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Wednesday 27 September 2023

Republicans face growing urgency to stop Trump as they enter the second presidential debate

Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum debate at the first Republican candidates' debate of the 2024 U.S. presidential campaign in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. August 23, 2023. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

Republicans are meeting for their second presidential debate on Wednesday as Donald Trump’s top rivals seek to blunt the momentum of the former president, who is so confident of cruising through the party’s primary that he again won’t share a stage with them.

Seven GOP candidates will be at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library for an event hosted by Fox Business Network. Trump will be in Michigan, delivering a prime-time speech attempting to capitalize on the Auto Workers Union strike and trying to appeal to rank-and-file union members in a key state for the general election.

The debate comes at a critical moment in the GOP campaign, with less than four months before the Iowa caucuses formally launch the presidential nomination process. For now, Trump is dominating the field even as he faces a range of vulnerabilities, including four criminal indictments that raise the prospect of decades in prison. His rivals are running out of time to dent his lead, which is building a sense of urgency among some to more directly take on the former president before an audience of millions.

“This is not a nomination that’s going to fall in your lap. You have to go and beat the other candidates and one of those happens to be Donald Trump,” said Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist and veteran of Mitt Romney’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns. “This debate, it’ll be interesting to see whether or not folks realize that the sand is going through the hourglass pretty quickly right now.”

The former president also skipped the first debate last month in Milwaukee, where the participants laid into one another while mostly avoiding attacks on Trump. Nearly 13 million people tuned in anyway.

Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, drew larger crowds and new interest after her first debate performance in which she attacked entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy on foreign policy and pointed out that she was the only woman in the field.

Her team has raised expectations even higher going into Wednesday night, telling donors in a recent pitch that they are “ready to capitalize on the momentum after Nikki walks off stage.”

“As more voters across America tune in to watch the second debate, it’ll be a great opportunity to bring even more supporters into the fold,” Haley’s campaign manager, Betsy Ankney, wrote in her email.

Also hoping for a big night is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who will be at center stage despite recent struggles to emerge as the field’s top Trump alternative. His campaign announced that he also saw a jump in fundraising after the first debate, but a strong performance on Wednesday will likely be necessary to replicate that.

“It’s too late for just a fine performance,” said Christine Matthews, a national Republican pollster. “DeSantis has gone from leading alternative to Trump to just one of the pack of challengers and he will be under pressure to perform.”

Former Vice President Mike Pence, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and Ramaswamy are similarly looking for breakout moments. Ramaswamy seized the spotlight frequently in Milwaukee, but was criticized by many candidates who sought to expose his lack of political experience.

Also on stage will be North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor, who has built his White House bid around slamming Trump.

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson failed to qualify after making the first debate. Hutchinson’s campaign says he’ll also go to Michigan to hold a press conference criticizing Trump.

Ahead of the debate, many participants were meeting with top supporters, donors and reporters to make the case that they are best positioned going forward.

Reed Galen, co-founder of the Lincoln Project, an organization founded by conservatives who oppose Trump, said that while he still believes the former president will ultimately be the Republican nominee in 2024, Wednesday’s debate offers a chance for others to make up ground.

“There are opportunities in the offing because Trump is taking this for granted,” Galen said.

The site is symbolic given that Reagan has long been a Republican icon whose words and key moments still shape GOP politics today. But in addition to fighting with the Reagan library’s leaders, Trump has reshaped the party and pushed away from traditional GOP policy positions — including a muscular foreign policy and opposition to Moscow.

While Reagan is remembered for going to a divided Berlin and calling on Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall,” Trump has often sympathized with Russian President Vladimir Putin and recently said, “I was the apple of his eye.”

Pence, in a recent speech, called on conservatives to reject Trump’s “siren song of populism.” But Ramaswamy attacked Pence in the first debate by declaring “it’s not morning in America” — a reversal of Reagan’s famous 1984 campaign slogan — and saying Republicans following Reagan were out of step with a Trump-dominated party.

“The sad thing is, the irony — and I don’t know how many people there will get it — is that Ronald Reagan could not get the Republican nomination today,” said former Republican New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, who is now teaming with Democratic voices to promote the centrist Forward Party. “He’s not far enough out there.”

