Threat Matrix 2020

Established in 2001 after the 9/11 attack on America, this thread is designed to identify threats to America, both internal and external, and evaluate the probability of those threats occurring and the extent of potential damage. Discussions may stray into ‘tinfoil’ territory, but the goal is to peel back and confirm information so we can make founded decisions and actions.

Relative brief look today, a lot of life breaking in to deal with.

Wuhan Virus -

Most recent data dump from DoughtyOne 7/23/20
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3867567/posts

President Donald Trump said the Republican Party will cancel its national convention in Jacksonville, Florida set for next month as coronavirus infections continue to surge in the state.

A new coronavirus mutation has become the most dominant strain of the virus — and is causing outbreaks to spread more quickly across the world, an expert said. Professor Nick Loman, of the University of Birmingham, who is part of the COVID-19 Genomics Consortium, told BBC Radio 4’s “Today” program that the mutation, known as D614G, is forming clusters more quickly in the UK than the original virus from Wuhan.
NOTE: There are now something like a dozen different mutations of the virus floating around out there now. This will make the unicornian dream of a vaccine that much more impossible to attain. Bill Gates on this point has said that multiple vaccines may be required.

This recent outbreak may be on the decline. Data out of three key U.S. states show encouraging signs for the coronavirus pandemic here, with two recent COVID-19 hotspots showing signs of turning a corner while one of the earliest states to reopen recently posted its lowest daily death toll in three months. Some initial studies suggest that the disease itself has mutated, as is often the case with respiratory viruses, becoming more infectious but less deadly, leading to a higher incidence of cases but overall less fatalities.

Economy -
At the end of this week, states will stop paying the additional $600 per week of unemployment insurance that Congress passed in March.

Gold has punched thru the $1900 level to its highest levels in years. Silver is still on the rise as well pushing to sustain a new level in the $23/oz range.

CW2/Civil Unrest -
What we’re seeing now is not democracy. It’s a classical marxist rebellion.

Hundreds of protesters demonstrated outside the home of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Thursday evening to demand defunding of the city’s police department. Though relatively peaceful, they were also stirred up from the apparent capitulation to the mobilization of federal law enforcement to the city. Lightfoot is just the latest city leader being put back in her place by the marxist forces. As with other cities, rioters putting direct pressure on city leaders if / when they show signs of waving to their demands. Also over night, city crews removed the statue of Columbus from Grant Park.

MY OBSERVATION - I’ve mentioned this in MY OBSERVATIONS several times now and others now are seeing it too. Opinion column by Jack Dunphy asks if the left is going for a Kent State situation. (https://pjmedia.com/columns/jack-dunphy/2020/07/23/will-we-see-another-kent-state-incident-n678375) The trend I’m seeing is that the goal is yes, the rioters are looking for something to give their media mouth pieces ammo to sanctify their destruction. They can only be orwellian for so long (like Portland’s mayor saying tear gas was unjustified because the protest was ‘peaceful’ even though an adjacent building was ‘peacefully’ set on fire). Rioting has withdrawn back into just a few of the major cities, with the vacuum creating skyrocketing violent crime waves and substantial police retirement/resignations. This seems to be the goal in Portland - keep pushing city and federal law enforcement to the point of a lethal response. Then their media mouthpieces can say Trump has declared war on America. These 100 or so days to the election are the most hazardous our nation has ever faced I’m afraid to say.

China -
China directs the US consulate in Chengdu to be closed within 72 hours. China’s stock market in response nosedives over 3%.

Challenging the US action to close the Houston consulate , Consul General Can in Houston, said China is protesting the closure order and his office will remain open “until further notice.” But if China does try to keep its consulate open, the experts said the U.S. could revoke visas for Cai and his staff, allowing federal agents to arrest and potentially deport them. What this will further do is place extreme pressure on the staff because once diplomatic status is revoked, either the personnel have to leave, or they become subject to the laws of the country they’re in, just like everyone else. Diplomatic immunity no longer applies to persona non grata. I’m sure DOJ has a lot of questions to ask about china’s espionage activities in the US, something China doesn’t want to have happen.

Four Chinese nationals face criminal charges for allegedly lying about their links to the People’s Liberation Army when applying for visas to undertake academic research in the U.S., Department of Justice officials said on Thursday. One of the four is holed up in the Chinese consulate in San Francisco. DOJ is continuing to aggressively pursue Chinese espionage in the US.

