News of the World
07-12-2024, 05:45 AM
USA
Let's see if it's true that Biden was on focus during the press conference...
Let me make a correction here. The Abraham Accords are NO Peace agreements but Normalization agreements. The difference is that none of the countries involved there ever approved any peace clause at all. They simply Recognized Israel's existence as a state and they are now reaping the economic benefits of such a deal.
LATIN AMERICA
EUROPE
So Macron is saying that things will remain the same as long as there is no agreement!?
Is that not the actual first step to become a modern tyrant, guys?
Biden Would Block Bill Requiring Proof of US Citizenship
Quote:President Joe Biden is seemingly vowing to block legislation, known as the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, that would require proof of American citizenship before an applicant is registered to vote in federal elections.
The SAVE Act, introduced by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and co-sponsored by more than 100 House Republicans, would require state election officials to mandate voter registration applicants provide proof of American citizenship before they are added to the nation’s voter rolls.
“Federal law has been interpreted to prohibit states from checking to see if you’re a citizen even though, technically, the law says you must be a citizen,” Roy told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview.
This week, the Biden administration released a statement on the SAVE Act, effectively vowing to block it from becoming law should it make its way to the president’s desk.
“The administration strongly opposes H.R. 8281, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act,” the statement from the White House reads:
It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in Federal elections — it is a Federal crime punishable by prison and fines. The alleged justification for this bill is based on easily disproven falsehoods. Additionally, making a false claim of citizenship or unlawfully voting in an election is punishable by removal from the United States and a permanent bar to admission. States already have effective safeguards in place to verify voters’ eligibility and maintain the accuracy of voter rolls. [Emphasis added]
This bill would do nothing to safeguard our elections, but it would make it much harder for all eligible Americans to register to vote and increase the risk that eligible voters are purged from voter rolls. The evidence is clear that the current laws to prevent noncitizen voting are working as intended — it is extraordinarily rare for noncitizens to break the law by voting in Federal elections. [Emphasis added]
Instead, the Biden administration says Congress ought to pass the Freedom to Vote Act which would restore voting rights to millions of felons who are no longer serving their prison sentences. The bill would also usher in nationwide mail-in voting as well as nationwide automatic voter registration.
As Breitbart News reported, House Democrats are whipping votes against the SAVE Act — putting vulnerable swing district electeds in a tough spot just months ahead of the November election.
Requiring proof of U.S. citizenship to vote is hugely popular with Americans.
A poll from 2022 found that 65 percent of Americans support requiring proof of citizenship to vote, including 48 percent of Democrats, 62 percent of swing voters, and 88 percent of Republicans.
Democrat Representative on Biden
Quote:On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Source,” Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) stated that while he thinks President Joe Biden did well during his press conference earlier in the day, it doesn’t change his call for Biden to withdraw because “we can’t have a situation where, every day, we’re holding our breath, whether it’s a press conference, a debate, or a rally.”
Host Kaitlan Collins asked, “[W]hen you listened to tonight’s press conference, those questions that Biden took for an hour, did it change your mind on your decision today?”
Schneider responded, “No. I think the President did a fine job. He showed a command of the issues, both domestic and foreign, showed a stark contrast to what we’re dealing with with former President Trump. But, the fact is, and — as was said earlier, we can’t have a situation where, every day, we’re holding our breath, whether it’s a press conference, a debate, or a rally. And I think we’re at a historic moment where the President can pass the torch to the next generation, not only unite the Democratic Party, but unite the country, and, rather than slogging to a finish at the end of the election in November, we can run to the finish, win with a strong mandate, and continue this incredible experiment we’ve been working on for 248 years.”
Let's see if it's true that Biden was on focus during the press conference...
Biden's Remarks on Migration: True or False?
Quote:CLAIM: President Joe Biden claimed at his high-stakes make-or-break NATO press conference that border crossings are lower than when former President Donald Trump left office.
VERDICT: FALSE. NBC News reported 84,000 illegal immigrants were apprehended at the border in June 2024. In January 2021, when Trump left office, there were 75,000 migrant encounters along the southwest border.
Biden’s false claim came after his attempt to blame Trump for the failure of the left-wing pro-migration border package earlier this year.
“So I took executive action last month. As a consequence, working with Mexico, border encounters have gone down over 50 percent. The current level is lower today than when Trump left office,” he claimed.
While Biden’s June border encounter numbers are the lowest of his presidency, per NBC News, they do not include the foreign nationals who entered America through Biden’s CBP One parole pipeline. The pipeline has seen millions of foreign nationals enter the U.S. since its inception in early 2023, as Breitbart News’s John Binder reported.
Moreover, southwest border encounters throughout the entire 2020 fiscal year were substantially lower than Biden’s best month in June. For instance, in April 2020, encounters registered 16,182, and 21,593 in May 2020. In December 2020, the first quarter of fiscal year 2021, border apprehensions registered at 70,630, as Breitbart News Texas’s Bob Price previously reported.
In March, the Heritage Foundation pinged the number of illegal aliens to enter the U.S. during the Biden administration to be over ten million.
The presser for Biden came as his horrendous debate performance in June ignited widespread panic about whether or not he should step aside for another candidate, though he has been adamant he will remain in the race. White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre noted Wednesday that the White House is making a concerted effort to have the president engage more with the press.
Biden's Claims on Children, Bullets & Deaths
Quote:CLAIM: During his Thursday night presser, President Joe Biden claimed that “more children are killed by a bullet than any other cause of death.”
