The global supply trail that leads to Russia's killer drones - Reuters

 

​ by Reuters

An investigation has uncovered a logistical trail that spans the globe and ends at the Orlan's production line, the Special Technology Center in St. Petersburg.

 

An Iranian drone flies over Kyiv during an attack on October 17, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

(photo credit: SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images)

The hundreds of Russian drones hovering ominously over the Ukrainian battlefield owe their existence to an elastic, sanctions-evading supply chain that often runs through a shabby office above a Hong Kong marketplace, and sometimes through a yellow stucco home in suburban Florida, a Reuters exclusive has revealed.

The "Sea Eagle" Orlan 10 UAV is a deceptive, relatively low-tech and cheap killer that has directed many of the up to 20,000 artillery shells that Russia has fired daily on Ukrainian positions in 2022, killing up to 100 soldiers per day, according to Ukrainian commanders.

An investigation by Reuters and iStories, a Russian media outlet, in collaboration with the Royal United Services Institute, a defense think tank in London, has uncovered a logistical trail that spans the globe and ends at the Orlan's production line, the Special Technology Centre in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Based on Russian customs filings and bank records, the investigation marks the first time a supply route for American technology has been traced all the way to a Russian manufacturer, whose weapon system is used in Ukraine.

The Special Technology Centre, which once made a variety of surveillance gadgets for the Russian government and now focuses on drones for the military, was first targeted by US sanctions after President Barack Obama said it had worked with Russian military intelligence to try to influence the 2016 US presidential election.

A drone is launched during a military exercise in an undisclosed location in Iran, in this handout image obtained on August 25, 2022. (credit: IRANIAN ARMY/WANA (WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY)/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)

The sanctions, which took effect in 2017, barred any American citizen or resident or US company from supplying anything that might end up with the Special Technology Centre. In March of this year, the US government tightened those restrictions by blocking all sales of any American products for any military end user, and effectively blocked all sales to Russia of high-technology items like microchips, communications and navigation equipment.

None of that has stopped the production of the Orlan drone.

The Special Technology Centre did not respond to a written request for comment. But one top scientist, who is also a major shareholder, said in an interview with Reuters that the company was experiencing a "high demand" for its drones.

Russia's Ministry of Defence did not respond to questions from Reuters about the impact of sanctions and its relationship to the Special Technology Centre.

The US Department of Commerce, which enforces controls on the export of US technology, would not comment on its knowledge of the Special Technology Centre, or of US parts supplying Russia's drone program.

In a statement to Reuters, a Commerce spokesperson said the department cannot comment on the existence or non-existence of investigations. The spokesperson added: "We will not hesitate to use all the tools at our disposal to obstruct the efforts of those who seek to support Putin's war machine."

Among the most important suppliers to Russia's drone program has been a Hong Kong-based exporter, Asia Pacific Links Ltd, which, according to Russian customs and financial records, provided millions of dollars in parts, though never directly. Many of the parts are microchips from US manufacturers.

Ukrainian tanks move into the city, after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized a military operation in eastern Ukraine, in Mariupol, February 24, 2022. (credit: REUTERS/CARLOS BARRIA)

Asia Pacific's exports to Russia were primarily delivered to one importer in St. Petersburg with close ties to the Special Technology Centre, those customs records show. The import company, SMT iLogic, shares an address with the drone maker and has numerous other connections.

Asia Pacific's owner, Anton Trofimov, is an expatriate Russian who graduated from a Chinese university and has other business interests in China as well as a company in Toronto, Canada, according to his LinkedIn profile and other corporate filings.

According to public records, Trofimov is a resident of a modest East York neighborhood of Toronto. He did not respond to questions sent by email and LinkedIn. A woman who answered the door identified herself as Trofimov's wife and said she would pass along a message for him to contact Reuters. He never did.

The neighborhood is a world away from Asia Pacific's office in a shabby and narrow office building off a side alley and pedestrian market in Hong Kong's business district.

No one was at the Hong Kong office when a Reuters journalist visited recently. The company shares a partitioned room with three other tenants, according to the building's receptionist.

Despite appearances, the business has boomed this year. In the seven months between March 1 and September 30, since Russia's February invasion, Asia Pacific increased its business sharply, exporting parts valued at about $5.2 million, up from about $2.3 million in the same period of 2021, making it iLogic's biggest supplier, according to Russian customs records. Many of the components were made by US tech firms, the records also show.

Among the parts sent by Asia Pacific to iLogic in the same period of 2022 were $1.8 million of chips made by Analog Devices ADI.O, $641,000 made by Texas Instruments TXN.O, and $238,000 by Xilinx, according to the Russian customs data. The supplies also included model aircraft engines made by a Japanese company, Saito Seisakusho, that are used in the Orlan 10, as shown in photos of drones recovered in Ukraine. Saito said it was unaware of the shipments.

Asked about the shipments to Russia in recent months, Analog Devices didn't reply to emailed questions. Texas Instruments and AMD AMD.O, the owner of Xilinx, said their companies had not directly shipped or approved shipments into Russia for many months and were complying with all US sanctions and export controls.

