Friday!

 

Legacybox Update

The team here at Legacybox wanted to let you know your memories were delivered safely to our secure 100,000 square foot production campus. We know these are very important, so we keep every order under lock and key. Our facility is equipped with the latest surveillance, fire safe walls, and security systems.

To date, we've reviewed your order and checked it into our system. This means we've personally inspected every item you sent. We do this for accuracy and so that your media can be processed more easily and with better quality.

We’ve also ensured that all of your barcodes made it onto all of your items so we know exactly where everything is at all times. These will be scanned up to a dozen times as your recorded moments are processed! Just another way we keep your memories safe while we’re digitizing them.

On average, orders take roughly 10-12 weeks to digitize once arriving to our facility. It's also important to remember that digitizing items like these is more of an art than a science, so the digitizing time varies depending on the types and amounts of items that you included in your box.

If you ever have a question about the status of your order, you can always track your order online at legacybox.com/pages/order-tracking.

Thanks for your Legacybox order!

^ I received this E-Mail today. UPS said that my package arrived at Legacybox on March 24^th and this is my update from Legacybox itself. ^

More Options

From AFT:

“Vet Agency hopes for more state-run cemeteries for burial options”

(A visitor pauses by a marker in Fort Logan National Cemetery near Denver on Nov. 11, 2022.)

Veterans Affairs officials are nearing their goal of establishing a veterans cemetery close to where almost every veteran in America currently lives, but they’ll need significant help from state leaders to finish the plan.

Currently, just under 17 million veterans across the country live within 75 miles of a VA-run or VA-funded cemetery, according to department statistics. That’s roughly 94% of the entire population. But VA leaders have set a benchmark of providing a final resting place close to 95% of veterans, which means adding burial options for almost 200,000 more. Establishing a large, nationally-run burial sites near those scattered veteran populations does not make fiscal sense, officials said. But partnering with states, territories and Native American tribes can dramatically improve choices available to veterans, according to Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs Matt Quinn. “The federal government is not going to be able to fund it all alone,’ he told reporters in a press call on Tuesday. “Every year, we do give states a map of and a chart of the veterans served in each area. As we get toward more rural areas where you just don’t have a large concentration of veterans, it gets tougher and tougher.”

VA’s National Cemetery Administration this month passed $1 billion in state and local grants for veterans cemetery work in the 45 years since the program was first established. The money has helped fund 122 regional cemeteries for use by veterans and family members, in addition to the existing 155 VA-run sites.

The agency’s budget request for fiscal 2024 includes a $10 million boost in state grant funding — up 20% from current levels — that Quinn said will help with future cemetery projects in places such as Michigan, Nebraska and Texas. Quinn said his office regularly meets with state officials on potential new cemetery sites, but building new ones requires a combination of federal and local funding, plus a commitment from regional leaders to care for the locations. A full list of all VA-run and VA funded cemeteries is available at the department’s web site.

^ This sounds like a program that needs to be enhanced (and fast) across the country. ^

https://www.airforcetimes.com/veterans/2023/03/28/vet-agency-hopes-for-more-state-run-cemeteries-for-burial-options/

New System

 

Finland Accepted

From AFP/Yahoo:

“Turkey becomes last NATO nation to ratify Finland membership”

(The Dark Blue are current NATO Member Countries, the Light Blue are Sweden and Finland, Purple is Ukraine and Georgia and Red is Russia)

Turkey on Thursday became the final NATO nation to ratify Finland's membership of the US-led defence alliance in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Lawmakers unanimously backed the Nordic country's accession two weeks after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan publicly blessed the bid. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the ratification, saying on Twitter it would "make the whole NATO family stronger and safer."

Turkey's approval leaves Finland -- which has a 1,300-kilometre (800-mile) border with Russia -- with only a few technical steps before it becomes the 31st member of the world's most powerful military bloc. Officials expect the process to be completed as early as next week. Finnish President Sauli Niinisto thanked NATO's member states for "their trust and support." "Finland will be a strong and capable ally, committed to the security of the alliance," he said in a statement released on Twitter.

Finland and its neighbour Sweden ended decades of military nonalignment and decided to join NATO last May. Their applications were accepted at a June alliance summit that was designed to show the Western world's desire to stand up to Russia in the face of Europe's most grave conflict since World War II. But the bids still needed to be ratified by all the members' parliaments -- a process that stalled with Turkey and Hungary.

- 'Ample grievances' - Erdogan put up stiff resistance to Sweden's candidacy because of a series of long-standing disputes. He first signaled his more supportive stance on Finland's membership in January -- a position that forced the Nordic neighbours to bow to the diplomatic pressure and break up their bids so that both applications were not delayed. The Hungarian parliament ratified Finland's NATO membership on Monday. It was expected to approve Sweden's accession during the current session ending June 15. But a spokesman for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Wednesday called on Sweden to "clear the air" and address "an ample amount of grievances" for the vote to go ahead. Sweden has upset Orban -- one of Europe's closest allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin -- by expressing alarm over the rule of law in Hungary. It has also angered Turkey by refusing to extradite dozens of suspects that Erdogan links to a failed 2016 coup attempt and a decades-long Kurdish fight for an independent state. Stockholm still hopes to join the alliance in time for a July summit in Vilnius. Most analysts believe that Turkey will only vote on Sweden's candidacy after the country's May general election.

