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History Repeats w/ C. R. Stewart
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Tonight, on the Daily Dose I was joined by special guest C.R. Stewart. Chad is a prolific writer of fiction, non-fiction, and movie screenplays, and has a strong passion for education and the arts. He is also a producer, creativity specialist, international consultant, prominent speaker, and is the founder of Devonfield. If you would like to check out the conversation, be sure to click the show link above. You can find his website below:
Aaron Lewis - Am I The Only One (Official Music Video)
Exxon Sues Activist Investors To Block Climate Petitions At Shareholder Meeting
By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com
ExxonMobil is suing two activist investor groups in a Texas district court, aiming to block their climate proposals from going to a vote at the annual shareholder meeting later this year in the first such direct complaint to court instead of to the SEC.
Exxon filed late on Sunday a lawsuit at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas against U.S. activist investor Arjuna Capital and shareholder activist group Follow This. Those two investors have filed a proposal for Exxon’s shareholders to vote at the annual general meeting on May 29 to have Exxon commit to further emissions reductions, including Scope 3 – emissions from the product it sells.
Exxon is seeking for the first time a judgment from the court to exclude a proposal for an upcoming shareholders’ vote. Previously, the supermajor, and other publicly traded firms, have sought SEC advice on the merits of proposals to be included in the proxy statement for the shareholders meeting.
Arguing its case in the Texas district court, Exxon says that “Defendants are asking Exxon Mobil to change its day-to-day business by altering the mix of—or even eliminating—certain of the products that it sells,” as carried in The Wall Street Journal.
The goal of Arjuna Capital and Follow This is “to force Exxon Mobil to change the nature of its ordinary business or to go out of business entirely,” the supermajor says.
Exxon also argues that the two activist investors have “become shareholders solely to campaign for change through shareholder proposals that are calculated to diminish the company’s existing business.”
These investors “are aided in their efforts by a flawed shareholder proposal and proxy voting process that does not serve investors’ interests and has become ripe for abuse.”
Exxon also says in the complaint that under SEC rules, a firm can exclude a proposal from shareholder vote if it is basically the same as previous proposals of the past five years and doesn’t meet the criteria to be resubmitted.
Last year, a proposal to establish a Scope 3 emissions target and reduce hydrocarbon sales was rejected by Exxon’s shareholders with 89.5% votes against and 10.5% votes in favor. The threshold for resubmitting the proposal is 15% of votes in favor.
-Tyler Durden, Zerohedge
House panel investigating Capitol riot wants access to files deleted before GOP took control
A House subcommittee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot is trying to recover 117 encrypted files that the now-disbanded House Select Jan. 6 Committee deleted before Republicans took the majority last year.
A digital forensics team employed by the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight discovered the data deletion occurred on Jan. 1, 2023, and were able to recover the password-protected files. The find was first reported by Fox News.
“Yes, these reports are accurate,” Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.), who sits on the subcommittee, confirmed to The Post. “Unfortunately, at this time, we cannot determine what was in the deleted files.”
“The Democrat-led J6 Select Committee obviously took great strides to shield certain information from us,” Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC), another subcommittee member, told The Post. “The question is: why? What are they trying to hide? Their whole plan was to ‘get to the truth of the matter’. They obviously didn’t want the real truth, just ‘their’ truth.”
The panel’s chairman, Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), has since written to former House Jan. 6 Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) requesting passwords to access the data, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the Post.
Thompson “claimed” to have “turned over 4-terabytes of digital files, but the hard drives archived by the Select Committee with the Clerk of the House contain less than 3- terabytes of data,” Loudermilk wrote.
He told Thompson that his subcommittee found “numerous digital records from hard drives archived by the Select Committee” and asked for “a list of passwords” to “access these files and ensure they are properly archived.”
Image Credit: Rioters rally at the US Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. AP.
“One recovered file disclosed the identity of an individual whose testimony was not archived by the Select Committee,” Loudermilk also wrote, pointing out that Thompson had previously admitted not all records were archived.
Others included “specific transcribed interviews and depositions to the White House and Department of Homeland Security” that were not archived “with the Clerk of the House,” he added.
Loudermilk has written follow-up letters to the White House Counsel’s Office and the Department of Homeland Security asking for the “unedited and unredacted transcripts” of the testimonies.
He demanded that both comply with the request by Jan. 24.
Image Credit: Rioters face off with police at the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, DC. AP.
Image Credit: Violent protesters loyal to President Donald Trump storm the US Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. AP.
Last week, Loudermilk told Fox News Digital his investigation has entered a “new phase” with support from House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who has committed additional resources to the panel’s investigation.
Loudermilk explained that after a forensic analysis of the data and archived hard drives, he was able to recover “numerous digital records from hard drives archived by the Select Committee.”
“One recovered file disclosed the identity of an individual whose testimony was not archived by the Select Committee,” Loudermilk wrote. “Further, we found that most of the recovered files are password-protected, preventing us from determining what they contain.”
Loudermilk asked that Thompson provide him “a list of passwords for all password-protected files created by the Select Committee” so that his committee can “access these files and ensure they are properly archived.”
Image Credit: Tear gas is released into a crowd of protesters during clashes with police at the US Capitol rally on Jan. 6, 2021. Reuters.
“We don’t know yet what’s in the deleted and encrypted deleted files,” Loudermilk told The Post in a statement. “If the former January 6 Select Committee has nothing to hide, then why would they prevent Americans from seeing all the evidence produced in their investigation? They were hiding something, and we will continue to uncover the truth.”
“DHS responds to congressional correspondence directly via official channels, and the Department will continue to respond appropriately to Congressional oversight,” a spokesperson told The PostReps for Thompson’s office and the White House Counsel’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.
-Josh Christenson, New York Post
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"You Need An F-16, Not An AR-15" - Biden Once Again Suggests US Govt Could Murder Gun-Owners
Authored by Michael Clements via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
President Joe Biden told a group of mayors that they would be instrumental in implementing his Second Amendment policies, including a ban on some types of semiautomatic rifles, so-called “assault weapons.”
Image Credit: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
President Biden welcomed a bipartisan group of mayors attending the U.S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting at the White House on Friday.
He told the mayors that the American Rescue Plan has spent $15 billion on infrastructure and public safety.
The president said much of that money went directly to cities to hire and equip police officers, institute violence intervention programs, and fund other crime prevention programs.
“You’ve done a tremendous job putting those resources to work. You know how to do it,” President Biden said. “Mayors are the people who get things done.”
He said that, at the urging of his staff, he is continuing his push for a revival of the 1990s-era “Assault Weapons Ban.”
The ban, which he said he helped the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif) write, was in place from September 1994 to September 2004.
President Biden claimed the ban reduced violent crime, including mass shootings. That claim has motivated his administration to push for a renewal of the policy.
“My staff came to me and said, ‘We need a White House office dedicated to getting guns off the streets and treating the trauma from violence,” he said.
“I’m still committed to banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
“When we passed the Second Amendment, guess what? You weren’t allowed to have a cannon.”
During his speech Friday, President Biden drew chuckles from the mayors as he derided an argument sometimes made by Second Amendment advocates against “assault weapons” bans.
“You’ve heard, ‘the tree of liberty is watered with the blood of patriots?’ Guess what, man? I didn’t see a whole lot of patriots out there walking around making sure that we have these weapons. If you really want to worry about the government, you need an F-16. You don’t need an AR-15,” President Biden said.
The president’s remarks drew laughter from the mayors.
A Rand Corporation study completed in 2020 and updated in 2023 found limited evidence that “high capacity magazine” bans reduced mass shootings and inconclusive evidence on the effect of banning “assault weapons” on the incidents of mass shootings.
President Biden also touted the “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act,” (BSCA) passed in June of 2022 as “the first gun safety law in 30 years.”
Under the BSCA, President Biden has issued numerous executive orders, directed the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to change or write many sometimes controversial rules, and established a “White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention” last September.
Image Credit: Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times
The White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention is led by Vice President Kamala Harris and staffed by veterans of the gun control movement. Stefanie Feldman, President Biden’s staff secretary, runs the office with Greg Jackson and Rob Wilcox.
