There's a Stronger Case for Demanding Trump to Step Aside

Yeah, Biden's performance in the debate was terrible-- but he's still making sound decisions and surrounds himself with experienced and practical people  78-year-old Trump has been on the political stage for only eight years-- eight horrible years marked by enough chaos, corruption, and incivility to fill eighty years. Why go back to that?  To build himself up, Trump constantly tears the country down. There is no shining city on the hill. It’s just "mourning" in America.

Trump made more than 30 false claims during the debate (to go with the more than 30,000 liess told during his four years as president).  He dodged the CNN moderators’ questions, took no responsibility for his actions, and blamed others, mainly Biden, for everything that is wrong in the world.

Trump's debate bullshit included numerous claims that CNN and others have already debunked during the current presidential campaign or prior. Trump’s repeat falsehoods included his assertions that some Democratic-led states allow babies to be executed after birth, that every legal scholar and everybody in general wanted Roe v. Wade overturned, that there were no terror attacks during his presidency, that Iran didn’t fund terror groups during his presidency, that the US has provided more aid to Ukraine than Europe has, that Biden for years referred to Black people as “super predators,” that Biden is planning to quadruple people’s taxes, that then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi turned down 10,000 National Guard troops for the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, that Americans don’t pay the cost of his tariffs on China and other countries, that Europe accepts no American cars, that he is the president who got the Veterans Choice program through Congress, and that fraud marred the results of the 2020 election. All complete bullshit.

Trump also added some new false claims, such as his assertions that the US currently has its biggest budget deficit and its biggest trade deficit with China. Both records actually occurred under Trump. 

The debate served as a reminder of what another four years of Trump would look like. More lies, grievance, narcissism, and hate. Supporters say they like Trump because he says whatever he thinks. But he mainly spews raw sewage.  Trump attacks the military. He denigrates the Justice Department and judges. He belittles the FBI and the CIA. He picks fights with allies and cozies up to dictators.

It’s about time that major media organizations published editorials demanding that Trump step aside after his disastrous past eight years on the national scene.

 

Shaboozey - A Bar Song (Tipsy)

WaPo Has Fallen to New Lows

Florida Official Forced Out After Defying Illegal Orders from DeSantis

Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis ordered illegal surveillance of immigrants and ignored concerns that relocating them from Texas to another state could could be considered kidnapping or false imprisonment, the former chief of staff at the state’s top law enforcement agency said in a whistleblower lawsuit. DeSantis also ordered the arrests of neo-Nazi demonstrators who weren’t breaking the law, former Florida Department of Law Enforcement Chief of Staff Shane Desguin said in a lawsuit filed this week in Leon County Circuit Court.

Desguin said the administration retaliated against him with an internal investigation that claimed he had a sexual relationship with a subordinate and recklessly pointed his unloaded gun at a coworker in an impromptu lesson on how to defend against an armed attacker.  The investigation happened as a result of Desguin reporting violations of rules, regulations or laws and malfeasance, and his forced resignation was retaliation for failing to comply with those orders, the lawsuit said.

DeSantis ordered the state to fly nearly 50 migrants from Texas to to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, two years ago. The flight made a brief stop in Florida. The action spurred a lawsuit and a criminal investigation amid claims the migrants were misled and not told where they were going.  Desguin claimed in his lawsuit that the DeSantis administration floated the idea of busing immigrants from Texas to Florida before flying them to Massachusetts, and he raised concerns the operation would be illegal.

But DeSantis’ chief of staff, James Uthmeier, said “it was imperative to complete at least ‘one flight’ of the migrants from Florida to another state,” the lawsuit said, adding that Uthmeier said he could be fired if the order wasn’t carried out.

