Tracker

Sweden uncovers 1 million tonnes of rare earth minerals, largest finding in Europe

This is life in America:

Russia Sets Ultimatum to Formally Pull a Third Country Into Putin’s War -Reuters Russia’s close ally Belarus could formally join the war in Ukraine in the coming days if Moscow concludes that Ukraine has “used force” against either Russia or Belarus, a senior Russian foreign ministry official warned Friday. “Any use of force by the Kyiv regime or a Ukrainian military invasion of either Belarus or Russia would be enough to trigger a collective response," Aleksey Polishchuk, a director in Russian Foreign Ministry, told TASS, referring to the so-called Union State that Belarus and Russia formed together years ago, in which the countries have been enmeshing their banking, military, and economic sectors. “The republic has the sovereign right to defend its territory through all means available and Minsk can count on Russia’s full support here,” Polishchuk said. The warning comes as fears mount that Russia may be preparing a renewed offensive in the new year against Ukraine that could be launched northwest of Ukraine from Belarus. Russia has repeatedly used Belarus as a launching ground to conduct attacks against Ukraine since the war broke out last February, including Russia’s failed attempt to storm and capture Kyiv.

Superintendent: Official Learned Of Weapon Before Student Shot Teacher NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — Administrators at the Virginia school where a first-grader shot his teacher last week learned the child may have had a weapon in his possession before the shooting but did not seize the 9mm handgun he brought to his classroom, the school system’s superintendent said. School system Superintendent George Parker told parents Thursday night in an online meeting that a school official was notified about the weapon before the 6-year-old shot the teacher at Richneck Elementary in Newport News. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/school-shooting-newport-news_n_63c17eace4b0fe267cb9af54

Ummm...we're back to the "king's English" now.

To underline your point- the US courts have established that it is ok for a cop to shoot someone without provocation if that officer "feels" threatened, but anyone who is stopped by police is not allowed to become agitated when an officer puts a gun in their face in an otherwise non-threatening situation. What?

Trump’s Company Fined $1.6 Million For Tax Fraud Scheme NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s company was fined $1.6 million Friday as punishment for a scheme in which the former president’s top executives dodged personal income taxes on lavish job perks — a symbolic, hardly crippling blow for an enterprise boasting billions of dollars in assets. A fine was the only penalty a judge could impose on the Trump Organization for its conviction last month for 17 tax crimes, including conspiracy and falsifying business records.

Military analysts believe it is 'entirely realistic' that Ukraine could gain control of Crimea: report Before Russian forces, on orders from President Vladimir Putin, launched a full-fledged invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, some pro-Putin pundits in Eastern Europe believed that he should be satisfied with having Crimea and leave the Ukrainian government alone. Essentially, they were worried that all all-out invasion would be more than Russia could handle militarily, and they remembered how much of a drain the invasion of Afghanistan was on the old Soviet Union during the 1980s. Regardless, Putin proceeded with a full-fledged invasion of Ukraine, and the Ukrainian military proved to be much better fighters than Putin anticipated. Now, according to Newsweek, some military analysts believe that Russia is in danger of possibly “losing” Crimea during its war with Ukraine. Journalist Jon Jackson, reporting for Newsweek in an article published on January 12, explains, “Crimea has emerged as a central talking point in the war in Ukraine, and as President Volodymyr Zelensky's military forces continue their momentum on the battlefield, Russia faces a legitimate threat of losing the peninsula it took by force in 2014, according to military analysts. After Ukraine surprised many experts around the globe by mounting a strong defense against the Russian invasion that began in late February, Zelensky began publicly stating that he wants Crimea to be once again considered part of his country.” https://www.alternet.org/military-analysts-ukraine-retake-crimea/

for those who would like a bit of encouragement: January 15th marks the midpoint of winter and temperatures on average moderate after this point. WE'RE HALFWAY THROUGH WINTER!!! YAAAY!!! But its been a pretty moderate winter so far.

Already are. The GOP is desperate for anything to take the public's attention away from the debacle of choosing a speaker. Realistically, there were less than 20 documents in total (shouldn't have been any at all) and all were immediately reported and transported, compared to Trump who deliberately took classified documents, lied about them, refused to turn them over, claimed that he had magically de-classified them and finally had to be invaded to recover the documents. The immediate appointment of a special counsel will further diffuse criticism. None of this will be acknowledged by the GOP or Fox News (same thing, really),

Their numbers now are roughly equal to their collective IQ.

Terrified Draftees Expose Russia’s New Scheme to Cover Up Cannon Fodder Deaths -Reuters Hundreds of Russian draftees reportedly fear they have been sent on a suicide mission by top military officials who are planning to conceal their deaths through an inventive new scheme: changing records to show they are part of a regiment that doesn’t exist. “They assigned us to regiment 228–such a regiment does not exist,” one of the men told the independent news outlet Sota. “They want to send us to a hot spot tomorrow with machine guns [to go] against tanks, drones, and mortars on minefields. We’re just cannon fodder.” Sota reports that they’ve obtained an audio message recorded by some of the draftees, appealing for help on behalf of the 400 men who hail from the Altai Republic. In it they say they’re being sent to storm an area near Svatove in Ukraine’s Luhansk region. “Please help in any way you can. We’ve already been given drugs, [the opioid analgesic] Promedol, in case of serious injuries,” the message said. The men described manipulation of their official paperwork that effectively rendered them lost without a trace. “Some colonel-generals came here, I don’t know, they couldn’t find us. We were tossed on the very front, we’re under the artillery.” The move suggests Russian officials are desperate for some manpower after military analysts noted Ukrainian troops had gained more ground on the Svatove-Kremenna line in recent days. Draftees from Russia’s Tomsk region had also publicly appealed to the governor in November for help with a “difficult situation” near Svatove.

