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Concerts, restaurants, nightlife – Kiev regime hunting for conscripts

By Ahmed Adel | October 30, 2024

Ukraine is struggling to recruit troops to reinforce its front lines amid thousands of casualties in nearly three years of conflict. Under these conditions, the Kiev regime is hunting for recruits in places that were once off-limit, such as “upscale venues,” whilst also becoming increasingly reliant on foreign mercenaries to perform special operations.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Kiev regime has expanded its search network for military recruits to include “upscale venues” and “nightlife spots,” which is creating more social tension.

Even as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tries to secure more weapons and security guarantees from the US government, the “biggest immediate problem” in Ukraine is recruiting more soldiers, the US outlet said. To deal with this issue, the Kiev regime recently lowered the age of compulsory military service to 25 and imposed additional penalties for draft dodgers, seeking to bring more soldiers to the front lines in the face of advancing Russian forces.

However, the newspaper said that most of the men who wanted to join the Ukrainian armed forces had already done so, while others had fled the country or were in hiding to avoid being drafted. Some prominent figures, including state prosecutors, are also avoiding joining the military by claiming medical exemptions.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the military is stepping up its recruitment campaigns in public places in the capital and other major cities. Military agents check concert halls, grocery stores, and even luxury restaurants in the port city of Odessa.

Mathieu Boulègue, a researcher at the Transatlantic Defence and Security Programme at the Centre for European Political Analysis, believes “there is no easy solution” to Ukraine’s troop shortage.

“That is unfortunately a critical issue that you cannot solve by sending stuff over, short of sending Western troops,” the researcher told the American outlet.

Some Ukrainian officials, cited by the outlet, said they were building up reserves of conscripts to replace those who had lost their jobs. However, they warned that mobilising new troops would not be effective without “more Western supplies to arm new recruits properly.”

The deployment of new Ukrainian troops is not just a military problem for Kiev, the Wall Street Journal noted, but also a growing social and political issue for Zelensky.

“Among soldiers who have been serving on the front line for nearly three years, resentment is building against men avoiding military service,” while scandals continue to emerge involving officials who allegedly accept bribes to grant exemptions.

For this reason, the Kiev regime is increasingly reliant on foreign mercenaries to perform military operations since the citizenry does not provide enough soldiers. In effect, the presence of foreign mercenaries demonstrates the extreme shortage of experienced troops in Ukraine.

In the latest example, foreign mercenaries from the US, Canada and Poland, likely on a sabotage mission or raid, attempted to breach Russia’s Bryansk Oblast on October 27. The special operations mission the mercenaries were assigned required highly skilled operators capable of sabotage or reconnaissance, so given the lack of such people in the Ukrainian military, it is reasonable that they would turn to foreigners.

Emphasising this point is the fact a tattoo was discovered on the body of one of the eliminated foreigners, indicating that he was a member of the elite 75th Ranger Regiment of the US Army.

The discovery of the mercenary group makes a mockery of the West’s claim that soldiers from North Korea are fighting in Ukraine since it is Ukraine suffering from a shortage of troops and relying on foreigners. In fact, it is clear that the West planned the operation rather than Ukraine.

While South Korea and the Kiev regime spread fake news that North Korean troops are fighting in Ukraine, about 15,000 mercenaries from more than 100 countries have arrived in the country since February 2022 to join Ukrainian forces.

According to a Russian Defence Ministry report, Western secret services recruit mercenaries through the US private military companies Academi (formerly Blackwater), Cubic, Dark Horse Benefits, Dean Corporation, Forward Observations Group, Hyperion Services, and Sons of Liberty International, as well as the Polish ASBS Othago and the European Security Academy. At the same time, mercenaries are recruited by neo-Nazi and right-wing organisations from Germany, Italy, Portugal and other countries.

With Ukraine’s best troops dead, wounded or exhausted, the Kiev regime is now hunting for recruits all over the country, including in places that were once considered off-limits. This only deepens Kiev’s reliance on foreign mercenaries and, more importantly, demonstrates the hopeless position that the regime is in.

Ahmed Adel is a Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher.

