US News, Politics, World News, Commentary/Opinion and Video Post.
US News:
Customs officer dies after he is accidentally shot twice in the chest
The unidentified officer, who was working at the Trails Glades Shooting Range as an instructor, was shot in the chest and taken to Rydra Trauma center in critical condition just after 10.30am. He died later this morning.
The officer generally works at the Miami International Airport was participating in a demonstration with another instructor when he was accidentally shot, Local 10 News reported. The incident occurred during ‘building search training.’
‘Several police officers came running over to the civilian side of the range, where the main office is, and someone had been shot, stop shooting.’
Another said he heard scream before being told to drop his weapon, according to NBC Miami.
Award-winning journalist missing since FBI ‘seized classified docs’ in home raid: report
James Gordon Meek/Twitter
An Emmy Award-winning ABC News journalist who broke several high-profile national security and terrorism-related stories has gone missing since the FBI reportedly seized classified information from his laptop during a raid on his Virginia home, according to published reports.
James Gordon Meek, a 52-year-old investigative reporter and producer of Hulu’s acclaimed documentary “3212 Un-redacted,” has not been seen in public since heavily armed federal agents raided his penthouse apartment in Arlington in April, according to Rolling Stone.
The magazine cited “sources familiar with the matter” as saying that federal agents found classified information on Meek’s laptop computer.
Meek’s attorney, Eugene Gorokhov, told Rolling Stone: “Mr. Meek is unaware of what allegations anonymous sources are making about his possession of classified documents.”
“The allegations in your inquiry are troubling for a different reason: They appear to come from a source inside the government,” Meek’s attorney told Rolling Stone. “It is highly inappropriate, and illegal, for individuals in the government to leak information about an ongoing investigation.”
“We hope that the DOJ [Department of Justice] promptly investigates the source of this leak.”
As COVID Hit, Lawmakers Traded Stocks ‘With Exquisite Timing’: WSJ
At least 400 officials at 50 leading government agencies, including the Pentagon and the Treasury, bought and sold stocks of major U.S. companies that were the most impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The timing was “exquisite,” particularly with respect to top-level information about the origin of the pandemic, its spread and the government response in the form of trillions of dollars in COVID-19 relief and the stabilization of the financial markets.
That’s the conclusion of the Journal’s analysis, based on a timeline of official COVID-19 events, financial disclosure forms and emails obtained through public record requests.
“Federal officials working on the government response to COVID-19 made well-timed traded when the pandemic began — both as the markets plunged and as they rallied,” WSJ writes. “In January 2020, the U.S. public was largely unaware of the threat posed by the virus spreading in China, but health officials were on high alert and girding for a crisis.”
WSJ delved into the trades of a number of high-profile Washington officials, including former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao; Hugh Auchincloss, the principal deputy director at a division of the National Institutes of Health, whose boss was Dr. Anthony Fauci; and Stephen Redd, deputy director for public health service at the Center for Disease Control.
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Microsoft ‘cuts around 1,000 jobs’ as big tech responds to tough global economy
The company, Axiom reported on Tuesday, wielded the axe across several divisions – building on a weaker pace of hiring across the sector this year in the face of surging inflation and stalling economic growth.
Big tech had been a big winner during the COVID pandemic as investor cash flooded into stocks which supported working from home and a new hybrid working future, for example.
They became known as ‘growth stocks’ and were, bar many healthcare and logistics shares, seen as the only game in town as lockdowns took hold and stifled activity as we knew it.
But the tech stocks soon came under pressure as consumer and business budgets were squeezed by the pace of price rises globally.
Meta – Facebook’s owner – Twitter and Snap Inc have all cut jobs and scaled back hiring in recent months.
Texas A&M Faculty Senate Votes To Exclude Asian Job Applicants To Hire People With Preferred Skin Colors
The Texas A&M University faculty senate on Monday endorsed an affirmative-action program that is currently under legal scrutiny for using taxpayer dollars to hire non-white and non-Asian staff members.
