Philadelphia Macy’s Security Guard Fatally Stabbed By Shoplifter With Over A Dozen Prior Arrests
Still wondering why your favorite retailer is in a rush to move its city locations out to the suburbs?
A security guard was stabbed to death and another guard was injured at the Center City Philadelphia Macy’s on Monday morning this week, after an attempted shoplifting that went wrong.
30 year old Tyrone Tunnell “was attempting to steal several hats when he was stopped by security”, according to 6ABC Philadelphia. Guards were able to get the store’s merchandise back, but a confrontation ensued when Tunnell came back to the store 15 minutes after he was caught.
When he returned he was carrying a knife and stabbed one of the security guards. A second guard then came over to help and was stabbed several times.
The first guard was pronounced dead shortly after due to stab wounds in the neck. The second guard, a 23 year old man, is listed as stable condition and is being held in a Philadelphia hospital.
Tunnell “has been arrested more than a dozen times for retail theft, robbery and drug offenses across the region, including Philadelphia and Bucks, Delaware and Montgomery counties,”according to ABC.
Philadelphia Interim Police Commissioner John Stanford said: “There was a scuffle with the second security guard trying to save the first guard that’s stabbed and that security guard sustained several slash wounds as well.”
“Things are just getting worse. People don’t care. They have no heart,” a woman on the scene told 6ABC. Another woman commented: “These young people are just trying to do a job, secure the store, make the customers feel safe and secure and it’s just awful.”
The suspect left the premises and fled on SEPTA, but was eventually found and arrested at the Somerset station.
“It’s just so sad and heartbreaking for the families to have to go through this,” one South Philadelphia resident said. Another resident told 6ABC: “I’m scared right now. It’s like you can’t go to the stores anymore to do your own shopping now.”
Macy’s released a statement saying:
We are heartbroken about the incident that took place today at Macy’s Center City. The store will temporarily remain closed as we work with law enforcement on this investigation and defer any further comments about the case to them. Ensuring the safety and well-being of our customers and colleagues is always our top priority.
We’re sure it won’t be long until yet another retailer picks up shop and moves out of yet another major U.S. city…
This year, Americans had the opportunity to revisit the origins of our nation’s nuclear program with the blockbuster film “Oppenheimer.” But there’s one story line that didn’t make the big screen: those Americans who are still paying the price.
For decades, the federal government poisoned an untold number of its citizens through our atomic program. It happened everywhere, impacting uranium mine workers in Texas, Native Americans living downwind from nuclear tests in the Mountain West, and communities exposed to Manhattan Project waste in Missouri. And that’s just a small sample. Thousands more were poisoned, sickened, and died. Lives were broken – all because our government was careless, and then covered it up.
Now, the law that delivers some justice and compensation to these victims is about to expire. Congress must include a reauthorization of this life-changing program as part of the annual defense bill. It’s our chance to give justice to victims who have been silenced and forgotten for years.
This widespread government-caused poisoning ranks among the worst environmental disasters in our nation’s history. The United States conducted nearly 200 atmospheric nuclear tests from the 1940s until the 1960s. Residents living near or downwind from these test areas were exposed to the fallout – often without any warning of exposure. The radiation fell on their homes, their farms, and their families. And it wasn’t just the testing. Tens of thousands of American workers across the country helped to mine and process uranium and worked in facilities that built our atomic weapons, and they breathed in the toxic substances every day.
These workers answered the call to serve America during a consequential time in our nation’s history. They were a backbone to our national defense from World War II through the end of the Cold War – but many developed cancers as a result. Families and communities suffered.
In 1990, Congress finally acknowledged the government’s egregious neglect and passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to compensate victims who were sickened with cancer from nuclear tests. Championed by then-Sen. Orrin Hatch and signed into law by President George H.W. Bush, the program was reauthorized and strengthened by President Bill Clinton in 2000. President Joe Biden signed a short extension in 2022 with unanimous approval from Congress. Few programs have enjoyed more bipartisan support. As George H.W. Bush said upon signing the law, this will “fairly resolve the claims of persons present at the test site and of downwind residents, as well as claims of uranium miners.”
But in just a few months, funding for the program will be cut off. This cannot be allowed to happen. Since its creation, RECA has helped tens of thousands of Americans and assisted those exposed to radiation rebuild and renew their lives. How can we turn our back on them?
