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US News:

Most Wanted fugitive captured in El Salvador pictured teaching English class at local school

Raymond "RJ" McLeod, the former fugitive accused of murdering his girlfriend Krystal Mitchell in San Diego in 2016, pictured here teaching a class in El Salvador, where he was allegedly laying low as an English instructor while on the U.S. Marshals' Top 15 Most Wanted List until his capture Monday. (Josephine Wentzel)
Raymond “RJ” McLeod, the former fugitive accused of murdering his girlfriend Krystal Mitchell in San Diego in 2016, pictured here teaching a class in El Salvador, where he was allegedly laying low as an English instructor while on the U.S. Marshals’ Top 15 Most Wanted List until his capture Monday. (Josephine Wentzel)

McLeod, 37, is accused of brutally killing his then-girlfriend, Krystal Mitchell, in San Diego in 2016, then fleeing the country. After several sightings in Central America, Marshals say he settled down in El Salvador and took up the life of an English teacher.

Marshals and Salvadoran authorities arrested him around 4:30 p.m. Monday after receiving a tip that he was teaching in a school in Sonsonate, about 40 miles west of San Salvador near the Pacific Ocean, as Fox News Digital was first to report.

The ex-Marine was an “avid bodybuilder and heavy drinker” with a history of domestic violence even before the slaying, according to the Marshals.

After the coronavirus pandemic, he cut down on his drinking, returned to the gym and was frequently seen at the local soccer stadium, Wentzel said. He had no car and was always seen walking around town.

Report: Chicago Man Arrested for Driving Stolen Van Had Murder Sentence Commuted By J.B. Pritzker in 2021

Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images, Cook County Sheriff's Department
Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images, Cook County Sheriff’s Department

A Chicago man whose double murder sentence was commuted by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) in 2021 was recently arrested for allegedly driving a stolen van belonging to the city of Kenosha, CWB Chicago reported.

Gerald Reed, 58, is facing felony charges after officers with the Chicago Police department discovered the keys, in his front pocket, to a blue GMC Savana van that was reported missing by Kenosha, Wisconsin officials. Police also found identification documents belonging to Reed in the center console of the vehicle.

Police were tipped off by the stolen vehicle after they interviewed Reed’s roommate while responding to a domestic disturbance call on Monday.

The 58-year-old works as a laborer for Loyola University and is not an employee of the city of Kenosha.

Reed is also facing burglary and resisting police charges from a pending case in Dane County, Wisconsin, according to prosecutors during Reed’s bail hearing.

Border officials in Texas make largest cocaine bust in 20 years inside baby wipe shipment

he cocaine was estimated to be worth $11,818,400, officials said. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
The cocaine was estimated to be worth $11,818,400, officials said. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)

Border protection officers in Texas discovered nearly $12 million worth of cocaine in a shipment labeled “baby wipes” last week, marking the agency’s largest bust of the drug in nearly two decades, officials said.

The seizure happened Friday at the Colombia-Solidarity Bridge near Laredo when a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer referred a 2016 Stoughton trailer for a secondary inspection, CBP said in a news release on Monday.

The trailer’s manifest said it was hauling baby wipes, but a canine and non-intrusive inspection found a trove of illicit narcotics — 1,935 packages of cocaine, CBP said.

500 Migrants in 3 Large Groups Apprehended near Border in Texas

File Photo: U.S. Border Patrol/Rio Grande Valley Sector
File Photo: U.S. Border Patrol/Rio Grande Valley Sector

Rio Grande City Station Border Patrol agents encountered two large groups of migrants in Starr County, Texas, according to information obtained from Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol officials.

The groups were made up of 142 single adults, 101 family units, and 130 unaccompanied children. The 373 migrants in the two groups came from Cuba and multiple South and Central American nations, officials stated.

Nearby in the McAllen Station area of responsibility, agents encountered a third large group. This group of 121 migrants located in Hidalgo County, Texas, was made up of 21 single adults, 30 family units, and 70 unaccompanied minors, the report continued.

In total, RGV Sector agents took 494 migrants into custody from the three large groups. Unaccompanied alien children accounted for 200 of these apprehensions — more than 40 percent of the total.

Ukrainian Gang Stole Jobs in Key West, Florida, from Americans for 14 Years

The Ukraine-based criminal conspiracy apparently excluded thousands of young Americans from resort jobs while allowing hotel investors to profit from compliant and cheap migrants.

“[Mykhaylo] Chugay and his co-conspirators also defrauded the IRS out of more than $25 million in income and Social Security and Medicare taxes that should have been collected and paid over in connection with the employment of these workers … [and] sent checks and wires totaling more than $11 million in proceeds from the illegal scheme to conspirators in Ukraine and elsewhere,” said an August 26 statement from the department, which announced a 24-year sentence for one of the traffickers.

