After Tuesday’s pager explosions in Lebanon, a second wave of explosions on Wednesday targeted walkie-talkies, so that no electronic equipment was considered safe. Meanwhile, the Lebanese civilian aviation directorate asked airlines operating from Beirut to tell passengers that walkie-talkies and pagers were banned until further notice.
In other news, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has proposed punitive legal measures against Americans who spread “propaganda”.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Daniel Greenfield, Dean, Dora, JW, LP, McN, MM, Reader from Chicago, Roger, SS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. I check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve on Wednesday enacted its first interest rate cut since the early days of the Covid pandemic, slicing half a percentage point off benchmark rates in an effort to head off a slowdown in the labor market.
With both the jobs picture and inflation softening, the central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee chose to lower its key overnight borrowing rate by a half percentage point, or 50 basis points, affirming market expectations that had recently shifted from an outlook for a cut half that size.
Outside of the emergency rate reductions during Covid, the last time the FOMC cut by half a point was in 2008 during the global financial crisis.
The decision lowers the federal funds rate to a range between 4.75%-5%. While the rate sets short-term borrowing costs for banks, it spills over into multiple consumer products such as mortgages, auto loans and credit cards.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Australians are moving to more affordable capital cities after more than 500,000 foreign migrants arrived in a year and pushed the national population above 27million.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
“FAA Bureaucracy Will be the Reason We Never Become Multiplanetary!”
Does the Biden Administration have it in for Elon Musk? Absolutely.
Last week:
Biden’s FAA Punishes SpaceX, Delays Starship Rocket Launch By Months
One week later, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposed slapping Elon Musk’s SpaceX with $633,009 in civil penalties. This time, according to the federal agency, SpaceX “allegedly failed to follow its license requirements during two launches in 2023, in accordance with statutorily-set civil penalty guidelines.”
the FAA’s issue with SpaceX…
In May 2023, SpaceX submitted a request to revise its communications plan related to its license to launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The proposed revisions included adding a new launch control room at Hangar X and removing the T-2 hour readiness poll from its procedures. On June 18, 2023, SpaceX used the unapproved launch control room for the PSN SATRIA mission and did not conduct the required T-2 hour poll. The FAA is proposing $350,000 in civil penalties ($175,000 for each alleged violation).
In July 2023, SpaceX submitted a request to revise its explosive site plan related to its license to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The proposed revision reflected a newly constructed rocket propellant farm. On July 28, 2023, SpaceX used the unapproved rocket propellant farm for the EchoStar XXIV/Jupiter mission. The FAA is proposing a $283,009 civil penalty.
In what appears to be continued federal action against Musk, just last week, SpaceX revealed that the FAA has delayed the next Starship launch by two months.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Age of Rage: 26 Million Americans Believe Political Violence is Justified
Authored by Jonathan Turley
A poll released by the University of Chicago via the Chicago Project on Security and Threats offers a chilling account of the growing radicalism in America, particularly after the second foiled assassination attempt of former president Donald Trump, the poll found that 26 million Americans believe “the use of force” is justified to keep Trump from regaining the presidency.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Billionaire Hedge Fund Manager Says He Would Pull His Money From the Market if Harris Wins Election
Hedge fund billionaire and major Trump fundraiser John Paulson said Tuesday he will pull his money out of the market if Vice President Harris wins the presidential election this fall, saying the Democrat nominee’s economic policies would spook investors.
The Paulson & Co. founder, known for his lucrative bet against the subprime mortgage in 2007, appeared on FOX Business’ “The Claman Countdown,” where host Liz Claman asked him what he sees as the next big bet similar to that.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Black Rights Activists Convicted Over Russian Links
Four activists for black rights have been convicted of federal charges of conspiring to act as unregistered Russian agents, the Justice Department said.
Omali Yeshitela, 82, Penny Hess, 78, Jesse Nevel, 34, and Augustus Romain, 38, face maximum sentences of five years in prison, the department said in a statement.
A jury in Tampa, Florida found them not guilty of the more serious charge of acting as agents of a foreign government.
Yeshitela is the founder of the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) and Uhuru Movement. Hess and Nevel are white allies of the groups. Romain is the leader of a Georgia-based spinoff known as Black Hammer.
A date has not yet been set for sentencing.
According to prosecutors, the four carried out a number of actions in the US between 2015 and 2022 on behalf of the Russian government and received money and support from Aleksandr Ionov, the president of the Moscow-based group Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia.
Mr Ionov used the APSP, Uhuru Movement and Black Hammer to promote Russian views on politics, the Ukraine war and other issues, they said.
“Ionov’s influence efforts were directed and supervised” by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), the country’s intelligence agency, the Justice Department said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
CNN Worries That Trump Assassination Attempts Are Helping Him Politically
Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news
A former Obama administration official turned CNN shit talker expressed a concern Sunday that all these pesky failed attempts to assassinate Donald Trump are helping him politically.
Yes, really.
Juliette Kayyem, a former Department of Homeland Security official under Obama, labelled the situation a “problem” and “unfortunate” because it is making Trump more popular.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Cop City’ Protesters Throw Ping Pong Balls During Atlanta Council Meeting: ‘Dropped the Ball’
Atlanta, Georgia residents who oppose the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center dubbed “Cop City” showed up in droves at the city council meeting on Monday, shouting, “You have dropped the ball,” while throwing ping-pong balls toward the front of the room.
The Stop Cop City organizers told FOX 5 in Atlanta they were marking a year since they submitted a petition to the city with over 100,000 signatures to put a referendum on the ballot giving residents the ability to vote on whether to allow the new training facility.
A federal lawsuit has been filed on the matter, which is pending.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Following the September 10 debate between presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, ABC’s World News Tonight anchor David Muir, who served as one of the two moderators, has seen his viewership drop.
According to Fox News, the show averaged 6.7 million viewers on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, which were the three episodes immediately following the debate. Before the debate, his show was averaging 7.6 million viewers.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Dem Operative Fished for Oppo Research in Antisemitic, Lewd Text Messages, House Republican Charges
Several Republican members of Congress are accusing a liberal political action committee of impersonating a GOP staffer to extract potentially damaging information from elected officials and raise funds for Democrats — with one text exchange that targeted a female lawmaker including antisemitic and sexist language, Fox News Digital has learned.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., said she received a text this summer from a person posing as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s chief of staff. Before long, however, the individual launched into personal attacks, denigrating Luna as a “fake” Jew and making lewd comments about her.
Luna says she’s currently facing a different harassment campaign, too, as her re-election bid comes down to its final weeks. She revealed the bizarre details about the opposition research scheme when Fox News Digital inquired about the other allegations.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who is leading a probe into the now two assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump, has threatened to use “subpoena power” to force the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to stop “stonewalling” his committee with its requests for information regarding the two assassination attempts on former President Donald Trump.
Blumenthal is chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) under the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC). He said on Monday that DHS has been stonewalling the subcommittee and said the Biden-Harris department is “almost derelict in its duty by resisting our requests for documents, evidence and information that are necessary to investigate.” The senior Democrat said he is “angry” at the way he and the committee have been brushed off by the DHS.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Democrats Lash Out at ‘Misinformed’ Teamsters as Union Makes Landmark Non-Endorsement
Several Democrats responded overnight to news that the Teamsters, under General President Sean O’Brien, decided against issuing a presidential endorsement.
“Unfortunately, neither major candidate was able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure the interests of working people are always put before big business,” O’Brien said in a statement.
Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. who, like O’Brien, hails from the Boston area, called former President Trump the “most anti-labor president we have ever had.”
“It’s clear that these workers are misinformed or uninformed about Trump’s record on labor,” McGovern told the Washington Times. “His allegiance isn’t toward working people.”
McGovern, the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, said it is obvious that Trump supports “rich people” over the working class.
The Teamsters have not made a non-endorsement since the 1996 contest between former President Clinton and Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan. Their last GOP endorsement went to former President George H.W. Bush over then-Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis in 1988.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A Rutgers Law School student who mounted a counter-protest against anti-Israel demonstrators on campus was arrested by police after he refused to stop posting flyers that labeled Hamas as “savages.”
Yiorgos “George” Maravelias, a disabled veteran who previously served as a United States Army First Lieutenant and deployed to Afghanistan, first engaged in campus activism in November 2023. He told Fox News Digital that after October 7, a vocal minority of law school students erected tables and hung flyers that criticized Israel’s actions in Gaza.
“I set up a table right next to them with my beliefs, which is that Hamas are rapists, that they are monsters, savages. That October 7 was a terrorist attack. You know, basically, I believe that a lot of the statements that they apply towards Israel, I think they fully hold against America,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Despite a massive exodus from public schools due to radical ideology and declining grades, the largest teachers’ union in Washington state is sponsoring an anti-Israel “social justice” retreat designed to “Teach Palestine.”
The Annual Northwest Teaching for Social Justice Conference, scheduled to be held in late October, will feature some of the most anti-Israel voices on the West Coast for an afternoon keynote address.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Failed Trump Assassin’s Vantage Point Was No Secret — Paparazzi Have Staked Out Tree Line for Years
The tree line at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, has been known for years to be a vantage point for photographers looking to catch a candid glimpse of the former president and other VIPs.
