S2 Underground

//The Wire//2000Z January 17, 2025//
//ROUTINE//
//BLUF: FIRE BREAKS OUT AT CALIFORNIA BATTERY FACILITY. INAUGURATION PLANS CONTINUE IN WASHINGTON D.C.//

 -----BEGIN TEARLINE-----
 
-HomeFront-

California: A fire broke out at the Vistra Power Plant in Moss Landing overnight. So far the cause of the fire has not yet been disclosed, however the fire appears to have originated in one of the battery storage facilities at the plant. AC: The Vistra Power Plant is not a standard power plant, having been retrofit over the years to comply with California law. What began as a standard natural gas power generation facility, has increased to become what is claimed as being the largest Lithium-battery-based energy storage facility on Earth, storing roughly 750 megawatts of power. It is one of these annexes (one of the facilities housing exceptionally large battery banks) that the fire reportedly originated in. As such, this is not simply a fire at a natural gas plant, but rather a fire at a lithium battery storage facility.

In Los Angeles, societal disorder continues as the recent wildfires have spread authorities thin. Yesterday afternoon, multiple assailants on dirt bikes carried out an hour-long joyriding spree in Los Angeles, interfering with traffic throughout the afternoon.

Washington D.C. - Plans continue for the inauguration of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance on Monday. This morning, the plan was announced to move the swearing in ceremony indoors, to the Capitol rotunda, allegedly due to cold weather concerns.

-----END TEARLINE-----

Analyst Comments: This is almost certainly not due to weather concerns. Considering the high-profile nature of the event, the multiple attempts on Trump's life (specifically due to sniper threats), and the difficulty of securing the National Mall in the wake of the various proficiency concerns present amongst the US Secret Service, this event moving indoors is almost certainly more of a security precaution than anything else. This is certainly not a bad idea, and quite helpful for the various counterterrorism agencies working the event. However, concealing these concerns when everyone can see the weather excuse is flimsy, is disingenuous at best.

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

//The Wire//2300Z January 16, 2025//
//ROUTINE//
//BLUF: CALIFORNIA RECOVERY EFFORTS CONTINUE. INCIDENT IN GEORGIA CAPITOL BUILDING RESULTS IN ARREST OF SENATOR.//

 -----BEGIN TEARLINE-----
 
-HomeFront-

California: The Los Angeles wildfires continue as firefighting efforts make gains overnight. Recovery efforts have also continued to expand. Team Rubicon, a veteran-led humanitarian organization has expanded volunteer efforts into San Pedro and Riverside County, in addition to the initial efforts in Pacific Palisades. Regional food banks have continued increased requests for donations to meet the increased demand for services. The World Central Kitchen has also established approximately 20 sites offering hot meals throughout the Los Angeles area.

Georgia: This morning scandal erupted following an incident on the House floor. Senator Colton Moore was arrested following him carrying out his duties as an elected official during the joint session.

-----END TEARLINE-----

Analyst Comments: In Georgia, Senator Moore had been previously banned from entering the House floor by House Speaker Jon Burns, who banned him from entering because Senator Moore did not support naming a building after former Speaker Ralston. Sen. Moore, while speaking his disapproval for this naming of a structure a few weeks ago, allegedly made offensive comments about the late former Speaker Ralston, who was previously embroiled in scandal for allegedly abusing his power as Speaker to protect predators and conceal illicit behavior. Because of his remarks on this matter, Senator Moore was banned from the House floor. However, following the incident it appears as though Senator Moore was indeed allowed to be present during a joint session being held on the House floor, which is what led to him attempting to gain entry as his duties mandate.
As such, the activities pertaining to Senator Moore of Georgia are largely being considered by many to be beyond the pale of civilized society at large, much less that of an allegedly democratic political system. One elected official banning a peer from their place of work for comments they made last year is generally not in keeping with any sort of normalcy. However, the law enforcement officials loyal to Speaker Burns were more than willing to not just enforce Burns' orders, but also allowed Senator Moore to be physically assaulted by bystanders in the process.

