Quote:Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) accused New York City officials of attempting to register to vote newly arrived border crossers and illegal aliens living in city-contracted shelters, during a press conference Sunday.

Malliotakis said New York City officials required contractors, those tasked with running the city’s widespread migrant shelter system, to hand out voter registration pamphlets and help migrants register to vote.

“We believe this is the smoking gun that proves what we’ve been saying all along — that the city intends to register non-citizens to vote,” Malliotakis said.

The accusation comes as Malliotakis received documents related to a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request that detailed a contract between New York City and Homes for the Homeless, just one of the many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) being paid to care for border crossers and illegal aliens.

Quote:“I want to know the names of every single person who may have taken Jeffrey Epstein’s private plane and participated in his human trafficking ring. RT if you do too,” she added on Monday.

Durbin’s denial occurred, notably, after Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee opted to launch an attack on the Supreme Court, taking an unprecedented step by voting to subpoena private citizens as part of their overarching effort of “reverse court-packing,” targeting both Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas.
...
The vote occurred on Thursday as Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee made history, opting to subpoena Harlan Crow and Leonard Leo, friends of conservative Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. This might mark the first time the committee has voted to subpoena a private citizen detached from legislative debate, doing so as part of their overarching effort to target conservative justices.

Both chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) have led the effort, and as Breitbart News reported, they are hoping to access 25 years of travel and financial records. However, these subpoenas come although the Senate Judiciary Committee has already voted a SCOTUS ethics code bill out of committee. Therefore, the committee’s legislative work is essentially finished, and there is no need for additional documents.

Quote:A toaster placed under an electric vehicle by its owner to warm up its battery likely caused a fire that destroyed the car and damaged a nearby house in southern Denmark, police said Monday.

Police said that they “strongly discourage” people to use that method to heat power cells.

“The cause of the fire is most likely to be found in the toaster that the owner of the car had placed under the front of his car to keep the battery warm,” police said in a daily report.

The fire happened on Saturday in Stenlille, about 60 kilometers (nearly 40 miles) southwest of Copenhagen. No one was injured.

Quote:Amid growing concerns about Ukraine’s ability to continue the fight against the much larger Russian military and failures to recapture any meaningful amount of territory from Moscow’s army, there are growing whispers in the halls of power in the West about the ex-Soviet state’s prospects in battling back its former master.

The latest to publicly express concern was NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, who told German broadcaster ARD as translated by POLITICO that the West should “be prepared for bad news,” without elaborating on exactly what he believes may befall the war-torn country next.

The comments from the Norwegian politician came as the Kremlin announced that President Vladimir Putin had ordered the addition of 170,000 extra troops to the Russian Armed Forces, in a move that would take the total strength of the army to over 1.3 million.

Last month, reports emerged from Washington that U.S. officials have quietly begun pressuring Kyiv to come to the negotiating table with Moscow, expressing concerns over the ability to draft more men into the fight. One unnamed American defence official told NBC News that “manpower is at the top of the administration’s concerns right now,” noting that further armed shipments would be irrelevant if Ukraine does not “have competent forces to use them.”

Quote:Human rights lawyers went to court in the Netherlands on Monday to call for a halt to the export of fighter jet parts to Israel that could be used in attacks on Gaza.

The organizations allege that delivery of parts for F-35 jets makes the Netherlands complicit in possible war crimes being committed by Israel in its war with Hamas.

The civil case in The Hague opened as the Israeli military renewed calls for mass evacuations from the southern town of Khan Younis, where tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought refuge in recent weeks, as it widened its ground offensive and bombarded targets across the Gaza Strip.

The rights lawyers want The Hague District Court to issue an injunction banning the exports of F-35 parts that are stored in a warehouse in the town of Woensdrecht.
...
Citing government documents, Zegveld said that Dutch customs asked the government if it wanted to continue exports after the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas that triggered the Israel-Hamas war.

“The warning that the fighter jets can contribute to serious breaches of the laws of war does not, for the (Dutch) state, outweigh its economic interests and diplomatic reputation.”

Government lawyer Reimer Veldhuis urged the court’s single judge to reject the injunction, saying that even if it were to uphold the rights lawyers’ legal arguments and ban exports, “the United States would deliver these parts to Israel from another place.”

He added that Israel has the right to self-defense.

Quote:During his speech, [U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick] Durbin [D-IL] condemned Republicans’ attempt to attach punitive border policies to essential national security emergency funds for Ukraine, Israel, the Indo-Pacific, and humanitarian crises.

“I'm a person who believes in immigration.  My mother was an immigrant to this country, and I'm proud to be in the Senate [as a] first-generation American representing the great state of Illinois.  But I understand the overwhelming numbers [that] we are facing at the border, and President Biden is facing—[I would] really argue for us to take a hard look at the way we approach this,” Durbin said.  “It's hard to explain [that] in the United States of America, a nation of immigrants, why immigration is such a hot, controversial topic.”

Durbin noted that the U.S. military is experiencing low levels of recruitment, which have become a grave threat to our national security.  Durbin argued in his speech that we are also in desperate need of workers to fill key jobs in industries like health care and agriculture, which can be filled by immigrants.

