WORLD NEWS
New Zealand MP’s resort to private security as they face increasing threats!
While threats were already an issue for New Zealand MPs the last time they were asked in 2014 (before the pandemic), they now have a far greater fear of a fixated person hurting or killing them or members of their family.
As a result, they’re reducing the time spent in public, fearing being home alone, changing their routines and losing time from work as levels of result of abuse and harassment rise, a current update to the research reveals.
The academic journal Frontiers in Psychiatry surveyed 54 MPs in 2022. It found threats had increased, and were more disturbing than when it conducted a similar study in 2014.
It found almost all forms of harassment had increased significantly over the period.
Most MPs reported experiencing abuse related to the government response to the COVID-19 pandemic (lockdowns and vaccine mandates). Many commented that the frequency and intensity of abuse has not subsequently abated despite the ending of pandemic policies.
Harassment over social media and harassment by letters and emails were the two most common forms of harassment (both 96 percent), followed by public approaches (82 percent), distribution of malicious material (73 percent), and alarming behavior at the electorate office (62 percent).
Of those harassed over social media, half had been specifically threatened, including threats of physical violence (40 percent), sexual violence (14 percent), threats made towards their family members (19 percent), threats towards staff (12 percent), and death threats (27 percent).
TUI Airways Boeing 787 made an emergency landing in the U.K.
A TUI Airways Boeing 787 Dreamliner made an emergency landing at an airport in the United Kingdom on Friday due to a “minor technical matter” that, according to reports, saw smoke fill the cockpit.
TUI flight 156 was bound for Punta Cana International Airport in the Dominican Republic at around 10:40 a.m. on Friday local time when it diverted back to Manchester Airport shortly after takeoff.
Flight maps showed that it flew only a few miles, not climbing above 5,000 feet, before turning back.
A spokesperson for the airline confirmed that the flight was diverted, providing minimal detail, saying that it was due to a “minor technical matter,” according to a statement obtained by various media outlets.
Airliners Live captured the aircraft’s departure and return in a live stream on its YouTube channel, reporting that the pilots allegedly squawked a general emergency and reported smoke in the flight deck.
Fire trucks met the Boeing 787 on the tarmac, where it came to a stop before being towed, per video footage. Passengers were deplaned and put on alternate flights.
Australian casino loses millions in mistaken payouts due to software glitch! Jackpot!
A software bug in Star Casino’s ticket redemption machines resulted in the Sydney-based casino inadvertently giving away more than AU$3.2 million ($2.05 million) to gamblers over several weeks.
The Register reports that the issue came to light during an independent inquiry into the casino’s operations on Monday. Star Casino manager Nicholas Weeks testified that the casino’s “ticket in, cash out” (TICO) machines, which are used by patrons to redeem barcoded receipts for slot machine winnings, had a defect that allowed customers to insert two tickets and receive the aggregate amount in cash. However, the glitch also returned one of the tickets, effectively allowing it to be reused for additional payouts.
Astonishingly, the software issue went undetected for over a month, despite audits revealing discrepancies in the TICO machines between June 7 and July 24, 2023. An internal investigation uncovered “numerous failures (human, process and technological) that more than likely prevented the fraud from being identified at an earlier opportunity.”
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
The Trump criminal trial in NYC officially begins today after jury selection was completed!
Opening arguments in the Trump criminal trial are slated to begin today in New York.
David Pecker, former publisher of the National Enquirer, is reportedly set to be the first to
testify in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial.
Pecker, whose tabloid reportedly engaged in “catch and kill” practices to bury damaging stories about Trump, will be the first to take the stand after opening arguments in the trial on Monday, a source close to the matter told the New York Times.
Trump is facing 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree in relation to hush money payments made to adult entertainment star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election.
The hush money trial will center around allegations that Trump falsified his business records to hide reimbursement payments made to Michael Cohen, his former attorney.
Cohen was provided with reimbursement payments after he had arranged hush money payments to people such as Daniels to bury negative stories about Trump.
As Pecker takes the stand on Monday, he will reportedly “recount” multiple conversations he had with Trump “about the hush money,” according to the source.
The trial will also bring up hush money payments made to former Playboy model Karen McDougal and a “onetime doorman” to Trump who alleged that the former president had fathered a child out of wedlock. Pecker was reportedly able to buy the silence of the doorman and buy the rights to McDougal’s story, only to have it killed.
After learning about Daniels’ potentially damaging story about Trump, the National Enquirer contacted Cohen, who said he arranged to pay the porn star $130,000 for her silence.
Cohen has pled guilty to arranging deals to pay both Daniels and McDougal for their silence and has claimed he acted at Trump’s direction.
Trump is currently under a gag order that prevents him from speaking about witnesses and counsel in the case, with the exception of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Trump may be denied Secret Service Protection under new Democrat bill!
A Democrat lawmaker is pushing a bill that could strip away Secret Service protection granted to former President Donald Trump if he is to be sentenced in any of the ongoing cases.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), former chair of the now-defunct Jan. 6 committee, introduced HR 8081 or the DISGRACED Former Protectees Act on Friday. The bill seeks to terminate Secret Service protection offered to any person once they are sentenced following a conviction “for a Federal or State offense that is punishable for a term of imprisonment of at least one year.” This measure “would apply to former President Trump,” admitted a Fact Sheet of the bill.
President Trump is currently involved in four criminal cases. Except for the “hush-money” case, it is unclear whether any of the other three would reach trial prior to the 2024 elections in November.