AMD added that it requires its authorized distributors to implement end-use screening measures to track the potential sale or diversion of AMD products into Russia or restricted regions. "SMT iLogic and Asia Pacific Links have not authorized AMD distributors," AMD said.

Local residents take things from their residential building destroyed by a Russian missile attack, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in the town of Vyshhorod, near Kyiv, Ukraine November 24, 2022. (credit: REUTERS/GLEB GARANICH)

The supplier next door

Financial records provided by a Russian official and reviewed by Reuters show the Special Technology Centre relies on a number of suppliers, but most notably iLogic. According to a record of iLogic's own bank receipts and payments seen by Reuters, iLogic works almost exclusively for the drone maker.

Since 2017, iLogic has imported about $70 million of mostly electronic products into Russia, according to customs records. And according to financial documents examined by iStories and Reuters, nearly 80% of the company's income is from its business with the Special Technology Centre.

In turn, those same financial records show the Special Technology Centre's biggest customer is Russia's Ministry of Defence, which paid it nearly 6 billion rubles ($99 million) between February and August of this year. The examined records list all transfers to and from the company's bank accounts during that period.

Reached by phone, Alexey Terentyev, a top scientist and major shareholder at the Special Technology Centre, said the war has forced it to focus on making drones.

"Due to the high demand for Orlans, we do not have the resources to do something else now. The demand for it is much bigger than we can produce," he said.

US sanctions had caused the company problems, he said, but it always found someone in the world to sell it what it needed. "Sanctions were imposed on us by one of the most powerful countries in the world," Terentyev said. "We should be proud of this."

Terentyev declined to say if iLogic was one of those suppliers. Asked about iLogic, he said, "You ask me about a company I don't know." Reminded that he was listed as one of iLogic's founders in Russian corporate records, he said that if his name showed up in documents, it was "likely correct" he was a shareholder. "Yes, I remember something," he said. But he could not recall what iLogic did. "I have lost connection with this company," he said.

Those corporate records show iLogic is based at the same St Petersburg office address as the Special Technology Centre. Russian corporate records show it was founded by Terentyev and other senior executives of the drone maker or their relatives.

In a brief telephone interview, Roman Agafonnikov, chief executive officer of the Special Technology Centre, said he didn't know anything about iLogic.

 Florida

On the coast of southeast Florida, living in a smart suburban house just behind a nature reserve, is another individual who has supplied Russia's drone program.

Igor Kazhdan, a 41-year-old US-Russian citizen, owns a company, IK Tech, that sold about $2.2 million worth of electronics to Russia between 2018 and 2021, Russian customs records show, over 90% of which were sold to iLogic.

Russian custom records show that IK Tech sold iLogic about 1,000 American-made circuit boards between October 2020 and October 2021, at a time when federal law banned the supply, whether directly or via another company, of any such technology to the Special Technology Centre.

The boards, valued at about $274,000, were made by a California manufacturer, Gumstix. The California company told Reuters it is "very concerned" to hear of the shipments and would investigate. It said it does not have customers located in Russia nor any products or services intended for Russia, adding, "We will take all appropriate action to address any identified diversion of products from lawful end use."

Photos taken by Ukraine officials of the inside of a captured drone and seen by Reuters show a Gumstix board that is almost identical to the boards shipped by IK Tech. According to a list of components found on another drone supplied to RUSI and Reuters by the Ukrainian government, the board is part of the Orlan 10's control unit.

Kazhdan's activities drew the attention of US authorities. Just two weeks before Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine and Orlan drones started buzzing overhead, federal agents arrested Kazhdan. He was later indicted on 13 counts of smuggling and evading export controls when selling electronic components to Russia between December 2021 and February 2022.

The indictment related to selling sophisticated amplifiers made by US-based Qorvo that required an export license for Russia. It is not clear from court documents if US authorities were aware of the ultimate destination of the products. The Qorvo amplifiers, which are often used in radar, communications and radio equipment, have been found in the radio communication circuits of Orlan drones, according to Ukrainian officials. In a statement to Reuters, Qorvo said the "declared destination" of the parts mentioned in the case was a distributor in Florida. It added: "Qorvo has never conducted business or had any relationship with IK Tech or Igor Kazhdan, and the Company's products were exported and used without our knowledge."

In November 2022, after Kazhdan pleaded guilty to two charges, a federal judge sentenced him to three years of probation, fined him $200 and ordered him to forfeit about $7,000. If convicted on all counts, Kazhdan could have faced 40 years in prison.

Speaking on the doorstep of his Dania Beach, Florida, home, Kazhdan, wearing a scruffy beard in shorts and short-sleeve shirt, said the scale of his exports to Russia was minimal compared to other companies when it was put to him that he may have been assisting Russia's drone program.

"I just don't think that whatever this is, it's a big deal that you should be writing this story," Kazhdan said. "This is just comical."

Beyond that, he would not speak about the case or his shipments to Russia.

At his November 2022 sentencing hearing, Kazhdan told the Southern Florida District judge that he started doing business with Russia after making contact with importers at a 2016 satellite conference. Soon after, the importers convinced him to skirt reporting and licensing requirements, he said.

