[American Thinker] Last week, an awful story came out of Alabama: a 12-year-old girl who had been kidnapped gnawed through her restraints, escaped, and brought the authorities to the home of José Paulino Pascual-Reyes. When law enforcement arrived, they found the bodies of a woman and a boy under 14. My browser history shows that, the moment I read the story, I started searching for the words "illegal," "alien," and "deported." The combination of Pascual-Reyes's name and the crime was enough to make all the signals in my brain ping...and damned if I wasn't right. Of course he was an illegal alien.
Since Wednesday, we have more details about what Pascual-Reyes is alleged to have done, and it's stomach-churning:
According to arrest warrants obtained by CBS affiliate WRBL, investigators believe Reyes killed his girlfriend, Sandra Vazquez Ceja, by smothering her with a pillow. Reyes is also charged with killing Ceja's son, who was younger than 14, by striking him with his hands and feet. The boy's full name has not been released.
Both bodies were cut into small pieces at the joints to hide evidence.
Add to that horrific narrative the 12-year-old girl (who was the daughter and sister, respectively, of the murdered victims) whom Pascual-Reyes had tied up in the house, and it's a singularly nauseating crime story.
The question you may be asking yourself at this point is why I instantly assumed that Pascual-Reyes was here illegally. Am I that much of a racist? I hope not. I think I'm just someone who recognizes patterns.
#2
The media and the "that's not who we are" politicians rushed to call Trump a bigot and rayciss for pointing this out.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/07/2022 5:20 Comments ||
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#3
#1 ^ Besoeker
I understand the IRS needs to hire about 500+ new agents to collect all the NEW MIDDLE CLASS TAXES the LSD's passed in the last few years. Maybe that's where the $$$$$ is headed? ☻☺☻
#4
Meanwhile, in the part of the economy where stuff gets made - https://guitar.com/news/industry-news/fender-reportedly-lays-off-hundreds-california-employees/
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/07/2022 5:41 Comments ||
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#1
You can 'drown internally' by drinking too much water but without water you die of dehydration. So how large and powerful of an EMP blast are we talking about?
#2
From what I understand the EMP itself is harmless to people, its all the electornics we've failed to harden over the years that'll go down. Hopefully power plants and such have Faraday cages with extra chips and fuses and such ready to go.
#6
#3 one of the reasons so much military procurement is expensive is that they include EMP resistant specs. One place that happens is at Kirtland AFB, where aircraft are hoisted on a wooden platform then hit with focused EMP jolts. More here.
#7
#3 Hopefully there's an EMP flight profile for the Tridents on our SSBNs. Return the favor in spades.
Posted by: M. Murcek 2022-08-07 05:30
There is.
#2 From what I understand the EMP itself is harmless to people, its all the electornics we've failed to harden over the years that'll go down. Hopefully power plants and such have Faraday cages with extra chips and fuses and such ready to go.
Posted by: ruprecht 2022-08-07 00:28
There aren't.
A dear friend of mine - lost him to the goddamned bat flu - was a strategic analyst by trade, and when people would start talking about how vulnerable to EMP we were, his response would be, "If it's so easy, why hasn't anyone done it yet?" (FWIW, he also used that reply when told how easy it was to smuggle in a nuclear warhead and detonate it.) The bottom line is that it will take multiple warheads at multiple points across the US in a precise time and pattern to do this kind of thing, and the electronics that count - the ones that control and execute our response - won't be effected or be minimally so.
Now, solar storms are something else - a worst case scenario would be constant EMP level blasts across the entire planet for days, and since we understand so little about them (See also The Carrington Event) it's entirely possible that a bad enough storm will drop Earth back to about an 1870s tech level in a few hours.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/07/2022 7:27 Comments ||
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#8
Yes. The Sun goes nova "unexpectedly" and it's game over.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/07/2022 7:30 Comments ||
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#9
Fun question: How much natural uranium would be enriched in the ground by an EMP attack?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/07/2022 7:39 Comments ||
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Posted by: Frank G ||
08/07/2022 10:00 Comments ||
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#15
...Forgot to mention:
From what I understand the EMP itself is harmless to people,
...As far as we know, but if you have any kind of implant, hearing aid, or other electronic gear installed inside your person, we don't know what the effects on those are. It could just simply be a matter of them failing (and with a pacemaker, you failing) or wondering in your last seconds of life why you're suddenly doing the Funky Chicken.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/07/2022 11:22 Comments ||
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#16
#12 Good one, Frank.
