Threat Matrix 2021

Threat Matrix is a thread where global and domestic threats and trends to America are noted and commented on. Goal it to peel back the BS and get to the root of things.

Wuhan virus -
Roughly half of NIH employees have not been ‘vaccinated’ . . . . . This speaks volumes.

On April 20, OSHA released the new guidance in the frequently asked questions section of its website for COVID-19 safety compliance. The question asks whether an employer should record adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccination if the employer requires the vaccine. OSHA states that if a vaccine is required, then any adverse reaction is considered work-related and therefore it must be recorded. Under OSHA rules, most employers with more than 10 employees are required to keep a record of serious work-related injuries and illnesses. Recorded injuries and illnesses become part of a contractors safety record.

A recent article published in the scientific journal Microbiology and Infectious Diseases makes the claim that the mRNA Pfizer Covid vaccine may contain prions which cause deadly neurodegenerative disease, sometimes called “Creutzfeldt-Jakob” or “Mad Cow” disease. The article, titled “COVID-19 RNA Based Vaccines and the Risk of Prion Disease,” was published in January of 2021 and has been studiously ignored by major media, which has focused its efforts on encouraging individuals to take the jab. Prion disease takes years to develop, so any short term linkage with the ‘vaccines’ will be separated by time.

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Globalism / Great Reset -
As masking requirements for wuhan fade, the battle is now quickly shifting to vaxxed versus unvaxxed as I’ve pointed out earlier this last week. By maintaining this schism, big govt is able to leverage its controls on the population and push both towards globalist goals. It’s all about control.
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Economy -
Corn and grain prices could rise further after this week’s shut down of the Hernando de Soto bridge in Memphis. Inspectors identified a crack in a steel beam, and state officials closed off traffic on the Mississippi River. As of this morning, 49 vessels and over 800 barges are backed up in both directions, disrupting barge loading terminals on the river. Meanwhile, severe droughts in Brazil have caused Chinese corn purchasers to look to the US. The increased cost to feed livestock will likely continue to drive up domestic food prices.

A continued shortage of available truck drivers is leading to persistent domestic supply crunches. Current manufacturing lead times for resupplies of basic materials grew to 79 days in April and overall delays like this haven’t been felt by industries since 1987.
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Invasion of Illegals -
Reuters is reporting that Border Patrol agents are contemplating early retirement in a forming tsunami of departures. Interviews with a dozen current and former agents highlight growing dissatisfaction among some rank and file members of the agency.
NOTE - this is a parallel trend to the massive outflow of police officers from liberal controlled metro areas. I don’t see the trend reversing any time soon.
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CW2/Domestic violence -
BLM/Antifa supported anti-Israel protests were conducted in Sacramento, Portland, San Francisco, LA, San Diego, Seattle,
Denver, Phoenix, Des Moines, St Louis, Minneapolis, Iowa City, Kansas City MO, Lawrence KS, Wichita, Dallas ,
Austin, Houston, Cleveland, Columbus OH, Pittsburgh, Greensboro, Tampa, Burlington VT, Hanover NH,
Portsmouth NH, Albany, Detroit, Boston, Hartford CT, NYC, :Philadelphia , Washington DC,
Louisville KY, Raleigh NC, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Orlando, Sarasota, Dearborn, Cleveland, Patterson NJ,
Allentown PA, Tampa.
At LA’s “solidarity with Palestine” march, freeways were blocked. They even attempted to swarm and attacki a California Highway Patrol vehicle trying to push through the mob. They ignore orders to get out of the way.

Next week, BLM activists and Antifa militants are preparing for “George Floyd week” to mark the one year anniversary of his death in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A full spectrum of protests, marches, car caravans, direct actions, and potential riots are expected based on the current level of Far Left planning.
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Domestic Terror -
The FBI quietly admitted Friday that the 2017 Alexandria, Virginia, baseball field shooting that nearly killed Rep. Steve Scalise has been classified as “domestic terrorism” carried out by a “domestic violent extremist” targeting Republicans after the bureau previously classified it as “suicide by cop.”
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China -
A tornado hit Wuhan (yes that Wuhan), killing 12 - karma?

China Coast Guard vessel 5901 appeared near Thitu Island after passing by the Scarborough Shoal. Looks like China wants to send a message to the Philippines by deploying one of its largest coast guard cutters into the disputed waters.
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Russia - MAINTAINING WATCH
In regards to the current Gaza/Israel war Putin said, “I would ask my colleagues to speak about the current situation in the Middle East. I am referring to the escalating Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is happening in close proximity to our borders and directly affects the interests of our security.” The proximity of Russian military assets in Syria could lead to their involvement should the situation in Israel continue to degrade.
NOTE - As I pointed out earlier last week, if Hezbollah or Iran gets froggy, they may very well draw Israeli airstrikes in Syria and in particular Syrian ADA. Russia has warned Israel to restrain itself or Russian ADA in Syria there to protect its troops mostly in the Idlib provence area will respond.
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Israel - WAR

Overall - no end in sight though pressures are seen to be rising to stop the war. Trend is Hamas et al is struggling to maintain the massive salvos early in the conflict, but they are still able to launch enough volume to keep areas under nearly constant attack.. What they can muster is still impressive but far below early attacks. Israel OTOH, has increased counter strikes both in intensity and number. In one instance it was reported that 130 airstrikes hit within one hours time. Artillery and now even naval gunfire are piling on the IAF strikes. Israel continues the trend of targeting Hamas underground network and leadership. Hamas’ loss of leadership, facilities and munitions will only get worse and worse. I expect a ground invasion some time next week, the only way Israel can make sure the surviving rats are flushed out.

Since the start of the conflict, IAF reports approximately 2,900 rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory, of which approximately 450 failed launches fell in the Gaza Strip with 1150 Iron Dome interceptions.

Iran may be dipping its foot into the chaos. Al Quds Brigades: “We tell Netanyahu and his army leadership that we are waiting for your ground forces to advance inside the Gaza Strip, to show you some of our sorrow”. Commander of Iran’s IRGC-QF Esmail Ghaani has spoken by phone with Secretary-General of Palestinian Islamic Jihad Ziyad al-Nakhalah. He reportedly encouraged PIJ in their efforts. NOTE - PIJ is more closely linked to Iran than Hamas is.

biden called Netanyahu Saturday and assured him of his full support for Israel’s security and its right to defend itself. The WH also contacted Israel expressing “concern’ for the safety of journalists following the destruction of a high-rise office by Israel. The facility also housed Hamas intelligence facilities as well. AP was whining to the State Department over having to evacuate. SecDef Lloyd Austin called his Israeli counterpart Benny Gantz and raise concerns regarding the targeting of civilians in Gaza. Gantz told Austin Israel is doing the outmost to avoid hitting civilians and is trying to achieve long term quiet.
NOTE - Hamas and the other terrorists hide behind civilians - their standard MO. Austin should know better.

OBSERVATION - The massive bleating by AP and the rest of the press about the destruction of their offices obfuscates their complacency and reinforces Israel’s reasoning. The intel facility Israel claimed was there makes perfect sense. Hamas was using at the very least the intelligence these news agencies were unwittingly collecting for them I sure as heck would have. A “one stop” shopping in essence. At the most, there were press agents who actively supported Hamas’ intel ops and utilized their reporters to feed intel to Hamas under the cover of press credentials. To me its clear that the media has been sympathetic to Hamas and the anti-Israel bias in Gaza. They are upset now that after lying with the dog, they find fleas.

More major buildings were targeted with Israeli jets destroying the Mushtaha Tower in Gaza City, 5th multistory building bombed since air strikes started on May 10. Roof knock was conducted against Al-Andalus Tower, West Gaza haven’t heard if it was taken down - most likely yes.

Targeting of Hamas leadership continues with IDF attacking and destroyiong the home of Ra’ed Saad, chief of staff of Hamas Special Operations. Overnight 5-6 more houses of senior Hamas leaders were hit. These attacks have caused some outcry due to civilian deaths.

The Islamic diaspora has been organizing protests around the world in support of Hamas et al. Protests continue on Lebanese and Jordan borders.

Israeli police chief Kobi Shabtai says riots and disturbances between Arabs and Jews within Israel are calming down, “we see this in the north, Jerusalem, and central Israel.”

Egypt efforts continue to broker ceasefire. Less optimism today than yesterday Egypt has reopened the Rafiah border crossing to allow for the evacuation of injured. Gaza’s health system was already struggling to deal, with. “Sources” in Israel report increasing pressure for Israel to move to the end game and stop the onslaught. Palestinian sources expressed concern that Brig.-Gen. Esmail Qaani’s promise to continue supporting Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad could undermine efforts to reach a new ceasefire with Israel. Qaani’s promise to continue supporting Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) could spur them to pursue more fighting.
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Afghanistan -
Several studies are indicating the number of Afghan districts controlled and contested by the Taliban has nearly doubled since early 2018. Taliban has deliberately sought to control the rural districts surrounding provincial capitols in order to control them. Taliban directly threatens 16 of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals.
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Don’t expect a full report tomorrow, unless all heck breaks loose.

Wuhan virus -
ABC News analyzed publicly available data and determined that, as states have begun to reopen across the country, the places experts claimed spread the disease have accounted for only a small percentage, if any, of new cases. ABC looked at publicly available data in four states – California, Illinois, Michigan, and North Carolina – and Washington, D.C., and found that less than 5% of new COVID-19 cases in those states came from bars, restaurants, gyms, etc. in those states.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is recommending the continued use of masks and social distancing in schools after issuing new guidance last week that stated vaccinated people do not need to wear masks.
On Saturday, the CDC released an Operational Strategy for K-12 schools in which it pointed to data that suggest schools that abide by mask mandates and social-distancing requirements have been able to safely remain open.
In the post clarifying mask guidance for schools, the CDC argued that schools need to make efforts to remain open as a way to combat “systemic health and social inequities” among students of color. (The Hill)
NOTE - Things always have to come back around to race for these people.