Despite a class-action complaint filed against TAMU on Sept. 10 alleging that the university’s Accountability, Climate, Equity, and Scholarship (ACES) Plus program violates federal law “prohibit[ing] universities that accept federal funds from discriminating on account of race or sex,” faculty senators at TAMU voted 54-12 in support of the project.
Sidelining qualified white and Asian candidates in favor of fulfilling racial quotas, both the complaint and some senate faculty members say, is a massive legal liability for the school and constitutes discrimination.
The professor’s words of warning, however, were met with backlash from other TAMU faculty senators who called them “extraordinarily offensive.”
Tulsi Gabbard To Speak At Matt Walsh’s ‘Rally To End Child Mutilation’ In Nashville
Former congresswoman and Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard will be speaking at a Friday “Rally to End Child Mutilation” led by Daily Wire host Matt Walsh at the Tennessee state capitol.
Gabbard, who introduced a bill in Congress in December 2020 that would have banned biological males from competing in women’s sports, joins a host of other high profile speakers who are scheduled to attend the rally in Nashville.
The rally, which which starts at 4 p.m. on October 21 at the War Memorial Plaza outside the state capitol building, follows Walsh’s exposé of the Vanderbilt Pediatric Gender Clinic’s transgender treatment on minors.
Gabbard, who has opposed the participation of biological males in women’s sports, will now join Walsh and others at the rally which says it will send a “message” that transgender procedures on children are not “medical care” but “child mutilation.”
“Evil Is EVERYWHERE” Another Texas Drag Brunch Exposes the Depravity of the Left | @Glenn Beck
The News & Why It Matters host Sara Gonzales joins Glenn Beck to describe her recent visit to a drag brunch in Texas where minors were present during the intensely sexualized show.
What does an all-ages drag brunch look like?
BlazeTV’s Sara Gonzales explains why she believes children should be prohibited from attending drag events on ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight.’
New Assessment Sounds The Alarm Over The Condition Of The U.S. Military Under Biden
The U.S. military in 2022, under the leadership of President Joe Biden, received its lowest ever rating this week in a newly released exhaustive analysis from the Heritage Foundation.
The Heritage Foundation’s Index of U.S. Military Strength assessed a wide range of areas, including threats to the U.S., the condition of the U.S. military, U.S. alliances, and more.
The Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board noted that the assessment’s “weak” rating of the U.S. military was the first time it has ever received the score in the index’s nine-year history.
The assessment noted that the U.S. military is being degraded through “underinvestment, poor execution of modernization programs, and the negative effects of budget sequestration (cuts in funding) on readiness and capacity in spite of repeated efforts by Congress to provide relief from low budget ceilings imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011.”
DOJ Announces Charges, Sentencings in Pandemic Relief Fraud Operation
The U.S. Department of Justice Tuesday announced 12 new convictions and 11 new cases against people charged with fraudulently obtaining CARES money. Six others pleaded guilty to money laundering or wire fraud in connection with falsely claiming COVID-19 federal relief funds.
According to the DOJ, the defendants sentenced are:
Darrell Thomas, 36, of Johns Creek, Georgia, was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Charles Petty, aka Charles Knight, 49, of Stone Mountain, Georgia, was sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison.
Cases opened charged with coronavirus relief fraud, DOJ lawyers said included:
Amber Singleton, 42, and Emanuel Tucker, 42, both of Canyon Lake, California, were charged in the Central District of California by indictment for their roles in an alleged scheme to obtain $15.9 million in PPP and EIDL funds through fraud.
The FBI Has Announced Indictments Of 22 Pro-Life Protesters And Zero Pregnancy Center Firebombers
Since the roundup of nine pro-lifers who participated in the D.C. protest, the FBI has made similar arrests of pro-life protesters whose alleged crimes are far less clear — indicating that the weaponized agency is becoming more emboldened in its crackdown on opponents of the administration’s radical pro-abortion stance.