October 30, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Corruption, Militarism | , | Leave a comment

Canada’s ‘New Red Scare’ is profoundly undemocratic

By Paul Robinson – Canadian Dimension – October 28, 2024

In the past decade, a disturbing phenomenon has arisen in the Western world. One might call it the “New Red Scare.” According to many, the West is the target of a highly sophisticated, professional, and dangerous campaign of foreign subversion, coming mainly from the Russian Federation. Accusations abound against “Russian agents,” “Kremlin influencers,” “Moscow proxies,” and the like. Don’t like someone, call them “pro-Russian;” dislike what they say, call it “Russian disinformation;” want to silence them, call them a “Russian agent.” And so on. Increasingly, reasoned debate is being replaced by silencing and name-calling.

Speaking on Thursday to a parliamentary committee, former diplomat and Member of Parliament Chris Alexander painted a picture of Canada as the victim of an extraordinarily successful malign Russian operation. “Far from being marginal players, Russian information assets and active measures are often kingmakers in our elections,” he declared—a truly remarkable claim that will probably have many wondering how they had failed to notice the dominant role that Russia plays in our political life.

But that wasn’t all. According to Alexander, the leaders of “The People’s Party of Canada, the yellow vest movement, trucker protests, and Wexit [i.e. Western Canadian separatism]” were “radicalized online by Moscow’s active measures” and their funding “had all the hallmarks of Russian influence.” The convoy protests of 2022, Alexander claimed, were designed by the Russians “to distract a country with a huge Ukrainian diaspora as it launched its war of aggression [against Ukraine].” Who knew? And who knew that Russian secret services were so devastatingly efficient as to be able to manipulate a political party and a separatist movement, and to engineer the occupation of the national capital? Frankly, it beggars belief.

In my opinion, there’s a serious problem with threat inflation of this sort. It distracts from real problems and prevents a proper analysis of the causes of those problems by blaming them all on outside actors. When “Blame Russia” is the response to any difficulty, proper solutions are unlikely to be found.

But the statements above weren’t even the most striking bit of Alexander’s evidence to Parliament. For Alexander then submitted documents to the committee that he said showed that a journalist codenamed “Stuart,” whom he identified as the Ottawa Citizen’s defence correspondent David Pugliese, had been recruited by the Soviet intelligence service, the KGB, in the 1980s. He said that the journalist had demonstrated “long-running covert ties to Moscow” and had written divisive articles about “Ukraine’s Nazi links, Nazis in Canada, defamatory pieces about the family of deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland, provocative takes on [defence] procurement and other issues at the Department of National Defence,” and so on. According to Alexander, “These are themes that Moscow would be delighted to promote.”

In response, Pugliese has called the accusation “total fabrication. … It’s just ridiculous.” He has pointed out that some of the information in the documents presented by Alexander does not fit him. For instance, one of the documents lists the journalist codenamed “Stuart” as having been in Ottawa in 1984, but Pugliese did not live in Ottawa at that time. In a statement on X, Pugliese remarked that “Individuals linked to Mr. Alexander’s false claims have also stated I play hockey on the Russian embassy hockey team in Ottawa. That is a total fabrication and shows the ridiculousness of this campaign to undercut my journalism. I have never played hockey and can barely skate.”

In any event, it seems that the documents don’t actually say that “Stuart” (whoever he might be) was ever recruited by the KGB. Global News reports that “Several experts on KGB documents said the papers appeared to be legitimate but did not suggest the reporter was ever a Russian agent, only that the Soviets looked at him.” According to one expert, “All [the documents] say is that an individual by this name came to the attention of KGB officials, not even necessarily very senior ones, and that they were interested in exploring him as a potential target of recruitment … So nothing in these documents clearly says that this individual was even approached, or certainly says that that approach was successful. All they do is say this is something worth exploring.”

Pugliese commented that “I get that I piss off a lot of people with my articles … I understand that not everybody appreciates my style of journalism.” Certainly, his reporting on issues such as wasteful defence procurement projects, sexual assault in the military, Nazi links to the Monument to the Victims of Communism, and so on, does not make certain people and institutions look very good. But the insinuation that if you write such things you are not fulfilling the basic journalistic role of holding those institutions to account, but rather working to divide our society on behalf of a hostile foreign power, is profoundly undemocratic.