The unpublicized federal indictment from July 2020 is silent about the scale of the operation. Instead, it focuses on the illegal export of criminal proceeds to Ukraine and on just one example of illegal employment in 2018.

But an August 2021 report from KeysWeekly.com outlined the scale of the Ukrainians’ labor trafficking, which may have supplied labor to “dozens” of hotels:

New York Legislators Want Credit Card Companies To Track Gun and Ammo Purchases

(AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)
(AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)

New York legislators want to make it easier to detect credit card purchases at gun stores. According to Gothamist, at least 48 legislators in the Empire State have contacted MasterCard and American Express via a letter asking for purchase codes to be created for guns and ammunition.

While there are codes unique to some purchases, in many cases, the companies track where the transaction was made but not what was actually purchased. Currently, for MasterCard, there is no code for the purchase of firearms.

The legislators want just such a code to be implemented. Proponents claim that the move would make it easier to target gun traffickers and prevent mass shootings.

The effort is being headed up by Sen. Zellnor Myrie (D-20th district). Myrie penned an op-ed for the New York Daily News in August of this year. He argues against bail reform and what he calls the “Nixon-era” approach to law and order and said that his constituents have told him that they feel that they are “overpoliced and underprotected.” He said the Democrats must recognize that perception equals reality.

“Gun Free Zone” Signs Go Up Around Times Square and NYC

New York – “Gun Free Zone” signs are now on up Times Square. Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams announced that Times Square and other locations will be Gun Free Zones in NYC.

REPORT: Top new IRS official reportedly targeted Conservatives

Nikole Flax, the top new official at the IRS, reportedly targeted Conservatives and the Tea Party movement in the past. Correspondent Christina Thompson reports.

Biden team ‘dismantled’ successful border policies: Lt. Olivarez

Lt. Christopher Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety discusses the ongoing border crisis, arguing there are ‘no consequences’ for illegal migrants crossing the border.

City Doesn’t Have Enough Water for Toilets or Firefighting

The capital of Mississippi has a serious water problem. Parts of the city of Jackson have no running water – due to a confluence of factors.

Flooding, failures at two water treatment plants, and low water pressure have left many residents struggling for a very basic need: clean H2O.

The city has been under a boil water notice since July. Now there are concerns that water pressure is insufficient for firefighting, or even for flushing toilets.

How To Turn Desalination Waste From Burden To Profit

JESSE WAGSTAFF / FLICKR
/
CC BY 2.0
JESSE WAGSTAFF / FLICKR/CC BY 2.0

California has two desalination plants coming up for a vote by the state Coastal Commission this fall which will decide the projects’ fate as the West Coast suffers its worst drought in 1,200 years.

In May, the commission unanimously rejected a $1.4 billion-dollar plant that would have offered 50 million gallons of precious potable water daily to a region which, by nature’s standards, should not even exist as the metropolis it is today.

State regulators raised concerns over risks to marine ecosystems and “environmental justice” as reasons to vote down the massive water project in their report.

Environmental hazards, however, could be diminished by proper mitigation strategies including some that could turn plant waste products into lucrative commodities.

The Israel Salt Company, for example, has struck a deal with the Mekorot desalination plant in the southern port city of Eilat to make high-quality table salt from the leftover sodium.

California Asks Residents To Avoid Charging Electric Vehicles Due To Blackout Risk Days After Unveiling New Gas Car Ban

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

California also experienced a round of blackouts during last year’s Labor Day weekend. The state issued Flex Alerts because grid operators predicted “an increase in electricity demand, primarily from air conditioning use” related to extreme temperatures.

The warnings of low grid capacity come days after the California Air Resources Board issued new rules requiring 35% of new vehicles to produce zero emissions by 2026 — a standard that will rise to a 68% benchmark by 2030 and a 100% level by 2035.

Yet experts have warned that the state’s electric grid will require significant upgrades to manage a rapid transition away from internal combustion vehicles.

“Today, most people charge their electric cars when they come home in the evening — when electricity demand is typically at its peak,” according to researchers at Cornell University’s College of Engineering. “If left unmanaged, the power demanded from many electric vehicles charging simultaneously in the evening will amplify existing peak loads, potentially outstripping the grid’s current capacity to meet demand.”

Trump accuses FBI of ‘staging’ classified document photograph at Mar-a-Lago

(FBI photos, courtesy of the Justice Department)
(FBI photos, courtesy of the Justice Department)

Former President Donald Trump claimed that the image of classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago resort, released on Tuesday by the Justice Department, was staged by federal officials.

