The Wire - May 5, 2025

//The Wire//2300Z May 5, 2025//
//ROUTINE//
//BLUF: REVENGE KILLING IN OHIO, PROBABLE REVENGE KILLING ATTEMPTED IN INDIANA. WHITE HOUSE STATES NO TIMELINE FOR EPSTEIN DOC RELEASE. ISRAEL ANNOUNCES PLAN TO COMPLETELY OCCUPY GAZA.//

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-International Events-

Middle East: Israeli media has announced that Netanyahu's cabinet has approved plans to completely seize control of Gaza. Local Israeli media has stated that another general mobilization is underway, with tens of thousands of reservists being calling into active service in the IDF.

 -HomeFront-

Washington D.C. - Significant scandal erupted over the weekend in Congress as House Resolution 867 was introduced for a vote. The bill sought to modify the text of 50 USC 4841 and 4842 (both being wartime trade laws) to restrict American's ability to boycott certain nations and groups (according to the bill's sponsors, specifically one nation, Israel). After the expected backlash, the vote on this bill has been postponed.

AC: Most of the outrage over this is really related to the already-passed Anti-Boycott Act of 2018, which went almost completely unnoticed by the chaos of the COVID years. H.R. 867 merely sought to change the terminology so that the term "international government organization" was placed after the words "foreign country" in the text of 50 USC § 4841. What this means in practice is anyone's guess as the original law was passed with extremely vague and broad language. This additional aspect of adding IGO's to the mix is interesting in that it provides a clue as to what manipulations are being undertaken in Washington on this issue. Previously the laws only applied to government-level boycotts...but adding in IGOs could mean that the floodgates are opened for all of this to impact the average American.

Washington D.C. - During a press conference the White House has stated that there is no specific timeline for the release of the Epstein files.

AC: Though this was probably the case all along, there is almost zero chance that these files will ever be released. Following the binder-scandal of two months ago, a lot of older previously-known documentation will eventually be re-released and touted as new, but the files that everyone wants (as in Epstein's client list that does exist and was presented in court) will almost certainly never be made public.

Ohio: A police officer was murdered as part of a revenge killing incident in Cincinnati. A traffic control officer was intentionally struck by a vehicle Friday afternoon near the University of Cincinnati. The driver of the vehicle has been identified as Rodney Hinton Jr, who is the father of Ryan Hinton, a black male that was shot and killed by police on Thursday for drawing a gun on police officers who discovered him inside a stolen vehicle they were attempting to locate.

AC: Not many details are being released on this incident, probably to reduce the palpably high tensions regarding this incident. Though the timing is hard to verify, local media reports that Rodney Hinton was shown the body cam footage of his son's death, which confirmed beyond all doubt that the police shooting was justified. After viewing the video, Hinton promptly left the police station and proceeded to murder what seems to be a random officer not specifically involved in the incident. Since this was very much a knee-jerk revenge killing, it's hard to imagine that Hinton would have murdered the correct police officer involved in his son's killing (even if it's because the officers involved in the shooting are probably on administrative leave as is standard procedure). However, now that the situation has become a high profile incident, the security concerns to the officers who are actually involved with the prior shooting are exceptionally high, thus the little information regarding the link between these two cases.

Indiana: This morning a man was shot after drawing a firearm on police officers attempting to carry out an inmate transfer at the Hendricks County Courthouse. Two officers opened fire on the man, killing him at the scene.

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Analyst Comments: The incident in Indiana could be another revenge killing attempt, though possibly for very different reasons. Local media is running the story that the would-be shooter was the great-grandfather of two children who were killed during a police chase back in February. Regarding that earlier case, S'Doni Pettis was spotted driving a stolen vehicle by police, and decided to engage in a high-speed chase with two infants in the vehicle with him. The chase ended when Pettis crashed into another vehicle, killing one of the infants and critically wounding the other. Pettis was on probation at the time after a sweetheart plea deal allowed him to remain a free man earlier than usual instead of being in prison on charges of attempted murder (charges which were reduced as part of the plea deal).

Returning to the incident that occurred this morning, Pettis was scheduled to be in court today, facing a hearing regarding that earlier incident involving the children. Therefore it's possible that a family member of those two children was attempting to kill him as retribution for Pettis' actions. On the other hand, it's also possible that the suspect's family member was trying to spring him from custody as be was being brought into court. At the moment, it's impossible to determine what actually happened. A random person pointing a gun at police during an inmate transfer is not the time or place to undertake a calm debate to determine causation. After the incident is over, not much detail is expected to be released either; even though it would be helpful from a risk management perspective to know what the true cause of this shooting was, authorities don't want to encourage vigilantism in any way, regardless of the context.

In the Middle East, the claims of Israel taking over Gaza completely have been made many times before, but this time the plans have become more solidified as the Cabinet has allegedly publicly voted on such now. Israel has also completely invaded Gaza in the past, however this time the openly-stated goal is to totally displace the entire surviving non-Israeli population from the region completely. This is a much different tone than Israel occupying Gaza and allowing the Palestinian population to remain, as they have done periodically in the past.

In a larger sense, the elephant in the room is the bigger issue, but in practical terms this move will probably have many different impacts in very short order. Houthi attacks will increase as a knee-jerk reaction to this announcement, and the conflict in Syria will probably escalate as that war is largely a proxy space for settling many different issues. The Iranians probably won't do anything at all; if they haven't really done anything regarding the plight of those in Gaza earlier (when the regular and indiscriminate targeting of civilian centers was at it's height), it's very unlikely they will do anything at this point either. Hezbollah to the north in Lebanon likewise probably won't do much, but some indirect-fire in the form of rocket attacks may take place over the next few days. It's been a comparatively long time since any significant rocket attacks were seen originating from Lebanon, but if there were ever an occasion to see an increase in these attacks, now would be the time.

More indirectly, this news probably provides some hints at the truth pertaining to the recent (and public) infighting in the White House and Pentagon. For the past few weeks, major indications and warnings of an impending war with Iran have been palpable. But now, the words *not* said are deafening...Israel suddenly announcing plans to do what they originally set out to do in the first place could indicate that they don't have the United States to do their bidding as much as they might like with regards to taking on Iran (as hard as this is to believe). This is a bit of a stretch, but Israel announcing plans to "clean out that whole thing" (to quote President Trump himself) probably means that Israel will have their hands full with Gaza for a while. Of course, this could all be a ruse to disguise and distract from an open war with Iran. As deception is a huge part of this conflict, this always remains a possibility, and it would do well to remember that strategic American resources are still forward-deployed to the region, so an American war with Iran is certainly still on the table.

Analyst: S2A1
Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground
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