Last year, Uthmeier’s temporary replacement, Alex Kelly, called Desguin and said DeSantis wanted neo-Nazi protesters in Orlando arrested. Desguin replied he couldn’t arrest anyone for exercising their First Amendment rights, the lawsuit said. “I don’t think you understand,” Kelly told Desguin, according to the lawsuit. “If you look hard enough, you can find a way. The governor wants someone arrested today.”  DeSantis continued pressuring for an arrest despite being told arrests would be unconstitutional. After several days, the department began making arrests for illegally attaching a banner to a highway overpass.

Blake Shelton & Post Malone - Pour Me a Drink

Tales of Toxicity - Racine Edition

CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale made swift work of the many, many lies Donald Trump unleashed at his recent rally in Wisconsin.  

- Claimed there was 'world peace' in 2020

- Claimed he won Wisconsin in 2020

- The 2020 election was rigged

- Biden's team cheat on elections

- Claimed that votes 'disappear' during elections

- More than 100,000 people attended his rally in New Jersey

- He saved Kenosha during the 2020 riots

- Cocaine was found at the White House a month ago

- The cocaine was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars

- Claimed that Biden was behind his criminal trial

- Biden was behind all of his trials, including civil trials

- Biden didn't know where he was at the G7

- Claimed he has been indicted more than infamous gangster Al Capone

- Claimed he went to Washington DC for trial, which he didn't

- Claimed he offered Nancy Pelosi the help of 10,000 soldiers on January 6

- Claimed the Jan 6 committee deleted all records

- Says he was the only president in history to never start a war

- Claimed that he finished the war in Syria

- Syria and Turkey have been at war for 2000 years

- World leaders are emptying insane asylums and allowing inmates to migrate to the U.S.

- Prisoners from the Congo are coming to the U.S.

- Claimed Obama couldn't deport criminals to Latin American countries

- Venezuela's crime numbers have decreased after their 'criminals' emigrated to the U.S.

- 17 and 18 million people have illegally entered the U.S.

- Biden plans to quadruple taxes

- 48,000 jobs were lost after the cancellation of Keystone XL

- Inflation under Biden is between 40 and 50 per cent

- There was a $500 billion trade deficit with China before he became president

- Says he was the only president in history to take in 10 cent tariffs from China

- And that the United States is experiencing the worst crime wave in history

Phillip amusingly ends the segment by saying: "And it’s only Tuesday."  Star Wars actor and Trump critic Mark Hamill quipping "There is no job more exhausting than fact-checking the former guy."

 

We Aren't Free Until We Are All Free

A Story of Perserverance To Mark Juneteenth

Silvia Hector Webber was one of the conductors on the Underground Railroad route from Texas to Mexico.  She was widely known for taking in people of need, and she worked with her husband John to smuggle enslaved people to freedom over the Rio Grande river to Mexico. 

Silvia's story started in Louisiana, where she was born into slavery in 1807.  When she was twelve years old, she was sold to Morgan Cryer, Sr. of Clark County, AK for $550 ($11K in today's dollars). In 1826, Silvia came to Texas with the Cryer family when they got a land grant as part of the new Austin Colony.

John Webber was among the original settlers of  the Austin Colony, and was neighbor and business partner of John Cryer. Together, the two men were in the business of smuggling tobacco in Northern Mexico,  Webber Silvia at some point between 1826 and 1829 and became infatuated with her. John Webber eventually was married Silvia Hector by Father Michael Muldoon (interracial marriage was legal in the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas). While still enslaved, Silvia gave birth to three children with John Webber. John and Silvia were finally able to negotiate with John Cryer the freedom of their three children, as well as the freedom of Silvia herself by June 11, 1834.  Webber and Cryer documented their negotiation in a legal document, which was latter dubbed the "Freedom Papers."  The document required John and Sylvia to “pay” Cryer “a negro girl three years of age . . . and a negro boy to be two years old,” with the Webber land east of Austin as collateral.  The Webbers never intended to pay the bond, and eventually agreed to forfeit a large portion of their Webberville property.

