Daily Archives: April 9, 2021

When Seal Team Six carried out a raid on Osama bin Ladens compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan on May 2, 2011, they not only killed the al Qaeda leader. While under immense time pressure to vacate the premises before Pakistani military arrived, they quickly swept up a treasure trove of his personal belongings. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has since made a large portion of these materials available to the public. Bin Ladens personal possessions paint a more complete picture of the psyche of the notoriousand notoriously secretiveleader behind the 9/11 attacks. Here are nine unexpected things discovered in Osama bin Ladens compound and what they reveal about the founder of the international terrorist network al Qaeda.

This 2005 satellite image shows theAbbottabad, Pakistancompound where Osama Bin Laden was hidingand later shot and killed by Navy SEALs in May 2011. The residence, about 40 miles from Pakistan's capital of Islamabad, was just up the road from a garrison that housed Pakistan's premier military academy.

DigitalGlobe via Getty Images

Despite having no Internet access or phone lines at the compound"those would be too great a risk to his personal safety, says Bill Roggio of Long War JournalOsama bin Laden was a prolific writer and communicator from his self-imposed isolation. Using couriers, hed save email correspondence to a flash drive, which the courier would then send from an Internet caf.

Navy SEALs retrieved about 100 of these drives, which reveal that bin Laden was involved in critical al Qaeda operations even after world leadership assumed his responsibilities had been handed off to Ayman al-Zawahri. The emails showed bin Laden did not surrender operational or strategic control, says Roggio, who was granted advance access to many of bin Ladens files before the CIA released them to the public. He was issuing orders and being briefed on reports, promotions, reassignments, strategy and ideological issues like fatwahs and religious rulings.

READ MORE: How SEAL Team Six Took Out Osama bin Laden

This picture shows the alleged signature of Saudi-born terrorist Osama bin Laden, taken from a fax sent to Qatar's Al Jazeera satellite television channel, September 24, 2001, about two weeks after the 9/11 attacks. According to the statement, bin Laden was urging Pakistanis to fight any assault on Afghanistan by 'crusader Americans.'

AFP via Getty Images

The SEAL team also recovered his 228-page journal, which records thoughts he expressed to family members between February and April of 2011. (Its unclear exactly how many people were living at the compound at the time of the raid, but its known that the cadre included several of his wives, along with multiple children and grandchildren, along with his couriers and their families.) Believed to have been recorded for him by one of his daughters, the diary revealed his thoughts on the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings taking place in several majority-Muslim countries and his vision for Al Qaeda's place in world politics: This chaos and the absence of leadership in the revolutions is the best environment to spread al-Qaeda's thoughts and ideas, the journal says.

The raid also unearthed a family video from bin Ladens son Hamza bin Ladens wedding in Iran. The only picture we had of Hamza prior to the videos release was of him as a child. Hamza was being groomed for a leadership position, so seeing him as an adult was very valuable, says Roggio.

The wedding guest list also proved revealing, as it included multiple members of al Qaedas inner circle. Hamza married the daughter of Abu Muhammad Al-Masri, another al Qaeda leader, and guests included Mohammed Showqi al-Islambouli, whose brother Khalid assassinated former Egyptian President Anwar-el Sadat. Hamza bin Laden was killed in 2019.

READ MORE:The Storied History of SEAL Team Six, the Secret Unit That Killed Bin Laden

A series of video games downloaded and saved onto compound computers suggest Osama bin Laden or someone else who lived on the compound was an avid video game enthusiast. The CIA files released after the 2011 raid showed the al Qaeda leader had downloads of popular games like Half-Life, Super Mario Bros., Yoshis Island DS, Final Fantasy VII, Dragon Ball Z, and Counter-Strike, a game where multiple players team up to take hostages while fending off counterterrorism efforts.

WATCH: How Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda Planned 9/11

While evading authorities, the fugitive leader released a number of pre-recorded videos to followers. Practice reels were discovered in the compound. Streaming live is a traceable activity, so he would pre-record the messages and hand them to a courier to distribute, says Roggio. Recording these videos in advance enabled him to carefully control his public image.

