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(06-21-2023, 12:12 AM)kyonides Wrote: [ -> ]
Quote:Conservatives blasted the “sweetheart plea deal” federal prosecutors have given to Hunter Biden, where he will plead guilty to two counts of “willful failure to pay federal income tax” and enter a “pretrial diversion program” for a firearm offense.
The deal indicates that Hunter Biden will not face prison time, as Breitbart News Senior Editor Joel Pollak noted.
If you think that this is all there is about the plea deal... you're wrong!
Quote:Lunden Roberts, 32, the mother of Hunter’s long-unacknowledged 4-year-old daughter, agreed to her $20,000 monthly child support payments being slashed after she showed up in person to his deposition in Little Rock last week.
Roberts’ lawyer, Clint Lancaster, told The Post late Thursday that final terms were still to be determined and declined to confirm that his client had agreed to a reduced monthly payment of $5,000.
“The case is sealed, and these are financial terms that should never be disclosed,” he said, warning that leaks about details of the settlement would derail talks and end up with Hunter back in an Arkansas court on July 11.
“It was significant that Lunden was there” at Hunter’s deposition last week, Lancaster added. “I believe that settlement is important to Hunter Biden [but] we have concerns that Hunter would use [the settlement] as a means to promote some agenda of his … There’s always more that goes on in settlement negotiations than people realize.”
Hunter, 53, initially denied paternity of Navy Joan Roberts, but a DNA test in 2019 proved he was the child’s father.
He applied last year to a Batesville, Ark., court to reduce his child support payments, citing reduced circumstances, but turned heads by flying into town in a friend’s private jet.
BUT... here's the kick!
Quote:As part of the deal, Biden’s son will plead guilty to misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax for 2017 and 2018, as well as enter a pre-trial diversion on a felony gun possession charge.
So hold up!
HE gets to have child support cut to 25% of what it was, and that's so he would plead guilty to misdemeanor tax evasion charges and a felony gun charge he practically got off without any jail time that anyone else would suffer?
Quote:David C. Weiss, the U.S. Attorney for Delaware who handled a long-running tax investigation into Hunter Biden, said that investigation is ongoing even after the president’s son agreed to a plea deal.
Weiss notified the U.S. District Court for Delaware that Hunter Biden intended to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts for willful failure to pay his taxes. Weiss said Hunter Biden also agreed to enter a pretrial diversion agreement for obtaining a firearm at a time that he was actively using or addicted to a controlled substance, which is illegal.
The tax charges each carry a maximum penalty of 12 months in prison. The firearm charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison but the pretrial diversion agreement could allow him to avoid a criminal conviction and a related criminal punishment.
In a comment to CBS News on Tuesday, Hunter Biden’s attorney Chris Clark addressed his client’s plea agreement, stating, “it is my understanding that the five-year investigation into Hunter is resolved.”
While Clark said the matter involving his client is resolved, Weiss said in his own press statement on Tuesday that “the investigation is ongoing.”
Quote:Chinese leader Xi Jinping on June 16 met with Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates in Beijing, where he called Gates “an old friend.”
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In a meeting at Beijing’s Diaoyutai state guest house, where China’s leaders have traditionally received senior foreign visitors, Xi said he was very happy to see the Microsoft co-founder after three years, and that Gates was the first American friend he had met this year.
“I often say the foundation of U.S.-China relations lies with its people. I place my hopes on the American people,” a video published by state broadcaster CCTV showed Xi saying.
“With the current global situation, we can carry out various activities beneficial to our two countries and people, activities that benefit humanity as a whole,” he said.
Gates, who arrived in Beijing on Wednesday, said he was “honored” to have the chance to meet. “We’ve always had great conversations and we’ll have a lot of important topics to discuss today … it’s very exciting to be back.”
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Pelson said it’s disturbing but not surprising to see Bill Gates embracing a huge authoritarian government whose philosophy is: “We’re smarter and better and will tell people what to do and it’s for your own good.”
The reason behind that title is simple, the expert they interviewed interpreted Xi's words as being a friend of the CCP, not the Chinese people.
Quote:Three years after the bloody Galwan Valley clash, experts say China’s upgrade of two sparsely populated areas in Tibet is intended to bolster its military status along the hotly contested India–China border.
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Despite negotiations following the clash, China has continued to bulk up its presence along the disputed Line of Actual Control (LAC) that runs between the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and India’s state of Arunachal Pradesh. Satellite images from February 2023 provide evidence that China has been constructing villages and military infrastructure near the LAC.
The elevation of Milin and Cuona to cities on April 3 is part of this effort, experts say. The new cities, although minuscule in terms of population, have strategic importance in light of the border dispute.
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The population of Milin is only 24,665, while that of Cuona is 13,932, according to the upgraded cities’ respective websites.
Milin, also known as Mainling, covers 115 miles of the Indian frontier. Despite its small size, it is a transport hub that links by rail to the regional capital of Lhasa. It lies on a route that links Tibet and Xinjiang, as well as having its own airport.
Cuona, also known as Cona, borders Bhutan to the southwest and lies across the disputed border from Tawang, one of India’s holy sites.
A portion of the area that China claims as part of the new city is currently controlled by India, noted a South China Morning Post report.
The Chinese media described the Indian territory across these counties as a part of China, while Indian experts decried the move as an attempt to strengthen the Chinese Army’s forward position on the border.
Quote:The Department of Justice (DOJ) rules should change so that FBI agents lose their jobs when they lie to misuse the government’s spying powers in sensitive investigations, Special Counsel John Durham suggested to Congress.
Durham, who recently released a report on his review of the FBI’s handling of the 2016 Trump-Russia investigation, acknowledged that he found conduct that was wrong or “probably criminal,” but would have been difficult to prosecute in a court of law.
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His report documented extensive misconduct, including repeated use of false, debunked, and unverified information, dismissing exculpatory information, failure to interview key witnesses—all pushing forward an investigation of supposed collusion between Russia and the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.
The misconduct, among other ills, resulted in illegal surveillance of Trump campaign aide Carter Page. The FBI snooped through Page’s electronic communications based on a FISA warrant prepared using fabricated allegations pushed into the FBI by operatives financed by the campaign of Trump’s opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“There were identified, documented, significant failures of a highly sensitive, unique investigation that was undertaken by the FBI,” Durham testified.
“I think the investigation clearly reveals that decisions that were made were made in one direction. If there was something that was inconsistent with the notion that Trump was involved in a ‘well-coordinated conspiracy’ with the Russians and whatnot, that information was largely discarded or ignored and I think, unfortunately, that’s what the facts bear out.”
Yet, as both Republicans and Democrats on the committee pointed out, Durham didn’t pursue charges against the main actors in the Russia investigation, codenamed Crossfire Hurricane.
Quote:Some people convicted of gun crimes can spend less time in prison, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 16.
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“Congress could certainly have designed the penalty scheme at issue here differently. But Congress did not do any of these things. And we must implement the design Congress chose,” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a Biden appointee, wrote in the ruling.
The case involves two subsections of 18 U.S.C. 924. Subsection © outlines offenses and penalties, and states that “no term of imprisonment imposed on a person under this subsection shall run concurrently with any other term of imprisonment imposed on the person.” Subsection (j), which was added more recently, outlines other offenses and corresponding penalties. It does not include language about forbidding concurrent sentences.
District courts generally have discretion as to whether prison sentences run concurrently or consecutively. Some laws forbid concurrent sentences in certain cases.
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Lora and three others who trafficked cocaine murdered a rival drug dealer in 2002 in New York City over a dispute regarding territory.
When handing down Lora’s sentence, U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe, a George W. Bush appointee, cited a law that bars concurrent sentences for crimes that include one of the crimes for which Lora was convicted. He sentenced Lora to 25 years in prison for the conspiracy count, followed by five more years for the other crime. An appeals court affirmed the decision.
Lora argued that his sentences could have run concurrently, arguing that the aiding and abetting offense was not covered by the law Gardephe cited.
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“Combining the two subsections would set them on a collision course; indeed, in some cases, the maximum sentence would be lower than the minimum sentence,” she also said.
The ruling vacated the prison term and remanded the case for new sentencing.
