Author:

Media bias, inaccuracy and the violence in Amsterdam

What one night of violence revealed about the western media’s failings on Israel and Palestine. In the wake of an ugly eruption of violence on the streets of Amsterdam, the media coverage of the story has been put under the microscope with editors scrambling to revise headlines, rework narratives, and reframe video content. Contributors:  Dana Mills – Writer, Local Call and +972 MagazineMarc Owen Jones – Associate professor, Northwestern University QatarJames North – Editor-at-large, MondoweissSamira Mohyeddin – Founder, On The Line Media On our radar Incoming president Donald Trump has appointed Elon Musk – one of his most vocal supporters – to co-lead the brand new Department of Government Efficiency. Meenakshi Ravi looks at Musk’s new role and how he could use his influence to get favourable government treatment for his companies. The Headline Fixer Throughout Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, critics have been tearing apart the media coverage – especially by news outlets in the United States. Feature blurb: Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has shone an often-unflattering spotlight on media coverage by mainstream US news outlets. Such failings jump out at us because they often come in the form of headlines. Historian Assal Rad explains the mission she has undertaken to “fix” misleading headlines. Featuring:  Assal Rad – Author of State of Resistance: Politics, Culture and Identity in Modern Iran Adblock test (Why?)

G7 backs Ukraine as Zelenskyy says he wants to end war next year

Ukraine president says Kyiv will do everything possible so the war with Russia ends in 2025 ‘through diplomatic means’. Leaders of the G7 alliance have reaffirmed support for Ukraine “for as long as it takes” as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he wants to end the war through talks next year. The Ukrainian president said in a radio interview aired on Saturday that his side will do everything possible so that the war with Russia ends in 2025 “through diplomatic means”. The previous day he said that the re-election of Donald Trump as United States president means that the war will likely end “sooner” than it otherwise would have. Trump has said he wants to end the war immediately and Vice President-elect JD Vance has suggested that a Trump administration could favour letting Russia keep land it has seized on the battlefield, but Zelenskyy said he “didn’t hear anything that goes against our position” when he spoke with Trump earlier this month. For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow will only accept an agreement if it sees Kyiv surrender the Ukrainian territory it has lost during the war. The Russian leader told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday during their first direct conversation in almost two years that an agreement would also need to address the “root causes” of the conflict, which include NATO expansion. As all sides prepare for the impacts of a Trump presidency on the war, the G7 affirmed its “support of Kyiv as the thousandth day of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine approaches”. “Russia remains the sole obstacle to just and lasting peace. The G7 confirms its commitment to imposing severe costs on Russia through sanctions, export controls and other effective measures,” the leaders of the group said in a statement. The intergovernmental group consists of the US, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Canada. Italy currently holds the rotating presidency until the end of the year. In advance of Trump’s inauguration in January, Ukraine has been scrambling to secure more Western weapons and funding as the president-elect has heavily criticised US spending on aiding Ukraine. The outgoing administration of President Joe Biden has pledged to strengthen its support for Kyiv in its remaining time in power. Russian advances Zelenskyy also conceded that the situation in eastern Ukraine was difficult and Russian forces were making advances. Moscow’s forces are bearing down on Kurakhove, which has a thermal power plant and is only seven kilometres (four miles) from Pokrovsk, a large town that, for much of the war, has been one of Ukraine’s logistical linchpins. On the battlefields of eastern Ukraine, Russia is now advancing at the fastest rate since the war’s earliest days in 2022. North Korea has sent thousands of soldiers to the Russian region of Kursk to help Moscow fight off a Ukrainian incursion that started in August. Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Saturday that air defences downed 15 drones in Kursk, along with multiple other attacking aircraft in several other regions. Adblock test (Why?)