Still, suspected failed assassin Ryan Wesley Routh was able to camp out there for nearly 12 hours Sunday with a rifle aimed at the course, according to a federal affidavit.
He even brought snacks, prosecutors said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Brendan Carr says Elon Musk and his Starlink internet service were denied a contract from the FCC because of “partisan politics.” The Biden-Harris administration agency has also forcedbroadcasters to report the race and gender of their employees.
“Lawfare,” Musk said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Gun Channels Embrace Rumble After YouTube Censorship
YouTube’s recent decision to change platform rules around gun content has resulted in the sudden demonetization of channels, including Old Row Outdoors, which deals with hunting, fishing, and outdoor activities.
The channel announced this on X, at the same time urging its more than 76,000 subscribers to switch to Rumble and follow them there.
Old Row Outdoors attached a screenshot of a notice sent by YouTube, which states that a “team of policy specialists” went through the content of the channel and decided that a significant part of it deviates from the giant’s Partner Program policies.
And the result of that is the demonetization of the channel.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hillary Clinton Advocates for Criminal Charges for Americans Spreading “Propaganda”
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has has decided to ignore the First Amendment and has advocated for punitive measures aimed at Americans who contribute to the spread of what she calls “propaganda.” Speaking to MSNBC on Tuesday, Clinton suggested that holding American individuals accountable through civil or criminal charges could serve as a warning to deter the distribution of “disinformation.”
While Clinton acknowledged the importance of indicting foreign actors, namely Russians, directly responsible for meddling in US elections, she argued that Americans who play a role in amplifying “disinformation” should not be overlooked.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Senator JD Vance chastised the mainstream media and Democratic lawmakers for “lecturing” former President Donald Trump about the need to “soften his political rhetoric” after two people have plotted to assassinate him since July. Trump’s running mate fired back at the media, suggesting it was the left’s own violent rhetoric against Trump that led to two people trying to kill the GOP nominee.
Vance made the remarks during a campaign speech in Sparta, Michigan on Tuesday. “Don’t lecture Donald Trump about softening his rhetoric after two people tried to kill him,” said Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio. “It’s ridiculous!”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) reminded Americans on Tuesday that Vice President Kamala Harris “lied to the entire world” when she claimed there are “no active-duty troops deployed to war zones.”
Banks wrote that his office had obtained footage of “US troops under fire in the Middle East. These attacks occurred within the last couple of weeks/months. Reminder, Kamala Harris lied to the entire world last week when she said that we currently have no active duty troops deployed in war zones! Unfit to lead!”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Kentucky Couple Followed Circling Vultures to Body Believed to be Highway Shooting Suspect
A Kentucky couple spent six days looking for a body believed to be the highway shooting suspect that authorities have been hunting for over a week — and eventually found it by following circling vultures, they said Thursday.
Fred and Sheila McCoy discovered remains that police believe are of Joseph A. Couch on Wednesday in Laurel County and will receive $25,000 in reward money.
Authorities had been searching for Couch, 32, since the Sept. 7 shooting next to Interstate 75 that seriously injured five people near the city of London, Kentucky.
Even though authorities had described Couch as armed and dangerous, Fred McCoy said he’s a retired police officer and has found that fugitives quickly run out steam while on the lam. So capturing Couch wasn’t as far fetched as it might seem, the couple said.
“None of us are getting out of this world alive,” Fred McCoy told NBC News. “We’re Christians and if we go, you know, if you’re a Christian, your last breath here on earth is your first in a better place.”
| — Hat tip: Roger | [Return to headlines] |
Kentucky Judge Shot and Killed in His Chambers, Local Sheriff Arrested, Charged in Slaying
A Kentucky judge was shot and killed Thursday in his court chambers and a local sheriff has been arrested on suspicion of committing the slaying.
District Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, was shot multiple times in the shooting, Kentucky State Police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Letcher County Sheriff Shawn M. Stines, 43, was taken into custody at the scene without incident, police said.
He was charged with one count of first-degree murder.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said he was informed that a judge in Letcher County was killed.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Michigan Mosque to Hold Memorial Service for Hezbollah Terrorist Killed in Lebanon
An Islamic mosque in Dearborn, Michigan announced it would be hosting a memorial service for a deceased Hezbollah terrorist who was recently killed in Lebanon. The terror militant’s death was said to be caused by targeted attacks believed to be carried out by the Israeli government, which consisted of exploding pagers and walkie-talkies.
The controversial memorial service for Fadl Abbas Bazzi will be held on Sept. 22 at 3 pm at the Islamic Institute of Knowledge mosque in Dearborn, according to a flyer released by the mosque. Senior editor of Post Millennial Andy Ngo has confirmed that Bazzi is a Hezbollah terror militant.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Minnesota Test Scores Remain Low Despite Walz Spending Billions
Authored by Eric Lundrum via American Greatness
The Democratic Party’s vice presidential nominee, Governor Tim Walz (D-Minn.), has failed to improve average test scores in his state of Minnesota despite spending billions of dollars to try to improve the state’s education system.
As the Daily Caller reports, Walz previously signed a bill in 2023 that aimed to spend $2.3 billion on improving the academic performance of students in the state. Although it marked the single largest investment in education in Minnesota’s history, the latest data shows that test scores have not improved after the bill’s implementation.
In the report from the Minnesota Reformer, test scores in 2019, when Walz first took office, showed that about 60% of Minnesota students were proficient in reading while 55% were proficient in math. In 2024, those rates have declined further, to only about half of students being proficient readers and just 45% being proficient in math.
Although the Chinese Coronavirus pandemic played a major role in the sharp decline, Minnesota saw a steeper drop in test scores compared to most states. Moreover, scores have not improved even two years after all lockdown measures were lifted. By contrast, in 2015 and 2017, the average math scores of Minnesota’s fourth grade students were about 10 points higher than the national average. In 2022, that rate dropped to just 4 points above the national average.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New: Mike Johnson to Bring Spending Bill With SAVE Act to Vote on House Floor
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is vying to hold a vote on Wednesday for the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act paired with a stopgap spending package. This comes after there was opposition from some GOP lawmakers last week that led to a delay in the vote.
Johnson announced the plan for the vote on Tuesday, “Congress has an immediate obligation to do two things: responsibly fund the federal government and ensure the security of our elections.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Donald Trump met with the Martin County sheriff’s deputies from Florida at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday after the law enforcement from the office was responsible for activating the traffic stop on would-be assassin suspect Ryan Routh and taking him into custody.
Video of the visit between the GOP nominee and the law enforcement office showed Trump walking into the room, telling them they were some “good-looking human beings.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A reporter who previously interviewed the man accused of trying to carry out a second assassination attempt on former President Trump said she “instantly” recalled the interaction with the would-be assassin.
The Free Press reporter Tanya Lukyanova interviewed 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh for a Semafor story in March 2023 on Ukraine turning down foreign fighters who wanted to aid in the war against Russia. Lukyanova spoke about her interaction with Routh during “America’s Newsroom.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Rutgers President Holloway to Step Down Next June
Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway has announced that he will step down from the post at the end of June next year.
Holloway, Rutgers’ first Black president, has had to navigate some rocky years, which included the COVID-19 pandemic, a faculty union strike and, more recently, student encampments on campus to protest the Israel-Hamas military conflict in Gaza.
Among the advancements made at Rutgers during Holloway’s first four years is the enrollment of the university’s largest, most diverse and most accomplished first-year class this fall, a university statement said. Applications jumped more than 60% with the adoption of the Common Application at Rutgers and included a significant surge in applications from out-of-state and international students.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Acting US Secret Service (USSS) Director Ronald Rowe Jr. admitted Monday that agents neglected to search the perimeter of former President Donald Trump’s Florida golf course before the Republican presidential candidate started playing on Sunday. The perimeter was exactly where Ryan Wesley Routh, a 58-year-old Democratic activist, is accused of hiding in his foiled attempt to assassinate former President Donald Trump with a firearm on Sunday afternoon.
Routh had been camping out on the spot for about 12 hours without being noticed. Rowe said a sweep of the area was not conducted because Trump’s golf game was something Rowe referred to as an “off-the-record” plan that wasn’t on his official calendar, according to the New York Post.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Secret Service is reportedly probing Elon Musk over a post he made following the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump Sunday. The attempt was foiled and the suspect arrested, and Musk wrote in a since-deleted response to post, “and no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala???”
The post had been seen by tens of millions of people before being deleted, including the Secret Service, Bloomberg reported. The outlet sent Freedom of Information Act requests to the Secret Service’s Protective Intelligence and Assessment Division, the Office of Protective Operations, and the Office of Investigations for communications and documents related to Musk’s Sunday post.
The agency responded to Bloomberg’s requests on Wednesday, saying that the requested records were being withheld because “disclosure could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings.” Musk’s posts had been “compiled for law enforcement purposes.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is monitoring a “potentially hazardous” asteroid that is moving past Earth on Tuesday.
NASA told Fox News Digital that the rocky object, which has been named 2024 ON, is 350 meters long by 180 meters wide, which roughly equals 1,150 feet by 590 feet — larger than previous estimates.