“Do you know what the recruiting numbers are at the Army, Navy, and the Air Force?  They can't reach their quotas each month.  They can't find enough people to join our military forces.  And there are those who are undocumented who want the chance to serve and risk their lives for this country.  Should we give them a chance?  I think we should.  In my state of Illinois, in Chicago, [and] in the rural areas downstate, we're holding our breath hoping that we can keep hospitals open.  You know why?  We don't have enough medical personnel.  And yet there are people all around this world who have medical credentials as doctors and nurses and skilled technicians who want to come to the United States, but we don't give them the chance,” Durbin continued

Quote:The suspect arrested in the vicious stabbing in Paris that left a German national dead and two others injured steps from the Eiffel Tower was released from prison in 2020 after plotting an Islamic terror attack, according to France's interior minister.

Speaking to reporters late Saturday, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the arrested suspect, a French citizen in his mid-20s, was distraught over how "many Muslims are dying in Afghanistan and in Palestine," claiming that France was an accomplice, according to reports by The Associated Press and Politico.

Darmanin said the accused attacker apparently cried "Allahu Akbar" (God is great), according to the AP.

French President Emmanuel Macron swiftly condemned Saturday's incident as "a terrorist attack."

The suspect previously served four years in jail for plotting another attack in 2016.

Born in Neuilly-Sur-Seine, a Paris suburb, the accused attacker was released from prison in 2020, was under surveillance and undergoing psychiatric treatment, and was most recently living with his parents in the Essonne region, south of Paris, Darmanin said. "This person was ready to kill others," Darmanin told reporters.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock described the incident as a "suspected Islamist attack."

Quote:A judge has ruled an extremely tight election between Republicans and Democrats for a Louisiana parish sheriff is void because of voter fraud.

The race to become Caddo Parish sheriff was closely fought between Democrat Henry Whitehorn and Republican John Nickelson. In November, a recount was ordered after Whitehorn won by just one vote in an election that saw over 43,000 ballots cast. The recount found three additional votes for each candidate and Whitehorn was declared the winner.

Both Nickelson and Whitehorn have been approached for comment by Newsweek.

Nickelson filed a lawsuit and retired Louisiana Supreme Court Justice E. Joseph Bleich declared the result void on Tuesday. Nickelson's suit said the count was done too quickly and could not be accurate, while ballots cast by people twice through mail-in and in-person ballots were discovered, NBC affiliate KTAL reported. Bleich was assigned to the case after four judges recused themselves due to their friendships with Nickelson.

In all, Bleich said that two people voted twice, five mail-in ballots should not have been counted for failure to comply with the law, and there were a further four invalid votes by interdicted persons who were unqualified voters.

'Half-Asleep' Bears Are Roaming Around Russia

Quote:Warm November temperatures disrupted the sleep schedule of male brown bears in Siberia.

Some of the animals are even wandering around the Amur Region in Russia in a "half-asleep" state, as they've adequately prepared for hibernation but have yet to enter their season-long sleep because of unnatural environmental conditions.

The Department for the Protection of Wildlife of the Amur Region said that abnormally high temperatures in October and November caused the interruption. October temperatures exceeded the average by up to 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

The heightened temperatures are delaying the bears' hibernation, the department said in a translated Telegram post on November 20, as is melting snow, which causes wet dens that are unappealing to the bears.
...
Bears suppress their metabolism during hibernation, although they can continue daytime activity in the early winter months by elevating metabolism while on the move and then slowing it as they rest, according to a LiveScience report. The drowsy bears are likely already in their reduced-metabolism state while not yet entering their winter slumber, Oivind Toien, a zoophysiologist and research assistant professor at the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, told the outlet.

Quote:Germany's defense minister Boris Pistorius has said that his country is doing everything it can to help Ukraine fight Russian aggression but noted that Kyiv was not an ally of Berlin.

The comments by Pistorius during a television interview follow accusations that Berlin has been reluctant to provide military support for Ukraine to use in the war started by Vladimir Putin.

Tom O'Donnell, a geopolitical analyst based in Berlin, told Newsweek that Pistorius wants to see Ukraine get more weapons from Germany and the EU but may face opposition from within his government.

"Maybe Pistorius is serious about doing this but my impression is beyond whatever he wants to do, I don't think the government here has the will to really ramp this up," O'Donnell said.

Quote:The chief of staff of the Philippine military has announced plans for joint maritime and air patrols with like-minded nations, against a background of escalating tensions with Chinese forces in the South China Sea.
"It's in the planning process," General Romeo Brawner Jr. told CNN Philippines' The Source Tuesday. "We are going to conduct our joint maritime and air patrols in the West Philippine Sea with the U.S.; Japan is interested, France, the U.K. and Canada."

The West Philippine Sea is Manila's name for the parts of the South China Sea falling within the Philippines' 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone. The region is the focal point of heated territorial disputes, with China asserting sovereignty over upward of 80 percent of the South China Sea, despite a 2016 international arbitral court ruling that rejected its claims.

Brawner said the proposed multinational patrols could start as early as the first half of the next year.
...
South Korea has emerged as another potential patrol partner. The East Asian country's ambassador to the Philippines, Lee Sang-hwa, told local media Tuesday that the two countries' relationship was "reaching new heights" and that Seoul is interested in raising it to the level of a "strategic partnership."

Quote:Simmering tensions around the decision to hold a global climate summit in a petrostate burst into the open on Monday when Sultan Al Jaber, the Emirati oil executive who is leading the conference, launched into an angry public defense of his position on ending fossil fuel use.

Mr. Al Jaber, who runs the state-owned oil company, Adnoc, was under fire for a video that surfaced in which he said there is “no science” behind the idea that fossil fuels must be phased out in order to keep average global temperatures from rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius over preindustrial levels.

That’s the threshold beyond which scientists say humans would struggle to adapt to increasingly severe storms, drought, heat and rising sea levels caused by global warming.

Climate experts convened by the United Nations have said that nations must cut the emissions from fossil fuels by 43 percent by the end of this decade, compared to 2019 levels, if the world has any hope of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Many diplomats and scientists say that would be impossible without phasing out fossil fuels and want governments to emerge from the climate talks being held in Dubai with a pledge to end the use of coal, oil and gas.
...
But Mr. Al Jaber, who is supposed to be guiding nearly 200 nations toward an ambitious plan to tackle global warming, framed things differently in his comments two weeks ago.

“There is no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says the phaseout of fossil fuel is what’s going to achieve 1.5,” Mr. Al Jaber said during a panel discussion called She Changes Climate that featured Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland who is now a prominent climate advocate.

Ms. Robinson asked Mr. Al Jaber if he would lead a global effort to taper down and then end the burning of fossil fuels. He chastised her for asking the question, saying he had expected a “sober and mature conversation” not an “alarmist” one.

The panel discussion took place two weeks ago, but only came to light on Sunday when Mr. Al Jaber’s comments were reported by The Guardian.

Quote:President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, has been indicted on nine charges, including three felonies, for allegedly failing to file taxes, evading an assessment, and filing a fraudulent form.

The 56-page indictment filed in a federal court in Los Angeles on Thursday alleged that the president’s son “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle” rather than pay his taxes, per NBC News. The indictment also alleges that Hunter Biden “willfully failed to pay his 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 taxes on time, despite having access to funds to pay some or all of these taxes.”

Special counsel David Weiss brought the charges, and the case was assigned to Donald Trump-appointee Judge Mark Scarsi.

Neither the White House nor Hunter Biden’s attorneys have responded to the indictment.

David Weiss, who started serving as U.S. attorney in Delaware following Trump’s appointment in 2017, said in a statement that Hunter Biden “engaged in a four-year scheme in which he chose not to pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019 and to evade the assessment of taxes for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Weiss as special counsel in August to oversee the investigation into Hunter Biden.

“As special counsel, he will continue to have the authority and responsibility that he has previously exercised to oversee the investigation and decide where, when and whether to file charges,” Garland said in August. “The special counsel will not be subject to the day-to-day supervision of any official of the Department, but he must comply with the regulations, procedures, and policies of the Department.”

Quote:President Joe Biden echoed the warnings of his defense secretary in an address to the public this week, saying if Congress does not pass $64 billion in aid to Ukraine, U.S. troops will end up fighting Russia in Europe.

“This cannot wait. Congress needs to pass supplemental funding for Ukraine before they break for the holiday recess. It’s as simple as that,” Biden began.

He then accused skeptical Republicans in Congress of being “willing to give Putin the greatest gift he could hope for and abandon our global leadership not just to Ukraine, but beyond that.”

He argued that Putin has committed atrocities against Ukrainian civilians and that Russian forces are committing war crimes.

“It’s as simple as that. It’s stunning. Who is prepared to walk away from holding Putin accountable for this behavior? Who among us is really prepared to do that?”

He then argued that if Putin succeeds in taking Ukraine, “he’s going to keep going.”

Quote:The emails, first reported by the Guardian, reveal deepening hostilities between prosecutors and defendants in the monumental Georgia criminal case against Trump and his top allies.

“We have a long road ahead,” Willis wrote in a previously unreported email last month to Trump’s attorneys. “Long after these folks are in jail, we will still be practicing law.”

Willis and her team allege Trump and codefendants violated the racketeering statute as part of efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. A handful of defendants, including Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell, and Kenneth Chesebro, have flipped on Trump, presumably to avoid long prison sentences of their own.

Trump’s allies argue the case is politically motivated “lawfare,” and Trump maintains he has done nothing wrong.

Willis has insisted her case is simply about enforcing the law, although her actions and words haven’t always backed up her assertion.

Willis says she is in no hurry to resolve Trump’s legal issues before November’s general election and recently made clear that she intends to still have Trump on trial on Election Day 2024.

Quote:Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman is calling for the presidents of three prestigious universities to “resign in disgrace” following their comments during a congressional hearing on Tuesday.

The Harvard alumnus was angered by his alma mater’s leader Claudine Gay, along with the University of Pennsylvania’s Liz Magill and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) president Sally Kornbluth, for their failure to call out antisemitic protests that have taken place on their campuses.

“In short, they said: It ‘depends on the context’ and ‘whether the speech turns into conduct,’ that is, actually killing Jews,” Ackman said in a post on X. “This could be the most extraordinary testimony ever elicited in the Congress, certainly on the topic of genocide.”

Being called before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, the three university leaders were all questioned about the rise in violent antisemitic demonstrations on their campuses since Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7 that killed over 1,200 people.

The remarks came after Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) pressed the trio on whether students had the right to free speech “even when calling for the mass murders of African Americans,” a comparison to protesters on the campus calling for “global intifada” against Jews.

Ackman went on to remind his followers of the definition of genocide as “the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group.”

The Pershing Square Capital founder said the school leaders’ answers amplified the failures of the universities.

More News

Despite the Pandering, Hispanics Disapprove of Eric Adams Most of All

Quote:In this week’s Quinnipiac poll (a reliably left-wing pollster, by the way), Adams is already facing a dismal overall approval rating of just 28 percent. The internals are even more interesting…

No racial group is more unhappy with Sanctuary City Eric than Hispanics.

