Texas Activist: It's Clear That Elon Musk Moved Into Our Border Community "To Colonize The Region

Posted By Ian Schwartz
On Date April 23, 2023

DEMOCRACY NOW! REPORTS: We get an update from South Texas, where Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket blew up four minutes after launch Friday and residents reported particulates or ash rained down on their neighborhoods near the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. We speak with Bekah Hinojosa of Another Gulf Is Possible, who has been targeted for participating in protests against SpaceX. She says, “We’re clearly being exploited by a billionaire and his pet project.” She also responds to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval Thursday of three new liquified natural gas projects in the area.

AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to South Texas, where Elon Musk’s SpaceX is claiming success after the first launch of its massive new rocket, dubbed “Starship.” The two-stage prototype lifted off Thursday morning from SpaceX’s sprawling base on Texas’s Gulf Coast near the U.S. border with Mexico, becoming the largest and heaviest machine ever to fly under its own power. At least six of the rocket’s 33 engines failed during flight. The vehicle self-destructed over the Gulf of Mexico about four minutes after liftoff. Residents of Port Isabel, near the launch site, reported particulates or ash rained down on their neighborhoods. The fiery end to the launch was the latest in a series of explosions around SpaceX’s launch site near the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge.

This comes as three liquefied natural gas projects in the Rio Grande Valley were just approved by the FERC. That’s the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Indigenous, environmental and community organizers responded Thursday to the SpaceX launch and explosion and denounced the new projects. This is Christopher Basaldú.

CHRISTOPHER BASALDÚ: Rio Bravo Pipeline and SpaceX, none of these companies consulted with the original people of this land, the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas. None of them consulted with the tribe. None of them have our consent. But yet, they still want to destroy Native homelands, ancestral homelands. We never gave our consent, and they’re moving forward. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, they never consulted with the tribe. They don’t have our consent, and they’re moving forward anyway. That’s not justice. … They’re enabling Musk to destroy our lands and destroy this beautiful area. It needs to stop. These are all the histories of colonial genocide against Native people and Native lands.

AMY GOODMAN: For more, we’re joined in Brownsville, Texas, by Bekah Hinojosa, an environmental and community advocate with the grassroots collaborative Another Gulf Is Possible. She’s one of the many people who spoke out against SpaceX and faced repression and prosecution. Last year, police broke into her home and arrested her after she was accused of spray-painting the words “gentrified” and “stop SpaceX” under a mural in downtown Brownsville. She’s still fighting these charges.

Bekah Hinojosa, welcome to Democracy Now! It’s great to have you with us. So, yesterday, Elon Musk declared success when his SpaceX rocket exploded. Now, actually, though he was, of course, mocked by many — what does a failure mean if your rocket explodes out of control? — scientifically, it’s a chance to test different ways of trying to shoot off this rocket. But you’re on the ground. If you can talk about what SpaceX means for your communities?

BEKAH HINOJOSA: You know, we’re tired of living under the constant threat of flammable rocket explosions because of SpaceX. You know, Elon Musk is on his quest to colonize Mars, and it’s beginning — he’s beginning by colonizing our community that’s on the frontlines of the U.S.-Mexico border, you know, that’s on the frontlines of the Gulf Coast, where we’re dealing with layers and layers of injustices. You know, our community is opposed to SpaceX’s operations. Yesterday, 27 organizations from the Rio Grande Valley signed on to a letter officially opposing the rocket launch.

AMY GOODMAN: So, talk about how — who controls where he does this work? And, in fact, does he choose this area of Texas on the Mexico border because of the deregulation of Texas and the fact — what kind of regulation does he face? And what kind of consent is required, if any, of the local community?

BEKAH HINOJOSA: It’s very clear that Elon Musk moved into our border community to take over, to colonize the region. We’re clearly being exploited by a billionaire and his pet project. You know, we are a low-income community of color. And Texas has a long history of deregulation, of just rubber-stamping permits and approvals for any big industry, and also give out numerous tax subsidies. You know, that’s what we’ve seen with SpaceX.

He’s moved into our community and turned us into a testing ground. It’s at the point now where I hear a noise, my family and I, and we wonder, “Is that SpaceX?” And we come to find out that the rumble is because of a rocket launch. Or I hear a huge explosion or blast from 10 miles away, and it turns out that SpaceX has done some kind of unannounced rocket testing. You know, we’re constantly dealing with just the growth of SpaceX and their operations.

