[FOX] Four Venezuelan nationals are accused of turning Connecticut rest-stop ATMs into cash-spewing machines in a "jackpotting" scheme that netted more than $529,000 in less than two weeks, federal prosecutors said.
The alleged crew hit ATMs along Interstate 95 and at other Connecticut locations between Aug. 8 and Aug. 18, 2025, using specialized hardware and malware to force the machines to dispense their cash, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut.
Prosecutors allege that Euclides Moreno Itanare, 28, of Raleigh, North Carolina; Willian Ricardo Flores, 49, of the Bronx, New York; Alberto Jose Freites Arvilla, 41, of Queens, New York; and Luis Jose Freites Arvilla, 38, of Lynn, Massachusetts were arrested June 25 and charged with interstate transportation of stolen property and conspiracy.
[FoxNews] Lujan Grisham called the alleged DEA operation 'the most derelict, despicable act' of her career "And I have done many derelict and despicable acts myself, so I know them when I see them"
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is demanding the federal government pay reparations after accusing the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of allowing millions of fentanyl pills to flood her state during an undercover operation without notifying state or local officials.
Calling the alleged operation "the most derelict, despicable act in my long career," Lujan Grisham said the fallout has forced New Mexico to pour more than $1.5 billion into law enforcement, behavioral health, addiction treatment and other public safety initiatives while battling overdose deaths and widespread addiction.
"The DEA stood silently by and watched thousands of fentanyl pills get distributed with no arrests, no evidence, no notice that we know of anywhere else," Lujan Grisham said during a Monday news conference. "Someone must pay for the damage to this state, the public safety risks that will be shared by everyone here for a decade."
Lujan Grisham said she wants the federal government to reimburse New Mexico for the money it has spent combating the fentanyl epidemic, including law enforcement operations, behavioral health services, addiction treatment, overdose prevention and other public safety initiatives.
#5
1. It happened during the Biden administration which she conveniently ignore. She and the party made sure Biden carried NM.
2. It's a sanctuary state in which state and local law enforcement in the cities do not cooperate with the feds.
#7
1. It happened during the Biden administration which she conveniently ignore.
Democrats ignore a lot things. Biden ignored fentanyl smuggling altogether, left the border wide open, during his entire term in office. I have to wonder why Gov. Grisham never said anything about it then.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/01/2026 11:17 Comments ||
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#8
She should have been screaming bloody murder because that's exactly what it was.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/01/2026 11:19 Comments ||
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[FoxNews] Lacey Smith and Marli Brown were fired after sharing concerns about the Equality Act in an internal employee forum A federal appeals court revived a lawsuit brought by two former Alaska Airlines flight attendants who say they were fired after expressing
religious objections to the airline's support for the Equality Act, allowing their religious discrimination claims to proceed.
The Ninth Circuit ruled Wednesday there is sufficient evidence for a jury to determine whether Lacey Smith and Marli Brown were fired because of their religious beliefs, reviving the lawsuit they filed against the airline.
"We are grateful the court recognized the clear evidence of religious discrimination against Marli and Lacey by both Alaska Airlines and the flight attendants’ union," Stephanie Taub, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, who argued before the Court back in August 2025, said in a statement.
"The Ninth Circuit’s decision today reinforces that federal civil rights laws protect people of faith from discrimination by their employer or their union," Taub added. "You cannot be fired because your employer does not like your religious beliefs."
In early 2021, Alaska Airlines said it would support the proposed Equality Act on an online internal employee network.
The Equality Act, which was introduced by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., sought to add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes in employment, housing, and other capacities under federal civil rights law. It passed the House in February 2021.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[REGNUM.RU] Solar activity has sharply increased, and maximum X-class flares could begin at any moment. This was reported on June 30 by the press service of the Solar Astronomy Laboratory of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
According to scientists, a flare spiral has begun to unwind on the star. Over the past 24 hours, researchers have recorded 17 flares, compared to eight the day before and five the two days before. On the morning of June 30, for the first time in over a week, two M-class flares—the second-lowest in power—occurred.