Quote:The House voted to censure Schiff a week after an initial resolution brought forward by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) was tabled. An earlier clause fining Schiff $16 million—half of the amount paid by the federal government to investigate debunked claims of Russian collusion with President Donald Trump in 2016—was removed, leading Republicans who initially voted against the measure to give it their support.
The tally was 213-209. Six voted “present.”
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who gave his backing to the measure, presided over the hearing.
A censure resolution is a punitive action that can be undertaken by the House to discipline members for actions that fall short of grounds for expulsion from the lower chamber. Schiff is only the 25th member of the House in American history to face such an action out of over 10,505 who have served in the lower chamber.
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After the House voted to censure Schiff, Schiff was asked to come to the House Well to have the charges against him read aloud.
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After this outburst, McCarthy banged the speaker’s gavel and called for order in the lower chamber to no avail, as Democrats continued to chant.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the former speaker of the House, could be seen among the throng of Democrats joining in the chant.
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McCarthy continued to read the resolution, ignoring Democrat interruptions: ” … the House of Representatives censures Adam Schiff, representative of the 30th congressional district of California, for misleading the American public, and for conduct unbecoming of an elected member of the House of Representatives, that Adam Schiff will forthwith present himself in the Well of the House for the pronouncement of censure, that Adam Schiff will be censured with a public reading of this resolution by the speaker, and that the Committee on Ethics shall conduct an investigation on Adam Schiff’s falsehoods, misrepresentations, and abuse of sensitive information.”
Quote:“Broadly, we are monitoring and responding to any PRC [People’s Republic of China] attempts to expand its military or security presence around the world, and we watch how potential PRC actions may impact the United States,” the department’s principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told The Epoch Times in a press briefing.
The Chinese communist regime, he said, will “keep trying to enhance its presence in Cuba and we will keep working to disrupt it.”
“Our experts assess that our diplomatic efforts have slowed the PRC down, and there, of course, continue to still be challenges, but we continue to be concerned about the PRC’s longstanding activities with Cuba.”
Patel made the remarks as reports suggest the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is actively trying to bolster its surveillance capacity on the island, located just some 100 miles off the coast of Florida, which houses a number of U.S. military installations.
U.S. intelligence from the Trump administration showed staffers from blacklisted Chinese telecom companies, Huawei and ZTE, going in and out of facilities suspected of hosting the CCP’s spying operations in Cuba, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous sources.
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“This is something we’re going to be monitoring very, very closely, and we’ve been very clear about that. And we will protect our homeland; we will protect our interests,” Blinken said.
Prigozhin's mercenary troops had been fighting along side Russian soldiers agaisnt Ukraine for some time, but began his revolt when the Russian military began attacking his men. He accused General Gerasimov with Defense Minister Shoigu to eliminate Prigozhin's group, while Russia's Defense Ministry denied such claims.
Despite claims, the US stated that Prigozhin had been preparing for an uprising. And this included a grisly video where the mercenary general hurled profanities at both Shoigu and Gerasimov. And early this month, he blasted Russia's top brass as "clowns who turn people into meat."
Prigozhin Wrote:If the whole chain [of command] is 100% failed and will only be led by clowns who turn people into meat, then we will not participate in it.
Now to be exiled to Belarus, a Russian-aligned nation, the mercenary leader had demanded that Shoigu be removed from his poistion as he and his forces advanced to just 120 miles from Moscow. As of posting, it is unclear if or when Prigozhin arrived in Belarus.
Quote:Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, one of the chief allies of Vladimir Putin, has reportedly brokered a deal with Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin to stop the paramilitary group’s advances towards Moscow.
Following negotiations that are said to have lasted the entire day, Aleksandr Lukashenko has claimed to have struck an agreement with the Wagner Private Military Company, Yevgeny Prigozhin, to stop his forces from marching on Moscow and work to “de-escalate tensions”, according to Belarussian state media BelTA.
The deal — which was reached as Wagner forces reportedly were within striking distance of the Russian capital — was struck as both the Belarussians and the Wagner leader agreed that it was “unacceptable to start a bloodbath in Russia’s territory.”
Lukashenko claimed that the two sides had come to an “absolutely advantageous and acceptable” way to end the situation, which will reportedly include safety guarantees for Wagner forces.
