News of the World
08-17-2024, 12:49 AM
USA
This is a lot worse than the high-speed internet connection project. At least the Massachussets proposal got approved... long time after disclosing the launch of such a program.
Well, this could have been solved by Trump long time ago based on this official document. Then Biden came and repealed it.
By the way, Bernie Sander's YouTube channel has an interesting clip on Biden's posture on social security.
INTERNATIONAL
Did Biden's FBI Interfere with the Probe?
Quote:Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) requested to examine the body of would-be presidential assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks as part of the House’s investigation into the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, only to discover that the shooter’s body is “gone” and that “the FBI cleaned up biological evidence from the crime scene,” which the congressman says “injure[d]” the investigation.
The FBI released Crooks’ body for cremation on July 23, just ten days after the assassination attempt on Trump, and “nobody knew this” until August 5, including the Butler County coroner, law enforcement, and the Butler County sheriff, Higgins said in a Monday report.
“My effort to examine Crooks’ body on Monday, August 5, caused quite a stir and revealed a disturbing fact… the FBI released the body for cremation 10 days after [July] 13,” the congressman said. “On [July] 23, Crooks was gone.”
“Nobody knew this until Monday, August 5, including the County Coroner, law enforcement, Sheriff, etc.,” Higgins added.
“Yes, Butler County Coroner technically had legal authority over the body, but I spoke with the Coroner, and he would have never released Crooks’ body to the family for cremation or burial without specific permission from the FBI,” the congressman clarified.
Higgins also noted, “The FBI cleaned up biological evidence from the crime scene, which is unheard of.”
“Cops don’t do that, ever,” the congressman asserted in his report.
“The FBI released the crime scene after just 3 days, much to everyone’s surprise,” Higgins observed. “I interviewed several First Responders who expressed everything from surprise to dismay to suspicion regarding the fact that the FBI released the crime scene so early after J13.”
“It should be noted that the FBI was fully aware of the fact that Congress would be investigating J13,” Higgins pointed out.
“The FBI does not exist in a vacuum,” he added. “They had to know that releasing the J13 crime scene would injure the immediate observations of any following investigation.”
The congressman also noted that the coroner’s report and autopsy report are both “late.”
“As of Monday, August 5, they were a week late,” he said. “The problem with me not being able to examine the actual body is that I won’t know 100% if the coroner’s report and the autopsy report are accurate. We will actually never know.”
Higgins said that while he will eventually obtain the reports and photos from the autopsy, “I will not ever be able to say with certainty that those reports and pictures are accurate according to my own examination of the body.”
“This action by the FBI can only be described by any reasonable man as an obstruction to any following investigative effort,” the congressman asserted.
He also pointed out that on the day Crooks’ body was cremated, “both the Homeland Security Committee and the Oversight Committee had begun House Committee jurisdictional investigation into J13, and Speaker Johnson had already stated that he was forming an Official Congressional investigative body.”
Didn't SS Kill Crooks?
Quote:Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) said in a Monday investigative report that a Butler SWAT operator shot would-be presidential assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks’ gun “from the ground” before the shooter was killed by a U.S. Secret Service sniper during former President Donald Trump’s July 13 campaign rally.
A total of ten shots were fired during Trump’s July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Rep. Higgins said in a preliminary investigative report to Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA), the Chairman of the “Bipartisan Task Force to Investigate the Attempted Assassination of Donald Trump.”
The report stated that eight “shots were fired by Crooks from his firing (and dying) position” on the rooftop, and that all eight bullet casings are now “allegedly in proper possession of the FBI.”
“Thomas Matthew Crooks’ rifle is also allegedly in the proper possession of the FBI,” the congressman noted. “I will need to examine all of the physical evidence that has been harvested by law enforcement and is in the possession of the FBI. All of it.”
Notably, the ninth shot fired at the July 13 rally “was from a Butler SWAT operator from the ground about 100 yards away from the AGR building,” Higgins continued in his report.
Shot nine “hit Crooks’ rifle stock” and fragmented into the shooter’s face, neck, and right shoulder area from the stock breaking up into pieces, the congressman said.
At that point, Crooks “went down” from his firing position, “and the SWAT officer was certain of his hit,” but then the would-be presidential assassin “recovered” a few seconds later and “popped back up,” the report added.
“The 10th (and, I believe, final) shot was fired from the southern counter-sniper team,” Higgins stated in his report. “I will not be 100% certain of this until further investigation.”
The congressman also said that he does “not believe it was possible” for a second shooter to be atop a water tower at the rally venue on July 13, “nor have I seen any evidence that supports the theory of a 2nd shooter.”
“I’m not saying conclusively that there was no other shooter somewhere or that no other conspirators were involved in J13, but I’m saying that based on my investigation thus far, there were 10 shots fired on J13, and all shots are accounted for, and all shots align with their source,” he said.
Moreover, “Crooks’ firing position did NOT offer excellent concealment from the southern counter-sniper team,” Higgins added.