- 'Legitimate target' - NATO was created as a counterweight to the Soviet Union at the onset of the Cold War era that began immediately after the Allies defeated Nazi Germany. The bloc has gone through waves of expansion that brought it ever closer to Russia's borders. NATO's reach into east and south European countries that were once under Moscow's effective control infuriated the Kremlin and created growing strains in its relations with Washington. Putin cited the threat of NATO expanding into Ukraine as one of his main reasons for launching the war 13 months ago. But the conflict has had the opposite geopolitical effect from the one envisioned by Putin. Ukraine is now receiving tanks and other heavy weapons from NATO members that it hopes to use in a new counteroffensive planned for the coming weeks or months. Finland never seriously discussed NATO membership until Putin went to war. The Kremlin at first appeared to play down the significance of the bloc reaching a new stretch of Russia's northwestern frontier. But Russia has stepped up its diplomatic rhetoric in recent weeks. Stockholm this week summoned the Russian ambassador after he said Sweden and Finland would become a "legitimate target" of "retaliatory measures" -- including military ones -- if they join NATO. Putin last weekend also announced plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in neighbouring Belarus.

^ NATO will now become 31 Member Countries after Hungary and Turkey finally allowed Finland to join (they still won’t allow Sweden to join.)

Hungary and Turkey are staunch Allies of Putin and Russia so I’m sure it took a lot of behind-the-scenes work from the US and other NATO Member Countries to get those two to allow Finland in.

Finland was part of the Czarist Russian Empire from 1809 until 1917 when it became independent.

The Soviet Union attacked Finland during the Winter War (November 1939-March 1940) in which Finland lost 9% of its territory to the USSR. 167,976 Soviet Soldiers died and 25,904 Finnish Soldiers died. 957 Finnish Civilians died.

The Finns fought the Continuation War with the Soviet Union from June 1941-September 1944. 305,000 Soviet Soldiers died and 63,200 Finnish Soldiers died. 1,184 Finnish Civilians died.

Because of its long border with the Soviet Union and the previous Wars fought Finland was a Neutral Country from 1956-2022.

Finland ended its 66 years of Neutrality when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Currently, 5 NATO Member Countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Norway) share a border with Russia that is 741 Miles long.

When Finland officially becomes a NATO Member Country NATO will have 6 Member Countries share a border with Russia that is 1,581 Miles long.

Putin said he was fighting in Ukraine to “stop NATO’s expansion” there and yet because of his War Crimes in Ukraine Finland ended its 66 year Neutrality and NATO will add 830 miles along Russia’s Border. ^

https://news.yahoo.com/turkeys-parliament-vote-finlands-nato-091831353.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

Taco Belly

 

Trump Indicted

From Reuters:

“Trump hit with criminal charges in New York, a first for a US ex-president”

Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury after a probe into hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, two sources said on Thursday, becoming the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges even as he makes another run for the White House. The charges, arising from an investigation led by Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, could reshape the 2024 presidential race. Trump previously said he would continue campaigning for the Republican Party's nomination if charged with a crime. The specific charges are not yet known and the indictment will likely be announced in the coming days, the New York Times reported. Trump will have to travel to Manhattan for fingerprinting and other processing at that point. Susan Necheles, a lawyer representing Trump, said she was informed of the indictment but did not know when he would surrender. A law enforcement source, speaking on condition of anonymity, also confirmed the indictment. Bragg's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Trump, 76, sought re-election in 2020 but was defeated by Democrat Joe Biden. Trump has falsely claimed he lost to Biden due to widespread voting fraud and has called the investigation that led to his indictment a "political witch hunt." Bragg's office last year won the criminal conviction of the businessman-turned-politician's real estate company.

The Manhattan investigation is one of several legal challenges facing Trump, and the charges could hurt his presidential comeback attempt. Some 44% of Republicans said he should drop out of the race if he is indicted, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week. The grand jury convened by Bragg in January began hearing evidence about Trump's role in the payment to Daniels days before the 2016 presidential election that he ended up winning. Daniels, a well-known adult film actress and director whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has said she received the money in exchange for keeping silent about a sexual encounter she had with Trump in 2006. The former president's personal lawyer Michael Cohen has said Trump directed hush payments to Daniels and to a second woman, former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who also said she had a sexual relationship with him. Trump has denied having affairs with either woman. Federal prosecutors examined the Daniels payoff in 2018, leading to a prison sentence for Cohen but no charges against Trump. No former or sitting U.S. president has ever faced criminal charges. Trump also faces two criminal investigations by a special counsel appointed by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and one by a local prosecutor in Georgia.

DIVISIVE FIGURE Trump, a divisive figure in U.S. politics with support particularly among white blue-collar and conservative Christian voters, served as president from 2017 to 2021, governing as a right-wing populist. He was impeached twice by the House of Representatives, once in 2019 over his conduct regarding Ukraine and again in 2021 over the attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters. He was acquitted by the Senate both times. He leads his early rivals for his party's nomination, holding the support of 44% of Republicans in a March Reuters/Ipsos poll, compared with 30% support for his nearest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has yet to announce his candidacy. Biden is expected to seek re-election. Trump on March 18 wrote on social media that he had expected to be arrested on March 21 and urged his supporters to protest to "take our nation back," reminiscent of his exhortations ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Several Republicans in Congress accused Bragg of selective prosecution with political motivations. "Outrageous," House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan wrote on Twitter. Trump in 2018 initially disputed knowing anything about the payment to Daniels. He later acknowledged reimbursing Cohen for the payment, which he called a "simple private transaction." In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance law violations for his role in orchestrating the payments to Daniels and McDougal and was sentenced to three years in prison. He testified that Trump directed him to make the payments. Cohen testified before the Manhattan grand jury investigating Trump on March 13. The grand jury also heard from David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer. The tabloid publication bought the rights to McDougal's story about her alleged relationship with Trump for $150,000 but never published it, a method known as "catch and kill" used by some media outlets to bury damaging information about a third party. Daniels has said she had a sexual encounter with Trump at a Lake Tahoe hotel in 2006 - the year after he married his current wife Melania and more than a decade before the businessman-turned-politician became president. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2021 rejected her bid to revive a defamation lawsuit she brought against Trump over a Twitter post in which he accused her of a "con job" after she described being threatened over publicizing her account of a sexual relationship with him. Lower courts had thrown out her suit. In the case that led to the conviction of the Trump Organization on tax fraud charges, Bragg declined to charge Trump himself with financial crimes related to his business practices, prompting two prosecutors who worked on the probe to resign.