Russia -
The US and UK have accused Russia of testing a weapon-like projectile in space that could be used to target satellites in orbit. The US State Department described the recent use of “what would appear to be actual in-orbit anti-satellite weaponry” as concerning. Russia’s defense ministry earlier said it was using new technology to perform checks on Russian space equipment. No treaties exist to address militarization of space. Actions like this is one of the primary drivers for Trump’s creation of a separate space command as this will be the next strategic battlefield in the future.

Israel -
Israel sent a message of de-escalation to Hezbollah in Lebanon via Moscow, Kuwaiti news outlet Al Jarida reported on Friday quoting an unnamed source. This comes following a death of a Hezbollah official in Syria, whom the Lebanese terror organization accused Israel of killing in an airstrike earlier this week. Yesterday, Israel reinforced the border with Lebanon with ground forces and flew a considerable number of drone recon flights over southern Lebanon.

Today will be a very busy protest day/night, be alert to your local situations.

Wuhan Virus -

Most recent data dump from DoughtyOne 7/2520
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3868261/posts

Dr Brix said “We’re already starting to see some plateauing in these critically four states that have really suffered under the last four weeks, so Texas, California, Arizona and Florida, those major metros and throughout their counties,”

In the context of the frenzy to enforce mask use, a numbers guy takes a look at the CDC’s numbers on the corona virus and the data and conclusions are interesting. Here’s the link.
https://wmbriggs.com/post/31883/

Economy -
Forbes warned on Thursday that the gold market may be anticipating a “category 5 economic hurricane” ahead: “When gold moves up, smart investors pay attention. The yellow metal today is up about 60% where it was two years ago. It has jumped smartly in recent days. The surge is a warning. The Federal Reserve, America’s central bank, is starting to create too much money. And if this continues, we’ll face a serious financial and economic crisis, perhaps as soon as next year.”

CW2/Civil Unrest -
What we’re seeing now is not democracy. It’s a classical marxist rebellion.

Biggest threat today is the combined marches of NFAC and Three Percenters et al in Louisville KY. NFAC claims the primary motivation for the march is to get results for the Breonna Taylor death. The Three Percenters et al, state they are there to ‘protect’. Both groups are expected to be armed and by some accounts ready for a fight. This has the greatest potential for going kinetic I’ve seen yet.

Youth Liberation Front (YLF) has announced 35 ‘protests’ across the nation today. Based predominantly in the Northwest (Seattle-Portland) it will be educational to see how successful their call out will be. They have also stated as a goal to march into suburbs and more predominately red areas.
NOTE: They have advocated and initiated violence in the past, so be alert to your local situations and avoid those areas.

FAA has issued flight restrictions over Portland in advance of what is expected to be one of the larger ‘protests’ of recent time.

Seattle has forbidden police to wear ANY protective equipment or use non lethal crowd control effective midnight tonight. Seattle is targeted for one of the YAF ‘protests’ so expect the worst once midnight hits.

Denver saw an increase in unrest yesterday as hundreds took to the streets protesting police and the federal govt.

Lawfare continues with a loss to Oregon as a federal judge rejected their request to prohibit Federal LEO’s from making arrests. Sort of lawfare, Portland is threatening to ‘fine’ the federal govt for blocking bicycle lanes in the court house area. Portland claims the fencing and jersey barriers are ‘unpermitted’.

MY OBSERVATIONS - It appears that the left is trying to generate more enthusiasm for riots and protest piggybacked on the federal govt sending something like 60,000 LEO’s to embittered cities. Floyd is no longer usable, so they are trying to pivot to a direct affront of the government. They are still trying to get their “Kent State” moment, a provocation of the government to take it one step higher through a shooting of “peaceful demonstrators” to grant them the moral high ground and try to gain public support.
Public support is critical. Many view the current events as equivalent to a Phase 1 level of low intensity combat/insurgency operations. For insurgency to reach a Phase 2 level, insurgents (Antifa/BLM et al) need to garner general public support of 15-25% of the populace. They most definitely have that level plus in their strongholds of Seattle/Portland but for them to successfully carry the movement nation wide they need something more - a Kent State is one possibility. However, just like the ‘occupy’ movement lost support because of the behavior of the participants, Antifa/BLM have not been helping themselves on a national scale in spite of copious amounts of favorable press. People are getting tired of their terroristic threats and continued wanton violence. This will only go further south is they continue to try to intimidate more red areas of the country. Some of this is being reflected in the open push back to the ‘cancel’ movement (of which Antifa/BLM is a component of) as a substantial number of Americans are opposed to forced censorship.
Barring a significant event between now and the election, I expect to see increasing attempts by the left to ratchet up the rioting through more intense and wide spread operations.

