Tuesday, July 08, 2025

Cloud Seeding Company Accused Of Causing Texas Floods






Cloud Seeding Company Accused Of Causing Texas Floods



by blueapples
Tuesday, Jul 08, 2025 - 21:00


Despite the fact that conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory has been proven to be fact and not fiction time and time again, the collective consciousness of society inevitably reaches a point where its psychological defense mechanisms kick in. When subjects too difficult to broach are reached, they're dismissed as if they're the apophenic delusions of a madman when in reality they're often a truth too distressing to acknowledge. Often, association with a tragedy makes recognizing the epiphany that an official narrative is the real work of fiction, like in the cases of Sandy Hook or 9/11, an act of heresy. Then, independent inquiry meant to uncover the truth is treated as an act of violence instead of critical thinking.



This dynamic has reared its ugly head once again in the wake of massive floods across central Texas that have tragically led to the deaths of over 100, including 84 fatalities alone in Kerr County, where 28 children lost their lives after devastating flash flooding on the Fourth of July led to waters from the Guadalupe River rising over 26 feet in merely 45 minutes. The disaster has entered into the history books as one of the deadliest floods in Texas to take place in decades. The fatal turn of events led to a predictably politicized response where leftist media blamed everything from climate change to President Trump's policy making. Despite that shameless exploitation of the tragedy, the liberal legacy media shied away from another factor behind what may have caused the floods that has remained unexamined despite having more empirical evidence behind its validity: weather modification.

For decades, weather modification has been a facet of technocratic operations led by governments and private industry alike that has been relegated under the dismissive label of being a conspiracy theory. Yet, in the case of the Texas floods, it has emerged as a clear factor behind the natural disaster. On July 2nd, just 2 days before the massive deluge, a cloud seeding company named Rainmaker finished its operations in Texas. Rainmakers operation was designed to modify the weather by inducing cloud formations to fend off droughts in high-risk areas throughout the state. In the wake of the tragedy, its cloud seeding operations have come into focus as being a potential cause of the devastating floods.


Rainmaker CEO Augustus Doricko firmly denied the insinuation that his company's cloud seeding operation could be related to the flash floods in any way, shape, or form. "Did Rainmaker conduct any operations that could have impacted the floods? No," Doricko vehemently denied in the wake of speculation arising across the internet.

Doricko started the geoengineering startup in 2023 at just 22 years old. In 2024, Doricko received a grant from the Thiel Fellowship, connecting Rainmaker to the vast array of companies funded by the technocratic venture capitalist. Like Thiel and other technocrats, Doricko possesses a god complex that is the driving force behind his mission at Rainmaker. The Rainmaker founder's social media channels contain a catalog of grandiose proclamations in which Doricko makes it clear that he considers the direction his company has gone in to be the result of providence. “Dams modify rivers, Jesus was a carpenter who modified forests (cut trees) to build houses. We aim to serve God.” he stated in one such post on his X account.


In response to the horrifying scenes of the Texas floods that carried undertones of the Great Flood chronicled in the Book of Genesis, Rainmaker's CEO carefully laid out his company's operations to explain how they would not have resulted in any inclement weather. According to Doricko, Rainmaker ceased its latest cloud seeding operation in central Texas on July 2nd, more than 24 hours before the National Weather Service (NWS) issued a flash flood advisory. He went into further detail, explaining how only 2 clouds were seeded during the operation, both of which dissipated by 4 pm on July 2nd, over 24 hours before the torrential downpours that led to the deaths of over 100 Texans occurred. Doricko cited data from the NWS, which detailed excessive moisture as the reason for canceling the cloud seeding operation.

For its part, the NWS echoed the Rainmaker CEO's position. NWS officials linked the rains across central Texas to Tropical Storm Barry, a short-lived cyclone that caused significant flooding in southeastern Mexico, causing 5 deaths. According to the NWS, remnants from the cyclone are what triggered the excessive moisture alert that caused Rainmaker to avert its cloud seeding operations in central Texas on July 2nd. Meteorologists determined that the confluence of Tropical Storm Barry's mid-level circulation with a larger mid-level trough of moisture from the Pacific created a weather pattern that led to the heavy rains that washed across central Texas.

In typical fashion, the political conjecture advancing the official narrative from the NWS was incongruent with reality. Speaking from a press conference in Kerrville on Monday, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas remarked, "To the best of my knowledge, there is zero evidence of anything related to anything like weather modification," when discussing the tragedy affecting his constituents. Cruz's remarks came just days after Georgia Congressional Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced a bill into the House of Representatives designed to limit weather modification operations in response to their speculated link to the Texas floods. Cruz unequivocally denounced the premise raised by Rep. Greene and the outcry of denizens across the internet that shifted focus back onto the risks of weather modification operations like cloud seeding. "The internet can be a strange place....people can come up with all sorts of crazy theories." Cruz declared.


