The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) broke a story, on June 8th, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/cuba-to-host-secret-chinese-spy-base-focusing-on-u-s-b2fed0e0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">claiming</a>, “Cuba to Host Secret Chinese Spy Base Focusing on U.S.”<div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">First spy balloons and now China has their own spy base in Cuba to monitor our activities. Way to go Blinken. <a href="https://t.co/jObTT6fosA">pic.twitter.com/jObTT6fosA</a>— SweetPeaBelle (@SweetPeaBell326) <a href="https://twitter.com/SweetPeaBell326/status/1666791272877637634?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 8, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div><h3>Expansion or new?</h3>The Miami Herald followed up with a <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article276215936.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">report </a>that although China was already eavesdropping on the US from Cuba, the new secret agreement will provide China with much more extensive access to America's military planning.<blockquote>China is believed to already have a military presence in Cuba in a listening station in Bejucal, a town south of Havana, where there were reports in 2018 of a new radar surveillance installation. It is unclear if the new deal entails expanding this facility or constructing a new one . . .&nbsp;While China might be already collecting intelligence on the U.S. from its commercial facilities in the region, having a signals-intelligence facility “adds to China’s capabilities, especially in times of war,” said Evan Ellis, professor at the U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute, which monitors China’s relationship with Latin America and the Caribbean.</blockquote>According to the Indian Express, China would be <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/world/china-to-build-spy-base-in-cuba-wsj-says-us-and-cuba-cast-doubt-on-report-8653742/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">privy</a> to electronic communications in many American military bases.<blockquote>Such a spy installation would allow Beijing to gather electronic communications from the southeastern US, which houses many US military bases, as well as monitor ship traffic . . .</blockquote><h3>The times they are “a-changin”</h3>Professor Ellis went on to underscore the significant change the move brings to the global balance of powers.<blockquote>I think it telegraphs Chinese willingness in the current difficult environment between our two countries to take some of these bolder steps and their sense, with their growing military power and economic power and the perception of the U.S. democratic disarray, that they can take these steps that maybe a decade ago, they would not have risked.</blockquote>Never happenedJust hours after the WSJ report, though, the Biden administration disputed the story, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china-post-spy-facility-cuba-off-southeastern-us-wsj-2023-06-08/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">covered</a> by Reuters:&nbsp;<blockquote>“We have seen the report. It's not accurate," John Kirby, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, told Reuters. But he did not specify what he thought was incorrect. . . .&nbsp;Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, a U.S. Defense Department spokesperson, said: "We are not aware of China and Cuba developing a new type of spy station."</blockquote><div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">White House Denies Report China Seeking Spy Base In Cuba, But Menendez Demands Answers <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/zerohedge?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#zerohedge</a> <a href="https://t.co/WkuXX8VaoJ">https://t.co/WkuXX8VaoJ</a>— zerohedge (@zerohedgeupdate) <a href="https://twitter.com/zerohedgeupdate/status/1666981706916827136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 9, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div>Cuba and China joined the Biden administration in denying the report.<blockquote>In Havana, Cuban Vice Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio dismissed the report as "totally mendacious and unfounded," calling it a U.S. fabrication meant to justify Washington's decades-old economic embargo against the island . . .&nbsp;A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said: "We are not aware of the case [sic] and as a result we can't give a comment right now."</blockquote><h3>But if it did, stay out</h3>China's response differed from Cuba's, as its official's claim that they were “not aware” of the spy base was not as strong a denial as Cuba's “unfounded” remark. At the same time, The Guardian <a href="https://editor.guardian.ng/news/china-slams-us-over-reported-spy-base-in-cuba/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reports</a> that the same spokesperson for China, Wang Wenbin, referred to the spy base as a Cuban “internal affair” with which America should “stop interfering.”<blockquote>As we all know, spreading rumours and slander is a common tactic of the United States, and wantonly interfering in the internal affairs of other countries is its patent. The United States should reflect on itself and stop interfering in Cuba’s internal affairs under the banner of freedom and democracy, and immediately cancel the economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba.</blockquote><h3>It did</h3>Two days after the WSJ report, the Biden administration completely reversed itself when an official <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-admin-confirms-china-spy-base-efforts-cuba-calls-ongoing-issue?intcmp=tw_fnc" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">told</a> Fox News the report was not only true but actually understated, as the Chinese spying operation from Cuba was much further along than initially suspected.<blockquote>This is an ongoing issue, and not a new development . . . This [spying] effort included the presence of PRC [People's Republic of China] intelligence collection facilities in Cuba. In fact, the PRC conducted an upgrade of its intelligence collection facilities in Cuba in 2019. This is well-documented in the intelligence record."</blockquote><div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">The U.S. confirms that China has had a spy base in Cuba since at least 2019<a href="https://t.co/06EERdjgOQ">https://t.co/06EERdjgOQ</a>— TIME (@TIME) <a href="https://twitter.com/TIME/status/1668076153704251394?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 12, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div><h3>Picking up where the Soviets left off</h3>Bloomberg <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/china-s-spying-in-cuba-picks-up-where-the-soviet-union-left-off/ar-AA1cC77p" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">provides</a> some background on the spying operation in an article titled, “China’s Spying in Cuba Picks Up Where the Soviet Union Left Off”.<blockquote>For half a century, America’s top geopolitical rival used a spy base in nearby Cuba to steal US military secrets by listening in on phone and data communications.Twenty years after the Soviet Union shut down that post, China may be picking up where Moscow left off.Beijing’s reported efforts at surveillance from Cuba are reminiscent of Lourdes, a Soviet-built listening post just south of Havana that once employed thousands of personnel to eavesdrop on sensitive US phone and data communications.</blockquote>Bloomberg&nbsp;goes on to claim that, unlike the Soviets, China is only interested in money, not defeating the West.<blockquote>But where the Soviet Union sought ideological conquests in Cuba and throughout Latin America, China’s efforts are rooted in burgeoning economic relations.</blockquote>Bloomberg's analysis would be considered disinformation by Soviet defector Anatoliy Golitsyn, who predicted perestroika two decades before it happened and described it as a false liberalization planned from the outset to eventually be reversed, piece-by-piece, like Vladimir Lenin's&nbsp;New Economic Policy, as described by Frontline News in <a href="https://www.frontline.news/post/how-one-defector-got-it-right">How one defector got it right</a>. Golitsyn would view the reinstatement of spying operations by a major communist power as a fulfillment of the false liberalization strategy, albeit by a different communist nation.<h3>Picture</h3>One Twitter account posted what it claimed to be a picture of the already in-use facility.<div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">A view from the top of the spy base in Cuba used by Chinese spy agencies. <a href="https://t.co/omYmN8qQE1">pic.twitter.com/omYmN8qQE1</a>— McPepe's (@McPepes_AI) <a href="https://twitter.com/McPepes_AI/status/1667789865675620352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div><h3>Verdict</h3>The claim that the Chinese Communist Party plans to build a spy base 90 miles from America, in Cuba, is not only true, but it may have already been largely carried out.<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/aflds/image/upload/v1687097001/i_Stock_1460666866_45b5ae9bd2.jpg"></figure>

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China

US News

World News

US initially denied claim

Fact Check: Chinese Communist Party building spy base 90 miles from US?

Rodent RageYour cat can keep mice out of the house, but you probably didn’t post her on sentry duty around your car.It might not help anyway. Mice—along with rats, foxes, and squirrels—can attack your car, or, more precisely, your car’s wiring, from wherever you park. Rural areas are more affected but urban areas are hardly being spared. Recent <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/10/eco-friendly-brake-cables-eaten-by-foxes-after-soy-switch/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">fox attacks</a> have been noted across the globe.Eddie Mitchell, in suburban England, described a neighborhood of cars under attack by foxes:<blockquote>Everyone around us has been affected. There’s been at least 20 attacks by foxes on the brakes system under cars. One neighbor ended up spending £1,500 on his Jaguar after it was attacked.</blockquote>Sometimes the bulk of the damage is covered by insurance, though the owner will still have to pay a substantial deductible himself.But why is all this happening?&nbsp;Edible wiring?<div class="raw-html-embed"><iframe width="681" height="383" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7FDhkzrucqQ" title="Auto experts share tips on preventing rodents from eating car wires" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>For some 20 years, car manufacturers have been switching from petroleum-based plastic insulation on wiring to soy- or peanut-based insulation. It’s cheaper, though the “climate-conscious” will stress its eco credentials, which haven’t been proven, just as the debate over plastic versus reusable drinking straws still has plenty of adherents on both sides of the argument. Cheaper settles the debate for the manufacturers, however, even if the customer ends up paying the “price.”And it can be a steep price indeed. Rodents attack wiring on speed sensors and anywhere else they can find it, and will also chew through piping, sometimes attracted by the sweet propylene glycol (which will kill them, if they drink enough).Looking for a car without these drawbacks? You’ll be hard-pressed to find one, unless you opt for a model dating back to the twentieth century.There are, of course, various solutions, such as wrapping your car in tarpaulin when it’s not in use; always parking in a rodent-free garage; setting traps; using rodent repellent; and leaving the bonnet open when the car is parked, so that the engine area doesn’t become a cozy nest for furry friends. And it should go without saying that you should never leave food lying around in your car, or wrappers, or spilled sweet drinks.&nbsp;Warning lights flashingDave Albin, who had two cars with thousands of dollars of damage caused by rodents (mostly covered by insurance), set up a <a href="https://www.howtopreventratsfromeatingcarwires.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">website </a>dedicated to this problem; How to Prevent Rats from Eating your Car Wires. His <a href="https://www.howtopreventratsfromeatingcarwires.com/my-story/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">story</a> started on one otherwise uneventful day, when:<blockquote>… I fired up the engine and literally every single warning light is going off: Check Brakes, Check Engine, Check Power Steering…</blockquote>When he took his car to the mechanic and was told that the damage was caused by rats attracted by the soy-based insulation on the car’s wiring, he was shocked and started to investigate.<blockquote>I started emailing and contacting mechanics across the country. The common consensus was that rodent damage in cars has increased exponentially over the last 10 years ... I certainly believe that soy-based wiring has exacerbated this problem.</blockquote>When his second car was attacked, again by rodents, he described how,<blockquote>… the mechanics literally had to take the entire car apart and piece it back together.</blockquote>&nbsp;Hot Chili HondaLeo Horowitz had a more complete surprise—when he took his almost new <a href="https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a21933466/does-your-car-have-wiring-that-rodents-think-is-tasty/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Honda Accord</a> for repairs, the mechanic popped open the hood to find the source of the problem right there.<blockquote>The hood was opened, and there, at the bottom, was a squirrel looking up at me in [its] nest. Apparently the squirrel chewed through the wires as well as the Vehicle Stability Assist wire programming.