Many more communities still need access to this program before it runs out. In my home state of Missouri, mismanaged nuclear waste from the Manhattan Project era sat exposed for years and contaminated communities in the St. Louis region – and now these areas have elevated cancer rates. In multiple other states, “downwinders” still need compensation. The late Sen. Orrin Hatch wrote in 2020 that updating RECA was “a moral imperative” and “if we let it expire, we leave hundreds of Navajo men and women unable to pay their medical bills for issues directly related to radiation poisoning.” He was right.
Back in July, Congress took the first step to getting this done when the Senate adopted, as part of the defense bill, my amendment with Sen. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico to extend and strengthen the RECA program. I was proud to see that amendment pass with a bipartisan supermajority, reflecting the broad support among both parties for obtaining justice for victims. President Biden has since supported it as well.
House and Senate leadership must not strip this life-changing program from the final defense bill. It would amount to a slap in the face to victims everywhere if our leaders in Congress decide to kneecap the Americans who suffered from these nuclear programs and instead ship billions and billions to defense contractors or foreign wars. There’s no excuse for forgetting about the people we serve.
When the government poisons its own people, it must make it right. We have no other choice.
Josh Hawley is the senior U.S. senator from Missouri.
Putin’s Saudi Visit To Talk OPEC+ Cuts & Gaza War Highlights US Failure To Isolate Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn’t embarked on a lot of international travel since the Hague-based ICC issued an arrest warrant for him back in March, related to the Ukraine war. His most significant trip came in October to Beijing, where he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Wednesday will see the Russian leader make his first visit to the Middle East in a long time, and since the ICC warrant was issued. By it, he’ll seek to demonstrate that Western sanctions have not isolated him and that Russia can still assert its influence in the Middle East and elsewhere.
He’s expected to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) and President of the United Arab Emirates Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan—with the Israel-Hamas war high on the agenda. Of course, neither Gulf leaders have signed the founding ICC treaty, and their meeting with Putin is sure to greatly annoy Washington and European leaders.
Oil market cooperation related to OPEC+ will also be a focus, coming on the heels of the group controversially announcing new voluntary supply cuts last week:
Oil output cuts agreed by OPEC+ will take time to kick in, the Kremlin said on Tuesday, as it confirmed that Putin would visit the UAE and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
A Kremlin statement said Putin and crown prince MbS will discuss “issues of bilateral cooperation in trade, economy and investments, as well as various aspects of cooperation in multilateral formats.”
Putin’s Mideast and Gaza-related diplomacy will continue when he returns home to Moscow, as on Thursday he’ll host Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi. Iran is seen in the West as a big supporter of Hamas and terror groups throughout the region, and especially Lebanese Hezbollah. Both Hezbollah and Russia have for years cooperated inside Syria, in defense of the Assad government.
The Kremlin has of late presented the US as having fueled the Gaza crisis by its blank check support to Israel. Criticism has focused on Washington’s failure to create a Palestinian state, instead opting to merely issue economic “handouts” to the Palestinians while allowing conflict to simmer for years.
Putin alongside China has led global criticism of the soaring civilian death toll on the Gaza Strip. But there’s been increasing dissent within Biden’s own administration…
A very important interview: please find the time to watch. This was the quote that struck me most:
“Here we are two months in and already we have seen three times more children killed- 6,000 in Gaza- than in two year of Russia’s war against Ukraine” https://t.co/xMhHHjnqrb
Putin has instead said of Russia that “no one could suspect us of playing up to one party” and thus it’s able to be a more legitimate mediator for peace.
Conservative actor Siaka Massaquoi was arrested by the FBI on Nov. 30 and charged with misdemeanors in connection with his presence during the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol breach.
The FBI arrested Mr. Massaquoi as he arrived home from a movie premiere, according to a legal defense fundraising effort set up in his name. At the time, he was with his pregnant wife, Charlotte Massaquoi. The FBI separated them and took him to jail.
“Charlotte was told the charges had to do with January 6th; however, she was not presented with any arrest warrant,” a description provided with the fundraising account on GiveSendGo reads. “Siaka was taken to Monterey Park Jail, where he stayed overnight and was told that he was being charged for four misdemeanors pertaining to his presence outside of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. on January 6th.”
