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Shutdown showdown threatens US government pay checks
Image Credit: Pixabay
Millions of Americans braced Monday for pay and welfare checks to stop within days as Congress careened toward a damaging government shutdown, with Republican right wingers blocking attempts to pass a budget.
Four months after barely avoiding the more serious prospect of a credit default, the world’s largest economy is once again on the verge of a convulsion, with the lights due to go out at the weekend.
Republicans leading the House of Representatives — hamstrung by hardline rebels demanding deep spending cuts — have been unable to pass the usual series of bills setting out departmental budgets for the next financial year, which begins on Sunday.
The party’s leadership does not even have the votes to advance a short-term funding bill at 2023 spending levels — known as a continuing resolution — to keep the government open past midnight on Saturday.
A shutdown would put at risk the finances of workers at national parks, museums and other sites operating on federal funding, but it could also carry significant political risk for President Joe Biden as he runs for re-election in 2024.
“Funding the government is one of the of the most basic, fundamental responsibilities of the Congress,” the Democrat told reporters at the White House.
“And if Republicans in the House don’t start doing their job we should stop electing them.”
The Biden adminstration also warned that seven million people who rely on the food aid program for women and children could also see their money stopped.
The funding deadlock arose after House Republicans refused to support the government spending levels agreed between Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the top Republican in Congress, that would keep government gears turning.
Another major sticking point has been a request for additional aid for Kyiv, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Congress last week pleading for more weapons to battle Russian forces 18 months into the war.
Both parties in the Senate support the $24 billion aid bill. But a handful of hardline Republicans in the House are threatening to block any funding measures that include the aid.
“UNLESS YOU GET EVERYTHING, SHUT IT DOWN!,” former president Donald Trump demanded in a post on his Truth Social platform late Sunday as he led calls for the Republican hardliners to dig in.
– Polarization –
The budget vote in Congress regularly turns into a standoff, with one party using the prospect of a shutdown to seek concessions from the other, usually without success.
Trump, who is also running for re-election, forced a 35-day shutdown over border controls in 2018 but ended up reopening the government after failing to secure a single concession from Democrats.
The impasse is invariably resolved before the standoffs become crises but this year the showdown is exacerbated by new levels of polarization on Capitol Hill.
In the Senate, debate is led by two political heavyweights, Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell, his Republican counterpart.
Congress was out Monday but Schumer has been paving the way for a continuing resolution, including Ukraine aid, in talks with McConnell and the White House.
A measure that would keep the government open through early December has support on both sides of the Senate — but would likely not be ready for a vote before the shutdown and would not have the support of the Republican right.
The shutdown prospect comes just four months after the United States came dangerously close to defaulting on its debt, which could have had disastrous consequences for the American economy and beyond.
Moody’s — the only major ratings agency to maintain its maximum score for US sovereign debt — warned that the latest drama could threaten its top tier status.
The US government employs more than two million civilian workers, as well as uniformed military personnel and federal contractors. Civil servants deemed “non-essential” would be asked to stay home during a shutdown, getting paid only on their return.
-Insider Paper
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Nazi-linked veteran received ovation during Zelenskyy’s Canada visit
Image Credit: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recognize Yaroslav Hunka, who fought with the First Ukrainian Division in World War II, in the House of Commons in Ottawa on Sept. 22, 2023. | Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press
A ranking Canadian parliamentarian is apologizing to Jewish communities around the world for a blunder during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit that led to lawmakers honoring a veteran accused of belonging to a Nazi division in WWII.
It followed demands by Canadian Jewish organizations Sunday for an apology after it was revealed members of Parliament across party lines awarded a 98-year-old veteran on Friday with a standing ovation shortly after Zelenskyy addressed Canada’s House of Commons.
Yaroslav Hunka stood and appeared to salute from the public gallery when he was recognized by House Speaker Anthony Rota, who introduced Hunka as a Canadian-Ukrainian war hero from his political district.