Speaking of the CDC, the director has seemed to be all over the map with her pronouncements - particularly in regards to masks. I suspect that free state success in removing mask mandates finally force the issue. Fauci is expecting the CDC to issue a ’Significant Clarification’ (aka move the goal posts) on the subject.

India still heavily impacted by wuhan related deaths. One aspect I haven’t seen really addressed its the effects of India’s caste system is having. What caste is getting hit the hardest and which cast is receiving the ‘vaccines’?
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Globalism / Great Reset -
In what appears to be an effort to produce ‘evidence’ of increased forest fires due to global warming, the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) seems to be cherry picking data. The NIFC has hidden everything before 1983. By doing so, they remove the massive fire years from about 1926 - 1956. See link for data comparison.
https://granitegrok.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/US-wildfire-NIFC-data-compare-WUWT.png

The US Army is having resources diverted to “fight” climate change. We’re doomed.

A third Alberta Pastor has been arrested and thrown in jail on account of breaking pandemic gathering rules, which limit church services to 15 people inside, or 5 people outside. Control by abusive govt arrests/persecution. Its Canada folks, but there are plenty in the wuhan cult here that tried / advocated the same here in the US, and that pressure here has not let up, as things move toward “vaccine”.

Evangelical pastor Franklin Graham says he would be happy to work with the Biden administration in encouraging evangelicals to get COVID-19 vaccines. Sad blindness to what the govt is pulling - he should look north to see what the govt really wants.
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Economy -
IBM says chip shortage could last two years until the situation improves. This will have a devastating impact on our society that depends so heavily upon electronics for everything.
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Invasion of Illegals -
(NYP) The Biden administration has pulled more than $2 billion out of programs authorized by Congress for COVID-19 testing, emergency medical supplies and other health needs — and is spending it on shelter for the 45,000 unaccompanied migrant children that have flooded across the US border this year. But there is no border crisis. . . . . .

40,000 illegal “got aways” reported for April. This is on top of all the catch and release illegals that the govt is incapable of tracking.
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Biden watch -
Biden had harsh words for HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra when he reportedly failed to provide answers to his questions about how HHS was dealing with the surge in unaccompanied migrant children at the border in late March, according to sources cited in a report by the New York Times.
NOTE - the question I have is what did he say to Harris who he directed to take charge of the situation?
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CW2/Domestic violence -
As noted earlier, sporadic violence associated with BLM/Antifa pro Palestinian ‘protests’ in numerous cities across the country.
Expect more trouble as BLM activists and Antifa militants conduct “George Floyd week” to mark the one year anniversary of his death in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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POLITICAL FRONT -
Pelosi’s Jan 6th commission is moving forward. Just expect democrats to hijack the proceedings and ignore the evidence that doesn’t follow their narrative.
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Cyber Warfare -
Repercussions from the Colonial Pipeline hack continue through out the cybersphere. Most discussion on the continued vulnerability of our networks.
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North Korea -
Radio free Asia has put a report out that NK farmers must donate two liters of their urine daily to make fertilizer. NK normally imports huge amounts of fertilizer from its largest trading partner China, but the northeast Asian neighbors closed their border and suspended all trade at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in January 2020. NOTE - I also suspect that China is diverting fertilizer to meet it’s own food production shortages. This is on top of a human feces collection requirement for local composting started in 2019.
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Israel - WAR

So much getting blown up, I don’t have the time to fully monitor everything, thus trying to summarize and capture key events and actions.

SUMMARY - More of the same. Hamas et al’s capabilities continue to be eroded, rocket launches continue, but the volume is down. Loss of rocket response is evident from this weekend report by the IDF stating Hamas fired some 120 rockets at Israel between 7 p.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. Sunday. Monday of last week that would barely equal one salvo. But enough to keep their bomb sirens going and people heading to shelters.
Israel continues to systematically target launchers and storage facilities. Israel also continuing to head hunt terrorist leaders, keeping many on the run, killing many others. Israel also methodically taking out the underground infrastructure with over 100 Km of tunnels destroyed.
Since the start of the conflict, Hamas et al have fired over 3150 rockets from Gaza. IDF claims Iron Dome is intercepting 90 percent of its intended targets even after switching from a 2-interceptors per missile procedure to 1-interceptor per missile, effectively doubling its saturation point without efficacy loss.

Sources report that Israeli officials say the security cabinet decided to continue the Gaza operation according to the military plans. The official said that if there will be new military proposals or if PM Netanyahu & MoD Gantz decide to move ahead towards a cease fire the cabinet will be updated. MoD Gantz visited the Gaza Division HQ, reportedly approving assault plans for the coming week.

Sunday activity seems to have slowed some what on both sides. This is not unprecedented as both sides took the opportunity to reload their systems. The pause only lasted until last night local when IAF said its warplanes are carrying out “widespread” strikes across the Gaza Strip, claimed they are targeting “terror sites,” but gave NO further details. Palestinian sources said there have been 66+ strikes in 30 min after the resumption of air strikes and the bombardments are particularly intense

IAF -“In the last few hours, IAF fighter jets and aircraft have attacked nine headquarters of the Hamas terrorist organization throughout the Gaza Strip. The houses that were attacked were used as terrorist infrastructure and in some of the houses, weapons depots were even found.” “Among the houses of the attacked commanders are the house of the commander of the Beit Hanun Battalion, the house of the commander of the Beit Hanun company, the house of a company commander in Gaza City and the house of a company commander in the Shatti battalion of Hamas”
PIJ commander of the northern battalion in Gaza, Hisam Abu Harbid, who replaced Baha Abu al-Ata after his killing in 2019 has reportedly been killed in an airstrike in Jabaliya.
Israel has posted a compiled list, but the list was in Hebrew.

In a different method of attach, a Hamas launched an unmanned submarine (torpedo?) that was by intercepted Israeli forces. I’m not sure on the target, Israeli naval forces have been joining in the artillery bombardments. It was destroyed and the operatives were injured.

Calls for peace are increasing globally but have yet to gain traction with either Israel or Hamas. Egypt seems to be the lead country many are falling in line with. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Monday that a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas might be within reach. “Egypt is going to great lengths to reach a ceasefire between the Israelis and Palestinians – and hope still exists that a collective action could end the conflict,” he said in an interview to the Al Arabiya news outlet. (JP)

According to a CNN report, progressives are threatening a significant rift with Biden if he doesn’t drop even the luke-warm support for Israel he has expressed over the past week. The deliberate blind spot these progressives have is that if the facts were fully laid out, they would be shown as completely naked in their views.

Great point made concerning the downing of the building that housed AP, Al Jazera and other media operations. A law of war reminder - The use of an otherwise-civilian building for military purposes converts it into a military target. This is a basic aspect of the law of war. The blame for the attack on the target thus rests with the entity that converted it into a military target. Israel provided the US with intelligence conclusively proving Hamas intel operations there (and as I commented - it was the type of place I would have set up in as well). One observation I missed and that is the propaganda release to the outlets. Hamas intelligence had access to spread disinformation to a substantial number of willing media outlets.

Sure to stir up another hornet’s nest Israeli military reportedly passes through official channels that UN administered schools Al Aqsa and Buraq need to be evacuated in preparation for targeting of militant positions nearby to the schools. It has been well documented that Hamas in the past has positioned launchers adjacent to schools and other facilities like this.

Rioting/fighting picked up yesterday in arab/jewish towns. Palestinians and Israeli security forces (ISF) fought at Shuqba village NW Ramallah City, Jabal Al Mukaber neighborhood E of Jerusalem City and Ni’lin village W Ramallah City just to name a few.

Fatah leaders in the West Bank are calling for a general strike on Tuesday and to “confront” the Israeli security forces in protest of continued fighting in the Gaza Strip. The West Bank, for the most part, has stayed out of much of the conflict, though arab/Palestinians living in mixed arab/jewish communities that in some manner are associated with the West Bank have been rioting.

OUTLOOK - I expect more calls and efforts toward attaining at least a cease fire which I think Hamas will be the first to accept. However blood lust by both sides is still strongly in play. Israel, if it senses enough global pressure to stop will likely intensify its attacks even more to inflict as much damage as possible. I still think a ground offensive may occur some time this week. Israel has activated about 16,000 reserves, enough for a significant ground operation.
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Lebanon -
As noted before, Lebanon is undergoing financial and economic collapse. The country’s currency has lost around 85% of its value and the majority of the population could soon face acute poverty. Since Hezbollah is the puppet master for the Lebanese govt, this could explain some of the reluctance to engage Israel over the current conflict. They have their hands full as it is, and dealing with civilians who already see Hezbollah as a substantial cause of their worse may be more than they are ready to handle.
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Given the tempo of the war between Gaza and Israel as well as in other areas, I made time to put together a streamlined report to maintain continuity.

Biden watch -
Regarding vaccinations biden said - “if they do not, states with low vaccination rates may see those rates, may see this progress, reversed. Ultimately, those who are not vaccinated will end up paying the price. The vaccinated will continue to be protected against serve illnesses, but others may not be if you’re not vaccinated.”
NOTE - This appears to be another threat against the unvaxxed.

The White House on Monday called an early afternoon lid on President Joe Biden’s public activities after an extended weekend at home in Delaware. Heaven forbid the middle east is threatening to blow up and the economy is on life support and hundred of thousands of Illegals are pouring into our country . . . . .
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CW2/Domestic violence -
CORRECTION - George Floyd Week is next week, 22-29 May, not this week.