Among Trump's ongoing legal woes are a criminal investigation led by Fani Willis, the Democratic district attorney in Georgia's Fulton County, into whether he unlawfully tried to overturn his 2020 election defeat in that state. Special counsel Jack Smith is separately investigating Trump's handling of classified government documents after leaving office and his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

^ Trump likes his firsts. First President to call for a Coup of the US Government (the Attack on the Capital) and now the First President to be indited and soon to be arrested. I can’t wait to see his Mug Shot. ^

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/urgent-trump-hit-with-criminal-charges-new-york-first-us-ex-president-new-york-2023-03-30/

Officers Killed

 

^ This is part of the 200,000 Russian Soldiers killed in Putin's War in Ukraine.

The sooner Russians stand-up and decry this Genocide the sooner Innocent Ukrainian Men, Women and Children will stop being tortured and murdered by the Russians and the sooner Russia can start to beg for forgiveness for their War Crimes and hope to rejoin the Civilized World. ^

Hero Home

From DW:

“'Hotel Rwanda' hero returns to US after release from prison”

Paul Rusesabagina, whose efforts to save people during the 1994 genocide inspired the Hollywood film "Hotel Rwanda," has arrived in the US following his release from a Rwandan prison.

The man who inspired the film "Hotel Rwanda," Paul Rusesabagina, arrived in the United States on Wednesday after being released from a prison in Rwanda last week, the White House said. "I'm pleased to welcome Paul Rusesabagina back to the United States. We're glad to have him back on US soil & reunited with his family & friends who've long waited for this day to come," US national security adviser Jake Sullivan tweeted. US President Joe Biden had earlier welcomed Rusesabagina's release, calling it a "happy outcome." "Paul's family is eager to welcome him back to the United States, and I share their joy at today's good news," he said in a statement on Saturday. After more than 900 days behind bars, Rusesabagina was released Saturday under an accord, mediated by Qatar, between the US government and Rwanda, which saw the Kigali government commute his 25-year sentence on terrorism charges.

Vocal critic of Kagame The 68-year-old Rusesabagina, who is also a Belgian citizen and permanent resident of the United States, has lived in exile in San Antonio, Texas, for over a decade. A vocal critic of Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Rusesabagina disappeared in 2020 during a visit to Dubai in the  United Arab Emirates and appeared days later in Rwanda in handcuffs. His family alleged he was kidnapped and taken to Rwanda against his will to stand trial. In September 2021, he was sentenced to 25 years over his ties to a group opposed to Kagame that has an armed wing. During his trial, Rusesabagina acknowledged having a leadership role in an opposition group, but he denied responsibility for attacks carried out in Rwanda by its armed wing.

Reset of US-Rwanda relations Washington's historically close ties with Rwanda had been strained by Rusesabagina's detention and by US allegations, denied by Kigali, that Rwanda has sent troops into neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo and supports rebels there. Rwanda has said that Rusesabagina's release is the result of a shared desire to reset the US-Rwanda relationship. Rusesabagina was feted around the world after being played by actor Don Cheadle in the 2004 film "Hotel Rwanda" which portrayed him as a hero who risked his life to shelter hundreds of people as manager of a luxury hotel during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

^ I’m glad he is back in the US and that his sham Trial and Sentence is behind him. ^

https://www.dw.com/en/hotel-rwanda-hero-returns-to-us-after-release-from-prison/a-65176011

Which One?

 

1: Bucha

From Reuters:

“Recalling Bucha deaths, Zelenskiy describes 'horrific' year in Kyiv region”

(Bucha deputy mayor Serhii Shepetko places flowers on graves of unidentified people killed by Russian soldiers during occupation of the Bucha town, on a day of the first anniversary of Russia's attack on Ukraine, at the town's cemetery, outside Kyiv, Ukraine February 24, 2023.)

Ukraine's president said on Thursday the past year had been "the most horrific" in the lives of many residents of the Kyiv region, where Russian troops are accused of committing war crimes before withdrawing a year ago. The Ukrainian military recaptured the small towns of Irpin and Bucha outside the capital, Kyiv, in late March last year.

International investigators are now collecting evidence in Irpin, Bucha and other places where Ukraine says Russian troops committed large-scale atrocities. Russia denies the allegations. "For many residents of the Kyiv region, the past year has become the most horrific in their entire lives. And the liberation of the Kyiv region has become a symbol of the fact that Ukraine will be able to win this war," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote in English on the Telegram messaging app. "Events that could not be imagined in the 21st century have become a reality in the satellite cities of Kyiv – Bucha and Irpin. Russian troops marched on the Ukrainian capital from the north and brought death and destruction."

Zelenskiy wrote his Telegram post under video footage showing heavily damaged buildings and vehicles that had been destroyed in Bucha and Irpin. The video also included interviews with survivors recalling their experiences during the occupation, and footage of corpses lined up on the ground in black body bags. The video, compiled by the Ukrainian fundraising initiative UNITED24, put the civilian death toll in areas of the Kyiv region liberated from Russian forces at 1,137, including 461 killed in Bucha alone.

The Russian forces that invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year were halted outside the capital and later pulled back, but the Kyiv region is still frequently the target of missile and drone strikes as battles rage elsewhere.

^ 1 year ago the World learned first hand about what Russian Occupation is Ukraine is really like when the liberated areas around Kyiv were left strewed of dead Civilian bodies.

At least 458 Ukrainian Men, Women and Children were tortured, raped and murdered by the Russians in Bucha alone.

The Russian Soldiers who committed these War Crimes were praised by the Russian Government, the Russian Media, their Families and Ordinary Russians.