“We have here in the chamber today a Ukrainian-Canadian veteran from the Second World War who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians and continues to support the troops today, even at his age of 98,” Rota said Friday, followed by a lengthy round of applause and a wave by Zelenskyy. “He’s a Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero, and we thank him for all his service. Thank you.”
Jewish advocacy groups the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center and B’nai Brith Canada condemned his honoring as disturbing and “beyond outrageous” because he fought with the First Ukrainian Division — also known as the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division, which served under command of the Nazis.
Jewish news website The Forward reported that Hunka wrote blog posts describing his time in the unit on a Ukrainian-language website run by an association of the unit’s veterans, called “Combatant News.”
In a statement late Sunday afternoon, Rota said he recently became “aware of more information which causes me to regret my decision” to recognize Hunka. He said he takes full responsibility for the seismic gaffe.
“I wish to make clear that no one, including fellow parliamentarians and the Ukraine delegation, was aware of my intention or of my remarks before I delivered them,” he said. “This initiative was entirely my own, the individual in question being from my riding and having been brought to my attention.”
Conservative opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre called it an “appalling error of judgment” by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, since his office would have approved inviting and honoring Hunka, and demanded Trudeau apologize and refrain from “passing the blame to others as he always does.”
A statement from the prime minister’s office said it was not given any advance notice about the recognition or invitation from the speaker’s office, which acts independently from the prime minister.
The story was quickly picked up by Russian state-controlled media websites RT and Sputnik.
The Russian embassy in Canada posted on social media that it was an “insult to the memory of Canada’s sons and daughters who fought Nazism in WWII.”
Asked by reporters at a press conference Friday about wavering support for Ukraine in Congress and elsewhere, Zelenskyy said he looks to Canada for help in shoring up a united front, since Ottawa has a “powerful relationship with many countries of the world.”
The shocking news landed the same day the prime minister made a statement marking the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.
-Kyle Duggan, Politico
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Graffiti on monument commemorating Nazi SS division being investigated as a hate crime by police
Image Credit: The cenotaph at Oakville's St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Cemetery, October 25, 2017. PHOTO BY PETER J. THOMPSON /Postmedia
An incident involving graffiti spray painted on a monument to those who fought in Adolf Hitler’s SS is being investigated as a hate crime by an Ontario police force.
Someone painted “Nazi war monument” on a stone cenotaph commemorating those who served with the 14th SS Division. The monument is located in Oakville in the St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Cemetery.
The division, made up of Ukrainians who pledged allegiance to Hitler, was part of the Nazi’s Waffen SS organization. Some members of the division have been accused of killing Polish women and children as well as Jews during the Second World War.
Halton Regional Police believe the graffiti was spray painted on the cenotaph sometime around June 21. Police said they were investigating the incident as a “hate-motivated” crime but they declined to release images of the graffiti so as to stop “further spreading” of the message.
But researcher Moss Robeson, who has written articles on Ukrainians who collaborated with the Nazis, provided details about the graffiti and the monument on Twitter, prompting questions about why Halton Regional Police think members of the Nazi SS can be the subject of hate crimes.
In response to questions from this newspaper, Const. Steve Elms, spokesman for Halton-Regional Police, cited a section of the Criminal Code that noted those communicating statements in any public place inciting hatred against any identifiable group could face imprisonment not exceeding two years. “This incident occurred to a monument and the graffiti appeared to target an identifiable group,” he explained in an email to questions about how a hate crime could be perpetrated against members of the SS.
The 14th SS Division, also known as the Galizien Division, was formed in 1943 when Nazi Germany needed to shore up its forces as allied troops, including those from the U.S., Canada, Britain and Russia, started to gain the upper hand and turn the tide of the war. In May 1944, SS leader Heinrich Himmler addressed the division with a speech that was greeted by cheers. “Your homeland has become more beautiful since you have lost – on our initiative, I must say – the residents who were so often a dirty blemish on Galicia’s good name – namely the Jews,” Himmler said. “I know that if I ordered you to liquidate the Poles, I would be giving you permission to do what you are eager to do anyway.”
