WASHINGTON — U.S. special operations forces have killed a senior Islamic State group official and 10 other terrorist operatives in remote northern Somalia, senior Biden administration officials announced Thursday.

The operation targeted Bilal al-Sudani, a key financial facilitator for the global terrorist organization, in a mountainous cave complex.

President Joe Biden was briefed last week about the proposed mission, which came together after months of planning. He gave final approval to carry out the operation this week, according to two officials who briefed reporters on the operation on the condition of anonymity.

Sudani, who has been on the radar for U.S. intelligence officials for years, played a key role in helping to fund IS operations in Africa as well as the ISIS-K terrorist branch operating in Afghanistan, the officials said.

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He had originally been designated the Treasury Department in 2012 for his role with al-Shabab, another terrorist organization, operating in Somalia.

Read More: Hardly Anybody Has Noticed Somalia Is Having Its Worst Drought Ever. Here’s Why

“Given the remote location of the operation, the assessment is that no civilians were injured or killed. Protecting civilians remains a vital part of the command’s operations to promote greater security for all Africans,” U.S. Africa Command said in a statement.

One American involved in the operation was bitten by a military dog, but was not seriously injured, according to an administration official.

U.S. officials provided scant details about how the operation was carried out or the circumstances surrounding al-Sudani’s killing. One official said that U.S. forces had intended to capture al-Sudani but that did not prove to be “feasible” as the operation was carried out.

The operation comes days after Africa Command said it had conducted a collective self-defense strike northeast of Mogadishu, the capital, near Galcad. In that incident, Somalia National Army forces were engaged in heavy fighting following an extended and intense attack by more than 100 al-Shabab fighters.

The U.S. estimated approximately 30 al-Shabab fighters were killed in that operation.

The offensive by Somalian forces against al-Shabab has been described as the most significant in more than a decade.

Former Czech army chief Petr Pavel, a mainstream pro-Western candidate backing aid for Ukraine, held a commanding lead over billionaire ex-premier Andrej Babis as Czechs headed to a run-off vote for a new president on Friday and Saturday.

Pavel, 61, a bearded retired general, ran as an independent and had the support of the Czech Republic’s centre-right cabinet.

Czech presidents do not carry many day-to-day powers but pick prime ministers and central bank leaders, have a say in foreign policy, are powerful opinion makers and can push the government on policies.

Betting agencies put him at 10 times more likely to win than Babis, and he led final opinion polls released on Monday.

Voting starts at 2 p.m. (1300 GMT) on Friday and ends at 2 p.m. on Saturday, with results expected later that day.

Pavel enlisted in the army during the Communist era when Prague was part of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact, and was decorated for peacekeeping services in former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. He rose to lead the Czech general staff and was chairman of NATO’s military committee for three years before retirement in 2018.

Pavel’s colleagues have said they value his calm, determined decision-making, his ability to find consensus, and his resistance to stress.

He ran on a platform to keep his central European country strongly anchored in the European Union and NATO, and backs further military aid for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.

Pavel also favours adoption of the euro common currency, a step that has been on the back-burner for years, and progressive policies such as gay marriage.

At a final rally that brought thousands to Prague’s historic Old Town Square on Wednesday, Pavel sought to project himself as a candidate who could bridge political trenches.

“When I served in the army, I served the country and all in it regardless of political preferences, and I wish to serve like that as president,” he told the crowd.

“We all want democracy, freedom, tolerance, decency, solving problems through cooperation.”

Babis, 68, is a combative business magnate in the chemicals, food, farming and media sectors who was prime minister in 2017-2021. He has had warm relations with Hungary’s Viktor Orban, who has clashed with EU partners over rule of law.

Babis built the finale of his campaign on fears of the war in Ukraine triggered by Russia’s invasion spreading. He said he would offer to broker peace talks and suggested that as a former soldier, Pavel could drag the Czech Republic into a war.

Pavel rejected the accusations as nonsense and warmongering.

Babis had the support of outgoing President Milos Zeman, a divisive figure who pushed for closer ties with China and, until Russia invaded Ukraine, Moscow, as well as fringe forces such as the pro-Russian Communist Party.