</blockquote>The repairs cost him $3,600 but, luckily, Honda paid almost the entire sum. Honda has since released a special “<a href="https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/car-maintenance/how-to-protect-your-car-from-rodents-a5816950285/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">wiring tape</a>” covered with oil from hot chili peppers to deter rodents.&nbsp;Nothing new here, move along…But is that all Honda (and other manufacturers) can, and should, do?Last month, a class-action lawsuit against Honda was <a href="https://www.carcomplaints.com/news/2024/honda-rodent-lawsuit-dismissed-soy-wiring-insulation.shtml" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dismissed</a>, after the judge assessed that the plaintiffs’ had failed to prove that the soy-based insulation made their vehicles defective. Honda (like other manufacturers) never warned purchasers that they had made the switch to soy-based insulation, but proving that the switch exacerbated a known problem of rodents chewing through wires has proven impossible, so far. All class-action suits (and there have been several) have been dismissed; in this case, the judge ruled that the plaintiff’s claim was,<blockquote>… based on nothing more than the age-old problem of rodents gnawing on and damaging various types of materials.Ultimately, plaintiffs failed to uncover any evidence that 'epoxidized soybean oil,' or indeed any 'bio-based' material, was used in the parts of their vehicles that suffered rodent damage.</blockquote>&nbsp;If everyone is doing it, then no one is culpableA previous class-action suit against Toyota, filed by Chimicles and Tikellis LLP, had a similar ending. Attorney Benjamin Johns told media that rodents had caused “substantial damage” to his clients' vehicles,&nbsp;<blockquote>… very costly repairs costing upwards of a thousand dollars. Our position in the lawsuit is that these are materials that Toyota intentionally put in its vehicles and that they should take responsibility.</blockquote>Toyota's response to media at the time was that,<blockquote>While we cannot comment on this litigation, we can say that rodent damage to vehicle wiring occurs across the industry, and the issue is not brand- or model-specific.</blockquote><div class="raw-html-embed"><iframe width="681" height="383" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rCM5LIgIWIU" title="Video: Rodents eating away at car wiring, costing consumers" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>&nbsp;No hope?Dave Alvin, <a href="https://www.howtopreventratsfromeatingcarwires.com/2019/04/23/soy-based-wiring-lawsuits-update/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">summing up</a> the attempts to hold manufacturers to account, presented a gloomy picture:<blockquote>Back in February 2017, there were 6 class action lawsuits that had been filed against multiple different car manufacturers. These lawsuits claimed that the usage of soy based wiring (i.e. wiring that has a soy-based plastic coating covering the wires) is attracting rodents to chew on these wires and therefore, the car manufacturers should cover any damage to these wires by rodents under warranty.Let’s take a look at where each of these lawsuits are now.<ul style="list-style-type:circle;"><li>Albert Heber vs. Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. – Dismissed</li><li>Janice Toler vs. Toyota Motor Corporation &amp; Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. –Dismissed</li><li>Daniel Dobbs et al. v. American Honda Motor Co. Inc., – Voluntary Dismissal</li><li>Tsvetelin Tsonev v. Kia Motors America Inc. – Dismissed</li><li>Darla Campbell, Tristin Hibler, and Michael Leppert, et. al., v. Kia Motors America, Inc. – Dismissed</li><li>Michelle Martinez v. Hyundai Motor America, Inc. – Voluntary Dismissal</li></ul>Well, to be honest.. I’m not that surprised. Rodents getting into cars and chewing on wires has been a problem going back decades (i.e. many years prior to soy based wiring entering the scene). So, I could see how it could be difficult in the courts to prove that soy based wiring has increased the problem.Whatever the case may be, all this means for us unlucky folk who have been attacked by the rodents is that the car manufacturers aren’t going to do jack for us and WE need to take matters into our own hands.&nbsp;</blockquote>&nbsp;By “taking matters into our own hands” Alvin means preventative measures, which he then proceeds to outline—one can find instructions on his website.Are there other options?