Silvia was one of the first free black persons to live in Travis County. Initially, she and John were accepted as an interracial couple, although Silvia was never seen as an equal. Their neighbors at Webberville treated Sylvia with respect because they appreciated her kindness and early settlers considered her kind, welcoming and intelligent. She is remembered for taking in and comforting an orphaned child, as well as opening her home to a man disabled with rheumatoid arthritis for years. When white women visited her house, she served them while they ate, but she and her children did not eat with them. When women offered to return the favor, she ate alone in their kitchen. Because the Webber children were not allowed to attend the local school due to racial prejudice, they hired Robert G. McAdoo, a North Carolinian school teacher, to be a live-in tutor for their children. 

In 1836, the Republic of Texas was established following the Texas Revolution. Its constitution took away the rights and freedoms that Black people had enjoyed under Mexican law and outlawed interracial marriage. As more people from the Deep South moved into the area, Silvia and their children experienced cruel prejudice and discriminatory treatment. The new Webberville settlers wanted to rid the settlement of its founder and his "family of mulato offspring."  The Webbers were also under the constant threat of slave stealers and slave catchers, who would kidnap freed slaves and sell them back into slavery.  By the early 1850's the Webbers' lives at Webberville had come under such threat, they chose to uproot and move to Hildalgo County.  Upon their arrival they were accepted among Mexican American families.  They established and ran a ferry from their land near the Rio Grande across the river to transport goods for their trading business.  To further protect his family, John changed his name to Juan Fernando Webber.

Silvia and John were anti-slavery advocates and Unionists, offering a safe haven to freedom seekers bound for Mexico. Silvia was known to be charitable to anyone that needed assistance. She and her family fed and provided shelter and asylum to runaway slaves on the Underground Railroad that led to Mexico. They used their ferry to deliver freedom seekers across the Rio Grande.  When the Confederate army occupied the Rio Grande Valley, Sylvia and John were persecuted for their position against the Confederacy and driven off their land.  After confederate troops kidnapped two of their sons, the family fled to Mexico and did not return until after the end of the war.

In 1872, John received a pension from the United States, and died ten years later. He was buried in the Webber Cemetery in Hidalgo County, near Donna, Texas. Silvia died ten years later in 1892.   Silvia's "Freedom Papers" have someone survived, and are now on exhibit at the Briscoe Center at the University of Texas-Austin.

This is Why Elections are Important

Louisiana has become the first state to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom, the latest move from a GOP-dominated Legislature pushing a conservative agenda under a new governor.  The legislation that Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed into law on Wednesday requires a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments in “large, easily readable font” in all public classrooms, from kindergarten to state-funded universities.

Opponents questioned the law’s constitutionality and vowed to challenge it in court. Proponents have claimed the the measure is not solely religious, but that it has historical significance. In the language of the law, the Ten Commandments are “foundational documents of our state and national government.”  The posters, which will be paired with a four-paragraph “context statement” describing how the Ten Commandments “were a prominent part of American public education for almost three centuries,” must be in place in classrooms by the start of 2025.  Under the law, state funds will not be used to implement the mandate. The posters would be paid for through donations.  Governor Jeff Landry said in a speech last weekend that he "can’t wait to be sued.”  It is almost a certainty that the Louisiana GOP was emboldened by the Catholic cabal that took over the Supreme Court under Trump.

The controversial law comes during a new era of conservative leadership in Louisiana under Landry, who replaced two-term Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards in January. The GOP holds a super majority in the Legislature, and Republicans hold every statewide elected position, paving the way for lawmakers to push through a conservative agenda.  Similar bills requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in classrooms have been proposed in other states including Texas, Oklahoma and Utah. However, with threats of legal battles over the constitutionality of such measures, no state besides Louisiana has succeeded in making the bills law. 

Opponents of the law condemned it as an unconstitutional violation of the separation of church and state. “It is meant to impose Christianity on all students in Louisiana’s public schools, even if they belong to a minority religion or no religion at all,” wrote Azhar Majeed, Director of the Center for Inquiry, a nonprofit that opposes religious influences on public policy.  Louisiana religious leaders also opposed the mandate. More than 100 Christian pastors and churchgoers in Louisiana signed a petition last month urging Landry to veto the bill. They argued that families and faith groups should control religious education — not the government.