As the FBI targets pro-lifers with less and less evidence of even superficial crimes, what has it done to hold accountable the pro-abortion terrorists who firebombed numerous pro-life organizations and pregnancy resource centers after the Supreme Court removed its prohibition on state abortion bans? Apparently nothing.
A Federalist review of Justice Department press releases in 2022 revealed not a single announcement of the arrest or indictment of a pregnancy center arsonist. It took the FBI 44 days after the Dobbs opinion leaked to even acknowledge it was investigating incidents of violence against pro-life groups.
As The Federalist’s Jordan Boyd concluded earlier this month, “the arrest of peaceful pro-lifers but not of violent pro-abortionists confirms Biden’s DOJ does not equally apply the law.”
Why is the FBI TARGETING peaceful, pro-life Americans?
Peaceful, pro-life Americans continued to be targeted by the FBI. Many of them were arrested for praying inside or near abortion clinics, which the federal government says is a violation of the FACE Act.
But, Glenn and Stu argue, this NEVER should have become an issue for the FBI or the federal government to begin with.
In this clip, Glenn exposes the FBI’s current ‘agenda,’ which could be coming directly from the White House.
Plus, Glenn plays a related political ad from Eric Swalwell that’s SO outrageous, he can’t even watch the whole thing…
Rumble announces pre-roll ads to better compete with YouTube
The fast-growing video platform and YouTube competitor Rumble has announced that its Rumble Advertising Center (RAC) is launching a beta version of pre-roll video ads.
A pre-roll ad plays automatically before a video, meaning a higher likelihood of users seeing them before they get to the content.
Rumble Chairman and CEO Chris Pavlovski says this is a major milestone regarding the company’s monetization capability, but also regarding its ability to offer creators better opportunities.
One high profile creator who started out on YouTube, Matt Kohrs, posted a video sharing the announcement, and also told his audience that his CPM on Rumble is already considerably higher.
Nicolas Chaillan: The CCP Is Using TikTok to Manipulate Americans, Gather Data for AI Weapons
“With the volume of data we’re talking about, this is what’s going to be powering the next generation of artificial intelligence & machine learning weapons.”
The Chinese regime is using things like TikTok and the Shanghai Data Exchange to amass huge amounts of data for warfighting technology, says Nicolas Chaillan, former Chief Software Officer of the U.S. Air Force.
AJ Fischer Introduces InvestigateJ6 Website – Americans Deserve to Know What Really Happened on January 6th
US veteran and January 6 protester AJ Fischer recently launched an initiative called InvestigateJ6.
From the website.
Five months before Jan 6, congress defended the right to protest—outraged at police for attacking protestors during the 2020 Lafayette Square Riots.
Why were Trump protestors viciously attacked OUTSIDE the US Capitol from 1pm on?
The right to protest INSIDE the Capitol has been continuously affirmed by the establishment in previous years. Trump supporters on J6, following this precedent, faced violence and death.
The question is why? – It seems the events of J6 were engineered to stop the de-certification. They incited a “riot”, and then charged the victims with trying to stop the certification.
The true criminal conspiracy surrounding J6 has not yet been uncovered. #InvestigateJ6
Florida man kills wife, slashes own throat in front of 3 kids after argument over disciplining child: sheriff
Deputies found the boy’s mother, identified as 26-year-old Byanca Cruz, dead at the scene. The boy’s stepdad, 31-year-old Oscar Salazar, was found in grave condition with slice wounds to his neck. Salazar later died at a hospital.
Cruz was “loaded with defensive wounds,” according to Chitwood, who described the incident as “a fight for her life.”
Chitwood said that Salazar had been using the identity of an uninvolved man who had his truck stolen in Texas several years ago after somehow arriving in the U.S. from Mexico. Salazar’s immigration status was unclear.
Salazar was previously arrested in Orlando in 2016 for domestic abuse and was charged with battery against a pregnant woman. The sheriff’s office said the pregnant woman was identified as Cruz.
USMC vet Annika Hutsler transforms into a pinup model after leg amputation: ‘Life doesn’t end after tragedy’
The USMC veteran is Miss November 2023 in the 17th annual Pin-Ups for Vets calendar. The award-winning nonprofit, founded in 2006 by California resident Gina Elise, raises funding to support hospitalized and deployed troops.
It famously produces WWII-inspired bombshell calendars featuring veterans as models.
“My grandpa served in the Vietnam and Korean Wars,” she shared. “He saw the photos and awestruck would be the best word to describe his reaction. It just reminded him of back when he was overseas.”
Since its launch, Pin-Ups for Vets has donated over $100,000 to help hospitals purchase new rehabilitation equipment and provide financial assistance for veterans’ health care program expansions across the country.
During the height of the pandemic, Pin-Ups for Vets shipped care packages filled with gifts of appreciation to hospitalized veterans. It continues to mail morale-boosting care packages to deployed U.S. troops around the globe.
Saudi Crown Prince employs retired US generals, admirals in high-paying gigs: report
Citing documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the report added that in Saudi Arabia alone, 15 retired U.S. generals and admirals have worked as paid consultants for the defense ministry – led by bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler — since 2016.
Those who reportedly work as paid advisers for Saudi Arabia include U.S. Marine Gen. James L. Jones, a national security adviser to former President Obama, and retired U.S. Army Gen. Keith Alexander, who led the National Security Agency under Obama and former President George W. Bush.
Congress permits retired troops and reservists to be employed by foreign governments if they first receive approval from their branch of the military and the State Department.
The Post sued the Army, the Air Force, the Navy, the Marine Corps and the State Department in federal court under FOIA for records on the purported practice long kept hush-hush.
NYC opens emergency center for influx of bused migrants
NEW YORK (AP) — A complex of giant tents built on an island is set to open Wednesday as New York City’s latest temporary shelter for an influx of international migrants being bused into the city by southern border states.
The humanitarian relief center on Randall’s Island is intended to be a temporary waystation for single, adult men — many from Venezuela — who have been arriving several times per week on buses chartered predominantly from Texas.
Spartan and utilitarian, the tents include cots for up to 500 people, laundry facilities, a dining hall and phones for residents to make international calls.
Thousands of migrants forming caravan to United States, report
The caravan of mostly Venezuelan migrants arrived at the border on Sunday, Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei’s office told the Daily Caller News Foundation on Monday.
A Giammattei spokesman said Guatemala as a “country of transit.”
“Overall, we know that people don’t want to come to Guatemala to stay,” he also said. “We are a It’s not lawful for them to get through because of the regional security. We asked for help [from] our partners in North America. However, at this time, only Mexico has provided us support.”
Officials expect another caravan in Guatemala in less than two weeks.
In fiscal 2022, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol have encountered a record 2 million-plus migrants, according to agency data.
75 names sent to prosecutors for potential Ohio voter fraud
The number of people referred for prosecution for alleged voter fraud during the 2022 election continues to grow.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced the names of 75 additional people have been sent to Attorney General Dave Yost and county prosecutors for additional investigation and possible prosecution.
The 75 individuals are in addition to 15 others turned over for potential charges in the last two months, as previously reported by The Center Square.
Politics:
Democrat kills bill because lawmaker is white
WA Rep. Cindy Ryu (D) axed legislation establishing Chinese Heritage Month because the bill’s sponsor is white. Jason Rantz tackled his exclusive on Varney and Co. (October 19, 2022)
Where is the ACCOUNTABILITY on any of this?
Inflation Hurting Your Family? That’s Why We Need Abortion, Stacey Abrams Says
“But let’s be clear, having children is why you’re worried about your price for gas, it’s why you’re concerned about how much food costs,” Abrams rebutted, claiming that abortion is not a “reductive issue” for women.
“You cannot divorce being forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy from the economic realities of having a child,” she claimed.
Abrams went on to offer a providential government that addresses home costs, puts cash in your pocket, and somehow solves all your problems without presenting policy specifics.
Still, she added that having a child is an “economic issue,” and abortion has to be kept on the table to help women be prosperous.
Watch: Republican Kari Lake Lists Many Times Democrats Were ‘Election Deniers’
The moment occurred during a campaign stop on Tuesday when a reporter asked Lake about a recent spike in Google searches for her name and how so many people wanted to know if she was a “election denier.”
That prompted her to cite the many instances of Democrats outright denying election results, from failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
“Here are 150 examples of Democrats denying election results,” said Lake as she held up a stack of documents.“This is from Joe Biden’s press secretary: ‘Reminder, Brian Kemp stole the gubernatorial from Georgians and Stacey Abrams.’ A Democrat saying that. Is that an election denier?”
“So it’s OK for Democrats to question elections, but it’s not OK for Republicans? It’s a crock of BS. Every one of you knows it. We have our freedom of speech and we’re not going to relinquish it to a bunch of fake news propagandists,” she said.
Tucker Carlson: The left is attempting to destroy Elon Musk
Fox News host Tucker Carlson explains why freedom of speech is essential in society and reacts to the hysteria surrounding Elon Musk’s Twitter bid on ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight.’
World News:
At least 45 baby deaths could have been avoided at two Kent hospitals, report into maternity care at NHS trust finds
Dr Bill Kirkup, chair of the independent inquiry into maternity at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, said his panel had heard “harrowing” accounts from families receiving “suboptimal” care.
He said mothers had been ignored by staff and shut out from their own care.
“An overriding theme, raised with us with time and time again, is the failure of the trust’s staff to take notice of women when they raised concerns, when they questioned their care, and when they challenged the decisions that were made about their care,” the report said.
The investigation into the care provided to women and babies examined more than 200 cases of poor care dating back to 2009.
Suella Braverman resigns as home secretary after sharing secure information from private email – and takes aim at Liz Truss in departure
In her resignation letter sent to the PM on Wednesday, the now former home secretary acknowledged she had breached government security rules, stating: “I have made a mistake; I accept responsibility; I resign.”
The former Conservative leadership candidate also expressed “concerns about the direction of this government”.
“Not only have we broken key pledges that were promised to our voters, but I have had serious concerns about this government’s commitment to honouring manifesto commitments, such as reducing overall migration numbers and stopping illegal migration, particularly the dangerous small boats crossings,” Ms Braverman wrote.
Downing Street later confirmed that former transport secretary Grant Shapps has been appointed as home secretary.
Russia warns Israel not to support Ukraine amid Iranian involvement – TV7 Israel News 19.10.22
1) IDF Chief of General Staff Lieutenant General Aviv Kochavi highlights hundreds of foiled terror attacks as a result of Operation Waves Breaker.
2) Ukraine sends an official note to the government of Israel, asking to immediately deliver air defense systems.
3) Russia joins Iran in rejecting allegations of employing Iranian drones in the war against Ukraine.
Torture Of Detainees In Ukraine’s Izyum Part Of Russia’s ‘Policy And Plan,’ HRW Says
The routine torture by Russian forces and their affiliates of detainees during their half-year occupation of the eastern Ukrainian city of Izyum was part of a “policy and plan,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement on October 19.
Izyum, in the Kharkiv region, was taken by Russian forces after Russia’s unprovoked invasion in February, and was liberated by Ukrainian forces last month.
A mass burial site was found last month near the city and hundreds of bodies were exhumed, including 30 with signs of torture.
Sugar Factory Workers Join In Strikes As Unrest In Iran Continues
Employees at the Haft Tapeh sugar factory in the southwestern Iranian city of Shush have joined in nationwide protests as demonstrators angry over the death of a young woman detained for an alleged Islamic dress-code violation continued to defy a violent crackdown by authorities.
Prominent labor activist Esmail Bakhshi said in on Twitter on October 18 that the factory managers tried to dissuade workers from striking by depositing money into their bank accounts “but they came anyway to show honor.”
