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☆ Blasts reported at Russian air base where satellite images showed an 'unusual' amount of activity
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Explosions were reported Monday at a military air base inside Russia. Last week, Der Spiegel reported that an "unusual" amount of activity was occurring at the base. The Russian Ministry of Defense later issued a statement attributing the blasts a Ukrainian attack. Images posted Monday by the commercial satellite firm Maxar shows the base hosting the Tu-160 as well as the Tu-95, or Bear, strategic bomber. The base is also home to strategic bombers.

☆ Russia's story on the mysterious explosions that rocked bases housing strategic bombers acknowledges a glaring weakness
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

On Monday, Russia blamed Ukraine for explosions at two air bases home to strategic bombers. The attacks were carried out with "Soviet-era" drones, per Russia's Ministry of Defense. If true, that is a "baffling" admission, military expert Samuel Bendett told Insider. "Baffling," Samuel Bendett, a military expert with the Center for Naval Analysis, a Washington think tank, said in an interview. Neither Ukraine nor Russia claimed it was theirs, but the incident showed the craft is still being used today.

☆ House Republicans' 'Kanye. Elon. Trump.' tweet deleted during interview where rapper told Alex Jones: 'I like Hitler'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Kanye West praised Adolf Hitler in a Thursday appearance on a far-right conspiracy theorist's show. On Twitter, the GOP House Judiciary account deleted an October post that said: "Kanye. In October, the Twitter account for GOP members of the House Judiciary Committee was all-in on the man who now goes by Ye, posting: "Kanye. In October, the Twitter account for Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee expressed solidarity with Kanye West. A spokesperson for Rep. Jim Jordan, the Ohio Republican who is currently the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, did not respond to a request for comment.

☆ Kanye West is no longer buying right-wing social media company Parler, company says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Kanye West will no longer be buying social media platform Parler, the company said Thursday. In October, Parler said West was buying the site to help create "an uncancelable ecosystem." download the app Email address By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy PolicyOn the day that Kanye West praised the fascist dictator of Nazi Germany, the right-wing social media company Parler revealed that the rapper will no longer be purchasing the company. But after his appearance Thursday on Alex Jones' Infowars, during which West repeatedly praised Adolf Hitler, Parlement Technologies announced the deal was off — and claimed that it had been for some time. "In response to numerous media inquiries, Parlement Technologies would like to confirm that the company has mutually agreed with Ye to terminate the intent of sale of Parler," the company said in a statement posted on Twitter.

☆ Zelenskyy invites Elon Musk to visit Ukraine: 'After that, you will tell us how to end this war'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Charles R. Davis | Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Elon Musk should visit his country to understand the war. "If you want to understand what Russia has done here, come to Ukraine and you will see this with your own eyes," he said. Speaking on Wednesday, Zelenskyy said he did not know why the billionaire had shifted from steadfast to erratic support for Ukraine. The Ukrainian president added that he would invite Musk and others to see the war firsthand before opining on how to end it. And after that, you will tell us how to end this war, who started it, and when we can end it," Zelenskky said.

☆ Former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows forced to testify before Georgia grand jury about Trump's effort to overturn 2020 election
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Mark Meadows must testify before a Georgia grand jury investigating 2020 election meddling. In a ruling Tuesday, the South Carolina Supreme Court rejected Meadows' argument he is shielded by "executive privilege." Meadows served as Trump's chief of staff and participated in the campaign to overturn the election. Give me a break," Trump said, according to a recording of the call (Biden's ultimately won the state by 11,780 votes). Meadows, who at the time was sharing conspiracy theories about the 2020 vote with election officials, also texted Raffensperger, who ignored the message, according to CNN.

☆ White supremacists 'pose the primary threat' of lethal domestic terrorism, FBI says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

White supremacists "pose the primary threat" of committing domestic terrorism, the FBI said. Since 2010, white supremacists have killed at least 77 people, the bureau said in a new report. According to the bureau, radicals "driven by a belief in the superiority of the white race continue to pose the primary threat among [domestic violent extremists] of committing lethal violence against civilians, based on their ideology and attack history." Since 2010, white supremacists have carried out at least 17 lethal attacks, killing no fewer than 77 people — accounting for more than half of all fatalities from domestic terrorism, the FBI noted. The FBI report warns that such racially-motivated extremists are acting as part of a "transnational movement," facilitated by online networks and claiming the mantle of a "leaderless resistance" to multiculturalism.

☆ Ukraine is getting more THeMIS robots, ground vehicles that Russian troops have been offered $16,000 to capture
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Ukraine will receive 14 more THeMIS unmanned ground vehicles, manufacturer Milrem Robotics said Tuesday. A Russian think tank previously offered a bounty for the capture of one of these vehicles. "Automating these tasks with unmanned vehicles alleviates that danger and allows more soldiers to stay in a safe area or be tasked for more important activities." Evacuation robot (unmanned ground vehicle) THeMIS seen on a dusty road during the field tests in Kyiv, Ukraine. At the time, a spokesperson for Milrem Robotics told Insider: "We take the bounty as a compliment."

☆ Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle push Biden administration to provide Ukraine with lethal 'Gray Eagle' drones
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Lawmakers are asking the Biden administration to provide Ukraine with MQ-1C "Gray Eagle" drones. The drones, made by General Atomics, can carry four Hellfire missiles. "The long-term upside of providing Ukraine with the MQ-1C is significant," lawmakers wrote. C. Mark Brinkley, a spokesperson for General Atomics, told Insider that lawmakers are right to argue that Ukraine could put the drones into service soon after receiving them. "We believe it would be a game-changing decision to send Gray Eagles to support the Ukrainian defense."

☆ Russia beat, starved, and electrocuted people from a captured Ukrainian nuclear power plant in a web of underground prisons, escaped workers say
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russia has been torturing workers at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, former employees say. The plant in occupied southeastern Ukraine is Europe's largest nuclear power facility. Russian forces captured the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant soon after the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. He and other workers described being beaten, starved, and electrocuted by their interrogators; some were also shot, with at least one employee being tortured to death. Energoatom, Ukraine's state-run nuclear power company, said at least 200 workers have been detained, the Journal reported.

☆ Krispy Kreme agrees to pay workers more than $1.1 million over wage theft claims
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Krispy Kreme has agreed to pay 516 workers more than $1.1 million in back wages and damages. Federal investigators had uncovered "widespread and systemic" wage theft at the company. According to investigators, the North Carolina-based company failed to include those employees' monthly bonuses when calculating their overtime rate. "Employers who fail in their obligation to pay minimum wage and overtime wages as the law requires make it harder for workers and their families to make ends meet." Krispy Kreme, for its part, said it is "strongly committed" to paying its workers fairly.

☆ Iran sentences first person to death over protests triggered by death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, in police custody
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Iran has issued its first death sentence to a protester accused of setting a building on fire. Iran has been rocked by protests following the death of a young woman in police custody. At least 20 other people are also facing potential execution, the outlet said, citing Iranian human rights activists. Thousands of people have been detained across Iran since mid-September, when mass protests began following the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, in police custody. Iran Human Rights, an activist group based in Norway, on Monday accused the Islamic Republic of "using the death penalty to create societal fear."

☆ Foreign governments dropped $750,000 on Trump's DC hotel during key lobbying pushes, subpoenaed documents show
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Documents released Monday detail foreign government spending at the Trump Hotel in Washington, DC. The documents show Saudi Arabia and the UAE rented rooms while lobbying the Trump administration. Rep. Carolyn Maloney said the records show Trump may have been "guided by his personal financial interest." Monday's records, which had been subpoenaed by the Democratic-led committee, detail spending that came during key moments in US foreign policy. The Qatari government also spent more than $300,000 at the property during this time, the records show.

☆ New satellite images show a major Kherson bridge that was blown apart as Russian forces retreated from one of their biggest war wins
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

An explosion early Friday morning seriously damaged the key Antonivsky Bridge in Kherson, Ukraine. The explosion came as Russian forces retreated from the strategically important city. Prior to the Russian retreat from Kherson, Ukrainian officials accused Russia of destroying various bridges, the suspected aim being to slow the Ukrainian advance. Satellite images shows damage to the Antonivsky Bridge in Kherson, Ukraine. Maxar TechnologiesA close-up satellite image shows large gaps in the Antonivsky Bridge in Kherson, Ukraine.

☆ The Biden administration is pressuring its top border official to resign — but he says they'll have to fire him
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The head of US Customs and Border Protection said Friday that he had been asked to resign. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Chris Magnus, head of US Customs and Border Protection, said that he had been twice this week asked to resign or risk being fired. According to Magnus, Mayorkas said he would request that he be fired if he did not submit a resignation. According to Magnus, Mayorkas asked for his resignation after the CBP commissioner decided against providing a "retention" bonus to the head of Border Patrol, citing philosophical differences. The number of migrants crossing the US-Mexico border is below the number seen in the early 2000s, according to DHS.

☆ Ukraine is crowdfunding a new fleet of drone boats to take on the Russian navy, and for just $250,000, it'll let people name one
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ukraine has launched a crowdfunding appeal for a fleet of naval drones. The effort comes after Ukraine used the drones to strike Russia's Black Sea Fleet. Last month, a swarm of Ukrainian naval and aerial drones attacked Russia's Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, a port city in Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014. Oleksiy Neizhpapa, commander of the Ukrainian Navy, claimed Friday that they can also do more than just pester ships at port. "Such naval drones have already proven their effectiveness, and can change the situation in the Black Sea significantly."

☆ The US saw Russia moving to possibly test Putin's nuclear-powered 'doomsday' torpedo, but it looks like something went wrong: CNN
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russia may be preparing a test of its nuclear-powered Poseidon torpedo, CNN reported Thursday. The Poseidon torpedo was unveiled by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018. Russia's claims to use nuclear power to propel Poseidon potentially solve this in an unprecedented way — if it actually works. There are no yet signs that it does, however, and a US official told CNN it appears Russia is having trouble even trying to see if it does. Some are skeptical the Poseidon torpedo will ever work, believing it impossible to reliably fit a working nuclear reactor into something the size of a cruise missile.

☆ Democrats say they have won control of Pennsylvania's state House for first time in more than a decade
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Democrats claim they have won a majority in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. If confirmed, it would be the first time Democrats have won a majority in the chamber since 2008. State Rep. Joanna McClinton is set to be the first woman and first Black speaker of the House. "Pennsylvania voters overwhelmingly rejected hatred," state Rep. Joanna McClinton, a Democrat from Philadelphia, said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon in Philadelphia. It would be the first time Democrats have won control of the chamber since 2008 and only the second time since 1995.

☆ Trump lawyer John Eastman 'didn't even believe what he was telling the president,' Mike Pence says of January 6 plot
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Trump lawyer John Eastman "didn't even believe" his own advice for overturning the 2020 election, Mike Pence wrote Wednesday. Eastman had argued the former vice president could unilaterally reject electoral votes. But Eastman admitted to the vice president's general counsel that was not legal, Pence wrote. But Trump was not the only one who viewed legal arguments to the contrary as a mere cover for a power grab. "This guy didn't even believe what he was telling the president."

☆ Michigan judge rejects GOP election lawsuit that could have disenfranchised Detroit voters saying the plaintiffs didn't provide 'any shred of evidence'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A Michigan judge has thrown out a GOP lawsuit aimed at blocking mail-in ballots. The lawsuit was filed by Kristina Karamo, a Republican candidate for secretary of state. Karamo failed to show that Detroit's absentee voting system violates the law, the judge said. As with previous claims about voter fraud, the lawsuit over Detroit's absentee voting measures fell apart in court. "Plaintiffs' failure to produce any evidence that the procedures for this November 8th election violate state or federal election law demonizes the Detroit City Clerk, her office, and the 1,200 volunteers working the election," the judge wrote, per CNN's Daniel Dale.

☆ January 6 police officer Michael Fanone backs Fetterman in new video, says Oz 'filled his campaign ranks with election deniers'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Former DC police officer Michael Fanone is backing Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman for Senate. Fanone accused Republican candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz of filling his campaign with "election deniers." Former Washington Metropolitan Police Department Officer Michael Fanone says that makes him unfit for office. "Oz has filled his campaign ranks with election deniers and even participants in the January 6th attack on our Capitol," Michael Fanone said in a video released Monday by the campaign of Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. As reported by Rolling Stone, an Oz campaign coordinator, Lee Snover, admitted that on January 6 she went as far as "the Capitol steps."

☆ Ukrainian suicide drone boats packed with bombs are threatening Russia's once feared Black Sea fleet, and it may not be able to stop them
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Ukraine last week appeared to attack Russia's Black Sea Fleet using a swarm of naval and aerial drones. Russia labeled the attack a "terrorist act" and briefly suspended a deal on grain shipments. Experts told Insider the attack demonstrates that nowhere is safe for Russia's naval assets. Russia has not, to date, taken such steps to protect its Black Sea Fleet, a force which has participated in the missile barrages of Ukraine and lost its flagship in another stunning Ukrainian attack. Nothing powered by a jet ski engine is going to be able to match the speed and range of a Russian ship at sea; when Ukraine sunk the cruiser Moskva, the former flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, it did so with a cruise missile.

☆ Trump lawyers thought appealing to Clarence Thomas was their best option to block Biden's 2020 victory, emails show
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Emails obtained by Politico show Trump campaign lawyers discussing their 2020 litigation strategy. The lawyers viewed Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as the most likely to be on their side. Thomas is "our only chance to get a favorable judicial opinion by Jan. 6," one lawyer wrote. In response to that December email, Politico reported, another Trump lawyer, John Eastman, wrote: "I think I agree with this." In January 2022, Justice Thomas was the only judge to side with former President Donald Trump in a case over whether he had to comply with a documents request from the January 6 committee.

☆ New Hampshire Republican Don Bolduc claimed a local school has 'litter boxes' for children. The school says that's 'entirely untrue.'
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

New Hampshire Republican Don Bolduc falsely claimed schools are providing kids "litter boxes." "They're putting litter boxes, right? Litter boxes for that." "There are no litter boxes in our buildings and students are not allowed to come to school in costume," the school said in a statement provided to a local Fox affiliate. "There are no furries or students identifying as such during the school day."

☆ Weapons in Ukraine aren't flooding Europe's black markets, but that could change
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

The volume of weapons sent to and in Ukraine has raised concern that some could end up on the black market. The United Kingdom has sent Ukraine more than 4,200 such weapons since Russia invaded. Similarly, the UK has sent more than 5,000 point-and-shoot NLAW anti-tank missiles to Ukraine, weapons that can readily target and destroy most moving vehicles. However, "At the moment," he said, "there is no evidence of increased arms trafficking from Ukraine to other countries." In September, the Moldovan Ministry of Internal Affairs announced the creation of a new unit dedicated to combating illicit arms trafficking.

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