used by law-abiding citizens. While some say this case has the potential to redefine the future of firearm legislation across the nation, the fact that arguments are so deeply rooted in precedent set by earlier landmark Second Amendment decisions such as District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022) makes one wonder, haven’t we been here before?
It has been over a decade and a half since Heller affirmed that firearms “in common use” for lawful purposes cannot be banned, a principle further solidified just over two years ago when Bruen held that firearm laws must be consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation, rejecting the use of “means-end” tests by future courts when evaluating firearm restrictions. These precedents are central, and one could say redundant, to the arguments outlined in Snope v. Brown, however, that has not stopped states like Maryland from enacting laws that fly in the face of previous SCOTUS rulings.
I feel SCOTUS should simply hold lawmakers in contempt of court, and wish they would, yet here we are yet again being forced to re-litigate inalienable rights concisely recognized by the Constitution as the government uses our own tax dollars to fight us at every level of the judicial system. But I digress.
Thus far, Maryland’s strategy has been to delay the case for as long as possible. The case was originally petitioned to the Supreme Court on August 23, 2024, giving the state 30 days to reply. As September 23 approached, Maryland requested a 30-day extension, which the the High Court granted, pushing the date their response must be submitted to October 23. Unsurprisingly, as that date neared, the state again attempted to delay the matter, telling SCOTUS that they are so heavily encumbered with Second Amendment litigation that legal personnel could not be allocated. Thankfully the Supreme Court put a stop to Maryland’s shenanigans, instructing the state that it would receive only a couple more weeks by which to submit its reply brief.
That reply brief was submitted on November 12, to which plaintiff’s attorneys responded on November 25. The Supreme Court acted expeditiously, taking less than 24 hours to distribute the case for conference, fast-tracking that date to December 13.
The AR-15, known as America’s rifle, is central to the case due to its widespread ownership and use for sporting, hunting and self-defense. These legal uses combined with statistics showing that rifles are among the least used firearms in crimes demonstrate that Maryland’s ban is not only unconstitutional but also ineffective and nonsensical.
The importance of the Supreme Court providing a definitive ruling on the matter stems from what many feel are inconsistencies between SCOTUS precedent and lower court rulings which frequently uphold bans on AR-15s and similar firearms. By sidestepping the “common use” standard established in Heller, instead employing contradictory reasoning such as deeming these firearms excessively dangerous or primarily suited for military use, inconsistency seems more like a symptom of the real problem. Federal and state governments are actively and with forethought attempting to erode Second Amendment rights regardless of the High Court’s rulings. We all know what happens to citizens who knowingly and willingly act against a judge’s order, yet somehow those same rules do not apply to lawmakers, proving again, rules for thee, not for me.
The Supreme Court’s duty here is not to rewrite the law, but to ensure lower courts adhere to existing precedent as it has been decided clearly in multiple cases. But that feels like we are clarifying clarifications over and over with no end in sight. Some have referred to Snope v. Brown as a defining moment in the shifting political and legal landscape of American gun rights. I hope it will be as Maryland’s arguments are extremely weak. The state continues to argue that AR-15s are not protected by the Constitution, a tired and defeated notion that, if pressed at the SCOTUS level, would lead to a clear win for gun rights advocates.
If SCOTUS overturns Maryland’s ban, the precedent may secure gun rights for generations, however, if the Justices decline to take the case, states could become emboldened, pushing for stricter bans and fueling additional polarization. A decision that defends the Second Amendment rights of Americans will extend far beyond the state of Maryland, as such a ruling would apply to bans in states such as California, New York and New Jersey.