Israeli air raid on Gaza City school-turned-shelter kills 10 people

The strike took place at a UN-run school in Gaza City’s Shati refugee camp. An Israeli strike on a school where displaced Palestinians were sheltering in Gaza City’s Shati refugee camp has killed 10 people and wounded at least 20 others, Palestinian medics said. Rescue operations were under way at the UN-run Abu Assi school in northern Gaza on Saturday, health officials said. Reporting from Deir el-Balah, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said that according to locals and witnesses, most of the people sheltering in the school were displaced from other parts of Gaza. “Let me remind you there is only one hospital functioning in the city … and we know the health situation in hospitals in Gaza has been horrible … so it is difficult to help the injured,” she said. Palestinian health officials said at least 30 people were killed by Israeli military strikes across the enclave on Saturday. The northern Gaza Strip, in particular, has been under siege for more than 40 days. “Israeli soldiers have surrounded and imposed a strict blockade on Palestinians in Beit Lahiya, Jabalia and Beit Hanoon, where Palestinians are unable to evacuate their besieged homes,” Khoudary said. “We have received many appeals from people in Beit Lahiya who say they’re stuck and need rescuing. They have no food, water or medical aid,” she noted. “Other than air strikes and continuing artillery shelling, the military has extensively deployed quadcopters that Israeli forces use to fire live ammunition at Palestinians and kill them in different areas across the Gaza Strip,” Khoudary added. Later on Saturday, the Israeli military reported that two rockets fired at Israel from the northern Gaza Strip were intercepted. The launches show the ability of Palestinian fighters to fire rockets into Israel despite more than 13 months of an aerial and ground offensive that turned vast land in the enclave into wasteland and displaced most of the 2.3 million population. Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed at least 43,799 Palestinians and wounded 103,601 since October 7, 2023. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks that day, and more than 200 were taken captive. Adblock test (Why?)

Schumer now pleads for bi-partisanship having promised to railroad Democrat agenda through

With Republicans sweeping to a red trifecta in last week’s elections, stunningly capturing the White House and majorities in the House and Senate, Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is cutting a different tone, compared to his pre-election hype where he posited a Democrat win in the Senate and then potentially getting rid of the filibuster, among other radical proposals.  Ending the filibuster rule – which requires 60 votes to pass bills – would have made it easier for Democrats to supercharge their agenda and essentially railroad any Republican opposition.  Schumer and the Democrats tried to kill the filibuster in 2022 when they had 50 votes – the vice president could have broken the tie – but Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema refused to toe the Democratic party line. They eventually became Independents. FILIBUSTER: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE POLITICAL DELAY TACTIC With Manchin and Sinema leaving the Senate, Schumer was confident of having at least 50 Senate seats after this year’s election with a then-potential Vice President Walz breaking the tie on a filibuster vote.  “We got it up to 48, but, of course, Sinema and Manchin voted no; that’s why we couldn’t change the rules. Well, they’re both gone,” Schumer told reporters on the Tuesday during the week of the Democratic convention, according to NBC News. “Ruben Gallego is for it, and we have 51. So, even losing Manchin, we still have 50.” The result would have essentially meant one-party rule in the Senate, with Schumer also toying with expanding voting rights nationwide by passing the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.  He also discussed a potential rule change to codify abortion rights in federal law, a party priority after Roe v. Wade was overturned, which would have faced staunch Republican opposition and lacking a path to 60 Senate votes. Schumer also posited reforming the Supreme Court by slapping 18-year term limits on justices and touted reversing the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling, which determined that presidents are immune from prosecution for some “official acts.” He has previously announced his intention to move legislation that would expand the Supreme Court from nine to 13 members. But this week, he went to the floor of the Senate to tell Republicans to essentially go easy on their legislative colleagues on the other side of the aisle, since Republicans will have a 53-to-47 majority.  WHAT TRUMP’S REPUBLICAN TRIFECTA IN HIS FIRST ADMINISTRATION ACCOMPLISHED, AND WHERE THEY FAILED: FLASHBACK “To my Republican colleagues, I offer a word of caution in good faith,” Schumer said.  “Take care not to misread the will of the people, and do not abandon the need for bipartisanship. After winning an election, the temptation may be to go to the extreme. We’ve seen that happen over the decades, and it has consistently backfired on the party in power.” “So, instead of going to the extremes, I remind my colleagues that this body is most effective when it’s bipartisan. If we want the next four years in the Senate to be as productive as the last four, the only way that will happen is through bipartisan cooperation.” Schumer’s about face wasn’t lost on Byron York, chief political correspondent for the Washington Examiner and a Fox News contributor. “The short version of that is: Please don’t do to us what we were going to do to you,” York writes in the Washington Examiner.  “Schumer is obviously concerned that Republicans might embrace a scheme to eliminate the filibuster and pass all sorts of consequential legislation with no Democratic input at all. That wouldn’t be bipartisan!” “Fortunately for Schumer, Republicans have been more principled than Democrats when it comes to the legislative filibuster, and to the filibuster in general. Republicans realize that even though they will have the majority for the next two years, they might be back in the minority at any time after that. So Schumer will not get it good and hard the way he planned to give it to Republicans.” York writes that Schumer’s “brand of hypocrisy is particularly egregious” since he was advocating changing Senate rules on a partisan basis to eliminate the minority party’s ability to demand a higher standard of approval for controversial legislation, as opposed to advocating to get a particular bill across the line.  “He was. And then, when Schumer’s party loses, he instantly turns around and becomes Mr. Bipartisanship. For that, there should be a word that goes beyond mere hypocrisy.” Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., will replace Schumer as Majority Leader and is planning to make ushering in President-elect Trump’s immigration agenda the first item on his to-do list when he succeeds. He has not indicated that he intended to vote on the filibuster rule. He said repairing the economy is also near the top of his list. As crucial elements of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 passed by Trump are set to expire in 2025, Thune said Republicans will take action through the budget reconciliation process to renew them. The trifecta will make Trump’s agenda easier to pursue without opposition from a Democratic majority. Republicans held a governing trifecta from 2017 to 2019. The GOP achieved much of their agenda, including sweeping tax reform and confirming justices to achieve a conservative majority in the Supreme Court. But Thune said he would protect the filibuster rule, even if it stands in the way of the Trump agenda it hopes to advance. Fox News’s Jamie Joseph, Julia Johnson and Tyler Olson contributed to this report. 

North Carolina Democrat floats ‘shadow cabinet’ to take on Trump administration

With President-elect Trump headed back to the White House and Republicans in the majority in Congress, Democrats have few options to push back against the GOP agenda. But one enterprising North Carolina lawmaker thinks his minority party should look across the pond to the United Kingdom for the answer to “go toe to toe” with Trump. Rep. WIley Nickels, D-N.C., has proposed that Democrats create a “shadow cabinet” to organize the opposition and challenge each decision by the government. “Across the Atlantic, the British have something we don’t: a team from the opposition that mirrors the government’s cabinet members. They watch the cabinet closely, publicly challenging, scrutinizing and offering new ideas. It’s another form of checks and balances — a quiet guardrail that keeps power accountable,” Wiley argues in an op-ed for the Washington Post. His proposal is to appoint 26 Democratic leaders in Congress to mirror Trump’s Cabinet-level officials and challenge each initiative of the incoming administration. Sen.-elect Adam Schiff, D-Calif., for instance, could be a shadow attorney general who would call out Trump’s efforts to replace career Justice Department attorneys with those loyal to the president. Or Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, D-N.Y., might be a shadow Secretary of State who would loudly oppose potential action by the Trump administration that would decrease support for Ukraine in its war with Russia. ‘ALL THE OPTIONS’ ARE ON THE TABLE TO GET TRUMP’S CABINET PICKS THROUGH CONFIRMATION, SAYS SEN. JOHN THUNE “We have to step up our game. We have to go toe to toe with Trump. And it’s not just about saying, you know what, what we’re against. It’s about saying what we’re for and putting our best messengers out there,” Nickel told CNN’s Laura Coates in a recent interview.  In the U.K., a shadow cabinet is a team of opposition leaders that reflect the ruling party’s cabinet members. The shadow cabinet has a counterpart for every minister in the ruling coalition’s government.  It’s a system Nickel argues has worked for a century.  “They watch the Cabinet closely, publicly challenging, scrutinizing and offering new ideas,” Nickel wrote in his op-ed. “It’s democracy’s insurance policy. And it strengthens the government, too: There is no room for lazy ideas when rivals stand ready.” TRUMP’S PICKS SO FAR: HERE’S WHO WILL BE ADVISING THE NEW PRESIDENT There are key differences between the U.S. and U.K. governments that might complicate this idea. The most obvious being that the U.K. uses a parliamentary system, where multiple parties form coalition governments as opposed to the dual party system Americans have. The U.K. prime minister is the head of government and leads the Cabinet, which exercises the executive power.  The American founders intentionally created a different system. The U.S. Constitution invests the legislative power in Congress and the authority to enforce laws in the Executive Branch, which is led by the president. The president’s cabinet officials each head different executive agencies, which are created by Congress but not administered by lawmakers.  WHAT TRUMP’S REPUBLICAN TRIFECTA IN HIS FIRST ADMINISTRATION ACCOMPLISHED, AND WHERE THEY FAILED: FLASHBACK Members of the cabinet are nominated by the president and confirmed with the “advice and consent” of the Senate. Nickels’ proposed shadow cabinet officials would not be subject to similar checks on power. In addition, in the absence of a definite constitutional authority, it is unclear what powers a “shadow cabinet” might exercise, or what purpose it would serve other than to voice objections to Trump’s policies – which every member of Congress can already do during legislative debate. In an interview with LiveNow from FOX, Nickel clarified that his idea is a “communications push.” “It’s about putting out our positive message to counter what we’re seeing from Trump. And if Trump or his Cabinet secretaries step out of line we’ve got somebody ready to go and answer, and be accountable to the American people on things we care about,” he explained.  “This is about putting a point person for advocacy groups, for the public, a lead messenger … we need to organize our opposition,” Nickel said. “We can do our own American version of a [shadow cabinet] that will help Democrats do the thing we didn’t do, which is get out our positive message and talk about the things that folks are rightly concerned about.”