VERDICT: False, This is a regurgitation of an ongoing, false, leftist claim that guns are the number-one killer of children. Via fact checks, Breitbart News has shown again and again that in making this claim, the left counts people of voting age — ages 18 and 19 — as children.
Biden first made this claim on June 2, 2022, when he said, “Guns are the number one killer of children.”
Breitbart News noted that a FOX News report pointed to CDC figures that showed firearm-related deaths of people ages 0-19 totaled 4,368 in 2020, while motor vehicle deaths for the same age range totaled 4,036.
Breitbart showed that if a custom search is done on the CDC numbers so that you are limiting the category of “children” to those 0-17 (i.e. those below voting age) then the data completely flips.
The number of firearm-related deaths for children aged 0-17 was 2,281 in 2020, while the number of motor vehicle deaths for the same ages was 2,503.
Moreover, CDC data that the left omits shows that even if we keep the age range of 0-19, unintentional car deaths in 2020 among those individuals were 27 times higher than unintentional gun deaths in that age range.
Biden Calls Zelensky "President Putin"
Quote:President Joe Biden introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday at the NATO Summit in Washington, DC, correcting himself seconds later with an incoherent explanation.
The embarrassing gaffe will increase the scrutiny on Biden’s health and further fuel questions about his political viability. Some Democrats believe Biden should be replaced as the party’s presumptive nominee.
“Now, I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination,” Biden said as he introduced Zelensky. “Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin.”
The audience slowly clapped while Biden realized the mistake.
“President Putin,” Biden corrected himself. “He’s going to beat President Putin — President Zelensky.”
“I’m so focused on beating Putin, we got to worry about it. Anyway…”
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Zelensky reportedly raised concerns about Biden’s health after watching his debate performance, a Ukrainian source told Axios on Tuesday.
“Let’s be candid and frank: Everyone is waiting for November,” Zelensky said in a press conference. “The whole world is looking to November, and truly speaking, Putin awaits November too.”
Biden, whom Special Counsel Robert Hur described as an “elderly man with a poor memory,” struggles to participate in unscripted donor events, the Wall Street Journal reported, and is often helped by aides who remind him of information.
Biden suffers from atrial fibrillation, peripheral neuropathy in his feet, and hyperlipidemia, according to his annual physical by physician Kevin O’Connor. The health challenges might explain why he struggles to remain upright. Biden tripped, tumbled, and stumbled at least five times during his presidency.
When Did Biden Hire Trump as VP!?
Quote:President Joe Biden mistakenly confused Vice President Kamala Harris with former President Donald Trump as his vice president during a solo press conference Thursday.
Democrats were waiting for Biden’s NATO press conference using a teleprompter, a critical moment that could decide if party members would ultimately withdrawal support for the president if he performed poorly. Some speculated that many Democrats would end their support of Biden’s candidacy after the press conference. So far, thirteen House Democrats and one Senate Democrat have publicly called for Biden to quit the race.
When questioned about the political viability of Harris to beat Trump if Biden were to step down as the presumptive Democrat nominee, Biden mixed up Harris with Trump, the second time in one day he has confused individuals.
“My question for you is, how are you incorporating these developments into your decision to stay and separately, what concerns do you have about Vice President Harris’s ability to beat Donald Trump if she were at the ticket?” a reporter asked Biden.
“Look, I would have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president — Do I think she’s not qualified to be president. Let’s start there,” Biden said:
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The gaffe is the second in one day. Biden introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Russian President Vladimir Putin at the NATO Summit in Washington, DC, correcting himself seconds later with an incoherent explanation.
Biden, whom Special Counsel Robert Hur described as an “elderly man with a poor memory,” struggles to participate in unscripted events, the Wall Street Journal reported, and is often helped by aides who remind him of information.
Trump mocked Biden for the gaffe, saying “Great job, Joe” in a X post:
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Radio Station Removed Biden's Embarrassing Statements
Quote:A Milwaukee radio station admitted on Thursday to editing an interview with President Joe Biden at the request of his campaign, which they admit fell short of “journalistic interview standards.”
Following the disastrous debate against former President Donald Trump last month, Biden did an interview with popular host Earl Ingram with Civic Media, a talk-radio network based out of Wisconsin. A report later indicated that the Biden campaign requested certain edits from the interview, which the station complied with.
The station said in a statement released on Thursday:
On Monday, July 8th, it was reported to Civic Media management that immediately after the phone interview was recorded, the Biden campaign called and asked for two edits to the recording before it aired. Civic Media management immediately undertook an investigation and determined that the production team at the time viewed the edits as non-substantive and broadcast and published the interview with two short segments removed,” The station pledged to release the full, unedited interview online. The two edits made were Biden saying he had “more Blacks in my administration than any other president” and one in which he appeared incoherent when discussing former President Trump’s call for the death penalty on the Central Park Five.
“I don’t know if they even call for their hanging or not, but he–but they said […] convicted of murder,” he said.
...
“With a high-profile interview comes a listener expectation that journalistic interview standards will be applied, even for non-news programming. We did not meet those expectations. Civic Media disagrees with the team’s judgments in the moment, both with respect to the handling of the interview questions and the decision to edit the interview audio,” the statement continued.
The station further said it has clarified its policies “particularly for commentators and other non-news personnel.”
AOC Dropped by Socialists
Quote:Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), or AOC, who has led opposition to Israel in Congress, lost her endorsement Wednesday by the national leadership of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) for not being anti-Israel enough.