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Climate Change

Rats, mice, and foxes are all making a tasty meal out of your car's innards

Another sacrifice to the eco gods: soy-based car wire insulation

Imagine all the people…If you were in the following scene, whose part would you play?<div class="raw-html-embed"><iframe width="315" height="560" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/84Lwvc452SM" title="Man caught shoplifting giant bag of merchandise in broad daylight" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>Two people were brave enough to tackle this thief, who was apparently unarmed and didn't use excessive force in shaking off those customers, ultimately getting away.Imagine if all those in the store at the time had linked arms at the exit and barred him from passing.Imagine if several of them had pinned down the thief and made a citizen's arrest.Unfortunately, it takes a lot of imagination.&nbsp;What's that weapon for?Now try this: Imagine you have a concealed-carry permit and you see the shoplifter running away with his loot. Do you:a) Fire a warning shot?b) Fire at his legs if he runs toward you (or at the tires of his car as he speeds away)?c) Wave the gun around in the air and hope he notices and gets intimidated?d) Call the cops and keep the pistol in your holster?Back in 2015 this was a <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2015/10/06/cpl-holder-opens-fire-shoplifter-home-depot/73468588/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">real-life question</a> for a 48-year-old Michigan woman who fired several shots at a car in which two shoplifters were speeding away with over $1,000 dollars' worth of merchandise. The thieves still managed to escape (although one of the car's tires may have been punctured by a bullet) but the woman didn't escape castigation for firing her weapon even though it was in a non-life-threatening situation. She was not, however, prosecuted.&nbsp;When the cops cop outSeveral of those condemning the shooter justified their point of view by explaining that shoplifting is “only” a misdemeanor and that she could have, accidentally, injured bystanders when discharging her weapon. While danger to innocents is a valid concern, in general, it appears that bystanders are motivated to remain bystanders and not take an active citizen's role in preserving the social order due to fear for themselves, not for others.After all, “we the people” have effectively delegated policing powers to the police, and they have accepted upon themselves the duty to face danger, while using the power of the government, instead of us.But what happens when they don't? When they “cop out,” so to speak?&nbsp;Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, says step in:<div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">If you see someone shoplifting, stop them. If the police won't stop them, you should. Don't tolerate disorder, chaos, and evil in your neighborhood<a href="https://t.co/uAFBLuNC9m">https://t.co/uAFBLuNC9m</a>— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) <a href="https://twitter.com/charliekirk11/status/1488563733785808897?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 1, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div>&nbsp;Policing minister wants a nation of policeIn the UK, the Policing Minister, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/10/05/how-to-make-a-citizens-arrest-without-breaking-law/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chris Phelp</a>, recently made headlines when he called for more people to make use of citizen's arrest to curb surging shoplifting crime.&nbsp;<blockquote>The wider public do have the power of citizen’s arrest and, where it’s safe to do so, I would encourage that to be used because if you do just let people walk in, take stuff and walk out without proper challenge, including potentially a physical challenge, then again it will just escalate. While I want the faster and better police response, the police can’t be everywhere all the time.</blockquote>Among those criticizing him for his words was a director of a private security firm, <a href="https://www.ifsecglobal.com/guarding/caution-urged-after-policing-ministers-call-for-citizen-arrests-amid-rising-shoplifting-incidents/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Triton Security</a>, who said that the general public should not enter a potentially dangerous situation but should instead rely on police and trained professionals to respond to crime, especially as the recent trend involves not only more crime in general but also more violent crime.