The Bucha Massacre, sadly, was not a lone event, but with every liberated area once under Russian Occupation the Ukrainians and the World learn of more Torture Chambers, more Mass Graves (such as in Izium with over 400 Bodies found so far.)

In case anyone still wondered why the US and the World needs to continue to help Ukraine defeat Russia the innocent tortured and murdered Ukrainian Men, Women and Children at the hands of the Russian People are the main reason.

You either support Ukraine and Human Life or you support Russia and their Mass Graves - there is no in-between. ^

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/recalling-bucha-deaths-zelenskiy-describes-horrific-year-kyiv-region-2023-03-30/

Messy Aid

From Military.com:

“The Complicated and Messy Task of Trying to Aid Afghans Following the Return of the Taliban”

(In this Aug. 21, 2021, image provided by the U.S. Air Force, U.S. airmen and U.S. Marines guide evacuees aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III in support of the Afghanistan evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan.)

Images of Afghans clinging to the landing gear of an American cargo plane rocked the world as the Taliban closed in on Kabul and two decades of fighting in Afghanistan ended for U.S. troops. The desperate effort to get those who had helped American forces out of the country continues, with veterans pressuring Congress to help carry on the evacuation and to provide legal protections and added funding to help those who made it out and have been living in the U.S. under the threat of deportation.

But for many of those seeking U.S. help, the question of aid is largely tied to documentation. Can they prove they worked with U.S. forces? Do they have letters from commanders? The U.S. presence in Afghanistan wasn't orderly, leaving many without the bureaucratic stamp of approval they'd need to get help. "The guys who did the most in the beginning and did the most work toward the vision of a viable Afghanistan were never brought into the system," said Justin Sapp, who was the first U.S. Special Forces soldier behind Taliban lines in 2001. Sapp is one of the founders of Badger Six, a group that financially supports roughly 30 families who are in hiding throughout Central Asia, utilizing the Hawala network and Western Union to send funds while the families await the U.S. visa process. "The 23-year-old Afghan commando has all of the badges and credentials under the new system, but the older guys don't have that," he said. "If it hadn't been for us [Badger Six] and the CIA, those guys would be out of luck."

In total, more than 1.3 million Afghans have fled to neighboring countries, with only a little over 6,000 returning to Afghanistan in 2022. That means many of those who helped U.S. forces, fearing the retaliation they would face if they stayed behind from Taliban forces that had delivered death threats for years, are scattered in pockets of refugees in a handful of countries. Refugee groups have been trying to aid those who have fled, with Badger Six turning to direct cash payments to try to help Afghans who may have slipped through the U.S. evacuation process. Sapp says that the group has a vigorous vetting process, which helps keep the number of families it supports small. All applications are reviewed, in part, by the former personal doctor to Northern Alliance Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, who Sapp says uses his personal network to verify claims.

Getting aid into Afghanistan for those who haven't made it out is fraught, though desperately needed. The disastrous 2021 American withdrawal from Afghanistan has been followed by a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, as an economy largely reliant on foreign aid deals saw assistance slashed. By 2022, 9 out of 10 families could not afford enough food, with Afghans fleeing by the thousands. Aid is still flowing to Afghanistan, albeit at a much diminished scale. The United States has contributed more than $1.1 billion since 2021, making it the largest donor to Afghanistan. Much of the aid money has reportedly been withheld from those in need and repurposed by the Taliban to solidify the group's claim to power.

In its 2022 Humanitarian Response Plan, the United Nations said that Afghanistan needed $4.4 billion to help an estimated 22 million residents -- roughly 55% of the country's population. In 2023, that request rose to $4.6 billion to aid 28 million people, the single-largest country appeal ever, according to a recent U.N. Security Council briefing by Roza Otunbayeva. Afghanistan has long been reliant on outside aid, with ostensibly its entire economy contributed by donors as recently as 2009. By 2020, that reliance had waned slightly, down to 43% of gross domestic product, but the Taliban takeover has put that critical pipeline in jeopardy. "The Taliban's draconian edicts have alienated the biggest donors, leading to widespread fears that 2023 donations will be cut back," said Graeme Smith, senior consultant for the International Crisis Group. " In the context of what the U.N. calls the biggest humanitarian disaster in the world, those cutbacks could be deadly."

Badger Six recently held an event where former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency George Tenet was the keynote speaker. When asked what the responsibility of the U.S. is to Afghan refugees, Tenet responded, "I think we owe them the belief of hope. What the Afghans did for us was to help us ensure that it [another terrorist attack] didn't happen here for 21 years. There's a reason we didn't get hit again."

(General Faqir Jawzjani is credited with recovering the body of the first U.S. casualty in Afghanistan war, CIA officer Johnny Micheal Spann)

Also in attendance at the event was Gen. Faqir Jawzjani, former commissioner of Afghan National Police in Jawzjan Province, Afghanistan. Jawzjani played a key role in the initial U.S. military efforts in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Jawzjani fled Afghanistan in 2021 with the help of Badger Six, and now lives in New Jersey. "We lost our hope when we saw Americans leaving and Taliban taking control of Afghanistan," he said. Things changed with the opportunities afforded him from the aid he's received. "Suddenly, the hand of friends came to me to help me. The start of a new life for me started on that date. I felt like I was born from my mother again.

^ Sadly, the World has stopped paying attention to Afghanistan, the Evacuees and those being tortured and murdered by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

 Biden and most of the World promised that they would help those Afghans that worked for them in the 20 year long War and are not being hunted down and punished by the Taliban.

We are failing on our promises and people are dying because of our failure. ^  

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/03/29/complicated-and-messy-task-of-trying-aid-afghans-following-return-of-taliban.html

Violent No-Fly

From Yahoo/WP:

“Lawmakers are again pushing for a no-fly list for violent passengers”

Seeking to keep violent passengers grounded, a trio of lawmakers will again introduce legislation that would create a no-fly list for people who act up in the air. Under the measure, people who were fined for or convicted of "serious physical violence and abuse" while traveling by air would not be allowed to fly on commercial planes. The Transportation Security Administration would be charged with creating and managing the banned fliers list.

