A U.S. Department of Energy electrical engineer has been arrested for allegedly trying to support Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Prosecutors say Ashton Hamed Ellaboudy, 51, bought chemicals used in homemade explosives and drone parts, traveled to Yemen, and provided advice on communications equipment. The FBI says he was smuggled into Yemen and hoped to build government-level contacts with the Houthis.

He is charged with providing material support to a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization.

Source: AP

The Pentagon’s Project Meridian held its inaugural meeting with Elon Musk, Newt Gingrich and Palmer Luckey.

Zohran Mamdani on socialism:

Socialism to me means that you will have whatever you need to live a dignified life, and that it is the government's job to deliver on that.

When people say dignity… we're talking about the things that allow you to take a breath: housing, child care, public transit. No one should be priced out of these things. These are non-negotiables. You need these to live.

Zohran Mamdani:

One of the most radicalizing things is when you knock on somebody's door, they open their door, they invite you into their home, and you see the life that they live, and you ask yourself: "How can this be okay in a city this wealthy?"

Zohran Mamdani:

We're trying to build five city-run grocery stores. Why? Because the cost of groceries has gone up 30% since the pandemic. People can't afford their groceries.

The basic question to me is: what's the point of government if not delivering for people who are being priced out of the essentials?

Saudi security forces in Mecca arrested a man for harassing passersby and causing panic. Authorities said they responded immediately.

Zohran Mamdani:

Whenever people come forward with an idea of taking care of working people, it is slammed with the most fear-mongering tactics you can think of.

When the idea of Social Security was introduced, it was described as trying to "Sovietize the republic." That's how people talked about it.

And now Social Security is the most normal thing you could think of in this country.

Zohran Mamdani:

About 60,000 New Yorkers who voted for Trump voted for us in the election.

For all of this impetus in politics where you want to judge someone and you want to cast them off as if, "Oh, they voted for them, you can never talk to them"… there are a lot of people who are just looking for someone to change their material reality.

Your time is better spent listening to them than lecturing them.

Zohran Mamdani:

I believe that the U.S. government should join the ICC. It should enforce its warrants for everyone that has been issued.

I believe that we should become a member, that we should enforce its warrants, because I think this gets back to the question of: can you hold greed to account? Can you hold impunity to account?

Zohran Mamdani:

One of the things that I'm proud of is that we live in the most Jewish city in the United States of America.

No Jewish person in New York City is responsible for the actions of the state of Israel.

If you want to hold anybody accountable, it's the people who are making those decisions — the prime minister, the state of Israel, also our complicity as American taxpayers, given that we know how many billions of dollars we have sent in bombs and continue to send.

Zohran Mamdani:

Critique of the state of Israel, the policy actions, the genocide — that in and of itself is not antisemitic.

Zohran Mamdani on Netanyahu:

When you ask me about Netanyahu, we're talking about the architect of a horrific genocide.

People talk about a ceasefire. Just last week, the Israeli military killed an 11-year-old Palestinian boy in Gaza in a section that's considered to be a safe zone. This is continuing.

Theo Von: If you had your say, we would have arrested Netanyahu?

Zohran Mamdani: If I had my say, the U.S. government would have joined the ICC, honored every single warrant that they've issued.

Theo Von: Fuck yeah.

Zohran Mamdani on Netanyahu attacking him during his UNGA speech:

All of this is an attempt to distract from responsibility — name as many people as possible, try and make it into a back-and-forth. It's not about me and him.

It's about the fact that he's the architect of a genocide.

And it's like, yeah, if I was the architect of a genocide, I would probably talk about anything but that.

The U.S. Navy awarded RTX’s Raytheon a contract worth up to $24.4 billion to produce Standard Missile-6 interceptors as the Pentagon works to rebuild depleted weapons stockpiles.

French Presidential Candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon:

We are capable of building an aircraft that performs nine different military missions — the Rafale — and we are not capable of building a water bomber. That is really something.

NEW: The U.S. recently sent two additional Patriot missile batteries to protect key oil and gas facilities in Saudi Arabia and Qatar amid the possibility of renewed U.S. strikes on Iran.

The deployment is meant to reassure both countries, which fear Iranian retaliation against their energy infrastructure.

Source: Axios

French Presidential Candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon:

We learned almost in passing that we are going to send equipment and troops to Saudi Arabia to protect a pipeline.

Well, we say no — we do not agree. When did the National Assembly vote on a defense agreement with Saudi Arabia to protect its pipelines in the desert?