&nbsp;A throwback to worse or better times?In the United States, citizen's arrest is legal in virtually every state. In Kentucky, it used to be obligatory for a citizen witnessing a felony in process to take “affirmative” steps to prevent it, if possible, but this is no longer the case.In most states, a person must actually see the crime being committed in order to lawfully detain the perpetrator; in some states, a “reasonable” assumption is sufficient. Laws vary from state to state on what happens if the person arrested is ultimately acquitted. In some states, the person who made the citizen's arrest will face no penalty for his mistaken assumption, as long as it was a reasonable assumption to make; in others, such a citizen can be sued for false arrest and/or imprisonment.In Georgia, a citizen's arrest jumped into the headlines following the Ahmaud Arbery case, when three men chasing Arbery were attempting a citizen's arrest. Arbery <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/05/us/ahmaud-arbery-jogging-georgia-shooting/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">struggles</a> with one of the men, attempting to grab his shotgun and throwing punches. Following the case, Georgia <a href="https://readingroom.law.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3104&amp;context=gsulr" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">repealed</a> its citizen's arrest law, the (Republican) governor, Brian Kemp, <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/georgia-legislature-repeals-civil-war-era-citizens-arrest-law/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">saying</a> at the time that,<blockquote>This bill makes Georgia the first state in the country to repeal its citizen's arrest statute. Today we are replacing a Civil War-era law, ripe for abuse, with language that balances the sacred right to self-defense of a person and property with our shared responsibility to root out injustice and set our state on a better path forward … we continue to send a clear message that the Peach State will not tolerate sinister acts of vigilantism in our communities.</blockquote>&nbsp;Recruiting: Snitch officersKemp, in describing the law as “Civil War-era,” presented it as something archaic, and some believe that the law originated with the desire of slave-owners to arrest runaway slaves. This is a mischaracterization of a law that dates back hundreds of years to English case law, based in turn on the prevailing concept that all citizens share the duties of maintaining law and order.Today's governments are generally more hostile to the notion that powers delegated to the police may also be wielded by the man-on-the-street. Unless, that is, the average Joe or Jane can be co-opted for a very different type of crime: snitching.Toward the beginning of the COVID panic, reporting on one's fellow citizen breaking lockdown regulations spiraled up to the point that some police departments started to ask people to stop reporting these new “crimes," as they couldn't cope with the deluge encouraged by people such as Los Angeles Mayor Eric <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/coronavirus-los-angeles-eric-garcetti-snitches-get-rewards/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Garcetti</a>:<blockquote>You know the old expression about snitches, well in this case, snitches get rewards. We want to thank you for turning folks in and making sure we are all safe.</blockquote>Across the Atlantic, as the UK government locked down the country for the first time during the COVID panic, over half of the country's police forces introduced new online forms to enable and encourage the public to report anyone breaking the rules. Within weeks, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/30/uk-police-receive-200000-calls-from-lockdown-snitchers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">almost 200,000 people</a> had become snitches.&nbsp;Freeing the police?While citizens' arrests may have once supplemented law enforcement, an actual movement to have citizens risk bodily injury to arrest shoplifters and other thieves could theoretically lead to more police removed from positions investigating and preventing theft and moved to enforce possession crimes or hate speech crimes for opposing various government policies online (which requires a good bit of an officer's time scouring social media for “problematic” posts).&nbsp;In such a case, citizens would not be supplementing police activities but replacing them, without any guarantee that there will be no risk to the customer.<div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Shoplifter Demands Arrest Of Customer Who Had The Nerve To Stop Him<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlueLivesMatter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlueLivesMatter</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BackTheBlue?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BackTheBlue</a> Full Story <a href="https://t.co/BYUcbHbACZ">https://t.co/BYUcbHbACZ</a> <a href="https://t.co/m3M3fyH3oy">pic.twitter.com/m3M3fyH3oy</a>— Blue Lives Matter (@bluelivesmtr) <a href="https://twitter.com/bluelivesmtr/status/1074002418613084168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div>