As head of the largest opposition party, Babis also presented the vote as a protest against a government he said did little to help people cope with soaring energy prices.

Pakistan’s generators produced more power than was required on Monday, causing voltage fluctuations that culminated in a system collapse that plunged 220 million people into darkness, an internal government document reviewed by Reuters showed.

Complete grid failures are rare, and operators of modern grids count local shocks from integration of renewable energy as their primary challenge. But the blackout in Pakistan on Monday was its second near-complete grid failure and the third in south Asia in three months.

The grid’s failure plunged 220 million people into darkness for a whole day and disrupted commercial activity as outages also hit internet and mobile services.

The blackout was triggered by the power grid’s frequency rising to 50.75 hertz (hz) early on Monday, causing severe voltage fluctuations in transmission lines in the south, according to the internal note. A frequency over 50 hz indicates the power generated exceeds demand, while a frequency under 50 hz points to supply falling short of demand.

Grid operators attempt to keep the frequency of the grid stable at 50 hz, with deviations over 0.05 hz typically considered abnormal. The frequency of the grid was already 50.30 hz moments before the incident, according to the note.

The severe frequency fluctuations in the transmission lines caused it to trip, Sajjad Akthar, general manager at state-run National Transmission and Distribution Company (NTDC) wrote in the note drafted on Tuesday.

“Transmission lines tripped, which resulted in isolation of north and south system,” Akthar said in the note.

Pakistan’s energy ministry did not respond to a request for comment. The note did not mention why supply overshot demand.

About 11.35 gigawatts (GW) of power plants were in operation across the country when the transmission lines tripped and separated the northern and southern grid, the note read.

Such separations are intended to protect parts of the grid not primarily affected by instabilities.

However, demand potentially far exceeded supply in the northern grid after the isolation, as most power generators were located in the south, causing further instability, according to an industry official who reviewed the note.

The official declined to be named as he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Pakistan’s Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir had said in a tweet on Monday a “large voltage swing” in the south had “cascaded northwards” to cause a breakdown, but did not elaborate.

Pakistan started restoring power by operating hydropower stations in the north, and gas-fired utilities in the south, the note read, as they take the least time to start generating power.

While gas-fired utilities in the south started operating, it took nearly ten hours for the hydro plants to operate consistently and for the power restoration process to begin in the northern grid, according to the report.

Akthar said mechanisms meant to save the system from a blackout had worked, but the grid was overwhelmed by the magnitude and range of fluctuations.

“Though under frequency, cross-trip and rate of change of frequency schemes operated, system could not survive and (it) led to a complete blackout,” the report read.

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The United States is poised to start using fast-track asylum screenings at the U.S.-Mexico border, part of U.S. President Joe Biden’s recent efforts to address a record number of illegal crossings, five sources told Reuters.

The move is likely to upset immigration advocates, some fellow Democrats and asylum officers who criticized similar programs implemented under Republican former President Donald Trump.

The government is starting to plan for the rapid screenings to determine whether arriving migrants at the border have a legitimate fear of persecution or torture in their home countries – the first step in an asylum claim, the five sources told Reuters.

A group of Biden administration officials visited the U.S.-Mexico border this week in preparation for the new effort, said two of the sources, both U.S. officials. It was unclear when the fast-track screenings will begin.

Under the plan, asylum seekers detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) would have remote interviews with a U.S. asylum officer within days, the sources said. If the person failed to establish a fear of persecution, known as a “credible fear” test, they would be deported.

The White House and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.

Reuters first reported in December that the fast-track screenings were under consideration.

While the speedy processing could help Biden deter crossers by demonstrating swift resolution of cases, opponents argue that legitimate asylum seekers would not have adequate access to lawyers and could be unjustly deported.

“Imagine fleeing your home and loved ones, arriving at a new country to seek safety, and then being forced to present a complicated legal claim less than two days later, from jail,” said Heidi Altman, the policy director at the National Immigrant Justice Center, calling it a “mockery of justice.”

The new policy would be similar to pilot programs from the Trump administration, the sources said. Biden ended those programs in an executive order issued soon after he took office in January 2021.

Biden earlier this month expanded a pandemic-related border expulsion policy started under Trump, while at the same time opening up more legal pathways for migrants to enter the United States, a move the administration said led to a drop in crossings in January.

Michael Knowles, a representative of a labor union representing U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) workers including asylum officers, said the union has already told USCIS it will oppose any new policies that restrict access to asylum.

California attorney regulators said on Thursday they will seek to disbar attorney John Eastman over his involvement in former U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

The State Bar of California charged Eastman, a former personal lawyer to Trump, with 11 counts of ethics violations, including misleading courts and making false public statements about voter fraud in the 2020 election.

Eastman participated in a strategy “unsupported by facts or law” to obstruct the count of presidential electors in Congress following Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory, the bar’s complaint said.

George Cardona, the bar’s chief trial counsel, said his office will ask a court to revoke Eastman’s law license.

An attorney for Eastman, Randall Miller, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Miller previously told Reuters Eastman “zealously represented his client, comprehensively exploring legal and constitutional means to advance his client’s interests.”

Eastman, a former law professor at Chapman University in California, drafted legal memos suggesting then-Vice President Mike Pence could refuse to accept electoral votes from several swing states when Congress convened to certify the 2020 vote count. Pence rebuffed his arguments, saying he did not have legal authority.

Eastman also represented Trump in a long-shot lawsuit at the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to invalidate votes in four states where Trump had falsely claimed evidence of widespread voter fraud.

Eastman repeated many of those claims at a rally outside the White House on Jan. 6, 2021, after which a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol and delayed the congressional certification of the election.

A state bar court will weigh the charges against Eastman and recommend any discipline. The California Supreme Court would need to approve disbarring or suspending Eastman.

Are Jews white? It’s a question that has dominated conversations since the Black Lives Matters protests of 2020. Jews often present as white, and hold economic privilege, yet the recent uptick of antisemitic incidents, whether Kanye West’s months-long outburst or attacks on Hasidic Jews on Brooklyn streets, shows that it’s not quite so simple. 

You People, a new slapstick rom-com from Jonah Hill and Kenya Barris, tweaks that big conversation just a little bit. It takes as a given that Jews are white, and asks, instead, whether Jews are actually the worst kind of white people. 

Drawing heavily from Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, the new movie follows an interracial couple as they try to make it work between their two families. Ezra (Hill) is a NJB who works in finance, but his real passion is the hip-hop podcast he runs with his best friend, a queer Black woman named Mo. He falls in love with Amira (Lauren London), a Black fashion designer; the two connect over their shared love of street style.

But we don’t actually see much of Ezra and Amira’s love story, which is neatly packaged into a montage early on. Instead, we’re focused on their parents. There’s Akbar, played by Eddie Murphy, Amira’s dad and a Nation of Islam convert; and Shelley, a frenetic Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Ezra’s wealthy, tactless mother.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the painfully eager-to-please, virtue-signaling Shelley. Courtesy of Netflix

While I’m not convinced that slapstick humor is the best way to get at an issue as delicate as Black-Jewish race relations, comedy can often be a useful tool to get at deeper truths. Shelley’s attempts to make casual conversations about police brutality with Amira, for example, are a familiar kind of cringe. She’s trying, yes, but for all the wrong reasons; she thinks that befriending a Black woman will prove that she’s the right kind of wealthy white woman. “I’m going to have Black grandbabies!” she proclaims. “We’re a family of color — we are the future now!” 

The Washington Post called You People a “master class in wedge issues and our shared humanity.” Yet we never see any characters share their humanity; most of them are so caricatured they’re hardly human at all.

Jonah Hill and Eddie Murphy go to a Black barbershop, of course. Courtesy of Netflix

In one scene, leaning into the worst stereotypes about Black fatherhood, Amira’s uncle — a career criminal — talks about getting arrested for stalking his “baby mama” in an attempt to get his child support payments lowered. There’s a barbershop full of gang members. And Akbar spends most of his time talking about his virulent hatred of white people.

