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USA

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Biden Couldn't Attend the Naval Academy

Fact Check: Biden Claims He Was ‘Appointed’ to Naval Academy
Roger Staubach Prevented Him from Attending

CLAIM: President Joe Biden claimed during a commencement speech at the United States Military Academy West Point that he turned down an offer to play football at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

VERDICT: False.

Biden has previously told different versions of this claim to graduates at the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado.

In his claim, Biden says he applied to the Naval Academy in order to play football. He was appointed to the Naval Academy by former Delaware Sen. J. Caleb Boggs ® in 1965. However, the president graduated from the University of Delaware in 1965, which makes it unlikely he would have applied to attend the Naval Academy then.

Biden continues to claim that he turned down the offer after finding out that NFL Heisman Trophy winners Joe Bellino and Staubach were playing on the U.S. Naval Academy football team then.

Another issue with this claim is that Staubach graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1964, while Bellino graduated in 1961, Fox News reported.

“I was one of ten. I wanted to play football,” Biden told the graduates. “And, the day that I was supposed to go down for the interview, a classmate of mine who was also one of the ten appointed to be chosen from, named Steve Dunning, came to pick me up.”

Biden continued: “I found out two days earlier, they had a quarterback named Roger Staubach and a halfback named Joe Bellino. I said, ‘Oh, I’m not going there,’ I went to Delaware. Not a joke.”

During high school, Biden played football for Archmere Academy in Claymont, Delaware, and graduated from the Catholic college preparatory school in 1961.

Mayor Adams on Antisemitism

Adams: ‘Major Media’ Accepting Antisemitism by Whitewashing Campus Antisemitism

During an interview with RUSA Radio on Friday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) stated that “we have normalized antisemitism” in a way that wouldn’t be tolerated if it was directed towards another group and there’s been “acceptance even in some of our major media” and an attempt to downplay campus antisemitism.

Adams said, “We’re witnessing a rise in hate across the globe in general, but specifically, after October 7, we witnessed a sharp increase in antisemitism, and we’re clear that New York City has no room for hate. If there’s antisemitism, anti-Sikhism, Islamophobia, anti-African Americans, no matter what the group, we must remain consistent.”

He continued, “What troubles me the most is that we have normalized antisemitism. We would not tolerate any other group being called for the destruction of that group or using very hateful terminologies [for] that group. We would not stand for that. And I’m seeing a normalization of antisemitism in New York, as well as across the globe, particularly through social media, and I think there’s a level of tolerance. [There] has been acceptance even in some of our major media to attempt not to point out that what happened on our college campuses is not antisemitism. I don’t know how you could define it as not. And I think that’s really a precursor for the anti-Americanism. There’s a radicalization of our children, where [they’re] being taught to hate America and hate those of Jewish faith as well, and we need to stop that.”

 Does this mean that another surprise raid against the mayor is coming up next?

DNC Job Listing Exposed

Democrat Panic: Jill Stein Exposes DNC Job Listing Trying to Mitigate Third-Party Candidates

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein exposed a Democrat National Committee’s (DNC) job listing for a project manager to mitigate third-party candidates, indicating Democrat panic over the contours of the race.

Stein posted a screenshot of the job listing for “Independent & Third Party Project Manager” on Friday: [Post on X]

“Wow. @TheDemocrats posted – then deleted – a job for a ‘Third Party Project Manager’ to infiltrate their competition and find ways to take us off the ballot. Is this how they’re ‘saving democracy’?” Stein wrote.

The job posting comes as third-party candidates harm President Joe Biden more than they do former President Donald Trump in national polling. The RealClearPolling average shows Trump leading Biden by 1.1 points (47.5 to 46.4) in a head-to-head race as of Saturday. In the five-way RealClearPolling average, the margin between them expands to 2.4 percent, with Trump leading 41.7 percent to 39.3 percent. Independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. takes 10.5 percent, while independent Cornel West and Stein – all of whom lean left politically – register at 1.7 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.

A copy of the posting is available on Built In. The DNC appears to be offering $65,000 for the position, where a project manager will oversee and manage third-party-related “work in their respective states.”

The first responsibility listed for the position is following the campaign events of Stein, Kennedy Jr., and West “in the region and sharing intel in real-time.”

Judge on Alec Baldwin's Case

Judge Denies Alec Baldwin Request to Drop Involuntary Manslaughter Indictment for ‘Rust’ Shooting

A New Mexico judge has rejected a request by Alec Baldwin to dismiss the sole criminal charge against him in a fatal shooting on the set of the movie “Rust,” keeping the case on track for a trial this summer.

Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer on Friday upheld an indictment charging Baldwin with one count of involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021. The judge rejected defense arguments that prosecutors flouted the rules of grand jury proceedings to divert attention away from exculpatory evidence and witnesses.

Special prosecutors have denied accusations that the grand jury proceedings were marred and say Baldwin made “shameless” attempts to escape culpability, highlighting contradictions in his statements to law enforcement, to workplace safety regulators and in a televised interview.

Friday’s decision removes one of the last hurdles for prosecutors to put Baldwin on trial in July.

“We look forward to our day in court,” defense attorneys Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro said in an email.

During a rehearsal on the set of the Western film, Baldwin pointed a gun at Hutchins when the revolver went off, killing her and injuring director Joel Souza. Baldwin has maintained that he pulled back the gun’s hammer but not the trigger.

Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to the involuntary manslaughter charge, which carries a maximum sentence of 1.5 years in prison.

Marlowe Sommer rejected arguments that prosecutors acted in “bad faith” after reviewing transcripts of the January grand jury proceedings, noting that prosecutors are not required to present exculpatory evidence.

“New Mexico law does not require a prosecutor to present exculpatory evidence to a grand jury, or require a grand jury to even consider exculpatory evidence after alerted to its existence,” the judge wrote.

FBI on Human Smuggler

FBI: Human Smuggler Shot at Border Patrol Agents in Texas

A suspected human smuggler from South Texas is facing federal charges for allegedly shooting several times at U.S. Border Patrol agents who had tried to stop him in a brushy area near the border.

The incident occurred last week in a brushy area near the Texas border town of Progreso. According to a federal criminal complaint filed in Brownsville, Texas, Rafael Arriazola is facing a charge of assaulting a federal officer and a second charge of transporting illegal migrants.

This week, Arriazola appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen Betancourt, who ordered that he be held without bond pending further hearings.

A group of migrants from Mexico crossed the Rio Grande and got lost in the brush, the complaint reviewed by Breitbart Texas revealed. After two days of trekking, one of the migrants found a trailer and knocked, asking for help. The woman inside contacted her son Arriazola, who offered to help the migrant get to a relative’s house in Donna. Federal agents claim that Arriazola got a handgun and then went with the migrant to look for the other migrants.

While searching in the brush, U.S. Border Patrol agents spotted and tried to apprehend the pair. The migrant did not resist. However, Arriazola yelled at authorities that he would send them to hell and began shooting toward one of the agents as he fled the scene.

After the shooting, the FBI responded to the scene. Following a short investigation, the agents identified Arriazola and arrested him on May 22 in Progreso. The subject is expected to remain in federal custody pending trial.

Turkish Guy on Southern Border

Turkish Migrant on Southern Border: Americans ‘Right’ to Be Concerned, ‘No Security’ at Border

A Turkish migrant who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border into the United States explained that Americans are “right” to be concerned by who is coming into the country.

The migrant, who crossed into the U.S. through the border town of Jacumba, CA, in San Diego County, told Fox News National Correspondent Bill Melugin in an interview that he had paid “around $10,000” to a cartel, adding that he was shocked by the lack of security at the border.

“In fact, American people is right, completely true,” the migrant said during the interview. “Who comes into this country? They don’t know. Okay, I’m good, but how if they’re not good? How if they’re killers, psychopath, else? No guarantee of that.”

In the interview, the man added that there had been “no security, no security check, no background check” at the border.

The Turkish migrant explained to Fox News that it had taken him 24 days to travel to the U.S., traveling through places such as Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Brazil, and Central America.

Breitbart News has previously reported that the San Diego sector has recently become the busiest border crossing spot for illegal aliens.

Customs and Border Protection officials said that 37, 320 undocumented migrants had been apprehended by agents in the San Diego sector during the month of April. This represented a roughly 300 percent increase from December 2020, at which point the sector reported that 8,510 migrants had been encountered attempting to cross the border.

Do You Need to Obtain the US Citizenship?

Wall Street Journal: Auction Citizenships Worldwide to Fund Federal Government

The federal government should pay off its self-inflicted debt by selling Americans’ valuable citizenship to wealthy foreigners, a Wall Street Journal op-ed published on Thursday states.

Instead of being a nation of citizens with reciprocal duties and rights, the government should “Consider America like a club, with initiation fees required for admission,” the May 23 op-ed said.

The government could start by printing and selling two million shares of citizenship per year, or roughly one extra share for every two Americans born each year, according to the op-ed:

One way to modernize our immigration laws would be to allow market forces to decide who should become new citizens.

…

An example: Sell 8,000 visas to the highest bidders for 250 days a year. Suppose the average price is $30,000. Of the $60 billion in annual visa revenue, devote one-third to more-intense border enforcement, one-third to income-tax reduction (an “immigration bonus” to taxpayers), and one-third to increasing the anemic defense budget. Or apply the money to debt reduction, helping delay the fiscal armageddon threatening the pensions and healthcare of elderly Americans.

The United States “is not a shopping mall,” Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies, told Breitbart News in response. “This proposal assumes that citizenship is merely a business arrangement when it is, in fact, more like joining a family, he said. “Citizenship is not an economic issue. It is a political and social and moral and, even arguably, spiritual issue. It’s not just about money. By reducing the citizenship to dollars and cents, you’re eliminating any rationale for the duties and responsibilities of citizenship that aren’t remunerative. In other words, if it’s just a matter of money, then why would you, why would anybody, volunteer to defend your country?”

“Almost certainly, this kind of proposal would devalue the citizenships they’re selling by making America less American,” Krikorian said, adding, “Maybe if they were selling ten citizenships a year, then it wouldn’t make a difference. But if they’re talking about two million a year, that would inevitably have a significant effect on the underlying social arrangements that make America successful in the first place.”

Immigrants Infiltrating American Bases?

Navy Commander: We’re Seeing More Attempts by Foreign Nationals to Penetrate Bases, ‘Two or Three Times a Week’

On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” U.S. Fleet Forces Command Commander Admiral Daryl Caudle stated that attempted penetrations of military bases by foreign nationals “is happening more and more. This is something we see probably two or three times a week, where we’re stopping these folks at the gate” in the Navy alone and the nationals come from all different nations and many times have passports and papers.

Caudle said, “This thing of our military bases getting penetrated by foreign nationals is happening more and more. This is something we see probably two or three times a week, where we’re stopping these folks at the gate.”

Co-host Bill Hemmer then cut in to say, “A week?”

Caudle responded, “A week, at least. And this is just Navy alone, where we’re seeing folks trying to come in.”

Caudle added, “A lot of times they have passports, they have papers, yes. But they’re in no way, shape, or form authorized to be on our base, and it’s really hard for us to tell the underlying motive for these type of cases.”

Caudle further stated, “This is Russian, Chinese. This comes from all these different nations. We’re seeing an uptick in it.”

US & Kenya

Biden Desperately Upgrades Ties with Kenya amid Africa Debacles

President Joe Biden promised to designate Kenya as a “Major Non-NATO ally” during a state visit by Kenyan President William Ruto on Thursday.

The upgraded status, which has never before been granted to a sub-Saharan nation, gives Biden a success to tout after a string of diplomatic disasters in Africa, as well as giving Ruto a jolt of prestige while he attempts to implement an unpopular and legally questionable decision to deploy Kenyan police to gang-ravaged Haiti.

Biden told Congress he wanted to grant Kenya the enhanced designation in recognition of its “many years of contributions to the United States Africa Command area of responsibility, and globally, and in recognition of our own national interest in deepening bilateral defense and security cooperation.”

“Kenya is one of the United States Government’s top counterterrorism and security partners in sub-Saharan Africa, and the designation will demonstrate that the United States sees African contributions to global peace and security as equivalent to those of our Major Non-NATO Allies in other regions,” he said.

At a joint press conference with Ruto on Thursday, Biden said the designation was the “fulfillment of years of collaboration.”

“Our joint counterterrorism operations have degraded ISIS and al-Shabaab across East Africa. Our mutual support for Ukraine has rallied the world to stand behind the U.N. Charter. And our work together on Haiti is helping pave the way to reduce instability and insecurity,” Biden said.

 So when will the Biden admin. accept Milei's request to designate Argentina an official Non-NATO ally?

Newsom's Tiny Homes

None of Gavin Newsom’s 1,200 ‘Tiny Homes’ Has Opened, a Year Later

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) promised in 2023 to deliver 1,200 “tiny homes” to help shelter the homeless in several California cities — but none has opened yet, according to a report in CalMatters.

