Russell Brand has been accused of rape, sexual assault and abuse, according to a joint investigation by the Sunday Times of London, the Times and Channel 4 Dispatches — and one of his accusers was allegedly 16 years old at the time.

Brand had earlier posted a preemptive video denying the allegations on YouTube and Twitter, previously known as X, without mentioning the outlets by name.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Webmaster addition: I am calling BULL BISCUITS on this one. I worked with Russell on "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and he came across as a very nice guy. This looks like another smear job against a conservative icon!

While Russian forces continue to methodically eliminate the Ukrainian infantry formations and armored vehicles that Kiev continues to throw at them as part of the so-called “counteroffensive,” some Ukrainian units end up being destroyed before they even reach the frontline.

A short video released by the Russian Ministry of Defense online depicts the moment when a Russian precision strike takes out a temporary deployment area occupied by Ukrainian troops in the Kherson region.

It was not immediately clear exactly what type of ordnance was used to execute this strike.

The special military operation zone recently witnessed the power of the Krasukha-S4 self-propelled electronic warfare (EW) system, as showcased in footage released by the Russian MoD. How does this system work and how effective is it? Sputnik explains.

What's Krasukha Needed For?

The Krasukha-S4 is created to render spy satellites, ground-based radars, and airborne systems completely ineffective. It achieves this by generating jamming signals that target core radar frequencies and other radio-emitting sources.

The main purpose of the Krasukha system is to protect command posts, troops and air defenses from aerial reconnaissance and high-precision weapons. The EW system closely interacts with air defense systems, which destroy an enemy object after receiving its location from Krasukha-S4.

In addition, the system successfully engages unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) flying at extremely low altitudes. Krasukha's software and hardware systems have the ability to disrupt a drone's on-board equipment, effectively rendering the UAV blind and helpless. This forces the aircraft to climb to higher altitudes, placing it within the reach of the Russian air defenses, which then annihilate the target.

The US overestimated its capabilities when trying to undermine Russia and China's economies, the Columbia University economist told Sputnik's New Rules podcast.

Sanctions have failed to bring Russia to its knees, as the nation's economy has proved to be far more resilient than Western policymakers ever imagined.

Back in March-February 2022 they projected that a bunch of restrictions would be effectively a knockout punch against the Russian economy, that they would bring military production to a halt and that they could even potentially cause mass political unrest. None of that has materialized. Why did Western analysts get Russia so wrong?

"When it comes to Russia, the idea that this would be some kind of a 'knockout blow' for the conflict in Ukraine was utterly naive and predictably a failure," renowned economist and Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs told Sputnik. "But I think the Russian economy also was clearly vastly underestimated. And what the West gets wrong on all aspects of the Ukraine crisis is that the world is not united with the West. The West is just a small part of the world. Most of the world wants to stay clear of this crisis."

The White House is promoting President Joe Biden’s mass marijuana pardon and scheduling review directive as part of a “Fight for Our Freedom” campaign meant to “mobilize young people” as next year’s election approaches.

A factsheet about the campaign that the administration published on Thursday contains a section dedicated to the president’s cannabis reform actions from late last year titled, “Addressing a Failed Approach to Marijuana.”

“The criminalization of marijuana possession has upended too many lives—for conduct that is now legal in many states,” it says. “While white, Black and brown people use marijuana at similar rates, Black and brown people are more likely to be in jail for it.”

The youth outreach campaign will involve a college tour featuring Vice President Kamala Harris that begins at Hampton College on Thursday. The vice president will visit a total of seven colleges across the country over the next month, though its unclear if she will explicitly tout the administration’s cannabis reform actions on campuses.

Webmaster addition: What a great campaign slogan! "Vote for Biden and we'll let you get stoned!"

Oregon has taken an unprecedented step in offering psilocybin, also known as magic mushrooms, to the public. Epic Healing Eugene - America's first licensed psilocybin service center - opened in June, marking Oregon's unprecedented step in offering the mind-bending drug to the public. The center now has a waitlist of more than 3,000 names, including people with depression, PTSD or end-of-life dread.

No prescription or referral is needed, but proponents hope Oregon's legalization will spark a revolution in mental health care. Clients do not need to live in Oregon to access psilocybin services but must be 21 years of age or older, said the state's Oregon Psilocybin Services. A preparation session must be completed with a licensed facilitator, the agency said.

