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New filing today;
US DOMINION, INC., DOMINION
VOTING SYSTEMS, INC., and DOMINION
VOTING SYSTEMS CORPORATION,
Plaintiffs/Counter-Defendants,
v.
MY PILLOW, INC., and MICHAEL J.
LINDELL,
Defendants/Counter and Third-Party
Plaintiffs,
v.
SMARTMATIC USA CORP.,
SMARTMATIC INTERNATIONAL
HOLDING B.V., SGO CORPORATION
LIMITED, AND HAMILTON PLACE
STRATEGIES, LLC,
Third-Party Defendants.
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.227759/gov.uscourts.dcd.227759.170.1.pdf
Lot of difference between GOP's guy and the one they hated.
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter mark 77th wedding anniversary at home in Plains, Georgia
The couple, who have been on the American and international stage together for a half-century, are facing significant health challenges.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/jimmy-rosalynn-carter-mark-77th-wedding-anniversary-home-plains-georgi-rcna93046
Another confirmation that one will have a better life under the democrats.
How Life Expectancy in Republican States Compares to Democratic Ones
BY JAMES BICKERTON ON 7/7/23 AT 5:00 AM EDT
https://www.newsweek.com/how-life-expectancy-republican-states-compares-democrat-ones-1811447
Residents in Democratic-voting states experience an average life expectancy of more than two years longer than their Republican counterparts, according to a Newsweek analysis of World Population Review data.
The data shows, on average, that people living in states in which former President Donald Trump won in 2020 had a life expectancy in 2023 of 75.5 years, versus 77.7 years for those in states that backed President Joe Biden.
Life expectancy in the U.S. fell in 2020 and 2021, eliciting concern across the health and political spectrum. Whilst other developed countries also saw their life expectancy decline in 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, most saw a recovery the following year. American life expectancy is now lower than that of dramatically poorer countries such as Cuba and Lebanon.
World Population Review data, analyzed by Newsweek, gave the U.S. as a whole a life expectancy of 76.6 in 2023. However, this varies significantly by state, from 80.7 years in Hawaii to 71.9 years in Mississippi.
In general, people living in states that voted Democratic in 2020 tend to live longer than those in their Republican-backing counterparts. Of the top 10 U.S. states by life expectancy, only one, Utah, backed Trump in 2020. The top 10 states, in order, are: Hawaii, Washington, Minnesota, California, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Oregon, Vermont, Utah and Connecticut.
By contrast, of the 10 states with the shortest life expectancy, only New Mexico voted for Biden in 2020. The other nine are: Mississippi, West Virginia, Louisiana, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma and South Carolina.
Figures released in 2022 by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed U.S. life expectancy had dropped a full year from 2020, and now trails the Chinese figure for the first time.
Within the U.S., there was a sharp disparity between race and gender, with the average American Asian woman expected to live for 85.6 years, versus just 66.7 years for a Black American man.
The results are consistent with a study headed by assistant professor Haider J. Warraich, which was published by the British Medical Journal in 2022. This found counties which voted for Democratic presidential candidates from 2000-2016 recorded larger falls in the death rate than their Republican backing counterparts.
The authors concluded: "Our finding that Democratic counties have experienced steeper declines in mortality than Republican counties over the past two decades builds upon previous evidence suggesting that more liberal policies, laws, and regulations may be associated with better health outcomes."
A separate investigation, published in October 2022 by health journal Plos One, found that between 1999 and 2019 "U.S. life expectancy has stagnated, largely because of higher mortality among adults 25–64 years of age."
The study also concluded state-level policy can have a significant impact on life expectancy. It said: "More conservative marijuana policies and more liberal policies on the environment, gun safety, labor, economic taxes, and tobacco taxes in a state were associated with lower mortality in that state."
READ MORE
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Global life expectancy fell for the first time in 60 years in 2020, from 72.76 to 72.75, according to World Bank figures.
The U.S. has also recorded a dramatic increase in deaths from fentanyl, which more than tripled, from 5.7 deaths per 100,000 people in 2016 to 21.6 deaths per 100,000 in 2021, according to CDC figures. The federal agency concluded that 150 Americans die each day due to synthetic opioids, of which fentanyl is the deadliest.
CDC data from 2020 showed there were 45,222 deaths from firearms use across the U.S. that year, substantially up from the 10-year average of around 38,000.
Of the deaths, 24,292 were attributed to suicide, with 19,384 for homicides and smaller figures for "unintentional," "legal intervention" and "undetermined."
VIRGINIANS ~ Listen to what will happen to your child's education system.
— Scampbell (@AccountableRep) July 7, 2023
What Jessica doesn't mention is what it will do to your property value as your schools begin to degrade. YOU TOO will take a hit, not just the kids.
VOTE for JESSICA ANDERSON. She gets it! https://t.co/vOMwCtmAYI
Deet and other mitigation methods are probably to "woke" for the GOP, but this is just part of the dangerous and brutal new world we are going to experience. Our fossil fuel abusive usage and GOPs culture and mitigation wars will continue to bill us and demand payment for humanity's choices.
Experts say climate change likely to increase US malaria cases
Scientists quell fears about imminent risk after cases in Texas and Florida but warn that mosquito breeding sites set to grow
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/06/malaria-us-mosquitoes-climate-crisis
Eric Berger
Thu 6 Jul 2023 06.00 EDT
Although locally acquired malaria cases were recently discovered in the United States for the first time in 20 years, infectious disease experts say they do not signal imminent danger but instead are an indicator that the number of cases of diseases transmitted by mosquitoes to humans will likely increase in the coming decades.
“It’s a warning sign for ensuring that there are good public health interventions in place, good mosquito surveillance in place, and that people are just aware that this could be a growing problem,” said Jackie Cook, associate professor of malaria epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
Earlier this month, a handful of malaria cases cropped up in Florida and Texas. The Florida department of health reported that there were two locally acquired malaria cases in Sarasota county, following two other locally acquired malaria cases that were reported in the state earlier this year. In Texas, a single resident “who spent time working outdoors in Cameron county” was diagnosed with malaria.
These cases are particularly significant because the patients were infected with the disease locally, rather than becoming sick after traveling to places where the disease is endemic, such as sub-Saharan Africa. The last time there were cases identified in the United States in which people acquired malaria locally was in 2003.
Now, experts project an increase in mosquito-borne disease cases because of warming global temperatures.
Malaria is a potentially fatal disease transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito. Symptoms include fever, shaking, chills, headache, muscle aches and tiredness, according to the CDC.
People who traveled to an area where malaria occurred and are experiencing such symptoms should seek medical care and tell the healthcare provider where they traveled.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health advisory on Monday stating that the Florida and Texas cases could mean a rise in imported malaria cases due to international summer travel.
There are effective treatments against malaria – “as long as you get them promptly”, Cook said.
“If you don’t get treated, that’s when you get the much more severe symptoms. That’s when you can end up with respiratory failure, kidney failure and coma.”
It’s also important that people take measures to protect themselves from mosquitoes, Cook said. Precautions include wearing insect repellent, lighting citronella candles and installing window screens to prevent mosquitoes flying indoors.
“Public health officials need to get everyone attuned to the reality that they should be using mosquito control, which means that if they are going to be outdoors,” especially at dawn and dusk, because the mosquitoes that can transmit malaria tend to bite then, “they absolutely need to be wearing mosquito repellent”, said Dr Aileen Marty, an infectious disease expert at Florida International University.
The public can also expect mosquitoes to transmit malaria more easily in the future for the same reason that wildfires are worsening across the United States: the climate crisis, according to climate and disease experts.
The warming temperatures and increased rainfall mean that there will be more mosquito breeding sites, Cook said. Mosquitoes will also be able to breed faster and feed more, “so they bite more people” and have “more chances to spread the infection”.
“The prediction from climate change scientists is that we are going to see this greater spread of vector-borne diseases in places where we have previously eliminated them,” Cook said.
She suggested that public health officials take steps such as fogging (spraying small amounts of insecticide into the air to kill mosquitoes), draining standing water and educating people on how they can protect themselves from mosquitoes.
In spite of the projected increase in malaria cases, Marty and Cook both said the Texas and Florida cases are not cause for panic.
“It’s cause for knowledge,” Marty said. “It’s cause for appropriate behavior to reduce risk.”