Image Credit: SS leader Heinrich Himmler greets members of the 14th SS Division during the Second World War. Police say graffiti left on an Oakville monument to the SS division is being investigated as a hate-motivated crime. (Photo courtesy US Holocaust Memorial Museum) jpg
There are allegations members of the 14th SS Division took part in killing hundreds of Polish civilians in 1944 in the village of Huta Pieniacka. Some Ukrainians dispute that the SS division took part in the killings or they argue that only small elements from the unit – and under Nazi command – were involved. Others argue the SS members were heroes who fought against the Russians.
In 2017, a Polish judge issued an arrest warrant for then 98-year old Michael Karkoc, a 14th SS Division deputy company commander for war crimes. Karkoc, living in the U.S., died before he could be tried in court. He had been accused of coordinating the massacre of 44 civilians, including women and children, in the Polish village of Chłaniów in 1944.
Bernie Farber of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network said there is a need for Halton Regional Police to better educate themselves on what constitutes a hate-motivated crime. “Yes, it’s destruction of property for sure,” Farber said of the graffiti on the monument. “But a hate crime? Far from it.”
The monument to the 14th SS Division was also in the headlines in 2017 when the Russian Embassy in Ottawa posted images on its Twitter account pointing out the “Nazi monuments” in Canada.
-David Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen
11,000 migrant encounters reported in last 24 hours, a historic high: U.S. Customs and Border Protection
According to sources at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), there have been around 11,000 migrant encounters at the southwestern border in the past 24 hours. This is the “single highest day in recent memory,” Fox News reported Monday.
Eagle Pass, Texas sees over 4,000 migrant encounters in a weekend
In Eagle Pass, Texas, just over the weekend from Friday to Sunday, there were more than 4,000 migrant encounters, reporter Jenkins tweeted.
Over 2,200 migrants were captured on video as they made their way towards Eagle Pass during the night of 18 September. This marks one of the largest border crossings reported by Fox News in the past two years, according to information from Border Patrol sources.
Cellphone footage from Piedras Negras, the Mexican city neighboring Eagle Pass, depicts a scene of migrants rushing to the river’s edge overnight. They formed a lengthy line crossing the river from one bank to the other. This mass crossing occurred right beside the legal port of entry in Eagle Pass, where people are supposed to cross the border.
Following exclusive footage captured in Zacatecas, Mexico, a video revealed a train filled with migrants heading north towards the border on Sunday.
The U.S. CBP tweeted Monday, “Under U.S. immigration laws, most noncitizens coming to our border are not eligible to remain in the United States. Asylum laws do not provide for relief solely for economic reasons or for general violence.”
Border crossings surge, 2,000 daily encounters in Arizona and California
Despite the Department of Homeland Security under the Biden administration claiming a significant drop in border crossings, ranging from 50% to 70% following the expiration of Title 42, recent weeks have witnessed a resurgence in reported border crossings.
According to NBC News, citing a Border Patrol official, in Arizona and California alone, as many as 2,000 migrants have been crossing the border and getting apprehended each day. It’s worth noting that Border Patrol has been releasing between 100 to 200 migrants daily onto the streets of the United States shortly after their border crossing, according to the news outlet.
Sources have informed Fox News that approximately 20,000 migrants were in federal custody as of last month.
-Brendan Taylor, Insider Paper
Busted! Adam Schiff Funneled Millions To Defense Contractors After Taking Donations
While Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) campaigns for a Senate seat on a platform of earmarks for local causes, the 12-term Congressman has been busted steering millions in taxpayer dollars to for-profit defense contractors, many of whom have been political donors to his campaigns.
According to an investigation by Politico, Schiff "has offered an incomplete and potentially misleading account of his record on earmarks."
A POLITICO review of congressional earmarks and political contributions found that in addition to the money for homelessness and drug treatment, Schiff also steered millions to for-profit companies and raised tens of thousands for his House reelection campaigns from corporate executives and people connected to them. The review was mostly limited to publicly available data from the brief three-year window when corporate earmarks were disclosed.