Republicans appears likely to flip majority-Latino California state assembly seat

Republicans in a majority-Latino district in California that includes Indio and Coachella are on course to flip a Democratic state Assembly seat red. Jeff Gonzalez, an Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran, is set to beat out Democrat Joey Acuña, a school board member, for the 36th Assembly District. Gonzalez is ahead by an insurmountable 4,362 votes, or 3.1%, as of Friday, per official count numbers.  If Gonzalez gets over the line, it will be the first time since 1992 that Republicans in California have picked up a seat in the state legislature during a presidential cycle, according to California state Assembly member Bill Essayli. Republican Ken Calvert wins re-election to US House in California’s 41st Congressional District If elected, Gonzalez will replace longtime Democratic legislator Eduardo Garcia as the next state assembly member in a sprawling district. Garcia, from Coachella, decided not to seek re-election this year and instead endorsed Acuña, the Coachella Valley Unified School District board president, per the Desert Sun. The soon-to-be stunning seat win is underlined by the fact that Democrats make up about 42.3% of the 245,500 people registered to vote in the district, while Republicans account for 28.7%. Voters with no party affiliation were 21.6% of the total, according to the Desert Sun. In the March primary, Gonzalez received about 21,000 votes compared to about 12,000 for Acuña. However, Democratic candidates overall earned about 4,500 more votes than Republicans. California, a deep blue state, was easily won by Vice President Harris, who is currently leading President-elect Trump by 58.8% to 38% with 92.85% of the votes counted.  Gonzalez is a 21-year veteran of the Marine Corps who also served on embassy protection missions in Honduras and the Czech Republic, working closely with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, according to his campaign website. GOP REP. CALVERT WINS ELECTION IN COMPETITIVE CALIFORNIA HOUSE SEAT He is also a pastor and the owner of three small businesses, per his website. He is married with four sons, one of whom is physically and mentally challenged and lives with he and his wife for caregiver support. Gonzalez ran on a platform of cutting red tape, lowering taxes and fees on groceries and gas and “reviving the California Dream.” He also wants to address inflation by passing “the largest middle-class tax cut in California history.” Gonzalez is also vowing to improve education, saying he is concerned about falling test scores and graduation rates. He wants to hire more teachers and more school security to create a safer learning environment as well as promote bipartisanship by supporting good ideas from both parties. Acuña ran on tackling affordability, housing and public safety. “I want to make sure the kids who grow up in our district have access to good-paying jobs, safe neighborhoods, world-class schools, and clean air and water,” he states on his website.  Acuña is serving his fifth term on the Coachella Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees. In this role, he said he has worked to improve graduation rates, enhance after-school programs, and expand the district’s college and career pathway programs, according to his website. He works professionally as development manager for health clinics and a grant writer for a local tribe.