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Musk's X disabled feature for reporting electoral misinformation

'X' logo is seen on the top of the headquarters of the messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, in downtown San Francisco, California, U.S., July 30, 2023. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Acquire Licensing Rights

Elon Musk's X, formerly called Twitter, disabled a feature that let users report misinformation about elections, a research organisation said on Wednesday, throwing fresh concern about false claims spreading just before major U.S. and Australian votes.

After introducing a feature in 2022 for users to report a post they considered misleading about politics, X in the past week removed the "politics" category from its drop-down menu in every jurisdiction but the European Union, said the researcher Reset.Tech Australia.

Users could still report posts to X globally for a host of other complaints such as promoting violence or hate speech, the researcher added.

X was not immediately available for comment.

Removing a way for people to report suspected political misinformation may limit intervention at a time when social media platforms are under pressure to curtail falsehoods about electoral integrity, which have grown rapidly in recent years.

It comes less than three weeks before Australia holds a referendum, its first in a quarter century, on whether to change the constitution to establish an Indigenous advisory body to parliament and 14 months before a U.S. presidential election.

"It would be helpful to understand why X have seemingly gone backwards on their commitments to mitigating the kind of serious misinformation that has translated into real political instability in the US, especially on the eve of the 'bumper year' of elections globally," said Alice Dawkins, executive director of Reset.Tech Australia.

In a letter to X's managing director for Australia, Angus Keene, Reset.Tech Australia said the change may leave content that violates X's own policy banning electoral misinformation online without an appropriate review process.

"It is extremely concerning that Australians would lose the ability to report serious misinformation weeks away from a major referendum," said the letter which was published online.

Since billionaire Musk took Twitter, as it was then known, private in late 2022, the company, which cut most of its workforce, has been accused of allowing the proliferation of antisemitism, hate speech and misinformation.

As previously reported by Reuters, Reset.Tech Australia found X failed to remove or label a single post containing misinformation about the Australian referendum over a three-week period, including after it was reported using the now-disabled feature.

Musk has said X's "Community Notes" feature, which allows users to comment on posts to flag false or misleading content, is a better way of fact checking. But those notes are only made public when they are rated as helpful by a range of contributors with varying points of view, according to X's website.

Australia's internet safety regulator wrote to X in June demanding an explanation for an explosion in hate speech on the platform, noting it had reinstated some 62,000 high profile accounts of individuals who espouse Nazi rhetoric.

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC), which will oversee the Oct. 14 referendum, has said the spread of electoral misinformation is the worst it has seen.

The commission said it was still able to report posts containing political misinformation directly to X, even after the feature was disabled. For other users, the AEC was "available for people to ask questions or seek information".

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Tuesday 26 September 2023

Russian Forces Destroyed Over 17,000 Ukrainian Military in September - Shoigu

©Sputnik / Vladimir Fedorenko / Go to the mediabank

The Ukrainian counteroffensive began on June 4. Kiev has thrown into battle brigades trained by NATO instructors and armed with Western equipment, including Leopard and Challenger tanks. Three months later, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Ukrainian counteroffensive had failed.

The Russian armed forces destroyed over 17,000 Ukrainian military, over 2,700 units of weapons and equipment in September, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday.

"Over the current month, over 17,000 people, more than 2,700 pieces of weapons and military equipment have been destroyed, including seven US Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, 77 American M777 artillery systems, 51 self-propelled artillery units from Germany, France, Poland and the United States, and also two German Leopard tanks and one UK Challenger tank," Shoigu told a board meeting.

The Ukrainian armed forces are suffering serious losses along the entire line of the combat contact as a result of effective fire damage, the minister added.

Despite the absence of any meaningful results of the "counter-offensive", Kiev's Western handlers are not retreating from their inhuman principle: "Arms as a way to peace", such cynical actions of the West only push Ukraine to self-destruction, Sergei Shoigu said.

Russia Increasing Operational, Combat Drills Amid US, Allies Steps in Asia-Pacific

Troops of Russia's Eastern Military District are increasing combat training activities to protect Russia’s national interests against the backdrop of Washington’s course towards the development of military blocs in the Asia-Pacific region, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday.

"The United States and its allies are taking ever new steps to contain Russia and China in the international arena. To strengthen its influence in the Asia-Pacific region, Washington has headed for the development of military blocs such as AUKUS and Quad. To ensure constant readiness to protect national interests, troops of the Eastern Military District are increasing operational and combat training activities," Shoigu said at a board meeting.

