Navy Pilots Recall “Unsettling” 2004 Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP) Sighting

Cmdr. Dave Fravor and Lt. Cmdr. Alex Dietrich were training with the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group when the encounter occurred.

Bashar Al-Assad’s Political Advisor Slams US, Israel & Turkey: All of Syria Will Be Liberated!

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to the political advisor to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad Bouthaina Shaaban, she discusses the Presidential Elections being held in Syria for the first time since 2014, accusations by NATO countries that the elections are a farce and the presence of international observers from Russia, China, India, Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and other nations to observe the elections, the occupation of Syria by Israel, the US and Turkey and President Assad’s pledge to liberate every inch of Syria, the redefining of the international order away from Western countries, reconstruction efforts in Syria after the 10-year long war, regular Israeli airstrikes on Damascus and Israel’s occupation of Palestine and recent aerial bombardment campaign against Gaza, the West’s hypocrisy on human rights, attempts to improve relations with Saudi Arabia, why there is no room for negotiations with Erdogan’s Turkey unless he withdraws from Syria and much more!

Dr. Hanan Ashrawi: ‘Two State Solution Is Dead, Israel Destroyed It... Palestine Will Not Surrender!’

We speak to Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, former member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation. She discusses why the two-state solution is dead, Israel’s responsibility for destroying it the international community’s inaction over Israel’s illegal occupations, annexations and airstrikes, the 11 days of aerial bombardment of Gaza which killed 248 including 66 children and Israel’s justifications that its strikes targeted Hamas, the severe economic and human damage in Gaza following the bombardment, US-UK-EU arms sales to Israel and replenishment of arms after the 11 days of Israeli bombardment, Joe Biden’s US blocking action at the UN to pressure Israel and much more!

Boris Johnson ‘Like Out of-Control Shopping Trolley’, Dominic Cummings Tells MPs

THE GUARDIAN: Former aide says media-obsessed prime minister made constant U-turns and ignored advice of officials

Dominic Cummings has laid bare the “surreal” chaos in Downing Street in March last year as the government grappled with the Covid pandemic, portraying the prime minister as obsessed with the media and making constant U-turns, “like a shopping trolley smashing from one side of the aisle to the other”.

During an extraordinary evidence session to MPs at Westminster on Wednesday, Boris Johnson’s former chief aide targeted the prime minister for personal criticism, saying Johnson regretted the first lockdown and held out against imposing later restrictions, despite the advice of many people inside Downing Street, and that overall, “tens of thousands of people died who didn’t need to die”.

He claimed the prime minister had repeatedly said in respect of the first lockdown, “I should have been the mayor of Jaws and kept the beaches open,” and confirmed reports that in October, Johnson said he would see “bodies pile high” rather than order a third lockdown.

Cummings described the general situation in Downing Steet as “an out-of-control movie”. »| Heather Stewart and Peter Walker | Wednesday, May 26, 2021

The Dominic Cummings circus is an indictment of the entire governing class »

Cummings brought to life what many already knew about Johnson’s failures »

‘Mob Boss’ Assad’s Dynasty Tightens Grip over Husk of Syria

THE GUARDIAN: Country’s emergence as a mafia state leaves today’s election result in little doubt

Tyrant, war criminal, mob boss or, to his loyalists, their shrewd saviour: views about Bashar al-Assad rarely fall in between. As the Syrian leader faces a presidential poll on Wednesday – the result a foregone conclusion – a truer test of the authority he wields across a broken country has taken shape away from the political banners and faux campaigning.

In battered towns and villages, ravaged by a decade of savagery, the now veteran president has been clawing back losses, consolidating himself as the only figure who could plot a course from the ruins of the region’s most devastating modern conflict. Slowly, over the past year, Assad and his extended family have been shoring up their influence. Seldom seen during much of the crisis, he has become a fixture in what remains of Syria’s industrial heartland, visiting factories, pressing employees on their hardships, and hosting delegations with an ease few observed at the height of the fighting.

