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USA

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Ballots Missing Signatures

Bucks County Officials Defy PA Supreme Court, Count Ballots Missing Signatures

Bucks County Commissioners openly defied the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Thursday by moving to count provisional ballots missing a signature as Democrats and Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) challenge Senator-elect Dave McCormick’s (R-PA) election victory.

Bucks County Board of Commissioners Chair Robert J. Harvie Jr. (D) and Vice Chair Diane Ellis-Marseglia (D) decided to count provisional ballots that were missing a signature in one of two places, which officials call “block two” and “block four.” The third commissioner, Gene DiGirolamo ®, was the lone dissenting voice to oppose the Democrats’ challenge to count the ballots.

Harvie Jr. and Ellis-Marseglia’s decision to count the ballots comes despite a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling from just months ago which determined that provisional ballots missing a signature should not be counted.

In that case–which featured challenges from Republican primary candidates for the 117th District in the Pennsylvania State House, Jaime Walsh and Mike Cabell–the court ruled that voters must sign a provisional ballot envelope for it to count.

According to Section 3050(a.4) of the election code, highlighted in the court’s decision, those voting via provisional ballot must also submit a signed affidavit.

After Deputy County Solicitor Daniel Grieser advised them that “unless it’s signed by the voter in two places… we shouldn’t count these,” Ellis-Marseglia and Harvie Jr decided to count the votes missing one signature anyway.

As the county has some ballots missing two signatures and others missing signatures in either “block two” or “block four,” DiGirolamo, moments before the motion to count the votes passed, moved to reject all three types of ballots missing signatures through a single motion, grouping them all together.

That motion failed with his colleagues, but before it did, Ellis-Marseglia shockingly said she did not value court precedent and touted her indifference regarding whether or not she was breaking the law in her official capacity by ignoring the recent state Supreme Court ruling.

“I think we all know that precedent by a court doesn’t matter anymore in this country, and people violate laws anytime they want,” she said. “So for me, if I violate this law, it’s because I want a court to pay attention to it.”

FBI, CIA & NYPD Killed Malcolm X!?

Family of Malcolm X Sues FBI, CIA, NYPD Over Alleged Roles in Assassination

The family of civil rights activist Malcolm X has sued the CIA, FBI, New York Police Department (NYPD), and other agencies over their alleged roles in his 1965 assassination.

The $100 million lawsuit, filed Friday in a New York City federal court, was announced by attorneys Ben Crump and Raymond Hamlin alongside the late activist’s relatives at a press conference.

Ilyasah Shabazz, one of X’s five living daughters, stood on stage while Crump announced the lawsuit against the “United States government, the FBI, the CIA, and the NYPD, who we believe all conspired to assassinate Malcolm X”:
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“Over the last three years, every day, every week, every month, we have been unearthing new evidence… evidence of people never having spoken before about what they witnessed during those turbulent times in the 1960’s,” the lawyer said.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) was also named in the lawsuit, the Associated Press reported.

X, who was the most notable black nationalist of the Civil Rights Movement, was just 39 when he was fatally shot at a speaking engagement in New York City.

Though he was formerly a major figure in the black separatist group Nation of Islam, he faced backlash from them shortly before his death after denouncing the organizations’ “racist philosophy” after taking a trip to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

In 1966, Muhammad Abdul Aziz, Khalil Islam, and Mujahid Abdul Halim were convicted of X’s murder, which was believed to have been revenge from Nation of Islam members.

Halim admitted to shooting X, but Aziz and Islam were exonerated decades later in 2021 after prosecutors brought new evidence of “witness intimidation and suppression of exculpatory evidence,” NPR reported.

Then-District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. issued an apology for law enforcement’s “serious, unacceptable violations of law and the public trust.”

In their lawsuit against the law enforcement agencies, X’s family said prosecutors suppressed the government’s role in his murder.

Migrant Previously Armed with AR-15 Back on the Street

Migrant Who Had AR-15 During Alleged Assault on Officers Is Back on the Street

A migrant of unknown legal status is back on the streets after allegedly assaulting NYPD officers in the course of resisting arrest on November 5, 2024.

The migrant had an AR-15 rifle in his backpack at the time of the incident.

FOX News identified the migrant as 2o-year-old Abraham Sosa, noting that a second migrant, Christopher Mayren, allegedly interfered when officers tried to arrest Sosa.

The AR-15 fell out of Sosa’s backpack during the altercation with officers.

Sosa and Mayren were both eventually arrested and taken into custody, at which time Sosa was found to allegedly be in possession of one of the officer’s phones.

The New York Post noted that both the migrants are back on the streets after Sosa [posted] a $25,000 bond and Mayren [was] released without bail.”

Tattoos on Mayren’s arms suggested he is linked to a Mexican cartel.