Thankfully, most of the Black characters get at least a little bit of a character development. Meanwhile, the movie’s Jews are flat stereotypes — wealthy, neurotic, painfully uncool and often blithely racist. We know Ezra’s family is Jewish thanks to an early scene at Yom Kippur services, where numerous family friends make extremely off-color comments. One lecherous man, a doctor, attempts to proposition Ezra, asking to examine him in the synagogue bathroom. Those Jews, they’re just so gross, right? 

Past that scene-setting opening, however, there’s little Jewish about Ezra’s family. They’re basically just exaggerated versions of wealthy, liberal white people. Except for the fact that we are constantly, and clumsily, reminded that they are Jewish. “I need you to dig deep down into that little Jewish body of yours,” Ezra’s fellow podcaster tells him while giving him advice, in case you’d forgotten he was Jewish. Who says that? 

It feels as though You People is trying to draw a clear connection between Ezra’s parents’ religion and their boorish behavior; they’re not just white, they’re even worse — they’re Jewish. And the movie also lends credence to some of the dangerous antisemitic conspiracy theories dominating the news recently. When Amira and Ezra’s families meet over dinner, Akbar says he idolizes Louis Farrakhan. “I’m familiar with what he has said about the Jews,” Shelley replies, uncomfortable.

The no-good, very-bad family dinner. Courtesy of Netflix

The dinner escalates into a screaming match in which Amira’s parents accuse Ezra’s family of comparing the Holocaust to slavery and proceed to say the Holocaust wasn’t so bad since Jews are so wealthy now — wealth, Akbar says, inherited from controlling the slave trade. This is a conspiracy theory that’s growing in strength, yet the movie does nothing to debunk it — Ezra’s parents don’t even protest.

If anything, the Jews come across so badly — prurient, fetishistic, gauche, with no actual history or beliefs beyond wealth — that it’s easy to believe that the slave trade conspiracy is true and they simply don’t want to contend with the sordid origins of their wealth. And if viewers aren’t already familiar with Farrakhan’s open antisemitism, or the fact that the Nation of Islam is a designated hate group, it’s easy to brush off Shelley’s concerns as a white woman unable to acknowledge her privilege. Especially since Ezra says Farrakhan “tells it like it’s gotta be told.”

In the last 20 minutes of the two-hour movie, You People makes an abrupt course correction, and begins aiming for a happy ending. (This is a rom-com, after all.) We get several monologues delivering true, if heavy-handed, insights about the history of racism in America, followed by several more about not judging people based on looks. Shelley and Akbar form a truce and apologize to their kids.

But it’s hard to buy their happily ever after. “You said that Black people and white people could never be cool, and I think you’re right,” Ezra tells a friend near the end of the movie. After watching an hour and a half of Jewish-Black clashes, it’s easier to believe Amira and Ezra are doomed than to believe in their love story.

The post In Jonah Hill’s offensive new movie, a Black-Jewish love story comes with a side of conspiracy theories appeared first on The Forward.

Discord Website link: https://discord.gg/asJzXdW The Reich has stagnated ever considering that the close of the West Russian War. With the coup by …

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The post The Brown Eminence Prepares For War! Hoi4 TNO: Last Days Of Europe, Germany (Bormann’s Paradise) #1 appeared first on Ukraine Intelligence.

(NewsNation) — On Friday, the 168 members of the Republican National Committee (RNC) will decide by secret ballot whether incumbent Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel will retain her position as the GOP looks to move past its underwhelming performance in the 2022 midterms.

In order to win a fourth term, McDaniel will have to stave off challenges from Harmeet Dhillon — the Republican national committeewoman for California and a legal adviser to former President Donald Trump — as well as My Pillow, Inc. CEO Mike Lindell, an outspoken 2020 election denier.

McDaniel is considered the favorite in the race, but Dhillon has earned a number of prominent endorsements since announcing her candidacy in December.

On Thursday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — whom many see as the future of the party — called for a change in committee leadership.

“I think we need to get some new blood in the RNC,” DeSantis told Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.

DeSantis cited the GOP’s “three substandard election cycles in a row” as evidence that a shake-up is needed. He said he liked some of the things Dhillon has said, particularly her call to move the RNC headquarters out of Washington, D.C.

