US News, Politics, World News, Commentary/Opinion and Video Post.
US News:
Covid ‘WAS engineered in a lab’: Study dismisses natural origin theory
The coronavirus was likely made in a lab, according to the latest explosive study to shed light on the possible origins of the pandemic.
Researchers in the US and Germany studied Covid’s genome — the virus’ instruction manual — and compared it to dozens of previously detected coronaviruses.
‘Peculiar patterns’ were visible in the building blocks of the pandemic-causing virus, which they say are hallmark signs that it was manufactured. The team described it as having a ‘synthetic fingerprint’.
Study author Dr Alex Washburne, a mathematical biologist, said the lab leak theory can’t be ruled out based on the results of his controversial study.
Each test his team performed ‘decreased the odds of SARS-CoV-2 having a natural origin’, he said.
However, Dr Washburne noted his team don’t identify which lab that was the source of the outbreak and insisted that the virus looks more ‘like an accident’ rather than a ‘bioweapon’.
Some experts called the results ‘troubling’ and claimed they offered the ‘strongest piece of evidence’ yet that the virus was man-made.
Leslie Jordan, Will & Grace star, dies in car accident aged 67
The 67-year-old was driving in Hollywood when he crashed into a building on Monday morning. It is believed he suffered a medical emergency, Variety reports.
The actor, famed for his southern drawl, starred in numerous TV series, including Will & Grace and American Horror Story.
The Tennessee native, who also starred in the films The Help and The United States vs. Billie Holiday, posted daily videos of himself on Instagram during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
His social media following ballooned from around 80,000 to more than 5.8 million as his clips, many of which featured him talking about his past and using his catchphrase “How y’all doin?” went viral.
ICE agents apprehend illegal foreign nationals with multiple DWI convictions, criminal histories
While ICE ERO offices have been stripped to a skeleton crew, according to officials who’ve pointed out the Biden administration is removing far less individuals than previous administrations, some of the most dangerous offenders are still being removed.
In Houston, agents arrested 18 illegal foreign nationals residing in the Houston area and two in the Harlingen area who were previously convicted of DWIs and had criminal histories. Criminal histories, ICE says, include felony DWIs, DWIs resulting in bodily injury, property damage or death, as well as assault, cruelty toward children, weapons violations, domestic violence, fraud, homicide by vehicle, hit-and-run and larceny.
“The 18 unlawfully present noncitizens apprehended in the Houston area during the operation account for a combined total of 46 DWIs, with one individual having been convicted seven times for driving while he was intoxicated,” Matt Baker, ICE ERO acting field office director for the Houston Field Office, said. “That kind of callous disregard for public safety puts the lives of everyone in our community in danger. By conducting a targeted public safety-focused immigration enforcement operation like this, we are able to hone in on those unlawfully present individuals who present the gravest threat to the public and at the same time fulfill our critical mission to uphold our nation’s immigration laws.”
Among them include a 37-year-old previously removed Salvadoran national and documented MS-13 gang member who’d been convicted of two DWIs. He was apprehended in Houston and remains in ICE custody pending disposition of his immigration proceedings.
Operation Lone Star: More than 100,000 apprehended in Rio Grande Valley alone
According to Texas Military Department Task Force East data, these individuals all entered Texas illegally in between ports of entry after being guided by cartel operatives to cross the Rio Grande River into Texas.
During a recent enforcement action at the southern border, a Texas National Guard soldier stationed near Laredo described an encounter with nine people who’d entered Texas illegally after they’d crossed the Rio Grande River in between ports of entry and were trespassing on a private ranch.
Soldiers had tracked the group through the brush and helped Border Patrol agents apprehend them.“
Oftentimes, we’ll get a group that will disperse in areas like this,” 2nd Lt. Joshua Helton, Alpha Company Platoon Leader, Task Force Center said in a video published to educate the public
FBI pays out tens of millions per year to operatives who push Democratic Party narratives: Report
The report, by American Greatness investigative journalist Julie Kelly, notes that the bureau’s grift is expended through the Confidential Human Source (CHS) program, which is appropriate given that the agency rarely, if ever, has to disclose its sources in courts of law or any other forum so the American people who are funding the program can stay informed.
Describing the CHS program as “a cash-flush operation now primarily used to bolster Democratic Party narratives instead of detecting and preventing crime,” Kelly goes on to say that “the FBI spends an average of $42 million per year to pay informants and does so with absolutely no financial or legal accountability.”
“Confidential human sources are paid in cash; they can offer their services for a variety of reasons including financial need or to obtain a change in immigration status. FBI agents are required to keep at least one informant on the books, an FBI whistleblower told me; successfully using a CHS to bust up a crime is one way to get promoted,” she wrote.
However, she noted further that ongoing federal trials related to the phony Trump-Russia hoax, the January 6 false flag operations, and the “fednapping” case involving Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer are providing a fresh look at the manner in which the FBI acquires its snitches largely to advance a leftist political agenda.
MSNBC Host Gets WRECKED by Pro-Trump Voters
Dr. Fauci & Jen Psaki may be Deposed
Judge grants depositions of Fauci, Jen Psaki and other high ranking Biden officials in case over ‘collusive relationship’ between administration and social media companies to ‘censor free speech’
Dramatic Footage Shows Deadly Shootout Between Police and Suspect in Decatur, Illinois
Decatur Police Officers conducted a traffic stop of a subject (32-year-old Jamontey O. Neal) believed to be in possession of a firearm.
Neal had two guns in the car with him. One was underneath of him. Decatur police said, that is the one he reached for before opening fire on the officers, shooting and wounding two of the officers.
One video shows Decatur Police Sgt. Timothy Wittmer’s hair being ruffled by a passing bullet and the officer falling to the ground as he is hit multiple times.
His semi-automatic service pistol jams as he lays on the rain-soaked pavement and he quickly clears it before opening fire and appearing to empty his magazine at Neal who collapses, his body twitching with bullet impacts.
Michigan man gets life for kidnap, rape of teen girl whose braces he ripped out with pliers
It took a jury less than an hour in June to convict Thomas John Boukamp on all 16 counts against him – including transporting a minor across state lines to engage in criminal sexual conduct – after he represented himself at trial.
At a contentious sentencing hearing on Thursday in the Northern District of Texas, prosecutors introduced a jailhouse phone call to support locking up the sexual predator for the remainder of his life.
“I like teenage girls! They don’t like that I like that,” Boukamp said, referring to federal agents and prosecutors. “I frankly don’t care what the morality of this current time and place says. It’s not wrong. There’s nothing wrong about it. And they’re not going to ever convince me of its wrongness. So up theirs. I hate this nation.”
He added that he would never apologize for “quote unquote raping a 14-year-old” and said he did not care that authorities were monitoring the call.
“If you’re listening to this, yeah, your family is going to die,” he allegedly said, hurling invectives at a federal judge and two prosecutors on his case. “Play this at my f—ing sentencing! Do it. I hate you!”
Attorney sues Italian restaurant chain for ‘deceptive’ $2 inflation fee: ‘Egregious and surreptitious’
“Restaurants and corporations like to add on these fees that are supposed to look official and somehow required, and in fact it’s just a way for them to increase their bottom line and decrease their overhead,” attorney Brandee Faria told FOX Business of the consumer class-action lawsuit she filed against Romano’s Macaroni Grill earlier this year.
Faria, who lives in Honolulu, said multiple complaints regarding the restaurant’s allegedly superfluous inflation fee were funneled to her because of her decades-long work specializing in consumer class-action law. The Denver-based chain has 41 locations throughout the U.S.
Faria claimed Romano’s inflation fee is “the tip of the iceberg,” and that other establishments are engaging in similar practices with so-called “kitchen service charges,” which she said can sometimes amount to as much as 3% of the bill.
Harmony Montgomery case: New Hampshire announces murder charge against missing girl’s dad
New Hampshire’s top prosecutor announced that Adam Montgomery has been charged with second-degree murder, falsifying evidence, abuse of corpse and tampering with witnesses at a news briefing Monday, roughly three years after the missing Harmony Montgomery was last seen alive.
Adam Montgomery, Harmony’s father, allegedly pummeled the little girl in the head with a closed fist on Dec. 7, 2019, New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said at a Monday news briefing, “recklessly causing the death of Harmony Montgomery, a person under 13 years of age, under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life.”
The girl’s father, Adam Montgomery, has already been jailed since January on charges of child abuse in connection with the fruitless search for his missing daughter.
He’s also an ex-con heroin addict who shot a man in Massachusetts in 2014 and is a suspect in an unrelated cold case murder.
The estranged wife, Kayla Montgomery, is also currently facing criminal charges after allegedly collecting welfare payments on behalf of Harmony for more than a year after she last saw the girl. She is also accused of lying to grand jury.
At least 3 killed in St. Louis high school shooting, suspect killed by security
St. Louis Public Schools announced earlier Monday that eight people, including at least two students, had been transported to a local hospital, and police are on the scene. The St. Louis Police Department also confirmed that its officers had responded to an “active shooting incident” and said a suspect was in custody.