“However, it should be noted that the would-be assassin perfectly positioned himself to minimize the threat of counter-fire from the ground or the USSS counter-sniper teams,” the congressman said.
The findings in Higgins’ report are interesting, as Secret Service acting director Ronald Rowe made no mention of the Butler SWAT operator during his August 2 press briefing, in which he offered a detailed summary of the events that unfolded during the July 13 rally.
Elsewhere in his report, Higgins said he requested to examine the body of Crooks, only to discover that the shooter’s body was “gone” and that “the FBI cleaned up biological evidence from the crime scene,” which the congressman says “injure[d]” the investigation.
Kamala the Home Builder!?
Quote:Vice President Kamala Harris promised Friday that she would build 3 million new homes in four years if she were elected, but she and President Joe Biden barely managed to build eight EV charging stations in two-and-a-half years.
Harris said at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina:
There’s a serious housing shortage in many places. It’s too difficult to build and it’s driving prices up. As president, I will work in partnership with industry to build the housing. We need both to rent and to buy. We will take down barriers and cut red tape including at the state and local levels. And by the end of my first term, we will end America’s housing shortage by building 3 million new homes and rentals that are affordable for the middle class.
Harris did not explain how those new homes were to be built in a high-interest-rate environment. She also did not explain whether she meant 3 million units in addition to those that would already have been built, or three million units total. Nearly 1.5 million homes were built in the U.S. in 2023, so 3 million over four years would actually mean construction had slowed down by 50%. Presumably, she meant 3 million additional homes — 750,000 extra per year.
That would match or exceed the pace of the peak housing boom of the post-World War II period. But Harris has a track record against which to measure her promise, and it is the failure of the Biden-Harris administration to build the electric vehicle (EV) charging stations that it promised to build under the infrastructure bill of 2021. at a cost of $7.5 billion. The goal was 500,000; two-and-a-half years later, as of May 2024, only eight EV stations had been built.
The situation is even worse when it comes to the Biden-Harris administration’s promise to build new broadband Internet connections. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr told Breitbart News earlier this week that despite $42.5 billion in the infrastructure bill for broadband, the effort had yet to connect one American to the Internet — and Vice President Harris was supposed to be in charge of the project. The prospects of Harris’s housing boom look doubtful.
This is a lot worse than the high-speed internet connection project. At least the Massachussets proposal got approved... long time after disclosing the launch of such a program.
Biden-Harris Drug Price Fixing Scheme
Quote:House Republican leadership on Thursday warned that America’s predominant status as the world leader in developing new medicines is now in “jeopardy” due to the Biden-Harris drug price negotiation scheme.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN), and House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) issued a joint statement after the Biden-Harris administration released the results of the their drug price negotiation scheme, which was mandated by the Inflation Reduction Act. Essentially, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) selected ten drugs covered under Medicare Part D to be negotiated with pharmaceuticals, which the Biden-Harris administration claimed would result in $6 billion in savings on these ten drugs.
Joe Grogan, the former director of Trump’s Domestic Policy Council, told Breitbart News that the alleged savings of this price negotiation are “totally bogus.”
Many outlets such as Politico have noted that it may be hard for the Harris campaign to tout these alleged savings as a victory, as pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), rebates, out-of-pocket caps, and other aspects already help reduce prices for the cost of prescription drugs. The Biden-Harris touted savings come from negotiating down from the drug’s list price; Americans do not pay the list price for drugs.
House Republican leadership contended in their statement that the negotiation scheme, like all price fixing schemes, would not work and may jeopardize America’s ability to be the leader in producing pharmaceuticals:
Two years after the passage of Congressional Democrats’ failed Inflation Expansion Act, Americans continue to feel the disastrous effects the law has had across our economy.
Among the most egregious provisions of the law is the mandate from bureaucrats to artificially set prescription drug prices, which is already doing untold damage to the American health care system. Patients are seeing fewer choices, higher prices, and fewer cures, while the American pharmaceutical industry — which currently leads the world in the development of new medicines — is now in jeopardy of losing its competitive advantage on the rest of the world.
Make no mistake, price fixing has failed in every sector and in every country where it has ever been tried. The Biden-Harris Administration says it wants to lower prices for families, but their prescription drug price fixing scheme has accomplished just two things: driving up health care costs and crushing American innovation in medicine.
The Ways and Means Committee, led by Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO), has documented many of the ways that the Inflation Reduction Act has limited America’s ability to create the next generation of cures.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) noted, “The [IRA’s drug provisions] would increase the launch prices for drugs that are not yet on the market relative to what such prices would be otherwise.”
Well, this could have been solved by Trump long time ago based on this official document. Then Biden came and repealed it.
By the way, Bernie Sander's YouTube channel has an interesting clip on Biden's posture on social security.
Let's Fix Food Prices as Well!
Quote:Soviet-style centrally administered price controls on food and grocery prices will form part of the federal economic proposals U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will unveil Friday when she finally delivers an insight into her 2024 policies.
Her address will mark the first time Harris offers a policy focused speech since she was anointed as the Democratic candidate in July and been roundly accused by critics since as being a policy-free zone, as Breitbart News reported.
The Democratic nominee is promising to institute a first-ever national ban on price gouging and price-fixing within her first 100 days in office in an effort to deflect many voters’ low marks for President Joe Biden’s handling of the economy.
Time magazine reports Harris plans to direct the Federal Trade Commission and other agencies to investigate and penalize “big corporations” that violate government rules in a mirror of Soviet command economy diktats.
Other ways of tackling price fixing and selective anti-competitive practices in the food and grocery industries will also come under scrutiny, her campaign said by way of previewing her full set of economic proposals.
Harris will also reportedly detail plans to cut prescription drug and housing costs in the economic address during her visit to Raleigh, North Carolina.
There is no indication yet if she will take media questions after the event, following in the footsteps of President Joe Biden who is also similarly disengaged from talking about his policies.
JD Vance & a Door Malfunction
Quote:Sen. JD Vance’s (R-OH) plane made an emergency landing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after the pilot reported a door malfunction, according to several reports.
After taking off, the Trump Force Two, which is reportedly “operated by Eastern Air” returned to land in Milwaukee around 1:30 p.m., officials from the airport confirmed to WISN ABC.
A spokeswoman for Vance, the Republican vice presidential candidate, confirmed that the pilot had “advised” that there “was a malfunction with the door seal.”
“The pilot advised there was a malfunction with the door seal,” Taylor Van Kirk, a spokeswoman for Vance, said in a statement. “As soon as the issue was resolved, the plane returned to its originally planned flight path back to Cincinnati.”
Vance’s plane was reported to have departed from Milwaukee around 2:15 p.m., according to the outlet.
The emergency landing of Trump Force Two comes a week after former President Donald Trump’s plane was diverted to Billings, Montana, due to a reported mechanical issue. Trump had been scheduled to land in Bozeman, ahead of his rally that day.
Arizona & Voter's ID Requirement
Quote:Twenty-four attorneys general are fighting for Arizona to gain permission to require that voters be U.S. citizens to vote in federal elections.
The attorneys general recently filed amicus briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of an emergency stay, Fox News reported Thursday. The news comes as voters gear up to vote in the November presidential election.
“The Republican Party of Arizona said on Thursday that it had filed the emergency application pending appeal from the U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit ‘in support of HB 2492, our law requiring proof of citizenship to vote in presidential elections,'” the article read, noting the law requires people to have proof of their citizenship for ballots, even those filed via the mail.
The Fox article also noted:
The brief was backed by attorneys general from 24 other states, including Texas, Florida, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah and Virginia, along with the two states that filed the brief — Kansas and West Virginia.
Some of the groups who supported the emergency stay are listed as the Honest Elections Project, Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections, Inc., and Center for Election Confidence, Inc., according to one of the documents.
The Republican National Committee’s emergency application for stay said the problem of non-citizens voting has gotten worse as the number of illegal aliens pouring over the border increases.
Castro's Henchman Now in Miami
‘Family Unification’: Fidel Castro Henchman Moves to Miami, Smacks Reporter’s Camera When Confronted
Quote:A former provincial-level Communist Party chief who belonged to Fidel Castro’s “coordination and support team” arrived in Miami, Florida, on Thursday through a “family reunification” program – and immediately assaulted a reporter asking him how he got there.
Martí Noticias journalist Mario Pentón confronted Manuel Menéndez Castellanos at Miami International Airport upon his arrival from Cuba, hoping to ask how U.S. officials allowed him into the country given his decades of service to the Communist Party. Menéndez Castellanos has appeared frequently in the pages of the official newspaper of the Cuban Communist Party, Granma, offering supportive propaganda quotes for at least two decades.
Menéndez is the latest in a series of individuals from Cuba with ties to the regime and histories of participating in repression believed to be taking advantage of several immigration programs under leftist President Joe Biden, presumably intended to benefit their victims, to come to America. The incident also follows an embarrassing scene at Miami International Airport on May 20, Cuban Independence Day, when Transportation Security Administration (TSA) gave a Cuban Communist Party delegation a tour of sensitive security areas. Cuba is a U.S.-designated state sponsor of terrorism with an extensive history of engaging in anti-American espionage and other nefarious activity.
On Thursday, as Menéndez appeared to leave his gate, Pentón approached him and confirmed his identity, but when the reporter attempted to ask him questions, Menéndez attacked him, apparently attempting to seize or destroy his cameraphone. Pentón kept control of his phone and posted the video online.
While refusing to comment, Menéndez told Pentón, “I’m going home,” suggesting he is staying in the United States for the long term.
The incident caused commotion at the airport, the reporter later said in a video posted to social media, recalling that several individuals at the airport expressed outrage at discovering a Fidel Castro crony in their midst. One person reportedly shouted by way of warning, “Communism has arrived!”