CalMatters.org reported Thursday:

In March 2023, Gov. Gavin Newsom stood before a crowd in Sacramento’s Cal Expo event center and made a promise: He’d send 1,200 tiny homes to shelter homeless residents in the capital city and three other places throughout the state.

…

There have been multiple delays and about-faces, over everything from the way the state is funding the units to the ability of local cities and counties to find places to put them. The state has suggested the delays are the fault of local governments. But tiny homes have failed to materialize even when local leaders moved quickly to approve a project site.

In Sacramento, at least, construction for the tiny homes has begun. In San Diego, testing of a proposed site is still under way. In San Jose, a grant from the state took months to arrive; the project will only be completed next summer. And in Los Angeles, there is no approved site yet.

In 2021, Newsom boasted that California had become a model for dealing with homelessness, after the Biden administration adopted his state’s policy of paying for hotel and motel rooms for homeless people, or even buying hotels.

Homelessness continues to be a problem in the Golden State. The homeless population has hit a ten-year low in San Francisco, but was still rising in Los Angeles, as of last year.

The Wall Street Journal reported last year that California spends billions of dollars on homelessness, with little to show for the effort.

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EUROPE

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NATO on Ukraine

NATO Chief: Ukraine Should Be Allowed to Use Western Missiles Against Russian Mainland

Western nations should end their prohibition on Ukraine using their missiles to attack targets within the Russian mainland, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has argued.

With the United States reportedly reconsidering its ban on Ukraine using American weapons against targets within Russia, Jens Stoltenberg said that the escalation is justified and likely necessary in order for Kyiv to deter further aggression from Moscow as it seeks to gain further ground within the former Soviet state.

“I think the time has come for allies to consider whether they should lift some of the restrictions they are put on the use of weapons they have donated to Ukraine because, especially now when a lot the fighting is going on in Kharkiv, close to the border,” Stoltenberg told The Economist.

“To deny Ukraine the possibility of using these weapons against legitimate military targets on Russian territory makes it very hard for them to defend themselves”.

The outgoing NATO chief argued that Russia is waging a war of aggression. Therefore Ukraine has the right to defend itself “and that includes also striking targets on Russian territory.”

“It is legal, it is legitimate, and we are helping Ukraine with upholding that right and that should include the ability to also strike targets on Russian territory,” the Norwegian politician said.

Earlier this month, the UK became the first NATO nation to sign off on Ukraine using their weapons, including Storm Shadow missiles, to make strikes on targets within Russia. Foreign Secretary David Cameron said that Ukraine “absolutely has the right to strike back at Russia.”

G7 on Ukraine

G7 Talks Plans to Use Frozen Russian Assets to Fund Ukraine War

Finance officials from the Group of Seven rich democracies said they had moved toward agreement on a U.S. proposal to squeeze more money for Ukraine from Russian assets frozen in their countries. But the ministers left a final deal to be worked out ahead of a June summit of national leaders.

“We are making progress in our discussions on potential avenues to bring forward the extraordinary profits stemming from immobilized Russian sovereign assets to the benefit of Ukraine,” the draft statement said, without providing details.

Despite the progress made at the the meeting in Stresa, on the shores of Lago Maggiore in northern Italy, a final decision on how the assets will be used will rest with the G7 national leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, next month at their annual summit in Fasano, in southern Italy.

Host Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said that “progress has been made so far” but that there were “legal and technical issues that have to be overcome.”

“It is not an easy task but we are working on it,” he said at a news conference following the end of the meeting.

Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko joined the finance ministers and central bank heads at their concluding session on Saturday.

The U.S. Congress has passed legislation allowing the Biden administration to seize the roughly $5 billion in Russian assets located in the U.S., but European countries have a strong voice in the matter since most of the $260 billion in Russian central bank assets frozen after the Feb. 24, 2022, invasion are held in their jurisdictions.

Citing legal concerns, European officials have balked at outright confiscating the money and handing it to Ukraine as compensation for the destruction caused by Russia.

Kharkiv Section

Zelensky Claims Ukraine Has Taken Back Control of Key Areas in Kharkiv

Ukrainian forces have secured “combat control” of areas where Russian troops entered the northeastern Kharkiv region earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

“Our soldiers have now managed to take combat control of the border area where the Russian occupiers entered,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address on Friday evening.

Zelenskyy’s comments appeared to be at odds with those made by Russian officials.