It remains to be seen, however, if any assurances were given personally to Prigozhin, who Russia’s Federal Security Service charged for allegedly orchestrating an “armed rebellion” against Moscow. Should Prigozhin not receive such assurances, the Belarussian-brokered deal may be short-lived.
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For his part, Prigozhin responded that Putin was “mistaken”, claiming that Wagner was not attempting a coup and that his band of mercenaries are “patriots” merely interested in “justice” for the alleged strikes against their forces in Ukraine by the Russian military top brass after Prigozhin refused to give up leadership of his private army to the Kremlin.
Quote:The United States said it hosted a working-level experts’ meeting on nuclear weapons issues with counterparts from China, France, Russia, and the UK in “an ongoing exchange” amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Experts from the foreign and defense ministries of the five nuclear-armed states met on June 13 and 14 in Cairo in the context of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), according to the U.S. State Department.
They discussed “strategic risk reduction, as well as nuclear doctrines and policy,” it stated. The U.S. delegation included experts from the State and Defense departments and the National Nuclear Security Administration.
“The U.S. delegation welcomed the professional approach of the delegations and the inclusion of defense officials in the thematic discussions,” the State Department said in a statement.
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Under the NPT’s provisions, the five nuclear powers agreed to negotiate toward someday eliminating their arsenals, and nations without nuclear weapons promised to not acquire them in exchange for a guarantee to be able to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
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With Ukraine’s counterattack, Russia may lose the land it has occupied and even its homeland may be hit. Therefore, Putin needs to make such a move as a way of military blackmail to force NATO to limit military aid to Ukraine.
“This is also the first time since the end of the Cold War that a nuclear power has deployed nuclear weapons to other countries, which has seriously undermined the Non-Proliferation Treaty and may force some of the weaker countries to take an extra layer of concern when it comes to military assistance to Ukraine,” Tang said.
Quote:A train carrying hazardous chemicals plunged into the Yellowstone River in eastern Montana after a bridge collapsed early Saturday morning.
Officials said 10 cars belonging to Montana Rail Link (MRL) went into the river at around 6:45 a.m. Three cars reportedly were carrying hot asphalt and four others molten sulphur.
Stillwater County Emergency Management reported on Saturday that the Montana Department of Environmental Quality had begun monitoring air and water quality at water intakes along the river for potential contamination.
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Emergency management confirmed three cars containing hot asphalt and four cars filled with molten sulfur poured into the river between Reed Point and Columbus, about 44 miles west of Billings.
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As a precaution, the Montana Department of Transportation closed Twin Bridges Road at Reed Point near the derailment site until further notice.
Meanwhile, officials are trying to determine the cause of the bridge collapse. The bridge spans the Yellowstone River in Stillwater County, population 9,044.
Members of Stillwater County Emergency Services, the Sheriff’s Office, county commissioners, and Columbus Fire and Rescue were at the scene, along with Montana Rail Link and state and federal agencies.
A unified command center has been set up to determine the next appropriate next steps.
Quote:The judge also granted a preliminary injunction that bans the city from sending more migrants into the county until a legal resolution is reached.
Orange County filed the lawsuit days after Mayor Eric Adams bused 186 homeless individuals to two hotels in the Town of Newburgh to ease the city’s mounting migrant crisis.
The lawsuit argued that the city could not operate a homeless shelter in Orange County without due process and asked the court to reverse transfers already done and ban such arrangements in the future.
Judge Sandra Sciortino, in denying the city’s dismissal request, asserted the county’s standing and causes in the legal dispute and put the case back on the trial calendar.
Under the New York Social Services Law, the city has a responsibility to care for individuals unable to provide for themselves within its boundary, and so does the county government; any transfers between the two must conform to state regulations, according to Sciortino.
No proof has been provided by the city that those regulations were met.
Quote:McCarthy retweeted allegations made by the whistleblower, IRS Criminal Supervisory Special Agent Gary A. Shapley Jr, noting if his allegations are true, “this will be a significant part of a larger impeachment inquiry into Merrick Garland’s weaponization of DOJ.”