With the conference date of Friday, December 13, a decision as to whether SCOTUS will hear the case could come as soon as the following Monday. If the Justices elect to take the case, a final ruling is expected by June 2025. There is no doubt that Americans who recognize and respect the Constitution and the values our country was founded upon will be waiting on the edge of their seats as this is a fight for the future of the Second Amendment itself, however, it concerns me a great deal that we could receive yet another affirmation of our rights that may simply be ignored as blue states have already demonstrated. A solution needs teeth that provide consequences if the ruling is not adhered to by the state, as such is expected of its citizens.
https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/scotus-sets-conference-date-for-the-snope-v-brown-assault-weapon-ban-case/
Trump endorses KC Crosbie for next Co-Chair of the Republican National Committee
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
America First Patriot KC Crosbie is running to become the next Co-Chair of the Republican National Committee, to replace the fantastic Lara Trump! Lara, together with Chairman Michael Whatley, transformed the RNC into a lean, focused, and powerful machine that is empowering the MAGA Movement for many years to come. Thank you for your hard work, Lara, in MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
KC has served on the RNC with distinction, as the RNC's Treasurer and the National Committeewoman from the Great State of Kentucky. As Treasurer, she helped the RNC smash every fundraising record in History, and fortified our Party’s financial foundation. KC has been with me from the very beginning, helping REAL Republicans get elected across the Country, and would be a tremendous Co-Chair of the RNC! KC will work on continuing to ensure a highly functioning, fiscally responsible, and effective RNC that makes Election Integrity a highest priority.
KC Crosbie has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next Co-Chair of the RNC!
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113625467414124550
NATO draws up plans for its own fleet of naval surveillance drones
MILAN — The NATO alliance has begun planning for its own fleet of unmanned boats meant to help protect critical undersea infrastructure across the Baltic and Mediterranean seas.
Following a pattern of undersea cable damage across European waters in the last year, with the most recent disruptions happening just weeks ago, top NATO officials have begun envisioning a capability that would allow the alliance to have permanent eyes above and under the waterline.
In an interview with Defense News, Adm. Pierre Vandier, the alliance’s Norfolk, Virginia-based commander for concepts and transformation, likened the idea to police CCTV cameras installed on street lights in urban trouble spots for recording evidence of crimes.
“The technology is there to make this street-lighting with USVs,” he said, using the military’s shorthand for unmanned surface vessel.
Vandier said his team is in the early stages of developing a USV fleet so that “NATO can see and monitor daily its environment.”
The first step would be to achieve this at a surface level, and then later under water.
The new project has already received “great support” from the central command of all NATO maritime forces, known as MARCOM, and the alliance operational headquarters of SACEUR, Vandier added.
While many details still need to be hashed out, officials believe they can equip the drone formation with fielded platforms that are known to work, leaning on experiments done by the U.S. Navy’s Task Force 59.
“There is no name [for now], just USV Fleet,” Vandier told Defense News. “In fact, it already exists, so somehow it’s not very risky. The U.S. has enforced Task Force 59 in the Gulf for years, so everything is known and sold, so it is much more a matter of adoption than technology.”
Launched in 2021, TF 59 is a unit dedicated to integrating unmanned systems and artificial intelligence in the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet area of operations. It operates out of Bahrain and includes drones as well as other uncrewed vehicles working alongside manned ships.
In January, a new sub-unit was established, called Task Group 59.1, whose focus is on testing and upgrading industry systems to bolster maritime security across the Middle East region.
As of last month, the unit has trialed, upgraded and experimented with more than 23 different unmanned systems.
The task group took part in exercise Digital Talon in early November, during which it succeeded at remotely launching a loitering munition at sea and tested the vertical take-off and landing of drones from a USV.
According to Vandier, the goal is to launch the drone surveillance fleet before the next NATO Summit, which will be held in the Netherlands next June.
“We are to experiment with the first talks about this and then work with the allies to find a proper way to make this happen,” he added.
The most recent incidents of undersea cable disruptions took place on Nov. 17 and 18, when a cable of a telecommunications company between Lithuania and Sweden was cut, and a cable connecting Finland and Germany was damaged.
Investigations of the incidents are still ongoing.
https://www.defensenews.com/breaking-news/2024/12/03/nato-draws-up-plans-for-its-own-fleet-of-naval-surveillance-drones/
Trump offers inside story on Pete Hegseth conversation
https://x.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1866245703938273535
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) issues statement on Pete Hegseth
https://x.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1866232886996746242
Pete Hegseth discusses his meeting with Joni Ernst this morning.
https://x.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1866234239760392686
JD Vance
@JDVance
I have not said much about this case out of fear of (negatively) influencing the jury.