Our society is not without faults. Our domestic and foreign policies are also often flawed. To correct failings, we need people who point them out, however unpopular that may be. In my view, we should be enabling the widest possible framework of public discourse, not seeking to silence people. To date, we haven’t quite reached the level of hysteria of 1950s McCarthyism, but as the paranoia over foreign interference ramps up, we are perhaps coming painfully close.

Paul Robinson is a professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa and a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Peace and Diplomacy. He is the author of numerous works on Russian and Soviet history, including Russian Conservatism, published by Northern Illinois University Press in 2019.

October 29, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance, Russophobia | , | Leave a comment

White House Security Adviser’s “Information Czar” Idea Triggers Free Speech Concerns

By Dan Frieth – Reclaim The Net – October 29, 2024

Amid escalating assertions over foreign influence in US elections, the White House is exploring a controversial proposal that some warn could threaten free speech and open debate. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan recently confirmed that the administration has been “grappling with and thinking about” the potential creation of an “information czar,” sparking concern over the government’s expanding role in controlling narratives under the guise of national security.

Speaking at the National War College, Sullivan responded to a question about the potential for a centralized figure to oversee and counter foreign disinformation efforts by suggesting that while the idea has been under consideration, it could raise issues in a free society. “Questions around information operations, around public diplomacy, around the voice that America uses to speak to the world, bleed over into questions of propaganda or politics,” he said, implicitly acknowledging that such a role could have far-reaching consequences on public discourse.

The proposal for an “information czar” raises immediate concerns over whether any centralized control over information could be used to restrict speech and stifle dissenting opinions. Sullivan recognized this risk, questioning whether such a role should be linked to the White House itself or to a more removed agency in order to “insulate this from the twos and fros of politics.” Still, the idea of government officials controlling “information resiliency” remains contentious, especially when directed at speech in the US rather than strictly addressing threats abroad.

In defending the proposal, Sullivan argued that foreign election interference, particularly by Russia and other state actors, poses a national security issue and “an attack on our country” that needs a robust response. However, critics argue that efforts to counter disinformation could easily expand into broader content censorship efforts, a slippery slope that could ultimately see the government interfering with free speech in the name of “resilience.”

We’ve Been Down This Road Before

The White House’s recent consideration of an “information czar” to counter foreign election disinformation brings to mind the Department of Homeland Security’s short-lived Disinformation Governance Board (DGB) in 2022, which aimed to address misinformation but was quickly dismantled after facing public backlash and First Amendment violation concerns. The DGB’s stated mission was similar: to safeguard national security by countering foreign misinformation.

However, it was met with immediate and intense criticism, as many feared the board would become a vehicle for government overreach, potentially chilling free speech under the guise of “information resilience.” The public pushback against the DGB showed the deeply rooted skepticism toward government involvement in controlling or moderating information, especially when it intersects with free speech concerns.

October 29, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Deception, Full Spectrum Dominance | , | Leave a comment

EU journalist to apply for asylum in Belarus

RT | October 29, 2024

Latvian journalist Yury Alekseev has fled to Belarus where he says he will seek political asylum, the media outlet Delfi reported on Monday.

The escape comes days before Alekseev was due to appear in court in his home country.

The journalist and his defenders claim he is being persecuted for his pro-Russian views.

Alekseev said in a post on Facebook that he left Latvia this past Saturday, traveling from Riga to Vilnius, Lithuania, where he took a bus to Minsk. “I crossed the border. I was nervous throughout my entire body,” the journalist wrote.

In Latvia, the 66-year-old had been charged with inciting national, ethnic or racial hatred, illegal possession of ammunition and distribution of materials containing child pornography, according to the news portal. The trial in one of the cases was scheduled to begin on Tuesday.

During his career, Alekseev has served as editor-in-chief of Business & Baltic, Kommersant Baltic, and other publications in Latvia.

In 2017, the State Security Service of Latvia detained him over criminal charges in connection with a publication of comments allegedly inciting ethnic hatred. The intelligence services conducted several searches of his home. During one investigators allegedly found ammunition for a pistol and materials containing child pornography.