TV Guide
— Tomi T Ahonen Moved to Post, Spoutible & Mastodon (@tomiahonen) July 6, 2023
8 PM
Monday Night Football
In grudge match of the schoolyard spoiled brats, score after first inning is:
Fuckerberg 1 - Space Karen 0 https://t.co/heh0oQJmb1 pic.twitter.com/KiG6UzS1G2
It's gotten out of hand. It's put us all at risk giving all the bad actors all that info. AI is going to exacerbate to the extreme. Big corp, political misdeeds, hackers, all making billions and trillions off of us. Estimates for just the global cyber crime part are 10.5 TRILLION by 2025. Currently about 95% of malware found is polymorfic (ability to constantly change the code to evade and/or reinfect) Even our cars, the newer the worse it is. Driving around in a hackable computer with wheels.
Your car is probably collecting your data. Here’s what you can do.
Modern cars are tracking drivers’ data, but a majority of them are unaware
Privacy4Cars is a new tool aimed at safeguarding privacy for drivers
Address the issue: Call manufacturer, request data inquiry and deletion
https://www.newsnationnow.com/business/tech/car-data-collection-protect-yourself/
Xavier Walton
Updated: JUL 4, 2023 / 08:36 AM CDT
(NewsNation) — As technology and vehicles evolve, concerns regarding driver privacy have surfaced.
The issue lies in the fact a majority of car owners are unaware that their vehicles have transformed into data-gathering machines, and manufacturers can sell what they’ve collected.
Modern cars can track your location, record the moment you brake, and even monitor seatbelt usage.
Stepping into a newer car feels like entering what some call a smartphone on wheels, equipped with features like call-making capabilities and even Amazon Alexa integration. Additionally, these cars often come equipped with multiple cameras. However, what many people may not realize is that these newer vehicles are collecting a significant amount of information beyond what meets the eye.
“Older cars tend to be more private because they have less technology then,” said Andrea Amico, founder of Privacy4Cars.
AM radios in new vehicles at risk?
Privacy4Cars is a new tool in the market aimed at safeguarding privacy for drivers.
According to Amico, the world’s leading car manufacturers are compiling large amounts of data, which most customers don’t appreciate.
“Don’t sell my personal information. The data is mine not yours for additional profit. Do not collect data from our cars we care about our privacy,” Amico said.
He added, “People are going to Privacy4Cars, typing in their VIN, and finding out what their car does.”
Consumers like Giovanni Mora, who drives a new 2023 Ford Maverick, drive vehicles loaded with the latest features, but don’t think twice about the data being collected. However, now that he’s aware, he said he is concerned about his privacy.
“We have no records of any dealerships or rental companies deleting data from this car. There’s a cell phone essentially imbedded inside the car. The car has a data contract that can receive data in real time or near-real time.”
USS Intrepid: Celebrating 80 years of heroism and history
According to Amico, Privacy4Cars currently monitors 500 companies involved in the collection, sharing, selling, and brokering of vehicle data.
Amico suggests drivers take at least two steps to address the issue. First, contact your car manufacturer to inquire about your vehicle’s information and where it’s going. Second, if you are selling or returning a vehicle, he advises requesting that the dealer delete all associated data.
But he warns that may not be the end of it.
“Most dealerships, when they promise to delete data, we found they left data behind by 50 to 75 percent of the cars,” Amico said. “So just don’t take their word for it.”
7/5/23 Citigroup analyst Vikram Bagri initiates coverage on Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) with a Buy rating and announces Price Target of $13.
Treaty of Paris (1783)
Treaty of Paris; 9/3/1783; Perfected Treaties, 1778 - 1945; General Records of the United States Government, Record Group 11; National Archives Building, Washington, DC.
This treaty, signed on September 3, 1783, between the American colonies and Great Britain, ended the American Revolution and formally recognized the United States as an independent nation.
https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/treaty-of-paris
The Definitive Treaty of Peace 1783
In the Name of the most Holy & undivided Trinity.
It having pleased the Divine Providence to dispose the Hearts of the most Serene and most Potent Prince George the Third, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Duke of Brunswick and Lunebourg, Arch- Treasurer and Prince Elector of the Holy Roman Empire etc.. and of the United States of America, to forget all past Misunderstandings and Differences that have unhappily interrupted the good Correspondence and Friendship which they mutually wish to restore; and to establish such a beneficial and satisfactory Intercourse between the two countries upon the ground of reciprocal Advantages and mutual Convenience as may promote and secure to both perpetual Peace and Harmony; and having for this desirable End already laid the Foundation of Peace & Reconciliation by the Provisional Articles signed at Paris on the 30th of November 1782, by the Commissioners empowered on each Part, which Articles were agreed to be inserted in and constitute the Treaty of Peace proposed to be concluded between the Crown of Great Britain and the said United States, but which Treaty was not to be concluded until Terms of Peace should be agreed upon between Great Britain & France, and his Britannic Majesty should be ready to conclude such Treaty accordingly: and the treaty between Great Britain & France having since been concluded, his Britannic Majesty & the United States of America, in Order to carry into full Effect the Provisional Articles above mentioned, according to the Tenor thereof, have constituted & appointed, that is to say his Britannic Majesty on his Part, David Hartley, Esqr., Member of the Parliament of Great Britain, and the said United States on their Part, - stop point - John Adams, Esqr., late a Commissioner of the United States of America at the Court of Versailles, late Delegate in Congress from the State of Massachusetts, and Chief Justice of the said State, and Minister Plenipotentiary of the said United States to their High Mightinesses the States General of the United Netherlands; - stop point - Benjamin Franklin, Esqr., late Delegate in Congress from the State of Pennsylvania, President of the Convention of the said State, and Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States of America at the Court of Versailles; John Jay, Esqr., late President of Congress and Chief Justice of the state of New York, and Minister Plenipotentiary from the said United States at the Court of Madrid; to be Plenipotentiaries for the concluding and signing the Present Definitive Treaty; who after having reciprocally communicated their respective full Powers have agreed upon and confirmed the following Articles.
Article 1st:
His Brittanic Majesty acknowledges the said United States, viz., New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, to be free sovereign and Independent States; that he treats with them as such, and for himself his Heirs & Successors, relinquishes all claims to the Government, Propriety, and Territorial Rights of the same and every Part thereof.
Article 2d:
And that all Disputes which might arise in future on the subject of the Boundaries of the said United States may be prevented, it is hereby agreed and declared, that the following are and shall be their Boundaries, viz.; from the Northwest Angle of Nova Scotia, viz., that Angle which is formed by a Line drawn due North from the Source of St. Croix River to the Highlands; along the said Highlands which divide those Rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the northwesternmost Head of Connecticut River; Thence down along the middle of that River to the forty-fifth Degree of North Latitude; From thence by a Line due West on said Latitude until it strikes the River Iroquois or Cataraquy; Thence along the middle of said River into Lake Ontario; through the Middle of said Lake until it strikes the Communication by Water between that Lake & Lake Erie; Thence along the middle of said Communication into Lake Erie, through the middle of said Lake until it arrives at the Water Communication between that lake & Lake Huron; Thence along the middle of said Water Communication into the Lake Huron, thence through the middle of said Lake to the Water Communication between that Lake and Lake Superior; thence through Lake Superior Northward of the Isles Royal & Phelipeaux to the Long Lake; Thence through the middle of said Long Lake and the Water Communication between it & the Lake of the Woods, to the said Lake of the Woods; Thence through the said Lake to the most Northwestern Point thereof, and from thence on a due West Course to the river Mississippi; Thence by a Line to be drawn along the Middle of the said river Mississippi until it shall intersect the Northernmost Part of the thirty-first Degree of North Latitude, South, by a Line to be drawn due East from the Determination of the Line last mentioned in the Latitude of thirty-one Degrees of the Equator to the middle of the River Apalachicola or Catahouche; Thence along the middle thereof to its junction with the Flint River; Thence straight to the Head of Saint Mary's River, and thence down along the middle of Saint Mary's River to the Atlantic Ocean. East, by a Line to be drawn along the Middle of the river Saint Croix, from its Mouth in the Bay of Fundy to its Source, and from its Source directly North to the aforesaid Highlands, which divide the Rivers that fall into the Atlantic Ocean from those which fall into the river Saint Lawrence; comprehending all Islands within twenty Leagues of any Part of the Shores of the United States, and lying between Lines to be drawn due East from the Points where the aforesaid Boundaries between Nova Scotia on the one Part and East Florida on the other shall, respectively, touch the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic Ocean, excepting such Islands as now are or heretofore have been within the limits of the said Province of Nova Scotia.
