Chinese ‘Kill Switches’ Found Hidden in U.S. Solar Farms

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Chinese “kill switches” that could allow Beijing to cripple power grids and trigger blackouts across the West have been found in equipment at US solar farms.

The rogue devices, including cellular radios, were discovered in Chinese-made power inverters that are used to connect solar panels and wind turbines to electricity grids across the world, including the UK.

The hidden communications equipment could be deployed remotely to switch off inverters with potentially catastrophic results.

The discovery, reported by Reuters, will heighten concerns that China has installed covert malware in critical energy infrastructure throughout the US and Europe. The kill switches could be deployed at any time in the event of a confrontation between China and the West.

Over the past nine months, the suspect devices were found in inverters and batteries from multiple Chinese suppliers by US experts who strip down equipment to check for security issues before they are connected to power grids. (Read more from “Chinese ‘Kill Switches’ Found Hidden in U.S. Solar Farms” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

Mom Who Sold Daughter, 6, so Her Eyes and Skin Could Be Cut Out and Used for ‘Medicine’ Gets Life in Prison

/0 Comments/in , , /by

A mom who sold her 6-year-old daughter so her skin and eyes could be cut out and used by a “traditional healer” had been sentenced to life in prison in South Africa.

Racquel “Kelly” Smith, her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis, and their friend Steveno van Rhyn were all handed life sentences more than a year after the mysterious disappearance of Joshlin Smith from outside her home near Cape Town.

When Joshlin first disappeared, her mother was a figure of sympathy, and pictures of the girl’s striking green eyes, pigtails and broad smile were shared across the country.

Smith showed no emotion as her sentence was handed down, bringing an end to an eight-week trial that had to be moved to a local stadium so horrified members of the community could bear witness.

She admitted to selling her daughter to a traditional healer, or sangoma, for 20,000 rand ($1,100), and said the girl was desired for her “eyes and skin,” a witness told the court. (Read more from “Mom Who Sold Daughter, 6, so Her Eyes and Skin Could Be Cut Out and Used for ‘Medicine’ Gets Life in Prison” HERE)

‘Trump Just Did the Impossible’: Rasmussen Finds That for First Time in Its Polling History, a Majority Reckons Country ‘Is on the Right Track’

/4 Comments/in , , /by

By New York The Sun. Recent polls are music to President Trump’s ears, but Democrats are deaf to the melody. They’re wedded to the fallacy that Americans see the president as they do and will dance to their tune in next year’s midterm elections.

Ever since 2015, foes have denied that Mr. Trump has any appeal beyond what President Theodore Roosevelt dubbed “the lunatic fringe.” This is the “false consensus effect,” the belief that everyone shares your viewpoint. It’s manifesting in Democrats assuming that almost all Americans disapprove of Mr. Trump.

The numbers tell a different story. “Trump just did the impossible,” the Rasmussen Reports pollster, Mark Mitchell, wrote Tuesday on X. “For the first time in our polling history, a majority says the country is on the right track.”

In September, Rasmussen found the right-track number at just 34 percent. Mr. Mitchell noted that President Biden’s “approval was never higher than Trump’s is now,” at 42 percent. President Obama was also lower throughout his second term.

Since Democrats don’t think they need to persuade Mr. Trump’s voters, he’s free to play offense. He raids constituents like union members, minorities, and blue-state residents, pickpocketing Democrats who act as if they have voters to spare. (Read more from “‘Trump Just Did the Impossible’: Rasmussen Finds That for First Time in Its Polling History, a Majority Reckons Country ‘Is on the Right Track’” HERE)

___________________________________________________

New Rasmussen Data Shows 48% of Americans Optimistic About US Direction Amid ‘Uncharted Territory’ Status

By Just The News. A Rasmussen Reports poll on Monday found the pollster in “uncharted territory,” after nearly half of respondents believed that the United States was heading down the right track, and a rolling average overnight showed 50% of respondents said the same. . .

The numbers mark the highest rating for the country since Rasmussen Reports began conducting its “right track, wrong track” surveys nearly 20 years ago, according to the Daily Signal.

A rolling average of the past four nights also found that 50% of respondents believed the country is heading in the right direction, the pollster posted on X.

The numbers are a boost from the Biden administration, where only 32% of respondents believed the country was heading in the right direction last year, and 63% said it was heading in the wrong direction.

(Read more from “New Rasmussen Data Shows 48% of Americans Optimistic About US Direction Amid ‘Uncharted Territory’ Status” HERE)

Vladimir Putin Issues His Conditions for Ending the War in Ukraine

/1 Comment/in , , /by

Russian President Vladimir Putin has put out a list of demands for ending the war in Ukraine — and they’re almost entirely unchanged from even before he launched his brutal invasion more than three years ago.

The authoritarian wants a written letter by Western leaders that they would not allow Ukraine to join NATO — a red line for the security alliance whose charter holds that any country can join if they are approved unanimously by its member states, three Russian sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

Putin further wants NATO to disavow more expansion to the east, also barring Georgia and Moldova from joining the alliance.

He also wants the West to lift sanctions on his country, whose economy has taken a harsh hit since the world protested his invasion of its sovereign neighbor.

Two other conditions — the unfreezing of Russian assets and “protection” for Ukraine’s Russian speakers — are also key desires, according to Reuters. (Read more from “Vladimir Putin Issues His Conditions for Ending the War in Ukraine” HERE)

Trump Confirms He Stopped a Major Military Strike —Here’s What We Know

/1 Comment/in , , /by

President Donald Trump on Wednesday confirmed that he talked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu out of launching a military strike against Iran amid concerns over the regime’s nuclear program.

During a press conference, a reporter asked, “Did you warn Prime Minister Netanyahu against taking some actions that could disrupt the talks there in a phone call last week?”

“Well, I’d like to be honest, yes I did,” Trump replied.

The reporter asked what Trump said to Netanyahu during the phone call. “I just said ‘I don’t think it’s appropriate.’ We’re having very good discussions with him,” the president said.

Trump suggested that it would be better to “settle it with a very strong document … with inspections and no trust.”

(Read more from “Trump Confirms He Stopped a Major Military Strike —Here’s What We Know” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Infamous Democrat Named on National TV as Controlling Biden’s Autopen

/1 Comment/in , , /by

Who exactly is the person who controlled use of Joe Biden’s presidential autopen?

According to David Sacks, President Donald Trump’s crypto and artificial intelligence czar, it was actually Democrat U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts who ran the electronic signature device.

“SHHH DON’T TELL JOE!” said Jesse Watters of Fox News after Sacks spilled the beans on his “Primetime” show Tuesday night.

“David Sacks just said POCAHONTAS had the AUTOPEN and wasn’t afraid to use it!”

Sacks claimed Warren ran the autopen due to her “pathological hatred of the crypto community.” (Read more from “Infamous Democrat Named on National TV as Controlling Biden’s Autopen” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

White House Stunned as Hegseth Inquiry Brings up Illegal Wiretap Claims

/6 Comments/in , , /by

The White House has lost confidence in a Pentagon leak investigation that Pete Hegseth used to justify firing three top aides last month, after advisers were told that the aides had supposedly been outed by an illegal warrantless National Security Agency (NSA) wiretap.

The extraordinary explanation alarmed the advisers, who also raised it with people close to JD Vance, because such a wiretap would almost certainly be unconstitutional and an even bigger scandal than a number of leaks.

But the advisers found the claim to be untrue and complained that they were being fed dubious information by Hegseth’s personal lawyer, Tim Parlatore, who had been tasked with overseeing the investigation.

The episode, as recounted by four people familiar with the matter, marked the most extraordinary twist in the investigation examining the leak of an allegedly top secret document that outlined options for the US military to reclaim the Panama canal to a reporter.

The advisers were stunned again when Parlatore denied having told anyone about an illegal NSA wiretap himself and maintained that any information he had was passed on to him by others at the Pentagon. (Read more from “White House Stunned as Hegseth Inquiry Brings up Illegal Wiretap Claims” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Landing Gear Collapse on Alaska Airlines 737 Caused by ‘Excessive Grinding’ During Maintenance

/2 Comments/in , , /by

“Excessive grinding” during maintenance led to a metal pin cracking and eventually breaking causing the left landing gear to collapse on an Alaska Airlines flight in 2023, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a final report Tuesday.

