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Pausing Aid to Ukraine: The World Should Have Seen It Coming

At the end of June, 2024, the world got its first glimpse at what Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Ukraine in one day might look like. Retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg and former CIA analyst Fred Fleitz submitted a plan to then candidate Trump. In an interview, Kellogg revealed that U.S. leverage would have two fronts. The first is you tell Putin, “He’s got to come to the table and if you don’t come to the table, then we’ll give Ukrainians everything they need to kill you in the field.” And the second is, “We tell the Ukrainians, ‘You’ve got to come to the table, and if you don’t come to the table, support from the United States will dry up.’”

Keith Kellogg now serves as Trump’s special presidential envoy for Ukraine and Russia.

The threat could not have been clearer: continued aid was conditional on Ukraine’s willingness to negotiate an end to the war, and if they were not, then U.S. aid would stop. Knowing that clear conditional, Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, sealed his fate with two sentences.

In the televised February 28 meeting at the White House, U.S. Vice-President J.D. Vance repeated the Trump policy that “the path to peace” is not the path of war, but the path of “engaging in diplomacy.” Zelensky publicly attempted to refute him with the historically revisionist objection that negotiations with Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, is impossible because Putin cannot be trusted not to break the agreements he signs in negotiations.  “What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about?” Zelensky objected. “What do you mean?”

Zelensky rejected negotiations as the path to peace. But willingness to travel that path was the condition for continued aid. “If you don’t come to the table,” the plan said, “support from the United States will dry up.’”

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London council chiefs spend £140million to send homeless people out of the capital by snapping up hundreds of properties in deprived areas elsewhere in England

Councils in London have spent more than £140million snapping up homes outside the city to relocate homeless people.  

Local authorities in the capital have acquired more than 850 properties across England since 2017, with many in the most deprived areas of the east and southeast of the country, The Guardian reported. 

Bizarrely, some London councils have already bought properties in the Midlands and are planning to send some people as far as Liverpool and the northeast. 

Officials identified 704 people living on the streets of the capital between October and December last year – a 26 per cent rise on the previous year.

Meanwhile, a total of 4,612 individuals were found to be sleeping rough, a five per cent increase on the year before.

People are deemed to be living on the streets if they have had been seen rough sleeping on several occasions over a period of three weeks or more. 

In order to deal with the scope of the problem, and faced with an extreme shortage of social housing and skyrocketing private rents, more than a dozen local authorities – and the housing companies they partially own – have invested heavily in property outside of London’s boundaries. 

The non-London residences are used to house homeless individuals or families either as temporary emergency accommodation or permanently as a privately rented home. 

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Democracy Dies In Romania… After ‘Winning’ In December, Georgescu Now Banned From May Presidential Election

Is Romania the canary in the ‘death of democracy’ coalmine?

After today’s news, that canary – along with ‘democracy’ – is well and truly dead.

In a stunning turn of events – that we have a feeling could backfire disastrously on the elite establishment – Romania has barred far-right frontrunner Calin Georgescu from running in May’s presidential election, in a move that could worsen the country’s political turmoil.

The Bucharest-based electoral bureau invalidated Georgescu’s candidacy, a spokesman from the bureau said on Sunday. 

It received more than 1,000 challenges to Georgescu’s candidacy mostly related to his so-called anti-democratic and extremist stances. 

The decision can still be appealed at the Constitutional Court.

The decision to eliminate Georgescu from the May 4 presidential race will likely deepen Romania’s anti-establishment mood and benefit the far-right. 

Polls showed that had Georgescu run, he would’ve garnered between 40% and 45% of the vote in the first round, giving him a real chance of becoming Romania’s president.

Georgescu submitted his candidacy for May’s election – as an independent – reminding voters of the utter farce he has been through over the last coupel of months:

“Everyone is watching Romania and how the corrupt system acted,” said Georgescu on Friday, adding that he thought it’s impossible for his name not to be on the ballot’s list of candidates.

“They can’t afford to repeat the mistake.”

Well, they did!

As a reminder, after emerging victorious from the first round of voting in November’s presidential election, Romania’s top court in December to annul the outcome of last year’s presidential vote, which cited suspicions of Russian meddling (via TikTok!?) in his campaign.

Following their decision, the Black Sea bordering nation tumbled into its biggest political crisis since the collapse of communism. 

The decision has also buoyed the success of Romania’s extremist parties, in a country already disillusioned with the political mainstream, prompting massive protests nationwide…

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US B-52 Bomber Flies With Israeli Jets Over Eastern Mediterranean

A US B-52 Stratrofortress bomber flew over the eastern Mediterranean Sea on March 4, marking the third US flyover of the Middle East in the past month, shows of force that are meant as threats toward Iran and its allies in the region.

“Israeli F-35i and F-15i aircraft flew alongside an American US B-52 strategic bomber,” the Israeli military said in a statement on Thursday. “During the flight, the forces practiced operational coordination between the two militaries to enhance their ability to address various regional threats.”

US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed that it conducted a “Bomber Task Force Mission in the Middle East.” It said the B-52, which is capable of carrying nuclear weapons, took off from a base in the UK and flew across Europe on its way to the Middle East.

According to Air & Space Forces Magazine, the US bomber “orbited off the coast of Israel,” meaning it likely flew near the besieged Gaza Strip.

The flight came just two weeks after the US sent two B-52 bombers over the Middle East on February 20. CENTCOM said the two bombers “flew across Europe and six partner countries in CENTCOM’s area of responsibility during their mission, which included aerial refueling and training missions at ranges.”

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Israel Cuts Electricity to Gaza, Ramping Up Collective Punishment

Israel on Sunday said it was cutting off electricity to the Gaza Strip as it ramps up the collective punishment of the civilian population to pressure Hamas to release Israeli hostages, violating the ceasefire deal reached in January.

Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen made the announcement, saying he instructed the Israel Electric Corporation to immediately stop selling electricity to power stations in Gaza.

“We will employ all the tools available to us so that all the hostages will return, and we will ensure that Hamas won’t be in Gaza on the ‘day after,’” Cohen said. The move is expected to impact Gaza’s water supply since electricity powers desalination plants that produce drinking water.

Since March 2, Israel has blocked the entry of aid, medicine, fuel, and all other goods into Gaza. The UN’s World Food Program has warned that it’s running out of food supplies in Gaza, and Palestinians report a sharp rise in prices since Israel imposed the total siege.

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Oversight Project investigation: Biden autopen signature used on ‘every document we could find’

The Oversight Project, an investigative arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation, alleged an excessive use of autopen signature by former President Biden when he was in the White House.

“We gathered every document we could find with Biden’s signature over the course of his presidency. All used the same autopen signature except for the announcement that the former President was dropping out of the race last year,” the organization wrote on X alongside examples of Biden’s autopen signature. 

The Oversight Project is questioning “who controlled the autopen” because “they controlled the presidency.”

Following the Oversight Project findings, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey called for the Department of Justice to investigate whether Biden’s “cognitive decline allowed unelected staff to push through radical policy without his knowing approval.”

Bailey argued that if the widespread autopen use turns out to be true, “these executive orders, pardons, and all other actions are unconstitutional and legally void.”

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Laser Light Transformed Into a Supersolid in Groundbreaking Experiment

An international team of physicists has transformed laser light into a supersolid, marking an entirely new process for achieving this mysterious state of matter.

On the quantum level, matter often exhibits strange behaviors, and the supersolid state is one of the most counterintuitive examples. In this state, atoms arrange into a crystal lattice like a solid but also flow without friction, a property typically associated with liquids.

The Quest to Understand Supersolids

Scientists first proposed the idea of a solid that could demonstrate fluid-like flow in the 1960s, with theoretical exploration intensifying in the 1970s.

Helium was initially considered the most promising candidate for achieving this exotic phase of matter. However, early experiments attempting to produce a solid with superfluid properties yielded disappointing results. In the 1980s, physicist John Goodkind used ultrasound techniques to identify anomalies in matter that suggested supersolids might be feasible.

By the 2000s, new experimental data provided stronger hints of supersolid behavior, though some findings conflicted with theoretical predictions, making the state even more elusive.