In two particularly egregious cases, Schiff channeled millions in funding to Smiths Detection and Phasebridge, Inc., two defense companies within his district - with $6 million steered to Smiths Detection and $3 million to Phasebridge. Both moves would have been barred under reforms adopted in 2010. This financial maneuvering coincided with Schiff receiving $8,500 in contributions from PMA Group PAC and two family members of Paul Magliocchetti, founder and owner of the lobbying firm retained by both defense companies.
In 2011, Paul Magliocchetti was sentenced to 27 months in prison for making illegal campaign contributions.
Schiff claims not to have a full accounting of his earmarks.
The Congressman's campaign has been quick to minimize these connections, emphasizing the small proportion of these contributions in his overall fundraising and underscoring his commitment to ensuring Californians’ tax dollars work for their benefit. In a boilerplate response, spokesperson Marisol Samayoa said: "Californians know and trust Adam’s record of getting things done, and as a U.S. senator, he will do what it takes to ensure Californians’ tax dollars are put to work for them and their priorities," adding "These contributions amount to less than one tenth of one percent of what Adam has raised over 20 years in Congress, and were driven by what was best for our troops and his constituents. It is ridiculous to suggest otherwise."
However, Schiff’s lack of transparency in providing a complete list of his earmarks further fuels the cloud of skepticism surrounding his actions.
"We were always concerned about the pay-to-play aspects and that’s something that every lawmaker must live with," said Steve Ellis, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan budget watchdog, who has been analyzing earmarks for decades."If you’re getting a campaign contribution and getting your earmark for that same company or for a client of that lobbyist, it has that perception."
The earmark process was changed following rising spending an a series of congressional pay-to-play scandals in the mid-2000s, including that of former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA), who admitted to taking millions in bribes from defense contractors, as well as disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who dubbed the appropriations panel a "favor factory."
More of Schiff's shiftyness via Politico...
— Schiff directed $1 million to Pasadena-based Eureka Aerospace, which was developing military technology to stop vehicles that ignored checkpoints. Eureka Aerospace CEO James Tatoian contributed $24,600 to Schiff between 2006 and 2016. Others in Tatoian’s household gave another $9,950 through 2020. His only other federal contributions in recent years went to former Republican Sen. Martha McSally of Arizona, a retired Air Force colonel and former pilot.
— Schiff channeled $1 million to Tanner Research Inc. of Monrovia for detecting IEDs. CEO John Tanner donated $15,800 to him from 2003 to 2012.
— Schiff got an $800,000 earmark for Orbits Lightwave Inc. for an ultra stable coherent laser project. Yaakov Shevy, Orbits Lightwave’s co-founder and president, donated $2,500 to him over his time in Congress and executive Katrin Saroukhanian gave $1,200 from 2007 to 2010.
— Schiff also secured $492,000 for Superprotonic for solid acid fuel cell research. Co-founder Calum Chisholm of Pasadena and executive Sami Mardini of Duarte combined to donate $1,500 to Schiff in 2007 and 2008.
...
POLITICO could not analyze many of Schiff’s earmarks or possible corresponding donations because the public record of dollars that flowed to companies is extremely limited. Schiff’s campaign declined to provide the list of earmarks from between 2001 and 2007, contending they didn’t have one. Schiff refused a Los Angeles Daily News request to reveal his projects when pressed in 2007.
Meanwhile - still waiting on that Trump evidence, Adam...
-Tyler Durden, Zerohedge
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Donald Trump: MSNBC and NBC News Will Be Investigated for ‘Country-Threatening Treason’ if He is Re-Elected
On Truth Social Sunday night, Trump blasted the network’s parent company, Comcast.
“They are almost all dishonest and corrupt, but Comcast, with its one-side and vicious coverage by NBC NEWS, and in particular MSNBC, often and correctly referred to as MSDNC (Democrat National Committee!), should be investigated for its ‘Country Threatening Treason,’” Trump wrote.
“Their endless coverage of the now fully debunked SCAM known as Russia, Russia, Russia, and much else, is one big Campaign Contribution to the Radical Left Democrat Party,” Trump continued.
“I say up front, openly, and proudly, that when I WIN the Presidency of the United States, they and others of the LameStream Media will be thoroughly scrutinized for their knowingly dishonest and corrupt coverage of people, things, and events,” Trump asserted. “Why should NBC, or any other of the corrupt & dishonest media companies, be entitled to use the very valuable Airwaves of the USA, FREE?”
“They are a true threat to Democracy and are, in fact, THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE! The Fake News Media should pay a big price for what they have done to our once great Country!”
-[your]News
Hillary Clinton Is Already Casting Doubt on 2024 Election Legitimacy: 'He'll Do It Again'
The establishment’s favorite foreign bogeyman continues to live rent-free inside the head of former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
According to Clinton, Russian President Vladimir Putin interfered in the 2016 election, “and if he has a chance he’ll do it again” in 2024.
The former secretary of state made the comment during a Sunday interview on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki.”
Democrats and establishment Republicans, of course, talk openly about election interference where it does not exist.
Meanwhile, anti-establishment figures who talk about it where it does exist can expect censorship or legal persecution.
Everyone understands the two different sets of rules.
Thus, after nearly seven years, Clinton could sit for an interview and still pretend that she did not have a hand in fabricating a Russian collusion narrative. She could lie about Putin and Russia because she knows she will face no consequences.
Clinton could do these things because Psaki, former Biden White House press secretary, operates as a shill for the establishment. Far from calling out Clinton’s obvious lies and hypocrisy, Psaki teed up questions designed to encourage them.
“He has intervened in our election in the past,” Psaki said of Putin. “It’s not something — as you experienced first hand — it’s not something we talk about a lot. Do you fear that that is something that could be happening for 2024? And do you think we should be talking about it more?”
Clinton then concocted an answer that took nearly three minutes to deliver.
“Well, I think we should be talking about it more because I don’t think — despite all the ‘deniers’ — there’s any doubt that he interfered in our election,” Clinton said.
Putin interfered in the 2016 election because, as Clinton explained, he simply does those things.
According to the warmongering former secretary of state, Putin “has interfered in many ways with the internal affairs of other countries.” She called this his “opus operandi.”
No doubt sensing that her mounting lies had caused her to misspeak in Latin, Clinton shifted to a reliable tactic.
Putin interferes in other countries’ affairs and elections, she predictably insisted, because “he hates democracy, he particularly hates the West, and he especially hates us.”
Thus, Putin divides Americans while grasping at Ukrainian territory. He operates that way. As Clinton put it, “that is who he is.”
“I said that for years,” she added. “Part of the reason he worked so hard against me is because he didn’t think that he wanted me in the White House.”
How hard did Putin work to defeat Clinton?
According to Time, Russian sources purchased $100,000 worth of Facebook ads during the 2016 election cycle.
The establishment has a near monopoly over the dissemination of information and opinion. Federal agencies, Big Tech, Hollywood, universities and the media spread the establishment narrative far and wide.
On the other hand, the vast majority of people who voted for former President Donald Trump control nothing. They have no institutional power. To find truth, they must look somewhere outside institutional channels, for they know the establishment has lied to them for decades.
But Russians poured a comparatively paltry $100,000 into ads on a social media platform Trump voters’ distrust. And this made all the difference!
Then, with Trump in the White House, Putin…did nothing. Instead, he waited until after Trump’s presidency to invade Ukraine. Putin does those things.
The real purpose of continuing to conjure the Russian bugbear, of course, lay in its utility to the establishment narrative.
Clinton described Putin as “this authoritarian dictator who literally kills his opposition, kills journalists, poisons people who disagree with him, invades other country[ies], interferes with our election,” and “that is part of the alternative we have to reject in this election.”
In short, Trump wants to do what Putin does, so we must fear them equally.
The establishment, of course, would never try to kill opponents by indicting them and condemning them to die in prison.
America’s government would never demand the extradition of an inconvenient journalist who exposed its lies.
Clinton herself would never invade and wreck other countries.