A Bronx detective told the Post, “This is crazy. You have a member of a Mexican cartel running around. That tattoo is a billboard for ‘I am a criminal. I don’t care about your laws.’”

NYC Mayor Speaking Out Against Feds Again

Adams: Feds Didn’t Give Us Enough Money for Migrant Crisis, We Also Tell Illegals They Can Get Some Benefits

On Friday’s broadcast of ABC’s “The View,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) said, “I don’t believe in mass deportation. This is a city where we tell whomever is here to, if you’re a victim of a crime, call the police. If your child must be educated, let them go to school. If you need medical attention, allow them to go to the hospital.” But also said that the federal government didn’t pick up enough of the tab for handling the migrant crisis in the city.

Adams stated, “[W]e have to be very clear on the role of immigrants in our country and city, going back to early Italians, early Irish, early — the roles of just all the groups, how they have built this country, and particularly in New York City. I don’t believe in mass deportation. This is a city where we tell whomever is here to, if you’re a victim of a crime, call the police. If your child must be educated, let them go to school. If you need medical attention, allow them to go to the hospital. But Americans have been clear, though, we have a broken immigration system. I don’t believe in mass deportation, but I don’t believe in mass saturation. 220,000 migrants and asylum seekers came to this city, cost us $6.4 billion. I’m not allowed to let them work. I’m not allowed to have them participate in the tax base of this city. We can’t deport those who commit crimes in our city. We are not allowed to connect with ICE. This is a failed system. We need to fix it. And if we don’t fix it, we’re seeing what’s happening in Chicago, what’s happening in Houston, what’s happening in Denver. This is wrong for cities to pick up this course. They only gave me $200 million out of $6.4 billion that should have gone to everyday issues in our city.”

He also said that “the sanctuary city is stating to those who are here that you have the right to access the services of the city because that’s how we treat people in New York City.”

Adams: Sanctuary Status Is Just Saying There’s a ‘Right’ to Services, It’s ‘Not the Same Thing’ as Migrant Issue

On Friday’s broadcast of ABC’s “The View,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) argued that “people conflate sanctuary cities with the migrant and asylum issue. That’s not the same thing.” And “the sanctuary city is stating to those who are here that you have the right to access the services of the city because that’s how we treat people in New York City.”

While discussing mass deportations, Adams said, “We have sat down and [done] scenario plannings on all of these issues. And there are a lot of laws, there are a lot of requirements. What we must do is to be prepared to address the issues as they come in front of us. Our team has been there. We looked at all of these issues and all the conversations that are taking place. The operationalizing of the theories that people want to do is different from the actualization of it. Again, people conflate sanctuary cities with the migrant and asylum issue. That’s not the same thing. People who are paroled into the country, the sanctuary city is stating to those who are here that you have the right to access the services of the city because that’s how we treat people in New York City.”

Earlier, Adams, lamented that “We can’t deport those who commit crimes in our city. We are not allowed to connect with ICE.”

The Shadow Government

House Democrat Calls for ‘Shadow Government’ to Undermine Trump, with Adam Schiff as Fake AG

Democrat Rep. Wiley Nickel (D-NC) is so bereaved by Vice President Kamala Harris’s loss and President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet picks that he is suggesting Democrats take action and form a “shadow government,” operating to oppose the Trump agenda that the majority if the country voted for.

Nickel put forth his idea in an op-ed in the Washington Post, asserting that it is time for America to “borrow from our British friends and appoint a shadow cabinet to fight back against the worst excesses of a second Trump administration.”

He laid out his vision on the House floor, asserting that “new times call for new solutions.”

“Last week stung. As Democrats, we simply failed to convince the American people we have better ideas to solve their problems, but we do. Now we need to dust ourselves off and get ready to fight,” he said. “We can’t let Donald Trump’s extreme MAGA agenda go unanswered or unopposed,” he continued, walking through his pitch to “borrow from our British friends and appoint a shadow cabinet to fight back against the worst abuses of a second Trump administration.”

Schumer said:

The special relationship between the United States and Britain extends not just to our strength on the global stage, but also to our shared commitment to democracy. Across the Atlantic, the British have something we don’t: A team from the opposition that mirrors the government’s own Cabinet members. They watch the Cabinet closely, publicly, challenging, scrutinizing and offering new ideas.

He described this as “another form of checks and balances.”

“It’s democracy’s insurance policy, and it strengthens the government, too. There’s no room for lazy ideas when rivals stand ready to step in,” he claimed.

EUROPE

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Ukraine Could Build its Own Nuclear Bombs

Ukraine Believes it Can Build its Own Nuclear Bombs From Spent Fuel Rods in Months: Report

Ukraine has the resources and expertise to indigenously produce a large quantity of nuclear weapons at short notice if it was forced to do so, a briefing document meant for top government figures allegedly says, a report states.

A briefing produced for the Ukrainian defence ministry allegedly explaining to policy makers that the country could rapidly develop rudimentary nuclear bombs from spent fuel rods and long-range ballistic missiles to carry them states this could be achieved in just months.

Claimed as an exclusive by The Times of London, the document is presented by the newspaper as illustrating a potential backstop for the country to defend itself from the Russian Federation if the United States under a Trump Presidency withdrew military support. President Trump has made clear he wishes to bring peace to Europe quickly, but has not yet revealed how. Many of the options open to him do not align with the official Kyiv policy as the only acceptable end to the war being total victory over Russia.

The paper cites key lines from the report, written for the Ukraine government’s Centre for Army, Conversion and Disarmament Studies by Oleksii Yizhak, a senior leader at the National Institute for Strategic Studies, also a government think tank, both of which work in an official capacity advising the Presidency of Ukraine. It allegedly notes: “Creating a simple atomic bomb, as the United States did within the framework of the Manhattan Project, would not be a difficult task 80 years later”.

Author Yikhak is stated to have reflected: “I was surprised by the reverence the United States has for Russia’s nuclear threat. It may have cost us the war… They treat nuclear weapons as some kind of God. So perhaps it is also time for us to pray to this God.”

The degree to which the briefing was solely meant for the illumination of top Ukrainian cabinet ministers — given the dissemination of key paragraphs in a widely-read English newspaper — or is partly intended as a veiled threat to both Moscow and Washington D.C., is naturally hard to immediately ascertain.

Certainly, the Ukrainian government communicated a rebuttal overnight, stating the country was bound by a nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Yet this denial came without addressing the actual points in the briefing that the authors believe the country has legal grounds to unilaterally withdraw from those obligations, given it could claim other partners haven’t honoured it.

Scholz the Peacemaker!?

German Chancellor Calls Vladimir Putin for First Time in Two Years, Asks for War to End

The German government has collapsed and is rapidly heading to snap elections in early 2025, but Chancellor Olaf Scholz has picked this moment to reach out to Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time in two years to ask him to withdraw his troops from Ukraine.

Olaf Scholz, the German Chancellor who leads the so-called progressive coalition ‘traffic light’ government of social democrats, liberals, and greens and who now faces a February snap election after it collapsed, made a rare telephone call to his Russian counterpart on Friday to ask for the war in Ukraine to end.

Per a German government spokesman, the call lasted for an hour and Scholz spent his time on the line with President Putin condemning the Russian war against Ukraine, calling on Moscow to enter negotiations, and urging for the Kremlin to end the conflict by withdrawing their troops. Scholz told Putin Russia had failed to achieve its war aims so it might as well now give up.

The call was the first between the two men since December 2022, nearly two years ago.

German newspaper Die Welt states that in addition to asking Russia to end the war, Scholz also affirmed on behalf of Germany to President Putin the nation’s “unwavering determination” to keep supporting Ukraine for as long as necessary. The timing of the call is conspicuous as it comes just before the G20 summit in Brazil this weekend. Scholz and Putin’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are attending.

Putin was meant to attend earlier, but he has an outstanding international arrest warrant against him now, significantly reducing his chances of making the trip.

Amsterdam & UNRWA

Did a former UNRWA teacher help organize the Amsterdam pogrom?

The organized violent antisemitic rampage which took place in Amsterdam Thursday night shocked many in the European continent and beyond. Now, several days later, more and more information regarding the events and the organizers began to flow, with findings pointing to a PGNL, a Hamas-affiliated group active in the Netherlands, as a main organizer of the anti-Israel protests in the country.

The Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) published an exposé showcasing how, on November 6, local authorities decided to cancel a preplanned protest against the Maccabi Ajax FC football game scheduled for 19:00 on November 7. However, the organizers did not give up and posted an invite to a new protest, which cautioned attendees to arrive in small groups, conceal Keffiyehs and Palestinian flags, and openly specified “This is a direct clash with our enemy (IOF and Mossad). Even if we do not get our desired location, we will not give up”; warning those under 18 not to attend the protest and calling to “prepare ourselves to deal with grave violence.”

NCRI’s exposé highlighted that one of the main planners of these protests is an organization innocently named “The Palestinian Community in the Netherlands” (Palestijnse Gemeenschap In Nederland – PGNL), a group which organizes protests and “actions” across the Netherlands, with active groups on instant messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram.

According to a report by the European Leadership Network (ELNET) released last month, PGNL forms part of the Hamas-affiliated network in the Netherlands and Europe, as it was led for years by Amin Abu-Rashid, a designated Hamas official who was arrested by Dutch authorities in mid-2023 following accusations of transferring funds to Hamas. The ELNET report highlights that, in addition to organizing many of the recent pro-Hamas protests in the Netherlands, PGNL has hosted the late former Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh in 2007 over a video conference, and hosted an event saluting former Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 2016.

