News of the World

[kyonides]

USA

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Several Articles

Tony Bobulinski’s attorney slams Democratic spin of his client’s testimony: ‘Disingenuous mischaracterizations’

The Democratic minority leader of the House Oversight Committee engaged in “character assassination” and leveled “false allegations” related to Tony Bobulinski’s testimony in President Biden’s impeachment inquiry, a lawyer for the former Biden family business associate said Wednesday.

Attorney Stefan Passantino highlighted the “abusive conduct and disingenuous mischaracterizations” of Bobulinski’s testimony in a scathing letter to Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the ranking member of the Oversight Committee, obtained by The Post.

“Minority assassination of Mr. Bobulinski’s character and grotesque mischaracterizations of his words will only serve to highlight the gaslighting and vilification Mr. Bobulinski has endured since he reluctantly came forward almost four years ago to share with the public the facts of his business experience with the Biden family,” Passantino wrote.

“As the public will see soon enough, Mr. Bobulinski has the facts and the receipts, and no amount of character assassination will change that.”

Raskin said Tuesday that Bobulinski “did not provide any evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden, nor did he provide any evidence at all that President Biden was involved in his family’s business dealings” during his more than eight hours testimony.

Biden orders 18-month deportation pause for Palestinians living in US

President Biden on Wednesday ordered an 18-month pause on the removal of certain Palestinians in the US as Israel wages war on Hamas terrorists in Gaza, citing the deteriorating conditions in the region.

“While I remain focused on improving the humanitarian situation, many civilians remain in danger; therefore, I am directing the deferral of removal of certain Palestinians who are present in the United States,” a memorandum issued by the president read.

Under Biden’s order, Palestinian tourists, students and workers in the US will be allowed to skirt deportation until at least August of 2025, and many will be legally allowed to seek employment in the US.

“I further direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to take appropriate measures to authorize employment for noncitizens whose removal has been deferred, as provided by this memorandum, for the duration of such deferral, and to consider suspending regulatory requirements with respect to F-1 nonimmigrant students who are Palestinians as the Secretary of Homeland Security determines to be appropriate,” Biden, 81, said.
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The White House official noted that the deferred removal order will cover “most Palestinians in the United States.”

“Those convicted of felonies or who are otherwise deemed to pose a public safety threat are not eligible for deferred enforced departure,” Sullivan said. “Anyone who voluntarily returns to the Palestinian territories would lose any such protections.”

Hundreds of Democratic lawmakers have urged Biden, 81, since last November to grant Palestinians deportation relief because of the conflict.

Biden has previously invoked Deferred Enforced Departure for certain citizens of Liberia and Hong Kong residing in the US.

Similar measures were taken with respect to Ukrainians in the US after Russia’s February 2022 invasion of the former Soviet state...

Special counsel asks Supreme Court to let Trump’s 2020 election case proceed to trial without delay

Special counsel Jack Smith urged the US Supreme Court on Wednesday to let former President Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case proceed to trial without further delay.

Prosecutors were responding to a Trump team request from earlier in the week asking for a continued pause in the case as the court considers whether to take up the question of whether the former president is immune from prosecution for official acts in the White House.

Two lower courts have overwhelmingly rejected that position, prompting Trump to ask the high court to intervene.

The case — one of four criminal prosecutions confronting Trump — has reached a critical juncture, with the Supreme Court’s next step capable of helping determine whether Trump stands trial this year in Washington or whether the proceedings are going to be postponed by weeks or months of additional arguments.

The trial date, already postponed once by Trump’s immunity appeal, is of paramount importance to both sides.

Prosecutors are looking to bring Trump to trial this year while defense lawyers have been seeking delays in his criminal cases.
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Reflecting their desire to proceed quickly, prosecutors responded to Trump’s appeal within two days even though the court had given them until next Tuesday.

