Since 2020, states and municipalities across the country have amassed a portfolio of $1.7 billion in "Israel" Bonds—securities sold by the "state" of "Israel" to “strengthen every aspect of "Israel's" economy, enabling national infrastructure development.” Since October 7th, 2023, $580 million of state and municipal investments have been invested in "Israeli" bonds.

In some cases, the state treasurers and comptrollers that purchased "Israeli" bonds are the very same officials who pushed for laws in their states against investing in firms that embrace environmental social governance (ESG), or investments based, at least superficially, on diversity, climate change, or any other criteria they deem “woke.” Their argument: If a firm makes politically motivated investment decisions in accordance with ESG, then the firm has compromised its fiduciary duty to be a good steward of dollars and maximize returns for investors.

Were the "Israel" Bonds a secure investment, with growth fueled by regional war? No. In fact, they are rapidly losing value, earning a 20% lower return than when they were initially purchased just one year ago.

And it’s only going to get worse. Both S&P and Moody’s lowered "Israel’s" credit rating twice this year. Last October, "Israel" Bonds had a fixed rate of 5.74 to 5.96%, according to releases by state treasurers’ offices. The current rate for those same 3-year bonds now falls between 4.38-4.6%.

Yet many of the state treasurers and comptrollers across the U.S. who bought the bonds are unfazed. They invested not for the high returns, but, as Palm Beach County Clerk Joseph Abruzzo put it, because "Israel" is “our greatest ally” and “needs this money.”

"Israel’s" military has determined that the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to issue arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister could put military officials and soldiers at risk of legal action while abroad, according to a report by Ynet citing army sources.

The decision could affect mandatory service and reserve soldiers who participated in Tel Aviv’s genocidal war against the Gaza Strip.

“Some soldiers have already been required to leave countries they visited due to concerns about legal proceedings,” the "Israeli" news site said on 4 December.

According to the report, the "Israeli" army has identified around 30 cases in which its soldiers faced legal proceedings while visiting certain countries. At least eight "Israeli" soldiers were forced to leave the countries they were visiting, such as Cyprus, Slovenia, and the Netherlands.

The "Israeli" army has warned dozens of soldiers to avoid traveling abroad.

The army has not imposed a full travel ban on its members, but is carrying out a “risk assessment” process for soldiers who wish to travel.

Scores of "Israeli" army soldiers have, since the war in Gaza began, posted footage of themselves online making genocidal statements, destroying homes, ordering mass evacuations, or committing various forms of war crimes. Many of these testimonies were used as evidence in South Africa’s genocide case against "Israel" at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) earlier this year.

The report added that many pro-Palestinian organizations have used this material to create “blacklists” of "Israeli" army soldiers, publishing their names and photos, “hoping to identify future travel plans.” They then filed legal complaints or submitted petitions to authorities in the aforementioned countries.

“Individual proceedings against soldiers and junior officers traveling abroad could be based on ICC rulings. To any soldier or officer, if they are arrested, summoned for questioning, or feel they are being followed or photographed while abroad, "Israel" will provide immediate legal assistance through its local embassy or the Foreign Ministry’s situation room,” the army said.

“In non-ICC member countries such as the US, China, or India, there is local legislation governing the law of war. These nations are not obligated to act on ICC arrest warrants, but local laws could still pose risks,” it added.

Tel Aviv has hired legal experts to “monitor changes in legislation” in dozens of countries, Ynet reported.

“These lawyers track legal activity against "Israelis" and, if needed, represent soldiers and officers in those countries,” the daily added.

Chief Prosecutor of the ICC Karim Khan announced in late May that the court had applied for arrest warrants against Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant. The applications also included warrants for Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Mohammad Deif. The arrest warrants against the two "Israeli" officials were then issued by the ICC on 21 November.

Washington has rejected the ICC decision and previously vowed to take action against the court.

“The US has been clear that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over this matter. In coordination with partners, including "Israel", we are discussing next steps,” a US National Security Council spokesperson told reporters.

May 20, 2020

Leaked phone conversations between Joe Biden and then-Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko have been made public by a Ukrainian lawmaker.

Edited recordings of the calls were played at a news conference Tuesday in Kiev by Andriy Derkach, who has claimed he has proof showing that Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian natural gas company that employed Biden’s son Hunter Biden, paid then-Vice President Joe Biden $900,000 in lobbying fees.

Communications director Zorus Merlin (Branson) and data scientist and consultant Sean Seaside (Charles) assign accountability for the Democrats' electoral loss and raise money for the Kamala Harris presidential campaign to pay off its debts.

it links to https://join-lemmy.org/docs/en/users/01-getting-started.html/docs/en/users/03-votes-and-ranking.html which doesn't load, returns 404

While speaking to officers at the hotel, Nikoubin said she wanted to get revenge for a drone strike, which killed Iranian military leader Qasem Soleimani in 2020. Soleimani was a popular Iranian military officer and right-hand man to the country’s supreme leader. Former President Donald Trump called for Soleimani’s assassination to kill “the number-one terrorist anywhere in the world” to protect “American diplomats and military personnel” worldwide.

The 8 News Now Investigators obtained body camera video in December, showing officers talking to Nikoubin before her arrest.

“I guess out of spite and revenge,” she told the officer when he asked why she stabbed the victim.

“What do you mean by that? Like, why?” the officer asked.

“I mean the U.S. killed Soleimani. Lots of blood spilled,” she said. “So, I feel like, it’s fair that American blood be spilled.”

prior article from March 2022: https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/stabbings/woman-blindfolded-stabbed-date-in-revenge-for-iranian-leaders-death-police-say-2543696/

content warning because defendant mentions her prior SA

please share what you're using to manage your photos.

digiKam? PhotoPrism? photostructure? resourcespace?

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/210431

This has been bothering me for a long time. A lot of this sounds like the videomaker just watched a documentary that had it out for the CPC and parroted the content verbatim with relatively little research into counter-theses.

Obviously I support beating the shit out of fake martial artists who purport to turn you into a ninja god, and there are surely many snakeoil salesmen in China as there are in America who therefore should be beaten. It also seems perfectly plausible that a good con would be able to take cover under the CPC initiative for cultural revitalization in order to scam people, even if that went counter to the initiative's goals.

But, the video seems to ultimately be aimed at smearing the CPC. For example, vaguely saying Xu "was made" to wear that clown makeup, not saying who made him, and adding in that same segment that the CPC docked his "social credit score", preventing him from taking some methods of transit.

Who made him wear the makeup? Probably the con/dojo he was challenging or possibly the promoters of the fight, but by speaking in vagaries and not defining different institutions, the videomaker makes it sound like these cons are working for the CPC and it's the CPC that made him present as a clown. It's as though there's just some homogeneous "Chinese institution" that Xu is traveling around and fighting different agents of, like the plot of a weird martial arts film.

Some things, like wiping social media, are really par for the course, but shutting his gym down and fining him massive amounts of money are included with no critical investigation of why they happened or even if they did, and are mentioned in the same breath as purely socially-driven harassment like the Taichi students obstructing him. It's all just unsubstantiated hearsay.

It reminds me of how often western press will report on defectors saying they are being attacked by the government [of Bad Country] for speaking out when -- while they did speak out -- they also in many cases did horrible shit like chop their girlfriend to pieces or lead an ethnonationalist campaign. The treatment of Navalny by western press is probably the easiest example unless you want to go back to the "moderate rebels" or "brave mujahideen freedom fighters" eras.

That said, getting good information on this as someone who doesn't speak Chinese is difficult, so I was wondering if other people here knew more about the story.

If the timestamp doesn't work, the correct url is: ( https://youtu.be/gjbSCEhmjJA?t=1155 )