AMY GOODMAN: So, Bekah, last year, you were violently arrested after police broke into your home without showing you a warrant. You were detained for, what, more than a day, for 26 hours. Police took your glasses. They placed you in a cold cell, after you were interrogated, charged with what? A misdemeanor? Accused of spray-painting these words “gentrified” and “stop SpaceX” under a mural in downtown Brownsville. The outgoing Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez posted a photo of you on his social media, thanking the police for your arrest. He also wrote, quote, “Ms. Hinojosa has been quoted in several anti-SpaceX articles.” Can you talk about the former Mayor Mendez’s ties to SpaceX, and how local officials have come after environmental and community advocates, like you, over opposition to SpaceX? You’re still fighting these charges?

BEKAH HINOJOSA: You know, I’m still — I’m steal dealing, fighting to have this charge dropped against me. You know, SpaceX is growing into our community. SpaceX and Elon Musk are actively handing out money here and there, and it’s becoming political hush money. You know, it’s buying out politicians. We’ve seen when a SpaceX testing goes wrong, which it always goes wrong, and burns down wildlife refuge, you know, political officials just turning the other way.

And I’ve been personally impacted now by SpaceX buying out community member — buying out politicians, when, you know, last year, four police broke into my apartment. When I asked for a warrant and tried to put on my shoes, they threatened me with resisting arrest. They jailed me for 26 hours. And then I come to find out, once I’m released, that Mayor Trey Mendez, who’s still in office for the next month, has doxed me. You know, he posted my mugshot on his official Facebook page.

AMY GOODMAN: He’s the current mayor.

BEKAH HINOJOSA: He is the current mayor. His term ends in May. He’s chosen not to run for reelection. And I’ve come to find that the mayor has doxed me. He published my mugshot on his official Facebook platform. He posted my job, trying to get me fired. You know, he singled me out and targeted me because I’ve been publicly — I’ve been speaking up about the dangers of SpaceX for years.

And what this means is that, you know, the city is signaling to us that any community organizer speaking up could be next. They’re targeting community activists. And we are actively rallying and pressuring the city to investigate Mayor Mendez for abuse of power. You know, we won’t tolerate elected officials singling out and targeting and doxing community members. You know, the city is signaling to us that they’re selling out to a private space industry.

AMY GOODMAN: Talk about how the environment has been impacted. For people who were watching TV to see the SpaceX launch, you see in the upper left “Boca Chica.” Talk about Boca Chica, where the fresh waters of the Rio Grande trickle into the Gulf of Mexico, the beaches and protected lands, such as the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, near SpaceX.

BEKAH HINOJOSA: Yeah. I want to make it clear that Boca Chica Beach was never for sale. You know, Elon Musk has come and colonized our region. Boca Chica Beach is part of a state park. It’s part of the Lower — near the Lower Rio Grande Valley Wildlife Refuge. It’s part of an international wildlife corridor that’s very important for species to migrate, for genetic diversity. Boca Chica Beach and the entire region is also sacred lands of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe. And, you know, families have been going there for generations to fish. Boca Chica Beach is considered the poor people’s beach, because it’s for local people that go, don’t have to pay fees to enter, and can go fish to feed their families. It’s also where the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe hold their sacred ceremonies.

And Elon Musk and SpaceX have been using their private police force and the local police to turn people away, so he can host his press conferences and parties and test dangerous rocket equipment. You know, that’s what we’ve been seeing. You know, some of the routine testing has caused over 60 acres of the wildlife refuge to burn down, has sparked grass fires. We’ve seen threats and death of migratory birds and endangered species like the ocelot.

AMY GOODMAN: I also wanted to ask about this point that we raised in the lede, as well, and that is, last year, the Federal Aviation Administration determined that SpaceX’s plans for orbital launches would have no significant impact on the Gulf Coast region. The FAA’s ruling came after SpaceX founder Elon Musk accused the agency of having a fundamentally broken regulatory structure, after it didn’t rapidly approve an early Starship test flight. The FAA has also reportedly faced pressure from major SpaceX contractors, including NASA, Pentagon and the National Reconnaissance Office, all of whom rely heavily on SpaceX to launch satellites and astronauts to orbit and beyond. NASA has selected, for example, a version of SpaceX’s Starship as a lander for its upcoming Artemis III mission, which aims to return astronauts to the moon for the first time in half a century. So they’re using this private company for the Pentagon, for the FAA, for all of this NASA work.

BEKAH HINOJOSA: No, it’s very clear that Elon Musk and SpaceX has become — you know, is becoming too big to hold accountable, and is getting away with harming our community. And what we need are real solutions. We need investments, you know, in Earth, the problems we have here on the planet, climate change. And instead, we see our tax subsidies go towards a billionaire’s pet project, for a billionaire to go to space as part of his sci-fi adventure.

AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to finally ask you about the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approving the Rio Grande LNG, Texas LNG, you know, liquid natural gas, and the Rio Bravo Pipeline Thursday, just hours after the SpaceX explosion. These projects are within a few miles from SpaceX and have faced fierce opposition from groups like yours. Talk about what’s at stake with these projects, especially in the Rio Grande and the Gulf of Mexico as area of the country that are on the frontlines of the climate crisis.

BEKAH HINOJOSA: Yeah, we’re dealing with layers and layers of environmental disasters here in the Rio Grande Valley. You know, communities, we’ve been — I’ve been fighting back to stop these LNG terminals for nearly a decade. Rio Grande LNG, Texas LNG and the Rio Bravo Pipeline plan to build next door to SpaceX, within six miles. And we’re terrified of the very real threat that exploding rockets next to giant tanks of gas, next to giant tankers of gas, where we’ve already seen, you know, rocket shrapnel raining even further past six miles.

And we’re being left in the dark. We haven’t heard from regulatory agencies about the flammable risks. And communities here have made it absolutely clear that we oppose these LNG export terminals. All of our communities have passed anti-LNG resolutions — Port Isabel, South Padre Island, Laguna Vista, Long Island Village — because of the threat of flammable explosion from SpaceX, because this would completely destroy our way of life. We are one of the last little pieces of the South Texas coastline that doesn’t have refineries or flare stacks. And, you know, LNG would completely change our way of life for the worse.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, Bekah Hinojosa, I want to thank you for being with us, environmental and community advocate with the grassroots collaborative Another Gulf Is Possible.

The North Seas can be the world’s biggest power plant

Tomorrow, we will be taking another crucial step toward a green and independent Europe.

Off-shore wind turbines in the North Sea are essential to reach global climate goals | Pool photo by Christian Charisius/AFP via Getty Images

BY ALEXANDER DE CROO, MARK RUTTE, XAVIER BETTEL, EMMANUEL MACRON, OLAF SCHOLZ, LEO VARADKAR, JONAS GAHR STØRE, RISHI SUNAK AND METTE FREDERIKSEN

APRIL 23, 2023 

Alexander De Croo is the prime minister of Belgium. Mark Rutte is the prime minister of the Netherlands. Xavier Bettel is the prime minister of Luxembourg. Emmanuel Macron is the president of France. Olaf Scholz is the chancellor of Germany. Leo Varadkar is the prime minister of Ireland. Jonas Gahr Støre is the prime minister of Norway. Rishi Sunak is the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Mette Frederiksen is the prime minister of Denmark.

We need offshore wind turbines— and we need a lot of them.

We need them to reach our climate goals, and to rid ourselves of Russian gas, ensuring a more secure and independent Europe.

Held for the first time last year, Denmark, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands came together for the inaugural North Sea Summit in the Danish harbor town of Esbjerg, setting historic goals for offshore wind with the Esbjerg Declaration. It paved the way for making the North Seas a green power plant for Europe, as well as a major contributor to climate neutrality and strengthening energy security.

This Monday, nine countries will meet for the next North Sea Summit — this time in the Belgian town of Ostend — where France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway and the United Kingdom will also put their political weight behind developing green energy in the North Seas, including the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish and Celtic Seas. Together, we will combine and coordinate our ambitions for deploying offshore wind and developing an offshore electricity grid linking our countries, putting Europe on the path toward a green economy fueled by offshore green power plants.

Collectively, our target for offshore wind in the North Seas is now 120 gigawatts by 2030, and a minimum of 300 gigawatts by 2050 — larger than any of the co-signatories’ existing generation capacity at a national level. And to deliver on this ambition, we are committing to building an entire electricity system in the North Seas based on renewable energy by developing cooperation projects.

This is a massive undertaking and a true example of the green transition in the making. It also requires huge investments in infrastructure, both offshore and on land.

It presents us with a political and environmental dilemma as well: We are facing a climate crisis at the same time some of our ecosystems are in decline, and offshore wind is an integral part of both climate action and safeguarding our energy security. Thus, time is of the essence, and we must follow up on the progress already made on reining in the burden of bureaucracy for renewable projects.

