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"It was supposed to be a short dive, but I never saw my wife alive again," Giorgio Bettin told Italy's Il Gazzettino.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. took aim at the CIA this week, blasting the agency for reportedly keeping a tranche of his uncle’s assassination records under wraps for a “sinister” reason.

It’s "a matter of not if, but when the United States is going to recommence combat operations,” Retired U.S. Navy Cmdr. Kirk Lippold told Fox News Friday.

Morocco Launches Mass Deportations To Block Europe Migration Route: EU's 'Externalization Strategy'

Via Middle East Eye

Since April 14, Morocco has been conducting large-scale deportation operations targeting sub-Saharan Africans migrating to Europe, reportedly arresting over 100 per day, local sources told Middle East Eye.

According to Moroccan human rights groups, around 800 people were detained during coordinated raids in the forests between Fnideq and Belyounech, in the northern tip of the North African state, where many were sheltering before attempting to reach Europe.

Tramway rail construction site in Morocco's city of Casablanca, via AFP

The operation is still ongoing, with authorities then moving their focus to operations in and around Tangier. Witnesses have described mass arrests, beatings, racist abuse and forced transfers toward the Algerian border.

Sudanese and Chadian detainees were bused south and abandoned near border zones, while people from countries including Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Guinea were deported on flights departing Casablanca.

The crackdown comes as the European Union has intensified its cooperation with Morocco as part of its border externalization strategy, which is a key component of the bloc’s new Pact on Migration and Asylum set to take effect in June.

The EU increasingly outsources immigration enforcement to North African nations with poor human rights records, designating over €900 million within the bloc's Global Europe development instrument to fund stricter migration control, border management and surveillance initiatives across the region.

"The EU wants to restrict people’s mobility as far down the route as possible - what officials describe as stopping migration downstream," Frey Lindsay, a journalist on Statewatch's Outsourcing Borders project, which tracks how the EU outsources migration control, told Middle East Eye. "It's about exerting border control without getting your hands dirty, basically."

Raids and expulsions

Morocco is a key transit country for sub-Saharan Africans en route to Europe. They sail across the Strait of Gibraltar or climb the towering razor wire fence that separates Morocco from Ceuta and Melilla, Spanish enclaves within the kingdom.

Over the years, Morocco has increased cooperation with Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, to prevent migrants from departing the North African coast. In 2025, Moroccan authorities thwarted 73,640 irregular migration attempts toward Europe, according to a report from the interior ministry, a slight decline from 2024 - attributed to alternative migration routes.

In recent weeks, Moroccan security forces have stepped up their role as Europe’s de facto border enforcer, carrying out regular raids on makeshift forest camps and key transit points used by people trying to reach Spain. Attacks on migrant camps have long been pervasive, but have escalated since April 14, with operations concentrated in the north of the country. People who are not deported are typically exiled to the south in an effort to disrupt migration routes.

"According to migrants we have been in contact with, they were subjected to various forms of humiliation, insults and mistreatment by authorities," Chad Boukhari, a journalist and member of Border Resistance, a grassroots collective that supports migrants across the Mediterranean, told MEE.

Some were abandoned near the Algerian border without food or water, where they were detained by Algerian forces. "The Algerian army allegedly tortured many of them. Some individuals also found the bodies of other migrants in the desert," Boukhari added.

In 2025, Algeria expelled more than 30,000 migrants to Niger, abandoning many "deportation convoys" in the Sahara desert. Testimonies of abuse, torture and enslavement have been reported. MEE contacted the Algerian, Moroccan and EU authorities for comment but had not received a reply by the time of publication.

Sub-Sahara Africans often reach Morocco by crossing the Sahel, the arid perilous land belt stretching across the continent. They typically cross through Niger into Algeria or via Mauritania to enter Morocco. Many of the countries along these routes are plagued by chronic instability and rank among the lowest on the Human Development Index.

Once in Morocco, migrants can spend months to years sleeping in the country’s dense, dry woodlands. Humanitarian groups tend to know the whereabouts of informal encampments and provide modest assistance, but even these efforts are often thwarted by authorities.