Bengaluru: Father slams 14-year-old son against wall, kills him due to…

The father of the boy assaulted him with a cricket bat and held him by neck and banged his head on the wall several times and only after he lost complete consciousness

Govinda deals with health scare, leaves election campaign due to…

According to reports, Govinda’s condition worsened, leading him to return to Mumbai without completing the event

Who else could be on President-elect Trump’s immigration ‘dream team’?

President-elect Donald Trump wasted no time in announcing selections for key positions related to immigration and border security, quickly announcing a border czar and Homeland Security secretary, but who else could be appointed to the remaining positions? Trump announced that Tom Homan will serve as “border czar,” overseeing deportations and border security, while South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem was announced as his nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security. But it has not yet been decided who will serve in key positions at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). INCOMING TRUMP ADMIN EYES MASSIVE EXPANSION OF IMMIGRATION DETENTION: ‘HE WILL DELIVER’ Fox News Digital understands that discussions have not yet begun in earnest about those positions, and may not begin until December at the earliest, but multiple sources familiar with the situation and with the agencies in general spoke to Fox News Digital about those who are likely to be on the list for key positions. Here are some of the people those sources believe could be in the running to make up the rest of the Trump team on immigration, which will be focused on securing the border and a mass deportation operation. Lyons currently serves as ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO)’s Field Office Director in Boston. In that role, he is leading the effort to apprehend illegal immigrant criminals, many of whom have been released back onto the streets in the Boston area after committing crimes. There have been a slew of high profile sex offenders nabbed by Lyons’ unit, and it’s brought attention to the consequences of “sanctuary” city policies, by which illegal immigrant criminals are released back onto the streets. Lyons appears to be emerging as the favorite to helm the agency, particularly given his experience with sanctuary cities, something that is likely to be a top priority for the Trump administration. One source familiar with discussions of ICE told Fox News Digital that they would be shocked if Lyons were not nominated as the next ICE director. Rodney Scott is a former Border Patrol chief who served as chief from 2020 until he was ousted by the Biden administration in mid-2021. Since then, he has been a fierce critic of the Biden administration’s immigration policies and its handling of the crisis at the southern border. He would bring experience as a Border Patrol agent, and before being chief, he had led the San Diego Sector, one of the most challenging sectors in the country. He has been highly critical of DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and recently accused him of having “intentionally” opened the southern border. “We handed them the most secure border in the history of the United States and a roadmap to keep it that way and make it even better, [yet] through 94 executive actions, President Biden completely destroyed border security,” Scott said this year. Brandon Judd is the former head of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents Border Patrol agents across the country. He has been an agent since 1997 and also served as an instructor at the academy. Under Judd, the union was strongly supportive of Trump and fiercely critical of the Biden administration’s handling of the border crisis, during which there were a number of flashpoints between the Biden administration and agents. Judd retired as president of the NBPC earlier this year and, along with the union, has been a strong backer of Trump’s re-election campaign. “Under President Trump, our border was secure, our agents were supported, migrants weren’t suffering at the hands of cartels, and our country was safer,” he said in August.  ‘LIBERATION DAY’: WHAT TO EXPECT FROM PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP ON BORDER SECURITY, IMMIGRATION Fabbricatore is a retired ICE field office director. In that capacity, he oversaw Colorado and Wyoming. Before that, he helped ICE establish a number of task forces targeting fugitives, and worked as an instructor in the ICE ERO Academy. Since retiring in 2022, he has been sounding the alarm about Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang that has taken over apartment complexes and been linked to crimes in Colorado. He ran as a Republican congressional candidate this cycle in Colorado, saying he was “running to secure America.” Sources told Fox News Digital that it was unclear what Fabbricatore’s role might be, but one said they believed Fabbricatore would “likely” be involved in ICE in some capacity. Jon Feere is currently the Director of Investigations at the Center for Immigration Studies. He left CIS to join the immigration policy team on the first Trump transition team, and went on to serve as senior adviser to the ICE director and as ICE chief of staff in the first administration. He rejoined CIS after the end of the administration. Feere worked closely with Homan, now the border czar, at ICE. He has zeroed in on the damage caused by sanctuary city policies, as well as what he sees as the abuse of employment visa programs like Optional Practical Training. Sources suggested his experience of the agency and in-depth knowledge of policy would make him a strong candidate for a position in ICE enforcement. Pham served as acting ICE director from August 2020 to December 2020, having served as ICE’s top legal adviser. Pham is a Vietnamese immigrant who arrived in the U.S. in 1975. He oversaw a number of operations targeting illegal immigrants sprung from custody by “sanctuary” cities. Pham has cited his experience as a refugee as something that led him to enforcement. “I wanted to be a part of the enforcement section of immigration, because what I learned is when people cheat, or when they try to cheat the system, whether it’s immigration, or if it’s a school test or whether it’s the state bar exam, if they cheat they demean and diminish the lawful pathway — what my parents endured to become lawful citizens,” he said in an interview with Fox News Digital in 2020.” Pham has been floated