We cannot wait years for permitting processes while global temperatures rise, and autocratic regimes have the power to turn the lights off in our living rooms and halt production in our industries. Instead, we must work toward rapid deployment of offshore wind, while making every effort to safeguard our healthy and robust marine ecosystems for future generations.

Crucially, the green transition is also a cornerstone for maintaining our competitiveness in the global economy. And while the North Seas will be a major provider of clean, affordable energy for our industries and businesses in the form of electricity and hydrogen, we must ensure we don’t simply move from one dependence to another. As such, we need to make space for European value chains when it comes to green tech and diversify our sources of critical raw materials for wind turbines, batteries and the like. We will work together within NATO and the European Union to increase the security of offshore and underwater infrastructure, stepping up efforts to react effectively to growing traditional and hybrid threats.

Tomorrow, we will be taking another crucial step toward a green and competitive Europe, with even more turbines spinning in the North Seas. And every turbine gets us closer to a green future.

We know the way — now, it’s a matter of picking up the pace.

Indiana Residents Thought There Was an Explosion—It Turned out to Be a Meteor

By Wire Service
April 23, 2023

The meteor that likely caused a sonic boom in Indiana was captured by the home security system of Greenwood resident Bryan Bunton. (Courtesy of Bryan Bunton)

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a … meteor flashing through the Indiana night sky.

Residents of Hamilton County, Indiana, had the out-of-this-world opportunity to witness a meteor Friday night.

Residents reported what they thought might have been an explosion due to the loud sound and flashing lights, according to a tweet from Hamilton County Emergency Management.

The agency’s “current theory” is the sound and light were caused by a sonic boom from a meteor.

Pilots in Kentucky saw a meteor to the north and a lightning detection center picked up signals over Carroll County, Hamilton County Emergency Management reported.

Videos taken by residents and published by CNN affiliate WTHR show a bright light streaking across the sky. Several videos also captured the rumbling sound caused by the meteor.

Hamilton County Emergency Management thanked the National Weather Service and FAA for helping them “quickly figure out what happened.”

A meteor is a piece of space rock entering the earth’s atmosphere, according to NASA. The bright streak with the appearance of a “shooting star” is actually the extremely hot air produced by the meteor. The rocks usually burn up in earth’s atmosphere before reaching the ground.

Indiana’s flashing lights fell during the Lyrids, one of the oldest recorded meteor showers. Meteors from the shower are expected to be most frequent on Saturday night into the early hours of Sunday morning.

Hamilton County is located in central Indiana.

The-CNN-Wire

Biden EPA to issue power plant rules that lean on carbon capture

Equipment used to capture carbon dioxide emissions is seen at a coal-fired power plant owned by NRG Energy where carbon collected from the plant will be used to extract crude from a nearby oilfield in Thomspsons, Texas, US . 

The US government may soon require natural gas-fired power plants to install technology to capture carbon emissions, sources said, as President Joe Biden's administration enacts new rules to help decarbonise the power sector in 12 years.

The Environmental Protection Agency as soon as this week is expected to unveil standards for new and existing power plants, which belch roughly a quarter of US greenhouse gas emissions, two sources said. The rules will replace former President Donald Trump's American Clean Energy rule and former President Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan, both of which were invalidated by courts.

More than a year in the making, the standards should be based on a plant's potential to reduce emissions through carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, according to clean air law experts and industry representatives in talks with the EPA.

Utility companies may need to decide whether they want to build new baseload gas plants with CCS technology or zero-emission renewable energy. States would develop plans for bringing their plants into compliance.

"These standards could level the playing field between new gas plants and new renewable energy," said Thomas Schuster, head of the Sierra Club's Pennsylvania chapter. Most new gas plants currently do not pay for emitting carbon, so the rules could make it harder for them to compete with solar and wind power.

Biden has pledged that the power business will decarbonise by 2035. According to the Clean Air Act, the standards must be based on "best system of emission reduction," technologies deemed affordable and technically feasible.

The proposal will reflect two major developments to ensure the rules are legally defensible. One, a Supreme Court decision last July, barred EPA from forcing a system-wide shift in electric generation but allowed it to issue plant-specific rules.

Second, the Inflation Reduction Act created tax credits making carbon capture and hydrogen more affordable and affirmed EPA's authority to regulate power plants. The law offers more than $100 billion in clean electricity tax incentives, including a 70% increase in credits for each ton of carbon captured and sequestered.