The combat potential of the Russian Airborne Forces will increase by 1.3 times by the end of this year, and fire capabilities will increase by 20%, the minister added.

Watch Russian Kamikaze Drone Eliminate Ukrainian Armored Vehicle in Zaporozhye Region

During the special military operation in Ukraine, the Russian Armed Forces have skillfully used unmanned aerial vehicles to accomplish tasks without losses.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has released footage of the Russian Osman special forces unit eliminating a Ukrainian Kazak armored vehicle using a kamikaze FPV drone in the Zaporozhye region.

The footage shows a Ukrainian armored 'Kazak' vehicle moving along a field road; a drone of Russia's Osman special forces unit hits the right side of the Ukrainian armored vehicle.

The 'Kazak-2' (Ukrainian name 'Kozak-2') is a family of Ukrainian armored combat vehicles produced by the Kiev company NPO Praktika

Russian Strike at Depot Destroys Over 3,000 Tons of Ukraine's Ammo - Video

The Russian forces launched a cruise missile strike at the joint ammunition depot of the Ukrainian troops destroying more than 3,000 tonnes of ammo, the Russian Defense Ministry stated on Tuesday.

Russia carried out a precision strike at the Ukrainian ammunition depot near the village of Kiselevka, Kherson region, the ministry reported.

"As a result of the strike and subsequent detonation, 12 hangars were destroyed, in which more than 3,000 tonnes of ammunition of various calibers were stored," the ministry said.

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Shutdown showdown in US Congress - Time running short to fund government

A general view of the U.S. Capitol, where Congress will return Tuesday to deal with a series of spending bills before funding runs out and triggers a partial U.S. government shutdown, in Washington, U.S. September 25, 2023. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst Acquire Licensing Rights

The U.S. House and Senate on Tuesday plan to take sharply divergent paths in a high-stakes spending battle, with just five days remaining until a deadline that could force wide swaths of the government to shut down for the fourth time in a decade.

The Democratic-controlled Senate plans to vote on a stopgap funding bill with bipartisan support that would keep the federal government operating after current money runs out at midnight on Saturday (0400 GMT Sunday), giving negotiators more time to agree on full-year spending numbers.

Meanwhile Republican House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy, aiming to hold off a rebellion by hardline members of his own caucus, will push ahead with four full-year spending bills that reflect conservative priorities and stand no chance of becoming law.

Hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be furloughed and a wide range of services, from economic data releases to nutrition benefits, will be suspended beginning on Sunday if the two sides do not reach agreement. In Washington, the National Zoo says it would have to curtail its farewell party for three giant pandas before they return to China.

Congress has shut down the government 14 times since 1981, though most of those funding gaps have lasted only a day or two. Though disruptive, they have not had a significant impact on the world's largest economy.

But Moody's warned on Monday that a shutdown this time would have negative implications for the U.S. government's AAA credit rating, as it would highlight how political polarization is worsening the country's fiscal standing.

Democratic President Joe Biden and McCarthy had aimed to head off a shutdown this year when they agreed in May, at the end of a standoff over the federal debt ceiling, to discretionary spending of $1.59 trillion for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.

Lawmakers on McCarthy's right flank have since rejected that number, demanding $120 billion in cuts, even as more moderate members of their party including top Senate Republicans voiced support for the agreed-on plan.

That only accounts for a fraction of the total U.S. budget, which will come to $6.4 trillion for this fiscal year. Lawmakers are not considering cuts to popular benefit programs like Social Security and Medicare, which are projected to grow dramatically as the population ages.

Republicans control the House by a narrow 221-212 majority and have few votes to spare, particularly since some Republican hardliners have threatened to move to oust McCarthy from his leadership role if he relies on Democratic votes to pass legislation.

'PAYING THE PRICE'

Biden himself has called on House Republicans to honor McCarthy's deal.

"Just a few months ago the speaker of the House and I agreed to spending levels of the government," Biden said. "Now a small group of extreme House Republicans, they don't want to live up to that deal, and everyone in America could be faced with paying the price for it."