The Martí Noticias journalist wrote in his report on the incident that Menéndez was approved to enter America through a “family reunification process.” In his video, Pentón explained that the “family reunification” process in theory should require American officials to question potential beneficiaries about any history that they may have with the Communist Party, leaving unclear how he was approved to come to the United States.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has an active program known as “Cuban Family Reunification Parole” (CFRP) in which American citizens and permanent residents can request entry to the country for their relatives in Cuba.
Kirby on Ukrainian Invasion of Kursk
Quote:Two senior U.S. officials said on Thursday that Russia has diverted “several thousand troops” from Ukraine to defend against the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk.
The Ukrainians surprised Russia (and the Biden administration) by pushing across the border to invade Russia’s Kursk region on August 6. Ukrainian forces are reportedly still fighting in Kursk ten days later, despite confident Russian pronouncements that the incursion was strategically insignificant and would be quickly repelled.
Many observers deemed the counter-invasion an odd choice given how Ukraine has been desperately fighting to hold back advancing Russian forces on several fronts but one theory advanced was that Kyiv hoped to draw Russian troops out of Ukraine and back into Kursk – and possibly Belgorod, which declared a state of emergency on Wednesday as Ukraine showered it with drones and missiles.
According to the two anonymous “senior American defense officials” who spoke with CNN on Thursday, there are signs the Ukrainian offensive is causing Russia to pull “multiple brigade-sized elements made up of at least 1,000 troops each” out of Ukraine and send them to reinforce the new front in Kursk.
“It is apparent to us that Mr. Putin and the Russian military are diverting some resources, some units, towards the Kursk Oblast to ostensibly counter what the Ukrainians are doing,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday.
Kirby added the shift of Russian forces did not mean “Putin has given up military operations in the northeast part of Ukraine, or even down towards the south, towards places like Zaporizhya.”
CNN added that Ukraine “impressed” Biden officials with its daring offensive, including its ability to keep the attack secret from the U.S. government.
On the other hand, analysts noted Russia still has a huge number of troops deployed in Ukraine, and its most effective front-line combat units do not appear to be part of the reallocation toward Kursk, at least not yet. The forces Ukraine sent into Kursk may not be its finest troops either, as those forces are still needed to slow Russia’s advance.
“We haven’t seen a substantial move just yet, and we can’t tell whether that’s just because they’re only just getting started moving forces, or whether they just don’t have the forces to move,” said one of CNN’s senior intelligence sources.
The other source fretted that Ukraine is “committing pretty inexperienced troops” to the Kursk attack and cannot “afford” to lose them. Worse still, the Kursk attack may have left Ukraine’s defenses dangerously thin, creating “opportunities for Russia to seize advantage and break through.”
The New York Times (NYT) reported on Friday that Russian troops have captured several strategic Ukrainian villagers and are now just eight miles from Pokrovsk, one of the last important Ukrainian defensive positions in the eastern Donetsk region.
DNC Convention & Pro-Hamas Protests
Quote:Pro-Palestinian protests will take place nearly every day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) next week, while demonstrators will descend on the city for other causes as well.
As the Democratic Party remains deeply fractured due to the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, Pro-Palestinian protests are set for Sunday, the eve of the convention, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, the final day of the convention. On Thursday, Harris will accept the nomination at the convention.
Below is a list of scheduled demonstrations that will protest against the Democratic Party over the Israel-Hamas war and other causes. The Chicago Sun-Times first compiled the list.
Sunday, August 18
BODIES OUTSIDE OF UNJUST LAWS MARCH: 5:00 p.m. Central
The pro-abortion group will meet on Wicker Drive and Michigan Avenue, and a march will commence demanding national abortion legislation as well as “an end to US funds to the genocide in Palestine.”
The group believes that “Palestinian Liberation is Reproductive Justice” and links on its “demands” page to the Palestinian Feminist Collective’s condemnation of what it calls “Reproductive Genocide in Gaza.”
Bodies Outside of Unjust Laws also declares it “will not settle for ‘reasonable’ limits on abortion, more benevolent family separation, or gender-affirming care only for some,” adding, “There is no middle ground here.”
The group notes it is suing Chicago through the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) due to the alleged denial of a permit request.
Monday, August 19
MARCH ON THE DNC 2024: 12:00 p.m. Central
A coalition of more than 150 groups will convene in Union Park before marching to the United Center, as the Sun-Times noted. March on the DNC refers to President Joe Biden as “Genocide Joe Biden” and says that his bowing out of the race “doesn’t change the policies of Democratic Party leadership, specifically their support of the genocide in Palestine, so our movement must continue to apply pressure.”
The group’s central demand is the “End of U.S. Aid to Israel” and for the Democratic Party to “Stand with Palestine.”
It also has a number of secondary demands, including “Immigrant Rights and Legalization for All,” a radical policy Harris supported at a Democrat primary debate in 2019. The group also demands the defense of “LGBTQIA+,” abortion access, union and striking rights, and “Community control of the police.”