Following Abu-Rashid’s arrest, PGNL is led nowadays by Ayman Nejmeh, who appeared in the NCRI exposé as an administrator at one of PGNL’s instant messaging app groups. Nejmeh is a Syrian-born activist who described himself on his Facebook profile as a former UNRWA teacher, and who spoke at a pro-UNRWA rally in February. However, at some point in the past couple of days, Nejmeh decided to delete his affiliation with UNRWA from his Facebook profile for unknown reasons. In any case, Nejmeh himself has posted pro-Hamas content in the past on his Facebook page as well, including a picture of an al-Qassam militant.

MIDDLE EAST

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What Iranian Officials Have Been Saying in Persian Only

Reactions In Iran To Trump's Election Victory: 'The Return Of The Murderer';
'The Sword Of Vengeance… Hovers Above Trump's Head';
'America – The Great Satan';
'Iran And The Resistance Axis Are Ready'

Officially, Tehran Iran maintains that as far as it is concerned, there is no difference whether the U.S. has a Democratic or a Republican president, and that no matter what, America is the Great Satan. However, several regime officials have expressed their views on Trump's reelection and underlined his responsibility for the U.S.'s January 2020 killing of IRGC Qods Force commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani, and for the harsh sanctions policy against Iran. The following are some reactions by senior regime officials and regime-affiliated outlets to Donald Trump's election as the President of the United States:

Hamshari, The Most Widely Circulated Daily In Iran: "The Return Of The Murderer"

The day after the election, November 6, 2024, the front page of the most widely circulated daily in Iran, the Tehran-based Hamshari, highlighted Trump's election and featured an image of him handcuffed in prison uniform with text enumerating "Trump's past crimes against the Iranian people," including "the assassination of [IRGC Qods Force commander] Gen. [Qassem] Soleimani and sanctions against Iran and the Iranian people."

Former Politician And IRGC Officer Hossein Kanani Moghaddam: "The Sword Of Vengeance For The Assassination Of Soleimani Hovers Over Trump's Head"

Hossein Kanani Moghaddam, former Iranian politician and officer in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said in a November 6 interview for Nameh News: "I believe that Trump leans more towards negotiating and minimizing the tensions in the Middle East, even though he is likely to revive his previous policy. Also, the issue of [vengeance] for America's assassination of Qassem Soleimani [still] exists, and the sword of vengeance for Soleimani's assassination hovers over Trump's head and the heads of his friends and of the perpetrators of this deed."

Vitrine, The Magazine Of The IRGC-Affiliated Tasnim News Agency: Trump Or Harris – "A Choice Between A Fascist And Scum"

On November 5, Election Day, Vitrine, the magazine of the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency, featured on its cover images of candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris and wrote: "While one of the two main candidates yells that the other is a 'fascist,' the other one calls her "scum." The American citizens are choosing between 'scum' and a 'fascist.'"

Iranian Facility Might Have Been Bombed by IDF

Scoop: Israel destroyed active nuclear weapons research facility in Iran, officials say

The Israeli attack on Iran in late October destroyed an active top secret nuclear weapons research facility in Parchin, according to three U.S. officials, one current Israeli official and one former Israeli official.

Why it matters: The strike — which targeted a site previously reported to be inactive — significantly damaged Iran's effort over the past year to resume nuclear weapons research, Israeli and U.S. officials said.

One former Israeli official briefed on the strike said it destroyed sophisticated equipment used to design the plastic explosives that surround uranium in a nuclear device and are needed to detonate it.

Iran has denied it is pursuing nuclear weapons. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a statement last week that "Iran is not after nuclear weapons, period."

The Iranian mission to the UN declined to comment for this story.

The incoming Trump administration will include several key national security and foreign policy officials who are hawkish on Iran, which could lead to increased U.S. pressure on the Islamic Republic.

Driving the news: One of the targets of the Israeli strike on Oct. 25 was the Taleghan 2 facility in the Parchin military complex, about 20 miles southeast of Tehran.

The facility was part of the Iranian Amad nuclear weapons program until Iran halted its military nuclear program in 2003. It was used for testing explosives needed to set off a nuclear device, according to the Institute for Science and International Security.

High-resolution satellite imagery acquired by the institute after the Israeli strike showed the Taleghan 2 building was completely destroyed.

Behind the scenes: Israeli and U.S. officials said the activity that took place recently at the Taleghan 2 facility was part of an effort inside the Iranian government to conduct research that could be used for the development of nuclear weapons but could also be presented as research for civilian purposes.

"They conducted scientific activity that could lay the ground for the production of a nuclear weapon. It was a top secret thing. A small part of the Iranian government knew about this, but most of the Iranian government didn't," a U.S. official said.

Israeli and U.S. intelligence began detecting research activity at Parchin earlier this year, including Iranian scientists conducting computer modeling, metallurgy and explosive research that could be used for nuclear weapons.