Creating a Supersolid With Laser Light

For decades, researchers believed that achieving a supersolid state required ultracold atomic Bose-Einstein condensates combined with electromagnetic fields. This method, which was only successfully demonstrated in recent years, produced a material structured like table salt but also capable of flowing.

The latest research, however, takes an entirely different approach, creating a supersolid without using atoms at all.

The team began with a piece of gallium oxide designed with precise ridges to interact with an incoming laser beam. When the laser light struck the semiconductor’s ridges, it produced a quasiparticle known as a polariton. The shape of the ridges then constrained the polariton’s motion, forcing it into a supersolid state.

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Secret Service Team Shoots Armed Man During Confrontation Outside The White House

A gunman was shot outside the White House on Saturday night.

The Daily Mail reported that the individual, who was from Indiana, was walking around the streets with a firearm after parking his vehicle on 17th and G Streets. The incident reportedly took place just after midnight.

Thankfully, President Trump was in Mar-A-Lago at the time where he is spending his weekend. He is expected to leave at 5 p.. ET and return to the White House.

Secret Service agents revealed the man appeared to be suicidal. Once he started waving around his weapon, he triggered a confrontation with the Secret Service.

The gunman was transported to the hospital with injuries. There is no word yet on his current condition.

No Secret Service agents were harmed in the incident.

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Alleged Criminality In UK Peer-Related Contracts Probed Behind Closed Doors At COVID Inquiry

Potentially incriminating evidence relating to the PPE firm linked to Baroness Michelle Mone and her husband will be heard in a private, closed session of the UK Covid-19 inquiry, it was confirmed as the module examining contract procurement began.

On Monday, the inquiry began four weeks of scrutiny of government decisions to purchase personal protective equipment and the use of the so-called “VIP lane” that gave priority to companies with connections, which was previously ruled unlawful by the High Court.

However, inquiry chair Baroness Heather Hallett announced in preliminary hearings for the latest module that there would be a risk of prejudice to potential criminal proceedings if “sensitive evidence” was heard in public.

Opening the latest round of hearings on Monday, Hallett said: “It is not my role, and indeed I am forbidden by the Inquiries Act, to attribute civil or criminal liability to any individual or company.

“I am aware that there are criminal or civil investigations into some of the matters that will be touched upon by this module, and in one case [related to Mone] I have agreed that some evidence will be heard with special restrictions applying to make sure I can hear the evidence without prejudicing any possible criminal investigation.

“The information that I receive [in the closed session] will become public as soon as any criminal investigations are resolved.”

The inquiry heard this week that the government’s 2019 expenditure on PPE had been £146 million, which was just 1 percent of the 2020 cost. In total, the government spent £14.9 billion on PPE between January 2020 and June 2022, plus a further £26 billion on track and trace measures and £700 million on ventilators.

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Utah GOP to End Universal Mail-In Voting, Moves to Restore Election Integrity

Utah Republicans are making a stand for election security, passing legislation that will dramatically change how mail-in ballots are handled in the state. The GOP-controlled Legislature has approved legislation that would end universal mail-in voting and implement stronger voter identification requirements. The bill now awaits the signature of Republican Governor Spencer Cox, who has already signaled his support.

For years, Utah has been one of the few Republican-led states that embraced universal mail-in voting, which automatically sends ballots to every registered voter. But amid growing concerns about election integrity, particularly from voters who have watched election chaos unfold in other states, Utah lawmakers are taking action to tighten security measures and stop potential absentee ballot fraud.

Eight states and Washington, D.C., allow all elections to be conducted entirely by mail: California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Washington state.

Five Republicans joined all Democrats in opposing the bill, which passed with veto-proof margins in the House and fell one vote short of a veto-proof majority in the Senate.

Democrat State Sen. Nate Blouin was quoted by the Associated Press as saying Republicans were “conspiracy thinking” around election security.

Under the new Utah law, voters who wish to receive mail-in ballots must opt-in, rather than having ballots sent to them automatically. This represents a major shift from the current system, which many critics argue is vulnerable to fraud and manipulation. Additionally, the bill strengthens voter ID requirements, requiring anyone returning a ballot by mail or drop box to provide the last four digits of their driver’s license, state ID, or Social Security number.

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