News and Headlines: In The News, Politics, World News, Commentary/Opinion.
In The News:
NY man fatally stabs, guts his own father; may have eaten his organs
(Marco Poggio/New York Daily News/TNS)
Khaled Ahmad ran up to cops from the 68th Precinct who were on meal break in a bagel shop about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday and told them he had killed his 57-year-old father, Imad “Albert” Ahmad.
Cops were shocked by the blood-soaked scene inside the family’s home in Dyker Heights. The father was dead on the kitchen floor, his body mutilated and with multiple stab wounds.
“He gutted him,” said one high ranking NYPD officer. “It had to take him a long time for him to do what he did.”
Philadelphia licensed gun owner claims self defense in shooting of 3 teens aboard bus: police
The 24-year-old man, who police said had a concealed-carry permit for his weapon, was sitting in the back of the bus when the group approached him and an altercation soon followed, according to Lt. Dennis Rosenbaum of Northeast Detectives.
Responding officers found three males with leg wounds outside the SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) bus after it came to a halt in the northeast section of the city shortly after 1 a.m., the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
The unidentified gun owner gave his weapon to investigators and is cooperating, Philadelphia’s FOX 29 reported. They had yet to speak with the teens, who remained hospitalized.
5 Philadelphia suspects charged in Virginia throat-slashing murders of couple, teen
fox29.com
Killed were Michael Coleman, 39, Rachel Ozuna, 34, and her son Kyruss Ozuna, 14. They were found dead inside their Spotsylvania County home in May 2019, according to FOX 29 in Philadelphia. A baby and a toddler were found alive.
Charged with first-degree murder by the Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office were Philadelphia residents James Christopher Myers, 30; Durward Anthony Allen, 27; Jamal Kelvin Bailey, 30; Hugh Cameron Green, 30; and Montel Jaleek Wilson, 26; FOX 29 reported.
The victims had their throats slit and authorities believe the murders were premeditated – although they have no motive, the Fredericksburg newspaper reported.
The bodies were discovered by the boy’s father.
Which US states are ready for phase 1 of reopening after coronavirus lockdown?
While some states have yet to see their peak, others have managed to flatten the curve, with Gov. Andrew Cuomo saying that “the worst is over” for New York state – the epicenter of the pandemic in America.
President Trump announced a plan on Thursday to reopen the country in three phases, based on the severity of the outbreak in each state or region.
Ultimately, the governor of each state will decide when is best to reopen. As such, here are the states that have already confirmed that they plan to reopen, and when they plan to do so.
*Note, this list only includes the states which have so far indicated they are pushing forward with plans to begin reopening.
Coronavirus antibody testing finds Bay Area infections may be 85 times higher than reported: researchers
The researchers did note that the study had several limitations, including that participants had to have access to Facebook and a car to attend drive-through testing sites.
Those factors resulted in an over-representation of white women between the ages of 19 and 64, and an under-representation of Hispanic and Asian populations.
However, once adjustments were made the researchers said the results could be applied to other areas.
WATCH: Security Camera Captures Moment When FL Resident Shoots at Three Home Invaders
News4Jax reports the footage was captured by the apartments’ Ring security camera.
It shows the three men walking up the stairs to the door, looking around to see if anyone is watching, and the first man using his body to break open the door.
After successfully opening it, all three rush inside. About eight seconds later, gunshots can be heard, followed by all three running out the door.
Minnesota Workers Protest Outside Governor’s Mansion, Demand End to Lock Down
Protesters assemble in front of New Jersey Statehouse to assail stay-at-home order
The words “no more fear” were audible through a megaphone as a helicopter hovered overhead and law enforcement officers blocked access to the Statehouse parking complex.
Demonstrators have also rallied in front of statehouses in Michigan, Ohio and other states to protest stay-at-home orders.
Earlier on Friday, President Donald Trump issued an online call to “LIBERATE” those states where protesters have demonstrated orders issued by Democratic governors.
NASA, SpaceX Launching Americans Into Space on Crew Dragon on May 27
For the first time since 2011, NASA is launching American astronauts from the U.S., on domestic Falcon 9 rockets from SpaceX, according to a tweet from NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.
The first flight is scheduled for May 27.
The mission, called Launch America, was detailed in a NASA press release published on Friday.
Onboard the Dragon will be NASA astronauts Dough Hurley and Bob Behnken — shuttle program veterans — who will ride at the top of a Falcon 9 rocket from pad 29A, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
This is the same historic launch facility that the final space shuttle made its last launch.
A Teenager Posted About Her COVID-19 Infection on Instagram. A Deputy Threatened To Arrest Her if She Didn’t Delete It.