The image displays the cover pages of multiple classified documents, and some of them were outlined with yellow borders and labeled “top secret.” The documents were scattered out on a carpet at the Mar-a-Lago resort, which the former president claimed he had not done.

“Terrible the way the FBI, during the raid of Mar-a-Lago, threw documents haphazardly all over the floor (perhaps pretending it was me that did it!), and then started taking pictures of them for the public to see,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Thought they wanted them kept Secret? Lucky I Declassified!”

US Life Expectancy Sees Biggest Two-Year Decline in a Century

US life expectancy extended its decline from 2020 into 2021, the country’s largest two-year drop in a century, as Covid-19 and the epidemic of opioid overdoses took their toll on the population.

Overall life expectancy at birth declined by almost 3 years from 2019 to 2021 to 76.1 years, the lowest level since 1996, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.

Prospects were bleakest for Native American people, whose life expectancy plunged by 6.6 years to 65.2 years in 2021, matching the level of the total US population in 1944. 

While almost half of the 2020-2021 life expectancy decline can be traced to Covid-19, another 16% was related to unintentional injuries, with about half of those being overdoses of drugs such as opioids.

The most recent data CDC data shows more than 109,000 overdose deaths in the year ending in March. 

Woman Fighting Tiny Home Ban Left Homeless

The housing crisis has hit every corner of the country and few places have been hit as hard as the Boise area; housing prices increased 118% between the first quarter of 2017 and 2022. That is more than double the national increase of 50 percent over the same time period.

Chasidy Decker, a native of the Treasure Valley, had a savvy solution after being priced out of the traditional real estate market: she bought a beautiful tiny house on wheels and found a local homeowner who would let her park it on his property.

Google Bars Trump’s Truth Social App over ‘Content Moderation’ Concerns

Jonathan Ferrey/LIV Golf via Getty Images
Jonathan Ferrey/LIV Golf via Getty Images

In a statement obtained from Axios, now being covered elsewhere in the media, Google said Truth Social’s approval on the Play Store was being held up due to content moderation concerns.

Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes, a former congressman from California, has expressed frustration with the tech giant’s intransigence. “I don’t know what’s taking them so long,” said Nunes in a recent podcast interview.

The dispute about Truth Social’s presence on the Play Store is receiving a flurry of media coverage, and comes shortly after the New York Times published a hitpiece about “QAnon” content on Trump’s platform, based on data from the partisan establishment organization NewsGuard.

As Google’s decision whether or not to approve Truth Social hangs in the balance, it appears the media is attempting to influence the tech giant’s decision.

Truth Social has been approved by Apple, which controls approximately 55 percent of the market in the U.S., but not Google — cutting off the app, and former President Trump’s primary method of communicating on social media, from the remaining 44 percent.

NEWS 12 Connecticut Covers BOMBSHELL #SecretCurriculum Part 1 Investigation

PART 1: Connecticut Public School Asst. Principal Admits Discrimination Against Catholic Candidates

• Jeremy Boland, Assistant Principal of Cos Cob Elementary School: “Believe it or not, the open-minded, more progressive teachers are actually more savvy about delivering a Democratic message without really ever having to mention politics.”

• Boland: “So, it’s subtle. They [teachers I hire] will never say, ‘Oh, this is [a] liberal or a Democratic way of doing this.’ They’ll just make that the norm — and this is how we handle things, it’s subtle…That’s how you get away with it.”

FBI is a ‘political cabal,’ infiltrated by political bias: Sen. Blackburn

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., discusses the border crisis and the FBI following a slew of allegations against the agency and the raid on Mar-a-Lago.

Politics:

Biden pretends Democrats support cops

Looking at the polls, it’s clear Americans are rightly concerned about crime.

Now, President Joe Biden is pretending he runs the party that’s pro law enforcement.

Sorry, we won’t buy that. Jason Rantz broke it down on The Faulkner Focus. (August 31, 2022)

‘This HAS TO STOP’: Why Nikki Haley is SUING New York’s AG

‘Republicans are too nice,’ Nikki Haley, Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, tells Glenn.
Often they ‘whine and complain’ but refuse to take necessary action to stop corrupt politicians who break the law.

That’s why Haley is SUING New York State’s Attorney General, Letitia James, for her alleged involvement in leaking ‘completely confidential’ tax returns that exposed financial donors to Haley’s policy organization, Stand For America.

The left is trying to intimidate conservatives, Haley says, but they failed to intimidate her:

‘I went up against China and Russia in the United Nations. It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t always nice. But you do it, because you know you’re fighting for good.’