There's obviously nothing that can be said about the ignorance of the Louisiana GOP.  I shudder to think what is in store for this country if this law isn't struck down by every court at the federal level. 

Keeping It Real

 

Un-Godly Way of Life?

GOP Representatives Emulate Confederacy Losers

The House voted this week to reject an amendment to restore a racist Confederate monument in Arlington National Cemetery. The statue depicted a Black “mammy” holding a Confederate soldier’s baby and a Black enslaved person following a Confederate soldier into battle. In a 230 to 192 vote, only 24 Republicans joined Democrats in opposition to the monument.

The Reconciliation Memorial, also called the “New South” monument, was erected in 1914 by famed white supremacist President Woodrow Wilson. An independent commission recommended the statue for removal in 2022. In December 2023, the Army, which operates Arlington National Cemetery, informed Congress that it intended to remove the statue.

The amendment was brought by Georgia gun shop owner-turned-congressman Andrew Clyde. This was not Clyde’s first time exhibiting racist tendencies over memorials. In 2022, Clyde led House Republicans in blocking a “routine measure” to name a federal courthouse in Florida after its first Black state supreme court justice, Joseph W. Hatchett.

The House vote showed an increase in GOP support for white supremacist symbology vis-a-vis 2021 when only 120 Republicans voted against removing Confederate statues from the Capitol.

 

Ashton Irwin - Straight to the Heart

Former Trump Stooge Steve Bannon Headed to Jail Ranting About Revenge

Former Trump advisor and convicted criminal Steve Bannon is due to report to federal prison on July 1 to begin a four-month prison sentence for contempt of Congress. But he clearly has plenty of contempt remaining to give, and he’s directing it at the entire legal system.

On Saturday, Bannon turned his anger toward former FBI Director James Comey and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, threatening both with imprisonment or worse. "Get your passport, get the hell out of the country because hey, we're coming,” Bannon said, warning that a second Trump term would mean that Comey and McCabe would be targeted for persecution.

Bannon’s statements may seem like a tantrum being thrown by someone about to spend several long weeks in a very small room, but his statements are concerning to law enforcement officials. They serve as a reminder that when Donald Trump and his associates talk about “revenge” and “retribution” they don’t mean seeing that political opponents face the consequences of any illegal actions; They mean going after political opponents simply for being political opponents.   “We will hunt you down," Bannon said. 

Bannon still has criminal charges pending in the state of New York for related to money laundering, conspiracy and fraud in connection to the $25 million "We Build the Wall" scheme.

 

Federal Court Overturns Florida's Anti-Trans Law

Florida’s restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors and adults are unconstitutional, a federal judge  has ruled.  The decision overturns the law banning gender-affirming care for minors (including puberty blockers and hormone therapy) that Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed last year.

The ruling also eliminates the requirement that transitioning patients see a physician in person for any transition-related care, a rule that was particularly burdensome given that most people received care from nurse practitioners and use tele-health appointments. U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle in Tallahassee sided with the 11 plaintiffs, including four transgender adults and seven parents of transgender children.

“The State of Florida can regulate as needed but cannot flatly deny transgender individuals safe and effective medical treatment ― treatment with medications routinely provided to others with the state’s full approval so long as the purpose is not to support the patient’s transgender identity,” Hinkle wrote.

The 105-page order in Doe v. Lapado is the first time a federal court has weighed in on the constitutionality of restrictions on gender-affirming care for adults. Last year a federal judge struck down Arkansas’ ban for minors as unconstitutional.

“Gender identity is real. Those whose gender identity does not match their natal sex often suffer gender dysphoria,” wrote Hinkle, a 72-year-old who was nominated by Democratic President Bill Clinton. “Florida has adopted a statute and rules that ban gender-affirming care for minors even when medically appropriate. The ban is unconstitutional.” 