The US Department of Justice declined to comment on the case.

Reuters

Source: https://www.jpost.com/international/article-724961

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COVID origins 'may have been tied' to China's bioweapons program: GOP report - Adam Sabes , Kelly Laco

 

​ by Adam Sabes , Kelly Laco

House Republicans state that the virus 'spilled over' to the human population

 

 

FIRST ON FOX: Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee are alleging in a newly released report that there are "indications" that COVID-19 could be tied to China’s biological weapons research program and "spilled over" to the general human population during an incident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. 

The information was released in a minority staff report by members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on Wednesday night.

"Contrary to the implication of the [Intelligence Community’s] declassified report, based on our investigation involving a variety of public and non-public information, we conclude that there are indications that SARS-CoV-2 may have been tied to China’s biological weapons research program and spilled over to the human population during a lab-related incident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology," a summary of the report states. "The IC failed to adequately address this information in its classified Updated Assessment. When we attempted to raise the issues with the IC, it failed to respond."

In a declassified assessment on the origins of COVID-19 by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in October 2021, the report states that SARS-CoV-2 was "probably not a biological weapon," adding, "We remain skeptical of allegations that SARS-CoV-2 was a biological weapon because they are supported by scientifically invalid claims."

CHINA'S COVID-19 SURGE: LEADERS PLOT ECONOMIC RECOVERY AS CASES SPIKE DUE TO POLICY ROLLBACK AFTER PROTESTS

Members of the World Health Organization team tasked with investigating the origins of the coronavirus disease are seen. (Reuters/Thomas Peter)

Wednesday's report released by House Republicans also alleges that its investigation "revealed serious shortcomings with both the classified and declassified versions of the Intelligence Community’s," and states that the omissions "likely skewed the public’s understanding of key issues and deepened mistrust."

"The Committee believes the IC downplayed important information relating to the possible links between COVID-19 and China’s bioweapons research based in part on input from outside experts," the report states, adding that the intelligence community "refuses to be transparent with the Committee regarding which experts it relied on."

Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, speaks during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, April 15, 2021. (Al Drago/Pool via AP) (AP)

Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, told Fox News Digital that Americans deserve answers regarding the origins of COVID-19

"The American people are owed answers about the origins of COVID-19. Our report states that COVID-19 may have been tied to China's bioweapons research program and that the Intelligence Community (IC) withheld key information from the American public's authorized elected officials, deepening public mistrust," Wenstrup said. "Our findings also show that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) bears more responsibility for the COVID-19 pandemic than what has been publicly known or transparently communicated to the American people." 

"As a physician and Army veteran, I believe it is vitally important that we understand the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and strive to do everything within our power to pursue policies that will help prevent our country from being vulnerable like this in the future."

CHINA STRUGGLES TO DISMANTLE CONTROVERSIAL 'ZERO COVID' POLICIES

A security person moves journalists away from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

While alleging that COVID's origins were likely tied to China’s biological weapons research program, the report states, "We have not seen any credible indication that the virus was intentionally, rather than accidentally, released."

Security personnel gather near the entrance of the Wuhan Institute of Virology during a visit by the World Health Organization team in Wuhan in China's Hubei province on Feb. 3, 2021. (AP)

"Nor do we claim the information we have found is a smoking gun that definitively resolves the question of the origins of COVID-19 beyond all doubt. However, the information is important to furthering the public’s understanding, and we will seek to declassify the classified version of our report in the next Congress to further the conversation," the report states.

 

Adam Sabes, Kelly Laco 

Adam Sabes is a writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to Adam.Sabes@fox.com and on Twitter @asabes10.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/covid-origins-may-have-been-tied-chinas-bioweapons-program-gop-report

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Belgium's Energy Suicide? - Drieu Godefridi

 

​ by Drieu Godefridi

Since the invasion of Ukraine, Belgium is the only Western country that has shut down a fully operational nuclear reactor... The closure of a second nuclear reactor, under exactly the same conditions, and without the slightest operational alternative, is planned for the beginning of 2023.

• Security of energy supply seems, for some officials, to be an abstract concept. It is anything but. In practice, when energy security is not guaranteed, it means blackouts and an explosion in energy costs, as well as, for many, having to choose between "heat or eat".

• When energy costs become insane -- even higher than neighboring countries -- industrial companies stops investing. Then they stop maintaining the existing productive apparatus. In the end, they leave the country.

• Since the invasion of Ukraine, Belgium is the only Western country that has shut down a fully operational nuclear reactor... The closure of a second nuclear reactor, under exactly the same conditions, and without the slightest operational alternative, is planned for the beginning of 2023.

• Most of the major environmentalist organizations have been actively supported and financed by the Russian Federation, with Russia hoping that if they could discourage the West from developing energy sources, the West would turn to Russia for energy imports -- as it did. This financial support did not have to be direct: it was enough to create "environmental foundations", headed by the leaders of the major environmental organizations, and massively financed by Moscow.

• The current Belgian Minister of Energy... was a 50% partner in the law firm BLIXT, which represented, in Belgium, the interests of Russia's state-controlled Gazprom, the country's main energy company.