China -
Despite threats to keep it open, the Chinese consulate in Houston closed yesterday at 4 PM. US govt agents took physical control of the building shortly thereafter.

The US has charged and arrested four Chinese nationals with visa fraud for allegedly lying about their membership of China’s armed forces. The fourth was arrested yesterday in the Sacramento CA area after an initial belief she escaped to the Chinese consulate in San Francisco. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin described the US allegations as “malicious slander” and said China “must make a necessary response and safeguard its legitimate rights”.

Australia has formally rejected China’s territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea, aligning itself more closely with the US as tensions rise. In a declaration to the United Nations, Australia said the claims, which take in the majority of the sea, had “no legal basis”.

Still monitoring Three Gorges Dam for potential failure as a new wave of intense rain is forecast over the Yellow River drainage basin.

N Korea -
More than 40 countries accused North Korea on Friday of illicitly breaching a United Nations cap on refined petroleum imports and called for an immediate halt to deliveries until the end of the year, according to a complaint seen by Reuters. The 15-member U.N. Security Council imposed an annual cap of 500,000 barrels in December 2017 in a bid to cut off fuel for North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. (JT) Doubtful that anything meaningful will be done by the Security Council.

Hong Kong -
While pretty much hidden by riot and corona virus news, protestors in HK continue their defiance of the mainland. Protestors have evolved their tactics to fit within the edicts of of the mainland while still projecting their pro-democracy message. For example, forbidden signs have been replaced in some instances by blank white signs. People seeing them recognize the message, but with no ‘message’ HK police are unable to arrest activists. Activists are playing the long game, looking to see that as some point the global pushback to the pro-democracy movement is so damaging to China’s image and economy that it decides it isn’t worth it to continue to try to dominate HK.

Israel -
Relatively minor scrum last night. Some rockets were launched into Israel from Syria, Israel responded with helicopter launched rockets.

Syria -
See Israel counter strike above. Looking at Idlb region after the big effort by Syria to capture the territory and the near head to head clash between Turkey and Russia, things have leveled out to a static situation Most daily activity is focused on the southern boundary with daily artillery engagements by both sides.
Syria is also experiencing an increasing corona virus situation that is addicting to the woes created by their depressed economy and steady combat.

Libya -
The US has called out Russia for increasing shipments of combat material/supplies to GNA forces in country. I have not read any change in the potential introduction of Egypt into the conflict due to GNA attempting to capture Sirte.

Wuhan Virus -

Most recent data dump from DoughtyOne 7/25/20 (yesterday)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3868261/posts

King’s College London studied data from approximately 1,600 U.K. and U.S. patients determined that there are six distinct “types” of the disease involving different clusters of symptoms. The study, which has not been peer-reviewed, says the six different “types” of COVID-19 can vary by severity and come with their own set of symptoms.

Different countries in Europe are announcing various traveler quarantines for arrivals coming from various countries - even within the European block.

Economy -
Second shut down is proving to be one too many for a lot of businesses.

CW2/Civil Unrest -
What we’re seeing now is not democracy. It’s a classical marxist rebellion.

Serious rioting occurred in less than a dozen cities last night - concentrated generally in the dark strongholds in democrat run urban centers. Other than that the numerous other ‘protests’ Saturday really didn’t amount to much.

The NFAC march started off with a bang yesterday . . . . one of the participants discharged his weapon (some reports indicated a shotgun), striking himself and two others sending them to the hospital (though who and how many were hit are still a little fuzzy). The brave other NFAC members dove behind cars or ran away altogether. Undeterred, NFAC’s “Grandmaster Jay” gave a speech promising to “burn down” the city in four weeks if Breonna Taylor’s killers aren’t arrested.