Previously, Mr. Jackson led the Community Justice Action Fund, which focused on the impact of violent crime involving guns on minority communities.
Mr. Wilcox worked at Brady, served on the Board of Directors of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, and practiced law in New York City.
Recently, Ms. Harris announced the office’s “Safer States Agenda” to push similar programs at the state level.
“We’re deploying teams to meet with communities that have been victimized, to make sure they get the help they need,” President Biden told the mayors.
-Tyler Durden, Zerohedge
BREAKING: Judge Unseals Divorce Records of Top Trump Prosecutor Nathan Wade After Bank Statements Show He Traveled with Fani Willis
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is in hot water with her paramour Nathan Wade’s estranged wife, Jocelyn Wade.
A Cobb County judge on Monday granted a motion to unseal the top Trump prosecutor Nathan Wade’s divorce records.
Judge Henry R. Thompson on Monday also issued a stay on Fani Willis’ deposition…for now. Willis previously tried to quash the subpoena. She was supposed to give a deposition on Tuesday.
Jocelyn Wade’s attorney told the judge on Monday that her client wants Fani Willis’ deposition *not as a Fulton County DA* but as “the alleged paramour of my client’s husband.”
“I have questions and she needs to answer them,” Jocelyn Wade’s lawyer told the judge.
WATCH:
As previously reported, Fani Willis had an ‘improper’ romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, a top Trump prosecutor in her office.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Fani Willis “financially benefited” from a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, a top prosecutor she hired to go after President Trump.
In August Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis hit President Trump and 18 others with RICO and conspiracy charges for daring to challenge the 2020 election.
The motion was filed in the Superior Court of Fulton County on behalf of defendant Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign official who was hit with counts 1, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19 in Fani Willis’ RICO case.
The motion seeks to have the charges against Michael Roman dismissed and for Fani Willis, Nathan Wade and everyone in the DA’s office to be disqualified from the RICO case against Trump.
The filing claims Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor hired to go after Trump, paid for luxury vacations he took with Fani Willis to Napa Valley and a cruise in the Caribbean – and used money from Fulton County to pay for their out-of-town escapades.
“County records show that Wade, who has played a prominent role in the election interference case, has been paid nearly $654,000 in legal fees since January 2022. The DA authorizes his compensation.” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
A couple weeks ago it was reported Fani Willis had been subpoenaed to testify in the divorce proceedings of Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she appointed to go after former President Donald Trump and his associates.
According to a court filing obtained by The Wall Street Journal, Willis was served a subpoena at her Atlanta office for her testimony in the divorce case of Nathan Wade and his wife, Joycelyn Wade.
An attorney for Fani Willis immediately filed a motion to quash the subpoena and accused Jocelyn Wade of “interfering” with her RICO case against Trump.
Last Friday, Jocelyn Wade’s legal counsel filed a response to Fani Willis’ request for a protective order – and Jocelyn Wade produced the receipts!
Jocelyn Wade unleashed on Fani Willis.
“The arguments asserted by Ms. Wills are disingenuous, specious, and her claimed basis for same fails as a matter of law. Upon information and belief, Ms. Wills has information and knowledge directly relevant to alleged conduct of the Plaintiff that would be considered by the Court asto equitable division of the marital estate, dissipation of marital assets, and spousal support.” Jocelyn Wade’s attorneys stated in a court filing reviewed by this reporter.
“Furthermore, Ms. Wilis’s implied threat to pursue charges against Defendant and her counsel, based on inconvenient facts from her personal life that are directly relevant to the ongoing divorce proceedings in the above-styled action, is an affront to the integrity of her office,” Jocelyn Wade’s attorneys wrote.
“If non-party, Ms. Willis, seeks protection, it appears that the one she needs protection from is herself,” the filing read.
Nathan Wade’s Capital One credit card statements provided by Jocelyn Wade were documented in the court filing reviewed by The Gateway Pundit.
Nathan Wade spent money on Fani Willis by buying her flowers, and paying for hotels, air travel, a cruise, and Ubers.