• Voters have eyes to see their dwindling bank accounts and their 17-degree living rooms in the winter. Belgian voters see the winter bristling with looming blackouts, leading to darkness and cold. They also see unemployment and the accelerated disappearance of their savings.

• There is an overwhelming majority in the Chamber to repeal the 2003 law on the destruction of Belgian civil nuclear power. The repeal would allow the government to enter into serious negotiations with ENGIE-Electrabel for the extension of the entire Belgian nuclear power system. The government could then decide whether or not to allocate massive investments in the construction of new nuclear reactors, after the example of what has recently been approved in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Sweden.

• Is it not high time for a new parliamentary majority, supported by an overwhelming majority of the Belgian population, to accept the responsibility to avoid returning to "the cold and the dark"?

Belgium's energy situation is dramatic. Security of energy supply seems, for some officials, to be an abstract concept. It is anything but. In practice, when energy security is not guaranteed, it means blackouts and an explosion in energy costs, as well as, for many, having to choose between "heat or eat". Pictured: The Doel nuclear plant in the Port of Antwerp, Belgium. (Photo by Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP via Getty Images)

Belgium's situation is dramatic. While our neighbors have taken and are taking measures to cushion the energy crisis, maintain their budgetary health and guarantee their energy supply, Belgium is in a situation of clear and obvious failure on all three counts. I will only deal here with the energy misery, which is entirely avoidable and caused by the anti-nuclear tendencies of two environmentalist political parties, Ecolo and The Greens.

Security of energy supply seems, for some officials, to be an abstract concept. It is anything but. In practice, when energy security is not guaranteed, it means load-shedding, blackouts and an explosion in energy costs, as well as, for many, having to choose between "heat or eat".

Flanders' prosperity is largely due to its industry, and more specifically to the port of Antwerp, in whose success the chemical industry plays a decisive role. In contrast to politicians, who are prone to grand declarations that are not always followed by action, industry does not "declare" anything. At most, it whispers and noses around at the margins. When energy costs become insane -- even higher than neighboring countries -- industrial companies stops investing. Then they stop maintaining the existing productive apparatus. In the end, they leave the country. They do not necessarily move very far away: crossing the Dutch border is always a temptation, especially when it reduces energy costs and the tax burden by 25%.

For half a century, what remains of Wallonia's residual prosperity, in this unfortunate socialist region, it has owed to direct and indirect financial transfers from Flanders: €6 billion per year. Considering the Walloon economic figures, these amounts that are astronomical and vital. If those transfers dry up, Wallonia will immediately plunge into abject poverty, with the inevitable political unrest and violence that will follow.

The responsibility of the Ecolo and Greens parties in this accelerated energy suicide is overwhelming. The destruction of civil nuclear power capacity seems to be the raison d'être in the politics of environmentalists, and often possibly the reason for their entry into politics. Environmentalists -- perhaps based on memories of Chernobyl and recently events in Ukraine -- appear to have a hatred of civil nuclear power: What if something goes wrong? No arguments about improvements in nuclear energy safety seem able to shake such a concern.

Since the invasion of Ukraine, Belgium is the only Western country that has shut down a fully operational nuclear reactor, which met the highest standards in the world, and which could and should have continued operating for another 20 years. It was an amortized source of energy, one of the cheapest imaginable, non-polluting, and non-CO₂-emitting. The closure of a second nuclear reactor, under exactly the same conditions, and without the slightest operational alternative, is planned for the beginning of 2023.

All this is being implemented without any serious alternative, except for the urgent construction of natural gas-fired power stations that emit large amounts of CO₂ and that, out of necessity, will be fueled by gas imports from authoritarian regimes. Environmentalists apparently do not care about real global ecology. Above all, Belgium will become slavishly dependent on its neighbors, who are themselves in great need of energy. That is to say, France, which has partially destroyed its nuclear power network under pressure from environmentalists, as has Germany, which now prefers coal-fired power stations to civil nuclear power. Many of Germany's power plants in fact burn the most polluting CO₂-emitting fuel of all: lignite -- a soft brownish coal showing traces of plant structure, intermediate between bituminous coal and peat.

It should be remembered that, according to the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, and former U.S. Secretary of State of Hillary Clinton, as well as by the admission of German environmentalists, that most of the major environmentalist organizations have been actively supported and financed by the Russian Federation, with Russia hoping that if they could discourage the West from developing energy sources, the West would turn to Russia for energy imports -- as it did. This financial support did not have to be direct: it was enough to create "environmental foundations", headed by the leaders of the major environmental organizations, and massively financed by Moscow.

It should also be remembered that the current Belgian Minister of Energy, Tinne Van der Straeten (Greens Party), was a 50% partner in the law firm BLIXT, which represented, in Belgium, the interests of Russia's state-controlled Gazprom, the country's main energy company.

Voters have short memories. The last time environmentalists came to power, they ended up with another disaster -- "green certificates", subsidies for the production of photovoltaic energy. The fact that 46% of Belgian journalists voted for Ecolo gives this political party a kind of impunity, in word and deed. Where were the famous "fact-checkers," often known not to be strict adherents to the truth, when the environmentalists were spreading the worst lies about nuclear energy in the media?

Voters also, however, have eyes to see their dwindling bank accounts and their 17-degree living rooms in the winter. Belgian voters see the winter bristling with precarious load-shedding and looming blackouts, leading to darkness and cold. They also see unemployment and the accelerated disappearance of their savings. They feel misery coming and understand the overwhelming responsibility of the environmentalists in this state of affairs. The latest polls show a collapse of the environmentalist parties, who, if elections were held today, would only receive 16 seats out of 150 in the federal Chamber of Representatives (Belgium's lower house of parliament).

Belgium's energy suicide is not inevitable. Parliamentarians such as the conservative Marie-Christine Marghem are aware of this. There is an overwhelming majority in the Chamber to repeal the 2003 law on the destruction of Belgian civil nuclear power. The repeal would allow the government to enter into serious negotiations with ENGIE-Electrabel for the extension of the entire Belgian nuclear power system. The government could then decide whether or not to allocate massive investments in the construction of new nuclear reactors, after the example of what has recently been approved in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Sweden.

Is it not high time for a new parliamentary majority, supported by an overwhelming majority of the Belgian population, to accept the responsibility to avoid returning to "the cold and the dark"?

Drieu Godefridi is a jurist (Saint-Louis University of Louvain), a philosopher (Saint-Louis University of Louvain) and a doctor in legal theory (Paris IV-Sorbonne). He is the author of The Green Reich.

 

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19231/belgium-energy-suicide

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Eighteen AGs file briefs in case supporting parental rights in schools - The Center Square Staff

 

​ by The Center Square Staff

The AGs are “pushing back against woke school administrators who are encouraging students to ‘transition’ without their parents’ knowledge or consent.”

 

Eighteen attorneys general led by Montana's Austin Knudsen filed an amicus brief with an appeals court in support of parental rights in school in a case filed by Parents Defending Education against Linn-Mar School District in Iowa.

Represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, PDE sued in August in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Iowa, Cedar Rapids Division, arguing Linn Mar’s policy to withhold information about children from their parents is unconstitutional. PDE asked the court to issue a preliminary injunction to halt the policy while the case progressed. District Judge C.J. Williams denied their request in September.

The case is now before the St. Louis-based Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. So far, the AGs and 47 organizations filed briefs in support of PDE, including First Liberty Institute, Liberty Justice Center, Institute for Free Speech & Moms for Liberty, and the Justice Foundation & Parental Rights Iowa.

“Parents have a fundamental constitutional right to direct the upbringing and care of their children. School policies cannot intentionally leave parents in the dark about their child’s mental and emotional well-being,” Knudsen said. “The courts must step in to protect these kids and stop the violation of parental rights at the hands of woke school administrators.”

The AGs are “pushing back against woke school administrators who are encouraging students to ‘transition’ without their parents’ knowledge or consent,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who joined the AG coalition, said.

The AG’s asked the court to reverse Williams’ decision, arguing Linn-Mar’s policy causes “immediate and irreparable harm on parents by withholding information on their child’s gender identity.”

“Linn-Mar’s policy violates parents’ fundamental right to ‘to direct the upbringing of their children’ – ‘perhaps the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests recognized by [the Supreme] Court,’” they argue in their brief. “The policy inflicts an immediate and irreparable harm on parents by withholding information about whether their child has taken any action concerning his or her gender identity, leaving parents completely in the dark about their child’s mental and emotional well-being.”

PDE’s lawsuit challenges school district policy that allows seventh through twelfth grade students to devise a “Gender Support Plan” and make other decisions without notifying their parents.

Although the policy applies to “transgender students, gender-expansive students, nonbinary, gender nonconforming students, and students questioning their gender,” any student may “request” to create such a plan. Those who do can decide who attends a meeting with district officials “within 10 school days” to develop it, “including whether their parent/guardian will participate.”

The policy states the plan “will have priority ... over their parent/guardian” at least for “[a]ny student in seventh grade” or higher. However, it also notes that creating a plan “is not required for a student” to adopt a transgender or nonbinary identity at school without their parents' knowledge.

The policy also instructs plans to be maintained in a “student’s temporary records, not the student’s permanent records,” and all conversations “between students and school counselors” or other staff members and “all written records related to student meetings concerning their gender identity and/or gender transition with any staff member will be kept in a temporary file that shall be maintained by the school counselor.”

Parents are not given access to the temporary files due to students’ “right to privacy” and school district employees are instructed to “not disclose information that may reveal a student’s transgender status to others including ... parents ... unless legally required to do so ... or unless the student” consents. It also prohibits school staff from “contacting [a student’s] parent/guardian” without “check[ing] with the student first.”

The policy also allows students to decide which locker rooms and bathrooms they want to use, according to school district board members who voted 5-2 in April to pass it. In an April 13 Facebook post, school board president Brittania Morey said the policy complied with state and federal law.

“It is important to note while this policy is a new policy, it does NOT establish new procedures,” she wrote.