Article 3d:
It is agreed that the People of the United States shall continue to enjoy unmolested the Right to take Fish of every kind on the Grand Bank and on all the other Banks of Newfoundland, also in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and at all other Places in the Sea, where the Inhabitants of both Countries used at any time heretofore to fish. And also that the Inhabitants of the United States shall have Liberty to take Fish of every Kind on such Part of the Coast of Newfoundland as British Fishermen shall use, (but not to dry or cure the same on that Island) And also on the Coasts, Bays & Creeks of all other of his Brittanic Majesty's Dominions in America; and that the American Fishermen shall have Liberty to dry and cure Fish in any of the unsettled Bays, Harbors, and Creeks of Nova Scotia, Magdalen Islands, and Labrador, so long as the same shall remain unsettled, but so soon as the same or either of them shall be settled, it shall not be lawful for the said Fishermen to dry or cure Fish at such Settlement without a previous Agreement for that purpose with the Inhabitants, Proprietors, or Possessors of the Ground.
Article 4th:
It is agreed that Creditors on either Side shall meet with no lawful Impediment to the Recovery of the full Value in Sterling Money of all bona fide Debts heretofore contracted.
Article 5th:
It is agreed that Congress shall earnestly recommend it to the Legislatures of the respective States to provide for the Restitution of all Estates, Rights, and Properties, which have been confiscated belonging to real British Subjects; and also of the Estates, Rights, and Properties of Persons resident in Districts in the Possession on his Majesty's Arms and who have not borne Arms against the said United States. And that Persons of any other Description shall have free Liberty to go to any Part or Parts of any of the thirteen United States and therein to remain twelve Months unmolested in their Endeavors to obtain the Restitution of such of their Estates – Rights & Properties as may have been confiscated. And that Congress shall also earnestly recommend to the several States a Reconsideration and Revision of all Acts or Laws regarding the Premises, so as to render the said Laws or Acts perfectly consistent not only with Justice and Equity but with that Spirit of Conciliation which on the Return of the Blessings of Peace should universally prevail. And that Congress shall also earnestly recommend to the several States that the Estates, Rights, and Properties of such last mentioned Persons shall be restored to them, they refunding to any Persons who may be now in Possession the Bona fide Price (where any has been given) which such Persons may have paid on purchasing any of the said Lands, Rights, or Properties since the Confiscation.
And it is agreed that all Persons who have any Interest in confiscated Lands, either by Debts, Marriage Settlements, or otherwise, shall meet with no lawful Impediment in the Prosecution of their just Rights.
Article 6th:
That there shall be no future Confiscations made nor any Prosecutions commenced against any Person or Persons for, or by Reason of the Part, which he or they may have taken in the present War, and that no Person shall on that Account suffer any future Loss or Damage, either in his Person, Liberty, or Property; and that those who may be in Confinement on such Charges at the Time of the Ratification of the Treaty in America shall be immediately set at Liberty, and the Prosecutions so commenced be discontinued.
Article 7th:
There shall be a firm and perpetual Peace between his Britanic Majesty and the said States, and between the Subjects of the one and the Citizens of the other, wherefore all Hostilities both by Sea and Land shall from henceforth cease: All prisoners on both Sides shall be set at Liberty, and his Britanic Majesty shall with all convenient speed, and without causing any Destruction, or carrying away any Negroes or other Property of the American inhabitants, withdraw all his Armies, Garrisons & Fleets from the said United States, and from every Post, Place and Harbour within the same; leaving in all Fortifications, the American Artillery that may be therein: And shall also Order & cause all Archives, Records, Deeds & Papers belonging to any of the said States, or their Citizens, which in the Course of the War may have fallen into the hands of his Officers, to be forthwith restored and delivered to the proper States and Persons to whom they belong.
Article 8th:
The Navigation of the river Mississippi, from its source to the Ocean, shall forever remain free and open to the Subjects of Great Britain and the Citizens of the United States.
Article 9th:
In case it should so happen that any Place or Territory belonging to great Britain or to the United States should have been conquered by the Arms of either from the other before the Arrival of the said Provisional Articles in America, it is agreed that the same shall be restored without Difficulty and without requiring any Compensation.
Article 10th:
The solemn Ratifications of the present Treaty expedited in good & due Form shall be exchanged between the contracting Parties in the Space of Six Months or sooner if possible to be computed from the Day of the Signature of the present Treaty. In witness whereof we the undersigned their Ministers Plenipotentiary have in their Name and in Virtue of our Full Powers, signed with our Hands the present Definitive Treaty, and caused the Seals of our Arms to be affixed thereto.
Done at Paris, this third day of September in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three.
D HARTLEY (SEAL)
JOHN ADAMS (SEAL)
B FRANKLIN (SEAL)
JOHN JAY (SEAL)
Was the last battle of the American Revolution fought in India? A growing number of historians think so
By Brad Lendon, CNN
Updated 1:38 AM EDT, Tue July 4, 2023
https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/04/asia/last-battle-american-revolutionary-war-india-intl-hnk-ml/index.html
Final Jeopardy category: the American Revolutionary War.
The answer is: The last battle of America’s war of independence was fought on this continent.
Cue the familiar music, and write down your response.
If you said “What is North America?” and wagered your entire pot, you’ve lost. At least that’s what a growing number of historians will tell you.
They’ll say the correct response should have been, “What is Asia?”
Ummm, what?!
Listen to Kathleen DuVal, professor of history at the University of North Carolina (one of the 13 original states, just saying).
“Americans and almost all historians of the United States until just recently focused almost exclusively on the Revolutionary War within the 13 colonies that rebelled against the British. The focus was almost all on Massachusetts and Virginia,” she says.
“But in just the past decade or two, historians have broadened their focus and started to write about the Revolutionary War as being, as you say, a world war,” DuVal says.
DuVal and others say two key protagonists of the Revolutionary War – Britain and France – actually fought the final battle of the conflict in Cuddalore, India, in June of 1783.
Wait! I know France helped the colonists beat the British redcoats, but what does India have to do with this? And even then, a “world war?”
DuVal explains.
“France’s help for the United States has long been part of Americans’ knowledge of the American Revolution, but the French king decided to enter the war because of France’s opposition to Britain more than any love for the Americans – after all, he was a king with his own empire,” she says.
OK, I get France and Britain didn’t like each other, but they didn’t control the entire world, right?
Well, Britain with its colonies across the globe had more enemies than just France, DuVal says.
Spain and the Netherlands allied with France to fight Britain, too, she says.
And the American struggle for independence was a way to harass Britain on another front.
“Looking at this from say the French perspective, taking on a role in the American Revolution enabled them to stretch British forces in just another place around the globe,” says Don Glickstein, a Seattle-based historian and journalist who covered the subject in depth in his 2015 book, “After Yorktown.”
Second war in 10 years
France and Spain were also trying to settle scores from a previous global conflict a decade earlier they had lost – the Seven Years’ War, of which the French and Indian War, fought in North America, was a part, DuVal told CNN.
And lest you think the North Carolina professor is reaching here, Glickstein and even the US State Department agree with her.
In the Seven Years’ War, which started in either 1754 or 1756 depending on who you ask, Britain dealt defeats to France and its ally Spain across the globe, from the Indo-Pacific to Portugal to Canada, but that came with a steep price, the State Department’s Office of the Historian says on its website.
“The war had been enormously expensive, and the British government’s attempts to impose taxes on (American) colonists to help cover these expenses resulted in increasing colonial resentment of British attempts to expand imperial authority in the colonies,” it says.
Those taxes on colonists eventually led to the Revolutionary War, it says.
The battle of Yorktown
For much of America’s 247-year history, it’s been taught that the last battle of that war was at Yorktown, Virginia, from Sept. 28 to Oct. 19, 1781. (And that may have been why your Final Jeopardy response was “North America.”)
But Glickstein says even describing Yorktown as an “American” victory is a bit generous.
“Kids learn that Yorktown was an American victory. In reality, it was a French victory, made possible by a French strategy, two French fleets, French siege engineers, French artillery that pounded the British, was fought largely by French soldiers, marines, and sailors who outnumbered their American rebel allies four-to-one,” Glickstein argues.