Experts attributed the increased activity to the fact that two large sunspot clusters at the corona merged into a single complex magnetic structure and began actively exchanging energy. They estimate that such a "magnetic reservoir" is capable of accumulating energy for an exceptionally powerful flare.
The laboratory noted that this year's largest sunspot group is currently almost directly opposite Earth, but has not yet produced a single X-class flare. Scientists consider this to be an exception and admit that X-class flares could begin at any time.
On February 2, an X8.11-class solar flare occurred, which remains the most powerful since the beginning of 2026.
On June 3, scientists recorded an M9.3-class flare, and on June 5, the plasma clouds ejected during it reached Earth and caused a moderate-magnitude magnetic storm that lasted until June 6. On June 21, specialists again recorded a series of M-class flares, the largest of which reached M2.
More from regnum.ru Scientist Bogachev: Giant sunspots can cause powerful magnetic storms
The largest sunspot group in 2026 is aligning with Earth and could trigger magnetic storms near the maximum G4 level if X-class flares occur in the area. Sergei Bogachev, head of the Solar Astronomy Laboratory at the Space Research Institute (IKI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, spoke with Regnum News Agency on Tuesday, June 30.
On Tuesday, the largest sunspot group will align with Earth. According to the scientist, it will have its greatest impact on the planet until Wednesday, July 1, inclusive. If large plasma emissions occur in the area during this time, powerful magnetic storms will almost certainly occur on Earth.
"The mere fact that a group of sunspots is aligned with the Sun-Earth line doesn't mean there will be any storms or anything else threatening. It simply means that if solar events do occur, they will have a stronger impact on the planet. From Monday through Wednesday, the group of sunspots will be at their most effective. If X-level flares occur in the first half of this week, the effect will be severe. Storms will then immediately occur, and their intensity could reach G4 on a five-point scale," Bogachev explained.
Moreover, in the area aligned with the Earth, no flares of the maximum (X) or even the average (M) level have been recorded yet. If such events do not occur, major storms should not occur.
"This sunspot group is the largest of the year, and it has already surpassed in size the regions that produced the year's largest flares, but it still shows no activity. This sunspot group hasn't yet produced a single M-magnitude flare, let alone an X-magnitude flare. It produces flares of the standard C-magnitude. We have no basis for predicting any direct events," Bogachev concluded.
On June 26, the largest sunspot group of 2026 emerged on its Earth-facing side. It was designated 4478. Its area is 1190 m.s.p. (a unit of measurement for sunspot area). There is no actual activity in this region yet.
Bogachev previously noted that solar activity would continue to decline, with numerous magnetic storms expected for at least the next two years. By 2028–2031, they should cease altogether.
Even more from regnum.ru A high-level X-ray flare has been detected on the Sun.
Scientists have recorded a sharp increase in solar activity—17 solar flares, including two strong ones. A top-level X-ray flare occurred on the Sun on June 30. This was reported by the Solar Astronomy Laboratory of the Space Research Institute (IKI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
"Here comes the first X outbreak. The situation could unfold in almost any direction," the statement reads.
Sergei Bogachev, head of the Solar Astronomy Laboratory at the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, reported that the largest sunspot group in 2026 will align with Earth and could trigger magnetic storms of near-maximum G4 intensity if X-class flares occur in the region.
On June 26, the largest sunspot group of 2026 emerged on its Earth-facing side. It was designated 4478 and covered an area of 1190 m.s.p. (a unit of measurement for sunspot area).
Bogachev previously noted that solar activity would continue to decline, with numerous magnetic storms expected for at least the next two years. By 2028–2031, they should cease altogether.
[FoxWeather] Light shaking was reported in the Mexican state of Sinaola in the cities of Los Mochis and Culiacán.
A magnitude 6.0 earthquake shook parts of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula, marking the latest earthquake to happena along the Pacific Ring of Fire on Tuesday afternoon.
The earthquake happened at 12:45 p.m. Pacific time in the Gulf of California, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
The quake occurred roughly 6 miles deep and light shaking was reported in the Mexican state of Sinaola in the cities of Los Mochis and Culiacán.