(FO) The Pentagon has plans to “continuously” monitor social media accounts of service members, according to a document leaked to a journalist at The Intercept. In order to circumvent First Amendment concerns, the Defense Department will contract third party digital surveillance firms to look for “concerning behaviors” online. While several high ranking U.S. military leaders have pushed back on the idea that the force has problems with extremism, the Pentagon has forged ahead with its Countering Extremism Working Group.
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Strategic Developments /Deployments -
(FO) The U.S. Navy relocated two MQ-4C Triton unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) from Guam to the Misawa base in Northern Japan. This is the first time that the unarmed, high-altitude, long endurance surveillance UAVs have been deployed to Japan. According to the Navy, they will provide “the Japan-U.S. alliance with enhanced maritime surveillance capabilities.”
The Tritons were first deployed to Guam last year and have conducted multiple surveillance missions of People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) bases along China’s East coast, forces in the Taiwan Strait, and in the proximity of artificial islands in the South China Sea. The Tritons will accompany reconnaissance and anti-submarine aircraft in Misawa and give “the navy an opportunity to test out the capability over more congested waters and other different environmental factors.” Meanwhile, the U.S. Air Force will soon deploy RQ-4 Global Hawk UAVs to Japan as they have since approximately 2014. With a maximum operational range of more than 9,300 and 12,300 miles respectively, the Triton and Global Hawk can be used to conduct surveillance of Chinese forces throughout most of the Pacific. The move is likely a combination of seasonal rotations to avoid typhoons, preventing UAVs from being concentrated in one area that could be targeted by the PLAN in the future, and the military’s ongoing push to integrate unmanned systems into various combat or combat support units.

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China -
(FO) Taiwan is reorganizing its Army command structure to improve joint operations with the Air Force, Navy, and regional commands to improve operational flexibility in a conflict with China. According to Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng, multiple corps and defense commands of the Taiwanese Army will be reorganized as “combat theater commands.” The Army, however, did not announce if there will be any changes to the Kinmen and Matsu defense commands — the first line of defense off the coast of mainland China. The Army will initially lead all these new regional commands, but Navy and Air Force commanders are possible in the future, especially in the second theater command in eastern Taiwan and outlying islands. Joint combatant commands and better interservice coordination will likely improve the survivability and adaptability of Taiwanese forces during a military conflict with China.
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Israel - WAR

One outcome from this war maybe the creation of a more stable government. PM Netanyahu and Blue and White chairman (who is also the minister of defense) Benny Gantz are in talks to form another unity government as Israel continues to face rocket barrages from the Gaza Strip, Channel 12 News reported.
OBSERVATION - War tends to strip away the petty and reveals the character of the individual. I think that is what happed as the two worked through this crisis.

According to the Washington Post, Biden’s administration has approved the sale of $735 million in weapons to Israel as the nation continues to battle a barrage of rockets fired by the terrorist organization Hamas from Gaza. Congress was first notified of the potential sale on May 5, according to three people familiar with the matter. Anti-Israeli congress critters are calling for a review to stop but at this time it appears there are too late.

Given how anti-Israel biden’s administration is this is surprising. The US mission to the United Nations has blocked a joint statement condemning the violence between Israel and Palestinian-backed terrorist groups. This is the third attempt by the UN Security Council to issue such a statement in the past week, with the United States being the only one to block the statement each time. The statement is not a peace seeking statement by the council, but rather a statement to condemn Israel by world leaders.

Biden is also starting to cave from the anti-Israel leftists and is calling for a cease fire. Gantz spoke with Sec Def Austin on Tuesday that Hamas continues to fire at civilians and other aggressive operations, and that the military operation will continue with the aim of bringing long-term peace. Gantz added that Israel has been and will continue to act with security and political responsibility and has achieved significant military achievements in recent days.

IAF reported 6 rockets were fired from Lebanon toward northern Israel Monday, all of which fell inside Lebanon. In response, our artillery forces fired toward the sources of the launches. “The operation will last at least another 48 hours”, IDF chief of staff tells local heads of communities in southern Israel. The IDF estimates that there will still be rocket launches from Lebanese territory towards Israel by Palestinian squads.
NOTE - I’ve posted earlier, smaller groups loyal to Hamas inhabit Lebanon and Syria. I don’t expect these elements to be effective.

Palestinians across Israel and the occupied territories went on strike in a rare collective action against Israel’s policies on Tuesday with strikes called. There has been a lot of civil unrest across many arab / jewish mixed cities in Israel and the chances of violence breaking out by the protests in support of Hamas are high.

An aspect that came to light has been an element of Israeli “shock and awe” in that over the past few days IAF would time their air strikes and unleash 60-80 bombs at nearly the same time. Very frightful to the locals in Gaza. Even with that, IAF strikes are trending down.

Rocket fire from Gaza continues to decline with greater intervals between salvo and fewer rockets fired. IDF spokesperson Tuesday morning reported that Between 1900 Monday and 0700 Tuesday about 90 launches have been identified from the Gaza Strip to Israeli territory. About 20 launches fell in the Gaza Strip. This compares to thousands in the first couple days of the war.

A lesser component of the Hamas et al attacks are mortars - primarily because they are short range. With he losses of rockets, they are turning increasingly to them. Al-Quds Brigades and Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades claim to be firing mortars at Israeli soldiers/vehicles gathered near the Gaza border. More mobile, they can shoot and scoot, avoiding to a degree counter fire.

CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. - War tempo is declining on both sides. Hamas continues to be on the ropes but the clock is ticking. Netanyahu has stated they are in no hurry to stop the fighting until they have accomplished their goal of pounding Hamas and the other islamic terror groups into the ground. It appears that Israel has done their homework and are methodically taking out Hamas et al leadership, facilities, launch site, and munitions. The fact that Hamas is still able to throw a few rockets is a testament to just the shear volume of materials and preps they have had years to set up. This has also exposed to the Gazans just how corrupt Hamas has been in using money that was suppose to be going to better their lives. Unbelieveable money spent on a VERY extensive underground network for instance. I still anticipate a ground operation to do the final clean up in key areas some time this week as the air campaign is apparently winding down - though still a target rich environment.

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Wuhan virus -
A new study of COVID-19 vaccine recipients globally suggests that post vaccine side effects may be more common and severe in recipients who had wuhan and recovered than what medical agencies like the CDC and WHO are reporting. Additionally, other studies indicate that natural resistance is far more durable and longer lasting than publicly acknowledged.
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Economy -
Oil, iron and copper prices continue to rise to heights not seen in quite some time. This is on top of record prices for other commodities.
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Strategic Developments /Deployments -
B52s are operating overseas in three areas. Morón Air Base, Spain, Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, and there also is a task force of B-52s deployed to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. B-52s are picking up the majority of bomber taskings in the Air Force as the B-1 struggles with readiness.
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Israel - WAR

Overnight summary - Hamas continues to get hammered and their rocket attacks continue to decrease in volume and effectiveness. Israel continues to methodically decimate Hamas leaders, infrastructure and facilities. Ashdod and Ashkelon continue to bear the brunt of rocket attacks.

As i’ve indicated with the Hamas “et al” it is not Hamas alone attacking Israel. 15 armed Palestinian groups including 2 salafi-jihadist groups actively participating in this conflict.

One of the major leaders Israel is trying to eliminate Hamas’s Qassam Brigades commander Mohammed Deif, whom IDF sources said that they believe the military has a chance of eliminating if the operation continued. Military sources said Deif had been targeted more than once during the last week of fighting, but had succeeded at the last moment to get away.

A 5th round of airstrikes hit Hamas’ tunnel networks. Israel’s intelligence minister warned Tuesday that power to the Gaza Strip could soon be cut off — as the country’s military geared up for an “intensive night” of additional airstrikes against the region’s terror tunnels. Should be interesting today to watch.

Still no projected ceasefire. Netanyahu in a briefing to foreign ambassadors said: “We don’t stand with a timer. We want to achieve the goals of the operation. Previous operations lasted a long time so it is not possible to set a time frame on the operation” Another “open possibility” might be total conquest, Netanyahu warned.
NOTE - I’ve been warning about a ground invasion by Israel that could occur this week. However, the air component either is exceeding their goals, or addition prep is necessary. The focus on destroying the underground network is a bellwether indicator of a future ground operation.

Hamas reportedly agreed with an Egyptian ceasefire proposal, but was quickly denied later.

House Democrats overwhelmingly voted on Tuesday afternoon against applying sanctions on Hamas, rejecting a republican forwarded bill. The anti-Israel left is pushing biden to become more aggressively anti-Israel, after his expressed, though luke warm support for Israeli defensive actions against Hamas.

Vocal support for Hamas muted almost internationally. With few exceptions, much of the world is being relatively quiet about the conflict. Arab states historically have been Hamas supporters are especially quiet. Some analysts consider this to be the result of the signings of the Abrahamic Accord treaties and those arab countries don’t want to loose the economic benefits those treaties bring. A second reason is that Hamas is funded/supported by Iran, and Iran is the enemy of those same gulf nations. Third, Hamas has seemingly gone out of its way to insult supporters by way of its demands. All combine to leave Hamas seemingly out on its own.

CONCLUSIONS - Unless something goes very wong for Israel, they will continue to have their way with Hamas. I expect Hamas to soon start petitioning for a ceasefire in an effort to save itself. Israel for its part, facing no real opposition to its campaign, will continue to dismantle Hamas. I still expect to see a ground offensive to mop up things, but it seems that it maybe a limited operations and not the massive one that early conditions could have triggered.

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Turkey -
Late Monday, Turkey’s President Erdoğan held a media conference in which he called on the UN, UN Security Council, Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and other international organizations to take action focusing on wrestling Jerusalem away from Israel, up to and including military action.