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

//The Wire//2300Z January 15, 2025//
//ROUTINE//
//BLUF: PEACE AGREEMENT ALLEGEDLY REACHED IN GAZA. FORMER PRESIDENT YOON ARRESTED IN SOUTH KOREA.//

 -----BEGIN TEARLINE-----

-International Events-

South Korea: Following the impeachment of President Yoon a few weeks ago, last night Yoon was arrested for ordering a state of martial law in November.

Middle East: A ceasefire agreement has allegedly been reached between Hamas and Israel. AC: Right now it's too soon to tell if this agreement will hold. Allegedly, this deal will result in the return of Israeli hostages, though the details and specifics of the peace agreement have not yet been made public.
 
-HomeFront-

California: The Los Angeles region has had a reprieve from increased fire activity as winds remained comparatively calm overnight. However, Red Flag warnings remain in effect as the increased risk of fire danger is not yet over. Arsonists have continued to start fires since this crisis began, though most of these smaller fires have been extinguished or brought under control quickly.

-----END TEARLINE-----

Analyst Comments: In South Korea, the Corruption Investigation Office attempted to arrest impeached President Yoon two weeks ago, but was prevented from doing so as a result of a Korean standoff taking place between the police attempting the arrest, and Yoon's Presidential security detail. This standoff resulted in limited scuffles and clashes between these forces. Yesterday however, Yoon was finally convinced to surrender himself without conflict as his home was surrounded by approximately 3,000 police officers.

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

//The Wire//2300Z January 13, 2025//
//ROUTINE//
//BLUF: CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES PARTIALLY CONTAINED, HIGH RISKS REMAIN DUE TO WEATHER FORECAST INDICATING HIGH WINDS.//

 -----BEGIN TEARLINE-----
 
-HomeFront-

California: Red Flag fire warnings remain in effect as the potential for high winds remains a risk for the next few days. As of this morning, the Kenneth, Lidia, Woodley, Archer, Olivia, and Sunset fires have all been contained. The Palisades Fire continues to spread, and remains 13% contained. The Eaton Fire was reported as being 33% contained as of this morning. Evacuation zones remain in effect for both the Palisades and Eaton fires, which has led to conflict among locals looking to return to their homes. However, as the fire danger remains high, many evacuation zones will probably remain in effect for several more days.

-----END TEARLINE-----

Analyst Comments: Throughout Los Angeles, looting and arson incidents remain frequent and largely random. Despite most roads and ingress routes into the evacuation zones being closed to through traffic, malign actors have largely not been discouraged from mass theft. The theft problems have compounded evacuation efforts in many areas, as many people do not want to evacuate their homes if they know looters will move in immediately after they leave. Of note, the LA County Sheriffs Office has confirmed that so far at least 30x people have been arrested for looting, including an unknown number of looters that disguised themselves as firefighters in order to gain entry to evacuation zones.

Regarding recovery operations, some aid groups are beginning to organize disaster relief efforts. As Los Angeles is a regional hub for many social welfare programs, most of these programs continue in the unaffected areas. However, real-world, disaster-specific aid is also beginning to form, largely by private companies. For instance, Elon Musk has pledged to deploy a small fleet of Cybertrucks with free wifi access throughout the city. The LA Regional Food Bank is also seeking volunteers and donations as their resources likely will be depleted by the increased demand for services.
As the fires are still burning, and likely to flare up if the weather forecast is accurate in the assessment of high winds this week, actual boots-on-ground professional disaster relief operations are largely only being carried out by Team Rubicon at the moment, who are already deployed to Malibu and seeking volunteers to help with food and supply distribution (details on how to help in the links below).

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

//The Wire//2300Z January 14, 2025//
//ROUTINE//
//BLUF: PROTESTS CONTINUE IN ROMANIA. CALIFORNIA WILDFIRE CONTAINMENT SLOWLY INCREASING AMID HIGH-WIND PREDICTIONS.//

 -----BEGIN TEARLINE-----

-International Events-

Romania: Protests continue throughout Bucharest following Friday's court ruling that annulled the November 24 election. On Friday the Constitutional Court rejected the results of the first round of elections due to alleged Russian interference, on the grounds that one of the candidates had received "preferential treatment" on social media platforms.
 