In the wake of the flood, Rep. Greene explained the purpose of her bill through a post to her account on X. "I am introducing a bill that prohibits the injection, release, or dispersion of chemicals or substances into the atmosphere for the express purpose of altering weather, temperature, climate, or sunlight intensity." The post from the Georgia representative read, concluding that breaking the prospective law would result in a felony offense.

While critics of Greene ridiculed the bill she proposed, it follows in the footsteps of another bill signed into law at the state level in Florida last month. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 56 into law on June 20th in response to concerns over weather modification programs. The bill repealed state law that allowed the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to issue permits for weather modification and other geo-engineering endeavors. According to Florida state environmental officials, no such permits were ever requested despite their availability. Despite that, Republican Florida Senator Ileana Garcia led the charge against the mere possibility of those permits being issued en route to bill passing the Florida legislature with widespread support. When the bill went into effect on July 1st, the issuance of weather modification permits was revoked from the Florida DEP. Independent efforts to geoengineer weather in the state could also result in a third-degree felony carrying a prison sentence of as much as 5 years and fines up to $100,000 under the law. Planes equipped with weather modification equipment are also now required to declare themselves with the Florida Department of Transportation.

Like Greene, DeSantis was met with the same vitriol following the passage of Senate Bill 56. Democratic State Representative Anna Eskamani chastised the bill, remarking, "I think it's important that we do not legislate under that type of pressure but that we legislate on science, we legislate on fact, we legislate not on fear but on information." In turn, Representative Kevin Steele responded to that empty leftist platitude by quipping, "The last time we had to listen to the science, we wore masks for 9 months."


Presently, 8 states have introduced bills trying to ban chemtrails — which have long served as the embodiment of weather modification operations. Ironically, Texas is one of those states, alongside Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. The public discourse against chemtrails was also bolstered by Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. when he confirmed his belief in their existence and broader applications beyond weather modification. RFK Jr. attributed chemtrails to covert operations led by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). During an interview, the HHS Secretary remarked on the subject of chemtrails when he took questions from a studio audience. “I’m going to do everything in my power to stop it,” he said. “Find out who’s doing it and hold them accountable.”

Independent of the validity of concerns over them, chemtrails have long served as a reductive caricature used to dismiss concerns about weather modification and other nefarious black projects. Yet, while federal agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have publicly denied engaging in weather modification operations, hiding behind the idea that accusations of any such operations are tantamount to the chemtrails "conspiracy theory," the truth about government-led weather modification efforts is irrefutable.


Since 1990, the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) has led government-funded projects designed to conduct research into and experiments on the Earth's ionosphere. The program was initially funded by none other than DARPA, along with the US Navy and Air Force working in concert with military contractor BAE Advanced Technologies. Operations designed to use high-frequency radiowaves to agitate portions of the ionosphere were conducted out of HAARP's Gakona, Alaska, site in 1993 before DARPA and other military agencies behind the program transferred its operations into the hands of the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2015. HAARP has become a talisman representing potential government-funded weather modification operations since its inception, though its publicly acknowledged methods are distinct from the characterization behind chemtrails.

HAARP demonstrates the complexity of weather modification in comparison to its simplistic public conceptions about the burgeoning new field. The juxtaposition of that complexity against widely held views about weather modification from proponents and opponents alike on theories such as chemtrails shows how little is known about the underlying mechanisms behind the technology as well as the potential consequences of its applications. While companies like Rainmaker are quick to dismiss accusations about the potential impacts that their operations may lead to, those public denials fail to detail any contemplation of the delicate balance of the Earth's weather systems that they may disrupt. The demonstration of that neophytic understanding serves as an instance of the hubris of man daring to defy the gods, echoing the Atlantean mythos, in a manner that could very well end up bringing the same conclusion to this chapter of humanity.


Come clean to public on judicial appointments, DAP Youth tells govt











Come clean to public on judicial appointments, DAP Youth tells govt


Published: Jul 8, 2025 8:00 PM
Updated: 10:05 PM



Summary

  • DAP Youth urges the government to address controversies surrounding Malaysia’s judicial appointments transparently, warning that the lack of clarity is eroding public trust.

  • The concerns centre on whether candidates recommended by the JAC for the chief justice and Court of Appeal president roles were accepted.



DAP Youth today urged the government to come clean on the controversies surrounding Malaysia’s judicial appointments, warning that this is already causing an erosion of trust in the government.

In a statement today, DAP Youth’s National Executive Council said that the country has already faced immense setbacks in rebuilding judicial independence, and that the hard-won progress should not be jeopardised by the lack of transparency.

“To prevent further erosion of trust, the government should respond to the questions surrounding the judicial appointments based on principles of transparency and accountability.

“The judicial appointments controversy has sparked widespread concern among the legal fraternity and civil society. A quote from the 2007 ‘Walk for Justice’ remains just as relevant today: ‘When lawyers walk, something must be very wrong’,” the statement read.

The Malaysian Bar announced that it will stage a walk on July 14 from the Palace of Justice to the Prime Minister’s Office, to submit a memorandum calling for action on judicial independence.

It contains four demands: filling top judicial vacancies, releasing minutes of a recent Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) meeting, forming a Royal Commission of Inquiry, and addressing overall judicial vacancies.