In a statement, the DSA listed its reasons for rescinding its endorsement. These included the fact that AOC voted in favor of a resolution declaring that objecting to Israel’s right to exist amounted to antisemitism; that she signed a letter backing the Iron Dome, the anti-terror missile defense system developed by Israel to protect civilians; and that she recently participated in a panel discussion with two experts on antisemitism who oppose boycotts of “Zionists.”
AOC has been known as a “democratic socialist” since running for Congress in 2018. The DSA’s break with her is less a sign that she has moved to the center, and more a symptom of the DSA’s increasingly radical opposition to Israel.
The statement reads, in part:
We recognize that AOC has taken many courageous positions on Palestine such as co-sponsoring several House Resolutions (3103, 786, 496), naming Israel’s genocide as well as opposing House Resolution 894. However, members have raised their concerns regarding a number of her votes, including a vote in favor of H.Res.888, conflating opposition to Israel’s “right to exist” with antisemitism. AOC also co-signed a press release on April 20, 2024, that “support[s] strengthening the Iron Dome and other defense systems”
Finally, AOC recently hosted a public panel with leaders from the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, lobbyists for the IHRA definition of antisemitism. On this panel, anti-Zionism and antisemitism were conflated and boycotting Zionist institutions was condemned. This sponsorship is a deep betrayal to all those who’ve risked their welfare to fight Israeli apartheid and genocide through political and direct action in recent months, and in decades past.
A national DSA endorsement comes with a serious commitment to the movement for Palestine and our collective socialist project. We must endorse candidates who enthusiastically seek a relationship with DSA, and the National Political Committee as the highest body of the organization between conventions is responsible for setting the criteria we establish for national endorsements. Chapters have a responsibility to make this clear to their endorsed candidates when applying for a national endorsement. The NPC is committed to ensuring that all of our elected officials are unabashed in their support for Palestinian freedom. To build a socialist movement that’s capable of defeating capitalism, we must demand more from leaders in our movement.
AOC has spread anti-Israel propaganda since the October 7 terror attacks. She even blamed the Abraham Accords — a peace agreement between Israel and several Arab states — for the war.
Let me make a correction here. The Abraham Accords are NO Peace agreements but Normalization agreements. The difference is that none of the countries involved there ever approved any peace clause at all. They simply Recognized Israel's existence as a state and they are now reaping the economic benefits of such a deal.
Hawaii & Guns
Quote:On Tuesday, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green (D) signed legislation that not only bars people under age 21 from purchasing ammunition, but also prohibits them from merely possessing it.
Guns.com reported that the legislation, SB 2845, “makes it a crime for adults under 21 to ‘own, possess, or control’ ammunition.”
The text of SB 2845 makes two exceptions regarding ammo possession. The first is for those who have “[met] the criteria to possess a firearm” during the age frame in question and the second is for those “actively engaged in hunting or target shooting or going to or from the place of hunting or target shooting.”
No exception is made for purchasing ammunition for the purpose of defending one’s own life.
KHON2 noted that Hawaiian state Rep. Diamond Garcia ® spoke against raising the age for ammo purchases by pointing out that the new law will constrain the behavior of the law-abiding rather than that of criminals.
Garcia said, “The vast majority of crime that is perpetrated is not done by legal guns or legal ammo. So thinking that, you know, new laws will change behavior is just false. Those who sell weapons illegally don’t care about age, they care about money.”
Governor Abbott on Biden
Quote:Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ® and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick ® have accused President Joe Biden of lying after he claimed he was unsuccessful in reaching state officials to secure disaster resources for Hurricane Beryl.
While more than 1.2 million Texans remain without electricity following Hurricane Beryl’s Monday touchdown, according to PowerOutage.us, Biden told the Houston Chronicle that the federal government could not distribute emergency relief supplies until the White House was able to “track down” state leaders.
“I’ve been trying to track down the governor to see — I don’t have any authority to do that without a specific request from the governor,” Biden said of Abbott, who is currently on an “economic development mission to Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan,” according to his office.
Adding that he “kept tracking the lieutenant governor,” Biden said he was unable to connect with Patrick until Tuesday afternoon to approve the resource distribution.
“The president did not provide more details on his attempts to connect with Abbott or Patrick,” the outlet noted.
The Chronicle, which endorsed Biden’s reelection campaign, originally published the article without comments from the state leaders in question, the Blaze reported.
The initial piece also contained a line claiming that a White House spokesperson “said officials tried to reach Abbott and Patrick multiple times,” apparently without success.
That line has since been removed, according to the Blaze.
Patrick shot back at Biden’s claims in a Tuesday X post, saying that the president “falsely” accused him of being unreachable:
“I am disappointed that President Biden is turning Hurricane Beryl into a political issue. We had a cordial call today that ended up with him granting my request for a major disaster declaration. But that’s not good enough for him,” Patrick wrote. “He is falsely accusing me that I was not reachable.”
“He obviously did not know his own employees from FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] were side-by-side with me for 3 days! All he had to do was call them and have them hand their phone to me. I even took a photo with them!”
Pro-Life Group Treated as Threat For No Reason
Quote:Officials at Fort Liberty, the U.S. Army post formerly known as Fort Bragg, distanced themselves on Thursday from a slide shown to soldiers during a briefing on Wednesday that featured a pro-life organization as an example of a terrorist group.
In a statement to Breitbart News, the post said:
After conducting a commander’s inquiry, we determined that these slides were not vetted by the appropriate approval authorities, and do not reflect the views of the XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Liberty, the U.S. Army or the Department of Defense.