Since 2014, Human Rights Watch has documented repeated incidents where Moroccan police beat migrants, deprived them of their few possessions, burned their shelters and expelled them from the country without due process.

“Oftentimes, the Red Cross would enter the forest and provide us with blankets and clothing. But we knew that was always a bad sign. Shortly after the Red Cross visits, Moroccan security forces would appear, as if they were watching,” Ousman Sow, a Guinean man who spent a year in Morocco before he was able to cross into Spain, told MEE.

“They burned all of our belongings before driving us far away and dropping us off in remote areas without any possessions," added Sow, who now lives in Germany. The goal is to prevent migrants from reaching Ceuta and Melilla, the only European territories with a land border in Africa.

On 24 June 2022, at least 37 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, were killed under unclear circumstances while attempting to climb the fence into Melilla. Another 70 people from that day remain missing, amid reports that Moroccan authorities were burying bodies in unmarked graves.

Externalizing control

Despite stricter enforcement, crossings from North Africa continue amid the war in Sudan and worsening instability across the Sahel. For many, the promise of Europe is still worth the risk.

“The more borders and walls you put up, the more dangerous ways people go around them,” Lindsay told MEE. “Securitization doesn't change the reason why people want to leave; it just means more people will die.”

Rights groups also say the latest crackdown is a consequence of the EU’s new migration pact, which seeks to overhaul the bloc’s current immigration system, expediting asylum case proceedings and deportations. The new system expands biometric surveillance and increases rejections on the grounds that people passed through a designated “safe third country” before reaching the EU.

Morocco is included in the list of safe countries alongside other nations accused of human rights abuses, such as Egypt and Turkey. If migrants passed through any of these nations on the way to Europe, their deportation will be expedited.

Over 50 NGOs formally objected to the pact, arguing the new expedited procedures deny the right to a fair and thorough review of asylum cases. The EU has progressively blocked migrants before their asylum case can be filed by externalising immigration enforcement, collaborating with countries outside of Europe to prevent migrants from reaching EU soil.

Under the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, it has poured hundreds of millions of euros into strengthening migration enforcement in Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Algeria.

FRANCE AND MOROCCO PREPARE MAJOR NEW TREATY

France and Morocco say they are preparing a first-of-its-kind agreement aimed at deepening cooperation between the 2 countries.

The move follows France recognizing Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara last year.

Source:… pic.twitter.com/HvzAtJXKDi

— NewsForce (@Newsforce) May 22, 2026

The adoption of the Pact on Migration and Asylum has put political pressure on the European Commission, which must secure member state backing for a politically contentious overhaul of EU asylum rules.  “The new migration pact is a really critical legislative package for [European Commission President] Ursula von der Leyen and her cabinet. They need this to be a success politically, and will do everything to ensure the pact doesn’t fall apart,” said Lindsay.

“Member states have made it very clear that they are unwilling to go along with the pact if the European Commission doesn’t do everything it can to make sure people don’t arrive - and to deport as many people as possible,” he added.

The new approach has drawn particular scrutiny in Libya, where EU-backed groups have been linked to systemic abuses. The EU directly funds, trains and equips Libya’s coastal authorities, which have been accused of collaborating with human trafficking networks to capture migrants, subjecting them to exploitation, physical and sexual violence, and even enslavement.

The EU is now in the process of funding a maritime control centre in Benghazi aimed at intercepting migrants at sea and forcibly returning them to Libya. This requires cooperation with General Khalifa Haftar, who controls eastern Libya in opposition to the UN-recognised government in the west and has been accused of war crimes.

Similar patterns of violent pushbacks have emerged across Europe’s eastern borders. Along the Balkans route, Croatian authorities have been documented violently pushing people back into Bosnia, effectively preventing them from accessing asylum procedures on EU territory.

The new pact also introduces the concept of “return hubs”, nations where rejected asylum seekers may be transferred to and detained while awaiting deportation to their home countries. Migrants will likely have no connections to the designated countries they are deported to; the EU has proposed options everywhere from Bangladesh to Rwanda.