READ MORE: The Making of a SEAL

Its strange to think that the mastermind behind the death of thousands of people would have Disney films in his hideout, but several were found at the Abbottabad compound, including Antz, Cars, Chicken Little and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. His four youngest children were under the age of 10 at the time of his death.

A few items from the hideout were never released to the public, including bin Ladens reportedly large pornography collection. According to Reuters, "the pornography recovered in the Abbottabad compound consists of modern, electronically recorded video and is fairly extensive. Multiple Freedom of Information requests for the release of the files have been denied, so their exact contents remain amystery.

WATCH: Revealed: The Hunt for Bin Laden, premiering Sunday, May 2 at 8/7c on The HISTORY Channel:

Osama bin Laden, the subject of thousands of news articles and multiple documentaries, apparently had an avid curiosity about his public image. After he was killed, authorities found on his computer several films about him, including BiographyOsama bin Laden and the 2008 comedy documentary Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?

Osama bin Ladens personal library was full of surprises. He owned several books on American military and diplomatic history like Bob Woodwards Obama's Wars, Noam Chomskys Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies and Robert Hopkins Millers The U.S. and Vietnam 1787-1941. It was important for him to understand his enemy and their way of thinking, Roggio says. The compound also housed books on popular conspiracy theories on 9/11, The Committee of 300, and the Illuminati.

WATCH: 9/11 Documentaries on HISTORY Vault

Read the original here:

9 Unexpected Things Navy SEALs Discovered in Osama bin Ladens Compound - History

In just a few years, the hard seltzer brand White Claw became a bonafide cultural phenomenon. Videos with the hashtag whiteclaw have earned a billion views on TikTok, completely blowing competitors like Truly and Bud Light Seltzer out of the fizzy water.

Enter rapper-producer-amorphous-brand-ambassador Travis Scott. Having embarked on ventures with major corporations like McDonalds, General Mills, and Nike, Scott has now cashed in on the hard seltzer craze with Cacti, an Anheuser-Busch concoction of his own creation. He launched the brand in March under a partnership with the beverage giant, taking the formal title of founder of the Cacti brand for himself. The beverage boasts a 7 percent ABV, compared to the 5 percent found in most hard seltzers, and is already taking the country by storm. Last week, Cacti reps announced that the fruity spiked beverage broke records at its parent company, selling more in its first week than any variety pack in Anheuser-Busch history. Many stores ran out of it in a day.

Scott didnt have to rely on a tidal wave of memes and videos to replicate White Claws success. Hes already a viral entity on his own. Demand for his signature McDonalds meal was so high that some chains ran out of burger ingredients; his Reeses Puffs sold out in 30 seconds; and his Nikes go for an average of 370 percent over retail. Hes not alone: Just as celebrities have seamlessly integrated into our digital lives, theyve begun integrating into the real world with products. As if to match our fleeting attention spans, celebrity product partnerships have accelerated at a rapid clip. And Travis Scott, whos racked up roughly 20 brand deals since 2014, is on the front lines.

His move into booze, in particular, falls squarely within a long history of rappers big-upping beverage companies. While MCs have always name-dropped their favorite drinks for clout and storytelling purposes, the ultimate flex may be monetizing their rhymes. Three-plus decades of evolution from free promo to paid endorsement, to partnership, to ownership paved the way for Scott to make bank on his own virality and the love of a good buzz. The following timeline of rap-drank relationships illuminates the path to Cacti.

St. Ides, a young brand of malt liquor, becomes the first of its kind to create an advertisement campaign around hip-hop culture. By the Nineties, the brand would make West Coast producer DJ Pooh a creative director.

After a prolific run of rap ads featuring appearances and original music by heavyweights of the genre like Notorious B.I.G., Eric B & Rakim, Snoop Dogg, Wu-Tang Clan, Ice Cube, EPMD, and more, St. Ides hip-hop campaign comes to an end. Despite the campaigns popularity, there was pushback. In 1991, Public Enemys Chuck D decried malt liquors ubiquity in Black communities in the song One Million Bottlebags and sued St. Ides parent company for using his voice without permission in a radio spot. The company settled with Chuck D, as it did when sued by the New York State Attorney Generals Office for targeting underage children of color with their ads.