The officials said the slides were developed by a “local garrison employee” to train soldiers who were manning gates at Fort Liberty in North Carolina, and that it would no longer be used.
“These slides will no longer be used, and all future training products will be reviewed to ensure they align with the current DoD anti-terrorism guidance,” officials said.
The slide came to the public’s attention after a military whistleblower posted it on X, sparking outrage among conservatives.
The slide featured the pro-life group National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the oldest and largest national anti-abortion organization in the U.S.
Breitbart News spoke with the soldier who took the photo of the slide.
The briefing was conducted by Department of Defense civilians who said at the time the briefing slides were not theirs, but that they had requested anti-terrorism officers come and give the briefing themselves, but were told “no.”
“I am unsure who originally produced or approved the slides,” the soldier said.
The soldier said the briefing was part of a two-week class on how to be a gate guard, and that the slide was shown as examples of things to look out for.
Preceding the slide on the NRLC was slides about Islamist group the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and other Muslim terror groups, the soldier said.
Newsom on Soros-Backed DA
Quote:California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is raising eyebrows on a national level by taking a tough stance against George Soros-backed prosecutor Pamela Price of Alameda County, which includes the crime-ridden city of Oakland.
Price faces a recall effort on the November ballot, as does “progressive” Oakland mayor Sheng Thao, whose home was recently raided by the FBI in an apparent corruption probe. Breitbart News described Price’s record in 2023:
Soros, who has funded radical prosecutors across the country, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars backing Price in 2018. She won in 2022 and immediately backed “criminal justice reform” of the kind that has upended law enforcement around the country.
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[C]rime has become so bad in Oakland — the largest city in DA Price’s jurisdiction — that police have encouraged the public to use airhorns to warn thieves away, and normally left-wing-minded residents are blasting a failed progressive utopia.” Even the local NAACP chapter has demanded more police and more aggressive action against crime on the streets of Oakland.
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New concerns have arisen recently about Price after it was revealed that she had hired her boyfriend to a six-figure salary job, though he had faced accusations in the past of extorting local businesses.
Newsom has supported Soros-backed prosecutors in the past, notably District Attorney George Gascón of Los Angeles. But Price appears to be a convenient target as Newsom tries to project an image of being tough on crime.
Biden Campaign & The Trump VS Harris Poll
Quote:The Biden-Harris Campaign has reportedly commissioned an internal poll to gauge how Vice President Kamala Harris would perform as the Democrat nominee versus former President Donald Trump.
The New York Times reported on the development Thursday, citing three anonymous sources who “are informed about it.” The report comes as musings on the left about replacing Biden at the top of the ticket continue in the aftermath of his disastrous debate performance, which sent shockwaves through the Democratic Party.
“They did not specify why the survey was being conducted or what the campaign planned to do with the results,” according to the outlet’s Maggie Haberman, Shane Goldmacher, Reid Epstein, and Lisa Lerer, who note this appears to be the first Trump versus Harris poll commissioned by the campaign since the debate.
It is unclear what outfit is conducting the survey for the campaign.
The Times further noted that Campaign Manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez and Campaign Chair Jennifer O’Malley Dillon worked to reassure staff in an internal memo that Biden remains the most viable candidate and that he has a path to victory:
In addition to what we believe is a clear pathway ahead for us, there is also no indication that anyone else would outperform the president vs. Trump. Hypothetical polling of alternative nominees will always be unreliable, and surveys do not take into account the negative media environment that any Democratic nominee will encounter. The only Democratic candidate for whom this is already baked in is President Biden.
Notably, a poll from the reputable Emerson College Polling published Tuesday showed Trump with an even bigger lead over Harris than he has over Biden. It found that Trump led Biden by three and Harris by six nationally in hypothetical two-way races.
News of the internal Harris versus Trump poll on Thursday coincided with a report from the Times that some of Biden’s close allies are devising strategies to convince him to end his candidacy.
LATIN AMERICA
Mexican Gunmen Kidnap Immigrants
Quote:Activists are sounding the alarm about a large group of gunmen who kidnapped more than 200 migrants as they made their way north toward the Sonora-Arizona border. Some of the migrant’s relatives wired thousands of dollars to the alleged kidnappers, but the migrants remain missing.
According to an exclusive report by El Sol de Hermosillo, a group of more than 200 migrants had been loaded into a tractor-trailer late last month. The truck headed for the border city of Sonoyta, Sonora — just south of Arizona.
As the truck approached the town of Cuahutemoc, Chihuahua, the vehicle broke down. The migrants were forced to walk to another location where human smugglers were going to pick them up to continue their journey. Unfortunately, a large number of gunmen showed up and kidnapped the migrants, breaking them into smaller groups of 10-15 and stuffing them into their trucks.
It remains unclear where the kidnappers took the migrants. Some of the relatives quoted by Mexican media claim that they brought them to the border city of Ciudad Jaurez, Chihuahua, just south of El Paso, Texas. The migrants have been missing for more than 15 days, El Sol de Hermosillo reported.
Factions of the Sinaloa Cartel control the border region of Sonora, while the Juarez Cartel controls the regions near Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. Both criminal organizations have a long-standing turf war for control of lucrative drug and human smuggling routes into the United States.
Relatives told the Mexican newspaper that since the day of the kidnapping, the relatives began receiving threatening messages through WhatsApp where the alleged captors gave them instructions on wiring money to them to secure the release of their loved ones. Some of the relatives have wired as much as $10,000; however, the kidnapped migrants remain missing.