The Riga district court found Alekseev guilty and sentenced him to two years in prison, but the journalist appealed the sentence and it did not come into force. The court later sentenced him to a year of probation.

Alekseev has denied all the accusations against him and says the charges were fabricated.

October 29, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , | Leave a comment

Israeli army bombed shelter centers in Gaza Strip 39 times during October: Euro-Med

Palestinian Information Center – October 28, 2024

GAZA – The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor documented that the Israeli occupation army targeted shelter centers in the Gaza Strip 39 times since the beginning of October 2024, resulting in the deaths of 188 Palestinians and injuries to hundreds more. This marks a serious escalation in crimes targeting civilian gathering places, especially in northern Gaza, aimed at forcibly emptying it of its Palestinian residents.

The Euro-Med Monitor said that its field team recorded the Israeli army’s targeting of schools, hospitals, clinics, and halls used for shelter 65 times since the beginning of August this year, 39 of which occurred in October. During these incidents, 672 Palestinians were killed, and over a thousand others were injured.

The report highlights that 57 of these attacks targeted locations in northern Gaza and Gaza City, while 8 occurred in central Gaza. The attacks include bombings, direct gunfire, and the killing of forcibly displaced individuals and their families, or forcing them to evacuate schools under fire or through orders of forced displacement, followed by burning or destroying these schools to render them uninhabitable and to prevent the displaced from returning.

The Monitor noted that Israel’s systematic policy of destroying shelter centers further tightens the noose on the available options for residents regarding places they can seek refuge, facilitating Israel’s goals of destroying and forcibly displacing Palestinians and altering the demographic makeup of the region, especially in northern Gaza. Various Israeli officials have explicitly expressed their intention to annex and settle in the area.

The Euro-Mediterranean team documented the scattering of dozens of Palestinian families and the separation of their members due to the targeting of shelter places and the subsequent repeated waves of forced displacement, which have compounded their psychological suffering, especially among children.

Targeting shelter places is considered a fundamental part of Israel’s strategy to undermine the social structures of Palestinians in Gaza, continuing to weaken the population psychologically and physically, and eradicating their shared spaces that could provide some degree of psychological and social support.

Furthermore, the targeting of shelter places negatively affects families’ and individuals’ access to humanitarian aid, as many of these sites serve as distribution points for humanitarian assistance from charities. If they are forced to flee to other locations, they may find themselves in areas lacking access to available humanitarian aid, which is already limited in the region, exacerbating the humanitarian situation and increasing the suffering of the population.

The Euro-Med Monitor reported that its field team documented, on the afternoon of Sunday, October 27, the Israeli air force bombing the “Asma” school, which shelters thousands of displaced individuals in the Shati Camp west of Gaza City, resulting in the deaths of 11 Palestinians, including 4 journalists, among them two women, and injuries to dozens more. This bombing came eight days after the Israeli air force targeted the same school, killing eight Palestinians and injuring others.

The field team also documented the bombing of the “Shuhada al-Nuseirat” secondary school for boys, which shelters thousands of displaced individuals in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, resulting in the deaths of 18 Palestinians, including 12 children and 3 women, and injuries to 52 others.

A review conducted by the Euro-Med field team revealed that none of the victims were militants, among whom was Professor Ashraf Yaqub Al-Jadi, 54 years old, the dean of the nursing faculty at the Islamic University of Gaza.

The Monitor noted that the Israeli occupation army evacuated no fewer than 10 schools housing thousands of displaced individuals in northern Gaza, burning most of them. This evacuation followed quadcopter aircraft sending of Palestinian detainees, ordering those inside to evacuate and head to checkpoints established by the Israeli occupation army.

The occupation forces also unexpectedly bombed some of these schools, as happened with the Jabalia Preparatory School, where 10 displaced individuals were killed on October 21, and the Zaid bin Haritha School, where 7 displaced individuals were killed on October 22.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor renewed its call on all countries to fulfill their international responsibilities to stop the crime of genocide and the serious crimes being committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip, to protect civilians there, to ensure Israel’s compliance with international law and the decisions of the International Court of Justice, to impose effective sanctions on Israel, and to halt all forms of political, financial, and military support provided to it, including an immediate cessation of arms sales, exports, and transfers to Israel, as well as export licenses and military assistance.