White House: Classified Documents Found At Joe Biden's Delaware Home WASHINGTON (AP) — Documents with classified markings from President Joe Biden’s time as vice president were found at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, the White House said Thursday, days after it was disclosed that sensitive documents were also found at the office of his former Washington institute. Richard Sauber, a special counsel to the president, said after the initial documents were found by Biden’s personal lawyers, they examined other locations where records might have been shipped after Biden left the vice presidency in 2017. Sauber said a “small number” of documents with classified markings were found in a storage space in Biden’s garage in Wilmington, with one document being located in an adjacent room. The White House did not say when the subsequent search began or when the additional documents were found, only that the search was completed on Wednesday evening. Sauber said the Department of Justice was “immediately notified” after the documents were located and that department lawyers took custody of the records. Regardless of the Justice Department review, the revelation that Biden potentially mishandled classified or presidential records is proving to be a political headache for Biden, who said former President Donald Trump was “irresponsible” for keeping hundreds of such records at his private club in Florida. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joe-biden-classified-documents-delaware-home_n_63c028e2e4b0b2e1506ef4ac

Now if the variant caused male impotence, the clinics would be swamped.

'You brought this to the floor, lady': Passions ignite in Missouri House over GOP bill to control women's clothes Legislators in the Missouri House of Representatives sparred on Wednesday over a Republican amendment to regulate what types of clothing women lawmakers should be permitted to wear while at work. House Resolution 11 was cleared by the GOP-dominated Consent and House Procedure Committee. And while it has not yet been submitted to the Missouri State Senate, passionate arguments have burbled from assembly members on both sides of the political aisle. https://www.alternet.org/you-brought-this-floor-lady/

They wouldn't recognize what it is.

“It’s always about the obstruction”: New TrumpWorld subpoenas target effort to "influence" witnesses A" wide-ranging" subpoena sent to Trump campaign officials last month shows that special counsel Jack Smith's Jan. 6 investigation is increasingly focused on new areas of interest, including fundraising efforts and potential efforts to influence witness testimony, according to The Washington Post. The DOJ issued the four-page subpoena to multiple Trump campaign officials in early December, seeking more than "two dozen categories of information," according to the report. One part of the subpoena asks Trump campaign officials if anyone paid for their legal representation and paperwork related to any such agreement. The subpoena also seeks "all documents and communications" related to Trump's fundraising activities for a litany of groups outside of his Save America PAC, which has already come under scrutiny. The new subpoenas seek documents related to the Make America Great Again PAC, the Save America Joint Fundraising Committee and the Trump Make America Great Again Committee, including documents related to the "formation, funding and/or use of money" of the groups. https://www.salon.com/2023/01/12/its-always-about-the-obstruction-new-trumpworld-subpoenas-target-effort-to-influence-witnesses/

If you are superstitious, the is is an omen of great event(s) to come soon.

Brazil Rioters Plotted Openly Online, Pitched Huge 'Party' MIAMI (AP) — The map was called “Beach Trip” and was blasted out to more than 18,000 members of a public Telegram channel called, in Portuguese, “Hunting and Fishing.” But instead of outdoor recreation tips, the 43 pins spread across the map of Brazil pointed to cities where bus transportation to the capital could be found for what promoters promised would a huge “party” on Jan. 8. “Children and the elderly aren’t invited,” according to the post circulated on the Telegram channel, which has since been removed. “Only adults willing to participate in all the games, including target shooting of police and robbers, musical chairs, indigenous dancing, tag, and others.” The post was one of several thinly coded messages circulating on social media ahead of Sunday’s violent attack on the capital by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro looking to restore the far-right leader to power. It’s also now a potentially vital lead in a fledgling criminal investigation about how the rampage was organized and how officials missed clues to a conspiracy that, like the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol two years ago, appears to have been organized and carried out in plain view. And like the attack in the U.S., the Brazilian riots demonstrate how social media makes it easier than ever for anti-democratic groups to recruit followers and transform online rhetoric into offline action. On YouTube, rioters livestreaming the mayhem racked up hundreds of thousands of views before a Brazilian judge ordered social media platforms to remove such content. Misleading claims about the election and the uprising also could be found on Twitter, Facebook and other platforms. But even before Sunday’s riot, social media and private messaging networks in Brazil were being flooded with calls for one final push to overturn the October election of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva — something authorities appear to have inexplicably missed or ignored. Most of the online chatter referred to the planned gathering at Brasilia’s Three Powers Plaza as “Selma’s party” — a play on the Portuguese word for “selva,” a battle cry used by Brazil’s military. Participants were told to bring their own mask to protect against “pepper pie in the face” — or pepper spray fired by security forces. They also were told to dress in the green and yellow of Brazil’s flag — and not the red preferred by Lula’s Workers’ Party. “Get ready, guests, the party will be a blast,” the widely-circulated post said. “It was all in the open,” said David Nemer, a Brazil native and University of Virginia professor who studies social media. “They listed the people responsible for buses, with their full names and contact information. They weren’t trying to hide anything.”

Arkansas is safe now.