El Salvador's Court Sentences MS13 Gangster to Over 1400 Years in Jail
Quote:A court in El Salvador sentenced Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang member Ángel Geovany Guzmán González to 1,420 years in prison for dozens of crimes committed in the span of six months, the office of the Salvadoran Attorney General announced on Monday.
Guzmán González, also known with the alias “Diabólico,” (Diabolical) was convicted alongside 45 other MS-13 members on Monday in a mass trial against members of the Salvadoran criminal gang.
The Attorney General’s Office accused the convicted MS-13 members of planning to kill seven members of El Salvador’s National Civic Police (PNC) and local prosecutors. Local investigators reportedly managed to uncover and stop the mass killing conspiracy before it took place.
Collectively, all 46 gang members were found guilty on 56 counts of aggravated extortion, seven counts of aggravated homicides, and 45 cases of proposition and conspiracy to commit the crimes of aggravated homicide and organized terrorism. All of the crimes were committed in the span of six months, between September 26, 2018, and March 26, 2019.
Guzmán González’s 1,420-year-long prison sentence is the result of seven charges of aggravated homicide, 37 charges of aggravated extortion, and 25 charges of proposition and conspiracy to commit the crime of aggravated homicide against the nine PNC officials.
Some of the other men and women sentenced on Monday’s trial also received centuries-long prison sentences, the Attorney General’s Office revealed.
Hugo Alexander Argueta Bonilla received a 764-year-long sentence on multiple counts of aggravated homicide, aggravated extortion, and proposition and conspiracy to commit the crime of aggravated homicide. Carlos Eduardo Díaz Rodríguez, another MS-13 gang member, was sentenced to 567 years in prison on several charges of aggravated homicide, organized terrorism, proposition and conspiracy to commit the crime of aggravated homicide, and 17 counts of aggravated extortion.
Other top convicted individuals received sentences ranging from 148 to 338 years, while 37 MS-13 members received sentences ranging from eight to 138 years in prison. Ana Ruth Sagovia Merino, the only woman in the group of 46 convicted MS-13 members, was sentenced to 148 years in prison on charges of aggravated homicide, aggravated extortion, and organized terrorism.
The attorney general’s office explained that the victims of the extortion were truckers and merchants from the city of San Miguel from whom the gang members demanded money to not kill them.
“One victim was asked for $10,000 in a single payment to pay a lawyer to defend terrorists who had been arrested,” the attorney general’s statement read.
El Salvador has been under a de facto state of martial law since March 2022 as a result of a still-active emergency decree. The decree, which had an initial 30-day duration and has been continuously renewed on a monthly basis, has allowed the government led by President Nayib Bukele to conduct a widespread crackdown against the nation’s most violent criminal gangs, such as MS-13 and 18th Street. The crackdown has resulted in a dramatic reduction of crime and gang violence in El Salvador and the reported “virtual disappearance” of the gangs in the nation’s communities.
The still-ongoing state of emergency decree allowed the Salvadoran government to construct a 40,000-bed “mega prison” inaugurated in February 2023. According to Salvadoran Security Minister Gustavo Villatoro, authorities have arrested 79,184 gang members as of April. The Salvadoran government estimates that around 25,000 remain at large.
Cuban Crisis
Quote:Cuba marked a somber third anniversary since the historic nationwide uprisings of July 11, 2021, on Wednesday, facing unprecedented economic disaster, increasingly violent communist repression, and the absence of hundreds of political prisoners still behind bars since that day.
Tens of thousands of Cubans in every major city in the country – an estimate from that year puts the total number at around 187,000 people – took the streets of the country on that day demanding an end to the over-century-old repressive communist regime. While anti-communist protests in Cuba have been a regular occurrence for decades, the July 11 movement differed from the standard protests both in its scope and the large number of people not affiliated with any dissident group or with a history of political activity that it attracted.
In addition to chanting anti-communist slogans, shouting “liberty,” and marching in protest, the crowds deliberately angered the Communist Party by using symbols associated with “counterrevolutionary” activity, such as the American flag and a statute of the Virgin Mary. Christians were prominently featured in the protests, including several members of the Catholic clergy. At least one priest, Father Castor José Álvarez Devesa, disappeared for days after receiving a public beating from regime sympathizers:
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The regime of dictator Raúl Castro responded to the protests with outsized violence. Figurehead “president” Miguel Díaz-Canel appeared on television announcing that the “order of combat has been issued,” referring to a Communist Party command to regular Cuban citizens to violently assault anyone suspected of being a dissident in the streets. Videos leaking out of Cuba in the ensuing days showed government-organized buses full of regime thugs carrying clubs and other rudimentary weapons, shipping into the cities with the most protest activity to beat, abduct, and otherwise silence dissidents:
Nicaragua Reaping Benefits From Remittances
Quote:The national Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa reported on Wednesday that the country has seen a historic increase in the amount of money entering via remittances from the United States.
Nicaragua is experiencing a surge in remittances from the United States sent by Nicaraguans abroad to their relatives and friends at home. The money allows the communist regime to fund its repression of dissidents and collaborate with rogue regimes — such as China, Russia, and Iran.
La Prensa, citing statistics from the Nicaraguan Central Bank (BCN), reported that Nicaragua received $2.052 billion in remittances during the first five months of 2024, a 12.7-percent increase compared to the same period in 2023, translating to $231 million more.
The increase in remittances received, La Prensa said, was mainly driven by remittances sent from the United States, which comprised $1.688 billion of the total. The newspaper explained that for every $100 that entered the Nicaraguan economy through remittances, $82 originated from the United States.