And U.S. intelligence officials would never interfere with an election by falsely dismissing as “Russian disinformation” harmful truths about their preferred candidate’s son.
Instead, establishment figures like Clinton go on talking about election interference and authoritarianism as things others do.
They can say those things. No one punishes them for lying.
If you anti-establishment types question the legitimacy of an election, however, say goodbye to your freedom. Powerful people will silence you. Democracy requires it.
-Michael Schwarz, The Western Journal
Smartmatic Voting Machine Company Implicated In $4 Million 'Slush Fund' Bribery Scheme Using 'Fake Contracts'
Voting machine company Smartmatic, which is suing Fox News and former President Donald Trump's top allies over their claims that the company's machines facilitated cheating in the 2020 US election, has been accused as uncharged co-conspirators in a bribery scheme in the Philippines.
According to court documents revealed by CNN, the Department of Justice has filed money laundering charges against former Filipino election administrator, Andres Bautista, who has been accused - along with unnamed Smartmatic executives - of illegal financial transactions.
The accusations levied against Smartmatic suggest attempts to funnel $4 million to Bautista, adding fuel to the allegations surrounding the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, and the lawsuits filed by Smartmatic against Fox News and former President Trump's allies.
The new allegations further complicate Smartmatic's defamation suits against various pro-Trump figures and media organizations, who have sought to underscore Smartmatic's ties to Venezuela and its involvement in foreign elections as defense in their ongoing legal battles.
Smartmatic has sued Fox News as part of a $2.7 billion lawsuit, in which they have demanded a full retraction and apology from the network.
According to Smartmatic spokeswoman Samira Saba, the Florida-based company "has never won a project through any illegal means," and that the claims in the Bautista case are "not related to Smartmatic election security or integrity."
Smartmatic filed massive defamation suits against Fox News, Newsmax, OAN, several individual Fox hosts, ex-Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and others. They all deny wrongdoing.
Some of these pro-Trump figures have tried to push back against the defamation suits by highlighting Smartmatic’s ties to Venezuela and its involvement in foreign elections.
OAN recently asked a judge to let them seek records from the Philippines government and other countries as part of the discovery process, claiming they have files about “investigations… scandals.. and major problems” involving Smartmatic machines. -CNN
According to the charging documents, "slush funds" were used by the Smartmatic executives via "fake contracts" to facilitate the alleged bribes. The co-conspirators are accused of having "caused or attempted" to funnel the $4 million to Bautista "in violation of US money laundering laws."
Bautista denies the allegations.
"I did not ask for nor receive any bribe money from Smartmatic or any other entity," he claimed on X, adding that the elections he was in charge of were "hailed" by observers as being the "best managed" in Filipino history.
He also says he would "respond to the alleged charges at the proper forum and time" to the criminal charges, which were filed Tuesday.
As CNN notes, "The new allegations of corrupt foreign dealings could boost the defense for Fox News and the other Trump allies currently fighting Smartmatic in court. They could argue that it wasn’t their lies about the 2020 election that caused Smartmatic to lose business, but rather the company’s reputation was tarnished by the allegedly criminal behavior of some of its employees."
The complaint against Bautista and the co-defendants doesn't accuse them of tampering with election results.
-Tyler Durden, Zerohedge
First US Abrams Tanks Arrive In Ukraine, Officials Admit They "Risk Being Destroyed"
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has confirmed reception of the first delivery of US Abrams battle tanks, after President Biden last week made it clear they would finally arrive within days of his meeting with Zelensky at the White House.
"Good news from Minister (of Defence) Umerov. Abrams are already in Ukraine and are being prepared to reinforce our brigades," Zelensky announced on Telegram. His hope is that it will boost Ukrainian forces amid the stalled offensive, as US officials have said the arrival was "months ahead of estimates, and in time to be used in Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russia."
Image Credit: US Army/Flickr CC
A group of Ukrainian tank operators and their support crew reportedly wrapped up training by late August, and it's believed that a likely ten of the 31 Abrams committed have now been delivered as of Saturday.