The National Park Service says about 600 French troops were killed at Yorktown and an associated naval battle. It says just over 100 Americans were killed at Yorktown.
“It was a victory not just of Americans, but of allies,” the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian says of the Battle of Yorktown.
“French soldiers at Yorktown outnumbered Americans. Spain and the Dutch Republic supported the colonists financially and logistically,” the museum says on its website.
In a 2018 interview with Smithsonian magazine, historian David Allison of the museum put the foreign help for Washington in a broader scope.
“Without allies, the colonies would never have gained their freedom,” he is quoted as saying.
“We Americans are too narrow-minded in how we view our national history, as if we alone have determined our own destiny. Yet this has never been true,” Allison is quoted as saying.
Fighting a world away
Still, few would dispute that defeat at Yorktown had Britain looking to cut its losses. Peace negotiations began in Paris that would lead to the signing of a preliminary peace deal between the colonies and Britain in late November of 1782.
News, however, traveled at the speed of sailing ships to the far reaches of the empires of the main combatants Britain and France.
After Yorktown, the fighting between Britain and France and Spain continued elsewhere, in places like Jamaica, Gibraltar and India.
Speaking to CNN from his home in Seattle, Glickstein argues that controlling India was a much bigger prize for Britain than controlling portions of North America. British colonizers coveted its resources, like silk, cotton, textiles, spices, tea, opium and precious stones. Historians point out that the British plundering of Indian wealth during the colonial years turned India’s economy from a near peer of Europe to something exponentially smaller.
“Everything that India made, the Brits wanted,” he said, adding that India’s strategic location meant it was a base from where Britain could protect its trade routes to the Asia-Pacific.
Britain and, to a lesser extent, France were well established with colonies in India when the American Revolution began and had already brought their hostilities from Europe to the subcontinent, according to the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia.
“When France entered the war in 1778 as an American ally, the British East India Company immediately moved to attack France’s Indian colonies, drawing both countries’ Indian allies into the fight,” the museum’s website says.
So the garrison of the French and its Indian allies at Cuddalore on the Bay of Bengal was an important target for Britain in late June of 1783.
Fighting took place on land and at sea. The naval battle of Cuddalore on June 20 was considered a French victory. On land, the besieged French forces tried attacking British troops around them on June 25, but were pushed back, Glickstein says.
Back at sea, the French admiral ordered his ships to prepare a bombardment of British land forces in support of the French ground operation, Glickstein says.
But before it could commence, “a British ship appeared in the distance flying a white flag,” Glickstein says.
“They brought news that six months before in Paris, the British, French and the Americans – the Dutch were a little later – signed the Treaty of Paris ending the American Revolution,” he says.
“Cuddalore, India, was indeed the last battle of the American Revolution.”
More like the GOP doesn't give a crap if people do as they say, it's just massive projection so they easily can do what they do. Part of the reason the GOP wants to defund the police, more specifically the FBI, so they can get away with more of their crimes.
A cool visual graph of market capitalization with Apple.
Watching this as an European really hurts, while the US (and Chinese) tech companies are racing into the future, Europe is on its way to become open-air museum. Ht @JamesEagle17
— Michael A. Arouet (@MichaelAArouet) July 3, 2023
pic.twitter.com/gjeu9bONeh
Then there's this, seems like the barred children are the ones that were saved;
Head of school linked to Amy Coney Barrett’s faith group abruptly resigns
Then a professor at Notre Dame, the supreme court justice was on a board that selected Jon Balsbaugh to head the Trinity Schools
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/03/amy-coney-barrett-people-of-praise-jon-balsbaugh-trinity-schools
A senior administrator of Christian private schools closely linked to People of Praise, conservative supreme court justice Amy Coney Barrett’s controversial faith group, abruptly resigned from his post earlier this year following complaints that allegations of teacher misconduct had been mishandled.
Jon Balsbaugh, an influential figure within the Christian education movement, was appointed president of Trinity Schools in February 2017, after being selected by a board of trustees that included Barrett, who was a professor at Notre Dame at the time.
Trinity is closely affiliated with People of Praise, the covenanted Christian charismatic community that has counted Barrett as a lifelong member. Her role as a trustee of Trinity from July 2015 to March 2017 is controversial in part because she served at a time when the school – which has campuses in Virginia, Minnesota and Indiana – had discriminatory policies in place that, in effect, barred children of same-sex parents from attending the schools.
For a group of people who consider themselves “survivors” of the Christian sect – some have even called it a cult – Balsbaugh’s tenure as president of Trinity, which came to an abrupt end in April, was emblematic of deeper problems within People of Praise, including an alleged culture of sweeping serious allegations of abuse against minors by some members of the faith group under the rug........................................................more
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/03/amy-coney-barrett-people-of-praise-jon-balsbaugh-trinity-schools
Some other Russian movement that might take the market down. Judging from Putin's previous actions, I'd say it's a pretty good possibility, even probability. Scorched earth has been his only policy.
Russia reducing its presence at nuclear plant, says Ukraine
Staff at Zaporizhzhia told to relocate, says Ukrainian intelligence, as Moscow accused of explosion plot
Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updates
Luke Harding in Kyiv
Fri 30 Jun 2023 07.24 EDT
Russia is reducing its presence at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate (GUR) has claimed, with staff told to relocate to Crimea and military patrols scaled back.
The agency’s chief, Kyrylo Budanov, has alleged Moscow has approved a plan to blow up the station and has mined four out of six power units, as well as a cooling pond. Last week Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Russia was plotting a “terrorist attack”.
According to the GUR, several representatives of Russia’s state nuclear energy agency, Rosatom, have already left. Ukrainian employees who stayed at the plant and signed contracts with Rosatom had been told to evacuate by Monday, preferably to Crimea, it said.
The intelligence agency named three senior individuals – the plant’s chief inspector, the head of the legal department and the deputy in charge of supplies – who had already departed. It said the number of Russian soldiers at the station and in the nearby town of Enerhodar had been reduced.
Since seizing the plant last year, the Russian army has turned it into a military base. It moved hardware into the turbine halls, including armoured vehicles and ammunition. Soldiers used the territory to bombard Ukrainian towns across the Dnipro reservoir.
This has mostly dried up after the Kakhovka dam downstream was blown up this month. Western governments and Kyiv say Russia deliberately sabotaged the dam to impede Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
Former plant workers told the Guardian it would be difficult to damage the reactors, which were protected by thick steel and concrete. But they said the small cooling pond – which the Russians have allegedly mined – was more vulnerable, as was a dry storage area used for spent nuclear fuel.
An explosion in the cooling pond could lead to a partial nuclear meltdown similar to the 1979 Three Mile Island accident in the US state of Pennsylvania, Oleksiy Kovynyev, a former senior engineer, said. In this scenario, most radiation would be contained.
But he added: “Of course, if you are an absolute maniac and open the ventilation channels this would throw out radiation.” Kovynyev said the dry storage area at the plant contained 24 spent “fuel assemblies”, sealed in 120 “hermetic” steel casks.
“In a normal situation, they are absolutely safe. If you wanted, you could destroy them. You could shell several times. This could cause a nuclear accident with radiation release.” He said he remained optimistic no disaster would take place.
Before the full-scale invasion, the plant employed 11,500 workers. An estimated 2,500 remain. Some, including the plant’s Ukrainian director, have signed contracts with Rosatom. Others have refused and have had their security passes revoked. Staff currently receive salaries from both Russia and Ukraine.
The GUR said on Friday that personnel remaining at the station had been instructed to “blame Ukraine in case of any emergencies”. Russia has claimed Kyiv has endangered the station by shelling it.
Ukraine has urged the international community to pay attention to the situation at the plant and to put pressure on Moscow to step back from the brink. Officials point out that Zelenskiy warned last year the Kremlin was preparing to blow up the Kakhovka dam – something that happened seven months later.
The chief rabbi of Ukraine, Moshe Azman, warned the “entire world community” to do everything in its power to stop a possible catastrophe. This week Russia told the UN security council it had no plans to blow up the plant. It previously assured the council it would not invade Ukraine.
Russian bank executive, 28, mysteriously dies after plunging out of 11th floor Moscow flat
The incident comes days after Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin's aborted coup attempt, posing questions about the woman's involvement.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1785903/russian-banker-dies-fall-apartment-moscow
By CIARAN MCGRATH
14:57, Thu, Jun 29, 2023 | UPDATED: 15:42, Thu, Jun 29, 2023
The vice-president of a Russian bank has died after a mysterious fall from the window of the Moscow apartment block where she lived.
