I wonder what the Sheriff was doing the last presidency, while the problem was growing.
Making notes and praying the Republicans won, perhaps. That’s what we were doing, here at Rantburg. Considerably more on this story from yesterday.
[RedState] The arrest Thursday of 24-year-old Henrry Josue Villatoro Santos,
A name! Before we only knew his age and nationality. And apparently that spelling is not a typo.
an illegal from El Salvador who operated as the East Coast leader of the violent MS-13 gang, is reverberating across local law enforcement agencies in the Washington, D.C., area. MS-13 has long been a plague on the D.C. suburbs, particularly in Northern Virginia, where many illegals from El Salvador and other Central American countries choose to set up camp.
As a resident of one of those Northern Virginia suburbs, Loudoun County, I was pleased to see such a high-profile arrest of such a low-life criminal. I did, however, also wonder what the arrest would mean for communities like mine, which has suffered the ill-effects of MS-13's continued presence. So, I reached out to Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman, who was clearly thrilled at this development.
Chapman told RedState:
“I congratulate Attorney General Bondi and our law enforcement partners on today’s arrest of a leader of the violent MS-13 gang. This sends a clear signal to gang members who come to America to commit violent crimes, participate in human trafficking, and distribute illegal drugs. We will track you down and we will arrest you. That has been our approach in Loudoun County, and today’s arrest in our neighboring county should be celebrated by all law-abiding citizens.”
Here are some things to know about Loudoun County (besides the fact the parent revolution of 2021 began with our kooky school board and its vile army of concern-troll moms): we share a border with Fairfax County, a community where common sense has been replaced by woke ideology, and Prince William County (PWC), which is only slightly less woke than Fairfax and where today's arrest of Santos took place.
However, unlike Fairfax and PWC, Loudoun has solid leadership in the form of common-sense conservatives like Sheriff Chapman and our commonwealth's attorney, Bob Anderson.
Much like the United States's southern border, it's Loudoun's border with Fairfax County that causes problems where MS-13 in concerned (although the gang has spread into other Loudoun communities). Sterling, Virginia, which sits right on that border, has become the Loudoun County epicenter for MS-13 gang activity. Last October, 18-year-old Marlyn Medrano-Ortiz, a known MS-13 gang member and illegal alien was arrested for a double-murder in Sterling.
MS-13 is also in our schools. In another part of Loudoun, a middle schooler with known ties to MS-13 was caught in possession of a gun on school grounds two years ago, and, much to the dismay of parents, was allowed to remain in school. Being that this is Loudoun and our afore-mentioned school board is still rather kooky, public comment on the handling of the young gang member was cut off.
The arrest of Henrry Josue Villatoro Santos is a major win for law enforcement, both on the federal, state and local levels, and a reminder that we can push back against MS-13’s grip on our communities. Loudoun County, with its strong leadership and proactive policing, stands as a model for safety in the region. This arrest, as echoed by Sheriff Mike Chapman, sends a powerful message: criminals will not find a safe haven here.
Additional background on Thursday's arrest as provided by the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office:
Today’s arrest was made under the umbrella of Virginia’s new Homeland Security Task Force (VHSTF), a partnership of federal agencies, Virginia State Police, and local law enforcement agencies like ours to “to combat transnational organized crime and coordinate ongoing immigration enforcement efforts across Virginia.” About 300 persons have already arrested since March 3rd.
In Loudoun, serious (“Part 1”) crime is already down 29% in the first quarter of this year, and we are the only locality in the region that had already been collaborating with ICE when it issued detainers when undocumented criminals are arrested – some of whom are gang members.
The recently enhanced federal enforcement, including this task force, helps Loudoun continue to be the safest locality in the region both directly and indirectly. Besides deterring criminal activity by those living here, it makes clear to those in surrounding areas that they will not have a safe haven from which to come to Loudoun and prey on our community – as was the case with the double homicide in Sterling last year committed by an undocumented male with MS-13 gang connections who was residing in Alexandria.
[HodhodYemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... News] Two people were killed and two others maimed in new US Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s targeting the outskirts of Sana’a in the early hours of Thursday.
A correspondent for Almasirah Net reported that the US aggression launched four airstrikes on a stone quarry in Al...
Two people were killed and two others maimed in new US airstrikes targeting the outskirts of Sana’a in the early hours of Thursday.
A correspondent for Almasirah Net reported that the US aggression launched four airstrikes on a stone quarry in al-Arqoub area, Khulan district, Sana’a Governorate, resulting in two deaders, two maimed, and material damage.
Earlier this morning, our correspondent in Sa’adah reported a US attack on al-Sahleen area in al-Salem district.
[HodhodYemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... News] The Yemeni Armed Forces announced Thursday that The Rocketry Force targeted "Ben Gurion" Airport in the occupied Yafa area with a "Zulfiqar" ballistic missile.
In a statement read by the front man brigadier General Yahya Sare’e, Yemen’s Armed Forces said it also struck a military target in southern occupied Yafa with a "Paleostine-2" hypersonic ballistic missile.
He confirmed that both operations in occupied Yafa successfully achieved their objectives.
The Armed Forces also carried out a joint military operation targeting hostile warships in the Red Sea, including the U.S. aircraft carrier Truman, using a number of ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as drones, according to Saree.
He emphasized that, as a result of recent confrontational operations, they have thwarted the enemy’s attempts to advance its warships toward the southern Red Sea. Additionally, all enemy attempts to escalate aggression against Yemen through Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s and naval bombardment have been foiled.
Two ballistic missiles were launched at Israel on Thursday by the Iran-backed Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... s in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... and were successfully intercepted by air defenses, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
"Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, two missiles launched from Yemen were intercepted prior to crossing into Israeli territory," the military said in a statement.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage in the attack.
Sirens sounded across central Israel, in Jerusalem and numerous surrounding towns, as well as in several West Bank settlements.
The Houthis quickly grabbed credit for launching the two missiles, saying that one targeted Ben Gurion Airport and another aimed at a "military target" in Jaffa, central Israel.
Italia’s ITA Airways said it had to divert one of its flights because of the missiles and that the flight later landed in Tel Aviv safely.
Additionally, the Houthis claimed to have attacked the American aircraft carrier, USS Truman, with rockets and drones.
Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree stated that "this is only the beginning" of their attacks against Israel.
It marked at least the seventh Houthi attack on Israel since March 18, when the IDF resumed its offensive against Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip.
The attacks came as the US has continued to step up its bombing campaign against the Yemeni rebels, which resumed earlier this month after the group threatened to continue its attacks on Israel and Red Sea shipping.
[IsraelTimes] Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... media reports a new wave of US Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s across Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... , including neighborhoods in the rebel-held capital Sanaa.
According to the Houthi-owned al-Masirah news outlet, at least 19 strikes have been carried out since the early hours of Friday morning.
The extent of the damage and possible casualties isn’t immediately clear, though the number of strikes appeared particularly intense compared to other days in the campaign that began March 15.
Initial reports from the Houthis described at least seven people being hurt in the strikes in Sanaa this morning. Other strikes hit around the Red Sea port city of Hodeida, the Iran-backed group’s stronghold of Saada and in Yemen’s al-Jawf, Amran and Marib governorates.
The Houthis have not immediately acknowledged what was targeted at those sites, other than Sanaa International Airport, which is used for both civilian and military traffic. Neighborhoods in the capital are also home to military and intelligence service sites, as well as crowded with civilians.
Other areas hit included mountainous terrain north of Sanaa in Amran, where military camps and other installations are believed to be. al-Masirah satellite news network describes communication networks going down after the attacks.
[IsraelTimes] Protesters slam exemption of F-35 parts from partial UK halt of arms sales to Israel; Jonathan Reynolds, who signed off on the pause, says parts ‘integral to our national security’
British Business and Trade Minister Jonathan Reynolds was interrupted by two pro-Paleostinian, anti-Israel protesters opposing arms sales to Israel who stormed the stage as he was about to speak at a think tank event in London on Thursday.
London for a Free Paleostine, one of three campaign groups that rallied outside Chatham House where Reynolds was speaking, said the on-stage protest was intended to keep pressure on the UK government to halt all arms exports to Israel — especially of parts for F-35 fighter jets.