The Bar’s move comes amid growing concerns over alleged interference in judicial appointments and unresolved vacancies following the recent retirement of senior judges.

Were candidates accepted?

DAP Youth said that the core issue is whether candidates for the chief justice and Court of Appeal president roles, recommended by the JAC, were accepted.




The general principle for the appointment of judges as per Article 122B of the Federal Constitution is that judges to superior courts - meaning the High, Appeals, and Federal Courts - are made by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, on the advice of the prime minister.

The Constitution also provides that for the appointments of the Court of Appeal president, chief judge of Malaya, chief judge of Sabah and Sarawak, and Federal Court judges, input from the chief justice is required.

Likewise, the Court of Appeal president’s input is required for appointments of appellate court judges.

“While the judicial appointment process is extensive and multi-layered, the lack of clarity surrounding both the tenure extensions of former top judges and the appointment of new ones has understandably led to growing public doubt.

“Without a timely, transparent, and responsible explanation from the government, this unease will only deepen.

“As such, DAP Youth calls upon the government to clarify the matter to the public through proper institutional mechanisms and to take meaningful steps to restore transparency and public trust in our democratic institutions,” the statement read further.


Who is behind the ‘Turun Anwar’ protests?




Murray Hunter


Who is behind the ‘Turun Anwar’ protests?


In the spirit of Steadyaku47
Jul 07, 2025





There are growing calls for prime minister Anwar Ibrahim to stand aside while accusations of sexual assault against Yusuff Rawther are heard in court.

Calls for Anwar to resign started growing when the former Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat retired, without a 6 months extension. The position of Chief Justice is currently vacant, adding to even more speculation as to why Anwar has mishandled the transition of chief justices. The introduction of new and increased sales and service taxes (SST) on July 1, has angered people across the country.

There is now an organized ‘Turun Anwar’ movement with the sole purpose of removing Anwar Ibrahim from the position of prime minister. The movement is not suggesting any other potential candidate, just the removal of Anwar, on the same principle of ‘Anyone but UMNO’ during Haris Ibrahim’s time.

The sudden rise of the ‘Turun Anwar’ movement has surprised PKR trolls and cybertroopers. Groups like MAPIM, formally restricted to religious and humanitarian activities, has become a cheap political troll in the defence of Anwar. MAPIM can never be considered apolitical ever again.

Rafizi Ramli, now a backbencher after resigning as minister in Anwar’s cabinet last month held a live press conference together with Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmand, MP for Setia Wangsa, Ong Chen, MP for Ampang, Zahir Hassan, MP for Wangsa Maju, Bakhtiar Wan Chik, MP for Balik Pulau, S Kesavan, MP for Sungei Siput, and Onn Abu Bakar, MP for Batu Pahat demanded the prime minister face the parliament to address issues related to judicial appointments, and set up a Royal Commission to make an inquiry into how judicial appointments are made. Some MPs from PAS have reportedly supported Rafizi’s move, as has PSM.

This is the beginning of backbencher activism within Anwar’s own party PKR, which indicates Anwar is losing control of his own MPs.

Who is behind the ‘Turun Anwar’ campaign

The ‘Turun Anwar’ campaign is very closely associated with former prime minister Tun Mahathir Mohamed, through Rafique Rashid Ali, the head of Pujuang. The campaign is supported by a number of activists including Che GuBard, who has been persecuted by the now ‘Gestapo like’ MCMC for his criticisms of Anwar.




Tun Mahathir was largely responsible for the relentless campaign against Abdullah Ahmad Badawi which brought him down as prime minister in 2009. Tun Mahathir then campaigned against Najib Razak and led Pakatan Harapan to victory in the 2018 general election, ousting Najib.

Tun became ‘caretaker’ prime minister and very quickly arranged a pardon for Anwar Ibrahim, who was in prison a second time for sodomy. Many people had been critical of Tun Mahathir’s reluctance to hand power over to Anwar. In the light of the Yusuff Rawther allegations, many supporters of Anwar are beginning to look at Anwar’s history very differently.

Anwar’s relentless persecution of Tun Mahathir’s children and an ailing Tun Daim by Anwar’s henchman Azam Baki at the MACC, led Tun Mahathir to rethink his previously non-committal approach to Anwar.

This time Tun Mahathir is not the mastermind in the driver’s seat of the ‘Turun Anwar’ movement. A large group of ‘Young Turks are taking the lead.





Young leaders are emerging Rafique Rashid.

The ‘Turun Anwar’ Objective

The objective of the ‘Turun Anwar’ movement is to show the present YDPA the peoples’ displeasure over Anwar and his poor performance as prime minister. Its rare for any votes of non-confidence against a prime minister. The parliamentary rules make any such move extremely difficult.

They key of the ‘Turun Anwar’ movement is to gain public momentum over a number of rallies this month.