By the early 2000s, mainstream hip-hop was seeing an image evolution from grit to glamour. In 2002, Busta Rhymes releases Pass the Courvoisier and Pass the Courvoisier Part II (featuring Pharrell and Diddy). Subsequently, the premium cognac brand saw a bump in sales. According to a spokesperson, Busta didnt get paid to promote Courvoisier until after the songs free advertisement gave them a boost. Around the same time, rappers on the Roc-A-Fella roster begin to work to incorporate Armadale Vodka into their music after the Roc acquired the liquor line. Weve made a lot of money for a lot of companies over the years, said Kareem Biggs Burke, a Roc CEO alongside Jay-Z and Damon Dash. Since we have so much influence, we can make money for ourselves by expanding our businesses. No more Belvedere Vodka or Cristal Champagne in our music or videos. By the mid-2000s, Armadales buzz quieted down.

Jay-Zs disdain for Cristal Champagne is cemented when the companys managing director, Frederic Rouzaud, makes disparaging comments about rappers flaunting the product in music videos. What can we do? said Rouzaud. We cant forbid people from buying it. Jay-Z had been drinking Cristal publicly since at least 1994, but after Rouzauds remarks, he features Armand de Brignac champagne, informally known as Ace of Spades, in the Show Me What You Got music video (reportedly earning dollars and equity in the brand). The flagship champagne went for nearly $300 and thats it in its least expensive form.

Diddy successfully counters a celebrity endorsement deal from Ciroc with an equal-share partnership with the vodka brand, in which hed become manager and chief marketing officer, with his own marketing agency, Blue Flame, at the helm. He works tirelessly to promote Ciroc, and in his tenure with the company, sales jump from 40,000 cases a year in 2007 to 1.8 million cases sold in 2019.

When spirit purveyor Bacardi debuts Duss, a cognac, Jay-Z promotes the brand heavily as a partner. He appears at private launch events in 2012 and an activation backstage at his Legends of the Summer tour with Justin Timberlake. They do more public work with the On the Run and Magna Carter tours. By December 2013, Jay is rapping about Duss on Beyoncs Drunk in Love, and artists with no Duss affiliation, like Lil Wayne and Drake, are following suit. At roughly 60 bucks a bottle, nearly 200,000 cases of the cognac sell annually and the company has grown about 80 percent yearly.

Its a big year for rap and booze. Nas begins a years-long promotional relationship with Duss competitor Hennessy, a brand hed been rapping about since his own breakout nearly two decades prior. Meanwhile, Nicki Minaj becomes part-owner of and spokesperson for Myx Fusions Moscato and E-40 launches Earl Stevens Selections, his own line of sweet wines, to much success in Northern California. The latter two lines come on the heels of a spike in Moscato sales.

Jay-Z now completely owns Ace of Spades, acquiring it from New Yorks Sovereign Brands for an undisclosed amount.

Drake releases Virginia Black Decadent American Whiskey in September, with record-breaking single-day launch sales in Ontario. The whiskey continues to sell for around a modest $40. Three years later, the self-proclaimed Champagne Papi followed with a brand of bubbly (naturally). A suit alleges liquor retailers have conspired to it bring down.

A December press release announces that Travis Scotts Cacti agave spiked seltzer will hit shelves in March 2021. Scott says he and a team worked on the taste, packaging, and marketing: Cacti is something Im really proud of and have put a ton of work into.

Jay once rapped: Im 50 percent of Duss and its debt-free / 100 percent of Ace of Spades, worth half a B. In February 2021, he cashed out on the second clause, selling 50 percent of Ace of Spades to LVMH Mot Hennessy, the fashion and liquor conglomerate. The terms of the deal were undisclosed, of course. Just as Hov takes one step out of the liquor game, Travis Scott dives right in in: Cacti is released in March.

Original post:

Travis Scotts Cacti Seltzer and the Long History of Hip-Hop Beverages - Rolling Stone

Superyacht owner Victor Vescovo is used to making headlines, but this time its personal. On March 31, he piloted his submersible DSV Limiting Factor to the deepest shipwreck dive in history and became the first person to witness the USS Johnson since it sank in a World War II battle off the Philippines in 1944. The retired US Navy Commander, who served in the US Navy for 20 years, elaborated on the dives, telling Robb Report he found the event emotional.