-HomeFront-

USA: Yesterday, DJI (the major consumer-grade drone manufacturer) announced a change of their geofencing policies for their drones. Previously, the company itself maintained software limitations on where drones could and could not fly. For instance, users using the standard DJI software for casual drone use would not be allowed to fly in certain No Fly Zones, as the drone itself (if it had an accurate GPS position) would not fly in some areas. This policy change from DJI removed these hard software limits and placed the ultimate responsibility on the end user (where it always was anyway).

California: The Palisades Fire was 17% contained as of this morning, and the Eaton Fire was reported as 35% contained as well. AC: The intensity of both fires has dropped significantly due to light winds and significant firefighting efforts throughout the past few days. However, as high winds are still expected overnight, increased vigilance is recommended as rapid fire expansion remains a possibility.

-----END TEARLINE-----

Analyst Comments: As is common throughout Europe, the situation in Romania regarding the recent election scandal is vastly more complex than meets the eye. The alleged "Russian interference" largely amounts to the "far-right" candidate (Calin Georgescu) being very popular on social media, and this popularity being grounds for a dismissal of the election. As one might imagine, this has resulted in widespread demonstrations as it's concrete confirmation that the election process itself was NOT tampered with...but rather that popularity itself is now illegal. Even if Russia did artificially boost analytics to essentially campaign on Georgescu's behalf (as is being claimed)...this isn't usually considered to be illegal. Now, the court tossing out an entire election because Russia bought some ads to promote the candidate that would be favorable to Russia has tainted the entire electoral process, at least in the eyes of many Romanians.

Considering the long history of superpowers tampering in elections, this case sets an interesting precedent. Namely, that if the election process itself is secure, but an outcome is arrived at that power-players in government don't like...they can just throw out the results anyway. Remember, the election process itself (the counting of votes) is NOT what is alleged to have been tampered with. So far in this case, the alleged interference is simply that the undesirable candidate won in the first round of voting. Of course, it is quite obvious that Russia seeks to promote candidates that have a pro-Russia (or at least not an anti-Russia) stance. Somewhat ironically, all of this debate so far has centered around Georgescu being too popular...so his popularity must be due to the Russians.

Regarding DJI's removal of geofencing within their devices' firmware, this decision on DJI's part has resulted in substantial panic among those concerned with terrorism, as one of the major software limitations preventing unauthorized drone use has been removed. This is true to some extent, however the scale of such is hard to predict. For instance, many DJI products could already be flown in unauthorized areas with little modification. Some companies have even sprung up offering replacement DJI firmware for sale, which would remove these geofencing points an

//The Wire//2300Z January 10, 2025//
//ROUTINE//
//BLUF: CONCERNS ABOUND REGARDING THE PRIORITIZATION OF FEDERAL DISASTER RESPONSE.//

 -----BEGIN TEARLINE-----

-HomeFront-
New York: A five-alarm fire broke out on Wallace Avenue in the Bronx overnight. No word yet on the cause, however the fire appears to have originated in an apartment building.

North Carolina: Locals throughout the Hurricane Helene disaster zone are bracing for both a severe winter storm, and the cessation of FEMA aid. Two days ago FEMA attempted to cancel all hotel vouchers for hurricane victims, while simultaneously not providing temporary housing. 
AC: After public outrage emerged that night, FEMA has extended the hotel vouchers one single day. However, in two days 3,500 disaster victims are set to be evicted from hotels during a very significant winter storm. As such, propane and gasoline shortages have emerged, as families try to do the best they can to prepare for what has remained a very serious disaster.

California: Overnight, the Palisades Fire continued to advance mostly westward, with significant firefighting efforts successfully slowing the fire's eastward advance into Santa Monica. Similar efforts in the north have stifled the Eaton Fire's advance south, however almost all areas north of I-210 remain under various evacuation notices or warnings. Throughout Los Angeles proper, dozens of smaller fires erupted overnight most of which amounted to the standard low-intensity arson incidents that have become routine throughout the area.
In Woodland Hills, one arrest has been made in conjunction with the Kenneth Fire, which is being investigated as arson. This afternoon, the LAPD stated that they had "no probable cause" to arrest a man who was caught red-handed in the act of setting a fire with a blow torch by citizens.