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His retweet included a post from Washington Examiner Chief Correspondent Byron York, who noted that Shapley alleged Weiss wanted charges against Biden to be brought in Washington, DC. Moreover, York included Shapley’s legal team’s claim that during an October 7, 2022, meeting at Weiss’s office, six witnesses observed him state that he “did not have authority to charge in other districts and had thus requested special counsel status.”
Those six witnesses include Baltimore FBI Special Agent in Charge Tom Sobocinski and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Ryeshia Holley, IRS Assistant Special Agent in Charge Gary Shapley and Special Agent in Charge Darrell Waldon, who also independently and contemporaneously corroborated Mr. Shapley’s account in an email, now public as Exhibit 10, following p. 148 of his testimony transcript. Mr. Shapley would have no insight into why Mr. Weiss’s would make these statements at the October 7, 2022 meeting if they were false. That Mr. Weiss made these statements is easily corroborated, and it is up to him and the Justice Department to reconcile the evidence of his October 7, 2022 statements with contrary statements by Mr. Weiss and the Attorney General to Congress.
However, on the same day, Garland denied that Weiss ever asked him for a special counsel to be appointed in the matter
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“The only person with authority to make somebody a special counsel or refuse to make somebody a special counsel is the Attorney General. Mr. Weiss never made that request to me.”
Garland added, “I would support Mr. Weiss explaining or testifying on these matters when he deems appropriate.”
I had reported the disappearance of a not so renowned actor, namely Julian Sands, some time ago. Well, I've got bad news for SG1 fans, the actor who portrayed the Doci on Stargate SG-1 might have passed away long time ago...
Quote:Hikers have found human remains in Southern California’s Mount Baldy wilderness, the mountainous area where British-born film actor Julian Sands went missing in January, local authorities said late on Saturday.
The hikers contacted Fontana Station officials at about 10 a.m. on Saturday to report the discovery of the body, which was taken to the coroner’s office for identification, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.
Sands was reported missing on Jan. 13 after he had gone hiking alone in the Baldy Bowl area of the San Gabriel Mountains, about 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Los Angeles.
A search was immediately launched in the area, but ground teams were pulled out a day later due to avalanche risks and poor trail conditions.
The Baldy Bowl, a large sloping area below the crest of the Mount Baldy ski area, is a popular destination for skiers, climbers, and backpackers. Sands was believed to be an experienced hiker, officials said at the time of his disappearance.
Born in England, Sands moved to California in the 1980s to pursue a Hollywood career after the success of the 1985 film “A Room with a View,” a period romance in which he was cast as the leading man opposite Helena Bonham Carter.
Quote:The U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday "presumed human remains" were recovered from the site of the Titan submersible wreckage.
"After consultation with international partner investigative agencies, the Marine Board of Investigation (MBI) intends to transport the evidence aboard a U.S. Coast Guard cutter to a port in the United States, where the MBI will be able to facilitate further analysis and testing," a Coast Guard statement says.
"United States medical professionals will conduct a formal analysis of presumed human remains that have been carefully recovered within the wreckage at the site of the incident."
According to the statement, the Marine Board of Investigation will transport the evidence to a Coast Guard cutter, where it will then be taken to a port for analysis.
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"The evidence will provide investigators from several international jurisdictions with critical insights into the cause of this tragedy. There is still a substantial amount of work to be done to understand the factors that led to the catastrophic loss of the Titan and help ensure a similar tragedy does not occur again."
Quote:President Biden’s harsh response to a reporter asking about his son Hunter’s international business dealings drew attention from social media users Wednesday.
Biden was speaking to reporters outside the White House when he was pressed on alleged text messages from his son from 2017 that indicated the president was part of a negotiation with a foreign company.
"President Biden, how involved were you in your son's Chinese shakedown text messages? Were you sitting there? Were you involved?" New York Post reporter Steven Nelson asked.
"No, I wasn't, and I don't —" the president began.
"Were you?" Nelson pressed.
"No!" Biden shouted in response.
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"So either Biden did know and he's lying here, or he actually didn't know BUT he's generally fine with Hunter using his name essentially as a threat + bargaining chip," GOP media strategist Alec Sears tweeted.