La Prensa further noted that Nicaragua received a record-breaking $462.4 million in remittances in May 2024, of which $385.9 million originated from the United States. For comparison, U.S.-sent remittances to Nicaragua during May 2017 totaled $69.2 million.https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/07/11/army-officials-briefing-slide-featuring-pro-life-group-terrorists-was-not-vetted-and-will-no-longer-be-used/
The scale of remittances sent from the United States to Nicaragua in May is 3.2 times higher than the $118.2 million received in May 2021, when communist dictator Daniel Ortega reportedly began to implement plans to “weaponize” migration against the United States to force the U.S. government into potential sanctions relief negotiations with his authoritarian regime.
In recent years, Ortega’s regime has dramatically increased its brutal repression, banishing hundreds of political dissidents — including members of the Nicaraguan Catholic Church, who have been subject to a fierce persecution campaign. The Church became a target after the April 2018 protests in which thousands of Nicaraguans flocked to the streets calling for freedom and the end of communism in their nation.
The deteriorating human rights situation in Nicaragua, which the Ortega regime caused, has prompted hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans to flee their country. La Prensa estimated in April that some 800,000 Nicaraguans have fled from their country since 2018. During the 2022 fiscal year, U.S. border officials logged 163,876 encounters with Nicaraguan nationals at the southern border.
EUROPE
Macron on New Government
Quote:“Jupiterian” French President Emmanuel Macron has written to the French people, reflecting on the failure of the recent snap election to produce a new government, but conveniently forgetting to mention his role in that outcome.
There will be no new Prime Minister or government appointed for some time, President Macron said in a nationally published letter to the people in which he talked up his role as “protector of the higher interests of the Nation”.
Macron congratulated the French people on having rejected the “extreme right” at the ballot box, despite the actual opposite of that having happened. The “extreme right” to which Macron refers — Le Pen’s National Rally (RN), which actually has pretty left-wing economic views, but is in favour of border control — came first place in both rounds of the election in votes cast, rather making a mockery of the President’s claim.
In a result which has inevitably seen questions raised about the suitability of the 1958-vintage French election system for modern voting preferences, RN came first in votes but came third in seats. Macron’s group, meanwhile, came third in votes but second in seats.
Having failed in his gambit to strengthen his own group in the French Parliament and now faced with a left wing bloc as the largest group he warned just weeks ago would lead to “civil war” if they got near power, Macron appears to be playing for time to find a way out. Meanwhile, the hard-left leader Mélenchon accuses Macron of trying to subvert democracy — a brave take for a man in his position.
Stating the obvious but skirting around his role in apparently having called the election in a tantrum after his party received a drubbing at last month’s European Union elections, Macron told the nation: “no one won. No political force obtains a sufficient majority on its own and the blocs or coalitions that emerge from these elections are all minorities… As President of the Republic, I am both the protector of the higher interests of the Nation and the guarantor of the institutions and of respect for your choice… Last Sunday, you called for the invention of a new French political culture. For you, I will ensure this. In your name, I will be its guarantor.”
In all, President Macron said, he would not be appointing a new Prime Minister until the new political forces had “some time”. The old government would remain on in the meanwhile, he said.
So Macron is saying that things will remain the same as long as there is no agreement!?
Is that not the actual first step to become a modern tyrant, guys?
Macron Becoming the French Biden? Prosecutor Comes After Le Pen
Quote:French populist leader Marine Le Pen is facing an investigation into alleged campaign finance violations in relation to her 2022 presidential run against Emmanuel Macron.
Fresh off her anti-mass migration National Rally (RN) party’s best-ever performance in a legislative election, winning 143 seats in the National Assembly — the best ever for the party — it has been revealed that the Paris prosecutor’s office has opened a judicial investigation into alleged illegal financing of Marine Le Pen’s 2022 presidential campaign.
The investigation, which was opened on July 2nd — just two days after her party won the first round of the snap legislative elections — will probe alleged fraud, forgery, and a potentially illegally accepted loan, broadcaster BFMTV reports.
Responding to the report a top RN official told the AFP: “We don’t know what the facts are. We had the information of the opening of this investigation, like everyone else, this (Tuesday) morning on BFMTV”
“I am very surprised because the campaign account was validated in December 2022 and repaid in February 2023,” he added.
Le Pen is already facing criminal prosecution over allegations that she and other members of her party fraudulently established fake employees in the European Parliament to divert money to fund political activities in France.
If convicted the populist leader could face up to ten years in prison as well as a ban on running for public office, potentially blocking her from running in the 2027 presidential election.
UK on Ukraine War
Quote:Ukraine will be able to use advanced British-supplied cruise missiles to strike targets inside Russia itself, the UK’s new left-wing Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said in Washington at the NATO summit.
While Sir Keir Starmer may have promised change with his new Labour Party government to the voters of the United Kingdom, in at least one key area his policy is one of strong continuity, with new pledges of support for Ukraine announced at the NATO summit in Washington DC overnight. While Ukraine has already used the Anglo-French Storm Shadow missiles to great effect in their defensive war against Russia, Sir Keir has given the nod for them to be used for new deep strikes inside Russia for the first time.
Sir Keir said it was a matter for Ukraine to decide how to use the missiles the UK had given it, reports Bloomberg, a departure from the previous British position. Starmer also made a new commitment to cash for Ukraine, promising £3 billion ($3.8bn) a year to Kyiv from the British exchequer for the five-year life of this Parliament, The Guardian reported.
