Day: October 24, 2023

US House fails to elect speaker, new nominee bodes poorly for Ukraine; Air strikes in Kherson hit a hospital; AFU troops hold positions by the Dnipro, Russians advance near Avdiivka

The United States and Russia led international calls for a pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas to allow aid into the besieged Gaza Strip, as Israel maintained its bombardment of the enclave where Palestinians are living in harrowing conditions.

A total of 704 Palestinians, including 305 children, were killed on Tuesday, the health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said, a toll the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said was the highest reported in a single day since the conflict began nearly three weeks ago.

Reuters could not independently verify these figures.

Israel launched the strikes on Gaza after Hamas militants attacked southern Israeli towns on Oct. 7 in a rampage that killed 1,400 people, most of them civilians.

World leaders are now seeking to prevent the conflict from spreading across a region key to global energy supplies.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke by phone on Tuesday and agreed on broader diplomacy “to maintain stability across the region and prevent the conflict from expanding,” the White House said.

Deadly clashes have intensified between the Israeli military and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, and resurged between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah armed group along the Israeli-Lebanon border. Iran, which has sought regional ascendancy for decades, backs both Hezbollah and Hamas, and has warned Israel to stop its onslaught on Gaza.

Israel’s military said its jets struck Syrian army infrastructure and mortar launchers on Wednesday in response to rockets launched from Iran ally Syria.

The military did not provide further details. It did not accuse Syria’s army of firing the two rockets, which set off air raid sirens in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

There was no immediate comment from Syria.

Israeli forces on an overnight raid in the occupied West Bank came under fire by a group of Palestinians whom the military then hit with a drone, the Israeli military said on Wednesday. Palestinian officials said three people were killed.

Israel’s military also said it targeted a cell of Hamas divers attempting to enter Israel by sea near Kibbutz Zikim. There was no immediate comment from Hamas on the incident.

The U.S. has advised Israel to hold off on a planned ground assault as Washington tries to free more of the 200-plus hostages Hamas is still holding captive in Gaza.

However, when asked was if he was urging Israel to delay its ground invasion, U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters: “The Israelis are making their own decisions.”

Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani told the Security Council on Tuesday that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had attempted to wrongly blame Iran for the Israel-Hamas war.

“Our commitment to regional peace and stability remains unwavering,” he said. “The U.S. has further exacerbated the conflict by overtly aligning itself with the aggressor at the expense of the innocent Palestinian population.”

In a statement released on social media, the Palestinian health ministry said at least 5,791 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli bombardments since Oct. 7, including 2,360 children.

Reuters could not independently verify these figures.

Late on Tuesday eight trucks with water, food and medicine entered Gaza from Egypt. U.N. agencies said more than 20 times current deliveries were needed for the narrow coastal strip’s 2.3 million people.

At the United Nations, the United States and Russia put forward rival plans on humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians. Washington has called for pauses and Russia wants a humanitarian ceasefire. A pause is generally considered less formal and shorter than a ceasefire.

“The whole world is expecting from the Security Council a call for a swift and unconditional ceasefire,” Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council.

Arab states firmly back a call for a humanitarian ceasefire amid widespread destruction of Gaza’s buildings. “We followed with regret the inability of this council twice to adopt a resolution or even to call for a ceasefire to end this war,” Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told the council.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last week called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.

“While we remain opposed to a ceasefire, we think humanitarian pauses linked to the delivery of aid that still allow Israel to conduct military operations to defend itself are worth consideration,” a senior U.S. official said.

Doctors in Gaza say patients arriving at hospitals are showing signs of disease caused by overcrowding and poor sanitation after more than 1.4 million people fled their homes in the enclave for temporary shelters.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said more than one-third of hospitals in Gaza and nearly two-thirds of primary health care clinics had shut due to damage or lack of fuel.

UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, warned in a post on messaging platform X that it would halt operations in Gaza on Wednesday night because of the lack of fuel.

However, the Israeli military on Tuesday reaffirmed it would bar the entry of fuel to prevent Hamas from seizing it.

Qatari mediators are urging Hamas to quicken the pace of hostage releases to include women and children and to do so without expecting Israeli concessions, said three diplomats and a source in the region familiar with the talks.

The Gulf state, in coordination with the U.S., is leading mediation talks with Hamas and Israel over the hostage release.

Hamas has so far released four hostages – a mother and daughter with dual U.S.-Israel nationality on Friday and two Israeli civilian women on Monday.

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Florida’s university system, working with Governor Ron DeSantis, ordered colleges on Tuesday to shut down a pro-Palestinian student organization, marking the first U.S. state to outlaw the group whose national leadership backed Hamas’ attack on Israel.

The State University System of Florida said chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) had to be dismantled as part of a “crack down” in the Republican-led state on campus demonstrations that provide “harmful support for terrorist groups.”

“Based on the National SJP’s support of terrorism, in consultation with Governor DeSantis, the student chapters must be deactivated,” the system’s Chancellor Ray Rodrigues wrote in a memo to university leaders.

SJP is active in at least two Florida universities, Rodrigues said.

The University of North Florida in Jacksonville and Florida State University in Tallahassee have SJP chapters, based on Instagram sites. The National SJP did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tensions between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian students have led to harassment and assaults at U.S. universities since Hamas’ Oct.7 attack and Israel’s siege and bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

Administrators at some U.S. universities criticized the National SJP after it called Hamas’ attack “a historic win for the Palestinian resistance” and called for a “day of resistance” on Oct. 12 with demonstrations by its chapters at over 200 colleges in America and Canada.

DeSantis, a White House candidate, has taken a hard line against Palestinians, suggesting Gazan civilians be denied water and utilities until Hamas releases hostages it took during its attack.

Florida’s university system said it based its SJP ban on a “toolkit” issued by the national organization to chapters that referred to Hamas’ attack as “the resistance” and stated “Palestinian students in exile are PART of this movement.”

In his memo, Rodrigues said National SJP identified itself as part of Hamas’ attack and it was a felony under Florida law “to provide material support… to a designated foreign terrorist organization.”

The race to lead Indonesia, the world’s fourth-most populous nation, kicks off this week.

Here’s what you need to know:

The presidential poll will be held on the same day as a national parliamentary election and voters will also choose executive and legislative representatives at all administrative levels across Indonesia.

About 205 million of Indonesia’s more than 270 million people are eligible to vote and about a third of those are under the age of 30, according to the election commission.

Three presidential candidates and their running mates have from Oct 19-25 to present their credentials and policy platforms to the election commission.

A flurry of last-minute manoeuvring is underway by the country’s political heavyweights as they shore up ever-shifting alliances.

There are three candidates vying to succeed incumbent President Joko Widodo, better known as Jokowi, who is finishing up the maximum two terms allowed by the constitution.

Prabowo Subianto, who narrowly lost to Jokowi in 2014 and 2019, is hoping third time’s the charm. The defence minister is a controversial figure, with allegations of human rights abuses during his time as special forces commander doing little to dent his popularity among those who admire his heavy-handed leadership style.

Ganjar Pranowo is the candidate of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle. His long career in public service, most recently as Central Java governor, has won him a following outside the capital Jakarta. He is neck-and-neck with Prabowo in opinion polls.

Anies Baswedan, ex-governor of Jakarta, is an independent candidate, trailing in surveys.

Critics have cast doubt on the integrity of the 2024 election amid what they see as President Jokowi’s attempts to retain influence after leaving office. A top court, headed by Jokowi’s brother-in-law and which will preside over any election disputes, tweaked eligibility criteria that would allow Jokowi’s son to join Prabowo as his running mate – a move that some experts and voters say undermines Indonesia’s 25-year-old democracy.

Elections in Indonesia are often a battle of personalities rather than policies, with candidates running on similar platforms promoting growth, jobs, and pluralism in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country.

A candidate needs a simple majority of votes to win, or more than 50%. If no one manages that in the first round, a run-off election will be held in June between the two candidates with the highest number of votes.

The next president will take office in October, 2024.

Candidates will ramp up their campaigns, crisscrossing the sprawling archipelago to meet constituents and build support.

Sometimes the most compelling and crucial part of a story can paradoxically end up having no impact on its outcome. For instance, it’s well documented that the DOJ was already deep into criminally investigating Donald Trump before the January 6th Committee came along. So Trump was already going to end up indicted and imprisoned whether those committee hearings took place or not. And while Cassidy Hutchinson’s decision to testify was courageous and groundbreaking, she’s not the reason Trump is going to prison. That was already going to happen. But now it turns out Hutchinson’s testimony has in fact impacted the story in a different and very big way.