Here’s the breakdown of the approve/disapprove number when registered voters were asked, “Do you approve or disapprove of the way Eric Adams is handling his job?”:

Black: 48 percent approve, 38 percent disapprove
Men: 38 to 58 percent
White: 28 to 61 percent
Women: 26 to 59 percent
Asian: 22 to 60 percent
Hispanic: 20 to 65 percent
...
For those of you who think Hispanic disapproval of Adams has something to do with all the other horrors (crime, homelessness, inflation, schools, etc.) that Democrat-run city is dealing with thanks to its stupid voters, let me assure you it is not.

When asked specifically about illegal aliens — “Do you approve or disapprove of the way Mayor Adams is handling – the surge of migrants seeking sanctuary in New York City?” — Adam is upside-down 43(!) points with Hispanics: only 25 percent approve, while 68 percent disapprove—only Asians (21 to 65 percent) polled lower on this question.

Masked Burglars Steal Firearm from Keanu Reeves’ Home

Quote:Masked burglars struck actor Keanu Reeves’ Hollywood Hills home early Thursday, stealing a firearm and getting away before police could apprehend them.

TMZ reported that police first went to Reeves’ home at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday in response to a trespass call, but did not locate anyone. Hours later–at 1:00 a.m. Thursday–an alarm at the property sounded and police went to the home again. This time they saw masked burglars on security footage, and a firearm had reportedly been stolen.

It is not known if anything else was stolen and the New York Post noted that Reeves was not at home at the time of the burglary.

Reeves is renowned for his role as John Wick in films bearing the same name. His character demonstrates a mastery of firearms in the films, and the actor trains for that role with Taran Butler at Los Angeles’s Taran Tactical.

On October 24, 2023, Breitbart News pointed to a video of Reeves at the range, shooting a semiautomatic handgun, a carbine-sized firearm, a .308 rifle, and a semiautomatic shotgun, among other guns.

I won't say there's no use for a firearm like a rifle but was that all they could ever steal from him!?
 Something doesn't make any sense here unless the burglars were real fans of John Wick...

Quote:Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said on Thursday that the two countries would pressure fellow members of OPEC+ to “adhere” to their agreements “in a way that serves the interest of producers and consumers,” a sign the two would join to pressure smaller member nations to keep production reduced.

The commitment followed an in-person meeting between bin Salman and Putin in Riyadh, where Putin arrived for a short Middle Eastern trip that included both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The Kremlin published a long joint statement from the two countries on Thursday after their meeting, touching on a variety of subjects including the conflict between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and cooperation in agriculture, space, and trade. Bin Salman welcomed Putin warmly, proclaiming him a “cherished guest” of Saudi Arabia. Putin, in turn, celebrated the positive relations between his country and Saudi Arabia as unprecedented.

“In the field of energy, the two sides commended the close cooperation between them and the successful efforts of the OPEC+ countries in enhancing the stability of global oil markets,” the joint statement read. “They stressed the importance of continuing this cooperation, and the need for all participating countries to adhere to the OPEC+ agreement, in a way that serves the interests of producers and consumers and supports the growth of the global economy.”

Russia and Saudi Arabia collectively represent about a fifth of the world’s daily oil production, the news agency Reuters noted Thursday. They are also the most influential members of OPEC+
...
A week before Putin’s visit to Saudi Arabia, OPEC+ agreed to another new cut of 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd), but the move did little to increase oil prices, in part because of rumored divisions between OPEC+’s larger powers and smaller African nations seeking to not lose their share of the market.

Quote:The United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) conducted joint military flight drill operations with Guyana on Thursday, the first such operations since socialist Venezuela declared it would annex most of Guyana.

The joint operations with Guyana occurred less than a week after the Maduro regime held a sham referendum to annex the disputed Essequibo region, which represents about two-thirds of the current territory of Guyana. Socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro announced a list of actions on Tuesday that his regime will allegedly carry out to annex the territory and create a new state for Venezuela.
...
“The U.S. will continue its commitment as Guyana’s trusted security partner and promoting regional cooperation and interoperability,” the statement concluded.

Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López condemned the military exercises on Thursday, describing them as an “unhappy provocation.”

“This unhappy provocation by the United States in favor of ExxonMobil’s praetorians in Guyana is another step in the wrong direction, Padrino López wrote on Twitter. “We warn that we will not be diverted from our future actions for the recovery of the Essequibo, make no mistake, long live Venezuela!”

Quote:A Chinese military surveillance balloon was spotted crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Friday, according to the Taiwanese defense ministry, amid growing military threats from communist China.

The ministry said it detected the balloon at around 11:52 a.m. local time, traveling southwest of Keelung at an altitude of 21,000 feet. It was observed heading east before disappearing around 12:55 a.m. local time.
Taiwan’s Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng told reporters that while the ministry considered the possibility of it being a weather balloon, they believed it was their obligation to make the public aware of the incident.

"Otherwise, if after other units or other countries have reported it, everyone will wonder why [we] did not report it. The defense ministry requires all our subordinate units to have a grasp of the enemy situation," Mr. Chiu said.

Taiwan’s military also spotted 26 Chinese fighter jets around the island at around 6 a.m. local time, 15 of which crossed the median line and entered Taiwan’s southwest air defense identification zone (ADIZ).

At the same time, 10 Chinese naval vessels were spotted around the island. The ministry said its military deployed aircraft, ships, and land-based missile systems to monitor their activities.
...
Taiwan is on high alert for Chinese activities ahead of its election, especially what Taipei views as Beijing's efforts to interfere in the ballot to get electors to vote for candidates the CCP may prefer.
Taiwan holds presidential and parliamentary polls on Jan. 13, and campaigning has kicked into high gear with how the next government handles relations with China—a major point of contention.