Though their filing does not explicitly mention the upcoming November election or Trump’s status as the Republican primary front-runner, prosecutors described the case as having “unique national importance” and said that “delay in the resolution of these charges threatens to frustrate the public interest in a speedy and fair verdict.”

One dead, 22 shot — including 9 children — at Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade

One person was killed and 22 others injured after a shooting near the Kansas City Chief’s Super Bowl parade route following the festivities on Wednesday afternoon, officials said.

Panicked crowds raced for cover as gunfire erupted west of Union Station at the end of the victory parade — attended by hundreds of thousands of fans

The Kansas City Police Department said that one person died and a total of 22 were wounded by gunfire. Children’s Mercy Hospital Kansas City told KSHB that the hospital is treating nine kids who have gunshot wounds.

Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a mother of two and die-hard Chiefs fan, died during surgery at a local hospital after being shot in the abdomen, loved ones told the Kansas City Star.
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A KCPD spokesperson would not confirm to The Post whether Lopez-Galvan was the slain reveler.

Three people were taken into custody, cops said.
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The shooting is not terror-related, law enforcement sources told The Post.

“I’m angry at what happened today. The people who came to this celebration should expect a safe environment,” Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves told reporters at a press conference.

“Because of bad actors, which were very few, this tragedy occurred even in the presence of uniformed law enforcement officers,” she said, noting that there were some 800 cops deployed in the area at the time of the shooting.

 Didn't the attackers inspired terror on the Chiefs fans by any chance?

Investigators Visit Graves of Dead Voters Still on Michigan Rolls

In November 2021, PILF filed suit against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) accusing her of keeping nearly 26,000 dead registrants on Michigan voter rolls and thus violating the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).

The lawsuit claims 25,975 dead registrants remain on Michigan’s voter rolls, including 23,663 registrants who have been dead for five years or more, 17,479 registrants who have been dead for at least a decade, and 3,956 registrants who have been dead for at least 20 years.

In footage released by PILF this month, the watchdog group visited several graveyards in Michigan showing some of the dead Americans who remain registered to vote in the state.

One such registrant was before World War I and would be 110 years old today if she were alive. Another died 25 years ago, the year former President Bill Clinton was impeached, while one registrant has not been alive for 12 federal election cycles.

“Secretary Benson is vigorously opposing our efforts to investigate the tens of thousands of deceased registrants we found on the voter roll,” PILF President, J. Christian Adams said in a statement.

In August 2022, Benson sought to have PILF’s lawsuit thrown out by a federal court but the request was denied and the case continues.

George Soros Set to Control Second-Largest Chain of Radio Stations

Court filings and sources close to the situation told the New York Post that Soros Fund Management has “bought up $400 million of debt in Audacy — the No. 2 US radio broadcaster behind iHeartMedia with stations including New York’s WFAN and 1010 WINS, as well as Los Angeles-based KROQ, according to bankruptcy filings.”

Soros could than have control of more than 220 radio stations nationwide. One Republican insider close to the situation told the outlet that Soros could be trying to have media outlets to potentially influence public opinion during the 2024 election.

“This is scary,” the source said.

Should Soros prove successful, he will likely have a 40 percent stake in the company’s senior debt, which would give him strong control of the company when it emerges from bankruptcy. He will not have a majority.
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“Under Audacy’s current Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan, existing shareholders are expected to be wiped out,” it added. “High-ranking creditors like Soros would be repaid with stock in the restructured company.”

Audacy, which filed for bankruptcy on January 7 with $1.9 billion in debt, confirmed the investment from Soros.

House Intel Chair Mike Turner Warns of ‘Serious National Security Threat’ to U.S. in Cryptic Statement

Turner made the announcement on Wednesday in a short and cryptic statement.

“Today, the House Permanent Select committee on Intelligence has made available to all Members of Congress information concerning a serious national security threat,” Turner wrote.