-----END TEARLINE-----

Analyst Comments: Tensions remain high following the White House announcing that they will completely fund 100% of the disaster response for the California fires, for 180 days. On the same day, FEMA was quietly attempting to halt the temporary housing for the victims of Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina. Though no one is disputing the needs of victims in California, the very obvious and intentional disregard for the taxpayers in North Carolina has largely proven the age-old concept that all people are equal, but some are more equal than others. Everyone knows that the wealthy benefactors of Hollywood are valued more highly than taxpayers in North Carolina, but the sharp and blunt admission of this by the federal government is disheartening nonetheless.

Throughout the Los Angeles area, issues have been reported with various Emergency Alert systems as locals have received several erroneous alert messages overnight. In a press conference this morning, county officials indicated that they aren't entirely sure what the issues are with the system, and that these false alerts may continue. As such, though no official has opined on the idea, it would be wise to consider malign action as being a potentially complicating factor for this crisis response. There are plenty of malign actors with the desire and capability to tamper with emergency alert systems, with the goal of adding to the chaos of the incident.

Widespread looting has been reported throughout Los Angeles as social order deteriorates due to the advancing wildfires. Roving bands of looters have become more organized, and have been observed tracking the evacuation orders. As soon as a mandatory evacuation is announced for an area, looters move in a few hours later knowing that the extreme-high-wealth residential areas are largely vacant. As a result, a 6pm to 6am curfew has been emplaced by the LA County Sheriffs Office.

Analyst: S2A1
//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2300Z January 9, 2025//
//ROUTINE//
//BLUF: CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES CONTINUE TO SPREAD.//

 -----BEGIN TEARLINE-----

-HomeFront-
Texas: Overnight an electrical substation caught fire and exploded in Fort Worth. AC: Right now it is not clear as to if this incident was an accident or the result of a malign actor.

Virginia: Shortages of bottled water have been reported as the water crisis in Richmond continues. So far, no solid timeline for repairs has been provided, and the boil-water advisory continues (though right now the biggest concern is not contamination, but access to water outright).

California: Wildfires have continued to expand in the vicinity of Los Angeles. The Palisades Fire alone has burned over 17,000 acres. Most of the larger fires also remain at zero percent containment. Following the larger Palisades, Hurst, Woodley, Eaton, and Bridge Fires, dozens of smaller fires have been deliberately started by homeless persons or mentally unwell individuals who have settled throughout the area.
Access to water continues to be a difficulty for firefighters during this crisis, along with the rapid nature of smaller fires spotting across roadways and in random places.
Regarding the damage so far, most of the Malibu waterfront is gone as the Palisades Fire has grown. In the north, the Eaton fire has consumed much of Altadena, making progressing overnight south towards Pasadena, and east towards Sierra Madre.

-----END TEARLINE-----

Analyst Comments: As with most wildfires that achieve significant press coverage, arsonists usually make an appearance as well to add to the chaos. As of right now, this does appear to be occurring with the Los Angeles fires as well, to some degree. Most of the smaller spot fires have emerged suspiciously close to major roadways, as is in line with well-known practices used by arsonists to rapidly infiltrate and egress from an area they wish to target.

Analyst: S2A1
//END REPORT//

//The Wire//2300Z January 8, 2025//
//ROUTINE//
//BLUF: PALISADES FIRE DEVASTATES LOS ANGELES SUBURBS.//

 -----BEGIN TEARLINE-----

-HomeFront-
Virginia: Richmond residents remain under a boil water advisory following a catastrophic failure due to winter storms at a local water treatment facility two days ago. Most residents have reported no water supply at all, which has complicated winter storm recovery efforts.

California: The Palisades Fire expanded overnight to almost 12,000 acres in size, with zero percent containment. As of this report, almost all terrain along the coast between Santa Monica and Malibu is on fire. Additionally, three other fires have emerged: The Hurst and Woodley Fires burning in those areas respectively, and the Eaton Fire currently burning in the Eaton Canyon area.

