BREAKING NEWS
Federal Judge rejects Democrat lawsuit challenging Wisconsin absentee voting requirements!
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit claiming that Wisconsin’s requirement for witnesses to sign for absentee voters clashes with federal law.
The claims by plaintiffs, four voters represented by Democrat firm Elias Law Group, are based on faulty interpretations of the law, according to U.S. District Court Judge James Peterson.
The challengers said that the Voting Rights Act unilaterally bars requiring absentee voters to prove their qualifications, making the Wisconsin requirement illegal. The act states in part that “No citizen shall be denied, because of his failure to comply with any test or device, the right to vote in any federal, state, or local election conducted in any state or political subdivision of a state.” It defines “test or device” in part as any requirement that makes a person “prove his qualifications by the voucher of registered voters or members of any other class.”
That interpretation of the federal law, though, is not correct, Judge Peterson said in his ruling.
“Plaintiffs say that Wisconsin law requires the witness to do more than ensure that the voter followed the proper procedure in preparing the ballot; rather, the witness must also certify that the voter is eligible to vote,” he said. “But that interpretation is inconsistent with the text and purpose of the statute, and it is inconsistent with how the law has been interpreted since it was enacted. Even the plaintiffs themselves do not say in their declarations that they believe they need to find a witness who can certify their qualifications to vote.”
WORLD NEWS
Bibi tells Biden, “… we have much more than fingernails!”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed his country would fight alone and by “tooth and nail” if need be after President Joe Biden threatened to stop supplying Israeli forces with certain weapons if they targeted dense population centers in the southern Gazan city of Rafah.
Mr. Netanyahu has set a goal in Israel’s military campaign in Gaza to eliminate the Hamas terrorist group, and has described Rafah as one of the group’s last major strongholds. President Biden, on the other hand, has raised concern that a large-scale military operation in Rafah risks harming Gazan civilians who have relocated to the city over the last seven months of fighting.
Israel continues to attack Hamas in Rafah, Northern Gaza!
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) continued to attack Hamas terrorists in eastern Rafah on Sunday, as well as in the area of Jabaliya, in the northern Gaza Strip, where Hamas is attempting to regroup after being routed in the area. The IDF issued a statement:
Following calls to the civilian population to temporarily evacuate from the area of Jabaliya to shelters in western Gaza City, IDF troops began an operation overnight based on intelligence information regarding attempts by Hamas to reassemble its terrorist infrastructure and operatives in the area. Prior to the entry of the troops, IAF fighter jets and additional aircraft struck approximately 30 terror targets in the area and eliminated several Hamas terrorists.
Simultaneously, following IDF and ISA intelligence, IDF troops are continuing precise operations in specific areas of eastern Rafah and on the Gazan side of the Rafah Crossing. During the activity, IDF troops located and dismantled a number of tunnel shafts and rocket launchers ready to fire toward Israeli territory. In addition, IDF troops identified ten armed Hamas terrorists exiting terrorist infrastructure. An IAF aircraft and IDF troops struck and eliminated the terrorists.
Furthermore, the IDF is continuing to operate in the Zeitoun area in northern Gaza to eliminate terrorists and dismantle terrorist infrastructure in the area. Over the past day, IDF troops eliminated a number of terrorists in close-quarters combat, and in IAF aerial strikes, additional terrorists were eliminated and weapons and terrorist infrastructure were dismantled. An IAF aircraft eliminated two terrorists that fired at IDF troops operating in the area.
Moreover, over the past day, IAF fighter jets and additional aircraft struck and dismantled over 150 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip, including terrorist cells, ready-to-fire rocket launches, weapon storage facilities, observation posts, tunnel shafts, and additional terrorist infrastructure.
FROM FOX NEWS: UN revises Gaza death toll, almost 50% less women and children killed than previously reported
In a dramatic shift, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has revised its data pertaining to the number of Palestinian casualties in the seven-month-old Gaza war, reducing almost by half the number of women and children it previously said were killed in the hostilities between Israel and the Iranian-backed terror group Hamas.
According to an infographic published in OCHA’s daily report on May 6, the number of women killed in the fighting was said to be 9,500, while the organization, which admits to relying on figures from the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza, claimed that 14,500 children had been killed since the war began on Oct. 7.
German Defense Minister considers conscripting all 18-year-olds for Nato war v. Russia!
Germany could bring back conscription for all 18-year-olds amid fears out an all-out NATO war with Russia, leaked military plans reveal.
Military planners are discussing three potential plans, two of which involve a compulsory military year for all men once they turn 18.
It is understood that officials are in the final stages of discussions with German defense minister Boris Pistorius expected to go public with official plans next month, The Sunday Telegraph reported.
Mr Pistorius, during a trip to Washington last week, said he was ‘convinced’ that Germany ‘needs a form of military conscription’.
He also previously described the country’s decision to suspend compulsory military service in 2011 as a ‘mistake’.
In one proposal being considered by military planners in Berlin, all men and women would be subject to conscription once they turned 18. Germany’s previous policy on compulsory military service only applied to men.
To include women would require changing the nation’s constitution, according to the newspaper, but ministry insiders reportedly believe the change would ‘most likely to receive societal approval’.
News of the defense ministry’s potential conscription plans comes just days after Vladimir Putin declared his nuclear forces were at full combat readiness in preparation for a global war.
Macron reiterates his intentions to send French troops to Ukraine!
French President Emmanuel Macron reaffirmed that he does not exclude the possibility of sending the French military to Ukraine if this is necessary to protect the country’s national interests and security. He stated this in an interview published in the Saturday edition of the Le Figaro newspaper. Macron stressed that France is a peaceful country, and he hopes that it will not have to engage in hostilities… The French President also expressed his readiness to use military measures if the actions of other countries threaten French interests or security. “We have to say to our rivals: ‘If you go too far, if you threaten our interests, our security, then I won’t rule out sending in the military.'”
Putin gets rid of current Defense Minister Shoigu; replaces him with Andrei Belousov!
Russian state media is confirming a huge breaking development that President Putin has removed his longtime Defense Minister and personal friend Sergei Shoigu as defense chief, who has overseen the Ukraine war since its beginning in Feb. 2022. He will now serve as head of the nation’s security council.