The policy passed despite widespread opposition, including the majority of people who spoke at the meeting before board members voted and more than 4,100 people who signed an online petition against it.

Linn Mar’s policy “is emblematic of an alarming national trend of left-wing school districts attempting to interfere with the vital role that parents play in children’s development,” Paxton said. “Allowing these young students to make life-altering decisions about their so-called gender identity without alerting parents is not only extremely damaging to the students themselves and to the entire family unit, but it also unlawfully violates parents’ foundational right to raise their children.”

Joining Knudsen and Paxton are attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.

The Center Square Staff

Source: https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/18-ags-others-file-briefs-case-supporting-parental-rights-schools

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Sixteen state attorneys general oppose EPA rule setting new greenhouse gas standards - The Center Square Staff

 

​ by The Center Square Staff

Texas argues the standards “would make America weaker and increasingly reliant on hostile nations like China.”

 

Sixteen state attorneys general, 15 state associations and multiple organizations are fighting against another Environmental Protection Agency rule they argue jeopardizes American energy and national security.

The AGs, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to halt the EPA from implementing “radical climate regulations.”

Their efforts follow another led by Paxton and 12 attorneys general last month opposing a new EPA “environmental justice” rule they also argue will risk Americans’ safety. Texas, which leads the U.S. in energy production powered by oil and natural gas, argues the standards “would make America weaker and increasingly reliant on hostile nations like China.”

At issue is the EPA’s “Revised 2023 and Later Model Year Light Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards,” 86 Fed. Reg. 74,434, which was slated to go into effect Feb. 28, 2022. After eight lawsuits were filed over the rule, both the rule and cases, which were consolidated, are pending.

The EPA is still trying to exceed its statutory authority, Paxton argues, after the U.S> Supreme Court curtailed it in June. In the historic ruling in West Virginia v EPA, the high court “ended EPA’s plan to ‘substantially restructure the American energy market’ in pursuit of the agency’s unauthorized climate goals,” the AG’s brief says.

The EPA’s greenhouse gas rule “is a rerun of West Virginia, except here EPA seeks to substantially restructure the American automobile market in pursuit of unauthorized climate goals. EPA’s action should fail for the same reason as in West Virginia – under no plausible reading of the Clean Air Act was EPA given authority to perform this restructuring,” they argue.

Section 202 of the Clean Air Act charges the EPA with promulgating “standards” about how much air pollutants vehicles may lawfully emit. After a 2007 case, Massachusetts v. EPA, the EPA began including greenhouse gases in Clean Air Act standards. And in 2020, it promulgated carbon dioxide emissions standards on car manufacturers for cars made between 2022 and 2026.

However, once President Joe Biden took office, the EPA “radically shifted course,” Paxton argues. On his first day in office, Biden issued an executive order instituting a new climate agenda that included revising the EPA’s 2020 standards. He also directed a then-defunct “Interagency Working Group” to reform to provide monetized estimates of the “social cost” of a unit of greenhouse gases, which the AGs argue is “enormous.”

By doing so, the president “stacked the regulatory deck by directing EPA to rewrite its emission standards in a way that accounts for those extraordinary estimates,” the AGs argue, citing a Jan. 20, 2021, Federal Register entry. The standards aren’t based on individual vehicle compliance but on averaging the emissions from vehicles fleet-wide – which counts electric vehicle emissions as a zero.

The standards are so stringent that the EPA stated in a Dec. 30, 2021, Federal Register entry that they will “necessitate” manufacturers to “further deploy” electric vehicles to comply using fleet-averaging. The EPA also estimated its new rule would force 17% of new car sales in 2026 to be electric.

But the “EPA had no authority to promulgate the Standards and functionally force vehicle manufacturers to produce more electric vehicles,” the AGs argue. The standards “place enormous new strain on the electric grid,” they argue, “threatening the grid’s reliability altogether.” Federal agencies without “clear congressional authorization” don’t have the authority to take any action that would “threaten the reliability of the grid,” they also point out, arguing the EPA was granted no such authority in this case.

Paxton said the standards "unreasonably target car and light truck greenhouse gas emissions” with the goal of destroying "financial incentives to manufacture gas-powered vehicles. These actions will likely lead to substantial increases in the cost of transportation for working Americans.”

Another cause for concern, the AGs argue, is the standards jeopardize national security.

“An overwhelming share of the materials required to produce electric vehicles are in China and other hostile countries,” they maintain. “The State Petitioners have long partnered with the federal government to enhance energy security and diminish our reliance on hostile foreign actors. And Congress has expressly legislated on that topic. It is implausible that Congress would have empowered EPA . . . to jeopardize this goal by forcing vehicle manufacturers to increase reliance on foreign actors.”

Joining Paxton are the AGs from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah.

The Center Square Staff

Source: https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/16-ags-other-groups-file-petition-opposing-epa-rule-setting-new

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IDF General: Drones play crucial role in almost all offensive, defensive missions - Yonah Jeremy Bob

 

​ by Yonah Jeremy Bob

Palmachim Base Commander Brig. Gen. Omri Dor said that he was pleased that recently the country and the IDF finally permitted publicizing its use of drones.

