We know what’s coming and we are prepared.
Summary:
Iran’s state television says there is “no sign” of life among passengers of the helicopter.
An Iranian official tells Reuters: “President Raisi’s helicopter was completely burned in the crash… unfortunately, all passengers are feared dead.”
The helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the foreign minister, and other officials went down in a remote northern region on the way back from an official visit to Azerbaijan earlier Sunday.
It was initially described as a "hard landing" but later was widely acknowledged as a "crash" - and as the hours pass the situation looks more grim.
Search and rescue has taken hours to reach the crash site, but little is known of the progress, amid bad weather conditions.
Foreign Ministry: "Despite adverse weather and environmental conditions, efforts by rescue teams to reach the accident site continue earnestly and with hope."
Iranian population in state of 'uncertainty' as Supreme Leader asks for prayers for Raisi and the missing officials while assuring stability within government leadership.
Various countries have sent search and rescue help, including Russia and Turkey. Iran requested a night vision search and rescue helicopter from Turkey, according to Turkish disaster management agency AFAD.
Gulf countries express concern over crash, offer help in search.
‘We hope for good news’ Iranian official tells Al Jazeera.
Iranian official told state TV that contact was made with one of the passengers and one of the crew members of the president's helicopter on several occasions.
Press TV in follow-up cites an IRGC commander to say "Reports about contacts made by President's companions after crash not factual."
Conflicting reports: "Rescue crews haven't yet located the crash site of the helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi," the head of Iran’s Red Crescent Society, Pir-Hossein Koulivand, told Iranian state TV IRINN.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander-in-chief Hossein Salami has arrived at the general area of the crash
"We're searching the area inch by inch, but the weather is very cold, foggy, and rainy. The rainfall is gradually turning into snowfall," said the commander of the Iranian Army's northwestern headquarters.
Heavy military presence reported in the capital of Tehran.
Thousands of Iranians pray for Raisi’s safe return after crash, but there are reports of others setting off fireworks.
Raisi had been in an aging Bell helicopter, with some reports saying it was over 40 years old.
US congressman gloats over Raisi crash: “Good riddance. Raisi was a murderous human rights abuser before and during his Presidency,” Rep Mike Waltz (R) wrote in a social media post.
Online speculation rampant over whether Israel or foreign intelligence could have been involved in a covert plot.
White House has been quiet but says it's aware of the developing situation; President Biden was given a briefing.
Yanis Varoufakis (former Greek Minister of Finance) describes AI as a new form of capital that produces not goods, but behavioral modification. This is achieved by engineering perceptions.
The answers provided by ChatGPT, or the images rendered by StableDiffusion — as these increasingly inform our perceptions, they in turn define the reality we experience.
This is what makes AI so powerful — he who controls the AI, defines the reality of tomorrow.
⚡️🇺🇸 Some more things coming out for the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Under the preliminary drafts of the bill, the USAF is requesting a release of $57,000,000 USD ($57.0 Million) to retire all remaining 162 A-10 Thunderbolt IIs in current service. Apart of the 2023 NDAA, there was a clause for a few million dollars to be released every so often to gradually retire the (then) 250 airframes by 2034; however due to the push by the Dept of Defense to ‘shed’ obsolete or obsolescent airframes that cannot be overhauled or upgraded further without a whole new airframe, it appears the USAF wants to retire all 162 remaining A-10s by the end of 2026.
The USAF plans to fully divest the 340-total remaining A-10s entirely, including those that currently serve in a handful of Air National Guard units in some states; which will be replaced by F-15EX Eagle IIs (like what is already happening with the Michigan State Air National Guard’s A-10s), or F-35A/Bs.
Included ...
My older sister lives in the country in between Velma Oklahoma and Duncan Oklahoma near the Fuqua Lake area, this story was told by a rural mail delivery woman who delivers the mail in the country.
The incident happened while she was on her route, when she came upon to the mailbox a male Chinese nation came out brandishing a, AK-47 rifle being very hostile,
I don't know if he pointed it at her since it is against the law to do so but she was terrified and said she was never going back and that the location that had a guard tower. Was the sheriff department notified, I don't know, did she notify her supervisor, don't know. But word is from the country folk who live in the area they have seen the guard tower at the pot place;
I refuse to call it a farm because it is an insult to farmers.
And yes she was traumatized by that ordeal