Rafizi’s backbench movement



Hell hath no fury like a Rafizi scorned


Rafizi is now a man with a mission. Rafizi is calling on all MPs, whether PKR or not to take up issues of public interest and use the parliament to get answers and demand reforms. Rafizi’s press conference was a profound statement across party lines. Many are now saying, if Anwar’s own MPs don’t trust him, how can the public trust Anwar?

There are signs that Perikatan Nasional are supportive of Rafizi’s call. Rafizi may create a unity that hasn’t been seen before. However, rumors have it, there will be a massive smear campaign against Rafizi very soon.

When Anwar returns to Malaysia, he will find it is not the same country he left a few days earlier.





Netanyahu Lying About Tehran Nuclear Ambitions – Iran’s President to Carlson

 


Netanyahu Lying About Tehran Nuclear Ambitions – Iran’s President to Carlson

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spent decades trying to deceive US presidents into believing that Tehran is seeking to create nuclear weapons, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has charged.

In an interview with conservative American journalist Tucker Carlson aired on Monday, Pezeshkian accused Netanyahu of pushing this narrative long before he first became prime minister in 1996. “It was Netanyahu since 1984 who has created this false mentality that Iran seeks a nuclear bomb,” he said, referring to Netanyahu’s role as Israel’s envoy to the UN at the time.

“He has put it in the minds of every US president since then… [that] we would like to have a nuclear bomb,” he noted, stressing that Iran has never been developing such a weapon. “This is in contrast to the religious decree… issued by Iran’s supreme leader,” Pezeshkian added. He also noted that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had confirmed that Iran was not developing nuclear weapons.

Pezeshkian also accused Israel of deliberately sabotaging negotiations with the US on Iran’s nuclear program when West Jerusalem unleashed a powerful strike on Tehran’s nuclear infrastructure, military sites, and top commanders on June 13. – RT

Our Take: In the past week, Tucker has done two subsequent interviews that I think are of enormous consequence, considering the size of his following.

The most obvious would be the newly-released interview with Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, which has triggered most of the internet (Mossad Media) into a kvetch of Biblical proportions.

Pezeshkian makes some great points during the discussion, and certainly succeeds in challenging the official narrative that Iran is governed by a bunch of unhinged and murderous sociopaths. However, the more significant interview, in terms of content, was the interview released immediately before, with historian Scott Horton.

Tucker gives Horton over two hours to go on a Ghost-styled history rant to explain the origin of Iran’s purported conflict with the West. What’s interesting are the revelations regarding post-1979 Iran, given everything we’ve been told by Fox News.

Not only did the United States establish immediate contact with the Ayatollah after the coup, they maintained that contact throughout the 80’s and into the mid-90’s, and even shipped them weapons, encouraging Iran to fight a war with Iraq.

Not only did the US send Iran weapons, Israel did, as well. The only reason they stopped was because in 1993, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin called for normalization with Palestinian and the creation of a Two-State Solution. Leaning into the warhawk rhetoric being espoused by leaders at the time like Netanyahu, Rabin branded Iran as the enemy so that the Israeli citizenry would have a target on which to direct its “two minutes of hate,” leaving Palestine and the Arabs open for earnest discussion.

Iran became the “bad guy,” so that Palestine could be publicly rebranded as a partner, in order to help sell the Two-State Solution to Israelis.
– GhostofBasedPatrickHenry

Netanyahu Says Any Future Palestinian State Would Be a Platform to Destroy Israel



 

Netanyahu Says Any Future Palestinian State Would Be a Platform to Destroy Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday he wanted peace with Palestinians but described any future independent state as a platform to destroy Israel and for that reason sovereign power of security must remain with Israel.

Speaking at the White House, where he met US President Donald Trump, Netanyahu described the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip, where Hamas was in control, as evidence of what Palestinians would do with a state.

Trump said, "I don't know" when he was asked by reporters if a two-state solution was possible and referred the question to Netanyahu.
– The Jerusalem Post

Our Take: Netanyahu is not backing down, in light of last week’s disclosure of the letter sent by 15 members of the Likud party, who all serve in Netanyahu’s cabinet, demanding that Netanyahu must immediately annex the West Bank and make Palestine part of Israel.

What makes the development notable is that the ministers making this request are not from the faction(s) of radicalized zealots that now serve in the Security Cabinet – the highest ranking officials in the Israeli government.

And yet, these ministers sound just as unhinged and out of control as the radicalized zealots.

The Likud ministers will find strong allies in the Ultra-Orthodox zealots serving in Netanyahu’s security cabinet. It would appear that it has become the ambition of many top Israeli political parties that a war with Palestine is not only necessary, but just.

As I have long speculated: removing Netanyahu from the equation will not resolve the underlying wars – because these other political factions also want wars of imperialism.

This clip from last night that is now making the rounds on social media is a perfect example of Trump elevating Netanyahu in order to demonstrate to the world the true Israeli agenda.

[Clip Link]

When Trump says that Bibi is the “greatest man in the world to answer the question of a Two-State Solution,” he isn’t paying Netanyahu a compliment. He is alluding to the fact that it was a Netanyahu sycophant who murdered Israeli Prime Minister in 1995, paving the way for Netanyahu’s first stint as PM, but also halting the effort for Israel to normalize relations with Palestine.

Trump knows what Bibi is planning, because Trump has already publicly disclosed that he views Netanyahu as an untrustworthy partner who does not want to make a deal with Palestine, while lauding the current Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, as a “father-like figure.”

This interview is from December 2021.

– GhostofBasedPatrickHenry

***

Another Take: I don't call Donald Trump the 'Master of Narrative Warfare' for nothing.

For those of us who believe Trump actually engages MORE on the narrative battlespace than the kinetic one, we don't just consider the mass psychological effects of the Israel-Iran storyline, nor mounting (optical) tensions with Russia as second-order effects of the actual events playing out.

Quite the opposite.

We believe the actuals are often second-order effects on the back of the narratives the Sovereign Alliance wants to tell and sell.

So, how is Trump not just controlling the narrative battlespace, but shifting it into a new domain as the summer appropriately heats up in order to accelerate the necessary philosophical and cognitive sifting?

In short, why does Trump keep bringing up the 'N' word?

And who's helping him disarm it? [Read More] – Burning Bright




No new probe in Pastor Koh’s case as suspect already charged, court told


FMT:

No new probe in Pastor Koh’s case as suspect already charged, court told



4 hours ago
Ho Kit Yen


Investigating officer Ahmad Marzuki Ibrahim says efforts to look for leads were made when his predecessor Supari Muhammad headed the probe


Susanna Liew is suing the police and the government over the disappearance of her husband, Pastor Raymond Koh, in 2017.



KUALA LUMPUR: The investigating officer who probed Pastor Raymond Koh’s disappearance told the High Court that there were no further investigations in 2019 based on new leads as the case was already in court.

Ahmad Marzuki Ibrahim said a former e-hailing driver, Lam Chang Nam, was then on trial at the Petaling Jaya magistrates’ court on kidnapping and blackmailing charges.

Marzuki took over the case in 2019, while Lam was charged in 2017 and entered a not guilty plea in 2018.


Marzuki insisted that efforts to look for leads and to trace Koh were made when his predecessor Supari Muhammad headed the probe.

“At the same time, the task force was also taking steps to look for (suspect) Saiful Bahari Abdul Aziz,” Marzuki said when testifying in the hearing of a lawsuit filed by Koh’s wife Susanna Liew against the police and the government over the pastor’s disappearance.


Liew wants the authorities to be held liable for her husband’s abduction and for misfeasance in public office.

Marzuki also claimed Saiful was “not involved” in Koh’s disappearance, and reiterated that he had wanted to record Saiful’s statement to know the latter’s whereabouts on Feb 13, 2017.

“There was a car which looked like a Toyota Vios that was seen in the video of the pastor’s abduction,” he said, pointing out that Saiful owned a car of the same model.

He also said there were no similarities in the disappearance of Koh and another activist, Amri Che Mat.


Senior federal counsel Nurul Farhana Khalid told the court that the defendants had called all their witnesses, and closed their case.

Justice Su Tiang Joo then ordered both parties to file their submissions and replies before Oct 8.

The court fixed Nov 5 for its decision.


***


kt comments:

The Deep State continues its kerbau.


Zahid apologises for ‘angel’ remark, says it was emotionally-driven


FMT:

Zahid apologises for ‘angel’ remark, says it was emotionally-driven



The Umno president says he seeks forgiveness from Allah and apologises for the ‘misstep’ in his choice of words


Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was seen in a viral video saying that even an angel would have fled if appointed Umno president during the party’s most difficult times. (Facebook pic)


PETALING JAYA: Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has apologised for a controversial remark he made in a recent speech, saying it was said in an emotional moment and might have caused confusion.

In a video that has gone viral, Zahid is seen saying that even an angel would have fled if appointed Umno president during the party’s most difficult times.

“The truth is, the statement came from a deeply emotional setting, as an attempt to describe how challenging the tests of leadership can be.


“However, I acknowledge that the comparison has created confusion and could be misinterpreted,” he said in a Facebook post.

Zahid, who is also deputy prime minister, said he humbly sought forgiveness from Allah and apologised to everyone for what he said was a “misstep” in his choice of words.


“As a Muslim and a leader of a party that upholds Islamic values, principles, and scholarly traditions, I sincerely seek forgiveness from Allah and apologise to all for this lapse.

“I accept all criticism with an open heart. I believe that a true leader is not only careful with his words, but also sincere in reflecting, improving, and learning from his mistakes,” he said.

Earlier today, Harakahdaily quoted Kluang PAS chief Nor Mohamad as saying that Zahid’s remark involving angels in the context of political leadership was “excessive and inappropriate”.

He said the statement should be examined seriously from the standpoint of Islamic creed and religious decorum.


He also urged the relevant authorities, such as the Islamic development department and the National Fatwa Council, to review the remark and issue an official stance to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Zahid made the original remarks while addressing delegates at the Sri Gading Umno division meeting in Batu Pahat over the weekend.