[MILITARYTIMES.COM] U.S. Army Gen. Christopher Donahue, who oversaw the service’s operations across Europe and Africa and became known as the last U.S. soldier to leave Afghanistan, will unexpectedly relinquish command next week after just 18 months in the role, the Pentagon confirmed Wednesday.
“Gen. Christopher Donahue, commanding general of U.S. Army Europe and Africa and commander of NATO’s Allied Land Command, will relinquish command on July 2, 2026,” Army spokeswoman Cynthia O. Smith said in a statement.
“Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie, deputy commander, U.S. Army Europe and Africa will perform the duties of the commanding general. The Army thanks Gen. Donahue for his leadership of U.S. Army Europe and Africa.”
The Army did not provide a reason for the abrupt leadership change. Donahue’s exit was first reported Tuesday by The Atlantic.
The West Point graduate took command of U.S. Army Europe and Africa in December 2024 after previously leading the XVIII Airborne Corps and the 82nd Airborne Division. Donahue in 2021 oversaw security during the frenzied U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
#2
The position he was holding was reduced under reorg to a 3 star position. He refused to take the star off and is gone. He served at the pleasure of the president. Time for him to go.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/01/2026 2:02 Comments ||
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#4
I admit prejudice towards him - he's a former 2nd AND 3rd Ranger battalion leader plus Delta Force. With that background his operational and tactical skill set seems solid. Although perhaps his political instincts don't jive with the current culture.
A retired 4 star U.S. Army General can receive a pension that is approximately $237,144 per year.
A 3 star (O-9) retiring from the U.S. Army with 31 years of service can expect a annual retirement pay of around $160,000.
A great warrior, a great military career the US Army will lose a great asset. All likely due to Politics and the needed for the EU to defend itself after 75+ years of NATO.
#8
While he has stepped into the politics, a usually fatal move for generals, he was an incredible operator and officer. Knowing when its time to go is always difficult. A lot of GO's leave service and enter politics or business after service. They ALL see to fail in understanding that while they might have been a great officer and led thousands of troops in battle, they have the political knowledge and business acumen of someone in middle management. Its kinda sad, we see it all the time. A GO has what we call a half life when they get out and go into the private or public sectors. Very few make it past the three year half life and continue on upward on the other sectors. The retired military that seem to do best are the major through early COLs. Same goes for the enlisted, E-6 through E-8 seem to progress best. Look at congress and businesses. GO's are figureheads, those that rise to run things are not. There are examples of where some have made it, but the odds are stacked against them.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/01/2026 11:04 Comments ||
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[FOX] Thousands of police officers were deployed across South Africa after large-scale protests against illegal immigration erupted Tuesday, with destructive clashes spreading across multiple cities.
The unrest, involving thousands of protesters, broke out ahead of a June 30 deadline set by some organizers demanding the departure of all illegal migrants, according to Reuters.
The marches reportedly drew thousands of mostly poor or unemployed South Africans, who say foreign migrants have taken jobs by accepting lower wages while also fueling higher crime rates.
[KhaamaPress] British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced the country’s largest defence investment in decades, pledging to sharply increase military spending in response to what he described as a more dangerous and unstable global security environment.
Speaking on Tuesday, Starmer said the plan would raise defence spending from 2.3% to 2.7% of gross domestic product, with a long-term goal of reaching 3% and eventually 4.2%. The government will allocate an additional £15 billion, taking total defence spending over the next four years to nearly £300 billion.
Starmer said Britannia faces growing security challenges, citing the war in Ukraine, instability in the Middle East, rising living costs and emerging cross-border threats. He stressed that the investment was intended to "prevent war, not start one."
The plan will increase annual defence spending from about £54 billion to nearly £80 billion by 2029. Funding will come partly from scaling back selected infrastructure and energy projects while improving procurement and efficiency within the Ministry of Defence.