Viktor Vodolatskiy, a member of Russia’s lower house of parliament, said Russian forces now controlled more than half of the town of Vovchansk, three miles (five kilometers) inside the border, Russian state news agency Tass reported Friday.

Vovchansk has been a flashpoint for fighting since Russia launched an offensive in the Kharkiv region on May 10.

Vodolatskiy was also quoted as saying that, once Vovchansk was secured, Russian forces would target the cities of Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and Pokrovsk in the neighboring Donetsk region.

No independent confirmation of the claims was immediately possible.

14 Dead, Dozens Missing in Latest Russian Bombardment of Kharkiv

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Sunday that Russia is preparing to intensify its offensive along Ukraine’s northern border, as the death toll rose to 14 in an aerial bomb attack on a large construction supplies store in the city of Kharkiv.

The bombing of Kharkiv on Saturday afternoon also left 43 injured and 16 missing, Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said initially after the attack.

In a video statement from Kharkiv, Zelenskyy said that Russia is preparing offensive actions 90 kilometers (55 miles) northwest of Ukraine’s second largest city. He said that Russians “gather another group of troops near our border.”

He did not specify where the troops are being assembled, but Ukrainian officials have expressed strong concern about the Sumy region. Both Kharkiv city and Sumy with about 250,000 people are within about 25 kilometers (15 miles) of the Russian border.

Moscow’s troops have in recent weeks captured villages in the Kharkiv area as part of a broad push, and analysts say they may be trying to get within artillery range of the city. Ukrainian authorities have evacuated more than 11,000 people from the region since the start of the offensive on May 10.

Russian forces are carrying out offensive attacks across the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, with pitched battles in the Chasiv Yar direction of the Donetsk region, where “the intensity of the hostilities is quite high” according to a statement from Ukraine´s General Staff. “The defense forces are taking measures to prevent the advance of the enemy,” the statement said.

Russia Laughs at the Western World

Moscow Boasts West Has No Weapons That Can Turn Ukraine War Around
While Kyiv Claims to Have Inflicted Half-Million Casualties on Russia

Ukraine’s Western backers are sending new tranches of weapons and supplies to keep the nation in the fight, but Russia attempts to taunt the effort, insisting no weapon can overcome their invasion.

Boast and bluster from Russia on the Ukraine war as it attempts to persuade Western nations their continuing support for Ukraine is pointless and only leads to people being killed. The remarks come from Russian diplomat Maxim Buyakevich, per Moscow government media, in an apparent bid to persuade that resisting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is pointless.

Buyakevich is said to have stated: “Kiev’s sponsors have no weapons capable of drastically changing the situation on the ground. Decisions to send more batch of already combat-tested weapons will only protract the military confrontation, causing more deaths and destruction”.

The inadequacy of comparative weapons systems is tricky ground for Russia, which has lost its apex fighting units in colossal numbers since its invasion began and even now refuses to deploy its limited number of next-generation tanks, apparently for fear of losing them in combat. Where Russia has seen success is in absolute weight of numbers-type fighting, where its huge legacy stocks of artillery ammunition and ability to retrofit large air-drop bombs with rudimentary guidance-glide kits has allowed the Federation to pound Ukraine with high explosives.

Western allies of Ukraine, on the other hand, appear to have a comfortable lead in the technological sophistication of weapons systems but have struggled to deliver these weapons in sufficient quantities. Even the absolute simplest weapons like artillery shells which haven’t meaningfully changed in decades suffer from seriously constrained supply chains and an industrial base not optimised for wartime.

It isn’t as if Russia has been invulnerable to Western weapons so far either. Beyond losing thousands of tanks, per Ukrainian estimates it has also sustained approaching half a million military casualties. While the exact proportion of that figure being killed or injured is unknown, according to Kyiv’s official figures, the half-million figure for Russia’s armed forces will be reached in the coming days.

Are You 16+ Years Old?

Labour Party to Give 16 and 17-Year-Olds the Right to Vote in the UK if Elected

The Labour Party will reportedly give 16 and 17-year-olds the right to vote in one of its first acts if victorious in the general election, in an apparent attempt to cement their grip on power.

Labour sources have told The Times of London that should the party take control of Downing Street — as is widely predicted to happen at the July 4th election — a Sir Keir Starmer government would look to lower the voting age in England within its first year in office.

The move would add around 1.5 million teens to the voter rolls, marking the largest expansion of the electorate since the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 by the Labour government of Harold Wilson in 1969.

