Loser Takes All

A new bill was passed by the Maine legislature designed to award the state’s presidential electoral votes to the candidate who wins the national popular vote.

“The Maine House voted by the slimmest of margins Tuesday to join a compact that would replace the Electoral College with the national popular vote.

The House voted 73-72 to enact LD 1578 ‘An Act to Adopt an Interstate Compact to Elect the President of the United States by National Popular Vote’.

Maine lawmakers have considered similar versions of the same bill since 2007 but have failed to join the compact.

Under the compact, all of a state’s electoral votes are awarded to the presidential slate with the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

So far, 16 states and DC have agreed to join the compact, representing 205 electoral votes.

But more states need to join to get to 270 electoral votes so the system can be used in presidential races across the country, Rep. Art Bell (D-Yarmouth) told members of the Legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee in January.

Maine has only four electoral votes and supporters argued that switching to a popular vote system would make smaller states like Maine more relevant.

Opponents say Maine is already well positioned because it’s one of only two states to split its electoral votes”. -Susan Cover, Spectrum News

In an effort by the Pine Tree State to push America toward a supposedly more equitable and democratic system, one can’t help but find it a bit ironic that even if every registered Maine constituent casts their vote for a candidate other than the one who wins the national popular vote, the state’s electors will be bound to vote for the candidate whom no one in the state elected.

Blinken Doubles Down on Ukraine

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters that Ukraine will eventually become a member of NATO at a reception celebrating the 75th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Brussels.

“Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday vowed that Ukraine will eventually join NATO, repeating a provocative promise that the alliance first made at a summit in Bucharest in 2008.

‘Ukraine will become a member of NATO’, Blinken said in Brussels alongside Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. NATO foreign ministers met in the Belgium capital to prepare for a NATO summit that will be held in Washington this July.

‘Our purpose of the summit is to help build a bridge to that membership and to create a clear pathway for Ukraine moving forward. We’ve done a lot of work on that over the last couple of days here in Brussels, a lot more work to be done between now and the summit, but we will see, I think, at the summit very strong support for Ukraine going forward and its relationship with NATO’, Blinken said.

Since the invasion was launched, NATO has doubled down on its promise to admit Ukraine eventually, but no clear timeline or assurances have been given since bringing Kiev in now would put the alliance in a direct war with Russia.

‘Experts tell us that Russia is particularly worried that the strong divisions in Ukraine over NATO membership, with much of the ethnic-Russian community against membership, could lead to a major split, involving violence or at worst, civil war. In that eventuality, Russia would have to decide whether to intervene; a decision Russia does not want to have to face’, he wrote”. -Dave DeCamp

Despite the fact that Russia would never permit Ukraine to become a member of NATO, given the way things are going, perhaps the greater concern for the allied countries remains whether there will even be a Ukraine by the time the war ends.

Earthquake Strikes Taiwan

A 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck off the eastern coast of Taiwan, the strongest temblor to hit the island country since 1999, has prompted a tsunami warning.

“The number of people injured in a 7.2 magnitude earthquake in eastern Taiwan climbed past 1,000 on Thursday though the death toll remained steady at nine, with 42 workers on their way to a hotel in a national park still missing.

The temblor, the strongest in 25 years, hit on Wednesday morning just as people were readying to go to work and school, focused on the largely rural and sparsely populated eastern county of Hualien.

Buildings also shook violently in the capital Taipei, but damage and disruption there was minimal.

Taiwan's fire department said the number of injuries had reached 1,038, and put the total number of missing at 48, including 42 hotel workers.

Late Wednesday, the disaster management command centre said the search for the hotel workers on their way to Taroko Gorge, a national park, was a major focus for them. Authorities planned to send in drones and helicopters to look for them and drop supplies if they are located.

In Hualien city, where rescue work for people who had been trapped in buildings was now completed, some people slept outdoors overnight as dozens of aftershocks rocked the region”. -Fabian Hamacher and Yimou Lee, Reuters

Considering that a number of Romanian senators have since publicly stated that the 7.8 magnitude temblor that struck Turkey and Syria on February 6th, 2023 was the result of an attack by the High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) ionospheric research program jointly funded by the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and DARPA located in Gakona, Alaska, one can’t help but wonder if the earthquake in Taiwan was a geoengineered disaster meant to serve as a warning to the island province against working toward a reunification agreement with the Chinese mainland.

Israel Bombs Foreign Aid Workers

The Israeli Defense Forces reportedly launched three separate drone strikes on an aid convoy in the town of Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip yesterday, killing seven World Central Kitchen aid workers.

“The Israeli strike that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in the Gaza Strip on Monday night was launched because of suspicion that a terrorist was travelling with the convoy.

An Israeli drone fired three missiles one after the other at a World Central Kitchen aid convoy, that left Monday night to escort an aid truck to a food warehouse in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, according to defense sources familiar with the details.

According to the defense sources, the cars were clearly marked on the roof and sides as belonging to the organization, but the war room of the unit responsible for security of the route that the convoy travelled identified an armed man on the truck and suspected that he was a terrorist.

Until the actions that preceded the strike, carried out by a Hermes 450 drone, were completed, the truck reached the warehouse with the World Central Kitchen's three cars, with seven volunteers in them – two dual-national Palestinians (U.S. and Canada) and five citizens of Australia, the UK, and Poland.

A few minutes later, the three cars left the warehouse without the truck, on which the ostensibly armed man was located. According to the defense sources, that armed man did not leave the warehouse. The cars traveled along a route preapproved and coordinated with the IDF.

At some point, when the convoy was driving along the approved route, the war room of the unit responsible for security of the route ordered the drone operators to attack one of the cars with a missile.

Some of the passengers were seen leaving the car after it was hit and switching to one of the other two cars. They continued to drive and even notified the people responsible that they were attacked, but, seconds later, another missile hit their car.

The third car in the convoy approached, and the passengers began to transfer to it the wounded who had survived the second strike – in order to get them out of danger. But then a third missile struck them. All seven World Central Kitchen volunteers were killed in the strike”. -Yaniv Kubovich, Haaretz

While the international community is expected to impose more punitive measures against Israel in the wake of the killing of seven aid workers in central Gaza, the U.S. government is reportedly finalizing the sale of $18 billion worth of F-15 fighter jets to the Israeli armed forces despite growing calls to enforce Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act, which prohibits the United States from providing security assistance to any government “when it is made known to the President” that the country “prohibits or otherwise restricts, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance”.

Iranian General Killed in Demascus

An Israeli airstrike has destroyed an Iranian consulate next to the Iranian embassy in the Syrian capital of Damascus, reportedly killing seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officials, including Iranian Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi and his deputy.

“Israeli warplanes struck the Iranian consulate in Damascus on Monday, and a Lebanese security source told Reuters a senior commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, Mohammad Reza Zahedi, had been killed in the attack.

Reuters reporters at the scene in the Mezzeh district of the Syrian capital saw smoke rising from rubble of a building that had been flattened, and emergency vehicles parked outside.

An Israeli military spokesperson said: ‘We do not comment on reports in the foreign media’.

Syrian state television confirmed the consulate building had been attacked. Earlier, Iranian media reported that a building close to the embassy had been hit, and Iran's student news agency reported that the target was the consulate and ambassador's residence.

Since the Iranian-backed Palestinian faction Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7th, Israel has ramped up airstrikes in Syria against Lebanon's Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia and Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), both of which support the government of President Bashar al-Assad”. -Reuters

The airstrike on Damascus marks a significant escalation in Israeli attacks on Iranians in the region and increases the likelihood of direct Iranian military involvement in the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip.

New York City Local Law 11

The New York City Council has filed an appeal to the state’s Supreme Court to reverse an intermediate appellate court’s decision that struck down the city’s proposed legislation, Local Law 11, allowing non-citizens to vote in the New York’s municipal elections.

“The New York City council is asking the state’s Supreme Court to allow illegal immigrants to vote in the city’s municipal elections.

In 2021, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a law that would have allowed 800,000 non-citizens with green cards, visas, and work permits to vote as long as they have resided in the city for at least 30 consecutive days.

However, the controversial law was struck down last month by an appellate court.

New York City Council spokesperson Rendy Desamour arrived in court on Tuesday to beg the Supreme Court of the State of New York to override the rulings and allow the council to start authorizing illegal immigrants to vote.

‘Today’s filing to appeal the Second Department’s recent decision seeks a determination from the state’s highest court that the law is consistent with the State Constitution, Election Law, and the Municipal Home Rule Law’, Desamour said. ‘Empowering New Yorkers to participate in our local democratic process can only strengthen New York City by increasing civic engagement’.

The council argued that illegal immigrants living in the city should be able to vote because they pay taxes and make contributions to the community”. -Sarah Arnold, Townhall

Considering that it was the Republican Party of the post-Civil Rights era that supported flooding the United States labor market with millions of foreign workers as well as granting an amnesty that would give green cards to millions of illegal aliens holding American jobs, choosing whether to cast blame on the Democrats for foreigners being granted equal representation, or the Republicans for allowing them entry into the country in the first place, is a bit like asking yourself if the chicken or the egg came first.

Israel Prepares to Invade Rafah

A leader of Hamas has announced that the Islamist militant movement is preparing for an Israeli incursion into the Palestinian city of Rafah, which sits on Gaza's southern border with Egypt.

“Hamas is gearing up for an anticipated Israeli assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, a leader from the Palestinian group said on Thursday.

‘The resistance has begun preparing for the Israeli manoeuvre aimed at invading Rafah’, the Hamas leader said to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed on condition of anonymity.