The bill, called the Protection from Abusive Passengers Act, has bipartisan support: Its sponsors are Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.). The group filed the same legislation last year, to no avail. The lawmakers are scheduled to hold a news conference Wednesday morning to reintroduce the bill, alongside flight attendants from Southwest, Frontier and American airlines who will describe how they were assaulted on the job. Members of unions representing pilots, flight attendants and other transportation workers will also attend.

Airlines can ban passengers for bad behavior even if they haven't been convicted of a crime, though that doesn't carry over to other airlines. The FBI maintains the federal no-fly list as a subset of the Terrorist Screening Database, which includes people who are either "known terrorists" or are reasonably suspected of being involved in terrorism. Last year, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian asked the federal government to expand that no-fly list to include people who were convicted for disrupting flights.

As travelers returned to the air after the pandemic started - many chafing at a federal mask mandate - disruptive behavior on planes soared. The Federal Aviation Administration reported that there were nearly 6,000 reports of unruly passengers in 2021, with 1,113 investigations launched and $5 million in fines proposed. The number of incidents dropped in 2022, with 2,456 unruly passenger reports and 831 investigations started. But the penalties climbed: The FAA proposed more than $8.4 million in fines against unruly passengers last year. In 2019, only 146 investigations were launched into unruly behavior.

Earlier this month, a United Airlines passenger was charged with interfering with a flight crew using a dangerous weapon after he allegedly tried to open an emergency door and jab a flight attendant's throat with a broken spoon. Flight attendants have been punched in the back of the head, in the face and had teeth knocked out in recent years.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland told prosecutors to prioritize investigations involving disruptive air passengers in 2021. "Mask mandates have ended. Still, the epidemic of air rage continues and this elevated level of in-flight violence has to stop," Reed said in a statement. "We must do more to protect employees and the traveling public." In an advisory announcing the legislation, the lawmakers said banning people from flights would "serve as a strong deterrent."

Travelers would be considered abusive if they have been convicted of physically or sexually assaulting a crew member on a commercial flight, or threatening to do so; causing an imminent thread to the safety of a plane or people on it; assaulting a federal or airline employee with security duties at an airport; or committing other assaults, threats or intimidation against a crew member during a flight. They could also be placed on a no-fly list if they have been fined for interfering with procedures or security systems on a plane, or causing someone to do so. Lawmakers said banned travelers would be provided with ways to appeal, guidelines to be removed from the list and procedures to remove someone who was mistakenly added. Abusive passengers would be permanently banned from participating in expedited security screening programs such as TSA PreCheck or Global Entry.

^ There should be a National No Fly List that carries over to every Airline for Passengers who are abusive in the Terminal or on the Plane. ^

https://www.yahoo.com/news/lawmakers-again-pushing-no-fly-202224890.html

Yahad

Yahad

The devastation the Holocaust by Bullets caused in communities across Eastern Europe can be hard to comprehend.

For over 18 years, Yahad - In Unum has been documenting these crimes, recording micro-histories in towns and villages that fell under Nazi Occupation.

InEvidence, our interactive map of the Holocaust by Bullets, is a free-to-access interface allowing visitors to explore the horrors committed by the Nazis and their collaborators, inc. witness interviews, photos and archival material.

^ Holocaust by Bullets is the term used when the Germans (SS, Einsatzgruppen, the Wehrmacht, Police Units, etc.) and their Collaborators murdered Men, Women and Children in Eastern Europe by shooting them over open pits during World War 2.

It officially started with the German Invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, but the majority of the murders occurred in the Soviet Union (Russia, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Ukraine) and eastern Poland after the German Invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941.

Before the Death Camps were created in 1942 the Germans and their Allies would follow the same basic routine in every massacre.

They would take over the territory and then either force all the Jews to register themselves or take the lists of Jews collected by the Soviet Communists before the War (every Soviet Citizen had to carry an Internal Passport and Line #5 in the Passport stated the Nationality. Russians/Soviets considered Jews to be a Nationality so they would put “Jew” as their Nationality instead of “Russian”, “Latvian”, etc. If a person had a Russian Parent and a Jewish Parent then when the Child turned 16 and got their first Internal Passport they had to chose which Nationality they would be for the rest of their life and couldn’t change it afterwards.

Once the Germans knew how many Jews there were in the area they posted signs and announcements up stating that every Jew had to assemble at such and such a time on such and such a day for “Resettlement.” Each person could only bring 5 Kilos (11 lbs.) of hand luggage with them.

Then the People were marched from the assembly point inside the town or city to either woods or open fields where other Jews had been forced to dig deep, open pits. The People were made to walk through a “tunnel’ of Armed Soldiers.

The People were then made to throw their belongings into piles and then forced to strip naked before being marched to the open pit and shot in the back.

Many times the Germans “played” with the Victims and shot the Children before the Parents (even as the Parents begged to be shot first.) Sometimes the raped Young Girls and the Women in front of their Families and then shot them. To save bullets the Germans didn’t shoot the Babies. They either bashed them bodies against a tree or shot the Parents or Grandparent holding the Baby and the Baby fell into the pit alive until it was suffocated to death by either the other dead bodies falling on it or the dirt placed on top after the shootings.

It is believed that 2 Million Jewish Men, Women and Children were murdered by the Germans and their Collaborators during the Holocaust by Bullets Stage.

The Germans also murdered Millions of Non-Jewish Men, Women and Children in this manner (Catholic Priests and Nuns, Communists, Gypsies, the Disabled, etc.)

Eventually, the Germans decided to murder the People in a faster and cleaner way and so built the Death Camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Chełmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka and Majdanek (all in German-Occupied Poland.)