March on the DNC 2024 has also been at odds with the city due to permits, as Breitbart News noted.
POOR PEOPLE’S ARMY: 4:00 p.m. Central
According to its website, the Poor People’s Army will assemble at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts later in the day and march to the United Center. This protest will not center on Israel-Hamas. The Poor People’s Army website states that the march will happen “because the Democrats and Biden do not care about poor or working people.”
House Committee's Probe on Tim Walz
Quote:The House Oversight Committee is launching an investigation into Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) over his numerous connections to China, which include a student exchange program funded by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the Chinese secret police station operating in the Twin Cities, and much more.
Chairman James Comer (R-KY) launched the investigation “following reports detailing the Governor’s longstanding connections to Chinese Communist Party entities and officials,” according to the House Oversight Committee.
“Mr. Walz has visited China 30 times, served as a fellow at a Chinese institution that maintains a devotion to the CCP, and spoke alongside the President of a Chinese organization the State Department exposed as a CCP effort to influence and co-opt local leaders,” the House Oversight Committee said in a statement, revealing that “FBI briefers recently informed the Committee that the Bureau’s Foreign Influence Task Force investigates CCP activity that is similar to China’s engagement with Governor Walz.”
“In a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, Chairman Comer is now requesting information, documents, and communications related to the CCP-connected entities and officials Governor Walz has engaged and partnered with,” the committee added:
“Americans deserve to fully understand how deep Governor Walz’s relationship with China goes,” Comer said in a statement.
“Governor Walz: Visited China at least 30 times. Served as a fellow at a Chinese institution that maintains a devotion to the CCP. Spoke alongside the President of a Chinese organization the State Department exposed as a CCP effort to influence local leaders,” he said, providing a few examples:
Indeed, Walz has a longstanding history of adoration for China, starting with student exchange program funded by the CCP.
“The concerns are, look, you know, you can like China. You can like the Chinese people. The question is, when you set up an exchange program, as he did, to bring students to China, you’re not dealing with the Chinese people — you’re dealing with the Chinese Communist Party,” New York Times bestselling author and Breitbart News senior contributor Peter Schweizer said during a recent appearance on Breitbart News Daily, detailing Walz’s numerous connections with China and Chinese entities.
“And in the case of his program, it’s funded by the CCP. It was organized with the help of the CCP,” he said, noting that Walz reportedly told students to “downplay” their Americanness.
“And when you start to look at some of the, you know, activities involving the students, it gets slightly odd. I mean, you know, some of the local press accounts from the Midwest report that students were told by Walz, ‘When you go to China, downplay your Americanness,’ which is, is kind of odd, because if you’re having a cultural exchange, the purpose is to actually learn about the other culture,” Schweizer noted, explaining that, in contrast, it would never be asked of Chinese students to downplay their Chineseness.
But Walz’s connections go far beyond that, as he also has what Schweizer described as an “odd relationship with the Chinese state,” choosing to give a speech in 2019 to an organization which served as a front group for the CCP.
Rite Aid Shutting Down
Quote:Rite Aid customers in Michigan and Ohio have been left scrambling to find new pharmacies at which to get their prescriptions after the drugstore hastily closed every location in both states.
The company’s most recent bankruptcy filings, which the Daily Mail obtained, show that Rite Aid has closed a staggering 74 stores so far in August — with all but two being in Michigan or Ohio.
The other two August closures were in California and Washington.
Since the pharmacy and convenience chain filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in October 2023, 2,000 stores have become approximately 1,100, the outlet reported.
In total, 234 Rite Aids in Michigan and 183 in Ohio have either already been shuttered or are in the process of doing so.
On top of struggling with debt and facing fierce competition from online pharmacies, like Amazon, Rite Aid has been hit with more than a thousand lawsuits accusing it of filling illegal prescriptions for opioids, the New York Times reported.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint against Rite Aid and its multiple subsidiaries in March, alleging that the business filled prescriptions for amounts of opioids “that had obvious, and often multiple, red flags indicating misuse.”
INTERNATIONAL
OPEC & Oil Price
Quote:Oil prices slipped on Friday as investors digested the latest downbeat economic news from China, whose immense demand for oil makes it a major factor in worldwide prices.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) pointed to weakening Chinese demand when it made its projections for the rest of 2024 on Monday, and the International Energy Agency had a similar forecast for 2025.
These projects cut about two percent off oil prices by the end of trading on Friday, settling at under $80 a barrel. The price change was not large, but it continued a downward trend based on bad news from China, offset by rising anxiety over a potential Iran-Israel war that could disrupt Middle Eastern supplies.
Some analysts predicted oil prices would slip further as the threat of Iran attacking Israel seems to be receding, making lower demand a more dominant factor.
“Provided the situation in the Middle East does not escalate further, the oil price is likely to tread water,” Commerzbank Research said on Friday.