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Black Swans -
Californians are fearing a repeat of 2020 when power demands exceeded production and rolling black outs were implemented. This has been made even more obvious by the dramatic lack of winter moisture leaving reservoirs across the state at 50% capacity or less. This will strictly limit the hydropower component to the grid. Continued pressure to shut down fossil fuel plants and the closure of a nuke plant isn’t helping matters either.

Wuhan virus -
India is pressing forward with the use of Ivermectin to treat wuhan patients, reportedly with great success. Remember, these treatments have been put down repeatedly by the ‘experts’

“I think we will almost certainly require a booster sometime within a year or so, after getting the primary [shot], because the durability of protection against coronaviruses is generally not lifelong,” Fauci said about the future of the coronavirus vaccines.
NOTE - and he wonders why people have lost trust in govt medical authorities.
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Economy -
(FO) Sea-based shipping data shows vessels are late 60% of the time arriving at port. The delays have compounded for months as supply chains feel pressure from increased raw material costs, missing key components or land-based capacity crunches in trucking and fuel delivery. The greatest U.S. backlog continues in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach as docks remain crowded. “It [normally] takes 14 days to sail from Shanghai to Los Angeles; today it takes 33 days,”

Brazil is suffering from a deep drought in what is normally its wet season. The cost of this year’s drought could severely impact coffee, sugar, and orange crop yields.
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Invasion of Illegals -
Congressional democrats objecting to the deportation of gang members here illegally - claiming it is ‘racist’
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Biden watch -
biden became verbally abusive when the Coast Guard graduating class refused to clap in response to what seems to have been a back handed insult. “Wow, you’re a really dull class,” Biden then yelled. “I mean come on man, is the sun getting to you? I would think you’d have an opportunity when I say that about the Navy to clap, but we came here together.” biden also quoted Mao Zedong. -
“There’s a saying…’Women hold up half the world.’” Biden said as he quoted the communist murder. “It’s an absolutely stupid position not to make sure sure they represent at least half of what we do.”

Also, his spin around the parking lot in an electric Ford truck had a second steering wheel in it and some one doing the steering. . . .
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CW2/Domestic violence -
(FO) Following yesterday’s report of increased social media scrutiny for the Defense Department, the Pentagon is denying any new program exists. “There’s no pilot program being run by Mr. Garrison or the extremist working group to examine social media,” DoD spokesman John Kirby said. This appears to be a carefully worded position as the contractor involved (Dataminr) was awarded a $35,766,667 contract in 2019 for a “First Alert proprietary alerting system” which leverages big data for first responders in “humanitarian situations.”

District Attorney that no officers will be charged in the shooting of Andrew Brown Jr. so BLM related protests in various cities in addition to the pro-palestinian ones on going.

Five Oregon counties voted overwhelmingly to join Idaho. At least a dozen more are looking at measures to do the same. Idaho Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, said he supports the measure but acknowledged there’s a long way to go toward making it a reality, The Oregonian reported. “I understand why many people want to be Idahoans,” Little said in a statement, according to FOX 12. “They’re looking at Idaho fondly because of our strong economy, regulatory atmosphere and our values. Still, the decision to change Idaho and Oregon’s borders would need to go through both states’ legislatures and the U.S. Congress for approval. There’s a lot that needs to happen before the border is within the realm of possibility.”
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POLITICAL FRONT -
The “June 6” commission was passed in the House with support by 36 RINOS. It currently faces little chance of passing the Senate.
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China -
People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) conducted multiple strike, missile defense, and maritime assault exercises within the past few days. Observers note that this is probably a rehearsal for an eventual assault on Taiwan.
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North Korea -
South Korean President Moon Jae-in is meeting with biden today on NK issues. Typically, Kim uses meetings like this as an excuse to throw a temper tantrum of some kind.
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Russia - MAINTAINING WATCH

biden lifted sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, allowing Russia to control natural gas supplies to Europe.
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Israel - WAR

OVERNIGHT SUMMARY - Quiet, increasing intervals between rocket launches and fewer rockets launched. Overnight in Israel, there rockets stopped for 8 hours - the longest period since the war began. “Heavy” rocket barrages now consists of a half dozen rockets compared to hundreds last week. Just enough to keep people running to shelters. IAF tempo also slowing down. Huge increase in cease fire talk and speculation. Israel continues to have the upper hand and will maintain the operation until they are satisfied with the results.

For the first time in a week, twitter feeds are not totally clogged with war news. There are rumors of a cease fire agreement pending. Neither side will confirm at this time, but it is doubtful when PM Netanyahu on Wednesday says that he’s “determined” to continue the offensive in Gaza, rebuffing President Joe Biden’s call for an immediate and significant “de-escalation” in the fighting. Netanyahu said the operation will continue “until its aim is met,” per the Associated Press. Some rumors place the start of the ceasefire as being Friday. Six hours ago Hamas official to CNN: Ceasefire will be announced within 24 hours. More rumors as Netanyahu convenes the security cabinet at 7PM Jerusalem time to discuss the Gaza operation and the possibility of a ceasefire. At this stage a lot of speculation and little facts.

4 rockets were fired from Southern Lebanon into Israel, reportedly from near Tyre. Israeli artillery reportedly attacked the launch location. The Sadikin area in southern Lebanon was the launch location and is a Hezbollah stronghold and no one approaches there within a 5 km radius without their approval.

Reports that Gaza rockets hit industrial area of Rahat, Israel’s largest Bedouin city (and second-largest Arab city in the country). That will make friends of potential arab allies fast.

Iran sticking its nose into the conflict - Netanyahu announced that a drone Israel shot down 2 days ago on the border with Jordan was an Iranian armed drone launched from Syria or Iraq. IRGC-Quds Force Commander Esmail Qaani sends letter to Hamas’ Qassam Brigades commander Mohammad Deif praising him for winning the war .

OBSERVATION - A cease fire will take place when Israel is ready and has met its objectives - period. The muted global outcry against Israel is dynamic on many fronts.
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Iran -
See Israel above
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Lebanon -
See Israel above
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Turkey -
(JP) Turkey’s anti-Israel rhetoric has rapidly increased during the past eight days of fighting. The rhetoric targeting Israel and Jews has reached such heights that the US has condemned Turkey’s president for antisemitic comments. Ankara had consulted with Tehran last week about how to confront Israel, and Turkey has called on the pope and others to encourage sanctions against the Jewish state.
OBSERVATION - In the day, Israel and Turkey had reasonable relations. Since Erdogan rise to power and the control of the culture switching to more radical islamists, it has gone down hill. Last year, an effort was being made between the two countries to try to patch some matters up, but I suspect that this will be a wrecking ball to that effort
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Wuhan virus -
Many stories / reports talking about how the CDC has been manipulating the numbers on wuhan infections and deaths. This was noted here as far back as Jan 21 IIRC. Gaining more notice.

The Japanese Red Cross is reportedly turning down blood from vaccinated donors. The warning seems specifically targeting the two main ones, Pfizer and Modera. Other vaccines require a waiting period. The American Red Cross is allowing individuals who have received the coronavirus vaccine to donate their blood.
NOTE - There is still no long term documentation of how these mRNA pseudo vaccines will have on their recipients. Japan is being cautious but in a world where the pressure is for 100% vaccination, blood supplies could be significantly impacted.
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Globalism / Great Reset -
The Treasury Department proposed a 15% global minimum corporate tax rate during meetings with officials from other countries. Yellen made the initial comments on this several weeks ago, now the proposal is morphing into a action stage. The 15% figure is lower than anticipated and was pitched this week to negotiators from two dozen countries that are part of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Treasury Department announced on Thursday. “Treasury made clear that a global corporate minimum tax rate would ensure the global economy thrives based on a more level playing field in the taxation of multinational corporations, and would spur innovation, growth, and prosperity while improving fairness for middle class and working people,” the department said in a news release.
NOTE - global taxation is one of the main goals of the Great Reset as a means of wealth redistribution and ‘fairness’.

——The following items regard wuhan and vaccinations but because of the left using them to hammer submission to the globalist agenda are listed here. ——

Push for wuhan ‘passports’ in the US is having mixed impacts. Touted as the way to freedom, the pushback has been strong, only gaining some traction in deep blue ruled cities and states.

One state where the vaxxers are clearly in charge is the Peoples Socialist Oregon, where ‘passports’ are being required for businesses and even churches. No wonder the eastern red counties want out from under that tyrant.

Businesses in Santa Clara County, California are required to submit vaccination status of all employees.
According to the county’s public health order, “All businesses and government entities must ascertain the vaccination status of personnel and must comply with the rules for personnel who are not fully vaccinated, as required under section 9(c) and 9(d) of the County Health Officer’s May 18, 2021 Order.”
Under the health order, the employee can decline to provide their vaccination status to their employer. If the employee declines to offer the information, the employer “should assume the employee may be unvaccinated and follow State and local requirements for unvaccinated employees.”
Creating a dual class citizenship and trying to force vaccinations on those unwilling.

