Things to Keep an Eye On

Israeli universities threaten strike, ONA shuttered, Betar's legal status, Anduril gets a big new contract, French publishers sue Meta, Malofeev meets Judge Napolitano, and more

President Duterte on a visit to Ilocos Norte, 2016 / Flickr

Eight Israeli universities promise strike if Israel’s AG is fired

via Haaretz:

The presidents of eight Israeli universities announced on Sunday that if Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara is dismissed by the Netanyahu government, they will declare a strike and initiate a public protest.

Secretary Hegseth shutters ONA, ostensibly for now

The Pentagon’s in-house think tank, the Office of Net Assessment, has been shut down for the moment, with the DOD saying it’s working on a plan “to rebuild it in alignment with the Department’s strategic priorities.” This was one office that was a notable site of protest over the Iraq invasion, during which the conspicuously Zionist appointees hired by the Bush administration lied us unto a foolish war for the country to which they bore true faith and allegiance. Jury’s out in which country’s interests it will be reconstituted.

Rodrigo Duterte spirited to The Hague

Via the AP:

Philippine police arrested former President Rodrigo Duterte in Manila on Tuesday and sent him by plane to the Netherlands to face charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court, President Ferdinand Marcos said.

The global court in The Hague had ordered Duterte’s arrest through Interpol after accusing him of crimes against humanity over deadly anti-drug crackdowns he oversaw while in office, Marcos said in a late-night news conference. Duterte had been arrested at the Manila international airport Tuesday morning when he arrived with his family from Hong Kong.

Daily Mail: Jan Marsalek may have worked with MI6

It’s a big claim for the Mail to put out there:

A Russian spymaster behind a UK-based espionage ring may have worked with MI6 and US intelligence before he fled to Moscow, it has been reported.

Fugitive businessman Jan Marsalek could have been the ‘greatest asset’ for western intelligence agencies until he was implicated in Germany’s biggest ever fraud, security sources have suggested.

But the thing is, Wirecard was such an enormous company, and clearly a lot of dirty cash was moving through it. It seems like it would almost be a given that it would attract the interest of Western intelligence. Whether they gave him an opportunity to work with them, and he didn’t, or whether there was some other culpable problem on Marselek’s part, is still a little unclear.

Is Betar legally registered?

It looks like, by their own admission, Betar is taking a role in targeting pro-Palestinian activists in the U.S. for deportation. Furthermore there are indications this group, which has been deemed extremist even by the ADL, has been coordinating with Zionist trump officials like intelligence honcho Ezra Cohen-Watnick, who was previewing the plan to use the government against his ethnic enemies long before the recent push started. Betar is a Revisionist Zionist group of long standing, so the ADL’s listing does seem pretty important. Electronic Intifada’s reporting suggests it is not legally registered with the New York State Charities Bureau.

Betar has claimed credit in the Mahmoud Khalil case, who the administration is trying to deport over his political activities. This is an instance where it seems like the administration is trying to set up a Supreme Court case to clarify the lines by which a green card holder can be deported. The administration has said it’s not over any crimes he may have committed, but because his views pose a threat to American foreign policy. Greg Lukianoff and Robert Shibley have a piece going into the legal aspects that’s worth reading.

Keir Starmer axes NHS administrative body

NHS England, the body targeted for destruction by PM Starmer, is where most of the NHS money moves through:

The move will see the organisation - set up in 2013 by former Tory health secretary Andrew Lansley to give the NHS greater independence and autonomy - brought back under the control of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

Chinese investors using SPVs to invest in Musk’s companies

A big scoop from the Financial Times this week:

Wealthy Chinese investors are quietly investing millions of dollars in Elon Musk's private companies including SpaceX (SPACE), xAI, and Neuralink, the Financial Times reported after speaking to China-based asset managers.

The investments are done through special-purpose vehicles to avoid disclosing the investors' identities. Because of this, it's unclear how much Chinese capital has flowed into Musk's private firms.

There are a lot of reasons why one might use SPVs, at an earlier stage it might be a means to limit voting or knowledge rights on the part of a somewhat dubious investor while still allowing them to make money. In this case it seems like it’s aimed at obscuring where the money’s coming from.

Anduril gets big Marines contract

One to watch when the company blows up:

Anduril has been awarded a US$642 million contract to provide CsUAS protection systems at US Marine Corps (USMC) bases. An initial contract of $9.5 million was awarded when the deal was announced on 7 March.

The contract, designated Installation-CsUAS (I-CsUAS), was described in the award as being for “system procurement, site survey, programme management and engineering services, physical configuration audit and new equipment training”, with further awards to be made as contracting continues.

Hostage negotiator fired for negotiating for hostages

Adam Boehler, a long-time friend of Jared Kushner, was fired for talking to Hamas without Benjamin Netanyahu’s permission. What the Israelis want is for us to outsource the whole problem to their corrupt government. And naturally, the fascist coot Mark Zell, who lives in an illegal settlement, to whom many Republicans listen for some reason, didn’t like it:

ABC: Pentagon to take over security clearance duties from FBI

Nothing necessarily wrong with this, given the problems that have been present at FBI in the past:

The White House has quietly directed the FBI to halt the background check process for dozens of President Donald Trump's top staffers, and has transferred the process to the Pentagon, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

The directive came last month after agents tasked with completing the background investigations had conducted interviews with a handful of top White House aides -- a standard part of the background check process.