Quote:Despite the firm requirements for United States citizens and legally admitted international travelers to possess valid forms of identification to board aircraft, the migrants were shuffled through a “special” security screening line set up by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), specifically for migrants — many without any identification whatsoever.

As Breitbart Texas watched, several regular travelers were politely told to exit the special “migrant security line” because they were not non-citizens. The migrants traveling on Friday carried manila envelopes that contained a Notice to Appear and documents showing the migrants were released from federal custody on their own recognizance.

None of the computer-generated documents bear photographs of the migrants or appear on the list of TSA-acceptable identification. Breitbart Texas spoke to several migrant family groups who said they were waiting for an afternoon flight to LaGuardia Airport in Queens, New York.

The migrants were brought to the airport by non-government migrant shelter volunteers who escorted small groups of migrants through the terminal prior to takeoff time. The “guide” explained the layout of the airport. The migrants were guided to the ticketing and baggage area and subsequently directed to the TSA security checkpoint for “non-U.S. citizens without passports.”

Quote:A woman is accused of trying to burn down Martin Luther King Jr.’s birth home in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday.

A pair of off-duty New York City Police officers and tourists from Utah intervened when they came upon the scene...

Atlanta police chief Darin Schierbaum said the woman was allegedly pouring what smelled like gasoline on the house.

Video footage shows the woman, dressed in dark clothing, on the porch with a large red gas can.

“What are you doing?” someone behind the camera asked her. “Huh?” she responded. Then the person with the camera told her the liquid was gasoline.

The clip then cuts to two people calmly holding the woman on the ground while the group waits for police to arrive on the scene.

Quote:University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill has resigned as president of the university in the wake of intense backlash over her failure during a recent congressional hearing on Capitol Hill to say whether advocating for the genocide of Jews is permissible on campus.

“Dear members of the Penn community,” the university began in its announcement. “I write to share that President Liz Magill has voluntarily tendered her resignation as President of the University of Pennsylvania.”

“She will remain a tenured faculty member at Penn Carey Law,” the school added.

“On behalf of the entire Penn community, I want to thank President Magill for her service to the University of Pennsylvania and wish her well,” the university concluded.

Quote:Large numbers of migrants have been buried without identification across Europe, with large groupings at busy migration route crossings, a report claims. At least 1,015 graves have been identified, says a report in the left-wing Guardian newspaper, which calls them “unmarked” in the sense those committed to them are unknown individuals.

Many of the graves cited are marked with plain stones, simple crosses, or even inscriptions referring to which migrant boat shipwreck the body is believed to have come from. Most graves mapped ring the Mediterranean, with a large cluster on Sicily and another in the Balkans, but others have been discovered on the Polish border with Belarus, and even in northern France at the English Channel.

As the paper notes: “across European countries the issue remains a legislative void, with no centralised data, nor any uniform process for dealing with the bodies” and that the 1,000 graves identified are just the “tip of the iceberg”, given tens of thousands are believed to have died.

Europe’s scattergun approach to mass migration, being both extremely permissive and restrictive by turns has created the tragic side effect of sustaining a high level of demand for human traffickers.

All About Terrorism

Six Teens Convicted in Connection to Islamist Beheading of French Teacher Samuel Paty

Quote:A French juvenile court on Friday convicted six teenagers for their roles in the 2020 beheading of a teacher by an Islamic extremist, an attack that shocked the country and shone a light on the real-world dangers of online hate speech.

Samuel Paty, a history and geography teacher, was killed near his school after showing his class cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad during a debate on free expression. Attacker Abdoullakh Anzorov, a young Chechen who had become radicalized, was killed by police.

The court found five of the defendants, who were 14 and 15 at the time of the attack, guilty of involvement in staking out the teacher and identifying him for the attacker. The sixth defendant, 13 at the time, was found guilty of lying about the classroom debate in comments that aggravated online anger against the teacher.

After the ruling, the six defendants left the courtroom without speaking. Some had their heads down as they listened to the verdict. One appeared to wipe tears.
...
One was given a six-month prison term but allowed to serve under house arrest with an electronic bracelet. The others were given special suspended sentences of between two and three years requiring them to stay in school or jobs. The sentences included special educative follow-up measures that also involved their families.

Lawyers for Paty’s family decried the sentences as too lenient. Lawyers for the teenagers expressed relief.

Yeah, that didn't serve justice at all. I know they were minors at that time, but a teacher was killed. That fact can't be blatantly ignored out of the blue.

Syrian ‘Refugee’ Accused of Crimes Against Humanity Including Sexual Violence Arrested in Netherlands

Quote:A Syrian refugee was arrested Friday in the Netherlands on suspicion of crimes against humanity including sexual violence while he was allegedly head of an interrogation team in a militia aligned to the government of President Bashar Assad.

The arrest of the 55-year-old man marks the first time Dutch authorities have charged a suspect with sexual violence as a crime against humanity, the National Public Prosecution Service said in a statement.

He is the latest suspect charged in the Netherlands with crimes committed during Syria’s grinding civil war. Under universal jurisdiction, the Netherlands can prosecute certain crimes even if they were committed abroad.

The Netherlands and Canada have also taken Syria to the United Nations’ top court, accusing Assad’s administration of a years-long campaign of “institutionalized” torture against its own people.