GOP strategists told NewsNation that whoever wins the election will have to chart a new path forward.

“I think everyone agrees that the RNC does need a change,” said Andrew Clark, founder of Relentless Strategies LLC. “They need an influx of new ideas and new energy.”

McDaniel — the niece of Utah Sen. Mitt Romney — has served as the RNC’s chairwoman since 2017 and is determined to defend her seat.

Throughout her time atop the committee, McDaniel has remained loyal to Trump, who chose her to replace then-RNC chairman Reince Priebus after Priebus became White House chief of staff.

The current chairwoman has vowed to keep the 2024 Republican primary process neutral and believes she can bridge the divisions within the party.

In November, 101 RNC voting members signed a letter backing McDaniel — well above the 85 she would need to win re-election. In an interview with Semafor last week, the incumbent said those members remain committed to her bid.

Numerous high-profile GOP donors also back McDaniel.

Last week, more than 150 GOP donors signed a letter in support of the incumbent, including casino mogul Steve Wynn and billionaire Elizabeth Uihlein.

But others in the GOP, including popular figures in the conservative media, have been critical of the party’s performance under McDaniel’s leadership.

“Somebody make me the case why Ronna McDaniel should maintain her job at the RNC,” conservative commentator Ben Shapiro tweeted in November. “She took over in 2017 and has presided over a blowout in 2018, a presidential loss in 2020, two run-off losses in 2021, and the loss of the Senate and wild GOP House underperformance in 2022.”

Dhillon is considered to have the best chance at unseating McDaniel. The attorney worked as a legal adviser on Trump’s 2020 campaign before announcing her candidacy last month.

Dhillon has secured 29 public endorsements from voting members, according to her campaign website. Those endorsements include at least one state chairwoman who had previously signed on to the McDaniel letter in November.

She has secured support from a different group of wealthy Republican donors, including the other half of the Uihlein couple, Richard Uihlein. Earlier this month, more than two dozen GOP supporters signed a letter calling for a change at the top of the RNC.

“We cannot continue on our current trajectory as a Republican Party,” the letter read. “We must change, in order to fulfill our promise to Republican voters to win elections.”

Lindell has also thrown his hat in the ring, but he’s not expected to win the election.

Although he hasn’t endorsed anyone publicly, Trump is reportedly backing McDaniel ahead of Friday’s vote.

Betrayal is like a snake in the grass. It may hide at first, but it is always there waiting. It waits quietly and slyly in cover until the moment it flings itself at whatever poor soul happens to encounter it. “Et tu, Brute?”

In the Shakespearean tragedy of Julius Caesar, Caesar utters these words to whom he thought was one of his closest friends and confidants, Brutus. But Brutus betrayed him. It’s one of the most famous betrayals.

But “et tu Kevin?” might be one of OUR biggest betrayals in modern politics in America. Who did Kevin betray? That will become clear. The “SPEAKER” of the house — in name only you understand — is the subject of much wrath from many people.

Kevin McCarthy exploded at journalists the other day because he felt they were too hard on him. Actually, I think they went a bit easy. You see, Kevin is a betrayal of many people, but his biggest betrayal is of truth.

Kevin McCarthy is practicing selective prosecution. He has pushed Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff off their committees, yet he allows George Santos — a pathological liar under criminal investigation — onto the small business committee.

He has anointed Marjorie Taylor Greene with way too much power. This is a woman who had made violent threats. She should not be in congress, let alone be given committee assignments.

Kevin McCarthy has betrayed the House of Representatives, which exists for us, the people. Kevin has besmirched it. He has betrayed his constituents back home who cry out for help. You see, Kevin is a betrayal of many people, but his biggest betrayal is of Justice.

Kevin McCarthy has betrayed his oath of office. Undoubtedly, he is shaping up to be the worst Speaker the House has ever seen.

So yes, I say, “et tu, Kevin?” Because other than Donald Trump, Kevin is perhaps the worst of the betrayers. Everything about him is a mirage.