“Sergei Shoigu is likely to lose the post of Minister of Defense of Russia to acting First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov,” English-language RT is reporting. “His candidacy was proposed by President Vladimir Putin, the Federation Council announced on Sunday.”
Putin has also reportedly dismissed Secretary of the Security Council Nikolai Patrushev, according to Interfax.
This appears in order to shuffle Shoigu into that position. Putin has now appointed Shoigu as new Secretary of the Russian Security Council. Likely Patrushev is also being moved to another position too.
Fire burns down almost the entire 1400-outlet Warsaw, Poland shopping center!
A fire broke out on Sunday morning in a vast shopping center
housing 1,400 shops and service outlets in the Bialoleka district in Poland’s capital.
The fire brigade said more than 80% of The Marywilska 44 shopping complex was on fire, and 50 teams, including chemical and environmental rescue specialists, were carrying out rescue operations.
A police spokesperson told the news agency PAP there were no injuries reported. Footage aired by private broadcaster TVN24 showed thick black smoke rising over the area.
Mirbud, an industrial construction company listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, owns the shopping center.
Shopping centers and large shops are usually closed on Sunday due to a ban on trade imposed by the previous government which had close ties to the Catholic church, viewing it as a day of worship. Such outlets are exempt from the ban only about half a dozen Sundays a year, to allow people to shop ahead of Christmas, Easter and other events.
Canada wildfire smoke back against forcing thousands to evacuate; smoke coming into U.S.!
Wildfires have returned to Canada, with the billowing smoke forcing thousands from their homes and raising the alarm about poor air quality in the United States.
The blaze started Friday in northeast British Columbia and almost doubled in size by the start of the weekend, smoldering just a few miles outside Fort Nelson’s city limits. By Sunday, the fire had consumed over 13,500 acres.
Fort Nelson and the Fort Nelson Indian Reserve have a combined population of about 3,000 people, most of whom have been evacuated according to municipality mayor Rob Frayer.
Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows smoke beginning to drift into the U.S., with light to medium coverage in Montana, the Dakotas and Minnesota.
These developments have triggered concern about a potential repeat of Canada’s 2023 wildfire season, which was the most destructive in the country’s history.
Canada’s Trudeau creates a blueprint for a dystopian horrific speech bill!
On February 21st, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave a press conference in Edmonton, announcing his government’s decision to introduce the Online Harms Act, or Bill C-63. It was described in Canadian media as a “bill to protect kids” that would stop the “exploitation of children,” and Trudeau’s curt speech focused solely on minors. The scarf-clad PM angrily dismissed criticisms that the bill might have a broader focus.
Soon after, on February 26th, Trudeau’s government introduced the bill. Canada’s stable of retreating, credulous on-air personalities announced its rollout like the arrival of penicillin. “Tonight, Web of Harm,” gushed CTV’s Omar Sachedina. “Tackling online dangers and safeguarding children… The long-awaited framework for protecting the vulnerable…”
There was little initial uproar. What could be wrong with increasing child safety, or “protecting the vulnerable”?
Then people read the bill.
“If you look at the purpose of this law, it’s actually quite noble and most lawyers would agree with it,” says Canadian attorney Dan Freiheit. “Online safety, protecting children’s physical and mental health.” But the actual text?
“It’s wild,” Freheit says.
Trudeau was lying when he said C-63 was “very, very specifically focused on correcting kids.” The purview of the Online Harms Act extends far beyond speech, reimagining society as a mandated social engineering project, creating transformational new procedures that would:
- enlist Canada’s citizens in an ambitious social monitoring system, with rewards of up to $20,000 for anonymous “informants” of hateful behavior, with the guilty paying penalties up to $50,000, creating a self-funded national spying system;
- introduce extraordinary criminal penalties, including life in prison not just for existing crimes like “advocating genocide,” but for any “offence motivated by hatred,” in theory any non-criminal offense, as tiny as littering, committed with hateful intent;
- punish Minority Report pre-crime, where if an informant convinces a judge you “will commit” a hate offense, you can be jailed up to a year, put under house arrest, have firearms seized, or be forced into drug/alcohol testing, all for things you haven’t done;
- penalize past statements. The law gets around prohibitions against “retroactive” punishment by calling the offense “continuous communication” of hate, i.e. the crime is your failure to take down bad speech;
- force corporate Internet platforms to remove “harmful content” virtually on demand (within 24 hours in some cases), the hammer being fines of “up to 6% of… gross global revenue.”
Things you’re saying, things you’ve already said, things an administrative judge thinks you might say, all barred, with neighbors deputized as enforcers? Good times. Leave it to Trudeau, a frequent trailblazer in new forms of illiberalism in the digital age, to come up with this quantum leap downward on the rights front. C-63 is a Frankenstein’s Monster combining the worst censorship ideas already deployed by supposed ally government-in-laws like Europe’s Digital Services Act, Australia’s updated Australian Communications and Media Authority Act(ACMA), and Scotland’s Hate Crime and Public Order Act, which saw 7,152 complaints in its first week when the law took effect last month.
Trudeau’s creation is a turbo-charged social surveillance law aimed first at forcing big
platforms like Facebook and Twitter to “self-police,” but secondarily targeting individuals and doling out civil and criminal penalties for speech and thought on a scale not seen anywhere. What constitutes hateful conduct? While the bill newly defines hate speech as “likely to foment detestation or vilification” of Canada’s growing list of protected groups and individuals, Canadian lawyers interviewed were generally unsure of what the standard might look like in practice.
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
Michael Cohen will appear on behalf of the prosecution in the Trump trial in NYC today!
With prosecutors expecting to call only two more witnesses before resting their case against former President Donald Trump, the trial this coming week is sure to feature extensive testimony by the Manhattan District Attorney’s star witness, Michael Cohen.
The controversial ex-Trump lawyer originated the claims that led to the 34-count criminal indictment of President Trump, alleging that 11 invoices that Mr. Cohen billed and their corresponding check payments and vouchers were falsified business records created to cover up a scheme to influence the 2016 elections.
Prosecutors allege that the payments to Mr. Cohen were not in fact legal expenses but reimbursement for a “hush money” payment. They spent earlier parts of the trial establishing context with witnesses on the peripheries of these transactions but have not yet presented in court testimony directly alleging President Trump’s involvement.
However, Mr. Cohen is known to have lied multiple times under oath—with one of those instances resulting in a perjury conviction— and is a vocal critic of President Trump, making him a potentially risky witness.
Prosecutors also revealed last week that former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg may not testify, meaning that the jury may have to decide whether or not to take Mr. Cohen’s word for the allegations without corroborating testimony.
It remains unclear how prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office negotiated a plea deal with Mr. Weisselberg that resulted in his pleading guilty to perjury in a civil fraud case against President Trump, as attorneys with the New York attorney general’s office that brought the civil case were unaware of the perjury or deal until it was publicized and are currently seeking information from The Trump Organization. The plea deal does not require Mr. Weisselberg’s testimony, and, in fact, prosecutors suggested on May 10 that they would prefer to not question Mr. Weisselberg and instead present his severance agreement and hope to rest their case by the end of next week.
Defense attorneys noted that the framing could prejudice the jury into believing that Mr. Weisselberg is not on the witness stand because his testimony would be evidence against his former employer.
New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan told the parties to try every avenue to compel testimony from Mr. Weisselberg, finding their arguments premature.
A paralegal from Manhattan Attorney General Alvin Bragg’s office testified on Friday during former President Donald Trump’s “hush money” trial that some phone call records between Michael Cohen and Stephanie Clifford’s (a.k.a. Stormy Daniels) lawyer were deleted, raising questions about evidentiary integrity.
In a bid to challenge some of the evidence being put forward in President Trump’s business records falsification trial in Manhattan, Trump attorney Emil Bove asked paralegal Jaden Jarmel-Schneider in court on May 10 about roughly three pages worth of records that the attorney claimed Mr. Bragg’s office had deleted.
Mr. Jarmel-Schneider confirmed some deletions. He acknowledged that some phone call records from 2018 between Mr. Cohen and Keith Davidson (Ms. Clifford’s lawyer) had been deleted, along with some records of conversations between Ms. Clifford’s manager Gina Rodriguez and then-National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard about Ms. Clifford’s claim that she had an affair with President Trump.
The Trump attorney alleged that the deletions were “significant,” prompting Mr. Jarmel-Schneider to dispute that characterization, though he acknowledged that some of the records had indeed been deleted.
Prosecutors have submitted the call records into evidence in a bid to bolster their case that the alleged affair—which President Trump has denied—took place and that the former president falsified business records to conceal payments allegedly made to Ms. Clifford to stay silent.
The fact that prosecutors submitted the call records into evidence but didn’t tell the Trump defense team that some of them had been deleted raises questions about the integrity of the proceedings, according to Trump attorneys, and others. “Insanity! How on earth is this not a felony committed by Bragg and his minions? It sure would be if team Trump did it,” the former president’s eldest son, Don Trump Jr., said in a post on X. Mr. Trump Jr. was presumably referring to the fact that evidence tampering is a class E felony in the state of New York.
Federal judge orders Trump, Jack Smith to file new redactions in Florida documents case!
The federal judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s classified documents case has ordered President Trump’s lawyers and special prosecutor Jack Smith’s team to prepare for the public release of materials.
The order on May 9 is the first major one that Judge Aileen Cannon has made since she issued a ruling last week postponing the trial date indefinitely to deal with classified evidence issues.
But she ordered President Trump on May 9 to comply with a May 16 deadline to “submit under seal … his current position on the sealing of his two undocketed motions, the associated responses and replies, and all accompanying exhibits,” including proposed redactions to the filings.
The judge also ordered Mr. Smith’s team to submit “a brief notice indicating any final changes or revisions to his proposed seal/redaction requests as to the above-mentioned filings.”
The orders were issued in relation to a February motion submitted by President Trump’s team that had alleged prosecutors unlawfully obtained evidence in the case along with other alleged prosecutorial misconduct.
“The names of potential witnesses or clearly identifying information, ancillary names,” and other information relating to ”grand jury materials” should be redacted, the May 9 order said.
Rudy Giulani’s WABC radio show canceled because he can’t stop talking about the “steal”!
Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani said that his radio show on WABC Radio has been canceled because he refused to comply with what he described as the station’s “overly broad” directive that prohibits him from talking about the 2020 presidential election.
Mr. Giuliani took to social media to share a letter from Red Apple Media, dated May 9, notifying him that he’s “prohibited from engaging in conversations relating to the 2020 Presidential Election” on his programs broadcast on WABC Radio, which is owned by John Catsimatidis.
“These specific topics include, but are not limited to, the legitimacy of the election results, allegations of fraud effectuated by election workers, and your personal lawsuits relating to those allegations,” reads the letter.
Mr. Giuliani said in a statement that Mr. Catsimatidis and the station fired him for refusing to comply with this directive.
“This directive is a clear violation of free speech,” he wrote, adding that the decision comes at a “very suspicious time,” namely months before the 2024 presidential election and concerns in some circles about election integrity.
“John is now telling reporters that I was informed ahead of time of these restrictions, which is demonstrably untrue,” Mr. Giuliani said in a statement. In a video stream on social media, Mr. Giuliani noted that he has talked repeatedly, over the course of several years, on his show about claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
“If there was such a policy, I’d be crazy to keep doing it,” Mr. Giuliani said. “You think I’m a fool?”
Barron Trump declines to serve as a Florida Delegate at the GOP National Convention!
Barron Trump, the 18-year-old son of former President Donald Trump, has declined to be a delegate for the Florida Republican Party, according to the office of his mother, First Lady Melania Trump.
“While Barron is honored to have been chosen as a delegate by the Florida Republican Party, he regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments,” Ms. Trump’s office said in a statement provided to media outlets.
Earlier this week, Florida GOP Chairman Evan Power confirmed to The Epoch Times that Mr. Trump had been selected as one of several at-large delegates from Florida to the GOP national convention. The convention’s purpose is to officially nominate President Trump as the Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election.
The former first lady’s office said he has ‘prior commitments.’
Sims: U.S. Government has “contingency plan” and doomsday bunkers in case of emergency!
The United States government has “contingency” plans in place for the “continuity of government” in case of an unexpected attack or emergency, Cliff Sims, who served as the deputy director of national intelligence under former President Donald Trump, said during an interview over the weekend. When asked about the U.S. government’s “doomsday” bunkers, Sims confirmed that the government has plans in place for these doomsday bunkers.
