Society's ChildS


USA

In Michigan, some voters 'uncommitted' to Biden; Trump seen beating Haley

Michigan voters
© REUTERS/Rebecca CookSaeed Sharif and his wife Aisha show their 'I voted' stickers after voting uncommitted as Democrats and Republicans hold their Michigan primary presidential election in Dearborn, Michigan, U.S. February 27, 2024.
President Joe Biden's support for Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza is being put to a test on Tuesday in Michigan, home to a large Arab American constituency where Democratic voters have been urged to mark their primary ballots as "uncommitted" in protest.

Biden and Republican former President Donald Trump are expected to easily win their party's primaries in the state on Tuesday. But the vote count for both is being closely watched for signs the candidates face wavering support within their own parties.

Voters trickled into a polling site Tuesday morning at an elementary school in Dearborn, a liberal city that is the epicenter of the pushback against Biden's Israel strategy. Of the seven voters Reuters interviewed before 11 a.m. (1600 GMT), six said they were voting "uncommitted" and one said he was voting for Trump.

Target

Feds target journalist Tim Burke with law intended for hackers

2 peeps
© Jeffree Woo/ZUMA Press/Newscom
An escalation in the war between people who publish secrets and those who seek to keep them.

People engaged in journalism frequently acquire information others wish would never see the light of day. This often means gathering tips in violation of workplace rules or through other people's carelessness. That can result in legal battles and, in the age of technology and cybercrime, in governments coming after the curious with tools crafted for malicious hackers. All this appears to be the case with Tim Burke, who has been targeted with a controversial law by the feds after gathering information through electronic means.

Scoop or Hack?

Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) warned last week:
"Federal prosecutors in Florida have obtained a disturbing indictment against well-known journalist Tim Burke. The indictment could have significant implications for press freedom, not only by putting digital journalists at risk of prosecution but by allowing the government to permanently seize a journalist's computers."

Comment: See also:
US government indicts journalist for uncovering unaired parts of Tucker Carlson's interview with Kanye West


Tsunami

Submarine cables in Red Sea damaged, months after warning from US media outlets

undersea cable
FILE: Map of communications network near Yemen, February 7, 2020
Undersea data cables in the Red Sea have reportedly been damaged, months after Yemeni Houthi rebels threatened to do so.


Comment: Except that was claim made by pro-Israeli, US outlets with no basis in fact: US claim that 'Yemen's Ansar Allah plan to cut undersea global communication cables' debunked


At least 15 submarine cables pass through the Bab al-Mandab Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, a body of water just 26km wide at some points. Yemen is the Strait's northern shore.

The first reports of damage to submarine cables off the coast of Yemen began emerged on Monday morning, with Israeli news outlet Globes claiming that four cables (EIG, AAE-1, Seacom and TGN-EA) had experienced damage. Seacom has reportedly confirmed damage to a cable it operates on a stretch between Kenya and Egypt.

Comment: It's perhaps interesting timing that these incidents come to light following the European Commissions' report.

Note that undersea cable incidents seem to be occurring more often in the last decade or so: Also check out SOTT's Focus from 2012: Undersea Internet Cables Cut AGAIN!


MIB

'Sabotage': Train derailment of iron ore in Sweden comes just 4 days after reopening following previous derailment

derailment sweden
© Swedish Transport AdministrationThe empty ore-wagons derailed about six kilometers north of the former derailment area in Vassijaure, not far from Sweden's border with Norway. An iron-ore train Saturday evening derailed and again caused a halt in traffic on Europe's northernmost cross-border line. The incident happened only four days after the railway reopened after being closed for two months after the last derailing accident. Police is investigating possible sabotage.
The wagons were empty and the speed was reduced after the line was repaired. But to no help. Wagons again jumped off track on the troubled railway going from the mining town of Kiruna in northern Sweden to the Norwegian deep sea port of Narvik.

Sabotage is one theory, according to local police.
"At the moment, the classification is sabotage."
"Initiating a preliminary investigation in similar events is a routine measure that enables more investigative measures," the Swedish police said in a statement, according to broadcaster SVT.

"The investigation will take time given the conditions that exist with extensive damage over a large geographical area in difficult-to-access terrain," the police says.

Comment: Sabotage incidents from Russia, Iran, France and all the way to the US, are surging, seemingly with a focus on food and energy supply chains.

The fact that the attack above was on a 'state-owned LKAB mining company [that] supplies at least 80% of Europe's iron ore' leads one to suspect that this may also be an attack and it may trace back to the same factions who are covertly, but also overtly, working to deindustrialise Europe:


Tank

First M1 Abrams Tank destroyed in Ukraine shortly after appearance on battlefield

destroyed abrams tank
Russian media: "A close-up of the destroyed Abrams taken by a surveillance drone shows the vehicle’s ammunition compartment burned-out."
Russian forces claim they have successfully destroyed an American-supplied M1 Abrams main battle tank for the first time, coming two full years into the Ukraine war, outside the captured city of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region.

The US-made advanced tank was reportedly taken out by a kamikaze drone or loitering munition launched by Russia's 15th Motorized Rifle Brigade. Russian state media accounts made the announcement Monday and published video purporting to show the destruction of the M1 Abrams main battle tank.

"Footage circulating online purports to show the vehicle with a large column of fire rising from its turret," RT wrote. "It was reportedly targeted by a FPV suicide drone and sustained at least one hit from a shoulder-mounted anti-tank grenade launcher."

Comment: More from RT:
"From the very beginning, our soldiers said that these tanks would burn just like any others," [Dmitry] Peskov stated.