Military suicides were on the rise last year, despite a massive investment in prevention programs

Military suicides ticked up once again last year, following a dark long-term trend where the Pentagon has struggled to make meaningful progress.  Overall, there were 523 reported suicides in 2023, the most recent data available, up from 493 in 2022. The number of active-duty troops who died by suicide increased to 363 from 331 the previous year, up 12%.  Suicide is by far the biggest killer of service members, killing more than training accidents, illnesses, homicides or combat, according to the Defense Department (DOD). In addition to the sheer number, the rate of suicides per 100,000 also went up last year.  Suicide deaths by active duty service members have been on the rise since 2011. The rates are similar to those among the general population when adjusted for age and gender, since the military tends to be predominantly young and male, defense officials said.  “While I know 12% may seem like a large change, reaching statistical significance requires changes in multiple factors, which are less visible in relatively small populations with relatively small event counts,” Dr. Elizabeth Clark, director of Defense Suicide Prevention Office, told reporters during a media roundtable. She argued the longer-term figures are more concerning than the year-over-year uptick.  “These longer-term analyses are more robust than the year-to-year comparisons, and for the longer term, we continue to see a gradual, statistically significant increase in the active component suicide rates from 2011 to 2023,” Clark said. Another troubling sign from the data is how many suicide victims sought help: 67% had a primary care encounter in the 90 days before their death; 34% had been to an outpatient mental health center; 8% had been discharged from an in-patient mental health facility; and 18% were on psychotropic medication at the time of their death.  Within a year prior to their death, 44% of military suicide victims reported intimate relationship problems, and 42% reported a behavioral health diagnosis.  US FORCES TARGET HOUTHI WEAPONS STORAGE FACILITIES IN YEMEN OVER THE WEEKEND: CENTCOM “Relationship problems have been one of the biggest factors across all of these, and that’s why we’re investing in our line of effort with fostering a supportive environment to give families overall better predictability of their career, stabilization options when they’re going to be seeing their service member at home versus not,” said Tim Hoyt, deputy director for the Pentagon’s Office of Force Resiliency.  The rising figure came after the Pentagon has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to tackle the rate of military suicides in recent years, and requested over half a billion dollars for the issue in 2025.  In 2022, Congress mandated that it set up the Suicide Prevention Response and Independent Review Committee to provide 83 recommendations for the Pentagon to address military suicides.  The committee recommended improving the delivery of mental health care, addressing stigma and other barriers to care and revising suicide prevention training. MEET PETE HEGSETH: THE ‘RECOVERING NEOCON’ AND PENTAGON CRITIC WHO’S BEEN TAPPED FOR DEFENSE SECRETARY Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who established the committee, said the new findings “urgently demonstrate the need for the Department to redouble its work in the complex fields of suicide prevention and postvention.” The largest increase in suicides was found in the Marine Corps, followed by the Army, Air Force and then Navy. Sixty-one percent of victims were enlisted males younger than 30.  Troops should expect to see “much more dynamic” suicide prevention training that “meets them where they are” going forward, Hoyt said. “I think we’ve heard loud and clear the message from the front lines that previous suicide prevention training–whether slide decks or just videos that people watch without any facilitation–were not working,” he said. “In many cases, we may have had effective programs but weren’t measuring whether or not they were having a substantial impact on the overall number.”