Syria’s allies Russia and Iran may have done the heavy lifting to save the regime from defeat on the battlefields but a more traditional structure, the house of Assad, has been just as integral in holding the country together from within. The husk of Syria is, in many ways, more under the Assad family’s control than at the war’s outset. Power structures established over four decades have anchored dynasty and dictatorship. » | Martin Chulov, Middle East correspondent | Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Ireland Condemns ‘de facto Annexation’ of Palestinian Land by Israel

THE GUARDIAN: Foreign minister Simon Coveney supports parliamentary motion and says treatment of Palestinians is ‘manifestly unequal’

Ireland’s government has supported a parliamentary motion condemning the “de facto annexation” of Palestinian land by Israeli authorities in what it said was the first use of the phrase by a European Union government in relation to Israel.

Ireland’s foreign minister, Simon Coveney, supported the motion on Tuesday, and condemned what he described as Israel’s “manifestly unequal” treatment of the Palestinian people.

But he also insisted on adding a condemnation of recent rocket attacks on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas before he agreed to government support for the motion, which had been tabled by the opposition Sinn Fein party.

“The scale, pace and strategic nature of Israel’s actions on settlement expansion and the intent behind it have brought us to a point where we need to be honest about what is actually happening on the ground. ... It is de facto annexation,” Coveney told parliament. » | Reuters | Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Retired US Navy Chief Explains Tech Witnessed in UFO Aircraft Sighting

CNN's Chris Cuomo talks to Sean Cahil, retired US Navy Chief Master-at-Arms, and Christopher Mellon, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, about the forthcoming government report on UFO sightings.

Whistleblower who spoke out on UFOs claims Pentagon tried to discredit him »

The Missing Years of Jesus | National Geographic

Tory Islamophobia Report a ‘Whitewash’, Say Muslims in Party

THE GUARDIAN: Inquiry deems comments from PM were insensitive but finds no evidence of ‘institutional racism’

A long-awaited review into Islamophobia within the Conservative party has been condemned as a whitewash by Muslim Tories despite criticising the language used by Boris Johnson and the mayoral campaign run by Zac Goldsmith for being insensitive to Muslim communities.

The prime minister’s comments, in which he compared women wearing the burqa to letterboxes, were singled out in the review headed by Prof Swaran Singh.

The inquiry found that anti-Muslim sentiment was still present at local association and individual levels, but claims of “institutional racism” were not borne out by evidence of the way complaints were handled.

Senior Muslim figures within the party said the review was inadequate and failed to address deep prejudices in the party. Sajjad Karim, who was a Tory MEP for more than a decade and chaired the European parliament’s working group on Islamophobia, said: “The manner in which this inquiry has been conducted means it is nothing but an attempt to whitewash deep-rooted issues out of sight. » | Rajeev Syal | Tuesday, May 25, 2021

Belarus Is Isolated as Other Countries Move to Ban Flights

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The extraordinary forced landing of a commercial flight with a Belarusian dissident aboard escalated into one of the biggest flare-ups in East-West tensions in recent years.

MOSCOW — The tray tables were being raised and the seat backs returned to their upright positions as passengers on Ryanair Flight 4978 prepared for the scheduled landing in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius. Then the plane made an abrupt U-turn.

For many passengers, it initially seemed like one of those unexpected delays in airline travel. But after the pilot announced the plane had been diverted to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, one passenger — Roman Protasevich, a prominent Belarusian opposition journalist who had been living in exile since 2019 — grew terrified, certain that he faced arrest.

“He panicked because we were about to land in Minsk,” Marius Rutkauskas, who was sitting one row ahead of Mr. Protasevich, told the Lithuanian broadcaster LRT upon arrival in Vilnius.

Sunday’s ordeal — described by many European officials as an extraordinary, state-sponsored hijacking by Belarus to seize Mr. Protasevich — quickly led to one of the most severe East-West flare-ups in recent years.

Meeting Monday evening in Brussels, European Union leaders called on all E.U.- based airlines to stop flying over Belarus and began the process of banning Belarusian airlines from flying over the bloc’s airspace or landing in its airports — effectively severing the country’s direct air connections to Western Europe. » | Anton Troianovski | Monday, May 24, 2021

A State-Sponsored Skyjacking Can’t Go Unanswered »

Israël-Palestine : changer de paradigme

LE MONDE: Editorial. Une nouvelle approche du règlement du conflit, fondée sur des droits égaux pour les deux peuples, s’impose si l’on veut éviter une cinquième guerre à Gaza.

