Introduction In the mainstream view, al-Qaeda did not play a role in the Syria conflict until Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi dispatched his deputy, Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, to Syria in August 2011 to establish a wing of the group there, called Jabhat al-Nusra, or the Nusra Front. Additionally, al-Qaeda allegedly did not carry out any military operations until December 2011 and did not announce its establishment until January 2012. However, there is evidence that al-Qaeda affiliated militants were involved in the Syrian conflict much earlier. Saudi intelligence...
Suicide
News Roundup 12/27/21
Covid Massachusetts halts all elective procedures. [Link] The USS Milwaukee will remain in Cuba after several sailors tested positive for Covid. [Link] USAID is running out of money to distribute covid vaccinations. [Link] The US donates 1.5 million vaccine doses to Egypt through Covax. [Link] Biden will lift the travel restriction from eight African countries on January 1st. [Link] US News LAPD officers killed a 14-year-old girl. [Link] The Pentagon cuts the cost of living stipend it gives to tens of thousands of soldiers living in high-cost areas in the US. [Link] Stu Scheller - who...
Cost Of War: New Report On The Suicide Rates Among Active Military Personnel And Veterans
Suicide rates among active military personnel and veterans of the post-9/11 wars are reaching new peaks. This report uses governmental data, secondary literature, and interviews to document a suicide epidemic that is emerging among post-9/11 fighters as part of a broader mental health crisis. The study finds that at least four times as many active duty personnel and war veterans of post-9/11 conflicts have died of suicide than in combat, as an estimated 30,177 have died by suicide as compared with the 7,057 killed in post-9/11 war operations. The report notes that the increasing rates of...
Colin Powell 17 Years After Lying Us Into War: ‘Boo Hoo. It’s Someone Else’s Fault’
Will this most political general's self-promotional PR tour ever end? You are a guilty war criminal, Colin. It's not just your obituary. Your gravestone will say so too. And for all of the rest of human history you will be known as the useful tool who knew he was lying but went ahead anyway, killed one million people, turned the entire Middle East upside down and got the entire-damn 21st Century off to a bad start. Forever. Always. Guilty. So go ahead and shut the hell up right now and just be thankful that the "law" in this country doesn't apply to you and you get to die near family in...
Chelsea Manning Is Freed and Trump Bombs Iraq
On FPF #464, I discuss Chelsea Manning and the US bombing Shia militias in Iraq. Chelsea Manning was imprisoned for a year for refusing to testify in front of a grand jury about leaking documents to WikiLeaks. Manning took the stand for Julian Assange - who the grand jury was empaneled to investigate - and against the unjust grand jury system. Manning attempted suicide before learning she would be released this week. A recent attack on an Iraqi base killed two American soldiers and one British soldier. The attack was blamed on "Iranian-backed" Shia militias. However, the US or UK...
The Heroic Chelsea Manning Hospitalized After Suicide Attempt
Politico: The activist and whistleblower Chelsea Manning attempted suicide on Wednesday, her legal team said in a news release. The statement came only a few days before Manning was scheduled to appear at a court hearing on whether to continue sanctions imposed on her after refusing to comply with a grand jury investigation into Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks. ... Manning has been jailed for contempt of the investigation for months. ... Manning’s lawyers announced on Wednesday that their client was in the hospital and was recovering from the suicide...
Jeffrey Epstein’s Injuries Look More Like Murder Than Suicide, Noted Pathologist Says
One of the most prominent forensic pathologists in America is now a "crazy conspiracy theorist." You know, because this serial child rapist who had dirt on English princes and untold scores of millionaires and billionaires most likely killed his own self. Says TV. You kook. "He belongs to intelligence." Update: In other CIA child rape...
Jeffrey Epstein’s Lawyer: Neck Injuries ‘Far More Consistent With Assault’
Uh, you think so, huh? Yeah no but TV says that that's a crazy conspiracy theory. Why would any powerful person have their sexual blackmailer murdered before their trial? That's completely nuts. And you are a very bad person who all the rest of of us ridicule and despise if you think so. At least that's according to the same people for whom Epstein himself and his entire story were nothing but a conspiracy theory until the Miami Herald investigation last year. Instead, the most obvious, Occam's Razor conclusion is that of course he was murdered. Suicide is probably the least likely...
Red Flag Laws, Mental Health, and The Epstein Suicide
Picking up on the topic of red flag laws from the last episode, the idea of adding mental health history to the federal firearms background database, and the suicide heard 'round the world http://traffic.libsyn.com/jenthelibertarian/episode115.mp3
Called It a Month Ago
Epstein's "suicide": Will he shoot himself in the back of the head, or strangle himself to death? Taking bets now. Update: New York Post: Former MCC inmate: There’s ‘no way’ Jeffrey Epstein killed himself