"If you're building a new fossil [plant], it needs to control its emissions, said Lissa Lynch, director of the federal legal group at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Existing technology can capture and store approximately 90% of carbon emissions, Lynch said.

EPA could set varying standards for plants, applying stringent measures for ones that run constantly and easier ones for "peaker" plants which run during high power demand, Lynch said.

CLEANER POWER

US Energy Information Administration figures show fossil fuels accounted for more than 60% of US electricity generation in 2022, with 60% of that coming from gas and 40% from coal. Renewables accounted for 21.5%, with nuclear energy making up the rest.

The EIA projected that this year, 54% of new generation (21GW) will be solar and 14% will be natural gas (7.5GW).

Federal utility TVA has the most planned gas capacity at 5GW followed by investor-owned Duke Energy with 3 GW planned.

TVA's portfolio in the coming decades will include carbon-free sources "and sources like natural gas that complement that diversity without sacrificing rates or reliability", a spokesperson said.

Duke plans for natural gas to be part of its mix but "operated less as baseload generation and as more of a peaking/ramping resource over time to balance out the variability in renewable resources", a spokesperson said.

Some industry representatives signaled in comments to the EPA last year that they do not think power plant standards should be based on carbon capture and storage, with the National Mining Association saying it is not an "adequately tested technology." The group cited failure of a Texas project called Petra Nova that was mothballed in 2020.

Utility Southern Company, which is phasing out its large fleet of coal generation, said new gas turbines should be favored "to safeguard electric needs of the US".

Southern, which also runs the National Carbon Capture Center with the Department of Energy, said commercial deployment of carbon capture technology "is many years away" despite the cost-reduction potential of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Waterspout hits a beach in Florida, USA

The wind picked up chairs and umbrellas and even knocked over a beachgoer.

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for MH370 

I BELIEVE A WATERSPOUT TOOK DOWN THIS FLIGHT

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Girl finds Viking coins from over 1,000 years ago in Danish field: 'Incredibly exciting'

Coins were part of two treasures found near Viking castle Fyrkat in Denmark

By Julia Musto | Fox News

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com.

Around 300 pieces of silver from two Viking treasures, with approximately 50 whole coins, were found last fall in a Danish field at Bramslev.

The coins were located around fives miles away from the Viking castle Fyrkat, and date back to more than a thousand years ago.

The treasures were found less than 50 meters – or 164 feet – apart, containing the coins and cut-up silver jewelry.


North Jutland Museums said in a statement that the treasures probably served as a means of payment by weight.


The treasures were found in a field northeast of Hobro. 

(North Jutland Museums)

The rare trove was reportedly unearthed by a young girl who with a metal detector, according to AFP.

While originally buried close to each other, the hoards have been spread over a larger area due to modern ploughing, harrowing and sowing.

Both treasures contain a mixture of Danish, German and Arab coins.

The Danish coins are called cross coins, which were dated back to the reign of King Harald Blåtand, or Harald Bluetooth in English, during the 970s through the 980s.

The museum said the ruler's cross coins were in circulation for less than a few decades before losing the power struggle to his son, Svend Tveskæg, in the mid-980s. It noted that the cross coins were likely introduced in connection with his Christianization of the Danes.


The cross coins were introduction in connection with King Harald Bluetooth's Christianization with the Danes. (North Jutland Museums)

The other pieces of silver come from the same piece of jewelry: an unusually large ring pin. The pins were used by men at the top of society in Viking Age Ireland and neighboring islands

The museum said jewelry of this size and quality had been worn by bishops and kings, likely originating from a raiding expedition.

"The two silver treasures constitute a fantastic story in themselves, but to find them abandoned in a settlement only eight kilometers from Harald Blåtand's Viking fortress Fyrkat is incredibly exciting," Torben Trier Christiansen, archaeologist and museum inspector at North Jutland Museums, said in a statement. Fyrkat and the king's other ring castles were only use for a short time around the year 980.

A POPPY HEAD

The silver pieces come from the same jewelry: a large ring pin.

(North Jutland Museums)

"Perhaps the castles were not given up entirely voluntarily, and perhaps it happened in connection with the final showdown between Harald Blåtand and his son Svend Tveskæg. The Bramslev treasures were apparently buried around the same time or shortly after the castles were abandoned, and if there have been disturbances at Fyrkat, it makes good sense that the local magnate here at Bramslev has chosen to hide his valuables out of the way," he explained.

Excavation of the area will continue this autumn, focusing on finding the traces of buildings the treasures were originally buried inside, or very close to.