Confirming the planned change, Starmer told Sky News on Saturday: “If you can work, if you can pay tax, if you can serve in your armed forces, then you ought to be able to vote.”

With low-information young voters tending to favour left-wing parties, the move would likely increase the number of voters for Labour, with a recent YouGov survey finding that Labour holds a 57 per cent to 8 per cent advantage over the Conservative Party among 18 to 24-year-olds.

YouGov’s director of political analytics, Patrick English said: “We would generally expect that lowering the voting age would be electorally advantageous to Labour, as younger people are significantly more likely to back them over the Conservatives, or indeed any other party.

“However, we also know that young people are among the most unlikely voter groups to actually turn out. So, any advantage Labour have in terms of raw support among this potential new block of young voters will be significantly reduced at the ballot box by their low participation rates.”

Pro-Raisi & Anti-Raisi Groups in London

Iranian Govt Supporters Clash with Anti-Raisi Protesters in London

British police say four people were hurt and one was arrested when supporters of Iran’s authorities clashed with anti-government protesters at a London event marking the death of President Ebrahim Raisi.

The Metropolitan Police force said officers were called Friday evening to “reports of disorder” at a venue in the west London area of Wembley, where an event was being held to mark Raisi’s death in a helicopter crash. Protesters had gathered outside the venue and clashes broke out, police said.

The force said one person was arrested on suspicion of violent disorder. Four people were treated by paramedics for injuries that are not thought to be life-threatening or life-changing.

Police ordered those gathered to disperse and said Saturday that detectives would examine social media footage and other evidence to see whether more offenses had been committed.

Raisi, a pillar of Iran’s hard-line Islamic regime, died alongside the country’s foreign minister and six others in a crash in the country’s mountainous northwest on Sunday. He was interred Thursday at Iran’s holiest Shiite shrine.

Some Iranian expatriates have welcomed Raisi’s death. London is home to a large Iranian community, most of whom left in the years since the country’s Islamic revolution in 1979.

Macron in Germany

Macron Makes First State Visit for any French President to Germany in Quarter of a Century

President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday started the first state visit to Germany by a French head of state in 24 years, a three-day trip meant to underline the strong ties between the European Union’s traditional leading powers.

The visit was originally meant to take place last July but was postponed at the last minute due to rioting in France following the killing of a 17-year-old by police.

While Macron is a frequent visitor to Germany as Paris and Berlin try to coordinate their positions on EU and foreign policy, this is the first state visit with full pomp since Jacques Chirac came in 2000. Macron and his wife, Brigitte, are being hosted by Germany´s largely ceremonial president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

It is “proof of the depth of the friendship between France and Germany” that Macron is visiting as Germany celebrates the 75th anniversary of its post-World War II constitution and before it marks the 35th anniversary in November of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Steinmeier said.

Steinmeier is holding a state banquet for Macron at his Bellevue palace in Berlin on Sunday evening before the two presidents travel on Monday to the eastern city of Dresden, where Macron will make a speech, and on Tuesday to Muenster in western Germany. The state visit will be followed later Tuesday by a meeting between Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and ministers from both countries at a government guest house outside Berlin.

INTERNATIONAL

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New Caledonia

First French Tourists Evacuated from New Caledonia Amid Violent Anti-Colonial Riots

The first evacuation flights for tourists stranded in France’s Pacific territory of New Caledonia took off Saturday, the high commission in the archipelago said, as President Emmanuel Macron’s government sought to defuse the crisis.

The international airport in the capital Noumea has remained closed for more than a week and all commercial flights have been cancelled due to the unrest until at least Tuesday.

“Measures to send foreigners and French tourists home continue,” the high commission, which represents the French state, said in a statement.

The tourists departed Saturday from the Magenta airfield in Noumea aboard military aircraft headed for Australia and New Zealand, according to an AFP journalist.

They will then have to take commercial flights to mainland France.

“I came on vacation to visit my best friend… The conflict broke out and I got stuck,” in Noumea, Audrey, who did not give her last name, told AFP.

Australia and New Zealand had already begun repatriating their nationals on Tuesday.

The situation has been gradually easing for the many people trapped in the territory that has been shaken since May 13 by riots over planned voting reforms.

Seven people have been killed in the violence, the latest a man shot dead on Friday by a policeman who was attacked by protesters.

New Caledonia has been ruled from Paris since the 1800s, but many indigenous Kanaks still resent France’s power over their islands and want fuller autonomy or independence.

France is planning to give voting rights to thousands of non-indigenous long-term residents, something Kanaks say would dilute the influence of their votes.

Israel on UN

Israeli U.N. Amb.: If It Doesn’t Reform, U.S. Should Consider Defunding the U.N.

On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America Reports,” Gilad Erdan, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, blasted the U.N. as an enemy of “the values of America and the free world” that is used to “whitewash” the crimes of dictators and rogues and argued that unless there are fundamental reforms to the organization, the United States should give consideration to defunding the U.N.

After blasting the organization’s mourning for Iran’s Ebrahim Raisi, Erdan stated, “I think that the most important thing is to understand that the U.N. has lost all of its credibility. It is no longer an organization that truly defends human rights. And I think that unless it [goes] through fundamental changes, the American administration should really maybe consider seriously [defunding] the U.N. I’m not sure that your viewers are aware of the fact that they are paying $19 billion, almost $20 billion every year, and instead of strengthening your values, the values of America and the free world, you are weakening your values. Because today, the U.N. is being used by dictators and rogue states to whitewash their crimes. Iran was also elected recently to chair the human rights Social Forum. You can’t make these things up.”

WHO on Pandemic Treaty

Perhaps it should have been called the Tyranny Treaty instead.

No Deal: W.H.O. Fails to Secure Global Pandemic Treaty

No deal. That was the message for World Health Organization (W.H.O.) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Friday after his proposed global pandemic treaty was rejected after two years of closed-door meetings in Geneva, Switzerland.

AP reports Roland Driece, co-chair of W.H.O.’s negotiating board for the agreement, acknowledged countries were unable to deliver an agreed proposal. W.H.O. had hoped a final draft treaty could be agreed on at its yearly meeting of health ministers starting Monday in Geneva.

“We are not where we hoped we would be when we started this process,” he said, adding that finalizing an international agreement on how to respond to a pandemic was critical “for the sake of humanity” even as a host of countries disagreed with the basic principle that unelected, unaccountable, health bureaucrats could somehow decide major global decisions on government policies.

Earlier this month, U.S. Republican senators wrote to the Biden administration, arguing the draft treaty focused on issues like “shredding intellectual property rights” and “supercharging the WHO.” They urged Biden not to sign off.

Driece said the World Health Assembly next week would urge participants to make “the right decisions to take this process forward” to one day reach a pandemic agreement “because we need it.”

Addressing a sullen final day of negotiations, the W.H.O. chief insisted, “This is not a failure.”

“We will try everything — believing that anything is possible — and make this happen because the world still needs a pandemic treaty,” Tedros said. “Because many of the challenges that caused a serious impact during COVID-19 still exist.”

Despite the desire of W.H.O. career bureaucrats to push ahead with the scheme, Britain’s department of health had already said it would only agree to an accord if it adhered to British national interest and sovereignty.

AMLO on Some Dirty Campaign Hurting Him

Mexican President Claims Outrage Over Murdered Child Manufactured to Hurt His Government

Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador claimed that this week’s outrage over the fatal shooting of a young boy during a failed kidnapping was manufactured as a way to hurt his government image due to the upcoming elections.

The shooting took place this week in the city of Paraiso, Tabasco, where a group of gunmen shot and killed 11-year-old Emiliano, who was walking along a street with his mother, Breitbart Texas reported. The incident went viral when a video captured the moment when Emiliano yelled out, “I don’t want to die,” only to die hours later at a local hospital. Initial information pointed to the shooting having been an attempted kidnapping and the boy having been shot while trying to defend his mother.

During his morning news conference, Lopez Obrador said the murder was “very lamentable”; however, since it was electoral season, his opposition was working to hurt him by focusing on news about violence, particularly in Tabasco, his home state.

Lopez Obrador said that some of the information shared about the case was false as a way to maximize outrage. He claimed that the case wasn’t an attempt to kidnap Emiliano’s mother but that the gunmen had gone after the 11-year-old boy. The Tabasco government issued a statement claiming that the gunmen had gone straight for Emiliano, pointing to him having been a target of the attack, Mexico’s Proceso reported. The case has sparked further outrage as journalists in Mexico claim the government is trying to blame the 11-year-old boy for his murder as a way to divert blame away from the failed strategies of Lopez Obrador.

Missionaries Killed in Haiti

Missouri Lawmaker Reveals Missionary Daughter, Son-in-Law Killed by Gangs in Haiti

Missouri State Rep. Ben Baker ® revealed that his daughter and son-in-law had died after being attacked by gangs while serving as missionaries in Haiti.

Baker wrote in a Facebook post early Friday morning that his heart was “broken in a thousand pieces,” after his daughter, Natalie Lloyd, and his son-in-law, Davy Lloyd had been “attacked by gangs.”

“My heart is broken in a thousand pieces,” Baker wrote. “I’ve never felt this kind of pain. Most of you know my daughter and son-in-law Davy and Natalie Lloyd are full time missionaries in Haiti. They were attacked by gangs this evening and were both killed. They went to Heaven together.”

Baker continued to ask for prayers for his family, adding that they “desperately need strength.”

“And please pray for the Lloyd family as well,” Baker added. “I have no other words for now.”

My heart is broken in a thousand pieces. I’ve never felt this kind of pain. Most of you know my daughter and son-in-law…

Posted by Ben Baker on Thursday, May 23, 2024

Baker’s daughter and son-in-law had been serving as missionaries in Port au Prince for Missions in Haiti. The organization was founded in 2000 by David and Alicia Lloyd, the parents of Davy.

Missions in Haiti released a newsletter in May 2023 which said gangs had “taken control of even more area in and around Port au Prince.”

The newsletter added that the “gang leader” of their area was in control of “one of the ‘nicer gangs’ in Haiti.”

Are You American? Xi Jinping Wants You To Visit His Country

Xi Jinping Invites American Tourists to Save Tanking Chinese Economy

The Chinese government held a “tourism leadership summit” to entice Americans to spend their money in China, featuring a personal invite from genocidal dictator Xi Jinping.

Xi sent a personalized message to the event, in the city of Xi’an, emphasizing the importance that “cultural and people-to-people exchanges” hold in the eyes of the Communist Party for improving relations with America. Organizers and state media noted that the China-U.S. Tourism Leadership Summit used to be an annual event but had not been held since 2019, the last year before the Communist Party began locking down entire cities in response to the coronavirus outbreak beginning in Wuhan late that year.

Xi’an was the site of some of Xi’s most brutal lockdowns, in December 2021 and October 2022.

“We warmly welcome American tourists to travel to China, meet Chinese friends, experience Chinese culture, visit beautiful landscapes, and experience the real China,” Xi said in his message to the event, according to China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency.

Xinhua cited Xi as saying:

It is hoped that all walks of life in the two countries will take this summit as an opportunity to have in-depth exchanges, build consensus, and take active actions to promote personnel exchanges through tourism cooperation, continue China-U.S. friendship with cultural and people-to-people exchanges, and help the San Francisco vision turn into reality, Xi said.

The Global Times, another Chinese government propaganda outlet, reported that leftist American President Joe Biden also sent a letter to the organizers and attendees at the tourism summit inviting Chinese nationals to travel to America.

“The U.S. welcomes the people of China to discover our cities, learn about our history, and engage with our people in destinations across the country,” Biden reportedly wrote.

Chinese Drills or Threats?

China Stages Missile Strikes and Bombing Runs on Taiwan Using Jets Loaded with Live Weapons

China stepped up its “punishment” military drill around Taiwan on Friday, staging mock missile attacks and bombing runs against the island, plus simulated attacks on foreign vessels that might come to Taiwan’s aid.

The Chinese jets participating in the drill were clearly armed with live missiles.

The first day of China’s military drill, which the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) described as “punishment” for Taiwan electing “separatist” President William Lai Ching-te, was a bit less provocative. There was plenty of belligerent rhetoric from Beijing, but Taiwanese officials said the PLA was not doing anything it had not done before, and the drill was not nearly as large as the military tantrum China threw after former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022.

The second day of the latest exercise was more provocative, as Chinese bombers flew in attack formations, and People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) ships practiced seizing control of the Taiwan-controlled islands near the Chinese coast.

Taiwanese security officials said the PLAN also practiced attacking foreign ships near Taiwan and harassing civilian vessels with coast guard ships.

On Friday, the PLA released an animated video that showed Chinese missiles destroying the Taiwanese cities of Taipei, Kaohsiung, and Hualien — attacks that would condemn millions of people to a fiery death if conducted for real. The video labeled China’s missiles as “sacred weapons to kill independence,” a slogan the PLA seems to have grown fond of.