But thank God justice was done in this case. It was a scandal Penny was ever prosecuted in the first place.
https://x.com/JDVance/status/1866183954291622152
UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin is from wealthy Baltimore family, cousin is Maryland state legislator
Luigi Mangione, a graduate of the Gilman School in Baltimore, was apprehended as a person of interest in last week’s brazen shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, New York police announced Monday.
Police arrested Mangione on firearms charges after he was recognized by an employee at a McDonald’s near Altoona, Pennsylvania, west of New York City. Police found a gun, a silencer and fake IDs, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press.
At a news conference, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said police found a three-page document with writings suggesting that Mangione had ill will toward corporate America. The handwritten document “speaks to both his motivation and mindset,” Tisch said.
Mangione was the valedictorian of his Gilman School graduating class in 2016, and was featured in a Baltimore Fishbowl story that year about graduation speeches.
Mangione felt that the environment at Gilman fostered his ability to excel academically. “The teachers at Gilman influenced me especially,” he wrote in an email, adding that they encouraged less of a desire to achieve high grades in his classes and instead encouraged “more of an excitement to explore academic topics outside of the classroom.”
Henry P. A. Smyth, Head of School at Gilman, acknowledged Mangione’s arrest in an email message to the school’s community Monday.
“We recently became aware that the person arrested in connection with the killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO is a Gilman alumnus, Luigi Mangione, Class of 2016,” Smyth wrote. “We do not have any information other than what is being reported in the news.”
“This is deeply distressing news on top of an already awful situation. Our hearts go out to everyone affected.”
Smyth added, “Here on campus, our focus will remain on caring for and educating the boys. Thank you for your understanding.”
Mangione, 26, was born and raised in Maryland and has had a Towson address. He is the son of Louis and Kathleen Zannino Mangione, and Maryland voter registration records show him registered to vote at the Hayfields Road address in Cockeysville where his family lives, adjacent to their golf course. He received a Maryland absentee ballot in 2020.
His mother, Kathleen, is a member of the family that owns and operates the Charles S. Zannino Funeral Home in Highlandtown.
Mangione played soccer throughout grade school and college, former classmates said.
He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer and information science at the University of Pennsylvania. After graduating, he moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he was a data engineer for the car buying website TrueCar, according to his LinkedIn account.
Mangione lost contact with friends and family and sustained a serious injury after college, according to sources who knew him. A medical image of a back injury is part of the header of Mangione’s X account.
NBC News and other sources are confirming that Mangione is a member of a prominent family of landowners and developers who own and operate Turf Valley in Ellicott City and Hayfields Country Club in Baltimore County. Baltimore Fishbowl’s calls for comment from Turf Valley and Hayfields were not immediately returned.
WBAL-TV reported that Mangione is a cousin of Baltimore County Delegate Nino Mangione, R-District 42A. The delegate’s office did not immediately respond to Baltimore Fishbowl’s request for comment.
Aaron Cranston, a former classmate of Mangione, described him as “surprisingly social for his obvious intelligence.”
Cranston said he and Mangione had been classmates since fifth or sixth grade.
“He was so smart that he knew that middle school didn’t matter, and he [messed] around the whole time,” Cranston said. “Then, as soon as ninth grade, he pretty much maintained a 4.0 GPA because he knew that it actually mattered.”
Cranston recalls while in middle school Mangione developed a video game app in which the player had to steer a paper airplane through a series of cascading obstacles. That love of gaming continued into college, where Mangione founded a video game development club.
“He was definitely kind and a pretty social guy. I would say a curious and pretty entrepreneurial guy who was always working on some kind of extra project,” Cranston said.
The news that police had apprehended Mangione as a person of interest in Thompson’s murder was a shock to Cranston.
“Luigi always seemed to be a problem-solver or someone who can kind of figure out anything,” Cranston said. “He never shied away from trying to find a solution to a complex problem. So for him to resort to violence is just mind-boggling.”
Thompson, 50, was killed Wednesday in what police said was a “brazen, targeted” attack as he walked alone to the Hilton from a nearby hotel, where UnitedHealthcare’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group, was holding its annual investor conference, police said.