We all learned today that Mark Meadows cut an immunity deal with Jack Smith awhile ago. We don’t know just how long ago it happened, but we know it was long enough ago that he’s since testified multiple times. Keep in mind that Meadows knows pretty much everything about every Trump criminal scandal, from the January 6th attack, to the fake electors, to the stolen classified documents. You name it, Meadows was involved. And it’s a fair bet that Meadows ended up flipping because Hutchinson’s testimony left him no choice.

Donald Trump was always going to prison anyway. But because Cassidy Hutchinson was brave enough to come forward, federal prosecutors have gained the cooperation of Mark Meadows, who can put a whole lot more people in prison than just Trump. So while we don’t yet know the full impact of Hutchinson’s testimony, and we probably won’t for some time to come, it’s now fair to say that her testimony has indeed significantly altered the course of where this is all headed. And we’re all even more in Hutchinson’s debt.

The post Turns out Cassidy Hutchinson dealt a body blow to Mark Meadows (and Donald Trump) appeared first on Palmer Report.

A former NSA employee has pleaded guilty to charges of attempting to transmit classified defense information to Russia.

Jareh Sebastian Dalke (31), a former NSA employee has admitted to attempting to convey classified defense information to Russia, pleading guilty to the charges.

The man pleaded guilty today to six counts of attempting to transmit classified National Defense Information (NDI) to an agent of the Russian Federation (Russia).

Dalke served as an Information Systems Security Designer for the NSA from June 6, 2022, to July 1, 2022. The ex-NSA employee had Top Secret clearance that give him access to top secret documents.

“Dalke admitted that between August and September 2022, in order to demonstrate both his “legitimate access and willingness to share,” he used an encrypted email account to transmit excerpts of three classified documents to an individual he believed to be a Russian agent.” reads the press release published by DoJ. “In actuality, that person was an FBI online covert employee. All three documents from which the excerpts were taken contain NDI, are classified as Top Secret//Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) and were obtained by Dalke during his employment with the NSA.”

Dalke was deceived by an FBI agent who posed as a Russian spy looking for the classified documents.

Dalke demanded $85,000 for the document in his possession and he shared a sample of such documents with the FBI agent.

Then Dalke arranged to transfer additional classified documents to the fake Russian agent at Union Station in downtown Denver. The man used a laptop and followed the instructions provided by the FBI online covert employee to transfer five files. Four of the transferred files contained Top Secret NDI, the remaining one was a letter, which begins (in Russian and Cyrillic characters) “My friends!” and states, in part, “I am very happy to finally provide this information to you. . . . I look forward to our friendship and shared benefit. Please let me know if there are desired documents to find and I will try when I return to my main office.”

Dalke was arrested by the FBI on September 28, shortly after he transmitted the files.

The former NSA employee revealed he leaked the classified documents to injure the United States and to benefit Russia.

The sentencing is scheduled for April 26, 2024, Dalke faces a maximum penalty of up to life in prison.

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Former NSA employee)

The post Former NSA employee pleads guilty to attempted selling classified documents to Russia appeared first on Security Affairs.

U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria have been attacked with drones or rockets at least 13 times over the past week, Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder said Tuesday, confirming earlier VOA reporting.

Responding to a question from VOA, Ryder blamed Iranian-backed proxies for the near daily attacks on U.S. forces.

“We know that the groups conducting these attacks are supported by the IRGC [Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] and the Iranian regime. What we are seeing is the prospect for more significant escalation against U.S. forces and personnel across the region in the very near term coming from Iranian proxy forces and ultimately from Iran,” he said.

“If and when we would decide to respond, we will do so at a time and place of our choosing,” Ryder added.

The attacks have resulted in about 20 minor injuries to Americans in Syria and four minor injuries to American personnel in Iraq, all of whom have returned to duty, two U.S. officials told VOA. The military continues to monitor for any potential traumatic brain injuries caused by the attacks, one of the officials added.

One U.S. contractor at al-Asad Air Base in Iraq died after suffering a cardiac episode while sheltering in place during a false alarm for an air attack.

Attacks across bases

U.S. troops shot down two one-way attack drones targeting American forces at al-Tanf garrison in southern Syria on Monday, resulting in no injuries.

On Saturday, a one-way attack drone targeted al-Asad Air Base in western Iraq, resulting in no casualties or damage.

Three separate attacks occurred at al-Harir Air Base in northern Iraq on Friday, as U.S. and coalition forces were targeted with three one-way attack drones, resulting in no casualties or damage.

On Thursday, Iranian-backed militants targeted U.S. and coalition forces in four locations across Iraq and Syria. At Green Village, a Syrian Democratic Forces base in northeastern Syria that hosts coalition troops, U.S. forces shot down a one-way attack drone that resulted in no casualties. At Mission Support Site Euphrates in Syria, multiple rockets launched toward the base resulted in no damage or injuries. In Iraq, rocket attacks targeted forces at al-Asad Air Base and U.S. and coalition forces near Baghdad’s International Airport, but neither resulted in casualties or damage.

Four additional attacks occurred on October 18, according to U.S. officials. Two drones targeted al-Tanf garrison in Syria during one attack. U.S. and coalition forces destroyed one drone, while the other drone reached the base and resulted in minor injuries to about 20 personnel, two U.S. officials confirmed to VOA.

U.S. forces in northern Iraq shot down another drone in the early hours of October 18 near al-Harir Air Base, formerly known as Bashur Air Base, resulting in no injuries or damage to coalition equipment or facilities. Two drones targeted al-Asad Air Base in two separate attacks on October 18; one was shot down and the other was damaged, resulting in minor injuries to coalition forces.

Ryder had said last week that these attacks occurred on October 17, but an official told VOA that he was referring to the time in Washington when they occurred, not the local time in Iraq.

US increasing protection in region

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday placed an undisclosed number of troops on prepare-to-deploy orders and activated the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery as well as additional Patriot batteries to locations throughout the region to increase force protection for U.S. forces.

“What you see from this posture announcement … is that we are preparing for this escalation, both in terms of defending our forces and being prepared to respond decisively,” a senior defense official told reporters Monday.

Austin had already placed more than 2,000 military personnel on heightened alert with a prepare-to-deploy order last Tuesday.

The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group is speeding to the Middle East region, and the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group remains in the eastern Mediterranean.

Three ships with the USS Bataan amphibious ready group are positioning thousands of Marines in waters near Israel. A squadron of A-10 attack aircraft has arrived in the Middle East, with another A-10 squadron’s deployment extended, and more F-15 and F-16 fighter jets also are rolling into the region.

The U.S. has said the increased military presence is intended to deter malign actors such as Hezbollah or Iran from expanding the conflict.

Last week, the USS Carney, a Navy destroyer in the Red Sea, shot down four missiles and multiple drones launched by Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, weapons that the Pentagon said were “heading along the Red Sea, potentially toward targets in Israel.”

There were no casualties, and the ship did not appear to be the target of the attack, Ryder said.

Now that she’s been fired from her job as a dentist, the middle-aged Newton woman who was videotaped ripping down posters of Israeli victims in Chestnut Hill can begin an even more lucrative career for herself.

She is about to become… a victim.

Actually she already is.  A local Hamas cheerleading cell has already issued a statement on her behalf to a TV station:

“Zena is being targeted simply because she is an Arab.”

You don’t say. So it has nothing to do with her callously tearing down posters of Israeli children kidnapped by Nazi fiends after the rape and slaughter of 1300 Israelis.

Her former employer, Dr. Marc Nevins of Nevins Dental Center, announced her firing for “actions that are contrary to our community standards and to the basic values of my clinical practice.”

But Doc, don’t you understand that she’s the victim here. I predict a front-page story in state-run media, most likely the Boston Globe, in three… two… one.

This is the traditional m.o. now. Terrorists do something unspeakably horrible to innocent individuals, and the entire story suddenly becomes the supposed overreaction of the victims.

The late comedian Norm Macdonald summed it up perfectly in a sarcastic 2016 tweet:

“What terrifies me is if ISIS were to detonate a nuclear device and kill 50 million Americans. Imagine the backlash against peaceful Muslims.”

Biden and his minions seem more worried about “Islamophobia” than about the Nazi pogroms the Muslims have been conducting in southern Israel.

This woman Zena is apparently a graduate of Boston University, historically Methodist but with a heavy Jewish influence forever. I wonder if she had a scholarship to BU, and who paid for that scholarship.

It seems to be a BU thing, tearing down the KIDNAPPED posters. A younger student was just recorded doing the same thing as the Arab dentist.

The homely coed had a great defense.

“I’m Jewish,” she said.