Grabien founder Tom Elliot added, "Everything he has said thus far about Hunter is a lie. Even that his earlier lies were not a lie was a lie. If he now says he wasn't in on this Chinese bribe, you can be sure he's still lying."
Quote:Five individuals under the age of 30, who cited autism as a factor in their decision to seek legal euthanasia, are among the cases reviewed by specialists at the U.K.'s Kingston University.
"Factors directly associated with intellectual disability and/or ASD were the sole cause of suffering described in 21% of cases and a major contributing factor in a further 42% of cases," Kingston University's report on the issue found.
The study noted that in many cases, doctors determined there was "no prospect of improvement" for intellectually challenged individuals because there is no treatment for their handicap.
...In one-third of cases, physicians noted there was ‘no prospect of improvement’ as ASD and intellectual disability are not treatable," the study reads.
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"There’s no doubt in my mind these people were suffering," Tuffrey-Wijne said. "But is society really OK with sending this message, that there’s no other way to help them, and it’s just better to be dead?"
Dutch psychologist Dr. Bram Sizoo expressed horror at the trend of autistic youths seeking assisted suicide and euthanasia's expanding acceptance.
How dare they! You know, the shrinks could be blamed for manipulating the patients' feelings here to convince them of taking terrible and irreversible decisions.
Quote:The Russian deputy commander who oversaw troops in Ukraine and is believed to have been aware of plans for Wagner’s mutiny has been arrested.
Sources close to Russia’s Ministry of Defense told The Moscow Times of Gen. Sergei Surovikin’s arrest on Wednesday.
Rumors of the deputy commander’s arrest were previously discussed by military blogger Vladimir Romanov, who reported that Surovikin was arrested Sunday, the day after Wagner mercenary troops led by Yevgeny Prigozhin engaged in a short-lived mutiny.
News of Surovikin’s possible arrest comes after The New York Times reported that he had advanced knowledge of Prigozhin’s plans to rebel against Russia’s military leadership.
U.S. officials briefed on American intelligence told the Times they are trying to determine whether Surovikin helped Prigozhin.
Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed Surovikin to lead Russia’s invasion of Ukraine back in October.
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Surovikin has also been accused of complicity in the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
Prigozhin has previously called Surovikin "the most able commander in the Russian army."
Quote:Honduras has reportedly embarked on a widespread crackdown on gang activity inside the country following a prison massacre that killed dozens of inmates and a shooting at a pool hall on Saturday.
"We do not rule out these crimes could be some sort of revenge for what happened in the women’s prison," Honduran national police commissioner Miguel Pérez Suazo said.
The pool hall shooting, reportedly located in the city of Choloma on Barrio 18 gang territory, killed 11 people after a riot at a women’s prison in Tamara, which killed 46 inmates. Honduran President Xiomara Castro decried the riot as "monstrous murder," which she blamed on street gangs.
The country’s military police raided a men’s prison in the same town, forcing the men to sit in rows — spread-legged and touching — in a formation similar that popularized by El Salvador in its super prison, according to The Guardian.
The search uncovered ammunition, guns and grenades during a search of a men’s prison in Tamara while the inmates were forced to sit, heads bowed, and some of them wearing only shorts.
Yuri Mora, the spokesman for Honduras’ national police investigation agency, said that 26 inmates had burned to death, while the remainder died from gunshot wounds or stabbings. At least seven inmates received treatment at a hospital in the capital, with most of them dying later in the day.
Quote:Fox Corporation has agreed to pay $12 million to settle a lawsuit by former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg, who leveled allegations against the network for promoting a hostile working environment.
Grossberg, who was the head of booking for Tucker Carlson for several months, filed a lawsuit in March claiming she was subjected to vulgar comments while she worked in Fox News’ office in New York.
The complaint (pdf), which was filed in the U.S. Southern District of New York on March 20, said that the “toxic work dynamic” allegedly fostered by Carlson had “severely” impacted her health.
While Carlson hasn’t made public comments in response to the lawsuit, Fox News denied Grossberg’s allegations after she filed suit.
Following news of the settlement on Friday, a Fox News spokesperson expressed satisfaction that the matter had been resolved.
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Grossberg said in a statement obtained by The Epoch Times that she’s hopeful that “this resolution represents a positive step by the Network regarding its treatment of women and minorities in the workplace.”