The FBI raided his home in 2021.
The couple are expecting their first child in March.
“This family has been through so many ups and downs,” the fundraising account description reads. “A circus would be a more appropriate term for the turmoil and unnecessary display of government overreach that they have had to endure.”
The fundraiser, which has a goal of raising $115,000 to cover Mr. Massaquoi’s legal expenses, had raised $42,581 from hundreds of donors as of Dec. 3. Mr. Massaquoi has acted in hit TV shows such as “S.W.A.T,” “NCIS: Los Angeles,” and “Lethal Weapon.”
According to podcast host Lori Mills, Mr. Massaquoi was arraigned on Dec. 1 and was released with conditions.
“This judge was fair. Preliminary trial next week. We are praying it gets thrown out as D.C. wants the case,” she wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Activist group StopHate posted video footage from the Jan. 6 incident in a Dec. 3 post on X, showing Mr. Massaquoi inside the Capitol building.
“He was at the threshold of the door for maybe a minute, & even helping the police direct the flow of foot traffic out the door. Crime?” the group wrote.
Mr. Massaquoi posted a link to this video post on his X account.
“Witness why I was raided 2 years ago and recently arrested and charged Nov 30th 2023 almost 3 years later,” he wrote.
Criticism of the Arrest
Multiple celebrities and political commentators have spoken in support of Mr. Massaquoi. Actress Gina Carano called the arrest “political persecution.”
“[Siaka Massaquoi] is an incredible human being, what is happening to him is disturbing and WRONG. Enough already, we shouldn’t be having to try this hard to defend ourselves from our own government! It’s sickening,” she wrote in a Dec. 3 post on X.
“Like they don’t have enough pedophiles, sex traffickers, rapists, and murderers to go after but what do they choose to spend their time doing? What are their priorities?? Harassing a peaceful protester on Jan 6th.”
Seth Dillon, the founder of the Babylon Bee, also called the arrest a political persecution that “can’t be allowed to continue.”
“He isn’t just a talented actor and friend of the Babylon Bee; he also happens to be a Trump supporter,” Mr. Dillon wrote in a Dec. 3 post on X. “And he’s being punished for it by our government.”
Commenting on the arrest, X owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk said “this has gone too far.”
Podcast host Kelly John Walker wrote that the arrest is a sign that the United States is nearing a “tipping point, beyond which we will be a completely subject people.”
“The Rule of Law has been replaced by something no American must tolerate: Rule BY law,” he wrote.
On the day of his arrest, Mr. Massaquoi and his wife had attended the premiere of the Daily Wire movie “Lady Ballers” in Nashville, Tennessee. The comedy mocks the phenomenon of allowing men to compete in women’s sports.
Lawsuit Against FBI
The FBI’s arrest of Mr. Massaquoi comes a couple of months after he was part of a group that filed a lawsuit against the FBI, agency director Christopher Wray, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and Attorney General Merrick Garland.
The lawsuit, filed in a district court in Florida on Sept. 20, requested certification as a class action lawsuit on behalf of people “who were peacefully protesting in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021, but who did not commit any felonies or engage in any violence, but have been subjected to unconstitutional, illegal surveillance by Defendant Wray and his agents in the aftermath.”
Plaintiffs insisted that Mr. Wray and Mr. Garland have turned the FBI into their personal “Gestapo” to “target, arrest, and wrongfully prosecute” people who protested on Jan. 6.
“While there were a few people who chose to enter and engage in acts of violence in the U.S. Capitol, Plaintiffs were not among those involved in any such conduct,” the lawsuit said. “All Plaintiffs did was exercise their right to peacefully assemble and protest under the Constitution.”
Mr. Wray and Mr. Garland also engaged in “pressuring, and coercing family and friends of protestors to turn them in,” the complaint states, comparing the events to Germans’ being directed by the Nazi government to turn over Jewish people during the Holocaust.
“On information and belief, Defendant Wray, at the direction of and in concert with Defendant Garland, their agents and assigns, are doing so at the direction of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and his administration, in an effort to save their own employment as the Directors of the FBI and DOJ, as well as for other improper and nefarious reasons,” the lawsuit said.