“You know, you probably always wondered, I know I did, ‘Does the government really have plans for all of these things?’ And what I learned when I got to the office of the director of national intelligence is, well, sure enough, we do,” Sims said. “And there are these series of locations around the country, a lot of them built during the Cold War, that were made to survive various different doomsday scenarios.”
“One of the things that the government does on a fairly regular basis is they do a continuity of government or continuity of operations planning and exercises. So, we — one day, while I was in the office of the director of national intelligence — were taken to one of these locations, and I had to get clearance to even talk about some of it in my latest book. But, what I lay out is basically: we show up at this location, and a giant metal blast door opens in the side of a mountain, and we go inside this kind of cool, dark, damp tunnel with moisture on the walls from rainwater trickling down hundreds and hundreds of feet above, and we’re on golf carts, basically going into an underground city.”
“When we get there, there are office spaces there. There are living quarters there. There are computer systems there. There are video monitors kind of monitoring things all over the country. Anything you could possibly imagine to be able to respond to one of these disaster scenarios or an attack or anything like that is at our fingertips. And, also, anything that we would need to live for an extended period of time. There was even a made-to-order grill with a full staff, full kitchen, and everything where you could order hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, I mean, anything that you could possibly imagine to try to have some semblance of normal life under such scenarios,” Sims added.
Sims added that during his tour of the doomsday bunker, he got to see the living quarters that he would be in if there were a disaster or an attack and ran through different types of scenarios and exercises.
“It was a really, really fascinating experience. It was basically, like, prepping on a whole other level. It was just like an unimaginable level of prepping going on there. But, there are staffers in the U.S. government, who, every single day, go to these various locations around the country, and basically stay prepared 24/7 for any potential eventuality, and a lot of these locations have not been activated in decades. The one that we went to had not been activated since 9/11. They don’t get used very often by people that are at the top levels of the national security bureaucracy, but there are people in there every single day going to work, and so, it was a fascinating, fascinating experience.”
“There’s certainly contingency planning for continuity of government (COG), a warning that makes sure that no matter what happens that there is a way for our government to continue functioning and getting, as quickly as you could, essential services back online and being able to respond militarily if we needed to. So, there are these locations kind of scattered throughout the country, some of them within a quick flight or even a drive, in some cases, from the seat of power in Washington, DC, and others who are spread out in other places around the country,” Sims said.
Sims explained that the scenario that was “the most worrisome” was one called a “bolt out of the blue attack,” which was an attack that came “out of the clear blue sky.”
“This is not a kind of slow escalation, this is, like, out of the clear blue sky, one day, you know, some unstable regime around the country or something is stolen or taken over by elements inside a rogue government, so to speak, launches an attack. That’s a bolt-out-of-the-blue attack. And, that’s the scariest scenario of all because, one researcher — as I was writing my book, I looked at a lot of the open source reporting around this, too — one researcher suggested there may only be a six-minute window between the president finding out about an attack and having to make a decision on what to do in the event of an attack. And that’s where the nuclear football comes into play.”
“There’s this idea that there’s, like, a giant red button inside of there, that just, like, you crack the thing open and just, like, push the button and turn another country into glass. That’s not really it. The first and foremost purpose is to verify the president’s identity. So, everywhere the president goes, he carries with him a laminated card — we call it the biscuit — and it has what we call gold codes on it. And those codes are built to verify the president’s identity, and they change constantly. So, in the event of a kind of worst-case scenario and the nuclear football is cracked open, communications are opened up to the national military command center, and the first thing that happens is you have to verify that it is, indeed, the president, and that’s what those gold codes are for.”
GOP campaign strategists see Jewish voters moving to the right in 2024!
Republicans looking to recapture the Senate in November think an apparently accelerating shift among Jewish voters from the Democrats to the GOP could significantly boost their candidates in battleground races.
Voting data going back to 1912 compiled by the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE) shows a marked shift in Jewish voting beginning with the 2016 presidential balloting as Republican Donald Trump won 26 percent, compared to the average of 23.75 percent for the four previous GOP presidential candidates.
President Trump increased his share of the Jewish vote by an additional four points to 30 percent in 2020.
More recently, an early April I&I/TIPP Poll survey of 1,400 registered voters on President Joe Biden’s “shift away from Israel” since the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre found a marked partisan shift, with 55 percent of Republicans saying they strongly or mostly disagree and 56 percent of Democrats strongly or mostly agreeing.
Historically, support for Israel among U.S. voters has been overwhelmingly bipartisan, especially whenever the Middle East’s only democratic government has been under attack.
Republican campaign strategists say the evidence is still mostly anecdotal, however, they see shifting among Jewish voters as a major plus heading into the 2024 Senate campaigns, made even more intense by the sudden explosion of openly anti-Semitic campus protests and President Biden’s vacillating support of Israel following the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks that killed more than 1,200 Israelis.
CNN Anchor finally admits Trump’s Manhattan trial is politically motivated!
CNN anchor Fareed Zakaria asserted on Sunday that the Manhattan trial of former President Donald Trump was propelled solely by the president’s name—a sentiment long echoed by Republicans.
Zakaria made these remarks during his CNN show Fareed Zakaria: GPS while assessing the nation’s future amid the upcoming 2024 presidential election.
He noted that the trials against Trump have sparked fury within the Republican base, garnering sympathy for the president due to the perception that the prosecuting attorneys “are politically motivated.”
Tellingly, Zakaria then conceded, “This happens to be true, in my opinion. I doubt the New York indictment would have been brought against a defendant whose name was not Donald Trump.”
During the segment, Zakaria also highlighted a CNN poll indicating that a majority of Americans doubted Trump would receive a fair trial.
This sentiment isn’t surprising, given that all of Trump’s legal charges are spearheaded by Democratic prosecutors (or those appointed by Democrats, such as Special Counsel Jack Smith). Furthermore, Zakaria’s assessment coincided with his discussion on the mounting scandals confronting President Joe Biden’s re-election bid.
Despite the ongoing dubious charges, the Republican base has overwhelmingly rallied behind Trump, potentially paving the way for his return to the White House—an observation Zakaria emphasized.
“Whatever opposition he faced in the primaries has largely melted away,” he said, referring to Trump.
Zakaria also pointed out that Biden faces competition from third-party candidates who align closely with Democratic policies.
“I haven’t even mentioned Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornell West and Jill Stein—all of whom would probably take votes away from Biden,” he added.
Clerk admits violating election law, claims she didn’t understand it
An elections official in a major city in the key swing state of Wisconsin who earlier was caught in – and reprimanded for – a ballot-harvesting scheme now has admitted violating election laws, explaining she just didn’t understand them.
It just more evidence of how America’s elections are being warped by political ideologies held by those in positions of election system power.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
New rule aims to expand peoples’ access to Supplemental Security Income!
The Social Security Administration (SSA) announced that it is updating its definition of a “public assistance household” to ensure that financially vulnerable Americans have greater access to Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
SSI payments are granted to adults and children with disabilities or blindness, and to individuals aged 65 and above, to help beneficiaries meet basic needs such as food, clothing, rent, and medicine.
Those who apply for SSI payments must meet strict income and resource requirements. The SSA has now decided to relax one of these rules to help beneficiaries by expanding the definition of a public assistance (PA) household.
Under the new definition, PA households will include homes that receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments, as well as homes where not all members receive public assistance.
Previously, PA households were defined as homes where all members received some kind of public income maintenance (PIM) payments. SNAP is the first PIM benefit that the SSA has added to PA households since it was first defined in 1980.
“The expanded definition will allow more people to qualify for SSI, increase some SSI recipients’ payment amounts, and reduce reporting burdens for individuals living in public assistance households,” the SSA said.
Planet Fitness plans to increase membership fee by 50% for the first time in nearly 30 years!
Planet Fitness’ classic gym membership will get more expensive for the first time in 26 years.
The cost of the classic membership will increase by $5 to $15 a month for new members, Planet Fitness executives said Thursday as they discussed the company’s first-quarter results. The increase will go into effect in the summer.
“Only new members who joined after it goes into effect will pay $15 for a monthly membership fee,” CFO Thomas Fitzgerald said. “Current Classic Card members will continue to pay $10 for the duration of their membership.”
It had trialed three different price options prior to landing at $15 per month, Fitzgerald said.
The exec said Planet Fitness is seeking to “further enhance the average unit volumes for our stores” with the membership price increase. The company’s more expensive Black Card membership did not receive an increase in price. That currently has a $24.99 monthly fee.
HEALTH
Progressive lawmakers push for medical debt relief; no more credit bureau reporting too!
Following the Biden administration’s efforts to cancel student debt, progressive lawmakers are moving toward canceling medical debt as well, with new legislation filed on May 8.
The legislation, led by Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Representatives Ro Khanna (D-Calif) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), would eliminate $220 billion in medical debt held by millions of Americans, wipe it from credit reports, and limit collection of future medical debt, according to a press release from the lawmakers.
“This is the United States of America, the richest country in the history of the world. People in our country should not be going bankrupt because they got cancer and could not afford to pay their medical bills,” Mr. Sanders said in a press release.
“No one in America should face financial ruin because of the outrageous cost of an unexpected medical emergency or a hospital stay. The time has come to cancel all medical debt and guarantee health care to all as a human right, not a privilege.”
Mr. Sanders, while running for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, made the policy on the campaign trail, saying at the time he wanted to relieve consumers of an estimated $81 billion in medical debt.
The lawmakers say there is a medical debt crisis in the United States, which has exploded in recent years, “decimating Americans’ bank accounts and deterring them from seeking health care.”
The federal Medical Debt Cancellation Act would amend the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, “making it illegal to collect medical debt incurred prior to the bill’s enactment and creating a private right of action for patients.”
It would further amend the Fair Consumer Credit Reporting Act to wipe medical debt from credit reports by “preventing credit reporting agencies from reporting information related to debt that arose from medical expenses.”
A new grant program would also be created within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to cancel medical debt by “prioritizing low-resource providers and vulnerable populations.”
Billing and debt collection requirements would also be amended to limit future debt from being incurred.
“Canceling medical debt is a common sense position overwhelmingly supported by the American public,” the lawmakers said in a press release. “That support is nonpartisan with 84 percent of Republicans in favor of canceling it. In fact, when polled on which types of debt Americans would like to see forgiven, two-thirds of Americans pointed to medical debt.”
Medical debt is definitely a stresser on the human condition; however, our system’s ability to deal with future health care will be put at risk, especially with the massive number of people who took the jab. This scenario, along with this massive write-off of bad medical debt, could bankrupt the very system that people who need it most would depend on.
RECALL WARNING: Insulin pump app recalled due to glitch draining battery!
A software glitch in a mobile app used in conjunction with an insulin pump prompted a recall after 224 individuals throughout the United States were injured. No deaths have been reported.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported that the 2.7 version of the Apple iOS t:connect mobile app, which is used with the t:slim X2 insulin pump with Control-IQ technology, is under a Class 1 recall, the most serious recall, as the device’s use could result in injury or death.
A glitch drains the insulin pump’s battery sooner than expected. The software glitch crashes the app, forcing the iOS operating system to relaunch. This cycle then repeats, expending excessive energy on Bluetooth communication and depleting the pump battery. Once the pump battery is drained, it shuts down.
“Pump shutdown will cause insulin delivery to suspend, which could lead to an under-delivery of insulin and may result in hyperglycemia or even diabetic ketoacidosis, which can be a life-threatening condition due to high blood sugars and lack of insulin,” the FDA stated in its recall notice.
The insulin pump is produced by Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. It delivers insulin under the skin at varying rates to help people manage their diabetes. The t:slim X2 insulin pump is one of many subcutaneous insulin pumps on the market.
Tandem Diabetes Care urged consumers to monitor the pump battery levels to ensure the pump is nearly or fully charged before going to sleep to help prevent a shutdown. Consumers should also carry backup supplies for insulin delivery in case of a pump failure.
Ancient use of rice has unexpected gut benefits!
Could a food as simple as rice hold the key to healing your gut?
Fermented rice water is an ancient remedy especially common in Asian cultures. It’s also the subject of health research, including studies in the past couple of years, that shows how it can help rid the body of pathogenic bacteria and heal damaged intestinal mucosal lining, a condition sometimes called “leaky gut.”
Luke Coutinho, an integrative lifestyle expert and influencer in India, told The Epoch Times that most people with symptoms of gut distress can benefit from fermenting rice and adding it to their diets. It can even take the place of probiotic supplements—except in cases where there’s a severe gut issue and a proven beneficial probiotic.
It costs only a bit of your time—a few minutes to add water to cooked rice, cover, and allow it to ferment overnight. You don’t need special equipment or knowledge to prepare it.
“Fermented rice water is a cost-effective remedy. Nearly every household has rice in their pantry,” Mr. Coutinho wrote in an email. “There’s little profit to be made from promoting simple, free, or inexpensive solutions, unlike selling supplements and drugs. Many people believe that complexity equates to effectiveness, which is untrue. In fact, some of our most successful cases have resulted from following simple practices.”
Called rice kanji in India, the same ferment goes by different names in other areas of the world. In Japan, it’s referred to as amazake and may be made with other grains and commonly used as a sweetener.
The rice can be eaten with the fermented water, and often onions or green chilis are added to make it a dish. It can also be blended as a drink or the rice can be strained and the water can be drunk with a bit of salt.
Yoga Boosts Heart Function in Heart Failure Patients
Yoga can help improve the long-term health of people with heart failure, a new study has found.
“Patients who practiced yoga on top of taking their medications felt better, were able to do more, and had stronger hearts than those who only took drugs for their heart failure,” lead researcher Dr. Ajit Singh of the Indian Council of Medical Research and Manipal Academy of Higher Education in India, said in a news release.
Heart failure can have devastating effects on a person’s quality of life, leaving patients tired, breathless and unable to participate in their usual activities, researchers said.
Over a week’s time, people in the yoga group were taught a yoga practice that focuses on breathing, meditation and relaxation. They then were advised to continue yoga on their own at home, in 50-minute sessions once a week.
Researchers checked the heart structure and function of all participants at the beginning of the trial, six months in and at one year.
The team measured the heart’s ability to pump blood, the function of its main pumping chamber, as well as blood pressure, heart rate, body weight and body mass index (BMI). BMI is an estimate of body fat based on height and weight.
The yoga group demonstrated significantly better improvements across all those measurements, at both six months and one year, researchers report.
“Patients who did yoga had healthier hearts and were more able to carry out ordinary activities such as walking and climbing stairs than those who only took medications,” Singh said.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
The 62-year-old man who received the first-ever pig kidney transplantin the world has died, his family announced on Saturday.
Richard Slayman underwent the four-hour procedure in March at Massachusetts General Hospital and was discharged from the hospital two weeks later on April 2.
The hospital emphasized there was no indication Slayman’s sudden passing was due to the transplant.
“The Mass General transplant team is deeply saddened at the sudden passing of Mr. Rick Slayman. We have no indication that it was the result of his recent transplant,” Massachusetts General Hospital said in a statement.
Slayman a resident of Weymouth — 16 miles southeast of Boston — had been living with Type 2 diabetes and hypertension for many years, the hospital said at the time of his transplant. He was on dialysis for many years before receiving a kidney transplant from a human deceased donor in December 2018 at Massachusetts General Hospital.
China uses AI deepfake technology to replicate deceased loved ones! (SICK!)
A new trend is reportedly emerging in China: using AI to create digital replicas of deceased
loved ones, allowing people to interact with them even after they’ve passed away.
MIT Technology Review reports that as the AI industry continues to grow and evolve, Chinese companies are now offering services that allow people to create digital avatars of their deceased loved ones. These replicas, created using photos, videos, and audio recordings, can conduct basic conversations and provide a sense of comfort to those who are grieving.
One such example is Sun Kai, who lost his mother to a sudden illness in 2019. Determined to keep their connection alive, he turned to Silicon Intelligence, an AI company he co-founded, to create a digital replica of his mother. Using a photo and audio clips from their WeChat conversations, the company generated an avatar that Sun can interact with via an app on his phone.
While the technology is still in its early stages, with avatars sometimes appearing stiff and robotic, it is rapidly improving. Companies like Silicon Intelligence and Super Brain are now offering these services at increasingly affordable prices, making them accessible to the general public.
In China, the demand for digital replicas of the deceased is particularly strong, with thousands of people already having paid for such services. This trend is rooted in Chinese cultural traditions, where people have always found solace in confiding in the dead, such as during the annual Qingming festival.
However, the rise of AI-powered avatars of the deceased raises ethical and legal questions. How can someone who has passed away consent to being digitally replicated? And who is responsible if an avatar generates inappropriate responses?
There are also concerns about the potential impact on mental health. While some people, like Sun Kai, find comfort in interacting with digital replicas of their loved ones, others worry that it may prevent people from fully processing their grief and moving forward.
SURVEILLANCE STATE
House-passed anti-semitism bill stirs free speech debate!
A House-passed bill designed to combat anti-Semitism has spurred debates across party lines about the potential impact it could have on First Amendment rights.
The bill in question, the Antisemitism Awareness Act, overwhelmingly passed the U.S. House of Representatives on May 1 in a 321–91 vote.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has been tight-lipped on the bill, and hasn’t committed to bringing it to the floor for a vote.
Likewise, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to answer whether President Joe Biden would sign the legislation, leaving its ultimate fate uncertain.
Opponents of the legislation say that it could, at worst, have a chilling effect on freedom of speech due to ambiguities in the text. Proponents have dismissed these concerns as “deeply overblown.”
The legislation comes amid a torrent of anti-Semitic incidents and violence on America’s college campuses.
The bill would explicitly protect Jews under Title VI—which protects against certain overtly discriminatory actions, such as denying a student access to a federally-funded school, club, or other organization on the basis of race, color, or religion—of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Under the bill, the government, mainly the Department of Education, would be required to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism to determine whether an incident was anti-Semitic.
The bill would codify a 2019 executive order by former President Donald Trump that adopted the IHRA definition government-wide.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Dane Wigington has the latest from geoengineeringwatch.org!
“Snow Warning Issued For Hawaii”, this breaking headline is from Newsweek, today, Saturday May 11th, 2024. New from Yahoo News: “Snowpack gets late-season boost from Colorado storms” and “100+ temperature smashes 100-year-old Eastern WA heat record. Next worry is fire”. And “A South Texas town may have just seen the hottest May temperature in Texas history.” According to the Weather Prediction Center, La Puerta, Texas reached 116 on
Thursday. What’s wrong with this picture? Welcome to the world of climate engineering.
More geomagnetic storms remain likely for today as sun continues to erupt X-class flares
The strongest geomagnetic storm in more than 20 years slammed Earth on Friday, with explosions of plasma and magnetic fields causing some radio blackouts and the northern lights to extend to the southern U.S. On Monday, officials warned the storms aren’t yet over.
NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center said early Monday that a G3, or “strong,” geomagnetic storm warning was in effect until 2 a.m. ET. While stronger storms are no longer likely and conditions are expected to “gradually wane” throughout the day, the center said in its forecast that moderate to strong geomagnetic storms are “likely” on Monday, as are minor storms on Tuesday.
The center also said “solar activity is expected to be at high levels” with a possibility of more solar flares, or bursts of electromagnetic radiation from the sun.
The update came as another X-class solar flare was recorded. X-class flares are the strongest class of these solar bursts, and the latest was recorded as “moderate.”
“Flares of this magnitude are not frequent,” the center said. “…Users of high frequency (HF) radio signals may experience temporary degradation or complete loss of signal on much of the sunlit side of Earth.”
GARDENING, FARMING & HOMESTEADING
Plantain’s use as medicine! It grows virtually everywhere!
Broadleaf plantain is nothing short of AMAZING for bug bites, stings and other skin irritations. I use fresh plantain leaf directly on insect bites, or plantain infused oil or salve. The itch of mosquitoes bites and burn of wasp stings fades in minutes with an application of plantain herb.
Plantain salve made from infused oil is great for spot treatments and hemorrhoids. I dry some plantain for tea, too, but most frequently I use it fresh or in salve.
Plantain is also good for drawing out slivers. Simply place some fresh, smashed plantain or plantain salve on the sliver spot, cover with a bandage, and leave overnight. The next morning you should be able to gently squeeze out the sliver or pluck it from the wound.
2ND AMENDMENT
9th Circuit Court of Appeals: Felon has right to possess firearm for self-defense!
Last week, a three-judge panel from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decided that Steven Duarte, a felon, has a “right to possess a firearm for self- defense.”
Courthouse News Service noted Duarte has five felony convictions and was a member of a street gang in Los Angeles.
The decision upholding Duarte’s gun rights was split, with George W. Bush appointee Carlos Bea and Donald Trump appointee Lawrence VanDyke deciding in the majority.
Bea wrote the majority opinion, noted the panel tested the prohibition against felons possessing guns in light of Bruen (2022) and found the government did not have sufficient substantiation.
Bruen requires that gun control align with historical tradition and the intent of America’s founders. Bea and VanDyke did not believe the blanket prohibition against felons possessing firearms survived scrutiny.
Bea wrote:
We do not base our decision on the notion that felons should not be prohibited from possessing firearms. As a matter of policy, [the prohibition] may make a great deal of sense. But “[t]he very enumeration of the [Second Amendment] right” in our Constitution “takes out of [our] hands . . . the power to decide” for which Americans “th[at] right is really worth insisting upon.” (Heller).
He added:
Duarte is an American citizen, and thus one of “the people” whom the Second Amendment protects. The Second Amendment’s plain text and historically understood meaning therefore presumptively guarantee his individual right to possess a firearm for self-defense. The Government failed to rebut that presumption by demonstrating that permanently depriving Duarte of this fundamental right is otherwise consistent with our Nation’s history. We therefore hold that [the prohibition] violates Duarte’s Second Amendment rights and is unconstitutional as applied to him. The case is USA v. Duarte in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee explains the Bryan Malinowski incident to date. He “backs the blue”, but this? … CLICK THE LINK HERE!
COVID RELATED NEWS
COVID-19 linked to an alarming rise of a rare and highly lethal fungal infection!
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an alarming rise of an aggressive and highly fatal secondary fungal infection among those with active or recovered COVID-19.
Research suggests that the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the overuse of immunosuppressive COVID-19 treatments such as corticosteroids and antibiotics, and the global pandemic response made people more susceptible to co-infections such as COVID-19-associated mucormycosis (CAM).
Mucormycosis, also known as black fungus, is an opportunistic fungal infection that typically affects the sinuses, lungs, and brain. It is caused by a group of molds commonly found in the environment. Before COVID-19, these fungi rarely caused infection because of low virulence, but the second wave of COVID-19 brought tens of thousands of reported cases. Even the Omicron variant, which was generally attributed to mild COVID-19, has been linked to lethal mucormycosis infections in the United States and Asia.
Researchers identified 59 patients with rhino-orbital cerebral disease, 20 with pulmonary disease, and one had gastrointestinal mucormycosis. With cerebral mucormycosis, the fungus initially invades the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses, presenting similarly to acute sinusitis. It can then lead to angioinvasion, in which tumor cells get through blood vessel walls and cause blood clots. The infection rapidly spreads to orbital and brain sites and is associated with high morbidity and mortality.
Nearly 50 percent (39 patients) died. The median survival time from the day of the mucormycosis diagnosis was 106 days for rhino-orbital cerebral disease and only nine days for patients with pulmonary mucormycosis. Among survivors, 46 percent (19 patients) lost their vision.
The researchers noted several underlying health conditions among the patients with mucormycosis in addition to COVID-19, including uncontrolled or poorly controlled diabetes, hypertension or high blood pressure, chronic kidney disease, and cancer. Those with diabetes were more likely to have rhino-orbital mucormycosis and mild to moderate cases of COVID-19. Those without diabetes were more likely to have other manifestations of the infection and severe COVID-19. Researchers found that pulmonary mucormycosis almost exclusively occurred in the ICU setting.
The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that the state COVID emergency declaration was lawful!
The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that a COVID-19-era emergency declaration previously issued by Gov. Tim Walz was constitutional.
The governor’s emergency was rescinded years ago, but lawsuits have been filed on whether the order was lawfully issued. On May 10, the court rejected a lawsuit that was filed on behalf of Minnesota residents and business owners who had contended that the order was unconstitutional.
“The breadth of authority granted to the Governor under the Act is great, but so is the need of the executive branch to respond quickly in times of crisis,” Justice Gordon Moore wrote for the court. “A delicate balance must be struck to ensure that Minnesotans are protected from both government overreach and emergent threats to their health.”
“[The justices] conclude that the Act does not represent an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority. The limitations on the scope of powers delegated, the non-illusory checks on the executive’s exercise of the delegated powers, and the material differences between this Act and other unconstitutional delegations of power all support our conclusion.”
CANCEL CULTURE
Education boards vote to restore schools’ Confederate names! Deo Vindice!
The education board for a rural Virginia county voted early on Friday to restore the names of Confederate generals stripped from two schools in 2020, making the mostly white, Republican district the first in the U.S. to take such an action.
By a 5-1 vote, the Shenandoah County board overturned its 2020 decision that stripped a public high school and elementary school of their original names honoring three military leaders of the pro-slavery South in the Civil War.
Under the board’s action, Mountain View High School will again become known as Stonewall Jackson High, while Honey Run Elementary School will revert to the name Ashby Lee Elementary.
The names belong to some of the most well-known military leaders of the Confederacy. Robert E. Lee was commander of the Army of Northern Virginia; Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson was a Confederate infantry general, and Turner Ashby was a rebel cavalry commander. All of them were Virginians.
Any funds required to implement the changes must come exclusively from private sources, rather than public revenue.
The vote contrasted with a four-year trend of U.S. schools and other public buildings and institutions removing names and symbols associated with the Confederacy, following protests for racial justice sparked by the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in 2020.
Among more than 60 schools that have abolished Confederate appellations across the country since 2020, none had reversed course until now, according to the trade publication Education Week, which has tracked the issue.
The proposal voted on was initiated by a local conservative group, the Coalition for Better Schools, which cited the “cultural significance” and “historical context” of the original names.
In its written request to the board, the group also cited surveys that it mailed to residents of the districts from which the schools’ students are drawn. It said that out of 1,160 responses to 8,507 surveys sent, more than 90% favored switching back to the Confederate names.
San Francisco buying beer and vodka for homeless alcoholics with taxpayer money!
Homeless alcoholics are getting free beer and vodka under a taxpayer-funded pilot program in San Francisco as city leadership grapples with the homelessness crisis plaguing its streets.
The city’s Department of Public Health runs the Managed Alcohol Program (MAP) to give doses of alcohol to the addicted, Fox News reported on Saturday.
Officials hope the program will “keep the homeless off the streets” and decrease incidents in which emergency services have to step in.
“Experts say the program can save or extend lives, but critics wonder if the government would be better off funding treatment and sobriety programs instead,” Fox noted.
In 2020, the San Francisco Health Department confirmed that officials were giving alcohol, tobacco, medical cannabis, and other substances to people to keep them from going outside to get it themselves during the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, Breitbart News reported at the time.
Per the Fox article, the California Health Care Foundation said in 2020 nurses and trained workers administered managed alcohol programs in homeless shelters and transitional and permanent homes.
The foundation said it is “one method to minimize harm for those with alcohol use disorder.”
“By prescribing limited quantities of alcohol, the model aims to prevent potentially life-threatening effects of alcohol withdrawal, such as seizures and injuries,” the foundation added.
The program was established during the pandemic and has reportedly expanded. Now, it operates inside a former hotel in the Tenderloin district and has a $5 million annual budget.
Adam Nathan, the CEO of an AI company and chair of the city’s Salvation Army, criticized the program online after visiting the site.
“The whole thing is very odd to me and just doesn’t feel right. Providing free drugs to drug addicts doesn’t solve their problems. It just stretches them out. Where’s the recovery in all this?” he said.
In December, NBC News reported that a record number of people in the United States were experiencing homelessness:
Many locals in San Francisco are fed up with the homeless situation and some residents have had to learn the “poopie dance” to avoid coming into contact with something nasty left on the city’s streets, Breitbart News reported in December.
PET NEWS
Nine tips on how to find a lost dog … fast!
Losing your dog is every pet parent’s worst nightmare. If you’ve found yourself in this nerve-racking scenario, don’t panic. Nicole Asher of Buddha Dog Rescue and Recovery — whose miraculous success stories include finding a dog who had traveled 80 miles from his family and another who had been adopted by a pack of coyotes! — compiled a step-by-step list of what you should do to give you the best shot at bringing your pup home safe.
ICYMI
Prosecutors want David DePape locked up for 40 years; enhancement for “terrorism”!
Federal prosecutors have asked for a 40-year sentence for the man convicted of attacking former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) husband with a hammer, arguing that his crimes amount to terrorism and his punishment should be more severe than standard guidelines would call for.
A sentencing memorandum, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on May 10, indicates that David DePape has not shown any remorse and deserves no leniency for the two crimes he was convicted of last year—attempted kidnapping and assault on account of a federal official’s performance of official duties.
The charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years and 30 years, respectively, in prison. Prosecutors argued in the sentencing memo that a terrorism enhancement should be applied to Mr. DePape’s sentencing because his crimes were calculated to intimidate or retaliate against a government official and should be deemed a “federal crime of terrorism.”
The terrorism enhancement that prosecutors are seeking means that, besides calling for the maximum sentence of 20 years and 30 years for each count, ten years of the sentence should run consecutive and the rest concurrent. Sentencing has been set for this Friday.
In November, a federal court jury found Mr. DePape guilty of attempting to kidnap then-Speaker Pelosi and assaulting her husband, Paul Pelosi, both on account of her official duties as a member of Congress.
Prosecutors argued that Mr. DePape’s crimes—committed a week before the 2022 congressional midterm elections—were calculated to influence the conduct of government. Even though Mr. DePape was not convicted of terrorism, his offenses amounted to the “federal crime of terrorism,” which is defined as an offense that “is calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct,” per the memo.
Susan Backlinie, stunt woman swimmer who was Jaws (the movie)’s first victim, dies at 77! Susan Backlinie, whose gruesome death in Jaws scared millions from swimming in the ocean, died Saturday at 77 in her home in Ventura, CA. Her death was confirmed by Matthew Templeton, the agent who handled her convention bookings. No cause has been determined. Backlinie’s first film role arrived in 1975. She played Chrissie Watkins in Steven Spielberg‘s film, going skinny dipping in the ocean in the opening scene.She is attacked and is buffeted by the great white shark before a screaming disappearance under the waves. Backlinie partnered with Spielberg to spoof the scene a few years later in his 1941 film. Backlinie’s career channeled into stunt work in films and TV.
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Today’s News: June 26, 2024
Today’s News: June 27, 2024