Rights groups say the Pact on Migration and Asylum embodies a broader hardening of attitudes and policies toward migrants across the EU member states, with detrimental consequences for those trying to reach Europe. "Whenever the political climate changes in Europe, you can feel it in Morocco," Sow told MEE. "If Europe wants immigrants, Morocco is okay. If not, it’s hostile there."

Tyler Durden Sat, 05/23/2026 - 08:10

Conrad Blackburn, who is trying to unseat first-term incumbent Assemblyman Jordan Wright, insisted during a March 2024 podcast appearance that locking people up isn’t the answer.

It's a new form of class warfare.

With Matthew Stafford coming off an MVP season and new contract extension, the Rams will have the edge at quarterback against nearly every opponent they play. That is saying a lot considering the level of quarterbacks they will face this year. It’s a star-studded group, for sure. Here is a breakdown and ranking on the...

Mystery-loving Taylor Swift has turned her highly-anticipated summer wedding to Travis Kelce into the biggest Easter egg hunt of all.

Mystery-loving Taylor Swift has turned her highly-anticipated summer wedding to Travis Kelce into the biggest Easter egg hunt of all.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Legislature's leaders saved the worst for last: The final bits of their budget deals include some truly ugly idiocy.

The five Italian divers who drowned in the Maldives were not wearing proper scuba equipment for the journey – and were just 15 minutes from the surface when they died.

Lukashenko Offers To Meet With Zelensky 'Anywhere' After Russia Sent Belarus More Tactical Nukes

We reported earlier this week that for the first time Russia's 'Union State' ally Belarus hosted multi-day drills involving a "rehearsal" of Russia’s use of tactical and strategic nuclear weapons.

The exercise ran from Tuesday to Thursday and was presided over by Presidents Lukashenko and Putin, and saw hundreds of Russian missile launchers, warships, nuclear submarines, and jets deploy and engage in military maneuvers. As part of it, Russia reportedly sent more tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus.

Pool image, via Moscow Times

On the occasion, and amid angry denunciations from European leaders, the 71-year-old Lukashenko - who has ruled the former Soviet nation since 1994 - asserted that "We threaten absolutely no one."

He followed with: "But we have such weapons, and we’re ready in every possible way to defend our common fatherland from [the western Belarusian city of] Brest to [Russia’s Pacific port of] Vladivostok."

In Ukraine, President Zelensky warned Belarus of "consequences" over potential deepened involvement in Russia's 'special military operation' - though Belarus did act as a staging ground for the initial attack waves in early 2022.

"The de facto leadership of Belarus" must "stay on its toes – that is, clearly understand that there will be consequences if aggressive actions against Ukraine, against our people, are taken," Zelensky said while making a visit this week to a Ukrainian city which is just dozens of miles from the Belarusian border.

Interestingly, and in what appears another first, Lukashenko actually offered to meet with Zelensky, and that this meeting could take place "anywhere" in Belarus or Ukraine.

"If (Zelensky) wants to discuss something, seek advice, or anything else, please do. We are open to it," Lukashenka said on Friday, according to state media.

"I am ready to meet with him anywhere - in Ukraine, in Belarus - and discuss the problems of Belarusian-Ukrainian relations," the Belarusian leader emphasized. 

He also addressed Zelensky's latest accusations, rejecting the premise, and explained that his armed forces won't join the conflict unless "aggression is committed against (Belarusian) territory."

Russia's defense ministry released footage of this week's nuclear drills coordinated with Belarus:

🇷🇺🇧🇾 Russia releases video of nuclear weapons exercises with Belarus

A display of military power and strategic readiness. pic.twitter.com/E5xECipGoc

— Iran War Update ☫ (@IranWarUpdate_) May 22, 2026

Of course, such a meeting is very unlikely to ever materialize, unless part of some kind of final lasting peace settlement, which has proved elusive over 4+ years of war.

The Ukrainian leader dismissed the overture. "Since 2022, it has been obvious to everyone that this man's words mean nothing, and we should pay attention to his actions," Zelensky's advisor Dmytro Lytvyn told a press briefing later.

Tyler Durden Sat, 05/23/2026 - 07:35

The Harrigans may need a new fixer.