 

How is This Activist Judge Still on the Supreme Court?

Disgraced U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said the political rift between the left and the right would be extremely difficult to repair and that one side was “going to win,” according to secretly recorded comments at a private event earlier this month.  Lauren Windsor, who describes herself as a documentarian and journalist, shared recordings of two encounters with Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts at an annual event held by the Supreme Court Historical Society on June 3. She said she posed as a religious conservative and held discussions with both men.

At one point, Windsor told Alito she didn’t believe conservatives could negotiate with the left in the way that needs to happen for polarization to end.  “I think you’re probably right,” Alito replied in the recorded conversation. “One side or the other is going to win. I don’t know. I mean, there can be a way of working, a way of living together peacefully, but it’s difficult, you know, because there are differences on fundamental things that really can’t be compromised. They really can’t be compromised.”

Windsor went on to say that people who “believe in God have got to keep fighting … to return our country to a place of godliness.”  “I agree with you,” Alito responded. “I agree with you.” 

The recordings were released as the court faces new ethics questions raised by reports that two flags affiliated with the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrectionists were flown outside Alito’s homes in recent years. The justice has refused calls to recuse himself from cases before the court related to the attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump and to the former president’s claims of absolute immunity from prosecution for his actions while in office.

Windsor’s conversations with Roberts were far more confrontational, but elicited an expected response from a true jurist who is not a religious activist interested in maintaining separation of church and state as required by the constitution. As Windsor attempted to tell the chief justice the nation needs to be put on a more “moral path,” Roberts pushed back. “Would you want me to be in charge of putting the nation on a more moral path?” he asked. “That’s for people we elect. That’s not for lawyers.”

When Windsor again tried to say that America is a “Christian nation,” Roberts took umbrage. “I don’t know that we live in a Christian nation,” he said. “I know a lot of Jewish and Muslim friends who would say maybe not, and it’s not our job to do that.”

 Chief Justice Roberts should demand Alito's resignation from the court immediately-- Alito has no shame whatsoever-- lying about the recent flag incident and actively trying to destroy the separation of church and state.

Snake for Supper?

Despite their scary reputation, pythons may be one of the most Earth-friendly meats to farm on the planet.  A group of researchers studied two large python species over 12 months on farms in Thailand and Vietnam — where snake meat is considered a delicacy — and found that they were more efficient to raise than other livestock.

Their research (published in the journal Scientific Reports) suggests that python farming could offer a solution to rising food insecurity around the globe, exacerbated by climate change.  The researchers, who studied more than 4,600 pythons, found that both Burmese and reticulated pythons grew rapidly in their first year of life, and they required less food (in terms of what’s known as feed conversion: the amount of feed to produce a pound of meat) than other farmed products, including chicken, beef, pork, salmon — and even crickets.

The snakes were fed a mix of locally sourced food, including wild-caught rodents, pork byproducts and fish pellets. They gained up to 1.6 ounces a day, with the females growing faster than their male counterparts. The snakes were never force-fed, and the researchers found that the reptiles could fast for long periods without losing much body mass, which meant they required less labor for feeding than traditional farmed animals.

“They need very little water. A python can live off the dew that forms on its scales. In the morning, it just drinks off its scales and that’s enough,” said Daniel Natusch, a herpetologist and biodiversity expert who was involved in the research. “Theoretically you could just stop feeding it for a year.”  In a world where scientists predict climate change will lead to more extreme weather and environmental shocks, a species that is heat-tolerant, resilient to food shortages and able to produce protein “far more efficiently than anything else studied to date” is “almost a dream come true,” Natusch said.

During his research, Natusch ate snake barbecued, sauteed on skewers, in curries and as jerky. He described the taste as similar to chicken, but a little more gamy. Because snakes don’t have limbs, very little is wasted in butchering, he said. And it is remarkably easy to fillet: “You just bring your knife along that backstrap and you get a four-meter-long piece of meat.”

A python’s needs are fairly basic. They’re sedentary by nature and coexist happily with other snakes, displaying “few of the complex animal welfare issues commonly seen in caged birds and mammals,” the researchers said.  Although some conservationists have expressed concerns that commercial snake farming could lead to the illegal harvesting of wild populations, Natusch — who chairs a group of snake specialists for the International Union for Conservation of Nature — argues that the opposite is true: It gives local communities a financial incentive to conserve wild populations and the habitats on which they depend.

Keeping it Real

 

Lesson From Literature

Richard Thompson - Singapore Sadie

Yet Another Bear Attack in a Russian Circus

In Russia, a roller skating circus bear mauled its trainer in front of shocked kids during a performance. The humiliated animal hit back at its cruel trainer as they performed beneath a big top as spectators screamed in terror.

Female bear Dzhema was being forced to do tricks for the "Happiness Show" at the Mash Circus in Obninsk, in the Kaluga region, on June 1.  Shocking audience video footage shows trainer Oleg Krasov forcing Dzhema to sit in a chair with a pair of roller skates tied to her rear paws. He then grabs her fur forcefully and pulls her up sharply on her hind legs in order to get her moving.

But as Krasov turns his back on Dzhem, she sees an opportunity to get her revenge.  Dropping to all fours, Dzhem charges at her trainer, flooring him.  The powerful bear lands a flurry of massive blows with her front paws as parents rush their screaming children from the arena.  The footage ends with Dzhema towering over her stricken keeper as circus workers try to stop her.  Astonishingly, local media reports said that Krasov survived without any serious injury.

Circus management later tried to pass off the attack as "normal".  They said in a statement: "She did not hurt him at all. She was actually playing with him.   These are her normal actions. She loves him."  Of course, everyone knows this is typical Russian bullshit!

Bears are kept in traveling circuses in many parts of the world, particularly in Russia, but mistreatment can often lead to them attacking and even killing their trainers or other circus performers.  In August 2022, a circus bear savaged a trainer in front of screaming children after living a life of agony with joint pain.  The crazed beast was seen going wild in the Russian circus ring, attacking the man as children and parents fled the tent.

Just a month before, a brown bear attacked a ringmaster after being forced to perform tricks at another cruel Russian circus.  The raging bear suddenly became agitated and lunged at the circus performer during a show packed with kids and their parents in the city of Blagoveshchensk.

 

Prominent Rock Climber Exposed as Serial Sex Predator

A well-known rock climber has been exposed as a 'monster' sex predator who used his fame to lure women to Yosemite to be raped.  40-year-old Charles Barrett was sentenced to life in prison for two counts of aggravated sexual assault and one count of abusive sexual contact for repeatedly raping a woman in August 2016 at the iconic national park. 

Barrett, who worked and lived in Yosemite, sexually assaulted a 19-year-old woman three separate times during a weekend in 2016.  He lured the victim to an isolated area and 'strangled her to the point that she feared death' while he raped her, according to his sentencing memo.  Three more women testified in court and shared similar stories about Barrett sexually abusing them in 2010, 2015, and 2016, SF Gate reported.  Although the testimonies of the three additional women were considered 'relevant to the charged assaults, Barrett was not charged for their assaults because they were outside of federal jurisdiction.  Barrett was hit with federal charges because Yosemite is property of the US government. 

Wisconsin Brings Charges Against Trumpers in Fake Electors Scheme

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul has filed felony forgery charges against two attorneys and an aide who helped submit paperwork falsely saying that former President Donald Trump had won the battleground state in 2020. The charges were filed against attorneys Kenneth Chesebro, Jim Troupis, and former Trump aide Mike Roman, who delivered Wisconsin’s fake elector paperwork to a Pennsylvania congressman’s staffer in order to get them to then-Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6, 2021. All three are due in Dane County Circuit Court on Sept. 19, according to court records. They each face one felony count punishable by up to six years in prison and fines of up to $10,000.  Democratic Gov. Tony Evers offered a one-word response to news of the charges being filed: “Good.”