As such, if the DISGRACED Former Protectees Act were to pass and President Trump is sentenced in the “hush-money” trial, the former president could potentially see the federal government withdraw U.S. Secret Service (USSS) protection granted to him.
Under present law, USSS protection is granted to certain current and former high-level officials and their immediate families. It does not detail how such protection would take place, “or whether it should occur,” if the protected person is sentenced to prison following a conviction, the Fact Sheet said.
As such, the current law presents “logistical difficulties for both the Secret Service and prison authorities at the Federal and State levels.”
HR 8081 would remove such conflicting lines of authority within prisons. “The purpose of this bill is to hand off inmate protection to relevant prison authorities rather than involve the Secret Service.”
“Former President Donald J. Trump’s unprecedented 91 felony charges in Federal and State courts across the country have created a new exigency that Congress must address to ensure Secret Service protection does not interfere with the criminal judicial process and the administration of justice.”
Byron York, chief political correspondent at the Washington Examiner, accused the bill of attempting to get President Trump murdered.
“Thompson wants to take away Trump’s Secret Service protection if Trump is convicted on any of the 88 felony charges leveled against him by elected Democratic prosecutors and a Biden Justice Department appointee,” he said in an April 20 X post.
“Obvious subtext here is that removing USSS would make it easier for someone to kill Trump, which is arguably the goal of Thompson’s bill, H.R. 8081.”
Tom Fitton, president of conservative foundation Judicial Watch, echoed similar concerns. “House Democrats move to try to ensure Trump is murdered by removing his Secret Service protection?” he said in an April 20 X post.
Ryan Fournier, chair of Students for Trump group, said, “They’re literally trying to remove Trump’s Secret Service protection under a new bill. If this happens, and something happens to him, BLOOD is on your hands. And we won’t let that go.”
NY AG James wants judge to void Trump’s $175-million bond so she can seize assets!
New York Attorney General Letitia James has asked the judge in former President Donald Trump’s civil fraud case to declare the $175 million bond that a surety company posted on his behalf as “without effect” and to require it to post a new bond that is sufficiently collateralized, while calling into question the firm’s credibility.
The company that issued the bond—Knight Specialty Insurance Company (KSIC)—posted a $175 million bond on April 1 on behalf of President Trump, allowing him to fend off a possible seizure of his properties or other assets following a $464 million judgment (including interest) in a case that accused him of inflating asset values to get better loan terms.
Ms. James, a Democrat who brought the civil fraud case against President Trump, initially challenged the “sufficiency” of the $175 million bond in a court filing several days after KSIC posted it, leading the former president’s attorneys to insist in response that the company is well-capitalized and has enough collateral to back the bond.
But Ms. James has rejected that assertion, raising a number of arguments in opposition to KSIC’s claim in an April 19 court filing that asks the presiding judge, New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, to declare the bond to be “without effect” and order a replacement bond to be posted within seven days.
KSIC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Justice Engoron will hold a hearing today to discuss the issue of the bond.
House passes Ukraine aid bill; bill could also ban TikTok!
The House of Representatives has passed legislation that would give financial assistance to American partners in the Indo-Pacific, Ukraine, and Israel, in addition to a bill that includes measures such as forcing Chinese divestment of TikTok.
This comes as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) faces growing discontent among conservatives over the package, particularly the billions in funding for Ukraine and its lack of border security measures.
The House passed the $61 billion aid package for Ukraine in a 311–112 vote. The measure providing for Indo-Pacific and Taiwanese security passed in a 385–34 vote. Another bill funding Israel passed 366–58. The bill wrapping together a TikTok ban and allowing for the seizure of Russian assets passed in a 360–58 vote.
Democrats cheered on the floor after Ukraine assistance passed, waving Ukrainian flags and chanting “Ukraine, Ukraine,” at which point they were chastised by Mr. Johnson for violating House rules on decorum.
Now that it’s been passed by the House, the legislation will go to the Senate as a single package, where it’s expected to easily pass.
President Joe Biden has expressed support for the package, and urged the Senate to swiftly send it to his desk.
While supporting more money for Ukraine, the House rejected the border security bill!
The House of Representatives on April 20 rejected another border security bill.
In a vote under suspension of the rules, the House voted 215–199 to block the bill. Because it was not considered under normal rules, it required a two-thirds majority to pass.
The bill was supported by all Republicans and was opposed by all but a handful of Democrats. Five Democrats joined Republicans in supporting the bill. But Republican support alone was not enough to push it over the finish line with the higher threshold.
Democrats Wave Ukraine Flags on House Floor as $61 Billion Aid Bill Passes
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Democrats painted a surreal scene on the House floor Saturday as the House passed a $61 billion bill to further Ukraine’s war effort.
As the inevitable outcome neared, Democrats produced dozens of miniature Ukraine flags, waving them and cheering “Ukraine!” jubilantly.
Johnson approached the chair as the vote closed to the loudest applause of the day – and perhaps this entire Congress – from Democrats.
“It is in violation of decorum to wave flags on the floor,” Johnson admonished Democrats, who cared little.
Rep. Cammack is introducing legislation prohibiting display of foreign flags on the House floor
Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) revealed plans to introduce legislation prohibiting the “display of foreign nations’ flags” in the House of Representatives after Democrats celebrated the passage of a $61 billion foreign aid package to Ukraine.
Republicans such as Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), and Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO) criticized Democrats for waving Ukrainian flags on the House floor.
Put those damn flags away. It is a disgrace to display any other flag than the American flag in the House Chamber!” Luna wrote in a post on X.