It also called for accountability and prosecution of countries complicit and partners with Israel in committing crimes, especially those supplying Israel with any forms of support or assistance related to these crimes, including providing aid and engaging in contractual relationships in military, intelligence, political, legal, financial, media, and other fields that may contribute to the continuation of these crimes.

The Monitor demanded the activation of all available accountability and prosecution pathways at the international, regional, and local levels, including serious and joint efforts to activate the pathway of universal jurisdiction to hold accountable the perpetrators of crimes against Palestinian civilians before the national courts of countries that recognize this jurisdiction.

October 28, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

South Africa submits 750 pages of evidence in genocide case against Israel

The Cradle | October 28, 2024

South Africa’s legal team on 28 October submitted hundreds of documents to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) offering “undeniable evidence” of acts of genocide committed in Gaza by the Israeli army and statements by authorities that carry genocidal intent.

“The evidence will show that undergirding Israel’s genocidal acts is the special intent to commit genocide, a failure by Israel to prevent incitement to genocide, to prevent genocide itself, and its failure to punish those inciting and committing acts of genocide,” a statement from Pretoria says.

“South Africa’s Memorial is a reminder to the global community to remember the people of Palestine, to stand in solidarity with them, and to stop the catastrophe. The devastation and suffering has been possible only because despite the ICJ and numerous UN bodies’ actions and interventions, Israel has failed to comply with its international obligations,” the statement added.

Officials say that the submission, also called a memorial, is presented in more than 750 pages of text, in addition to over 4,000 pages of annexes.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, officials said they are confident that the hundreds of pages of evidence are “more than enough” to sustain their case. “The problem we have is that we have too much evidence,” Ambassador Vusimuzi Madonsela, South Africa’s representative to The Hague, told the Qatari news organization.

Some of the evidence submitted includes public statements made last week by senior members of the Israeli government at a conference named “Preparing to Settle in Gaza,” which was organized by the extremist Nachala Settlement Movement and promoted by Israel’s ruling Likud party.

“[We will] tell them, ‘We are giving you the chance, leave from here to other countries’,” National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said during the conference. “The Land of Israel is ours,” he stressed.

Israel is currently trying to expel tens of thousands of Palestinians who remain in northern Gaza as part of an extermination campaign that seeks to transform the region into a military zone under the General’s Plan.

On 26 January, the ICJ ruled it was plausible that Israel had breached the Genocide Convention and ordered the government to ensure that its army refrained from genocidal acts against Palestinians. In response, Israel significantly intensified its ethnic cleansing campaign, including blocking the entry of humanitarian aid to the strip.

International NGO Oxfam on 1 October reported that the Israeli army has killed more children and women in Gaza during the past year than in the equivalent period of any other war this century.

October 28, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

‘Seismic’ Verdicts: SF Transit System Must Pay Almost $8 Million to 6 Workers Fired for Refusing COVID Shots

By Brenda Baletti, Ph.D. | The Defender | October 25, 2024

The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) must pay about $7.8 million to six former employees who lost their jobs after the district denied their requests for accommodations for religious exemptions from BART’s COVID-19 mandate.

In the largest financial win yet for workers fired for failing to comply with COVID-19 vaccine mandates, a federal jury composed of entirely vaccinated jurors on Wednesday awarded the plaintiffs between approximately $1.2 million and $1.5 million each to compensate for economic losses and mental anguish.

The case is one of hundreds filed across the country since 2021, representing thousands of workers who say they lost their jobs when their employers illegally denied their requests for religious accommodation to the COVID-19 mandate.

“These verdicts are seismic — a 7.8 San Francisco legal earthquake,” Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, which represented the plaintiffs, said in a statement. “This amazing outcome represents so much hard work by our team, perseverance by these clients, and fairness from our judicial system.”

The workers’ attorney, Kevin Snider, told The Defender that because of BART’s mandate, “The workers were forced to either deny their faith or lose their jobs.” He said they chose the latter, demonstrating the sincerity of their religious convictions.