‘The Rafah operation will not be a walk in the park as the occupation leaders assume … fighters from all factions are fully prepared to inflict significant losses on the [Israeli] occupation army’.

Despite Israel's earlier announcement of plans last month to invade Rafah at the onset of Ramadan, the offensive was halted following warnings from the U.S. and other allies of Israel.

While the Hamas leader did not confirm this, he asserted that ‘all indicators received by the resistance, whether through intermediaries or on the ground, point to an Israeli determination to carry out the Rafah operation’.

This comes as Israel asked the U.S. on Thursday to reschedule a crunch meeting to discuss its military operation in Rafah days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly canceled a planned visit to Washington.

Netanyahu postponed the original scheduled meeting in response to the U.S.'s failure to veto a United Nations Security Council resolution that demanded an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The U.S. is attempting to talk Israel out of a ground offensive on Rafah or is at least attempting to get Tel Aviv to find a way of conducting its assault while guaranteeing the protection of the 1.3 million Palestinians crammed into the city.

Netanyahu said last week that Israel is ready to go ahead with the attack with or without U.S. support.

On this matter, the Hamas leader said: ‘Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is leading the entire region to an explosion, which, if it occurs, no party will be able to control its repercussions’.

The UN said that any type of Israeli ground assault on Rafah ‘could lead to a slaughter’ in the city”. -The New Arab

Being that the sole border crossing between Gaza and Egypt lies in the Strip’s southernmost city of Rafah, the strategic importance of control over the Rafah crossing point since the onset of Israel's ground operation against Hamas can hardly be emphasized enough.

Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapses

A 948-foot-long Singapore-flagged container ship named Dali leaving the Port of Baltimore collided with a support pillar of the 184-foot-tall Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing the bridge to completely collapse, sending several cars and at least one tractor-trailer into the Patapsco River.

“Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed early Tuesday morning after a support column was struck by a container ship, sending at least seven cars into the Patapsco River, launching a search-and-rescue operation and prompting Governor Wes Moore to declare a state of emergency.

In a Tuesday morning news conference, just a few hours after the incident, Baltimore Fire Department Chief James Wallace said authorities are ‘still very much in an active search and rescue posture’, noting they are searching for ‘upwards of seven individuals’ and that sonar has detected the presence of vehicles in the water. There is no indication that the event was intentional, Wallace said.

Video from the incident shows the container ship, billowing smoke, colliding with a support beam and quickly causing much of the bridge to collapse. Just before the collision, the ship’s lights appear to turn off, then on, then off again.

The ship had been under the operation of a pilot.

All traffic has been rerouted from the 1.6-mile steel bridge that is part of Interstate 695”. -Baltimore Sun

The date of March 26th (3/26), combined with the bridge being named after the author of the Star-Spangled Banner, has turned the spotlight on Q post number 326 from December 10th, 2017, as it alerts to “expect fireworks”.

False flag(s).

POTUS 100% insulated.

Expect fireworks.

JUSTICE.

Q

Gaza Ceasefire Resolution

The United Nations Security Council has voted 14-0 in favor of a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip for the rest of Ramadan.

“The United Nations Security Council passed a resolution on Monday demanding an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, after the United States withheld its veto and abstained from the vote.

It was the first time that the Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza since the start of the war in October.

Resolution 2728 is understood to be non-binding and is not expected to have an immediate impact on the ongoing fighting in Gaza, as has been the case with previous Security Council resolutions that have been adopted in other conflicts that were subsequently ignored.

Israel is not expected to abide by the resolution’s call for an immediate ceasefire and Hamas is not expected to follow the demand for an immediate and unconditional release of the 134 hostages, though only the former is a party to the UN charter and failure to abide by its resolutions could lead to calls for sanctions. But with the U.S. stressing that the resolution is not binding, it is highly unlikely that Washington would allow the council to sanction Israel for failing to abide by the measure.

However, it does mark a symbolic blow to Israel’s international standing nearly six months since Hamas’s October 7th onslaught and appeared to highlight a new low in ties between the U.S. and Israel, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announcing afterward that he was canceling plans to send a delegation to Washington at the administration’s request to discuss a potential ground invasion in Rafah.

The resolution passed by the UN Security Council ‘acknowledge[s]’ the ongoing efforts to secure a hostage deal but does not directly link those talks to the Gaza ceasefire it is demanding.

A U.S. resolution vetoed by Russia and China on Friday more directly tied the demand for a Gaza ceasefire to the talks brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States.

The U.S. had previously vetoed resolutions calling for an immediate ceasefire, which contained no mention or linkage to the hostage talks”. -Jacob Magid, Times of Israel

Considering that Israel is already in violation of multiple United Nations resolutions, it seems that the only external pressure that can force an Israeli ceasefire is the physical resistance of Hamas in Palestine, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen.