Ex-US Soldier Charged in 'International Crime Spree' Extradited From Ukraine

The Pentagon on Friday stood by its decision to conduct a clandestine disinformation campaign in the Philippines in 2020 that aimed to sow doubt about China's COVID-19 vaccine during the height of the global pandemic -- a campaign that was first revealed in a bombshell report by Reuters. The U.S. military launched the disinformation campaign following a decision by then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper to loosen restrictions on such operations, and used phony online accounts posing as Filipinos in an effort "to discredit China's Sinovac inoculation -- payback for Beijing's efforts to blame Washington for the pandemic.”. At the time, the Philippines was struggling to vaccinate its population and had one of the worst death rates in the region. The Philippines disinformation campaign marks an unusual use of military power in a country that has often been a U.S. ally in a strategically crucial region and at a time of great public health risks. Lisa Lawrence, a Defense Department spokeswoman, did not deny Reuters' reporting on the operation, which was done under the administration of former President Donald Trump and continued for some time under the Biden administration.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/ZeroBlog30

Chaps and Kate are joined by their good buddy White Sox Dave who recently traveled to Europe and went on a WW2 battle site tour. The squad also talks about a new device that will detect TBI in less than 15 minutes post blast.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/ZeroBlog30

A US Army veteran turned foreign volunteer fighter has lost his bid to avoid extradition from Ukraine on murder and robbery charges. Craig Austin Lang, 34, will appear in a Florida court on Monday in connection with a 2018 double homicide and armed robbery. Mr Lang is said to have killed Serafin and Deana Lorenzo, and stolen from them to fund a new escapade in Venezuela. Earlier this year, a federal jury found his alleged accomplice guilty on all of the charges Mr Lang now faces. Mr Lang's extradition is the culmination of a decade-long globe-trot that saw him desert the army and join volunteer paramilitary forces against Russian separatists in Ukraine and al-Shabab terrorists in East Africa.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/ZeroBlog30

This Memorial Day hit the squad differently. After being so involved in a public way, sometimes taking a small step back and bring about some real introspectionYou can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/ZeroBlog30

Three weeks after U.S. troops were told they could face disciplinary action if their official .mil email addresses were found among those hacked from the adultery website Ashley Madison, the services appear ready to drop the affair. So far there are no reports of soldiers, sailors, Marines or airmen even being reprimanded for signing up to the cheating site using an official Pentagon account. An Army spokesman said signing up for a website was not a crime, and the worst offense anyone might be guilty of is unauthorized use of a government email address. There was no follow-up to a question asking whether soldiers or civilians with security clearances who registered with the site may be more vulnerable to blackmail as a result. The services' approach seems to contradict the Pentagon's initial reaction to the news that up to 15,000 DoD employees may have used their work emails -- and possibly computers -- to register for the website & could be disciplined for it.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/ZeroBlog30

A fight over whether women should be required to register for a potential draft has been revived in Congress. Last year, Congress appeared on the precipice of making women register with what's formally called the Selective Service System, but the idea was dropped from the defense policy bill signed into law after closed-door House-Senate negotiations despite having bipartisan support. Now, the proposal is back in the version of the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, making its way through the Senate, and conservatives are again vowing a fierce fight against what they refer to as "drafting our daughters."You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/ZeroBlog30

An American soldier is being held by Russian authorities on charges of criminal misconduct, Army officials confirmed Monday. The Associated Press cited U.S. officials who said the soldier, Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, was stationed in South Korea and was in the process of returning home to Fort Cavazos in Texas. Instead, officials said Black, who is married, traveled to Russia to see a longtime girlfriend and was accused of theft. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel details, according to The Associated Press. In a statement, Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said the service member was arrested on May 2 by Russian authorities in Vladivostok. She did not provide any information about the soldier’s identity or reasons for being in Russia. “The Russian Federation notified the U.S. Department of State of the criminal detention in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations,” she said. “The Army notified his family and the U.S. Department of State is providing appropriate consular support to the soldier in Russia.” The Associated Press reported the Russian woman had lived in South Korea, and last fall she and Black got into some type of domestic dispute or altercation, according to officials. After that, she left South Korea. It isn’t clear if she was forced to leave or what, if any, role Korean authorities had in the matter.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/ZeroBlog30

The Marine Corps is creating a billet aimed at keeping dual-military families -- marriages where both spouses are service members -- together during moves to new duty stations. The billet, which is called the dual-military coordinator, will act as a liaison between couples and their career monitors in an attempt to alleviate stress associated with orders assignments, which can result in families being separated from each other for extended periods of time. Such separations are a quality-of-life issue that can directly affect a Marine's decision to stay in the service.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/ZeroBlog30

A former Army officer has relinquished his captain’s bars to enlist in the Marine Corps. “I was kind of at a point in my life in the Army where I didn’t feel really fulfilled,” Nicholas Brooklier said in a Marine Corps news story. “So, it was either get out and go to the civilian world, and to be honest, I did not want to do that. I felt like my time in the service wasn’t over. I just felt like I needed a change in my environment.” Now, Brooklier is scheduled to graduate from Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego on Friday and enter follow-on infantry training.. Ultimately, he told the Marines, he hopes to earn his commission and become a Marine infantry officer.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/ZeroBlog30

Displaced Palestinians trying to return to their homes in northern Gaza recounted being shot at by the Israeli army in a video verified by Al Jazeera on Sunday. At least 33,729 Palestinians have been killed and 76,371 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attacks stands at 1,139, with dozens of people still held captive. Palestinian doctors said they have discovered another mass grave in the vicinity of Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital, recently besieged by Israeli soldiers. At least 10 bodies have been recovered so far. Israel’s army chief has said Iran’s weekend attack “will be met with a response” shortly after Israel’s war cabinet convened to discuss how to respond. At least two more Palestinians have been killed in the village of Aqraba, southeast of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, in the latest of a series of attacks carried out by Israeli settlers. Fighters with the Lebanese Hezbollah group detonated an explosive device after Israeli soldiers “crossed the border”, wounding four troops. The Israeli army has renewed warnings for Palestinians not to return to Gaza’s north a day after its forces opened fire on desperate civilians trying to return home.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/ZeroBlog30