It’s fake. The man does not exist. He is an imposter, a stranger in the house. He has betrayed anything and everything about truth, justice, and the American way by virtue of his thin-skinned alliances and cowardly actions.

The post Et tu, Kevin McCarthy? appeared first on Palmer Report.

President Joe Biden cast Republicans as representing the party of “chaos and catastrophe” on Thursday and sharply criticized their refusal to approve an increase in the U.S. debt ceiling unless they get a deal on spending cuts.

In an impassioned speech at a steamfitters union hall in Virginia, Biden launched attack after attack on Republicans who control the U.S. House of Representatives, saying some of their proposals are dangerous for the American economy.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, has vowed not to approve a debt ceiling increase unless Biden and his fellow Democrats reach a negotiated deal with Republicans on cutting future government spending.

“We must finally address Washington’s irresponsible government spending if we want to put America on a better fiscal path,” McCarthy wrote on Thursday.

Biden called McCarthy’s position “mind-boggling.”

“I will not let anyone use the full faith and credit of the United States as a bargaining chip. In the United States of America, we pay our debts,” Biden said.

Of Republicans aligned with former President Donald Trump, Biden said: “They seem intent on being the party of chaos and catastrophe.”

Republicans’ threat is unusual – the U.S. debt ceiling has been increased on a bipartisan basis in Congress for decades, with the exception of a 2011 vote that included spending cuts for several years ahead.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Jan. 19 that the United States has reached its current $31.4 trillion borrowing cap, but can continue paying its bills until June by shuffling money between various accounts. Investors have warned edging closer to that deadline could have dire market repercussions.

In his first major economic speech of the year, Biden also promoted his record on the U.S. economy, including the creation of more manufacturing jobs, a low unemployment rate and better-than-expected economic growth figures.

Biden addressed European leaders’ complaint that his legislative package last year offers massive subsidies for U.S.-made products that they say will impact trade. He said he is getting criticism from abroad for focusing too much attention on the United States.

“The hell with that,” he said.

Biden reiterated his threat to veto Republican proposals that would limit his authority to tap the strategic petroleum reserve, cut taxes on corporations and levy a national sales tax should they reach his desk.

Since Democrats control the Senate, his veto pen is unlikely to be needed, but Biden and the White House have lit on these and other fringe Republican proposals to highlight the gulf between the two parties’ plans.

“They want to raise your gas prices. They want to cut taxes for billionaires,” Biden said. “They want to impose a 30 percent national sales tax,” he added.

Biden, who is laying the groundwork for a 2024 reelection bid, told union members in Springfield, Virginia, that he would veto any such bills. “Not on my watch, I will veto everything they send us,” he said.

Biden also went after pharmaceutical companies for making huge profits using federal incentives for research and investment and promised to pass legislation extending a $35 cap on insulin for Medicare users to everyone.

The economy under Biden has been gripped by inflation that is now ebbing, as are fears that a recession is imminent. U.S. gross domestic product grew at a 2.9% annualized rate in last year’s fourth quarter, exceeding expectations, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

Since the new Congress started this month, the House has passed a bill to slash the Internal Revenue Service’s budget, and some Republicans propose cutting Social Security and Medicare, retirement and healthcare spending programs for senior citizens.

“Do they think this is going to help with inflation,” Biden said of the sales tax proposal. “What in God’s name is this all about?”

As Biden started his speech, House Speaker McCarthy tweeted, “If President Biden is so eager to speak on the economy, then he should set a date to discuss a responsible debt ceiling increase.”

A bill on the strategic petroleum reserve that the White House says will raise gas prices was another one of a series of political messaging measures that the House passed in its first week of business, and it is seen as having little to no chance of being taken up by the Senate.

The national sales tax proposal is included in the Fair Tax Act of 2023, introduced on Jan. 9 by Republican Representative Earl “Buddy” Carter of Georgia. It would replace the U.S. income, payroll, estate and gift taxes with a 23% sales tax and stop funding the Internal Revenue Service after 2027.

McCarthy responded “no” this week when asked by reporters if he supported the bill, which Georgia Republicans have been introducing without success since 1999.

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