According to an Oct. 3 update from the DOJ, more than 1,069 people have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 breach. They have been charged in nearly all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
FBI officials didn’t respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.
Biden Impeachment Inquiry Vote To Come Next Week: Speaker Johnson
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) announced on Tuesday that a voteto authorize the inquiry will take place next week.
“The House has no choice if it’s going to follow its constitutional responsibility to formally adopt an impeachment inquiry on the floor so that when the subpoenas are challenged in court, it will be at the apex of our constitutional authority,” Johnson said during a press conference.
Speaker Mike Johnson is moving forward with an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden. The vote would allow the inquiry to continue, yet it would not be a formal impeachment vote. pic.twitter.com/x4JyCBfNsq
But remember folks, this isn’t an impeachment just yet!
“This vote is not a vote to impeach President Biden. This is a vote to continue the inquiry of impeachment, and that’s a necessary constitutional step,” said Johnson.
News of the possible impeachment comes as more evidence of Biden family corruption rolls in – most recently that Hunter Biden’s company was sending ‘direct monthly payments’ to Joe Biden.
According to top Republicans, an impeachment inquiry will help further the investigation by granting GOP lawmakers subpoena power and access to additional materials.
The first impeachment inquiry hearing was held on Sept. 28, with experts testifying that there were signs of misconduct but more evidence was needed.
On Monday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told reporters that an impeachment inquiry could proceed the way Republicans have already been conducting it, but a vote to cement its official nature was better. –Epoch Times
“According to the Constitution, you don’t need it, you can start an impeachment inquiry the way we’re doing it,” said Jordan, adding “[Former] Speaker of the House [Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)] said it three months ago, but we think it always helps if the full House of Representatives on the record, a majority of that body, has said this is an official impeachment inquiry.”
On Saturday, Johnson told “Fox & Friends Weekend” that he’d already held discussions with Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) regarding a vote, and noted that Democrats had not ‘followed the facts’ when impeaching Trump.
“Elise and I both served on the impeachment defense team of Donald Trump twice when the Democrats used it for brazen, partisan political purposes. We decried that use of it. This is very different. Remember, we are the rule-of-law team. We have to do it very methodically,” he said.
Octogenarian Julie Jaman was in the shower at a YMCA-managed pool in Port Townsend, Washington, when she suddenly heard a man’s voice.
“There stands a man in a woman’s bathing suit, looking at, watching, and touching little girls who were taking down their bathing suits,” she told The Epoch Times.
She was shocked. At the time of the July 2022 incident, she had been using the pool for 34 years and had never seen a man in the women’s changing area.
The man is a YMCA child care worker who identifies as a woman. He was supervising the girls in the changing area as part of his job, as previously reported.
After Ms. Jaman asked an employee to make sure he left the locker room, she was banned from the facility. Permanently.
Many states don’t have laws addressing whether men who identify as women, and vice versa, can or cannot use women’s restrooms and changing rooms.
That means federal law guides what is and isn’t legal in those locales.
Under the Biden administration, the Department of Education has interpreted federal law to allow people who identify as transgender to use restrooms and locker rooms that don’t align with their biological sex, if they choose.
Several states have affirmed that ruling, creating legislation allowing people who identify as transgender to use the restroom that aligns with their declared gender, rather than requiring them to use spaces set aside for their biological sex, according to a review of state laws by The Epoch Times.
More than a dozen states prohibit people from using restrooms and locker rooms that don’t correspond with their biological sex, no matter how they identify.
Ms. Jaman said she was horrified to peek out into the changing area to see a man in a one-piece ladies’ swimsuit interacting with little girls.
Her first reaction, she said, was to ask, “Do you have a penis?”
She said the man replied, “That’s none of your business.”
Then, a YMCA staff member who was already in the locker room intervened.
When Ms. Jaman asked the pool staffer to remove the man, she said the worker retorted: “That’s discrimination! And you’re out of here. For life!”
The staff member, Ms. Jaman said, announced she would call the police, and then hugged the man.
Stunned, Ms. Jaman left and immediately reported the incident to the Port Townsend Police Department. But they didn’t file a report at the time, she said.
The police department later spoke to YMCA staff members and filed a report, reviewed by The Epoch Times, that listed Ms. Jaman as a “suspect.”
The report said Ms. Jaman was “screaming,” “calling names,” and “refusing to leave.” The report also said that the man wasn’t “assisting” the little girls, but was “watching” them.
“I don’t talk like that,” Ms. Jaman said, disputing the YMCA staff account recorded in the report. “I know how to speak English. And that is not the way I speak to people.”
Under Washington state law, all businesses that employ more than eight people must let transgender-identifying individuals enter opposite-sex restrooms.
The law, which went into effect in December 2015, also states: “In a public accommodation situation, the rules apply to all places of public accommodation, including (but not limited to) schools, gyms, public facilities, stores, restaurants, and swimming pools, and the gender segregated facilities within those places of public accommodation.”
In explaining the new state laws, the Washington State Human Rights Commission issued a Frequently Asked Questions document.
One question asks: “Can men now go into women’s bathrooms or locker rooms?”
The answer from the commission states, “No. Only females can go into women’s bathrooms or locker rooms in a gender segregated situation. This includes transgender females who identify as female,” referring to men who identify as female.
The answer goes on to state that, “The rules do not protect persons who go into a restroom or locker room under false pretenses. For example, if a man declares himself to be transgender for the sole purpose of entering a women’s restroom or locker room, then the rule would not protect him.”
State law on opposite-sex restroom use is still in its infancy, with many states not yet taking a side.
Currently, the most important factor affecting whether men can enter women’s spaces is federal law, said Sarah Perry, a senior legal fellow for The Heritage Foundation.
Federal rules that ban discrimination on the basis of sex have been repurposed to ban discrimination based on someone’s gender identity, Ms. Perry told The Epoch Times.
Title IX, a provision of the Educational Amendments of 1972, was crafted to bring equality between men and women in most facets of education.
However, the interpretation of the legislation by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the Biden administration is that the Title IX provides against discrimination related to “sexual orientation and gender identity.”
“The Biden administration has interpreted civil rights law to include ‘sex’ as ‘gender identity,’ which is the most expansive definition we’ve ever seen,” Ms. Perry said.
The Biden administration’s choice means that the default legal position is that anyone who announces transgender status can use opposite-sex bathrooms in schools, Ms. Perry said.
These Title IX anti-discrimination provisions don’t specifically apply to other facilities, and state laws can block this federal rule interpretation, she said.
“If that particular state doesn’t have a protective law in place, they will be bound by the Biden administration’s interpretation of federal civil rights law, which is why we’re seeing so many of these challenges now come up in court,” Ms. Perry said.
In the long run, legal battles will decide whether the current presidential administration can use civil rights laws to give men a right to enter women’s bathrooms, she said.
Watch Live: Taibbi Discusses ‘Hamilton 68’ Link To Government’s ‘Cyber Threat League’
Yesterday, journalist Alex Gutentag covered the “CITL Files,” which stands for Cyber Threat Intelligence League – a Department of Homeland Security partner which sought to implement something called “AMITT,” which stands for “Adversarial Misinformation and Influence Tactics and Techniques.”
Far from simply protecting the public from falsehoods, both government and non-profit actors within Censorship Industrial Complex have followed CTIL’s exact playbook and have waged a full-fledged influence operation against Americans. -Public
Today, Matt Taibbi drops another “CITL Files” report. In conjunction, he’s hosting a livestream to discuss “an odd little detail” which involves “connections between the group and Hamilton 68.
But the CTIL Files, a trove of documents that a whistleblower provided to Public and Racket, reveal that US and UK military contractors developed and used advanced tactics — including demanding that social media platforms change their Terms of Service — to shape public opinion about Covid-19, and that getting content removed was just one strategy used by the Censorship Industrial Complex.
The CTI League, which partnered with the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), aimed to implement something called “AMITT,” which stood for “Adversarial Misinformation and Influence Tactics and Techniques.”
AMITT was a disinformation framework that included many offensive actions, including working to influence government policy, discrediting alternative media, using bots and sock puppets, pre-bunking, and pushing counter-messaging.
