HEADLINES: 2024

sear

sear

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Staff member
An RAF Typhoon aircraft takes off to join the U.S.-led coalition from RAF Akrotiri
CAIRO (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia called for restraint and "avoiding escalation" in light of the air strikes launched by the United States and Britain against sites linked to the Houthi movement in Yemen, the kingdom's foreign ministry said on Friday.
Saudi Arabia, which has in recent months engaged in peace talks with Yemen's Houthis, was closely monitoring the situation with "great concern," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
"The kingdom emphasizes the importance of maintaining the security and stability of the Red Sea region, as the freedom of navigation in it is an international demand," the ministry added.

The Houthi movement, an Iran-aligned group that controls much of Yemen after nearly a decade of war against a Western-backed and Saudi-led coalition, has emerged as a strong supporter of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in its war against Israel.

news.yahoo.com

Saudi Arabia calls for restraint after air strikes on Yemen

Saudi Arabia called for restraint and "avoiding escalation" in light of the air strikes launched by the United States and Britain against sites linked to the Houthi movement in Yemen, the kingdom's foreign ministry said on Friday. Saudi Arabia, which has in recent months engaged in peace talks...
news.yahoo.com news.yahoo.com

The Houthi have threatened commerce that transits this Red Sea region. The U.S. & U.K. have responded, in an effort to maintain the commerce through this region.

There are some indications including direct suggestion by Defense Secretary Austin that some in the Middle East hope to expand the Hamas / Israel War into a broader regional conflict.

Though reports shy from the explicit wording, it seems the U.S. is now at War in the Middle East. Happy New Year
 
"I don't think any informed or knowledgeable libertarian or conservative should support Nikki Haley," Senator Rand Paul [R-KY] said in a social media post shared on X, asking people to register at nevernikki.net.

https://news.yahoo.com/rand-paul-announces-2024-presidential-133907901.html

The appeal of ideological simplicity is obvious. Therefore Senators Ron (father) and Rand (son) Paul present stark libertarianism that appeals to some minimalists.

But though some Senators Paul ideology may masquerade as genuine if compassionless conservatism, Rand has run it off the rails here, and with the issue, Paul's own credibility. How so?

Does it make sense to rule out any viable candidate before a candidate of Rand's personal preference is selected?
 
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www.tpr.org

CBP: Three migrants drown in Rio Grande after Texas blocks Border Patrol from rescue

A woman and two children drowned in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass on Friday night as they were attempting to cross the U.S. southern border. U.S. Customs and Border Protection told TPR that Border Patrol was prevented from deploying lifesaving efforts by agents with Operation Lone Star, the...
www.tpr.org www.tpr.org
 
WMD - Africa style:

World· Associated Press

Donkey cart loaded with explosives kills a police officer and critically injures 4 others in Kenya​

A donkey cart carrying a suspected improvised bomb blew up at a checkpoint on the Kenya-Somalia border Thursday, killing one Kenyan police officer and critically wounding four others, authorities said. A Kenyan police report seen by The Associated Press said the cart pulled by two donkeys and ridden by one man passed the Somali checkpoint of Bula Hawa and entered Kenyan territory, where it was stopped by officers to check the load. The rider jumped off and ran back into Somalia moments before ...

It may be a grim respite from our crisis saturated news stream. But perhaps a counterpoint may help resolve some welcome perspective.
 
sear said:
"Ingenuity, phone home." #8
Click to expand...
- update -

NASA has re-established contact with its tiny helicopter on Mars, the US space agency said Saturday, after an unexpected outage prompted fears that the hard-working craft had finally met its end.
Ingenuity, a drone about 1.6 feet (0.5 meters) tall, arrived on Mars in 2021 aboard the rover Perseverance and became the first motorized craft to fly autonomously on another planet.
Data from the helicopter are transmitted via Perseverance back to Earth, but communications were suddenly lost during a test flight on Thursday, Ingenuity's 72nd lift-off on Mars.
"Good news today," NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) wrote on X, formerly Twitter, late Saturday.
The agency said that contact had finally been made with the helicopter by commanding Perseverance to "perform long-duration listening sessions for Ingenuity's signal."
"The team is reviewing the new data to better understand the unexpected comms dropout during Flight 72," it added.
NASA previously said that Ingenuity had attained an altitude of 40 feet (12 meters) on Flight 72, which was a "quick pop-up vertical flight to check out the helicopter's systems, following an unplanned early landing during its previous flight."
But during its descent, "communications between the helicopter and rover terminated early, prior to touchdown," the agency said.

https://news.yahoo.com/nasa-loses-contact-mini-helicopter-162247146.html
 

Border battle lines: Dems call on Biden to seize control of Texas National Guard, as GOP allies back Abbott​

The Lone Star State is fighting multiple legal battles with the federal government amid the migrant invasion at the southern border
Fox News https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bo...l-texas-national-guard-gop-allies-back-abbott

The Dems are getting clobbered at the border. With the Republican primary focusing public attention on the 2024 race, Dems, especially those in close races, seek damage control. Biden might ordinarily resist such pressure. Will Biden bend here?
 
titan said:
"The Dems are getting clobbered at the border. With the Republican primary focusing public attention on the 2024 race, Dems, especially those in close races, seek damage control. Biden might ordinarily resist such pressure. Will Biden bend here?" t #10
Click to expand...
Good point t #10,
the so called "down ballot" races can change the world. I haven't read any predictions about if or whether the Democrats will take leadership in the house.
But particularly in the South, voters are passionate on this issue.

It's your move Joe!

- meanwhile -

Sandy Hook denier Alex Jones eyes late March bankruptcy exit​

By Dietrich Knauth / January 24, 20248:21 PM
NEW YORK, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist Alex Jones could exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy by late March or early April, his lawyer said on Wednesday after a judge decided families whom he owes $1.5 billion for lying about the 2012 school shooting can vote on competing plans to resolve their claims.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston allowed Jones to solicit votes on a proposal that would pay at least $55 million to the relatives of 20 students and six staff members killed in the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.


I don't understand all the legal details. But I gather Chapter 11 is less about the number of $dollars Jones has, and more about how many of them he's obliged to part with.

What a dirt-ball !
 
Update on NASA's Ingenuity helicopter on Mars:

"... imagery of its Jan. 18 flight sent to Earth this week indicates one or more of its rotor blades sustained damage during landing, and it is no longer capable of flight.
Originally designed as a technology demonstration to perform up to five experimental test flights over 30 days, the first aircraft on another world operated from the Martian surface for almost three years, performed 72 flights, and flew more than 14 times farther than planned while logging more than two hours of total flight time." NASA

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/after-three-years-on-mars-nasas-ingenuity-helicopter-mission-ends/

notes:
a) NASA: if you have such "imagery", why are you keeping it secret from the People that both pay for this Martian misadventure, AND your salary?
b) Even if damaged, NASA asserts the vehicle has landed upright, and is undamaged enough to communicate. So why simply declare it "no longer capable of flight"? Why not move the rover a safe distance away, and then initiate flight sequence #73? If NASA has done the risk to benefit calculation, why not make the information public?
 
January 28, 2024
Statement from President Joe Biden on Attack on U.S. Service Members in Northeastern Jordan Near the Syria Border
Today, America’s heart is heavy. Last night, three U.S. service members were killed—and many wounded—during an unmanned aerial drone attack on our forces stationed in northeast Jordan near the Syria border. While we are still gathering the facts of this attack, we know it was carried out by radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing...in-northeastern-jordan-near-the-syria-border/

Will the U.S. be drawn into War in this region? Soon?
 
Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert finished in fifth place, according to a straw poll — a devastating showing after the Republican switched to run in a new district.
Last week, Ms Boebert competed against eight other Republicans in a congressional primary debate in Fort Lupton, Colorado, in which she garnered just 10 per cent of the straw poll vote, landing in fifth place, according to Colorado Politics.
Ms Boebert earned 12 out of the 117 votes cast in the straw poll, the outlet reported.

www.independent.co.uk

Lauren Boebert suffers embarrassing finish in poll of new Colorado district

‘She’s finished,’ wrote Republicans Against Trump
www.independent.co.uk www.independent.co.uk
 
Drug War, the martial oppression of the People, the usurpation of Liberty may not qualify as a "Headline". That alone, cause for alarm. And yet:

Associated Press

6 killings in likely cannabis dispute spotlight violence and risk in California's illegal pot market​

MICHAEL R. BLOOD and CHRISTOPHER WEBER / Thu, February 1, 2024 at 12:27 AM EST
... aerial still image from video provided by KTLA shows law enforcement vehicles where several people were found shot to death in El Mirage, Calif., Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024. Prosecutors filed murder charges Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024, against five suspects in the fatal shootings of six men at a remote dirt crossroads in the Southern California desert after what investigators said was a dispute over marijuana. (KTLA via AP, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The slayings of six men last week at a remote desert ...

https://news.yahoo.com/6-killings-likely-cannabis-dispute-052752325.html
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana / The Life of Reason (1905)
Click to expand...
The good People of California made explicitly clear by referendum their opposition to War on marijuana.

But the champions of martial oppression in United States federal government continue to flagrantly usurp this Liberty right, and U.S. citizens continue to die as a result.

It brings to mind carnage from the previous Drug War, enshrined by the 18th Amendment to our Constitution.

Saint Valentine's Day Massacre / 1929 gang shooting in Chicago​

The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre was the murder of seven members and associates of Chicago's North Side Gang that occurred on Saint Valentine's Day 1929. The men were gathered at a Lincoln Park, Chicago garage on the morning of February 14, 1929. They were lined up against a wall and shot by four unknown assailants, two dressed as police officers.
The murders resulted from the competition for control of organized crime in the city during Prohibition between the largely Irish North Siders, headed by George "Bugs" Moran, and their largely Italian Chicago Outfit rivals led by Al Capone. The perpetrators have never been conclusively identified, but former members of the Egan's Rats gang working for Capone are suspected of involvement; others have said that members of the Chicago Police Department who allegedly wanted revenge for the killing of a police officer's son played a part. source: Wiki

Are today's marijuana merchants any more intrinsically evil than liquor store merchants? It's the classic malum in se vs malum prohibitum distinction.
- malum in se: evil; wrong by itself
- malum prohibitum: wrong by prohibition

Liquor store operators rarely settle squabbles with gunfire or murder, because the 21st Amendment that repealed the 18th Amendment renders our law courts available to them for dispute resolution.
Marijuana merchants don't have that option, and thus are forced to resolve disputes without benefit of law. And the pile of corpses stacks ever higher.

note:
It is a Founding principle of the United States of America that Liberty is a Creator endowed, Constitutionally enumerated, unalienable right.
What does unalienable mean?​
un-al-ien-a-ble (ŭn-ālyə-nə-bəl, -ālē-ə-)
adj.
Not to be separated, given away, or taken away; inalienable
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
Click to expand...
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion." Thomas Jefferson ​
 
Reuters
January 10, 202410:44 AM GMT-5Updated 24 days ago
WASHINGTON/LONDON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - U.S. and British naval forces shot down 21 drones and missiles fired by Yemen-based Houthis on Tuesday towards the southern Red Sea, the United States said, with Britain hinting at further measures to protect international shipping lanes.

That was then.
This resulted.

U.S. launches strikes in Iraq, Syria, nearly 40 reported killed February 3, 2024 · 12:10 PM GMT-5
The strikes, which included the use of long-range B-1 bombers flown from the United States, were the first in a U.S. response to an attack in Jordan last weekend by Iran-backed militants that killed three U.S. troops.

"They have a lot of capability. I have a lot more," he said. "We're going to do what's necessary to protect our troops and our interests." United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaking at a Pentagon press briefing Feb. 1, 2024
www.voanews.com

Pentagon Hints at Stronger Response Against Iranian Proxies

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says after attack that killed three US soldiers in Jordan, 'it's time' to hit harder at Iran-backed militias, Yemen's Houthis
www.voanews.com www.voanews.com

If these current conditions adhere to historic trends, the U.S. may already be on slippery slope descending to War in the Middle East.
 
NBC-TV reports:
Jennifer Crumbley trial verdict: Guilty of involuntary manslaughter
 

Jennifer Crumbley was charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter related to a mass shooting her son carried out in 2021​

A Michigan jury on Tuesday found Jennifer Crumbley, mother of Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley, guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter in her historic criminal trial.
Jennifer and her husband, James Crumbley, were each charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the shooting that left four students dead and seven others injured on Nov. 30, 2021.
James Crumbley is being tried separately. The Crumbleys are the first parents in U.S. history to stand trial for a mass school shooting.

www.foxnews.com

Jennifer Crumbley trial: Michigan jury finds school shooter's mother guilty of involuntary manslaughter

A Michigan jury found Jennifer Crumbley, mother of Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley, guilty of four counts involuntary manslaughter on Feb. 6.
www.foxnews.com www.foxnews.com

FOX calls this an "historic decision".

The past is easier to review than the future. The Sandy Hook school massacre might have been prevented if the weapon used in that mass-murder had been adequately secured.
The question is, will this new precedent on parental responsibility help reduce the frequency of these horrific mass homicides. Stay toned.
 
The New York Times "a newspaper of record" reports:

Senate Poised to Advance Ukraine Bill as G.O.P. Splinters​

Pressure from hard-liners, including former President Donald J. Trump, has not swayed a coalition of Republican senators that has broken with the party to back the bill.

www.nytimes.com

Senate Poised to Advance Ukraine Bill as G.O.P. Splinters

Pressure from hard-liners, including former President Donald J. Trump, has not swayed a coalition of Republican senators that has broken with the party to back the bill.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

Russia's (Putin's) military expansionism might not seem an immediate threat to the U.S.
And so it was when Germany (Hitler) transferred the Sudetenland to Germany, before the German military conquest of Poland, and beyond.

Even a naïve child understands the best time to snuff out a wildfire is while it's still on the match.

It's a mixed comfort to know DJ Trump has not lobotomized the entire GOP. Some Republican U.S. senators, legislators are willing to lower themselves to work for the benefit of the voters that elected them, EVEN if it means cooperating with the Democrats that already do.

- Renewed aid to Ukraine: that's newsworthy
- Republican party fragmentation not entirely neutralizing the entire Republican party, is that not also news? If only because it is relatively rare?

Broader picture:
How much longer will civilization allow this senseless carnage to continue?
3 years ago the West was timid about providing Putin an excuse to go nuclear. Is it not now time to send the bloodthirsty Russian horde back to Moscow?
 
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