AC: These four main wildfires continue to cause devastation as a deterioration of social order in western and northern Los Angeles continues. Limited looting has been reported throughout the residential areas currently burning, and firefighters are reporting difficulties fighting the fire due to the loss of water in some areas. This is largely due to a depletion of firefighting water reservoirs. The already-complex situation has gone from bad to worse throughout the night, as the high winds that have caused the rapid explosion of fire activity also grounded most aerial firefighting assets overnight. This morning, weather conditions calmed enough to allow aerial firefighting efforts to resume.

-----END TEARLINE-----

Analyst Comments: Considering that some of the most dangerous and complicated firefighting efforts usually arise at the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI), both styles of firefighting being strained to their limits during the best of times has complicated this situation.
Without question, the firefighters on the ground actually working the Palisades Fire are doing the best they can, and as usual are doing better than would ordinarily be expected of anyone. However, this fire is already a textbook example of rather unfortunate realities. Namely, how politics can directly influence life-saving operations. Normally, the public services are somewhat insulated from political decisions, as in a time of emergency, first responders have a lot of leeway to push through cultural or political problems. Unfortunately, sometimes the dedication of those on the ground is not enough to overcome the bad situation they were given.
As unfortunate as it is to even mention while a catastrophic disaster is ongoing, the cultural problems created by Los Angeles have contributed to the fire. For instance, Los Angeles is infamous for banning most wildfire prevention efforts (such as prescribed burns), under the guise of various climate policies. Many locales have planted eucalyptus trees for aesthetic purposes, not considering that eucalyptus trees are extremely flammable. Also, some species of eucalyptus have escaped their deliberate cultivation to become invasive in many areas, increasing the fire risk.
This seemingly minor detail has become a major problem, and brought state-level politics into play during this crisis...many insurance companies have reduced (or removed entirely) wildfire clauses in homeowner's insurance policies due to the wildfire risk being high as a result of political leadership restricting proper fire abatement practices. In short, the state government bans things like prescribed burns, and the fire risk goes up to the point that insurance companies drop customers. This practice has become so severe, that a state regulation was implemented 9 days ago, requiring insurance companies to cover fire-related incidents, as part of a larger wildfire-related insurance reform initiative.
Other contributing factors, while unfortunate to mention, are causing real-world problems as well. Scrutiny has been placed on the Los Angeles Fire Chief, who has been heavily involved in se

//The Wire//2300Z January 7, 2025//
//ROUTINE//
//BLUF: UNDERSEA CABLE CUT IN TAIWAN. EARTHQUAKE STRIKES NEPAL AND TIBET. SOUTH KOREAN POLITICS CONTINUES TO REMAIN TUMULTUOUS. TRUMP CONTINUES POLICY FORMATION REGARDING U.S. TERRITORIAL ASPIRATIONS.//

 -----BEGIN TEARLINE-----
 
 -International Events-
 Korean Peninsula: Following Sunday's routine missile launch in North Korea, tensions remain high in the context of South Korean politics. Though North Korea's missile test was semi-regular (albeit with North Korea claiming as usual to have implemented some new feature, in this case a new type of warhead), the launch has added to the internal strife that continues in South Korea.

In South Korea, the recent impeachment scandal continues to develop. President Yoon was impeached on December 14th, being replaced by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo. However, on December 26th, Han was impeached as well, placing Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok in charge. Now, the situation largely remains in the courts as varying factions within government continue their power-plays.

Nepal: Yesterday evening a significant earthquake occurred in the Himalayas, with an epicenter located near the Tibetan town of Xizang near the Nepali border. Early estimates placed the magnitude of the earthquake at 7.1, at a depth of 10km. AC: This region, while occasionally host to very significant earthquakes, is also at exceptional risk of catastrophe from such. Following this quake, the casualty figures were initially reported as 9x fatalities, which rapidly rose to over 95x this morning.

Taiwan: This evening Taiwanese Defense officials and the Chunghwa Telecom company confirmed that at least one undersea cable serving the island nation had been cut over the weekend. The cable in question is part of the Trans-Pacific Express Cable System, a large network of cables connecting many Southeast Asian countries (including China herself) with North America. So far, the chief culprit is a Hong-Kong affiliated cargo ship, which was observed to be at anchor over the affected cable a few days ago.