MY OBSERVATION - NFAC is not yet quite ready for combat. They can muster the numbers and I’m sure there is a core group that knows which end to point the weapon, but the reaction is should not be reassuring and they probably shot themselves in the foot with the bad press. Currently their leverage is numbers of people and the threat of violence.

Quick summary of the major activity from yesterday/last night -

Seattle rioting focused on the Capitol Hill area, nefariously known for the short lived country of CHOP. Rioters have adapted fireworks and using them as explosives against the police. Federal judge reversed the Seattle city council’s ban on protective equipment and non-lethal crowd control agents. Seattle leaders wanted the police to face rioter throwing frozen water bottles, rocks, acid mix, lasers etc with no protection.

The crowds in Aurora CO blocked I-225 and fired at a vehicle, who’s driver sped off to get to safety, hitting protestors to do so. To make matters worse for the rioters, the antifa shooter actually hit some of his fellow rioters. The driver of the car was uninjured. A courthouse in Aurora was also set on fire. The intensity of the riots in Aurora surprised me - however its location within the greater Denver metroplex has plenty of antifa/blm marxist support.

Austin TX, an antifa armed with an AK 47 apparently approached a vehicle trapped by the mob in a threatening manner, the driver responded defensively and shot the rioter. Police were in contact with the shooter, who was cooperating with authorities. The last words of this antifa to a news reporter were “people who hate us” are “too big of p-ssies to actually do anything about it.” Guess not, he must have forgotten this was Texas. A youth detention center and police station were set on fire.

The federal agents in Portland are receiving eyewear to protect from lasers as news has come out that 3 officers may be permanently blind due to exposure. Videos of these riots show a lot of lasers flashing around. Initially used to blind surveillance camera, they quickly became a weapon to blind/distract officers. Riots in Portland continued as usual. Portland so called ‘veterans’ are standing in front of the rioters and are probably fake, just like the ‘moms’ were documented as antifa that brought a change of shirts with them for the ‘mom wall’.

Hundreds of protesters marched through downtown Oakland, smashing windows of the city’s police headquarters and setting a fire inside the Alameda County courthouse.

Omaha NE was a surprise too, with between 75 and 80 protesters were taken into custody after police declared an unlawful assembly, the Omaha World-Herald reported. Omaha being the largest metro area in the state has a core of marxist support. It is one of the force projection marches in this otherwise red area.

LA riots focused on the federal courthouse and rioters damaged and vandalized it as well as numerous businesses.

MY OBSERVATION - Apart from the daily riot torn zones in Portland and Seattle, this day of retribution was underwhelming. The numbers just weren’t there. OTOH, staging protests in red areas is evidence of an attempt to project force/intimidation saying “yes we can muster here too - you are not safe” But even that didn’t pass the muster.

Antifa is being more aggressive threatening bystanders caught in the riots with weapons. I expect to see more incidents like Austin and Aurora as well as more rioters getting run down by threatened drivers. This is a dangerous trend that is developing and civilians can’t count on law enforcement for protection. NOTE be situationally aware when driving in these perpetual riot towns and on special announced days like yesterday.

China -
Flooding from epic rainstorms has wiped out nearly all the crops in the flooded region as levee fail or are blown up to protect downstream areas and dams spill at maximum rates. Again, another massive storm is forecast for the region.

Russia -
See Syria activity.

Syria -
According to the Hebrew-language outlet Channel 12 News, Russians have been steadily gaining control over the Syrian Golan Heights region in recent weeks, establishing their own strong militia in the area. Named ”The Huran Army,” the biblical name of the region, the militia is headed by a local rebel commander, Ahmed al-Ouda, who fought against Syrian President Bashar Assad, according to the report. It is understood to be hostile to both Iran and the Syrian regime and curbing Hezbollah influence. Many of the militia recruits are reportedly past rebels who were treated in Israeli hospitals and also received food and medical provisions from the Jewish state.
This is an interesting move by Russia and a good one I would think from Israel’s viewpoint. The recruits have a favorable view of Israel and the buffer created will make Hezbollah’s efforts to develop another line of attack into Israel more difficult.

Heads up, this week for me personally has a lot of chaos, so my posts may be more abbreviated or not at all. Keep alert to those things that threaten you both near and far.

Wuhan Virus -

Most recent data dump from DoughtyOne 7/26/20 (yesterday)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3868739/posts

The number of coronavirus infections has hit 16 million worldwide, while more than 646,800 people have died, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. More than 9.3 million patients have recovered.

Economy -
Gold pushing the $2000 level, silver skyrocketing past the $24/oz level. The US dollar index is down - quite often in an inverse relationship with metals. The metals response seems substantially stronger than normal to the dollar, so there are probably other forces at work (and I’m not an economics guy)

Discussions continue in DC on a new stimulus bill. Early indicators suggest it will be similar to the previous one, but scaled back to a degree. Democrats pushing their own measures that is far more spendy. One of the biggest points on contention is the $600 unemployment benefit blamed for keeping people on unemployment rather than seeking work.

CW2/Civil Unrest -
What we’re seeing now is not democracy. It’s a classical marxist rebellion.

Follow up on Saturday’s Austin TX shooting. Still some questions on my part. Recent reports are that witness say that Foster, who was holding an Bullpup style semi-automatic rifle (initial reports indicated it was an AK47-type assault rifle), approached the driver side window of this car as others in the crowd began striking the car. This is clearly visible in a photos circulating on the internet/twitter. “Gunshots were fired from inside the vehicle at Mr. Foster,” a witness said. Auston PD stated “During the initial investigation of this incident, it appears Mr. Foster may have pointed his rifle at the driver of this vehicle prior to being shot.” As I noted above, there is no question, Foster DID have his rifle shouldered and pointing into the passenger compartment on the driver’s side.
Another individual told APD that after that first volley of gunfire and seeing the car drive away from the crowd, they (one of the rioters) drew their concealed handgun and fired multiple shots at the car. Auston PD said this individual was also brought to the homicide office to be interviewed, and this individual’s handgun, along with Foster’s rifle, were also taken into evidence.
Media is already taking this new information to try to smear the driver and picture the deceased antifa (Foster) rioter as the victim. A photograph clearly shows Foster with his rifle shouldered and pointing into the vehicle prior to any shooting. Confirmation that he didn’t fire it still is not out there. The action of having the rifle shouldered is sufficient cause for defensive fire by the driver, but watch to see if politicians try to frame the driver instead.

Portland Police responded to reports of gunfire in Lownsdale Square Park as riots extended past 60 consecutive days. Ammunition and molotov cocktails were also found by police.

Eugene OR, weekend protests brought forth another gun incident where protestors surrounded and threatened a driver who pulled out a handgun. One of the rioters pulled one out as well and a standoff ensued for a period. The driver eventually was able to drive away. At another location of the protest, someone fired a round into the air, causing momentary panic among rioters.

MY OBSERVATIONS - Antifa et al are increasingly brandishing and USING weapons at their protests. This will not end well as citizens have increasing justification - particularly in the standard tactic of blocking roads/freeways and terrorizing drivers - to open fire as well as run over protestors to escape the threat to their lives. Correct me if i’m wrong, but there have been virtually no prosecutions of drivers who had to plow through antifa when swarmed upon by the rioters.
The escalation of lethal weapons used - guns and modified fireworks - has been enabled by the refusal of local authorities to arrest, jail and prosecute rioters. Instead, they’ve been allowed back on the streets with no consequences. Now they think they can get away with more. Not a good trend.

China -
China’s Foreign Ministry says the U.S. consulate in Chengu closed at 10 am local time.

N Korea -
North Korea on alert yesterday over its ‘first suspected coronavirus case’. State media said a person who defected to South Korea three years ago last week returned across the demarcation line with Covid-19 symptoms. Kim was said to have ordered a “maximum emergency system” to contain the virus.

Hong Kong -
Reports of a resurgence of corona virus infection have continued to add challenges to the city.

Israel -
According to Channel 12 in Israel, the country is preparing a preemptive strike designed to thwart Hezbollah cells planning an attack on the border. Iron dome and artillery units also reported deployed to Northern Israel. The exact nature of this threat is uncertain to observers, however, it may be in response to Israel’s strike on Iranian munitions and supply depots in Damascus last week that killed two Hezbollah leaders. However, artillery and Iron Dome suggest that Israel is expecting something bigger with a bigger Hezbollah counter strike. Monitoring.

Iran -
The Iranian mock up of a US Navy Nimitz-Class Carrier has been moved into the Strait of Hormuz, highlighting the potential forthcoming of a military exercise. This target was last used in 2015 and was recently repaired / renovated over the past several months.

Iraq -
PMU camp Al-Saqr in Iraq had a massive explosion yesterday from an attack believed to have come from US forces. The same base was the scene of a mysterious explosion last year that pro-Iranian militias in Iraq blamed on Israel. The pro-Iranian militias linked to the Hashd al-Shaabi, also called PMU, have carried out dozens of rocket attacks on US bases since last year.

Syria -
Fighting south of Idlb has intensified lately as Syria et al works to secure high ground in the region.

Turkey -
Turkey is facing threats of new sanctions as it increases its aggressive policy of trying to dominate potential Mediterranean oilfields as well as moving to purchase the Russian S-400 air defense system. It also didn’t help that he ordered the conversion of the Hagia Sophia into a mosque.

Libya -
LNA air force elements attacker GNA forces staging west of Sirte yesterday. GNA continues it force build up to attempt to capture the city.

Wuhan Virus -

Most recent data dump from DoughtyOne 7/26/20

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3868739/posts

CNBC is reporting that coronavirus outbreaks in Arizona, Florida and Texas appear to be slowing down as more people practice social distancing and states mandate face masks. Arizona reported a 13% drop in the seven-day average of new Covid-cases, Texas have fallen almost 19% over the past seven days, and Florida notes an 8% decrease compared with a week ago.

(CNSNews.com) - After falling for ten straight weeks, COVID-involved deaths in the United States began rising again during the week that ended on July 4 and continued to rise in the week that ended on July 11, according to data published by the CDC.
However, even with the rising number of deaths in those two weeks—as counted by death certificates submitted to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics—the number of COVID-involved deaths in the week ending July 11 was still 77.5 percent below the mid-April peak

Economy -
U.S. orders for durable goods rose more than expected in June, led by a surge in motor vehicles and strong demand from U.S. businesses. Orders climbed 7.3 percent last month, the Commerce Department said Monday. That was the second consecutive month of strong gains after the pandemic lockdown induced crash in March and April. In May, orders rose 15.1 percent.

Gold and silver prices pulled back some overnight, but overall they have skyrocketed to the highest in many many years. Analysts see this in part due to uncertainty buying, others indicate that less physical metal is being made available for purchase.

Republicans and democrats continue to negotiate a third phase of stimulus payouts. So far the democrats continue to be the party of NO, rejecting flat out the republican proposal while no putting forth anything of their own.

CW2/Civil Unrest -
We are about 100 days out from the elections and anything can happen. The dynamics of this insurrection ebb and flow on almost a daily basis. Be alert to your local conditions, especially if you live in a large urban area governed by democrats.

Following up on some of the lesser protests from the weekend. Places like Eugene OR and Sacramento CA these “protestors” showed up to damage and destroy, not protest in the ‘peaceful’ manner. Both locations riots started almost immediately, resulting in window breaking, other vandalism and fires. The numbers were relatively small - Sacramento saw only about 150, but they were armed with pipes and hammers.

MY OBSERVATION - To me, this is another act of force projection (economy of force), using smaller and more violent groups for essentially quick strikes - just to remind that they are still around and can attack at will. Both cities are only about a 2 hour drive from core antifa/BLM sanctuary cities (Portland and the Bay area). This looks to be a medium level measure to conserve forces as well as to gauge law enforcement response and intel.

Protestors showed up at the home of Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf, to protest his upholding of the law. Not necessarily the wisest thing to do.

Violent crime in the aftermath of the Floyd riots has skyrocketed in the Minneapolis metropolitan and suburban complex. So much so that neighborhoods are essentially being forced to control access and establish local militias. All kinds of crime - especially violent crime - has skyrocketed in cities that have been centers of rioting since Memorial Day. Growth of crime is in the hundreds of a percent increase range. People are realizing that in their civic leaders zeal to defund/disband the police, they are being left to fend for themselves (while those same leaders get taxpayer paid private security)

Israel -
Israeli press is reporting the on Monday IDF forces intercepted a 5 man Hezbollah terror team attempting to infiltrate in the Shebaa Farms (Har Dov) area. IDF has been on heighten alert along the Lebanese border for nearly a week now after killing a senior Hezbollah leader in airstrikes around Damascus. Hezbollah warned Israel it might retaliate, but said that it would not give clues as to when and where. It was unclear whether the incident on Monday was part of that response, but according to some Arab outlets, this was the retaliation. Other reports suggest that IDF expects Hezbollah to try again in the near future.