The fake elector efforts are central to an August federal indictment filed against Trump alleging he tried to overturn results of the 2020 election. Federal prosecutors, investigating his conduct related to the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, have also said the scheme originated in Wisconsin. Trump also faces charges in Georgia and has denied wrongdoing.

Michigan and Nevada have also criminally charged fake electors.  Chesebro and Roman were among the 18 people indicted along with Trump in August in a sprawling racketeering indictment in Georgia. They’re accused of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to try to illegally overturn the 2020 election in that state. Chesebro in October pleaded guilty to one felony charge of conspiracy to commit filing false documents after reaching a deal with prosecutors. Roman has pleaded not guilty to racketeering and conspiracy charges related to a plan to have Republican electors meet and cast Electoral College votes for Trump even though Biden had won Georgia.

The 10 Wisconsin electors, Chesebro and Troupis, who was Trump's attorney in Wisconsin, all settled a civil lawsuit that was brought against them last year.  Documents released as part of those settlements showed that the strategy in Wisconsin replicated moves in six other swing states.

 

Things Are Getting Really Unhinged

Mysterious Orca Attacks Continue in the Strait of Gibraltar

An unknown number of orcas sunk a sailing yacht in Moroccan waters in the Strait of Gibraltar on Sunday, according to Spain’s maritime rescue service. While orcas are typically peaceful, this is the latest in a string of attacks that have hit the region in the past four years.

Reuters reports that a 49-foot-long vessel, named the Alboran Cognac, carried two people and encountered the high social apex predators at 9 am local time on Sunday. The passengers reported sudden blows to the hull and rudder before the water started seeping into the ship. A nearby oil tanker rescued the two onboard and transported them to Gibraltar. The yacht was left to sink into the ocean.

Experts believe the orcas involved to be a subpopulation of about 15 individuals given the name “Gladis.” This group of juvenile males has sunk several yachts in the Strait of Gibraltar over the last four years, but experts are somewhat baffled as to why. While typically peaceful animals, the Gladis pod has plagued the small strip of water separating Europe and Africa for years.

There have been nearly 700 interactions between orcas and ships in the Strait of Gibraltar region since May 2020. At the time, photos of the Gladis pod revealed several injuries on the orcas’ bodies, possibly indicating previous run-ins with fishing boats. In a 2023 interview with NPR, director of the Orca Behavior Institute Monika Wieland Shields said we don’t know the motivation, but this could be a defense behavior based on previous trauma. It’s possible the orcas had negative experiences with a fishing boat, so now they see all large boats as a threat.

 

Illegal Israeli Settlers Turn to Murder

Last month, Israeli teenager Benjamin Achimeir was murdered while taking sheep out to pasture.  His body was found a day later, after a massive search involving the Israeli police, military, air force, intelligence services and thousands of volunteers from the settler community. But for some illegal settlers, it was not enough.  

Elisha Yered, a former spokesman for MP Limor Son Har-Melech and extremist settler suspected in the murder of a Palestinian man last August, posted in a WhatsApp group for settlers. "Shabbat Shalom, it's been nearly 24 hours of heavy suspicion that Benjamin was kidnapped from the pasture and still the obvious measures have not been taken," Yered wrote.

The same message was repeated in various settler WhatsApp groups later that morning. It called on the settlers to take matters into their own hands - "crowning" of nearby Palestinian villages (a term for blocking residents from leaving or entering), "home to home searches", and "collective punishment against the murderous Arab population".

The message also contained a list of meeting points. Hours later, a similar message would circulate in the settler groups but with fire emojis attached to each location, as well as calls from individual settlers to "eliminate the enemy", "exterminate the beasts", and - referring to a nearby Palestinian village - "let all of Duma burn".