It was a really special dive for me, Vescovo said, just hours after the event, while still aboard his vessel DSSV Pressure Drop. The first book I ever checked out of a library was a military history book, so Ive been steeped in it my whole life. To be the first person to see the wreck of the Johnson was incredibly moving and a real privilege.

Vescovo privately funded the expedition that successfully relocated, surveyed and filmed the shipwreck at a depth of 21,180 feet. EYOS Expeditions organized the dive. The Johnson, a Navy Fletcher-class destroyer, sank during the Battle of Leyte Gulf against Japanese forces. It is widely cited as the largest naval battle in history. Vescovo was accompanied on the dives by expedition historian, navigator and mission specialist, Parks Stephenson, Lieutenant Commander, US Navy (Ret.) and mission specialist Shane Eigler, senior submarine technician at Triton Submarines. Kelvin Murray, expedition leader at EYOS, was also present.

DSSV Pressure Drop has carried the submersible Limiting Factor to dive the deepest points of the worlds oceans.Courtesy EYOS Expeditions

The wreck was originally discovered in 2019 by the late Paul Allens R/V Petrel under the leadership of ocean wreck explorer Robert Kraft. Pieces of the wreckage were filmed by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), but it has now been discovered that the forward two-thirds of the wreck, including its bow, bridge, and mid-section, lay deeper than the ROVs rated depth limit of approximately 20,000 feet. In contrast, Vescovos Limiting Factor, a Triton 36000/2 Full Ocean Depth submarine, has no operating depth limitation. It doesnt require a tether to the surface and can hold two occupants for real-time visitation and analysis of wrecks.

Robert Kraft and the Vulcan group that came here years ago found what they believed was the wreckage, says Vescovo. They discovered portions from the aft part of the ship, which were shattered and broken. We expected to see something similar, yet it appears what they filmed was the wreckage that was blown off the ship when it impacted the surface. The forward two thirds of the ship stayed intact and we were able to see all of it.

The hull number 557 was clearly visible on both sides of its bow, along with two full 5-inch gun turrets, twin torpedo racks and multiple gun mounts in place on the superstructure. No human remains or clothing were seen and nothing was taken from the wreck.

Shane Eigler, Victor Vescovo and Parks Stephenson were all part of the voyage of discovery.Courtesy EYOS Expeditions

We saw the bridge and two gun mounts pointed in the same direction where they were firing their last shells at the Japanese destroyers that sank them, says Vescovo. It was just extraordinary.

It took four separate dives to locate and survey the wreck that lies in water 62 percent deeper than the Titanic. On the first dive, we had analysis of where it should be but we didnt quite get to it, says Vescovo. We had a minor technical problem on the second that caused us to have to abort the dive. But on the third, we actually picked up the wreck on the subs sonar and were able to locate it. We spent as much time as we could on the fourth dive filming and taking photos.

The entire wreck site of the 376-foot vessel occupies a concentrated small area, making it difficult to locate. But the highly maneuverable submersible was able to conduct a thorough survey of the wreck to verify its identity, construct a map of its layout and obtain high-definition imagery that can be used by naval historians.

The USS Johnsons forward section was largely intact after being destroyed by Japanese warships in 1944.Courtesy Eyos Expeditions

It was very hard to find but once we did, we went up and down the length of it and saw the shell holes from where she was hit according to historical records, says Vescovo, who held ongoing discussions with Navy Heritage and History Command. The historical record isnt clear on which Japanese ships did the most damage to her, but our preliminary analysis indicates she might have taken some of the worst blows from the Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Yamato. Its only a hypothesis, but it would be an amazing conclusion to confirm that she did take heavy fire from the largest battleship ever constructed. A true David and Goliath story.

In 2019, following the Five Deeps Expedition, Vescovo became the first person in history to have been to the top of all the worlds continents, both Poles and the bottom of all its oceans.

But there are other voyages ahead. Three other wrecks remain undiscovered from the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and Vescovo is intent on finding them. One is the aircraft carrier USS Gambier Bay, he says. Weve just started to open the door.