Iran -
Naval war games started and Iran highlighted a video showing a helicopter shooting an anti-ship missle at the aircraft carrier mock-up. It is funny since the missile is very short ranged and the helicopter under war time considerations would have been blown out of the sky long before it reached firing range - but it makes good propaganda for the Iranian masses.

Turkey -
See Libya comment

Libya -
Egypt and France carried out naval exercises in Mediterranean over the weekend. The exercise was intended to send a message to Turkey who’s been overtly supporting the GNA factions in Libya as well as throwing its weight around the eastern Mediterranean Sea to control oil producing areas. Last month a Turkish warship illuminated a French warship that was attempting to stop and board a Turkish flagged freighter suspected of violating the embargo on Libya.

Wuhan Virus -

Most recent data dump from DoughtyOne 7/29/20

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3869429/posts

Hong Kong is facing a new wave of Covid-19 infections that can overwhelm the city’s health care system and cost lives, chief executive Carrie Lam has warned.
She urged people to stay at home as far as possible and follow strict social distancing measures. The city on Tuesday said it was investigating 106 additional cases of infection, bringing Hong Kong’s total number of confirmed cases to at least 2,884.
“We are on the verge of a large-scale community outbreak, which may lead to a collapse of our hospital system and cost lives, especially of the elderly,” Lam said in a statement.

Infections appear to be increasing in Spain, France, and Belgium according to EU sources.

Economy -
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported a 4.5% annual gain in May, down from 4.6% in the previous month. These numbers suggest the housing market is generally stable.

Record gold prices are causing concern about U.S. dollar’s future as the world’s reserve currency. Economic turmoil in the US the dollar is being seen as less of a safe currency and investors going to gold for assets protection.

The eviction moratorium ended last Friday and the unemployment bonus of $600 is slated to end this coming Friday. Now 12 million renters - all behind on rent payments because of the virus-induced recession - are now at imminent risk of eviction. It isn’t just the renters suffering - land lords are as well, their costs havent stopped (property taxes, mortgages etc) The urgency of the efforts to keep the economy open are apparent, people need to get back to work.

Seattle’s mayor claims their efforts have caused Federal agent to have left the city. No confirmation yet. Meanwhile it is being reported that the administration is in talks with the State of Oregon to reduce its presence in Portland on the condition that the state fulfills its obligation to protect federal facilities and makes greater efforts to quell the two month plus long continuous rioting. Yesterday it was announced that 50 additional officers were sent to Portland to reinforce the federal elements protecting the courthouse in Portland.

Rioting has expanded to Tempe AZ Monday night. Protestors blocked streets and attacked police preventing them from entering Scottsdale RD.
MY OBSERVATION - Tempe is a outlying community, part of the greater Phoenix metro area. More signs that the rioters are trying to move out of dark blue, urban core areas and projecting force/terror in outliers where support is not as strong.

Rioters who attacked the Atlanta Field Office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) embedded nails into commercial-grade fireworks. The devices were reportedly discovered after the protest ended Sunday morning.
MY OBSERVATION - Another piece of evidence that rioters are increasing the level of violence to that of lethal. Increased willingness for rioters towards lethality indicates that the previous behavior has essentially become ‘normalized’ due to non-prosecution by civil authorities (arrest and release) and they feel confident that they can do what they want with no repercussion.

Hong Kong -
See Wuhan virus above

Israel -
Tension continues on the Israel / Lebanon border. An infiltration by a Hezbollah terror team was thwarted earlier this week, but it is viewed as just the first attempt. The area is seeing higher than normal IAF patrols and local citizens are being warned / prepared for any level of attacks.

Iran -
As part of the current naval exercises, Iran launched several ballistic missiles that impacted in the southern Arabian Sea. The impact zone was close enough to two Allied Bases that they were put on alert. The US repudiated Iran for firing into a heavily used shipping lane.
Other videos produced by Iran show a wide variety of weapon systems. Great for domestic consumption - even better for intelligence analysis. One aspect is the reported ‘buried’ missiles. Looks like the rockets were buried in a launch container under a shallow soil cover. May provide some degree of camouflage, but could be detected with adequate surveillance.

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