See also biden desire to enlarge the IRS below.
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Economy -
More and more shortages and sky rocketing prices have major economists worried. Computer chip shortage is now impacting farm equipment.
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Invasion of Illegals -
Nearly 60 days and no harris presser or visit to the border. biden is allowing such insubordination to go unchecked.
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Biden watch -
Biden on Thursday delivered remarks at a bill signing ceremony for the Asian Hate Crimes bill. He randomly started shouting in the middle of his remarks like a tyrant and slammed his hand on the podium.

biden also tried to claim the Hamas/Israel ceasefire as his own success - exempt that it was Egypt that brokered it.
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CW2/Domestic violence -
Scattered across the US have been attacks on Jewish citizens and businesses by anti-Israeli, predominantly arab thugs. No solid national news coverage (the media is in bed with the terrorists), but local news is continuing to report. BLM announced it was fully behind Hamas and associated terrorists and with Antifa have conducted ‘marches’ in their support. Major blue metropolitan areas like NYC and LA have been harboring the most violent attacks/incidents.

biden’s Treasury department is asking to add nearly 87,000 employees to the Internal Revenue Service, make banks report more information to the agency and require stricter cryptocurrency compliance. This essentially doubles the size of the IRS and most certainly will be targeting political opponents to the extent that 0bama was unable to.

Although the House passed legislation calling crime against Asians a “hate crime”, asians continue to be assaulted and robbed across the country, the perpetrators continue to be predominantly black or hispanics. As such, the ‘hate’ component of the legislation will likely go unused.
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POLITICAL FRONT -
Pelosi waging war against predominantly Republicans again. In the past it was fining them for not walking thru metal detectors that she exempted herself from . Now she is fining republicans for not wearing masks on the house floor, while she has exempted herself from mask requirements at House events. In a news conference she proclaimed “unvaccinated lawmakers are selfish, and she suggested they eventually may be required to vote from the House gallery instead of the House floor.”
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Strategic Developments /Deployments -
USS Curtis Wilbur, an Arleigh-Burke class destroyer, sailed past the Paracel Islands on Thursday.China accused the warship of ‘illegally’ entering its territory and said the vessel was ‘expelled’ by its naval and air forces. But the Navy’s 7th Fleet hit back, saying the ship was not ‘expelled’ and that China does not control those waters - which are also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.
NOTE - This has become the standard response from China to any freedom of navigation exercise by any country, not just the US.
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China -
See strategic developments above.
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Russia - MAINTAINING WATCH
Putin has issued a fiery rebuke to those who, he says, are intent on bringing about the breakup of the world’s largest country, insisting that Russia will defend itself from potential interference from overseas. He stated “everyone wants to bite us somewhere, or to bite something off of us.” If or when this happens, he said the country will “knock out the teeth” of those who try.
NOTE - Weakness on the part of America is emboldening our nation’s enemies like Russia.
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Israel - CEASEFIRE

Over night summary - Israel accepted a ceasefire proposal crafted largely by Egypt. Israel’s acceptance is ‘unconditional’ meaning that conditions Hamas claims to have gotten into the agreement is untrue. Ceasefire came into effect 2 AM local time. This after Israel hammered Hamas into largely rubble after 11 days of fighting. An Egyptian delegation has entered Gaze to help monitor the situation.

Netanyahu warned Hamas on Friday that his military will respond with a “new level of force” if the terrorist group decides to start firing rockets into Israel again. “If Hamas thinks we will tolerate a drizzle of rockets, it is wrong,” the Israeli leader said, adding that his military would strike back with “a new level of force against any expression of aggression against communities around Gaza and any other part of Israel.”
NOTE - IDF has ground forces poised to enter Gaza and this would likely be a major component of a ‘new level of force’ that could be added to the mix.

Failures of Hamas rockets have in some instances been spectacular and many have been recorded by the plethora of live stream videos in Gaza. Out of the 4000+ launches, IDF estimates that nearly 700 failed, falling back on Gaza and inflicting damage/death on the civilians there. This is made worse in that the launchers almost always are imbedded in residential areas using the civilians as a shield.

Hamas claimed victory as large areas of Gaza were rubbled, smoldering and destroyed.

Israeli Home Front Command instructs Israelis to remain in their homes, close to bomb shelters, despite ceasefire potentially going into effect at 2:00 AM

Israel’s security cabinet has approved the unilateral ceasefire according to reports, at this time it is unclear from when. Reports are that Egypt was the leader in getting the cease fire. From what I have read Israel has not accepted any of the precursors Hamas laid out such as vacating the Temple Mount or such. This has totally been Israel’s call and they made it based on achieving its objectives against Hamas.

There are reports that biden has said the US would replenish all the missiles utilized by Israel’s “Iron Dome” defense system over the past 11 days. Expect leftist, anti-Israel heads to be exploding everywhere.

IDF operational report for the conflict. IDF destroyed over 100 km of Hamas tunnels, hundreds of militants assassinated, about 570 strikes impacted militants rocket abilities, with 70 strikes on MLRS, strikes hit Hamas’s weapons development and production bases. The also said that they killed over 200 Hamas and PIJ operatives (senior leaders) in Gaza strikes. ( This doesn’t include the numbers killed in the lightning strike on the underground “metro” system.) Hamas missile failure rate ran from 15-20%.

Like clockwork - Palestinian “worshippers” brought stones and Molotov cocktails to the Temple Mount/Al Aqsa compound , a place they claim is sacred to them. The Gaza factions , including Hamas and the PIJ , had boasted about how they’re going to retaliate if there will be any “aggression towards the Al Aqsa mosque” Israeli police have arrived and stun grenades were fired near 1 of the entrances to the compound (not in the compound itself) , after rioters started throwing items towards police forces. Riots and confrontations with Israel police have also been occurring in predominantly arab towns in Israel.

OBSERVATION - Time will Hamas et al be able to keep their hot heads under control and prevent any rogue rocket launches? No doubt Israel is maintaining combat patrols over Gaza and lots of jets fueled and loaded ready to rock and roll some more. Israel achieved their goals to their satisfaction without having to conduct a ground invasion. Remarkable achievement in itself, but still a potential action should the cease fire break down.
Post conflict analysis will likely focus on the robust defense of Iron Dome which showed itself far more capable than initially let on. Hezebollah/Iran will be closely studying and adjusting their future rocket attack plans. Israel had abundant targeting intelligence they developed over the years and used quite effectively. Finally, relative silence from arab states - the Abrahamic Accord treaties and general distaste for Hamas really gave Israel free rein to go after targets. Even biden’s lukewarm support was surprising, holding back the virulent anti-Israel faction of the democrat party.
Hamas losses of leadership, facilities and munitions will take years to replace. Though they claim ‘victory’ it is mostly an arab face saving effort, everyone knows they lost and big.
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Iran -
Iranian President Hassan Rohani says the broad outline of a deal to end major sanctions on his country has been reached during talks with world powers aimed at restoring a 2015 troubled nuclear deal, although some difficult issues remain. Key concessions to Iran appear to be eliminating /reducing U.S. sanctions on sectors such as oil, shipping, insurance, and Iran’s central bank.
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Syria -
Multiple IRGC affiliated flights have arrived in Damascus over the last 11 days, including another “dark flight” from Caspian Airlines EP-SHH which is always one to watch (suspected of carrying munitions).

ISIS has been active in eastern Syria, launching many small ambush and IED attacks.
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Afghanistan -
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Paris announced that NATO will continue to have military stationed in Afghanistan to “advice and capacity-building support to Afghan security institutions, as well as continued financial support.” The mechanics of such a continued presence are not certain, even as the US military struggles to figure out biden’s orders to withdraw.
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Black Swans -
NOAA predicts 13 to 20 named storms this hurricane season. US is struggling with wuhan recovery shortages, agriculture struggling to produce food and if these rascals do some serious hits, things can get very messed up for the rest of the country in a hurry. The biden administration has no clue how to handle such disasters.

Wuhan virus -
The World Health Organisation has stated that it has suspended Gilead Sciences’ antiviral drug remdesivir, which was touted as COVID-19 treatment, from its prequalification list—- an official list of medicines used as a benchmark for procurement by developing countries.
NOTE - continually trying to force everyone into taking the shot. . . .

UK residents are being banned from entering Germany due to the Indian variant of wuhan being detected in the UK.
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Globalism / Great Reset -

The Federal Reserve is moving forward in its efforts to develop its own digital currency, announcing Thursday it will release a research paper this summer that explores the move further. Other countries are also considering similar. The Fed is looking at a way that doesn’t devalue the dollar, but grants greater oversight to banks and the IRS.
OBSERVATION - one word CONTROL. Banks and the govt cannot control current cryptocurrencies and this would be a first step in eventually forcing them under scrutiny and control.
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Economy -
Republicans rejecting biden’s tastes $1.7 trillion “infrastructure” plan that spend on everything but infrastructure.
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Invasion of Illegals -
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has released more than 60,000 migrants into the U.S. since President Biden took office in January. Add to this the 40,000 or so “get aways, and we clearly have an out of control border. This also doesn’t count in the tens of thousands of children tossed across the border.

Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller said Wednesday that Border Patrol agents who encountered migrants in the Texas Rio Grande Valley have stopped giving out notice to appear citations, instead telling them to report to an ICE location within 60 days.
OBSERVATION - Why in the heck are we even bothering to intercept them to begin with then. This dumpster fire is just getting worse.
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CW2/Domestic violence -
Firearm sales are nearing 16 million in the first fourth months alone and marking a 30 percent increase from the same period last year. Some of this may have been driven by stimulus payments, other drivers are the continued threats to society from wuhan, out of control democrats in Washington and continued uncertainty of future recovery.

The Department of Defense confirmed Wednesday that the overwhelmingly unnecessary National Guard mission at the Capitol will end this coming Sunday. Rest assured, pelosi et al will call them back at the first sign of resistance.

Anti-Israeli protests have expanded, especially in NYC and LA to the point where the MSM has been forced to take notice. Islamists are feeling emboldened in part due to BLM/Antifa support and the lack of police enforcement / protection. This may help stimulate the resurgence of the Jewish Defense League to counter the attacks. Last week in the US there were 193 antisemitic incidents. Current tactic by these Islamists is to form a vehicle convoy of sorts and move through predominantly Jewish areas and assaulting any Jews they encounter.
(NOTE - similar acts of violence are developing across Europe now as well - particularly in Germany)

With the summer riot season developing, police forces in many major cities are facing critical shortages of officers. Example is Seattle, police force down about 20%. Funding in many has been cut, further limiting capabilities. If rioting takes off - such as an overturn of the verdicts in the Floyd death trial, an increasing pressure will be placed on National Guard forces to help control the situation. An increasingly armed citizenry also becomes more likely to be involved with armed BLM/Antifa (who’ve shown boldness in brandishing weapons at trapped cars recently). Lack of police forces is also being reflected in the massive increase in violent crime in major cities.
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POLITICAL FRONT -
FNC host Tucker Carlson opened his program with his thoughts on Democrats’ push to establish a so-called January 6 commission to investigate the incident that occurred on Capitol Hill on the day for which it was named. Below is a link that also has the video. I prefer to let him speak rather than summarize it. He nails this one big time.
https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2021/05/21/fncs-carlson-january-6-commission-aimed-at-anyone-who-stands-in-the-way-of-the-democratic-partys-agenda/
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China -
China is turnings its eyes north, looking for a more significant role in the Arctic. China presence in the region has grown since joining the Arctic Council as an observer in 2013. The Arctic Council is made up of eight Arctic States — Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States. It is an intergovernmental group that seeks to promote cooperation among the Arctic states as well as inhabitants of the Arctic. China is trying to assert dominance by developing ‘shipping lanes’ which cut into surrounding nations’ territorial waters - a more subtle means than what China currently is doing in the S China Seas.
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North Korea -
Report coming out that South Korea is now no longer bound to the U.S.–South Korea missile guidelines. South Korea will no longer have limits to their ballistic missile developments and range. Growing need to counter NK and potentially even China.
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Israel - CEASEFIRE
Overnight the ceasefire has held. Hamas/Iran claiming ‘victory’ (what an orwellian word twist). Hamas et al are starting to publish their martyr lists and they are expected to be quite long.

Clashes continue between Palestinians and ISF at Al Nabi Saleh village NW Ramallah City; Jericho City southern entrance and Azzun/ Kufur Qaddum villages E Qalqiliya City, and Qalaqiliya City northern entrance/ Checkpoint. Security forces preparing for more rioting in the coming days.

Bernie Sanders attempt to block the sale of nearly $800 million dollars of military supplies to Israel, He failed.

OBSERVATION - So far, so good at keeping hot heads reigned in by Hamas. Now comes the second phase of the battle - the incessant propaganda of how evil Israel was to blow up launchers placed in school yards, etc. In spite of all their bravado, Hamas is experiencing a cease fire because of Israel’s grace, not because they defeated Israel. In Gaza, though unlikely to be reported, people will see through the verbiage and realize their lives have been pushed back years and will take many years to rebuild, if Hamas doesn’t redirect relief funds and supplies.
Always remember - Iran is is the background watching and waiting. . . . . .
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Iraq -
Reports of an airstrike hitting an Iranian militia near Bukamal, in Iraqi territory. No word on who’s aircraft were involved and further info limited at this time.
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Nigeria -
The death of the Islamist militant group leader Abubakar Shekau has been confirmed by a number of sources. Shekau is credited with transforming Boko Haram from a small radical sect into a powerful Islamist terror group. He gained worldwide attention when, under his control, Boko Haram kidnapped hundreds of schoolgirls in Nigeria. “The Post” reports that it appears as though Shekau is actually gone for good. He is reported to have “detonated explosives that killed him Wednesday when fighters with the Islamic State West Africa Province, or ISWAP, tried to capture him in his Sambisa Forest hideout.”
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Wuhan virus -
Some teenagers and young adults who received COVID-19 vaccines experienced heart inflammation, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory group said, recommending further study of the rare condition.
OBSERVATION - Teens and younger should not receive the vaccine for many reasons. First and foremost is the virtual high survival rate. They stand a greater chance of being struck and killed by lightning than dying from the virus.

Indications that CDC is altering its practices of data logging and testing for “Covid19” in order to make it seem the experimental gene-therapy “vaccines” are effective at preventing the alleged disease. The focus is on “breakthrough infections” – that is people who are fully “vaccinated” against Sars-Cov-2 infection, but get infected anyway. First, they are lowering their CT value when testing samples from suspected “breakthrough infections”. Throughout the pandemic, CT values in excess of 35 have been the norm, with labs around the world going into the 40s. Now, and only for fully vaccinated people, the CDC will only accept samples achieved from 28 cycles or fewer. That can only be a deliberate decision in order to decrease the number of “breakthrough infections” being officially recorded. Secondly, asymptomatic or mild infections will no longer be recorded as “covid cases”. If you are asymptomatic – or having only minor symptoms – will no longer count as a “Covid case” but only if you’ve been vaccinated. It appears that this policy is designed to continuously inflate one number, and systematically minimise the other.
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Globalism / Great Reset -
Totalitarism amuck in Oregon. Oregon health officials have approved the rollout of vaccine passports, requiring houses of worship, employers, and businesses to check the vaccine records of adherents, employees, or customers in exchange for being able to take off their masks indoors. Presumably, people unwilling to show their papers will be reported. Businesses and other entities under the new rules will be “investigated” if they’re found breaking the rules.
OBSERVATION - this gives us a glimpse of how the globalists can take this pandemic and force citizens into compliance. Extrapolate Oregon to a global level.
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Economy -
More than one-third of California’s 76,000 eating establishments will never open their doors again and reopening the rest will prove to be difficult. This situation is repeating itself across the country as the restaurant industry struggles with the new business realities. Many of the improvements made during the pandemic such as outdoor seating and curbside delivery will remain. One key factor hindering the industry is the lack of workers - like many other sectors. Industry analysts think it will take 2-3 years before they achieved employment levels seen before the pandemic hit.

With 3/4 of the state of Kalifornian in extreme drought, the Bureau of Reclamation said it was putting the release of the water allocations on hold. The announcement was a blow to rice farmers in Sacramento Valley, who produce about 97 percent of the state’s rice. Even those farmers with special contractual rights that entitle them to enhanced deliveries from the Central Valley Project will be facing a minimum 25 percent reduction to their water allocation.
NOTE - having lived in the Sacramento area for 24 years, the loss of water to those rice fields is huge and will severely impact the local economy as well as the rice market already stressed by Chinese and other nations purchases due to failures in their crops over the past year.
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CW2/Domestic violence -
Oregon City patriots held a flag rally that BLM/Antifa swore to take down. Well, it didn’t work that way for the leftists who showed up in small numbers, totally dwarfed by the patriots. After a short period, Antifa rebounded their busses and left with no incidents of violence. The law enforcement and civic leaders of the town have taken an open stand against violence instigated by the leftists and Antifa wanted to send them a message . Antifa twitter and other social media in Oregon erupted in anger at the lack of turnout. It was scathing.
OBSERVATION - BLM/Antifa since last year has wanted to extend its practice of intimidation of civilian populations through violence into red cities and counties. But to do this they have to import the rioters, as those areas have very few supporters. Should things go sideways, they may try to resort to more deadly methods of intimidation, triggering strong response back.
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POLITICAL FRONT -
Monitoring now the prospects for a full digital audit of ballots in Georgia’s Fulton County. This will also be hyped up and I prefer to let them do their job and see where the ashes fall. However, this with AZ Maricopa County could place some serious constitutional questions to say the least as if the allegations of irregularities (ok lets call it cheating) will bring stronger scrutiny on other counties with unusual behavior election night.

vp harris insulted the South Korean President by wiping her hand off after shaking his hand, all caught on camera. She attempted some subtlety, but it was very evident.
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Japan -
In the face of increasing Chinese aggression, Japan is ready to do away with its long-standing 1% GDP ceiling for annual defense spending. This comes after repeated incursions by China’s now quasi-military coast guard into the waters around the Japan-administered Senkaku Islands, which China claims and calls the Diaoyu. Japan’s proximity to Taiwan could also draw it into any Chinese attempt to conquer it.
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Israel - CEASEFIRE

Ceasefire continues to hold. The fact that Hamas et al hasn’t as they have in the past, continued to sneak some attacks in to me is evidence of just how hammered they got.

IDF issued a statement summarizing the 11 days of war. 4360+ rockets fired at Israel, of which 680 misfired/malfunctioned and struck Gaza. Israel struck 1500+ targets including 675 rocket launchers, 60+ miles of tunnel network destroyed and 200+ terrorists neutralized.

Unrest continues in mixed arab/jew communities in Israel. Riots have pivoted off riots/confrontations at the Temple Mount (Al Aqsa Mosque Yard) and the situation there continues to be tense.

As some agencies call for the rebuilding of Gaza, the press photographs show how hammered the Hamas infrastructure was. This is the result of placing military operations (rockets, command posts etc) in the middle of civilian areas.

Egyptian mediators sought to reinforce a days-old ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants on Saturday, and aid officials appealed for a period of calm to start tackling a humanitarian crisis in Gaza after 11 days of fighting. The ceasefire, which began before dawn on Friday, was still holding on Saturday evening, enabling officials to start assessing the scale of the damage.

Israel is reviewing its policy and tactics to respond to future rocket attacks from Gaza, and is seriously looking at harsh responses for every single rocket launched from Gaza - a dramatically different approach than that implemented in recent years. This due in part to the extensive damage it inflected on Hamas et al and the IDF believes that following the blow to Hamas’ defense array (the Metro underground tunnel system,) it will be able to carry out targeted and accurate attacks on terrorist targets and infrastructure in Gaza.
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Iran -
Iran’s parliamentary speaker threatened on Sunday to further limit international inspectors’ access to nuclear sites and data, increasing tensions with the International Atomic Energy Agency and world powers. This includes surveillance images of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites.
OBSERVATION - Iran senses weakness in the west - seeing Neville Chamberlains instead of Winston Churchills.