Read the original:

Meet the Retired US Navy Commander Who Located the Deepest Shipwreck in History - Robb Report

In an effort to record the voices of ordinary people during the COVID-19 pandemic, Assistant Professor of Anthropology Katherine Mason and Sarah Willen, associate professor of anthropology at University of Connecticut, co-founded the Pandemic Journaling Project to predesign an archive of peoples unique experiences.

Willen, a long-time journalist, and Mason, author of Infectious Change: Reinventing Chinese Public Health After an Epidemic, both felt the pandemic was a time that was so chaotic for so many people, so they didnt want to impose on people by interviewing or asking them to participate in a research project just for us, Mason said. Thus, the Pandemic Journaling Project began.

The project features an online platform through which people can record weekly journals through writing, audio or visuals. They can write their journal entry, they can record their voice and make an audio journal, or they can take a photograph and either write or record something brief about that photograph, Mason said.

Participants can choose whether to make journal entries available for public sharing or to keep them private from public viewing for the time being. All participants have consented that 25 years after the pandemic is over, all of that material will be released (with) no names, no contact information, nothing that could easily identify the person, Mason said. Everything will be made part of the public record and will be kept as a digital archive.

This perspective is really valuable in figuring out how to approach the next pandemic, Mason said. If we want to do better in the future, we need to know the reasoning behind peoples decision-making during COVID-19.

Accessibility has been a priority of the Pandemic Journaling Project because history has been written by the powerful, Mason said. We wanted to really give an opportunity for ordinary people from all walks of life, and we worked really hard to make sure we have a diverse group of people participating in terms of racial and ethnic diversity, age, socioeconomic status and education, she added.

Participants can record journals on a computer or a smartphone, and entries can also be submitted in Spanish.

Historically, a lot of Spanish-speaking communities are left out of the narrative, said Ana Perez 24, a research assistant for the Pandemic Journaling Project. She has worked on translating the website, emails and social media posts from English to Spanish.

People can participate from any country in the world, Mason said, and current participants come from more than 40 nations.

The Pandemic Journaling Project is a mixed methods project which collects basic survey information about our participants, Mason said. Information on demographic, health, political leaning and COVID-19 exposure are collected along with journal entries.

This duality allows researchers to not only see the statistics, but also to understand whats going on in peoples lives from a more intimate perspective, said Alice Larotonda, a consulting researcher for the Pandemic Journaling Project, a Brown visiting scholar in anthropology and a research fellow at the University of Bologna in Italy. This will allow them to have a better grasp of the impact, she added.

The platform is anonymous and has never collected or posted identifying information, differentiating the record from social media. When people submit anonymously theyre not trying to be performative in the way you would be on social media. Its a lot more authentic and raw, Mason said.

The Pandemic Journaling Project thereby aims to honestly capture peoples experiences with the pandemic. People are not usually talking about major events (in the journal entries). Theyre very often just talking about what happens in their every day, Mason said.

The team also strives to offer participants something that may actually be useful for them, too.

Emily Nguyen 21, a research assistant for the Pandemic Journaling Project, emphasized the importance of reciprocity in outreach. We wanted to ensure that whoever were reaching out to for help is receiving reciprocated benefit and getting something in return.

Journaling has been shown to be helpful for mental health. It helps to relieve stress. It can help with mild depression, Mason said.

Though the Project doesnt promise that journaling will do any of these things, participants have expressed that they really appreciate having this medium in which to record their experiences on a mental health level, Mason said. They feel that theyre part of history, and theyre going to leave something behind, she added.

The pandemic has been a very isolating time for a lot of people, Perez said. Just reflecting on whats going on, taking that time and space to let it settle is worthwhile.

Participants have enjoyed having this weekly journaling appointment because they feel like there (is) a continuity in a moment where there was so much uncertainty, Larotonda said.

Through the featured entries page on the projects website and Instagram page, people can read that others are going exactly through the same things as they are, Larotonda said.

People hearing each other, even if its anonymous, even if its just by reading someone elses story, that sense of community thats created, is probably one of the big successes of the project, Perez added.