Posted by: Matt ||
08/07/2022 11:42 Comments ||
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#18
Google for the "EMP Simulation Example" there are a handful out there.
Defcon Warning System website FACTS vs MYTHS is also a good read.
While I disagree with some claims presented, based on having work DR teams, as a data recovery (Data Forensics) member. It is important to hear all sides of ANY Issue for a proper preparedness and response. The hypothetical situation presented at the end is a good generality to work from.
[Creators] This is an election year. But the issues this year are not about Democrats and Republicans. The big issue is whether this nation has degenerated to a point of no return — a point where we risk destroying ourselves, before our enemies can destroy us.
If there is one moment that symbolized our degeneration, it was when an enraged mob gathered in front of the Supreme Court and a leader of the United States Senate shouted threats against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, saying "You won't know what hit you!"
There have always been irresponsible demagogues. But there was once a time when anyone who shouted threats to a Supreme Court Justice would see the end of his own political career, and could not show his face in decent society again.
You either believe in laws or you believe in mob rule. It doesn't matter whether you agree with the law or agree with the mob on some particular issue. If threats of violence against judges — and publishing where a judge's children go to school — is the way to settle issues, then there is not much point in having elections or laws.
There is also not much point in expecting to have freedom. Threats and violence were the way the Nazis came to power in Germany. Freedom is not free. If you can't be bothered to vote against storm-trooper tactics — regardless of who engages in them, or over what issue — then you can forfeit your freedom.
Worse yet, you can forfeit the freedom of generations not yet born.
Some people seem to think that the Supreme Court has banned abortions. It has done nothing of the sort.
The Supreme Court has in fact done something very different, something long overdue and potentially historic. It has said that their own court had no business making policy decisions which nothing in the Constitution gave them the authority to make.
This song, the original, was written back in 1924 in Soviet Russia. It was covered by many Russian/Soviet female singers through the years. It was given new lyrics and recorded by Mary Hopkin in the 1970s.
The Wikipedia entry calls it a romance. I call it a love lament. The original lyrics are quite captivating.
Lyrics of the original:
We rode on a troika with bells,
And lights flickered in the distance.
Oh, when I would now follow you,
I would dispel my soul from longing!
Chorus:
On a long road, but on a moonlit night,
Yes, with that song that flies into the distance, ringing,
Yes, with an old one, but with a seven-string,
Which torments me so much at night.
Yes, it turns out, we sang for free.
Night after night they burned in vain.
If we have done away with the old,
So these nights have departed!
Chorus.
To a different distance - in new ways -
We are destined to go by fate!
We rode on a troika with bells,
Yes, now we drove a long time ago.
Chorus.
Nobody needs me now
If my sick life breaks,
you take me to bury.
Chorus.
[Red State] As Inigo Montoya might have said: She keeps using that word. I do not think it means what she thinks it means. Karine Jean-Pierre argued yesterday that the Supreme Court violated the Constitution in reversing their own decision in Roe in an attempt to fend off a question about the timing of Joe Biden’s EO on abortion costs. When a reporter wondered aloud why it took Biden three months after the leak of the Dobbs draft and then six weeks after its official publication to issue this EO, Jean-Pierre insisted that Biden’s been all over it since "day one."
That’s risible enough, but the KJP Con Law Lesson is the real gasser:
#1
The Constitution both baffles and thwarts leftists. No wonder they want to get rid of it.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/07/2022 5:13 Comments ||
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#2
I believe there is a certain point when such 'stupid' should cause a reexamination of the 'educational' institutes that credentialed these people in see if they need their accreditation pulled.
#4
Out of three boxes (l3sbian, black, and smart) she checked two
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/07/2022 10:01 Comments ||
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#5
Judiciary is 1/3 of the Constitution.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/07/2022 10:16 Comments ||
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#6
Their entire education consists of meaningless or worse contradictory jargon strung together in run on sentences. Hardly a shock when one of them tries to elevate 'I don't like it' with something that sounds technical in her world.
No doubt an A student with the added bonus of outreach to all those fly over Jesus people who are always on about that document.
[France24] US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in South Africa on Sunday to kick off a three-country tour that will also take him to DR Congo and Rwanda, aimed at "developing a strategy to counter Russian efforts to undermine democracy in Africa", according to a France-based political scientist. Could a better example of an oxymoron be found than "South African Democracy?"
Russia, France, and now the US. "It's like a new Cold War is playing out in Africa," William Gumede, director of Democracy Works, told AP, ahead of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's three-nation African tour.
