News and Headlines: In The News, Politics, World News, Commentary/Opinion.
In The News:
Trenton Man Charged with the May 23, 2020 Murder of Watson Cogdell
Bobby Vazquez, 41, is charged with one count of first-degree murder, one count of second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and one count of second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon.
At approximately 1:40 p.m. on May 23, 2020, Trenton police responded to a Shot Spotter activation for three gunshots in the area of 193 Brunswick Avenue in Trenton.
Witnesses were interviewed and area video surveillance footage was reviewed as part of the investigation. Multiple witnesses were interviewed who observed the suspect shoot Cogdell.
FBI, U.S. attorney in Brooklyn probing Cuomo administration on nursing homes
The recent probe by the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn is not the first time that New York City-based federal prosecutors have launched investigations in New York’s Northern District, which stretches from Kingston to the Canadian border with headquarters in Albany and Syracuse.
A sprawling fraud and bribery case involving top Cuomo aides in Albany was prosecuted by the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan; the prosecution of NXIVM co-founder Keith Raniere and other top members of his organization was handled by the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn.
Republicans at all levels of New York’s government spectrum, and many Democrats as well, have repeatedly called for independent investigations of the state’s nursing home policies and directives during the ongoing pandemic.
South Dakota’s Attorney General Charged in Fatal Crash
Ravnsborg, who was elected to his first term in 2018, initially told authorities he thought he had struck a deer or another large animal as he drove home to Pierre from a Republican fundraiser late on Sept. 12.
He said he didn’t realize he had killed a man until he returned to the accident scene the next day.
Crash investigators said in November that Ravnsborg was distracted when he veered onto the shoulder of the highway where 55-year-old Joseph Boever was walking.
But prosecutors took months more to make a charging decision in the crash, launching an investigation that considered cellphone GPS data, video footage from along Ravnsborg’s route and DNA evidence.
Colorado man accused of murdering ex-girlfriend, 18, had violent criminal past, records show
Stephen McNeil, 20, was charged Feb. 7 with first-degree murder, domestic violence, violation of a protection order and violation of bail conditions in connection with the Feb. 6 death of Danielle Hopton in Fort Collins, Colo., police said.
Records indicate he was no stranger to the criminal justice system.
Police said they received a 911 call on Feb. 6 for a report of an “unconscious, injured woman” in a Fort Collins parking lot.
The victim, later identified as Hopton, was rushed to an area hospital but could not be saved. The Larimer County Coroner’s Office deemed her death a homicide but did not provide details regarding the cause.
Investigators later learned that a group of friends, including Hopton, McNeil and a man named Ian Rayas, had made their way to the lot on East Drake Road to “hang out,” police said.
“Hopton and McNeil, who had previously been in a relationship, got out of the vehicle to talk and the assault occurred,” police said. “McNeil left the scene, and a member of the group called 911.”
Florida man burglarized nearly a dozen homes during funerals using public obituaries: sheriff
Ronald Rose, 42, of Lake Wales, Fla., is charged in connection with 10 burglaries that occurred between Oct. 1, 2020, and Feb. 8, 2021, in the areas of Auburndale, Mulberry, Lakeland, and Haines City.
Rose is facing a slew of felony and misdemeanor charges, including two counts of armed burglary, eight counts of burglary of an unoccupied dwelling, grand theft between $20,000 and $100,000, eight counts of grand theft from a dwelling, seven-counts of grand theft of a firearm and petit theft. He is now being held in Polk County Jail without bond.
“People who burglarize or steal are low, so victimizing people during a time when they are grieving the loss of a loved one. … That’s lower than low,” Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement.
“Someone who is willing to take advantage of people at a time like this has no compassion or consideration, and is a true menace to society.”
Some ICE detainees getting COVID-19 vaccine, agency says
In a statement, an ICE spokesperson said a “limited number of ICE detainees have begun to receive the COVID-19 vaccine based on availability and priorities for vaccinating individuals in the state where they are currently detained.”
ICE would not say where or how many vaccines have already been administered to detainees. ICE says there’s about 14,000 total detainees in custody.
It comes amid questions from Democratic lawmakers in California who had urged the state to make sure detainees are vaccinated.
Chicago reviewing statues of Lincoln, Washington, other US icons for possible ‘action’
The new project and website come after Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced the city’s decision to remove two Christopher Columbus statues in June after rioters clashed with police and attempted to topple at least one statue in Grant Park.
The Chicago Monuments Project aims to “grapple with the often unacknowledged – or forgotten – history … and provides a vehicle to address the hard truths of Chicago’s racial history, confront the ways in which that history has and has not been memorialized, and develop a framework for marking public space that elevates new ways to memorialize Chicago’s history more equitably and accurately.”
About 40 monuments have been identified “for public discussion,” including those memorializing former President George Washington, Union Army commanding general and former President Ulysses S. Grant, Benjamin Franklin, Columbus and a police officer representing the Haymarket massacre.
Gunmaker Sturm Ruger ramps up hiring as demand soars
The Southport, Connecticut-based gun maker has hired 250 employees, mostly in production, since the middle of 2020 to help replenish its stocks as the surge in demand caused combined inventories in its warehouses and distributors to decrease by 86%, or 290,000 units, last year. Retailer inventory of Ruger also remains low.
“We are working hard to replenish inventories throughout the distribution channel as quickly as possible, so consumers can purchase the Ruger firearms that they desire,” Sturm Ruger CEO Christopher Killoy said on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call on Thursday.
Gun demand skyrocketed late in the first quarter of 2020 and continued throughout the year as Americans desired protection amid the violence that swept through cities following the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes, and as people craved socially-distant outdoor activities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trump Speaks Out on Biden, Future Plans; Thousands Still Without Power, Water; Leaked Facebook Video
Texans are hanging in there as hundreds of thousands are still without power and water. When will service be restored?
Former President Donald Trump makes his first media appearances since leaving office. He shares his opinions of President Joe Biden’s performance, and talks abut his next moves.
And Facebook’s CEO made a statement that it appears his own platform would class as misinformation—as Facebook cracks down on posts and users who speak their mind about the CCP virus.
DOJ charges 3 North Koreans in global hacks
WASHINGTON – The Justice Department has charged three North Korean computer programmers in a broad range of global hacks, including a destructive attack targeting an American movie studio, and in the attempted theft and extortion of more than $1.3 billion from banks and companies, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
The newly unsealed indictment builds off an earlier criminal case brought in 2018 and adds two additional North Korean defendants.
Prosecutors identified all three as members of a North Korean military intelligence agency, accusing them of carrying out hacks at the behest of the government with a goal of using stolen funds for the benefit of the regime.
Alarmingly to U.S. officials, the defendants worked at times from locations in Russia and China.
Politics:
Twenty days of infamy: the January 2017 red flags the FBI blew past on Russia collusion
But if ever there were red lights screaming for the FBI to end the counterintelligence probe, they were flashing during a harrowing 20-day window in January 2017 as Barack Obama was leaving office and Trump was coming in.
Between Jan. 4, 2017 and Jan. 24, 2017, nearly every major assumption of the FBI’s Russia collusion theory was gutted, according to recently declassified evidence reviewed by Just the News.
And yet somehow, some way, the FBI accelerated the investigation even though overwhelming evidence showed — as lead investigative agent Peter Strzok would later text his colleague — there was “no big there, there.”
Here is a timeline of evidence available to Durham that Just the News has gleaned from more than 10,000 pages of declassified memos, reports and documents we have reviewed since last summer:
Democratic D.C. delegate reintroduces bill to remove Lincoln statue from D.C. park
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, a non-voting representative of the District of Columbia in the House, on Thursday reintroduced her bill to remove the Emancipation Statue of former President Abraham Lincoln and a freed slave from a federal park in Washington, D.C.
In a tweet Thursday, Norton said that formerly enslaved Americans, “grateful for any recognition, paid for this statue to be built in 1876, but the design and sculpting was done without their input, and it shows.”
Norton’s office announced that this bill is “the first in a series of statue and memorial removal bills Norton is introducing during Black History Month.”
Biden-backed immigration bill to let deported back in and amnesty for 20M
“It’s extraordinarily radical,” said former Trump adviser Stephen Miller. “You can’t even call it left-wing because it’s actually nihilist,” he told Secrets.
And coming as millions remain out of work and with the nation still trying to end the coronavirus pandemic, it threatens the livelihood and safety of border states, said other critics.
“This latest move would only further harm American workers already struggling from our health and economic national crises caused by the ongoing pandemic and our government’s response.
This new immigration bill will damage America’s safety, weaken our economy, and endanger our freedoms,” said Heritage Action Executive Director Jessica Anderson.
SC Lawmakers Pass ‘Fetal Heartbeat Bill’ 79–35, Outlawing Most Abortions
Gov. Henry McMaster has repeatedly backed the abortion ban as one of his biggest focuses since being sworn-in to office in 2017.
McMaster has promised to sign the bill as soon as he can and after the House will give it a final procedural vote on Thursday, which is unlikely to change the outcome.
“We’re closer than we’ve ever been to passing into law the most comprehensive pro-life legislation our state has ever seen,” McMaster tweeted in January. During a press conference Wednesday, the governor called the bill “one of the most pro-life in the country.”
Democrats to unveil sweeping immigration reform bill
Fox News’ William La Jeunesse reports on Democrat’s immigration bill from the border in Arizona.
Minneapolis Re-Funds the Police
Commentary/Opinion:
That didn’t take long. Minneapolis has decided to re-fund the police.
I hope people are starting to wake up.
Here’s the simple truth.
JOE BIDEN IS A LIAR: Trump’s travel ban was NOT a Muslim ban
Commentary/Opinion:
Every single nation on this list can get itself removed if it stops funding terrorism and improves its vetting process.
Herschel Walker on Reparations: ‘We Use Black Power to Create White Guilt’
Heisman Trophy winner and NFL legend Herschel Walker testified against the Democrats’ proposal to establish a commission to study and develop reparations proposals in the United States, citing his faith and telling the lawmakers that “we use black power to create white guilt.”
World News:
Facebook face-off turns global as PM seeks international support
On Thursday Facebook banned Australian users and publishers from sharing or viewing news articles on its platform in response to the government’s media bargaining code which seeks to force tech giants to pay for news content.
Prime Minster Scott Morrison spoke with Indian Prime Minster Narendra Modi to make sure the country was on the same page and understood Australia’s concerns.
India is a significant ally when it comes to Facebook since the country has around 320 million users.
In a statement released yesterday Mr Morrison said Facebook’s bans confirmed the concerns of an increasing number of countries about the power of big tech companies “who think they are bigger than governments”.
“They may be changing the world, but that doesn’t mean they run it,” he said.
“We will not be intimidated by BigTech seeking to pressure our Parliament as it votes on our important News Media Bargaining Code”.
Israel-Hezbollah war will cause Lebanon to shiver; Biden calls Netanyahu – TV7 Israel News 18.02.21
1) Jerusalem is prepared for any scenario and will cause Lebanon to shiver if Hezbollah would force Israel into war.
2) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a long-overdue phone conversation with U.S. President Joe Biden last night; a first such conversation almost a full month after the latter assumed office.
3) The Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei emphasizes that his country was not interested in words, but rather demands action (in all that pertains to the 2015 nuclear agreement).
Half London Councils Found Using Chinese Surveillance Tech Linked to Uyghur Abuses
Freedom of information requests filed in late 2020 with all 32 London councils and the next 20 largest UK city councils found about two-thirds owned technology made by two Chinese companies accused of links to the repression of Uyghurs.
At least 28 councils owned technology made by Hikvision, the world’s largest purveyor of video surveillance systems and vendor to Xinjiang police agencies, revealed data obtained by digital rights researcher Samuel Woodhams and seen exclusively by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Seven councils had technology made by Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co Ltd, China’s second-largest surveillance equipment maker.
In total 16 London councils had technology made by Hikvision or Dahua—both of which face strict trade restrictions in the United States.
Ex-Australian Facebook CEO urges users to ‘delete the app’ over news ban
“I’m a proud ex-Facebooker, but over the years I get more and more exasperated.
For Facebook and Mark it’s too much about the money, and the power, and not about the good,” Scheeler said.
“Imagine if a Chinese company for example had done this, we would be up in arms. All Australians should be quite alarmed by this.”
The former CEO, who resigned from the tech giant in 2017, encouraged Australians to send a strong message to the company by deleting the app, while calling for “more regulation” of Facebook.
Commentary/Opinion:
Glenn: How Rush Limbaugh was responsible for my radio career
Glenn spent Thursday morning remembering the life and legacy of conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, sharing stories about Rush you might not hear elsewhere.
Glenn explained how Rush ‘saved AM radio,’ developed meaningful relationships with his sponsors, and stood proudly against the bullies who wanted him silenced.
But in this clip, Glenn explains how Rush paved the road for many more radio careers to come — including Glenn’s. “Literally, I owe my career to Rush Limbaugh.”
Is This What They Meant By Unity?
So making fun of a man right after he dies on social media is just part of the new “unity” and “healing” apparently.
Give me a break.
Ep. 1460 “Don’t Doubt Me” – The Dan Bongino Show
In this episode, I discuss a personal story about Rush Limbaugh and his impact on the country.
I also address the stunning amount of misinformation being propagated about the January 6 incident on Capitol Hill.
In The News Feed. 