“Democrats waving Ukrainian flags on the House floor tells you everything you need to know about their priorities,” Burlison wrote in a post. “Ukraine first, America last.”
Third House Republican supports bid to oust Johnson as Speaker!
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) on April 19 signed on to a motion to strip House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) of the gavel. He is the third Republican to back what is called a motion to vacate. It only takes one member of Congress to put forth that motion to force a vote on the House floor.
This comes as the House voted on April 19 to advance $95.3 billion worth of bills to give assistance to Israel, Ukraine, and the Indo-Pacific, in addition to a bill that includes measures such as banning TikTok.
Mr. Gosar cited numerous issues, including the crisis at the southern border, that are not being addressed under Mr. Johnson.
“Nearly 11 million illegal aliens have crossed our southern border in the past three years. My Congressional district in Arizona, ground zero for the invasion, is getting pummeled by the surge of lawbreakers,” said Mr. Gosar, who represents the state’s Ninth Congressional District.
Later, Marjorie Taylor Greene took to the media to proclaim that Speaker Johnson’s ouster is coming.
Man who set himself on fire in front of Trump trial courthouse dies!
Video cameras stationed outside the Manhattan courthouse where former President Donald Trump is on trial caught the gruesome scene Friday of a man who lit himself on fire and the aftermath as authorities tried to rescue him.
CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC were all on the air with reporters talking about the seating of a jury when the incident happened and other news agencies, including The Associated Press, were livestreaming from outside the courthouse. The man, who distributed pamphlets before dousing himself in an accelerant and setting himself on fire, was taken to a hospital where he later died.
The incident tested how quickly the networks could react, and how they decided what would be too disturbing for their viewers to see.
With narration from Laura Coates, CNN had the most extensive view of the scene. Coates, who at first incorrectly said it was a shooting situation, then narrated as the man was visible onscreen, enveloped in flames.
“You can smell burning flesh,” Coates, an anchor and CNN’s chief legal analyst, said as she stood at the scene with reporter Evan Perez (calling play-by-play of the event)!
The camera switched back and forth between Coates and what was happening in the park. Five minutes after the incident started, CNN posted the onscreen message “Warning: Graphic Content.”
Coates later said she couldn’t “overstate the emotional response of watching a human being engulfed in flames and to watch his body be lifted into a gurney.” She described it as an “emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment here.”
Fox’s cameras caught the scene briefly as reporter Eric Shawn talked, then the network switched to a courtroom sketch of Trump on trial.
“We deeply apologize for what has happened,” Shawn said. What does he have to apologize for? The networks were all there to create news about the Trump trial! The deceased at one time sued the Clinton Foundation.
On MSNBC, reporter Yasmin Vossoughian narrated the scene. The network showed smoke in the park, but no picture where the body was visible. (More play-by-play!)
“I could see the outline of his body inside the flames,” Vossoughian said, “which was so terrifying to see. As he went to the ground his knees hit the ground first.”
The AP had a camera with an unnarrated live shot stationed outside the courthouse, shown on YouTube and APNews.com. The cameras caught an extensive view, with the man lighting himself afire and later writhing on the ground before a police officer tried to douse the flames with a jacket. The AP later removed its live feed from its YouTube channel and replaced it with a new one because of the graphic nature of the content.
The news agency distributed carefully edited clips to its video clients — not showing the moment the man lit himself on fire, for example, said executive producer Tom Williams.
Julien Gorbach, a University of Hawaii at Manoa associate professor of journalism, said news organizations didn’t face much of a dilemma about whether to show the footage because there was little for the public to gain by seeing images of a man lighting himself on fire.
The episode highlights how fast information travels and the importance of critical thinking, Gorbach said.
“It outpaces our ability to a) sort out the facts, and b) do the kind of methodical, critical thinking that we need to do so that we understand the truth of what actually this incident was all about,” Gorbach said.
The location of the incident may have prompted some to think the self-immolation was related to the trial.
Gorbach, who was listening to MSNBC on satellite radio when it happened, said the coverage he heard was careful to question whether there was any connection to the trial. It also raised the possibility the man may have wanted to get media attention.
News organizations can’t suppress the news just so the public doesn’t get confused, he said. Word would get out regardless as non-journalists post accounts online.
“So it’s really a test of us as a public,” he said.
Sidney Powell handed a win after judges dismissed a Texas State Bar complaint!
Sidney Powell, a lawyer who filed lawsuits after the 2020 election, got a win in Texas after an appeals court ruled that the Texas bar did not prove that she engaged in misconduct or fraud.
A panel of judges on the Fifth District of Texas Court of Appeals in Dallas ruled Wednesday that the state bar’s arguments lacked merit and evidence. They found that state bar prosecutors “employed a ’scattershot’ approach to the case” that had alleged Ms. Powell did not have a reasonable basis to file lawsuits that challenged the 2020 election’s outcome in battleground states.
“The Bar employed a ‘scattershot’ approach to the case, which left this court and the trial court ‘with the task of sorting through the argument to determine what issue ha[d] actually been raised,’” Justice Dennise Garcia wrote in the court’s ruling. “Having done so, the absence of competent summary judgment compels our conclusion that the Bar failed to meet its summary judgment burden.”
A separate court had sided with Ms. Powell in the case last year, finding “numerous defects” in the evidence presented by the State Bar of Texas Commission for Lawyer Discipline. The court also found that the bar couldn’t provide evidence that she filed frivolous lawsuits.
“Under these circumstances and on this record, we conclude the trial court did not err in granting Powell’s no-evidence motion for summary judgment,” the appeals court wrote.