Defending party loyalty, he said Umno had gone through immense trials in the past, including the seizure of party assets and the freezing of its accounts.

“I and many other leaders were tested. If an angel had been made Umno president at that time, perhaps even he would have fled in the night,” he had said.


***


kt remarks:

The perils of words in a Muslim Malaysia, even for UMNO people.



MCA’s Criticism Is Landing — And It Deserves Recognition





MCA’s Criticism Is Landing — And It Deserves Recognition


8 Jul 2025 • 3:30 PM MYT

TheRealNehruism
Writer. Seeker. Teacher



Image credit: MCA official website



This past Sunday evening, over tea with two retired lecturers and a farmer — two of them above 70, and one in his 40s; two Indian, one Chinese — we found ourselves speaking, as many Malaysians do these days, about how deeply disappointing the current unity government under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has turned out to be. But what caught my attention wasn’t just the growing cynicism toward the government — it was a particular observation that struck a chord deep within me: someone mentioned how effective MCA, and especially its president Wee Ka Siong, has been as a critic of this administration.


It wasn’t a point I brought up, but when I heard it, it registered with surprising clarity. Because I, too, have felt the same — quietly, over the months. There is something increasingly undeniable about how Wee Ka Siong and MCA are landing blows that the government simply cannot, or refuses to, properly respond to. It's debatable whether MCA is the biggest critic of the unity government — after all, PAS and Bersatu are certainly more aggressive in volume — but what seems increasingly clear is that MCA is becoming one of its most effective critics.


The key lies in their precision. Unlike many other critics who lash out in every direction hoping something sticks, MCA under Wee Ka Siong picks its battles carefully, arms itself with facts, and strikes surgically. When their criticism lands, it doesn’t just ruffle feathers — it leaves a mark. The government, in turn, often appears to respond with hollow justifications or obfuscations — as if the primary concern is not to address the issue, but simply to appear as if it has been addressed. The result? An impression that the unity government is dodging accountability rather than confronting it.



Take the EPF "buy high, sell low" fiasco that MCA broke — involving what appears to be a colossal RM500 million loss through a questionable deal under Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad. The government’s convoluted explanations never quite answered the fundamental question: how was such a decision allowed to happen under their watch, and why has no one been held responsible? For most observers, the question still hangs in the air — and the damage to public trust remains.


Similarly, MCA’s criticism of Nga Kor Ming over the MyKiosk initiative and the so-called “BMW-class” smart toilets has been incredibly effective. Rather than refute the issues head-on with transparency, Nga and the DAP have resorted to dismissing criticism as "causing unnecessary public alarm and misusing network facilities" and involving the MCMC to threaten critics. But this approach has backfired — instead of neutralizing the controversy, it has only deepened the public perception that there is something to hide. That perception matters more than anything else in politics, and it is telling that Nga has since been pushing to ensure that the MyKiosk project shows results, even issuing ultimatums to traders to start operations within two weeks. That’s what effective criticism does: it doesn’t just make noise — it makes the target move.


The recent UPU vs SATU controversy, raised by Wee Ka Siong, which centers on concerns that the newly introduced SATU system—which allows public universities to directly admit students outside the centralized UPU process—which undermines transparency, fairness, and meritocracy in university admission - is also an issue that the public is certainly appreciative of MCA and Wee of raising. It is indeed disconcerting that in the Reformasi era government, the government is still consenting to a system like SATU, that dents the concept of equal opportunity for ,by allowing direct intakes through SATU, which is weakening the merit-based principles that UPU was designed to uphold.


This is what sets MCA apart. Many of the government’s other critics end up looking bitter, petty, or out of touch — harming their own credibility more than the government’s. But MCA’s approach, especially under Wee’s leadership, tends to flip that script: it’s often the government that ends up looking evasive, defensive, and ultimately culpable.



It remains to be seen whether MCA’s criticism alone will be enough to tip the electoral scales against the unity government. For now, MCA is still a party recovering from a long period of irrelevance and association with the old Barisan Nasional era. But in this role — as an effective, focused, and change-inducing critic — MCA is looking sharper and more competent than it has in years.


For a long time, the party seemed unsure of its role in post-GE14 Malaysian politics. It drifted, reduced to a whisper amid louder opposition voices. Today, however, we are beginning to see something else emerge: a party that has understood the power of disciplined, intelligent critique. And while there's still a long road ahead, it would be unfair not to acknowledge this progress.


So yes, let it be said clearly: good job, MCA. You still have a distance to go, but at the current pace, you’re doing well. Your transformation is showing. Your criticism is not just being heard — it is being respected, even by those who may not traditionally support you. Keep doing what you're doing, and keep getting better at it.


Jia you.


***


kt comments:

It's time to forgive, and re-embrace MCA.

BTW Nehru matey, the Hongkie catchphrase 'jia you' is not very popular with Malaysian Chinese as it was seen as a balls-carrying exclamation by pro-Western S-Whole rebs (traitors) in HK, wakakaka.