The lawsuit began as three separate cases representing 35 employees fired by BART. The three cases were later consolidated into a single lawsuit. Twenty-nine of the plaintiffs settled with BART, but the remaining six went to trial this month.

“These workers lost their jobs and have struggled for more than two years,” Snider said. “It was a devastating disruption to their lives and to their families. Being able to settle or get a jury verdict helps them to put closure on this and for those who went to trial, they felt heard and understood by a jury, which can be important.”

This was the second time the case went to trial. The first trial ended in a mistrial in July when the jury could not reach a unanimous decision, as required in federal civil trials.

BART, which can appeal the decision, declined to comment. Bloomberg Law reported that BART filed a motion for judgment as a matter of law during the trial, which U.S. District Judge William Alsup said would be argued in December.

The motion argues that the plaintiffs have insufficient evidence to reasonably support their case, even if a jury finds otherwise. In response, the judge can allow the verdict to stand, order a new trial or overrule the jury’s verdict.

Religious objectors had option to comply, retire, resign or be terminated

The plaintiffs first sued BART in December 2022, alleging the agency violated their First Amendment rights to religious freedom and federal and state anti-discrimination laws.

The BART system, which operates in five counties across the San Francisco Bay area, issued a mandate on Oct. 14, 2021, requiring employees to be fully vaccinated as a condition of employment.

Employees could apply for a religious or medical exemption. If granted, BART determined whether to provide them reasonable accommodation. Between October 2021 and February 2022, 204 of Bart’s 4,000-plus employees sought an exemption.

Approximately 179 of those were for religious beliefs by people practicing a variety of religious faiths, including various forms of Christianity, Islam and Ruism, according to Snider.

BART granted 70 of the religious exemptions and denied the rest, according to the complaint.

But even the employees granted an exemption were denied reasonable accommodation so they could continue working. Although BART acknowledged their right to a religious exemption, the agency said it couldn’t reasonably make accommodations, like allowing them to work at home or do weekly testing.

However, 1 in 3 of the employees seeking medical exemption were granted exemption and given accommodation, according to the complaint.

Instead of proceeding on the assumption that the accommodation requests were based on sincerely held religious beliefs, the complaint alleges, BART launched a probe into the sincerity of the employees’ beliefs.

Employees’ claims were investigated using an interviewer template that asked for a detailed explanation of their beliefs and why taking the COVID-19 vaccine would violate them. The template included questions like, “What do you think will happen to you if you take the COVID-19 vaccine?”

BART proceeded to deny all requests for accommodation from religious objectors and gave them the option to comply with the mandate, retire if qualified, resign or be terminated.

All of the plaintiffs refused to comply and lost their jobs.

Over the next couple of years, many of those employees, working with the Pacific Justice Institute, sued BART and settled their cases. The cases that couldn’t reach a settlement proceeded to trial — which Snider said carried a serious risk, because “San Francisco is probably the most difficult venue in the entire country to have a vaccine case.”

The trial happened in two phases. First, the jury was asked to rule on whether BART could have granted the requested accommodations. They rejected the agency’s argument that it couldn’t reasonably accommodate the employees seeking religious exemptions without facing an undue hardship.

Then they heard testimony about the sincerity of the plaintiffs’ religious beliefs and the damages they suffered.

Sinder, whose firm represents plaintiffs alleging religious discrimination in more than a hundred vaccine mandate lawsuits across the country, said that he thought public opinion was slowly changing to favor workers.

This article was originally published by The Defender — Children’s Health Defense’s News & Views Website under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Please consider subscribing to The Defender or donating to Children’s Health Defense.

October 26, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties | , , | Leave a comment

Fluoride Finally Declared an “Unreasonable Risk”

A look at the ruling that will have a widespread impact on the health of all American children

By Aaron Siri | Injecting Freedom | October 25, 2024

A seven-year battle between the EPA and the public interest regarding the fluoridation of public drinking water has finally concluded. This is an excellent result by Siri & Glimstad partner Michael Connett in securing a court order against the EPA. Great job, Michael!