Following the 2008 global financial crisis, the Federal Reserve created trillions of dollars to ease financial conditions and keep banks afloat. Many economists predicted record inflation would result. But Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke pulled an ace out of his sleeve. He paid banks to park much of that money at the Fed and limit its inflationary effects.

That victory was evanescent, and now the bill is coming due for the Fed’s quarantining almost $6 trillion to keep a lid on inflation.

The multitrillion-dollar corner that the Fed painted itself into is a now costing $275 billion annually, more than the Treasury spent on all veterans’ benefits and services last fiscal year. And it’s going to get worse.

Paying interest on reserves "sterilized" the money because any cash kept at the Fed was not being lent out by banks, and therefore wasn’t multiplying as it normally would through fractional reserve banking. But the inflationary pressure from Congress’ deficit spending has put the Bernanke model of sterilizing money on steroids.

Earlier this week, after we exposed the Pentagon’s woke gender-pronoun policy for the top joint military awards and the ensuing political firestorm it caused, the Pentagon issued a “clarification.”

But here’s the problem: The clarification only confirms our worst fears and raises other related questions.

This issue isn’t going away anytime soon.

On Sept. 1, we exposed the little-noticed update to the Defense Department’s “Manual of Military Decorations and Awards: DOD Joint Decorations and Awards.” The change, effective Aug. 7, required the six top joint awards to use the nonsensical and grammatically incorrect word “themself” instead of the pronouns “himself” or “herself” for each award. 

Our post went viral, for obvious reasons, and members of Congress took note.

On the day of our post, Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., posted a scathing response on X, formerly known as Twitter, stating that “the Pentagon has once again chosen to waste time and resources on wokeness instead of warfighting.” He accurately called the new policy “insane” and called on Congress to ensure that the Pentagon is focused on “lethality, not pronouns.”

On Sept. 8, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., wrote a public letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, which both poked fun at the Pentagon’s misguided priorities and demanded answers to some very legitimate questions.

Susanna Gibson, a candidate for the Virginia statehouse who solicited money from people online for her to perform sex acts on video with her husband, may have violated Virginia’s prostitution law, two attorneys in the state told The Daily Wire.

Virginia law states that “any person who, for money or its equivalent … engages in sexual intercourse” or other sexual acts with another person “is guilty of prostitution, which is punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor.”

Shawn M. Cline, a former prosecutor and defense attorney in Virginia Beach who represents people charged with sex crimes, said in his view it’s a “chargeable offense.”

“The statute is very clear, you cannot for money or its equivalent perform sex acts,” Cline told The Daily Wire. “It doesn’t matter who’s paying for the act, if it’s an observer or the recipient. You can’t receive money.”

“It would definitely be a chargeable offense,” Cline said.

In the videos that were initially streamed on Chaturbate, Gibson states that she’s raising money for a “good cause,” and asks viewers to send her “tokens” to perform certain sex acts or even to urinate on camera. “Y’all can watch me pee if you tip me and some tokens,” Gibson can be heard saying in the graphic videos. “Again, I’m raising money for a good cause.”

The website of the law firm ScrofanoLaw, which defends Virginians charged with sex crimes, says “Virginia is among the most stringent states when it comes to prosecuting prostitution crimes” and that “the definition of prostitution, according to § 18.2-346 of the Virginia Law Code applies to any person who, for money or its equivalent, agrees to participate in sexual acts.”

A Pennsylvania school board voted last week to renew the contract of a male trans-identifying tennis coach after he was accused of changing in the girls’ locker room near students.

The Gettysburg Area School District school board voted 6-2 on Tuesday last week to renew tennis coach David Yates’ contract for the fall season after weeks of controversy, Penn Live reported. One school board member was absent from the vote.

Yates has been the district’s tennis coach, coaching both the girls’ and boys’ tennis teams since 2018. He said he began transitioning from living as male to female in 2021.

A year ago in September, Gettysburg High School principal Jeremy Lusk gave Yates a letter outlining several “concerns” and emphasizing that it is “imperative to maintain professional boundaries,” according to Penn Live.

Webmaster addition:

In the name of regulation, does government have the power to override the Fourth Amendment’s search and seizure protection? Indeed, contend Kansas state officials. Absolutely not, counters property and business owner Scott Johnson. “The government thinks it isn’t accountable, but we’re taking a stand.”

At stake is Johnson’s livelihood. He lives where he works. In 2020, when the Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA) demanded no-warrant access to Johnson’s property under penalty of repeated fines and loss of business license, Johnson fought back. Presently locked in a court battle with KDA, Johnson is resolute: “When average people find out what the government is doing, they’re disgusted. I’m fighting for what’s right.”

Breaching the Bill

At the edge of the Flint Hills outside Winfield, Kan., roughly one hour southeast of Wichita, Johnson operates nationally-recognized Covey Find Kennel (CFK), jointly owned with his wife, Harlene Hoyt. Johnson trains prize-winning bird dogs and he is one of the top handlers in the United States. His house, shop, and kennels sit together on a homestead in rural Cowley County, adjacent to abundant pastureland and wheat fields. CFK is a shipshape operation, clean as a whistle with an extensive list of accolades and awards as testament.

In Kansas, bird dog training is a pervasively regulated industry—lumped in with commercial fishing, animal breeding, horse racing, liquor, firearms, and mining. Operation of a bird dog training business requires a state-issued license, and all applicants must waive Fourth Amendment rights. No waiver; no license. No license; no business.

Webmaster addition: Laws repugnant to the Constitution are automatically null and void. -- Marbury v Madison

Beauty giant Dove is facing a Bud Light-style boycott for partnering with controversial Black Lives Matter activist Zyanha Bryant, who was previously accused of getting a white student expelled over “misheard” comments.

Some once-loyal customers even posted pictures of bars of soap in the trash after Bryant, 22, announced she was a “Dove ambassador” helping to promote “fat liberation.”

“After hearing that Dove Beauty chose Zyanha Bryant — who ruined Morgan Bettinger’s life — for their ‘fat acceptance ambassador,’ THIS lifelong large lady and now former Dove customer tossed out the last three bars of Dove products she will EVER buy,” one, Carole Thorpe, tweeted Thursday night along with a shot of the bars in her trash.

Even Elon Musk weighed in as outrage spread across his social media platform X, the new name for Twitter.

“Messed up,” he wrote alongside a clip of the BLM activist’s initial announcement.

 White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Friday that President Joe Biden will not consider commuting or pardoning his son, Hunter Biden, if he is convicted of the crimes he is accused of committing.

 Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass says her city welcomes illegal aliens, yet she admits she is afraid they could be airlifted into her city by the planeload at any moment.

 Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and other New York Democrats were shouted down during a press conference on Friday while speaking to constituents about the flood of illegal aliens that have hit the streets of New York City.

 CNN anchor Jake Tapper grilled Ford CEO Jim Farley during an interview this week about the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike that is impacting America’s big three automakers.

 Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) slammed the U.S. Department of Justice late this week for the charges it brought against President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, arguing that special counsel David Weiss effectively insulated the White House.

 A United Airlines flight was forced to turn around this week after plummeting 28,000 feet in a matter of minutes after taking off to Rome from New Jersey.

 Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) released a statement late this week apologizing for her actions that led to her being thrown out of a “Beetlejuice” musical last weekend.

 Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) appeared to change his views in a matter of just a couple days this week on House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.

 Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina blasted a teachers union boss on Wednesday for comparing the parental rights movement to proponents of segregation.

 Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) slammed the U.S. Department of Justice late this week for the charges it brought against President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, arguing that special counsel David Weiss effectively insulated the White House.

 Special counsel Jack Smith has asked the federal judge overseeing the criminal case against former President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., to impose a “narrowly tailored” gag order on the former president over concerns that he could make public statements that “present a serious and substantial danger of prejudicing” the case.

 A school superintendent in the Atlanta area this week doubled down on his promise to protect students from “pornographic material” after critics called for him to be removed for banning books.

Consumers are not too happy with the decision made by personal care brand Dove to pick an open anti-White racist as the brand's “fat acceptance ambassador,” leading to #BoycottDove trending on X/Twitter.

The ambassador's name is Zyahna Bryant, someone who is far from new to the news cycle. Bryant spread around false information about a University of Virginia student who accidentally drove in on a Black Lives Matter protest, per Reason. The student, Morgan Bettinger, drove down the road but a dump truck blocked her from proceeding. 

Eventually, she stopped her car upon realizing there was a protest going on and the truck driver approached Bettinger to talk to her. She thanked the truck driver for stopping and assisting her, jokingly saying if she had messed up the protesters would have become “good speed bumps.”

Bryant then began an entire campaign against Bettinger for the one comment she made out of context, painting the young white woman as a vindictive and evil person. Bryant asked for people to write to UVA and ask for punishment against Bettinger which eventually spiraled into harassment against the student. 

And now the very same person who led the whole campaign against a white student for a simple misunderstanding has a full brand deal with Dove. Bryant shared a video on her Instagram page sharing an announcement for her partnership and talking about what “fat liberation” means to her. 

Webmaster addition: Being obese leads to high blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or “bad”) cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar, and inflammation. These changes translate into increased risk for coronary heart disease, stroke, and cardiovascular death. So, eat up, Zyahna!

Iran’s defense minister has rebuked the US government’s seizure of one million barrels of Iranian crude, warning that the Islamic Republic is fully capable of retaliating “on a larger scale” in due time.

The US Department of Justice confirmed on September 8 that it had seized the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker carrying Iranian oil, named Suez Rajan, and its cargo of 980,000 barrels of crude oil off the coast of Texas.

The department claimed that Suez Rajan was in April transporting Iranian oil to China in violation of Washington’s sanctions against Tehran. It also said the US government had obtained a warrant earlier this year for its seizure.

“This is an act of theft by the United States, which is not acceptable across the world whatsoever,” Defense Minister Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Ashtiani stated.

Speaking with ISNA, Ashtiani warned that if Washington goes ahead with stealing the Iranian oil cargo, “we will definitely retaliate, and we can react on a larger scale.”

“But for now, we have limited our action to the discussions we are engaged in,” he said, stressing that Iran expects the Americans to stop such actions.

Don’t be fooled. Special Counsel Jack Smith was not hired to argue a brilliant case against President Donald Trump in the court of law. Jack Smith was not hired to bring legitimate charges against President Trump. Jack Smith was hired as a DOJ hitman to take out Trump. Period.

Jack Smith has always been a hitman. He was hired as a hitman before. He was hired as a hitman to destroy Trump.

Jack Smith is not a genius on legal theory. That’s not his job.

When Attorney General Merrick Garland, top DOJ officials, and Joe Biden’s handlers met to plan their next assault on the former president they all agreed on one thing. They needed to destroy President Trump completely and assure that he never makes it to Election Day.

Democratic Virginia political candidate Susanna Gibson, who was outed by the Washington Post for performing sex acts online for cash - and instead of owning up to it cried 'sex crime!', was actually tipped off a week earlier by the Associated Press, which didn't run the story - allowing her to delete videos before the WaPo piece hit, according to the Daily Wire's Luke Rosiak.

Gibson, a 40-year-old nurse practitioner and mother of two, streamed various sex acts on 'Chaturbate,' where more than a dozen videos of she and her husband were archived on a publicly available site, Recurbate, in September 2022 after she entered the race. The most recent were two videos archived Sept. 30, 2022, however it's unclear when the live stream occurred.

Rosiak also reports that Gibson's online sex acts could have exposed her to prostitution charges, lawyers say.

Virginia law states that “any person who, for money or its equivalent … engages in sexual intercourse” or other sexual acts with another person “is guilty of prostitution, which is punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor.”

Shawn M. Cline, a former prosecutor and defense attorney in Virginia Beach who represents people charged with sex crimes, said in his view it’s a “chargeable offense.”

“The statute is very clear, you cannot for money or its equivalent perform sex acts,” Cline told The Daily Wire. “It doesn’t matter who’s paying for the act, if it’s an observer or the recipient. You can’t receive money.”

“It would definitely be a chargeable offense,” Cline said. -Daily Wire

What's more, she could be busted for deliberately causing hotel workers to see her performing sex acts.

The New Orleans-based electric utility Entergy (ETR) posted a video on X.com last week featuring one of its nuclear power plant control room supervisors. The video appeared to be intended to highlight the company's embrace of diversity and inclusion. 

X.com gives users the option of hiding certain replies to their posts. Here's a sample of some of the replies to this one that Entergy chose to hide: