US News, Politics, World News, Commentary/Opinion and Video Post.
US News:
Mafia hitman escapes from federal custody in Florida
A New York mobster who killed three people and attempted to kill two others has escaped from federal custody after recently being moved to a halfway house, according to the Bureau of Prisons.
Dominic Taddeo, a hitman from a Rochester-area crime family, pleaded guilty in 1992 to racketeering charges that included the killings of three men during mob wars in the 1980s.
He escaped on 28 March, according to the Bureau of Prisons website.
The 64-year-old had been imprisoned at a medium-security lockup in Florida before being transferred to a residential halfway house, also in Florida, in February.
Baltimore parents sue city after student graduates high school not being able to read; shocking number of students have failing GPAs
Earlier this year, local news outlet WBFF-TV highlighted the story of a woman who graduated from the Baltimore City Public Schools system without being able to read.
The outlet also found a whopping 77% of high schoolers at one area high school were reading at an elementary level. Another report discovered that in the past year, 41% of BCPS high school students earned below a 1.0 grade point average.
“This is terrible,” Jovani Patterson said at the time after hearing about the reports. “This is just further perpetuating a cycle of poverty, of despair.”
In a recent interview with the Daily Signal, the Pattersons said, “There’s really no other recourse a citizen in Baltimore could take. We don’t elect our school board, so there’s no way we could both be appointed members of the school board.
There’s nothing that people can really do outside of a lawsuit to affect change or request access into the inner workings of what’s going on in Baltimore.”
Accused hit man stupid enough to be caught on video reportedly boasts about killing TSA officer, getting paid with COVID relief PPP loan: ‘Another day in the office’
An alleged hitman reportedly recorded himself flashing handfuls of $100 bills while boasting about killing a TSA officer.
The money, according to reports, was paid out via a COVID-19 relief Paycheck Protection Program loan.
Jones was gunned down in broad daylight while walking with her 3-year-old daughter. She sustained multiple gunshots, with one bullet even grazing the child.
According to a previous report from the Miami Herald, “The police said the killing occurred after a series of violent acts were inflicted on Jones over the years by Martinez or people connected with her,” including assault, robbery, and battery.
Meta Trouble: 2 Million Small Businesses Eligible to Join Ad Fraud Suit Against Facebook
A lawsuit accusing Facebook of purposefully overstating its advertising audience to overinflate ad costs was recently awarded class-action status, allowing the case to include more than 2 million small ad buyers as plaintiffs.
AdAge reports that a lawsuit claiming that Facebook (now known as Meta) purposefully overstated its advertising audience has been awarded class-action status.
The lawsuit will include 2 million small ad buyers as plaintiffs after a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that despite what he called a “blunderbuss of objections” from Facebook, the lawsuit can proceed as a class action on behalf of small business owners and individuals who bought ads on Facebook and Instagram since August 15, 2014.
Court filings in 2021 claimed that Facebook’s audience-measuring tool was known by Mark Zuckerberg and his executives to be unreliable as it was skewed by fake and duplicate accounts. Despite this, advertisers were still charged for ads based on the estimates made by the audience-measuring tool, overcharging them.
Shock Claim: Facebook Moderators Told to ‘Err on the Side of an Adult’ with Potential Child Sexual Abuse Material
A recent report from the New York Times reveals that Facebook’s training documents for the company’s content moderators instruct them to “err on the side of an adult” when they don’t know the age of an individual shown in a photo or video suspected of being child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
The Verge reports that the policy that instructs Mark Zuckerberg’s moderators to “err on the side of an adult” was made for Facebook’s content moderators at the third-party contractor Accenture and is mentioned in a California Law Review article from August, which states:
Interviewees also described a policy called “bumping up,” which each of them personally disagreed with. The policy applies when a content moderator is unable to readily determine whether the subject in a suspected CSAM photo is a minor (“B”) or an adult (“C”). In such situations, content moderators are instructed to assume the subject is an adult, thereby allowing more images to go unreported to NCMEC.
DOJ Investigates Google Maps for Antitrust Abuses
Reuters reports that the U.S. Justice Department has restarted and accelerated a new investigation of Google Maps to determine if the bundling of the service with other Google software violates antitrust laws by stifling competition.
The probe of Google launched in late 2020 and has been quiet for some time, until recently when investigators began making inquiries.
The probe is focusing on two components, one is on apps that are provided through infotainment screens in vehicles. Google’s Automotive Services package for automakers combine Maps, the Play app store, Assistant, and various other Google services. One source claims that automakers are forbidden to mix Google Maps and voice assistants from rival companies.
The other component of the investigation focuses on app and website developers, specifically the Silicon Valley giant’s requirement that if a website or app uses one Google technology the website or app developer cannot use maps or other technologies developed by rivals.
Mark Zuckerberg Attempts to Dismiss Documentary Exposing His $400 Million Effort to Elect Biden
Tech billionaire Mark Zuckerberg is denying any wrongdoing following the announcement of an upcoming documentary film from Citizens United Productions, Rigged: The Zuckerberg-Funded Plot to Defeat Donald Trump, which details the leftist’s $400 million effort to bolster then-candidate Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
Citizens United President David N. Bossie, who narrates the upcoming documentary, announced its release Thursday night during an appearance on Fox News’s Hannity.
The documentary itself explains just how Zuckerberg and left-wing operatives dumped $400 million in election efforts to elect Biden over former President Donald Trump under the guise of assisting with elections in the midst of the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.
Report: Eric Schmidt Deepens Ties to Biden’s Science Office
The Politico story also reveals that Schmidt Futures, a charity arm of the former Google executive, sought to pay the salaries of OSTP officials, a move that sparked ethics complaints.
Breitbart News has reported at length on the closeness of Eric Schmidt to Democrat administrations, as well as his role as a Hillary Clinton lackey in 2016. Breitbart News has also covered Schmidt’s elaborate efforts to involve himself in U.S. defense policy.
According to Politico, Schmidt’s scheming extends to U.S. science policy as well.
A foundation controlled by Eric Schmidt, the multi-billionaire former CEO of Google, has played an extraordinary, albeit private, role in shaping the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy over the past year.
NYPD offers $3,500 reward for Queens slashing suspect
The unidentified male suspect is accused of “slashing” the victim to the face with a knife he took from an unattended food cart during a “dispute” with the victim, according to the NYPD.
The 115th precinct has so far recorded 94 felony assaults in 2022 compared to 66 at the same time last year, representing a more than 42% increase.
Total New York City crime surged 38.5% in the first month of 2022.
Anyone with information about the assault can confidentially call 1-800-577-TIPS.
Harris County off-duty deputy killed in grocery store parking lot, 2 suspects detained
Authorities said Deputy Almendarez was leaving the grocery store with his wife when he apparently spotted some suspects attempting to steal his truck’s catalytic converter.
According to the sheriff’s office, Almendarez saw a black Nissan Altima backed up to his truck and two males under his vehicle. He told his wife to walk to safety and then approached, authorities say.
As Almedarez approached the vehicles, the suspects began shooting at him, the sheriff’s office says. Almendarez was struck multiple times.
According to HCSO, the deputy was able to return fire and shot at least two of the suspects. The suspects fled in the vehicle.
Authorities say the two wounded suspects arrived at the same hospital in their vehicle a short time later. The sheriff’s office identified them as Joshua Stewart, 23, and Fredarius Clark, 19. They have both been charged with capital murder.
Bodycam Shows Police Shooting at Wedding Reception in Winter Park, Florida
The Winter Park Police Department released body camera video and a 911 call, from the February night when an officer fatally shot 39-year-old Daniel Knight at his niece’s wedding reception.
Two Winter Park police officers got to the scene, reports states that one officers began speaking with Knight but was physically attacked by Knight, leaving the officer unconscious and on the ground.
Tulsa Police Officers Taunt Elderly Woman With Bipolar Disorder Before Violently Arresting Her
Tulsa has a special response team to handle people experiencing mental health crises, but it was busy at the time. Instead, police tackled Paris, bloodying her face. She spent a month in jail on charges of arson, trespassing, resisting arrest, and other charges before a judge dropped all of the charges, citing Paris’ mental health.
The Tulsa Police Department released full footage of the incident and defended the arrest.
“To be clear, the banter between the officers outside of the presence of the suspect can be received as unprofessional and has been addressed with the officers,” Tulsa Police Capt. Richard Meulenberg said in a statement.
However, Meulenberg said that the “overall actions of the officers and the way in which the call was handled is within the policies of the Tulsa Police Department.”
Chinese spy in US tracked down targets for Chinese gov’t, including US citizens
As Sun gathered information on his targets, Victim-1’s pregnant daughter (Victim-2), who is also a U.S. citizen, was “held against her will in the PRC for approximately eight months.”
After she was finally released, Victim-1’s daughter, her spouse and her child attempted to return to the United States, but Chinese officials told Victim-2 she could not leave because her mother was a “fugitive” and so she was subject to an “exit ban.”
A Chinese official told Victim-2 that she must help them get Victim-1 to return to the PRC, that she was barred from discussing the “exit ban” with the United States government, and that the U.S. Embassy could not help her status in China.
Victim-2 explained that she was pregnant and wanted to deliver her baby in the United States, but the Chinese officials said she would give birth in China “if the conditions were not yet met for the ‘exit ban’ to be lifted.”
Amazon workers in Staten Island form company’s first union in stunning upset
An Amazon facility on Staten Island, N.Y., voted to become the company’s first unionized U.S. workplace in a mammoth upset that would be one of organized labor’s biggest victories in decades.
Workers at the site, known as JFK8, voted 2,654 to 2,131, in favor of organizing, according to officials at the National Labor Relations Board.
There are 67 contested ballots that were not tallied, far short of the number necessary to swing the results.
The result is particularly surprising as it involved an upstart group, the Amazon Labor Union, that has opted not to hitch its fortunes to a more established union and instead rally workers as an independent organization.
Jen Psaki Is Leaving the White House… for the Most Obvious Place
It’s long been known that Psaki didn’t intend to hold her position very long. Last May Psaki revealed her intention to leave the White House sometime this year, telling David Axelrod on his CNN podcast, “I think it’s going to be time for somebody else to have this job, in a year from now or about a year from now.”
According to Axios, which first reported on her upcoming departure, Psaki will be leaving the White House for MSNBC. However, she hasn’t made an official announcement yet, and no contracts have been signed due to legal and ethical issues.
Nevertheless, they report that “Psaki is now in exclusive talks with MSNBC, and the deal is nearly final.” Psaki will reportedly host a show on NBCUniversal’s streaming platform, Peacock, and be a regular on MSNBC’s cable shows.
Classic Stossel: Illegal Food
Increasingly, government tells us what we can and can’t eat — bans on trans-fat, happy meals, “raw” foods.
California officials raided a raw food club, and arrested clerks for selling unpasteurized milk. Farmer Joel Salatin, author of “Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal,” explains why Americans DON’T have the freedom to choose the food they eat.
Green New Deal: Fact versus Fiction
Creators of the Green New Deal have no idea how energy is produced in this country says James Meigs of City Journal:
EXCLUSIVE: Migrant Apprehensions in March Set Record for Biden Era
Border Patrol agents in the nine southwest border sectors apprehended more than 209,000 migrants in March who illegally crossed the border between ports of entry, the source who spoke to Breitbart Texas on condition of anonymity revealed.
This represents an increase of nearly 24 percent over last March when agents apprehended just over 169,000 migrants.
The apprehension of 209,000 migrants in March represents the highest number of migrant apprehensions for this month since March 2000 — the last year of the Clinton administration.
It also breaks the Biden-era record of 200,658 set in July 2021.
The March apprehension total is also up significantly from the previous month when agents apprehended only 158,000 migrants — a jump of more than 32 percent.
Texas border officials bust driver accused of smuggling 76 migrants in trailer
Officials reported the discovery of 76 illegal migrants on the Texas border Thursday – a large instance of organized human trafficking into the United States.
The individuals were being smuggled inside a trailer, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The driver, a Honduran national, was in the country illegally himself, Texas DPS said. The suspect was arrested for human smuggling. He also was in possession of meth and has “a previous criminal history of drug and weapons charges,” the department said.
Border Patrol agents are fearing that they are going to get hit by an enormous surge in migrants at the southern border when the Biden administration ends Title 42 in May – on top of the already massive numbers they are already facing.
Migrant surge expected as CDC to end Title 42 asylum limits on May 23rd | John Bachman Now
A migrant surge is expected as the CDC will reportedly end Title 42 asylum limits on May 23rd, Border Correspondent Jaeson Jones reports. Pastors Maria and Luis Silva of the Bethel Mission Outreach Center in Roma, Texas react – Via Newsmax’s ‘John Bachman Now.’
Biden Wants to Replace Border Detention Centers with ‘House Arrest’ and Provide Illegals with Taxpayer-Funded Attorneys
The move will make the numbers at detention centers decrease while the illegal population will continue to grow inside the U.S. and will provide a road map for relatives and others who are trying to get into the U.S.
The San Antonio Express News reported the protocol could include ankle bracelets and phone apps to allegedly keep track of the thousands and thousands of people being released inside the country. The provision is buried in Biden’s $5.8 trillion 2023 budget proposal.
The Express News report said:
The president’s budget calls for cutting thousands of beds in immigrant detention facilities — and shutting down two family detention centers in Texas — while spending $75 million more on alternative programs, such as monitoring migrants with ankle bracelets or phone check-ins. The administration estimates as many as 200,000 migrants could be enrolled in such programs by October, according to budget documents.
The president is also calling for $375 million to speed up the asylum system, including hiring more than 1,000 new U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officers to adjudicate claims on the border, rather than sending them to backlogged courts.
Maria Bartiromo: ‘Impossible’ for Biden to argue this on gas prices
FOX Business host reacts to the president deflecting responsibility for pain at the pump on ‘America’s Newsroom.’
The O’Reilly Update: April 1, 2022
Inflation now costing families 400-dollars each month, Covid surges in Europe, studies show a quick walk can add years to your life, a new survey ranks the most expensive cities on earth.
The Biden Family Racket Is Everything Leftists Fabricated About The Trumps, And Media Are Crickets
While the Russia collusion hoax and discredited Steele dossier still dominated corporate media coverage about Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr., Democrats orchestrated two sham impeachments against the president, whom they claimed was guilty of treason.
These political attacks were sustained with plenty of negatively framed press coverage about Trump’s sons, daughters, and son-in-law.
It was all lies.
Meanwhile, there are plenty of real scandals about the Biden family and their conflicts of interest that deserve extra scrutiny but are merely snubbed by the corporate press.
The Tragic Death of a J6 Protester
Matthew Perna hung himself as he faced more than four years in federal prison for walking into the Capitol. He was escorted into the Capitol by the police and it was on film.
No politicians would help him, despite the fact that he did not hurt anyone or damage anything.
Matthew was there because he thought it was going to be a celebration. Instead, he lost his job, was tormented for over a year, and the DoJ kept adding infractions to add time to his sentence. He was afraid to leave his home.
The tragedy of Matthew Perna at the US government’s hands
Politics:
House passes marijuana legalization bill
On Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would legalize marijuana nationwide, abolishing penalties for those who manufacture, distribute or possess the drug. The bill will need to pass the Senate before heading to President Joe Biden for signature.
The legislation, dubbed the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, passed the House in a 220-204 vote almost entirely along party lines.
Just three members of the GOP, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Tom McClintock of California and Brian Mast of Florida, voted yes, whereas just two Democrats voted no: Chris Pappas of New Hampshire and Henry Cuellar of Texas.
Manchin calls Biden lifting Title 42 border policy ‘frightening decision’
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., on Friday tore into the Biden administration’s move to lift the Title 42 border policy at the end of May, calling it a “frightening decision” and warning that the extraordinary numbers will “only get worse” in the months ahead.
“Today’s announcement by the [Centers for Disease Control] and the Biden administration is a frightening decision,” Manchin said in a statement.
“We are already facing an unprecedented increase in migrants this year, and that will only get worse if the Administration ends the Title 42 policy,” he said. We are nowhere near prepared to deal with that influx.”
“Until we have comprehensive, bipartisan immigration reform that commits to securing our borders and providing a pathway to citizenship for qualified immigrants, Title 42 must stay in place,” he said.
2020 Election Illegalities and Irregularities. Exposed by John Solomon Part 1 | Rudy Giuliani
The four states planning to become ‘abortion sanctuaries’ as others pass bans
Democratic strongholds are positioning themselves as safe havens for women seeking abortions who live in states with new restrictions on the procedures.
State efforts to safeguard access to abortion for residents and visitors are preemptive responses to a possible Supreme Court decision to unravel the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that established the legal right to an abortion before the age of viability.
Red states, meanwhile, have been pursuing tighter abortion restrictions.
The following is a smattering of states that are strengthening access to abortion for women living within their borders as well as for those who live in states such as Texas, where obtaining the procedure could be extremely burdensome or impossible.
Ingraham: This is what Biden is promoting for our kids
Disney is going to find out, very quickly, that the power is with the parents, Laura Ingraham says.
Russia’s sanctions against Hunter Biden ‘raises serious questions’
Several Committee Republicans have written to the White House council demanding it turn over documents on Hunter Biden’s business dealings after Russia imposed personal sanctions on the president’s second son.
World News:
Russia’s military strategy is ‘failing’
The New Republic reporter Alex Shephard says Russia’s military strategy in Ukraine is “failing”.
Mr Shepard said Russia’s current strategy involves redeploying troops in eastern Ukraine.
“I think we’re also seeing increasing reports that civil war that’s being waged, you know, by Putin and his advisers,” he told Sky News Australia.
“Ukraine has put up a surprising and remarkable fight.”
Israel and UAE Finalize ‘Milestone’ Free Trade Deal
The UAE and Israel formally established relations in 2020 as part of the US-brokered Abraham Accords that also included Bahrain and Morocco.
The latest agreement included 95% of traded products, which would be customs free, immediately or gradually, including food, agriculture and cosmetic products, as well as medical equipment and medicine, the Israeli Economy Ministry said in a statement.
The agreement included regulation, customs, services, government procurement and electronic trade and would come into effect when signed by the countries’ economy ministers and ratified, the statement said, though no timetable was given.
A separate UAE statement said the agreement would substantially reduce or remove tariffs on a wide range of goods, enhance market access for services and promote investment flows.
Videos: Attack helicopters blow up fuel depot in Russia – Ukraine blamed
An oil depot in the western Russian city of Belgorod, near the Ukrainian border, was destroyed in an airstrike Russia has attributed to Ukraine.
At least two attack helicopters were caught on video firing missiles at the depot before it exploded. The strike comes after more than a month after Russian forces invaded Ukraine.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the Russian gas depot was hit in the strike, in comments to Russia’s state-run TASS news agency and other media outlets.
Peskov attributed the attack to Ukraine, and said, “Clearly, it’s not what could create conditions for further talks.”
Zelenskyy demotes 2 Ukrainian generals, calls them ‘traitors’
The leadership shuffle in the upper echelon of Ukraine’s government comes as its war with Russia stretches Friday into its 37th day.
“Today another decision was made. Regarding antiheroes. Now I do not have time to deal with all the traitors. But gradually they will all be punished,” Zelenskyy said.
“That is why the ex-chief of the Main Department of Internal Security of the Security Service of Ukraine Naumov Andriy Olehovych and the former head of the Office of the Security Service of Ukraine in the Kherson region Kryvoruchko Serhiy Oleksandrovych are no longer generals,” he continued.
Commentary/Opinion:
Thomas Sowell: WWII Lesson on War and Peace
Thomas Sowell delivers a reminder about the dangers of a feckless foreign policy.
In The News Feed. 