Ukrainian President Zelensky, who had his first bilateral meeting with the new British Prime Minister at the summit, said of the cruise missiles: “This morning, I learned about the permission to use Storm Shadow missiles against military targets in Russian territory. Today, we had the opportunity to discuss the practical implementation of this decision.”
Asking People to Behave Properly is Now a Dangerous Custom in the UK
Quote:A London bus passenger was stabbed by a fellow commuter after asking his assailant to take his feet off the seats, the latest in a week of knife attacks in the capital.
The victim, who was in his 50s, was attacked on a bus in Croydon, south London, the Daily Telegraph reports. Detectives have issued a picture of a suspect they want to speak about the incident.
The attack took place at around 3am on June 4 after the suspect boarded and put his feet up on the seats. The victim confronted him and an argument followed.
The victim was then stabbed several times in the leg during a brief struggle.
The injured man managed to get to a hospital, where police were called. The suspect (pictured below) left the bus at East Croydon railway station.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “Detectives investigating a stabbing aboard a bus in Croydon have released an image of a man they want to identify and speak with.
“Anyone who can name the man pictured should report online, dial 101 or post on X @MetCC quoting 923/4JUN24.”
Rumors Concerning a Future Zelensky-Putin Meeting
Quote:“People familiar” told Bloomberg News on Wednesday that Ukraine is considering direct talks with Russia at a second peace summit before the U.S. presidential election in November – a report that followed rumors President Volodymyr Zelensky is worried about the health of American counterpart President Joe Biden.
Zelensky is currently in Washington, DC, meeting with Biden and other world leaders for the annual NATO military alliance summit. Ukraine is not a member of NATO but has loudly demanded entry to the alliance for years. The declaration published after private talks among NATO states included a promise that Ukraine was on an “irreversible path” to membership, as well as millions of dollars in military support. NATO has refused to integrate Ukraine, however, or offer a concrete list of demands Kyiv must fulfill before joining.
During remarks on Wednesday, Zelensky indeed confirmed that Ukraine is seeking to organize a second “peace summit” to discuss an end to the full-scale invasion of his country that Russia launched in 2022. Switzerland hosted the first “peace summit” in June, refusing to invite Russia as strongman Vladimir Putin has demanded Kyiv cede the five territories the Russian military occupies – Crimea, Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia – and give up its ambitions to join NATO.
Zelensky’s remarks about a second peace summit stated only that he sought to hold one before the end of the year, however – not necessarily before the American presidential election – and did not mention inviting Russia.
“Kyiv wants to convene a second meeting to achieve a fair peace settlement in Ukraine before the US elections in November, this time with Russia attending, according to people familiar with the matter,” Bloomberg claimed. It described one of the “people familiar” as a “Ukrainian official,” without elaborating.
The outlet described the rumors as indicating that Zelensky feels a “sense of urgency” as polling increasingly indicates that former President Donald Trump could defeat Biden in the election and significantly change Washington’s Ukraine policy. Trump and Zelensky enjoyed a famously cordial relationship; Zelensky notably defended Trump from accusations of improprieties in a phone call with himself and celebrated Trump-era sanctions on Russian projects such as the now-defunct Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
Bloomberg did not mention any opinion Zelensky may or may not hold about Biden. Another reported on Tuesday, however, suggested that the Ukrainian president is privately worried about Biden.
“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is among the leaders who watched the presidential debate and is concerned about the situation, according to a Ukrainian source,” the D.C. website Axios reported. It did not offer any more details about what allegedly has Zelensky “concerned” about the situation, though Biden’s debate performance sparked a panic in the Democrat party that the elderly president may not be fit to serve another four years in the nation’s highest office because of answers to debate questions deemed unintelligible, confusing, or incoherent.
That Zelensky’s alleged anxiety surfaced in a report in Axios is significant as the Ukrainian president has used the outlet to complain even more directly about Biden in the past. In June 2021, Zelensky granted Axios an interview in which he said he was “unpleasantly surprised” by Biden’s decision to lift sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project that would have connected Russia to Western Europe.
“It still seems to me that Nord Stream 2 … we understand that this is a weapon, a real weapon, and I speak openly about it,” Zelensky said at the time. “A weapon in the hands of the Russian Federation, and it is not very understandable, I feel, and definitely not expected, that the bullets to this weapon can possibly be provided by such a great country as the United States.”
Zelensky predicted that lifting the sanctions could embolden Russia to attack Ukraine. Putin launched a full-scale invasion of the country seven months later.
On the issue of talks with Russia, the Ukrainian government has resolutely refused any such negotiations since the early days of the full-scale invasion. Zelensky has floated the possibility of another “peace summit,” however, but not mentioned Russian participation. Speaking at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute in Washington on Wednesday, Zelensky said Ukraine was preparing to “organize the second Peace Summit this year based on the Peace Formula – even more powerful, and truly decisive. We need that support from the US.”
Zelensky did not specify if “this year” would mean a summit before or after the November election.
Shortly after the conclusion of the first summit in Switzerland, which resulted in no concrete actions from any involved party, the Ukrainian government already suggested a second such meeting could occur before the end of the year, but again did not specify that it would occur before the election.
NATO's Position Regarding Ukraine
Quote:Ukraine is on an “irreversible” path to full membership in NATO, the 32-signatories to the Western military alliance declared Wednesday.
NATO member countries issued joint statement from their summit in Washington, DC, setting out a series of steps aimed at bolstering Ukraine’s defenses, AP reports.
