Bulletin From the Borderlands

21 January 2025

Note from Lethal Minds:

Bulletin From The Borderlands is a joint project between Lethal Minds and some of the most talented OSINT analysts and independent journalists working today. Our goal is to provide you with a clear, accurate, and informative view of the world, free from censorship or bias. The Bulletin will bring you the facts, our analysis, and our evidence. We hope you find our work helps you better understand the complicated and increasingly volatile world in which we live.

Be informed, be prepared, be lethal.

The Bulletin Team:

Analyze Educate : Brodie Kirkpatrick (Analyze & Educate) is a Marine Corps infantry veteran. He is a graduate San Jose State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. He runs Analyze & Educate, a podcast and associated social media pages discussing geopolitics, armed conflicts, news, and history. In his capacity with Lethal Minds he is the team lead for the Bulletin From the Borderlands.

The Expeditionary Intelligence Group : The Expeditionary Intelligence Group Instagram page is a project delivering flash news utilizing open-source intelligence combined with human asset contributions and geographic intelligence to provide the general public with objective bias-free global news that tells the whole story based on the facts and on-the-ground insights they feel are missing from a lot of mainstream news reporting.

The Defense Bulletin: Defense Bulletin is run by John M Larrier. As a civilian, I’ve closely followed strategic developments for close to a decade, but “launched” the Bulletin during the pullout in Afghanistan due to the extreme nature of the misinformation I saw my peers as well as others reading into. The lacuna that the general populace has about these now very prevalent subjects is the stated goal for Defense Bulletin

Robert “Bobby” Acuña is a graduate of Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi with both a BBA in Economics and a BA in Political Science. He was originally born in Subic Bay, Philippines but lived much of his life in Corpus Christi, Texas. He currently resides in Houston, Texas. Growing up in a military family, Robert developed a passion for politics as well as studying war history. Some of his earliest memories were watching World War II documentaries with his grandfather. This led him to his educational path in university. One of his favorite aspects of his collegiate career was political research. His most recent work was with The Modern Insurgent. He believes Bulletin On The Borderlands will help to fulfill that urge to understand and stay consistently aware of the geopolitical issues around the world. Outside of his interest in global affairs, Robert is an avid Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner and rugby player.

Edwin Dudley Taylor: An Undergraduate at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. Studying International Relations and History he has a precise focus on African and Middle Eastern affairs and politics. Additionally he has worked as an intelligence analyst for GreyDynamics and also as has a role as the Senior Editor at The Modern Insurgent.

Jillian Butler: A lifelong writer and San Diego native. She received her bachelor’s degree in English and History at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. Upon moving back to San Diego, she received her master’s in International Relations at the University of San Diego where she centered her research around jihadi terror. She is also a contributing writer for Pop Smoke Media, American Grit, The Modern Insurgent, and Lethal Minds Journal’s Bulletin from the Borderlands. In her free time, she can be found surfing, training jiu jitsu, or improving her craft of cooking the perfect ribeye.

Zach Busch: A writer and filmmaker based in New York. After graduating from Georgetown University with a BS in International Law & Politics, Zach spent four years working in strategic communications & public diplomacy, specializing in the Middle East, North Africa, and Western Asia. He has advised foreign governments and ghostwritten on behalf of ambassadors and world leaders. He is currently completing his MFA degree in Film Directing at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Zach's thesis film, Sagittaria, a political succession drama set in an alternate timeline, shoots in September 2024.

Sponsors

The Bulletin is brought you to by PB Abbate.

As you likely know, Lethal Minds Journal shares common ancestry with Patrol Base Abbate, one of the most impactful veteran’s outreach organizations in America. One of the ways in which we connect is through a love of the written word, a belief in the power of good writing to help give a voice to people who need to be heard, and a desire to help service members and vets connect through self-expression.

In This Issue:

The Americas: Covered in this issue by Jillian Butler.

The United States entered the new year in chaos. Jillian Butler gives us an overview of the two deadly incidents on that day.

Europe: Covered in this issue by Jillian Butler and Brodie Kirkpatrick.

As the war in Ukraine grinds on, Brodie Kirkpatrick gives us a look at how the situation developed in 2024 and what needs to change in 2025. To the west, Jillian Butler details the infamous grooming gangs scandal in the United Kingdom that has reemerged in the Western public square.

Central Asia and the Middle East: Covered in this issue by Jillian Butler.

The Taliban government deepens the divide between men and women in Afghan society. Jillian Butler gives us a look at gender apartheid in the country. Additionally, Israel and Hamas have agreed to a multi-phase ceasefire, ending the fighting for the first time in over a year.

Africa: Covered in this issue by Jillian Butler.

Armed violence continues to plague both East and West Africa. In the Sahel region, terrorist groups JNIM, Boko Haram, and ISIS have upped the ante with fresh attacks. In Somalia, Al-Shabaab continues to operate despite joint U.S.-Somali actions. ISIS-Somalia makes a resurgence.

The Highlight: Israel and Hamas Reach A Ceasefire

The Americas

Jillian Butler

New Years Eve Violence in America

On New Years Eve 2025, two separate acts of violence on opposite sides of the country made headlines.

Via ABC News

New Orleans Attack

On January 1^st at approximately 3:15 AM, 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove a Ford F-150 Lightning pickup truck down a three-block stretch into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana. He subsequently exited the vehicle, which bore an ISIS flag, and opened fire on law enforcement, and was then killed by the return fire. This attack killed 14 people and injured several dozen. The FBI is considering this an act of terrorism.

Jabbar, a Beaumont, Texas native, drove from Houston to New Orleans to conduct the attack. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army who served from 2007 to 2015 in information technology and human resources positions. From February 2009 to January 2010, he was deployed to Afghanistan, though he did not engage in any combat activity. After receiving an honorable discharge, he worked as an IT specialist in the Army Reserve from 2015 to 2020. He is believed to have been employed by Deloitte in a staff-level role since 2021 while also trying to launch a real estate business. Jabbar had a shaky personal life, including both financial instability and several divorces, factors which are believed to have been catalysts in his radicalization.

In 2023, he traveled to Egypt for a month. Investigators are working to determine if his radicalization began prior to or during this trip. It is unclear whether or not he came in contact with ISIS members, and the terrorist group has yet to take credit for the attack, but lone-wolf ISIS attacks are becoming more and more commonplace, with vehicle rammings being a popular tactic among them. It is believed that he pledged allegiance to ISIS at some point before Summer 2024.

On December 30^th, he rented the truck in Houston before driving to Louisiana the next day, an approximately five-and-a-half-hour drive. On New Year’s Day, between 1:29 and 3:02 AM, Jabbar uploaded five time-stamped videos to an internet site in which he purportedly declares his support for ISIS. He adds in the first video that he had originally intended to hurt his relatives and family but was worried that the "war between the believers and the disbelievers" would not be captured by the news headlines which that would have generated. These videos also include his last will and testament.

At approximately 2:03 AM, Jabbar can be seen on surveillance footage strolling down Dauphine Street, close to Governor Nicholls Street, wearing blue jeans, a dark button-down shirt, a long light-brown coat, and what appear to be brown dress shoes. According to the FBI, before the attack, Jabbar was observed putting devices suspected to be explosives inside coolers close to Bourbon Street. Law enforcement officials said that they believe he changed his clothes. After the attack, the FBI confirmed that the objects in the coolers were IEDs. An ISIS flag was found in his car. A later investigation found bomb-making materials inside his Houston home. His crimes came as a shock to his family.

Las Vegas Explosion

In the same morning, a Tesla Cybertruck burst into flames in front of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, killing several bystanders. The blast was initially believed to have killed the driver as well, but the driver’s cause of death was later discovered to be self-inflicted gunshot wounds. Due to the symbolism of the attack in regards to both Donald Trump and Elon Musk, this was originally believed to be some sort of domestic terror attack. Further evidence indicated that the driver believed this spectacle was the easiest way to gain mass news coverage.

The man behind the explosion found in the car was 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger, a Master Sergeant in the U.S. Army Green Berets. At the time, Livelsberger was home on leave from his duty station in Stuttgart, Germany. He joined the Army in 2006 and progressed through the ranks over his lengthy career, serving in Ukraine, Tajikistan, Georgia, Congo, and twice in Afghanistan. Livelsberger was awarded a total of five Bronze Stars, including one with a valor device for courage under fire, a Combat Infantryman Badge, and an Army Commendation Medal with Valor. It is believed that he rented the car in Colorado and drove it to Las Vegas. At the time of the explosion, he was having marital issues with his wife. His political leanings do not appear to have been a motive.

Before the attack, Livelsberger emailed Army veteran and journalist Sam Shoemate a long letter, which Shoemate read on the Shawn Ryan Podcast. In this letter, Livelsberger alleges witnessing war crimes in Nimroz Province, Afghanistan in 2019 that were covered up by United States authorities. This lines up with a 2019 airstrike in the region that the United Nations deemed unlawful. He cites this as his catalyst for his actions. He also claims in the letter that both the United States and China were working to develop drones and that China launched theirs via submarines along the East Coast of America. He referred to them as “the most dangerous threat to national security.” Additionally, he claimed that his communications and movements were being monitored by the FBI and DHS. Livelsberger begged Shoemate to bring his letter to the media so his allegations could come to light and avert a world war. Livelsberger is survived by his wife and newborn child.

Analyst Comment

Because Livelsberger and Jabbar are both U.S. Army veterans and have both been to Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg), there are many conspiracies about the attacks being connected. However, given that they each served in a different MOS and that Fort Liberty is one of the largest U.S. Army installations, there is no merit to this idea. There will likely be more ISIS-inspired lone-wolf terror attacks throughout the United States and the rest of the Western world, as jihadi terror is on a global uptick. Because both attacks met their intended goal of garnering mass media attention, copycat attacks are more than probable.

Looking Forward

While Shamsud-Din Jabbar is dead, the investigation into his attack will continue. His actions have sparked fears of copycat attacks. The FBI recently warned of such a possibility and the potential for the Islamic State to capitalize on the attack.

The investigation into Matthew Livelsberger will also continue. The email that he wrote to Sam Shoemate, which has been confirmed as authentic by the FBI, will add to the discourse around mysterious drones operating on the east coast and military mental health issues. It’s possible that his brain will be observed for signs of damage or traumatic injury. What we can expect to hear from these investigations is anyone’s guess though.