The bank statements prove Nathan Wade bought Fani Willis flights to Miami and San Francisco.
There will be a hearing as early as February to look into Fani Willis’ relationship with Nathan Wade.
-Cristina Laila, The Gateway Pundit
Exclusive: Georgia Senate to Authorize Subpoena-Powered Probe into Alleged Fani Willis Misconduct
Image Credit: AP Photo/Brynn Anderson
The Georgia Senate is set this week to authorize a subpoena-powered investigative committee to probe the alleged corruption of Fani Willis, Fulton County’s district attorney, Breitbart News exclusively learned Monday.
The potential committee is significant because Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) refused to launch a criminal investigation into Willis last week, citing the need for a currently non-operational oversight committee to open the probe.
The proposed Georgia Senate committee could hold subpoena power as soon as later this week to “secure the attendance of witnesses or the production of documents and materials” related to Willis, according to a resolution put forth by Georgia state Sen. Greg Dolezal (R-Forsyth). The committee, the only type of its kind in the state of Georgia, would comprise nine senators, only three of whom would be Democrats.
“The Georgia legislature has a responsibility to hold public officials accountable,” Georgia Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones exclusively told Breitbart News. “Recent reports have been deeply troubling and I appreciate Sen. Dolezal’s leadership on this issue.”
The timeline for the creation of the committee appears imminent. Dolezal will introduce the resolution Monday. Then it will likely be assigned to the Senate Rules Committee on Tuesday. Upon approval from the Rules Committee, a Senate floor vote will be scheduled as soon as this week. If passed by the Senate, the Committee on Assignments will appoint the members.
Willis is accused of misconduct and corruption during her prosecution of former President Donald Trump. A court filing by Mike Roman, a political operative and co-defendant of Trump in the Georgia election case, leveled four explosive allegations in January about Willis’ conduct while prosecuting Trump.
The filing alleges the following:
Nathan Wade, Willis’s lead prosecutor in the Trump case, had an “improper” relationship with Willis.
Wade’s law firm used funds paid by the county to take Willis on luxury vacations by using potentially fraudulent payments.
Wade was appointed without the required approval by authorities and had little to no prosecutorial experience.
Willis and Wade met twice with President Joe Biden’s White House counsel before indicting Trump in August, raising questions about whether the White House coordinated prosecuting Biden’s 2024 political opponent.
Such a “relationship, if proven to exist, would constitute a clear conflict of interest and a fraud upon the taxpayers of Fulton County and the State of Georgia,” Dolezal’s resolution states, establishing the grounds for “Willis’s recusal from further involvement in the prosecution, potentially delaying it indefinitely and requiring the appointment of a special prosecutor at public expense.”
“[T]he Georgia Senate has the inherent power and authority to conduct investigations into … the expenditure of public funds [and] the conduct of public officers who discharge powers and duties under state law,” the resolution continues.
“[S]uch inherent powers include the authority to create special committees for the purpose of conducting investigations and to endow such committees with all the inherent powers of investigation possessed by the Georgia Senate, including the power to compel the appearance and testimony of witnesses and the production of records and the power to place witnesses under oath or affirmation,” it adds.
The resolution to investigate Willis is the latest effort to hold the Fulton County prosecutor accountable. On Thursday, a Georgia judge ordered Willis to “respond” to the corruption accusations in writing by February 2, the Washington Post reported. The order will force the prosecutor to speak on television about the allegations on February 15.
Willis remains mostly silent about the accusations. On January 14, during a speech at Big Bethel AME Church, she described herself as an “imperfect” and “flawed” person but suggested she is the recent target of racism. “Who’s playing the race card when they only question one? Isn’t [it] them playing the race card?” she asked. “I’ve been doing almost 30 years [sic].”
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-Wendell Husebo, Breitbart News
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Trump Goes SCORCHED EARTH on Nutty E. Jean Carroll – Exposing Her Bizarre Obsession with Sexual Assault
Earlier today Judge Lewis Kaplan, a Trump-hating Clinton-appointed judge without morals or integrity, announced that he was delaying the E. Jean Carroll defamation case against Donald Trump until Tuesday – on the day of the nation’s first primary in New Hampshire.