Monica Montefalcone, a marine biologist from the University of Genoa; her daughter Giorgia Sommacal; researcher Muriel Oddenino; and recent graduate Federico Gualtieri were repatriated early Saturday.

'Great Replacement' Fears Soar In Belgium

Via Remix News,

A major social study commissioned by VRT, known as the “Photo of Flanders,” reveals that a majority of Flemish people are afraid they are being slowly replaced by migrants, with this study now joining similar ones in France and Germany, which reveal serious fear across Europe about the ongoing Great Replacement.

The VRT survey shows that 56 percent of respondents agree with the statement: “I am afraid that Flemish people are slowly being replaced by migrants/people from abroad.”

Within this category, individuals aged 45 to 64 score at 58 percent, while those over 65 score at 59 percent.

Teenagers between 12 and 17 years old also show a high level of agreement at 58 percent.

The study also showed that 52 percent of Flemish people are afraid of a mosque being built in their neighborhood.

Only 23 percent of Flemish people explicitly say they would be open to a mosque where they live.

Notably, 22 percent of people who say they have no fear of being replaced by migrants also say they would not like to have a mosque in their neighborhood.

According to VRT, the study shows that the fear that “Flemish people will be replaced by migrants” remains great.

Belgium has also been actively erasing traditional signs of Christianity, such as renaming Christmas markets into “winter markets,” which the VRT study indicates has led to divisions in society, especially between older and younger generations.

Discussions surrounding inclusive naming conventions also generate pushback. A majority of Flemish people, at 57 percent, maintain that a Christmas market should simply remain a Christmas market. Resistance to neutral terms like winter market is highest among older demographics, with 64 percent of 45-to-64-year-olds and 67 percent of those over 65 opposing the change. This opposition drops among younger populations, with 41 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds and 45 percent of 25-to-44-year-olds objecting to the replacement of the traditional name.

The Photo of Flanders is an ongoing tracking study that VRT has conducted since 2009 to observe the social themes that concern Flemish residents.

Regarding specific statistics on Islam, 60 percent of Flemish people report feeling concerned about Islam’s presence in Flanders.

This concern peaks among individuals aged 45 to 64 at 65 percent, and among those over 65 at 67 percent, though these percentages have decreased slightly compared to 2023 and 2024.

For youth between the ages of 12 and 17, the figure stands slightly lower at 61 percent, though researchers note an upward trend in this youngest bracket.

Patrick Loobuyck, an ethical philosopher of the University of Antwerp/UGent, states that these anti-diversity figures are “quite high” and Flemish people are struggling with “rapid social changes.”

“They are concerned about themes that are important to our society: who we are, what the future is of Flanders and what is the place of the population that is there today,” said Loobuyck.

“The population has actually changed a lot in recent decades. That diversity is no longer limited to cities, but is felt almost everywhere. People see and feel that, and also notice consequences in education and society.”

Is there a “plan” behind population replacement?

Nevertheless, despite this clear demographic replacement, which is quantifiable and observable, Loobuyck says that “theories” put out by the identitarian right, like the Great Replacement, should not be embraced.

“There is sometimes a pretense that there is a plan behind it, as if elites are consciously allowing mass migration to destroy us. That adds to the uncertainty that is already there,” he said.

Often, this is how the left and the mainstream try to “debunk” the Great Replacement, attaching all kinds of meanings to it that were not behind the original meaning, as articulated by the man behind the original term. For example, claims that Jews are behind the replacement, or that a cabal of elites is behind the replacement, are not actually what Renaud Camus articulated. However, if those opposed to the term can assign extraordinary meanings to it, they can more easily “debunk” whatever it is they say the term is actually supposed to mean.

Nevertheless, in many ways, this has been a “plan.” A UN think tank, for example, has promoted 60 million migrants for Europe by 2050. The UN, which has long advocated for “replacement migration” as a solution to Europe’s aging population, is now warning that Europe will not gain these migrants “if it does not stop being a fortress against immigration.”