The State Bar of Texas Commission for Lawyer Discipline has not yet issued a statement on the matter. A representative for the Texas State Bar told Reuters that the commission would meet to determine its next steps but declined to comment further.
Universal Studios tram crash injures 15 people!
Authorities continue to investigate the crash of a tram at Universal Studios that injured 15 passengers last Saturday night. Paramedics dispatched to the location at 9:05 p.m. and transported 15 people to a hospital, a Los Angeles County Fire Department dispatcher told City News Service. The conditions of the victims were not immediately clear, though most were believed to have minor injuries.
“There was a tram incident at the theme park … that resulted in multiple minor injuries,” a Universal Studios Hollywood spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter. “We are working to support our guests and to understand the circumstances that led to the accident.”
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and California Highway Patrol also responded to the scene. CHP Officer Sergio Garcia said the initial report indicated that the tram overturned.
The last car struck a rail when it was traveling down a hill at a parking structure, Sheriff’s Lt. Maria Abal told the Los Angeles Times.
“There was some type of issue with the brakes,” Abal said. “We don’t exactly know what yet.”
New twist at the Trump trial; former attorney Avenatti ready to testify against Stormy Daniels!
Michael Avenatti, the former attorney for adult performer Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, said he has been communicating with former President Donald Trump’s lawyers and may testify against his former client.
Speaking to the New York Post from jail, Mr. Avenatti said that “the defense has contacted me,” referring to the former president’s attorneys. Mr. Avenatti is currently serving out a lengthy sentence for extortion, tax evasion, fraud, embezzlement, and other crimes.
“I’d be more than happy to testify, I don’t know that I will be called to testify, but I have been in touch with Trump’s defense for the better part of year,” the former lawyer, who had publicly mulled a presidential run during numerous media appearances during the Trump administration, told the Post. He did not provide any other details, while the former president’s lawyers have made no public comments about the matter.
Mr. Avenatti was the attorney for Ms. Clifford as she alleged to have had an affair with President Trump in 2006. The former president has denied her claims, which have a central role in the New York trial.
In the case, President Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records for allegedly paying his former attorney, Michael Cohen, to bury negative stories—including claims from Ms. Clifford—during the 2016 election. He has pleaded not guilty, while his attorneys have sought to portray Mr. Cohen as an unreliable witness, in part due to his past convictions.
Before he was convicted and sentenced on federal crimes, Mr. Avenatti was a vocal critic of President Trump and had even called for his indictment back in 2018. However, in his communications with the Post, he said the New York case against the 45th president is motivated by politics.
Mr. Avenatti added that he is “really bothered by the fact that Trump, in my view, has been targeted. Four cases is just over the top and I think there’s a significant chance that this is going to all backfire and is going to propel him to the White House.”
U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments today on criminalizing homelessness!
The Supreme Court will hear oral argument on Monday in a case that one legal expert has called the “most important Supreme Court case about homelessness in at least 40 years.” The issue before the court is the constitutionality of ordinances in an Oregon town that bar people who are homeless from using blankets, pillows, or cardboard boxes for protection from the elements while sleeping within the city limits. Defending the ordinances, the city contends that the laws simply bar camping on public property by everyone. But the challengers in the case counter that the ordinances effectively make it a crime to be homeless in the city.
The court’s ruling could have a significant impact not only in the small city of Grants Pass, Oregon, whose ordinances are being challenged, but in cities across the United States, where similar laws have proliferated. The “camping ban” model of legislation has been adopted more widely in recent years as state and local governments try to grapple with double-digit increases in the number of people who are homeless. Data released by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development indicated that more than 600,000 people in the United States were homeless on a single night in 2023. Other states have passed similar legislation that may be affected by the high court decision after weighing in on the arguments.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Over 13,000 Americans removed from Social Security in March …
Thousands of U.S. citizens did not receive social security payments in March, with beneficiaries below the age of 64 losing out on the payments, according to the Social Security Administration (SSA).
Data from the SSA showed that 7.28 million individuals received social security payments in February 2024. This number fell by 13,578 beneficiaries or 0.18 percent to 7.27 million in March. Although the reason behind the drop in beneficiaries over a span of just a month remains unclear, it was observed that there was an increase in social security beneficiaries among the “aged” group and a decline in the “blind and disabled” group.
Analyzing by age, the number of beneficiaries in the under-18 and 18-64 categories declined. In contrast, beneficiary numbers rose among those aged 65 and older.
People qualify for Social Security if they are 62 years of age or older and have worked for 10 years or more while paying their Social Security taxes.
In addition, the children of the beneficiaries may qualify for monthly benefits if they are below the age of 18, or are in the age group of 18–19 and attend elementary or high school full-time, or suffer from disability irrespective of their age. Other relatives like a spouse or a dependent parent may also be eligible to receive payments.
As such, if social security recipients were to die and their children or other relatives were unqualified to receive the monthly benefits, there is bound to be a decline in the number of social security beneficiaries.
Meanwhile, Social Security funds are facing the prospect of getting exhausted. Back in 2019, the SSA estimated that the trust fund reserves of Social Security could be depleted by 2035. At that time, there would only be enough money on hand to pay 80 percent of scheduled benefits.
A 2023 report by the U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) puts the exhaustion limit two years earlier in fiscal year 2033. Following the exhaustion, social security benefits might be 25 percent smaller than scheduled benefits starting in 2034. By 2097 and later, they would be 30 percent smaller.