Police did not clarify the age of the third victim, a female, nor did they clarify her relationship to the school.
St. Louice Police Chief Michael Slack said the doors to the school were locked, something that “bought time” for school security officers to react.
“There was an exchange of gunfire,” Slack said.
Unchecked Tech | Full Measure
With all of those cool cars now driving around pretty much on their own with an autopilot function, there have also been a number of disturbing crashes and even deaths.
Now, the federal government is investigating the technology. Lisa Fletcher looked into the case and tells what she found.
FBI Whistleblower | Full Measure
The FBI has been mired in controversy. An FBI lawyer — caught doctoring documents to spy on a Donald Trump campaign supporter. Former FBI Director James Comey — given a pass after being referred for criminal charges.
He’d allegedly mishandled documents in a campaign to smear Trump.
The FBI misdirecting the public on the Hunter Biden laptop just before the election.
And, of course, the FBI’s Russia collusion probe of Trump, ginned up by the Clinton campaign. All this time we’ve heard little to nothing publicly from FBI insiders. Until now.
‘Clearly Unstable’: New Data Suggests U.S. Manufacturing Could Be On The Brink Of Collapse
“While output in manufacturing remains more resilient for now, October saw a steep drop in demand for goods, meaning current output is only being maintained by firms eating into backlogs of previously placed orders,” said Chief Business Economist Chris Williamson at S&P Global Market Intelligence. “Clearly this is unsustainable absent of a revival in demand, and it’s no surprise to see firms cutting back sharply on their input buying to prepare for lower output in coming months.”
As the manufacturing sector saw a downturn, prices grew at their slowest rate in nearly two years, S&P Global reported.
A greater portion of economists have begun to predict a recession will begin in 2023, although the idea has received some pushback from large firms like Goldman Sachs, MarketWatch reported Monday.
CBP reports historic migrant encounters in FY22
Fox News’ Bill Melugin provides details on the report that showed nearly 2.4 million migrant encounters at the border in fiscal year 2022.
National Test Results Show ‘Appalling’ COVID-19 Setbacks for Students Across the U.S.
The COVID-19 pandemic erased decades of academic progress and widened disparities in most states, according to test results released from The National Assessment of Educational Progress this week.
In math, the “steepest decline ever recorded” showed that math scores fell in nearly every state, according to The New York Times. Only 26 percent of eighth graders were recorded as “proficient” in math, down from 34 percent in 2019.
Forty-one states saw math scores decline for fourth graders. Only 36 percent of fourth graders were “proficient” in math, down from 41 percent:
Politics:
More than 7 million ballots cast as midterm early voting continues to surge
More the 7 million Americans have already cast their ballots, in-person or by mail, as of Monday. A number of states are reporting big jumps in voter turnout compared to previous midterm cycles.
In battleground Georgia, midterm voting records have been shattered. More than 750,000 people in the state voted early, in-person in the first week of early voting, according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office.
In Florida, nearly 1.2 million people already returned their mail-in ballots as of Monday.Still, election experts say the high turnout could be attributed to several factors.
“It’s just easier, people like it, and then there is the stimulus of a close election where you as a voter think my vote is really going to matter,” said Paul Beck, an Ohio State University professor emeritus of politics.
Twitter shocked by Biden interview on transgender surgery, public restroom use: ‘Miles ahead of their skis
Trans rights activist and social media influence Dylan Mulvaney asked President Biden what he thought of states banning gender-affirming healthcare. (NowThis)
In an interview with left-wing outlet NowThis News, Biden answered an array of questions pertinent to young Americans. At one point, Biden was asked by 25-year-old transgender actress and comic creator Dylan Mulvaney if states should have the right to “ban gender-affirming healthcare.”
“I don’t think any state or anybody should have the right to do that—as a moral question and as a legal question. I just think it’s wrong,” Biden said.
He went on to talk about his late son Beau, who he said passed the broadest legislation in America dealing with gender-affirming capabilities as former attorney general of Delaware. Biden also expressed concern over the idea that transgender Americans could be prohibited from certain medications or procedures.
“I feel very, very strongly that you should have every single solitary right, including use of your gender identity bathrooms when public,” Biden added.
Kari Lake calls out Dem opponent for refusing to debate
Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake (R) torches her opponent, Katie Hobbs, for her refusal to debate, discusses why she is best to lead the state.
Steve Hilton: Voters can’t overlook this
Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce, California Assembly candidate Liz Lawler and Minnesota State House candidate Matt Norri join ‘The Next Revolution’ to discuss what is at stake with the upcoming elections.
Border Crisis: The Biden Administration’s Late-Night Friday News Dump
Friday news dumps are a staple of political strategy, wherein the release of damaging or unflattering information is times to coincide with most people tuning out the news as they enter their weekends.
It’s a tried and true practice, employed by partisans of all stripes.
Late last Friday evening, when many Americans were several drinks deep or already in bed, the Biden administration published the September statistics from the Southern border. They were terrible.
These numbers dropped just before 11pm on Friday, with the president (once again) at the beach for the weekend. More from Melugin:
World News:
Dozens of people killed by military government airstrikes on Myanmar concert, Kachin rebels say
Ethnic Kachin groups have said the strikes by Myanmar’s military have killed more than 60 people, including singers and musicians, according to the Associated Press.
Hundreds of people had been attending an anniversary celebration of the minority group’s main political organisation, Kachin Independence (KIO), in a remote mountain area around 600 miles from the country’s biggest city, Yangon.
The KIO is the political wing of the Kachin Independence Army, which controls the area and has clashed with the Myanmar military for decades.
The Kachin Artists Association claimed between 300 and 500 people were at the event, and a Kachin singer and keyboard player were among the dead.
Junta airstrike on concert in Kachin state kills 50
The concert was staged to celebrate the 62nd anniversary of the founding of the ethnic Kachin Independence Army. Citizen video shows the airstrike’s aftermath. The junta denied targeting civilians.
More Than 200 Indicted In Iranian Province Amid Crackdown On Protesters
Iran’s judiciary says it has issued indictments for 201 people over their participation in antigovernment protests in the central province of Alborz.
Hossein Fazeli Harikandi, the chief justice of the province, said on October 24 that those indicted are the “main and active agents,” mainly because they invited people to protest on social media.
He did not give an exact number for how many people were detained, but he said around two-thirds of those taken into custody had already been released on bail, indicating more than 600 people in total had been rounded up.
IAF allegedly strikes Iranian targets in Syria; Terror strikes East Jerusalem TV7 Israel News 24.10
1) Syria blames Israel for an aerial bombardment of a Syrian Military Air-Force base – reportedly housing Iranian military cargo.
2) A terror attack plagues Jerusalem over the weekend – as one Israeli sustains severe injuries.
3) The Government of Israel approves the appointment of Major General Herzi Halevi as the 23rd IDF Chief of General Staff.
Dark Seas: What happens when cruising goes wrong? | Under Investigation
Farage reacts to PM Sunak.
Rishi Sunak is PM and nothing will change.
The INSTALLATION of Rishi. Not a single ordinary Brit had a say
Sunak – Globalist Poster Boy
How Rishi Sunak was Groomed by Globalists, made a Puppet of the WEF, and appointed UK Chancellor.
‘We all have dreams’: Iran’s fractured opposition begins to unify in support of protest movement
Iran’s long fragmented and dispersed opposition has begun unifying ranks against Tehran’s clerical regime and outlining a vision for the country amid weeks of anti-government protests sparked by the death-in-custody of a 22-year-old woman accused of violating the country’s Islamic modesty rules.
On Saturday, as many as 100,000 Iranians of a multitude of political leanings and ethnic origins gathered in central Berlin for a rare show of unity against the 43-year-rule of the Tehran regime. It followed a 20 October Washington press conference by Reza Pahlavi, eldest son of Iran’s last monarch, who called for unity and the formation of a plan to replace the Islamic Republic with a transitional government.
Earlier, a group of activists in Iran issued a proposed charter that would guide a possible post-regime Iran toward elections.
Climate Activist Worried About Starvation Splashes Mashed Potatoes on Monet Painting
A Claude Monet painting was splashed with a liquid substance, identified as mashed potatoes by the climate activists who vandalized the art, from a group called Last Generation at the Barberini Museum in Potsdam, Germany.
Commentary/Opinion:
Why Do You Hate Conservatives?
What do you think of conservatives? Do you think their views are rooted in racism, ignorance, and intolerance?
Or is it just possible that they have valid reasons for thinking the way they do?
Former leftist activist and now PragerU personality Amala Ekpunobi breaks it down in PragerU’s 500th 5-Minute Video.
Measure of Happiness | Full Measure
How happy do you feel today? It’s more than just a polite social question.
How happy or unhappy we are may be one of the most important but least-noticed societal measures.
We talk about that with Jon Clifton, the CEO of Gallup and author of “Blind Spot: The Global Rise of Unhappiness and How Leaders Missed It.”