Some nine people were injured after an explosion was reported at the Sepahan Nargostar chemical and fireworks factory in the city of Shahin Shahr in the Isfahan province of Iran on Saturday night, according to Iranian media. The cause of the blast is under investigation. According to the Iranian IRNA news agency, the factory is a producer of industrial and commercial explosive materials and is under the supervision of the National Security Council.
NOTE - Iran has had a lot of accidents at critical manufacturing facilities lately.
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Iraq -
Iran backed Shia militias in Iraq release a statement ‘rejecting’ the outcome of U.S.-Iraq strategic dialogue and that it will escalate its attacks against the international coalition in Iraq.
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Black Swans -
Kalifornia (see also economy) in the news with their mismanagement of the current drought situation. Back when the golden state was golden, they built a substantial dam/canal infrastructure network to stave off the effects of periodic droughts and flooding. Today farmers and people reliant upon water for even drinking are staring at the fact that the state mandates huge amounts of water to flow directly to the ocean - up to 40% in some river basins. Most of this resource mismanagement is do to the environmentalist wackos who have not clue where their food comes from nor bother to take baths/showers in the first place. This is building up to be one of the most disastrous summers for Kalifornia Ag in decades.

Short of another wild change in global events, there will be no summary tomorrow, Tuesday.

Wuhan virus -
The actual ground zero for wuhan will never be conclusive determined since there is too much at stake for China. There has been and will continue to be evidence brought out indicating the virus came out of the wuhan lab at a minimum. Now that the initial ‘crisis’ has passed, more information is leaking out. WSJ is reporting that three researchers from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology became sick enough in November 2019 that they sought hospital care, according to a previously undisclosed U.S. intelligence report that could add weight to growing calls for a fuller probe of whether the wuhan virus may have escaped from the laboratory. While this may not be the smoking gun, it is another layer of evidence pointing to the wuhan lab as the source.

Another that has too much at stake in the wuhan lab is Fauci, who has flipped flopped again and indicates that in an interview with politifact, he isn’t convinced the virus developed ’naturally’. Charges continue over his under the table funding of the wuhan lab to bypass US law in pathogen research.

Indian medical authorities are pondering if the wuhan ‘vaccine’ created the 750% increase in cases. Major hot spots had significant vaccination drives with the virus infections skyrocketing shortly there after.

China has officially reported wuhan outbreaks in their Southern Coastal Province Guangdong as well as in the northeastern province of Liaoning.

Seeing increased hype about the need for a booster shot this fall. Executives of both Pfizer and Moderna say that booster shots to remain protected against the virus are very likely to be needed, and that the first boosters could be needed this fall, according to Axios. “The data that I see coming, they are supporting the notion that likely there will be a need for a booster somewhere between eight and 12 months,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said.
OBSERVATION - The pressure to get the basic ‘vaccination’ increases, chances are much of the nation will not be ‘vaccinated’ when these boosters are released.
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Globalism / Great Reset -
World Economic Forum indicated in a tweet last week that was later pulled and modified that it supports employees being forced to choose between taking one of the four controversial Covid vaccines, or unemployment if they choose to not take the vaccine. It was removed and modified after a lot of backlash. The original tweet said - “Get your COVID-19 jab – or you could face consequences from your employer #COVID19 #JobsReset21,” It was changed to “Survey: Will employees be required to get the COVID-19 vaccination? #COVID19 #JobsReset21“. Both accompanied a graphic showcasing the purported poll numbers of companies that would fire employees for not taking the vaccine.

In July 2020, the Rockefeller Foundation released a paper entitled ‘Reset the Table: Meeting the Moment to Transform the U.S. Food System’. This outlines their wide-ranging plans for the global food system; from farm to mouth they have a plan to ‘Reset the table’ This “reset” plans on -

1. To Integrate the ‘food system’ under one political aegis
2. To Collectivise and centralise control of the supply of food
3. To engender ‘Prosperity’ – i.e. to enrich the stakeholders

OBSERVATION - Nearly one year old report but important in the light of the damage to global food production over the last year due to a combination of natural disasters and wuhan shutdowns. As I’ve noted previously, here in the US grain production is way down and now reports that rice production will essentially be cancelled by the Bureau of Reclamation cutting off water to rice farmers (95% of rice production comes from kalifornia). Despots throughout history have used food as a weapon to suppress the population and enforce their totalitarian rules. Just like the Globalists have leveraged the wuhan virus, they will be leveraging global food shortages.
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Economy -
Reflection on the Bureau of Reclamation decision not to release water for Kalifornian rice farmers. I lived there through the last bad drought, and they didn’t stop the flow of water to rice fields then. but then Newscum and biden happened. . . . .
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Invasion of Illegals -

The Biden administration will grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Haiti for 18 months in a move that marks a key win for Democrats and immigration advocates.
The TPS will allow Haitians in the United States to obtain a work permit and stay in the U.S. in light of what Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says are security concerns and other issues in Haiti. Nearly 100,000 Haitians could get the right to live and work in the U.S. as a result of the measure.
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Biden watch -
Press corps rumbling about biden’s lack of follow-on press conference . vp harris now over 60 days without a press conference or visiting the border.
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CW2/Domestic violence -
Marches in memory of George Floyd are scheduled across the country this week. Potential for Antifa driven violence piggy backed to those marches.

Friction has developed between BLM and Antifa forces in Portland. On Saturday, BLM organized a march that Antifa joined. Antifa commonly uses these marches for a spring board for violence, but this time organizers of the BLM march were not having any of it accusing Antifa as using blacks as “shields” for their violence. After being kicked out of the march, Antifa just went elsewhere and vandalized down town businesses.

Fairfax District of L.A. has banded together to form a neighborhood watch to help people from Orthodox Jewish community walk home safely, according to the report.
The group sprang up through an Instagram post in the city by Remi Franklin, 37, a jujitsu practitioner.

Los Angeles police on Saturday announced the arrest of a suspect in an alleged attack by a pro-Palestinian group on Jewish men outside a restaurant earlier in the week.

Critical race proponents are now advocating the actual destruction (burning) of the US Constitution because it is racist. NOTE - the same constitution is protecting their speech, removal is not in their best interests.
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Cyber Warfare -
Microsoft and cybersecurity experts believe the massive hack against the Microsoft Exchange Server this year was conducted by a Chinese hacker group, but the Biden administration has yet to point the finger. Microsoft said the hacker group “Hafnium,” was “state-sponsored” and operating out of China.
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China -
Chinese counterparts refuse to talk with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
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Middle East General -
Secretary of State Blinken will travel to Jerusalem, Ramallah, Cairo, and Amman May 24-27, 2021.
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Israel - CEASEFIRE

Cease fire continues to hold and civil unrest in mixed arab/jewish communities is down slightly. Temple Mount still the epicenter of a lot protests and fighting, though that is going down slowly as well.

Arab writers and political analysts are holding the Iranian-backed Hamas responsible for the violence and bloodshed. NOTE - this is a BIG shift for the arab world, due in large part to the Abrahamic Accords i suspect, as well as general hate/distrust of Hamas’ primary supporter - Iran.

Unlike past wars, Israel has tons of video documentation on how Hamas et al embedded their rocket launchers into schools and other civilian areas, used ambulances to move troops, and other actions to deliberately try to delegitimize Israeli counter strikes. World governments and agencies are well aware of this and with the volumes of videos, cannot simply argue Israeli brutality. Additionally, Israel used precise munitions sized to minimize collateral damage. Something they didn’t have isn the past.

Again, this isn’t lost on financial backers of Gaza. Officials in the Donor countries ALCH (that Give Assistance to Gaza and PA) have begun discussions in recent days on the question of whether and how much money to donate to Gaza to aid in the wake of the destruction after Operation Guardian of the Walls. Since 2014, donor countries, mainly European ones, have invested more than $ 2 billion in rehabilitating the Gaza Strip. Officials in those countries expressed frustration at discussions about the money being transferred to Gaza, “without real oversight capability and without a broader political-political process.” Some describe the feeling ‘as an ATM’, that there is no big and comprehensive plan.
NOTE - The realization that Hamas diverted a vast chunk of those billions to construct its military network and rocket system. Such is the flexibility of receiving cash with “real oversight capability”

OBSERVATION - There is a saying that one is always fighting the last war. That is what Hamas did. Israel OTOH did not in this case, but planned out Hamas tactics and operations and pretty well effectively countered them.
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Iran -
Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Abbas Aragchi on Monday appeared to double-down on a tough negotiating position with the US as time ran out on IAEA-Tehran cooperation and with June 18 presidential elections creeping closer. The US, Iran and the world powers have had five rounds of negotiations in Vienna in recent months to try to resolve the nuclear standoff.
OBSERVATION - Iran knows fully well biden is a paper tiger and will not do anything to stop Iran from doing what it wants. These negotiation are nothing but a show.
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Belarus -
Jet fighters from Belarus were scrambled and intercepted a Ryan Air passenger jet under the pretenses of a bomb threat. After being forced down, police arrested Roman Protasevich, a journalist and critic of the Lukashenko administration. Belarus and Lukashenko are relatively close allies of Putin and Russia. They were reported to have staged military forces on the northern border of Ukraine during the recent crisis.
European leaders have expressed outrage at this hijacking of an airliner. “Hijacking of a civilian plane is an unprecedented act of state terrorism. It cannot go unpunished,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki wrote on Twitter. Greece’s Foreign Ministry agreed (the aircraft had departed from Athens en route to Lithuania), calling the incident “state hijacking”.
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Wuhan virus -
That which in 2019 was tinfoil hat time turned out otherwise. WEF and Bill Gates playing pandemic planning games about a “novel coronavirus” just before the wuhan virus broke forth officially. Now director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of a virus even more transmissible and fatal than Covid-19, noting the “evolutionary certainty” of such an occurrence. Last month vp harris addressing the UN said “we must prepare for the next one” when speaking of the wuhan epidemic.
OBSERVATION - I’ll admit, the tinfoil is strong here, but given the almost frantic effort of governments and ‘scientists’ pushing for 100% vaccination for a disease that has a 99.7% recovery rate makes me stop and say “why”.