Some solutions have been suggested to tide over the situation. One involves delaying the age of retirement with full Social Security benefits from 67 to 70 years. The age to get early Social Security benefits, 62 years, could also be delayed, for instance, to 65.
NY Home Depot hires guards with German Shepherd to deter aggressive migrants, thieves!
A Home Depot in New Rochelle, New York, is taking drastic measures to ensure shoppers
are safe from “aggressive” migrants and thieves.
The store now has two guards wearing MSA security hats and bulletproof vests patrolling the parking
lot, the New York Post said Sunday.
But that is not all. The guards had a German shepherd with them.
One of the guards the Post talked with said the company entered a contract recently. However, he noted that they do not allow the dog to bite anyone and also detailed some of the reasons why they were hired.
“It’s not just because of [migrants], but because of a myriad of other things too, like people breaking into cars, that kind of stuff,” the man explained.
Meanwhile, the Post said there were approximately 30 male migrants hanging out at the doors of a Home Depot in Throggs Neck, the Bronx, recently. Some among the group “aggressively confronted shoppers, trying to sell them phony Apple Airpods or soliciting tips for lifting items from shopping carts into cars — even when uninvited,” the outlet said.
Social media users shared their thoughts on the situation, one person writing, “Thanks Joe Biden. Amazing work.”
“So sad that America has come to this. Thank Joe Biden and his Regime,” another person commented.
One worker claimed a female supervisor saw a migrant “washing his privates with a water bottle in the lot, and that several women have called customer service to complain that migrants robbed them of purses or phones,” the Post article said.
During a recent appearance on Breitbart News Daily, New York City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino claimed an illegal immigrant speaking during a recent committee hearing said the city spends too much on police:
“They were just outright demanding on Thursday,” the councilwoman said, detailing the controversial meeting, which featured illegal immigrants complaining and making demands on New York City.
“When they really cut me off is when I said you are here illegally. You are here illegally. And they didn’t like that. And that’s when one of the chairwomen cut me off. And she said, ‘Councilmember, do you have a question? Councilmember, do you have a question?’ I said, ‘Yes, I asked it, and I do have more.’ It was about the vetting, which they lied, that she started to spew — one of the people who answered one of my questions on the panel there, but she started to spew cop-hating rhetoric. If we wouldn’t pay our police officers so much,” she said.
Meanwhile, a section of New York City has become an illegal migrant shopping area where they sell items obtained from shops nearby. To make matters worse, prostitution is also an issue, according to Breitbart News.
Consumer Alert: FBI warns of text scam targeting toll road users across multiple states!
The FBI has issued a warning about a new phishing scam that targets Americans using toll roads via SMS text messages. The messages typically claim that the user’s toll account is overdrawn with a link to the hacker’s site to make a false payment.
Enterpreneur reports that the FBI has received over 2,000 complaints across three states from individuals claiming they were contacted through text messages and told they had unpaid toll fees. The agency estimates that this “smishing” scheme, a combination of the words “phishing” and “SMS,” has been active since early March 2024.
Smishing scams involve using fake links to trick victims into downloading malware, sharing sensitive information, or sending money to cybercriminals. In this particular case, the fake messages allege that the recipient has an outstanding toll amount and provides a link to settle the balance to avoid late fees.
One example of the fraudulent message reads: “(State Toll Service Name): We’ve noticed an outstanding toll amount of $12.51 on your record. To avoid a late fee of $50.00, visit https://myturnpiketollservices.com to settle your balance.”
While the FBI did not specify the three affected states, the Pennsylvania State Police issued a warning to residents and visitors earlier this month, confirming that Pennsylvania was one of the targeted states. The organization advised that similar scams have been reported by toll agencies across the country in recent days. A Breitbart editor in Illinois received the scam text, as did two other family members.
Victims of this scam are encouraged to file a complaint online with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) and include the phone number that the fake message originated from, as well as the link used in the message. It is also recommended that victims delete any “smishing” texts they have received and verify their actual toll balance using the legitimate website or customer service of their toll service provider.
As smishing scams continue to evolve and target various industries, it is crucial for individuals to remain vigilant and cautious when receiving unsolicited text messages. Verifying the authenticity of the sender and avoiding clicking on suspicious links can help prevent falling victim to these increasingly sophisticated scams.
IRS announces tax refund increase as it raked in record $4.7-trillion from taxpayers!
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has disclosed that it raked in nearly $5 trillion in taxes from Americans in the last fiscal year, while boosting the amount it paid out in refunds by nearly 3 percent and boasting that it kept its pledge not to increase audit rates for those earning less than $400,000 per year.
After a record $4.9 trillion haul in the 2022 fiscal year, the IRS collected a slightly lower but still substantial $4.7 trillion last year, according to the IRS’s annual Data Book for fiscal year 2023.
The eye-catching tax-intake amount was made possible in part due to a significant funding boost of $78 billion that the IRS used in part to hire more enforcers and deploy advanced technologies like artificial intelligence to squeeze more dollars from non-compliant taxpayers.
The IRS got roughly $79.4 billion in supplemental funding when President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 into law, though Congress later clawed back around $1.4 billion.
At the time, many Republicans opposed the funding boost, warning that a large portion of the money would be used to hire an “army of 87,000” tax enforcers who would come down hard on ordinary Americans and squeeze them for “every last penny.”
Tesla cuts the price of its full, self-driving system by a third to $8000!
Tesla knocked roughly a third off the price of its “Full Self Driving” system — which can’t drive itself and so drivers must remain alert and be ready to intervene — to $8,000 from $12,000, according to the company website.
Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk promised in 2019 that there would be a fleet of robotaxis on the road in 2020, but the promise has yet to materialize, and the system still has to be supervised by humans.
The cuts, which occurred over the weekend, follow Tesla’s moves to slash $2,000 off the prices of three of its five models in the United States late Friday. That’s the latest evidence of the challenges facing the electric vehicle maker.
Tesla reduced the prices of the Model Y, a small SUV which is Tesla’s most popular model and the top- selling electric vehicle in the U.S., and also of the Models X and S, its older and more expensive models. Prices for the Model 3 sedan and the Cybertruck stayed the same.
The price reduction came the day after Tesla’s stock dropped below $150 per share, wiping out all gains made over the past year. The Austin, Texas, company’s stock price has dropped about 40% so far this year amid falling sales and increased competition. Discounted sticker prices are a way to try to entice more car buyers.
HEALTH
FOOD RECALL: Health officials warn of ground beef e-coli contamination!
Food safety officials have issued a nationwide public health alert for ground beef that may
be contaminated with E. coli.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) made the announcement on Saturday, warning consumers against eating certain raw ground beef items that were produced on March 28, 2024.
The contaminated food products have a “Use/Freeze by” date of April 22, 2024, and packaging date of “032824.”
FSIS said the products subject to the public health alert bear establishment number “EST. 960A” inside the USDA mark of inspection, and were “shipped to food service institutions and retail locations nationwide.”
“The problem was discovered by the establishment while conducting an inventory of product that was on hold because it was found positive for E. coli O157:H7,” officials stated. “The company notified FSIS that they inadvertently used a portion of the contaminated beef to produce ground beef products that they subsequently shipped into commerce.”
While there have been no confirmed reports of illness in connection with the contaminated beef, consumers are still encouraged to toss out any food they have that was on the list.
A recall was not issued because those items are no longer available for purchase.coli is a “potentially deadly” bacterium that can cause dehydration, bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps after exposure, FSIS said. For the complete list, click HERE!
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Technocracy News’ Patrick Wood unveils FDA’s transhumanism plans for the future!
This author cracks the Technocrat conspiracy to use the FDA to institutionalize Transhumanism. Future testing of drugs and therapies will be conducted on digital twins or directly on humans instead of animals. This is a sea change in health (dis)care, paving the way for the endless use of EUAs to “approve” new drugs.
According to The American Journal of Medicine article, The FDA Modernization Act 2.0: Drug Testing in Animals is Rendered Optional:
The new law also “removes a requirement to use animal studies as part of the process to obtain a license for a biological product that is biosimilar or interchangeable with another biological product.”
The newly enacted law replaces the statute’s reference to “preclinical tests (including tests on animals)” with “nonclinical tests” that are to be “conducted in vitro, in silico, or in chemico, or a nonhuman in vivo test, that occurs before or during the clinical trial phase of the investigation of the safety and effectiveness of a drug.”
Such tests may include the following: “(1) Cell-based assays, (2) Organ chips and microphysiological systems, (3) Computer modeling, (4) Other nonhuman or human biology-based test methods, such as bioprinting, and (5) Animal tests.”
The slight-of-hand is seen in the words “biosimilar” and “interchangeable.” Genetic scientists have long claimed that their creations are “substantially equivalent” to the original. This is worse than just misleading – it is an outright falsehood.
The bill co-sponsors opined that the era of needless suffering of animals is over — but what about the needless suffering of humans as a result of this nut-case scheme? What about the human suffering and deaths caused by the mRNA injections, where the whole human race became guinea pigs?
REPORT: Our galaxy’s largest black hole has been discovered close to earth!
The Debrief recently reported that scientists from the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission have located a black hole with a mass of 33 solar masses, which makes it the largest black hole of stellar origin ever discovered in the Milky Way galaxy.
The discovery, which was found after Gaia’s fourth data release, could shed new light on the formation and prevalence of black holes throughout the known universe.
The black hole, which has been named Gaia BH3, is part of a binary system located around 590 parsecs from Earth. The discovery is significant because of the black hole’s mass and because it challenges current models of stellar evolution and the formation of black holes, according to the report.
Black holes are mysterious regions in space where the gravitational pull is so strong that not even light can escape it. While they are not visible to the naked eye, they are usually identified by the high-energy radiation emitted when they interact with other stars or gas clouds.
However, the Debrief noted that Gaia BH3 does not interact with its companion star, which makes it a “dormant” black hole. It is only detectable through the gravitational influence it has on its companion.
Pasquale Panuzzo, a Gaia collaboration member, said: “No one was expecting to find a high-mass black hole lurking nearby, undetected so far.”
“This is the kind of discovery you make once in your research life.”
The Gaia satellite is specifically designed to map the positions of billions of stars with unmatched accuracy. The detection of the latest black hole was made by observing the tiny wobbles in the companion star’s motion, which caused the black hole’s gravitational pull.
SURVEILLANCE STATE
Senate passes FISA deal before midnight deadline; sends it to Biden’s desk!
President Joe Biden has signed legislation that reauthorizes a controversial U.S. surveillance law that faced criticism over concerns that the program would be used to comb through Americans’ personal data.
The White House announced on April 20 that President Biden had signed H.R. 7888, or the “Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act,” into law, extending and modifying Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
The Senate approved the bill in a 60–34 vote that concluded shortly after midnight Friday, prompting national security adviser Jake Sullivan to issue a statement praising its passage, calling FISA “one of the United States’ most vital intelligence tools,” and giving assurance that the president would sign it “swiftly.”
The vote came after lingering disagreements over the controversial surveillance program had Senate leadership scrambling to strike a deal on the rules of debate and amendments.
Lawmakers took votes on a series of amendments that would strengthen civil liberty protections.
However, none of these—including an amendment by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to require a warrant to search Americans’ Section 702 data and another by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to prohibit federal law enforcement from purchasing Americans’ data from third-party brokers—were passed by the Senate.
That’s in part because senators wanted to ensure the authority didn’t lapse, as the vote began less than four hours before it was due to expire.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, urged other lawmakers at the start of the vote series to oppose all amendments, as they would render Congress unable to reauthorize the program before it expires, as any amendments would need to be authorized by a vote of the House.
Mr. Paul, a leading proponent of making changes to the program, shot back, “We’ve had five years to do this,” accusing supporters of Section 702 of waiting until the eleventh hour to reauthorize the program in order to force its passage unamended.
SEC plan to track Americans stock investments sparks legal fight!
All stock trades conducted on U.S. exchanges will soon be surveilled by the government, according to a newly implemented plan by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The SEC’s “Consolidated Audit Trail” (CAT) mandate would “allow regulators to efficiently and accurately track all activity throughout the U.S. markets,” the SEC stated.
In announcing the launch of this plan, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler stated in September 2023 that “prior to CAT’s creation, regulators lacked a consolidated view of the material information of all orders in [exchange-traded] securities.”
The CAT plan was originally proposed under the Obama administration in 2012 but remained dormant under the Trump administration. It is currently being resurrected under the Biden administration.
This plan ran into some resistance last week, however, from a group of lawyers and retired judges who see it as a historic violation of Americans’ civil rights.
A complaint filed on April 16 by the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), as a prelude to a lawsuit, called the CAT mandate “an unprecedented scheme by an administrative agency … to unilaterally set in motion one of the greatest government-mandated mass collections of personal financial data in United States history.”
According to the NCLA and others who have joined the legal action, the plan expands a trend of already extensive government surveillance, exceeds the SEC’s authority, and infringes on Americans’ Fourth Amendment protections against warrantless government searches.
“The SEC has no statutory authority to do this at all,” Peggy Little, senior litigation counsel with the NCLA, told The Epoch Times, calling the plan “a surveillance system.”
“We think it’s vital to strangle this new illegal power grab,” Scott Shepard, director of the Free Enterprise Project, who has signed on to the complaint.
The SEC argues that the CAT program is necessary to protect investors, prevent financial crimes, and investigate events such as the 2010 “Flash Crash,” which caused markets worldwide to tumble, temporarily wiping out $1 trillion in market value in one day.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
“Meteorologist Warns of ‘Weather Wars’ Between Countries”
That new headline from Newsweek continues with this, “The Dubai floods act as a stark warning of the unintended consequences we can unleash when we use such technology to alter the weather”. As soon as reports like the Newsweek headline began to circulate, matrix media immediately initiated a denial campaign that was a complete reversal of the initial publications on what happened in Dubai and why. The controllers absolutely don’t want the public to comprehend the connection between climate engineering operations and weather catastrophes. Geoengineering programs are wreaking havoc all over the world, but one US state has now officially pushed back with a newly passed law banning such operations, Tennessee.
GARDENING, FARMING & HOMESTEADING
15 wild foods that will keep you alive in an emergency!
Lambs Quarters Sheep Sorrel Eggs
Pokeweed Wood Sorrel Crawfish
Dock Seeds Yucca Pods Earthworms
Wild Carrots Crab Apples Ants
Purslane Leatherleaf Mahonia Wasp Larva
COVID RELATED NEWS
COVID-19 jab emails reveal more of what the CDC hid behind redactions in its reports!
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hid how a woman who suffered chest pain and other symptoms following COVID-19 vaccination received a shot because of a mandate at work, newly obtained documents show.
The agency also redacted how multiple children were diagnosed with Kawasaki Disease after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the documents.
The Epoch Times obtained more than 1,400 pages of emails from the CDC concerning its Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment (CISA) project, which analyzes post-vaccination problems reported by health care providers. The tranche included numerous redactions.
While redactions are allowed under the Freedom of Information Act, there were signs that too much information was being hidden.
The Epoch Times appealed some of the redactions.
The CDC agreed to remove some of them, revealing what the agency initially shielded.
In one email, a provider reports a 30-year-old woman who suffered chest pain and leg twitching following COVID-19 vaccination. The original copy of the email stated in part that she “got vaccine due to [redacted].”
In the updated copy, the CDC removed the redaction, showing that the woman received a vaccine because of a mandate at work.
Several other portions of the emails that are now unredacted show the CDC hid how multiple children, including a 2-year-old, were said to have suffered from a serious inflammatory illness called Kawasaki Disease shortly after receiving a shot.
One girl suffered inflammation around the eyes, swollen lips, high fever, and a rash, and “was admitted last week with Kawasaki,” one of the girl’s parents wrote on Dec. 5, 2021, the new documents show. She received a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine two weeks prior.Another email originally hid the age of a male child and what his doctor suspected he suffered after receipt of a second dose of Moderna’s vaccine.
The boy was 2 years old, the newly obtained documents show, when he was admitted with what a pediatric infectious disease doctor suspected was “atypical Kawasaki Disease.” The documents show that the doctor also considered MIS-C as a diagnosis in light of how the boy’s sister tested positive for COVID-19 on the same day the boy started showing symptoms of fever, although multiple COVID-19 tests on the boy returned negative.
Any person can request information through the Freedom of Infection Act (FOIA), and agencies across the government typically redact portions of responsive documents or withhold them entirely. Agencies “often use FOIA exemptions improperly, withholding records simply because they may reveal problems at the agency or just ‘paint the agency in a bad light,’” Melissa Wasser, a lawyer at the Project On Government Oversight, told senators in 2022. People “consistently receive large swaths of arbitrarily redacted information,” she added.
When presented with signs that information was improperly redacted or withheld, people primarily have two options: lodge an appeal or sue.
Both methods have worked to extract information from the CDC during the pandemic.
CANCEL CULTURE
Anti-Israel protesters show up en masse at Columbia University chanting pro-terror slogans!
As anti-Israel students at Yale University tore down an American flag, Columbia University was the site over the weekend of massive demonstrations, resulting in multiple arrests.
Protesters chanted explicitly pro-terror slogans, calling for the killing of Israeli soldiers, as they occupied the campus illegally — even after a wave of arrests by the New York Police Department.
The video of the pro-terror chants, some of which were in Arabic, was captured by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). Demonstrators called for Israeli soldiers to be killed and for Palestine to be “Arab” — free of Jews. Similar videos circulated on social media showing other radical slogans, often Islamic in nature, being chanted:
A photo emerged of one pro-Palestinian protester explicitly calling for the murder of pro-Israel counter-protesters, who were carrying American and Israeli flags.
The protests coincided with the congressional testimony last week of Columbia University President Nemat Shafik and other university officials about the problem of antisemitism on campus. All of them admitted it was a problem — but could not explain the lenient treatment given to students and others who had violated university policies.
Columbia has been a hotbed of student protest since the 1960s, when it was the first university at which students occupied an administration building to protest the Vietnam War. But it has been a specific center of anti-Israel radicalism since the era of radical Palestinian intellectual Edward Said, who worked at Columbia as a professor.
Despite being located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, a disproportionately Jewish (and Dominican) area of Manhattan, Columbia has seen explicitly antisemitic protests since the Hamas terror attacks of October 7. On Friday, an Israeli professor posted video of Islamic prayers at the protests, suggesting the religious core of the demonstration.
The standoff at Columbia is expected to continue into this week.
GOOD NEWS
Motorist survives dramatic car crash pile-up … at the bottom!
Tonja Peters was just minding her business at the corner of Albee Road and Tamiami Trail around noon Friday in Nokomis, Florida.
Then, in the span of seconds, she watched a chain reaction of crashes that left a white Kia on top of her car.
“I saw what happened,” a calm Peters said Friday, standing on the roadside by the accident scene. “Yes, you could definitely say I saw what happened.”
As she sat at the light, she saw the white Kia trying to turn from Tamiami Trail onto Albee Road. A white work van traveling on Tamiami Trail in the opposite direction slammed into the Kia as it turned.
The crash had such force that the work van pushed the car on top of Peters’ automobile.
She said the two people in the car on top of her were taken to the hospital as a precaution, adding that the passenger in the car appeared to already be using an oxygen tank.
Peters said she was fine, as people around her remarked how calm she was.
“What else can I do?” she said, smiling. “That’s why they call it an accident.”
ICYMI
Al Cowling’s white Ford Bronco from the 1994 OJ Simpson police chase set to sell!
The infamous white Bronco driven by OJ Simpson during his 1994 police chase is reportedly for sale, with the owners seeking a hefty sum of $1.5 million. The now legendary vehicle was embroiled in the drama of the iconic 90-minute chase through Los Angeles streets almost three decades ago, following the death of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman.
This particular Bronco was owned by Simpson’s former teammate Al Cowlings and is an exact replica of OJ’s own vehicle. During the chase, a distressed Simpson held a gun to Al’s head from the backseat as they evaded the police, later leading to Simpson’s arrest at his Brentwood home.
Now owned by three parties, including Simpson’s ex-agent Michael Gilbert, the group has declared they are seeking nothing less than $1.5-million. Speaking about the potential sale, Gilbert said: “Before OJ passed, we had always thought this was going to be the year we were going to sell because it’s the 30th anniversary,” on Cllct, adding “Who knows if we are all going to be around for the 35th or the 40th?.”
They told the media that before OJ’s demise, they had received offers of around $750,000. Since 2016, the car has been on loan to the Alcatraz East Crime Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, where it’s exhibited alongside vehicles that belonged to John Dillinger and Ted Bundy.
Former Arkansas Governor and Senator David Pryor dies at age 89!
Former Arkansas governor and U.S. Sen. David Pryor, a Democrat who was one of the state’s most beloved political figures and remained active in public service in the state long after he left office, has died. He was 89.
Mr. Pryor, who went undercover to investigate nursing homes while a congressman, died Saturday of natural causes in Little Rock surrounded by family, his son Mark Pryor said. David Pryor was a heart attack and stroke survivor who was also hospitalized in 2020 after testing positive for COVID-19.
David Pryor was considered one of the party’s giants in Arkansas, alongside former President Bill Clinton and the late U.S. Sen. Dale Bumpers. He also served in the U.S. House and the Arkansas Legislature, and remained active in public life in recent years, including being appointed to the University of Arkansas’s Board of Trustees in 2009. He also attended the inauguration of Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders in January 2023.
Mr. Pryor decided to not seek reelection in 1996, and he retired from elective office at the end of his term in early 1997.
But he remained active in the public eye and in politics. He served two years as the inaugural dean of the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, located next to the former president’s library in downtown Little Rock. He also temporarily chaired the state Democratic Party in 2008 after its chairman was fatally shot in his office.
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