Kristina Baikova, 28, an executive of Loko-Bank, apparently fell out of the window of the building on Khodynsky Boulevard.
Police are understood to be investigating her death.
Ms Baikova was at her eleventh-floor apartment with her friend, a 34-year-old named Andrei.
He claimed she invited him for a drink before falling out of the window.
Kristina Baikova
Loko-Bank executive Kristina Baikova (Image: Kristina Baikova)
Ms Baikova is far from the first wealthy Russian to die in mysterious circumstances since the start of Putin's war.
In September, Ivan Pechorin became the seventh former ally of the Russian President to die since the start of the year.
Other high-profile deaths have included oil tycoon Ravil Maganov, who similarly fell out of a hospital window, former Gazprom official Alexander Tyulakov and Vladislav Avayev.
Russian dissident Andrey Sidelnikov, who was forced to flee his homeland 15 years ago, and who now lives in the UK commented: “The Kremlin gets rid of objectionable people.
Vladimir Putin Ravil Maganov
Oil tycoon Ravil Maganov, pictured with Putin, likewise died in a mysterious fall last year (Image: GETTY)
“It can be both political deaths and economic deaths.
“There is a big redistribution of the market in Russia.”
The recent aborted rebellion, by Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, has introduced another dimension, given analysts have suggested an increasingly jumpy Putin may be plotting a purge in order to prevent any repetition of such insurrection.
Russian generals Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov and deputy commander General Sergei Surovikin, nicknamed "General Armageddon," are believed to be missing in the wake of the revolt.
Ivor Pechorin
Ivor Pechorin died in September (Image: NC)
Prigozhin himself has not been seen since Saturday, when he waved to well-wishers from a vehicle in the southern city of Rostov. He issued a defiant audio statement on Monday.
And on Tuesday morning, a private jet believed to belong to him flew from Rostov to an air base southwest of the Belarusian capital of Minsk, according to data from FlightRadar24.
Meanwhile, Moscow said preparations were underway for Wagner's troops, who numbered 25,000 according to Prigozhin, to hand over their heavy weapons to Russia's military.
Prigozhin had said such moves were being taken ahead of a July 1 deadline for his fighters to sign contracts - which he opposes - with Russia's military command.
Russian authorities also said Tuesday they have closed a criminal investigation into the uprising and are pressing no armed rebellion charge against Prigozhin or his followers.
Ranking Member Raskin Shares Key Evidence Directly Contradicting Bribery Allegations Touted by Rudy Giuliani and Oversight Chairman Comer
Jun 29, 2023 Press Release
https://oversightdemocrats.house.gov/news/press-releases/ranking-member-raskin-shares-key-evidence-directly-contradicting-bribery
Committee Republicans Use FBI Tipsheet to Revive Conspiracy Theories Rejected by Trump’s Justice Department Years Ago
Washington, D.C. (June 29, 2023)—Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, sent a letter to Chairman James Comer sharing the transcript of statements made by Mykola Zlochevsky, the owner of Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings, to an associate of Rudy Giuliani’s directly contradicting allegations repeated in the FBI Form FD-1023 tipsheet, which the FBI made available to all Committee Members. Republican Committee Members identified Mr. Zlochevsky as the source of the information relayed to the FBI by a confidential human source (CHS) in the Form FD-1023. As part of the 2019 impeachment inquiry against then-President Trump, the Committee received a transcript created by associates of Mr. Giuliani recording statements by Mr. Zlochevsky that squarely rebut these allegations.
“Despite being interviewed as part of a campaign by Mr. Giuliani and his proxies in 2019 and 2020 to procure damaging information about the Biden family, Mr. Zlochevsky explicitly and unequivocally denied those allegations. Specifically, Mr. Zlochevsky denied (1) that anyone at Burisma had ‘any contacts’ with then former Vice President Biden or his representatives while Hunter Biden served on the Burisma board, and (2) that former Vice President Biden or his staff ‘in any way’ assisted Mr. Zlochevsky or Burisma,” wrote Ranking Member Jamie Raskin in the letter.
As both the FBI and Mr. Giuliani himself stated, the unverified, second-hand allegations in the June 2020 Form FD-1023 largely repeated allegations Mr. Giuliani shared previously with the FBI.
Mr. Zlochevsky’s statements are recorded in a written document that was produced by Mr. Giuliani’s associate, Lev Parnas, to the House Committees overseeing former President Trump’s first impeachment inquiry in January 2020, including the Oversight Committee, and was made available to both Democratic and Republican Members. The Department of Justice has been in possession of the document since the FBI seized Mr. Parnas’ phone—including the document—pursuant to a warrant in 2019.
Mr. Zlochevsky’s statements are further evidence of former Attorney General Barr’s own warning that “[t]here are a lot of agendas in the Ukraine, there are a lot of cross-currents, and we can’t take anything we receive from the Ukraine at face value.” During the CHS’s June 2020 interview memorialized in the Form FD-1023, the CHS relayed conversations with a Ukrainian oligarch from years earlier. In doing so, the CHS explicitly noted that it is not unusual for Ukrainian business executives to brag and show off and that he could not offer any opinion as to the veracity of the allegations he was relaying.
“For this reason, the full factual context surrounding the form—including Mr. Zlochevsky’s statements contradicting the reported information—is crucial to properly understanding these allegations. In this case, that context includes not just repeated and failed efforts in 2019 and 2020 by Mr. Giuliani, Senate Republicans, and Trump’s Justice Department to find support for these allegations, but also clear evidence that then-Vice President Biden’s actions carried out the policy of the United States, its allies, and its international partners to combat corruption in Ukraine,” wrote Ranking Member Raskin.
Trump SPAC Investors Charged in $22 Million Insider Trading Case
Bob Van Voris, Bloomberg News
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/trump-spac-investors-charged-in-22-million-insider-trading-case-1.1939600
(Bloomberg) -- Three investors in the special purpose acquisition company that has agreed to take Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. public were indicted on charges they used inside information about the deal to make $22 million in illegal trades.
Digital World Acquisition Corp. is a SPAC that has signed a deal to merge with Trump Media, which runs Donald Trump’s “Truth Social” network, and take it public.
Michael Shvartsman, the CEO of Rocket One Capital LLC. and his brother Gerald Shvartsman, were named in a federal indictment unsealed Thursday in Manhattan federal court. Bruce Garelick, chief investment officer of Rocket and a member of the DWAC board, was also named.
Trump is not charged in the case and not named in any of allegations.
Prosecutors say the three men, who were arrested this morning in Florida, were invited to invest in DWAC after signing non-disclosure agreements with DWAC and another SPAC, Benessere Capital Acquisition Corp. They got confidential information about possible targets, including Trump’s company.
On Oct. 20, 2021, after the close of trading, a Trump spokesperson announced the planned merger between Trump Media and DWAC. The announcement sent share and warrant prices up.
Garelick then sold his DWAC securities for a $49,700 profit, according the the government. Gerald Shvartsman sold his for a $4.6 million profit and his brother Michael, sold off the Rocket One position for a profit of $18.2 million, according to the government.
(Corrects spelling of Floriday in dekhead)
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Neeva was great. Used them for a couple years also. Even the free version was good. But search engines without ads and tracking paying them just wasn't profitable and couldn't grow enough with the normal consumer. Neeva's generative AI and language models were top notch. Why Snowflake acquired them. There's also Startpage, one can adjust in their settings. Have to add the search engine manually. Pretty soon users will be able to have decent apps for AI I think, user friendly type thing for the normal person.
May 24, 2023
Snowflake acquires Neeva to accelerate search in the Data Cloud through generative AI
Around the Company
Snowflake News
Snowflake acquires Neeva to accelerate search in the Data Cloud through generative AI
Search is fundamental to how businesses interact with data, and the search experience is evolving rapidly with new conversational paradigms emerging in the way we ask questions and retrieve information, enabled by generative AI. The ability for teams to discover precisely the right data point, data asset, or data insight is critical to maximizing the value of data.
That’s why Snowflake is acquiring Neeva, a search company founded to make search even more intelligent at scale. Neeva created a unique and transformative search experience that leverages generative AI and other innovations to allow users to query and discover data in new ways.
We plan to infuse and leverage these innovations across the Data Cloud to the benefit of our customers, partners and developers. Neeva allows us to tap into some of the most cutting-edge search technologies available to bring search and conversation in Snowflake to a new level.
As part of the acquisition, we are joined by some of the brightest minds working in search today. Neeva’s leadership and team members have been instrumental in the creation of numerous successful products like Google’s search advertising and YouTube monetization.
We’re excited about what this acquisition means for search in the Data Cloud and we look forward to sharing more information about our plans in the future.
Here's a news literacy test that everyone should take whether one is blue or red or in-between. I'd challenge the Qult, but probably a lost cause. Pretty short tests, one conservative directed and one liberal. Took them both, missed one on the liberal side, none on the conservative. Knew I missed the one after jumping the gun too soon with out checking it out or giving it long enough thought (I know better). But great test for all the misinformation flooding that's going on with social media. Highly recommend, gives great tips on dealing with all the "fake news" crap.
https://newslit.org/tips-tools/quiz-should-you-share-it/
Avid supporter and friends donator.
https://twitter.com/NewsLitProject
https://newslit.org/
This description by @anneapplebaum is of Putin's Russia, but it's happening here as the GOP goes culture war crazy. Flooding the zone with shit. Nonstop attacks on the news media, teachers, experts. Half meant conspiracy theories. The effect is to make paying attention pointless. pic.twitter.com/ulfBtPwkJi
— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) June 25, 2023
Here's a news literacy test that everyone should take whether one is blue or red or in-between. I'd challenge the Qult, but probably a lost cause. Pretty short tests, one conservative directed and one liberal. Took them both, missed one on the liberal side, none on the conservative. Knew I missed the one after jumping the gun too soon with out checking it out or giving it long enough thought (I know better). But great test for all the misinformation flooding that's going on with social media. Highly recommend, gives great tips on dealing with all the "fake news" crap.
https://newslit.org/tips-tools/quiz-should-you-share-it/
Avid supporter and friends donator.
https://twitter.com/NewsLitProject
https://newslit.org/
This description by @anneapplebaum is of Putin's Russia, but it's happening here as the GOP goes culture war crazy. Flooding the zone with shit. Nonstop attacks on the news media, teachers, experts. Half meant conspiracy theories. The effect is to make paying attention pointless. pic.twitter.com/ulfBtPwkJi
— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) June 25, 2023
Velina Tchakarova has this view;
Prigozhin threatens the commander 😮 in Rostov with General Sergey Kuzovlev, commander of the Southern Military District. pic.twitter.com/JvCQWeupHO
— VidTranslator - targum.video AI bot (@vidtranslator) June 24, 2023
There are mounting calls for mass protests to start in Moscow and St. Petersburg to call for an end to the invasion of Ukraine and for Putin to step down and to establish democracy. pic.twitter.com/5rbxFmZ2xm
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) June 24, 2023
People out on the streets of Rostov tonight, chanting:
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) June 24, 2023
“Wagner, Wagner, Wagner” pic.twitter.com/SAYM2LkG8Q
In opposition to Putin, the Russian people are out on the streets of Rostov, chanting:
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) June 24, 2023
“Wagner, Wagner, Wagner”
This is far from over… pic.twitter.com/MN2bilRUXG
This goes way beyond the 30k or how ever many Wagner forces are in Ukraine. Wagner group is Putin's largest force into other countries with several 100's of thousands in reserve that will do the dirtiest of warfare in any country. The Wagner's cyber and misinformation war against the US that is raging now that they used to get Traitor trump elected is costing the US billions every year and has gone a long way in destroying our democracy. It has put traitorous leaders in congress where they continue to do damage to America and backing for Putin. So given a choice, and in a failed attempt for the MoD to get control of Wagner and Minister of Defense Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Gerasimov failed war actions, Putin will choose Wagner over MoD's leadership now and whoever will have the best control over those forces. That is if Putin can't keep control and continue using both.
A very telling article out of one of China's media today being critical of Russia and a seemingly admittance that Russia may be loosing the war. The fact that a critical analysis by any standard against Russia and admittance to their predicament out of China would be an extreme rarity. Sign of things to come? The People's Daily and Global Times are still not doing anything to criticize Russia, all of China's media has been in support of Russia up to now.
A bit long and need to translate with Google setting but it has a lot to say in-between the lines and some truths on the lines for the Chinese people, another rarity for China.
Feng Yujun Interprets the "Wagner Rebellion" and the Future of Russia
Phoenix reference
June 24, 2023 22:18:58 from Beijing
https://news.ifeng.com/c/8Qsz5enGyHw
A lot of reports coming in now (none confirmed) of major changes in Russia's MoD. Looking more and more this was the plan.
As per various source, Prigozhin, will allegedly demand dismissal of Shoigu and Gerasimov.
— Worldupdates ( Breaking ) (@itswpceo) June 24, 2023
In March the ISW published a report detailing the ongoing war between Prigozhin and the Russian MoD. A little bit of a read, but not that bad and is really informative, but it indicates that these events now may be just part of the power struggle between the two. No matter what though, Putin will be weaker, or at least the appearance of weakness will be shown. Still, may be just the start of Putin's demise and cannot end well and will expose more of this war caused chaos within Russia's leadership.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-march-12-2023
This may be just a war between Prigozhin and Shoigu and the "deal" will be Prigozhin becoming the MoD.
Full statement by Prigozhin:
— Worldupdates ( Breaking ) (@itswpceo) June 24, 2023
"We are turning our convoys around and are leaving in the opposite direction to field camps according to plan.
Wagner PMC was to be closed off. We went out on 23rd June to the 'Justice March'. In 24 hours we walked short on 200 km from Moscow.…
Is it all for an exotic "out"?
BREAKING:
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) June 24, 2023
Lukashenko announces that Prigozhin has accepted Lukashenko's proposal to stop Wagner Group’s advance in Russia and start negotiations.
Back in Jan 23 Malcome Nance wrote a substack "How Putin May Die" that was quite intuitive and may be coming to real life as of June 22, 2023. Good or bad, this ongoing event will be as historic as tearing down the wall and the breakup of the USSR and will be the demise of Putin.
https://twitter.com/MalcolmNance
US Intelligence +36 yrs. Expert Terrorism Extremism, Russians getting ass kicked| x5 NYT Bestselling Author, Navy Sr Chief, Widower, Ukrainian Legionnaire
https://malcolmnance.substack.com/p/reposted-how-putin-may-die?utm_source=twitter&sd=pf
Terminating Putin's Command
Some of you may consider the forced termination of the human contract by nefarious means to be an illegal form of warfare or an unlawful political assassination over a difference of opinion. Although the laws of war do not spare military commanders directing the battlefield from being neutralized by hostile opposing forces, they may not be the deciding factor here of what happens to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (VVP).
Granted, Putin declared himself the de facto commander and strategist of Russian combat forces in Ukraine, but it will not be President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Central Intelligence Agency, or James Bond who will see to his sudden and terminal change of command. If it happens before his natural corporeal expiration date, the most likely culprits will be Russian or hired by Russian entities. They most likely are already within his immediate circle of confidants, protectors or have access to his family and/or secure facilities.
Two ardent activists for democracy in Russia, former world Chess master Garry Kasparov, and exiled Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky wrote an extraordinary piece for Foreign Affairs called “Don’t Fear Putin’s Demise.” They believe internal pressures from frustration about the war and Russian society may offer opportunities for the Russian people to embrace democracy. Kasparov and Khodorkovsky hope that a coalition of Russian opposition can bring about positive post-Putin change without the chaos after a military defeat in Ukraine.
On the other hand, it is not out of the realm of possibility that we could wake up to a world where Putin's "chef" turned mercenary commander, the inherently evil Yevgeny Progozhin, decided that maybe the atomic arsenal of Russia should be under the control of his private army, PMC Wagner. Or a world where the Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov has taken all the military equipment given to him by Russia and executes a plan for a nuclear-armed Russo-Islamic emirate that extends from Chechnya to Tatarstan. Such a rapid separation may in turn start a cascade of governors and generals who want their share of the post-Putin pie and ally themselves with an ambitious warlord. All these here-to-fore far-fetched plots require one precipitating event to be viable: a Vladimir Putin who is not just demised, but who has been demised by someone with the means to override all security precautions in Russia … or by dumb luck.
Whether he stumbles out of a skyscraper window, steps into a boobytrapped armored vehicle, drinks a cup of Polonium laced tea, or learns the meaning of "the Russian Bowtie", the fastest way to end the Russian war would be the obvious one; Putin is killed, a successor secures the atomic triad, sues for peace and withdraws Russian forces from occupied territories.
Let us look at the potential tactics, techniques, procedures, and players that could likely ensure Vladimir Putin is time-on-target for a one-way express ticket to the brimstone-lined eternity he so richly deserves.
Who Wants Putin Dead?
No NATO-allied nation-state would ever consider or execute a precision strike on Russia to kill Putin. That's unquestionable and it would constitute a declaration of war between the thirty-two-nation alliance that no one wants to see. But internal plots by Russian citizens are not only likely but already in the works. In September 2022 Ukrainian General Director of Military Intelligence claimed Putin had already survived one plot since the invasion began.
There are several categories of Russian people and entities who would like to see Vladimir Putin removed from the earthly stage. The oligarchy is losing its vast streams of wealth well worth trillions of dollars with no end of global sanctions in sight. With an inability to travel globally, limited goods that money can purchase outside of Russia, and losing market share to the Chinese the oligarchy will eventually reach a breaking point. Applying a ten-cent bullet to stop a multitrillion-dollar hemorrhage may appeal to them. Although Putin controls them with personal intimidation, it may at some point become attractive for them to buy the strength and loyalty of the army and the national police. Additionally, Putin has set up several figures as his strongest supporters and empowered them with military capacity that could be turned against him.
Strongmen such as Pregozhin and Kadyrov are practitioners of raw power. And they may sense a weakness in Putin where the oligarchy may support their willingness to change the government. But these strong men are just petty dictators themselves. Any application of power by them will result in the cooperation of military forces and would most likely lead to a civil war. No matter who decides to assert themselves, the Russian General Staff of the Armed Forces must be co-opted at the highest levels to bring that raw military power to a coup d'état.
It is also inauspicious that Vladimir Putin recently humiliated some of the top power brokers in Russia, including the Director of Russian intelligence, the Commander of the Russian Armed Forces, General Gerasimov, and even the Commander of Russian Forces in Ukraine. The generals are powerful men who may have loyal subordinates, at least 300,000 men at arms, and strategic weapons under their control. Should the military commanders of Russia decide a change of command is necessary, it is their influence that could sway other generals and battle commanders to answer only to their commands.
Alternatively, there is potential for a common citizen or government worker who has proximity to Putin in the flesh to take the opportunity to prove him mortal after all. Many national leaders in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were killed when they came upon both planned killers and revenge-motivated individuals in target of opportunity attacks that changed history as well as the political landscape. President William McKinley was assassinated in a focused assassination in 1901 by an American anarchist. The 1914 execution of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, in Sarajevo by a lone attacker arguably started World War I. Mahatma Gandhi was gunned down by pistol-armed assassins as was Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme as he walked from the theater. In 1984 Gandhi's daughter, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was killed by two of her Sikh bodyguards with their government-furnished pistol and submachinegun.
Disgruntled and defeated Russian soldiers were motivated to change their lot in World War One. In 1917 they mutinied to follow the communists to power and established the Soviet Union for nearly seventy years. The potential for this to happen again is speculative, but it just requires a covert organization and leadership to give the army a leading role to end Putin's dictatorship. Any number of people could form assassination plots and find an opportune time to overwhelm Putin's immediate security. In 1944, German Colonel Klaus Von Stauffenberg took part in Operation Valkyrie, an assassination plot to kill Adolph Hitler that involved dozens of members of the Nazi Army General Staff that almost succeeded. Valkyrie was just one of as many as forty-two attempts to kill him. Hitler was wounded when a bomb exploded. The attempt was foiled by the bomb being moved behind a thick table leg. Hitler executed the plotters by firing squad or by hanging them from piano wire. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was killed at a military parade by Islamic terrorists who armed themselves with live ammunition and attacked him during a military parade commemorating the 1973 War.
Putin has tens of thousands of nominal protectors in multiple layers of security, but a broad conspiracy, like in the examples above could form. And when the removal starts armed combat between presidential security, the Rozvgardia, the intelligence apparatus, the police, and the army could kick off a full-scale Russian Civil War.
Piercing the Protective Intelligence bubble
To have any chance of success plotters must have access to the target's inner sanctum or movement schedule. Why are movement schedules important? Because state-level executive protective service movement intelligence is among the most highly guarded secrets in the world. Knowing the precise location of the victim at any given time is critical to remove them from power, at what Elon Musk calls "assassination coordinates". To use it for execution, it must be of such unquestionably high quality that it does not matter if there are changes to the watch schedule or the destination. Rebel spies in the protection service would know not just the target but also any decoys, body doubles, and knowledge of which security guards are armed with live ammunition and in what quantity. By knowing the routes in and out of the protected areas and with advanced knowledge of the screening procedures, a would-be assassin from outside the protective team could be able to carry out a deliberate attack or watch for pop-up opportunities to attack. When moving by vehicles, helicopters, or other conveyance, most protective details will have at a minimum three to four alternate routes that can be changed at random. When I was carrying out protective details in Iraq it was under the most severe terrorist surveillance and a suicide bomb threat in the world. To maximize uncertainty, I planned up to twelve different routes and rolled a pair of dice randomly to determine that day's routes. These routes would have multiple clearing and countersurveillance teams and decoy teams to introduce confusion to assassination teams. In three years, we were never attacked except at the one consistent choke point where every security team was deliberately routed by the US Army. The assassins made this location work for them, and we lost seven people to one suicide bomber.
Tools of the Assassination Trade
Any weapon can be used to neutralize a national leader. Putin prefers poisons but most of his enemies are killed by being thrown out of windows or small arms. Capture by rebels and immediate execution by gunfire awaited the Russian Tsar Nicholas II and his family as it did Libyan leader Mummar al-Qaddafi and Romanian dictator Nicholae Ceau?escu. Each was placed against the wall and relieved of their national responsibility in bloody pools and shallow graves.
Explosive devices of all sorts are the most likely weapon used to kill national leaders. Some of the more impressive classes such as suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (SVBIED) driven by suicide bombers have been successful. In 2004 the president of the Iraq Interim Governing Council, Ezzedine Salim, was assassinated by a suicide car bomber on a boulevard that lead to a US Army-controlled gate near my safe house. I responded to the blast and saw he and his security team were burned alive in their vehicle. A few months later his replacement narrowly survived assassination when an SVBIED prematurely detonated along the same route. The torso of the bomber flew two blocks and landed in our foyer. In Syria and Iraq, Islamic State terrorist assassinations sometimes used super-sized SVBIEDs. These were tractor-trailers or dump trucks with 10,000lbs or more of explosives that were so massive there was virtually no chance of survival. Suicide bombers killed many leaders including Pakistani President Benazir Bhutto and Indian President Rajiv Gandhi. Some bombs were cleverly concealed in human body cavities in both men and women, as well as in the corpses of babies. This method allows explosives to be hidden to allow them to penetrate security and kill their target. The attempted assassination of Saudi Minister of Interior Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef involved a body cavity-borne suicide attack from al-Qaeda in 2009.
The Military Dimension of a Coup
In the case where traditional military weapons are used, the leader has less chance of survival. Let's speculate that rebels or coup plotters gain control of national strategic attack assets, such as a Tu–22M3 BACKFIRE bomber launching the old but massive AS-15 KENT missile. If they can get to those aircraft, then they can gain control of the Mig-31K FOXHOUND. Both aircraft can launch the KINZHAL (NATO codename: AS-24 KILLJOY) Hypersonic missile. The incredible speed makes it nearly impossible to intercept once launched, and its conventional explosive payload would likely cause a complete collapse of the above-ground infrastructure supporting all but the deepest nuclear command posts. If more than one of Russia's hypersonic missiles were used to target a Putin sequestered in an underground bunker, he or his staff might not survive – or he could be trapped/entombed for days or weeks, more than long enough for the coup plotters could take control of the nation.
Even older conventional weapons that fly lower and slower, such as the KALIBR (NATO codename: SS-N-27/30 SIZZLER) cruise missiles or the new Iranian-supplied drones, could be turned against their masters by someone with authority to launch them. All it takes is compliant missile launch teams and the exact coordinates for where they should explode. If Putin is there he could be killed or injured. But as Mummar al-Qaddafi and Saddam Hussein learned, a national leader on the run is sometimes safer in a dacha than a command post ... to a point.