China’s latest gloomy economic news included July data released on Thursday that showed only sporadic flickers of positive growth despite heavy stimulus spending and new regulations.
First Smart Question Maduro Has Asked in a Long Time
Quote:U.S. President Joe Biden appeared to agree with the proposal of having Venezuela repeat the July 28 sham presidential election, leading the White House to walk back statements Biden personally made shortly thereafter.
On Thursday, Biden was asked by a reporter from Voice of America (VOA) if he supports new elections in Venezuela. Biden responded to the question by saying, “I do.”
Reuters and the Associated Press reported that Biden’s statement came after far-left Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Gustavo Petro of Colombia suggested that Venezuela hold a second election following the sham vote in July as a means to solve the ongoing political crisis in the country.
Socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro has repeatedly insisted that he “won” the sham election despite the continued refusal of the electoral authorities — loyal to Maduro — to publish voter data or any other type of documentation that can demonstrate his alleged “victory.”
The Venezuelan opposition claimed its candidate, Edmundo González, defeated Maduro in a landslide and has published voter tallies collected from voting centers nationwide that demonstrate González defeated Maduro by a margin of more than 35 percentage points.
VOA reported on Thursday that the Biden administration informed the outlet that President Biden had “understood VOA’s question differently.” A National Security Council spokesperson “reiterated the Biden administration’s stance” to VOA through an email, claiming that Biden “was speaking to the absurdity of Maduro and his representatives not coming clean about the July 28 elections.”
“It is abundantly clear to the majority of the Venezuelan people, the United States, and a growing number of countries that Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia won the most votes on July 28,” the spokesperson reportedly told VOA. “The United States again calls for the will of the Venezuelan people to be respected and for discussions to begin on a transition back to democratic norms.”
VOA stated in its report that the spokesperson “did not say definitively where Biden stands on whether the election should be repeated.”
Bloomberg also reported on Thursday that, according to a White House spokesperson, Biden “intended to speak to the absurdity of Venezuelan President Maduro failing to come clean after claiming victory in the July 28 vote, with data suggesting that opposition candidate Edmundo González prevailed.”
White House National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said in a social media post that “Maduro & his representatives must come clean about Venezuela’s July 28 elections.”
“It is abundantly clear that Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia won the most votes,” Savett’s message read. “We call for the will of the people to be respected & for discussions to begin on a transition back to democratic norms.”
Maduro accused the United States of wanting to “become the electoral authority” of Venezuela after the U.S. government reiterated that it considered González the winner of the sham election. Maduro urged President Biden to focus on the “many problems” that the United States has.
The socialist dictator also commented on the White House backing down from Biden’s statements over the proposal of repeating the election.
“President Biden made an interventionist statement on Venezuela’s internal affairs and, half an hour later, some spokesmen denied it,” Maduro said. “In the end, who rules in the United States?”
Ukraine Asks its Citizens to Evacuate Region
Quote:Military authorities in the eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk on Friday urged civilians to speed up their evacuation because the Russian army is quickly closing in on what has for months been one of Moscow´s key targets in the war.
The call for people to get out as soon as possible came as Kyiv´s forces are trying to divert the Kremlin´s military focus to Russian soil by launching a bold incursion across the border into the Kursk region.
The urgency also underscored the high-stakes gamble Ukraine is making by taking the war into Russia with its ongoing assault that started Aug. 6. The attack was a daring attempt to change the dynamics of the 2½-year conflict, but it could leave Ukraine’s shorthanded defense at the mercy of Russia’s push.
The Kremlin’s forces have had battlefield momentum and superior forces in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region since the spring.
Evacuations in the Donetsk region around Pokrovsk have become increasingly urgent in recent weeks.
Pokrovsk officials said in a Telegram post Friday that Russian troops are “advancing at a fast pace. With every passing day there is less and less time to collect personal belongings and leave for safer regions.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had warned on Thursday that Pokrovsk and other nearby towns in the Donetsk region were “facing the most intense Russian assaults.”
“Priority supplies – everything that is needed – are being sent there,” Zelenskyy said on X.
That same day, authorities told people to start evacuating the town.
Croatia on Compulsory Military Draft
Quote:Croatia will reintroduce a two-month compulsory military service starting January 1 next year, the country’s Defense Minister Ivan Anusic announced late Thursday.
The move comes amid heightened tensions in Europe following the Russian aggression against Ukraine as well as an apparent arms race and military buildup in the Balkans which went through a bloody war in the 1990s.
This decision marks a return to conscription, which was suspended in 2008 when the country shifted to a volunteer-based system.
“We increased the salaries of soldiers, non-commissioned officers and officers, their material rights not only through personal income but also through daily wages and everything they are entitled to,” the minister told the Croatian broadcaster RTL on Thursday.
“The modernization and equipment of the Armed Forces is proceeding as planned and in accordance with the agreement with our allies and the NATO leadership,” the minister said, adding that there will be no saving of funds in this area.
Other countries in Europe are considering similar measures or have reinstated mandatory military service in response to heightened regional tensions.
Last year, Latvia reinstated military conscription in response to the threat posed by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Serbia, Croatia’s biggest rival in the Balkans, is also mulling to reactivate conscription.
Stabbing at Irish Military Barracks
Quote:A 16-year-old has been arrested after the stabbing of an Irish Army chaplain at a barracks in Galway city late Thursday evening.
UPDATE 1800: Despite initial reports that terrorism was not suspected, the Special Detective Unit of the Irish Police is now involved in the investigation to help determine whether there was a terror motive behind the attack.
Padre Father Paul Murphy, a member of the clergy attached to the Renmore barracks in Galway, Ireland, reportedly suffered multiple stab wounds after being approached by a young male at around 10.45 pm on Thursday night.
According to a report from the Irish Times, the attack is believed to have occurred as the chaplain was in his car while waiting for the gate to the barracks to open. The paper reports that Father Murphy is understood to have been wearing civilian clothes at the time.
Army sentries are said to have fired five warning shots during the incident and used a baton to ultimately subdue the suspect, who has only been identified as a 16-year-old male and an Irish national.
The alleged attacker is reportedly currently in custody at a Garda (police) station in the North Western Region, but due to his age, he will not be able to be interviewed until a parent or other custodial adult signs off.
Ireland’s The Journal newspaper reports, citing police sources, that the alleged teenage attacker had made comments about the country’s military involvement in the Middle East at the scene of the incident.
However, while examining previous police interactions with the suspect, the police are said to believe that the attack is non-terror related. A mental health assessment of the suspect is also expected to be conducted.
Thankfully, despite the attack, Father Murphy’s condition is not life-threatening.
Ayatollah's Still Fixed on Destroying Israel
Quote:Iran’s “supreme leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned his underlings in a meeting on Wednesday that making a “nontactical retreat” would meet the “divine wrath” of Allah as the world awaits a highly touted attack by Tehran on neighboring Israel.
Iranian officials have been boasting that they would attack Israel for all of August following the elimination of Hamas “political” chief Ismail Haniyeh on July 31. Haniyeh was killed by a yet-unexplained explosion in his lodgings in Tehran, which he was visiting to attend the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian. Iran is believed to be one of the top funders and political supporters of Hamas, the genocidal terrorist organization responsible for the massacre, torture, and abduction of hundreds of Israeli civilians in an unprecedented siege on October 7.
No party has taken responsibility for the explosion that killed Haniyeh, including the government of Israel, which has not commented on the incident. The government of leftist American President Joe Biden denied both that it had participated in the attack and that it had any prior knowledge that it was going to happen.
The promised revenge has yet to occur at press time, however, and by Friday Iran’s top diplomats were calling for “all-out diplomatic efforts” to stop Israel’s self-defense operations against Hamas, taking a much more measured tone than the dictator of the country.
Khamenei made his remarks on Wednesday while meeting with legislative officials for an event commemorating “the Martyrs of the Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province.”
“Since the victory of the Revolution, the enemies have been instilling fear in our nation through various means, suggesting that we should be afraid of the US, the UK, and the Zionists,” Khamenei told the assembly, according to an English-language translation of his remarks on his official website.
“Our nation realized that by relying on its inherent strength, it could accomplish great feats, and the enemy’s power was not as formidable as it seemed,” he asserted.
Khamenei warned that the Quran would frown upon a “retreat” against Israel.
“As the Quran states, a non-tactical retreat in any domain—whether military, political, or economic—will incur divine wrath,” he said.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Khamenei claimed that America and Israel were waging “psychological warfare” against the Iranian people to fuel “feelings of weakness, isolation, and submission to the enemy’s demands.”
“He pointed out that governments, whether of large or small nations, which currently capitulate to the demands of the Arrogant Powers [the West and Israel], could avoid submission if they relied on their people and capabilities, and recognized the enemy’s true power without exaggeration,” Khamenei’s website summarized. “Imam Khamenei underscored the significant consequences of amplifying the cultural practices propagated by enemies, warning that such narratives can lead to a sense of passivity, causing individuals to become infatuated with the enemies’ cultures while belittling their own.”
Khamenei was among the first to threaten a significant attack on Israel following Haniyeh’s death, calling it a “duty” to bring about “severe punishment” for Israel on the day of the incident. The Iranian government has insisted that the Israeli government was responsible for the attack, with American backing but has not produced any evidence corroborating that claim.
Israel has braced for an attack on its homeland for two weeks, but Iran has yet to execute on its threats. Tehran also spent much of this week condemning the idea of ceasing its consistent threats to kill Israelis, claiming that Iran has the sovereign right to attack Israel over Haniyeh’s death even though it has produced no proof that Israel played a role in it.
Protests Stormed India After a Rape & Murder
Quote:Nationwide protests in India attracted thousands in support of doctors striking to protest rampant violence against them on Tuesday and into Wednesday, when the nation marked its Independence Day.
The doctors’ strike began on Monday in response to a particularly repulsive crime: the rape and killing of a 31-year-old trainee doctor at a public hospital in Kolkata, allegedly committed by a local civilian police volunteer who regularly impersonated a police officer and behaved inappropriately at the hospital. It is not clear that the suspect, who reportedly confessed, had any reason to be at the hospital.
The doctor’s body was found in a seminar hall at the hospital, fueling outrage at the lack of security the government provides to health workers, especially women, in a crisis experts have described as a “rape epidemic” in the country. Rape is so common in India, including rape-murders and gang rapes, that the United States government has issued travel warnings for India in the past due to the high incidence of rape.
The crime in Kolkata and protests in response overshadowed Independence Day festivities, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi could not avoid the subject in his Independence Day speech. Modi used his remarks to condemn violence against women, declaring that perpetrators of “demonic” acts such as rape would be swiftly “hanged.”
“As a society, we will have to think seriously about the atrocities against our mothers, sisters, and daughters. There is anger among common people because of this. I can feel that rage,” Modi told those assembled before Delhi’s historic Red Fort. “Crimes against women should be probed swiftly, and stringent punishment given to those who commit such demonic acts.”
“Those who commit such sins should know that they will be hanged,” Modi continued, according to the Indian newspaper the Hindu.
Modi reportedly used the address to discuss women’s rights more generally, beyond the pervasive issue of criminal violence. The prime minister declared that he would support extended maternity leave for working women and praised Indian women for “becoming economically self-reliant.”
The broader context of Modi’s speech was a national protest that organizers described as “for women’s independence on the midnight of independence,” beginning on Tuesday evening and continuing into the early morning hours of Wednesday. The assemblies attracted thousands of people, multiple media outlets reported, demanding that Indian law enforcement authorities take the rape and murder of women seriously and crack down on criminals.
While the protests were overwhelmingly peaceful, Indian media reported that a group of individuals attacked the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata – the site of the recent rape and homicide – destroying police vehicles and hospital property, as well as physically assaulting the protesters themselves.
China: Wanna Get a Dental Implant? Think it Twice
Quote:Chinese social media users discovered they are no longer allowed to discuss a disturbing story about a medical supply company, Shanxi Aurui Biomaterials, caught selling dead human bodies and body parts.
The Chinese Communist Party’s vast army of social media censors began cracking down hard on the story three days after it broke, deleting a string of posts on the microblogging platform Weibo that lawyer Yi Shengua, president of the Beijing Yongzhe Law Firm, wrote.
Yi broke the story on August 7 with Weibo posts accusing funeral homes of sending vast numbers of human remains to Shanxi Aurui Biomaterials, which used the corpses as raw materials to produce dental bone implants.
According to Yi’s sources, the company took what it needed from the bodies, cremated the leftovers, and sent them back to families who had no idea their loved ones had been defiled. The company was accused of supplying its bone implant customers with forged consent paperwork from imaginary donors.
The story drew attention on Chinese legal social media because more than 70 families became aware of the scheme and are suing the biotech firm. Yi added to his account as he received information from lawyers across China who said they had become involved in the lawsuits.
More than 4,000 cadavers are believed to have been illegally diverted to the bone graft scheme, stolen from a dozen cities in seven provinces, generating $53 million in revenue over the past eight years.
The corpse-stealing scandal briefly received attention from Chinese state media, which claimed government investigators were all over the case, and some 75 suspects had already been taken into custody. One report said police seized more than 18 metric tons of human bones and 34,000 finished bone grafts from Shanxi Aurui Biomaterials as evidence in the case.
However, almost every state media report on the scandal abruptly disappeared, as did Yi’s original posts and many Weibo posts discussing the horrifying scandal. State media reports pertaining to investigations in the affected provinces have been changed to say officials are looking into “petty corruption” and “small-scale malfeasance” rather than body snatching.
“I can still see my Weibo post, but nobody else can. It seems that moves are afoot from higher up,” Yi said on August 9.
Yi said the scandal had been completely deleted from Weibo’s list of trending topics and Internet search engines. He was then dragged into a meeting with legal regulators, after which he began refusing to discuss the grave-robbing story any further with either Chinese social media users or foreign media.
Some observers suspect the Chinese Communist Party decided to censor the story because Shanxi Aurui Biomaterials is a subsidiary of the state-owned, Beijing-based China National Nuclear Corporation.
The Shanxi company is among China’s largest suppliers of bone grafts and substitutes, and demand is extremely high, so the communist government would not want the company to be ruined by a scandal. The case could also be extremely embarrassing for the regime, which has been aggressively pushing its subjects to forego burial in favor of cremation and burial at sea in order to conserve valuable real estate.
The Economist added suspicions that the Chinese Communist Party wanted to kill the story before it expanded to include state-owned medical giants, like Sinopharm, which may have purchased some of the tainted bone grafts. Sinopharm issued a statement on August 9 denying it was involved in the scandal.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
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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