Two US official explained to The New York Times:
More M1 Abrams tanks will be sent in the coming months, the officials said, noting that those that were shipped into Ukraine on Saturday represented the first of 31 that the Biden administration has promised to send. The officials would not say how many have been delivered so far.
The Abrams will be among other tanks in Ukraine’s arsenal that it could use to push into, and possibly reclaim, Russian-held territory in Ukraine’s eastern and southern regions, where fighting has ground on for months without major breakthroughs. But Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, has warned that the Abrams would need to be deployed "in a very tailored way, for very specific, well-crafted operations," or risk being destroyed.
Indeed Moscow has declared open season on Western-supplied tanks and equipment, and has already had battlefield succusses in destroying some of them.
For example, the UK Challenger II and Germany's Leopard, have thus far made little discernable difference along the stalemated front lines. At least one or more UK Challengers were destroyed, it was confirmed early this month. This was a first for the Challenger II in its history of production, as British defense officials later conceded.
There are also fresh Russian media reports that another Leopard tank has been disabled, and that some Germany operators have been captured (though these reports remains unverified):
Russia maintains firm hold over much of the east, has dug it its positions, and established miles of deadly mine fields. The NY Times agrees it is going to be difficult to advance even with the Abrams:
If they are simply sent to the front lines to try to punch through Russian defenses, General Budanov said last week in an interview with an American military blog, "they will not live very long on the battlefield. They need to be used in those breakthrough operations, but very well prepared."
The Pentagon had previously announced that "The U.S. is committed to expedite delivery of the 31 tanks to Ukraine by the fall." By then it could already become clear whether or not the US Abrams will make any level of difference on the battlefield for Kiev.
-Tyler Durden, Zerohedge
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Alzheimer's, Now A Leading Cause Of Death In US, Is Becoming More Prevalent
Alzheimer’s disease is now one of the leading causes of death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Alzheimer’s is a degenerative and incurable brain disease that predominantly affects older people.
Early symptoms include memory loss and lapses in judgment, but at a later stage these can progress to problems with a wider range of functions too, such as balance, breathing and digestion.
As Statista's Anna Fleck details below, while heart disease, cancer and Covid-19 claimed by far the highest numbers of lives in 2021 (which was the latest available data), Alzheimer’s disease ranked in a high seventh place with 119,399 deaths that year, equating to 31 people per 100,000 population.
You will find more infographics at Statista
The rate of people dying of Alzheimer’s disease in the United States more than doubled between the years 2000 and 2019, according to the Alzheimer’s Association's latest report.
Where an average of 17.6 people per 100,000 died from the form of dementia at the turn of the millennium, the figure had climbed to 37 per 100,000 people nearly two decades later.
You will find more infographics at Statista
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, this is likely the result of an aging population, since age is the predominant risk factor for Alzheimer’s dementia. However, they note, it could also reflect a rise in the number of formal diagnoses of the disease or even in the number of physicians who are reporting Alzheimer’s as a cause of death.
The charity’s analysts forecast that by 2025, the number of people aged 65+ with Alzheimer’s dementia in the U.S. could reach 7.2 million, and up to 13.8 million by 2060, if there were to be no medical breakthroughs in that time to prevent, slow or cure the disease.
On that note, pharmaceutical companies have a number of drugs in development, targeting different symptoms, from inflammation to synaptic plasticity/neuroprotection pathways.
According to AgingCare, neurological damage and muscle weakness can lead to patients finding it difficult to manage even simple movements such as swallowing food without assistance. This is the most common cause of death among Alzheimer's patients, since it can result in the inhalation of food or liquids to the lungs, which in turn can lead to pneumonia, since it more difficult to fight off bacterial infections.
The Alzheimer’s Association stresses the importance of seeing a doctor when someone develops Alzheimer’s symptoms. This is because an early diagnosis allows for treatment from earlier on, which may be able to lessen symptoms for a limited time as well as to make more time for people to plan for the future.
God bless nana.
-Tyler Durden, Zerohedge
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