"As you and I know from the daily reports of the Ministry of Defense, this is the daily, systematic, professional and dedicated work of our military, who are demilitarizing Ukraine and doing it every day," he added.
See also:


Star of David

Extraordinary charges of pro-Israel bias emerge against NY Times "reporter" Anat Schwartz

NYT building new york times
© Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty ImagesThe New York Times building.
New doubts are emerging about the New York Times's coverage of sexual violence in the October 7 attack. The paper must explain why it broke its own rules by hiring a clearly biased writer who endorsed racist and violent rhetoric toward Palestinians.

New doubts are emerging about the New York Times's coverage of sexual violence during the October 7 Hamas-led attack — and the paper owes its readers an open and transparent explanation.

What's more, its reporting on this issue has become so questionable that it should assign new reporters to go over the entire story again.

The latest questions are centered around Anat Schwartz, an Israeli who co-authored several of the paper's most widely circulated reports, including the now well-known and scrutinized December 28 article headlined: "'Screams Without Words'' How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on Oct. 7."

Comment: More shenanigans:




Shopping Bag

Hundreds of migrants released at bus stop after aid money runs out

group
© Guillermo Arias/AFP/Getty ImagesAsylum Seekers rush to be processed
Hundreds of migrants were dropped off on the side of the road in San Diego, California, on Friday after funding for a reception center ran dry, according to The Associated Press.

Border Patrol buses dropped off hundreds of migrants from places like China, Kazakhstan, Ecuador and Rwanda, among other countries, at a San Diego bus stop instead of a county-funded reception center that closed down Thursday after running out of funds, the AP reported. The reception center was run by SBCS, a local nonprofit formerly known as South Bay Community Services, which San Diego County gave $6 million to provide migrants with food, phone charging stations and travel advice, alongside other services.

San Diego, like other major cities, is facing strain amid the country's ongoing migrant crisis.

The city saw a daily average of 800 illegal-crossing-related arrests in January, including an average of over 100 Chinese migrants a day, according to AP.

SBCS served 81,000 migrants in the county since Oct. 11, the group said, according to the AP. With SBCS' reception center now closed, Border Patrol said to expect roughly 350 migrants to be released on the streets Friday.

Comment: The Biden administration is clueless and broke. There are no winners here. None.


Folder

FIRE seeks Indiana University records on cancellation of pro-Palestinian art exhibit

Halaby
© unknownSamia Halaby in her studio in 2016
IU has refused to be transparent about alleged security concerns that prompted cancellation of Palestinian painter Samia Halaby's exhibit — so FIRE is pursuing the information through other avenues.

Last week, FIRE filed an open records request with Indiana University, with the goal of learning more about whether viewpoint discrimination was behind the abrupt cancellation of a pro-Palestinian art exhibit.

Before its sudden cancellation in December, the retrospective of prominent 87-year-old Palestinian artist Samia Halaby was scheduled to open Feb. 10 at IU's Eskenazi Museum of Art.

In January, FIRE asked IU to reschedule the event, or at least be transparent about the security concerns that allegedly led to its cancellation. But the university has remained silent — even in the face of increasing public pressure to reverse course.

According to Halaby, in December, the museum director cited complaints from museum employees about Halaby's social media criticism of Israel as grounds for the exhibit's cancellation. But in January, when news of the cancellation went public, the university pivoted, instead claiming that "academic leaders and campus officials canceled the exhibit due to concerns about guaranteeing the integrity of the exhibit for its duration."

At a moment of heightened tension on campus, universities need to be more protective of free expression than ever, not less. But both explanationsdepending on the specificspresent potential First Amendment concerns.

Bullseye

Russia protects family values and children - Tara Reade

The West is "weaponizing" LGBT propaganda to distract voters from its crumbling economic infrastructure, the former US Senate aide told RT
tara reade
Russia places more importance on protecting children and family values than waging a culture war, former US Senate aide Tara Reade told RT on Thursday, explaining that many in the West are poorly informed about what life is really like in the country.

The West has "weaponized culture wars...against some of the more conservatives in the United States," Reade, now a commentator with RT, told her colleague. Russia, "watching that from the outside," has rightly prioritized the "values of [its] vast population" over the interests of a tiny fraction of people - a stance that is often misunderstood, she said.

It is not illegal to be gay in Russia, despite oft-repeated rumors in the West, Reade explained, clarifying that Russia's policy against "LGBT propaganda" directed at minors is just that - an effort to shield children from the promotion of alternative sexual orientations and other potentially unwholesome influences, not a blanket prohibition on non-traditional sexual practices.

"In Russia there is a protection of family and a protection of children," she stressed, attributing this to the strong religious values of the population.

Bullseye

AP brutally roasted online after bending backwards to avoid linking Laken Riley's murder to illegal migrant

associated press
Social media users called out the Associated Press (AP) on Sunday after the media outlet avoided stating that an illegal immigrant was charged with murdering nursing student Laken Riley.

Illegal immigrant Jose Antonio Ibarra was arrested and charged Friday by University of Georgia (UGA) authorities for the death of Lake Riley, 22, who was found Thursday afternoon. During a press conference Friday night revealing Ibarra's identity, authorities confirmed he was not a resident of the U.S. Early reports circulated that Ibarra was illegally living in the U.S., with Department of Justice officials confirming Ibarra's brother, Diego, was arrested over fraudulent immigration papers.

AP News, however, posted an article on X (formerly Twitter) Sunday morning claiming Riley's death now "highlights the fear of solo female athletes." The article notably labels Riley's alleged murderer as an "Athens resident," giving no other background on the illegal migrant even though university officials confirmed Friday he was not a resident of the U.S.

Social media users reacted, quickly calling out the news agency's lack of forthrightness around Ibarra's status.