Wanks want to ban cloud seeding swirls after deadly Texas floods


The Star:


Misinformation on cloud seeding swirls after deadly Texas floods


By Mary Hui
Social media

Tuesday, 08 Jul 20255:00 PM MYT




Vehicles sit submerged as a search and rescue worker looks through debris for any survivors or remains of people swept up in the flash flooding on July 6, 2025 in Hunt, Texas. Heavy rainfall caused flooding along the Guadalupe River in central Texas with multiple fatalities reported. — AFP


In the aftermath of devastating floods in Texas, social media users have spread misinformation that cloud seeding is to blame. Meteorologists have been quick to debunk the claim, but the rumours underline how weather can be a magnet for conspiracy theories.

There is no evidence that weather modification activities caused the extreme rainfall in Texas, which triggered flash flooding on July 4 and claimed at least 89 lives. Days before the deluge that brought over a foot of rain, the US National Weather Service warned of locally heavy precipitation in parts of Texas and the Southwest brought by monsoonal moisture, as well as remnants of a tropical storm that made landfall in Mexico the week prior.


But on social media, prominent accounts with large followings amplified claims suggesting that the Texas floods may have been caused by cloud seeding, a form of weather modification.

By now, it’s a familiar pattern: An extreme weather event occurs, and unfounded theories about its cause quickly emerge and spread online. Often, those claims crumble on closer scrutiny of the facts. Similar conspiracies that cloud seeding caused damaging floods across the United Arab Emirates popped up last year – assertions that meteorologists quickly debunked.


"I understand why emotions are running high and people are scrutinizing cloud seeding to see if it’s to blame,” said Augustus Doricko, Rainmaker Technology Corp. chief executive officer. "Categorically, it’s not.”

According to Doricko, Rainmaker flew a brief 20-minute cloud seeding mission in south-central Texas last Tuesday, but suspended all operations that same day due to abnormally high moisture content in the air. The two clouds seeded during the Tuesday flight would have dissipated after a few hours and would have had no effect on the floods several days later, he added.

Cloud seeding involves using chemicals, often particles of silver iodide, to trigger the formation of ice crystals or droplets from water that’s already present in a cloud but not being efficiently turned into rain. Though the technique has been studied for decades, it remains difficult to predict the additional rainfall that cloud seeding operations can generate, with estimates ranging widely from 0% to 20%.

What’s clear is that the technique would not have been able to generate the record-breaking rainfall seen in Texas. So much rain fell that the Guadalupe River at Kerrville, one of the epicenters of the floods, rose some 26 feet (8 meters) in less than an hour overnight on Friday.

"Based on the meteorological evidence, the Texas floods were caused by a powerful natural weather system, with thunderstorms fed by very moist air from the warm Gulf of Mexico,” said Andrew Charlton-Perez, professor of meteorology at the University of Reading in the UK.

He added that weather balloon data collected the day prior to the floods yielded very high atmospheric moisture readings, and that the National Weather Service had predicted very high rainfall totals in advance.

"Cloud seeding played ZERO role in deadly Texas floods,” Matthew Cappucci, a meteorologist, wrote on X. "Rudimentary, basic physics explains that.”

Emergency managers and families are also dealing with other sources of misinformation, Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said at a Monday press conference. They include fake calls and scammers claiming they have missing children and will return them for money.

Doricko said he hopes to see a clearer regulatory framework around cloud seeding and greater public awareness of the effects and limits of weather modification technologies.

"That would mitigate people’s unfounded concerns around weather modification when severe weather events like this happen,” he said. – Bloomberg


QuickCheck: Did a Penang char kuey teow order get extra 'spicy' on Macalister Road?


The Star:

QuickCheck: Did a Penang char kuey teow order get extra 'spicy' on Macalister Road?


By IMRAN HILMY
True Or Not
Tuesday, 08 Jul 20255:25 PM MYT





Penang - the street food capital of the world.

Just the thought of a steaming hot plate of char kuey teow at the side of a bustling road is mouth-watering.


For some, the thought of waiting even a short time for their CKT fix can prove too much, like for one man in a viral video.

The man in the video is supposedly seen hurling verbal abuse at the hawker for taking too long with his food order before flipping the hot wok onto the road in anger. Did this really happen?



VERDICT:



TRUE

In a case of a little too much "wok hei", a calm evening at a well-known hawker stall near Macalister Road took a disruptive turn when a customer, believed to be intoxicated, reportedly lashed out with verbal abuse and damaged cooking equipment after becoming agitated over an alleged long wait.

Vincent Peh, 29, who operates a char koay teow stall at the popular hawker centre, said the incident happened around 7pm on Friday (July 4), just as he was starting his evening shift.

“My staff had just stepped away for a short toilet break, so there was a slight delay. Suddenly, this man started shouting that he couldn’t wait any longer,” he said, when contacted.

Peh alleged that the customer threw the wok that they were using to fry noodles and started yelling at me in a very aggressive manner.

The customer has also been alleged to have used foul language and accused Peh of being a foreign worker.

“He insulted me... Just because I run a hawker stall doesn’t mean people can speak to me like that,” he said.