-HomeFront-
California: This afternoon a wildfire emerged near the neighborhood of Pacific Palisades, rapidly expanding from the point of origin to around 200 acres in size in less than an hour due to strong winds. The Palisades fire rapidly expanded to over 700+ acres later on in the day. This rapid explosion of fire activity caused sudden risks to residential neighborhoods, with mass evacuations being mandated throughout most of Pacific Palisades and parts of western Los Angeles. AC: Due to the rapid arrival of this wildfire to densely populated residential areas, many people attempted to flee by vehicle. Many people subsequently ended up abandoning their vehicles in the middle of the freeway, attempting to flee on foot. As such, mass traffic gridlock has been reported throughout the area, with many firefighting units needing to use heavy machinery to move abandoned vehicles off of the roadway to make room for emergency responders.

Washington D.C. - Incoming President Trump has continued to share policy decisions, from renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, to mandating that votes are counted before 10pm on election day. Trump has also pledged to investigate the FBI's involvement in the 2021 J6 incident.

-----END TEARLINE-----

Analyst Comments: Trump has continued to assert his intentions with regards to gaining control of both Greenland and the Panama Canal. As of right now, this appears to be a genuine line of effort diplomatically. Of note, Donald Trump Jr. is currently in Greenland, reportedly filming content for an upcoming podcast. As of right now, Trump Jr. is not scheduled to meet with government officials in Greenland, and the visit appears to be more personal in nature, as opposed to an official diplomatic visit. These developments ordinarily would not carry much weight,

00:00 - Introduction 
03:50 - Bourbon Street Attack 
10:31 - Increased Threats 
14:56 - Las Vegas Attack 
17:39 - The Manifesto 
20:06 - Setting the Stage 
32:44 - Verification 
34:57 - Surveillance? 
37:23 - VBIED 
38:46 - Afghanistan 
54:34 - Overall Impact 
56:47 - Respect 
01:01:25 - What Next? 
01:05:09 - GhostNet Reports 

Targeting Video: https://youtu.be/VzvElMimUQ8 
SRS Episode: https://youtu.be/xglaXVtQcis 
Sam Shoemate's X account: https://x.com/samosaur/ 
U.N. CIVCAS Report: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2019/10/un-report-find-alleged-drug-facilities-were-not-lawful-targets-airtrikes 

Download the GhostNet plan here! https://github.com/s2underground/GhostNet The text version of the Wire can be found on Twitter: https://twitter.com/s2_underground And on our Wire Telegram page here: https://t.me/S2undergroundWire If you would like to support us, we're on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/user?u=30479515 Disclaimer: No company sponsored this video. In fact, we have ZERO sponsors. We are funded 100% by you, the viewer. All of our funding comes from direct support from platforms like Patreon, or from ad revenue on YouTube. Please note that even though it hurts our income, we still offer ad-free watching via alternative platforms like Odysee, Gab, and (for now) Rumble. Odysee: https://odysee.com/@S2Underground:7 Gab: https://gab.com/S2underground Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/theunderground BitChute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/P2NMGFdt3gf3/ Just a few reminders for everyone who's just become aware of us, in order to keep these briefings from being several hours long, I can't cover everything. I'm probably covering 1% of the world events when we conduct these briefings, so please remember that if I left it out, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's unimportant. Also, remember that I do these briefings quite often, so I might have covered an issue previously that you might not see if you are only watching our most recent videos. I'm also doing this in my spare time, so again I fully admit that these briefings aren't even close to being perfect; I'm going for a healthy blend of speed and quality. If I were to wait and only post a brief when it's "perfect" I would never post anything at all. So expect some minor errors here and there. If there is a major error or correction that needs to be made, I will post it here in the description, and verbally address it in the next briefing. Also, thanks for reading this far. It is always surprising the number of people that don't actually read the description box to find more information. This content is purely educational and does not advocate for violating any laws. Do not violate any laws or regulations. This is not legal advice. Consult with your attorney. Our Reading List! https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/133747963-s2-actual The War Kitchen Channel! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYmtpjXT22tAWGIlg_xDDPA