It follows the tours of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who visited Egypt, Uganda, Ethiopia and the Republic of Congo to rally support for Russia amid its ongoing war in Ukraine, and of French President Emmanuel Macron, who visited Cameroon, Benin and Guinea-Bissau with the aim of renewing France’s relations with the African continent. US Agency for International Development head Samantha Power and US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield also embarked on Africa tours of their own. Be sure to get back to us on exactly what was accomplished on these trips. Stopovers in Paris possibly ?
The trip is Blinken’s second to Africa since being appointed secretary of state. His first visit in November 2021 was aimed at "resetting US-African relations following Donald Trump’s presidency, demonstrating the US’ commitment to democracy and showing that the US cares about its relationship with African countries", according to Douglas Yates, a political scientist specialised in African politics who teaches at the American Graduate School in Paris.
Blinken visited Kenya, Senegal and Nigeria during his 2021 tour, three countries that "meet the minimum requirements for democracies and have all come out of military rule," Yates said. "Meeting minimum requirement" really is the key.
Since Trump’s presidential term, during which the US pulled out from a number of initiatives important to South Africa, including the Paris Climate Agreement and the Green Climate Fund, South Africa has seen the US as an "unreliable partner", Yates said.
#10
"What is this 'shithole?' Can we get money from it?"
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/07/2022 7:25 Comments ||
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#11
Africa is certainly a pretty high priority for the Russian bear currently. Will Tony also visit Saipan to keep it out of the hands of the Oompa Loompas on this trip or his next junket?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
08/07/2022 14:49 Comments ||
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[American Thinker] The talk in the media is about a "beefed-up" IRS. The IRS budget for FY 2022 totals nearly $14 billion ($11.9 billion in appropriated funds) with a full-time equivalent (FTE) staff ceiling of 79,808 (75,533 from appropriated funding.)
Now, the Democrat-controlled Congress, at the behest of the Biden Administration, wants to take that up an additional almost $80 billion, with 1% going to Department of the Treasury offices other than the IRS. That adds up to nearly $93 billion, seven times this year’s budget. SEVEN TIMES.
In addition, Democrats want to add in another 86,852 FTEs, more than doubling the staffing to 166,660. These positions are described as "new, specialized enforcement staff." See page 17 of the American Families Plan Tax Compliance Agenda for more. The increased funding and staffing are designed to restore IRS enforcement capability through a sustained rebuilding of the IRS.
According to IRS data, staffing was at a peak in 1995 at 114,064 FTEs. That was before automation, common use internet, and e-filing. Data processing took more than a quarter of all staff.
Within two years, the data processing staff was cut in half—no surprise there—and disappeared altogether as a category a couple of years later. As banking became more automated, collections staff numbers other than revenue officers were reduced by two-thirds. With the advent of e-filing, the filing and account management staff declined. Staffing has been more or less at today’s level for a decade, which is eminently reasonable as more sophisticated automation is available to both the IRS and the taxpayer. Under these circumstances, the IRS will not be rebuilding its old structure nor restoring anything that may have been lost. So, what’s going on?
Something doesn’t add up. We know through observing Biden Administration and Congressional activities over the past half year that it takes about $80 billion to cover our costs for a proxy war between the US/NATO and another nuclear power.
While practice doesn’t always make perfect, it certainly sets a pattern. Now, the same actors plan to spend $80 billion going after unpaid income taxes. However, it looks more like Biden and his pet Congresscritters are about to fund a war on We the People.
#1
Could be a prelude to the financial world going full digital. Or confiscation of gold or cash…. Conspiracy theories will emerge as no one trusts the IRS.
#2
Money is just a marker for wealth. Actual wealth will still reside with those who make it, in the environment in which it is made.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/07/2022 5:18 Comments ||
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#3
They want to add 85,000 "new, specialized enforcement staff"? The ones they have now aren't that good, and these ones will be even worse. And what the hell are they going to be auditing? I can't imagine this will be popular with any segment of the population besides CPA's who'll have to defend clients from all these audits.
#4
I predict the IRS will increase surveillance and prosecution of conservatives and Christian churches. The excess of funding will be used to prosecute and bankrupt all political opponents.
Remember when Federal Income Law (16th) was passed it actually taxed less than 1 percent of the US population, and they paid income taxes at only 1 percent of net income.
TAXES in the US now are the equivalent of Indentured servitude. Maybe it is time for the SCOTUS to review the 16th as pass and intended in 1913 vs. as applied now in 2022.