After she returned home from this visit, she posted again on Instagram and included a picture of herself at the hospital wearing an oxygen mask.
The very next day, Patrol Sergeant Cameron Klump from Marquette County Sheriff’s Department showed up on the family’s doorstep.
He was there under orders from Sheriff Joseph Konrath to demand that Amyiah and her father, Richard Cohoon, remove Amyiah’s Instagram posts.
If they refused, Klump said the family faced charges for disorderly conduct and Klump told them he would “start taking people to jail,” according to the suit.
Konrath’s justification was that there had been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the county. He found out about the Instagram post from Amyiah’s high school.
The Cohoon family had contacted the school to let them know about Amyiah’s infection, but nobody ever contacted them back to get more information. It appears that instead the school contacted the police.
Politics:
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Eases Coronavirus Restrictions After Trump Calls For State To Be ‘Liberated’
(Source: KEYC News Now)
The new restrictions will allow outdoor activities, including hunting, fishing, and golfing to resume as long as social distancing protocols are followed.
“It’s important for us to stay active and enjoy the outdoors while preventing the spread of COVID-19,” Walz said, according to KEYC News. “This measure will allow Minnesotans to take advantage of more opportunities to get outside, while still doing their part to keep their neighbors healthy.”
The president offered his support Friday morning to protesters across the country opposing strict restrictions put in place by Democratic governors in states such as Minnesota, Michigan and Virginia.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer: Abortions are ‘life-sustaining’
Whitmer was discussing health care and abortion during a recent podcast interview with CNN correspondent and former Obama adviser, David Axelrod, when she made the comments.
After being asked about her plans regarding other states who have banned abortions during the outbreak, Whitmer suggested that while elective surgeries have been paused in Michigan, abortions are considered essential and can still be performed.
“We stopped elective surgeries here in Michigan,” the governor said.
“Some people have tried to say that that type of a procedure is considered the same [as abortion] and that’s ridiculous.”
Sebastian Gorka: Greatest Threat from Coronavirus Is Democrat Push for Mail-in-Voting
Commentary/Opinion:
Gorka joined Thursday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily with host Alex Marlow.
“Democrats are trying to use this virus as a reason to change fundamentals in the United States, and it doesn’t get much more fundamental than voting,” said Marlow.
“There’s a big push from every corner of the Democrat Party, from Michelle Obama to Elizabeth Warren to Nancy Pelosi to Eric Holder talking about how we can use this openly to fundamentally transform our voting system.”
Marlow continued, “What they want to do is they want to have ballot harvesting [and] mandatory — or automatic, is the right term — vote-by-mail where they’re sending out ballots that will, no doubt, be used for fraud.”
Gorka replied, “This topic you just raised is the greatest threat to our republic related to this coronavirus.”
Jeff Sessions: Let Americans Work and Earn — Halt Foreign Worker Visas Now
Americans deserve every opportunity to find good-paying jobs, especially in tough times.
I am proposing that the federal government end all employment-based immigration until we recover. We must pause new work-based immigration visas until the economy reaches its pre-pandemic unemployment rate of 3.5 percent.
Our guest worker programs can make sense when there is a real shortage of workers to do temporary work. But the government’s primary duty is to our citizens, not foreign nationals.
This crisis is not the time to import more foreigners when millions of Americans are itching to get back to work. Indeed, in a very real sense, there are no available jobs in America.
More than 22 million Americans have filed for unemployment in the past few weeks.
Ilhan Omar Repeats Demand For A Ban On Deportations
The post was in response to a report about a recent deportation flight to Guatemala that carried the disease.
The Guatemalan health minister said the majority of deportees on a flight to his country tested positive for coronavirus.
This is not the first time Omar has demanded the Trump administration discontinue deportation operations amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Two news outlets have independently reported that Omar herself is under investigation by the FBI for alleged immigration fraud, but she, nor the agency, have spoken about the allegations.
Schumer Defends Blocking Small Business Aid
Schumer’s comments come one day after the $350 billion Paycheck Protection Program, which gives forgivable loans to small businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic, ran out of funding.
Senate Republicans introduced a measure to provide the program with an additional $250 billion last week, only for Democrats to block the measure.
The Senate adjourned Thursday without coming to an agreement on additional funding for the program. It will not reconvene until Monday.
Senate Democrats Tina Smith (Minn.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) called for immediate small business funding after their colleagues resisted Republican efforts to fund the program.
World News:
Timeline of WHO Cover-Up
WHO, an agency of the United Nations, has long been swayed by Beijing’s political preferences. Its current head, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, is a former member of a Maoist group in Ethiopia.
As The Epoch Times previously documented, China has been increasing its power over U.N. institutions for years. Beijing’s clout has now gone so far, it undermines WHO’s basic functions, such as providing timely and accurate information about the world’s health situation.
Case in point: the CCP virus.
In this episode we take a look at the timeline of the WHO Cover-Up.
France finds more than 1,000 virus cases on aircraft carrier
The ship, France’s biggest carrier and the flagship of its navy, is undergoing a lengthy disinfection process since returning to its home base in Toulon five days ago.
Two of four U.S. sailors serving aboard the Charles de Gaulle as part of an exchange program also tested positive, according to a U.S. Navy statement.
A British sailor was aboard another vessel, Lavault said, refusing to reveal the sailor’s health status.
Defense Minister Florence Parly told lawmakers that 1,081 of the 2,300 people aboard the Charles de Gaulle and its escort vessels have tested positive so far — nearly half the overall personnel.
US officials confirm full-scale investigation of whether coronavirus escaped from Wuhan lab
Intelligence operatives are said to be gathering information about the laboratory and the initial outbreak of the virus.
Intelligence analysts are piecing together a timeline of what the government knew and “creating an accurate picture of what happened,” the sources said.
Once that investigation is complete — something that is expected to happen in the near-term — the findings will be presented to the Trump administration.
At that point White House policymakers and President Trump will use the findings to determine how to hold the country accountable for the pandemic.
Israel to gradually restart economy; tensions rise in Persian Gulf – TV7 Israel News 17.04.20
1) After a spike of additional coronavirus cases was reported throughout the Jewish State, a day prior; today’s upward trend of newly diagnosed Israelis is once again on the decline.
2) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted a proposal of the National Security Council and Defense Ministry to reopen several commercial sectors gradually, subject to restrictions and precautions
3) The People’s Republic of China has in recent days transferred significant amounts of aid to many countries across the Middle East – including Lebanon and Syria, among others – as part of Beijing declared effort to assist stricken-countries combat the disease.
Video: US-Russian crew lands safely in Kazakhstan after more than 200 days in space
Russia’s Roskosmos space agency said the Soyuz MS-15 capsule carrying the crew chief, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka, and NASA Flight Engineers Jessica Meir and Andrew Morgan landed safely on April 17 in Kazakhstan.
The crew was replaced by U.S. astronaut Christopher Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner, who docked with the ISS on April 10.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, instead of being brought to the city of Qaraghandy in central Kazakhstan for traditional welcome ceremonies, the crew members were taken straight to the Baikonur space complex near the city of Qyzylorda.
Chernobyl wildfire blankets Kyiv in thick smog
The coronavirus lockdown is keeping most Kyiv residents at home anyway.
Ukraine’s health ministry says the radiation level remains normal and Chernobyl faces no immediate threat.
At one point on Thursday, according to the IQAir index, Kyiv’s air pollution was the worst in the world.
Firefighters have been tackling the wildfire for more than a week, and there was a new flare-up fanned by strong winds on Thursday. But now the emergency services say the blaze has not spread to the Chernobyl power station area.
‘It’s overwhelming’: On the frontline to combat coronavirus ‘fake news’
From the Balkans to Brazil, these journalists and researchers — mostly working in isolation at home — have been given access to the companies’ inner workings, including data about how possible fake posts are performing on the platforms.
Scrolling through piles of misinformation, the fact-checkers’ goal is to debunk as many falsehoods as they can to keep people safe from content that, in the most severe cases, puts lives in jeopardy.
Yet, even as Facebook and Google promote fact-checking networks as a cornerstone of their response to digital misinformation, the organizations doing the work are struggling to keep pace with a wave of falsities connected to Covid-19.
Above all, groups question if their work is making a difference, given the deluge of posts and videos.
What follows is a selection of stories from people on the front line of the global battle to stop the spread of misinformation about Covid-19.
Commentary/Opinion:
MyPillow CEO: Smeared By Media For Making Masks (Pt. 1) | Mike Lindell | POLITICS | Rubin Report
Dave Rubin of The Rubin Report talks to Mike Lindell (Inventor & MyPillow CEO) about how he was treated by the mainstream media.
Mike Lindell converted 75% of his MyPillow factories to mask making. Mike’s goal is to produce over 50,000 masks a day at his factories.
At a press briefing at the White House with President Donald Trump, Mike Lindell gave a speech announcing what his company was doing to solve mask shortages.
He also talked about his religious faith and encouraged Americans to turn to God in times of crisis.
For this he was mocked by media outlets like CNN, and MSNBC as well as journalists like Jim Acosta and Joy Reid.
Mike Lindell responds to the media’s treatment of him and his company’s efforts.