White House officials took the unusual step of ordering a stop to the background check investigations after they deemed the process too intrusive, sources said.

Syrian leader al-Sharaa continues to consolidate power

Al-Sharaa has vowed to hold accountable those who harm civilians, and it may be necessary to hold him to this. The other big step this week was a deal to integrate the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led front, with the new interim government.

Judge refuses to toss Ticketmaster-LiveNation antitrust suit

Good news, hopefully the Trump administration continues to prosecute this one aggressively:

Live Nation-Ticketmaster suffered a legal blow on Friday when a federal judge denied the company’s attempt to dismiss a key component of the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) antitrust lawsuit. The ruling, issued by U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, allows the government’s case to proceed, marking a significant hurdle for the concert giant as it faces allegations of anti-competitive conduct.

According to The Rolling Stone, the DOJ’s complaint, filed alongside attorneys general from 29 states and the District of Columbia, accuses Live Nation of leveraging its dominance in the live entertainment industry to coerce artists into using its concert promotion services if they wish to perform at its network of major amphitheaters. The lawsuit characterizes the company’s actions as an illegal “tying” arrangement—where artists must use Live Nation’s promotional services to gain access to its venues.

DNI Gabbard pulls clearances of top Dems

From early this past week:

Christian Zionist pastor arrested for child sex crimes

Pastor Morris has interviewed PM Netanyahu and done Israel-related appearances with Michele Bachmann:

Robert Morris, the Dallas-area megachurch pastor who resigned last year amid sexual abuse allegations, has been indicted in Oklahoma for child sex crimes that date back to the 1980s.

Morris is a former spiritual adviser to President Donald Trump, and Gateway — one of the nation’s largest megachurches — has been particularly active in politics. In 2020, Trump held a “Roundtable on Transition to Greatness” there that was attended by then-U.S. Attorney General William Barr and other prominent Republicans.

Morris faces five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child, the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office said in a Wednesday evening press release.

Whether there is a relationship between his Christian Zionism and his interest in having sex with children is hard to say, though it must be said, if the version of the gospel propagated by these people, poisoned by rank heresy, includes bombing and starving children, it’s hard to see why sexually abusing them would be off limits.

Australian police: Organized crime fabricated synagogue bombing plot

Attacking synagogues is very bad, and we should want to get to the bottom of it whenever it is done:

An organised crime network fabricated a plot to attack a synagogue in Australia to divert law enforcement resources, according to police.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said on Monday that the discovery of explosives in a caravan parked in Sydney was part of a “criminal con job”. The country has previously said it suspected there were criminal links to a surge in anti-Semitic crime since the start of the Gaza war.

The authorities found the caravan, which contained enough explosives to create a blast wave of 40 metres (130 feet), in January. The police now say they quickly realised that the cache was fabricated by an organised crime network.

French publishers sue Meta over AI training data

We’re going to see more of this:

French publishers and authors said Wednesday they’re taking Meta to court, accusing the social media company of using their works without permission to train its artificial intelligence model.

Three trade groups said they were launching legal action against Meta in a Paris court over what they said was the company’s “massive use of copyrighted works without authorization” to train its generative AI model.

The National Publishing Union, which represents book publishers, has noted that “numerous works” from its members are turning up in Meta’s data pool, the group’s president, Vincent Montagne, said in a joint statement.

Another guilty plea in transmigrante price-fixing scheme

An interesting case out of Brownsville:

Jose de Jesus Tapia Fernandez, 47, Brownsville, admitted to conspiracy to commit money laundering. He joins seven others who have entered guilty pleas for their various roles in a scheme to monopolize the transmigrante forwarding agency industry in the Los Indios border region near Harlingen and Brownsville.

Those convicted include the leader in the conspiracy - Carlos Martinez aka Cuate, 38, Mission – who had previously admitted to conspiracy to fix prices and allocate the market for transmigrante forwarding agency services and one count of conspiracy to monopolize the same market as well as interference with commerce by extortion, conspiracy to do so and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Transmigrantes are individuals who transport used vehicles and other goods from the United States through Mexico for resale in Central America. Transmigrante forwarding agencies are U.S.-based businesses that provide services to transmigrante clients, including helping those clients complete the Mexican customs paperwork required to export vehicles into Mexico.

DOJ pardon attorney fired

She refused to recommend Mel Gibson’s gun rights be restored:

Former Justice Department pardon attorney Elizabeth G. Oyer says she was fired one day after she refused to recommend that actor Mel Gibson have his gun rights restored, according to the New York Times.

“This is dangerous. This isn’t political — this is a safety issue,” Oyer told the New York Times.

Gibson pled no contest to a misdemeanor battery charge of his ex-girlfriend. This is the sort of case that would fall under the so-called “boyfriend loophole.” Conviction for a misdemeanor of domestic violence is sufficient to remove a person’s gun rights, but the question here is the definition of domestic, which was for a long time understood to mean a spouse, a pair cohabiting, or a person with whom the assailant has a child.

U.S. conservative influencers meet with Konstantin Malofeev

This bit of reporting came out this week:

Malofeev, pictured on the right in the above photo, is linked to the man trying to have me prosecuted in Rome.