On August 20, 2023, the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-800 was landing at John Wayne-Orange County Airport in California when the gear failed, sending sparks flying as the engine scraped the runway.

There were 112 passengers and crew on board, who had to evacuate from stairs onto a taxiway, but no injuries were reported.

When the plane touched down, the captain reported feeling a “firm jolt” and the plane was “pulling reasonably hard” to the left. (Read more from “Landing Gear Collapse on Alaska Airlines 737 Caused by ‘Excessive Grinding’ During Maintenance” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

WATCH: French President Shoved by Wife in Shocking Scuffle Caught on Camera

/2 Comments/in , , /by

By TMZ. President Emmanuel Macron waved off the face shove his wife gave him earlier with a statement to reporters saying, “We are bickering and joking with my wife and a video becomes a sort of geoplanetary catastrophe,” Macron says.

He continued … “In the world we live in, we don’t have a lot of time to lose … This is all a bit of nonsense.”

Those French have a temper … even at the highest level, because the country Prez got smacked right in the noggin by his wife, and it’s become something of a scandal.

Macron and his wife Brigitte were about to deplane Sunday after landing in Vietnam, and you see as plain as day, Macron taking a hard one to the face.

Brigitte isn’t fully seen by the AP photog as her arms appear and she puts her hands on her hubby.

Macron appears rattled but quickly regains his composure and pivots with a wave to folks outside the aircraft. (Read more from “French President Macron Now That’s a Slap in the Face!!! HERE)

__________________________________________________________

French President Macron Shoved by Wife Brigitte in Shocking Scuffle Caught on Camera

By Page Six. Brigitte Macron, the first lady of France, was seen shoving her husband, President Emmanuel Macron, in a shocking video that has since gone viral.

The moment was captured on camera Sunday evening when the couple was landing in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, for a state visit. . .

A source close to Macron also downplayed the matter to the Agence France-Presse, a French international news agency headquartered in Paris.

“It was a moment when the president and his wife were decompressing one last time before the start of the trip by joking around,” the insider told the outlet.

“It’s a moment of togetherness. No more was needed to feed the mills of the conspiracy theorists.”

The Macrons have been married since 2007. However, their relationship has been heavily scrutinized due to Brigitte meeting the president when he was only 15 while she was his drama teacher. (Read more from “French President Macron Shoved by Wife Brigitte in Shocking Scuffle Caught on Camera” HERE)

‘How Does This Happen?’: Power Outages Hit Blue City On Holiday Weekend After Months Of Warnings

/0 Comments/in , , /by

New Orleans was plunged into darkness on Sunday afternoon when the region’s grid operator cut off power to reduce usage, a “last resort” measure to prevent a large-scale blackout, according to Nola.com, a local news outlet.

The Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), a major electrical grid operator, directed the energy company Entergy to reduce power with only three minutes’ notice to prevent a blackout, affecting nearly 100,000 customers, according to Nola.com. Power was fully restored after several hours, though concerns about the power grid’s reliability remain as President Donald Trump’s administration, energy policy experts and multiple North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) reports have signaled that MISO is at an elevated risk for blackouts due in part to phasing out coal-fired power plants.

“The forced outages were directed by MISO as a last resort, and done in order to prevent a more extensive, prolonged power outage that could severely affect the reliability of the power grid,” Entergy said in a Sunday statement.

“How does this happen?” New Orleans City Council member Joe Giarrusso told Nola.com. “There are lots of questions that need answering.”

Giarrusso and fellow New Orleans City Council member Helena Moreno said MISO warned Entergy of the outage just three minutes before turning off the power, though the reason for the short notice was unclear, according to Nola.com. The blackouts affected approximately 100,000 customers in and around New Orleans, according to 4WWL, a local CBS affiliate. (Read more from “‘How Does This Happen?’: Power Outages Hit Blue City On Holiday Weekend After Months Of Warnings” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr