Quote:The city of Chicago and Democrat Mayor Brandon Johnson is calling on city authorities to give black residents fewer parking tickets in an effort to push “racial equity.”

The city has established a “Racial Equity Office,” which pushes the idea that urgency is white supremacist, and has made its city police give fewer parking tickets to black residents.

“Chicago has a long history of racial disparities and social inequities, especially on the South and West Sides. As a longtime resident of Chicago’s West Side, I see the devastating impact systemic inequality can have on a neighborhood and its residents,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johsnon said.

In order to achieve “racial equity,” Johnson said, “we must acknowledge the injustices of the past and consistently include those who are most impacted by inequality in our policy and decision making, not just when it is easy or convenient.”

“Demonstrating proper accountability towards people and the outcomes we are committing to is vital,” the mayor added. “I am confident that this is just the beginning, and that the impact of this work will last for generations to come. I am proud of the work that is being done thus far  to build systemic equity and secure racial justice for our residents.”

In the city’s “racial equity report,” it states that a goal for the city’s Department of Finance is to implement a plan that will result in few parking tickets issues to “black and brown” residents of the Windy City.

Quote:St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones (D) recently launched the city’s “Office of New Americans” with an eye toward helping illegals settle in the city on the Mississippi River, and now several advocacy groups in St. Louis are nudging Chicago officials to open up the spigot, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The nonprofit International Institute of St. Louis is one organization asking Chicago’s city hall to consider shipping illegals south to Missouri.

“It could be the potential for a great relationship between both cities,” Karlos Ramirez, vice president of Latino outreach for the International Institute, told the Sun-Times. “If the [migrants] are going to be in a better place, St. Louis is going to be in a better place, and Chicago is going to be in a better place. I think everybody wins.”

Ramirez added that unions and private funding could foot the bill to house illegals, provide them with cell phones, and help them find work in the St. Louis area.

Chicago officials have not commented on the plans, but the Windy City is in a crisis after more than 18,0000 illegals have flooded the city.

Quote:Public records Politico obtained apparently show he dipped into his taxpayer-funded expense account to buy approximately $12,000 worth of food and beverages during the outings, the outlet reported Monday.
...
Murphy’s office said the Democratic State Committee was initially expected to cover the stadium costs but didn’t. The state was left with the bill, which was paid via Murphy’s $95,000-a-year expense account — a longstanding line item in the state budget which has been consistently renewed under Murphy and his predecessors.

Politico noted the expense account is not allowed to be used for personal purposes nor is it allowed to supplement Murphy’s $175,000 salary.

A spokesperson for Murphy said his office believed at the time that state party officials would cover the bills, because that is typical.
...
In June 2022, Murphy was accused of improperly giving $10 million in Chinese coronavirus funds to illegal aliens as stimulus checks, according to state oversight leaders, Breitbart News reported.

Quote:Biden tried to isolate Netanyahu, refusing to meet with him until September, when the White House, seeking a foreign policy win, tried to help Israel and Saudi Arabia negotiate toward peace between the two.

Biden has expressed solidarity with Israel in its fight against Hamas, which murdered over 1,400 people in an attack October 7 and wounded more than 5,400 more, taking 240 hostages — including Americans — to Gaza. Biden also appeared alongside Netanyahu when he traveled to Israel last month on a solidarity visit.

But a Politico report — based on leaks, perhaps, by sources who want to damage Netanyahu — suggests that the White House is trying to swap Israeli leaders in the middle of the war:

Joe Biden and top aides have discussed the likelihood that Benjamin Netanyahu’s political days are numbered — and the president has conveyed that sentiment to the Israeli prime minister in a recent conversation.

The topic of Netanyahu’s short political shelf life has come up in recent White House meetings involving Biden, according to two senior administration officials. That has included discussions that have taken place since Biden’s trip to Israel, where he met with Netanyahu.
...
With an eye toward the future, U.S. officials are talking to Benny Gantz, a member of the current unity government; Naftali Bennett, a former prime minister; and Yair Lapid, an opposition leader and former prime minister, among other Israeli figures, the former official said.

Netanyahu is currently at a low point in Israeli opinion polls, but that could change as the war progresses. Israeli leaders have pledged to put politics behind them while the war is going on, and opposition leader Benny Gantz joined a unity government.

The Netanyahu government has resisted growing American pressure to seek a ceasefire, even as it makes advances against Hamas in Gaza.

Quote:Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday there was no way to guarantee that some of the U.S. aid sent to Gaza would not be seized by Hamas terrorists, who are also the elected government of the territory.

“Can I promise you in this committee that there’ll be 100 percent delivery to the designated recipients? No, there will inevitably be some spillage,” Blinken said.

“We haven’t seen it to date, but I think we have to anticipate that,” he continued. “But the overwhelming, overwhelming majority of the assistance thus far is getting to people who need it. And we need more.”

Before the conflict in Gaza, before Hamas’s aggression against Israel and its response, the U.N. and other agencies and other organizations providing relief were sending in between 500 and 800 trucks a day. Right now, we’re up to almost 60. We’re trying to get to 100 this week.

Blinken claimed the Biden administration has worked with Israel, Egypt, U.N. agencies, and “other actors” to ensure humanitarian aid would reach Palestinian civilians without falling into the hands of “people who don’t need it,” presumably including Hamas.

According to the secretary of state, this system involves humanitarian shipments passing through Egypt’s Rafah border crossing into Gaza. The shipments are checked by Egyptian forces on their side of the border, and by the Israeli military once they enter Gaza.

“These trucks then go to distribution facilities that are run by U.N. agencies,” Blinken said. He said the deliveries can be monitored from there by “contacting the designated recipients to ensure that it’s actually gotten to where it’s supposed to go and not been diverted.”

Quote:The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released an audio recording Wednesday of a phone call it says was between the manager of a hospital, the commander of a Hamas battallion, and a citizen in Gaza in which the Hamas terrorist admits taking fuel from the hospital.
...
This conversation between a commander of Hamas’s Western Jabaliya Battalion and a Gazan resident, with the participation of the director of the Indonesian Hospital, was intercepted by the Israeli Military Intelligence. Despite the sensitive nature of this intelligence, this intercept is being declassified to expose Hamas’s cynical exploitation of humanitarian resources in the Gaza Strip. The video confirms that Hamas controls energy distribution in Gaza, prioritizing terrorist needs over the needs of their civilian population.

In this phone call, a Hamas commander repeatedly alludes to Hamas taking fuel from the hospital’s stocks, “working as a government for the sake of the country.”

Hamas continues to exploit humanitarian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip to support its terrorist activities at the expense of the residents of Gaza.

Last week, Israel released the audio of a Hamas terrorist calling his parents in Gaza as he participated in the October 7 terror attack in Israel, and boasting about how many Jews he had personally killed.

Quote:Iran, the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, will become the chair of the U.N. Human Rights Council Social Forum on Thursday — just one month after Iran’s clients in Hamas perpetrated some of the worst atrocities in modern history against Israeli civilians.

UN Watch noted that Iran was granted the rotating chairmanship of the U.N. human rights forum in May. The theme for the forum in 2023 is using technology to promote human rights. Only two days before it was handed the chairmanship, the medieval Iranian theocracy executed two men for the “crime” of discussing Islam’s human rights shortcomings on social media.

Six months later, Iran will assume the promised chairmanship after its terrorist proxy Hamas raped, tortured, murdered, and kidnapped more than 1,400 Israeli civilians.

UN Watch has collected 90,000 signatures on a petition to overturn the absurd Iranian chairmanship. Its last-ditch drive to collect more signatures features a video posted to social media of Executive Director Hillel Neuer asking the U.N. to justify naming “a regime that beats, blinds, tortures, and rapes women who demand their rights”:

In addition to the Hamas atrocities, Iran’s ascension to chair a human rights forum is ill-timed because another young woman was just killed for supposedly violating its hijab law, an incident Neuer alluded to in the clip above.

The victim was a 16-year-old girl named Armita Geravand, who was evidently assaulted and kidnapped by the “morality police” shortly after boarding a train on October 1. As with the murder of Mahsa Amini in 2022 for a similar hijab “offense,” Geravand’s family was compelled to tell state media interviewers that their daughter randomly collapsed for no reason and struck her head.

Video of the incident was deliberately obscured by bystanders and suppressed by the Iranian government, but one clip that escaped to the outside world showed Geravand boarding the train without wearing a hijab. Independent journalists reported Geravand was confronted by the thuggish “morality police” on board the train, and one of them shoved her hard enough to strike her head against a metal object.

Quote:The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) confirmed on Tuesday that the kingdom of Saudi Arabia would host the 2034 World Cup, outraging human rights activists who decried “sportswashing” by the country to improve its reputation despite abuse of its citizens.

Saudi Arabia was reportedly the only country to bid on hosting the 2034 men’s tournament as a result of FIFA requesting that Asia and Oceania countries volunteer to host that tournament. While some reports indicated that Australia, which recently hosted the FIFA Women’s World Cup, would compete with Saudi Arabia, the country confirmed this week that it would not be seeking to host the tournament.

According to the Saudi news outlet al-Arabiya, the deadline for new hosting bids passed on October 31, leaving Saudi Arabia the only option.

“The next two editions of the FIFA World Cup are set to be hosted in Africa (Morocco) and Europe (Portugal and Spain) – with three celebratory matches played in South America (Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) – in 2030 and in Asia (Saudi Arabia) in 2034,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced on Tuesday. “Three editions, five continents and ten countries involved in staging matches in the tournament – that’s making football truly global!”

“The bidding processes were approved by consensus via the FIFA Council – where all six confederations are represented – after constructive dialogue and extensive consultation,” Infantino’s announcement continued, declaring that the next few iterations of the tournament, including the planned event in Saudi Arabia, would be “the perfect showcase for a message of unity and inclusion.”

Quote:FOX News host Jesse Watters discusses how Rep. James Comer discovered that a personal check made out to Joe Biden came from China...

The president thought he was going to be able to run out the clock on having to turn over bank records. The president thought records of your bank files are stored in cabinets, in warehouses, and it would take years to send a bunch of bankers to dig through boxes of bank records and Xerox them and turn them over. It's actually electronic.
...
And James Comer is finally getting his hands on Biden family bank records so far. The left says there's no evidence incriminating Joe Biden.

The majority sits completely empty-handed with no evidence of any presidential wrongdoing, no smoking gun. So we've established that a smoking gun is dirty money coming from overseas into Biden's bank account. Well, look what we have here.

That's a check made out to Joe Biden for $40,000. His brother's wife wrote him the check. But where'd the money come from? James Comer found out.

China wired Hunter's company $5 million. Hunter's company wired Hunter 400,000. Hunter's company wired Biden's brother money. And then Biden's brother's wife wrote Joe a check for 40 grand. Well, wait a second. What's 10% of 400,000? That's 40 grand. That's 10% for "The Big Guy." So money hit Joe Biden's bank account from China, and it added up to 10% for "The Big Guy." I wonder if the Democrats will change what a smoking gun means.

Quote:Sam Bankman-Fried has been found guilty of all charges stemming from the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange company FTX.

“A New York jury in Manhattan federal court agreed with prosecutors that Bankman-Fried defrauded investors, customers and lenders in connection with the collapse of his crypto empire,” reported Fox Business.

“Prosecutors accused Bankman-Fried, who founded and controlled both FTX and sister hedge fund Alameda research, of misappropriating and embezzling billions of dollars in FTX customer deposits, scheming to mislead investors, and instructing other executives at his businesses to do the same,” it added.

In the first of two criminal trials, Bankman-Fried faced five counts of conspiracy and two counts of wire fraud, which all amount to up to 110 years in prison. His sentencing hearing has been set for March 28.

Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, praised the verdict as he declared that Bankman-Fried “perpetrated one of the biggest financial frauds in American history.”

“The cryptocurrency industry might be new, the players like Bankman-Fried might be new,” Williams said. “But this kind of fraud, this kind of corruption, is as old as time.”

Quote:About a dozen freight train cars derailed Thursday morning from tracks near a rail crossing in southeastern Michigan.

Initial assessments indicate a majority of the derailed cars were empty and there appeared to be no immediate threat to the public, the city of Romulus said in a post on social media.
...
The city said 10 to 14 cars derailed from the CSX railroad tracks about 9:30 a.m. Thursday about 24 miles southwest of Detroit. Aerial photos showed some of the rail cars tumbled atop others.

There were no reports of injuries and no time given for when the freight cars would be removed from the tracks.

Students from an elementary school and a middle school nearby were transferred to Romulus High School as a precaution, according to the city.

Illegal Immigrants Committing Crimes

ICE arrests African illegal immigrant, wanted in Senegal for terrorist offenses, who was released into US

Quote:Federal immigration authorities arrested an illegal immigrant wanted in Senegal for alleged terrorist activities, two weeks after he was released into the country after being encountered by agents at the southern border.

In a press release, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) says a 29-year-old "unlawfully present Mauritanian or Senegalese citizen" was arrested on Oct. 17.

ICE says he is wanted by Senegalese authorities for criminal conspiracy in relation to a terrorist organization; destruction, degradation and damages in relation to a terrorist organization; direct provocation of an armed crowd and acts (or preparatory acts) aimed at compromising public safety.

But he had first been encountered on Oct. 3 -- two weeks earlier -- by Border Patrol agents at the southern border near Lukeville, Arizona. He was then processed by officials and served with a Notice to Appear in New York City and released on his own recognizance.

A week after he was released, on Oct. 10, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations agents notified Enforcement and Removal Operations in New York City that he was wanted on terrorism charges in Senegal.

ICE’s New York City Fugitive Operations team then arrested him "without incident" outside of the Federal Plaza immigration court in New York City. He is now in custody on deportation proceedings.

 How is it possible for a migrant to know how to travel from Lukeville, Arizona all the way down to New York city?  And who is the moron that picked that location for any immigration trial in the first place?

Venezuelan migrants accused of stealing thousands in merchandise from Illinois Macy's

Quote:Two Venezuelan migrants residing in Chicago were charged with stealing nearly $3,000 in merchandise from a suburban Macy’s on Tuesday and prompted authorities to warn of an uptick in migrant criminal activity coming from the city.

Luis Mendez-Gomez, 28, and Frank Montez-Davila, 23, left the Macy’s store in Oak Brook, Illinois, around 1:40 p.m. carrying a "happy birthday" bag and a backpack containing merchandise, DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office said.

Oak Brook police officers on patrol spotted the men’s "suspicious behavior" and saw them enter a car that left the scene, prosecutors said.

Officers conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle and discovered 16 high-end fragrances and a pair of pants with a total approximate value of $2,832.50, officials said.

Prosecutors alleged that Mendez-Gomez and Montes-Davila entered the Macy’s store together and that once inside the store, Mendez-Gomez removed the "happy birthday" bag and backpack from under his shirt and the pair filled the bag and backpack with the fragrances and pants before leaving the store without paying.

Quote:Switzerland’s national rail operator said Thursday the world’s longest rail tunnel won't be fully reopened to train traffic until next September, again pushing back the target date for repairs of damage caused by a cargo train derailment.

The Swiss federal railway operator, [the Swiss Federal Railway or Schweizerische Bundesbahnen in German] SBB, said the damage from the Aug. 10 derailment in the Gotthard tunnel, Switzerland’s main north-south rail thoroughfare, is "much more significant than first imagined."

"The rail tracks need to be entirely replaced over 4.2 miles. The work will take much more time than anticipated," SBB said. The cost of the repairs is expected to be 100 million to 130 million Swiss francs (about $110 million to $140 million).

Limited passenger and cargo train traffic through the tunnel is continuing. Previously, SBB said repair work would continue through the end of this year.

No one was injured in the derailment, but the damage was considerable. Large swaths of track and an evacuation portal were torn up.

Quote:North Korea has likely supplied Russian President Vladimir Putin with several types of missiles for his ongoing invasion of Ukraine, according to South Korean intelligence.

South Korea's military said the hermit nation is suspected of sending an unspecified number of short-range ballistic missiles, anti-tank missiles and portable anti-air missiles to Russia, in addition to rifles, rocket launchers, mortars and shells, The Associated Press reported.

North Korea has been pushing to expand cooperation with Russia and China in the face of protracted security tensions with the United States and pandemic-caused domestic hardships. In an apparent sign of its economic troubles, the country is moving to close some of its overseas diplomatic missions.

Last week, South Korea, the U.S. and Japan strongly condemned North Korea’s alleged supplying of munitions and military equipment to Russia, saying such weapons shipments sharply increased the human toll of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Any weapons trade with North Korea would be a violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions that Russia, a permanent U.N. Security Council member, previously endorsed.

Russia and North Korea have both disputed the allegations.

Quote:Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced Thursday that he is ditching the birthplace of his trillion-dollar company for the warmth of Florida — where he recently snatched up multiple mega-mansions.

Bezos, 59, revealed he was leaving his longtime home of Seattle in a nostalgic Instagram post, paired with a throwback video of his much younger self showing off the original Amazon headquarters that he ran out of his garage.
...
Bezos said he would be leaving the notoriously dreary Northwestern city behind to follow his parents, who also recently made the move to Miami, where the family lived during Bezos’ high school years.

The move is also partially motivated by Blue Origin — his space exploration company — whose “operations are increasingly shifting to Cape Canaveral.”

His fiancée, media personality Lauren Sanchez, 53, will also make the cross-country move.

“I want to be close to my parents, and Lauren and I love Miami,” Bezos wrote.

Quote:The report revealed the United States and its allies have supported the Afghan economy with “cash shipments” averaging $80 million that “arrive in Kabul every 10-14 days” ever since the Taliban takeover and President Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal in 2021. The U.S. has sent over $11 billion in assistance to Afghanistan and Afghan refugees since then.

Sopko quoted U.N. assurances that the money is “placed in designated U.N. accounts in a private bank,” rather than being “deposited in the central bank or provided to the Taliban.”

The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) stressed that the cash deliveries are “carefully monitored, audited, inspected, and vetted in accordance with U.N. financial rules and processes.”

SIGAR did not wade into the argument about the fungibility of foreign aid money that has raged ever since the Biden administration paid a $6 billion ransom to Iran for five hostages. If the U.S. and other governments are spending $3 billion to feed, house, and medicate Afghans, it frees up $3 billion for the irresponsible and malevolent Taliban government to spend on its unsavory priorities.

Also, while humanitarian groups correctly point out that economic instability hurts the poorest residents of Afghanistan, the Taliban is poised to reap benefits from the economy that American taxpayers have spent so much money “stabilizing.”

SIGAR did, however, note that the Taliban has a long history of stealing foreign aid, blocking oppressed minority populations from receiving it, and “siphoning cash from U.N. shipments, or collecting royalties, or charging fees on cash shipments.”

Quote:The FBI and the NYPD raided the home of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ chief fundraiser on Thursday as part of an investigation into alleged illegal funds received from a foreign government.

The mayor had to cancel a White House meeting centered on the current migrant crisis burgeoning in New York City, with sources telling CBS News that he learned of an international probe into “foreign government influence peddling.”

“You probably heard the reports involving one of my campaign staffers, and listen, everyone knows me. I comply with the rules. We’re going to comply with any inquiry, and we will all do that,” Adams said on Thursday. “That is what we do. I have not been contacted by anyone involving this, and I’m just going to continue running this city, the greatest city on the globe.”

Adams’ campaign lawyer said the mayor received no word of an impending raid, which happened early Thursday morning in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

Quote:Russia unleashed a wave of nighttime drone and missile attacks across 10 of Ukraine´s 24 regions, Ukrainian authorities said Friday as they prepare for another winter of infrastructure bombardment by the Kremlin´s forces.

Ukraine´s air force said it intercepted 24 of 38 Shahed drones and one Kh-59 cruise missile launched by Russia.

The attacks caused fires in homes and public buildings, especially in the southern Kherson region which Moscow has increasingly targeted in recent weeks, emergency services said. Authorities reported that two people were injured.
...
Andriy Yermak, the president´s chief of staff, said Russia had expanded the number of drones it uses in its routine nighttime attacks as winter approaches.
...
Laser-guided munitions designed to take out drones are expected to be part of a $425 million package of new U.S. military aid to Ukraine, according to U.S. officials.

The coming wet, muddy and cold weather will likely frustrate both sides´ efforts to advance on the battlefield, compelling a change in military tempo.

Quote:Serbian police said Friday they made seven arrests on suspicion of smuggling people into Hungary as part of a days-long crackdown on irregular migration in the wake of a shooting last week in the border area that killed three migrants and wounded one.

Reports of violence and gun battles have become common near the border between Serbia and Hungary, a European Union member state. Thousands of people have been camping in the area, looking for ways to cross with the help of people smugglers.

Police said Friday they made arrests both in the capital Belgrade and in Subotica, a city near the border with Hungary. Migrants pay 2,350 euros ($2,500) each to cross, said the statement.

Since the shooting last Saturday near the border town of Horgos, police have launched daily raids in the forested area. Late on Thursday, police reported finding a total of 738 migrants, some near the border with Hungary, but others in a town near the border with Bulgaria, in the east. When found, migrants are usually transferred to reception centers throughout the country.

Quote:British Home Secretary Suella Braverman visited Vienna on Thursday to ink a new cooperation agreement on fighting terrorism, illegal migration, and cybercrime. It is claimed the agreement could lead to deeper cooperation on the critical question of mass migration and the removal of arrivals to alternative accommodation in Africa.

The accord comes just days after five Nordic nations signed a major new agreement on cooperation on deportation flights.
...
The new bilateral agreement between the UK and Austria is intended to strengthen police and security services cooperation.
...
This, he said, is an “intensive and necessary exchange of information [and] also a central element of our cooperation agreement”.
...
“Austria is a close ally in tackling illegal migration, and we have already begun sharing knowledge of our actions and strategies such as third country removals. This joint statement is a commitment to work more closely together to achieve our aims, and enhance our cooperation on a wide range of security challenges.”

In addition to what has been agreed already, both countries left the meeting apparently willing to discuss further cooperation. Britain’s Conservative government has spent nearly two years trying to launch a plan to relocate some asylum seekers to Rwanda, whose government the UK would pay to house and feed those deported.

Quote:The German government has announced a ban on pro-Palestinian charity Samidoun as well as activities in support of Hamas, little less than a month after the deadly terror attack against Israel that killed over 1,400.

A network of charities and groups in Germany that are not officially linked to Hamas but nevertheless may be perceived to be close to it, or which campaign for pro-Palestine causes have been banned, the country’s Interior Minister Nancy Faeser announced on Thursday.

...According to German press reports, the ban will clamp down on that, and the government will even seek to deport foreign-citizen supporters of Hamas.

The Minister said of the development: “With Hamas, I have today completely banned the activities of a terrorist organization whose aim is to destroy the state of Israel… There is no place for antisemitism in Germany, and we will fight it with all our might.”

...The Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, one of the German charities impacted by today’s ban was found to have given out cakes in the street demonstrations.  Faeser said, reports Deutsche Welle, that “Holding spontaneous ‘jubilant celebrations’ here in Germany in response to Hamas’s terrible terrorist attacks against Israel demonstrates Samidoun’s antisemitic, inhuman worldview in a particularly sickening way.”

She said of the Samidoun organisation that it: “spreads anti-Israel and anti-Jewish propaganda as an international network under the guise of a ‘solidarity organization’ for prisoners in various countries.”
...
Anyone now supporting the groups is now committing a crime, and the German state can dismantle the organisations and confiscate their assets.

...the ban could lead to riots in the coming nights, with the paper noting: “Palestinian demonstrations have been announced for the coming weekend; Tens of thousands of participants are expected in Berlin alone.”

Quote:The “supreme leader” of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, declared in an address on Wednesday that the common chant of “Death to America” in his country is “not just a slogan – it is a policy,” one his regime intended to bring to fruition.

Khamenei was reportedly delivering remarks on Iranian regime-controlled television regarding the ongoing conflict between the nation of Israel and the Hamas genocidal terrorist organization, which Iran funds to the tune of tens of millions of dollars a year. The Iranian regime has enthusiastically embraced Hamas following its harrowing October 7 terrorist attack against civilians in Israel...
...
On the night of October 7, in response to the news of mass death, the Iranian regime staged a massive street party in the heart of Tehran, featuring free sweets and lemonade, a fireworks display, and loud chants of “Death to Israel” and “Death to America.” Iranian officials have since falsely claimed that Israel as a state has “totally collapsed” and that Hamas’s victims, even the babies, were “not civilians.”
...
Khamenei expanded his hateful remarks against Israel on Wednesday by declaring that, given America’s longstanding support for that country, “Death to America” was a core goal of his regime’s foreign policy.

“The situation between America and Iran is this: When you chant ‘Death to America!’ it is not just a slogan – it is a policy,” Khamenei said, according to a translation by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). “I have stated the reasons previously. For many years, from the 1940s to the 1970s – that is 30 years – the Americans did everything they could do against the Iranian nation.”

“They hit Iran in any way they could – financially, economically, politically, scientifically, and morally,” the elderly despot continued.

“If it were not for America’s support, if it were not for the support of U.S. weapons, the corrupt and artificial Zionist regime [Israel] would have been destroyed in the first week,” Khamenei claimed. “It would have collapsed. The Americans are behind this:”

Quote:A teenage Iranian girl who fell into a coma after she was allegedly assaulted by the country’s morality police for not wearing a headscarf has died, according to Iranian state media.

“Unfortunately, the brain damage led to the victim spending some time in a coma and she died a few minutes ago,” the statement from IRNA said.

Earlier this week, Armita was declared “brain dead” despite the efforts of medical staff to save her.

Armita Geravand, 16, was hospitalized with head injuries following the alleged assault at a Tehran metro station earlier this month, according to activists, just weeks after Iran passed draconian legislation imposing much harsher penalties on women who breach the country’s already strict hijab rules.
...
Hengaw staffer Awyer Shekhi previously told CNN that female morality police officers had approached Geravand near the Shohada metro station and asked her to adjust her hijab.

“This request resulted in an altercation with the morality police officers physically assaulting Geravand. She was pushed, leading to her collapse,” Shekhi said.

Quote:For more than a decade, California Senate hopeful Rep. Adam Schiff has claimed his primary residence is a 3,420 square foot home he owns in Maryland, according to a review of mortgage records.

At the same time, Schiff has for years taken a homeowner’s tax exemption on a much smaller 650 square foot condo he owns in Burbank, California, also claiming that home as his primary residence for a $7,000 reduction off the 1% property tax, amounting to a roughly $70 in annual savings. He did not take an exemption on his home in Maryland.

While Schiff has signed documents asserting both the Maryland property and the significantly smaller Burbank condo as his primary residences, tax records indicate that he paid his California property taxes in 2017 with a check featuring his Maryland address – the only year he paid with a personal check. And a review of past comments, pictures shared on his public social media, and records indicate Schiff makes his full-time home in Maryland.

Schiff is in a competitive primary in California for the Senate seat against Democratic Reps. Katie Porter and Barbara Lee, and his dual residency claims could present a political problem for the congressman. Schiff announced his run in January 2023.

Deed records show Schiff, who was elected to Congress in 2000, designated the Maryland home as his primary residence in 2003. In 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012 Schiff refinanced his mortgage and again indicated it was his primary residence.

"Articles on why Schiff and Laphonza are cheating"

Constitution Annotated's Official Website Wrote:Article I  Legislative Branch
Section 2 House of Representatives
Clause 2 Qualifications

No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

And guess what? Back in October 19th, Butler informed the press that she wouldn't be running to keep representing California...

Newly appointed California Sen. Laphonza Butler says she won’t run to keep the seat in 2024

Quote:Laphonza Butler, a Democrat who was appointed this month to fill the seat of Dianne Feinstein of California, said Thursday that she won’t seek a full Senate term next year.

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Butler ... after Feinstein's death last month at age 90. She was sworn in Oct. 3.

"Knowing you can win a campaign doesn’t always mean you should run a campaign," Butler said in a statement.
...
The New York Times first reported her decision. Butler, who is the third Black woman to serve in the Senate, said she'll finish the rest of Feinstein's term, which ends in January 2025, with "every ounce of energy and effort that I have."

Newsom had said before Feinstein's death that he planned to make an “interim” appointment if he needed to fill her seat, arguing he didn’t want to tip the scales toward any of the current Senate candidates in next year's election, who include Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff, Katie Porter and Barbara Lee.

 Is that all we need to know about this race?
 Well, it seems there's more than meets the eye... Especially ever since October 2nd...

California governor names Maryland resident Laphonza Butler to Feinstein Senate seat

Quote:California Gov. Gavin Newsom has selected Laphonza Butler, a Democratic strategist and adviser to Kamala Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign, to fill the U.S. Senate seat made vacant by the death of Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
...
Newsom spokesman Anthony York said the governor did not ask Butler to commit to staying out of the race. The deadline for candidates to submit paperwork to seek the office is Dec. 8. Should Butler enter the contest, she could set up a competition for the relatively small but influential group of Black voters in California and possibly undercut Lee’s chances.

Emily’s List is known as a fundraising powerhouse, and raising huge sums of campaign cash is a must in any statewide California race. Newsom’s statement said she will step down from the organization.
...
Butler currently lives in Maryland, according to her Emily’s List biography. Izzy Gardon, a spokesman for Newsom, said Butler owns a home in California. She is expected to reregister to vote in California before being sworn in. That could happen as early as Tuesday evening when the Senate returns to session.

Butler said Monday she had accepted Newsom’s nomination to serve “a state I have made my home.”

Thus, we learn that it's not just a matter of Schiff not being elligible in the first place, but Butler herself shouldn't have been sworn in as a California representative at all.

Quote:On Friday, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit overturned an injunction against Illinois’ “assault weapons” ban, deciding that AR-15s are not protected by the Second Amendment.

The preliminary injunction was issued in Barnett v. Raoul by U.S. District Judge Stephen P. McGlynn, a Donald Trump appointee.

McGlynn’s decision was appealed to the Seventh Circuit, where a three-judge panel decided 2 to 1 against the injunction.

The three judges were Ronald Reagan appointee Frank Easterbook, Bill Clinton appointee Diane P. Wood, and Donald Trump appointee Michael P. Brennan.

Easterbrook and Wood constituted the panel majority in overturning the injunction. They noted that Heller (2008) held, “[l]ike most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited.”

They went on to note that in Heller, the Supreme Court of the United States found that machine guns were not protected under the Second Amendment because they were not “bearable” arms, and that is “because they can be dedicated exclusively to military use.”

Easterbrook and Wood then focused on similarities they found between AR-15s and M16s, the latter of which can be fired in full-auto or three-round burst modes.

Quote:A California assemblywoman — endorsed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and running for a hotly contested Los Angeles City Council seat — was arrested early Friday morning on suspicion of drunk driving after crashing her car with a blood alcohol content at “double the legal limit or more,” police said.

State Rep. Wendy Carrillo (D-CA), 43, was arrested after police responded to a report of a driver crashing into two parked cars in Northeast Los Angeles around 1:30 a.m., reported the Los Angeles Times.

A witness who helped Carrillo from her damaged vehicle told ABC7 it was “really clear” she was intoxicated, reporting that he “could smell alcohol.”

“She was slurring her speech. She was very impaired,” the witness recalled to the outlet.

Humiliating footage provided by FOX 11 shows the city council hopeful appearing to lose her balance while attempting to perform a field sobriety test.

Quote:A Marine Corps veteran who served as a politically appointed State Department official in former President Donald Trump’s administration was sentenced on Friday to nearly six years in prison for attacking police officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Federico Klein joined other Trump supporters in one of the most violent episodes of the Jan. 6 siege — a mob’s fight with outnumbered police for control of a tunnel entrance on the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace. Klein repeatedly assaulted officers, urged other rioters to join the fray and tried to stop police from shutting entrance doors, according to federal prosecutors.

Klein “waged a relentless siege on police officers” as he tried to enter the Capitol and stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s electoral victory over Trump, prosecutors said in a court filing.

Klein, who didn’t testify at his trial, declined to address the court before U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden sentenced him to five years and 10 months in prison.

“Your actions on January 6th were shocking and egregious,” the judge told Klein.

McFadden also ordered Klein to pay a $3,000 fine and $2,000 in restitution. He will report to prison at a date to be determined.

Quote:Joseph Humire, executive director of the Center for a Secure Free Society (SFS), asserted that Bolivia is Iran’s “most successful project” in Latin America in an interview published by the Argentine news outlet Infobae on Friday.

Humire warned that, for the past 40 years, Iran has been working to increase its influence in Latin America and has achieved significant success in countries governed by socialists. While there are governments in Latin America that are allied with Iran, he emphasized, the Latin American people are not.
...
“Iran has been working on this project for 40 years, and it has already penetrated deeply into the region. This year they sent a warship, their president, and now they are showing their diplomatic muscle.”

“Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Bolivia are the governments that are doing their work in the region,” Humire observed.

“Iran has been very clear about its objectives ... its obstacle is the United States. In the region it is Israel, but globally it is the United States. And to hinder the United States they have to strengthen their capacity in Latin America,” he continued.

Iran, under the auspices of the socialist governments of strongman Evo Morales (2006-2019) and current President Luis Arce, has managed to deepen its ties with Bolivia in the past decade. Bolivia formally established ties with Iran in 2007 during Morales’ first presidential term.

In July, Bolivia brokered a deal with Iran for the purchase of Iranian drones during an official visit by Bolivian Defense Minister Edmundo Novillo to Tehran. Novillo and Iranian Defense Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani signed an undisclosed memorandum of understanding reportedly on defense and security. Novillo said he hoped his trip to Iran would pave the way for wide-ranging cooperation.
...
Novillo responded by claiming that Iran “is a model for Bolivia to achieve the freedom of nations.”

Arce’s government announced on Tuesday that it had severed all diplomatic ties with Israel. The decision, the Bolivian Foreign Ministry explained, was in response to Israel’s “disproportionate” operation against Hamas following the October 7 terrorist attack and invasion of Israel committed by the Iranian-funded jihadist terrorist group. Bolivia, under Morales, had previously cut ties with Israel in January 2009, also at a time in which Israel was forced to confront the threat Hamas poses against its citizens.

Quote:Mexican authorities in the cartel-controlled state of Zacatecas are trying to downplay the abduction of a Colombian family who are believed to have been taken by gunmen. Through the use of semantics and word games, government officials are hiding the raging cartel violence in Zacatecas.

The abduction took place on October 27, when Jorge Alejandro Garcia Villamil, 44,  his wife Yulieth Andrea Alfonso Alfonso,36, and their children David Alejandro, three, and Mia Garcia Alfonso, six, and their brother Daniel Jose Martinez Alfonso, 11, were in the town of Calera when a group of gunmen took them by force, Mexico’s Reforma first reported. Other versions of the event claim that a group of gunmen took the family from a passenger bus while they were traveling.

Days later, Zacatecas state authorities issued a series of Amber alerts for the children and similar alerts for the adults, asking for information on their whereabouts. However, Zacatecas Secretary of State Rodrigo Reyes Muguerza claimed the information about the abduction was false. Reyes Muguerza tried to play word games to claim they had issued the alerts at the request of the Colombian government, who notified them that the family was reported as missing. According to the politician, the family traveled by bus from Mexico City to Ciudad Juarez and were last seen in Zacatecas.

Quote:Turkey said Saturday it was recalling its ambassador to Israel and breaking off contacts with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in protest at the bloodshed in Gaza.

Ankara announced the decisions on the eve of what promises to be a difficult visit to Turkey by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Palestinian ally Turkey had been mending torn relations with Israel until last month’s start of the Israel-Hamas war.

But its tone hardened against both Israel and its Western supporters — particularly the United States — as the fighting escalated and the death toll among Palestinian civilians soared.

The Turkish foreign ministry said ambassador Sakir Ozkan Torunlar was being recalled for consultations “in view of the unfolding humanitarian tragedy in Gaza caused by the continuing attacks by Israel against civilians, and Israel’s refusal (to accept) a ceasefire”.
...
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan separately told reporters that he held Netanyahu personally responsible for the growing civilian death toll in the Gaza Strip.

“Netanyahu is no longer someone we can talk to. We have written him off,” Turkish media quoted Erdogan as saying.

Israel had earlier withdrawn all diplomats from Turkey and other regional countries as a security precaution.

The Israeli foreign ministry said last weekend it was “re-evaluating” relations with Ankara because of Turkey’s increasingly heated rhetoric about the Israel-Hamas war.

Quote:The Israel Defense Forces accused Hamas terrorists of launching attacks on an evacuation corridor established by Israel to allow civilians in Gaza to flee the conflict.

On Saturday, Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, the Arabic-language spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, announced the opening of an evacuation corridor along the Salah al-Din road so that Palestinian civilians could escape to safety from the fighting against the Islamist Hamas terrorists that Jerusalem is seeking to eradicate from Gaza following the October 7th terror attacks that claimed the lives of over 1,400 people.

However, the IDF claimed that Hamas, which has ruled over the Gaza Strip after taking over the territory in a violent coup in 2007, took advantage of the situation and waged attacks on the evacuation of the very people it claims to protect.

The IDF published footage on social media which it claimed showed Hamas terrorist mortars and anti-tank guided missiles attacking the humanitarian corridor.

The Israel Defence Forces also published audio from a soldier on the ground, who said: “As far as we are concerned, population movement has begun. Wait a minute, I think they fired on us. RPG Fire, we hear an RPG explosion.”

In a statement provided to Breitbart News, the IDF said: “The Hamas terrorist organization exploited the humanitarian window that the IDF provided to residents of the Gaza Strip to move southwards, and the terrorists fired mortars and anti-tank missiles at IDF troops who arrived and operated to open the route.”

No Israeli soldiers were injured during the incident, the IDF said.

Quote:Thousands of anti-Israel activists once again took to the streets of the UK capital, staging sit-in protests in major thoroughfares of London, including Oxford Circus, which was blockaded by demonstrators until it was cleared by the Metropolitan Police. Protesters also ‘occupied’ key transport hubs including the Charing Cross and Waterloo train stations.

At least three protestors were arrested at Piccadilly Circus, including one who was arrested for allegedly displaying a placard that “could incite hatred, contrary to Section 12 of the Terrorism Act,” the Met said. Another was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer, while a third was arrested for allegedly breaching the Public Order Act.
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In another example of radical rhetoric being spouted, pro-Palestine protesters were filmed on a London Underground train chanting: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “There is only one solution, Intifada revolution.” The Met said that it had informed British Transport Police of the incident.

Meanwhile, outrage was sparked as police barricaded the Cenotaph National War Memorial, which also had its flags removed ahead of the protest.

Former Member of the House of Lords, Viscount Matt Ridley said: “As a great-grandson of the architect who designed the Cenotaph, I deeply resent the fact that it has to be fenced off and stripped of flags to appease yet again a baying mob that supports or excuses those who perpetrated a horrific atrocity.”

The Metropolitan Police said that the flags were removed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which they claimed was done annually for cleaning ahead of Armistice Day.

“Is it fenced off for cleaning too? Or might there be another reason?” questioned Reclaim Party leader Laurence Fox.

Quote:Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni presented a constitutional reform bill Friday that would allow voters to directly elect the premier, a move designed to curb chronic political instability.

Meloni’s right-wing government, which has been in office for a year, is Italy’s seventh in the past decade — a fact the premier said should justify the change in the constitution.

“This is the mother of all reforms,” Meloni told journalists after a cabinet meeting introducing the bill, which would fix the office of prime minister at five years and increase its power to govern.

That would favour “the stability of the government and (its) political direction”, said a statement.

Currently, Italian voters choose party lists, with the head of government — who does not necessarily need to be a politician — then chosen according to results and parliamentary alliances.

The government also wants the list linked to the prime minister to be assured of at least 55 percent of seats in parliament “so as to ensure governability”.

Should the prime minister need to be replaced, in case of sickness or death, for example, he or she could only be replaced by a parliamentarian from the majority, and “only for the purpose of continuing the implementation of the same government programme,” said the statement.

Quote:Belarusian authorities on Friday convicted the chief editor of a prominent independent regional newspaper of “discrediting the Republic of Belarus” and sentenced him to four years in prison, as the country continues its crackdown on dissent.

A court in Molodechno, a city in central Belarus, also ordered Aliaksandr Mantsevich, chief editor of the popular Regionalnaya Gazeta newspaper, to pay a fine of 94,000 Belarusian rubles (about $30,000), the Belarusian Association of Journalists reported.

The authorities accused Mantsevich and his newspaper of using content that had been declared extremist – a label loosely applied in recent years to any materials critical of the Belarusian government.
...
The Regionalnaya Gazeta newspaper was being published in Molodechno since 1995 and has remained a popular independent source of news in the central and western parts of Belarus.

Quote:Michigan’s attorney general is calling on fellow Democrat Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) to “retract” the use of a “cruel and hateful” statement she used to sympathize with Palestinians that has a deeper, genocidal background.

“From the river to the sea” is a popular chant used by sympathizers of the antisemitic Islamist militant group Hamas, who want to wipe Israel completely from the map. Tlaib used this phrase Friday in a video posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, in a plea to President Joe Biden to call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) said she had defended the far-left congresswoman “countless times” because she believed her “heart was in the right place,” but asked for a retraction.

“@RashidaTlaib, I have supported and defended you countless times, even when you have said the indefensible, because I believed you to be a good person whose heart was in the right place,” Nessel wrote on X.

“But this is so hurtful to so many. Please retract this cruel and hateful remark.”

Quote:Hunter Biden paid for a mystery international phone line linked to President Joe Biden from 2015-2018, years encompassing the Biden family’s dealings with CEFC China Energy Company, emails from the “Laptop from Hell” show.

House Oversight Committee chair James Comer alleges Joe Biden received two checks as “loan repayments” from his brother, totaling $240,000 dollars from 2017 to 2018. Comer, along with several lawmakers, has accused the Biden family of “laundering” money.

Hunter received nine emails from AT&T over a three-year span about a phone number linked to Joe Biden that ends in 3535, according to emails uncovered by not-for-profit Marco Polo.

The international phone calls were revealed in an AT&T email sent to Hunter’s business account on February 18, 2018:

Dear J BIDEN,

Courtesy Message – We just want to let you know that you have exceeded $300.00 in international data overage charges. Your data service may be interrupted if usage continues.

Hunter Biden told an associate via email on August 31, 2018, that the number was his father’s. The email cc’d Joe Biden’s “Robin Ware” auks@att.blackberry.net email, Joe Biden’s fourth email alias that Breitbart reported in September: “Please have them call my dad ******3535? regarding getting to the North Shores house , apologize profusely for me I thought Hallie was joking- seriously that she wasn’t going to help. I’m in CA.”

Peter Schweizer, Government Accountability Institute president, said in May that he conveyed a phone number linked to Joe Biden to the House Oversight Committee. He said Hunter Biden paid for the number.

Quote:Anchor Kristen Welker said, “Former President Trump who is the GOP frontrunner has said if he is reelected he could end this war in 24 hours. What is your reaction and message to former President Trump about that?”

Speaking through a translator, Zelensky said, “Former President Trump said in 24 hours he can manage it and end this war.

He continued, “For me, what can I say? He’s very welcome. President Biden was here, and he, I think he understood something else which you can understand only being here. I invite, President Trump if he can come here.”

Zelensky added, “I will need 24 minutes not more 24 minutes to explain to President Trump that he can’t manage this war. He can’t bring peace because of Putin. If — but always there is an ‘if.’ If he’s not trying and if he’s not ready to give our territory to this terrible man, to Putin, if you are not ready to give it, if you are not ready to give our independence, he can’t manage it.”

Quote:Ukraine’s newly appointed head of defense industry says he is working tirelessly to ramp up local arms production and wants to turn the country into a weapons production hub for the West.

Oleksandr Kamysyhin, the minister for strategic industries of Ukraine, said that Russia’s invasion of his country and the Israel-Hamas war raging in the Middle East have highlighted the need for countries to spend on their defense systems.

“We’re really focusing on making Ukraine the arsenal of the free world,” Kamyshin told The Associated Press in an interview late Friday.

Kamyshyn said approximately 500 companies in Ukraine’s defense industry are contributing to the country’

...Among those are 70 state-owned factories, over 200 primarily private factories producing unmanned systems, and more than 200 private sector companies involved in the production of various types of weaponry and ammunition.

“We are focused on producing all types of weapons and ammunition, and we show that we can test it on the battlefield and make it better during the war,” Kamyshin said. “That’s something we can contribute to the free world, because as you see, defense industry is becoming more and more important globally.”

Oleksandr Kamyshin was appointed to the post around eight months ago, and is now in charge of 300,000 people employed in Ukraine’s defense industry.

Quote:The Palestinian Hamas terror group tried to smuggle dozens of terrorists in ambulances meant to carry wounded civilians out of Gaza, before the U.S. and Egypt reviewed the list of passengers and stopped the ambulances from going through the border.
...
Hamas tried to sneak its fighters out of the Gaza Strip in ambulances that evacuated dozens of wounded Palestinians to Egypt earlier this week, a senior Biden administration official said Friday.

Hamas had compiled a list of the seriously wounded that it wanted to evacuate from Gaza for treatment in Egypt, along with thousands of foreign nationals looking to flee the enclave.

The list was then vetted by Egypt and the United States, which found that a third of the names on it were of Hamas fighters, the administration official said, adding that the list was rejected and none of the 76 wounded Palestinians who were ultimately evacuated in ambulances out of Gaza were members of the terror group.

It is not clear where the Hamas terrorists would have gone, had they successfully crossed the border into Egypt.

Quote:Police near the Incirlik Air Base in Adana, Turkey, used tear gas and water cannons on Sunday to prevent a pro-Hamas Islamist mob from storming the facility that houses U.S. troops.

The mob was an offshoot of a protest against America and Israel — and in favor of the jihadist terrorist organization Hamas — convened by the Turkish Islamist Group the “IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation.” IHH convened what it called a “Freedom Convoy for Palestine” on Sunday to coincide with, and protest against, a visit by American Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Turkey this weekend.

The head of the IHH, Bulent Yildirim, delivered remarks urging attendees at his event not to attack police, claiming that police officers agreed with his organization’s pro-Hamas sentiment and were limited in what they could do to attack Israel. Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported that Yildirim was also tear-gassed during the mob’s attempts to attack the base.

“Friends, it is wrong to throw rocks or do similar things because both the police and soldiers would want to go to Gaza and fight and they will go when the time comes,” Reuters quoted Yildirim as saying.

Quote:Real Admiral Daniel Hagari of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told reporters in a briefing Sunday that Israel trying to protect civilians in the war but that the Palestinian terror group Hamas was trying to stop civilians from evacuating, and operating from hospitals.

Hagari said that Israel had “prioritized evacuation efforts over other missions.”
...
“Hamas is weak without human shields,” Hagari said. That was why “Hamas is actively stopping civilians from moving to a safer area.

He showed aerial photos of a Hamas roadblock that, he said, had been set up to stop Palestinian civilians from leaving the Jabaliya refugee camp.

In addition, Hagari said, Hamas continued to use hospitals for military purposes. He noted that Israel had previously exposed Hamas’s abuse of the Al Shifa hospital. He then went on to describe Hamas activities at other hospitals.

Hagari played video of IDF soldiers exposing a Hamas tunnel opening next to the Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Hospital, also known as the Qatari hospital, named after the country that funded it. He also said that Hamas terrorists had shot at the IDF from within the hospital, and played a video showing them doing so.

Next, Hagari showed images of another hospital, the Indonesia Hospital, showing the construction of Hamas tunnels underground, and aerial photos showing evidence of rocket launches 75m away.

He also revealed intercepted and recorded phone calls that showed Gaza residents appearing to state that there was no shortage of fuel in the area, and that Hamas was storing it underneath hospitals, while claiming that the hospitals were running out of fuel.

“Hamas moves fuel from the hospitals to terrorists … from Shifa Hospital to Jabaliya … because Jabaliya is a terror center.”

Hagari also played a clip from the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), in which a Hamas spokesman admitted to Russia Today TV on October 27 that it had built tunnels to protect Hamas terrorists from attack, and had not built shelters for civilians.

Quote:Newly-confirmed U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew, who backed many of Barack Obama’s anti-Israel policies, offered conditional support to the Israeli war effort against Hamas terrorists Sunday, saying it should be conducted “in a manner that reflects the values that we share.”

Lew presented his credentials to Israeli President Isaac Herzog after he arrived Friday to fill the vacancy left by former Ambassador Thomas Nides, as the Biden administration pressures Israel for a so-called “humanitarian pause.”

Lew, a highly partisan official infamous for his inability to say “yes” to Republicans during budget negotiations, also defended Obama’s attempt to create distance with Israel, and his disastrous, one-sided nuclear deal with Iran. That deal allowed Iran to emerge as a nuclear power after roughly a decade. Moreover, Lew criticized then-President Donald Trump’s decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem — a decision that led to the Abraham Accords.
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Lew has also been critical of current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who frustrated Obama’s policies.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the idea of a “pause” on Friday, saying that he would only consider it if Hamas released the more than 240 hostages it took during the October 7 terror attack on Israel. The Biden administration has said a “pause” would allow humanitarian aid to reach the Gaza Strip, but aid trucks are already entering southern Gaza from Egypt.

Quote:U.S. Central Command said the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group arrived in the Middle East early Sunday making it part of the CENTCOM area of responsibility.

The U.S.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower and its accompanying elements will join the U.S.S. Ford in the eastern Mediterranean to deter Iran from opening a second front against Israel from Lebanon using the Hezbollah terror group and its rocket arsenal, as Breitbart News reported.

The aircraft carrier strike group had moved through the Strait of Gibraltar earlier this week, putting two American carriers in the Mediterranean Sea, a rare sight in recent years, AP reports.

The Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group is already in the eastern Mediterranean, part of a buildup of forces as the U.S. supports Israel in its war against Hamas terrorists and their backers.

One week ago CNN reported the amphibious assault ship U.S.S. Bataan is also being moved closer to Israel.

Quote:Former President Barack Obama backtracked Friday on his early support for Israel against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, telling an audience at the Obama Foundation Democracy Forum in Chicago that they had pushed him to modify his position.

“I had a conversation with a group of you around this issue, and you were passionate and pushed me around some of the public statements I’d made,” Obama told a group of activists and supporters. He said that all agreed on the desired outcome — ” an end to the killing, peaceful coexistence between two sovereign and free peoples” — but that people disagreed on the way to achieve it.
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Obama had supported Israel “as it dismantles Hamas,” which it is now doing, in Gaza.

On Friday, Obama acknowledged that he had backtracked in response to criticism within his own foundation, and said he was committed to a “two-state solution” and an end to “occupation” — though Israel left Gaza in 2005.

Obama did not make a moral distinction between the Hamas attack and the Israeli response, saying that both were the result of the ongoing failure to reach a solution to the conflict, rather than the result of an unprovoked act of mass murder by terrorists.

He then went on to say that his “democracy forum” would help the world build a better future, in the Middle East and elsewhere.

A day later, on Saturday, Obama said that “all of us are complicit” in the violence in Gaza, putting the various “truths” told by the different sides on an equal plane, and again criticizing the Israeli “occupation” — an occupation that has not existed for decades.

Quote:Trump’s hit at Biden came as he discussed instituting a travel ban that would keep terrorists out, citing the recent wave of pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel protests.

“On day one, I will restore the Trump travel ban on entering from having people that like to blow up our shopping centers and kill our people and do lots of bad things,” the former president said. “Entry from terror-plagued countries, we will not allow people to come in, and we will implement strong ideological screenings for all immigrants. We did that and it was unbelievably successful.”

The former president emphasized that America had no issues with terror attacks during his four-year term, because America’s enemies knew they “cannot mess around.”

“If you hate America, if you want to abolish Israel, if you sympathize with jihadists, and then you don’t want your country to do well, you don’t want your country to be successful … you’re just not going to get in,” he said.
...
“On every policy, from border to energy to immigration to education, crooked Joe Biden always takes the side that helps America’s enemies – every time,” said Trump. “The guy doesn’t have a clue. He helps the enemies. And now we know why, because Joe Biden is corrupt and he’s incompetent and he’s totally compromised.”

Quote:Former President Barack Obama came out swinging in favor of Joe Biden this weekend despite the fact that Democrats have begun to sour on his 2024 candidacy.

In a post on X, Obama shared a video of Joe Biden celebrating the 15-year anniversary of their 2008 victory — the night Barack Obama became the first black president with Joe Biden as his vice president.

“For eight years, [Biden] and I worked to deliver change for the American people. I couldn’t have asked for a better Vice President and friend — and we’ll always be thankful to all the campaign staff and Administration alumni who helped bring that progress to folks across the country. Yes we can. Yes we did,” Obama emphatically declared.
...
Obama’s statement in favor of Joe Biden marks a sharp turn from various members of the Democrat Party who have called for Biden to avoid reelection and pass the torch to the younger generation in fear that he could lose to Donald Trump. As the Hill noted on Sunday:

Former President Obama’s senior adviser David Axelrod on Sunday suggested President Biden drop out of the 2024 presidential race in the wake of a new poll showing the incumbent trailing former President Trump.

Pointing to a New York Times and Siena College poll published Sunday, Axelrod wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter: “It’s very late to change horses; a lot will happen in the next year that no one can predict & Biden’s team says his resolve to run is firm.”

Quote:President Joe Biden pushed “commonsense” gun control Friday outside the gun-free Just-in-Time bowling alley where the Maine shooter opened fire on October 25, 2023.

Breitbart News reported the bowling alley was a gun-free zone, which means it was an area of 100 percent gun control.

As Biden spoke, he omitted any mention of the gun-free zone or that the result of such zones is that law-abiding citizens cannot be armed for self-defense. However, he did push more gun control.

USA Today noted Biden saying, “This is about about common sense – reasonable, responsible measures to protect our children, our families, our communities. Because regardless of our politics, this is about protecting our freedom to go to a bowling alley, restaurant, school, church, without being shot and killed.”

Quote:The last actions by thousands of migrants crossing into Texas from Mexico are evidenced by discarded identity documents and detailed maps to the United States. The maps are provided to the migrants by several international organizations, including the United Nations, Doctors Without Borders, and the International Red Cross.

Breitbart Texas traveled into Mexico to explore the busiest migrant crossing points along the Rio Grande across from Eagle Pass, Texas, on Friday, noting the vast amount of refuse and documents left behind.

Breitbart Texas traveled into Mexico to explore the busiest migrant crossing points along the Rio Grande across from Eagle Pass, Texas, on Friday, noting the vast amount of refuse and documents left behind.

At one landing in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, numerous CBP One Applications were torn and left behind by the migrants who grew tired of waiting in Mexico for an available appointment to be admitted through the nearby Eagle Pass Port of Entry. Rather than wait in Mexico in hopes of being selected for one of 1,400 daily appointments nationwide, the migrants chose to leave the documents behind and ford the Rio Grande.

Among the garbage strewn along the riverbank in Mexico, identity documents left behind by migrants from Colombia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela are signs the migrants want to break all ties with previous countries where they have been granted refuge that may hinder an asylum case.

The migrants are also leaving behind detailed maps provided by several international and Mexican humanitarian organizations that detail specific travel routes to the U.S. Mexico Border from as far away as Panama. One flyer provided to the migrants from “Amigos del Tren”, or “Friends of the Train” in English, provides the location of freight train routes through Mexico covered by Ferromex, the major freight train company in Mexico.

In addition to travel routes, the maps and flyers from Doctors Without Borders, the United Nations, and the International Red Cross also provide addresses and phone numbers for migrant shelters across Mexico and Central America. The flyers offer tips to stay safe and warn of hazards along the migration routes to the U.S./Mexico border.

Quote:An 18-hour hostage situation at the Hamburg Airport ended after police finally were able to arrest a Turkish-speaking man, who had allegedly kidnapped his four-year-old daughter and attempted to flee the country on a flight to Turkey.

Following lengthy negotiations with police, a 35-year-old man identified as “Saleem E.” by the Bild newspaper, surrendered to police and released his daughter, whom he held hostage in a car after breaking through a barrier onto the tarmac of the airport in Hamburg, Germany, causing the cancellation of hundreds of flights and the evacuation of over 3,200 passengers.

Saleem, who reportedly threw at least two flaming Molotov cocktails from his car and fired gunshots into the air, is believed to have kidnapped his daughter Aslihan from her mother following a custody dispute with his ex-wife.

During negotiations with the police, the man had reportedly demanded that he be allowed to fly to Turkey with his daughter.  While the negotiations were conducted in the Turkish language, it is still unclear as to whether Saleem was from Turkey or a German-born member of the large Turkish-heritage diaspora population in the country.

Following his surrender, the Hamburg Police wrote: “The suspect had left the car with his daughter. The man was arrested by the emergency services without resistance. The child appears to be unharmed.”

Police spokeswoman Sandra Levgrün added: “We are now checking to see whether there are possible explosive devices in the car.”

Although the incident is not being treated as an act of terrorism, some said that it highlighted the weakness of security at likely targets such as airports.

German Police Union Vice President Heiko Teggatz told the Welt newspaper: “It is difficult to convey that Christmas markets, for example, are secured with concrete barricades, and our airports, as high-security areas, are neglected by operators.”

Aviation expert Heinrich Großbongardt added: “Hamburg Airport is not safe – and neither are other airports in Germany. Airports have been known as preferred targets for terrorists for decades. There are planes with tens of thousands of litres of kerosene in their stomachs and hundreds of passengers on board.”

Quote:A Jewish woman was stabbed in her home in Lyon, France and had a Swastika engraved on her front door in what police are treating as a potential antisemitic attack.

A 30-year-old woman was hospitalised after suffering two wounds to her abdomen in a suspected stabbing attack at her home in Lyon on Saturday afternoon. She has since been released from hospital after her injuries were deemed to not be life-threatening.

According to the victim, a man wearing dark clothes and a mask rang her doorbell several times “insistently” and stabbed her when she opened the door. A Swastika symbol was later discovered scratched into her door, the local Le Progres newspaper reported.

According to the victim’s lawyer, Maître Stéphane Drai, “the family was known as a family of the Jewish faith”. The woman’s door was also decorated with a mezuzah, a Jewish object of faith often hung outside the entrance of a home.

The public prosecutor’s office in Lyon has opened an investigation into a “possible anti-Semitic motive” in the alleged attempted murder.
...
However, according to police sources speaking to Le Figaro, other potential motives have not been ruled out, with the victim currently being in the process of divorcing her husband, with whom she reportedly is not on good terms.

Another police source told the paper that “it is rare for a knife attack to result in only superficial injuries,” and that the community in which she resides is not known for having a significant Jewish population.

Quote:The Russian military said a Ukrainian missile strike on a shipyard in annexed Crimea had damaged a Russian ship.

The Russian Defense Ministry said late Saturday that Ukrainian forces fired 15 cruise missiles at the Zaliv shipyard in Kerch, a city in the east of the Crimean Peninsula. Air defenses shot down 13 missiles but others hit the shipyard and damaged a vessel, a statement from the ministry said.

The ministry didn’t give details about the ship or the extent of the damage.

The Ukrainian air force commander, Mykola Oleshchuk, said in a statement that at the time of the attack carried out by Ukrainian tactical aviation, “one of the most modern ships of Russia’s Black Sea fleet was at the shipyard – carrier of the Kalibr cruise missiles.” He didn’t say directly, however, that this particular ship was damaged by the strike.

The Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, has been a frequent target since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine 20 months ago. Crimea has served as the key hub supporting the invasion.

Ukraine has increasingly targeted naval facilities in Crimea in recent months. In September, a Ukrainian missile strike on a strategic shipyard in the port city of Sevastopol damaged two Russian ships and wounded 24 people. Later that same month, a missile strike blasted the Crimean headquarters of Russia’s navy in Sevastopol.

Commenting on Saturday’s strike, head of Ukraine’s presidential office Andriy Yermak said in a Telegram post on Sunday morning that “life constantly proves that there won’t be (Russia’s) Black Sea fleet in Crimea.”

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military said a Russian missile strike killed troops and injured civilians in the Zaporizhzhia area late Friday. Details about the attack, reportedly carried out by an Iskander ballistic missile, have not been made public.

Quote:The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) would not confirm that the purported leaked pages from the Nashville shooter’s manifesto were real during a Monday morning phone call.

Breitbart News spoke with TBI communications director Josh Devine, asking him if TBI could confirm the pages were real.

Devine said, “We cannot. We are offering no such confirmation on that.”

We followed with one more question, asking, “Has TBI looked at it and said, ‘We can’t confirm this,’ or is TBI not even going to look at it?”

Devine responded, “We’re aware of the images, yes, but we’re not offering confirmation on their authenticity.”

The images of the purported leaked pages in question were posted to X/Twitter by Steven Crowder and included statements, attributed to Hale, about killing “crackers” with “white privlages [sic].”
...
Several local outlets have corroborated the images published by Crowder. News Channel 5’s Phil Williams attacked the report, calling it a “selective leak of three pages.” The Tennessee Star, owned by former Breitbart contributor Michael Patrick Leahy, says it independently confirmed the images via “[s]sources in the Tennessee General Assembly who were allowed to view the Covenant Killer Manifesto by the Metro Nashville Police Department.”

Quote:Writers and publications within the Beltway appear to have decided that now is the time to push Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu out of office — a goal long cherished by both the Barack Obama and Joe Biden administrations in Washington, DC.

Foreign Affairs was first out of the gate, with three left-of-center Israeli writers writing that Netanyahu must be ousted — not because of his handling of the war, but because, in their view, a “two-state solution” must follow the war, and he cannot deliver it.

(One of the authors is a former chief of staff for former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who was the mastermind behind many of the protests that wracked Israel and divided the Israeli people in the nine months prior to the October 7 attack.)

There may be no Israeli leader, right or left, who is willing or able to “deliver” a “two-state solution” after a terror attack in which the governing power in a neighboring Palestinian entity — and some of its civilians — murdered 1,400 people in cold blood.

Notably, the “two-state solution” does not appear to be as important to regional Arab leaders as it is to career diplomats and pundits. Saudi Arabia even appeared to drop the idea as a condition for peace, in the hopeful weeks before the Hamas attack.

Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal piled on over the weekend. Though typically enamored of elder statesmen, Noonan wrote that Netanyahu had to resign because — in her view — he should not have invaded Gaza, but rather turned the other cheek.

Quote:Former President Donald Trump blasted Scottish windmills while on the stand on Monday in his New York civil fraud case accusing him of overvaluing his properties, including his golf course in Aberdeen, Scotland, which sparked the tirade.

The topic came up as the prosecution was questioning Trump on the value of his golf course in Aberdeen, Scotland.

Kevin Wallace, a lawyer for the New York Attorney General’s office, asked Trump if he had permission for a residential village.

Trump responded, “Yes, it’s the oil capital of Europe.”

That response prompted a rebuke from New York County Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron who called Trump’s response, “Irrelevant.”

According to a Politico reporter in the courtroom, Trump retorted softly, “It is.”

But Trump had an opportunity to rant against the windmills on the property after Wallace asked about them.

“I was not happy,” he said, saying that Scotland built them, not him.

“I’m not a windmill person. And I think I’ve been proven to be right,” Trump continued. “We were fighting the windmills.”

Quote:The president’s refusal to provide the committee with any evidence to support the White House’s previous claim that the $240,000 in checks were “loan repayments” indicates Joe Biden is not “the most transparent administration in history,” as he alleged after assuming office.

“The White House today made clear to us that President Biden is refusing to hand over loan documents for any ‘loans’ he provided to his brother, James Biden,” the committee posted Friday on X.

“We’ve exposed nearly a quarter of a million of dollars that James Biden sent to Joe Biden as ‘loan repayments’ that were funded by laundered China money and influence peddling schemes,” it added. “Is this what ‘the most transparent administration in history’ is supposed to look like?”

Joe Biden received $40,000 in “laundered” CEFC China Energy Co. money in 2017 from the account of his brother, James Biden, and sister-in-law, Sara Biden, in the form of a personal check labeled as a “loan repayment,” according to the committee.

The $40,000 alleged “loan repayment” follows an October 20 disclosure by the committee that Joe Biden received a $200,000 check from James Biden in 2018 — also noted as a loan repayment.

The revelation is the second instance where Joe Biden accepted a personal check from his brother James Biden, a key member of the family business.

Quote:The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) revealed Monday that it had found more terrorist rocket launchers in extremely sensitive civilian settings in Gaza — including a Boy Scout youth center, and a mosque.
...
During activity by a team of soldiers of the 460th Brigade to locate terrorist infrastructure and clear the area, rocket launch pits found by the soldiers in a mosque were destroyed.

In addition, during several activities in the past day, the soldiers found over 50 rockets ready to be launched into Israel from inside a youth movement compound in Northern Gaza.

On Sunday, the IDF released photographs of rocket launchers based in a children’s playground. The goal of the terrorists in using such sites is to dissuade Israel from attacking them — or to reap the public relations benefit if Israel does attack and kill civilians.

Both the deliberate targeting of civilians, and the deliberate use of civilians as human shields in doing so, are war crimes.

Quote:Qatar’s state-owned QatarEnergy corporation announced a massive deal this weekend with the Chinese regime-owned company Sinopec to provide Beijing with 3 million tons of liquified natural gas (LNG) a year for the next 27 years – and a stake in Qatar’s North Field South (NFS) gas project.

The agreement follows a similar, but smaller, deal signed in April that gave the Chinese fossil fuel giant control of a 1.25-percent stake North Field East (NFE), a sprawling natural gas field also currently in development. China also has a concurrent 27-year agreement with Qatar currently in vigor which provides the regime with four million tonnes of LNG annually, beginning in 2022.

QatarEnergy celebrated the new agreement on Sunday as a “testament to the excellent bilaterial relations” Qatar, an Islamist theocracy, enjoys with communist China. The CEO of QatarEnergy and Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, claiming expanding Qatar’s dealings in LNG, a fossil fuel, helped the world move along on the “road to a realistic energy transition” away from fossil fuels and highlighted the corporation’s belief that “the energy transition is one of the most pressing challenges of our time.”

The expansion of the North Field natural gas projects is believed to contain “the world’s biggest natural gas reserves and extends under the Gulf into Iranian territory,” the Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported on Sunday.

Qatar is home to one of the world’s largest LNG reserves and is one of the world’s most prolific exporters of the fossil fuel. While China is the world’s second-largest economy and a manufacturing powerhouse, it lacks significant reserves of natural gas, coal, or crude oil, forcing it to rely on allied states.

Quote:Alina Habba, the attorney for former President Donald Trump, blasted Judge Arthur Engoron for telling her to "sit down" and said that "I'm not here to hear what he has to say" during the former president's testimony in the civil fraud trial out of New York.

"Why exactly am I being paid as an attorney, and why exactly are taxpayer dollars being used in this courtroom? The answer is very clear. Because Ms. [Letitia] James wants to stand right here like she did this morning and call my client a liar. Call the company fraudulent. And make a name for herself," Habba said outside of the courthouse on Monday.

Trump took the witness stand in the $250 million civil lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Engoron was short with the former president to the point of shouting at Trump's defense attorneys to remain seated after they began responding to Engoron's complaints that Trump was giving "speeches" instead of answering questions appropriately.

"Mr. [Chris] Kise, can you control your client? This is not a political rally," Engoron said.

At one point, Trump said, unprompted into the microphone, "This is a very unfair trial. Very, very, and I hope the public is watching."

Habba echoed her client, railed against Engoron for telling her to be silent, and said that "everyone has a right in this country to get up and put a defense."
...
Habba went on to criticize James for speaking ahead of the trial on Monday and calling Trump a "bully." James told reporters that "before [Trump] takes the stand, I am certain that he will engage in name-calling and taunts and race-baiting and call this a witch hunt."

"Ms. James, you taunted him. Before you came into office, before you saw one record, one statement of financial condition, you taunted him," Habba said. "You said his administration was too male and too pale. Those are her words."

Quote:Texans voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to approve Proposition 7, a $10 billion measure that will create a state energy fund and incentivize new natural gas production in an effort to build out the state's grid capacity and protect against future blackouts.

The $10 billion energy-focused initiative was one of the 14 initiatives on the ballot on Tuesday and is meant to bolster the state’s aging power grid, primarily through investing in new natural gas-fired generation.

Proposition 7 s meant to build out 10 megawatts of natural gas plants in the state, enough to power roughly 2 million homes.

Under the program, qualifying developers will be eligible for a 3% interest rate loan from the state to build out thermal energy plants. Additional state subsidies created by the measure cover up to 10% of their project costs, so long as the plants are built in compliance with certain state deadlines.

The loan distribution will be overseen by the Texas Public Utility Commission, making it the preferred lender for gas power developers in the state and allowing the body to operate like a bank.

It also invests a smaller $1.8 billion for the creation of microgrids, or small-scale “backup” power programs that would keep the lights on for systems serving critical facilities, such as hospitals, schools, and fire stations, in the event of a supply shortage.

Quote:A Chicago-area Apple Store was sacked Monday as the nationwide crash-and-grab trend continues to wreak havoc on retailers.

The incident occurred at about 6 a.m. when authorities responded to a call that a vehicle had slammed into a Naperville Apple Store, according to a report.

Identified as a beige Hyundai Elantra, the car carried at least three people who quickly entered the store and pillaged the product.

They then fled the scene with an unconfirmed number of electronics in a dark SUV, according to the report.

Quote:Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson cast the tiebreaking vote against the censure of Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, the 35th Ward Chicago City Council alderman, after a confrontation with 27th Alderwoman Emma Mitts.

The council was split 24-24 on whether to punish Ramirez-Rosa before the Democratic mayor’s vote.

Ramirez-Rosa, the mayor's floor leader, announced on Monday he was stepping down from his leadership role following an incident last week during a regular City Council meeting when Ramirez-Rosa used his body to block Mitts from entering the chambers minutes before a procedural vote on the proposal regarding Chicago's sanctuary city status.

Ramirez-Rosa was opposed to putting the city’s sanctuary status, which has been in place for over three decades, as a referendum on the ballot next March.

Ald. Raymond Lopez accused Ramirez-Rosa of trying to “physically block her” from entering the chamber. Five Latino aldermen, including Lopez, issued a statement over the weekend, calling on Johnson to demand Ramirez-Rosa resign as floor leader and as City Council Zoning Committee chairman. The Chicago Aldermanic Black Caucus also called for Ramirez-Rosa's resignation from both leadership roles.

Mitts voted against the censure measure and gave her first remarks on the incident Tuesday evening, which she said left her shaking.

“Thank you, you did apologize this morning to me, the first time we talked," she said to Ramirez-Rosa, according to ABC 7, telling him that “actions always speak louder than words.”

Things are getting uglier and uglier by the day

Portugal’s Socialist Prime Minister Resigns Amid Corruption Probe

Quote:Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa said Tuesday he is resigning after being involved in a widespread corruption probe.

Costa said in a nationally televised address that “in these circumstances, obviously, I have presented my resignation to the president of the republic.”

Costa’s shocking announcement came hours after Portuguese police arrested his chief of staff while raiding several public buildings and other properties as part of a widespread corruption probe.

The Supreme Court, the state prosecutor’s office said, was also examining the suspects’ “use of the prime minister’s name and his involvement to unlock” the practices being probed.

The 62-year-old Costa, Portugal’s Socialist leader since 2015, defended his innocence and teared up while thanking his family for their support through the years.

Top Aid to Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Dies After Grenade Given as Birthday Gift Exploded

Quote:A top aide to the commander of Ukraine’s military was killed by a grenade given to him as a birthday gift and not in a targeted attack, the interior minister said.

Maj. Hennadii Chastiakov died in the tragic accident Monday that badly injured his 13-year-old son, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram.

A colleague presented six new grenades as a gift to Chastiakov, who was a top aide and close friend to Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, for his 39th birthday, Klymenko said.

Chastiakov was showing off the grenades to his family at home when his son took one and began twisting the ring.

“The serviceman then took the grenade from the child and pulled the ring, leading to a tragic explosion,” Klymenko said.

Police are investigating the incident in the village of Chaiky in the Kyiv region.

The officer’s death was the second fatal tragedy in less than a week for Ukraine’s military.

 Why on earth would you let a kiddo get access to a grenade in the first place?

NATO Withdraws from Cold War-Era Security Treaty After Russian Exit

Quote:NATO on Tuesday announced the formal suspension of a key Cold War-era security treaty in response to Russia’s pullout from the deal just hours earlier. The alliance also said its members who signed the treaty are now freezing their participation in the pact.

Most of NATO’s 31 allies have signed the Treaty of Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, which was aimed at preventing Cold War rivals from massing forces at or near mutual borders. It was signed in November 1990, but not fully ratified until two years later.

NATO said its action was required because “a situation whereby Allied State Parties abide by the Treaty, while Russia does not, would be unsustainable.”

Earlier in the day, Moscow said it had finalized its withdrawal from the treaty, also known as CFE. The long-expected move came after both houses of the Russian parliament approved a bill proposed by President Vladimir Putin denouncing the CFE. Putin signed that bill it into force in May this year.

The treaty was one of several major Cold War-era treaties involving Russia and the United States that ceased to be in force in recent years. Russia suspended its participation in 2007, and in 2015 announced its intention to completely withdraw from the agreement.

Elderly British Army Veteran Poppy Seller Punched, Kicked by pro-Palestinian Protesters

Quote:An elderly British army veteran poppy seller said he was punched and kicked as he left Edinburgh Waverley station over the weekend as pro-Palestinian protesters converged for a huge sit-in.

Jim Henderson, 78, was selling poppies in the station ahead of Remembrance Day when he decided to leave because of the large crowds.

Henderson, who served with the army in Northern Ireland as part of the Royal Corps of Signals, 32 Signal Regiment, said he was set upon as he left, an act which has already attacked criticism.

“I was getting shoved backwards, in danger of falling, and one of them stood on my foot and split my toe,” he told Mail Online. “So I thought I had got to get the money out of here.

“So I went down, and as I bent down someone punched me in the back.

“And then I got another punch in my side.”

He said three members of railway staff ultimately came to his rescue and shoved the attackers away.

Henderson added: “I’ve never known anything like it. Chanting. Saying it’s all about the British government.”

London’s Met Police Beg Pro-Palestine Protesters to ‘Reconsider’ Demo on Armistice Day

Quote:While other European nations such as France and Germany have banned some pro-Palestinian protests in light of Islamic terrorism and rising antisemitism across the continent, the Tory government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has refrained from doing so, even as the nation prepares to mourn the fallen soldiers who died protecting Britain.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman has been critical of the plans to hold an anti-Israel rally in the British capital and warned that “if anyone were to vandalise the Cenotaph, they must be put into a jail cell faster than their feet can touch the ground”. However, she ultimately left the decision up to London’s Metropolitan Police.

In a statement released on Monday afternoon, the Met’s Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said: “The risk of violence and disorder linked to breakaway groups is growing.

“This is of concern ahead of a significant and busy weekend in the capital. Our message to organisers is clear: Please, we ask you to urgently reconsider.

“It is not appropriate to hold any protests in London this weekend.”

 Seriously, Home Secretary? Now you think it's appropriate to degrade yourself by simply begging those criminals to march in protest of the Western world any other day?

German Chancellor, Governors Agree to Migration Curbs, Extension of Border Controls

Quote:New, stricter measures to curb the high number of migrants coming to Germany were agreed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the 16 state governors in the early hours of Tuesday, reaching a compromise on an issue that has become a huge political problem for the government and a hot-button topic in society.

The new measures include speeding up asylum procedures, benefit restrictions for asylum seekers and more financial aid from the federal government for the states and local communities dealing with the influx.

Speaking early Tuesday after an overnight meeting that lasted several hours, Scholz called the agreement “a historical moment” – a remark that showed how much of a burden the topic had become for the government.

Shelters for migrants and refugees have been filling up in Germany for months, and Scholz, who faces enormous pressure from the opposition and elsewhere to halt that trend, has said that “too many are coming.”

The number of new asylum applications for the year to date was around 73% higher at the end of September than in the same period last year, official statistics show.

Germany has also taken in more than 1 million Ukrainians arrive since the start of Russia’s war in their homeland.

 Meanwhile, the southern US border remains open, even for Hamas, Hezbollah and Taliban terrorists, Mexican drug dealers and hitmen, and Chinese spies.  Thank the Biden administration for that.

Record 32,000 Illegal Boat Migrants Arrive on Spain’s Canary Islands

Quote:Spain’s Canary Islands have set a new record for the number of irregular arrivals to the archipelago, with more than 32,000 migrants making the treacherous boat journey on the Atlantic Ocean to the European Union territory this year. Most migrants are leaving from Senegal.

The islands, located near the African continent, have been used for decades as a stepping stone to Europe. Though the majority of arrivals are from Senegal, there are also boats departing from Gambia, Mauritania, Morocco and the Western Sahara.

According to an Associated Press tally of figures released by Spain’s Interior Ministry and local emergency services, at least 32,029 people landed there from Jan. 1 to Nov. 5 – exceeding the notorious migration crisis of 2006, when 31,678 migrants disembarked in the Canaries.

Smugglers in Senegal pack young people looking for better opportunities in Europe into old artisanal fishing boats. The journey from Senegal to the Canaries usually takes a week of difficult upwind sailing for around 1,600 km (1,000 miles).

Migrant boats frequently shipwreck or disappear in the Atlantic.

Quote:The Associated Press (AP) issued a statement Thursday in response to serious allegations against freelancers who contributed to AP’s coverage of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration is demanding answers from several prominent news agencies after criticism emerged of their photographers and their links to Hamas on the day of its barbaric attack.

As Breitbart News reported Wednesday, AP said that it had no foreknowledge of the attack, even though its photographers appeared alongside Hamas terrorists from the first moments they broke through the Gaza border fence.
...
Israel’s Government Press Office (GPO), which regulates press access in Israel, has also issued a statement demanding explanations surrounding media coverage on the day.

GPO Director Nitzan Chen specifically called on the bureau chiefs of AP, Reuters, CNN and the New York Times to explain their links to the contributors as footage emerges of the alleged involvement on the day of Hassan Eslaiah.

As Joel Pollak reported for Breitbart News, news agencies have faced criticism in recent years for using photographers or local “stringers” who have sympathy for anti-Israel terrorist groups.

Often, these are the only photographers that groups like Hamas and Hezbollah will permit to work in the area.

Quote:An investigation has been launched and Police Community Support Officers have been tasked with protecting the Cenotaph in Rochdale after the memorial for British veterans was vandalised with “Free Palestine” graffiti.

A spokesman for Rochdale Borough Council said per Sky News: “On the afternoon of Tuesday 7 November graffiti was sprayed on the Cenotaph. This is totally unacceptable and is also being investigated by police.

“The graffiti will be removed as soon as we are able to.
...
The act of vandalism followed a separate incident after two teenagers — who have not been named for legal reasons — were charged with intentionally or recklessly causing a public nuisance at the Cenotaph.

The incidents in Rochdale come as the United Kingdom is preparing to celebrate Armistice Day, the European equivalent of Veterans Day in America. Controversy has arisen over plans to hold a large-scale pro-Palestine protest on Saturday in London, which many have described as disrespectful to the nation’s fallen and veterans on a day which is meant to be a non-political act of remembrance and support for peace.

Quote:German police said Thursday that a 15-year-old student had been shot dead at a special education school in the southwestern town of Offenburg.

The suspected shooter, another 15-year-old student at the school, was detained during a large-scale police operation.

He was remanded in custody on suspicion of manslaughter, police and prosecutors said.

The attack is said to have taken place in the suspect's 9th grade class, Germany's dpa news agency reported.

"The police are on site with strong forces," local authorities said in a statement. "There is no further danger."

At the time of the shooting, 180 students were evacuated from the premises and picked up by their parents.

According to the investigators, the attacker is said to have entered a classroom at lunchtime, approached the classmate sitting inside and opened fire with a handgun. The victim later died of the wound in hospital.

Police and prosecutors believe the suspect acted alone and said initial findings revealed a previous relationship between the alleged perpetrator and victim.

Several articles on the Tyrant you love to hate, including alleged war crimes

As the West courts Russia’s neighbors, Putin shows he won’t give up its backyard without a fight

Quote:Russia signaled this week that it will not take Western efforts to build ties with Central Asia lying down, with Moscow conducting its own diplomatic push in the region traditionally seen as its own “backyard.”

Keen to maintain Russia’s dwindling sphere of influence in the region, Russian President Vladimir Putin is in Kazakhstan Thursday, making his presence felt a week after French president Emmanuel Macron visited the oil- and mineral-rich country, and its neighbor Uzbekistan.

On Thursday, Putin will meet the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Talks are aimed at “the further development of Russian-Kazakh relations, prospects for further interaction within “the Eurasian space, as well as current regional and international problems,” the Kremlin said.

Russia wants to maintain its foothold in Central Asia — a region comprised of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — amid growing economic competition from China, and rising geopolitical interest from the West, much to Russia’s growing disdain and disapproval.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently disparaged the West’s charm offensive in Central Asia —after a number of high-profile meetings between Central Asian leaders and their U.S. and European counterparts this summer — accusing the West of “luring” Russia’s “neighbours, friends and allies” away from it.

Putin, meanwhile, said ahead of his Kazakh trip that a number of countries are acting in a way that is “directly aimed” at weakening power in the post-Soviet space and urged members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) — a regional intergovernmental organization made up of Russia and other former Soviet republics — to beef up their collective security.

Putin’s Move to Secure Libya Bases Is New Regional Worry for US

Quote:Russia is moving to expand its military presence in eastern Libya, a plan that could lead to a naval base, giving it a significant foothold on Europe’s southern doorstep.

A defense accord is being hammered out between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Libya’s eastern military commander Khalifa Haftar following their meeting in Moscow in late September, according to people briefed on the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive issues.

The escalation of Russian activity in Libya represents a fresh challenge to the US and its European allies, which are already locked in a standoff with the Kremlin over its invasion of Ukraine and the country’s potential role in any wider Middle East conflict stemming from the Israel-Hamas war. Russia has been heavily active in neighboring Syria throughout that country’s decade-long civil war.

The threat is being taken “very seriously” by the US administration, said Jonathan Winer, a former US special envoy to Libya. “Keeping Russia out of the Mediterranean has been a key strategic objective — if Russia gets ports there, that gives it the ability to spy on all of the European Union.”

Russia has had a covert presence in the North African oil exporter for several years via the Wagner mercenary group, which moved in during the power vacuum and civil war that followed the NATO-backed removal of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011...

The groundwork done by Wagner to advance the Kremlin’s interests in Africa and the Middle East has allowed Moscow to quickly ramp up its foreign military assets. It’s also seeking a naval base on the Red Sea in Sudan, which would give it permanent access to the Suez Canal, Indian Ocean and Arabian Peninsula, though a civil conflict in that country may put back those plans.

Libya is divided between dueling administrations in the western capital, Tripoli, and the east, where Haftar holds sway. It’s common for each side to oppose foreign policies and other decisions made by its rival.

Haftar, 79, controls many of the major oil facilities in Libya, an OPEC producer that’s home to some 40% of Africa’s reserves. He’s looking for air-defense systems to protect him against rival forces in Tripoli, who have been backed by Turkey’s military, according to people close to his self-styled Libyan National Army.

Russia's Putin to stay in power past 2024, sources say

Quote:Vladimir Putin has decided to run in the March presidential election, a move that will keep him in power until least 2030, as the Kremlin chief feels he must steer Russia through the most perilous period in decades, six sources told Reuters.

After defusing an armed mutiny by the leader of the Wagner mercenary group in June, Putin has moved to shore up support among his core base in the security forces, the armed forces and with regional voters outside Moscow, while Wagner has been brought firmly to heel.

Russian defence, weapons and overall budget spending has soared while Putin has made numerous public appearances, including the regions, over recent months.

"The decision has been made - he will run," said one of the sources who has knowledge of the planning.

Another source, also acquainted with the Kremlin's thinking, confirmed that a decision has been made and that Putin's advisers were preparing for his participation. Three other sources said the decision to run in the March 2024 presidential election had been taken.

The sources spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of Kremlin politics.

One of them said a choreographed hint was due to come within a few weeks, confirming a Kommersant newspaper report last month.
...
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had not yet commented on the issue, adding: "The campaign has not been officially announced yet."

Yeah, the part that worries me sick is the "yet" part indeed.

How Russia is recruiting Wagner fighters to continue war in Ukraine

Quote:The Kremlin is moving to absorb former Wagner soldiers into Russia’s military structures as it seeks to take control of battle-tested fighters for its war in Ukraine more than two months after the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the mercenary group’s founder.
...
Weeks after Prigozhin’s death, Putin met Andrei Troshev, a former senior Wagner commander, to discuss how its fighting force could be used in Ukraine. After the meeting, the Kremlin said that Troshev had signed a contract with the defence ministry.

But the regular army is only one of many pathways open to former Wagner soldiers, with Russia’s national guard, known as Rosgvardia, and several state-linked private military groups also poaching Wagner veterans.

The Guardian found that Rosgvardia, a militarised force separate from the army that answers directly to Putin, started to recruit Wagner fighters earlier this month for deployment in Ukraine. Using a Russian phone number, the Guardian called several former Wagner recruitment centres saying, if asked, they were inquiring about recruitment possibilities.

“We are urgently looking for new people this month. You will fight as Wagner but the contracts will be signed with Rosgvardia,” said Andrei Bulgakov, a veteran Wagner soldier who led the group’s office in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk.

Bulgakov said the Wagner formation at Rosgvardia would be commanded by Prigozhin’s son Pavel, who is little known. “Pavel Yevgenyevich is now in charge,” Bulgakov said, using Pavel’s patronymic as a sign of respect.

Wagner recruiters in Moscow and Volgograd gave similar details about Pavel’s role in the Rosgvardia recruitment process. Not much is known about Pavel Prigozhin, 25, who once featured, along with his sister, Polina, in a 2004 children’s book written by the future warlord.

Ukrainian Prisoners of War being sent to fight their own army, Russian news claims

Quote:Russia is sending Ukrainian prisoners of war to the frontlines of their homeland to fight on Moscow’s side in the war, the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti has reported.

Video from RIA Novosti released on Tuesday showed the Ukrainians swearing allegiance to Russia, holding rifles and dressed in military fatigues to fight in a battalion named for medieval nobleman Bogdan Khmelnitsky, seen as a national hero in Russia for bringing parts of Ukraine under Moscow’s control in the 15th century.

The news agency said the battalion entered service last month.

Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 623

The Associated Press could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the report or videos released by the news agency, or whether the PoWs were coerced into their actions.

Both Ukrainian military and human rights officials as well as the Russian defence ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Experts say such actions would be an apparent violation of the Geneva conventions relating to the treatment of PoWs, which forbids them from being exposed to combat or from working in unhealthy or dangerous conditions – coerced or not.

Quote:A former top prosecutor for the city of Baltimore was convicted on Thursday of charges that she lied about the finances of a side business to improperly access retirement funds during the pandemic, using the money to buy two Florida homes.

A federal jury convicted former Baltimore state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby of two counts of perjury after a trial that started Monday.

Mosby served two terms as state’s attorney for Baltimore. A federal grand jury indicted her on perjury charges before a Democratic primary challenger defeated her last year.
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Mosby gained a national profile for prosecuting Baltimore police officers after Freddie Gray, a Black man, died in police custody in 2015, which was Mosby’s first year in office. His death led to riots and protests in the city. None of the officers were convicted.

Mosby declined to testify before her attorneys rested their case on Wednesday. After the verdict, she said, “I’m blessed. I don’t know what else to say,” as she left the courthouse and entered a waiting car.

Mosby also faces separate charges of mortgage fraud. A trial date for those charges hasn’t been set.

In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, Mosby withdrew $90,000 from Baltimore's deferred compensation plan. She received her full salary, about $250,000 that year.

Quote:House Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday told New York City that if it wanted federal money to help house migrants amid the ongoing crisis there, it would have to axe its sanctuary city status.

In an interview with The New York Post, Johnson expressed confidence that House Republicans would require the heavily Democrat city to get rid of its policies that restrict police from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to deport migrants accused of committing crimes.
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Johnson's comments come following a request from the Biden administration for $1.4 billion in funding for state and local governments across the country to fund the care of migrants released into the U.S.

However, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and four other big-city mayors have rejected that amount, and instead asked for $5 billion in funding relief.

Johnson also blasted Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as "one of the worst cabinet secretaries in the history of the United States," and said his job performance in the role was "inexcusable."

"President Biden can’t help his age. In some ways, he’s not able to control what happens with the economy that they’ve created. But you could change the border policies overnight, and they are unwilling to do it," he said.

Quote:Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is accusing the West Thursday of being "too weak to even call for a cease-fire" in the Israel-Hamas war, a report says.

Erdogan, who previously has called Israel a "war criminal" for its military actions against Hamas, made the comment during a meeting of the 10-member Economic Cooperation Organization in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, according to The Associated Press.

Erdogan said Western nations and organizations are observing these "massacres by Israel" from afar but are "too weak to even call for a cease-fire, let alone criticize child murderers."

Quote:The Economic Cooperation Organization consists of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Erdogan ripped the West on the same day the White House announced the Israeli military has agreed to honor four-hour daily pauses in fighting to allow humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the new Israeli policy began "today."