NASA has deemed the asteroid “stadium-sized” and reported it was 621,000 miles away from Earth on Tuesday morning, which is considered relatively close. Davide Farnocchia, a navigation engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told Fox News Digital that an asteroid of this size coming this close to Earth only happens every five to ten years.
Farnocchia, who works at the laboratory’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, said that the last time a large meteor entered the Earth’s atmosphere was in Russia in 2013. Earth has not been hit by a meteor of 2024 ON’s size since prehistoric times.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Former President Trump survived a second assassination attempt in just two months over the weekend after the U.S. Secret Service opened fire on an armed man near a fence as the billionaire candidate golfed in Florida.
Police recovered an SKS rifle that the suspect allegedly aimed through a fence at the edge of the course.
But as additional details about the suspect emerge, he appears to be a radical activist incensed by geopolitical conflict and a repeat offender with a violent felony conviction to match his ideological online posts, which are under investigation by the FBI.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Toronto Man Arrested in Seattle After Threatening to Bomb Sen Patty Murray’s Car
A Canadian man was arrested in Seattle last week for targeting Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) on social media with bomb threats.
According to court documents obtained by KOMO News, 29-year-old Louis Bernabe flew from Toronto to Seattle and booked a room at the W Hotel, which is located approximately three blocks from Murray’s office.
Bernabe does not have a residence or employment in the Seattle area and it remains unclear when he arrived in the Emerald City.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Assassination Attempt: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Pushes More Charges Against Suspect
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would like to see an attempted murder charge brought against failed Trump assassination suspect Ryan Wesley Routh, which he noted carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Routh, 58, has been charged federally with possessing a gun with a scratched-out number and with possessing a gun illegally as a felon, though more serious charges are likely pending.
“I think this is an offense that should merit life in prison, and if we are not going to go to the fullest extent of the law, you are lowering the threshold into what someone in the future may try to do something like this,” DeSantis said during a Tuesday morning press conference in West Palm Beach.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Failed Trump assassination attempt suspect Ryan Routh has a lengthy arrest record in Guilford County, North Carolina, where he was once a resident of Greensboro.
Routh’s arrest record in Guilford County spans between the 1980s and 2010, and his charges range from writing multiple bad checks to felony firearm possession, possession of a stolen vehicle and multiple counts of possession of a weapon of mass destruction in 2002, specifically, a “binary explosive with a 10-in[ch] detonation cord and a blasting cap.”
A neighbor who said she had known Routh for about 18 years, before he moved to Hawaii and left his Greensboro home empty at least a year ago, described his family as “weird” to reporters outside her home next to Routh’s former North Carolina residence.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
FBI and other US intelligence agencies revealed that Iran attempted to share stolen material it had hacked from the Donald Trump campaign with people who worked on the Biden-Harris campaign and is continuing to send material to media outlets. Trump slammed Kamala Harris in response, saying “She and her campaign were illegally spying on me.”
The FBI announced in a joint statement with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), “Iranian malicious cyber actors in late June and early July sent unsolicited emails to individuals then associated with President Biden’s campaign that contained an excerpt taken from stolen, non-public material from former President Trump’s campaign as text in the emails.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Two members of the Chicago Civilian Office of Police Accountability were fired at the end of last month…immediately after they complained to the Inspector General about bias against police.
Matt Haynam, deputy chief administrator for the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA), responsible for investigating Chicago Police misconduct, was abruptly dismissed during a virtual meeting with COPA Chief Andrea Kersten and general counsel Robin Murphy, according to a report from Law Enforcement Today, citing the Chicago Sun Times.
Earning $163,068 annually, Haynam said he was given no explanation for his immediate termination. Within 90 minutes of the meeting, COPA employees arrived at his home to collect his city-issued car, computer, and phone.
Haynam said he received a text from supervising investigator Garrett Schaaf, who had been similarly fired. Schaaf, who earns $117,792 annually, declined to comment.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
US Air Force Has DEI ‘Goal’ to Reduce ‘White Male Population’ in Officer Ranks: Report
A trove of documents from the Air Force relating to its DEI initiatives and “goal” of reducing the number of white male applicants in the popular officer program have finally been obtained after many FOIA requests for the documents were stone-walled.
According to the Daily Caller, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman CQ Brown issued a memorandum in 2022 that said the military branch was changing up its racial and gender demographic goals for applicants to the officer program in an effort to increase “diversity and inclusion.” Documents obtained by the Caller relating to the demographic goals included slides from a presentation that details how to reach a reduced number of white males in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Washington, DC, City Council Member Suggests Businesses Go Cashless to Combat Crime
A new Washington, D.C., bill is aiming to combat high crime rates by allowing restaurants, bars and other retail stores to go cashless.
The bill seeks to provide exemptions to a previously established law prohibiting retail establishments from rejecting cash payments.
City Council member Christina Henderson told Fox News Digital that businesses primarily reject cash payments to protect their employees.
“Much of the present crime and safety concerns for our retailers involve them being targets of robbery and theft. Going cash free seems to be an obvious choice in response to these crimes, to mitigate opportunities for those wishing to take advantage of cash being held on the premises of these retailers,” she said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Canadian Conservatives Propose Bill for Online Digital ID Verification and Anonymity Restrictions
Canada is about to start grappling with yet another piece of divisive and controversial proposed legislation, this one coming from the opposition Conservatives, and heavily touching on online age verification.
The bill that is set to be presented when the parliament resumes work this month, according to its proponents, deals with protecting Canadians on the internet while also managing to protect their civil liberties.
However, despite what those promoting the bill are saying, the situation is not as clear-cut as all that: the consequences of the plan could also see some online anonymity tools swept away.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Justin Trudeau May Face Non-Confidence Vote as Early as Next Week: Report
There could be a fall election in Canada — fall 2024, not 2025 — if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau allows a non-confidence vote to occur in the House of Commons next week. Trudeau is reportedly agreeable to doing just that.
According to a report in the Toronto Star, citing anonymous sources, Trudeau will allow a non-confidence motion to be raised by the Official Opposition Conservatives next week. The motion be brought forth as early as next Tuesday, Sept. 24, with a vote happening the next day.
If the Bloc Québécois and the New Democratic Party vote with the Conservatives, it will provoke a new federal election, over one year earlier than the one currently slated for October 2025.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Toronto District School Board (TDSB) teachers reportedly misled students and parents about the objective of a field trip Wednesday as kids in grades seven and eight reportedly marched to anti-Israel and pro-Palestine slogans being shouted by their instructors, Rebel News reported.
Video reportedly taken of the trip shows children being led as adults chants of “From Turtle Island to Palestine, occupation is a crime” The adults appear to be wearing keffiyehs and face coverings in the footage.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trudeau Liberals Lose Both of Monday’s Byelections in Winnipeg and Montreal
Prime Mnister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party suffered two byelection losses Monday night. With results in, Liberal candidates lost in both contests. In the perpetually safe seat in Montreal of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, the Liberal candidate lost to the Bloc Québécois’ Louis-Philippe Sauvé, in a tight three-way race. In the Manitoba riding of Winnipeg’s Elmwood —Transcona the NDP’s Leila Dance defeated the Conservative Party with the Liberals a distant third. In Montreal, Liberal candidate Laura Palestini had insisted “It’s about me. It’s not about the PM. I will let myself be the … prime focus of this election.”
Former Justice Minister David Lametti represented the riding until he resigned from Parliament — just days after a federal court justice announced that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s invocation of the Emergencies Act in response to the Freedom Convoy protests was unconstitutional. Lametti had been a vocal supporter of using the legislation to crush the peaceful protest.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
As Central Europe is Flooded and Death Toll Mounts, Hungary Braces for the Worst
Early Monday, Prime Minister Viktor Orban postponed all his international obligations due to flood protection. Hungary also activated the EU’s integrated crisis response mechanism as president of the Council of the European Union.
Level three flood protection preparedness has already been ordered in the capital of Budapest and in the areas of the Danube tributary Lajta.
Margitsziget and the quays in the capital have been closed, while some transport has also been shut down. Multiple cycle paths and roads have also been closed along the Danube.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: FPÖ Still Most Popular Party on the Eve of Elections
With less than two weeks to go until Austrian voters go to the polls, the latest projections indicate that the right-wing, anti-globalist Freedom Party (FPÖ) is on course to secure victory with its best-ever electoral result.
According to polling by the Institut für neue soziale Antworten (Institute for New Social Answers, INSA), the opposition FPÖ is predicted to receive 29% of the votes at the national elections on September 29th—two percentage points more than its best result of 27% in 1999. The governing centre-right People’s Party is polling at 23%, and its coalition partner, the Greens, are at just 8%.
The other opposition parties that will likely make it into parliament are the Social Democrats (21%), the liberal NEOS party (8%), and the satirical Beer Party (5%).
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Austria’s Beer Party Shakes Up Politics in Austria
When you think ‘beer party’, we’d bet a political movement isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. But that’s what’s happening in Austria, where the Beer Party is gaining real traction.
And it sees its posibilities as “glass-half-full” as it approaches a run for parliment in 2024.