Project Veritas has released a memo from facebook that states that it will censor and delete any information that may lead to “vaccine hesitancy”. Be aware.

With fauci backtracking on the wuhan source debate, now all the medial outlets are scrambling to an orwellian rewrite of their denials of the lab release theory. A year ago they chalked concerns about the Wuhan lab up to “conspiracy theories.” Even Politifact is retracting its defense as new information comes out.

biden has called for an ‘independent’ investigation into the origins of the wuhan virus while at the same time ordering the State Dept to end its investigation of the same.
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Globalism / Great Reset -
biden issued an “executive order” requiring financial regulators and government budget managers to weigh “climate risk” in issuing regulations and making investment decisions.

Governors from Texas, Idaho, Arizona, South Dakota, Montana, South Carolina, and Wyoming have issued executive orders to ban COVID-19 vaccine passports, while Iowa, Alabama, Utah, Arkansas, and North Dakota have passed bills into law to deal with the issue. Other states like California, Oregon, Washington and NY are pressing forward with passports.

The World Bank has told Russia that it should implement a guaranteed minimum income for the nation to combat poverty and economic hardship. No comment from Russia in response that I can find.

On Tuesday the Pope called on all to embrace essentially the green new deal, calling for “a new ecological approach” to transform “the way humans inhabit the world, our lifestyles, our relationship with the earth’s resources and, in general, our way of seeing human beings and living life.”
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Economy -
Brazil has announced that it expects total coffee output to plunge 22.6% in 2021. About 70% of the world’s Arabica beans are grown in Brazil. The decline in production is due to a massive drought that has enveloped the entire country. Adjacent areas coffee production has been hit as well. Coffee futures are on the rise.

23 States have now ended the $300 weekly federal pandemic unemployment compensation supplement.

The National Composite Index marked its tenth consecutive month of accelerating prices with a 13.2% gain from year-ago levels, up from 12.0% in February. Analysts are trying to link the rise to people relocating due to wuhan, which may have been a component, but not mentioned was last years BLM/Antifa riots and skyrocketing crime in major cities that drove people out of the cities and into the suburbs.
NOTE - the bubble grows larger, supported by low interest rates from the Fed.
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Invasion of Illegals -
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is moving to end a local police program in Bristol County, Massachusetts, that has helped take illegal alien child rapists, attempted murderers, assailants, carjackers, and others off the streets. Last week, Mayorkas announced he was directing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency to end its 287(g) agreement with Bristol County, Massachusetts, as well as terminating DHS use of detention facilities in Massachusetts and Georgia — both of which hold criminal illegal aliens.
Analysis from Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) Director of Investigations Jon Feere’s analysis of the program he writes “The Biden administration seems to be upset that the successful 287(g) program in Bristol County, Mass., has resulted in the identification of illegal aliens arrested for child rape, assault, strangulation, arson, attempted murder, armed carjacking, breaking and entering, and identity theft, and they plan to put an end to this public safety program immediately, no matter the cost to public safety. This is consistent with the administration’s enforcement priorities and would ensure that countless criminal aliens are released into our communities. In fiscal year 2020, state and local law enforcement trained under 287(g) encountered approximately 920 aliens convicted for assault, 1,261 convicted for dangerous drugs, 104 convicted for sex offenses/assaults, 377 convicted for obstructing police, 190 convicted for weapon offenses, and 37 convicted for homicide, to name a few crimes”
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Biden watch -
The first US-Russia summit of the Biden presidency will take place in Geneva, Switzerland, on 16 June. That comes at the tail end of Biden’s already scheduled trip to the United Kingdom for the G7 summit and Brussels for a meeting of Nato leaders, giving the president plenty of time to hear from US allies before sitting down with Putin. This has all the potential of becoming a major dumpster fire if they can’t keep biden drugged up enough to handle the agenda.
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CW2/Domestic violence -
Live news coverage at George Floyd Square on the anniversary of his death was interrupted by dozens(?) of shots of gunfire. According to news reports, the police officers responded to calls from the scene relaying that a vehicle was seen leaving the area at a high rate of speed. One person with gunshot wounds was admitted to the hospital.

After a short period of relative calm, rioters in Portland lite it up, literally. While this crowd was yelling “Burn the building down,” some individuals in the crowd have lit a dumpster on fire that has been pushed up against the Justice Center. In addition to the Justice Center, rioters also vandalized the City Hall and numerous businesses in between.

A memo leaked from the State Department supporting BLM propaganda globally. The memo reportedly states “The Department supports the use of the term ‘Black Lives Matter’ in messaging content, speeches, and other diplomatic engagements with foreign audiences to advance racial equity and access to justice on May 25th and beyond. We encourage posts to focus on the need to eliminate systemic racism and its continued impact.” Already, U.S. embassy in Spain is now flying a Black Lives Matter flag.

In the dark blue bastion of Austin TX, homeless have established a tent city with its own machete-wielding “security” at city hall.
NOTE - in the Portland/Seattle enclaves of BLM/Antifadom the leftists have shifted some of their emphasis towards protecting homeless encampment throughout those metropolitan areas. They have found the same fertile ground in Austin.
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POLITICAL FRONT -
Continuing to monitor voting recounts in AZ and GA.
One particularly dangerous front is the Grand Jury convened to investigate Trump and his businesses. It has all the trapping of a political witch hunt. If they try to arrest and jail him, there is chances that the right will finally have the last straw and grant the leftists their civil war.
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China -
China’s foreign ministry on Monday warned the United States and South Korea not to interfere in Taiwan, after leaders of the two countries agreed last week to work together to seek peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. “China brooks no foreign interference on the Taiwan issue,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular news briefing in Beijing.
NOTE - These warnings are now almost routine, but China is trying to establish a precidence when they attack Taiwan that the rest of the world was warned to stay away.

China has released computer-generated images of the Xian H-20 strategic bomber have been published by the state defence corporation, Norinco. Like most Chinese items, it is almost a carbon copy of the B2 stealth bomber. It is suppose to have an 1800 mile range - putting Guam within range. For comparison, the USAF B-2 Spirit has an operational range of nearly 7,000 miles.
NOTE - more US technology that was stolen. Shows China’s continued aggressive push to dominate the Western Pacific.
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North Korea -
Rumors out of NK suggest that Kim Jong-un’s sister has given orders for a purge of government agencies. At least one high ranking official has been reportedly executed.
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Japan -
Ministry of Defense announced this month plans to acquire two new combat ships equipped with an AEGIS integrated naval weapons system. Tokyo had previously announced that it would acquire the AEGIS last October. This news comes with Japan announcing that it will no longer follow a one percent GDP cap on defense spending.
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Israel - CEASEFIRE

Continues to hold yet unrest continues in mixed arab/jewish cities.

Blinken announced Tuesday that the Biden administration will reopen its Consulate General in Jerusalem — restoring ties with Palestinians that had been downgraded by the Trump administration — and seek $75 million from Congress to provide development and economic assistance to Palestinians. NOTE - That “assistance” will only line the pockets of Abbas and Hamas - always has, always will.

Abbas his trying to get his fingers into the rebuild Gaza money pot. Abbas emphasized the importance of including the PA in any plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of the recent round of war between Israel and Hamas. He also demanded that the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas must include banning visits by Jews to al-Aqsa Mosque compound on the Temple Mount,
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Iran -
A large fire was reported at the Kangan Petro Refining Co. (KPRC) in southern Iran along the coast of the Persian Gulf on Monday, just a day after an explosion reportedly impacted a drone factory in the center of the country.

There is an election going in in Iran today. Reports indicate that the Revolutionary Guard have already picked a likely winner from among the seven men who have been qualified for the Iranian presidency. RUNINT indicates that the winner will be Chief Justice Ebrahim Raisi, a hardliner who would have a far more conservative administration than the current president Rouhani.
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Lebanon -

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is speaking on TV, and he’s not looking well. Pale, thin, a bit breathless and coughing from time to time. Nasrallah stated on Tuesday that he had not made any statements in recent weeks because he had been sick.
NOTE - Nasrallah reportedly has had wuhan, but there is continued speculation this might be a second infection.
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Syria -
National “elections” ongoing in Syria, low turnout is being observed as Assad’s Ba’ath Party is expected to win again.
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Afghanistan -
Australia has said it will shut its embassy in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul on Friday, as the withdrawal of international troops proceeds. In a statement, Canberra talked of “an increasingly uncertain security environment” in the country.
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Belarus -
A colleague of opposition journalist Roman Protasevich, who was arrested in Belarus after being taken off a diverted flight on Sunday, says dissidents now fear for their lives. Europe continues to widely denounce the arrest.
NOTE - Belarus has been referred to as the european North Korea, who’s government is very totalitarian and resticted.
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Armenia/Azerbaijan -
Azerbaijan’s defense ministry on Tuesday denied accusations by Armenia that it had fired across the border at Armenian positions.
Armenia’s defense ministry said earlier that an Armenian soldier had been killed during a shootout with Azeri forces on its eastern border with Azerbaijan.
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