"They have not stopped the trade in F-35s," one individual shouted. One protester accused the UK government of being complicit in genocide.
Reynolds remained in his seat and said Britannia had suspended arms exports to Israel.
"We haven’t suspended F-35s because they’re integral to our national security and particularly the defense of Ukraine," he said.
Later, he told the audience the exemption for F-35s had been announced in the British parliament.
"Specifically on arms exports, we have a very stringent regime which we have applied as a government, and that has led to restrictions, particularly in relation to arms exports to Israel," Reynolds said.
In September, the UK government suspended 30 of its 350 arms export licences to Israel. The decision was formally made by Reynolds, with the backing of UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
The suspensions affected components for Israel’s aerial systems, including fighter jets, helicopters, and drones. The halt largely passed over the F-35 program, a multinational project that pools parts before disbursing them to participating countries, including Israel.
The UK government said at the time that it was impossible to suspend the export of F-35 parts without prejudicing the jets’ entire global program.
British exports amount to less than one percent of the total arms Israel receives. Unlike the United States, Britannia’s government does not give arms directly to Israel, but rather issues licenses for companies to sell weapons, with input from lawyers on whether clients comply with international law.
Data released in June by Britannia’s previous government showed that the UK, like other countries, drastically reduced arms sales to Israel after the war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... was sparked on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas ..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,... -led turbans stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.
However,
Switzerland makes more than cheese... the UK’s Conservative government at the time denied that it had changed its position on licenses to sell arms to Israel. Soon after the Labour Party won an election in July, Lammy said he would update a review on arms sales to Israel to ensure they complied with international law.
[IsraelTimes] Hamas says terror group spokesman killed in strike in Jabalia overnight.
On Thursday morning, Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... announced that a front man for the terror group, Abdul Latif al-Qanou, was killed in an Israeli strike in northern Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... ’s Jabalia overnight.
Al-Qanou is the latest high-ranking operative targeted since Israel resumed its strikes on Gaza.
The group said in a statement it mourned the loss of al-Qanou, who was killed in what it called a "direct" strike on a tent he was in.
The same strike maimed several people, while separate attacks killed at least six in Gaza City and one in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, medical sources said.
Earlier this week, Israel killed Ismail Barhoum, a member of Hamas’s political office, and Salah al-Bardaweel, another big shot. Both Bardaweel and Barhoum were members of the 20-member Hamas decision-making body, the political office, 11 of whom have been killed since the start of the war in late 2023, according to Hamas sources.
Last week, Israel ended a two-month-old ceasefire by resuming bombing and ground operations, increasing pressure on Hamas to free the remaining hostages in its captivity.
At least 830 people have been killed since Israel resumed major military strikes in Gaza on March 18, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, pushing the total killed over the course of the war to over 50,000.
The figures are not independently verified and do not differentiate between combatants and civilians.
A strike hit the tent where Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua was staying in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza, killing him, according to Basem Naim, another Hamas official.
Another strike near Gaza City killed four children and their parents, according to the emergency service of Gaza’s Health Ministry.
[HodhodYemenNews] The Ministry of Health in Gaza Strip announced on Thursday that its hospitals received 24 martyrs and 82 wounded citizens over the past 24 hours.
It pointed out that the casualties of the Israeli renewed aggression since March 18 had reached 855 martyrs and 1,869 injured.
The overall number of casualties since Israel launched its war of genocide on Gaza on October 7, 2023 had reached 50,208 martyrs and 113,910 wounded, it added.
The ministry pointed out that an unspecified number of victims are still trapped under the rubble of destroyed buildings or lying on roads and rescue teams cannot reach them.
[AnNahar] Syrian state media said Israeli strikes targeted the coastal Latakia province on Thursday, with a war monitor saying munitions depots were hit.
"In a number of air strikes, Israeli occupation aircraft targeted the vicinity of the al-Abyad port and the city of Latakia," state news agency SANA reported.
Authorities were working to ensure there were no casualties, SANA added.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the raids targeted "munitions depots" at the port, located on the northern outskirts of Latakia city.
The Britannia-based monitor, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, reported "huge material damage and the destruction of a munitions depot".
It said the port had previously been targeted in December.