It is widely assumed that the recent emergency placement of PANTSIR (NATO codename: SA-22 GREYHOUND) surface-to-air missile defense systems on top of key military buildings all over Moscow are intended to protect the city from a possible Ukrainian drone attack. However, it is equally possible that Putin's paranoia about internal enemies made him take the precaution to protect himself against Russia's own aerial weapons arsenal or rogue air force assets.
The Worst-case Scenarios
If these scenarios sound incredible but feel plausible, then the most extreme Tom Clancy-esque scenarios are equally possible. Putin could find he is under threat from a massive coup d'état made up of an internal military-oligarch alliance that has significant military assets. If the Russian General Staff goes over to the coup, they could also have access to one or more Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs). Rebel coup plotters could choose to utilize WMDs to definitively decapitate Putin's ability to command the security or armed forces. More importantly, they would want to stop his ability to communicate with the Russian people. Additionally, cutting off his military communications to the command of forces with atomic bombs or military forces not under rebel control would be imperative. No one in the military hierarchy should be allowed to answer emergency calls coming from whichever underground secure command post Putin would find himself in. Enter the potential for WMDs to guarantee the head of the snake is cut off.
Military or oligarch-backed paramilitary units may have an easier time acquiring small stockpiles of chemical weapons such as Sarin, Mustard, Phosgene, Tabun, VX, or Novichok chemical agents. They would likely be most readily found in WMD arsenals in airdroppable bombs on the bases of the Russian Strategic Air Forces. But to take down the regime itself they must be employed in such a way that hundreds, if not tens of thousands, of civilian casualties, would likely be inflicted to kill Putin or neutralize his immediate protectors. In such a coup scenario the armed forces, police, and Putin's internal guards (the Rozvgardia) would end up fighting for control of WMD weapons depots, military bases, and cities all over Russia. That would be an open state of civil war. Hopefully, the Russian-at-Civil-War scenario is so unthinkable that the decapitation happens quickly and definitively. A strong prominent figure must quickly stand over the body of a demised Putin that can assure the nation and the world that the Russian NBC arsenal is secure and under control. However, a character such as Pregozhin may live up to his cartoonishly evil soul in that he would expend any weapon to gain power, even if it causes the fracturing of Russia and leads to a civil war.
Even the most secure nuclear, biological, and chemical secure command post still requires power to communicate. Even if connected directly to a nuclear power plant, the transmission lines are vulnerable to being cut off. The most self-sufficient underground bunker will eventually need fuel for backup diesel generators.
Yes, it can get Worse
The single worst assassination scenario would involve the entire world. Military coup plotters may find themselves in a situation where Putin is in an underground nuclear command post and the only way to ensure he would not survive is to use a tactical nuclear weapon to vaporize him and his regime supporters.
The stability of the nation and by extension, the world, requires that Russia's most potent assets, the nuclear triad of land-based ballistic missiles, air-launched atomic bombs, and submarine launched ballistic missiles be under centralized control. Whoever controls Russia's atomic arsenal controls Russia. Anyone seeking power will need to bring the command into the conspiracy.
It's entirely possible that the plotters could gain access to the arming codes if they control the armed forces. Then again, in 2021 the entire secure radio communications suite including 30 different communications systems for Russia's IL–80 aerial command post, known as the Doomsday airplanes, were stolen from a secure military base. Granted, this theft was likely an espionage-funded operation to acquire incredibly sensitive communications gear. Military coup plotters would certainly have no problem commandeering an entire IL-80 aerial command post and perhaps disable the rest of the fleet so that only the person leading the coup could communicate with Russia's nuclear triad. The same goes for the Russian military satellite networks. Whoever controls it controls Putin and his regime’s ability to coordinate.
Technically, if the much-maligned Russian military gets deeply involved, Putin could find himself entombed in a bunker-like Adolf Hitler in Berlin's last days … with just as much fighting in Moscow. If this occurs, Putin will likely have the same bleak options as Hitler had. The armed security staffers with him would also have to choose their own options. Their horrible choices would be to die by nerve gas, flame, radiation, or explosive entombment under tons of concrete. Someone with a gun may decide their only survival option is to terminate Putin's command with a single bullet and surrender.
All these scenarios may sound highly implausible. yet, in the event of a real attempt to take control of the government, every minute of every day could find us living in a bad version of a Jack Ryan TV episode, minus a hero to save the day.
Alternatively, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin could consume one croissant too many and drop dead of a heart attack or of just old age. As the Ukraine war goes on the likelihood of a natural death lessens.
Finally, there is the bottom-line question: Should Putin die or be isolated in a coup; will the replacement be better or worse? We will all find out, sooner or later.
An elaborate concoction for an "out" of the war for Putin? No matter the reason, it may turn into one.
BREAKING:
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) June 24, 2023
The first Wagner units have reached the Moscow region pic.twitter.com/A1ZwvDgYMF
BREAKING:
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) June 24, 2023
The Russian Army has established an air bridge to Moscow and is flying in troops from across the country.
BREAKING:
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) June 24, 2023
Some Russian units are pulling out of Ukraine and are returning to Russia in an effort to stop the advance of the Wagner Group
Uganda will send soldiers to Moscow to defend putin if need be,
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) June 24, 2023
says Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the son of Uganda’s President. pic.twitter.com/hRsjeGLsg7
Prigozhin is definitely a very bad force to reckon with and a brutal mass murderer of innocent civilians not just in Ukraine but around the world. He funds his forces from exploitations of resources in Africa and there are unconfirmed reports of calling in mercenary forces from Syria and other places to help him. We do not want this guy to get any control. It's been reported that Prigozhin was lying about lack of ammo and has amassed much armament for this event. Definitely worse than Putin, but no matter if he doesn't take over he will have weakened Putin in all of this. There are many Russians that are and will side with Prigozhin and any control that he can get over nuclear weapons would be used. It can involve Iran and some other small countries due to any loss of Putin's power will leave Iran and those other ones who are supported by Putin in a tough spot. If this isn't just some extravagant ruse (which is looking more that it isn't), this will change everything and some serious shit.
And of course there's this as just a small part of Prigozhin rap sheet;
Prigozhin is wanted by the FBI here in the states for helping trump get elected in 2016. Mueller indicted him. The republicans wish you didn’t know that. They want you to believe Russian collusion is a hoax. https://t.co/YSoCTydy78
— Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) June 24, 2023
One of the best to follow for updated info on Ukraine and Russia
https://twitter.com/visegrad24
Couple of the latest tweets;
BREAKING:
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) June 24, 2023
Crowds of Russians gathering at the Central Station of Rostov, trying to flee town before clashes start between the Wagner Group and Kadyrov’s Chechen soldiers pic.twitter.com/QD7O6JYD4J
The Wagner Group is a couple of hours away from Moscow.
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) June 24, 2023
The city is being defended by police forces and ill-equipped conscript units as 95+ percent of the Russian Army is in Eastern Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/Fth2uFZ6Or
The Russian authorities have people digging up the roads leading to Moscow in an attempt to stop the advance on the city by the Wagner Group.
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) June 24, 2023
pic.twitter.com/K9xjvFMK1P
It will be a lot more satisfying watching them slow cook, with flames searing their asses often over time. Plus, this way, we'll cook many birds with one pot and maybe with Smith's diligence, fry the biggest fish of all, Traitor trump.
Mr Smith knows what he's doing, no worries about that. The most knowledgeable witness or closer to the crime can do a lot more damage than maybe many other witnesses together. The "preponderance of evidence" comes with all the corroboration of the many witnesses added to "someone in the know" and directly involved. We want them to see as much "light of the day" as we can at this time, fighting a court of public opinion, along with giving the perpetrators incentive to have a little driving time in the bus instead of underneath it.
The amount of witnesses and evidence Jack Smith is putting together has to overwhelmingly establish "beyond a reasonable doubt". Traitor trump and his crimes are probably the biggest criminal fish in the history of the US. And this story is playing out to one tough crowd. I agree with DOJ's assessment to collect as much evidence and witnesses as they can. And they have quite a lot, more than 84 witnesses stated in this filing for the first of several I'm sure to extend the court date to Dec 11 (the early trial date was never going to happen). If I understand it correctly, to give more time for defense to get security clearance. And I guess to "explain" the repercussions if any of it gets out.