That includes the U.S., the Netherlands and Denmark revealing the first NATO-provided F-16s would be in the hands of Ukrainian military pilots by this summer.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted his appreciation of the effort to strengthen his air force, coming soon after Ukraine saw one of the deadliest strikes of the war, while disregarding policy experts who see Kyiv’s desire to join NATO as a direct threat to Moscow and cause for it to continue fighting now and into the future.
NATO also confirmed a long-term commitment of security assistance to Ukraine, and outlined the establishment of a new NATO center aimed at ensuring Kyiv gets a more reliable flow of arms and training from members of the alliance, the AP report makes clear.
But the commitments still fall short of the striking power Ukraine says it needs to defeat the invading Russian forces.
“Ukraine’s future is in NATO,” alliance members said in their statement. “We will continue to support it on its irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership.”
NATO on North Korea
Quote:The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on Wednesday issued a statement condemning North Korea’s weapons exports to Russia and expressing concern about the alliance between Pyongyang and Moscow.
The statement was a major victory for South Korean diplomats who have been urging NATO to recognize North Korea as a threat to global security.
“We strongly condemn the DPRK’s exports of artillery shells and ballistic missiles, which are in violation of numerous United Nations Security Council resolutions, and note with great concern the deepening ties between the DPRK and Russia,” NATO leaders meeting in Washington said on Wednesday. DPRK stands for Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the North Korean tyranny’s preferred name for itself.
“Any transfer of ballistic missiles and related technology by Iran to Russia would represent a substantial escalation,” the declaration added.
NATO said North Korea and fellow axis of tyranny member Iran are “fueling Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine by providing direct military support to Russia, such as munitions and uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), which seriously impacts Euro-Atlantic security and undermines the global non-proliferation regime.”
Both of those malignant states took a backseat in NATO’s condemnation to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which has “become a decisive enabler of Russia’s war against Ukraine through its so-called ‘no limits’ partnership and its large-scale support for Russia’s defense industrial base.”
“We call on the PRC, as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council with a particular responsibility to uphold the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter, to cease all material and political support to Russia’s war effort,” the statement said.
The NATO statement called for closer cooperation with South Korea and other major regional partners such as Australia, Japan, and New Zealand, to contain threats to security in the Indo-Pacific region.
First Notre Dame, Now Rouen
Quote:The spire of Rouen Cathedral, not so long ago the world’s tallest building, was burning Thursday morning amid renovation work at the scaffolding-clad building.
Thick, black smoke poured from the 495 foot (151 meter) spire of Rouen Cathedral on Thursday morning after contractors working on the restoration of the church started a fire. Per French broadsheet Le Figaro, the fire was discovered by builders in the spire and the fire brigade said the burning material was “plastic construction site materials”.
The spire over the Cathedral’s transept tower has been burnt down several times before, with an identical wood and lead tower replacing the earlier spire after a fire in the 16th century. The spire was burnt again after a lightning strike in 1822, and was replaced with a new and considerably taller cast-iron spire completed by 1882. That spire remains today, and given its all-metal construction will hopefully survive today’s blaze.
The fire was first reported to the emergency services at midday local time and was said to be “under control but not extinguished” by lunchtime. The fire brigade say while they have not completed their inspections and can’t yet declare the fire totally extinguished, it is their belief the heat of the fire has not damaged the structure of the spire.
More pertinent now is the potential for water damage in the church below the spire, given the amount pumped up by the fire brigade to get the blaze under control.
The fire at an iconic European historic building during restoration work has inevitably drawn comparisons to the near-loss of the Paris Notre Dame cathedral five years ago, and the loss of Copenhagen’s Børsbygningen, one of the oldest buildings in the Netherlands earlier this year.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
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My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
HiddenChest & Roole
Give me a free copy of your completed game if you include at least 3 of my scripts!
Just some scripts I've already published on the board...
KyoGemBoost XP VX & ACE, RandomEnkounters XP, KSkillShop XP, Kolloseum States XP, KEvents XP, KScenario XP & Gosu, KyoPrizeShop XP Mangostan, Kuests XP, KyoDiscounts XP VX, ACE & MV, KChest XP VX & ACE 2016, KTelePort XP, KSkillMax XP & VX & ACE, Gem Roulette XP VX & VX Ace, KRespawnPoint XP, VX & VX Ace, GiveAway XP VX & ACE, Klearance XP VX & ACE, KUnits XP VX, ACE & Gosu 2017, KLevel XP, KRumors XP & ACE, KMonsterPals XP VX & ACE, KStatsRefill XP VX & ACE, KLotto XP VX & ACE, KItemDesc XP & VX, KPocket XP & VX, OpenChest XP VX & ACE
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
HiddenChest & Roole
Give me a free copy of your completed game if you include at least 3 of my scripts!
Just some scripts I've already published on the board...
KyoGemBoost XP VX & ACE, RandomEnkounters XP, KSkillShop XP, Kolloseum States XP, KEvents XP, KScenario XP & Gosu, KyoPrizeShop XP Mangostan, Kuests XP, KyoDiscounts XP VX, ACE & MV, KChest XP VX & ACE 2016, KTelePort XP, KSkillMax XP & VX & ACE, Gem Roulette XP VX & VX Ace, KRespawnPoint XP, VX & VX Ace, GiveAway XP VX & ACE, Klearance XP VX & ACE, KUnits XP VX, ACE & Gosu 2017, KLevel XP, KRumors XP & ACE, KMonsterPals XP VX & ACE, KStatsRefill XP VX & ACE, KLotto XP VX & ACE, KItemDesc XP & VX, KPocket XP & VX, OpenChest XP VX & ACE