U.S. District Court Judge Edward Chen concluded the following in his ruling:

“[T]he Court finds that fluoridation of water at 0.7 milligrams per liter (“mg/L”) – the level presently considered “optimal” in the United States – poses an unreasonable risk of reduced IQ in children… [A] risk sufficient to require the EPA to engage with a regulatory response…”

“There is little dispute in this suit as to whether fluoride poses a hazard to human health. Indeed, EPA’s own expert agrees that fluoride is hazardous at some level of exposure. And ample evidence establishes that a mother’s exposure to fluoride during pregnancy is associated with IQ decrements in her offspring. The United States National Toxicology Program (“NTP”) – the federal agency regarded as experts in toxicity… concluded that fluoride is indeed associated with reduced IQ in children, at least at exposure levels at or above 1.5 mg/L (i.e., “higher” exposure levels)…”

“In all, there is substantial and scientifically credible evidence establishing that fluoride poses a risk to human health; it is associated with a reduction in the IQ of children and is hazardous at dosages that are far too close to fluoride levels in the drinking water of the United States. And this risk is unreasonable under Amended TSCA. Reduced IQ poses serious harm. Studies have linked IQ decrements of even one or two points to e.g., reduced educational attainment, employment status, productivity, and earned wages.”

The NTP report referred to above can be found here. While we wait for the EPA to take the next step, many municipalities have already acted to remove fluoride from their water systems.

October 26, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Science and Pseudo-Science | , | Leave a comment

French prosecutor seeks prison sentence for activists chanting ‘intifada’ at Gaza protest

MEMO | October 25, 2024

The Public Prosecutor’s Office in Paris has called for an eight-month suspended sentence for French citizen Elias d’Imzalene, who used the word “intifada” during a demonstration in support of Gaza, sources have told Anadolu.

Activist Elias d’Imzalene appeared before a Paris judge on charges of “inciting public hatred or violence” due to his use of the term during a protest against the massacres in Gaza. Intifada means uprising in Arabic and is used to refer to the Palestinian mass movements against Israeli occupation.

The former French Interior Minister, Gerald Darmanin, filed a criminal complaint with the Paris prosecutor’s office on 10 September, following d’Imzalene’s speech during the 8 September demonstration in support of Gaza, in which he used the term “Intifada.”

As part of the investigation, d’Imzalene was arrested on 24 September when he went to give his testimony in Paris. After 48 hours in custody, he was released and placed under judicial supervision.

October 25, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , , , | Leave a comment

‘Major massacre’: Scores killed as Israel attacks hospital, homes in Gaza

Press TV – October 25, 2024

Israeli forces have stormed the last operational hospital in the besieged north Gaza after bombing it and killing children inside, according to doctors and media reports.

Medical sources announced that at least 63 Palestinians were killed in the early morning Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip. “A large number of the martyrs are women and children,” they said.

The attack on the Kamal Adwan hospital, located in Beit Lahia northwest of Jabalia, was launched around 2 a.m. local time Friday, shortly after a WHO delegation left the hospital.

It began with airstrikes targeting the hospital and its courtyards, including the medical oxygen generator, said Dr. Munir al-Bursh, the director general of the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza.

The bombing led to the death of children inside the hospital and wounded medical staff.

Israeli troops then raided the hospital around two hours later, calling on all patients, including people in intensive care, to gather in the courtyard.

They detained the young men sheltering in the hospital and interrogated them. According to Al Jazeera, the troops abducted famed teenage Palestinian activist and journalist Aboud Battah from the hospital.

Kamal Adwan is one of three hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip that have been under a suffocating Israeli siege for three weeks. They have received little to no aid, medicine, food and fuel since the blockade on the north began.

The other two, the Indonesian hospital and al-Awda hospital, have ceased operations in recent days due to the ongoing Israeli attacks.

Kamal Adwan remained operational at minimal capacity, offering life-saving services to newborn infants in neonatal intensive care units and other patients in ICUs.

Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan hospital, decried the situation.

“Instead of receiving aid, we receive tanks… which are shelling the [hospital] building,” he said, speaking from the Intensive Care Unit where the injured and medical staff are huddled after Israel started its bombing.

“Where is the law? Which law in the world allows for a hospital to be directly targeted?”

The Israeli military launched a new onslaught on north Gaza on 5 October, described by rights groups and experts as part of a plan to ethnically cleanse the area of Palestinians.