A typical Gas Chamber could murder 2,000 People at one time (in 15-20 minutes) and a typical Crematoria could burn 600 bodies a day. To make up for the shortfall the Germans also burned the bodies in open pits in the Death Camps with the corpses stacked like firewood in a Mathematical Method to burn faster and use less fuel.

This is a website compiled using German Records and Eyewitness Reports of the Massacre Sites.

There are 2,001 Documented Sites Online that you can click on and see pictures, learn about the locations’ War History and hear Witness Accounts (both from the German Killers and the Jewish Victims.)  There are 1,281 Sites that need to be put Online.

The most well-known Holocaust by Bullets Massacre Site is Babyn Yar in Kyiv, Ukraine, the USSR. From September 29-30, 1941 the Germans murdered 33,771 Jewish Men, Women and Children in an open pit. Another 150,000 Jews, Communists, Priests, the Disabled and Gypsies were murdered in the same spot at later dates. I visited Babyn Yar when I was in Kyiv in November 2007.

When I worked at the US Holocaust Museum in Washington DC I met a Latvian Collaborator who helped the Germans murder Men, Women and Children on the beach in Liepāja, Latvia in December 1941. He was still proud of the “work” he did during the War and even carried a blood-stained doll from one of his Victims. ^

www.yahadmap.org

Vietnam Veterans Day

Today (on Vietnam Veterans Day) we remember the American Men and Women who served in and around South Vietnam, North Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos.

The Federal Government officially states that a Vietnam Veteran is a person who served in Southeast Asia from February 1961 until May 1975 (although the US only had Combat Troops in South Vietnam from the Gulf Of Tonkin Resolution of August 1964 until the Paris Peace Accords of April 1973.)

2,709,000 American Soldiers served in and around Vietnam during the Vietnam War (out of the total 9,087,000 American Soldiers worldwide at the same time.)

58,000 Americans died and 300,000 Americans were wounded while serving in and around Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

It is estimated that of the 2,709,000 Soldiers there are 610,000 Vietnam Veterans alive today. They range from 66 years old (those who were 18 in 1975) to those in their 90s (many of them serving in either World War 2, Korea and Vietnam or Korea and Vietnam.) The average age of a Vietnam Veteran is 68 years old.

Many Vietnam Veterans were treated poorly by their fellow Americans during and immediately after the War (despite the fact that Politicians - Congress and the President create, run and end wars.)

50: Withdrawal

U.S. withdraws from Vietnam

March 29, 1973: Two months after the signing of the Vietnam peace agreement, the last U.S. combat troops leave South Vietnam as Hanoi frees many of the remaining American prisoners of war held in North Vietnam. America’s direct eight-year intervention in the Vietnam War was at an end. In Saigon, some 7,000 U.S. Department of Defense civilian employees remained behind to aid South Vietnam in conducting what looked to be a fierce and ongoing war with communist North Vietnam.

In 1961, after two decades of indirect military aid, U.S. President John F. Kennedy sent the first large force of U.S. military personnel to support the ineffectual autocratic regime of South Vietnam against the communist North. Three years later, with the South Vietnamese government crumbling, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered limited bombing raids on North Vietnam, and Congress authorized the use of U.S. troops. By 1965, North Vietnamese offensives left President Johnson with two choices: escalate U.S. involvement or withdraw. Johnson ordered the former, and troop levels soon jumped to more than 300,000 as U.S. air forces commenced the largest bombing campaign in history.

During the next few years, the extended length of the war, the high number of U.S. casualties, and the exposure of U.S. involvement in war crimes, such as the massacre at My Lai, helped turn many in the United States against the Vietnam War. The communists’ Tet Offensive of 1968 crushed U.S. hopes of an imminent end to the conflict and galvanized U.S. opposition to the war. In response, Johnson announced in March 1968 that he would not seek reelection, citing what he perceived to be his responsibility in creating a perilous national division over Vietnam. He also authorized the beginning of peace talks.

In the spring of 1969, as protests against the war escalated in the United States, U.S. troop strength in the war-torn country reached its peak at nearly 550,000 men. Richard Nixon, the new U.S. president, began U.S. troop withdrawal and “Vietnamization” of the war effort that year, but he intensified bombing. Large U.S. troop withdrawals continued in the early 1970s as President Nixon expanded air and ground operations into Cambodia and Laos in attempts to block enemy supply routes along Vietnam’s borders. This expansion of the war, which accomplished few positive results, led to new waves of protests in the United States and elsewhere.

Finally, in January 1973, representatives of the United States, North and South Vietnam, and the Vietcong signed a peace agreement in Paris, ending the direct U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War. Its key provisions included a cease-fire throughout Vietnam, the withdrawal of U.S. forces, the release of prisoners of war, and the reunification of North and South Vietnam through peaceful means. The South Vietnamese government was to remain in place until new elections were held, and North Vietnamese forces in the South were not to advance further nor be reinforced.

In reality, however, the agreement was little more than a face-saving gesture by the U.S. government. Even before the last American troops departed on March 29, the communists violated the cease-fire, and by early 1974 full-scale war had resumed. At the end of 1974, South Vietnamese authorities reported that 80,000 of their soldiers and civilians had been killed in fighting during the year, making it the most costly of the Vietnam War.

On April 30, 1975, the last few Americans still in South Vietnam were airlifted out of the country as Saigon fell to communist forces. North Vietnamese Colonel Bui Tin, accepting the surrender of South Vietnam later in the day, remarked, “You have nothing to fear; between Vietnamese there are no victors and no vanquished. Only the Americans have been defeated.” The Vietnam War was the longest and most unpopular foreign war in U.S. history and cost 58,000 American lives. As many as two million Vietnamese soldiers and civilians were killed.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/u-s-withdraws-from-vietnam

Different Pounds

 

Contrary to what some people believe there is no such thing as the British Pound.

There are English Pounds made by the Bank of England (which are accepted in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey, Gibraltar, Isle of Man, the Falkland Islands and Saint Helena.)