Peh said the man in his 40s berated that as a customer, he has the right to scold hawkers whenever he likes.

Despite the verbal abuse and the damage to his equipment, Peh maintained his composure and lodged a police report the same night.

However, Peh said he decided to withdraw the report on Tuesday morning (July 8) after reflecting on the incident.

“I didn’t want to drag the matter any further,” he said, adding that the damage was not that much.

He said if the wok was damaged, he could replace it, and the abusive man might have been going through a bad day.

Phe said while he forgave the man, he hoped people would show more respect to food vendors and small business operators.

“We’re here trying to earn an honest living, just because we’re behind a wok doesn’t mean we deserve to be treated poorly. A little patience goes a long way,” he said.


***


kt compliments:

Extraordinary cool and calm CKT seller - we Penang-Lang are very patient, calm, collected and wonderfully hensem 😂😁😀😅😆😉😊😍


Another IDF Soldier in Gaza Speaks Out




Consortium News
Volume 30, Number 188 —Tuesday, July 8, 2025


Another IDF Soldier in Gaza Speaks Out


“You need to kill them. No matter who it is.” An Israeli soldier speaking anonymously to Sky News provides the latest testimony about indiscriminate slaying of Palestinians




Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip on October 20, 2024. (IDF Spokesperson’s Unit photographer, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

By Stephen Prager
Common Dreams.


Another Israel Defense Forces soldier has spoken out publicly against the IDF’s brutalization of civilians in Gaza.

In an interview with the British Sky News Monday, a reservist who has served three tours of duty in Gaza spoke candidly about orders he and other soldiers received to shoot any person arbitrarily who entered defined “no-go zones,” regardless of whether they posed a threat.

The soldier gave his testimony anonymously for fear of being labeled a “traitor.” However, he identified himself as a reservist from the 252nd Division who was stationed at the Netzarim Corridor, a road which divides North and South Gaza.

The area has been one of the most critical strategic points for Israel’s occupation of Gaza, allowing control over the flow of aid and people.

The soldiers, stationed on the edge of a civilian neighborhood in the homes of displaced Palestinians, were ordered by their commanders to kill anyone who passed an “imaginary line” that marked the beginning of the military stronghold, the soldier said.

“We have a territory that we are in, and the commands are: everyone that comes inside needs to die,” the soldier said. “If they’re inside, they’re dangerous, you need to kill them. No matter who it is.”

“It was like pretty much everyone that comes into the territory, and it might be like a teenager riding his bicycle,” he said.


'Some Israeli commanders can decide to do war crimes.' An IDF soldier, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said his conscience won't let him stay silent about arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza. trib.al/kdqzIO4
902
Reply
Copy link


The soldier said that the prevailing attitude among the troops was that all Palestinians were “terrorists,” and that this attitude was reinforced by commanders.

“They say if someone comes here, it means that he knows he shouldn’t be there, and if he still comes, it means he’s a terrorist,” he said. “This is what they tell you. But I don’t really think it’s true. It’s just poor people, civilians, that don’t really have too many choices.”

He said that when soldiers in the corridor kill civilians, a lot of them “think that they did something good.”

That sense of impunity, he said, comes from the higher-ups.

“Some commanders can really decide to do war crimes and bad things and don’t face the consequences of that,” he said.

“You can’t be in this scenario for so long and not normalize it,” he said. “Killing is normalized, and you don’t see the problem.”




2008 map indicating the location the Netzarim Junction, where the Netzarim Corridor built by the Israeli military intersects with Salah al-Din Road, a major north-south artery in Gaza. (Vanished user 03 /Wikimedia Commons/ CC BY-SA 3.0)


This anonymous soldier is the latest of many who have decided to speak out against atrocities their military has committed.

His testimony comes on the heels of a harrowing Haaretz expose, in which several other Israeli soldiers described being ordered to shoot Palestinian aid-seekers, turning the U.S.-Israeli administered Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites into “killing fields.” Others provided The Associated Press with video of soldiers bombarding civilians in an aid site with pepper spray and stun grenades.

Still others have spoken out against the attacks on civilians near the Israeli stronghold at Netzarim.

In April, a report by the Israeli veterans group Breaking the Silence detailed many more accounts of brutality over the first year-and-a-half of the war. It included accounts of Israeli soldiers razing agricultural land, bulldozing entire city blocks, and designating “large swathes of the land” that “were turned into massive kill zones.”

“All of them were wiped off the face of the Earth. Annihilation, expropriation, and expulsion are immoral and must never be normalized or legitimized,” the report said.

The soldier who spoke to Sky News said his deployment left a similar stain on his conscience.

“I kind of feel like I took part in something bad, and I need to counter it with something good that I do, by speaking out, because I am very troubled about what I took and still am taking part of, as a soldier and citizen in this country,” he said. “I think the war is… a very bad thing that is happening to us, and to the Palestinians, and I think it needs to be over.”



Stephen Prager is a staff writer for Common Dreams.

This article is from Common Dreams.