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Grossberg, who had worked for Fox in various roles since 2019, was fired after filing her lawsuit on March 20 in federal court in Manhattan.
In firing her, Fox said her legal claims were “riddled with false allegations against Fox and our employees.”
Quote:The Department of Homeland Security said June 30 that more would-be illegal immigrants will be able to schedule their entry into the United States.
The department’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will allow up to 1,450 appointments per day, an increase of 200 from the current number and of 450 from the number available in May.
“CBP is expanding the number of available appointments at ports of entry for the second time in less than two months, through scheduling enhancements and operational efficiencies,” Troy Miller, the top CBP official, said in a statement.
The appointments, made through an application called CBP One, are “providing for safe and efficient processes at ports of entry,” he added.
The would-be immigrants can schedule an appointment at a port of entry, or an official border crossing, through the application. The appointment scheduling was part of a January Biden administration announcement on steps that would be taken to deal with the spike in illegal immigration that has occurred since President Joe Biden took office and immediately relaxed or ended key Trump-era policies.
The app lets people who claim “vulnerability criteria,” such as having a “physical or mental illness” and being under the age of 21 or over 70, schedule crossing into the United States despite lacking legal status.
Officers assess each person who gets an appointment and grant parole to at least some of them.
Sadly, that part of mental illnesses might allow psychopaths to enter US soil as well. I mean, they just need to make that claim and fill a (digital) application and that's a good summary of the most relevant steps to be taken at the border.
Quote:A federal judge delivered a blow to the Biden administration’s gun control policy by reversing a federal ban on so-called “ghost guns” and argued that the ATF overstepped its authority.
Texas-based United States District Court Judge Reed O’Connor on Friday ruled that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) erred by saying that unfinished gun parts are guns and can, therefore, be regulated. His ruling said that parts aren’t guns under federal law.
“This case presents the question of whether the federal government may lawfully regulate partially manufactured firearm components, related firearm products, and other tools and materials in keeping with the Gun Control Act of 1968,” wrote O’Connor in his order (pdf). “Because the court concludes that the government cannot regulate those items without violating federal law, the court holds that the government’s recently enacted final rule … is unlawful agency action taken in excess of the ATF’s statutory jurisdiction. On this basis, the court vacates the final rule.”
His order also stated that the ATF is trying to regulate a gun component as a “frame or receiver,” even after the agency determined “the component in question is not a frame or receiver.” Elaborating, he wrote: “It may not. Logic dictates that a part cannot be both not yet a receiver and receiver at the same time. Defendants’ reliance on that logical contradiction is fatal to their argument.”
How did they expect their failed logical process to support their position when it's clear that we're not talking about quantum physics at all. We're just focusing on the visible level, not on strange theories that physics wouldn't even defend by means of any of its postulates.
Hey! It seems the ATF is not alone! Now Biden also want to come up with his own SCI-FI theories as well.
Quote:The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Friday it will build 20 more miles of U.S.–Mexico border wall, carrying out some of former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign vow.
“Until and unless Congress cancels these funds, the law requires DHS to use the funds consistent with their appropriated purpose,” the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement announcing the wall construction. Previously, President Joe Biden’s administration had called on Congress to take action to prevent more of the wall from being constructed, which is unlikely for now because Republicans control the House.
That statement said that the approximately 20 miles of “steel bollard panels” will be erected along the Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley Sector, as mandated by a 2019 border barrier appropriation under Trump’s administration. It noted that “a substantial portion of unobligated funds that had been diverted from the Department of Defense” have been returned to the Pentagon.
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“In addition, DHS authorized CBP to move forward with the Yuma Andrade and El Centro Calexico Fence Replacement Projects to mitigate immediate life, safety and operational risks to the local community, migrants, and Border Patrol agents in the area,” the statement Friday said. “Both projects will replace dilapidated segments of legacy fencing that presently create safety and security concerns for USBP agents, migrants, and the surrounding community.”
It added: “These replacement projects, similar to previously approved projects, prioritizes the completion of activities and projects needed to address life, safety and operational risks—including the safety and security of individuals, Border Patrol agents, migrants, and nearby communities.”