The treasures will be on display this summer at the Aalborg Historical Museum.

LA art exhibition on Middle East women opens amid US reproductive rights row

Agence France-Presse
April 22, 2023

An exhibition of work by female artists on women in the Middle East opens in California this weekend, as a fierce battle over women's reproductive rights grips the United States.

"Women Defining Women in Contemporary Art of the Middle East and Beyond" brings together the creations of 42 female artists, depicting what curators say are the personal and universal stories of women in Islamic societies, and aims to challenge stereotypes about this part of the world.

"So many people think that all women are the same in Middle Eastern lands, they're all oppressed, they are invisible, they have horrible lives," curator Linda Komaroff told AFP.

"And it's not true. It's like women everywhere. They have a good deal of agency and they act upon it."
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Exhibits come from all over the Middle East and beyond, but include a number from Iran, which has been shaken in recent months after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young woman arrested for allegedly not properly wearing the compulsory veil.

One powerful picture by Iranian photojournalist Newsha Tavakolian shows an Iranian woman in traditional clothes -- also wearing a pair of boxing gloves.

Another, by Shirin Aliabadi, showcases the irrepressible spirit of a younger generation, depicting a woman whose blonde wig pokes out from under her scarf as she blows a bubble with gum.
The exhibition comes as the United States has been thrown into tumult over the issue of abortion, after the US Supreme Court last year struck down the constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy.

On Friday the same court is set to wade into the legal battle over abortion drug mifepristone, after a Texan judge issued a ruling that would ban this widely used medication.

Komaroff said the ongoing fight over abortion rights in the United States meant this was a timely exhibition.

"Things are kind of going downhill for women in America in terms of our own control over our own bodies," she said.

"American women have been complacent. It's easy for them to look to another country or another region and say, 'We're better off than they are.'

"But maybe we're not. Maybe we're all in the same boat together."


The exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) opens Sunday and runs until September 24.

© Agence France-Presse

Pentagon leak spotlights surprising interplay between gaming and military secrets

By Sean Lyngaas, CNN
 Sat April 22, 2023

Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto/Getty Images
CNN —

The recent leak of classified US documents on social media platform Discord seemingly caught many at the Pentagon by surprise. But it wasn’t the first time that a forum popular with online gamers had hosted military secrets, underlining a major challenge for the US national security establishment and platforms alike.

As recently as January 2023, someone on a forum for fans of the video game War Thunder reportedly published confidential information on an F-16 fighter jet. That followed reports of at least three other occasions since 2021 when War Thunder fans posted documents on British, French and Chinese tanks. These cases – which Axios also reported on in the context of the Discord leaks – typically involved users boasting of their inside knowledge of military equipment and claiming to want to make the game more realistic.

Gaijin Entertainment, the company that produces War Thunder, took the posts down after forum moderators flagged them.



Member of chatroom where leaked Pentagon documents surfaced tells CNN alleged leaker didn't want users to be 'shocked by news cycles'

The recent leaks on Discord exposed a shortcoming in how the US government alerts platforms that they are hosting sensitive or classified information, according to Discord’s top lawyer.

There is currently “no structured process,” for the government to communicate whether documents posted on social media are classified or even authentic, Clint Smith, Discord’s chief legal officer, said in an April 14 statement that described classified military documents as a “significant, complex challenge” for Discord and other platforms.

The episodes point to vexing challenges for social media platforms like Discord – where 21-year Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira allegedly began posting classified information in December – and the US military, which has used Discord for recruiting.

Discord and other platforms face a difficult balancing act in giving young gamers the space to be themselves while also detecting when they post illegal content.

“A lot of these guys find their social circles in these online gaming spaces, and that can be great,” said Jennifer Golbeck, a professor at the University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies. “But if the culture of the platform shifts to rewarding things that you shouldn’t be doing, it can hard if you’re really invested in that that social group to give that up.”

Inside the furious week-long scramble to hunt down a massive Pentagon leak

Teixeira allegedly posted the documents – which included sensitive US intelligence on the war in Ukraine – to a private Discord chat in an attempt to look after his online friends and keep them informed, one member of the chatroom has claimed.

The Pentagon is trying to tap into online youth culture without it backfiring spectacularly, as it allegedly did with Teixeira.