#10
My opinion of the IRS has always been colored by the fact that IRS whistleblowers had to be treated like mob informants when testifying before Congress due to death threats. That alone should tell you everything you need to know about the IRS should be disbanded and every member of the staff sent to Gitmo, never to return.
#13
#8 exactly, and why Obama was procuring all that weaponry for obscure Gov. entities (that would not normaly be involved with weapons), during bis time...
Some of us remember the IRS vs the Tea Party.
Nobody ever liked the IRS, but once upon a time, they were regarded as fair. Same with the FBI.
I am trying without success to think of any American institution that has not been compromised. Government, law enforcement, science, the military, universities, journals... even the weather. OK, Waffle House still works!
See here for links to all of today’s posts on Operation Breaking Dawn.
[JPost] Hamas, as the ruling authority in the Gaza Strip, has so far not fired any rockets toward Israel, choosing instead to stay out of the conflict between the IDF and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The military said that the group is currently sitting on the fence, and hopes the designated terror group will stay out of the fighting.
In 2019 when the IDF launched Operation Black Belt after targeting Baha Abu al-Ata, the group’s leader in the northern Gaza Strip, Hamas refrained from taking part in the fighting between the Israeli military and Islamic Jihad.
The operation lasted 48 hours and saw the terror group fire 450 rockets at Israel.
Jerusalem hopes that circumstances within the Strip, including the responsibility Hamas has to the residents of Gaza, will prevent them from firing rockets as well.
But there are some circumstances that could bring the terror group into the fighting.
If a Hamas member is killed in an Israeli airstrike, the group will likely retaliate with rocket fire.
With the Jewish holiday of Tisha Be’av on Sunday, a large number of Jews are expected to visit the Temple Mount. Should there be any clashes on the holy site, there are concerns that Hamas will feel the need to enter the fighting in order to show that it is the protector of al-Aqsa Mosque on the site.
Prime Minister Yair Lapid said Friday that Israel “won’t allow terrorist organizations to set the agenda in the Gaza Strip and threaten the citizens of the State of Israel. Anyone who wants to harm Israel must know that we will get to them. Security forces will act against the Islamic Jihad terrorists to remove the threat from the citizens of Israel.”
Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that the goal is to protect Israeli communities and citizens. “We will not allow anyone to threaten or harm the citizens of Israel. Whoever tries will be hurt.”
He warned earlier during a visit to the IDF’s Southern Command that the threat posed by the group would be dealt with.
“The situation in which several terrorists – some of which are not even located in this area – hold the Gazan people hostage will backfire.”
Defense Minister Benny Gantz
“To our enemies, and specifically to the leadership of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, I would like to emphasize: Your time is up,” the defense minister said. “The threat [in this region] will be removed one way or another.”
During his visit, he held a situational assessment with IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi, head of the southern Command Maj.-Gen. Eliezer Toledano, Commander of the Gaza Division Brig.-Gen. Nimrod Aloni and Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).
“The situation in which several terrorists – some of whom are not even located in this area – hold the Gazan people hostage will backfire,” Gantz warned.
Islamic Jihad is an Iranian proxy which, unlike Hamas, does not have any responsibility for the citizens of Gaza. The Islamic Republic funds and equips the Gaza-based terror group.
The group’s chief Ziyad Nakhalah, who is based in Damascus, met with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran on Thursday and with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander Hossein Salami on Saturday.
“The Israelis will pay yet another heavy price for their crime,” Salami was quoted by Iranian news networks as saying.
IRGC Quds Force Commander Ismail Kaani also warned that Hezbollah would join the fight.
“Hezbollah plans to deal the Zionist entity it’s final blow to and remove it from existence at the appropriate time,” he was quoted as saying.
Gantz said Friday morning that security forces are preparing for all scenarios on all fronts, including in the North and the center of the country, and that the IDF will continue its operational activity in all sectors as needed.
“We do not seek conflict, yet we will not hesitate to defend our citizens if required,” he said, adding that “the State of Israel and the IDF will continue its operations, knowing the responsibility we bear on our shoulders: to defend the communities and citizens of Israel’s South, and to defend the citizens of the entire State of Israel.”
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/07/2022 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
See here for links to all of today’s posts on Operation Breaking Dawn.
[JPost] Sometimes, your "deniable" liability becomes your liability. Curb your dog
Regardless of how and when the current round of fighting ends, it’s clear that the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad organization has managed to reassert its status as the second largest and most influential terror group in the Gaza Strip.