Editorial du « Monde ». Et maintenant ? Au lendemain du cessez-le-feu qui a mis fin, jeudi 20 mai, à la quatrième guerre de Gaza après onze jours d’hostilités, Israéliens, Palestiniens, diplomates arabes et occidentaux sont renvoyés à cette question lancinante.

En 2009, 2012 et 2014, à l’issue des trois précédentes confrontations, les uns et les autres ont paru prendre de grandes résolutions : conférence pour la reconstruction de l’enclave, mesures de desserrement du blocus pesant sur ce territoire, pourparlers en vue d’une réconciliation du Hamas et du Fatah. Mais faute de détermination véritable de la part des intéressés, ces initiatives louables ont à chaque fois fini par péricliter, ouvrant la voie à l’escalade suivante.

Pour en finir avec ce rituel macabre, il faut rompre avec les formules toutes faites, quasi pavloviennes, auxquelles la communauté internationale se raccroche par peur du vide et manque de courage ou d’imagination. Sans une levée rapide et intégrale de l’embargo – égyptien et israélien – qui étrangle les 2 millions d’habitants de Gaza, le « retour au calme » dont se félicitent les chancelleries est une sinistre illusion. Il n’y a pas de calme possible dans un ghetto à l’agonie. » | Éditorial, Le Monde | samedi 22 mai 2021

Super Blood Moon 2021: Total Lunar Eclipse Will Bring Cosmic Show across Pacific on Wednesday

THE GUARDIAN: Hawaii will have the best view of May’s full supermoon, followed by California, the Pacific north-west, New Zealand and Australia

The first total lunar eclipse in more than two years coincides with a supermoon this week for quite a cosmic show.

This super “blood” moon will be visible on Wednesday across the Pacific – offering the best viewing – as well as the western half of North America, the bottom of South America and eastern Asia.

Better look quick: the total eclipse will last about 15 minutes as Earth passes directly between the moon and the sun. But the entire show will last five hours, as Earth’s shadow gradually covers the moon, then starts to ebb. The reddish-orange color is the result of all the sunrises and sunsets in Earth’s atmosphere projected on to the surface of the eclipsed moon.

“Hawaii has the best seat in the house and then short of that will be California and the Pacific north-west,” said Nasa’s Noah Petro, the project scientist for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. New Zealand and Australia also will have prime viewing. » | Associated Press | Tuesday, May 25, 2021

Céline Dion - All By Myself (Official Remastered HD Video)

Abba - Thank You For The Music (Official Video)

Abba - Super Trouper

The Beach Boys: I Can Hear Music

Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group

Scottish Independence: 'Queen to Head Charm Offensive to Save Union'

THE NATIONAL: THE Queen is to lead a Royal "charm offensive" to help save the Union – with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge expected to play a key role, it is being reported.

The strategy, which is said to be discreetly backed by Downing Street, received its effective launch on Saturday when Prince William described the "special place" Scotland has in his heart.

He made the comments in his address to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh as he and his wife embark on a week-long campaign in Scotland to win over hearts and minds. » | Kathleen Nutt | Chief Political Reporter | Sunday, May 23, 2021

Royals have dropped any pretence that they are neutral on independence »

Definitely, Maybe (3/9) Movie CLIP - Smoke-Off (2008) HD

Naughty, but nice! Those were the days! Not so many health Nazis around in those days! People had foibles, they knew they had foibles, and they enjoyed their foibles, too! Then came the Puritans! The rest, as they say, is history.

Back in the day, it was cool to smoke. These days, to be cool, you have to be anti-smoking, anti-meat-eating, pro-vegan or at least vegetarian. You mustn’t smoke, you mustn’t drink milk (only processed milk substitutes will do), and you have to jog or go to the gym. Oh, and you have to be a killjoy, too! You can’t be cool if you aren’t a killjoy.

Welcome to the new world!

San Francisco - Scott McKenzie

1967: The Counterculture Year That Changed the World | Summer of Love | Timeline

In 1967 an expressive, colourful musical force painted a backdrop of social change, fashion, love, turmoil and war. The world remembers the Summer of Love in 1967 as one of those moments when a unique and creative explosion of music and popular culture arrived in the UK and USA.