“I am requesting that President Biden declassify all information relating to this threat so that Congress, the Administration, and our allies can openly discuss the actions necessary to respond to this threat,” he added:

No other information was made available, but speculation is trickling out on social media. One Democrat source familiar with the threat reportedly told NBC News that this is a “serious issue that could lead to a destabilizing situation and a national security threat,” describing it as a “potential foreign threat”...

Joe Biden’s DHS Drafts Plan to ‘Mass Release’ Illegal Aliens into U.S.

According to the Washington Post, DHS is considering having ICE release thousands of illegal aliens in the agency’s custody into American cities and towns as the Biden administration claims they need billions from Congress to avoid carrying out the plan in a seemingly quasi-extortion scheme.
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has drafted plans to release thousands of immigrants and slash its capacity to hold detainees after the failure of a Senate border bill that would have erased a $700 million budget shortfall, according to four officials at ICE and the Department of Homeland Security.
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Some of the proposed cost savings in ICE detention would occur through attrition — deportations — but much of it would have to happen through the mass release of detainees, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss internal deliberations. [Emphasis added]

RJ Hauman of the National Immigration Center for Enforcement (NICE) suggested that Biden’s DHS is not spending funds as they were allocated by Congress, noting that the agency was given more funding for detention space than they had even requested.
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Already, Biden’s DHS has drastically cut the number of illegal aliens in ICE custody who are arrested throughout the U.S. interior, often for various pending criminal charges and convictions.

For example, fewer than 11,000 illegal aliens are in ICE custody today who were arrested by ICE agents within the U.S. interior. Compare that detainee population to May 2019 when more than 19,500 illegal aliens were in ICE custody after being arrested by ICE agents.

In total, more than 3-in-10 illegal aliens in ICE custody — including those arrested by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) after being arrested near the southern border — have either pending criminal charges against them or convictions.

The drafted Biden plan would make almost certain that illegal aliens with such convictions and pending criminal charges are released into the U.S. interior under the guise of a lack of funding for the agency.

EUROPE

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Russia & Ukraine

Putin: Biden Better for Russia Than Trump, ‘More Predictable’

Russian President Vladimir Putin said President Joe Biden would be better for Russia than Donald Trump, calling him “old school” and “predictable.”

Putin expressed his feelings about Biden during an interview with broadcaster Rossiya 1 TV.

“[Biden] is a more experienced, predictable person. He is a politician of the old school. But we will work with any leader of the United States, who is trusted by the American people,” Putin said.

Putin ordered the invasion of his neighbor country, Ukraine, during Biden’s presidency.

During the same interview, Putin also said that he believes reports of Biden’s cognitive decline to be overdone.

“When I met with Biden in Switzerland — it was, indeed, a few years ago, three years — even then there were talks about him being incompetent. I saw nothing of the sort. Yes, he glanced at his notes. Honestly, I glanced at mine too,” Putin said. “There’s nothing to it.”

Putin said he had less to fear about Biden’s health than with Washington’s position on Russia, which he called, “extremely harmful and erroneous.”

The White House responded to Putin’s comments on Wednesday, urging him to stay away.

“Mr. Putin should stay out of America’s elections,” said White House spokesperson Andrew Bates.

Critics of former President Donald Trump long accused him of being a “Russian asset” or “Putin’s puppet” due to his willingness to have diplomatic relations with the country while maintaining a tough foreign policy designed to forbid him from aggressive maneuvers.

Putin Signs Law That Will Confiscate Assets From Critics of Armed Forces

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law Wednesday that will allow authorities to confiscate money, valuables and other assets from people convicted of spreading “deliberately false information” about the country’s military.

The bill sailed through the lower and upper houses of the Russian parliament, and was unanimously endorsed by the upper house last week.

The speaker of the lower house, Vyacheslav Volodin, said the measure includes harsher punishment for “traitors who sling mud at our country and our troops” and would “strip those scoundrels of honorary titles, confiscate their assets, money and other valuables.”

Russian officials have used the existing law against “discrediting” the military that covers offenses such as “justifying terrorism” and spreading “fake news” about the armed forces to silence Putin´s critics. Multiple activists, bloggers and ordinary Russians have received long prison terms.