‘You Are Protected By Federal Law’: Tom Cotton Counters Garland’s Warning To DOJ About Speaking To Congress

Cotton: Tom Williams-Pool/Getty Images Garland: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Cotton: Tom Williams-Pool/Getty Images Garland: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Arkansas GOP Senator Tom Cotton responded to Attorney General Merrick Garland’s apparent attempt to prevent anyone from leaking information about his department after he told DOJ employees to obey restrictions about speaking to members of Congress.

Garland wrote that he was reminding “all Department personnel of our existing policies regarding communications between the Justice Department and Congress,” citing the central Justice Manual provision (JM 1-8 200.) That provision states, “Communications between the Department and Congress … will be managed or coordinated by OLA (Office of Legislative Affairs.)”

The provision continues, “Except as provided in this chapter, no Department employee may communicate with Senators, Representatives, congressional committees, or congressional staff without advance coordination, consultation, and approval by OLA.”

Cotton fired off a message to DOJ employees countering Garland’s memo.

Dan Bongino: This is a lot more than a few bad apples

‘Untiltered with Dan Bongino’ host Dan Bongino discusses the growing fallout over FBI Mar-a-Lago raid and sounds off on the FBI’s credibility.

Democrat Candidates In Key Battleground States Are Ducking Debates With Their GOP Opponents

GOVERNOR TOM WOLF/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/CC BY 2.0/GAGE SKIDMORE/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS /CC BY-SA 2.0
GOVERNOR TOM WOLF/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/CC BY 2.0/GAGE SKIDMORE/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS /CC BY-SA 2.0

On Tuesday, Pennsylvania’s Democrat candidate for U.S. Senate John Fetterman announced that he would not be participating in a televised debate scheduled for Sept. 6 against his Republican opponent Mehmet Oz, citing his ongoing recovery from a stroke as part of his justification for the decision.

Pennsylvania is hardly the only state where Democrat candidates are seemingly ducking their Republican opponents’ debate challenges.

In Arizona, the state’s Democrat candidates for governor and U.S. Senate, Katie Hobbs and Mark Kelly, are both reportedly attempting to create an issue out of existing debate format rules to avoid debating their respective GOP opponents, Kari Lake and Blake Masters.

Davis: The DOJ, FBI Deep State Is Rotten To The Core

“The rot at the FBI, the rot at the DOJ, and the intel state goes from the bottom all the way to the very top.

The only way to fix it is to root all of it out instead of making excuses for it like Joe Biden is doing,” Federalist Co-Founder and CEO Sean Davis said on Fox News’s “The Ingraham Angle.”

Dems’ vote-shaming turnout strategy

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

A leading Democratic super PAC is looking to boost young voters’ turnout in November through a public pressure campaign, explaining it’s a matter of public record whether individuals cast a ballot or sit out the election.

Studies have shown “vote shaming” can be an effective way to increase voter participation. Priorities USA’s approach uses digital ads and social media to tap into more than 8 million young people newly eligible to vote this year. 

It’s part of a digital-centric strategy for the super PAC, which plans to spend about $30 million this cycle — with none going toward traditional TV advertising.

Ad disclosure data show the ads are targeting people in specific zip codes in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, all key midterm battleground states.

Mayra Flores rips Biden administration for ‘politicizing’ border crisis: ‘Nothing surprises me anymore’

Texas Congresswoman Mayra Flores sounded the alarm Wednesday on how the border crisis is affecting migrant children, as a Republican women’s coalition visits the southern border to raise awareness on what migrants continue to face during their trek to the United States. 

Rep. Flores spoke with “Fox & Friends First” co-host Todd Piro about the horrors women and children have faced, urging Biden to visit South Texas to see the treacherous impacts of his policy firsthand. 

The coalition was brought together by the Winning For Women Action Fund (WFW AF), the political arm of the conservative women’s advocacy group Winning For Women, and POLARIS National Security, a Republican national security advocacy organization. 

The women visited the border region between McAllen, Texas and Reynosa, Mexico on Tuesday to see the crisis firsthand, as well as meet with law enforcement officials and victims of human and drug trafficking. 

Tucker Carlson: This is an attack on your autonomy

Fox News host Tucker Carlson voices his concerns over liberal environmental policies on ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight.’

Glenn Youngkin vows to fight ‘ludicrous’ law tying Virginia to California’s gas-vehicle ban

Virginia governor promises to challenge law that would require Virginians to follow California’s transition to zero-emission vehicles on ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight.’

World News:

Man found guilty twice of murdering a baby still allowed to walk free | 60 Minutes Australia

Two juries found Raymond John Carroll guilty of murdering Queensland baby Deidre Kennedy. Why is he still walking free? On the 33rd anniversary of the crime, Raymond Carroll spoke for the first time to Richard Carleton.

“Ukrainians are justifying the murder of Daria Dugina” – John Laughland

Ukraine ‘shelling Russian supply ferries’ on Dnipro River

 Evgeniy Maloletka/Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. 
 Evgeniy Maloletka/Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. 

Vicious battles are raging near Kherson in southern Ukraine after Kyiv announced the launch of a counter-offensive in the region.

It wants to push Russian troops out of Kherson — captured in the early days of the war — and back across the Dnipro River.

Ukraine said its forces had destroyed “a number of Russian ammunition depots” and “all major bridges” that allow vehicles to cross the Dnieper.

But Moscow said it had repelled Ukrainian “offensive attempts” in the Kherson region as well as in that of Mykolaiv, further west.

“Due to the failure of the Ukrainian offensive (…) the enemy suffered heavy losses of 1,200 men,” said Russia’s defence ministry. 

Euronews cannot independently verify either of these claims.

Israel-Japan sign defense-cooperation act; Israel urges US leadership vs Iran TV7 Israel News 31.08

1) Israel’s defense establishment continues to root-out terror elements from the West Bank districts of Judea and Samaria.

2) Israel and Japan sign a bilateral defense cooperation pact.

3) Former U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton deplores the Biden Administration over its obsession to revive Iran’s nuclear agreement at the expense of Washington’s regional partners.

War protest: Statues fall as Europe purges Soviet monuments

 (AP Photo/Sergei Stepanov, File)
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FILE – Workers remove a Soviet T-34 tank installed as a monument in Narva, Estonia, Aug. 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Sergei Stepanov, File)

Russia’s war on Ukraine has given a renewed push to topple the last remaining Soviet monuments in nations that regained their sovereignty from Moscow more than three decades ago. These countries now belong to NATO and the European Union and are staunch supporters of Ukraine.

At the end of the communist era, when Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia regained their independence from the Soviet Union and Poland and its neighbors rejected Moscow-backed communism, those nations began renaming streets and purging the most hated symbols, including statues of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin and other communist bosses. Many of these relics are now housed in museums.

Krista Sarv, the research director for the Estonian History Museum, said after statues of Lenin and other leading communists were toppled in the 1990s, people could largely ignore the other memorials. But views changed suddenly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, and now the memorials “scream loudly about occupation and annexation.”

Karol Nawrocki, the head of Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance which is overseeing the removal of the monuments, says “before our eyes, history has become a living experience.”

Gorbachev funeral poses potential nightmare for the West and Putin

The death of Mikhail Gorbachev could prove a point of yet more tension between Russia and the West as it emerged today the former Soviet leader may not receive a state funeral.

Gorbachev died yesterday aged 91 in the midst of the war in Ukraine which resulted in a complete breakdown in relations between Vladimir Putin and Western leaders who have implemented strict sanctions designed to hamper the Kremlin’s war effort.

When the first president of Russia – Boris Yeltsin – died in 2007, ex-US presidents George Bush senior and Bill Clinton both flew to Moscow alongside former British premier Sir John Major.

But Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov today announced that the Kremlin was still deciding on the scale of the funeral for Gorbachev, who was despised by many pro-Putin hardliners for his role in bringing about the end of the Soviet Union.

And the sorry state of political relations combined with the wide ranging sanctions placed on Russia by Western governments mean Putin is unlikely to allow political leaders from Europe and the US to attend any ceremony. 

EV Battery Recycling Faces Hurdles; US, Philippines Join Coast Guard Drills | China in Focus

California is moving to phase out gasoline cars and pushing the transition toward electric ones. We look at how the shift is helping China.

Is the global supply chain at stake, again? A number of Chinese cities are now under lockdown, impacting millions and shutting down the “world’s factory.”

Washington is boosting its partnership in the South China Sea through a joint drill with the Philippines.

The International Tennis Federation says famed Chinese athlete Peng Shuai is safe—but is she?

Commentary/Opinion:

The Story Social Media Doesn’t Want You To See

Dana talks with Seth Dillon, CEO and owner of The Babylon Bee and Libs Of TikTok on the story that social media is suppressing, media is lying about, and mindless supporters of the Left don’t want you to know.

Will Their Minds Change On Abortion | Berkeley Square

Can minds be changed on abortion in minutes? Watch these women shift from pro-abortion to pro-life after our president Lila Rose shows an animated abortion procedure video.

“Now I am pro-life after seeing that. I never knew how abortions were done. Oh wow. That’s insane.”