Founded by Dominik Wlazny, a comedian, doctor, brewer and musician, the Beer Party of Vienna is beginning to be taken seriously in Austria. In the 2022 Austrian presidential election, party leader Wlazny (who goes by his stage name of Marco Pogo) gained 8.31% of the vote, with 337,000 citizens.
Inspired to run for office by the song Bierpartei, which he performs with his punk band Turbobier, Wlazny founded the Beer Party in 2015. The song, which includes the lyrics ““If you like to be fat and drink a lot every day, then vote for us now, the Beer Party, we’ll abolish the alcohol tax,” has become an anthem for disenfranchised beer voters in Austria.
In addition to calling for a beer fountain in the Austrian capital, the Beer Party’s proposals include (but are not limited to) the following…
- “For the purpose of better networking between local restaurateurs and local politics, the creation of a gastronomy network.”
- “The long overdue banning of all mixed beer drinks like Radlers from public spaces…”
- The abolition of mandatory closing times for bars and restaurants.
- The abolition of taxes on drinks in bars and restaurants (compensated for with a new 50% tax on Radlers and “other atrocities”.)
- “Live and let live (except Radler drinkers).”
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Budapest and Poland’s Wroclaw Reinforce Their River Banks Ahead of More Flooding in Central Europe
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Soldiers dropped sandbags from military helicopters to reinforce river embankments and evacuated residents as the worst flooding in years spread Tuesday to a broad swath of Central Europe, taking lives and destroying homes.
Heavy flooding has affected a large part of the region in recent days, including the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria. There have been at least 16 deaths reported in the flooding, which follow heavy rainfall across the region.
Other places are now bracing for the flood waves to hit them, including two central European gems: Budapest, the Hungarian capital on the Danube River, and Wroclaw, a city in southwestern Poland on the Oder River, its old town filled with architectural gems.
Hungary’s government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban deployed soldiers to reinforce barriers along the Danube, and thousands of volunteers assisted in filling sandbags in dozens of riverside settlements.
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Confidence in Dutch Cabinet Increased, Especially Among Voters With Lower Education
Netherlands residents’ confidence in national politics and the government increased significantly compared to the past two years, especially among people with lower levels of education. Dutch people are also less pessimistic, though a majority still believes that things are generally going badly for the Netherlands, according to the annual Budget Day survey Ipsos I&O does for NOS.
The researchers conducted an online survey among a representative group of 2,167 Dutch people between Friday and Monday. They found that 44 percent of Netherlands residents have confidence in national politics and 42 percent in the Schoof I Cabinet. Last year, 33 percent had confidence in politics and only 24 percent in the outgoing Rutte IV Cabinet.
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Dams “Impoverish Society,” Claimed Polish Green Politician Ahead of Devastating Flooding
“Absolutely no one advises anyone to build such structures because they impoverish society,” Deputy Minister of the Climate and Environment Urszula Zielinska said of the need to build dams as anti-flooding defenses in 2023.
The co-chair of the Greens made the comment at a 2023 debate organized by Polska 2050, also attended by other opposition politicians including Szymon Holownia, reports news portal Do Reczy.
She further stated at the time: “That is why I appeal to you not to talk about these structures as investments. These are disinvestments. These are ways to impoverish our society.”
In the wake of Poland’s tragic flooding, social media users, led by MEP Patryk Jaki of the Catholic, nationalist Sovereign Poland party, are calling attention to Zielinska’s past comment, as politicians on both sides are looking to place blame.
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Distraught Polish Mother Breaks Down in Tears During TV Interview About Jailed Priest Son
Grazyna Olszewska, mother of jailed Polish priest Father Michal Olszewski, broke down in a television interview over her son’s treatment in prison.
Her son “is not the same person; this is not him. He is damaged, gaunt, and terrified. The terror in his eyes. I will carry that image to the grave,” Olszewska told independent Polish TV channel TV Republika September 12.
The priest has been detained since March for alleged irregularities in his Profeteo Foundation, set up for victims of crime.
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England: Outrage as Judge Blocks ‘Grooming Gang’ Victim From Calling for Rapists’ Deportation
A survivor of a rape gang was prevented in court from calling for two of her abusers to be deported. Seven men from predominantly Pakistani backgrounds in Rotherham were convicted of offences committed between April 2003 and April 2008.
As the case in South Yorkshire was concluding, the unnamed woman read out her ‘victim impact statement,’ legal paperwork intended not as evidence but to assist the judge in sentencing. GB News, the sole UK national broadcaster to cover the trial, saw an unredacted version of the document which had a key section removed from her closing remarks—under official duress.
Social commentator Matt Goodwin called the decision “outrageous.” Other media seemed more preoccupied with the fall of one of their own, BBC broadcaster Huw Edwards, convicted of ‘making’ (i.e. sharing) child abuse images.
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EU Recommends Outdoor Ban on Cigarettes, E-Cigarettes and Heated Tobacco
The European Commission wants member states to ban cigarettes, e-cigarettes and heated products tobacco from outdoor areas, according to new recommendations published on Tuesday (17 September).
The EU executive adopted non-binding guidelines to update the 2009’s Council recommendations for a smoke-free environment, as the current ones cannot fully achieve their “protective purpose” due to a lack of coverage of “outdoor spaces” and “emerging products,” the document reads.
“We are calling on Member states to extend the coverage of their smoke-free environment policies to key-outdoor areas,” EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides said at a press conference.
The guidelines are part of the EU’s Beating Cancer Plan which aims to create the first “Tobacco-Free Generation”, where in 2040, less than 5% of the population uses tobacco compared to 25% today.
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Floods Devastate Central Europe as Death Toll Climbs to Eighteen
Floods sparked by Storm Boris are wreaking havoc in Central Europe as high winds and heavy rainfall have hit parts of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia in the past few days.
So far, the storm has caused the deaths of seven people in Romania, four in Poland, four in Austria, and three in the Czech Republic.
Many have compared the current situation to the 2013 floods which primarily affected Central Europe and caused the deaths of 25 people.
Parts of Austria have been hit by five times the average amount of rain they get for the entire month of September. The flooding has broken twelve dams, with muddy rivers raging, while thousands of households were without electricity and water in Lower Austria. Hundreds of people have been evacuated by helicopter from car roofs and other places.
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France: Macron’s Impeachment Proceedings Pass First Step
A proposal to impeach President Emmanuel Macron has passed a key hurdle in the French National Assembly, winning the approval of its executive bureau.
The bureau, the National Assembly’s 21-member cross-party leadership, ruled on September 17 that the impeachment proposal was admissible.
The hard-left La France Insoumise party introduced the impeachment motion as a result of the decision by Macron, on August 26, to refuse to appoint the left-wing Nouveau Front Populaire alliance’s candidate as prime minister.
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France: Hundreds of Thousands Sign Macron’s Impeachment Petition
More than 300,000 thousands people have signed the hard-left La France Insoumise (LFI) petition calling for French President Emmanuel Macron’s impeachment, the party has announced.
The petition was designed to put pressure on French lawmakers to launch the impeachment process against Macron and LFI revealed the number of signatories on September 16.
“By signing this petition, we ask the deputies and senators to vote in favour of the process to allow the return to a true democracy where the choices of the people are finally respected,” according to the petition’s website.
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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the new composition of the EU executive at a press conference in Brussels on Tuesday with Visegrad nations taking roles in health, trade, budget control, and international partnerships.
Health went to Hungary as Olivér Varhelyi, Budapest’s representative in the commission since 2019, moved from his previous Neighbourhood and Enlargement brief.
Piotr Serafin, a senior Polish diplomat and close confidant to Prime Minister Donald Tusk, takes up his new role overseeing the EU budget and leading on anti-fraud and public administration.
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Germany: Conservative Merz Confirms He Will Run Against Scholz Next Year
Opposition leader Friedrich Merz (CDU/EPP) confirmed on Tuesday (17 September) that he will run against German chancellor Olaf Scholz in next year’s national elections, as he secured the backing of his internal opponents.
Merz’s opposition list, an alliance of the centre-right CDU and its Bavarian sister party CSU, is currently the favourite to win next year’s election. A recent Insa poll puts its support at around 33%, ahead of the far-right AfD and 19% ahead of Scholz’s centre-left SPD (14%).
“We’re going into 2025 with the intention of retaking the leadership responsibility for our country […] with policies that will bring Germany back to the front,” Merz told journalists at a snap press conference in Berlin, together with CSU leader Markus Söder.
He used his statement to slam Scholz’s centre-left ‘traffic light’ coalition for its migration and economic policy, while hinting that his focus would be on the latter.
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Intel Suspends Manufacturing Expansion Into Poland and Germany Citing Dip in Demand
Intel has suspended the planned construction of factories in Germany and Poland, citing a drop in demand for its products.
The U.S. chipmaker was expected to receive considerable financial incentives from both Berlin and Warsaw to relocate its manufacturing.
Production complexes were due to be constructed in the German city of Magdeburg in Saxony-Anhalt, and in Poland near Wroclaw.
“We will suspend our projects in Poland and Germany for approximately two years due to expected market demand,” Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said.