All the members of the team who spoke with The Herald expressed their gratitude to the people who have started to journal with them. Currently, the team has collected 11,000 entries from about 1,500 participants, according to Mason.

Larotonda said that the research team hopes that the project helps people today and in the future understand how intertwined our lives are and how much we need each other because we really are stronger together.

See the original post here:

Pandemic Journaling Project enables ordinary people to write their own history - The Brown Daily Herald

Picture four runners lined up on a track, ready to race. With the crack of the starting pistol, they take off. Two white runners sprint ahead, their path clear. However, for the two other runners, both people of color, obstacles spring up that impede their progress. A gate prevents them from even starting the race. When theyre finally allowed to begin, rain clouds form overhead. Boulders line their lanes and cages take them out of the competition altogether. They hit a dead end.

This shows us what structural racism looks like in America.

To help Kresge staff and partners learn more about the historic roots of structural and institutional racism in the U.S. and its impact, the foundations Human Services program hosted Derrik Anderson, executive director of Race Matters for Juvenile Justice for a learning session in late February.

After sharing this video, Anderson asked staff to reflect on the questions:

Kresges Human Services Program is focused on advancing social and economic mobility from one generation to the next. A key priority in this effort is understanding the roles that racial injustice and inequity play as barriers to this vision.

As the team works to understand why the issue of race is so important to social and economic mobility today, first it must understand the history. How did we get here?

Anderson said it was important to develop this seminar because he found many people from different backgrounds and experiences often considered it difficult or frustrating to have a healthy and objective conversation regarding race, racism, institutional racism and white supremacy. He also wanted to show how some racial groups had a structural disadvantage, burden, and were denied access to institutional resources while another racial group had a structural advantage, unearned benefit and access to institutional resources through economic and social policies and practices.

Its not about just looking at individual acts of bigotry, Anderson said.

Instead, we want to focus on institutions and systems that continue to impact people based on their race. We need to analyze why inequities continue to persist and develop practical changes that can result in different outcomes, he explained.

It took us more than 500 years to get here. Its going to take a while to get out, Anderson said. But this work of racial equity is around shared responsibility. It is about being intentional and sustaining the work each and every day. To advance racial equity, we all have a role to play.

Reexamining History

Many times, we may not even be aware of some of the deep-rooted values, attitudes, and beliefs we hold and how they influence our behaviors and decision making, Anderson said.

Ask yourself: What are the stories and narratives that we hold to be true about our Black, Latino, Asian and Native American brothers and sisters? Anderson asked. What do we believe, and where did we receive our information from?

As we all travel through our nations educational system, we dont often hear the full truth about the contribution of different racial groups throughout our society.

We need to reexamine what we know to be true, Anderson said.

Who is Burdened and Who Benefits?

Whether it is who is considered a citizen, who can vote, who can own property, who a person can marry or whose military service will be honored, systems, policies and procedures in this country create a trajectory for Black, Indigenous and other people of color that is baked into our social fabric. Throughout our history, there are people who have been structured out of opportunities by people in power.

We have to be conscious of and acknowledge those who have been oppressed, and at the same time, we have to acknowledge those who are benefiting as a part of this dynamic, Anderson said.

Though the obstacles are structural, inaccurate narratives lead people to believe the challenge is individual responsibility.

Equity needs to drive change. Providing a more equitable and generous safety net would help address the nations history and structural racism and improve economic opportunity, Anderson said.

In addition to that, Anderson said, according to Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE), the root cause of the racial inequities is institutional and systemic racism, as well as white supremacy. Racial Equity Institute defines white supremacy as the idea that white people and their ideas, thoughts, beliefs and actions are superior to people of color and their ideas, thoughts and beliefs and actions.

Questions to Ask

The teaching of GARE indicated that although were not responsible for history, we are responsible for what happens today, and for what happens in the future, Anderson said. Racism impacts all of us. And we all have a role to play in ending it.

Ready to test your knowledge of history? Take a short quiz here.

Was any of this information new to you?

To learn more about Derrik Anderson and Race Matters for Juvenile Justice, please visit https://rmjj.org/.

See the original post here:

Reexamining history: The roots of structural and institutional racism in the US - The Kresge Foundation