Despite the looming shutdown deadline, the House will turn its attention first to the four full-year bills, which even if they pass would not fund the full government or prevent a shutdown. Success is not guaranteed: Republican hardliners blocked action on spending bills last week and some have said they would try to do so again.

If McCarthy surmounts that first obstacle, debate could consume most of the week, leaving little time to hammer out a stopgap bill before Sunday.

Republican Representative Ralph Norman, a member of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, said on Monday he was "100%" certain that Congress would not be able to keep the government open.

McCarthy said he was more optimistic. "I'm working everything we can to make sure this doesn't happen," he told reporters on Monday. "I always like the ball at the last second."

How that might play out is unclear at this point. If the Senate passes a stopgap funding bill, McCarthy could allow a vote in the House, where it could pass with support from Democrats and more pragmatic Republicans.

But that could prompt Republican hardliners to act on their threat to depose McCarthy, plunging the chamber further into chaos.

Former President Donald Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination, has been cheering on the shutdown talk, saying on his Truth social media site, "UNLESS YOU GET EVERYTHING, SHUT IT DOWN!"

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Monday 25 September 2023

Russia says its forces improved their tactical position near Vesyoloye in Donetsk area

Russian forces improved their tactical position near the settlement of Vesyoloye in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"In the Donetsk area, units of the battlegroup South, in cooperation with aircraft and artillery, repelled an attack by the Ukrainian 110th mechanized brigade in the area of the Veseloye settlement in the Donetsk People's Republic. Taking advantage of fire attacks on the enemy, Russian forces improved their tactical position by decisive counteroffensive operations. A total of four enemy attacks were repelled in this area over the past day, which took place near the settlements of Krasnogorovka, Maryinka, Khimik and Vesyoloye in the Donetsk People's Republic," the ministry said.

The ministry also said that "the enemy's losses were up to 305 Ukrainian servicemen, two armored fighting vehicles, seven motor vehicles, as well as a US-made M777 artillery system.".

Watch: Russian Kamikaze Drone Blow Up Ukrainian Mortar Unit

Since the beginning of the special military operation, the Russian Armed Forces have been skillfully using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to accomplish the assigned tasks without any loss of military personnel.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has released footage showing a Russian Viking kamikaze UAV destroying a Ukrainian mortar unit near Soledar in the Donetsk People's Republic.

The footage shows how the reconnaissance drone first identified the position of the Ukrainian mortar unit, and then a kamikaze drone struck the mortar position.

Ukraine launched a counteroffensive against Russian forces in early June after several postponements. Citing the counteroffensive's needs, Kiev pushed its Western donors to step up military and financial aid. Three months later, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Ukrainian counteroffensive had failed, with Ukraine suffering an estimated 71,000 casualties. Several Western officials have also admitted that the Ukrainian counteroffensive had not been successful so far.

Watch: Russia's Su-34 Jets Strike Ukrainian Command and Observation Posts With Guided Bombs

The Russian Su-34 is a twin-seater fighter-bomber aircraft designed for both air-to-air and air-to-surface missions. It features a range of advanced avionics and weapons systems, including a 30mm gun and a wide range of bombs, missiles, and smart weapons.

The Russian Defense Ministry has released footage of Su-34 fighter-bombers of the Central Military District hitting control posts of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the direction of Krasnolimansk with guided aerial bombs.

The crews of Su-34 fighter-bombers are on combat duty at the airfields around the clock, performing air patrol tasks and covering the actions of units of the Russian Armed Forces, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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Laman

Wednesday 27 September 2023

Republicans face growing urgency to stop Trump as they enter the second presidential debate

Musk's X disabled feature for reporting electoral misinformation

Tuesday 26 September 2023

Russian Forces Destroyed Over 17,000 Ukrainian Military in September - Shoigu

Watch Russian Kamikaze Drone Eliminate Ukrainian Armored Vehicle in Zaporozhye Region

Russian Strike at Depot Destroys Over 3,000 Tons of Ukraine's Ammo - Video

Shutdown showdown in US Congress - Time running short to fund government

'PAYING THE PRICE'

Monday 25 September 2023

Russia says its forces improved their tactical position near Vesyoloye in Donetsk area

Watch: Russian Kamikaze Drone Blow Up Ukrainian Mortar Unit

Watch: Russia's Su-34 Jets Strike Ukrainian Command and Observation Posts With Guided Bombs

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