Kaplan, a Clinton appointee, previously ruled that Trump is liable for defamatory statements he made about E. Jean Carroll after she accused him of rape. A court found that there was no evidence that Trump raped the woman who he doesn’t know and never met. In fact, she’s not even sure of the year or season the alleged rape occurred. This is unbelievable considering Donald Trump was the most
There is absolutely no evidence to support her accusations. But the New York court indicted Trump anyway for committing “rape” in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room where he was allegedly assisting Carroll in purchasing lingerie after he met this crazed woman on the street in New York City. The entire story is like something written for Law and Order.
On Monday, President Trump went SCORCHED EARTH on E. Jean Carroll on Truth Social.
Trump posted several of her bizarre rape fantasies and sexually deviant comments on Truth Social.
Carroll: Rape is sexy.
Carroll lied about the “dress.”
Crazy talk.
Big dick energy.
Sex games.
Sexual house arrest.
-Jim Hoft, The Gateway Pundit
KJP Singles Out Peter Doocy, Accuses Him From Podium Of Being Politically Biased
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre accused Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy of being politically biased from the podium Monday.
Jean-Pierre referred to former President Donald Trump as Doocy’s “favorite president” from the podium, and then would not allow him to push back against her accusation. Her remark came after Doocy asked about an ABC poll finding that the voter’s view on Biden’s mental sharpness and health has dropped since May.
“Karine, why do you think it is that four or more people polled feel like overtime, President Biden is getting less and less mentally sharp?” Doocy asked.
“Which poll is this?” Jean-Pierre asked.
“ABC has President Biden’s ratings for health since May down five points and for mental sharpness down four points,” Doocy read, citing the poll.
“You know, I have to say that’s a little confusing for me because if you look at what this president has done the last three years, historical pieces of legislation, right? When it comes to [the] bipartisan infrastructure deal, many presidents before, like your favorite president, had said that—” Jean-Pierre said.
“Who’s my favorite president?” Doocy asked.
“Why don’t we let the American people guess? No, no, no, let me finish, let me finish, you asked me a question,” she said as Doocy pushed back.
“I don’t understand what you’re getting at,” Doocy said.
“No, no, let me finish. Let me finish, and you’ll guess who I’m talking about. Who used to say ‘infrastructure week,’ which was a punchline, became a joke,” she said. “And now, we are seeing ‘infrastructure decade’ because of this president.”
Jean-Pierre further touted the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act as major accomplishments from Biden, which she argued is “pretty sharp for the president.” She said the economy has improved since he entered office.
“So, I think you needed a president like President Biden to get that type of stuff done,” she continued. “Who’s had senate experience, someone who was VP [vice president] under President Obama obviously, and someone who has been a pretty effective president the last three years.”
-Nicole Silverio, Daily Caller
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Barbra Streisand Calls Trump a ‘Climate Denier’ After She Once Flew Her Dogs to London for Concert
Image Credit: AP Instagram
Hollywood star Barbra Streisand is once again attacking former President Donald Trump, calling him a “climate denier” who refuses to see what’s happening to the world due to the burning of fossil fuels.
Streisand knows something about burning fossil fuels — she is known to travel by private jets and once flew her three dogs from California to London roundtrip so they could watch her perform in a concert.
On Friday, Barbra Streisand fired off her latest social media salvo against the likely 2024 GOP presidential nominee.
“Trump was always a climate denier,” she wrote in an X post. “But any intelligent person sees what’s happening in the world—violent storms, droughts, and fires that come from burning fossil fuels!”
In 2019, Streisand had her three dogs Miss Scarlet, Miss Violet, and Fanny flown from Los Angeles to London to watch her perform in a concert in Hyde Park.
The singer even brought the dogs on stage with her during the outdoor performance.
Streisand — who lives in a massive Malibu estate with her husband, actor James Brolin — has been known to fly private jets while touring and attending glitzy celebrity affairs.
Her former dog Samantha reportedly bit a flight attendant during a private jet trip in 2015. The incident occurred aboard billionaire pal Ron Perelman’s Gulfstream, which was transporting Streisand and her entourage from New York to Washington, D.C.
Barbra Streisand’s carbon spewing habits haven’t stopped her from promoting climate change activism. She posts climate-themed messages on social media and has even funded a climate-change research center at UCLA in 2021.
More recently, Streisand has indicated that she will leave the U.S. if Trump is re-elected in November, saying she “can’t live in this country” if Trump is president again.
Streisand has been busy in the past couple of months promoting her memoir, My Name Is Barbra. But despite numerous media interviews, she is have trouble convincing people to buy the 1,000-page book, with sales falling far short of blockbuster status.
-David Ng, Breitbart News
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Two Missing Navy SEALs Declared Dead in Somalia and Joe Biden Hasn’t Said a Word About the Fallen Heroes
Two Navy SEALs who went missing in Somalia earlier this month were declared dead over the weekend and Biden hasn’t even acknowledged the fallen heroes.
The two unidentified SEALs went into the Gulf of Aden on a night mission on January 11. After a 10-day search, the US military declared the special operators deceased.
“We mourn the loss of our two Naval Special Warfare warriors, and we will forever honor their sacrifice and example. Our prayers are with the SEALs’ families, friends, the U.S. Navy, and the entire Special Operations community during this time,” General Michael Erik Kurilla, CENTCOM’s commander, said in a statement.
“Out of respect for the families, no further information will be released at this time,” CENTCOM said.
ABC News reported:
The U.S. military has ended an “exhaustive” 10-day search and rescue mission for two Navy SEALs who went missing on Jan. 11 in the waters of the Gulf of Aden and are now presumed deceased, according to a new statement from U.S. Central Command.
The military is conducting recovery operations for the service members, CENTCOM said Sunday night.
Military officials said that the U.S., Japan and Spain used air and naval resources and “searched more than 21,000 square miles” for the missing SEALs, scouring the gulf off the coast of Somalia — to no avail.
The two SEALs went into water in mid-January during a nighttime boarding mission to interdict a dhow suspected of carrying Iranian-made weapons for Houthi militants in Yemen, military officials have said.
Dhows are small fishing or cargo vessels that are sometimes used by Iran to smuggle weapons.
As a small Navy craft approached the dhow on Jan. 11, one of the SEALs fell into rough waters and, following protocol, a second SEAL dove into the water in a rescue attempt, according to officials.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden hasn’t released a statement on the fallen heroes.
Biden is once again on vacation at his Rehoboth Beach house.
In fact, Biden spent Sunday flying around on Marine One on taxpayer dime. He flew from Rehoboth Beach to his Wilmington home then back to his Rehoboth Beach house.
-Cristina Laila, Leo Terrell
Yemen’s Huthis say hit US ship, Washington denies attack
Huthi rebels claimed Monday they had hit a US military cargo ship off the coast of Yemen, but the United States denied an attack had taken place.
The Iran-backed rebel group “led a military operation targeting the American military cargo ship Ocean Jazz in the Gulf of Aden”, near the Red Sea, with missiles, said Huthi military spokesman Yahya Saree.
Asked about the claim, a US defence official told AFP: “We’re not seeing that at all on our end and believe that statement to be untrue.”
The Yemeni rebels began striking Red Sea shipping in November, saying they were hitting Israeli-linked vessels in support of Palestinians in Gaza, which has been ravaged by fighting amid the Hamas-Israel war.
The United States, an ally of Israel, has responded to the Huthis’ strikes by launching a series of strikes on the rebel group, hitting dozens of sites in Yemen.
The Huthis have since declared American and British interests to be legitimate targets as well.
Washington is also seeking to put diplomatic and financial pressure on the Huthis, re-designating them as a “terrorist” entity after dropping that label soon after President Joe Biden took office.
The rebels reiterated on Monday that they will “respond to any attack” on Yemen and continue to “prevent Israeli ships” from crossing the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden until the end of the war in the Palestinian territory.
Yemen is just one part of a growing crisis in the Middle East amid the war in Gaza, where Israel’s relentless bombardment and ground offensive have killed more than 25,000 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Israel’s campaign began after the unprecedented October attacks by Hamas resulted in the deaths of about 1,140 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
-Insider Paper
Russia blames Kyiv for attack on Baltic gas terminal
Image Credit: Pixabay
The Kremlin on Monday blamed Ukraine for an attack that started a fire at a gas terminal at the Baltic port of Ust-Luga over the weekend.
A gas facility belonging to Novatek, Russia’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), was set ablaze on Sunday in the western port town, close to Russia’s border with Estonia.
“The Kyiv regime continues to show its bestial face. They are striking civil infrastructure, people,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday when asked about the incident.
The gas terminal is more than 850 kilometres (530 miles) from Ukraine.
The fire was the latest in a series of apparent Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s energy facilities. Last week Kyiv claimed responsibility for two other attacks, including one in the same Leningrad region where Ust-Luga is located.
Both Russia and Ukraine are using explosive-laden drones to attempt to strike targets deep behind the frontlines, and their armed forces regularly claim to have shot down enemy devices over their territory.
“The defence ministry and air defence resources are taking all necessary measures to protect from such attacks,” Peskov told reporters in a briefing call on Monday.
Local authorities said there were no injuries as a result of the fire, which had raged Sunday morning, and that all personnel had been evacuated.
The Kremlin also called a strike on the city of Donetsk on Sunday that it said killed at least 27 people an act of “terrorism.”
Artillery fire struck a suburb of the city, which Russia controls and claims to have annexed, hitting a crowded market, local officials said.
“The special military operation will continue in order to protect our people from this danger,” Peskov said Monday, using Moscow’s preferred language to refer to its full-scale military offensive on Ukraine.
-Insider Paper
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EU eyeing new plan to bypass Hungary on Ukraine aid – WSJ
The EU is considering a new plan to boost military aid to Ukraine, as its proposed €50 billion (54 billion) package for Kiev remains blocked by Hungary, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
According to the article, the scheme would involve the creation of an EU-wide €20 billion fund that would be used to reimburse individual member states that provide military assistance to Kiev, including ammunition, drones, and missiles.
The WSJ reported, citing a confidential draft circulated on Friday, that the fund would absorb €6.5 billion in assets from the European Peace Facility (EPF), the EU’s off-budget instrument which compensates its members for providing aid to Ukraine. Under the proposed initiative, the fund would receive up to €5 billion each year between 2024 and 2027.
All excess funds would be used to cover the costs of the EU’s military training program for Kiev, the article said, adding that the bloc’s officials estimate that the new mechanism could allow compensation worth some €7.5 billion for member states this year alone.
Image Credit: EU top diplomat Josep Borrell arrives for the first day of a special meeting of the European Council at The European Council Building in Brussels on May 30, 2022. © JOHN THYS / AFP
The WSJ warned that one key drawback of the plan is that it would need unanimous backing from EU members. However, it would allow smaller countries to pool their resources to help Ukraine as well as eliminate the need for regular tranches of aid, frequently blocked by Hungary, which has been highly critical of the EU’s approach to the Ukraine conflict, the article said.
Formal discussions on the matter are expected to start as early as this week, with the plan likely to be a major item on the agenda of the EU summit on February 1.
The latest attempt by the EU to boost military aid to Kiev comes after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban last month vetoed a €50 billion package. Hungary is at odds with Brussels over the blocking of billions in assistance to Budapest over rule-of-law concerns.
Russia has repeatedly warned the West against sending arms to Kiev, arguing that it will only prolong the conflict and make it a direct participant in the hostilities.
-RT News
Magnitude 7.0 earthquake hits China-Kyrgystan border: USGS
Image Credit: Pixabay
A major 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck along the China-Kyrgyzstan border on Tuesday, the United States Geological Survey reported, warning of potentially widespread damage.
In Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek, people fled their homes to seek refuge in the street, according to an AFP reporter, after the quake caused walls to shake and furniture to shift.
Local TV channels in the Indian capital New Delhi reported strong tremors in the city, about 1,400 kilometres (870 miles) away.
The quake was registered just after 2:00 am (1800 GMT Monday) at a depth of 13 kilometres in China’s Xinjiang region, west of the city of Aksu.