The border agency stated that it will still plan coordination with landowners and state, local, and tribal governments on where to build the border barrier “DHS remains committed to the protection of the environment and will conduct environmental surveys, analyze the potential for environmental impacts from the implementation of the projects, and develop measures that avoid or minimize impacts to the greatest extent possible,” the statement said.
Quote:UPS and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents some 330,000 UPS delivery drivers and warehouse logistics workers, are back at the negotiation table.
The teamsters had warned this that UPS needed to “exchange its last, best, and final offer no later than June 30″ or the drivers would walk away from negotiations.
UPS returned with a new contract, the Teamsters have confirmed.
“UPS came back with real movement, but it isn’t enough,” said Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman in a statement on July 1.
The counterproposal had “significant movement on wages and other economic language,” according to the Teamsters.
UPS has pledged to reach a deal no later than July 5, and the Teamsters have agreed.
“We have repeatedly told UPS that a new contract must be in place by August 1. The Teamsters will not work one minute beyond the expiration of our current agreement. UPS did not want to make progress on economics, but they conceded today that they will reach a deal by July 5 because they have no choice,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien in the statement.
The union’s current contract ends on Aug. 1.
Quote:Gunfire erupted at a block party in Baltimore on Sunday, killing two people, wounding 28, and leaving an extensive crime scene that marred the Fourth of July holiday weekend, police said.
Three of the wounded were in critical condition. Baltimore Police Department Acting Commissioner Richard Worley told reporters there were a total of 30 victims during a press conference at the scene. The shooting took place just after 12:30 a.m. at a block party in the Brooklyn Homes area in the southern part of the city, Worley told reporters.
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“This tragedy again shows why we must continue to focus on the amount of illegal guns on our streets that make it into the hands of individuals who should not have them and continuously carry out violent acts in our city,” the mayor and the department also said.
Nineteen victims were treated in the emergency department at MedStar Harbor Hospital, according to hospital spokesperson Debra Schindler. Nine of the critically injured patients were stabilized and transferred to Baltimore trauma centers. All but one of the 19 victims sent to MedStar have been released.
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The shooting occurred shortly at around midnight at the “Brooklyn Day” block party in the Brooklyn Homes area of Baltimore, where hundreds of people attended, according to local media reports. A witness told station Fox 45 that about 20 to 30 shots were fired in a short period of time.
No suspects have been arrested in connection to the case. Investigators stated they are reviewing video surveillance.
Lakell Nelson, 54, said there had been several false alarms of people mistaking the sounds of fireworks for gunfire earlier in the night while she was at the block party. However, by the time she was getting to her car, the actual shooting began.
Quote:Riots erupted for another night across France over a police-involved shooting of a 17-year-old last week, leading to 1,300 arrests, as top police unions issued a warning that the country is “at war.” In another incident, the mayor of a Parisian suburb alleged that rioters tried to assassinate him and his family members.
Top French police unions, Alliance Police Nationale and UNSA Police, over the weekend said that officers are “at war with vermin” and threatened revolt over how the country is handling the riots. “Today the police are in combat because we are at war. Tomorrow we will enter resistance and the government should be aware of this,” the unions in a statement to The Telegraph.
“Now is not the time for industrial action but for fighting against these ‘vermin,'” the union statement also said, responding to French President Emmanuel Macron’s reluctance to declare a state of emergency.
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At the same time, Vincent Jeanbrun, mayor of the southern Paris suburb of L’Hay-les-Roses, alleged that rioters tried to assassinate him and his family, including two young children. Jeanbrun said he was at home when it was set on fire while his wife and kids were there sleeping, describing the incident as an “assassination attempt.”
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It came as riots continued for a fifth night in France overnight on Saturday and Sunday, as officials confirmed that 45,000 police officers were deployed across several cities.
There have been widespread reports and video footage of rioters burning buildings, looting, attacking officers, attacking bystanders, and stealing vehicles, while there has been unconfirmed footage of what appear to be rioters armed with rifles. It’s not clear how they obtained the firearms, as France has strict gun-control laws.
Police made 719 arrests nationwide by early Sunday following a mass security deployment aimed at quelling France’s worst social upheaval in years.
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