The specific “counters” to “disinformation” in AMITT and its successor framework, DISARM, include many we have observed in our study of the Censorship Industrial Complex:
“Create policy that makes social media police disinformation”
“Strong dialogue between the federal government and private sector to encourage better reporting”
“Marginalize and discredit extremists”
“Name and Shame influencers”
“Simulate misinformation and disinformation campaigns, and responses to them, before campaigns happen”
“Inoculate populations through media literacy training”
For issues like the Russiagate hoax to the Hunter Biden laptop to Covid-19, organizations within the Censorship Industrial Complex have used many of DISARM’s offensive methods like tabletop exercises, psychological inoculation, propaganda messaging, and punishment of dissent. Even its extreme proposal of debanking was used against Canada’s Freedom Convoy.
Far from simply protecting the public from falsehoods, both government and non-profit actors within Censorship Industrial Complex have followed CTIL’s exact playbook and have waged a full-fledged influence operation against Americans.
This influence operation has deep ties to security and intelligence agencies, as is evidenced through many examples of collaboration. In one instance of such collaboration, supposedly independent “disinformation researchers” like Renée DiResta coordinated a 2020 election tabletop exercise with military officials.
Defense and intelligence funding supports much of the Censorship Industrial Complex. For instance, Graphika, which was involved in both EIP and VP, receives grants from the Department of Defense, DARPA, and the Navy.
Pentagon-affiliated entities are heavily involved in “anti-disinformation” work. Mitre, a major defense contractor, received funding to tackle “disinformation” about elections and Covid. The US government paid Mitre, an organization staffed by former intelligence and military personnel, to monitor and report what Americans said about the virus online, and to develop vaccine confidence messaging. This government-backed military research group, Public discovered, was present in the EIP and VP misinformation reporting system, and in election disinformation report emails to CISA.
The AMITT framework also includes many counters we have yet to find concrete evidence for, but which we suspect may have been attempted:
“Infiltrate the in-group to discredit leaders”
“Honeypot with coordinated inauthentics”
“Co-opt a hashtag and drown it out (hijack it back)”
“Dilute the core narrative – create multiple permutations, target/amplify”
“Newsroom/Journalist training to counter influence moves”
“Educate high profile influencers on best practices”
Meanwhile, Taibbi wrote this earlier today: “Information Warfare” Comes Home
In March of 2022, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, the New York Times published a curious story titled “Fact and Mythmaking Blend in Ukraine’s Information War.” It seemed much-hyped episodes celebrating Ukrainian mettle on the battlefield, like the exploits of the “Ghost of Kiev” ace pilot, “may be a myth,” as the Times put it euphemistically. The paper noted with seeming approval that platforms like Twitter chose not to remove that and other tales that turned out to be not-exactly-true, like the famed “Go Fuck Yourself” send-off of Ukrainian soldiers who reportedly chose to die rather than surrender to Russians on Snake Island.
Who cared if that story sounded just a tad too much like an R-rated version of General Anthony McAuliffe’s “Nuts” reply to Nazis demanding American surrender at Bastogne? What if that was the point, the paper wondered?
“Why can’t we just let people believe some things?” the Times quoted one “Twitter user” as saying. “If the Russians believe it, it brings fear. If the Ukrainians believe it, it gives them hope.” The sentiment was expressed in plainer terms later in the article by former Facebook executive Alex Stamos, head of the Stanford Internet Observatory, which piloted the controversial Election Integrity Partnership social-media-monitoring project:
In exercising discretion over how unverified or false content is moderated, social media companies have decided to “pick a side,” said Alex Stamos, the director of the Stanford Internet Observatory and a former head of security at Facebook.
The theme of the U.S. and its allies not only engaging in informational fakery but boasting about deceptions in public has been a constant since Russia’s invasion. NBC for instance did a story — before you check, yes, it was written by Ken Dilanian, lol — celebrating the Biden administration’s decision to “break with the past” and release “classified” intelligence even if it “wasn’t rock solid.” An example was an announcement that the Russians were considering the use of chemical weapons.
That American officials engage in public deception is no surprise to anyone who remembers the runup to the Iraq War. Still, the eagerness of officials to admit this on TV, or in papers like the Times, and even embrace goofball terms like “false flag,” is a new development.
It’s becoming clear that deploying fake news themes as “information warfare” is a tactic American government agencies are bringing home. Last week, in a story that first broke on Public, Michael Shellenberger, Alexandra Gutentag, and myself began publishing documents provided by a whistleblower about a group called the Cyber Threat Intelligence or (CTI) League, CTIL for short. CTIL, a supposed volunteer organization named as partner in April of 2020 by Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency chief Chris Krebs, ostensibly had a narrow focus on Covid-19 “misinformation.” But the whistleblower’s documents revealed something far more ambitious, and unnerving.
It was obvious right away that the #CTIFiles Michael and I testified about before congress last week were newsworthy, quickly filling gaps in the public’s understanding of the mechanics of state-aided censorship programs. However, as was the case with the Twitter Files, more troubling themes have emerged as we’ve had more time to read through the material. In a piece published on Public yesterday, for instance, Alex detailed the myriad guidelines in the #CTIFiles for “offensive” information operations.
These include discrediting techniques, use of sock-puppet accounts for trolling and surveillance purposes, strategies to divide groups via infiltration, and a long list of tradecraft lunacies called “counter” actions described taxonomically in the AMITT framework pushed by CTI figures like British data scientist Sarah-Jayne Terp and Special Operations Command “technologist” Pablo Breuer.
The punch line of the upcoming #CTIFiles #4 thread is that these documents don’t merely offer instructions in the use of sockpuppets and small-scale trolling operations. They show a through-line to the much larger frauds that spread like wildfire in the legacy news landscape between 2016 and the present, chief among them the Hamilton 68 scamexposed in the Twitter Files.
Subscribers to Racket News can read the rest here…
Zelensky Abruptly Cancels Address To Senators, Lashes Out At Failure To Secure More Taxpayer Funds
On Tuesday Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky unexpectedly canceled at the last minute a planned appearance via video link before US Senators mulling an emergency aid package containing over $60 billion for Kiev.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was the one to announce it to reporters: “Zelensky by the way could not make it to — something happened at the last minute — to our briefing,” Schumer said.
With just weeks to go before Ukraine aid stops flowing, and amid a row in Congress which threatens to discontinue the war funding, Ukraine is now saying it will lose the war if it can’t access more US funds and weaponry.
If the United States postpones military aid to Ukraine, there is a “big risk” the country could lose its war with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said Tuesday.
Speaking at the U.S. Institute for Peace during a visit to Washington, Yermak said failure by Congress to approve more aid to Ukraine could make it “impossible” to liberate more territory captured by Russia and “give the big risk to lose this war.”
“If the help which (is) now debating in Congress will be just postponed. … It gives the big risk that we can be in same position (where) we’re located now,” said Yermak, speaking in English.
“That is why it is extremely critically important that this support will be voted and will be voted as soon as possible,” he said.
But the reality is that Ukrainian forces were already losing the war, given top US officials have long acknowledged the counteroffensive has stalled and failed, even with all the weapons the US has already poured in.
Thus Yermak’s statements seem more like an early blame-game: Ukraine seems to be saying it will be Washington’sfault when the war is lost and Kiev is forced to finally negotiate and cede territory.
Reporter: Are you saying any member of congress who votes against aid to Ukraine is voting for Putin?
Sullivan: I believe that any member of congress who does not support funding for Ukraine is voting for an outcome that will make it easier for Putin to prevail. pic.twitter.com/UUSItiBmad
Senate Republicans have tied Biden’s foreign defense funding to tackling the migrant crisis at the southern border, prolonging the Ukraine aid holdup further, and maybe indefinitely.
Interestingly, the Senate forum that Zelensky was to address involved a classified briefing. Likely he realized he was not going to convince anyone, and his ‘star status’ has long since been in decline. At this moment, even the mayor of Kyiv is attacking him, calling Zelenskyan “autocrat” and “corrupt” – and saying Ukraine is losing because of this.
From Estate of Kemmer, decided today by the Montana Supreme Court, in an opinion by Justice Beth Baker:
The surviving adult children of decedent Ronald Glen Kemmer—Travis, Becky, Collette, and Ronda—dispute the distribution of a 1978 Ford pickup truck ….
“Evidence shows … several Heirs had sentimental attachment” to the pickup:
Ronda and Collette testified that at the August 2019 gathering [three months after Ronald Kemmer’s death] there was an offer from the PR [the Personal Representative of the Estate, namely Travis,] to Collette to purchase the truck for $10,000, which would be deducted from her share of the estate. The Heirs dispute whether they reached agreement about the disposition of the truck. They submitted various e-mail and text messages between them to support their respective positions. All agree, however, that no written agreement for Collette to purchase the truck for $10,000 was made or signed at the August 2019 gathering.