It’s also obvious that Islamic Jihad has become a major threat not only to Israel, but to Hamas as well. Similarly, it has also become a real threat to the Palestinian Authority, especially in the northern West Bank.
In the past several years, Islamic Jihad has been openly challenging Hamas by operating as a state-within-a-state in the Gaza Strip. Hamas leaders have always displayed intolerance towards rival groups in the coastal enclave.
Even more disturbing for Hamas is the fact that a number of other armed groups have joined Islamic Jihad in firing rockets at Israel in the past 24 hours. These groups are affiliated with Fatah, Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Popular Resistance Committees and Nasser Salah a-Din Brigades.
The fighting in the Gaza Strip shows that Hamas is no longer the sole decision-maker on matters related to military confrontations with Israel. It further illustrates that Islamic Jihad is capable of acting as an independent military force without having to coordinate with, or receive permission from, Hamas.
A statement published by the armed wing of Islamic Jihad on Saturday boasted that the terrorist groups were united in confronting the Israeli "aggression" on the Gaza Strip.
The statement, nonetheless, does not seem to reflect the reality on the ground, namely that Hamas has still not joined Islamic Jihad and its allies in the current round of fighting.
By Saturday afternoon, there was still no indication that Hamas was keen on joining the fighting. Statements issued by Hamas leaders offered nothing but lip service to Islamic Jihad and the other terrorist groups.
A terse statement by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said that he "affirmed during contacts with the Egyptian intelligence heads that what happened in the Gaza Strip is the responsibility of the occupation state alone." Haniyeh, in addition, "stressed the need to stop the bombing targeting the Gaza Strip."
Another statement released by Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum also failed to offer any hint that his group was planning to join the fighting. "The resistance, with all its military arms and factions, is united in this battle, will defend our people in the Gaza Strip with everything it possesses, and will defeat the occupation as it defeated it in all the battles," said Barhoum.
At this stage, it’s obvious that Hamas does not want Islamic Jihad to drag it into another all-out confrontation with Israel. Hamas’s biggest fear is that another war could trigger a revolt against its regime by the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, who paid a heavy price during last year’s military confrontation with Israel.
Hamas is now hoping that Egypt and Qatar will be able to achieve a new ceasefire between Israel and Islamic jihad. Although it is doing its utmost not to get involved in the fighting, Hamas is apparently worried that if the fighting escalates and the number of casualties rises in the Gaza Strip, it will no longer be able to continue sitting on the fence.
In the past, Hamas found itself in the same position that Islamic Jihad is in now, when it created a state-within-a-state under the rule of the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Authority’s failure to rein in Hamas in the 1990s ultimately saw the Islamists seize control of the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2007 after toppling the Palestinian Authority.
Paradoxically, Israel’s military strikes against Islamic Jihad serve the interests of Hamas by undermining the organization that poses a threat to its rule over the Gaza Strip. But Hamas’s failure to assist Islamic Jihad could also prove to be counterproductive, especially in wake of increased voices criticizing the rulers of the Gaza Strip for their neutral stance.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/07/2022 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Palestinian Islamic Jihad
Aug 3, 2022
[NPASyria] In light of the military escalation taking place in various areas in Syria, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire... continues to fortify and strengthen its positions and military posts in areas held by Ottoman Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) in Idlib and the western countryside of Aleppo, which raises a question about Turkey’s aim of all these moves.
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.
[American Thinker] Last week, an awful story came out of 
Since the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service is essentially no longer used, it's budget should be suspended or reprogramed. 
[EMPsurvive] EMP (nuke related) issues that US Citizens are facing. This article touches on all 3 namely:
[Creators] This is an election year. But the issues this year are not about Democrats and Republicans. The big issue is whether this nation has degenerated to a point of no return — a point where we risk destroying ourselves, before our enemies can destroy us.
[Red State] As Inigo Montoya might have said: She keeps using that word. I do not think it means what she thinks it means. Karine Jean-Pierre argued yesterday that the Supreme Court violated the Constitution in reversing their own decision in Roe in an attempt to fend off a question about the timing of Joe Biden’s EO on abortion costs. When a reporter wondered aloud why it took Biden three months after the leak of the Dobbs draft and then six weeks after its official publication to issue this EO, Jean-Pierre insisted that Biden’s been all over it since "day one."
[France24] US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in South Africa on Sunday to kick off a three-country tour that will also take him to DR Congo and Rwanda, aimed at "developing a strategy to counter Russian efforts to undermine democracy in Africa", according to a France-based political scientist. 
We simply must stay ahead of these people. They are virtually everywhere. 
[JPost] 