Instead, the tech giant’s European manufacturing hub will remain in Ireland for the time being, bolstered recently by a new €17 billion investment at its Leixlip site in Co Kildare.
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Klaus Schwab Calls for “Global Collaboration” to Combat “Misinformation”
It will take serious research and serious access to information ever to figure out which came first, the WEF chicken, or the WEF egg.
But this unelected, informal group of highly influential global elites has often been able to either seemingly predict, or seemingly help make happen — some major trends and events that affect the whole world.
After all, one of the first places where careful observers could see a clear shift toward making not only “mis/disinformation” a thing — but presenting it as a powerfully harmful one, in need of all sorts of new rules, policies, and laws — have been the World Economic Forum (WEF) gatherings.
WEF founder Klaus Schwab keeps beating the same drum — and why wouldn’t he? The narrative has clearly taken root and is being parroted the world over.
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Netherlands: Knifeman Kills 1 & Injures Another in Horror Stabbing Rampage in Rotterdam
A MAN has stabbed one person to death and seriously injured another in a horror attack in the Netherlands.
The suspect, now in police custody, allegedly went on a knife rampage in Rotterdam before a heroic bystander took him out.
According to Dutch broadcaster NOS, witnesses said the suspect shouted “Allahu Akbar” — meaning God is Greatest in Arabic — during the assault.
He is also seriously injured, according to reports.
Cops said their investigation is in “full swing” and called for witnesses to come forward.
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Poland’s PM Donald Tusk has admitted to taking legal “short cuts” in his battle to reform the country’s judiciary.
The conference on “ways out of constitutional crisis” held in the Polish parliament on September 10 followed Tusk’s decision to withdraw support for a nomination to the Supreme Court made by President Andrzej Duda, a decision that former chief justice of Poland’s constitutional court, Andrzej Zoll, called illegal and a dangerous precedent.
At the conference Tusk defended the move, saying restoring the rule of law was more important than obeying the letter of the law.
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The head of Poland’s National Security Bureau, Jacek Siewiera, believes that Polish satellite radar imaging technologies were used too late to detect the mass flooding enveloping parts of the country and that “conclusions will have to be drawn from this later.”
“It is not yet the time to deal with the political narrative around the flood, rescue operations are crucial now,” Siewiera said on TV Republika, although he did make sure to bring up some criticisms and make at least one jab at the left.
Siewiera emphasized that the government must understand the need for appropriate prediction and detection systems, including the use of satellite technologies, adding that Poland’s experimental radar technology was only used on Saturday.
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Pope Francis: “I Will Not Go to Paris!”
On his return flight from Singapore to Rome on Friday, September 13th, Pope Francis reacted to the invitation extended to him to travel to Paris for the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral, scheduledfor December 7-8. The pontiff vehemently explained that he did not wish to attend.
“I will not go to Paris, I will not go to Paris”: It was in an emphatic tone that Pope Francis made known his response to the invitation extended by the archbishop of Paris and the French government. They have invited him to attend the reopening of Notre Dame de Paris, five years after the terrible fire that almost destroyed one of the world’s most famous churches.
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Sweden and Finland to Up Cooperation to Fight Crime in Sweden
Sweden and Finland have pledged to step up cooperation to fight organised crime in Sweden and its spill-over effects, including allowing police to cross borders, the two countries’ governments said at a meeting in Sweden on Monday.
On the occasion of the Finnish government’s visit to Sweden, led by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, Sweden and Finland proposed taking a further step in the fight against Swedish organised crime, which is spreading into neighbouring Finland.
Sweden and Finland want to deepen their police cooperation to the extent that police can work on the other side of the border in serious cases, announced Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer.
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A new BBC documentary says the Egyptian-born businessman — who died in London aged 94 last August — carried out the attacks during his time in charge of the elite outlet.
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Shocking mobile phone footage shows the crazy scenes take place just after midnight in the seaside town, which saw one man suffer injuries which required hospital treatment.
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Von Der Leyen Stamps Authority on New European Commission Team
In unveiling her new European Commission team, Ursula von der Leyen has asserted her political authority on Brussels.
After a round of negotiations with member states, culminating in the last-minute ousting of France’s outgoing Commissioner Thierry Breton, von der Leyen appeared to have won a high-stakes power struggle with national leaders over the shape of the new Commission.
Among von der Leyen’s successful battles was forcing Slovenia’s Prime Minister Robert Golob to replace his male nominee with a female candidate, Marta Kos.
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Von Der Leyen Plans Five More Years of Intense Energy and Climate Rule-Making
The 2020s will be a rollercoaster ride in terms of energy and climate legislation in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made clear in the mission letters sent to her commissioner-delegates on Tuesday (17 September).
The mission letters von der Leyen sent to members of her likely future roster contain action plans based on promises made during her European Parliament address and compromises between the centrist political groups.
Regarding energy, von der Leyen made clear that she intends to pursue the EU decarbonisation push already embarked upon during her first mandate — and save the continent’s industrial heartlands and rebuild its energy systems in the process — which will affect few energy and climate stakeholders.
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Von Der Leyen Gives Meloni Nominee Consolation Prize in Incoming EU Commission
The President-elect of the European Commission unveiled her initial portfolio distribution for the incoming cabinet on Tuesday, September 17th. Despite heavy opposition from the Left, Ursula von der Leyen did grant an executive vice presidency to Italy’s candidate Raffaele Fitto (Fratelli d’Italia/ECR), but she also increased the number of top seats, diluting the importance of the position. The cordon sanitaire against the Right was, no surprise, kept intact as the Commission leadership includes no representatives from the Patriots for Europe group, despite it being the third largest group in Parliament.
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A Deal With Hamas Means Israel’s Defeat
In the six months since terrorist supporters successfully branded their campaign to save the Hamas terrorist group as a ‘ceasefire’, the term was embraced by state governments, the Biden-Harris administration and now a growing number of American Jewish liberal groups.
Even formerly pro-Israel figures and organizations are trying to sell the idea of saving Hamas and leaving it in control of Gaza as the right thing to do and even a ‘victory’ for Israel.
Depicting an Israeli surrender to Hamas in which the Jewish State retreats from Gaza, trades thousands of terrorists for perhaps a dozen hostages, and billions in international aid pour into the coffers of Hamas while Yahya Sinwar holds a parade as a ‘victory’ takes a lot of chutzpah.
Chutzpah and utterly delusional thinking are sadly not lacking.
Some in Israel are willing to trade anything, including national survival, in exchange for the slim chance of getting some hostages back. American liberal Jewish organizations are focused on electing Kamala Harris and are willing to trade Israel for Dearborn, Michigan’s votes to do it. And the same breed of establishment hacks in Israel responsible for Oct 7 are selling the same security snake oil and making the same false promises that they have for the last 30 years.
| — Hat tip: Daniel Greenfield | [Return to headlines] |
Kamala Harris Opposes Israeli Reoccupation of Gaza, Calls for End to War
US Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris called on Tuesday for an end to the Israel-Gaza war and said that Israel must not reoccupy the Palestinian enclave once the nearly year-old conflict comes to an end.
Speaking in Philadelphia to the National Association of Black Journalists, she called for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants, a two-state solution and Middle East stability in a way that does not empower Iran.
“We’ve made ourselves very clear this deal needs to get done in the best interest of everyone in the region,” Harris, the US vice president, said in response to questions asked by three journalists.
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At Least 8 Dead, Thousands Injured After Wireless Devices Explode Across Lebanon, Hezbollah Says
At least eight people are dead and over 2,750 people were injured after pager devices owned by a large number of workers in various Hezbollah units and institutions exploded on Tuesday, according to Lebanese officials and the group.
Among the dead were a 10-year-old girl in the eastern village of Saraain and two Hezbollah members, according to Hezbollah-owned Al-Ahed News.
“These explosions, the causes of which are still unknown, led to the martyrdom of a girl and two brothers, and the injury of a large number of people with various injuries,” Hezbollah said in a statement.
About 200 of the injuries are critical, meaning they needed surgery, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health. Most of the injuries were to the face, hand or abdomen, officials said.
The Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was among those who had one of the pagers and was injured due to an explosion Tuesday, according to Iranian state TV.
Amani said in a phone call after the incident that he was “feeling well and fully conscious,” according to Iranian state TV.
Hezbollah said it is conducting a “security and scientific investigation to determine the causes that led to these simultaneous explosions.”
The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health has issued a statement Tuesday instructing all hospitals in various regions of Lebanon to be on maximum alert and raise their level of readiness to meet the rapid need for emergency health services.
The ministry noted that preliminary information indicates “the injuries were related to the explosion of wireless devices that were in the possession of the injured.”
The ministry also asked all citizens who own pagers to throw them away immediately.
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Israel is Settling America’s Scores With Islamic Terrorists
The exploding pagers that reportedly wounded thousands of Hezbollah terrorists came within 3 days of the 40th anniversary of the Islamic terrorist group’s attack on an American embassy.
On September 20, 1984, a Hezbollah terrorist drove a Chevy station wagon fitted with diplomatic plates and Soviet rockets at the US embassy in Beirut and detonated it, wounding the US ambassador and killing two Americans, Chief Warrant Officer Kenneth V. Welch and Petty Officer First Class Michael Ray Wagner, while wounding five other Americans.