 

A SKYLARK drone is thrown by an IDF soldier during a military exercise in southern Israel in 2013

(photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

Drones have a crucial impact on almost every single offensive or defensive operation in which the IDF is involved, Artillery Commander Brig.-Gen. Neri Horovitz said at the 40th graduation ceremony for drone pilots.

"In nearly every operational event, whether offensive or defensive, a drone is involved," said Horovitz at the ceremony Wednesday, with his comments only released Thursday.

Horovitz also said that due to the huge success and impact of drones, they have added new and additional categories of drone units to keep up with the military's needs.

Palmachim Base Commander Brig. Gen. Omri Dor said that he was pleased that recently the country and the IDF finally permitted publicizing its use of drones after years of keeping the well-known "secret" at least partially obscured from the public's view.

Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar said that drones had been vital in recent weeks for following and capturing terrorists in the West Bank to try to gain control over the waves of terror which Israel has been experiencing cyclically since March of this year.

Further, he said that all recent operations against Hamas in Gaza were heavily dependent on drones for collecting intelligence, targeting Hamas personnel exactly, while avoiding collateral harm to civilians, and essentially, for keeping up a pace of attacks that would deter Hamas from future rounds of fighting.

A soldier prepares to launch a drone during the third week of ''Chariot of Fire,'' the largest drill in IDF history. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

Those graduating from the course have already completed six months of general drone training.

Next, they have three months of more specialized drone training after which they are placed in various drone operational units.

Yonah Jeremy Bob

Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-724958

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Peter Boghossian teaches 'forbidden classes' as 'truth-seeking' University of Austin raises $100 million - Gabrielle Reyes

 

​ by Gabrielle Reyes

University of Austin has started hosting 'forbidden classes' even though free speech college hasn't even broken ground

 

The University of Austin, established last year as a free speech alternative to other colleges, has raised more than $100 million, thanks to donors who are concerned about America's future and global standing, Peter Boghossian, a founding faculty member, told Fox News.

"For the donors, this is not just a matter of, 'Oh, let's give people an alternative to a broken educational system and help them live better lives,'" Boghossian said. "There are larger economic issues at play as well."

WATCH BELOW TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF AUSTIN'S FUTURE:

Video

WATCH MORE FOX NEWS DIGITAL ORIGINALS HERE

"This is an issue of global competitiveness," he added, warning that China's dedication to meritocracy will ultimately give the authoritarian nation an advantage over the U.S.

The University of Austin was founded in November 2021 on the principles of "freedom of inquiry, freedom of conscience and civil discourse," its website states. The nascent institution doesn't yet offer degrees but plans to hold its grand opening in 2024.

"The University of Austin came into being as a result of the ideological capture of American universities," Boghossian said. "And it was a particular ideology promulgated by people on the far left. Sometimes it's called ‘woke ideology.’" 

"The solution …  to left-wing ideological capture of our institutions is not a right-wing institution," he continued. "It's a truth-seeking university."

WATCH BELOW TO HEAR BOGHOSSIAN DISCUSS THE UNIVERSITY OF AUSTIN'S FOUNDING:

Video

UNIVERSITY OF AUSTIN DEDICATED TO FREE SPEECH WILL COUNTER COLLEGES ‘HIJACKED BY MANIACS,’ FOUNDING PROF SAYS

The University of Austin has organized limited programs in Dallas — including one Boghossian called "forbidden classes" — while it waits to break ground on newly acquired property in Austin.

"The forbidden classes program are held in person," he said. "It's a class where diverse views, actually people who hold different opinions, are presented about topics we wouldn't or couldn't or shouldn't even talk about."

"If you have a sincere question, you're welcome to ask that, even if some people may be offended by that question," Boghossian told Fox News.

One recent forbidden class, for example, hosted a debate on gender ideology between trans economist Deirdre McCloskey and Kathleen Stock, "who is fighting trans ideology, not trans people," Boghossian said

The faculty fellow said he contributed to the June 2022 forbidden classes program and found himself engaged in extended discussions with students after class.

BARI WEISS AMONG FOUNDING BOARD OF ADVISERS FOR NEW UNIVERSITY THAT REJECTS ‘ILLIBERALISM’

Some University of Austin donors are concerned about the academic competitiveness of the next generation, Boghossian says. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

"They wanted to have spirited conversations about, you know — I would say one thing, like, 'I personally believe that there are moral facts,'" Boghossian told Fox News. "And so we spent hours and hours on the bus, in the classrooms, talking about whether or not there are moral facts and what that means."

Boghossian resigned from his position as an assistant philosophy professor at Portland State University in September 2021. He told Fox News's Tucker Carlson shortly afterward that the institution created conditions that effectively hindered his teaching.

To hear more of Boghossian discussing the University of Austin's first year, click here.

 

Gabrielle Reyes

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/us/peter-boghossian-teaches-forbidden-classes-truth-seeking-university-austin-raises-100-million

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House Republicans cut out of spending bill talks despite winning majority, GOP conference chair says - Nicholas Ballasy

 

​ by Nicholas Ballasy

Congressional negotiators are considering a year-long omnibus bill raising domestic spending on top of a 10% defense budget increase

 

House Republicans have been cut out of negotiations related to the next spending bill, despite having won the chamber majority last month and taking over the chamber in just weeks, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik said Wednesday. 