An Air Force Gaming program that allows service members to compete in video game leagues to, according to a Pentagon press release, “build morale and mental health resiliency,” has more than 28,000 members. The top of the Air Force Gaming website includes a link to join the program’s Discord channel.
A warning from the Army

There were signs that Pentagon officials were growing wary of information young service members might share on Discord even before news of Teixeira’s alleged leak broke.

“Don’t post anything in Discord that you wouldn’t want seen by the general public,” reads a pamphlet published by US Army Special Operations Command in March.

That the warning came as classified documents allegedly shared by Teixeira sat on Discord appears to be entirely a coincidence; many US officials appeared unaware of the leak until news of it broke on April 6.

“Past incidents show how hard it is to stop these leaks,” said Casey Brooks, an Army veteran and video game fan.

“This is about maturity and how certain people seek value from interpersonal relationships and approval from peers and the competitive nature that gaming group members bond over,” Brooks told CNN.

Classified or sensitive documents are also a unique problem for content moderators on social media sites.

FBI probes pro-Russia social media account's spread of classified information

“With porn, you can at least have some kind of AI that will give a rough flag at the beginning that this looks vaguely like porn,” said Golbeck, the University of Maryland professor. “But what looks like a classified document? They’re just documents.”

As social media platforms like Discord grapple with the challenges of detecting sensitive intelligence leaks online, current and former US officials worry that US adversaries like Russia may see an intelligence gathering opportunity.

“If it’s not already happening, my guess would be the Russians have assessed that digging around in some of these obscure online forums … could bear fruit,” Holden Triplett, a former FBI official who worked at the US embassy in Moscow, told CNN.

Though there is no evidence that Teixeira was approached by foreign agents, Triplett said a young generation of online gamers might be a ripe target for recruitment.

“Ego and excitement have always been strong motivations to spy,” said Triplett, who is founder of security consultancy Trenchcoat Advisors. But the group of Discord users that included Teixeira “seemed particularly indifferent to national security concerns,” which is a vulnerability for the US government, Triplett said.

Australian explorers find ship sunk in WWII with over 1,000 POWs onboard

Montevideo Maru located at depth of 4,000 meters off Philippines island in South China Sea; artifacts, human remains won’t be removed

By AP

22 April 2023


This photo provided by the Australian War Memorial shows the Montevideo Maru. (Australian War Memorial via AP)


SYDNEY — A team of explorers announced it found a sunken Japanese ship that was transporting Allied prisoners of war when it was torpedoed off the coast of the Philippines in 1942, resulting in Australia’s largest maritime wartime loss with a total of 1,080 lives.

The wreck of the Montevideo Maru was located after a 12-day search at a depth of over 4,000 meters (13,120 feet) — deeper than the Titanic — off Luzon island in the South China Sea, using an autonomous underwater vehicle with in-built sonar.

There will be no efforts to remove artifacts or human remains out of respect for the families of those who died, said a statement Saturday from the Sydney-based Silentworld Foundation, a not-for-profit dedicated to maritime archaeology and history. It took part in the mission together with Dutch deep-sea survey specialists Fugro and Australia’s Defense Department.

“The extraordinary effort behind this discovery speaks for the enduring truth of Australia’s solemn national promise to always remember and honor those who served our country,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. “This is the heart and the spirit of Lest We Forget.”

The Montevideo Maru was transporting prisoners and civilians who were captured after the fall of Rabaul in Papua New Guinea.

The ship was not marked as carrying POWs, and on July 1, 1942, the American submarine Sturgeon, after stalking the ship through the night, fired four torpedoes, which found their target, sinking the vessel in less than 10 minutes.

#breaking Wreck of Australia’s largest maritime disaster found. WWII ship Montevideo Maru sunk off Philippines in 1942 with approximately 1060 prisoners, both military and civilian, lost. At least 850 Australian service members and 210 civilians from 14 countries were on board pic.twitter.com/ZvabYHCVH1 

— Andrew Greene (@AndrewBGreene) April 21, 2023

Those killed included 1,080 people from 14 nations, including 979 Australians.

“Families waited years for news of their missing loved ones, before learning of the tragic outcome of the sinking,” said Silentworld director John Mullen. “Some never fully came to accept that their loved ones were among the victims. Today, by finding the vessel, we hope to bring closure to the many families devastated by this terrible disaster.”

World War II Shipwreck Found After 80 Years

This undated handout photo received on April 22, 2023 from the Silentworld Foundation shows images of the Montevideo Maru, a World War II Japanese transport ship, on a screen during the search for the ship.