The Biden-Harris administration marked the 40th anniversary of the Hezbollah attack by dispatching Amos Hochstein, its envoy, to pressure Israel into turning over land to Hezbollah in exchange for some temporary quiet. A previous Hochstein deal saw Israel turn over gas fields to Hezbollah only to see the terror group launch thousands of rockets at northern communities in Israel. 60,000 Israelis have been displaced by these attacks and cannot return home.
But the Biden-Harris administration decided that the best way to honor the hundreds of Americans killed by Hezbollah, including the 220 Marines in the Beirut barracks bombing in 1983, the brutal torture of Colonel William R. Higgins, who had his tongue pulled out and was castrated before being dumped in front of a mosque, and Navy diver Robert Stethem who was beaten to death on TWA Flight 847, was by demanding that Israel surrender to the terrorists.
But the Israelis have been settling not only their scores, but our scores for us.
In 2008, an Israeli car bomb took out Imad Mughniyah, Hezbollah’s chief of staff, who had been among the monsters jumping up and landing on Stethem’s body.
“They were jumping in the air and landing full force on his body. He must have had all his ribs broken,” a stewardess on the hijacked plane described. “I was sitting only 15 feet away. I couldn’t listen to it. I put my fingers in my ears. I will never forget. I could still hear. They put the mike up to his face so his screams could be heard by the outside world.”
Mughniyah had been attending an Iranian reception celebrating the Islamic takeover of the formerly free nation, only to find that his car’s tire had been loaded with explosives. The reported joint Mossad-CIA operation was also the last hurrah before the Obama takeover and the beginning of a new D.C. policy of appeasing Iran while undermining the Jewish State.
| — Hat tip: Daniel Greenfield | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon Explosions: Hezbollah Apparently Targeted as Pagers Detonate, Several Dead, Thousands Hurt
At least nine people were killed and thousands of others were injured when handheld pagers exploded across Lebanon on Tuesday in an apparent targeting of Hezbollah members, according to Hezbollah officials.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency initially reported that “the handheld pagers system was detonated using advanced technology, and dozens of injuries were reported” in Beirut’s southern suburbs and other areas. Lebanon’s health minister later said at least nine people were killed and 2,750 wounded — 200 of them critically.
Among those injured when the pagers exploded included Iran’s ambassador in Lebanon, Iranian state media reported.
A security source in Lebanon told Reuters that the pagers were carried by members of Hezbollah. A Hezbollah official, speaking to the outlet on condition of anonymity, described the incident as a detonation that was the “biggest security breach” during the nearly year-long war with Israel. It wasn’t immediately clear who was responsible for the attack. While Hezbollah blamed Israel, the Israeli government has not commented.
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Most Intense Israeli Bombing Since Gaza War’s Start Rocks Lebanon
Update(1519ET): The evening hours (local time) have seen a “major intensification of bombing” by Israel’s military in southern Lebanon targeting Hezbollah positions, Reuters is reporting based on Lebanese security officials.
The officials called it “the most intense bombing since the start of the war in Gaza” and the IDF has since confirmed striking at least 30 Hezbollah launch locations and “terrorist infrastructure sites” on Thursday. Israel’s miliary said it hit “approximately 150 launcher barrels that were ready to fire projectiles toward Israeli territory.”
Within hours prior to the intensified Israeli bombing campaign, the IDF confirmed that two Israeli soldiers were killed near the border with Lebanon. Israeli media indicated one was killed by a drone launched from Lebanon and the other by a Hezbollah anti-tank missile.
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Pager Detonations Wound Thousands, Majority Hezbollah Members, in Suspected Cyberattack
Thousands of members of the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah were seriously wounded on Tuesday in Lebanon’s south and the southern suburbs of Beirut when the pagers they use to communicate exploded, security sources told Reuters.
Lebanon’s Health Minister Firass Abiad said that over 2,750 people have been wounded, 200 critically, and eight killed in pager detonations across Lebanon.
A Reuters journalist saw 10 Hezbollah members bleeding from wounds in the southern suburb of Beirut known as Dahiyeh.
Iranian ambassador Mojtaba Amani was reportedly injured in the explosion, according to state-owned Mehr News.
In an initial statement, Hezbollah said, “This afternoon, a number of messaging devices known as “pagers” exploded, which are owned by a number of workers in various Hezbollah units and institutions.”
Hezbollah said that the detonations of pagers used by the group killed two of its fighters and one girl, without directly accusing Israel of being behind the operation.
It said that it was carrying out an investigation to determine the causes of the blasts.
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
The Key Clue That Explains the Hezbollah Pager Explosions
The near simultaneous explosion of thousands of pagers carried by members of the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon on Tuesday raises the perplexing question of how such an attack could have happened.
Two security experts reached by Barron’s said that while a cyberattack is possible, it is more likely that the pagers were physically tampered with before they were delivered to Hezbollah operatives.
“They probably modified the beepers before shipping,” said Baptiste Robert, CEO of the French open-source intelligence firm Predicta Lab, who added that it is still too early to know for sure what happened and that he was basing his assessment off photos and videos of the explosions posted online.
Another theory is that there was a cyberattack or malware that might have overheated the pagers’ batteries. However, that is “less likely as some of those incidents would have likely resulted in fires,” said Michael Horowitz, head of intelligence at Le Beck International, a security and risk management firm based in Bahrain.
Even less likely, says Robert, is that the batteries on the pagers just happened to malfunction, such as those in the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones back in 2016. “The fact that we don’t have any fire or smoke can tell us it is not just slow damage to the battery,” Robert said.
Hezbollah operatives use pagers instead of cellphones or smartphones because they are considered less likely to be hacked or tracked. The group received a new shipment of pagers “in recent days,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
“This is sophisticated,” Robert added. “You need to know which pager will be sent to who. You need to do a lot of things.”
No one has claimed responsibility for the explosions, which come amid rising tensions between Israel and Hezbollah and Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.
Robert said the episode looks like a supply chain attack. “What they did is between the delivery of the beepers to the Hezbollah and the making of the beepers, they modified some beepers to add some explosive inside,” Robert theorized.
| — Hat tip: McN | [Return to headlines] |
With the situation in the Middle East balanced on a knife edge, MailOnline shows how the second wave of explosions across Lebanon unfolded
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
‘We Don’t Know if Our Phones Are Safe’: Lebanon on Edge After Exploding Device Attacks
Just as crowds had gathered to mourn some of those killed in Tuesday’s wave of pager-bomb attacks, an explosion sparked chaos in Dahiyeh, Hezbollah’s stronghold in southern Beirut.
In the surrounding area there was bedlam as the sound of the explosion echoed through the streets. The chants stopped. Those gathered looked at each other, some incredulous.
As reports spread that this was part of a second wave of explosions now targeting walkie-talkies, no electronic equipment was considered safe.
In Dahiyeh, Hezbollah supporters stopped our team several times, demanding we did not use our phones or our camera.
One of our producers received a message from a friend, who said she had changed her Lebanese SIM card to an international number, concerned that her phone could explode, too.
Many people here, and across the country, are inevitably wondering what will come next. Some even say they do not know if it is safe to walk next to other people, and are changing their plans.
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What We Know About the Hezbollah Device Explosions
At least 32 people, including two children, were killed and thousands more injured, many seriously, after communication devices, some used by the armed group Hezbollah, dramatically exploded across Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday.
In the latest round of blasts on Wednesday, exploding walkie-talkies killed 20 and injured at least 450 people, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
The explosions occurred in the vicinity of a large crowd that had gathered for the funerals of four victims of Tuesday’s simultaneous pager blasts, which killed at least 12 people and injured nearly 3,000.
BBC teams in the city reported chaotic scenes in which ambulances struggled to reach the injured, and locals became suspicious of anyone using a phone.
The explosions deepened unease in Lebanese society, coming a day after the apparently similar, and highly sophisticated attack targeting thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah members.
The militant group blamed its adversary Israel. Israeli officials have so far declined to comment.
Two firms based in Taiwan and Hungary accused in media reports of manufacturing the pagers have both denied responsibility. A Japanese company which apparently makes the walkie-talkies said it stopped producing that model 10 years ago.
Here is what we know so far.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The attacks on Hezbollah communications equipment sowed fear across Lebanon, with people abandoning electronic devices for fear of carrying bombs in their pockets.
Beirut: Lebanese authorities on Thursday banned walkie-talkies and pagers from being taken on flights from Beirut airport, the National News Agency reported, after thousands of such devices exploded during a deadly attack on Hezbollah this week. The Lebanese civilian aviation directorate asked airlines operating from Beirut to tell passengers that walkie-talkies and pagers were banned until further notice. Such devices were also banned from being shipped by air, the Lebanese state news agency reported.
At least 37 people were killed and more than 3,000 wounded when pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members exploded in two waves of attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday. Lebanon and Hezbollah, a heavily armed group backed by Iran, say Israel carried out the attack.