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crime

Being an engaged citizen — is it worth the risk?

If cops cop out, should you step in?

By Alex NewmanKey leaders of the pro-Hamas riots on college campuses across America are connected to the mass-murdering dictatorship enslaving Cuba, an investigation by ADN America revealed. It is part of a broader strategy identified by key U.S. national security officials in which jihadists and communists work together — often hiding behind brainwashed students and useful idiots — to destroy liberty, America, and the West.&nbsp;The explosive news comes shortly after billionaire extremist George Soros and the Rockefeller oil dynasty — among the most powerful political interests in America — were&nbsp;<a href="https://www.freedomproject.com/2024/05/01/tnr20240501/">exposed providing enormous amounts of funding</a>&nbsp;to the groups behind the college uprisings. The pro-Hamas groups have been paying leaders and training them for “revolution,” training documents show.A major organization at the tip of the spear of these increasingly violent protests, known as The People’s Forum (TPF), is closely linked to the Cuban regime. The organization is funded by a pro-Chinese Communist Party billionaire Neville Roy Singham and other subversives. And ironically, since its minions claim to be opposing a “genocide” of Arabs, it specializes in denying the actual genocide being perpetrated against Muslim Uyghurs in China. &nbsp;&nbsp;TPF, described by the Hispanic-focused news organization ADN America as a “cornerstone” of the anti-Israel protests, organized a demonstration on Times Square the day after Hamas’ October 7 attack on Jews. The protest included celebrations of the barbarism, anti-Semitic slogans, and more, according to news reports.One year ago, the Cuban regime’s propaganda organs reported that hundreds of TPF activists had visited Cuba and even met with dictator Miguel Diaz-Canel. Pictures of the gathering showed flags of “Palestine.” Numerous other radical groups involved in the protests have also traveled to meet with the regime, which has been backing “pro-Palestine” terrorist movements for over 50 years. &nbsp;&nbsp;Co-executive director of TPF Manolo De Los Santos, a radical leftwing leader of the riots at Columbia, has extensive ties to the terrorist regime in Havana, too. Just one year ago, the Dominican-born De Los Santos&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/manolo_realengo/status/1653748099817283584">posted a picture of himself on Twitter</a>&nbsp;standing next to brutal Cuban dictator Miguel Diaz-Canel, heir to the throne of Fidel Castro, while condemning America and praising Cuba’s ruthless one-party state. &nbsp;“Leaving Cuba after 10 days learning with its people &amp; President Miguel Diaz-Canel,” De Los Santos said on Twitter. “Young people in the U.S. have great tasks ahead of them. We have a responsibility to defeat, once &amp; for all, this genocidal blockade for the survival of the Cuban people &amp; the future of humanity!”Communists often blame the horrific poverty plaguing Cuba on the U.S. embargo. But in reality, just like everywhere central planning reigns, the poverty is caused by communism, not the United States. The Cuban regime trades freely with countless other nations and is working with associates across Latin America such as Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to spread totalitarian governance.Over the weekend, De Los Santos urged the anti-Israel student protestors to “give Joe Biden a hot summer,” reported AND America. He criticized Columbia’s “Zionist” administration for wanting to “resemble its masters in Israel,” the news organ reported. And he praised the rioters for “deciding that resistance is more important than negotiations.” Echoing Black Lives Matter and other Marxist outfits, De Los Santos also called on the demonstrators to “make business as usual in this country unsustainable.”Another anti-Israel group involved in the riots on college campuses even sent a&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/i/status/1786929959002403271">video</a>&nbsp;from Columbia University to be played at a “Palestine solidarity” rally in Havana. Saluting the “comrades” and thanking them, the student vowed that “unity will bring us victory.” Representatives of the designated terror organization known as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) also participated. &nbsp;This would not be the first time that the brutal regime enslaving Cuba, which according to U.S. Ambassador to Cuba Earl T. Smith was installed in power by the U.S. State Department, has funded leftist extremism and even terrorism in the United States. In fact, the terrorist Weather Underground, founded by key Obama ally Bill Ayers, was working closely with Cuban intelligence. They also had unimaginably evil plans for America.After infiltrating the leadership of the Weather Underground, FBI operative Larry Grathwohl&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyKg5gErL18">revealed</a>&nbsp;that the group was planning a revolution in the United States and that numerous hostile foreign regimes were expected to help occupy the nation. The group was also planning to intern tens of millions of Americans in “re-education” camps, with the expectation that some 25 million would have to be executed, Grathwohl said. &nbsp;The mass-murdering dictatorship in Cuba is also a close ally of the South African regime, which consists of an alliance of the South African Communist Party and the SACP-controlled African National Congress. That regime has been leading the charge against Israeli officials at the International Criminal Court.The alliance between radical Islamists and Communists is not new, either. Former Romanian KGB chief Ion Pacepa, who defected to the United States, exposed how the Soviet bloc sent thousands of agents to the Middle East to radicalize Muslims in the early 1970s. “As KGB Chairman Yuri Andropov told me, a billion adversaries could inflict far greater damage on America than could a few millions,” Pacepa said. &nbsp;&nbsp;<img class="image_resized" style="width:384px;" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.freedomproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/3364780_1225x377_2500.jpg?resize=696%2C214&amp;ssl=1" alt="">The vast majority of the tax-funded useful idiots protesting and rioting on college campuses have no idea what they are involved in. However, those behind the scenes — from Soros and the Rockefellers to the Cuban regime and the CCP — understand very well what they are doing. It is time for Congress and state law-enforcement agencies to get to the bottom of this. And it is time for lawmakers to seriously consider whether taxpayers ought to be funding this whole dumpster fire masquerading as “education.”&nbsp;Originally published at <a href="https://www.freedomproject.com/2024/05/08/nr5824/">FreedomProject Media</a>.<a href="https://libertysentinel.org/author/admin/">Alex Newman</a> is an award-winning international journalist, educator, author, and consultant who co-wrote the book “Crimes of the Educators: How Utopians Are Using Government Schools to Destroy America’s Children.” He writes for diverse publications in the United States and abroad.