When the disposition of the truck had not been resolved, the PR held an auction among the Heirs. Collette and Becky both bid on the truck; Collette submitted the highest bid of $21,120. Because Collette then failed to timely respond to the PR on the potential distribution, however, the PR distributed the truck to Becky for the second highest bid amount of $21,000. After Becky made payment, the PR made final distribution of the truck to Becky and filed a verified petition to close the Estate.
Collette and Ronda petitioned the District Court to remove Travis as the personal representative and to void the PR’s distribution of the truck to Becky.
The District Court voided the distribution, though without removing Travis as PR:
The Court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that Travis, as PR, breached his fiduciary duty to Collette by failing to honor the agreement made between Travis and all of the heirs on August 10, 2019 that Collette would receive the 1978 Ford pickup for $10,000.00 to be paid from Collette’s share of the Estate.
No, said the Montana Supreme Court:
We reverse the District Court’s order. There was no written contract pursuant to § 72-3-915(1), MCA, and the PR had no duty to prepare one.
And, speaking of the blog post title, here’s ChatGPT-4’s entry in the song contest:
(Verse 1) In a dusty town, the story unfolds, Four siblings’ tale, as the saga goes. Travis, Becky, Collette, and Ronda, names we’ll recollect, At the heart of their feud, a 1978 Ford, an heirloom to protect.
(Chorus) It’s more than metal, more than rust, In that old Ford truck, lay their father’s trust. A memory on wheels, with a story to tell, In the battle for the truck, family bonds fell.
(Verse 2) Collette, she offered ten grand, a fair price in her eyes, But her siblings couldn’t agree, as tensions did rise. The truck, a symbol of their dad, Ronald Kemmer’s touch, Each held memories dear, each loved it so much.
(Chorus)
Here was my prompt:
Write a country / western song on the following topic: The surviving adult children of Ronald Kemmer—Travis, Becky, Collette, and Ronda—dispute the distribution of a 1978 Ford pickup truck. Evidence shows several Heirs had sentimental attachment. Collette offered to purchase the truck for $10,000. The Heirs dispute whether they reached agreement about the disposition of the truck. When the disposition of the truck had not been resolved, an auction was held among the Heirs. Collette and Becky both bid on the truck; Becky won the account for $21,000. Collette and Ronda petitioned the court to void the distribution of the truck to Becky.
Can’t say I much care for the ChatGPT-written song, but can’t say I could do better, either.
Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) wants illegal immigrants to be given the opportunity to join the U.S. Military in return for citizenship.
Durbin made the comments during a recent Senate speech.
Noting how low enlistment levels represent a “grave threat to our national security,” Durbin and that these shortfalls could be met by recruiting illegal aliens.
“Do you know what the recruiting numbers are at the Army, Navy, and the Air Force? They can’t reach their quotas each month. They can’t find enough people to join our military forces. And there are those who are undocumented who want the chance to serve and risk their lives for this country. Should we give them a chance? I think we should,” said Durbin.
Senator Dick Durbin wants to make it possible for illegal immigrants to join the US military: “Do you know what the recruiting numbers are at the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force? They can’t reach their quotas each month. They can’t find enough people to join.” pic.twitter.com/UWuGSfrSkF
Durbin says “undocumented” young people who can pass physical and background tests should be able to “serve in our military and if you do it honorably we will make you citizens of the United States.”
Meanwhile, in related comments, commentator Gavin McInnes wondered if waves of illegal migrants were being allowed to enter the country so they could be used as part of a standing army for World War 3.
“So you know immigration has been so weird recently, with all these men of fighting age and the intense variety. It’s not just Mexicans anymore, Somalians, it’s never families,” he said.
“Are we staffing an army for World War 3?” asked McInnes. “Is that what these 4 million a year people doing here?”
The talk show host noted that if Iran became embroiled in Israel’s war, the entire Muslim world would team up, with China and Russia’s support, against America.
“You need a lot of dead bodies for World War 3, so is that the fucking globalist plan?” asked McInnes.