From what I can see, the fired dentist lives in, of all places, Newton. Odd place to choose as your home if you’re simmering with the kind of hatred she seems consumed by.

I mean, does Zena vote in the local elections in Newton? What does she think she sees all those… Zionist names on the ballot?

You would think that at least a few of these new Americans who are waving the pom-poms for the savage Muslim killers in the Mideast might have picked up stakes and left the Great Satan, put their dinars where their mouths are, so to speak.

Until Donald Trump came along, these bloodthirsty savages had their own unofficial state, under control of a terror cell called ISIS. They referred to their Muslim thugocracy as a “caliphate.” It was run by a genocidal butcher whom the Washington Post respectfully described as “an austere religious scholar.”

I’m sure ISIS could have used a few dentists back when they were trying to murder every non-Sunni in Iraq and Syria. Their capital was in Raqqa, Syria.

Gays were dragged to the tops of Raqqa’s tallest buildings (two, sometimes even three stories) and hurled to their deaths. Local young women from religious minorities (including Shia Muslims) were gang-raped every evening by hundreds of austere religious scholars.

Like Hamas, ISIS enjoyed beheading infidels. Once they burned a Jordanian Air Force pilot alive.

It all seems a very long way from Newton, from The Street in Chestnut Hill, from civilization.

But until you get busted tearing down those posters, you can cheer on the ongoing genocide (and not just of Jews either). And there is never, ever any pushback from the virtue-signaling, spineless heretics.

If anyone ever looks at one of these Nazis cross-eyed while they’re screaming “Gas the Jews!” or “Allahu Akhbar” as they shoot up a gay bar, they just start yelling that it’s all Islamophobia, or something.

Look at the pampered pukes from Harvard, complaining about the “apartheid” regime of Israel. As I’ve said, isn’t “apartheid” just another word for “racism?” And Harvard’s racist admissions policy, recently ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court, is probably the reason most of these protected-class box-checkers were even admitted in the first place.

They certainly don’t seem to be very bright, even by Harvard standards.

Now, though, an alumni group has been trying to raise money for the Nazis of Harvard Square because their racist screeds have exposed the Ivy League Nazis to “severe risks to their immigration status and future career prospects.”

Oh no! You mean they might have to go home to these Third World failed states that they fled to come here and live on the arm in this terrible racist land?

The pitch for the Nazis of Harvard Square continued:

“They may require legal counsel, health care, mental health support, financial aid or mentorship to navigate these turbulent and uncertain times.”

Could I offer them some mentorship? Go home. The job opportunities in Raqqa aren’t what they used to be, but thanks to Biden the Taliban is back in charge in Afghanistan. Have the halftime stonings of gays resumed at the soccer stadium in Kabul?

I hear the Taliban is looking for a few good endodontists.

But you know, endodontist in Kabul not nearly as good a job as being a “victim” in the Great Satan. For one thing, as a victim, you can still live in civilization, with running water, central heating, electricity and, dare I say it, the right not to wear a hajib.

Something tells me that Rena, like all the Nazis of Harvard Square – Fatima, Mohini, Reem et al. – would much prefer to live in this racist, xenophobic, nativist, Islamophobic society than go home and fight Zionist imperialism.

(Order Howie’s new book, “Paper Boy: Read All About It!” at howiecarrshow.com or amazon.com.)

President Joe Biden will not have his name on the New Hampshire Democratic primary ballot after the state refused to abide by new Democratic Party rules that South Carolina hold its primary contest first, the Biden re-election campaign said on Tuesday.

The Democratic Party had moved to eliminate Iowa and New Hampshire as the states holding the first two election nominating contests in favor of South Carolina.

New Hampshire state law mandates that the state hold its primary election first, but the Democratic National Committee wanted South Carolina to go first in a push for influence from more diverse states.

Biden’s campaign chair, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, said in a letter to New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley that Biden would not submit a declaration of candidacy for the New Hampshire ballot ahead of the deadline on Friday.

She said Biden looks forward to having his name on New Hampshire’s general election ballot on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024, once he secures the Democratic Party’s nomination for president at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next August.

Biden, 80, has faced no major opposition in his drive to be the party’s nominee.

Buckley, in response to Rodriguez’s letter, said: “The reality is that Joe Biden will win the New Hampshire first-in-the-nation primary in January, win renomination in Chicago and will be re-elected next November.”