Stefanik spoke as congressional negotiators are considering a year-long omnibus bill that would raise domestic spending over fiscal 2022 levels. 

"The skyrocketing price of goods, travel and services will make this the most expensive Christmas in history," the New York Republican said at a Capitol Hill press conference. "Yet here we are with Democrats controlling government in the final hours trying to keep the lights on in one-party rule."

McCarthy is advocating for the current Congress to pass a short-term spending bill that would expire early next year to give the new Congress a chance to negotiate a spending package.

The California Republican, who hopes to be elected House speaker, argued that interest rates have increased as a result of the Democrat-controlled Congress' spending driving up inflation.

"Have they not learned anything in the last election?" he asked on Wednesday.

McCarthy noted that the two key Senate negotiators on the spending bill, Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, and Sen. Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican, are retiring from Congress. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell are also part of the discussions. 

"They want to raise the spending, bring more inflation, create more wokeism in the legislation they want to pass through and not even give members an opportunity to read it or see it," he said. "Let's do our spending bill in the next quarter."

Stefanik also said: "Make no mistake about this process, Democrats cut House Republicans out of these negotiations since day one. The lame duck Democrats spent the last two years running up the tab on the backs of hardworking American families and the American people have just spoken and rejected this radical agenda by electing a new House Republican majority."

Nicholas Ballasy

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/congress/house-republicans-cut-out-spending-bill-talks-despite-winning-majority-gop

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Kremlin: No decision yet on repair of Nord Stream gas pipelines - Reuters

 

​ by Reuters

Russia, without providing evidence, has blamed the explosions on Western sabotage

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that no decision had been made yet on whether to go ahead with a repair of the undersea Nord Stream gas pipelines that were damaged by explosions in September.

Peskov also told reporters there was no decision on whether to start gas exports via the intact part of the Nord Stream 2 line.

He said Russia was not aware of the results of investigations into the pipeline blasts by Sweden and Denmark. Moscow, without providing evidence, has blamed the explosions on Western sabotage.

Reuters

Source: https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-724929

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US scientists produce first successful nuclear fusion reaction resulting in net energy gain - Julia Musto

 

​ by Julia Musto

Energy leaders called the achievement of fusion ignition a 'major breakthrough'

 

 

U.S. energy officials announced Tuesday that government scientists in California produced the first successful nuclear fusion reaction resulting in net energy gain.

"This is what it looks like for America to lead, and we're just getting started," Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said of the "major scientific breakthrough" during a morning press conference in Washington, D.C.

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory said the National Ignition Facility's historic achievement, also known as scientific energy breakeven, occurred on Dec. 5.

The experiment surpassed the fusion threshold by laboratory surpassed the fusion threshold by delivering 2.05 megajoules (MJ) of energy to the target, resulting in 3.15 MJ of fusion energy output.

US SCIENTISTS MAKE MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH IN ‘LIMITLESS, ZERO-CARBON’ FUSION ENERGY: REPORT

The milestone, first reported by the Financial Times, came following a decades-long quest to harness fusion, the energy that powers the sun. 

No group had been able to produce more energy from the reaction than it consumes and fusion happens at temperatures and pressures that are difficult to control. 

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm speaks during the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 23, 2021.  ((Photo by Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images))

It works by pressing hydrogen atoms into each other with such force that they combine into helium, releasing enormous amounts of energy and heat. 

In addition, unlike other nuclear reactions, it doesn’t create radioactive waste.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Director Kim Budil told reporters that it had taken 60 years of work to reach this point – a point that many said "was not possible." 

"This achievement opens up new scientific realms for us to explore and advances our capabilities for our national security missions," she said. "It demonstrates the power of the U.S. leadership in science and technology and shows what we're capable of as a nation." 

In this 2012 image provided by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a technician reviews an optic inside the preamplifier support structure at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif. ((Damien Jemison/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory via AP))

Budil noted that ignition is a first step that sets the stage for a transformational decade in high-energy-density science and fusion research.  

NORTHEASTERN KANSAS OIL SPILL SHUTS DOWN KEYSTONE PIPELINE

It’s a technology that has the potential to accelerate the planet’s shift away from fossil fuels and produce nearly limitless, carbon-free energy.

FILE - This undated image provided by the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory shows the NIF Target Bay in Livermore, Calif. The system uses 192 laser beams converging at the center of this giant sphere to make a tiny hydrogen fuel pellet implode.  ((Damien Jemison/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory via AP, File))

While producing energy that power homes and businesses from fusion is still decades away, researchers said it was a significant step.

Previously, researchers at the National Ignition Facility used nearly 200 lasers and temperatures multiple times hotter than the center of the sun to create an extremely brief fusion reaction.

FOX Business' Bradford Betz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

Julia Musto is a reporter for Fox News and Fox Business Digital.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/science/us-scientists-produce-first-successful-nuclear-fusion-reaction-net-energy-gain

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