The new confiscation law would also apply to those convicted of publicly inciting “extremist activities” and calling for actions harmful to state security or “discrediting” the armed forces. Discrediting the Russian military became a criminal offense under a law adopted as part of a sweeping government crackdown on dissent after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022.

Russian state news agency Tass said that if someone is convicted under the new law, only money, assets and property “gained through criminal means” or used for activities against Russia’s national security could be confiscated. Draconian Soviet-era legislation authorized the seizure of housing for a variety of criminal offenses.

Russia Puts NATO PM on Wanted List for Removal of Soviet-Era Monuments

Estonia´s prime minister has been put on a wanted list in Russia because of her efforts to remove Soviet-era World War II monuments in the Baltic nation, officials said Tuesday as tensions between Russia and the West soar amid the war in Ukraine.

The name of Prime Minister Kaja Kallas appeared on the Russian Interior Ministry´s list of people wanted on unspecified criminal charges. While independent Russian news outlet Mediazona first reported Tuesday that Kallas was on the list, it said she has been on it for months. The list includes scores of officials and lawmakers from other Baltic nations.

Russian officials said that Kallas had been put on the list because of her efforts to remove World War II monuments.

Kallas dismissed it as Moscow’s “familiar scare tactic.”

“Russia may believe that issuing a fictitious arrest warrant will silence Estonia,” she said. “I refuse to be silenced — I will continue to vocally support Ukraine and advocate for the strengthening of European defenses.”

Estonia and fellow NATO members Latvia and Lithuania have pulled down monuments that are widely seen as an unwanted legacy of the Soviet occupation of those countries.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago, numerous monuments to Red Army soldiers also have been taken down in Poland and the Czech Republic, a belated purge of what many see as symbols of past oppression.

Moscow has denounced those moves as desecrating the memory of Soviet soldiers who fell while fighting Nazi Germany.

71-Year-Old Ukrainian Died in Russian Prison While on Trial for Espionage

A 71-year-old Ukrainian man died in a Russian prison while on trial for espionage, activists said Sunday.

Court documents found by human rights group Memorial revealed that the Russian state had closed its case against the late Viktor Demchenko, who was accused of spying, participation in a terrorist group, and the illegal possession of weapons and ammunition.

Officials later told Russian state news agency Tass that Demchenko died on Dec. 31 as the result of a stroke several days earlier, but did not say why it had taken so long for the news to become public.

Demchenko, who was born in the town of Mospino in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, had been on trial in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don since August 2023. By the time of his death, there had been seven hearings in the case, all of them behind closed doors.

Russian authorities have detained a number of people on spying charges since the start of its full-scale war against Ukraine, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was jailed in March 2023 on espionage charges he denies.

Ukraine Claims Sinking of Russian Landing Ship in Black Sea off Crimea

Russia’s landing ship Caesar Kunikov has been sunk off the coast of Russian-occupied Crimea, Ukraine’s armed forces claimed Wednesday.

The BBC reports powerful explosions were heard in the early pre-dawn hours, according to local social media, which suggested the landing ship had been hit not far south of the town of Yalta.

Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence published a video of what it said were Magura V5 naval drones striking the Soviet-era ship.

There was no confirmation from Russia’s navy that the Caesar Kunikov had been sunk in the Black Sea, merely that six Ukrainian drones had been destroyed, the BBC report set out.
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Russian military bloggers did not deny it had been hit, saying only that the crew had survived. Russia’s military rarely reports major losses and Russians rely on a handful of popular bloggers for information.

If its sinking is confirmed, it would be the second successful strike in the Black Sea this month.

A small warship, the corvette missile Ivanovets, was hit by a swarm of drones in a special operation almost two weeks ago, as Breitbart London reported.

Another Russian landing ship, the Novocherkassk, was hit while in port in Feodosiya in December.