April 22, 2023 
Phil Mercer

 VOA

SYDNEY —

The mystery of one of the world's worst international maritime disasters has been solved off the coast of the Philippines. The wreck of the Montevideo Maru - a Japanese transport ship sunk 80 years ago by an American submarine during World War II – has finally been found.

The Montevideo Maru was carrying 850 prisoners of war and about 200 civilians who had been captured by the Japanese in Papua New Guinea in 1942. Unaware of who was onboard, the ship was torpedoed by the USS Sturgeon, an American submarine.

Its sinking was initially heralded as a success by Allied forces before the identity of most of those onboard was finally revealed.

The vessel's location has until now been an enduring mystery.

The wreck was found earlier this week in the South China Sea off the Philippines. The mission was a combined effort of the Australian Defense Department, marine archaeologists from Australia's Silentworld Foundation, and experts from the Dutch deep-sea survey company Fugro.

The search began earlier this month off the coast of the Philippines. Within two weeks, a positive sighting of the Montevideo Maru was made before the identity of the vessel was officially verified. It was the culmination of years of research and preparation by the search team.

Almost 1,000 Australians died in the disaster, the worst in the nation's maritime history.

Cathy Parry McLennan's grandfather Arthur Perry was on the Montevideo Maru when it sank.

She told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Saturday that she now has closure.

"I burst into tears, and I have been a bit emotional all day, I'm sorry," she said. "I think it is growing up as a child with my father who really never knew his dad and talked about him a lot and talked about being in New Guinea and what happened, and, so, it has all come to fruition and I think it is a lovely day because at least we know where grandfather is now and I feel closer to him."

The wreck was discovered on a mission put together by the Silentworld Foundation, which is dedicated to maritime archaeology and history and Fugro with support from Australia's Department of Defense.

The tragedy affected more than a dozen countries. There were victims from Denmark, New Zealand and the United States as well as Japan.

No items or human remains will be removed from the Montevideo Maru.

Turkish scientists conduct atmospheric research in and around Horseshoe Island of Antarctic

As part of 7th National Antarctic Science Expedition, Turkish scientists execute many projects in Antarctica

Sebnem Coskun |22.04.2023 


ANTARCTICA

Turkish scientists carried out atmospheric research in and around Horseshoe Island of Antarctica as part of the 7th National Antarctic Science Expedition.

Under the auspices of the Turkish Presidency, coordinated by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye’s (TUBITAK) Polar Research Institute and under the responsibility of the Turkish Industry and Technology Ministry, the 7th National Antarctic Science Expedition became a laboratory for scientific research for Turkish scientists at the South Pole.

Air quality measurement stations were established as part of atmosphere research carried out on Horseshoe Island and its surroundings.

As part of the study, data is collected, measurements are made for mapping with unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry, and astronomy observations are made.

Also, the data from the weather station is instantly transferred to the website of the General Directorate of Meteorology.



The scientists regularly update the meteorological data taken from the weather station established on Horseshoe Island in 2019, said Cetin Bicer, electronics engineer of the General Directorate of Meteorology, who participated in the science expedition.

"Meteorological data is provided as a basic input to all research. We have been keeping the data transferred to Türkiye under control since our station was established, and we added an ultraviolet sensor to our station in 2022 to provide this data," Bicer said.

"I evaluated the temperatures last year and this year. On the dates during the expedition, our temperatures were approximately one degree high. This shows that climate change is at visible levels," he said.

Also, Yildiz Technical University Surveying Engineering Research Assistant Mustafa Fahri Karabulut said he carried out a mapping study on Horseshoe Island, consisting of aerial photographs called orthophoto, which includes photogrammetric measurements and 3D coordinate information of the earth with an unmanned aerial vehicle.

"We will compare the area we shot last year with the area we shot this year and examine whether there is a change in the glaciers both in volume and area," Karabulut added.

Additionally, again this year, we measured the area we measured last year with the GPR, which we call ground radar, and examined the difference between the two in terms of volume, he said.

"We received the data from our Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) stations, which have been collecting it for about four years. With this data, we observe both glacial and snow changes, sea level changes, and atmospheric studies in the area," he added.



Also, speaking about particulate matter measurements with air quality devices on Horseshoe Island, Furkan Ali Kucuk, a researcher at TUBITAK Polar Research Institute, said they continue to measure particulate matter.

"Our aim is to measure whether we cause air pollution during our study at the campsite in Antarctica. As Türkiye, we continue our studies showing that we do not cause air pollution during our work in Antarctica," Kucuk added. ​​​​​​​