News Blogs (3,089)

From Reuters:

"Oct 2 (Reuters) - Defence spending will account for almost one third of Russia's total budget expenditure in 2024, the government's draft plans show, as Moscow diverts ever more resources towards prosecuting its war in Ukraine.

Russia also plans to ramp up state borrowing to help fund what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine in the coming years and is counting on a recovery in oil and gas revenues to pre-invasion levels to do so.

Spending under the "national defence" section of Russia's budget will total 10.78 trillion roubles ($109 billion) next year, or 29.4% of total planned expenditure of 36.66 trillion roubles, according to the finance ministry's budget documents that outline the government's fiscal plans for 2024-2026.

In 2021, the year before Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine, defence spending totalled 3.57 trillion roubles, 14.4% of total spending. In 2022, the share of defence spending rose to 17.7%, data on Russia's electronic budget page showed earlier this year.

Spending figures for 2022 were subsequently removed from the online budget portal. The most up-to-date data for 2023 was published as part of the finance ministry's 2024-26 budget plans.

The finance ministry has allocated 6.41 trillion roubles to defence in 2023, or 21.2% of total budget expenditure of 30.27 trillion roubles, but Finance Minister Anton Siluanov last week said total spending would be above plan at around 33.5 trillion roubles.

That may mean that defence spending will also be significantly higher than first envisaged.

Moscow doubled its target for defence spending in 2023 to 9.7 trillion roubles, Reuters reported exclusively in August, citing a government document.

"The budget's structure shows that the main emphasis is on ensuring our victory - the army, defence capability, armed forces, fighters - everything needed for the front, everything needed for victory is in the budget," Siluanov said last week.

"This is a big strain for the budget, not a small one, but it is our absolute priority."

EDUCATION, HEALTHCARE FREEZE
As defense spending in 2024 triples from pre-invasion levels, the share of spending on "national security", which covers funding for law enforcement agencies, is also rising, set to reach 9.2% in 2024, the documents showed.

To compensate for those increases, Moscow will effectively freeze spending on education and healthcare. The share of spending on "national economy", encompassing roads, infrastructure and construction, will decrease to 10.6% in 2024, the lowest share since 2011.

"Social policy", traditionally the leading spending area on state salaries, pensions and benefits, will account for less spending than defence at 7.73 trillion roubles in 2024, and with its lowest share of spending since 2011 of 21.4%.

Spending on those areas will nominally rise, but below inflation, meaning real-term cuts.

Chief Economist, Russia and CIS, at Renaissance Capital Sofya Donets said that taking defence and national security spending to almost 40% of all Russia's expenditure pending may have a strong short-term impact, but will contribute little to growth in the long-term due to their minimal impact on tax revenues.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov last week said increasing defence spending was "absolutely necessary" for the budget because Russia is living "in a state of hybrid war".

Russia argues that the West is fighting a hybrid war against it to sow discord and ultimately carve up its vast natural resources, allegations that Western leaders deny, saying Moscow's decision to invade Ukraine was unprovoked.

Ukraine vows to eject every last Russian soldier from its territory, and casts the invasion as an imperial-style land grab by Russia.

See the whole article at


The final budget has yet to be released.

At 2:20 Eastern Daylight Time today, FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) will be conducting an test of the wireless emergency system over the cellphones and TV's across America. This way, when there's an actual emergency, you will be notified.

It will happen across time zones:
2:20 p.m. EDT
1:20 p.m. CDT
12:20 p.m. MDT
11:20 a.m. PDT
10:20 a.m. ADT
8:20 a.m. HST

When I was a kid, we had 'duck & cover' tests in school. This is the modern version.

Crouching down and putting your head between your legs is optional!






Link:

Warning Trump and his attorneys about what he says in public or posts on social media had no effect. He's not one to actually listen to advice, In the middle of the night he's texting things that are 'over the top' and now Judge Engoron made clear with a formal gag order that could include fines, more restrictions and possibly 30 days in jail for violating his order.

He's been warned so cries of repression of his first amendment rights or the political witch hunt will be over.

Kevin McCarthy is the first House of Representitives speaker in US history to be removed following a motion to vacate. Representitives voted 216-210 to remove him a short while ago.

It follows Matt Gaetz threatening him with the loss of his position if he didn't unilaterally (and therefore improperly) open an impeachment inquiry into President Biden and then filing the motion after McCarthy struck an 11th hour deal with Democrats to prevent a government shut down.

The speakership is once again vacant awaiting nominees for the position.

I wonder who wants the job.

US Mercenaries Killed in Ukraine


Reports about Americans killed in the Ukrainian conflict zone started surfacing in media mere weeks after the conflict’s escalation.
A CNN article from April 2022 reveals the details of one Willy Joseph Cancel, a 22-year old corrections officer from Tennessee and former US Marine who signed up with a “private military contracting company” not long before February 2022.

In March 2022, Cancel entered Ukraine from Poland to fight against Russian forces as part of a group comprised of men from “all different countries,” only to be killed about a month later. His mother, Rebecca Cabrera, complained that her son’s teammates were unable to recover his body.
On May 15, a 52-year old US Army veteran Stephen Zabielsky got killed in Zaporozhye Region after stepping on a land mine, if a Rolling Stone article from June 2022 is to be believed.

Zabielsky was reportedly operating in the Ukrainian conflict zone as part of a 13-man multinational squad called Wolverines – likely a reference to the 1984 movie “Red Dawn” where a bunch of plucky American teenagers band together to fight a fictional Soviet invasion of the US.

Cancel and Zabielsky thus became referred to by media outlets as the first and the second American citizens (respectively) killed in the Ukrainian conflict.
A 50-year old US Marine veteran Grady Kurpasi was operating in Ukraine as part of a foreign militant group in April 2022 when he and another British fighter went on a scouting mission near the observation post their unit was manning – that was the last time he was seen alive by his fellow mercenaries.

Kurpasi’s skeletal remains were discovered and identified only a year later and were shipped to the US for burial in May 2023.

A friend of Kurpasi who assisted with the effort to recover the ex-Marine’s remains told the newspaper that the US State Department was “absolutely awful” in that situation, and that “it was probably beneficial” that the said government agency was not involved with the retrieval of what was left of Kurpasi.
Yet another report on CBS News reveals the fate of two US citizens named Luke Lucyszyn and Bryan Young who got killed after running afoul of a Russian tank on July 18, 2022.

The duo’s commanding officer reportedly said that Lucyszyn, who was supposedly volunteering as a medic for the Ukrainian forces, first got injured by shelling and when Young and others rushed to help him, both of them got killed by Russian tank fire. Two other foreign militants – a Swede and a Canadian – were also killed in that attack.
In August 2022, a 24-year old US Army veteran Joshua Alan Jones was killed in Ukraine while fighting as part of a militant unit called the Norman Brigade that is apparently comprised of foreign militants fighting for the Kiev regime.

Russian media said at that time that Jones was killed in action near the village of Yegorovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic, with local authorities saying that they are willing to help return the militant’s body to his country of origin.

In October 2022, the death of one Dane Partridge was reported by US media. A 34-year old native of Idaho and a former US Army soldier, Partridge was serving as part of a unit for the Kiev regime that included at least several other foreign militants, according to an American propaganda broadcaster.

The statement said: "We can confirm that at around 7.20pm this evening, a digester tank at its Cassington AD facility near Yarnton, Oxfordshire, was struck by lightning resulting in the biogas within that tank igniting.

Scott Hall, one of 19 defendants charged in the 2020 election interference case in Georgia, reached a plea agreement with prosecutors Friday, making him the first defendant in the case to do so.
Since his charges were a misdemeanor, his plea deal requires him to serve five years of probation, pay a fine of $5,000 and serve 200 hours of community service. A condition of the plea deal requires Hall to testify in any future proceedings.








Story:

At least this is what's being reported.

This article claims Kennedy will make the announcement on October 9th in Pennsylvania:

RFK Jr himself just uploaded this video to his Twitter account teasing a big announcement on this date:

This would really shake things up!

News today, 90 year old Senator Dianne Feinstein passed away...

Jaws of life is a name of a pneumatic tool used by firefighters/paramedics/rescue that has the ability to cut through metal. It's used in car accidents where they are unable to open car doors when the frame is twisted. A few strategic 'snips' pull the door and column away and get the person out of the car.
The intent is to save a life.

If you live in Florida, you will find lots of canals, streams and lakes... especially around recreational and residential communities.

The other day, I saw a story about a man who spotted a huge alligator (13 feet , 4 meters) long, in a canal with what looked like a human torso sticking from his mouth. He went to the fire department to report what he saw.

Reported the Sheriff's Office killed the animal and confirmed the death of a 41 year old woman who had been living in a homeless camp near a wooded area.

In this case, these 'jaws of life' didn't save one, it took one.



Most of the follow-up stories say the woman had been arrested 2 months earlier for trespassing on county wetland property.

This all happened about 4 miles south of of the city Clearwater.



Links:





Many news stories have stupid comments like this one saying: The alligator was “humanely killed” with the assistance of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Seriously, it aggressively attacked and killed the woman... 3 bullets to the brain would have been humane in my opinion.

Another story stated: ...the manner and cause of her death have yet to be determined.
Wait. I'll save you some time. Woman attacked and killed by a 13 foot long alligator while she was trespassing on government land. End of story.