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Jihadists and communists working together to destroy liberty, America, and the West

Cuban Regime linked to pro-Hamas campus riots

Private-sector policingA burglar with 105 previous convictions has been <a href=" https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13389409/Prolific-burglar-44-caught-breaking-M-S-jailed-private-prosecution-Met-refuse-investigate.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sentenced </a>to prison after being detained and prosecuted not by the police but by a private investigation company, TM Eye. The store manager in the targeted business, Marks and Spencer in London, UK, had called law enforcement after identifying the burglar using CCTV footage; when London's Metropolitan Police declined to investigate, the manager turned to the private sector, leading to a successful conviction.&nbsp;No prolific police officers for prolific criminalsAs the police withdraw from policing — that is, the government withdraws from its most basic role and responsibility, that of protecting the citizenry — a space has opened up for private policing forces, such as <a href="https://tm-eye.co.uk/what-we-do/prolific-crimes-team/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">TM Eye</a>, which claims to have made over 2,000 arrests of shoplifters, assisted in 800 prosecutions, and recovered almost $600,000 in stolen funds.It is noteworthy that TM Eye's department dedicated to retail crime is called the “Prolific Crimes Team.” The criminals they pursue are not random shoplifters, kids who ran out of cash for a Hershey bar and popped it into their pocket before sneaking away. They are repeat offenders, the scourge of stores across the world, who are responsible for massive losses for retailers.TM Eye “liaises” with police, which is <a href="https://www.jpllaw.net/blog/understanding-the-concept-of-a-citizens-arrest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">obligatory</a> when it comes to detaining criminals. But they also gather evidence, obtain witness statements, compile video footage, recover stolen goods, and detain criminals. Police, by their own admission, are understaffed for dealing with crimes against people and property and simply can't keep up with the numbers of shoplifters. Instead, they are focused on far more serious incidents, such as following up “hate crime" allegations or arresting people who broke lockdown regulations during the “pandemic” or committed “possession crimes.”&nbsp;Corrupted judgment?The police are not alone in cracking down on crimes without direct victims while de-emphasizing crimes with such victims. Sometimes district attorneys refuse to prosecute or pursue only minimal charges for dangerous criminals. Judges, too, can step in and ensure that even repeat criminals get off with a relatively lenient penalty which can be as little as community service with no time served behind bars at all.But the media, too, must accept its share of responsibility for downplaying or even excusing crime, as this headline from the UK's <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11454513/Tesco-puts-security-tags-four-pint-cartons-milk-cost-living-crisis-drives-shoplifting.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Daily Mail</a> illustrates:<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:50%;"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/aflds/image/upload/v1715206623/shoplifting_daily_mail_64d34e441b.png"></figure>Undoubtedly, the cost of living has risen in recent years. Nonetheless, people aren't actually collapsing of starvation. Although their suffering is real, people in earlier generations certainly experienced more challenging times, including those who lived through the Great Depression, without seeing (and certainly not condoning) anywhere near the level of theft seen today. Interestingly, even ChatGPT doesn't excuse shoplifting even when a person genuinely needs the food to survive.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/aflds/image/upload/v1715207107/chat_25df18dbda.png"></figure>Presumably, ChatGPT's programmers recognize some basic adherence to moral law is necessary if society is not to entirely fragment.&nbsp;Are private militias to be the future of policing?Despite ChatGPT's outlook, society may indeed be fragmenting as few are those who are willing to step into the breach and do something about rampant crime (unless they are paid to do so).It's the stuff of movies, unless you live somewhere like South Africa:<div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">Hijackers apprehended by South African private security after a high speed car chase <a href="https://t.co/D50AwtHSlX">pic.twitter.com/D50AwtHSlX</a>— alex (@africaken1) <a href="https://twitter.com/africaken1/status/1409912179441258497?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 29, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>&nbsp;Only for Big Business?Marks and Spencer is a large, established chain of stores with the ability to absorb the costs of employing private detectives to detain (and ultimately deter) criminals. Small stores have no such ability and they are being driven from the marketplace due not only to crime, but also hyper-regulation, competition from online stores, and onerous DEI mandates.The costs are not merely economic. If things continue this way, with the public losing faith in the will and ability of police to maintain public order, one can envision a future of private guard forces (militias) increasingly taking the law into their own hands, aided and abetted by the police themselves as they effectively delegate their responsibilities (for which they are paid) to the private sector. After all, TM Eye was founded by a <a href="https://tm-eye.co.uk/our-team/david-mckelvey/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">former chief detective of Scotland Yard</a>.

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