Shortly after, three more earthquakes were recorded in the area, at magnitudes 5.5 and 5.1 and 5.0.
The USGS said casualties were possible, though none were immediately reported in the mountainous, rural area where the earthquake struck.
“Significant damage is likely and the disaster is potentially widespread,” its report said.
Authorities in Kazakhstan reported tremors, though without any casualties or major destruction so far.
In Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, citizens also streamed outside following the quake, according to images posted on social media and by local news outlets.
Tuesday’s earthquake came the day after a landslide buried dozens of people and killed at least eight in the southwest of China.
A December quake in the northwest of the country killed 148 people and displaced thousands in Gansu province.
That quake was China’s deadliest since 2014, when more than 600 people were killed in southwestern Yunnan province.
In the December earthquake, subzero temperatures made the aid operation launched in response even more challenging, with survivors huddled around outdoor fires to keep warm.
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WORLD’S LARGEST NUCLEAR REACTOR AIMS TO POWER THE EARTH WITH UNLIMITED ENERGY: ‘ARGUABLY THE MOST COMPLEX MACHINE EVER DESIGNED’
Image Credit: ITER
While it may sound like part of the Mandalorian creed, experts at ITER claim “The Way” here on Earth is headed to an unimaginable goal: everlasting energy.
Experts at ITER, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (and also Latin for “the way,” per the agency) are working to harness fusion reactions, the same energy source that powers the sun, according to the project’s website.
If successful, the experts in southern France could provide a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels and nuclear fission with “arguably the most complex machine ever designed,” ITER’s communications lead Laban Coblentz told Euronews Next.
Nuclear energy is far from new science, and while there have been well-reported disasters, the technology is stable with the right personnel oversight and protection from natural disasters like earthquakes. Fission is used to power the 436 nuclear reactors around the world and requires slamming neutrons into larger atoms to create energy, splitting them into smaller particles. The process does not contribute significant greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, but it does produce radioactive waste.
Fusion, on the other hand, forms a heavier atom when two smaller particles slam together. The result is far more energy than fission, and without the radioactive waste, all per the United States Department of Energy.
The ITER team wants to prove that the process can be industrialized. They have been at work on the project since at least 2005. Testing includes the largest magnetic confinement chamber on the planet, which the researchers call a tokamak.
When complete, the chamber will weigh more than 25,000 tons, withstanding temperatures of up to 302 million degrees Fahrenheit. It creates power by using some of the hot particles to heat water, which would power a turbine via steam, all per Euronews.
The process requires unfathomable heat. For reference, USA Today reports that our 4.5 billion-year-old sun is 27 million degrees Fahrenheit at its core.
“You try to take something up to 150 million degrees [Celsius]. You try to make it the scale that is needed and so forth. It’s just a difficult thing to do,” Coblentz told Euronews.
The project hasn’t been without setbacks. The cost was originally budgeted at about $5.5 billion. But Euronews reports that it’s now nearly $22 billion. To stay on schedule, Coblentz told the online news agency that the experts plan to skip “first plasma” — a testing milestone — “to get to fusion power initially in 2035.”
“We’ll make sure that that testing gets done in another way so that we can stick as much as possible to that date,” he said.
He added that the complex nature of the project is a challenge, often because it is groundbreaking research.
“Simply due to the complexity and the multitude of first-of-a-kind materials, first-of-a-kind components in a first-of-a-kind machine,” he said to Euronews.
This isn’t the only team working on novel nuclear projects. American icon Westinghouse is developing a small fission reactor set to go online in 2029. It’s unique because it’s portable and can power remote locations for about eight years without water, reducing upward of 55,000 tons of air pollution annually, according to the company.
ITER’s team is looking sunward for inspiration. And instead of waiting for the sunbeams to fall to our solar panels, they want to harness the source.
With planetwide overheating ravaging the world, the team is also feeling the heat.
“The longer that we wait for fusion to arrive, the more we need it,” Coblentz said in the Euronews report. “So the smart money is: get it here as fast as possible.”
-Rick Kazmer, TCD