Quote:The Kremlin is rallying support for Putin’s fifth presidential term by pitching him as the defender of traditional Russian values against the “liberal” West as the war in Ukraine grinds on.

Putin has been in high office for almost a quarter of a century, longer than any ruler since Josef Stalin.

The former KGB spy can still count on wide domestic political support despite starting an immensely costly war in Ukraine that has taken thousands of his countrymen’s lives, provoked repeated attacks inside Russia -– including one on the Kremlin itself -– and corroded its aura of invincibility, AP reports.

The only challenge to that reign came in June when mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin raised widespread speculation Putin could be losing his grip, but he emerged with no permanent scars.
...
Lawmakers in Russia have set the country’s 2024 presidential election for March 17.

Putin, 71, will claim a fifth term in office if he wins, which most see as a certainty given opposition is almost non-existent and Russian media outlets remain completely under his control.

Under constitutional reforms he orchestrated, Putin is eligible to seek two more six-year terms after his current term expires next year, potentially allowing him to remain in power until 2036.

Quote:COSTA: Will Donald Trump be the nominee?
MCCARTHY: Yes. In the Republican Party? Yes. And if Biden stays as the nominee for the Democrats, I believe Donald Trump will win. I believe the Republicans will gain more seats in the House and the Republicans will win the Senate.
COSTA: Can he count on your support?
MCCARTHY: Yes.
COSTA: That’s an endorsement?
MCCARTHY: I will support the president. I will support President Trump.
COSTA: Would you be willing to serve in a Trump cabinet?
MCCARTHY: In the right position.

Quote:A Texas mother was shocked to discover her daughter, 16-year-old cheerleader Lizbeth Medina, had been murdered in her apartment on Tuesday evening. Rafael Govea Romero, an undocumented migrant, is now facing charges of capital murder in the death of the Texas teen following his arrest on Saturday.

The teen was discovered by her mother, Jacqueline Medina, who became concerned after Lizbeth failed to show up for a Christmas parade. During the early stages of the investigation, law enforcement authorities released images of a person of interest near the murder scene. This information led to the arrest of Romero, an undocumented migrant.

According to Chief of Police Rick Boone of the Edna Police Department, the undocumented migrant was arrested by his officers in coordination with the Texas Rangers and officers from other law enforcement agencies. Police apprehended Govea-Romero, some 60 miles from the scene of the murder in Schulenburg, Texas. Police have not released any other details regarding a potential motive for the murder or additional information about Govea-Romero.

Quote:Radical pro-Palestinian demonstrations appear to have developed a new tactic: they are targeting Christmas tree lightings across the country, and other Christian symbols, in addition to symbols of Israel and Jewish institutions.

The latest example was Friday’s protest in Los Angeles, where pro-Palestinian radicals marched from a fundraiser for President Joe Biden to an area where there are several synagogues. They sprayed anti-Israel graffiti on the walls opposite the synagogues, and also vandalized a local church.

Prior to that, pro-Palestinian activists disrupted the Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center in New York City, clashing with police. Governor Gavin Newsom was forced to move California’s Christmas tree lighting indoors due to the threat of protests. And in Michigan, pro-Palestinian protesters tried to drown out a children’s choir at a Christmas tree lighting in Ypsilanti last month.
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One answer is that pro-Palestinian protests have become increasingly Islamic. At Friday’s protest in Los Angeles, for example, Muslim participants held prayers during the demonstration outside the Biden fundraiser. Christians have faced persecution from Muslims in areas run by the Palestinian Authority, such as Bethlehem, and may have been marginalized within the movement.

Many evangelical Christians are seen as pro-Israel, so that may also make churches targets of hatred, alongside synagogues.

Quote:Multiple tornadoes ripped through central Tennessee late Saturday, killing six people and sending another two dozen to hospital as homes and businesses were damaged in multiple cities.

Local emergency services said tens of thousands of residents were left in the dark after power failures in the wake of the multiple twisters.

“At this time we can confirm that three people are deceased, two adults and one child as a result of the tornado that touched down this afternoon. Additionally, 23 people have been treated at the hospital,” the Montgomery County in Tennessee said on its Facebook page confirming the first of the fatalities.

Multiple warnings were issued by authorities both before and after the cataclysmic weather events.

Quote:Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops found weapons stashed inside a teddy bear inside a school in Gaza on Friday, the latest example of Palestinian terrorists using civilian infrastructure to conduct their activities, which is a war crime.

Footage released by the IDF shows Israeli soldiers entering a darkened storage area, then tearing open the large teddy bear to reveal a large rifle and ammunition box.

Another video from a school nearby shows IDF soldiers finding weapons in classrooms, including in bags from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the special institution devoted solely to Palestinian refugees from wars decades ago.
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The Hamas terrorist organization is using children’s games to conceal weapons, while deliberately putting the children of Gaza at risk. Throughout the war, weapons were found hidden in children’s items and play areas including in a girl’s backpack, under children’s beds, in schools, and in playgrounds.

Quote:A Hamas spokesman suggested Sunday that the terror organization could kill all of the presumed 137 hostages in its custody if Israel does not accede to its demands.

Abu Obeida, a familiar spokesman for Hamas who had not been seen for several weeks, released a video in which he made the threat clear.

“Neither the fascist enemy and its arrogant leadership… nor its supporters… can take their prisoners alive without an exchange and negotiation and meeting the demands of the resistance,” he said, according to the Times of Israel.