Unrest among workers in many sectors of Iran’s economy is causing pressure to mount on the government after a summer of unrest over poor living conditions and a flagging economy wracked by U.S. sanctions imposed because of Tehran’s nuclear program.
The latest wave of dissent was sparked by the death on September 16 of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody for allegedly wearing a hijab improperly.
Wife Of Jailed RFE/RL Consultant In Belarus Detained
The wife of jailed RFE/RL consultant Ihar Losik has been detained after police searched her apartment in the western city of Baranavichy.
Darya Losik’s parents told RFE/RL that police searched their daughter’s home early in the morning on October 18, waking her and her 4-year-old daughter, Paulina.
According to her parents, Darya Losik was then told she was to be detained for 72 hours until her pretrial restrictions were decided on an “unspecified criminal case.” Police then took her to the regional capital, Brest, they said, adding that their granddaughter is currently staying with them.
Meanwhile, the BGM Telegram channel, founded by Darya Losik’s husband, cited several other Telegram channels close to the government as reporting on October 18 that Darya Losik faces a charge over an interview with the Poland-based Belsat, which Belarusian authorities shut down and labeled extremist in July last year.
Germany fines Telegram $5M
The Federal Office of Justice claimed that the messaging platform has refused to create a way for users to report illegal content or established a physical office where complaints can be filed, as required by German laws governing social media platforms.
German authorities added that their attempts to contact Telegram executives in the United Arab Emirates have failed. A law firm based in Germany said it was representing Telegram but that is not adequate compliance, according to the Federal Office of Justice.
“The operators of messaging services and social networks bear a particular responsibility for acting against incitement to hatred and violence on their platforms,” Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said in a statement. “These legal requirements and this responsibility can’t be avoided by trying to be unreachable.”
South Korea plots digital ID system
According to the director-general of Korea’s digital-government bureau, Suh Bo Ram, a digital ID system would boost Korea’s GDP by about 60 trillion won ($42 billion) in 10 years, Bloomberg reported.
He added: “Every service that hasn’t been able to fully transition online will now be able to do so.”
The country’s digital ID will be secured by blockchain technology, making it difficult to hack because the data is decentralized.
Trudeau Says Russia’s War in Ukraine Speeds Up Energy Transition
Speaking Tuesday at a climate conference in Ottawa, Trudeau said Canada is doing more to “bend the curve” on emissions than any other stable democracy — efforts that will allow it to replace Russia as a cleaner and more reliable producer of resources.
“Canada is positioned to be the supplier of energy in a net-zero world,” Trudeau told Akshat Rathi, host of Bloomberg’s Zero podcast, in an on-stage interview.
For example, Canada’s broad-based price on pollution, which will continue to increase through to 2030, is a clear signal to investors and businesses that things are going in that direction, Trudeau said.
And while the country — one of the biggest greenhouse gas polluters per capita among large economies — has struggled to cut emissions, Trudeau guaranteed those numbers will start dropping.
Putin declares martial law in annexed regions of Ukraine
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin declared martial law Wednesday in the four regions of Ukraine that Moscow annexed and gave additional emergency powers to the heads of all regions of Russia.
Putin didn’t immediately spell out the steps that would be taken under martial law, but said his order was effective starting Thursday.
His decree gives law enforcement agencies three days to submit specific proposals and orders the creation of territorial defense forces in the four annexed regions.
“We are working to solve very difficult large-scale tasks to ensure Russia’s security and safe future, to protect our people,” Putin said in televised remarks at the start of a Security Council meeting. “Those who are on the frontlines or undergoing training at firing ranges and training centers should feel our support and know that they have our big, great country and unified people behind their back.”
Commentary/Opinion:
The Fight for Freedom Inside Iran
Could the protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini be a tipping point for the Iranian people to affect real change in their country?
Investigative journalist Lisa Daftari sits with PragerU CEO Marissa Streit to discuss Iran’s role in terror attacks around the world, the strange alliance between far-leftists and Islamist extremists, and what the West can do to support the Iranian people in their fight against their tyrannical government.