Israel has not claimed responsibility.
| — Hat tip: MM | [Return to headlines] |
Pavel Latushka is a Belarusian lawyer and diplomat. From 2002 to 2008, he was ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to Poland. He then served as minister of culture from June 2009 to November 2012, resuming his career as ambassador to France and permanent representative to UNESCO, and since 2013 as ambassador to Spain and Portugal. In March 2019, he was appointed director of the Yanka Kupala National Academic Theatre, a position from which he was dismissed on 17 August 2020 for supporting the artists’ strike during the protests against electoral fraud. On 19 August, Latushka became a member of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Coordinating Council, which resulted in a criminal case against him for attempting to seize state power and undermining national security. At the end of August, Latushka moved to Poland, where he currently resides.
Since October 2020, Latushka has been the head of the National Anti-Crisis Management, a coalition of experts and professionals that make up the shadow government created by the Belarusian Coordinating Council for the Peaceful Transition of Power. I interviewed Pavel Latushka at the Karpacz Economic Forum in Poland, where he gave two lectures on the repressive situation in Belarus. He told me about the ways that he was resisting the rule of Alexander Lukashenko, who has been president of Belarus since 1994. “I hope you are not like Pablo,” he said when I introduced myself and told him I was Spanish. The Belarusian politician later told me that the ‘journalist’ Pablo Gonzalez/Pavel Rubtsov had visited him twice.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Meta Bans Russian State Media Networks Over ‘Foreign Interference’
Meta has announced it will bar Russian state media outlets including RT and Rossiya Segodnya from using its Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp services.
“After careful consideration, we expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state media outlets,” Meta said in a statement September 17.
“Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activity,” Mark Zuckerberg’s company added.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
NATO Chief ‘Welcomes’ Allies Approving Attacks on Russia With Long-Range Missiles
Outgoing NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has addressed the question of the US and UK mulling allowing Ukraine to strike Russian territory with West-supplied long-range weapons. President Putin last week spelled out clearly that if this happened then Moscow and NATO would be in a state of direct war.
Stoltenberg downplayed this threat of major new escalation in a Monday interview with LBC radio, saying he “welcomed” the discussion over long-rage missiles. He separately told Foreign Policy he’s in favor of the West greenlighting long-range strikes on Russian soil.
“I welcome these developments and these decisions but its for individual allies to make the final decisions,” Stoltenberg said. “Allies have different policies on this.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Putin Orders Russian Army to Become Second Largest After China’s at 1.5 Million-Strong
President Vladimir Putin on Monday (16 September) ordered the regular size of the Russian army to be increased by 180,000 troops to 1.5 million active servicemen in a move that would make it the second largest in the world after China’s.
In a decree published on the Kremlin’s website, Putin ordered the overall size of the armed forces to be increased to 2.38 million people, of which he said 1.5 million should be active servicemen.
According to data from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a leading military think tank, such an increase would see Russia leapfrog the United States and India in terms of the number of active combat soldiers it has at its disposal and be second only to China in size. The IISS said Beijing has just over 2 million active duty service personnel.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Zelensky and Sikorski Clash in Kyiv Over Ukraine’s EU Accession
Ukraine’s timetable for EU accession talks was unrealistic, Poland’s foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski told President Volodymyr Zelensky during his visit to Kyiv September 13.
The two leaders clashed over Ukraine’s EU accession negotiations, as well as missile defence and the 1943 Volhynia massacre of ethnic Poles by Ukrainian nationalists.
The meeting between Zelensky, Sikorski, and Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis took an unexpected turn when Zelensky expressed dissatisfaction with Warsaw’s support for his country’s EU accession, reported Polish news portal Onet.pl.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Taliban Blame Afghanistan’s Problems on Global Warming
After three decades of wrecking Afghanistan, the Taliban finally found someone to blame for the miserable state of their Islamic emirate. In February, a bunch of bearded men gathered at one of the country’s remaining universities for the Taliban’s first International Climate Change Conference (no women or infidels allowed) under Mullah Abdul Kabir to cope with the crisis.
According to the Taliban and its experts, there wasn’t enough water or there was too much flooding, the land is bad, and it’s the fault of someone else. Probably America.
“Just like they invaded our country, they’ve invaded our climate,” Lutfullah Khairkhwa, the Taliban’s deputy higher education minister, who has a degree in the Koran, claimed.
Khairkhwa then demanded that rich countries give the Taliban money in compensation for all the ‘climate change’ they inflicted on them. And that is what everything really comes down to.
Third world countries embraced the global warming hoax because it allowed them to demand cash from industrialized nations to subsidize the corrupt lifestyles of their elites. The Taliban grew rich on American foreign aid. And even after Biden’s retreat, over $2 billion in aid has been directed to Afghanistan. But that’s not nearly enough for the terrorist group running the country.
| — Hat tip: Daniel Greenfield | [Return to headlines] |
Quy Huy Hoang is accused of sexually abusing four girls while tutoring them in their southwest Sydney homes between May 2011 and July 2014.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Teen is Slashed With a Machete in Horror Attack at a Melbourne Train Station
Police allege the teen was approached by a group of people at Melton train station just after 5pm on Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Spaniards in Venezuela Held Over Alleged ‘Plot to Murder’ President Maduro
Authorities in Venezuela have detained two Spanish nationals on charges of alleged “terrorism” and attempting to assassinate President Nicolas Maduro.
The Venezuelan Government has also accused 35-year-old José Maria Basoa Valdovinos and 32-year-old Andre’s Martinez Adasme of working for Spain’s Centre of National Intelligence (CNI).
The government claimed both men were part of “a group of mercenaries” that wanted to assassinate Maduro as part of a “destabilisation operation” sponsored by both the CNI and the US intelligence service the CIA.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
On Wednesday, 158 House Democrats voted against legislation that would deport illegal immigrants convicted of sexual offenses. This comes amid the ongoing border crisis under the Biden-Harris administration.
Though the Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act (HR 7909) passed the US House of Representatives along bipartisan lines, all present Republicans voted for the bill and were joined by 51 Democrats. However, 158 Democrats voted against the bill. The measure still passed 266 to 158.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Chicago Public Schools teachers were instructed by school officials to give migrant students passing grades and promote them to the next grade, “even if the students displayed severe academic deficiencies,” a new report claims.
WGN News reported that “multiple” teachers from different schools within the district reached out to them to expose the troubling trend.
One teacher said she was told to give one of her students a “C” in all her grades and pass her along to the third grade despite testing at “kindergarten level.”
Another teacher revealed that school officials directly told him during a training to promote migrant students to the next grade.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A former Border Patrol sector chief told lawmakers that he was blocked from informing the public about migrants who may be potential terror threats, as he says the Biden administration wanted to downplay the threat.
“In San Diego, we had an exponential increase in Significant Interest Aliens [SIAs]. These are aliens with significant ties to terrorism,” former San Diego Sector Chief Patrol official Aaron Heitke told lawmakers on the House Homeland Security Committee.
“Prior to this administration, the San Diego sector averaged 10-15 SIAs per year. Once word was out that the border was far easier to cross, San Diego went to over 100 SIAs in 2022, way over 100 SIAs in 2023 and more than that this year,” he warned. “These are only the ones we caught.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
French Springfield: Migrants Attack Hunters and Kill Pet Ducks
At a time when the case of the American town of Springfield, Ohio—where the aggressive presence of migrants is said to have led to violence against animals—is fuelling the debate in the U.S. presidential election, a remarkably similar incident has been reported in France in the Pas-de-Calais region. Three hunters and a child, with their ducks, were attacked by around sixty migrants.
The incident occurred on the night of September 14-15. Three hunters and a 3-year-old child were stalking in a hut on the Côte d’Opale on the Channel coast when, at around 4 a.m., they were attacked by a gang of around sixty extremely violent migrants.
The migrants, prevented by the police from making the crossing to England, attacked the hunters with machetes and iron bars for raising the alarm. They smashed the windscreens of the hunters’ vehicles and stole their belongings. The hunters were carrying live duck decoys—used to attract wild ducks—which were savagely decapitated by the migrants.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany’s New Border Controls Raise Questions
Germany has introduced new controls along its borders with Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Denmark.
In the early hours of September 16, the Federal Police established fixed control points on several motorways and started checking the vehicles of people crossing into German territory.
Similar controls have been in place for around 11 months at the country’s borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland and, following the Olympic Games in Paris, on the border with France.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Migrant Released After Attacking Christian Pensioner Goes on to Assault Nine
Germans are baffled at how a Syrian convict was freed to re-offend shortly after inflicting a bloody head wound on an elderly Christian. The unnamed 27-year-old refugee attacked his 79-year-old victim in June for wearing a crucifix, prompting the authorities to classify the assault as an act in the “religious sphere.” Remarkably, the assailant was not taken into custody.
According to the Gera public prosecutor’s office, after briefly arresting the perpetrator, police were unable to detain him “due to a lack of legal requirements.” Two days later, he randomly attacked nine people, including several elderly citizens, causing multiple injuries. One victim suffered a brain haemorrhage, followed by a stroke and hospitalisation. After being arrested for these attacks, the suspect was detained in a psychiatric facility.
June’s one-man violent crime wave has put pressure on the authorities in the city of Gera, in the state of Thuringia, to explain their latest failure in public safety. Most if not all of the assaults were avoidable, given the criminal background of the assailant—if only decisive action had been taken sooner.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Train Conductors Urged Not to Check Tickets of Foreigners to Keep the Peace
German train conductors in the state of Thuringia have been given permission not to check the tickets of foreign passengers after an increase in threatening behavior from asylum seekers towards staff.
The Thüringer Allgemeine reported on Sunday that railway staff had been informed to do all they can to de-escalate troublesome travelers, even if that meant effectively giving them a free pass on their commute.
The German newspaper had been contacted by a married couple who had recently traveled on a Süd-Thüringen-Bahn train and noticed that those they assumed to be foreigners were not having their tickets checked while German commuters were still scrutinized.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A 30-year-old native of Honduras who had illegally been living in the U.S. has been charged in a fatal wreck that killed an Arkansas woman earlier this month.
Maynor Yair Sorto-Herrera was arrested on Sept. 9 by the Arkansas State Police for the crash that occurred the morning prior. State police say Sorto-Herrera was driving a 2008 Ford F150 when it crossed into the opposite side of the roadway before striking a 2016 Honda CRV head on, killing Jennifer Ann Morton, 48, of Little Rock.
Sorto-Herrera was located by police walking away from the scene. He was taken to a hospital to be checked out for his injuries prior to being taken to the Pulaski County Detention Center.
The suspect is charged with negligent homicide, battery, driving under the influence, violation of the concealed weapons act, reckless driving, driving without a license, failure to stop after an accident with death and traffic violations.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary has followed the Netherlands in demanding a crisis opt-out of the EU’s mandatory migration rules to try and reduce the number of refugees coming in.
Budapest has also pledged to defy EU rulings on its hardline border policies after judges said in June the country had breached refugee rights.
‘Drastic action is needed to stem illegal migration,’ Janos Boka, Hungary’s European affairs minister, said today.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
ICE Nabs Salvadoran Illegal Immigrant Who Allegedly Raped Child, Reentered US as Gotaway
An illegal Salvadoran immigrant was arrested and charged with several sex crimes against a child in Massachusetts after reentering the country at an unknown time, ICE Boston announced on Monday.
According to ICE Boston, agents successfully apprehended unlawfully present 28-year-old Salvadoran national Bryan Daniel Aldana-Arvelo, and charged him with numerous sex crimes against a child on Nantucket Island.
“Bryan Daniel Aldana-Arevalo stands accused of some detestable and disturbing crimes against a Nantucket child,” said ERO Boston Field Office Director Todd M. Lyons in a statement.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Defiant Salvini Blasts “Political Trial” Over Migrant Ship
Italy’s right-wing deputy prime minister has said he is “not afraid of being convicted” after prosecutors requested a six-year prison sentence against him for blocking migrants from disembarking at Lampedusa in 2019.
Matteo Salvini said he had no intention of “plea bargaining” and would appeal any conviction all the way to the Supreme Court.
As we reported on Sunday, Salvini is on trial for alleged “deprivation of liberty and abuse of office” for preventing the Open Arms ship, run by a Spanish NGO, from landing at the Italian port and “keeping 147 migrants at sea for weeks.” He was serving as interior minister at the time.
In an interview with chat show Quarta Repubblica, Salvini condemned prosecutors for putting him on trial just for doing his job. “There are paedophiles and rapists for whom the prosecution” has asked for a less harsh sentence, he said. He said he was “pissed off” because he “would have expected anything but to walk into court and risk six years in prison. Real prison.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
An Ohio sheriff is asking residents to write down the addresses of homes that show support towards Kamala Harris in the presidential campaign, suggesting they could be forced to house illegal immigrants that are deluging the state in the future.
Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski of Portage County, southeast of Cleveland, has suggested locals look out homes displaying lawn signs for the Democratic presidential candidate and in particular for Harris/Walz.
‘When people ask me… What’s gonna happen if the Flip — Flopping, Laughing Hyena Wins??’ Zuchowski wrote, referring to the current vice president. ‘I say…write down all the addresses of the people who had her signs in their yards!
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ohio’s Republican attorney general is blasting the federal government over the developing migrant crisis in Springfield, Ohio, and says his office has begun the process of trying to get the issue in front of a federal judge.
“I’ve asked my staff to take a look at the law and put their creative hats on to see if there’s a way we can get in front of a federal judge to review this situation,” Ohio AG Dave Yost told Fox News Digital during an interview. “I mean, think about this. If it could happen to Springfield, it could happen to any town in America. There has to be some kind of limit to the federal government’s authority to simply continue letting people in and allowing them to run free in the country and congregate in a place like Springfield that’s not prepared to handle it.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Saskatchewan Rejects Trudeau Government’s Plan to Send Asylum Seekers to Province
The Government of Saskatchewan is saying no to the Trudeau government’s latest immigration scheme that would see provinces across Canada accept more asylum seekers who continue to enter Canada, CTV News reported. There are 235,000 asylum seekers currently residing in Ontario and Quebec but these provinces are complaining about accommodating such numbers, especially given lack of jobs and housing.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller has tried to sell other provinces on the idea of taking in more refugees but there has been significant pushback from Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs. “It’s not fair to the asylum seekers to move them around the country into areas that are not able to manage,” Higgs said.
Now Saskatchewan is telling the federal government to back off.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK-Italy Migration Deal Dismissed as “Complete Gimmick”
After meeting with his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni on Monday, UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer announced plans to pump millions of pounds into the so-called ‘Rome Process’ to tackle illegal migration.
But critics warn that this is not a sign of what Sky News described as Starmer’s “urgency” to deal with the issue. Rather, it is a “complete gimmick” done “purely for the optics.”
That is according to Robert Bates, research director at the Centre for Migration Control think tank, who told GB News that the £4 million (€4.75 million) payment won’t stop the boats crossing the Channel to Britain since migrants arriving via Mediterranean routes—down 60% under Meloni’s watch—are a “tiny proportion” of those coming into Europe and eventually making their way to the UK.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
On Monday, a Florida man was sentenced to one year and a day in prison for conspiring to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate employees of pro-life pregnancy help centers in the free exercise of the right to provide and seek to provide reproductive health services.
According to the Justice Department, Caleb Freestone, together with co-defendants Amber Smith-Stewart and Annarella Rivera, targeted reproductive health facilities in Florida that provided and counseled alternatives to abortion and vandalized the facilities with threatening messages.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
“This post is the first in a series that chronicles just how ominously politics and geopolitics have evolved and why we should be turbo-charging our prepping for what might follow. 2024 has a distinct “spinning out of control” vibe, so whatever we’ve been doing to prepare for strange times should probably be expedited. Just in case.” —John Rubino (18 Sep 2024)
https://rubino.substack.com/p/global-chaos-part-1-things-exploding
“Prediction: Whatever comes AFTER Trump will lead to CHAOS and CALAMITY.
Like him or hate him, it goes without saying that Trump’s a STRONG man. History’s proven that the political pendulum is in continual motion, swinging away from the status quo and towards the opposite of the status quo (e.g., “fundamentally change this country”, “Hope and change”, etc.)…” —posted to fb (Dec 2019)
Be Prepared. Just sayin’..
“The New York Times said that the pagers received messages that appeared to be coming from Hezbollah’s leadership before detonating. The messages instead appeared to trigger the devices, the outlet reported.” —BBC (20 Sep 2024)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz04m913m49o
“The pagers began shipping to Lebanon in the summer of 2022 in small numbers, but production was quickly ramped up after Mr. Nasrallah denounced cellphones. Some of Mr. Nasrallah’s fears were spurred by reports from allies that Israel had acquired new means to hack into phones, activating microphones and cameras remotely to spy on their owners. According to three intelligence officials, Israel had invested millions in developing the technology, and word spread among Hezbollah and its allies that no cellphone communication — even encrypted messaging apps — was safe anymore.” —NYTimes (20 Sep 2024)
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/18/world/middleeast/israel-exploding-pagers-hezbollah.html
Aloha Snackbar!!
“An Alaska man was arrested yesterday…for allegedly threatening to injure and kill six U.S. Supreme Court Justices and some of their family members.” —Dept of Justice (19 Sep 2024)
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/alaska-man-arrested-threatening-us-supreme-court-justices-their-family-members
“A DEMOCRATIC DONOR from Alaska was arrested on Wednesday after allegedly threatening to “injure and kill” six justices on the U.S. Supreme Court and the family members of Supreme Court justices.” —American Military News (20 Sep 2024)
https://americanmilitarynews.com/2024/09/democrat-donor-threatened-to-assassinate-supreme-court-justices/
“Again, the violent and infantile antics’re coming from ONE side Only: Democrats.” —posted to fb (Oct 2018)
Hitlery Clinton, the most corrupt woman ever to hold office in government is a master of propaganda. She is evil to the core and she is still whining about loss to President Donald John Trump.
Now Canckles is making it known that she wants to hold an office in the Harris administration. That would be absolutely dangerous for our country if Harris won.
We have nearly been destroyed by the Democrats and (fake) president Joe Biden the pedo/rapist.
God help us. President Trump would save us from this destruction.