It began after a controversial proposal named the “Generals’ Plan” was presented to the Israeli regime, which would see areas north of the Netzarim Corridor, which cuts Gaza in two, emptied of its residents so Israel could establish a “closed military zone”.

According to the plan, anyone who chooses to stay would be considered a Hamas operative and could be killed.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, estimates that about 400,000 people remain in Gaza’s north, including Gaza City.

Residential houses bombed in Khan Yunis

In southern Gaza, Israeli airstrikes targeted residential homes in the al-Manara neighborhood of Khan Yunis, leading to the deaths of at least 38 Palestinians on Friday.

The airstrikes were coupled with a ground incursion by Israeli forces, supported by heavy air and artillery cover.

Eyewitnesses described scenes of extensive destruction, with entire homes reduced to rubble in residential zones where families had taken shelter.

In the Qizan al-Najjar area of Khan Yunis, two Palestinians were killed and several others were injured when their homes were hit by artillery shells.

Three Palestinians were killed, and others wounded as Israeli artillery targeted the Maan neighborhood east of Khan Yunis.

The deaths reported by health officials were the latest in Khan Yunis, where people have in recent days lined up for bread outside the city’s only bakery in operation.

The strikes come a day after the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Israel had accomplished its objective of “effectively dismantling” Hamas.

Homes blown up in Jabalia

More than 150 Palestinian people were killed or injured in a “major massacre” in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza after Israeli forces blew up 11 residential houses in al-Hawaja area on Thursday evening.

“There is talk of more than 150 martyrs and wounded,” the Palestinian Civil Defense agency said.

It said the final death toll could rise as rescue efforts were disrupted due to the Israeli bombings and restrictions imposed by Israeli forces who laid siege to northern Gaza for three weeks.

“Citizens are sending distress calls to head to the place to help transport the wounded,” a statement by the agendy read.

According to the statement, the targeted homes belonged to the following families: Najjar, Abu al-Ouf, Salman, Hijazi, Abu al-Qumsan, Aqel Abu Rashid, Abu al-Tarabish, Zaqoul, and Shaalan.

On Thursday, at least 18 people were killed in an attack on the Nuseirat Martyrs School in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

Gaza’s Government Media Office noted that the school housed thousands of displaced people. The attack brings the number of displacement centers targeted by Israeli forces to 196.

Eleven children were also killed in the Israeli bombing of al-Maghazi Services Club in the neighboring Maghazi refugee camp, said the director of Gaza’s Government Media Office, Ismail Al-Thawabta.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

The regime’s bloody onslaught on Gaza has so far killed nearly 43,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured about 100,600 others.

Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.

October 25, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

UN rapporteur: Incitement against six journalists in Gaza sounds like a death sentence

Gaza correspondent Enes al-Sharif, who is targeted by Israeli Army Spokesperson Avichay Adraee, reports in Gaza City, Gaza on August 13, 2024. [Dawoud Abo Alkas – Anadolu Agency]
Palestinian Information Center – October 24, 2024

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, has condemned the Israeli occupation army’s direct incitement against six Palestinian journalists in Gaza.

Albanese said in a statement on Thursday that Israel’s declaration that six Al-Jazeera journalists are members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad “sounds like a death sentence.”

“These six Palestinians are among the last journalists surviving Israel’s onslaught in Gaza,” the UN rapporteur added.

The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) claimed on Wednesday that the six journalists working for Al-Jazeera in Gaza Strip are “terrorists” affiliated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

The accused journalists are Anas Al-Sharif, Alaa Salama, Hussam Shabat, Ashraf Al-Sarraj, Ismail Abu Omar, and Talal Al-Urouqi. Most of them have already been targeted and attacked by the IOF over the past months.

For its part, Al-Jazeera confirmed that the Israeli accusations are “fabricated” and “part of a broader pattern of hostility” against the channel, stressing that “these allegations represent a blatant attempt to silence the few remaining journalists in Gaza to hide the harsh reality of the brutal war going on in the besieged Strip.”

October 24, 2024 Posted by | Full Spectrum Dominance | , , , | Leave a comment

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