Sources told Lebanon’s Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadeen news outlet that jets hit several military positions in the port that are used by foreign factions linked to the Syrian Defense Ministry, including from Chechnya and Uzbekistan.
Video shared on social media purportedly of the strikes showed a large explosion lighting up the sky above the port.
Sources also told Al Mayadeen that there were loud explosions at the same time north of Quneitra in the Syrian Golan Heights, where Israeli troops have been operating since late last year.
[AnNahar] Syria slammed Israeli attacks as a "flagrant violation" of its sovereignty after a deadly bombardment Tuesday in the country's south, where Israel's military said it had responded to incoming fire.
The violence near the U.N.-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights
Is the UN actually patrolling, or are they hunkered down, hoping that the violence stays far enough away?
followed Israeli air strikes in central Syria, the latest in a string of attacks on military sites since Islamist-led forces overthrew longtime president Bashar al-Assad.
The Syrian foreign ministry in a statement condemned "the continued Israeli aggression on Syrian territory, which saw a dangerous escalation in the village of Kuwayya" in the southern Daraa province.
It said "heavy artillery and air bombardment targeted residential and farming areas, leading to the death of six civilians", raising an earlier toll provided by local authorities.
"This escalation comes in the context of a series of violations that started with Israeli forces' penetrating into Quneitra and Daraa provinces, in an ongoing aggression on Syrian territory, in flagrant violation of national sovereignty and international law," the ministry said.
Earlier Tuesday, the Israeli military said that its troops "identified several terrorists who opened fire toward them in southern Syria", without providing a specific location.
"The troops returned fire in response and the IAF (air force) struck the terrorists," it added in a statement.
Daraa governor Anwar al-Zoabi said in a statement that "Israeli occupation army violations and repeated attacks on Syrian territory pushed a group of residents to clash with a military force that tried to penetrate" Kuwayya, northwest of Daraa city.
The situation "led to an escalation" by Israeli forces "with artillery shelling and drone bombardment", said the statement posted on Telegram.
Provincial authorities said some 350 families had fled to shelters in a nearby village.
[AnNahar] Leb ...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade.... said Thursday that Israeli strikes killed four people in the country's south, with Israel saying it struck Hezbollah operatives.
The strikes were the latest in a series on south Lebanon, despite a November ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah after more than a year of hostilities.
An "Israeli enemy strike on a car in Yohmor al-Shaqeef led to the death of three people," said a health ministry statement reported by the National News Agency.
The agency said a drone targeted a vehicle near the town, in a strike that came at the same time as artillery shelling.
The Israeli military said in a statement that "several Hezbollah snuffies were identified transferring weapons in the area of Yohmor in southern Lebanon," adding that the army "struck the terrorists."
The NNA earlier Thursday reported that "one person was killed and another maimed in the Israeli drone targeting... of a car in the town Maaroub," also in south Lebanon.
The Israeli military said that overnight, the air force "struck and eliminated... a battalion commander" in Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force in the Derdghaiya area, near Maaroub.
It accused him of having "advanced and directed numerous terror attacks against Israeli civilians" and troops during the war, and of also directing "terror attacks against Israel's Home Front" in recent months.
Israel has continued to carry out raids in Lebanon since the November 27 ceasefire, striking what it says are Hezbollah military targets that violated the truce agreement.
Last weekend saw the most intense escalation since the truce, with Israeli strikes on south Lebanon killing eight people, according to Lebanese officials. Israel's raids were in response to rocket fire, the first to hit its territory since the ceasefire.
No party has grabbed credit for the rocket fire, which a military source said originated north of the Litani River, between the villages of Kfar Tebnit and Arnoun, near the zone covered by the ceasefire deal.
Hezbollah, heavily weakened by the war, denied involvement.
Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah was to pull its forces north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
Israel was to withdraw its forces across the U.N.-demarcated Blue Line, the de facto border, but still holds five positions in south Lebanon that it deems strategic.
In the Tyre District, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed carrying out a dronezap shortly after midnight on Thursday, killing Ahmed Adnan Bajija, a battalion commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force.
The IDF published footage of the strike in the village of Derdghaiya, adjacent to Maaroub.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...
...
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the 
..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,...
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade....