There are Scottish Pounds issued by the Bank of Scotland, the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Clydesdale Bank (which can be accepted in English Border Towns or at any Bank in the UK for the local Pound at par.)

There are Northern Irish Pounds issued by the Bank of Ireland, Danske Bank and Ulster Bank (which are only accepted in Northern Ireland and a few Irish Border Towns or at any Bank in the UK for the local Pound at par.)

There are Isle of Man Pounds issued by the Isle of Man Government (which are only accepted in the Isle of Man or at any Bank in the UK for the local Pound at par.)

There are Jersey Pounds issued by the States of Jersey (which are accepted in Jersey, sometimes in Guernsey or at any Bank in the UK for the local Pound at par.)

There are Guernsey Pounds issued by the States of Guernsey (which are accepted in Guernsey, sometimes in Jersey or at any Bank in the UK for the local Pound at par.)

There are Gibraltar Pounds issued by the Gibraltar Government (which are only accepted in Gibraltar or at any Bank in the UK for the local Pound at par.)

There are the Falkland Islands Pound issued by the Government of Falkland Islands (which are only accepted in the Falkland Islands or at any Bank in the UK for the local Pound at par.)

There are Saint Helena Pounds issued by the Government of Saint Helena (which are only accepted in Saint Helena or at any Bank in the UK for the local Pound at par.)

Only English Pounds, Gibraltar Pounds, Jersey Pounds, Guernsey Pounds, Isle of Man Pounds, Falkland Islands Pounds and Saint Helena Pounds have the British Monarch on some of the bills (not Northern Ireland or Scotland.)

Note: There are no Welsh Pounds.

You have to be careful with what Pounds you have depending on where you are. I remember being in Scotland and trying to use English Pounds in several places and got called out for it  - things got better when they learned I was American and not English.

It is much worse in Northern Ireland. When I was there I had English Pounds (for when I was in London, England) Euros (for when I was in Ireland) and the 3 different Northern Irish Pounds (for when I was in Northern Ireland.) You can’t just use English Pounds anywhere since that shows you are a Loyalist/Protestant and you can’t use Euros since that shows you are a Republican/Catholic. The same with the 3 different types of Irish Pounds by the 3 different Northern Irish Banks. Of course speaking with an American accent got me out of any kind of trouble for using the “wrong” Pound in the “wrong” Place (ie. a Protestant-Friendly Bank Pound in a Catholic Area or a Catholic-Friendly Bank Pound in a Protestant Area.)

I have all the different Pounds (as well as every Currency Bill from every Current Country and Territory and every Historical Country and Territory since 1750.)

Farewell Tour

 

Purple Day

Epilepsy Day

Purple Day is a global grassroots event formed with the intention to increase worldwide awareness of epilepsy, and to dispel common myths and fears of this neurological disorder. Further intentions of this movement are to reduce the social stigmas commonly endured by many individuals afflicted with the condition; to provide assurance and advocacy to those living with epilepsy that they are not alone in their ongoing endurance; and to initiate individuals living with the condition to take action in their communities to achieve these aims. The day occurs annually on March 26.

Formation and history: The concept of Purple Day was initiated by a 9-year-old named Cassidy Megan, and was motivated by her own struggle with epilepsy. The Epilepsy Association of Nova Scotia helped to develop Cassidy's idea, and the first Purple Day event was held on March 26, 2008, and is now known as the Purple Day for Epilepsy campaign. In 2009, the New York-based Anita Kaufmann Foundation and Epilepsy Association of Nova Scotia joined to launch Purple Day internationally and increase the involvement of numerous organizations, schools, businesses, politicians and celebrities around the world. On March 26, 2009 over 100,000 students, 95 workplaces and 116 politicians participated in Purple Day. In March 2009, the official USA Purple Day Party launch was organized by the Anita Kaufmann Foundation. Canadian Paul Shaffer of the Late Show with David Letterman attended the official launch at Dylan's Candy Bar in New York City.  In March 2012, Purple Day received the Royal Assent and became a legal day for epilepsy awareness in Canada. In December 2015, Electronics retailer Dick Smith had arranged a major corporate partnership with Epilepsy Action Australia to support Purple Day in Australia with a $50,000 cash sponsorship, prizes and exclusive distribution of Purple Day merchandise. A week prior to Purple Day celebrations in 2016, Dick Smith was placed in receivership. Later, the Retail Food Group provided a $50,000 donation to match Dick Smith's previously promised sponsorship.

Description: The Purple Day is held annually on March 26. Supporters are encouraged to wear a purple-coloured item of clothing. Lavender (and thus its color purple) is strongly associated with epilepsy because it has even been proven to act as a central nervous system relaxant and anticonvulsant. The goal of Purple Day is to increase general public awareness, to reduce the social stigma endured by many individuals with the condition, and to empower individuals living with epilepsy to take action in their communities.  Purple Day is celebrated in Australia to fund various epilepsy support organisations including Epilepsy Australia, Epilepsy Queensland, and Epilepsy Foundation.  During the 2018 edition of Purple Day, the Epilepsy Care Alliance called on the technology sector to push further innovations for the treatment for epilepsy.

Guinness World Record: In 2017, a Guinness World Record was reached during Purple Day by the Anita Kaufmann Foundation for the achievement of the largest ever epilepsy training session.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_Day

Epilepsy Day

 

Twin Story

From Yahoo/Insider:

“A twin who survived Auschwitz shares how a doctor experimented on her and her identical sister — and tried to get them pregnant with other twins”

(Identical twin sisters Annetta and Stephanie in their mid-20s, after their liberation from the Nazi death camp.)