The FBI released a photo of the man suspected of killing Thompson and offered a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the suspect’s arrest.
In the days since Thompson’s murder, many have condemned the killing and joined calls for the shooter to be found. Still, others lionized the shooter for what they saw as standing up to corporations.
In a Goodreads review of the Unabomber’s manifesto, Mangione wrote that “[h]e was a violent individual – rightfully imprisoned – who maimed innocent people. While these actions tend to be characterized as those of a crazy luddite, however, they are more accurately seen as those of an extreme political revolutionary.”
https://baltimorefishbowl.com/stories/luigi-mangione-person-of-interest-in-unitedhealthcare-ceo-slaying-has-maryland-roots/
Luigi Mangione Valedictorian speech
https://x.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1866242722568315163
After much anticipation, University of Michigan's board doesn't vote on defunding DEI
The board did, however, decide to stop mandating diversity statements for faculty members when they're hired or being considered for promotion.
The University of Michigan Board of Regents did not vote on whether to defund its diversity, equity and inclusion program at its final meeting of the year Thursday following protests on campus to keep the embattled program intact.
The board did, however, decide it will no longer require diversity statements for faculty members during hiring or promotion, a significant reposition for the university.
The board did not directly say it would not vote on disbanding its DEI program, which has reportedly spent $250 million on diversity initiatives since 2016. But members spoke in general terms, warning, “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.”
“There are no plans to make any cuts to these programs,” board member Michael Behm said.
The board also increased household income requirements in a program that allows qualified students tuition-free admission. The Go Blue Guarantee grants free tuition to high-achieving in-state students with family incomes of less than $125,000 — up now from $65,000.
University President Santa J. Ono said the increase aims to make education at the school more accessible and equitable for students across the state.
Mark Bernstein, a board member, said the program, which falls under the umbrella of Michigan’s vast DEI program, was important because “intelligence and talent are spread equally across society, but opportunity is not. … This is an extraordinary commitment to this state and to the future of this state.”
Board member Sandra Hubbard said, “This means we’re open for business for all walks of life, and people should feel comfortable on this campus expressing diversity of thought and freedom of expression from places throughout the state and the world.”
Some had taken Hubbard’s interview with Fox News after a November campus rally to support DEI to mean the board would vote to defund the massive DEI program. That came after an expansive New York Times Magazine article raised questions about the program’s effectiveness.
The Michigan Daily, the student newspaper, obtained a Nov. 20 letter to the Faculty Senate that indicated the board met privately in early November to discuss defunding DEI initiatives in the next fiscal year.
More than 500 students and faculty and staff members rallied on campus, objecting to the potential disruption of the program for the 51,000-student campus.
While there was no vote to defund the program, the decision on faculty diversity statements did alarm proponents of the program. During the hearing, several students and a few faculty members emphasized their support for DEI to the Board of Regents.
“We’ve seen it all over the nation," student Yasin Lowe said. "DEI has been added to the long list of dog whistles and buzzwords that many bureaucrats are now too scared to touch. Many have DEI completely wrong, instilling terror and fear for a reason I must attribute to ignorance at best, malice at worst.”
Another student, Nicholas Love, challenged Michigan to “reflect on who it serves, who it excludes, who it claims to be and create a model where we are consistently improving access to education and prosperity.”
President-elect Donald Trump has already promised to pull back on DEI at colleges that receive federal funding. Some states, like Texas and Florida, have banned DEI programs at state-funded universities.
Keith Riles, a physics professor at Michigan, said he would like all DEI programs eliminated. He called the program "discriminatory" and the Black Lives Matter Movement a “grift.”
“I urge you to rip out all DEI industrial complex,” Riles said. He added that affirmative action is “repackaged as DEI. It’s corrosive to this institution. … DEI is the only systemic racism that has existed on this campus.”
CORRECTION (Dec. 8, 2024, 9:31 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misquoted Keith Riles’ statement at the hearing. He did not refer to DEI as “DIE.” He also called DEI “the only systemic racism that has persisted on this campus,” not “existed.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/university-michigans-board-not-vote-defunding-dei-rcna183039