Europe’s top leader, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, is calling for more legal migration after already record numbers of immigrants arriving. If anyone is an “elite,” it is most certainly von der Leyen, who wields an enormous amount of power within the EU.

Even for those elites who have routinely been the target of conspiracy theories, such as George Soros, there are quotes on record where he openly promotes and supports mass immigration.

Speaking about former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s effort to control migration, Soros stated that:“[Orbán’s) plan treats the protection of national borders as the objective and the refugees as an obstacle. Our plan treats the protection of refugees as the objective and national borders as the obstacle.”

During the height of the migration crisis, Soros stated: “[Europe] has to accept at least a million asylum-seekers annually for the foreseeable future.”

Soros even proposed in a column he wrote for MarketWatch in 2015 that Europe should take on debt to pay for “surge funding” for refugees and migrants, suggesting that EU member states implement a massive €45 billion spending package. Soros even says in the article that might not be enough, and that spending more would be “justified.”

In the piece, Soros wrote that paying extra money for migrants upfront “would allow us to address the most dangerous consequences of the crisis — including anti-immigrant sentiment in receiving countries and despondency and marginalization among refugees — more effectively.”

Soros also wrote that a large influx of refugees results in panic, which can lead to “expensive and counter-productive measures, like erecting fences and walls.”

There have also been numerous top left-wing politicians who have long promoted mass immigration as a means to gaining more power, while journalists have promoted this very trend as well in thousands of articles and publications.

A German left-wing politician claimed Germany needs more migrants because the "Nazi" Germans are not very good at making babies.

"Every year, more Germans die than are born. Fortunately, this is because the Nazis are not very prolific," said MP Gregor Gysi.

Gysi is a long-time… pic.twitter.com/EDk65oxjHJ

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) January 7, 2025

Notably, poll after poll from across Europe shows that a majority of Europeans want an end to mass immigration, and yet, it continues unabated.

A majority or near majority of Europeans feel they are being replaced in their home countries. For example, nearly half of Germans also agree with the statement: “I believe that Europeans are gradually being replaced by immigrants from Africa and the Middle East.”

Meanwhile, in France, 60 percent of voters believe France is witnessing “a replacement of the French population by non-European populations” at a time when immigration has reached record levels.

In Belgium itself, Brussels has already seen massive population replacement, with 72 percent of children and teens in Brussels now having a non-EU migration background, while only 10.5 percent are Belgians of Belgian origin

It can be openly debated what the motive for this mass immigration is, but the reality is that there are many players behind it, all the way from business interests to radical ideologues, which means there is no “single” reason for mass immigration. There are, in short, many motives. There are many actors, and they are not necessarily all working in concert.

🇧🇪 Belgian Justice Minister Annelies Verlinden said in an interview this week you'd have to be a "hero" to go for an evening jog in Brussels these days. pic.twitter.com/1ctwlbUhDT

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) May 21, 2026

Nevertheless, the demographic change behind the Great Replacement, which simply states that non-Europeans are replacing Europeans in their native countries, is a statistical reality. There does not have to be a “nefarious” elite that conspires in a room with the blinds drawn, but there is undoubtedly an elite that wants more immigration.

At the same time, the term Great Replacement will continue to be promoted by the right because it is a term that is remarkably apt for the situation that is unfolding. Europe, which values free speech, must allow for an open discussion about the motives, players, and ideological movements behind this demographic development, along with why it is happening, who benefits, and even how it can be reversed. Otherwise, we are quite simply not living in the liberal democracy that the most powerful politicians and journalists in Europe continuously tell us we are living in.

Read more here...

Tyler Durden Sat, 05/23/2026 - 07:00

Flight delayed? No problem! You're a New York Post reader. We got you.

Attorney General Letitia James runs the state's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, which is charged with prosecuting those who rip off the taxpayer-funded program.

Some passengers reportedly waited hours for their luggage, while others left the airport without their belongings altogether.

The earthquake was felt widely on the islands of Hawaii, ​Maui, and ​Oahu ⁠and was at a depth of about 14 ​miles, according to USGS.

Now that José Caballero is healthy and Anthony Volpe is still on the roster, the Yankees have to figure out how to use both infielders.