It is not clear if Hamas would deliver on that threat. The hostages are the only leverage that Hamas has over Israel, and it uses them as human shields. The Hamas leaders in exile — in luxurious accommodation in Doha, Qatar — would also likely to preserve the hostages alive to ensure that Israel negotiates with them, rather than killing them (as it has promised to do, eventually).

Quote:In a statement, Netanyahu said that the remaining holdouts should not die for the sake of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza:

In the past few days, dozens of Hamas terrorists have surrendered to our forces. They are laying down their weapons and turning themselves in to our heroic soldiers.

This will take time. The war is still ongoing but it is the beginning of the end of Hamas.

I say to the Hamas terrorists: It’s over. Don’t die for Sinwar. Surrender – now!

Israel also released a video of a former Hamas communications minister Yousef al-Mansi blaming Sinwar for the war as the Times of Israel noted:

“I have not seen anyone in the Gaza Strip who supports Sinwar, nobody likes Sinwar. There are people who, day and night, pray that God will free us from him,” he says.

Al-Mansi says Sinwar has “delusions of grandeur,” and that he “feels like he is above everyone else. Acts only as he thinks. He makes decisions without consulting anyone.”

Quote:“We are grateful to law enforcement for their swiftness and professionalism in handling this matter and pray for the safety of all Americans,” campaign spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said to ABC News.

The suspect is 30-year-old Tyler Anderson, who was first reported to law enforcement by Ramaswamy’s campaign staff last week for allegedly sending a threatening message in response to a campaign text about an upcoming event.

“Great, another opportunity for me to blow [Ramaswamy’s] brains out,” the criminal complaint says Anderson replied on Friday.

“I’m going to kill everyone who attends and then $"#% their corpses,” a second message said, screenshots obtained by ABC showed.

The campaign text provided the location of where the Republican candidate would be at the Monday morning event in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for a breakfast with voters.

While authorities said Ramaswamy was not explicitly named as a target in Anderon’s text, he was the “only candidate with a listed event in Portsmouth on Monday,” NBC 10 Boston reported.

Quote:In interviews conducted by the House Homeland Security Committee, chaired by Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) from May through September, eight Border Patrol agents detailed the extent to which Biden’s Catch and Release network has turned the southern border into a mere checkpoint for illegal aliens to stop at before heading into the United States interior.

Chief Patrol Agent Jason Owens of the Del Rio Sector in Texas told the committee that more illegal aliens are turning themselves in to Border Patrol than ever before because “they believe that they’re going to be processed and given a Notice to Appear so that they can await their immigration hearing in the United States.”

Indeed, since Biden took office, more than 1.2 million border crossers have been released into the United States interior on Notices to Appear (NTA) at a later date before a federal immigration judge. This does not include another million who have been released on parole and through other means.

Even when illegal aliens are detained at the border, the majority are eventually released into the U.S. interior under Biden, Deputy Chief Patrol Agent Dustin Caudle of the Yuma Sector in Arizona told the committee:

Quote:Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said the vessels would help to reopen “vital export routes” – limited since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.

The MoD revealed the UK is also launching a “maritime coalition” with Norway, to garner long-term support for Ukraine.

Shapps told BBC One’s Breakfast the vessels would make a “significant difference”, boosting efforts to clear mines from the Black Sea, and that the coalition would help build a Ukrainian navy fit to defend the country in the future.
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“We believe that we simply can’t have an outcome where an autocratic dictator walks into a neighbouring democratic country and then the West gets bored of it,” he said.

“That is an unacceptable outcome. That is why the UK will keep reminding people that that can’t happen.”

The provision of two Royal Navy minehunters to Ukraine has been in the works for a long time. They were part of a package of UK maritime support, promised before Russia invaded Ukraine.

Quote:Hezbollah has been shelling Israeli military and civilian targets sporadically, with the exception of the week-long “pause” (to which it was not formally committed). Israel has responded by firing at the sources of Hezbollah fire. Most of the Hezbollah rockets and drones are intercepted by Israel’s aerial defense systems, but some manage to hit targets. Even those that do not destroy buildings or cause brush fires, which destroy farms and natural habitat, forcing farmers to abandon their fields.
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Israel has already deployed troops along the border, keeping close guard on roads near the border and keeping tank engines running in the event of a sudden deployment.

National security minister Tzachi Hanegbi told Israeli media this weekend that unless diplomacy succeeds in convincing Iran to move its terror proxy back to the Litani River, some 18 miles north of the border, as required by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, war is likely.
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Local residents who have been evacuated say that they will not return to their communities unless Hezbollah withdraws, fearing that what happened to the largely agricultural communities near Gaza on October 7 could happen to them if Hezbollah attacks.

The Times of Israel reported Monday that Benny Gantz, a former military leader and current leader of the Israeli opposition, who serves in Israel’s emergency government of national unity, told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that war against Lebanon is likely.

Quote:Johnson’s op-ed sets the stage for the full House vote after the White House refused to comply with House investigators’ request for relevant documentation and records. The vote will be a test for House Republicans, who hold a slight majority over House Democrats. The measure will need nearly all Republican support.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) opened an “impeachment inquiry” on September 12, but lawmakers did not vote to approve the measure.
If the impeachment inquiry receives majority support on the House floor, the inquiry will be formally adopted, a status that Johnson says will help the House’s inquiry obtain information blocked by the White House.
Johnson, a constitutional lawyer and former member of the House Judiciary Committee, cited six cases of mounting evidence against Joe Biden that “cannot be ignored”:

1. Biden family members and Biden business-linked entities received more than $15 million from individuals in Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Romania, and China.
   