The investment package includes strengthening Britannia’s nuclear deterrent, expanding capabilities in drones, the Royal Navy, the Army and next-generation air power, while reinforcing the country’s commitments to NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... The announcement comes as European governments continue to increase military spending following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and growing concerns over wider regional conflicts. NATO members have faced sustained pressure to raise defence budgets and strengthen collective deterrence against evolving security threats.
British officials have argued that higher defence investment is also expected to support domestic manufacturing, defence industries and technological innovation, describing the strategy as an investment in both national security and long-term economic resilience.
[ROOT] Estonia has released images showing machine guns and sandbags mounted on a Russian-flagged liquefied natural gas carrier in the Baltic Sea this spring, signalling a more confrontational stance by Moscow in protecting its civilian fleet.
The surveillance images show fortified machine gun positions on the bridge roof of the Marshal Vasilevskiy, a civilian vessel whose home port is Kaliningrad.
Armed guards are common on ships transiting piracy hotspots, but it is "a crazy new step" for civilian vessels in the Baltic, said Yoruk Isik, a geopolitical analyst who runs the Bosphorus Observer consultancy.
"This is a hostile move by Russia to send a message to EU and NATO nations that it will actively oppose any attempt to detain or inspect its ships," Isik told Reuters.
"There is no justification for self defence posture like a machine gun in the Baltic... This clearly shows that the high seas are becoming increasingly lawless."
The Marshal Vasilevskiy, owned by Gazprom unit Gazprom Flot LLC, has transported LNG to Kaliningrad from a port near St Petersburg four times since the start of 2025, most recently in May, according to LSEG ship tracking data. The route runs along Estonia's coastline.
The images "were taken this spring on the Baltic Sea... within Estonia's area of responsibility", a spokesperson for the Estonian Police and Border Guard service said on Monday.
#1
"This is a hostile move by Russia to send a message to EU and NATO nations that it will actively oppose any attempt to detain or inspect its ships," Isik told Reuters.
"There is no justification for self defence posture like a machine gun in the Baltic... This clearly shows that the high seas are becoming increasingly lawless."
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Ford has admitted its push to rely heavily on AI fell short, revealing it has hired hundreds of veteran engineers after concluding the technology alone could not deliver the quality improvements it expected.
The US automaker has hired more than 350 veteran engineers over the past three years to help address quality problems that have cost the company billions of dollars.
Ford, however, insisted it is not abandoning AI and said the improvements have come from combining the technology with decades of engineering expertise.
'This reorg allowed us to look at the entire lifecycle of a vehicle – from software development to suppliers on our plant floor - as one continuous and collaborative flow,' a Ford spokesperson told the Daily Mail.
'At the same time, we have rallied the whole company around a clear vision: Quality Comes First. We've built a culture of relentless problem-solving and recognizing our teams when they prevent issues from reaching customers.
'Using AI is just a small part of this. One tool in a toolbox and culture that relies on experience and expertise as it does modern manufacturing tools.'
The so-called 'gray beard' engineers - many of them former Ford employees or recruits from suppliers - were brought in to reprogram the company's AI tools and tackle quality problems that have cost Ford billions of dollars.
'Artificial intelligence is a fantastic tool, but it's only as good as the information you use to train it,' Charles Poon, Ford's vice president of vehicle hardware engineering, told Bloomberg and other reporters on a call Wednesday.
#4
Just remember, Accenture and the other consultants said it was a great idea.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
07/01/2026 10:59 Comments ||
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#5
theory meets reality. The auto industry pushes innovation and then learns the hard way. Seems management does not look for 2nd and 3rd order of effects. For example the industry was all in of fully automating a production line. Now they are finding out that significant model changes are too costly, programming costs outstripped retraining and retooling costs. The industry is creeping back to humans on the line, they are cheaper than programmers and software.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/01/2026 11:19 Comments ||
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#6
the industry was all in of fully automating a production line
The automobile is a complex set of 'mostly' integrated systems which fail with perilous effects.
Now a simple mid-sized drone of wingset, engine, guidance and payload could be cranked out pretty fast.
[ZERO] The deep state's favorite tools of control just got dragged back into the light. Today, the House Oversight Committee's Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets held the first congressional hearing on the CIA's MKULTRA program since 1977.
What could have been a dusty historical review turned into a direct warning that the same machinery of mind control, memory manipulation, and behavioral experimentation may never have shut down - and could now run on far more powerful modern engines.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna and her colleagues are doing what previous Congresses largely refused to do: forcing sunlight on one of the intelligence community's darkest chapters.
The testimony made one thing unmistakable. The CIA lied to lawmakers decades ago about the program's success. Advances in neuroscience, cyber tools, and artificial intelligence have handed covert operators capabilities Sidney Gottlieb could only dream of. And American citizens remain potential targets.
#3
What could have been a dusty historical review turned into a direct warning that the same machinery of mind control, memory manipulation, and behavioral experimentation may never have shut down - and could now run on far more powerful modern engines.
Kinda makes you wonder about some of the shooters who've been in the news lately.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/01/2026 11:57 Comments ||
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#4
But now, if federal employees are reluctant to divulge information, they can be fired.
[ROOT] Reuters gained exclusive access to the NATO exercise on Friday, one in a series of U.S.-hosted drills focused on defending the American homeland – and timed to coincide with the country’s 250th anniversary.
They were conducted at a perilous moment for NATO, with the Trump administration questioning the value of the 77-year-old alliance, reviewing its force posture in Europe and lashing out at long-time allies.
In an Oval Office meeting last week with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, President Donald Trump admonished Britain, Spain, Germany and France for not doing more to support the U.S. war in Iran.
"We're disappointed with most of them,” the president said.
David Cattler, a former NATO intelligence chief during Trump’s first term, said the drills send a potent message about the ability and willingness of European nations to defend both sides of the Atlantic. Yet he doubted it would change minds at the Pentagon.
Antni sez he knows nuttin about it. [ScientificAmerican] The Chinese Academy of Sciences says the experiment marks the first study on human artificial embryos in space. The artificial embryos are actually structures derived from stem cells, and they mimic how embryos form during the early days of pregnancy. These structures wouldn’t be able to develop into humans even if they were implanted into a uterus. Researchers originally conceived these artificial embryolike structures as a model to study the earliest moments of development because of widespread international rules aimed at restricting research on real human embryos that are older than two weeks after fertilization.
[FoxNews] A busy warehouse loading dock can be a grind. Trucks pull up. Packages pour in. Workers have to move fast, lift heavy boxes and keep everything flowing before the next trailer arrives. That part of the warehouse has always been one of the hardest places to automate. Every box can be a different size. Freight can shift in transit. Labels may face the wrong way. And when one system finishes a task, the next system still has to know what to do with the package.
Now, Ambi Robotics and Pickle Robot Company say they have linked their robotic systems to help solve that handoff problem. The companies announced a commercial integration that connects Pickle Robot's trailer-unloading robots with Ambi Robotics' AmbiStack pallet-building system. In other words, one robot system unloads mixed freight from a trailer. Then a conveyor moves those cases downstream so another robotic system can scan and stack them for warehouse receiving.
If this works well in large facilities, it points to a future where robots can handle more of the work that happens between a truck and a warehouse floor.
**Amazon** has deployed over **1 million robots** in its warehouses as of July 2025, a fleet size that nearly matches its human workforce and handles approximately **75%** of global deliveries. The company is actively integrating advanced robotics like **Proteus**, **Vulcan**, and **Blue Jay** to automate sorting, lifting, and navigation, with recent 2026 updates highlighting AI-driven natural language commands and multi-task assembly lines.
This automation shift includes piloting software like **Full Facility Load Balancing** to optimize human worker movement and efficiency, aiming to recover millions of labor hours annually. While Amazon claims these technologies support workers by reducing physical strain and injury, the rapid expansion has sparked internal discussions and external concerns regarding the long-term impact on blue-collar employment and job security.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[FoxNews] Lacey Smith and Marli Brown were fired after sharing concerns about the Equality Act in an internal employee forum A federal appeals court revived a lawsuit brought by two former Alaska Airlines flight attendants who say they were fired after expressing 