Nazis wanted identical twin Annetta Able to get pregnant by another identical twin at Auschwitz. Dr. Josef Mengele, known as the "Angel of Death," treated her and her sister as human guinea pigs. Able's horrific story features in a new book about twins who survived these Holocaust "experiments." Soon after Annetta Able and her identical twin sister, Stephanie Heller, were liberated from Auschwitz, they learned that Dr. Josef Mengele planned to have each of them made pregnant by identical twin brothers.

They knew the men who'd been selected for the process because Mengele, the Nazi physician who carried out such "medical experiments" on prisoners, had already subjected the four young adults to various blood transfusions. "You don't want to think about things from the past like that," Able, now 99, told Insider, referring to Mengele's warped intentions. Documents retrieved from the camp and witness statements by other Jewish inmates who were forced to work for Mengele confirmed the proposed "experiment" on the two sets of siblings. "We only found out afterwards," Able said in an email to Insider that she dictated to her daughter, Daphna Able. She added, "We never saw the other twins again after that, but know that one of them died after the experimentation." Mengele was known as the 'Angel of Death' because of his power and human experiments at Auschwitz.

Able and her sister's story is featured in the new book, "The Twin Children of The Holocaust: Stolen Childhood and the Will to Survive." The book — written by the psychology professor Nancy Segal, the director of the Twin Studies Center at California State University, Fullerton — documents Mengele "experiments" using identical and fraternal twins as human guinea pigs. "It was documented that that around 1,500 pairs passed through Auschwitz. But another reference said it was 730," Segal said, adding that the exact number "will never be known." "Mengele was known as the 'Angel of Death' because of these unthinkable and horrific experiments to which he subjected the twins and some of their families," Segal told Insider.

Daphna Able said that her mother and aunt, known to family and friends as Stepa, who died in 2019, were appalled to learn that Mengele plotted to have them impregnated and killed at some point during their pregnancies in order to dissect the fetuses to find out if they were also identical twins. "He wanted to determine if they would multiply," Daphna told Insider. But the young women had stopped menstruating because they were given so little food to eat. "They wouldn't have been able to conceive anyway," she said.

The identical twins were treated as guinea pigs

(Annetta Able with her daughter Daphna, who often helps her mother tell her story about her two-year ordeal in Auschwitz.)

The sisters were taken by the Nazis from their home in Prague, now in the Czech Republic, in 1942. They were 19 when they were transferred to Auschwitz a year later. They didn't know it at the time, but the rest of the family, including their mother and 12-year-old sister, had been sent to the gas chambers. "When we arrived in the cattle cars, the Nazi soldiers knew to be on the lookout for twins," Able said in her email. She said they were taken to barracks where other twins were held. The women were escorted to Mengele's laboratory at the camp where, Able said, he asked "so many questions" and recorded their height, weight, and the color of their eyes and hair. "We were not of any interest to him other than as human guinea pigs," Able said in the email.

She went on to describe the conditions at the camp as "vile, freezing, cramped, and exposed to the elements." She added, "We were always starving. It's what you would imagine hell to be." Talking directly to Insider, Able said that she and her sister were determined to "stay alive together." She said, "We have always been close. I lived her life, and she did mine." Segal said that many of the subjects of Mengele's experiments knew that if one died, the other would be killed because he would "compare their organs." "The bond between the twins in Auschwitz was so important," Segal said. "Everyone had to be as mindful of their twin as themselves."

Able told Insider that their two-year ordeal at the camp in occupied Poland was "a hard time" — made even more painful because they didn't know where their other family members were, until they discovered they had been killed. In the email, Able said the siblings tried to cope with the torment by "making up stories to avoid our reality." "We spoke about how wonderful it will be when we get home to our family," Able added. "What we would eat, how we would play with our sister."

(Identical twins Annetta and Stephanie Heilbrunn, with their mother and younger sister in Prague, before they were displaced by the Nazis. The girls' mother and sister perished in the gas chambers.)

Daphna Able said that her mom and her twin had told her they were terrified when Mengele would order the blood transfusions between them and the identical brothers. The 67-year-old said that the sisters got sick from the experiments and Heller had constant issues with her health after leaving the camp. Segal told Insider that she disagreed with experts who claimed that Mengele wanted to understand the biological basis of twins so that he could increase the Aryan race. "It didn't make sense because he would have studied the parents, not the twins themselves," Segal said. "The general consensus is that he was trying to demonstrate a genetic influence on racial differences and, in that way, prove that the Aryans were superior to the other races."

Able said in her email that she and Heller turned 21 during the death march when the SS tried to transfer its prisoners by foot ahead of the imminent liberation of Auschwitz. They went on to qualify as nurses in former Czechoslovakia before moving to Israel, then Australia. "My sister and I were always two bodies and one soul," the great-grandmother of six said in the email to Insider. "The shared experience made us even closer if that was possible."

^ I knew about the Nazis’ experiments on Twins, but it is still sick and sad to hear about. ^

https://www.yahoo.com/news/twin-survived-auschwitz-shares-doctor-154708961.html

Yaroslavl Hit

 

Yesterday (March 23, 2023) Yaroslavl Motor Plant caught fire in Russia according to Russian Media - TASS.

The Plant is one of the largest manufacturers of military equipment in Russia making multi-purpose diesel engines, clutches, gearboxes and spare parts.

It is believed to be sabotage by Ukrainian Patriots.

Yaroslavl is 170 miles north of Moscow and 548 miles from the Ukrainian Border.

I studied in Yaroslavl 2 times and visited there 3 times. While it is a very beautiful City (part of the Golden Ring) with lots of old Churches and Buildings it also has many Military Installations: the A.F Mozhaisky Military Space Academy, the Yaroslavl Higher Military School of Anti-Aircraft Warfare, etc.

It is important for every area inside Russia that has any Military School, University, Base, Factory, etc. (not just by the Ukrainian Border) suffers these kinds of incidents because the sooner the Russian Military inside Russia is stopped the sooner the Russian Military inside Ukraine is stopped and the murder of innocent Ukrainian Men, Women and Children will end.