2. Joe Biden spoke with Hunter Biden’s business associates at least 22 times.
   
3. Joe Biden lied about his involvement in the business.
   
4. Joe Biden received “direct monthly payments” from Hunter Biden’s “Owasco PC” business account, which received “payments from Chinese-state linked companies and other foreign nationals and companies.”
   
5. Investigators flagged the Justice Department’s “deviations” in the five-year investigation into Hunter Biden.
   
6. An FBI FD-1023 form alleges Joe Biden accepted a $5 million bribe while vice president.
   

Quote:Negotiations on additional American aid to Ukraine paired with a border security package are dead for 2023, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) reportedly told his fellow Senate Republicans at their weekly lunch Tuesday.

The Republican leader’s comments come as Zelensky makes his third trip in a year through the U.S. Capitol with his hands out.

Republican opposition to additional aid to Ukraine has steadily grown as voters have balked at Zelensky’s pleas for more handouts from American taxpayers.

Congress has already authorized well over $100 billion in aid to Ukraine.

Earlier Tuesday, Zelensky met individually with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). Afterward, Johnson reiterated his position that the White House and Senate must get serious about securing the border before any additional aid to Ukraine can be considered, arguing that the Biden administration has failed to outline clear goals in further assisting Ukraine’s war against Russia.

Quote:Turkish parliamentarian Hasan Bitmez suffered a heart attack and collapsed next to the podium at the Turkish National Assembly on Tuesday after delivering a tirade against Israel.

The Grand Assembly of the Turkish parliament was ostensibly debating budgetary considerations on Tuesday, but Bitmez launched into a fiery condemnation of Israel’s war against the terrorists of Hamas in Gaza, accusing Israelis of “crimes against humanity” and “ethnic cleansing.”

“Even if history remains silent, the truth will not remain silent. They think that if they get rid of us, there will be no problem. However, if you get rid of us, you will not be able to escape the torment of conscience,” he said.

Bitmez’s last words before collapsing were reportedly, “Israel will not escape the wrath of Allah!”

Bitmez, 54, reportedly suffers from diabetes. Fortunately, one of the fellow MPs who rushed to his aid, Turhan Comez of the IYI Party, is a trained physician. After Comez rendered aid at the scene, Bitmez was removed from the National Assembly chamber by stretcher after collapsing and taken to intensive care at Ankara’s Bilkent City Hospital. He was reported to be in critical condition as of Tuesday afternoon.

Bitmez is the deputy chief of Turkey’s Saadet or “Felicity” Party, an Islamist party formed in 2001. Saadet is considered the more hardline Islamist alternative to the ruling Justice and Development (AKP) party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Quote:Dr. Renana Eitan, head psychiatrist at a prominent Tel Aviv hospital, [stated] on Tuesday:

“The physical, sexual, mental, psychological abuse of these hostages who came back is just terrible,” she added. “We have to rewrite the textbook.”
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The hospital has been treating 14 former hostages held by Hamas, some of whom reported being drugged, including with what doctors believe were benzodiazepines, a class of depressants with a sedative effect that includes drugs like Valium.
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“One of the girls was given ketamine for a few weeks,” she continued, referring to a powerful dissociative anesthetic known for giving the recipient a sense of detachment from their environment.

Another, male hostage was reportedly told that his wife had been killed when she was, in fact, still alive. Some hostages were kept in darkness for days, and some freed hostages experienced flashbacks, in which they believed erroneously that they were still in captivity.

Quote:The assault on the oil and chemical tanker Strinda expands a campaign by the Iranian-backed rebels targeting ships near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait into apparently now striking those that have no clear ties to Israel. That potentially imperils cargo and energy shipments coming through the Suez Canal and further widens the international impact of the Israel-Hamas war now raging in the Gaza Strip.

The Houthis did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack, though rebel military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said an important announcement would be coming from them soon.

The private intelligence firms Ambrey and Dryad Global confirmed the attack happened near the crucial Bab el-Mandeb Strait separating East Africa from the Arabian Peninsula.

Dryad Global and a U.S. defense official identified the vessel attacked as the Strinda, a Norwegian-owned-and-operated ship that had broadcast it had armed guards aboard as it went through the strait. The defense official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said it appeared a missile struck the vessel.

Quote:Hannibal was a Carthaginian general who nearly conquered Rome in 218BC after leading an epic campaign with an armada of African war elephants across the Alps to attack Rome from the north. Though his campaign failed, he is considered one of the greatest military leaders in history. Tunisia, the general’s birthplace, has claimed that Denzel Washington would race-swap the role. Per The Guardian:

French-language Tunisian news outlet La Presse published an article saying the casting created “a historical error”, while on social media, some users accused Netflix of promoting “woke culture”. An online petition signed by 1,300 people urged Netflix to “cancel its pseudo-documentary” and called on the ministry of culture to “take action against the attempt to steal our history”.

It should be noted that no historical document ever detailed Hannibal’s skin color, though “historians of the ancient Mediterranean world largely agree that he was of Phoenician descent – a region encompassing modern Lebanon and Syria – although he lived during a time of great empires and intermixing,” according to The Guardian.

The casting of Washington, arguably one of the greatest movie stars in the world, has been such a point of contention in Tunisia that one of the country’s MPs, Yassine Mami, questioned Culture Minister, Hayet Ketat Guermazi, on the floor of the Tunisian Parliament about it.